the Corinthians the thirteenth chapter would that we should attribute it to sorrow for sin that it was because his sacrifice pleased not God but it is not that godly sorrow but the worldly sorrow that bringeth destruction of body and soul. The carefulnesse of Cains sorrow must be considered by the cause and effect of it Sense of evill the object of sorrow If God be the cause of his sorrow it is not to be commended for although the sense of evill be the natural object of sorrow yet God may be the matter of sorrow As if some good befall our enemie then we have just cause of sorrow but if good befall our brother the law of Nature and Gods law will not suffer us to be sorry for that But to be sorry for the good of our brother that commeth without any detriment or hurt to us that is intollerable and can be no just cause of sorrow and therefore Cain in that he conceiveth sorrow for the good that came to his Brother without his hurt is guilty of a worldly sorrow that is to be condemned The effect of his sorrow may be of two sorts First If he were sory to the end he might punish and be 〈◊〉 of himself for his carelesness in Gods service Godly sorrow then it was a godly sorrow and worthy commendation but if insteed of working revenge upon himself for doing ill it makes him persecute his brother for doing good then it is no good sorrow Secondly If it were such a sorrow as did provoke him to emulation as Gods purpose in receiving the Gentils that 〈◊〉 was to provoke the Jewes to follow their faith the eleventh chapter of the Romans and the eleventh verse then it was a godly sorrow but if it be such a sorrow as makes him worse then it is no good sorrow If we examine Cains sorrow we shall finde first it was 〈◊〉 and therefore evill for if God know not the cause as appeares in that he asks why art thou sorry then no doubt he had no cause to be sorry If we come to the supposed cause of his sorrow it was not any evill that happened on his part for then he would have sought to remove it but the cause of his sorrow was good not the good of an enemie for then it were tollerable but 〈…〉 bonum innoxium such as was not hurtfull to him therefore it was an 〈◊〉 sorrow For the effect of Cains sorrow godly sorrow doth vindicare malum in se the second to the Corinthians the seventh chapter verse the eleventh it hath two effects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not only a grief of heart for sinne committed but a taking of revenge for the same as it makes a man sorry for the sin past so it makes him carefull and zealous of himself for the time to come and this makes the sorrow of repentance acceptable to God Sorrow of envy but the sorrow of envy is no such sorrow Cain was not grieved for that he had not served God as he ought neither took he envy of himself but he doth the more hurt for through envy he slew his brother the first epistle of John and the first chapter so farre was he from being provoked by his example to good Secondly where the effect of godly sorrow is to doe lesse evill and more grod he did not chasten his body and bring it under the first to the Corinthians and the ninth chapter but he proceeded de malo in pejus the first to Timothy and the third chapter The goodnsse of Abels sacrifice did not provoke him to doe good but to doe hurt Why slaies he his brother because his brothers works were good and his own evill the first of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse The Wise man sa th anger is cruel and wrath is raging but who can stand before envy the twenty seventh of the Proverbs and the fourth verse Envy and 〈◊〉 is joyned with murther where anger and envy take place there is nothing but murther therefore they are joyned together the first of the Romans and the twenty ninth verse the fifth of the Galatians and the twenty first verse Examples and this is plain in Esau who so soon as he maligned Jacob for the birthright and blessing vowed to kill him Genesis the twenty seventh This was the effect of the envy of the Sonnes of Jacob against their brother Joseph Genesis the thirty seventh so because David was respected of the people more than Saul of whom they sang David hath slain his ten thousand and Saul but a thousand Saul was moved to envy and sought to make him away the first of Samuel the eighteenth chapter and the seventh and eighth verses And the cause why the Jewes put Christ to death was propter invidiam the twenty sixth of Matthew the eighteenth verse Envy stayeth not it self till it bringeth forth murther and therefore is to be condemned and avoided Envy the daughter of Pride and self-love Touching the originall of envy which as we see is accompanied with such effects it is the daughter of pride and self-love a drop of that poyson where with the Serpent at the first infected Eve and which Adam received from her and was derived from them both to their posterity by means whereof there are as the Apostle saith certain blinde and absurd men the second to the Thessalonians and the third chapter indeed beasts in shape of men so blinded with the love of themselves that they think no man should be respected more tham they they think themselves the only men in the world the twenty first of Job and the first and take to themselves that which God only challengefh to himself Isaiah the fourty ninth ego sum non est praeter me The absurdity of Cain thorough envy and self love was so much that he perswaded himself God ought to respect him though he did never so ill and that he 〈◊〉 not to respect Abel how well soever he did he thought Abel ought not to be better nor offer to God a better facrifice than he But if any man may lawfully strive to please God he is not rightly offended with Abel because he laboured to doe God the best service he could Cains displeasure against Abel was in respect of his good service wherein we see that verified which the Wise-man saith that there are some which fret against the Lord the ninteenth of the Proverbs and the third verse as Jonas to whom the Lord said doest thou well to be angry the fourth of Jonas and the fourth verse but the absurdity of this passion against God is more absurd for as the Rebells spake of Moses in the sixt chapter of Numbers will he put out this peoples eyes so he seeks to take away Gods justice in that he thinks much that God doth regard the good service of Abel We cannot take away his justice no
take the sword and revenge his own quarrel but in case of necessity when there is none to defend it is lawfull to use the Sword for his defence It is not lawfull originally for Cain to make his 〈◊〉 his Wife as the Fathers prove Genesis the 2. chapter and the 4. verse so where God saith therefore shall a man leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife his meaning is he will not have friendship kept within one Familie but will have men so to marry that 〈◊〉 Families may be linked together in love Again where both in Genesis the second chapter and Matthew the ninteenth chapter it is said they two shall be one flesh that is not true where Brother and Sister are joyned together for they are one flesh already in as much as they are born of the 〈…〉 Therefore where there is unity of blood between such 〈◊〉 is no lawfull marrying but necessity is without law and therefore Cain is dispensed withall because necessity caused him Touching the mixture of Brother and Sister it is 〈◊〉 to the Lord and his soul abhorrs it Leviticus the 〈◊〉 chapter and the twenty third verse but if this kinde of copulation were originally lawfull it would not be so abhominable that he would punish it in such sort Besides we see this is a thing so unlawfull that John Baptist chooseth rather to hazard his life than he will suffer this sinne unreproved which he would not have done but that it was originally unlawfull for Herod to have his Brothers Wife Matthew the fourteenth chapter For the knowledge Cain had with his wife we see that as Adam when he was cast out of Paradise knew his Wife so Cain being departed from Gods presence to a Land of trouble and disquietness having lost spirituall comforts seeks for rest in carnall delights For the procreation of Children as Sarah speaks Genesis the eighteenth chapter is an act of pleasure which albeit it be lawfull for Adam a repentant sinner yet not for Cain being in that state that he was for in the time of repentance the Bridegroom must come forth of his Camber and the Bride out of her Bedchamber Joel the second chapter and the sixteenth verse and they that are married may not so give themselves over to the flesh but that upon speciall cause sometime they give themselves to prayer and fasting in the first to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the fifth verse but Cain standing as he did at this time transgresseth the Command of God And yet touching the third point Gods goodness appeareth herein that for all that he so blesseth 〈◊〉 which was unlawfull that she conceiveth It was in Gods hand and his sinne deserved it that she should have been barren for Jeremiah the twenty second chapter in the second of Samuel the sixteenth chapter the sinne of Jeconiah and Michal is the cause of their barrenness Therefore in Gods justice it is a due punishment to all sorts not to have Children but yet as he brings light out of darkness so to shew he can of evill Parents bring forth good Children he gives Cain issue as he brought good Ezekiah out of Achan and Josia out of Ammon For this cause he gives the wicked Children as also in this regard to shew that he is able to break the Serpents head not one way only by killing sinne in men but by making them examples of his justice as in Pharaoh Romans the ninth chapter For this cause have I stirred them up even as we see the bodies of Malefactors are given to Chyrurgeons for Anatomies that in them men may see the state of our bodies and so it may be for the good of others For as it were inconvenient that evill Parents should only have evill Children because by this means evill would be infinite so it is as inconvenient that good Parents should have none but good Children for so that which is of grace would be ascribed to nature And so we see that albeit the act be unlawfull and the seed stolne yet being cast into the ground we see God so blesseth it that it is fruitfull The fourth point is that Cain called his Sons name Enoch the meaning whereof is a dedication or consecration and this gives hope as if there were some goodness remaining in Cain for those things that are built to be dedicated are Altars and Churches things for Gods use as Noah built an Altar and offered burnt offerings Genesis the eighth chapter but that which Cain built is no Altar but a City and we know Cities and Towns are dedicated to the world and the consecration that he makes is to no God except he make the world his God Philippians the third chapter his position is that gain is godliness in the first to Timothy the fourth chapter and therein he bestowes his service But after we have another Enoch so truly called Genesis the fift chapter the Son of Seth who did not depart from Gods presence as this Enoch did but consecrated himself to God and became a Preacher of righteousness who as well by his preaching as by uttering the censure of excommunication behold the Lord commeth with a thousand of Angels as Jude speaks dedicated himself to the Church but the first work that Cains Enoch sets himself about is the world This is the difference between Cains Henoch and Seths Henoch the one builds a City on earth the other seeks for a City from above whose builder is God So that there is no hope of Cains return he consecrates his Sonne and City but it is to the wrong God if to any Secondly Touching the building of the City which is a matter respecting the world before wee come to that we must know there was now a great distance of yeeres betweene the time that Cain knew his wife and the time that hee built the City for hee built not the City only for himselfe his wife and childe but was now grown to bee so great a number that hee must have a City to place his posterity in for God respecting mankinde rather then the sinne of man made the seede sowne plentifull They that came of Abraham Isaac and Jacob came but to twelve and in few yeeres of those twelve came seventy five and for the increase of mankinde Hee makes the barren families like a flock of sheepe as it is in the hundred and seventh Psalme Therefore when Cain was grown to so great a multitude he built him a City It is true of Cain which the Apostle affirmeth Hebrews the third chapter No man departs from God but by an evil heart of unbelief So Cain thinks that albeit God hath cursed that part of the earth where Adam was yet it may be the Land toward the Sun rising may be better and therefore he makes triall like the Isrealites which being forbidden to keep any of the Manna till morning for all that would trie whether it would be full of worms and being forbidden to
For these two being coupled doe fall under in one part of the division In which are offered unto us four principall matters of great regard 1. First That this World and the things wee see were not so ever but had a beginning at a certain time 2. Secondly At the beginning these things had not their being of themselves but of another 3. Thirdly That the Creation and working of them was only of God and of that God which is in unity of essence and trinity of persons 4. Fourthly That Heaven and Earth are God's and that they were made and preserved by him Touching the first in principio hath admitted a three fold sence according to the diverse conceits of divers men all which have beene received and may bee without error or danger First Origen and Ambrose doe take and interpret it as the Cause which was the beginning of all and that is Gods Wisdome which as the Cause began all And they may seeme to bee led to understand it thus by these two places the one in the 4 Prov. 7. Wisedome is the beginning c. the other 104 Psal. 24. In Wisedome hast thou made them all Therefore they thought that in the beginning is meant In Wisedome God created c. Secondly it is taken for the order of time as who should say First of all and before any thing else was done God made Heaven and Earth in the very first beginning of time that is in a moment or as it were in the twinckling of an eye 1 Cor. 15. 52. So had all things their beginning and motion in the beginning of time as they shall leave and lose it at the end and last period of time which is the Worlds end It is no danger of error thus to understand In principio Thirdly It is said 11 Heb. 3. that it is a Mystery and matter of Faith to beleeve this of the Creation in the beginning and so it is yet God hath not made our reason so repugnant from Faith even in naturall men but that even by the sense and sight of things mans reason cannot deny but must needs gather and confesse this to be true That all things were made and had a beginning And this all Heathenith Philosphers as may appeare by all books of the Gentiles in all ages since the study of learning and learned men hath beene doe plainly shew that they had in remembrance themselves and did commend to others by their writings the knowledge and acknowledgment of this universal Creation This hee proveth by those Philosophers which were as ancient as the Prophet Esdras untill late times and that they had a remembrance of Noah naming him Janus and painting him with two faces one looking into the old world before the Flood and the other beholding the world after Besides such writers of naturall men very reason doth consent hereunto That the world was made by some wonderfull Power and so had a beginning for Reason is ever naturally led to look and consider the beginning and cause of any thing it seeth as when it seeth a great Tree though it see not the roote yet it conceiveth for certain that it hath a roote which conveyeth sapp to the Tree by which it groweth and encreaseth So when it seeth a great River it by and by concludeth there is a great Fountain and head where it hath his originall and beginning Again Reason cannot abide infinite Causes as 1 Cor. 11. 3. to say the woman came of man the man of Christ and Christ of God Because divers Causes have divers times and motions but Reason will bring things to their particular head and chief causes which by one motion and at one time did it Also in that we say things are done successively by order of times neerer and farther off it argueth necessarily a beginning and therfore faith David Psal. 119 91. All things continue alike from the begining through thy Ordinance All things since in the world have beene yb Gods appointment and Decree Psal. 65.9 Paul telleth this to the wise and learned of Athens as a thing which they knew and taught in their Schools to bee true 17 Acts 24. And Plato faith it was a saying of great antiquity and credit in his time and long before That God made all things and man at a certain time which was their beginning Plutarch sheweth that some deemed the world to bee conceived and brought forth and to grow to perfection as a man and others that it was the stamp which God set on it and so all learned men in all ages and all men endowed with natural sence and right reason have beene resolved in this That the world was the workmanship of God and had his beginning The partie adverse to this truth was the first of the sect of the Peripateticks which contrary to his master Plato and all that were hefore him and contrary to his Scholar Theophrastus and the most that followed him after held that Mundus erat aeternus and so had no beginning nor maker at all yet notwithstanding this new conceit and opinion hee confesseth this twice or thrice that hee giveth credit to those ancient men which were before him which by long grounded experience and by evident demonstration and credible testimonies held and taught otherwise then hee thought and in his book de Coelo hee saith that there was a Chaos a darknesse and light which had a beginning therefore as hee seemeth to differ and leave his ancients of singularity only on a conceit and devise of his own so his Scholers and followers after him forsook him in that opinion and therefore this point standeth undoubted as ratified both by evidence of reason and by the judgement of the learned in all ages The second Point is the Creation in which wee are to note first that the things which wee see were not of themselves when they had their being and beginning because they are an effect and worke of some efficient cause for it is very absurd in reason that one and the same thing should bee both a Cause and an Effect of it selfe for so it must bee granted that a thing both was and was not at one time for as it is the Cause it must needes bee before it was and as it is an Effect it could not bee at the first so it should bee and yet not bee at one time Therefore David teacheth us to say It is hee that made us and not wee our selves wee are the Sheepe of his pasture for preservation and the works of his hands for Creation so that Job faith we must resolve That it was another that made all things and that one is God These two points that not the World but another made the World and all in it doth overthrow two errors of the Philosophers Opinio Stoicorum the one was of the Stoicks which taught quod omnia fiunt fato as if by the revolution of things and times at such
sound of voyce Psal. 14. 1. So there is a double word speaking the one is verbum vocis the other cordu But to speak truly and properly there is but one word which is in our hearts as our word is first cloathed with aire and so becommeth audible to mens eares so faith one Christ the word of his Father being cloathed with 〈◊〉 was visible and manifest to all men So to conclude the word is that he conceived first in the Closer as I may say of his 〈◊〉 and then doth make it plain here by Creation and after by redemption And here we may learn the difference between us and God In us there is one thing by which we are and another thing by which we understand and conceive things but in God both his being and understanding are of one and the same substance And this substantial Word of God is that where with St. John beginneth his Gospell God created that which was not but the word was in the begining Therefore it is verbum increatum it made all things at the beginning Coll. 1. 15. 16. Therefore it was before the beginning John 17. 5. Thus we see as Christ saith how Moses scripsit de me John 5. 46. this word of God is proceeding from God John 8. 42. as the holy Ghost doth also John 15. 26. The proceeding of the Sonne is four folde But Christs manner of proceeding is determined after four sorts First as a sonne proceeding from a Father Secondly as an Image from a Picture Thirdly as the light from the Sunne Fourthly as a word from the speaker as a Sonne from the Father Psal. 2. 7. this day I begot thee this day that is from all eternity for to God all times is as one day also he begot him in respect of the connaturality and identity of nature and substance that he hath with God the Father As an Image from a pattern that is in likeness and resemblance to the Father Coll. 1. 15. for he is like God in property and similitude of quality and therefore is called the lively and express character and graven Image form and stamp of his Father Heb. 1. 3. Thirdly in respect of Coeternity For as the light proceeded from the Sunne so soon as ever the Sunne was so did Christ the word from eternity Heb. 1. 3. and therefore he is called the brightness of his Fathers glorie So at what time God was at that time the brightness of his Sonne appeared and shone from him Last of all in regard of the immateriality 1. John 1. For as a word conceived in us is no matter or substance so this was Coemateriall but an incorporeall generation Thus we see that his proceeding is foure fold Christ distinct in person one in substance Now this word is distinct from the Father in person and one with him in substance That he is distinct from him it appeareth Gen. 19. 24. Psal. 110. 1. the Lord said to my Lord 30. Prov. 4. what is his name and what is his sonnes names Esay 36. 9. the father brought forth a sonne ergo divers from himself Touching the Godhead of Christ Job saith surely my Redeemer liveth and I shall see God with these eyes Job 19. 25 26. Psal. 45. 7. God even thy God shall annoynt thee There is God annoynting God for he is called thy God also whom wee must worship Esay 9. 6. Jer. 63. 6. his name is the righteous God In the new Testament Rom. 9. 5. even as he was verbum incarnatum 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 16. and John 17. 2. this is eternall life to know God and him whom he sent Jesus Christ. I have made it plain before that the Heathen had notice of his second person As the Persian called him the second Understanding The Caldeans called him the Fathers Understanding or Wisdome Macrobius a Counsell or Wisdome proceeding from him so may we say likewise of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is attributed to Christ for they seem not to be ignorant of that name Some called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is verbum Hermes calleth him the Naturall Word of God Orpheus the Word of the Father And Plato most plainly in his Epistle to Hormias But most strange is that which 〈◊〉 writeth inlib de preparatione Evangelii scited out of AEmilius and Heraclitus and let this suffice for the distinction of the duty and notice of Christ which is Verbum Dei Now this word hath a relation to him that speaketh it and also to the things Created therefore it is called verbum expressivum in respect of God and verbum factivum in regard of his works for his Precept did in respect of himself express his Will but in respect of us it had a power to Create and make things that were not Therefore 1. John 3. he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the 15. verse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that both in regard of his Father and us he is a word Little divinity and much danger is in those late Divines which say that this was but a temperarie word which God used in Creating all things for we see this is verhum increatum and the very root of which all that is said after are but as branches derived therefrom And thus much for the authority of this Word Fiat lux Now to the Creation of light Moses maketh plain mention That the first several thing which God perfectly made was Light Wherefore we will first speak of the Order then of the Nature God is Pater Luminum Jam. 1. 17. Therefore first he brought forth light as his sunne But some having little Philosophie in them doe reason against this work of God very impiously as if it were not to be said that light was made three dayes before the Sunne which is the cause thereof But if we respect God the Father of lights or the Sunne which is the light of the World or the necessity of light for Lux est vox verum because that which things cannot express by voyce and words they doe plainly shew by the comming of light which manifesteth all things Again God being about the work of distinguishing it was necessary first to make the great distiuguisher of all things which is light for in nocte est color omnibus idem tenebrae rerum discrimina tollunt but the light distinguisheth one thing from another Again of the three beginnings we shew that the first beginning was of time but we could not have a morning to make a first day without light of it was first made for the naturall common Clock of the world to distinguish times is the course of light and darkness which is the essence of day and night Furthermore we have seen that the Heavens were the first and most excellent therefore the light being the first quality and affection of the the Heavens the first body made must by right order be made first Last of all we
store for profit and 〈◊〉 for nothing is good in respect of God which is only speciosum videnti nisi sit commodum utenti therefore God would make it as well profitable as pleasant both for man and beast Psal. 104. 14. and prepare and make all things ready and fit for life before he made living things Which course we see usuall and agreeable to nature for God provideth still breasts full of milk before the Child be born And it is the manner and course of men in the world before they will come to dwell in and possesse a house they will first lay in their provision and necessaries for houshold A good Pater Familias So doth God deale in this place He first taketh order for our diet and fare the Flower of Meale for Bread and the Grape for the Winepresse out of the Herbe and the Plant Ose 9. 2. which Moses calleth Deut. 32. 14. the fat of the Wheat and the blood of the Grape thus he provideth for men in the Herbs and the Plants and for beasts he took order in that he left for Hay and for Pasture and Grasse of the fields Psal. 104. 14. and clean and good Provender for them Esay 30. 24. All which he did that we might be kindled with the love of God which hath been so carefull and provident for us The Decree Touching the Decree it containeth three parts First the Decree it self Secondly the Complement of it and it was so Thirdly the Censure of God in his liking and approbation that it is good Of the first of these at this time Wherein first of his speaking again When we shall consider the virtue and force of Gods dixit whereby he made and furnished all things It must teach us not despicere terras not to look downward and depend on the Earth for food nor yet suspicere stellas that is not gaze on the starres to trust in them for fruitfull increase but it teacheth us to passe beyond all these and know that all these blessings of the Earth come from God and his word which saith Let the Earth bear forth and it was so non produxit terra antequam dixit Deus producat terra for the nature of the Earth was at first empty in the second degree dry and cold which are mortiferae qualitates and will rather kill than quicken and keep any seed herb or plant But notwithstanding all this if God call for a plenty and say Let the Earth bear though there be no man to till the ground no seed in the ground no starres to give influence no means now ordeined to cause it yet it will bring forth fruit in aboundance For at this time Adhuc Adam fuit Adama that is Agricola fuit adhuc ager man was earth and yet in the dust heap therefore man was not the cause that the Earth did bear fruit neither were the Heavens and Starres any cause for they were not as yet made for the Sunne Moon and all the Stars are Juniors to the Herbs and Plants and the very Grasse and Flower of the field Ancients to them all quid ergo aspiras astra saith one to starre-gazers These plants and herbs are the influence and starres and beams shooting out of the earth as the Heavens hereafter have starres in them It is strange that Theophrastus which never knew Moses writing doth yet acknowledge this That the earth brought forth all fruits meet for man and beast before any living Creatures were on the earth If then the fruits of the earth are not from any earthly cause not from the earth it self nor from man nor from the starres we must needs conclude that they come from this dixit Deus by the blessing of his word willing it to be done the truth of which God hath sealed and signed up to us by two reasons the first St. Paul pleadeth 1 Cor. 15. 36. The second part is the Censure of approbation saying that it was good In the Preach 5. 8. the wise man being a King doth confesse that the fruitfullness of the earth is so necessarily good that no man no not the King himself can live or continue but must miserably pine and perish without his fruit and therefore St. James 5. 7. the Apostle calleth them the precious fruits of the Earth for which we wait as the hope of our life There are three goods as I told you before honestum utile jucundum each of which contain in them a double goodnesse All which three pair of several goodnesses we shall see in the earth Bonum honestum as a virtue morall which respecteth true justice equity and faithfulnesse and on the other side benignity goodnesse mercy and liberality which we shall see in the earth Bonum jucundum In that good which is called jucundum there is one speciall prerogative to delight and please the senses as to be fair and sightly to the eye sweet to the smell pleasant to the taste delightfull to the eare So there is multiplicity of delight Bonum utile For Bonum utile there is utile ferrum which we cannot be without which is durum telum and will break through walls Bonum honestum The other that is Bonum honestum is such a profit which we may be without but yet not conveniently For the first moral goodnesse though properly it pertaineth to men yet here it may be applyed to the earth and a pattern of it may be seen there For touching truth and fidelity Commit any seed into the earth it is more sure and trusty to keep it than man therefore the Husbandman having sowed his seed sleepeth securely without doubt or distrust Mark 4. 26. knowing that he dealeth with a most true just and faithfull Creature which will safely depositum servare and in due time repay and deliver his charge and that not barely in the same measure that it received it but that which is the second point it will repay besides the principall great increase very bountifully with great liberallity Psal. 72. 16. A handfull of Corn shall be sown on the hills and it shall bring forth a croppe Esay Every Corn saith Christ Matth. 13. 8. commeth up and bringeth his advantage some thirty some sixty some an hundred folde every one will be manifold Gen. 26. 12. So had Abraham and Jacob an hundred folde increase and this increase and gain it speedily returneth for it is not dealt withall as Usurers custome is that is we take in bonds and obligations but without constraint or exaction of its own goodnesse and liberality it giveth more though it be fructum indebitum that is more than it oweth us to repay any but Userers will not stand to mens gratefull return of recompence but will binde men before they lend that they may be sure of their harvest before hand but we need not deal so cruelly with the Earth for it will liberally give us if we shall thankfully praise God the maker of
Some make this question Why the lights were not brought forth before the fourth day the three first dayes were without Sunne God commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not he closeth up the starres as under a signet Job 9. 7. Resp. The question is thus answered First he brings forth the things themselves then the ordinary means the Plant is first then the seed the means of the Plant the Earth is first then is it furnished with herbs the Heavens must be before the Starres there was light the first day but the Sunne was not before the fourth day The Heathen saith that Sol est cor mundi and the Physitions say the heart is not first framed in the body but the liver and after the heart God without any means brought forth the second cause and by his power he brought forth the effects of the second cause Ambrose saith Sol est mater non author lucis The Heathen saith that deus est Plantarum the Sunne is the god of Plants but Rubus est senior Sole the Sunne is not the god of the silly Bramble The Persians seeing nothing more glorious did worship the visible Sunne The AEgyptians under Orus the Romans under Bacchus did worship the Sunne The very Jews did erect Temples and doe sacrifice to the Sunne and Moon and the whole host of Heaven neglecting the service and worship due to God who is the cause of the Sunne and of the light They be not only his everlasting lamps but even as the Heathen say they are his hammers to rarifie the Heavens their influence is for the generation of Plants and Mankinde they joyn Homo Sol Sol Planta The Sunne concurreth to generation this Philosophie teacheth and Divinity confesseth Before God said Let there be and Let there appear to be He causeth being He causeth the morning to keep his place Job 38. 13. The Sunne makes not only things to appear but even as it were to be Spiritus incubans the spirit hatched the waters and dixit Deus the word of God brings forth the light The Sunne of righteousnesse doth arise and health shall be under his wings Malachi 4. 2. He causeth the visible Sunne to shine upon the earth Christ is the spirituall light whereby the Heavens and all therein have their light Christ is the Bridegrome in his marriage chamber Matth. 9. 15. by whose permission the Sunne commeth forth as a Bridegrome also out of his chamber Psal. 19. 4. These lights though they have no tongue to speak unto us yet by their beauty they poynt to our eyes by their light they sing the glory and praise of God in our ears Now of the tenor Wherein we will consider three points First the things themselves Secondly the place Thirdly the uses of them 1. The Lights For the first There was light before these are not lumina but luminaria they are not lights but lightners Basil upon the 1 Ezech. 4. saith That the fire which was wrapped in the cloud and the brightness that was about it was the light of the Sunne And Miscen upon the 14. Exodus 20. That the piller of the cloud which gave light by night was as the Moon Light distinguished from Sunne and Moon I wish as Chrysostome that you would rather use things manifest than to be curious in things secret although the schoolmen doe say that the generation of these Creatures is a corruption of the former Creation which cannot be for corruption is a defect and this is no corruption but rather a perfection of the former Creation and these latter lights are derived from the former Light and day is not all one thing and the Sunne is distinct from them both the difference of them all Paul sheweth in one verse At mid-day he saw a light passing the brightnesse of the Sunne shining round about him Acts 26. 13. This light was lux vitae there is lux diei splendor solis The day and the Sunne are not one so saith Christ the day is the durance of the light luminare a lumine is there distinguished for the Sunne is but the carriage of the light the light and the Moon are distinct the Moon every moneth leaveth her old light and puteth on a new after the conjunction Neither the Sunne nor the Moon are light of themselves but the Sunne is the Chariot of light Paul in the 2. Philippians 15. wisheth them to be pure and blamelesse that among the wicked Nation they would shine as lights of the World John saith He was not that light but he came to bear witnesse of the light John 1. 8. It behoveth that in them which witnesse this light there should be light though they are not the light it self for otherwise they be the blinde leaders of the blinde Matth. 15. 14. The Fathers doe call the Apostles Apostoli lucis Or is one thing in Hebrew Maor is another lumen is one thing and luminare is another light is one thing and that which giveth light is another Things not durable shall be corrupt and shall be brought forth But when he purposeth a father matter and a continuance as long as the world shall continue as when he made the Heaven and the Earth the Sunne and Starres God saith sit let therebe he saith in the singular sit luminaria in the plurall let there be lights The Moon and the Starres are but as glasses having no light in themselves but borrowing it from the Sunne 2 The placing of the Sun and the Starrs The second point of consideration is the place which is most convenient in three regards The first is in regard of God and his Wisdome who is the cause of them and is above Where is the way wherein light dwelleth Job 38. 19. It is sursum it is above 2. Secondly Their place is most convenient in regard of their ministring of light to so large and spacious an house as to the whole world they doe hang in the Heavens as on a beam 3. Thirdly By this means they are in safety from the tyrannie and malice of man for if they were in mens reach they would pull the starres from their place and God from his throne Adam did eato the fruit though he were forbidden Gilead is a City of them that work iniquity and is polluted with blood Priests are murtherers in the high-way by consent there is villany in the house of Israel there is whoredome of Ephraim Osee 6. 8. But man cannot practise any of his envie against the starres which are placed on high in the Heavens So that the placing of them above in the Heavens doth signifie unto us that the cause of them is above the Heavens and the effect of their ministrating and the providence God had of their safetie 3 Their use The third point to be considered is their use which is manifold The first is to separate the day and the night which is orderly to divide the course
made which here God performeth For as it is a fault in working to labour and not to perfect so it is a fault also not to leave off when the work is well and perfect because by being over curious we make the work worse is we marre it not altogether and so make it imperfect again Yet there are some of so curious minde and withall of so restlesse a spirit Heb. 10. 25. as cannot be content with perfection it self but will depart from the fellowship of the Church They are such as Salomon speaketh of Prov. 30. 33. who will not be content when all is clean but will still be blowing the nose untill the blood follow These may be called fellows of the preterpluperfect tense whom nothing can please be it never so perfect unlesse it feed their giddy and brain-sick humors But Moses telleth us that as God is not defective in his works so he is not excessive sed manum detorquet when all was perfect he stayed his hand gave over his work and betook himself to rest And thus much of the dependance of this verse Touching the parts they are two in number 1. The one is the perfection of the works in respect of God 2. The other is his rest when he had made an end For the first we have to consider three things 1. First the action of finishing 2. Secondly the time in which he did finish 3. And the third is touching the rest it self Touching the first There was a beginning when nothing was made after he made all things he commeth to an end and there finisheth all If he be Alpha i. the beginning of a thing he will be Omega that is bring it to a happie and perfect end Revel 1. 8. Man beginneth but cannot bring to an end for these causes But with man it is otherwise he beginneth many things which he finisheth not If he purposeth good things oftentimes his courage doth quail before it come in act as Peter did Or else if they be 〈◊〉 in their purpose their strength faileth them before they can effect it Psal. 21. 11. They imagine such a devise which they are not able to bring to passe because their arme is too weak and short to doe it Or if we have strength yet oftentimes the cost and charge is too great which the work requireth Luke 14. 30. So some men take in hand to build houses which for lack of sufficient store are not able to finish Last of all Man himself very often before he can finish and come to an end of his work hath his dayes finished and his years come to an end Wherefore fear not what man can doe unto thee seeing his breath is in his nostrills for there are many wayes to prevent and alter or hinder their purpose for God can take away his breath before he can bring it to passe But God is not as man he cannot repent or alter his minde Numb 23. 19. If God saith he will doe any thing Quis impediet he would know Who can let or hinder it Esay 43. 13. Therefore this is our comfort which Moses saith Deut. 32. 4. Omne opus Dei perfectum And therfore if he hath begun any good work in us he will throughly finish it in the end Phil. 1. 6. Wherefore let us also when we have well begun never give over any good thing untill we have finished it and having well done one thing we must not then and there leave off and start aside like a broken bow from doing any more Psal. 78. 57. for God ceaseth not he never giveth over dixit fecit untill the return came fuit sic perfecit We must persevere then the Philosophers said that Perseverantia est virtus virtutum And Gregorie saith Of all Virtues only Perseverance is crowned The goodnesse and good works of the wicked are as shooting starres falling and vanishing suddenly and as a Land-flood or plash of water Ose 6. 4. which continue not but are soon dried up They are as a fire of thornes Psal. 118. 12. Therefore let us not frame our selves to their manner of doing well For Pharao ten times began well but still declined from amending the faults which he knew and confessed Exod 8. 8. c. This is their behaviour But the estate of the Godly is the state and manner of the Nazarites as St. Augustine saith that is be holy and clean all their dayes for if they touch any unclean thing the last day then all their dayes are reckoned unclean Now as we draw this from Gods perfection so for the time when he rested namely the seventh day we learn to avoid protraction and delayes For God doth not only end but he endeth also in a short time even within seven dayes which is not the manner of men who in good things are as a Snayle Psal. 58. 8. Seeing God then within seven dayes finished omnia opera sua his great works of Creation what a shame it is that we cannot finish our opuscula a few small good things in many yeers Now we are come to opus suum quod fecerat of which I will only shew you some notes which St. Augustine hath gathered out of it First saith he We may see that all that which was created before so infinite Hosts of Creatures in number and so diverse in kinde on every side and part of the World all that innumerable plurality is here by God in one rolled up and is called opus suum Though Heaven and Earth be so farre asunder and so contrarie in nature yet here they are brought to an unity and attonement the means whereof as he saith is man who being both of Heaven and Earth became vinculum perfectionis joyning both together in Man as they both together were for man and under his government Now in that he saith Opus suum quod fecerat Agustine noteth it because there are some men which doe brag of opus suum but they cannot boast of quod fecerant because there are some which doe not only build upon another mans foundation which St. Paul would not doe but also upon another mans Timber and Stones too as one having gotten St. Pauls Parchments or Epistles should say and set them out as his own but these cannot say as God here doth opus suum quod fecerat Object Now touching the third point I ask first Whether God was weary of working because he rested Resp. To which the School-men answer That rest is here not opposed to wearinesse but to work for he could not be weary of his work because all that he did was done without labour for he made all by saying only let it be But happily a man with long and much speaking may be weary But we see that God spake but even one word at least few and short words and therefore could not be weary so Also a man is not weary of that which he doth with faculty and facility
too But God doth all things not only with faculty but with the greatest facility that may be for nothing is hard to him or beyond the compasse of his power therefore we cut off all wearinesse from God and say That his resting was only a ceasing or leaving off to make any more new things for his rest is only negatio operis non affirmatio laboris Object The other question is Doth God then cease and rest from all manner of work hath he ever since done nothing more Resp. That is impossible for seeing he is Actum primum therefore he cannot be idle and rest from all things as we may imagine as he bath quietem activam so hath he motum stabilem a quiet motion without any labor and this we may learn out of Moses words for he saith not simply that then God rested but he rested from his works and not absolutely from every work but only from the works which he had created that is A novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis from creating any more things from the works of creation he rested a novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis for this was the Sabbath dayes work which then he began So saith Christ pater meus adhuc operatur ego operor John 5. 17. That is both in the propagation and bringing forth the things which he made also in preserving of them We say in the Schools that there is a double cause of things the one is causa sieri the other is causa esse The first is the cause of making As a Carpenter having made a house perfect forsaketh it and careth no more for it till it fall down or as the fire is of heat or as the clock keeper is of the going of the clock who when he hath set it to his minde leaveth it untill the plumets fall down causa esse is as the candle is of light which being taken away the light is gone So is God the cause of our life being as a candle whose being is of light And in that respect David saith Lift up the light of thy countenance as if God were our candle who being taken away our life and light is clean put out and become darknesse Psal. 104. 29. If he take away his breath from us we dye We say then that he rested not from preserving and governing though he did rest from making Hermes by the light of reason could say That it were very absurd to think that God should leave and neglect the things he had made and God imputeth it as a fault to the Ostrich Job 39. 18 19 to leave her eggs without care and regard in the sands therefore God himself will be free of that blame and blemish which he condemneth in others As we say of the Father so we say of the Sonne which is the word of God Psal. 33. 9. He commanded and they were made there is creation He said the word and they stood fast which is the second work of preservation and guiding Also Psal. 148. 5 6. He first made them with his word which is the first work of creation long sithence ended and he gave them a Law which they should not break which is the other work of establishing and governing things made So Coll. 1. 17. Paul speaking of Christ saith By him all things have their being or existence and Heb. 1. 3. By him all things have their supportance and are held up He resteth not also from the ruling and governing of the World A Sparrow is one of the basest and meanest Birds Matth. 10. 29 30. Yet their motion is directed by his providence and will yea the hairs of our head are numbred and none of them fall without his providence how much more then is he provident in disposing and governing mans motions He hath a stroke in all that we doe Prov. 16. 1. The answer of our tongue is guided by God and in the 9. verse the direction of our wayes and the end and issue of their purposes and thoughts yea he ordereth and governeth our hands and feet Psal. 33. 10. Psal. 56. 13. He I say fashioneth all our thoughts and knoweth them long before so that we have no power in our heart to think in the tongue to speak or hand to doe ought but as we are directed by God yea for things most casuall as Lots and Chances which are attributed to fortune Prov. 16. 33. Even that is ruled by the Lord God Act. 1. 26. The Lot of Matthias and Joseph called Barsabas is cast into the Lap but the Lord doth dispose it and causeth it to fall unto Matthias That also which we call Chance-medley as when many men walking in the street one of them is killed with a stone falling on him of such a chance God saith Ego Dominus extuli illum hominem Exod. 21. 13. So that God hath his stroke even in ordering such things If this be so then let us not say as they did Job 22. 13. Tush God walketh above and regardeth not the things on earth or with them God seeth us not For he both seeth governeth and preserveth all on earth For though the Lord be in heaven yet he humbleth himself to look down and behold the sonnes of men and considereth that there is none of them good Psal. 14. 2. And God hath not only Librum rerum creatarum Psal. 139. 16. But he hath a register verborum factorum of words and deeds also Mal. 3 16. And that we may know not our being only but our preserving and guiding is of the Lord and his work he will at the last bring all these things to Judgment Preach 12. 14. As for Gods rest after That he had made all things for himself Prov. 16. 4. Then did he introire in regnum suum Heb. 4. 10. So that he went out of his rest for our sakes and having made all for us he is said not to rest in his work nor after his work but from his work for he had no need of these things for he had most perfect rest in his own glory which he had before the World was made John 17. 5. into that rest then he now returned Secondly we see that in Gods rest his works goe before it for the word is not quievit but requievit which sheweth that if we be first imployed about the works of God and then rest it may well be called Gods rest but that rest which is without work is Issachars rest Gen. 49. 15. that is idlenesse and such as give themselves to that are called Cretians idle and slow bellies as St. Paul calleth them and those shall never enter into Gods rest for it is pigra vocatio and not a return to rest If God had his work six dayes before he rested in creation and if Adam had his work in the state of innocency then it is much more meet now That man should goe forth to
John 9. 6. The rock of 〈◊〉 which is set in repugnance to water Numbers 20. 11. yet out of it he caused streams to gush And this power of God appeared most in the beginning of the Gospel in setting abroad Christian Religion for as he in the beginning out of darknesse brought light 2 Cor. 4. 6. So by men of no learning no authority or countenance strength or wealth did cause the Gospell to be planted in all the World that we may know this Caveat to be worth the noting that he is the cause of things natural now in the state of generation as he was of things supernaturall in the beginning of Creation And that we may know that he is able to doe things above besides and without yea and sometimes contrarie to these ordinarie means that so we may be taught neither in the want of them to dispair nor when we have plenty to be proud and presuming in them but ever look back to God which is above all means and of himself as able to doe all in all To whom be all honour glorie power wisdome and dominion for ever and ever Amen Aut vapor ascendens è Terra qui errigaret universam superficiem Terrae c. Gen. 2. 6,7 18 May 1591. TOgether with the conclusion of the works of Creation in the fourth verse I told you that 〈◊〉 in the 5. verse adjoyned a necessary Caveat touching second causes lest now we should ascribe the proceeding and doing of things either to ordinary means or second causes either naturall as to rain or artificiall as to mens labour and industrie which two doe include all other means whatsoever To this end he declared that God is the Author of second causes and therefore as he did all things before them so now they are he is likewise able to doe and bring any thing to passe as well without them yea with means and by causes contrary to such an effect as well as with all the means that are in the course of nature or may be invented by the industry of men Moses then now passeth from the Creation of other things unto the narration of the History of Man by the 6. verse which sheweth the generation of rain spoken of in part before that so there might be an ordinary proceeding from one thing to another Now then to speak of them both apart First Touching the Creation of the Rain we must lay this ground That God either without vapours or clouds can if he please bring store of rain to the Earth 2 Kings 3. 17. which plenty by Gods power was without winde rain or clouds But for the naturall generation of Rain we must note that there are two issues proceeding from the Earth which here are set down as the causes of it 1. The first is a moist or foggie steem or vapour 2. The second a dry smoke fume or exhalation It is not wonderfull that the Earth should yeild a dry fume because it is naturally inclined to drynesse but it is strange that the Earth should give out a moist fume for that is contrary to her nature and qualities There are three estates and degrees in the generation of Rain out of the words 1. The beginning and originall of it is vapor expirans a moist steem loosned from the Earth 2. The proceeding of it is vapor ascendens lifting it self into a cloud above 3. The perfecting of it is vapor descendens which is the dissolving of the cloud and so dropping down these are three proceedings of this generation God is able to rostrain this course of the rain Job 36. 27. and might have caused 〈◊〉 not to be loosed from the Earth 〈◊〉 ascend up but to sweat out to moisten the dry clodds as it is in our bodies But God caused it to lift it self thither that he might water the Earth from his Chamber Psal. 104. 13. But being loosned from the Earth the nature of such a cloud is vanishing and dissipating it self in the Aire to nothing James 4. 14. therefore God bindeth it together in a cloud and maketh it a compact and condense matter Job 26. 8. And for the dissolving of the clouds he is said Cribrare aquas 2 Sam. 22. 12. And these are the three proceedings of rain and the three degrees ingendring it Finxit verò Jehova Deus hominem de pulvere terrae sufflavitque in nares ipsius halitum vitae sic factus est homo anima vivens Verse 7. NOw touching the 7. verse at which I said 〈◊〉 the repetition of the Historie of Man and his generation That we may not trust in him nor his help we read Gen. 1. 26. that Man was created but not whence nor how nor after what sort these circumstances are not there set down there we read that man was made Male and Female but the order how is not set down Therefore that which briefly he touched omitting some things there now here he supplyeth shewing that God first made the Man and out of his side took the Woman Concerning which having shewed that Man is made the chief Creature of all the rest both in regard of his superior part of the soul as also of the inferior part of his body and also in the end of this verse he expresseth more fully the other part of his soul and in handling both he observeth the very order which he used before First to speak of the lesse perfect and more base part of the body and then of the soul. Touching the body in the first part of the verse there is two things expressed to be considered of 1. First the Matter 2. Secondly the Mould in which he was made and framed in his bodily shape The dust is the origine and beginning of Man which though it be often repeated yet God is fain in the 3. of Gen. 19. 〈◊〉 tell it to Adam again to humble him that he may know how absurd a thing it was for him once in pride to imagine that he should be as God for he must needs see by this that he should be but an earthen God if he were any which is as bad as to be of stone or wood The Saints of God have ever confessed this to humble them As Abraham Gen. 18. 27. Job 10. 9. Psal. 104. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 47. 2 Cor. 5. 5. which doth shew that we must take notice and regard of this point to humble us that the clouds and rain were made before us and of a purer more fine and better matter than our bodies were for they were of the vapour of the Earth but we of the base and grosse clod and dust of the Earth but 〈◊〉 comfort us in this thought he telleth us that that which is wanting in the matter is supplyed in the form and shape of our bodies God by saying that he framed Man speaketh after the manner of men Rom. 9. 20 21. In which phrase of speech he is 〈◊〉
he did now For as the Angells which though they were unmarried yet notwithstanding did fall and not keep their first estate So no doubt the Divell would have been as strong in his delusions to have made him to fall as he was in deceiving his wife we may therefore lay the fault of this finne upon Eve or the Divell for as St. James saith Jam. 1. 14. It was not so much any outward occasion as his inward and corrupt concupifcence which made him to sinne But be it that she was the cause of fall yet from whence then came that occasion of evill to him Non'e e latere viri why then out of himself came all this cause of sinne But if any shall complain yet further of the womans hurt and fault let us know that this woman was made by the counsell of God the means and occasion by which amends was made and that with advantage for the evill for all the evill which she had first done for as she brought forth sinne and death so she was a means to bring forth a holy seed which should bring eternall righteousnesse and life unto all for as the Serpent should deceive the woman So it was Gods purpose that the seed of the 〈◊〉 should destroy the Serpent and his works wherefore we must not so much with grief marvail that the womans sinne was made the occasion of all our misery as with joy and comfort to wonder that God made the seed of the woman to save us from sinne and to bring us to 〈◊〉 And thus much for the resolution of these two doubts Now for the second part we see that after deliberation God cometh to this determination and saith Faciam adjutricem where we may mark that God saith not fiat as when he made other Creatures but faciam which is a word of advisement and wise deliberation whereas fiat is a word of haste and expedition to be presently done without delay which almighty God doth to put us in minde that when we goe about to get our selves wives or to give our children in marriage that we must not 〈◊〉 about it rashly or suddenly to post up such matters on the sudden but with great discretion wise advice and consultation to attempt so weighty a matter that is first by considering whether it be good or no for us that a match should be made Again seeing it is plain that God only is the giver of good and meet marriages and wives we learn that therefore it is our duty when we lack this help to pray earnestly unto God that it would please him to say unto us as he said unto Adam I will make a meet help for 〈◊〉 For want of observing which rules in 〈◊〉 it often cometh to passe that very unmeet matches and marriages hath been in the world and foul corruptions and abhominable abuses have crep into this holy ordinance to the slander and disgrace thereof for this is set down as the chiefest cause of all the monstrous sinnes of the first age of the world Gen 6. 2. Because the sonnes of God looking upon the daughters of men took them wives according to their own fancies that is rashly and headily without advice and deliberation and they took them at the first sight as pleased themselves and did not crave of God to give them such as might please him Micholl Davids wife is said to be a wife of Saules making and giving and therefore because God made not the match and marriage between them she was not a meet help but a snare to intangle him And so God doth threaten Joshua 23. 12 13. verses that if the Israelites doe after their own wills take unto them heathenish woman to be their wives which he had forbid they should be no helps to them but hurts namely They should be thorns to their eyes whips to their sides and snares to their feet because they doe not take wives at Gods hands that is such as he alloweth and willeth them to take Nam quum formavisset Jehova Deus è terrâ omnes bestias agri omnesque volucres coeli adduxisset ad Adamum ut videret quî vocaret singulas etenim quocunque nomine vocavit illas Adam animantem quamque id nomen ejus est Gen. 2. 19. Octob. 16 1591. THese words contain the occasion of the former deliberation for that there might be an orderly proceeding it was necessary that man being alone and wanting a meet help which was good for him therefore that first a generall view and survey might be taken of all the Creatures which God had made to see whether amongst so many millions of goodly creatures some one might be found for Adam to be a meet mate for him and then if the man should not finde any one fit for him God might proceed in his former purpose in making one woman meet for his company In these words therefore we have first to consider Gods commission and warrant for the ministring and bringing together all the creatures before the man Secondly Adams answer returned non est inventus for after his diligent search it is said he found no meet help for the first because it is Gods royall prerogative to cause all the creatures to make their appearance at a certain place and time which man of himself might not presume to take upon him therefore God giveth over his right by a letter of Attourny and dedimus potestatem to Adam by which he might lawfully both take a streight survey of them all and also impose names to every one of them as he pleaseth which see that this writ and warrant is given out to all the living creatures here below saving unto fishes the reason whereof is because that if there were any likelyhood at all that man might finde a meet companion and mate for himself any where then it must needs be amongst one of these two kinds of creatures either amongst beasts of the field or fowls of the aire for there be some agreement and conformity between man and beasts and birds naturally but none at all between the fish and us the beasts as we have seen are made of the same mould and matter which we are made of and the fishes were made of the slyme of the waters and not of slyme of the earth Secondly because they have naturally divers notes and voices as well as man but the fish are mute and dumb and therefore unmeet for our company Thirdly beasts and birds doe feed on earthly things as we and breathe and live in the same aire and place which we doe and doe delight naturally in the sight and company of man and easily will be made tame sociable and serviceable for man whereas è contra the fish neither feed nor breathe as we doe they cannot live in the same place and element which we doe but are as it were inhabitants of another world below us and besides this they will by no means be made tame and
is in the state of man described in the second Chapter All that shall we see in this Chapter to be overthrown by the work and malice of the Devill At the sight and consideration of which Tragedy as St. Augustine saith all the Creatures especially mankinde ought with sighs and groanes to dissolve themselves into teares to think of our and their utter and irrecoverable confusion were it not for this which is annexed unto it namely the hope of the seed of the woman promised to come at the fulness of time to restore all things which were lost in Paradise and to bring us a more excellent Paradise than that ever was The cause of all these evills which we see in us and in the world Moses here relleth us in the beginning of this Chapter to be the verifying of that Prophesie which God 〈◊〉 Adam Gen. 2. 17. that is what time soever he should sinne and break the Commandement of God he should die that is have all the Messengers and Ministers of death ferzing upon him untill death it self the reward of sinne should take hold on him which first part of the Chapter we shall divide as St. Paul doth teach us Rom. 6. 1. into two parts the first he calleth peccatum the other peccati obsonium that is into the cause and nature of sinne and into the effect and punishment which followeth it Concerning the transgression he setteth down first the temptation of sin in the first 5. verses then the preparation which is the sinne it self in the 6. verse then followeth the stipend and hier of sinne from that verse unto the 15. verse In which verse then the prophet sheweth that God in justice remembred mercie and as St. James saith caused his mercy to triumph over justice in the promised seed without which remedy Adams sinne had been incurable and his case and our condition had been most desperate whereas by this means as St. Augustine saith the Devills envy is foelix invidia and Adams sinne is foelix culpa that is falleth out to the greater glorie of all the elect sonnes of God Now more particularly we are led to consider two things in the temptation first of all the persons both agent and patient and then the allurements and inticements thereof The chief in this temptation was the Devill and the Woman and then in regard of consent Adam himself grew accessory and guilty thereof so that there were three causes of sinne The chiefest Author of it was the Devill the next is Eve the yeelder to him the third was Adam the consenter to them both Serpents we know speak not for they were not made to reason and dispute therefore we must needs understand another high person besides he Serpent which spake in him and used him as his Instrument and means to effect this evil devise And in this respect the Devill is called Rev. 12. 9. the old Serpent as his name appellative by which he was once called and Satanas Revel 〈◊〉 2. as his proper name by which his 〈◊〉 and malicious nature is made known As therefore the Devill craftily and closely did put into Judas head and heart by his suggestion how to seek Christs fall and death John 13. 2. so doth he as sly lie put into the Serpents mouth this temptation by which he might betray the first Adam and bring him to death and therefore as Christ truly though not properly called Judas Satan because he saw the Devill used him as his Instrument So by the same right and reason may we call the Serpent the Devill because it was he in this Serpent who did bring this thing to pass If any doe aske why Moses did not make mention of the Devil in all this Chapter we may say that it was Moses purpose to perform the office and duty of a Historiographer which is only to make a plain and true report of the outward accident and thing which was sensibly done leaving the hidden and secret meaning and true understanding of those things which are mysticall unto his Interpreters and Expositors For to this end Moses had some alwaies in Gods Church which did not only read the letter and words of his writings but also expound the true meaning thereof and what Expositor is there but by the consequence of this story and by conference of the Scriptures can otherwise understand this then of the Devill Our Saviour Christ telleth us that the Devill was a lyer and murtherer from the beginning John 8. 44. that is he is the primitive and principall Author of all untruth and evill therefore is he called that evill Matth. 13. 19. and the deceiver of mankinde Revel 12. 9. and therefore Moses doth first deal with this evill one and setteth him down as the chief author of this evill under the form and name of a Serpent Touching him therefore we must know as I told you Chap. 2. 1. that when God is said to make the hoast of heavenly Creatures that then also he made the Angells as David saith Psalme 148. 2. which Angells God made 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to be his ministring spirits Psalme 104. 4. but some of them kept not their first estate Jude 6. but fell away from their holy and blessed estate in which they mere made and so there they became evill Angels reserved in chains to everlasting fur Of this fall of Angells Job seemeth to have knowledge Job 4. 18. God saith he found folly even in his Angels Christ maketh mention of their fall Luke 10. 18. and the cause of their fall is said to be sinne 2. Pet. 2. 4. and the particular sinne may seem to be pride Isaiah 14. 13. 14. ero similis altissimo for which cause that sinne is called morbus Satanicus and as the wiseman saith initium peccati est superbia But we will not curiously inquire what speciall sinne it was which caused his fall because indeed it is sufficient for us to know in generall that sinne was the cause thereof that we may the more beware of it He then being fallen became not only an adversary to God which cast him off for ever but also an envious enemie to mankinde for not being able to wreack his mal ceagainst God he maliciously invented and attempted all the mischief and evill he could against man which was the Image of God and the only Creature on whom God had set his heart and delight to doe him good For as they which love the Father cannot but love and shew kindness to his Children which are deerest to him as we see in Davids example So è contra hatred and malice make evill mindes to doe their enemies hurt 〈◊〉 despite even in the things which are most deer and precious unto them so is the Devill said to doe Rev. 12. 13. when he was not able to hurt the Woman he pursued with hatred and rage her Child which she brought forth and because he could not reach to him being ascended therefore he still persecuteth his
naked and you cannot deny but that you informed your selfe with that knowledge of evill and it is plaine that there is none in all the world which hath taught or told you so therefore I conclude against you that there was no way for you to know this but only by eating of the forbidden Tree of knowledge whereof I therefore challenge and charge you These then are the two points of proceeding That there be a state of the question in controversy made drawing it to an issue and then that there be proofes and arguments brought to convince the falshood and to shew the truth that so controversies may be justly determined as wee may see in this Case which is brought in tryall here Adam saiththat hee did flie and hide himself indeed but the motives and causes which induced him to doe it and the reasons why he did it were because Gods voice was so fearfull and because God had made him naked Now God joyneth with him in the point and will prove that it was not Gods workmanship nor his voyce but Adams own sinne which was the true cause of his flight and hiding So in Acts 24. 14. S. Paul being arraigned and indicted before Foelix hee doth not absolutely deny the matter which they layed against him but confesseth how farre hee is guilty and in what respect he is not saying I confesse that I worship God after that manner which they lay against me and call Heresie but it is not Heresie let them prove that and I will yeeld for it is according to the Scriptures Thus he shewed how far he did that they accuse him of and how far he will 〈◊〉 and shew good reason that he did not so as they charged him falsly that so the matter in Controversie before the Judge might grow to an issue and point agreed upon between them and that the state of the question might bee known truly unto all There be two things therefore to be performed on both parties in strife which the Judge must take order for that the matter may be decided The one is called Citatio realis The other is probatio realis and both of them are most necessarily required adcognitionem rei for they must not only be caused to appeare before the Judge but also when they have made their appearance they must not stand dumb and speechlesse before the Judge but both speak and declare for themselves And we may see it warrantable by Gods word and the practise of the Church that not only a party may be caused to witness a truth before the Judge for or against his neighbour in a matter doubtfull and that upon his oath as we may see Leviticus the fifth chapter and the fourth verse and the first of Kings the eighteenth chapter and the tenth verse but also in the clearing of himself being suspected as we see Jeremiah the thirty sixt chapter and the seventeenth verse Acts the twenty third chapter and the twentieth verse yet there are exceptions to be taken in this matter as we see Jeremiah the thirty eighth chapter and the fourteenth verse when the King would bring Jeremie to examination in a matter that concerned himself Jeremie made his exception If I confess and tell all wilt thou not kill me for if the matter be capitall and concern mans life he will not to indanger his own life answer no to the King and the reason why a man in that case should not be bound to be a witness against himself is because the Devill saith Job the second chapter and the fourth verse A skin for a skin a man will doe or say any thing to save his life and therefore no reason to urge a man so hardly in so high and capitall a point But in other cases which only concern the loss of goods or a matter of some punishment and mulct a man must not refuse to answer and that upon his oath and this we see also warranted even by this judgment of God And so consequently all these actions in our course of judgment being laid to this rule of Gods first judgment and the proceeding of justice being weighed in this balance in the twenty eighth chapter of Isaiah and the seventeenth verse that is all things being done uprightly agreeable to this pattern of Gods proceeding we may be sure that it is good lawfull and just Cui dixit Adam Mulier ista quam posuisti mecum ipsa dedit mihi de fructu illius arboris comedi Gen. 3. 12. February 10. 1591. ALmighty God having in the former out of Adams own mouth and confession in his answer joyned issue with him upon the discoverie of his nakedness and upon it so effectually concluding his sinne and transgression which he could by no means avoid or dissemble any longer therefore here we shall see how he is inforced to confess it which confession of his as St. Gregarie saith whereas it should have been such as might have made an end of all and procured a pardon but saith he I would it were not such as maketh him more culpable and his sinne more hainous for we shall see and finde that this his confession needeth a pardon as well as his transgression for it is a confession extorted and wrung out of him whereas if it had been done willingly and of his own accord it had been far better and more acceptable In the tenth verse before Adam did offend as we saw in his Apologie defending his sinne now being beaten from that hold he fleeth to his Castle of excuses and as his defence stood in two points quia nudus qui aaudivi vocem so his excuse also consisteth of two points God and the Woman for saith he the Woman which thou gavest me gave me of the apple and I did eat that is as it is not simple so it is not sincere For Pride as we said hath two twins the first is before the act of sinne before the fall namely to desire to be better than they are and to be in higher estate than God hath placed them The other after the fall namely a desire not to seem so ill as they are indeed Arrogantiae est tumor in tremore Humilitas tumor in timore The first is Arrogancy This is Hypocrisie both the whelps of pride and vain glory which at last turneth to shame But the last is so much worse than pride because it is tumor in timore it is as much as to be proud when one is at the lowest and so to life up himself which is most unseemly That reall Hypocrisie in action of which we have spoken before consisted in two points In volucro in latibulo So here now we may see a double verball hypocrisie in tongue and speech That is if there be any good thing praise worthy that we must have ascribed wholly to us but if any evill thing be apparant that must be put as farre from us as may be Before his
ninth verse he is brought forth of his Goal and arraigned having his indictment and accusation laid against him and he is permitted to speak for himself in the tenth verse he pleadeth not guilty alledging reasons why in the eleventh verse God traverseth the cause by joyning issue with him and in the twelfth verse we have seen his confession and his allegation why sentence should not proceed against him Now in this the other party guilty which was accused before is brought to her triall in which for the Judicials and manner of proceeding the generall intent of God is not only to convent before him a Malefactor but not to give over untill he hath found out the principall that is to finde who hath been chief in the trespass and as some say to make diligent search whose hand was deepest and most 〈◊〉 in this offence In Physick we are taught to search to the bottom and goe to the Core In Logick we are taught to bring and reduce every thing that is said or reasoned upon unto the principall action or rule by which it is scanned In Divinitie it is a point especially materiall as our Saviour Christ saith to goe to the beginning and first institution of things to see how it was then And this is Gods course in judgment to find out the principall and chiefe cause of evill things which are committed The way and manner of finding this out is by inquirie and by way of interrogations ministring interrogations unto him for all crimes and sinnes being works of darkness and therefore as much as may be hid and concealed from apearing in the light and sight of men therefore the praise and labor of a Judge is to finde and search it out that being brought to light ill works may be reproved the third of John and the twenty first verse For this cause this duty is enjoyned by God to all Judges after two waies the thirteenth of Deuteronomie and the fourteenth verse ut perscrutarentur interrogarent that by search and diligent inquirie the truth might be boulted out It is the course to be taken in the case of murder the twenty first of Deuteronomie and the fourth verse In the case of adultry the fisth of Numbers and the fourteenth verse In the matter of theft the twenty second chapter of Exodus and the eighth verse 1 Reg. 8. 31. And it is the course which may be holden in any Crime or Cause whatsoever that upon good and sufficient presumptions and detections they may proceed to inquire diligently and the party called in question is bound to make answer to purge and cleanse himself which is suspected or accused for this is the ground and foundation on which God frameth his action against Eve Adam saith that thou his wife diddest intice perswade him to eate thereof The question therefore which I demande of thee is why hast thou done this And this is that to which she is bound to answer Now if we looke to her answer which she maketh unto the interrogatorie propounded to her we shall see it very frivolous for God asketh quare and she answereth to quis Some think that it was for fear or shame or else as others say for the defect of a right and a true cause For well may one alledge the tempter and occasion which moved or sollicited us to sin but otherwise no right or proper cause of sin can be assigned But howsoever it is we must take her answer as it is First we see that she is not mute or silent but knoweth how to shape an ill answer and to make an excuse as well as her husband God saith in the fiftieth Psalme and the one and twentieth verse because I held my tongue and envyed no more against mens sin therefore the Devill hare Eve in hand that Adams excuse went for good payment and put God to silence as if it had been so full an answer to God as that he could say no more against him and therefore seeing that held so well he perswadeth the woman to take the same course for we shall perceive that both her and her answer are so like as if they had been framed in one forge for the like pride we see in both which will not seem so ill as they are but doe lay the fault upon another to excuse themselves Secondly the method and form of answering is alike and even the same in both their answers but the substance and matter of the excuse is not one and the same for Adams excuse was his wife Eve but her excuse is the Serpent so that if we compare Adams answer and Eves together we shall see in what they agree and wherein they differ both of their confessions are extort and indirect both are maimed and unperfect and neither of them can plainly say peccavi c. Usus Out of which we learn that both these came from one Schoolmaster Sathan the Author Accuser and Procter of all sinne and he doth mankind more hurt when he is an Advocate and Proctor giving us counsel how to defend and excuse our sinne than when he is an accuser accusing us of sin to God the Judge of all because when the Devill is only an accuser against us Christ will be our Advocate to plead our cause for us and an Intercessor and Mediator for us to his Father and he being on our side we need not fear though he Devill be against us But if we entertain the Devill for our Proctor Christ will be a 〈◊〉 Judge against us to condemne us and oppose himself to the Devill Therefore the Devill careth not what excuse we alledge though they lay the blame of their sinne upon him he is content to beare it rather than they should confesse their sin plainly and make Christ their Advocate To cover and conceale sinne is a double sinne and not to confesse it plainly is partly pride and presumption or else servile fear and dispaire fearing lest they should confesse all to God as though he had not goodnesse or mercy enough to forgive them or else they conceale it of pride presuming that God cannot see and finde out that which they dissemble and hide from the eyes of men So we see that it is a compound sinne though the woman be in impari sexu yet she is pari superbiâ as proud as he and as farre dead in hiding and dissembling sinne as he and as well able to say for herself as he A difference of Confessing finnes thus pride maketh men ashamed to confesse or else so to confesse that one may see a plain difference between the confession of a proud and a poor humble sinner between the confession of the good and faithfull and the evill Infidells Between Sauls confession and Davids Sauls confession smelleth of pride in the first booke of Samuell fifteenth and the thirtieth verse Peccavi saith he sed honora me That is he would so confesse his sin that he might keepe
recoverie and amendment But for him that was so indurate in malice that to his power exalting himself to be like God added this malicious and envious seeking of the fall of others there was no hope either of pardon from God or of amendment in him for when Christ came into the world he said to Christ Quid nobis tibi there was no hope of him being in the state of a Rebell and so the seeking of the examination and tryall of him as of the other would not avail Now to the first part that is the Reason In which we are to consider this Why God begins not absolutely Maledictus es but Maledictus quia and so renders a reason why he is accursed so executes the sentence though not judicially according to course of Law yet justly that the mouth of all the world might be stopped and that the infernall spirits themselves might be enforced to acknowledge that the Lord is righteous and his judgements just Psal. 119. 137. That the judgement is just though the tryall hold not the reason is quia fecisti hoc he was the doer of that and was the contriver of the platform of that act and therefore God begins with him wherein as the ancient Fathers note God would have us to observe two senses first the sense of the emphasis and the second of difference For the emphasis Gods meaning is because thou hast done this quia fecisti hoc that is that thou hast overthrown Man for whom all things were created and consequently so much as in thee lay hast sought to overthrow my determinate Councell and to bring to naught all that I have made therefore thou art cursed for doing this Then for as much as we see this emphasis of Heaven and Earth it should make us consider the greatnesse of sinne which moved the son of God not only to take our flesh but to shed his blood also even for this hoc That men would remember when they sin that they are about a hoc that brought all the curses which followed after that therefore they should not make a light accompt of it reckoning it a small matter but to reckon of sinne as God quare 〈◊〉 hoc And as it serves by way of vehemencie to aggravate the offence of the offence so it serveth for distinction As if God should say another thing Thou hast done but because thou hast done this therefore the sentence is come upon thee Thou thoughtest in thy self to make thy self equall with God Isay 14. and because thou hast done that that is come upon thee which Christ saith Matth. 25. Ever lasting fire is prepared for thee But now because thou wast not content with that but hast mingled poyson whereby thou hast venomed and poysoned others because thou hast been an homicide for that is his second fault John 8. 44. there is thy punishment for doing this Now we see the ground of Gods proceeding with him The sentence in it self consists of four parts which we reduce to these two one concerns himself the other us That which respects him is in this verse that which concerns us is in the next The first is threefold First That he is cursed above all Cattel and above all the Beasts of the field Secondly That he shall goe and creep upon his belly Thirdly He shall eat the dust of the Earth Wherein as in the beginning generally so here in special you are to consider the Analogie of every part of his punishment First then he is maledictus and the reason is quia maledixerat maledictio doth in justice befall him quia loquutus est malè as you may see in the five verses before not that God had done it but it came of himself for he had defamed God speaking evill of God great reason it is then that evill speech should befall him So there is an equality between the Devils sinne and his punishment Now in regard of the second which is in the 15. verse That he should goe upon his bellie for as much as he doth take upon him to exalt himself Isay 14. And for that he tells Eve If yee eat of it eritis sicut Dii therefore he is cast down the proportion to him that will flie is by the contrary to creep not to goe on his leggs but on his bellie So the Serpent because he would flie up into the highest place is made to creep on his bellie So the second part of the Sentence stands with equity As also the third for his temptation was that they should eat of the forbidden fruit now cibi prohibita poena is that he that lusts after that he should not eat shall be forced to eat that he would not as Augustine saith In Psal. 106. they that long for meat which they ought not to desire shall be punished with eating that which their soul most abhorreth that is for the equity kept in the three branches of this Sentence Concerning the Serpent himself In the first branch which is thou art cursed are two points very necessary to be considered First That God saith Maledictus es and not Maledictus sis for thereby God plainly sheweth that it comes not from him but from the Serpent for then he would have said Maledictus sis but it is Maledictus es shewing that the Serpents curse comes from himself So all the curses miseries and calamities of this world and torments of the world to come proceed not from him but from himself as Job calls them sparks Job 5. 7. So they are the very sparks of the fire of concupiscence of sinne that is kindled in us as also the Prophet saith the fruit and crop of that seed of sinne is calamitie and miserie Hos. 10. 13. which was is and ever shall be the fruit of it therefore called the Revenues of sinne Prov. 12. 16. and the wages of sinne Rom. 6. that is there was an evill in him first to speak evill of that partie in whom was noe evill and so malum ad se malum trahit one evil brings another the Serpents evil speaking is the cause that evill is spoken of him for that is it that makes the difference as Pro. 26. 2. there is a curse that is causlesse and that shall return upon himself as Shemeis curse against David 2 Sam. 16. So should the curse of Balaam if he had cursed the People of God but he was wiser and said How shall I cursewhere the Lord blesseth but it is otherwise when Noah a just man 〈◊〉 Canaan Gen. 9. And when Elisha cursed the Children that called him baldhead 2 Reg. 24. they were cursed indeed for when it is a just curse and hath root in 〈◊〉 es then it takes place for we see there was a maledictio in those persons whom Noah and Elisha cursed they had spoken evill before and therefore evill is spoken of them for one evill is a loadstone or jet stone to draw another evill It is that which Jerome notes upon 1
of the one Psalm 104 15. So long as Adam was obedient unto God the earth yeelded all aboundance without travell of it self for thorns there grew firre trees for nettles the myrrhe tree as it is Isaiah 55. 13. then was the earth a kinde and fruitfull Mother but by this course of mans disobedience the earth is become a Step-mother and without labour she yeeldeth 〈◊〉 sustenance yet for all mans labour it may yeeld barrenness according to Jeremie 12. 13. they have sowed wheat and reaped thorns they have no profit of their labour because of Gods anger Upon the Malediction of the earth followeth a necessary consequence of mans labour for if the earth that was blessed before the 12. of the 1. Chapter is here cursed for mans sinne the fruitfulness must be recovered by mans labour so that labour is a consequence of the earths Curse Three things in the Curse And in this Curse we observe these three things First the earth cursed First the earth it self is cursed In the 1. Chapter God said that the earth should yeeld hearbs with seed and trees with fruit of it self it was so there was fertility and fecundity by Gods breathing that in the Scriptures is called a blessed field wherein is plenty If man had stood upright there should have been plenty without pain taking yet man should not have been idle there should have been labour with pleasure but sinne hath made it with pain The staffe of bread should have indured but God will break the staffe of their bread Leviticus 26. 26. There shall be no more plenty but penurie and of it self germinabit spinas tribulos it shall bring forth weeds thorns and thistles and in aboundance Secondly the Cause The second thing is the Cause of the Curse for thy sake In the 3. of Habakkuk 8. The question is whether God were angrie against the Rivers the Floods and the Sea as much to say they have not offended Here the earth hath done no offence it was not cursed for it self non in se sed propter te in quantum maledicta fuit propter te It is all one to the earth in regard of it self whether it be barren or fruitfull for when it doth fructifie it is not for it self it is insensible of punishment but it is all for mans sake Man is as the great Sphear the primum mobile to the other Creatures his obedience to God drawes the obedience of Plants Trees Beasts and all the Elements unto him 〈◊〉 during his obedience all Creatures are serviceable unto him but afterwards the earth was unkinde and as he moves all Creatures move with him if he move against God all move against him The originall world of mans integrity was a Mirrour for the ancient Fathers are of minde that the Sun was more clear the waters more pleasant the earth more fruitfull all things more perfect then all the trees of the field did clap their hands as it is the fifty fifth of Esay the twefth verse But man changing all was turned upside downe all things were changed the Sunne was 〈◊〉 the waters overflowed the ayre with cold pierced the earth was barren and herbs poysonsome and the one and thirtith of Job verse the fourtith requiteth that of the fifty fifth of Esay afore mentioned Thistles grew instead of wheat and cockle in stead of barley and as it is in the hundred and seventh Psalme and the thirty fourth verse God hath turned a fruitfull land into barrennesse the cause is given because of the wickednesse of the 〈◊〉 In the twenty sixth of Leviticus the eighteenth twenty fourth and twenty eighth verses God saith If they will not obey for love nor for feare hee will punish them seven times more according to their sinnes and yet seven times more then that and if for all this they will not obey him but walke stubbornly God will chastize them from seven to seven times more and still increase their punishment seven times The causes must bee distinguished the earth of it selfe before was fruitfull now of it self it is infertile because the Creature Man is subject to vanity in the eighth of the Romans and the twentieth verse and as it is in the twenty fouth of the Prov. and the thirtieth verse the field of the Sluggard is grown over with thorns and with nettles If man be sluggish the earth must be fruitless so that the earth must be laboured and that labour must be qualified the labour must be great else it brings forth the cockle for corn this is the perfection of punishment for according to the sixth of the Hebrews and the eighth verse The field that beareth thorns and thistles is neer unto cursing whose end is to be burned Thirdly Labor continued and this labour must be continued which is the third thing the continuance of it which is of three forts First It is not simple labour for a day or two but cunctis diebus vitae in youth and in age even to death as it is in the nineteenth verse In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return to earth St. Austin saith there is perpetu◠corruptio and perpetuus labor sloth is punished with continuance of labour in the second of Samuell the eleventh chapter and second verse thy idleneness fell to lust and as it is in the first to Timothie the fifth and the thirteenth idleness leadeth to all sinnes Secondly It is continued with patience what if thou labour and it bringeth forth spinas tribulos thorns and thistles yet must thou bear it and labour still in the sweat of thy face like him that planted a Vineyard with much pain and great cost and he looked it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wilde grapes and as it is in Psalm 127. the labour is in vain unless God blesse it Plenty commeth not by mans labour but by Gods mercy Vain therefore were they the first of Habakkuk the fifteenth That took fish with the angle and the net and gathered it in their yarn and when they had done did sacrifice to their net and burned incense to their yarn because by them they thought their portion was fat and their meat plentious Their labour is even nothing without Gods blessing lest as in that place of Habakkuk they should deifie their own labour though the earth be unkinde labour thou still and boast not of thy labour lest it be vain Thirdly as it is in the 10. of the Preacher the 10. If the Iron be blunt it must be whet to have an edge and if need be of a better edge then it must be whet with more strength And here if great labour will not serve greater must be added harder labour must be used it must be labor sudoris if thou wilt have hearbs for thy meat only smaler labour will serve but if thou wilt feed upon bread thou must use much labor thou must labour and sweat thy nutriment
countenance The other of the countenance Why is thy countenance cast down Concerning both which in that God knoweth no cause of Cain's sorrow it is plaine that it was an evill sorrow for God alloweth not that sorrow for which we cannot give a reason Note A reason to be given of our sorrow and actions And as God will come one day to ask an account of our works so we must every one give a reason of our actions in the fourteenth chapter to the Romans and the twelfth verse and in the first cpistle of Peter the fifth chapter But if we be not able to give a reason of those things which we doe then are we as bruitish as unreasonable beasts God teacheth man more than the beasts of the earth giveth him more wisdome than the fowles of heaven Job the thirty fifth chapter verse the eleventh Therefore man ought to doe God more service than they Therfore the Prophet saith in the thirty second Psalm Be not like horse and mule that have no under standing We are as the Apostle speaks men of understanding in the first to the Corinthians and the tenth chapter such as ought to doe nothing but what they can give a reason for Therefore the word is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the second verse and the service that God requireth of us is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the twelfth chapter to the Romans and the second verse and they that doe otherwise are not only evill but absurd and unreasonable men in the second to the Thessalonians the third chapter and the second verse All kinde of sin is unreasonable As God sets this brand upon all kinde of sinne that is unreasonable Chiefly hatred so chiefly the sinne of Cain for his hatred towards Abel was not for evill but for good In naturall reason we are to love good things and hate evill but where he hated his brother because his works were good and his own evill the first epistle of John the third 〈◊〉 and the twelfth verse it appeares that his sinne was bruitish and unreasonable which unreasonable kinde of dealing the holy Ghost expresseth Is thine eye evill because his is good Matthew the twentieth chapter and the fifteenth verse We must make account for gestures of our bodies Secondly for his countenance God will have an account of the gestures of our bodies for as they were both created and redeemed by God so we must glorifie God both in body and spirit the first to the Corinthians the sixth chapter and the twentieth verse God alloweth no affection that is causless and therefore condemneth unadvised anger as a sinne Matthew the fifth chapter which was Cains sinne The second motive is If thou doe well shalt not thou be rewarded and accepted where in he wills us to look not only to the ground and cause of our actions but to the end of them as if God should say if reason cannot move you to hate sinne yet let affection move Affections Hope Fear Now there are two chief affections which move the life both of man and beast that is hope and feare first God moves with the hope of reward If thou doe well shalt thou not beeaccepted then with the fear of punishment but If thou doe evill sinne lyeth at the dore By the first question Gods meaning is Am I such a one as doe not regard well doings All Scripture affirmeth that God tendreth goodnesse dicite justo quia bene erit merces so saith Jehosaphat to the Judges in the 〈…〉 Isa. Be of good courage and 〈◊〉 it for the Lord will bee with the good the second booke of the Chronicles and the ninteenth chapter with whom the Apostle agreeth Be stedfast and unmoveable quia labor vestra non erit inanis in Domino as it is in the first of the Corinthians and the fifteenth chapter and the conclusion of the whole Scripture is Behold I come shortly and my reward is with mee the two and twentith chapter of the Revelations and the second verse If our love were perfect it would cast out feare and wee should not neede to bee drawne to doe well with hope of reward but because there is great imperfection on both parts during this life therefore wee have neede to bee stirred up to doe well with the one and terrified from doing evill with the other The reason why David hearkned to Gods statutes was propter retributionem Psalme the hundred and ninteenth Moses was contented to suffer adversity with Gods people for that hee looked to the recompence of reward Hebrewes the eleventh chapter so that it is Gods will we should take notice of this word of comfort that if wee doe well wee shall bee accepted The word Neshah used in the originall hath two significations both to reward and to forgive as it is in the thirty second Psalme Blessed are they whose intquities are forgiven the first sense hath reference to the fourth verse where it is said God had respect to Abel and his sacrifice And for the other sense thou shalt be forgiven It is agreeable to the Scripture which teacheth us that to ridd our selves of sinne wee must breake off iniquity with right dealing Daniel the fourth chapter and mercy Joel the second chapter and the thirteenth verse sanctifie a fast call an Assembly then shall the Lord bee mercifull and Peter to Simon Magus Pray to God if so bee the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee Acts the eighth chapter and the twenty second verse But Abel did well and that was 〈◊〉 rewarded in this life for his brother killed him he was not rewarded here therefore it followeth he was rewarded in the life to come For God is not unrighteous to forget the labour of our love Hebrews the sixth chapter and the tenth verse though God forget us on earth yet we shall be remembred in heaven It is a righteous thing with God to recompence them which are troubled with rest when the Lord Jesus shall shew himself from heaven the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the sixt and seventh verses So that the second motive to drive us from sinne is that it deprives us of the reward and sets us out of the hope of Gods favour In which case we must practise the counsell of the holy Ghost Apocal. the second memor esto unde cecider is resipisce The third motive is that if thou doe not well sinne lyeth at the dore which is the corrective part as if God should say though neither reason can move nor hope of good yet let this move us that sin doth not only deprive us of God but brings eternal destruction si bonus non infructuosê si malus non impunè for God takes order that neither good shall be unrewarded nor evill unpunished sinne shall not only deprive us of our hope and shut us out of heaven but lock us fast
fac cito John the thireenth chapter and the twenty seventh verse only Cain and Judas wanted but opportunity which so soon as they had obtained they committed their sinne actually The causes of Cains proceeding to the committing of this act are diverse down after diverse sorts First he seeketh a convenient place and opportunity and maketh choyce of the field because he would not be hindred in doing the murther for he could not have any opportunitie at home for Adam and Eve being at hand would have been ready to hinder him And as he makes choyce of this place not to be hindered so in that after he denyed the fact it appeareth his desire was as well not to be discovered as not to be hindred Wherein we have to respect first his great blindness that could not see the nature of sinne for in that he sought such a place for the doing of it as might be hid and unknown It is strange he could not perceive it to be a work of darkness his own conscience did condemn him for he durst not be seen to doe that which he did but in hypocrisie would seem not to be what he was this was his way and we must beware that we walk not in it Again it is strange that he was more afraid of Adam a mortall man than of the omnipotent God and was more fearfull that Adam his Father a mortall man should see him than that God who is able to grinde him in a morter should behold his fact Wherefore as sinne is a dishonest thing perswading against all reason to fear man more than God so is it a dishonest thing for that we will not be seen to commit sinne as a thing that standeth not with their credits and therefore make choice of such places as are fittest for the concealing thereof Note Secondly he deviseth how to draw Abel to that place and what means to use that Abel might goe confidently with him thither To that end though he have not now spoken to him of a long time yet he is content to speak kindly to him The heathen man saith that if a man will hate he must doe it apertè unless he will be worse thin wilde beasts for they violenly flie upon those things which they hate Dissembled hatred discovered by silence but the Devill hath taught men to dissemble their hatred that they might be worse than beasts Hatred commonly is discerned by silence one argument of that hatred and grudge which Josephs bretheren bare to him was not potuerunt alloqui illum Genesis the thirty seventh chapter and so Absolom having conceived hatred and displeasure against Ammon spake neither good nor ill to him the second of Samuel and the thirteenth chapter but as the 〈◊〉 when he most of all hated our first Parents would seem to be touched with some commisseration of their estate Genesis the third chapter Note Hath God indeed said ye shall not eate Nay but he knoweth c. So he 〈◊〉 Cain to dissemble his hatred with fair words which dissimulation is a sinne condemned not only of the heathen but abhorred by the Saints of God For when such a one as walks in the house of God with him as his friend and companion should deceive him then David had cause to pray against such a one Psalm the fifty fifth Let death seize upon him Cain though he hated his brother and purposed his death yet to accomplish his purpurpose he makes a fair semblance of love Example So Absolom being minded to murther Ammon pretends great love to him he must needs have Ammon to the Sheep-shearing or else all his cost is lost But shall not Ammon my brother come the second of Samuel and the thirteenth chapter this course took Joab with Amasa the second of Samuel and the twentieth chapter so Judas dissembled his malice with hail Master and kissed him John the twenty ninth This sin is abominable yea it containeth seven abominations as the Wiseman tells us Proverbs the twenty sixth chapter and the twenty fifth verse and they that 〈◊〉 hatred with love and slattering words walk in the way of Cain That which Cain spake with Abel when they were alone as St. Jerome thinketh was that he 〈◊〉 Abel what God had said to him and what he had taught him the 〈◊〉 referres it to this verse that his words to him were eamus ad agrum whatsoever it was he said it was abominable hypocrisie Thirdly we see that Abel obeyed the voice of his elder brother for that it was Gods will he should bear rule over him so he went thinking all had been well The best natures not suspicious for the best natures are least suspicious as we have an example in Gedaliah who beleeved that Ishmael had no purpose to hurt him Jeremiah the fourtieth chapter for charity is not suspicious in the first to the Corinthians and the thirteenth chapter especially Abel had little cause to suspect him that was come from a Sermon and seemed to be a new man Note so that he spake kindly to him that had not given him a good look along time This change in Cain made Abel to goe with him and being in the place appointed Cain arose and slew him Degrees of Cains sinne 〈◊〉 Touching the death of Abel we are to observe from the words First it was a violent death for his life did not goe out of him but as the word signifieth it was rent from him Secondly it was a bloody death as the words of God to Cain shew The voice of thy Brothers blood which thou hast slain cryeth to me verse the tenth Thirdly it was a sudden death and therefore more grievous because thereby not only the body is killed but the soul also of such a party that is in state of sinne and hath not respite graunted to repent thereof In this act of Cain we have to observe these things wherby his sin is aggravated First the sinne which he committeth is murther a sinne the more grievous for that it is the defacing of Gods Image Genesis the ninth chapter Secondly his fact the more odious for that the party murthered is one more weak than himself for he was younger than Cain therefore it was a cowardly part to set upon his inferiour It is the thing which the Wise-man complaineth Ecclesiastes the eighth chapter I saw one man bear rule over another not for good so the authority and superiorty which was committed to Cain should have been for Abels good but he abused it to the hurt of his younger brother Thirdly where God will not have any innocent blood shed but sacrifice must be offered Deuteronomie the twenty first chapter Cain kills innocent Abel which doth in a third degree aggravate his sinne for to shed innocent blood is a thing that Pilate himself could not abide and therefore washed his hands declaing that he was clear from killing Christ Matthew the twenty seventh chapter and the twenty fourth
carnall and are not spirituall Temperance will make men depart from the flesh and grow spirituall and so be like the 〈◊〉 nature To Temperance hee exhorts to add Patience the first voice of this quire which the Apostle reckons among the fruits of the Spirit Galathians the fift chapter and the twenty third verse for three reasons as the Philosophers observe to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is next adjoyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the effective part is joyned courage For as is observed from John the first chapter and the thirteenth verse not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man There are in man two wills the will of the flesh and the manly will for God having planted in the Soule desire to follow good there followes courage to remove whatsoever shall hinder our desire and as wee have a virtue to moderate our concupiscence or sensuality so here is Patience against our courage Secondly what makes a man intemperate but 〈◊〉 as Genesis the twenty fift chapter Esau must needes die except hee have the meat hee desires therefore 〈◊〉 is a virtue necessarily required in the faithfull the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the ninteenth chapter of the Revelations Haec est sides patientia Sanctorum The third reason of the dependance is 〈◊〉 vincit qui patitur Intemperance and Impatience are the great Conquerors of the world the one being the Nurse of Phisitians the other of Lawyers And as we have had a virtue to conquer intemperance so it followes by good order next that wee have the virtue against impatience As the one sort are said to bee clothed in white that is the innocency of the Godly Apocalyps the seventh chapter and the ninteenth verse so others by Patience have made their garments purple in the blood of the Lamb Apocalyps the ninteenth chapter Secondly when wee know what to doe wee must not be drawn from it by any terror For as the devill to alure us to sinne joyns dulce malum so to keepe us from good hee joynes bitter with that which is good He joynes to 〈◊〉 labour and disgrace that by them hee may keepe us from it Labour is a thing our nature cannot away with durum pati the object of this virtue is tribulation as Romans the twelfth chapter bee patient in tribulation a virtue that becommeth Saints Apocalys the ninteenth chapter haec est fides patientia Sanctorum For the originall of tribulation men doe not feare the evils of the life to come and therefore God is faine to send them crosses while they live which must bee borne patiently as Micah the seventh chapter portabo iram Domini quia peccavi Secondly they are sent for tryall of our faith ut tollet ferro rubiginem addat 〈◊〉 puritatem That was the cause of Jobs trouble to try his faith The use of this virtue in respect of men is as Matthew the fift chapter If they smite thee on the one cheeke to turne the other If they take way thy coate let them have thy cloak also If men reproach ye as David was to beare it as hee did the second of Samuel and the sixteenth chapter to endure the spoyling of our goods as Hebrewes the twelfth chapter In such cases it is the perfection of the Saints while they live here to possesse their Souls with Patienee as it is in Saint Luke the one and twentith chapter For the use the Apostle makes of this virtue patience is needfull for the avoiding of corruption Give not place to the Devil by suffering the Sunne to goe down upon thy wrath Ephesians the fourth chapter For men in their impatience utter the corruption of their hearts Michah the seventh chapter Secondly It makes them like God as John the third chapter and the first verse for there is nothing in God more divine than patience this virtue he shewed to the old world which he endured so long the first epistle of Peter the third chapter and to the new world the second epistle of Peter and the third chapter He is not slack but patient to all and would have all repent The same is the affection of the Sonne of God towards his Church What did Moses admire Exodus the third chapter to see the bush a fire and not burn but videt rubum ardentem Even so now the faithfull shall drink deadly poyson and it shall not hurt them as Christ promiseth Mark the sixteenth chapter that is the evil tongues of the wicked which are as the poyson of Asps as Psalm the hundred and fourtieth The Apostles exhortation is James the first chapter and the fourth verse Be patient that ye may be intire and perfect and as the first epistle of Peter the fift chapter If ye suffer but a little God shall make you perfect And Christs advise is To bring forth fruit in patience Luke 8. Tolerantiae pietatem pietati verò fraternum amorem fraterno verò amori charitatem 2 Pet. 1. 7. IN the first of these three verses the Apostle makes his first conjunction of Faith Teaching that as we must be of a sound belief so of a virtuous life The second of Knowledge not to be drawn from a virtuous life by any deceits Of Temperance against allurements And Patience against terrors and troubles all these are moral virtues And to these he joynes in the third verse the threefold train of Godlinesse Brotherly love and Charity all which are theological virtues For as Christ exhorteth not only to doe good to them from whom we receive good Luke the sixt chapter and the thirty third verse which be the virtues of kindnesse that the Heathen practised but to add Christian virtues Doing good to them that hurt us and as Matthew the sixt chapter Our righteousnesse must exceed the righteousnesse of Scribes and Pharisees So theological virtues doe not exclude moral but as the Apostle shews we 〈◊〉 beside moral virtues 〈◊〉 these theological Faith doth not abolish but establish the Law so Romans the third chapter the Gospel requires of a Christian both will virtues and theological In the course of the world we finde it otherwise the civil man will shew himself temperate and patient but makes little account of religious virtues Others as Jude the first verse will seem to be religious by hearing and discoursing of the word and by certain religious terms but neglect those moral duties According to the first table they are religious but neglect the duty of the second Therefore for the Civil man albeit moral virtues are the perfection of this life yet if he look higher to the great and pretious promises of being partaker of the divine nature his moral virtues cannot raise him up so high as those virtues of Christianity that must doe that And for them that stop at the moral duties of the second Table and content themselves with a shewing religion by theological virtues If any man seem to be religious
the furnace and cast them up in the 〈◊〉 and they caused a stink And David in his sicknesse saith Psalm the thirty second His moisture was like the draught in Summer Therefore in the plague of Leprosie Leviticus the thirteenth chapter and the fourty fift verse the Leper was to have his mouth shut up David in that great 〈◊〉 spoken of in the first book of Chronicles the twenty first chapter and the thirtieth verse would have gone to 〈◊〉 but be found he should not feared with the Angel Therefore the servant of God saith Proverbs the fourteenth chapter A wise man 〈◊〉 the plague and shunneth it but the foolish goeth on still But these are not the only causes For besides 〈◊〉 there is some divine thing to be considered for there is no 〈◊〉 but a spirit belongs to it as Luke the thirteenth chapter and the eleventh verse a spirit of infirmity So are we to conceive that besides natural causes there is some spiritual of the sicknesse as 〈…〉 twelfth chapter a destroying Angel So in Davids plague in the second book of Samuel the twenty fourth chapter And 〈◊〉 the thirty seventh chapter and the thirty sixt verse the Angel went forth and slue And Apocalyps the sixteenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse The Angels poured out the Vials of the wrath of God and there fell a noysome sore So it is Gods hand that brings in these plagues The cause stands on two parts First Gods wrath 〈◊〉 which all evil things proceed For affliction commeth not from the earth Job the fift chapter and the sixt verse They are sparks of his anger And he is not angry with the waters that they should drown 〈◊〉 the third chapter nor with the aire that it should corrupt but for these things commeth the wrath of God that is for our sinnes 〈◊〉 the fift chapter He doth but make a way to his wrath and then the earth 〈◊〉 up the 〈…〉 Psalm the seventy eighth The sinnes of the people are the cause of Gods wrath Peccata morum goe before peccata humorum There is first corruption of the soul Michah 〈◊〉 first chapter and the third verse All flesh had corrupted their 〈◊〉 Genesis the sixt chapter So there is infection in mens wayes before the streets be infected There is plaga animae the plague in the soul before it appear in the body It is sinne that bringeth sicknesse and death Romans the sixt chapter So they are both joyned Psalm the thirty eighth and the third verse There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne Therefore it is our sinne and infection of the soul that must be looked into If it were some outward cause only it could not be but the plague should stay 〈◊〉 there is so great store of means Jeremiah the eighth chapter Is there no balme in Gilead But he saith Jeremiah the fourty sixt chapter and the eleventh verse Frustra multiplicas medicanda sinne being not taken away physick will doe 〈◊〉 good First the corruption of manners must be holpen and then bodily help will follow Psalm the fourty first Heal my soul for I have sinned against thee And that course our Saviour keeps Matthew the ninth chapter first he saith Thy sinne is forgiven and then Take up thy bed and walk These sinnes he calls inventions Inventions please us greatly and all new things our new omnia better than old Manna Numbers the eleventh chapter But if it be our own inventions then we goe a whoring after it Such is the delight we take in it verse the thirty ninth Our first Parents were of this minde so proud they would not take a rule of life from God but would sicut Dii Genesis the third chapter They set up to themselves graven Images Exodus the 〈◊〉 chapter They have Dii alieni such as their Fathers had Not when men living otherwise then God 〈…〉 I shall have peace Deuteromie the twenty ninth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse These webbs that we weave our selves and these eggs that we hatch Isaiah the fifty ninth chapter are our confusion and 〈◊〉 God and great reason For Exodus the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixt verse he saith If thou 〈…〉 to my 〈◊〉 I will lay no disease Ego Dominus 〈◊〉 But if we follow our own inventions we can look for nothing but diseases quid tibi praecipio haec 〈…〉 Deuteronomie the twelfth chapter 〈◊〉 men will be 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 that was Sauls rebellion he would not destroy all as God commanded he was wiser than so But what were these inventions It is said verse the twenty eighth They joyned themselves to Baal 〈◊〉 Numbers the twenty fift chapter that is the sinne of whoring and fornication and that impudently before the congregation committed by Zimry and Cosby It was the adoring of an abhominable Idoll a sinne so grievous as it is said many years after 〈◊〉 not enough of the sinne of Peor Joshuah the twenty second chapter it is a sinne that will not be cleansed at the first And we see daily the sinne of uncleannesse ends with a plague that is infectious For the Cure It is certain As there are natural causes so natural cures of this Diseise 〈◊〉 as some Writers doe hold had this Disease and used not only prayer but a plaister by the Prophets direction Isaiah the fifty eighth chapter But as the cause of the plague is not only natural so here is used a spiritual remedy that is in as much as contrary curantur contrariis viis If the provoking of Gods anger be the Cause of the plague the appeasing of it by prayer must be the Remedy The two remedies are out of the double sense of the word which signifieth prayer and punishing Prayer is an appeaser of Gods wrath not only in other points but in this Numbers the twenty fift chapter They all wept and prayed And David in the second book of Samuel the twenty fourth chapter and the seventeenth verse fled to this remedy I have sinned but these sheep what have they done And Hezekiah being infected with the plague turned himself to the wall Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter And in Salomons prayer the first of the Kings and the eighth chapter where plagues or corrupt agues shall hop here then in heaven And there is a good proportion between this remedy and the disease For if there be a corrupt smell the way to take it away is by the good smell of incense or perfume So as our sinne doth give an evil savour and stink in Gods nostrils so the spiritual incense will remove it and that incense is prayer Psalm the fourty first Therefore the prayers of the Saints are called odours Apocalyps the fift chapter But it must be prayer qualified in two sorts First Phinehas prayer that is the prayer of the Priest So David had Gad to pray for him Hezekiah had Isaiah Lift thou up thy prayer Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter The Corinthians had Gad to pray for them the
verse they say Angells were created yesterday as it were the next day before after David saith in the hundred fourty eighth Psalm and the second verse Praise ye him in the high places he saith first Praise him all his Angells In six dayes the Lord made the Heaven and the Earth and all that in them are in making Heaven he made all things as Angels in the Heaven Exodus the twentieth chapter As Hell hath been prepared of old so the Devill hath been a murtherer from the beginning John the eighth chapter and the fourty fourth verse It hath been questioned whether the fall of Angels was the first or second day Secondly They say there is no mention made of goodnesse because division was in the second day and therefore no goodnesse but notwithstanding the division there is a union In the dayes of Peleg the earth was divided the tenth chapter and the twenty fift verse At the building of Babel was the division of tongues which was confusion the eleventh chapter and the ninth verse This division of the second day is of things of diverse natures therefore good Likewise they say there is no mention of good because that was made that day namely the divided waters the upper and nether waters were the deluge and destruction of the world afterward But by them he punished mans wickednesse and the worlds sinfulnesse but to give to give to each his reward and desert to the godly glory to the wicked punishment this his Justice is full of Goodnesse Num 〈…〉 is Infâ—…stis say the Papists yet Matrimonium eft binorum So litarinesse is not good which God perceiving he made to man an helper the twenty eighth verse of the next chapter We say in a Proverb Secâ—… omnia sunt prospera yet it was said dies secundâ—… was infâ—…stus But it was Jeroms blemish who is not to be excused for who is blamelesse for he that first devised that opinion did first strangle it Division signifieth as well conformity as confusion and where reward is for desert that is good All that God made was very good the thirty first verse of this chapter The action of goodnesse is suspended the number is suspended till both be perfected which is after in the third day in the which day you shall finde goodnesse twice when the second day as the Seâ— was perfected the day was pâ—…ed but the work was ended This I doe take in the course of 〈◊〉 reason Et fuit ita Nam produxit terra herbulas herbas sementantes semen in species suas arbores edentes fructum in quibus semen suum est in species suas vidit Deus id esse bonum Sic fuit vespera fuit mane diei tertii Gen. 1. 11.12.13 Place this in pag 72 after the Sermon upon Gen. 1. 11 WE have heard of Gods Decree commanding and the returne executing it and his censure approving that is made which in every dayes work is set down in these three phrases fiat erat sic bonum erat Of this third dayes work we have handled before we have heard the first part namely Gods word commanding the Earth to bud forth hearbs and seeds and trees c. now it remaineth to speak of the other two And first of the return and execution And it was so For the Earth according to every 〈◊〉 and title of Gods word fulfilled Gods will and brought forth all sorts of hearbs and trees and buds and fruits and seeds leaving nothing undone which was commanded Touching which besides the obedience of this Element in executing Gods Decree we note a special Certificate under Gods hand as it were for the discharge of this Creature in the dispatch of his work and that without delay with all haste and speed Which reproveth not only our disobedience to God but also our dulnesse and slownesse in doing any thing which God commands For with us it is one thing to doe a thing and another to doe it willingly and quickly with expedition and speed For when God doth command any thing we put it off with this delay erit sic it shall be so hereafter when we can finde leisure and fit time It can seldom be said in the present tense erat sic it was performed without delay For we are as Salomons debtors which bid God stay till tomorrow or the next day Proverbs the third chapter before he can finde leisure to pay this debt and duty of obedience Secondly In that the return in the end of the eleventh verse was erat sic it was so two things are to be noted out of the nature of the word First a congruity of the performance answerable to the commandement in every point for here is specified just so much done as was required nothing too much or too little to teach us that our obedience must be such We must not deficere in necessariis nec abundare in superfluis The other point is for continuance or perpetuity for the word signifieth that it was so surely and firmly done as if it had a sure basis or foundation for continuance that it might never fail we see it holdeth and endureth ad hunc usque diem our eyes and experience seeing that it is 〈◊〉 The last thing we gather by opposition That Gods word was the cause and is that hearbs and trees doe bear fruits and trees So è contra it is the same word of God saying Let not the Earth nor the trees bear which is the cause of 〈◊〉 and want If for our sinne they fail any year ab ejus 〈…〉 interdicto 〈◊〉 If therefore we disobey Gods 〈…〉 be our punishment That his word shall 〈◊〉 the Earth to 〈◊〉 encrease and to deny us his fruits The second part is the censure and approbation of God saying that it was good I said before there are 〈◊〉 sorts of good 〈◊〉 honestum secondly utile thirdly 〈◊〉 each of which we shall see in the earth and the fruits thereof For honesty and moral good we see it is gratefull to the owner or 〈◊〉 which laboureth therein faithfully and gratefully repaying and requiting his 〈◊〉 and labour thereon For profit it veeldeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both for man and beast and so necessarily good is it in this 〈◊〉 that without it the King cannot live Ecclesiastes the fift chapter and the eighth verse For pleasure and delight either of the eye to behold it or of the taste to relieve it it is most delicious and delightfull Milk Wine and Oyle Wheat and all other grain which are both for variety and necessity we receive by Gods 〈◊〉 from the fruit and increase of the earth and trees And therefore is every way good Postea dixit Deus Abundè progignunto aquae reptilia animantia volucres volanto supra terram superficiem versus expansi Coelorum Gen 1. 20. Place this in the beginning of pag. 84. THIS verse and the three following 〈◊〉 contain in them the first dayes work by which both the
to sinne as well as he could make him of nothing But because it is no praise for man not to yeild to sinne when they have none to tempt them thereunto nor to be obedient to Gods will when they have none to perswade them to rebellion as in the beginning the Serpent did therefore he thought good that the Devil should still be their enemy as he was at the first for the promise of reward is made to them that strive and overcome To him that overcommeth will I give Apocalyps 12. and they must not only fight but fight lawfully or else they cannot be crowned the second epistle to Timothy the second chapter As for this cause God thought it good that this warre and hostility should continue so because he knew men doe make warre in vain where there is no hope of victory therefore he proclaims that the womans seed shall not only be at continual warre with the Serpent but shall overcome him and grince his head in pieces the more to encourage them in this spiritual battel There shall be hurt done on both parts but not like hurt they shall both bruise but the same thing shall not be bruised the head which is the chief part is bruised by the Woman and therefore she hath the greater victory the heel or tail which is the lowest part is only bruised by the Serpent and consequenly doing lesse hurt he is put to the worse The seed of the Woman doth so fight with the Devil that they break his head but the Devil fights so as he doth no great hurt Wherein two things are to be considered First What this Victory is namely the bruising and grinding in pieces of the Serpents head Secondly The condition of this Victory to wit that it shall not be with ease for it shall cost both sweat of brows and shedding of blood for we must resist sinne unto blood Hebrews the twelfth chapter And the holy Ghost saith here that howsoever the womans seed doe bruise the head of the Serpent yet the Serpent shall bruise his heel In the Victory we are to observe First the person that shall overcome that is the womans seed Secondly the manner how and that is by bruising his head The person receiveth two considerations for by the seed of the Woman we must understand not only Christ but the whole Church which is his body This Scripture concerns Christ as he is the wheat corn which being caft into the ground and dying bringeth forth much fruit John the twelfth chapter and twenty fourth verse It respects the faithfull as they are the ear of corne or the crop that commeth of that grain of wheat And as he was the seed of the Woman so are the faithfull to the end of the world Therefore of the Church the Propher saith That when he shall offer up his soul as an offering for sinne he shall see a long seed Isaiah the fifty third chapter And where the holy Ghost reporteth that the Dragon makes warre with the rest of the Womans seed Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the seventeenth verse by that is meant the congregation of the faithfull to the worlds end who for that they are a body politick as Christ is a body natural are therefore called Christ the first epistle to the Corinthians the thirteenth chapter and the twelfth verse And this victory is verified in them no lesse than in Christ. So that in this promise we see not a Fiat lux that is Let there be light as in the Creation but Fiat Christus Let there be a Christ that is a deliverer to restore mankinde being now fallen from the estate wherein they were created For where God promiseth That there shall be warre between the Serpent and the Womans seed and that the one shall conquer the other As if Adam should object How shall our seed be able to strive with Sathan seeing they themselves being in state of perfection could not tread upon his head but were tempted and overcome God answers That he will raise them up a Captain As of the Judges whom God appointed to 〈◊〉 the People of Israel it is said The Lord raised them up a Captain Judges the eleventh chapter so here God promiseth to Adam and Eve that he will raise up the Captain or Prince Messiah Daniel the ninth chapter and the twenty fift verse that shall fight and get the conquest for them and that he shall come of their seed Secondly If God will raise up this Captain of the Womans seed then he shall not be an Angel or Archangel that shall deliver us for as the Apostle saith He in no sort took the nature of Angels Hebrews 12. 15. but he took the seed of Abraham that is he shall be man compassed with the same flesh that we carry about with us he shall be bone of our bones and as the Prophet speaks The Captain shall be of themselves and the Prince shall spring out from among them Jeremiah the thirtieth chapter so Christ who is appointed by God his Father to be the Saviour of the world is of your selves and took our flesh upon him Thirdly God saith not your seed but the Womans seed which is a plain manifestation of the ordinary work of God As if God should say to the Devil Thou beginnest with the Woman which is the weaker vessel the first epistle of Peter the third chapter thinking to prevail the sooner But how weak soever she be thou shalt finde that out of her will I bring a seed that shall bruise thy head and thou shalt thereby see that my power is made perfect in weaknesse the second epistle to the 〈◊〉 the twelfth chapter for God in his councel doth make the weak things of the world to counfound the strong the first epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter Secondly This shall be performed by the seed of the Woman because as she was the cause of 〈◊〉 For Adam was not deceived but the Woman the first epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the fourteenth verse so God would have the cause of remedy to come from her to shew That he doth bring light out of darknesse the second epistle to the Corinthians the fourth chapter Thirdly For that Eve knowing that her credulity in hearkning to the Serpents voyce was the cause of all his misery might as that sex is most inclined thereunto conceive great grief of heart to comfort her the promise of victory is by God himself in great mercy appropriated to her whereas Christ came of Adam no lesse than of the Woman Fourthly That it might be the gate to all Prophecies For as one saith of Christ He is so the Womans seed as he is not the Mans therefore Isaiah saith Behold a Virgin shall conceive Isaiah the seventh chapter and in the Prophet Jeremiah God speaks thus Behold I create a new thing in earth a Woman shall compasse a Man Jeremiah the thirty first chapter and the twenty second verse Which seed