destruction of the living and in the eighteenth of Ezekiel and the twenty third God hath no desire that the wicked should die but if even the wicked return from his waies he shall live so that Adam and his sinne was the cause of death death was made by him for God is the God of life It was the sinne of Nineveh that made God to threaten destruction to Nineveh within fourty dayes but when as it is in the third of Jonah and the eighth they returned by repentance from their evill waies God shewed mercie and they were not destroyed Adam he forsook God of himself and so he brought death to himself So long as he shewed his obedience unto God the other Creatures were obedient unto him there was no enmity between him and the other Creatures in time of obedience he was not in danger of death God breathed into Adam life Adam brought death The Prophet in the 104. Psalme 29. saith If thou take away their breath they return to their dust so that life is Gods but dust is their own ground and they have their moisture and when that moisture is dried up and taken away it turneth to dust ex argillâ fabricavit hominem Deus Job in his tenth chapter and ninth verse saith to God Remember that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me to dust again for if the moisture of the grace of God be taken away what are we but dust The Heavens send down the dew from above to moisten the Earth Isaiah 45. 8. It is the spirit of God that giveth the moisture to beliefe John 7. 39. If that be taken away we are but dust Thus farre of it as a Sentence A Law Now of this as of a Law To dust shalt thou return First touching the certainty of it in these words to dust thou shalt return of the uncertainty when donec untill There are those that escape the first part of this punishment of Adam that live not in the sweat of their face qui non vivunt ex labore sudoris there are those that live at ease and yet fare daintily that have aboundance and take no pains that lie upon their Beds as the door turneth upon his hinges Proverbs 26. 14. But though they escape that part of the Sentence this part takes hold of all for all must die this is universall this is certain Statutum est it is a Statute and a Law that all must die from the first to the last Adam the fift to the Romans the fifteenth David himself saith of himself in regard of mortalitie of the body Psalme the twenty second and the sixth I am a worm and not a man We have comfort in Jesus Christ to live for ever this was it that Jesus said that John should not die the twenty first of John and the twenty third and by him we look for the resurection of the body This it was that made Job in his nineteenth chapter and twenty sixth verse to say That though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh A universall Law Touching the extent of this that it is universall to all to die it is plain not to be denied for as it is in the eighty ninth Psame and the fourty eighth verse What man liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the grave Though God hath said to Kings and Princes and Judges of the earth yee are Gods and Children of the Almighty yet yee shall die as men and fall like others Psalme the eighty second and the seventh laquei mortis the snares of death compass about the Godly their body goeth to the grave but their soul returneth to rest Psalme the one hundred sixth and the seventh verse and as it is in the second of the Preacher and the sixteenth The wise man dieth as well as the fool Look what sentence is given upon man falls upon the rest of the Creatures for man is the great Count-palatine of the world and the chief mover in the Sphear as he moveth all are moved and the Elements and Birds and Beasts were subject to Mans change his disobedience made all disobedient and out of order yea as the Wise-man saith in the nineteenth of Ecclesiast and the fifth All the living know assuredly they shall die So much for the certainty to all Uncertainty Donec untill Now of the uncertainty of the time donec untill which is verie uncertain Isaack though he were old and neer his death yet in the twenty seventh of Genesis and the second he said senex sum diem mortis nescio I am now old and know not the day of my death The men of this world have their Portion in this life there are the gates of death as David speaketh and laquei mortis the snares of death This time cannot be discerned it is nighest us when we think our selves most secure For when the rich man had layed up store for many years and said to his soul take thou thy rest even then came it hâc nocte this night thou shalt die Death is pronounced upon all but a flaming fire and vengeance belongeth only to the ungodly the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the eighth and ninth verses Mercy in death Now touching the mittigation of this death in this sentence of death for as the Wise-man speaketh in the seventh chapter and the seventeenth verse The vengeance of the wicked is fire and 〈◊〉 this bitterness must be alayed for as Bernard saith non est crux sine Christo non est punctio sine unctione there is no cross without comfort no punishment without ointment The fear of death Christ delivereth them from the fear of death that is Gods anger that all their life were subject to bondage the second to the Hebrews and the fifteenth The hope of life so then the fear of death must be alayed with the hope of life For though the wicked be cast off for his malice yet the righteous hath hope in his death the fourteenth of the Proverbs and the thirty second This is joy to us even in death that Christ will change this vile body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body the third to the Philipians and the twenty first and according to the fourteenth of the Revelations and the thirteenth their hope is with a blessing beati mortui qui in domino moriuntur blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their laboures Now in the verie words of the Sentence are implied two sorts of this delay Donec implieth an end of labour Donec implieth that they shall labour untill then untill implieth no eternity there is a consummation of labour there is end of labour and an assurance of rest the blessed rest from their labours tempus est refrigerii there is a time of refreshing the third of the Acts and the
root of all bitternesse is infidelity for Adam seeing Eves case that though she had eaten of that pleasant and forbidden tree yet she was living and that there was as yet no apparent signe of any ill thought the rather surely God spake not this in earnest neither for the eating of a small apple shall man dye But should have accounted Gods word to be infallible and that mortem moriêris was a sentence of condemnation Faith should be rooted in Gods word but from incredulitie which is the root of bitternesse it commeth that he beleeveth Eve by an inordinate love not of lust but of necessitie to his wife which we call a bashfulnesse and the Fathers call it noxia verecundia In 1 Kings 2. 4. So long as Davids sonnes shall walk in the way of truth with all their hearts and all their souls their posteritie shall inherit the Kingdome Adam by eating this fruit shewed a desire in him to grant her request he loved her entirely for that she was taken out of him and given unto him by God and then there were no more women in the world He did eat that he might be accounted indulgens maritus a most loving husband that as Austin saith In unitate peccati etiam socius sit that even in the unitie of iniquitie he might be her companion The Heathen call necessarium 〈◊〉 mulierem a woman to be a necessarie evill So intire is his love to his wife that as S. Gregorie saith well Plus credit uxori quà m 〈◊〉 he beleeveth more his wife who is his helper than God who is his maker St. Ambrose saith Man will be content to hear blasphemous and obscene speeches ut offendatur Deus ne offendatur amicus that God may be offended rather than his friend displeased Now by the 22. verse you may see the ambitious desire of Adam to become as God himself to know good and evill therefore it is by the Fathers presumed That by Eves information he presumed to be so He was now wearie of credere and obedire to beleeve and obey God and his word He desired now to command and controll to be non sub Deo sed sicut Deus to be no longer under God but as God his faith and obedience became a burthen he was not content with his knowledge of good alone but he would needs by eating attain the knowledge both of good and evill he began frige fieri in affectu to waxe cold in his affection toward God And lastly he made full account that he should be preferred he should not be punished none should be so excellent he should be equall with God But if that God were angrie with him yet Adam had his excuse that he for the love and entire affection to her which was taken out of himself for a good minde which he had to her gave her his consent to eat of the forbidden fruit which they gather out of the twelfth verse of this chapter where Adam saith The woman which thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat He did behold what Eve did see and thought that thereby he should attain knowledge But here the Holy Ghost to avoid rediousnesse briefly without any farther repetition saith And he did eat Adams understanding it was corrupted his will it was infected he was perswaded that he should be as a God and that there was great virtue in the tree whereupon he transgressed that is he went beyond the Commandement God said he should not eat but he did eat Whereas Paul saith 1 Tim. 2. 14. Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and was in the transgression The Serpent deceived Eve and Eve was Sathans instrument to deceive Adam Upon which place the Fathers doe make inquirie of Adams sinne saying That Adam yeilded to Eve though he were not properly deceived by her this his sinne say they is the sinne of necessity not of his will Salomon for the love he did bear to his wives was tempted to Idolatry Ahab for fear committed murther It was neither love nor fear of God could keep man in Gods commandement and yet they impute malice to God and they are even set on mischief Exod 32. 22. Adams sinne came out of himself out of Eve which was his rib Wickedness first came from the Devill himself and his Cockatrioe egge that hatcheth iniquitie is malice he that imagineth to doe evill men call the author of wickednesse Prov. 24 8. According to the old and ancient proverb in 1 Sam. 24. 14. wickednesse proceedeth from the wicked Sathans wickednesse is of malice Eves wickednesse is of error Adams is of infirmitie then cometh noxia verecundia a guilty shame fac'dness Adam he fell of infirmitie in that he loved his wife more than he loved God The ancient Divines considering Adams sin doe consider the same by the circumstances which are seven 1. The person The first circumstance is of the person Adam he was Gods vassal from whom he received infinite benefits whom he made governour of Paradise as if a Countie Palatine to whom he gave a short Law and an easinesse not to sinne to whom he gave strength to withstand all violence to whom he permitted all the trees in the Garden reserving but one to himself for whom also being alone he made woman to be to him a meet help The bond of love unto God was before ever there was any Eve It was love that linked Adam unto Eve it was fear love that linked Adam unto God he therfore should have regarded more the word of God than of woman 2. The Object The second Circumstance is in respect of the object against whom he offended he sinned against God that created him that gave unto him the government of Paradise as a Father saith well Quem nunc despicitis 〈◊〉 fecit he whom now you despise is your maker Besides it was he that made her to be an help but now she setteth her self against God He gave to Adam a commandement brevissimum levissimum that was most short to be remembred and most easie to be observed seeing that he will offend him that is so gracious seeing he will break that Law which so easily may be kept this circumstance maketh the sin of Adam to be the greater 3 The motive and retentive to and from sinne Thirdly They doe consider the motive to sin and the retentive from sin What was it that moved Adam to sinne and to lose Gods favour It was but an Apple a small fruit that seemed pleasant to the eyes wherein there was but a short and transitorie pleasure while the fruit was a eating and in the mouth But the retentive was in the highest degree mortem 〈◊〉 thou shalt dye the death thou shalt dye eternally the fear was 〈◊〉 greater than the pleasure Paul Philip. 2. 8. faith of Christ That he humbled himbled himself and became obedient unto the death even the death of the crosse
his wife The second is his eating Inordinate Consent Touching the first The giving eare to the voyce of his wife it is nothing unlesse it bee accompanied with another circumstance hee may heare the voyce of his wife if shee speak that is reason and so the superior may heare the voice of the inferior In the second of the Kings the fift chapter and thirteenth verse the Master must hear the voyce of the Servant in reason If the Prophet saith Naamans servant to Naaman had commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much rather when hee saith to thee but this Wash and be cleane and there Naaman heard the voyce of his servant so that licet audire vocem 〈◊〉 the words of reason are to be heard from our Inferiour be it Wife Child or Servant for reason ruleth all out of the mouth of whomsoever it commeth but we must not hear words noysome and of wicked desire but when they are brutish senseless and of foolish desire we must not hear them but above all not words contrary to Gods word for vox dei praecipiens commanded him not to eat vox uxor is disuadens perswaded the contrary yet he heard the voice rather of his Wife than of God so the fault is disobedience to God which is not alone but is accompanied with another fault called Ignavia negligence carelesness not regarding Gods Commandement This laying the bridle carelesly on the neck is to be subject to her voice that was subject to him and by such negligence was drawn to transgression the 〈◊〉 act It was no excuse to Joab that he had Davids letters to murther Urias as it is 2 Sam. 11. 14. nor Solomons Idolatry was not to be excused because he was perswaded thereunto by his Wives It is a great offence non contristari mortiferas delitias not to be sorry for deadly delight The pleasing voice of Eve was no excuse to Adams breach of Gods Commandements 2. The disordered Act. The other branch is the disordered act of Adam which is a second degree of sinne for to have heard the voice of his Wife and there to have stayed and not to have sinned had been worthy commendation to have remembred the voice of God and not regarded the voice of Eve had been commendable before he heareth the voice of God but here he obeyeth the voice of Eve Out of this act of sinne the Fathers gather two Circumstances the first is that the voice of God might easily have been obeyed Of all the trees in the Garden thou maist eat de illâ arbore of that one tree alone thou shalt not eat in such plenty one might have been forborn so that great was the disobedience when so small a matter commanded by God was not obeyed by Man according to that of St. Austin upon this place Magna est iniquitas ubi non magna obediendi difficultas here is great ingratitude not to for bear this one having all other in aboundance The Second Circumstance in this act of sin is to doe it though charge were given before to the contrary with pain of death in the 17. of the former Chapter It was otherwise with Paul 2 Cor. 15. he remembreth their obedience to be with fear and trembling Not death shall separate Paul from his obedience but Adam was disobedient though death were denounced disobedient to death so that the aggravating the act is the contempt of Gods denouncing of death and punishment So much may suffice of the Fault The Punishment or Penaltie Now touching the Punishment Cursed is the earth for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life c. I consider this Punishment of Adam after two sorts either as a Sentence or as a Law Now we will speak of it only as a Sentence hereafter by Gods patience we will handle the other as a Law Herein we will consider the proportion of that Fault with the Punishment with the Fault and with the Act it self In the Sentence are two Punishments The first cursed be the earth for thy sake c. The second in the sweat of labour shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return to dust for dust thou art and to it shalt thou return The one part of the Punishment is a hard life the other a corruption by death In Proportion As Eves so Adams punishment is in proportion First his desire was unlawfull and the Act was sin for according to 1. of St. James 15. When lust conceiveth it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Eves lust made her sinne and she was punished Adams neglect to suffer an Inferiour to prevail against God is punished with labour for labour is poena ignaviae and Mans ingratitude to God is punishment with the Earths ingratitude to Man he was disobedient the earth shall be unfruitfull he offended in meat and he is punished in his meat the earth that should feed him is cursed for him he offended in unkindness active he is punished with unkindness passive he dealt unkindly with God he shall suffer the earths unkindness Eve her punishment was in bringing forth life Mans is in bringing forth living to maintain and nourish life which is a great difficulty both have their pain labour and sorrow Hers is in intension great but for a few houres his is great in extension to indure all the dayes of his life And so much generally of the Punishment In his meat Now in particular the first part of mans Punishment is in his meat Men must needs have whereof to eate for life without living and maintenance will not be preserved there is not only a bringing forth of Children but there are also curae oeconomicae houshould cares meat and cloathing must of necessity be had according to that of the Wise man Preacher 6. 7. all the labour of man is for his mouth and the 16. of the Proverbs and the 26. is to like purpose he must eat and the hearb of the field must be his meat fuell must maintain the fire and meat must maintain life Adam came of the earth and must live by the earth the earth that was his Mother must be his Nurse and from thence mankinde must be maintained even all the meanest and the Monarch for as it is Preacher 5. 8. the aboundance of the earth is over all the King consisteth by the field that is tilled The hearb of the field bread was the only sustenance of the Patriarchs before the Flood but after the waters had taken away by over much moisture the strength that was in hearbs and bread God gave them then other meats drinks of strength in the 9. Chapter of this Book 20. Noah planted Vineyards and drunk the wine thereof But that Adam is here to 〈◊〉 is the hearb of the field and the bread of his own labour These two wereable to strengthen mans hart as it is said
of every man even of every beast in as much as he hath first taught beasts to kill men by his own confession it is just that as the Prophet speaks Micah the seventh chapter and the fift verse The Wife of his bosome and the Children of his loyns shall break the bonds of nature with him as he before hath thewed himself unnaturall to his brother And this is a great part of Cains punishment that albeit there be none to kill him yet he shall be in continuall fear of death that a man shall not only fear Gods threatning but his own fancy that he shall fear not one but every one that meets him as if every one knew his fault that he shall fear not only where there is cause of fear as wilde beasts but tuta timere and this is a part of Gods curse that God will send faintness into their hearts so as they shall be afraid at the shaking of a leaf Leviticus the twenty sixt chapter and the thirty sixt verse at every shadow as the Midianites were of their dreams Judges the seventh chapter and at every noise and rumor in the second of the Kings the seventh chapter and the sixt verse These feares are great punishments and arguments of a guilty conscience and this sheweth that albeit wickedness be secret yet it will not suffer a man to be quiet Wherein we are to observe how Cain de scribeth the state of them that are out of Gods favour and cast from his presence that they fear either no fear as Psalm the fifty 〈◊〉 If the Prince frown upon a man there is no hope of favour any where else so if God be once offended so that a man despair of his favour he will fear every creature the starres of heaven fought against Sisera Judges the fift chapter and the twentieth verse The stones in the street will cease to be in league and peace with him Job the fift chapter therefore when God saith quaerite faciem meam Psalm the twenty seventh our soul must answer thy face Lord will I seek For if we seek the Lord our God we shall finde him Deuteronomie the fourth chapter and the twenty ninth verse and that is so necessary that the People say If thy presence goe not with us carry us not hence Exodus the thirty third chapter and the Prophet speaketh Cast me not from thy presence Psalm the fifty first for without the assurance of Gods favour and protection we shall fear every shadow every noise that we hear Secondly Cain in these words sheweth what was his chief fear and what did most grieve him that was that he should die not the death of the soul but the bodily death by the hand of man he feares the shadow of death but not the body of death as the Apostle speaks Romans the seventh chapter but eternall death is that which he should have feared most of all for it hath a body and shall be found though the bodily death is often sought and cannot be found Job the third wherein Cain shewes what he is that is animalis homo in the first to the Corinthians the second chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phillippians the third chapter not having the spirit so was Saul afflicted in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter Honour me before the people he respected worldly honour more than Gods favour whereupon saith Augustine quid tibi honoratio haec proderit miser If 〈◊〉 death fall upon Cain what shall it profit him to live on earth but this sheweth plainly that the life of the body was Cains chief felicity and that the greatest grief he had was for the death of the body as if he should say let me live though it be but in fear and sorrow This is the affection of flesh and blood as the Devill saith of Job Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job the second chapter that is so long as life is not taken away man is well This being Cains complaint it is an implied petition and the request is Quasi pro magno beneficio ut non 〈◊〉 which request may be well uttered if it be rightly taken for not only the wicked feare death but the godly say themselves we sigh and would not be uncloathed but cloathed upon in the second to the Corinthians the fift chapter they would passe to immortality without the dissolution of the body and soul. That prayer for life is well if it be for a good end as Hezekiah praieth he may live to the end he may bewaile his sinnes in the 〈◊〉 of his soul Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter repentance is the end that he sets David saith I will not die but live and praise the Lord Psalm the one hundred and eighteenth the Apostle Paul albeit in regard of himself he desires to be dissolved yet because it is profitable for the Church that he should still remain in the flesh he desires to live Philippians the first chapter and the twenty second verse so life may be sought if it be for this end to doe good but if our end be the escaping of death for a time the case is otherwise Touching the end of Cain's desire It may be he 〈◊〉 life that he might repent and praise God and doe good for charity 〈◊〉 the best in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the thirteenth chapter But we see what doth continually vex Cain and all the wicked that is the doubt of the forgivenesse of sinne which is the worm of the spirit and a continuall fear of death which they know they have deserved at the hands of all Gods creatures Dixit verò Jehova illi Propterea quisquis interfecerit Kajinum septuplo vindicator imposuit Jehova Kajino signum ne eum caederet ullus qui foret inventurus eum Gen. 4. 15. Septemb. 26. 1599. CAINS chief complaint and petition therein implied was handled verse the fourteenth This verse contains Gods answer which is a yeelding or granting to that petition of his and that effectuall for God provideth for the safety of Cain's life not only by his word and command but by a visible mark which he set upon Cain Wherein we are generally to observe First That as the Prophet tels us in the one hundred and tenth Psalme God dealeth not with any sinner according to his sinnes and deserts for if God did not in wrath remember mercy 〈◊〉 the third chapter he should not in justice have suffered Cain to open his mouth for it is just that he which turneth away his car from hearing the law when he prayeth should not be heard Proverbs the twenty eighth chapter and the ninth verse That he which will not hear Gods Prachers shall not be heard of God when he prayeth And the Lord in the Propher saith more plainly in the second chapter of Zechary and the thirteenth verse that as he by his Prophets cried unto the people and they would not
forward to that perfection Hebrews the sixt chapter and the first verse That as we may not 〈◊〉 be babes in knowledge that must be taught line upon line Esay the twenty ninth chapter but labour to come to a fulnesse of knowledge which the Apostle calls A treasure of wesdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colossians the second chapter and the third verse So for being faithfull men we must not content our selves with a weak and feeble faith but must strive to attain to an assurance of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrews the tenth chapter and the twenty second verse not to say as Agrippa Acts the twenty sixt chapter I am somwhat perswaded to be a Christian that is but a beginning of faith but when we have this beginning we are to goe forward and so in hope we must not content our selves with a good perswasion at the first and so to rest in a mammering but proceed till we be fully assured And this St. Peter telleth plainly we must perfecte sperare the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the thirteenth verse trust perfectly This is Peters desire as it is the Apostles here Which full assurance that it is a different thing from faith the Apostle sheweth Ephesians the third chapter and the twelfth verse In whom we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by faith in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That confidence or fiducia as the Apostle calls it is the perfection of our hope and we attain to it as he faith per fidem This fiducia is the effect of faith as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 access and boldness of speech are the effects of hope the second epistle to the Corinthians the third chapter and the twelfth verse Those beginnings of hope and faith are not to be disliked Mark the ninth chapter and the twenty fourth verse I beleeve Lord help my unbelief but he that hath such a faith must strive to come to Abrahams faith Qui contra spem sub spe credidit Romans the fourth chapter So he hath that small meature of hope which the Prophet speaketh of Joel the second chapter and the fourteenth verse Who knoweth if the Lord will return and repent and leave a blessing hehinde him Jon. the third chapter and the ninth verse These 〈◊〉 beginnings not to be disallowed so that he strive further to the perfection of hope which was in Job Job the thirteenth chapter and the fifteenth verse Etenim si occiderit sperabo in eum Which made Paul say Romans the eighth chapter and the thirty eighth verse I am sure that neither life nor death things present nor to come c. Thirdly This fulnesse of hope must continue to the end and not abide for a time As Christ blames Luke the eighth chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Apostle finds fault with temporary hope It is that which we see in Demas he beleeved and had hope and gave great hope for a time so that Paul acknowledged him his fellow laborer but his faith and hope had soon an end for he for look Paul and fell to embracing the present world the second epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter Therefore it is not enough to hope for a time but our hope must continue to the end for as the Apostle saith thou mayst see the goodnesse of God in breaking off the natural branches to graff thee in if thou continue for else he will shew like severity to thee Romans the eleventh chapter and the seventeenth verse but thou must permanere The same Apostle saith Galatians the fift chapter and the seventh verse You did run well as if he should say nay you fate still and therefore all is to no purpose Therefore the Apostle exhorts So to run that they may obtain the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter as he himself doth in chastising his body and subduing it least while he preach to them he should be rejected His meaning is albeit he be assured That nothing shall separate him from the love of God Romans the eighth chapter and the thirty eighth verse yet he will runne still and keep his hope For the state 〈…〉 is like the fanctifying of the Nazarite If at the end of six dayes he did touch any unclean thing he was to begin again Numbers the sixt chapter and the twelfth verse So it is in the matter of hope and other virtues And therefore the Prophet prayeth not only for the spirit and an ingenious spirit but a constant spirit that may continue Psalm the fifty first The means are set down in these words First he would have them use Diligence Secondly it must be demonstrative and expert Diligence Thridly it must be the same Diligence that is shewed in the works of Love and Charity and in the distribution to the poor Of these three points the first is The Apostle 〈◊〉 we may deceive our selves in our hope He that said I shall never be moved Psalm the thirtieth and and the sixt verse had hope enough and too much and he that said Though all men for sake thee yet not I Matthew the twenty sixt chapter hoped enough and too much and therefore hope doth well in injoyning the means for as in the beginning of the chapter verse the sixt is matter of feare and in the end verse the eighteenth matter of hope so here he willeth them to shew diligence that this hope may appear and that it be not a negligent and sluggish hope as he speaks ut ne fit is semper sperantes For as fear if it be not mixed with hope doth degenerate into desperation so hope if it be not tempered with fear will turn to presumption And it was the case of these two Saints David and Peter and we see what came of it And therefore of Job who had such an assured hope in God even in death it is said Nonne timor tuus spes 〈◊〉 Job the fourteenth chapter he felt in himself a fear to commit sinne and that fear say the ancient Fathers was his hope And the Apostle that wills them perfectè sperare to trust perfectly the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the thirteenth verse saith after verse the seventeenth Passe your time in fear He that before called for a perfection of hope doth here require fear for so our hope may not fall asleep or wax negligent And as Basil saith Vide spem num sit ver a spes The true hope is that which hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is coact and moved to diligence Such a hope is not his that perswades himself his Master 〈◊〉 his comming and so falleth to be negligent that is a confounding hope But the diligent hope is that which confounds not Romans the fift chapter and the fift verse For as faith teacheth that it is impossible to attain to Heaven so withall it tells us it is 〈◊〉 a matter of difficulty Wherefore Christ saith Vigilate Mark