this blessing Let vs not be hunting after sports as Esau for venison and loose our blessing lest wee cry howle rore when it is too late to recouer it Thinke oh thinke there is a heauen a GOD a IESVS a kingdome of glory society of Angels communion of Saints ioy peace happinesse and eternity of all these which it will bee a fearefull thing to loose for the base pleasures and short delights of this world O great God of all and sweete Father of thy chosen poure vpon vs thy holy deawes of grace make our soules to stand thicke with sanctified herbes that we may receiue thy blessing That honouring thee in the day of Grace we may bee hononoured by thee in the day of Glory Grant this for thy loued Sonne and our louing Sauiour euen IESVS CHRIST his sake Amen THE FORREST Of Thornes THE FOVRTH SERMON EZEK 28. 24. There shal be no more a pricking Bryar vnto the house of Israel nor any grieuing Thorne of all that are round about them Terra salutifferas herbas eadem que nocentes Nutrit vrticae proxima saepe rosa est LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. THE FORREST Of THORNES THE FOVRTH SERMON HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 8. But that which beareth thornes and bryers is reiected and is nigh vnto cursing whose end is to be burned THis verse begins with a word of Dsiunction But. The Raine of grace falls vpon the good ground it returneth berbes it receiueth blessing But that which beareth thorns and bryers is reiected and is nigh vnto cursing c. It is vndeniably true that S. Paul knew no Purgatory otherwise he that shunned not to declare to men all the counsell of God would not in a voluntary silence haue omitted this mysterie He deliuers two sorts of Grounds the good and the bad the one blessed the other neere vnto cursing Hee knew no meane either betwixt good and euill men or betwixt reward and punishment blessing and cursing It seemes that Christ himâ—elfe was ignorant of that point which the Papists know so soundly and beleeue so roundly For he sayes In Gods Field whatsoeuer growes is either corne or cockle for the one whereof a Barne is prouided for the other vnquenchable Fire A third sort betweene herbes and weedes had either the Master or the Seruant knowne they would haue acknowledged This first word of the Text But is a strong engine set to the wals of Purgatory to ouer-turne them and ouer-burne them with the fire of hell For they are imaginary pales that diuide hell and Purgatorie take away your conceit and they are both one all is hell For surely hell was raked when Purgatory was found and it is nothing els but a larder to the Popes Kitchin What fancie soeuer founded it their wittes are foundred that labour to maintaine it For they cannot tell vs vel quid sit vel vbi what it is nor where it is They cauill with vs for want of vnity and consent in iudgement Yet Bellarmine recites eight seuerall opinions amongst them about the place And concludes at last that it must remaine among those secrets Quae suo tempore aperientur nobis which shall bee vnfolded to vs in their times Some thinke the torments of it to consist in fire others in water some that the afflicters are Angels other that they are Deuils So they teach omni modo that which is nullo modo and because it is vbique is therefore nullibi Howsoeuer it being the Popes peculiar and in his power to command the Angels to fetch out whom hee list mee thinks the Popes are strangely vnmercifull that in all this time none of them hath made a generall Gaole-deliuerie But our Purgatorie is the blood of Iesus Christ which clenseth vs from sinne And they that haue no portion in this blood shall be reiected are nigh vnto cursing and their end is to be burned The barren or rather euil-fruited ground is the ground of my discourse and according to the common distinction of Euill here is a double euill in the Text. Vnum quod malus facit alterum quod malus patitur An euill which the wicked man doth and an euill which he suffers an euill that is sinne and an euill that is punishment for sinne In the former the wicked are agents in the latter patients The one euill is done by them the other vpon them They offend Gods iustice and GOD in his iustice offends them They haue loued cursing and cursing shall be vnto them they desired not blessing and it is farre from them They produce Thornes and the end of thornes is to bee burned The first and worst euill for the other though euill to them is good in Gods good Iustice is sinne Herein 1. the wicked are compared to bad ground 2. their iniquities to thornes and bryers 3. and the manner how so ill weeds arise from this ground is said to be bearing The earth that beareth thornes c. Here first obserue 1 The different word the Apostle vseth For the good earth hee sayes it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bringing forth herbes For the euill it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bearing not bringing forth As if good workes were brought forth like children not without paine and trauell euill workes but cast out like froth or skimme as easily vented as inuented Therefore the earth is said ebullire to bubble or boile out such things as meere excretions Our prouerbe sayes An ill weed growes apace Herbes grow not without preparing the ground planting and watring them by seasonable deawes and diligence Weeds are common it is hard to set the foote besides them The basest things are euer most plentifull Plurima pessima I haue read of a kind of mouse that breeds sixe score young ones in one nest Whereas the off-spring of the Lyonesse or Elephant is but single You shall find your furrowes full of Cockle and daâ—â—ell though you neuer sew them The earth sayth the Philosopher is now an own mother to weeds and naturally breeds and feeds them but a stepmother to good herbes Man by a procliuitie of his own naturall inclination is apt to produce thornes and bryers but ere hee can bring forth herbes Graces God must take paines with him No husbandman so labours his ground as God our hearts Happy earth that yeelds him an expected haruest But that which beareth Thornes is neere to be cursed and burned 2 Obserue that a wicked man is compared to bad earth and that fitly in 5. respects 1 For basenesse The earth is the heauiest of all Elements and doth naturally sinke downewards as if it had no rest but in the center which it selfe is A wicked man is base-minded and sinkes with a dull and ponderous declination not regarding the things aboue but these below He hath commune with men sursum os but with beasts deorsum
mercy it receiueth blessing from God All is an Allegory The Earth is Man the Raine Gods Word the herbes are Graces and the Blessing is a sweet retribution and accumulation of mercie The Earth IS the best ground that lyes betwixt heauen and earth Man the noblest part of this world the worthiest creature that hath earth for the pauement and heauen for the seeling the Creators Image and as some read his Shadow which moues as the body doth whose it is When the body puts forth an arme the shadow shewes an arme c so man in his actions and courses depends vpon the disposition of God as his all-powerfull Maker and Mouer The blessed Deity which hath in it a Trinity of most equall and eternall Persons is the first and best of all beings the holy Angels next a Ioue tertius Aiax man next them Ardens conceateth vpon Marke 16. in the Apostles commission Goe ye into all the World and preach the Gospell to euery Creature that by this Euery Creature is meant Man For to liuelesse senselesse or reason-lesse things God neuer enioyned to preach the Gospell But man is called Euery creature because hee hath a participation of the best in all creatures Stones haue a being not life plants haue a being and life not sense beasts haue a being life and sense but not vnderstanding Angels haue both being life sense and vnderstanding Man participates with all these in their best He hath a being with stones life with plants sense with beasts vnderstanding with Angels a sweet abstract or compendium of all creatures perfections Let not all this make man proud Euen this word Earth though here vsed in a spiritual sense puts him in minde that this excellent man is a mortall creature Earth must bee earth hot earth to colde earth that earth which hath now a life in it to that earth which hath no life in it Therefore I will say from the Prophet O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord. Bestow not too much paines in adorning this perishable earth thy flesh the earth thou must be careful of and which God here waters from heauen with his holy deawes is thy heart thy conscience I could willingly steppe out a little to chide those that neglecting Gods Earth the Soule fall to trimming with a curious superstition the Earths earth clay and lome a body of corruption painted til it shine like a Lilly like it in whitenesse not in humility the candor of beautie for the Lilly growes lowe Lilium conuallium a flower of the vallies and bottomes a little slime done ouer with a past-boord rottennesse hidde vnder golden leaues stench lapp'd vp in a bundle of silkes and by reason of poison suck'd from sinne and hell worthy of no better attribute then glorious damnation Is there no sicknesse is there no disgrace is there no old age is there no death that you make so much of this earth Or doe you desperately resolue to dote on it liuing as if you neuer hoped to finde it againe being dead Feare not you shall meet with it againe perhaps when you would not God hath struck as gallant as you can make or thinke your selues with sodaine sore and sure iudgements Beleeue it his hand is his owne His arme was neuer yet broken luxate or manacled Woe worth them that haue put Pride and Couetousnesse fellow-commoners among vs for they out-eate vs all and staâ—ue the whole house of our Land Couetise would be charitable but there is that other summe to make vp Pride would giue or at least forbeare to extort but there is a ruffe of the new fashion to bee bought Dignity a caroch or strange apparell is to be purchas'd and who but the poore tenants must pay for it vpon whom they once so accoutred afterward looke betwixt scorne and anger and goe as if they were shut vp in wainscote Sed vitate viros cultum formasque professos Quique suas ponunt in statione comas Such a one will not giue lest his white hand should touch the poore beggars who perhaps hath a hand cleaner then his I meane from aspersions of bloud rapine iniury briberie lust and filthinesse He cannot intend to pray for he is called to dinner iust when his last locke is hung to his minde O the monstrous curiositie of tricking vp this earth of earth yet from the Courtier to the Carter from the Lady to the Inkle-beggar there is this excesse and going beyond their calling But I haue strayed out of my way to cut off a lappe of Prides garment I conclude this Earth with this caution Respice aspice prospice Looke back what thou wast behold what thou art consider what thou must be Recole primordia attende media prâ—â—uideto nouissima Haec pudorem adducunt illa dolorem ingerunt ista timorem incutiunt Call to mind former things see the present foresee the last The first will breede in thee shame the other griefe these feare Remember thou wert taken out of the earth behold thy strength of life subiect to diseases manifold manifest sensible ones foresee that thou must dye this earth must to earth againe But the Earth here meant is a diuine spirituall immortall nature called Earth by a Metaphor incapable of suffering terrene fragilitie This is Gods Earth and that in a high and mysticall sense though proper enough Indeed Domini terra the earth is the Lords and the fulnesâ—e thereof sayth the Psalmist But he hath not such respect to the Earth he made as to this Earth for whom he made it This is Terra sigillata earth that he hath sealed and sanctified for himselfe by setting his stampe and impression vpon it Now the good mans heart is compared to Earth for diuerse reasons 1. For humilitie Humus quasi humilis The Earth is the lowest of all elements and the center of the world The godly heart is not so low in situation but so lowly in it owne estimation God is sayd to hang the earth vpon nothing Ioâ— 26. He stretcheth out the North ouer the empty place and hangeth the Earth vpon nothing that it might wholly depend on himselfe So a true Christian heart in regard of it selfe is founded vpon nothing hath an humble vilipending and disprising of it owne worth that it may ex toto ex tuto wholly and safely rely on God O man of earth why exaltest thou thy selfe this is the way to preuent and frustrate the exaltation of God Keepe thy selfe lowly as the Earth reiect all opinion of thy owne worth and thou shalt one day ouer-top the cloudes The Earth is thy mother that brought thee forth when thou wert not a stage that carries thee whiles thou art a tombe that receiues thee when thou art not It giues thee originall harbour sepulchre Like a kind mother shee beares her off-spring on her backe and her brood is her perpetuall burden till she receiue them again into the same womb from
whence she deliuered them She shall bee yet more kinde to thee if her basenesse can teach thee humility and keepe thee from being more proud of other things then thou canst with any reason be of thy Parentage Few are proud of their soules and none but fooles can bee proud of their bodies seeing here is all the difference betwixt him that walkes and his floore he walkes on Liuing Earth treads vpon dead earth and shall at last bee as dead as his pauement Many are the fauours that the earth doth vs yet amongst them all there is none greater then the schooling vs to humility and working in vs a true acknowledgement of our owne vilenesse and so directing vs to heauen to find that aboue which she cannot giue vs below 2. For Patience The Earth is called Terra quia teritur and this is the naturall earth For they distinguish it into 3. sorts Terra quam terimus terra quam gerimus terra quam quaerimus which is the glorious land of Promise That earth is cut and wounded with culters and shares yet is patient to suffer it and returnes fruits to those that ploughed it The good heart is thus rent with vexations and broken with sorrowes yet offers the other cheeke to the smiter endureth all with a magnanimous patience assured of that victory which comes by suffering Vincit qui patitur Neither is this all it returns mercy for iniury prayers for persecutions and blesseth them that cursed it The Plowers plowed vpon my backe they made long their furrowes They rewarded mee euill for good to the spoyling of my soule Yet when they were sicke my cloathing was sackecloth I humbled my soule with fasting I was heauy as one that mourned for his friend or brother and my prayer returned into mine owne bosome When the heart of our Sauiour was thus ploughed vp with a speare it ran streames of mercie reall mercie which his vocall tongue interpreted Father forgiue them they know not what they doe His bloud Heb. 12. had a voice a mercifull voice and spake better things then the bloud of Abel That cryed from the cauerns of the earth for reuenge this from the Crosse in the sweet tune of compassion and forgiuenesse It is a strong argument of a heart rich in grace to wrappe and embrace his iniurer in the armes of loue as the earth quietly receiues those dead to buriall who liuing tore vp her bowels 3. For faithful Constancie The Earth is called Solum because it stands alone depending on nothing but the Makers hand One generation passeth away and another generation commeth but the earth abideth for euer Shee often changeth her burden without any sensible mutation of her selfe Thy faithfulnesse is to all generations thou hâ—st established the Earth and it standeth The Hebrew is To generation and generation inferring that times and men and the sonnes of men posterity after posterity passe away but the Earth whereon and whereout they passe abideth The parts thereof haue been altered and violent Earth-quakes begot in the owne bowels haue totterd it But God hath layd the foundations of the earth the Originall is founded it vpon her bases that it should not be remoued for euer the body of it is immoueable Such a constant soliditie is in the faithfull heart that should it thunder Buls from Rome and bolts from heauen Impauâ—dum ferient ruinae â— Indeede God hath sometimes bent an angry brow against his owne deare ones and then no maruell if they shudder if the bones of Dauid tremble and the teeth of Hezekiah chatter But God will not be long angry with his and the balances at first putting in of the euenest weights may be a little swayed not without some shew of inequality which yet after a little motion settle themselues in a iust poyse So the first terrour hath moued the godly not remoued them they return to themselues and rest in a resolued peace Lord doe what thou wilt if thou kill mee I will trust in thee Let vs heare it from him that had it from the Lord. Psal. 112. Surely he shall not be moued for euer the righteous shall bee in euerlasting remembrance He shall not be afraide of euill tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established c. Oh sweet description of a constant soule They giue diuerse causes of Earth-quakes Aristotle among the rest admits the ecclipse of the Sun for one the interposition of the Moones body hindring some places from his heate I know not how certaine this is in Philosophie â—n Diuinity it is most true that onely the ecclipse of our Sunne IESVS CHRIST raiseth Earth-quakes in our hearts when that inconstant and euer-changing body of the Moone the world steppes betwixt our Sunne and vs and keepes vs from the kindly vitall heate of his fauour then O then the earth of our heart quakes and we feele a terrour in our bones and bowels as if the busie hand of death were searching them But no ecclipse lasts long especially not this our Sunne will shine on vs againe we shall stand sure euen as mount Sion which cannot be remoued but abideth for euer 4. For Charitie The Earth brings forth food for all creatures that liue on it Greene herbe for the cattell oyle and wine for man The vallyes stand thicke with corne the Mower filleth his sythe and the binder vp of sheaues his bosome A good man is so full of charitie he releeues all without improuidence to himselfe He giues plentifully that all may haue some not indiscreetly that some haue all On the Earth stand many glorious Cities and goodly buildings faire monuments of her beauty and adornation The sanctified soule in an happy respondencie hath manifold workes of charitie manifest deedes of piety that sweetly become the Faith which he professeth 5. For Riches The Earth is but poore without the surface of it especially when squalid winter hath bemired it seemes poore and barren but within it is full of rich mines ores of gold and quarries of precious minerals For medals and mettals it is abundantly wealthy The sanctified heart may seeme poore to the worlds eye which only beholds and iudgeth the rinde and huske and thinkes there is no treasure in the Cabinet because it is couered with leather But within hee is full of golden mines and rich ores the inuisible graces of faith feare loue hope patience holinesse sweeter then the spices of the East Indies and richer then the gold of the West Omnis decor filiae Sion ab intus The Kings Daughter is all glorious within It is not the superficiall skinne but the internall beautie that moues the King of heauen to bee enamoured of vs and to say Thou art all faire my Loue there is no spot in thee 6. Lastly for Fertilitie The Earth is fruitfull when the ayre hath giuen influence the Clouds showred downe seasonable deawes and the Sunne bestowed his kindly heate
loe the thankfull earth returnes fruites and that in abundance The Christian soule hauing receiued such holy operations inspirations and sanctifying motions from aboue is neuer found without a gratefull fertility Yea as the Earth to man so man to God returnes a blessed vsurie tenne for one nay sometimes 30. sometimes 60. sometimes an hundred fold But the succeeding doctrine will challenge this demonstration I haue been somewhat copious in the first word the breuity of the rest shall recompence it The operatiue cause that worketh the good earth to this fruitfulnesse is a heauenly Raine that falls oft vpon it and the earth doth drinke it vp Wherein is obseruable that the raine doth come that it is welcome God sends it plenteously and man entertaines it louingly It comes oft and he drinkes it vp Gods loue to man is declared in the comming in the welcomming mans loue to God In the former we will consider 1. The matter 2. The manner The matter that commeth is Raine The manner consists in 3 respects 1. There is mercy It commeth It is not constrained deserued pulled downe from heauen It commeth 2. Frequencie it commeth often there is no scanting of this mercy it flowes abundantly as if the windowes of heauen were opened Often 3. Direction of it right vpon this earth It falls not neere it nor besides it but vpon it To begin with the Raine GOds Word is often compared to Raine or Deaw Moses beginnes his Song with My doctrine shall drop as the raine my speech shal distill as the deaw as the small raine vpon the tender herbe and as the showers vpon the grasse Therfore in the first verse he calls to the earth to heare his voice Man is the Earth and his Doctrine the Raine Mica 2. Prophecie yee not the originall word is Drop ye not c. Amos 7. 16. Thou sayest Prophecy not against Israel drop not thy word against the house of Isaac Ezek. 21. Sonne of man set thy face toward Ierusalem and drop thy word toward the holy places The Metaphore is vsuall wherein stands the comparison In 6. concurrences 1. It is the property of Raine to coole heate Experience tels vs that a sweltring feruour of the ayre which almost fryes vs is allayed by a moderate shower sent from the clouds The burning heate of sinne in vs and of Gods anger for sinne against vs is quenched by the Gospell It cooles our intemperate heate of malice anger ambition auarice lust which are burning sins 2. Another effect of Raine is Thirst quenched The drie earth parched with heate opens it selfe in refts and cranies as if it would deuoure the cloudes for moisture The Christian soule thirsts after righteousnesse is drie at heart till he can haue the Gospell a showre of this mercy from heauen quencheth his thirst he is satisfied Whosoeuer drinketh of the water that I shal giue him shal neuer thirst but it shall bee in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life 3. Raine doth allay the windes When the ayre is in an vprore and the stoutest Cedars crouch to the ground before a violent blast euen Towers and Cities tremble a showre of raine sent from the cloudes mitigates this fury When the Potentates of the world Tyrants little better then Diuels Gog and Magog Moab and Ammon Turkey Rome Hell storme against vs God quiets all our feares secures vs from al their terrours by a gracious raine droppes of mercie in the neuer-fayling promises of the Gospell 4. Raine hath a powerfull efficacy to cleanse the ayre When infectious fogges and contagious vapours haue filled it full of corruption the distilling showres wash away the noysome putrifaction We know that too often filthy fumes of errors and heresies surge vp in a land that the soule of faith is almost stifled and the vncleannesse of corrupt doctrine gets a predominant place the Lord then droppes his word from heauen the pure Raine of his holy Gospell cleanseth away this putrifaction and giues new life to the almost smothered truth Wo to them then that would depriue mens soules of the Gospell and with-hold the Truth in vnrighteousnesse When they locke vp the gates of grace as Christ reproued the Lawyers and labour to make the heauens brasse they must needes also make the Earth iron How should the earth of mans heart bring forth fruits when the raine is with-held from it No maruell if their ayre be poyson'd 5. Raine hath yet another working to mollifie a hard matter The parched and heat-hardned earth is made soft by the deawes of heauen O how hard and obdurate is the heart of man till this raineâ—falls on it Is the heart couetous no teares from distressed eyes can melt a peny out of it Is it malicious no supplications can begge forbearance of the least wrong Is it giuen to drunkennesse you may melt his body into a dropsie before his heart into sobrietie Is it ambitious you may as well treat with Lucifer about humiliation Is it factious a Quire of Angels cannot sing him into peace No means on earth can soften the heart whether you annoint it with the supple balmes of entreaties or thunder against it the bolts of menaces or beate it with the hammer of mortall blowes Behold GOD showres this raine of the Gospell from heauen and it is sodainely softned One Sermon may pricke him at the heart one droppe of a Sauiours bloud distilled on it by the Spirit in the preaching of the Word melts him like waxe The Drunkard is made sober the Adulterer chaste Zaccheus mercifull and raging Paul as tame as a Lambe They that haue erst serued the Diuell with an eager appetite and were hurried by him with a voluntary precipitation haue all their chaines eaten off by this Aqua fortis one droppe of this raine hath broken their fetters and now all the powers of hell cannot preuaile against them There is a Legend I had as good say a tale of an Hermite that heard as he imagin'd all the Diuels of hell on the other side of the wall lifting and blowing and groning as if they were a remouing the world The Hermite desires to see them admitted behold they were all lifting at a feather and could not stirre it The application may serue yeeld the fable idle Satan and his Armies Spirits Lusts Vanities Sinnes that erst could tosse and blow a man vp and downe like a feather and did not sooner present a wickednesse to his sight but he was more ready for action then they for instigation now they cannot stirre him they may sooner remoue the world from the pillars then him from the grace and mercy of God The deaw of heauen hath watred him and made him grow and the power of hell shall not supplant him The raine of mercie hath softned his heart and the heat of sinne shall neuer harden it 6 Lastly Raine is one principall subordinate cause that all things fructifie This holy deaw is the operatiue meanes
Another sits dallying with the delights of lust vnder a green bush a third is borough'd in the ground mining and intrenching himselfe in the quest of riches Alas how should the deaw of grace fall vpon these Thou wouldst not shelter thy ground from the clouds lest it grow barren oh then keep not thy soule from the raine of heauen You haue heard how the raine is come now heare how it is made welcome The good groūd drinkes it nay drinkes it in Imbibit The comparison stands thus The thirsty Land drinkes vp the raine greedily which the cloudes poure vpon it You would wonder what becomes of it you may finde it in your fruites When your Vines hang full of clusters your Gardens stand thicke with flowers your Medowes with grasse your fields with corne you will say the earth hath been beholden to the heauen That hath rained moisture this hath drunke it in we see it in our fruits The Lord sayth I will heare the heauens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and the wine and the oyle and they shall heare Iezreel The fruits of corne wine oyle witnesse that the earth hath heard them that heauen hath heard the earth and that the Lord hath heard the heauen The heauens giue influence to the ground the ground sappe to the plants the plants nourishment to vs the Lord a blessing to all The Lord watereth the hills from the chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of the workes Hee causeth the grasse to growe for the cattell and herbe for the seruice of man Wine to make glad his heart and oyle to make his face shine and bread to strengthen mans heart c. With such thirsty appetite and no lesse happy successe doth the good soule swallow the dew of grace If you perceiue not when the faithfull take it you may see they haue it for their fruits testifie it It is a most euident demonstration that they haue bin beholding to the Gospell they haue a sanctified life Drinkes it in There bee very many great Drinkers in the world The maine drunkennesse that giues denomination to all the rest is that throte-drunkennesse whereof the Prophet Vae fortibus ad potandum These are they that will not drinke this mysticall wine in the Church so willingly as bee drunk in the tap-house Wine-worshippers that are at it on their knees protesting from the bottomes of their hearts to the bottome of the cups if the health be not pledged actum est de amicitia farewell friendship I haue read of a streete in Rome called vicus sobrius sober street Find such a street in any Citie or populous towne in England and some good man wil put it in the Chronicle It hath beene sayd that the Germanes are great drinkers and therefore to Carowse is giuen to be deriued from them the word being originally to Gar-rowse which is to drinke off all Gar signifying totum so the Germanes are called by themselues Germanni quasi toti homines as if a Germane were All-man according to another denomination of their Country Allmanie And so wee are growne to thinke him that can tipple soundly a tall man nay all-man from top to toe But if England plyes her liquor so fast as shee begins Germany is like to loose her Charter I haue heard how the Iesuits out-stripp'd the Franciscans Indeed Saint Francis at the first meeting sawe sixe thousand Fryers Ignatius because he could not begin his order with so many made vp the number in Diuels The Germanes had of vs both priority and number for drunkards Our English beggars first got the fashion but because their number was short and it was like that the Nation would be disgrac'd it was agreed to make it vp in Gallants No maruell if the Lord for this threaten vs with the rod of famine and to scourge vs with that most smarting string of his whippe God hath layd himselfe faire in his bow already and is ready to draw this arrow vp to the head and send it singing into our bosomes Ferro saeuior fames it is one of Gods sorest iudgements Beasts and Sword kill quickly and the Plague is not long in dispatching vs but Dearth is a lingring death Lament 4. They that be slaine with the sword are better then they that be slaine with hunger for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field We see how our seasons are changed because we can finde no season to repentance Our Springs haue bin graues rather then cradles our Summers haue not shot vp but withered our grasse our Autumnes haue taken away the flockes of our sheepe And for our latest Haruest wee haue had cause to inuert the words of our Sauiour Luke 10. Hee sayth the Haruest is great but the Labourers are few pray ye therefore the Lord to send forth more Labourers into his haruest But wee might haue sayd the Labourers are many and the haruest is small pray ye therfore the Lord to send a greater haruest for the Labourers God hath thus as it were pulled the Cup from the Drunkards lippes and since hee will know no measure the Lord wil stint him If there will bee no voluntary there shall be an enforced fast Wee haue other great drinkers besides What say you to those that Drinke vp whole townes vnpeople countreys depopulate villages inclose fields that Pharise-like swallow vp poore mens houses drink their goods though mingled with teares of damme and young ones mother children Are not these horrible drinkers Sure God will one day hold the Cup of vengeance to their lippes and bid them drinke their fils The Proud-man is a great drinker It is not his belly but his back that is the drunkard He pincheth the poore rackes out the other fine enhanceth the rent spends his owne meanes and what he can finger besides vpon clothes If his rent-day make euen with his Silkeman Mercer Taylor he is well And his white Madam drinkes deeper then he The walls of the Citie are kept in reparation with easier cost then a Ladies face and the appurtenances to her head The Ambitious is a deepe drinker O hee hath a dry thirst vpon him He loues the wine of promotion extremely Put a whole monopoly into the cup and he will carouse it off There is a time when other drunkards giue ouer for asleeping-while this drinker hath neuer enough Your grimme Vsurer is a monstrous drinker you shall seldome see him drunke at 's owne cost yet he hath vow'd not to be sober til his Doomesdaye His braines and his gowne are lin'd with foxe hee is euer afoxing It may be some infernall spirit hath put loue-pouder in his drinke for hee dotes vpon the deuill extremely Let him take heed hee shall one day drinke his owne obligations and they wil choke him The Rob-altar is a huge drinker Hee loues like Belshazzar to drinke only in the goblets of the Temple Wo vnto
must be Lapathum Patience This Rue is affliction which hath a profitable effect in those that qnietly digest it Of all the herbes in the garden onely Rue is the herbe of grace How much vertue is wrought in the soule by this bitter plant It is held by some a sicknes it is rather Physick a sharpe and short medicine that bringeth with it much and long health This if they wil needs haue it a sicknesse may be compared to the Ague The Ague shakes a man worse then another disease that is mortall At last it giues 〈◊〉 a kinde farewell and sayes I haue purged thy choler and made thee healthfull by consuming and spending out that humor which would haue endangered thy life Affliction in the taste is often more bitter then a iudgement that kills outright but at last it tells the soule I haue purged away thy foulenesse wrought out thy Iustes and left there a sound man So the good Physician procureth to his Patient a gentle Ague that hee may cure him of a more dangerous disease Vt curet spasmum procurat febrim Christ our best Physician deales a little roughly with vs that hee may set vs straight And howsoeuer the Feuer of affliction disquiet vs a while we shall sing in the conclusion with the Psalmist It is good for me that I haue been afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Saepe facit Deus opus quod non est summ vt faciat opus quod est suum GOD by a worke that is none of his effecteth a work in vs that is his He molests vs with some vexations as hee did Iob which is Satans worke immediately not his that thereby hee might bring vs to patience and obedience which is his work immediatly and wholly not Satans So wee are chastned of the Lord that wee might not bee condemned with the world Bees are drown'd in honey but liue in vineger and good men grow the better affected the more they are afflicted The poore man for his ague goes to his garden and plucks vp thyme The remedy for this spirituall seuer is true but sensible pâtience Men should feele Gods strokes and so beare them It is dispraiseable either to be senselesse or fenselesse Not to know wee are stricken or not to take the blowes on the target of Patience Many can lament the effectes but not the cause and sorrow that God grieues them not that they grieue God They are angry with heauen for being angry with them They with heauen for iustice that is angry with them for iniustice But Maereamus quod mereamur paenam Let not the punishment but the cause of it make thy soule sorrowfull Know thou art whipp'd for thy faults and apply to the prints the herbe Patience Hearts-case and spirituall ioy DOth sorrow and anguish cast downe a mans hart and may he complain that his soule is disquieted within him Let him fetch an herbe out of this Garden called Hearts-ease an inward ioy which the holy Ghost worketh in him Though all the dayes of the afflicted be euill yet a merry heart is a continuall feast This is Heauen vpon earth Rom. 14. Peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost His conscience is assured of peace with God of reconciliation in the bloud of IESVS and that his soule is wrapp'd vp in the bundle of life This may be well called Hearts-ease it is a holy a happy herbe to comfort the spirits When worldly ioyes either like Rahels children are not or like Eli's are rebellious there is Hearts-ease in this Garden that shall cheare him against all sorrowes certainty of Gods fauoâ—r Let the world frowne and all things in it runne crosse to the graine of our mindes yet with thee O Lord is mereie and plentifull redemption And if no body els yet God will be stil good to Israel euen to those that are of a pure heart Those which we call penal euils are either past present or to come and they cause in the soule sorrow paine feare Euils past sorrow present paine future feare Here is Hearts-ease for all these Miseries past are solaced because God hath turned them to our good and we are made the better by once being worse Miseries present finde mitigation and the infinite comfort that is with vs within vs sweetens the finite bitternesse that is without vs. Miseries future are to vs contingent they are vncertaine but our strength is certaine God Noui in quem credidi I know whom I haue trusted Heere is aabundant ease to the heart Balsamum or Faith HAth the heart got a greene wound by comitting some offense against God for actuall iniquity makes a gash in the soule The good man runnes for Balsamum and stancheth the bloud Faith in the promises of Iesus Christ. He knowes there is Balme at Gilead and there are Physicians there and therefore the health of his soule may easily be recouered He is sure that if the bloud of Christ bee applyed it will soone stanch the bloud of his conscience and keepe him from bleeding to death and that the wounds of his Sauiour will cure the wounds of his soule And though this virtuall healing herbe be in Gods owne Garden yet he hath a key to open it prayer and a hand to take it out and to lay it on his sores faith This is a soueraigne herbe and indeed so soueraigne that there is no herbe good to vs without it It may bee called Panaces which Physicians say is an herbe for all manner of diseases and is indeede the principall herbe of grace for it adornes the soule with all the merits and righteousnes of IESVS CHRIST Saint Iohns-wort or Charitie DOth the world through sweetnesse of gaine that comes a little too fast vpon a man begin to carry away his heart to couetousnesse Let him look in this Garden for the herbe called Saint-Iohns-wort Charity and brotherly loue It is called S. Iohns herbe not vnproperly for hee spent a whole Epistle in commending to vs this grace and often inculcated Little children loue one another And he further teacheth that this loue must be actuall For he that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth vp his cowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the loue of God in him He hath no such herbe as Saint-Iohns-wort in his garden The good Christian considers that he hath the goods of this world to doe good in this world And that his riches are called Bona Goods Non quod faciant bonum sed vnde faciat bonum not that they make him a good man but giue him meanes to doe good to others He learns a Maxime of Christ from the world which the world teacheth but followeth not that is to make sure as much wealth as he can as if it were madnes to leaue those goodes behind him which he may cary with him This policie we all confesse good but faile in the consecution The world
with prouision while he sits and sings care away But as he is free from idlenesse so also from distrust Hee considers the Rauens and Lillies and knowes that the Lord is the Preseruer of men as well as of Fowles and flowers that hee respects man aboue those and his owne aboue other men Therefore hee throwes all his cares vpon God as if they were too heauy a lode for himselfe Sollicitous thoughtfulnes can giue him no hurt but this herbe Careaway shall easily cure it Holy Thiâ—tle or good Resolution YEeld that hee is pressed with iniuries as who will liue godly in Christ and shall not suffer persecution He is oppressed by force or fraud might or subtilty and cannot helpe himselfe He hath a good herbe in this Garden called Carduus Benedictus Holy thistle a godly resolution that through many miseries he must enter heauen He rests himselfe on God and rather wisheth his harmelesnesse should suffer then himselfe not to giue passiue and patient obedience to lawfull authority Our God whom we serue is able to deliuer vs from the burning fiery furnace and hee will deliuer vs out of thine hand O King But if not be it knowne to thee O King that wee will not serue thy gods nor worship thy golden Image There are many other herbes in this garden as if hee be to deale with craftie aduersaries let him fetch some Sage honest policie and such as may stand with an vntouched conscience For Christ gaue vs this prohibition to bee wise as Serpents though withall a cohibition that we be harmelesse as Doues If he be tempted to ebriety he hath in this Garden Coleworts moderate abstinence Matthiolus on the preface of Dioscorides notes such a naturall enmitie betwixt this herbe and drunkennesse that if you plant Colewort neere to the rootes of the Vine of it selfe it flyeth from them But I excuse my selfe Non ego cunct a meis amplecti versibus opto I would not leaue nothing vnsayd Thus I haue walked you through a sacred Garden of many gracious herbes happy soules thus planted I will stay you no longer then to heare your blessing It receiueth blessing from God THe Reward giues a happy conclusion to this good ground So it pleaseth the Lord to accept our labours that he will reward them not after our owne merit for that is not an atome but after his owne mercy which exceedes heauen and earth Receiue this blessing with a thankfull heart thou hast not earn'd it It is obiected that here it is sayd their workes are meet for God therefore deserue this blessing And Wisd. 3. God proued them and found them meete for himselfe as if they could stand Gods tryall And Paul exhorts vs to walke worthie of the vocation wherewith we are called I answere Deus coronat donâ— sua non merit a nostra God rewards his owne workes not our worth It is giuen Non meritis operantis sed miseratione donantis not for the deserts of the doer but for the mercie of the giuer Datur operatoribus non pro operibus Luke chap. 12. Verse 32. It is my Fathers will to giue you a kingdome Do wee good from whom is it doth not God worke in vs to will and to doe Thou hast done well be comforted be not proud It was Gods worke not thine Omnia merita Dei dona sunt it a homo propter ipsa magis Deo debitor est quam Deus homini All our good workes are Gods giftes and therefore man is more beholding to God for them then God to man If in this Garden any good herbe spring ouer the wall and sawcily challenge to iâ— selfe a prerogatiue of merite deale with it as the Gardiner with supersluous branches prune it off Or as Tor quatus with his ouer-venturous sonne cut it short with the sword of the Spirit for daring beyond the Commission Our Aduersaries oppose this truth very violently both in the Schooles and in the Pulpits but come they to their death-beds to argue it between God and their owne soules then grace and grace alone mercy and onely mercie IESVS and none but IESVS And this euen their great Bell-weather is forced to acknowledge Propter incert it udinem propriae iustitiae periculum inanis gloriae tutissimum est fiduciam totam in sola Dei misericordia benignitate repoâ—ere I will translate his words truly By reason of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaine glorie the saâ—est course is to put our whole trust and confidence in in the onely fauour and mercie of God But perhaps Bellarmine spoke this as a meere Iesuite and now made Papable hee bee willing to recant and vnsay it This blessing then comes not for the Grounds merite but for the Dressers mercie It is sayd Gen. 6. tht God would destroy the World with a floud Because the imaginations of mans heart were onely euill continually And Gen. 8. it is sayd that GOD will no more curse and destroy the ground for mans sake because the imaginations of his heart are onely euill from his youth The same reason that is alleaged why God will not spare the world is also alleaged why God will spare the world It serues plentifully to demonstrate that not for mans merite but for Gods mercie confusion is withholden I am the Lord I change not Therefore ye sonnes of Iacob are not consumed It receiueth SVch is the immense goodnesse of God that he will adde grace to grace aud when hee hath showne mercy hee will shew more mercy As if he expected no other argument of future bounty but his former bounty Whom he did predestinate them also he called and whom he called them also hee iustified and whom he iustified them he also glorified Man is to be considered in a foure-fold estate Confectionis Infectionis Refectionis Perfectionis First God made him happy without misery without iniquity God hath made man vpright but they haue sought out manie inuentions If a glorious heauen aboue him a fruitfull earth vnder him feruiceable creatures about him could giue him solace and folicity hee was not scanted Heere is mans first draught of Gods bountie his originall state 2. Then man fell from holinesse and so from happinesse and lost the fauour of the Creator with the good of the creature that a generall curse fell on the earth for his sake Loe now hee lyes weltring in his gore who shall heale him who shall reuiue him God promised him a Sauiour and kept his word Looke on his owne only Sonne hanging bleeding dying on an accursed Crosse. 3. A Redeemer is come what is man the better for it that hath no power to beleeue on him Faith hee hath none but what God must put into him Againe Lord helpe let vs receiue yet a third mercie make vs beleeuers or we are neuer the better We had as good haue no Sauiour as not to haue him our
cor All his affections haue a low obiect not out of humilitie but base deiection His hope desire loue ioy are set on these inferiour things and like a Mole he digs still downewards till he come to his Center his owne place Hell Telluris inutile pondus 2 For coldnesse Experience teacheth that the earth is cold coldnes is a natural quality pertinent to it though accidentally there be bred in it fierie vapours The wicked man hath a cold heart frozen vp in the dregs of iniquitie though there be an vnnaturall heat sometimes flaming in him the fire of lust and malice tormenting his bowels but this is no kindly heate to warme his conscience That is deriued from the fire of the Temple that neuer goes out and only giuen by Iesus Christ that baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire 3 For foulenesse The squalid earth for we speake not heere of any good ground is called Lutulenta terra miery and noysome yet is it neate and cleane in comparison of a sinne-contaminated soule The body was taken from the earth not the Soule the body shall resolue to the earth not the soule yet the polluted soule is more sordid then either a leprous body or a muddy earth In the eye of GOD there is no beautie so acceptable no foulenesse so detestable as the soules The Doue carried the prayse of beautie from the Peacocke by the Eagles iudgement that though the Peacocke liuing had the fayrer plumes yet dead he hath but a blacke liuer Gods iudgement of all mens fairenesse is by the liuer the cleanesse of the heart in his eye-sight 4 For obscuritie and darkenesse the earth is called a place of blacke darkenesse the land of forgetfulnesse So Iob and Dauid tearme it The wicked Soule is full of darkenesse thicknesse of sight caecitie of vnderstanding not seeing the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Our Gospell is hid to those that are lost Whose minds the god of this world hath blinded There is in them Hebetudo mentis which is acutae rationis obtusio carnalis intemperantiae crassis sensibus inducta They are so vtterly ignorant of heauen that as it is in the Prouerbe ne pictum quidem viderunt they haue not seene it so much as in the mappe or picture As to men shut vp in the low cauernes of the earth not so much as the sunne and starres and the lights of heauens lower parts haue appeared Tolerabilior est poena viuere non posse quam nescire Ignorance is a heauier punishment then death sayth the Philosopher Darkenes is their desire because their deeds are euill Perhaps at last after a long dotage on their darke delight earth they come to heare of a better richer countrey and then take onely with them the Lanterne of Nature to find it But so erepto lumine can delabrum querunt Hauing lost the light they grope for the Candlesticke A man that comes into his house at midnight sees nothing amisse in the day-light he finds many things misplac'd Nature is but a darke Lanterne when by it we endeuour to ransacke the conscience Onely the light of grace can demonstrate all the sluttish and incurious misorders in our soules 5 The maine resemblance betweene an euill ground and worse man consists in the ill fruites that they both produce bryers and thornes and such not onely vnhelpefull but hurtfull vices This is the principal analogie which our Apostle intends the pith and marow of this reference But before we come to a particular anatomizing of this Subiect some obseruable doctrines fall profitably to our instruction Obserue therfore 1 The word of God will worke some way It fals not vpon any ground in vaine but will produce herbes or weeds It is such Physicke as will either cure or kill It mollifies one makes another more hard Some hearts it pricks others it terrifies though conuerts not as it made Foelix tremble None euer heard it but they are either better or worse by it We preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling blocke vnto the Gentiles foolishnesse But vnto them which are called both of Iewes and Greeks the power of GOD and the wisedome of God In this Epistle it is called a double-edged sword c. It is either a conuerting or conuincing power sealing receiuers to redemption contemners to reiection The word which I haue preached shall iudge you in the latter day If this doctrine were considerately digested in hearers hearts what a zealous preparation would it worke in their soules It would bring vs to these seats with other minds if we remembred that wee returne not backe to our owne doores the very same wee came out but either somewhat better or much worse Sergius Paulus was turned Elimas obdurated at one Sermon After our Sauiours heauenly Sermon Iohn 6. Some went backe and walked no more with him that Christ bespake his Apostles Will ye also goe away Others stucke more close Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of eternall life The Prophet Esay speakes fully to this purpose As the raine commeth downe and returneth not backe but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may giue seede to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not returne vnto mee voyd but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it The word that we haue preached shall either saue you or iudge you It shall be either a copy of your pardon or a bill of your inditement at the last day Iohn Baptist cals the Gospell a Fan that will distinguish betweene true and false children betweene Wheate and Chaffe It will make knowne the faithfulnesse of those that with honest harts embrace it and scatter hypocrites like chaffe by reason of their insolid leuity Simeon so prophecied to Mary the Virgin of her Son That he should be the fall and the rising the reparation and ruine of many and whiles he is set for a signe Which shall bee spoken against by this meanes the thoughts of many hearts shall be reuealed The word is like fire that hath a double operation vpon the seuerall subiects it works stubble or gold It fires the one and fines the other Some hearts it enflames with zeale to it other it sets on fire to quench impugne persecute it It is to conuersion if beleeued to confusion if despised Lo Christ himselfe preaching some faithfully entertaine others reiect as the Gergesens that had rather haue their hogges saued then their soules 2. That thornes are produced the fault is not in the good Raine but the ill ground What could I sayth God haue done more to my Vineyard I haue done inough to make it beare good grapes Wherefore then or from what cause brings it forth wild grapes The earth desires the influence
tythes must they also nimme away the shreddes must they needes shrinke the whole cloth enough to apparell the Church as the cheating Taylor did to a dozen of buttons Hauing full gorged themselues with the parsonages must they picke the bones of the Vicaredges too Well sayth S. August Multi in hac vita manducant quod postea apud inferos digerunt Many deuoure that in this life which they shall digest in hell These are the Church-briers which let alone wil at last bring as famous a Church as any Christendome hath to beggerie Politicke men begin a pace alreadie to with-hold their children from Schooles and Vniuersities Any profession els better likes them as knowing they may liue well in whatsoeuer calling saue in the ministery The time was that Christ threw the buyers and sellers out of the Temple but now the buyers and sellers haue throwne him out of the Temple Yea they wil throw the church out of the church if they bee not stayed But some may say to me as one aduised Luther when he began to preach against the Popes vsurpation and tyrannie You had as good hold your peace This wickednesse is so powerfull that you will neuer preuaile against it Get you to your study and say Lord haue mercy on vs and procure your selfe no ill will But be it good will or be it ill will we come hither to speake the truth in our consciences And if these Church-thornes will continue their wickednesse bee it vnto them as they haue deserued If they will needs go to hell let them go we cannot helpe it let them perish I had purposed the discouery of more Brambles but the time forbids it I would to God we were well freed from those I haue taxed THE END Of Thornes THE FIFT SERMON ESA. 9. 18. Wickednesse burneth as the fire it shall deuoure the Bryers and Thornes and shall kindle in the thickets of the Forrest and they shal mount vp like the lifting vp of smoke GREG. lib. 4. Dialog Ad magnam iudicantis iustitiam pertinet vt nunquam mortui careant supplicio qui nunquam viui voluerunt carere peccato LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. THE END Of THORNES THE FIFT SERMON HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 8. But that which beareth thornes and bryers is reiected and is nigh vnto cursing whose end is to be burned OVr sinnes are thornes to others some wounding with their direct blowes others with their wipes all with their examples Man only hath not felt their blowes our Sauior also so found them when hee was faine for our sakes to set his naked breast his naked heart his naked soule against them They say the Nightingale sleepes with her breast against a thorne to auoide the Serpent Christ was content to bee wounded euen to sleepe to death with thornes that hee might deliuer vs from that deuouring serpent the great infernall Dragon His head was not onely raked and harrowed with materiall thornes Caput Angelicis spiritibus tremebundum coronatur spinis That head which the Angelical spirits adore and tremble at was crowned with thornes But these mysâ—call thornes our iniquities with fiercer blowes drew bloud of his soule They doe in a sort still Heb. 6. 6. They crucifie to themselues the Sonne of God a fresh and put him to an open shame Not in himselfe for they cannot but can them no thankes they would if they could and to themselues they doe it Wretched men will you not yet let Iesus Christ alone and be at rest will you still offer violence to your blessed Sauiour and labour to pull him downe from his throne to his Crosse from his peaceful glorie at the right hand of his Father to more sufferings You condemne the mercilesse Souldiers that platted a crowne of thornes and put it on his innocent head Sinfull wretch condemne thy selfe Thy sinnes were those thornes and farre sharper Thy oppressions wrongings and wringings of his poore brethren offer him the violence of new wounds thy oathes thy fraudes thy pride scratch him like bryers Heare him complaining from heauen Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee These Thornes grow on earth yet they pricke Iesus Christ in heauen Oh wee little know the price of a sin that thus play the executioners with the Lord of life Thinke thinke Christ felt your sinnes as sharpe thornes Lastly you finde them thornes your selues if Christ did not for you When God shall enliuen and make quicke the sense of your nummed consciences you shall confesse your owne sinnes â—ruell thornes to your soules 2. Cor. 12. A thorne in your flesh that shall buffet you with terror For a while men are insensible of their iniquities Christ Math. 13. 22. calls the riches of this world thornes which choke the good seede of the Gospell The common opinion of the world is that they are goodly fine and smooth things furres to keepe them warme oyle to cheare their faces and wine to their hearts of a silken softnesse to their affections But Christ saith they are thorns stinging and choking thornes And the couetous conscience shall one day perceiue in them Triplicem puncturam a threefold pricking Laboris in acquisitione they are gotten with trouble Timoris in possessione they are kept vvith feare Doloris in amissione they are lost with griefe Men commonly deale with their sinnes as hedgers do when they go to plash thorny bushes they put on tyning gloues that the Thornes may not pricke them So these harden their hearts that their owne thornes may giue them no compunction But all vanities are but like the fooles laughter which Salomon compares to the crackling of thornes vnder a pâ—t they make a noise and suddenly go out But sinne neuer parts with the wicked without leauing a sting behind it Luther saith there are two fiends that torment men in this world and they are sinne and a bad conscience The latter followes the former or if you will the former wounds the latter for sinne is the thorne and the conscience the subiect it strikes This thorne often pricks deepe to the very heart Acts 2. to the very bones Psal. 38. There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne Vis nunquam esse tristis bene viue Nunquam securus est reus animus Wouldest thou neuer be sorrowfull liue well A guilty mind cannot be securely quiet An euill mind is haunted and vexed with the thornes of his owne conscience Sinne to the affections whiles it is doing is oleum vngens supple oyle Sinne to the conscience when it is done is tribulus pungens a pricking thorne What extreame contraries doe often wicked conceits runne into In their time of securitie they cannot be brought to think sinne to be sinne At last desperately they thinke it such a sinne that it cannot be forgiuen At first they are delighted with the
receiues blessing of God receiues it presently receiues it at once But here of the euill ground it is nigh vnto cursing it is not presently cursed but nigh vnto it There is some pawse and delay some lucida interualla misericordiae The whole viall of wrath is not poured on at once But first there is a despising or reiection to let the wicked see how hatefull their vices are in Gods sight If this serue not they are not sodainely cursed but there is a breathing time and a mercifull space betweene that and cursing and betweene cursing and burning So slowly doth GOD proceed to iudgement so little haste he makes to the execution of his vengeance Hee is speedy to deliuer to saue to giue his blessing but hee hath leaden feet when he comes to strike The vse of this to our selues is that the patient forbearance of God may leade vs to repentance Romans the second and the fourth The Prophet Ioel bids vs Rent our hearts and fall to weeping and mourning Because the Lord is mercifull and slow to anger Gods long-suffering is as a hand reached out that points vs to repentance Such is his goodnesse that when all his terrors and menace are set in their places yet hee makes roome for Repentance whensoeuer it comes And though they bee as ready to strike as Abrahams hand was to Isaacs sacrifice yet Repentance tanquam vox Angeli shall stay them O blessed Repentance how sweet and amiable art thou yet how few loue thee The great man that thinkes he may securely be wicked because he is honourably great and dares affront the Pulpit though the greatest Bishop in the land were preaching in it cares not for repentance The wealthy Gentleman that can bung vp Hospitality into a Diogenes tubbe nestle himselfe warme in a City-chamber whiles Owles and Dawes parlour themselues in his countrey-manors that as it is storied of that Iew for the vse of his money takes his rent in bloud the heart-bloud of his racked Tenants cares not for Repentance The countrey Nabal that hoords his graine and with it lockes vp his soule in a Garner that the Sunne of Gods blessing may not come at it that starues the poore his family himselfe cares not for Repentance The auarous Citizens whom the glad Diuell can neuer find without a false measure in one hand and a cozening waight in the other that haue trickes in their sconces to ouer-reach the diuell himselfe but that like a cunning Fenser he that taught them all their trickes kept one to himselfe to cheate them of their soules care not for repentance The muffled Lawyer that hath no sense left aliue but his feeling and waighs all causes by the poyse of gold that talkes against others right and his owne conscience that leades Iurie into peâ—iury with his fraudulent circumuentions cares not for repentance The sharking Officer that like Menelaus an Armenian Archer in the wars betwixt Constantius and Magnentius can shoot three arrowes at once at one loose wherewith hee wounds not one but three at the least the Prince whom hee serues the person whom hee drawes bloud of and the body of the Common-wealth cares not for repentance I neede not speake of the Church-robber the Vsurer the Drunkard the Proud the vncleane adulterer no man can think that they care for repentance O but they all purpose to repent Spare them a while they are but new set into the Ouen not yet fully baked in their hot vanities let them foke a little in their pleasures and at last they will returne They are as an Ouen heated by the Baker Repentance is an ascent of foure steps many get vp three of them but climbe not to the fourth and best 1. Some there are that purpose to amend their liues But purpose without performance is like a Cloud without raine not vnlike Hercules Clubbe in the Tragedy of a great bulke but the stuffing is mosse and rubbish If the tree bee fairely blossom'd and naked of fruite it may speed as the Figge-tree in the Gospell be curseo or at least it is as the euill ground here nigh vnto cursing Many that purposed to repent are now in hell as the fiue foolish Virgins that intended to goe in with the Bridegroome but before the time their lights dropp'd out One sayd that hell is like to bee full of good purposes but heauen of good workes If a bare Intention would serue Gods Church on earth would bee fuller of Saints and his Court in heauen fuller of soules Ignorance and Sloth adulterating bring forth this lanke brood this abortiue embrion Purpose Such a man is like an ill debtor who will not pay God his due of deuotion till hee is old and then hee cannot pay for want of time mony space and grace to repent We make in these daies our purposes like our Eeues and our performances like the holy-daies seruants work hard vpoÌ„ the Eeues that they may haue the more liberty to play vpon the Holy-dayes so we are earnest and labour hard on our purposes but are idle and play vpon our performances But Resolution without action is a golden couch to a leaden Iewell 2. The second round of this Ladder is Preparation Some there are that will prepare almost set themselues in a readinesse for their iourney to heauen yet neuer set one steppe forward Preparation is indeed as necessary as the dore is to the house but as idle if there be no house to the dore It may as Iohn the Baptist did for Christ prepare the way of the Lord into our hearts and it may be as vaite as the Apothecaries Beast which hee promised his Patient would helpe him of all diseases but before morning it had eaten vp it selfe Preparation is a necessary antecedent to all great workes Amos 4. Prepare to meet thy God O Israel But a man may prepare meate and not feede prepare meate and not eate Prepaeration does well if reparation followes A man may climbe both these rounds and yet fall short of the true height of Repentance 3. The third stairre is a Beginning to abstaine from some horrid iniquities and as it were an entring into a new path but not going one step in it without a voluntary reuolting But Beginning is nothing to perfection Some begin in the spirit and end in the flesh that sâ—lute Christ in the market place take acquaintance of him in the street but neuer bid him home to their houses It is vox praetereuntium derisoria the speech of them that passe by This man began to build A house but begun is not fit to dwell in and shall wee thinke that Gods Spirit will dwell in an inchoate habitacle and not likely to be finished The Apostle sayth It had been better for them not to haue knowne the way of righteousness then after they haue knowne it to turne from the holy commandement deliuered vnto them 4 The fourth Round onely pleaseth God and
is good for our Soules Repentance without which the euill ground is neere to cursing as it were at next dore by and it shall come on him with a speedy visitation nisi interueniente poenitentia This is the Bulwarke to defend vs from the shot of Gods thunder from heauen this hedgeth vs in from his iudgements on earth Woe to sinfull man without this for he is neere to cursing and his end is to be burned Blessed Soule that hath it Wheresoeuer it dwels mercie dwels by it If England hath it it shall ease her of her thornes Ezek. 28. There shall be no more a pricking bryar vnto the house of Israel nor any grieuing Thorne of all that are round about them 3 The last and forest degree of the Punishment is Burning I will not discourse whether the fire of that euerlastingly-hote furnace be materiall or spirituall Surely it is strangely terrible and wee are blessed if wee neither vnderstand it nor vndergoe it The miserie of the damned is vsually distinguished into the Paine of losse and the paine of sense Both implied in this verse and expressed Thessalonians the second Chap. 1. Verse 8 9. Christ shall take vengeance on such as know not God and obey not the Gospell of Iesus Christ there is paine of Sense They shall be punished with euerlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power there is paine of losse 1. This Poena damni or priuation of blessednesse may seeme to be implyed in the first degree here mentioned Reiection The reprobate are cast away of God Much like that forme of the last sentence Math. 25. 41. Depart from me yee cursed a fearefull sentence a terrible separation From Me sayth Christ that made my selfe man for your sakes that offered my bloud for your redemption receiued these these wounds for your remedie From Me that would haue healed would haue helped would haue saued you From Me that inuited you to mercy and you would not accept it From Me that purchased a kindgome of glory for such as beleeued on me and will wrappe their heads with crownes of eternall ioy Depart from Me. This is a fearefull Reiection My friendship my fellowship my Paradise my presence my heauen where is fulnesse of ioy and pleasure for euermore are none of yours They might haue been they are lost Neither shall they onely loose Christ but all the companie with Christ the Quire of glorious Angels the society of his blessed Mother the Prophets Apostles Martyrs all the happy and holy Saints with the whole host of heauen They shall fret and vexe and bee ready to eate their owne galls to see those triumphing in glory whom they on earth persecuted martyred tortured They could here exercise their sauage tyranny ouer them not onely denying their owne bread but taking away theirs they could despise beate maligne vndoe burne them at stakes now the estate of both is changed as Abraham told Diues They are comforted and thou art tormented 2. This is not all The priuation of blessed ioyes is not enough there must follow the position of cursed torments For their Punishment is proportioned to their sinne Ier. 2. They haue committed two euils They haue forsaken the Lord the fountaine of liuing waters and hewed them out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water As they turned from their Maker so their Maker turnes from them there is Poenadamni As they fastned their delights on the creatures so the creatures shall be their tortures there is Poena sensus They reiected God and hee reiects them they adhered to wickednesse and it shall adhere to their bones for euer and bring them to burning Their torments which are here expressed by Fire haue two fearefull conditions vniuersality and eternitie 1. They are vniuersall vexing euery part of the body and power of the soule It is terrible in this life to be pained in euery part of the body at one time To haue ache in the teeth gowt in the feete collick in the reines c. and to lye as it were vpon a racke for innumerable diseases like so many executioners to torture him is intollerable But the largest shadowe of these torments to their substance is not so much as a little bone-fire to the combustion of the whole world 2. They are eternall If it had but as many ages to burne as there be trees standing on the earth there would bee some though a tedious hope of their end But it is such a Fire as shall neuer be quenched This word Neuer is fearefull Though they raine floudes of teares vpon it they shall bee but like oyle to encrease the flame for the worme neuer dyes the fire neuer goes out You see the end of Thornes Wickednes burneth as the fire it shall deuoure the bryers and thornes and shall kindle in the thickest of the Forrest and they shall mount vp like the lifting vp of smâ—kâ— I resolued against prolixity The generall and summary doctrine is this That since the wicked ground which beareth thornes and bryers is neere vnto cursing and the end thereof is eternall fire it followes necessarily that all they which lay the foundation of vngodlinesse must needs build vpon condemnation Let no man deceiue you He that committeth sinne is of the Diuell If the course of a mans life be wicked couetous vncleane malicious idolatrous adulterous drunken hee layes the ground-worke of his owne destruction and precipitates himselfe to the malediction of God Hee that layes the foundation in fire-work must looke to be blowne vp Perhaps this meditation though it bee of vnquenchable Fire may yet worke coldly in our hearts and leaue no impression behinde it yet you cannot deny this to be true He that would denie it must deny my Text must turne Atheist and reiect the holy word of God Nay he must thinke there is no God no reuenge of wickednesse no diuell no hell And he vndertakes a very hard taske that goes about to settle this perswasion in his mind No no. Let no man deceiue you with vaine words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience And in this passage I must value all men alike of what stuffe or of what fashion soeuer his coate be if his life be full of bryers and thornes his end is to be burned What shall we then doe vnto thee O thou preseruer of men that wee may escape it what but Repent and beleeue the Gospell Let the commination of hell instruct vs to preuent it as the message of Niniuehs ouerthrow effected their safetie 1. Let vs flie by a true faith into the armes of our Redeemer that God reiect vs not 2. Let vs poure forth flouds of repentant teares that wee bee not nigh vnto cursing 3. And let vs bring forth no more bryars and thornes that our end may not be to bee burned Faith Repentance Obedience this same golden
Sauiour and ours hee cannot be vnlesse the Lord make vs his 4. Lastly the Lord giues vs Faith and so we shall receiue a happines by this beleeued Sauiour better then euer our first creation gaue vs a kingdome a kingdome of life an eternall kingdome of life that can neuer be taken from vs. Thus wee are still receiuers and God is the giuer Wee receiue blessing from God Blessing THis word is of a great latitude What good is there which will not be brought within this compasse This blessing hath a double extent There is Beatitudo viae and Beatitudo Patriae A blessing of the way and a blessing of the Countrey one of grace the other of glory The former is either outward or inward 1 Outward Psal. 132. I will abundantly blesse her proutsion I will satisfie her poore with bread Deut. 28. Blessed in the field blessed in the citie The fruits of thy body of thy ground of thy cattell shall be blessed Thy basket thy store thy going out and comming in shall be blessed Which things doe often come to the godly euen on earth and that in abundance For as all haue not riches that exceedingly loue them so many haue them that doe not much care for them Wealth is like a woman the more courted the further off 2 Inward The godly on earth is as it were in the suburbs of heauen whose kingdome consists not in meate and drinke but righteousnesse peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost Could his life bee as full of sorrowes as euer Lazarus was full of sores yet he is blessed The Sunne-shine of mercie is still vpon him and the blessing of GOD makes him rich Let the ayre thunder and the earth quake and hell roare yet He that walketh vprightly walketh surely Qui vadit plane vadit sane I haue read it storied of a young Virgin that at a great Princes hands had the choise of three vessels One whereof should be freely giuen her euen that she should chuse The first was a vessell of gold richly wrought and set with precious stones and on it written Who chooseth me shall haue what he deserueth The second was of siluer superscribed thus Who chuseth me shall haue what nature desireth The third was of lead whose motto was this Who chuseth me shall haue what God hath disposed The former pleased her eye well but not her vnderstanding It offred what she deserued She knew that was iust nothing therefore refused it The second considered offred what Nature desires Shee thought that could bee no solide good for Nature desires such things as please the carnall lust This shee also refused The third had a course outside but the sentence pleased her wel offering what God had disposed So she faithfully put her selfe vpon Gods ordinance and chose that This Virginis mans soule The golden vessell is the worlds riches contentfâ—ll to an auarous eye Too many chuse this but being open'd it was full of dead mens bones and a fooles bable To testifie them fooles which cleaue to the world and at last all their hopes shall bee rewarded with a bable Neither is this all Though their inward thought be that their houses shall continue for euer yet they shal be layd in the graue like sheep and death shall feed on them The siluer-vessell is the lusts of the flesh those fond and vaine delights which concupiscence seeks So saith the Motto It giues what nature desireth but corrupt nature affects nothing but what giues coÌ„placency to the flesh This vessell open'd was full of wild fire and an iron whip God shall scourge the lustfull here with the whip of iudgements diseases of body infamy of name ouerthrow of estate vexation of conscience And Satan shall hereafter burne them in wild fire such flames as can neuer bee quenched The leaden vessell is as the sense sentence declares it the blessing of God The chuser of it shall haue what God hath disposed for him Blessed soule that makes this election for opened it was found full of gold and most precious iewels euery one more worth then a world the immortall graces of Gods Spirit The Virgin chose this and she was married to the Kings sonne Chuse this vessell O my soule and Iesus Christ the king of heauen shall marry thee No matter though it seeme lead without glister not with earthly vanities it is rich within the wealth thereof cannot be valued though all the Arithmeticians of the world goe about to summe it There bee many that say who will shewe vs anie good Lord lift thou vp the light of thy countenance vpon vs. This blessing hath yet a further extent to the blessednesse of our Countrey when wee shall heare it Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world For si sic bonus es sequentibus te qualis futurus es consequentibus If thou Lord be so good to those that follow thee what wilt thou be to those that finde thee If there be such blessing in this world what shall that be in the life to come If the first fruites of our inheritance and the earnest of the spirit bee so graciously sweete here surely when that infinite masse of glory shall be broken vp and communicated to vs we shall be wonderfully rauished When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall bee done away This is beat a vita in fonte sayth Aug. a blessed life indeed Aeterna sine successione distributa sine diminutione communis sine inuidia sufficiens sine indigentia iucunda sine tristitia beata sine omni miseria Thou wilt shewe mee the path of life in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore No tongue can declare this blessing happy heart that shall feele it whose glorified eye shall one day behold all and ten thousand times more then we haue spoken Who shall say as it is in the Psalme Sicut 〈◊〉 it a vidimus as we haue heard so wee haue seene in the Citie of our God As we haue heard it preached on earth we now finde it true in heauen though the Citie we enioy farre excell the mappe we sawe Well this is Gods blessing and he will giue it to the good ground Labour we then to bee fruitfull Gardens and to abound with gracious herbes that God may in this world showre vpon vs the deawes of his mercie and after this life transplant vs to his heauenly Paradise Let not the pleasures of sinne the lusts of the wanton flesh the riches snares cares of the world nor all those transient delights whose taste is only in the sense the operation in the conscience that tickle men for an houre and wound them for euer nor all those vaine desires of carnall complacency which shall one day bee layd vpon Gods cold earth intercept vs to the priuation of