〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie the Providence of God Hebr. 1.3 and to shew that nothing cometh to pass without the will of God and all things that do come to pass by the wil of God are in respect of God most holy just and good for as in the creation all that he made was exceeding good so in the ordering disposing and governing of them all that he doth is exceeding just and the very evil that he suffereth to be done he turneth to good for his own glory and the benefit of his Church as he did the crucifying of his Son to the saving of all his servants For so great is his goodness saith S. Augustine that he would never have suffered Sin or any other evil to be done unless his power and wisdom were able as he drew light out of darkness so to draw a greater good out of our evil though not to them that commit the evil Rom. 6.1 because we should not sin that grace might abound as the Apostle sheweth 2. Signification Deut. 4.24 2. The foresaid Father and others say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is adurere accendere to burn and to kindle and enlighten and so Moses saith Our God is a consuming fire either because of his wrath against sin and sinners 1 John 1. or because of the brightness of his Majesty even as S. John saith God is light in whom there is no darkness at all Ezek. 1.27 and therefore he appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire in the burning bush and in his vision to Ezekiel he manifested himself in the appearance of fire which should make all sinners to be afraid to offend him lest this terrible fire should consume them 3 Signification Hebr. 4.13 3. The said Damascen saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he seeth all things and all things are patent and open in his sight as the Apostle sheweth and no Creature no word no thought can be hid from him and therefore the Wise man adviseth all discontented persons to beware of murmuring which is nothing worth because the eare of jealousie heareth all things and the noise of your muttering is not hid Sap. 1.10 11. neither is there any word so secret that it shall go for naught These be the Etymologies and significations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Damascen giveth Curro uro cerno to run to burn to see and to these the Latine Writers do add another and say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be derived à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by changing the asperate Δ into Θ and that signifieth fear because all nations should fear the Lord our God And so the Greeks shew us Qualis sit Deus what manner of God he is that seeth and governeth all things and the Latines shew us Quid sit nostri officii what our duty is to be afraid to offend this great and glorious God and so the Prophet Jeremiah demandeth Who would not fear thee O King of nations and God himself saith Fear ye not me and will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it that is which have bridled and tamed that unruly Element by the small and silly Sands and though the waves toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over these poor and feeble things 4. The next Attribute here expressed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fourth Attribute is of Gods power which is omnipotent in three respects 1. Respect Psal 135.6 that is Almighty or that can do all things and he is said to be almighty in three special Respects 1. Because he can do whatsoever he would do and he can hinder whatsoever he would not have don for whatsoever pleased the Lord that did he in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places saith the Prophet and so the Creation of the World makes this manifest And Solomon saith Prov. 19.21 that many devices are in man's heart but the counsel of the Lord that shall stand and all their devices without his counsel shall come to nought as the Gyants that thought to build the Tower of Babel to scale the Walls of Heaven were soon confounded and their devices suddenly destroyed Gen. 11. Gen. 19. so the men of Sodom thought to press upon Lot and the Angels that were with him but the Lord presently blind-folded them so Absolon conceited to make himself King but God brought him to the bough where he was hanged and so our late Vsurpers and Rebells had brave devices and projects in their hearts to destroy us all and to make themselves Lords over all but you see how easily the Lord overwhelmed them and brought them to shame and confusion 2. He is said to be Omnipotent 2. Respect because he bringeth all things to pass so easily without any difficulty in the world for he did but speak the word and they were made Psal 148.5 he commanded and they stood fast And he doth all things either without means or with the weakest means in the world and sometimes contrary to the nature of the proper means as when he made the world out of nothing he did but say Let there be light and it was so Psal 77.20 Josh 6.20 Judg. 4.21 Judg. 7.2 and what weak instruments were Moses and Aaron to bring Israel out of Egypt Or Rams horns to batter down the strong walls of Jericho or a silly woman to be the death of General Sisera or Gideon with three hundred men to overthrow the mighty Host and the innumerable Army of the Midianites And with what improbable strength hath this Almighty God brought our gracious King to his Crown and Kingdoms again It was the Almighty God that did it And so in the Spiritual work of our Redemption by what weak means hath he loosned and overthrown the work of the Devil 2 Cor. 12.19 and delivered his Prisoners out of captivity For blessed be this strong Jehovah we see how his power is made perfect through weakness as the Apostle speaketh and how Christ that seemed a worm and no man as the Prophet speaketh in becoming poor hath made us rich and in becoming a curse hath made us the heirs of blessing 2 Cor. 8.9 1 Pet. 3.9 and after his Ascention into heaven with what weak instruments hath he converted the world from Idolatry and Infidelity to imbrace the Christian Faith Through the foolishness of Preaching saith the Apostle of a few poor Fisher-men and us that are their successors this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eye But it is more marvellous that he should do what he will not only without means and by weak means but also contrary to all means John 9.6 as with Clay that is
inordinatè fugit invidia When through envy it scorneth and inordinately flieth from that which is good So the Angel first puffed up with Pride Noluit Deo subjici refused to submit himself to God and to obey his Rule and Command Zanch. l. 4 c. 2. and then he was filled with envy against man saith Zanchy And so it was the envy of the Devil that brought death and damnation to all men and his pride first begat his envy and wrought his overthrow and brought his damnation upon himself and upon all the children of pride And therefore as we ought to take heed of pride which is the sin of the Devil and a most devillish sin What a devillish sin is envy that brings neither pleasure nor profit but scorn and destruction to his owner so we ought to beware of envy which is nothing worth but woundeth the envious man more then him that is envied As Indivia Siculi non invenere tyranni Tormentum majus the Sicilian Tyrants never found a greater torment then their own envy which like Prometheâ—s Vulture gnawed their wretched souls night and day whensoever they saw or thought upon the prosperity of another as it vexed the Devil to the very Soul to see Adam in Paradise and himself thrust out of Heaven Yet herein Envy is very just because as the Poet saith Sit licet injustus livor nil justius illo est Namque premens alios opprimit antè patrem It kills his owner before it hurts another for as the Rust eateth up the Iron sic invidia quem infecit animum consumit so envy wasteth and consumeth the very heart and Soul that it possesseth saith Saint Basil A story shewing the true nature of Envie And for a fuller expression of the nature and benefit of Envie the Poets faign that when Mercury the messenger of the Gods was sent of their errand here on Earth he lodged one night in a Covetous mans house and the next night in an Envious mans house his next neighbour and for his kind entertainment he told them whatsoever the first desired he should have it and the other should have it double the Covetous man presently bad his neighbour ask what he would and the Envious man considering that now if he asked a house his neighbour should have two if he demanded a thousand pound his covetous neighbour should have two thousand therefore not knowing how otherwise to be even with him he desired that one of his own eys might be plucked out that his neighbour might lose both his eys And such is the nature of Envy I had rather beg my bread then possess it But seeing it is the most common received opinion of all Divines that the first sin of Satan that made him a Devil was his Pride it will not be amiss a little to discusse the particular object and cause that produced forth his Pride and by his Pride his Rebellion and opposition against God which alwaies do proceed and spring from the proud Spirits as I am sure it did from our late Rebells What was Satans pride Touching which I find several judgments For 1. Saint Augustine in his fourty ninth Tractate upon Saint Opinion 1 John and Saint Cyril in his Dialogues de Adoratione in Spiritu do think it to be an assuming of a Deity unto himself imaginando ea quae supra naturam ejus erant esse sua and imagining those things which were above his Nature and beyond his reach to be his owne and of his owne proper power The opinion rejected but I think it cannot be that the Devils should desire an absolute equality with God in his Essence and in his infinite Attributes for then they must think it absolutely possible for them to have an absolute equality with God but in regard of their knowledg they knew this to be impossible and then also they must be changed in Nature which likewise could not possibly be because the essential Attributes of God cannot be agreeable or communicable to any Angel or to any created Essence but to him only who is the true God by nature And therefore 2. Aug. de Civitate Dei l 11. c. 3. Greg. Moral in Job l. 34. c. 13. Anselm de Lapsu Diab Wherein the Devils pride consisted Amb. Cath. in Libello de gloria Angelorum lapsu malorum Vigner Iustitut l. 3. 5. Bern in Cant. Serm. 17. Especially in withstanding the decree of Christ his Incarnation I find Saint Augustine expounding this his desire of equality Opinion 2 with God to be a desire of freedom to be exempted from all service and subjection unto their maker and so Saint Gregory and Anselm do affirm their particular Pride to have consisted in refusing to be subject unto their Creator which is nothing els but an absolute rebellion and disobedience against their governour But I like well of Nazianzeus Exposition upon the words of Esay that Satan would have extolled himself above the clouds of the word of God or rather the word God that is above the eternal Son of God Incarnate and as it were cloathed with the Clouds of our humanity and so his pride was 1. In a desire of an equality with God by an hypostatical Vnion betwixt the Angellical Nature and the person of God such as is in the person of Christ betwixt his Manhood and his God-head as Ambrosius Catharinus Vignerius and Saint Bernard do affirm 2. In rebelling opposing and contradicting the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that God should love mankind so well as hypostatically to unite unto himself the nature of man which he had denied unto the Angels And to this I think the Apostle seems to ayme Heb. when he saith that Christ non assumpsit angelos took not upon him the nature of Angels but he took the seed of Abraham for which cause he is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of Mankind as where the Apostle saith cum apparuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we never read that he is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the Scriptures And therefore the Devil and all the wicked Angels that were his adherents would not allow of this decree of God nor obey that counsel and command of God when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world Heb. 1.6 let all the Angels of God worship him which they in the height of their pride utterly disdained and refused to do but did then and ever since labour and seek with all their might How the Devil alwaies laboured to hinder the Incarnation of Christ and to evacuate the benefits thereof and by all means to hinder the same to be done and being done to evacuate the benefit and fruit thereof by hindering us men to believe it and to be thankful for it For so 1. By his subtletie he sought to put Adam out of all favour with God to the end that this Union of mans nature with God might be
the sight of some few judgements against and upon these four predominant sins that are so rise amongst us and so pernicious unto us 1. Rebellion 2. Perjury The four usual sins of these dayes 3. Injustice 4. Sacriledge 1. For Rebellion this our last Age 1. Rebellion and the many Plots and Practices of wicked and fanatick Rebels now peeping forth amongst us do sufficiently shew how apt we are to fall into it though it be as bad as the sin of witch-craft which is the giving of our souls by a Contract unto the Devil but the dreadful vengeance of God for the Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram against their Governours when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them down quick to Hell and the heavy judgement of God upon Absolon for rebelling against King David which followed him hard at the heeles until he came to the bough where he was hanged and the shameful yet most justly deserved death of our late Rebels and of many more the like Villaines that I could quote to you out of Histories should deterre them from this unnatural sin of Rebellion and keep them within the bounds of their obedience to their Governours which is more acceptable in the sight of God then any sacrifice that we can offer him or if this can not do it then may they look for the like end as those that committed the like sins 2. For Perjury it is so pernitious a sin and yet so general 2. Perjury that I know not how to express the hainousness thereof But I finde this perjury to be like the three headed Cerberus 1. Of those Inferiours that either for bribes and reward 1. Of Inferiors or for fear of their Land-lords or other great men will most falsly swear before Judge or Jury to the taking away of the goods lands or life of many innocent men 2. Of Superiors which is a sin worthy to be punished by the Judges as being the utter ruine of many men fatherless and widdows 2. Of Superiours which break their faith and oaths that they make unto their Inferiours And such a forsworn wretch was Lysander the Admiral of the Lacedemonians Lysander and Tissaphernes that brake his oath which he made with the Grecians Tissaphernes Cleomenes and Cleomenes King of Lacedemon that did the like with the Argians but he was sufficiently plagued by the just judgement of God for his perfidiousness and perjury when the women of Argos overthrew the greatest part of his Army and he with a knife killed himself And many more Tyrants and Commanders I could name of this kinde that neither feared God nor regarded their faith with men and therefore were plagued by the just judgements of God 3. Of the middle sort 3. The other sort of perjurers are of a middle size and great men that either through discentent or hope to be made greater Eccles 8.2 do break their faith and falsifie the oath of God as Solomon calls it and so prove Rebels and Traytors unto their Kings and Governours 1. How Neclas served Duringus for his treachery to the Son of Vratislas But how doth the just God reward these perfidious and perjured Villaines And how do most wise men deeme and deale with them but as Neclas did with Duringus who to secure Neclas as he said in his Throne falsified his faith to his Prince and killed the Son of Vratislas that was the next Heir unto the Crown hoping that for his good service he should be much favoured and well rewarded of Neclas but the wise Prince abhorring such perfidiousness said unto him that perjury and treachery could not be mitigated and wiped away by any good turns or after-service and therefore whereas he expected a reward for his good service done unto him he should have it according to his merit For of three things he should chuse which he would 1. To kill himself with a poinyard Aenaeas Sylv Hist Bobem c. 11. or 2. Hang himself with an halter or 3. Cast himself down from the Rock of Visgrade and he hanged himself upon an Elder tree which while it stood was called Duringus tree as Aenaeas Sylvius writeth 2. How Selim used Ladislas Kerezin Camerar Hist Meditat. l 1. pag. 20. c. 7. Johanâ— Menarius Histor Turc l. 4. c. 22. And though Ladislas Kerezin did a very good turn to Selim in yielding up to him the strong place of Hinla yet for his perjury and perfidiousness he caused him to be brought to a most miserable death which you may see in Camerar And the same Selim did the like to a Jewish Physitian whom after the good service he had done unto him he caused to be beheaded for his treachery against his Father saying that upon the least discontent or hope of reward he would not stick to do to him as he did to his Father and therefore he had no reason to let him live because commonly Traytors are double Traytors and as unfaithful to him whom they serve as to him whom they have betrayed And so Soliman his Son promised his Daughter with a very great dowry to a certain Traytor for yielding unto him the Isle of Rhodes and when he got the Iland 3. How Soliman used the Traytor that yielded to him the I le of Rhodes he brought his Daughter in a magnifical pompe unto him and said thou seest I am a man of my word but forasmuch as you are a Christian and thy Wife a Mahumetan and I am loath to have a Son in Law that is not a Musulman therefore it is not satisfactory to me that in hope of favour and gain thou turn thy coat for fashion sake Camerar l. 1. c. 7. p. 21. but thou must also put off thy skin which is baptized and uncircumcised and so he caused him to be flead alive And the same Solyman used the betrayers of Nadast that defended the Castle of Buda in like manner And the King of Henetia having promised Marriage to Romilda the Wife of Prince Sigulphus 4. How the King of Henetia served Romilda the Wife of Sigulphus Aventinus l. 3. Annal. Bavar which had fallen in love with him as Potiphars Wife did with Joseph so soon as she delivered unto him the City of Friol did after her marriage and one nights lodging with her cause her to be set and married to a sharp stake as a worthy punishment of her treachery And the Emperour Aurelian did not much better use the Traytour Heraclemon nor Brennus Demonica 5. How Aurelian served Heraclemon that betrayed into his hands the City of Ephesus as Titus Liv. saith the Daughter of Sp. Tarpeius betrayed the City of Rome unto the Sabines and for her reward lost her life on the Tarpeian Hill But though I could produce to you very many more examples of this kinde 6. How Mahomet served John Justinian yet I will close up this point with what Mahomet did to John Justinian
right of the Church and I resolved and vowed that whatsoever I recovered I would by the grace of God wholly bestow it upon the reparation of the Church so that recovering it I should be not one penny the richer and loosing it not one penny the poorer And I desired nothing but what I conceived to be the right of the Church because I know God loves not to be honoured with unjustly gotten goods But now finding that as the Prophet saith I have laboured in vain and I have spent my strength for nought and seeing the partiality and injustice of men I will with patience submit my self to that strength which is beyond my ability to oppose and study to serve my God another way because I see that as David saith the sons of Zervia are too strong for me because we that were faithfull to our King were fleec'd and bareshorne and left poor and beggarly and they that served the Beast and adheared to the long Parliament and were arrant rebels against our late good King have got all our Lands and our Monies to make friends withall and to keep us still under hatches and so though nos fuimus Troes yet now they are the men and without envy let then enjoy their prosperity so they forsake their iniquity and repent them of their former impiety And so desiring you to bear with this my just defence I shall proceed in this discourse for none other end but to discharge mine own duty and for the good of your souls to avoid the just wrath of God for a sin so highly displeasing unto God and to that purpose I shal desire you to read the 2 Mac. c. 3. where you shall finde how that when Simon the mutinous traitor both to God and his Country had informed Seleucus King of Asia of the riches and the treasure of the Church of Hierusalem and incited him to seize upon it and he had sent Heliodorus his treasurer to fetch it and Heliodorus came like a Fox pretending it was to visit and to reform the disorders of Phoenice and Caelosyria but Onias the high Priest perceiving that the goods of the Church was his errand his countenance was quite cast down and the people not enduring sacriledge ran some to the Temple some to the City Gates and some gadded up and down the streets as frantick men like Bacchus froes and all lifted up their hands and eyes and voices unto God for the defence of his Church and God heard their cry and did help them For Heliodorus was no sooner entred into the treasury to take away the spoile but there appeared to him a terrible man in compleat armour of gold mounted upon a barbed horse that ran very fiercely at the Kings Treasurer and trampled him under-foot and withall there appeared two other men of most excellent beauty and strength whipping him so that he was carried out of the place speechless and without any hope of life untill God restored him upon the earnest prayer of the Priest and people And to let you see how dangerous a sin is sacriledge to rob the Church Act. 5.5 the end of Ananias and Sapphira can bear witness for though their death was the punishment of their lying yet all must grant they were drawn to that sin by the cord of sacriledge And if a greedy desire of with-holding that from the Church which themselves had given was sufficient to open such a window unto the Devil that he came presently to cast them as a prey to the Jaws of Hell how many foule sins do they commit and how many greivous plagues may they fear to fall upon their heads which take away from the Church that which they never gave Gen. 47.22 v. 26. And you may remember that when Egypt in the time of Joseph felt so extreme a famine that the fift part of the Land was sold to releive the Land yet the Patriarch in all the care that he had both of the Country and of the King to succour the one and to enrich the other never attempted the sale of the Lands of the Priests nor once to diminish any jot thereof And if the holy man in so great an extremity never ventured to take away the possessions of the Idolatrous Priests though it were to the releif of a whole Kingdome I wonder with what face dares any man in the world curtal the maintenance of Gods Church and take away those Lands and houses that by religious Princes and other pious men have been consecrated to Gods service But Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum You might be happy if you would cast your eyes behinde you and by the examples of Gods judgments upon other sacrilegious persons learn to escape the punishments of sacriledge because they are all written for our instruction And we read that Celce the Constable of Gertrund King of Burgundy having under the authority of the King his Master enriched himself and enlarged his Territories with the Goods and Lands of the Church and being one day in the Church at his Devotion and hearing the words of the Prophet that proclaimed a woe to them that joyn house to house and land to land he suddainly shricked in the Congregation and cried out This is spoken to me and this curse is upon me and upon my Posterity and so afterwards died most miserably And we read in the Annals of France that although Lewis the Sixt surnâ—med the Great was once the Protectour of the Church and had caused the Count de Claremont the Lord de Roussi and other great men that had pillaged the Bishopricks to restore their robberies unto the Church again yet in his old age when he began to pull the Church he was sufficiently punished for it by the suddain death of his Eldest Son which was indeed the very staffe of his age though he was urged unto it with extreme necessity They that would see more examples of this kinde let them look into my Declaration against Sacriledge and Doctor Saravia's vindiciae sacrae translated into English by James Martyn And if for all this men will needs have the portion of Gods Church let them eat it with that sauce which God hath prescribed in Psal 83. and which like the Ieprosie of Gehezi wil stick to them and their Posterity for evermore 3. 3. Why these beasts were full of eyes before As you heard that these Beasts were full of eyes within and behinde so they were full of eyes before and so should we be And that is to behold and see 1. Praesentia the things that are present 2. Futura the things that are to come and must come 1. 1. To behold the things that are present As 1. The vanity of all things For the present things I shall onely leave to your consideration 1. The vanities of this life And 2. The uncertainty of our state And touching the first Saint Augustine saith most truly Si quid arrisisset prosperum
that tend towards Hell then those that shall possess Heaven and that although many men are created yet there shall but few men be saved Ch. 9. v. 15. And chap. 9. ver 15. he saith That Sicut fluctus majores sunt guttis as the wave is greater then a drop so they are more that shall be destroyed then those that shall be delivered And in the foresaid chap. 8. ver 56 57. he setteth down the reason Ch. 8. v. 56 57. why so many men shall be condemned not because God by his absolute and irresistible Will would have it so Quia non voluit Deus hominem disperdi For he desireth not the death of a sinner and he would have no man to perish But it is saith the Text Quia V. 60. 1. Spreverunt Altissimum 2. Dereliquerunt vias ejus 3. Conculcaverunt justos 1. They despised the most Highest 2. They forsook his wayes that is to walk in his Laws 3. They trampled the just and good men under foot things usually done in the world and too frequent in these dayes And left any man should detract from the testimony of this Angel because the book of this man is by many of our men deemed to be apocryphal that is obscure and not the clear Canon therefore the Angel of the Covenant Jesus Christ Tremel Annot in c. 4.1 lib. Esdr which Tremel saith is here understood by this Vriel that signifieth Lux Sapientia Dei the Light and Wisdom of God which Christ Jesus is as St. Luke testifieth saith the very same thing for he tells us That many are called but few are chosen and more plainly he saith Luk. 11. That wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat And strait is the gate Matth. 7.13 and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it And he sheweth the reason hereof to be the very same that Esdras had set down before for he saith to Nicodemus That this is the condemnation that light is come into the world John 3. and men love darkness more then light because their deeds are evil for Christ came into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to teach us the way that would lead us to eternal life And therefore when the young worldling came to Christ and said Master speak to my brother Luk. 12.13 that he divide the Inheritance with me our Saviour grants him not his desire that was so pernicious to him but he gives him far better things then he desired that if he accepted the same would prove most advantagious unto him for he like a Citizen of this world had his mind only set to gain his Brothers inheritance and our Saviour gives him counsel to think of another world and to seek for that eternal inheritance that would make him eternally happy And so he takes occasion from his unjust desire to shew unto us all what justly and chiefly should be desired From whence you may observe 1. 2. Sâ—ecial Observations from the former Point Observat 1. That if with this young man we come to Christ to pray for any thing he will either give us what we desire if our desire be good or better then we desire if we desire what is evil for us For as we read of Pompey the Great and of Titus the Son of Vespasian that was called Deliciae generis humani The delights of mankind that they were so courteous to all Petitioners that none departed sad or discontented from them saying That Non oportet quenquam à Caesaris colloquiae tristem disâ—edere it was not fit that any man should go sad away from Caesars conference so much better may we say of Christ who is clemency and bounty it self and therein so far excelling them as the ocean Sea exceeds a drop of water that if we come to him we shall never depart empty away and we shall never loose our labour but we shall be sure to have either what we desire or better then we desire And we ought the more willingly to come unto him because he doth so lovingly invite us Matth. 11. saying Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden and then doth so graciously promise that he will ease us and not only give us the health of our bodies which was all that the Leapers desired but also rest for our souls which is the best thing that can be wished Observat Esay 55.8 2. You may observe from hence That Gods wayes are not as our wayes nor his thoughts as our thoughts for we commonly turn good into evil and as the Apostle saith We turn the graces of God into wantonness as abusing wine and strong drink unto drunkenness our riches to oppress our neighbours our wit to deceive one another and our strength to wound and kill our own brethren even as Cain Romulus and Caracalla have done before us But God as he called light out of darkness so out of our evil he draweth good and as in Sampsons Riddle Judg. 14.14 Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness so out of the death of Christ which was the most execrable act and the most horrible murder that ever was committed God drew the satisfaction for all our sins and the salvation of all his Saints and out of intestine wars we see how he produceth a happy peace as he did to Solomon after the dayes of David And so here Christ out of the ill desire of this undiscreet man doth arripere ansam take hold of this occasion to make this most excellent Sermon that the Evangelist setteth down from the 15. verse to the 41. The method that Christ useth and which we should imitate And of this Sermon I have chosen this thirty one verse to treat of at this time which is like Janus looking backward and forward backward in the discretive conjunction and word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that noteth unto us what we should not do and forward in all the other words that do fully teach us what we should do answerable to the method that the Prophet David proposeth unto us saying Eschew evil and do good and dwell for evermore and which is the method that we ought all to follow 1. To take notice and to observe 1. The negative part what we should not do and what evils we should eschew for as a good Gardiner will first root out all noysome and hurtfull weeds before he can plant and sow his sweet and pleasant flowers so must we root out all sins and vices before any grace or virtue can be planted in us and as there was a Law in Rome de purgandis fontibus of making clean their Wells and Fountains of water so must the fountains of our hearts be
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. Pay to every man that which you owe. And rather then himself would omit this duty though he never wrought any other miracle about money yet herein when he had never a peny he would create money in the mouth of a Fish as both S. Hierom and the Interlin gloss do think to pay for himself and his Apostle And therefore seeing the Kings occasions are so great and the Subsidies Imposts Customes Aids and Excises and the like Taxes are so due unto them by the Laws of God and man they can be neither just nor honest men nor be in the way to the kingdom of God that deny or defraud the king of these duties What shall we say then of those men that will rather wink at malefactours and transgressours of the Laws then justly bring their Fines into the King's Exchequer I will say nothing at this time but that I cannot conceive how they are either just or righteous men herein or in the way to the kingdom of God â—or whosoever doth any ways defraud the King of any right that is any ways due unto him is in the next degree to him that committeth sacriledge and robbeth God himself and I believe that if it were not for the tricks and quirks of some men to quit the offenders there would be more monies brought unto the King and fewer faults committed in the Common-wealth 3. The next branch of Justice The third branch of righteousness is to deal honestly with all our neighbours to deceive no man to oppress no man to wrong no man And as our Saviour saith all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets this is all that the Law requireth Math. 7.12 this is all that the Prophets harped upon and this is all that we need most especially to insist upon to perswade men to deal justly and honestly one with another and where men will not do so to have justice and judgment done unto them which is the onely way to continue peace amongst us and to bring a blessing upon the whole kingdom they will bring a plague upon it And because as I conceive there was never more need of Justice to be executed then now when of late we were all involved in such confusion that as yet could not be reduced to any just and perfect position I must humbly crave your patience to stay a while upon this point And whereas there are four sorts of men concerned to have justice done unto them 1. The Church-men 2. The Adventurers 3. The Souldiers 4. The Innocent Irish Papists 1. I have often shewed how ominous it is to weaken the hands of the Clergie by keeping away their means to disinable them to do the service of God 2. For Adventurers that bestowed their moneys to suppress the Rebels and reduce them to their due obedience to his Majesty 3. For the Souldiers that fought for the same ends they ought justly to be rewarded according to their merit but for those that for covetousness And of such I am sure there are too many to get the Lands either of the Church or of the Irish they cared not how nor how much nor from whom they got it I wish that their judgment may be according to their desert and the merit of their desire 4. For the innocent either Irish Papists or ejected Protestants I fear it may be with many of them as it was with the Gibilines who being at variance with the Guelphs in the City of Papia promised to Facinus Caius all the houses and goods of the Guelphes if he assisted them to get the Victory which he did and after he had subdued the Guelphs he seized upon the goods both of the Guel hs and Gibilines and when the Gibilines complained that he brake his covenant in taking their houses and pillaging their goods that were Gibilines the said Caius answered It was true indeed that they were Gibilines but their goods were the goods of Guelphes and so belonged unto them and so to him So perhaps the covetous Adventurers and the greedy Souldiers may say of them as they do of us of the Church that they are innocent and we faithfull to our king but ours and their lands and fair houses are the lands of Rebels and therefore as they do hold ours from us so they will keep theirs from them But this is no justice nor to do as you would be done unto for as Abraham said to God Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked Gen. 18.23 And as Abimelech said Lord wilt thou stay a righteous nation So I say God forbid that any innocent man be he of what Religion he will should lose either house or lands But you will say The Irish Papists are not so innocent for though their hands did act nothing for fear they could not prevail yet it may be their hearts did earnestly wish that all the Protestants should be rooted out and perhaps their Fathers or Grandfathers were as deep in rebellion as any other and therefore they may be as justly deprived of their estates as they would have deprived us I confess that as when Croesus sent to the Oracle to expostulate why he should be so hardly dealt withall that was so bountiful unto the Gods and so faithful a server of them The Oracle answered That for his bounty the Gods preserved his life but his Kingdom was translated and his other affliction happened for the iniquity of Gyges that was the death of Candaules So God may justly punish the present Innocents for the precedent faults of their fore-fathers as he did cut off ten Tribes from Rehoboam for the sins of Solomon and he that knows our hearts may justly whip us for our evil thoughts But we are not to judge of any man for his thoughts nor to punish him for his wishes until they do break forth either into words or acts because the other must be left alone for God And therefore seeing that he which condemneth the Innocent is as abominable to God as he that absolveth the wicked that justice should be observed that no innocent man should suffer yet I would not have those deemed Innocents that are more then apparently known to be very nocent There is another degree of justice which should be performed to the oppressed Protestants that have been ejected out of their estates and to our poor neighbours that are ready to starve in the streets For as Saint Ambrose saith Esurientium paenis est quem tu detines nudorum indumentum quod tu recludis miserorum pecunia quam tu in arca abscondis And therefore though we term it alms yet it is justice in us to do it and they that are able are unjust if they do it not 4. The last branch of justice concerns our selves The fourth branch of our righteousness for a man may be
none was healed from the stinging of the fiery Serpents but they only that looked up on the Brasen Serpent so it is impossible for any man to be healed from the poyson of sin but by a lively quick-sighted Faith in Jesus Christ and him crucified because Christ tells us plainly that none cometh to the father but by him Joh. 14.6 4 Resemblance 4. As all that were bitten by the fiery Serpents were cured by looking upon the Brasen Serpent whether they were before it or behind it on the right hand or the left if they turned their eys to the Brasen Serpent they were healed so all that went before Christ as Adam Enoch Noah Abraham Moses David and the rest of the holy men of the Old Testament and all that lived from the beginning of the world before he was lifted up and all we that now live long after his lifting up and all the men that were since or that now are in the East or in the West in the North or in the South if with the eys of Faith they look to Christ and believe in this lifted up Son of Man that is their Crucified Saviour they shall be saved from all their sins for so Christ himself here testifieth to Nicodemus that he was to be lifted up that is to be Crucified and like this Serpent fastened to his Cross Joh. 3.15 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life And therefore away with them that do abridg and abbreviate the great mercie and favour of God towards his people as if he were a respecter of persons and sent his Son to die for some chosen men that he pleaseth to elect out of all the rest of the relapsed posterity of Adam No no beloved God is no such niggard of his Graces but as he openeth his hands and filleth all things living with plenteousness Ps 145.16 and here caused the Brasen Serpent to be lifted up on high in the open Wilderness and not in a secret corner where all and not a few might look up unto it so he gave his Son to be born in the Stable of a publick Inne where all travellers may boldly and justly challenge a room to lodg in and he was lifted up and Crucified not in the walled City where the enemies as we were all enemies unto God may not enter but without the gates as the Apostle noteth it and upon Mount Calvarie where every man might come and see him and so he calleth all men to come unto him and never denied or refused any man that came as he ought to come unto him And therefore if any man receives not the grace of Christ culpa non est vocantis sed renuentis the fault is in our selves and not in God that desires not the death of a sinner not taketh any pleasure in the miseries of his creatures but tells us plainly Perditio tua ex te because we will not look up to him 5. As this Brasen Serpent was first moulded and made 5. Resemblance and then hung up and fastened on a pole and exposed to all winds and weathers not for its own good nor any evil that it had don but for the good and benefit that redounded to others and for the evil that others had committed and could no other way be helped but by looking up to this harmless and innocent Serpent so the Son of man was contented to be made Man and then to be lifted up and Crucified or fastened to his Cross not for any benefit unto himself who was in the form of God equal to his Father from all eternity nor for any evil that he had done who by the confession of his enemies was a just man and did all things well but exinanivit se ipsum he emptied himself of all his Glory and was made Man for us and for our benefit as the prophet Esay sheweth Esai 9 5. Vnto us a Son is born and unto us a Son is given Dan. 9 76. and he underwent that shameful death and suffered those bitter paines not for himself saith Daniel but for our sins saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.21 that we by his stripes might be healed and our sinful souls cleansed by his blood which could not otherwise be redeemed with a thousand Rams and ten thousand rivers of Oyl And yet I must tell you how unlikely in the judgment of the world both the one and the other was this way to be effected For It is affirmed by some Naturalists that if one be poysoned with the Sting and Venom of a Serpent the very looking upon shining Brass is present death unto him that is stinged and how then should it be likely to be believed that the looking upon the brazen Serpent should or could be the only means to save these peoples lives from the venom of the fiery Serpents Even so when Christ told the Jews that If he were lifted up from the earth John 12.32 he would draw all men unto him that is if he were put to death his death should give life or at least be sufficient to give life to all men the people answered We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever and how sayest thou That the Son of man must be lifted up and so by his death restore life unto the world This is a riddle to us not possible to be believed that thy death should preserve our life Esay 55.8 But you must know That Gods wayes are not as our wayes nor his thoughts as our thoughts for we say with the Philosopher that Ex nihilo nihil fit but God made heaven and earth and all the things that are therein out of nothing and he drew the light out of darkness and the beauty and well-composed frame of this universal World out of a rude unshapen Chaos And therefore when God hath appointed and commanded any thing to be done and promised it should produce such and such effect it is not for us to doubt or to examine whether such a cause can bring forth such effect or to consider whether it be likely or unlikely to do the same but we ought to do what God commandeth us whatsoever it be and to believe whatsoever he saith and be sure of whatsoever he promiseth how unlikely soever it be to be effected for so when God said unto Abraham that Sarah should have a Son that is Isaac and that she should be the mother of nations and Kings of people should be of her which should spring from Isaac and afterward bad Abraham to sacrifice his Son Isaac which made the former promise very unlikely and in mans judgment altogether impossible that he should be sacrificed and killed and yet be the father of so many Nations yet seeing God commanded him to do it Abraham neither doubted of Gods promise nor disobeyed his command but presently carried him to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed So when God commanded Moses to
lift up his Rod over the Sea and promised the Sea should be divided Exod. 14.16 so that the children of Israel might go on dry ground through the midst of the Sea and so likewise when he commanded him to smite the Rock of stone and promised that the waters should flow thereout which had no possibility with all the power of nature to be done yet Moses never doubted of Gods Promise but presently did what God commanded both in the one and the other Even so when God commands us to do any thing and promiseth we shall have such and such blessings by doing it as to have our sins remitted by being baptized in a little water and by the worthy receiving of a little Sacramental Bread and Wine to injoy all the benefits of the body and bloud of Christ and by a stedfast faith in the death of Christ to be assured of eternal life how unlikely soever they may seem to be we ought with Abraham and Moses and the rest of Gods faithful Servants most readily do what God biddeth us and undoubtedly believe what he promiseth And though it may seem a strange wonder that cannot sink into worldly mens heads that Christ his death should procure to us eternal life and therefore the preaching of this doctrine is to the Jews that looked for such a Christ that should abide alive for ever a stumbling-block and to the Grecians that gloried only in their eloquence and ascribed all things with Aristotle to their natural causes meer foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 as the Apostle testifieth Yet if you truly weigh this doctrine of our deliverance from eternal death How just it is that the death of Christ should free all men that believe in him from eternal death and obtaining of everlasting life by the death of Christ we shall find it very consonant to just reason and no wayes to be doubted of and that in a twofold respect 1. Because that although we for our sins deserved most justly to die the death that is to suffer the eternal wrath of God whom we have and do so highly offend yet seeing it Reason 1 pleased Christ out of his great pity to our miserable condition and his infinite love to mankind to become our Surety and to die and so satisfie the wrath of God for us Is it not agreeable to reason that Christ paying our debt and suffering for our sins as the Prophet testifieth he hath done we should be discharged and have our lives spared For so when the Officers came to apprehend Christ and to arrest him and he asked them Whom seek ye And they answered Jesus of Nazareth And he said I am he and if you seek me then let these that are my Disciples and do believe in me go their way It is apparent by these words that Christ held it agreeable to all reason that if he paid the debt the debtor should be free and if he suffered death for us we should be delivered from that death which we deserved Reason 2 2. Because that although the death of Christ was but the death of one man and we that sinned and deserved death are many thousand millions of men even all the posterity of Adam yet the death of this one man Propter unionem hypostaticam by reason of the hypostatical union of the Godhead with the manhood in the person of that one man whereby he is not only man but also God himself his death being the death of God must needs be of sufficient worth and value to satisfie God and be more satisfactory to his justice then the death of all Men on Earth and all the Angels in Heaven in as much as the death of the Creator is of more infinite value then the death of all creatures And therefore well might Christ say and happy are we that he said it That the Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And I if I be lifted up or being lifted up will draw all men unto me that is all which will believe in me And so you have seen what was typified in the Wilderness unto the Jews by the brazen Serpent was presented and performed to us by Jesus Christ to whom for his infinite love and favour towards us and his bitter Passion and death when he was lifted up and crucified for us to deliver us from eternal death be all honour and glory and thanks and praise for ever and ever Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT THE PUBLICK FAST The eighth of March in St MARIES OXFORD Before The Great Assembly of the Members Of the HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS There Assembled By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS L. Bishop of OSSORY And Published by their Special Command JOHN 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life London Printed by J. Hayes 1664. Die Sabbati nono Martii 1643. ORdered that Mr. Bodvell and Mr. Watkins give the Bishop of Ossory thanks and desire him to Print his Sermon Noah Bridges THE ONLY VVAY TO PRESERVE LIFE Amos 5.6 Seeke the Lord and you shall live LIght is the first born of all the distinguished Creatures The excellency of the light the first word that the Eternal Word after so many ages of silence uttered forth was Let there be light Gen. 1.3 light that giveth life to all Colours that is the mother of all beauties which hath no positive contrary in nature which maketh all things manifest to the detestation of all evil and the crowning of every good and which is a creature so beloved of the Creator that he calleth himself by this name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 1.5 and he makes it the most worthy associate of Truth when he saith Send forth thy light and thy truth therefore Light is a Jewel Psal 43.3 not to be valued by the judgment of man And yet the sight by which we partake of all the benefits of the light and without which the light will avail us nothing nor yield us any comfort as good old Toby sheweth saying Quale gaudium est mihi qui in tenebris sedeo is but one sense and but scarce the fifth part of the happiness of the sensitive Creature a small thing in respect of that most invaluable good which is termed Life Life how precious and which is of more worth to every living creature then is all the world for the Father of Lies spake Truth herein though to a lying end That Skin for Skin and all that ever a man hath Job 2.4 he will give for his life Therefore as the greatest threatning that God laid upon Adam to deter him from Rebellion and to detain him within the Compass of his Obedience Gen. 2.17 was In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death so the greatest Blessing that he promiseth to any man for all his Service is Life or to live â—s The just shall live by faith Hab.
2.4 The bloud-thirsty how detestable Which sheweth how detestable beyond my ability of expression are those bloud-thirsty men that so maliciously and wickedly do hunt after the life of man and do shed the bloud of so many Innocents no waies like that good God which made not Death nor desireth the Death of any sinner much lesse the destruction of the Righteous nor yet like Alexander that knew not God yet knew this that when his Mother Olympias that was a bloudy woman lay hard upon him to kill a certain innocent person and to that end said often to him that she carried him Nine Moneths in her Womb therefore he had no reason to deny her answered her most wisely Good Mother ask for that some other reward and recompence because the life of man is so dear Am. Marcellin l. 14. c. 10. that no benefit can countervail it and the unjust taking of it away is so hainous that it is impossible for any mortal man to make satisfaction for so great an offence Matth. 3.7 What shall we say then to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when their own most gracious King doth so often sollicite for peace do still make them ready for battel and have taken away the lives of so many thousands of men 2 Thes 2.3 truly if they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet certainly they are the sons of Apollyon the children of the Destroyer Death how terrible that without speedy repentance can receive no better reward then damnation But as life is the sweetest and the most excellent of all things that are in this world Aristot. Ethic. l. 3. c. 6. so death saith the Philosopher est omnium terribilium terribilissimum because this bringeth our years to an end finisheth our daies and puts a period to all our joyes and though there is but one way of life for all men and that one alike to all to come naked out of their Mothers womb yet Job 1.21 as the Poet saith Mille modis lethi miseros mors una fatigat Statius Thebaid l. 9. There are a thousand waies to bring any one of us unto his death And here the Prophet threatneth death unto the people of Israel many waies The Israelites how threatned Quocunque aspiciunt nihil est nisi pontus aether Ovid de Trist. For the City that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred and that which went out by an hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel that is as Remigius and Hugo say Vers 3. the Israelites shall be so plagued by the Assyrians 2 Reg. 18.10 as well in the three years siege of Samaria as also before and after the same by the Sword Famine and the Pestilence which Sicut unda sequitur undam do ever follow like Jobs Messengers one in the heel of another the sword alwaies bringing famine and the famine producing pestilence so that almost all shall be consumed and scarce ten of an hundred shall be left And as the Spirit of God saith unto Esayas Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not Esay 6.10 Then said the Prophet Lord how long and he answered until the Cities be wasted without Inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land be utterly desolate So now this distressed England how threatned and how miserable we are though formerly most happy Kingdom is threatned to be scourged in like manner with the worst of wars famines and pestilences Praesentémque viris intendunt o nonia mortem And as the Poet saith all that we do see say we are appointed to be destroyed and destined unto death when as S. Bernard saith Quos fugere scimus ad quos nescimus we know whom we would shun but we scarce know where or to whom we may flee to be safe and secured of our Lives for as Jeremie saith Servants have ruled over us Lam. 5.8 9. and there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the Sword of the Wilderness And therefore as our Prophet saith Wailing is in all streets they say in all high-waies Amos 5.16 alas alas and they call the husbandman to mourning and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing Esay 34.5 6. 2 Reg. 8.1 Amos 4.10 Yet seeing the sword is the sword of the Lord and it is the Lord that calleth for Famine and the Pestilence is the scourge of God which he sendeth amongst us as our Prophet saith and that God never draweth his sword How God dealeth with his people and throweth away the Scabberd as if he never meant to put it up again never sends a famine but in that famine he can feed the young Ravens that call upon him and satisfie the hungry with good things and never powreth out any plague but that in the greatest infection he can preserve his servants that although a thousand should fall besides them and ten thousand at their right hand Psal 91 7. yet it shall not come nigh them and never sendeth any temptation but if the fault be not our own 1 Cor. 10.13 he doth with the temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it because he being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 and the God of all comfort to them that fear him as well as the God of Justice to render vengeance to them that offend him hath the suppling Oyl of Mercy as well as the sharp Wine of Justice to powre into the wounds of every penitent sinner therefore our Prophet here joyneth to the Lamentation for Israel an Exhortation to repentance and though he threatneth Death for our sins yet he setteth down an Antidote whereby we might if we would preserve our life and though I confess the Physitians are very useful Physitians how useful and to be honoured as the Scripture speaketh to be sought after especially in the times of sickness and Mortality yet I am sure that neither Hippocrates nor Galen nor all the School of Salerne the whole Colledge of Physitians shall ever be able to prescribe a Potion so precious and so powerful to pâ—eserve your Life as I shall declare unto you for God which is truth it self hath said it Seek the Lord and you shall live wherein I desire you to observe Two parts of the Text. 1. A Precept the best work that you can do Seek the Lord. 2. A Promise the best reward that you can desire And you shall live 1. The Precept twofold 1. In the Precept you may see there are two words and so two parts 1. Seek which is the Act that all men do 2. The Lord which is the Object of our seeking wherein most men fail 1. The word seek doth presuppose that we have lost or be without the Lord and so we have indeed we lost Paradise