for these two to wit Sinne and an accusing Conscience will cleaue closly to an impenitent soule these it shall bee sure of no other thing shall it haue with it from the earth but sinne wherein it delighted and a guilty conscience saying as it were we are thy sinnes we will not leaue thee but follow and accompany thee vnto death in death after death vnto iudgement in iudgement after iudgement and for euer O carelesse man remember in time that the impenitent sinner of all his worldly ioyes wealth pleasures and delights shall haue nothing to comfort him but his sinnes and a guilty conscience cleauing fast vnto him vn-remoueable that neuer-dying worme alwaies biting and gnawing on his sorrowfull soule Therefore in time mortifie thy sinnes before it bee too late that they may not mortifie thy soule for the hazard of eternall life dependeth on the dying or not dying of sinne and that necessarily Who is so voyd of vnderstanding as not to thinke it expedient and necessary wisedome rather to destroy sinne then himselfe for one of the two must needs bee mortified either sinne or the soule must suffer death and dye Therefore spare not sinne but mortifie it crush the serpents head betimes kill all thy sinnes bee partiall to none for one darling sinne is enough to binde thee fast vnto Sathan seeing it is easie to hold him that striueth not to depart One kinde of sin may kill thy soule as well as an hundred and bring death which is eternall vpon thee Remember Saul and forget not thy soule 2. Sam. 15. God commanded him vtterly to destroy the Amalekites he sparing but some of them was cast off from God and his kingdome rent from him Our sinnes are the Amalekites which God commandeth vs to destroy wee must kill them all and spare none wee must not spare Agag wee must not spare any captaine sinne lest God forsake vs and so we loose a better kingdome then euer Saul found As Amelek resisted the children of Israel in their iourney towards the land of promise Deut. 25.17 so Sathan seeketh by all meanes to hinder and let vs in following Christ and forsaking sin These two obstacles hee trumpeth in our way to stop vs from our conuersion to wit Delectatio peccandi audacia defendendi That is Delight of sinning and Boldnesse of defending Peccatum quatuor modis perpetratur in corde quatuorque modis consummatur in opere Sin is foure manner of wayes committed in heart and foure manner of wayes finished in action That is in heart By suggestion Suggestion cometh by the Diuell By delight Delight by the flesh By consent Consent by the spirit By boldnesse of defending sin Boldnesse of defence by our elation stubbornnesse With these foure strokes the old and enuious aduersary of mankinde vndermined and ouerthrew the vprightnesse of the first man the Serpent perswaded Eue delighted Adam consented and when hee was vrged to confesse his fault he defended it by audacious excuse After suggestion commeth delight after delight commeth defending of sinne As saith Chrysostome Chrysostome it is impossible to kindle fire with water so it is impossible to stirre vp repentance or conuersion in a man that delighteth in sinne for as water doth quench the fire and not kindle it so delight in sinne doth bury repentance and not reuiue it Therefore the Prophet Dauid desireth God to keepe him from sinne and from delight in sinne fearing lest presumptuous sinnes should haue the vpper hand of him And the Apostle Saint Paul exhorteth vs to mortifie our earthly members as the best way to cut off the delight of sinne that sin may dye I reade in a pretty familiar history not impertinent to this purpose that there was a certaine boy hauing a great delight to play with a bird tied a thrid to the legge of the bird and sate downe and plaied therewith letting the bird come and goe at his pleasure Anselmus a godly man comming vnto him grieuing to see him liue that idle and euill kind of life cut the thrid so the bird did flie away and the boy arose and led a better kind of life Morally it may bee well applied thus this boy may signifie a sinner this bird sinne this thrid delight in sinne his sitting downe his continuance in sinne taking pleasure therein and making pastime to sinne at his pleasure This Anselmus may signifie true repentance and vnfeigned conuersion in a man intending and fully purposing to forsake sinne and follow Christ which cutteth the thrid that is the delight of sinne sinne dieth and the sinner well termed a boy for his childish and foolish actions riseth vp that is sitteth and continueth not in sinne but leadeth henceforth a more sanctified kinde of life Saint Iohn in his Epistle generall 1. Ioh. 2.15 exhorting men to follow Christ dehorteth them from the loue of the world and the delight of sinne reigning in them that loue the world saying Loue not the world nor the things in the world a reason in the 16 verse Verse 16. he giueth saying For all that is in the world as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eie and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world The world is as the deuils golden cheine to hinder men from following of Christ which treasure he offereth to bestow on them that will forsake God and follow him and therefore hee would haue giuen it and all the riches thereof to our Lord and Sauiour Christ but it was none of his to giue hee was but an vsurper Therefore as our Lord and Maister Christ denied him so let vs his seruants defie him and as the same Apostle maketh as it were anatomy of certaine great sins in which men so delight so let vs by his admonition hate detest them and shun the way to hell as hell it selfe amongst other capitall sinnes which hinder and let vs from following Christ heere are three by the Apostle pointed out to wit couetousnesse pride and voluptuousnesse Colloss 3.5 coueteousnesse although it be accounted good husbandry and frugality yet the Apostle Paul calleth it a let Ephes 5.5 and idolatry idolatry because men so much loue and embrace it a let because it keepeth vs backe from following Christ if it bee idolatry how can couetous men be good Christians seeing they loue the world more then Christ if it bee a bar to keepe men from heauen how doe couetous men thinke it possible to enter through the eye of an needle being swollen with this sinne as great as a Camell if men were so couetous of the Kingdome of heauen as they are greedy of worldly wealth they would not take so much paines in getting of it and so little labour in following of Christ but we may finde it true That Impij alacriùs currunt ad mortem quam pij ad vitam The vngodly runne more hasty to death then the godly to life they take more paines
other prodigall Likewise Abraham had two sonnes Ismael and Isaac but Isaac onely free-borne so there are two sorts of children one the children of God the other the children of the world The children of God are they which are vnited to God by adoption as Brothers and Sisters in Christ by hearing of the word of God keeping it These are my brethren saith Christ that heare the word and keepe it The children of the world are they which fashion themselues like vnto the world setting setling their affections on worldly things but the children of God are changed in their shape by renewing of their minds they are of another fashion they are of a new birth of the spirituall kindred of Christ by regeneration The childrē of God do follow Christ the children of the world do follow it and are led by it but the children of God are led by the spirit of God The children of the world haue their whole trust confidence in worldy things Rom. 8.14 but the children of God are predestinated to bee his adopted children Ephes 1.5 by faith in Christ It is the greatest preferment in this world amongst the children of the world to be made the heire of a King Emperour or Prince and to bee in great account with men in this world but the children of God are of greater account with God and godly men both in this world and in the world to come The children of Kings are attended by noble men and great personages and guarded with strong men yet all but men whose breath is in their nostrils whose hands cannot accomplish the deuises of their hearts But the children of God are guided by God himselfe whose eye is alwayes ouer the righteous they are guarded by Angels Psalm 34.15 The Angels of God shall pitch their tents round about them that feare him The children of the world doe take delight in such pleasures as the world doth affoord them as carnall security worldly prosperity beastly sensuality couetousnesse pride luxury idlenesse and such like But the pleasures that God affoordeth his deere children are such as neither the world can giue them nor take from them As the loue of righteousnesse delight in the law of God Psalm 1.2 patience in affliction loue of them that excell in vertue and such like The riches of the children of the world are gold siluer houses lands lordships rents reuenues and such like which theeues may steale rust may fret fire may consume water may drowne plague may infect time may weare out and death may end But the riches of Gods children are the word of God firme faith forgiuenesse of sins freedome from hell liberty with the Saints the spirit of contentation peace of conscience continuall ioy in the holy Ghost and a kingdome of glory in heauen which no theefe can steale no rust can corrupt no fire can consume no water can drowne no plague can infect no time can weare out no death can end The children of God are shrowded vnder the wings of his mercy but the children of the world are subiect vnder the weapons of his iustice and a fearefull thing it is to fall into the hands of God in such a case If the children that were disobedient to their parents in the time of the law by the law were stoned to death for their disobedience towards their earthly parents Deut. 21.21 how much more are the wilfull and wicked children of the world in danger of the father of heauen and God of heauen and earth for their disloialty and disobedience in forsaking God and following the world If the children of the righteous that offend God haue not escaped Gods seuere punishment how shall the vngracious children of vngodly parents abide it If the sonnes of Eli and the sonnes of Dauid were punished by death as the reward and wages of their sinnes without pardon or partiality although Eli was the holy Priest of God and Dauid the Princely Prophet of God the one high in Gods fauour the other as great in his loue How then shal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the euill egge of a bad bird escape vncrushed ◠King 2.23.24 If the children that mocked the prophet were by Gods iudgement torne in peeces and deuoured of Beares how shall these prophane scoffers and deriders of the Gospell and professors thereof escape Gods fearefull iudgements God loueth those children that imitate their parents good examples and follow them as they follow Christ The Apostle in this our Text maketh a distinction betweene the children of God and the children of the world terming the children of God Deere Children Deerely beloued and deerely are they purchased with the precious and pricelesse bloud of his best loued Sonne Christ whom as zealously they ought to follow for his grace 2. Kings 2. as Elisha followed Elias for his mantle and spirit If children follow their parents and obey their precepts for an earthly and terrestriall inheritance should we not much more obey our heauenly Father for an heauenly and coelestiall heritage assured to his deere children that follow him as he hath by his deerely beloued sonne in his sacred word taught them The manner how we should follow him is by the Apostle plainly expressed to wit As deere Children according to Christs owne words affirming that whosoeuer will enter into the kingdome of heauen must bee as a little Childe innocent humble and meeke Not clothed with couetousnesse puffed with pride nor with voluptuousnesse For to such saith Christ our precursor belongeth the Kingdome of heauen Yong and vnacquainted with grosse sinnes are most fit to follow God in the prime-time of their yeares in the maiden-head of their age giuing him the first fruits of their loue Iohn the Apostle and Euangelist was knowne by the name of the Disciple whom IESVS loued So was yong Samuel fauoured of God So was Dauid a man after Gods owne heart for hee was a man that followed God from his youth So was little Daniel a great man with God a little man amongst men but a great Prophet of God This religious affection of vertuous youth Saint Paul learned of Christ and taught it to his scholler Timothy and other Churches which he had by the word planted But if we seeke to vrge the youth of our time thereunto they will thinke that wee come before our time as though they might be licenced to run a wilfull and wicked course Math 8 29 and will bee ready to tell vs as the Diuell told Christ that wee torment them before their time The Prodigall sonne was the yonger Christ our heauenly king is gone before vs and hath opened the gate of heauen otherwise there had beene no passage at all yet he telleth vs that the gate is straight Math 7 14 and there are few that enter in thereat therefore we must striue straine and stoope if we intend to enter in First wee must strippe our selues out of the old habite of
for destruction then others for saluation For coueteousnesse hath no pleasure in it but great trouble and misery for it is a trouble to the body disquietnesse to the minde and a griefe to the heart it pincheth and pricketh with three great and deepe wounds The first to the bone the second to the braine the third to the heart to the bones in tiring and wearying men in getting riches to the braines in great care to keepe them being gotten as pricking thornes amongst the which the diuine seede of Gods words sowen fructifieth not Math. 13.8.9 The last cut which is most greiuous that is to the heart in leauing and losing them yea and with his owne selfe his owne soule his owne life yea life both of body and soule too deere a price for so vile a thing in selling his soule for sinne Therefore Christ saith Math. 16.26 What shall it auaile me to winne the whole world and loose mine owne soule Let vs remember the couetous caterpillar and meale-mouthed Farmer that was not contented with his barnes full of Corne and much wealth how hee was in a monent satisfied with a mouthfull of dust and which was most lamentable his soule taken from him I feare hee hath many sons this day liuing whom I would haue take notice hereof and see Gods iudgement is such that their wealth shall bee turned into woe their plenty into scarcity their prosperity into pouerty their solace into sorrow their gladnesse into sadnesse their mirth into mourning their pleasure into paine their tranquility into calamity I reade in ancient writing Isâ—od that old men did picture Mercury one of the Planets like to a couetous Merchant hauing in his mouth a thorny tongue with wings spread abroad in the middest seeming glittering gold and vpon his head a cocke The morallity of this story may be thus applied The thorny tongue may represent the deceiptfull words false oaths and fraudulent dealing of cruell couetous men in bargaining buying and selling with men The wings may represent the hast speed and celerity that coueteous men vse in gathering of wealth in trauelling from Market to Market from Towne to Towne from Kingdome to Kingdome ouer Sea and Land omitting no time occasion or oportunity Glittering and shining may signifie the gaine of gold seeming like fire for gold may bee compared to fire a little whereof is sufficient to warme a man but too much burneth Gold gaine in good honest and lawfull sort gotten prospereth with a man but by vniust and vnlawfull manner gathered damneth a man Well gotten and well vsed it helpeth but wickedly gotten and wickedly vsed it hurteth The cocke representeth the carefull vigilancy that possesseth couetous mens minds who rise vp earely and lie downe late taking their rest but vntill the cocke croweth or the clocke striketh Thus the description of a couetous mans life is expressed and Iob hath a notable Epitaph at his death to be ingraued vpon his Tomb Hee is dried vp and withered Iob. 6.17 and in time consumed and when it is hot he falleth from his place before he departeth from his way and course of life A worthy note for shunning the like and a fearefull iudgement vpon them that follow the couetous affections of this wicked world and forsake Christ whom they are bound to follow vpon forfeiture of saluation and paine of condemnation Let vs not settle our affections vpon earthly things hunting after the vnsatiable desire of worldly wealth like the mole or want that maketh many holes and diggeth many dennes in the earth and yet is not satisfied but still laboureth and diggeth Let vs not build many houses digge many sellars buy many Farmes fill many barnes and yet bee vnsatiable and vnthankfull and in all our aboundance and plenty will not say Blessed be the name of the Lord which Iob did in his greatest pouerty The couetous cormorant when his barnes were full and his house furnished was satisfied saying as it were Soule thou hast sufficient eate drinke take thine ease But some hauing enough and more then enough are not satisfied but would with sathan compasse the whole world if they might Seeing therefore that couetousnesse keepeth vs from following Christ the ready way to heauen and leadeth vs the headlong way to hell let vs as the Apostle exhorteth Bee followers of God as deere children The other let that holdeth men backe from following God is Pride and it is no small enemy to mankind although now it is accompted no sinne It caused the Angell with many his Associates to loose heauen it caused Adam and Eue to loose Paradice and it will bee a cause to exclude and debarre vs of the Kingdome of heauen vnlesse wee humble our selues and follow Christ as dutifull schollars learning the lesson which he hath taught vs saying Learne of mee for I am humble and meeke of heart Againe hee saith Hee that exalteth himselfe shall bee brought low Prouerb 16.18 Salomon telleth that pride goeth before and destruction followeth after And the old Writer Gregory Gregory saith As humilty is a signe of election and approbation so pride is a signe of reiection and reprobation Pride may fitly be compared to a pale horse Reuel 6.8.9 The name of him that rideth thereon is death and hell followeth after Pale it is for that it wanteth the cheerefull and comfortable complexion of godly charity and death rideth on it for death is the wages of pride which the deuill knew right well who by pride brought spirituall death on all and hell followeth after being the place prepared for all proud persons who are betraied by pride in their owne bodies and members As Absolon conspired his fathers death by offering giftes to his fathers subiects And Eue for a proud minde to bee like vnto God was made more vnlike and defaced the image of God in her selfe and thereby lost Paradice Pride is a sinne that God hateth all other sins flie from God but pride stubbornely standeth with the hauty Pharisee and faceth with God Therefore he that will bee a follower of Christ must forsake pride For a proud man is 1 Deo odibilis To God odible 2 Diabolo similis Like to the diuil 3 sibi damnabilis and to himselfe damnable Three sortes of men my soule hateth c. The first whereof is a proud man Eccle. 25.2 examples in the Angels and in men wee haue in no small number The deuill is the Prince of pride and father of proud men and as the seruants of Christ and children of God are knowne by charity and humility so the seruants of sinne and sonnes of Sathan are knowne by pride and crueltie Hee is hurtfull to himselfe Examples wee haue amongst diuers others of Iesabell Reu. 18 7. Esay 47.8 of the proud strumpet of Babylon of Senecharib c. who soaring aloft with their proud plumes being at the highest pitch of their exaltation were throwne downe head-long and plunged in the