THE HAPPINES of the Church OR A Description of those Spirituall Prerogatiues vvherewith Christ hath endowed her Considered in some contemplations vpon part of the 12. Chapter to the Hebrewes Together with certain other Meditations and Discourses vpon other portions of holy Scriptures the titles wherof immediatly precede the Booke Being the Summe of diuerse Sermons preached in S. Gregories London By Thomas Adams Preacher there 2. Corin. 12. 15. I will very gladly spend and be spent for your soules LONDON Printed by G. P. for Iohn Grismand and are to be sold at his shop neere vnto the little North dore of Saint Pauls at the signe of the Gun 1619. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR HENRIE MOVNTAGVE the Lord Chiefe Iustice of ENGLAND my very good Lord. RIght Honourable my allegiance to the Almighty King necessitates my endeuours to glorify his Great Name My Profession hath imposed on me all ministeriall seruices My filiall dutie to our blessed Mother the Church hath taught me to help forward her cause both with tongue and penne My thankfulnes to your Lo. tyes me to seeke your honourable authorising of all these labours They run to you first as if they waited your manumission of them to the world If bookes be our children and the masculine issue of our braines then it is fit that your Lo. who haue the patronage of the father should also vouchsafe a blessing to the childrē Nor is this all there is yet a weightier reason why they should refuge themselues vnder your Lo s. protection The world is quickly offended if it be told of the offences men study courses practise them and if the Clergie find fault yea if we doe not iustify and make good what they magnifie make common they will be angry It is the most thanklesse seruice to tell men of their misdeeds Now a busines so distastfull requires a worthy Patron whose Patronage should I desire but your Lo s. whose I am and to whom I owe all duty seruice whose but your Lo s. who are in place to reforme vice and to encourage goodnes to make that practicall and exemplary which is here onely theoricall and preceptory God hath intrusted to your hands his Sword of Iustice draw it in his defence against the enemies of his Grace Gospel You sit at the common sterne and therfore are not so much your owne as your Countreys Helpe vs with your hands we will helpe you with our prayers The God of maiestie mercy sanctifie your heart rectifie your hand iustifie your soule and lastly crowne your head with eternall glory Your Lordships obseruant Chaplain Tho. Adams To the worthy Citizens of Saint Gregories Parish syncere louers of the Gospell present happinesse and euerlasting Peace I Owe you a treble debt of loue of seruice of thankfulnesse The former the more I pay the more still I owe. The second I will be ready to pay to the vttermost of my power though short both of your deserts and my owne desires Of the last I will striue to giue full payment and in that if it be possible to come out of your debts Of all I haue in this volume giuen you the earnest as therfore you vse to doe with bad debters take this till more comes You see I haue venturously trafficked with my poore talent in publike whilest I behold richer graces kept close at home and buried in silence liking it better to husband a little to the common good then to hoord vp much wealth in a sullen niggardice I censure none if all were writers who should bee readers if none idle Pamphlets would take vp the generall eye be read and applauded onely through want of better obiects If the graine be good it doth better in the market then in the Garner All I can say for my selfe is I desire to doe good whereof if I should faile yet euen that I did desire it and endeuor it shall content my conscience I am not affrighted with that common obiection of a dead letter I know that God can effectuate his owne ends and neuer required man to appoint him the meanes If it were profitable being spoken sure it cannot be vnnecessary being written It is not vnknowne to you that an infirmity did put me to silence many weekes whilest my tongue was so suspended from preaching my hand tooke opportunity of writing To vindicate my life from the least suspition of idlenesse or any such aspersions of vncharitable tongues I haue set forth this reall witnesse which shall giue iust confutation to such slanders If it be now condemned I am sure it is onely for doing well I very well know the burden of preaching in this Citie wee may say of it in another sense what Christ said of Ierusalem O thou that killest the Prophets Many a Minister comes to a Parish with his veines full of bloud his bones of marrow but how soone doth he exhaust his spirits waste his vigor And albeit there are many good soules for whose sake hee is content to make himselfe a sacrifice yet there are some so vnmercifull that after all his labor would send him a begger to his graue I tell you but the fault of some quitting your particular selues I speake not to diminish the credit of your bounty which I haue found and heere with a thankefull profession acknowledge it In testimony whereof I haue set to my hand and sent it you a token of the gratitude of my heart Receiue it from him that is vnfainedly desirous of your saluation and if he knew by what other means soeuer he might bring you to euerlasting peace would studie it practise it continue it whilst his Organ of speech hath breath enough to mooue it Your vnworthy Preacher Thomas Adams The Contents The Happinesse of the Church Hebr. 12. 22. But ye are come vnto Mount Sion The rage of Oppression Psal. 66. 12. Thou hast caused men to ride ouer our heads The victory of Patience Psal. 66. 12. We went through fire and through water Gods house Psal. 66. 13. I will goe into thy House Mans Seed-time and Haruest Gala. 6. 7. Whatsoeuer a man sowes he shall reape Heauen-Gate Reue. 22. 14. And may enter in through the gates The Spirituall Eye-salue Ephe. 1. 18. That the eyes of your vnderstanding The Cosmopolite Luke 12. 20. But God said vnto him Thou foole The bad Leauen Gala. 5. 9. A little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe Faiths Encouragement Luke 17. 19. And he said vnto him Arise The Saints meeting Ephe. 4. 13. Till we all meet in the vnity of the faith Presumption running into despaire Reue. 6. 16. They said to the Mountaines Maiestie in misery Math. 27. 51. And behold the vaile of the Temple The Foole and his sport Prou. 14. 9. Fooles make a mocke at sin The fire of contention Luke 12. 49. I come to send fire on the earth The Christians walke Ephe. 5. 2. Walke in loue Loues Copy Ephe. 5. 2. As Christ loued vs.
publishing of his benefite Mark 1. to the Leper See thou say nothing to any man of it But he went out and began to publish it much to blaze abroad the matter I know diuerse Diuines by curious distinctions haue gone about to excuse the matter by making this an admonitory not an obligatory precept But I subscribe to Caluin and Marlorat who taxe it for an offence and manifest breach of Christs commandement And Ierome on that place sayes that Non erat necesse vt sermone iactaret quod corpore praeferebat His tongue might be silent for his whole body was turned into a tongue to publish it The act was good but not good at that time Disobedient he was be it granted yet of all disobedient men commend me to him Let not then any politicke or sinister respects tye vp our tongues from blessing him that hath blessed vs. Suffocate not the fire of zeale in thy heart by silent lips lest it proue key-cold But say with our Prophet My foot standeth in an euen place in the congregations vvill I blesse the Lord. We perceiue now the motiue cause that brought Dauid into Gods house I would take leaue from hence in a word to instruct you with what minde you should come to this holy place We are in substance inheritors of the same faith which the Iewes held haue in stead of their Tabernacle Sanctuary Temple Churches places set apart for the Assembly of Gods Saints Wherein wee receiue diuine Mysteries and celebrate diuine Ministeries which are said by Damascen Plus participare operationis gratiae diuinae There is nothing lost by the Gospell which the Law afforded but rather all bettered It is obseruable that the building of that glorious Temple vvas the maturity and consummation of Gods mercy to the Iewes Infinite were his fauours betwixt their slauery in Egypt and their peace in Israel God did as it were attend vpon them to supply their wants They haue no guide why God himselfe is their guide and goes before them in a pillar of fire They haue no shelter the Lord spreads a cloud ouer them for a Canopy Are they at a stand and want way The Sea shall part and giue them passage whiles the diuided waters are as walls vnto them For sustenance they lacke bread heauen it selfe shall powre downe the food of Angels Haue they no meat to their bread A winde shall blow to them innumerable Quailes Bread and flesh is not enough without drinke behold a hard rocke smitten with a little vvand shall powre out abundance of water But what is all this if they yet in the wildernesse shall vvant apparell their garments shall not waxe olde on their backes Doe they besiege Iericho walls shall fall downe before them for want of engines hailestones shall braine their enemies Lampes and pitchers and dreames shall get them victorie The Sunne shall stand still in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Aialon to behold their conquests Lacke they yet a Land to inhabite the Lord will make good his promise against all difficulties and giue them a land that flowes with milke and honey But is all this yet short of our purpose and their chiefe blessednesse They want a House to celebrate his praise that hath done all this for them behold the Lord giueth them a goodly Temple neyther doth hee therein onely accept their offerings but he also giues them his Oracles euen vocall oracles between the Cherubins I might easily paralell England to Israel in the circumference of all these blessings but my center is their last and best and whereof they most boasted The Temple of the Lord and the Law of their God To answere these wee haue the Houses of God and the Gospell of Iesus Christ. We haue all though all in a new manner 2. Cor. 5. Old things are passed away behold all things are become new They had an Old Testament we haue the New Testament They had the Spirit wee haue a new Spirit They had Commandements we haue Nouum mandatum the New commandement They had an Inheritance Canaan we haue a new Inheritance promised Vids nouum coelum nouam terram I saw a new heauen and a new earth To conclude they had their Temple we haue our Churches to which as they were brought by their Sabbath so we by our Lords day wherein as they had their Sacraments so we haue our Sacraments Wee must therefore beare the like affection to ours as they did to that We haue greater cause There was the shadow heere is the substance there the figure here the truth there the sacrifices of beasts heere of the Lambe of God taking away the sinne of the vvorld I finde my selfe here occasioned to enter a great sea of discourse but you shall see I will make but a short cut of it It is Gods house you enter a house vvhere the Lord is present the place where his honour dwelleth Let this teach vs to come 1. With Reuerence Ye shall hallow my Sabbaths and reuerence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. The very mention of this Reuerence me thinkes should strike our hearts with our selfe-knowne guiltinesse How few looke to their feet before they enter these holy dores Eccl. 5. and so they offer the Sacrifice of imprudent and impudent fooles If they are to heare they regard Quis not Quid any thing is good that some man speakes the same in another triuiall If the man likes them not nor shall the Sermon Many thus contend like those two Germans in a Tauerne One said he was of Doctor Martins religion the other protested himselfe of Doctor Luthers religion and thus among their cups the litigation grew hote betweene them whereas indeed Martin and Luther was but one man Others when they come first into the Church they swappe downe on their seates clappe their hattes before their eyes and scarce bow their knees as if they came to blesse God not to intreat God to blesse them They vvould quake in the presence of an offended King who are thus impudent faced in the house of God But saith the Lord whose Throne is the heauen and the earth his footstoole I will looke to him that trembleth at my vvord So Iacob Gen. 28. was afraid and sayd Hovv fearefull is this place This is none other then the house of God and this is the gate of heauen Whereupon Bernard Terribilis planè locus c. A fearefull place indeed worthy of all reuerence which Saints inhabit holy Angels frequent and God himselfe graceth vvith his owne presence As the first Adam was placed in Paradise to keepe it so the second Adam is in the congregation of his Saints to preserue it Therefore enter not without Reuerence I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare will I vvorship toward thy holy Temple 2. With Ioy. None but a free-will offering is welcome to
communicate with it in something Prodigality is lesse noxious then Auarice because it hath this coÌ„mon with liberalitie to giue which the other hath not Fiery zeale is dangerous by this Paul persecuted Christ by this the Iewes crucified Christ. But profane coldnesse is worse because it is further from the meane which is zeale in religion By these wretches lewdnes among vs the Romish aduersaries take aduantage to slander our Religion They say our Profession is a doctrine of liberty that we preach for faith and against works but Wisedom is iustified of â—…er children Thus we preach Tribulation and anguish vpon euery soule of man that doth euill but glory and peace to euery man that worketh good And euery man that hath hope in Christ purifieth himselfe And this is Pure religion and vndefiled before God to visite the fatherlesse and widowes in their affliction and to keepe our selues vnspotted from the World Our faith is not an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imagined in the braine but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seene in our life We teach that Iustification and Sanctification are inseparable friends If men wil not be reformed wee conceale not from them Gods renuntiation If any man will be filthy let him be filthy still Our dissolute conuersation cannot annihilate the truth of our doctrine Howsoeuer the Samaritan not the Iewe relieued the wounded man yet the Iewes religion vvas true and not the Samaritans How polluted soeuer vvee are yet their hands are not cleane enough to take vp stones against vs. If they reioyce and tryumph in mens wickednesse they professe imitation of the deuill in a cursed mirth Good Christians haue learn'd to mourne for abominations not to laugh at them To returne to those dissolute wretches they sing not with the Church a Tenebo tâ—… Domine I held him and I would not let him goe all their delight is in a Nunc dimittis they are glad to be gone It were not amisse if we were well ridde of them being thus incorrigible Purge out therefore the old leuen that ye may be a new lumpe What leuen the Apostle there meanes he declares ver 13. Put away from among your selues that vvicked person When Ionah was cast out of the Ship the Sea ceased from her raging when Zimri was slaine the plague stayed when Baal was destroyed Israel had peace If these cursed Levens of Superstition Atheisme and Profanenesse were purged how sweet a lumpe would the Church of England be Wee cannot hope it yet let vs pray for it Miserere Deus cleanse vs from these levens for the merits of thy Sonne our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ. 4. There is a fourth Leuen to which Saint Paul hath principall respect in this place and that is the mixing of Law with Gospell I meane Ceremoniall and legall rites with the truth of Iesus Christ. This leven might well die in forgetfulnesse and haue moulded away if there had not beene a late generation of Thraskites to deuoure it as bread They must abstaine from Swines flesh and from bloud and that vpon conscience to the Ceremoniall law But he that thus abstaines from bloud and flesh the flesh and bloud of Christ shall doe him no good What is this but to licke vp the Galatians vomit to swallow that hard and indigestible leven which Saint Paul tooke so much paines about to get out of their stomacks But let it sleepe with them in the dust it is dead and buried let vs not disquiet the graue to reuiue it Now to the second way of considering these words taking leven personally for Leueners false Teachers indeed Heretikes I will onely note two things one of doctrine another of discipline For doctrine out of my Text that they sowre the whole lumpe for discipline that therefore the Church should restraine and correct them The leven of Heresie spreads farre Their word will eate as doth a canker or a Gangrene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Option or Election of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make choice A laudable word at first among Philosophers taken for a right forme of learning In Diuinitie it is a word of disgrace and intends a stubborne deuiation from the receiued Truth It is more then Error Aug. Errare possum Haereticus esse non possum I may erre I cannot be an Heretike Qui sua pestifer a dogmata defendere persistunt hâ—…retici sunt They that wilfully goe on to maintaine their pestilent opinions are Heretikes It hath the right property of a Gangrene it frets as it goes vires acquirit eundo Heresies in the soule are like vlcera depascentia in the body they eate vp the parts about them Of this God is the deficient cause who suffers it 1. In respect of the wicked that their iust condemnation might not be hindered For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should bâ—…leeue a lye 2. In regard of the faithfull that their tentation might assure them Gods There must be heresies or schismes that they which are approued may be made manifest among you With this premonition God prepared Israel that when a false Prophet or Dreamer should come vnto them God doth proue you to know whether you will loue the Lord with all your heart For this cause are Heresies Vt fides habendo tentationem haberet etiam probationem that faith admitting a triall might receiue an approuall Of this Satan is the efficient cause the father of lyes neuer lou'd the Father of Truth Wicked and peruerse men are the instrumentall causes they are so ouer-vvise that the curdle of their wit procures a breaking out into faction Cùm discipuli veritatis non erunt magistri erroris sunt Refusing to be the scholers of Truth they become the Schoolemasters of errour So the precedent cause in such is selfe-loue the cause that growes out of the other and neerer to the maine effect or rather defect is discoÌ„tent If the Church forget theÌ„m in dealing her legacies of preferment they will teare her bowels for it If their mother pleaseth not their humours with an expected indulgence they will be so bold as kick her sides Pride steps in for a third cause vnlesse I forget her place for shee disdaines an inferiour roome and yet of all sinnes as none presumes higher so none is thrust lower euen to the bottomlesse pit Saint Iohn doth witnesse thus much of Diotrephes I wrote vnto the Church but Diotrephes who loueth to haue the preheminence among them receiueth vs not He is called by Beda Haeresiarcha superbus Hypocrisie must needs be admitted for a fourth motiue to heresie Applause must be had if not by beeing good yet by seeming so Omnes haeretici sunt hypocritâ—… saith Ierom Euery heretike is an hypocrite Like Vipers they neuer come to light but with some rupture to the vvombe of their mother Thus heresie creepes in at a little hole but infects infests the whole house
Ministers Paul chargeth Timothy to lay hands suddenly on no man therfore he may lay hands on some To Titus For this cause I left thee in Crete that thou shouldest ordaine Elders in euery City Now we haue true Bishops therefore in Gods name allow vs to haue true Ministers For the Romanists that tell vs vve haue none of these how strangely do they bely vs and themselues Oportet mendacem esse memorem Haue they forgot their obrayding vs that we haue all our Episcopall rites from them All our ministeriall orders from them If we haue it from them then we haue it They are Bristo's owne words in his Motiues The Protestants are Apes of the Papists the Communion-booke is made altogether out of the Masse-booke Why then do they not communicate with vs It is not for conscience but for malice Let it be granted that wee haue this from them but then they must grant withall that Iacob by Gods disposing hath gotten Esau's Birthright So the Israelites were faine to go to the Philistines to sharpen their sythes We abhorre not Episcopall ordinations but Papall Our substance from them their circumstances to themselues Papales ordinationes sunt foedaenundinationes We haue their gold they haue left themselues nothing but Tinkers metall Let them keepe their owne giue vs ours But further they obiect the continuance of their succession We answere the succession of Person is nothing worth without the succession of Doctrine which they want If it were by vs granted what neuer shall be by them proued that Peter is succeeded by the Pope Yet as Matthias succeeding Iudas was neuer the worse so the Pope succeeding Peter is neuer the better Perijt dignitas Cathedrae quando veritas Doctrinae But they say that in the Romane Church Baptisme is rightly for the substance of it administred therefore it is a true Church Indeed they haue the outward washing but quite ouerthrowne the inward which stands in iustification by the imputed righteousnesse of Christ. But the Samaritans had Circumcision yet were they not a true Church Baptisme seuered from the preaching of the Gospel is of no more force then a seale when it is plucked off from the Indenture Indeed truly though they haue Baptisme yet it belongs not to them but to a hidden Church among them For doubtlesse God hath his chosen and sealed number in the midst of those Apostates As the light in the Lanthorn belongs not properly to the Lanthorne but to the Passenger That Sacrament in the assembly of Rome is like a true mans purse in a thiefes hand it no more proues them a true Church then that purse prooues the theefe a true man The Lord of his goodnesse that hath giuen them the signe of the Grace giue them also the grace of the signe true vvashing away of their sinnes in the bloud of Christ. Some haue obiected and they seeme to be kind friends to Rome that Antichrist must sit in the Temple that is the Church therefore this sitting of Antichrist in Rome proues them to be a true Church But I am sure by this argument what they get in the hundred they lose in the Shire they may put these gaines in their eye I hope they will not confesse their Pope Antichrist to haue vs grant them a true Church Therefore some of them haue affirmed Hominem non Christianum posse esse Romanum Pontificem And would not hee be a strange Head of Christs Church that is not a true member of Christs Body But howsoeuer their argument holds not for it is one thing to be in the Church another thing to be of the Church Antichrist sits in that place not as a mēber of the Church but as an Vsurper So the Pyrate sits in the Merchants ship yet hath no right to it All that can be prooued hereby is that among the Papists there is a hidden Church in the midst whereof Antichrist dominereth but hath no part of saluation in it What cause then haue we to blesse our GOD that hath brought vs from Babylon to Ierusalem out of darknesse into his maruelous light from the Romish Synagogue to the Generall Assembly and Church of the first borne vvhich are vvritten in Heauen and the Lord of his mercie preserue vs in it for euer and euer To conclude there be diuerse Censures of the Romane Church Some say it is no Church but Aequiuocè as the picture of a man is called a man or a painted fire a fire It is no more a Church then the carkase of a dead man that hath on a liuing mans garments is a liuing man looke it neuer so like him These looke vpon it Oculo vero sed seuero with a true but a sharpe eye Others say It is non sanum membrum sed membrum It is not a sound member but a member It hath Scriptures but corrupted with Traditions but indeed they haue nullified the natiue sense and so are Lanthornes that shew light to others none to themselues They haue the Articles of the Creed and make the same generall confession of faith yet ouerthrow all this another way Herein they are like a fond Father that with much indulgence tenders the body of his child would not suffer the cold wind to blowe vpon him yet by secret conueyances inwardly infects the heart destroyes him Thus they say it is still a member still a Church as a braine-sick man is a man The Romane Assembly is Verè Ecclesia sed non vera Ecclesia truely a Church but not a true Church A leprous man is a man Adultera vxor tamen vxor est an adulterous wife is still a wife So Duraus In Papatu est Ecclesia et Papatus non est Ecclesia Vt Ecclesia Dei vt Papalis Diaboli In Poperie is a Church yet Popery is not the Church As it is a Church it is of God as Popish of the diuell It is Incurata Ecclesia an incurable Church that hates to be reformed therefore no Church Wee would haue cured Babel but she would not be cured She hath apostated into treason clipped Regiam monetam the great Kings coine the Word of God turned that pure gold into sophisticate Alchimy prayer to Christ into inuocation of Saints These men conclude that it is not a body diseased full of wounds that hath the throat cut yet with some life and breath remaining but a rotten and dead carkase void of spirituall life It hath blended Iudaisme and Paganisme together with Christianitie and so sweld vp a superstitious worship of God therefore no Church For my part I iudge not GOD reserues to himselfe three things The reuenge of iniuries The glory of deeds The iudgement of secrets I will not iudge but like a witnesse giue in my testimony And here Qui bene distinguit bene docet The best construction is that which enclines to charitie that is there is no probable saluation in the Church of Rome Infants dying before they come to these
putting oyle into it but this makes it burne more And as it is with some that thirstily drink harish and ill-brewed drinks haue not their heate hereby allayed but inflamed So this vvorldlings hote eagernesse of riches is not cooled but fired by his abundance 4. That which makes a man easie to hit makes also his wound greeuous The Poet tells vs that when Codrus his house burnes a little cottage in the Forrest he stands by and warmes himselfe at the flame hee knowes that a fewe sticks straw and clay with a little labour can rebuild him as good a Tabernacle But if this accident light vpon the Vsurers house distraction seizeth him withall he cryes out of this Chamber and that chest of his Closet and Cabinet of his bonds morgages money and plate and is so much the more impatient as hee had more to lose In a vvord here is all the difference betwixt the rich and poore the poore man would be rich while he liues and the rich would be poore when he dies For it is small greefe to leaue hunger cold distresse bondage hard lodging and harder fare but to forsake full Barnes full purses musike wine iunkets soft beds beautious vvomen and these lust-tickling delights and to goe vvith death to the Land of forgetfulnesse this is the terrour I end then as Paul concludes his counsell to rich men Lay vp for your selues a good foundation against the time to come that you may lay hold on eternall Life THE BAD LEAVEN OR THE CONTAGION OF SINNE GALAT. 5. 9. A little Leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe THIS Epistle was written with St. Pauls owne hand chap. 6. 11. Ye see how large a letter I haue written vnto you with my owne hand It is for quality excellent for quantitie large Hee wrote not so long an Epistle to any other Church with his owne hand Indeed he wrote a letter to Philemon with his owne hand vers 19. I Paul haue written it with mine own hand but it was short He wrote longer Epistles to the Romanes and Corinthians but not with his owne hand but by Scribes Wee haue cause therefore to regard it more as his pains were greater in writing so let our diligence bee greater in obseruing The maine purpose of it is to discouer 1. That ill coniunction of Moses and Christ the ceremonies of the Law with the sanctimony of the Gospell 2. The free Grace and Iustification by the bloud of Christ without the workes of the Law In this the Galatians had receiued a beginning but now had admitted a recidiuation For this cause the Apostle chides vers 7. Yee did runne well who did hinder you that you should not obey the Trueth Where there is a Concession and a Conuiction a step and a stop The Concession or Step ye did runne well The Conuiction or Stop Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth In the former he compares Christianity to a race all men must first be viatores in this valley of teares before they can be Assessâ—…res and sit with Christ in his kingdome of glory Onely as it agrees with a Race in many things as labor it 's no idle thing to be a Christian shortnesse it is a Race the perplexity is recompenced vvith the breuity continuance the runner must hold out the last steppe if he will obtaine the prize So there are some differences 1. In other races many runne onely one winnes the goale but in this all that runne faithfully shal raigne triumphantly Though they cannot runne so fast as others nor so farre as others yet euen they that came at the eleuenth houre into the Vineyard receiued they penny so well as they that came at the third For the Lord regards not Quantum but ex quanto not how much but how well What euer houre they are called let them spend the aftertime in a zealous diligence 2. In other races one hinders another but in this iourney one helpes another The more the merrier no enuy or grudging eyther in the way or the goale Dispar gloria singulorum sed communis latitia omnium There may bee different glory of some yet there is a common ioy of all Euery good man is a spurre to his brother Peter and Iohn ranne to Christs Sepulcher Iohn out-ran Peter vnto the graue Peter out-went Iohn into the graue But we run together vnto Christs Throne some come before some after all meet in the Communion of Saints 3. In other races the runner obtaines a prize that shall perish all the runners heere get an incorruptible crowne They runne for a little prize a little praise we for eternall glory Runne wee then cheerefully behold a kingdome lyes at the stake God giue vs all eyes of faith to see it and hearts of obedience to runne to it through the power of Iesus Christ. In the latter the Apostle may seeme to put a superfluous question Who did hinder you For there are many aduersaries As first Satan the General of that damned crue that hinder our passage to heauen Paul excuseth himselfe to the Thessalonians Wee would haue come vnto you once and againe but Satan hindered vs. Zach. 3. Ioshua the high Priest stood before the Angell of the Lord and Satan stood at his right hand to resist him Where God hath his Church Satan hath his chappell So also wicked men such as haue taken the Deuils oath of Allegiance What the Deuill cannot doe immediately by himselfe hee does mediately by his Instruments To erre Humanum is the weakenes of a man but to seduce diabolicum is the part of a Deuill It is ill to play the woman worse to play the beast worst of all to play the Deuill But what speciall hinderers the Apostle meanes wee shall haue precise occasion in some future passages to demonstrate Onely I must not omit that the Apostle giues a direct resolution by way of negation vers 8. This perswasion comâ—…eth not of him that calleth you God is no wayes the Author of error and sin He that wils the death of no sinner will not lead him into the wayes of destruction Indeed he suffes Satan to temptal but to a diuerse purpose the good to try them the reprobate to destroy them The temptations of the godly are for their instruction of the wicked for their destruction Iames tells vs that euery good gift comes downe from the Father of lights is it euill it commeth not from God The Apostle telling the Ephesians of lusts blindnesse wantonnesse obstinacy concludes piercingly Non sic didicistis Christum Yee haue not so learned Iesus Christ. Art thou peruerted thou neuer learnedst this of Christ. Let no man say when hee is tempted I am tempted of God for God tempteth no man In him we liue moue and haue our being A Gentile Poet sung it a Christian Apostle sanctified it all the creatures in heauen and earth cry Amen vnto it Life is his whether we liue well
shall manumit and set free our soules from the prison of the body there shal be a second meeting Many haue come from east from west farre remote in place and haue met with Abraham and Isaac and the holy Patriarches which liued long before them in this world in the kingdome of heauen So already in Mount Sion are the Spirits of iust men made perfect The purer part is then glorified and meets with the triumphant Church in blisse This meeting exceeds the former in comfort 1. In respect that our miseries are past our conflict is ended teares are wiped from our eyes The very release from calamitie is not a litle felicitie So Austin meditates of this place negatiuely Non est ibi mors non luctus c. There is no death nor dearth no pining nor repining no sorrow nor sadnes neither teares nor feares defect nor lothing No glory is had on earth without grudging emulation in this place there is no enuie Non erit aliqua inuidia disparis claritatis quum regnabit in omnibus vnitas charitatis None sâ—…all malice anothers glorious clearnesse when in all shall be one gratious dearenesse God shall then giue rest to our desires In our first meeting we haue Desiderium quietis in this second Quietem desiderij Here we haue a desire of rest there we shall haue rest of desire 2. In regard that we shall see God behold him whose glory filleth all in all This is great happinesse for in his presence is the fullnesse of ioy at his right hand are pleasures for euer We shall not only meete with the spirits of iust men made perfect but also with him that made them iust and perfect Iesus the mediatour of the new couenant euen God himselfe 3 Our last meeting which is called the Generall assembly and Church of the first borne written in heauen is the great meeting at the end of the world When our re-vnited bodies soules shall possesse perfect glory and raigne with our Sauiour for euer When as no mountayne or rocke shall shelter the wicked from doome terrour so no corruption detayne one bone or dust of vs from glory We shal be caught vp together in the cloudes to meet the Lord in the ayre and so shall we be euer with the Lord. Who We. There is a time when the elect shall meete in one vniuersalitie Though now weare scattered all ouer the broad face of the earth dispersed and distressed yet we shall meet There is now a Communion of Saints 1. As of all the members with the Head all haue interest in Christ. For he is not a garden flower priuate to few but the Rose of Sharon and the Lillie of the valleys common to the reach of all faythfull hands So Iude calls this our common saluation 2. So of one member with another euen of the Church triumphant with this militant They sing Hosanna's for vs we Halleluia's for them they pray to God for vs we prayse God for them For the excellent graces they had on earth and for their present glory in heauen We meete now in our affections to solace one another and serue our God there is a mutuall sympathie betweene the parts If one member suffer all suffer with it But this meeting shal be voyd of passion and therfore needlesse of compassion though loue shall remaine for euer This Instruction is full of comfort We part here with our parents children kinred friends death breakes off our societie yet there shall be a day of meeting Comfort one another with these wordes Hast thou lost a wife brother child you shall one day meete though not with a carnall distinction of sexe or corrupt relation which earth afforded No man carries earth to heauen with him the same body but transfigured purified glorified There shall be loue hereafter not the offals of it A wife shall be knowne not as a wife there is no marriage but the Lambes Thou shalt reioyce in thy glorified brother not as thy brother according to the flesh but as glorified It is enough that this meeting shall affoord more ioy then we haue knowledge to expresse This giues thee consolation dying with griefe thou leauest those thou dearely louest Yet first thou art going to one whose loue is greater then Ionathans that gaue his life to redeeme thee And well pondering the matter thou art content to forsake all to desire a dissolution that thou mayest be with Christ. Yet this is not all thou shalt againe meet those whom thou now departest from and that with greater ioy then thou hast left in present sorow This comforts vs all if it be a pleasure for friends to meet on earth where Satan is still scattering his troubles of dissention what is it to meete in heauen where our peace is free from distraction from destruction where if there be any memorie of past things meminisse iunabit it shall rather delight vs to thinke of the miseries gone and without feare of returning It is some delight to the merchant to sitte by a quiet fire and discourse the escaped perills of wrackes and stormes Remoue then your eyes from this earth whether you be rich for whom it is more hard or poore for whom it is easier and know it is better liuing in heauen together then on earth together So then run your race that in the end you may meet with this blessed societie the Congregation of Saints in glory We yea All we In this world we must neuer looke to see an vniuersall Church but at that generall day we shall All meete In heauen there are none but good in hell none but bad on earth both good and bad mingled together I confesse that the Church militant is the Suburbes of heauen yea called the Kingdome of heauen because the King of heauen gouernes it by his celestiall lawes but still it is but heauen vpon earth In Gods floore there is chaffe mixed with the wheat in his field cockle with corne in his net rubbish with fish in his house vessells of wrath with those of honour The Church is like the moone somtimes increasing somtimes decreasing but when it is at the full not without some spottes Now this mixture of the vngodly is suffred for two causes either that themselues may be conuerted or that others by them may be excercised Omnis malus aut ideo viuit vt corrigatur aut ideo vt per illum bonus excerceatur 1. For their owne emendation that they may be conuerted to embrace that good which they haue hated So Saul a persecutor becomes Paul a professor Mary Magdalen turpissima meretrix fit sanctissima mulier a putrified sinner a purified Saint Zacheus that had made many rich men poore will now make many poore men rich when he had payed euery man his owne and that now he iudged their owne which he had fraudulently got from them Behold halfe my goods
Such a charming power said a worthy Diuine hath the musicke of money and wealth and such fittes it workes in a mans heart First it takes him from peacefull setlednes and from great content in his litle and puts him into dumps a miserable carking thoughtfullnes how to scrape together much dirt Next when he hath it and begins with delight to sucke on the dugges of the world his purse his barnes and all his but his heart full hee fals to dancing and singing requiems Soule take thine â—…ase eate drinke and be merry Then shall his table standfull of the best dishes his cup of the purest wine his backe with the richest robes and he conceites a kinde of immortalitie in his coffers he denies himselfe no satietie no surquedrie But at last the worldes bedlaâ—…-musicke puts him into frenziâ—… hee growes rampant Runnes into oppressions extortions depopulations rapes whordomes murders massacres spares not bloud or friendship authoritie nor vâ—…ssalage widow nor orphan Prince nor subiect Nec 〈◊〉 nec Arâ—… neither poore mans coâ—…tage nor Churches altar Yea if the Common wealth had but one throate as Nero wish ed of Rome he would cut it O the vnpacifiable madnes that this worlds musicke puts those into which will dance after his Pipe For this cause saith our Apostle continue in the Charitie thou hast begun Walke in loue Ye did run well who did hinder you Doth wealth keepe you from charitie This perswasion commeth not of him that calleth you God neuer meant when he gaue you riches that you should then begin to be couetous He did not for this purpose shew new mercie to you that you should take away your old mercies from his There are other that seeme to end in Loue who neuer all their dayes walked in this heauenly path They haue a will lying by them wherein they haue bequeathed a certaine legacie to the poore something to such a Church or such an Hospitall But this will is not of force till the testator be dead so that a man may say though the will be ready yet to will is not ready with theÌ„ for God shall not haue it so long as they can keepe it These can wish with Balaam to dye Christians but they must liue Pagans Hauing raised thousands out of their sacrilegious and inhospitable Impropriations they can bestow the dead hope of a litle mite on the Church In memoriall whereof the heyre must procure an annuall recitation besides the monumentall sculpture on the Tombe Be his life neuer so blacke and more tenebrous then the vaults of lust yet said a Reuerend Diuine he shall find a blacke prophet for a blacke cloake that with a blacke mouth shall commend him for whiter then snow and lillies Though his vnrepented oppressions vnrestored extortions and bloud-drawing vsuries haue sent his soule to the infernall dungeon of Sathan whose parishioner he was all his life yet money may get him cannonizd a Saint at Rome and robe him with spotles integritie and innocence So diuerse among them that liued More LatronuÌ„ yet in death affected Cultum martyrum Hence Epitaphs and funerall orations shall commend a mans charitie who neuer all his dayes walked two steps in Loue. But it is in vaine to write a mans charitie in a repaired window when his tyrannous life is written in the bloudy and indeleble characters of many poore mens ruine and ouerthrow Nor can the narrow plaster of a little poore beneuolence hide and couer the multitude of gaping wounds made by extortion and vnmercifulnes No God hates the Sacrifice of robberie their drinke offerings of bloud will I not offer said Dauid The oblation that is made vp of the earnings of the poore is an abomination offending Gods eye and prouoking his hand First restore the lands and goods of others iniuriously or vsuriously gotten let not an vniust peny lie rotting on thy heape and heart and then build Hospitals repaire ruin'd holy places produce the fruits of mercie walke in Loue. Otherwise it is not smooth marble and engrauen brasse with a commending epitaph that can any more preserue the name from rotten putrefaction then the carcase But for all that the memorie shall stinke aboue ground as the body doth vnder it It is a desperate hazard that a wicked man by a charitable will shal make amends for all whereas commonly an vsurers Testament is but a Testimonie of his lewd life There is small hope that they end in charitie who would neuer walke in Loue. There bee others that cannot walke in Loue through a double defect either of eyes or of feete Some haue Feet but want eyes Eyes but want feet 1. Some haue the feet of affections but they lacke eyes and so cannot descry the true and perfect way of Loue. Indeed no man can find it without God Shew me thy wayes O Lord teach me thy pathes For it is he that directs sinners wandrers to the way These want him that should Leade them by the way that they should goe They thinke that by building vp a ladder of good workes their soules shall on meritorious rounds climbe vp to heauen They cannot distinguish betweene Viam regni and causamregnandi They suppose if they releeue Seminaries fast Lents keepe their numbredorisons pro digally sacrifice their blouds in treasons for that Romaine Harlot this is via dilectionis the way of Loue. So the silly seruant biddeÌ„ to open the gates set his shoulders to them but with all his might could not stir them whereas another comes with the key easily vnlocks theÌ„ These men so confideÌ„t in their good workes do but set their shoulders to heauen-gates alas without comfort for it is the key of faith that only opeÌ„s them These haue nimble feete forward affections harts workeable to charitie and would Walke in Loue if they had eyes Therfore Let vs prayfor them Cause them to know the way O Lord wherein they should walke 2. Other haue eyes but they want feete they vnderstand the way of loue but they haue no affection to walke in it They know that false measures forsworne valuations adulterate wares smooth-checked circumuentions painted cosenages malicious repinings denied succours are all against Loue. Noscunt poscunt They know them but they will vse them They know that humblenes kindnes meekenes patience remission compassion giuing and forgiuing actuall comforts are the fruits of Loue. Norunt nolunt They know it but they will none of it These know but walke not in Loue. It is fabled that a great king gaue to one of his subiects of his owne meere fauour a goodly citie happily replenished with all treasures and pleasures He does not onely freely giue it but directes him the way which keeping hee should not misse it The reioyced subiect soone enters on his iourney and rests not till hee comes within sight of the Citie Thus neare it he spies a great company of men digging in the ground to whom approching hee found