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
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
worse then nothing Let the Papists clothe themselues in the ragges of their owne righteousnesse and the Iewes trust to their Templum Domini and the Heathen bragge of their paynted vertues which Augustine calles splendida peccata but let vs onely tryumph in this loue of God and estéeme it the strength of our saluation Thus hauing discouered the rich treasure of Gods loue let vs know our duety that we may bee accounted worthy to winne and to weare it S. August Lib. de Anima Spiritu séemes to study for this duty saying Miser ego quantum deberem diligere Deum meum qui me fecit cum non erā redemit cum perieram c. O sinfull wretch how shall I requite the rare loue of God who created me of nothing and redéemed mee being worse then nothing c. And after hauing found this duty out he teacheth it to the world Si non impendere at rependere debemus If we will bestow no loue vpon God yet let vs repay his loue which hee hath shewed first The world cries shame vpon an vngratefull person If thou shouldest trauell into a strange Countrey and there fall into the hands of théeues and in méere compassion of thy misery the King of that Countrey should set thée frée againe giuing thee life liberty what would the world thinke yea what then wouldst thou estéeme of thy selfe if thou shouldst prooue vnthankfull to so good a Prince We are all strangers in the world and passengers from earth to heauen now in our iourny we méet with the world and the deuill and these rob vs of all grace these wound vs and leaue vs for dead now God of his excéeding mercy findes vs out sends his Sonne that good Samaritan to powre the oyle of Grace into our wounds to mount vs on the back of his merit and so carry vs to the Inne of our rest the ioyes of heauen O Loue beyond all loue how much thou art O blessed God teach vs the depth of thy Loue that we may know the debt of our thankfulnesse Thine endlesse blessing hath made vs bankrupts for we are not able to repay the interest of thy loue If we proffer our goods alas we receyued them of thée If we offer our liues they are redéemed by thée Surely this shall bee our thankes the remembrance of thy mercy and since thy blessed Sonne hath taught vs that the louing of thee is the keeping of thy Commaundements wee will labour to be all keepers as we haue spent our time in the seruice of the world the flesh and the deuill so will wee spend the remnant of our dayes in the rebuke of sinne and the recording of thy Loue. And since the loue of so worthy a creature as man is too costly a cyment to ioyne earth to earth wee abandon all earthly desires and freely giue thee our hearts and betroth our loue to thine Deare God by the fire of thy spirit draw vp our affections to thée diuorce vs from the liking of the world and marry vs to the loue of thy sonne Let vs light our candle at thy Loue learne by thy endlesse mercy neuer to end our thankfulnesse till death translate vs from this vale of teares to Mount Sion where our loue shal ioyne vs to thée eternally CHAP. III. Of the Gift CHRIST NOw are we come to the Gift it selfe the greatest that euer was whether we respect the bounty of God or the blessing of man for what could God giue greater then himselfe or what could man receiue better then his saluation He hath giuen his onely begotten Sonne This blessed Gift is it that made Abraham reioyce and the Angels sing and Iohn Baptist daunce in his mothers belly this is able to make the World waxe young agayns if Grace would open her eyes and Wisedome teach her to sée her owne nakednes and the riches of this Garment sent vnto her As the Saints in heauen follow the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth so all the blessings of the earth follow Christ this Gift wheresoeuer he goeth for Habenti dabitur He that hath this Gift shall haue all other gifts yea he shall haue the Giuer too for Christ sayth He that receyueth me receyueth him that sent me And Ambrose sayth Omnia habemus in Christo si a vulnere curari desideras Medicus est si febribus aestuas fons est si grauaris imquitate Iustitia est si indiges auxilio virtus est simortem times vita est si tenebras fugis lux est si coelum desideras via est si cibū quęris alimentū est c. He hath giuen God did not lend his Sonne nor sell him but he gaue him to vs. Herein appeares the riches of his mercie and the greatnesse of our pouerty he did not sell him we were not able to buy him but he gaue him which shewes vs to be beggers bankrupts and that God must for pitty giue vs a Sauiour scanke frée when we had neyther meanes to deserue nor grace to desire him His onely begotten Sonne He gaue vs not an Angell nor a seruant nor a creature but his Sonne The name of a sonne is musike in the eare of a father the life of a child is more precious in the parents eye thē their owne salety Many parents to saue their sonnes life haue willingly spilt their owns Examples hereof we haue in profane sacred Scriptures we will take an handfull from a heape In Gen. 37. when good father Iacob heard of the supposed death of his sonne his wicked childrē giuing a false fire to his feare he was smitten with sorrow riuers of teares gushed out and his heart bled at his eyes for the supposed slaughter of Ioseph his affection to his sonne was too hot to admit the cold cōfort of his other children he that had wrestled with an Angell could not wrestle with this affection and therefore in the griefe of a father he sets downe this resolution Ioseph my sonne is surely torne in pieces and in my sonne my selfe was torne the claw of that beast hath rent my bléeding heart his cruelty hath killed two in one O my sonne my life was shut in thy lookes which now is shaken in thy losse I made thée a coate of many colours to shew the thou wast the Raynebow pledge of my peace but loe the beauty of my Raynebow is rent and in stead thereof this bloudy Meteor appeares shewing the death of my ioy the deuouring of my sonne The earth is made to couer the roote not to containe the branch I am the withered roote my sonne thou the branch whom vntimely death hath cropt Why should the graue bee deckt with gréene boughes that was made for gray haires If children predecease their parents we are their of spring they none of ours Wel since comfort wil not be my gheft griefe shal be my companion séeing my sonne forsakes me in my life I will ouertake him