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
bringeth one grief upon another his Oxen were taken away his Servants slain then another came and told him his Sheep were burnt another his Camels were taken another his Sonnes and Daughters were slain c. Sathan in his temptation of Eve begins at the eare and from the eare to the eyes from the eyes to the fingers from the fingers to the mouth his proceeding was from hearing to seeing from seeing to touching from touching to tasting Sathan first made a question Eve she made a doubt per adventure we shall die which doubt Sathan resolved you shall not die at all these are the three parts of Eves inward temptation Vidit tulit comedit she saw the forbidden fruit she took it and she did eat thereof these be the three parts of Eves outward temptation seeing taking and eating As before the hearing of the eare was the temptation to incredulity so here the seeing of the eye is the temptation to sensuality as before esca intellect ûs was the bait of the understanding to know both good and evill so here esca sensûs is the bait of the sense that so Eves reason inwardly and her sense outwardly might be deceived which temptation of the sense is treble here of the eye that seeth of the fingers that touch of the mouth that tasteth The Serpent full of subtilty will make noe visible temptation untill he hath throughly infected the heart when neither for love nor for feare he seeth Eve regardeth the commandement then he knoweth that she will be allured easily by the sence and therefore he brings her where she may see the Tree But did not Adam and Eve see the tree that was forbidden in the middest of the garden in the time of innocency Well saith one Non dedit Deus iis legem ae arbore quam non v derunt God gave them not a law of restraint from a tree which they saw not for they did see this tree before their fall in love and in feare their love then to God and his Word was such that much water could not quench it neither could that love be bought with all the substance of the world Cantic 8. 7. and then their feare where with they feared the Lord was to them His method in his Temptation a well-spring of life to avoid the snares of death Prov. 14. 27. but when the mist of incredulitie did arise in their heart then sathan had hope of prevayling in his temptation then he begins with corrupt speeches You shall not die at all you shall be as Gods knowing good and evill and evill speakings as you know corrupts good manners 1 Cor. 15. 33. The end of his Temptation and then with vaine shewes of pleasure he tempteth the sence this is the subtlety of the devills method in tempting Eve Now the subtlety of his end in his temptation is partly to withdraw the minde partly that of a sparke there may become a flame that from seeing the fruit she may be brought to the eating of the same and so doe that God hath forbidden albeit that his speech eritis sicut Dei scientes bonum malum tickled her minde but that was not the very end yet it is plaine that every lie runneth lamely yet every liar covereth the imperfection that then there might be no delay nor no stay the serpent presently bringeth her to the tree and sheweth her the fruit that her sense might verifie so much as he had said Non vidit tulit lignum quia prohibitum sed quia bonum shee looked on the tree shee tooke of the fruit because she was perswaded that thereby would come to her all excellency all knowledg and that by the eating of it she should not die at all They probably thought they should not die at all in the 17 of the 2. chap. it is called the Tree of knowledg of good and evill wherein they thought to be the virtue of all knowledg and the tree of life they had still which perswaded them they should live for ever they were perswaded that they should have still the sacrament of immortality and of universall knowledg and indeede plus posse plus noscere is that wherewith sathan hath infected us all for he perswades us we can doe more then we can doe that we shall live still and know all things Sathan thought that delay would be dangerous and that if he had given her any leisure the sifting of the Commandement would have beene prejudiciall unto his temptation and therefore presently he brought her to see the Tree the fruit whereof he had so highlie magnified that so shee might breake the Lawe of God The Fathers doe say well It was not the force of the devils words but Gods punishment that made her beleeve the devill and fall from God qui dubius est infidelis erit he that doubteth Gods word shall become an Infidell and beleeve the devills words this is Gods punishment of incredulitie to beleeve a lyar even the father and founder of Lyes for if men will not beleeve Gods writings nor his words John 5. 47. God therefore shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve Lyes 2 Thes. 2. 11. so that the beleeving the Serpent rather than God is not the force of the devils words but Gods punishment of their incredulity poenalis est necessitas God as it is Zepha 1. 17. saith tribulabo homines ambulabunt ut caeci quia domino peccavêrunt I will bring distresse upon men that they shall walke like blinde men because they have sinned against the Lord so did God deale here say they with Eve and Adam Here Sathan after his dixit comes with vides so soone as he had tooke her though she did eate she should not dy but enjoy all happiness he shewed her the forbidden tree that she beholding it might busie herselfe with the pleasure of seeing that which was so pleasant and so much to be desired that so then when she had most cause to fear and tremble the pain which she should incurre by her eating thereof should not so much as be thought upon this is Sathans subtlety to proceede from saying to seeing from debasing their state present wherein they knew nothing but good to extoll their faln state wherein they should know good and evill As Chrysostome saith from hodie to cras from this day to to morrow from things before our eyes to see what hereafter we shall enjoy as much as if he should say I will shew you what I tell you you shall see that I say truely let your sense judge of my speech beleeve your sense not mee you see the fruit is pleasant to behold when you taste it you shall finde no poyson in it the shew is correspondent to my words and when you eate of it you shall finde the virtue I have said to be in it you doe see it is pleasant you shall taste it is wholsome in a word the Tree will speake
an instant the world must needs bee by fatall destiny and necessity and might not bee otherwise Epicuremum The other were the Epicures which taught The world was a thing made at a venture by casual chance and happy hazard by a divine essence the one taught that God could doe no otherwise then but make it the other thought that God did hee could not tell what But Psal. 115. 3. Deus fecit quecunque voluit in Coelo Terra And Revel 4. 11. All things were made for him and by his will And Esai 45. 18. God made not Heaven and Earth in vain to no end but the word fignifieth that hee made it with Wisdome and Counsell Esai 43. 13. God was before any day was and hee asketh Who could constrain him by necessity to make it or not to make it Heb. 3. 4. If a man being in a strange Country shall see a house hee will certainly affirm that there hath a man builded it that it is a mans worke so saith hee when wee see all Creatures Heaven and Earth wee know that God made them all A reason against that opinion of Fortune is this That things done by Chance are without cunning But God with infinite wisdome devised all things the Eye to see Colors to bee seen and the Light as the meanes by which wee see also all things are in such wonderfull order succeeding one another in their course as the seasons of things which shew them not to bee by Chance therefore the Philosophers were glad when they found out that 〈◊〉 intelligentia that was the cause of all so that they confesse all things to bee made by a wonderfull wise Counsell and discourse of an understanding minde So that it was made by another not by Necessity nor Chance Creavit Coelum Terram omnia in illis Gen. 1. vers 1. NOw are wee come to the fourth and last point which wee are to consider in this verse and that is That the things which were Created by God are both Heaven and Earth which here is said to bee his workmanship Which though it be here set downe in two generall things yet are his works manifold yea infinite and cannot be numbred All which Creatures and things Created cannot bee better expressed then in these two which contain all the rest for hee so faith Exod. 20. 11. In six dayes hee made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that is therein So doth David expound his meaning Psal. 146.6 and Revel 10. 6. therefore Job saith 38. 6 7. That God made not only the Starres with the Heavens but also the Angels or Children of God which are in them and Psal. 24. 1. God when hee is said to make the round World he meaneth also all that dwell therein that is Man also yea hee is also the Lord and Creator of the Soules and Spirits of all Flesh as well as their bodies Numb 27. 16. So that to conclude with Saint Paul by these two is understood and comprehended all the Creatures visible and invisible which God made Coll. 1. 16. For the Heavens are the bound upward and the Earth is the bound below which conclude all between them Let us therefore first consider these two joyntly then in the order wherein they stand and in the last place severally Touching the first David saith Psal. 102. 25. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the worke of thy hands Esay 40. 12. It is God that made Heaven and Earth Job 37. 17. 18. Job 38. 5 6. The Heavens doe shew this in that they resemble their Creator because they are moveable and yet subject to alteration and the Earth unmoveable and not subject to motion 2. Point Moses meaning is That not the Earth alone was made by God but also the Heavens that is both of them and all in both were his worke not the Earth only but also the Heavens against the Philosophers which thinke therfore that the Heavens were not made because none can assigne the point where the Heavens began nor in what part God began to make them nor where the Heavens first began to move by which reason they might hold that the heart of man was not made because none can tell how it began its motion to pant and beat whether by sustole or diastole but as the heart was made though unknown where the first motion of it is so were the Heavens That hee made not the Heavens only but also the Earth below against the errors of the Manichees which hold that there were two causes of Heaven and Earth That the good and white God made the Heaven and Man from the middle upward And the black and evill god was the efficient cause of the Earth and of Man from the middle downward but as Gods power and wisedome is shewed and seen as well in an Ant as in an Elephant as one saith as well in the creeping Wormes and basest Creatures as in the Angels and most excellent Creatures So doth his Majesty and Might appeare in the Earth as well as in Heaven 3 Point Now in regard of the order here set downe wee have a consideration first of the Heavens for if there were any Order observed in Gods Creation surely the Heavens were made in the first place which sheweth the glory of the Creator for who ever in building his house would or could begin it at the Roofe first and then afterwards lay the Foundation of the Earth but his omnipotency is such that hee beginneth to make his house from the Roofe downeward as wee see in the second and third verses And this is strange saith Job 26. 7. That hee hath made the Heavens turn round like a wheele without an axeltree and that hee hath caused the Earth to hang and stand without any prop to uphold it When wee therefore consider the Heavens and Earth the worke of thy hands wee must needes know that the corners of the Earth are upholden by his hand 4 Point Let us consider them severally and apart in which wee must regard them after three sorts 1. First in respect of God as they are compared with him 2. Secondly as they are compared to themselves 3. Thirdly comparing them to us 1. Esay 66. 1. Comparing them with God Heaven was made to bee his Seate and Earth to be his Foot-stoole 2. In respect of themselves Heaven was made as the male part of the World by whose influence motion and dewes the Earth as the female part should as it were out of her womb bring forth all living and necessary things Hermes the AEgyptian the Persian wife men and Orpheus the Grecian appoint these two as the matter of all things that are 3. In regard of us our selves Heaven and Earth are the meanes of our moving and rest for the motion of the Heavens is the beginning of our bodily motion and the unmoveable Earth is
the Sunne as some say Touching the first that is Whether God called them by their names and imposed titles to them after a sensible manner with a distinct audible voyce I finde a double contrariety in Writers But to resolve upon it To whom should he speak audibly seeing there was none to hear and understand And therefore to no end and purpose should we think he should speak so but as the Hebrew say appellavit id est fecit appellari the same phrase as we say Princes doe build houses that is doe cause them to be builded wherefore the manner of giving names is this that as God gave before the naturall use of things so now he took order that we might have a use of them by names to know and talke of them so 2. God is the cause and author of the names of things by which we know and call them for though we say that when God created man he made him capable of speech of language in which language we see God had speech and conference with him being made Gen. 2.16 17,18 Yet Adam imposed not the names to the Creatures Gen. 2. 19. but according to that gift of knowledge and utterance he calleth things by such names and titles as he had received from God for as God did largiri linguam so he did nominibus praeire linguae for here we see before ever man was made in all the six dayes works God gave names to the things as he made them and to Adam himself and in these seven things named are contained all other particular things made in and with them 3. The end to which God gave imposed sundry names was that we should doe as he hath done that is when things have a true being then to give names to them accordingly and not to our fancies and things which indeed are not at all as the custome of the World is for things that have no esse as the Hebr. said must have no name For God gave names to things that were created and had a being ☜ We must not then doe as the Apothecaries that is set on their Boxes a name and title of a precious thing when within it there is no such matter we must not affect the name of Learning Godlinesse and Light nor give it to others when we know our selves and they to be darkned and evill Secondly when things have a true being we have a care to give names and titles agreeable to the nature and quality of them that the act and nature of the thing may be made manifest in the name of it as written in the forehead for as a man draweth good Liquor out of the Cask so out of the meaning and signification of the Word and denominations given by God we may draw out the hidden nature and knowledge of the thing for nomen est symbolum rei and this is seen even in these names of day and night given to light and darknesse for concerning the name of the day Jom it is very significant and pregnantand discloseth the nature of the day and the Hebrew word which signifieth night is the negative The day what it signifieth to the meaning of the day the day importeth as much as Ens being shewing us that our being and life must be imployed altogether in the day time in some honest exercise and work of our calling of God or the Country and that we are not any longer to reckon or accompt our selves to live or have any being then when we walke as in the day in the course and actions of our life and work of our calling for being idle ill imployed or sleeping sloathfully spending and consuming our time in vanity we are dead and have not the being of men also there is a good signification given of those which take the name of Jom from striving and moving teaching that the day is a time of walking stirring speaking and labouring and the night e contra a time of silence rest and ease and sleep or rather a time thereby to restore and recover the strength of body which in the day was spent by carefull and painfull travell in which sense I shewed the day to be the work-house and the night to be our Cabin or Couch of rest Psal. 104. 23. 4. Lastly touching this division we see that the reason of man is offended with God in this place for naming a day saying there was a day so long before there was any Sunne which seemeth absurde to them because they think the day dependeth on the Sunne as on his cause therein most fasly and grossely drawing their reason from that which is now to that which was then at the beginning in which they argue their ignorance and error even in learning and Phylosophy Note the Sunne Wherefore touching this question whether be the cause of the day we say and prove according to this that before there was any Sunne there was a day two or three for the course and order of things are otherwise in the proceeding of nature then of the first beginning as we have shewed Again touching this particular we say that the day is broken and draweth long before we see the Sunne only because of the approaching of the light also when the Sunne is in his Eclipse and when it is all day long hid and covered with the Clouds yet we say call it the day time so the contrary we see and say that the day dependeth on the light not on the Sunne and his participation of communication Again the Sunne is not light but vehiculum hujus lucis ex qua fit dies and therefore is called the Lamp which containeth light tanquam lycbnus as Basill well faith which is not light and shining of it self untill the accessary light be put to it aliundè as this light by which the day was afterward was put to the Sunne and so now since it causeth our day Again there are many things which can and doe conceive and bring forth light besides the Sunne as a Flint Gun-powder Fire by which we may perceive a great difference between this light and the Sunne after that whether we take the light to be defluum or a stream of brightnesse issuing from God for Nebora in Hebrew signifieth as well a stream of water as a beam of light Job 3. 4. we shall see that light doth not stream from the body of the Sunne only but from many other things created as we see as the fire De fluvium ignis fulgor Ezech. 1. 4. Also there is De fluvium firmamenti splendor Dan. 12. 3. The streams of * Brightnesse righteousnesse shining from the Firmament Meteors as streaming and issuing from the impressions and meteors of the Aire or whether we say that it streamed from the Heavens and from Gods glorious Majesty as light did to the Israelites out of the Pillar any of these or altogether will give them their answer
it is spiritus Dei which he breathed into our bodies Now to consider of the words somewhat more seriously we see that the soul is a breath but so that it is Neshema a spirituall and celestiall breath which properly is understood of the winde and ayre by which we see that is next of kynne to the Spirits which have no body as our bodyes are next of kynne to the wormes that are in the earth which soul for that cause is invisible but not unperceiveable As we cannot see the winde and the pulse yet we perceive them by divers effects So is our Soul and the excellency of it made known and discerned And that it might not be imagined or thought to be only a bare blast of breath or as a puffe of winde he therefore addeth a spirit of lives And least we should deem the soul and the life to be but one thing and to end and vanish away together Job telleth us 27. 3. that the spirit or soul of a man is one thing and 〈◊〉 life is another distinct Though there be a spirit of life in beasts and not only in earthly creatures but also in celestiall spirits yet only the spirit of man is spiritus vitarum that is of more lives than one which our Saviour Christ telleth us in Matth. 10. 28. Men may take away the one life of our body but they cannot the other life of the soul that is only in Gods power This then is the difference between the soul of a man and all other things which confuteth the Epicures 1. which held that the Soul was but a hot salt humor to keep the body from rottennesse and corruption Moses maketh choice to compare the Soul to breath First because it hath a piercing and a searching quality being Totus in toto totus in qualibet parte Pro. 27. 2. This candle of the Soul diffuseth his light and heat and life in every member searching and piercing all Secondly the Soul is compared to breath to humble us and not make us presume on this life seeing the soul and body is but knit and conjoyned together vinculo aëreo by an airie thred Esay 2. 22. Mans breath is in his nostrills which being stopped his life is gone Psal. 103. 14. 15. which causeth our life sodainly oftentimes to be taken away and our soul and our body in an instant or moment to depart a sunder Psal. 78. 39. Even because the union that holdeth soul and dody together is but a little blast of aire and winde easily broken and smitten asunder so sodainly doe we passe away and are gone This may teach us the shortnesse and sodainnesse of this life and death The use of which is that seeing we received our life from God therefore we must now live the life of all godlynesse seeing we live by the spirit of God naturally we must seek for the spirit of God and the graces of it that we may live holily seeing our Soul is the light of God let not this light become darknesse in us for then great is that darknesse Seeing our Soul is the Image of God we must not deface it with the ugly form of Sathan The holy man Job 26. 4. hearing his friends speak foolish and vain words asketh 〈◊〉 spirit cometh out of them As who should say seeing you have the spirit of God speak not such words as if an evill or vain spirit were in them So must we say to those men that doe evill works Whose spirit or what spirit hast thou in thee These deeds are the works of evill Spirits but thou had'st in thee the good spirit of God 2. Now we are come to the second estate of our soul which is set down in this So man became a living Soul which is added to shew that God not only gave that spirit inspired into him a power of life by which it could live but also another power unto the body which before was a dead peece of Earth wherefore the soul being in every part of the body so made by and by it was lively in every part and stood up and performed the actions of life which now it doth in us This is a good and profitable sense of these words as some doe understand But the best Divines weighing these words more deeply doe finde out another state of the soul which sheweth another priviledge of the soul of man For besides that it is as we have seen a spiritual essence occupied in spiritual actions being immortall and pertaining and leading to another life Besides this speciall priviledge it hath here also another common prerogative namely to enforme the body that is in a word besides being a spirituall essence it is also a natural essence it had hath and shall have a power to live without the body and also it hath a power in the body to quicken and give life to it and every part thereof that is it can animare informare corpus which we know the Angels and celestial spirits cannot for when they appeare in a body their souls of life though they live yet they doe not informe that body but they are in it as in a Case which they take to them and leave off again But our soul is not only a spiritual essence and consistence as the Angels but also a natural consistence in the body to inform and animate it which the Angels have not And this is the other prerogative There is none that doe doubt but they have naturalem animam and thereof they are called naturales homines 1 Cor. 15. 46. But by their actions one would think that their souls were only fleshie souls because they never give them selves to spiritual and heavenly actions as a Celestiall spirit shall move them But only they are given to actions of this bodily life which is temporall yea to earthly fleshie and sinfull actions as if the soul that were in them were but after that fort a natural soul of life for a time They see by their natural studies senses motions and actions that they have a natural soul of life quickning the body which else could not live But they think not that it is a spiritual soul and heavenly essence which shall have an eternall being after this life and therefore they never care to 〈◊〉 for such heavenly and spiritual actions of Godlinesse wherefore we will briefly prove and shew that the state of the soul is celestial and 〈◊〉 that we may be moved to think of such actions as that estate doth require And first that the soul and the life and estate thereof doth not depend upon the body but hath his being and life without the body after the body is dead and turned to the Earth because it hath his dependence on God which is immortall and eternal which appeareth to reason in the judgement of the Heathen because the soul hath in the will a power and faculty and ability to effect and perfect an action
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
womans creation before and shewed Gods bringing them together and joyning them in marriage Now in these words he goeth forward and sheweth what liking he had of her and also what name and title he gave unto her for so in his speech we are to consider his affection and her name which is here expressed before in the 19. and 20. verses We have seen that Adam seeking and searching among all the Creatures of God could finde no meet help or Companion for him for he saw only muta bruta versuta that is brutish things without reason speech or any other resemblance or likeness to him But now he awaking suddenly out of sleep and but one only creature being brought to him he at the first sight perceiving her both in nature body and minde to be most like unto him seemeth with the joy of a Bridegroom to say why this is mine own self one even after my heart and desires even another new Adam saving for the sex This may seem to be his confession at the first sight when he had found her In which confession is expressed his joy and affection towards her as it may appear in the emphasis of this word jam nunc for so we shall see it often in the Scriptures for a note of some joy or gladness conceived within So it is Gen. 29. 32. Now my husband will love me likewise 35. verse Now I will praise the Lord c. In which words Leah sheweth her joyfull affection at the birth of Juda and Levi besides the utterance of the words doe argue her rejoysing for we may observe in the former verse that whereas not his placing and pleasu in Paradise not the presence or enjoying of the Tree of life nor any else which he saw there could make him open his lipps to talk of it as not being much moved or delighted with them yet now as soon as ever he seeth and enjoyeth her presence and person he could not contein but breaketh out into this triumph of joy and love as who should say I doe not esteem and take any such love or comfort in the pleasures or treasures of Paradise nor in the Lordship of the Creatures nor in the possession of the whole earth nor all that is therein as now I doe in the presence and possession of this Woman which God in singular love and of his speciall grace hath given to me In which he teacheth us nothing else but that which Salomon saith of a good and virtuous wife Pro. 19. 14. riches lands and possessions may men give us or may fall to us by inheritance sed mulier intelligens est denum dei q.d. she is farre more precious than all things and most worthy to be esteemed which we see is most plainly found in Adam in this place who could not be drawn to such a joyfull speech untill now Because all the things in Paradise were small joy or comfort to him so long as he was in solitariness and wanted the companion of his life If we look into the nature of these words 〈◊〉 and bone we shall see that by them are fitly expressed the two ends for which woman was made for by this phrase he signifieth that if she was of him of the substance of his flesh and bone so was she made for him to be as helpfull and as necessarie for his good as his flesh and bone The bones of men as we know are the strength and props to uphold the body so should there be an ability and strength in the woman to help and sustain the man and his 〈◊〉 And as this is the help of society so as she is flesh she is as good a help and means to beare children to the man which is said to arise out of the nature of the flesh John 1. 13. for all Adams sonnes are born after the will of the flesh and to this end God hath placed delight and pleasure in the flesh which is called the 〈◊〉 of the flesh John 1. 16. So that the end of the womans creation 〈…〉 ad problem And thus much of the speech as it 〈◊〉 her denomination in which we may see that God doth not give him the honor only to give names to other Creatures which were made to be his servants but also he giveth him leave to impose a name to his wife which is after a sort equal to himself In which denomination he doth communicate and impart his own name unto her and would have her to wear a part of his own name by which she may be known to be his own which custome we see is yet 〈◊〉 and continued amongst the children of Adam yea even amongst the heathen whose saying was to them whom they vowed to make their wife ubi ega sum Caius tu eris Caia that is thou shalt be intituled and endowed first with mine owne name So we see that after the Wedding in which the wife is brought and given to the man her name is for ever eclipsed as our Law saith and she must shine by her husbands name and the giving this name to her doth not only argue a propriety and right in her but also a sovereignty and power over her as her head which also is manifested in this that she was not only made ex eo sed propter eum she was not only brought ad eum but also had her name de eo which four prepositions propter ad ex de are four strong arguments to prove her subjection Again we see that Adam giveth her not every name by which he was called But his speciall and chiefest names is Ish out of which the name Ishah which is woman This his name Ish is a name of dignitie and honour which as some say is taken for the word Jashah which signifieth he is the Monarch and only Ruler of all Gods Creatures wherefore if Adam was preferred to this title of honour to be a King then he will impart it to his wife and make her as Queen and Empress with him We may read in the Scripture this note of difference touching his names being diversly applied for Ben Ish which is filius hominis is spoken in honor of those that are the best and excellent men But Ben Adam which is fillius Adam implieth the common and basest for Adam is a name of humility to put him in minde of the matter he was made of but Ish is a name of nobility to shew him Gods mercy in exalting him on earth But we shall best conceive what Adam meant in naming her thus by the reason which he rendred by calling her so Quia sumpta erat ex viro which is as if he had said this is the cause why I would have her called so because in this name all may see the wonderfull work of God in making her so and that all may know I love thee as my self therefore this shall be thy name To conclude concerning this name we must note that
When a man hath done 〈◊〉 either he shameth which as we say is a signe of grace or else he hardneth his face like a stone and is not ashamed but shamelesse this is objected against the People of the Lord in Jeremie 3. 3. that though they were wicked and punished for their wickednesse yet they would not be ashamed Harlots were wont to cover their faces to cover their shame but now Harlots are become shimelesse this was the reason that Judah supposed Tamer to be an whore chap. 38. 15. for that she had covered her face God cannot abide the sinfull man but he will punish sharply those that will not be ashamed when they have committed abhomination Jeremy 6. 15. Now we are clothed and ashamed for the minde condemneth the deformity of sinne by shame and to be ashamed at our faults now is accounted a virtue shame now bewrayeth the sinne that is covered Adam and Eve were naked in body innocent in minde and were not ashamed of their nakednesse But since the Fall it is otherwise as in chap. 9. 22. Ham saw the nakednesse of Noah his father and was accursed but Shem and Japheth went backward and covered the nakednesse of their father whose nakednesse they saw not and for that they shamed to see their fathers nakednesse they were blessed God in the 20. of Exodus 20. commandeth Moses not to make steps up to his altar lest when he went up by the steps his filihinesse were discovered thereon when the young man in Mark 14. 52. that was clothed in lynnen upon his bare body and they would have caught him he left his linnen cloth and fled from them naked as being ashamed In the 21. of John 7. when Christ appeared to Peter and heard him speak he cast himself into the Sea not naked as he was but gyrded to him his coat But what maketh nakednesse lawfull and laudable what maketh want of shame commendable in Adam and Eve to be now a thing blamable and whereof to be ashamed There were certain Cynical Philosophers and notable Hereticks called Adamites that went naked but at length they were weary of their opinion they were not able long to continue naked and were at last ashamed of their nakednesse But to answer the said question we will consider first Adams original state and then the state of him and of Mankinde by his Fall The 〈◊〉 of Adams Innocencie was when the word of God was above all when mans reason was subject to Gods word when his will was obedient to his reason when his concupiscence to his will and when his flesh was subject to his concupiscence so all in Man was straight and right he was upright within and without his reason was obedient his will was not perverse his concupiscence was chaste the nakednesse of the body corrupted not the soul it was original righteousnesse that was the complexion of Mans soul when Man was innocent there was then no hindrance of good nor any inclination to evill All this while there was no shame for there was nothing whereof man had cause to be ashamed Innocencie and uprightnesse brought forth chastity chastity brought forth courage and this it is that made them though they were naked not to be ashamed But after the Fall when all came out of joynt as Paul speaketh our concupiscence became a Rebell to our will our will to our reason our reason to the Law of God mans body would not yeeld obedience to his soul nor his soul unto God according to that of Paul Rom. 7. 23. I delight in the Law of God concerning the inner man but I see 〈◊〉 Law in my members rehelling against the Law of my minde and lending me captive to the law of sinne which 〈◊〉 in my members the corruption of the fleshrebelleth and riseth against our spirit our carnall members doe raise up the flesh against the Law of the minde and against our will and these members 〈◊〉 called the fire-brands of 〈◊〉 It is not the hand not the leg not the arme not the seemly parts but the basest part the unseemliest member that striveth against the spirit Yet by Marriage upon those members of the body which we think most unhonest put we most honesty on and our uncomely parts have more 〈◊〉 for our comely parts need it not but God hath tempered the body together and hath given the more honor to that part 〈◊〉 lacked by this bond of Marriage whereby they two become one flesh Levit. 18. 6. And in diverse other places God faith 〈◊〉 shalt not come neer any of the kinred of his flesh to 〈◊〉 her shame though it be under title of marriage the uncovering of which shame turpe est vobis dicere it is a shame to tell though marriage be honest and honourable yet there is a shame in marriage which is the shame of the carnall members whereof both Man and Woman have their shame Man may be ashamed of his fire-brand of concupiscence all finnes are to be shamed at but lust above all is to be ashamed of which causeth other sinnes as in 〈◊〉 Adultery and Murther and the members of lust and carnalitie we are to cover and so to cover our shame and to this shame of 〈…〉 men are subject which sinne 〈◊〉 us more like bruit beasts than othervices the theef by the Law might make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that committesh adultery destroyeth his own 〈◊〉 the wound and 〈◊〉 of that teacher 〈◊〉 man was death Prov. 6. 33. neither the Law of God nor the Law of Nature admitted any 〈◊〉 for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Amnon committed his inceft 2 Sam. 13. 13. she said to him Commit not this folly how shall I put away my shame and than 〈◊〉 be 〈…〉 of the fools of Israel he should be accounted even as a beast that hath no regard of kinred he should for that inoest be esteemed as a 〈◊〉 person He that is inticed by the flattery of an Harlot and felloweth her is as an one that goeth to the slaughter 〈◊〉 7. 22. He is like 〈…〉 neighing after his neighbours wife 〈◊〉 5. 8. 〈…〉 God that begat him and that formed him Deus 32. 18. It is 〈◊〉 begetteth sinne and sinne begetteth 〈◊〉 there was no sinne no filthinesse in Adam and Eve at the first where fore though they were naked yes they were not ashamed But in chap. 3. 7. after their Fall when they knew they were naked they made them 〈◊〉 to cover their privie and incomely parts and yet the covering of their shame takes not away 〈◊〉 shame And we should 〈◊〉 thus of apparel that it is to defend our nakednesse we being passible of weather to cover our shame and we have 〈◊〉 great cause 〈…〉 thereof seeing it is but as a clout wherein we doe wrap and cover our own shame we must take heed that we make not our shame to be our glory apparel should be a covering to shame but alas it is even now become a provocation and an
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
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
it was seemly to cover his shame for to cover a starre or the Sunne is a blemish to either a Rose or a Lilie are best uncovered in their proper natures and so Adams nakedness in his innocencie was best without apparel The just man shall shine like the Sunne in the Kingdome of his father the thirteenth of Matthew the fourty third verse The second regard out of this covering or clothing is That the birds are covered with their own feathers the beasts with their haire and wooll but man must die for nakednesse unlesse he hath his cloathing from others Thirdly Goe to the brute beasts and wear their skinnes and by looking on them learn that if thou hadst been obedient thou hadst not need of such clothing and repeat that of the fourty ninth Psalm the twentieth verse Man was in honour and understood it not and now he is become like beasts that perish Lastly From the beasts being slain To put him in minde that though he may preserve his bodie for a while yet in the end in pulverem revertêris though these must die to feed and cloath thee yet in the end thou must die thy self These penitentiall meditations may be taken from this modell of apparell The nakedness of the soul. Now touching the nakednesse of the soul and the covering thereof spiritually hereto may be applied that of the sixteenth of Ezekiel the seventh verse Jerusalem was naked and barren but thou hast got thee excellent garments we are wretched poor and naked the third of the Revelations the seventeenth verse then this nakednesse which is of the soul it must be covered it is that whereto that of the sixteenth of the Revelations the fifteenth verse hath relation Blessed is he that keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and men see his filthinesse And God through his mercie covereth our sinne and it must be covered with a covering of skinne the brutish affection must be covered with morall virtues the brutish affection of anger of the Lion must be covered with patience the brutish affection of 〈◊〉 of the Goat must be clothed with chastity the pride the skinne of the Lamb of God which was the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent with the humilitie of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world the thirteenth of the Revelations the eighth verse must be thy cloathing and we put on Christ by Baptism the third to the Galathians the twenty seventh Jacob was clothed with skinnes which did represent this If then we goe to the soul it is to be clothed analogically with the bodie the nakednesie thereof is to be clothed by faith with Christ Jesus the Lamb of God Et dixit Jehova Deus Ecce homo estne sicut unus ex nobis cognoscendo bonum malum nunc igitur videndum ne extendens manum suam accipiat etiam de fructu arboris vitae ut comedat victurus in seculum Gen. 3. 22. Januar. 14. 1598. IN the former verses of the Sentence I told you their several uses and that in the last of them was matter for penitentiall meditation The execution of the Sentence I told you was laid in these three last verses This verse containeth a deliberation or a resolution of what God should doe and it is as it were the writ for execution In the two next verses is conteined the execution it self God hereby seemeth so respective of them that he is so unwilling to execute upon them yet is he carefull of his truth for he said at the first restraint in the seventeenth verse of the former chapter Thou shalt die the death if thou eat the forbidden fruit and that God hath said must be performed for his words are not bruta fulmina and therefore that all may concur in his Sentence was imposed on him a painfull life and that it may be more painfull he is here deprived of Paradise and likewise the corruption of life was appointed him which in him and his posterite we see daily verefied that dust returneth to dust and here it is made more manifest by the taking away of the tree of life This verse divideth it self into two general parts the one in these words Behold the Man is become as one of us to know good and evill the other in that which remaineth For the first part I agree fully with the opinion of the ancient fathers which are the most wise and the most learned that these words the man is become as one of us c. is no Ironie but as one of them saith very well est vox magni fragoris it is a voice of great thunder wherein is written the misery that Adam is in as Christ at his death had a superscription whereby was expressed wherefore he suff red Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum or as Malefactors have written in Papers on their heads wherefore they are punished So these words are a publishing wherefore they are thus used because they would become as God knowing good and evill that they and others may know the cause of their fall that as it is in the twenty ninth of Deuteronomie the twenty fourth verse If any shall aske wherefore hath the Lord done thus They shall answer because they have broken the 〈◊〉 of the Lord their God because they went and served other Gods and worshipped them even Gods which they knew not And here because Adam obeyed the Serpent whom he knew not and disobeyed God whom he knew because he would be as God and know good and evil he tasted the deserved punishment of Gods wrath The form of the words Now for the matter conteined herein the ancient Fathers doe gather hence Matter of faith first matter of faith quasi unus ex nobis Adam is like one of us hereby is taken a certain apprehension of the Trinity to refute the Jews that God speaketh not as Princes doe and like Emperors We charge you It is our pleasure c. that though he be one that speaketh yet he useth the plurall number but this doth resute them for what Prince or Monarch saith Like one of us to shew the unity of Godhead and trinity of persons he said not like unto Angells but like one of us In which words he sheweth both a remembrance or token of the unity and the Trinity in the fourth of John the twenty third verse the person of the Father in the twenty seventh verse there following the person of the Sonne saith I am he So that in one is the Godhead in us is the persons So much of the character Ironie Secondly It may seem God speaketh this as an Ironie in a scorning sort for surely it cannot be spoken directly for he is not become like God that knoweth all things but rather like the brute beast without understanding he is become by his disobedience liker the Serpent that seduced him than God that made him Sarcasmus Some take them as Ironicall or which is more as a Sarcasmus or
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
verse Fourthly he breaks the bond of nature for the party murthered is his brother and so he becommeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the first chapter Fiftly he feares not to kill him though he know it will be to the great grief of Adam and Eve his Parents wherein he deals worle than Esau who would not utter his hatred against Jacob till the dayes of mourning for his Father were past Genesis the twenty seventh chapter Sixtly it was not done ex irae impetu but ex odii habitu and against such the Prophet prayeth be not mercifull to such as sinne of malicious wickedness psalm the fifty ninth Seventhly his hatred was not open Cloaked hatred under colour of friendship but cloaked and hidden under a shew of love which makes it more grievous It was not mine enemie that did me this dishonour for then I could have born it It was not mine adversary that exalted himself against me for I would have hid my self but it was thou my companion my guid and familiar friend therefore let death seiz upon him Psalm the fifty fifth and the twelfth thirteenth and fifteenth verses Eighthly this sinne is committed after Gods admonition who had uied all means to draw him to repentance Ninthly not only being admonished but seeing his Father made an example of Gods wrath whom he saw daily labouring and moyling in the earth for his disobedience to God Tenthly that which makes Cains sinne out of reason sinfull Romans the seventh is the cause not for any offence that Abel had committed but for doing his duty in Gods service as the Apostle noteth in the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse Wherefore slew he him because his own works were evil and his brothers good Cain Patriarch of hypocrites and persecutors of the Godly As before he was the Patriarch of all hypocrites so here Cain is the Patriarch of all persecuting Tyrants for that he slew his brother for no other cause but for well doing and for this good sacrifice whereby he pleased God Abel the first righteous Martyr And as Abel is said to be the first of all righteous men Matthew the twenty third chapter and the twenty fifth verse so here we see him the first Martyr wherein we see the works of the Devill who is a mutherer from the beginning John the eighth chapter and the fourty fourth verse Anger conceived hatred is murther of the soul. for he did not only murther our first 〈◊〉 in Paradise but he makes Cain a mutherer first of his own soul by conceiving hatred against his brother and purposing his death and then by killing the body of his brother Envy the meanes As this is the effect of the Devill so he makes the sinne of envy the means of which sinne the Wise-man saith Proverbs the twenty seventh chapter and the fourth verse Who can stand before envy there is no way but death with them that are envyed Examples The Bretheren of Joseph were content with nothing but the death of their brother but that two of them did withstand it Genesis the thirty seventh chapter It was envy that made the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie Christ Matthew the twenty seventh chapter Of hatred 〈◊〉 murther We see how Cain proceeded against his brother from envie to anger from anger to hatred and from it to murther these degrees must be observed Note that we may avoid them in our selves because there is no man but may sall as well as Cain except the grace of God doe stay him To conclude It is a necessary point that we consider aright of of this matter for the Prophet complaineth in the fifty seventh chapter of Isaiah and the first verse The righteous perisheth and no man considereth it So it is a fault if we do not consider the death of righteous Abel The Wiseman complaineth in the seventh chapter of Ecclesiastes and the seventeenth verse In the dayes of my vanity I have seen a good man punished in his justice and a wicked man continue longer in his malice This was Abel's case but when a man shall consider that death was at the first inflicted upon sinne because it is the wages of sin Romans the sixt chapter and the last verse and that 〈◊〉 is the means by which death entred into the world Romans the fift chapter and yet that Abel a righteous man is the first that drank of this Cup in the old Testament as John Baptist was in the new it will make him say Hoc est onus Jehovae as it is in the twenty third chapter of Jeremiah and the thirty fourth verse and hic est durus sermo John the sixt chapter The Apostle saith Godlinesse hath promises both in this life and the life to come in the first epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter and the eighth verse and among the promises of this life long life is one in the sixt chapter to the Ephesians and the third verse which God promiseth to them that honour their Superiors On the other side God threatneth that the blood thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out half his dayes Psalm the fifty fift And yet Cain lived long and Abel a godly man dyed soon Therefore when we see the righteous dye quickly and the wicked live long we must take heed we stumble not at Gods doings but justifie God and acknowledge that he is just and true and every man a lyar Psalm the fifty first Romans the third chapter Therefore to make this point plain it is true long life is promised as a blessing of God which he promiseth to the observers of his command but withall we must know there are certain causes wherein this rule holdeth not true that the dutifull and holy man shall live long in this world The exceptions are First in respect of the parties themselves to whom this blessing is promised It is with a Godly man as with the fruit of trees if after it is once ripe it besuffered to continue on the trees it will be rotten so it is with good men in this world And therefore the Wiseman saith of Enoch that because he lived amongst sinners God translated him and he took him away least wickednesse should alter his understanding and deceit beguile his minde Sapi. the fourth chapter In such a case it is not a benefit but a detriment for a man to live long And there is no man but in such a respect will be content that God shall break promise with him Secondly Another exception is in respect of the punishment of sinne If a party that pleaseth God should by living long become miserable he would not think long life a blessing and therefore God in mercy took away good Josiah that he should not see the miseries that were to come upon the Jews by the captivitie in the second booke of Chronicles and the thirty fourth chapter this favour he vouchsafed to that godly King
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
fair day after a storm For in the eight former verses there hath not been any mention made of God or godliness but marriage upon marriage murther upon murther vaunting of finne past and to come deriding of God and his holy word as if he were a person that favoured wicked men and not contenting himself with the punishment which God inflicted but a devising a new kinde of revenge as we see in Lamech who not contented with the punishment which God appointed for murtherers that is seven times would challenge to himself seventy times seven times Now at last we come to a verse that hath the mention and name of God and of a good man of whom a succession of good men should be raised And it was fit that the Man of God Moses should keep this order because the faith of Adam and Eve might quail and they might think God not true of his promise in regard of that which they saw For as for the threatning which God denounced against Cain wee see it is not performed but Cain and his posteritie in stead of being plagued for his wickednesse grow to be great men rich Grasyers such as have all things that tend either to delight or defense As for Adams promise which was That the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head it fell out clean contrary for we see to what a great number the spawne of the Serpent was grown when as there was none of the Womans seed And whereas God promised the Womans seed should bruise the head of the Serpent wee see the spawne of the Serpent 〈◊〉 the head of the Womans seed For Abel who was the Womans seed is slain by Cain who was of the Serpents seed which falls out many times in the world The promise made to Noah was That Cham should be a servant Genesis the ninth chapter and yet we see it fell out clean contrary for Genesis the tenth chapter 〈◊〉 who was of Chams race was the first Emperour upon earth And in the new Testament the people of God when Christ was born were in that state that Herod an Edomite was become their King Matthew the seoond chapter That wee may see that as the Prophet speakes in the one hundred and ninteenth Rsalm and the hundred twenty sixt verse Then it is time for God to lay to his hand when mankinde looking into his word and seeing that it is not fulfilled which God hath spoken doe decay in faith that he may shew himself a true God and able to accomplish that which he doth either promise or threaten that so the faith that was yet left upon earth might revive and take breath again The verse it self consisteth of two parts First Adams knowledge of his Wife Secondly The nativity of Seth. For the first Not to say any thing of the term which Moses useth which is Adams knowledge for that we have handled it heretofore we will consider the word iterum which gives us plainly to know that for a great while Adam gave over that Act being stricken and amazed with this consideration that one brother should kill another that is in bewailing Abel that was 〈◊〉 and Cain that was cut off from the Church Adam and Eve were in this state of minde that they were as it were dead seeing their first Ofspring sped so unhappily that the one was slain bodily the other was under the sentence of death both of body and soul when I say they considered that they should either beget children to be murthered which was Abels case or else to be cast into hell in respect of Cain it made them say with Rebecca Genesis the twenty fift chapter and the twenty second verse si mihi sic futurum est quia necesse est parere for these considerations they had clean given over Out of which example of Adam and Eve we learn to conform ourselves to crosses and heavy accidents as God layeth upon us that is to forbear and give over matters of pleasure when God calls us to mourning for it is a thing agreeable to Gods will If when the Lord God of hosts shall call to weeping and mourning there be nothing but joy and 〈◊〉 slaying of Oxen c. the Lord himself sayeth that is a sinne which shall not be pardoned or purged with any sacrifice till they die Isaiah the twenty second chapter and the twelfth verse It is that which Christ teacheth Matthew the ninth chapter and the fifteenth verse When the Bridegrome shall be taken away then shall they mourn and fast that is when either he shall be taken from us or when men shall drive him from them by their sinnes then there is cause of mourning and sorrow Therefore we see albeit it was Gods will that Aaron and his Children should eat the offerings of the Children of Israel yet he refused to eat them in regard of the Judgments of God upon Nadab and Abihu his Sonnes saying Thou knowest such and such things have come to me this day and if I had eaten the sin-offering 〈◊〉 it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 chapter and the ninteenth verse Therefore David mourned so for the death of Abner that he said God doe so to me and more if I eat bread or 〈◊〉 else till the Sun be down in the second of Samuel the third chapter and the thirty fift verse But hence there appears another thing unto us which is that 〈◊〉 and earthly sorrow in a naturall man is a thing stronger than any worldly pleasure that in regard of the naturall man there is more strength in grief than in pleasure or joy for if a man have 〈◊〉 in never so much pleasure all 〈◊〉 life yet if he come to a little sickness it takes away all remembrance of his former pleasure And this is a means to make a man think of such an estate Wherein he may have that pleasure and joy which shall not be taken from him as Christ speaketh John the sixteenth chapter and the twenty second verse Now when Adam had relieved himself with this cogitation that as the Prophet speaks Psalm the eighty ninth God hath not made all men for nought it made him to return whereupon there followed by Gods blessing not only a seed but a chosen and holy seed that is Seth. Concerning whom first we will speak of his birth wherein we have this to observe that those Children whom God gives to Parents upon a plentifull contrition and repentance doe usually prove men excellent in all spirituall graces The first example hereof is Seth who is not only the foundation of the Church but of mankinde for since the flood all the Sons of men are called the Children of Seth. It is also shewed in Joseph whom God gave to Rachel having opened her wombe which before was shut up so as she was barren Genesis the thirtieth chapter and the twenty second verse It also appeared in Hannah who having bewailed her own
of God his Father and so joynt heirs with himself Romans the eighth chapter So Christ saith Ascendo ad Patrem meum Patrem vestrum ad Deum meum Deum vestrum John the twentieth chapter and the seventeenth verse By my death God is made your Father Therefore as a woman travaileth in sorrow but being delivered is glad quia natus est homo So by my death there is a new nativity and you are to be glad that by me you are made the children of God that is by my going away to the Father For the Use as Christ saith of himself non videbitis and again modicum videbitis that is verse the twentieth re shall weep and lament and the world shall rejoyce We are to reckon of the things and persons of this life that is truly said of the modicum videbitis and again modicum non videbitis their continuance is uncertain We have had much peace by the space of fourty one years during which time we saw her which now we see not it was a great time indeed but it was but modicum for a thousand years in Gods sight is but as yesterday Psalm the nintieth As all worldly things are seen for a little time and shortly after are not to be seen So for vado all things in the world are passing they vade passe away as in the first epistle of John and the second chapter The world passeth away The use which we have is the inverting of non 〈◊〉 me videbitis The world saith ye shall see me for a while and within a while ye shall not see me that is the state of the world as in 〈◊〉 the fourteenth chapter Externa gaudia luctus occipit But in Christ the not seeing goeth before and the seeing goeth after that is Psalm the 〈◊〉 Heavinesse goeth before and endures for a night but joy commeth after in the morning But the world setteth on the best wine 〈◊〉 and the worst after but Christ keepeth the best wine till last He that will follow the world shall see some happinesse here and not see after but follow Christ and thou shalt not see here that thou mayest see after Whether of these sights is better the Apostle sheweth in the second epistle to the Corinthians the fourth chapter the things that are seen here are temporal the things that are not seen eternal So that we may have our choyce either to see and not to see or not to see here that we may see hereafter which is better therefore the Psalmists prayer is Let me not see here a little while that I may see eternally So for Vado as we see worldly things a little here and then see them not any more so all worldly things passe and goe but whither the world knoweth not He that seeth not Christ here by the sight of the glasse shall never see him for he goeth to utter dar knesse Vadit ad Judicem non ad Patrem and the smoak of his torment shall ascend continually The godly that have seen Christ shall goe to his Father though through many afflictions seeing Christ saith After a while ye shall not see me to shew that he was mindfull of death We must study and labour that our end be like his that so we may be partakers of his promises I will shew my self to him which was matter of comfort as in the transfiguration That albeit to goe away be a hard way yet we be assured as Christ was that we goe to the Father Whither I goe thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me after John the thirteenth chapter that is to God the Father and to his comfortable presence where we shall have that joy which no man shall take from us John the sixteenth chapter and the twenty second verse Whatsoever joy a man can have here it shall be taken from him but the joy of Gods sight shall never be taken from him We goe to that Father which shall give us an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not the first epistle of Peter the first chapter Adeo provocantes Deum ad indignationem factis suis ut irrumperet in eos plaga donec consistente Pinchaso judicium exercente coercita esset plaga illa Psal. 106. 29.30 THERE is in these two verses mention of the plague And as it is here said the plague was great among them so great as there dyed of it four and twenty thousand Numbers the twenty fift chapter And now God hath laid the same axe to the root of our trees and the same rasor to cut off some of our number Isaiah the seventh chapter and the twenty eighth verse Therefore our state being like theirs while they wandered in the wildernesse Every thing in the Scriptures be written for our instruction Romans the fifteenth chapter We must take direction from this principle what to doe in this case That which is set down touching them is of two sorts First The cause of this plague They provoked God with their inventions Secondly the Cure Phinehas stood up and prayed and it ceased The Cause is double First Their inventions Secondly Gods Anger provoked by them And from these two come both The wrath of God is the 〈◊〉 Cause per quod and their inventions the Cause propter quod So a double Cure Against Gods Anger is opposed as a remedy Prayer and against Inventions the executing of judgement upon these sinners The Prayer is qualified in two sorts First that is Phinehas prayer Secondly He stood up in the cause The first thing to be set down is That sicknesse and mortality of people is causall and not casuall for nothing is more contrary than Chance or Fortune and Judgement For seeing a sparrow cannot light on the ground without Gods providence such is Gods care for them though two of them be sold for a farthing Matthew the tenth chapter it is a senselesse thing to think that ficknesse can befall a man by chance Therefore the Philistims being plagued by God would try whether that disease came of Gods hand or by chance the first book of Samuel the sixth chapter and the ninth verse But the very name of plague signifying originally judgement shews it is no casual thing as in the first epistle to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter where he saith They did eat and drink their own judgement that is that many were sick among them and many 〈◊〉 So the mortalitie at Corinth was Gods judgement and so the Latin word plaga being a stripe sheweth the same If a stripe there is a striker so then they are not casual If a Surgeon Physician or Philosopher were to give a reason hereof he will impute the cause to the infection of the aire the putrefaction of the bodies by humors and to conversing one with another and they are good causes of it For so saith God Exodus the ninth chapter and the tenth verse Mases took the ashes of
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
begin naturally a communionibus but there is nothing with which all things doe more commonly communicate than the light of the Son ergo it is first for it is the communication of Heaven because all the Starres doe borrow their light of it and we see by it on earth it is oculus noster by which we see and it is their Cresset to light all them There are some which will have a reason of Gods works and would know how it could be that light should be first made and four daies after the Sunne to be made which was the cause of it But to these I answer that their absurd doubt doth argue small skill in Philosophy for they speak as if the light were an affection and quality only of the Sunne for we see that the fire on earth the meteors and lightnings in heaven the scales of Fishes and a dark wood have also light in them And what doth give light to these I answer not the Sunne But admit the same were the cause of light yet we see that many things have their proceeding in nature before things on which they have after their dependance As all agree that the livor in a man hath the precedence in nature and yet after it hath his dependance on the heart as his chief for though the light hath now his dependance on the Sunne yet then it had his precedence And as Christ was long before he took the body of Flesh so was the light a certain time before it took and was joyned to the body of the Sunne Again we may say that though the Sunne was not created now yet the substance of the Sunne was now made and so we may understand lux for corpus lucidum which after was perfected Last of all this of St. Basill will overthrow their doubt For if a man will grant to God that he made all things without matter of nothing then we must also grant that he can make light without the Sunne for God doth not depend upon ordinary means he is not bound and tyed to the Sunne that by the means thereof light should shew for he can give light without it three dayes by miracle at the beginning and will for ever give light without the Sunne after the end of the world The Hebrews spake of three Creations 1. De nihilo 2. In nihilo 3. Super nihilum All things were of nothing the light was in nothing the earth hanged upon nothing Job 26. 7. Tell me saith Job on what the earth dependeth and I will tell thee on what the light then did depend for it was miraculously giving light without Sunne A word of the second point Job telleth that it is a probleme and a hard question to know from whence the light is Job 38. 19. and in the 24. verse That it is more than mans wisdome to answer it for the very light is darknesse and ignorance to us for all that reason can conceive of it is this that either it must needs be a substance or else 〈◊〉 substantiae that is flowing or proceeding from a substance as a quality or affection of it if it be a substance it must be a spirituall or a corporall substance a spirituall substance it cannot be for it affecteth a bodily substance bodily it cannot be for the motion of it is a moment for with a flash it lighteneth all and also if it were then it must be granted that two bodies are in one place as the ayre and the light at one instant but indeed as they say of the Element that they are next kinne and affinity to accidents so we may say of light Preach 11. 5. there is a light of knowledge and a light of comfort The execution of the Precept The execution of the Precept was of the nature of the Preceptor and Commander 2 Cor. 4. 6. For as by his word he made the Whale bring Jonas safe to land so here he caused light to come out of darkness Rom. 4. 17. calling things that were not as if they were as the motion of the lightning is that is in an instant with celerity comming from the East to the West Luke 17. 24. so was the Creation of it for the facility of making it we know that no work is impossible to God Luke 1. 37. For as casie as it is for man to speak any thing so casie it is for God to doe any thing God 's dictum factum is all one and alike to him Wherefore we may conclude with David that Gods word runneth swiftly to the performance and execution of his Will It is easily and speedily done There is matter to be learned to lead us to good motions But of this hereafter Viditque Deus Lucem illam bonam esse Gen. 1. 4 vers THE meaning of this is That as we have seen Gods wisdome and power in the execution of his Will so now we may see the goodness and mercy of God in the confirmation and approbation of the light which he 〈…〉 allowing it as good for our use Job 28. 3. 〈…〉 God gave not the light to the Moon but to us that the light might arise to us The reference that this verse hath with that which goeth before is this God made things before and here Moses sheweth the quality of it that it was even in Gods judgement very good and perfect that is as the Philosophers say God in all his works limiteth together bonum ens for all that he maketh is passing well made The difference between Gods works and ours which sheweth the difference between Gods works and ours For it is our manner so we doe a thing that God willeth or that we purpose it is no matter we care not how it be done But here God teacheth us by his example that we should in attempting any thing have a speciall care that it be good and welldone Also it is usuall with us that the thing we make in haste is as we say canis festinans that is it is rudely and blindely done and therefore that which a man will doe well he taketh great pains and leasure about it because it is a hard and difficult matter to doe a thing well but God doth and can doe things well and perfectly well with ease with quick dispatch even in a moment with great facility and celerity and yet we see he confirmeth it to be very good in these words Two parts the View and Confirmation to be good Therefore there are two parts First the view which God taketh in beholding the light Secondly his testimony affirming and confirming it to be good The View Touching the first As before we haveheard of Gods speaking so here now we are to consider of Gods seeing Touching both which Moses by Gods spirit is taught to speak after the manner of men in our phrase and dialect that it might be to our capacity for he cannot speak to us as to spirituall but as to
imperfect and therefore not commendable and the cause and fault of it not to be in the matter of which it was made but of the efficient which made it But if any thing be good perfect and commendable the cause of it is the goodnesse of the maker not of the matter for the matter of all things is nothing or a thing rude and unperfect and therefore of it can proceed nothing of worth In mens works if the matter whereof we make things were as permanent and durable as the form which the work-man setteth to it our works would be long and very lasting for we see that if the matter of a house or garment would continue and were perfect the form and fashion of it would continue and not decay but because the matter is ruinous and subject the one to be rotten and the other to be thread-bare Therefore our works cannot last so all the defects and imperfections both of Body and Soul doe come from the defects of the matter of which we were made not of the form in which God made us from thence therefore had Adam and his posterity an ability and possibility to be subject to return to emptinesse to darknesse and to deformity to be without goodnesse and full of evill because he was made of the rude matter which was so But if any good thing remain in us it is because of the relicks of that form in which God made us Thus much of goodnesse in generall now for a more particular consideration of the goodnesse of light We see that God first praiseth that which indeed causeth all other things to be praised and therefore it must needs be good and most commendable Secondly God is the testis and witnesse which affirmeth it to be so Who dare deny it Thirdly yea who can deny it for our own eyes being judg and witnesse we must needs also with God say it is good for it hath aspectabilem in se bonitatem yea it is a means by which we see how good God is Psal. 34. 8. Behold and see how good God is Goodnesse hath two respects the one is in regard of it self the second in respect of others when it is good to other things and in asmuch as it doth good and delighteth others besides it self by communication of his quality to others And hereunto ariseth the threefold distinction of bonum which all Philosophers gaze at and speak of so much The first is bonum honestum Second bonum jucundum Third bonum utile all which doe much differ Psal. 133. 1. unity and amity of brethren is bonum atque jucundum Titus 3. 8. many things may be bonum utile jucundum but this light is good in all respects 〈◊〉 47 3. verse For the first That is good which is desired in and for it self as Eve therefore desired the Apple Gen. 3. 6. but we desire to see the light only for it self propter videre lumen and therefore having no pleasant object at all Yet we still love to have our eyes open because it is good to see and behold the light of the Sunne Also all good things and vertues are in a league of great affinity friendship and amity with the light which argueth that it is somewhat like it in goodness Ezek. 13. 9. 17. 22. veritas non quaerit angulos for truth feareth and hateth nothing more then to be kept and imprisoned in darkness and all evill things cannot abide the light but hate it as deadly because light is contrarie to their evill nature but honest and good things delight in the light Secondly It is delightfull for others to behold as the apple Gen. 3. 6. as well as Bonum in se for we count it a miserable thing to eate our meat in darkness though our meat be good Preach 11. 7. and 5. 6. It is a pleasant thing to see the Sunne Preach 11. 7. Blindness is an uncomfortable thing as Tobie confesseth yea such things as have not sufficient light are less comfortable and delightfull for the house which hath little store of light we finde fault withall as melancholy and uncomfortable Therefore it hath a nature to be comely also and amiable or beautifull Psal. 147. 1. Lux habet venustatem it is sightly for the pleasure of the eye and therefore is called mater pulchritudinis the colours that have most brightness and light in them are best liked and so are the silks which have the greatest and fairest gloss But without light there is no beauty the eye is without pleasure or delight in any object for in the dark a russet coat and a scarler robe is all one no difference between a ruinous Dungeon and a princely Pallace Therefore in this degree of good light is very good Thirdly touching the profit of it Which utile also caused the desire of the Apple Gen. 6. 3. light is very profitable and commodious both in matters of expediencie and also in things of necessity for all our knowledge cometh of light and is compared to light Ephes. 5. 8.9 In Job 37. 22. it is compared to gold both propter venustatum utilitatem necessitatum and if you will know throughly the price value and estimation of it then see the value and estimate of the eye for one would rather lose all his gold and treasure for a ransome than depart from one eye for that did grieve Israel most 1 Sam. 11. 2. and why should one make any reckoning of his eyes if it were not for the light for without it our eye and our nose can see both alike yea we have no use but trouble of it without light we may know and consider the price of light by this that in the night which is a naturall absence of light rather than we will sit in the dark and want the benefit of light we will redeem and buy it with money and some know what cost some are at in buying of light Out of this consideration ariseth matter of meditation both for our profit and amendment of life And first it sheweth the condemnation and rebuke of three faults in three sorts of men For we say that the action which crosseth Gods action is very ill but the judgment and opinion which crosseth contradicteth and denieth Gods judgment and approbation of a thing is farre worse God when he saw the light said it is good How dare any person be so ill as when he seeth the light to say it is evill Yet there are three sorts of men which doe thus It is a usuall thing in the sale of such Wares and Merchandise which are adulterate evill and corrupt men will say this light is evill it is not good for us what soever God saith and therefore they doe frame and make false and deceiveable lights But seeing the light the brighter it is the beter it is they which will sell good and lawfull Merchandise must not make to themselves dimme and deceiveable lights for seeing this visible light is
darknesse and on the other side joyn darknesse to light which should be separated not come together Non est aliud Abyssus aliud facies Abyssi they are not two things severed and therefore if it be dark or light in the deep it will appear so in the face of the deep So we must appear and shew plainly and outwardly by our face and deeds what we are within the bottome and depth of our hearts and indeed as the shewing his darknesse over the face of all was a preparation to have light sent to all so when we professe and manifest outwardly how evill we are by repentance it is the very note of reformation and 〈◊〉 we begin to be good Thus we see God is our pattern for imitation to teach us to separate and distinguish good and evill Touching our selves first which thing Gods word also resembling God himself doth teach us Heb. 5. 10. For it discerneth and separateth the will in the hearts and thoughts of men aswell as in actions and setteth his mark on them saying to us this is evill avoid it this is good receive it Two things in light There are two things in light which are the marks and notes of his goodnesse by which it is known that is brightnesse and comfortablenesse So Gods Spirit is called the light and oyle of knowledge for knowledge instruction and direction and in the 45. Psal. 7. He is called the oyle of gladnesse and comfort and consolation so Gods word is a lanthorne and also a joy and comfort Psal. 119. 105. but e contra ignorance and darknesse is melancholy and uncomfortable So we may make our marke of distinction on things for if we see them uncomfortable to the soul and conscience set a mark on it that knowing them we may eschue such things and ensue such things as are good and comfortable And thus much for our selves Now touching others we learn also that in Common-wealths the Magistrate must have his stone of Tynne Zach. 4. 10. that is his marking stone for that is the word also here to set his mark of difference on the evill to discover them from the good The Minister hath belonging to him only vision to discern them Jer. 15. 19. but the Magistrate hath division to doe it so that he may by deed approve and commend the good and reprove and condemn the bad and if all did keep this difference the world would be a light world but because the good and the evill without any distinction or regard are shuffled together 1 Sam. 8. 1. this confusion in Common-wealths is the cause by Gods just judgement of the confusion and renting a sunder of Common-wealths and Churches Dan. 5.18 This just division then looked to in the Governor would avoid confusion in the popular sort as God doth here begin to distinguish light from darknesse so doth he the same continually by his word Heb. 4. 12. separating and marking the works of darknesse from the armour of light for it sheweth to us daily which are ignorant and negligent these things are evill and not to be done that is good and must be done these things the ignorant Gentills and Infidells did therefore thou must not doe the like which hast knowledge these things doe they which are desparate and without hope of comfort therefore thou which hast peace and joy with God must not doe so Thus we must be carefull in separating evill from good untill the great day of separation when God shall sever all evill from good for ever for here God is a Fisher and Common-wealths and Churches are as a Net which hath in them good and bad together children of light and darknesse but then at the last day of separation when a full finall and perfect distinction shall be made all shall not be taken into Gods Boat Math. 25. 32. but the good fish only shall be taken into Gods Boat and the evill shall be cast away Then God will be a Sheepherde Math. 25. 32. and divide the Sheep from the Goats for ever setting this eternall marke venite Benedicti ite Maleaicti Untill the last day of perfect separation there will be still confusion and disorder both in private men and publique Weales but they which cease not to confound themselves in themselves Justice with unrighteousnesse qui confundunt confundentur Thus we have seen the order of separation in God also the manner of it in us both privately and publickly And what confusion will be unto the last day And thus much of the natural separation and the spiritual use thereof Now as here we see divisio rerum so in the next place is set down divisio nominum denominationum which ever ensueth the other for it is the sinne of the world not to divide things in their denominations and names which are perfectly and plainly distinguished in their natures for they call repentance and remorse sullennesse and melancholy and Davids spiritual joy foolishnesse covetousnesse they call honest thrift profuseness providence and riot liberality patience they call cowardlinesse and quarrelling manhood light darknesse and darknesse light So they confound the names when they cannot the natures But such shall give account for it to the great distinguisher in the great last day of division We have in this distinction many things to consider as The names given The Athcists objection And sundry other matters of which the next time Lucemque Deus vocavit diem tenebras verò vocavit noctem Gen 1. 5. verse AFTER God had distinguished and divided light from darknesse as being things in nature opposite and in degree unequall which contrariety and inequality not being separated are the authors of all confusion Now he proceedeth to divide them in name for as the natural division serveth for all things so this distinction of denominations and names in respect of us men serveth for our knowledge to distinguish them which inducement moveth us to think that God had respect to mankinde even from the beginning in all things that he created as if he purposed to make them for men for though light and darknesse affecteth all Creatures even beasts yet the name and title given to them concerneth only man who understandeth and discerneth things by their names and therefore as soon as he made man he gave him a gift to know by what names to call and distinguish one thing from another Gen. 2. 19. for God hath in the Creation ordained things that they should be known and that they might be known he giveth names of distinction which are symbola rerum as it were notes to know them by and because we cannot in this life know all that God made we look for a clearer light after this life by which our knowledge shall be perfect 1 Cor. 13. 12. Touching this division of names we have four things to consider First the manner of denominations Secondly the cause Thirdly the ende Fourthly the dependance of the day on the light and not on
and repell the frivolous and unlearned objections of the Atheists or else if we consider as Nazianzen doth very wisely think and gather that is all things in grosse were created at the beginning in the two generalls Heaven and Earth though the perfecting and polishing of the Creatures in particular were by degrees brought to perfection in the six several dayes so he conjectureth that the Sunne was made when the Heavens were made at the first but after the fourth day it was perfected and had the light annexed to it this giveth them an answer The use Now touching the spiritual use of this knowledge in which we will keep the course of these three things before noted First that a distinction of names of us must be truly kept Secondly that they might be agreeable to the nature of the things Thirdly that we must expresse the nature of things shewed by their names by our right and well usage and practise of them 1. I began to teach the last day that it doth not avail us that things be distinct in nature if there be a confusion of names therefore God in wisdome brought in the right division of both orderly for though names in affirmation and negation cannot change the true nature of things Non amittunt quod sunt cum amissione nominis as in Judaes name and though we call Gold Copper and Lead Silver yet the false name affirmed or denyed hurteth not the nature yet notwithstanding in respect of us except there be a distinction of certain appellations names and titles we shall grow erronious and ignorant of the right natures of things therefore one setteth down this rule that fides nominum est salus proprietatum the right keeping of the names truly discerned is the preserver of the true properties of things Therefore the Divell not being able to alter the nature of things made and distinguished by God he laboureth in the other to shuffle and confound the names of things which ought to be distinguished to deceive men To such God faith Job 38. 2. Who is that which darkneth the Counsell by words without knowledge for giving of ill and wrong names confusedly obscureth the right knowledge of the natures of things to us and Paul complaineth of it 1 Tim. 6. 20. he complaineth I say of things in his time falsly so called So may we now complain of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of the false faith zeale sincerity preaching and reformation of many which indeed is but falsly so called for their unfruitfull faith is no faith their blinde zeal is no zeal their reformation is deformation and their preaching is but a 〈◊〉 or pratling though it be falsly otherwise called Wherefore they are in great fault which give one and the same name both rei privationirei to the substance and the shadows of things This then is the first use which by Gods example we are to learn namely to term things by their right names by which God hath distinguished them 2. Secondly As the names must not be in confusion so there must be a fitnesse and stablenesse agreeable and correspondent to the natures of the things for commonly the names and titles of the world are either too bigge or too little in proportion for the nature of things It men be great in authority and wealth we are no niggards in our words but give great and swelling titles to them though they be of small or no deferts as Esay 32. 5. they will not stick to call Naball by the name of Nalath that is a foolish clownish Chrule a right worshipfull man to flatter him withall but God will be angry if we give titles after such a manner Job 32. 22. As we are Parasites to others for favour or gain so we love to be flattered of others and to have a great and glorious name for small and simple gifts though our deeds be very small and few yet we must bumbast our words as great as may be but God observeth agreeablenesse 3. Lastly We learn that if the name be agreeable to the nature then in our life and action we must also expresse the nature of the things by well using as the word teacheth us that is that seeing the day is our being and sheweth that our life and being is laboring and well being in our Calling therefore we must reckon or accompt our selves no longer to live and have the being of a man then we are in the day imployed in such honest and good actions of life and esteem our selves in that respect as dead men or as beasts when we are idle slothfull and given to sleep Prov. 24. 33 34. we must be farre therefore from the speech and saying of the sluggard that is yet a little more sleep and slumber that is delight in idlenesse And so must we be far from it in doings behaviour and custome Prov. 26. 14. which is thus described even as a dore moveth on hinges so doth he in idlenesse one calleth such fungos truncos shewing that we differ not from blocks being idle and sleeping nor from mushromes eating and drinking nor from whelps sporting and playing but then we are men when we doe the actions of men that is to study for knowledge and work and travail for thy living so that the night is our time of non esse so long as we will ociosum esse Wherefore seeing Christians are not of the night but of the day 1 Thes. 5. 5. we must doe the actions of good works which belong to the day and for which the day was made for idlenesse theft adultererie murther c. hate the light because they are works of darknesse 1 Cor. 4. 5. so are there three paire of them set down Rom. 13. 13. So the qualities of our actions must be framed to the meaning of the word and nature of the things which God hath made for us And this may suffice for the second distribution of the names Et dixit Deus sit firmamentum c. Gen. 1. 6. vers IN the second verse these two were coupled together darknesse and the deep and how blessed an exchange of light we had been made partakers of we have already heard Now it followeth to hear the wonderfull works of God in the deep and that not in the face of the deep but in the bowels and middle part thereof God hath before removed the swadling band of darknesse and now he cometh to take order in the deep and hereafter he will come to the earth to order it which as yet lyeth desolate overwhelmed and buried in the midest of the waters and deep Though the deep had but a poor being as yet yet it had cause to praise God for it as simple as it was Psal. 148. 7. But God that it might praise him more being moved with pity to see this poor rude being in great goodnesse swallowed up Abyssum in Abysso to teach us that as there is nothing so
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
sustained and held up by the same power Heb. 1. 3. So that it is q.d. I must give a caveat to you because you set your eyes too much on nature and art attributing things now to the influence of the heaven or the industry of things on earth that it is none of these means but only God that still 〈◊〉 rule and maintain all for under these two rain above and man below is comprehended all other ordinary means we are wont to ascribe all things to Sol homo Therefore Moses to prevent that evill that we tie not these things either to nature or art but that we may ever in all things look up to God which is before them above them and can doe all things without them and will rule all things after them therefore he doth teach us this point he telleth us that howsoever things doe concurre and meet together in humane matters here below yet we must defie these ordinary means and evermore glorifie God who is able either without rain or the help of man to make the earth fruitfull Now this which Moses speaketh of rain and man holdeth in all other things as in Fish Fowl and Cattell But because it were too tedious to reckon up all the particulars therefore he maketh choice of the earth and the fruits thereof which doth most need the help of man and benefit of rain for other things being put together will alone bring forth and multiply by kinds without mans help But the fruits of the earth are most laborious for before the earth can bring forth it requireth our help both to till and plant it and the influence also of the heavens doe most appear in these things insomuch as the fruits of the earth may seem to reason to be the effect of mans labor and the dew of heaven But Moses by telling us that it is not so in this teacheth us how we may have a right judgment in all the rest for it holdeth in all as in this touching earthly fruits he setteth down two kinds Virgultum agri herbas horti The first comprehendeth all that hath wood in them the other all which have sinowy substance as every green tender herb hath Touching which he reasoneth thus seeing these which need most the labor of man and seasonable rain were brought forth by Gods power before either rain or man ever was Then God is much more able to doe any otherthing without the help of man or any thing else The fruits of the earth doe need two things 1. First a power of being Secondly a power of growing 2. Remove rain and the labor of the husbandman and we cannot see how either they should live or grow yet saith Moses God without either plough or showers did cause all things to grow out of the earth and to bring seed grain and fruit For the meaning of this verse we must mark these three propositions 1. First that the originall fountain of things naturall as now they stand is from God and his blessing not of ordinary means for rain mens art industry though they be naturall yet have they a blessing and virtue from God by which they are available But to speak more specially of rain 38. 28. Asketh Quis est pater pluviae The answer is God for he granted out a writ decree or mandate for rain Job 28. 26. He giveth us rain and seasonable times Act. 17. 26. And as it is his royall power and authority to command it so is it to countermand it and to give an inhibition to restrain it Esay 5. 6. And lest any should make exception against him he saith Amos 4. 6. It is I which doe cause it to rain upon one City and not another It is not Plannets nor nature nor fortune but God himself Judg. 6. 37. We see both set down his giving out a commandement for the ground to be wet and restraint for the flesh contra seeing then it is in his only power to give or restrain therefore there is a prayer made a prayer nominatim for rain 1 Kings 8. 35. 36. And there is a speciall thanksgiving for this benefit Psal. 68. 9. And this is the reason saith St Augustine why God made not the rain as a sweat to evaporate out of the ground and so to moysten the clods but would have it rather to ascend upwards into his place that we might lift up our eyes to know and acknowledge that it cometh only from him 2. The second royall prerogative of God is that though we have never so much rain or men to help yet all is nothing worth and cannot avail without Gods blessing doth accompany it which is shewed 1 Cor. 3. 7. Paul may plant and Apollo may water there is the husbandry and rain but both the tiller and waterer is nothing unlesse God giveth the encrease therefore we must see and behold God in them all for if when God sendeth rain he give not his blessing with it and make it pluviam benedictionis Psal. 80. 19. Or if he send in tempestivam pluviam unseasonable rain nor the first nor the later rain Ezekiell 34. 26. Or if he send it not in plenty Esdras 10. 9. For they had rain yet they wept for want or if he sendeth too much what good will it doe the earth 3. The third prerogative of God is that God without rain can make things fruitfull but the rain cannot doe so without God It is not these means of tillage or rain that can doe it Deut. 8. 3. But God without them can doe it 2 Chron. 14. 11. It is all one with God with a few for quantity yea with no means to doe things a little oyle and meal shall streach it self out and encrease untill rain come So Christ in want can make five loaeves and two fishes to feed five thousand and so for the quality the worst and most unnourishing meat which they durst not give Daniel 1. 〈◊〉 for fear lest they should not look faire by Gods blessing made them look with better countenance than the rest which fared more deliciously Wherefore saith Daniel Try us for we know that God can doe it without means or with base means 2 Kings 4. 40. the Prophet by Gods word without 〈◊〉 quality yea to shew Gods power could make poysonfull meat which is contrary to nourishment to nourish he made Coloquintida to nourish them which of it self would excoriate the intralls and scowre them to death 4. The fourth and last prerogative is not only to doe all this but to make that which is by nature clean opposite and contrarie to a thing that it shall be a means effectually to work his effect as the putting in salt into salt water can make the water fresh which is contrarie to nature for it maketh fresh water salt 2 Kings 2. 20. So Christ by putting clay upon a blinde mans eyes caused him to see which was enough to make him blinde
Law then had their been no trangression and so no punishment and so it had been very well with all men still Indeed in some sense the words of St. Paul doe sound very well if we understand them as he spake them for all Laws have two parts the one directive the other corrective So Paul saith That he which keepeth the first part of that Law which is directive and so becommeth just he shall never need to fear the other part of the Law which is corrective 2. Object The second objection which accuseth God of hard dealing is like that other objection in the new Testament namely Seeing that Christ knew that Judas would betray him John 6. 71. why did he make choise of him Resp. 2. The answer to both is this namely That the foreknowledge of God is no cause of any action no more then our eyes being open and seeing a man is the cause of his going wherefore Gods foreknowledge is extra seriem causarum as the Schoolmen say God gave Adam power and ability and freedom of minde to perform a greater obedience than this Preach 7. 31. but man sought the inventions of his own heart and followed not the will and counsell of God wherefore it is sure that seeing the Law given to man is most 〈◊〉 and the power which man had was most perfect and seeing he was not constrained to transgresse but was forewarned of it therefore man knowing Gods will and yet willfully breaking it is the cause of his own 〈◊〉 and God is justified to be without all rigor whatsoever except we will say Why did not God then make man immutable which question if we move Rom. 9. 20. we are not to dispute plead with God though this reason may be yeilded thereof first quia necessitas non habet legem God would not make him immutable for then man must needs be God for only God is so Secondly because necessitas non habet laudem for what thank praise or reward could he have had if he could not have chosen but necessarily must obey as the fire by nature must needs burn and goe upward wherefore we should rather saith St. Augustine magnifie Gods goodnesse and benefits which worthily requireth our obedience and contemn our own unthankfull disobedience This is a more profitable course of meditation than to knit many knots and make many questions to reason with God Now we come to the Law it self which I divided into the preface body and penalty of it of the which the first is introductive the second directive and the third corrective The body of the Law we see is planted between the preface and the penalty both which are to perswade us to the love and obedience of that in the mid'st It is therefore faced and garded with the consideration of Gods love and liberality and it is backed behinde with the fear of Gods just judgement if we break it The first is set down as a spur to prick our dull natures forwards to obedience for who would not be stirred up with love and liberal rewards The other is set as a bit or bridle to keep us back at least from transgression So that if perswasion or threatning love or fear fair means or foul will serve to keep us from sinne and make us serve God here God had put them all together This preface is of the admirablenesse of his love and goodnesse which he promiseth before he commeth to the poor restraint of forbidding that 〈◊〉 There be four parts of his loving favours set out to us in it First Comedes Secondly Comedendo comedes that is thou shalt eat freely and frankly Thirdly Ex omni ligno not freely of one or of a few but of all the trees Fourthly Ex omni ligno totius horti not of all the trees in one corner or quarter but of all in all the 〈◊〉 of Paradise and of all he 〈◊〉 but one and one is the least that he should have restrained so liberal is he and so loath to deny us any thing he hath and he would not have forbidden this had it not been for our good also such was Gods liberaliry to Adam that 〈◊〉 doth permit him to eat not only liberè liberaliter that is when he will what he will how much soever he will for his sufficient necessity and strength freely at his choise liberally according to his desire In this plenty and variety granted God permitteth to him the best which is the tree of life and he gave him the means unde vivere bene vivere semper vivere possit for all the trees were means to sustain his life The tree of knowledge being a testimony of his obedience shewed him how he might live well and the tree of life would have caused him to live for ever wherefore all these several blessings of God bestowed on him might have moved him to due obedience in this one and easie commandement for seeing he had the use of all the trees upon condition to abstain from this one it is sure the levis esset ejus continentia si non dèesset benevolentia But if eating thou shalt eat could not allure him to obedince yet dying 〈…〉 dye one would think should have been able to have kept him from disobedience yet it did not and therefore mortem morier is is a just recompence to such wilfull sinne There is yet another thing which the ancient Writers doe make 〈◊〉 great matter of in this place that is the marking That here first of all God and Man doe enter into a league obligation covenant one to the other by which they prove that Ecclesia vinculum Ecclesiae is more ancient than the state Politique that is that the bond ecclesiasticall is of greater antiquity than the bond of Commonweals Politicall or oeconomicall For before Eve was made or ever Man and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants were united with a bond of duty which commendeth the bond of true Religion and Divinity which by obedience teacheth us how to be inseparably united to God and made one of his Church to whom is a promise of the tree of life De fructu verò arboris scientiae boni mali de isto ne comedas Gen. 2. 17. June 19. 1591. THis Law of Paradise we sorted into three parts the first whereof we handled before now follow the second and third parts to be spoken of namely the direction and correction the Precept it self and the penalty which necessarily doe ensue In these words then is set down the restraint of the forbidden 〈◊〉 which is the body of the Law it self And then after it in the end of the verse insueth the punishment if we breake it In this former part of the Law we observe two points 1. First The subject of the Commandement concerning which the restraint is made that is the tree of knowledge 2. Secondly The action it self restrained that is eating which
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
to Angells and all other Creatures therefore it was necessary that he should prescribe the place and triall of it in a visible and sensible object and in a thing which might be manifest to good and evill Angells to see and behold him This is the cause and reason why God saith not Thou shalt not desire to lust in thy heart after the fruit of this tree Because that action and triall of the heart soul and thought God only could discern for he only trieth the heart and reins 1 King 8. 39. Therefore he saith not non concupisces sed non comedes for that that action is apparant 3. Thirdly it was convenient and seemed good to God that it should be made by a restraint and interdiction that as before idlenesse was forbidden and taken away by labor so here licentiousnesse of lust might be restrained by saying Thou shalt not eat of this tree of knowledge 4. Fourthly God saw it good and meet that it should not be generall but particular and brought to a speciall instance of this one tree 5. Fifthly it seemed necessary to God that this triall should not be in a particular of naturall obedience but rather in morall and positive obedience in which this commandement consisteth 6. Sixthly as it was a positive and morall thing so was it to be made in a thing indifferent for if it had been a thing naturall and simply evill or good it had been no triall As Augustine saith if God had said the fruit of this is poyson he would not have done it or if it had been such a thing which had been a detriment or hurt to God he would not have done it for the vile nature of it wherefore God placed this triall in a thing indifferent which by its own nature was not hurtfull to man neither could bring any hurt or detriment to God So that God would have the triall of his obedience stand not in the nature of the thing but only in this respect that it was Gods will to forbid it that Adams triall might be this I can see no reason why I should not eat of it it is as good to eat and as pleasant to look to as any other fruit but God hath restrained it and said Thou shalt not eat of it therefore I will not Lastly God in this triall giveth no reason of it but maketh it an absolute Law simply saying Thou shalt not eat of it for else man might think that he might doe it for the reason sake for this maketh plain the perfect pattern of true obedience when we doe it only respecting Gods will and not looking for any other reason whatfoever Thus we see why God look't our this speciall tree of knowledge and laid this prohibition on it Now out of this we gather and say that the making of 〈◊〉 Laws by a magistrate is lawfull and good 1 Sam. 14. 24. Saul may command his subjects upon occasion to 〈◊〉 as God did his servant Moses Levit. 11. 1. c. 〈◊〉 1. 1. c. Also 〈◊〉 may make a Law to command his Sonnes to drink neither wine nor strong drink So Kings in respect of the good of the Common-wealth may make the like positive Laws and binde their subjects to abstein and not to eat this or that which of it self is lawfull and good and not to be refused Rom. 14. And subjects are bound to obedience though they see no reason but that the meat is good and allowed of God I come now to the applying of this to our selves Matth. 24. 32 Christ willeth them to learn a parable of the fig-tree So the wisdome which we may learn out of this tree is most excellent and profitable even the whole body of divinity Before we come to the pith and marrow of it we must first break and pluck off the husk or shell for the Leviticall Laws as the Fathers say are as Aarons Almonds which his rod did bear Numb 17. 8. in which was Cortex medulla and if we can 〈◊〉 crack and take off the shell the sweet kernell of instruction will soon appear The husk and difficulty of this precept is that God should inflict such a penalty for the taking and eating such a fruit this is that hard shell that few can crack But our rule is that we must not stick still at the shell but break it and cast it away Therefore this is our rule in all such Laws That not the outward presentation of the thing commanded but the power and authority of the commander and law maker is to be respected as the pith and substance of our duty Therefore we say that the principall summe and scope of the morall Law and the pith of it is expressed in these two terms Bonum ost faciendum malum est fugiendum Psal. 34. 14. And this is known and received of all but here is all the question what that good is and what is that evill If any make this question why is this thing good and to be done and that thing evill and to be avoided If we say as Eve did judging it by reason and by the nature of the thing as to say I see and know that it is good pleasant and agreeable to our nature and therefore it is good and I may doe it that were to fetch and draw the rule of God from the nature of things as if it were in the thing it self but it is said 1 Cor. 6. 12. 13 Though meats be made for the belly and the belly for the meats yet if we 〈◊〉 them contrary to Gods word they are evill and God will destroy both them and us wherefore we will not take the 〈◊〉 of good and evill from the nature of things but make Gods will expressed in his word to be the rule of all things that are good If we will then define good 〈◊〉 we must not say it is that which the reason of man alloweth which the sense of man doth feel to be agreeable and pleasant to our nature neither may we say that it is good and not to be refused which in it self 〈◊〉 a nature delightfull and profitable for mans use for that were to place the rule of good and evill either within us in our own reason and understanding or else without us in the natures and proprieties of the things created but we must not doe so for that only is good which God alloweth of and sanctifieth by his blessed word allowing the use of it saying thou mayest and shalt doe this and so è contra that is evill whatsoever it be that God forbiddeth and saith thou shalt not doe it for things are good and lawfull only because Gods word saith it is so so that every thing taketh his goodnesse only from Gods word And this is the pith and marrow of this commandement Therefore Deut. 12. 32. God saith Whatsoever I command you take heed ye doe it thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take ought therefrom
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
at the good pleasure of Almighty God Therefore being delivered into the dominion and 〈◊〉 of the Messengers and Ministers of death by and by he was subject to the Guives and Manacles of death which doe seize upon all parts of our bodies for sinne Morbi enim sunt laquei mortis which is we are held sure untill we die also the Ministers and Servants which ever since that sentence was denounced doe attend upon us to our end are cares and sorrows within labours and travails without which seizing on us doe make our deaths as sure as if we were already dead for we cannot escape it therefore saith David Psal. 89. 48. Quis homo vivit non videbit mortem for all of us have sorrow which is primogenitus mortis Job 18. 13. the same day 〈◊〉 brought it forth Gen. 3. and we have and feel daily the forerunners of death which are diseases which make our bodies even in this life 〈◊〉 mortis a body of death Rom. 8. 10. Wherefore we may be sure that death it self will come most certainly though the time be uncertain for it is a debt which must be paid we must all dye Heb. 9. 27. when the time is come that God hath appointed Dixerat autem Jehovah Deus non est bonum esse hominem solum faciam ei auxilium commodum ipsi Gen. 2. 18. Octob. 1â— 1591. THe Prophet Esay 51. 1. exhorteth the Church of God after this manner Look back saith he 〈◊〉 the stone out of which yee were 〈◊〉 and to the 〈…〉 of which you were digged By which he 〈◊〉 the Church of God that there is a very necessary and profitable consideration to be made out of the historie of Abraham and 〈◊〉 and their lives as it is expressed in the Scriptures So may we say of the historie of Adam and Eve our first Grandfather and Mother for they are more properly indeed to be termed the first stone out of whom all mankinde were hewn and the pit out of whose womb we all were digged and taken And so much more profitable is this 〈◊〉 and the explication thereof because St. Paul faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the creation of Eve and her marriage is 〈…〉 shewing us the mysterie of Christ the second Adam and his 〈◊〉 to the Church which was his Eve taken out of his side I told you that from the 6. verse of this Chapter to the end of it is 〈◊〉 a Commentary upon the 27. verse of the first Chapter where Moses in one word dispatched the Creation of Man and Woman saying 〈…〉 which he so briefly passed over there because he purposed in this Chapter 〈…〉 a more large and ample discourse thereof We have heard of the Creation of Adam in the former part of this Chapter hitherto which is nothing else but a 〈◊〉 upon these words of the first Chapter 〈…〉 Now therefore we 〈◊〉 to the explaning of the other part which is 〈…〉 which he performeth from this verse to the end of the Chapter Two principâ—… points In all which verses the Fathers say than there are but two principall points to be considered the first is The 〈◊〉 of the woman the other The 〈◊〉 and marriage of her to the Man Touching the creation and 〈◊〉 of Eve it 〈◊〉 partly a deliberation and then the work of creation 〈◊〉 self the 〈◊〉 is in these words 〈…〉 〈◊〉 which containeth also two parts first the 〈◊〉 in this 〈◊〉 verse and then the occasion of it in the verses 〈…〉 But before we 〈◊〉 of the consultation 〈◊〉 first consider 〈◊〉 coherence with that which 〈◊〉 before which is 〈…〉 After the Almighty God had 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 which is his Church by the 〈◊〉 made 〈◊〉 God and man Now in the next place he 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 estate 〈◊〉 which is of 〈…〉 by the duty of Man and Wife in Marriage By which God would 〈…〉 know that by his will and ordinance all men next after our 〈◊〉 to Almighty God which is first are bound to have a most speciall care and regard of their duties in that other society which is this If they be Husbands their next care must be of their duty to their Wives if Children of their duty to their Parents if Servants of their duty to their Masters for these duties of the private Families in the Common-wealth are next in honour and reverence to the divine duties which we own in the houshold of Faith which is in the Church unto God for this society is lege ipsa antiqua as one saith and therefore we must give more honour and reverence unto it Now for the summe and scope of this verse we will divide it into two parts first into Gods Dixit and secondly into the tenor of his speech which is Non est bonum c. and first briefly of dixit Deus because we often heard of it before we must note that qui dicendo facit verbo facit which teacheth us to give honour to Christ the second person in Trinity who is the word of God of whom all things are made and ordained John 1. 3. Secondly touching this Dixit which we see by it and other singular prerogatives herein given to Mankinde which we may add to all the former For in the creation of other Creatures God used only the word of authority fiat but here he useth the word of his good will and pleasure which is faciam Before he ever directed his speech to that which was not Gen. 1. 3. saying fiat lux when there was then no light but all darknesse But now he reflecteth his speech to himself as it were consulting with deliberation about this work in that the Contents of his speech in touching the good and happinesse of Man in foreseeing what is not good for him in providing that which is best for him we doe not only see his care over us above other Creatures but also we are taught to acknowledge how well and reverendly we ought to esteem this ordinance of marriage for God knew that many speeches and reproaches would arise among men against this work which God had in hand of making Woman Some by way of jest and merriment to disgrace that sex and others in contempt to dispraise them calling them necessarie evills c. therefore God saw it needfull to expresse the absolute good which cometh to Man by Woman as being so necessarie that we cannot be well without them for seeing we cannot deny but that God that doth best know what we want and what is good doth affirm that it is good for us to have Eve made and that it were evill for us to be alone without her therefore that we preâ—ume not foolishly in jest nor earnest to contradict and crosse Gods will The tenor or content of the Consultation standeth upon two parts The first is a reason or cause which moved God to make Eve in these words Non est bonum c. The other is his purpose
and Decree to make him a help the form of both which standeth thus I will make her to be a help to him because it was not good for him to be without help Touching which the Fathers doe say That now a pawse is to be made because this form of speech which is first used is to set down the true and right use of Logick which is the art of right reasoning or cause which moveth God to make Eve in these words Non est bonum c. the other is his purpose by argumentall conclusion for they observe well that all the speeches which hitherto have been used have been imperative absolutely commanding things to be done So that Gods authority and will is the only reason of all that hath been done But now at the making of Woman God useth a speech of argument and reason concluding and informing the absolute necessitie of this work which also must teach us to be â—…ule to direct us in the immortality of our actions namely to consider as here God doth what is good touching our actions and what evil may come by doing and not doing it if we in sound judgment can say bonum est then we are to conclude this ergo faciendum est If right reason telleth us this malum est we are taught to resolve upon this conclusion ergo non faciam So that the rule of reason is in all things to consider whether it be good or bad Again He saith not Non est bonum mihi sed non est bonum domino that is he respecteth more the good of others than of himself this is Christs reason which he used and moved in all his actions expedit vobis ut hinc abeam John 16. 7. which is to teach us to doe the like for it is q.d. all one because it shall be better for his and the perfecting of his estate therefore for his sake I will make him a meet help which example must teach superiors how to frame all their reasons and actions alwaies respecting the common good of their inferiors more than their own private commoditie for we shall see it both here and elsewhere that God maketh the good and welfare of his people the ground of his Decrees so may we observe the like in the reversing that which he had decreed to punish them and destroy them for sin yet if they repent of their evill God will reverse his Decree for their good which Jonas knowing Jon. 4. 7. saith that God doth oftentimes by this means seem to make his Prophets lyars because that for the good of mankinde he doth often reverse and revoke the sentence denounced by them against wicked men wherefore we may well say that Gods goodnesse is as much seen in caring for the good of man being made as in creating man which was nothing before All which he doth that the consideration of his love and goodness to us might be as it were cords links of love to tie us unto him in all duty and obedience Ose 11. 4. and to teach us to frame all our thoughts words and deeds to the augmenting of the glorie of God As to say Because it is good and acceptable to his glorie I will doe this è contra I come now to the reason and first to the antecedent thereof in which we see that God doth set his heart upon Man being made that now he taketh a speciall view to see whether he can espie any good thing to be wanting about him which he might supply We read in the end of the first Chapter that God looking upon man saw all to be very good yet here he that thought man by creation to be very good saw a detect of one good thing yet which might make much for his perfection And therefore he taketh order here to furnish him with it that nothing might be wanting to those that he loveth By this therefore it appeareth that solitarinesse is counted an imperfection in Mankinde but not in God for he being most perfect yea the perfection of all things needeth not any other thing to be adjoyned to him as a companion or help meet for him Therefore he is and ever will be set alone and will be called solus sapiens Deus as the Psalmist saith Thou art God alone But among the Creatures this sheweth all things to be imperfect in that it is not well with them if they be alone For the perfection of Angells is in multitude being an Host The perfection of Mankinde touching the civill perfection is in societies by which Families Cities and Common-wealths are made so we may mark that solitarinesse God in the Creation doth at least double every thing that it might not be alone In the firmament he made great lights and lesser lights The waters were made double the upper and nether waters The Earth had herbs and trees And as for Fish Fowl and Beasts he made all things in aboundance Salomon sheweth in the 4. Eccles. 9 10 11. that above all other Creatures it is most meet and convenient for man in divers respects not to be alone and concludeth the point with vae Soli because it is not good for man especially to be alone And therefore when our Saviour Christ calleth his Disciples it is said he sent them out by pairs two and two because he would not alwaies they should be solitary and alone Matth. 10. 4. Luke 10. 1. But there is no rule so general but that hath his particular exceptions in some speciall causes unlesse it be in moral rules of good things commanded by God for against such there is no exceptions to be taken But in the rules of naturall goodnesse touching conveniency we may ever in some instance make an exception As Husay 1 Sam. 17. 7. this counsell is good but not at this time So we may say the light is good for all yet it is evill and hurtfull to ill eyes So may we say of solitarinesse that sometimes it is most good meet for a man to be alone in solitarinesse so it is good and most meet for some man to be alone without companie for so Moses said Leprosus habitabit solus that is to avoid infection God saith of his Schollars Ducam eos in solitudinem docebo eos shewing oftentimes solitarinesse is best for Students and so our Saviour Christ often frequented solitarie places for private prayer as most fit for it Thus we see generally how this is to be taken but more particularly we must consider of it in the speciall case of Marriage to see how this is verified in a single and unmarried life whether in that respect it be not good for all men to be alone It is not good for man to be alone Object A question may be made here of the truth and true meaning of the word of God in this speech Resp. In resolving of which we must make a concordance and agreement between these two verses of the
the Creation of the Woman therefore he would be alone that he alone might be known to be the only maker of the Woman and that he had no help or Counsell in the framing of her For the like cause God suffered the Disciples to fall into a deep and heavy sleep in the garden when Jesus Christ our Saviour was in the agony that it might not be doubted but that he alone wrought and brought to passe all the work of our Redemption without the help or comfort of his Disciples as it was prophecied of him before Ille Torcular calcavit solus So Almighty God purposing to have all the glory of the whole World alone and that Adam might not challenge any jot thereof therefore without his counsell help or consent he would doe it while Adam was fast asleep Which must teach us this Lesson That especially in this weighty matter of Wyving when we see we want that holy help we must not think by our own policie and strength to get us one meet and good for us but rather by prayer commend that work to Gods care and providence who then no doubt will bring that work to passe which shall be most fit and meet for us while we are fast asleep Object If any ask Why she was taken out of his side which is the middle part of mans body and not out of his head or foot Resp. This answer may stand with good reason That she was not taken out of his head or shoulder Ne insolesceret foemina that is lest affecting a superiority over the Man she should take upon her arrogancie to be the top of his head or to ride over his shoulders If any doe so let them know that it is not the Womans part nor place to exalt herself so high On the other side God of purpose would not have her taken out of the foot Ne eam homo sub pedibus contereret make her too much an underling as scarce good enough to wash his feet If any so use their wives let them know God made them not to so base and contemptible offices but would have good and vertuous women to be set next themselves as their matches in all dutie and love for God hath made her of his side that she might be collateralis that is be thought worthy to stand and sit and lye by his side therefore it is said that the Kings spouse being brought to him was set on his right hand Psal. 45. 9. And indeed if women did consider their estate they would know it to be farre better and safer for them being the weaker vessell to shrowd themselves under their husbands arms for defence as their protector than to sit above his shoulder as Lord and superior over him Again Women may see that God made them of a rib which is a strong bone that they might be a means and prop to their weaknesse to uphold and be a stay to them and their estate and not a weakning and decayiug of their estates and strength as many doe And as they learn this of the nature of their matter so they must learn to avoid one thing which is the bone of which they were made namely they must not be crooked and perverse and 〈◊〉 bones to their husbands heart for such wives saith Salomon are not bones to help us but putredo in ossibus and a grief to their heart Now we may consider that of this matter God made him not many wives not two wives yea not more than only one which condemneth 〈◊〉 for many reasons and respects for many inconveniences and griefs come to the man and the family where more than one hath been it was the cause occasion of strife and brawls as we may see in the example of Elkana his two wives 1 Sam. 1. 5. 7. 8. for they did not only vexe one another but both of them were a vexation to him The like example we have in Sara and Agar so ill did they agree under one man that one house was not able to hold them wherefore Gods ordinance is who knoweth what is best for us that one man shall have but one only wife A word now of the supplement for it is said that God taking out a rib made a wound and healed it up again and made flesh to be the supplement thereof By which we 〈◊〉 becanse Woman is the weaker vessel therefore God would have her to have some of the Mans strength and lest the man should be too strong and rigorous he hath imparted some of the Womans weaknesse to him Which must teach man and wife to know that God hath made them so that they should bear one with anothers infirmities And there is nothing which doth more make void the bond of love and unity which God hath so strongly confirmed between man and wife as this one thing that the one doth not bear with the others infirmities and imperfections Extruxitque Jehova Deus ex costa illa quam sumpserat de Adamo mulierem eamque adduxit ad Adamum Gen. 2. 22. Octob. 23. 1591. IN these words according to our last division are conteined the manner and fashion of her Creation which is here said to be after the manner and form of a building and also the end why she was made namely that she might be brought to man and given him for his help It is the Counsel of God that if we will purpose to make a house or building that we first of all prepare matter and stuffe where with all to build it Prov. 24. 27. and then after to settle upon the work which course of wisdome we doe see God doth here take and observe for having taken the rib out of the mans side as the meetest matter to build this beautifull matter for man now all things being in a readinesse and nothing wanting he proceedeth without delay to the framing and perfecting of this work of Woman Touching which we must know that it is not Moses purpose in this place to treat of the making of the Womans soul but only of the frame of the body for he had before in the 7. verse of this Chapter sufficiently and fully performed that narration shewing that God having made the body of Man and Woman then he breathed into them the breath of life and made them both alike living souls which confoundeth that prophane shamelesse objection of irreligious men which whether in jeast or in good earnest I know not have said that Women have no souls because in this verse Moses speaketh not but only of the frame of her body To falsifie and disprove which saying ye shall hear Rebecca say Gen. 27. 46. Taedet animam meam vitae meae And the Virgin Mary will confesse that she hath a soul as well as Man Luke 1. 46. saying Magnificat anima mea c. But we must know that this soul the Woman had not of the man but of God the Creator as Adam had
amare Redamare amorem impendere rependere for if love be not mutuall if it cleave fast but to one side they cannot live together as one but needs must fall asunder as we may often see and to make this glue hold fast for ever it is requisite that it be tempered with the knowledge of God that it may be a religious love for carnall love is vinculum Ethnicorum but godly love is vinculum Christianorum Salomon cleaved to many wives but because it was not in a holy and religious love therefore they made him not cleave to God but caused sinne to cleave fast to his soul And thus much of the eternall cleaving together in affection Now for the other which is carnall and externall it is that combination which God saith maketh two but one flesh and that not only in that honourable estate of an undefiled bed but also in that wicked and filthy conjunction of harlots as it is 1 Cor. 6. 16. For they which converse with harlots are said to make themselves one with them For marriage we may say in some sense it is begun in the spirit and doth end in the flesh This knot of carnall copulation St. Paul expresseth in most godly and reverent terms and so wisely that sober eares cannot be offended thereat 1 Cor. 7. 3.4 First he calleth it due benevolence due in regard of the right which the one may lawfully challenge at the others hands benevolence because it must be granted willingly with love and good will for if one deny the other he saith in the 5. verse that it is a frauding of one anothers right for which cause he saith that neither partie hath potestatem sui corporis but one hath right and interest in the other Now of this union man and woman becommeth but one flesh and as it were members of one anothers body and not only so but of this conjunction of them two cometh by Gods blessing one flesh that is the fruit of children which proceedeth from them both and so an unity of the the flesh in the body born is the fruit of their two bodies so united as Leah saith Gen. 30. 20. is very effectuall to be another link of love to binde man and wife more neer together for which cause children are called pignora amoris This then to conclude is the cut-throat of polygamie and adultery of polygamie because God saith they two shall be one flesh therefore more than two in the conjunction is intollerable of adultery it is the overthrow because he will have two by this combination to be but one body wherefore it is an abhomination and monster of nature for one man to be two bodies for he which joyneth himself to a harlot thereby made one body with her 1 Cor. 6. 16. And here we see that he is also one body with his wife and so Gods ordinance is perverted who would have two but one body but these leachers doe make their one bodies become two De septem versiculis a versu 18. usque ad finem 24. qui de Matrimonio Viro Foeminâ agunt Novemb 4. 1591. FOr that our Saviour Jesus Christ in Matthew 19. where the question of divorcement is propounded alledgeth this place that a man shall cleave to his Wife and leave Father and Mother and they twain shall be one flesh this is his further commandement Let no man put asunder that which God hath coupled together for indeed this bond may not be broken at mans pleasure Hence we learn discipline for the framing of our Judgements That Marriage inviolable is the ordinance of God And again Hence we learn the duties of Marriage to be natural for the begetting of Children and civil for mutuall help in houshold and civil affairs But above these duties in adduxit Deus is a religious institution by God and a possessing of their bodies in sanctitie and holinesse of life not being stained with filthinesse vain jesting or wantonnesse which are things uncomly Ephes. 5. 4. But their Marriage should be moderate without excesse of lust because God sought an holy and Godly seed Malachie 2. 15. And therefore God ordained but one wife and that each should sanctifie other for what knoweth the Wife whether she shall save her Husband or what knoweth the Husband whether he shall save his unbeleeving Wife 1 Cor. 7. 16. so that Marriage is for sanctification As for the speciall institution of Marriage here in regard of the time and place It was instituted in time of Innocencie in Paradise which state of Marriage is not only a thing tolerable or a thing alowable as a thing indifferent or commendable in some alone but Marriage is honourable among all persons all degrees as it is in the 13. Hebrews 4. according to that in the Psalme Man being in honour which time of honour was in time of Innocencie 7. Honors of marriage Now there are seven honors of Marriage 1. Necessity The first is of necessitie for that since Adams fall the disease of incontinencie is common to all sorts of men therefore Marriage is offered to all sorts of men without respect 2. Antiquity The second honour is of antiquitie which was the next instituted to the Law of obedience Lex Matrimonii est ipsa lege antiquior 3 Causality The third honor as the Schoolmen call it is of causalitie see Exod. 12. 20. 4 Place The fourth and fift honors are out of the place in Paradise in the presence of Heavenly Angels 5. Time and out of the time in time of Innocencie 6 Gods presence The sixth honor which maketh Marriage most honorable is the presence and presidence of God himself by his dixit in the 18. verse God said it is not good that man should be alone and by his adduxit he brought her to the Man and by his conjunxit whom God hath joyned and by Gods benedixit in the 1. chap. 28. and God blessed them 7. Mysterie The last thing which maketh Marriage honourable is that it is Mysterium magnum wherein is a resemblance even of Christ and of his Church the 5. Ephesians 32. Thirdly in respect of the persons of Adam and Eve it was good for Adam to have a wife it is permitted to Bishops to have one wife Titus 1. 6. 1 Tim. 3. 2. the Apostles themselves had wives 1 Cor. 9. 5. There were never such Saints in the world as were Saint Adam and Saint Eve in the estate of their innocencie integrity yet were they married There are none of what degree soever that are so holy but by the example of Adam Eve they may take upon them this estate of marriage which is honorable among all men it is honorable in all it is not intollerable in some Hebr. 13. 4. 1 Cor. 4. 1. this may be restrained in some sorts of men not to be condemned in any for Marriage which is honourable in all men dishonoureth no
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
fruit which would make us as Gods when he knew that it would be as poison to our bodies and make us damned Devils Now this following of the Devills counsell and advise in this place is so much the worse in Adam and so much the more to be condemned because twice before he had followed it with ill success and saw he was deceived which might have been a double caveat and fair warning to him now to beware but as he had followed the Devils counsell twice before in practise and deed so we shall see him to follow it twice hereafter in word For first of all touching his word and speech the Devill teacheth him a peece of his Sophistry teaching him that he must needs answer to put non causam pro causa And secondly in the other place he teacheth him a peece also of the Devils Rhetorick which is called translatio criminis a laying the fault upon another and so shifting it from himself outward covering and inward dissembling hath a very good correspondence and therefore hypocrisie is compared to a Cloak or masking Hood Job saith 31. 33. If I hide my sinne as Adam did concealing my sinne in my bosom will not God finde it out and punish it But Adam being bewitched and infatuated by the Devill that spirit of error had learned to make choice rather to strive with Gods justice than to appeal to his mercy for favour and grace whereas by confessing he might have had pardon he by defending it brought himself the more deeply into judgment and his sin the more into question and triall By confessing his sinne Christ would have been his advocate to plead for his pardon but by defending and justifying it he made him to be a Proctor to plead against him and Judge to give sentence against him whereas by confessing his disease God would have been his Physitian to heal him he è contra by taking on himself to heal his own sickness made himself and his disease more grievous and more desparare But let us come to see how he seeketh a quia and an ergo that is a good reason and argument to defend and justific his deed Let us I say come to the particulars of his answer and see the strength and validitie of his reasons for if it be good and justifiable it will hold the proof and the examination will doe it no hurt Concerning which first we know it in corrupt policy that it is good alwayes to begin a lye with a truth or at least with great likelyhood of verity that so the lye may after run more currant and goe more roundly away therefore at the first in the forefront of his answer he places indeed a manifest and known truth that he heard Gods voice and the second also is truly said that nothing might be suspected namely that he was afraid In which two truths confessed the Fathers doe say are contained the first and second degrees which by Gods Decree should have been the two chief inducements to move men to repentance and therefore in that he was not moved to submission and confession of his fault thereby they gather that this part of his confession also is against himself therefore these two evasions are nothing but to make against his cause The second excuse is of decencie and 〈◊〉 or comelinesse as who should say I saw it a shamefull thing and very unmeet and undecent to appear before thee being naked and therefore I hid my self in which he doth make his thought and imagination a rule to measure Gods estimation and judgement by as if that which he thinketh inconvenient and uncomely God must think and esteem to be unseemly and unmeet also The Prophet Samuell saith 16. 7. 1 Sam. 16. 7. That God seeth not as man seeth neither are our thoughts his thoughts he is not moved with the like passions that we are for Job in sterquilinio was more pretious and amiable in the eyes of God and more acceptable to his minde quà m Heredes in solio as a Father saith and the reason is because he looketh to that holiness which is within and accepteth a man thereafter and regardeth not the outward estate of the body whether he be 〈◊〉 or in poor aparrel as men of corrupt judgment doe Jam 2. 3. 4. therefore Adams thought and conceit of his bodily nakedness which seemed unseemly to him ought not to be taken as a rule to measure Gods thoughts and to prove and determine what is undecent and unreverent in the eyes and judgment of God touching the outward things for seeing that nakedness is factum dei it cannot simply displease him or be detestable in his sight for he saw all that he had made was passing good nothing to be ashamed of as undecent therefore it is certain that if this had been all the matter which he pretendeth he might have boldly for all his nakedness have presented himself without shame or fear before God for as I have shewed that nakedness of their bodies in which they were made and which they enjoyed being innocent was no matter of blushing but of beauty no blemish or undecencie but an ornament glory to them as the nakedness of the Sun and Moon is such a glory and beauty to them that if any should put upon these glorious bodies a Cloak of velvet or Cloth of gold it would be so farre from beautifying them that it were a blemish and disgrace undecent for them and this is the hope and expectation of the Sonnes of God one day to enjoy that happy estate again in which they shall want no bodily garments to cover them but shall all shine in glory as the Sun in the skie Thus we see that this quia and ergo will not stand it is not Gods art or workmanship nor his voice that made him feare flie or hide but somewhat else which he had done and committed whatsoever it be which God will bring to light and make apparent hereafter Now let us come to the consequence here set down ergo abdidi for which we shall perceive that this is no good or right reason or consequence which he should have inferred uppon the premisses for thus he should have concluded I was afraid and naked and fled for conscience of my sinne therefore I confess humbly my sinnes before thee and doe crave pardon for them Thou diddest open mine eyes that I saw my sinne and thou openedst mine eares by feare that I knew thy judgment ergo now also open my mouth that I may confess humbly and open my heart that I may repent truly for it thus he should have made his consequence I heard thy presence with majesty comming ergo I prepared my self to meet my Lord right humbly confessing my finnes that I might have found pardon this was Jacobs resolution and conclusion in policie Gen. 32. 7. when he heard that Esau came against him he feared and was troubled and therefore used all means preparing
himselfe to pacifie his wrath and prevent the danger by praying to God and offering presents to him but of all his follies which are yet seen herein it most appeareth in that which Adam here useth for his purpose maketh most against him in that this which he useth and challengeth for his defence and appoligie is indeed the very occasion of his condemnation as we shall see in the next verse in which God maketh this his confusion of his nakedness wherewith he chargeth God to be the very ground of his occasion and interrogatorie which he cannot avoid nor finde any colour nor evasion for but to confess himself guilty Dixit verò Deus Quis indicavit tibi nudum esse te An de fructu illius arboris de quo interdixeram tibi ne comedas ex eo comederis Gen. 3. 11. February 5. 1591. NOW we are come to proceed in the judiciall part of Gods cause and manner of judgment concerning which we have seen before this order to have been observed First God sent a Sergeant to arrest him and ascite him to make his appearance to answer for that which should be laid and objected against him in the seventh verse Secondly he sent out an attachment more forcibly to lay hold on him and to apprehend him which he fled from in the eighth verse Then God came himself making search for him being hid and brought the Malefactor out to his arraignment and to answer to ubi es in the ninth verse which is his inditement and accusation Then God will have him make his plea to his inditement which he doth in the tenth verse pleading not guilty for though he confesseth the fact laid against him that he is out of his ubi and is fled and hid yet we see that he so confesseth it that he traverseth the right and lawfulness of that deed done by him which is quia and ergo saying God was the cause of it he could not doe otherwise for God spake so fearefully to him that he could not but flie and God made him naked and therefore he hid himself In saying which he seemeth so to maintain and uphold his doings as if he had said I have therefore done well in thus saying and hiding yea I should not have done well if I had done otherwise and so his plea is that he is not to be charged of any ill or offence in this behalf Now to this answer God maketh a rejoynder and answereth that plea of his by a double interrogation In which God first of all joyneth issue with him in that one point which is plain and evident between them both by his own confession namely that he was naked and then bringeth in such an ergo against him that Adam could not choose but confess his offence and could not conceal or shift it off any longer For God proveth to him that it could not be that he should come ever to the knowledge of his evill and shamefull nakedness but only by the act of eating the forbidden tree so that he taketh out of his own mouth and words confested that whereby he will make matter enough to judge and condemn him namly that he knew that he was naked and ashamed to shew his face for upon this point he joyneth issue with him and upon the strongest part of his quia and reason as who should say be it true which you have said stand to the words confessed already let us both grant and agree in this point and issue that you know that you were naked and ashamed I demand of you but this one thing answer me if you can How came you to know that you were naked thus he beginneth to debate the matter to the proofe let us therefore now see how he traverseth this point with him his reason must be framed after this form That which was evill Adam might not doe this is a morall ground but it was evill that Adam being naked should know it to be a shamefull thing and to hide therefore Adam in knowing this his nakedness hath done some ill Thus standeth the reason Now God would know of Adam how he knew nakedness to be evill and the reason of the doubt and question is because it is certain that Adam presented himself naked before he sinned without any shame or hiding therefore here groweth the question how he knew it to be so now Adam knew his nakedness was evill God asketh how he came to the knowledge of any evill q.d. who brought thee acquainted with this knowledge of evill there is no man in the world to teach it thee and there is no other means in the world by which thou maist attain to it but only by eating the forbidden tree which of this effect hath his name to be the tree of knowledge of good and evill Ex arbore didicisti ergo de arbore comedisti for there was no ordinary way or means to come to this knowledge by the decree and counsell of God either to the knowledge of evill by privation of God or else to the science of evill by wofull experience and sense of evill but only this way by eating of this tree forbidden This then is that point in which God joyneth issue with him to make and enforce him to confess the truth by which two points the one of joyning issue in one instance and so closing with Adam therein The other concluding by an invincible proof the breach and transgression of that negative Law of God non comedes c. We gather necessarily thereout that this is the right and orderly course of proceeding in upright judgment and determining of causes here taught and allowed by of God to be imitated and put in practise namely that after the indictment and accusation laid against any man for transgressing a Law either for doing evill forbidden or not doing a necessary God commanded that then the party so accused must be brought to his answer personally and permitted quietly and freely to put in his answer thereunto for the acquitting himself if he can For these are two other parts of Justice and right Judgment according to Gods Law and this is a good and a lawfull proceeding as we may see by the example and practise of the Church of God and this is called a course of Judgment according to law and equity 〈◊〉 10. 3. and as St. Paul saith Judge aright according to Law Acts 23. 3. of which every good just Judge must have a speciall care Another point of this proceeding further is that after the party accused and arraigned hath put in his answer and pleaded not guilty that then the Accusant doe goe forward and see the issue joyned with the Defendant and a plaine evidence and proofe of his act done to convince him and prove him guilty by his own words or deeds if he can For so doth God deale with Adam here saying thus It appeareth by your own confession that you knew your selfe to be
remember from whence they were fallen and repent the second of the Revelations the fift verse or according to that of the fifty first of Esay the first verse They should look to the rock whence they were hewed and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged This then planteth in them humilitie for no question but only for humilitie there needed no mention of these words whence they were taken God had said in the 19. verse Out of the earth wast thou taken dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return And Moses in the second chapter before the seventh verse saith Man was made of the dust of the ground and here again Out of the earth wert thou taken this iteration of the same thing in effect is not needlesse for the holy Ghost setreth down nothing that is needlesse for true is that saying that Nunquam nimis discutitur quod nunquam satis But this is 〈◊〉 so often to put us in minde of humility lest that should stick still in their stomachs which made them first to transgresse and to banish the thought from their mindes that they should be as Gods which thought were enough to cherish pride but rather that in remembrance of their sorrow and repentance they should cast dust upon their heads with Jobs friends the second of Job the twelfth verse The second use is the Justification of Gods righteousnesse and equity Man was not a native of Paradise he was a stranger he was not borne there for God took him elsewhere and put him into this Garden at the first the fifteenth of the former chapter He was brought from the Earth and put here And again here non est sumptus unde missus but missus unde sumptus he is not taken from whence he was sent but tent to the Earth from whence he was taken He was brought I say to Paradise not made there for this Garden of Eden was given him to take all pleasure and full use of it at the first upon a condition he should keep Gods Commandement in the seventeenth of the former but he brake the Law of Paradise and therefore according to his just demerrits he is sent to Earth from whence he was taken and this answereth with Gods truth and his Justice Yet this Justice is tempered with mercie for God sendeth him but to the Earth from whence he was taken The sinne of the Devil you see in the 14. Of Esay the 14 verse what it was He would ascend above the height of the Clouds saying Ero 〈…〉 I will be like the most high but God brought him down to the grave and sent him to Hell fire spoken of in the twenty first of the Revelations the eighth verse So man carrieth upon his forehead his sinne Ecce homo factus tanquam unus 〈◊〉 Adam would be as God knowing good and evill the very same crime then that was in Satan is in Adam the transgression of them both is one and the same This was mercy then not to punish them alike not dealing so with man as he had done with the Angell Lucifer Adam is here made as a scape Goat that had all the sinnes and 〈◊〉 of the people upon his head and so was sent into the 〈◊〉 the sixteenth of Leviticus the twenty first verse Adam had his sinne upon his forehead by the last verse and here is sent to the earth to till it So that this is mercy with judgement 4 The end of his sending The fourth point is the end Ut operaretur terram to serve to till to dresse the ground from whence he was taken this is the end Not to walk up and down unprofitable and to be idle nor to be at case and doe nothing but to be occupied in labour and service for none are to be exempted from this labor none I say as Job speaketh from him that grindeth in the mill to the Prince that sitteth upon his 〈◊〉 Paul in the first to the Thessalonians the fourth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse admon sheth them to love them that labour among them in the Lord for their work sake yea even the sonne of Man came not to be served but to serve the twentieth of Matthew the twenty eighth The servant which is idle and unprofitable shall be cast into utter darknesse the twenty fift of Matthew the thirtieth verse there is his punishment Sr. 〈◊〉 saith That God sent not Adam out of Paradise to the earth to make the earth a Paradise or garden of pleasure but a place of labour 〈◊〉 operaretur that he should work and till the Earth for though the rich man in the sixteenth of Luke lived at case and fared 〈◊〉 every day and made this world a world of pleasure whereas Lazarus lived in pain and labour yet mark what was the end It was said by Abraham in the twenty 〈◊〉 of that chapter Remember that in thy life time thou receivedst thy pleasure and Lazarus pains now therefore he is comforted and thou art tormented so was he punished for making this world to himself a Paradise Abraham made not this world a garden of pleasure but removed his tent from place to place the thirteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse Idlenesse and fullnesse of bread is afterwards punished The office of the Priest is not to be idle but to serve the fourty fourth of Ezechiel the sixteenth Mare mortuum made by labor The best Writers are of opinion that where now is mare mortuum the dead Sea was heretofore in times past made by mans labour only for a place of pleasure as the Garden of God but God changeth it into the contrarie Tyrus sometimes lived as in Eden the garden of God the twenty eighth of Ezechiel the thirteenth but in the seventeenth verse God will cast Tyrus to the ground and bring it to ashes And if we will live in the earth in 〈◊〉 and in pleasure as in Eden and make it our Paradise be assured there will follow pains and a great torment The second use Secondly He must doe this service to the ground And so was Kain said in the second verse of the chapter following to be a tiller of the ground In the twenty second verse they wrought metals taken out of the ground as brasse and iron and in other places they work in quarries of stone as in mines of metal we labour the earth for bread and for drink all must operari terram Apply hither the thirty second of Jeremy the fourty third verse Kings themselves live in this world but to serve they are Gods servants in things holy and in things civil for they are the Ministers of God to reward the good and punish the wicked the thirteenth to the Romans the fourth verse And in the sixt verse for this cause pay you tribute to Princes for that they are Gods Ministers If the King say put this man in prison and feed him with the bread of affliction it is done the 1 of
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
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
The only pretence for taking a second Wife is the example of Abraham Genesis the sixteenth chapter who for that he was without ofspring was permitted by Sarah his Wife to goe in to Agar that of her he might raise up Children but the case stood not so with Lamech for he had by his first Wife two Sonnes Jabal and Jubal and therefore it was not for the raising up of seed that he took Zillah Secondly But if he say these were not enough we shall see that the seed which he had by his false Wife did not 〈◊〉 to the increase of mankinde but to the destroying of it For if we 〈◊〉 the seed that God gave him by 〈◊〉 the shadow of a true Wife it was Tubal Cain who was the first that gave an edge to 〈◊〉 and brass that is the first Warrier and he that brought war into the world So we see Lamechs purpose in taking a second Wife howsoever he desired to increase the world yet by Gods just judgment turned to the destroying of mankinde for he brought forth Tubal-Cain one that was a destroye To this we add his Daughter whom he had by Zillah his unlawfull Wife whose name was Naamah that is fair which being compared with the sixt chapter we shall see that she was the overthrow of the world For the sons of Seth saw the daughters of men that they were fair and beautifull and that 〈◊〉 in them a lust after them so as it confounded that distinction of the holy Familie of the godly which caused the Lord to drown the world with a flood so that as well the Daughters as the Sons that Lamech had by his unlawfull Wife proved the overthrow of mankinde and therefore it was no good pretence to marry a Second Wife to increase it Thirdly To proceed one step further in the choice of a second Wife the example of David may be a good pretence who seeing a virtuous woman Abigal 〈◊〉 good to his first Wife to add a second in the first of Samuel the twenty ninth chapter so that the good quality of the second Wife may somewhat abate the sinne But Lamech took not Zillah for any such respect of virtue Zillah which is a shadow betokens lightness and 〈◊〉 Adah is an open place and withall signifieth a tireing and decking of her self and Naamah signifieth made beautifull So these three things were the cause hat made Lamech take his second Wife And as in these we see a plain description of the woman of the old world so we see also what manner of women they were that brought destruction upon the whole world Naamah that is beauty made is the mark of Jezebel in the second of Kings the ninth chapter and the third verse Who for that she was not beautifull of her self naturally painted her face Adah that is tireing and gorgeous apparell is a mark of the Daughters of Canaan when Deborah describes by their apparrell of divers colours Judges the fift chapter and the thirtieth verse Zillah that is lightness and wantonness sets out unto us the strange woman that is an Harlots behaviour Proverbs the seventh chapter and the tenth verse and of a wanton pace such as the Prophet describes Isaiah the third chapter On the other side Esther when sweet odours were offered her to purifie her self she refused and desired nothing but that which was naturall she did not make her self beautifull to delight the Kings eyes Esiher the second chapter and the fifteenth verse As for Adah that is glorious apparrell The holy women of old as Sarah that trusted in God did not deck themselves 〈◊〉 with broyded haire and putting on of gold or apparrell but with 〈◊〉 in the first 〈◊〉 of Peter the third chapter and the fift verse contrary to the wicked generation of Cain As for Zillah the wanton and light woman Rebecca covered her self with a Vail Genesis the twenty fourth chapter and the sixty fift verse These examples of good and evill women are set down first to correct and reprove such as tyre themselves like the women of the wicked generation and to exhort and instruct others to follow the modesty of godly and holy women for that is the use of the holy Scripture in the second of Timothy the third chapter that no man should take two Wives at once but as the Apostle tels us That every man have his proper wife and every woman her proper husband in the first to the Corintbians the 〈◊〉 chapter and the second verse that we should not ensue the steps of the cursed generation of 〈◊〉 or follow Cains seed in making choice of Wives for glorious apparrell for beauty and wantonness but to choose such as are vittuous as Boze chose Ruth All this is testified of Lamech by way of reproof and correction to himself and those that follow his example And as there is woe threatned to them that walk in Cains 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 bath a way that brought woe to him and his way was that he taught the Daughters of Moab to intice the Children of Israel by painting their faces and so made them commit whoredome with them Numbers the 25. chapter and the 1. verse therefore whosoever shall cause his Daughters by their wanton attire to allure the minde of the Sonnes of men they walk in Baalams way and shall be partakers of his woe Thus much for Lamechs marriage That which is set down rouching his Children followeth in the next verses In which part we are to observe Gods power First in blessing him with Children Secondly Gods providence in directing the matter First There is set down three of Lamechs children First Jubal that signifieth apportantem Secondly Jubal oblectantem Thirdly Tubal-Cain that is one that terrifieth maketh afraid Of which the bringing in is referred to store of wealth delight is referred to pleasure 〈◊〉 or making afraid hath his end in revenge In those things stands the facility of the first Enoch and of all those that dedicate themselves to this world For as we heard Cains Enoch sets his minde on things present nihil sperans quod sequitur but Seths Enoch which came on the seventh day hath a course by himself that is looked to things to come Thus by their names we see their affections and the same we shall see by their actions and professions Jubal is said to be a Grasier and not only so but the first that back'd horses and made other beasts fit for their uses for which they were appointed by God that is the first bringer in of all riches and wealth Secondly to Jubal belongs the invention of Instruments whether they be such as are to be played on with fingers or with the winde Thirdly Tubal-Cain was the first of those that gave an 〈◊〉 and point to brasse and iron and applied it to warlike use to the end he might have weapons to fight with and to 〈◊〉 all he world subject to him and his 〈…〉 Add 〈◊〉 this his fair Daughter
therefore they would have another seed like the starres of heaven such as should have their conversation in heaven it is that which the Prophet tells us there is semen nequam Isaiah the first chapter that is a naughty and corrupt seed such was the seed of Cain and there is semen sanctum Isaiah the sixt chapter such a seed was it that Adam desired Cain was a naughty seed but they would have a holy seed for there is not only good seed but tares as Christ sheweth Matthew the thirteenth chapter Such is the difference that is in seeds A holy seed is such as shall sinne but yet shall not doe sinne in the first epistle of John the third chapter that is not operarius iniquitatis Matthew the seventh chapter because the seed of God is in them but they that sell themselves to all manner of sinne are the corrupt seed such as power out themselves to all wickedness because they have not the seed of God in them but the Serpents seed of whom it may be said verò ex patre Diabilo estis John the eighth chapter Fiftly This other seed might be another seed yet not like Abel that is a seed more civill and temperate in the course of this life than Cain was and his posterity but they desire a seed for Abel that is such another seed as Abel was They desire a Child not simply but pro Abele that is such a Child in whom they may finde the spirit of Abel that they might say here is another Abel that though Abel be taken off yet there might another like Abel be ingraffed The last point is in these words For Abel whom Cain 〈◊〉 There were many things that Cain could endure well enough in Abel but the cause why he 〈◊〉 him was for that he had a desire to please God and to sacrifice to him in the best 〈…〉 could his desire was to offer plurimam hostiam 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse that is a Sacrifice that should be in 〈◊〉 more and in quality de 〈◊〉 of the best of his sheep so they would not only have one religious as Abel but one that should be opposite to Cain and as it were the Heir of Abels 〈◊〉 one that might accomplish that which was lacking on Abels part in the first to the Thessalonians the third chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse 〈◊〉 as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him 〈◊〉 was born after the spirit Galatians the fourth chapter so they might have one to maintain his quarrel and might uphold that holy seed Concerning which as God hath a purpose that the patience of his Saints should appear Romans the ninteenth chapter 〈…〉 patientia Sanctorum for which cause he suffers Abel to be 〈◊〉 so he will have his providence appear too and therefore he sets up Seth so as Tubal-Cain with all his armor shall not remove him So we see in every of these words there is a power They would have this other seed like Abel in all things saving in this that Abel was but shewed only to the world but they would have Seth a permanent seed So doth God make the distinction between his Saints to some he saith as to Peter John the twenty first chapter Follow me that by thy death thou maist glorifie me Of others he saith as of John the Evangelist I will have thee tarry still that is he will have some Saints to be 〈◊〉 as Peter and others he would have to live out all the dayes of their life as John the Evangelist and John that dieth in Domino is no less blessed 〈◊〉 Peter that dieth pro Domino So 〈◊〉 he would have Abel 〈◊〉 taken a way and 〈◊〉 to live out the course of nature yet the one is no lesse acceptable to him than the other Lastly These words contain a plain 〈◊〉 of Eve not only in regard of her stile for of Cain she said I have obtained a man of the Lord but of Seth Deus posuit The one is 〈◊〉 Evae the other positio Del. But in regard of that account which now she makes of Cain Why should not Cain be still her Jewell as before for he lives still and hath a great and mighty seed She faith the cares not 〈◊〉 him for that he is cut off from Gods Church a stranger from the promises of God And as for Abel whom before she 〈…〉 now she desires one like him though he should be 〈…〉 Abel 〈◊〉 So she condemnes her self for having so great a 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisedome at last is justified of her Children For a time 〈◊〉 〈…〉 accounted of but at last Abel shall be found to be 〈…〉 case Out of which we see that which the Prophet 〈◊〉 That men must not make too much 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 Isay 〈◊〉 twenty 〈◊〉 chapter if the Lord 〈◊〉 and come not so soon as we 〈◊〉 we must wait and he that 〈◊〉 will come Hebrews the second chapter Give not over if Abel be lost God will provide another seed Secondly We see here the propriety of the Church it is a thing set as the Prophet speakes in the twenty eighth chapter of Isaiah I will lay a Stone in Sion a chief corner Stone upon which Stone the Church is built so as the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Matthew the sixteenth chapter Therefore the Apostle saith Colossians the first chapter the faithfull are radicati fundati in fide whereupon it followeth that as God himself is from everlasting and world without end Psalm the nintieth so he will be with his Church to the end of the world Matthew the eighteenth chapter so we see there is a reward for the righteous though he were killed touching the body yet he lives still in heaven And now in as much as there is one like Abel he revives in earth and so he hath his reward in heaven and earth Howsoever before Cain was preferred before Abel yet now by the testimony of Adam and Eve is counted one not worthy the ground that he treads upon but Abel is acknowledged to be a great blessing and therefore hath his desire one like him Sed ipsi Schetho genitus est filius cujus nomen vocavit Enoschum tunc coeptum est invocari nomen Jehovae Gen. 4. 26. Februar 17. 1599. YOU see here that albeit Moses might have deferred these two verses to the next chapter wherein he drawes down the genealogie of the godly seed yet he could not contain himself but before he concludes this chapter he will make some mention of some that regard the worship of God as well to shew that God did not clean forget his promise and his people as also that he might counterpoise the evill of the wicked that went before as last of all that he might make a good conclusion that as he had a good beginning in Abels oblation so he might end it well in the invocation of Enosh and he doth end
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
glory And this was the first sinne that came into the soul of the woman and as the Philosopher saith that the heart is primum vivens ultimum moriens so vain glory as it first took possession in the heart of man so it is last and with most difficulty dispossessed So that when a man hath mortified all his lusts and subdued all sinnes yet pride and the desire of glory revives again And whereas the sinnes of the world are three The lust of the 〈◊〉 The lust of the eyes and pride of life the first Epistle of John the 〈…〉 chapter and the sixteenth verse The sinne of pride is such a one as doth not only corrupt all virtues but 〈◊〉 all other sinnes and prevails against them for gluttony or the lust of the 〈◊〉 is come under the power of pride So as men take a pride in excesse of meat whereas gluttony would be contented with a sittle for the belly is sooner filled than the eye satisfied Secondly For Covetousnesse What makes men to exceed in the cares of getting riches but only pride and desire of glorie For knowing that the borrower is a servant to the lender Proverbs the tenth chapter and all things obey money Preacher the tenth chapter In respect of the excellencie of wealth they are so covetous that albeit they have more than enough yet they still gather together that they may have all men in subjection to them so hard it is to suppresse the desire of vain glory And the harder because where other sinnes be resting upon a man this sinne comes creeping upon him and flattereth him as a thing most agreeable to his nature Howbeit it is to be avoided with all heedfulness for it comes from good things as the root Secondly A man is proud oftentimes even of humilitie not only when they outwardly humble themselves with fasting but also when they are inwardly humbled Joel the second chapter Secondly it is the harder because it comes with a colour and shew of reason for it is Gods will that we should not only doe good works but that it should be done openly as Christ saith to shine and to be seen of men sic splendeat lux Matthew the fifth chapter and the sixteenth verse both that God may be glorified by us and that we may give good example to others But not withstanding we must beware that we doe them not to purchase praise to our selves How to avoid vain glory pride c. and other fins by meditation and prayer Secondly The question of ignorance is How we should avoid this desire of glorie which is so bred in us The answer to this doubt is By medition and prayer For as God hath laid this Curse upon the earth That it should bring forth thorns and thistles of it self but if we will have any good of it we must bestow labour upon it So this curse is laid upon our soules that good things will not come into our mindes without diligent meditation but pride and such sinnes will take place of themselves without any further trouble Wherefore as to avoid all temptations we must occupie our selves in godly meditation as Augustine saith Semper te Diabolus inveniat occupatum so there are speciall meditations for the avoiding of pride and the desire of vain glory First To think of the uncertainty of worldly glorie that Christ that to day should have been crowned King by the Jews was the next day crucified by them Secondly Of the emptinesse and vacuity of it as that all the glory that Haman had did not content him when he had received but one little disgrace by Mordechai Esther the fifth chapter Thirdly of the punishment of this sinne for whereas he spares other sinnes if he see withall some token of goodnesse so as he will quench the smoaking flax Isaiah the fourty second chapter he will not defer his judgements from the Hypocrites and ambitious but will withdraw his graces from them here and punish them eternally in the world to come Fourthly We should think of our own hearts if we doe good without regard of mens praise Fiftly Of our own inability how little we are able to doe of our selves except God move our hearts and work in us both to will and to doe Philippians the second chapter and the thirteenth verse that so we may ascribe the praise of all our good deeds to him as the only author of them These meditations will kindle a sire in us that we shall have a desire to speak as Psalm the thirty ninth as the Prophet having considered that God did command us to keep his testimonies saith presently O that my wayes were so directed that I might keep them 〈◊〉 the hundred and nineteenth But as by those 〈…〉 desire to avoid that which we are forbidden so unto our desire we must add resolution 〈◊〉 the nine and 〈◊〉 I said I 〈…〉 to my 〈◊〉 Dixi 〈…〉 The other means is 〈◊〉 For when we have done all we can to avoid this 〈◊〉 by our 〈◊〉 meditations yet that will not serve till we cry for Gods 〈…〉 strengthen us and help us for vain is the help of 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 and eighth So though the Apostle doe will the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put on the 〈◊〉 of God yet he saith the chief 〈…〉 fight with the Devil is prayer Ephesians the sixt chapter For except the 〈◊〉 keep the City the watch-men watch in vain Psalme the hundred twenty seventh We must not only say the general prayer which 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 Lead us not into temptation 〈◊〉 particularly against this 〈◊〉 say with David Psalme the thirty sixt 〈◊〉 not the 〈◊〉 of pride come 〈◊〉 me And Psalme the hundred and fourteenth Not to us O Lord not to us but to thy name give the praise The 〈◊〉 is For then 〈◊〉 shall 〈◊〉 your 〈◊〉 As before to doe good was the good corn that is to be sown but to doe 〈◊〉 〈…〉 seen is the tares that must be plucked up So the perswasion is thus to be taken Doe good works sincerely and ye shall have a reward though not in this world but if ye doe them in 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 ye shall lose your reward When the holy Ghost implyeth that our good works shall have a reward and so perswadeth us to the 〈◊〉 of them He 〈◊〉 to our infirmity for there are 〈…〉 causes to move us to doe good As the shedding of Christs blood whereby he redeemed us to himself to be 〈◊〉 of good works Titus the second chapter and the fourteenth verse But because he knows whereof we be made and that we are weak he 〈◊〉 us with hope of reward and herein he hath regard Non ad gloriam operis sed ad zelum operantis of the reward of works done in sincerity heretofore Of these that are done in hypocrisie note two things First How true it is that they lose their reward Concerning which howsoever Hypocrites have a reward in this world yet they have not 〈◊〉
not to exhort them Again Christ might only have exhorted them and not used any reproof but he in wisdome thinks it meet first to reprove them for their fault and then to shew them how to amend it Pride is the cause why many good exhortations have no successe While men think it needlesse they should be rebuked they are like the proud Pharisees that despised the counsel of God Luke the seventh chapter and the thirtiech verse But Christ to make manifest to them that they need counsel doth first shew them their hypocrisie We are ready to justifie our selves in all things our corruption is such that we are ignorant of our own sinnes which made the Prophet to say Cleanse 〈◊〉 from my secret sinnes Psalm the nineteenth We take them to be no sinnes wherein we greatly offend God Whereupon the Prophet saith Cor hominis 〈◊〉 est Jeremiah the seventeenth chapter only God being greater than our heart knoweth all things and is able to discover all our sinnes the first epistle of John the third chapter Therefore we are to pray to God to open our eyes that we may see the necessity of 〈◊〉 The people that followed Christ shewed two zeals One was to make him King The other to seek him but both proceeded from one cause because he fed them Christ saw both these Zeals The one he rejected utterly and would not be made King But he corrects the other zeal he forbids them not to seek him but wills them to seek him for this end That from him they may receive the bread that endures to life everlasting The reason why Christ would not be honoured was of two sorts First For that is a slender honor to honor God for temporal things for as the Israelites did honor God while he fed them with bread from Heaven and gave them water out of the rocks but so soon as they wanted either of them then they murmured So when God continueth his temporal blessings upon men so long he shall be heard but when his benefits ceaseth then his honor ceaseth Therefore he rejecteth this honour partly in regard of his own self but chiefly for our cause For howsoever it be less honourable for Christ to be honoured for outward blessings yet the chief cause why he rejecteth it is because it is lesse profitable for us They were desirous of temporal blessings which he did bestow upon them But yet he is desirous to 〈◊〉 upon them spiritual blessings which as they are better for them so desires greater honor The exhortation ariseth out of the reproof which is concluded in it The matter of it is reduced to six points First 〈…〉 Secondly Et 〈…〉 Thirdly 〈◊〉 est 〈…〉 Fourthly Et 〈◊〉 hic non 〈◊〉 Fiftly That 〈◊〉 is to be 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 for ever Sixtly This 〈…〉 to be 〈◊〉 only in the 〈◊〉 of man for it is he whom God the Father hath sealed For the first point Whereas there are two significations of life the one life it self or the substance the other the joy of life which is the life of life the bread of both these lives doth perish that which keepeth and maintaineth the substance of life doth 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 the Israelites did eat Manna which was the 〈◊〉 of Angels yet of them Christ saith 〈…〉 of it but 〈…〉 the sixt chapter for when God takes away the staffe and strength of bread it hath no more power to preserve life So that man liveth not by bread of it self for it perisheth Whereas bread hath two powers the one to satisfie the hungry stomach the other to restore the body being weak we see it loseth both these powers the power of satisfying doth not continue for though a man satisfie himself never so much with it to day yet to morrow he will crave more and his stomach will waxe emptie As for the power to restore albeit during health it strengthneth mans heart yet if once sicknesse come it hath no power to restore strength Secondly Whatsoever maintains the joyes of life that perisheth also for the world passeth away and the fashion thereof the first epistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the first epistle of John the second chapter and whatsoever may make mans life joyfull The pleasures of this life which are the causes of our joy are transitory and though they could continue with us yet we our selves must passe away and leave them yea even while we may take the pleasures of this world yet old age will approach and the dayes wherein we shall say I have no pleasure in them Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter and the first verse Secondly Though this bread decay yet our Saviour telleth us that men are so foolish they gave themselves wholly to seek it And that this is true will appear if we look upon our actions either civil or religious If we consider either the care we take for this life or the diligence we use in Gods service Of the first care we have an example in Martha against inordinate care of this life Our Saviour rebuketh Martha who was troubled about many things Luke the tenth chapter and so we doe rise so early and take such pains for this life Psalm one hundred twenty seven that is the service of Baal was more painfull than the service of the true God So we take more pains in the service of the three Gods of this world the first epistle of John the second chapter than of the true good The same appears if we consider our care in matters of Religion Wherein we must confesse that our special joyes are in the things of this life and for the bread of it These men whom Christ here reproveth were not about their Trades but occupied in a matter of Religion then to hear Christ and to see his miracles and yet we see that under colour of sowing to the spirit they did but sow to the flesh and make provision for the same Galatians the sixt chapter And howbeit Maries part be the better and the actions of religion more excellent than the actions of this life yet they seek their own things and not the things that are Gods Thirdly There is a bread that doth not perish Christ commends the care of spiritual things under them four First negatively Labour not for that bread which perisheth Secondly affirmatively Labour for that which endureth This life doth not last for ever but after this life there is another life which shall be everlasting And as it is a life so there is a food for it which we must labour for without which we shall not attain to that life no more then we can continue in life here unlesse we have the food appointed for it Apudte fons vitae Psalm the thirty sixt and with him is fulnesse of joy Psalm the sixteenth Now we have the one life and the joyes of it out of the consideration of the Creature but then we shall have life and joy from God the Creator who
there is an Angel under Christ which takes charge for the defense of the Church on earth which is Michael your Prince Dan. 10. 21. Secondly Out of Judes epistle verse the ninth the ancient Fathers prove that by Michael we are not to understand Christ for that which he affirmeth that Michael durst not check the Devill with cursed speaking cannot be ascribed to Christ which not only dare but hath trodden down Satan under his feet much more dare he check him which unlesse he could doe it were a plain signe that he is not Omnipotent Therefore by Michael here we are to understand some other and not Christ. Thirdly Out of this place Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the fift verse In as much as the Child that was born was Christ it is not like that this Childe should suddenly be translated into an Archangel and fight with the Dragon And therefore both Theodoret and others say that Michael is a chief spirit among the created spirits that then took care of the Church in Jury and still is carefull of Christs Church unto the end of the world And to this we may add the judgement of the Church which on this holy-day doth thank God for the service of the Angels but makes no mention of Christ that it is he that in this place warreth with the Dragon and his Angels For the Dragon there is a farre more easie passage so as we may soon guesse what is meant by him for in this chapter he is called the Devil and Satan whereof their name signifieth a slanderer and he is justly so called for that he both slandereth God to man as if God did envy mans prosperity Genesis the third chapter and slanders man to God as he did Job whom albeit he were a blessed Saint yet he accuseth before God as an Hypocrite Job the first chapter The other name Satan signifieth a great enemie not only to the good whom he hath most cause to hate as being contrary to him but also to the bad That he is an enemy to the good it appears by this That he persecuted not only the child that was new born but the woman also and because he cannot shew his malice upon him he makes warre with her seed Apocalyps the twelfth chapter the thirteenth seventeenth verses That he persecuted also an enemie to the bad appears verse the ninth where he is called The seducer of of the whole world and the accuser of the brethren for that he first brings them to commit grievous sinnes and then pleads against them that the plague of God may come upon them These are the Leaders The Bands and Souldiers under their conduct are Angels on both sides The Angels that serve under Michael are they that excell in strength and doe the command of God in obeying the voice of his word Psalm the hundred and third and the twentieth verse they that the Apostle calls elect Angels the first epistle to Timothy the fift chapter and the twenty first verse The Angels that warre on the Dragons side are the evil Angels Psalm the seventy eighth and the fourty ninth verse The Angels that sinned the second epistle of Peter the second chapter And they that kept not their original as Jude saith these fight for the Dragon and he is their Captain as Christ saith The Prince of the Devils is 〈◊〉 Matthew the twelfth chapter For as among the good Angels there is principatus primus principatus so it is among the wicked Angels for there must be order in all companies Touching the Battail it self we are first to remove some things of offence not to think it strange that the Angels are here said to move battail For albeit they be called Angeli pacis Isaiah the thirty third chapter and the seventh verse because they bring peace yet in many places they are called Gods Hosts as Jacob seeing the Angels of God called the place where they were Nahanaim Genesis the thirty second chapter and the second verse and they magnisie God by that title Isaiah the sixt chapter Lord God of Hosts Luke the second chapter the Angels are called Heavenly Souldiers And where Christ saith If I pray to the Father he will give me more than twelve 〈◊〉 of Angels Matthew the twenty sixt chapter He compareth them to Troops and Bands of Souldiers for that they are not only Angels to Gods friends and servants but souldiers fighting against them that oppose themselves against God Further where their state is in a continual motion that must not offend us for the Angels themselves are not yet in the perfection of their felicity for we see they are imployed in doing service for us they continually aseend and descend from Heaven to Earth and from Earth to Heaven for the good of the godly for God saw it good that as well they as the Saints departed out of this life should not be made 〈…〉 Hebrews the eleventh chapter and the fourtieth verse which is illistrated Matthew the thirteenth chapter where the Angels are called Reapers giving us to understand thereby that as the 〈…〉 is not at rest till the Harvest be all in so it is with the Angels they must continually be imployed in doing service for them that shall inherit Salvation till the number of the Elect be accomplished So neither needs that to offend any that the Dragon is 〈◊〉 to have fought in Heaven for so he is said to have appeared before God among the sonnes of God And when Ahab was to be deceived a lying spirit stood before God the first book of the Kings the twenty second chapter All this was only by Gods permission For all this doth no make the Devil blessed no more than Adam was blessed being in paradise For having sinned and being thereby out of Gods favour he no more enjoyed that comfort of Paradise which he took before his fall but quaked and hid himself from the presence of God for tear Genesis the third chapter The Dragon is no more blessed for being in Heaven or appearing before God than a prisoner that for a time is brought out of prison into the Court to be arraigned for he takes no delight of the pomp and glorie of the Court knowing it is not for him but he must return to the 〈◊〉 from whence he was taken So it is with the Devil These offences being removed we come now to the Fight it self which was not in any bodily manner for they are spirits 〈◊〉 the hundred and fourth and therefore their fight is a spiritual fight Ephesians the sixt chapter And their 〈◊〉 not carnal but spiritaul the second epistle to the Corinthians the tenth chapter That as the Angels fight by temptations on the one side and by resistances on the other they fight by agonies and inward conflicts which is more truly called conflicts than any combat The other fight with bodily enemies for as some note Abraham would rather fight wich five Kings than abide that conflict
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
petition Mark and regard In the Passion two things are to be considered first the grievousnesse of his sufferings noted in these words If ever there were the like sorrow Secondly the cause of it in these Where with the Lord hath afflicted me Upon which follow these three actions First to see Secondly to consider Thirdly to regard and esteem of it as a thing which concerns us As is implyed in the first words which are thus read Nonne ad vos pertinet for the first point here is some spectacle to behold in as much as he directeth his speech to them that passe by the way Omnes qui transitis viam When a stay is made not of one but of all there is some great matter and the holy Ghost tells us that there is no journy so important nor haste so great that should hinder us from considering of the sufferings of Christ. The motives that he useth to quicken our weaknesse are two the one taken from the thing it self the other from the beholders For the thing it self we know those things that are rare draw our eyes to behold them therefore he saith If ever there were sorrow like my sorrow And this reason he takes from the beholders as Doth it not concern or pertain to you For the things that were shewed chiefly are such as concern us as for other things that appertain unto us we respect them not The sufferings consist as all other doe either in sensu or damno that is either privatively or positively That which is translated sorrow or prayer is a blow or wound which is a matter of sense and it signifies such a blow as strikes off both root and leaves that is it we are to consider in this spectacle That which he felt was either in body or soul. Touching his bodily sufferings our own eyes are witnesses For there was no part of him neither skin nor bone nor sense nor any part wherein he was not stricken His blessed body was an Anvile to receive all the stroaks that were laid on him And we have no better argument hereof than Pilates Ecce homo John the nineteenth chapter for he thought they had brought him to that 〈◊〉 already that even the hard-hearted Jews would have pitied him But that which is said here si fuerit dolor sicut is not so verified of his bodily sufferings as in that which he suffered in his soul For in bodily sufferings many have been equall to him but the suffering of the soul is most grievous as the greatest heavinesse is the heavinesse of the heart the afflictions of the body may be susteined but a wounded spirit who can bear Proverbs the eighteenth chapter Therefore St. Paul calls that suffering which he felt in his soul corpus mortis Romans the seventh chapter Upon these sufferings it is that he cryeth out Ecce si fuerit dolor sicut The grievousnesse of whose suffering we argue not so much from that which is recorded of him that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark the fourteenth chapter and the thirty third verse that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke the twenty second chapter and the twenty fourth verse that his soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matthew the twenty sixt chapter as from the bloody sweat Ecce si fuerat sudor that is verified when no uncleannesse is offered when a man lying on the cold earth for then it was cold so as they were fain to make fire then to sweat not tenues sudores but granos sanguinis He that considers this may make a cause of it that there was never any such sorrow or sweat The cause of this sweat was bought as indeed the word imports where with the Lord hath boyled me as in a furnace as after in the next verse Ignem misit Dominus he was in a furnace of Gods fierce wrath therefore the Greek Church prayeth By thy unknown sufferings good Lord deliver us For that which was taken from him that was 〈◊〉 Domini he was spoyled both of earthly comforts and heavenly graces For the first He that had gone up and down feeding healing and preaching among the Jews receives no comfort from the earth their words were not his but Barabas Again His blood be upon us and our children Lastly When he was on the Crosse they scorned him He trusted in God let him save 〈◊〉 and Thou that savest others come down and save thy self As for his Disciples from whom he might have looked for most comfort one of them betrayed him another denyed him and all forsook him and he is stript of all earthly comfort And as for his soul that was bereaved of all heavenly graces or influence there was a traverse or draw-bridge drawn as appeareth by his words My God why hast thou for saken me It is not so with the 〈◊〉 for they in the 〈◊〉 of their pains and sorrows feel drops of heavenly consolation which make them cheerfull But it was not so with our Saviour there was a sequestration whereby the influence of his divinity was restrained from his humanity whereupon ensued that cry My God why hast thou for saken me there was never the like cry Thirdly From the party that complaineth we may argue there was never the like sorrow A little thing done to a person of great excellencie doth aggravate the matter but never the like person suffered and never the like sorrow Exodus 23. 3. God takes order men shall not handle the poor beast barbarously but be ready to relieve and help him but more respect is to be had of a man although a Malefactor and much more an Innocent as he that fell among theeves and was hurt Luke the tenth chapter But if it be not only an Innocent but an exalted person as Josiah then great respect is to be had but ecce major Josiah hìc Matthew the twelfth chapter it is Christ that suffers of whom not only Pilate saith Ecce John the nineteenth chapter but the Centurion 〈◊〉 Verè hic salis est Deus this makes it a cause not to be matched The cause of those his sufferings is imputed not to the bloody Soldiers or hard-hearted Jews or high-Priests Scribes but afflixit Deus When God doth as well chasten in wrath as christen in his displeasure this is not don in his mercifull chastisement but in his wrathfull displeasure in die furoris ejus nay his colour was red When God is angry or punisheth grievously it is for some grievous sinne and is for some notable sinne of which it may be said non sicut had our Saviour deserved the wrath of God in such manner Pilate confesseth He found nothing in him John the fourteenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse Why then did he suffer It was foretold The Messias should be stain Daniel the ninth chapter and the twenty fist verse not for himself but for others He that took not a penny was made to pay for all That is the nature of surety ship
And Christ saith My meat is to doe the will of him that sent me John the fourth chapter by which is signified the delight and contentment of the minde So whatsoever the Serpent delights in that he may be said to eat and seed upon Secondly this word implyeth not only a delight but a devouring and a destroying as in the Prophets it is said The sword and famine shall devour the second book of Samuel the third chapter and the twenty sixt verse not that it can devour but is a means to consume and destroy This eating the Apple ascribes to the Devil when he saith of him That he goeth about seeking whom he may devour the first epistle of Peter the fift chapter and therefore he is said to stand by ready to devour the child so soon as it should be brought forth Apocalyps the twelfth chapter that is there is none so soon born anew in the Church of spirit and water but the Devil seeks presently to kill it And in 〈◊〉 two points standeth the spiritual eating of the invisible Serpent For the dust which is appointed for his food there is a spiritual thing correspondent also to it for where God promiseth unto Abraham Thy seed shall be as the dust Genesis the thirteenth chapter and as the starres of Heaven Genesis the twenty second chapter upon these places the Fathers gather That of Abraham should come both a dusty and earthly generation not expressing the faith and obedience of Abraham and also a heavenly generation that should shine and give light to the world as it were starres with the purenesse of their life And David saith plainly That the ungodly art as dust Psalm the first for whatsoever lyeth along upon the earth will 〈◊〉 dust the earth it self being without moisture turneth to dust so that the least winde that comes bloweth it away So the idle person that lyeth along and hath no vocation to follow doth gather dust and is subject to be scattered with the wind And they that somtime had some moisture and dew from Heaven if they lose it so as their soul waxe dry Numbers the eleventh chapter the Devil will send them a winde that shall carry them away for his delight is to be in dry places Matthew the twelfth chapter and in places without moisture Luke the eleventh chapter The winde wherewith they shall be carried away is every winde of doctrine Ephesians the fourth chapter Therefore we must beware that we be not clouds without water as Jude calls the wicked verse the twelfth and that we fall not from our own stedfastnesse the second epistle of Peter the third chapter and the first verse which we cannot chuse but doe if we loath prayer and other spiritual exercises whereby the dew of Heaven doth descend upon us And as it is in Religion so also in matter of the Common-wealth wherein we shall finde that this drynesse is a cause of much evil for those light and idle persons which Jerohoam took unto himself turned to his destruction the second book of Chronicles and the thirteenth chapter Seeing the Devil delights in these dry souls and loose parts of the earth how is it a punishment laid upon him to feed on them It is indeed a punishment he would have other meat for so soon as 〈◊〉 is borne anew by regeneration the Devil is ready to devout the childe Apocalyps the twelfth chapter So he would have devoured Christ himself Matthew the fourth chapter So he desired to have sed on Job and all other godly men which are the starres of Heaven But he is excluded from that food and is to feed only upon the wicked who being dry and destitute of the grace of God are fitly compared to the dust And as the Devil himself is accursed so they that are allotted to him for food are cursed Children the second epistle of Peter the second chapter Thirdly It is said all the dayes of thy life This punishment is laid upon him as God speaks here because thou hast done this upon him not as he is the red Lyon but the Tempter as he is a spirit he is immortal and hath no end of life but the dayes of his temptation shall have an end at the comming of Christ to judgement as he is the red Dragon condemned in Hell he hath no end but shall goe into everlasting fire where he shall have no end of torment The Dragon the old Serpent is loose but for a little season but after he shall be bound and cast into the bottomlesse pit Apocalyps the twentieth chapter the second and third verses Here is matter of admonition That we avoid those sinnes which we see so severely punished by God in the invisible Serpent especially Malice in speaking evil of God and hurting our neighbours Then to beware of Pride which God doth punish with basenesse Lastly to detest the prosecuting of our own inordinate lust because that will deprive us of the blessed food so as we shall have nothing to feed upon but the dust We must not putrifie in idlenesse but get up and take our strength unto us and cherish the moisture and dew of Heaven which we have received Isaiah the fifty second chapter So here is matter of faith and comfort for this Curse pronounced by God upon the Devil turns to a blessing to us For Adam and Eve had cause of comfort seeing that God took their fall wrought by the Devil so grievously God here professeth himself an enemy to the 〈◊〉 that was and is our enemy and so giveth us hope that howsoever we by his perswasion are fallen from our first estate yet he will be mercifull to us Praeterea inimicitiam pono inter te mulierem hanc similiter que inter semen tuum semen hujus Gen. 3. 15. Jul. 2. 1598. IN this verse we have the second part of the Sentence given by God upon the Serpent The former part concerned the Serpent himself but this part hath respect also to us and is much more grievous unto him than the other three branches And it is that which he doth most hardly digest Concerning which as it directly containeth a Commination and Curse so as we must acknowledge it to be Gods doing and to be marvellous in our eyes Psalm the hundred and eighteenth In this Curse is 〈◊〉 a singular Blessing and in this 〈◊〉 we have a great and pretious promise the second epistle of Peter the first chapter and the fourth verse Touching this verse nothing can be spoken good enough seeing upon it the new Testament hath his foundation and that all the rest or the Scripture is nothing else but a Commentary upon it for there beginneth a new creation of all things and the new 〈◊〉 which the Apostle speaks of in the second epistle to the 〈◊〉 the fift chapter and the sevententh verse For seeing the world which was lately created by God was presently corrupted by the malice of the Serpent it hath pleased God
carnall men for our fleshly understanding 1 Cor. 3. 1. It is said that God spake familiarly to Moses Exod. 33. 11. that is plainly both touching the matter and also for the phrase and manner of his speech My meaning is that Moses seemeth to tell us that God did as men use to doe which when they have done any worke they will after return to it and take a view thereof and look on it that if any thing be amiss he may mend it and to the end he may allow and approve of it if it be well and according to his minde So God after the same manner is said to doe here having made the light he considered of it and seeing it according to his minde and liking he expresseth his love liking and allowing of it Wherefore it is as much to say as placuit Deo for as his word fiat lux expressed his Counsell and secret purpose which it pleased and liked him to determine to bring to pass so now this approbation expresseth his good pleasure that it should continue and abide to our good use and benefit So that God is not like the potter which sometime having made a pot doth not like it but breaketh it again but God will have his work continue and therefore doth authorise it to be good Gen. 1. 4. We set our eyes upon things that are good and beautifull so when God is said to like any thing it is said that he looked and beheld it yea and that he smelleth also to it as a pleasant thing Gen. 8. 21. The use fruit and profit of 〈◊〉 Doctrine is of two sorts The first is in respect of our minds and affections The second in respect of our actions and practise For our judgement it teacheth us to know that Deus vidit that is we are the work of his hands and he doth behold and consider us and our doings whether they be good Gen. 16. 14. God is there called Deus vivens videns and Job 7. 18. nos indies visitar that is he doth see us often every morning he doth visit us for that is a frequentative of seeing so that he by his providence and care doth behold and visit us and our doings continually not only when it is morning and in the light but also in secret and in the dark and hidden places Psal. 139. 12. for the darkness is no darkness to him the night and day light to him are both alike yea the 16. vers of that Psalm God saw David when he was secretly in his mothers wombe if we could dig down into hell he seeth us there Amos 9. 2. if we fly to the uttermost parts and corners of the earth there he is and seeth us Psal. 139. 8.9.10 sive lucerna ardet videt te sive extincta est videt te saith one there is nothing so hid but that he knoweth it and he will reward it openly be it good Matth. 6. 4. 6. 18 or bad 2 Sam. 12. 12. Then this that God watcheth and seeth hath relation to these two ends He looketh on it that if it be good it may please and delight him and so he may be moved therewith to save and preserve and commend us and our actions but if he seeth it evill it is his intent to condemn dislike and destroy it and us Thus we see Gods view is profitable for our thoughts and judgment to know his approbation or reprobation The second sort is for our practise for God is said in the Scriptures to doe many things that we may doe like and resemble our Father If God look on his and our works much more it is our duty and behoveth us to doe the like If he be grieved and sorrowfull and repent when he seeth our works evill how much more doth it concern us to doe the like Examen in mente est quod visas in oculo Therefore we must consider often of our doings to see whether they be good or bad which thing is contrary and against a humor of ours for when we have done any thing we never consider whether it be good or bad we have no regard of it afterwards Therefore the Prophets oftentimes beat upon this exhortation Vadite in cor vestrum Consider your own doing in your hearts Esay 46.8 Preach 2.12 The wise man often saith that he returned to consider the fruit and labor of his hands to see the vanity or good of them And if we thus consider our waies and works whether they be good or evill and repent or rejoyce approve or disprove them then we doe like Children imitate our Father If God return to behold his light how much more should we return to see and consider of our works of darknesse and to acknowledge with repentance how evill they are It is our custome and fashion if we doe any thing for our inferiors as God doth here not to regard it wherefore seeing he doth carefully consider and regard the things he maketh for us being so base as worms how much more doth it concern us doing things for him that is our Creator to doe the like For if we doe any thing for a Prince or a Noble man what great care and pains and consideration doe we take in doing and viewing that it may be well wherefore much more must we doe in our works for him who is King of Kings Last of all touching the use If God were so carefull to look to this work which could bring no gain or profit to him at all then how much more doth it concern us to look to our works which we doe to him seeing to them is great reward promised Psal. 19.14 he did his gratis without any hope of reward but we have promise and hope of reward for our well doing and therefore it behoveth us to behold and see that our works be good which we shall the rather doe if we consider the seldomnesse of our attempting any good and the sillynesse of our well doings when they are at the best for God every day doth many good things perfectly for us but we scarce doe any good once in a week yea not one good thing though never so unperfect to a thousand sinnes which therefore must humble us and make us look to our works Lux er at bona Now we are to consider the goodnesse of this creature Light Touching which this is the generall regard and rule of Divinity Nemo bonus est nisi Deus Mark 10.18 therefore if any man or any thing created be good or have any goodnesse ascribed to it we must know that it was derived from God which is the fountain of all goodnesse Psal. 104. 2. for goodnesse is his garment and we are naked and destitute of it until he doth cast the lap of his own garment over us Light is good because God made it and partaketh the quality from God For it is impious to think that any thing in the World should be evill defective or