hath begunne this good worke in vs will performe it vntill the day of Christ As the Angell who deliuered Peter out of prison appeared to him with a shining light in the darke prison smote him vpon his side and wakened him out of his sleepe made his chaines to fall from him and caused him to arise and follow him went still before him to leade him in the way through all impediments and departed not from him till he had entred him within the Cittie of Ierusalem so the spirit of our Lord Iesus who hath once come downe vpon vs in this prison and hath lightned our darknesse wakened vs out of our dead securitie and loosed the chaines of our sinnes wherewith we were bond shall abide continually with vs gouerning vs with his light and truth till he haue entred vs within the portes of heauenly Ierusalem Blessed be the Lord where before we were the captiues of sinne now the course of the battell is changed sinne is become our captiue through Christ it remaineth in vs not as a commander but as a captiue of the Lord Iesus it is true the boltes of sinne are yet vpon our hands and feet to admonish vs of our former miserable thraldome we draw as yet the chaines of sinne after vs which makes vs indeede goe forward the more slowly but are not able to detaine vs in that bondage wherein we lay before And as concerning our deliuerance from death wee are How we are deliuered from death both first and second to know that death is two-fold the first and second the first is a separation of the soule from the body the second is a separation of them both from the Lord. Mors prima Aug. de ciuit dei li. 21. ca. 3 pellit animam nolentem de corpore mors secunda detinet animam nolentem in corpore The first death expels the soule against the will out of the body the second death compels the soule against the will to abide in the body for vnto the greater augmentation of their paine as they were companions of sinne so shall they be compelled to abide companions of punishment This second death hath three degrees the first is when Second death hath three degrees the soule by sinne is separated from the Lord the second is when the body by the power of that curse due to sinne is turned into dust and the soule is sent to hell the third is when both soule and body being ioyned together againe in the resurrection shall be banished from the presence of the Lord and cast into vtter darknesse And it is called the second death because it is executed vpon the wicked after their first death otherwise the first death that euer came into the world was the first degree of the second death Mors Aug. de verb. Apost ser 33. animae praecessit anima deserente Deum mors corporis sequâ—ta est anima deserente corpus deseruit Deum volens anima coacta est deserere corpus nolens the death of the soule went before the soule departing from God and the death of the body followed the soule departing from the body How Christians are exercised with terrors of conscience which in the owne nature are forerunners of the second death the soule departed from God willingly therefore is compelled vnwillingly to depart out of the body Now from both these deaths wee are deliuered by the Lord Iesus for our soules being freed from sinne are reconciled with God and so exempted from that wrath which is to come For albeit the deere children of God be sometime exercised with inward terrours of conscience which in their owne nature are fore-runners of these paynes prepared for the wicked and are as the smoake of that fire which afterward shall torment them yet vnto the godly their nature is changed they are sent vnto them not to seperate them from the Lord but to draw their hearts neerer vnto him and to worke in them a greater conformity with Christ And as for the first death wee are so deliuered from it The nature of the first death changed to the Christian that albeit in the owne nature it be the Centre of all miseries and a fearefull effect of Gods curse on man for sinne yet to the godly the nature thereof is also changed so that now it is not the death of the man but the death of sinne Amb. de bono mort cap. 4. in the man mors est scpultura vltiorum death saith Ambroâ— is the buriall of all vices As the worme which is bred in the tree saith Chrisostome doth at last consume it so death which is brought out by sin doth at the length consume and destroy sinne in the children of God Finally death is the progresse and accomplishment of the full mortification of all our earthly members wherein that filthie fluxe of sinne is dryed vp at an instant It is a voluntarie sacrificing of the whole man soule and body to the Lord the greatest and highest seruice wee can doe to him in the earth for where in the course of our life we are continually fighting against our inordinate lusts and affections to bring them in subiection to Christ by death as it were with one stroke they are all smitten and slaine and the soule is offered vp to God in a sacrifice of full and perfect obedience Verse 3. For that that was impossible to the Law in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull â—â—â—sh and that for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh THE Apostle hauing set downe in the first 3 Explication of the confirmation Here followes an explication of the confirmation of his generall proposition Verse a Proposition of Comfort belonging to them who are in Christ and confirmed it in the second he proceedeth now to the explication of the Confirmation declaring how it is that Christ hath freed vs from the law of sinne and first he shewes how Christ hath freed vs from the condemning power of sinne in this verse namely that he taking vpon him our nature and therewithall the burden of our sinnes hath condemned sin 1 He shewes how we are freed from the condemning power of sinne The law could not saue vs. in his blessed body and so disanulled it that it hath no power to condemne vs. And this benefit he amplifies shewing that by no other meanes we could obtaine it for where without Christ there is but one way for men to come to life namely the obseruance of the law he lets vs see it was impossible for the law to saue vs and least it should seeme that he blamed the law he subioynes that this impotencie of the Law to saue vs proceedes from our selues because that wee through fleshly corruption which is in vs cannot fulfill that righteousnesse which the law requires This impotencie of the Law appeareth by these two Impotencie of the
it craues no more but as for the soule all the delicate and pleasant things of this world cannot satisfie or content it Non esurientes animas sed esuriem ipsam pascunt animarum they Bern. de persecuquutione sustinenda cap. 22. feed not the hungry soule but rather feedes and augments the hunger of the soule And lastly wee see in experience that the soule now when it is within the body hath his owne working and liuely operation euen then when the body is a sleepe and the senses thereof closed vp which also is also confirmed by that conference which Salâ—mon had with the Lord when his body was sleeping beside many other And hereof Tertullian concluded the immortality of the Tertul. de resur carnis Soule â—e in somnium quidem cadit anima cum corpore quomodâ— in veritatem mortis cadâ—t quae nec in imaginem eius ruit The soule doth not fall a sleepe with the body how then shal we thinke that it can verily die it selfe which cannot so much as fall vnder the shadow and similitude of death Thus the Atheist being put bâ— the doubt still remaines A twofold immortall life of the Soule whereof the one is proper to the godly the other pertaines to the wicked Seeing euery mans soule liues an immortall life what comfort is this giuen here to the Christian that though his body be dead his soule is liuing To this I answere there is a two-fold life of the Soule one of nature another of grace by the one it liuâ—s for euer by the other it lâ—ues for euer in happinesse the one is common to all men the other is proper to the children of God an immortall happy life they haue it not of nature but of grace as here the Apostle saith through the righteousnesse of Christ communicated vnto them As for that naturall life of the soule the spirit of God as we said accounts it but a death when they are liuing in the body he saith they are dead â—â— sinne and trespasseâ— and when Ephe. 2. 1. they are gone out of the body though they liue yet he cals their life but an euerlasting death thus are the wicked miserable while they are in the body more miserable when they remoue out of the body therefore Salomon comparing them among themselues accounts them happiest that neuer Eccles 4. 3. haue beene Secondly we see here that man is a creature consisting Man a compound creature of a soule and a body vvhere first it is to be admired how two creatures of such contrary kindes and qualities as is the soule and the body should concurre together to make vp one man and secondly how this fearefull diuorcement is come betweene them once so straitly vnited by God that where the one is partaker of life the other should be possest by death Most meruailous of all the creatures both in regard of his two substances As for the first the Lord hath created man in such sort that he hath made him a compend of all his creatures in respect of his body he hath some affinity with earthly creaturs because hee was made to rule ouer them and in respect of his soule hee is a companion to the Angels for this cause the Naturalists called man a little vvorld and Augustine counted man a greater miracle than any miracle that euer vvas vvrought among men vvhere other creatures vvere made by the simple commandement of God before the creation of man the Lord is said to vse consultation to declare saith Basile that the Lord esteemes more of man than Basil hexam hom 10. of all the rest of his creatures neither is it said that the Lord put his hand to the making of any creature saue onely to the making of man and this also saith Tertullian to declare Tertull. de resur carnis As also of their meruailous coniunction his excellencie Yet is not man so meruailous in regard of his two substances as in regard of their coniunction Among all the workes of God the like of this is not to be found againe a Masse of clay quickned by the spirit of life and these two vnited together to make vp one man Commonly sayth Bernard the honorable agrees not with the ignoble the strong ouergoes the weake the liuing and the dead dwels not together Non Bern. in die natal dom serm 2. This doctrine knowne but not considered sic in opere tuo dâ—mine non sic in commixtione tua it is not so in thy worke O Lord it is not so in thy commixtion This is a doctrine commonly talked of that man consists of a soule and a body but is not so duely considered as it should It is a fearefull punishment which by nature lyes vpon the soule seeing she turned her selfe willingly away from God she is so farre deserted of God that she regards not her selfe though it be a very common prouerbe in the mouthes of men I haue a soule to keepe yet hast thou such a soule as can teach thee to keepe any other thing better than it selfe a fearefull plague that because as I haue said the soule continued not in the loue of God it is now so farre deserted that it regards not the owne selfe This haue I touched onely to waken vs that wee may more deepely consider of that doctrine which men thinke they haue learned and know sufficiently already namely that man is a compound creature consisting of a soule and a body But to returne seeing at the first these two the soule and How that harmony which was betweene the soule and body by creation is now turned into disagreement Foure estates of mans soule body vnited body were conioyned together by the hand of the Creator and agreed together in one happy harmony among themselues whence comes this disagreement that the soule being pertaker of life the body should be possest by death I answere we are to consider these foure estates of mans soule and body vnited The first is their estate by creation wherein both of them concurred in a happy agreement to serue their Maker The second is the estate of Apostasie wherein both of them in one cursed band conioyned fell away from God the faculties of the soule rebelling against God and abusing all the members of the body as weapons of vnrighteousnesse to offend him The third is the estate of grace wherein the soule being reconciled with God by the mediation of Christ and quickned againe by his holy Spirit the body is left for a while vnder the bands of death The fourth is the estate of glory wherein both of them being ioyned together againe shall be restored to a more happy life than that which they enioyed by creation As for the first estate we haue lost it as for the second the reprobate stands in it and therefore miserable is their condition as for the third it is the estate of the Saints of God vpon earth as
for the fourth it shall be the estate of the Saints of God in heauen Let not therefore the children of God be discouraged by Comfort our estate in this life is neither our last nor best estate looking either â—pon the remanents of sinne in their soule or the beginning of death in their body for why this estate wherein now we are is neither our last nor our best estate out of this we shall be transchanged into the blessed estate of glorious immortality our soules without all spot or wrinckle shall dwell in the body freed from mortality and corruption made like vnto Christs owne glorious body which the Lord our God who hath translated vs out of our second miserable estate into this third shall not faile to accomplish in his time Againe it comes to be considered here seeing by Iesus Christ life is restored to the soule presently why is it not also restored to the body vvhy is the body lâ—st vnder the Our soules being quickned yet our bodies are left vnder death for foure causes power of death to be turned into dust and ashes vvas it not as easie to the Lord to haue done the one as the other To this I answere that at any time life should be restored to our bodies is a mercy greater then wee are able to consider if wee will looke to our desâ—ruing that for a while hee will haue them subiected to the power of death the Lord in his wise dispensation hath thought it good for many causes First for performance of his truth 〈◊〉 but dust Gen. 3. 21. and to dust thou shalt returne If man had dyed no manner of way how should the truth of GOD appeare and if that death due to man had not beene inflicted vpon him how 1 Fâ—r reconciliation of Gods mercy truth Ber. in annuÌ„ Mar. ser 1. should his mercy beene manifested this controuersie God in his meruailous wisedome hath setled Fâ—at mors bona habet vtraque quâ—d petit let death become good and so both his mercy and his truth hath that which they craue for in the changing of the cursed nature of death and making that temporall which was eternall doth his mercy appeare and in the dissolution of mans body into dust for a time doth his truth appeare Secondly the Lord hath done it for manifestation of his 2 For the cleerer declaration of Gods power owne power accounting it a greater glory to destroy sinne by death then by any other meanes Death is the fruit of sinne and the weapon whereby Sathan intended to destroy mankinde and so deface the glory of the Creator but the Lord cutteth off the head of this Gâ—liah vvith his owne sword hee turneth his vveapon against himselfe by death he destroyes that same sinne in his children which brought Chrisost in Mat. hom 2. forth death A meruailous conquest that Sathan is not onely ouercome but ouercome by the same meanes by vvhich before hee tyrannized ouer men And thirdly the Lord 3 For our instruction that wee may know what great mercy God hath shewed vpon vs. suffers our bodies to taste of death that we may the better consider that excellent benefite vvhich vve haue by Iesus Christ for if the death of the body notwithstanding that the nature thereof is changed be so fearefull as vve see in experience how miserable should vvee haue beene if the Lord had inflicted deserued death both of soule and body 4 For our conformitie with Christ vpon vs And last that we might be conformed to him who is the first borne among many brethren it behoueth vs by death also to enter into his kingdome For righteousnesse sake This righteousnesse that bringeth The life our soule hath flowes from Christs righteousnesse Rom. 5. 21 Hos 13. 9 Reu. 7. 10. life is the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to vs by Grace as iâ— euident out of that As sinne had raigned vnto death so might grace also raygne by righteousnesse vnto eternall life Sinne which causeth death is our owne but that righteousnesse which bringeth life is of Grace Our perdition is of our selues but our saluation commeth from the Lord and from the L 〈…〉 be that sitteth vpon the Throne No preseruatiue then against death but this righteousnesse it presently giues life vnto our soule and afterward shall restore our dodyes from the power of the graue such therefore as are the children of wisedome will be carefull in time to be partakers This righteousnesse is known by sanctificatioÌ„ of this Iewell This righteousnesse hath inseperably annexed with it Sanctification by thy sanctification try thy selfe and see whether or no thou hast gotten life through the righteousnesse of Christ deceiue not thine owne hart in the matter of saluation assure thy selfe so far forth thou doest liue as thou art sanctified As health is to the body so is holines to the Soule a body without health fals out of one paine into another till it dye and a Soule without holines is polluted with one lust after another till it dye As the Moone hath lightlesse or more according as it is in aspect with the Sunne so the Soule of man enioyes life lesse or more according as it is turned or auerted to or from the Lord thus let euery man iudge by his sanctification whether if or not hee be partaker of that righteousnesse of Iesus which bringeth life vnto the soule Miserable are those wicked ones who want it they are twise dead saith Saint Iude that is Iude. ver 12. both in soule and body not so much as a heauenly breath or motion is in them but wee ought to giue thankes vnto God who hath giuen a beginning of eternall life vnto vs. Last of all there is here a notable comfort for all the Comfort wee haue a life which no death can extinguish children of God that there is begun in vs a life which no death shall euer be able to extinguish albeit death inuade the naturall vitall powers of our bodies and suppresse them one after one yea though at the length he breake in vpon this lodging of clay and demolish it to the ground yet the man of God who dwels in the body shall escape with his life the Tabernacle is cast downe that is the most our enimie can doe but he who dwelt in it remoues vnto a better as the Bird escapes out of the snare of the Fowler so the The prison of the body being broken the soule that was prisoner doth escape soule in death slighters out and flies away with ioy to her maker yea dissoluing of the bodie to the man of God it is but the vnfolding of the net and breaking open the prison wherein hee hath beene detayned that he himselfe may be deliuered The Apostle knew this well and therefore Phil. 1. 21. desired to be dissolued that he might be with Christ As in the battell betweene our Sauiour and Sathan Sathans head
HEAVEN OPENED VVHEREIN THE COVNSAILE OF GOD CONCERNING mans Saluation is yet more cleerely manifested so that they that haue eyes may come and see the Christian possessed and crowned in his heauenly Kingdome Which is the greatest and last benefit we haue by Christ Iesus our Lord. Come and see First written and now newly amended and enlarged by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for Thomas Archer and are to be sould at his shop in Popes-head Pallace 1611. TO THE MOST SACRED CHRISTIAN TRVELY CATHOLIKE AND mightie Prince JAMES King of Great Britaine France and Ireland defender of the Faith c. SIR The Apostle S. Paule that Act. 9. 15. chosen vessell of God and his ambassadour sent forth into the world to bring in the house of Iapheth into the tents of Sem Gen. 9. 27. hauing in his peregrination vndertaken for preaching from Ierusalem vnto Illyricu seene Rom. 15. 19. the most pleasant parts of the world and in an extasie transported from earth into the third heauen seene also 2 Cor. 12. the pleasures of Paradise as one who knew both not by naked speculation but experience giues out his iudgement of both that the most excellent things of this world Philip. 3. 8. were but dung in respect of the Lord Iesus and that whatsoeuer pleasure on earth may delight the eye or eare 1 Cor. â— 9. of man is by infinite degrees inferiour to those which God hath prepared for his children and therefore passing by both the pleasures of life and terrors of death he fixed his eyes stedfastly vpon that prize of the high calling of Philip. 3. 14. God forgetting all other things he became carefull onely of this one so to runne and fulfill his course with ioy that Act. 20. 24. he might obtaine that crowne This as hee had learned 1. Cor. 9. 25. like a good disciple in the schoole of Christ so like a faithfull Doctor doth he here deliuer it vnto others letting vs see that the onely comfort of a Christian on earth consists in this to know that his name is written in heauen in the booke of life which as in this treatise he confirmeth vnto vs by the inseparable commixion of the lincks of the golden chaine of saluation specially of our calling with our election and glorification so he endeuors to draw the hearts of all the children of God toward it as that maine and onely point wherein true peace and ioy is to be found and without which all other comforts in the world yea Luke 20. 20 though it were superioritie ouer all the Angels of darkenesse in hell and all the bodies of men on earth shall be Iob. 16. 2. found in the end but miserable comforters I may truly say what I haue found in experience that this the Apostles most comfortable treatise to such as can Come and see shall not onely be as the top of Pisgah Deut. 34 to Moses out of which hee saw the promised Canaan but that also the man effectually called shall heare in it the testimony of the heauenly oracle speyking to his heart as cleerely as the Angel did vnto Daniel that hee is a Dan. 9. 13. man beloued of God elected an heire of grace and glory And therefore hauing resolued to make common for the vse of others those comfortable meditations which it pleased God out of this excellent treatise to communicate vnto me I was also after long haesitation emboldned to present them to your Maiestie not as of minde to bring by them any good vnto your Highnesse but begging to them from your sacred name fauourable protection For I humbly acknowledge that from so base a minde as mine is nothing can proceede worthy so great a Maiestie as God hath made you not so much in regard of those famous Kingdomes ouer which your Highnesse stretches out your Scepter as of those gifts of gouernment by which ye rule Your Highnesse hauing receiued from God cum Diademate diuinum oleum cum Sceptro oculum Kingly authoritie with Christian wisedome sacred Maiestie with singular meekenesse being so euident in your Highnesse that by them the worst sort of your Maiesties subiects haue been wonderfully conuinced the better sort confirmed to feare you as their King to loue you as their Father A conquest aboue which no greater can be Cum amari coli diligi maius sit imperio And this is it which hath ouercome in me all contrarie feares arising of the conscience of my weaknesse that when yâ—ur Highnesse great wisedome shall perceiue in these labours my great infirmities yet your Maiestie of your rare meeknesse will fauourably censure them Euen the starres which are obscured in presence of the sunne are profitable in his absence to giue light to the earth and howsoeuer any light that is in these discourses shall vnder your Highnesse eye be indeede but darkenesse yet if with your Highnesse fauor they be allowed to giue such glimmering light as they haue vnto others it shal be no small comfort vnto me and my greatest thankefulnesse shal be declared in my dayly prayers vnto the Lord God for your Maiestie that the name of Iacobs God may defend you from all euill and the Lord may send you help out of his Sanctuarie in all your need according as hee hath done Psal 20. 1. O King beloued of God hated of none but for Gods sake Psal 21. 1. keepe still your heart in the loue of God and his truth Reioyce in the strength of your God and feare not Psal 56. 4. what flesh can doe vnto you Is it not the Lord who Psal 18. 43. set your Highnesse on the throne to be a feeder of his people Israel Is it not the Lord who hath deliuered your Maiestie from the contentions of the people and secret snares of your cursed enimies though the Archers Gen. 49. 23. grieued you hated you and shot at you were not the hands of your armes strengthened by the hands of the Gen. 49. 25. mightie God of Iacob Is it not the almightie who hath blessed your Maiesty with heauenly blessings from aboue with blessings of the depth that lyes beneath with blessings Psal 21. 3. of the breast and wombe Sir let his liberall blessings wherewith the Lord your God hath preuented you be so many obligations binding Psal 18. 50 your Highnesse to honour the Lord who hath honoured Gen. 12. 1. you Let his fore past manifold deliuerances be as so many confirmations that if your Maiestie rest in him and Psal 68. 20. not in man he will still be a buckler vnto you Let Abaddon the King of the Locusts that Romish vsurper rage Reuel 9. 11. Vnto the Lord belongs the issues of death Can Balaam curse where God hath blessed yea can Sathan Numb 23. 8. hurt the man who is hedged by the Lord Let the Iob. 1. 10. Ambassadours
forth and nourished free men vnto Iacob but remayned themselues in the state of bond women from this vnhappie condition the Lord deliuer vs and make vs partakers of that mercie and grace whereof hee hath made vs Preachers and professors From the Law of sinne and death Heere the Apostle shewes from what it is that we are deliuered Dauid saith many deliuerances giueth the Lord to his annoynted he spake Psal 18. 51. it of himselfe and it is true of all the Children of God By a great deliuerance he saued Noah in the deluge Lot in the burning of Sodome Israel out of Egypt Ioseph in the prison Daniel in the denne the three Children in the sierie furnace but all these are small if they be compared with this deliuerance from sinne and death Where first we learne how the Apostle conioynes these Sinne death God hath conioyned who shall seperate them two sinne and death if we be deliuered from the first wee shall also be deliuered from the second but if wee abide in the first we shall be sure not to escape the second if therefore Sathan say vnto vs as he did to our first Parents though yâ—u eatâ—â—f this forbidden tree yee shall not dye let vs answere him he hath proued already a shamelesse lyar and we are not any more to credit him that same penaltie lyes vpon euery sinne which was layd vpon the first if ye doe it ye shall die God hath conioyned them and who shal seperate them though the Lord speake not instantly to euery sinner as he did to Abimelech behold thou art but dead because Gen. 20. 3. of this sinne yet is it true of euery sinne when it is finished it brings out death So soone as Ionas entred into the Sea saith Chris hom 5. ad popu Ant. Chrisostome the storme rose to teach vs that Vbi peccatum ibi procella where there is sinne specially committed with rebellion there will not faile to arise a storme of the wrath of God It is true indeed the sinner in committing of sinne doth What a deceiuer Sathan is in tempting to sinne not perceiue this being blinder than Balaam he walkes on in an euill course and sees not the sword of Gods vengeance which is before him but imagines alway to reape some good either of profit or pleasure by committing of sinne for these are Sathans two baites vnder which hee couers his deadly hookes It is therefore a point of singular wisedome to decerne betweene the deceit of sinne present and the fruit of sinne to come betweene that which Sathan promiseth and that which we finde in experience performed He promised to our Parents that they should be made like vnto God but in very deede hee made them miserable like himselfe And if thou wilt also obserue that which thou findest in thy owne experience what fruit hast thou of a Rom. 6. 11. sinne when thou hast committed it doth not darknesse arise in thy minde heauinesse in thy heart terrour feare and accusing cogitations in thy conscience Euery man may finde it who list to marke it by moe then a thousand experiences in himselfe that Sathan is a shamelesse deceiuer yea more deceitfull then Laban who promised to giue to Iacob Gen. 34. beautifull Rahel but in the darke he gaue him bleare-eyed Leah be assured he will change thy wages promise thee one thing and pay thee with another As Hamor spake to his Sichemites so doth Sathan to his blind-folded Citizens he perswaded his people that if they would be circumcised all Iacobs substance and cattell should be theirs but indeed the contrary ensued for the goods of the Sichemites befell to the house of Iacob and they themselues perished by the sword Let vs therefore beware of the inuenomed tongue of the Diuell mentitur vt fallat vitam pollicetur vt perimat Cypr. lib. 1. Epist. 8. he lyes that he may deceiue he promiseth life that he may inflict death say he what he will let vs beleeue the word of the Lord confirmed by dolefull daily experience the wages of sinne is death God hath knit them together and who shall seperate them So oft then as Sathan by the deceit of sinne would beguile Sinne seemes sweet but the fruit thereof is bitter thee remember that though sinne seeme to be sweet the fruit thereof is exceeding bitter if thou feare not sinne feare that end whereunto sinne leades thee dulce peccatum sed amara mors sinne is sweet but death is bitter remember that the wages which Sathan promiseth and man would haue hee shall not get but the wages which God threatneth and man would not haue shall assuredly be payed him for this is the miserie of those who walke in their sinnes illud propter quod peccant hic dimittunt ipsa peccata Aug. hom 42. sâ—cum portant that for which they sinne they leaue it behinde them and carrie their sinnes away out of the world with them So that in the end when they shall gather the profite of all their former sinnes into a summe they shall find no other but that fore-told by the Apostle What profit Rom. 6. 21. haue ye now of all those things whereof ye are ashamed surely there is no fruit but shame and death to be pluckt from the forbidden tree of sinne But heere it may be obiected by the weake conscience Comfort for the godly who are troubled with the tentations of sinne of the godly how can this comfort be ours that wee are freed from sinne who find our selues so continually assaulted yea oftentimes oppressed of sinne For answere let vs marke that the Apostle saith not wee are fully freed from sinne in this life but we are freed from the law of sinne that is both from the commanding and condemning power thereof Sinne doth not now raigne in our mortall bodies as before neither hath it power any more to detaine vs vnder death But as for the temptations of sinne there is no sort of men more troubled with them then they whom God hath begunne to deliuer from the Law of sinne for Sathan being impatient of his losse seekes daily to recouer his former dominion From the time that once the Gibeonites made peace for themselues with Ioshua all the rest of Ioshua 9. the Kings of Canaan made warre against them and so soone as we enter into a couenant with the Lord Iesus Sathan shal not faile the more hereely to assault vs seeking to recouer his old possession yet if as the Gibeonits did we send speedily messengers to our Iehosua to shew him how wee are troubled for his sake hee shall not with-draw his helping hand from vs. Our deliuerance from sinne is begunne now but not Our begun deliuerance from sinne the Lord shall perfect 1. Cor. 1 8. Phil. 1. 6. perfected but we know that our God is faithfull by whom we are called hee shall also confirme vs to the end Euen hee who
Tertul. de resur carnâ—â— Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pâ—edge of the vvhole summe vvhich afterward is to be brought thither he hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt he hath carried vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then vve see that our Seeing our Lord was among the dead let vs not feare when God cals vs to lye down among them also Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid vvhen God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shall the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or vvill the patient refuse to drink that potion vvhich the Phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if vve looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion vvho hauing his fathers name vvritten in their foreheads follow the Lambe whersoeuer he goâ—th Reuel 7 singing that new song vvhich none can sing but they whom he hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the What comfort Christs resurrection giues vs against death Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not Mat. 28. 5. 6 yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramâ—n transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingrâ—ssum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that hee might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man not the power of nature but by Resurrection is a work of God and nâ—â— of man the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith we must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull Rom. 4. 19. that when God promised him a sonne in his old age hee was not weake in faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Saraahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that hee who had promised was also able to doe it so should we sanctifie the Lord God in our harts looking to the word and promise of the euerliuing God to Cyr. cate 18. whom those things are possible which are impossible vnto vs for the Lord saith the Prophet hath the whole earth in Isay 40. 12. his fist and it is more easie to him to discerne one pickle of dust from another then it is to any man hauing his hand full of sundry seedes to open his hand and gather euery kind thereof into one by themselues seperate and distinct from the rest When thou hearest sayth Augustine that the dead shall be raised suppose it be a great thing yet count it no incredible thing but consider who it is that takes in hand to doe it ille suscitabit te qui creauit te the Lord who created Aug. ser 64 thee he it is that shall raise thee And for our further confirmation let vs consider how Resurrection confirmed by Scripture by types by practises of God in nature the spirit of God hath taught this article of our resurrection in sundry places of holy scripture hath shadowed it by types and figures hath cleared it by examples and last of all by the practise and working of God in nature As for Scripture both Prophets and Apostles as it were with one 1 Our resurrection is confirmed by Scripture Dan. 12. 13. Hos 13. 14. 15. mouths breathes out this veritie They that sleepe in the dust saith Daniel shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to euerlasting shame and perpetuall contempt I will redeeme thee saith the Lord by Hosea from the power of the graue I wil deliuer thee from death O death I will be thy death O graue I will be thy destrustiom Patient Iob in his greatest extremitie Iob. 19. 25. gaue out this notable confession of his faith I am sure that my redeemer liueth and he shall stand the last on the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh whom I my selfe shall see mine eyes shall behold and none other for mee though my reynes are consumed within me And if we come to the new Testament most cleare is that testimonie of the Lord Iesus The houre shall Iohn 5 28. come in the which all that are in the graue shall heare his voyce and they shall come forth that haue done good vnto the resurrection of life but they that haue done euill vnto the resurrection of condemnation The Apostles in like manner beare witnesse to their Master If in this life onely wee had hope in Christ of all men we were most miserable but now is Iesus 1 Cor. 15. 19. 20. 21. 22. risen from the dead and was mâ—â—â— the first fruits of them that slept For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all lye so in Christ all are made aliue And againe Behold I shew you a secret we shal Ibid. 51. 52. 53. not all sleepe but we shall alâ— be changed In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet shal blow and the dead shall be raised vp incorruptible and we shal be changed For this corruptible must
improued pray to none but to our Father whom shall wee follow as Schoole-maisters in prayer If wee vvill be instructed of Psal 50. 15. the Lord. Call vpon â—ee in the day of thy trouble and I shall deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie mee If wee vvill be taught by Iesus Christ after this manner saith hee shall yee pray Mat. 6. 9. Our Father which art in Heauen If yee would know how the Spirit teacheth vs to pray the Apostle here telleth you hee teacheth vs to cry Abba Father these three are one and deliuers vnto vs one truth what better Schoole-maisters to teach vs a true forme of acceptable Prayer vnto God can wee haue then these and therefore that doctrine which teacheth to pray to Angels or Saints departed must proceed from the spirit of errour for wee are here otherwise taught of God we cannot saith the Apostle call vpon him in whom we beleeue not As for the Angels wee beleeue that they are which the Saduces did not but we beleeue not in them and therefore will not pray vnto them In all the old testament we read no prayer made to Abraham albeit In all the scripture no prayer to Abraham Moses c. nor to Cherubin nor Seraphin hee was the father of the saithfull none to Isaac or Iacob or Moses or any other of the Fathers departed In a hundreth and fiftie Psalmes no prayer is made to Cherube or Seraphin though they in their Psalter of the Virgin haue turned ouer all the prayses and petitions made to the Lord into petitions to our Lady as if where Dauid saith O Lord Psal 6. 1. rebuke mee not in thine anger wee were all to say O Ladie rebuke me not in thine anger and O Lord thou art my righteousnesse Psal 4. 1. O Lady thou art my righteousnesse and so forth in the rest but wee may boldly say with Bernard libenter Bernard certè gloriosa virgo tali honore carebit the glorious Virgin is willingly content to want such honour The Angell would not suffer Iohn to prostrate before him doe it not saith hee I am but thy fellow seruant this one of those blessed spirits Reu. 19. 10. witnesses to vs in the name of all the rest that it is the will of the Saints of God in heauen that wee who are vpon earth should reserue to the Lord his owne worship and giue no part thereof to creatures yea they are offended when that honour is offered to them which is due to the Lord. Where if that common obiection be brought which Ambrose It is not in the court of heauen as in the courts of earthly kings Ambros in epist ad Rom. did obuiate in his time posse nos per istos ire ad Deum sicut comites peruenitur ad regem that men by such mediators may goe to God as they goe to Kings by those who are honorable in their courts to them we answere with him hoc est misera vâ—i excusatione this is to pretend a miserable excuse for men goe to kings by courtiers because the king is but a man ad Deum autem quem nihil latet promirendum suffragatore non opus est sed mente deuota but as for the Lord from whom nothing is hid there needs no such procutor to make him fauourable vnto vs onely there is required a deuout minde for in whatsoeuer place hee who is truely godly speakes vnto God the Lord shall answere him And lastly that the Apostle here ioyneth two words of Euery tongue and language is sanctified for prayer if we vnderstand it sundry languages Abba Father it is to teach vs that euery tongue is sanctified to the vse of Gods children and that it is lawfull for vs to pray in any language if so be wee vnderstand it but to binde people to pray in a language they vnderstand not or for him that should be the mouth of God in the exercise of diuine worship to speake to the people in a strange language which they vnderstand not is a sacrilegious tyranâ—ie That which God powred out as a curse on They are builders of Babell who speake to the people in a language they vnderstand not the first Babell that one of them vnderstood not what another said and the people knew not what the builderâ—â—raued in the second Babel is receiued as a blessing The Caldeans a fierce and cruell nation were sent against the Iewes speaking to them in a language which they vnderstood not to punish in them the contempt of the voice of God which they would not learne nor vnderstand and now the messengers of Antichrist a cruell and mercilesse people are come out speaking to the world in an vncouth language for punishment of them that receiued not the loue of the truth A faithfull seruant of the Lord had he neuer so many languages had rather speake in the Church fiue words with vnderstanding that others might be instructed than ten thousand otherwaies he is but an hireling and a false Apostle that purposely speakes to a people in a language they vnderstand not We giue thankes to God who hath deliuered vs from this most fearefull captiuitie and confusion of Babell Verse 16. The same spirit beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the children of God ALbeit this operation of the Spirit whereby he witnesses vnto vs that wee are the Children of God be set downe in the last place yet in order of working it goes before the other for certainely vnlesse his holy spirit testifie vnto vs that God is become our father and hath made vs his children we dare not go neere him to craue good things from him The beginning of our acquaintance with GOD flowes from him herein is loue not that wee loued him first but that bee loued 1 Ioh. 4. 10. Rom. 11. 35. vâ— Who hath first giuen vnto him and he shall be recompensed We must first receiue from God some secret information of his loue and fatherly affection or euer we be able to returne vnto him the desires the words and the deedes of his louing children Here first appeareth the fatherly indulgence of the Lord The great loue of our father which hee hath shewed by sending his spirit into our harts our God towards vs we are here in a vally of death in heauines through continuall afflictions the time is not yet come wherein the Lord will communicate to vs his glorious presence to fill vs with that fulnesse of ioy which is in his face the time is not yet come wherein wee must ascend to our Father yet to keepe vs in the meane time that wee faint not the Lord hath sent downe his holy Spirit into our harts to comfort vs. O fatherly care O wonderfull loue when Israel was yet in the wildernesse the Lord sent them some of the fruits of Canaan to comfort them by the hand of Ioshua and Caleb but what was that if it be compared
all the pleasures of the wicked ends in paine At that banquet in Cana the Lord Iesus brought in the finest vvine hindmost Iohn but Sathan doth with his miserable banquetters as the gouerners of that feast speakes he presents his best first and after when they haue well drunken brings in that which is worse in the entry hee presents the deceitfull pleasures of sinne but dolefull and lamentable is their end for what better portion can he giue vnto them than is prepared for himselfe he is reserued to blacknesse of darknesse tribulation and anguish of Spirit terrour and horrible wrath shame and endlesse confusion is prepared for him and all those who are portioners with him Thirdly wee marke here Gods wonderfull dispensation That Gods dearest seruants haue bin hardly entreatâ—dâ—n this life yee may see in the Patriarcks in his working in that he entreates those men most hardly in this life who are most deerely beloued of him euen his sonnes and his excellentones If yee goe vp to Abel yee shal seâ— the first sincere worshipper of God mercilesly murthered by his brother Cain come downe to Abraham named by the Apostle the Father of the Faithfull and yee shal see albeit the Lord blessed him yet he wanted not some to curse him Moses albeit he was faithfull in all the house of God and receiued this praise that such a Prophet rose not before him yet how often was his soule vexed with the vniust murmurings of his people against him If yee looke to the Prophets our Sauiour sets downe a compendious description Prophets of their sufferings in that rebuke of the Iewes whom of the Prophets haue not your fathers killed and againe when he cals Ierusalem a Citie which killeth the Prophets and stoneth them who are sent vnto her And as for the Apostles like as they were the witnesses And in the martirdome of the Apostles of Christ by preaching so also by suffering It is recorded by many that Peter was beheaded by Nero at Rome and that his brother Andrew was crucified with his head downeward by Aâ—geas in Patris where hee hung for the space of three dayes conuerting many to the faith of Iesus Saint Luke testifies that Iames was beheaded by Herode and Iohn was banished by Domitian into the I le Pathmos Phillip borne in Bethsaida is bound to the Crosse and stoned to death in Hierapolis Bartholomew among the Indians hath his skinne pulled off and so martired by Astiages Thomas after long preaching to the Medes Persians and Bactrians is at length thrust through with a speare because he refused to worship the Sunne and so strengthned in the faith dyed for the Lord Iesus whose resurrection he could not beleeue till he put his fingers into the holes of his side which was pierced with the speare for him Simon the Cananite was slaine vnder Traian both because hee was a Preacher of Iesus Christ and accused to be one of the linage of Dauid Matthias that was chosen by lot in the roome of Iudas is stoned to death by the Iewes Matthew the Euangelist beheaded in Egypt and Marke drawne through the streets of Alexandria til he dyed Luke was hanged on the branch of an Oliue tree and Paul beheaded by Nero. Of all these first we learne that we are not to take afflictions Sufferings are no testimonies of Gods anger as testimonies of Gods anger against vs seeing we see that by them the Lord hath exercised his best beloued seruants euer from the beginning wherefore shall wee thinke strange concerning the fiery tryall if the Lord should send 1 Pet. 4. 12. it among vs to proue vs as if some strange thing were come vnto vs seeing affliction now is vita trita a trodden path by all the godly that haue gone before vs and therefore let vs not refuse the chastising of the Almighty Secondly let vs not feare least by affliction the light of Other Kingdomes are weakned with trouble but the kingdome of Christ encreaseth by it the Gospell should be extinguished It is not with the kingdome of Christ as with other kingdomes they are weakned and worne at the length by trouble but it encreaseth and flourisheth by it Where other trees wither in Winter the Palme continueth greene other bushes are burnt with fire but the bush wherein Iehouah appeares is not consumed thereby other barkes are ouerturned by the vehement invndation of waters but the Arke of the Lord thereby is exalted Neyther is the Lord a prodigall vvaster of the liues of his Children but a wise and prouident bestower of them then only when he sees that their death may be more profitable to his glory their comfort and edification of his Church then their life can be Therefore said Tertullian that the bloud of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church and after him Cyprian marked it quo plus sanguinis effusum Cip. de dupli martyr est eo magis fidelium effloruit multitudo that the more Christian bloud was shed the more the multitude of beleeuers flourished so that the Romane Empyre was not so much enlarged in the space of two hundred and forty yeares by the violent shedding of the bloud of others as vvas the Church of Christ by patient suffering the shedding of her owne bloud that fruitfull Vine which hath sprung out from that blessed stock Iesus Christ the more it was cut by the bloudy knife of cruell persecuters the more hath it flourished Againe wee haue here this comfort that the sufferings The wicked haue crosses but not Christs Crosse of the godly are sufferings with Christ There is no man in the world who wants his owne crosse euen they who haue their fattest portions in earth haue it not without many sorrowes by vertue of that curse in the sweat of thy brow Gâ—n 3. 19. Barn apol ad Abbat Gâ—un â—halt thou eate bread till thou returne to the earth and herein they are but miserable vae portantibus Crucem non sequentibus Christum woe is vnto them who beare the crosse and follow not Christ comfortlesse fruitlesse and endlesse will their sufferings be But as for the Godly they are sufferers with Christ they suffer not alone if Ioseph goe to the prison the Lord shall goe with him if the three Children goe to the fire the fourth like the sonne of God shall goe with them God the Father protests that in all the troubles of The three persons of the Trinitie are said to suffer with the Godly his Children he was troubled and that he hath such a tender feeling of their afflictions that he who toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye and the Lord Iesus the sonne of God when his Saints at Damascus were persecuted cryed from heauen to the persecuter Saul Saul why persecutest Acts 9. 4. thou me And as concerning the holy Ghost the Apostle testifies Blessed are yee if yee be ratled vpon for the name of 1
with tentations on the right hand and on the left vt quatuor angulis Gregor Moral pulsata domus aliqua ex parte ruinam saciat that the house being shaken at all the soure corners may fall downe in one part or other no rest nor quietnes for vs in this habitation terrours within fightings without Propter quod vno conâ—ilio Act. 20. 19. migrandum est Christianis for the which it is best for vs vvith one aduice to conclude that wee vvill remoue and in the meane time send vp our complaint to our Father in heauen as the Gibionites did to Ioshua shewing him how vve Ioshua 10. 6. are besieged and enuironed for his sake and praying him to come with hast and help vs. Waiting for the Adoption Now followeth the other effect The other effect the spirit works in vs iâ— a waiting for deliuerance of the Spirit for hee not onely causeth vs as we haue heard to sigh and mourne for our present miseries but also comforts vs with the hope and expectation of deliuerance though in this life vve haue trouble yet haue we no trouble vvithout comfort Blessed be God who comforts vs in all our 2 Cor. 1. 3. 4. tribulations and beside that vvhich vve presently haue it is yet much more vvhich vvee looke for The men of this vvorld haue no ioy vvithout sorrow euen in laughter their Proâ— 24. 13. heart is sorrowfull pretend what they will in their countenance there is a heauinesse in their conscience arising of the vveight of sinne but it is far otherwise vvith the godly for euen in mourning they doe reioyce and vnder greatest heauinesse they carry a liuely hope of ioyfull deliuerance Againe wee are to marke that the godly are described The day of death and day of resurrection earnestly waited for by the godly in holy Scripture to be such as doe not liue content with their present estate but waites and longs for a better and specially there are two dayes for which the Children of GOD are said to waite the first the day of death wherein they goe to the Lord the second the day of appearing wherein the Lord shall come vnto them they soiourne in the body more weary of it then Dauid was of his dwelling in the tents of Kedar they wait with patient Iob till the day of their change come and doe desire with the Apostle to be Iob. 14. 14. dissolued that they may be with Christ they pray for it so oft as they vse that petition Let thy kingdome come seeking Mat. 6. 10. Luke 11. 3. death so farre as it is a meanes to abolish sinne vtterly that Christ their King may alone raigne in them but as for the wicked the remembrance of death is terrible vnto them and in their thought they put it far from them and when it comes it comes vpon them vnlooked for As Iehu furiously Death comes on the wicked as Iehu came on Iehoram came vpon Iehoram and hee made vvith all his speed to his chariot thinking to flye away but in vaine for the arrow of Iehu ouertooke him so death comes vpon the wicked 2 King 9. 23. 24 in a day and place wherein they looked not for it and they being terrified with it runnes with all the speede they can to their chariots that is to their refuges of vanity but the dart of death surely ouer-takes them Miserable are they vvhose comfort standeth rather in an vncertaine delay of death than in any certaintie vvhich they haue of eternall life But let vs be prepared for it as the good Israelites of We should not soiourne in the body like Ionas in the sides of the sâ—â—p but like Abraham in the doore of the tabernacle Exod. 12. 11. Gen. 18. 1. 1 King 19. 9. God with our loynes girded vp and our staues in our hands ready to take our iourney from Egypt to Canaan vvhensoeuer the Lord our God shall command vs. As fowles desirous to flye stretch ouâ— their vvings so should man desirous to be with the Lord stretch out his affections toward the heauens Abraham sat in the doore of his Tabernacle when the Angell appeared vnto him Elias came out to the mouth of his Caue when the Lord appeared to him and we must also reioyce to come out of the caue and tabernacle of this vvretched body if vve would meet vvith the Lord yea euen while as wee dwell in the body if in our affection vve come not out and stand as it were in the doore of our tabernacle but like Ionas sleeping in the sides of the ship Ionas 1. 5. we lye downe in the hollow of our heart sleeping in carelesse securitie it is not possible that the Lord can be familiar with vs. The other day for which the godly are said to wait is the The day of Christs second comming longed for 1 Cor. 1. 7. Phil. 3. day of Christs second comming The Apostle giues this as a token of the rich grace of God bestowed on the Corinthians that they waited for the appearance of Christ and to the Philippians he saith our coÌ„uersation is in heauen from whence we looke for our Sauiour the Lord Iesus yea he giues it out as a marke of all those who are to be glorified when hee saith 2 Tim. 4. 8. there is laid vp for mee a crowne of righteousnes and not for me onely but for all them who loue Christs second appearing And Heb. 9. 28. againe Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many and vnto them that looke for him shall he appeare the second time without sinne vnto saluation These and many moe places proues that there is great As the Iewes waited for the yeere of Iubilie so should we for the day of Christ but alas few doe so Reu. 22. 20. scarcitie of Faith and spirituall grace in this generation there being so few that vnfainedly longs for the day of his appearance suppose euery man in word mumble vp that petition let thy kingdome come yet are they few who when Iesus testifieth surely I come quickly can in truth answer with the godly Amen euen so come Lord Iesus and all because we are neithe wearier of our present miserie nor certaine of that glorious deliuerance to come otherwise we would long for it and reioyce at the smallest appearance thereof The woman with child reckons her time as neere as shee can and albeit others haue no minde of it yet is it alway in her remembrance because that then she hopes for deliuerance Among the Iewes as the day of their Iubilie drawes neere Leuit. 25. 10. so the ioy of them that were in prison encreased being assured that then they were to be releeued and should not wee much more reioyce the neerer that the day of our eternall Iubilie draweth vnto vs wherein all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes and sorrow and mourning shall flye away for euer
him For albeit the Lord rested God hath rested from the worke of creation not of gubernation Ioh. 5. 17. the seauenth day from the workes of creation so that hee made no new kinde of creature after that day yet did hee not rest from the vvorkes of prouidence or gubernation whereof our Sauiour saith my Father workes hitherto and I worke When man hath finished a vvorke hee resignes it to another to be gouerned as the Wright vvhen he hath builded a ship giues it ouer to the Marriner to rule it neyther is man able to preserue the vvorke of his hands neyther yet knowes hee vvhat shall be the end thereof It is not so with the Lord as by the vvorke of creation hee brought them out so by his prouident administration he preserues them and rules euen the smallest creatures directing them vnto such ends as he hath ordained them for in the counsell of his will How euer some Ethnicks haue beene so blinde as to His prouidence extends to the smallest things thinke that God did neglect the smaller things vpon earth scilicet is superis labor est and Epicures also vvhose false conceptions of the diuine prouidence are rehearsed by Eâ—iphaz How should God know how should hee iuâ—ge through Iob. 22. 13. 14. the darke clâ—ude the cloudes hide him that hee cannot see and hee walkes in the circle of heauen yet it is certaine hee rules Psal 113. not a part onely but all hee is not as they thought of him a God onely aboue the Mâ—one No though he dwell on high yet he abases himselfe to behold the things that are on earth he is not onely a God in the mountaines as the Syrians deemed 1 King 20. but a God in the vallies also There is nothing so great nothing so small but it falles vnder his prouidence yea hee numbers our hayres and keepes them not one of them can fall to the ground without his prouidence Si sic custodumtur Augustine super flâ—a tua in quanta securitate est anima tua if hee so keepe thy superfluities how much more will he keepe thy soule Let it therefore content vs in the most confused estate In greatest confusion of things let vs keepe our comfort the end of them shal be our good of things we can see fall out in the world that the Lord hath said All things shall worke for the best vnto vs. Let vs not question with Marie how can this be nor doubt with Sarah how can I conceiue nor with Moses where shall flesh be gotten for all this multitude but let vs sayth Augustine consider the Author and such doubts shall cease As he hath manifested his power and vvisedome in the tempering of this world making Elements of so contrary qualities agree together in one most pleasant harmonie so doth it appeare much more in gouerning all the contrary courses of men to the good of his owne children One notable example wherof wee will set downe for all Iacob sends Ioseph to Dothan Gen. 37. c. to visit his brethren his brethren casts him into the pit Reuben releeues him the Midianites buyes him and sels him to Potiphar his Mistresse accuses him his Maister condemnes him the Butler after long forgetfulnesse recommends him Pharaoh exalts him O what instruments are here how many hands about this one pooreman of God neuer a one of them looking to that end which God had proposed vnto him yet the Lord contrary to their intention makes them all worke together for Iosephs aduancement in Aegipt But now to the particulars There is nothing in the world The end of all the wayes of God is our good which works not for our weale all the works of God all the stratagems of Sathan all the imaginations of men are for the good of Gods children yea out of the most poysonable things such as sinne and death doth the Lord draw wholesome and medicinable preseruatiues vnto them who loue him All the wayes of the Lord saith Dauid are mercy Psal 25. 10. and truth marke what he saith and make not thou an exception where God hath made none All none excepted therefore be thou strengthened in the Faith and giue glory vnto God resoluing with patient Iob albeit the Lord would Iob. 13. 15. slay me yet will I trust in him Sometime the Lord seemes to walke in the way of anger against his children which hath moued many of them to Yea euen when he seemes to be most angry with his children hee is working their good Iob. 6. 4. poure out the like of these pittifull complaints the arrowes of the almightie are vpon me said Iob the venome whereof doth drinke vp my spirit and the terrours of God fight against me thou settest me vp as a marke against thee and makes me a burthen to my selfe Thy indignation lyes vpon me said Dauid yea from my youth I haue suffered thy terrours doubting of my life For felicitie I haue had bitter griefe said Ezekiah for Isa 38. 17. 13. 14. the Lord like a Lyon brake all my bones so that I did chatter like a Swallow and mourne like a Doue I am troubled on euery side said the Apostle hauing sightings without and terrours 2 Cor. 7. 5. within Yet in all this dealing the Lord hath a secret way of mercy in the which he walkes for the comfort of his children it is but to draw vs vnto him that he shewes himselfe to be angry with vs aduersatur tibi Deus ad tempus vt te secum Chrisost in Mat. hom 14 habeat in perpetuum the Lord is an aduersarie to thee for a while that he may for euer reconcile thee to himselfe And this albeit for the present we cannot perceiue and can see no other but that the Lord hath taken vs for his enemies yet in the end wee shall be compelled to acknowledge and confesse with Dauid it was good for me O Lord that euer thou Rom. 11. 13. correctedst me for the Lord is meruailous in his Saints O the deepenesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God how vnsearchable are his iudgements and his wayes past finding out His glory is great when he workes by meanes his glory appeares greater when he works without meanes but then his glory shines most brightly when he works by contraries It was a great vvorke that hee opened the eyes of the For the working of God with his children is by contraries blinde man but greater that hee did it by application of spettle and clay meanes meeter to put out the eyes of a seeing man than to restore sight to a blind man So he wrought in the first creation causing light to shine out of darknesse so also in the worke of redemption for by cursed death he brought happy life by the crosse he conquered the crowne and through shame he went to glory And this same order the Lord still keepeth in
noysome weedes of vnruly affections if the Lord by sanctified trouble did not continually manure them It is good therefore said Ieremie for a man to beare the Lam. 3. 27. Psal 119. 71. Ioh. 15. 2. yoke in his youth and Dauid confesses it was good for him that he was afflicted yea our Sauiour saith euery branch that beares fruit my heauenly Father purges it that it may bring forth more fruit No worke can be made of gold and siluer without fire The wicked putrifie and rots in their prosperitie stones are not meet for pallace worke vnlesse they be pollished and squared by hammering no more is it possible that we can be vessels of honor in the house of our God except first we be fined and melted in the fire of affliction neyther can we be as liuing stones to be placed in the wall of heauenly Ierusalem except the hand of God first beat from vs our proud lumps by the hammer of affliction As standing waters putrifie and rot so the wicked feares not God because Psal 55. Iere. 48. 11. they haue no changes and Moab keepes his sent because hee was not powred from vessell to vessell but hath beene at rest euer since his youth And therefore O Lord rather than that we should keepe the sent of our olde naturall corruption and liue in a carelesse securitie without the feare of thine holy name and so become sit-fasts in our sinnes no rather O Lord change thou vs from estate to estate waken vs with the touch of thine hand purge vs with thy fire and chastise vs with thy rods alway Lord with this protestation that thou keepe towards vs that promise made to the sonnes of Dauid I will visit them with my rods if they sinne against mee 2 Sam. 7. 14. 15. but my mercy will I neuer take from them So be it O Lord euen So be it The same comfort haue we also against death that now Death workes also the good of Gods children in Iesus Christ it is not a punishment of our sinnes but a full accomplishment of the mortification of our sinne both in soule and body for by it both the fountaine and the fluxe of sinne are dryed vp all the conduits of sinne are stopped and the weapons of vnrighteousnesse broken And though our bodies seeme to be consumed and turned into nothing yet are they but sowen like graynes of Wheat in the field and husbandry of the Lord which must dye before they be quickned but in the day of Christ shal spring vp againe most glorious And as for our soules they are by death releeued out of this house of seruitude that they may returne vnto him who gaue them therefore haue I compared death to the red sea wherein Pharaoh and his Aegiptians were drowned Death compared to the red Sea Egiptians drowne in it and sancke like a stone to the bottome but the Israelites of God went through to their promised Câ—â—â—an so shall death be vnto you O miserable Infidels whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded that no more then blinded Aegiptians can yee see the light of God shining in Goshen which is his Church though yee be in it to you I say your death shall be the very centre of all your miseries a sea of the vengeance of GOD vvherein yee shall be drowned and shall sincke with your sinnes heauier than a mislone about the neck of your soules to presse you downe to the lowest hell But as for you who are the Israelites of God ye shal walke But the Israelites of God shall goe through it through the valley of death and not neede to be afraid because the Lord is with you his staffe and his rod shal comfort you albeit the guiltinesse of sore-passed sinnes yet remayning in the memory the terrour of hell and horrour of the graue stand vp on euery side like mountaines threatning to ouerwhelme you yet shall yee goe safely through to the land of your inheritance where with Moses and Miriam and all the children of God euen the congregation of the first borne yee shall sing prayses ioyfully to the God of your How the enemies of Gods childreÌ„ against their will procures their good Gen 50. 20. saluation Now in the last roome concerning the imaginations of men against vs wee shall haue cause to say of them in the end as Ioseph said to his brethren yee did it vnto me for euill but the Lord turned it to good The whole history of Gods booke is a cloud of manifold witnesses concurring together to confirme his truth therefore among many wee will be content with one When Dauid was going forward in battaile against Israell with Acish King of Gath vnder whom 1 Sam 29. he soiourned a while in the time of his banishment the remanent Princes of the Philistims commanded him to goe backe and this they did for the worst to disgrace him because they distrusted him but the Lord turned it vnto him for the best for if he had come forward he had beene guiltie of the blood of Israell specially of Saul the Lords annointed who was slaine in that battell from this the prouident mercy of God doth in such sort deliuer him that no offence is done by Dauid to Saul or his people because Dauid came not against them neither yet could the Philistims blame him because he went back by their owne command So a notable benefit Dauid did receiue by that same deed wherein his enemies thought they had done him a notable shame And where otherwise it pleaseth the Lord to suffer wicked Death of the body to a Christian is but as the renting of Iosephs garment from him men to lay hand on the bodies of his children yet all they are able to doe is but like the renting of Iosephs garment from him As he doth sustaine small losse whose garment is cut if his body be preserued so the Christian when his bodie is wounded vnto the death yet hath hee lost nothing which he striues to keepe for he knowes it is but a corruptible garment which would decay in itselfe albeit there were no man to rent it Non sunt itaque timenda spiritui quae fiunt in Chrisostome carne quae extra nos est quasi vestamentum let not therefore our soule be afraid for those things which are done to our bodies for it is without vs as a garment that doth but couer vs. Thus haue we seene how that there is nothing so euill in it selfe which by the prouident working of God is not turned to the good of his children Whereof arises yet vnto vs this further comfort that seeing it is the priuiledge of euery one who loues the Lord it must much more be the priuiledge of the whole Church that promise made to the Father of the faithfull I will blesse Since to euery Christian all things worke for the best much more are we to thinke that this is the
beganne at the Churches of the East they had their owne day although but a short Winters day compared vvith that of the Iewes From them in the East the light is now come praised be GOD to vs in the West now is our day how long it is to continue vvith vs who can tell While therefore the light is with you walke in the light Ioh. 32. 35. Rom. 13. 11. least darknesse come vpon you Let vs consider the season for if once the day of grace goe by vs wee shall neuer finde it againe For suppose this day of saluation vvere to shine vpon No Grace will be offered to vs after this life this land still on to the vvorlds end yet vvhat is it to thee seeing the day of grace endeth to thee in the day of thy death after that the Lord shall neuer any more offer mercie vnto thee in that the Apostle wils vs to doe good while we haue time he tels vs that after this there is no time let vs not thinke quod apud inferos ad faciendos fideles atque liberandos Aug. Euodio Epist. 99. euangelium praedicatum sit vel adhuc etiam praedicetur quasi ibi sit Ecclesia constituta that the Gospell euer hath beene or yet is preached in hell to vvorke Faith in men therefor their deliuerance as if there also vvere a constitute Church in it Here by preaching grace is offered to thee that if thou wilt beleeue thou mayst be saued but if now thou dispise it there remaines nothing but a fearefull looking for of iudgement And no lesse deceitfull is that opinion that by suffering hereafter thou mayst redeeme that life which here thou hast not obtayned Vita hic aut amittitur aut tenetur cum istine excessum fuerit nullus paenitentiae locus nullus satisfactionis Cyprian effectus Now life is eyther kept or lost for when we goe out of the body there is no place of repentance no effect of satisfaction It is a principall pollicie of Sathan to steale away from Sathans principall pollicie is to steale away from men the time of grace man the time of Grace he will not simply say to any man yee neede not to repent at all hee knoweth the most prophane man will abhorre that he seekes onely a delay thou needest not saith hee to repent as yet and so stealeth away one day after another till the day of Grace be gone When Pharaoh was stricken with Frogges and Moses offered to him that when hee would bid him hee would pray to God that he might be deliuered from them it was but an vnwise answere he gaue him Pray for me to morrow it had been better Exod. 8. 10. for him to haue said Pray for me presently but more miserably blinded are they to whom the Lord presently offers saluation they delay not till to-morrow onely but till the next yeare yea for many yeares they are called vpon in their youth but they refuse to repent till they be olde seeking first leaue to kisse their Father that is to follow their owne pleasures before they will resolue to follow the Lord Iesus and so lets their dayes one after another be stollen away from them till at length they be taken away in their sinnes and the day of Grace be closed vpon them And whom hee Called them also hee Iustified Hauing Iustification posterior to Calling in order not in time spoken of our Calling wee come now to speake of our Iustification This is a new benefit different from the former benefit of our Calling posterior to it in order of working but not in time for in the same moment wherein the Lord by effectuall Calling giues vs faith to beleeue hee doth also iustifie vs. That wee may vnderstand what a benefit this is wee are The word of Iustifying three wayes taken to know that the word of Iustifying hath three principall significations First to iustifie is all one with this to sanctifie or to infuse by grace new qualities into the soule of man and so Iustification is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu motus ad Iustitiam as Dan. 12 They who iustifie many shall shine as Starres for euer in this sense the Papists take it in this question but wrongfully Secondly to iustifie is to acknowledge or declare one to be iust so it is said that the Publicans iustified God of Luke 7. 29. force we must expound it they acknowledged or confessed him to be iust so S. Iames saith that a man is iustified by workes that is declared to be iust by his workes or as S. Iames expounds it himselfe his Iustification is shewed by his works Thirdly the word to Iustifie is a iudiciall terme and it signifieth to absolue in iudgement and is opponed to condemning so Salomon vseth it Hee that iustifies the wicked Pro. and condemnes the iust are both alike abhomination to the Lord and in this sense the Apostle vseth it here for he oppones it to condemnation This right vnderstanding of the vvord vvill lead vs to Iustification is opponed to coÌ„demnation know what the benefit of Iustification is for what euer condemnation be Iustification must be the contrary they are both iudiciall termes vsed in iudgement holden on matters of life and death Condemnation no man will denie is the sentence of a righteous Iudge adiudging a malefactor to death for some capitall crime whereof he is found guilty in iudgement Iustification then is the sentence of God a righteous Iudge absoluing the man that is in Christ from sinne and death and accepting him to life for the righteousnesse of Christ which is his So that it is euident the state of the question in the controuersie How the state of the controuersie of Iustification stands betweene vs and the Papists of Iustification will be this how is a man iustified before God that is what is it that a man must bring before Gods tribunall for the which he shall be pronounced innocent absolued from death and adiudged to life whether is it ouâ— works of sanctification inherent in vs or is it the righteousnesse of Christ giuen vnto vs and made ours The question being this way taken vp shal giue great light to the c 〈…〉 ouersie that is betweene vs and the falsly named Catho 〈…〉 of our time for we denie not that there is in Gods children an inherent sanctification and that they are changed from vnrighteousnesse to righteousnesse but this inherent righteousnesse say we is not able to purchase to vs an absoluâ—torie sentence from death To make this yet more cleare let vs know that the righteousnesse Foure names giuen to that righteousnesse by which wee are iustified by which we are Iustified receiues foure names first it is called the righteousnesse of Christ secondly the righteousnesse of God thirdly the righteousnesse of Faith fourthly our righteousnesse The righteousnesse of Christ because it is conquered by him and inherent in him as in
Sathans buffets and against whom hee vvas permitted to vse all the stratagems of the spirituall warfare that possibly he could hee crossed him not onely in his goods in his children and in his owne bodie but also in his minde by his wife he tempted him to blasphemie by his friends to diffidence yet by none of these could he ouercom him In his outward troubles his resolution was the Lord hath Iob 1. 21. giuen the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord for euer in his inward terrours his resolution was Albeit Ioh 13. 15. the Lord would slay mee yet would I trust in him so impossible it is for Sathan by any tentation whatsoeuer to separate from the loue of God his Children chosen called and iustified The Lord is present with present with his children to keepe them sometime from trouble sometime introuble To cleare this let vs yet know that God is many manner of wayes present vvith his children in trouble first hee is with them by preuenting the danger so that hee will not suffer the intended euill of the enemie to come neere them so he brought Senacherib to see Ierusalem without but suffered him not to shoot so much as a dart against it within Somtime againe the Lord enters his children into the trouble as Daniel into the Den Ioseph into the prison the three children into the fire but deliuers them in such sort that both his glory and their comfort is greater than if they had not beene in trouble at all Sometime he suffers his children to ende their mortall liues in trouble and yet is with them strengthning them by his glorious might to all patience and long suffering filling them with such a sense of his loue that in death they rest vnder the assurance of life This also is declared by example The practise of this see in the examples of Eliah and Paul when Iezabel vowed to haue the life of Eliah yee shall see that the Lord is with him sometime to hide him that albeit Achab and Iezabel seeke him they cannot finde him sometime God lets Achabs captaines see where hee is but consumes with fire them that came proudly to take him Sometime he presents him to Achab and Iezabel but bridleth the tyrants that they haue no power to stirre him The Apostle Paul in like manner being sent prisoner to Rome the Lord assisted him in such sort that hee deliuered 2 Tlm. 4. 17. him out of the mouth of the Lyon Vero and yet the second time suffered him to fall by the sword of the same tyrant shall wee thinke that the Lord was not with the Apostle to assist him the second time as well as the first let it be farre from vs. The Lord was with him indeed to make his death a seale and confirmation of that Gospel which he had preached in his life The comfort then remaines that howeuer GOD worke with his children in trouble no aduersarie is able to take from vs that for which we striue to wit grace and glory they may be vnto vs as sharpe rasers of God to cut away our superfluities but shall neuer be able to bereaue vs of the end of our Faith which is the euerlasting saluation of our soules Verse 32. Who spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him for vs all vnto death how shall he not with him giue vnto vs all things also NOw followeth the second part of the Apostles generall triumph wherein hee gloryeth The second part of his generall triumph the Christian can want nothing that is needfull for him that the Christian can vvant nothing needfull for him for seeing the Lord hath giuen vnto him the greatest and most excellent gift to wit his owne Sonne is it possible that hee will deny him any secondarie or inferior gifts needfull for him Sathan who is a lyer from the beginning accused the Lord of two things first of an vntruth albeit the Lord hath said it yet yee shall nâ—t dye secondly of Enuy. In the first Sathan is proued false and the Lord is found true for are they not dead to whom the Lord said yee shall dye In the second Sathan is found a calumniator for what good tree will the Lord refuse to his owne who hath giuen vnto them this excellent tree of life which brings with it vnto them all things needfull for them To amplifie this great loue of God the Apostle saith The great loue which GOD hath shewed in giuing his Son for vs. not simply that hee gaue his Sonne for vs but that he spared not to giue him O vvonderfull loue â— the Naturall and onely Sonne of God is not spared that the adoptiue sonnes may be spared for our sinnes being imputed to him by the ordinance of God his Father and voluntarily accepted by himselfe so the punishment of our sinnes and chastisement Esa 53. 5. of our peace was laid vpon him that by his stripes wee might be healed The bitter cuppe due to vs was propined to him for the which albeit hee prayed to his Father that if it were his will this cuppe might passe by him yet the Father Mat. 26. 39. spared him not but held it to his head till hee dranke out the vttermost dregs thereof So straite is the Iustice of God that sinne being imputed to the Sonne of God vvho had no sinne of his owne is pursued to the vttermost The greatest example of Iustice that euer the Lord declared in the world the drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome the plaguing of Egypt were terrible proofes of the straitnesse of diuine Iustice but nothing comparable to this Which I marke partly for a comfort to the Godly and Comfort for the Godly that the iustice of God shall not â—ay cannot strike vpon them partly for a warning to the wicked it is our great comfort that the saluation which Iesus hath purchased vnto vs hee hath obtayned it vvith a full satisfaction of his Fathers Iustice so that now vve that are in him are not any more to feare it The great Iudge of all the vvorld will not doe vnrighteously to require that againe from vs vvhich our Christ vvhom he himselfe hath giuen vnto vs hath payed for vs. Miserable are the wicked who in their owne persons beare the punishment of their sinnes And as for the vvicked vvho are not in Christ how miserable will their state and condition be for they must beare the punishment of their owne sinnes in their owne persons If the burden of that vvrath due to our sinnes caused Iesus to sweat bloud and to say that his soule was heauie vnto Mat. 26. 38. the very death O how shall the burden of this wrath presse downe the vvicked it is euen a horrour to thinke of it their faces shall be confused vvithout and spirits oppressed vvithin vvith tribulation and anguish hee that spared not in his owne Sonne sinne imputed vnto him vvill hee
spare in thee sinne committed by thy selfe no no vvhen hee beginneth to smite thee hee shall neuer lift vp his hand from thee but double his stripes vpon thee and there shall be no end of thy sorrow As the ioyes prepared for the godly so the paines prepared for the wicked are such as the eye neuer saw the tongue cannot vtter nor the heart conceiue That place of the damned is the great deepe the Ocean of all the iudgements of God all his temporall plagues are but like riuers and strands running into it If therefore the beauty of Sion doth not allure vs let How both Sions beauty and Sinaies â—error should moue vs â—o repent the terrour of Sinai afray vs. The Lord proclaimed his Law in a fearefull manner vpon mount Sinai but in a more terrible manner will he execute it if Moses who was so familiar with the Lord trembled when he heard it proclaimed what horrible feare shall ouer-take the wicked when they shall see it executed vpon themselues Let therfore the children of wisedome hearken in time to the ioyfull tydings of peace which are daily proclaymed on mount Sion let vs drinke of the still and peaceable waters of Siloh which flow from it let vs embrace that mercy which Iesus by the merit of his death hath conquered vnto vs that so we may be saued from the wrath which is to come His owne Sonne Iesus Christ is called Gods owne Sonne How Christ is Gods owne Sonne both in respect of his diuine and humane natures for as he is God he was begotten of the Father by so vnspeakable a generation that as Esay saith none are able to declare it Esay 53. 8. and as he is man he is the Sonne of God conceiued by the holy Ghost made man indeed but not after the manner of other men but of this see Verse 3. But gaue him for vs all This is very often alleadged in The price of our redemption tels how much the Lord hath esteemed of vs. 1 Pet. 1. 18. holy Scriptures as an argument of the great loue of God toward vs that he gaue his sonne to death for vs and so it is indeed for it is not by any corruptible thing as Gold and siluer that he hath redeemed vs but by the precious blood of his owne Sonne the Lambe vndefiled and without spot There is no man will giue much for that whereof he esteemes but little wee measure the price of a thing according to the worth of it in our iudgement euen so of the greatnesse of that gift which our God hath giuen for vs we may estimate the greatnesse of his affection toward vs. Precious indeed in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints vvho to redeeme vs from death spared not to giue his dearest sonne vnto the death It was the Lords reasoning to Abraham now I perceiue thou Gen. 22. 12. louest me because for my sake thou hâ—st not spared thine onely sonne and haue we not much more cause to turne ouer the same reasoning to the Lord now Lord we perceiue thou louest vs because for our sake thou hast not spared thine onely one sonne The Lord shed abroad in our hearts more aboundantly the sense of that inestimable loue that we may be carefull to requite the kindnesse of the Lord putting his holy will before all things in our affection and endeauouring in holy loue to serue him who hath saued vs. Shall he not with him giue vs all things also We are to vnderstand All things belong to the godly in regard of right albeit not in regard of possession all things that are needfull for vs And here it is necessary that wee put a difference betweene our right and our possession The children of God haue the right and property of all Gods good creatures for Christ their Lord is the heire of all and hath made them with himselfe fellow heires All things are yours saith the Apostle and yee are Christs 1 Cor. 3. 21. and Christ is Gods But as for the possession of them in this life the Lord giues it or with-holds it according as he sees may be for the good of his children We know our father Abraham had the right of Canaan when he had not the possession of it and are not therefore to thinke it strange that the Lord giues not alwayes possession of that to his children whereof they haue the right But as for the wicked they haue possession without a right and therefore shall be punished as theeues and robbers and violent vsurpers of Gods creatures vvhereunto Iesus Christ who is the heyre of all hath neuer giuen them a right Secondly we marke here that the giuing and dispensation Seeing all things are giuen by God let vs moderate our care and take nothing but out of his fatherly hand of earthly things is from God if we could remember this it would moderate our care and make vs in our callings first to seek the Lords blessing loath any maner of way to take the things of this world vnlesse we see they be giuen vs out of the hand of God For wee are to know that Sathan who is a counterfaiter of GOD doth also arrogate to himselfe though falsly to be the giuer of things hee that durst say to the sonne of God all the kingdomes of the earth are mine Mat. 4. 9. I will giue them to thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me will he stand in awe to speake it vnto sinfull man No indeed it is his daily tentation by vvhich he circumuents many intangling their hearts with the loue of vvorldly gaine that to obtaine it they care not to lye to steale to sweare to oppresse to deceiue one another vvhich in effect is to fall downe before Sathan and worship him Thus Sathan rules in the kingdome of Babell like a spirituall Sathan another Nabuchadnzer and a Balak offers also gifts to men Nabuchadnezar presenting to his subiects his great image of gold accompanied with all sorts of musicall instruments that is vvorldly pleasures vvealth and prosperitie which bewitch the simple and makes them fall downe and vvorship yeelding themselues seruants to Mammon But happy are those children who refuse so to do and can stand vp with their father Abraham lifting vp his hand to heauen and say I will not haue so much as the laâ—chet of a shooe from Gen. 14. 22. the king of Sodome I will haue nothing by any crooked or indirect meanes out of the hand of Sathan or any of his instruments the buds of Balak shall not hire me to doe euill neither the wages of iniquitie nor the reward of Sodome for doing good shall euer cleaue to my hands I will looke for my portion from the Lord. Againe seeing God is the giuer of all things let vs learne Seeing God is giuer of all let vs stand content and not murmure if others get a more portion than we
able to turne him Now from the body it is translated to the minde to expresse the straitnesse of the afflictions of the children of God out of vvhich oft-times they themselues can see no passage that which Dauid said to Ionathan As the Lord liueth there is 1 Sam. 20. 3. but one step betweene me and death so sareth it many a time with the Children of God but the Lord commeth in vvith vnlooked for deliuerance in their most desperate distresse vvhich not onely relieueth them for the present but doth confirme them for the time to come Wee receiued saith 2 Cor. 1 9. 10. the Apostle the sentence of death in our selues because wee should not trust in our selues but in God who raiseth the dead who dâ—liuered vs from so great a death and doth deliuer vs in whom we trust that he will deliuer vs. The third is Persecution The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth 3 They are persecuted chased from place to place that sort of affliction by which the Children of God are persecuted and chased from one place to another the world hath neuer thought them worthy of a roome among them and therefore haue they beene forced to liue in caues and dennes and wildernesses but our comfort is that the God most familiar with his children when they are banished by men Lord hath alwaies shewed himselfe most familiar with his Children when the world hath been most hard vnto them Iacob is banished from his fathers house by the crueltie of Esau and his heauenly Father receiued him into his house comforting him by such a familiar reuelation of his presence as hee neuer had felt before so long as hee dwelt at home and Iohn being banished by Dâ—mitian into Pathmos found also the Lord reuealing himself vnto him more familiarly than he had done before What part of the world is there wherein tyrants can banish the Children of GOD from accesse to their Comforter they know that in their owne house they are strangers as Abraham vvas in Canaan the Land of his inheritance and therefore can be the better content as strangers to liue in any other part of the world Basil being threatned by Modestâ—s the Deputie of the Emperour with banishment Nihil inquiâ— horum quae Nazian de vita Basil dixisti timeo I feare none of these things whereof thou hast spoken nihil pâ—ssâ—â—ens ab exilij mâ—tu liber sum vnum hominuÌ„ cognoscens esse patriam Paradisum Omnem autem terram commune â—spicimus naturae exilium possessing nothing I am free from the feare of banishment knowing that Paradise is the onely countrey of men and the whole earth is a common place of banishment to vs all The fourth is Famine which of it own nature is one of the 4 Famine is one of Gods ordinary plagues and with it also the godly are tryed plagues of God but lesse than his other ordinary plagues of the sword pestilence therfore the Lord who best knowes the waight of his owne rods accounts three dayes of pestilence three months of the sword and three yeeres of famine equiualent Many wayes hath the Lord by which he bringeth famine vpon a people for sometime he maketh Leuit. 26. 19. the heauen aboue as brasse and the earth beneath as yron so that albeit men labour and sow yet they receiue no encrease Deu. 11. 14. sometime againe he giues in due season the first and latter raine so that the earth renders abundance but the Lord by blasting-windes or by the Cater-piller Canker-worme and Grasse-hopper doth consume them who commeth out as exacters and officers sent from God to poind Miserable are they whose gaine is to â—ncrease Famine they are Caterpillers in the Land Basil ser 1. in Auar men in their goods because with them they would not honour the Lord which I marke by the way that those vnnaturall men vvho doe what they can to encrease famine in the Land may know they are but Caterpillers scourges and roddes of the wrath of God or aâ— Basil calleth them Mâ—rcatores humanarum calumnitatem making their priuat gaine a common calamitie and vsing that as a benefite to themselues which God hath threatned as a plague to the people assuredly vnlesse they repent the Lord shall cast them at length into the fire as the roddes of his wrath But we are to know that famine which in the owne nature The Lord who changed the serpent into a flourishing rod hath changed cursed famine into a blessed crosse to his children is a curse and plague of God to the godly is changed the Lord who made the bitter waters of Mâ—rah sweet and turned a biting serpent into a flourishing rod hath changed the nature of all those euils which sinne hath brought vpon vs now they worke for our good and are become like Waspes wanting stings profitable to waken vs and exercise our faith but not able to seperate vs from the loue of God Among those famine is a great tentation Nature being impatient of the want of necessaries and therfore Sathan who picks out the time and place of tentations as may be most for his vantage tempted our blessed Sauiour when he began to vvaxe hungry It is a rare grace in want to praise the Mat. 4 3. Lord and trust in his fatherly prouidence Salomon neuer felt it yet hee knew it was a rare tentation therefore he Prou. 30. 8. prayed that the Lord would neither giue him pouertie nor riches least the one make him full and cause him deny God and the other should cause him to steale and take the name of God in vaine yet no extremitie of this tentation can separate them from the loue of God for eyther in their greatest necessities the Lord marueilously prouides for them or then strengthens them vvith patience and inward comfort to sustaine it For sometime the earth hath been as iron but the heauens How the Lord prouides in famine for his children hath ministred food to Gods people as in that barren wildernesse vvherein Israel soiourned the earth yeelded no fruit but the heauens rained downe Manna and Quailes and sometimes the heauens haue beene as brasse yet in the earth hath the Lord prouided nourishment as he did by the Rauens and the Widdow of Sarepta for Eliah and if otherwise it please the Lord by famine to inflict death vpon his children then he strengthens their spirits with the bread of life and comforts their hearts with hid Manna so that they can say to Worldlings as our Sauiour said to his Disciples I haue bread to eate that ye know not of and so no famine can Ioh. 4. 32. separate them from the loue of God Nakednesse This is also a great tentation partly for the 5 Christians tryed also with Nakednesse shame and partly for the decay of naturall life which followes it Before the Iewes crucified Christ they stripped him naked of his garments Basil makes
mention of fortie Martyrs who being striped naked were put foorth in the night to be pined with cold and afterward burnt with fire in the day Of these it is euident that nakednesse is one of those tentations whereby Sathan seekes to trouble our faith and patience but he who hath put on the Lord Iesus for a garment neither shame nor losse of naturall life procured by nakednesse can seperate him from the Loue of God Where wee may perceiue how different the dispositions The begged glory of world lings is in their apparell of the Châ—istian and the Worldlings are The men of this vvorld esteemes nakednesse their shame and places a great part of their glory in gorgeous garments and no maruell quia de proprio non habent decorem necesse est vt aliunde mendicent Bern. in cant serm 41. for hauing no glory of their owne they must borrow glory from others From the beasts of the earth they borrow skins and wool from the Fowles of heauen they borrow feathers from the Wormes they borrow silk from the Earth siluer and gold from the Waters pearles and of these doth man make vp his begged glory vvhose glorie in the beginning vvas to be clad in the image of God but what is it decor qui cum veste induitur vt cum veste deponitur Ber. ad Soph. Virg. epi. 113 vestis est non vestiti that beauty which is put on and put off with the garment is not the beauty of the person but of the garment Yet are these but licitae quodammodo insaniae if they be Vnder pretence of hiding their nakednes they shew forth their Nakednesse Cypri trac 2. de habi virg compared vvith the madnesse of others vvho alter by artifice the shape and colour of the countenance vvhich God hath giuen them Manus deo inferunt cum illud quod formauit reformare conantur for they put hands as it were into God while they prease to reforme that which GOD hath formed Nâ—scientes quia opus dei est â—mne quod nascitur diaboli quod mutatur I know they excuse their fact with the couerings of comelinesse and necessitie but praetexâ—u tâ—gâ—ndae turpitudinis Cyril catch 4. in matâ—rem turpitudinem incidunt for worldlings are neuer so naked as when they are best apparelled As for men truely godly they vvill thinke shame of wickednes but not of nakednesse imprâ—bum vocari te pudeat non pauperem Nazian sent aut ignobilem blind Egyptians may account sheepekeepers abhomination but true Israelits will thinke shame to be prophane but no man to be poore those godly ones in the wildernesse clad with sheepes skins and goates skins Hâ—b 11. 37. Acts 12. 21. were more honourable in the eyes of God than Herod in his royall robe of shining siluer glancing the more brightly by the shining of the Sun vpon it if wee will credit Iosâ—phus But what of all this our vnwillingnesse to want superfluitie of apparell argues that we are euill prepared to endure nakednesse for Christs sake Crosses should not be assumed by our selues but patiently borne when God layes them on Againe wee learne here that seeing nakednesse is one of those crosses whereby the Lord tryes the faith and patience of his children and that then it is time for vs to endure a crosse when God layes it vpon vs it cannot be good religion to impone it to our selues where God layes it not vpon vs. It is a hard thing to keepe mediocritie not to be either too remisse in religion or too superstitious Wil-worship what euer shew of godlinesse it hath in the eyes of men is but abhominable idolatry in the eyes of God and we are not to place true religion in those things which he hath not False Prophets weares rough garments to deceiue so they did of old and so they doe stil required the false Prophets ware a rough garment but it vvas to deceiue the Priests of Baal spared not to lance their owne flesh but it is reiected by God as blinde zeale to walke bare-footed or weare a garment of haire without linnen or vvool next the skinne to carry on our head a Franciscanes hood and at last to be buried in it If these things haue in them such holinesse as they pretend is it not a maruell their holy Father the Pope is not careful to make himselfe more holy by changing his triple Crowne vvith a Franciscanes hood or that his Cardinals are so inconsiderate as to redeeme by so excessiue prices a Cardinals hat the haire garment being better cheape and much more meritorious of eternall life Perils The life of a Christian is full of perils euery place 6 The Christian in euery place subiect to perils 2 Cor. 11. 16. vnto him is a palaestra in the sea in the land in the citie in the wildernes goe where he will he shall encounter with perils These are so many probations of our Faith and Patience of Gods truth and prouidence Our preseruation depends on our protector euen the Watch-man of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleepes As a Father hath compassion Comfort for the Christian in all perils on his children so hath the Lord on them who feare him and wee know that a naturall Father doth neuer looke more pittifully vpon his Child than when he sees him in greatest danger and shall we expect lesse kindnesse from our heauenly Father The men of this world when they send out their seruants in commission goes not with them themselues knowes not their danger and are not able to preserue them but the Lord our God when he sends out his seruants fore-sees the perill and goes with them to preserue them Feare not for when thou passest through the water I will be Esay 43. 2. with thee through the flouds that they doe not ouer flow thee The more perils we fall into the more experience haue we of Gods louing preseruing vs for the which wee may say perils may well make vs grow in the sense of the loue of God but cannot seperate vs from him Sword This is the last and by it the Apostle expresses 7 The Christian subiect also to violent death any kinde of violent death for vnto these also the seruants of God and his best beloued Children haue beene subiect euer from the beginning The Apostle glories that no kind of death can seperate vs from Christ yea as hee saith in another place it conioynes vs more neerely vnto him as Nebuchadnezzars Dan. 3. 25. fire loosed the bonds of the three children but hurt not their bodyes so death inflicted by man may loose our bodily bonds but cannot hurt our soules Non sunt â—mâ—nda spiritâ—i quae fiunt in carne quae extra nos est quasi vestimentum let not our spirit feare those things which are done in the flesh which is as a garment without vs. Thus we see how no kinde of crosse can seperate vs
all doubting yet is it oftentimes so weake that it is againe disquieted vvith doubting for which if we pray instantly with the Father of that child Lord I beleâ—ue but helpe my vnbeliefe vvee may be sure at Mark 9. 24. length Faith shall ouercome and thus farre teach wee concerning the assurance which the Christian man hath of his saluation But as for that Religion which teacheth doubtings and A good religion may haue doubting but it is an euill religion which leaues men in doubt pronounceth them accursed who hold that a man may be assured of saluation vvee accuâ—se it as a doctrine enemie to Faith and Saluation such as is the doctrine of the counsell of Trent Si quis dixerit hominem renatum teneri ex side ad credendum se certo esse ex numero praedestinatâ—rum anathema sit It is strange to see that where they teach a man is able to Sess 6. cant 15. fulfill the whoâ—e Law of God and by his vvorkes to merit eternall life yet they accurse him if hee say hee is sure to be saued so directly doth one point of their false doctrine impugne another But indeed it is no meruaile if their Religion can yeeld no comfort nor certaintie of saluation to the wearie conscience because they draw men from off the foundation Iesus Christ in whom onely it is promised that we shall finde rest to our soules and would make vs to Mat. 11. 29. leane vpon rotten foundations such as the merit of Masses Why Papistrie cannot make a man sure of saluation the vertue of our workes and humane satisfaction and because all these cannot yet satisfie the doubting consciences of men they suspend them vvith a vaine hope of greater comfort which they shall finde in their forged and comfortlesse Purgatorie thus doe they hold the poore people comfortlesse both in life and in death But as for vs wee will abide on the rocke renouncing all purgation but the purgation of his bloud vvee vvill content our selues vvith Iesus It is not presumption but faith to shew what we haue receiued Christ in whom the Father is well pleased that in him wee may finde rest to our soules which neyther in our selues nor in any other creature shall vvee euer be able to finde Let them call it Presumption Non arrogantia est sed sides Aug. ser 28 praedicare quod acceperis non superbia est sed deuotio it is not presumption but Faith or otherwise if vvee say vnto him who hath begotten vs by the lauer of regeneration Pater bona praesumptio est Father this said Augustine is a good presumption And to the same effect said Bernard Propter Bernard in Septuag hoc data sunt signa quaedam manifesta salutis vt indubitabile sit eum esse de numero Electorum in quo ea signa permanserint This is the truth of God agreeable to Scripture and auncient Fathers which wee doe affirme howeuer they doe accurse it That neyther life By life vve are to vnderstand the pleasures Vanitie of worldly pleasures discouered of this life strong tentations indeed for in the hearts of many they preuaile against the loue of God that we may learne to dispise them and to count vvith the Apostle all things to be dung in regard of Iesus let vs looke vnto those two things vvhich discouers vnto vs the vanitie of worldly pleasures first they are most loathsome to them who haue 1 The abundaÌ„ce of them makes theÌ„ loathsome them in greatest abundance and are most admired of those who haue them not A proofe of this wee haue in Salomon who wanted nothing delectable vnder the Sunne yet by the Eccles 2. 10. very vse of them hee found the vanitie of them and vvas moued to abhorre them It is farre otherwise with heauenly pleasures the more we tast of them the more we esteeme of them hungring still for more we cannot be satisfied vvith that which we haue gotten already Secondly vvorldly pleasures are of this nature that if 2 If they be continuall they become painfull they be continued vvithout intermission they turne into paines therefore is it that those same things which now we choose for recreation incontinently they become vvearisome vnto vs and wee cast them away so that it is not so much by themselues as by the change of them that we are delighted Sola vicissitudine recreamur being weary of walking we refresh our selues with sitting againe being wearie of sitting we rise to refresh our selues with vvalking and so fareth it with all the recreations of this life being continuall they become wearisome So oft therefore as Sathan by vvorldly pleasures vvould steale away our hearts from the loue of God let vs consider how vaine and small a pleasure it is which he vvould giue vs in respect of that vnspeakeable ioy which he would take from vs. Nor death By death vvee vnderstand not onely death Remembrance of death profitable to keepe vs vncorrupted with the pleasures of this life it selfe but all those paines that goe before it and terrours vvhich accompanie it There vvas neuer life so long but it hath beene concluded by death no life so pleasant but the paines of death shall swallow vp all the pleasures thereof As the seauen leane Kine deuoured the seauen fat and the seauen yeares of famine consumed the fruit of seauen yeares of plenty so shall the dolours and terrours of death eate vp all the pleasure and delectations of this vvretched life If vvee suffer the pleasures of this life to bewitch vs be sure the terrours of death shall confound vs. It vvere therefore good that as Ioseph of Arimathia had his Sepulcher in his Garden so wee season all the pleasures of our life vvith remembrance of our death this is summa Philosophia Yet our comfort is that if wee liue in Christ no terrour Comfort for the godly against death of death can seperate vs from him yea death conioynes vs neerer to the Lord Iesus then we were before we see oft-times by experience that the children of GOD haue so triumphed in the very dolours of death and reioyced in the sense of Gods loue that they haue forgot all their bodily paines As the top of mount Pisgah was to Moses the place Deut. 34. 1. of his death and the first place wherein euer he got a sight of Canaan so shall death be to the children of God vvhere we lay downe the sight of this world there shall wee take vp the sight of eternall life vvhich shall neuer be taken from vs. Nor Angels By Angels here I vnderstand not elect Reprobate Angels how they are Gods messengers and to what end Angels for they are not enemies to vs but ministring spirits for our saluation but reprobate Angels for these names of Angels principalities and powers are common both to good and euill Angels And they are so called partly from the power vvhich