corruptions But death at once with a most happy paricide as I may terme it kils both it selfe our last foe and sinne its mother our first foe and sorrow its sister our daily foe That one pang which puls away the soule from the body doth also pull away sinne both from the soule and the body O most desireable pang and worthy to be thirsted after more then any earthly thing Iob when his body was full of botches could say with much vehemency of passion Why dyed I not from the wombe why gaue I not vp the ghost when I came out of the belly then should I haue lyen still and beene quiet I should haue slept then had I been at rest Hee could in elegancy of speech commend death and say There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the prisoners rest together and heare not the voyce of the oppressour yea hee saith that a miserable man would long for it and dig for it more then for hid treasures and would reioyce exceedingly and be glad if he could find it This impatiency of life is no way worthy commendation it sauours too much of selfe loue to be good and allowable But if out of an holy impatiency of sinne wee could as feelingly take vp speeches of a like nature O how truly might it witnesse with vs that we did hate sinne that we were enemies to the lusts of our hearts that our corruptions were to vs as imprisonment sicknesse paine captiuity and so that wee were sure of our part in Christs goodnesse who comes to preach liberty vnto the captiues Verily our soules are as full of hotches many of them as Iobs body and it will hardly bee better with many of vs so long as we abide in these earthly tabernacles were we as full of spirituall life as hee of naturall and our soules as truly indued with holinesse as his body with sense we should complaine of this burthen with much bitternesse and say O that I could tell where to seeke death O that I might finde the graue and come to those quiet regions where worldlinesse and pride and wrath shall no more torment mee and where my will shall be no more carryed away with any fleshly perturbation I confesse that this is the least part of the good that death bringeth vnto the Saints that it doth vtterly dismisse them from the seruitude of the flesh but were we so thorowly spirituall as we should be this would seeme of so great worth with vs as wee would preferre it before all that the world counts delightfull The Bridegroome would rather go to his graue then to his bride-chamber the traueller would rather lye downe in his bed of earth then in a bed of downe and euery man would bee of Salomons minde and count the day of death better then the day of birth I confesse that wee must so farre resigne our willes to Gods will as with all contentednesse of minde to weare out the dayes of our apprentiship and pilgrimage For so long as God hath any seruice for vs to doe any where though the place and company be full of troublesomnesse yet should wee force our willes to doe him seruice with our owne disquietment but yet a vertuous desire of being separated from this vnhappy condition of life wherein wee shall neuer fully be separated from the sinne that cleaueth so fast would be very commendable and very profitable The gavvdes of this vvorld vvould not so easily beguile vs the cumbers of this vvorld vvould not so frettingly gawle vs if wee did dis-sweeten the one with making our selues to taste the bitternesse of our sinne and dis-imbitter the other with feeling the far greater bitternesse of that which is as farre more harmefull then it as lead is heauier then corke Then should wee proue our selues to bee men and women of a discerning spirit that can know of things what is good what is bad and of bad things what is more what is lesse bad Then should we shew our selues to approch neere that height of grace which the blessed Apostle had who in relating of bonds imprisonment hunger thirst nakednesse whipping stocking shipwrack and daily dying neuer bursts forth into lamentations but rather recounts with ioy that which was so painfull to suffer and seemeth to bee glad of life for nothing else but that by suffering more of those troubles hee might doe more seruice to the Church and honour to Christ but when he hath occasion to declare his sinfulnesse the body of death the law of his members the rebellion of his flesh then onely is heard bewailing and crying out O miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body Let therefore the feeling of sinne make our desires so earnest after full freedome from it that we may for this cause euen breathe after death when there are none other aduersities to distaste the comforts of this life vnto vs that by it wee shall be set at liberty from the diuels tentations the worlds affrightments allurements but specially from the corrupt lusts which we both doe and whilest we lodge in this dungeon shall carry about with vs. And let each of vs say often to himselfe O that I were parted from husband and wife from children from friends from lands and goods and from this world and all that in this world is counted worth hauing so that I might also bee parted from my corruptions and neuer more hereafter stand in need of pruning Fasting and prayer will purge the Word and Sacraments will cleanse and all Gods ordinances and all our Christian indeuours will helpe to lop off these disordered passions that are within vs. But this is alone a cleansing in part a paring off some euill and leauing much behind onely the last blow of death will make a full riddance of all that is euill in vs and after that blow giuen there shall nothing remaine behinde that may call for any more purging This is the soueraigne medicine that will consummate the cure of our diseased soules which till then shall neuer bee deliuered from all diseases though wee bee in Christ as the Vine and haue God the Father for our Husbandman O then Lord send thou this last enemy which may doe mee more good then all the former friends I meet with can doe euen worke a dissolution of my soule from my body and of my sinne from them both Let it come Lord let it come speedily doe thou hasten it in due season and take away all sinne by taking away this life of nature to make way for a farre more excellent life of glory Desire of death is then only warrantable when a desire of Gods full presence and of sinnes perfect absence be the causes mouing that desire CHAP. IX Containing the third vse of the poynt viz. an exhortation and direction how to keepe downe our corruptions whilest wee liue Vse 3 BVt as wee should moderately wish for death We
that liueth in the Church out of these naturall desires that are inseparably vnited to his reasonablenesse doth incline himselfe in some things to yeeld to the Doctrine of Religion that so he may serue his owne turne in fulfilling his owne desires this is false goodnesse goodnesse alone to the eye it is called goodnesse as a false shilling is called a shilling because it looketh like a shilling hauing the same stampe and a little filuer at top though in ths middest it be nothing but brasse or some such base and vnworthy matter If a man I say be moued for his owne credit or ease sake yea or for his owne faluation sake to be willing to do some good that God in his word commandeth and to forbeare some euill in the same Word condemned and not to be willing to doe all good commanded and auoyde all euill forbidden this is but guilefull hollow imperfect dissembled goodnesse so esteemed by men and so appearing to them that can looke alone vpon the bark and outer rinde of things not so appearing to the pure eyes of God nor so accounted in his true iudgement that searcheth into the marrow and pith and depth of all things For God himselfe is the chiefe good and in a manner the onely good neither is any thing good but by participation from him and so that goodnesse which is not as it were deriued from him as from the originall of it nor directed to him as to the scope and end of it because it hath nothing to doe with him therefore indeede is not goodnesse whatsoeuer shew it may carrie to the world So that as true goodnesse is will to bee good in all things for Gods sake so is false goodnesse a will to seeme good in some things for ones owne sake Ease may moue a man to doe some good and auoyde some euill so may credit so may profit Now if any of these things doe chiefly and principally worke vpon our wills as the motiues and ends of our actions then is that goodnesse but hypocrisie and seeming goodnesse and that man who liuing in the visible Church suffers this vice of being induced but to some good things not all and withdrawne but from some euill not all for his owne credite profit ease or the like cause not Gods sake onely or principally to sway and beare rule in him he is an hypocrite Hypocrisie ruleth where it is not seene and lamented But when and in whom doth this vice preuaile may some man say I answere euen then and in that man where and in whom it is not seene opposed resisted by the spirituall weapons of frequent confessions hearty petitions earnest lamentations and diligent application of the word of God against it for to beate it downe for all vices must be distinguished into two kindes some are more fleshly and grosse as I may terme them that doe follow the temperature of the body and their strength and weakenesse doth much what depend vpon the constitution thereof such are wrath and choller gluttony and filthinesse and diuers other like Now it is not of necessitie that these vices bee actually in all the corrupt generation of Adam alone they are in euerie one as I may terme it virtually so that if the same soule were put into another body whose temperature would fit the turne of those vices it would be as plentifull in them as any other man is or as it selfe is in any other vice Now there are other vices of a more spirituall nature as I may terme it I meane more immediatly and principally flowing from the corruption of reason and of will and from the natiue defilement of the soule in its chiefe faculties such as are pride vnbeliefe forgetfulnesse of GOD vnconscionablenesse and by name this hypocrisie And these last kind of vices are in all men indifferently since the first sinne of Adam by whom all became dead in sinnes and trespasses though it must not bee denyed that in some they grow more head-strong than in others and doe more manifestly and violently shew themselues according as they are more or lesse nourished with meanes and occasions and as it were soyled with helpes and opportunities fit for them And as for all these vices there doe they preuayle and there they must be called predominant where they are not obserued bewailed acknowledged oppugned and that by spirituall weapons and that constantly For it is most vndeniable that whersoeuer any vice is there it ruleth vnlesse it be mortified and crucified by the spirit that is by spirituall means and ordinances faithfully vsed wherewith Gods Spirit faileth not to worke and it is as certaine that this grand member or lim rather of the body of death which we all bring into the world with vs I mean hypocrisie is in euery man wherefore it hath dominion in him vnlesse it be as was formerly spokē discerned and oppugned And therefore also it is great reason that such one should receiue his name from hypocrisie be intituled an hypocrite And so I would think An hypocrite is a professor of Christianitie that doth not see and resist his hypocrisie an hypocrite maybe fitly called a professor of religion that doth not see bewaile and fight against his owne hypocrisie that is his aptnes to make a shew of goodnes by doing onely some things that are commanded and auoyding onely some things that are forbidden for his owne sake not indeuouring to doe and auoyd all such things for Gods sake Not the hauing but the not oppugning of hypocrisy makes an hypocrite And this thing is worthy to be diligently marked that I spake of the predominancie of vice because it is of maruellous great vse for the true triall of our felues according to those things that afterwards shall be set downe for that purpose For not euery one that feeleth in himselfe some of these signes and effects of hypocrisie that shall be named is by and by an hypocrite but he that hath them in him and takes no care to find them out or if hee must needes find them out continueth not to make warre against them by prayers and teares the sword of the spirit and the like weapons of our Christian warfare And of the description of an hypocrite hitherto I goe forwards to shew you the sorts or kinds of hypocrites for well may wee say that a notable difference in degrees may giue iust occasion of distributing the things so differing into diuers kinds as the Scripture diuideth the heauenly Bodies into the greater light for the day and the lesser light to rule the night CHAP. IIII. Of the diuers sorts of Hypocrites AND of hypocrites within the Church Of hypocrites there are two kinds the grosse hypocrite and the close hypocrite we shal find two kinds the greater hypocrite the lesser hypocrite the grosse hypocrite the close hypocrite both well called hypocrites because in both that vice preuayleth and yet the one distinguished from
but from gracious acceptation of them in that blood by dipping wherein the spots of them are done away For there is I thinke none of vs which denyeth but that God accepting our workes as perfect in Christ doth reward vs for them as if they were perfect but seeing the reward becomes due in Christ and not by the workes themselues wee thinke it a foolish pride to maintaine the stately name of merit of workes when wee are faine to beg the reward for anothers sake and cannot chalenge it simply for the workes sake Thus this truth inforceth them after much turning and winding in effect to confesse it though the truth is they would not haue it seeme so for feare of a sore losse that might follow thence vnto their Clergies kitchin and manger I meane their liuing and pompe But let them passe There is a second errour of heretickes 2. Of perfection of holinesse in this life dreamed of by the ancient Puritans so they may well be called no lesse dangerous yea verily I suppose much more dangerous then the former of old condemned vnder the name of Puritans from a conceited and imaginary purity or absolute freedome from all sinne whereof they boasted and now as the speech goes reuiued in some parts of this Land This is that the Saints of God in this life may attaine to such perfection as not at all to commit any sinne with such gay fancies they please to seed themselues and their seduced followers Now it is most certaine that these men are the most abominable and dissembling hypocrites in all the world or else the most besotted and benummed spirits for their owne whole carriage and continuall experience doth confute them euen to themselues and yet they will not see themselues confuted If euer any of you meet with any foolish Hypocrite offering to tel you a tale of such perfection that he hopes to get or that he hath gottē or that may be gotten by any in this life as neuer to sinne any more neuer any more to need repentance doe no more but turne him to Saint Iohns Epistle and tell him that he that saith he hath no sinne deceiueth himselfe and the truth is not in him Bid him consult with Salomon againe who propoundeth the question as of a thing impossible Who can say his heart is pure and tell him againe that the same Salomon knew what he said when he said that there is a generation which is pure in their owne eyes but are not cleansed from their filthinesse and tell him that those branches in Christ which need no pruning are sure like a branch ouerladen with Grapes through the conceit of their much fruitfulnesse broken off from him for he saith that euery one remaining in him needeth and receiueth pruning which were not needfull if he were faultlesse And so leaue the fond deceiued and selfe-conceited Hypocrite vnto himselfe and haue no more to doe with him For either he speaketh altogether against his owne heart or else his heart is nought worth as Salomon saith of the wicked yea more hope is there of the saluation of the most desperate sinner aliue then of such an one For Christ alwayes 〈◊〉 the full empty away and pronounceth a 〈◊〉 vpon these spiritually rich persons Seest thou a man wise in his owne eyes saith Salomon there is more hope of a foole then of him Surely he is wise in his owne eyes that thinketh he hath no sinne wherefore we can haue little hope of him This errour is so contrary to all the feeling and sense of all Gods Saints who are faine still to say with Dauid Lord who can know his errors as that a man would maruel how any man in whom there was euer any knowledge of the Word and any shew and beginning of goodnesse should bee so farre seduced and drawne away as to entertaine such an opinion But the cause is manifest hypocrisie is alwayes accompanied with pride and the growth of hypocrisie breeds also a growth of pride and pride swels out the eyes that a man cannot see the cleerest truthes And thus haue we briefly discouered vnto you these errours to rectifie your iudgements For if the words of Christ be true these opinions that are directly opposite vnto the truth contained in them must needs be false Now heare some other vses to rectifie your practice also CHAP. VIII Containing a second vse of the poynt stirring vp the seruants of God to an holy longing for death Vse 2 SEE heere 〈◊〉 how great cause wee haue to follow the Apostle Paul We should long for the time of our dissolution when we shall be perfectly freed from sinne and to long that wee were once dissolned and perfectly vnited vnto Christ that as hee prayes for vs being where he is and seeing his glory we might be perfectly like him in a spotlesse purity and holinesse Impatient folkes are many times so tormented with worldly crosses made so troublesome vnto them alone by their owne folly and pride whereby they neglect to see God and to stoope vnto him in crosses that they are euen altogether weary of their liues because of them and our of a kind of stomackfull sullennesse against God as once Ionas or else a feeble sinking vnder the burthen of misery as once Eliah they euen thinke with themselues I would I were dead and are bold to trouble God with that vnsauoury petition of making an end of their daies that they may be rid of their crosses which they haue neither patience enough to beare for the present nor hope enough to looke for a good issue out of for the time to come But my brethren consider Haue you not other and worse things to be weary of then crosses and for which if for any thing to be weary of life also as of a burthen which you long to be remoued from off your shoulders Hast thou not pride passion worldlinesse ambition lust enuie vaine-glory blindnesse hollownesse deadnesse of heart and a thousand more besides these corruptions within thee which giue thee farre iuster cause of panting for the period of thy dayes and wishing that thy life heere might bee but short then the frowardnesse of a yoke fellow the stubbornnesse of a child the meannesse of thine estate the falsenesse of thy friends the power and fury of thine enemies or any other crosse if any be worse then these Ah wee haue not sufficiently informed our selues of the loathsomnesse of sin neither are we sufficiently heauie laden with the sense thereof if the cumbersomnesse of this doe not cause vs euen in the time of our greatest immunity from other miseries to couet our departure hence If sicknesses make men cry for death because they be terrible to the body how should not the sicknesses of the soule make vs much rather to seeke for it seeing wee shall not cease to suffer the fits of this disease till death be sent to seuer our soules from our bodies and both from our
of God shall haue the vpper hand and our faith shall bee our victory We are many times little lesse then out of heart because the proceedings doe seeme very slow and well-neere indiscernable But bee not discouraged O ye Christian soules promise your selues victory in this spirituall conflict for the Lord doth fight on your side and you shall conquer In truth we want much of that mortification which we might attaine if out of this confidence we would put forth our selues to the vtmost The diuel labours to make vs beleeue that it wil be to no purpose to resist our lusts wee haue so often resolued to leaue such a fault and cannot yet leaue it we haue thus often resolued against anger lust pride worldlinesse and the like and yet behold the passions and motions of them are stirring and also breake forth againe sure therefore it will neuer be better and it is in vaine to continue striuing about that which cannot bee effected These be the heartlesse and vnbeleeuing conclusions wherewith the diuell and the flesh would dismay vs. But now know thou that these conclusions are false I tell thee the quite contrary in the name of the Lord It shall not be in vaine to striue against sinne the husbandman will prune the branches and shall not hee bee able to bring his workes to passe according to his promise Tell me from thine owne feeling doe not these sins vexe thee more and more and art thou not more and more angry and discontented against thy selfe for them and more and more out of loue with thy selfe because of them if so as sure thou canst not deny but it is so then all is safe this is to be in pruning now the sinne is dying onely doe thou make vse of Gods words to Ioshua fighting against the Canaanites Faint not nor bee discouraged but take to thy selfe a valiant spirit to continue praying against meditating on the Word of God and the death of Christ opposing the first motions of it and vsing all other good wayes that God hath directed thee vnto for the subduing of it and I say vnto thee thou shalt prosper goe vp and fight against these Philistims and the Lord will deliuer them into thine hands Our want of being sufficiently purged doth come from want of sufficient indeuours to purge our selues and this want springeth from a want of faithful assurance of Gods assistance and good successe in our indeuours But now I beseech you all that bee members of Christ set in earnestly and with a good courage and you shall vanquish them you shall more and more preuaile against them till at last you haue quite ouercome them in the ouercomming of the last enemy which is death If wee did labour against sin alone in our owne strength we should finde indeed that vaine is the helpe of man and the labour of flesh and blood in this behalfe but the God of heauen he is the husbandman and hee pruneth The Lord is present with thy prayers to make them effectuall for the killing of thy lusts The Lord is present in his Word to make it a two-edged sword to cut off all carnall affections and to wound the body of death more and more The Lord is present with thine holy meditations to make them effectuall to weaken any of thy sinfull passions Faint not therefore but stir vp thy selfe to worke with God in those holy exercises know that thy successe shall be as often it hath been with Gods people in the naturall battell farre beyond thine expectation And of the matter of Gods Husbandry so farre We must now looke into the end and effect of it for God will neuer misse of his ends though hee often misse of those ends whereto his actions in their owne nature are fitted and which speaking after the manner of men to our capacity he tells vs that he intended This is that they may bring forth more fruit CHAP. XVI Containing the fourth poynt of doctrine that the people of God must increase in fruitfulnesse SO are we come to the last poynt wee intended to speake of Doct. 4 The true Christian must waxe better and better viz. that the true branches of the Vine must labour to increase in fruitfulnesse Euery true Christian man must proceed and goe forward in the fruits of the Spirit growing better and better and more and more abundant in the worke of the Lord. As we looke that a tree the longer it growes in our Orchard the more and more increase it should yeeld vs in like manner should wee behaue our selues towards God The Apostle Peter wisheth vs to long for the sincere milke of the Word that we may grow thereby A Christian is like a young child that sucketh on the brest of his mother who doth to this end receiue that kindly nourishment that he may increase in stature and strength of body Paul aduertizeth the Thessalonians saying I beseech you brethren as you haue receiued of vs how you ought to walke and to please God 1. Thes 4.1 and 10. that yee abound more and more And afterwards concerning brotherly loue We beseech you that you increase more and more And Dauid saith Psalm 92.14 that the trees which are planted in the courts of Gods House doe bring forth fruit in their age and are fat and flourishing But the poynt is without deniall and the reasons of it are more then euident Reason 1 First they are short of perfection They are not yet perfect so long as they liue in this world and therefore must striue forward to perfection Paul himselfe tels the Philippians that he pressed hard towards the marke because he not yet reached it and wisheth as many as are perfect to be so minded In a race a man must neuer cease running till hee touch the goale wee shall neuer touch the goale of perfection till wee haue deliuered vp our soules into the hands of God by death for heere we know but in part and therefore can doe nothing in whole hence it followes that till death we must be still going onward When a man hath attained his full stature he must grow then indeed hee needeth onely nutrition but till then augmentation is requisite for these two motions are very different as you know and his limmes must become greater and stronger yea and will doe so vnlesse diseases hinder Now we be but striplings or rather infants in goodnesse In truth wee are but in the wombe of the Church all the while we walke in this world our death-day will be our birth day and then we shall at once be made full and compleat wherefore till then there must be a continuall addition of grace to that wee haue already receiued Indeed some Christians in comparison of others are called strong men as euen of infants in the wombe some are perfecter then other but simply there is none a full growne man brought to the measure of the fulnesse of the stature of Christ