Samuel told Eli every whit and kept nothing from him And He said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him Good THe words are the words of old Eli the Priest and have reference to that message which yong Samuel brought him from the Lord such a message as did make both the ears of every one that heard it tingle ver 11. Come see the work of sin what desolation it makes upon the Earth Ophni and Phinehas the two prophane and adulterous Sons must die old Eli the indulgent Father the High Priest must die Thirty four thousand Israelites must fall by the sword of the Philistines The Arke the glory of Israel must be taken and be delivered up in triumph unto Dagon this was the word of the Lord which he spake by the mouth of the child Samuel and not a word of his did fall to the ground at the 19. verse for what God foretells is done already with him that calleth the things that are not as if they were as the Prophet speaks there is no difference of times Nothing past Nothing to come all is present So that old Eli did see this bloody Tragedy acted before it was done saw it done before the signal to Battle was given did see his Sons slain whilst the Fleshook was yet in their hands himself fall whilst he stood with Samuel the Israelites slain before they came into the field the Arke taken whilst it was yet in the Tabernacle a fad and killing presentment whether we consider him as a Father or a High Priest a Father looking upon his Sons falling before the Ark which they stood up and fought for as a High Priest beholding the people slain and vanquisht and the Ark the Glory of God the Glory of Israel in the hands of Philistines But the word of the Lord is gone out and will not return empty and void for what he sayes shall be done and what he binds with an oath is irreversible and must come to pass and it is not much material whether it be accomplisht to morrow or next day or now instantly and follow as an Eccho to the Prediction nam una est scientia Futurorum Hier. ad Pammach adversus errores Joann Hierosol saith S. Hierome for the knowledge of things to come is one and the same And now it will be good to look upon these heavie Judgments and by the terror of them fly from the wrath to come as the Israelites were cured by looking on the Serpent in the Wilderness For even the Justice of God when it speaks in thunder makes a kinde of melody when it toucheth and striketh upon an humble submissive yeelding heart Behold old Eli an High Priest to teach you who being now within the full march and shew of the Enemy and of those judgments which came apace towards him like an Armed man not to be resisted or avoided and hearing that from God which shook all the powers of his soul settles and composes his troubled minde with his consideration That is was the Lord in this silences all murmur slumbers all impatience buries all disdain looks upon the hand that strikes bows and kisseth it and being now ready to fall raiseth himself up upon this pious and Heavenly resolution Dominus est It is the Lord Though the people of Israel fly and the Philistines triumph though Ophni and Phinehas fall Though himself fall backward and break his neck Though the Ark be taken yet Dominus est It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Which words are a Rhetorical Enthymeme perswading to humility and a submissive acquiescience under the Hand the mighty Hand of God by his power his justice his wisdom which all meet and are concentred in this Dominus est It is the Lord. He is omnipotent and who hath withstood his power He is just and will bring no evil without good cause He is wise whatsoever evil he brings he can draw it to a good end and therefore Faciat quod bonum in oculis let him do what seemeth him good Or you may observe first a judicious discovery from whence all evils come Dominus est It is the Lord. Secondly a well-grounded resolution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to behave our selves decently and fittingly as under the power and justice and wisdom of God Let him do what seemeth him good The first is a Theologicall Axiome Dominus est It is the Lord There is no evil in a City Which he doth not do The second a conclusion as necessary as in any Demonstration most necessary I am sure for weaknesse to bow to Omnipotency In a word The Doctrine most certain Dominus est It is the Lord ... All these evils of punishment are from him and the resolution which is as the use and application of it most safe Faciat quod bonum in oculis Let him do what seemeth him good Of these we shall speak in their order and in the prosecution of the first for we shall but touch upon and conclude with the last that you may follow me with more ease we will draw the lines by which we are to passe and confine our selves to these four particnlars which are most eminent and remarkeable in the story First that Gods people the true professors may be delivered up to punishment for sinne Secondly that in these general judgements upon a people the good many times are involved with the evil and fall with them Thirdly that Gods people may be delivered up into the hands of Philistines and Aliens men worse then themselves Fourthly that the Ark The glory of their profession may be taken away These four and then fix up this inscription Dominus est It is the Lord and when we have acquitted his Justice and wisdom in these particulars cast an eye back upon the inscription and see what beams of light it will cast forth for our direction Dominus est it is the Lord c. And in the first place of Ophni and Phineas the Text tels us That they hearkened not unto the voice of their Father because the Lord would destroy them which word Quia is not casuall but illative 2 Ch. v. 25. and implyes not the cause of their sinne but of their punishment they did not therefore sin because God would punish them but they hearkened not to the voice of their Father therefore the Lord destroyed them as we use to say the Sun is risen because it is day for the day is not the cause of the Suns rising but the Sun rising makes it day They were sons of Belial vessels already fitted for wrath as we may see by their many fowl enormities and therefore were left to themselves and their sinnes and to wrath which at last devoured them Gods Decree whatsoever it be is immanent in himself and therefore could not because of that disobedience and wickednesse which was extrameous and contrary to him nor could there be any action of Gods either positive or negative
And first Every particular sinne is of a monstrous aspect being committed not onely against the Law written but against the Law of Nature which did then Characterise the soule when the soule did first enforme the Body for though we call those horrid sinnes unnaturall which Saint Paul speaks against in the 1. to the romanes yet in true estimation every sin is so being against our very Reason which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. or 34. the very first Law written in our hearts saith Naz. for sin is an unreasonable Thing nor can it desend it self by discourse or argument If Heaven were to be bought with sin it were no Purchase for by every evill work I forfeit not onely my Christianity but my manhood I am robb'd of my chiefest Jewel and I my self am the Theef Who would buy eternity with sinne who would buy Immortallity upon such loathed Termes If Christ should have promis'd Heaven upon condition of a wicked life who would have beleeved there had been either Christ or Heaven And therefore it is laid as an imputation upon man Solum hoc animal Naturae fines transgreditur no Creature breaks the bounds and limits which Nature hath set but Man and there is much of Truth in it man when he sinnes is more unbounded and irregular then a Beast For a Beast follows the conduct of his naturall Appetite but man leaves his Reason behind which should be more powerful and is as naturall to him as his sense Man saith the prophet David that understands not is like to the Beasts that perish and Man that is like to a Beast is worse then he No Fox to Herod no Goat to the Wanton no Tyger to the Murderer no Wolfe to the Oppressor no Horse-leech to the Covetous for Beasts follow that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that instinct of Nature by which they are carried to the Object but man makes Reason which should come in to rescue him from sin an Instrument of Evill so that his Reason which was made as a help as his God on Earth serves onely to make him more unreasonable Consider then though it be but one sinne yet so farre it makes thee like unto a Beast nay worse then any though it be one yet it hath a monstrous aspect and then Turne from it Secondly though it be but one yet it is very fruitful and may beget another nay multiply it self into a numerous issue into as many sins as there be haires of thy head for as it is truly said omne verum omni vero consonat there is a kind of agreement and harmony in truthes and the devout School-man tells us that the whole Scripture is but one copulative proposition because the precepts therein contained are many and yet one many in regard of the diversity of those works that perfect them but yet one in respect of that root of charity which begins them so peccatum multiplex unum there is a kinde of dependencie between sins and a growth in wickednesse one drawing and deriving poyson from another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epiphanius speaks of heresies Epiphan Heres Bastlid as the Asp doth from the Viper which being set in opposition to any particular vertue creepeth on and multiplies and gathers strength to the endangering of all And sin may propagate it self first as an efficient cause Removens prohibens weaking the power of grace dimming the light of the Gospel setting us at a greater distance from the brightnesse of it making us more venturous taking off our blush of modestty which should restrain us one evil act may dispose us to commit the like and that may bring on a thousand Secondly as a material cause one sin may prepare matter for another thy covertousnesse beget debate debate enrage thee more and that not end but in murder Last of all as the final cause thou mayest commit theft for fornication and fornication for theft that thou mayest continue a Tyrant be more a Tyrant that thou mayest uphold thy oppression oppresse more that thou mayest walk on in safety walk on in the blood of the innocent that thou mayest be what thou art be worse then thou art be worse and worse till thou art no more Ambition leads Absolon to conspiracy conspiracy to open Rebellion Rebellion to his Fathers Concubines at last to the Oak where he hung with three darts in his side For sin saith Basil like unto a stone that is cast into the water multiplies it self by infinite Gyres and Circles The sins of our youth hasten us to the sins of our age an the sins of our age look back upon the follies of our youth pride feathers my ambition and ambition swells my pride gluttony is a pander to my lust and my lust a steward to my gluttony Sins seldom end where they begin but run on till they be infinite and innumerable And now this unhappy fruitfulness of sin may be a strong motive to make me run away from every sin and fear one evil spirit as that which may bring in a Legion Could I think that when I tell a lie I am in a disposition to betray a kingdom could I imagine that when I slander my Neighbour I am in an aptitude to blaspheme God could I see luxurie in gluttony and incest in luxurie strife in covetousness and in strife murder in idleness theft and in theft sacriledge I should then Turn from every evil way and at the sight of any one sin with fear and trembling cry out behold a troop cometh But in the Third place if neither the monstrosity of sin nor the fruitfulnesse of sin moves us yet the guilt it brings along with it and the obligation to punishment may deter us For sin must needs then be terrible when she comes with a whip in her hand indeed she is never without one if we could see it and all those heavy judgments which have fallen upon us and prest us well-neer to nothing we may impute to what we please to the madnesse of the people to the craft and covetousnesse of some and the improvidence of others but t was sin that called them down and for ought we know Josh 7.2 Sam. the last c. but one For one sin as of Achan all Israel may be punisht for one sin as of David threescore and ten thousand may fall by the plague For Jonahs disobedience a Tempest may be raised upon all the Marriners in the ship and what stronger winde can there blow then this to drive us every one out of every evil way how should this consideration leave a sting behinde it and affect hand startle us It may be my sacriledge may the Church-robber It may be my luxury may the wanton It may be my bold irreverence in the House of God may the prophane man say whatsoever sin it is it may be mine which hath wrought this desolation on the earth and then what an Achan what a Jonah what a Murderer am I I
one and the same and therefore to rise upon another mans ruines to enrich our selves by fraud and deceit is as much against nature saith Tully as poverty which pincheth it or grief which afflicts it or death which dissolves it for poverty may strip the body Ibid. grief may trouble it and death may strike it to the ground but yet they have a soul but injustice is its destruction and leaves a dead soul in a living body For as we have already shewn man is naturally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sociable creature but violence and deceit quite destroy all Society and Lully gives the same reason in his Offices which Saint Paul doth against Schisme in his Epistles 1 Cor. 12. If one member suffer all the members suffer with it and therefore the intent and purpose of all must be saith the Orator ut eadem sit utilitas uniuscujusque singulorum that the benefit of one and every man may be the same so that what deceit hath purloyned of stollen away or violence snatcht from others is not Profit because it is not honest Res surtiva quousque redierit in Comini potestatem perpetuò vitiosa est and the Civilians will tell us that that which is unjustly detained is not valuable is of no worth till it return to the hands of the lawfull proprietary Again in the second place Justice and Honesty are more agreeable to the nature of men then Profit or4 Pleasure For these reason it self hath taught us to contemne and he most enjoys himself who desires not pleasure and he is the richest man who can be poore and we are never more men then when we lest regard them but if we forfeit our integrity and pervert the course of Justice we have left our selves nothing but the name of men Si quod absit spes foelicitatis nulla saith Saint Austin If we had no eye to eternity nor hope of future happinesse Tull. Off. 3. Si omnes Deos hominesque celare possimus saith Tully if we could make darknesse a pavilion round about us and lye skreend and hid from the eyes of God and man yet a necessity would lye upon us to be what we are made to observe the lessons and dictates of nature saith one Nihil injustè faciendum saith the other nothingmust be done unjustly though God had no eye to see it nor hand to punish it and this doctrine is current both at Athens and Jerusalem both in the Philosophers School and in the Church of God To give you yet another reason but yet of neere alliance to the first whatsoever we do or resolve upon must habere suas causas as Arnobius speaks must be commended by that cause which produceth it now what cause can move us to desire that which is not ours what cause can the oppressor shew that he grinds the face of the poore the theef that he divides the spoile The deceitfull tradesman that he hath false weights Pondus pondus a weight and a weight a weight to buy with and a weight sell with If you ask them what cause they will eitherlye and deny it or put their hand upon their mouth and be ashamed to answer here their wit will faile them which was so quick and active to bring that about for which they had no reason it may be the cause was an unnecessary feare of poverty as if it were a greater sin then cosenage It may be the love of their children saepe ad avaritiam cor parentis illicit Foecunditas prolis Gregan 1 Iob c. 4. saith Gregory many children are as many temptations and we are soon overcome and yield willing to be evil that they may be rich and calling it the duty of a Parent when we feed and cloth them with our sinne or indeed it is the love of the world and a desire to hold up our heads with the best which are no causes but defects and sinnes the blemishes and deformities of a soul transformed after the image of this world These are but sophismes and delusions and of no causality For ti 's better I were poore then fraudulent better that my children should be naked then my soul better want then be unjust better be in the lowest place then to swim in blood to the highest better be drove out of the world then shut out of heaven It is no sinne to be poor no sinne to be in dishonor no sinne to be on a dunghill or in a prison it is no sinne to be a slave but it is a sinne and a great sinne to rise out of my place or either flatter or shoulder my neighbour out of his and to take his roome It is no sin to be miserable in the highest degree but it is a sinne to be unjust or dishonest in the least Iniquity and injustice have nothing of reason to countenance them and therefore must run and shelter themselves in that thicket of excuses must pretend want and poverty and necessity and so the object of my concupiscence must Authorize my concupiscence and the wedg of gold warrant my theft and to gain something is my strongest argument to gain it unjustly Ibid. And therefore Tully saith well If any man will bring in and urge these for causes argue not against him nor vouchsafe him so much as a reply omnino enim hominem ex homine tollit for he hath most unnaturally divided man from himself and left nothing but the beast Nature it self our first School-mistris loaths and detests it nor will it suffer us by any means to add to our own by any defalkation from that which is anothers and such is the equity of this position that the Civil Law alwaies appeales unto it videtur dolum malum facere qui ex aliena jactura lucrum querit He is guilty of cosenage and fraud who seeks advantage by another mans losse where by Dolus malus is understood whatsoever is repugnant to the Law of nature or equity For with the beames of this Law as with the beames of the Sun were all Humane Laws written which whip idlenesse which pin the Papers of Ignominy the best hatchments of a knave in the hat of the common barretter which break the teeth of the oppressor and turn the bread of the deceitfull into Gall upon this Basis this principle of nature whatsoever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them hang all the Law and the Prophets For the rule of behaviour which our Saviour set up is taken out of the Treasury of nature and for this is the Law and the Prophets Matth. 7.2 that is upon this Law of nature depend the Law and the Prophets or by the due and strict observing of this the Law is fulfilled as Saint Paul speaks Rom. 13.8 or this is the summe of all which the Law and the Prophets have taught to wit concerning Justice and Honesty and those mutuall offices All. Lamprid. and duties of
and Hell is Hell Virtue is Virtue and vice is vice to the Understanding nor can it appeare otherwise for in these we cannot be deceived what Reason can that be which teacheth us to Act against Reason Esau knew well enough that it was a sinne to kill his Brother but his Reason taught him to expect his Fathers Funerall Ahab knew it was a crying sinne to take Naboths Vineyard from him by violence and therefore hee would have paid down money for it and his painted Queene knew as much but that the best way to take possession of his Vineyard was to dispossess him of his life and the surest way to that was to make him a Blasphemer that was the effect and product of Reason and Discourse which is the best servant when the Will is Right and the worst when shee is irregular Reason may seek out many Inventions for Evill and shee may discover many helps and Advantages to promote that which is good she may draw out the method which leads to both find out opportunities bring in Encouragements and Provocations to both but Reason never yet call'd Evill good or Good evill 2 Thess 3.2 for then it is not Reason the Apostle hath joyn'd both together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they be wicked they are unreasonable and absur'd for they doe that which Reason abhorres and condemnes at the first presentment So that the will you see is origo boni mali is the prinipall cause of Good and Evill That I will not understand when I cannot but understand is from the will that the Judge is blind when he sees well enough what is just and what is unjust is not from the Bribe but the Will That my feare shakes me my Anger enflames me my Love Transports me my sorrow casts me downe and my joy makes me mad That my Reason is Instrumentall and Active against it self That my Passions rage and are unruly is from my will which being fastened to its Object drawes all the Powers of the Soul after it And therefore if the will Turne all these will Turne with it Turne to their proper offices and Functions The Understanding will be all Light and the Affections will be all Peace for the proper Act of every Faculty is its Peace when the Understanding contemplates that Truth which perfects it it rests upon it and dwells there as upon a holy Hill But when it busies it self in those which hold no proportion with it as the gathering of Wealth the raysing of a Name the finding out pleasures when it is a Steward and Purveyor for the Sense it is restlesse and unquiet now finds out this way anon another and by by disapproves them both and contradicts it self in every motion When our Affections are levell'd on that Affectiones ordinatae sunt virtutes Gers for which they were given us they lose their name and wee call them Virtues but when they fly out after every impertinent Object they fly out in infinitum and are never at their end and rest place Love on the things of this VVorld and what a troublesome Tumultuous Passion is it tiring it self with its own Hast and wasting and consuming it selfe with its owne Heat but place it on Piety and there it is as in its Heaven and the more it spends of it self the more it is increased Let your Anger kindle against an Enemy and it is a Fury that Torments two at once but derive it and lay it on your sin and there it sits as a Magistrate on a Tribunall to worke your Peace That sorrow which wee cast away upon Temporall losses is a Disease which must be cured by Time but our sorrow for sinne is a Cure it self is a second Baptisme washes away the Causes of that Evill and dyes with it and rises up againe in Comfort That joy which is rays'd out of Riches and Pleasure is rais'd as a Meteor out of dung and is whiffed up and downe by every winde and Breath but if it follow the Health and Harmony the good Constitution of the Soule it is as cleare and pure and constant as the Heavens themselves and may be carried about in a lasting and continued Gyre but is still the same And this Turne the Affections will have if the will Turne then they Turne their face another way from Bethaven to Bethel from Ebal to Garazin from the Mount of Curses to the Holy Hill We cannot Think that in this our Turne the Powers of the Soul are pull'd to pieces that our Affections are plucked up by the roots That our Love is Annihilated our Anger destroyed our Zeal quencht By my Turne I am not dissolved but better built I have new Affections and yet the same now dead and impotent to evill but vigorous and active in Good my steps are altered not my Feet my Affections cut off the Character is chang'd but not the Book That sorrow which covered my face for the losse of my Friend is now a Thicker and Darker cloud about it because of my sinne That hope which stoop'd so low as the Earth as the mortall and fading vanities of the world is now on the wing raising it selfe as high as Heaven That Zeale which drove Saint Paul upon the very pricks to persecute the Church did after lead him to the block to be crown'd with Martyrdome If the Will be Turned that is captivated and subdued to that Will of God which is the Rule of all our Actions it becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Shop and Work-house of Virtuous and Religious Actions and the Understanding and Affections are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-workers with it ready to forward and Compleat the Turne Saint Bernard tells us that nothing doth Burne in Hell but our will and 't is as true Nothing doth reigne in Heaven but the will In it are the wells of Salvation and in it are the waters of Bitterness in it is Tophet and in it is Paradise Aug. Hom. 8. Totum habet qui bonam habet voluntatem saith Austin he hath runne through all the Hardship and Exercises of Repentance who hath not changed his opinion or improv'd his knowledge but alter'd his will for the Turne of the will supposeth the rest but the rest doe not necessitate this when this is wrought all is done that is The Soul is enlightened purged renewed hath its Regeneration and new Creation in a word when the Will is turn'd the soul is saved The Old man is a New Creature and this New Creature changes no more but holds up the Turne till he be Turn'd to Dust and raysed againe and then made like unto the Angels THE SIXTH SERMON PART II. EZEKIEL 33.11 Turne ye Turne ye from your evill wayes c. This Turn is a Turn of the whole man of his understanding his affections nay of his senses of the eye and the ear from vanity of the tast from forbidden fruit of the touch from that which it must not handle a
excludens sed probans libertatem saith Tertul. To this end a Law was enacted not taking away but proving and trying the liberty which we have either freely to obey or freely to transgresse for else why should he enact a Law For the will of man looks equally on both and he being thus built up did owe to his maker absolute and constant obedience and obedient he could not be if he had not been thus built up To this end his understanding and will were to be exercised with arguments and with occasions which might discover the resolution and the choice and election of man Now these arguments and occasions are that which we call temptations which though they naturally light upon the outward man yet do they formally aime at the inward and are nothing do nothing till they seise upon the will which may either joyn with the sensitive part against the reason which makes us to every good work reprobate or else joyn with our reason against our sensual appetite which works in us a conformity to the will of God for he wills nothing to be done which right reason will not have us do The will is that alone which draws and turns these temptations either to a good end by watchfulnesse and care or by supine negligence turns them to a bad turnes them from that end for which they were permitted and ordained and so makes Satans darts more fiery his enterprises more subtle his occasions more powerful and his perswasions more perswasive then indeed they are so that what God ordained for our trial and crown by our security and neglect is made a means to bring on our downfall and condemnation We must therefore in the midst of temptations as in a School learn to know our selves and in the next place to know our enemies and now they â—ork and mine against us examine those temptations which make toward us lest we judge of them by their outside look upon them and so be taken with a look lest as the Romans observed of the barbarous Nations that being ignorant of the art of engining when they were besieged and shut up they would stand still and look upon the Enemy working on in the mine not understanding quò illa pertinerent quaeex longinquo instruebantur what it meant or wherefore those things were prepared which they saw a far off and at distance till the Enemy came so neer as to blow them up and destroy them so we also behold temptations with a carelesse and regardlesse eye and not knowing what they mean suffer them to work on to steal neerer and neerer upon us till they enter into our soules and dwell there and so take full possession of us And first we may lay it as a ground That nothing properly provoketh it self as the fire doth not provoke it self to burn nor the Sun to shine for the next and necessary causes of things are rather efficients then provocations which are alwayes external either to the person or principal or part which is the principal and special agent and so the will of man doth consummate and finish sin but provoketh it not but is enticed to that evil or frighted from that which is good by some outward object which first presents it self unto the sense which carries it to the fancy which conveighs it to the understanding whence ariseth that fight and contention between the inferior part of the soul and the superior between the sensual appetite and the reason not to be decided or determined but by the will and when the will like Moses holdeth up its hands as it were and is steady and strong the reason prevaileth and when it lets them down the sense The senses then are as Hierom calls them fenestra animae the windows of the soul through which tentations enter to flatter and wooe the fancie and affections to joyn with the principal faculties of the soul to beget that sin which begetteth death and if you will observe how they work by the senses upon the soul you will soon finde that they do it not by force and battery but by allurement and speaking it faire or else by frowns and terrors that there is no such force in their arguments which spiritual wisdome and vigilancy may not assoile that there is no such beauty on them which may not be loathed no such horror which we may not slight and contemn And first they work us occasions of sin and all the power that occasion hath is but to shew it self and if it kill it is as the Basilisk by the eye by looking towards us or indeed rather by our looking towards it Occasion is a creature of our own making we give it being or it were not and it is in our power as the Apostle speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut it off 2 Cor. 11.12 When we see the golden wedg we know it is but a clod of earth we see beauty and can call it the colour and symmetry of flesh and blood of dust and ashes and unlesse we make it so it is no more indeed we commonly say occasio facit furem that occasion maketh a thief but the truth is it is the thief that makes the occasion for the object being let in by the senses calls out the soul which frames and fashioneth it and bringeth it to what form it please maketh beauty a net 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas in ps 1. and riches a snare and therefore Bonum est non tangere it is not safe to see or touch for there is danger in a very touch in a cast of the eye and upon a look or touch the Soul may fly out to meet it and be entangled unawares utinam nec videre possimus quod facere nobis nefas est we may somtimes make it our wish Hieron not to see that which we may not do not to touch that which may be made an occasion of sinne not to look upon wine when it is red nor the strange woman when she smiles For in the second place they are not onely made occasions of sins but are drest up and trimmed by the father of lies who takes up a chamber in our Fancy in that shape and form in those fair appearances which may deceive us there is a kinde of Rhetorick and eloquence in them but not that of the Orators of Greece which was solid and rational but that of the later Sophisters which consisted in elegancies and figures and Rhetorical colours that which Plato calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flattery and popular eloquence for as they who deliver up themselves to fortune and tread the wayes to honour and the highest place do commonly begin there with smiles where they mean to shake a whip and cringe and bow and flatter the common people whom they intend to enslave stroke and clap them and so get up and ride the Beast to their journeyes end so do these tentations insinuate and win upon the weaker part
the true cause in the bosome of the Father nay in the bowels of his Son and there see the cause why he was delivered for us written in his Heart it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.4 the love of God to mankind and what was in mankind but enmity and hostility sinne and deformity which are no proper motives to draw on his love and yet he loved us and hated sinne and made haste to deliver us from it Dilexisti me domine plusquam te quando mori voluisti pro me saith Aust Lord when thou dyedst for me thou madest it manifest that my soule was dearer to thee then thy self such a high esteeme did he set upon a Soule which we scarce honour with a thought but so live as if we had none For us men then and For us Sinners was he delivered the Prophet Esay speaks it and he could not speake it so properly of any but him He was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our Iniquities So that he was delivered up not onely to the crosse E◠53. and shame but to our sinnes which nayled him to the crosse which crucified him not onely in his Humility but in his glory now he sits at the right hand of God and puts him to shame to the end of the world Falsò de Judaeis querimur why complain we of the Jewes malice or Judas's treason of Pilates injustice we we alone are they who crucifyed the Lord of life Our Treachery was the Judas which betrayed him Our malice the Jew which accused him our perjury the false witnesse against him our Injustice the Pilate that condemned him our pride scorned him our envy grinned at him our luxury spet upon him our covetousnesse sold him our corrupt bloud was drawn out of his wounds our swellings prickt with his Thornes our sores launced with his speare and the whole Body of sinne stretched out and crucified with the Lord of life Tradidit pro nobis he delivered him up for us sinners no sinne there is which his bloud will not wash away but finall impenitency which is not so much a sinne as the sealing up of the body of sinne when the measure is full pro nobis for us sinners for us for us the progeny of an arch-traytor and as great traytors as he take us at our worst if we repent he was delivered for us and if we do not repent yet he may be said to be delivered for us for he was delivered for us to that end that we might repent Pro nobis Pro nobis omnibus so us all for us men and for us sinners he was deliver'd pro infirmis for us when we were without strength pro impiis for us when we were ungodly pro peccatoribus for sinners Rom. 5.6,7 for so we were consider'd in this great work of our Redemption and thus high are we gone on this scale and ladder of love There is one step more pro nobis omnibus he was deliver'd for us all all not consider'd as elect or reprobate but as men as smners for that name will take in all for all have sinned And here we are taught to make a stand and not to touch too hastily and yet the way is plaine and easie pro omnibus for all this some will not touch and yet they doe touch and presse it with that violence that they presse it almost into nothing make the world not the world and whosoever not whosoever but some certaine men and turne all into a few deduct whom they please out of all people Nations and Languages and out of Christendome it self and leave some few with Christ upon the Crosse whose persons he beares whom they call the elect and meane themselves sic Deus dilexit mundum so God loved the world that is the Elect say they John 3.16 they are the world where t is hard to find them for they are called out of it and the best light we have which is of Scripture discovers them not unto us in that place and if the Elect be this world which God so loved then they are such Elect which may not believe and such elect as may perish and whom God will have perish if they doe not believe T is true none have benefit of Christs death but the Elect but from hence it doth not follow that no other might have had theirs is the kingdome of heaven but are not they shut out now who might have made it theirs God saith Saint Peter would not that any should perish 2 Pet. 3.8 and God is the Saviour of all men saith Saint Paul but especially of those that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 all if they believe and repent and those who are obedient to the Gospel because they doe the bloud of Christ is powred forth on the Believer and with it he sprinkles his heart and is saved the wicked trample it under their foot and perish That the bloud of Christ is sufficient to wash away the sinnes of the world nay of a thousand worlds that Christ paid down a ransome of so infinite a value that it might redeeme all that are or possibly might be under that Captivity that none are actually redeemed but they who make him their Captaine and doe as he commands that is believe and repent or to speak in their own language none are saved but the elect In this all agree in this they are Brethren and why should they fall out when both hold up the priviledge of the believer and leave the rod of the stubborne Impenitent to fall upon him The death of Christ is not applyed to all say some It is not for all say others the virtue of Christs meritorious passion is not made use of by all say some it was never intended that it should say others and the event is the same for if it be not made use of and applyed it is as if it were not as if it had never been obtain'd onely the unbeliever is left under the greater condemnation who turned away from Christ who spake unto him not onely from heaven but from his crosse and refused that grace which was offer'd him which could not befall him if there had never been any such overture made for how can he refuse that which never concern'd him how can he forfeit that pardon which was never seal'd how can he despise that spirit of grace which never breathed towards him They who are so tender and jealous of Christs bloud that no drop must fall but where they direct it doe but veritatem veritate concutere undermine and shake one truth with another set up the particular love of God to believers to overthrow his generall love to Mankind confound the virtue of Christs passion with the effect and draw them together within the same narrow compasse bring it under a Decree that it can save no more then it doth because it hath its bounds set hitherto it shall go and no further and was ordained to quicken
built up his assurance as strong as he can yet thinks himself not sure enough but seeks for further assurance and fortify's it with his Feare and assiduous diligence that it may stand fast for ever whereas we see too many draw out their owne Assurance and seale it up with unclean Hands with wicked hands with hands full of Blood We have read of some in the dayes of our Fore-fathers and have heard of others in our own and no doubt many there have been of whom we never heard whose Conversation was such as became the Gospel of Christ and yet have felt that hell within themselves which they could not discover to others but by gastly looks Out-cryes and deep Groanes and loud complaints to them who were neere them That Hell it self could not be worse nor had more Torments then they felt And these may seem to be breath'd forth not from a broken but a perishing heart to be the very Dialect of Despaire and indeed so they are for Despaire in the worst acception cannot sink us lower then hell But yet we cannot we may not be of their opinion and think what they say that they are cast out of Gods sight No God sees them looks upon them with an Eye full of compassion and most times sends an Angel to them in this their Agony as he did unto Christ a message of Comfort to rowse them up but if their tendernesse should yet raise doubts and draw the cloud still over them we have reason to think and who dares say the contrary that the hand of Mercy may even through this cloud receive them to that Sabbath and rest which remaines for the people of God I speak of men who have been severe to themselves and watchfull in this their Warfare full of good works and continued in them and who have many times when they were even at the gates of heaven and neere unto happinesse these Terrors and affrightments who are full of Charity and therefore cannot be destitute of hope although their owne sad apprehensions and the breathings of a Tender Conscience have made the operation of it lesse sensible and their hope be not like Aarons rod cut off dryed up and utterly dead but rather like a tree in Winter in which there is life and faculty yet the absence of the Sun or the cold benumming it suffers no force of life to worke but when that draws neere and yeelds its warmth and Influence it will bud and blossome and bring forth fruit and leafe together The Case then of every man that Despaires is not desperate but we must consider dispair in its Causes which produce and work it If it be exhal'd and drawn up out of our corrupt works and a polluted Conscience the streame of it is poysonous and deleteriall the very smoake of the bottomlesse pit but if it proceed from the distemper of the body which seises upon one as well as another or a weakness of Judgement which befalls many who may be weak and yet Pious or an excessive sollicitude and tendernesse of soul which is not so common we cannot think it can have that force and malignity as to pull him back who is now thus striving to enter in at the narrow gate or to cut him off from salvation who hath wrought it out with Feare and trembling At the Day of Judgement the Question will be not what was our Opinion and conceit of our selves but what our conversation was and what we thought of our Estate but what we did to raise it not of our fancied application of the Promises but whether we have performed the Condition For then the Promises will apply themselves God hath promised and he will make it good we shall not be askt what we thought but what we did for how many have thought themselves sure who never came to the knowledge of their Error till it was too late How many have called themselves Saints who have now their portion with Hypocrites How many have fancied themselves into Heaven whose wilfull disobedience carried them another way on the other side how many have beleeved and yet doubted how many have been synceere in the wayes of Righteousnesse and yet drooped How many have fainted even in their Savours Armes when his Mercies did compassed them in on every side how many have been in he greatest Agony when they were neerest to their Exaltation How many have condemned themselves to hell who now sit crowned in the highest Heavens I know nothing by my self 2 Cor. 4.4 saith Saint Paul yet am not thereby Justified Hoc dicit Dialogo adv Pelagium ne forte quid per ignorantiam deliquisset saith Saint Hierom though he knew nothing yet something he might have done amisse which he did not know and though our Conscience accuse us not of greater crimes yet our Conscience may tell us we may have committed many sins of which she could give us no Information and this may cast a mist about him who walketh as in the Day In a word a man may doubt and yet be saved and a man may assure himself and yer perish a man may have a groundless Hope and a man may have a groundlesse Feare and when we see two thus contrarily Elemented the one drooping the other cheerfull the one rejoycing in the Lord whom he offends the other trembling before him whom he loves we may be ready to pitty the one and blesse the Condition of the other cast away the Elect and chuse the Reprobate and therefore we must not be too rash to Judge but leave the Judgement to him who is Judge both of the quick and dead and will neither condemne the Innocent for his Feare or justifie the man that goes on in his sinne for his Assurance Take Comfort then thou disconsolate soule which art strucken down into the place of Draggons and art in this terror and anguish of heart This feare to thine is but a cloud and it will drop down and distill in Blessings upon thy head This Agony will bring down an Angel This sorrow will be turned into joy and this Doubt answered this despaire vanish that Hope may take its proper place againe the Heart of a poenitent Thy Feare is better then other mens confidence thy anxiety more Comsortable then their security Thy doubting more favoured then their assurance Timor tuus securitas tua thy feare of Death will end in the firme expectation of Eternall life Though thou art tost on a Tumultuous Sea thy Mast spent and thy Tackling torne yet thou shalt at last strike in to shore when these proud Saylors shall shipwrack in a Calme Misinterpret not this thy dejection of Spirit thy sad and pensive Thoughts nor seek too suddenly to remove them an afflicted Conscience in the time of health is the most hopefull and Soveraigne Physick that is thy feare of Death is a certaine Symptome and infallible signe of life there is no Horror of the Grave to him that lies
therefore have need of this kind of remedy as much need certainly as our first Parents had in Paradise who before they took the forbidden fruit might have seen Death written and engraved on the Tree and had they observ'd it as they ought to have done had not forfeited the Garden for one Apple had this Feare walked along with them before the coole of the Day before the rushing wind they had not heard it nor hid themselves from God in a word had they Feared they had not fell for they fell with this Thought that they should not fall that they should not die at all Imperfection though it be to Feare yet 't is such an Imperfection that leads to perfection Imperfection though it be to Feare yet I am sure it is a greater Imperfection to sin and not to feare It might be wished perhapps that we were tyed and knit unto our God quibusdam internis commerciis as the devout School-man speaks with those inward ligaments of Love and Joy and Admiration that we had a kind of familiar acquaintance and intercourse with him That as our Almes and Prayers and fasting came up before him to shew him what we do on earth so there were no imper fection in us but that God might approach so nigh unto us with the fulness of Joy to tell us what he is preparing for us that neither the Feare of Hell nor the Hope of Heaven and our Salvation but the Love of God and Goodnesse were the only cause of our cleaving to him That we might love God because he is God and hate sinne because it is sinne and for no other reason that we might with Saint Paul wish the increase of Gods Glory though with that heavy condition of our own Reprobation But this is such an Heroick spirit to which every man cannot rise though he may at last rise as high as Heaven this is such a condition which we can hardly hope for whilst we are in the flesh we are in the body not out of the body we struggle with doubts and difficulties Ignorance and Infirmity are our Companions in our way and in this our state of Imperfection contenti simus hoc Catone Dictum Augusti cum hortaretur ferenda esse praesentia qualiacunque sunt Suet. Octav. August c. 87. we must be content to use such means and Helpes as the Law-giver himself will allow of and not cast off fear upon a Fancy that our Love is perfect for this savours more of an Imaginary Metaphysicall subtility of a kind of extaticall affectation of Piety then the plaine and solid knowledge of Christian Religion but continue our Obedience and carry on our perseverance with the Remembrance of our last end with this consideration That as under the Law there was a curse pronounced to them that fulfill it not so under the Gospel there is a flaming fire to take vengeance of them that obey it not 2. Thess 1.8 It was a good censure of Tully which he gave of Cato in one of his Epistles Thou canst not saith he to his friend love and Honor Cato more then I doe but yet this I observe in him optimo animo utens summâ fide nocet interdum Reip. he doth endammage the Common-wealth but with an Honest mind and great Fidelity l. 2. ad Attic. ep 1. for he gives sentence as if he lived in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Platonis non in faece Romuli in Plato's Common-wealth and not in the dreggs and Rascaltry of Romulus And we may passe the same censure on these seraphical Perfectionists who will have all done out of pure Love nothing out of Feare They remember not that they are in fraece Adami the off-spring of an Arch-Rebell that their father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite and that the want of this Feare threw them from that state of Integrity in which they were created and by that out of Paradise and so with great ostentation of love hinder the Progresse of Piety and setting up to themselves an Idaea of Perfection take off our Feare which should be as the hand to wind up the Plummet which should continue the motion of our Obedience the best we can say of them is summâ fide pio animo nocent Ecclesiae If their mind be pious and answer the great shew they make then with a Pious mind they wrong and trouble the Church of Christ For suppose I were a Paul and did love Christ as Cato did Virtue because I could no otherwise Nunquam recte fecit ut faces videretur sed quià aliter facere non poterat Vell. ratere l. 2. Hist suppose I did feare sinne more then Hell and had rather be damned then commit it suppose that every thought word and worke were Amoris foetus the issues of my Love yet I must not upon a speciall favour build a general Doctrine and because love is best make Feare unlawfull make it sinne to feare that punishment the Feare of which might keep me from sinne for this were in Saint Pauls phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to put a stumbling-block in our Brothers way with my love to overthrow his feare that so at last both Feare and Love may fall to the ground for is there any that will fear sinne for punishment if it be a sinne to Feare What 's the language of the world now we heare of nothing but filiall feare and it were a good hearing if they would understand themselves for this doth not exclude the other but is upheld by it we are as sure of happinesse as we are of Death but are more perswaded of the Truth of the one then of the other more sure to goe to heaven then to die and yet Death is the gate which must let us in we are already partakers of an Angelicall Estate we prolong our life in our own Thoughts to a kind of Eternity and yet can feare nothing we challenge a kind of familiarity with God and yet are willing to stay yet a while longer from him we sport with his Thunder and play with his Hayl-stones and Coales of fire we entertain him as the Roman Gentleman did the Emperor Augustus Macrobius in Saturnal coenâ parcâ quasi quotidianâ with course and Ordinary fare as Saul in the 15. of the first of Sam. with the vile and refuse not with the fatlings and best of the sheep and Oxen Did we dread his Majesty or think he were Jupiter vindex a God of Revenge with a Thunder-bolt in his hand we should not be thus bold with him but feare that in wrath and Indignation he should reply as Augustus did Non putaram me tibi fuisse tam familiarem I did not think I had made my self so familiar with my Creature I know the Schools distinguish between a servile and Initial and a Filial feare there is a Feare by which we feare not the fault but the punishment and a feare which feareth the punishment
persons though we be so ill qualified that an Impartiall eye beholds it and findes so much probability as points to it as to the marke of the Beast It is with many of us as it was with the slave in Tacitus Annal. 2. who being like Agrippa in outward favour and the linaments of his body did also take upon him to counterfeit his Person and being askd by Caesar How he came to be Agrippa stoutly answered As thou camest to be Caesar Nemo non benignus sui Judex there are but few or none at all that are not too favourable Judges in their owne cause and though they be slaves and servants unto sinne yet will be ready to put on the person of a Prince of a Saint of a chosen vessell and by the help of Imagination and the frequency of those pleasing and deceitfull thoughts at last verely beleeve himself to be so And if reluctancie and regret and the turning away of the Face of the soule the Conscience at the evill we doe be a marke of a Regenerate man then certainly a very Pagan a Notorious sinner may find this marke about him and though he commit sinne with greedinesse yet lay him downe and rest and sleep upon this conclusion That hating sin as he doth and committing that sinne which he thinks he hates his name may be written in Heaven and that he is also one of the Elect. But then to conclude this A strange thing it may seem That we should first wound our Conscience and then force her to powre in this Balme first not hear her speak and then bring her in to make this plea That we did not Heare her first to slight and offend her and then make her our Advocate I spake unto you and you heard not it is your happinesse Had I not spoken your sinne had been greater then it is and thus we doe it with lesse danger That 's our thought because we first told our selves That we should not doe it But call our sin what we please a sinne of Infirmity or a sinne with a halfe-will with a Half Consent with a will and no will non mutatur vocabulis vis rerum Quintil l. 9. Inst c. 1. words and names have no power to change and alter the nature of our sinne or to abate any degree of its poyson and malignity and pretend what we will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sentence and Judgement is the Lords and in his sight even those sinnes which we doe with reluctancy and some contention with our selves and voluntary and without Repentance bind us over to Death Even of them who sinne though they check and condemne themselves before the Act say they would not and yet doe it this Question may be askt Why will ye die The fift and last Common pretense We come now to the last pretense which is commonly taken up by men who are willing to be evill but not willing to goe under that name and we shall but touch it for it will soon fall to pieces with a Touch. And this pretence is made up of a bad will and a good Intention or meaning which is indeed of a Good will and a bad the one being levell'd on the end the other on the means that lead unto it and the one is set up to commend and Authorize the other for as some think if the end be faire it casts a beauty and lustre upon the way that leads to it though it be as foule as sinne can make it and then when our Will is evill it is not evill because it looks further then that evill to something that is so good that by its vertue it will transforme and change the nature of it and make it like unto it self And if we look into the world we shall find that nothing hath deceived men more nothing hath wrought more mischief on the Earth then a groundlesse thought that that must needs please God which is done to a good end with a good mind and an Ardent Affection and zeal That of the two Tables we may break the one to secure and preserve the other that we may serve God when we break his will and honour him when we deface his Image that that sin which may Damne a soule and the least may doe that is not considerable if we carry it along but in our hopes to that End which we have set out with the fair title of Good though it may sometimes be a greater sinne then that which we would make use of to raise it up But we must suppose it good but yet wee cannot think it can have such a strange and more then Omnipotent virtue to change every thing even that which is most contrary to it into its self or to make Things not to be what they are or at the same time to be both good and Evill This is but a Sophisme but a cheat put upon us by the Devill for there be two things to make up a good Intention or else it is not good First it must be levell'd to a right and warrantable end and then carried to it in a due and orderly course by those means which are fitted and proportioned to that end and sure sinne is so unlike to that which is good that it were easier to dissolve the Earth and then set it upon its pillars againe then to draw them to such a subordination as to serve to advance one another what a strange sight would it be to see such a figge grow on such a Thistle to see one evill Spirit drive out another which commonly brings in seven worse then himself to see Religion brought into the World upon the Devills shoulders Besides every thing that is good whether it be a naturall Good or a Civill good or a Divine good hath its proper and peculiar means ordained and fitted to it either to procure or preserve it If I desire Health Temperance and a good diet are the means If I would have food and raymeant Industry is the meanes If I would keep my friend Fidelity is the means If I would have a well-ordered Family Discipline is the means if I would establish a Common-Wealth Prov. 20.28 Justice is the means That That alone will uphold it saith Solomon who was the wisest of Kings and knew the fittest means for that end but who ever heard of any use that sinne was ever of what end can that be proportioned to if there be any 't is not worth the nameing the end of it is Damnation Run to and fro the Earth look about in every corner of the universe search all the Records from Adam to this moment you shall never find any other For our Health it destroys it strikes us in the very Gates of life Cutts us off in the midst of our dayes and Tumbles our Gray Haires with sorrow into the Grave For this many are weak and sick amongst us 1 Cor. 2.10 and many are asleep For our food it
not in itself which is so terrible but in causis as the Schools speak in its causes in those sins in which it is bound up and from which it cannot be fevered for sin carries it in its womb and if we sin we are condemned and dead already we may see it smile upon us in some alluring pleasure we may see it glitter in a piece of Gold or wooe us in the rayes of Beauty but every smile every resplendency every raie is a dart and strikes us through Why will ye die why the holy Ghost is high and full in the expressing it Amamus mortem we love death Prov. 8. and the last v. and love saith the Father is vehemens voluntas a vehement and an Active will it is said to have wings and to flie to its object but it needs them not for it is ever with it the covetous is kneaded in with the world they are but one lump It is his God one in him and he in it The wanton calls his strumpet his soul and when she departeth from him he is dead the ambitious feeds on honour as 't is said Camelions do on air a disgrace kill him amamus mortem we love death which implies a kind of union and connaturality and complacency in death Again exultamus rebus pessimis Prov. 2.14 we rejoyce and delight in evil Ecstasim patimur so some render it we are transported beyond our selves we talk of it we dream of it we sweat for it we fight for it we travel for it we triumph in it we have a kind of traunce and transformation we have a Jubile in sin and we are carried delicately and with triumph to our death Nay further yet 1 Kings 22.4 we are said to make a covenant with Death Isai 29.15 we joyn with it and help it to destroy our selves as Iehoshaphat said to Ahab I am as thou art and my people as thy people we have the same friends and the same enemies we love that that upholds its dominion and we fight against that that would destroy it we strengthen and harden our selves against the light of Nature and the light of grace against Gods whispers and against his loud calls against his exhortations and obtestations and expostulations which are strength enough to discern death and pull him from his pale horse and all these will make it a volumus at least not a velleity as to good but an absolute vehement will after we have weighed the circumstances pondered the danger considered and consulted we give sentence on deaths side and though we are unwilling to think so yet we are willing to die to love death to rejoyce in death to make a Covenant with death will make the volumus full to the question why will ye die no other answer can be given but we will For if we should ask further yea but why will ye here we are at a stand horror and amazement and confusion shuts up our mouth in silence as in the 22 of Matth. when the Guest was questioned quomodo huc how he came thither the Text saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 capistratus est he was muzled he was silent he could not speak a word For conclusion then Let us as the Wise-man counsels keep our heart Prov. 4.23 our will with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life and out of it are the issues of death let us take it from death and consine and binde it to its proper object binde it with those bonds which were made to binde Kings and Nobles the most stout and stubborn and imperious heart binde it with the fear of death with the fear of that God which here doth ask the question and not seek to ease our selves by an indiscreet and ill applied consideration of our natural weaknesse For how many make themselves wicked because they were made weak how many never make any assay to go upon this thought that they were born lame Original weaknesse is an Article of our Creed and it is our Apologie but 't is the Apologie of the worst of the covetous of the ambitious of the wanton when 't is the lust of the eyes that buries the covetous in the earth the lusts of the flesh that sets the wanton on fire the pride of life that makes the Ambitious climb so high prima haec elementa these are the first Elements these are their Alphabet they learn from their Parents they learn from their friends they learn from servants to raise a bank to enoble their name to delight themselves in the things of this world these they are taught and they have their method drawn to their hands by these evil words which are the proper Language and Dialect of the world their manners are corrupted and for this our father Adam is brought to the bar when 't is Mammon Venus and the world that have bruised us more then his fall could do And secondly pretend not the want of Grace for a Christian cannot commit a greater soloecisme then to pretend the want of that which hath been so often offered which he might have had if he would or to conceive that God should be unwilling he should do his will unwilling he should repent and turn unto him This is a charge as well as a pretense even a charge against God for bidding us rise up and walk when we were lame and not affording us a staff or working a miracle Grace is of that nature that we may want it though it be not denied we may want it when we have it and indeed we want Grace as the covetous man wants money we want it because we will not use it and so we are starved to death with bread in our hands for if we will not eat our daily bread we must die And in the next place let us not shut up our selves in our own darknesse nor plead ignorance of that which we were bound to know which we do know and will not which is written with the Sun-beams which we cannot say we see not when we may run and read it For what mountainous evils do men run upon what grosse what visible what palpable sins do they foster quae se suâ corpulentiâ produnt sins which betray themselves to be so by their bulk and corpulency Sacriledge is no sin and I cannot see how it now should for there is scarce any thing left for its gripe Lying is no sin it is our Language and we speak as many lies almost as words perjury is no sin for how many be there that reverence an oath jura perjura it is an Axiome in our morality Iusjurandum rei servandae non perdendae conditum est Plaut Rud. Act 5 sc 3. mantile quo quotidianae noxae extergentur Laber. and policie and secures our estates and intailes them on our posterity Deceit is no sin for it is our trade nay Adultery is no sin you would think with the Heathen with those who never
title to that honour which we give to a just man How many count themselves just men yet do those things which themselves if they would be themselves would condenm as most unjust and do so when others do them and how many have carried so much honesty with them into hell the Law of men cannot reach home to carry us to that height of innocency to which on other Law but that within us might lift us up but the Lawes of this Lord like his power and providence reach and comprehend all the very looks and profers and thoughts of the minde which no man sees which we see not our selves which though they break not the peace nor shake any pillar of a common-wealth for a thought troubles no heart but that which conceives it yet it stands in opposition to that policy which this our Lord hath drawn out and to that end for which he is our Lord and is louder in his ears then an evil word in ours and therefore he looks not onely on our outward guilt but the conscience it self and pierceth to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit regulates the very thoughts and intents of the heart which he looks upon not as fading and vanishing characters in the soul but as killing letters imprinted and engraven there as S. Basil speaks as full and compleat actions wrought out in the inward man Saint Bernard calls them passivas actiones passive actions which he will Judge secundum evangelium Bas de virg Bern. 159. according to these Laws which he hath publisht in his Gospel Secondly that he is a Lord appears by the vertue and power of his dominion for whereas all the power on earth which so often dazles us can but afflict the body this wounds the soul rips up the very heart and bowels and when those Lords which we so tremble at till we fall from him can but kill the body This Lord can cast both soul and body into Hell nay can make us a Hell unto our selves make us punish and torment our selves and being greater then our conscience can multiply those strokes Humane laws have been brought into disgrace because they had not power enough to attend and hold them up and even the common people who fear them most have by their own observation gathered the boldnesse to call them cobwebs for they see he that hath a full purse or a good sword will soon break through them or finde a beesom to sweep them away What speak you of the Laws I can have them and binde them up in sudariolo saith Damianus in the corner of my Handkerchief nay many times for want of power victae leges the Laws must submit as in conquest and though they have a tongue to speak yet they have not a hand to strike And as it is in punishment so it is sometimes in point of reward men may raise their mer it deserts so high that the Exchecquer it self shall not finde a reward to equal them We have a story in our own Chronicles of a Noble-man who did such service for his friend then but a private man that he made him first a Conqueror then a king the Historian gives this note that kings love not to be too much beholding to their Subjects nor to have greater service done then they are able to reward and so how truly I know not makes the setting on of the Crown on his friends head one cause of the losing of his own But it is not so with this our Lord who being now in his throne of Majesty cannot be outdared by any sin be it never so great never so common and can break the hairy scalp of the most Gyant-like offender and shiver in pieces the tallest Cedar in Libanus Who shall be able to stand up in his sight In his presence the boldest sinner shall tremble and fall downe and see the Horror of that profitable Honorable sinne in which he Triumpht and called it Godlinesse The Hypocrite whose every word whose every motion whose every look was a lye shall be unmaskt and the man of Power who boasted in malice and made his will a Law and hung his Sword on his will to make way to that at which it was levell'd shall be beat down into the lowest pitt to Howl with those who measured out Justice by their Sword and thought every thing theirs which that could give them Before him Every sinne shall be a sinne and the wages thereof shall be Death Again he hath rewards and his Treasurie is full of them Not onely a Cup of cold water but the powring forth my blood as water for the Truths sake shall have its full and overflowing Recompence nor shall there ever any be able to say what profit is it that we have kept his Laws No saith Saint Paul Non sunt condignae Mal. 2.14 Rom. 8.8 put our passions to our Actions our Sufferings to our Almes our Martyrdome to our Prayers they are not worthy the naming in comparison of that weight of Glory which our Lord now sitting at the right Hand of God hath prepared for them that feare him Nec quisquam à regno ejus subtrahitur nor can any goe out of his reach or stand before him when he is angry He that sits on the Throne and he that grindes at the Mill to him are both alike 3. And now in the third place That every knee may bow and every Tongue confesse him to be the Lord Let us a little take notice of the large compasse and Circuit of his Dominion and the Psalmist will tell us That he shall have Dominion from the Sea to the Sea and from the River unto the ends of the world Adam the first man and he that shall stand last upon the Earth Every man is his subject For he hath set him saith Saint Paul at his right hand in heavenly places and hath put all things under his Feet and gave him to be Head over all Things to his Church and what a thin shadow what a Nothing is all the overspreading power of this world to this All other Dominion hath its bounds and limits which it cannot passe but by violence and the sword nor is it expedient for the world to have one King nor for the Church to have one Universall Bishop or as they speak one visible Head For as a ship may be made up to that bulke that it cannot bee managed so the number of men and distance of place may be so great that it cannot subsist under one Government Thus it falls out in the world but it is not so in the Kingdom of this our Lord No place so distant or remote to which this Power cannot reach Lybiam remotis Gadibus Jungit all places are to him alike and he sees them all at once It is called the Catholick Church and in our Creed wee professe wee beleeve Sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam the holy Catholique CHURCH That is That that
gift and the heart also and before he comes to the Altar makes the worshipper himself a sacrifice Love doth not stay at the porch but enters the Holy of Holyes doth not stay in the beginnings but hasteth to the end doth not contract the duty but extends it to the utmost doth not draw pictures but men doth not sacrifice the beast onely but offers and consumes us binds us wholly to the work forceth and constrains us never lets us rest till we have fulfilled the will of him that commands Improves sacrifice to obedience hearing to practice fasting to humility and repentance Love may begin but never ends in ceremony And this is the reason why Religion hath so many professors and so few friends so many salutes and so many contempts flung upon her why she is so much spoke of as the bird of Jupiter that eagle which must carry us to heaven but hath no more regard then the sparrow on the house top or the owle in the desart why it is so much talkt of and so little practiced for men do not love it but because it carries a kind of majesty and beauty along with it and strikes every eye that beholds it because men speak well of her in the gates and we cannot but speak well of her whilest we are men therefore we are willing to give her a salute in the midst of all those horrid and hellish offices which are set up against her we give her a bowe and let her passe by as if her shadow could cure us or we lay hold on the skirts of her garment touch and kisse them are loud and busie in the performance of the easiest part of it bind the sacrifice with cords to the hornes of the Altar but not our lusts and irregular desires but let them fly to every object every vanity which is to sacrifice a beast to God and our selves to the devil 2. These formall worshippers do not onely not love the command but they do it for the love of something else They love oppression and blood and injustice better then sacrifice and all this heat and busie industry at the Altar proceeds not from that love which should be kindled and diffused in the heart but as the unruly tongue is set on fire by hel hath no other originall then an ungrounded and unwarranted love of those profitable and honorable evils which we have set up as our mark but cannot so fairely reach to if we stand in open defiance to all Religion And therefore when that will not joyne with us but looks a contrary way to that to which we are pressing forward with so much eagernesse we content our selves with some part of it with the weakest with the poorest and beggerlyest part of it and make use of it to go along with us and countenance and secure us in the doing of that which is opposite to it and with which it cannot subsist and so well and feelingly we act our parts that we take our selves to be great favourites and in high grace with him whose laws we break and so procure some rest and ease from those continuall clamors which our guiltinesse would otherwise raise within us and walk on with delight and boasting and through this seeming feigned paradise post on securely to the gates of death In what triumphant measures doth a Pharisee go from the Altar what a harmelesse thing is a cheat after a Sermon what a sweet morsell is a widdows house after Long Prayers what a piece of Justice is oppression after a fast After so much Ceremony the blood of Abel himself of the justest man alive hath no voice For in the 3. place These outward performances this formality in Religion have the same spring and motive with our greatest and foulest sinnes The same cause produceth them the same considerations promote them and they are carried to their end on the same wings of our carnall desires Do you not wonder that I should say The formality and outward presentments of our devotion may have the same beginnings with our sinnes may have their birth from the same womb That they draw the same breasts and like twins are born and nurst and grow up together doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter No It cannot but both these are salt and brinish our sacrifice as ill smelling as our oppression our fast as displeasing as our sacriledge and our hearing and Prayers cry as loud for vengenace as our oppression We sacrifice that we may oppresse We fasT that we may spoile our God Ezek. 16.44 and we pray that we may devour our brethren Like Mother Like Daughter saith the Prophet Ezekiel They have the same evil beginning and they are both evil Ambition was the cause of Absoloms Rebellion and Ambition sent him to Hebron to pay his vow 2 Sam. 15. Covetousnesse made Ahab and Jezebel murderers and Covetousnesse proclaimed their fast 1 King 21. Lust made Shechem the sonne of Hamor a Ravisher and lust made him a Proselyte and Circumcised him Gen. 34. Covetousnesse made the Pharisee a Ravening wolf and Covetousnesse clothed him in a lambs skin Covetousnesse made his Corban and Covetousnesse did disfigure his face and placed him praying in the Synagogues and the corner of the streets Ex his causam accipiunt quibus probantur saith Tertullian They have both the same cause for the same motives arise and shew them both The same reason makes the same man both devout and wicked both abstemious and greedy both meek and bloody a seeming Saint and a raging Devil a Lamb to the eye and a Roaring lion Scit enim Diabolus alios continentiâ alios libidine occidere saith the same Father The devil hath an art to destroy us with the appearance of virtue assoone as with the poyson of sin For in the fourth place This formality in Religion stands in no opposition with him or his designes but rather advances his kingdome and enlarges his dominion For how many Sacrificers how many attentive hearers how many Beadsmen how many Professors are his vassalls how many call upon God Abba Father who are his children how many openly renounce him and yet love his wiles Ex malitia ingenium habet Tertull. de Idololat delight in his craft which is his malice how many never think themselves at liberty but when they are in his snare and doth not a faire pretence make the fact fouler doth not sacrifice raise the voice of our oppression that it cryes louder doth not a forme of Godlinesse make sin yet more finfull when we talk of heaven and love the world are we not then most earthly most sensuall most divelish is the divel ever more divel then when he is transformed into an Angel of light And therefore the divel himself is a great promoter of this art of pargetting painting and makes use of that which we call Religion to make men more wicked loves this foule and monstrous
is to whom the law is given and if he be a man he cannot but behold it for when he sees it not he doth exuere hominem he puts off the man quite devests himself of reason and becomes like to the beasts that perish Many hindrances there may be to keep it from our eyes that we do not rightly judge of this Good in which the man is lost and swallowed up in victory Isidore of Pelusium hath given us three the 1. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the narrownesse of the understanding and judgment the 2. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sloth and neglect in the pursuit of it the 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the improbity of mens manners and a wicked and profane conversation And first the narrownesse and defect in the understanding is an evil incident but to a few for how can the understanding be too narrow to receive that Good which was fitted and proportioned to it if it will receive Evil it will receive Good for there can be no reason given why it should be as the needles eye to piety and holinesse and a wide open door of capacity enough to let in a legion of devils No this befalls none but those who know it not indeed and yet shall never be questioned for their ignorance as naturall fooles and madmen Non est dementia quae est in hominis potestate Quint. declam 348. which bring that disease with them into the world which they can neither avoid nor cure and of which the cause cannot be found out saith the Orator and these men come not under the common account nor are to be set down in the roll and catalogue of men Pet. Faber adel 124. Furiosus pro absente saith the law wheresoever they are they are as absent and whatsoever they do they do as if they did it not They are not what they are and they do not what they do and why they are so and what shall be their end is casus reservatus is lockt up and reserved in the bosome of God alone and he that shall ask how it comes to passe that they are thus and thus may well claim kindred of them both To these it is not shewed who are as far removed from being men as they are from the use of reason August l. 1. de doct Christ and how should he see a star in the firmament saith Saint Austin who cannot see so far as to my finger which points up to it how should they see this good who are so distitute of reason which is the onely eye with which we can behold it The 2. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sloth and neglect that we do not search it out not fix our eyes upon it but walk on towards our journeyes end sport our selves in the way and onely salute it in the by and then as travellers do many objects and occurences they meet with behold it passe by and forget it or as Saint James speaks look on it as on a glasse not as women with curiosity and diligence but as men perfunctorily and slightly and never once think more of what we have seen we first slight and at last loath it for a negative contempt is the immediate way and next step to a positive venit ignavia Plaut Mostell ea mihi tempestas fuit saith he in the Comedy sloth comes upon us binds our faculties and that is the tempest which spoiles us of our crop of that fruit which we might have gathered from this tree of life For though this Good be most fully and perspicuously set forth in Scripture shewn in all its beames and glory yet this gives no encouragement to neglect those meanes which God hath reach'd forth unto us to guide and direct us in our search There is light enough and it is plain is no argument that we should shut our eyes For as we do not with the Church of Rome pretend extreme difficulty and with this pretence quite strike the Scripture out of the hands of the Laity and busie their zeal with other matters bind them as a horse is bound to the mill and lead them on in the motion of a blind obedience so do we require the greatest diligence both in reading Scripture and also in asking counsel of the gray haires and multitude of yeares of the learned of those whom God hath placed over them in the Church and if the great Physitian Hippocrates thought it necessary in his art for those who had taken any cure in hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippocrat in praecep Nâ—…z cp 120. to ask advice of all even of Ideots and those who knew but little in that art much rather ought we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ask counsel of God by prayer and to be ready to be instructed by any who is a man for though the lesson be plain yet we see it so falls out that negligence doth not passe a line when industry and meditation have run over the whole book that diligence hath a full sight of this Good when sloth and neglect have but heard of its name Saint Hierom speaks of some in his time qui solam rusticitatem pro Sanctitate habebant who accounted rusticity and ignorance the onely true holinesse and called themselves the schollars and disciples of the Disciples of Christ who we are told were simple and unlearned fishermen Idcirco Sancti quod nihil scirent as if ignorance were the best argument to demonstrate their piety and they were therefore holy because they knew not what it was to be so I will not say such we have in these our dayes no they are not such as professe ignorance but who are as ignorant as they could be who did professe it Like the lilies of the field they labour not they study not and yet Solomon with all his wisdome was not so wise as one of these Some crummes fall from their masters table some passage they catch and lay hold on from some Prophet which they call theirs and this so fills them that they must vent that it runs over and defiles and corrupts that which they will not understand for bring them to a triall and you shall find them as well skilled in Scripture as he was in Virgil who having studied it long at last ask'd whether Aeneas was a man or a woman Faith is their daily bread their common language religion they speak of as oft almost as they do speak piety dwells with them purity is their proper passion or essence rather but then this Good in the text Justice and Mercy and honesty in conversation if we may judge of the tree by his fruits is not as the Psalmist speaks in all their thoughts for it is scarce in any of their wayes and we have that reason which we would not have to feare that they do but talk of it Now to cast a carelesse look upon this good is not to see it to talk of it is not to understand