the Kings the 22. 27. The reign of the King is the service of God for in the thirteenth of the Acts the thirty sixt verse it is written David after he had served his time slept with his fathers yea in the fift of Johns Gospel the seventeenth verse Jesus saith His Father worketh and he himself worketh also for Jesus for our sakes made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant the second of the Philippians the seventh verse and only by this his obedience as a servant he hath made us all righteous the fift to the Romans the ninth verse The third use Take this also for a third use ut operaretur terram de quâ sumptus est to teach us that we must doe service to the Country wherein we live Every one is content and forward operari terram quae est to take pains and labour in trimming the earth de quâ factus whereof he was made his own person a mans private every one respecth and will for flow no means to perfect his own state but he must operari terram de quâ desumptus est he must occupie his diligence and service in the earth from whence he is taken It is the office of the Prince the Priests and People to pray for the peace of Jerusalem Psalm 122. 6. The King the 〈◊〉 and the Soldiers or Captains joyn in the building of the Citie Nehemiah 2. And according to that of 2 Sam. 10. 〈◊〉 The Souldiers are 〈◊〉 and valiant for their People and the Cities of their God they fight for the 〈…〉 they were taken Salomon the King bestoweth his 〈◊〉 and his pains 〈◊〉 inrich and better his land Not only 〈◊〉 but the 〈◊〉 Queen Hester though with danger of her life resolved to make petition to the King for safety of her People Hester 7. 3. she prayeth not only for her own life but also for the life of her People and if they had been sold only for servants or hand-maids she would have held her 〈◊〉 And Moses after the People had fallen to 〈◊〉 such was his zeal for the safety of his People that he 〈◊〉 more than once for the safety of them and that God would pardon them or if he would not to 〈◊〉 or raze him out of his book And Christ himself would 〈◊〉 rebukes for our sakes Rom. 14. 3. We must wish and work the good of the Land wherein we live both for this life and for the life to come though it be with the 〈◊〉 of the losse of our own lives with Moses Hester and our Saviour Women not exempted Further that we may joyn Women in this also who though they are not named yet they are not exempted from occupying themselves in this service of the Earth for though her husband be imployed abroad yet she overseeth her houshold and she 〈…〉 the bread of idlenesse saith the wiseman Prov. 31. 27. She is to doe her husband service She will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life She seeketh wooll and flax and laboureth with her hands And with her hands she planteth a Vineyard And by the whole discourse of that chapter it appeareth that she is not to live in idlenesse Here shall be work in the earth for women also For she shall eat of the fruit of her own hands and her own works shall praise her in the gates the thirty first of the Proverbs the thirty 〈◊〉 verse And Paul in his second chapter of his Epistle to Titus the fourth and the 〈◊〉 verses sheweth the duty of Women to love their Husbands to keep at home and to be subject unto them The especial matter of consideration is this that we were not altogether taken from earth but we have also a Heavenly part God breathed in us the breath of life we had a breathing from God So that as we owe service to the earth from whence our bodie was taken so we owe service to God from whom the Heavenly part of our soul came for the soul of man is 〈◊〉 substantia then we owe not all our service unto the earth but a greater service unto God for vain is it when man 〈◊〉 all his labour for his mouth but his soul is not 〈◊〉 the sixt of 〈◊〉 the seventh 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 for the soul As the body is 〈◊〉 so the Soul is 〈◊〉 by mans service unto God for ut anima est 〈…〉 so 〈…〉 vita animae the soul is the life of the body and God is the life of the soul. Besides as heretofore we have considered in his other 〈◊〉 that he joyneth Mercy with Judgement so likewise he joyneth Mercie here with his Justice yea his Mercie exceedeth his Justice Mercie and Judgement are joyned together in a good man the hundred and twelfth Psalme and God is mercifull and full of compassion the hundred and eleventh Psalme the fourth verse yea which is more by the hundred fourty 〈◊〉 Psalm the ninth verse His mercie is above all his works yea his 〈◊〉 shall not only be joyned with his Justice but even triumph over Justice The ancient Fathers doe gather the second mercie by or out of this sending and they doe expresse it out of the eighth chapter of this book by the sending of the Raven and the Dove out of the Arke for Noah sent forth the Raven which returned not when the waters were diminished from off the Earth but after the waters were abated the Dove returned with an olive leafe in her bill The Dove when she came brought hope of returning to the earth from whence Noah and his familie were taken In the fourty seventh of Genesis the twentieth verse though Joseph bought for Pharaoh all the Land of Egypt yet after Joseph gave them seed and only the sift part of the increase was for Pharaoh the rest for themselves and they were well content to till and husband the land and to become for this relief in their famine the servants of Pharaoh And out of Missus they gather another mercie God shall send us one and his name saith Jerom is Missus one sent upon the word Shiloh mentioned in the tenth of Genesis the twenty fourth verse and of Silo or Siloam which is by interpretation sent the ninth of John the seventh verse Moses in the fourth of Exodus the thirteenth verse when God would send him to Egypt saith Oh my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send The Prophet in the sixteenth of Esay the first verse saith send ye a Lamb to the Ruler of the world from the rock of the wildernesse This Lamb there prophecies that was sent was our Saviour And this word Missus sent is appropriated to Christ and he is sent that we might return again to Paradise Adam had hope that by one which should come from the promise in the seed of the woman he should once return again You have a plain example in the twenty
him for the same should have provoked Cain to a godly emulation debuit fratrem mutatus imitari non amulari I have observed that nothing is done but upon emulation saith the Preacher Ecclesiastes the fourth chapter If that be taken away all desire of virtue will die That which we are to apply from hence to our use is that If Gods doings which are just be subject to the unjust construction of men as it falls out in Cain We ought not to marvel if our doing be hardly censured which many times are wrong notwithstanding howsoever we may rightly be reproved oftentimes for our doing yet God is alwayes to be acknowledged righteous when he is judged Psalm the fifth for he is righteous in all his wayes Psalm the one hundred and fourty fifth and no iniquity in him Psalm the ninty second Tum dixit Jehova Kajino Quare accensa est ira tua quare cecidit vultus tuus Nonne si benè egeris remissio si verò non benè egeris prae foribus est peccatum excubans Gen. 4 6 7. June 10. 1599 WHICH words of God do let us see Cain's sorrow of malice and envy that the sorrow of Cain was not the sorrow of repentance but of malice and envy and therefore he findeth fault with it saying Why art thou wrath and why is thy countenance cast down God knew no just cause of his sorrow and therefore it was not a good and godly sorrow but malicious and full of envy Gods first sermon the ground of all others These words contain a sermon of God and the first that was preached after man was sent out of Paradise and it is the seed-plot of all other sermons that is in the Prophets and Apostles To bring sinners to repentance In which generally we are taught as much as the Prophet after affirmeth of Gods goodness That he delighteth not in the death of sinners Ezekiel the thirty eighth chapter That he will not have any to perish but come to repentance in the second of Peter the third chapter and the ninth verse And hereof we have a plain example in Cain who is the first of all the reprobates which not withstanding God laboureth to bring to repentance Again here we see the blessednesse of mans state for albeit the Angels be of all creatures most excellent yet in these two respects mans estate is more blessed than the Angells For the sinne of Angells is incurable as Jude sheweth Jude the sixth The Angels that kept not their first estate but lost their own habitation are reserved by God in everlasting chains to judgment Whereas the sin of man may be cured Secondly in that God when he was to redeem the world would not assume the nature of Angels but tooke the nature of man in the second chapter to the Hebrews and the sixteenth verse For there is cure and physick for mans sinne as the prophet speaketh Let there be an healing of thine error in the fourth of Daniel and the twenty fourth verse Therefore the people acknowledged that albeit they have trespassed against God in taking strange wayes yet there is hope in Israel concerning this in the tenth chapter of the first book of Esdras And if yee repent iniquitas vestra non erit in scandalum Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and the twenty second verse Meanes to cure the sin of man There is means to cure the sin of man Thirdly therefore seeing sin is not incurable we may not neglect sinners but must labour to restore them as God dealeth here with Cain And this is the duty 〈◊〉 both the Prophets and Apostles doe stirre us up We desire you to admonish them that are unruly in the first to the Thessalonians the fift chapter and the fourteenth verse And he that converteth a sinner from his way shall save a soul James the fift chapter and the twentieth verse Gods word Physick for the soul. Further we learn that this cure is wrought of God by means of his word for that is the physick of the soul and the balm of Gillead Jeremie the eighth chapter and the twenty second verse And not only by the rod but also by discipline as appeareth verse the eleventh Fiftly As the diseases of the soul are double so is the spirituall medicine of Gods word double 1. of comfort When Adam and Eve were cast down with sorrow for their sinne then God cured them with the word of comfort telling them of the blessed seed in the third chapter of Genesis amd the fifteenth verse 2. of reproofe But here he meeteth with one of another disease and ministreth to him the word of reproofe rebuke and threatnings In respect of the one the word it self is compared to honey Psalm the nineteenth and the tenth verse and in respect of the other the Ministers of the word are called the salt of the earth in the fift chapter of Matthew and the 〈◊〉 verse The one is the word of mercy the other the word of judgment The one is set out by the oyle poured in the wounds of the sick man whose nature is to supple the other is signified by wine which hath a peircing power Luke the tenth chapter Therefore out of Christ's side came out only blood but water also John the nineteenth chapter and the thirty fourth verse There is a cure both by compunction of heart through sorrow in the eleventh chapter to the Romans and by unction that is by the Holy Ghost which anoynteth us with the oyle of gladnesse Therefore we must marke what disease the soul hath for it is as unkindly to heal wounds with sweet words as it is in the sixth chapter of Jeremiah as to apply oyle to those parts that require 〈◊〉 The parts of the sermon are four And by ancient Writers are reduced to these four uses of holy Scripture which the Apostle noteth in the second to Timothie the third chapter and the sixteenth verse To reproofe belongeth Why art thou angry and why is thy countenance cast down To doctrine If thou doe well sbalt not thou be accepted To correction If thou doe not well doth not sinne ly at the dore Lastly for instruction he telleth Cain that albeit the desire of sinne doe assault us yet it shall not have dominion over us Or as other interpret this place it containeth 〈◊〉 motives and arguments why sin should be hatefull to us First because sin is a 〈◊〉 thing and such as no reason can be given for Secondly it will deprive us of our reward Thirdly not only so but we shall be cast down into hell to be partakers of the wrath of God for ever Fourthly albeit the Devill doe labour to make us commit sinne yet the seed of the Woman shall give us grace and strength to resist sinne and the desire thereof In the first part are two questions Question of the minde One of the minde Why art thou angry Quest. of the
a condemning of his action because it is a foolish thing to doe that which hath no good reason to be rendred to warrant the doing of it Therefore God divideth the sense into two parts either the reason must be in God or in Abel in God for favouring him or in Abel because favoured of God Now God in the former part hath acquitted himself saying If thou dost well shalt not thou be accepted for behold I am just and will regard thy well doing therefore thou hast no cause to be grieved for that Or else thou shalt be rewarded according to justice and that in bounty and liberality which is by ancient Fathers grounded upon the words of God to Abraham Fear not for I will be thine exceeding great reward Genesis the fifteenth chapter and the first verse that is If thou dost well thou shalt be 〈◊〉 be rewarded for it but if thou dost not well thou hast no cause to be grieved neither for as I am just and will talk with thee one day thou shalt hear of it so yet my justice is full of mercy I intend not presenly to take thee by the throat but give thee space to repent 〈◊〉 shall but lye at thy dore so that not only Gods justice 〈◊〉 herein but his mercy is exceeding great and mixed with justice If God took order that after his sinne committed Cain should 〈◊〉 by and by come to judgement but should have time first to 〈◊〉 himself of it this is matter of comfort that no man should despair by and by when he hath sinned far that God is a 〈…〉 God and would not the death of sinner and therefore giveth him time to repent This sheweth that God gave him no cause of grief There remains that the grief must be conceived against Abel because God so much respected him but so the sense is as if God should say Cain art thou grieved for Abels good and fearest he should grow insolent by the favour I have shewed him and so he should despise and thou shouldst be vile in his eyes If Abel have offended thee why his desire shall be subject to thee but that is no cause why thou shouldst be grieved for he being the Child of grace doth not affect any such manner of superiority as thou fearest but is as modest and as humble as he was before and so thou hast no reason of impatiencie against him And not only that first but this second that God shewed plainly that it is his will that in and by the sin committed no man should lose any priviledge which of right is due to him and which before hee had and every motion in a Superior to sinne doth not discharge him of his authority Which is contrary to that false opinion and censure of them which thinke that even Princes themselves after sinne committed lose all their prerogative and supremacy of government which they had before and that their Subjects are not bound to doe their service any longer to them but that ever after their allegiance shall cease which is false and contrary to all reason and not Gods intent and will here For as in the chapter before after Adam had sinned yet Eve was still subject to him so the same God saith and ratifieth here that Cain though he had thus sinned both against God and his brother yet being the elder and first born and so before Abel so there should be a superiority and dominion that he should still retain by nature And it is Gods assertion that that superiority should be reteined still and that Abel should not seek to be his Superior neither did he That was the prerogative which Cain had before Abel as the elder But to yeeld this obedience hath been the continuall practise of all the Saints and Children of God King Saul was a wicked man yet David rebelled not against him because he knew him to be the Lords annointed so the Prophet Jeremy saith of Nebuchadnezar a wicked King that he will visite the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve him the twenty seventh chapter of Jeremiah and the ninth verse and for the new Testament both Paul and Peter confess the same Paul in the first to Timothy the second chapter and the second verse and Peter in the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the fourteenth verse doe will that duty and allegiance be given to the higher powers not only if they be good but though they be Tyrants and wicked Princes that fear not God And it is it that God saith by Job Job the thirty fourth chapter and the thirtieth verse that by him the Hypocrite reigneth that is for their sinnes God will send wicked Princes and Cain shall bear rule over Abel God doth not only alledg that thus it was but thus he would have it This Government thus by God established in the beginning was by David Jeremy Paul Peter Job and all the rest of the Patriarchs and Saints of God confessed and allowed So that if we regard Abel either in respect of himself or his demeanour towards Cain or we respect Gods goodness herein no just cause can be of grief neither was it Gods will that Abel should resist neither doth he any such thing and so indeed there was no just cause why Cain should fear it or be grieved And this may suffice for the first which I will shut up with this Caveat of instruction 〈◊〉 Our own sinne of malice and envy is cause of our grief that for as much as the grief of malice and envy cannot be 〈◊〉 from God who is just nor from Abel who is mild and modest then it remains that it came from Cain himself whom God repeats four times together in the words of this Text thou and thee and so he must return to his own heart and remember how his own sinne is cause of his grief as God himself speaketh by Isaiah the fourty sixth chapter and the eighth verse Remember thus and be ashamed bring it again to minde you transgressors Note And for the new Testament Luke the fifteenth chapter the prodigall Sonne when he came to himself confessed his own unworthiness and said Father I have sinned which is another main point of Divinity established from the beginning that as God saith Hosea the fifteenth and the ninth perditio tua ex te Israel salus autem ex me so our well doing or ill doing is cause of our regarding or destruction so saith James no man is tempted of God for God cannot be tempted of ill neither doth he tempt any man but every one is tempted of his own concupiscence James the first chapter and the thirteenth verse So that from the first we have this Doctrine that if God be judged he is innocent and if Abel there is no fault in him and to come to Cain he is in all the fault But now if we come about and say it is not meant of the person but of the things that is
sinne then we must proceed another way yet true and very profitable and so say ad te appetitus ejus ejus saith Augustine cujus numquid fratris absit Nay saith he it is appetitus peccati and Augustine doth ground this upon Jeremiah the fifteenth chapter and the ninteenth verse where it is said If thou return and in the same verse ipsi convertantur ad te non tu ad illos and so after Austin St. Jerome saith excellently ne peccatum illi sed ille peccato dominaretur not that sinne might have dominion over him but he over sinne and so in a manner dealt all the ancient Divines It is well known St. Jerome knew the tongues and was well acquainted with the Scriptures and so the sense is more perfect and compleat this way than the other This then is the point of instruction as before by way of praise and threat so here God deals by way of admonition which is brought in by way of supposing an excuse as if one should say I would not 〈◊〉 but I cannot doe otherwise I have no power over my self to rule my self or 〈◊〉 this grief how then can I rule over it that is over sinne But against this supposition of Cain Gods instruction is thus though sin be turned towards him yet God saith he may be Master over it that he needs not yeeld to it as if God should say to Cain I would have thee doe that which my grace offereth unto thee and not that which the concupiscence of sin leads thee to Here are two things propounded First our own state in these words but unto thee his desire shall be subject Secondly our duty what to doe thou 〈◊〉 rule over him For the first I grant it thou canst not live without it for sinne lyeth at the dore knocking and will run in and embrace thee if thou open the dore to it it is not possible but ad te appetitus ejus sinne will be taking hold of thee as it is exactly set down Hebrews the twelfth chapter sinne hangs on fast This is your state saith God and take notice of it but then doe your duty when sinne knocks look that you shut the dore against it when sinne runs to you see you turn your back on it and when it desires let it be in vain and then saith St. Austen surgendo proferendo frustra defatigetur ut tandem mihi proferat discat amplius non surgere and this it is that God would have us to remember to repell sinne by striving against it and not become Slaves to it by serving the lusts of it For as many times as a man refuseth the conversion and turning of the oportunities of sinne it is the redoubling of so many rewards and crowns in the Kingdome of heaven so that I tell you as often I have that it signifies both comfort and exhortation that that which exhorts should comfort and that which comforts should exhort too First for comfort not that any man should think himself forsaken and out of the compass of Gods favour when sinne runs to him for therefore it is called conversion it is the motion that water hath in hollow places that howsoever on hills or steep places it runs down yet in hollow places it staieth such is the nature of sinne As if God should say seeing your nature is such that it is naturally inclined to sinne by the teint and corruption of the poyson of that Serpent which first beguiled your first Parents which every man in his own nature hath sense of yet he feels no more than all the dear Saints of God have felt Therefore that it should not seem strange to any man when he seeth sinne run to him and findes those temptations of sin and motions thereunto for it is no other thing than what is incident to all the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the thirteenth verse No temptation hath taken you but such as is incident to man Now that is our inclination naturall which we cannot avoid here in this life and that is comfort against the objects of sinne that our case is no worse than other mens But withall to this comfort God joyns exhortation that for as much as we shall be continually provoked and assaulted by sinne and sin will run to us and ly at the dore yet we are not to goe and meet it and if not goe meet it we must take heed we draw it not to us with cart-ropes as if it came not fast enough Isaiah the fist chapter and the eighteenth verse and as Ezekiel speaks we may not be as dragons sucking still Ezekiel the fourth chapter and the second verse nor put the stumbling blocks of iniquity before our face Ezekiel the fourth chapter we may not plough for sinne Proverbs the twenty first chapter and the fourth verse as if he should say sinne will come fast enough in the fallow grounds therefore we need not to provoke our selves by pictures lewd songs enterludes and such like means 〈◊〉 draw it to us but to abandon them all It is that which the Apostle exhorts all men to in the second to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter and the twelfth verse to cut off all occasions to sinne observing what that is that provoketh them to sinne and cut that off that we draw not sinne to our selves and so be accessary to sinne and cause of our own woe If the water be comming that we give no passage to it if the coals lye before you spit on it you may but beware you blow it not and if sinne would have passage stop it 〈◊〉 serving sin you be carryed away captive of sinne for of whomsoever a man is overcome his servant he is the second of Peter and the second chapter and his servant you are to whom you obey Romans the sixth and the thirteenth verse Therefore give not your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sinne but give your selves to God This is our duty which we must doe and perform for as the former part is set down for our comfort so this serves for our instruction So there is a comfort in our estate comming by this exhortation and there is exhortation out of the comfort to doe our duty on sinne which shall stand us in great stead in the day of the Lord. Here are four divisions or distinctions First God saith There is sinne in body and sinne in soul there are as well corporall sinnes as mentall and as well actuall as cogitable 〈◊〉 a sinne against man as well as God Secondly Si bene feceris nonne acceptaberis so that God saith plainly he that beareth malice doth not well that is he sinneth against his brother for a man may as well sinne against man as against God for that Gods command is Love thy Brother or Neighbour as thy self therefore a man should not imagine that except he offendeth God he sinneth not That is a second distinction Sinne sleeping
not where his Brother is that is a lye with two additions First Mendacium impium In that he lyeth not to man but to God in the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the fourth verse The Wise-man saith of Kings which are but mortall men in the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the thirteenth verse Righteous lips are the delight of Kings and the King loveth him that speaketh right things Then much lesse can God which is the King immortall away with lyes for lying lips are an abhomination to the Lord in the twelfth chapter of the Proverbs and the twenty second verse Hee knoweth all things and his Majesty is greater than all the Kings of the earth Therefore Salomon prayeth in the thirtieth chapter of the Proverbs Take from me vanity and lyes Secondly As it is impious and ungodly so it is foolish in that we seek by ly es to blinde Gods eyes To whom the darknesse is no darknesse but all is light Psalm the one hunded thirty ninth For the Wise-man saith the 14. of the Proverbs and the 22. Errat omnis qui facit iniquitatem that ignorance and wickednesse are twinnes and inseparable companions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cain sheweth his folly in that he believeth the Devill the Father of lyes that he may conceal his fact from God soe as he shall not know of it Secondly because God might object upon his deniall thou wast seen goe into the fields with thy Brother since which time he was not seen he prevents this objection and justifieth his lye and withall defends his sinne for he saith he is not his Brothers keeper that is he denieth that he is to take care of any but himself We are to have care of our Bretheren in three respects That position of Cain is false for he was to have a care of his Brother First if he had been but a man Secondly in that he was his Brother Thirdly for that he was his inferiour committed to his government The law of humanity would teach him to be carefull of Abel in regard of the first The law of naturall affection or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will inforce him to respect his Brother And in that he was his inferior made subject to him the law of nature will inforce him to have a regard of him being 〈◊〉 to his trust This is the law of nature saith Chist in the seventh chapter of Matthew That what we would have men doe to us we doe the same to them for that is the Law and Prophets If our neighbours oxe goe astray or fall down under his burthen Gods will is we succour him Deuteronomie the twenty second chapter Much more are we to have a tender regard of men because they are our own flesh from whom we may not hide our compassion in the fifty eighth chapter of Isaiah But if that will not move Cain yet let naturall affection provoke him to take care of Abel because he is his Brother issued out of the loynes of Adam as he himself was Thirdly he is to take care of him because he is under his government Secondly As Cains position is false so is it wicked For if all men should take care only for themselves and not for others it would be the dissolution of all societie But the law of nature willeth that the members of the body have the same care one for another as they have severally any one for it self in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the twelfth chapter The law of the Church is Nemo quae sua sunt quaer at sed quisquis quae alterius in the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse Which rule as it concerneth all men generally so especially it toucheth those that doe dominari as Cain whose duty non praeesse solum sed prodesse As one private man may not renounce the care that he is to have of another privat man so much lesse may a publique person lay aside the care of a private man Jeroboam had no care of the people though they perished in death in the 13. of Hosea and the 2. verse And when Judas came to the High Priest and confessed his fault They as if they were to care for none but themselves answered What is that to us Looke thou to it in the twenty seventh chapter of Matthew they were perswaded they were not bound to take any notice of his state These were steps of Cains sinne and grievous sinnes Thirdly we are to consider the manner of his answer which is not a simple deniall of his duty but an unmodest speech Am I my Brothers keeper as if he shhold say Am I bound to take care of my Brother In this answer we see that Cain to his former sinnes of lying and malice adds the sinne of pride and presumption Of which the Prophet saith Be not mercifull to them that offend of malicious wickedness which sinne whosoever committeth cannot be clear from the great sinne which is irremediable as David saith Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes so shall I be clear from the great sinne Psalm the nineteenth and the fourteenth verse The instruction that we are to gather hence is that wee avoid the wayes of Cain if we will escape his curses in the eleventh verse of the epistle of Jude He was carried with a lying spirit in the first of Kings and the twenty second chapter and 〈◊〉 may not seek to beguile God as he did as if we would hide our sinnes from him Secondly There is spiritus malignus in the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse the malicious spirit which perswaded Cain that he was not bound to take care for his Brother Wee must take heed of that spirit like wise Thirdly Wee must be ware of the haughty and proud spirit which made him answer God so immodestly we must learn to bee humble for as the Wise-man saith pride is the forerunner of destruction Wee must 〈◊〉 before our selves the example of Abrahams humility who acknowledged him selt to be but dust and ashes in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis And with Job say I will repent in sack cloth and ashes for if wee in humilitie confesse our sinnes God is mercifull and just to forgive us our sinnes in the first epistle of John the first chapter and the seventh verse Wee must instead of the lying spirit possesse our selves with the spirit of truth for the malicious spirit we must have the spirit of charity and for pride put on the spirit of humilitie Dixit verò Deus Quid fecisti ecce vocem sanguinum fratris tui me ab ipsâ humo inclamantium Gen. 4. 10. Aug. 19. 1599. IN which words is set down Cains conviction for howsoever he might imagine he was escaped by that bold utterance of a known lye and untruth yet he was deceived as all they shall be decieved that having
Congregation of such as did invocate the name of the Lord. AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON Severall choice Texts BOTH out of the Old and New TESTAMENT LECTURES Preached in the Parish Church of St. GILES without Cripple-gate LONDON Sed advolavit ad me unus ex istis Seraphim habens in manu sua prunam quam forcibus sumpserat ab altari Admovitque ori meo dicens c. Isaiah 6. 6. Octob. 1. 1598. IN the Liturgy of the ancient Church these words are found applyed to the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood for it is recorded by Basill That at the celebration thereof after the Sacrament was ministred to the people the Preist stood up and said as the Seraphin doth here Behold this hath touched your lips your iniquity shall 〈◊〉 taken away and your sinne purged The whole fruit or Religion is The taking away of sinne Isaiah the twenty seventh Chapter and the ninth verse and the speciall wayes to take it away is the Religious use of this Sacrament which as Christ saith is nothing else but a seale and signe of his blood that was shed for many for the remission of sinnes Matthew the twenty sixt Chapter and the twenty eighth verse for the Angell tells the prophet that his sinnes are not only taken away but that it is done sacramentally by the touching of a Cole even as Christ assureth us that we obtain remission of sinnes by the receiving of the Cup Now as in the Sacrament we consider the Element and the word so we are to divide this Scripture For first in that the Seraphin touched his mouth with a burning Cole taken from the Altar therein we have the element and the word of comfort which the Prophet received was that the Angell said to him Behold this Cole hath touched thy lips and now thine iniquity is taken away and thy sinnes purged And there is such an Analogie and proportion between the Sereaphim and the Priests between the Altar and the Lords Table between the burning Cole and Bread and Wine offered and received in the Lords Supper As we cannot but justifie the wisdome of the ancient Church in applying this Scripture to the holy Eucharist For as St. John sheweth this vision shewed to the Prophet Isaiah is to be understood of our Saviour Christ John the twelfth and the fourty first verse for saith the Evangelist These things said Esay when he saw his glory and spake of him and therefore by this burning Cole taken from the Altar is meant Christ Jesus who by the Sacrifice of his death which hee offered up to God his Father hath taken away our iniquities and purged our sinnes as it is in the sixt chapter to the Hebrewes and therefore for the confirmation of our Faith wee are here taught That our sinnes are no lesse taken away by the element of bread and wine in the Sacrament then the Prophets sinne was by being touched with a Cole The occasion of this touching is set downe in the former verses of this Chapter which doe stand upon a vision and a confession The vision shewed to the Prophet was That hee saw the Lord sitting upon an high Throne as a Judgeready to give Sentence before whom the very Angells were forced 〈◊〉 cover their faces The confession that hee made was Woe is mee for I am uncleane I am a man of polluted lips mine eyes have seene the King and Lord of Hosts From whence wee learne that howsoever by the consideration of his former life and the sinnes that have scaped from him a man may bee brought to some remorse of Conscience yet then especially hee is humbled when hee seeth the vision of Gods glory and therefore nothing is more 〈◊〉 to bring us to repentance than to consider that at the last generall day Wee shall see Christ Jesus the sonne of God come in glory and sit downe in his Throne of glory and give Sentence of condemnation upon the wicked The Prophet who otherwise was no grievous sinner but only guilty of omission for that he had beene silent and did not glorifie God with his 〈◊〉 as he should have done notwithstanding in the sight of Gods glory is touched with remorse cryeth out Woe is me Whereby again wee learne that wee sinne not only when wee speake of these things which wee should not but when wee are silent when we should apply our tongues to Gods glory so that though the excellency of our upright and honest conversation bee never so great in the world yet the Majesty of God is such as shall shew That even those duties that we have omitted shall be sufficient to confound us before his glorious presence unlesse it please him to be mercifull to us therefore when wee appeare before his judgement-seate it shall bee in vain for us to alleage what wee have done forasmuch as the least duty that wee have lest undone is enough to condemn us It shall bee our duty therefore notwithstanding all our righteousnesse to judge our selves worthy to bee destroyed for our iniquities and sinnes of omission Ezechiel the thirty sixt chapter and the one and 〈◊〉 verse and to say with this Prophet Woe is mee for I am a man of polluted lips We must acknowledge that nothing belongs to us but Woe and that God may in justice confound us for the least duty we have omitted Upon this confession made by the Prophet there came an Angell flying from God which by touching his lips with a hot Coale assured him that his sinne was taken away wherefore as by the former wee learne that wee should repent us of our sinnes when wee consider the great Majesty of God so by this wee are taught what to hope for that is that if wee bee penitent God will not bee wanting unto us but will send a Seraphin unto us with a word of comfort to assure us that all our iniquities are purged Two parts First Elementall The outward element appointed by God to confirme his faith was the flying of a Seraphin unto him to touch is mouth with the Cole Secondly Invisible grace the word or invisible grace signifyed by the element was that by that touching his sinne was taken away In the outward action wee are first to consider the element it selfe that was the burning Cole on the Altar next the application persormed by a Seraphin who tooke the Cole from the Altar and touched the Prophets lips First The Element First therefore considering that none can take away sinne but God only wee must needs confesse that there was in this Cole a divine force and virtue issuing from Christ who is the only reconciliation for our sins without which it had not beene possible that it could have taken away sinne But what is here said of this Cole is to bee understood of Christ of whom Esay speaketh in this place When hee saw the glory of Christ John 12. 41. for hee is the Cole by which our sinnes
feeble but of full measure even the full assurance of hope which shall not be for a time or an hour and so fail but it shall continue even to the end Et factum est praelium in Coelo Michael Angeli ejus praeliati sunt cum Dracone Draco pugnabat Angeli ejus Sed hi non praevaluerunt neque locus eorum ampliùs inventus est in Coelo Apoc. 12. 7.8 Septemb. 29. 1599. AS the Christian Religion is not a Religion of Angels for we doe not adore them with divine honour Colossians the second chapter and the eighteenth verse and though we offer to worship them yet they will not admit of it Apocalyps the twenty second chapter and the ninth verse so on the other side it is not a Religion of Saduces that hold there is no Angels nor spirit Acts the twenty third chapter and the eighth verse but it doth acknowledge that such blessed spirits there be and that God hath erected a ladder that reacheth up to Heaven by which the Angels of God goe up and down to convey Gods blessings to men Genesis the twenty eighth chapter And therefore by all means it opposeth it self against the opinion of those that seek to remove this ladder as if there were no duty to be performed by them towards us For in thankfulnesse to God for this benefit that the Angels have a care of us the Church have thought it good weighing both the one extremity of superstition which Moses compareth to drunkennesse and the other extremity of prophanenesse which he likeneth to thirst Deuteronomie the twenty ninth chapter and the nineteenth verse to keep this Feast And indeed if we consider that those glorious spirits who have the continual fruition of Gods presence Matthew the eighteenth chapter and the tenth verse In whose presence is the fulnesse of all jay Psalm the sixteenth can be content to abandon that place of this felicity to come down and perform duties to the sonnes of men namely to take charge of us and keep us from danger Psalm the ninetie first and the eleventh verse to be as ministring spirits for their sakes that shall be heirs of salvation Hebrews the first chapter This cannot but be reckoned a special favour Secondly Especially if we goe a degree further and consider that they leave their assistance in Gods presence where is all glorie and happinesse to Minister to us that dwell in houses of clay Job the fourth chapter and that for our nobility must derive our selves into corruption and worms Job the seventeenth chapter and the fourteenth verse that such holy spirits should come down upon such sinfull spirits such glorious spirits should Minister to such vile bodies this gives us further cause to remember this benefit Thirdly The manner of this Ministry may be a special motive to stir us up to thankfulnesse This ministry and service done to us is as farre as any can reach that is usque ad consilium fideli auxilium For 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 we see Jacob 〈◊〉 an Angel of God gave him direction what to doe Genesis the thirty first chapter and the eleventh verse So an Angel came forth to teach Daniel to give him knowledge and understanding Daniel the ninth chapter and the twenty second verse And this very book contains nothing else but that which Christ revealed to his servant John by an Angel Apocalyps the first chapter and the first verse that is for matter of counsel And for matter of help there is between Angels and Men 〈◊〉 sociale a holy league indeed whereby they binde themselves that for our 〈◊〉 they may wage warre not only with men but with wicked 〈◊〉 That they doe continually defend us the Prophet teacheth 〈◊〉 the thirty fourth The Angels of the Lord pitch their tents 〈…〉 this fear him whereof we have a plain example in the second of the Kings the sixt chapter and the seventeenth verse For the offensive part of help which they perform to men it is plain that as they defend us from danger so they shew themselves enemies not only to men that seek our hurt but to evil Angels That the Angels are enemies to men that are an enemie to the Elect and Church of God we see it plainly affirmed Psalm the thirty fift and the sixt verse The Angel of the Lord persecuteth them whereof an example in the Egyptians that were enemies to Gods people among whom God sent an Angel to destroy the first born in every house 〈◊〉 the twelfth chapter and Isaiah the thirty seventh chapter where an Angel is sent in the behalf of Ezekiah to destroy the host of Senacherib who was an enemie to Gods people And in this place we see offensive 〈◊〉 in the behalf of Angels against the wicked Angels 〈◊〉 David had relation in those words Psalm the ninty first and the thirteenth verse Thou shalt walk upon the Lyon and Adder the young Lyon and the Dragon thou shalt tread under foot Wherefore that spirits of such excellencie shall defend us against both wicked men and Angels this is a benefit to be remembred with all thankfullnesse to God and likewise we are to congratulate them that are made by God of such power as Melchizadeck did gratulate Abraham after he had 〈◊〉 the five Kings Genesis the fourteenth chapter and blessed God 〈…〉 his enemies into his hands and as the servants of 〈◊〉 did congratulate David when he saw that the Army 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 the second book of Samuel the eighth chapter and the 〈…〉 So that these congratulations of these blessed 〈◊〉 above all our thankfulnesse to God that hath appointed us such helps is the ground and cause of this solemnity The words divide themselves into two 〈◊〉 First the 〈◊〉 Secondly the Victory or Conquest Concerning the former we are first to consider the 〈◊〉 Combatent and then the fight In the Conquest we are also to 〈◊〉 two degrees For it is said not only That he had not the 〈◊〉 for then he had been of an even hand and might have 〈…〉 but that the Dragon and his Angels were so farre from 〈◊〉 and getting the Victory of Michael and his Angels that they 〈◊〉 the foyl so that their place was not found any more in Heaven Touching the persons that waged this battail they are on the one side Michael and his Angels On the other side the Dragon and his Angels Wherein the first thing is what we must conceive concerning Michael It is sure the Church of God upon many and weighty reasons doth not favour the opinion of those that make Christ to be Michael Michael Daniel the tenth chapter and the thirteenth verse is said to be one of the first Princes or Rulers which is to be understood of some principal Angel and not of Christ who is set up above all Princes and is not to be reckoned among them being the Prince of Princes and Lord of Lords And the Annotation of those that hold this opinion sheweth that
sides Matthew the fourteenth chapter and the thirty first verse so Modica virtus Apocalyps the third chapter and the eighth verse Where there is great faith there is great virtue where no faith no virtue As it is no true faith which virtue doth not follow so no true virtue which faith doth not goe before It is called Grace in respect of God from whom it comes and virtue in regard of the effects The Philosopher called them habitus because they had them from themselves but virtus est 〈…〉 Domino virtutis to salve the error of the Philosophers The Apostle calls it Grace in the second epistle of Peter the third chapter and the eighteenth verse grow in grace so he calls it virtus He hath called us to glory and virtue in the second epistle of Peter the first chapter and the third verse and Philippians the fourth chapter and the eighth verse It is by good consequence that it is so called because it is wrought by the Gospel which is the power of God Romans the first chapter and the sixteenth verse His words are spirit and life John the sixt chapter Virtue must bring forth virtus The Philosophers Virtue had no divine thing in it they enured themselves to it and so ascribed it to themselves Our virtue proceedeth from faith which is a divine thing Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Romans the fourteenth chapter But the Heathen called their virtues habits as from themselves not from the grace of God To Virtue Knowledge He began with Faith a theological virtue then he added Virtue which is moral now he comes to Knowledge another theological virtue By this successive coupling we are taught not to stay at virtue but to proceed de virtute in virtute Psalm the eighty fourth and the seventh verse from strength to strength As before against infirmity and weaknesse of our nature he added virtue So for our error and ignorance he joyneth knowledge for there may be an active power to work and yet not aright as Romans the tenth chapter the second verse They have zeal but not according to knowledge But there must be not only power but wisdome not only homines improbi shall be cast out but foolish vigins Matthew the twenty fift chapter As virtue is required so is knowledge to direct us in that we doe We must seek for Non tam virtutem quam aurigam virtutis scientiam sine quâ ipsa virtus est vitium therefore Proverbs the twenty third chapter and the fourth verse Cease from thy wisdome And in Ecclefiastes the seventh chapter Be not nimium just us Knowledge is a key Luke the eleventh chapter and the fifty second verse And a Quire must have a key to set the song that is the key of knowledge In the Law nothing was to be offered without salt that is the grace of knowledge It is that which the Apostle calleth the inward annointing in the first epistle of John the second chapter and the twentieth verse which gives a sweet savour and sent to God So saith the Apostle in the second epistle to the Corinthians the second chapter We are a sweet savour to God But is not faith knowledge It is But yet where the object of faith is verum falsum Science hath for its object good and evil as Genesis the second chapter and the ninth verse the passions of Christ and the torments of Hell are indifferently the objects of faith but the affections are stirred by good and ill And it is knowledge that must discern between good and ill evil things may goe under the shew of good and therefore we must have knowledge to unmask them So the doctrin of repentance being a good thing hath a shew of ill and without the grace of knowledge men are hardly brought to beleeve it As there is prudentia carnis Romans the eighth chapter and the sixth verse and prudentia seculi in the 〈◊〉 epistle to the Corinthians the third chapter and the nineteenth verse so there must be a spiritual knowledge and wisdome to discern them and to measure what is good That all which we doe teach may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and all you doe may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the twelfth chapter we must add this knowledge Knowledge is lame without power and power is blinde without knowledge for knowledge is the lightning of the eyes of the minde the second epistle to the Corinthians the fourth chapter There is a knowledge falsly so called the first epistle of Timothy the sixt chapter and the twentieth verse The knowledge truly so called is not speculative but practique It is the knowledge from on high that directs our feet in the way of peace as Luke the first chapter and the seventy ninth verse And not only that which lightens our eyes Physitians of longest practise and Souldiers that have been trained are most respected so it is in worldly things and so it should be in divine things A man must animare praxin that was the advise of the Civilian give a soul to it as in the thirty third chapter of Deuteronomie and the eighth verse first Thummim and then Urim Jesus began to doe and teach Acts the first chapter and the first verse that is the touchstone of knowledg as Christ saith If any man will doe his will he shall know of his doctrine qui fecerit voluntatem Patris sciet de doctrina utrum sit ex Dec John the seventh chapter and the seventeenth verse for there are some that are alwayes learning but never come to the knowledge of the truth especially that knowledge that may be truly so called in the second to Timothy and the third chapter Scientiae verò continentiam continentiae verò tolerentiam 2 Pet. 1. 6. THE Apostle proceedeth now to the fourth voice of this quire having laid faith for the first and to it added that which the Apostle calls the work of faith in virtue in the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the eleventh verse and thirdly To virtue knowledge now in the fourth place he joyneth to it temperance It is the common course of the world so soon as they have a little taste of knowledge to ascend up to heaven but he tells us knowledge must goe down to our fouls and then proceed to godliness which we are taught in our conformity to our Saviours example of whom the Apostle saith Ephesians the fourth chapter and the ninth verse He that ascended the same is he that descended first The chief point of our duty is first to temper our affections and then to come to godliness after For the justifying of 〈◊〉 order in respect of the consequence this hath with the former there are three causes why he bringeth in temperance next after knowledge The first is because whereas corruption is in the world through 〈◊〉 verse the first and Ephesians the fourth chapter The
in such sort his religion is vain except he add moral James the first chapter and the twenty sixt verse That he refrain his tongue and keep himself unspotted Secondly For the order or method of the Apostle There is an order not only of things productive one of another but that are adductive And having already gone through the powers of the soul that is Reason Affection and Corruption and prescribed internal virtues Knowledge Temperance and Patience Now he comes to the outward man and shews That to God who is above us is due Godlinesse to them that are neer us that is Christians and spiritual brethren that have one Father Brotherly love and to them that are farre off that is all men Charity Godlinesse is required in respect of the divine nature Brotherly love in respect of the familiarity or Church which are the houshold of Faith that is kindnesse to be shewed to Christians Thirdly Charity is a duty to be extended to all both Jews and 〈◊〉 as well as to Christians For as John the first chapter and the thirteenth verse there is the will of the flesh and the will of man whereunto Temperance and Patience have respect So there is the will of God too and that is it that Godlinesse takes hold of The want of Patience to bear made Peter to deny Christ And therefore first he must be patient and next after will follow Godlinesse All that will live godly must suffer affliction the second epistle to Timothy the third chapter So when we are armed with patience we are fit to hear of Godlinesse So it was with Peter and the rest of whom it is reported that having this virtue ibant gaudentes Acts the fift chapter having first planted patience godlinesse follows by good consequence Thirdly Godlinesse is that virtue whereby we are affected towards God as the worldly mans is to wordlinesse or the fleshly man to carnal pleasure Cornelius is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts the tenth chapter and Acts the seventeenth chapter and the twenty third verse it is used for the worship of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we ask as Elias to whom God is God One hath his belly for his God Philippians the third chapter such a one was Esau therefore called a prophane person Hebrews the twelfth chapter Others have no other godlinesse but gain as the first epistle to Timothy the sixt chapter and the fift verse such were they that were content to retain Diana's religion for their gain Acts the nineteenth chapter When we are as carefully affected to God as worldly men are to the world and carnal men to the flesh then we have Godlinesse But to consider of this how deeply Godlinesse is joyned we carry up our thoughts to God as to the chief truth to him that is the fountain of all goodnesse and joyes We are 〈◊〉 that he is the highest wisdome that knows all our actions and the highest power that can minister deliverance to their troubles that he is a regarder of them that seek him and a severe punisher of such as contemn him This inward affection is Godlinesse and this inward affection and perswafion of God is the mystery of Godlinesse the first epistle to Timothy the third chapter and the truth that is according to godlinesse Titus the first chapter and the first verse But as we must have this inward conceit so we must professe godlinesse the first epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the tenth verse For as in the first Commandement of the Law we must serve God in the truth of the spirit so in the second Commandement in the service of the body in the third with the blessing of the mouth we must blesse and praise God that is we must professe our 〈◊〉 at all times and all occasions not only privately 〈◊〉 publiquely in the fourth Commandement that is intirely by all the parts of the body even with the tongue which is our 〈◊〉 especially on the day of our publique profession not only to 〈…〉 opinion of God but as the Church calls us Come Les 〈◊〉 fall down before the Lord Psalm the ninety fift not only to say with the Apostle Romans the seventh chapter I serve God in my spirit but Ephesians the third chapter I bow my knees to God the Eather And 〈◊〉 to worship God by vocal prayer I will praise him with my mouth Psalm the sixtieth Hast thou faith babe 〈◊〉 te Romans the fourteenth chapter and the twenty second verse So if thou have an inward conceit of God have it with thy self but withall thou must professe it 〈◊〉 The visard of Godlinesse must be plucked off and the power shewed We must exercise and 〈◊〉 godlinesse the first epistle to Timothy the fift chapter and the sixt verse There must be godlinesse of life the second epistle to Timothy the third chapter All that will live godly Cornelius was godly for he 〈◊〉 his godlinesse by giving almes and praying to God Acts the tenth chaptor By his exercise of godlinesse he shewed the power of godlinesse working in him and that is the chiefest thing For 〈◊〉 are spiritual sacrifices the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and to them we must add that which the Prophet calls 〈…〉 Hosea the fourteenth chapter without which we are not truly godly And to both these there was added a sacrifice of the 〈◊〉 this spiritual 〈◊〉 is a broken and contrite heart Psalm the 〈◊〉 first to that is to be added Psalm the thirty second I 〈…〉 my 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 an outward profession and vocal confession an 〈…〉 of the body And lastly the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sixt chapter I will have mercy and not sacrifice Not to give good words as James the second chapter God be merciful but the real mercy Hebrews the thirteenth chapter to distribute and to doe good forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased Thus shall we approve our selves to be godly as also if we say with David Psalm the twenty sixt I have loved the habitation of the just If we account the Sabbaths our delight Isaiah the fifty eighth chapter If we esteem of places and times of godlinesse aright and cleave to the persons that 〈◊〉 godlinesse as Acts the seventeenth chapter and the thirty fourth verse Dionysius and Damar is they that doe so shew Godlinesse The second Virtue is love of brethren For as in the Law he goes from the first Table to the second so here having noted what is due to God he prescribes us duties to be performed unto men So the Gospel as well as the Law commands both purity and charity and we must take the ground of our love ex fonte puritatis God makes his Sunne to rise upon the just and unjust Matthew the fist chapter So must we shew not only brotherly love to Christians but charity to all men Which brotherly love is not to be extended to natural brethren as Matthew the twelfth chapter My brothers
at the good pleasure of Almighty God Therefore being delivered into the dominion and 〈◊〉 of the Messengers and Ministers of death by and by he was subject to the Guives and Manacles of death which doe seize upon all parts of our bodies for sinne Morbi enim sunt laquei mortis which is we are held sure untill we die also the Ministers and Servants which ever since that sentence was denounced doe attend upon us to our end are cares and sorrows within labours and travails without which seizing on us doe make our deaths as sure as if we were already dead for we cannot escape it therefore saith David Psal. 89. 48. Quis homo vivit non videbit mortem for all of us have sorrow which is primogenitus mortis Job 18. 13. the same day 〈◊〉 brought it forth Gen. 3. and we have and feel daily the forerunners of death which are diseases which make our bodies even in this life 〈◊〉 mortis a body of death Rom. 8. 10. Wherefore we may be sure that death it self will come most certainly though the time be uncertain for it is a debt which must be paid we must all dye Heb. 9. 27. when the time is come that God hath appointed Dixerat autem Jehovah Deus non est bonum esse hominem solum faciam ei auxilium commodum ipsi Gen. 2. 18. Octob. 1â— 1591. THe Prophet Esay 51. 1. exhorteth the Church of God after this manner Look back saith he 〈◊〉 the stone out of which yee were 〈◊〉 and to the 〈…〉 of which you were digged By which he 〈◊〉 the Church of God that there is a very necessary and profitable consideration to be made out of the historie of Abraham and 〈◊〉 and their lives as it is expressed in the Scriptures So may we say of the historie of Adam and Eve our first Grandfather and Mother for they are more properly indeed to be termed the first stone out of whom all mankinde were hewn and the pit out of whose womb we all were digged and taken And so much more profitable is this 〈◊〉 and the explication thereof because St. Paul faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the creation of Eve and her marriage is 〈…〉 shewing us the mysterie of Christ the second Adam and his 〈◊〉 to the Church which was his Eve taken out of his side I told you that from the 6. verse of this Chapter to the end of it is 〈◊〉 a Commentary upon the 27. verse of the first Chapter where Moses in one word dispatched the Creation of Man and Woman saying 〈…〉 which he so briefly passed over there because he purposed in this Chapter 〈…〉 a more large and ample discourse thereof We have heard of the Creation of Adam in the former part of this Chapter hitherto which is nothing else but a 〈◊〉 upon these words of the first Chapter 〈…〉 Now therefore we 〈◊〉 to the explaning of the other part which is 〈…〉 which he performeth from this verse to the end of the Chapter Two principâ—… points In all which verses the Fathers say than there are but two principall points to be considered the first is The 〈◊〉 of the woman the other The 〈◊〉 and marriage of her to the Man Touching the creation and 〈◊〉 of Eve it 〈◊〉 partly a deliberation and then the work of creation 〈◊〉 self the 〈◊〉 is in these words 〈…〉 〈◊〉 which containeth also two parts first the 〈◊〉 in this 〈◊〉 verse and then the occasion of it in the verses 〈…〉 But before we 〈◊〉 of the consultation 〈◊〉 first consider 〈◊〉 coherence with that which 〈◊〉 before which is 〈…〉 After the Almighty God had 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 which is his Church by the 〈◊〉 made 〈◊〉 God and man Now in the next place he 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 estate 〈◊〉 which is of 〈…〉 by the duty of Man and Wife in Marriage By which God would 〈…〉 know that by his will and ordinance all men next after our 〈◊〉 to Almighty God which is first are bound to have a most speciall care and regard of their duties in that other society which is this If they be Husbands their next care must be of their duty to their Wives if Children of their duty to their Parents if Servants of their duty to their Masters for these duties of the private Families in the Common-wealth are next in honour and reverence to the divine duties which we own in the houshold of Faith which is in the Church unto God for this society is lege ipsa antiqua as one saith and therefore we must give more honour and reverence unto it Now for the summe and scope of this verse we will divide it into two parts first into Gods Dixit and secondly into the tenor of his speech which is Non est bonum c. and first briefly of dixit Deus because we often heard of it before we must note that qui dicendo facit verbo facit which teacheth us to give honour to Christ the second person in Trinity who is the word of God of whom all things are made and ordained John 1. 3. Secondly touching this Dixit which we see by it and other singular prerogatives herein given to Mankinde which we may add to all the former For in the creation of other Creatures God used only the word of authority fiat but here he useth the word of his good will and pleasure which is faciam Before he ever directed his speech to that which was not Gen. 1. 3. saying fiat lux when there was then no light but all darknesse But now he reflecteth his speech to himself as it were consulting with deliberation about this work in that the Contents of his speech in touching the good and happinesse of Man in foreseeing what is not good for him in providing that which is best for him we doe not only see his care over us above other Creatures but also we are taught to acknowledge how well and reverendly we ought to esteem this ordinance of marriage for God knew that many speeches and reproaches would arise among men against this work which God had in hand of making Woman Some by way of jest and merriment to disgrace that sex and others in contempt to dispraise them calling them necessarie evills c. therefore God saw it needfull to expresse the absolute good which cometh to Man by Woman as being so necessarie that we cannot be well without them for seeing we cannot deny but that God that doth best know what we want and what is good doth affirm that it is good for us to have Eve made and that it were evill for us to be alone without her therefore that we preâ—ume not foolishly in jest nor earnest to contradict and crosse Gods will The tenor or content of the Consultation standeth upon two parts The first is a reason or cause which moved God to make Eve in these words Non est bonum c. The other is his purpose
the woman hath threee names in the Scripture as well as man The first is the generall name in respect of the Sex Gen. 1. 27. by which they are called male and female which is given as he is the Stock and she is the Storehouse of all mankinde The second is Adams matter and Eves mold which in him is the name of his and in her is the name of her fruitfulness that she is the mother of all living Creatures The third is the honorable name given in marriage which is Ish and Ishah man and woman which signifieth the dignity to which God exalted them both And this may suffice of their names Idcirco relicturus est vir patrem suum matrem suam ad haerebit uxori suae erúntque in carnem unam Gen. 2. 24. 30. Octob 1491. IN these words God the Author of matrimony setteth out a Law and Statute to all the posterity of Adam to observe concerning the matter of marriage and Adam is here instead of the Clerk to proclaim it unto all which Ordinance of almighty God our Saviour Christ in Matth. 19. 4. sheweth and avoucheth to be the only pattern and plat-forme for all married men for ever to look unto for saith he this is the originall Canon and the Rule to be observed utrum ab initio fuit sic And if we mark the contents of this Rule we shall perceive that it is Gods will that the conjunction of man and wife shall be so neer and dear and the knot of 〈◊〉 so surely knit that rather they should dissolve and break asunder all knots of frendship and bonds of propinquity than either wilfully to untie or violently to break it asunder by separation or divorce after the knot and covenant be once lawfully and solemnly made before God and his Church So that this is made a perpetuall Law not for Adam only and specially but for all Adam's posterity in generall For we see that it respecteth not so much Adam as us which follow him because God doth not direct his speech in the second person as saying thou shalt c. But indifferently to all mankinde as is more apparent thus because Adam and Eve cannot be said to have left father and mother therefore it properly concerneth them which afterwards should have father mother as all his sonnes and posterity had we see then there are two parts of this Law here set down the one is that married folks shall leave all other the other is that they shall cleave fast and inseparably each to other the bond and chain of naturall affection which bindeth fast the parents and children is wonderfull strong and neer and therefore the heathen doe call it vinculum Adamantinum an Adamant chain more strong than Iron we see this love and naturall affection is very great and forcible even in dumb creatures which are led thereto only by the instinct of nature wherefore if it should not be in men indued with reason Moses would have such stoned to death Deut. And Salomon prophecieth of such 〈◊〉 children Prov. 30. 17. That the Crowes of the Valley shall pull out their eyes yet notwithstanding this bond of naturall affection being so great and strong God saith that he would have married folks rather violate and break that then break this bond wherewith man and wife is united and tied together not that God would simply tollerate and alow any breach of duty between parents and children but only in respect of cleaving to his wife and the wife to her husband wherefore we must know and beware that we doe not think it lawfull for us being once married so to forsake our parents which brought us forth and bred us up as to set light by them and not to regard them as many unnaturall children doe under this pretence for to take away that savage and brutish disobedience Quod hoc non extinguit affectionem sed ordinat This freeth us not from our duty which Gods Law and the Law of nature bindeth us unto but it teacheth us how to dispose it aright that is how to cleave to our parents in duty as we 〈◊〉 and how to be united to our wives in love as we ought also By this then appeareth that it is Gods will that the link of love between married folks should exceed in strength and measure if it be possible even the naturall bond of love and affection that is between parents and their children and there may be rendred sufficient reason why it ought so to be first because his wife was made of the very true and reall flesh and bone indeed but children doe come only of the seed of the fathers and blood of their mothers so that it may truely be said that the wife is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone but their children are only flesh and bone of his seed and blood Again children are only the fruit of their loyns which is farther from the heart than the wife which is of the ribs which is most neer and therefore most deer to the heart Lastly because men doe love their children tanquam aliquid sui but they love their wives tanquam semetipsum Ephes. 5. 28. Seeing therefore self love is the greatest and most perfect love we conclude also that that marriage love must be neerest and most like it by the ordinance of God for our use this doth seem to give us a caveat touching the evill and shamefull divorce and separation of man and wife which are too rife now a daies for if so be that Gods knot of marriage should be so surely knit that it must not be broken for our deer parents sake but of the two choose rather to forsake them then no doubt it is not his will that for every sleight and trifling cause and occasion they should sue divorces and forsake one another for this is the divinity which our Saviour Christ doth gather out of this place Mark 10. 4. And thus much of the first part Now touching the other part of the position we are to consider two points first the union and conjunction of their hearts in love which is called their cleaving together The other is the union and combination of their bodies expressed in these words they shall be both one flesh the first is called of some conjunctio mentis the other is copulatio carnis both which are ordeined of God as holy and good for the first we see that this unity of minde by unfeined love and affection is called vinculum perfectionis Colos. 3. 14. So that this spirituall love is the best glue to make them cleave together without separation For so indeed this word signifieth glue or a kinde of glueing and sodering together wherefore as two things are by glue or soder united and made but one so by love ought man and wife which sheweth amor conjugalis must be reciprocus respecting and taking hold of both sides alike as glue doth There must be
and mother saying I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughter of the Philistines therefore give me her to wife Judges 14. 2. The very Heathen doe regard the consent of Parents in chap. 34. 8. Hamor who was an uncircumcised man came to Jacob to ask his consent for Sechem that he would give his daughter Dinah unto his sonne for wife And in 2 Sam. 13. 13. Tamar answereth Amnon Defloure me not speak to the King my Father for me and he will not deny me unto thee As there must be no giving nor taking in Marriage without Gods consent I mean the Israelites might not take wives among the Idolatrous Heathen for God himself in Deut. 7. 3. saith Neither shalt thou make Marriages with them neither give thy daughter unto his sonne nor take his daughter unto thy sonne so must there be no marriage without the Parents and friends consent the Law is in the 22. of Exodus 16 and 17. verses That if a Man entice a Maid that is not betrothed and 〈◊〉 with her he shall endow her and take her to his wife Yet if her father refuse to give her to him there was no marriage but he should pay her money according to the Dowry of Virgins The consent of the parties Secondly In respect of their own consent The consent of the Woman is required After the Parents of Rebekah had agreed to give their daughter to Isaac yet they would have her to be called that she might also give her consent chap. 24. 39. and 57. God drew not Eve to Adam perforce but lead her willingly she was brought to him with joy and gladnesse as it is in Psal. 45. the 15. verse Hereby all enforced matches are condemned and all extort agreements are abrogated As those under age those that are made by mad and drunken persons are disalowed and may be undone The consent of such maketh not a match for tales non adduxit Deus such God bringeth not together Yet if a Christian man have a wife that beleeveth not if she be content to dwell with him let him not forsake her for the unbeleeving wife is sanctified by the husband their Children are holy which else were unclean 1 Cor. 7. 14. This is for their consent The contract and betrothing After the Parents and parties themselves have given their consent then commeth the contract the affiance and the espousals between them before the face of God for as soon as God had brought Eve unto Adam he said now in this present time She is bone of my bones she is my lawfull wife which you may see in the law of Nature for in chap. 19. 14. Lot called them his sonnes in Law that should have married his daughters after they were betrothed unto them if she be not betrothed she is called a Maid Exodus 22. 16. and after she is betrothed to an husband she is his wife Mary the mother of Jesus conceived by the Holy Ghost after she was betrothed unto Joseph before he knew her carnally before he was publiquely married to her as may appear by the 1. of Matthew 18. for Marie and Joseph were even then Man and Wife before God and therefore the Fathers say well that contractus facit consensum animorum The solemnity Next to the Contract is the Solemnity As in the Marriage of Adam and Eve it was solemnized before the glorious companie of heavenly Angells God himself as the Priest joyned them together he as a Father gave her unto Adam chap. 3. 12. and it was God that coupled them together Matthew 19. 6. She first entred into Gods house then into Adams house she first took God by the hand and then Adam by the hand And this Marriage must be our example for this is the Marriage Sermon to the whole world Man shall leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife and after this they be Man and Wife before God and before Man Then followeth Gods blessing of them in chap. 1. 28. God blessed them and God said unto them increase and multiply and fill the Earth And the last point is of the unity By this union they are become one flesh and carnall conjunction is permitted them Abimelech for that out of a window he saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah said therefore of a surety she is his wife chap. 26. 8. But he that joyneth himself with his neighbours wife is not innocent Prov. 6. 29. The Wife hath not power over her own body but her Husband nor the Husband bath not power over his own body but his wife 1 Corinth 7. 4. The Gentils are inheritors of the same body with the Jews and the partakers of the same promise in Christ by the Gospell the third to the Ephesians 6. 2. The duties in Marriage Now concerning the Duties in Marriage whereof we will speak in general and then in several Faithfulnesse and Love The general duties which doe concern Man as well as Woman and Woman as well as Man which doe concern them both are two Faithfulnesse and Love Which two we must alienate from all other Women and appropriate them only to our Wives The heart of the husband trusteth in a faithfull wife Proverbs 31. 11. see 1 Cor. 7. 4 and 5. The one hath power over the others body Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Hebr. 13. 4. Faithfullnesse is promised in the celebration of Marriage but the faithlesse Woman forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the Covenant of her God Prov. 2. 16. the paths of a strange Woman are movable Proverbs 5. 6. there is no faith to be reposed in such a Woman The other dutie is Love For that Woman was taken out of mans side she was his 〈◊〉 closse to his heart which is the seat of love Man must love her as his part and she must also love him for that he was wounded mortally for her sake and had been in great danger of his life had he not had so excellent a Physition and Surgeon to close up his side again Man is the Image and glory of God Woman is the glorie of Man 1 Cor. 11. 7. And again A vertuous Woman is the crown of her Husband Proverbs 12. 4. There is a communion of their name and of their nature which will move mutuall love which procureth inward comforting and outward cherishing for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Ephesians 5. 29. The Woman must be subject to the Man and the Husband must give honour to the Wife as to the weaker Vessel 1 Peter 3. 7. The man is as the stock the woman as the branch the wife must be loving for a contentious and angry Wife is condemned Proverbs 21. 17. And Husbands must love their Wives and not be bitter unto them Colos. 3. 19. This mutuall love must be above the love to the Parents or to the Children there was a
great regard in times past not to abuse anothers Concubine 2 Sam 3. 8. In several there are in them two other Duties In the man understanding and wise government there is I say in the husband direction and there must be in the woman subjection to be subject to his direction And here I am to admonish women of seven things to make them to honor their husbands First they must consider that Adam was formed first and then Eve 1 Tim. 2. 13. Secondly Man was not created for the Womans sake but Woman for the Mans sake 1 Cor. 11. 9. Besides he was wounded that she might be made She was taken out of him She was brought unto him She was made to help him She received her name of his name his name was Ish her name Ishah She had in her name a letter of five in number lesse than man to shew she was but a diminutive All these doe imply womans subjection There are two other Duties several of the man and wife The Man must protect his Wife in danger chap. 20. 11. Providing is required of the man to provide for his houshold and family 1 Tim. 5. 8. And the woman is to preserve and enlarge that her husband hath provided the domesticall duty of preserving the house and houshold pertaineth to her as it is in Proverbs 31. 21. She should be of the property of the Snail still at home but a foolish Woman is troublesome Proverbs 9. 13. The house in holy Scripture is taken for the Children whom she must bear and bring up in the fear of God The Wife through bearing of Children shall be saved saith Paul 1 Tim. 2. 15. The house is taken for the Servants whom we must govern well And the house is taken for the implements which she must order and enlarge She must be not as Ivie which cleavth to the tree and is not profitable though green but as the fruitfull Vine on the sides of thine house she shall bear Children like to the Olive plants round about thy table Psalme 128. 3. 3. No divorce after marriage And this cleaving of each to other implyeth a perpetuity of this bond out of the 2 of Kings 18. 6. Man shall leave father and mother to cleave to his wife And in 1 Cor. 7. 10 and 11. Paul saith I command those that be married not I but the Lord Let not the Wife depart from her Husband and let not the Husband put away his Wife It is true Quos Deus conjunxit homo non separabit whom God hath joyned let no man separate Yet God himself may sever them either by death for when the Husband is dead she may marry to another man Romans 7. 3. or God may sever them by divorcement for lewdnesse and whoredome not for every light matter but for a very weightie cause as it is in the 24. of Deuteronomy 1. Divorcement is called in Hebrew a sawing and the divorce of man and wife should be as the sawing a 〈◊〉 from the body If a man have the dead Palsie in some part of his flesh he will not presently have it cut off unlesse it 〈◊〉 some other part Divorces for two causes The Wife so long as her Husband liveth is bound unto him 1 Cor. 7. 39. But if the flesh be not only dead but corrupted then may there be a proceeding to divorces and that upon two causes as the ancient Fathers doe say out of the Scripture The one is for Fornication and Adulterie And who so putteth away his Wife except it be for fornication causeth her to commit Adultery Matthew 5. 32. except it be for Whoredome Matthew 19. 9. And as I told you adulterous flesh is rotten 〈◊〉 it is 〈◊〉 flesh in the thighs and this divorcement for carnall copulation in Adultery they doe gather quia adherebit uxori 〈◊〉 out of suae to his own wife and she to her own husband must cleave The other cause of divorce is for spiritual Adultery which is 〈◊〉 as it is called in the Scriptures If thou have an unbeleeving Wife if she be content to dwell with thee for sake her not for in that she is an Infidell she is dead flesh but in that she is content to dwell with thee she putrifieth not but if she seek to draw thee to Idolatry in such things thou mayst not yeeld but there may be a departure 1 Cor. 7. 15. God suffereth separation and apostacie for spiritual Fornication which is Idolatrie and where God doth make separation there his Deputies which are his Priests for Incontinencie and Apostacie may suffer divorcement for that the People committed Fornication both bodily and spiritually with the daughters of Moab Moses in the name of God ordained they should be slain and Phineas with his spear appeased Gods wrath Numbers 25. In Ezra 10. 4. after they had resolved to put away their strange wives they came to Ezra the Priest saying Arise for this matter belongeth unto thee who bid them in verse 11. to separate themselves from their strange wives as you may see there at large But Pauls counsell in the 1 to the Cor. 7. 11. is my counsell here that but for argent occasion a man should not put away his wife but if she depart let her remain unmarried as if she did retain only to her Husband or let her be reconciled to her husband and this reconciliation maketh no new marriage but by repentance she if she have offended must renew her life in honestie and holinesse and this reconciliation must be a renuing of their love and the man must heartily forgive her as he would have God forgive him then there must be a forgetting of any sepatation as though there had been no breach at all that so faith and love may ever after be preserved that so their love may be not only more dear than that to Parents but that it may grow daily more and more that God may blesse them and their Children that their union in the flesh may breed the unity of their mindes that they may be united each to other as Christ and his Church we in him and he in us who by his Incarnation became our flesh and he is one body with his Church who was tormented and scourged who dyed whose very heart was pierced with a spear whence his Church was taken he forsook his Father in the Heavens and was incarnate he forsook his Mother and suffered death that he might cleave to the Church and the Church to him that so they might be one spirit that so this bond might continue perpetually and that this knot that joyneth Man and Wife might be indissoluble Erant autem illi ambo nudi Adam uxor ejus ae non erubescebant Gen. 2. 25. Novemb. 〈◊〉 1591. THis verse at the first sight may seem 〈◊〉 and to small purpose but the wisdome of the Holy Ghost did add the same to the rest for good purpose If it be referred to that which went
is in the state of man described in the second Chapter All that shall we see in this Chapter to be overthrown by the work and malice of the Devill At the sight and consideration of which Tragedy as St. Augustine saith all the Creatures especially mankinde ought with sighs and groanes to dissolve themselves into teares to think of our and their utter and irrecoverable confusion were it not for this which is annexed unto it namely the hope of the seed of the woman promised to come at the fulness of time to restore all things which were lost in Paradise and to bring us a more excellent Paradise than that ever was The cause of all these evills which we see in us and in the world Moses here relleth us in the beginning of this Chapter to be the verifying of that Prophesie which God 〈◊〉 Adam Gen. 2. 17. that is what time soever he should sinne and break the Commandement of God he should die that is have all the Messengers and Ministers of death ferzing upon him untill death it self the reward of sinne should take hold on him which first part of the Chapter we shall divide as St. Paul doth teach us Rom. 6. 1. into two parts the first he calleth peccatum the other peccati obsonium that is into the cause and nature of sinne and into the effect and punishment which followeth it Concerning the transgression he setteth down first the temptation of sin in the first 5. verses then the preparation which is the sinne it self in the 6. verse then followeth the stipend and hier of sinne from that verse unto the 15. verse In which verse then the prophet sheweth that God in justice remembred mercie and as St. James saith caused his mercy to triumph over justice in the promised seed without which remedy Adams sinne had been incurable and his case and our condition had been most desperate whereas by this means as St. Augustine saith the Devills envy is foelix invidia and Adams sinne is foelix culpa that is falleth out to the greater glorie of all the elect sonnes of God Now more particularly we are led to consider two things in the temptation first of all the persons both agent and patient and then the allurements and inticements thereof The chief in this temptation was the Devill and the Woman and then in regard of consent Adam himself grew accessory and guilty thereof so that there were three causes of sinne The chiefest Author of it was the Devill the next is Eve the yeelder to him the third was Adam the consenter to them both Serpents we know speak not for they were not made to reason and dispute therefore we must needs understand another high person besides he Serpent which spake in him and used him as his Instrument and means to effect this evil devise And in this respect the Devill is called Rev. 12. 9. the old Serpent as his name appellative by which he was once called and Satanas Revel 〈◊〉 2. as his proper name by which his 〈◊〉 and malicious nature is made known As therefore the Devill craftily and closely did put into Judas head and heart by his suggestion how to seek Christs fall and death John 13. 2. so doth he as sly lie put into the Serpents mouth this temptation by which he might betray the first Adam and bring him to death and therefore as Christ truly though not properly called Judas Satan because he saw the Devill used him as his Instrument So by the same right and reason may we call the Serpent the Devill because it was he in this Serpent who did bring this thing to pass If any doe aske why Moses did not make mention of the Devil in all this Chapter we may say that it was Moses purpose to perform the office and duty of a Historiographer which is only to make a plain and true report of the outward accident and thing which was sensibly done leaving the hidden and secret meaning and true understanding of those things which are mysticall unto his Interpreters and Expositors For to this end Moses had some alwaies in Gods Church which did not only read the letter and words of his writings but also expound the true meaning thereof and what Expositor is there but by the consequence of this story and by conference of the Scriptures can otherwise understand this then of the Devill Our Saviour Christ telleth us that the Devill was a lyer and murtherer from the beginning John 8. 44. that is he is the primitive and principall Author of all untruth and evill therefore is he called that evill Matth. 13. 19. and the deceiver of mankinde Revel 12. 9. and therefore Moses doth first deal with this evill one and setteth him down as the chief author of this evill under the form and name of a Serpent Touching him therefore we must know as I told you Chap. 2. 1. that when God is said to make the hoast of heavenly Creatures that then also he made the Angells as David saith Psalme 148. 2. which Angells God made 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to be his ministring spirits Psalme 104. 4. but some of them kept not their first estate Jude 6. but fell away from their holy and blessed estate in which they mere made and so there they became evill Angels reserved in chains to everlasting fur Of this fall of Angells Job seemeth to have knowledge Job 4. 18. God saith he found folly even in his Angels Christ maketh mention of their fall Luke 10. 18. and the cause of their fall is said to be sinne 2. Pet. 2. 4. and the particular sinne may seem to be pride Isaiah 14. 13. 14. ero similis altissimo for which cause that sinne is called morbus Satanicus and as the wiseman saith initium peccati est superbia But we will not curiously inquire what speciall sinne it was which caused his fall because indeed it is sufficient for us to know in generall that sinne was the cause thereof that we may the more beware of it He then being fallen became not only an adversary to God which cast him off for ever but also an envious enemie to mankinde for not being able to wreack his mal ceagainst God he maliciously invented and attempted all the mischief and evill he could against man which was the Image of God and the only Creature on whom God had set his heart and delight to doe him good For as they which love the Father cannot but love and shew kindness to his Children which are deerest to him as we see in Davids example So è contra hatred and malice make evill mindes to doe their enemies hurt 〈◊〉 despite even in the things which are most deer and precious unto them so is the Devill said to doe Rev. 12. 13. when he was not able to hurt the Woman he pursued with hatred and rage her Child which she brought forth and because he could not reach to him being ascended therefore he still persecuteth his
and waking A third distinction is peccatum cubans and vigilans that is sinne sleeping and lying still and sinne waking that is the temptation of sinne before and while it is committed and then the remorse after The fourth and last distinction is that which 〈◊〉 a difference between the Children of God and of the Devill between the reprobate and the regenerate that in the godly there is peccatum 〈◊〉 but not dominans sin ruleth but reigneth not from hence is grounded that which the Prophet saith in the nineteenth Psalm Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes and in the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm Direct my steps that no iniquitie have dominion over me so the Apostle in the sixth chapter to the Romans Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies yet he confesseth in the seventh chapter to the Romans that sinne dwelleth in him By which we may see plainly what it meaneth for sinne would command a mans body his eye foot and hand yea set all the parts of his body a work about that it 〈◊〉 But that party when sinne biddeth him 〈◊〉 and goe 〈◊〉 still when sinne biddeth him stretch out his hand can clasp it close when sinne biddeth him delight his eye can shut it close when sinne biddeth take to heart and one doth with sighs shake it off he that when sin commeth running shutteth the dore against it avoideth all provocations in such a one there is peccatum currens but not dominans That is for the division and the difference between these two sorts of persons But secondly we have a main foundation which the ancient Fathers and Doctors ground upon the thirteene verses of the third chapter where God useth the same words to the woman that he useth to Cain here Why hast thou done this And the Woman said The Serpent beguiled me It sheweth that the proceding of Cains sinne was as the first sinne was for the Serpent first shewed her the fruit and she did eat and then after she shewed it to Adam and it pleasing his sight he likewise did eat This is the proceeding of sinne from the Serpent to Eve from her to Adam and so here the presuming of reason in Cain contrary to reason was as that in Eve and Adam and therefore as after God said to the woman Thy desire shall be subject to thy husbands and he shall rule over thee so here he saith Cain shall bear rule over sin and the same shall befall in mans sensuality that is his lusts and concupiscence which befell his uper part which is his reason alluring him and drawing him to sinne Therefore they call the understanding and reason which is the uper part of the soul Adam and the lower part that is the affection Eve The desire and pleasure of sinne that is the apple and sinne is as the Serpent As this is grounded upon the speech of God so is it upon the similitude and manner of sinne whereby man is caught as a fish with the bait in the first chapter of James for reason taketh the bait first Such a proceeding is in all sinne and there is no other temptation to sinne now then there was in the beginning to Adam and Eve Thus much for our state and duty arising by way of instruction and exhortation to behave our selves so as sinne get not the rule over us I come now to the last in these words But thou shalt bear rule over it Wherein we ask How shall this be fulfilled can we give to nature that power and freewill nay it is plain we cannot neither is Gods intent so to doe for we are not able of our selves as from our selves to think a good thought as it is in the second to the Corinthians the third chapter and the third verse for we have all been as an unclean thing all our righteousnesse is like a filthy cloth in the sixty fourth chapter of Isaiah and the sixth verse so that he that hath no more in him than the strength of nature is as he that followeth the steps of an harlot whose case is like to the oxe that goeth to the slaughter as it is in the seventh chapter of the Proverbs Therefore it is not to be desired neither is it in our strength to doe it for where God saith Tee shall rule over it Is our strength able to doe thus No. Further as Moses said in the 30. of Deuteronomie and the 14. that Gods meaning in giving him the Law was not that he could doe it or should of himself but it was verbum fidei the word was as near to thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart to doe it This word is the word of promise as Paul expoundeth it in the tenth chapter to the Romans The means to rule sinne is as near thee as sinne is Say not in thy heart who shall goe up into heaven the means is the word of faith which assureth thee of Christ the promised seed who shall for thee break the head of the Serpent as it is in the third chapter of Genesis and give thee the victorie over sinne for else this doctrine had been false if that promise had not gone before then there is Christ without whom we can doe nothing but sinne as himself speaketh Sine me nihil potestis facere in the fifteenth chapter of John the fifth verse It is he that giveth repentance in the second 〈◊〉 to Timothie the second chapter by whom they come 〈◊〉 amendment 〈◊〉 of the snare of the Devill And therefore as the Apostle saith Wee must be strong in the Lord that we may be able to resist in the sixth chapter to the Ephesians For we are able to doe all things in him that strengthneth us as it is in the fourth chapter to the Philippians that is by the strength of his grace enabling us For the performance whereof we must sue to him and begge it at his hands by prayer And that is the meaning of the words that we should ire ad Dominum ut in Domino dominemur 〈◊〉 must goe to him that hath trod upon the bead os the Serpent and overcome the power of Hell Sinne and Death and he shall tread down Sat an under 〈◊〉 feet in the sixteenth chapter to the Romans and the twentieth verse In the one hunderd and tenth Psalme He shall bear rule over his enemies then he may justly bid us bear rule over sinne seeing he is both able and milling to help us There is no man hath set it down more excellently than St. Gregory who saith Justus Deus instat praecepto quia cùm instat ptaecepto praecurrit auxilio so that if a man can remember what Christ hath done how that he which hath broken the Serpents head will give us power to bear rule over sinne as he is able so will he if we be earnest suitors to him for 〈◊〉 give us grace and strength whereby to resist temptations of sinne So saith the Apostle in the second to
done amiss doe as the Hebrewsspake put their trust in the strength of their fâce and in deceitfull lips saying with them Job the twenty fourth chapter Quis me vidit or with her in the thirtieth chapter of the Proverbs that having committed sinne wipeth her mouth and saith Non seci For albeit Cain would not confesse his sault but denyed it saying Nescio and not only but excused his sinne 〈◊〉 without charity toward his Brother so without all humilitie or modesty to God that he was not bound to take care of Abel yet for all that God proceedeth to convict him The verse stands of two parts First the question Quid fecisti Secondly a plain detection in the words following For the first point there are diverse exceptions For the nature of this question some make it a new question touching the same thing that God asked in the former verses Others referre it to Cains deniall as if God should say What hast thou done in saying thou knowest not If we understand it to be a second question then we are to remember what the Prophet saith in the sixty second Psalm that God speaketh not once but twice to shew that he is mercifull and that his oath is a true oath whereby he affirmeth that he desires not the death of a sinner in the thirty third chapter of Ezekiel and the eleventh verse for if a man do but say I have sinned and perverted righteousnesse and it did not profit me he will deliver his soul from going into the pit in the thirty third chapter of Job and the eighteenth verse so greatly is God pleased when men doe willingly 〈◊〉 their sinnes to him And that is the rea on that God having once already asked Cain Where is thy brother Abel doth now ask him again the second time What hast thou done which is all one in effect with the first question The other question seemed far off from the matter but this comes more near to the point Wherein God doth more presse Cain as if he should say thou hast done this murther I will have thee confesse it Which is all one with that speech of Joshuah to Achan My son give glory to God and confesse Joshuah the seventh chapter Wherein he willeth Cain to do as they did of whom Luke recordeth that they came and confessed and shewed their works Acts the nineteenth chapter for it is Gods will that we should call to minde our own deeds before he come to set before us the things which we have done Psalm the fiftieth But others referre this question to Cains deniall why didest thou not confesse thy fault that I might have had mercy on thee Wherein we see that verified that the Prophet affirmeth of God in the second chapter of Joel That he is sorry for our afflictions and withall it is an admonition teaching us our duties For God maketh two sermons to Cain one before he sinned verse the seventh the other after he had sinned in these words Ubi est Abel frater As by the first he 〈◊〉 us to say with Paul in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Quid faciam so when we have sinned we must smite our hearts with David in the second of Samuel and the twenty fourth chapter and say as the prophet speaks Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the sixt verse quid feci Gods question to Cain doth plainly 〈◊〉 to us thus much that when we have sinned we must repent us of the evill and say what have I done for if man repent not that he hath sinned against God God will repent that he hath made man Genesis the sixt chapter and the sixt verse but there is to be noted further in this question that the reason thereof is that Cain by murthering his brother did not only shew himself like the Devill that evill one as St. John calls him in the first of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse who was a murther from the beginning but that he sheweth himself like unto him in denying the truth as the Devill is said to be the Father of lies John the eighth chapter The detection of Cains Crime is in these words the voice of thy brothers blood 〈◊〉 to me from the earth God goeth forward and sheweth that although the Devill doe stop Cains mouth that he will confess his fact yet all is to no purpose albeit he himself will not say he hath killed Abel yet God setts before his eyes the things which he hath done Psalm the fiftieth and the twenty first verse Concerning these words there are two interpretations First that Gods meaning in these words is that howsoever man needs an Accuser yet he needs none for he knoweth who is guilty though there be none to accuse that man heares nothing but vocall speech but God heares blood speak as God doth loquisurdis so he doth audire muta He calleth those things that are not as if they were Romans the fourth chapter he makes things deaf to hear and 〈◊〉 things speak which are dumb as he heard Moses though he spake not a word Exodus the fourteenth chapter Man cannot see in the dark without the light But the darknes and the light are all one to him Psalm the one hundred and thirty ninth All things are naked and bare before his eyes Hebrews the fourth chapter so that he needs no Accuser Secondly the other sense is the fuller and the more generally embraced which is this though the person guilty being arraigned will not confess himself and albeit there be none to accuse him yet he escapes not as for the Accuser there could be none for there were now but three persons upon earth Cain himself and his Father and Mother as for Cain he denyed the deed as for Adam and Eve who were his Parents such was their naturall affection that they could not finde in their hearts to accuse their Son though it were for killing a Child that was more deer to them than he was Of which compassion we have a like example in the Widdow of Tekoah in the second of Samuel the fourteenth chapter and therefore as Ambrose saith quis potuit alter occidere Abelem though there be neither confession nor accusation yet God proceeds to convince him and grounds himself upon the grievousness of his sinne The voice of thy Brothers blood cryeth to me This kinde of proceeding in Judgment is usuall though Juda spake not a word himself and there was none to accuse him yet he was convinced by those tokens which he left with Thamar Genesis the thirty eigthth chapter and the twenty sixt verse And the Garments of Joseph which he left with his Mistris when she enticed him was thought evidence enough Genesis the thirty ninth chapter so we see that albeit there be neither confession nor accusation yet God proceeds against Cain by conviction and he doth convince him not by the voice of persons which is the more usuall witnesse but per vocem
not here saith the Apostle any abiding City Hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the fourteenth verse that is true for albeit we have Cities yet they continue not therefore we seek for a City of Gods building Hebrews the eleventh chapter and the ninth verse and not a City built by Cain This is a point of examination for it is to be considered whether a man in the course of his life reach any further than these three If he goe no farther in the practise of his life but to get Children to build Cities and fair Houses and to get a name he is in the way of Cain But if with the other Enoch we continue still in Gods presence then we doe well Cain having life granted for repentance mispends it in building of a City and such like vanities And as there is a woe to him so woe to them that like him mispend their time which God giveth them for repentance Jude the eleventh verse Cain is in a place of torment where he cryeth woe that he mispent his time so vainly and therefore we must beware by his example for this is the use we are to make of Cain and the Reprobate that when we see what is their end we beware that we walk not in their waies that we mispend not our time in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and vanity of buildings and seeking the glory and honor of this world because to all such there belongs a woe no less than to Cain as it is in the epistle of Jude Deinde Chanacho natus est Hirad Hirad genuit Mechujaëlem Machujaël verò genuit Methuschaëlem Methuschaël genuit Lemecum Assumpsit autem sibi Lemec uxores duas Gen. 4. 18.19 〈◊〉 9. 1599. IN these two verses we have two points to consider the one is a journey which the Holy Ghost undertaketh the other is the end of that journey In the journey Moses begins to set down the Pedigrees of Cain and the end of that journey is the story of Lameoh wherein it may justly be inquired First why any mention is made in Scripture of the Reprobate Secondly why it makes mention of the generation of Cain before the generation of Seth For the first It is a matter of absolute necessity that the Scripture should make mention of the ungodly and reprobate for whereas God proclaimed enmitie between the Serpents seed and the seed of the Woman Genesis the third chapter and the eleventh verse it was his will that it should appear in the world how the one was an enemie to the other therefore it is called liber bellorum domini Joshua the tenth chapter The life of man is called militia super terram Job the seventh chapter and the Church is called the Church militant haec est patientia Sanctorum Revelations the fourteenth chapter and the twelfth verse to shew that the godly have enemies in this world whereby their patience is tried Secondly why mention is made first of the pedigree of Cain there is sufficient reason to be given that is In as much as the wicked are called the men of this world Psalm the seventeenth and the Children of this generation Luke the 〈◊〉 chapter and the eighteenth verse it is reason they should be first remembred in this world for that they shall not be mentioned any where else they only have their interest in this life but in the morning the righteous have the dominion Psalm the fourty ninth and the fourteenth verse that is in the life to come 〈◊〉 shall be first made of the godly and therefore Christ before he speaks of 〈◊〉 the wicked saith first Metthew the twenty fifth chapter Venite benedicti patris mei that is in regard of the persons and for sinne it self as the Philosopher saith ad meminem ante venit mens bona quim animus malus every man is first possessed with an evill minde before he can have a good minde as the Apostle saith in the first to the Corinthians the the fifteenth chapter and the fourty fift verse That is not first which is spirituall but that which is naturall We are all by nature first the Children of wrath Ephesians the second chapter and belong to the posterity of Cain before we can be partakers of grace and therefore it is good reason that in Scripture our state by nature be first spoken of before our state by grace that the Law should goe before the Gospel the seed of the Serpent before the blessed feed of the Woman Thirdly It may be demanded why this passage is made to the story of Lamech next after the story of Cain the reason is for that it is Gods will to bring sinne to a head For as in Adam we saw the poyson of the Serpent and the infection of it in Cain so here is a new infection For as there is a spirit that lusteth after envy James the fourth chapter which made Cain kill his brother so in Lamech we see that spirit which Jude speaks of verse the seventh that is a spirit that longeth after strange flesh which he she wed in taking two Wives That is there is an unclean spirit as well as an 〈◊〉 spirit whereas there are two parts of the will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Cain the angry part was infected with the Serpents poyson his heart was inflamed with a desire of revenge Now in Lamech we see this infection goeth lower even to his reins and stirs him up to lust There are but two temprations Deuteronomie the thirty third chapter and the eighth verse which the Hebrews call meribah and Massah which the Apostle termeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrews the third chapter the one is the temptation unto contention and revenge where with Cain was infected of which the Apostle saith James the fourth chapter and the first verse From 〈◊〉 are warres and contentions among you are they not from your lusts The other is the temptation of concupisence which poisoned Lamech In the Gospel we have them both that is spiritas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke the eighth chapter and the second verse Christ healeth certain women possessed with malignant and envious spirits and Luke the eleventh chapter The unclean spirit departing out of a man walketh in dry places The malicious spirit she wed his poyson in Cain by the temptation of meribah and now Lamech is infected with the unclean spirit and yeelding to the temptation of 〈◊〉 And in these two Reprobates infected with these two kindes of temptations the Holy Ghost sheweth the perfection of sinne For sanctification hath two parts First That we possesse our vessels in holiness which is an exposition to the uncleaness of Lamech and in the first to the Thessalonians the fourth chapter and the sixt verse that no man oppresse or tread down his brother which opposeth it self against the spirit of Cain who trod down his brother and violently slew him Charity and
verse they say Angells were created yesterday as it were the next day before after David saith in the hundred fourty eighth Psalm and the second verse Praise ye him in the high places he saith first Praise him all his Angells In six dayes the Lord made the Heaven and the Earth and all that in them are in making Heaven he made all things as Angels in the Heaven Exodus the twentieth chapter As Hell hath been prepared of old so the Devill hath been a murtherer from the beginning John the eighth chapter and the fourty fourth verse It hath been questioned whether the fall of Angels was the first or second day Secondly They say there is no mention made of goodnesse because division was in the second day and therefore no goodnesse but notwithstanding the division there is a union In the dayes of Peleg the earth was divided the tenth chapter and the twenty fift verse At the building of Babel was the division of tongues which was confusion the eleventh chapter and the ninth verse This division of the second day is of things of diverse natures therefore good Likewise they say there is no mention of good because that was made that day namely the divided waters the upper and nether waters were the deluge and destruction of the world afterward But by them he punished mans wickednesse and the worlds sinfulnesse but to give to give to each his reward and desert to the godly glory to the wicked punishment this his Justice is full of Goodnesse Num 〈…〉 is Infâ—…stis say the Papists yet Matrimonium eft binorum So litarinesse is not good which God perceiving he made to man an helper the twenty eighth verse of the next chapter We say in a Proverb Secâ—… omnia sunt prospera yet it was said dies secundâ—… was infâ—…stus But it was Jeroms blemish who is not to be excused for who is blamelesse for he that first devised that opinion did first strangle it Division signifieth as well conformity as confusion and where reward is for desert that is good All that God made was very good the thirty first verse of this chapter The action of goodnesse is suspended the number is suspended till both be perfected which is after in the third day in the which day you shall finde goodnesse twice when the second day as the Seâ— was perfected the day was pâ—…ed but the work was ended This I doe take in the course of 〈◊〉 reason Et fuit ita Nam produxit terra herbulas herbas sementantes semen in species suas arbores edentes fructum in quibus semen suum est in species suas vidit Deus id esse bonum Sic fuit vespera fuit mane diei tertii Gen. 1. 11.12.13 Place this in pag 72 after the Sermon upon Gen. 1. 11 WE have heard of Gods Decree commanding and the returne executing it and his censure approving that is made which in every dayes work is set down in these three phrases fiat erat sic bonum erat Of this third dayes work we have handled before we have heard the first part namely Gods word commanding the Earth to bud forth hearbs and seeds and trees c. now it remaineth to speak of the other two And first of the return and execution And it was so For the Earth according to every 〈◊〉 and title of Gods word fulfilled Gods will and brought forth all sorts of hearbs and trees and buds and fruits and seeds leaving nothing undone which was commanded Touching which besides the obedience of this Element in executing Gods Decree we note a special Certificate under Gods hand as it were for the discharge of this Creature in the dispatch of his work and that without delay with all haste and speed Which reproveth not only our disobedience to God but also our dulnesse and slownesse in doing any thing which God commands For with us it is one thing to doe a thing and another to doe it willingly and quickly with expedition and speed For when God doth command any thing we put it off with this delay erit sic it shall be so hereafter when we can finde leisure and fit time It can seldom be said in the present tense erat sic it was performed without delay For we are as Salomons debtors which bid God stay till tomorrow or the next day Proverbs the third chapter before he can finde leisure to pay this debt and duty of obedience Secondly In that the return in the end of the eleventh verse was erat sic it was so two things are to be noted out of the nature of the word First a congruity of the performance answerable to the commandement in every point for here is specified just so much done as was required nothing too much or too little to teach us that our obedience must be such We must not deficere in necessariis nec abundare in superfluis The other point is for continuance or perpetuity for the word signifieth that it was so surely and firmly done as if it had a sure basis or foundation for continuance that it might never fail we see it holdeth and endureth ad hunc usque diem our eyes and experience seeing that it is 〈◊〉 The last thing we gather by opposition That Gods word was the cause and is that hearbs and trees doe bear fruits and trees So è contra it is the same word of God saying Let not the Earth nor the trees bear which is the cause of 〈◊〉 and want If for our sinne they fail any year ab ejus 〈…〉 interdicto 〈◊〉 If therefore we disobey Gods 〈…〉 be our punishment That his word shall 〈◊〉 the Earth to 〈◊〉 encrease and to deny us his fruits The second part is the censure and approbation of God saying that it was good I said before there are 〈◊〉 sorts of good 〈◊〉 honestum secondly utile thirdly 〈◊〉 each of which we shall see in the earth and the fruits thereof For honesty and moral good we see it is gratefull to the owner or 〈◊〉 which laboureth therein faithfully and gratefully repaying and requiting his 〈◊〉 and labour thereon For profit it veeldeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both for man and beast and so necessarily good is it in this 〈◊〉 that without it the King cannot live Ecclesiastes the fift chapter and the eighth verse For pleasure and delight either of the eye to behold it or of the taste to relieve it it is most delicious and delightfull Milk Wine and Oyle Wheat and all other grain which are both for variety and necessity we receive by Gods 〈◊〉 from the fruit and increase of the earth and trees And therefore is every way good Postea dixit Deus Abundè progignunto aquae reptilia animantia volucres volanto supra terram superficiem versus expansi Coelorum Gen 1. 20. Place this in the beginning of pag. 84. THIS verse and the three following 〈◊〉 contain in them the first dayes work by which both the
chastity are a full comprehension of the duty of sanctification which God willeth us to perform And as Cains sinne stands first in the story so it is first in nature for a Child before he be able to speak one word will by his sower face shew that he hath a revenging spirit But in this story of Lamech we must observe a farther thing for it standeth upon two parts First in the ninteenth verse is shewed not only that he was infected with a spirit of uncleanness but also verse the twenty third a contemptuous and insolent spirit which is a degree beyond Cain for there he braggeth of his sinne and contemneth God and his Judgments as if he should not be revenged of him for it For when a sinner is not only possessed and infected with malice and envy in his heart and with lust in his reins but braggs of his sin in contempt of God and his Judgments then he is at the height of sinne Peccator cum in profundum venerit contemnit Thus where there are but three faculties of the soul all are corrupted by the infection of the Serpent as for reason it was corrupted in Adam when the Serpent perswaded him that he should be like God and the angry part was corrupted in Cain when he was stirred up to kill his Brother without all cause Thirdly the will and the coveting part was corrupted in Lamech so as neither the bond of nature nor the will of God which is a spirituall bond could keep in order but he will shew his uncleanness When not only Adam looseth faith and Cain charity but Lamech chastity then is sinne at the height In the first verse there is a genealogie of four discents wherein there is no matter of great edification Howbeit as when mens Fields and Closes are laid out all must not be taken up for pasture but a little way must be left whereby every man may pass to his own ground so in the Scripture there must be a passage from one storie to another And as in the body for that there are a great many lymbs and parts they must of necessity be compacted one with another by the help of the sinews so both in prophane Writers and in the Scripture many things are set down to shew the dependance that one story hath with another which otherwise would not seem so necessary Even so the shewing how Cain is joyned with Lamech which is done in this verse is very necessary Secondly There is a farther matter in this heaping of names besides the continuance of the story for it would have seemed strange that the Scripture doth make mention of Lamech and his wicked course unless it were withall shewed from whence he came But in setting down that Lamech is of the posterity of wicked Cain no man will marvell that he doe expresse the manners of Cains Besides that we may not think that this heaping of words is vain for as the Fathers note there is no name in Scripture without profitable consideration for howsoever men that deal in woods and base mettals care not to let chips and parings fall from them yet as they that work in gold and Silver will not lose the least parings The like is to be done in reading the word For it is pure as silver that hath been purified seven times Psalm the twelfth More to be desired than gold Psalm the ninteenth therefore we must have this conceit of it that whatsoever seemeth to be superfluous in the word of God hath great value both for faith and life For Isidor saith est in nominibus sacris sua theologia and as Jerome saith in nominibus sacrae Scripturae insculpuntur mysteria Therefore the Apostle saith That the Sonne of God is more excellent than the Angels in as much as he hath a more excellent name than they Hebrews the first chapter and the fourth verse so when the blinde man is sent to wash himself in Shilo John the ninth chapter and the seventh verse The word signifying sent importeth that he could not be purified by that water unless he was sent so in the names of holy Scripture we see as Jerome saith there are ingraven mysteries Now we give names to our Children ad placitum but in the old Testament the Fathers gave names of set purpose with great advise so we see Eve giveth a reason why she called her Sonne Cain Genesis the fourth chapter and the first verse so is there a reason of Seths name Genesis the fourth chapter and the twenty fift verse of Noah the Sonne of Lamech Genesis the fift chapter and the twenty ninth verse of Isaack and Jacob and all the Patriarches The reason why they had this regard in giving of names are reduced to two First in those that are the Children of the godly their names are a kinde of Prophesie concerning the disposition of the Childe which choice of names their Fathers made for that being endued with the spirit of God they foresaw the disposition of their Children On the other side the wicked and the reprobate cannot prophesie yet their names are specula paternae affectionis as the names of godly Children are prophesies puerilis indolis That it is thus in these names we shall observe an encounter made between the seed of Cain and the seed of Seth which as they were of a contrary disposition so gave their Children contrary names Cain called his Sonne Enoch that is dedicated to the pleasure of the world but Seths Sonne is called Enosh that is sorrowfull Genesis the fift chapter On the one side there was Cain on the other Kenan Irad on the one side Jerad on the other Methushael and Methushelah by which names the seed and posterity of godly Sheth shew a contrary affection and such as differeth from the wicked and the seed of Cain as appeareth by the signification of their names Touching the opposition that appeares to be between the generation of Seth and the posteritie of Cain Enochs name who was Cains Sonne signifieth dedication and there is one of the Children of God called by the same name Genesis the fifth chapter and the ninteenth verse but Seths Enoch as Jude saith was the seventh from Adam verse the fourteenth that is one dedicated to the seventh or Sabbath day one that gave himself wholly to the service and worship of God but Cains Enoch was the first and next to Cain that is one dedicated to the first day which is a working day to shew that he was one that gave himself to the affaires of this life that sought to be mighty on earth And this difference of affection holds to this day for all men are followers either of the first or second Enoch The next of Cain is called Irad that is Lord of a City the same that Herod signifieth wherein we see his ambitious spirit that he was such a one as sought to be great in the world And as Jeroboam when he was not able to maintain