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A08578 An explanation of the generall Epistle of Saint Iude. Delivered in one and forty sermons, by that learned, reverend, and faithfull servant of Christ, Master Samuel Otes, parson of Sowthreps in Norfolke. Preached in the parish church of Northwalsham, in the same county, in a publike lecture. And now published for the benefit of Gods church, by Samuel Otes, his sonne, minister of the Word of God at Marsham Otes, Samuel, 1578 or 9-1658.; Otes, Samuel, d. 1683. 1633 (1633) STC 18896; ESTC S115186 606,924 589

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in heart and therefore he shall not inherit the earth which hee so much wisheth Cursed be the covetous for he doth not long after righteousnesse but after riches and therefore hee shall never be satisfied Cursed bee the covetous for he is not mercifull but hard-hearted therefore he shall finde no mercy Cursed be the covetous for he is no peace-maker but a make-bate and therefore he shall be called the child of the divell Cursed be the covetous for he is not pure but filthy in heart and therefore he shall never see God Cursed be the covetous for he cannot suffer the losse of his wealth for righteousnesse sake and therefore the Kingdome of Hell is his And is it thus is covetousnesse the occasion of so much evill Let us take heed and beware of covetousnesse and let us have our conversation Luke 12. 15. farre from covetousnesse for it is Gods owne saying I will never forsake thee nor leave thee so that thou maist boldly say Heb. 13. 5 6. The Lord is my helper Let us not bee like Moles which make Covetousnesse excludes out of heaven many holes and digge many dens in the earth and yet are not satisfied but still labour and digge Let us not build many houses digge many cellers fill many barnes and yet bee unsatiable and unthankefull and in all abundance and plenty will not say Blessed bee the name of the Lord which Iob did in his greatest Iob 1 21. poverty The covetous Cormorant when his barnes were full and his houses furnished was satisfied saying as it were Soule thou hast sufficient Eate drinke and take thine ease but many having ynough and more than ynough are not satisfied but as the Luke 12. 19. Beare seeketh after hony and the Hart chased for the soile and the Eagle for the carkasse and the Woolfe for bloud so the covetous man for gold for gaine Vbi hoc cadaver ibi hae aquilae Where this carkasse is there be these Eagles Their feet run to evill and make haste to shead bloud such are the wayes of every one that is Prov. 1. 16 19. greedie of gaine hee would take away the life of the owners thereof As Vultures smell a dead carkasse a great way off As Eagles flying aloft in the Ayre behold the little fishes swimming below in the waters and deuoure them Sic avari lucrum longè Aug. odorantur so the covetous smell their gaine afarre off they say with Vespatian who tooke a tribute of the peoples urine Suavis odor lucri ex re qualibet the savour of gaine is sweet from every thing according to that of Salomon The bread of deceit is sweet Prov. 20. 17. to a man but afterward his mouth shall bee filled with gravell Iosephs golden cup was found in Beniamins sacke and if God rifle us and search us and our sackes I feare that much evill gaine will bee found amongst us Protestants That as a Cage is full of birds Ier. 5. 27 29. so our houses are full of deceit whereby many are become great and waxen rich Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord or shall not my soule be avenged on such a people as this is These covetous men have no part with God no portion in Christ no fellowship with the Saints As there be no Serpents in Ireland no Owles in Crete no wild beasts in Lebanon so there be no covetous men in Heaven For without shall be dogges and inchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters but covetous Apoc. 22. 15. men are Idolaters therefore not in Heaven Yea and moreover they lose both Heaven and earth like Aesops dogge that lost both the shadow and the beefe Therefore Salendine the Emperour of the East dying caused a man to carry a sheete in Damascus on the end of a speare and to say Ecce trophaea Imperatoris Behold the King of the East carryeth nothing with him but a winding sheet And surely As wee brought nothing into the world so we may carry nothing out Great men have their Porters to 1 Tim 6 7. see that men carry no more out than they brought in and if he chance to spie a silver spoone or a piece of plate in a mans bosome Soft sirrah saith he whither carry yee this plate you brought it not in you must not carry it out Now death is Gods Porter and performeth this O terra cinis O dust and ashes Earthly minds uncapable of heavenly things why art thou greedy and yet men are most greedy of the world and then too when they are ready to leave the world as old men which is monstrous in them Membra frigescunt cupiditas autem calescit their members grow cold but their desire still waxeth warme Caro senescit at affectus i●venescunt the flesh waxeth old but their affections grow yong gray heads but greene affections Finis vitae non imponit finem avaritiae the end of their life makes no end of their covetousnesse but still he loadeth himselfe with thicke clay for gold is but red clay and silver white clay Hab. 2. 6. These men are like the dogs snowt that is ever cold like Tantalus that standeth in the water and yet is ever dry Hee hath enlarged his desire as Hell and is as death that cannot bee satisfied As Hab. 2. 5. the Raven feedeth not her yong till they be blacke as the Eagle acknowledgeth not her birds till they can soare to the Sun So God acknowledgeth not them that are drowned in the world and are carryed away by the deceit of Balaams wages that is covetousnesse If yee be risen with Christ seeke the things that are above Col. 3 1 2. where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God set your affections upon heavenly things and not upon worldly These bastard Eagles they cannot mount like Noah's Raven they seize upon carrion As dust cast into the eyes hindreth sight so covetousnesse hindreth our sight that we looke not to heaven it is like the Swallowes dung that put out the eyes of Tobias Wee see not the powers of the Heb. 6. 5. 2 P●● 2. 14. world to come Our hearts are brawned and exercised with covetousnesse they thinke on nothing else from Munday to Sunday from Ianuary to December The Wise man saith that there is not à viler thing than to love ●●ney Money doth all now in the world Give Balaam money and Eccles 10. 9. he will curse the people of God whom before he blessed Give 2 Pet. 2. Iehoakin money and he will spoile the poore rob the fatherlesse undoe the widdow pervert all justice Give Achan money and Ier. 22. Ios 7. he will steale the execrable thing the Babylonian garment and the wedge of gold give Iudas mony and he will sell his Master betray Christ Iesus give the Souldiers money and they will Mat. ●6 ●ap 28. lye cog sweare resweare forsweare Christs Resurrection and say that
sola Dei misericordia benignitate reponere For the uncertainty of our owne righteousnes and danger of vaine glory it is the safest way to repose all our confidence in Gods only mercy and bounty Then is it not as hee disputes Lib. 1. de justificatione cap. 4. wrought by charity but contrariwise charity doth arise from faith I will conclude with Bernard Omnia merita Dei dona sunt ita homo magis propter ipsa Deo debitor est quàm Deus homini all our merits are the gifts of God so man is rather a debtour to God for them then God to man So much as touching this life Touching the other life hee commends them to God that they may behold the presence of his glory with joy for in the life to come wee shall have plenitudinem gaudy fulnes of joy Here all Psal 16. joy is at an ebbe it is mixed with some sorrow light with darkenesse heate with cold health with sicknes life with death glory with ignominy but there is joy and nothing but ioy no change no alteration day without night light without darkenesse summer without winter youth without age life without death there we shall have all teares wiped away from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither shall Apoc. 21. 4. there bee any more paine but they shall have perpetuall ioy death The ioyes of Heaven fill all powers of soule body and Hell shall bee cast into the lake of fire and shall bee destroyed for ever The second death shall have no power upon them that be in heaven but they shall bee the Priests of God and of Christ and shall raigne with him a thousand yeeres That is for ever We looke too much to Apoc. 20. 6 5 14. Hebr. 6. the pleasures of this world which maketh us care lesse for Heaven but looke into the powers of the world to come vide intùs extra supra infra circumcirca ubique erit gaudium Looke within and without above and beneath and round about and yee shall find ioy every where within shall be ioy for the glorification of the body and soule for our Saviour even The Lord Iesus shall change our vile body and make it like his glorious body according Phil. 3. 21. to the working whereby he is able to sub due all things unto himselfe It is much to have our bodies changed more to have our vile bodies changed but to have our vile bodies so changed that they shall be facioned like the glorious body of the Lord Iesus is most of all and must needs fill us with ioy Wee shall have ioy without by reason of the company of the blessed Angels for wee shall inioy not onely the celestiall Ierusalem but also the company of innumerable Angels which shall glad us and reioice us exceedingly Wee shall have ioy above in the sight of God for wee shall bee like God and see him as hee is Wee shall have ioy beneath of the beauty of Heaven and of the world for 1 Iohn 3. 2. Wee looke for new Heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3. 13. Wee shall have ioy round about of the delight of all our senses when God shall bee the obiect of them all for he shall be a glasse unto our eyes musicke unto our eare hony to our taste a flowre to our hands and sweet Balsamum to our smell there shall be the fairenes of the Summer the sweetnes of the Spring the plenty of the Autumne the rest of the Winter yea God shall 1 Cor. 13. bee all in all unto us This life is as a seed-time in teares as the travell of a woman as a weary prentice-hood as a tedious iourney but the harvest is in the life to come there shall we reape joy there Psal 126. 5. are wee delivered of our child birth and forget our sorrow for ioy that salvation is come our sorrow shall be turned into ioy A Iohn 16. 21 22. woman when shee travaileth hath sorrow because her houre is come but as soone as shee is delivered of her Child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the world In this world wee have sorrow but in Heaven joy there wee shall rejoice and our joy shall no man take from us Looke to Iesus the Author and finisher of our faith and let the same animate us that did him hee for the joy that was set before Hebr. 12. 2. him endured the Crosse and despised the shame and is set at the right hand of the Throne of God Let us so doe and wee shall follow the Lambe and be partakers of the price of our high calling which is in Christ Iesus tantum gaudebunt quantum amabunt tantum amabunt quantum cognoscunt Deum sic cognoscunt ut cogniti Rom. 8. sunt so much shall they reioice by how much they love and so The land of the living cōpared with the land of the dead much shall they love by how much they know God and they so know as they are knowne The situation and height of Heaven may teach us the quantity and quality of the glory of heaven Coelum Empyraeum is 1 Cor. 13. higher greater and more excellent than all Heavens the Scripture calleth it The land of the living as if the earth which we inhabit were the land of dead men and indeed Wee are dead and Psal 116. 9. our life is hidde with Christ in God and when Christ which is our life Col. 3. 3. shall appeare then shall wee also appeare in glory Now if in this land of dead men the creatures bee so precious what shall they bee hereafter in the land of the living In this dead land see the greatnesse of the heavens the brightnesse of the Sunne and Moone and starres the beauty of the earth how pleasant is it to see the height of the mountaines the plaines of the fields the greenenesse of the vallies the fountains of waters the current of the streames and rivers which like veines runne thorow the earth the mines of gold and silver pearle the mines of metals If all these bee in the land of the dead what is in the land of the living There shall bee a new Heaven and a new earth and new creatures 2 Pet. 3. 15. Againe there be three places in this life The first is in the wombe from our corruption The second is in the world from our birth The third is in Heaven after death Betwixt these three there is a proportion looke how much the world is bigger and pleasanter than the wombe so much is Heaven bigger and fairer than the world as well in length of time as in beauty Touching durance the first life in the 2 Mathab 7. wombe is not above nine moneths the second life is foure score yeeres at the most the third is infinite and
excellent of all vertues 413 All vertues vaine without love ibid. Many excellent properties of Love 414 Little love in this age ibid. Love makes men of one heart 415 Many men implacable cruell like Wolues or Divels ibid. An exhortation to love 416 Foure properties of love that it be holy just true constant ibid. The love amongst Atheists and impious condemned 417 The excellency of Love ibid. Atheists agree like a kennell of dogs 418 Most love for lucre ibid. Gods love to us infinite 419 Gods love to us diversly distinguished ibid. Gods loue set out by all the dimensions yet transcendent and unmeasurable ibid. No love comparable to Gods Love 420 Gods love to us the cause of our love to him and the godly ibid. Foure reasons or motives to incite us to love God 1. à mandato 2. ab aequo justo 3. à commodo 4. ab officio 421 The manner how God is to bee loved 422 Love a debt that all owe to God and man but few poy it ibid VVe must shew our love to God by keeping his commandements and serving him 423 An honorable and happy thing to love God ibid. Sermon 34. THe hope of eternal life allays the hardnesse of Gods Commandements 425 Hope of reward makes men endure labours and dangers 426 The blessed estate of the Saints in Heaven 427 Christ and the Saints in their sufferings had an eye to the reward ibid. The joyes of Heaven unspeakable incomprehensible 428 The glorified bodyes shall have spirituall and heavenly qualities namely clarity agility subtility unpassibility and immortality 429 The principall points wherein the glory and joy of the glorified soule and whole Saint consist 430 Earthly mindes regard not Heavenly joyes 431 Divers errours concerning eternall life 432 The joyes of Heaven eternall and infinite ibid. Heaven compared with the wombe of the world 433 An exhortation to seeke after eternall joyes ibid. Eternall life onely the free gift of God 434 Merit end mercy gift and desert opposite ibid. Papists works many of them merit death 435 Merit three-fold Congrui Digni Condigni ibid. None can merit ex condigno but Christ 436 Our works cannot merit because finite and unperfect ibid. Christs righteousnes ours 437 Our works merit not jointly with Christs ibid. Grace threefold Praeveniens Subsequens Consummans ibid. Many Papists renounce their merits and fly to Gods mercy 438 Our election vocation justification sanctification all from grace 439 We must not trust in our works but confesse our sinnes ibid. Sermon 35. DIscretion necessary for distinguishing sinnes and sinners 441 Ministers must use discretion not deale alike with all sinnes and sinners ibid. How to restore with m●ekenes them that are fallen 442 VVee should pitty and pray for sinners and not despise them ibid. Many men more compassionate toward their beasts nhan brethren 444 Wee must tak away sinnes with mildenesse and mercy if possible ibid. Reproofe though not pleasing yet profitable 446 Compassion must be shewed especially to the soule 447 The Saints bewaile the estate of the wicked ibid. Threats of judgement belong to the wicked 448 The obstinate must be terrified not soothed ibid. Iudgements denounced against soothing false prophets 449 Reproofes more profitable than soothing flattery 450 Excommunication a grievous censure ibid. Excommunication three-fold 451 Two uses of Excommunication ibid. Sermon 36. THe sinner alwayes in danger 452 The fickle estate of the wicked set out by divers resemblances 453 No estate permanent 454 Sudden destruction waite on the wicked ibid. Death comes not sudden to the Godly 455 The Godly prepare by repentance and godly life for death while they have time 456 Repentance must not be deferred ibid. The saving of soules a most blessed worke 457 Though God save yet both Grace and Faith and Ministery concurre 458 Tho Ministrie being Gods ordinance to save soules is not to be slighted though the World despise them ibid. Foure faculties in the soule whereby it converts the food of the Word and Sacraments to nourishment of the spirituall life 459 The necessitie and excellent fruits of the Ministery set out by divers resemblances 460 The happy estate of them that have means of knowledge 461 Salvation and the misery of them that want it ibid. Sermon 37. NOt onely evill but all appearance of evill is to bee avoided 462 Sinne must bee hated not sported at if if wee love our owne soules ibid. No communion to be holden or society with the wicked 463 Wicked men must be avoided in respect of God and ourselves ibid. Sinne as contagious as the plague and more dangerous 464 Wee must hate sinne because the whole Trinity detest it 465 Wee must hate sinne because Satan is the author being enemie to God and our soules ibid. Sinne must bee hated because it dishonours God not our selves 466 Wee may not hold amity with the wicked boing Gods enemies 467 The amity of the wicked treachery ibid. Sinne onely is hated of God and man and not the person except reprobate 468 Two judgments the one of Faith the other of Charity 469 Wee must leave sinne of conscience not for other respects 470 The punishment of sinne ought to deterre from sinne ibid. Earthquakes an evident signe of Gods anger and a forerunner of judgement 471 Many earth-quakes in many places and much hurt 472 Christians not to be prophaned 473 Sermon 38 VVE are not sufficient to doe any good of our selves without grace 476 Exhortations do not shew what we can but what we should doe 477 Grace both preserves from falling and raiseth us being fallen 478 Our enemies many and powerfull 479 Prayer the best meanes to repell Satan and his temptations 480 All sorts of men have fallen even the Saints ibid. All have the Seminarie of all sinnes in them 481 Grace worketh all in all ibid. Wee walke in the middest of snares 482 God suffered Adam and doth still suffer the Saints to fall for divers reasons 483 Difference betweene the sinnes of Saints and Reprobates ibid. Whether and how the Church may erre 484 The best have erred ibid. The Pope may erre and many of them have erred 485 The distinctions about the erring of the Pope nice and frivolous 486 Sermon 39. HOw wee are said to bee blamelesse notwithstanding we are full of sin 487 Two kindes of righteousnesse 488 Our righteousnesse consists rather in the remission of sinne than perfection of vertue ibid. How we are said to be perfect and yet imperfect 489 The Iesuits and latter Popish writers the worst 490 The Church and members of it impure in it selfe but perfect and pure in Christ 491 Our service may be sincere not perfect 492 Iustification by workes confuted how justified by faith explained 493 Papists flye to the mercy of God and merit of Christ 494 No true joyes and pleasures in this world but all in Heaven ibid. The Saints in Heaven shall have fulnesse of joy undique 495 Heaven the land of the living and Earth land of dead men 496 God shall be all in all to the Saints in Heaven ibid. Worldly minded men desire not Heaven 497 Our life nothing to eternall life ibid. All honours and pleasures on earth nothing to them in Heaven 498 The World fraudulent turbulent momentary 499 Christ the onely comfort to the elect both in this life and that to come ibid. Many hindred from Heaven by pleasure Sermon 40. PRayer and praise the two chiefest parts of Gods worship must follow one another 501 The glory of God hath beene celebrated by all Saints 502 Wee slauld not thinke of the mercies of God in Christ without praising him 503 God described by many attributes yet none can sufficiently set him out ibid. God onely wise all men ignorant and foolish 504 Wee have no true wisedome till infused by God ibid. All wisedome and Knowledge hid in Christ 505 Destinction betweene Science and Sapience ibid. Worldly wisedome folly ibid. Gods Wisedome seene in creation and disposing of all creatures and governing the Church 506 Christ a mercifull and powerfull Saviour in life and death ibid. No Saviours comparable to Christ 507 The Papists derogate from the power and merit of Christ ibid. The imputative righteousnes of the Saints more set out Gods glory than the inherent 508 Mans worke cannot merit ibid. What it is to glorifie God 509 Thankefulnesse the onely sacrifice that God requires ibid. We pray in our wants and doe not praise God when we are releeved 510 Thankesgiving and the praise of God the end of our creation ibid. They thrt doe not glorifie God here shall not be glorified of him hereafter ibid. Two theeves that rob God of his glory and justice 511 A powerfull exhortation to praise God and give up our selves in thankefulnesse ibid. If no praise of God in the mouth no thankfulnesse or grace in the heart 512. Sermon 29. VVHat it is to ascribe majestie to God 514 Miracles are admired for the rarenesse 515 All Gods ordinary workes wonderfull 516 Our dulnesse in ascribing to God majestie in regard of his workes ibid. God re●eales himselfe sixe wayes ibid. Gods judgement do not worke Repentance ibid. Wherein Gods dominion standeth 517 Gods three-fold kingdome of power grace glorie ibid. Wee ackowledge our selves subjects of Christs kingdome of grace and yet are rebellious 518 Three properties in the Angels Obedience Libentissime Citissime Fidelissime Obediunt 519 Notorious sinners Satans bond-slaves ibid. Wee must be pure in soule and body that Christ may dwell and rule in us 520 Gods power omnipotent ibid. Christ every where present by his power though not corporally ibid. Christs omnipotenty gives comfort to the Christian 521 Gods incomprehensiblenesse set out by comparison ibid. Christ all in all to us 522 God cannot doe those things that imply contradiction or defect ibid. How attributes are ascribed some time to the whole Trinitie sometime to particular persons 523 All Gods attributes are eternall ibid. God must bee praied and praised for all things temporall and eternall 524 Amen the diverse significations thereof and the efficacie thereof in the conclusion of our praiers ibid. Note that the folio's are mistaken at fol. 425. where you shall finde this marke 〈◊〉 FINIS
his feet Hee rebuketh the Sea drieth it he drieth up all the rivers The mountaines tremble for him and the hills melt and the earth is burnt at his sight yea the world and all that dwell therein who can stand before his wrath if his wrath be kindled yea but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him God telleth the Idumaeans Though thou exalt thy selfe like an Eagle and make thy nest among the starres thence will I bring thee downe saith Obadiah vers 4. the Lord. Paul applieth the example of Gods justice on Israel to the Church of Corinth and all Churches I would not have you ignorant quoth he that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed thorough the Sea c. but with many of them God was not pleased for 1 Cor. 10. 1. 5. 6 7 8 9 10 11. they were overthrowne in the wildernesse Now these are examples to us to the intent that wee should not lust after evill things as they lusted neither be yee idolaters as were some of them As it is written the people sate downe to eate and drinke and rose up to play Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed fornication and fell in one day three and twenty thousand neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted him and were destroyed of serpents neither murmure yee as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now all these things came unto them for examples and were written to admonish us upon whom the ends of the world are come The continuance of Gods mercy for a long time doth not assure us of perpetuall safety but of greater destruction if we beleeve not Quantò gradus altior tantò casus gravior the higher we are in dignity the more grievous our fall and misery as was said of the whore of Babylon Inasmuch as shee glorified herselfe and lived in pleasure so much give yee to Apoc. 18. 7. Mat. 11. 23. Ier. 18 18. 21. her torment and sorrow And so Capernaum that was lift up to heaven was threatned to bee throwne downe to hell The Iewes thought that the dignity of their Priesthood should have continued for ever and therefore they said The law shall not perish from the priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet Therfore saith God deliver up their children to famine and let them drop away The higher exalted the lower dejected if impious by force of the sword and let their wives be robbed of their children and be widdowes and let their husbands be put to death and let the yong men be slaine with the sword in the battell They bragged of Moses that he was their teacher they boasted of Abraham and a succession from Abraham but Iohn answereth them saying Say not to your selves wee have Abraham to our father For God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham of them came the Fathers of them came Luk. 3. 8. Christ yet were they not all Israel that came of Israel neither are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham This augmented the punishment of Israel that God had beene so good unto them for every blessing is as good as a bill of enditement preferred against us at the great Assise-day for listen what God himselfe saith O my people what have I done unto thee Michea 6. 3. 14 15. or wherin have I grieved thee testify against me surely I brought thee up out of the land of Aegypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants I have sent before thee Moses Aaron Miriam And thus the Lord goeth on intimating unto them that hee never hurt them but bestowed infinite blessings and benefits upon them but because they misused them God threatneth them That they shall eate and not be satisfied and thy casting downe shall be in the middest of thee meaning that they shall be consumed with inward griefe and evill and further he threatneth them saying Thou shalt sow but not reape thou shalt tread the Olives but thou shalt not annoint thee with oyle and make sweet wine but shalt not drinke wine This also augmented the punishment of Eli's house that whereas God did chuse him out of all the tribes of Israel to bee his Priest and to offer upon Gods Altar and to burne Incense and to weare an Ephod before God yet because he honoured his children more than God God 1 Sam. 2. 28. 31. threatned to cut off his arme and the arme of his Fathers house and that there should not be an old man in his house for ever Esay and Michah prophesied unto Iuda sixty yeares Hosea and Amos in Israel seventy yeares yet God sealed neither the one nor the other an obligation of perpetuall mercy The one was carried into Assyria a captivity irreturnable the other into Babylon where they 2 Reg. 17. 6. Psal 137. Amos. 8. 10. could not sing the Lords songs in a strange land God turned their songs into mournings and their feasts into lamentations The Papists speake of our overthrowes in Ireland as the Syrians said that God was the God of Israel in the mountaines but not in the vallies So they say he is our God in England but not in Ireland they say that hee was a God in the beginning of the Queenes raigne but not now Zidkia of Rome the Iesuites have made them hornes of iron as 1 Reg. 22. 11. saying that they will push England Herod of Rome hath sent us word of our destruction but if wee repent we may answere him as Christ did Herod Goe yee Luk. 13. 32. Mat. 9. 15. and tell the Foxe c. Wee are the children of the wedding and therefore cannot mourne yet The arrow of our deliverance is as yet in the Kings hands against the Aramites the Papists If wee Where God spareth long he punisheth more if impenitent repent all our enemies shall be but the Thistles of Lebanon but if we bring not forth the fruits of the Gospell wee may rather weepe with Elisha to thinke what evill Hazael the Papists will doe to the Church of God Surely God will do to us as to Israel God bare long with them but afterwards he destroyed them 2 Reg. 14. 9. 2 Reg. 8. 11 12. God hath hands of iron and feere of lead hee commeth slowly but when he commeth he payeth surely Deus tardus est ad iram sed tarditatem gravitate poenae compensat God is slow to anger but he recompenseth his slownesse with grievousnesse of punishment Hereupon saith Paul But thou after thy hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heape unto thy selfe wrath against the day of Rom. 2. 5 6 7 8 9. wrath and declaration of the iust iudgement of God who will reward every man according to his works To them which by continuance in wel-doing seeke glory and honour and immortality eternall life but unto them that
will not rectified Deest enim intellectus voluntatis consiliari●s for understanding is wanting which is the Counseller of the soule The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse 1 Cor. 2. 14. unto him neither can hee know them because they are spiritually discerned at spiritus non natura sed gratia the spirit is not of nature but of grace So said Christ of the whole world O righteous Father Iohn 17. 25. the World hath not knowne thee but I have knowne thee and these have knowne c. therefore hee prayed for his Apostles and in them for us all I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the World but that thou keepe them from evill And againe Sanctifie them Iohn 17. 15 17. with thy truth by nature wee are the children of wrath by grace we are Gods adopted Sonnes Hereupon saith the Apostle In times past we walked according to the course of the World and after the spirit that ruleth in the Ayre and that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whome also wee had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh and fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the minde Ephes 2. 3 4 5. and were by nature the children of Wrath nor by creation but by Adams transgression and so by birth as well as others But God which is rich in mercy through the great love wherewith he loved us when wee were dead by sinnes hath quickned us together in Christ by whose grace we are saved There are but two things in us either nature or grace either flesh or spirit Now in the state of nature al are accursed in the state of grace we are blessed For by grace wee beleeve and faith Act. 18. 27. Iohn 1. 12 13. maketh us the sonnes of God for as many as received him to them he gave power to be the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name which are borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the No true good in us by nature till regenerate will of man but of God Where he distinguisheth of two births the one naturall and the other spirituall a birth from men a birth from God a generation by nature a regeneration by the Spirit as he doth againe to Nicodemus Except a man be borne of Water and of the Spirit hee cannot enter the Kingdome of God and againe Yee Cap. 3. 5 6. Psal 2. 7. must be borne againe there is no naturall Sonne of God but the Lord Iesus we are all the adopted Sonnes of God in Christ and by Christ by his meanes we are raised up together and made to sit together Ephes 2. 6. Rom. 8. 17. in Heavenly places For saith the Apostle If we be children wee are also heires even the heires of God and heires annexed with Christ c. we bring nothing from our mothers wombe but death and damnation every one must say with David I was shapen in wickednes Psal 51. 5. and in sinne hath my mother conceived me Quis dabit mundum de immundo Who can bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse What Iob 14. 4. can be had from the egge of a Cockatrice but a Serpent From a spider but venome from the Taxus tree in India but poyson from the bitter poole Exanthus but bitter water Wee have not Math. 7. Lambes from Woolves no grapes from thornes nor figges from thistles Well said the Schooleman Quòd dona naturalia in Adamo sunt corrupta supernaturalia ablata ille ut radix nos ut rami radix est venenata ergo rami Our naturall gifts in Adam were corrupt our supernaturall taken away he as the roote we as the boughes the root is poisoned therefore the boughes like the waters of Mara untill Moses put in the sweet wood untill God Exod. 17. infuse grace for by grace we are saved and where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more that as sinne had raigned unto death so Ephes 2. 8. Rom. 5. 20 21. might grace also raigne by righteousnesse unto eternall life The Pelagians held that sinne came by imitation not by propagation but Paul confuteth them saying As by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death went over all men forasmuch as Rom. 5. 12. all men have sinned c. These men quoth Iude walke as Naturall men that is in all sinne and vanity as is said of the Gentiles That they walked in the vanity of their minde having their cogitations darkened being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their hearts So Paul reasoned with the Corinths Are yee not carnall For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions 1 Cor. 3. 3. are yee not carnall and walke as men even so reason wee with you When malice envy rancour whoredome covetousnesse pride raigneth among us are wee not naturall men For God would cut downe these sinnes as a sickle If yee live after the flesh yee shal dye but if yee through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8. 13. yee shall live Yea many naturall men goe before us in brideling their lusts and affections Aristides being by the unjust Law of Ostracisme in Athens banished and being asked what hee would to Athens answered Se nihil velle quin tantam rerum prosperitatem ut illis nunquam in mentem veniat Aristides hee desired nothing We should strive to exceed naturall men but so much prosperity to Athens as that they might never remember Aristides The like is said of Phocion condemned to drink hemlocke the juce whereof through extreme cold is poison Being asked what he would unto his Sons said Nothing sed ne hujus unquam iniuriae velint meminisse but that they should never remēber this injury Socrates by Philosophie brideled whoredome in himselfe and Telamon by it bare the death of his sonne patiently saying Sciebam me genuisse mortalem I did know that I begat a mortall man I take no pleasure in these prophane examples save only to ashame us as Paul did the Athenians by Aratus and the Cretians by Epimenides and the Corinths by Menander Let our righteousnesse exceed theirs else there is no roome for us in Gods Kingdome our life must have all vertues in it such a life led the Christians they could be touched with no open crime or notorious fault but that they sung Psalmes to Iesus before day as Plinius secundus writeth of them to the Emperour our Saviour Christ told his disciples that their justice must exceed the justice Mat. 5. 20. of the Scribes and Pharises and so must wee tell all Christians that they must exceed Turkes and Pagans or else they shall never see the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the liuing yet it is reported
as Chaffe the least blast of Gods wrath will overthrow all their happinesse and felicity which at the best is most uncertaine and mutable Iob saith They spend their dayes in pleasure and suddenly goe downe to Hell And hee saith The Lord Iob 21. 18. doth make them as stubble before the winde and as chaffe shall they bee dispersed for in a moment they are gone and like chaffe scattered abroad the godly are as trees the wicked are as chaffe there is difference betweene chaffe and trees Ieremy layeth out the estate of the wicked by comparing them to sheepe Let us talke with thee of thy judgements saith Ieremy Ier. 12. 1 2 3. to God Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse Thou hast planted them and they have taken roote they grow and bring foorth fruit thou art neere in their mouth but farre from their reynes and at last hee saith Pull them out like sheepe for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter Now they live and within an houre are led to the shambles Iob compareth them to a dreame or vision in the night and saith That the rejoycing of the wicked is but Iob 20. 5 8 9. short and the joy of hypocrites is but for a moment hee shall flee away as a dreame and they shall not finde him and shall passe away as a vision in the night so that the eye which had seene him shall see him no more and his place shall see him no more Moses compareth them to a tale that is told and hee saith that they bring their yeeres to an Psal 90. end as a tale that is told and Saint Iames to a vapour that continueth but a little season How soone is the yee moulten How soone Iam. 4. is the flowre withered How soone is a vapour consumed of the Sunne How soone is a dreame vanished How soone is a tale told How soone is a ship past How swift is the flight of an Iob 4. 25. Eagle And such is our life so elegantly David setteth out their fall I have seene saith hee the wicked strong spreading himselfe like a greene Bay tree yet he passed away and he was gone I sought him but hee could not bee found they are gone they shall no more returne Psal 37. 35 36. to their faire houses and their places shall know them no more where they dwelt how they lived we know but where they dyed where they are God knoweth they were here but they are gone Ederunt biberunt riserunt luserunt they have eaten drunken laughed sported and made themselves merry but suddenly No mans estate permanent they are gone Feare dwelleth in their houses and brimstone is scattered in their habitations their rootes are dried up beneath and above is his branch cut downe his remembrance shall perish from the earth and Iob 18 15 16 17. hee shall have no name in the street David in his Epitaph cryeth out Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mighty overthrowne So how are these wicked ones overthrowne So Saint Ambrose made it the foot of his song speaking of the death of the three noble Emperours Valentinian Gratian and Theodosius Omnibus O Valentiniane Gratiane speciosi fuistis O Valentinian and Gratian that have beene Oratione funebride Theodosi● obitu Gratiani beautifull to all and admired of all conjoyned in life not divided in death one grave did not separate them whom one affection joyned together meeker than Doves swifter than Eagles stouter than Lions gentler than Lambes the bow of Gratian never turned backe neither did the sword of Valentinian returne empty Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mightie fallen O quomodo O how how Againe speaking of Theodosius hee saith Obitum ejus omnia elementa moerebant All the Elements mourned for his death the Sunne was eclipsed the Moone did not shine the Ayre was darkened the Earth trembled the Waters roared and the whole World bewailed the losse of such a man Quomodo ceciderunt potentes O quomodo corruerunt How are the mighty fallen How are the mighty overthrowne c. No mans state is permanent let no man trust his present state for how soone are rich men impoverished How suddenly are wise men infatuated How soone are the honourable abased How suddenly are the strong weakened How suddenly are the faire blemished Laban hath lost his sheepe Achitophel his wisedome Haman Gen. 30. 2 Sam. 16. Ester his honour Samson his strength Absolon his beautie Dionysius his kingdom How suddenly do the wicked perish The wicked are as men in the fire ready to be burned as prisoners adjudged ready to be executed as sheepe for the shambles For behold Pharaoh now sitting in his chariot now drowned in the Sea Exod. 14. and meate for Haddockes Behold Balthasar now tossing the pots and by and by quaking like a beast behold Herod now sitting in a chaire of gold and the people crying The voyce of a God and not of a man and presently strucken of an Angell and eaten of Wormes behold Dionysius to day a King in Syracuse to morrow a Schoole-master in Corinth Lastly behold Cardinall Woolsey with silver pillars pollaxes and golden crosses writing I and my King and within a while dead at Leicester of an Italian Figge with his stinch putting out the torch To these examples of Balthasar Pharaoh Dionysius and others ●erome addeth many more Nam feriunt summes fulmine montes subitò The Lightnings strike the high mountaines suddenly Constantins Death comes not sudden to the godly dyed suddenly in a Village called Mopsi Iulianus was suddenly hit with an arrow from Heaven Iovinianus stifled with stinch in a vomit of bloud Valius perished in the warres against the Goths Gratian was slaine suddenly at Lions Valentinianus the younger was hanged Procopius Maximinus Eugenius quoth he dyed suddenly on the sword they say that Gregorie the thirteenth died suddenly of a Rheume of whom Beza wrote Nec panifex nec potifex sed carnifex Papa pater pontifex This is the case of all men But what wicked man will beleeve this till hee feele it Every man flatters himselfe till the plague come and then hee cryeth out that it came too suddenly it came ere hee looked for it For certainely when a man shall heare the words of the curse and Deut. 29. 19 20. blesse himselfe in his heart and saith I shall have peace although I walke after the stubbornnesse of mine owne heart thus adding drunkennes to thirst the Lord will not bee mercifull unto him but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and every curse that is written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall put out his name from under Heaven Salomon noteth three things in the wicked their plague commeth shortly suddenly and without recovery for marke his words His destruction