a conscience to bait and to dog him If the wanton bee attended and cloathed with darkenesse and yet haue a God to see and reuenge him then where is his comfort or how is he safer for sinning in secret Remember this corrupt Gehazi that pocketest bribes in priuate Remember this great Plotter of the world that reachest at a hungry preferment with more haste then good speed by giuing and taking of pledges to binde and confirme vnlawfull promises that are made in secret and let vs all remember this that our hearts must needes bee shamelesly sinnefull and our cases vtterly desperate and our end vndoubtedly miserable if wee dare flie in the face of God and grieue his holy Spirit and rip our Sauiours wounds and stabbe his blessed sides because we haue the darknesse for a maske and the night for a couering and the wals for a defence and God hath none to beare him witnesse It was a good Position of Boetius Boaetius de consolatione Philosophie lib. 5. last prose de consolatione Philosophiae his fifth Booke and last Prose Magna est necessitas probitatis cum agitis ante oculos iudicis cuncta cernentis A man cannot chuse but bee good who remembers that hee stands alwaies in the sight of God And therefore Prudentius in one of his Hymnes giues this good memorandum Prudentius Himnorum l. 1. quicquid ages furtimuè palamuè memento inspectatorem semper adesse Deum And heere would I gladly make a stop and stint my meditations in this point but that I finde two of the best sorts of men that may iustly waite and expect some further vse The one would haue encouragement the other would haue comfort from my doctrine and I haue sufficient to content them both The one is hee that spendeth his breath and spirits in doing of good The other is hee that is breathelesse alreadie being almost disconsolate and out of heart by sustaining of euils each of them shall haue a taste lest if I send them emptie home the one should bee discouraged the other discontented in the way Giue mee a man that hath coped and buckled with the sinnes of the time An incouragement to doe good Giue mee a man that hath studied the aduancement of Religion Giue mee a man that hath pleaded the Lords cause against the fauourites of Baal as Elias did 1. Kings 18. That hath prouided for the Prophets as Elisha did 2. Kings 6. That shewes himselfe zealous for the Lord of Hosts as Phineas did Numbers 25. at the 11. That hath encouraged those that fight the battels of the Lord as Abigail did the first of Samuel the 25. That hath reformed the contempt of the Sabboath as Nehemiah did Nehem. the 13. the 22. and then tell mee what can be more auaileable to enflame his zeale to set edge vpon his affection to make him Christianly ambitious in striuing for heauen to make him out-vie and outstrip his brethren to make a man sweate and tugge with more eagernesse and feruencie of spirit in building of the house or prouoking the Gospell of Christ then this one that God sees him that the heauens applaude him that God and Angels are spectators God and Angels attendants to grace and honour him Was there euer spirit so degenerous and base that will not stirre and strike with violence when the eye of his Coronell is fixed full vpon him And is there not as good reason that the Christian warriour should march with a courage against sinne because his Maister and Captaine Iesus Christ neuer casts his eie of him If Elias bee pleading against Baal this should make him more hot and vehement If Elisha bee prouiding for the Prophets this should make him more carefull and sollicitous If Abigail bee encouraging and releeuing those that fight the battels of the Lord this should make her more cheerefull and magnificent If the Preacher bee hewing and slashing at sinne this should make him more industrious and resolute considering that there hath not beene so much as a good purpose in thy heart thou hast not once opened thy mouth in the Lords cause thou hast not gluen a droppe of water to one of his Disciples thou hast not releeued one of his members thou hast not preferred one of his Prophets thou hast not broken the heart nor wounded the head nor staunched the passage of any one sinne but God hath seene it and penned it downe and doth remember it and will reward it Goe on then in the name and blessing of God and if thou haue goods releeue Christ Iesus in his afflicted members with it If thou haue learning make the Church of GOD thine adopted heire and leaue some remembrance in it If thou haue authoritie shew it in cutting off sinne that endangers the Land in giuing of life to Religon which now lies in a swoone shew it in scourging and whipping of vice bring glorie to thy God comfort to thy soule honour and immortalitie to thy Countrie by it If thus thou haue behaued thy selfe then goe on and the Lord bee with thee And as thou goest thus cheere vp thy heart Great was the good I entended though I haue not performed it Laboured I haue though not much preuailed I haue coped with sinne though I could not discomfite it I haue snaped the growth of some vngodlinesse though I could not digge vp the rootes of it I haue done my best though that which is best I haue not done Shall I bee discouraged because I can but doe my best and not so much as I should Surely no. I will still bee doing some good and striuing to doe better if I mend and doe neuer so much I will striue to doe more If I preuaile God shall haue glorie if I preuaile not yet still I will striue because there is nothing that I doe or purpose but my God doth see it writes it in his booke doth remember it and will reward it Thus hee that doth good hath had his encouragement The next is hee that endureth afflictions If I may beg your attention till I haue reached him but a morsell of comfort I will presently proceede to that which followes Giue mee a man hath not liued so many minutes of time as hee hath reade and perused whole decads and volumes of woe or a man that hath not eaten so many morsels of bread as hee hath digested whole loades and burthens of griefe or a man that neuer tasted so many droppes of drinke as hee hath shedde streames and riuers of teares or a man that hath no follower but paine no retainer but discontent no companion but griefe of heart that pennes no songs but sad complaints and mournefull Elegies that endites no descants but sighes and groanes that sings no tunes but Lachrimae giue mee such a man as this and you shall see that this little sprigge of balme which I pluckt from my Text will make him whole and sonnd againe And this is it The Lord sees thee
An encouragement to endure affliction Thou dost not shed a teare for his sake but hee puts it into his bottle Psal 56. ver 8. The enemy hath not made a scarre or a scratch in thy face but hee accounts it done vnto himselfe Thou hast not sweat one droppe of water for his sake but hee that sweat droppes of bloud for thee hee doth regard it There is not one furrow in thy backe but hee both searcheth the wound and prouideth balme and oyle to supple it This was it that comforted Elias in the Wildernesse and Daniel in the Caue and Iob on the dunghill and Ieremie in the dungeon and this is it that must cheere and comfort thee euerie sigh that thou fetchest euerie teare thou sheddest euery drop thou sweatest euery wound thou feelest euery stroke thou bearest euerie threat thou endurest is both seene and noted and recorded in Gods Writing-booke and when that Booke shall be opened then shall all teares be wiped from thine eyes then shall thy wounds bee washed with oyle then shall thy sores bee healed with balme Et haec olim meminisse iuuabit Thou shalt remember with ioy the dayes and nights which thou hast passed in heauinesse then no more sowing in teares but reaping in ioy Then no more mournefull Elegies but this or some higher strayne of heauenly eloquence I was wont to bee brewing and spending of teares but now am I swimming and bathing in pleasure For euerie teare doe I finde riuers of Comfort for euerie moment of griefe a world of contentment I had once no Songs but sighs and sobbes no tunes but groanes But now my sighes are turned and my grones are changed into Halleluiahs my dittie is Halleluiah my straines Halleluiah Halleluiah Glorie and praise and honour be ascribed c. Thus this one poynt that God descrieth our workes and purposes ingeminates proclaimes a woe and terror to the hypocrite and the Adulterer but encouragement to the good and to the afflicted store of comfort I close it thus God sees thee Hypocrite heereafter dissmble not God sees thee Adulterer heereafter commit it not agayne God seeth thee good Christian goe on and feare not God seeth thee afflicted soule goe on and despaire not Hypocrite God sees thee then be as good as thou wouldest bee accounted Adulterer God seeth thee then doe not that on the night which on the day light thou darest not Good Christian GOD seeth the continue in doing well hee will shortly crovvne thee Afflicted man God sees thee stand and sweate and endure hee is now comming to release thee And so I proceed from Gods excellent prerogatiue I know thy wayes To the crime obiected against Laodicea Thou art neyther hote nor cold Not to trouble you vvith such a varietie of expositions as Pererius out of Haimo out of Gregorie in the third of his Pastoralles as also out of Liranus and Bernard and Rupertus haue noted readie to my hand Out of the verie best of them I thinke I may thus resolue By Hote I meane a man zealous of Gods honour and worshippe whose zeale is built and founded on knowledge whose heart is not infected nor taynted with pride By Colde I meane such chill and frozen caitiffes as doe wedde and espouse themselues vnto the world and make no conscience of religion who are to be meant by hote cold and lukewarm By Lukewarm I meane such as do diuide their loue betweene GOD and the world and their seruice betweene God and Baal and their allegeance betweene God and Mammon that loue God in word but the world in heart that professe Religion onely so farre as religion makes for their commodity The second sort of professors which are colde Christians the Lord will refuse The Third sort which are Luke-warme Gospellers the Lord wil spue out of his mouth onelie the first who haue giuen the world and Baal their bills of Diuorce and sent them away and not onelie abiured them but are zealous for the glorie and worship of the GOD of Heauen these onely are heere commended their seruice onelie is accepted So that my doctrine cometh off with ease and thus offers it selfe to meete me in the way The profession of religion without zeale and forwardnesse is odious and loathsome vnto God Profession without zeale is odious For euidence I appeale to the siluer Trumpets of Heauen and the Watchmen of Israel reade vnto me what might be the cause why Moses in the 32. chapter of Exodus should wish to be razed out of the Booke of Life why Paul in Romanes the 9. chapter the third should desire a separation from the protection and loue of Christ was it not the fire of their zeale and the feruencie of their Spirit that made them thus impatient of the least impeachment that could bee offered to the glory of their Soueraigne and maiestie of their God Paul and Moses the Seedemen of Religion their profession the prop and stay whereon the Church of God doth leane their liues like to that Starre in the second chapter of Saint Mathew to bring vs to CHRIST and yet all their preaching had it wanted zeale and their profession had it wanted heate and their seruice had it wanted this earnest longing and ardencie of affection to credite and honour their Lord and Maister all their Religion had beene but vayne all their profession but formall all their seruice but smoothe dissembling in the sight of God If Iosiah had onelie refused to bow and kneele to Baal or had hee onelie professed the seruice of the true God and gone no farther he had endured as sharp a censure as Azariah the King of Iudah Hee did vprightly in the sight of God but the high places were not taken avvaie and therefore the Lord smote him the second Booke of the Kings and 15. chapter And the Scriptures would not haue so much commended him but because he was zealous for the glorie of GOD because hee was forvvard to destroy their Groues and zealous to breake downe their Chemarims and forward to throw downe their Altars sacrifice their priests this was it that God liked and this was it that the Scriptures commended and this was it that wonne him high title and immortall honour from all the Kitgs that were eyther before or after him the second Booke of Kings the 23. chapter and the 25. verse It is not to be questioned but that this Laodicea a Church so famous did make profession of religion did worship the true and immortall deitie did giue eare and attention to the preaching of Iohn was throughly acquaynted with all the grounds and principles of the Christian faith We reade of no heresie that shee maintained of no superstitious worship that she harboured and yet he will spue her out of his mouth The abhomination of desolation must bee set vp in her high places She must fall as though shee had neuer beene planted and wither as though the seede of the Word had neuer beene
rooted her Churches must be sackt her ancient glorie must end in shame In stead of the sacred Bible she must roue at the way to Heauen in an vnhallowed and blasphemous Alcoran and in stead of skilfull Pilots and Christian guides she shall bee vtterly mis-led by an Ignis fatuus I meane Turkes and Infidels reade now vnto me what might be the cause of this Laodicea was much of Ephraims temper in the seuenth of Hosea like a cake vpon the hearth but halfe baked Laodicea was like the people of Meroz in the fifth of the Iudges nothing forward Laodicea was like those shrinkers in the ninth of Ieremy that had no courage for the truth shee wanted heate in her profession shee wanted life and spirite in Christs cause she most of all wanted that which hee most of all required and that was zeale nullum enim Deo gratius sacrificium quam zelus animarum saith Saint Gregorie in the twelfth homily vpon Ezechtel Which poynt will one day naile the heart and cut deep into the conscience of all those that haue so much to doe in the Lords cause but doe either little or nothing for it And shall I without offence make bolde to tell you that which I haue receiued from the Lord and doe the message for vvhich I came hither Then let me first begin with the fairest It is you right Honourable into whose hands the Lord hath put his Sword for no other purpose but to strike at the roote and to draw at the face and to ayme at the heart and strength of sinne if you suffer your Sword to rust in your sheathe and your Arrowes to rot in your quiuer if you haue a faire profession and yet we finde no good you haue done if you carry a Sword and yet we heare tell of no sinne you haue wounded be a souldier of Christ to quarrell vvith sinne and yet wee remember no field you haue pitched if God haue honoured you and you not honoured him by baiting and hazling of sinne by cooling the heate and breaking the heart taunching the violent issue of vngodlinesse Where then is your zeale If God be dishonored and you not reuenge it if vertue discouraged and you not defend it if religion be outfaced and our land endangered by the inroades and incursions of sinne and you shall not help it where then is your zeale If Sabboths bee broken and you haue authoritie and yet not suppresse it If swearing and drunkennesse be accounted but complement and you haue authoritie and shall not oppose it If sinne may sit in your shope and feed at your boordes and jette in your Markets and you haue a Sword and yet will not strike it If God say strike or else thou dishonorest mee strike or else I will take the sword from thee strike or else thou fighte against me strike or else I will strike at thee yet no punishment but you will reprieue it where then is your zeale Let me not offend I condemne you not Qui monet vt facias quod iam facis ipse monendo laudat I am only your remembrancer to put you in minde of whetting your sword for a sword without an edge may fright but woundeth not to put you in minde of heating and warming your profession For profession without zeale is but like the snuffe of a candle that smoketh and stinketh but neyther warmeth nor lighteth the house to put you in minde of that courage which you should beare and of that conscience which you should make of the curbing of sinne of the honouring of God of aduauncing Religion lest the sword which you beare prooue a naile vnto your heart and the honor which you beare a dishonour to your Maker to put you in minde that a Christian profession that a high and honourable calling should still bee beautified and graced with zeale and attended with christian resolution If then you be willing to fight for your Master if willing to honour and credit your maker if you would haue Religion thanke you and the world to thinke well of you good men to praise GOD for you Gods people to pray for you the heauens to blesse you and all mouthes to commend you all hearts to loue you then must you adde zeale to your profession then string vp your bowe make your arrowes swift and keene your sword sharpe and glistering and I beseech God to strengthen both your heart and hand to sharpen both your Arrowes and Sword to blesse you and your good endeuorus that you may bring much honorto his dreadful name many blessings to this famous Cittie much peace and comfort to your soules And seeing I am thus farre proceeded let me haue leaue to adde a word or two to the wise and reuerend Iudges of the Land you are they whose profession it is to free the weake impotent from the yoke and seruitude of greater personages who would swallow them vp to loppe and prune the corrupt and rotten branches that infect and pester the Land to cut off the trayterous heads of Priests and Iesuites that hinder the peace to whip and censure our besotted Recusants that repine at the growth of the Gospell yet if this godly profession want zeale in performing if our laws be soueraigne but want execution if you be good mē but want resolution if the poor client sollicite that his cause may be ended if the country beseech that offenders may bee punished if the Preachers entreate and beseech you for the glory of God for the honour of our Land for the peace of our Church for the safetie of his Maiesties royall person that you would weaken the forces and abate the pride and frustrate the counsell and eyther banish or binde to allegiance our hollow-hearted and popish fondlings and you shall not heare the suites nor satisfie the hopes of our Church and State that crie and call for the sweeping and purging of our land of all noysome and infestious weedes which the enuious man of Rome hath sowen and planted then you doe more dishonour God by want of zeale then euer you can honour him by your profession If therefore you desire to make your profession glorious your graces eminent if you desire to make Religion beholding to you good men to blesse God for you our Land to thanke and reward you the Church to pray for you all hearts to loue you all mouthes to commend you and Gods blessing vpon you then must you adde zeale to profession Bee zealous like Iehu for the glory of God 2. Kings 10. Bee zealous to breake the threed of contentions without demurres and delaies Bee zealous to ease the Church of those that contend and wrastle in her wombe to ease the Land from Dan to Beersheba from the one end to the other of all such spitefull miscreants as desire and long to see the Scepter remoued from Iuda that speake of vs as Scipio in Polibius did of Rome Polibius apu Curionem lib. 3. at
or shoe-latchet and yet would not deny to Aner and Eschol and Mamre their liberty Gen. 14.23 and therefore it must bee termed rather pride then zeale to bee too tetricall and rough that whosoeuer is not in euery point so precise as ourselues should bee turned out as dogs or prophane persons vnworthy of our account and countenance 5 True zeale feareth not the faces of the mighty The 5. when we must beware of their precipitancy who will charge the Minister to bee of a cold constitution if hee break not abruptly into open reprehension men in authority which 〈◊〉 to reproue without the spiâ—â—â— of meeknesse to exasperate ther then to humble the part admonished Lastly The 6. if it bee true zealed wil make thee brook and poâ—â— many priuate wrongs done thy selfe but hot and impatiâ—â—â— of any dishonour vnto Gâ—â— When the Israelites offered 〈◊〉 â—uate wrongs to Moses hee was wont to speak mildely and pray earnestly for them but when they fell to Idolatry a matter which concerned God then his fire was kindled then hee breakes the Tables and stampes the Calfe to powder and casts the ashes into the water and makes them to drinke vp their God Exod. 32. I feare I haue dwelt too long vpon the point the closure is but this Let vs all bestirre our selues when Gods cause is a judging and bee earnest when his glory is in question bee zealous to strike when hee himselfe puts the sword in our hands be calous to speake when himselfe puts the word in our mouthes let euery one that weares the coate and liuery of Christ write â—eale vpon his breast And ô thou holy and blessed Spirit come vnto vs as thou camest to thine Apostles in shape of fierie tongues that our tongues may bee tipt and enamuled our hearts seasoned our soules enflamed our profession graced with zeale of thy honour and worship that sinne may bee shaken thy Name exalted thy Truth embraced our Church continued our Land blessed our soules saued when these few and miserable daies shall be ended And so I come from the crime obiected The crime obiected against Laodicea Thou art neither hot nor cold to see how the sinne is aggrauated in the next words Would God thou wert eithor hot or cold Which words are not so to be vnderstood as if they should haue pleased him well enough had they bene either hot or cold or any thing but luke-warme Non ostendit quid probat sed quid praefert but his meaning was to let them know that hee so disliked luke-warmenesse in Religion and indifferencie in profession of Christianitie that he should haue liked them better and their condition should not haue bin so desperate had they made no conscience or had no knowledge as now it was by their hypocrisie and want of zeale so that the point which by the Holy Ghost is heere deliuered may bee comprised in these tearmes It were better to bee of no Religion at all Better to bee of no Religion then to be luke-warm then to diuide our loue betweene God and the world and our seruice betweene God and Baal and our attendance betweene God and Mammon or to embrace Religion no farther then Religion serues our turne to gaine withall Which Theoreme howsoeuer it be the deduction of Ambrose and of the whole current both of Moderne and Ancient Interpreters yet shall it bee no waste of time to support and fence it by copying a place or two out of Gods Writing-booke turne but your leafes vnto the 9. of Iohn the 41. and view our Sauiours answere to the Pharises question Had you beene blind you should not haue sinned That is say Bucer and Musculus and Aquinas agreeing with the glosse Your sinne had not beene so exceeding sinnefull as now it is as if our Sauiour had thus enlarged his speech There is no man that hath not gone astray euen from the wombe The most righteous before men is defaced and speckled in the sight of God and may go crying all the day long with the Leper Leuiticus the 13. chapter and verse 45. I am vncleane I am vncleane but you dissembling Pharisees are more deepely stayned then anie other your sinnes are high coloured like crimson vvhich as Lipsius obserueth is twice dyed other men haue Moats Lipsius de Constantia libro 1. but you haue Beames in your eyes other men haue Scratches but you haue Wounds and Scarres in your Faces others may swallow sinnes as bigge as Gnats but you can digest sinnes as bigge as Cammells and how is it that your sinnes are more inexpiable then other mens it is because you serue mee not in sinceritie and professe religion onely for your profite and diuide your loue betvvixt mee and your ovvne Mammon it had beene better for you to haue worshipped onelie Mammon and neuer to haue heard of me it had beene better for you to haue trusted onelie to your owne wits and neuer to haue trusted mee vnlesse you trust onely mee and better for you to haue beene starke blinde then onely to see how you may turne your backs and looke a-squint at Heauen it were better to haue been cold dead then to be as it were in an Istmus Heinsy Poem Vt tundat mentem fluctus vterque tuam to bide betwixt life and death to haue thy Religion ebbing and flowing Plutarch de Socratis Genio Hesych de vita Philosophorum thy profession like the soule of Hermotimus in Plutarch and of Epimenides in Hesychius coming and going Let thy Religion be eyther pure and sound or none thy profession eyther entire and sound or none thy zeale eyther burning hote or none to be blinde to be of no profession to make no conscience of Religion is verie damnable but to see the way and not to follow it to professe Religion and not to be zealous for it to weare CHRISTS Liuerie and serue anie other besides the Master that gaue it is intolerable Adde vnto this that clause of the Apostle cited to this very purpose by Gregorie in the third of his Pastoralls out of the second Epistle of Peter chapter 2. and the 21. verse It were better neuer to haue knowne the way then after knowledge to turne out of it Which one place by generall consent is sufficient to make good our poynt the ignorant which in the Apostles stile knows not is like the colde man in my Text that cares not for Religion the backe-slider in the Apostles stile that turneth aside is like vnto the Luke-warme Christian in my Text that careth not whether Religion sinke or swimme whether his profession doe stand or fall who like to Metius Suffetius in Liuie Liuy in his first Decade and first Book will strike or speake for neyther side vntill one side bee downe and then ioyne to that which is best for their commoditie A thing odious amongest Heathens and therefore prohibited by Solon That anie man should stand as a neuter betwixt two