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
holy laws that seeing their sinne against God they might confesse it so have pardon and forgiveness For it is not in Gods Court as it is in the Courts of men where the way to confess the fault and fact is the way to be condemned but with God the only way to be absolved and acquitted from sin is truly and unfainedly to confess our sins unto him this is the end why God in mercy doth send to them the opening of their eyes that they might see their sin it began to prevail that we may see the effect it had of them for though as yet the nobleness of their nature was such that they feared nor for there was yet no fear to them yet we see they were ashamed by it were driven to seek a covering to hide that shame with all but that effect of their seeing and shame was not good for whereas it should have made them return penitently to God from sin which was so shamefull they instead of turning to their own hearts and to God doe run to the figge tree leaves to make them coverings withall and so this Counsell of God in sending their signe was disanulled and perverted from turning to God to stepping to the figge tree And so whereas God appointed and sent the opening of their eyes for their good and conversion the Devill doth cause it by this means to turn to their greater destruction By which we see how the Devill and sin doth infatuate men and make them foolish and ignorant how to doe that which should be for their good and salvation but as the Prophet saith Jer. 4. 22. The Devill and sin whetteth their wits making them very sharpe wise to doe evill to hinder their salvation and to make them coverings and excuses to conceale cloak and colour their sin withall at this we are very good and have a present invention to coynelyes and excuses but we are dull and blockish to prevent the danger which sin doth bring This practise of the Serpent we see in this in that Adam goeth not to a tree of small or narrow leaves which were not fit for his purpose but to the figge tree which in that country as Pliny reporteth have leaves instar peltae Amazonum as broad as a Target and therefore most meete to make a covering withall Then besides their present sharpness in choosing the fittest matter to make this covering we 〈◊〉 in the next place their ingenious art and invention in that on such a suddain without study they are able to sowe and peice them together so that they did serve insteed of breeches to hide that nakednesse withall this we are able to doe of our own natural inclination sine Magistro which disposition of our corrupt nature we see by experience in all men even untill this day for doe we not see wicked men given over to all evill which in any good matters are very dull blockish and in Religion very senselesse and rude yet in this to be very ingenious and witty to invent divers excuses to hide and colour their sinnes withall herein their wit and art never faileth them but ever serveth them well wherefore of us may the Prophet also say Jer. 4. 22. they are wise to doe evill but to doe well they have no understanding The second default that Adam and Eve made in this was that the devill taketh up the whole roome of their hearts with the care and consideration of their bodily defects not regarding the spiritual nakedness and shame of their faults The third is in that they seeing their nakedness doe not seeke to take away the cause of the shame of their sinne but the effect which is their nakednesse and shame which is as if a man seeing and knowing himselfe to be sick should not seeke to remove the cause of his disease but the Symptomata and outward accidents thereof as if a man should only be carefull to take away the pimples of his face which are but outward accidents of his disease and never regard to remove the heat of the Liver which is the inward cause thereof and this is the third offence quia dolebat cur abat dedecus peccati non peccatum his care was only to be rid and acquitted of the shame of sinne and not of sinne it self Fourthly if this nakednesse which they see be so evill and so odious then this also is another fault of theirs quia nolunt tollere sed tegunt eam for indeed their desire should not be so much to cover as to care it but their care è contra is non curare sed velare and this is the nature of men now a daies in their distresses to seeke involucra non remedia that is maskes to cover and hide not meanes to care and remedy their soul offences The last and sift is that vanity of this covering of the fig tree leaf for as Saint Ambrose saith Wilt thou needes have a covering of thine owne seeking and making to hide thy sinfull nakednesse then thou art foolish and mad to goe to the fig-tree for leaves thou shouldest rather have gone to the Rocks and Mountains and cryed to them Cover us Ose 10. 8. for they are thicker and more able to cover or if thou wilt needes have it of leaves why wentst thou not to the Tree of Life whose leaves are said Revel 22. 2. to serve for medicine to cure and heale withall ☜ This then was another fault in that they rather went not to the Tree of mercy Christ Jesus but to their own Tree of hypocrisie or why went they not to the Olive Tree because that seemeth to be a tree of mercy Gen. 8. 11. for the Dove bringing a branch of that shewed that Gods anger was appeased and was a signe of mercy or else why did they not make a covering of that of which the mercy fear was made One of the Fathers saith I have heard indeede Esay 38. 21. that a cluster of figges had a virtue to cover heale but as for the leaves of that tree they quickly fade and fall away to nothing Esay 34. 4. or though the substance of the leaf could endure yet the thread wherewith they are sewed together would not hold but be broken when God doth teare them off the 13. of Ezekiel the 20. and the 21. and then where will be their covering which they have made But of all the rest the greatest fault of all was in that they rested quietly and securely in this vain covering which they had made saying pax pax tush all is well enough we are safe and neede not feare and in this secure carelesnesse they continued untill the evening This made St. Augustine say I suspect this garment and covering for it seemeth to be a fit reward for their eating the forbidden fruit that after they had eaten that fruit they should have for their labor a handfull of fig-leaves What fruit had you of your sin whereof
more than his providence for as he seeth the sacrifice of both so in justice he respects the good and rejects the evill Cain said as the wicked doe in their heart God doth not regard Psalm the tenth but if Cain desires that God should not regard Abel nor his good service he desires a thing unpossible for God is not unjust to forget the labour of our love Hebrews the sixt and the tenth verse Shall I justifie the wicked ballance and the bag of deceitfull weights the sixt chapter of Micha and the eleventh verse therefore whether we respect God or Abel this cause of Cains sorrow is unjust and his envy is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore whereas other sinnes are punished only in the world to come and have pleasure in this life as if that future punishment were not sufficient for envy The envious man is a torment to him self God takes order that it shall have punishment in this life for the envious man is a torment to himself as the Wise man saith the fourteenth of the Proverbs and the thirtieth invidia est putredo ossium The degrees of Cains heaviness were that he was iratus valdè It was not one of the first degrees of anger which the Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are passions which are no sinne at all as in the fourth chapter of the Ephesians irascimini nolite peccare and the Lord saith dost thou well to be angrie Jonas the third chapter meaning there is some anger that is good so there is an anger that is no sin for the first motions of anger are not so hainous for the nature of men cannot keep away these passions no more than birds may be kept from lighting upon trees The Preacher saith Ecclesiastes the seventh chapter and the eleventh verse ira nidificat in sina 〈◊〉 whereupon one saith that although anger will light upon our nature whether we will or no yet we may keep it from making a nest in our hearts and so long it is no sinne therefore Cains sin is great in respect it was not only without a just cause but for that he suffered anger to rest in his heart Note The tongue the trumpet of the minde The falling down of his countenance is a fruit of the abundance of his heart as our Saviour Christ saith Matthew the twelfth chapter and the thirty fourth verse ex abundantia cordis os loquitur the tongue is the trumpet of the minde The countenance the glass of our affections and the countenance is the glass wherein we may behold the affections of the heart as the Preacher saith heaviness will appear in the countenance Examples so it did in Labans countenance Genesis the thirty first chapter no lesse than it doth here in Cain so in the Bretheren of Joseph Genesis the thirty seventh chapter Hatred cannot speak peaceable in so much as they could not speak peaceably to him so Saul ever after looked asquint on David after he conceived displeasure at him the first of Samuel and the eighteenth chapter Pride of heart appeares by proud looks so the Scripture sheweth that the pride of the heart appeares in the countenance by the proud look the one hundred and first Psalm and the high looks Proverbs the sixth chapter the adulterous minde is shewed by eyes full of adultery the second of Peter and the second chapter Countenance cast down a sign of ill when the minde imagineth evill then the light of the countenance is turned into darkness and the countenance which should be upright is changed in ruinam vultûs with casting down of the countenance because it is both an effect and sign of ill and the Apostle willeth that we abstain from any appearance of ill the first to the Thessalonians and the fifth chapter therefore we are to avoid it tristitia vultûs est hostilis tessara the outward badge and token of some inward evill conceived in the heart abscedendum est non 〈◊〉 a malo sed ab omni specie mali For the conclusion as we have already once seen the way what it is that we might not follow it Jude the eleventh verse so here again we are to consider his way which is of three sorts Note First not to rest and be content with that which God will have come to pass he was displeased because God respected Abel and not him Be content when God respected and contrary whereas he should have said with Eli the first of Samuel and the third chapter Deus est faciet quod bonum videtur in occulis ejus and with David the one hundred and ninteenth Psalm and the seventy fifth verse I know Lord thy judgments are right and that of very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me but to stomack God for any of his doings is a thing that every one must avoid that will not walk in Cains way Fret not thy self because of the ungodly saith the Prophet Psalm the thirty seventh and the first we may not think much that God doth respect the wicked and blesse them with temporall blessings much lesse are we to repine at the good of the godly Fret not at the prosperity of the wicked The Prophet affirmeth that he was offended at the prosperity of the wicked in so much as he said I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Psalm the thirty seventh he could not tell what to think of it till he went to the 〈◊〉 and there he learned that albeit they flourish in the world yet he sets them in slippery places that they may fall down to their distruction therefore we may not fret our selves considering that those things prove to Gods providence This was Davids meditation on the Sabbath Psalm the ninty second and the sixt and seventh verses That albeit the unwise know it not and fools doe not understand so much yet he was assured that when the wicked did grow as the grosse and all the Workers of wickedness did flourish then they should perish so that we have no just cause to be displeased with God if he respect the wicked seeing it is for his hurt but if he respect Abel and his good service we are to be glad When righteous men are in authority then the people rejoyce Proverbs the twentieth chapter and the second verse 〈◊〉 it is he joy of the world that the godly are respected of God and enjoy his favourable countenance and he that will not follow Cains way must confidere virtuti suae alienae non invidere Some rise not by virtue but by others fall when men doe not labour to exalt themselves by their own virtue but rise up by the fall of others that is Cains way which we must carefully avoid as we will ascape the wrath of God Thirdly the example of Abels good service and the favour which God vouchsafeth to
Thirdly In this proceeding of Gods councell and wisedome if neither of these take place that neither Cain himself nor others are the better for this mitigation yet as the Woman said in the second of Samuel the fourteenth chapter that albeit one of her Sons had slain the other yet she would not be deprived of him that was alive for that she was willing that her husbands name and 〈◊〉 should continue upon earth so it stood with Adam he had two Sonnes whereof the one was the bane of the other and albeit Cain deserved to die presently yet God doth not so consider the greatness of his sinne that he will forget the nature of man which himself had created and therefore as well to preserve mankinde as to shew that godly posterity is not hereditarie he suffers Cain yet to live For as Adam had a Cain so from Cain who was that evill one in the first epistle of John the third chapter Gods purpose was to derive such as should pertain to the Covenant Of one and the same Parents Gods will is one shall be born after the flesh another after the spirit and he that is born after the flesh shall persecute him that is born after the spirit Galatians the fourth chapter and the twenty ninth verse As we say of his wisedome so it stands not with Gods justice that whosoever findes a Malefactor shall kill him for God doth plainly expresse his will that a Murtherer being worthy of death in himself for all that shall not be murthered of every one Therefore God saith whosoever shall presume of himself to kill Cain though it be with this pretence that he is a murtherer shall be punished seven fold for it is not in every mans power 〈…〉 If any man have committed a crime the Judge shall see whether he be worthy of death and as the Judge shall judge him so shall he be punished Deuteronomie the twenty 〈◊〉 chapter Exodus the twenty second chapter The Magistrate being Gods Ordinance Romans the thirteenth chapter hath power to put a murther to death for he hath the Sword committed unto him for that end But he that taketh up the Sword shall perish by the Sword Matthew the twenty sixt chapter For if every one that findeth a mans 〈◊〉 might kill him it would soon root out all mankinde And that this inconvenience should not fall out God takes order that every man shall not doe that to Cain which Cain hath done to Abel no man may kill a Murtherer unless he have authority committed unto him for that end That is for his sparing The second point is for the punishment of him that transgresseth thus that is he shall be punished seven fold It is strange that be which kills a murtherer shall have a more grievous punishment than he The number of seven is numerus complens hebdomidem therefore by the 〈◊〉 punishment Gods meaning is that he will lay a compleat and consummate punishment upon such a party but howsoever it seem strange yet it is justice for that as God will not have him spared whom he condemns to death as Saul spared Agag in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter nor let him goe whom he hath appointed to die in the first of Kings the twentieth chapter and the fourty second verse so it is a grievous sinne to kill him whom God will have spared and this is it which makes the sin of such a party grievous besides the consideration of Gods wrath against them that doe addere afflictiones afflicto Zechariah the first chapter and the fifteenth verse God saith he will be 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 that help forward the affliction of them with whom he was a little angry and therefore such a one shall not escape but before plagued and the Prophet saith the Lord will not judge and condemn a man twice for one fault Nahum the first chapter and the ninth verse Such a man committeth a sinne more grievous than Cains sinne in two respects First Cain transgressed only the Law of nature written in his heart but the other transgresseth not only the naturall Law but Gods express Command who gave order that no man should of himself presume to kill Cain Secondly It is more grievous in that he maketh Cains example a warrant to commit murther but God saith he must not doe so for if a man seeing Cain punished for his sinne shall notwithstanding sinne as he hath done he addeth to his transgression and must therefore have a greater punishment than Cain From those two parts already handled we may gather that to those that sit as Judges in Gods place there is left a power of life and death a power to crucifie and a power to let loose as Pilate said to Christ John the 19th chapter verse the tenth that they have power both to mittigate and to abrogate the punishment of Offenders For the first David was fain of necessity to forbear Joab being himself weak and old and to delay his punishment when he had murthered Abner and Amasa men more righteous and better than he till Salomon his sonne was established in the first of Kings and the second chapter But the reason why Cain's punishment is delayed is not any forbearance of necessity but because the lengthning of his punishment is a better means to restrain men from the like sinne than if he had at once been punished with death For this cause the Prophet saith Psalm the fifty ninth and the eleventh verse Slay them not least my people forget it but scatter them abroad by thy power It is magis ad bonum publicum that the Offenders be spared If Cains life had been presently taken away it might have been doubted whether Cain had ever committed any such sinne or no or if they did beleeve it yet they might soon forget the punishment laid upon him therefore God thought it better he should be spared that others seeing Cain live in continuall miserie might take occasion to inquire what he hath done that understanding the cause of his miserie they may be warned to avoid his sinne Secondly From hence is grounded the aggravation of punishments so that where thest is ordinarily punished with four fold restitution Exodus the twenty second chapter He that stealeth a poor mans sheep that hath no more is by Davids judgment the child of death in the second book of Samuel the twelfth chapter he that finneth upon contempt of Gods command and not of any necessity as he that gathereth sticks upon the Sabbath day Numbers the fifteenth chapter such a one is more grievously to be punished When the party offended will have a man spared then to kill him contrary to his command is a sinne that deserves extraordinary punishment for mensura peccati is that which brings us unto plagarum modus Deuteronomie the the twenty fifth chapter and the second verse Cain being warned from the law of nature kills his Brother and therefore deserves punishment but he that being warned
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
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
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
Thirdly a Proviso 1. The Phrase For the first God blessed God blessed them Benedixit hath an affinity with creavit In the Hebrew Barath is for being and Barak for blessing being and ingendring crevit and creavit have an affinity Benedixit Deus is as much to say God gave good words Dixit fiat est factum bene dixit bene est factum Gods blessings are better than ours God blesseth and man blesleth Mans blessing is verball Mans blessing is to wish well as to say The blessing of the Lord be upon you or we blesse you in the name of the Lord Psal. 129. 8. Man blesseth God with praises reverence and with obedience Our blessing is but fair words blown out of golden bellows it is but verbal Gods blessing is reall God blesseth us otherwise for his blessing is reall for when God blesseth he leaveth a blessing behinde him Joel 2. 14. destroy not the vine for a blessing is in it Esay 65. 8. our blessing is but of windie words When Christ blesseth a power went from him he felt it goe from him in Matthews Gospel David termeth it the dew of his blessing for that it soaketh to the root and his curse is like oyle The eccho of Gods benedixit is benefecit bene precari nihil praestare is mans blessing bene precari praestare is Gods blessing His blessings are infinite The water droppeth out of his bucket and his seed shall be in many waters Numb 24. 7. God is blessednesse it self Christ is called the Sonne of the blessed But among all his blessings here is meant that which is spoken of Gen. 49. 25. namely the blessing of the brests and of the womb which is the power of fruitfulnesse and of fertility When Isaac blessed Jacob the smell saith he of my sonne is as the smell of the field which the Lord hath blessed Gen. 27. 27. Fertility Gods blessing fertility is the blessing of God maledictio Dei Gods curse of the Earth is barrennesse chap. 3. 17. For the sinnes of the People maledictio depascet terram the curse shall devour the Earth Esay 24. 6. The restraint of Gods blessing causeth barrennesse The words of God saying before caused but effects Here he ordaineth his Creatures not only his works but to be causes and fellow workers with him his blessings of this place are bestowed upon all sorts Gods righteousnesse is like mighty mountains Psal. 36. 6. This word Barak is applyed to the knee and signifieth as it were mothers tendernesse to the Babe sitting upon her knee Rachel saith to Jacob chap. 30. 3. Goe in to her and she shall bare upon my knees where barake is used When the Babes are upon their Mothers knee they kisse them they wish well they cherish them So doth God setting us on his knee so that blanda est in Deo matrum affectio Let then every tongue speak his praises let every knee bend when God is named Saying Saying As it is referred unto God the very beasts doe understand Gods dialect and obey The Lord spake unto the fish and it cast out Jonas upon the dryland Jonah 2. 10. God commanded the Ravens to feed Eliah and they brought him bread and flesh to eate 1 Kings 17. 4. If the Lord doe but hisse the flies from Egypt and the Bees from Ashur though they be dumb shall come and shall light in the desolate valleys Esay 7. 18. 2. The Tenor of the 22. vers The Tenor is tripartite Crescite multiplicamini replete aquas Crescite multiplicamini replete aquas Growing is referred to quantity multiplying to numbers Nec esse potest luxuries verborum things grow bigger multiplying by conjunction of male and female filling the waters For the place all waters the two first are for propagation and to replanish the whole Sea the pond of the World auxesis erat The Husbandman soweth the seed but God giveth a body at his pleasure even to every seed his own body 1 Cor. 15. 38. Yet at length such is the increase that the Corn serveth not only their Countrie but for Merchandise they carry Wheat for other Countries also Ezechiel 27. 17. whether thou sleep or wake thy Corn groweth the growth of living things also is from God for who by taking care can adde one cubite unto his stature Matth. 6. 27. Learn there how the Lilies grow incrementum a Deo est Plants doe grow crescunt viventia But propagation is appropriate unto viventia which is a ripenesse of generation and an ingendring of the like He that findeth seed for the sower will minister bread for food and will multiply your seed 2 Cor. 9. 10. there is for that cause distinction of sexes God hath given seed to one in his loyns ad gignendum to other a womb ad pariendum It was God did with-hold from Rachel the fruit of the womb chap. 30. 2. If God be so pleased there is no strength to bring forth Esay 37. 3. So it is a blessing to bring forth and to bring up it is benedictio uberam to make the barren fruitfull Filling the waters is a preservation of things multiplyed Four parts of this Conservation Edictum est hoc conservationis it hath four parts 1. Naturall love First natural love of the engenderer to the thing engendred As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her byrds stretcheth out her wings taketh them and beareth them upon her wings Deut. 32. 11. yea even the Dragons draw out the breast and give suck to their young but the Daughters of my People is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wildernesse saith Jeremy Lament 4. 3. The Pellican pierceth her own breast to feed her young it is a great blessing that the young ones shall know their Damms however they be hatched as the Partridge gathereth the young which she hath not brought fourth Jer. 17. 11. 2. The natural knowledge of their meat The second point of their preservation is the natural and ordinary knowledge of their meat As the Bee flyeth to the flower the land fowl to the seed the water fowl to the root the Crab watcheth the Oysters gaping he knoweth pabulum latibulum thev know their place the Sparrow findeth her an house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young Psal. 84. 2. and therefore they make their nest hard without and soft within The Dove maketh her nest in rocks to be in safety Jer. 48. 24. 3 Knowledge of their enemies The third part of preservation is that they know their enemies the Dove feareth the Kite not the Swan the Partridge the Hawke not the Goose and the fishes flie the Pike The Bee hath knowledge of her sting therefore in her anger she stingeth the birds trust some in their beaks some in their talents and the weak and simple Dove trusteth in her wings They have knowledge of time place the
Paradise of Angels Psal. 103. 20. by which is meant the joyes of Heaven of which man also communicating in this life with their holinesse shall be made partaker in the life to come yet notwithstanding it is as true that there is an historicall Paradise on Earth which is truly called the Garden of the Lords planting garnished with all trees for delight and profit It is no question but that man had his Interest then in both these Paradises and that above is farre more excellent and glorious than this below when it was in his best estate wherefore we must so place the one which is spirituall and invisible as that we take not away the other which was visible and temporall For Adams posterity dwelt neere to Eden afterwards and serveth in the Scriptures to describe their certain places by 4. Gen. 16. For Cain dwelt towards the East side of this Garden Eden and the South side of it was a Plot which after the flood Noah chose as the best soyl to dwell in Esay 37. 12. The Merchants which dwelt thereabouts and were planted about Eden had all manner of 〈◊〉 commodities as we read Ezech 27. 23. All which places were in Asia which as we know is the most 〈◊〉 and fruitfull part of all the world being set at the right hand of the earth as having the preheminence of it for our right parts are most apt for motion or doing any action and men doe 〈◊〉 that people were first in Asia inhabiting it and from thence came to all other parts of the earth This also for the certainty of the place is set out by the description of Rivers which have their heads there and flow from thence 〈◊〉 other parts Also by the fruits of the earth which abound there as Gold Precious stones Spices c. Also the certainty of the particular place where this garden was is made known to man by the description of the obstacle and let which keepeth men out of that place for as Pliny and Toletus say in fontibus Paradisi even in the entrance by which we should goe to it even unto this day the place yeeldeth out flames of fire which no doubt is the fierie Sword which God placed there Gen. 3. 24. We finde by writers that it was neer the City called Babilonia 〈◊〉 And that three Cities in the 〈◊〉 of Eden were builded and planted upon three of the Rivers which ran out of the Garden which Cities were called Babilonia 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 which were builded there in Eden for the great store of all fruits which by Gods blessing abounded for it is recorded that they had harvest twice a yeer and before the first harvest they were fain to eat it twice so exceeding fertill it was That which is set down to be the greatest and rare encrease of Gods blessing Gen. 28. 12. Pliny recordeth was an usuall and ordinary encrease in those parts that is to yeeld a hundred fold And whereas it is usuall amongst our husbandmen to hearten and make fat our land their industry and labor was contrary to take away the heart and strength of the ground and to prevent the ranknesse of it for the which they had barren waters contrary to the nature of Nilus wherewith they watered their ground because otherwise the eares of Corn would be so great and waighty that the stalk could not bear it These things remaining as yet in Eden neer about the borders of the Garden by the testimony both of the Scriptures and of all other writers doe prove unto us that there is such a certain and undoubted place upon the earth The word Eden doth signifie pleasure Gen 13. 10. which doth shew us that all the Country was pleasant and delightfull and therefore the Garden of Eden is shewed thereby to deserve the name of pleasure it self as we shall see hereafter both in respect of the pleasant Waters and Rivers as also of the pleasant Ayre for in the 3. Chap. it is said that God did walk in it as also in respect of the most rare and delightfull sent verse 9. not only for Flowers and Trees but for Spices precious Stones and Metals which grew 〈◊〉 of their own accord as also in respect of the pleasant prospect and view of the place being as it were a hollow bottom as Balaam describeth this Garden Numb 24. 6. Thus we have seen the seat of man the kind of place the dignity and scituation of it Secundae pars generalis Now for the placing of man in it Deus locavit hominem quem formavit in horto quem plantavit for after man was made God removed and brought him hither into Eden and put him in the Garden 15. verse God saith Levit. 25. 23. quoniam terra mea est vos Coloni estis c. So this Garden was Gods planting and his ground Adam was a forreiner and brought in to be Gods Farmer and Tenant in it that Adam not being born in it might know that God which placed him there was the right and only true owner of it and therefore all homage was to be performed to him alone for this taught him that Paradise was vos gratiae non naturae for God might have left him in the place where first he made him Seeing then God of his free Grace brought him thither it was not of desert or merit because as yet there was no Law given unto him untill after he was put in possession of it This then teacheth him thankfulnesse and obedience in that it was without any desert of his Secondly it might teach him that as he was in mercy brought in so he might in Justice be cast out if he sinned and became ungratefull Wherefore we see that as it was Gods great favor by which he was brought hither so when he had transgressed there was no wrong or rigor shewed in thrusting him out again God first planted the senses in man Psal. 94. 9. And then he planted a Garden this is the first order and another order he took which is this that they whom he planted in the Garden Psal. 92. 13. 14. might strive with Paradise in fruitfulnesse that seeing God had caused Paradise not to be barren or unfruitfull to us Jer. 2. 27. Therefore we should not be a wildernesse unto God but to be plentifull in good works being thus gratiously planted in Gods Church Concerning Paradise now we must know it was not the deluge but the cause of the deluge that is sinne which took away the excellency of Paradise as is here mentioned But you will ask what is become of it now This question may be well left out because as St. Augustine saith there is no use of it in regard of our habitation but of our instruction this for use we see and learn that Adam did loose that happy place of joy by negligence sinne ungratefulnesse and unbelief therefore let us beware lest the like sinnes make us loose the hope and fruition of our
Paradise in Heaven but let us detest such detestable vices which will cause men to lose such excellent glory yet though we have all lost these pleasures of Paradise by Adams fall we need not with too much sorrow lament it because that was temporall and not permanent and we are put in assurance through Christ of another Paradise much better being eternall In respect of which this below was a shadow and nothing else but quasi vestibulum and this first Paradise was but a shew of such store of earthly pleasures and blessings which God is able to bestow on his servan 〈◊〉 in this World So Luke 23. 43. the second Paradise hath in it a shew and view of heavenly pleasures and delights spiritual which he will bestow on us in the world to come And as by the default of the first earthly Adam we lost earthly Paradise which was temporall So by the second Adam which is heavenly and his rightcousnesse we have hope of that heavenly Paradise which is eternall Again as the sinne of the first Adam did lock and chain up the first Paradise So the second Adam shall open the gate of Heaven and make an entrance of free passage thither As this Paradise past was a bodily place for bodies so the other to come is the spiritual Paradise for our souls This is Paradisus veteris Testamenti but that to come is foederis novi And thus we must understand all the places of the new Testament which speake of Paradise now for by it are meant the joyes of Heaven Seeing then we are not left destitute of a Paradise but have the promise of one which is more excellent than that let us not fall into the same sinnes of ingratitude and infidelity which we see was the cause of driving Adam out of that Paradise and will be the cause to keep us out of the second which is to come for no unclean person shall enter into it 1 Cor. 15. for Christ will say to such Depart from me yee workers of iniquity Matth. 7. 23. Wherefore these sinnes must be detested and infidelity as the root of all for his beleeving the Devills nequaquam moriemini before Gods morte moriemini was the cause of his fall and of his losse Thus if we beware of this fall and losse we shall at last not only come to that Sabbatum cum intermissione which was but once a week but to that Sabbatum sine intermissione which Christ hath appointed for us and then by Christ we shall be brought and placed not in Paradise cum amissione but sine amissione which is eternall in Heaven In which place we shall enjoy an everlasting Sabbath of repose and rest without any ceasing and of such a Paradise of pleasures as are without fear or danger of losing as these earthly ones were All these things are provided for us all if we demean and behave our selves holily in the faithfull steps of the second Adam Feceratque Jehova Deus ut germinaret è terra illa quaevis arbor desiderabilis ad adspectum bona ad cibum arbor quoque vitae in horto illo arbor scientiae boni mali Gen. 2. 9. June 8. 1591. AFter the more particular setting down of the essentials of Man being created in the 7. verse I told you that Moses proceedeth to set down the place in which man was seated from the 8. verse to the end of the 14. And the vocation in which he was to be imployed from the 14. to the 18. verse 2. Touching the place we considered two priviledges expressed c. 1. One in regard of the scituation of the Garden being in the East or right side of Eden 2. The other in regard of the Gardiner which was God Now he goeth forward to commend the Garden in another respect namely of the Trees and Plants which were in it set down in this 9. verse And also in respect of the waters in the 10. and 11 verles by which he telleth us that it was both a well planted and a well watered Garden and therefore could not choose but be pleasant and profitable Concerning the plants and trees in it first he propoundeth it in general and then in special marking out two kindes of fruits by name as the tree of life and the 〈◊〉 of knowledge Here are two kindes of commendations of the trees and planting it 1. The first respecteth the excellency of the fruit that were both pleasant to the eye and good for taste 2. Secondly In regard of the plenty and variety in that there was of every kinde and sort that nothing might be missing in it God made it Nemus a grove of pleasant trees good for shadow and also Hortus an Orchard of good trees for our use and service that we might not only rest under the shadow but reach out for the fruit to taste thereof Both these degrees of excellencie are applyed and attributed to this Garden and to the trees thereof Touching pleasure and delight we know that there is voluptas remota voluptas conjuncta the one removed farre off but being 〈◊〉 unto us applyed to the sense is very good and that is the delight of raste for the eye hath its delight though the object be remote but the taste hath no pleasure if the object be not applyed The one delight is transitory for that which is pleasant for taste when we eate it it is consumed and wasted away in the use of it but the other pleasure of the eye is perdurable and lasteth not only while we look on it but remaineth long after as delightfull still God then in this Garden joyned both these delights and excellencies together making both concur that evermore the trees should be speciosae fructiferae Jer. 11. 16. Thus much of the excellency Now I come to the plenty and variety of trees for it is said that out of the ground God made to grow every tree that is every kinde of tree pleasant to the sight and good for meat which is a speciall commendation for as the Heathen man saith Non omnis fert omnis tellus Therefore Salomon was fain to send to Hyram for Cedar trees which his Country afforded not and Hyram was fain to send to Salomon for Wheat and Olives because his Countrie either wanted that or else it bare not plenty that year 1 Reg. 15. 10. So that all Countries even the best and most fruitfull have not all sorts of commodities but are driven to have enterchange for supply Only this place of Paradise had plentifull store of all kinds of fruit and wanted nothing So that we may truly say of this garden as it is said of Salomons time there came never in any place such trees and such plenty of all as was here 1 Reg. 10. 12. This then sheweth the bounty and liberality of God for he dealt not with us sparingly nor with any envious eye but poured out the aboundance
to be understood as the Scriptures well teach us Augustine saith that the tree of life served not only ad alimenta sed etiam ad sacramenta for doubtlesse as Adam in his estate of innocency had a bodily Sabbath so therein he had a spirituall use of these trees in the mid'st of the Garden and that in this sort First for the tree of life it was not so called as if it gave life to him for God breathed that into him at the first But besides that the tree of life was a means to preserve it It was also a Symbolum and memoriall also to put him in minde to know that it was not 〈…〉 virtute arboris but vi virtute divina by which he had life at first and by which his life and length of dayes shall be continued hereafter In the middest of the Garden was the Pulpit and this is the Sermon which was preached unto him by these things which the trees did represent namely That God was his life and length of dayes 〈◊〉 30. 20. And that this gratious visitation did preserve his life Job 10. 12. As he breathed out his life into him at the first Again it did put him in minde that seeing he had received a spirituall life of immutability in esse so also he received a spirituall life of eternity in posse Therefore he had matter and just occasion of thankfulnesse for the one and of obedience for the other Adam had two things injoyned him the one was praeesse Creaturis the other subesse Creatori he had no need of a Caveat for the one for he was ready enough to govern and bear soveraignty but for his duty to God he had great need to be put in minde and for the try all and practise thereof he caused this tree of knowledge to be planted there with an inhibition not to eat of it upon pain of death which now and ever hath offended many Some wish it had not been in the Garden Others wish Adam had never tasted it But Saint Augustine saith if it were good and pleasant why should it not be there Gods purpose therefore in planting the forbidden tree was that it might be a triall of his obedience and practise of his duty that if he should continue as he might and had ability given him then he should have the greater reward afterward 〈◊〉 saith Rev. 2. 7. Vincenti dabo edere de ligno vitae in medio Paradisi Well saith St. Paul But no man can overcome except he strive first and fight the good fight 2 Tim. 2. 5. And no man that will or can strive well but he abstaineth from something 1 Cor. 9. 25. For which cause therefore that we might be rewarded it was necessary that there should be a commandement and forbidding for his abstinence that when there should be a tryall of the Tempter saying Eat of this he should strive and say I may not and so get the victory and be crowned that is eate of the tree of everlasting life and live for ever with God in Heaven On the contrary side 17. verse if in triall he should wilfully fall then for transgression the tree of life should be a tree of death Mortem morieris And the reason of this choice why God should prescribe him a law and form of obedience is because this should be primor dialis lex as one saith ut nostrum obsequi sit nostrum sapere Deut. 30. 20. This is our wisdome to know and doe that which God will have us to doe if God give a Law at large every one will consent to it As if God had said No man shall disobey or transgresse my will none will deny it But let it come to positive law and bring the triall and practise of that generall to a particular as to say I forbid and restrain this tree none shall break my will nor eat of it then is the triall of obedience indeed Object But some may say What hurt is it to know good and evill For we read Esay 7. 15. that Christ shall doe that And therefore it is no sinne Resp. I answer that God forbiddeth not to eat the fruit nor that he would have us ignorant of that knowledge quam quis quaerit a Deo sed quam quis quaerit a seipso And no doubt Adam had the knowledge both of good and evill per intelligentiam si non per experientiam And he knew how to choose the one and to refuse the other to pursue the one and to fly from the other he understood it then but when he would know both by experience Gen. 3. 6. He could not see why God should forbid him and therefore the Tempter taking occasion by it made him make an experiment of it This is the cause then why at last Adam came to know evill by sense and experience and saw to his shame what evill was for to take he knew and confessed by experience that bonum erat adhaerere Deo as the Prophet saith Jer. 2. 19. And now he knew by tast how bitter a thing it was to forsake the Lord And that he knew it appeareth Gen. 3. 8. by hiding himself for fear he shewed that he knew it when he did feel ante-ambulatores mortis which is sorrow and sicknesse and when he saw the Statute of death that now it must necessarily come to him and all his posterity to dye the death then he knew evill by wofull experience You see the cause of the Law and of his sinne of good and evill it remaineth that we believe Adam in his knowledge and in his experience both of good and evill For by his good lost we come to the knowledge of the means by which our good may be lost that is if we seek to satisfie our lusts and curiously not contented with the open knowledge of his revealed will shall try conclusions with God and say what if we should break the Law Wherefore abandoning these faults which by experience we see were the cause of evill in him it behoveth us to receive more thankfully of God the good things we have and live obediently resting on the Sonne of God for good things to come And so at last Christ will be unto us the tree of eternal life hereafter as we have made him the tree of knowledge wisdome and sanctification to us in this life Fluvius autem procedit ex Hedene ad irrigandum hunc hortum inde sese dividit ferturque in quatuor capita Primi nomen est Pischon hic est qui alluit totam Regionem Chavilae ubi est aurum Et aurum illius Regionis praestans ibidem est Bdellium lapis Sardonyx Gen. 2. 10,11,12 June 10. 1591. THe verse going before containeth as we have seen the planting of the Garden and the devise of God framed and set in the middest of Paradise which is a plain resemblance of all Divinity both touching our duty in knowledge and
may be resolved two wayes as the School-men say Quando actio cadit super materiam indebitam that is either when an action is forbidden from lighting on it which should not or when it is invested with all his due circumstances In speaking of this we will take this course first to entreat of the subject and action here expressed and then of the application of it to us The subject is a Tree and that but one tree of knowledge which tree with the fruits of it were without question no more evill than the other trees for all alike God saw to be good as we have seen and therefore it was such as might have been eaten as well as the other if this restraint had not been And again if this restraint had fallen on any other tree in the Garden as it did on this it had been as unlawfull to eat as this So that it is not the nature of the tree but of Gods word which made it evill to eat for there was no difference between them but in respect of Gods word and charge which said Thou shalt not eat thereof In which respect it is called the tree of knowledge of good and evill We must understand that this tree hath not his name of every quality in it but of the event and effect which should come by it Exod. 15. 25. The Wise man calleth it lignum dolorum Eccles. 38. 5. of the effect and event it had of these waters So in Gen. 35. 8. there is a tree called Arbor lamentationis not that the fruits thereof would make a man sorrowfull but for the casualty and event which happened and befell Israel there not that it was the cause of any lamentation So we must know that whereas Adam before knew good both wayes both by contemplation and experience now having broken the Law he knew evill both wayes also we had the knowledge of good and evill morall by naturall contemplation Gen. 4. 7. so long as thou doest good to thy self men will speak well of thee So that to know good is bene pati while he did bene agere Dicite justè quia bene Esay 3. 10. 11. The just shall eat the fruit of their righteousnesse and the wicked the fruit and reward of their sinne and this is the other knowledge of good and evill Numb 11. 18. there was knowledge of good and evill by sight sense and experience Psal. 133. 1. this is shewed that malum culpae was the cause of malum poenae and by feeling the bitternesse of the punishment he knew how bitter a thing it was to forsake God and not to fear him So he knew the good of obedience by the good of reward which was the sweetnesse of pleasures before his fall and after his fall he knew the evill of sinne by the evill of his punishment The one knowledge is Gen. 18. 19. the other kinde of knowledge is Gen. 22. 12. If we follow St. Augustine and Tertullian we may say truly that it is called the tree of knowledge of good and evill both wayes both in respect of the effect and also of the 〈◊〉 Tertullian conceiveth that it was called so of the effect and duty which was to arise and be taught out of it in which respect he calleth it Adam's little Bible and the fountain of all divinity for as the Bible is the perfect rule of knowledge to us So was that to him and should have been 〈◊〉 if he had not fallen for by this dicendo it should have plainly 〈◊〉 Gods will and so it should exactly teach that to be good which was according to it in obedience and that to be evill which is contrary to it by transgression for the knowledge could not be more 〈◊〉 set down then by this object and action Thou shalt eate of these and shalt not eat of this God then by forbidding them to eat of the tree of knowledge did not envy or grudge that they should have knowledge but rather made this rule the root of all knowledge to them that the science of good and evill is taken only from Gods dicendo that is things are therefore good because God by his word alloweth them and are evill because he forbiddeth them Now touching St. Augustine He saith this is called the tree of knowledge in respect of the event in regard of the exeperimentall knowledge which man had by it both because by it he had felt the reward of obedience so long as he stood upright and also by it he found and felt by experience the reward and penalty of disobedience for when he had contrary to Gods word reached his hand to the tree and eaten of it he had experimentall knowledge by and by both how birter a thing it was to sinne and forsake God Jer. 2. 19. and also how good and sweet a thing it was to stick fast to God by obedience Psal. 73. 28. He found that in the action of obedience was life and happinesse and in the act of sinne was death and wretchednesse 〈◊〉 before Adam had eaten of the tree he had knowledge of good by contemplation and experience and so for ever should have had and then he had argumentall knowledge by presumption and contemplation also of evill for he by the argument of privatives must presume this conclusion that if he doe that which is forbidden he should be deprived of the tree of life and that happy estate and so consequently must needs come to death and all misery which he found to be most true by wofull experience so soon as he had put it in triall And thus much of the object and of the name given to it Touching the Action which is the second part in which I mean thus to proceed by way of certain positions and grounds the one necessarily arising out of the other We lay then for the first ground that it was not lawfull for God nor behoofull for us that God should make triall of Adam who he had made for it is equally expedient and right in the practice and behaviour of men first to make proof and triall of 〈◊〉 before they will make any reckoning or commendation of them as good laborers so God tried Abraham Gen. 22. 12. that he might have experimentall knowledge of his obedience and say nunc scio c. Now I know that thou fearest God seeing for my sake thou hast not spared thine only sonne So he proved Israell at the waters of striffe and Job by an other triall So God had knowledge of man whom he made that then he was good but he would by triall see whether he would continue so or not 2. Second it was meet that seeing a triall must be made that it should be by some externall thing in which this outward obedience and practice might appear as masters doe make triall of their servants obedience in some such work Doe this Goe thither So seeing Gods will was that Adam should be a spectacle in obedience
As if he should say my commandement and will shall be the rule and direction of your will and works so in the new Testament St. Paul saith we must not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. But that we be sober and know and understand according to sobriety which is to prove what every thing is by the perfect will of God Rom. 12. 2.3 This then is the difference between Gods commandements and those which men doe make when men though they be the greatest doe command any thing they therefore doe command things because they be good and lawfull and when we deal with them we therefore obey their Laws so farre forth as the things they command are lawfull and good because their words and commandements have no power to make things good But when we deal with Gods commandements we simply obey all that he willeth because his commandement and word doe make things absolutely good ye though they before may seem to be evill yet after he hath commanded them they are made therefore perfectly good Nos volumus qua bona sunt bona autem sunt quia voluit Deus Gods good will therefore is the best and most beneficiall thing for us and our good and the things he commandeth are the wisest things for us to follow howsoever they seem to corrupt reason and sense which are ill Judges in those matters Thus much then for our application and use that when our actions are agreeable to Gods word and law then they are according to Gods will And therefore we may be sure that it is best for our behoof Nam quo die comederis de eo utique moriturus es Gen. 2. 17. June 22 1591. EVery Law hath in it two principall parts the one containeth the body and tenor of it the other comprehendeth the sanction and penalty Touching the body of the Law we have entrcated already both of the subject and also of the action of it Now therefore we are come to the latter part to consider of the punishment threatned to the breach of it concerning which we say That as there is required necessarily in the Law giver authority and right to command so likewise in him must be a power and ability to correct and punish the transgressors or else his authority is without an edge Both these therefore are seen in the Law-maker by the parts of this Law the one being the directive part serving for direction the other being the corrective part which serveth for execution And every one may be sure that he is subject and under one of these This then is as if Moses had said Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this Non comedes but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this If you will needs eat and 〈◊〉 your will before mine and your lusts before my love then be ye sure of this That in that day thou shalt dye the death for death is the sower and bitter sawce of this sweet meat Rom. 6. 23. Touching the punishment in it self we are to know that in every punishment inflicted for offence there is required Justice to give it in a due proportion that there be an equality between the punishment and offence As in the Law he that will desire another mans Sheep and steal it he in justice is to restore four-fold Again reason and equity requireth that the punishment must be of greater force to 〈◊〉 and discourage from sinne then the sinne must be to perswade and entise us to it Such an equality is in this For because he took liberty to stretch his will and desire further than he should therefore that he should lose the first liberty he had for this is just and equall 〈…〉 etiam poneret modum beneficio and that he that observeth not the manner of using it should lose the right use which he had It is therefore reason and right that either we should Dimittere voluntatem male vivendi aut amittere facultatem bene 〈◊〉 This we say to justifie God because men think that this sinne of eating such a fruit is not a capitall offence and that God was too hard to 〈◊〉 this so sore a punishment on it Touching the second point which is concerning the cause of his death which must not be ascribed to God because the cause is found in our own selves for God saith If you eat you shall die that is you shall be causes and authors of your own death your blood light on your own heads for I am not guilty thereof which we shall the better percive and esteem if we consider that which before I have shewed that Adam was made immortall non necessitate naturae sed vi 〈◊〉 gratiae not by natural necessity but by the priviledge of Gods grace for Adam consisting of contrarie qualities by his own nature they must needs in regard of themselves be the cause of death to them as they were to the beasts But notwithstanding this subjection to mortality and possibility to dye in regard of their nature Gods grace did sustain their bodily life and kept them from death so long as they kept themselves from sinne But now si hence transgression besides the necessity of nature their sinne also did pluck death upon them and was the cause of this curse So long therefore as man kept his first estate he was united to God which was life and had use of the tree of life which then was 〈◊〉 Deo and had this grace to preserve life and by that means so long we had an immunity from death because we were 〈◊〉 with the prop of Gods grace which was the cause of our immortality but when 〈◊〉 did cause that prop to be pulled away which sustained the 〈◊〉 of our nature then we could not choose but dye both by the necessity of nature and desert of our sinne If we had leaned still to the stay of our nature and not trusted so much to our own wills and wisdoms it had gone well with us But this voluntarie forsaking of God and leaning on the broken staffe and reedis stay of our own was the cause of our fall into sinne and so unto death Thus we see God justified in this sentence saying Morieris because he is neither the Author or Cause of Malum naturae which is sinne nor yet of 〈…〉 which is death But man causing both culpam poenam doth both wayes cleer God and condemn us and our selves are proved to be the cause of both 3. Point The kinde of death Now touching the third point which respecteth the kinde of death here threatned for there are several kindes of death Rev. 2. 11. Rev. 20. 6. there is the temporall and eternall the naturall and spirituall the first and second death which of these is here in this punishment threatned St. Augustine answereth that God doth here mean both whatsoever death may be included from the beginning of our life unto the last death all that is here
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
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
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
must be by an excrement bread is the interest of thy continuall labour this is the yoke of the sins of Adam God in punishing the Israelites will remember the land which he gave them Leviticus 26. 42. and they must suffer the punishment of their iniquitie yea when you shall remember your own wickedness yee shall judge your selves worthy destruction for your iniquitie in the thirty sixth of Ezekiel and the thirty first Paul in the first of the Corinthians the ninth and the fifteenth saith it were better for him to die than not to doe his duty The use of the Scripture Now this sentence upon Adam hath this use for us spinae tribuli the thorns and thistles when we walk in the field speak to us as Gods book doth and make us a Sermon telling they should not have grown there but for us the earth should not have been cursed with barreness but for our wickedness if the thorn prick or the nettle sting thee it will say hoc propter te I was first brought and still I grow to make thee remember thy obedience so that the very nettle that is good for nothing shall put thee in mind of thy 〈◊〉 Be not angrie with the earth if it be barren for it will say it was so non propter se sed propter te To conclude this point well saith a Father we must have not only sensum poenae in corpore the feeling of punishment in our body but sensum irae divinae in mente the seeling of Gods wrath in our soul. But now not to leave you plunged in despair with consideration of grievous punishment in a word I will touch the alay of this punishment be comforted though God be just yet he is mercifull non est Crux sine Christo hast thou a Cross then hast thou Christ to comfort thee Mercies in this Sentence are five God hath left five signes of his mercie in this sentence which the ancient Fathers term vestigia miserantis gratiae impressions of Gods mercifull favour 1. The first is non dixit maledictus tu cursed be thou as he said to the Serpent but terra maledicta cursed be the earth the nature that sinned is not cursed nor is it like Cains curse in the fourth Chapter and eleventh verse for there is he cursed from the earth but here the earth of which Adam was made not Adam himself was cursed 2. Secondly he is punished but with a little labour to his great sinne with a watry drops of sweat and the sweat is but an easie sweat of the face not like Christs sweat in his prayer the twenty second of Luke the fourty fourth verse which was like drops of blood trickling down to the ground 3. Thirdly God might have suffered the earth to have been fruitless let man have laboured never so much but that man for all his sinne yet with his labour shall make the earth fruitfull in my opinion is a great mercy which I ground out of the one hundred twenty eighth Psalme when thou eatest the labour of thy hands saith David thou shalt be blessed It is a blessing when the Wife is fruitfull as the Vine upon the house side when thy Children are as the Olive plants about thy Table and it is a blessing that yet with labour the earth shall bring forth fruit It is a comfort that your labour shall not be in vain as St. Paul speaketh the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth and the fifty eighth God in mercy sendeth rain to water the earth what to doe Isaiah telleth you in his 55. chapter and 10. verse to give not only bread to the eater but even seed to the sower It is a comfort when we sowe that we shall reap he that soweth eareth reapeth thresheth doth it in hope the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter and tenth verse God giveth bread to the hungry and the seed to further increase by labour dat acquisitum that thou hast gained through thy labor 4. Fourthly it is a great mercie to call it panis taus thy bread thou shalt eat of thy own bread this is mercy I say to terme that mans which is Gods Lastly this labour hath a date and an end it hath tempus refrigerii upon the amending your lives God will put away your sinnes and a time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3. 19. Let this be lastly your comfort that though you labour long yet you shall have a resting after your labour In sudore vultûs tui vescitor cibo donec revertaris in human cum ex eâ desumptus fueris nam pulvis es inpulverem revertêris Gen. 3. 19. October 〈◊〉 1598. NOw are we to handle the other part of Adams Sentence and punishment The ground and nature of the Sentence and in the Sentence we are to consider the ground of it and the nature or form of it Disobedience is the ground of this sentence and this Sentence is made even a Law for according to that of Paul Romans 6. 2. The Law of life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death so that sinne is the cause of death Hence sprung the Pelagian heresie condemned by the Councell of Carthage Concil Carth. 7. That said that though we sinned yet we were freed though we lived never so dissolutely yet we were saved After Christs comming death was not the reward of sinne but mark what St. James in his first chapter and thirteenth verse saith When lust hath conceived it 〈◊〉 forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death and St. Paul in the fifth to the Romans the nineteenth and the twenty first saith Death That as by one mans disohedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many were made righteous and further That as sinne reigned unto death so grace by righteousnese might reign to eternall life Truth it is that through sin came death and that death hath rule over all Adam at the first by sinne brought death the last Adam by obedience brought everlasting life and as Paul in the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixth verse saith That the last enemie that Christ should destroy was death for as it is in the same chapter As in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive and the very wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life saith Paul in the sixth to the Romans and the twenty third verse The nature and form of sinne Touching the nature and form of the sinne God is not cause of sinne God is not the agent in sinne but the cause of sinne is only from Adam himself And according to that of the Wise man in his first chapter and thirteenth verse Adam and sin cause of death God hath not made death neither hath he pleasure in the
destruction of the living and in the eighteenth of Ezekiel and the twenty third God hath no desire that the wicked should die but if even the wicked return from his waies he shall live so that Adam and his sinne was the cause of death death was made by him for God is the God of life It was the sinne of Nineveh that made God to threaten destruction to Nineveh within fourty dayes but when as it is in the third of Jonah and the eighth they returned by repentance from their evill waies God shewed mercie and they were not destroyed Adam he forsook God of himself and so he brought death to himself So long as he shewed his obedience unto God the other Creatures were obedient unto him there was no enmity between him and the other Creatures in time of obedience he was not in danger of death God breathed into Adam life Adam brought death The Prophet in the 104. Psalme 29. saith If thou take away their breath they return to their dust so that life is Gods but dust is their own ground and they have their moisture and when that moisture is dried up and taken away it turneth to dust ex argillâ fabricavit hominem Deus Job in his tenth chapter and ninth verse saith to God Remember that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me to dust again for if the moisture of the grace of God be taken away what are we but dust The Heavens send down the dew from above to moisten the Earth Isaiah 45. 8. It is the spirit of God that giveth the moisture to beliefe John 7. 39. If that be taken away we are but dust Thus farre of it as a Sentence A Law Now of this as of a Law To dust shalt thou return First touching the certainty of it in these words to dust thou shalt return of the uncertainty when donec untill There are those that escape the first part of this punishment of Adam that live not in the sweat of their face qui non vivunt ex labore sudoris there are those that live at ease and yet fare daintily that have aboundance and take no pains that lie upon their Beds as the door turneth upon his hinges Proverbs 26. 14. But though they escape that part of the Sentence this part takes hold of all for all must die this is universall this is certain Statutum est it is a Statute and a Law that all must die from the first to the last Adam the fift to the Romans the fifteenth David himself saith of himself in regard of mortalitie of the body Psalme the twenty second and the sixth I am a worm and not a man We have comfort in Jesus Christ to live for ever this was it that Jesus said that John should not die the twenty first of John and the twenty third and by him we look for the resurection of the body This it was that made Job in his nineteenth chapter and twenty sixth verse to say That though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh A universall Law Touching the extent of this that it is universall to all to die it is plain not to be denied for as it is in the eighty ninth Psame and the fourty eighth verse What man liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the grave Though God hath said to Kings and Princes and Judges of the earth yee are Gods and Children of the Almighty yet yee shall die as men and fall like others Psalme the eighty second and the seventh laquei mortis the snares of death compass about the Godly their body goeth to the grave but their soul returneth to rest Psalme the one hundred sixth and the seventh verse and as it is in the second of the Preacher and the sixteenth The wise man dieth as well as the fool Look what sentence is given upon man falls upon the rest of the Creatures for man is the great Count-palatine of the world and the chief mover in the Sphear as he moveth all are moved and the Elements and Birds and Beasts were subject to Mans change his disobedience made all disobedient and out of order yea as the Wise-man saith in the nineteenth of Ecclesiast and the fifth All the living know assuredly they shall die So much for the certainty to all Uncertainty Donec untill Now of the uncertainty of the time donec untill which is verie uncertain Isaack though he were old and neer his death yet in the twenty seventh of Genesis and the second he said senex sum diem mortis nescio I am now old and know not the day of my death The men of this world have their Portion in this life there are the gates of death as David speaketh and laquei mortis the snares of death This time cannot be discerned it is nighest us when we think our selves most secure For when the rich man had layed up store for many years and said to his soul take thou thy rest even then came it hâc nocte this night thou shalt die Death is pronounced upon all but a flaming fire and vengeance belongeth only to the ungodly the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the eighth and ninth verses Mercy in death Now touching the mittigation of this death in this sentence of death for as the Wise-man speaketh in the seventh chapter and the seventeenth verse The vengeance of the wicked is fire and 〈◊〉 this bitterness must be alayed for as Bernard saith non est crux sine Christo non est punctio sine unctione there is no cross without comfort no punishment without ointment The fear of death Christ delivereth them from the fear of death that is Gods anger that all their life were subject to bondage the second to the Hebrews and the fifteenth The hope of life so then the fear of death must be alayed with the hope of life For though the wicked be cast off for his malice yet the righteous hath hope in his death the fourteenth of the Proverbs and the thirty second This is joy to us even in death that Christ will change this vile body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body the third to the Philipians and the twenty first and according to the fourteenth of the Revelations and the thirteenth their hope is with a blessing beati mortui qui in domino moriuntur blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their laboures Now in the verie words of the Sentence are implied two sorts of this delay Donec implieth an end of labour Donec implieth that they shall labour untill then untill implieth no eternity there is a consummation of labour there is end of labour and an assurance of rest the blessed rest from their labours tempus est refrigerii there is a time of refreshing the third of the Acts and the
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
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
a condemning of his action because it is a foolish thing to doe that which hath no good reason to be rendred to warrant the doing of it Therefore God divideth the sense into two parts either the reason must be in God or in Abel in God for favouring him or in Abel because favoured of God Now God in the former part hath acquitted himself saying If thou dost well shalt not thou be accepted for behold I am just and will regard thy well doing therefore thou hast no cause to be grieved for that Or else thou shalt be rewarded according to justice and that in bounty and liberality which is by ancient Fathers grounded upon the words of God to Abraham Fear not for I will be thine exceeding great reward Genesis the fifteenth chapter and the first verse that is If thou dost well thou shalt be 〈◊〉 be rewarded for it but if thou dost not well thou hast no cause to be grieved neither for as I am just and will talk with thee one day thou shalt hear of it so yet my justice is full of mercy I intend not presenly to take thee by the throat but give thee space to repent 〈◊〉 shall but lye at thy dore so that not only Gods justice 〈◊〉 herein but his mercy is exceeding great and mixed with justice If God took order that after his sinne committed Cain should 〈◊〉 by and by come to judgement but should have time first to 〈◊〉 himself of it this is matter of comfort that no man should despair by and by when he hath sinned far that God is a 〈…〉 God and would not the death of sinner and therefore giveth him time to repent This sheweth that God gave him no cause of grief There remains that the grief must be conceived against Abel because God so much respected him but so the sense is as if God should say Cain art thou grieved for Abels good and fearest he should grow insolent by the favour I have shewed him and so he should despise and thou shouldst be vile in his eyes If Abel have offended thee why his desire shall be subject to thee but that is no cause why thou shouldst be grieved for he being the Child of grace doth not affect any such manner of superiority as thou fearest but is as modest and as humble as he was before and so thou hast no reason of impatiencie against him And not only that first but this second that God shewed plainly that it is his will that in and by the sin committed no man should lose any priviledge which of right is due to him and which before hee had and every motion in a Superior to sinne doth not discharge him of his authority Which is contrary to that false opinion and censure of them which thinke that even Princes themselves after sinne committed lose all their prerogative and supremacy of government which they had before and that their Subjects are not bound to doe their service any longer to them but that ever after their allegiance shall cease which is false and contrary to all reason and not Gods intent and will here For as in the chapter before after Adam had sinned yet Eve was still subject to him so the same God saith and ratifieth here that Cain though he had thus sinned both against God and his brother yet being the elder and first born and so before Abel so there should be a superiority and dominion that he should still retain by nature And it is Gods assertion that that superiority should be reteined still and that Abel should not seek to be his Superior neither did he That was the prerogative which Cain had before Abel as the elder But to yeeld this obedience hath been the continuall practise of all the Saints and Children of God King Saul was a wicked man yet David rebelled not against him because he knew him to be the Lords annointed so the Prophet Jeremy saith of Nebuchadnezar a wicked King that he will visite the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve him the twenty seventh chapter of Jeremiah and the ninth verse and for the new Testament both Paul and Peter confess the same Paul in the first to Timothy the second chapter and the second verse and Peter in the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the fourteenth verse doe will that duty and allegiance be given to the higher powers not only if they be good but though they be Tyrants and wicked Princes that fear not God And it is it that God saith by Job Job the thirty fourth chapter and the thirtieth verse that by him the Hypocrite reigneth that is for their sinnes God will send wicked Princes and Cain shall bear rule over Abel God doth not only alledg that thus it was but thus he would have it This Government thus by God established in the beginning was by David Jeremy Paul Peter Job and all the rest of the Patriarchs and Saints of God confessed and allowed So that if we regard Abel either in respect of himself or his demeanour towards Cain or we respect Gods goodness herein no just cause can be of grief neither was it Gods will that Abel should resist neither doth he any such thing and so indeed there was no just cause why Cain should fear it or be grieved And this may suffice for the first which I will shut up with this Caveat of instruction 〈◊〉 Our own sinne of malice and envy is cause of our grief that for as much as the grief of malice and envy cannot be 〈◊〉 from God who is just nor from Abel who is mild and modest then it remains that it came from Cain himself whom God repeats four times together in the words of this Text thou and thee and so he must return to his own heart and remember how his own sinne is cause of his grief as God himself speaketh by Isaiah the fourty sixth chapter and the eighth verse Remember thus and be ashamed bring it again to minde you transgressors Note And for the new Testament Luke the fifteenth chapter the prodigall Sonne when he came to himself confessed his own unworthiness and said Father I have sinned which is another main point of Divinity established from the beginning that as God saith Hosea the fifteenth and the ninth perditio tua ex te Israel salus autem ex me so our well doing or ill doing is cause of our regarding or destruction so saith James no man is tempted of God for God cannot be tempted of ill neither doth he tempt any man but every one is tempted of his own concupiscence James the first chapter and the thirteenth verse So that from the first we have this Doctrine that if God be judged he is innocent and if Abel there is no fault in him and to come to Cain he is in all the fault But now if we come about and say it is not meant of the person but of the things that is
sinne then we must proceed another way yet true and very profitable and so say ad te appetitus ejus ejus saith Augustine cujus numquid fratris absit Nay saith he it is appetitus peccati and Augustine doth ground this upon Jeremiah the fifteenth chapter and the ninteenth verse where it is said If thou return and in the same verse ipsi convertantur ad te non tu ad illos and so after Austin St. Jerome saith excellently ne peccatum illi sed ille peccato dominaretur not that sinne might have dominion over him but he over sinne and so in a manner dealt all the ancient Divines It is well known St. Jerome knew the tongues and was well acquainted with the Scriptures and so the sense is more perfect and compleat this way than the other This then is the point of instruction as before by way of praise and threat so here God deals by way of admonition which is brought in by way of supposing an excuse as if one should say I would not 〈◊〉 but I cannot doe otherwise I have no power over my self to rule my self or 〈◊〉 this grief how then can I rule over it that is over sinne But against this supposition of Cain Gods instruction is thus though sin be turned towards him yet God saith he may be Master over it that he needs not yeeld to it as if God should say to Cain I would have thee doe that which my grace offereth unto thee and not that which the concupiscence of sin leads thee to Here are two things propounded First our own state in these words but unto thee his desire shall be subject Secondly our duty what to doe thou 〈◊〉 rule over him For the first I grant it thou canst not live without it for sinne lyeth at the dore knocking and will run in and embrace thee if thou open the dore to it it is not possible but ad te appetitus ejus sinne will be taking hold of thee as it is exactly set down Hebrews the twelfth chapter sinne hangs on fast This is your state saith God and take notice of it but then doe your duty when sinne knocks look that you shut the dore against it when sinne runs to you see you turn your back on it and when it desires let it be in vain and then saith St. Austen surgendo proferendo frustra defatigetur ut tandem mihi proferat discat amplius non surgere and this it is that God would have us to remember to repell sinne by striving against it and not become Slaves to it by serving the lusts of it For as many times as a man refuseth the conversion and turning of the oportunities of sinne it is the redoubling of so many rewards and crowns in the Kingdome of heaven so that I tell you as often I have that it signifies both comfort and exhortation that that which exhorts should comfort and that which comforts should exhort too First for comfort not that any man should think himself forsaken and out of the compass of Gods favour when sinne runs to him for therefore it is called conversion it is the motion that water hath in hollow places that howsoever on hills or steep places it runs down yet in hollow places it staieth such is the nature of sinne As if God should say seeing your nature is such that it is naturally inclined to sinne by the teint and corruption of the poyson of that Serpent which first beguiled your first Parents which every man in his own nature hath sense of yet he feels no more than all the dear Saints of God have felt Therefore that it should not seem strange to any man when he seeth sinne run to him and findes those temptations of sin and motions thereunto for it is no other thing than what is incident to all the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the thirteenth verse No temptation hath taken you but such as is incident to man Now that is our inclination naturall which we cannot avoid here in this life and that is comfort against the objects of sinne that our case is no worse than other mens But withall to this comfort God joyns exhortation that for as much as we shall be continually provoked and assaulted by sinne and sin will run to us and ly at the dore yet we are not to goe and meet it and if not goe meet it we must take heed we draw it not to us with cart-ropes as if it came not fast enough Isaiah the fist chapter and the eighteenth verse and as Ezekiel speaks we may not be as dragons sucking still Ezekiel the fourth chapter and the second verse nor put the stumbling blocks of iniquity before our face Ezekiel the fourth chapter we may not plough for sinne Proverbs the twenty first chapter and the fourth verse as if he should say sinne will come fast enough in the fallow grounds therefore we need not to provoke our selves by pictures lewd songs enterludes and such like means 〈◊〉 draw it to us but to abandon them all It is that which the Apostle exhorts all men to in the second to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter and the twelfth verse to cut off all occasions to sinne observing what that is that provoketh them to sinne and cut that off that we draw not sinne to our selves and so be accessary to sinne and cause of our own woe If the water be comming that we give no passage to it if the coals lye before you spit on it you may but beware you blow it not and if sinne would have passage stop it 〈◊〉 serving sin you be carryed away captive of sinne for of whomsoever a man is overcome his servant he is the second of Peter and the second chapter and his servant you are to whom you obey Romans the sixth and the thirteenth verse Therefore give not your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sinne but give your selves to God This is our duty which we must doe and perform for as the former part is set down for our comfort so this serves for our instruction So there is a comfort in our estate comming by this exhortation and there is exhortation out of the comfort to doe our duty on sinne which shall stand us in great stead in the day of the Lord. Here are four divisions or distinctions First God saith There is sinne in body and sinne in soul there are as well corporall sinnes as mentall and as well actuall as cogitable 〈◊〉 a sinne against man as well as God Secondly Si bene feceris nonne acceptaberis so that God saith plainly he that beareth malice doth not well that is he sinneth against his brother for a man may as well sinne against man as against God for that Gods command is Love thy Brother or Neighbour as thy self therefore a man should not imagine that except he offendeth God he sinneth not That is a second distinction Sinne sleeping
his soul in the thirty eighth chapter of Isaiah and the fifteenth verse And the Apostle saith That the true tokens of Godly sorrow are to be angry to be afraid of himself afterwards and to he revenged of himself for the sinne committed in the second epistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the eleventh verse And Deprecatio poenae that is petition for forgivenesse as The Lord be mercifull to my sinne and forgive me my sinne Secondly God requires justificationem justitiae that is declare that the sentence is past upon us justly as David doth Psalm the fifty first and the fourth verse Against thee only have I sinned that thou mayest be just when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest And this likewise hath two parts First That we think well of God saying with the Prophet in the one hundred and ninteenth Psalm and the seventy fifth verse I know Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou of very faithfulnesse hast afflicted me Secondly To bear quietly and meekly the punishment that he layeth upon us by David's example in the thirty ninth Psalm Tacui Domine quia tu fecisti But as for Cain we see on his part neither promise of repentance nor petition for forgivenesse he confesseth his fault indeed My sinne is greater but it was no true confessi on First That it was too late it should have stood in the ninth verse for A just man will be first in his own cause to accuse himself Proverbs the eighteenth chapter and the seventeenth verse but he denyed it proudly and so was farre from making any promise of repentance Secondly No true confession because without any petition of forgivenesse for he concieved this foolish opinion That his sinne could not be forgiven as if the Womans seed had not Power to break the the Serpents head or the blood of Christ crying for mercy of God did not crie louder than Abels did for justice which the Apostle saith speaketh better things than the blood of Abel Hebrews the twelfth chapter But as for his opinion touching Gods justice both Cain and all others ought with David to acknowledge in every punishment that he layeth upon them Psalm the one hundred and nineteenth and the one hundred and thirty seventh verse Righteous art thou O Lord in all thy judgments They ought to judge themselves worthy to be destroyed Ezekiel the thirty sixt chapter for so did the better Thees Luke the twenty third chapter and the fourty first verse We indeed suffer righteously for we receive things worthy of that we have done but this man hath done nothing amisse But as for Cain he maketh no such acknowledgment of Gods justice in punishing him whereas he should have confessed he was worthily cast out of the earth because he had bereaved the earth of one of her Children killed a man an innocent and not only so but a Saint that he was worthily cast out of Gods presence being defiled with blood even as Joab was pulled from the Altar in the first of Kings the second chapter as if he would pollute the Altar For as the Apostle saith in the first to the Corinthians the fift chapter the reason why the Corinthian was excommunicated was because by a little leaventhe whole lump should be leavened The other was justly punished with a life of sorrow and fear because he had been a cause of sorrow and fear to many yet Cain doth none of all these but insteed of acknowledging Gods justice in regard of his desert he makes it strange and wonders at it Behold but we are taught to think otherwise that how grievous soever God punisheth us yet he dealeth not with us after our deserts Psalm the one hundred and third We must not think strange concerning the fiery triall as if same strange thing were come to us in the first epistle of Peter the fourth chapter and the twelfth verse We must not make an ecce of Gods Judgments as Cain doth for God is wise and albeit the party punished be innocent yet we are to think that God will suffer no punishment to come to him without just cause much more ought we to justifie him when he punisheth a notorious Offender But from this word ecce it appeares that Cain did not so much as conceive a right of Gods justice The second point in justifying Gods Justice is to bear quietly the punishment that he layeth uppon us Levitieus the twenty sixt chapter and the fourty 〈◊〉 verse which Christ calls the taking up of the Cross Matthew the sixteenth chapter for if we bear the 〈◊〉 our iniquitie unwillingly superimponitur non tollitur crux therefore first we must acknowledge in regard of our sinnes that God dealeth more mercifully with us than we deserve Secondly We must bear quietly the punishment laid upon us for out of affliction the godly gather matter of thanks Job having all taken from him saith Job the first chapter benedictum sit momen domini and David Psalm the one hundred sixteenth accipiam calicem salutis he praiseth God for the cup of affliction as well as for the cup of salvation is as thankfull to God for the benefits which he by means of affliction bestoweth upon them against their will as for those that come to them with their will and good liking and this is the perfection that we are to strive unto but if we doe not at all reckon them as benefits yet we must say with Eli in the first of Samuel the third chapter and the eighteenth verse Dominus est faciat quod bonum videtur in oculis suis therefore the Prophet saith of him that is accustomed to bear the yoke from his youth Lamentations the third chapter and the twenty eighth verse sidebit silebit so must we doe and say with David in the second of Samuel the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixt verse Here am I let him doe to me as seemeth good in his eyes But Cain seemeth not thus to be affected because he is altogether in the enumeration of his punishment it is no quiet bearing but odiosa repetitio If this sinne were so great as he said it was he should have done better to enter into the consideration thereof as David did Psalm the fifty first My sinne is ever before me so he should ever have thought of the grievousness of his sin And touching the party killed First it was a man Secondly his brother Thirdly an innocent Again in regard of himself it was of envy that he killed him not of a sudden but by premeditation after a trecherous manner for he went with him into the fields and there fell upon him his sinne was the greater for that it was an offence to God who had preached a long Sermon to him that it was a grief to Adam and Eve a scandall and offence to all ages who from his example might take a pattern to commit this sinne but Cain takes not this course the 〈◊〉
excrements of the mysticall body The place whither he depaited was The land of Nod. As it is said of Cain that he went out so so also of St. Peter but for a diverse end Peter went out and wept bitierly Matthew the twenty sixt chapter and the last verse but Cain went not out to bewail his sinne as Peter did but to settle himself in some other place Cain's terminus ad quem is he land of Nod which is situate towards the east side of Eden Where in two things First The place it self Secondly The situation For the place it sell There are of the Interpreters that take it to be no certain land from the word Nod which signifieth to wander as if the meaning were that Cain according to the sentence that he should be a 〈◊〉 and exile went out to wander from one place to another But that cannot be in as much as Nod is said to be a land on the east side of Paradise It is further said that being there he built him a City not that he stayed there for he was alwayes removing and fleeting from one place to another It was before the deluge so called of Cain whose state of life was to wander up and down but 〈◊〉 was called Babel And it is said to be castward toward Eden Wherefore by the framing of his journy to that place which carrieth the name of pleasure it appeares that Cain did not settle himself to repentance for then he should have gone into the Valley of Achor Hosea the second chapter Or into the valley of tears Psalme the eighty fourth that is as far from Eden as he could because a place of pleasure is unfit to repent in He that will repent must get him into the wildernesse alone and there bewail his sins He could not goe to Eden for there was an Angel set with a shaking sword to keep the way of the tree of life Genesis the third chapter but toward the east side of Eden So we see Cains purpose was not Gods purpose The purpose of God in allowing unto Cain life was that he might have time to repent But Cains purpose is that he may plant himself on earth and enjoy pleasures These are the wayes to the which there belongeth a woe as the Apostle sheweth Jude the eleventh verse The sinne of pleasure which is Cains sinne The sinne of gain which was Babylon's sinne and the sinne of ambition which was the sinne of Korah These are the three wayes of the world The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and pride of life in the first of Saint John the second chapter Which are not of the Father but of the world Where it is said he went to the side of Paradise the Holy Ghost giveth us to understand that Cain may 〈◊〉 set himself in some kinde of 〈◊〉 delight but not in Paradise it self that is in no true and sound delight Again Whereas Cain being now fallen from hope of eternall and spirituall things takes his journey to the east we see he is the first of those that are content even for to enjoy the warmnesse of the sunne to leave the presence of God and for to get a little pleasure for a time will forgoe that which is incorruptible and indures for ever Such men are like those whom the Prophet 〈◊〉 in the eighth chapter of Ezekiel and the sixteenth verse having their backs toward the temple and their faces to the sun rising to worship the sunne Even so Cain by leaving Gods presence doth give over eternall things and seeks for temporall And so we see what is Cains error both in departing from Gods presence and in removing to this place Adam and Eve and Seth which then represented the Church were upon the west side of Eden Cain and his crue keeps in the east side that is the wicked have the better part in the things of this life for their portion is in this life Psalme the seventeenth but the portion of the godly is not in the pleasure of this life but in the land of the living where they have laid up for them things which eye hath not seen the ear hath not heard nor mans heart conceived in the first epistle to the Corinthians the second chapter The wicked in their life time receive pleasure but after indure everlasting pain but the godly that sufer affliction in this world shall in the world to come be comforted as it is in the sixteenth chapter of Luke From hence we learn That we must not depart from Gods presence as Cain did without just cause If we doe it must be to bewail our sinnes with bitter tears as St. Peter If we goe from Gods presence we shall finde the land of Nod that is a place that shall afford us no contentation or rest It shall be with us as it was with Agar to whom the Angell said in the sixteenth chapter of Genesis and the eighteenth verse Whence comest thou and whither goost thou So we shall be in continuall motion and never have rest First Because we can never in this wicked world attain to any perfection of pleasure our desires are never satisfied for it is true of all men as one saith quando habent quod voluerunt non habent quod volunt Secondly Because they are all their life in fear of death Hebrews the second chapter We see our state represented in Jonah when he fled from the presence of the Lord he thought he should have come to Tarshish but he found himself in the land of Nod that is of thraldome and misery being tossed on the Sea Jonah the first chapter and the third verse for Gods presence is Seth's land that is a land of foundation it is the Country of Noah for it giveth rest it is the City of Salem that is of peace But if we leave Gods presence we shall not finde any land of foundation rest or peace If as Jeremy willeth We stand upon the old wayes and ask for the good wayes and walk therein Jeremiah the sixt chapter and the sixteenth verse if as Christ bids us We take up the yoke and learn of him we shall 〈…〉 to our souls 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter but if we 〈…〉 Cains Country we shall have no rest day not night 〈◊〉 the sixteenth chapter and the thirteenth verse As for peace the prophet saith non est pax impiis dicit dominus Isaiah the fifty seventh chapter that is seeing they will depart from Gods 〈◊〉 they 〈…〉 Cains Land for they are as the raging Sea which is 〈…〉 and as the 〈◊〉 in the water never rest but shoot by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wicked of the world we see this working they desire 〈…〉 more For he that 〈◊〉 silver shall not be satisfied with 〈…〉 astes the fifth chapter and the 〈◊〉 they never finde any 〈…〉 cause their desire can never be satisfied Wherefore as Cains Land was Nod so Nimrod Cains Successor had 〈◊〉 for his Country that is confusion and
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
is to be praised would not accept their praise but answered them Why tempt ye me O ye Hypocrites And when one said to him Magister bone good Master which was a praise of simplicitie not of hypocrisie as the other he refused it and said Why dost thou call me good Mark the tenth chapter When one said Blessed is the womb that bare thee he repelled that saying Nay rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Luke the eleventh chapter and the twenty eighth verse For as the shewing of the Kings treasure was the means of the betraying them Isaiah the thirty ninth chapter so when we shew our good works with a desire to be praised for them it takes away all commendation from them This thing being dangerous if notwithstanding we be desirous to have our good deeds seen that shall be fulfilled which Sirach saith He that loveth dangers shall perish therein Qui amat periculum peribit in co cap 3. 27. But to disswade us from this the Apostle saith Be not desirous of vain glory Galatians the fift chapter and Philippians the second chapter and the third verse The Preacher saith all is vanity which men seek after in this life and therefore concludes Time Deum Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter to teach us that without God all the praise of the world is but vanity Now as we fail in having respect to God First when we make not him the fountain of our praise Secondly if we make him not the end of it so in doing good works to be seen we commit two vanities First when we content not our selves with this perswasion that God sees our works and will reward them unlesse man see them and praise us for them The tryall whether we make God the fountain of our praise is if we seek it by wayes agreeable to his will not by wickednesse Secondly not by vanity for his delight is not in beautie riches or strength he delighteth not in any mans Legs in the hundred and fourty sixt Psalme Thirdly not by falshood as the Apostle saith I will not glory of any thing which the Lord hath not wrought by me in the second to the Corinthians and the eleventh chapter Hereby we shall seek the praise of God rather than of men in the twelfth chapter of John nay though they seek praise by righteousnesse and doing good works yet they make not God the fountain of their praise the Hypocrites when they would be praised did those works that were most glorious as to offer sacrifice in the temple but they neglected mercy and justice which are the chief things that God respecteth in the twenty third chapter of Matthew They washed not their hearts in the fifteenth chapter of Matthew which God especially regardeth but looked only to outward things and they that doe mercy and justice which are the chief things of the Law yet they will not doe them but when they may be seen Whereby they shew that they make not God the fountain of their praise and so the praise they seek for is hatefull to God Secondly this desire of vain glory is injurious to God when we make not him the end of our praise for we may doe good works coram in the sight of men but not with purpose to have them seen that so we may receive glory For God hath given us the joyes and use of all his Creatures but reserveth the glory of them to himself therefore the Apostle saith howsoever ye have the joy of Gods Creatures in eating and drinking yet let God have the glory Doe all to the glory of God in the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the thirty first verse For though he giveth us the use of all things yet gloriam meam alteri non dabo in the fourty second chapter of Esay Therefore if we doe good works to commend our selves and not to glorifie God we are injurious to him for he hath testified that he will not give his glory to any other And therefore Peter and John say It is not by our own godlinesse that we have made this man whole but it is the name of Christ and faith in him that hath raised him in the third chapter of the Acts Therefore not only Nabuchadnezar when he snatched Gods glory to himself was punished in the fourth chapter of Daniell But even Herod also because he did but suffer that glory to rest upon him that was attributed to him by others when he should have ascribed all to God in the twelfth chapter of the Acts and the twenty second verse Then as it is injurious to God so it is hurtfull to our selves for though we see many miracles wrought by Christ yet they are afraid to confesse and believe him Because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God in the twelfth chapter of John and the fourty third verse And therefore Christ saith How can you believe which seek glory one of another and seek not the honor that commeth of God alone quomodo potestis credere qui gloriam sibi quaeritis in the fift chapter of John and the fourty fourth verse Secondly as it is an obstacle to grace so it is a provocation to all wickednesse For the Jews doubted not to crucisie the Lord of glory to get praise of the wicked Secondly that we may doe this Christ willeth us to take heed for there is a double corruption in us First a rebellion against Gods precepts which make us say quare as Pharaoh in the fift chapter of Exodus and the second verse Who is the Lord that I should hear his voice And as the Scribes and Pharisees said to Christ By what authority doest thou these things in the twenty first chapter of Matthew and the three and twentieth verse Secondly the blindnesse of our understanding which makes us ask quomodo which is the question of ignorance so that it is not without cause that he bids us take heed that we beware of this sinne as being a hard precept both for our rebellion to yeeld unto and also in regard of our ignorance which is such as we cannot see how it should be lawfull to seek praise by well doing the hardnesse of avoiding this sinne is of two causes First it ariseth from the nature of sinne it self for as we are corporall and visible so we are most affected with those things that are visible as John reasoneth He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen in the first Epistle of John and the fourth chapter whereupon it commeth to passe that our corruption that though we believe the reward of God to be great yet because it is invisible and the worlds reward is present therefore pleaseth us more Secondly from the originall of vain glory for when the woman looked upon the fruit albeit it greatly pleased her yet that which did strike the stroak was eritis sieut dii in the third chapter of Genesis the hope of present
and the twenty second verse It is not early rising nor late sitting down Psalme the hundred twenty seventh But put case it be true which they imagine with themselves yet their life stands not in the riches so gotten It is indeed probable that a covetous man shall soon attain to riches For all is fish that comes to net with him he will not refuse any gain be it never so unlawfull If it be panis fallaciae if it be pretium sanguinis he will put it up And as he hath more means to get so he spares more than other men doe He doth no good works he distributeth not to the necessity of the poor magnum 〈◊〉 parsimonia and flesh and blood alwaies perswades her self of the best and never doubteth of any hurt The rich Merchants say with themselves We will goe and buy and sell and gain James the fourth chapter never thinking that they shall lose The rich man thought with himself I will eat and drink and take my rest but never thought that he should dye Luke the twelfth chapter So we alwaies dream of the best and never fear any evil We will drink strong drink to day and tomorrow shall be as this day and better Isaiah the fifty seventh chapter Again they may pretend further cause for the sinne of covetousnesse Aboundance makes a man abstain from many sinnes which poor men fall into of necessity For poverty makes a man to steat Proverbs the thirtieth chapter Therefore the Apostle willeth that if any man will not steal he must labour with his hands Ephesians the fourth chapter Aboundance sets them in case that they can doe many good works when the borrower is a servant to the lender as it is in the Proverbs The rich man is free from this inconvenience 〈◊〉 est abundat omnibus Riches doe make a man glorious But though all this were true yet Christ saith that life stands not in riches as the Preacher speaks by way of permission to the rich man Goe too take thy pleasure but for all this know that God will bring thee to judgement Ecclesiastes the eleventh chapter So doth Christ give them scope to conceive what opinion they think good of Riches Put case thou through thy covetousnesse hast aboundance yet thy life consists not therein that this is true That man is not a whit longer lived for his wealth the Scripture shews Divitia non proder unt in die 〈◊〉 Proverbs the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse Though hand be 〈◊〉 in hand yet it shall not serve the turn the rich man dyeth as well as the poor Psalme the thirty ninth but how powerfull this is to restrain covetousnesse appears by this We will doe nothing in vain much lesse suffer in vain The Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fift chapter Wh le we are in health of body we know our riches doe us great service but if death draw neer we are ready to say with 〈◊〉 Genesis the twenty fift chapter Behold I dye and what will all this wealth doe me good Christ saith not Be not covetous for you shall not be the richer but Be afraid of covetousnesse for your life stands not in aboundance of riches to put thee in minde to provide for another life rather than for this For albeit the covetous and miserable man hath misery in this life because he disquiets himself in vain Psalme the thirty ninth and therefore is called a 〈◊〉 or man-slayer yet his future misery being 〈◊〉 with the misery of this life makes him more miserable While he is in his 〈◊〉 it is well with him though he have many worldly cares But when he is put out of his office and shall be called to account How he came by his office and how he hath behaved himself therein How he got his worldly wealth and how he hath distributed the same for the relief of his poor fellow Saints Then it he be found faulty in his account his misery is farre greater than ever it was in this life Luke the sixteenth chapter Christ takes away from covetous men the opinion of life and wills them not to think that they shall live the longer for their riches And seeing they must dye and after death commeth the Judgement Hebrews the ninth chapter it is their part rather to lay up a good 〈◊〉 for the time to come 〈◊〉 lay up their treasure in Heaven Matthew the sixt chapter becanse as they heap up riches unjustly so they 〈◊〉 up wrath for themselves against the day of wrath Romans the second chapter Though covetous men think themselves well while they live yet Christ tell them They must dye that they should take 〈◊〉 that it may goe well with them after death That when they have layd down these earthly tabernacles the second epistle of Peter the first chapter They may be received into everlasting tabernacles Luke the sixteenth chapter Nam cui haec non adsunt is caecus est nihil procul cernens oblitus sese à veteribus peccatis suis fuisse purificatum Quapropter fratres c. 2 Pet 1. 9. Decemb. 3. 1568. THE Prophet David saith Psal. the fourty ninth Man was in honor when he was first created but continued not in that state the space of a night but became like a beast that perisheth So that as God made man so honourable a creature that he thought he might be God So when man in the pride of his heart would be like God be became a beast a beast not only in body for that he dyeth as they doe but in soul For if we consider the understanding part of the soul and the knowledge that man hath in the same He is foolish and ignorant even as a beast before God Psalme the seventy third and the twenty second verse and the rebellion of his heart is such that he is compared to horse and mule Psalme the thirty second This is our downfall But God of his rich mercy will not have man continue in dishonour though he lost that honour which God gave him in the beginning And as man would not continue in honor one night so God would not suffer him to continue in dishonour one night but presently after his fall gave him this pretious promise That howsoever man had made himself a beast yet God would not only make him a man again but partaker of the divine nature the second of Peter the first chapter and the fourth verse Which promise albeit it begins to be performed when we apprehend it by faith yet faith only doth not make it perfect but we must unto faith add virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance patience godlinesse brotherly kindenesse and love And these virtues if they concurre doe make man partaker of the heavenly nature At the first the Doctrine of Faith in Christ was hardly received or men thought to besaved only by Works And when they had once received it they excluded the doctrine of good Works All the difficulty that
St. Paul found in the work of his Ministerie was to plant faith and to perswade men that we are justified before God by Faith in Christ without the works of the Law But St. Peter and St. James met with them that received the doctrine of Faith fast 〈◊〉 but altogether neglected good Works But because both 〈◊〉 necessary therefore St. Paul 〈◊〉 all his epistles joynes the 〈◊〉 of Faith with the doctrine of Works This is a faithfull saying and to be avouched That they which beleeve in God be carefull to shew forth good works Titus the third chapter and the eighth verse Therefore with the doctrine of the Grace of God he joynes the doctrine of the carefull bringing forth of good works Titus the second chapter and the 12. verse The saving grace of God hath appeared and teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this world The doctrine of Grace is not rightly apprehended untill we admit of the Doctrine of good works Wilt thou know O man that Faith is dead without works Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offred his sonne Isaac James the second chapter and the twentieth verse Therefore St. Peter saith That is no true faith which is not accompanied with virtue and godlinesse of life It is true that good works have no power to work justification because they doe not contain a perfect righteousnesse And in as much as they are imperfect there belongs the curse of God unto them Cursed is he that continueth not in all things Galatians the third chapter Good works a token of justification So farre are they from justifying but yet they are tokens of justification Genesis the fourth chapter Respexit Deus ad Abelem ad oblationem suam God first looked upon his person and then upon his sacrifice For before the person be justified his works are not accepted in Gods sight The best works if they proceed not of Faith are sinne Romans the fourteenth chapter Our Saviour saith No branch can bring forth fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine John the fifteenth chapter Therefore if we doe any good works they proceed from our incision and ingraffing into Christ by whom they are made acceptable to God Paul saith Abraham was justified by faith before works not when he was circumcised but when he was uncircumcised Romans the fourth chapter and the tenth verse But James saith Abraham our Father was justified by Works James the second chapter and the twenty first verse To reconcile the Apostles we must know that the power of Justification which in Paul is effective But that which James speaketh of is declarative It was Abrahams Faith that made him righteous and his works did only declare him to be justified Therefore Paul saith That albeit good works have no power to justifie yet they are good and profitable for men Titus the third chapter For they declare our justification which is by faith and by them we make our selves sure of our calling and election the second epistle of Peter the first chapter and the tenth verse In these two verses Peter delivers two things First A Rule by which we may examine our selves Secondly An application of the same Seeing we have such a good Rule to try whether we be elected and called let us study by the practise of these virtues to assure our selves of our calling and election Two things commend this Rule which the holy Ghost sets down First That it is Regula negativa For having said before affirmatively If these things be in you and abound they will make you that you shall not be idle nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of Christ. Now he speaks negatively But if you have them not you are blinde which is more than if he had contented himself with his affirmative speech For as the tree in the Garden was called Arbor scientiae boni Genesis the second chapter though directly it brings us to the knowledge of nothing but evill because Adam knew not what a good thing it was to be obedient till he felt the smart of his disobedience So we doe perceive the goodnesse of things by the want of them better than by the enjoying of them The benefit of possessing the graces of Gods spirit doth not so much move us as the want of them Therefore the Apostle saith If ye care not for being fruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ yet let this perswade you to practise all these virtues for that if you be without them you are blinde And as no man knoweth what a benefit it is to have sight so well as a blinde man that wants it so it is with them that practise not these virtues Secondly That it is a universal Rule Whosoever hath not these things For our nature is inclined to take exception against good rules As John Baptist when he willed all men to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance Nor as the Jews not to say We have Abraham to our Father Matthew the third chapter It is our corruption as the Apostle faith to think that we shall escape the plagues of God for these sinnes which we condemn in others Romans the second chapter Therefore our Saviour prevented that exception when speaking to his Disciples he said Quod vobis dico omnibus dico Mark the thirteenth chapter Even so Peter saith Whosoever wants these virtues whatsoever occasion he pretends for the want of them he is blinde and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sinnes But to speak more particularly of this Rule two things make us secure in the matter of our Salvation which notwithstanding We should work out with fear and trembling Philippians the second chapter and the twelfth verse The one is our Knowledge We are ready to say with Job I know that my Redeemer liveth Job the nineteenth chapter But unlesse we perform somthing else it shall be in vain to make this allegation Have not we prophecied in thy name Matthew the seventh chapter The other cause of confidence and carelesnesse is the opinion we have that it makes no matter how we live The blood of Christ doth purge me from all sinne the epistle of John the first chapter and the seventh verse To these two the holy Ghost opposeth two things First Doe we think we know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Yea but he that knoweth not these virtues is blinde and knoweth nothing Secondly Doe we think we need not to be carefull of holinesse of life because we are purged by Christs blood But except we be carefull to walk in newnesse of life we have forgotten that we were purged from our old sinnes For the first point That he that hath not these virtues is blinde we are to know That albeit there be no opposition between knowledge and wickednesse of life because all that know Gods will doe not practise it yet there is a necessary dependance
willingly will come as often as they may and not like those that swell with pride and say another time will serve as well as now as Davids servants said to Naball in the first book of Samuel the twenty fift chapter We come now in a good time for thou makest a feast and art in case to relieve us another time peradventure thou wilt not be so prepared So men ought to take the opportunity and to say in their selves Now is the time of the celebration of Gods mercy and loving kindnesse Now we receive Christ and therefore there is great hope that if we come he will receive us Now we celebrate the memory of his death when he was content to receive the thief that came unto him and therefore it is most likely that he will receive us if we come to him But if we come not now happily we shall not be received when we would It is Christs will That they which are given him of the Father be with him where he is and may behold his glory John the seventeenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse Therefore it stands us upon to come to Christ that he may receive us to be one with him in the life of grace and partakers with him in his Kingdom of glory Qui verò haec audierunt compuncti sunt corde dixerunt ad Petrum ac reliquos Apostolos Quid faciemus viri fratres Petrus autem ait ad eos Resipiscite c. Act. 2. 37. April 12. 1600. OUR Saviour Christ promised Peter Acts the fift chapter to make him a fisher of men and 〈◊〉 the thirteenth chapter That the 〈…〉 of Heaven is like a 〈…〉 which catcheth fish of all 〈…〉 The first casting forth of this act and 〈…〉 draught that Peter had is by 〈…〉 these verses And the draught which he made was 〈…〉 souls verse the fourty first If we 〈◊〉 of what 〈◊〉 They were 〈◊〉 souls of them that killed the Sonne of God and 〈…〉 the spirit of God whom they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 holy Ghost to 〈◊〉 verse the 〈…〉 These men are full of new 〈◊〉 Which when we advisedly consider it cannot but be matter First Of great comfort Teaching us that albeit we be great sinners as the Jews that put the sonne of God to death yet there is a quid faciemus what to doe that is a hope of remission of sinnes Secondly Of instruction touching the means That if we repent and be pricked in heart with the consideration of our sinnes as they were we shall attain this mercie which they received First St. Luke sets down the Sermon of Peter Secondly The sruit and effect of it As the Sermon it self propounds the death and Resurrection of Christ so in the effect that followed of it we see the means how we are made partakers of his death and Resurrection and that is set down in these two verses which contain a question and an answer In the question is to be observed First the cause of it that is the compunction of their hearts Secondly the cause of that compunction and that was the hearing of Peters Sermon Touching this effect which Peters Sermon wrought in the hearts of his hearers it is compuncti sunt corde Wherein note two things First the work it self Secondly the part wherein of the work it self it is said they were pricked Wherein first we are to observe That the first work of the spirit and operation of the word is compunction of heart howbeit the word being the word of glad tidings and comfort it is strange it should have any such operation but that Christ hath foretold the same John the sixteenth chapter When the comforter comes he shall reprove the world of sinne Now reproof is a thing that enters into the heart as Proverbs the twelfth chapter and the eighteenth verse There is that speaketh words like the prickings of a sword and as Christ gave warning before hand so now when the holy Ghost was given we see that Peters hearers are reproved and pricked in their consciences that they dealt so cruelly with Christ. As this 〈◊〉 the Elect of God so there is another spirit called by the same name of pricking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the eleventh chapter and the eighth verse that is the spirit of slumber which shews it self upon those that shall not be saved Touching the manner of this operation we see it is not a tickling or itching but a pricking and that no light one but such as pearced deeply into their hearts and caused them to cry Whereby we see it is not the speaking of fair words saying with the false Prophets Jeremiah the twenty third chapter The Lord hath said ye shall have peace it is not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the sixteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse that makes this effect but this speaking The part wherein this work was wrought was the heart as Luke the twenty fourth chapter they burned in their hearts and 〈◊〉 the second chapter and the fourteenth verse I will speak to their hearts So it was 〈◊〉 of the eares in the second 〈◊〉 to Timot hie the 〈◊〉 chapter or of the brain that they felt but a 〈◊〉 of the very 〈◊〉 and so should we be affected at the hearing of the word As 〈…〉 is pricked in the flesh is disquieted till he have remedy so should the consideration of our sinnes disquiet us and make us seek for cure This is our duty from their example and it is a good signe of distinction to shew us whether we be of the number of those that shall be saved whether of the good fish that shall be gathered together or the bad fish that shall be cast out Matthew the thirteenth chapter and the fourty eighth verse So if we pertain to God we shall feel this pricking at our hearts after we have heard the word The cause of this compunction is his auditis that is they had heard a speech of St. Peter which did disquiet them till they asked counsel of Peter and the rest The word of God of its own nature hath no such operation for the Patriarch Job saith Job the twenty third chapter It was agreeable to him as his appointedfood And David Psalm the nineteenth saith The Commanaements of the Lordrejoyceth the heart and is sweeter than the honey and the honey-combe But yet it hath this effect in regard that it meeteth with that which is an enemy to our Salvation that is sinne the deputy of 〈◊〉 as the word is Gods 〈◊〉 Without the Law sinne is dead but when the Commandement came sinne revived Romans the seventh chapter and the eighth verse for sinne is a sting the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter which lyeth dead so long as it is not reproved But when it is reproved by the commandement of God then it reviveth and stings the heart it makes men have a conscience of sinne Hebrews the tenth chapter and when sinne is
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
first epistle to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter The prayers of all the just are available but specially of the elders therefore send for them James the fift chapter A Serjeant Constable or Scrivener by virtue of his office may doe that which a greater man cannot doe so the prayer of a person called to that holy function may prevail more The Priests are appointed to offer up prayers and the calves of the lips Hosea the fourteenth chapter So Genesis the twentieth chapter Abraham is a Prophet and shall pray for thee Leviticus the sixt chapter and the seventh verse he shall pray for thee Orabit pro eo Sacerdos Therefore Hezekiah saith Lift up thou thy prayers Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter And Saint James saith in his fift chapter The prayer of faith made by the Elders shall save the sick The prayer of the just avails much but especially of the elders and Priests for to such a grace is given as in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the fifteenth chapter Gratia data est 〈◊〉 and this grace is not in vain Secondly But it must be oratio cum statione Phinehas stood up and prayed For as in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the eleventh chapter of a woman uncovered judge whether it be a comely thing to sit still in prayer All things in the Church must be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first epistle to the Corinthians the fourteenth chapter We must please and serve God etiam habitu corporis The Angels of God stood before God Job the first chapter The Cherubims stood and hid their faces Isaiah the sixt chapter And millions of Angels stood before the seat Daniel the seventh chapter Therefore we must conclude our sitting is not pleasing to God Sedentes orare extra Discipulum est The other sense is the execution or judgement And it hath a good relation to sinnes They prayed and wept Numbers the twenty fift chapter but that prevailed not till Phinehas executed vengeance upon the sinne but the vengeance being performed by Phinehas the plague ceased verse the eighth So then the wrath of God will cease if people cease to sinne or if Phinehas the Magistrate begin to punish sinne in the people For punishment is of two sorts First Every man in himself is to punish sinne as David smit his heart in the second book of Samuel the twenty fift chapter and the twenty fourth verse and the first epistle to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter judge your selves But if not Moses the Magistrate must take vengeance of sinne for if he will not God himself will set his face against that Magistrate Leviticus the twentieth chapter When the people look not at him that strikes them but to natural causes then shall the hand of God be stretched out still Isaiah the ninth chapter and the thirteenth verse The wrath of God for our sinnes being the cause of this plague we must appease him with prayer and repentance If we fail to doe this the devotion of the Priest and the zeal of the Magistrate must look to it else the plague cannot but still increase Amen Amen Addenda Vae vobis Legis interpretibus quoniam sustulistis Clavem cognitionis ipsi non introstis eos qui introibant prohibuistis Luke 11. 52. Octob. 13. 1590. Place this in the beginning of the book next before the Sermon upon Gen. 1. 1. For this was the Bishops first Lecture in Saint Pauls preached as an Introduction to his following discourse upon the four first chapters of Genesis KNOWLEDGE of 〈◊〉 things is compared by our Saviour Christ to a Key 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter of Luke and the 〈◊〉 second 〈◊〉 as being a thing necessary both to 〈…〉 in this life the way we should walk in 〈◊〉 the second chapter the tenth and 〈…〉 as also for the entrance into the 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 the life to come For which cause holy men in 〈◊〉 have 〈…〉 to this kinde of knowledge Jeremiah the 〈…〉 chapter 〈◊〉 the thirty fourth verse and these have made it 〈◊〉 delight 〈◊〉 the fifty eighth chapter and the thirteenth verse and prefer it before their daily food Job the twenty third chapter and esteem it above all treasures Proverbs the second chapter and the fourth verse But such as are ignorant and know not these thing 〈◊〉 biddeth to goe out and dwell among beasts Cant the first chapter and the seventh verse as if they were not worthy the company of men and therefore Christ weepeth for them Luke the 〈…〉 chapter as if their case were most 〈◊〉 which knew not that they ought Wherefore God hath given 〈◊〉 means and wayes by which we may come to knowledge The one is the 〈◊〉 of the World by the view of his Creatures 〈…〉 hearing of his word by the Ministry of Men. These two are the two great leaves of this gate and way to Heaven which that 〈◊〉 of knowledge must unlock and set wide open that so we may 〈◊〉 enter therein Which two means are spoken of and 〈◊〉 unto us in Psalm the nineteenth the first and the 〈…〉 And St. Paul beginneth his epistle to the Romans with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first chapter the sixteenth and twentieth verses and it was his order in preaching and teaching men the knowledge of God 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 Acts the seventeenth chapter and the twenty third verse These are as it were the two great books of God which he would have known and read of all men For as his written word is called a scroll Ezekiel the third chapter and the second verse so is the frame of the world 〈◊〉 a book or scroll Isaiah the thirty fourth chapter and the fourth verse God spake once and twice saith David Psalm the sixty second and the eleventh verse Once he 〈◊〉 Job by the view of his Creatures Job the thirty eighth chapter and again he spake to Moses on Mount Sinai shewing his will Exodus 20. 1. These then being the two effectual means to attain to knowledge there is no place in the Scripture nor any book therein that doth more lively expresse them both than this book of Genesis which we have in hand For it setteth out to us the word of God by which all things were made fiet and the Word by which all things are increased 〈◊〉 multiplicamini and the word by which all men were corrupted non moriemini and the word whereby all are restored conteret caput Serpentis which is the word of Promise and of Faith We are willed to enquire for the old and good 〈…〉 〈◊〉 sixt chapter and sixteenth verse Christ warranteth that 〈◊〉 sheweth us both Matthew the sixteenth chapter the seventh and eighth verses It is the ancientest in time for it beginneth with the very beginning It is first in order and in place in the 〈◊〉 of Gods book and therefore I have thought it good to enquire of this way Some doe give this reason why John of all other is called the Divine