in my death for nothing but sorrow shall bring my gray head to that graue Thus a good father mourned for a gracious sonne but will you heare a louing parents moane for a lewd child In the 2. Sam. 18. when God purposed to chastice Dauid he made the sonne to whip the father for Absolō that by name should haue bin his fathers ioy by nature proued a Parricide sought to depose his owne syre but God hauing sufficiētly humbled Dauid his child threw the rod in the fire and brought a iudgement vpon Absolom which cost him his life Notwithstanding Dauid being mooued with the good affection of a father more then the bad condition of his sonne was so far frō reioycing in Absoloms death that it almost cost him his own life O Absolom my sonne quoth he would God I had dyed for thee O Absolom my sonne my sonne But God héere is neither like Iacob lamēting a good sonne nor Dauid bewayling a wicked child he resembles good Abrahā who willingly sacrificed his sonne Isaak This was much to giue a sonne yet as if this were not enough to expresse Gods loue the holy Ghost addeth his only begottē sonne he gaue not an adopted sonne as Abraham offred a Rāme in stead of Isaac but his owne sonne And herein appeares his perfect iustice a blessed president to all Iusticiaries In all Gods actions this vertue swayes though his mercy be aboue all his works yet mercy and iustice must kisse together The dearest drop of Christs blood must be shed before GODS instice be left vnsatisfied Nay this was not enough to satissy Gods mercy his loue mounts a degrée higher and further it cannot ascend He gaue his only begottē Sonne When the world could not yéeld the price of our redemption he searched his owne bosome for a Sauiour gaue vs his only sonne If God had many sōnes his mercy had bene meaner his loue had séemed lesse but he gaue vs not one son of many but one all his only Sonne for whose sake he spared not his Angels his delight his bosome friēd the image of himselfe for the ransome of the world O loue beyond all loue how much thou art A holy father in admiratiō of this loue cries Quà m diues es in misericordia quà m magnificus in iusticia quà m munificus in gratia Domine Deus noster Againe Passio tua Domine Iesu vltimū est refugium singulare remediū deficiente sapientia Iustitia non sufficiente sanctiatis succumbentibus meritis illa succurrit cum enim defecerit virtus mea non conturbor scio quid faciam poculum salutaris accipiam c. The instruction that we must learne from the consideration of this vnspeakeable Gift Christ is two-fold First wee are taught to returne our loue againe as Aug. sayes Sinon am are saltem redam are debemus As GOD hath giuen vs his onely Sonne so we must show our reciprocall loue to God and for his Sonne giue him our selues as he hath giuen vs wealth we must bestowe our wealth on him agayne as he hath giuen vs liberty honour children long life knowledge wisdom courage c. these must all wayte on him and doe him honour and seruice Thus we must giue him loue for loue agayne The second vse of Gods vnspeakable boūty is to teach vs to loue our brethren Christ teacheth vs this lesson for his Loue saying I haue giuen you an example how to loue one another Brethren must be vnited in the bond of mutuall loue like Cyrus the Sythians Fagot for the vnity of brothers is Ecce quà m iucundā excéeding ioy to all the Saints But alas let vs see what Louers and what Giuers our wicked age doth afford When I study vpon this duty I find foure sorts of Giuers The first the worst sort haue the hand to giue but not the heart to graunt of whom I may say as Christ sayd Better this hand were cut off they were as poore as Irus then with their rusting riches to be cast into Hell These are the Mammonists of our age whose soule lies treasured w e their rusting pence who are more vnmercyful thē the deuill for he would haue Christ turne stones into bread but these men turne bread into stones euē the bread of the poore into stone walles or else spend it on their accursed lusts forgetting mercy therefore damnation attends thē The second fore haue the heart but not the hand whose myts God accepts aboue all the Mines of the wealthy takes their loue for their largesse The third sort are such as haue neither heart nor hand in this duty these are poore men euery way for he that can bring forth neither good work nor good wil is a dead mēber in Christs Body shall be cut off The fourth sort haue both hand heart these walke in brotherly loue these are they the walk worthy of this Gift Christ shal haue their déeds of mercy crowned with that swéete haruest song Come ye blessed of my Father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world for I was hungry and ye gaue me meate c. CHAP. IIII. Of the world NOwe it remaynes that we consider to whom this great Legacie is bequeathed The world What is the world some friend of Gods No. What is God indebted to the world No. What is the world The world is named and taken diuers wayes first pro soto creato Iohn 1.10 Heb. 11.3 secondly pro mundo damnato Ioh. 17.9 thirdly pro homine mundato Rom. 5.10 Col. 1.20.2 Cor. 5.19 and so it is taken in this place for the world here meant is a certaine small number of the sonnes of Adam which God of his vnspeakable clemency hath set apart to exercise his mercy vpon thē and hath chosen them out of the same lumpe masse that the damned world is of euen all alike firebrands of hell fellowes with the falling Angels all alike Traytours Rebels incarnate Deuils for Augustine sayth Quod tuum est Sathanas est Euery man is of himselfe a deuill Will you heare what Gods iudgement opinion is of the world as men are in themselues In the 145. Psalme God takes a view of man and then sayes Homo vanitati similis factus est Mā is become like vanity As if he had said Whē I made man I made him to mine owne likenesse I had a pleasure to looke on him againe and againe I held my workmanship excéeding good Gen. 1 But lo man hath mard what I haue made he hath befaeed mine Image hath made himselfe like vnto vanity nay he hath so lōg delighted in vantly the now he is vanity it self Psal 39.5 In Iob 1. It is writtē Naked I came out of my mothers wob yea saith a holy Father naked of all grace vertne In 1. Cor. 3. it 's said The wisdom of the world is foolishnes with God How is it then the God bestowes this great Legacy vpon
If Apelles should sée his Venus blemished or Protogenes his Hialysus broken surely the one would turne away his eyes and the other throw away his Pensill Then shall we not allow Christ to be sory séeing his owne Image so defaced through ignorance so spotted with errour Yet Christ in his correction is like a kinde Nurse that whippes her crying Babe on the coate not on the carkasse 〈◊〉 though he knittes his brow he knittes in it a blessing as the father holds an Apple in one hand and a rodde in the other But let vs first heare how Christ shakes his rodde at Nicodemus roundly rebuking him for his blindnesse in a chiefe poynt of Religion the mystery of Regeneration O Nicodemus art thou a Doctour in Israel and knowest not these things Art thou a Teacher in Christs schoole and hast not yet learned Christs-Crosse How art thou accounted a wise man in Israel being a foole in Religion There is no Wisedome but the Trueth in qua tenetur cernitur summum bonum Salomon my seruant in stead of riches desired of GOD the Spirit of Rule If this was his prayer much more should it be thy wish since hee was but King of their bodies but thou art a corrector of soules How canst thou teach men to shun the second death which art so ignorant of the second birth A teacher should be Organō veritatis the right hand of Truth to minister to euery one their food in due season Thou art an ouerséer in Israel art shamefully ouerséene thy selfe Now age hath snown down Winter on thy head those haires which should be Heraulds of wisdom shew thée to be twice a child I would haue thée as a new borne babe thou art a babe not knowing newe birth I would haue my Disciples to shine as lights but thou art a counterfeit Diamond made precious by the foyle of Moyses chaire where thou art falsely set O Nicodemus he must néeds be the deuils Doctor that was neuer yet Gods Disciple I appeale to thy selfe Is not a small blemish in the face more vgly then a great blot in the rest of the body He that combes himself where should he looke but in a glasse And he that corrects himselfe on whō should he looke but on his elders Though the Moone be dark it shewes no great danger but whē the Sun is eclipsed it signifieth death If the blinde lead the blinde how can they but fall Where the ship-master sléepeth who feares not sinking And where the shepheard watcheth not the shéep go round to the shambles Thou being a Doctor in Israel thy lippes should preserue knowledge thy life should be the Lay-mans booke If thy salt be vnsanory how wilt thou season the simple If thy rule be crooked how canst thou eyther direct the weak or correct the wicked Finally if thy light be darknesse how great is that darknesse it selfe Thou resemblest the heard Empetron which the néerer it growes to the sea the lesse salt it is so thou being a teacher in Israel art a stranger in Israel But why doe I reproue thy folly and not rehearse thy fault Doest thou not know Ad veram sapientiam peruenire non possunt qui falsae suae sapientiae fiducia desipiunt They shall neuer attaine heauenly wisdome which hunt after it with humane wit The Hart brags in vaine of his brāched hornes because he wants courage and in vaine doest thou vaunt of Templum Domini because thou wātst knowledge They which would see perfectly winke on one eye So if thou wilt see the mysteries of God thou must shut the eye of naturall reason But no maruell thou art so dull for as Cyclops exoculatus manus quoque ver sum porrigebat nullo certo scopo so thy eye of faith being out thy blinde reason gropes in the dark being too shallow a Pilote to guide thée into the mistery of Regeneration I commend thee for thy skill in the lawe but condemne thee for thy blindnesse in the Gospel The seaman that escapes all syrtes and shelues yet in the sight of the Hauen suffers ship wrack is counted no lesse foolish then vnfortunate and thou passing all the Labyrinthes of humane learning yet comming short of the knowledge of New birth art to be pittied for thy fortune derided for thy folly Thou knowest I neuer alowed him that had all maner of knowledge yet had not the meane of knowing He that seekes knowledge must note three things Quo ordine quo studio quo fine quaeque nosseoporteat The order of knowledge is to know that first which brings soonest to the way of saluation the desire in knowledge must be to loue that knowledge chiefly which most enforceth vs to loue and the end of our knowledge is not to win the praise of thy selfe but to worke the profit of others But alas that which should be the first in thy conscience is the farthest from thy care that which should haue possessed thy loue is diuorst from thy liking that which should haue bene the end of thy knowledge is the beginning of thy shame Qui Episcopatum desiderat bonum opus desider at It seemes thou defirest bonum not opus the worship not the work the goods of the fleece not the good of the flock else wouldst thou not be ignorant in the very rudiments of Religion foolishly build without a foundation Thy comming to me shewes in part thy loue yet thy comming in the night sayes thy loue is but little but I know the flame when it kindleth is mixed with smoke and so is thy little knowledge with the smoke of ignorance yet I will not quench this smoking flaxe nor break this brused reed though thou camest to me without busines thou shalt not depart without a blessing As Abraham sent his seruant with gifts in his hand so I wil send thée hence with grace in thy heart for thy 3. idle prayses I will repay thée 3. endles profits heare therefore the nature of Faith the depth of Gods loue the mystery of Regeneration Thus did our Sauior shake vp this foolish shadow of a Prophet this idle eccho of his prayses this empty vessell contayning nothing but the bare name of a Doctor in Israel whose example if we moralize it teacheth vs That in Gods matters the greatest Clarks are not the wisest men Philosophers haue great wittes but they are enemies to Grace and the world hath her wisdome but it is enmity with God Learning is a Load-starre the knowledge of tongues is the key of truth but if prophane learning turne Lucifer and think to vsurpe Moses chaire shee must be thrust with the Parret out of Iupiters Parliament If Ismael mocke Isaac though he be the sonne of Abraham he must be bauished And if Learning marre Religion though it be the gift of God it must be abandoned The Starres giue some light but the Moone must be mistris of the night As the poore Israelites borrowed of the Egyptians
let conscience be thy Cater and the word thy warrant so shall the transitories of this life be vnto thée a handsel of heauen and an earnest penny of that blisse which the world neuer dreames of CHAP. II. Of GODS Loue. THus hauing brought thée to the waters of life namely GOD the giuer I will shew thée the Welspring of all blessings his loue to the world c. The perswading cause of this gift is here sayd to be Loue God so loued Quid est Amor saith Aug. nisi quaedam vita duo aliqua copulans vel copulare appetens Amantem amatuÌ„ What is Loue but as it were one life in two heartes one soule in two bodies the Fire which blesseth where it burneth the Soather which no arte can sunder the Knot which no time can vntye the Hand which descaÌ„ts swéet musike on the heart-strings the Cause which made God become man the Vertue which makes man like vnto God I speake not of that hellish fire which makes men slaues but of that heauenly Flame which makes them Saints As Christ was anoynted with the oyle of gladnes aboue his fellows so this vertue is adorned with the crowne of eternity aboue all her fellowes for Paul saith that Fayth brings vs but to the Coffin Hope watcheth the coarse till the ResurrectioÌ„ These two vertues are confined with our life but our loue is refined by our death and dwels with vs after our glorification But this our loue is but a shadow of Gods Loue an Arme of his sea a drop of his fountaine a little flame of his liuing Fire neither in quality so precious nor in quantity so spâ—cious by infinite degrées God loues without cause our loue is our duty God loues vs his enemies we loue him our friend God loues without reward our loue inherits heauen God loues vs first our loue payes him backe his owne Gods loue is feruent our loue is luke-warme Gods loue is infinite our loue is little like our knowledge low of stature like Zacheus Christ must dine in our house his loue must shine in our hearts before we can reflect our borrowed heames loue him againe The excellency of this Gods loue can neither be expressed by our tongue nor impressed in our hearts as it made the world of nothing so the world is nothing to it for it coÌ„prehendeth all is not comprehended of any Our Sauiour heere thought best to expresse this Loue with a sic dilexit to shew vs that his Father is eueÌ„ sick of loue his description is indefinite because his loue is infinite Either Gods loue is so déepe the Christ could not sound it or our reason so shallow that we cannot see it As the Paynter that drew Agamemnon sorrowing for the death of his daughter knew not how to figure his griefe in his face and therefore drew a Vayle ouer it thinking it impossible the gazers idle eye should beholde what the fathers grieued heart could not hold 〈◊〉 Christ leaues that to our admiratioÌ„ which understaÌ„ding cannot attayne A holy Father would faine ayme at the dimensions of this Loue saying Dilèxit Tantus tantillos He a God of infinite maiestie loued vs men of infinite misery But this is obscurum per obscurius for we know neyther quantus Deus the greatnes of his Maiestie nor yet quantuli nos our grieuous misery In a word as we cannot sée the Sunne but by his own light so we cannot learne this Loue but by Gods owne words The Starre alone must lead the Wisemen to Christ and Christ alone must lead vs to his Loue. Now whereas he expresseth it with a Sic So GOD loued the world c. a Father sayth This Aduerbe Sic containes in it all Aduerbes of Loue as if Christ had sayd My Father loued the world so dearely so vehemently so fatherly so feruently c. And Bernard on the Canticles sayth Deus ex se miserandi sumit materiem Gods owne nacure is the motiue of his mercie Then he that can explaine Gods Nature may expresse his Loue. Whereof to affirme the one is impious and to performe the other impossible This is that Loue Christian Reader which in the zeale of God I commeÌ„d to thine endlesse admiration this is the riches of his Grace the chiefe of his Works the summe df his Word the shaddow of himselfe the perfection of his Glory This teacheth our Fayth to stand and our Hope to climbe and our loue to burne This cheereth our labors and beareth our losses and teacheth our sorrow to smile In a word to this excéeding Loue alone we owe our saluation Therefore damnable is the doctrine of the Church of Rome that teacheth vs to erre both in the maner and matter of our Fayth First in the maner they teach vs to doubt of our saluation O iniurie intolerable to doubt of the Promise where such a Loue is our warrant What more frée then gift or who more faithfull then God the Giuer Shall his Loue giue Christ vnto me and my vnbeliefe thrust him from me Is the Trueth like vnto man the he should lye or is his arme shortened that he cannot saue God forbid This Gift is sealed with the bloud of his Sonne registred in the sight of heaueÌ„ witnessed by the holy Angels passed with an othe to the world O incredulity the wit of fooles how many blessings doost thou bar vs from Christ could not work his miracles God caÌ„not shew his mercy where this moÌ„ste lurketh Againe in the matter of our faith they soyst in most dangerously a lump of their owne Leauen for God requires a Wedding garment to couer sinne they bring in a menstruous cloth hee will haue vs build on his Loue they would haue vs iustified by our own Labour he will haue vs trust to his Mercy they would haue vs trust in our merits Pauls whole Epistle to the Romanes shoots only at this marke to beat downe the pride of man who would fayne be his owne saiour to depresse Nature and extoll Grace therefore in the end he addes this vpshot So then wee are saued not of works but of grace And August sayth Gratia est nullo modo quae non est gratuita emni modo Grace is all grace or no grace at all Againe be saith Quisquis tibi enumerat meritasua quid tibi enumerat msi munera tua Againe Vis excidere gratta Iacta merita tua Our very Faith as it 's a grace in vs is beholding to Grace it saues as it 's a hand to lay hold on Christ not as it 's a vertue a worke for all works must humbly be cast at Christs séete with Marie there meitate on his mercy they must not be busy with Martha in the matter of our iustification As God sayd to Paul My Grace is sufficient for thee so I say to all Gods Loue is sufficient for you this loue made you when you were nothing and this Loue must saue you now your are