directed hereby will returne a true verdict and indict vs of no lesse sinne then we haue committed Thirdly as a man must conuict himselfe according to the Law so according to the Law must hee doome himselfe acknowledge whatsoeuer is due to a wretched sinner what place what state what worme what fire what losse what paine that all these are due vnto himselfe this Intrinsecall consideration of the Law must euery one haue that will obserue Gods Couenant But he must not rest here he must come on to the Extrinsecall the supernaturall Power of the Law whereat the Lawgiuer did finally aime man finding no innocencie in himselfe must seeke it in Christ hee must vnload his conscience vpon the propitiatorie Sacrifice and wash his garments white in the bloud of that Lambe through confidence in Christs death hee must insult against that death which is the wages of his sinne Rom 6. Finally what was impossible for the Law by reason of the weaknesse of his flesh Rom. 8. this must be his comfort that God sending his owne Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in vs who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit You see what it is to keepe the Couenant of God I may not omit the reason why God calleth it his Couenant and the reason is twofold First because we being inferiours and enemies could not prescribe any Articles to God but were to take such as he was pleased to prescribe both to himselfe and vs so that though there be two parties to the Conenant yet is there but one that proscribes And we may well be content with it for being in that case that we were in wee could not haue wisht for so much as God hath done for vs. A second Reason is because in point of Religion couenanting with any other is forbidden God brooketh not that he hauing appropriated himselfe as it were vnto vs wee should communicate vnto others the honour that is due to him The Couenant of God is of the nature of those leagues which require intire offensiue and defensiue seruice we must haue to doe with no others but for the Lord and in the Lord. I draw to an end Let vs lay together the two parts of the Text and so you may learne two good lessons That which in the former part is called Gods voice is in the later part called Gods Couenant the later name sweetens the former the first is imperious the second is gratious and who would not heare that voice the argument whereof is nothing but Gods wonderfull fauour though the pride of our nature be impatient to be commanded yet can it not chuse but take it for a great honour that wee are contracted with by the Soueraigne Lord of Heauen and Earth that we are contracted with about our heauenly aduancement and our euerlasting emolument Our second Lesson is That seeing to heare Gods Voice is to keepe his Couenant the breach of our dutie is not only Sin but Persidiousnesse our euill deseruing of God is aggrauated by Gods well deseruing of vs which we should well obserue for if we haue not lost all ingenuitie the due consideration hereof will worke in vs the deeper remorse for sinne past and be vnto vs the stronger preseruatiue against sinne to come Adde a third Lesson that hearing the Voice is put before keeping the Couenant because that is a meanes vnto this for we cannot keepe Gods Couenant but by the grace which we receiue by hearing his Voice I will end with the Prayer of King Dauid TEach me Psal 119 33 34 O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it vnto the end giue me vnderstanding and I shall keepe thy Law yea I shall obserue it with my whole heart The fourth Sermon EXODVS 19. VERS 5 6. Then shall yee be a peculiar treasure vnto mee aboue all people for all the earth is mine And yee shall be vnto me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation IN the message which God sent by Moses to Israel testifying vpon what tearmes he would couenant with them there are as heretofore I haue obserued two remarkabe points the first teaching What God doth require the second What God doth offer And these points must be considered first in themselues wee must see what they meane then betweene themselues we must see how the one depends vpon the other I haue handled the first of these points I haue shewed you what God requires of Israel he requires their absolute obedience and their constant fidelitie that they heare his voice indeed and that they keepe his Couenant It followeth that I now come on to the second point that I shew you what God offers and that which he offers vnto Israel is a gracious Prerogatiue A Prerogatiue is some great good vouchsafed vs wherein wee exceed others and in Gods offer there is a manifold good contained This good is first specified then it is amplified In specifying it God doth first resemble it he telleth the Israelites they shall bee a pecullar treasure Then he brancheth it into a double blessing an eminencie of their state They shall be a Kingdome of Priests and a Sanctitie of their persons They shall be an holy Nation These blessings so specified are also amplified in the words Eritis mihi yee shall be to me It is a great blessing to be a peculiar treasure to be a royall Priesthood to be an holy Nation but to he any of these how much more to bee all these vnto God doth not a little improue our blessing You see the Good is great which they are vouchsafed But wee doe not yet see that the hauing of it is a Prerogatiue It becomes then such if it be not a common good and if therein wee goe beyond others and such is Israels blessing that which God will vouchsafe them to be they shall be aboue all other Nations The offer you see doth containe a Prerogatiue But this Prerogatiue is moreouer Gracious gracious whether you respect the Receiuer or the Giuer the receiuer vos yee persons of no worth the giuer God that hath no want all the earth is mine in so litle worth of theirs and lesse want of Gods to honour them so farre must needs be a worke of Grace I haue laid before you Gods offer All Saints day it deserues your attentiue listning vnto it the day which we solemnize putteth vs in mind of our interest therein and wee may become all Saints because this gracious Prerogatiue is offered to vs all Wherefore that we may partake it let our diligent eares quicken the desire of our hearts to entertaine these particulars which I shall now vnfold vnto you briefly and in their order I begin with the Prerogatiue The Good therein offered is first resembled vnto a peculiar treasure Of the goods which a man hath if a man haue much goods
Causes of flight together and then learne from Saint Iohn Iohn 1.3 20. If our conscience doe accuse vs God is greater then our Conscience and knoweth all things And yet Saint Basil maketh such a liuely Description of the worke of Conscience in Iudgement that a man would thinke nothing could be added to the terrour thereof 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Conscience will so limme out our Liues and be such a Looking Glasse of all our deeds that by an vnspeakable power in a moment of time as we would thinke nothing can better represent our selues to our selues But for all that the Heart of a man is an intricate Labyrinth none knoweth it but God only as God himselfe teacheth in Ieremie 〈◊〉 17 1◠〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 4. As all things are naked before his eyes so will he then bring many things to light which are hid in darknesse When then both these terrours concurre whereof the one so much increaseth the other you will not wonder that the wicked vpon the apprehension thereof betake themselues to flight Flying is their shift but it is a vaine one for whether should they flie when euery creature which at the Creation was made a Souldier in Gods Hoast shall at the last Day become a Iaylour to arrest prisoners and present them at his Assizes What remayneth then but that they that cannot shrinke from the Iudgement â—isdome 17. sinke vnder it For wickednesse condemned by her owne witnesse is very timerous and being prest with Conscience alwayes forecasteth terrible things The man that was but questioned for wanting his Wedding Garment at the Marriage Matth. 2â— grew presently speechlesse Our Sauiour Luke 21. saith that their Iudgement shall come like a snare and indeed in the Psalme we reade that God shall raine vpon the wicked Psal 11. Snares Fire and Brimstone Storme and Tempest this is their partion to drinke Now we know that a Snare doth not only take but ouer-turne the wild beast that is taken therein But if the terrour of the Iudge doe not 〈◊〉 19.12 Vnder whom the mightiest Helpes doe stoope as it is in Iob nor the inextricable suddaines of his Iudgement yet the weight of sinne will crush and beare a Sinner to the ground Dauid in his owne person and conflicts with a guiltie Conscience out of which notwithstanding by Gods mercie he did finally rise yet confesseth that the sense of guilt is like a drowning Floud like a crushing Burden a Burden too Heauie for man to beare and if the righteous that Man after Gods owne Heart when he sell as a man were scarcely saued where shall the Vngodly 1. 〈◊〉 â— and the vnrighteous appeare You see then how true it is that The Vngodly shall not stand in Iudgement Causâ cadent cadent persond themselues with their Cause shall fall to the ground they shall both sinke as low as the Chambers of death But Bonâ— concessum quod impijs negatum as Bede noteth though They shall not yet shall The Righteous stand And no maruell for they shall bee free both from the guilt of Conscience and the terrour of the Iudge And why Their hearts are purified by Faith yea purified from dead workes whatsoeuer is mortall is taken from them for Christ Iesus of God is made vnto them Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 〈…〉 the Law of Life which is in Iesus Christ freeth them from sinne and death so that Rom. 8. Matth. 24. there is no condemnation vnto them which are so in Christ And if there bee no Condemnation then may they Lift vp their heads with ioy when Christ commeth 1. Iohn 3. Luke 21 knowing that their Redemption draweth neere If their Conscience doe not accuse them they may haue boldnesse in the Day of Iudgement they shall stand before the Sonne of Man and his Throne shall be vnto them a Throne of Grace But more distinctly The Standing of the Righteous is opposed to the Flying from and Sinking vnder Iudgement if Adam did flie only because hee was Naked that which remedieth the Nakednesse stayeth the flight now Nakednesse stood in Sinne and Mortalitie both these are remedied in the Resurrection of the Iust The Sinne is all taken away by the Imputation of Christs Righteousnesse and Sanctification of his Spirit The Mortalitie because as they are quickened by Grace in their Soules so their Bodies of Naturall become Spirituall 1. Cor. 15. and their Corruptible puts on Incorruption their Mortall Immortalitie so then there being no part of Nakednesse left there can remayne no cause of Flying And if not of Flying from then not of Sinking vnder Iudgement for that which is the Cause of Flying is the cause of Sinking also but the state of their Person doth deny al possibility of Sinking the Spiritin their Soule is the Pledge of their Inheritance in Heauen and their Bodies which they shall then receiue are not only Houses from Heauen 2. Cor. 5. but such as are fitted for Heauen both carrie vpward and not downward But marke more particularly 1. Thes 4.16 what the Scripture saith of the Resurrection of the iust The Dead in Christ shall Rise first Yea they onely shall Rise from death for the Resurrection of the wicked is not from but vnto Death from one Death vnto another And therefore in Saint Luke onely the Righteous are called Filij Resurrectionis Luke 20.36 because their Resurrection is vnto Life which is properly a Standing the wicked doe but Rise to take a greater fall they fall from a Temporall to an Eternall Death Secondly As the Righteous shall Rife first so being raysed 1. Thes 4.17 Rapientur in occursum They shall be taken vp into the ayre to meete Christ and so shall euer be with him So that except He fall they shall neuer fall they shall be remoued from the Earth which is the place of falling Thirdly they shall be placed at the right Hand of Christ to be taken vp vnto him is to be admitted to a Beatificall Vision Psal 16. for what is our happinesse but to see Him as He is For in his presence there is fulnesse of ioy and if we be placed at His right Hand there is pleasure for euer more secure Honour and endlesse Life if that support vs no feare of falling we shall certainely stand But to put it out of all doubt When we come to the right Hand Matth 9. we shall be set vpon Thrones and shall with Christ iudge the twelue Tribes of Israel 1. Cor. 6 yea the Angels also so farre shall we be from being wofully Passiue that wee shall bee gloriously Actiue in that Iudgement How we shall Iudge is a curious question I will not now vndertake to resolue it it sufficeth to my purpose that howsoeuer we shall Iudge as many as are honoured with that function may well be held Standers they shall neither Shrinke nor Sinke But we may not forget
a booke of record Now then in ore duorum aut trium testium stabit omne verbum if so be doubt should be made of the first booke the booke that is in Heauen it must needs bee put out of all doubt by the threefold booke or record of our sin which God hath prouided here on earth Now wee throughly know the bookes let vs come to King Dauids dele the blotting out of that which is in the book or rather the Record or bill of indictment for as such must we apprehend these bookes There is no doubt but Dauid is primarily sollicitous of the first booke and indeed that is the ground of all the rest and the rest are but imperfect exemplifications of that and if the booke bee cancelled that is in Heauen these on earth will be of no validitie God will not leaue them longer vncancelled if God raze our sinnes out of the booke of his Memorie hee will giue an acquittance also to our Conscience hee will plucke out the tongue of the staines that are in our Bodies and Soules and put to silence the clamours of those Creatures which wee haue abused all those records shall be cancelled and it is for the cancelling of them all that King Dauid doth pray But marke that Hide thy face is not enough except blot out be added God may dissemble the sinnes of men for a time and punish them at length 〈◊〉 32. Moses is taught as much when hauing prayed that God would forgiue the Israelites Idolatrie committed with the golden calfe God was intreated so farre as to hide his face to forbeare them but not to blot out Vos 34. that is to forgiue them for he addeth Neuerthelsse in the day when I visit I will visit their sinnes vpon them the like is to bee obserued in the case of Solomon Ahab Manasses and others Dauid prouideth better for himselfe then so he ioyneth both in his desire and prayeth not onely hide thy face but blot out also and so must we when we seeke forgiuenesse of sinnes It is a cold comfort to a debtor to obtaine of his creditor that he will not looke vpon his obligations hee is not secure except he haue them cancelled neither is a prisoner without feare that is onely repriued and why he may be hanged when he little looketh for it a sinners case is no better then this prisoners or that debtors except God be pleased as well to blot the record as to hide his face But in the petition I obserued that King Dauid doth not only expresse what workes he expects from God but he sheweth withall Whereto and How farre he would haue these works extend 1. Whereto not to his person but to his sinnes hide thy face not from me but from my sinnes for if God should withdraw his countenance from vs destruction and annihilation must needes fall vpon vs our being and our liuing depend vpon the influence of his countenance and indeed our being and our liuing they are his workmanship and to pray God to hide his face from his owne workmanship must needes imply that we would haue God hate what himselfe hath made but God delights to behold that which is of him because it is like him neither doth it feare or blush to come before him It is that which we haue patcht vnto his workmanship which he abhorres to see and which abhorreth to bee seene of him Therefore King Dauid discreetly limiteth the obiect of Gods workes and will haue them worke not vpon his person but vpon his sinne and we may not in our petitions confound these things that are so different wherof the one may endure the other may not these acts of the Prouidence of God what so euer we haue which is of God may without dis-comfort endure his all-seeing Eye and all recording hand therefore wee may not craue in regard of them either hide thy face or blot out both these desires must be restrained to our sinnes And to them all As Dauid doth wisely restraine the acts to his sinne so doth he as wisely extend them to all his sinnes Hee was not ignorant of that Maxime of law Maledictus qui non permanserit in omnibus Deut. 27.26 Cursed is he that abideth not in all that is written in the Law for to doe it ill doth the Shipwright prouide who stopping all other leakes leaues but one for the water may enter thereat and drowne the whole ship euen so seeing euery sinne is mortall wee may not looke for lesse wages for any one sinne then eternall death yea Saint Iames his rule is Reus vnius omnium guiltie of one and guiltie of all And why Cap. 2.10 though in conuersion to the world sinners doe differ yet in auersion from God they all agree he that setteth light by God in breaking one coÌ„mandement doth not out of the feare of God keepe any one happily it is because he is not so prone to or gaineth not so much by other sinnes or some other carnal reason there is but certainly out of the feare of God he doth not forbeare them Therefore King Dauid would haue his sinne pluckt vp by the roots not one sprigge left in him as before hee confest them all ingenuously so doth he here desire that they may all gratiously be pardoned as in the 1. verse he begged great mercy so doth he here expresse how great he would haue it The last thing that I obserued vnto you was the possibilitie that King Dauid should speed in this petition for it may seeme strange that such indulgence should stand with the diuine prouidence that God should See all and yet not See something and Gods Memorie to be a record of all and yet to haue something blotted out Notwithstanding that this is a truth we learne of God himselfe in Esay Ego sum qui deleo iniquitates I am he that blotteth out sinnes and remember them no more the like doth God affirme in Ieremie Cap. 43.25 yea that which the heathen Orator spake flatteringly of Iulius Caesar Cap. 31.34 is most true of God Nihil obliuisci solet nisi iniurias he forgets nothing but the sinnes of penitent suppliants Wherefore to cleare this doubt we must call to mind what I told you before touching Gods face that it signifies not onely his knowledge but also the consequent thereupon his answerable affection now his knowledge is necessarie his affection voluntarie so that though it be impossible that God should be ignorant of any thing yet he may be affected as pleaseth himselfe haue mercie on whom hee will haue mercie and harden whom he will as Saint Paul affirmeth out of Moses When as then hee is moued in pittie towards any whom he is not ignorant to be sinners â—om 9.18 hee is said to turne his face from their sinnes Non aduertit saith Saint Austine in quod non animaduertit his indisposition to punish it is ment by his hiding his face
Zorobabels Temple But that place must be considered not in its meanenesse as it was built by the Iewes but as it was furnished with that glorie whereof heretofore you haue heard that house so adorned was to bee the place of peace Salomons Temple was a place of peace but his peace was but a type it was a worldly peace Zorobabels Temple is also a place of peace but his peace is the truth that answered the former type the peace thereof is heauenly that Temple which had but the type of the glorie had no more but the type of the peace and the truth of the peace rested there where the truth of the glorie was So that there is an emphasis in the words this place the holy Ghost giueth thereby the Iewes to vnderstand that it was not the former but the later Temple whereunto God intended the peace which he promised to Dauid 2 Sam. 7. 2 Chro. 22. Isay 25. 26. and all the promises of peace in the Prophets were to be referred thither this Ierusalem was to answer vnto her name and to be indeed the vision of peace But I told you heretofore that Zorobabels Temple was to be vnderstood not only literally but mystically and so it signifieth not onely that materiall house but also the Christian Church peace is annext vnto this peace Extra Ecclesiam non est salus No saluation without the Church and therefore no peace he shall neuer haue God for his Father that hath not the Church for his Mother In our Creed wee place the holy Catholicke Church and Communion of Saints before the remission of sinnes and life euerlasting As the soule doth not quicken other parts than those that are vnited to the body no more doth the spirit of God giue his blessing of peace to any that are distracted from the body of the Church This must be obserued against all Schismaticks that doe excommunicate them selues and disorderly persons that are iustly excommunicated by the censure of the Church all these while they continue in that state though they doe not lose ius ad pacem yet they doe lose ius in pace though they doe not lose their interest in yet they suspend the benefit of that peace and their state is vncomfortable though it be not irrecouerable And they which follow negligently the assemblies of the Church doe not a little defraud themselues of this peace for they must seeke it chiefly by prayer in Gods house and there doth God dispence it by the mouth of his Ministers I will giue you only two proofes the one our of the Old Testament when the sacrifices were ended which were typicall prayers Num 6.25 Aaron is willed to dismisse the people with these words The Lord blesse thee and keepe thee the Lord make his face shine vpon thee and be gracious vnto thee the Lord lift vp the light of his countenance vpon thee and giue thee peace A second proofe wee haue in the New Testament where the Church doth solemnely vse those words of the Apostle when after the Liturgie it dismisseth the people The peace of God which passeth all vnder standing keep your hearts and mindes c. And what better inuitation can wee haue to repaire often to the Church than this blessing of peaceâ— foure-fold peace which is there daily offered vnto vs and may bee receiued if we come and come prepared for it I say prepared Before you heard that the peace commeth to the house but as it is furnished with the glorie where there is none of the glorie there can be none of the peace therefore wee must prepare these Temples of our bodies and soules by entertainement of the glory that they may be made capable of the peace The Apostle speaketh plainely Rom. 5. Wee must bee iustified by faith before we can haue peace with God Esay 32. If iudgement dwell in the wildernesse and righteousnesse remaine in the fruitfull fielde the worke of righteousnesse shall bee peace 1 Cor. 2. and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for euer God doth annoint vs before he doth establish vs. St. Austin hath a witty conceit vpon the words of the 85. Psalme Righteousnesse and Peace haue kissed each other Duae sunt amicae Iustitia Pax c. Righteousnesse and Peace are two fast friends happely thou wouldest gladly enioy the one but thou wilt not bee perswaded to performe the other for there is no man that would not willingly haue peace but all are not willing to worke righteteousnesse yet be thou assured that if thou dost not loue peace's friend which is righteousnesse peace will neuer loue thee for righteousnesse and peace doe kisse each the other 2 King 9. You know what Iehu answered the King of Israel when he asked him Is it peace Iehu what peace can there bee so long as the whoredomes and witchcrafts of thy mother are so many So may we reply to euery soule vnquiet soule that enquireth after peace Looke for none where there is sinne Well may there bee the enemie assaulting and daily sounding alarums but this securing peace which is Gods garrison cannot bee there So long as the Iewes serued God their enemies could not inuade their borders Exod 34. but then the Temple was exposed to the enemie when the Prophets could not reclaime them from sin It is a good conscience that is a continuall feast You haue heard seuerally of the Peace and the Place you must now heare ioyntly of their knitting together who knits them and How He that knitteth them is God in Christ God is the God of peace so the Apostle calleth him Phil. 4.19 and the Prophet tels vs that he creates light as well as darkenesse and Elihu is so bold as to say Iob 34. that if God giue peace none can hinder it But as God giueth it so hee giueth it in Christ for it is his worke to make peace the Prophet Esay cap. 9. vers 6. calleth him the Prince of peace his true members are Sonnes of peace his Apostles Messengers of peace and his doctrine is the Gospell of peace all the foure specified degrees of peace were wrought by him First he tooke away the guilt of our sinne Esay 53. The chastisement of our peace was layd vpon him For he that knew no sinne was made sinne for vs that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. Secondly hee hath kild the worme for being iustified by faith in him our heart condemnes vs not and we haue confidence towards God so that we can come with boldnesse vnto the throne of grace Thirdly the Law of the spirit of life that is in Iesus Christ doth free vs from the Law of sinne and death Rom. 8. It mortifieth it subdueth the old man and maketh vs walke not according to the flesh but according to the spirit Finally he putteth an end to that discord that is betweene man and man The Prophets foretold that when hee
came the Nations should beat their swords into plough-shares Esay 21 and their speares into pruning hookes Nation shall not lift vp sword against Nation neyther shall they learne warre any more cap. 11. the same Prophet by an allegorie doth elsewhere teach that where Christ commeth and is entertained he doth ciuilize the most barbarous Nations The Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe the Leopard lye downe with the Kid the sucking childe shall play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice denne they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters couer the sea Worthily therfore doth the Apostle call Christ our peace whose kingdome is righteousnes Ephes 2.14 Rom. 14.17 peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Moreouer obserue that to whom we owe our glorie to him wee owe our peace the blessings of God doe much affect vs as being good but except we haue securitie in the possession of them wee lose most of our content for it is a great accession to miserie once to haue been happy and plus refert vndè quà m quò cadas he that taketh a downe-fall from an high place is more sensible of that which he hath lost than of that which he suffers Therefore the addition of peace vnto glory doth import no small comfort which Esay also foretold cap. 4. Vpon all the glory shall be a defence The Apostle speaketh significantly Phil. 4.7 The peace of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bee as a Court of guard to keep our hearts and mindes in the state of grace whereunto we are brought by Christ They that are rich and are to conuey their goods by sea or land haunted with theeues pyrants doe thinke themselues to be so much more or lesse bound to those that will secure their passage as their goods are more or lesse precious Goods of greater price than is the glorie of the house before specified there cannot be how great then is our debt vnto Christ who safe conducts vs with our glorie through the wildernesse of this world maugre the might and malice of the Serpent and the Lion of all our deadly foes You haue heard who settleth the peace in the place you must now heare how Hee giueth it And it is truly tearmed a gift for whereas there are two kindes of peace one made betweene parties whereof each is able to make good his quarrell against the other yet they are contented to auoyde trouble to agree vpon reasonable conditions the other kinde of peace is that which a conqueror out of his goodnesse vouchsafeth to persons subdued which are at his mercie and whom by the law of armes he might make slaues Our peace is of this later sort we all deserued to bee captiues to the diuell for wee were all become children of wrath by Adams sinne Ephes 2.3 When we lay thus weltring in our bloud no other eye pitying vs then God said vnto man Thou shalt liue Ezech. 16. Hee gaue him this peace therefore is peace a free gift Neyther a free gift onely but a stable also they are not induciae but pax not a cessation from armes for a time that admitteth a returne to warre againe but a reconciliation for euer a couenant of salt Gods mercie shall not depart and this couenant shall not be remoued Esay 54.10 Ezech. 37. Prou. 1. v. vlt. You haue heard what the peace is the place where it resteth by whom and how they are ioyned together what remaineth but that euery man enquire whether he haue this peace or not in this enquirie we must proceede ascendendo not descendendo the lower must assure vs of the vpper degree The abolishing of the guilt of our sinne is the darkest branch of our peace which wee know onely by faith But for the triall of this point of faith we must haue recourse to our conscience and inquire what peace we find there For the peace of our conscience is the looking glasse of that peace which we haue with God if we finde none there we haue none with God and we may be sure we haue it with God if we finde it truly there Truely I say for a man may be deceiued in the triall of his conscience many haue quiet consciences but it is because they are seared Wherefore we must looke one steppe lower and iudge of the second degree of our peace by that which we finde in the third we must see it in our mortification and subiection of the flesh to the spirit for iustification which doth quiet the conscience is inseparable from sanctification which doth reforme our nature Finally to remoue all doubt concerning sanctification we must looke to the effects thereof for a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and our conuersation will testifie our sanctification if our deeds be seasoned with charitie the spirit of God doth rest in our soules This inquirie is most behoofe full in these daies wherein more talke of peace than doe partake thereof partake I say of that true and full peace which here is meant by Haggai Yet lest men stumble by ouer great curiosity and dis-hearten themselues for the diuell is apt to make men as well despaire that they haue not peace when they haue it as to presume that they haue it when they haue it not wee must distinguish inter pacem viatoris and comprehensoris the peace of the Church militant and that of the Church triumphant Touching the Church militant it hath outward crosses and inward conflicts We doe not alwaies apprehend the light of Gods countenance it is often ouercast and hee is despleased with vs but it is as a father with his childe of whom the Poet Sit licet in natos facies austera parentum Aequa tamen semper mens est amica voluntas Therefore the cloud will dissolue and the light will cheere vs againe The worme is not so dead but if we sinne it will giue vs a remembrance a happy remembrance for it awakeneth vs to repent and beleeue which so soone as we doe the smart is at an end The law of our members will often times rebell against the law of our mindes and carrying vs captiue vnto sin will make vs cry out with St. Paul Rom. 7. O wretch that I am who shall deliuer mee front this body of death but the conclusion is comfortable Thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Finally very often when we speak vnto men of peace they will prepare themselues to war for except we will riot communicate with them in their sin they will hate vs so that we must redeeme our inward peace with an outward war In this case let it be our comfort that much happier is the war that keeps vs close to God than that peace which will separate vs from him Psal 23. Though I walke in the middest of the valley of
more tentations no more foyles no more reproches euea when we shall fall asleepe we may lay our selues downe in peace and take our rest for Christ which only can will make vs dwell in safety As securely as himselfe rested in the graue so shall our flesh rest in hope there is the first taste of our victorie But when wee awake wee shall drinke our fill of it and shall with the Saints in the Reuelation yea in this Chapter insult and say O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie Thankes bee vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. But he is Typus not only victoriae but vitae also and that of grace and glorie Fulgent p. 714. Of grace in Baptisme and of glorie at the last day so the Fathers distinguish Resurrectio carnis Christi gratiam nobis corporalis spiritualis resurrectionis attribuit it raiseth out of both sleepes the spirituall and corporall and they doe it by the direction of St. Paul for he makes him a Type of both but in a different fashion Of the first he is Typus analogicus of the second exemplaris Wee are buried with Christ in Baptisme that as Christ dyed and rose againe from the dead so should we walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.3 Christ then in his Resurrection doth first preach vnto vs rising from sinne And indeed if the name Christus did imply the cause of his Resurrection the name of Christians must imply the cause of ours no hope of an answerable resurrection if we haue not a part in the vnction for the first resurrection doth fit vs for the second If we haue saith St. Paul Phil. 3 our conuersation in heauen we may looke for our Sauiour which shall change our vile bodies and make them like vnto his glorious body This all should thinke vpon that little intend the first and yet looke for the second Resurrection whereas a spirituall body can be the Tabernacle of none but a spirituall soule and wee must feele the answer of a good conscience to Godward before we can bee begotten to a liuely hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Nyssen de opif. hom c. 22. yea wee must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foretaste glorie by the vse of grace And if a man haue the Spirit of grace Theophylact comforts him well Ne angaris animo quod mort ali corpore cinctus sis c. bee not disheartned when thou lookest vpon thy house of clay the Spirit of life that is in Iesus freeth vs from the Law as of sinne so of death for if the spirit of him that raised Iesus from the dead dwell in thy mortall body he that raised Iesus from the dead will also quicken thy mortall body by the spirit that dwelleth in thee Rom 8. There is one thing more noted by the first fruits Leuit. 1. they were put on the Altar but not burnt to note that they were ready for God without fire The Crosse of Christ hath made an end of all affliction there remaines nothing for vs but acceptation that wee bee presented vnto God in his Temple and receiued into those heauenly Tabernacles These be the things that the First fruits doe teach and whereof we may not doubt for therefore the Fathers tell vs that Christs resurrection is not only Auspex and Examplar but also fidei iussor Theodoret. yea chirographum nostrae resurrectionis they make a faire demonstration of it Primitiae habent cognationem cum vniuerso eo cuius sunt Primitiae the first fruits and that whose first fruits they are must needes be of the same kinde The cognation then is betweene Christs manhood and ours in that he opened vnto vs the new and liuing way Heb. 9. Non est dubit andum de consortio gloriae sicut non est dubit andum de consortio naturae And therefore the Fathers in the Primitiue Church testified their faith by standing vpright this day and many following daies while they prayed not onely to remember themselues whither their desires should tend but also to testifie that this day is quodammodo imagoventuri saeculi a representation of our blessed rising from the dead It is true that as the Easter first fruits were presented before those at Whitsontide so God hath put a distance between Christs resurrection ours we must stay our time yet the first fruits wils vs to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee as sure as if wee were already risen The last note that I will giue vpon Primitiae is that they are Primitia dormientium the first fruits of them that slept the same flesh awakes which slept that first slept in sinne and then for sinne And is not this a wonderfull mercie This flesh if you looke to the basenesse of it how much more if to the sinnefulnesse may seeme vnworthy of so great glorie but God doth vouchsafe it and leaues vs to stand and wonder at it He that could haue created new bodies chooseth rather to repaire our old that this our vnworthinesse might the more commend his goodnesse hee will make these quondam Iustfull eyes itching eares bloudy hands c. fit to doe him seruice in the kingdome of Heauen But it is time to conclude I will shut vp all with a few admonitions that spring from the Text. There is in euery man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall querulousnesse against death This Text will silence it for the remembrance of the Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius speakes furnisheth vs with a shield to quench that fiery dart it will make vs resolue that death is better than life because the passage to a better life For the Resurrection is Pascha Transitus death is not meta but via not our iournies end but the passage thereunto but it is to them that are Christians that are according to the inner man Temples of the holy Ghost for where grace is Leo de Pasch Serm. 13. there is the passage vnto glorie Quare appareant nun◠quoque in Ciuitate sancta i.e. in Ecclesia Dei futurae Resurrectionis indicia quod gerendum est in corporibus fiat in cordibus Let our renued hearts bee vnto vs a pledge that our bodies shall be renued But grace must be Paschall transitus sine reditu wee must so rise from sinne that we returne not like dogges to our vomit 1 Pet. 2. and like swine to our wallowing in the myre Serm 10. de Pasch St. Bernard complained of many in his dayes Qui sacram Domini Resurrectionem Paschae priuabant nomine to whom it was not Transitus but Reditus that though they kept the Feast for a day and did partake the Sacrament also yet after all this turned as good fellowes as euer they were before I would it were not so with vs also That it is so with the vulgar people the Tauernes can witnesse that are neuer better furnisht
good vse of your indulgence as to be ashamed and reclaimed Wherefore as St. Iude obserues you must saue some with feare and plucke them out of the fire wherein they would burne themselues you must compell them to learn and obey the law of the God of Ezra the true God whereupon followeth also the next point which is they will the more easily be brought to doe the Kings law Of obseruing lawes in generall I need say no more than I haue but the iniquity of the times wills mee to remember you that lawes must bee obeyed though they be the lawes of the King of Persia this is the second caution The Proctors of Rome though they dare not flatly deny it yet so sophystically handle it that what with subiecting the scepter of Kings to the command of Popes and exempting of such persons and cases as seeme good vnto him they vndermine what they would seeme to yeeld and the most they grant is no more nor no longer than their Holy Father doth that 's too much or hereafter will allow them If hee will abrogate all they must acknowledge none no lawes of a King of Persia a King that is not of their religion Others haue learnedly and sufficiently shaken their grounds and my Text is an argument of no small force to resolue the consciences of such as doubt whether a different religion doth euacuate the power of a lawfull Soueraigne It doth not though it be a false religion how much more when it is the true and the King our King commands onely for the God of Ezra the true God and enioynes no other worship of him than according to his owne lawes the vndoubted register whereof is the sacred Word of God Wherefore you must bee as the earth mentioned in the Reuelation cap. 12. and swallow all those waters that the dragon casts forth to drowne the woman you must crush these seedes of rebellion which ayme at nothing but the ouerthrow of true Religion And how must you crush it euen by punishment And so I come to the second worke of iudgement from the precept to the sanction which containes the second limitation of the power Wherein I obserue first how farre the Magistrate may draw his sword Looke how farre his prouidence doth reach so farre may his vengeance reach also The reward of sinne is death eternall death to violate Gods Lawes or the Kings is no lesse than sinne it should therefore be reuenged with eternall death But behold here vnspeakeable mercie God would haue vs iudged here by men that we be not condemned hereafter by him This is the proper end of the keyes and the sword of the power that is in the Prince and the Pastor The occasion draweth mee to speake of the Sword yet let me giue you this Item touching the Keyes that malefactors must remember that for euerie of their offences challengable by the Law of man they owe a repentance vnto God and the greater their offence the deeper should be their repentance Which I the rather note because there are too many of them that scarce giue glorie vnto God when they suffer by the Law and if they escape make no conscience at all of their sin as if how soeuer they speed at the iudgement seat of men they were not to take heed that they be not cast at the barre of God which the first Councell of Nice well corrected when imitating Gods law without preiudice to the ciuill sword it appointed sundrie yeares penance according to the grieuousnesse of sinne Sed pristino rigori non sumus pares the Liturgie of our Church saith that it were to bee wished but the iniquitie of the times that it is not to be hoped Secondly seeing your power should touch men with a losse temporall to keepe them from a losse eternall you see what wrong you doe them when you suffer them to spend their dayes in loosenesse and in a moment as Iob speaketh though from their beds they goe quicke down into hell how much better were it for them if with one hand or one eye they might goe into heauen than hauing both to bee cast into hell O then let the righteous rebuke them yea smite them rather than that your precious balmes should breake their heads yea slay their soules spare nothing that is temporall so you may preserue them from the paine which is eternall You see how farre you may draw the sword But when you strike your strokes must bee proportionable to their sinnes but the proportion must not be Arithmeticall but Geometricall they must be secundum merita but not aequalia meritis you may punish intra but not vltra medum so doth God who notwithstanding doth punish in number weight and measure Semper aliquid detrahit de poenae atrocitate as Nazianzene speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth temper mercie with iudgement In the hand of the Lord there is a cup the wine thereof is red and it is full mixt whereof though his children offending drinke yet only the incorrigible wicked drinke the dregs thereof And the same Father writing to the Emperours Deputie reckoning vp his vertues demands this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what shall I say of your clemencie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here you decline something but he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot much blame you you haue God for your patterne who in Hosea speakes thus of himselfe How shall I giue thee vp O Ephraim how shall I deliuer thee O Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Seboim my heart is turned within mee my repentings are rouled together I will not execute the fiercenesse of my wrath c. You must wisely then temper iudgement and mercie but so that mercie doe not hinder iudgement and yet that of the two mercie reioyce against iudgement And thus haue you heard what a Iudge may and must doe he may take the sword and must vse it against malefactors but with the conditions of the vse and limitations of the power specified in my text The conditions are two he must vse it timely and indifferently the limitations also two he must extend it to all transgressions of both Tables and intend it according to their transgressions And the end of all must bee by a temporall punishment to saue the wicked from eternall paine or if that will not bee that the blood of all cursing Shimei's and factious Ioabs and irreligious Abiathars also may bee vpon their head and the head of their seed but vpon Dauid our Dauid vpon his house and vpon his throne vpon this whole Church and Common weale may bee peace for euer from the Lord. MOst mighty most mercifull Lord who to preserue sincere pietie and secure peace in the Church and Common weale hast put the sword into the hands of mortall men and for the vse thereof hast aduanced them aboue their Brethren we humbly beseech thee so to sanctifie them with thy grace whom
depart He then that deales treacherously with his wife by taking another while she liues is guiltie not onely of sinne against her but also against GOD and he should be so guiltie though he were diuorced diuorce may goe so farre as to part their companie for a time but it dissolues not the bond of Matrimonie no though both sides be willing to haue it dissolued they may renounce their owne right they cannot renounce Gods without his consent the Obligation which he layeth vpon them cannot be cancelled he that marrieth a second wife euen after diuorce deales treacherously for marriage implyes indiuiduam vitae consuetudinem so strait a tye that whom God hath conioyued Math. 19. 1 Cor. 7. no man can put asunder and diuorce was granted onely for the hardnesse of the Iewes hearts therefore they that are diuorced must be reconciled againe or remaine vnmarried to any other And if it be Adulterie vpon diuorce to marrie againe how much more is it Adulterie to marrie without a diuorce And this is your case which are the Penitent I know you had a faire pretence your wife was lewd she ran from you she was seuen yeeres absent you heard she was dead faire pretences and they doe you this good that they keepe off from you the stroake of seuerer Iustice But though they diminish your fault they doe not altogether excuse it the death of your wife was not hastily to be belieued you should haue legally proued it before you ventred vpon a second match And as for her forsaking you it was a foule fault but you ought not to haue recompenced euill with euill and become an Adulterer because she was an Adulteresse if you will partake of her sinne you must partake of her punishment at least in part The full punishment of Adulterie is verie great temporall eternall in this life MOSES Law did cut off Adulterers by death Leu. 20. and if the Adulterer be a Polygamist our Law also excepting in some cases inflicteth death vpon him 1 Cor. 5. The Apostles Canon doth excommunicate him Neither is an Adulterer onely punishable in this world his case is much worse in the world to come for the Apostle threatens it with eternall death except they repent 1 Cor. 6. Hebr. 13. God himselfe will iudge Adulterers and they shall neuer enter into the Kingdome of Heauen Make you then good vse of this your Ecclesiasticall penance that so you may preuent GODS eternall vengeance There is one clause more in this second branch of the Exhortation whereat I will touch and so end The person against whom the Iowe offended is here called the wife of his youth he marryed her in his younger yeeres and now in his elder set his affection vpon some other It is thought that the Iewes returning from Captiuitie brought with them their wiues poore in state worne and withered in their bodyes with carking and caring and that thereupon to relieue their wants and satisfie their lusts with richer and fairer women they fell to these second matches And indeed pouertie and deformitie are shrewd temptations to worldly and carnall men but this phrase teacheth that the woman whom a man loueth in youth he must loue her in age the longer they haue beene wedded the more must be their loue and it is a greater fault to play false with an old wife then with a young bride Men must euer keepe in mind the promise they made at their marriage I take thee to my wedded wife to haue and to hold for better for worse for richer for poorer in sicknesse and in health till death vs doe part But I end and SOLOMON shall make my conclusion Prou. 2. Drinke waters out of thine owne cisterne and running waters out of thine owne well Let the fountaines be dispersed abroad and riuers of waters in the streetes Let them be onely thine owne and not strangers with thee Let the fountaine be blessed and reioyce with the wife of thy youth Let her be as the louing Hind and pleasant Roe Let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou rauisht alwayes with her loue And why wilt thou my sonne be rauisht with a strange woman and embrace the bosome of a stranger For the wayes of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his doings Let vs all walke in the Spirit and not in the Flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof So shall God blesse vs and our posteritie here on Earth and after this life we shall be reckoned in the number of those Virgines which follow the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT St CVTBERTS IN WELLES WHEN CERTAINE PERSONS DID PENANCE FOR BEING AT CONVENTICLES WHERE A WOMAN PREACHED 1 TIMOTH 2. VERSE 11 c. 11 Let the woman learne in silence with all subiection 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to vsurpe authoritie ouer the man but to be in silence 13 For Adam was first formed then Eue. 14 And Adam was not deceiued but the woman being deceiued was in the transgression THIS Epistle is a Booke of Ecclesiasticall Canons therein St PAVL doth instruct TIMOTHIE Bishop of Ephesus how he should guid his censures in regard as well of the discipline as the doctrine of the CHVRCH Amongst others in this Chapter we haue two Canons which serue to correct the mis-beuauiour of Christian women Their mis-behauiour was twofold They did glorie in the monument of their shame and they aduanced themselues aboue the condition of their sex The monument of shame is Apparell for there was no need thereof while we were cloathed with Innocencie but when the conscience of our sinne made vs loathsome in our eyes then did we betake our selues vnto this couert to hide our vile selues from our counfounded senses we put on cloathes Vpon this ground St PAVL tels women I may adde men also for we liue in an age wherein it is hard to say whether in cloathes men grow more womannish or women more mannish but here St PAVL tels women that if they will be gaye and fine indeed they must attire themselues according to that fashion whereinto God at first put them not according to that which sinne hath forced vpon them they must adorne themselues not with the burnished and embelished elements or rather excrements of this lower world but with the graces and vertues that come from Heauen so shall they haue a conuersation well suited with their profession and make themselues louely in the eyes as well of God as men This is the summe of the first Canon the Canon that corrects womens glorying in the monument of shame which is their Apparell To this St PAVL adds a second which corrects their aduancing themselues aboue their sexe and it is contained in those words which now I haue read vnto you The better to vnderstand this Canon we must resolue it into a Rule and the Reason which the Apostle giues for the same In the
lest the place of their habitation should be polluted by them The same GOD that would not indure that persons though but ceremonially polluted should abide in the Campe could much lesse endure the flagitious amongst his people Num. 5. his Tents are holy and onely for holy persons And we that beleeue in our Creed that the CHVRCH is holy should remoue from amongst vs all profane all blaspheming persons Whereby you the Penitent must vnderstand what you deserue at the hands of the CHVRCH And let this suffice for the spirituall punishment I come now to the Temporall And that I told you is vltimum and ignominiosissimum supplicium Vltimum for it is no lesse then death the partie must be put to death GOD held him vnworthy to breathe whose impious mouth breathed out such hellish contumelies against GOD. By GODS Law seuerall sinnes haue seuerall punishments and the punishments are proportioned to the sinnes we may argue strongly when GOD is the Law-giuer that if the punishment be great vndoubtedly the sinne is haynous GOD doth often punish citra but neuer vltra condignum Blasphemie therefore is indeed a deadly sinne that must be so accounted by GODS Iudgements not onely in foro poli in case of conscience but also in foro soli at the Tribunall of a mortall Iudge whose eye cannot discerne as doth the eye of GOD surely that must needs be verie foule which must be so foule in his eye Euen in this also may you the Penitent take the scantling of your sinne The punishment is not onely vltimum but ignominiosissimum most ignominious and that whether you looke vpon the Execution or the Executioners The Execution for the malefactor was to be stoned to death and that was mors not cominus but eminus illata the Executioners stood aloofe as if they did abhorre to touch the person with their hands and therefore pursued him with stones Adde hereunto the circumstances wherewith they were to doe it no sooner did they heare the Blasphemie but they rent their cloathes stopt their eares gnashed with their teeth threw dust in the ayre cryed out with their voyces and ran against the malefactor with a kind of furie yea and they afflicted their soules with fasting also these circumstances shall you find in the execution of St Stephen and Naboth misaplyed indeed but yet I suppose they set forth the right manner of proceeding because we find some of them in the storie of Hezekiah Ier. 36. when he heard the blasphemie of Rabsache and the Princes of Iudah are taxed for that they neither sorrowed nor rent their cloathes when Iehoiakim the King burnt the Prophesie of Ieremie In the storie of Naboth it appeares that if the Father were stoned for blasphemie all his children also dyed with him But that seemeth to be a straine beyond the Law because by the politike Law of the Iewes the child was not to dye for the sinne of his father and yet in the storie of Achan you haue a precedent of a larger extent for his sacriledge was punished not onely in his owne person but also in his whole Family all the liuing were stoned to death and their dead bodyes with all their goods were afterward consumed by fire A fearefull Iudgement and yet was his sinne lesse then Blasphemie for Blasphemie is the highest degree of Sacriledge There is no proportion betweene earthly things consecrated to GOD and the Nature the Attributes the Workes of GOD of how much sorer punishment then is he worthy that robbeth GOD of the latter then he that robbs him of the former Heare this and tremble you that stand here guiltie of that great Sacriledge Surely if the Execution doe not make you tremble at the ignominie that is due vnto you the Executioners may Let vs come then to them And who are they We haue here set downe their number all the Congregation Prince and people none must thinke himselfe too good when the case so neerely concernes GOD not onely the most but euen the best also must stoope to that which is otherwise thought to be base as it is but an ignoble profession to be an Executioner when GODS glorie must be vindicated and the wrong done thereunto must be reuenged all must shew that they are sensible of GODS dishonor GODS did I say yea their owne which is enwrapt in GODS for all are wronged by a Blasphemer because GOD which is reproacht is honoured by them all And can any man be patient to heare him so blasphemed whom himselfe doth honour Adde hereunto that this multitude of Executioners was to strike the greater horror and confusion into the Blasphemer for when he saw himselfe conuicted of all iudged of all how could he but giue glorie vnto GOD and confesse that his sinne was most haynous of a truth Finally the number was to be a bridle vnto all GOD would haue euerie one really obliged neuer to dare to commit the same sin for which he had so publikely punished another and that with his owne hand Out of all that hath beene said concerning the number of the Executioners we learne this good lesson That though it be a pious thing for a man to forgiue his owne disgraces and reproaches yet it is impious to forgiue GODS GOD is well pleased with the former because he can make vs amends for our patience and is able to blesse when others curse vs but patience in GODS wrongs can haue no excuse for what amends can be made him or what Superiour is there that can counteruaile that wrong Though this be an vndoubted truth see notwithstanding the peruerse disposition of the world how sensible are we of our owne wrongs how eagerly doe we endeauour to right our selues and our reputation by Law yea and against Law pretending the Lawes of honour we pursue euen but seeming yea and oftentimes fained disgraces with duels vnto death to the vtter ruine of those which haue disgraced vs But of GODS honour we are most senselesse let Varlets and miscreants for they deserue no better name that haue such foule mouthes profane the sacred Name of GOD hellishly rent in pieces as a vile thing the precious ransome of the CHVRCH the sacred person and parts of our Sauiour CHRIST how many be there that laugh at them but as mad fellowes and where is he that thinketh that the reuenge of this doth concerne him Certainly farre off is our Congregation from ioyning altogether to stone him But lest you should thinke that this was a tumultuary proceeding I must supply out of former words the order which was obserued therein For the witnesses that heard the Blasphemie were to be Leaders in this proceeding they were first to impose their hands vpon him and set their hands against him This ceremonie though practised in other Iudgements as appeares in the 13 and 17 Chapters of Deuteronomie yet seemeth to haue its originall here and imports two things first the truth of their testimonie so that if the
to cure with his Humility when he stooped vnto the ignominious death of the Crosse But it was not Hysop alone wherewith hee desired to be purged but Hysop dipt in the holy water and this doth intimate yet more fully that the expiation was to be made by Christ for to say nothing that the red Cow slaine whose blood was sprinkled directly before the Tabernacle was as all other sacrifices a Type of Christ those things that are principally to be marked in Christ were most liucly represented in the things that were burnt with the Cowe For there were to bee cast in Cedar wood Hysop and Scarlet The Cedar is the highest of all trees and well representeth the Deity of Christ 〈◊〉 4.33 Hysop in the History of Solomons knowledge in naturall things is opposed vnto the Cedar as the lowest of plants and may well note Christs Manhood the Scarlet is an excellent representation of his bloody death according to that in the Prophet Esay 〈◊〉 63.1 2. who is this that commeth from Edom with died garments from Bozra wherefore art thou red in thy apparell c. And indeed Christs blood is the Bath of purification it clenseth from all our sinnes if wee haue our hearts sprinkled therewith wee shall bee free from euill consciences Heb. 10.22 9 14 Zach. 13.1 our consciences shall bee freed from dead workes to serue the liuing God Finally his Spirit is that fountaine that is opened vnto the house of Israel Eâ—ek 36.25 and the cleane waters that in Ezekiel God promised to poure vpon his Church without Christ the vertue of his death and worke of his Spirit God purifieth no man The Heathen had their Aquam lustralem their holy water and so hath the Church of Rome also but the Heathen holy water had no respect vnto Christs blood the Romish would seeme to haue but sanctifying Ceremonies without Gods warrant are fruitles not only so but spirituall vsurpations If we expect purification from sinne wee must tye our selues vnto Christs death and not looke to partake the benefit of it but by such meanes as are ordained of God Mat. 15 9. for the Spirit breatheth where it will not where wee will so that in vaine shall we serue God if therein wee follow no better guide then the commandements of men And let this suffice touching the Person to whom King Dauid directs his Prayer Hauing thus seuerally considered What King Danid begs and Of whom by ioyning the points together wee must see with what confidence hee expects the successe of his Prayer The first point of confidence is implyed in the words purge wash for the Original hath it thou shalt purge thou shalt wash And indeed such future tenses are Propheticall wishes and why Faith in prayer hath an eye to Gods promise and therefore a hope of his performance 2 â—â—moth 2.12 and why God cannot deny himselfe hee euer will be as good as his word Numbers 19 hee commands the carnall purifying and promiseth the successe and shall hee deny successe vnto the spirituall if wee obserue it Certainly hee will not A second branch of Considence appeareth in the resolute affirmations I shall bee cleane I shall bee whiter then snow which import that as God will bee constant in keeping his word so hee will bee powerfull in accomplishing the deed no doubt of the Effect when hee is pleased to bee the Efficient 〈◊〉 19. Vos 1â— A cleane person saith the Ceremonie shall purge him that is vncleane and hee shall bee purified And who so cleane as God in comparison of whom the best of his creatures are vncleane If the carnall purification may be expected from a mortall man how much more may we expect the spirituall from our immortall God But marke here is not onely expected a freedome from sinne but also a furniture of grace not only innocency spirituall but Beauty also so saith Dauid I shall be cleane that is innocent yea I shall be white that is beautifull Parum est mundari a sordibus peccatorum Ruffin in huâ— locum nisi contingat decorari candore virtutum it is a cold comfort to bee freed from impurity except wee be beautified with sanctitie But where sinne abounded Rom. â— 20 grace abounded much more sinne stripped vs of our originall Righteousnes and wounded vs in our naturall power and grace doth not only heale vs againe but restore vs also to whatsoeuer we lost The same God that in the Law commanded that when a captiue Israelite was set free he should not goe away empty Detr 15.13 â— but be furnished liberally with whatsoeuer God had blest his Master is not fast handed towards vs when hee freeth vs from the death of sinne but adornes vs as beseemes the spouse of Christ White is the colour of Saints Mark 9.3 it appeares in the Transfiguration of Christ and in the apparitions of Angels in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn more then once as likewise in Daniel so that that phrase implyeth that the effect of Christs purifying is not onely Grace but Glory also yea vnspeakable Glory so the comparison will haue vs vnderstand it when Dauid saith that he shall be whiter then sâ—ow It was a gracious promise that was made Psal 68. though yee haue hen amongst the pots Vers 13. yet shall ye be as the wings of a Doue couered with siluer and her feathers with yellow gold yea when the Almighty scattered Kings for his Church shee was as white as snow in Salmon here Dauid goeth a step farther Vers 14. whiter then snow And indeed well may wee resemble spirituall things by corporall and eternall by temporall for that the one doth somewhat resemble the other but equall them we cannot we may not by reason of the many degrees wherby the corporall is exceeded by the spirituall and the temporall by the eternall I conclude Who can say I haue made my heart cleane I am free from sin Prou. 20. Lib. 1. c. 5. No man for Habet cor vniuscuiusque saith S. Austin in his Confessions quod offendat oculos Dominisscio fateor there is not the best of vs that hath not touched the dead that is not infected with dead works it beseemeth the best of vs to say with S. Austin scio fateor I know I acknowledge it but we must go on with S. Austin quis mundabit who shall make me cleane and resolue with him cui alteri praeter te Domine clamabo ab occultis munda me Domine Psal 19 12. O Lord I haue none to whom I may hopefully call but to thee Lord clense me from my secret faults or in the words of my Text Purge me with Hysop and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall bee whiter then snow AMEN GOd grant we may all so wash our garments white in the blood of the Lamb during these dayes of Grace that we may hereafter walk with him in white robes when we shal
sacrificium visibile fuit inuisibilis sacramentum Sacrifices were but shadowes of good things to come as S. Paul speaketh to the Hebrewes There was in them a signe and a thing signified and the signe was commanded not for it selfe but for the thing signified to represent our Ransome or to testifie our Homage Seperate or oppose the signe and the thing signified and presently you corrupt Gods ordinance and then God doth not desire God doth not delight in such Sacrifices For in the case of our Ransome if you separate what doe you but transferre the price of Christs sauing blood vnto the contemptible blood of bulles and goates the legall Sacrifices did purifie the flesh Acts 13. and made men sit for the visible congregation not for the inuisible without their reference to the death of Christ and therefore doth Saint Paul say that by him all that beleeue are iustified from all those things from which they could not be iustified by the Law of Moses And what wonder seeing our Ethicks or Oeconomicks or Politicks whatsoeuer vertue we haue priuate or publike if it find any grace in the eyes of God it is commended by the death by the Obedience of Christ If wee may not seperate much lesse may wee oppose the signe to the thing signified set Moses against Christ and in defence of his sacrifices vilifie the sacrifice of Christ And yet such blind zeale transported many of the Iewes who so became guilty of sacrilegious blasphemie That which is true concerning our Ransome holds also concerning our Homage wee may not separate wee may not oppose the signe and the thing signified If wee separate what doe wee but giue a beast vnto God and a man vnto the Diuell and seeing the gift measureth the respect to whom we giue the best it is an argument that wee loue him most Hee that so sacrificeth in stead of honouring doth dishonour God Oppose the signe to the thing signified and then wee doe plainly dishonour our selues for if wee offer what wee thinke best then in our iudgement wee are not so good as a beast and hee that iudgeth so deserueth rather to goe for a beast then a man And how should God accept any thing from him that doth so basely vnderualew himselfe Certainly when such persons come with such Sacrifices it may truely then be said God doth not desire them God doth not delight in them Greg. Mag. The rather because as I told you God in his Ordinance did prescribe as well opus operantis as opus operatum Attendit Deus saith S. Gregory ad affectum magis quà m ad censum nec animaduertit quantum in eius sacrificio sed ex quanto proficiscatur Sacrifices passe with God not according to the worth of the offering but the good will of the offerer if that bee wanting the rest findeth no acceptance Out of this which you haue heard you may learne why the Prophets doe so declaime against the Ceremoniall worship and why they speake so contemptibly of it they are not to be vnderstood absolutely but relatiuely relatiuely to the Cautions of the Law which are two first a sound opinion of the Offering and secondly a religious deuotion in the Offerer When mens opinions did not conioyne orderly the signe with the thing signified or when they came not piously affected to the seruice of God then God did not desire their Sacrifice he did not delight in their burnt offerings In a word in their Ceremoniall worship there was Aliquid Primarium and Aliquid Secundarium there was something to haue the preheminence and something that was but to attend that when two such things meet Math. 23.23 then Christs rule is good Hoc opportet facere illud non omittere we must spend our greatest deuotion vpon the Principall but not neglect the Secundarie Had the Iewes kept themselues within these bounds God would neuer haue derogated from that which they did by his owne Ordinance And if for our abuse God so dis-regard what himselfe commands how vile will corporall worship which man doth iustitute bee in his eyes when it is soured with the same leauen Which yeeldeth a good Item to the Church of Rome whose deuotion is most changeable in this kind But all this while I haue taken the words Sacrifice and burnt offering at large I told you that the Argument of the Psalme draweth them into a narrower roome In relation to King Dauids case they note vnto vs the two parts of the Reconciliatory Offerings the Sinne offering and the Holocaust and then my Text is not only true in relation to the opinion and deuotion of men but absolutely true according to the tenor of the Law For sinnes for which a man may be reconciled vnto God by Legall sacrifices are either only Ceremoniall pollutions or if morall defects then they were onely such as came from ignorance or infirmitie as you may read in the fourth fifth and sixth Chapters of Leuiticus touching the latter and touching the former in the 12.14 and 15. Chapters But if a man sinned with an high hand if that which hee committed were a crying sinne God left the malefactors to the sword of the Magistrate there was no Sacrifice appointed to discharge him from such kind of guilt as God teacheth Numb 15. and in this sense God sent Eli word 1. Sam. 13.4 that the iniquity of his house should not be purged with sacrifice nor offerings for euer Vers 14. And to that purpose speaketh God also Esay 22. of the enormous sinnes of the Iewes Surely this iniquity shall not bee purged from you Quaest ad Gentil proaspos quaest 97. till you die saith the Lord of Hoasts stoning heading hanging were the expiation of such sinnes as Iustin Martyr teacheth But wee may not mistake when God visited such enormous sinnes with corporall plagues then to stay his punishing hand from proceeding Num 16.46 Sacrifice might be offered Aaron with incense stood betweene the dead and the liuing when the plague of God was vpon Israel and staid his wrath 〈…〉 Dauid sheathed the sword of the punishing Angel with a Sacrifice on the threshing floore of Araunah Hezechias expiated the Idolatry of his Fathers time yea and by Iob it seemeth that the wrath of 〈◊〉 may be preuented too for he sacrficed lest peraduenture his sonnes 〈…〉 Hasphemed But God would not exempt them by any Sacrifice 〈◊〉 the Magistrate he left their soules to take benefit of the dayly 〈…〉 and their bodies to publike iustice who were disturbers of the â—â—â—â—like peace either of Church or Common-weale Where by the way you may learne how holy God would haue his people that in cases where the Magistrate could not touch them would haue them touched in conscience and by Sacrifice seeke their peace with God and not giue the same priuiledge to their heauenly estate as he did vnto the worldly But to apply this vnto King Dauids case and therein to see the
God many enormous sinnes had neuer beene committed neither would the people so familiarly shift their Religion at the becke of their superiour But aboue all vsurpations of Gods glorie in this kind take notice of the Votiue blind obedience of the Religious Romanists especially of the Iesuites they make it a part of their solemne profession and put it in practise impiously and mischieuously as the world hath palpaple and woful proofe True it is that they pretend good limitations set to their Vow as that the superiour must not be obeyed against Gods Law and the law of Nature but while they make the superiour the interpreter of both these Lawes and that they must rest in their superiours Voice as in the Voice of Christ what they abhorre in words that they commit in deeds they commit many things both against the Law of God and nature And in generall all Papists that hold the Popes infallabilitie taking from him the resolution of our faith and manners how doe they serue God against Gods will and massacre Gods seruants out of an erroneous zeale for Gods glorie Let the conclusion then of this point be that no man may dispute or resist any voice of God but withall he doth challenge Gods Truth and his Power and whosoeuer requires absolute credit and obedience to all his words he vsurpes Gods Attributes which are incommunicable that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnerring Truth and Vncontrowable Power And so haue you the first of those things which God doth require which is Obedience The second followeth which is Fidelitie Israel must keepe the Couenant of God a Couenant is a solemne contract made betweene diuers persons and Gods Couenant is the contract that is made betweene him and his Church in those termes I will bee your God and you shall be my people But of Couenants there are two sorts Foedus aequum and Faedus iniquum as the Ciuilians speake Foedus aequum is that which is made betweene persons that are of equall ranke whereof one is not superiour to the other Foedus iniquum is that which is made betweene persons that are impari iure of vnequall ranke whereof the one is superiour to the other When we speake of Gods Couenant made with man wee must not conceiue that that the persons are equall they are very vnequall there is no proportion betweene them neither can there be betweene an infinite and a finite person this must be obserued in the very first Couenant that euer God made the Couenant of the Creation for then the Persons differed as the Creator and Creature there was oddes betweene them Secondly as there may bee oddes betweene the persons that enter into a Couenant so there may haue beene before they enter into the Couenant no enmitie or no great enmitie betweene them Nations that neuer were at warre may enter into Couenant one to strengthen himselfe by the other or one to haue the freer commerce with the other but oftentimes it fals out that Leagues put an end vnto quarrels and Couenants are the securitie of a reconciliation and open the intercourse of mutuall good offices which war shut vp Though the Couenant of the Creation had no precedent enmitie yet that of the Redemption had and therefore it is called not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Couenant but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reconciliation when we were enemies Christ died for vs and by his bloud was the New Testament ratified Thirdly the Couenant primarily here meant is the Decalogue on those Ten Words did God make a Couenant with Israel and the Tables wherein they were written were called the Tables of the Couenant 1 eut 9 11. the Arke wherein the Tables were put is called the Arke of the Couenant 1. Reg 8.1 and the Tabernacle wherein the Arke was was called the Tabernacle of the Couenant But this Couenant of the Decalogue hath a double consideration whereof the one is Intrinsicall the other is Extrinsicall the Intrinsicall is that which looketh to the naturall power of the Law which is to discouer sinne to conuict a sinner and to doome him according to his desert the Extrinsicall consideration is that which looketh to the supernaturall power of the Law and that is to be a Schoolemaster to bring vs vnto Christ who is the end of the Law and came to fulfill it To shadow this double consideration the Decalogue was cloathed with the Ceremoniall Law wherein the offerer imposing hands vpon the Sacrifice did confesse himselfe guiltie and the slaying of the Beast shewed the desert of a sinner thus there appeared what is the naturall power of the Law The supernaturall power also appeared in the ceremonies in that the offerer vnburthened himselfe vpon the Sacrifice as a sinner doth vpon our Sauiour Christ and that by the death of the beast the offerer was exempted from death as men are deliuered from death by the death and passion of our Sauiour Christ Wherefore though the Couenant of the Redemption bee but one yet in regard of the shadow it is called the Old and in regard of the substance the New You haue seene what is the Couenant of God you must now learne what it is to keepe it First wee must learne to obserue our distance though God doe vs the honour to contract with vs yet must not we presume to equall our selues to God for so shall wee betray our ignorance that we know not of what kind the Couenant is we must therefore discerne the inequalitie of the Persons that haue contracted and wee must confesse how low God hath descended that hath vouchsafed to take vs into so neere a reference As in keeping the Couenant wee must obserue our distance so must we not be vnmindfull of the danger which we haue escaped thereby he that considereth not that he stood at Gods mercie when hee was receiued to grace that he was by merit a firebrand of Hell when by mercie he was designed to be a Saint in Heauen cannot as he ought keepe the Couenant of God Now the Decalogue wherein this Couenant standeth hath a double consideration therefore he that will keepe Gods Couenant must make vse of both First he must make vse of the Intrinsecall consideration and of euery branch thereof by the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne therefore that he may haue a true iudgemement of the nature differences and degrees of sinnes he must be well conuersant in the Decalogue he must not trust to Morall Philosophie to Ciuill Constitutions and Customes to Pharisaicall or Papisticall Traditions these are but imperfect guides in such inquiries Only Gods Couenant can tell what is and what is not finne Moses is the best Casuist Secondly he must often suruey himselfe at this glasse of the Law and there find the excesses and defects of his life no other thing can represent them so truly as this will doe this Glasse will neither flatter nor deforme vs our consciences
carried in a Cart but vpon mens shoulders and for neglecting that was he stricken dead as you may gather by the correcting of that fault in the very same Chapter Neither would Dauid haue beene displeased with Vzaes death if he had sooner knowne this 1. Sam. 6. nor the Bethshemites would neuer haue asked this question Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God when that more then fiftie thousand were slaine for looking into the Arke For God had prouided Numb â— that the Leâ—ites that bare it should not come neere till the sonnes of Aaron had wrapt it in three or foure couerings if before that they touched it they were to die How much lesse might the promiscuous multitude behold it and not suffer for their presumption Two affections there are Loue and Feare which must order our respect towards God and the lesse we are apt to loue God the more doth God take order we should feare him And Seueritie is neuer more seasonable then when the first foundation of a State is laid as this of Israel now was for if Lawes be then slighted they will neuer be obeyed and awe well begun in the people is like to be the longer liued Therefore will God haue Iustice so quicke in this case But here is not only death denounced but such a death as belongeth to an execrable thing For first all men must abborre the person so I vnderstand the phrase No hand shall touch it Though some conceiue thereby that all rescuing of the malefactor is forbidden But that sense though it bee good yet is not so naturall to my text This rather is meant that no man must desile himselfe by touching him who by his presumption had made himselfe abominable For as hee that being himselfe impure touching holy things in the Law maketh them prophane and abominable so he that being otherwise pure intrudeth vpon holy ground or â—surpeth holy things makes his owne person abominable And none is reputed of God more abominable then he that is sacrilegiously presumptious Though no man must touch him yet euery mans hand must be against him they must stone him with stones or shoot him through If neare then must they stone him with stones if farther off from them then they must shoot him with darts euery hand must trie euery meanes rather then they must suffer the malefactors to scape And hee must needs be an execrable person against whom God doth arme the hands of all the people with iustice Finally note that this doome is vnpardonable the very phrase importeth as much Moriendo morietur non viuet these words note a peremptorinesse in the sentence You haue the like in Ezech. 18. as the contrarie thereunto in that place He shall liue hee shall not die noteth a certaintie of life We must take heed of corrupting the phrase as Eue did Gen. 3. who when God told Adam At what time thou shalt eate of the forbidden fruit moriendo morieris Thou shalt surely die she turned the phrase which was vndoubted into a peraduenture and told the Serpent lest yee die And see our weaknesse Commonly in doubtfull cases wee incline to the worst she did but doubt she might not doe it the Deuill putteth her out of all doubt and telleth her shee may doe it It is not good therefore for vs to play the wantons with Gods threatnings if we meane to hold in our vntoward nature from sinning we must vnderstand them in that rigour as God doth deliuer them Euery man must For here is Quicunque no respect of persons none of the people none of the Priests as many as are forbidden to sinne so many are threatned the doome Neither haue the great any priuiledge to doe ill and farewell all shall fare as they doe Neither only men but beasts also you haue heard before they were forbidden to transgresse so here you see if they doe transgresse they are doomed to die The master shall bee punished in the losse of his beast because hee looked not better to him and the beast shall bee punished because it had ventured to prophane holy ground for I told you before that euen beasts were tied to doe reuerence to the Sanctuarie Man and beast must die if they transgresse die by the hands of the Israelites But a malefactor may yet hope that the people will bee foolishly pitifull at least great ones may thinke they may find as much fauour as Agag did at the hands of Saul What then shall they escape shall Gods doome bee reuerst it shall not bee reuerst they shall not scape The Lord shall breake forth against the greatest of them Gods iustice is fenced with mercie and his mercie is as it were a bulwarke betweene vs and his iustice but if so bee our sinnes grow to this height it will not be held in And when it rusheth forth it is like an ouerbearing flash of lightning which flieth not abroad without a fearefull clap of thunder it terrifieth and destroyeth together But more of that hereafter There remaine two points more which I will touch in a word The first This prohibition is often repeated here we haue it in my text and we haue it once and againe towards the end of this Chapter you would thinke this superfluous Moses himselfe thought so he seemeth somewhat discontented with God for inculcating it so often But Moses was but a Nouice in gouernment therefore he thought once telling was enough Dan 7 9. God which is the ancient of dayes and throughly acquainted with mans infirmitie knowes that his forgetfulnesse his vntowardlinesse needeth be remembred he must be vrged more then once and often is not more then enough to worke our care and keepe vs in awe See then Gods clemencie that doth not hold his tongue in warning that hee may hold his hand in striking Wee are no better then the Israelites neither doe wee lesse neede reiterated warnings then the Israelites did the Minister therefore must not bee secure of his charge but suspect these defects in them and redouble his admonitions to them As Moses added a Deuteronomie to the former Bookes of the Law though he repeated but the same thing and the Euangelists added Gospel vpon Gospel of the same argument and the Apostles added Epistles to Epistles not much varying their doctrine So it must not grieue vs to write and speake the same things to the people and for them it is a sure thing as the Apostle teacheth Philip 3. v. 1. The last point sheweth how this prohibition is limited in time When the Trumpet soundeth long then shall they come vp to the Mount It is disputed whether these words point out the time wherein the Israelites must come out to meete God and then come vp the Hill is but to come to the foot of the hill whether Moses brought them Or whether it point the time when God would goe from the Mount and leaue it free to be resorted vnto by man and beast This
the Trumpet sounding in his eare Surgite mortui venite ad iudicium I will not stand to allegorize the two siluer Trumpets still sounded while the Sacrifice was burning at the Altar Verse 7. I will only bid you remember Saint Iudes note of Sodome and Gomorrah whose perpetuall burning God hath left as a remembrance of the euerlasting fire of Hell Some are yet more desperate and call for the Day of the Lord Let it come Let vs see it as you may read in the Prophets Foole hardie wretches that desire that which they will neuer be able to endure Luke 23.30 Vpon the first ouerture of it their hearts will faile them they will bee at their wits end they will call to the Hils and Rockes to couer them The Kings of the earth the great men the mightie men bond and free all sorts of men shall then crie out The great day of the Lambes wrath is come Reue. 6 1 Pet. 4.18 and who is able to stand And indeed If the righteous scarcely be saued where shall the wicked and vngodly appeare But to leaue them The last obseruation that I will giue vpon this dreadfull state shall be That wee are much bound vnto God that wee liue not vnder the Old Testament but vnder the New that God hath brought vs not vnto Mount Sinai but vnto Mount Sion Where God appeares in our nature and commeth meeke and in the forme of a seruant so sensible of our infirmities that hee cryeth not Esay 42.2 his voice is not heard in the street hee will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoking flaxe He putteth vpon vs a light yoke and an easie burden his doctrine is a Gospel their feet are beautifull that bring it Esay 52 â— 7 this yeara is an yeare of Iubile his Trumpet soundeth nothing but deliuerance his Light is comfortable like the Sunne Psal 45.2 Cant. 5. v. 16 for he is the Sonne of Righteousnesse his lips are full of Grace his Mouth is most sweet In this Hill all things are louely there is nothing dreadfull at all And why God hath giuen vs the Spirit of Adoption which is the Spirit of Loue Rom 6 2. Tim 1. and of a sound minde so that wee can indure the very top of Mount Ston whereas they could not endure the bottome of Mount Sinai Time will not giue me leaue to pursue this comparison you may amplifie it out of Saint Paul 2. Cor. 3. Heb. 12. And if you will haue it to the full you must paralell the whole Oeconomic of the New Testament with that of the Old Only let me giue you this note for a farewell to this point That as the Patriarkes that were brought vnto Mount Sinai did beare themselues out vnder those terrors by casting their eyes forward vnto Mount Sion the place of comfort So wee lest we grow carnally secure during our abode at Mount Sion and surfet vpon the comforts thereof must cast our eyes backward vpon Mount Sinai and rowse our selues with the terrours thereof The solace of Sion is to none so pleasant as to him that commeth newly from Sinai their soules doe best rellish the Gospel whose consciences haue first sinarted from the Law or that haue beene exercised by that hopefull feare the point that commeth next to be handled in my text Hopefull feare then is the impression that was made on the Israelites by the dreadfull Harbingers of God First Feare Feare is argued from quaking For wee vsually say that men quake for feare And indeed what is quaking of the bodie but a consequent of feare in the soule For the spirits are conueyed by the arteries the sinewes and the veines into the outward parts to sustaine confirme them inable them to their functions and the vitall parts send them forth abundantly while themselues are secure But while we are or suppose our selues to be in any great danger all those forces repaire vnto and endeuour to safegard those principall inward fortresses especially the heart Whereupon the outward parts being vnfurnished fall as it were into a shaking Palsie and so Quaking is a consequent of feare But let vs fit this impression vnto the apparition and so you shall find that it followeth thereupon If there were nothing in these Harbingers but an Image of Gods Maiestie yet you shall not find in all the Bible that euer any man had any extraordinarie glimpse of Gods glory that did not vpon the apprehension thereof become as it were dead and giue himselfe ouer for a dead man Reade the storie of Gedeon and Maneah in the Booke of Iudges and of the Prophets whose inspirations were accompanied with Visions Ezechiel Daniel others the generall rule is Si te nouerim Domine me ipsum nouerim I shall neuer know how vile how fraile I am by any thing so well as by presenting my selfe before the glorious Maiestie of God Let vs descend to the second Image that is to bee beheld in these dreadfull Harbingers the Image of the Law and let vs see how that worketh feare The Image of the Precept I told you it is scarching and you cannot therewith search a man but you make him feare Aske Saint Paul he tried it and will tell you so he found by surueying himselfe That the Law was spirituall and hee was carnall and out of a sensible acknowledgement that his strength was nothing proportionable to the Law 〈◊〉 7. 〈◊〉 19. he brake out into those passionate words O wretch that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death King Dauid surueyed the Law and the excellent properties of the Law but what is the vpshot of his meditation Euen this Who knoweth how oft he offendeth Lord cleanse me from my secret faults keepe thy seruant from presumptuous sinnes lest they haue dominion ouer me And verily no man can behold himselfe in that glasse and consider what manner of person he is but hee will bee driuen to that prayer in the last Penitentiall 〈◊〉 143 Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh liuing be iustified The Precept then maketh afraid And doth not the Sanction also Certainly it doth The Prophets that had a sight of God armed with vengeance against sinners how doe we find them affected and affrighted Câ—ap 6. Esay saw the Lord sitting vpon a Throne high and lifted vp his traine filled the Temple aboue it stood the six winged Seraphins c. it is a Vision of iudgement and it made Esay crie out Woe is me for I am vndone 〈◊〉 3.2.16 c. Habakuk had a Vision of the like argument which he describeth more at large and heare what was the effect When I heard it my belly trembled my lips quiuered at the voice rottennesse entred into my bones Psal 119 Dauid confesseth of himselfe My flesh trembleth for feare of thee O Lord and I am afraid of thy iudgements But you will say
to loose all those that will make vse of the flight amongst which these Iewes were none For who hath forewarned you saith Saint Iohn vnto them Before I come to the question I must a little describe the persons they were Sadduces and Pharisees There are but two extremities of Religion into which men run Superstition and Atheisme these fell the one that is the Pharisees into the one extremitie and the other that is the Saduces into the other extremitie Now sinnes are of two sorts some whose nature is in opposition to the flying from the wrath to come and some which are such as they doe not exclude the same A Drunkard an Adulterer a Murderer are grieuous sinners and in danger of the wrath to come but the Principles are not corrupted vpon which the forewarner must worke when hee perswadeth then to flie they doe beleeue the iudgement to come and in cold bloud will easily belieue that there is euill in their liues therefore vpon such good counsell may worke and wee see daily that many such are reclaimed But there are many whose sinnes are opposite vnto this counsell of flying either because they thinke there is no wrath to come as the Saducee or that they are out of danger of it as the Pharisee vpon such it is hard working Now come to the question Who hath forewarned you I am not ignorant that sundrie Writers ancient and later suppose that this is Quaestio admirantis and make Saint Iohn Baptist who receiued all others quietly when these persons came to stand amazed and wondring Is it possible hath Gods grace preuailed with Saduces with Pharisees and will they also bee Christs Disciples Is Saul among the Prophets Can hee that thought there was no Hell be brought to flie from Hell and hee that thought himselfe righteous prouide against the Iudgement day Surely such examples are rare not that God doth not yeil◠some to shew nothing is impossible to his grace but he yeildeth but few because men should take heed of such sinnes and wee see by experience how Pharisaisme in Papists and in Atheists Saducisme frustrate the labours of many painfull Forewarners the corrupt Principles of their conscience hinder their preuayling Who forewarne them to flie from the wrath to come But I take the Question rather to bee Negatiue and that as Christ often so Saint Iohn here doth detect their hypocrisie and telleth them that they aimed little at that which was intended by Baptisme The Kingdome of God happily in their sense they could bee content to enter into by the Baptisme of Saint Iohn for their Messias was to bee a worldly King or if so be they thought vpon wrath which they desired to escape it was wrath present not wrath to come the wrath of men not the wrath of God they would shake off the yoke of the Romanes they feared not the paines of Hell when they perceiued that Saint Iohns Baptisme sorted not with their desire it is obserued that they despised it to their destruction and when Christ asked them Whether it were of heauen or of men they durst not answere him from Heauen least Christ should come vpon them with Why did you not then belieue it Adde hereunto that it is not likely Saint Iohn would haue reproched them with these words generation of Vipers had there not bin hypocrisie in them I conclude then that the Question containeth a negation and that S. Iohn herein doth set forth the second euill of these Iewes They wanted meanes of forewarning which might apply to them the Remedie which God hath appointed against the wrath to come Matth. 21. v 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 31. p. 501. Nazianzen obserueth well It is not the Nation but the disposition that maketh a Pharisee euery Countrie may haue Pharisees and Saduces for it is not the name of a Nation but a conuersation and therefore this question may concerne vs and we must inquire into our selues whether wee haue either a Pharisees or a Saduces disposition And indeed wee shall find too many of both Heretickes Atheists vpon whom Forewarners cannot worke and if we be better disposed wee must acknowledge Gods great mercie that as hee hath appointed wrath so hee hath appointed a Remedie wee must learne both of our Forewarners and so learne both that we be the better for them and scape the vengeance that is to come The summe of all is sinnes and punishments are not inseparable God hath set a space betweene them and appointed a Remedie to the one for the auoyding of the other for the knowledge hereof hee referres vs to our spirituall Pastors and we must take heed we haue neither Saduces nor Pharisees eares which may make vs vncapable of their forewarnings O Lord that hast appointed Forwarners to thy Church so blesse their paines that they may fixe our thoughts on and resolue our reason of that wrath which is to come not only the sight of it but also the flight from it Let vs not despise the riches of thy goodnesse forbearance and long-suffering nor with hard and impenitent hearts treasure vp vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. Eccles 18. but knowing that thy goodnesse leadeth vs to repentance let vs so thinke vpon the wrath that shall be at the end that we may flie from sinne to grace and so bee thought worthy to escape this euill and stand in the last day with comfort before the Sonne of man stand for euer to giue glorie vnto thee the Father of mercie through Iesus Christ our only meanes to obtaine this mercie in the Communion of the holy spirit who only teacheth vs to make the right vse of this mercie Amen The third Sermon LVKE 3. VERSE 8. Bring forth therefore fruites worthy of Repentance SAint Iohn Baptist hath in his Sermon hitherto shewed the Iewes of their bad case in regard both of sinne and woe If he had here ended he should rather haue seemed to bee a minister of Moses then an harbinger of Christ and although happily he might haue awakned the worme of Conscience to bite them with the terrours of the Law yet should hee not haue answered his fathers prophecie by giuing light to them that sit darknesse Luke 1. and in the shaddow of death and guiding their feete into the way of peace wherefore to shew that hee came indeed in the spirit of Elias and meant to turne the hearts of the fathers towards their children Malachi 4.6 and the children towards their fathers before the Lord came and smote the earth with cursing as he vnpartially gaue the Iewes to vnderstand the euill of their case so doth he carefully endeauour to set them in a better course The ground and scope of his words is in effect this Euerie Iew is to haue a double being in the Couenant an hereditarie a possessorie in that he is the of spring of Abraham he hath a title to the promises but possession of that whereunto
those things whereof we both partake he is our brother but if the Communication or deriuation of them he is our father for he is the second Adam as the Church is the second Eue and as we are termed the sons of the Church or of Hierusalem the Spouse so are we also of Christ the Bridegroome who begetteth vs in and by his Church Wee beare the image of this second Adam as wee doe of the first and his children are we whose image we beare therefore Christ that saith I will declare thy name vnto my brethren Rom. 14. saith Esay 8. Behold here am I and the children which thou hast giuen vnto me As hee is so he calleth himselfe sometimes brother sometimes father And so haue you heard how he is The euerlasting father But the words beare also another interpretation which is That hee is the father of euerlasting things As hee is so are those things that are subiect vnto him both euerlasting And this distinguisheth betweene this world and that which is to come making Christ King of the later St. Paul telleth vs Heb. 2. that God hath subiected vnto him the world to come That temporall and eternall doe distinguish betweene these two worlds it is cleare in St. Paul teaching that those things which are seene are temporall but those which are not seene are eternall And touching the things which are seene the Preacher hath pronounced peremptorily vanity of vanities all is but vanity One generation passeth and another commeth and nothing abideth stedfast in the world 1 Cor. 7. St. Paul biddeth vs vse the world as if we vsed it not because the fashion of this world passeth away St. Iohn biddeth vs not to loue the world nor the things that are in the world Psal 102. for this world passeth away and the lusts thereof The Psalmist telleth vs that they all waxe old like vnto a garment and St. Peter 2 Pet. 2. Rom. 8. that the heauens shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes thereof shall be burnt vp they shal be dissolued For all are subiect vnto vanitie But in the very same places where the temporalty of this present world is set down there is mention made of the eternity of that world which is to come you heard it out of the place to the Corinths and the words in the Psalme are very cleare 2 Cor. 4. Psal 102. 1 Iohn 2. The children of thy seruants shall continue and their seed shall stand fast in thy sight and St. Iohn Hee that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for euer St. Peter intimateth as much and so doth Salomon in the Preacher This our Prophet that in the fortieth is willed to cry All flesh is grasse and the glory thereof is as the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth is willed also to cry That the Word of the Lord endureth for euer 1 Pet. 1. And this Word is the incorruptible seede by which wee are new-borne it is the food by which wee are nourished which endureth for euer it is the riches which ney ther rust can corrupt nor theeues spoyle vs of Iohn 6. it setteth vpon our heads an immarcessible Crowne and placeth vs in a Kingdome that cannot be shaken All the graces wherein stands the life of Christianity they are eternall graces they possesse vs of that which is eternall and make vs eternall possessours thereof Therefore well doth Christ in this respect also receiue this title of The father of eternity But eternity must be vnderstood à parte post not à parte ante The eternity à parte ante is Gods prerogatiue to be so eternall is to bee without beginning A creature hath his beginning and so farre is temporall but he may be continued for euer and so be eternall And in this sense doth the Prophet in this place speake of eternity and maketh Christ The father thereof And well may hee be called the father that was the Author and is the Disposer thereof for in his owne Person hee first gaue being vnto this both grace and glory and from his person doth it streame vnto vs wee no otherwise enioy it than as wee haue vnion with him And these three interests of Christ in these things doe make him to be termed the father of this eternity But now this title must looke back vnto the two formertitles and then wee shall see the sweetnesse that is in it In the Regall titles wee heard of that Wisedome and Power which wee may admire and adore but when I heare that the wonderfull Counsellour the almighty God is my father this sweetens these two glorious titles and maketh them the more comfortable to mee For whom doth the wisedome of a father prouide but for his childe and for whom so readily as for his childe doth a father vse his power I presume then of Christs prâ—uidence of Christs supportance because Christ is my father Hee that is the king is my father and what I might not presume of a king of a father I dare presume yea and presume it constantly for he is vnchangeable My immortall father is not like my mortall that his wisedome or his power should steed me but for a time they will sticke to me for euer no death can take them from mee neither will they bee estranged vpon any dislike Can there bee greater comfort for a feeble for a sinfull soule than this assurance of such an euerlasting father The comfort is great that appeares in the person but in the inheritance there appeares much greater for wherein hath or doth this my euerlasting father spend his euerlasting wonderfull wisedome and mighty power hath he spent them to prouide me a momentany estate is his inheritance like that which is left by my mortall parents such as I may lose or must leaue No it is like himselfe his workes be are the image of his person they are eternall like himselfe Let then the world faile me let all earthly things be taken from me let them be vnto me as my parents naturall parents were but temporall yet shall I not want I can as little be poor as bee an Orphan My father neuer dyeth and the portion he giues mee endureth for euer When I reade of what stuffe Moses made the Tabercle Salomon the Temple much more when I reade St. Iohns description of the heauenly Ierusalem I now perceiue Gods meaning it is to let me vnderstand so farre as earth can shadow heauen how much more stable my inheritance of heauen is than the best inheritance I can get here on earth if it be of earth though on earth I may haue euery childe of God hath the earnest the first fruits of that which wee exspect in heauen And so haue you the first of these two titles which teach that Christs royall endowments are also spirituall I come now to the second which sheweth that as Christs kingdome is not of this world because it is as hee is
we exceed a proportion stinted vnto vs in the vse of the Creatures so they disproportion the harmonie of our bodies that are guiltie of this abuse and God doth in the end separate vs from them because wee for them separated our selues from God And this death we call the giuing vp of the Ghost But after these parts are dissolued there should seize on eyther of them a penall condition On the body for the graue is not only Sheol but also Shacath it doth not onely couetously swallow but digest it also verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therein death gnaweth vpon this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this rotten mouldring house this earthly Tabernacle of ours The Reason of it is because sinne is inherent and this leprous house cannot be purged except it be dissolued dust it is and to dust it must returne againe This is the penall condition of our body And as corruption seazeth on our body so should torments on the soule there is a worme to bite it a fire to scorch it vtter darkenesse to distresse it finally fiends that execute Gods vengeance on it being exiled from the ioyes of Heauen whereunto it was created and adiudged to the paines of hell which it hath deserued This is the penall condition of the soule Of these two penall conditions consists the second death for sinne By that which you haue heard concerning death you may easily ghesse what is Resurrection it is nothing but a recouerie from death for this is an infallible principle What riseth that dyed Resurrection then is as manifold as Death to the double death the Scripture opposeth a double resurrection The first Resurrection is from death in sinne and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyssen when Grace quickens the soule and the soule is transformed formed into the Image of God the Image of being and doing good which the Scripture cals the Life of God and the partakers thereof new men The second Resurrection is from death for sin whether it be the dissolution or the penall condition Whatsoeuer the Heathen thought it is plaine that after the dissolution there is an habitude in the soule towards the body and a naturall desire againe to inhabit it yea it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were trauaile with that appetite appetitus non est frustra Rom. 8. such a desire is an euidence of Gods purpose The soule shall againe bee re-vnited to the body But to bee free from the Dissolution is not the vttermost of mans desire he desires also to be free from the Penall condition Non est viuere sed valere vita better these parts neuer meete than not meete to their mutuall comfort and therefore the last branch of the Resurrection is the endlesse vnion of body and soule in beatitudine plenâ securâ in qua nihil concupiscet nihil metuet so throughly so vnchangeably blessed that they shall haue their hearts desire and bee free from all feare of euill I insist no longer hereon because this point must be resumed againe Let vs come on then and apply what hath beene said to the different subiects And here first wee must take for our guide a receiued rule Talia sunt praedicata qualia permittuntur esse à subiectis suis Death and Resurrection must be limited differently according to their different subiects And the first subiect is Christ Death in sinne would not agree with Him it will not stand with the grace of his holy vnction much lesse of his personall vnion he was the Holy one of God Luke 1. yea the Holy of Holies Dan. 9. Adde hereunto that a sinner implies a contradiction to a Mediatour neyther can they both consist in one for such a high Priest it behoued vs to haue that was holy harmelesse vndefiled separate from sinners Hebr. 7. therefore could he not dye that death As he could not dye the death in sinne no more could hee vndergoe all the death for sinne hee could not vndergoe either part of the penall condition Not that of the Graue his body saw no corruption and why though it had sinne imputed yet had it none inherent and it is only sinne inherent that subiects vs to that part of death And if his body were free from corruption much more was his soule from torment it left the body to take possession of Heauen purchased and Hell conquered vpon the Crosse therein his meritorious power after conflict brake the knot wherewith the dissolution of body and soule came fast clasped with the penall condition and this he proclaimed in his last speech Iohn 19. Consummatumest the passion is now at a full end There remaines then no part of death for Christ to suffer but onely the dissolution the separation of his soule and body and to that he yeelded himselfe as an Offerer that could not be inforced as a Sufferer When hee had triumphed ouer principalities and powers the fiends of Hell and shewed his murdering crucifiers by the supernaturall Earth-quake and Eclipse how hee could rescue himselfe from death he laid downe his life in testimony of his loue to vs and presented that sacrifice of a sweete smell to God which only was able to redeeme vs. This being the limitation of his death the limitation of his Resurrection must needes be answerable it must be restrained to the re-vnion of his body and soule 〈◊〉 Serm. 1. de Resurrect and it is no more in effect than Quod potestate diuisit potestate copulauit with what power he laid downe his life with the same he tooke it againe Though the soule were seuered from the body yet was the God-head from neither the hypostaticall vnion persisted still his body continued vitae sacrarium Ambros Rom. 1. he declared himselfe mightily to be the Sonne of God by the Resurrection from the dead But farther to open the Resurrection of Christ These words seeme to be a bare assertion and indeed a bare assertion vttered by them that are witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were enough to warrant an Article of Faith But the words imply a manifold proofe and the proofe lyes in the word CHRIST Acts 10. For Christ signifieth Annointed annointed as the Scripture speakes with the Holy Ghost and with power This vnction is with grace and that eyther gratis data or gratum faciens of Edification or Adoption The grace of Edification designed Christ to a threefold office to be a Prophet a Priest and a King and euery one of these implies a proofe of his Resurrection His Prophesie for his Resurrection was a principall argument of that whether you looke vpon the types prefiguring or the words foretelling it he was to make both good or else his Prophesie were liable to exception As the Prophesie so the Priesthood inforceth the Resurrection How could it appeare that the obligation was cancelled the Law fulfilled God pacified sinne purged if hee had not risen from the dead
the law of the Lord thy God and the Kings law let him haue iudgement without delay whether it be to death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment THese words that I haue read vnto you are the close of a Commission granted by Artashasht King of Persia at that time also King of the holy Land vnto Ezra a religious Priest and learned Scribe of the Iewes This Commission consisteth of manie branches the last commands the creating of Iudges in the Territorie of Iewrie concerning whom it is expressed How they ought to be qualified and Whereunto they are authorised Their quality is set downe vers 25. their authority is the argument of my Text a great authoritie because it is of the Sword the King giues this power that biddes them giue Iudgement But that their power may be as good as it is great they must vse it against malefactors so saith the King against them that will not doe the law and against them they must vse it so that first they frustrate not the end of the law A iudgement vnseasonable is vnprofitable they must therefore giue iudgement without delay Secondly they must not sway the indifferencie of the law to haue respect of persons in iudgement is not good they must then giue iudgement against whomsoeuer whomsoeuer will not doe the law But there are lawes diuine and humane the Iudges must proceede against the violaters of both against them that will not do Gods law against them that will not do the Kings law but with two cautions they must take heed that the God be the God of Ezra the true God they must no maintaine false religion and they must not forbeare to giue iudgement against them that violate the kings lawes though he be a king of Persis a false religion doth not hinder him from being a lawfull Soueraigne the Iudge must not foster seedes of rebellion They that violate the lawes of that God of this king the Iudge must draw his sword against them But how farre may he draw it and how deepe must he strike with it Surely so farre as the Magistrate is Gods instrument for the peoples weale so farre may he be his instrument for their woe His prouidence reacheth to their liues liuings and libertie so farre may his vengeance reach also thus farre he may draw his sword But he must giue no deeper wound therewith to offenders than offenders giue to the law the degrees of punishment must answer the degrees of offences some must dye some be fined some restrayned euery one as he deserues You see the substance of this Scripture withal conceiue that theron we must consider of these two points The power the vse of the sword the vse two-fold lawfull full I speak to them that haue vnderstanding therfore need I touch these particulars but briefly but that I touch them not vnprofitably I beseech you in the feare of God to iudge what I say And first some may demand why being to speake in the name of God vnto Iudges sent from a Christian king I remember vnto them the instruction of a king indeede but a heathen king such an author as may much lessen your regard of the matter It may but not except it be mistaken For besides that it is correspondent to the like in Moses and the Prophets Ezra acknowledgeth in the next verse that this Commission was indited by diuine inspiration God put it into the heart of the King And were it not so yet it is of no small moment to heare reason concord with religion The vse of this power is the more obseruable when it is enioyned by the pen not onely of God but also of man yea the lesse likely a Heathen King is to write it the more faulty a Christian Iudge if he set light by it Heare then what is your power it is to giue iudgement But iudgement is either of Discretion or Iurisdiction the first is common to all the second belongs but to a few all may discerne right from wrong but all may not right them that suffer or correct them that doe wrong He that takes the sword vngiuen shall perish with the sword as Christ told Peter Mat. 26. and told it him when hee was too busie with his sword it is not giuen to euery man And it is well that it is not giuen our affections do with such a false light delude our iudgements that where there are scarce moates we see great beames in other mens eyes but beames in our owne are so insensible Matth. 7. as if they were not so much as moates And as wee apprehend so would wee proceed Our strength would be the law of vnrighteousnesse Wisd 2. and as Tacitus well notes Malice the more vniust it is the more violent How many Cains would there start vp in the world that would kill their owne brother Abel onely because his deedes were good and theirs euill And if some would not be so vnnaturall yet would they be so vnreasonable as Simeon Leni of whom their own father pronounced Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell Genesis 48. we are so partiall and impotent when we haue the law in our owne hands and may satisfie our own lusts that wee will proceede without cause or at least aboue measure God knowing this vnbridlednesse of our nature hath laid this charge vpon all priuate men Auenge not your selues but giue place towrath for vengeance is mine and I will repay saith the Lord Rom. 13. Whatsoeuer therefore they pretend of the lawes of honour that apologize for Duels in a ciuill in a Christian common weale they should be reputed no better and it were good if they did fare no better than murderers they would not be so common if they were branded with their true name and had their iust reward Priuate men may not reuenge But who may It is only his right that is the Law-giuer or theirs that hold from him to recompence euery man according to his deeds Gods law is Deut. 19. that when two striue together they shall stand before the Lord euen before the Iudges where the Iudges are there the Lord is Psal 82.1 God standeth in the assembly of Gods he iudgeth among Gods the Apostle therefore calleth them the Ministers of God Rom. 13. So that a Iudge doth not only represent the person of a King but is in part with him the Deputie of God When the burden was too heauie for Moses God assisted him with the Seuentie but marke how he inaugurated them He took of the Spirit of Moses and conferred it on the Seuentie intimating his immediate presence and concurrence with them Wherefore what Shecaniah spake to Ezra cap. 10. when he lamented the disordered liues of the Iewes that must I say vnto you Arise for the matter belongeth vnto you bee of good comfort yea and courage too for this age moues more than teares and do it Giue
vntill the tenth Generation but against Incest he is more seuere Deut. 271 for he would not onely haue a generall curse pronounced against it whereunto he commanded all the people to say Amen but touching the Moabites and Ammonites the first spawne of Incest that we find in the Scripture though they were the posteritie of LOT whom GOD loued for AERAHAM's sake Deut 23. yet doth he command that they shall not enter into the Congregation of Israel for euer Israel is forbidden to seeke their peace at any time RVBEN is a second example marke what his owne Father IACOB said of him when he blest the Patriarkes Ruben thou art my first borne my might Gen. 49. the beginning of my strength the excellencie of digniâ—â—â— and the excellencie of power these were the preeminences of his birth-right but he forfeited them all for Incest as appeares in the verie next words of his Father Vnstable as water thou shalt not excell because thou wentest vp to thy Fathers bed then defiledst thou it He went vp into my couch A third example is ABSALON he abused his Fathers Concubines therefore he came to an infamous end he was hanged by the haire of his owne head he dyed childlesse and so his name did rot Leu. 8. The Land of Canaan spued out the old Inhabitants for Incest and GOD threatneth the destruction of Israel for that a man and his sonne would goe in to one maid Amos 2. By GODS Law no lesse then death was the punishment of Incest Leu. 10. The Lawes of the Land are more mercifull vnto you the Penitent that suffer you to breathe and leaue you to the censure of the CHVRCH But if you mind what you haue heard touching that censure and drinke in St AVSTINS conceipt therof you shall find cause enough to feare and freedome from death may seeme vnto you worse then death But yet your case is not desperate for there yet remaines one point in the Text which may yeeld a mitigation to your feares and a consolation to your Soule The censure is not mortall but medicinall as appeares in the end whereunto the censure serues Now a medicine you know doth first paine then it doth ease yea it doth therfore paine that it may ease so doth this ghostly censure it serues for the destruction of the flesh there is the paine but there followeth ease vpon it the spirit shaâ— be saued First of the paine As the flesh signifieth sometimes the substance sometimes the corruption of the outward man so may the destruction signifie either the mortalitie or the mortification thereof mortalitie if the censure proceed from the power which is proper to an Apostle but if it signifie the power which is common to Bishops with the Apostles it noteth mortification it signifieth the crucifying of the flesh with the lusts thereof the putting off the old man and the dying vnto sinne And indeed this we intend by our Ecclesiasticall censures We intend that you should root out the sinne for which you doe penance and so destroy your flesh This is painfull to flesh and blood but vt valeas multa dolenda feres you must brooke the paine that you may enioy the ease that followeth thereupon the spirit shall be saued The spirit noteth the soule or the grace thereof the sauing of the soule is the preseruing of grace therein if the soule loose grace it looseth it selfe in regard of all well-being and it were much better for it not to be at all then to be without grace so that the saluation of our spirit is no small part of our happinesse Which must the rather be esteemed because if our spirit fare well it will make euen the flesh that is destroyed in regard of the corruption to be farre better in regard of the substance for it shall be purged from dead works to serue the liuing GOD. But when shall we reape this easâ— out of paine In the day of our Lord Iesus Christ Though a peniten euen in this life shall find some case in his Conscience yet the full benefit of Ecclesiasticall censure is reserued to the day of the Lord because all this life we must be mortifying our flesh especially enormous sinners must be so imployed the greatest of their ease in this world must haue a mixture of paine but in the day of the Lord they shall haue ease without all delay But what day of the Lord is meant here Euerie mans particular day of death or the generall doomes day An account must be made at both and if we vse the Ecclesiasticall censure well we shall find that this Iudgment preuents that this temporall the eternall For as CHRIST at his first comming came not to destroy but to saue so his Ministers that dispense the Gospel vse their power not to destruction but to edification But I thinke the day of the Lord signifieth properly the last day CHRIST will publikely manifest before the CHVRCH tryumphant the effect of the Keyes which he hath committed to his Ministers to be exercised publikely in the CHVRCH militant he will then reueale how all stand bound in Heauen which were neuer loosed on Earth and all whom the CHVRCH hath loosed in Earth shall then appeare to be loosed in Heauen I end The successe which St PAVL had when he inflicted this sentence was that the Corinthians became verie sensible of their fault and the Incestuous person of his St PAVL himselfe doth witnesse this 2 Cor. 7. where he amplyfieth both their godly sorrowes and his congratulating indulgence towards them both Oh that like successe might blesse my paines that I may giue as good a testimonie to this Congregation for their hatred of sinne as St PAVL gaue to the Corinthians and to this Penitent the like mittigation of his Censure as St PAVL to that Incestuous person So may this penitentiall sheet of his be turned into a white robe of righteousnesse his teares into ioy and all we that are humbled for him in the Church militant be with him exalted in the Church tryumphant Amen A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHVRCH OF WELS AT WHAT TIME TWO DID PENANCE FOR INCEST A MAN AND HIS WIVES DAVGHTER LEVIT 20. VERSE 14. Likewise if a man taketh a wife and her mother this is wickednesse they shall burne him and them with fire and there shall be no wickednesse amongst you NO sooner doe you heare this Text but I am ure you vnderstand this spectacle you vnderstand what sinners these persons are what doome this Law doth passe vpon them And indeed their sinne and Gods doome are the maine parts of my Text. But more distinctly In the sinne we must note first the fact then the haynousnesse thereof The fact is vnnaturall adulterie Adulterie because one man taketh more women then one that is plaine adulterie And this adulterie is vnnaturall because there is the neerest reference betweene the women the one a Mother the other her Daughter to take two
his authoritie should hold them in when they would run riot if he doe not he offends grieuously How grieuously then doth that father offend which giueth an ill example to his child Allureth her to such detestable sinne Yea doth act the sinne with her If Incest be of it selfe haynous your fatherhood maketh it much more haynous And as for you that are the daughter no small accesse is made vnto your sinne by being the daughter of your mother for sinnes are improued by their persons that act them If it had beene an enemie that had done me this wrong I could haue borne it saith DAVID but it was thou my familiar friend c. Whosoeuer had wronged your mothers bed it had beene a wickednesse but to be thus wronged by her owne daughter wherein it is hard to say whether she haue more cause to lament in regard of her owne or of your person it cannot but adde much to your sinne These things should you that are the Penitents take to heart and adde them to the measure of your sinne for of haynous they make it much more haynous I passe at length from the sinne to the doome giuing you by the way this note That GOD addeth doomes to sinnes grieuous doomes to haynous sinnes that we may be held in by the feare of the one when we would not forbeare vpon the fight of the other for such is our weaknesse that though a sinne be represented vnto vs as most vgly most odious yet sensualitie doth so preuaile that we are caried away with the pleasure without any regard of the filthinesse thereof if any thing stay or stagger vs herein it must be paine which often maketh vs to bethinke our selues and take heed when we are euen ready to rush into sinne But touching the doome here in my Text we must first take notice that there is no respect of persons with God both must be punished the man and the woman and punished alike You would thinke that the case of the one were more fauourable then the other the Temptedst more fauourable then the Temptors The daughter may plead the power which her father had ouer her whom she durst not resist and thereby seeme to deserue fauour But this is no Plea at GODS Barre for children must remember that they haue an heauenly as well as an earthly Father and that they may not offend the one to pleasure the other A second thing obseruable in the Doome is that both the women are subiected to the same punishment which may seeme verie rigorous For what hath the lawfull wife deserued Therefore some vnderstand the words by a Synecdoche and by the women vnderstand either of them that shall be found guiltie whether it be the mother that defileth the daughters bed or the daughter that defileth the mothers bed But it may be that both may well deserue death If the mother be the wife and consent that her daughter should goe in to her father or if the daughter be the wife and consent that her mother should goe in to her husband such consent yea if it be but conniuency and patience it is abominable wickednesse How farre the mother was priuie to this daughters sinne I know not but if she were in any sort she deserueth to be punished no lesse then her child and the child with the father are to be punished most seuerely they are to be burnt with fire And here consider first how well the doome is fitted to the sinne the doome is fire and so is the sinne also If I haue beene deceiued by a woman saith IOB this were a fire that would burne to destruction Cap. 31. Prou. 6. And SOLOMON speaking of adulterie moueth this question Can a man take fire in his bosome and not be burnt He that is a fornicator in the body of his flesh saith the sonne of SYRACH will not cease till he haue kindled a fire Cap. 23. 1 Cor. 7.9 Finally St PAVL giueth this rule It is better to marrie then to burne burne in the lust of Incontinencie Seeing then this lust is a fire GOD doth punish a sier with a sier a sinfull with a painfull fire But the Iewish Rabbins or Antiquaries doe obserue that the Iewes had two kinds of burning of malefactors one was by opening their mouthes and pouring in moulten Lead this was called Combustio animae saluo corpore it tooke away the life of the partie and yet left no marke of the fire in the outward lineaments of his body The other was by laying of fewell round about the body which set on fire did presently consume it into ashes and is the burning meant here in my Text for it saith they should be burnt with fire And indeed this kind of burning of Incontinent persons is verie ancient Gen. 3â— Before the giuing of MOSES Law IVDAH would haue practised it vpon his daughter in Law TAMAR The Prophet MICAH alludeth hereunto in his first Chapter and EZEKIEL in his 16. St IOHN in his Reuelations speaking of the Whore of Babylon Cap. 17. 18. prophesieth that she shall perish by fire So that fire seemeth to haue beene the punishment of Whores not onely if she were the Priests daughter but whosoeuer she were the allusion else would not be so frequent And yet we read that adulterers were to be stoned to death whether after stoning they were also burnt is worth the inquirie for sometimes they were both practised vpon the same malefactors as it is cleere in the storie of ACHAN In the former degree of Incontinencie specified before my Text the Holy Ghost is silent and doth not specifie any particular kind of punishment by meanes whereof Interpreters doubt what punishment was to be inflicted Some conceiue that stoning mentioned in the beginning of the Chapter must be extended to all that follow the Iewes they limit it thus where the Law saith they shall dye the death and their blood shall be vpon them there stoning is meant but if it be onely they shall dye the death then the partie was to be strangled But I will not trouble you with these Antiquities onely this I will obserue vnto you that the specifying of a particular punishment here and not in the former degree of Incontinencie may well import some extraordinarie haynousnesse in this sinne especially if you consider the sharpenesse thereof they shall be burnt with fire Viui comburentur saith the Vulgar they shall be burnt aliue now you know that fire is a bitter tormenter and an vtter consumer it afflicteth extreamly while the partie liueth and it vtterly abolisheth the being of the body together with the life both which proue the punishment to be verie sharpe verie seuere it giueth no rest while we are and abolisheth vs as if we neuer had beene But this was a politike Law of MOSES what is that to vs We haue no such Law and that Law doth not bind our State True it doth not and happy is it for
be no worse then this that it is Vanitie that it is a Lie For what doe wee abhorre more in nature then vanitie which is the emptinesse of nature What in good manners more then a Lie which is the counterfeit of good manners We thinke nothing ought more to be endeauoured then sollidnesse in Being and sinceritie in Appearing and abhorre nothing more then the contrarie to them both So that to haue our state not onely paralleld with but to become Vanitie and a Lie we may deeme the greatest debasement that can be thereof And yet it is not the comparison doth vs too much honour we are not worthy to bee matched with these though these bee of so small waight yet they ouer-waigh vs in the scales of God if we both bee waighed our lightnesse will soone discouer the inequalitie And indeed no wonder for vanitie is nothing in comparison of sinne and a naturall Lie in comparison of a morall To be mortall taketh away much of that substance which we had in our Creation but to bee sinfull taketh away much more the Maxime Quod efficit tale illud ipsum est magis tale holdeth most true betweene sinne and vanitie for man becommeth subiect vnto vanitie through sinne and who doth not know how much lower sinne doth carrie vs then doth vanitie Vanitie lodgeth vs in the earth sinne tumbleth vs into hell and that is lightest that carrieth vs lowest the more sollid euery thing is the neerer to God and the farther from God it carrieth vs the lighter it must needs be And behold a Paradoxe Here grauia tendunt sursum and Leuia deorsum so that they that are light in the scales are out of the scales very heauie they sinke downe into Hell and they that are in the scales heauie are out of the scales verie light they so are as high as Heauen But it may be thought if men of low degree bee singled by them selues or men of high degree by themselues their waight is no greater yet if they bee ioyned each will helpe to augment the others waight and what they cannot a part they may doe going together at least counterpoyse if not ouerpoyse Vanitie and a Lie No verily for as a Cipher added to a Cipher maketh but a Cipher so Vanitie is no whit the heauier by the addition of a Lie nor a Lie by the addition of Vanitie Put high men and low men all sorts of men yea all persons into Gods ballance and you shall find that if they haue no other waight then that which is in men they cannot hold waight no not with vanitie it selfe then which you would thinke nothing can haue lesse waight and indeed nothing hath but sinne wherin standeth the chiefe lightnesse of man O Lord thou hast appointed a Day wherein thou wilt waigh all both things and persons and trie how much they haue lost of that sollidnesse which thou hast bestowed vpon them I confesse that I had lost much yea all true sollidnesse I brought none with me out of my mothers wombe but it hath pleased thee againe to repaire it in part and promise it in whole Grant that of whatsoeuer Degree I am I may thinke no better of my nature then it is and may value thy grace according to its worth make me which am a sonne of Adam a child of God and so free me from vanitie And if thou bee pleased to prosper me on earth yet Lord prosper mee much more towards Heauen and free my greatnesse from a Lie So shall I not be light in thy scales with that lightnesse that descends to Hell but heauie with that sollidnesse that ascends to Heauen Amen A Meditation vpon Hebr. 9. VERSE 27. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death commeth Iudgement O My Soule what now thou art thou canst not continue long and what thou shalt bee it is good thou timely doe consider Thou now dwellest in a body made of clay and daily mouldring into dust thou canst haue no surer prognostication that it will haue an end then thy continuall experience that it is mortall Were there nothing but Age that wrought vpon it it would wither but when sicknesse which speedeth sooner and spends faster conspires with Age to ruine thy habitation how canst thou be vnmindful of the fall thereof How canst thou but euery houre expect it But there is a higher remembrancer one of whom thou mayst lesse doubt in this case then of either sicknesse or Age and that is God hee hath decreed it All must die thou art one of that All and of All not one that can exempt himselfe from or except against Gods decree Especially so iust a decree no lesse iust then peremptorie no lesse peremptorie then iust God peremptorily threatned death before thou sinnedst and since thou hast sinned Iustice can doe no lesse then giue sentence against thee the sentence of death The Soule that sinneth must die thou art a sinfull soule and therefore thou must taste of death Thou must not looke that those eyes of thine which haue beene the windowes of lust shall alwayes gaze vpon this besotting world thou must not thinke that those eares of thine by whose gates haue entred so much vanitie shall still be inchaunted with the flatteries of thy deceitfull friends thou must not thinke that this taste of thine importunate sollicitor of thy appetite shall still serue to pamper thy body with delicacies These things haue had their time and it is but a time that is allowed them they were and the more they doe the lesse shall they be able to doe dimnesse casts a vaile vpon thine eyes and deafnesse lockes vp the doores of thy eares and thy taste forgets to discerne thy meates And iustly become they so infeebled that kept no measure in their strength what they should haue done they delighted least to doe though by doing it they might haue lasted long and what they should not haue done in doing that they tooke their greatest solace though in doing of it they wrought their owne decay Had not Eue beheld the forbidden fruit more willingly then God hadshee not listned to the Serpent more attentiuely then to his word had shee not tasted the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Euill more sweetly then the tree of life I had had immortall eyes eares and taste But because shee abused them I must loose the vse of them But why doe I deriue my fault vpon others Why doe I vncouer my Parents nakednesse Are my teeth set on edge onely because they did eate sower Grapes My selfe did eate in them and after them my selfe haue eaten like vnto them I doe not so much resemble them in nature as concupiscence what so euer they planted I haue watered and watered that often which they planted but once And as if I feared that their ill husbandrie would not proue fast enough my selfe haue beene a toylesome Husbandman in cherishing the briers and thornes that haue choked euen all
those few cornes of good seed which I deriued from them At least if their leprosie ouer-spred my whole man yet was it not so deepe rooted or so strongly setled as by my ill diet it hath since beene What then may this house of my body this garment that couereth my Soule expect but to be vsed as the leprous house the leprous garment which in a fretting leaprosie were the garment to bee burnt the house to be plucked downe And indeed as impossible is it for the Iuie that springs and ouer-spreads a wall to be killed without taking in sunder of all the stones and separating them from the morter which knitteth them together as for the natiue sinne wherein I was borne branching it selfe ouer euery part of my body and power of my soule to be purged except I be dissolued my Soule part from my bodie and the parts of my bodie loose that knot wherewith each is linked to the other I doe not then complaine of the Decree it is iust it is necessarie my sinne maketh it iust and that this sinne be dispossest it becomes necessarie necessarie for All and then for me I would yeeld vnto it I would be contented with it blessed Apostle the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken were good I would obey it I would yeeld to death though death be bitter were there not a heauier thing that followeth death more terrible then death it selfe Let me feele Gods hand so I come not into Gods presence into the presence of the Iudge to giue an accompt for my life Blessed Apostle is it not enough that my Soule can no longer enioy her bodie no longer by her bodie enioy those things wherein shee hath placed her soueraigne good that shee can no longer solace her selfe with her mate take comfort in her of-spring eate the fruit of her labours receiue honour from others bestow fauours at pleasure bee an Oracle vnto many and to as many be a terror Blessed Apostle is it not enough that these things faile and I must part with them No thou sayest no when thou hast lodged my bodie in the the Graue thou sufferest not my soule to rest thou callest her to a straight accompt thou tellest her of a Iudgement How vainely haue I beene abused by heathenish prouerbs that told me death ends all and yet all is not at an end When I come to death I must come before my Iudge I must answere the Law the Law must trie my life how well I haue obserued it how answerable my carriage hath beene to it And Lord what a fearefull thing is this When thou blessed Apostle didst reason of these things thou madest Foelix a great man a heathen man to tremble and a greater then Foelix the King of Niniuie did tremble also when hee heard Ionas And yet how little did they know thy Law How much did their ignorance excuse their transgression thereof And what then will become of me that know so much and haue so little to plead Can I chuse but tremble O Lord while I liue I often heare of thy Law and the accompt that must be giuen thereof but I neuer had so much grace as Foelix or the King of Niniuie no not when I read the storie of Foelix and the King of Niniuie Neither of them onely but of good King Iosias also whose heart did melt at the reading of thy Law when he saw how vnanswerable the liues of his people were thereto And what wonder that Iosias heart did melt when Moses himselfe did quake at the receiuing of the Law Surely these all felt the terror of the Iudgement they knew what it was to come before their Iudge And I the more in my life I was senslesse the more sensible shall I bee hereof in my death vnexpected euils afflict the more especially if they bee great their impression must needs be deepe But bee I affected neuer so wofully I must appeare I must be tried hee that gaue the Law will inquire into the obseruance of his Law While we liue many couer our faults which when wee are dead they will not sticke to amplifie and he that liuing goeth for a Saint after his death is traduced as a diuell A heauie Iudgement yet how many vndergoe it But this is their comfort that of this Iudgmēt they haue no sense how their name fareth in this world in death they know not But against the other Iudgement there is no shelter all the stormes of it must light vpon vs in our owne persons we must answere for our selues and we are not so well knowne to our selues as to him that sifteth vs. Yet so much we know that we shall trauerse no Indictment we shal plead guiltie to euery Bill our owne conscience is a true counterpart vnto Gods Booke we shall bee charged with nothing out of the one which we shall not read distinctly in the other To read it were enough for the vttermost confusion for what man knoweth and doth not abhorre himselfe Had we a true looking glasse wherein wee might behold the manifold enormous sinnes of our life neuer could any thing be more vgly neuer would any thing be more abominable neuer were we so much in loue with our selues when we acted sinne as wee shall detest our selues when we see the staines of sinne But detestation and confusion are but the first part of this Iudgement the worme the sting bitter tortures euen before we are sentenced for Hell make vs to be wofull wretches Adde hereunto that which is the hight of shame the depth of paine Were no body priuie to our sinnes but our selues the knowledge of them wil confound vs but when they become knowne to others if they be but men sinners like our selues and therefore more likely to be temperate in their censure the shame groweth double but how manifold then will it be when the Angels shall bee witnesses to it the holy Angels whose puritie will the more illustrate it Nay God himselfe whose Image wee should beare and to whom how vnlike we are his presence wil make most manifest So that our shame will bee out of measure shamefull Our paine will bee no lesse painefull For here in this world the remorse of sinne euen in those that haue not a seared conscience is many wayes delayed in sleepe by feasts with companie many other outward helps but especially the putting farre off the euill day and the weake information that our distracted vnderstanding giueth our Heart and the hardnesse that doth benumme the senses thereof all these more or lesse doe mitigate our paine But after death these lenitiues are withdrawen from vs our eyes will be kept waking our stomacke fasting our friends farre from vs our wits that were wise to doe euill and to doe good had no vnderstanding at all shall then be wise onely to know our euill but good of ours it shall haue none at all to know and our heart was neuer so waxie to be wrought
What had become of his merit Finally how could his Kingdome subsist without this Resurrection when could he haue receiued the keyes of Death and of Hell made all knees bowe to him in heauen earth and vnder the earth been inuested with absolute power if hee had not risen from the dead He had neuer been honoured as a King The grace then of Edification argues his Resurrection And so doth the grace of Adoption also yea that former proues onely the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof that resolues strongly that it must be so but this why it must so be for the Resurrection is not debitum carnis but sanctitatis it cannot be challenged by flesh but by holy flesh God will not suffer his Holy one to see corruption Psal 16. The Prince of this world came and had nothing in Christ Iohn 14. therefore it was impossible that he should be detained of the sorrowes of death Holinesse and Happinesse are inseparable as in God so in Christ the latter may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee for a time suspended but because of the former they could not be long seuered But the name of Christ doth not onely note the Truth but the Condition also of his Resurrection for it must bee such a Resurrection as doth answer his double vnction First that of Edification for it must answer the Prophesies Bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. be the death of death Osea 13. yea by death ouercome him that had the power of death which is the Diuell Hebr. 2. It did so for he led captiuity captiue Ephes 4. It must answer the Priesthood there must neede no more sacrifice for sinne with that which he hath offered he must enter Heauen and finde eternall redemption He did so for hee sits at the right hand of God for euer to make intercession for vs. Finally it must answer his Kingdome and he must raigne as Lord of lords he must haue the Key of Dauid shut and no man open open and no man shut He doth so in that state he walketh in the midst of the golden Candlestickes Reuel 1. cap. 19. These bee things wherein his Resurrection is answerable to his first vnction But it must also be answerable to his second Though we haue known Christ after the flesh yet we must now know him so no more all mortalitie and misery did end at his Resurrection For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de laud. Constant was not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rursum sursum he not onely rose againe but rose to an heauenly life he brought to light life and immortality Hilar. in Psal 41. Id quod fuit in id quod non fuit surrexit nec amisit originem sed profecit in honorem the same body arose but not in the same state hee retained his nature but added glory to it The Lord shewed him the path of life Psal 16. in whose presence there is fulnesse of ioy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for euermore Therefore when he did eate and drinke after he rose and retaine the prints of the nailes wherewith hee was crucified all this was but dispensatio as the Fathers well obserue it serued onely to settle the Apostles faith as also did the concealing of his glory when he appeared vnto them But to conclude this point Non magnum est credere quia Christus mortuus est saith St. Austin It is not hard to beleeue that Christ dyed the Gentiles and Iewes plotters and actors of his death doe boastingly report it Sed fides Christianorum est resurrectio Christi Christians goe beyond them when they beleeue that Christ is risen and risen so The Priests bribed the Souldiers to deny it Euseb the Heathen abolished the Sepulchre that gaue testimony of it the Diuell raised vp euen in the Apostles dayes Heretickes to oppose it but maugre all this truth stands Christ is risen from the dead And thus much of the first subiect I come now to the second That is noted by Dormientes those that slept which is equiualent to Mortui and as manifold in sinne for sinne as it is vnderstood spiritually of the soule and body I need not put you in mind that the tense is no limitation of the subiect for in generall arguments the Holy Ghost indifferently vseth all tenses because all times are as one in God he giueth vs to vnderstand so much in his word But to come to the matter Marke a suddaine change while hee spake of Christ he vseth the word Dead no sooner hath hee taught that Christ is risen but he changeth the Dead into Sleepers Surely then Christs Resurrection made a powerfull alteration it turned death into sleepe In Marc. lib. 〈◊〉 cap. 5. and therefore Mos Christianus obtinet saith Bede It is vsuall in the Christian Dialect in acknowledgement that we beleeue the Resurrection to call the dead Sleepers hence are the places of sepulture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dorters But are Dormientes all or some Surely the word will reach all mankinde and the Scripture applyes it indifferently vnto all take one place for many Dan. 12. Many of those that sleepe in the dust shall awake which words compared to the like Iohn 5. appeare to bee a description of the generall Resurrection The death then of all is but a sleepe But wee must not mistake this fauours not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cast not the soule but the body into a sleepe and makes the receptacle thereof not of the soule to bee but a temporarie habitation The Sadducees of all ages thinke otherwise because they would haue it so you may read their dreames in the Booke of the Preacher and of Wisedome together with the refutation of them I will say no more to them but what this word warrants me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is none though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there bee their soules and bodies are to continue by Gods ordinance immortally mortall and God will vnite them againe neyther part shall cease to bee because neyther part shall cease to suffer The body shall not As the suggestions and actions of sinne were ministred and acted by it so the vengeance of sinne shall be endured therein And for the soule it is disquieted euen with the sleepe of the body while that rots the soule forecasts what racks what tortures are prepared for it and this hath it for an accessorie to its owne paine Sleepe then in this sense belongs to the wicked But in my Text by those that slept are meant the faithfull It is of them onely that this Chapter intreats 1 Thes 4. of those that sleepe in Christ their death is compared vnto a quiet a sweet sleepe because whereas in this life they are subiect to the Crosse impos'd or voluntary mortification in death they rest from their labours and sleepe without any terrours of euill so that this