are contentious and disobey the truth and obey unrighteousnesse shall be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shal be upon the soule of every man that doth evill Looke not to the beginning of sinne but the end of it the roote of it is a carelesse hard heart and therefore we are commanded to exhort one another daily while it is called Hebr. 3. 13. to day lest we be hardened with the deceitfulnesse of sinne the flower of it is sweet for a time and therefore called by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes The pleasures of sinne the sight of it is like Heva her apple which was faire and pleasant to the eye the taste of Hebr. 11. 25. Gen. 3. 6. 1 Sam. 14. 17. Luk. 3. 7. it is like Ionathans hony combe which cleered his eyes which before were dimme for wearinesse and hunger the committing of it is like the birth of a viper which eateth out the belly of her damme the sting of it as the sting of an Aspe pleasant at the Rom. 3. Cap. 6. 21. 23. first and brings a man asleepe but the fruit of it is shame in this life And therefore saith the Apostle what fruit had yee of those things whereof yee are now ashamed meaning their sinnes and the end of it in the life to come is hell fire For the wages of sinne is death For sinne is as a Tyrant which raigneth by force and at last rewardeth his servants with death and damnation Thus the root the flower the sight the tast the sting the fruit the end of sinne all is damnable Behold this monster this Aesops snake the uglinesse of sinne in Nabuchadenezzar transformed from a man to a beast The terror Dan. 4. 1 Sam. 15. of it in Agag the Amalekite The folly of it in Salomons young man whom Salomon derideth notably saying Rejoyce thou yong man in thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine Eccles 11. 9. eyes but know that for all these things God will will bring thee to iudgement The bitternesse of it in the rich men named by Iames Goe to yee rich men weepe and howle for your miseries that shall come upon Iam. 5. 1 2 3. you your riches are corrupt your garments moat-heaten your gold and silver is canckred and the rust of it shal be a witnesse against you and it shall eate your flesh as it were fire The unstablenesse of it in the Amalekites now dauncing now dead The reward of it in the fooles named God punisheth not the reprobate till sinne be at the fall by Salomon The end of it in the rich glutton who for his sinne lieth frying in hell in torments The life of the godly is as a Comedie dolefull at the first but joyfull at the last So saith David They that sow in teares shall reape in ioy they went weeping and carried precious seed but they shall returne with 1 Sam. 30. VVisd 5. Luk. 16. Psal 126. 5. 6. ioy and bring their sheaves But the life of the wicked is cleane contrary that is as a Tragedie dolefull at the last so saith our Saviour Woe be to you that laugh for yee shall wayle and weepe and Luk. 6. 25. Pro. 22. 8. Salomon affirmeth That hee that soweth iniquity shall reape affliction and the rod of his anger shall faile that is his authority whereby hee did oppresse others shall bee taken from him and Paul saith That they which sow in the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption afterwards this afterwards marres all after all pleasure commeth paine and destruction So said Abraham to Dives Sonne remember Luk. 16. 25. that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasure contrarily Lazarus paine now is he comforted and thou art punished The pride of Adam was turned into labour and sorrow The stoutnesse of Nimrod into confusion The beauty of Absalom into hanging The strength of Goliah into shame The envie of Caine into desolatition Gen. 3. Cap. 10. 2 Sam. 16. 1 Sam. 17. hee wandred like a Rogue Nec in caeteris est contrarium videre and we may behold the same in the rest when they have added drunkennesse to thirst afterwards commeth God and destroyeth them he wayteth for the ripenesse of our sinnes before he plucke us off the tree or cut us off the earth he tarieth till we be dry before hee burneth us till wee be fat before hee slay us till wee bee withered before hee hew us downe Therefore is it said that the earth was full of cruelty that the sinne of Sodome was Gen. 6. Gen. 18. Amos 8. great that the sinnes of Israel were as ripe apples and when our sinnes be once ripe God will cut us downe with the scithe of his wrath and hacke us downe with the axe of his vengeance And yet we see God to punish some speedily to crop them in their beginning True sometime God killeth the Cockatrice in the egge before it bee a serpent sometime hee plucketh the fruit from the tree before it bee ripe hee rooteth out the pricke before it be a thorne what then differt tamen non aufert God doth deferre but yet hee doth not auferre the punishment of the wicked like Polypheme that would eate Vlysses last but yet eate him though it were long Vt creditor qui debitum ab uno statim exigit alium in diem reponit sed cum foenore solvendum As a Creditor that requireth his debt of one man presently to another hee giveth day and respite yet to be paid with usury God tooke away Caligula in the beginning of his tyrannie but hee suffered Nero to tyrannize longer but Tiberius raged and made havocke of the Church longer than they yet in the end God met with him and freed the earth of so vile a burden God killed Omri in two yeares he suffred Manasses to wallow in blood fifty yeares Tempora mutantur 1 Reg. 16. 2 Reg. 21. nos mutamur in illis the times are changed and we are Infidelity the cause of Israels destruction changed in them Dionysius having a prosperous wind said that God favoured Pirats The Athenians said that Harpalus gave a lively testimony against the Gods for that hee escaped so long unpunished But so long goeth the pot to the water that at last it cometh broken home God met with these two afterwards Looke not on men as they are here in this world here they prosper and flourish like a greene Bay-tree but looke to their end then they wither like trees that cast their leaves in winter then they wish they had never beene borne what good hath our pride done us what profit hath the pompe of riches brought us Thou seest Dionysius spoiling Syracusa many yeares looke againe Wisd 5. 8. and thou shalt see him a poore Schoolemaster in Corinth Asceptro adferulam devolutum devolved fallen from the scepter to the ferula Thou seest Caesar
will not rectified Deest enim intellectus voluntatis consiliariâ—s for understanding is wanting which is the Counseller of the soule The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse 1 Cor. 2. 14. unto him neither can hee know them because they are spiritually discerned at spiritus non natura sed gratia the spirit is not of nature but of grace So said Christ of the whole world O righteous Father Iohn 17. 25. the World hath not knowne thee but I have knowne thee and these have knowne c. therefore hee prayed for his Apostles and in them for us all I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the World but that thou keepe them from evill And againe Sanctifie them Iohn 17. 15 17. with thy truth by nature wee are the children of wrath by grace we are Gods adopted Sonnes Hereupon saith the Apostle In times past we walked according to the course of the World and after the spirit that ruleth in the Ayre and that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whome also wee had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh and fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the minde Ephes 2. 3 4 5. and were by nature the children of Wrath nor by creation but by Adams transgression and so by birth as well as others But God which is rich in mercy through the great love wherewith he loved us when wee were dead by sinnes hath quickned us together in Christ by whose grace we are saved There are but two things in us either nature or grace either flesh or spirit Now in the state of nature al are accursed in the state of grace we are blessed For by grace wee beleeve and faith Act. 18. 27. Iohn 1. 12 13. maketh us the sonnes of God for as many as received him to them he gave power to be the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name which are borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the No true good in us by nature till regenerate will of man but of God Where he distinguisheth of two births the one naturall and the other spirituall a birth from men a birth from God a generation by nature a regeneration by the Spirit as he doth againe to Nicodemus Except a man be borne of Water and of the Spirit hee cannot enter the Kingdome of God and againe Yee Cap. 3. 5 6. Psal 2. 7. must be borne againe there is no naturall Sonne of God but the Lord Iesus we are all the adopted Sonnes of God in Christ and by Christ by his meanes we are raised up together and made to sit together Ephes 2. 6. Rom. 8. 17. in Heavenly places For saith the Apostle If we be children wee are also heires even the heires of God and heires annexed with Christ c. we bring nothing from our mothers wombe but death and damnation every one must say with David I was shapen in wickednes Psal 51. 5. and in sinne hath my mother conceived me Quis dabit mundum de immundo Who can bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse What Iob 14. 4. can be had from the egge of a Cockatrice but a Serpent From a spider but venome from the Taxus tree in India but poyson from the bitter poole Exanthus but bitter water Wee have not Math. 7. Lambes from Woolves no grapes from thornes nor figges from thistles Well said the Schooleman Quòd dona naturalia in Adamo sunt corrupta supernaturalia ablata ille ut radix nos ut rami radix est venenata ergo rami Our naturall gifts in Adam were corrupt our supernaturall taken away he as the roote we as the boughes the root is poisoned therefore the boughes like the waters of Mara untill Moses put in the sweet wood untill God Exod. 17. infuse grace for by grace we are saved and where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more that as sinne had raigned unto death so Ephes 2. 8. Rom. 5. 20 21. might grace also raigne by righteousnesse unto eternall life The Pelagians held that sinne came by imitation not by propagation but Paul confuteth them saying As by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death went over all men forasmuch as Rom. 5. 12. all men have sinned c. These men quoth Iude walke as Naturall men that is in all sinne and vanity as is said of the Gentiles That they walked in the vanity of their minde having their cogitations darkened being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their hearts So Paul reasoned with the Corinths Are yee not carnall For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions 1 Cor. 3. 3. are yee not carnall and walke as men even so reason wee with you When malice envy rancour whoredome covetousnesse pride raigneth among us are wee not naturall men For God would cut downe these sinnes as a sickle If yee live after the flesh yee shal dye but if yee through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8. 13. yee shall live Yea many naturall men goe before us in brideling their lusts and affections Aristides being by the unjust Law of Ostracisme in Athens banished and being asked what hee would to Athens answered Se nihil velle quin tantam rerum prosperitatem ut illis nunquam in mentem veniat Aristides hee desired nothing We should strive to exceed naturall men but so much prosperity to Athens as that they might never remember Aristides The like is said of Phocion condemned to drink hemlocke the juce whereof through extreme cold is poison Being asked what he would unto his Sons said Nothing sed ne hujus unquam iniuriae velint meminisse but that they should never remeÌ„ber this injury Socrates by Philosophie brideled whoredome in himselfe and Telamon by it bare the death of his sonne patiently saying Sciebam me genuisse mortalem I did know that I begat a mortall man I take no pleasure in these prophane examples save only to ashame us as Paul did the Athenians by Aratus and the Cretians by Epimenides and the Corinths by Menander Let our righteousnesse exceed theirs else there is no roome for us in Gods Kingdome our life must have all vertues in it such a life led the Christians they could be touched with no open crime or notorious fault but that they sung Psalmes to Iesus before day as Plinius secundus writeth of them to the Emperour our Saviour Christ told his disciples that their justice must exceed the justice Mat. 5. 20. of the Scribes and Pharises and so must wee tell all Christians that they must exceed Turkes and Pagans or else they shall never see the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the liuing yet it is reported
avarum liberalem tibi reddam da timidum jam Cruces ignes Phalaridis taurum contemnit da libidinosum continentem reddam tanta Doctrinae vis est c. that is Give me an angry man and with one Word of God I will make him as meeke as a Lambe give mee a covetous man and I will render him againe liberall give me a fearefull timerous man and by and by hee shall contemne Gallowes Fire yea and Phalaris his Bull give me a lecherous man and I will make him chaste and continent such is the force of Doctrine As the Load-stone draweth not Iron except it bee pure So the Word of God doth not draw men from the mire and dirt of sinne except they be purified with the Spirit Briefly in one word I say with Tertullian in Apologetico Fiunt homines Christiani non nascuntur Men are made Christians not borne Ephes 2. 2. Tit. 3. wee are by nature the children of Wrath by grace wee are the Sonnes of God Once againe Christ is not profitable the Gospell is not availeable but to them that are called but being called it is powerfull When the men of Cyprus and Cyrene spake unto the Grecians and preached the Lord Iesus The hand of the Lord was with them that is the power and vertue of the Spirit so that a great number Acts 11. 21. beleeved and turned unto the Lord Whereupon Chrysostome libro adversus Gentiles proveth the deity of Christ that using no Arms but twelve poore Apostles silly weake unlearned men subdued the whole world to him He overthrew the Lawes of the Fathers he abrogated the ancient customes A marvelous power by the Doctrine of Fishers Toll-gatherers Tent-makers to raise the dead to cleanse the Lepers to expell Divels to vanquish Tyrants to put death to flight to stay the tongues of the Philosophers to shut the mouthes of the Orators to conquer Kings and Princes Barbarians Grecians and all men Alexander with the sword and the Apostles with the Word to conquer the World For their sound went out through all the earth and their Rom. 10. 18. words unto the ends of the World Pray therefore that God by his Spirit would make the Word effectuall to be odorem vitae a favour of life to life and not a fauour of death unto death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely God even God by his Spirit doth all In a word God calleth us else we come not and his calling is diverse 1. In respect of time 2. In respect of place In respect of time For God calleth in divers houres of the day that is in divers ages of the world and in divers yeeres of our age Gods calling diverse both for time and place Some before the Law as Abel Enoch Noah Abraham some under the Law as Moses David Iosias Esay with other Kings and Prophets Some after the Law as the blessed Apostles Martyrs Confessors Some in the first houre their childhood as Samuel Ieremy Iohn Baptist some in the third houre their youth as Daniel and Iohn the Evangelist some in the sixth houre their middle age as Peter and Andrew some in the eleventh houre their old age as Gamaliel Ioseph of Arimathea some in the last houre of the day the last houre of their life as the Theefe upon the Crosse In respect of place For God calleth some from their ship and some from their shops some from the Markets some from under the hedges This diverse calling at divers times and in divers places intimates A Caveat A Comfort A Caveat for such as are called that they magnifie not themselves and vilifie others Nemo dicat ideo me vocavit quia colui Deum quomodo coluisses si vocatus non fuisses let no man say God August de verb. Apost hath called me for that I worship him how shouldest thou worship him if thou wert not called A Comfort for them that feele not themselves sufficiently called that they rest in hope God can and will call when where and whom he will either at the last houre with the theefe upon the gallowes or out of oppressing Egypt with the Israelites Luke 23. Exod. 3. or in the middest of the persecution of the Saints of God as he did Saul Let us then patiently attend our calling Deus adversum Acts 9. vocat credentem docet sperantem consolatur diligentem exhortatur conantem adjisvat precantem exaudit tamen Deus solus fidem spem charita tem laborem preces operatur God calleth the adverse teacheth the beleever comforteth him that hopeth exhorteth him that loveth helpeth him that laboureth and yet God alone worketh faith hope charity c. Ille vocat aversos vocatos justificat justificatos sanctificat sanctificatos glorificat Hee calleth the averse justifieth them that are called sanctifieth them that are justified and glorifieth them that are sanctified The Whelpes of a Lion are borne dead but at the yelling and roaring of the Lion they are quickned and raised from death So we are borne dead dead in our trespasses Ephes 2. 1. Phil. 2. 16. and sinnes but by the calling of the Gospell as by the roaring of the Lion wee are quickned It is a word of life our calling and all good is wrought by it As it is verbum scientiae prudentiae a word of knowledge and wisedome potentiae 1 Cor. 1. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 23. Acts 14. and of power gratiae and of grace sic est verbum vitae so it is the word of life Nulla scientia nec potentia nec gratia nec vita sine Evangelio there is no knowledge nor power nor grace nor life without the Gospell Well God calleth inwardly by his Spirit outwardly by his Our Vocation what it teacheth us Sanctification Word This should teach us first to walke worthy our calling that as he which hath called is holy so should we be holy in all our life and conversation according as it is written Bee yee holy for I am holy We are called not to ncleannesse but unto sanctification Levit. 11. 44. 1 Thes 4. for unto this end hath the grace goodnesse and bountifulnesse of our Lord appeared that we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world because sancta conversatio confundit inimicum aedificat proximum glorificat Deum a holy life a godly conversation doth confound and stop the mouthes of our enemies doth edifie and build up our Brethren doth glorifie God Secondly Seeing the internall meanes of our calling is the Spirit this should teach us never to grieve the Spirit by whom we are called out of darkenesse into light Nature teacheth us not to grieve our naturall parents and Religion should teach us not to grieve the Spirit Grieve not the Spirit by whom ye are sealed Ephes 4. to the day of Redemption Last of all seeing we are called not onely inwardly by the Spirit but outwardly by the holy Word This word
call whoredome and adultery Peccadilia little sinnes who cry Si non castè tamen cautè if not chastly yet charily who maintaine open Stewes with Pius Quintus who dispence with all sinnes Allen the arch Papist said Commit our men what sinne they list omit what goodnesse they list yet we teach them that bare faith iustifieth them No no we say with Zachary God hath delivered us out of the Luke 1. 74 75. hands of our enemies that we should serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life We say with Paul that The Tit. 2. 11 12. grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared and teacheth us to forsake all impiety and wicked worldly desires and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world We say with Saint Peter If ye call him Father which without respect of persons iudgeth according 1 Pet. 1. 17. to every mans worke passe the time of your dwelling here in feare We say with Saint Iohn and all other holy men Let us love one another for love commeth of God and every one that loveth is borne of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love We say with Christ Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and Iustification and Sanctification though joyned yet distinguished keepe it Wee urge men more to holinesse than they doe wee use more sharpe and effectuall reasons not like the leaden blunt Doctors in Popery but arrowes drawne out of a better Quiver Paul thought this a principall reason above others to move them by the wounds and blood and merits of the Lord Iesu For having spent eleven Chapters in the Treatise of Iustification at last he breaketh out as the Sunne out of a cloud and moveth them to holinesse by the name the death and merits of Christ Iesu saying I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of GOD that yee give up your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12. 1 2. which is your reasonable serving of God and fashion not your selves like unto this world A more effectuall reason than to argue from our workes our merits our deserts which is death For the wages of sinne is death Rom. 6. 23. Iustification and Sanctification goe together yet wee enter not into heaven chiefely as wee are sanctified and regenerated For that is but in part but as wee are iustified by the death and righteousnesse of Christ which is perfect compleat and absolute Yea say the Romanists faith and workes cannot be sundred Ergo we are iustified by workes aswell as by faith But I deny the Argument they reason like blind men the light of righteousnesse hath not shined on them they feed on ashes For many things are conioyned which yet have diverse operations as the light and heat of the Sunne where the one is there is the other yet are we not warmed by the light but by the heat nor yet directed by the heat but by the light of it Fides est sola at non solitaria sola in actu justificationis at non solitaria in usu operatione quotidiana nam operatur per dilectionem Faith is alone but not solitary alone in the act of iustification but not alone in the use and daily operation for it worketh by love or as Chemnitius reasoneth against Andradius and the Councell of Trent We have eyes and eares at once and they are ioynt members of the body yet we heare not with our eyes and see not with our eares Manus non est sola sed coniuncta cum reliquiis membris at manus sola scribit the hand is not alone but ioyned with the other members but the hand alone writeth the tongue is not alone nor severed from the rest of the members yet the tongue alone speaketh the Prince goeth not without the Court yet the Prince ruleth alone and not the Court Fidem opera coniungi magis quam confundi vellem I had rather conioine faith and works than confound them Finely therefore saith a Schoole-man Deus justificat effectivè fides iustificat apprehensivè opera iustificant declarativè God iustifieth effectually Faith iustifieth apprehensively Tho. Aquin. Workes iustifie declaratively that is they shew and declare unto the world that we are iustified Iustificatio est verbum forense nec qualitatem aliquam denotat sed absolutionem a reatu non Rom. 4. 26. consistit in qualitatum infursione sed peccatorum remissione Iustification Iustification how wrought is a Law word neither doth it note any quality but absolution from guilt neither consisteth it in the infusion of qualities but in the remission of sinnes Our invisible faith iustifieth us before our invisible God for he seeth into the heart and our visible workes doe iustifie us before men that be visible and which behold our lives and conversations And Paul placeth our Iustification Non in qualitatum infusione sed peccatorum remissione not in the infusion of qualities but in the remission of sinnes Deus dat beatitudinem Christus redimit Spiritus obsignat Fides apprehendit Opera testificantur God giveth happinesse Christ purchaseth it the Spirit sealeth it Faith apprehendeth it and Workes testifie it THE THIRD SERMON VERS I. Reconciliation part of Redemption AS I have begun to speake of this Heavenly Doctrine of Sanctification so will I proceed therein And to speake in order wee must know that of Christs Priesthood there bee two parts Redemption and Intercession Redemption is the first part whereby hee hath wrought for us the matter of our Deliverance from all evils as Hell Death Damnation Heb. 7. 24. Now of this Redemption there be two members The Luke 1. 74. merit or matter of Reconciliation and Sanctification According to that of the Apostle But yee are sanctified but yee are justified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1. Reconciliation is the first part of our Redemption whereby we are restored from the Curse into the love and favour of God For when wee were enemies wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne c. for hee is our peace And it pleased the Father that in him Rom. 5. 10. Ephes 2. 14. Col. 1. 20. 22. all fulnesse should dwell and by him to reconcile all things unto himselfe and to set at peace through the bloud of his Crosse both the things in Earth and the things in Heaven Now againe of Reconciliation there bee two parts Remission of sins and Imputation of righteousnesse For saith the Apostle He was delivered to Death for our sins and is risen againe for our justification And againe God was in Christ and reconciled the Rom. 6. 25. World to himselfe not imputing their sinnes unto them and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation Now then are wee Embassadors 2 Cor. 5. 19 20 21. for
three not by composition of parts but by coexistence of persons The Iewes also note in the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bara the mysterie of the Trinity by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth the Sonne by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resh Ruah the Spirit by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aleph Ab the Father Christ is many wayes divided But this holy mystery is more clearely taught by Moses Gen. 3. 22. Againe They deny Christ of which sort there bee many The Iewes deny that he is come the Pagans deny that ever he will come the Turkes confesse that hee is come but yet as a man not as a God inferiour to their Mahomet the Papists confesse in words that hee is come but in truth denying the person of Christ making his body every where that is no where yea many have denyed Christ and robbed the Creator to give to the Creature the Italians ascribe all to the Pope the Irish to Saint Patrick the Scots to Palladius the Russians to Saint Nicholas Munster in Cosmog and the Calicutes to the Divell But to speake orderly men deny Christ many wayes Some deny his Divinity as the Arrians some his Humanitie as the Vbiquetaries some his Natures by renting them a sunder as the Nestorians who make two Christs one the sonne of God another the sonne of Mary some deny them by confounding them as Eutiches Qui dixit humanitatem a divinitate absorptam esse which said that his Humanity was swallowed up of his Divinity some deny him by concealing him in time of persecution as the Nichodemites doe A Sect against which we are to lift up our voyces like Trumpets for He that denyeth Christ in Earth Mat. 10. 33. before men shall be denyed in Heaven before Angels For this cause they of Ephesus are said not to have denyed Christ but to have suffered for his sake and to have laboured without fainting And Apoc. 2. 3. they of Pergamos are said not to have denyed Christ For though their habitation was where Sathans throne is yet they professed his name and not denyed the faith Remember that the fearefull are placed with Vriah in the forefront in the vauntguard Apoc. 2. 13. of the damned so saith Saint Iohn The fearefull and unbeleeving and the abominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shall have their part Apoc. 21. 8. in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second Death On the contrary Righteous men are compared to Lions which feare no colours so saith Salomon The wicked flee when Prov. 28. 1. Luke 8. 1 Pet. 1. none pursueth him but the Righteous are as bold as a Lion on the other side its naughty ground that will be scorched with heat it is drosse not gold that will bee melted in the fire it is counterfeit not right Balme that will not abide the water it is a bastard Eagle that soareth not to the Sunne Hee is a Coward Exod. 19. not a Souldier that shrinketh in the battell Hee is an Infidell and not a Christian that denyeth Christ in persecution For one Faith is named one Profession Hold fast saith the Apostle the Profession of your hope without wavering And againe Heb. 10. 23. Heb. 3. 1. Consider the Apostle and high Priest of your Profession Christ Iesus Much Profession much Faith no profession no Faith Christ is denied when the efficacie of his death is denied But chiefely we deny the Lord Iesus two wayes First by denying the sufficiencie of his death as the Galathians did and as the Iews did and as our Papists now who will not let Christ be a Saviour alone but they joyne workes with him but all workes are accursed so saith the Apostle As many as are of the workes Gal. 2. Rom. 10. Gal. 3. 10. of the Law that is thinke to bee justified by them are under the Curse Secondly wee deny the Lord Iesus by denying the efficacie or vertue of his Death not dying unto sinne Therefore Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from Death that Christ may give thee Ephes 5. 14. Light For as the Sunne doth not warme all whom it lighteneth as the people under the North Pole who have the Sun sixe moneths together and yet freeze so the Spirit of God doth not cause all to feele the vertue of his Death whom hee illuminateth with the knowledge of his death Such are our Atheists the former are Papists the later are Atheists and both deny Christ The profession of Christ standeth not in words but in deeds not in tongue but in heart not in opinion but in life The Apostle nameth a true Knowledge for many know not God truely Saint Peter calleth it an Idle knowledge distinguishing of knowledge that it is Operans otiosa a working and an idle 2 Pet. 2. 8. knowledge for some carrie Christ in their mouth and braine as perfume in a Pomander without smell as a sword in a scabbard without cutting as fire in a flint without heat But this I will say to thee in the sight of God and his Angels that if thou doest not dye to sinne and rise againe by a new life if thou doest not kill sinne in thee as Murder Whoredome Malice covetousnesse Vsury Pride Drunkennesse c. thou doest neither beleeve the Death nor the Resurrection of Iesus Christ So saith Paul Know yee not that all wee which have beene baptized into Iesus Christ have beene baptized into his Death And againe If wee Rom. 6. 3 5 6. be grafted with him to the similitude of his Death even so shall wee be to the similitude of his Resurrection Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne And Saint Iohn the disciple whom Iesus loved and which leaned on his breast at supper saith Hereby are wee sure that wee know him if wee keepe his Commandements hee that saith hee knoweth him and keepeth not his Commandements is a 1 Iohn 2. 4 5. Lyar and the Truth is not in him This Death unto sinne and Resurrection to newnesse of life Paul calleth it the vertue of his Death The vertue of his Resurrection The stone Dioscorides is nothing Phil. 3. 10. in the mouth of a dead man And all knowledge of Christ is nothing in a carnall man The death of Christ truely beleeved will cause thee to dye unto sinne and the Resurrection of Christ will cause the dead body to rise unto eternall life and the dead minde to an holy life So saith the Apostle If yee The Papists deny the offices of Christ by consequence bee risen with Christ seeke the things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affections upon Heavenly things and not upon Earthly for yee are dead and your life is hid in God c. The Iewes know Christ but not truly
that they know him it is evident Col. 3. 1 2 3. by the testimony of the Apostle Behold thou art called a Iew and restest in the Law and gloriest in God but that they did not know him truly the same Apostle also testifieth saying The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you yea the Rom. 2. 17. 24. Divels knew him and his death but yet idly historically onely not unto Salvation And many so beleeve historically no further than the very Divels themselves doe For sinne still raigneth Iam. 2. 19. in them notwithstanding the commandement of the Apostle Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6. 12. But to returne to our Papists who have opened their mouth against Heaven whose tongue walketh through the world for pride is to them as a chaine they are found to be notable hereticks denying not in words but in truth the Lord Iesus First they make him no Iesus by ascribing purging of sin to the bloud of Martyrs which they call Thesaurum Ecclesiae the treasure of the Church out of which they grant their Indulgences They make him no Christ by denying his Offices first they make no Priest by erecting a daily unbloudy sacrifice they rob him of his intercession by praying to Saints They make him no Prophet by ascribing so much to their traditions by giving the Pope authority over the Gospell to coyne Lawes as they list by bringing in with Cyrill the Monke Evangelium aeternum an everlasting Gospel which say they abolisheth the Gospell of the Father in the time of the Law and the Gospell of Christ in the time of Grace They make him no King by giving all power to the Pope to save to destroy to pull out of Heaven to pluck down to Hell Such a Cerberus is this of Rome not with three heads but with three crownes boasting De plenitudine potestatis of the fulnesse of power whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse among them that perish This hath Sathan parted his Kingdome that the Turke in the 2 Thess 2. 9. East should deny Christs Natures and the Pope in the West his Offices and Merits For the former Romane Empire stood on Injustice the latter of Impiety the first injuring Men the other God yet not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Christ The Papists alleage the words of the Apostle Hereby shall yee know the spirit of God every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God but by the Spirit there is meant the doctrine not of men the doctrine is of God though not the man They quote also another place of Iohn Whosoever Christ alone paid the whole ransome of our Redemption beleeveth that Iesus is Christ is borne of God but Saint Iohn speaketh not of a bare confession but of a right beleefe for the Divels confessed Christ To conclude they hold not the foundation with us For other 1 Iohn 5. 1. Luke 4. 1 Cor. 3. 11. Gal. 5. 2. foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Christ Iesus For if the Galathians joyning Circumcision with Christ overthrew all for so saith the Apostle If yee circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing The Papists joyning workes with faith nature with Grace the Law with the Gospell the Sacrifice with the Sacrament Moses with Christ must needs overthrow all for whole Christ or no Christ Totus Christus aut nullus Christus Hee payd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ransome and either hee paid all or not a 1 Tit. 2. Act. 4. penny Non est aliud nomen there is no other name given unto men whereby they shall bee saved save onely by the name of Iesus One compareth Christ to a man that purchaseth a Lease with his owne money and lets it to his successors to hold it by a Pepper kernell or a Rose leafe Christ hath paid for our Salvation For we are redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold c. But with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled all our 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. workes are but as a pepper kernell yea as nothing For when we have done all those things that are commanded us wee may say that wee are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duties to do Luke 17. 10. If the fathers of these men had never sinned yet could they not doe greater injury to the Church of God than to beget such sonnes or monsters rather as Tully said of Catiline Ecce ecclesiam apostaticam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non Catholicam utinam Deus Nestorem excitaret qui lites inter nos illos componeret Behold a Church Apostolicall and strife-stirring not Catholike I would God were pleased to raise some Nestor up to compose these jarres betweene us and them But to leave this note that Christ here is called our Lord which he is two wayes Iure creationis Iure redemptionis First By right of Creation for by him God made the World Hebr. 1. 2. Secondly By the right of Redemption for God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne to save the World Hereupon Iohn 3. 16. 1 Cor. 6. 20. saith Paul Yee are bought with a price Now redeeming is either by price and paying or by power and force Christ hath done both hee gave a price to God And gave himselfe a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. men Hee came by water and bloud not by water onely but by water 1 Iohn 5. and bloud In water is signified washing by bloud Redemption Secondly by his Power he redeemeth and hath taken us from the Divell So saith the Author to the Hebrewes Hee hath delivered Hebr. 2. us from death and him that hath the Lordship of death And Saint Iohn saith that Hee saw a great battell in Heaven Micbael and his Divers effusions of Christs bloud Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels but prevailed not neither was their place any more found in Heaven It was a greater matter to Christ to redeeme the World Apoc. 12. 7. than to make the World Hee made it in six dayes but he was thirtie and three yeeres in redeeming it hee made all with a word yea with a breath By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and the hoast of them by the breath of his mouth For the letter Psal 33. 6. ◠He in the Hebrew is but a breath But hee redeemed it with a great price not with silver and gold but with bloud not with bloud of Buls Goats but with his own precious Bloud 1 Pet. 1. 18. Gold and silver are but red earth and white earth which the error of
and from noone unto night In the day Ios 10. of Ezechia the Sunne went tenne degrees backward In the day of Christs passion the Sunne waxed darke and the Moone lost her light the 1 Reg. 20. earth quaked the graves opened the stones brake the dead rose but in the day of Christ there shal be no Sunne no Moone no Heaven no earth For the Heavens shall passe away in manner of a tempest the Element shall melt for fervent heat the 2 Pet. 3. earth and all that is therupon shall burne and yet this burning shall not be a consuming of the substance but only a purging of the creatures from the drosse of those alterable qualities wherunto they are now subject And therfore finely to this purpose saith venerable Bede Per imaginem transeunt per essentiam subsistunt praeterit figura hujus mundi non substantia their image Beda faileth their essence remaineth the figure of this world passeth away not the substance For if the day of Christs humiliation was so glorious what shal be the day of his glorification Where then will appeare those that make the world and the things of the world their stay when the world and all the wealth and substance of the world must passe away And wher ewill the penny-father and covetous person appeare who like the serpent is ever licking up the dust of the earth and scraping up gold and silver that red and white earth when silver and gold and earth shal be no more Where will the proud ones appeare that fold themselves in silkes and loade themselves with pearles and Iewels when Iewels and pearles shal be no more Where then shall appeare the greedie oppressour whose throate hath beene an open sepulcher When he shal not find a man to oppresse any more Where shall the whoremonger appeare whose body hath beene as the Oven of a Baker when he shall find none to defile any more Where shall the slanderer appeare whose tongue hath cut like a sharpe rasor when he shall not finde any to slander any more where will the drunkard appeare that hath washed his soule with wine and strong drinke when there shal be no liquor any more Where will these magnificent and stately builders appeare when building and state shall fall all to the ground Where shall the usurer appeare who is worse than Hell for Hell torments only the bad but the usurer crusheth and oppresseth both good and bad I say where shall he appeare seeing his house here is the banke of the Divell and his purse Os diaboli the mouth of the Divell Surely he with the Divell must abide in Hell and torments surely all these and The fearfull estate of all sinners at the last judgment all other that have sowen in sinne shall reape miserie for these that have plowed wickednesse shall reape iniquitie Vanitie was their traffique and griefe will be their gaine Detestable was their life and damnable shall be their death For as they have sowen Hos 10. 13. so shall they reape they have sowen in the flesh and of the flesh they Gal. 6. 8. shall reape corruption Tribulation and anguish shall be upon the soule of every one of them when this great day shall be Let us pray therfore that in this great day Christ his wisdome may answere for ourfollie his humilitie for our pride his meekenesse for our crueltie his righteousnesse for our sinnes that this Lambe that was without spot may answere for us who like Iacobs Lambes are full of spots Ostende patri latus vulnera Shew the father thy side and wounds that thy side and wounds may heale us from these sinnes that like the blood of Abel crie against us Amen THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON VERS VII As Sodom and Gomorah and the Cities about them which in like manner as they did c. Sodomesfinne all kind of uncleanesse WEE are come to the third example of Sodome and Gomorah Wherin also he noteth their Sinne. punishment Their sinne was uncleanesse Fornication whordome Incest Buggerie their punishment hell fire the second death the burning lake fletus stridor dentium the horrour of conscience torments unspeakeable Now for their sinne it appeareth how filthy it is seeing that Paul would not have vs eate with whoremongers If any 1. Cor. 5. 11. saith he that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a rayler or a drunkard or an extortioner With such see yee eate not And in another place he would have us to be so far from this sinne that he would not have it to be once named amongst us much lesse committed For so runne his words But fornication and all uncleannesse or covetousnesse let it not be once named amongst you Ephes 5. 3. The name as it were darkeneth the Ayre and polluteth the earth the Lord Iesus condemneth the very intent of the heart even lusting after a woman though the act be not done you have heard Mat. 5. 27. 28. saith he that it was said unto them of the old time thou shalt not commit adulterie but I say unto you whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adulterie with her alreadie in his heart Whordome is one of the manifest workes of the flesh For the Apostle reckoning up the workes of the flesh nameth adulterie Sodoms sinne all kind of uncleanesse first and placeth is as Vrias in the forefront of the battell The workes of the flesh saith he are manifest adultery fornication uncleanesse wantonnesse c. Yea this sinne brings with it horrible dishonour If a theefe saith Salomon steale to satisfy his soule because Gal. 5. 9. he is hungry men doe not so despise him but he that committeth adultery with a woman is destitute of understanding he shall find a wound Pro. 23. 27. and a dishonour that shall never be put away for a whore is a deepe ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Yea this sinne will make a man make shipwracke of innocency and honesty A man may aswell Pro. 6. 27. take fire in his bosome and not be burnt or goe upon coales and his feet not be burnt as goe into his neighbours wife and be innocent Pro. 23. 28. The strange woman increaseth the transgressors among men so that it is impossible to be incontinent and honest It is a sinne Hos 4. 11. Pro. 9. 18. Pro. 18. Pro. 6. 26. of which a man or a woman can hardly repent For whordome and wine as the Prophet notes take away the heart The Guests of a strange woman art most of them in Hell For the wiseman further avoucheth Surely her house tendeth to death and her pathes unto the dead This sinne will bring Gods curse upon a mans estate many a man by it is brought to a morsell of bread For fornication is a fire that will devour to destruction and roote out all a mans increase
the heart of a Dragon that is never satisfied So that Iude might say as Ieremy said My heretage Ier. 12. 8 9. is unto me as a Lion in the forrest it cryeth out against me therefore have I hated it Shall my heretage be unto me as a bird of divers colours c. Thus much generally for the Text. And now to the particular handling of the things therein contained and first he calleth them sleepers He speaketh not of any naturall sleepe but the sleepe that he meaneth is security negligence and in affirming them to be sleepers he meaneth that they were drowsie blockish negligent As Paul said to Titus of the Cretians That they were lyers evill beasts slow bellies so Tit. 1. 12. these were secure and sleepy Sleepe in the Scripture hath three significations sometime it signifieth naturall rest so the Apostles slept So the Evangelist witnesseth that Christ Came unto his disciples and found them asleepe Secondly it signifieth death and so Lazarus slept and Mat. 26. 40. Stephen slept and the Corinthians slept Brethren we shall not all sleep The living in sinne and security like lying asleepe that is we shall not all dye Thirdly it signifieth dulnesse of spirit and the Romanes slept but Paul telleth them that Considering the season it is high time for them to awake from sleepe he meaneth sinne security carelesnesse continuance in sinne For there is a lethergie Iohn 11. Acts 7. Rom. 13. 11. of the minde as there is of the body that men dye sleeping and many are overtaken with it they are as men asleepe like the mice of the Alpes that sleep all winter like Endimion that could not be awaked like Saul and Abner that could not be stirred with Davids shouting Many labour of the lethergy of 1 Sam. 26. 14. the mind they see not the glory of God they heare not his voice they smell not the sweet promises of God in Christ Iesus they taste not how good God is unto them they handle not the Book 1 Pet. 2. 3. of life As a man asleep seeth not heareth not walketh not but is without sense or motion of life for the time for sleepe is a band and an imprisonment of all the senses so is a sinner without remorse he perceiveth not he regardeth not the things that are of God As Christ said to Peter Come behind me Satan thou Mat. 16. 23. savourest not the things that are of God Many wake to the world They rise early they goe late to bed they eate the bread of carefullnesse Psal 127. they are asleepe in all the matters of God A man may say to them as the Prophet Esay said unto the Iewes Know ye nothing Esa 40. 21. have ye not heard it hath it not been told you from the beginning have ye not understood it by the foundations of the earth he sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabiters thereof are as Grashoppers he stretcheth out the Heavens as a Curtaine and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in Their soule it asleepe if not dead for the trumpet of Gods Word hath not awaked them this forty fifty yeeres Sed tempus est surgeudi it is high time for us to awake out of sleepe I will therefore say unto you as Christ said to the Church of Sardis Awake and strengthen the things that remaine Gods Minsters Rom. 13. 11. Apoc. 3. 2. they are as Trumpets to awake the drowsie Souldier and to prepare him to the battell and therefore they are willed to Crie aloud Esa 58. 1. and not to spare to lift up their voyces like trumpets that so they may awake men out of their sleepe of sinne Gods Ministers they are as Cockes to crow and to awaken all to receive the Word for as the body hath Foure powers Appetitive the First Retentive the Second Digestive the Third Expulsive the Fourth So hath the soule it must desire the word and as the Hart brayeth Psal 42. 1. for the rivers of waters so must our soules pant after God and his Word and not onely desire it but keepe it for Blessed are they Luke 11. 28. that heare the Word and keepe it and not onely desire and keepe it but also digest it into good manners that so our conversation may be such as becommeth the Gospell of Christ and not only Phil. 1. 27. desire it keepe it and disgest it but also expell whatsoever is contrary The sleepe of sinne most dangerous unto it Laying aside all maliciousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and envy and all evill speaking but this cannot bee without crying for all men bee in a slumber The Apostle saith awake thou 1 Pet. 2. 1. Ephes 5. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 14. that sleepest stand up from death And he explaineth the phrase in his Epistle to the Corinthians saying Awake to live righteously and sinne not so that to sleepe is to live sinnefully and securely to awake is to live carefully righteously Esay calleth it a Spirit of slumber The Lord saith hee hath covered you with a spirit of slumber Esai 29. 10. and shut up your eyes Salomon saith to the drunkard that hee sleepeth upon the top of a mast and this is true of all sinnes Christ Pro. 23. 34. at his farewell and Vltimum vale cried Vigilate orate watch and Mat. 26. pray he said not Iejunate virginitatem servate Fast and keepe virginity but vigilate watch Christ said to his Apostles Vigilate Mar. 13. watch Paul bad the Thessalonians watch Let us not sleepe as doe 1 Thess 5 6. 1 Pet. 5. 8. Apoc. 3. 2. other but let us watch and bee sober Saint Peter bad the Iewes watch Be sober and watch Iohn bad the Church watch be awake and strengthen the things that remaine Esay bad Ierusalem watch Awake O Esa 40. 1. Ierusalem bee bright for thy light is come As the Turtle hath but one note so the Godly have but one song Vigilate surgite à somno watch and arise from sleepe It is said of Martinus that hee never passed houre of the day without prayer or reading or meditation Semper aliquid boni agebat hee did alwayes some good and it is true that Nostra bona opera sunt flagella diaboli that our good works are whips for the Divell Daimonomastyx if wee be vigilant and diligent in them Wherefore Saint Peters exhortation Give all diligence to joyne vertue with your faith and with vertue knowledge and 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7. with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindnesse and with brotherly kindnesse love Mariners saith Tertullian are neuer devoured of the Syrenes but when they are asleepe The Leopard is never taken Tertull. in Apologetico Cant. 5. of the Dragon but then When lost the Church her husband but when she slept when lost Saul his pot his
chiefe commander one chiefe Iudge of a Province one governour of all in the Ship one master in an house in an army be it never so great the Ensigne of one is specially regarded and attended on In the body of Man though the Lims and parts thereof be many yet they all obey one head Secondly most fit for cutting off seditions and rebellions and therefore the Romanes in all their greatest dangers had recourse unto this Tanquam ad anchoram sacram as to their shot-anchor as to their best and last refuge as Livie witnesseth for when Hannibal pressed the Romanes Ad Dictatorem dicendum Remedium jam diu desideratum Civitas confugit The City went to the pronouncing of a Dictator which was the remedy they long expected because as in another place he writeth Dictatoris edictum pro numine semper observatum est the proclamation of the Dictator was esteemed to be the voyce of God Thirdly The government of one doth seeme to resemble most lively the image of Gods Power and Majestie For as in the Firmament the Sunne Moone and Starres doe as it were represent some image of the glory of the eternall Majestie So the rule of Monarchs in their severall Kingdomes upon the earth doe call to our considerations the government and rule of the Almighty But whether the government of one or many be best I dare not define but this I say that it is a most singular token of the mighty Power and Providence of God that so many severall Nations over the face of the World are upholden and maintained by so many severall sorts of government that Quemadmodum non nisi in aequali temperatura elementa inter se cohaerent Ita hae Regiones sua quadam in aequalitate optimè continentur As in bodily essences the foure Elements doe cleaue together by unequall temperatures as it were by a certaine inequality all the several Countries are holden together Nay which of all these governments is the best Otiosum est disputare it is a very idle thing to dispute but most yeeld to this that a Monarchy is the most perfect and the blessing of God seene in that chiefly Perme Reges regnant By me Kings raigne Noble men beare rule saith Wisedome He therefore that resisteth Resisteth not man but God also True it is that man was made to rule not to serve he was Rebellion brings destructiō to Rebels themselves made to rule over fowles fishes cattell but not men At the first men were pecorum pastores potius quà m Reges hominum feeders of cattell than rulers over men that we might discerne the order of creation from the merit of sinne So we reade not of any servant Gen. 1. 20. Gen. 9. Gen. 3. before Cham saith Augustine For as sinne brought in the first death the first sorow the first nakednesse the first flood So it brought in the first service If man had not sinned Moses had not needed in the kingdome nor Aaron in the Church the one to rule the bodies the other the soules of men Rebellion of all sins is unnaturall for what can be more unnaturall then the child to rebell against the father the wife against the husband the servant against the Master and no lesse unnaturall is it for the subject to rebell against his Soveraigne Rebellion God never prospered hereupon saith Salomon My sonne feare God and the King and keepe no companie with the seditious for their destruction shall Pro. 24. 21 22. arise suddenly c. The seditious Israelites were destroyed somtime with fire from Heaven sometime with fiery serpents somtime by Numb 21. the earth For the earth hath opened and swallowed them quicke to Hell Seditious Miriam was strooken with leprosy seditious Absalon Numb 12. was hanged by the haire of the head on an oke as one spewed out of heaven and vomited out of the earth seditious Achitophel for want of an hangman a convenient servitour for such a Rebell went and hanged himselfe seditious Sheba was arrested by a woman Sam. 20. 22. who cut off his head and sent it to Ioab seditious Zimri burnt himselfe in the kings house which he had set on fire Hereupon 1. Reg. 16. 9. said Iezabel Had Zimri peace that slew his Master seditious Shallum 2 Reg. 15. 16. perished in Samaria being slaine by Menahem the sonne of Gadi Never Rebell went unpunished For though God oftentimes doth prosper just and lawfull enemies which be no subjects against forraine enemies yet did he never prosper Rebels who have taken armes against their Prince were they never so great in authority or many in number In Genesis we reade that five kings with their armies could not prevaile against Chodorlaomer unto whom they Gen. 14. promised loyalty and obedience but they were all overthrown and taken prisoners by him but Abraham with his family kinsfolkes an handfull of men in respect owing no subjection to Chedorlaomer overthrew him and his hoast in battell Thus God prospereth in battell some few against many thousands but he never prospered Rebels against their owne Prince were they never so great or noble so stout so politick but alwayes they were overthrowne and came to most shamefull ends And to instance but upon a few One Brennus captaine of the Gaules besieging Ephesus had the City betraied into his hands by a treacherous woman for the greedy desire of a Iewell that a Captaine wore but when she had plaied this tteasonable part he overwhelmed her with gold A certaine traytour offred Fabritius the Romane to poison his enemy Pyrrhus but worthy Fabritius sent God hath confounded Rebels in all ages the traytour bound to Pyrrhus who was enemy to the Romane Empire In Anno 1381. in Rich the 2. his tyme sixty thousand rebelled whose Captaines were Wat Tiler Iack Strawe but they were overthrowne and brought to nought In Anno 1275. Lewellin prince of Wales rebelled against Edward the first but he prospered not but was overthrowne and his head strooken off and set on London bridge In the raigne of Henry the 4. divers noble men and kings rebelled and came every one of them to a miserable end The persidious and treacherous part of Bannister servant to the Duke of Buckingham is most odious the Duke had brought him up of nought but fleeing from the face of usurping Richard to Bannister for succour this wicked man for hope of one thousand pounds betrayed his Master the Duke but never had one penny For said usurping Richard he that will betray so good a Master will betray any other and in his old age the wretch was accused of Murther In the raigne of Queene Elizabeth were many treasons conspired but God ever delivered his worthy Servant but executed his just judgements upon those trayterous conspirators All men know the miserable ends of the Earles of Northumberland and Westmerland the one beheaded at Yorke the other fled the land and left his house to destruction Many of
naturam in his quae verbo Dei prohibentur Bridle and restraine nature in those things that are forbidden in the Word O Ierusalem saith God wash thy heart from wickednesse that thou maiest be saved how long shall thy wicked Ier. 4. 14. thoughts remaine within thee A naturall man through sinne is like the man that travelled from Ierusalem to Iericho and fell among theeves and was robbed of his rayment wounded c. So the Luk. 10. naturall man is spoyled of all his goods of grace wounded in all the goods of nature his understanding is blinded his will is weake his memory wandring his imagination restlesse his appetite rebellious his senses curious his flesh inclined to all filthinesse What good is to be expected of an Infant sitting upon an untamed horse holding weake reines in his hand in an hilly way full of breaknecks In the same state and condition abideth man destitute of the grace of the Spirit of the Word of God his appetite is as an untamed horse his reason which should rule his appetite is weake and the world is full of breake-necks and snares how miserable therfore is our nature which is carried Lust stirreth to all sinnes head long into wrath envy pride covetousnes whoredome and all uncleannesse Our owne will doth oppugne and fight against God spoileth Paradise enricheth hell evacuateth the blood of Christ subjects the world unto the Divell in this part of the soule is the shop of sinne out of which Satan draweth all his sorce and armour to wound us this is the vineyard in which we ought to labour in this garden let us alwayes walke having the hooke in our hand whereby we may cut off all these noisome Mat. 20. plants if they happen to increase and grow Thy will saith Vlciscere invide extolle teipsum Revenge envy extoll thy selfe noli pacem quaerere seeke not peace iura periura ede bibe lude sweare forsweare eate drinke play But let the Word of God rule thee Put off the old man which is corrupt with his deceiuable lusts and put Ephes 4. 23. on the new man which after God is shapen in righteousnesse and true holynesse Mortify your earthly members fornication uncleanesse unnaturall lusts and covetousnesse which is Idolatry crucify the flesh with the affections Col. 3. 3. Gal. 5. 24. and lusts The Fowler knoweth with what lure to take hawkes the fisher knoweth with what baite to catch the fishes and the Divell knoweth to what sinnes and vices we incline and leane unto and thither he carrieth us headlong whither our lusts carry us Vince ergo libidinem vicisti diabolum Vanquish thy lusts and thou hast vanquished the Divell Herupon saith Iohn I write unto you yong men because yee are strong and the Word of God 1 Iohn 2. 14. abideth in you and yee have overcome the wicked Such yong men God send us many they shall be like little David to overthrow Goliah like the three Worthies that brake thorow the hoast of the Philistines like Gedeons pitcher that drave backe the Madianites Fraena libidinem aliter ingratus es Bridle thy lusts otherwise thou art unthankefull to God which hath given thee so many weapons dedit legem per quam vivis hee hath given thee his Law by which thou livest he hath given grace to performe it he hath given Doctours to instruct us he hath given Sacraments to increase our faith hee hath given inspirations by his Spirit Doe not therefore quench them he hath given us himselfe give then therefore thy selfe and offer thy body and soule a quicke an holy and acceptable sacrifice unto him and walke not after thine owne lusts For lust is the mother of all wickednesse if it bee not betimes killed in the conception The Apostle shewes that lust will bee quickly enticed and being inticed it will conceive and being conceived it will bring forth the birth of some notable evill action and when it is gone so farre like an impudent beldame it will egge on still to the finishing of sinne that so it may bring us to death and destruction But it will be said that the best men have their lusts and sometimes follow them It is true so the brightest fire hath some smoake the soundest oake his sap the purest gold his drosse the fairest body his fleame choller and excrements yet is Lust brings forth sinne and sinne destruction there difference between all smoake and some smoake all drosse and some drosse all evill some evill the evill are notably evill For as they regard not to know God even so God delivereth them up to a reprobate minde to doe those things which are not convenient being Rom. 1. 28 29. full of all unrighteousnes fornication wickednesse covetousnesse maliciousnesse full of envy of murther of debate of deceit c. but good men they are evill onely in part the spirit of Sanctification is sometimes interrupted in the regenerate but never quite abolished while lusts beare sway in the heart it is hindred but not extinguished For the seede of God abideth in them even as madnesse 1 Iohn 3. interrupteth reason sunt enim lucida intervalla as drunkennesse doth not take away the minde it selfe but the use of the minde for a time so doth our lusts yet wee returne as David 1 Sam. 12. Iohn 21. to his chastity as Peter to the confession of Christ for he which thrice together denied him thrice together did confesse him as he fell he rose he fell thrice together and thrice together rose againe The Iebusite did dwell in Ierusalem but he did not dominiere nor rule in Ierusalme So lust dwelleth in the godly but it raigneth not in them He that wanteth all affections is either Rom. 6 a God or a stone and hee that obeyeth all is either damned or a Divell cut them off therefore though they be as an eye or an hand unto thee yet plucke out that eye smite off that hand Mat. 18. that thou mayest enter into Heaven come unto Christ that hee may ease thee of the burthen of thine affections Mundus clamat Ego deficiam te the World cryeth I will faile thee For the World passeth away and the lusts thereof Caro clamat Ego inficiam 1 Iohn 2. 17. te the flesh cryeth I will infect thee Fulfill not therefore the lusts of the flesh diabolus clamat Ego decipiam te the Divell cryeth I will Gal. 5. 16. 1 Pet. 5. deceive thee For hee goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking not onely to deceive but to devoure At Christus clamat Ego reficiam te but Christ cryeth I will refresh thee Come to mee all that travell Mat. 11. 29. and are heavy loden and I will refresh you Vtrum sequi sequi vis Whether of these wilt thou follow the World failing the flesh infecting or the Divell deceiving or Christ refreshing Satan requireth no more of thee but to follow
Ahab to Ramoth-Gilead how the Corinthians drew the yoke with infidels how the 2 Chro. 19. 3. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Esa 31. 13. Iewes strengthened themselves with the Aegyptians I wish the like were not to have been found among Protestants Wee have sate with Psal 26. 4. vaine persons and kept company with dissemblers Servants if they be threatned tremble Wee if Gods Prophets reprove us are the prouder Wee say of Gods Prophets as the Iewes did of Ieremy Come let us imagine some device against Ieremy For the Law shall not perish from the Priests nor Counsell from the Wise nor the Word from the Ier. 18. 18. Prophets Come let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words And yet wee owe a thousand times more to God than servants to their Masters God doth not onely feede us and cloath us as Masters doe their servants but hee giveth us all things besides Hee ladeth us dayly with benefits Servants by Psal 68. 19. their travell profit their Masters wee profit God nothing If thou bee righteous what givest thou unto him or what receiveth he at thy hands Servants receive small wages God to us hath given Iob 35. 7. Rom. 8. 32. his Sonne and with him all things his face was buffeted his checks nipped his eyes blinded his hands nailed his side lanched with a speare Hee was as water powred out all his bones were out of joint his heart like Wax molten within the middest of his bowels his strength was Psal 22. 14 15. dryed up like a pot-sheard his tongue did cleave to his jawes and hee was brought unto the dust of death Non ergo caput faciem oculos manus cor illi trademus ut illi serviamus Must we not therefore give him head face eyes hands and heart to serve him Wee must not give our members weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sinne What then All servants in Gods Church Wee must give our selves to God and our members of righteousnesse to serve God But alas wee serve not God he hath the least part of our service if hee hath any at all The Covetous serve Mammon the Malicious their Envie and Rancour the proud their Arrogancie the Gluttonous their Belly the Voluptuous their Pleasure Tot Dominos habemus quot peccata Wee have so many masters as wee have sinnes according to the Axiome of the Apostle Of whom soever a man is overcome even unto the same is hee in bondage Thou art a slave to thy malice thy ambition 2 Pet. 2. 19. thy belly Sed nemo potest duobus Dominis servire Non man can serve two masters Againe observe That this title Servus Dei the servant of God meeteth with the Manichoeans and Libertines who raile on all the Apostles for they call Paul Vas confractum a broken Vessell Peter abnegatorum Dei a denier of his Master Andrew Medicantem piscatorem a begging Fisherman Iohn Stolidum adolescentem a foolish young man Luke Ineptem medicum an unskilfull Phisitian Mathew Faeneratorem an Vsurer To conclude this point in that Saint Iude calleth himselfe a servant wee learne that wee are all but servants in Gods Church and therfore to make no Lawes to alter no decrees to change no ordinance to injoyne no orders but such as the Word of God alloweth and liketh of Moses the greatest Prophet that ever Hebr. 3. 5. rose or should rise in Israel yet but a servant David a rare Prophet the sweet singer of Israel a man after Gods owne heart yet he calleth himselfe a servant Thy servant Lord thy servant loe Psal 116. 16. I doe my selfe confesse c. Paul taken up to the third heaven taken into Paradise where hee heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secrets not to bee uttered honoured above all the Apostles yet but a servant What is the Rom. 1. 1. Pope then or what is his parentage that he may dispence with the Doctrine of the old and new Testament a vile man that was never further than Rome as far from Paradise as Heaven from Hel Abolebit eum Dominus for the Lord shall abolish him I confesse 2 Thess 2. 8. that Gregory matcheth the foure Oecumenicall Councels with the foure Gospels the Nicene Constantinople Ephesian and Chalcedon hee calleth them Lapidem quadrantem ex quo sanctae fidei Structura assurgit The foure corner stones upon which the building of the holy Faith doth rise But hee spake like a man for those Councels could make no orders but from the Lords The third thing to bee considered in this Apostle is his alliance and kindred he nameth himselfe the Brother of Iames. First Honoris gracia for honors sake to distinguish himself from Iudas Iscariot the sonne of Simon whom our Saviour calleth a Divell Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a Divell For John 6. 70. Iames was a piller in Gods Church he was Bonarges the sonne of Thunder hee was a chiefe man in the Councell of Ierusalem hee was Bishop of Ierusalem and Paul answereth before The alliance and kindred of the Apostle Iude. him hee was with Christ at his transfiguration hee was one of the three at his passion hee was the brother of the Lord that is a kinsman unto Christ for he was the son of Marie Cleophas Sister to the Virgin Mary and so Christ cousin germane called his Brother Mat. 17. Mat. 26. Gal. 1. after the manner of the Hebrewes Mar. 3. 32. Behold thy Mother and thy Brethren seeke for thee without and Mat. 13. 55. Is not this the Carpenters Sonne is not his Mother called Mary and his Brethren Iames and Ioses and Simon and Iudas This Iudas is elsewhere called Thaddeus and Labbeus but hee graceth himselfe by this that hee was the Brother of Iames a Mat. 10. Iohn 6. 70. Iohn 12. 6. Act. 1. 18. rare Apostle not Iudas the traytor whom Christ as yee heard before called a Divell whom Saint Iohn calleth a thiefe whom Peter calleth an hangman who burst asunder but the Brother of Iames the sonne of Alpheus who wrote the Canonicall Epistle for there were two Iameses one the sonne of Zebedie Brother to Iohn the other the sonne of Alpheus Brother to Iude. Secondly Hee calleth himselfe the Brother of Iames to win more credit not to his person but to his Doctrine that all men might know that this Epistle was penned not by Iudas the traytor but by Iude the Brother of Iames the just and therefore might more reverently receive it and more religiously regard it Nam dictum clari hominis facile admittitur For the saying of an excellent man is easily admitted these are the causes why he calleth himselfe the Brother of Iames. And observe with me here that first hee glorieth of his Profession that hee was the servant of Iesus Christ before hee maketh any mention of his alliance For no kindred Fatherhood or Motherhood can grace us
Christ as though God did beseech you through us wee pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled unto God For hee hath made himselfe Iustification upon remission of sinnes and Christs righteousnesse imputed sinne for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God through him Remission of sinne is the first part of Reconciliation whereby the guiltinesse and punishment of our sinnes is removed from us by Christs sufferings For thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise againe the third day that Repentance and Remission of sinnes might bee preached in his name to all nations And Hee through Death hath destroyed him that had the power of Death that is the Divell and that hee might deliver all them which for feare of Death Hebr. 2. 14 15. were all their life time subject to bondage Yea it is Christ alone That Apoc. 1. 5. hath washed us from our sinnes with his bloud Yea His bloud it is that cleanseth us from all sinne 1 Iohn 1. 7. Imputation of righteousnesse is the other part of Reconciliation whereby by Christs righteousnesse being imputed unto us we appeare just and blamelesse before God our Father For by him wee have received the attonement And as by the offence of Rom. 5. 11 16. one the fault came on all men to condemnation So by the justifying of one the benefit abounded towards all men to the justification of life And Hee hath now reconciled us in the body of Col. 1. 22. his flesh through Death to make us holy and unblameable and without fault in the sight of God his Father Now againe of Remission and Imputation spring Iustification and Adoption For Being justified by Faith wee have Peace Rom. 5. 1. towards God through our Lord Iesus Christ For when the fulnesse of time was come God sent foorth his Sonne made of a woman and made under the Law that hee might redeeme them which were under the Law that wee might receive the adoption of Sonnes Iustification is that wherby we being delivered before God of the guiltinesse of sin are accounted just For Who shall lay any thing Rom. 8. 33. to the charge of Gods chosen It is God that justifieth who shall condemne As by one mans disobedience many are made sinners so by the obedience Rom. 5. 19. of one shall many also bee made righteous Adoption is that whereby wee are accounted Sonnes and heires of God For yee have not saith Paul received the spirit of Rom. 8. 15. bondage to feare againe but yee have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we crie Abba Father And hee further affirmeth That we are all the Sonnes of God by Faith in Christ Iesus From these two wee obtaine these two blessings First that all crosses turne to us to the best so saith the Apostle All Rom. 8. 28 things worke together for the best â—o them even them that are called of purpose For though hee visit 〈◊〉 sinnes with rods and our offences with scourges yet his loving kindnesse will hee never take from us nor suffer his truth to faile Secondly by Iustification and Adoption wee obtaine a chiefety or rule over all Creatures except Angels For so saith David Thou hast made him little lower than Angels and crowned him Psal 8. 5 6. with glory and worship Thou hast made him to have dominion in the Workes of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feete And the Sanctification in Mortification and viyification Sanctification imperfect in this life same also the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes affirmeth Now for Sanctification whereby God beginneth in us holinesse that hath two members Mortification to sinne and Resurrection to righteousnesse Mortification is the first part whereby the power of sinne is killed in us and of this Mortification Paul speaketh thus Our old man is crucified within that the body of sinne might bee destroyed that henceforth wee should not serve sinne And againe That Rom. 6. 6. Gal. 2. 19. I might live unto God I am crucified with Christ Resurrection unto righteousnesse is whereby sanctity holinesse is really inherent and begun in us and is increased dayly more and more For Wee are buried with Christ by Baptisme unto his death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of his Rom. 6. 4. Father So wee also should walke in newnesse of life These parts of Sanctification referred unto the Soule are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but referred to the Body they are called frustus seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fruits This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a renewing of all the faculties of the Soule a converting them from evill to good A bringing foorth of fruits worthy amendment of life And Luke 3. 8. this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath his Initium beginning comitem and his companion His beginning is is godly sorrow for whose heart Gods spirit doth touch is sorry for his sinnes committed against so mercifull a Father His Companion is a spirituall combate for the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5. 17. This Sanctification being the second principall part of our Redemption is the quallity whereby Gods spirit doth renew us and begin in us newnesse of life but it is not perfect absolute in us Paenitentia amor sequuntur noticiam nostram Repentance and Love follow our Knowledge but our knowledge is 1 Cor. 13. 9. but in part And this I note against the blasphemy of Osiander who saith that the essentiall righteousnesse of Christ is in us but the righteousnesse of Christ is without us not within us and is apprehended by Faith And therefore Pauls care was to bee found in him that is in Christ Not having saith Paul mine Phil. 3. 9. own righteousnes which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ even the righteousnesse which is of God through Faith For the righteousnesse whereby wee are justified is the meere imputation of Christs worke unto us and therefore this word Imputation is tenne times recited in one Chapter When a friend Rom. 5. of his owne goods and not of mine payeth debt that I owe that payment or satisfaction is mine it is imputed to mee when as yet it is the worke of my friend and none of mine After the same manner the righteousnesse of Christ is ours This righteousnesse therefore whereby wee are justified is Grace and not Nature Imputation not Essence it is a Communication of the benefit of Christ not a commixion of essence it is Holinesse is said in diverse senses an effect of the proper worke of Christ non substantia ipsa Christi not the very substance of Christ The other righteousnesse wherewith he sanctifieth us is but begun onely it is not absolute For as the Sunne shineth and as the fire warmeth us and yet doe not transferre their essence into us
in their Temples but barefooted The Indians kill their Children to the Zemes The Papists take great paines in their pilgrimages and fastings A condemnation to us that are so cold in Religion But will some say though we be not so earnest yet we love God and his truth I confesse that there be degrees in zeale All have not the like earnestnesse yet all must have some earnestnesse and fervencie of spirit some creepe some goe some runne some flie and all doe well that tend to perfection For wee must all forget that which is behind and endeavour our selves to that Phil. 3. 13 14. which is before and follow hard towards the marke for the price of the high calling which is in Christ Iesus some creepe like snailes some goe like horses some runne like dromedaires and some flie like Eagles and all doe well that doe their best to Godward Some creep like Agrippa who was almost perswaded to be a Christian Act. 26. 28. some goe in Religion like the Galathians Yee did runne well saith the Apostle but who did let you that yee did not obey the truth Some Gal. 5. 7. Psal 119. 32. runne like David I will runne saith he the way of thy Commandements when thou hast set my heart at libertie Some flie like Monicha volemus in Coelos volemus in Coelos Let us flie into heaven let us flie into heaven Christ riding to Ierusalem all strawed not carpets and coverlets in the way some strawed their garments some cried Hosanna All did their endeavours and hee that doth his best doth as much as God requireth For if there be a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to 2 Cor. 8. 12. Luk. 8 that he hath not All have not the like measure of zeale some have thirty some sixty some an hundred fold and hee that hath the All have not the same measure of zeale least zeale if it be in sinceritie it is not rejected of God A drop of water is water and a dramme of zeale is zeale Let every man strive to his power and doe that he may and God will accept it Saul slew his thousand and David his tenne thousands and both did valiantly Still I say that he that hath some heate must labour 1 Sam. 18. to have more wee must both shine and burne like Iohn the Baptist who was A burning and a shining candle Lucere parùm est Iohn 5. 35. ardere parùm est lucere ardere perfectum est To shine it is not enough to burne it is not enough but to shine and burne this is as it should be he that burneth a little like a sea-cole must burne more like the Iuniper that keepeth heate a moneth long Some shine like the glow-worme but have no heate some burne like rotten wood but have no light But a Christian must be like the Sunne at Noone-day which hath Magnum splendorem magnumque fervorem great shining and great heate Where the dead carcase is thither the Eagles resort Christi doctrina est cadaver nos aquilae Christ his doctrine is the carkase and wee be the Eagles Contendamus pro ea ut aquilae pro cadavere Let us strive for it as Eagles for the carkase Let us not as Iayes hop and skippe here below sed 〈…〉 but let us flie aloft like the Eagles Yet still I say with Ambrose Qui non potest volare ut aquila volet ut passer he that cannot soare as the Eagle to the circle of the Sunne let him flicker like a Sparrow to the house top If wee cannot with Paul set our feete in the third heaven yet let us lift up our eyes and hearts to heaven Let us strive in beleeving as 2 Cor. 12. the Nightingales doe in singing Qui priùs spiritum quà m vocem Strigelius amittunt that lose their breath before their voice So much for this that we must labour for the faith yea strive for it and that earnestly And now to the reasons why we must so labour and strive and the reasons be three The first taken from the Person of Iude and that three wayes First from his love good will towards them For he calleth them Beloved I love you I care for you I desire your salvation thus he shewes his love to winne them Now love asketh love and it pierceth a man much and deepely like an arrow out of the hand of a Giant when he seeth the partie that speaketh to speake in love then vulnera diligentis the wounds of a lover are better Prov. 28. 23. taken than oscula blandientis the kisses of a Flatterer Therefore Paul to perswade the Churches ever protested his love writing to the Church of Philippos he saith thus God is my record how I long after you all from the very heart roote in Christ Iesus And writing Phil. 1. 8. to the Church of Corinth he saith thus Yee are our Epistle written in our hearts not with inke but with the spirit of the living God not in 2 Cor. 3. 2 3. tables of stone but in the fleshly table of the heart And againe O yee Corinthians our mouth is open unto you our heart is made large yee Love ought to be the motiue in all actions are not kept straite in us but yee are kept straite in your owne bowels And having chidden the Corinthians saying Now are yee full now are yee made rich yee reigne as Kings without us and I would to God yee did reigne that wee also might reigne with you For I 2 Cor. 6. 11 12. 1 Cor. 4. 8 9 10. thinke that God hath set forth us the last Apostles as men appointed to death for wee are made a gazing-stocke unto the World unto Angels and unto Men. Wee are fooles for Christs sake and yee are wise in Christ Wee are weake and yee are strong Yee are honourable and wee are despised And though hee did thus taunt them yet hee protested that hee did it in love and therefore hee saith I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved children I admonish 1 Cor. 4. 14. Gal. 3. 1. you And though he spake roughly to the Galathians saying O ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you Yet hee did it not as one that hated them but as one that loved them and therefore hee saith in the subsequent Chapter Am I therefore become your enemy Gal. 4. 16. Ephes 4. 15. because I tell you the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us follow the truth in love and in all things grow up to him which is the head Let us pray in love not as Iames and Iohn did for fire to come downe from Luke 9. Heaven to destroy Samaria Let us argue in love not as the Ephramites did wiâ—h 〈…〉 fuerunt verbera whose Iudg. 8. words were nothing else but wounds Let us talke in love not as the men of Anathoth
man hath made to be esteemed but the bloud of Christ was so precious that as a Father saith Tanti quid valet what is Aug. of equall price with it The least drop of Christs bloud was of such value in regard of the person that it was able to redeeme tenne thousand worlds but lesse than Christs bloud could not redeeme one Soule And there were divers and sundry effusions of his bloud The first bloud he shed was at his Circumcision when hee was but De passione Dom. cap. 36. eight dayes old which S. Bernard cals Maturum martyrium a timely martyrdome to which end hee further addeth Vix natus est Coeli gloria Coeli divitiae deliciae dulcis Iesus ecce recenti ortui crucis dolor copulatur Scarce was sweet Iesus come into the world who was the Glory the Riches the Delight of Heaven but he underwent the painefulnesse of the Crosse The second effusion of bloud was in his Agony whereof Saint Bernard speaketh thus Ecce quam rubicundus quam totus rubicundus Behold how red and how wholly red hee is For Saint Luke affirmeth that his sweat was like Drops of bloud trickling downe to the ground The third effusion was at his whipping O cum quanta quantitate put as illum sanctissimum sanguinem è conscisso corpore flagellato distillassein terram Oh in what abundance thinke yee did the most sacred bloud of his powre downe from his torne and scourged body even to the ground The fourth effusion of bloud was when the crowne of thornes was despightfully clapt upon his head Nec hicputo defuisse rivos sanguinis saith Bernard nor can I thinke that at this time there wanted rivers of bloud The fifth and last effusion of bloud was upon the Crosse where his Hands and Feete and Side were pierced Quis unquaÌ„ tam gravia tam pudenda passus fuit who was ever thus cruelly Bern. and shamefully handled Contendunt passio charitas illa ut plus ardeat ista ut plus rubeat his passion and love did strive together that that it may be hotter this that it may bee the redder O suavissime universorum Domine c. O blessed Iesus the most gracious Lord and Saviour of all thy chosen how can I render thee As Christ gave himselfe for us so should we give our selves to him sufficient thankes For thy garment is dipt in bloud and the chastisement of my peace hath beene upon thee from the beginning of thy dayes unto thy death yea and after thy death Thus Christs bloud was often shed to redeeme us Heare this you that Apoc. 19. 13. make so small account of your soules and learne to esteeme them at a greater price Heare this you that are so carelesse of your sinnes and learne to shunne them as Hell heare wee this all of us and learne to be more thankefull to Christ for his benefits Persius wept when he saw a Toade and being asked why he wept hee answered that hee bewailed his ingratitude who served not the Lord that had made him a Man and not a Toade Christs face was buffeted his eyes were blinded his hands nayled his feet pierced his side launched that wee may give our eyes hands feet heart to Christ in his service that as wee have given our members weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sin so Rom. 6. 13. we should give our selves unto God as they that are alive from the dead and give our members as weapons of righteousnesse unto God Finely saith one O stulti cur Satanae in membris vestris servitis O yee fooles Why serve ye Satan in your members Ille non creavit non redemit non sanctificat nos non pascit nos hee hath not created us not redeemed not sanctified us nor feedeth us Quae haec insania Christum relinquere à quo omnia bona Diabolo servire qui est homicida what madnesse is this to leave Christ from whom we receive all good and to serve the Divell who is a murtherer Iohn 8. 44. Stultum est servire Diabolo qui nullo placatur obsequio It is a foolish thing to serve the Divell whom no obedience no service will content But the wicked shall one day curse these members that have served the Divell Vae vobis inquient pedes maledicti qui per gressus saltus illicitos me ad infernum traxistis woe to you shall Greg. they say cursed feet which by unlawfull leaping and dancing have drawne me to Hell Vae vobis manus rapaces woe to you ravenous hands Vae tibi cor maledictum woe to thee cursed heart which seldome or never thoughtest of God O cursed tongue which hath uttered so many obscene and filthy words O cursed eye which never sheddest teare for thy sinne and therefore many thousand yeares shalt thou weepe and no man shall pitty thee God challengeth both heart and body My sonne give mee thy heart Whereupon one descanteth very finely fili mi Mat. 22. 13. per creationem fili mi per redemptionem da mihi cor tuum per dilectionem Pro. 23. Holcot devotionem My Sonne by Creation my Sonne by Redemption give mee thy heart by Love and devotion And the same Author compareth Christ to a Falcon and hee saith thus Falconi volanticor datur pro mercede to the flying Falcon the heart of the Fowle shee taketh is given her for her reward this Falcon is Christ Ipse volavit de Coelo in uterum hee flew from Heaven into the Wombe of the Virgin out of the Wombe into the Manger out of the Manger into the World from the Christs passions ought to move us to dutifulnesse and thankefulnesse World unto the Crosse from the Crosse into the Grave from the Grave to Heaven againe Ergo cor vendicat pro praeda therefore hee challengeth â—hy heart for his prey And Saint Chrysostome that golden-mouthed Doctor bringeth in Christ thus speaking Ego propter vos factus sum homo propter vos ligatus propter Chrysost vos in patibulo mortuus ecce precium sanguinis quod pro vobis dedi ubi est ergo servitus vestra pro tanto pretio for your sakes I became man for your sakes was I bound for your sakes dyed I upon the Crosse Behold the price of bloud that I payed for you where is therefore your service and dutie for such a price your service to him that gave himselfe for you that hee might redeeme you Vide quid pro te patior vide dolorem cum Angelus venit de coelis ad consolandum vide clavos quibus confodior ad te clamo qui pro te morior See what I suffer for thy sake see my sorrow which was so great that an Angel from heaven was made to come to comfort mee See the nailes wherewith I was pierced and thrust through I crie to thee which died for thee c. A most elegant Prosopopeia What heart of flint
For not everie one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in Heaven 4 The fourth signe is a strife against sin For as the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit so doth the Spirit against the Flesh And they that are Christs Have crucified the Flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5. 17. 24. And hee that is elected will cry out with the Apostle O wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from the body of this death Rom. 7. 24. Meaning the corruption which yet remained The Law in our members which rebelleth they will tame and give no way to the motions of the flesh 5 The fifth and last signe is the reformation of our whole life a generall walking in the paths of righteousnesse holinesse as our election is knowne unto God from all eternity For the foundation of God remaineth sure and hath his seale The Lord knoweth 2 Tim. 2. 19. who are his so is it knowne to us by our workes and therfore wee are willed To give all diligence to make our election and calling sure by good workes if wee can so live that at the last when we 2 Pet. 1. 10. shall leave this World wee can say with Simeon Lord now lettest Luke 2. thou thy servant depart in peace It is an undoubted signe of our election Our election is perfected by many degrees Paul nameth three degrees of it Vocation Iustification and Glorification for so runne his words Those whom hee knew before hee predestinate and whom hee predestinate them also hee called and whom Rom. 8. 29 30. hee called them also hee Iustified and whom hee Iustified them also hee Glorified But others make other degrees The first to be Christs with his gifts 1 Cor. 3. Rom. 8. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Rom. 4. 25. Ephes 2. 10. 2 Tim. 4. 8. The second degree is our Adoption The third is our Vocation by the Gospell The fourth is Iustification The fifth is our Sanctification The sixth is our Glorification These are the signes of our election and this election is every God reprobateth in Iustice as well as elocteth in Mercy way free Never man layd hand on this worke never man brought stone to this building but all is from God and his Mercy Let us therefore throw downe our crownes with the Elders and let us say with David Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy name give the praise And if our reason cannot comprehend this our election Psal 115. 1. let our Faith comprehend it Vbi ratio definit sides incipit where Ambr. reason faileth faith beginneth Let our reason bee as Hagar our faith as Sara if reason will presume let Sara let faith take her downe a pegge The other part of Gods decree is Reprobation here named of Iude Of old ordained to condemnation Now whereas many grant election but not Reprobation Reprobation is proved by many places of Scripture Christ saith Every plant which my Heavenly Mat. 15. 13. Father hath not planted shall bee rooted up And Paul speaketh of Vessels of wrath ordained to destruction And Esay telleth us that Rom. 9. 22. Tophet is prepared of old it is prepared even for the King hee hath made Esa 30. 33. it deepe and large c. yet many are squeamish of Reprobation utterly denying it And Ierome was once of the minde hee said that God elected some but reprobated none Now if he deny all reprobation this must bee wrapped up amongst the rest of his errors Haec patrum pudenda tegi patior I love to hide these imperfections 1 Cor. 3. of the Fathers for they did not ever build gold upon the foundation but sometime hay and stubble c. Indeed God reprobates none but for sinne but for sinne he reprobates And thus God is righteous and his judgements just thus Christ divideth the whole world into two parts Corne and Tares Goats and Sheepe the Tares shall bee bound up in bundels and cast into the fire the Goats Mat. 13. 25. shall stand at Christs left hand and shall heare Goe yee cursed into everlasting Hell fire prepared for the Divell and his angels and marke that he saith prepared for the Divell and his angels If of five senses we want foure we cannot deny this Reprobation But what should I light a candle at noone-day or powre water into the Sea or bring the breath of a man to helpe the blast or gale of wind Magna est veritas praevalet great is truth and prevaileth for wee cannot doe any thing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor. 13. 8. Reprobation standeth with the glory of God for as his Mercy appeareth in Election so his Iustice in Reprobation and his Iustice in punishing sinne is as lawfull as holy as glorious as his Mercy in Christ Iesus For in God they are equall and not qualities but of the essence of God For hee is Iustice and Mercy it selfe God is not made of mercy only as a loafe is of Corne or wood of Trees but of Iustice also And Gods glory shineth as much in his Iustice as in his Mercy God hath made all things for his glory and the wicked for the day of vengeance Shall wee then reason against God and say Why doth he thus Absit God forbid Againe all the works of God have their contraries wherein God not the author of evil but the disposer the infinite Wisedome of God appeareth In Physicke one thing bindeth and another looseth one thing comforteth nature and another thing destroyeth it In the state of the World there is light and darkenesse hony and gall sweet and sowre prickes and roses faire and foule hearbes and weeds In the creation of the creatures every thing hath his contrary the Woolfe to the Sheepe the Weesell to the Cony the Mouse to the Elephant the Dragon to the Vnicorne the Spider to the Flie the Lion to the Beasts the Eagle to the Birds Againe in the Church there are contraries the Elect to the Reject Cain against Abel Ismael against Isaac Hagar against Sara Esau against Iacob Pharaoh against Moses Saul against David the Pharises against Christ the false god against the true God Againe all vertues have their contrary vices Falshood against Truth Hatred against Love Faith against Infidelity Temperancie against Riot Prudence against Folly Liberality against Covetousnesse Chastity against Incontinency Fortitude against Pusillanimity So God hath them that are elected to life and fore-written to judgement for in the whole state of the world God hath shewed himselfe the Authour of Iustice and Mercy If there were no Darkenesse wee should not know the benefit of Light If no sicknesse wee should not know the benefit of health If no death wee should not know the goodnesse of life So Hell makes the blisse of Heaven seeme the greater and this destruction of the wicked the
fell from Angels to Divels For their sinne of Apostacy was great it cryed to God for vengeance The Lord Iesus noteth this Apostacy in them to shew that their sinne was not by creation but by wilfull corruption Hereupon saith our Saviour to the Iewes You are of your father the divell and the lusts of your father doe yee he abode not in the truth It followeth then that Iohn 8 44. he was once in the truth and that he was not created evill This Apostacy in some case joyned with wilfulnesse and malice is not to be prayed for So saith Saint Iohn the Disciple whom Iesus loved If any man see his brother sin a sinne that is not unto death let him aske and he shall give life for them that sinne not to death There 1 Iohn 5. 16. is a sinne unto death I say not that thou shouldst pray for it Some Apostacies cannot be renewed For it is impossible that they which have been once lightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were Heb. 6. 4 5 6. made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and of the powers of the world to come If they fall away should be renewed by repentance seeing they crucifie againe to themselves the Sonne of God and make a mocke of him For certainely they that are Apostataes and sinne against the Holy Ghost hate Christ crucifie and mocke him but to their owne destruction and therefore fall into desperation and cannot repent Indeed there is no sin but by repentance may be forgiven but they that sinne against the Holy Ghost which some affirme to be Apostasia aut negatio Christi Apostacy or the denying of Christ it shall not be forgiven â—â—â—lla in Luc. 12. 10. Quia directè obviant principio per quod fit remissio peccatorum because they are directly and plainely opposite and contrary to that whereby remission of sinnes is obtained that is unto repentance And this is the cause saith Augustine why God hath redeemed men and not Angels for that they sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from within and of themselves maliciously and rebelliously man sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from without and by provocation And this is Christs death saves only men not Angels the cause saith Augustine why Moses wrote nothing of the fall of Angels he named not their wound because he would not name their medicine Sed hominis vulnus medicinam narravit but he hath shewed man his wound and medicine also for that Aug. lib. de mirab Script cap. 2. God would restore him againe Humanam ergo naturam non Angelicam sumpsit Christus quoth Athanasius therefore he tooke the nature of man not the nature of Angels according to that of Athanasius the Apostle He in no sort tooke the Angels but hee tooke the seed of Abraham Quia Angeli per se defecerunt à Deo because the Angels of themselves fell from God Therefore the promise of the Messiah was made onely to man not to Angels The grace of GOD that Tit. 2. 11. bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared Grace saveth men not Angels For these Angels that fell have no benefit by Christs death he came not to save them for their sinnes are not pardonable But the cause of mercy I leave to God onely the father of mercies These are but conjectures of Augustine and Athanasius In the meane time Dorbels reasons are too weake to prove that men shall bee punished in hell more deeply than these Angels that fell His first reason is Quia Deus nunquam pro illis passus est ut pro nobis that God never suffered so much for them as for us His second reason is Quia Angeli pro uno tantum peccato puniuntur nos saepe deliquimus the Angels fell by one sinne only man by many sinnes hee offendeth oft His third reason is Quia daemones sunt spiritus tantum nos autem corpore anima peccamus that the bad Angels the Divels be spirits onely but men have both bodies and spirits But these reasons are vanishing as the untimely dew unsavoury as the white of an egge brittle as the webbe of a spider Hee spake as Phormio spake before Hannibal Rem magis delirantem nunquam legi I never read a more doating thing But to proceed my meaning is not that all Apostacy is sinne against the Holy Ghost for every Apostacy is not uncurable every fall of man is not damnable as the fall of Angels yet it is dangerous for he that settetb his hand to the plough and looketh back Luke 9. 62. is not fit for the Kingdome of God And Christ said to the sicke man Behold thou art made whole sinne no more lest a worse thing happen unto Iohn 5. 14. thee Thus all Apostacy is dangerous though not damnable for if damnable what shall become of the godly themselves for they often fall from the Lord slide backe and decrease in the graces of God They keepe not their first estate which was the sinne of the Angels Ephesus lost her first love but I would our Church were like it for Ephesus hated the evil wee hate the good Apoc. 2. 4. they examined the false Apostles wee examine none they suffered Luke 12. 45. persecution we persecute others we smite our fellow servants Iulian the Christian is become Iulian the Apostata and Simon Peter is become Simon Magus Ioseph is become Pharoah grapes are turned into thornes figs into thistles Lambes into Lions and Doves There must be a perpetuall growth in grace and goodnesse into Serpents We are fallen from our first love every day lesse and lesse zealous lesse and lesse loving lesse and lesse religious than heretofore we have been Memento Anglia memento Norfolcia unde excideris Remember England remember Norfolke whence thou art fallen Revertere revertere Returne returne saith the Lord Ier. 3. 14. for I am your Lord and will bring you to Sion Let us follow the counsell of the Wise man In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening Eccles 11. 6. let not thine hand rest that is increase in goodnesse doe good in Gal. 6. 6. thy youth doe good in thine age yea doe good at all times be not weary of sowing be not weary of working the seed-time is nothing the harvest is all in all To doe good in youth is nothing to doe well in middle age is nothing but to continue in old age to the last gaspe is piety indeed When a righteous man saith the Prophet turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth Ezech. 18. 26. iniquity he shall even dye for the same hee shall even die for his iniquity that he hath committed aswell may we drowne in the Havens mouth as in the middest of the boisterous Sea aswell may wee fall through the peevishnesse of age as through the lusts and concupiscence of youth Of many it may be
whose hands are full of blood The Drunkard whose body is as the swill-tub the irreligious person that seldome prayeth seldome giveth thankes or heareth Gods Word Quaeres quae spes quoad animi solatium hisce What hope of heaven and happinesse can these men have how thinke they to escape this fire of hell Scientes prudentes vivi videntesque pereunt knowing understanding alive and seeing they shall perish GOD shall raine upon them snares fire brimstone this shall bee their portion to Psal 11. drinke So much for the first punishment of the reprobate Fire The second punishment of the reprobate is eternall fire fire and eternity of fire All paines here have an end but the paines of hell have no end Whereupon Augustine Miseris erit mors fine morte finis sine fine defectus sine defectu c. To these miserable Aug. lib. de Spiritu anima cap. 56. wretches there shall be a death without death an end without end a decay without decay because their death shall ever live and their end shall ever begin and their decay knoweth not how to decay death shall presse them but not extinguish them sorrow shall torment them and not drive away their feare the fire shall burne them and not consume them nor yet dispell their darkenesse for in this fire is obscuritie darkenesse and in this obscurity and darkenesse feare and trembling and in this combustion and burning sorrow they shall alwaies suffer torment and alwayes shall feare because they shall be tormented without hope of pardon If after so many thousand yeeres as Eternity of torments in hell aggravate misery they have haires on their heads they might have an end of their torment there were some hope and they might indure those torments more quietly but because they have no hope that ever their paines shall be either eased or ended desperatione deficiunt they faile they faint and quaile thorow despaire Et ad tormenta non sufficiunt and they are no way able to indure those torments Ibi erit tortor semper caedens there shall be a tormentor ever beating them Et vermis semper corrodens and a worme alwayes gnawing them Etignis semper comburens a fire alwayes burning them For their worme shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched sinnes shall bee detected and the sinnes shall be punished Esa 66. 24. and that for ever they shall see divels but not God Quod est omnium meseriarum miserrimum which of all miseries is most miserable For if Absalom tooke it so grievously that hee 2 Sam. 14. 32. was banished his Fathers presence and could not see his face how grievously shall the Reprobate be afflicted to be banished Gods presence and not to see his face for they shall be punished with eternall perdition from the presence of God and glory 2 Thes 1. 9. of his power But to follow this point a little further all men in misery comfort themselves with hope of an end the prisoner with hope of a gaole-delivery the mariner with hope of arrivall the souldier with hope of victory the prentise with hope of liberty the gally-slave with hope of ransome onely the poore caitiffe in hell hath no hope he shall have end without end death without death night without day morning without mirth sorrow without solace bondage without liberty Let fire and eternall fire move us common fire is quenched with water wilde fire with milke and vinegar but hell fire is not quenched their worme dyeth not and the fire never goeth out And Mar. 9. 44. why should not wee beleeve this seeing that their is a certaine stone in Arcadia called Asbestos which being once kindled never goeth out never can be quenched If this be in a stone how much more in the power of God This earthly fire except it be nourished with wood and other combustible matter will out but the fire of hell never goeth out it alwaies burneth and never ceaseth The reason is because our fire is not In loco proprio in his proper place sed violenta but in a violent The fire of hell is in his proper place for the breath of the Lord kindleth it We Greg in moralibâ—â— see Aetna to burne alwayes for it hath burnt from the beginning of the world and still doth burne why should not then hell fire burne alwayes and why should not we beleeve that men shall alwayes live in the fire of hell seeing wee see and know the Salamander to live in the fire If this may be by the power of nature why may not that by the power of God The paines of hell be such that all the Arithmetitians in the world cannot number them nor all the Geometritians measure them The terrours of hell should deterre from sinne nor all the Rhetoritians expresse them Quid hora ad diem c. saith one what is an houre to a day a day to a month a month to a yeere a yeere to a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres to eternity Mathuselah lived almost a thousand yeeres but the yeeres that are past are nothing we have nothing of time but that which is present The Pigmaeans lived onely seven yeeres never reached unto eight yeeres And their be certaine creatures bred and borne at the river Hispanis that live but a day in the morning they are bred and brought forth at noone they are at their full strength at night they make their end and are gone compare our yeeres with eternity and wee are in the same state and condition The reason of this endlesse punishment is the infinite Majesty of God words against common persons beare but common actions against noble men they be Scandala magnatum against Princes they be treason so the person of God aggravateth the sinne If any aske then how Christs death could satisfie the justice of God seeing it was not eternall I answer that he did it thorow the excellency of his Person and the perfection of his merits The remembrance of these paines in hell will drive away the remembrance of sinne as the Adamant is contrary to the Loadstone and suffereth it to draw no iron to it behold the weight of hell paines in Christ How sweat he how cryed he Deus meus deus meus quare dereliquisti me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How did teares of blood trickle from him If hell paines were so grievous unto him what will they be to us Onely this difference is betwixt Christ and us that hee sustained all mens sinnes wee but our owne sinnes our paine therefore not so great as his but yet of greater and longer continuance his was but temporall ours eternall if we repent not We must suffer the vengeance of eternall fire The remembrance of fire and eternall fire swalloweth up all our cogitations How can our hearts endure or how can our hands be strong in that day When the Lord shall have to doe with us the
things which yee heare and have not heard them Luke 10. 23 24. But to proceed if it bee a sinne to raile in ignorance how execrable is it when it is in knowledge then it is a double sinne as in Iulian the Apostata who said of the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He knew the Scriptures hee had read the Scriptures but he despised them and therfore the Church never pray'd for him but against him So Chrysostome speaking of certain Hereticks called Anomaies saith Hanc arborem haereseos nec Paulus plantavit nec Apollo rigavit nec Deus auxit neither have Paul Chrys planted this tree of heresie nor Apollo watered it nor God encreased it sed plantavit superbia rigavit invidia but Pride planted it A shame for a Christian to bee ignorant of Christianity and Envy watered it they sinned in knowledge not in ignorance they said that they knew God as well as God knew himselfe And as these Anomaies went to farre one way so did the Sceptickes another way they doubted of all things Num Chrisippus homo esset an formica whether Chrisippus were a man or a pismire whether snow is white or blacke For Satan is ever in his contraries All Arrianisme came from pride in knowledge not ignorance alone Arrius seeing Alexander preferred before him denied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ the consubstantiality against his own conscience and his end was accordingly for as he was a disputing being provoked to the stoole in exonerating nature hee poured out all his bowels and so hee dyed These men had need say Pone ostium labiis set a doore before my lips The Pharisees also knew Christ yet railed on him they called him Fabri filium the Carpenters Sonne a man of new learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 141. a drunkard a worker by the Divell a deceiver therefore they were farre from mercy and many sinned In spiritum sauctum against the holy Ghost Lastly the Divell sinned thus for it could not be ignorance they being by creation Angels of light Mat. 13. Mar. 2. Mat. 12. Iohn 7. he fell upon mere envy in knowledge whereupon Billius in his Anthologiâ maketh the comparison betweene him and Christ Ille voluit esse supra Angelum Hee would be above an Angell Sed hic infra hominem but Christ beneath a man and therefore he became a scorne of men yea the very outcast of all people Ille coelum dedignatus est he disdained Heaven but Christ disdained not to walke on the earth Ille omnibus hominibus invidit hee envied all men and would have them to perish but Christ Loved 1 Tim. 2. 4. all and would have all to be saved but this malice of Satan could not be in ignorance but in knowledge But to returne most men raile in ignorance they are like unto Herpasta Socrates shee foole that having lost her eyes did not beleeve that shee was blind but thought the house to be darke So we are blind and yet will not see it it is nothing to name the tenne Commandements the Lords prayer the twelve Articles of faith the two Sacraments but to understand them We raile on Catechising for that wee understood it not Acts 8. 30. I say to thee as Philip said to the Eunuch when he heard him read the Prophecie of Esaias Vnderstandest thou what thou readest Even so understandest thou what thou prayest beleevest receivest Christianus sine scientia est sicut navis sine remis A Christian without knowledge is like a ship withovt sailes rudder ancker cable c. or like a bird without wings or like a tree without Iohn 3. 19 rootes or a purse without mony This is the condemnation of the World that men love darkenesse more than light and why so their deedes are evill They shall one day cry out in Hell Wee have erred from the way of truth the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us the Sunne of understanding rose not up upon us Wee have wearied our Ignorance the cause of distruction selves in the way of wickednesse and destruction and wee have gone through dangerous wayes but wee have not knowne the way of the Lord. Men are not ignorant for want of teaching but for want of learning Wisd 5. 6 7. 13. wee will not learne there wee shall say Assoone as we were borne wee beganne to draw an end and have shewed no token of Vertue but are consumed in our owne wickednesse If wee should live so long as Methnsalah who lived nine hundred sixty nine yeeres it may be we would have more knowledge for the World but no more for God we have sold our selves with Ahab to doe wickedly the dayes will come that we shall say as Iacob said Surely Gen. 5. ca. 28. 16 the Lord was in this place and I was not aware The Lord was here but I was not aware of it hee spake to me and I heard him not hee offered his grace to me and I regarded it not his Sunne shined and I beheld it not And now it is night and I cannot walke death commeth and I cannot worke their bones shall lie downe in the graves full of ignorance blindnesse poperie Iohn 12. Qualis enim vita finis ita For as thy life is so is thy death Thy bones are full of the sinne of thy youth and it shall lie downe with thee in the Dust And Paul is peremptory namely That God will render Iob 20. 11. 2 Thess 1. 8. vengeance unto them that doe not know him The wicked seeing the elect in Heaven shall say to God as Esau said to Isaac Hast thou but one blessing my Father blesse me even me also my Father But it will be too late their blessing shall be turned into a cursing Nay Iude chargeth them further that they abused themselves in that they knew not like the Doctors of Ephesus of whom Paul reporteth thus They would be Doctors of the Law and yet understand 1 Tim. 1. 7. not what they speake neither whereof they affirme And also in that they knew For saith Iude Whatsoever things they know naturally as beasts which are without reason in those things they corrupt themselves so that every way they are vile and miserable as Apoc. 3. 17. Some things they knew naturally as beasts that know sweet from sowre good from evill meat from poyson The wicked know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the formall things but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mysteries in Christ Hereupon saith Paul We speake the Wisedome of God in a mysterie even the hid Wisedome whereof 1 Cor. 2. 14. the wicked have no saving understanding The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can hee know them because they are not spiritually discerned They savor not the things that are of God as Christ said to Peter Come behind
me Satan thou art on offence unto me because thou understandest not the things that are of God but of Men. Where let mee distinguish Mat. 16. of knowledge that there is a naturall knowledge and a spirituall knowledge the first of these the Apostle calleth the Wisedome of the flesh the second the Wisedome of the spirit the Rom. 8. 6. end of the first is death the end of the second life and peace The reason hee setteth downe also saying The Wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed The naturall man come short of beasts in use of his knowledge can bee c. Many know naturally like beasts and no more like horses and mules that have no understanding The naturall knowledge saith par pari referto offer like to like an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth but spirituall knowledge Mat. 5. 38. Rom. 12. saith Bonum malo rependite Recompence good for evill So did the Apostles 2. Cor. 4. Naturall knowledge saith Enjoy the pleasures that are present as said the gallant of the World Wisd 2. the other saith flye from the lusts of youth as Paul 2 Tim. 2. charged his Scholer Timothy Naturall knowledge saith give us that which is present let God alone with that which is to come as the Epicures said A living Dogge is better than a dead Lion the other saith Give mee the things that are above where â—â—cl 9. 4. Col. 3. 2. Christ sitteth at the right hand of God The one saith that it is good sleeping in a whole skinne as Peter said Master favour thy Mat. 16. Mat. 5. 10. selfe the other saith Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur Blessed are they that suffer persecution c. Yea naturall men know not oftentimes so much as beasts Beasts know them that give them meat as doe Oxen and Asses but men doe not So saith the Prophet The Oxe knoweth his owner Esa 1. 3. and the Asse his masters cribbe but Israel hath not knowne my people hath no understanding Beasts know how to provide for themselves as doe pismyres For in the plentie of Sommer Prov. 6. Luke 15. they provide for the dearth of Winter Men doe not but spend all like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prodigall Sonne Beasts know the time of their trouble as the Crane the Storke and the Turtle so saith Ieremy The Storke in the ayre knoweth her appointed times the Turtle Ier. 8. 7. Luke â—9 42. and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming Men doe not as is said of Ierusalem that shee knew not the time of her visitation Beasts feare their proper adversary and that will hurt them as the Sheepe the Wolfe the Lion the Fire the Ambr. Elephant the Mouse the serpent the Iron the Faulkon the Eagle Men doe not but joyne with Satan and will not know the truth That they may come to amendment out of the snare of the Divell which are taken of him at his will Beasts know their evils their remedies 2 Tim. 2. 26. the Adder being sicke seeketh serpentine grasse the Dogge being sicke seekth trifolie the Swallow caelidine the Hart dictanie the Beare pismyres the Ape moaths But men seeke for nothing that may doe them good in this life and in the World to come Christ said that Ninive and the Queene of the South should rise in judgement and condemne the Iewes but I say Mat. 12. that beasts shall condemne us in the day of judgement For they know more by the instinct of nature than wee by doctrine O miseri O miserable men that wee are that beasts shall condemne us like Balaams Asse his master And could they speake now as Ascanius his Popenjaie and Augustus Parat spake Numb 22. they would speake against us And yet all spirituall knowledge is not profitable For the Beastly minded men like beasts learned distinguish it into a knowledge of judgement and knowledge of election and choyce A knowledge of judgement is a bare knowledge of good from evill as in the idolaters Who when they knew God glorified him not as Rom. 1. 21. cap. 2. 23. God In the Iewes Which knew the Law and gloried in the Law and yet through breaking of the Law dishonoured God In the Cretians They did professe they knew God but by their workes they did deny him being abbominable disobedient and unto every good worke reprovable Tit. 1. 16. A knowledge of choyce is to doe good the one is Scientia the other is Conscientia When the Gospell the word of truth is fruitfull from the day we heard of it and when our conversation is such as becommeth the Gospell of Christ Iesus It is Col. 1. 6. Mat. 23. 3. one thing to know another thing to know truely Praedicant multi de virtute non habent Many preach of Vertue and have it not praise it and love it not For with the Pharisees they say but doe not Lastly he compareth them to beasts for in many things the wicked are as beasts if not worse by creation little inferiour to the Angels by convesation much inferiour to bruit beasts For the Oxe doth know his owner the Asse his masters cribbe but Israel Psal 8. 4. Esa 13. Mat. 7. 6. Luk. 13. hath not knowne my people saith God hath no understanding Christ compareth carelesse men to Swine hee called Herod a Foxe Paul calleth false teachers Woolves Peter calleth adulterers Dogs that returne to their vomit Act. 20. 9. 2 Pet. 2. Luke 3. 7. Ier. 2. 2. Soph. 3. Psal 5. 8. Iohn calleth the Pharisees Vipers Ieremy compareth the Iewes to Dromedaries and wild Asses Sophonie calleth Tyrants Lions David compareth the contemners of his word to Adders Man should beare the Image of God therefore saith the Apostle Put on the new man which after God is shapen in righteousnesse Ephes 4. 24. and true holinesse In deed we ough to put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of the Almighty but most men doe not Well therefore said a learned man that the proud beare the image of a Lion the greedy of a Woolfe the subtile of a Foxe the ignorant of a horse and mule the voluptuous of a Dromadary or wilde Asse the Apostata of a Dogge Esay hath a notable Prophecie insinuating that many men by nature are beasts but by grace they are cured tamed and made good Where note by the way that there be divers kinds Esa 11. 6. of wicked men though all agree in evill and meete in one place that is Hell yet they differ in the kinds of evill all are not alike yet all hurtfull Some are stout as Lions some greedy as Woolves some cruell as Beares some spightfull as Aspes some ravenous as Leopards some hurt by pricking some by stinking Worse to be beastly than to be a beast some
Woe be to them that joyne Esa 5. 8. to house and lay field to field till there be no place that they may bee placed by their selves in the middest of the earth And againe Esay 30. 1. Woe to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take councell and Esa 30. 1. not at mee and cover with a covering but not by my Spirit c. And Habakuk 2. 9. Woe be to him that coveteth an evill covetousnesse to his Hab. 2. 9. house that he may set his nest on high and escape from the power of evill And Amos 6. 1. Woe to them that are at ease in Sion and trust in the mountaine of Samaria And Luke 6. 24. Woe bee to you that are Amos 6. rich for yee have received your consolation And Saint Iames saith Luke 6. 24. Iam. 5. 1 2 3. Plorate divites Goe to now ye rich men weepe and howle for the miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupt your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire And no marvell though so many woes are threatned against this sinne of covetousnesse for it is the originall of all sinne committed against God or man Against God the covetous man maketh gold his hope and saith to the wedge of Gold Thou art my confidence His Oxen his wealth his Iob 31. 24. riches is his creator redeemer and sanctifier his God the Father his God the Sonne his God the Holy Ghost His Creator for when he gets abundance of riches he thinks himselfe made but when by some accident he loseth a yoake of Oxen or some other temporall thing hee thinkes himselfe undone The Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth is not his Creator he sings that old song Sol re me fa sola res me facit only his wealth makes him God the Sonne is not his Redeemer his money delivers him from evill Hath he escaped any danger He thankes not God he thankes his gold Is he like to fall into any mischiefe hee puts his trust in his uncertaine riches Soule thou hast much goods in store take thy rest Luke 12. The Holy Ghost is none of his Sanctifier Ille sanctior qui ditior he is best that hath most he is good enough that hath gold enough goods enough And as covetousnesse is hatefull to God so is it to men Avarus nemini bonus sibi verò pessimus hee is good to none but worst to himselfe for covetousnesse exposeth the heatt to all manner of lothsome sinnes for the divell hath the covetous alwayes upon Covetousnesse makes uncapable of all the eight beatitudes the hip as we speak that is ever at such advantage that he will be sure to overthrow him for whatsoever sinne hee will have him to commit let him but hollow and cast up the lure of commodity he stoopes presently and falls upon it Would ye have him lye promise him but profit and he will tippe his tongue with lyes Will ye have him forsweare himselfe shew him but a commodity use silver perswasions he will pollute the name of God with a thousand othes Would ye have him murther shead blood the glistring shew of gold will make him wade up to the chin in a streame of blood This mercinary souldier doth never thinke himselfe too good for any service the Divell will command him Covetousnesse is the Divels great Ordnance wherewith he hath battered the wals of mens consciences as it is most pittifull to consider yea and farther a man may fall into other sinnes and repent for them but this sinne of covetousnesse is like the harlot a deepe and a narrow ditch and like the wicked woman Prov. 23. 27. Prov. 5. that Salomon calls more bitter than death whose heart is as nets and snares and her hands as bands to keepe a man fast in the ward and prison of the divell For whosoever is overtaken with this sin cannot set one step to heauen his couetous desires are as lead to pull him downe Yee know that our Saviour hath Mat. 5. 3 4 c. eight beatitudes The first to be poore in spirit The second to mourne inwardly The third to be meeke The fourth to hunger and thirst after righteousnesse The fifth to be mercifull The sixth to be pure in heart The seventh to be a peace maker The eighth to suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake These are the steps and stayres to bring men to Heaven and and therefore so long as men be covetous it is impossible for them to come there First poore in spirit he cannot be for he so feareth purse-poverty that he feeles not the misery into which the fall of Adam and his owne sinnes have cast him Secondly he cannot mourne for his sinnes for worldly sorrow and vexation doe turne the streame of weeping quite another way Thirdly he cannot be meeke in spirit for the Spirit of God calls him a trouble-house saying Hee that is greedy of gaine troubleth Prov. 15. 27. his owne house and it is impossible that his heart should bee mâ—eke and quiet when hee cannot suffer his owne house so to bee Fourthly for hungring and thirsting after righteousnesse it cannot be that his appetite should stand that way for the dogs-hunger and the dropsie-thirst of wealth doth so gnaw and torment his The covetous subiect to all the curses contrary to the eight beatitudes soule that hee makes no account of CHRISTS righteousnesse Fifthly to bee mercifull stands not in any sort with his profession to open his heart to pitty and his purse to relieve a poore man he thinkes will undoe him a piece of money goes from him as a drop of blood from him heart with griefe and sorrow enough Sixthly Pure in heart hee cannot be for he that hath the root of all evill in his heart cannot have a pure heart Seventhly he is no peacemaker crosse him in his penny and he will trouble all the world for all the world can tell that covetousnesse is the father mother and nurse of most debates and strifes that are in the world covetousnesse wil not lose a penny he will give the Lawyer a pound first Eighthly the covetous man will never suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake his goods are his god and if he come to those termes that he must either leave riches or righteousnesse 't is righteousnesse that hee will forsake before riches the world is his Mistresse hee must embrace her then farewell righteousnesse So that now a man may very truely turne the speech of our Saviour against the covetous man and say Cursed be the covetous for he is not poore in spirit and therefore the kingdome of Hell is his Cursed be the covetous for he cannot mourne for his sinnes but for his losses onely therefore hee shall never bee comforted Cursed be the covetous for he is not meeke but froward
quà m anima dissimulans coram Deo Angelis A dead dogge sauoureth lesse in our noses then a dissembling soule an hypocrite doth in Gods and therefore Let death seaze upon them let them goe downe quicke into the grave for wickednesse is in Psal 55. 15. their dwellings even in the middest of them But in that he compareth us to trees it is to teach us that God will come take an account of our fruit A grievous day it will be when he shall say to these hypocriticall professors Where is prayer knowledge godly conference meditation instruction of your families education of your children love of religion The greater part of Christians hypocrites zeale of my glory When hee shall say Why stand these vineyards and yeeld no grapes why hangeth this ivy-bush here and there is no wine why stand these trees and yeeld no fruit what doe these starres in heaven and yeeld no light why doe these husband-men occupie my farme and pay no rent He will command the clouds to raine no raine upon these vineyards he will Esa 5. 7. Luk. 13. cut downe these trees and burne them he will destroy these husband-men let out his vineyard to other husband-men which shall deliver him the fruits in their seasons When God shall aske for fruits we may say as the woman said of her accusers Lord they are gone either wee never had any or else they are lost Mat. 21. 41. either our brests never had milke or else like dry nurses we have lost our milke either our candles never had light or else are out Iohn 8. 1 Pet. 2. Hebr. 12. either we never had any birth-right or else with Esau wee have sold our birth-right either we never had zeale or else it is quenched like the fire on the Altar in the Babylonicall captivity We heare the word we communicate but where is private praier private conference private meditation private instruction of our families We professe Religion we come to the Church we heare the Word for shew only for fashion only of custome not of conscience Dagon of the Philistines and the Arke of God is all one to us the temple of Salomon and the temple of Rimmon is all one the service of God and the worship of Diana is all one Sion and Samaria Ierusalem and Ierico the Gospeland the Masse to us are both alike Satan may say to us as he did unto the Monke who had his portise in one hand and his harlot in the other Parùm refert atraque enim via ducit ad interitum it is no matter both wayes lead to hell and to destruction so it is not matter whether we professe the Gospell or not so long as wee professe it so coldly and so carnally so hypocritically so dissemblingly both are naught both damnable Our carnall gospelling first tooke King Edward from us then Queene Elizabeth from us then King Iames I pray God at the last it take not the Gospell from us and our Soveraigne from us It is monstrous for trees to stand seven and seven yeeres yea forty fifty nay sixty yeeres and more and to yeeld no fruit For us to live long in the Church and to doe no good Devide the world into an hundred parts scarce one is Christendome and that one devide into tenne and scarce one is sincere voide of hypocrisie Oh remember that yee are washed with the water of Baptisme that yee have God for your Father the Church for your mother that yee have beene fedde with the milke of the Gospell instructed in the Word of God fed with the bread of Angels with sacramentall bread and will yee yet live like Ethnicks like Pagans like Turkes like infidels and like hypocrites yet most men so live For what forbidden fruit will they not eate Iudgements denounced against hypocrisie with Adam What Babylonish garment will they not take with Achan What usury with Zacheus and what Naboths vineyard will they not covet with Ahab what sinne is there which they can commit but they have committed they bee trees indeed but bad trees without fruit and therfore two things hath God prepared for them a sharp axe and a quicke fire For every tree Mat. 3. that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewne downe and cast into the fire And Saint Iude tells us that these trees be twice dead and plucked up by the rootes dead in worke and deed and inword dead tam in ramis bonorum operum aswell in the boughes of good workes quà m in radicibus fidei as in the rootes of faith twice dead because according to the flesh they be most corrupt and according to the soule most perverse twice dead dead to God dead unto the world both in this world and in the world to come Augustine maketh three deaths the death of the soule the death of the body the death of both body and soule called the second death the first death is here meant But to draw unto a Conclusion If hypocrisie be a sinne so odious and seeing that hypocrites be as clouds without raine as starres without light as trees without fruit and shal be sharply Apoc. 20. 1. punished and pulled up by the rootes Let us stedfastly cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart and let us abandon hypocrisie that we may please the Lord and let us reject dissimulation that we may be blessed and let us not presume to carry the name of Christ without sincerity and godlinesse of conversation THE FOVRE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XIII To whom is reserved blacknesse of darkenesse for ever Hell torments set out by divers names YEE heard before of their sinnes as namely of their Epicurisme in that they did eate and drinke without feare feeding themselves then of their pride in that they were like the waves of the sea swelling high lastly of their hypocrisie in that they were as cloudes that promise raine and had nothing but drynesse in them in that they were as trees that promise fruit and yet they had nothing but leaves And now in these words hee commeth to their punishment and their punishment is that blacknesse of darkenesse is reserved for them for evermote Whereby hee meaneth Hell fire Hell paines For there the Sunne never shineth the Moone and Starres never give light Hell is diversly called by the holy Ghost who taketh great paines in this matter and all to drive us from sin and wickednes He calleth Hell A place for divels Mat. 25. Mat. 18. 8. Mark 9. 2 Thes 1. 8. Psal 11. Vnquenchable fire A worme that ever gnaweth Flaming fire Fire and brimstone A river of hot brimstone All sufferings here but shadowes and beginning of sorrowes A Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone A second death The wine-presse of Gods wrath Damnation of body and soule Esa 30. Apoc. 19. 20. Apoc. 20. Apoc. 14. 19. Mat. 10. 2. 9. Cap. 22. 13. Vtter darkenesse And here in
iratus foris mundus ardens intus conscientia urens Anselmus Thinke thou seest all this goe a little out of thy selfe and meditate a little of these sorrowes thinke upon Cain Achitophel Iudas c. thinke thou seest their eyes distill like fountaines their teeth clatter like armed men their mindes contemplating endlesse misery their memories recounting their damnable iniquities their eyes beholding Legions of uncleane spirits their eares hearing the roarings of fiends their noses smelling Sulphur and brimstone their hands catching nothing but flames of fire thinke a little of this nay thinke continually of this For so Chrysostome would have us in all our meetings to speake of nothing but of hell of this blacknesse of darkenesse that so by a Christian course of life we may avoid it for the paine of the damned is so great as a man would not undergoe it an houre for ten thousand worlds and the damned would give ten thousand worlds if it were in them for to give for one houres release of these torments But to follow this a little further If Christ suffering for the sinnes of the world felt such an extremity of torment that hee was like water powred out that all his bones were out of ioynt that his heart was as melting waxe that his strength was dried up like a potsherd and that his tongue did cleave to his iawes Psal 22. 14 15. Againe if his torment was such as that hee did not sweate water only but water and bloud and was in such an Agony that an Angell from heaven was sent to comfort him Luk. 23. If his teares and sorrowes were such that there was but one word betweene him and desperation crying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. then what are the paines of the damned O brethren the paines of hell are the whole weight of Gods wrath If the weight of Gods finger bee so great when he striketh us with collicks with gowtes with plurisies with Apoplexies There be all torments in hell of all sorts of all partes c. O what is the weight of his whole hand If his wrath be kindled yea but a little it taketh on like the fire and maketh the hard rocks cleave asunder at the sound of it what will it doe then when it is kindled totally There bee many plagues and torments in this life which make a man to wish with Iob that his mothers wombe had been his grave Iob. 3. Now if a litle griefe be so great in this life what shall bee their griefe when the streames of Gods wrath shall fall upon them How fearefull have Gods iudgements beene against sinne in this life How grievous was the burning of Sodom Gen. 19. how fearefull the swallowing up of Corah Dathan and Abiram Numb 16. how lamentable the destruction of Ierusalem What a grievous sight was the burning of this towne How fearfull are those plagues that God menaceth Levit. 26. Deuter. 28. If Gods iudgements against sinne in this life be so grievous how grievous will his iudgements bee in the life and world to come when the wicked shall lie in hell like sheep and death shall devoure them Againe to see the Iustice of God against Apoc. 9. sinne gather it by this argument as men that use to take the length of one arme by another looke how great the mercy of God is so is his iustice great in pardoning great in punishing If in this life the punishment of God be so grievous what will they be in the life to come For here iustice is mixed with mercy what shall it bee when there shall be iudgement without mercy Iam. 3. The Schoolemen affirme that in hell there is Ignis ardoris foetoris terroris ardoris as in mount Aetna foetoris as in mount Egla terroris as in America and in India and certainly all those are in hell Tophet is prepared of old it is prepared for the King it is made large and deep the burning thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of Esa 30. 33. the Lord is a river of brimstone to kindle it Another Schooleman speaking of these torments saith that there is first bonds Take him saith the Gospell bind him hand and foot Luk. 12. Secondly there is darkenesse cast him into utter darkenesse Mat. 22. Thirdly intollerable heate and stinch and therefore it is called a lake burning with fire and brimstone Apoc. 19. Fourthly sequestration from Gods presence Goe yee cursed into everlasting hell fire Mat. 25. Fifthly Thirst Father Abraham send Lazarus that he may dippe the tip of his finger in water to coole c. Luk. 16. Sixthly vision of Divels Mat. 25. Seventhly the howling of the damned Eighthly deprivation of all heavenly ioyes and at last he concludeth that there be all torments in hell For as the Painter being vnable to set out the sorrowes of Niobe was enforced to wrap up her head in a cloute So this Schooleman being unable to set out the torments of hell he is faine to wrap up his speech with all torments There be all torments in hell Other Schoolemen doe distinguish the paines of Hell and Paines in hell double Poena damni poena sensus they say there is Poena sensus poena damni of this paine of sense Gregorie speaketh thus Vae illis quibus paratus est ignis inextinguibilis dolor intolerabilis foetor incomparabilis timor horribilis ubi nil audietur nisi fletus luctus nil videbitur nisi animae damnatae daemones nil odorabitur nisi sulphur foetor nil sentietur nisi ardor ignis habebunt damnati in oculis lachrymas in auribus rugitus in dentibus stridorem in naribus foetorem in ore eiulatum in corde dolerem ineffabilem in omnibus membris ignis ardorem Woe unto them for whom is prepared unquenchable fire paine intolerable stinch incomparable and horrible feare where nothing shall bee heard but weeping and wailing nothing shall be seene but damned soules and Divels nothing shall be smelt but a sulphurous stench nothing shall bee felt but burning and fire the damned shall have teares in their eyes roaring in their eares gnashing in their teeth stench in their nostrils howlings in their mouthes unspeakable griefe in their hearts in all their members the burning of fire this is the paine of sense that the damned shal feele The pain of losse is they shal never see the face of God but they shall be punished with eternall perdition from the presence of God and from the glory of his power 2. Thess 1. 9. If Absalom thought it such a griefe to want his fathers presence and not to see his face 2. Sam. 14. what griefe will it be to the wicked to want the presence of God and not to see his face in the sight of whom is the knowledge of all things 1 Cor. 13. Augustine saith Mala inferni dicere aut cogitare ut sint nemo potest priora sunt quippt
quà m cogitentur No man can tell or imagine the miseries of hell as they for they are worser than may bee conceived O brethren let us therefore feare hell before wee feele hell For hell is a lake without bottome broad without measure deep without sounding full of incomparable burning intolerable stinch and unspeakable sorrow quoth Hugo If the theefe feare the Assise day and moment any paines how ought we to feare eternall torments so exactly noted by Christ Ter uno oris halitu thrice with one breath saying If thy hand cause thee to offend cut it off it is better Mar. 9. 43 44 45. for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to goe into Hell into the fire that never shall bee quenched where the worme dyeth not and the fire goeth not out Likewise if thy foote cause thee to offend cut it off it is better for thee to goe halt into life than having two feete to be cast into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where the worme dyeth not and the fire never goeth out If thy eye cause thee to offend plucke it out it is better for thee to goe into the kingdome of God with one eye than having two eyes to bee cast into Hell fire where the worme dyeth not and the fire goeth not out Common fire is quenched with water wilde fire with vineger and milke Hell fire cannot be quenched Let us therefore feare hell before we feele hell All creatures feare that which may hurt them Elephas timet murem Leo ignem Feare of hell torments should worke repentance Lupus lapidem ceruus canem columb a accipitrem canis baculum ovis lupum avis laqueum piscis hamum latro patibulum An Elephant feares the mouse a Lion fire the Wolfe a stone the Hart a dogge the Pigeon an Hawke the Dogge a cudgell the Sheep a Wolfe a Bird the net a Fish the hooke a theefe the Gallowes and shall not we feare hell but many neither feare nor beleeve there is a hell Heu viuunt homines tanquam mors nulla sequatur Et velut infernus fabula vana foret Men live now as though no death should follow and hell were but a tale We lie downe in sinne wee sleep in sinne wee rest in sinne we live in sinne and we dye in sinne for what sinne is there that we could have committed but we have committed What Bethsabe have we not defiled with David what forbidden fruit have wee not eaten with Adam What Babylonish garment have we not stollen with Achan what usury have we not taken with Zachee what vineyard have we not coveted with Ahab If a man were at a table of dainties and his friend his deare friend should say unto him Eate nothing Touch nothing Meddle with nothing there is poison in these delicates he would not taste nor touch them nor meddle with them yet in sinne there is poison there is mors in olla and yet we will venture upon it Hell and damnation and blacknesse of darkenesse which is the reward of sinne cannot make us leave sinne and clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit And though we heare that the paines of hell be intolerable and that a man may say of them as Aeneas said in another case Non mihi si linguae centum sint or à que centum c. Had I an hundred tongues mouthes to hold them a mouth of iron yet can I not uphold them We heare this all of us but we know not how long we shall heare it Many that heard this since this day twelve-moneth yea since this day moneth are gone to give an account of their life either to God or to the Divell where their state is unchangeable We use to say that he that dieth this yeere is excused for the next But away with this vile proverbe for he that dieth this yeere and not in the Lord is excused never but dieth for ever for there is a second death Death is foure-fold there is a death in sinne a death unto sinne a death of the body and a death of body and soule As the Iudge telleth the prisoner You shall goe from hence to the place of execution and there hang till you be dead So God saith unto the wicked You shall goe from hence to the place from whence yee came that is to the earth and from thence to the place of execution in hell and there thou shalt hang in torments intolerable and perpetuall prepared for the Divell and his angels Feare and terrour shall bee dealt for thy dole and the curses of the people shall follow thee to thy grave and brimstone shal be scattered upon thy habitations thy roote Nothing so hard as the impenitent heart shal be dried up beneath and above thy branch shall bee cut downe thy remembrante shall perish from the earth and thou shalt have no name in the streets c. Thou shalt not depart out of this place of hell till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing that is thou shalt never bee Iob 18. 14 15. Mat. 5. 25. delivered from thence O brethren marke this doctrine and feare hell that I may say of this towne as Christ said to Zachees house Salvation is happened unto it For hell is as the Lions denne O mnia adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum there is an ingresse but no egresse Facilis est descensus Averni the descent into hell is easy we goe to hell as a boule runneth downe the hill What hearts have we then of flesh or of flint of folly or of madnesse that this moveth us not O caeci ad videndum propriam miseriam ô ignari ad intelligendum proprium damnum ô corda Adamante duriora quae non contremiscunt audire haec O blind men that cannot see their owne misery ô ignorant men that cannot understand their owne danger ô hearts harder then the Adamant that cannot tremble to heare these things Granatensis said Nil tam durum quà m cor hominis nothing so hard as a mans heart Omnia dura metalla igne liquescunt all hard metals are softned with fire the iron is dissolved in the furnace the Adamant broken with the blood of a Goate the congealed ice and snow molten with the Sunne the hard marble pearced with droppes the hard rocks rent asunder with strokes At cor humanum durius petra durius ferro durius Adamante but the heart of man is harder than the rocke harder than the iron harder than the Adamant nec amor Deite mollat neither can the love of God mollify thee nec sanguis Christi te frangat nor the blood of Christ breake thee nec ignis inferni te moveat nor the fire of hell move thee For vile men savour nothing either of the ioyes of heaven or paines of hell they are as men without taste whose palates are corrupted with humours that they are not able to discerne betweene hony and gall they
We should prevent iudgement by iudging our selves in so much as God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world with righteousnesse by that Man whom he hath appointed Act. 17. 31. Woe will bee unto us if that day come upon us unawares before we have made our peace and humbled our selves before God and by true repentance turne from sinne to sanctity It is an unspeable favour that God shewes us when he offers us this mercy that if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of the Lord in that day 1 Cor. 11. 34. And it will on the other side kindle his wrath extremely when having such grace offered wee neglect it and death and judgement find our sinnes unremitted on Gods part and unrepented of ours 5. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved it should stirre us up to an holy conversation So reasoneth S. Peter Seeing that all those things must be dissolved what manner persons ought we to be in holy conversation and godlinesse looking for and hasting to the comming of the day of God c 2. Pet. 3. 11 12. We are Gods stewards let us arme our selves as they that must give accounts of their stewardship and let us jmploy such talents as God hath lent us to Gods glory and our neighbours good Lastly since the day of Iudgement is the day of our full and finall Redemption and since hee shall come as a theefe in the night even the houre that we thinke not Let us therefore watch and be ready alwayes carefull and diligent sighing and groning longing and praying hasting to and looking for this glorious comming of our Lord and Saviour Christ to judgement THE SIXE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XVI These are murmurers complainers walking after their owne lusts c. Many discontented with Gods dealing with them HEE proceedeth to describe the wicked and that foure wayes 1 By their Impatiencie 2 By their Lusts 3 By their Pride 4 By their Flattery For they yeeld many sinnes as Nilus yeeldeth many Crocodiles and the Scorpion many Serpents at one birth This impatiencie is two-fold Against God and against man And first for God many are never content but if they have one thing they would have another like the daughter of Caleb when wee have pasture ground wee must have arable and when wee have that we must have wood ground for fewell and parkes for pleasure like some Clergy men that must have one benefice for corne ground another for glebe land like Aesops Lion they must have the first second and third part and except God give them the fourth part also they will fall out with him they will murmur and as the Prophet speaketh In the evening they will Psal 59. 15. goe to and fro and barke like dogs and grinne if they be not satisfied Paul noteth this sinne in Israel and applieth it to Corinth and in them to all Churches saying Neither murmure ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer but to see it plainly Murmuring the sinne of the Israelites read Exod. 16. and there yee shall finde that the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wildernesse and said Oh that we had dyed by 1 Cor. 10. 10. Exod. 16. 2 3 4 5. the hand of the Lord in the land of Aegypt when we sate by the flesh-pots when wee ate bread our bellies full But Moses told them That God heard their grudgings against them and further said At even shall the Lord give you flesh to eate and in the morning your fill of bread for the Lord saith hee hath heard the murmurings that yee murmure against him c. and so at even quailes came and covered the ground and in the morning he rained Manna upon them Againe God having given them bread and flesh no sooner wanted they water but they were as vile Wherefore the people contended with Moses and said Give us water that wee may drinke and the people murmured against Moses and said Wherefore hast thou brought us out of Aegypt to kill us and our children and our cattell with thirst Thus like dogges except their mouthes were filled they barked continually like the Gangrene or the disease called the Woolfe which gnaweth ever except it be fed For no sooner had God delivered them out of Aegypt but except he would deliver them from Pharaoh also they would raile Hereupon they said unto Moses Hast thou brought us to dye in the Wildernesse because there were no graves in Aegypt Wherfore hast thou served us thus to carry us out Exod. 14. 11 12. of Aegypt did not we tell thee this thing in Aegypt saying Let us bee at rest that wee may serve the Aegyptians for it had bin better for us to have served the Aegyptians then that wee should dye in the wildernesse Thus they dealt with God for water at another time Why have yee brought the Congregation of the Lord into this Wildernesse Numb 20. 4. 5. that both wee and our cattell should dye there Wherefore now have yee made us to come up from Aegypt to bring us to this miserable place which is no place of seede nor figges nor vines nor pomegranats neither is there any water to drinke Cyrill noteth upon the 6. of Iohn Vers 52. that this sinne of murmuring is hereditary to the Iewes it was morbus haereditarius like the stone the Fathers conveyed it ever to their children and this sinne like the heads of Hydra drew many other sinnes after it as disobedience ingratitude impatience distrust tempting of God blasphemy it was never alone The whole course of the sacred Scriptures crieth out against this sin specially in men professing God Do all things saith the Apostle Phil. 2. 14. without murmuring or reasoning and Saint Peter Be yee harborous one to another without murmuring and Wisedome bids us Beware 1 Pet. 4 9. Sap. 1. 10. Gen. 4. 14. of murmuring Cain murmured and the Scripture noteth it as his sinne The Israelites were grievous murmurers Sometimes for their Labour Sometimes for Drinke Exod. 5. 21. Cap. 16. 25. Cap. 17. 3. Sometimes for Flesh as ye heard before Sometimes in distrust to obtaine the City so strongly The punishment of murmurers walled Sometimes for feare to be killed of their enemies Sometimes for want of dainties as figges pomegranats Num. 13. 3. Num. 14. 2. Cap. 16. 42. Cap. 20. 3. vines c. Sometimes for that they were over-layed with Manna And for other like causes upon which the holy Ghost setteth a brand of dislike and so by their sinnes admonisheth us to beware For this sinne never went unpunished There is murmuring for good done on the Sabbath day For not washing before meate for the oyntment that was powred upon Christ and not rather sold and given unto the poore that widowes were neglected that Mary did not helpe Martha but sate and heard Christs words But still observe that
the beginning and abode not in the truth but now they abound like Bees in Hibla like Serpents in Iohn 8. 44. Sinai like lice in Aegypt Cornelius Agrippa derided Moses calling him a coozener and said that the sea dried not up but that hee marked the tides and course of the Moone that hee drew no water out of the rocke but marked the haunts of the wild beasts The Philosophers called Christ a Magician that hee did all by Necromancie The Libertines contemne all the Apostles they call Mathew an usurer Peter an Apostata Luke a pelting physician Paul vas confractum a broken vessell Iohn adolescentem stolidum a foolish yong man The Novatians called Cyprianus Caprianus the Arrians called Athanasius Sathanasius but all this is nothing to the contempt of these dogs We may say now as the Prophet said The children shall presume against the ancient and the vile against Esay 3. 3. 2 Reg. 2. the honorable The boyes of Bethel scorned Elisha and the sawcy boyes of England scorne at all doctrine Veni Domine Iesu Come Lord Iesus come quickly O beloved our time is now to bee wise To kisse the Sonne if we do not Mercy passeth and Iudgement Psal 2. commeth and warned men must die in their sinnes and their bloud be upon them Lastly he noteth in these mockers that they live at randon They walke after their lusts like beasts they fulfill their sensuall appetites they doe what seemeth good in their owne eyes They make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it All their care is for Rom. 13. 14. the flesh none for the spirit all for the body little or none for 2 Cor. 10. 3. the soule all for earth little for heaven they walke after the flesh and they warre after the flesh For so doth Paul distinguish Rom. 16. 18. them these men are the slaves of the flesh they serve not the Lord but their belly they thinke themselves the only men of the world and count their life the happiest promise to themselves liberty yet are they worse then gally-slaves the vilest prisoners in the world other prisoners have mē to be their Iaylers these have 2 Tim. 2. 26. Mat. 22. 13. divels For they are in the snare of the Divell and are taken of him at his will Others have chaines of iron these have chaines of darkenes others are for a time these for ever Thou shalt not come out thence Mat. 5. 26. till thou hast paid the utmost farthing but that will never be now that 2 Pet. 2. 19. they are prisoners Note Peters reason Of whomsoever a man is overcome even unto the same is he in bondage but their malice their envy their pride overcommeth them therfore be they in bondage to them Pius etsi serviat liber est a godly man though he serveth yet is he a free man I will walke at libertie saith David for I seeke thy precepts Malus etiamsi regnat seruus est a bad man although he ruleth yet is he a servant et tot dominorum quot vitiorum and that of so many masters as he hath vices Hereupō saith our Saviour Iohn 8. 34 35. Whosoever committeth sinne is the servant of sinne and the servant abideth not in the house for ever His leachery envy malice covetousnesse The Vnderstanding and Will the subiects of Wisedome mastereth him Be not therefore overcome of evill but overcome evill with goodnesse Vincimur non vincimus wee are not overcome wee not overcome Let not sinne therefore raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof And againe Rom. 6. 12. 21. Rom. 12. 14. Let not sinne have dominion over you In these men all the members of their body are defiled they bee arma injustiviae weapons of unrighteousnesse and all the powers of their soule are corrupted peccati enim sedes est anima the soule is the seate of sinne the two powers of the soule are Vnderstanding and Will either wee know not that which is good or wee cannot performe it for the weakenesse of our understanding The naturall wise man 1 Cor. 2. 14. whose knowledge is not cleered by Gods Spirit perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And further the Apostle saith that the wisedome of the Flesh is death and the reason hee rendreth after in the next verse saying Because Rom. ◠6 7. the wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God for it is not subject unto the Law of God neither can be Naturally our cogitations are darkened and wee strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in Ephes 4. 18. us Thus wee either know not that which is good or wee doe it not by reason of the weakenesse of our understanding Or otherwise wee know Gods Commandements and doe them not ob voluntatis defectum because our wils are defective our wils are readily carried unto lusts to fulfill them not to the commandements of God to obey them Video meliora proboque I see better Ovid. things ct I allow them quoth Medea We fulfill the lusts of the flesh and of the minde serving lusts and divers pleasures Vnderstanding Ephes 2. Tit. 33. and Will are the two subjects of true Wisedome in the one Knowledge in the other Affection cleaveth and sticketh and both are to be holpen by Grace the Vnderstanding without the Will is weake and profiteth not and the Will without it is blinde To know God and not to love him is very little and who can love him except hee know him Knowledge and Vnderstanding is the gate by which things at pleasure enter but wee must not stand in the gate wee must goe further for God respecteth not how much a man understandeth but how much hee loveth affectus subiugat and how much he subdueth his affections The Vnderstanding is to be enlightned the Will to be moved the Vnderstanding to be instructed the Will to be defended the Vnderstanding to be lightned by Faith the Will to be inflamed with love to trample tread all lust under the feete Hee that can overcome his lusts as Samson the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an Asse as David did Goliah Iudg. 13. 1 Sam. 18. with a sling he that can overcome this tower of Babylon pull downe these walles of Iericho hee shall see the goodnesse of the Lord Psal 27. in the land of the Living We talke of Christianity but it is true in the Land of the living wee talke of Christianity but it is true Mortification a signe of Iustification Christianity true manhood to master thy lusts For they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts This is Christianity indeed this is to professe to know God both in Gad. 5. 24. Tit. 1. 15. 2
Love of God is shedde abroad Rom. 5. 5. in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us The spies of Canaan said that it was nothing to overcome it and the godly Numb 13. say it is nothing to walke in the wayes of God to doe the precepts of God to read to pray to meditate to fast is nothing For saith the Apostle I am able to doe all things through the help of Phil. 4. 13. Christ which strengtheneth me As for a naturall man all good things are grievous unto him it is death to him to fast to pray to heare read meditate c. as they of Israel said When will the Amos 8. 5. new moneth be gone that we may sell corne and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheate So say a number of naturall men When shall these prayers cease and the Sermon bee at an end that wee may goe about our businesse For indeed they sit in the Church as Ioseph in the Iayle they thinke every minute a moneth till they be gone All sinnes are pleasant to a naturall man to hunt to hawke to eate to drinke to sweare to whore to lye to revenge to follow his pleasures whereof wee have two notable examples the one in Cyprian who confesseth what he was by nature the other in Augustine who telleth Alipius how hardly his naturall sinnes left him how they cried unto him Dimittésne nos nunc What wilt thou leave us now Et non erimus tecum vltra in aeternum None boast more of the Spirit then they that are led by the spirit of errour And shall wee not bee with thee any more for ever What uncleannesse and what dishonesty did they put into my minde Avertat Dominus has sordes ab animo meo the Lord turne these filthy thoughts out of my mind saith hee clamavit Vsquequo Domine usque quo â—rasceris How long Lord how long wilt thou bee angry in finem for ever Quamdiu cras cras cras How long to morrow to morrow Why not now doest thou not put an end unto my turpitude And being converted by Gods Spirit infinite thankes hee gave unto God saying Dirupisti vincula mea Domine Thou hast burst my bands in sunder ô Lord to thee will I sacrifice a sacrifice of praise my heart shall praise thee my tongue shall blesse thee and all my bones shall say Who is like unto thee Praise the Lord ô my soule and all that is within me praise Psal 103. 1 2 3. his holy name praise the Lord ô my soule forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sinne and healeth all thy infirmities which saveth thy soule from death and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindnesse Sometime God leaveth us to meere nature sometime hee sustaineth us with his grace which is as the Sunne-beames quando adest Sol omnia illustrat cùm removetur omnia sunt tenebrae when the Sunne is present it lighteneth every thing but when it is removed there is nothing but darkenesse So God sometime removeth the beames of his grace which when hee doth there is nothing in us but darkenesse his grace is sufficient for us Nature is not sufficient for us but grace For that is the fountaine from 2 Cor. 12. 9. whence flow all blessings Lastly he saith of these men that they have not the Spirit yet none will boast more of the Spirit then they so did the Gnosticks so did the Montanists as Montanus who carried his two trulles with him Prisca and Maximilla so did the Manichaeans so did Mahomet who teaching a Dove to picke corne at his eare called it the Holy Ghost and being subject to the falling sicknesse called it a traunce wherein hee had conference with the Angell Gabriel and so did the late Libertines of whom Iude here seemeth to prophesy that is Coppinus in Flanders Quintinus and Claudius Persenallus and Pocquius in France and some few others who of late have troubled a great part of Christendome Quintinus being an hostler Anthonius Pocquius a Chamberlain the other two being utterly unlearned led foure thousand men at the first into this errour so strong are the delusions of Satan to them that love not the truth of God that they might bee saved So unconstant 2 Thes 2. 9. are the multitude that whereas they should not bee as children wavering and carried about with every winde of doctrine by the Ephes 4. 14. deceit of men yet are they wavering and are of as many religions as the Raine-bow is of colours The Apostles privative precept can take no place with them Bee not carried away with diverse and strange doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be stablished Hebr. 13. 9. shed with grace and not with meates c. These late Libertines Loose Libertines count all sins lawfull tooke away all difference of good and evill they gave the bridle-reine loose to all licentiousnesse prophesied of by Saint Peter They speake high and swelling words of vanity 2 Pet. 2. 19. and their words are delivered in a strange manner as the Henry Nicolitans to astonish the simple put two beginnings God and the world if any bee of their Sect they say that hee was made God and all wickednesse they did ascribe to God under the name of vocation or calling they did cover all impiety they justified theeves murderers adulterers and all licentious livers for say they it is their calling and let every man abide in the same vocation wherein hee is called Thus doe they wrest and pervert Scripture to their destruction they alledge further 1 Cor. 7. 20. Omnia munda mundis esse That all things are cleane to the Tit. 1. 15. cleane when as Paul speaketh there de adiaphoris of things indifferent not of sinnes to these things they further faine and affirme that Regeneration is a restitution of that innocency which was in Adam and they interprete the state of innocency to bee this not to bee able to discerne betweene white and blacke good and evill and they say that they are continually guided and governed by the Spirit besides they reject all Scripture For the letter killeth c. But these men bee either fanatici mad and beside themselves which 2 Cor. 3. move such foolish questions and genealogies or else they are prophane which having cast off the yoke of Christ waxe wanton But to leave these men they have not the Spirit Note here the Antithesis betweene naturall and spirituall men these two are opposite where by the way note how fondly the Papists speake in calling their Cleargie spirituall and the people temporall whereas these two are not opposite but spirituall and carnall or naturall so the Apostle distinguisheth them Naturall and Spirituall The Naturall man perceiveth not the things of God but 1 Cor. 2. 14. the Spirituall discerneth all things and fondly doe they call their Priests spirituall as though the people
sustaineth the souldier but hope of victory and the mariner but hope of arrival and the husband-man but hope of harvest and the prentise but hope of freedome And shall not the hope of eternall life sustaine us Dum spiro spero whilest I breathe I hope this is the poesy of a Christian the hope of salvation we must put it on as a helmet though we sowe in teares we shall reape in joy Paul 1 Thess 5. 8. Psal 126. 5. setting downe the parts of a Christian life to sweeten the actions of it they being hard to flesh bloud propoundeth the blessed hope saying The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath Tit. 2. 11 12 13. appeared and teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and that we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for the blessed hope appearing of the glory of the mighty God and our Saviour Iesus Christ It is a blessed hope a blessed place that we looke for it is mount Garisim not mount Hebal Hee is a blessed God Deut. 27. 1 Tim. 6. 16. Rom. 9. 5. Iohn 16. Mat. 25. Apoc. 21. Deut. 27. Exod. 19. Numb 21. Exod. 10. Gen. 3. cap. 13. Zach. 14. Christ is a blessed Saviour the holy Ghost a blessed Comforter wee are blessed Children Heaven is a blessed Kingdome There is mount Garisim without any curse mount Horeb without any thunder the wildernes of Sinai without any serpent the land of Goshen without any darkenesse a Paradise without any serpent Eden without any weeds Ierusalem without any Canaanite there is day without night Summer without Winter riches without measure fulnesse without hunger pleasure without loathing life without death The faith and love of the Colossians sprang from the hope of Heaven therefore Paul tels them that hee thanked God for them and prayed for them ever since hee heard of their faith in Christ and of Col. 1. 4 5. their love towards the Saints for the hopes sake which is layd up for them in Heaven This stayd Iob in all his extremities when his cattell were stollen his houses blowne downe his children slaine his friends grieved his body wounded his wife alienated from him I am sure saith hee my Redeemer liveth and Iob 19. 25. I hope to finde him my deliverer and Saviour yea the Lord Iesus for the joy that was set before him indured the Crosse God will put a Hebr. 12. 2. difference one day betweene his children and bastards betweene them that say that it is but vaine to serve God and what profit is it that wee have kept his Commandements and that wee walked humbly Mal. 3. 14 15. before Lord of Hoasts and those that feare God the Corne shall bee gathered into the Garner the Chaffe shall bee burnt the Mat. 3. Goats shall bee separated from the Lambes the vessels of Clay shall bee broken Here is a mixture of sonnes and of bastards Ma◠25. of Corne and Chaffe of Goates and Lambes vessels Apoc. 2. of Clay and of Gold but in Heaven shall bee a difference and Body and soule shall be glorified in all parts and powers if that were not wee were the most miserable even Tully would not bee rocked againe in his Cradle Amas vivere quoth Aug. in vita aeterna Doest thou love to live everlastingly Hope with David to see the goodnesse of the 1 Cor. 15. 19. Aug. Lord in the land of the living In this life quoth Bern. erit mira serenitas plena securitas aeterna foelicitas wonderfull serenity full security eternall felicity then the whole man shall bee renewed our soules shall bee fully reformed to the Image of God as touching the two powers thereof From our understanding shall be dispelled all darkenesse and it shall be filled with new light and that of her selfe she shall know God and the will of God without preaching without praying without Sacraments without bookes and writings to instruct her for preaching shall have an end prayer an end Sacraments an end wee shall bee as the Angels of God understanding all things Now we know but in part 1 Cor. 13. 12. but then shall wee know even as wee are knowne Our will also shall want all wicked lusts and shall bee filled with all true Love both towards God and man and this love shall never bee interrupted To conclude all the faculties of the soule shall bee filled with God and with his power so as the soule shall nourish the body without meate drinke sleep because hee shall bee replenished with God and God shall be all in all Erimus cives Coeli socij Angelorum Ephes 2. 3. cohaeredes Christi we shall bee Citizens of Heaven fellowes of Angels coheires with Christ Citizens with Saints and of the houshold of God As touching the body the other part of man it shall also bee glorified nulla illius erit senectus nulla mors nullus morbus nullum peccatum No old age shall molest it nor death nor disease nor sinne our bodies shall be like the glorious body of the Lord Iesus Nemo ibi irascitur nemo invidet nemo laeditur there is no man angry no man envieth no man is any way hurt or harmed No lust doth annoy no divell doth terrify there is a Sunne without setting life without dying labour without wearinesse pleasures without tediousnesse there we shall see God as he is in the sight 1 Iohn 2. 3. Aug. of whom wee shall doe foure things wee shall know wee shall love wee shall rejoyce and wee shall praise wee shall know the secrets of God which is a depth without bottome wee shall love God above all and our neighbour as wee should wee shall rejoyce for in Heaven there is fulnesse of joy and at the right Psal 16. 11. hand of God there is pleasure for evermore and we shall praise God without ceasing For saith David Blessed are they that dwell in thy Psal 84. 1. house they shall alwayes bee praysing of thee there our joy shall be full all joy here is at an ebbe but there is the flood of joy perfection Iob 15. 11. fulnesse of joy Againe here all joy is mixt with paine Health with Sicknes Life with Death Summer with Winter the Spring with the Autumne Libertie with bondage there is all solace no sorrow The joyes of of heaven unspeakable incōprehensible the first sorrow cast out into shame But as touching this eternall Life whereof Saint Iude here speaketh a man may well thinke of it and talke of it but hee Apoc. 21. 4. can never thinke nor talke of it as it is Paul saith The eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard the heart of man cannot conceive the 1 Cor. 2. 9. joyes of this life The eye of man What can it not see How little a sound will the eare heare What great matters can the tongue utter What wonderfull things can
staves end of God for wages it is Death not Life Hell not Heaven Paines not joyes For the wages of sinne is death that Rom. 6. 23. which God doth for us is a gift not a stipend It is hee that must give us an inheritance among them that are sanctified So Christ said Act. 20. 32. It is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome Gift is free gift and Luk. 12. 32. desert they are as opposite as the Tropickes and cannot stand together wee have not chosen Christ but he hath chosen us hee Iohn 15. 18. gave the occasion not we it is mercy not merit grace not nature favour not debt that wee must challenge For by grace are wee saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of Ephes 2. 8 9. God not of Works lest any man should boast himselfe so said Marie His mercy is on them that feare him yet our feare is defective wee can Luk 1. 50. claime nothing but mercy the Canaanite craved but mercy O Lord thou sonne of David have mercy on me Cui daret justus Iudex coronam Mat. 15. 22. Aug. nisi cui dedisset Pater misericors gratiam To whom should the just Iudge give the Crowne but unto whom the mercifull Father hath given grace Gratia non invenit sed fecit nos eligendos Grace hath not found us but hath made us to be chosen Cum Deus coronat merita tua nihil aliud coronat nisi munera sua When God crowneth our merits he crowneth nothing else but his owne gifts Blasphemous therefore is the saying of Dorbel Quòd Deus Coelum carè vendit Three sorts of merits Congrui Digni Condigni amicis quod ipsi carè emunt That God selleth heaven deare to his friends and they buy it deare some travell thither by the foote-path of righteousnesse as the Prophets some by the foote-path of cleannesse as virgins some by the foote-path of repentance as the Confessors some by the foote-path of affliction as the Martyrs some by the foote-path of poverty as the Apostles some by the foote-path of hospitality as the Patriarches But God selleth not heaven he giveth it freely We are Rom. 3. 24. justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus Lex data est ut gratia quaereretur the Law was given that grace should bee sought gratia data est ut lex impleretur and grace is given that the Law might be fulfilled for All is of grace Abraham in his faith David in his godlinesse Iob in his patience Rom. 11. Salomon in his wisdome Elias in his zeale cannot stand before God If thou ô Lord markest iniquity O Lord who shall stand Where Psal 130. 3. the Prophet sheweth that we cannot be just before God by merit but by mercy in the forgivenes of our sinnes therfore saith S. Iude Looke for the mercies of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall life But to face out this mercy of God the Papists have found out three sorts of merits Meritum congrui digni condigni Merit of congruity they call those preparations that are before grace and to this end they alledge Cornelius who was a devout man and Act. 10. 2. one that feared God with all his houshold and gave much almes to the people and prayed God continually And yet his prayer and almes did proceed from that sparke of faith that hee had in Christ not from any worke of nature Meritū digni as when a just man prayeth for an unjust as Iob Daniel for the Iewes of whose prayer God saith thus When the land sinneth against me by cōmitting a trespasse then will I stretch out my hand Ezech. 14. 13 14. upon it and will breake the staffe of the bread thereof I will send famine upon it c. And though these three men Noah Daniel Iob were among them they shoul deliver but their owne soules by their righteousnesse saith the Lord God Whereas it is spoken but by way of supposition Meritum condigni be works of supererogation Loud words of Lewd blasphemy too proud words for either men or Angels For no worke of it selfe is pure and can stand before God Quis dabit mundum de immundo Who can bring a cleane thing out of Iob 14. 4. filthinesse The Heavens are not cleane in his sight much lesse men He found folly in his Angels how much more in us that dwell in Iob 15. Iob 4. 18 19. houses of clay This Moses often inculcated to Israel lest they should presume of their righteousnes and thinke themselves exalted by it Speake not thou in thy heart saith Moses For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me in to possesse the land for thou entrest not Deut. 9. 4 5. to inherit their land for thy righteousnes or for thy upright heart but for the wickednesse of those nations c. The Lord giueth not thee this good land to possesse for thy righteousnesse for thou art a stiffenecked people And hee maketh a Catalogue of their vices how in the wildernesse in Horeb and in many other places they provoked the No merit of condignity but in Christ Lord to anger you were never good neither egge nor bird quoth Moses Merit of condignity is an action belonging to such a nature as is both God and man not to a bare creature for the Angels themselves cannot merit any thing at Gods hand for they are said to be elected now election is by grace otherwise salvation 1 Tim. 6. Rom. 11. 5. is in the power of the clay not of the potter Yea Adam also if he had stood could have merited nothing of God seeing it is the bounden duty of every creature to obey the Creatour For wee are his workemanship created unto Christ Iesus unto good workes Ephes 2. 10. which God hath ordeyned that wee should walke in them If we do good works yet doe wee but our duety the merit therefore of condignity doth onely agree to Christ God and man whom each nature doth to the effecting of this merit that which belongeth unto it for the humanity doth minister matter to the merit by suffering and performing obedience the Deity of Christ unto which the humanity is hypostatically united doth conferre full and sufficient worthinesse to the worke Hereupon came the voice This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased For God was never pleased in any but in Christ For wee are all by nature the Mat. 3. 17. Ephes 2. 3 4 5. children of wrath but God which is rich in mercy through the great love wherewith hee loved us even when wee were dead by sinnes hath quickned us together in Christ by whose grace yee are saved Againe that a worke may bee meritorious there must bee a proportion betwixt that and eternall life but eternall life is infinite our merits are finite Now a finite worke
cannot equall infinite joy Inter finitum infinitum nulla est comparatio There is no comparison betweene a thing finite and a thing infinite therfore wee merit not The afflictions of this world are not worthy of the Rom. 8. 18. glory that shall bee shewed unto us Againe all our works are imperfect Ergo doe not condignly merit for all our worke commeth immediatly from the Naturall faculties of the soule that is understanding and will but these are imperfect being regenerated but in part therefore our workes are imperfect For the understanding it is said that ex parte tantum videmus we see but in part know but in part For the will it is said Est Lex in membris There is a Law in my members rebelling against the Law of God for I know saith the Apostle that in me that Rom. 7. 18 24. is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing And againe hee crieth out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from the body of death Bern. saith Cantabo non justitiam meam sedtuam Domine I will not Bern. sing my owne righteousnesse but thine O Lord. Should I feare whether that one Iustice will suffice two or no It is not a short cloke that is able to cover a couple thy Iustice is just for evermore and will cover both thee and mee it is largely large and covereth all my sinnes And againe Meritum meum est misericordia Bern. serm 62. in Cant. Domini My merit is Gods mercy I am not void of merit so Our workes merit not jointly with Christs merits long as he is not void of mercy The Papists joyne their works with Christ in case of justifying for they say that wee are Coōperarij fellow-workers and coadjutors and fellow-helpers with God abusing the words of Paul So wee therefore as workers together beseech you that yee recejve 2 Cor. 6. 1. not the grace of God in vaine as Melchior Canus in his common places confesseth that God alone worketh salvation and by and by hee addeth Et nos agere sub Deo cum Deo That wee worke under God and with God to which end he quoteth 1 Cor. 15. Not I but the grace of God with me as if God could not doe it without us But wee need not answere these dogges which can barke but not bite neither can they take away the trueth of God though they can obscure it But I reason thus with them Such as the wound is such is the salve but the wound came by one onely therefore the salve is by one only the Major and Minor are justified by Paul If through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Iesus Christ hath abounded Rom. 5. 15 17 18 19. to many For if by the offence of one death reigned through one much more shall they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousnesse reigne in life through one that is Iesus Christ Likewise then as by the offence of one the fault came on all men to condemnation so by the justifying of one man the benefit abounded toward all men that beleeve to the justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many also bee made righteous The conclusion followeth of the premisses This doctrine of merits is to Christ as the Moone to the Sunne or the earth to the Moone in her eclipse it eclipseth the death and merits of Christ For if righteousnesse bee by the Law then Christ died for Gal. 2. 21. Fulgent admoni nothing Deus salvandos praevenit damnandos invenit praeveniente misericordia velle incipimus subsequente misericordia bonum quod volumus facere valemus c. God preventeth such as are to be saved and findeth such as are to be damned his mercy preventing us we beginne to will and his mercy following us wee are able to doe that good wee will grace in preventing beginneth and in following keepeth grace preventeth the wicked that hee may bee just and grace followeth the just that hee may not bee wicked the beginnings of our vocations the increasings of our justification the rewards of our glorification all these are laid up with God in predestination And againe Deus est qui gratis vocat vocatos justificat c. It is God that freely calleth us and justifieth them that are called and glorifieth them that are justified Rom. 8. 30. Rom. 9. and Paul calleth good men Vasa misericordiae Vessels of mercy not of righteousnesse if he had called them vessels of righteousnesse peradventure they might have thought that they had righteousnesse of themselves Quoth Fulgentius A Deo est initium bonae voluntatis ab eo facultas est bene agendi ab eo perseverantia bonae conversationis From God is the beginning of a good will from him is Many Papists have renounced their own merits the power and ability of well-doing and from him the perseverancy of a good life and conversation hee giveth in this life humility and in the future felicity that they may be happy without end that were humble without end Vtrumque tamen a Deo quoth Fulgentius Yet notwithstanding both from God we claime no Fulgent Epistola 14. ad works but Christs works Yea the Papists at a dead lift say so with us Pighius hath given them all the slip in this point One at his death cried Solus Christus solus ille Salvator Only Christ he alone is a Saviour and Sherwin at his death cried O Iesu Iesa esto mihi Iesus O Iesus Iesus bee to mee a Iesus a Saviour hee knew no other Saviour and Bellarmine having tired himselfe about the question of Iustification at the last he concludeth that Bellar. it is our safest course to rely upon the mercies of God and merits of Christ Iesus propter propriae justitiae incertitudinem periculum inanis gloriae for the uncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and danger of vaineglory And Bernard upon his Sermon of the Annunciation Bern. said that the merits of men are not such as eternall life by right is owing for them his reason is this Omnia merita Dei dona sunt ita homo magis propter ipsa Deo debitor est quà m Deus homini for saith he all our merits are the gifts of God and so man is rather a debtour to God for them then God to man and Frier Ferus affirmeth that whatsoever God giveth us is of grace not of debt and Gregorius Ariminensis upon Peter Lombard defends at large That no worke done by man though comming from the greatest charity merits of condignity either eternall life or any other reward temporall because every such worke is the gift of God For these are his words Ex hoc infero quod nedum vita aeterna nec alius alterius
compassion as appeareth by his own words saying Oh that my head were full of water and myne eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of Ier. 9. 1. my people How greeved it Samuel after that God had cast away Saul The text doth say that Samuel mourned for Saul and God did chide him for it saying How long wilt thou mourne for Saul seeing 1 Sam. 15. 25. Cap. 16. 1. I have cast him away for reigning over Israel Samuel did not say as many doe Let him perish Let him die He is a reprobate Let him goe but mourned and sorrowed for him Yea the Lord Iesus wept over Ierusalem so saith the Evangelist When he came neere and beheld the City he wept over it saying Oh if thou haddest Luk. 19. knowne at the least in this thy day the things that do belong unto thy peace c. As if hee should have said Alas poore towne alas poore people yee are now merry and jocund but oh poore soules you know not your state how neere your fall is whereupon one noteth We read that Christ was hungry weary sorry angry how he wept often but wee read not that hee laughed for even this Mat. 21. Iohn 4. Iohn 11. Mat. 3. Mat. 12. 25. laughter proceedeth from vanity Ea sola ridentur quae notant turpitudinem aliquam non turpiter As Christ was God he said I give thee thanks O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hidde these things from the wise and prudent and hast opened them to children But as he was man he sorrowed for the wicked and here by the way note for the weake and penitent that when wee speake roughly and denounce menaces wee doe it not to them but to the impenitent For as a Father sometimes layeth Rats-bane to kill mice and the children ignorantly fall upon it so the weake apply the menaces done to the reprobate to themselves but yet they pertaine not to them but to the bastards to the impenitent The Lord will try the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth Psal 11. 5. 6. iniquity doth his soule abhorre upon the wicked hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormy tempest this is the portion of their cup. Wherefore heare the Word of the Lord ye scornefull men You say that you made a Covenant with death and are with Hell at agreement but your Covenant with death shall bee dissolved and your agreement with Hell shall not stand but the scourge shall runne over you and passe thorow you c. Againe though we must have compassion of some and pitty them yet this compassion and pitty must chiefely extend to the We must imitate Christ in mercy compassion soule of a sinner as partly was touched before for Saint Iude speaketh here of the soule this is the highest and greatest point of compassion in the world to pitty the soule to helpe it Learne this of the Schoolemaster of the world of the wisdome of the Col 2. Hebr. 2. Apoc. 1. Father of the brightnesse of glory the Ancient of dayes for he had pitty on the ignorance of the people saith the Evangelist When he saw the multitude he had compassion upon them because he saw Mat. 9. 36. them destitute as sheep wanting a shepheard He weepeth now over many a congregation in England that is without a pastour hee pittieth all sinners He is a mercifull and faithfull high Priest and hee Hebr. 2. 17. cap. 4. 15. is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Wee are all to learne of Christ to have pitty on our ignorant brethren to instruct them to teach them to exhort thē to do them good blessed are such so saith Salomon He that winneth soules that is that bringeth thē to the knowledge of God is wise the tongue of such a one is as fined Prov. 11. 30. Prov. 10. 20. silver those pastours feed best that are pittifull and compassionate Papists pretend to follow Christ in those things that are impossible as in fasting forty dayes in giving the Holy Ghost to their shavelings in opening the eyes of the blind in doing miracles but in teaching and preaching shewing mercy to the peoples soules they never come neere him they seeke not the rest of their soules as Christ did I am commanded to have compassion on the body of my brother as To deale bread to the hungry to bring the poore that wandreth into my Mat. 11. 29. Esay 58. 7. house to cover the naked and never to hide my face from mine owne flesh but specially I must have compassion on the soule of my brother for the more precious that a thing is the more care is ever to be had of it herein standeth the love of a father to his children of the Prince to his subjects of the minister to his flocke of one friend to another for you know the Commandement Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt Levit. 19. 17. plainely rebuke thy neighbour and suffer him not to sinne It is strange to see how wee pitty an Oxe or an Asse fallen into a ditch but not a brother drowned in sinne it is vile to set an house on fire but it is vile also to passe by it and not to quench it when it is in our power it is vile to wound a man but it is vile also to passe by him as the Levite did and as the Priest did and not to helpe him as the Samaritane did it is vile to sinne it Luk. 10. is vile also not to reprove a sinner and in time of need not to comfort him to save a soule He that hath converted a sinner from going Iam. 5. 20. astray out of the way shall save a soule from death and he shall hide a multitude of sinnes We thinke it a great matter to give a penny or two to a poore man but what though I helpe his need fill his belly cloath his nakednesse and yet pitty not his ignorance blasphemy and to increase knowledge zeale and the feare of the Lord in him our liberality is maimed wee pitty but the worst and weakest part that is the body follow therefore the Obstinate sinners must bee terrified counsell of the Apostle Instruct with meeknesse them that are contrary minded meaning such as are not come to the knowledge of the trueth but fall through ignorance proving that God at any 2 Tim. 2. 25. time will give them repentance that they may know the trueth Againe as some men are to be pittied so other some are to be reproved and must have the judgements of God denounced against them and must be terrified with menaces for that they sinne of malice not of weakenesse in knowledge not in ignorance they be pertinaces stubborne obstinate opinionative so to be handled For as we must not be too sharpe against a weake brother
saith he cōmeth Prov. 6. 15. speedily hee shall bee destroyed suddenly without hope of recovery all these three bee fearefull The wages of sinne is death yea sudden death We pray in the Letany to be delivered from sudden death Rom. 6. 23. but our prayer is nothing except our life be godly that shall give a rest to Gods children No sickenesse no death commeth suddenly Esa 28. 12. to the childe of God for hee prepareth himselfe ever hee is a childe of light and of the day therefore hee will not sleepe as other men doe but he will watch and be sober Gods children have oyle in their Lampes that is Faith and Repentance 1 Thess 5 5 6. Mat. 25. they have made their reckonings their loines be girt and their lights burning and let us bee like unto these servants that wait Luk. 14. 28. for their master when he commeth from the marriage that when he commeth koncketh we may open unto him immediately Luk. 12. The troubles that came upon Iob were not sudden he looked for them long before they came Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra many things happen betweene the cup and the upper Iob 1. 25. lip but not to the godly for they stand alway in awe of God and are affraid to offend him for which cause Salomon counteth them blessed saying Blessed is the man that feareth alway And againe hee saith A prudent man seeth the plague and hideth himselfe Pro. 28. 14. Prov. 22. 3. that is the punishment that is prepared for the wicked and flyeth to God for succour hee seeth his wants he suspecteth himselfe hee daily asketh God mercy whereas the wicked feareth nothing like the Amalekites who eating drinking 1 Sam. 30. 16. playing dansing and even in the middest of all their sport and pastime were suddenly slaine For the wicked say Come I will bring wine and wee will fill our selves with strong drinke and to morrow Repentance and godly life must not bee deserted till death shall bee as this day and much more abundant but God saith Hac nocte repetent animam tuam This night shall they fetch away thy soule from thee when some are eating some drinking some stealing some whoring some building buying selling Esay 56. 12. Luke 12. 45. 1 Thess 5. 2 3. then shall God come For the day of the Lord shall come even as a theefe in the night for when they shall say Peace peace sudden destruction shall come upon them as sorrow commeth upon a Woman travelling with childe and they shall not escape and therefore the counsell of Augustine is good Vitam emendare dum tempus habenius to amend our lives while wee have time Operari dum dies est to worke Aug. Ser. 4. de sanctis while it is day Pulsare dum aperitur ostium to knocke while the doore is opened falcem mittere dum messis durat to thrust in the sickle while the harvest lasteth Negotiari tempore nundinarum to buy and sell while the Faire or Market lasteth Misericordiam implorare ante diem justitiae to crave mercy before the day 2 Cor. 5. 2. of justice approcheth For now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation Begge mercy then to day thou knowest not whether God will give thee time and grace to doe it to morrow To this saying of Augustine I might adde the saying of Ierome upon his death-bed as saith Eusebius Cremonensis Cur moraris miser de die in diē converti ad Deum O miserable and wretched man why doest thou deferre from day to day to bee converted unto God Cur te jam malorum nonpoenitet Why doest thou not now repent thee of thy sinnes and wickednesse Ecce mors properat ut te conterat Behold death approcheth to teare thee and kill thee the Divell plyeth him to receive thee the wormes expect thee daily to devoure thee wit and strength and all beginne to faile thee But thou wilt say I will repent in articulo mortis at the very point of death O vana suspitio oh falsa meditatio O vaine suspition oh false meditation Looke and see if thou canst finde one of an hundred nay one of a thousand that have obtained this grace and mercy of God that his end should bee happy whose life was unhappy his death good whose conversation hath beene bad Ignis est ira Dei Gods wrath is fire Nos sumus stipula wee are as stubble and straw devoured of the fire wherefore let us worke while it is day the night commeth when as no Iohn 9. man can work And as Noah built the Arke in faire weather and Ioseph laid up graine and corne in the seven plentifull yeeres and Gen. 6. as the Ant that hath neither Master Ruler nor Guide provideth in the plentie of Summer for the dearth of Winter so let us Prov. 6. like good Noahs build the Arke of a good Conscience before the judgement overflow like provident Iosephs let us lay up the graine of godliness in the barnes of our hearts before the dearth of Mercy come and like painefull Ants provide food for our soules before the Winter of justice doth approach And whatsoever Eccles 11. we put our hands unto let us doe it quickly For there is neither worke nor invention nor wisdome nor understanding in Ministers save the soules the grave that wee go unto Save them with feare in plucking them out of the fire he saith Save them with feare Christians are said to save men when God useth their speech and exhortation to doe good on men they are said to winne soules which is the greatest gaine in the world For all the gold in the world laid in one ballance and the soule of a man in another will not countervaile one soule they cost more then so for We are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold 1 Pet. 1. 18. but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled and without spotte Salomon gained gold and silver and had it in abundance Alexander gained men for he subdued whole hosts Augustus gained 1 Reg. 10. Luk. 2. Countreyes for hee taxed the world but good men gaine soules this is most of all For he that winneth soules is happy happy indeed For they that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the Prov. 11. 30. Dan. 12. 3. starres for ever and ever Wee are said to convert a sinner because God useth our ministery in it and this should be our chiefe care to convert one another from sinne to sanctity from Sodom to Sion from Babylon to Ierusalem from the power of Satan unto God For hee which hath converted a sinner from going astray out of the Iam. 5. 20. way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sinnes And our Saviour saith If thy brother trespasse against thee go and tell Mat. 18. 15. him his
evill communications that is often conversation with the wicked noted by the plurall number corrupt good manners yea the Apostle is so severe in this point that hee will not have a wicked person suffered in the Congregation and therefore hee commandeth the incestuous Corinthian to bee cast out that is excommunicated and hee giveth the reason Know yee not that a 1 Cor. 5. 5. little leaven sowreth a whole lumpe Intimating thereby that one evill person might corrupt the whole Church and a little Colloquintida marreth a whole messe of pottage one scabbed sheepe 1 Reg. 4. 39. infecteth a flocke one sparke of fire may burne an house and one infected house may spoyle a Citie one roote of bitternesse Hebr. 12. 15. suffered to spring up may trouble and defile many sinne is as contagious as any disease and wee are as apt to take the contagion of sinne as of the plague This knew David well enough and We must hate sinne because God hates it in all therefore hee crieth out Depart from me yee wicked keepe aloofe come not neere me to infect my Royall person For I tell you plainely I will keepe the Commandements of my God Even so wee Psal 16. should not brooke the society of them that bee vile and wicked and hate to bee reformed and cast Gods Words behind them Psal 50. 17. But some will say This is a doctrine of precisenesse they say wee need not be so severe against sinners peccata eorum sunt parva pauca their sinnes be but small and few But small sinnes may wound the conscience and damne us if wee looke not to them to strive against them A mouse is but litle yet killeth he an Elephant if he get into his truncke a Scorpion is little yet able to sting a Lion unto death the Leopard being great is poysoned with an head of garlicke a little spittle of a man fasting will kill a serpent and the Divell by little sinnes will wound us to death The sinne and the coate of the sinne is to be hated quoth Ambrose Lib. 6. Hexameron A reason may be drawne from the blessed Trinity God the Father hateth sinne The foolish shall not stand in his sight and hee hateth them that worke iniquity Therefore we his children must hate Psal 5. 5. it God the Sonne hateth sinne saith the Apostle Thou hast loved righteousnesse and hated iniquity therefore we his fellow brethren Hebr. 1. 9. fellow heires must hate it that wee may be like our elder brother God the Holy Ghost hateth it therefore it is said Greeve not the Spirit by whom we are sealed unto the day of Redemption Ephes 4. Gen. 3. 15. Therefore wee the temples of him must hate it wee must hate the serpent and the seed of the serpent By the hatred of God against the sinne of Achan judge of all sinne As great as the Eagle is yet one may see her vertue in a feather for it consumeth all feathers as mighty as the fire of Aetna is yet one may feele the heate of it in a sparke as huge as the sea is yet one may taste the saltnesse of it in a droppe as great as the Whale is yet we may feele the power of him in one breath Hercules body was knowne by the length of his foote and wee by this sinne of Achan may know Gods hatred against all sinnes For the theft of Achan buried close under the ground brake forth such a stinch in the nostrils of God as that his garment brought the plague to the whole host and God no lesse hateth it in all men Finely saith Augustine Deus in non renatis odit peccata personas God hateth in the not regenerate both their sinnes and also their persons in renatis verò odit peccata non personas in the regenerate hee truly hateth their sinnes but not their persons as the physician hateth the disease of the sicke man not his person or body of the sicke Againe From whence commeth sinne but from the Divell What meane we then to joyne with Satan our enemy and the enemy of God Hee that committeth sinne is of the Divell for the Divell sinneth from the beginning Resist the Divell therefore give 1 Iohn 3. 8. no place to him He is an adversary and shall wee love him Hee Sinne must be hated as it tends to Gods dishonor is a serpent and shall we trust him Hee is a murderer and shall we intertaine him Sin is furthered by him therefore let us hate it I grant that some enemies are to bee loved because they are our enemies onely whereupon saith our Saviour Love your Iam. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 8. Apoc. 10. â—ohn 8. 44. Mat. 5. 44. enemies doe good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute you And some are to be hated because they are Gods enemies and the friends of Satan so Iohn the sonne of Hanani the Seer went out to meete Iehosaphat and said unto him Wouldest thou helpe the 2 Chro. 19. 2. wicked and love them that hate the Lord Therefore for this thing the wrath of the Lord is upon thee And so the wrath and judgement of God is over all those that support the wicked and will not shew themselves enemies to all such as hate the Lord. Wicked men must be hated but yet for their evill not as the evill concerneth any way us but as the evill tendeth to the dishonour of God Simeon and Levi hated the Sychemites for the Gen. 34. 25. sinne of their sister Dinah but this hatred sprang not in that God was dishonoured by this sinne but from a regard of themselves because that hereby they might receive some disgrace So Absalon is said to have hated his brother Amnon because hee had forced his sister Tamar and two yeeres after he murdered his 2 Sam. 23. 22. brother for this fact this hatred of Absalon against Amnon though it were for Amnons wickednesse yet it was not good but wicked for the originall of this his hatred was not simply the sinne of Amnon as committed against God but because Absalon had some speciall disgrace hereby For Tamar was borne to David of the same woman that was mother also to Absalon But we must hate the wicked for their dishonoring of God and not suffer them to goe unreproved nor unpunished Immmunity and impunity cause much iniquity I would learne this Are Papists the friends of God or his enemies If they bee friends Why have wee professed otherwise these many yeeres If they bee enemies then doe wee well not to suffer them You know what Christ said to the Church of Pergamus I have a few things against Apoc. 2. 14. thee because thou hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam which taught Balac to put a stumbling blocke before the children of Israel Vers 15. that they should eate of things sacrificed unto Idols and commit fornication even so
hast thou them that maintaine the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate So we have some among us that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and therefore do well to reprove them and punish them The posterity of Saul being rooted out the famine ceased Baal Prophets 1 Sam. 15. 2 Sam. 21. 1. 1 Reg. 18. 1 Reg. 20. 42. being put to death raine and blessing came from God Remember Gods speech to Ahab Because thou hast let goe a man out of thy hands whom I appointed to dye thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people This was the sinne of the false prophets They did strengthen the hands of the wicked I would it were not the sinne of Ier. 23. 14. some in this time I would this sentence were written in the fore-heads Wee must not suffer our selves to bee defiled in body or soule of our Rulers or on the hemmes of their garments as had the Pharises trust not a Iesuite a Romish priest beare not with him flatter him not hee waiteth but his oportunity If Cain may get Abel in the field he will murder him if Ismael may get Godeliah fitly hee dieth for it Designant oculis ad caedem unumquemque nostrûm Gen. 4. Ier. 42. de vrbis orbis exitu cogitant They have appointed to the slaughter every one of us and they thinke of nothing but of the ruine destruction of City Countrey and of the whole world The adversaries of Iuda and Benjamin notwithstanding their faire speeches to Zorobabel and the rest of the Fathers Wee will build with you Wee will sacrifice with you yet their Ezra 4. drift was to hinder the building The Herodians faire speech to our Saviour Master wee know that thou art true and teachest the way Mat. 22. of God truly c. was but to intrappe Christ our Saviour So all their shewes of love and kindnes towards us is but to deceive they waite but for a day and then our bodies shall be made faggots for their fires What though the fals-horned Lambs whom they serve call themselves Pius Clemens Innocent Bonifacius yet I may resemble them to the two theeves of Naples the one called himselfe Pater noster the other Ave Maria and yet under that colour they robbed an 116. men so these robbe many poore soules not of their substance only but of their lives But to leave this we must hate the garment spotted in the flesh We must be like unto them of the Church of Sardis which defiled not their garments Apoc. 3. 4. wee must by no meanes defile our selves through sinne which by the Metaphor of a garment spotted in the flesh is understood The Babylonians whom God sent to destroy the men Lament 4. 14. of Sion would not touch their garments lest they should bee defiled If a man beare holy things in the skirt of his garment and with Hag. 2. 13. the skirt doth touch the bread oyle wine or meate shall it be holy the Prophet said No. If a polluted man or person touch any thing of these shall it be uncleane And the Priest answered it should bee uncleane For the thing which of it selfe is good cannot make another thing so but contrarily the uncleane and not pure in heart doe defile and spot those things and make them odious unto God which else are good and godly Well as Iacob exhorted his houshold to Gen. 35. 2. clense themselves and change their garments so must wee clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and of the spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. and put on our wedding garment of holinesse and righteousnes So shâ—ll wee hate the garment spotted in the flesh Wee must not be like the wicked which love the garment spotted in the flesh and therefore drinke in iniquity like water but wee must fly from sinne as a serpent the wicked are like Storks who feed on venimous things and make their neast in dung and are full of sinne as the Leopard is of spots but wee must hate sinne as Amnon hated Thamar with a double hatred Why doth God hate the Divell but for sinne by creation hee is an Angell of light by Sinne onely hated of God and should bee of the godly substance a spirit intellectuall in understanding more profound then any man yet God hateth him for no other cause but sinne of which if hee were ridde hee were a more glorious and lovely creature then any man yet sinne maketh us like the Divell and Psal 8. no difference but that hee hath much sinne and hee is all Iohn 8. 44. sinne wee are sinnefull and hee is sinne it selfe malice envy it selfe so vile is sinne that nothing could purge it but Christs blood yea so vile it is that hell and everlasting torments 1 Pet. 1. 18. are prepared for it transit voluptas ejus non mansura manet poena non terminatura the pleasure of sinne passeth abideth not the punishment remaineth and endeth not It was a divine voice of a heathen that if there were no God to punish him no Divell to torment him no hell to burne him no man to see him yet Seneca would hee not sinne for the uglinesse of sinne and the griefe of his owne conscience Hate sinne therefore and hate the Divell hate death hate damnation Si scirem Deos mihi condonaturos homines ignoraturos non peccarem tamen ob solam peccati turpitudinem If I knew certainly that the Gods would pardon mee and that men were ignorant and knew nothing of my transgression yet would I not sinne because of the onely turpitude of sinne We marvell that things are so out of frame that sinne doth so abound but what is the cause Even our bearing with sinne for how can the ship bee qniet so long as Ionas is in it Moses Exod. 10. 26. would not leave an hoofe in Aegypt and we must not suffer sinne to goe unreproved All the vessels of Baal must bee burnt without the City the very gold that was upon the Idols was abomination 2 Reg. 23. 4. and so sinne is an abomination to God And heere by the way learne to kill sinne in thy selfe that God may spare thee Mactemus porcum gulae jugulemus hircum luxuriae occidâ—mus Leonem iracundiae extinguamus serpentâ—m hypocresio's conteramus câ—lubrum invidiae suffocemus Canem concupiscentiae Let us slay the hogge of gluttony kill the goate of Leachery murder the Lion of wrath extinguish the serpent of hypocrisie teare in pieces the Adder of envy strangle the dogge of concupiscence yea Mortifie all our earthly members as fornication uncleannesse unnaturall lusts evill concupiscence and Covetousnesse which is idolatry Yea and Let us crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts Col. 3. 5. Gal. 5. 1 Cor. 9. Yee and Let us chasten our bodies and bring them in subjection Yea and Let us deny
our selves and take up our crosse and follow Christ Againe Iude here nameth vestem maculatam the spotted garment so the sinne must bee haâ—ed not the person that sinneth the person must bee loved the sinne hated For the person is made after the Image of God and Gods Image must not be hated the person is redeemed with Christs blood and seeing hee Gen. 9. loveth them wee must love them Againe hee can make of Woolves Lambes Exvasisirae vasa misericordiae of vessels of Reprobates not to bee loved or prayed for wrath vessels of mercy therefore seeke thou to save him and instruct them with meekenesse proving if God at any time will give them repentance Quis potest odisse hominem cujus naturam similitudinem videt in humanitate Christi Who can hate a man whose nature 1 Tim. 1. 15. 2 Tim. 2. 25. August and similitude he may behold in the humanity of Christ Deum odit qui hominem odit he hateth God that hateth man therefore amorem cum hominibus odium cum vitijs have love with men hatred with their vices so it is said of Ephesus that they hated the deeds of Apoc. 2. Gen. 49. the Nicolaitans not their persons but their errors so Iacob cursed the wrath of his sonnes but blessed their persons so Paul having bitterly enveighed against the Corinths yet loved the men and spake it not to shame them for so hee himselfe saith I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved children to admonish you 1 Cor. 4. 15. thus would hee have us deale with a bad man with an excommunicate man not to account him an enemy but admonish 2 Thess 3. 15. 1 Cor. 5. him as a brother hee would have his body punished that his soule may be saved But yet in some cases the wicked may bee hated and cursed when they shew open signes of a reprobate mind such God hateth so saith the Prophet Thou art not a God that loveth wickednesse Psal 5. 4 5. neither shall evill dwell with thee the foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all them that worke iniquity Such must not bee prayed for The Church therefore prayed not for Iulian but against him they knew him to bee a reprobate For there are two Iudgements the judgement of Faith and Love The first is in God the second is left to us Multi enim lupi sunt intùs there bee many woolves within if wee respect the first Et multaeoves foris many sheep without if wee respect the latter and yet wee may judge when men give signes of reprobation and hate such persons thus David hated the wicked bade them be packing Away from mee yee wicked I will keep the Commandements Psal 119. 115. of my God And againe I have not haunted with vaine persons neither kept company with the dissemblers I have hated the assembly of the evill Psal 26. 4 5. and have not companied with the wicked But to leave this Againe it is not inough to leave sinne but wee must leave it with a conscience with a hatred of it many leave it to get credit and some lest they suffer losse by it but not of conscience to God and of many it may bee said they leave not sinne but sinne leaveth them the drunkard leaveth drinking because his stomacke is decayed the Adulterer whoredome for that the strength of nature faileth him the quarreller leaves sighting for that hee is crooked and lame hee cannot bestirre him as in times heretofore the covetour leaves oppressing because hee can oppresse no longer but all this is nothing For the body must not onely leave the act of sinne but the heart must leave the desire of sinne Abhorre that which is evill and cleave unto that Sinne must be hated for conscience which is good And againe wee must cast away the works of darkenesse and put on the armour of light Thus must wee leave sinne of conscience with an hatred of it else it is nothing But many hold Rom. 12. 9. Rom. 13. 12. sinne as Cinegerus the Athenian held the ships of his enemies loden with the rich spoiles of his Countrey and now ready to hoise saile and to be gone First hee held them with his hands till his hands were cut off then with his stumpes till his armes were cut off then with his teeth till his head was cut off and when all was done still he held them in desire So many when God hath cut off all occasions of sinne yet they hold it in heart the old man is sorry that he cannot be young to play the wanton the prisoner that he cannot be abroad to steale and robbe the sicke man that hee cannot revell nor rowte among his companions the disgraced man that hee hath not authority to oppresse the envious man that hee cannot revenge if they might live ever they would sinne ever they are sorry they cannot offend God any more like Iulian who sorrowed at his death because hee could not bee revenged of the Galilaean but wee must leave our sinnes and be angry greeved and displeased with our selves for our sinnes Thus Paul was angry with himselfe with his flesh with his spirit and cals himselfe Wretch Yea miserable miserable wretch for thus he saith Miserable wretch that I am who Rom. 7. 24. shall deliver me from this body of sinne Hee speakes in the excesse hee cals himselfe the first the greatest sinner but when he nameth 1 Tim. 1. 15. 1 Cor. 15. his vertue hee speakes in the defect that hee is the least Apostle the first and greatest sinner but the last and least Apostle Note his zeale against sinne If men could weepe teares of blood for their sinne if they could die a thousand times in one day for very griefe yet could they not bee greeved enough if thou knewest sinne and the reward of sinne in the damned thou wouldest not sinne willingly for ten thousand worlds for the wages of sinne is death not onely the death of the body temporall Rom. 6. 23. death but also the death of body and soule everlasting death when men shall alwayes be a dying and never dead For there men shall seeke for death shall not find it We hate Iudas Herod Pilate Apoc. 9. But hate thine owne manners thy sinnes with theirs were the nayles the speares the thornes that pearced the Lord Iesus All Hebr. 10. say that Christ died for sinne that hee was wounded for our sinnes and smitten for our transgressions yet all make him a Esay 53. patrone of their sinnes the theefe makes him the receivour the murderer his sanctuary the whoremonger his bawde they live in sinne and yet they say Christ died for sinne kill sinne Caluiâ— in Gal. 6. 1. and kill the Divell kill sinne and kill death the first and second death Hee that will encounter with Samson must cut off his lockes hee that will encounter with a
serpent must pull out his sting Now death is a serpent and his sting is sinne one may put a serpent in his bosome when his sting is out and wee may Earth-quakes upon extraordinary occasions let death into our bosome when sinne is gone the venim and poison gone But to draw us to a greater hatred of sinne let me apply this late judgement of the earth-quake unto you These judgements Anno Domini 1601. Decembr 24. have never beene but upon great and rare occasions and for horrible and notorious sinnes to note the wonderfull power of God and to presage some rare events some strange plagues to fall upon the world When God gave the Law the earth shooke God did it in fearefull manner to teach Israel that if the earth shooke when God spake much more should their hearts shake The like earth quake was at the restoring of the Law in the dayes of Elias And indeed to whom is the Word of God powerfull 1 Reg. 19. Esay 66. 25. profitable but to him that trēbleth at it Of these former judgements David speaketh O God when thou wentest forth before the Psal 68 7. 8. people when thou wentest thorow the wildernesse the earth shooke and the Heavens dropped at the presence of God even Sinai was moved at the presence of God even the God of Israel Againe in the horrible rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram Numb 16. the one in the Church the other in the Commonwealth the one against the Lords Priest the other against the Lords Magistrate there was an earthquake to teach that hell shall swallow us as it did them if we rebell so Of all judgements these most manifest the power of God and foreshew his great anger so David spake The earth trembled and quaked the foundations also of the mountaines moved and shooke because hee was angry smoke went out of Psal 28. 7 8 9. his nostrils and a consuming fire out of his mouth coales were kindled thereat he bowed the Heavens and came downe and darkenes was under his feete c. When Vzziah would usurpe the Priests office and Zach. 14. ◠confound Church and Commonwealth and make a Chaos of all religion and goodnesse God shooke the earth and when Iericho fell it is thought by the learned to have bene by an earth quake Iosh 6. And when the wicked Iewes crucified the Lord of glory all creatures Mat. 27. shewed their disliking the Sunne was eclypsed the Heavens lost their light the starres were moved the vaile of the Temple rent asunder the graves opened the dead rose the earth quaked O dura obdurata indurata corda hominum quae non contremiscunt O durate and obdurate and indurate hearts of men that cannot tremble David speaketh of the rare Iudgement of God in this case and thereby stirreth up all men to feare God Shall the wildernes quake and shall not our hearts quake Absit The voice of the Lord maketh the wildernes to tremble and shall not Psal 26. 5. wee tremble In the great persecution of the Church S. Iohn speaketh of an earthquake Let us not thinke that these judgements Apoc. 6. 12. bee ordinary and rise altogether of naturall causes for great hurt hath ensued The three famous Cities of Asia Laodicea for wealth Hierapolis for learning and Colossos for strength were all overthrowne with earth-quakes Constantinople was tormented with shaking a whole yeere together In the dayes of Boniface Earth-quakes fore-runners of fearefull Iudgements there happened an Earth-quake and after followed such a plague of scabbes and botches as a man could hardly tell his owne dead from other mens Burdeam was mightily shaken with Anno. 741. an earth-quake And in the yeere of our Lord 1171. the City Tripolis a great part of Damascus in Antiochia and Halapre the chiefe City of Loradin and other Cities of the Saracens either perished utterly or were wonderfully defaced And An. 1539. in divers places as at Venice Florēce there were great earth-quakes which did much hurt In Anno 1579. April the 6. an earth-quake tolled the great bell at Westminster and threw downe a piece of Dover Castle and part of Sutten Church in Kent to note unto us that our sinnes overburden the earth the earth grones and would be eased God shakes his hand the earth trembles man is carelesse beware it gapes not and swallow thee up quicke When Arrius heresy was entertained in Antioch God punished it with earth-quakes to give a Caveat how wee admit of heresy and six great Cities in Greece in the dayes of Tiberius and twelve Cities of Campania in the dayes of Constantine And wee all now might have beene swallowed up if Gods mercy had not bene the Anno. 1601. greater Blessed bee God who kept us and hee keepe us evermore But surely this earth-quake prognosticateth that God is comming to Iudgement As the City of Rome was never shaken but it presaged some strange event The yeere before the Carthaginian warre there were 57. earthquakes at Rome but there presently followed a lamentable warre After an earth-quake in Venice there followed a famine and upon the necke of that a plague which beginning farre North spred over the whole earth but so raged at Venice as scarcely one lived of an hundred but as a wonder lasteth but nine dayes so this earth-quake will be forgotten of many When Ananias fell downe dead suddenly Act. 5. at the feete of Peter all the Church trembled and this should make us all tremble For in my judgement it is a forerunner of Christs comming or else of some fearefull judgement of warre Mat. 26. 7. Pliny or famine or of pestilence For an heathen man could say that earth-quakes portend and foretell fearefull matters ensuing And note that God sent it at this time to begin our Christmas with it so mis-spent of all men The Heathen had their Floralia Bacchanalia Cerealia they went naked surfeted and were drunken and they light torches to Proserpina going naked and what else doe wee Wee eate and drinke and rise up to play and goe up and down showting and revelling Hath the grace of God appeared to Tit. 2. 11. this end Brethren hath the Lord Iesus gotten twelve dayes of his Father for prophanenesse swearing revelling c I am ashamed that the Turke the Iew the Persian should know this Propter nos male audit nomen Christi The name of God is blasphemed Rom. 2. 24. among the Gentiles through us The heathen had their Cerealia Fearefull earth-quakes and comets warne to repent as I said before wherein they surfeted to Ceres and their Bacchanalia wherein they were drunken to the honour of Bacchus they had their Floralia wherein they were idle and gave themselves to lust and Venerie Wherein differ our Christmas feasts from theirs it being spent only in eating drinking nay gluttony and drunkennes riot cards dice swearing swaggering toying fooling and what not
Wisedome let him aske of God Iam. 1. 5. who giveth to all men liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be given him Ieremie speaketh generally Every man is a beast in his owne Ier. 10. 14. knowledge not some but all not a few men but every man So saith David The Lord looked downe from Heaven upon the children of Psal 14. 2. men to see if there were any that would understand and seeke after God but all are gone out of the way all are corrupt c. Paul calleth the Ephesians darkenesse not darke but darkenesse night it selfe Yee Ephes 5. 8. were sometime darkenesse quoth hee and hee prayeth God to lighten them The God of our Lord Iesus Christ and Father of Glory give unto yo◠the Spirit of Wisedome and Revelation through the knowledge Ephes 1. 17. of him And let this be our prayer that the God of our Lord Iesus Christ and Father of Glory would give us the Spirit of Wisedome and he give us all the Spirit of Wisedome that wee may bee wise unto Salvation for that which Christ said of Laodicea is true of all Thou saiest thou art rich and increased in Apoc. 13. 17 18. goodnesse and hast neede of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poore and blinde and naked I counsell thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be made rich and white raiment that thou maiest bee cloathed and that thy filthy nakednesse doe not appeare and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maiest see that is suffer the eyes of thy understanding to be opened We are blind not as whelpes that see after nine dayes not as the man in the Gospell who saw men walke like trees but wee be as blind as beetles as blind as the men of Sodom who groped for Lots doore for what see wee that the Gentiles saw not And Gen. 19. yet saw they nothing for the Apostle affirmeth that they walked Ephes 4. 17 18. in the vanity of their minde having their cogitation darkened and being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardnesse of their hearts God by the Gospel openeth our eyes that wee may turne from darkenesse to light and from Act. 26. 18. Col. 2. 3. the power of Satan unto God All the treasures of Wisedome and Knowledge are in Christ Wisedome and Knowledge are in Angels and in No true wisedome in man till God infuse it men as well as in Christ how can then all Wisedome and Knowledge bee hid in him Yes they have it from Christ for Wisedome and Knowledge is in Angels by Vision in Men by Revelation Col. 2. 3. 1 Cor. 1. 22. Prov. 9. 1. but in Christ by union for hee is the Power and Wisedome of his Father he is Wisedome and the Church and House Wisedome wherein all must learne Wisedome wee know not all things that appertaine to God nor are we ignorant of all things which are proper to beasts but we know some things and are ignorant of others which are peculiar to men and so far we see as God hath illuminated us and no further for as all fountaines come from the Sea and all lights from the Sun so all Wisedome from God there may bee Science in the wicked but not Sapience Scientia est rerum humanarum Sapientia rerum divinarum Aug Science is of humane and earthly things Sapience of divine and heavenly things there is in the wicked Wit but not Wisedome or if there bee any Wisedome it is the wisedome of the world and of the flesh but the Wisedome of the Spirit they have it not They that are of the flesh saith the Apostle savour Rom. 8. 5 6 7. the things of the flesh but they that are of the Spirit savour the things of the Spirit for the Wisedome of the flesh is Death but the Wisedome of the Spirit is Life and Peace because the Wisedome of the flesh is enmitie to God Achitophel was wise but not in God nor for God the Grecians were wise but not spiritually the Philosophers 2 Sam. 17. 1 Cor. 1. 22. 1 Cor. 2. 14. were wise but yet in part and in the least part for from whence commeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence came this division of the gods into majores minores into greater and lesser gods from whence came the furies of Epicures with their Attomies which cannot bee divided from whence the fate of Stoickes bending fast and tying straight Iehova himselfe from the doting of Aristotle dreaming of the Worlds eternity which of these knew the World to be made of nothing the Word to bee made flesh Christ to be borne of a virgin the righteousnesse of one man to be conferred to another to make him righteous in three substāces or parts to be but one God For all Wisedome Religion flow from one fountaine that is God Quem qui nescit licèt videat caecus Lactantius est licet audiat surdus est licet loquitur mutus est licet vivat mortuus est Whom whoso knoweth not though he seeth yet is he blind though he heareth yet hee is deafe though he speaketh yet is he dumbe though he liveth yet is he dead for this is life nay life eternal To know God to be the only very God Iesus Christ whom he hath Iohn 17. 3 25. sent The World knowes not God saith our Saviour But I have knowne you and these have known me Seneca the Philosophers said Fortunam à Deo petendum sapientia à nobis Fortune is to be begged and craved of God Wisedome of our selves Nemo inquit Deo ob sapientiam gratias egit No man hath thanked God for Wisedome But there was no grace in these lips they spake proudly The Philosophers affirme reason to be seated in the head as in a Tower and from thence as a lampe to shine unto our counsels God saves by Christ and as a Queene to moderate the will Well it is God that is onely Wise and his Wisedome appeareth in the creation in disposing so orderly and placing so seemely all things in their place and degree as is most wonderfull to behold with such beautie and proportion in every creature that unlesse wee bee too too blockish wee may cry out with David O Lord how wonderfull are thy workes in Wisedome hast Psal 8. thou made them all And again Great is our Lord and great is his power yea his Wisedome is infinite To see the goodly order of Heaven it will make a man to be astonished at the Wisedome of God more than the Queen of Saba was at the wisedom of Salomon to see how God preserveth his Church by his power and knowes wayes and meanes by his Wisedome to deliver it might ravish us with the consideration of his wisedome to cry out with Paul O the depth Rom. 11.
of the riches and wisedome and knowledge of God how unsearcheable are his judgements and his wayes past finding â—ut Yea so wise a God is hee that deprehendit astutos in astutia that hee taketh the wilie and subtill in their craft and subtiltie nay there is no Wisedome there is no understanding there is no Counsell against the Lord. Let us Prov. 21. alwayes then submit our selves to this onely wise God who knoweth how to deliver us out of temptation and trouble and to 2 Pet. 2. punish the wicked for with him is wisedome and strength hee hath counsell and understanding Iob 21. 22. I am come unto the second title and that title is that hee calleth him a Saviour yea our Saviour a title of great comfort hee is able to save us hee is willing to save us what now is wanting to our full consolation There is power there is will in him to save us upon these two pillars resteth our faith So Saint Peter comforted the dispersed Church for having shewed how that through the aboundant mercy of our God wee are elect and regenerate to a lively hope and how faith must bee tried hee commeth at last to this salvation here spoken of and telleth them that they shall one day receive the end of their faith even the salvation of their soules The which salvation in Christ is no new thing but a thing prophesied of old salvation is the thing that wee all long for for there is none so wicked but he would bee saved and no salvation but in Christ There is no other name given unto men by which they shall bee saved save onely by the name of Act. 4. 12. Iesus hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour so called at his birth This day is Luke 2. 11. borne a Saviour which is Christ the Lord so named before his birth Thou shalt call his name Iesus for bee shall save his people from their Mat. 1. 21. sinnes And thus called after his birth and Ioseph called his name Iesus a title knowne in Heaven honoured in Earth and feared in Hell He is a Saviour a powerfull Saviour when he Mat. 1. 25. was weakest then did he the greatest works that ever were done hee was powerfull in his life in doing miracles in giving sight Christ is properly called the Saviour to the blind eares to the deafe tongues to the dumbe legges to the ame life to the dead O but more powerfull at his death in saving the world For then the Sunne was darkened the earth trembled the stones clave in pieces the graves opened the dead raised his death reached to Heaven to earth to Hell the Angels rejoyced the Divels trembled and all men were comforted Let Satan boast like Rabsache that God cannot deliver Ierusalem out of his hands that God cannot deliver the elect from his power he is a lier the God of peace shall tread him under our feete shortly our Michael hath cast downe the Dragon we may sing the â—o Paean the joyfull triumph with the Saints Now is salvation in Heaven and strength and the Kingdome of God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is throwne downe which accused them day and night before God and they overcame him with the blood of the Lambe For indeed Christs death was our life his sacrifice our satisfaction Lact. his labour hath eased our burthens his wounds our curing his stripes our healing his curse our blessing his damnation our absolution Finely saith one Thou art sicke hee is the Physician of thy soule yea dead in sinne hee is thy Saviour and reviver thou art starved through sinne hee is the bread of life thou art thirsty hee is the water nay dead with thirst hee is the ever-springing well the River of Paradise one drop whereof is more than all the Ocean The Graecians for an earthly deliverance by Flaminius cried so loud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the earth gave an Eccho and a rebound that their cry made the Fowles of the ayre to fall downe dead their voice and shoute was as the sound of a thunder how much more cause have wee to reioice in the Lord Iesus who saveth both body and soule and delivereth from dangers of this life and the life to come The Angels sung at his birth Glory be to God on bigh Luk. 2. in earth peace good will towards men No tongues of men or Angels are able to expresse this benefit it is a greater my stery than so for so the Apostle confesseth saying Without controversy great is the mystery of godlines which is God is manifested in the flesh justified 1 Tim. 3. 16. in the spirit seene of Angels preached unto the Gentils beleeved on in the world and received up in glory Moses saved Israel from Pharao Christ saveth us from the Divell hee from Aegypt Christ from hell hee brought them into the land of Chanaan Christ will bring us Exod. 12. Col. 1. into heaven hee sprinkled the dore posts with the blood of the Lambe Christ our hearts with his owne blood The Papists are injurious to Christ and breake in upon his titles and offices making him either no Saviour or else but a little Saviour in ascribing salvation to Agnus Dei to the blood of Martyrs to Crosses Masses Papists doe as much incroch upon Christ as the Turkes doe they will not acknowledge election justification to come from grace as a right Popish doctrine tends to the disgracing of Grace Father but from workes a stepmother all their doctrine savours of pride blaspheming grace and the worke of grace Note their doctrines de igniculis virtutum insitis à natura of sparkes of vertue grafted in us by nature de gratia operante cooÌ„perante of operating and cooÌ„perating grace de puris naturalibus of pure naturals they will not suffer any body to call God Father and yet is hee the Father of Mercies and God of all 2 Cor. 1. 3. comfort The Church of Rome saith That all the actions of men unregenerate bee not sinne that originall sinne needeth no repentance that a man by meere naturals may love God feare God and beleeve in Christ that a regenerate man may fulfill the whole Law as said the Trident Councell that wee may doe works of supererogation Et quid nunc relinquitar Christe Iesu And what is now left for Christ Iesus The Iesuites aske Why is it not as honorable for God as great glory to powre in an inherent righteousnesse into us as to give us a reputed or imputed righteousnesse But so they may aske Why God kept not Adam from falling Had it not bene as honorable to have kept him from falling No no for then wee had not knowne the sweetnesse of the Messiah So it may seeme as honorable Gen. 3. 15. for God to have kept us from sicknesse but then we had not knowne the goodnesse of the Physician
No peace to the wicked in which we fall from the Lord of life One day in thy Courts saith David is better than a thousand other where I had rather be a doore keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tabernacles of wickednesse Sed impiis non est pax there is no peace unto the wicked their hearts never rest they are never quiet their sinne lyeth at the doores Esa 57. 20. Gen. 4. 7. alwayes dogging them and ever ready to pull out the very throat of their soules As good men have the first fruits of the Spirit and certaine tastes of heavenly joyes in this life So on the contrarie the wicked have certaine flashings of hell-flames on earth and are as the sea which alwayes rageth and never resteth And as the good man when he dyeth bequeatheth his body which is earthly to the earth and sinnes which are divellish unto the Divell and his goods that are worldly to the world and his soule that is heavenly to heaven So the wicked when he dyeth bequeatheth his goods to the world his body to the earth his soule to the Divell But some will say The wicked are merry and quiet none so merrry as they they sing like birds in May like Nightingales in a cleare night I must distinguish and say that some wicked are blockish and senselesse like swine their consciences are seared like dead flesh Mat. 7. 6. 1 Tim. 4. 2. others are desperate having an hell in their conscience trembling like Agag but yet both states damnable For is the fish that skippeth in the net or the bird that singeth in the snare or the prisoner that is merry in the iayle in any good case No 1 Sam. 13. 1 Thes 5. 3. Esa 9. 6. Ephes 2. 17. no Even so is it with the wicked when They crie peace peace sudden destruction shall come upon them as upon a Woman in travell But there is peace to the godly Peace shall come they shall rest in their beds c. Christ is their peace Pacem Evangelizavit iis qui prope iis qui procul he preached peace unto them that are neare and unto them that are afarre off To this end he died rose againe ascended into heaven the first was the lowest step of his humiliation in earth the second the highest steppe of his exaltation in earth the third the highest steppe of his glorification in heaven In the first he suffered in the second he conquered in the third he triumphed the first tooke away sinne and destroyed death and him that had the Lordship of Death The second brought Righteousnesse for he rose againe for our justification The third Heb. 2. 14. Rom. 4. 25. bringeth glory and all to this end to make peace between God and man Thirdly peace is taken for prosperitie and happy successe of all things as in the Psalme O pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall Psal 122. 6. prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls and plenteousnesse be within thy palaces Peace and plentie are here Synonymies the one openeth the other he prayeth for plentifull peace or peaceable plentie God hath promised his Church this peace saying The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods in the fruit of thy body in the Prosperitie is termed peace fruit of thy cattell in the fruite of thy ground the Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure even the Heaven to give raine unto thy land in due season and to blesse all the workes of thy hands thou shalt lend to many Deuter. 28. 11 12 13. nations and not borrow thy selfe The Lord shall make thee the head and not the taile thou shalt be above only not beneath c. Iacob blessing Iudas saith That he shall bind his Asse fole to the Vine his Asses colt to the best Vine he shall wash his garments in wine his Cloake with the Gen. 49. 11 12. blood of the grape that is he shall have all prosperitie and this prosperitie Iude wisheth unto them saying peace be multiplied upon you Esay prophecied of the wealth and abundance of the Church saying Thou shalt sucke the milke of the Gentiles and shalt Esa 60. 16 17. sucke the brests of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy redeemer the mightie one of Iacob For brasse I will bring gold and for Iron I will bring thee silver and for stones Iron I will also make thy government peace and thine exactors righteousnesse violence shall no more be heard in thee neither desolation nor destruction c. And God wisheth that his Church had hearkened to his commandements Then had thy prosperitie beene as the Flood and thy righteousnesse as the Waves of the Sea In six evils God would have delivered Esa 48. 18. Iob. 5. Psal 65. 11. Mal. 3. Iob. 1. Gen. 26. 1 Reg. 10. 27. it the clouds shall droppe fatnesse upon it God would open the windowes of heauen and powre downe a blessing with plenteousnesse God hath inriched the members of his Church in all ages as Iob in Huz Isaac in Gerar Salomon in Israel who had silver as stones Yea this peace and plentie is proper and peculiar to the Church onely to the godly the wicked have no right nor interest in the blessings of the earth For the elects sake God made Gen. 1. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Iohn 3. Mar. 13. Apo. 6. Rom. 8. the world For them he enriched it for them he redeemed it for their sakes he preserveth it for their sakes hee deferreth his comming to judge this world That the wicked enjoy ayre fire water let them thanke the godly who are coheires with Christ in all things the wicked are usurpers intruders into all Gods blessings they have no right to any furrow or foot of land The faithfull only are coheires with Christ in whose right they are invested into all the benefits of this life Thou art no more a servant but a Sonne saith Paul now if thou be a Sonne those art also the heyre of Gal. 4. 7. God through Christ As a bastard hath no inheritance among the legitimate Children So the wicked as bastards have no inheritance among the faithfull They may say of God and heaven as the tenne Tribes said of David and his Kingdome What portion have we in David we have no inheritance in the Sonne of Ishai So they have no portion in heaven no inheritance in the Sonne of God Christ Iesus they are Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant and promise But the godly have right and interest in earth and heaven also In their elder brother Christ Iesus heaven is theirs heaven and earth is theirs land and sea are theirs yea all theirs men and Angels are subject unto them Prosperitie oft hurt to the Church All things are ours saith the Apostle whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World
or Life or death Whether they be things present or things to come even all are yours and yee are Christs and Christ 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. Psal 112. 6 7. 9. Gods an elegant Climax or gradation For he riseth by steppes Such a like figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 2 Cor. 6. 9. 10. Obiter now that peace and plentie are so farre given unto the Church as is profitable for it and expedient for the setting out of Gods glory The Church sometime eateth ashes as bread and mingleth her drinke with weeping she is as a Pelicane in the wildernesse and like an Owle that is in the desart She is as a Sparrow that sitteth alone upon the house top and her enemies revile her all the day long Sometime she is eaten up like a Sheep and scattered among the Heathen she is sold for nought and made a rebuke Psal 44. 9. 11 12. rebuked of her neighbours laughed to scorne and derided of all Nay sometime she is smitten into the place of Dragons and covered with the shadow of death The Church is oftentimes more hurt by plentie than penurie according to the voice in Constantines dayes Hodie venenum effusum est in Ecclesiam this day is poison powred into the Hierom. Church The Church when it came to Christian Princes to be defended Major erat divitiis virtutibus minor Againe God putteth off her sackcloath and girdeth her with gladnesse He giveth her beauty for ashes and rich apparell instead of sackcloath Psal 30. 12. Esa 61. 3. as he seeth it expedient Non audit ad voluntatem ut audiat ad salutem THE FIFTH SERMON VERS II. And Love bee multiplied Gods love the cause of all good THe third and last blessing which the Apostle here prayeth for is Love which of some learned men is thought to bee the cause of Mercie and Peace For Mercy and Peace are the fruits of Love Love is the fountaine Mercie and Peace the water that floweth from the fountaine Love is as the mother Mercy and Peace as her daughters Love as the cause Mercy and Peace as the effects yea Love is the cause of al blessings as I may say the cause of it selfe yea Causa causarum the cause of causes or Causa causae the cause of the cause or Causa causati the cause of the thing caused God is mercifull because he loveth us and hee loveth us because hee loveth us Eligit quia diligit ideo diligit quia diligit thee hath chosen us because hee loveth us Aug. and therefore hee loveth us because hee loveth us No reason can bee rendred of the love of God but the love of God Let us not buzze too neere the candle with the flye Farsalla lest we burne Let us not soare too high with the Eagle lest wee melt let us not wade too deep with the Elephant lest we drown Let us not bee curious in these things It is enough that Moses setteth downe Love to bee the cause of all blessings So God turned Balaams curse into a blessing unto Israel The cause Moses affirmeth to bee Gods love saying Because the Lord thy God Deut. 23. 5. loved thee So Moses telleth Israel that God did set his Love upon them and did chuse them not because they were more in number than any people For they were the fewest of all people but Because hee loved them Iude here prayeth for it as a most excellent blessing without which all is nothing For as Deut. 7. 7 8. wee say In triviis Hee is poore whom God hateth so hee is rich and happy whom God loveth his favour is as the dew of the Gods love abundant unmeasurable immutable morning as the shadow in the heate and as an haven to them that are tossed as the Cities of refuge to them that are pursued In thy presence saith David is fulnesse of ioy That is where God loveth and favoureth there is perfect felicitie Iohn calleth all men to behold the love of God Behold what love the Father hath shewed us that we should be called the Sonnes of God behold his love that hee calleth us his servants and behold a 1 Iohn 3. 1. 2 Cor. 6. Ephes 2. greater love in that hee calleth us his Sonnes and yet behold a greater love that he calleth us his heyres and coheyres with Christ and yet behold a greater love in an higher degree that he calleth us his Mother Brethren and Sisters but behold the greatest love of all that he calleth us his Spouse or Wife to note that he loveth us with all loves with the masters love as Abraham loved Eleazar with the friends love as David loved Ionathan with the Childes love as Ruth loved Naomi with the Gen. 15. 1 Sam. 16. Ruth 1. Gen 29. husbands love as Iacob loved Rachel What heart of stone is not moved with this love Nati sumus è silice nutriti lacte ferino This love of God is gratuitall free partly because it floweth from his grace and goodnesse and partly because he loveth not for his owne but for our good And it is unmeasurable therefore saith the Apostle Herein is love not that wee loved God but that hee 1 Iohn 4. 10. loved us and sent his Sonne to be a reconciliation for our sinnes greater love could not the Father shew than to send his Sonne out of his owne bosome and greater love could not the Sonne shew than to die for his enemies Yea this love of his it is immutable and constant For whom he loveth he loveth to the end hereupon the Apostle calleth God love God is love saith he and not only love for there are many properties and attributes in God as Truth Mercie Iustice Power Eternitie Novit omnia ut veritas tuetur ut salus Iohn 13. 1 Iohn 4. 16. sedat ut aequitas dominatur ut majestas operatur ut potentia manet ut aeternitas he knoweth all things as veritie defendeth all things as health and salvation appeaseth all things as equitie ruleth all things as Majestie worketh all things as omnipotencie and abideth and remaineth as eternitie God is not made of love only as wood of trees as a fountaine of water as a plaister of Balme but all these attributes are in the Lord equally But because God delighteth in love and he reposeth a great part of his glory in love therfore is he described by that attribute of Love by this attribute the Evangelist describeth him God so loved the Iohn 3. 16. Cap. 10. 16. 1 Iohn 4. 18. World that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. And by this attribute the beloved disciple describeth him saying God is love and hee that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him By this attribute David describeth him As a Father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lord compassion on them that love him And againe The loving Psal 103. 13. 17. kindnesse of the