good we must not call light darkness nor good evill Esay 5. 16. Secondly In regard of the light of grace we see as Job saith that there are some which are Lucifugae which fly and hate the light such Creatures are unclean Levit. 11. 19. 30. as Batts and Owles among birds Moules and Rats among Beasts they are odious to all men so among places Dungeons and darksome Roomes are odious also And as this is so in things natural so in things spiritual lucifugae actiones are of the like evill nature and odious to God and good men because both such men and their doings have an opposition to light and the author of light They come from darkness of the minde that is ignorance and unbelief and they are begotten by the Prince of darkness the Divell Ephes. 6. 12. and in the end they goe to utter darkness and therefore they are called the works of darkness Rom. 13. 12. And so no marveil though they love darkness and hate light if any cannot abide the light of Gods word to be reproved by it as Herctiques and Hypocrites such dig deep pits to hide their Counsells Esay 29 15. because they see the light is to them evill and as the shadow of death Job 24. 17. The emptiness of good things and the bottomlesnesse of ill things and the deformity of both proceedeth and commeth from darknesse and was inclosed in it as we have seen in it And so spiritually is all found in the ignorance of the truth Ephes. 4. 18 19. either the blindness of mens mindes which is natural or else that which is wilfull when men doe wittingly winke and will not see the light Wherefore we see God made light first before any other good And so our selves must receive spiritual light of knowledge before he will give us any better grace The third sort of men are catchers and fault finders with Gods Creatures such which think to know how Gods works which now are good might have been farre better as if God might have done well to have craved their counsell and help but Gods works both in particular and general are so good and perfect that they could not be mended Wherefore if the light seem ill for us we must confesse and acknowledge that the fault is not in Gods work but in the illnesse and infirmity of our eyes and understanding If the Word seem evil to us know that it seemeth so to us because we and our works are evil and therefore cannot abide the light John 3. 20. Wherefore to conclude that which God hath called and sealed up to be good let no man presume to call and count to be evill Act. 10. 15. For a work belongeth to such which call that is good evill and evill things good and darknesse light Esay 5. 20. But if we love the light of nature and praise God for it Psalm 148. 5 6. And if we love the spirituall light of grace in his word and glorifie and praise God for it 1 Pet. 2. 9. that hath called us out of darknesse into his marveilous light then God will at last reward us with his light of glory and bring us to that inaccessible light wherein he dwelleth which is the father of lights unto which no man can attain unlesse Christ the light of the World bring him and therefore let us pray that the father for his sonnes sake will make a way for us by his spirit of light to which three persons in unity be all praise and glory for ever Amen Et distinctionem fecit Deus inter hanc lucem tenebras Gen 1. 4. verse THere was in the first verse nothing before God made something of nothing after which at the first we saw it to be a 〈◊〉 dark heap without any good form or ability to receive any better But after followed the impregnation and indowment which God gave by which the things first created had a faculty and power given to receive this form which now they have Fourthly ensued the essence and being of all creatures they were prepared by the Spirit and perfected by the word of God where we considered first the essence and being of light and then the nature of it And lastly of all the goodnesse of the light both in regard of the presence of God who in his counsell thought it to be good and also after the creation by his approbation allowed the use and continuance of it unto us Now followeth the distinction and dividing which giveth yet a degree of perfection to the former light more than it had before for at the first he gave light such a being which should prodire in actum and not every being but a speciall good being which is a degree further of order and distinction against disorder and confusion to be in all respects laudible and that not every good being but that which is more an ordered and distinguished and comely good being which work of all other is the perfection of Creation as we shall see in the rest for things though they be never so good in them selves as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 14. 7. of another thing in the like case yet they cannot be discerned of men to be so neither are they meet for any good use of men unlesse they have a certain distinction and order Order Therefore order is as some say very goodnesse of goodnesse it self for there are many good things which doe cease from being good to us yea become hurtfull being without the rank order and degree either of their set and distinct place or time As fire though it be good in the Chimney yet it is not good nay it is very evill in the top of the house Fire is very good in the Winter to warm us but in the Summer it is not so good but shunned of men So the light not being tempered and proportioned orderly but being any degree too-bright it hurteth and blindeth our eyes that we cannot see Act. 22.6 11. Excellens objectum corrumpit sensum So the fire being in any degree too fierce and too hot in the Chimney and Winter that is not moderated and ordered in a good degree it doth us no good Wherefore we see that a set and a distinct order must be observed in good things both touching the place time and degree And that the contrarie inordination deordination or want of order in these things which is called Babell hereafter that is a confusion maketh things to cease from being good to us which in their own nature are very good It was necessary therefore that God should proceed to this work of distinction as he in wisdome doth This then is as if Moses had said the light was good for else extingueret non distingueret Deus si non esset bonum he would not else have distinguished it but dashed it in peeces and destroyed it again Therefore because it was good he separated it and set it apart from darknesse by it self
therefore we say a day hath twenty four hours a week hath seven dayes a moneth thirty dayes a week likewise hath seven nights a moneth thirty nights but evening and morning are all one day And the first day as the first day of the week of moneths of time this was a day by it self as the other six were dayes by themselves God saith at the institution of the 〈◊〉 Exodus the twelfth chapter and the second verse This moneth shall be unto you the beginning of moneths it shall be to you the first moneth of the year But by Basill this 〈◊〉 had a meaning for our natural use that we should esteem twenty four hours one day though some count the day no longer than the light is seen The first day is 〈◊〉 example to the dayes after in this first day we behold all the other 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 them all things created In this first day of years 〈…〉 Creation the 〈◊〉 the Birth 〈◊〉 B was the 〈◊〉 letter the Redemption the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 was upon the first day of the week year 〈◊〉 The spiritual use The spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this place saith We are not in 〈…〉 〈◊〉 may be applyed to 〈◊〉 morning and evening 〈◊〉 A 〈…〉 morning and 〈◊〉 at even the one a 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 Numbers the twenty eighth chapter the fourth and 〈…〉 David 〈◊〉 the beginning of the hundred fourty first 〈◊〉 〈…〉 God 〈◊〉 my prayer be 〈◊〉 in thy sight 〈…〉 and the listing up of 〈…〉 evening sacrifice Let 〈…〉 a Father open the morning 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of prayer and 〈…〉 the evening with the bolt 〈◊〉 prayer In these two there is 〈◊〉 and alternation 〈…〉 the day 〈…〉 〈◊〉 now long how 〈…〉 in them we see joy 〈…〉 in the night 〈◊〉 is alternation of 〈…〉 then 〈◊〉 Now 〈…〉 Babylon 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 and did 〈◊〉 in the day 〈…〉 〈◊〉 for the 〈…〉 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 and the first verse 〈…〉 it Sit in the 〈◊〉 sit on the ground set still and get thee into darknesse evill shall come 〈◊〉 the and thou shall not know the morning there os 〈◊〉 there is a use 〈◊〉 order in things 〈◊〉 so is there in things spiritual the evening and the morning The very Heathen doe say that to a man 〈◊〉 disposed 〈◊〉 a good minde after Matthew in his fourth chapter and the sixteenth verse saith The people which 〈◊〉 in darknesse saw great light and to them which 〈◊〉 in the region 〈…〉 of death light is risen up knowledge is a light and Ignorance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 saying Estprimo vespertina 〈…〉 which grows from light to a lighter knowledge If a man 〈…〉 not according to Gods word it is because there 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 in him 〈◊〉 the eighth chapter and the twentieth 〈◊〉 for it is the 〈◊〉 of God that is 〈◊〉 that lightneth our very 〈…〉 This hath also an use for our affections for temptation of any sin is ever before the issue First we are 〈◊〉 then we yeeld to the temptation but after the yeelding the godly have repentance but to yeeld to the temptation and 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 is the continual evening of the wicked The godly hath here in this world in this life his evening sorrow 〈…〉 death but his joy commeth in the morning that is 〈◊〉 life to 〈◊〉 His vespere is luctus his mane gaudium His weeping may abide at the evening but joy commeth in the morning Psalm the 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 verse A man hath secret sinnes which be hid and presumptuous which be apparent Psalm the nineteenth and the 〈◊〉 verse God 〈◊〉 them both The wicked have their morning in this life they live in posperity and have what they can desire but in the long evening in the world to come they shall finde endlesse adversity Notwithstanding the godly in this life be tossed as a ship and though they suffer shipwrack of their life yet this is their hope that post tenebras spero lucem Though Jacob wrestled in the evening yet had he a blessing in the morning Genesis the thirty second chapter and twenty fourth verse The Godly and the wicked doe both dye and both are buried in the grave the righteous shall have domination over them in the morning but God shall save the soul of the righteous from the grave Psalm the fourty ninth and the fifteenth verse God saith that in the day of the desolation of Jerusalem there shall be no clear light but dark That day is known to the Lord which shall be neither day nor night but about the evening time it shall be light Tertullian in his book de resurrectione maketh a resemblance of the evening and the morning to the grave and the resurrection We are in the grave in silence and solitarinesse but the morning of our resurrection appeareth cum gaudio cultu dote gloria sepulti vesperè manè revivescite What though here we suffer some crosses hereafter we shall have endlesse joy better is it to have our evening here and our morning hereafter than contrariwise Though the Gluttons morning were his delights his dainty â—…ir his costly apparel when it was Lazarus evening who was hungry naked and diseased but afterward the rich man was tormented and Lazarus for ever comforted Luke the sixteenth chapter So there is a resemblance of the resurrection in Gods works before the same was expressed in his words Now is the light mixed with darknesse and darknesse with light the darknesse of the night hath the light of the starres and somtime the shining of the Moon the light of the day is often overcast with the mist or with clouds but the morning of the resurrection shall be without end The evening of condemnation to the wicked shall never have morning and the morning of glorification to the blessed shall never have evening Untill that day of resurrection there shall be a mixture but then and not before there shall be light without darknesse to the blessed and endlesse darknesse without light to the damned And thus much shall suffice concerning the first day and the work of the first day Sic fuit vespera fuit mane diei secundi Gen. 1. 8. Novemb. 12. 1590. Place this in pag. 56. at the end of the Sermon upon Gen. 1. 8. IT is the second day in relation to the first day in the matter an Incubation and hatching there were five things the first day the incubation and hatching were in the first day In this second day as well as in the first there is a being and order of distinction of nature and a giving of a name Bonum lacketh here and why Here lacketh bonum the goodnesse And he saw it was good is not put down in the second day Some of the Hebrew say and give this reason why bonum lacketh here the Angells fell the creating of hell was in the second day Tophet is prepared of old as it is in the thirtith chapter of Esaâ— and the twenty seventh
gold was as stones in the streets and this goodnesse of the Seas especially concerneth us which are Islanders we best know it and feel here this singular and speciall goodnesse of the waters and say as God doth that we see that they are good for were it not for this we should be imprisoned in this little Island and be without the knowledge of other Countries also we should be cloyed with our commodities and be destitute of many other which we want An excellent benefit of the Sea but that which is most we should have been ever without the knowledge of Gods holy Word For how could that have come hither Or how could we have gone beyond the Seas for it had it not been for the Sea wherein goe the Ships Pauls Shipwrack was most blessed and happy to that Island Act. 27. 41. for by that means the Gospell of Christ came to them the greatest commodity that could be But unworthy are we of this Pearl which Merchants have sound and brought from beyond the Sea seeing we so lightly regard that we will scarce step out of doores for to hear it this is the good that we by it have Merchants Nahum 3. 16. Another benefit of good we receive by them Nahum 3. 14. in that they are made to us as a Ditch Fortresse Wall or Bulwark of strength and defence to the Land For in Islands we are intrenched as it were round about with Sands with Rocks with Ships and Seas These things more properly pertain to us Islanders for Islands are called the branches of the Sea For main Lands have other carriage and defence though with more trouble and cost Lastly It is good for Peter with his Nets and Gins to take Fish The discourse of the Earth Now for the Earth God also saw and said that it was good likewise which is so well known that I need not tell you that the use of it a top is not only good to goe and runne upon and inhabite but also to bear Corn Wine Oyle Herbs and Roots and other Fruit for Man and Beast that dwell thereon Job 28. 5. And under the good mould for fruit we see it good and profitable in that it hath mines of Coale and under it veins of Gold and other most profitable metals and under it precious stones and every where within Quarries and Rocks of stone and without Trees of timber to build us houses withall This were sufficient to make us see and confesse to Gods glory how good it is to us But let us come to the very substance of the Earth in respect of the whole and not to search his riches and parts and fruits we see that it is the matter of which we are made and to which we must return Job 10. 9.10 which there is set down after two manners both as we respect Adam in creation or our selves in generation being poured out as milk c. For touching creation we are of the Earth and therefore called houses of Clay as Jeremy speaketh to his King O Earth O Earth c. 22. 29. Wherefore if we think our selves good we cannot deny but the matter of which we were made is also good 2. Secondly It is a good and a convenient place super quem as the Aire is a fit Element in quo for God hath made it good to goe upon and therefore he hath made it locum lucidum solidam siccum fixum firmum that being light and steddy it might have all the commendations and goodnesse of a place to dwell in and as it is a place to move in so it is to take rest and ease as it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Work-house and Shop in which we must imploy our travail and labour so is it our * Refection refectorium to refresh and ease our selves and to recover our strength The Earth is the Lords and all in it Psal. 24. 1. but he hath given the Earth to the sonnes of men Psal. 115. 16. but only to this end that they should serve him in the works of their Callings in the service of God and the Country that they might keep his Statutes and observe his Laws Psal. 105. 45. 3. The third goodnesse is the benefit of our grave for this is our Mothers lap and armes into which we yeeld our bodies being dead it is our Coemeterium our sleeping place in the night time of our death Job 17. 13. as it was our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the day time of our life Now as we have considered the goodnesse of it wholly so now let us see the parts by themselves the hills mountains and rocks are good for shaddows in time of heat and for shelter in time of Winter against cold and tempests Esay 32. 2. the stoney rocks also serve for Conies Psal. 104. 18. the valleys and dales are good and commodious for Corn Psal. 104. 10. Esay 30. 23. and also for pasture Psal. 65. 13. so it is good for to give all things to feed man and beast The other dryer part of the Earth which is sand and gravell is good for treasure Deut. 33. 19. and the wet or moister part of it which is clay and marle is good to dung and mend the land also to make vessels of earth Jer. 18. 3 4. and to make brick and houses and morter Ezech. 13. 10. So that the high and low parts the dry and moist parts of the Earth are very good The Waters and Land joyntly considered four things noted therein Yet let us further consider these things that is the Waters and Land joynt together as they are framed in one globe touching which we have four things to note 1. The first is in regard of Heaven and Celestiall bodies where we shall observe a threefold good for a thing that is good only in it self and doth not impart it to other is good in vain and to no end and that which is good to it self and hath a nature to be good to other but hath noe good means to conceive it is to no purpose Wherefore as the Heavens have vertue and goodnesse as light heat dews c. So the Aire is the good means by which it is sent and conveyed and the Earth is that receptacle which receives all those good things imparted to it So all the good of Heaven is conveyed to the Earth by the Aire and so it is made known and proved to be good The Earth is the pond of all waters and the lap and open hand yea and the wide open mouth which God hath ordained to receive all the blessings of Heaven untill Heaven have received us 2. Secondly The Waters and Earth are good in regard of one another the waters are good to the land and the land to the waters the Earth would be without water to glue it together even as dust which would fly in our eyes to hinder our sight and choake us and hinder our breathing in
the 14. of the 11. Thy pompe and pleasure is brought down to the grave the worms shall cover thee then with Job 17. 14. 〈◊〉 maist say to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Mother and Sister and as it is in the 26. of Isaiah and the 19. the dust must be our dwelling joy not then in the joyes of this world which are but dust and corruptible they are as Austin saith gaudia privanda but sorrow for gaudia aeterna privanda sorrow lest 〈◊〉 be deprived of eternall joyes 3. Our life unconstant or death uncertain The third use for instruction is out of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 The state of our life is alwaies in motion and in revolving like a Ship a sailing Job in his 14. chapter and 14. verse called the resurrection after death a changing it is like a shadow it is still turning and returning Paul saith in the thirteenth to the Hebrews the fourteenth verse Wee have here no continuing City but wee looke hereafter for one our life is unconstant our death uncertain alwaies changing this the inconstancie of mans life is the motive to good as the other is the retentive from evill Paul saith hee dieth daily from sin here on the earth wee must not seeke for the hill of certain repose but look in heaven for a perpetuall City The Tents and Tabernacle are taken away therefore with Abraham Wee must looke for a City having a foundation whose builder and maker is God the eleventh of the Hebrews and the tenth verse 4. A time to return The fourth use is out of donec revertêris untill thou returne a time of returning where wee must learne to returne by repentance unto God before wee returne to dust that so wee may returne againe from dust 〈◊〉 God let men bee alwaies ready spend not thy daies with the wicked that goe suddenly down to the grave the twenty first of Job and the thirteenth the fourty fifth of I saiah and the eighth And as they live so they die like beasts the third of the Preacher and the ninteenth 5. We must return to God The fifth and last is that we must return to God For shall the dust give thanks unto thee the thirtieth I salme and the ninth verse The godly shall be delivered out of temptation though the unjust be reserved to judgement the second of Peter the second and the ninth We must return to God per poenitentiam Let it not be thought incredible that God should raise again the dead the twenty sixth of the Acts and the eighth the first of Jea and the eighth So a man shall return to God very well by due consideration of these things from the first pulvis es thou art dust to return to God by humility by the second not to joy in this world but in God by the third to rest our turning and returning in God and by the fourth to comfort our selves that out of the grave we shall rise to live with God Abraham addeth ashes to dust But what made Abraham to add ashes to dust the eighteenth of this Book and the twenty seventh he saith I am O Lord but dust and ashes The Fathers upon this place say that dust is our beginning and if we doe not obey God by fire we shall be turned into ashes ashes will be our ending We are all naturally dust and we are all by desert also but ashes and although by no means you cannot avoid to be dust yet by an upright life you may avoid to be ashes though we cannot but incurre the first death let not the second death take hold of us Though the grave inclose us let not hell swallow us All we eat all that we care for in this world is but for dust and for that will turn to dust If we be nothing but dust if we hope for nothing but dust if we care for nothing but dust we shall be swallowed up in dust Let us remember we are clay but God is the Potter Isaiah 64. 8. Above all regard thy soul. Above all regard thy soul then shall thy body of dust return to dust and from dust shall return again to God that made it and thee thou and thy body shall return to glory Vocavit autem Adam nomen uxoris suae Chavvam eò quòd ipsa mater sit omnium hominum viventium Gen 3. 20. December 10. 1598. ADam here calleth his Wife by a new name not by the former name in the 23. of the former which was Woman The mysterie of this name compared with the former Sentence is great she is called here Hevah she hath no name of dejection and despair but of life and of comfort Hereby is to be gathered that notwistanding the sinne committed and sentence pronounced yet there was in Adam some matter of hope for he beleeved the promise made in the 15. verse before that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head This was as it is in the 〈◊〉 to the Corinthians 2. 16. The savour of life unto life Abraham beleeved in Gods promise the 15. of this book the 6. by this Scripture Adam left a Monument of his beliefe as in the other Abraham left a Monument of his faith The seed of Abram in his age was promised to be in the 5. verse of that chapter as the starres of heaven Abraham desired to see the day of Christ and he saw it by faith Herein we will consider these two things first the imposition of a name and then of this name For the first the imposing of names is an argument of superiority and power in the 19. of the former chapter it is shewed in the naming of all the Creatures by man which names were properly given by him In the thirty fifth chapter and the eighteenth verse Jacobs Wife before her death called her sonnes name Ben-oni but his Father changed that name and called him Benjamin from the sonne of sorrow to the sonne of 〈◊〉 Jacob was after called Israel the tenth of the same chapter the name of Sarai was turned to Sarah the seventeenth of Genesis and the fifteenth verse as of Jacob by the Angell into Israel the two and thirtith chapter and the twenty eighth verse and out of these new names is taken matter of great mystery And Adam before called her Ishah woman as another from man but here hee changeth that to Hevah which is a name of life to others Now then touching the imposition of this name wherein wee will consider the signification of this name and then the qualitie thereof In the seventh of the former chapter God 〈◊〉 into man the breath of life and man was a living soule and here her name is a name of life now life is two fold either for a time or for ever shee is a mother of life in regard of this life for that her birth is not of an abortive it is a blessednesse production and education are in
regard of this life that of the twenty ninth chapter and one and twentith verse is that of this life my terme is ended Zathaca this name belongeth to all females in respect of this life for all bring forth life though to die It only this life were here regarded the ancient Fathers that came from her though they lived long yet they died and have long layn dead and in regard of the length of their death shee might have beene called the mother of the dead therefore this name is understood of the other life which is eternall for after death they had hope of another life David in the twenty seventh Psalme and the thirteenth verse Should have sainted but that hee beleeved to see the goodnesse of God in the land of the living And in the hundred forty second Psalme and the fifth verse hee had his portion and hope in the land of the living God is the God not of the dead but of the living the two and twentith of Mathew and the thirty second verse Now where there is a Commandement or Promise of life there is meant eternall life Hee that doeth the Commandements shall live not a mortall but an immortall life the Covenant of life to the Priests and People in the Leviticall law is that life That was it that made Job in his ninteenth chapter and twenty fifth verse to assure himselfe that his Redeemer lived and so should hee but most plainly speaketh Christ himselfe the eleventh of John and the twenty fifth verse of himselfe that hee is life and hee that beleeveth in him though hee mere dead yet shall hee live and in the very nature of the word it selfe is a double being the one temporall the other permanent which is expressed in the originall by difference of one letter Hagab and Havah all have the common life but there are those that are strangers from the life of God the fourth of the Ephesians and the eighteenth verse and there are those to whom God is life and length of dayes the thirtith of Deuteronomie and the twentith verse so that not by consequence but by the very essence of this name is meant life eternall God hath his booke where hee writeth the living the thirty second chapter of Exodus and the thirty second verse there is a booke of life the sixty ninth Psalme and the twenty ninth verse God promiseth to give to him that overcommeth to eate of the Tree of Life the second of the Revelations and the seventh verse and the ancient Fathers upon that place non dedit corollam sed coronam vitae he gave a crown of life which is life for ever There is a mysterie also in the qualitie of the name which is comprehended in the word it selfe which is a bringing of good news and glad tidings as are cold waters to comfort the thirstie so is good news from a farre Country the twenty fifth chapter of the Proverbs and the twenty fifth verse When Jacob heard that Joseph his sonne was yet alive in a farre and strange Countrey and that they had brought him Chariots these tydings revived Jacob that was in age the fourty fifth chapter and the twenty seventh verse this name of life is even as a name of joyfull tydings If in matters of this life it bee so then much more in things spirituall after wee have sinned and deserved punishment then absolution and remission is a joying of a mans heart and there is joy in this name that word is life vita est ex verbo man at the first was made a living soule the seventh of the former chapter In the sixth of Saint Johns Gospell the sixty third verse The words Christ spake are spirit and life and againe in the sixty eighth verse of the same chapter Peter saith to him thou hast the words of eternall life It is observed by the Greeke Fathers that the seventy Interpreters did put downe Hevah under the same letter Evangelium which is good tydings this word is the abstract of the eternall word In the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the forty fifth verse the first man Adam was a living soule the last Adam was a quickning Spirit a living Soule is in it selfe a quickning Spirit is unto others in the word was life the first of Saint Johns Gospell and the fourth verse and in the first Epistle of Saint John the first chapter and the first verse Christ was the word of life and life it selfe verbum vitae vita hence wee receive Grace here and hereafter And herein is the manifestation of the Trinitie given in this very name of Evah The mysterie of salvation was known to Adam before hee gave the name God hath given to his sonne power over all flesh that hee should give eternall life to all them that beleeve in him the seventeenth of Saint John and the first verse The Promise of Christ was in this that the seede of the woman should breake the Serpents head not the seede of man but of woman therefore hee still keepeth his owne name but changeth her name from 〈◊〉 to Evah saying with himselfe I am Adam still from mee is nothing but earth but from the Promise made by God to the woman hee giveth her the name of Hevah and from Hevah hee giveth life to the end of the world for the Fathers gather out of the first of the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the one and twentith verse That by Adam came death hee is pater morientium but by the Promise of Christ in this name shee is mater viventium the mother of the living for by Christ wee live and hee is therefurrection of the dead the ancient writers observe that Adam was 〈◊〉 in pulverem reversurus hee was dust and to dust hee should returne that is of his owne nature but by Hevah is promise of Grace and though wee as by nature die with Adam yet God will raise 〈◊〉 up by Jesus Christ the second to the Corinthians the fourth chapter and the thirteenth verse It is hee that rayseth the needy out of the dust according to the hundred and thirteenth Psalme and the seventh verse this is it that made Paule the second to the Galathians and the twentith verse to say That I live yet not I but Christ that liveth in mee and in that I now live in the flesh vivo in fide fiilii viri the just liveth by faith and shall live the life of Grace shee is here then called the mother of that life set this verse aside wee have no memorie that the promise before made was of eternall life hence then is a fountaine of life which was by transgression the originall of death for shee transgressed and thereby came death but God brings light out of darknesse and life out of death But what is faith without 〈◊〉 even nothing for faith worketh by charitie the fist to the Galathians and the sixth verse then as from hence
we were like to perish till he provided for us so we must give him a present even the first fruits of that we have acknowledging that all came from him in the twenty sixt chapter of Deuteronomie The ground of our oblation is to testifie so as the ground of our oblation 1. our thankfulness is the testifying of our thankfulnesse 2 our subjection to God Another end is the testifying and acknowledging of our subjection to God that as he gave us our souls so we confesse we ought to bestow our souls on God And that we shall doe if when our own reason cannot attain to see how that should be just which he requireth 1. to give and subject our souls to God yet we be content to make our souls subject to him and to bring them into the obedience of Christ in the second of the Corinthians and the tenth chapter If as we have grieved the spirit of God with our sinnes so we be content to grieve our souls and to break them with sorrow which is a sacrifice to God in the fifty first Psalme and the seventeenth verse 2. to subject our bodies to God Secondly as we have received our bodies from God so we must make them subject to God by abating the desires which our flesh delighteth in that we may delight in that which God requireth and that we be content to impoverish the body to chasten it and bring it under by fasting in the first of the Corinthians and the ninth chapter From both soul and body our mouths must shew forth Gods praise that it may be more fit for his service we must not only acknowledge in our soul that we owe our selves both soul and body to God but we must open our lips and shew forth his praise with our mouthes in the fifty first Psalme 3. We must honour God with our substance And lastly we must honor God with our substance in the third chapter of the Proverbs And not content our selves with the oblation of the lips as a sacrifice that cost us nothing in the second of Samuell and the twenty fourth chapter The sacrifice also hath two grounds The sacrifice also hath two grounds 1. The confession of our sins aud why First The confession of our sinnes for in that the poor Lamb or other beast whatsoever hath his throat cut what is it else but a confession that what the Lamb suffereth the same we our selves deserved to suffer As the Lamb dieth so we deserve the death both of body and soul And as the Lamb was burnt to ashes so we deserved to be burnt in the lake of sire and brimstone in the twentieth of the Apocal. and the tenth verie For sine effusione sanguinis non est peccatorum remissio in the ninth chapter of the Hebrews And so in that the poor beast hath his blood poured out we doe thereby confesse that we cannot have remission of sinnes without the shedding of blood if we seek it in our selves 2 The confession of our faith in Christ which maketh the other perfect and why But there is a second ground of the sacrifice and that is the confession of our faith which maketh all the other confessions perfect for how is it possible that a Lamb should be worth a Man and that the death of an unreasonable creature should be a sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of a reasoable soul the Apostle saith It is impossible that the blood of Lambs and Goats should take away sinnes in the tenth chapter of the Hebrews and the fourth verse It cost more to redeem souls then so vise a price or the price of the most pretious things in the world in the fourty ninth Psalme Christ the Lamb slain by whose blood we have remission of sinnes and why Therefore the reason why they offered sacrifice was to make confession of their faith in Christ whom they confessed to be the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world by whose blood we have remission of sinnes So the Lambe which Abel offered in the fourth chapter of Genesis which Esay foresaw should stand before his shearrer in the fifty third of Isaiah whom John Baptist pointed at John the first chapter and the twenty ninth verse Ecce Agnus Dei is Christ the Son of God slain from the beginning of the world to take away sinnes Apoc. the thirteenth chapter And in the blood of that Lambe are the sinnes of the whole world purged as it is in the first Epistle of St. John the first chapter and the seventh verse 4. The warrant whereby they offered oblations and sacrifice Fourthly The warrant whereby they offered their oblation and sacrifices was not any expresse command of God in the Scripture and God only knoweth what kinde of service best pleaseth him and of themselves they were not to devise any thing 1. Adam was instructed by God and they by Adam but they were taught by Adam and Adam was instructed by God As Adam had experience that God was able to bring light out of darknesse so he taught Adam by his spirit that as by the tree of life he would give life so by death he would give life For as in the Sacrifices of the Law the Jews were taught that out of death God would give them life We by our Sacraments so now in our Sacraments Christians are assured that by the death of Christ whereof the Supper is a commemoration the faithfull obtain life Made known 1. By the light of nature The meanes whereby God made this known to them was first the light of nature That they had offended God which told them that seeing so many infirmities and sicknesses lay upon them it was for that they had offended som body 2. That they owe thankfulness for all they had to be acknowledged in heart word and works Secondly that all they possessed was from some superior power to whom they ought to be both thankfull and dutifull and to acknowledge both these in words as well as in heart and to expresse this subjection by works that is by offering somthing to God 2. For the confession of faith no reason or light of nature taught but by Gods spirit But as for confession of faith no reason of man no light of nature that could apprehend that but as Christ saith in the sixteenth of Matthew it was the Revelation of Gods Spirit which taught them that Christ the Lambe of God should be offered as a Sacrifice for sinne of which all the sacrifices that went before were types Concerning Cain and Abell we are to observe two points First what they had in common Secondly what severally All both poor and rich must offer For the first As we learn that all must offer both in the Law in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus for God will have his offering be we rich or poor and in the Gospell where Christ alloweth
of every man even of every beast in as much as he hath first taught beasts to kill men by his own confession it is just that as the Prophet speaks Micah the seventh chapter and the fift verse The Wife of his bosome and the Children of his loyns shall break the bonds of nature with him as he before hath thewed himself unnaturall to his brother And this is a great part of Cains punishment that albeit there be none to kill him yet he shall be in continuall fear of death that a man shall not only fear Gods threatning but his own fancy that he shall fear not one but every one that meets him as if every one knew his fault that he shall fear not only where there is cause of fear as wilde beasts but tuta timere and this is a part of Gods curse that God will send faintness into their hearts so as they shall be afraid at the shaking of a leaf Leviticus the twenty sixt chapter and the thirty sixt verse at every shadow as the Midianites were of their dreams Judges the seventh chapter and at every noise and rumor in the second of the Kings the seventh chapter and the sixt verse These feares are great punishments and arguments of a guilty conscience and this sheweth that albeit wickedness be secret yet it will not suffer a man to be quiet Wherein we are to observe how Cain de scribeth the state of them that are out of Gods favour and cast from his presence that they fear either no fear as Psalm the fifty 〈◊〉 If the Prince frown upon a man there is no hope of favour any where else so if God be once offended so that a man despair of his favour he will fear every creature the starres of heaven fought against Sisera Judges the fift chapter and the twentieth verse The stones in the street will cease to be in league and peace with him Job the fift chapter therefore when God saith quaerite faciem meam Psalm the twenty seventh our soul must answer thy face Lord will I seek For if we seek the Lord our God we shall finde him Deuteronomie the fourth chapter and the twenty ninth verse and that is so necessary that the People say If thy presence goe not with us carry us not hence Exodus the thirty third chapter and the Prophet speaketh Cast me not from thy presence Psalm the fifty first for without the assurance of Gods favour and protection we shall fear every shadow every noise that we hear Secondly Cain in these words sheweth what was his chief fear and what did most grieve him that was that he should die not the death of the soul but the bodily death by the hand of man he feares the shadow of death but not the body of death as the Apostle speaks Romans the seventh chapter but eternall death is that which he should have feared most of all for it hath a body and shall be found though the bodily death is often sought and cannot be found Job the third wherein Cain shewes what he is that is animalis homo in the first to the Corinthians the second chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phillippians the third chapter not having the spirit so was Saul afflicted in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter Honour me before the people he respected worldly honour more than Gods favour whereupon saith Augustine quid tibi honoratio haec proderit miser If 〈◊〉 death fall upon Cain what shall it profit him to live on earth but this sheweth plainly that the life of the body was Cains chief felicity and that the greatest grief he had was for the death of the body as if he should say let me live though it be but in fear and sorrow This is the affection of flesh and blood as the Devill saith of Job Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job the second chapter that is so long as life is not taken away man is well This being Cains complaint it is an implied petition and the request is Quasi pro magno beneficio ut non 〈◊〉 which request may be well uttered if it be rightly taken for not only the wicked feare death but the godly say themselves we sigh and would not be uncloathed but cloathed upon in the second to the Corinthians the fift chapter they would passe to immortality without the dissolution of the body and soul. That prayer for life is well if it be for a good end as Hezekiah praieth he may live to the end he may bewaile his sinnes in the 〈◊〉 of his soul Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter repentance is the end that he sets David saith I will not die but live and praise the Lord Psalm the one hundred and eighteenth the Apostle Paul albeit in regard of himself he desires to be dissolved yet because it is profitable for the Church that he should still remain in the flesh he desires to live Philippians the first chapter and the twenty second verse so life may be sought if it be for this end to doe good but if our end be the escaping of death for a time the case is otherwise Touching the end of Cain's desire It may be he 〈◊〉 life that he might repent and praise God and doe good for charity 〈◊〉 the best in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the thirteenth chapter But we see what doth continually vex Cain and all the wicked that is the doubt of the forgivenesse of sinne which is the worm of the spirit and a continuall fear of death which they know they have deserved at the hands of all Gods creatures Dixit verò Jehova illi Propterea quisquis interfecerit Kajinum septuplo vindicator imposuit Jehova Kajino signum ne eum caederet ullus qui foret inventurus eum Gen. 4. 15. Septemb. 26. 1599. CAINS chief complaint and petition therein implied was handled verse the fourteenth This verse contains Gods answer which is a yeelding or granting to that petition of his and that effectuall for God provideth for the safety of Cain's life not only by his word and command but by a visible mark which he set upon Cain Wherein we are generally to observe First That as the Prophet tels us in the one hundred and tenth Psalme God dealeth not with any sinner according to his sinnes and deserts for if God did not in wrath remember mercy 〈◊〉 the third chapter he should not in justice have suffered Cain to open his mouth for it is just that he which turneth away his car from hearing the law when he prayeth should not be heard Proverbs the twenty eighth chapter and the ninth verse That he which will not hear Gods Prachers shall not be heard of God when he prayeth And the Lord in the Propher saith more plainly in the second chapter of Zechary and the thirteenth verse that as he by his Prophets cried unto the people and they would not