of judgement and reason Therefore when any desireable object presents it selfe to our imagination and solicites for admittance we must not open before reason and judgement have done their office We must take off our selves upon what ground we entertain such a conceit Soules Cons p. 284. whether we shall have the same judgement after we have yeelded to it as now we have and whether we will have the same judgement of it in sicknesse and death and at the day of reckoning as we have for the present That which is of it selfe evill is alwayes so at one time as well as another if the time will come when we shall think those things to be vain which now we are so eagerly set upon as if there were some great good in them why should we not thinke so of them now when as the reforming of our judgement may do us good rather then to be lead on with a pleasing errour untill that time wherein the sight of our errours will fill our hearts with horrors and shame without hope of ever changing our condition Think we hereon before we have swallowed the bait It is of speciall use to awaken the soule and to stirre up reason cast asleepe by over-powring lusts and Satans charmes of great use it is to scatter the clouds through which things seeme otherwise then they are that so we may discerne and judge of things according to their true and constant nature Is it a known and noted story That a great Commander being ready to perish with thirst delivered up himself and his command into his enemies hands for a cup of drink who so soon as he had quenched his thirst had these words For how short a satisfaction have I forfeited all my former contentments The morall of it is as well known It seems to imply thus much That he did as we all are ready to do in desireable things suffer the thing he desired to passe too soon from the imagination to affection and he made choice before his Iudgement had done its office and thereby lost the command of himself But indeed though there is use in it yet in this case it doth not presse home nor is it full to the purpose for if we should suppose Kingdomes in one scale and a dish of water in an other we know which would weigh down so low that it would be great folly to make the comparison But now again if we shall but consider how dependent a creature man is which doth engage his service to his God and to how weak supports his life is beholding and that he is in his best estate but vanitie and that his Crown cannot help or ease the head-ach nor can all the pomp and glory of a kingdome refresh his fainting spirit which yet as the case may be a dish of water may do In this case I cannot tell whether a dish of water though it be dearly bought may yet be well purchased with a kingdome Satan might speak true All that a man hath will he give for his life a Job 2. And had there bin no more but an earthly temporary blessing lapt up in Esau's birthright Esau had reason'd well I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birthright do to me b Gen. 25. 32 But the extreamitie was not so which is very observable he was short spirited all for the present The eagernesse of his spirit and his slighting the blessing he despised his c Verse 34. birthright presented it so And besides there was an heavenly blessing wrapt up in the earthly And therefore this example oâ— Esau comes home and presseth to the quick That we follow peace with all men and holinesse without which no man shall see the Lord * Heb. 12. looking diligently lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble us lest there be any fornicatour or prophane person as Esau who for one morsell of meat sold his birth-right This presseth home and therefore from this example we must before that things passe from our imagination to affection now that pleasure solicits for admittance we must thus reason we do in hearkening unto it adventure more then a temporall contentment though what can countervaile that damage In yeelding here and giving admittance we may bring in a Worme which will never die If then judgement do its office it will reason thus Here are a few bitter sweet pleasures and here is an inch of time in this vale of teares to take them in I know not how soon my day may set perhaps I may suddenly sink down as others have done even in an eager pursuit after a shadow my present satisfaction and so at once die twice but sooner or later long it cannot be there is not much space in an inch or span of time long it cannot be before I go hence and shall be seen no more And then when I go hence I enter into eternitie the thought whereof swallowes us up as a drop in the ocean where I shall meet with everlasting burnings a perishing for ever or with pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore Shall I then so judgement reasoneth preferre a short satisfaction which will leave in the soul a very sad farewell before an ever springing fountain of glory and everlasting blisse A few bitter-sweet pleasures and these lasting but a span or inch of time at the longest before unmixt and unmeasurable joyes through all eternitie in those glorious mansions above So our judgement debating thus concludeth What then is this sading perishing and at length tormenting contentment unto me It is but like a flash of lightning before everlasting fire Carnall joy is like the crackling of thorns soon out like a lightsome flash but spirituall joy is like the light of the Sun what then is this poore short and at length tormenting pleasure unto me When d James 1. 15. Lust hath conceived it brings forth sinne and sinne when it is finished brings forth death The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth Gods will abideth for ever e 1 John 2. 17. Thus farre in the discovery of this sinne also The spring of it we know The issues therefrom are as discerneable how to stop it at the spring head commands our care and diligence if we be wanting at this point our heart will wander after our eyes and then we shall be carried like a ship in a tempest without a pilot or like a colt that hath slipt his bridle All will be out of frame within and then nothing can be in order without There will be a winking with the eyes and a speaking with the feet and a teaching with the fingers for wickednesse is in the heart and the mouth will be an open sepulchre much corrupt communication will proceed from thence But to them who maintain their watch all will work contrary They will be framed to an orderly and sweet comportment They shall have command over
a 1 Tim. 6. 6. and 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost in Gen. 48. Hom. 66. ω. is great gaine it is profitable for all things having the promise of the life that now is and of the life that is to come And therefore if the Parent had but one request to put up for the Childe it should be That the Lord would be its portion That He would blesse him indeed for whom He blesseth are blessed b 1 Chron. 4. 10. And if he had but one instruction it should be for the getting the principall thing Get Wisedome and withall thy getting get understanding c Prov. 4. 7. The last Consideration containeth in it the very pith of reason and equitie and mightily engageth the Parent to give All diligence at this point touching the good Nurture of his Childe when I have cleared so much I have done 3. A Childe is the Parents Image right A branch from a sinfull stock An off-spring from a corrupted fountaine The Parent is the Channell which conveyeth unto it Sinne and Death This is that hereditary evill which is truely and really stated and feoffed upon every Childe of Adam But if we will see the first originall of the conveyance we must descend as low as Adam who was the sonne of God made as every thing else very good with this excellency and prerogative royall above other things in Gods Image that is in Holinesse and righteousnesse But being in this honour he understood not but sought out many inventions d Eccles 7. 29. that is They would finde out something beyond God and so for it was not possible to be otherwise they found out their owne finddings Sinne and Sorrow They reached forth their hand unto the forbidden fruit and did eate so they fell from their stedfastnesse and glory Then they knew both good and evill Good if they had obeyed Evill that they obeyed not Now they had experience and feeling of their good they lost and the evill they brought upon themselves Thus sinne entred into the World and by sinne death that is more evils and weightier then we can think them For we must note That the Actuall sinne of Adam determined not the bound of Misery but brought a second Misery with it the Misery of our whole Nature While Adam stood we stood in him his obedience kept his whole estate and Nature entire But when he fell we fell in him for though the sinne were a limited thing in act of eating yet it was an unlimited excesse in respect of the Committer and the frame of his revolting heart and therefore it was just with God to plague his whole Nature for that sinfull Act. So then The same hand that was reacht forth to this fruite reacht it also to the fruite of their loynes wherein that fruite was seminally as branches in a common stock And thus the Childrens teeth were set on edge so the next verse tels us And Adam begat a sonne in his owne likenesse his owne indeed that is With that generation Sinne was also derived for he begat now not the Body onely but a Man in his receptivenesse of the soule and in those bands and ties which knit body and soule to wit these spirits of reasonable Nature and by the infection of these spirits the soule is also corrupted We cannot with sobriety enquire further into this thing I know the dispute how this sinne is propagated from the Father to the Childe is very large But we may say of it as the Philosopher of that Dispute touching that supposed voide place It is an empty and vaine Dispute e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist phys de vacuo voide of use and to none effect It was a wise and seasonable reproofe which a Mariner in a dangerous tempest gave to the Philosopher troubling him with a Dispute touching the Windes We f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aul. Gell. lib. 1. cap. 2. ω. are at the point of sinking and you trifle out the time with a vaine discourse Enquiries touching this point have blotted much Paper and spent much precious Time and all to little purpose for so we give time to a growing mischiefe It is as if while the fire rageth on the sides and tops of houses a man should hold his hand and moove his tongue not joyne force to quench it but onely aske how it begunne where and when It was a good answer to one who would know by what Chinke sinne entred into the Childe g Hist of the Couns of Trent l. 2. p. 174. That Chinks were not to be sought where a gate stood wide open The Apostle saith That by Adam sinne entred into the world It sufficeth to know That God by just imputation realizeth the infection into the whole race of Adam in whom we were as in a common Lumpe and in his leaven sowred In his Loines we were and there we sinned and so did partake of his guilt which like a common infection worse then a leprosie we took from our Parents and transmitted it to our Children a Seede of evill doers So we sprang up as the seede doth with stalke and huske though the fanne made the same difference betwixt the wheate in the heape and the other fitted for the seede as grace doth betwixt the Parent and the Childe Though the Parent be accepted in the righteous one and his sinne covered the guilt remitted yet sinne and guilt are transmitted to the Childe Hereby the Parents see matter of great humiliation h Book pag. 32 they feele a tye also and an engagement upon them to doe their utmost to prevent the evill whereof they have beene a Channell of conveyance unto their Childe It is their Image They its debtors It is very equall and a point not so much of mercy as of justice That we should for I am a Parent too labour by all meanes and take all occasions whereby through Gods blessing our owne and bad image may be defaced and the New which is after Christ formed on and in the Childe This is that we should endeavour with all our might giving All diligence It is an heavy and grievous judgement which we reade threatned against Parents and Children I will recompence your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together i Esa 65. 7. That is Because the Fathers have committed an abomination and ye their Children have done according to the same abomination therefore the wickednesse of the wicked shall be upon him k Ezech. 18. 20. I will lay your sinnes together as upon heapes visiting you both Children and Fathers in your heapes of sinne O pray we in our prayer pray l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iames 5. 17. wrestling and weeping pray we earnestly m Hosea 12. 3. 4. Remember not against us former iniquities n Psal 79. 8. Recompence not our iniquities and the iniquities of our Children together nor measure out unto us our old Worke into our
bosome This Mercy we should pray so for and long-after even from the heart-root we should long For if the curse was heavy and sore which we reade of Psal 109. 14. then is the mercy great and greatly to be sought after from the Lord Let not the iniquitie of the Father be remembred with the Lord against the Childe and let the sinne of the Mother be blotted out Whensoever the Lord visits the Childe for Sinne certainly it should call the sinne of the Parent to remembrance o 1 King 17. 18. and so it will doe if the conscience be not asleepe or seared Then he will discerne that there was a great and weighty reason that made the Woman of Canaan thus to petition Christ p Matt. 15. 22. Have mercy on me O Lord thou Sonne of David my Daughter is grievously vexed with a Divell She counted the Childes vexation hers so would she the mercy We have filled our Childrens bones with sinne which will fill their hearts with sorrow It is our engagement to doe all we can though that All be two little to roote that sinne out which we have beene a meanes to roote so fast in I shall in another place the Second Part q Chap. 2. speake more unto this roote of bitternesse and the fruits springing thence whereby all are defiled Here I have onely pointed unto it as it engageth the Parent upon this so necessary and principall a service touching the good culture and breeding of the Child And we see what an engagement it is the greatest and strongest that can be thought of And so much as an Induction to Duty what this Duty is comes now to be handled A CHILDES PATRIMONY Laid out upon the good Culture or tilling over his whole man CHAP. I. Wherein the Parents dutie doth consist and when it begins Of Infancy A Parents dutie begins where the childe had its beginning at the wombe There the Parents shall finde that which must busie their thoughts about it before they can imploy their hands And this work lyeth specially in considering Gods worke upon the childe and how their sinne hath defaced the same First they consider Gods worke and the operation of His hands how wonderfull it is and how curiously wrought in the secret parts of the earth so the Prophet calls the Wombe because Psal 137. curious pieces are first wrought privately then being perfected are exposed to open view It was He that made the bones to grow we know not how then clothed them with flesh He that in the appointed time brought it to Chap. 1 sect 2 the wombe and gave strength to bring forth Here they acknowledge an omnipotent hand full of power towards them and as full of grace and they doe returne glory and praise both But here it ceaseth not Now they have their burden in their armes they see further matter of praise yet in that they see the childe in its right frame and feature not deformed or maimed Some have seene their childe so that they had little joy to looke upon it but through Gods gracious dispensation it is not so and for this they are thankfull And upon this consideration they will never mocke or disdaine nor suffer any they have in charge so to do a thing too many do any poore deformed creature in whom God hath doubly impaired His Image This they dare not do for it might have been their case as it was their desert Deformitie where ever we see it admits of nothing but our Pitie and our Praise 2. Thus they see Gods handy-worke and it is wonderfull in their eyes but still they see their owne Image also and cause enough to bewaile the uncleannesse of their Birth What the Pharisees once spake of him whose eyes Christ had opened is true of every mothers Childe Thou wast altogether borne in sinnes which should Joh. 9. 34. make every Parent to cry out as that mother did Have mercy on me O Lord thou sonne of David my Childe is naturally Matth. 15. 22. the childe of wrath Except it be borne againe of water and of the spirit it cannot enter into the kingdome of God Joh. 3. The Parents see evidently now that they are the channell conveying death unto the childe The mother is separated for some time that shee may set her thoughts apart and fixe them here The father is in the same bond with her and in this we may not separate them God hath made promise to restore this lost Image this not tooke but throwne-away integritie And this now their thoughts run upon and they pray That the Lord would open their mouthes wide and enlarge their hearts towards this so great a Mysterie They have a fruit of an old stocke it must be transplanted and out they carry it and into the Church they beare it as out of old Adam whence was transmitted to it sinne and death into the second Adam whence it may receive Righteousnesse and Life Then at the fountaine they hold it blessing God Who hath opened it for sinne and for Uncleannesse And there they present it not to the signe of the Crosse but to Blood Sacramentally there that is Righteousnesse purchased by the death of Christ and now on Gods part appropriated and made the childes And the Parents blesse His name and exalt His mercy who hath said at such a time as this Live Who hath found out Ezek. 16. 6. a Rausome to answer such a guilt A righteousnesse to cover such a sinne so big and so fruitfull A life to swallow up such a death with all its issues This the Parent sees in this poore element Water appointed by God set apart fitted and sanctified for this end With it the childe is sprinkled and for it the Parent beleeves and promiseth Then home againe they carry it It is a solemne time and to be remembred and the vaine pompe takes not up much time where wiser thoughts from truer judgement take place Friends may come and a decency must be to our place sutable but the Pageant like carriage of this solemne businesse by some speaks out plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fancie Act. 25. 23. that the heart is not right nor is that vaine pompe forsaken which yet is now upon their lips to say They who have better learned Christ do better understand the nature and solemnitie of the action they are about so their great businesse is with God before whom they spread themselves and their childe Who can worke by meanes as secret as is the way of the spirit and can set this water closer to the soule then He hath set its bones which yet no man understandeth nor can tell when or how To Him they offer it before Him they lay it praying That this water may ever lye upon the heart of theirs as a fruitfull seed quickning renewing sanctifying That that water may as the Rocke ever 1 Cor. 10. 4. follow the childe The rocke removed not
carriage will win the love and draw the eyes of all unto us as a cleare Sun-shine upon a faire Diall where as a rough stout and boy sterous nature doth thrust out a rough and hasty hand against every man and will finde every mans hand as boisterous and rough against him but gentlenesse sinks into the heart and wins it makes the clearest Demonstration of a Gentle-man Others may assume the name but it is the Gentlemans right his whom gentlenesse calmenesse sweetnesse of carriage doth denominate There are other meanes to work and mould the spirit this way which I cannot thinke of but we must remember still that there is no way like this The looking up to the Lord the spreading this crookednesse and peremptory bent of nature before Him who onely can subdue it and set it straight But the Parent must do his part else God is lookt-up unto in vaine He must set the 21 chapter of Deut. before the childe there to reade the punishment of a stubborn childe He must informe him how unsociable a Nabal-like disposition is a 1. Sam. 25. 17. Latrant non loquuntur Cic. Brut. pag. 161. fol. Stridet non loquitur Cal. epist 339. Ch. 4 sect 3 How b 2. Sam. 23. 6 7. Vt spina ex quacunque parte conspexeris habet aculeos Sic servus Diaboli Chrysost in Matt. 7. Hom. 9. lat aut untractable such a person who is of the nature of a thorne But above all things the Parent must bid the childe behold how God raiseth valleys and takes down hills Represseth the presumptuous and giveth grace to the modest 3. Spare not the childe for his lye children are strangely addicted to it because they are children and understand not he is a childe though a man threescore yeers old that useth it It is the winding crooked course the very going of the serpent which goeth basely upon the belly and eats the dust There is no vice doth more uncover a man to the world and covers him with shame It out-faces God and shrinks from man and what can be more childish It unmans a man debasing his glory and making it his shame It makes a man most unlike God most like the Divell I know not how a Parent can dispose of a lying childe he is unfit for any societie We take more content with our Dog then with one whose language we understand not saith De Civit. lib. 18. cap. 7. Austin I adde And then with one whose words we cannot trust A Parent must labour hard for the rooting out of this evill He may tell the childe That God is truth And that He commands and loves the same in His creatures and in our converse one with another That He sees the secrets of mans heart and will bring every secret thing to judgement The Parent may shew the childe as on a theater Gods judgements on lyers how quick and sharpe God hath been against this abuse of the Tongue punishing it with Leprosie and sudden death And that He hath allotted to lyers a place without amongst Dogs because they have abased themselves Reve. 22. 15. below men c. But perhaps the rod is the onely thing which yet the childe feares and understands and let him feel it now for the preventing of this great evill but yet so handle the childe that it may not run further into the thicket and shift the more as he we spake of did into the house Thereby the childe will be the more hardened against the next time A childe hath no more wit but to think as too many old folk do That an evill is cured with an evill which as one ch 4. sect 4. saith is a most absurd conceit there being no remedie against Isid Pelus lib. 2. epist 145. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Isid the evill of sinne this specially but confession and repentance Therefore handle the child with great discretion at this point And let the childe finde some profit in speaking the truth and incouragement that way that if possibly it may be prevailed with by gentle meanes Children that will not lie so He was their Saviour Isa 43. 8. A parent may hit on a better way then I can point unto him many waies he must try and I am confident nothing will more pose him then the way to take whereby to pluck downe the childes stomack and to fetch out his lye And yet in case he cannot do both specially the latter he will be posed as much how to dispose this childe for afterwards The Lord direct the Parent and blesse the childe 4. Suffer not the childe to be idle nor vainely imployed keepe him in exercise and in breath Accustome him to fitting and moderate labour in the morning of his life and of the day Labour is the pickle of vertue it keeps our faculties of body and soule sweet and fresh as the pickle keeps fish Labor muria virtutum or flesh Idlenesse and sloth like standing waters putrifies It is the very rust and canker of the soule The Divels cushion Hic motus aquas maris à putrefactione tuetur Magir. his very Tide-time of temptation wherein he carries with much ease the current of our corrupt affections to any cursed action The very houre of temptation wherein Satan joynes with our imaginations and sets them about his work to grinde his greese for the soul as a mill either grindes that which is put into it or else works upon it self our imagination is the soules first wheele ever turning and naturally it is evill continually and yet as that moveth so the other wheeles stirre we are ever weaving Spidâ—rs webbs or hatching Cockatrices Egs that is naturally we are alwayes imagining vanitie or mischiefe Therefore it is good and safe to finde the minde imployment and imployment to good purpose for an unimployed life like a Serving-man whose only worke is to hold a trencher and carry a cloake will prove a burden to it selfe or to the earth that supports and Ch. 4 sect 4 maintaineth it We must look to this betimes in children by giving them fitting worke and using them to some hardnesse else the inconveniences will not be small I have observed when a childe put forth to learne a Trade could not indure the toyle for every labour is a toyle to him whose chiefe work was to lye by the fire or in the street and field taking his pleasure so home he returnes to his pottage and bread and butter whence he had his growth and the worst part of his breeding This kinde of Culture will cause an infection which if it takes the childe now will not out of the bone hereafter it is the disease the sturdy beggar complained of but when he was searched for so he was it was found to be idlenesse Camerarius hath that pleasant Story so he calls it in his 16 Chap. and it may teach us so much in earnest That if we imploy not our children
knows he is in darknesse and is sensible of the danger Therefore it falls out ordinarily that he scapeth and preventeth danger because he is so sensible of the same what I feare most is like to do me least hurt for it is likely I am prepared for prevention It is not so with a man walking in ignorance and darknesse of minde He goes on boldly and confidently according as the proverb is he discernes no danger he cannot fear it The former by his carefulnesse may not fall The latter by his ignorant carelesenesse must needs fall it is not possible to be otherwise The former if he fall he will surely rise again for he knoweth he lieth not where he would The other falling lieth still and can never rise again till a light appeare unto him the one knoweth where he is and what he doth the other knoweth nothing as he ought to know There is one we may call that one as Satan called himself Legion for that one is many who holdeth ignorance to be the mother of devotion but that one is the mother of fornications and thence it is that she prevaileth with them and deceives so many for as she hath gained so she holds all she hath gained by the tenure of ignorance There is a farre greater difference betwixt a well knowing and conscientious man and an ignorant person then is betwixt a man walking in the Sun and working by it and another walking in the night when neither Moon nor Starre appeares The one clearely setteth forth the other he that worketh by the Sunne seeth all cleare about him where he is and what he doth and why he doth it he that is in darknesse discerneth nothing nor can do any thing as he ought to do and yet which is much worse living in the darknesse of ignorance he discerneth not his danger He that doth in any part understand what ignorance is and the fearfull effects of the same this ignorant man doth not will pray for himself and his as they who were upon the sea and in great danger They wished for the day m Acts 27. 29. Send forth Lord thy light and thy truth through thy tender mercie let the Day-spring from on high visit us Thus he wisheth for the day And now This Day-spring from above hath visited us we that once walked in darknesse have seen a great light and the glory thereof we have seen as the glory of the onely Sonne of God upon us who dwelt in the shadow of death hath this light shined Oh happy are the people then that are in such a case how blessed are they to whom the Sun of righteousnes hath appeared they are children of the day and of the light it is day with them alwayes day though neither Moon nor Starres appeare that is though they finde no influence from the earth or regions bordering thereupon But clean contrary it is with them to whom this Sunne of Righteousnesse appeareth not or against whom they shut their eyes as some will do though as the proverb is we should shew them the n Lact. 7. 1. Nec si Solem in manibus gestemus fidem commodabunt ei doctrine Sun in our hands seeing but will not see How miserable are the people that are in such a case they sit in darknesse as they do on the other side of the globe when the Sun is with us nay worse then so they dwell in a land dark as Aegypt was even in the land of the shadow of death For though they have the Moon and Starres upon them I mean the confluence of all outward things yet they sit in darknesse in deep darknesse For as the Sun is to this outward world so is the Lord Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse to the world of beleevers without Him it is all dark with Him it is still light like the land of Goshen happy are the people that are in such a case blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Send forth thy truth Lord and thy light and through the tender mercy of our God let the Day-spring from above visit us This may take up our thoughts very seasonably when the darknesse of the night is past and the comfort of the day is come And it may set an edge upon our desires after the principall thing o Eccles 2. 13. knowledge wisdome understanding For wisdome excelleth folly as light excelleth darknesse And the wise-mans eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darknesse Knowledge in the minde is as the eye in our little world or as the Sun in the great Thus much by way of Analogie or agreement betwixt the eye or great light of the world and the true light Note we now wherein they disagree and their operation is contrary for it yeelds a great lesson The great eye of the world doth lighten those who have eyes and by a naturall power can apprehend that light They whose eyes are dark have no benefit by it But the true Light lightneth them p Lege Cal. Inst 2. 2. 25. who have no principle of light within them them and them onely who are all darknesse and know themselves so to be and for such who think themselves lightsome and seeing men they are left to the vanitie of their own thoughts If q John 9. 41. ye were blinde ye should have no sinne but now ye say we see therefore your sinne remaineth It is of high g use and specially requires our consideration 2. The day is come and the sunne appeareth so the Creatour thereof hath appointed that it should know its rising and thereby to renew and and refresh the face of things The instruction is touching the might of His power and the riches of His grace creating light in the Soul who at the first brought it out of the wombe of darknesse and causing the light of comfort to arise unto His servants in the darkest night of affliction for it is He also that curneth the shadow of Death into the Morning r Amos 5. 8. And this affordeth a righteous people an hint for a glorious dependance they know that as sure as the morning follows the night so the Sun of righteousnesse will appeare with healing under his wings for if the Sun know his appointed time much more the Lord knoweth His and the Sun of righteousnesse His season when and how to comfort those that wait for Him as they that wait for the morning 3. The appearance of the Sun instructs us touching the glory of His appearance and the exceeding joy the righteous shall be filled with all at that Day For if it be so comfortable to see the light how comfortable will it be to see Him that is the Light of that light If this elementary Sun be so glorious and full of light what then is the Sun of Righteousnesse And if it be so comfortable to see this light how ravishing Å¿ Lege Basil Hex Hom. 6. will that joy be
in beholding His face in that Day when we shall know Him as He is the Lord of glory But for the wicked it is not so with them for the morning is now unto them as the shadow t Job 24. 17. of death what then will be the morning of their resurrection when the hidden works of darknesse shall be brought to light and the secrets of all hearts opened and made cleare before all Israel and before the Sunne 4. We learne againe how sinne and sorrow can sower our blessings and make us disrelish the greatest earthly comforts Amongst them the chiefest is the light yet to him that is hurried or oppressed with his sinne this light is grievous And to him that is in paine the day is dolesome as he is wearyed with tossings in the night so is he tyred in the day complaining thereof for In the u Deut. 28. 67. morning he shall say would God it were evening God can cause the Sunne to go down at noon and darkens the earth in a cleare day Amos 8. 9. That is as the x Chrysost Ad Pop. Ant. Hom. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Father expounds the place He can so cloud the spirit of a man with sorrow that it cannot see the light or if he see it it shall not be lightsome to him Our cisternes of comfort are below but they are filled above All my springs of my life saith David Psal 87. 7. are in Thee Some fruits of comfort we gather from the earth but the root of our comfort is in heaven And this That our heart may have no dependance but on Him and that we may feare before Him Who can turn our y Amos 8. 10. feasts into mourning and our songs into lamentations A pleasant morning into a bitter day And a day of mirth into a night of sorrow as He can also turne the shadow of death into the morning 5. The Sunne though it be in an infinite distance from us to our finite understanding yet doth it send its influence downward cleane contrary to the nature of light or fire unto the lowest of creatures Thus This great light doth as if the Great Creator thereof had charged it thus to do Send forth thy light against the nature of the same cast thy beames down towards Man to guide and direct him there do so for for him thou wast made His candle z Ad Popul Antioch Hom. 9. cannot do so it is against its nature whose flame tends upward but so shalt Thou do that Thou maist serve man for whom Thou wast made thy light shall tend downward so Chrysostome It teacheth those that are highest in place and gifts to have an eye as the eye of the body hath to the foot to those that are lowest in regard of both and to be the more servant unto all we see That the Sunne riseth not for it selfe but to be the common candle of the world that we may see by it and worke by it It teacheth as before that whether we labour in our callings or to fit us for a calling we should in all intend the publique rather then our private interest This selfe is a poore and an unworthy Center for our actions to tend to or rest in yet is it the great Idoll a Self-love builds the citie of the Divell c. Aug. de Civit. lib. 14. cap. 28. ω. of the world as self pleasing so self seeking the measuring the publick good by private interest And this sinne is clearely evinced and reproved by the language of the Sunne and all those creatures that in their ranks obey their Maker and serve us They serve man not themselves to teach man not to serve himself onely or principally but in subordination to God and in due reference to his brother The Sun as the great eye of the world is so divided by the Lord of the same that all parts partake of it in their season Nay the eye of our little world hath sight not to enjoy but to lighten the members so the wise man hath wisdome not for himself but for those of simple and shallow conceit The Clarke hath wisdome but for the ignorant The rich man wealth for the poore mans sake that there may be no lack All teacheth man That he must carry himself as a Citizen of the world and as if his heart were a continent joyned to other Lands that as many as may be may receive fruit and comfort from him and not to live as turned in upon himself or as if his heart were an Iland cut off from others so one phraseth it b L. Verul Essayes 13. p. 70. Quam bonum est orbes mentis habere concentricos universo De Aug. 6. 25. I remember an elegant conviction of this self-seeking which is in these words If ever you saw either an hand or a foot or an head lying by it self in some place or other cut off from the rest of the body which were but a gastly fight such must thou count him to make himself who onely regards his own intrest neglecting the publick and deviding himself from the common societie and generall unitie so said one c M. Aur. Ant. Med. lib. 8 sect 32. p. 122. who did and spake many excellent things but yet below what a Christian should in both That man who brings forth fruit to himself is as an emptie vine d Hosea 10. 1. Nemini fructuosa Trem. which is good for nothing he thrives but as some overgrown member depriving the other of their proportion of growth Nay he that seeks himself making himself his end is the greatest Idolater in the world For we must note There is one thing and but one which we must seeke above our salvation and that is the glory of God the ultimate the highest end Now he that makes himself his end he that onely seeks himself as many do yea the most for its the idol of the world he doth in so doing what he thinks not he knows not what but this he doth he makes a God of himself and that 's the way to make himself an abomination in the end So monstrous a thing it is so dangerous also for a man to make himself the end of his actions 6. The Sunne which distributeth his light to all nations hath not the lesse light in it self The more communicative we are of our gifts the more they are increased We are like e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Al. cl Str. 1. pag. 201. wells the fuller the more drained whereas if we lay up our talent in what kinde soever like the Manna it corrupteth 7. God maketh f Matt. 5. 45. Clem. Alex. 7. 543. His Sun it is His Sun to rise on the evill and on the good To teach us to shew the kindnesse of God to our brother that is to doe good for evill which is the kindnesse of God And that which David would g 2 Sam. 9.
yet certainly from the greatest expectation t Act. 12. 11. of the Adversary He will so deliver that all shall see that there is no God that can deliver after this sort u Dan. 3. 29. For He hath appointed the bound which the enemy cannot passe though they think not so and the further they run like a Spring-tide or destroying floud which carryeth down all before it the more wonderfull in the end will Gods power appeare in opposing and stopping the same For those flouds of ungodlinesse which rise so high and open so wide upon the righteous as if they would swallow them up quick shall either break and dash themselves to pieces with their own violence or they shall be a means decreed as in the former examples and in Ionah to bring them to their safe haven the place where they would be so mightie is God in power and so excellent in working and never more glorious then when He opposeth strength with weaknesse in the eye of nature and wisdome with foolishnesse which is as if a man should set a few sands as barres and dores to the Surging Ocean when the surges thereof are many degrees above the sands So much to the second and the establishment the soule hath therefrom The third is 3. What weight these waters have It seemes a matter of more use to consider how good a servant water is so fire also and how hurtfull they are both when masters over us and ours of use indeed to consider how good every thing is in its place order and use and how good service it doth therein But then again how evill it is and what hurt it doth when through mans sinne who hath broken his rank and left his first standing also it is out of that place and order We need make no question hereof but use a great deale I have proposed a question whereto every childe can make answer but I intend the use for who knows not That the waters are heavy Aske the beast that tugs at the wheele when it hath told its rounds * Chaâ—ron which it will soone learn to do it will stand still and tell you the water is weighty so will he or she say that beare it on their shoulders or upon their heads But this wearinesse is and this weight they sinde in the water when they tugge at it to draw it from out of its place for though it is heavy in its own nature yet not in its own and proper place * Elementa non ponderant in proprio loco He that diveth into the waters and lyeth under more then would fill many Hogsheads feeleth no weight from all that Nay suppose a man were in the bottome of the Sea and life within him the water would soone choake him but he would feele no more weight from all those billows over his head then he would from a feather upon his backe for the water is in its owne place and the person is out of his and that is the reason why he feeles no weight but yet he will be choaked with it This is of ordinary use and thus it is applyed when a person is over head and eares in sinne when he and his sinne are affianced yea marryed together when he is joyned to his Idol and is let alone All this while his sinne is delightfull unto him he taketh pastime in it as the Leviathan in the waters and findeth no trouble in it at all but peace and satisfaction rather z Volupâ—aâ—e â—ruâ— maxima voluptas Sin is a light matter with him so also is pardon and forgivenesse of sinne so small a matter in esteeme now as not worth the craving a seeking after in good earnest though he doth in a customary way and for order sake reckon up the fift petition amongst the rest He cannot desire ease for he feeles no burden nor enlargement for he feels not how he is enthralled And the reason hereof is his sinne is in his heart as in its proper place and center and being so it burdens him not But now stay a while till this person be laid upon his sick bed till his way be hedged up with thornes till his moneth come when he must cast forth his sorrows till he be griped a Non reddit oracula nisi constrictus with paines both within and without till death look in at the windows and sinne stares him in the face and now is summoned to make his appearance before the Iudge of the whole world before whom the lying spirit spakes truth b Job 1. Nâ—tura vexaâ—â— prodiâ— seipsam much more the conscience of a man Suppose we I say a person in such a case Nay we will not suppose it we need but antidate the time for it certainly comes and will hasten and then put we some intergatories to this man in this case we shall finde his minde changed Aske him what he thinks now of the cup of pleasure which he drunk down so greedily he will tell you he findes it bitternesse in the latter end it was indeed like sugar under his tongue but now in his bowels it is as the gall of Aspes and to have overcome his pleasure had been pleasure indeed c Vicisse voluptatem voluptas moxima Groâ— 243. Aske him what he thinks of pardon for sinne he will tell you it were news from heaven indeed the best and most comfortable tidings that could be thought of Aske him how he feeles his sinne now he will tell you heavy very heavy the weightiest thing in the world sand is heavy and lead is heavy but sinne exceedeth them all d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys de Anna ser 6. p. 946. it presseth down to the nethermost hell into the deep 's among Dragons So he will say And have I feigned all this no sure I appeale to the consciences of all men that are neither a sleep nor seared And to the testimony of all those Ministers and others who have visited the sick and men appointed to dye men put in feare and knowing themselves to be but men men in such a case as was before mentioned I appeale I say to the testimony of all such who have conferred with men put in feare they will give cleare evidence to the truth of that I have said And indeed how can it be doubted For God hath set it down by an eternall Decree That vexation and sin should be inseparable e Jussisâ—â— domine sic est ut omnis inord natus affâ—ctus siâ—i sit Poena But there is a yet clearer voyce which sealeth this truth for when sinne seizeth upon the soul and the weight thereof is felt the soul will then wish it could lye hid in the bottom of the Sea swallowed up therein or covered under the lowest sand of the hills or mountains foundations This we should think on betimes and consider it in our hearts For sin causeth wrath even from the Lamb
Know then whatsoever vanitie ignorance or darknesse is in our minde whatsoever swarmes of foolish thoughts whatsoever insensiblenesse in our conscience whatsoever disabilitie or enmitie is in our Will whatsoever unfaithfulnesse o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 1. leaking or running-out in our memory whatever leaven or corruption in doctrine or manners whatsoever bitternesse dissentions wars devouring words To conclude whatsoever we have found in our selves or observed from others to breake out of the mouth at the eye like the purging of a corps now the soule is out All this is but the issue of this body of sinne which thou carryest about thee All that hath no other originall fountain from which they issue then this sinne When we let our tongues and eyes and eares loose and at libertie keeping no watch over the one nor making no covenant with the other when I say we doe thus set the doores windows and all open we then commonly excuse our selves thus That though we speake merrily yet our minde is good And though our eyes wander yet our heart walkes not after our eyes p Job 31. 7. And though we let in vanitie by the eare as the wooll sucks in water yet we can keepe the inward man cleane and pure this is our excuse and we would be pardoned But the excuse is worse then the fault for we must know That the tongue the eare and the eye these doores and windows of the soule The feet and the fingers there is a q Prov. 6. 13. speaking with the one and a teaching with the other All these are but as a little Comentary upon the great Text of the heart they do but serve to make plaine so as he that runs may read what lewdnesse and frowardnesse lyes in that depth involved there in more hid darke and obscure characters Or to use a plainer metaphor and according to the sacred Scripture The heart is the treasury the ever going mint wherein our thougbts r Fabricatur Prov. 6. 14. hammer mischiefe Out of that aboundance the mouth so of the rest filleth and emptyeth it selfe If there be a little vanitie upon the tongue we must conclude there is much in the heart if the eyes be full of adultery then the measure of the heart * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 6. Relig. p. 597. What wickednesse will they stick at in secret who proclaime their folly openly c. saith Isid Pelusit lib. 2. ep 153. is pressed down running over That vanitie which is shewed openly by the outward members is but like the money a rich man carryes in his purse to be laid forth upon all occasions compared with that which is in the bag or chest there is the store The mouth is but as the cistern the heart is the well that fills it The aboundance is in the heart there is the treasury And this thou carryest about thee Nay it is within our earth more inwrapped within our nature then the Ivy within the wall as fast as with a band of Iron and Brasse And it is as was said the acting sinning brooding sinne the fountaine and inlet of all we can call evill The first matter of all our misery The tinder of lust disposing us to evill and causing an aversnesse to all good This is the treasury thus we have look'd into the aboundance that is in the heart of every mothers childe In all it doth not breake out alike God in mercy to mankinde and for preservation of society restraining the dominion and over-ruling it in some And some again having received more grace prevailing over the same with the wrestling of God strong wrestlings ſ Gen. 30. 8. But within us this aboundance is I meane this sinne dwels within the best of men The life thereof is prolong'd t Dan. 7. 12. though the dominion is taken away And its kingdome to allude to that place is partly strong and partly broken u Dan. 2. 42. And hence is that which ever hath and ever will make the people of God vile in their own eyes and to loath themselves witnesse their low and base account of themselves Dust * Gen. 19. 27. and ashes saith Abraham we may say that and more even what was said of a bloudy persecutor we are earth mingled with bloud and to the same fiercenesse we should proceed were we not renewed or restrained x Gen. 32. 10. Lesse then the least of Gods mercies said Iacob What am I a dog fit to lye under the table a dead y 1 Sam. 24. 24. dog fit for the ditch It was the lowest expression of humilitie and we know whose it was It is Thy z Lam. 3. 22. mercy we are not consum'd so the Church makes her acknowledgement when she was brought even to the dust of death Though the Church be smitten to the place of Dragons yet if it be above hell it is mercy so she accounts Nothing saith Paul not worthy to be accounted an Apostle a 1 Cor. 15 9. And to mention but one neerer our own times a true b Antipapa◠Bright on Rev. 2. 13. Antipas a faithfull witnesse a holy-man yet thus vile and abased in his own eyes and feeling I am as dry as a stone a most miserable hard-hearted man an unthankfull sinner Thus subscribed he his letters Humble Iohn Bradford And this is the reason why I would have thee childe look back to the rock whence thou wast taken and stay thy thoughts there even to humble thee and to make thee see how vile thou art that thou mayst exalt Christ Certainly there is no such ground for humiliation that can be thought of Search then this nature of thine and search in to the bottome There is no quick flesh till we come as low in our search as David did to our conception and birth The plough must go so deep as to strike at that root whereto sinne is fastned else we sow among thornes Slight not sinne here b S. C. pag. 226. Corruption the lesse we see it and lament it the more it is sighes and groanes of the soule are like the pores of the body out of which the sick humours spend and become lesse Here thou must begin thy repentance for this sin thou must be humbled more then for actuall sinnes for this is the acting brooding sinne this as was said is that which breeds and foments all our trouble It is c Soules conflict pag. 192. good to follow sinne to the first Hold and Castle which is corrupt nature Indeed the most apparent discovery of sinne is in the outward carriage we see it in the fruit before in the root as we see grace in the expression before in the affection But yet we shall never hate sinne throughly untill we consider it in the poysoned root from whence it ariseth That which least troubles a naturall man doth most of all trouble a true Christian A naturall man is
sometimes troubled with the fruit of his corruption and the consequents of guilt and punishment that attend it but a true-hearted Christian with corruption it self this drives him to complaine with Saint Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me not from the members only but from this body of death We must be humbled for actuall sinne but that is not low enough he that goes no lower doth but as if a man should rub his nose to make it leave bleeding As in good things the cause is better then the effect so in ill things the cause is worse There is more heat in the furnace then in the spark more poyson in the root then in the branch more bitternesse in the spring then in the streame It is not actuall sinne that only or primarily defiles me I must look back to my first originall I was tainted in the spring of my Nature that is worse then any of those filthy streames that come from it my Nature is subject to break out continually upon any upon all occasions pray we then Lord strike at the root dry up the fountain in me Oh d Dr. S. S. C p. 195. 196. if we could but one whole houre seriously think of the impure issue of our hearts it would bring us down upon our knees in humiliation before God But we can never whilst we live see so throughly as we should into this depth nor yet be humbled enough for what we see How should it humble us that the seeds of the vilest sinne even of the sinne against the holy-Ghost is in us And to heare of any great enormous sinne in another man considering what our own nature would proceed unto if it were not restrained we may see our own nature in them as face answering face If God should take His Spirit from us there is enough in us to defile a whole world We cannot see the Dregs in the bottome before we see the vessell shaken Sinne may lye dormant like a dog asleep for want of an occasion to jog it and all that while we may keep clean as a swine in a faire meadow We know not our own hearts till an occasion be offer'd nor then neither unlesse we plough with Gods Heifer till His spirit bringeth a light to ours I hold thee the longer at this point Because it is the maine point The more we consider the height the depth the breadth the length of this misery the more shal we be humbled in our selves and magnifie the height the depth the breadth and the length of Gods mercy in Christ e Pag. 213. The favourers of Nature are alwayes the enemies of Grace This which some thinke and speake so weakely and faintly off is a more enemy to us then the divell himselfe a more neere a more restlesse a more traiterous enemy for by intelligence with it the divell doth us all the hurt he doth and by it maintains forts in us against goodnesse Therefore slight not sinne here nor thy misery by sinne According to those steps thou canst go down into this depth of thy misery by sinne thou shalt rise upward again to the greatnesse of Gods love in Christ and so fetch happinesse out of that depth also Here it is most true one depth calleth unto another depth If every step or Article in the first which is misery by sinne do not more and more humble us in the sight of our misery no Article in the second part which is our redemption by Christ can comfort us Enlarge thy sinne to the uttermost that thou may'st magnifie the grace of Christ Lessen not mince not sin in hope of pardon Little sinne to forgive will make Christ little loved The height and depth of mercy cannot be sounded but by the measuring line of misery We must be brought to Davids acknowledgement f Psal 38. 7. There is no soundnesse in this flesh no part of health or life in our sinfull nature which was most fully signified in that which was most remarkable saith Mr. Ainsworth g Ainsw Levit 13. 15. Plurimum profâ—cit qui sibi plurimum displicere didicit Cal. Inst 3. 3. 20. in the Law of Leprosie That quick or sound flesh in the sore should be judged leprosie and the man uncleane whereas if the leprosie covered all his flesh he was pronounced clean Hope not then in small sinne but in great mercy and that it may not seeme small for that is the feare think thus Can that pollution be small which hath past through so many Iordans yet cannot be cleansed Can that root be any other then a root of gall and bittâ—rnesse which hath defiled all and all parts and faculties of All Can that Stump be small that hath thrust out such strong branches and those so often cut and he wed at and yet growing again Can any sparke be little that comes from such a Treasury Think on this and think seriously whether here be not cause of loathing take it actively that thou shouldst loath thy self or passively that thy person should be loathed Cause of loathing there is of despairing also in thy self but not in another Cause to go out of thy self for mercy no cause to despaire of mercy A great sinner hath a mighty Redeemer but he wil not roul himself upon Him That is mighty till he feeles himself to be such a sinner as we heard a great sinner which consideration will drive the soule upon another rock if we observe not how the Prophet pleads for mercy upon this very ground Because his sin is great h Psal 25. 11. The glory of God is great in the salvation of great sinners And by putting confidence in Him Who is mightie we lay Glory and Majesty upon Him for to those words we may properly allude i Psal 21. 5. His glory is great in thy salvation honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon Him Our thoughts are straitened now yet think we on the riches of His mercy Who when we were as out-casts to the loathing of our persons in the day that we were born when we lay polluted in our own bloud said unto us at such a time as that Ezek. 16. Live If we think k on this we think on a Love which passeth knowledge on a mercy whose height and depth and breadth cannot be measured but if we can spread it upon our sinne as the the Prophet himself upon the childe we shall finde it equall to all dimensions And this is the Love of Him who gave His Sonne and the obedience of that Sonne who gave Him self for our ransome a price that cannot be valued for it went to the worth of souls And this He did being made as Luther said well the greatest sinner in the world suffering what was due to such a sinner eternall wrath not in respect of its duration for it was of a short continuance but yet eternall in respect of the excellent dignitie of the
tell a man of any dish which he liketh that there is poyson in it and he will not meddle with it So tell him that death is in that sinne which he is about to commit and he will abstain if he beleeve it to be so if he beleeve it not it is his voluntary unbelief and Atheisme If there were no will there would be no hell as one saith And this is the confession which goes to the core of sinne and it must not be in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth for it is the truth And if we can thus spread our selves before the Lord if we can willingly and uprightly t Read our second Reinolds on Rom. 7. p. 262. own damnation as our proper inheritance to that the heart must be brought and it is the Lord that meekneth it so farre if we can willingly resigne our selves for nothing is left to man but duty and resignation of himself it is not u Opâ—rtet pium animum velle nescire Dei secre tum superse c. Impossibile est eum perire qui Deo gloriam tribuit eum justificat in omnâ— opere voluntate suâ Lut. Psalm 22. Christus faciet poenitentes quos jubet poenitere supplebit de suo quod dâ—est de nostro Lut. de Poenitent 1. Pet. 18. possible then that we should perish He will make supply of His strength what is wanting in ours He will give what he commands He will give clean waters He wil create peace He wil strengthen our hand to lay hold on rich and precious promises And then we cannot possibly be barren or unfruitfull in the knowledge of the Lord Iesus Christ we cannot but gird up the loins of our minde giving all diligence x 1. Pet. 1 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Shew me a man that ever leaâ—nt an ordinary Trade or lived upon it with ordinary diligence point me to a man that was bad yet laboured to be good or who was good yet took no pains to be better Chrysost in 1. Ep. Ad Tim. cap. 1. Hom. 1. About ordinary things very easie matters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we take extraordinarie paines but great and extraordinary things we think we may attain sleeping Chrysost 4. Tom. de Vita Monast cap. 7. ordinarie diligence will not get ordinary preferment much lesse will it a Crown The Scripture saith Giving all diligence waiting the sealing and testimony of the Spirit and walking in all the wayes of righteousnesse whereto the Apostle presseth at the end of everie Epistle for whom the Lord justifieth He sanctifieth and if we finde no fruits y For the certaintie of faith search your hearts if you have it praise the Lord. But if you feele not this faith then know that Predestination is too high a matter for you to be disputers of untill you have been better schollers in the School-house of Repentance and Justification I wade in Predestination in such sort as God hath opened it Though in God it be first yet to us it is last opened De electâ—one judicandum est à postâ—riore c. Mr Bradford to some friends who were too scrupulous in point of Election ascending up to Heaven to know when as they should have descended into themselves Mr. Fox p. 1505 and p. 1506. thereof we have cause to suspect that the Stock is dead if no glimpse from that shining light of our sanctification so as men may see our good works which justifie before men then we do ill to boast of a burning light which is our justification and more hid within Nor is it a point * Non est bone solidaeque fidei sic omnia â—d voluntatâ—m Deireserre ita adulari ad unumquemque dicendo Nihil fieri sine voluntate ejus ut non intellâ—gamus aliquid esse in nobis ipsis of sound faith to put the weight of our salvation upon what shall be shall be nothing can be done without Gods will That 's true but this is Gods will too a 1. Thes 4. 3. even our sanctification and this belongs to us even subordinately to serve Gods providence with our own circumspect fore-sight care and labour knowing that His providence doth not alwayes work by miracle I do not blame them nay I commend them who say still If God will and referre all thither but I blame them much who say If God will He will perswade me He will convert me in the meane time they do just nothing A faire speech this to say If God will but a soule practise in the meane time to do our own will we must labour we must endeavour our utmost then say we If the Lord will if so we do not Gods will will be done upon us we shall never do His will To this purpose Chrysost very excellently in his first Tom. thirteenth Sermon towards the end And so much touching the inward Baptisme made by fire and the Holy Ghost The secret working of it in our hearts and what way we are to take in case we feele not that inward power Now I come to that in Baptisme which speaks to our Eye and Eare. We had our Sureties in Baptisme who stood and promised in our steeds which solemne custome and the fitnesse of it I leave to the discission of the Church whereunto we may see reason to yeeld z Mr. Hooker Eccles Pol. l. 5. Sect. 64 p. 336. leaving that these two things are clearly figured out unto us in Baptisme a death unto sinne a life unto righteousnese and both these in the death and resurrection a Rom. 6. 2 3. of Christ which are the two moulds wherein we are to be cast that we may come forth like Him and there is a virtue and power from both to cast us in and mould us thereto for if in the dayes of His flesh there went virtue out from even the edge of His garment to do great Cures then much more from His owne self and from these most principall and powerfull actions of His own self His death and resurrection there issueth a Divine power from His death a power working on the old man or flesh to mortifie it from His resurrection a power working on the new-man the spirit to quicken it a power able to roll back any stone of an evill custome lie it never so heavy on us a power able to drie up an issue though it have runne upon us twelve yeers loâ—g these are Bp. Andr. words not one grain too light We see in that Element the price paid for â— Realus impii est pium nomen Salv. 4. de Guber p. 145. See li. 3. p. 95. The Church is a choice people picked out and paled up from these whom the Apostle placeth without but there is yet a more choice and peculiar people as Clemens â— calleth them after whom we must walke more peculiarly which we cannot do but by offering violence b to our selves that
from how kept under from spreading too farre and running forth wilde AND now leaving this inward frame of our revolting heart I meane the fountain of originall impuritie or the body of death as Paul calls it to our most retyred thoughts that so it may stirre up to continuall watchfulnesse and humiliation I say leaving that fountain or body of sin I come to the members issuing thence as the streame from the fountain or as branches from the root For though the current thereof be in a good measure stayed and stopt in Baptisme by the sanctifying power of Christs saving bloud yet it doth more or lesse bubble up in our rebellious nature Though the branches are hew'd and lop't yet they trust out again from their bitter root Though the body of sinne be mortified so as the power and dominion thereof is subdued yet the life thereof is prolonged a Dan. 7. 12. and the power thereof is as the kingdome spoken of by Daniel b Dan. 2. 42. partly strong and partly broken So as here is still matter of our strife and combate as against an enemy dwelling within our Land like the Canaanite in the border of an Israelite to vexe exercise and prove us I cannot reckon up the least part of that wilde fruit which springs forth of this our so fruitfull stumpe bound up fast within our earth as with a band of Iron and Brasse But some three or foure or more branches I shall point at which run most wild to the dishonour of our outward man and disturbance of our inward peace And these I shall discover unto thee that thou may est be most wary of them and ever well provided and armed against them as followeth The first is §. 1. Pride Chap. 4 §. 1 § 1. I meane not that privy pride springing up from a secret and unsuspected fountaine even from an holy zeale godly duties good actions not properly ours yet flesh and bloud will lay claime unto them And hath its seat in a sanctified soule making it proud that it is not proud even of its humilitie And therefore doth the same soule make its watch the stronger I meane that pride whose root is discernable and whose fruit soonest shooteth forth and declareth it selfe defiling our outward members and inward faculties lifting us up so much the higher in a windy conceit the emptier and lighter we are upon the ballance and the more wanting And this some call the Womans sinne Indeed it is most unworthy and unbeseeming a man the truest testimony of weaknesse and vanitie But yet Sith there is as one noteth c L. Verulam Essayes Act. 12. 63. in humane nature more of the foole then of the wise we must grant it to be the Mans sinne also perhaps not so generally his nor in the same degree For if we do grant as ordinarily it seemes so and is so concluded That the inward powers of Iudgement and Reason are weaker in women then in men we must needs grant That pride as it is till of late more ordinarily discovered in that sex then in the other so it is for the same reason more incident unto them They may have lesse inward worth and beautie to commend them and therefore do they the more paint and adorne the outward Likely it is that they do not so well discerne the simple and naked truth of things and therefore delight themselves in feathers toyes flattering conceits false valuations They are not so well able to study nature as men may and can therefore may they it is not proper to say they may and yet more excuseable it is in them then in men they may please themselves with polished Art at the best but natures Ape rather then with that which is simple and naturall with very appâ—arances affectation and pompe rather then with reality and substance rather with that which is borrowed then with that which is proper and naturall Lastly they may not be so able to study themselves The principles they consist of The foundation they stand on The vilenesse of the body The excellent worth and dignitie of the soul The faculties of both body and soul The excellency of that end for which they received them Where these defects and wants are as in all they are for naturally in all as was said there is more of the fool then of the wise and the more or lesse they are in man or woman accordingly will he and she more or lesse reckon and account of falshood and outward appearances before verities Lying and base vanities before realitie and substance and so are pay'd accordingly with winde and counterfeit ware instead of currant commoditie for these vain conceits and false valuations will prove but poore and shrunken things in the end For from hence it is and so we may go through all things that do lift up man and blow up that bubble hence it is That our clothes made for necessity and ornament yea to make us humble and thankfull humilitie and thankfulnesse still go together do prove so contrary to those ends priding us up in our own conceits and dishonouring us in the eyes of others Hence it is that we are such Fashionists so phantastick and changeable that way That the Taylor can as hardly fit us as the d Plut. Conv. 7. sapient man so goes the fable could fit a garment for the Moon Hence it is That our haire made to cover our scalp doth in a windy humour to a base fashion cover our face and that part of it which of any should not be covered So that which was made for an ornament and we should finde it so if we wanted but an eye-brow is so nourished and let to spread out so that it makes the person look like afurie Hence it is that we do tread like the Antipodes if the word were proper clean contrary to nature hiding that which should be covered and covering that which should be hid Hence it is That our eyes feet fingers our whole gesture and deportment do make so plain a Commentary upon the heart That if I may apply it so he that runnes may read the present humour and state of the minde and will so great a discovery of our dissimulations the gesture is for that speaks to the e Many have secret hearts and transparent countenances Essayes 21. p 128. eye as the tongue to the eare Hence it is That the inward beauty is so neglected and the outward so set out and highly prized when as beauty and strength will be much wasted by one fit of an Ague yea f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil in Hex Hom. 5. quite gone in one night Hence it is That Knowledge doth puff up That Learning makes proud which is not Knowledge indeed nor Learning but our ignorance and going back wards a windie and flatuous conceit of both True Learning the more it is and the truer it is the more it humbles the closer it lies the
communicated unto us These holy mysteries received in due manner do instrumentally both make us partakers of the grace of that body and bloud which was given for the life of the world and imparts unto us even in true and reall though in mysticall manner the very person of our Lord Himself whole perfect and intire together with the communication of His holy Spirit to sanctifie us as it sanctified Him that what merit force or vertue there is in His sanctified Body and Bloud we freely fully and wholly have by this Sacrament And all this for the Sacrament in it self is but a corruptible and earthly creature and an unlikely instrument to work such admirable effects in man all this resteth upon the strength of His glorious power who bringeth to passe that the bread and cup which He giveth though true Bread and Wine for our senses tell us so and in such cases they cannot be deceived shall be truly the thing promised the flesh of Christ which is meat indeed and the bloud of Christ which is drink indeed If we understand not this but will ask How can these things be n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysâ—n â— Ad Tim. c. 1. Hom. 1. we must remember that nothing is hard to the Lord therefore to Him we must pray that we may be taught of Him and that His Spirit may reveale it unto us That is all we are to do for further question is needlesse and fruitlesse Very observable it is that in the sixth of Iohn o Verse 26. The people finding Christ at a place whereto by an ordinary way and means they knew He could not come fall to wondering and then to questioning Rabbi when camest thou hither The disciples in the 20. of Iohn when Christ appeared to them in farre more strange and miraculous manner moved no question but rejoyced greatly in that they saw For why The one sort beheld only that in Christ which they knew was more then naturall but yet their affection was not rapt there-with through any great extraordinary gladnesse the other when they looked on Christ were not ignorant that they saw the well-spring of their own everlasting felicitie The one because they enjoyed not disputed the other disputed not because they injoyed If then the presence of Christ with them did so much move judge what their thoughts and affections were at the time of this new presentation of Christ p Hooker câ—â— Pol. 5. 67. pag. 358. not before their eyes but within their souls And so much for the opening and unfolding of the mysteries which we are to receive The further manifestation we leave to Him who worketh All in All according to the pleasure of His good will It follows now That we consider how we must come addressed to this great feast of the soule wherein our approach to an earthly banquet gives us good instruction though the persons inviting and the cheere to which we are invited are of a very different nature and yet somewhat such a feast instructs We come to a common table specially if invited thereto by no common person well fitted and prepared decently and in order And in case we finde our stomacks clogged with bad humours or feaverishly disposed we come not at all or we forbeare to eate This allusion Chrysostome follows and makes very usefull in his 27. Hom upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 11. toward the end but more fully in the following Hom. neere the beginning of the same very full of instruction all I shall follow our plain Catechisme and therefrom set down these requisites which must be in every worthy Communicant and they are three strongly enforced and imployed in the signes before our eyes 1. Repentance from dead works which God gives and it answers The eating of the Lambe with sowre hearbes There I see in the Bread first thrashed then put into the mill after in the oven All this the True Bread went through before He was made the Shew-Bread to God the Bread of Life to us as much as the Church of old did in the q Exod. 12. 9. Lambe which was to be rosted with fire or in the Manna which was ground in the mills r Numb 11. 8. I see in the wine powred forth That Christ powred forth His soul unto death and by Himself purged our sins Å¿ Heb. 1. 3. See Mr. Dearing on that text Hence we learn to hate sin and to hate it with a perfect hatred as the only ground of our misery the creatures vanitie and of Gods dishonour t Mr. Raynold on the 110. Psalme pag. 411 412. We see it is so hatefull unto God that He will most certainly be avenged of it If he spare me yet He will not spare my sinne though His own beloved Sonne must be punished for it O then how should that be light to me which was as heavy as a mill stone to the soul of Christ How should that be in a throne with me which was upon the Crosse with Him How should I allow that to be really in me which the Lord so severely punished when the guilt thereof was but imputed to His Son so our second Raynolds Therefore we should learn with David to hate every evill way because God hates it and suffers it not to passe unpunished To revenge the quarrell of Christ against those lusts of ours which nailed Him and to crucifie them for Him again for for that end was Christ crucified that our old man might be crucified with Him that the Body of sin may be destroyed that hence-forth we should not serve sinne u Rom. 6. 6. What measure of sorrow is required in every Receiver for it is said The Land shall mourn x Zach. 12. 10. 12. the Prophet doth fully declare where he saith And they shall looke on Him c. The sorrow for sinne is set forth by our sorrow for such things whereof we have the quickest sense And such a sorrow it is past all question which is lasting which makes us mourn as David for his sonne every day * 2 Sam. 13. 37. It is a bitter sorrow and it is accompanied with loathing y Ezech. 6. 9. 43. 20. 43. How these will stand together Godly sorrow I mean and spirituall joy is not to our purpose now But the greater our sorrow if it be godly the greater our joy The more sowre our sinnes the more sweet is Christ The more loathing of them as the alone and greatest evill the more prizing of Christ as the only and greatest good the choisest of ten thousands Whether we have this grace of repentance the tryall is easie for if we sorrow after a godly sort behold what carefulnesse it works what clearing of our selves what indignation 2 Cor. 7. 11. what feare what vehement desire what zeale what revenge Infallible marks these of repentance unto life It is now with the penitent as once it was and as ever it will be
thing And that is sin It hath so much malignitie in it that it can put a sting and set an edge upon crosses That it can make our good things evill to us can turn our blessings into curses can make our table our bed c. all snares to us It will leaven our rest and peace whereby others are edified walking in the feare of God and in the comforts of the holy Ghost r Act. 7. 31. This rest and peace a comprehension of all blessings through sinne will slay our soules and be our ruine which was as we heard the building up of others so malignant so destroying sinne is more malignant more destroying this sinne is this evill work then is the mouth of a Lion as the Apostle intimateth very usefully 2 Tim. 4. 17 18. Therefore more to be avoyded therefore we should more desire to be delivered from it then from that devourer For as there is but one thing properly evill so but one thing to be feared as evill Feare not wants nor disgrace by wants turn thy feare the right way feare sinne and avoid an evill work So Isid Pelus writeth to his friend f Lib. 3. ep 101. And it is but the conclusion or a case long since resolved by Chrysostome t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 4. epist limp See Hom. 5. ad Pop. Ant. Sinne is the onely thing to be feared whereof he makes a full and cleare demonstration thus Suppose saith he they are those three great and sore evills famine sword and pestilence which threaten us he names them and many more why these are but temporary and but the fruit and effects of sinne they continue but their time and shall have their end nay suppose they are those two great winding-sheets u L. Ver. Essaies 58. 330. of the world as one calleth them and Lege Sen. nat quaest lib. 6. c. 1. as the floud of ungodlinesse doth threaten an inundation of water or an earthquake plagues threatned and inflicted to wash away sinne and as a punishment thereof Then yet still sinne is to be feared not those It is foolish to feare the effect and to allow the cause Consider also so the Father reasons the case or to that purpose will x See Chrysost de terrae motu Tom. 5. ser 6. Lege Sen. Ibid. it be terrible to see the earth totter like a drunken man and threatning confusion in an instant and men flying before it but they know not whither how dreadfull then will be the wrath of God which will be heavier then the heaviest mountain and shall be manifested from Heaven as the just portion of sinners sinking the soul under the same to all eternitie how dreadfull will that be and sinne makes it so if it were not for sinne though the earth shake we could not be moved what ever evill come upon the face of it yet would it be good to us it could not hurt therefore fear not the earthquake that is most terrible and affrighting but feare sinne the cause that makes the earth to reel I adde and flie from it as Moses before the Serpent and as they fled before the earthquake y Zach. 14. 5. and flie to Him who is the propitiation for sinne if we so do as we must needs do if we apprehend sinne to be so evill for we will avoid poyson when we know it to be so This will take away the trouble and sting of feare and prevent the shaking fit thereof I have told thee a great lesson now and to make it yet plainer I will reade it over again Sinne onely is to be feared I mean that sinne I am not humbled for I have not repented of that onely is to be feared for it makes every thing fearfull Death they say is terrible of all things most terrible It is not so to him who hath repented of his sinne and is at peace with God he can die as willingly as we can fall asleep when we are weary The prison sword fire fearfull things all an earthquake very terrible not so to them who have made God their rock and refuge to whom they can continually resort feare nothing but sinne and the hiding of Gods loving countenance from thee for the lightsomenesse thereof is better then life Feare the least eclipse of His light and every thing that may cause it for it is more refreshing to the soul then the Sun beames to the earth Mark this still when sinne sheweth its full face we see but the half now and in a false glasse too and when God hideth His face there will be to say no more a fainting The servants of the Lord have been under heavy pressures yet then they fainted not they have been in prisons and there they fainted not thence they have been brought to the stake there they fainted not fire was put to and flaming about their eares and then they fainted not but when sinne shews it self and God hides Himself then the next news is ever The spirit faileth Zophars counsell is the close hereof If iniquitie c. Iob 11. Verse 14. 15. c. Now touching our present grievances incumbent and upon us These are either imaginary or reall and the imaginary as one saith are more then the reall we make some grievances to our selves and we feel them so because we fancy them so we call for them before they come because our imagination a wilde and ungovernd'd thing leades us and misleades he was led with a conceit and troubled with it who complained of a thornie way when it was not so but he had one in his foot The way to help this is to take a right scale of things and to weigh them by judgement which interposing thus resolveth and assureth 1. As thou shalt shorten thy desires thou shalt lengthen thy content the poorer thou art in the one the richer in the other 2. Bridle thy appetite not accounting superfluous things necessary 3. Feed thy body and clothe it z Cultus magna cura magna virtutis incuria ex Catone Cal. Inst lib. 3. cap. 10. ser 4. but serve it not that must serve thee If thou shalt pamper or pride it the order will be inverted and all out of order that which should obey will rule 4. Measure all things by the compasse of right reason Sinne never wanted a reason yet we call it unreasonable by reason I say not by opinion a Opinioni insitum tum variare poenitere ut Chamaeleon c. Lips cont 1. ep 12. or conceit a fluttering ranging thing it can finde no bottom to settle on it is as changeable as the winde it feeds as they say one doth upon the aire therefore is still gaping but never content Lastly and chiefly for it is the summe of all be assured hereof that outward things cannot inwardly satisfie b Capacem Dei non implet minus Deo This finite requires an infinite He that filleth the
speciall notice of two main and principall points whereon so much depends 1. Thy outward frame of body 2. Thy inward frame of spirit Of the outward frame here § 1. Here take notice of God first and of His goodnesse laid out upon thee when of nothing thou wast made something some few dayes before thou wast a meere nothing That which never shall be was in as great a possibility of being as then thou wast And when thou wast something Iob tels thee what it was that something was as much as Mar. Au. Ant. Medit. li. 10. Sect. 26. p. 171. nothing to the producing of such an effect so an Heathen could say from such a beginning Of that nothing wast thou limmed or framed thence this curious work not the work of nature but of an Almighty-hand quickning Nature and actuating the same And in seven dayes for so experience tells us saith Hier. Fabricius the Physitian that frame had its proportion of all parts And one half of that work P. 686. but the better part indeed is more worth then a whole world thy soul so He saith who went to the price of soules § 2. And as thou must take notice of the hand that covered thee in thy mothers wombe so must thou take notice of the same hand for the same Hand it was that brought thee thence and none other but that If this hath not been told thee nor hast thou yet considered so much then beleeve me that the most curious searchers into Nature and the powers thereof which are great and strange in their extent and latitude they who have ascribed too much unto it even they have yet acknowledged at this point when the childe is brought to the birth and no power to bring forth that this is the finger of God this is the work of His hand And yet this sorrow in child-birth is not the same in all nor is the danger the Lord so dispensing therewith though the curse be common We know what the Mid-wives say touching the Hebrew women and common experience tels us also that some women there are who in this case speed better then their betters We read what our Geographer and Historiographer for he is both writeth concerning the Spanish women and what he citeth out of Strabo touthing History of S. George Histo of the Sab. Geog. p. 32. a woman there who rose from one labour to another from labour in child-birth to labour in the field She was rather an Hedge-woman then a child-bed woman and it is with them many times as we heard But this we are sure of that this is that burthen which is laid upon that Sex In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and so wonderfull the Delivery is that we may say with the Prophet Thou art Psal 71. 6. He that took me out of my mothers bowels my praise shall be continually of thee †1. And thou childe I suppose thee the eldest though I would make no difference here for whether the next in yeers or the youngest it will fit very well and instruct alike in the maine for which I intend it hast as much cause to consider this as any other because of the sore travell thy mother had with thee I will not mention the travell of her soul for thee that Christ might be formed in thee though a travell it was also she was in hard labour with the greatest danger of her own life before thou didst suck in the ayre of this She might have called thy name Iabesh 1. Chron. 4. 9. because she bare thee with sorrow Such were the pains upon her and so heavy was that burthen which was laid of old upon that Sex that it pressed her out of measure above strength as if she must first go out of this world before thou couldest come in A strong engagement this to look up to Him with thankfulnesse who brought thee to the She sickned the 17. of August and died the 30. at 9. in the morning 1631 when thou wast 4. yeers and 7. dayes old wombe and took thee thence and to thy parent in all due observance and it is as strong as ever though thy mother is not here I suppose thee the eldest she was taken from me and thee when thy fift yeer was currant and yet not seven dayes runne out of it Me thinks a childe grown up and reflecting on it selfe lying in the wombe and taken thence should observe a love in the mother as strong as Death All these turnings of stomack part of the mothers sorrow those throwghs afterwards as so many deaths such waters could not quench this love nor such floods of sorrow drown it nay all these were but like the Smithes water cast upon his fire which makes it burn the hotter and the clearer for all these sorrows are out of minde when the childe is in sight and serve but to encrease the love and to inhance the price of that sweet commodity the mother hath so dearly bought In one place of sacred Writ the mother is placed before the father Feare every man his mother and his a Lev. 19. 3. father It may be because the Mother is generally so neglected or because she so neglects her self I may not hit upon the true reason but I can tell a strong reason why at some time the mother may be put as it were upon the right hand and why she should at all times be of high and honorable account with the childe for she hath bought it deare as they use to say so deare that even for her sorrow in Child-birth the childe must ever be her debter Suppose we the most dutifull and observant childe standing forth that ever yet was clothed with sinfull flesh telling the reciprocation of his duty and mutuall workings thereof towards The name and nature of the Stork Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod c. Quinta aetas Homer Iliad 4. Lage Hex Basilii Hom. 8. his mother that he hath done towards her as the young Stork to the old the same say the Naturalists which once the old did to the young suppose all this the Mother could answer all in few words Remember childe if thou canst the turnings of my stomacke not the least part of my sorrows the pains I felt every one as so many daggers to the heart sinking my spirits and throwing up my tyred breath as if I should never take it in again Should the mother say no more but this what she suffered for the childe though much she did for it afterwards And there is more then nature in it say some that so much she did unto it when it lay like a b Hom Odys l. 6. â—â—cretius man after a shipwrack cast up upon the shoare the most forlorne and helplesse creature that can be thought of in the world Should she I say but tell what she suffered for the childe when in the wombe and bringing thence she hath answered all the
childe can say and left it farre in her books so farre that it can never get out death only cancells that bond The parent and the childe can never cut scores or strike tallyes for they can never lye even And so much that thou mayest honour thy Mother for then thou art as a Ecclus. 3. 4. one that layeth up a blessing Mark that for by the rule of contraries he that dishonours the Mother is as one that layeth up a curse Honour thy Mother and forget it not †2. Thy Father too look to it thou dost not set light by A se migrat ab homine totus transit in bestiam paternae pietatis immemor gratiae genitoris oblitus Chrysol de prodigo Ser. 2. him so thou dost do iâ— thou dost set light by his admonitions For that is a sinne which calleth down a curse from the Almightie And though I should not plead my right and thy dutie yet the Lord would do both Nay if I should pray against the curse as God forbid I should forbeare to do yet would it according to Gods ordinary dispensation certainly fall the arme of flesh being too short to keep it off He is the God of Recompences He looks up on the breach of that sacred band betwixt parents and children â— Si gravaris auscullare parentibus esto dicto audiens carnifici quod si neque huic obedire sustines obedito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Catachis Lutâ— and will require it That which Luther speaks is very notable and may winne much upon a stubborn childe if any thing will If thy neck be so stiffe that thou wilt not bow nor bend nor relent by all the perswasions entreaties of thy parents then expect that the Executioner shall bend thee If thou wilt not heare what thy parents say for thy instruction thou art like to heare what the Hangman saith for thy cutting off and destruction b Prov. 17. 11. Carnifex Trem. Ephes 6. 1. Sicut post Deuâ— dâ—ligere parentes pietas est sic plus quà m Deum impietas Chrysost in Mat. Lat. tantum Hom. 26. A cruell messenger shall be sent to a Son of rebellion If thou wilt not put thy necke under the yoke thy parents would put upon thee which is no other but what God enjoyneth and for thy good annexing a large blessing thereunto If thou wilt not submit to this easie and sweet yoke In the Lord for this is right thou must then submit to an iron yoke in putting thy neck into the executioners halter for that is but just So Doctor Lu. speaks in our plain English and addes thereto That the experience of all Ages have evidenced the Truth thereof And for the yet clearer evidensing the same This I adde further I have been young and am not farre from being old but never saw I a dutifull childe that went away without his blessing nor a childe stubborn and undutifull to prosper a Hist of the World 2. 13. 5. pag. 361. The debts of crueltie and mercy are never left unsatisfied saith one in another case we may say the same in this case Disobedience to parents ever receives its due punishment No lesse then a thousand witnesses give in cleare evidence hereunto and it is worth our giving our eare unto them and our eye also For therefore are judgements wrought in the earth that they might be had in continuall remembrance like a great mountain still in the Travellers Eye It was written for our Instruction That he who rose up against his father left behinde him no other then an heape of stones a monument of his shame and a pillar the onely 2 Sam 18. 17 18. memoriall of his name Examples there are an heape of them of more fresh and bleeding memory which I shall passe over and recall to minde Times further off and give instance only in two who because they are very great examples examples are rules and yeeld us the shortest plainest and most certaine Instruction being persons of the highest ranke and qualitie are I conceive the fuller of use to those of the meanest The first is concerning Robert Duke of Normandy eldest sonne to William the first of England so famous for his conquest there This sonne was stain'd saith my Author with this only fault Disobedience to his father if I forget not he tooke up Armes against him thrice and once un hors'd his father and wounded him in his arme ignorantly saith the Author not knowing him to be his father for when he did he hasted to remount him humbly craving pardon this now requires our mark This Roberts younger brothers S. Daniel p. 41. succeeded in their Fathers Throne William the second and Henry the first Robert puts hard for the Crown against King Henry his youngest Brother and obtains the payment of three thousand Marks by the yeer and the reversion of the Crowne a succession in his Brothers Throne in case he survived Thus they capitulated and on these termes they stood for the present Robert safe in Normandy and Henry in England But contentions betwixt brothers and betwixt them for a Crown are like the Barrs of a Castle once two never one again Quickly after the fire of contention raked under cold Embers burnt out again betwixt the two brothers Kings love not to know their heire unlesse he come out of their own bowels and consumed divers worthy men in a mightie battell whereby England won Normandy and one the same day such are the turnings in humane affaires whereon fortie yeers before Normandy overcame England And here Robert who stood in a faire possibilitie of two Crowns of England and Ierusalem was deprived of his hopes there in both places and of his Dutchy also of all he had But there ended not his Tragedy Out of Normandy he was brought prisoner into England and committed to the Castle of Cardiffe where to adde to his misery he had the misfortune of a long life surviving after he had lost himselfe twentie six yeers whereof the most part he saw not having his eyes put out whereby he was only left to his thoughts A punishment barbarously inflicted on him for attempting an escape but wherein we may see the righteous Acts of God withering those armes which were reached forth against the hands which embrac'd him in his swadling clothes as the old Father speaks to his Andronicus See Turkish Story pag. 158. and suffering those eyes to be pickt out that set so light by him out of whose loynes he descended Gods ludgements are as the great deepe and we are too shallow to conceive of them but what lyeth on the top or surface as it were we may take for our use and that we have heard The next is concerning Edward the third of England He stept over his Fathers head to his Throne That was not the Sons fault saith the Author for he had the Crown by resignation from his Father But Crowns are