he putteth men also in remembrance least they should be found more vnthankful then all other creatures and so not worthie of any of Gods benefits Praise the Lord ô ye kings of the earth and all people princes and all iudges of the world yoong men and maidens olde men and children high and low rich and poore one with another praise ye the name of the Lord. For his name only is excellent and his praise aboue heauen and earth In praising let vs end and ioyne our selues in this duty with the foure and twentie Elders spoken of in the Reuelation of S. Iohn béeing before the throne of God who fell downe before him that sat on the throne and worshipped him that liueth for euer who also did cast their Crownes before the throne saying Thou art worthie ô Lord our God to receiue glory and honour and power and to thee be giuen all dominion might and maiestie For thou hast created all things and for thy wils sake they are and were created Deo gratia solique gloria Of his Prouidence 2. King 7. 18. And it came to passe as the man of God had spoken to the King saying Two measures of Barley at a shekel and a measure of fine floure shall bee at a shekel to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria But the Prince on whose hand the King leaned had answered the man of God and said Though the Lord would make windowes in the heauen could it come so to passe And he said Behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not eate thereof And so it came vnto him for the people trode vpon him in the gate and he died After that God had created the world and all the creatures therein it may not be thought that he left them alone to themselues to liue or die to continue or perish although it maie séeme so to vs because when god had made his creatures he rested But he did neither cease nor rest as men do from theire workes which they haue made as after the house is built the worke man hath no further care and so in all other labours finished by mans hand Truth it is that God rested from making and creating more creatures but not from norishing and cherishing from gouerning and guiding the world and all the creatures therein Whose workes are wonderfull and daily séene of them which haue eies to sée it Wherein we must also consider howe God bringetth these matters to passe most commonly ordinarily and by meanes but sometimes extraordinarily and without meanes as the example set downe in this text which I haue reade vnto you doth shew Which Diuision text deuideth it selfe into these two parts whereof the first is a prophesie and a declaration of Gods gratious prouidence by the mouth of the prophet Elisha in these words Two measures of barley and so forth In the second part we may consider the vnbeliefe distrust and blasphemous spéech of one of the kings nobles as also the iudgement of God for his vnbeliefe and distrust and the iust punnishment for his offence in these words But the prince had aunswered and so forth In this first part not only is set downe the prouidence of God in nourishing but his mightie power and wise foresight in gouerning and ordering matters as séemeth best to the further manifestation of his glorie by his iustice and merice to the good of the godly and for a iust punishment to the wicked prophane and vngodly How God dooth nourish all his creatures cannot better bee set downe then by the words of the Prophet Dauid in his Psalmes Hee watereth the hils from aboue the earth is filled with the frute of thy woorkes hee bringeth foorth grasse and maketh the earth to bring out foode And least they should die for thirst hée also prepareth for their néede for hée sendeth the springs into the riuers which runne among the hilles All beasts of the fielde drinke thereof and the wilde asses quench their thirst Furthermore speaking of the infinite and innumerable company of Gods creatures in the Sea These saith hée wayt all vppon thée that thou maiest giue them meate in due season When thou giuest it them they gather it and when thou openest thy hand they are filled with good The eyes of all thinges looke vp vnto thée thou openest thine hand and fillest all things liuing with plenteousnes For hee maketh grasse to growe vppon the mountaines which may séeme verie straunge because of the patching heate of the Sunne For it is sayd that the Sunne doth burne the mountaines seuen times more then dooth the heate of a furnace His plenteousnes doth farther appeare in that as it is in the history of Iobe he not onely maketh the raine to fall vppon those places which are fit for mans dwelling but euen vppon the wildernesse also where no man is Iob. 39. 26. 38. How secret is his blessing and plentifull hand that he maketh euen the barren ground to yeelde forth pasture As in the same Chapter of Iobe we reade that he hath made the asse to dwell in salt places that is in vnfruitfull grounds whereas in mans reason there séemes no foode to grow Many creatures as farre as we can perceiue serue to no vse and that mightie creatures which will not be fed with a little yet God openeth his plentifull hand and they want not wherby we learne his great abilitie to preserue whatsoeuer wonderfully he hath made We cannot but wonder how beares and lions and suche deuouring beasts should be fed which are as it were vnsatiable Therefore Iob saith Wilt thou hunt the praie for the lion or fill the appetite of the lions whelpes Who is it that prepareth for the rauen when the birds cry vnto God wandring for lacke of meate The lions roaring after their praie do séeke their meate at God saith the Prophet Yea when cattle can looke for nothing else but drought and famine as in the time of winter when the earth denieth food and hath closed vp her sappe within her bowels and when the grasse is consumed with pinching frostes and couered with staruing snowes herein also is God said to open his hand and to be plentifull in that he graunteth them fodder and maketh the earth in sommer season to bring foorth aboundance that in time of néed the cattle may haue inough But some are so rash in their spéeches that they wil impute this ordinary course of gods daily prouidence to a secrete kinde of vertue which God say they hath giuen to euerie thing at his first creation Which reason of theirs howe fond and foolish it is we may perceiue by this that nothing can long endure without such foode as commeth by Gods hand and prouidence Some of them féeding vpon wholesome meate some vpon carrion some of grasse some of prouender some cleauing to stones and finding nourishment in them some on the sand of the sea and some vpon â—â—ime and mud some on the
and the relief of the poore but in stéed of thankfulnesse steppes in a slumbring kind of idlenesse and in stéed of reliefe disdaine and contempt of the poore and charitie waxeth key cold where iniquitie beareth the sway and hath the vpper hand Behold saith the prophet Ezech. 16. this was the iniquitie of Sodome Pride Fulnesse of breade Aboundance of idlenes nether did she strengthen the hand of the poore and néedie The better sort vse Gods benifits to his glorie their comforts and the helpe of others But in the worser sort of people of whome the world is too full whose minds are giuen altogither earthly fleshly and sensually there is no such regard no such consideration but the more wanton and vain they are the more they think they please others euen such as are like them selues Otherwise they giue great offence to them that are godlie and well minded and vertuouslie disposed and prouoke gods anger against themselues Come say they let vs enioy our pleasures as though they were borne for nothing else but to eate and drinke and to play Let vs fill our selues with costly wine and ointments Let vs crowne our selues with rose buds before they be withered But to what purpose and what is their minde in so doing Their answere is this Let not the flower of our youth passe by vs and let vs all be partakers of our wantonnes and let vs leaue some token of our pleasure in euery place For that is our portion say they and this is our lot and this is the onelie life wée looke to haue They that sowe to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption and euerlasting heauinesse shall be theire portion For howe swéete so euer they thinke it is yet bitternesse shall be in the ende Though GOD haue created many things as well for delight as necessitie yet they turne them to a wicked delight as though the distemperature were the right vse Surfetting and drunkennesse pride and excesse whoredome and vncleannesse chambering and wantonnesse and what not Being farre from the minde of the holy Apostle Vse the worlde as though thou didst not vse it Let not this delight of the creatures drawe thée from thy dutie to thy Creator That which should prouoke thée the more to loue him let it not be a meane nor any occasion that his anger should be stirred against thée to punish thée The grace of God hath appeared to teach vs to liue not onely godly and righteously but also soberly in this present worlde looking not on these worldly delightes but wayting for the comming of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ who shall make our bodies lyke to his glorious bodie and at his comming who shall take vs togither with him into the heauens Let no man grudge if hée be debarred from some delightes For God hath not graunted to euery one alike and well is it for the poore if they haue sufficient to satisfie their necessitie although they also be not restrained from all the delightes of Gods creatures Wherein the rich and wealthie although they haue great liberty must also remember that God hath enioyned them a lawe of sobrietie let them looke vpon the wilde beastes which haue but their compasse and vpon the mightie waters which haue their boundes They that haue not this libertie let them take all things thankfully and be content with their estate which God hath placed them in And let them frame their mindes to the counsell of the Apostle Phil. 4. 12. I can bee abased and I can abound euerie where in all things I am instructed both to be full and to bee hungry and to abounde and haue want For I haue learned in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to bee content If GOD hath graunted thée store and plentie thou maiest vse his creatures to thy delight but bicause the nature of man is giuen to excesse and fewe there be that know the meane therfore God with these delights requireth also sobrietie that all abuse may be auoided Vse a litle well that thou maiest be partaker of much more and so shall heauenly ioyes follow earthly delightes By these things god doth try vs whether we be méet and fit for him or whether wée will make our selues the seruauntes and slaues of the diuel God graunt wée be found gold and not drosse wheate and not chaffe which is lyke to be burnt vp with vnquenchable fire Ecc. 39. 26. The principall things for the whole vse of mans life are water fire and iron and salt and meale wheate and hony and milke the bloud of the grape and oyle and cloathing All these things are good to the godly but to the sinners they are turned into euill being made culpable and faultie before Gods iudgement seate by reason of their abusing of them Thus you haue heard how God hath created all things especially for his glory so also that they might serue to the health life necessitie and pleasure of man But more frankly and with greater consideration and respect to the good of his chosen people all which are vnto them as it were instruments ministers and meanes whereby God doing them good might be honoured and praised of them Onely man God created for himselfe and all the rest for man that man togither with all his creatures might set foorth his glore O speake good of the Lord saith the Prophet all ye workes of his in all places of his dominion and there withall doth stirre vp himselfe to do to Praise thou the Lord ô my soule For what is man ô Lord that thou hast such respect vnto him or the sonne of man that thou shouldest so regarde him So long as liue will I praise the Lorde and my mouth shall be full of his praises All thy workes praise thee ô Lord and thy Saints also giue thankes vnto thee they shew the glory of thy kingdome and talke of thy power That thy power thy glorie and mightinesse of thy kingdome might be knowne vnto men O praise the Lord ye Angels of his ye that excell in strength ye that fulfill his commandement and hearken vnto the voice of his words O praise the Lord all ye his hostes ye seruants of his that do his pleasure O praise the Lord of heauen praise him in the height Praise him Sunne and Moone praise him all ye starres and light Let them praise the name of the Lord. For he spake the word and they weare made hee commanded and they were created They were not made by blind chaunce but by the power of his word they wer created From the heauenly creatures the Prophet passeth to the creatures of the earth whome he maketh to sing the same song Praise the Lord vpon earth ye dragons and all depthes Fire and haile snow and vapours wind and storm fulfilling his word Mountains and all hilles fruitfull trees and all cedars Beasts and all cattell Wormes and feathered foules Lastly when he had giuen all other creatures their summons and their warning
conspiracie is remembred Oh that poore painfull students might meet with such liberall purses and with such noble and honourable Bromleion hearts Sat sit optasse et siinuenisse rarum What the poore both see and receiue let them report to the shame of them that hoord vp their wealth and consider not that God hath made them but stewards and hath put it in their hands if they had hearts to dispose Especially if they could remember this which is set downe in sacred writ Pro. 19. 17. He that hath pitie vpon the poore lendeth vnto the Lord and looke what he laieth out it shall be paide him againe Now as concerning these my rude and rurall labours if I might I would auoyd disdaine or if I may do any good it is the thing that would reioyce me greatly This vnlearned worke some will say should haue laine by me a long while vntill it might haue bin done more perfectly or else it should neuer haue bene put foorth Other excuse haue I none but this that I could not tell how otherwise to shewe my dutie and to giue a proofe of my good will where I was so greatly indebted It may be taken in good part if I answere you as one Iohn Philpot in the raigne of King Richard the second answered certaine noble and honourable personages who found themselues greatly agreeued that a merchant had got a prize on the enemie His answere was That he did it not to take away the praise of chiualry from them but rather that they might be incouraged to do greater exploits I haue not put foorth this slender exercise to barre any that are well disposed better learned and right willing to edifie of their praise and due commendation of the which I confesse my selfe farre vnworthie but rather to animate them that they let not their gifts lie hidden which being made manifest and knowne might procure the benefit of many He that cannot do better to him this may be some helpe the rest may take it in good part and labour to do other good who do both long for good helpes and would be glad of that which might further them to ease their painfull studie They that would attaine to learning lightly are those of the poorer sort who haue many hinderances Want of bookes want of sufficient maintenance want of time and many other lets I must needs acknowledge many wants and my imperfections are great wishing other that are better able that they would be of that minde as to do good to others whose capacitie is but weake and simple who haue small helpes and yet are set in such places where they of dutie should edifie and instruct and wold if they were better able If in this booke I haue not done wel I will be glad to be better enformed and willing to hearken to the direction of others and to follow their counsell Ending this tedious Epistle with this my wish desire and request to them that are learned and willing to doo good His meliora Thine to his power S. I. Of the feare of God and where it is to be learned namely in the word of God Of the word of God which coÌ„teineth the Knowledge of God that as he is to be considered In Himselfe His workes which are General creation Prouidence Particular creation of man according to his Image Certaine most comfortable Exercises of Christian Religion gathered togither in one volume for the benefit of all such as loue and feare the Lord. Psal 112. 1. 2. 3. Blessed is the man thâ—â— feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his Commandements His seed shall be mightie vpon earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Riches and treasures shall be in his house and his righteousnes endureth for euer THe Prophet Dauid desirous to drawe true blessednesse and heauenly happinesse into a short summe dooth in this Psalm and likewise in the first Psalm intreate thereof as though hée meant purposely to discourse of nothing else but of the chéefest happinesse and chéefest delight of a godly man Whereof as he himselfe was fully perswaded so in a godly mind and Christian zeale hée thought it his part to spread this loue and excellent knowledge into the hearts of all Much like to the godly affection of holy Abraham of whom God testifieth I know yâ— he will teach others So King Salomon hauing tried all the delights and worldly happinesse that flesh and blood might desire crieth out Vanitie of vanities Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanitie not hiding his excellent knowledge within himselfe as the Prouerbe is Cunning men are dangerous and loth to let other men vnderstand what they know but being moued with a charitable affection he doth not reueale this secret to a fewe or to some of his friends and to no more but hée professeth himselfe to be a Preacher and as it were a publique Crier that all may take héede and beware So also this kingly Prophet Dauid is in stéed of a Preacher and beginneth his discourse somewhat vnlike to that of King Salomon but both to the same effect In the beginning of his booke King Salomon sheweth what we should auoyd in the beginning of this psalm and of this his booke of Psalmes and heauenly meditations King Dauid sheweth vs what wée should desire They that are desirous that men should hearken to their perswasions and to reade their writings promise in the beginning some excellent matter to intreate off that they may winne their mindes to séeke and search thereafter as for pearles and treasure And among all matters if all the bookes might bée read which hath bene made from the beginning of the worlde vntill this present time there shall nothing be founde to be so profitable so necessary so heauenly as is the disputation and discourse of the chéefest good Wherein these two Kings of blessed memorie the father and the sonne Dauid and Salomon haue not trauelled as worldly minded men to aduaunce either honour or riches or pleasure wisedome strength beautie eloquence and such matters as the worlde doth admire and wonder at but as if with the Apostle Saint Paul they had bene wrapt into the third heauen they scorne these worldly delightes and set before our eyes nothing else but what the spirite of God dooth put into their mouthes and mooue them to exhort vs vnto As it was said vnto the Prophets Thus saith the Lorde And againe Sonne of man thus shalt thou say and speake vnto the people The one that is King Salomon hée speaketh thus in his last Chapter of his booke called Ecclesiastes principally there setting downe what is the chéefest happinesse Let vs heare saith hee the end of all Feare God and keepe his Commaundements For this is the whole dutie of man King Dauid he beginneth his booke Blessed is the man whose delight is in the lawe of the Lorde and who dooth meditate therein day and night Both of them ayming at these two principall matters the
one commending vnto vs the feare of God the other exhorting vs to the studie and knowledge of the word of God And although the Prophet Dauid dâ—â— greatly commend the studie of the lawe of God in his first Psalme yet also throughout his Psalmes he maketh speciall exhortations vnto the Feare of God As amongst the rest principally in this hundreth and twelfth Psalme Blessed is the man hée saith not that floweth in riches For godlines is great riches if a man bee content with that hée hath Hée saith not that enioyeth his pleasures because they fight against the soule Hée saith not that is aduanced to honour and promotion for it is an easie matter with the Lorde to bring them downe that are exalted Hée saith not that haue the fauoure of Princes for that may bee daunted by tales of ill will and buried in displeasure Hée saith not that are strong and valiant For the Lorde hath no pleasure in the strength of a man but hée delights in them that feare him and put their trust in his mercy Hée saith not who are wise For the wisedome of man is but foolishnesse in the sight of God and hée that will bee wise indéed must denie his owne wisedome that God may endue him with true wisedome Hée saith not they are beautifull for they are but snares to catch fooles But aboue all others Blessed is the man that feareth the Lorde and delighteth greatly in his Commandements His seed shall be mightie vppon earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Riches and treasures shall be in his house Two great worldly blessings His seede shall be mightie and his generation blessed And againe Hee shall enioy plentie and abundance of riches and treasures Fully and sufficiently shall hée be satisfied to his contentment hée shall not néed to go farre as Merchants venture their liues vpon the seas to become wealthie Per mare pauperiem fugiens per saxa per ignes but it shall be in his house because God shall make all things prosper about him And this was the blessing that was promised to Abraham when God had tried him whether his feare were planted in his heart I will surely blesse thee and will greatly mâ—ltiply thy seede as the starres of heauen and as the sand which is vpon the sea shore And in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth bee blessed because thou hast obeyed my voyce because I haue perceiued my feare to bee within thée In stéed of wealth and treasures and worldly blessings this was Gods promise vnto him Gene. 15. 1. I am thy exceeding great reward Feare God and keepe his Commaundements For this is the whole dutie of man As if hée had said it is altogither and wholly the blessed estate of man According to which course and perfect rule wée ordering our liues wée shall doo those things which are pleasaunt and acceptable and so bee presented holie and blamelesse in the sight of God at that dreadfull day when we shall bee called to our accounts and when the secrets of all hearts shall be open and made manifest Somewhat I minde God willing to vtter vnto you concerning the feare of God in generall sort for the better lightning of that which I shall intreate off and so to passe purposely to the commodities and commendations thereof The feare of God is nothing else but a reuerent awe VVhat the true feare of God is and obedience due vnto him whereby we are loth to offend him not so much because he is able to punish vs as principally because his loue is shed abroad in our hearts and our mindes fully possessed therewith And that it may be the better knowne of vs we must seperate it from a false kind of feare For as the true feare of God bringeth life with it so the contrary feare betokeneth death Therefore the true feare of God is such as whereby we reuerence God and are most willing in all louely sort to do his Commaundements as childreÌ„ are obedient to their parents or if it may be said more tenderly But as for the other kinde of feare A false feare it is either seruile and â—lauish when we are driuen to this obedience for feare of punishment or else it is that wherewith the lawlesse and vnruly sort of people who haue not the true feare of God before their eyes are frighted and wonderously amazed do stand in horrible dread what shall become of them As they that are appointed to execution their feare is deadly so these considering how gréeuous the iudgements of God shall be against them for those heinous sinnes which they haue committed there is nothing before their eyes but the feare of death The which feare I must needs confesse the godly in a sort and for a time may be touched with and yet by the power of their reléeuing saâ—iour they are raised vp to comfort and the good spirit of God doth seale in their hearts the mercies of God the father through the forgiuenes of their sinnes in the blood of Christ But as for the wicked and vngodly who are voyd of the grace of God who spend their liues in all maner of leaudnesse and naughtinesse they are not onely ouertaken and inwrapped in this deadly dreadfull and desperate feare but they are ouercome thereof and as a ship in the sea that is suncke and past hope of recouery they are vtterly ouerwhelmed Three effects of the true feare for euer And yet there is a more certaine knowledge of the true feare of God consisting in these thrée effects First that 1. whereas corruption and naughtinesse lurketh in our harts and would faine haue a vent and issue the feare of God doth kéepe that euill backe and doth so restraine bridle and kéepe in our corrupt and euill inclinations that they shall not in any case breake foorth to the dishonour of God 2 and our owne shame and confusion The second effect note or marke of the true feare of God is by departing from euill For hée that feareth God truly departeth from euill and sinne vnfainedly deâ—esting and abhoring the same both in himselfe and others The third effect 3 and note whereby the feare of God is knowne to bee in vs is when we are purposely set to amend our former euil liues and stedsastly determined with the Prophet Dauid to kéepe the Commandements of our louing and gracious God Which matters would desire a longer discourse and hereafter God willing somwhat may be spoken but at this present they cannot be stood vpon Onely that which I promised that lieth vppon me to performe namely to set foorth the commodities and commendations of the true feare of God For nothing doth more perswade mens mindes theâ— the consideration of the high and great commodities and aduantages of that wherunto we would perswade them The feare of God is to kéepe our selues not so much The commodities of the feare of God within the order of the
lawes of men as of the lawes of God The lawes of men haue respect but to the outward déed but the lawes of God to the hart and inward thoughts of the minde No doubt euery one thinketh it a worthy matter to them that can kéep themselues in that compasse but because they knowe not the happinesse that consisteth therein therefore they do not so greatly set their hearts and mindes vpon it Which happinesse and great commodities and aduantages that it bringeth being considered would make vs to haue it in high estimation and more to desire it then that happinesse which the world doth account off Therefore let vs hearken how the word of God doth set it foorth vnto vs that we may be fully assured and perfectly know the benefites thereof and that we may account all earthly and worldly delights in respect of this delight but vanitie that we may be throughly inamoured therewith as if wée did behold the glorious and glistering throne of the Maiestie of God and that we may be as they that are rauished with an excellent and excessiue desire who can neuer be at rest vntill they haue obtained it And because the heart of man is principally set vpon earthly commodities and temporall blessings therefore it pleased the spirit of God first to begin with that perswasion that so by little and little hée might draw their mindes from earthly commodities to heauenly matters of great waight and importance And to say the truth what profite is there or what blessing may bee reckoned which the feare of God dooth not bring The Prophet Moses in a briefe summe dooth set downe all worldly commodities which procéede from the feare of God which are named Deutro 28. These blessings saith he shall come vppon thee and ouertake thee Blessed shalt thou be in the Cittie and blessed also in the field Blessed shall be the frute of thy bodie and the frute of thy ground and the frute of thy cattle the increase of thy kine and the flockes of thy sheepe Blessed shalt thou bee when thou commest in and blessed also when thou goest out The Lord shall cause thy enemies that rise against thee to fall before thy face they shall come foorth against thee one way and shall flie before thee seuen wayes The Lord shall commaund the blessing to be with thee in thy store-houses and in all that thou settest thine hand vnto The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods Hee shall open vnto thee his good treasure euen the heauen to giue raine vnto thy lande in due season and to blesse all the workes of thy handes so that thou shalt lend vnto many Nations but shalt not borrowe thy selfe And the Lorde shall make thee the heade and not the tayle and thou shalt be aboue onely and shall not bee beneath thou shalt be of the better and not of the baser sort of whom there is made small reckoning and account yea thou shalt liue in countenance and be well taken It is said of our sauiour Christ that hée encreased in wisedome and stature and in fauour with God and men so is it also with them that feare God whom it pleaseth God to account and accept for his children they shal increase in the fauour of God and men and they shall liue with credit and good report Good report whereas if thou liuest contrary and without the feare of God euery body shall be readie to speake ill of thée and as the Prouerbe is An ill name halfe hangd In consideration also of which prosperitie the Prophet Dauid doth breake forth into this spéech of wonder Psal 31. 19. How great is thy goodnes ô Lord which thou hast laid vp for them that feare thee And how hast thou done for them which trust in thee euen before the sonnes of men And as though the Prophet could not sufficiently satisfie himselfe with the commendation of the estate of them that feare God and liue in his obedience he vttereth yet more being plentifull in his spéeches as the sea is in his waues Psal 128. Blessed is euerie one that feareth the Lord and walketh in his waies When thou eatest the labours of thy handes thou shalt be blessed and it shall be well with thee Thy wife shall be as the fruitfull vine on the sides of thine house and thy children like the Oliue branches round about thy table Lo surely thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord yea further he shall sée his childrens children to reioyce his heart and make his life the longer All this prosperitie the wicked sort shall sée and behold The wicked enuy at their prosperitie and be amazed they shall be angry in their heart and shall greatly enuy to sée the godly in such good state they shall gnash with their téeth and consume away For their own enuy shall eate them vp and bring them to their graue before their time God doth inrich the godly and them that feare him in such sort that it is past mans expectation and past that The straunge inriching of them that fear God which the godly themselues may hope for so that it séemeth straunge and wonderfull to the world both that the godly might haue the greater cause and that with moste chéerfull hearts to praise and magnifie the name of God and be thankfull vnto him and also that all other that sée it may acknowledge it to be Gods doing and as Iannes and Iambres the sorcerers of King Pharaoh said when they resisted Moses the seruant of God This is the finger of God and God hath done it and he onely hath brought it to passe who hath a care ouer his children more then the hen that flocketh her broode togither and couereth them with her wings As we read in the Psalmes When my father and mother forsake mee the Lord taketh mee vp According to that in the Prophecie of Esay Cap. 49. 15. Can a woman forget her childe and not haue compassion on the sonne of her wombe Though they should forget yet will not I forget saith the Lord. So true it is that the Prophet Dauid recordeth I haue bene yoong and now am old and yet sawe I neuer the righteous forsaken nor their seede begging their bread Which thing is manifestly séene in the examples of Abraham Isaack Iacob Ioseph and their posteritie which examples I cannot stand vpon but onely I referre you to their stories in the booke of Genesis where you shall sée the plentifull goodnes of God toward them being fed mainteined and inriched onely by Gods hand which stories are most worthie both the reading and meditation They that feare God want nothing whereas the Lyons want roare for hunger The earth is the Lords and all that therein is and he hath prepared the earth and all the blessings thereof principally and chiefly for them that liue in his obedience So that they may speake boldly and with assurance of confidence Quaeuis terra patria Euery place in the
world is my country Whereas the wicked enioying these earthly blessings do rather vsurpe them then that they are the true owners and lawfull possessours of them This straunge and wonderfull inriching of them that liue in the feare of God that wise King Salomon amongst the manifolde experiments of worldly affaies doth note and that is thus That howsoeuer the wicked labour and toyle for wealth riches yet at last it commeth into their hands that feare God and they are possessours thereof Eccl. 2. 26. So we reade in his booke called Ecclesiastes and these be the words verie héedfully to be marked of vs which this King layd vp in his highest remembrances Surely to a man that is good in his sight God giueth wisedome and knowledge and ioy but to the sinner hee giueth paine to gather and to heape to giue to him that is good before God Which words both the good and the bad may well consider and â—use vppon and laie it to their heart that they may learne and be wise Which words sence Iob. 27. 13. 16. 17. and meaning is confirmed in the historie of Iob. This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage which he shall receiue of the Almightie Though he should heape vp siluer as the dust and prepare raiment as the clay He may prepare it but the iust shall put it on and the innocent shall diuide the siluer As it is in the booke of Prouerbs The wicked shall be a raunsome for the iust and the transgressour Pro. 21. 18. for the righteous When a plague and mischiefe and daunger is towarde the righteous shall escape and it shall fall vpon the wicked they shall be deliuered and the wicked shall come in their places so also though they gather great wealth and substance they shall be least owners of it for god will so dispose it that the good shall enioy it For it is nothing in the sight of god suddainly to make a poore man rich The Prophet Moses doth she we a manifest example and proofe of this commoditie and blessing from god towarde them that feare him God gaue the Deut. 6. 10. 20. Israelites his children and beloued people the land of Canaan which flowed with milk and hony and which abounded with all gods blessings hée gaue them this land which before was the possession of sinners But how He gaue them great and goodly Citties which they builded not houses full of all manner of goods which they builded not nor laboured for Wels of water necessary for their vse which they diggâ—d not Vineyards and Oliue trees to their comfort and delight which they planted not And this is it which is to be considered heerein that all came without their labour without their desert god gaue it it was his blessing As the selfe same Prophet dooth set it dewne for a punishment of them that feare not god Thou shalt haue Deu. 28. 4. 39. 30. Oliue trees in all thy coasts but shalt not annoynt thy selfe with the Oyle Thou shalt plant a Vineyard and dresse it but shalt neither drinke of the wine nor gather the grapes Thou shalt builde a house and shalt not dwell therein The excellent commodities which were performed to Abrahams posteritie were long before promised to Abraham for this cause onelie because hée feared god as we reade Genes 22. I knowe thou fearest God saith god to Abraham by the mouth of an Angel Therefore will I surely blesse thee and will greatly multiply thy seede as the starres of the heauen and so foorth as before I might enlarge this commendation of the feare of The greeuous punishments of the contrary god which is and ought to be the onely delight of a Christian minde by reckoning vp the miseries that fall on them in whome the feare of god is not séene Which are warre famine pestilence pouertie shame and discredite the torment of an euill conscience diseases and straunge kindes of death to make an ende of them in fearefull sort that they may bée an example vnto all other beside many other discommodities which now I doo not stand vpon but thinke good rather to leaue it to your consideration Helping your remembraunce with this one notable place of scripture recited in the Prophecie of Ieremy 15. 1. 2. 3. Then saide the Lorde vnto mee Ier. 15. 1. 2. 3. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet mine affection could not be toward this people Cast them out of my sight and let them depart And if they say vnto thee whither shall we depart then tell them Thus saith the Lord such as are appointed to death vnto death and such as are for the famine to famine and such as are for the captiuitie to the captiuitie And I will appoint ouer them foure kindes saith the Lord. The sword to slaie and the dogs to teare in peeces and the foules of the heauen and the beasts of the earth to deuoure and to destroy From riches and wealth which although it be a great The company of prophets holy men and angels blessing of God yet if it please God to exercise our faith and patience with pouertie and want we must take the one in as good part as the other let vs come to an other worldly blessing and great comfort and that is to a matter of credit and honour We should thinke our selues happie men if we might be thought worthie to entertaine and receiue into our houses those that were of highest account about the Prince but behold what great fauour is shewed them that feare God that not onely holy men and Prophets but Angels also haue made choice of them to come to their houses and to be familiar with them 1. King 18. Eliah that famous Prophet of the Lord appeared not to King Ahab but to his seruant Obadiah the gouernour of the house The reason is because Obadiah feared God greatly The same we shal read in the whole course of the Bible that the Prophets and messengers of the Lord they did not resort vnto the common sort but vnto them that feared God WheÌ„ our Sauior Christ sent foorth his Disciples to preach as it is in Mat. 10. 11. he willed them when they entred into a Citie or Towne to enquire who was worthie in it that is whether there were a man that feared God there and there to abide till they departed And that Angels haue resorted vnto them letting passe the rest it is recorded in the booke of Genesis of Abraham and of Lot Yea Angels haue comforted them in their distresses As the Angel that was séene with the thrée children in the firy fornace and the Angell that deliuered the Apostle S. Peter out of prison the Angels that comforted Iacob when he stood in feare of his brother Esau So is it Psal 34. 9. The Angel of the Lord pitcheth rounde about them that feare him and deliuereth them Let vs ascend yet higher from earthly commodities to
matters should we be euer a whit the better in that we doo not vnderstand them Suppose they come into our Churches and preach vnto vs Gods word to what end are all their spéeches Among the plagues and punishments that God threateneth vnto his people for their disobedience this is not the least that they should go into captiuitie to such a nation whose language they should not vnderstand In the lawe it is written by men of othâ—r tongues and by other languages will I speake vnto this people yet so shall they not heare me saith the Lord. So that a straunge tongue which we vnderstand not is a signe vnto vs of Gods curse and punishment which he laieth on vs. Moreouer we are to vnderstand that it is the principall pollicie and secret mischéeueus working of the â—â—â—â—ll to hide the Gospel and word of God from vs who desireth nothing more then to seperate vs from God who desireth nothing more then our vtter ouerthrow and vndoing And to bring about this his pollicie and mischéeuous working he hath his ministers euen deceitfull workmen which thus teach that the word of God ought not to be read in a knowne tongue vnto the people Which indéed is the onely way to kéepe them in Idolatry and superstition when they know not the truth of Gods word and pure religion And while they perswade the people that ignorance is the mother of deuotion that the lesse they know the more deuout they are this is rather a furtherance to their damnation because they know not God and the way to saluation For as the extreame want of bodily foode procureth death to the bodie so the extreame want of spirituall foode that is of Gods word procureth death to the soule It is méet say they that the scripture should be set downe in an vnknowne tongue least some in reading peruert them vnto their owne damnation Which is not a sufficient reason to deny others the reading thereof as if we should neuer vse wine because some by abusing it haue falne into drunkennesse or neuer take a weapon in hand to defend our selues because many haue bene killed thereby But this reason of theirs is but a deuice of mans braine and hath no warrant from Gods word but is rather contrary vnto it And herehence also ariseth an other argument of theirs that because it is said The priests lips should kéep knowledge therefore it is not for euery one to search the scriptures Indéed it behoueth the Minister to be learned that the people may be resolued of their doubts by him yet neuerthelesse there is no estate of people debarred from the reading the scriptures For as God would haue euery man to come to the knowledge of his will so he willeth and commandeth euery one to search the scriptures no estate no calling excepted Otherwise if none but the priest and minister be to reade the scriptures as they are men so vnder the colour and pretence of Gods word they may put forth their own deuices and their own imaginations An other reason of theirs is this Pearls are not to be cast before swine comparing the word of God as it is indéed a most precious treasure and as much to vs as our soules are worth because it is the meane to win soules comparing it to a pearle and the laie people for whome Christ died and shead his blood to procure them saluation and euerlasting life to compare theÌ„ to swine Which spéech of theirs because it is vngodly vncharitable and vnchrististian I leaue it to the iudgement of others as not worthie of any answere God forbid that the laie people although they are vnlearned if they be so godly disposed and God do moue their hearts therunto as to séeke the comfort of their soules by reading of the scriptures and word of God God forbid that they should bee debarred from the reading and benefit thereof But euen as the Eunuch spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles being but a laie man and yet the chief gouernour to a Quéene although he were vnlearned did yet for all that reade the scriptures and could not vnderstand them to the full so may we according to his example although our capacitie be so weake that we cannot vnderstand them giue our selues to the reading of the scriptures For as God sent vnto him a teacher Philip by name into his charet vnaware to him as he was in his iourney and reading the scripture so we know not what helpes it may please God to grant vs that are desirous to read his word that thereby we may know his will and be edified and instructed to our soules comfort And séeing we haue that blessing that many a land hath not I meane to haue the scripture in our owne mother tongue how shall we excuse our selues before God if we bee not diligent and painefull to reade The other mightie hinderance whereby we debarre The second hinderance is that they say the word of God is too hard to be vnderstood our selues from the reading of the word of God is that we thinke it is too hard to bee vnderstood Like the slothfull man which saith a lyon is in the way because hée is loth to worke Whither I will not I cannot goe and the propertie of an vnwilling seruant is to answere his arrant before hée bee sent Why should we giue foorth that the scripture is hard before wee reade it Whereas the spirite of God doeth set it downe that the word of God doth giue vnderstanding euen to the simplest comparing it to a lanterne and to a light which lightneth euery one that commeth vnto it For as without the light of the Sunne there is nothing but darkenesse on the earth so without the knowledge of the word of GOD there is nothing but ignorance among men And this is a wonderfull disproofe of them that stand in this doubt thinking it to bee too hard for them being of a simple vnderstanding and that therefore the Doctors and learned men should reade the word euen this disproueth their opinion that heauenly matters are often hid from them that are learned when contrariwise it pleaseth God to open the eyes of the simple and to giue them vnderstanding Else how should it be true that Christ saith I giue thee thankes ô father Lord of heauen and earth because thou hast hid these thinges from the wise and hast opened them vnto babes euen so ô Lord because it was thy good will and pleasure If our Gospell be hâ—d saith the Apostle it is hid to them that are lost and if the word of God be hard to be vnderstood it is hard vnto the vnwilling and vnto vnbeléeuers and such as are blinded of their owne accord Which difficultie and hardnesse of vnderstanding commeth not to passe through the word of God which is euident and plaine to them whose eyes God openeth and whose hearts and mindes it pleaseth him to enlighten but through their default who either through
the iniuring and oppressing of our neighbours to do good to all and by little and little it draweth vs not onely to the loue thereof but euen with an earnest purpose of mind we are therby wonne to take that way that leadeth to euerlasting life For it mortifieth our sinfull desires by shewing vs the It mortifieth sinfull desires bitter punishments that remaine and that they shall neuer enter into the kingdome of God that are led by them Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies for the wages of sin is death that is the euerlasting death of bodie soule Know ye not that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God Be not deceiued neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theeues nor couetous nor drunkards nor railers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdome of God God is not mocked for what we sowe that shall we reape for he that soweth to his flesh and followeth his fleshly desires shall therehence reape corruption and woe but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life euerlasting For we must all appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ that euery man may receiue the things which are done in his bodie according to that hee hath done whether it be good or euill And blessed are they that doo his commandements that their right may be in the trée of life and may enter in through the gates into y◠Citie For without shall bedogs inchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters and whosoeuer loueth or maketh lies Finally to whom it shall be said Depart from mee ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuel and his angels It abateth and restraineth sin within vs as we reade Psal It worketh bettering 119. I haue hid thy word in my heart that I might not sinne against thee Through the reading of thy word I got vnderstanding therefore I hate all wicked waies Yea they that are godly minded and painful and diligent in searching the scriptures with a desire by Gods grace to profit by them they for the most part bring foorth such plentifull good fruit to godward and such an vpright conuersation to the world that in their faith beliefe to God and in their life to men they séeme in a maner blamelesse without fault although indéed while we liue in this world we are compassed with many infirmities and greatly pressed with the burthen of our sinnes which doo so hang and cleaue so fast vnto vs. By the reading whereof and the working of Gods good spirit in our hearts and consciences and in our liues and conuersation wee beginne to bee altered and chaunged into that which wee reade And we become daily lesse and lesse proude lesse wrathfull lesse couetous and lesse desirous of worldly and vaine pleasures And daily forsaking our olde vicious life we encrease in vertue more and more Well therefore may the word of God Iames 1. 21. be called a sauing word which is able thus to saue vs by bringing vs in hate of sinne and bréeding in vs the loue of God and all goodnesse So that we may say with the Prophet Dauid Thy word is the verie ioy of my heart It teacheth vs to be heauenly minded and to prepare our selues to heauen by setting the vanities of the world Prepareth vs vnto heauen before our eyes and the ende of the worlde and howe we should watch against that time that we be not condemned with the world Loue not the world saith Saint Iohn nor the things that are in the word For the loue of the worlde driueth out the loue of God but he that regardeth the word of God and fulfilleth his will abideth in GOD for euer whereas the world and all the vanities thereof doo perish and fade away 2. Pet. 3. 10. 11. The day of the Lord meaning thereby the latter day will come as a théefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a noyce and the elements shall melt with heat and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt vp Séeing therefore that all these things must be dissolued what manner persons ought we to be in holy conuersation and godlines being prepared to heauen and heauenly minded Take heed to your selues watch and pray continually that ye may escape those things that shall fall on the world and that ye may stand before the sonne of man not tremblingly but with great ioy and comfort Aduersitie misery crosses and troubles through griefe VVorketh patience in all worldly miserie◠and thought cast many away but they that are practised in reading the word of God know that there is nothing more auaileable to lift vp our hearts to Godward and to settle our mindes there whereas true ioyes are to be found then is the reading of the word of God Many fret and fume and vexe themselues when losse of goods and friends and other such worldly helpes doo ouertake them but the word of God doth bréede a quiet and contented mind as to say with Iob Naked came I into the world and naked shall I go out The Lorde hath giuen and the Lorde hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord And to say with the Apostle Saint Paule Phil. 4. 11. 12. I haue learned in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to be content and I can be abased and I can abound euery where in all things I am instructed both to be ful to be hungry and to abound and to haue want all which I am able to do through the helpe of Christ which strengthen me Godlines is great riches and a contented minde passeth all resoluing with our selues according to the direction of Gods word that God worketh all for the best to them that loue and feare him That which doth ouerthrow some and cast them in their graues through the fault of their owne impatient minds worketh wonderously in other some which haue recourse and séeke counsell in Gods word as to ioyne them vnto God and to bring them out of the loue of the world and all the vanities thereof And as he wisheth to the Colos so let vs desire that we may be strengthened through his glorious power vnto al patience with ioyfulnes giuing thanks vnto the father who hath requited all griefs and troubles all losses all miseries with a farre greater recompence in this that he hath made vs méete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light As the word of God doth strengthen vs in all worldly Maketh vs indure persecution death it selfe miseries to take all things with a contented and patient minde so euen in the losse of our liues for the defence of a good cause and Gods truth it moketh vs ioyfull and excéeding glad As some when they were whipped and scourged for the profession of Christ endured it with ioyfull mindes and praising God that they were counted worthie to suffer for his truth Reioycing in
by Sanctifie the Lorde of hostes and let him be your feare and let him be your dread saith the Prophet Esay 8. For loe he that formeth the mountaines and createth the wind and declareth to man what is his thought which maketh the morning darkenesse and walketh vppon the high places of the earth the Lorde God of hostes is his name And therefore hée may iustly and that with a maiestie report himselfe vnto his people The Lord the Lord. Euen high and terrible and a great King ouer all the earth who is greatly to be exalted in the congregation of Princes For the Lorde is a great God and a great King aboue all Gods the Lord hath prepared his throne in heauen and his kingdome ruleth ouer all Greatnes and power and glorie and victorie are his hée excelleth and is most mightie he is the Lorde and his name is most glorious the earth is his footestoole and hee is higher then the Kinges of the earth who are but his vassalles And saith the King Nebuchandnezer vnto Daâ—iel Cap. 2. I knowe of a truth that your God is a God of Gods and the Lord of Kings Pharaoh also the King of Egypt who so gréeuously persecuted the Israelites was driuen so to confesse in that hée spake vnto Moses that he would pray vnto the Lord for him to take away those gréeuous plagues wherewith hée was iustly punished for his disobedience and hard heart against the Lorde By which his punishment of the highest in the earth and as it is in the Prouerbes of Salomon Although they be mightie on earth yet are there mightier then they by which his punishment he declareth himselfe to be the onely Prince the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Which thing the example of Sanehereib the King of Ashur can well testifie whom the Lord withdrew from the siege and slaughter of his people and put a hooke in his nostrils and turned him backe the same way he came and caused the Angel of his wrath to sley a hundreth foure score and fiue thousand of his souldiers Although Rabshakey his Ambassadour in his be halfe gaue forth these words Heare the words of the great King the King of Ashur Thus saith the King Let not your King Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying The Lord will surely deliuer vs for who are they among all the gods of the nations that haue deliuered their land out of mine hand that the Lord should deliuer Ierusalem out of mine hand But as you heard his souldiers were slaine himselfe was driuen to flight and furthermore as he was worshipping his Idole god Nisroch Adramelech and Sharezer his own sonnes flew him with the sword and escaped they flew this great King the King of Ashur The Lord raigneth let the people tremble he sitteth betwéene the Cherubins let the earth bee moued I make a decrée saith King Darius that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and feare before the god of Daniel for he is the liuing god and remaineth for euer and his kingdome shal not perish and his dominion shall be euerlasting King Nebuchadnezar to iustisie the Lord in these words The Lord the Lord did extoll and magnifie the King of heauen praised and honoured him that liueth for euer whose power is an euerlasting power and his kingdome is from generation to generation And this did the King confesse after that he had felt the mightie hand of god and his power Let the spirit of Princes be subiect vnto the Lord that euen the chiefest with the lowest may acknowledge this soueraigntie that he is the onely Lord who is highly to be praised and greatly to be feared for glory and strength are before him Wherfore giue vnto the Lord ye families of the people the glory of his name giue vnto the Lord the power which is due vnto his maiestie When the lion roareth all the beasts of the forest tremble and when god commaundeth who will not obey If the Captaine that hath authoritie ouer his souldiers may say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he commeth and to his seruant Do this and he doth it Shall not we be as ready when the great Captaine the Lord of hostes shall charge vs If the seruants shall be diligent to fulfill their maisters will to how at his beck and to make haste when he calleth shal not we yéeld our selues to the obedience of our Lord maister which dwelleth in the heauens who hath the Angels at commandement and whose creatures we are who hath more authoritie ouer vs in the wide compasse of his dominion then hath the maister ouer his seruant within the circuit of his house The seruants that are disobedient may flie from their maisters displeasure and escape but if we be rebellious we cannot auoid the anger of the Lord. His eies are in all the corners of the earth neither is there any place wherein we may be frée if it please God according to our deserts to strike vs. Looke what the Prince may do among his subiects much more in the highest degrée may the lord of the whole earth do among vs. Many lawlesse people may resist that which the King commandeth although it may not be resisted by the authoritie of his crowne and dignitie yea furthermore may put the king in hazard but the authoritie of the highest King is such that he maketh the stoutest heart to tremble wel may they murmure grudge and set them selues in defiance against him but they shal be able to do no more although they were as mightie as the diuels in hell they shal no whit preuaile A consuming fire shall go before him the mountains shal be al in a smoke the earth shal tremble at his presence and the wicked yâ— disobey his commandements resist his wil and are as far as they dare at defiance shal in their time hide themselues in the holes of the rockes and wish yâ— the mountains might fall vpon them And then shall they know how yâ— he onely is the lord that he hath authoritie to command and yâ— they were bound to obey In diuers places of the holy scriptures in the prophecies of his seruants and messengers by whom he declared his wil and whom hee gaue in commandement to deliuer his message vnto the people when they speake of any matter of waight they vse these words Thus saith the Lord. To put yâ— people alwaies in remembrance of his high soueraigntie and authoritie ouer them As in the Prophecie of Ieremy the Lord saith vnto Ieremiah thou shalt say vnto them Thus saith the Lord If ye wil not heare me to walk in my lawes which I haue set before you and to heare the words of my seruants the Prophets whom I sent vnto you both rising vp early and sending them and will not obey them Then wil I make this house like Shiloh meaning that his Temple and his Church shuld be forsaken and the priests deliuered vp to the sword
and I will make this Cittie a curse to all the nations of the earth The destruction of this Citie shall be a matter of feare and wonder and shall be continually in euery mans mouth as an example of the reuenge that the lord hath wrought Worship the lord in the glorious Sanctuary tremble before him all the earth Say among the nations The lord raigneth surely he shall iudge the people In the tenth Chapter to the Hebr. The Lord shal iudge his people Before whose iudgement seate we shall all appeare to receiue those things which we haue done in our bodies according to that we haue done whether it be good or euill As the wise man in his booke called Eccle. putteth vs in mind Reioyce ô yoong man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but knowe that for all these thinges God will bring thee to iudgement If thou set light by and disobey that which I command thee I am the Lorde thou shalt not escape when I shall shewe my selfe from heauen with my mightie Angelles in flaming fire rendering vengeance and paying euerie one according to his desertes The Lorde the Lorde shall appeare in glorie when hee commeth to iudgement and all his holie Angels with him And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall seperate them one from an other as a shepheard seperateth the shéepe from the goates and he shall set the shéepe on his right hand and the goates on the left Vnto the goates that is to them that haue disobeyed him he shal say Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuel and his angels And if god spared not the angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into chaines of darknesse to be kept vnto damnation and spared not the old world but brought the floud vpon the vngodly and turned the Citties of Sodome and Gomorra into ashes coÌ„demned them and ouerthrew them and made them an ensample vnto them that after should liue vngodly Surely the Lord as yet and from this day vnto the end of the world will reserue the wicked and vniust vnto the day of iudgement vnto punishment The Lord shall consume them with the fire of his wrath and render vppon their heads their owne waies and they shall knowe how true and certaine this is that he is the Lorde For in his hand is a cuppe and the wine is redde it is full mixt and he powreth out of the same Surely all the wicked of the earth shall wring out and drinke the dregs thereof Therfore are we willed to lead our liues before the Lord in feare and trembling considering how dreadfull the Lord is As saith the Prophet Dauid My flesh trembleth for feare of thee and I am affraid of thy iudgements Knowing therfore the terrour of the Lord and his fearfull iudgement we perswade men that they haue a diligent regard to that which the Lord hath commanded And séeing that the Lord shall come in such dreadfull maner to iudge the vngodly and disobedient what maner persons ought we to be in holy conuersation and godlinesse And being fully perswaded thorof let vs be diligent that we may be found of him without spot and blamelesse And let vs marke what is written in the last words of the book of Salomon called Ecclesiastes his words are these Let vs heare the end of all Feare God and keepe his commandements For this is the whole dutie of man For God wil bring euery worke vnto iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill Thus much you haue heard concerning his sacred and Strong fearefull maiestie wherein also the force of his power doth shewe it selfe and yet it is further expressed in that hée is said to be strong Which especially is to be séene in his punishments where I might bring in manifolde and infinit examples of plagues against the wicked procéeding from his iust anger whereby the Lord hath shewed his mightie power and declared his maiestie to be most dreadfull and full of force As among the rest were most notorious the drowning of the old world and the burning of Sodome and Gomorrha with fire and brimstone from heauen This his mightie power did not the Lorde make knowne onely to straungers but euen to his owne people in making the earth to open and swallow vp some the fire to burne and consume others a mightie great plague to make a riddance of them firie serpents to sting them to death for their murmuring and rebellion that they also might confesse and acknowledge the mightie power of the Lord. And to declare howe strong hee is he maketh mention of his thrée great plagues the Sword and Famine and the Pestilence wherby not a fewe but thousands and infinit multitudes perish when it pleaseth God to strike by them as we may read in diuers places of the scriptures well knowne to them that are but meanely séene in them Againe this is a great argument to proue how strong he is that when one punishment is sent and past and gone he can send another and another in the necke of the same and still increase his power by adding and doubling and multiplying For as his mercies haue no ende so his iudgements cannot be numbred And where his anger is â—â—â—led there his power groweth stronger and stronger In the Prophecie of Iere. cap. 15. 2. 3. The Lord instructeth the Prophet what he shall answere the Iewes that had so greatly prouoked his wrath And if they say vnto thée Whither shall we depart then tell them Thus saith the Lord Such as are appointed vnto death vnto death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for the captiuitie to the captiuitie And I will appoint ouer them foure kinds saith the Lord. The sword to sley and the dogs to teare in pieces the foules of the heauen to deuouâ— and the beasts of the earth to destroy He might haue gone further in reckoning vp his plagues and neuer bene wearied in throwing downe his thunderbolts That proud and hard hearted king Pharaoh that said Who is the lord that I should heare his voyce I know not the lord The lord that he might make manifest his power shewed himself to this wicked king in diuers plagues punishments Which were such that one excéeding an other one was more greeuous then an other The waters of his land being turned into blood the earth couered with frogges the dust of the earth chaunged into lice the aire replenished with great swarmes of flies the hand of the lord was vpon their beasts and cattle and they died by a mightie great murrain there came a scab-breaking out into blisters vppon man and vppon beast the lord sent lightning and thunder and haile mixed with
fire and that very gréeuous also he sent deuouring grashoppers such as was neuer before neither after them should bee the like which did eate vp euerie gréene thing within the land hearbes of the field and frutes of the trées for the space of thrée dayes there was such a darknes in his land that none sawe an other neither did they rise from the place where the darknesse tooke them The lord left not there but yet was more gréeuous for he smote all the first borne of Pharaohs land the first borne both of man and beast from the first borne of Pharaoh himselfe that sat on the throne vnto the first borne of the captiue that sat in prison And there was a great crie in Aegypt for there was no house where there was not one dead Finally God made an ende of those punishments with the fearfull and vtter ouerthrow of Pharaoh himselfe and all his hoste in the midst of the sea They themselues confessing that it was the strong hande of the lorde himselfe in these words The lord fighteth for them In the Prophecie of Iâ—el 1. 3. 4. Tell you your children of it saith the Prophet and let your children shewe to their children and their children to an other generation whether such a thing hath bene in your dayes or in the dayes of your fathers That which is left of the palmer worme hath the grashopper eaten and the residue of the grashopper hath the canker-worme eaten and the residue of the canker-worme hath the caterpiller eaten And these small creatures doth God call his great hoste shewing himselfe no where so strong as when hée worketh by weake and slender meanes When the lorde by his Prophet Moses Deutro 28. had feared the people by foretelling so many gréeuous punishments yet further to let them vnderstand howe strong hée was If thou wilt not keepe saith hee and do all the workes of this lawe and feare this glorious and fearefull name The Lorde thy God then the Lorde will make thy plagues wonderfull and the plagues of thy seede euen great plagues and of long continuance and sore diseases of long durance Moreouer he will bring vpon thée all the diseases of Egypt whereof thou wast affraid and they shall cleaue vnto thée And euery sicknesse and euery plague which is not written in the booke of this lawe will the lord heape vpon thée vntill thou be destroyed So true it is that the Prophet speaketh The arme of the Lord is not shortened but his hand is stretched out still Strong in his wrath stronger in his punishments and so strong that flesh and blood cannot endure the least thereof but is readie as it were to fall in pieces when it is remembred and when they heare of it The Lord the Lord strong and able to punish and 2 yet such is his nature that hee is more enclined to mercie Slow to anger And therefore to comfort the weake spirites of mankind that they should not vtterly faint and be dismaid through the consideration of his fearefull power he addeth these words which follow that is That he is mercifull and gracious slow to anger For as a father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lord compassion no them that feare him For he knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth that we are but dust So the Lord saith My spirit shall not alway striue with man because he is but flesh And here is his gratious mercy séen in that he doth not alway presently punish and out of hand The olde world had a hundreth yeares space a long time to be thinke themselues and to repent And after all this time it pleased the Lorde to looke downe vpon the earth before he gaue the last sentence and said vnto Noah An end is come Before God would procéed to his fierce vengeance against Sodome and Gomorrha although their sinnes were excéeding gréeuous and the crie therof ascended vp to heauen yet he said he would go down and sée whether they had done altogither according to the crie and if not that he might know As though he had wished and desired in his heart it had bene otherwise In the Epistle of S. Peter it is remembred of some in the latter dayes who hearing the Prophecie of the latter ende of the worlde and séeing it not come to passe after a long time should scoffe and mocke thereat and say Where is the promise of his comming for all thinges continue alike from the beginning of the creation To whom the Apostle thus answereth That a thousand yeares in the sight of the Lord is but as one day and that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slacknesse but that he is patient and would haue no man to perish but would that all should come to repentance The Lord is a mercifull and gracious God in forbearing Wisâ— H. 20. His mercy is vpon all and though it be in his power to destroy yet he maketh as though he sawe not the sinnes of men because they should amend Loue couereth a multitude of sinnes and the Lord would in mercy passe by our infinite efâ—ences if so be yet in time we would returne Although we haue gréeuously offended yet he doth not straightway execute his anger but patiently waiteth to sée whether his louing kindnesse and long suffering may prouoke vs to the obedience of his will and to do that earnestly and with a good heart from the which before we went so farre astray Hée dooth not punish vs according to our desert nor reward vs after our iniquities but sheweth himselfe most fauourable that our hearts may relent and serue him Although the Israelites kept not the couenant of their God as it is Psal 78. 38. 41. and walked not in his lawe but sinned against him more and more yet was he so mercifull vnto them that he forgaue them their misdéeds and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his wrath away and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise For he considered that they were but fleshe and that they were euen as a winde that passeth away and commeth not againe God considering our frailtie and weakenesse is patient toward vs and so tender hearted that he would haue no man to perish And therefore before any punishment that God did vse against his people he gaue them warning thereof by his prophets that they might haue iust cause to say that the Lorde was gracious and mercifull As we reade in the booke of Nehemiah cap. 9. 30 31. that God did forbeare them many yéeres and protested among them by his spirit euen by the hand of his Prophets but they would not heare therefore he gaue them into the hands of the people of the lands Which point of Gods mercy let euery one of vs apply vnto himselfe and bethinke our selues how God doth beare with vs from day to day and what diuerse and often warnings hee vseth toward vs to moue vs to
a fearefull word that although they dreame of mercy yet they shall finde the contrary For God will neuer recken them to be innocent nor euer reserue his mercie for them And although they crie Lord Lord yet shall they not enter into his kingdome For when they thinke to enter into his rest it shall be said vnto them Depart from me I know you not Let vs alwaies remember that the Lorde is strong and that his anger is fearefull and that his punishments are intollerable and hell torments euerlasting that so the feare of the Lord may still be before our eyes and that we may be affraide to offend his maiestie Then shall his mercy stand vs instead when wée fall and haue offended whereas otherwise we shall be bolde to commit sin and flatter our selues that god wil be merciful when as indéed we do but deceiue our selues and shal surely find hell when we thinke to go to heauen God graunt that the knowledge of God may turne to our good and that through our defaulte in flattering of our selues and presuming too much of Gods mercy we fall not away from mercy To whose mercy I commende you desiring you not to forget his iustice For God is a consuming fire and wilfull and obstinate sinners shall neuer escape his euer-during wrath To God the Father God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost be all glory and praise both now and euer Amen Deo gratia solique gloria Of his Creation Genesis 1. 1. In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth AS I haue set downe vnto you the knowledge of God by his properties and qualities so also is he further knowne by the consideration of his workes As saith the Psalme The heauens declare the glorie of God and the firmament sheweth his handie worke Amongst the workes of God first in order most notable is the worke of his creation wherein his power and wisedome is manifestly séene giuing vs a larger and more delightfull knowledge of him then that we should busily occupie our studies in searching the secret and hidden nature of God The spirit of God beginneth first with the declarion of this most excellent worke bréeding the knowledge of God in our mindes as it were by a wonder In the beginning God made the heauen and the earth Which sentence dooth affoord vs these thrée instructions First the consideration of the creation of the world Diuision and the creatures thereof and whither the world and the creatures were made to endure and to continue for euer Secondly how the world and all the creatures therin conteined were made Thirdly the cause the ende and vse wherefore they were made The world it selfe how beautifull a pallace is it and as it were a heauen in respect of hell beneath as it selfe also is a thing of nothing in respect of heauen aboue The heauen glistereth with the glorious sight of the Sunne the Moone and the starres The Sunne reioyceth to runne his course euen his spéedie and haiâ—ie course and as it were the glory of all Gods creatures commeth forth with a maiestie forbidding the eyes of all earthly creatures to behold it which by his force dooth burne the mountaines seuen times more then doth the heat of a furnace God giueth light to the darknes it self and causeth the Moone to appear when the light the glorious beames of the Sun are gone down The infinit multitude of the stars shew forth his wonderfull wisdome and decketh the heauens much more then all the precious stones costly ornaments the are in princes courts Cast down your eies behold the creatures on the earth The mighty lion which is a figure of gods power at whose roaring all the beasts of the forrest do tremble the rauening beare the instrument of his wrath as the example of the mocking children that did disdain the Prophet Elisha doth testifie the nourishing cloathing creatures the cow the shéep and the goat to the praise of his goodnes Wherin also the trées do instruct vs the oliue trée with his fatnesse the figtrée with his swéetnesse the vine trée with his cherishing How do the hearbes set forth the wisedom of God In that he hath giuen to euery hearbe his propertie some for comfort some for delight some to continue life some to restore life as none know it better then the expert Phisitian to whoÌ„ God hath opened his wonderfull works therin Besides these looke vpon the lilly of the field whom God hath so richly arraied that Salomon in all his roialty is not like to one of these A woÌ„der it is to sée how he hath hid great treasure in the lower parts of the earth not only tin lead brasse and iron but siluer also gold precious stones The earth the world euery part therof giue manifest witnesse what God hath wrought Euery element is furnished with his creatures the aire with birds the earth with trées hearbs and inestimable treasure and as the waues of the sea are innumerable so are the creatures therein conteined euen as the stars of the skie which no man can terme call by their names but only God himself To euery beast of the field and to euery foule of the heauen Adam gaue names but the creatures of the sea as the hidden work of God Adam saw not man knoweth not neither caÌ„ they euer be searched out that we may wonder at Gods wonders Some haue said that there is no creature on the earth but the sea doth yéeld the like Among the creatures of the sea none setteth forth the work of Gods creation so much as the huge great whale which ouerturneth mightie ships and striketh a feare into the hart of man As saith the Psalm 104. 24. O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made theÌ„ all The earth is full of thy riches so is the wide great sea also wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beastes There goe the ships and there is that Leuiathan whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein When the wise man had delighted himself with the remembrance of the works of Gods creatioÌ„ either being rauished with the delight or vnable to satisfie his mind he breaketh forth saith Who hath seen all the creatures of God that he might tell vs For when he hath searched to the vtmost of his power yet may he truly say There are hid yet greater things then these be and we haue séen but a fewe of his works He doth not measure the knowledge of man in this matter that he hath attained the one halfe but leaueth him in the very enterance as though he had had but a glimce of some and not a sight of all As Adam being placed in Paradice had not a full view of all the secretes thereof neither had he any vnderstanding of the trée of life but assoone as he had tasted of the trée of knowledge for his rebellion and disobedience
are subiect by man and hope to be deliuered of it and hope to be purged from their corruption When our Sauiour Christ came neare to Ierusalem he wept to thinke of the desolation and destruction that should come on Ierusalem that faire and bewtifull Ierusalem that glorie and wonder of all the earth And the more that wée knowe the excellent woorke of God in the creation of the worlde and his creatures wherein we cannot choose but take passing delight so often as we doo consider and meditate on the same euen there withall also when we thinke that all thinges shall come to a ruine and downefall that the heauens and the earth shall be consumed with fire then may we begin to shead forth teares in a lamentable consideration that so glorious a workemanship and so wonderfull a frame should come to a finall destruction When Elisha the man of God looked stedfastly vppon Hazael he 2. Kin. 8. 12 wept because hee foresawe what great miserie hee should worke against the children of Israel Which thing saith he the Lord hath shewed me The woes that shall come vpon the worlde in the latter time shall make the godly minded to mourne in their thoughtes Reue. 12. 12. Wo to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the diuell is come downe vnto you which hath great wrath knowing that hee hath but a short time and that his mischiefe ouer the world shall ende with the world Which thing maketh them to wish that their liues were at an ende that they might not behold such great calamities as also to reioyce at their estate which haue lest the earth and possesse the heauens Oh saith the Prophet Ieremy ca. 9. 1. that mine head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for my people euen for the slaine of my people as if he had said for them that are and shall be destroyed Because they are all adulterers and an assembly of rebels This is a waightie cause to make vs all to wéepe which cause also doth make the earth and all creatures else to mourn and grone Go to now ye rich men saith the Apostle S. Iames weepe houle and so might he haue warned al people all sorts and all degrées to wéepe as King Hezechias did when he turned his face to the wall being sorie that he had offended God and that an end was come vnto him therfore to weep as the Apostle S. Peter did bitterly for his gréeuous sin whereby hée forsooke his Lord and maister Let this make euery one to wéepe both for others and for themselues in their chambers and in their closets at home and abroad where euer they go and what euer they do cōsidering that the sinnes of others as also their owne sinnes should be the cause of so great an ouerthrow Turne vnto mee with all your heart and with fasting and with weepiing and with mourning and rent your harts and not your clothes and turn vnto the Lord your God saith the Prophet For who knoweth whether God will return leaue a blessing Let euery one thus wéepe for themselues and thus turne vnto the Lord for who knoweth whether God will change his anger and forget our sinnes And though death and destruction of the world be a heauy plague that shall light vpon the most part of the inhabitants of the world I say who knoweth whether this shall turne to vs for a great blessing The consideration of which blessing will make vs turne our teares into ioy and our mourning into mirth not such ioy as the worlde but as the spirit of God shall mooue our hearts vnto It shall make vs lift vp our heades because that when the ende of the world shall be our perfect redemption shall bee accomplished Finally it shall also make vs more warie by this warning According to that of the Apostle Saint Peter The ende of all thinges is at hande Bee yee therefore sober and watching in prayer Take heed saith Christ least that day come on you vnawares For as a snare shall it come on the face of the whole earth Take héed least ye be taken in surfetting and drunkennesse in chambering and wantonnesse Take héed lest ye be choked with the cares of this world and be too earthly worldly minded when ye shuld be heuenly minded séeing that the world shal haue an end and we know not how soone nor how sodaine it shall be Loue not the worlde nor the delights of the world and let not thy heart cleaue thereunto but lift vp thy heart and thy mind to heauen and an other life whereas thy dwelling is like to be for euermore if so be thou beest not thy own hindrance and be taken amongst the fiue sléepie and foolish virgines spoken of in the Gospell Qualis vita finis ita For as the trée falleth so it lieth and if in the ende of the world nay in the ende of thy life which is the ende of the world to thée shall be fire and flame so thy ende shall be hell fire and such gréeuous torments which can neuer be vttered and shall neuer be ended The seconde principall consideration which I noted 2 vnto you in this text is Howe and after what sort the world and all the creatures therein conteined were made consisting on these thrée circumstaunces First that God Of nothing made all things of nothing Secondly that they were made by his word and commandement Thirdly that all his creatures were created verie good A straunge and incredible maner that God should make all things of nothing Yet as we reade in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Chapter 11. 3. Through faith we vnderstand that the world was ordeined by the word of God so that the things which we see are not made of things which did appeare For he made all things of nothing when as yet there was none of them Wherein the Apostle doeth well attribute the matter vnto faith for by our naturall reason we were neuer able to comprehend it but contrariwise we should thinke it a matter too absurd and against reason As also in the conception of our Sauiour Christ that he should be borne of a pure virgin without the helpe of man hath séemed vnto many a matter in no wise to be beléeued In so much that some haue bene bold to say and their spéech vngodly inough that the bodie of our Sauiour Christ was rather a fained bodie then a bodie like vnto ours of flesh and blood Our Sauiour Christ said vnto his disciples That it was easier for a rope to passe through the eye of a néedle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heauen Whereat they maruelled saying Who then shall be saued To whom Christ answered To men this seemes impossible but to God all thinges are possible And herein is the difference betwixt the workes of God and mē that they can bring nothing
to passe but by means but God sheweth his power vnto vs in yâ— without meanes of nothing he can doo all thinges Sarah Abrahams wife laughed when shée heard that shée should haue a sonne in her olde age séeing it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women and that her wombe had so long bene barreine and as it was to be thought now dead What saith shée after I am waxed olde and my Lord also shall I haue lust But the Angel answered Shall any thing be heard to the Lord who as of nothing made infinit creatures so caused he of one euen of one which was dead to spring so many as the starres of the skie in multitude and as the sande of the sea which is innumerable What more impossible then to put life into a stone Yet saith Iohn Baptist vnto the Iewes that boasted themselues that they were Abrahams posteritie God is able of these stones to raise vp children vnto Abraham Howe should we say in the Articles of our beliefe I beleeue in God the father Almightie vnlesse wee were fully perswaded that hee were able to doo all things whatsoeuer he would Which things also the Diuels knowe and doo beleeue Else the tempter woulde not haue saide vnto Christ If thou be the sonne of God commaund that these stones be made bread What foolishneshnesse is it then for vs to measure the infinit power of God within the narrow strait of our owne conceit Much like the seruant of the Prophet Elisha who sawe nothing when as there were round about his maister and himselfe horses and charâ—ts of fire the mountaine full Yet this matter of Gods Almightie power is more manifest in the resurrection that after our bodies haue béene consumed to earth and ashes and hath beene meate for the foules of the aire the beastes of the earth and the fishes of the sea when euery part and parcell of our bodies are brought to nothing yet shall they returne to their former estate and be renued againe As Iobe saith I hope to see my Redeemer in the latter day not with anie other but with these same eyes What is it for him when all thinges are vanished and consumed to nothing to bid them returne againe who as the Prophet faith Renueth the face of the earth and doth cloath it yearely as it were with a newe garment What is it for him to make a plentifull lande barraine and to bring foorth nothing as hée did by the lande of Sodome and Gomorrha and to make a barraine land to be plentifull and to bring foorth all things For as hée turneth the flouds into a wildernesse and drieth vp the water springes Psal 107. 35. So againe he maketh the wildernesse a standing water water springs of a dry ground Darknes and light to him are both alike so is it his onely propertie both to make all thinges of nothing and that there should be nothing impossible vnto him Wherefore let vs not foolishly imagine that out of nothing nothing can be made as some haue thought and those not meanly learned but when we come to the view of the workes of God all learning and wisedome of man must 〈◊〉 And although we reade that man was made of the dust of the earth the fishes and foules of the water the woman of man yet the first beginning of all things was of nothing let vs with Iobe cap. 26. 7. beholde yet a little more nearer very manifestly and also with great delight The wordes of Iobe are these Hee hangeth the earth vpon 2. Esd 16. 501. nothing VVhiche thing is subiect euen to our sences For the heauens euerie way foorthe doo compasse the Earth and the Sea and the Earth and the Sea standeth of it selfe without any manner helpe but onelie from GOD. And although euerie one cannot perceiue so muche yet the learneder sorte haue tryed it and found it out by learning and some passengers and trauellers if not by land yet by sea haue aduentured it If it hang vpon nothing wonder not For God hath laide the foundations of the earth Psal 104. 5. that it neuer should mooue at any time making it fast and giuing it a lawe which should neuer be broken till he saw good and that all should be ended But that we should be somewhat more resolued in this By his word doubtfull matter this we are to learne that as God made all things of nothing that did appeare so also he performed this wonderfull worke onely by the word of his mouth The Potter maketh his vessels out of the claie the Carpenter buildeth his house of timber the Smith forgeth his instruments out of iron but shewe me the workeman that can but wish his woorke made ready to his handes without any other helpe but onely to haue it for the wishing Onely and alone it was God that commanded and said Let it be so and it was so Psal 135. 6. For whatsoeuer it pleased God that did he in the heauen and in the earth in the sea and in all déepe places To vs that haue a very smal insight in the infinit works and power of God it séemeth vnpossible it should bee so yet the word of God which is the foundation of all truth hath certified vs that it is so Psal 33. 6. â— By the word of the Lord were the heauens made and all the hoste of them by the breath of his mouth For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood His effectuall power was in his word and commandement In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth and said Let there be light and there was light Let there be a afirmament and it was so Let the earth bud forth hearbes and trees and it was so Let there be lights in the heauen and there were lights Let there be foules in the aire and fishes in the sea and there were multitudes and God was delighted in the worke Let the earth bring foorth all beastes and cattell and presently they were to be seene This was that eternall word of God which was before all things the ingraued forme of the image of God the second person in the godhead by the which all things were made This was the word of God which was before his works of old which was set vp from euerlasting from the beginning and before the earth When there were no depthes neither any fountaines abounding with water before the mountaines were setled and before the hilles he had not yet made the earth nor the open places nor the height of the dust in the world when he prepared the heauens it was there and when he set the compasse of the déepe When he established the cloudes aboue when he confirmed the fountaines of the déepe when he gaue his decrée to the sea that the water should not passe his commaundement when he appointed the foundation of the earth then was his word with him a nourisher and it was his daily delight
frutes of the trées and some vpon the flowers of the field He hath appointed some beasts to be a foode for other as the asse is the lions praie and diuers smal fishes are swallowed vp of greater And who is it that can perfectly set downe the diuers sorts of nourishment and foode which God hath ordained for all his creatures to the preseruation of their liues Which if it had not bene so I meane if God had not had care of the preseruation of his creatures his creation had not lasted but for a moment and the glory thereof had not reached vnto this time neither should it haue continued as it is like to doo vnto the worldes end But as God created all things to set forth his glory and next for the vse of man so also hath he appointed foode to all liuing creatures that they might minister foode vnto man Wherin we may wel perceiue the gracious and louing care that God had for man who before he wold haue him to be in the world prouided all things necessary for him Not vnlike to a man here among vs that louing the friend whoÌ„ he intendeth to haue with him and to come vnto him ere euer that he wil haue him come maketh all things ready that may be either for his pleasure or for his necessitie and then sendeth for him to come all things thus being ready and prepared Which is not so to be vnderstood as though God of necessitie did doth so prouide for man but rather of his goodnesse and of his mercy For in stéed of health we deserue sicknesse in stéed of plentie penury and scarcitie in steed of wealth riches pouertie and misery Therfore God through our prouokement doth sometime withdrawe his plentifull hand and in stéed of his gracious prouidence calleth for a famin for a drought vpon man vpon beast and breaketh the staâ—â—e of bread wherby mans hart is strengthned Indéed God reléeueth man aboue all other creatures but yet for sinne God taketh his foode away from him If ye kéepe all my statutes and continue in my feare ye shall eate the good things of the land if not I will withdraw my blessings and send the contrary saith God by his Prophets As especially we may read Deu. 28. among the rest of gods blessings If thou shalt obey diligently the voice of the Lord thy God and obserue do all his commandements blessed shal be thy basket thy dough thou shalt haue plentie the Lord shall open vnto thée his good treasure euen the heauen to giue raine vnto thy land in due season But if thou wilt not obey cursed shall thy basket be and thy dough and the Lord shall shut vp his good treasure against thée and the heauen that is ouer thy head shall be brasse and send downe no rain and the earth that is vnder thée shal be iron so fast closed that it shall yéeld thee no frute nor any increase Thou shalt carry out much séede into the field and shalt gather but little in for the grashoppers shal destroy it Thou shalt plant a vinyard dresse it but shalt neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes for the wormes shal eat it All thy trées fruit of thy land shall the grashopper consume God shall prepare for thée and send thée plentie but for thy offences thou shalt not be partaker of it but he wil giue it vnto vermin before thy face to make thée wonder at his iudgements and to descend into thy self examine thy own hart conscience that hast giuen such cause As the Prophet Ezechiel testifieth cap. 14 13. Sonne of man when the land sinneth against me by committing a trespasse then wil I stretch out my hand vpon it and wil break the staffe of the bread therof and wil send famin vpon it and I wil destroy man beast forth of it For he wil cause the heauen to staie it self from dewe the earth to deny her fruit And he wil call for a drought vpon the land and vpon the mountains and vpon the corn vpon the wine and vpon the oyle vpon all that the ground bringeth foorth both vpon men vpon cattle and vpon all the labour of the hands And what a grief wil it be to sée the séeds of corn rot in the earth and to be chaunged from corne into wéedes How gréeuous shal it be to heare the dumbe beasts for to mourn and to sée the heards of cattle to pine away because they haue no pasture and the flocks of shéepe to be destroied for want of fodder Yea the riuers of waters also are dried vp because the fire of the wrath displeasure of the Lord shal deuoure all How should a hundreth fall before tenne vnlesse God had giuen them vp to the handes of their enemies And how should Gods prouidence be debarred from man but that God did shorten his hand through their faulte For when Gods anger is hot against men then doth he cause the enemy to besiege them and in the distresse of the siege shall they féele the want of gods gratious prouidence As we reade in the aforesaid chapter of Deutronomy The enemy shall besiege thée in all thy citties vntill the high and strong walles fall downe wherin thou trust est Then shall the tender and excéeding daintie man that loathed common meates for want of foode eate his owne children also the tender and daintie woman which wold scarce put her foote to the ground and was fed as it wer with princes delicats be glad to eate her after burthen and hunger shall so byte her that she shall be readie to eate her child before it be deliuered Which distresse being foretold afterward fel out in the daies of wicked king Ioram For his enemies did so besiege him his people vntil the famine was so great that an asses head was at foure score pieces of siluer and that the women did eate their children Wel therfore might the king say séeing the Lord doth not succour thée how should I help thée with the barne or with the wine presse Meaning that it laie not in him to helpe them to any vittaile For when God shutteth his hand and withdraweth his prouidence who can help When there is plenty we thinke all things come by a coÌ„mon course but vntil we be pinched with waÌ„t we shal neuer perceiue gods prouidence then we crie to God for foode and neuer before For the sin of man God turneth plentie into scarcitie and in stéed of foode they finde famine yet to comfort the hearts of the godly when other are readie to die for famine they shall haue to serue their turn On euery side death famin misery crying wéeping and yet God shall fâ—ed them God shal prouide for them and they shall be so wel prepared that whatsoeuer fall out they shall be content with Gods visitation As the raine falleth in one place and not in an other so
the blacke Moore which was in the kings house heard that they had put Ieremiah in the dungeon And he went vnto the king and said My Lord the king these men haue done euill in all that they haue done to Ieremiah the Prophet whome they haue cast into the dungeon and he dieth for hunger in the place where he is for there is no more bread in the citie Then the king had compassion and committed the matter vnto the Eunuch to take order for Ieremiahs reliefe The widow of Zarephath in great famine hauing but a handfull of meale in a barrell and a little oyle in a cruse when she and her sonne had spent that she looked for nothing else but present death But the Lorde did comfort her by the mouth of his Prophet Eliah saying The meale in the barrell shall not be wasted neither shall the oyle in the cruse be diminished vntill the time that the Lorde send raine vpon the earth and there be plentie And according to the words of the Prophet it fell out so vnto her When the Prophet Eliah had thought to haue giuen vp his life being in distresse the Angel of the Lord had brought him a cake and a pot of water and set the same at his head and touched him and awaked him out of his sléepe and sayd vnto him Vp and eate So hee arose and did eate and drinke and walked in the strength of that meate fortie dayes and fortie nights And if it bee lawfull to bring in forraine histories into suche wâ—â—ghtie matters I will shewe you a thing as straunge as the former which is recorded in the historie of the warres of the lowe Countries Page 79. The words of the Author are these Now when I call to mind the wonderful workes of God I cannot passe ouer but tell you how that after the murther and massacre of Narden and the whole towne on a flaming fire a yoong Lad was saued by running out of the gates of the towne into a little gardain full of rootes The father of this boy was murthered and his mother being rauished was hanged vp by the armes of the Tyrantes Spaniards and when the fire came and tooke holde of her house shée beeing tied by the armes could not get away so that shée was burnt in her owne house The yoong Lad hauing not eaten any thing for the space of thrée whole dayes togither wept bitterly both for the death of his parents as also by reason that he was hungerbit But God who neuer forsaketh his sent him reliefe For the very same night there came vnto him a wel-fauoured yoong man in white apparrell who gaue him whereon to féede and said Wéepe no more my fatherlesse childe for I will neuer leaue thée Eate and be of good cheare for they that haue murthered thy father and mother shall haue a double plague light vppon them Thy teares shall be turned into ioy and gladnesse and their laughing into teares and mourning and forthwith the yoong man vanished out of sight When my father and mother forsake mee saith the Prophet the Lord taketh me vp And there ye sée that they that haue neither father nor mother want not no not when they are in great distresse Wonderfull are Gods woorkes and infinite are his mercies and his wayes past finding out Oh what is man fraile man wretched and miserable man that God should thus regard him may we well say with the Prophet And shall that God that prepared for man ere euer he was now forsake man when hée is if hée be not most vnkindly and too vnkindly forsaken of man It cannot be it can nâ—â—â—r be And therefore in all distresses let vs cast our eyes vpon him and thinke of such examples of his loue and rare prouideÌ„ce as these are which I haue recited vnto you and be sure that he knowing what we haue néed of will neuer forsake vs. All this it pleaseth God to worke in our behalfe God worketh for his owne glorie to the intent that he should be praised and honoured of vs. O Lord our God saith the Prophet howe excellent is thy name in all the world And againe Psal 146. 7. 9. Blessed is the Lord which giueth bread to the hungrie that relieueth the straungers the fatherlesse and the widow When Iacob met his brother Esau in token of good will he gaue him a rich present and therwithall acknowledged Gods bountifulnesse toward him in these words God hath had mercy on me and therfore I haue all things When Daniel was relieued by gods prouidence he gaue thanks and said O God thou hast thought vpon me and thou neuer failest them that seek thee and loue thee When our Sauiour Christ fed the people euen a great multitude with 5. loues 2. fishes he looked vp to heauen and gaue thankes We are earnest to craue good thinges of God but slowe to giue thankes To giue thankes for that which is receiued is a way to helpe vs to more in time to come to be thankfull for the old brings with it a new benefit and a new good turn But bicause by nature we are very backward in this dutie therfore God putteth his people in mind thereof by his prophet Moses When thou hast eaten and filled thy selfe saith he thou shalt blesse the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath giuen thee Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God lest when thou hast eaten and filled thy selfe and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein and thy beastes and thy sheepe are increased and thy siluer and gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is increased then thy heart be lifted vp and thou forget the Lord thy God who fed thee in the wildernesse with Manna froÌ„ heauen who brought forth water for thee out of the rocke of flint And again Bewaâ—â— as though he could not speake it too often to such as were dull of hearing as Christ had his disciples Watch twice or thrice and yet found them sléeping Beware least thou say in thine heart My power and the strength of mine owne hand hath procured me this abundance But remember the Lord thy God for it is he and he onely which giueth thée power to get substance and onely in his blessing is all abundance Let not this be our first care if our store be increased to pull downe our barnes and make them larger but rather let vs lift vp our eyes to heauen in consideration that God hath so blessed vs and let vs pray that god will vouchsafe to giue vs the vse of his blessings to his glory and our comfort For to euery one to whom god hath giuen riches and giueth him power to eate thereof and to take his part and to enioy his labour this is the gift of god Otherwise a man may sée much good and peraduenture reioyce and boast of it but he shall neuer come to enioy it And then what profit and comfort is it to him that
because God gaue it him Salomon the father would haue slaine him Rehoboam the sonne would haue executed him as a traitor and yet behold it was not in their power which only worke of Gods prouidence in disposing of kingdomes Adonijah Salomons brother considering it made him relent from his purpose of séeking the crowne by mightie meanes as otherwise he would haue done if it had not béen for that For this is his confession putting forth a request vnto Salomons mother 1. K. 2. 15. Thou knowest saith he that the kingdome was mine and that all Israel set their faces on me in token of their fauour and consent that I should raigne because I was the elder brother howbeit the kingdome is turned away and is my brothers for it came vnto him by the Lord. God saith king Nabuchodonozor that heathen king according to his will worketh in the inhabitantes of the earth and none can stay his hand nor say vnto him what doest thou Whom he wil he setteth vp and whom he will he throweth downe And according to that which I haue said Daniel told that wicked king Belshasar the sonne of proud Nabuchodonozor when he sent for him to reade the writing that was against him and to giue the interpretation O king heare saith the prophet The most high gaue vnto Nabuchodonozor thy father a kingdome and maiestie and honour and glory and so forth Thou hast séene Gods iudgementes against thy father and yet thou hast not humbled thy heart though thou knewest all these thinges but hast lift thy selfe vp against the Lord of heauen and hast praised thy gods of siluer and thy gods of gold and hast not glorified God in whose hand thy breath is and all thy waies Therefore hath God sent thée this writing to shew thée that thy kingdome is at an end that he hath giuen it vnto others As the same prophet speaketh elswhere God chaungeth the times and seasons he taketh away kinges and setteth vp kinges Next to a kingdome to be in great honour credite and estimation is like the prosperitie of a king Some are exalted vnto honour and some are left in disgrace Studie and deuice with thy selfe how it should come to passe And when thou hast done thy reason cannot attaine it Looke in the word of God and thou shalt learne the cause Which is this Psalme 75. 6. Promotion and preferment commeth neither from the East nor from the West nor yet from the South The Prophet knowing that the minde of man would wonder hereat beginneth the wonder himself And why saith he And then resolueth the matter God is the iudge he putteth downe one and setteth vp another As the Magistrate is appointed of God for the punishment of the wicked but for the praise of them that doo well so God by his prouidence dooth order preferment and to those that are good in his sight he saith Ye are Gods but giueth them a warning there withall that they should not be exalted in pride Ye shall die like men Not only honor is the gift of God but contempt is his punishment Psal 107. 40. God powreth contempt vpon Princes as saith the Prophet Mal. 2. 9. and for their wickednesse and tyrannie causeth their subiects to contemne them It is not so much the lacke of dutie in the inferiours but it is the hand of God to dispossesse them of their honours And as he debaseth the wicked so he lifteth vp them that feare him and causeth the vnworthie that is them that are thought vnworthie in the sight of the world to weare the crowne When Hannah the mother of the Prophet Samuel gaue thanks to God in her song of praise she hath these words The Lord bringeth lowe and exalteth hee raiseth vp the poore out of the dust and lifteth vp the begger from the dunghill to set them among Princes and to make them inherit the seat of glorie As is manifestly séene in the examples of Saul who was exalted to be a King from lowe estate and as hee was séeking after his fathers asses Dauid who was taken from the shéepefull to bee a mightie Ruler Lastly of Ioseph who from the dunghill and filthie prison was made to sit among Princes The prosperitie of wealth and riches from whence commeth it if not from the prouidence of God which giueth thée power to get substance and denieth the same to othersome for all their carke and care labour they and sweats they neuer so much as hath bene heretofore declared in the commodities of the feare of God Where this cannot sufficiently be wondred at that when the wicked haue taken toile and labour God taketh all away from them and maketh the iust and godly to be the right owner◠It is a small thing in the sight of God suddainly to make a poore man rich as it is most easie to him to bring ragges to rodes and shackles and fetters to the scepter and to the crowne The benefits and blessings of God and the worke of his prouidence in matters of prosperitie is greatly to be séene among the godly as also his punishments and plagues and matters of griefe and aduersitie are powred vppon the vngodly as it were out of gods hand Search the causes of warres which is one of gods mightie scourges and dooth as it were contain in it self all other miseries sicknesse famine pouertie and such like and sée whether God hath not the only ordring The Prophet Esay 7. 17. speaking of wars whereby the Israelites should be vexed sheweth by whose meanes that vexation should come vpon them The Lord shall bring vpon thee and in that day the Lord shall hisse for the flie that is at the vttermost part of the flouds of Egipt and for the bee which is in the land of Ashur meaning by the parable of the bée their enemies the Egiptians and the Assirians who although they were a far off yet should come flying toward them and sting them to death The furious and cruel mind of man in war thinking vpon nothing but slaughter and hauocke sword and fire robbery and rauishment Yet as the mightie ship is turned about with a small rudder and the fierce horse is guided by the bridle so dooth God ouermaster their purposes and disposeth all things according to his pleasure Which thing doth liuely appeare in the aforesaid Prophecie Chapter 10. Gods anger is stirred vp against the Iews and he is disposed to execute his vengeance and the wicked that shall performe it are called by the name of hammers axes sawes and also may well be sayd to bee whippes and scourges and héere in this place they are compared to a rodde and to a staffe O Ashur the rodde of my wrathe and the staffe in their handes is mine indignation I will send him to a dissembling nation and I will giue him a charge against the people of my wrath to take the spoyle and to take the praie and to treade them vnderféete lyke the mire in the stréete In
rose vp warre against me yet will I put my trust in him Although I walke in the shaddowe of death and looke euerie houre to loose my life yet I am resolued in comfort trust committing my life and all my affaires into thy hand Walk vprightly and set God alwaies before thy eyes and there shall no euill happen vnto thée neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling Psalme 91. Thou shalt not be affraide for any terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in the darknesse nor for the sicknesse that destroteth in the noone day A thousand shall fall beside thée and tenne thousande at thy right hand but it shal not come nigh thée because thou hast made the Lord thy shield and thy buckler thou shalt be as deare vnto him as the apple of his eye and he shall carry thee as the Eagle doth carry her yoong ones vpon her wings and be as carefull for thee as the henne is ouer her chickens Away then with fortune and destiny which is the feare of heathen people and leaue them to bee punished and plagued by such péeuish gods and let vs which know the trus God being taught by his word and who haue learned otherwise referre all to Gods prouidence What if there be diuerse hainous matters practised in the world What if the mightie oppresse the poore and the wicked the godly Yet we knowe that there is a God in heauen that seeth all and iudgeth all and in due time will call all men to their accounts and although God do suffer them vnpunished in this world yet they shall surely paie for it in an other In the meane time let vs reuerently thinke of gods workes who ruleth all well though we knowe not how and it be altogither hid from vs. And who is it that dare aske account at Gods handes whose power is neuer idle but what euer fall out he ordereth it as séemeth good vnto him and without his decrée shall nothing come to passe Great is our discomfort and we are intangled in much misery for want of the knowledge of Gods prouidence the full trust whereof when it hath taken déepe roote in our hearts come good successe or ill successe our hearts are well at rest And this maketh vs to be of a quiet contented and patient mind in all aduersitie trouble as also to be thankfull in prosperitie and in all the course of our liues there shall appeare a calme although the tempestes be vp And so much the more is our comfort because we are assured that God is our louing father farre passing the loue of any earthly father and therefore will follow vs with constant good will And because he is also God Almightie he holdeth all creatures in his power so that without his pleasure they are not able not only to doo any thing but not so much as to stirre For they that oppresse and do wrong are by the bridle of Gods prouidence brought into order to consider that they haue no other power to moue themselues or to do any thing but as they are directed of God Who appointeth euill men as roddes to what purpose so euer he thinketh good neither haue they any power of themselues to hurt but contrariwise we haue sufficient helpe in God against their and all other harmes whatsoeuer Why should such spéeches be vttered through a weake and faint minde as to say If God would open the windowes of heauen could it be so Or else to say the like speech This is impossible to be brought to passe For with God shall nothing be impossible The Lords hand is not shortned but stretched out to doo vs good yea doubtlesse he wil open the windowes of heauen to powre downe his blessings vpon vs if we doo not deserue the contrary To conclude crauing pardon that I haue bene so long let me say vnto you as the Apostle S. Paul said to the Corinthians O Corinthians our mouth is open vnto you our heart is made large Ye are not kept straight in vs but you are kept straight in your owne bowels Gods hand is open and his bountifulnesse is vnsearchable God is not straight to vs but we are straight vnto our selues God is of power to helpe and right readie he is because his mercy endureth for euer Let vs not be so backward as not to aske and pray for it and to vse all meanes that are lawfull For God worketh by meanes and sildome by miracles Let vs not be impatient and distrustfull neither in any case giue foorth vngodly and blasphemous spéeches auoyding all meanes to procure Gods anger and committing our selues wholly to his mercy and fatherly care in all our necessities And God open our eyes as he did open the eyes of Hagar Abrahams maid that so we may alwaies depend and waite vpon his enduring and bountifull prouidence To God the father God the sonne and God the holy Ghost c. Deo gratia solique gloria Of Creating man after his Image Genesis 1. 26. Furthermore God said Let vs make man in our Image ac-according to our likenesse and let them rule ouer the fish of the sea and ouer the foule of the heauen and ouer the beasts and ouer all the earth and ouer euery thing that creepeth and moueth on the earth VVHen GOD had made the light the heauen the Sunne the Moone and the Starres the earth and the sea and had replenished the sea with fishes the aire with birds the earth with beastes and had prouided foode and maintenance fit and conuenient for the vse of man thē did he make and create man Of whome first I thinke good to intreate somewhat concerning the creation of the bodie and so to passe to the creation of the soule in respect whereof and of those heauenly quallities wherewith his soule was then endued he is said to be made in the image of God and according to his likenesse The Lorde God made the man of the dust of the grounde and breathed in his face breath of life and the man was a liuing souls The first man is of the earth saith the Apostle And all men are of the ground saith the wise man Which God so wrought in great wisedome knowing full well the softie minde of man and how farre hée would excéede in pride For as that proude King Nabuchodonosor by Gods appointment was thrust out of his Throne and turned among beastes that thereby hée might learne to humble himselfe so it pleased God to create man of so base a matter as dust that by the remembraunce thereof hée might frame himselfe to lowlinesse What more contemptible then the dust which the winde bloweth too and fro and which we tread vpon Go to the pismire and to the ant saith the wise man to the sluggard and as well he might haue warned the proud mind and hautie heart of man to looke vppon the pecocke which beeing lifted vp with the brauery of
put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortalitie and then shall death bee swallowed vp in victorie death shall bee vtterly vanquished neither shall it haue any further power Two men we reade of in the scriptures that were partakers of this benefit of immortalitie and fréedome from death and these two were taken from the earth into heauen without any seperation of soule bodie neither did they suffer death according to the vsuall course of men The names of these men were Enoch and Eliah Of Enoch we reade Gen. 5. 24. And Enoch walked with God that is he pleased God and he was no more séene for god tooke him away and he was translated and carried vp into heauen Eccle. 44. 14. Vpon the earth was no man like Enoch and therefore was he taken vp from the earth for an example chap. 4. 16. to the generations of men that shall come Yet we may reade of him more plainly Hebr. 11. 5. By faith was Enoch taken away that he should not sée death neither was he founde for God had taken him away For before hée was taken away he was reported of that he had pleased god Of Eliah we shall reade 2. Kin. 2. 11. And as Eliah and Elisha went walking and talking togither behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and did seperate them twaine So Eliah went vp by a whirle winde into heauen And for the better proofe hereof it followeth in the same Chapter that certain children of the Prophets which were at Iericho desired of Elisha that they might send to finde him out And said vnto him Beholde now there be with thy seruaunts fiftie strong men let them goe wee pray thee and seeke thy maister if so bee the spirite of the Lorde hath taken him vp and cast him vppon some mountaine or into some valley But he answered them yée shall not send yet they were instant vpon him till he was ashamed wherefore he saide Sende So they sent fiftie men whiche sought thrée daies but founde him not Which two examples doo sufficienly declare in what estate man had bene being frée from death if he had pleased God For as among men they were the most righteous so passed they into heauen after an extraordinary and most happie sort to shewe there was a better life prepared and also to bee a testimony of the immortalitie of soules and bodies Who were taken from the earth into the heauen that after this life they might liue with God enioying all happinesse How mankinde was created immortall and frée from Gouernment ouer all Gods creatures death ye haue heard and now it remaineth that I should shewe vnto you what authoritie and priuiledge in respect of the gouernment of beastes God gaue vnto man and in what sort After that God had made all his creatures he brought them vnto man to sée how he would call them and as he called them so were their names Furthermore God had planted in the beastes a kinde of reuerent feare and dutifull seruice toward man In respect whereof the Prophet Dauid doth greatly extoll Gods goodnesse in that he did not only indue the soule of man with heauenly qualities but also in that he gaue him the dominion ouer al the workes of his hands Psal 8. What is man saith he that thou art mindfull of him and the sonne of man that thou visitest him Thou madest him a little lower then the Angels to crowne him with glory and worship Thou madest him to haue dominion of the workes of thy hands and thou hast put all things in subiection vnder his feet All sheep oxen yea and the beasts of the field the soules of the aire and the fishes of the sea and whatsoeuer walketh through the pathes of the seas Among the rest of the fishes of the sea I reade this of the Dolphine Fishes according to their first creation saith the Authour at the sight of man acknowledge his dominion ouer them And the Dolphine though he be a most regall and princely fish yet when he seeth man come neare him he sheweth reuerence as to his Lord. But as after mans fall and his disobedience to God the earth became vnfrutefull for mans cause so also are all other creatures disobient to man euen to this day Yet as they of all others are partakers of immortalitie that come nearest to the Image of God in all true holinesse and vnfeined righteousnesse so especially vnto them is the rule and gouernment graunted ouer beastes But they that are quite contrarie disposed and enemies vnto God in their sinfull liues and behauiour the beastes and all other creatures haue rather rule and gouernment ouer them and as it were a power to set themselues against them and to ouermaster them For God doth sometimes punish men by the rage of beastes who herein are at Gods commandement and are readie to execute his will and pleasure The fiercest and cruellest creatures that euer god made haue had no power ouer the godly as we may reade in the histories of the bible but rather they haue had a reuerent estimation of them as it were acknowledging the image of god in them No beast so fierce as a lion to deuour a man and therefore in the Epistle of S. Peter the diuell is fitly compared vnto a roaring lion séeking whome he may deuoure Yet Daniel being cast into the lions denne they doo not only not offer to touche him but also sit by him as though they had him in reuerence and were set to guard and kéepe him A Viper is a moste hurtfull venemous and deadly Worme muche after the order of blind wormes stinging adders and where the worme lieth it procureth death Yet we reade Act. 28. that when the Apostle S. Paul and his company were greatly refreshed of the Barbarians at Melita and S. Paul had gathered a nomber of sticks and laid them on the fire there came a viper out of the heate and leapt on his hand Now when the Barbarians sawe the worme hang on his hand they said among themselues Surely this man is a murtherer whom though he hath escaped the sea yet vengeance hath not suffered to liue But he shooke off the worme into the fire and felt no harme Howbeit they waited when hee should haue swolne or falne downe dead sodainly But after they had looked a great while and sawe no inconuenience come vnto him they chaunged their mindes and said That he was a god This holy and godly man shooke off the worme into the fire and felt no harme Wis 16. 10. The téeth of the venemous dragons could not ouercome them that feared god among the children of Israel For gods mercy came to helpe them and healed them It was neither hearbe nor plaister saith the wise man that healed them but thy word O Lord which healeth all things According as Christ promised to his Disciples Mat. 16. that they should haue power not only ouer venemous beasts but ouer
his grandfather before him was eaten vp of lice The stones of the stréete shall bee against the wicked and vngodly and at the shaking of the leaues of trées they shall be sore affraide And this is the rule that the wicked and vngodly haue ouer beastes that is that they are subiect vnto the beastes So doth God execute his vengeaunce and performe his wrath against offenders vsing beastes as instruments and meanes thereunto As we shall reade Ezec. 14. 15. in the Prophecie of Iere. 5. 6. Wherefore a lion out of the forrest shall slaie them and a wolfe of the wildernesse shall destroy them a leopard shall watch ouer their cities euerie one that goeth out thence shall be torne in pieces because their trespasses are many and their rebellions are increased and all repentance is banished and their hearts are hardned God foretold his people by the mouth of his Prophet Moses how after this sort he would punish them that disobeied him Leuit. 26. 21. And if ye walke stubburnly against mee and will not obey mee I will then bring seuen times more plagues vpon you according to your sinnes I will also send wilde beastes vpon you which shall spoyle you and destroy your cattle and make you fewe in number So your high waies shall be desolate because none dare passe thereby for feare of beastes Among the rest of gréeuous plagues wherwith God did minde to punish the people of the Iewes the plague of euil beasts was not the least as we shall read in Prophecie of Ezech. cap. ◠17. I will send vpon you famine and euill beasts and they shall spoile thee and pestilence and blood shall passe through thee and I will bring the swoord vpon thee I the Lord haue spoken it and therefore be sure of it The people of Israel Nomb. 2. 1. 6. because they murmured against God and against his seruant Moses God sent fierie serpents among them which stung them so that many of them died because they were not content with Gods prouidence and loathed the foode that God ordeined for them calling it light bread and naming it with disdain 2. King 2. 23. 24. As the Prophet Elisha was going by the way little children and wicked impes came out of the cittie and mocked him and said vnto him Come up thou bald head But two beares came out of the forrest and tore in pieces two and fortie children of them 2. King 17. 25. The Assirians that dwelt at Samaria at the beginning of their dwelling there they feared not the Lord therefore the Lord sent lions among them which slue them I read that the Tribe of Dan and of Gad because they wrought wickednesse in the sight of the Lord in persecuting them that kept the lawe that the Prophet Ezechiel gaue them a terrible token For Adders destroyed their children and all their cattle for their sinne and iniquitie Dorotheus in the life of Ezechiel As the waters are commanded not to ouerwhelme Iere. 8. 17. the earth so are beares and lions that they should not hurt and annoy men as we reade Psalme 104. The Esay 30. 6. nature of the lion is to deuoure man and beast what euer he méeteth withall but God restraineth him and maketh him couch in his denne Yea God hath appointed the light of the Sunne to strike a feare in him to this purpose that man may go forth to his worke and to his labour vntil the eueniug without either hurt or hinderance Yet we see when God determineth to worke his vengeance wrath on man for sinne they feare not the light of the Sunne but come forth to performe the will of God in their might and in their rage as I haue further declared in the Treatise of the worke of Gods creation Exod. 23. 28. God promised the Israelites to send hornets to driue out the Canaanites and other heathen people before them If ye amend your waies and do vprightly saith the Lord by the Prophet Ioel chapter 2. 25. I will render you the yeares that the grashopper hath eaten the cankerworme and the caterpiller and the palmerworme my great hoste whith I sent among you to eate vp and to consume all the increase of the earth and the fruites of trees To this purpose namely how God doth punish sinners and wicked people by euill beasts there is remembred a notorious and fearfull example and that not so straunge as true wherewith at this time I thinke good to end this matter hauing reserued it vnto the last place that it might the longer be kept in your remembraunce The example is this A king of Poland whose name was Popileus a king of infamous life and manners did oftentimes wish in his life to be deuoured of rattes At last according to his wish they set vpon him as he was making good cheare and being well tipled crowned with garlands smeared with swéete ointments and ouercome with surfit and excesse Which rattes saith the authour came from the dead carkasses of his vncles by the fathers side which he and the Quéene his wife had poysoned For rattes of a huge greatnesse being come forth leapt vpon the feasting tyranut and his wife and sonnes and bitte them cruellie His guard coulde not driue them away because when men were wearie the rattes continued day and night without anie wearines Burning fires were made and Popileus his wife and sonnes were placed amidst them but for all that the rats passing through the fire ceased not to gnawe the man-queller They assaid an other element and vsed the helpe of the water and this murtherer of his fathers brethren togither with his wife and children were carried to a déepe standing water Notwithstanding the rattes continually followed them and made holes in the boate and vessell where they were insomuch that the water entering in they were in daunger of drowning Wherefore the marriners fearing to be drowned brought the vessell to the shoare where an other company of rattes méeting them and ioyning with the former did more gréeuously annoy them Which when they perceiued the defenders knowing it to be Gods vengeaunce fledde all away Popileus nowe hauing none to defende him being altogither forsaken and forlorne of all his subiects and friendes séeing no other helpe got him to a high tower where hée founde himselfe no safer then he was before but the rattes hauing as it were a greater libertie runne vp to their praie with a swift course and there they destroy and deuoure the two boyes the wife and this wicked Popileus that neither he nor any of his generation should remaine aliue Small creatures and weake rattes to make an end of wicked people and where the image of God is not nor any sparke of grace doth appeare in respect of them brute beastes are of more account and wicked persons are despised and tormented of beastes who otherwise might be honoured of them and commanded by them Vnto the fearefull example of king Popileus the same authour addeth
without spot that he might vndertake that punishment that was due vnto our sins and endue vs with his righteousnes So that now we are iust and righteous in him not that we can satisfie the iudgement of God by our owne workes but that we are accounted iust and righteous through Christ who is ours through faith Who is made vnto vs wisdome and righteousnesse satisfaction and redemption that he that reioyceth might only reioyce in the Lord for whose sake we are fréely accounted both iust innocent before god in whom are seene the glorious treasures of God that wée might bée inriched by him For if wée looke for saluation wée are taught by the very name of Iesus that it is in him if wée séeke for any other gifte of the spirit they are to bée found in his annointing if wée séeke for strength it is in his dominion if we séeke for cléerenesse it is in his conception if we séeke for tender kindnesse it sheweth it selfe in his birth whereby he was made in all things like vnto vs that he might learne to sorrowe with vs. If we séeke for redemption it is in his passion if we séeke for absolution it is in his condmnation if wée séeke for release of the curse it is in his crosse if we séeke for satisfaction it is in his sacrifice if wee séeke for clensing it is in his blood if wée séeke for reconciliation it is in his going downe into hell if we séeke for mortification of the flesh it is in his buriall if wée séeke for newnesse of life it is in his resurrection if for immortalitie it is in his victory ouer death if we seeke for the inheritaunce of the kingdome of heauen it is in his entraunce into heauen if wée séeke for defence for assurednesse for plentie and stoare of all good thinges it is in his kingdome And therefore this is the diademe and bewtifull crowne that is sette vpon our heads the fine linnen and the silke and the broidered worke wherewith wée are couered these are the ornaments wherewith wée are decked the bracelets on our hands and the chaine that is put about our neckes this is the frontlet on our face the earings in our eares this is the garment of siluer and gold wherewith wée are cloathed this is the fine flower the hony and the oyle whereby we become so bewtiffull Euen the remssion of our sinnes and the imputation of Christ his righteousnesse who hath put away our transgressions like a cloud and our sinnes like a mist and filled our harts with ioy and gladnesse that in a sure confidence we may break out and say Nowe there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus Reioice therefore O ye heauens at the goodnes and mercie of the Lord for he only hath done it shout ye lower partes of the earth brast foorth into praises yee mountaines 3. Sanctification The lawe is fulfilled of the regenerate by reason of Christ O forrest and euerie trée threin The third braunch is sanctification and holinesse of life whereby as before being vnregenerate we hated the lawe and the lawe was vnto vs the cause of death nowe being reconciled to God of our owne accord respecting our former rebellion we are readie and obedient to doe the will of God yea and all our delight is therein so nowe vnto vs it ceaseth to bee a curse and condemnation for the lawe of God is writte in our harts whereby we vnderstand the will of God and are stirred vp to the obedience thereof So then through faith the lawe is not made of none effect but it doeth rather establish the lawe For without Christ the lawe is not fulfilled yea it setteth our concupiscence on fire and maketh vs subiect vnto condemnation but in Christ we find the exact righteousnesse of the lawe for he is the end of the lawe to eucrie one that beleeueth by whom also we are sanctified and our hearts framed to the obedience of the lawe which though it be vnperfect yet doth it aime at perfection And this obedience procéedeth from faith which through the merit of Christ obtaineth the holie spirit which spirit doth make vs newe harts doth exhilarat vs doth incite and inflame our harts to doe the lawe willinglie Nowe the lawe in the regenerate that is in those whose sinnes are forgiuen vnto whom the righteousuesse of Christ is imputed who are sanctified bringeth foorth good frutes Therefore euill actions procéede not from the lawe and from The workes of the regenerate no cause of iustification the regenerate but from sinne and our corrupt nature Neither let vs thinke so highly of these frutes as though from thence our iustification were deriued For though we hate sinne in other men and especially in our selues although we delight in all things which are agréeable to the A true doctrine of good workes will of god although all our actions and conuersation do expresse the same yet are they but signes and tokens of our loue to God and arguments to vs of our election and frutefull examples to drawe others to that excellent knowledge which is in Christ The lawe in the regenerate a mind rightly formed and ruled perswaded on thing but corruption also which hath her seate in the regenerate an other thing for it striueth against the spirit and the lawe of the In the regenerate is a fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit An especiall comfort in this fight is that we are vnder grace mind so that they cannot either liue as wel as they would or be so voide of sinne as they could wish Neuerthelesse this is their comfort that they are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace whereby enioying the fauour mercie fréegoodwill and beneuolence of God towarde vs in Christ the reliques of sinne are not imputed vnto vs but we are reputed and accounted before God as men fullie and perfectly iust He hath giuen vs his spirit the fulnes whereof we do not enioy because in this life there will alwaies remaine in vs remnants of sinne which fight against the spirit Which conflict the Apostle plainly setteth forth before our eies hauing sufficient experience thereof in himself For the mind of a regenerate man is spirituall but he himself is carnall sold vnder sinne and that which he hateth that doth he in his flesh there is no good thing To wil is present but he findeth no means to perform that which is good yea euil togither continually is present with him and though his inner man delight in the lawe of God yet doeth he sée an other lawe in his members rebelling against the lawe of his minde and leading him captiue vnto the lawe of sinne which is in his members And that euen the godly might know that they are laden The profit of this fight with infirmities therefore is this sting left in their flesh that they might alwaies haue recourse vnto the Lord who is able to beate downe
also retaining the faithfull in godly life and manners what moueth these our aduersaries séeing they are ouercome with the manifest and inuincible trueth to thinke they speake well saying Although this doctrine of Predestination be true yet it ought not to be preached vnto the people Nay so much the rather it is good to be throughly preached that he that hath eares to heare may heare And who hath them But he that hath receiued them of God who promiseth to giue them And as for him that doth receiue it let him refuse it if he will so that he that doth receiue it may take it drinke it be sufficed and haue life For as we must preach the feare of God to the end that God may be truly serued so must wée preach predestination that he which hath eares to heare may heare and reioyce in God not in himselfe for the grace of God towards him This is the mind of that excellent Doctor as touching this point Which notwithstanding bindeth vs to two conditions The one is that we speake no farther héerein then Gods worde doth limit vs. The other that we set forth the same thing which the scripture teacheth accordingly and to edification Wherefore we will briefly speake of both these partes first of the doctrine it selfe and next of the vse and applying of the same The second chapter Of the eternall counsell of God hidde in himselfe the which afterwards is knowen by the effects thereof GOD whose iudgements no man can comprehend The councell purpose will of God is the fountaine and originall of all causes whose waies cannot be found out and whose will ought to stop all mens mouthes according to the determinate and vnchaungeable purpose of his will by the vertue whereof all things aremade yea those things which are euill and execrable not in that they be wrought by his diuine counsell but forasmuch as they procéed of the prince of the aire and that spirit which worketh in the childrē of disobedience hath determined from before al beginning with himselfe to create all things in their time for his glory and namely men whome hée hath made after two sorts cleane contrary one to the other Whereof hée maketh the one sort which it pleased him to choose by his secret will and purpose partakers of his glory through his mercie Vessels of honor and these we call according to the word of God the vessels of honour the elect the children of promise predestinate to saluation And the other whom likewise it pleased him to ordaine to damnation that hée might shewe foorth his wrath and power to bée glorified also in them wée doe Vessels of dishonor call the vessels of dishonour and wrath the reprobate and cast off from all good workes This election or predestination to euerlasting life being Our election is hid in the secret purpose of God considered in the will of God that is to say this selfe same determination or purpose to elect is the first fountaine and chief originall of the saluation of Gods children neither is it theron grounded as some say because god did foresée their faith or good workes But only of his owne good will from whence afterwards the election the faith and the good workes spring foorth Therefore when the scripture will confirme the children of God in full and perfect hope it doth not stay in alledging the testimonies of the second causes that is to say in the frutes of faith nor in the second causes themselues as faith calling by the Gospell neither yet sometimes in Christ himselfe in whom notwithstanding we are as in our head elected adopted but ascendeth higher euen vnto that eternal purpose which god hath determined only in himselfe Likewise when mention is made of the damnation of the reprobate although the whole fault thereof be in thēmselues Reprobation is hidde in the secret purpose of God yet notwithstanding sometimes when néede requireth the scripture to make more manifest by this comparison the greate power of Gods patience and the riches of his glory towards the vessels of mercy leadeth vs vnto this high secret which by order is the first cause of their damnation Of the which secrete no other cause is knowen to men but only his iust will which we must with all reuerence obey as comming from him who is onely iust and cannot by any meanes nor of any man in any sort be comprehended For wée must put difference betwixt the purpose or ordinance of reprobation and reprobation it selfe The secret purpose to elect or reproue only appertaineth to God but the causes of election reprobation are manifest in the Scriptures because God would that the secrete of this his purpose should be kept close trom vs and againe wée haue the causes of Reprobation and Damnation which dependeth thereof expressed in Gods word that is to say corruption lacke of faith and iniquity which as they bée necessary so are they also voluntary in the vessels made to dishonor like as on the other part when wée describe orderly the causes of the saluation of the elect wée put difference betwixt the purpose of the electing which God hath determined in himselfe and the election which is appointed in Christ In such sort that this his purpose or ordinance doth not only go before election in the degrée of causes but also before all other things that followe the same The chiefe matters gathered out of this second chapter with places of proofe taken out of the worde of God ioyned thereunto God disposeth all according to his will and hath created all things for his glory and namely man Concerning whome first hée challengeth the ordering of all affaires as also the hardening of hearts Secondly hée hath made them after two sorts the one contrary to the other That God disposeth all according to his will Esay 46. 9. 10. 11. 12. Remember the former things of old For I am God and there is no other God and there is nothing like me Which declare the last thing from the beginning and from of old the things that were not done saying My counsaile shall stand and I will do whatsoeuer I wil. I call a bird from the East Cyrus which shal come as swift as a bird and the man of my counsel who shal execute that which I haue determined from farre As I haue spoken so will I bring it to passe I haue purposed and I will do it Esa 14 26. The Lord of hostes hath determined it and who shal disanull it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turne it away Dan. 4. 32. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and according to his will he worketh in the army of heauen and in the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand nor say vnto him What doest thou Ephe. 1. 9. 11. And he hath opened vnto vs the mistery of his will according to his good pleasure which
him not to hurt me If he thus said The spotted shal be thy wages then all the shéep bare spotted if he said thus the party coloured shal be thy reward then bare al the shéep party coloured Thus hath God taken away all your fathers substance and giuen it vnto me And the angell of god said vnto me in a dreame Iacob lift vp now thy eies and sée all the héegoats leaping vpon the shée-goats the are party-coloured For I haue séen all the Laban hath done vnto thée And now arise get thée hence out of this country and returne into the land where thou waste borne Then his wiues aunswered and said vnto him Haue wée any more portion and inheritaunce in our fathers house Therefore all the riches which god hath taken from our father is ours and our childrens now then whatsoeuer God hath said vnto thée doe it Then Iacob rose vp and set his sonnes and his wiues vpon camels and he carried away all his flocks and all his substance which he had gotten and so fled Which thing when Laban heard he made haste and ouertooke them and spoke angerly vnto Iacob And againe he said I am able to doe you euill But the God of your father spake vnto me yesternight saying Take héede that thou speake not to Iacob ought saue good Iacob said vnto Laban Except the God of my father the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had béene with me surely thou hadst sent me away nowe emptie But God beheld my tribulation and the labour of mine hands and rebuked thée yesternight Then Laban said Now therefore come and let vs make a couenant Gene. 27. 41. Therefore Esau hated Iacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him And Fsau thought in his mind the daies of mourning for my father will come shortly then I will slay my brother Iacob Gene. 32. Now Iacob went forth on his iourny and he was to méete with Esau And Iacob fearing his brother praied vnto God and said I am not worthy O Lord of the least of thy mercies which thou hast shewed vnto thy seruaunt I pray thée deltuer me from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau For I feare him least hee will come and smite me and the mother vpon the children Gene. 33. And as Iacob lift vp his eyes and looked behold Esau came and with him foure hundred men So Iacob went and bowed himselfe to the ground seuen times vntill he came neare to his brother Then Esau ranne to méete him and imbraced him and fell on his necke and kissed him and they wept And Esau said What meanest thou by all this droue which I met Who answered I haue sent it that I might finde fauour in the sight of my Lord. God chaunged Esaus murthering minde and malicious heart and turned it to loue his brother Iacob and to imbrace him louingly and friendly Concerning the hardning of hearts howe it pertaineth to God Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth Deut. 2. 30. Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let vs passe by him For the Lorde thy God had hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate because he would deliuer him into thine hand as appeareth this day Iosh 11. 20. It came of the Lord to harden their harts that they should come against Israel in battell to the intent that they should destroy them vtterly and shewe them no mercy but that they should bring them to naught as the Lord had commanded Moses 1. Sa. 2. 25. Ely warned his sonnes saying If one man sin against an other the Iudge shall iudge it but if a man sin against the Lord who will pleade for him Notwithstanding they obeyed not the voice of their father because the Lord would â—ley them Iohn 12. 40. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not sée with their eyes nor vnderstand with their hearts and should be conuerted and I should heale them To you saith Christ to his Disciples all thinges are opened that pertaine to the kingdome of heauen but to them which are without all thinges are spoken in parables God hath made mankinde of two sorts the one contrarieto the other the one to declare his mercy the other to declare his wrath and iudgement in both to set foorth his glory Rom. 9. 22. 23. The which thing the Apostle for our better vnderstanding doth teach vs by similitudes and comparisons Hath not the potter power of the clay to make of the same lumpe one vessell to honor and an other to dishonor What and if God would to shewe his wrath and to make his power knowne suffer with long patience the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction and that he might declare the riches of his glory vppon the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared vnto glory 2. Tim. 2. 19. 20. The foundation of God remaineth sure and hath this seale The Lord knoweth who are his and let euery one that calleth on the name of Christ depart from iniquitie Notwithstanding in a great house are not only vessels of gold of siluer but also of wood and of earth and some for honor and some for dishonor And that we may know and apply it to our selues whether wee pertaine to God or no he setteth downe the tokens and markes Verse 21. 22. If any man therefore purge himselfe he shall be a vessell to honour sanctified and méete for the Lord and prepared vnto euery good worke Fly also from the lustes of youth and follow after righteousnesse faith loue and peace with them that call on the Lord with a pure heart Rom. 8. 29. 30. Those which he knew before he also predestinate to be made like to the image of his sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren Moreouer whom he predestinate them also he called and whome he called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them also he glorified Concerning the other sort whom he made to declare his wrath and iudgement thus we reade Exod. 4. 21. And the Lord said to Moses when thou art entred and come into Egipt againe sée that thou doe all the wonders before Pharaoh which I haue put in thy hand but I will harden his hart he shall not let the people goe Cap. 10. 1. Againe the Lord said vnto Moses Goe to Pharaoh for I haue hardned his hart the hart of his seruants that I might worke these my miracles in the midst of his realme Caep 9. 16. Of Pharaoh God said And indéed for this cause haue I annointed thée to shewe my power in thée and to declare my name throughout all the world cap. 14. 4. I will harden Pharaohs hart that he shall followe after you so I will get me honour vpon Pharaoh and vpon all his host the Egiptians also shall knowe that I am the Lord. Pro. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all things for his owne
and will not tarrie Let no man bee wearie of well dooing For in due season wee shall reape if wee fainte not Let none of vs deceiue our selues God will not bee mocked For if our life be godly wee shall hereafter reape life and ioyes eternall If otherwise death standeth at the doore The crop must bee sowed in this worlde the haruest must bee in another worlde and then shall the Angelles bee the reapers For they shall seperate and diuide the good from the bad The grace of God teacheth vs to liue soberly righteously Present world and godly in this present world For all the doubt is in this present world where it is a hard matter for vs to goe upright and to behaue our selues in the feare of God as we ought to do For the life of man may well be compared vnto the passage of a ship in the sea which through tempestuous weather may be ouerturned by the mounting waues of the sea or torne in pieces by the gunshot of the enemie and théeuish and mischieuous pirates or else may be dasht in pieces against the rockes or suddainly sunke in the quicke sands or vnawares taken within the compasse of a whirlpoole and by the force and strength thereof carried violently into the bottome but after it hath once arriued at the hauen there is no such doubt there is no such feare So is our life in this present worlde subiect to many an ouerthrow the life of the bodie I meane not but the life of the soule whereof we ought to haue especiall care sinne within vs abounding like the force of the enemie the pirate or the mounting waues frailties infirmities like the quick soft sands euill examples of other and their wicked counsailes like the dashing of the rockes the temptations and snares of the diuel like the force of a whirlepoole which neuer leaue vntill we be brought to the bottome If any of these take hold of vs in this present world so that they preuaile against vs we are gone Therefore thrice happie is he who by a godly life can auoyd all these and at last arriue at the hauen and take vp his euerlasting rest in heauen Oh that we could be godly and watchfull in this present world for in the world to come we shall haue no hinderance and nothing to let but that most freely we may serue God and leade a godly life Let vs pray that the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ may be with vs and that it may abound who gaue himselfe for the sacrifice and satisfaction of our sinnes that hee might deliuer vs from this present euill worlde Gal. 1. Before that he suffered his passion he praied for vs Iohn 17. that in this present euil world we should not fall away from God I pray not saith he that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou kéepe them from euil And herehence groweth the exhortation of the Apostle written to the Phil. chapter 2. 15. wherby he warneth them and vs also by them that we should behaue our selues blamelesse and pure as the sonnes of God without rebuke and that we should endeuour to shine as lights in this present wicked world dwelling in the midst of naughtie and bad people Who by our example of godly life may be won to be godly in the day of Gods visitation whom the grace of God shall teache and touch their hearts and call them throughly A great comfort we haue and a great incouragement to be godly because we are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace that is we are frée from the curse of the law that we may the more chearfully giue obedience therunto being furthered assisted by the grace of God which strengthneth vs to doo his will For the lawe is not giuen to the righteous but to the vnholy and to the prophane The curse to the one and the blessing to the other Let vs be sanctified and holy and kéepe our harts from an euil conscience let vs hold out our profession without wauering séeing that we looke for the performance of great promises which he hath made vnto vs that will not deceiue vs. The deceit of sinne is readie to harden our hearts and make vs continually fall away The best are mightily tempted and much adoo they haue to kéepe and hold their owne How necessary therefore is it for euerie one of vs to prouoke one another to loue and to good workes Let euery one of vs striue aboue our strength with praier for Gods assistance and so much the more because the day of the Lord the comming of Christ draweth néere And i◠this do not perswade vs yet that which may follow and fal out through our backsliding may through feare inforce vs. For if we sinne willingly after that we haue vndertaken the course of a godly life there remaineth for vs a fearfull looking for of iudgement which God in his wrath and heauy vengeaunce shall powre out And better it had béene for vs not to haue knowne the way of godlinesse then after we haue knowne it to turne away Rather let vs bee stirred vp and incouraged by the words of the Apostle S. Peter 2. Epist 1. 10. 11. Wherefore brethren giue rather diligence to make your calling and election sure by your holy life and godly connersation For if ye do these thinges ye shall neuer fall And furthermore by these meanes an entring shal be ministred vnto you aboundantly into the euerlasting kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ And if we finde that we are risen with Christ let vs séeke those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Our affections must be aboue and not on things beneath which are on the earth And if we be dead vnto sinne our life is hid with Christ in God So that when Christ which is our life shall appeare then shall we also appeare with him in glorie Thus by gods help I haue set downe vnto you the effect of sanctification contained in these words of the Apostle The grace of God hath appeared teaching vs to deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world Now followeth the second part of my diuision noted in the text which is a perswasion and a reason mouing vs to this santification A perswasion vnto sanctification and that is the glorious inheritance of the kingdome of God expressed by the circumstance of Christ his comming at which time the godly shal be receiued into the kingdome of heauen their ioyfull dwelling place gathered out of these wordes Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glorie of the mightie God and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ We cannot giue our selues vnto the duties of godlinesse vnlesse we shal be in the expectation and looking after the hope of another life and therfore very fitly doth the Apostle ioine vnto the duties of a godly life this spéech Waiting for
the blessed hope c. Faith must giue vs assurance of greater glory froÌ„ god ere we can let go the hold we haue here beneath Therfore it is made a speciall note of gods childreÌ„ and necessarily toyned vnto his worship to be in expectation of the latter day and the glorie and of Christ his comming who shall bestow this benefite vpon the godly as to deliuer them from the wrath to come The Apostle going about to perswade the Thessalonians taketh his effectuall reason from that which was in most reuerence and regard with them and likewise to bring them into the earnest consideration of his words framing his speach thus 2. Thes 2. I beseech you brethren by the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ and our gathering togither and vniting vnto him So that the looking for of the last day séemeth to him to be in great reuerence regard and assured expectation among them And when hee laboureth to lift them off the earth commonly he reareth them vp with no other instrument then this that is the waiting for the glorie and hope of another life And in the third to the Phil. opening the meane of their stay from hunting after worldly and transitorie matters with the false Apostles which minded earthly thinges he saith thus But our conuersation is in heauen from whence we looke for a sauiour euen the Lord Iesus who shall change our vile bodie that it may be like his glorious bodie In the 11. to the Heb. the obedience of Abraham in leauing his own countrey not knowing whither he should go nor what should become of him is ascribed to this that he waited for a citie that had a foundation whose builder and maker is God For all thinges in the world are subiect to corruption and alteration The great thinges that are spoken of Moyses in accompâ—ing the rebuke of Christ to be of more value than the treasures of Egypt and his not fearing the furie of the king is onely imputed to this that he was as if he had séene him that is inuisible The comming of the glory of the great God was alwaies before his eies The greatnesse of the thing and the excellency of it is noted in these wordes The glory of the great God our sauior Christ The same glory which the great God our sauior Christ inheriteth is that which we waite for and hepe in due time according to our measure to be partakers of Most worthie it is the waiting for and great cause there is why we should be moued to sanctification and holinesse of life hauing so great things in expectation We beséech you saith S. Paul 1. Thes 2. 12. that ye would walk worthie of God who vouchsafeth to call you vnto his owne kingdome and glory The glory of this world dazeleth our cies and therefore must we be drawne vp by meditation of greater things before we shal be able to let these be of smal reckning and account with vs. The greatnesse of the glorie once throughly digested would set these in a base and lowe place it would make the things of this life vanish as smoake from our presence While in minde and inwarde thought we behold and looke not on the things which are séene but on the things which are not séene For the things which are séene are temporall but the things which are not séene are eternall If it be but the expectation of a transitorie kingdome when it is once deuoured and digested by hope we sée it maketh men neglect liues goods landes friends wife and children and so to hazard all The Merchant that is in expectation of some great gaine we sée into what vnknowne countries into what dangers by sea he wil commit himselfe The great regard and care that is had euery where to the things here belowe the gréedie following after them the carefull pursuing of pleasures profits and honors doo plainly speake that the hope of another life is not yet setled in the hearts of a number and that is the cause that godlinesse and a holy life is so litle practised and performed Let vs call to remembrance how that in this life is our day to wait and this is our time to serue and we must assure our selues with the holy Apostle S. Paul 2. Tim. 4. that we haue fought a good fight against our ghostly enemies sinne the world and the diuel and that we haue led our liues in the feare of God before we can or shal truly say and our conscience witnesse vnto vs that from hencefoorth is laide vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse And if our consciences and the good spirite of God can warrant our hearts herein without all doubt and feare then when Christ which is our life shall appeare shall be glorious and appeare with him in glory There is no pleasure in this world which the Lord hath not matched with some griefe and paine to take away and remoue if it might be our delight and to place it in thinges of greater estimation and which shal be more sure vnto vs. If the glorie of God cannot preuaile against vs â—â— it cannot change our taste and that the pleasures of this life be more swéete vnto vs this sweete shal not alwaies 〈◊〉 but as after a faire day commeth a foule and after a calme a tempest and so miserie in the world to come shall follow earthly delightes and this our transitorie worldly happinesse If so great hire as is Gods owne glory cannot allure vs brutish and sencelesse must then our nature néedes be what a greater argument and proofe can we haue of our blockishnesse then that so great thinges can get no more attendance of vs The truth is that we are too much perswaded of the excellencie of these worldly matters as pleasures honours riches and such like And therefore in all places that are alleadged and which speak of the waiting for of Christ his comming there the benefite is set sorth with it and the greatnesse thereof remembred which pointeth at our darknesse and vnbelief herein and telleth vs that the glory of this world standeth as a cloud betweene the great glory which is to come and our blinded sight Wherefore let ve inlarge our hope and by meditation and praier enter into some serious and waightie consideration of the length bredth depth of that glory So shall we sée such a portion of it as will comfort vs euen in our great afflictions and deepest extremities counting â—â— a great honour that we are vouchsafed his seruice as the Apostles heretofore haue reioyced herein And if the waiting for of that glory be so great as shall swallow vp all griefe and sorrow which afflictions may bring with them how much more shall the same incourage vs to a holie and sanctified life and to all duties of godlinesse And now am I come to the last part of my text which I purpose God willing in a few words to end least ye should be 〈◊〉 much wearied and too
so certaine that it is prepared for vs before the beginning of the world and before the foundations of the world were laid The elder brother to forgo his inheritaunce and to giue it to straungers wée should hardly beléeue it were it not that he had giuen so manifest a triall in that hée gaue his life for vs which is more then his inheritance Howe then shall hée not therewith giue vs all thinges also Hée that hath made vs Lordes ouer all his creatures here on earth should we doubt that he will not vouchsafe vs an heauenly dignitie The Angels are they not all ministring spirites sent foorth to minister for their sakes which shall be heires of saluation Hebr. 1. 14. Hée that hath appointed the Angels in this life to watch to our good to guide and to guard vs shall hée not also in the life to come make vs fellowes and companions with the Angels The Angels are seruaunts and we are brethren â—rethren nay crowned Kings because the kingdome of heauen shall bee our inheritaunce According as the Apostle Saint Peter 1. Epistle 2. 9. informeth vs Yee are saith he a chosen generation a royall priesthood an holie nation a peculiar people graced foorth with a singular excellencie and preheminence in that wee are said to bee the thrones of God and that wee shall fit vppon throanes What comfort then is it for vs all that of the sonnes of darknesse we are made the sonnes of light of the enemies of God reconciled friends of the seruants and children of the diuell of Gods wrath being altogither fearfull and doubtfull of the children of this world and of euerlasting perdition that wee are made the seruants of God fully partakers of his grace and certainly staied and confirmed therein citizens of heauen and heires of euerlasting consolation Which serueth mightily and standeth vs greatly in stéede to raise vp our weake mindes and faint heartes which are cast downe through the remembraunce of our gréeuous sinnes and which shall kéepe vs from falling into dispaire that when Sathan togither with our owne guiltie consciences shall perswade vs that wée are none of Gods children euen then that the spirite of God shall certifie our hearts that we be heires of the kingdome of God This that we are heires hath two profitable lessons to lift vp our mindes and also to humble vs lest we be too much exalted For this inheritance commeth not vnto vs by desert but through grace and mercy that we may rather giue God the praise and thankes then boast in our selues who haue nothing but that which is giuen granted nothing but that whereof we be vouchsafed To humble vs being put in minde of our dutie as the Apostle warneth vs. 1. Peter 1. 17. And if wee call him father which without respect of persons iudgeth according to euerie mans worke let vs passe the time of our dwelling heere in feare And séeing God hath made vs his sonnes by adoption so much the more are we bound to feare and obedience because he hath adopted vs of his only fauour when he might worthily haue cast vs off and put vs by for our vnthankfulnesse Vnto these two profitable lessons we may adde two singular comfortes the one concerning our afflictions and troubles and distresses in this transitorie life the other concerning our blottes and blemishes our sinnes and offences And therefore verie fitly and very well saith a godly writer in this respect All thinges yea gréeuous afflictions and sin it selfe turne to their good and bettering who are chosen to be heires Afflictions sinne death are very profitable vnto them howe hurtfull soeuer they be in their owne nature Death which séemeth to be the worst of all yea most terrible is not an entrance into hell as it is to the worst sort and to the vngodly but to them it is a narrow gate to let them in into euerlasting life and therfore most ioyfully and most chéerefully they vndertooke it being glad that the time of their dissolution doth approach and that their miseries shall haue an end and that the course of sinne shal be cut off As for afflictions vnlesse they did tend to the good of the godly and the adopted children of God God would not lay them vpon them and put them to such hazardes and distresses Yea the godly are so affected that with Iob they can say If God doe kill me yet will I put my trust in him And because his loue is shead abroad in our hearts therefore shall no discomfort vtterly dismay vs. Wherein also this comforteth our heartes that God wil lay no more vpon vs then that he will make vs able to beare and further that he will giue a ioyfull issue to all our troubles and vexations and temptations For in that he suffered and was tempted he is able to succour and to helpe them that suffer affliction and are tempted So that we may looke for comfort at Gods hand euen such as shal be grounded vpon the certaine and infallible promises of God and such as shal be answerable to the measure of our afflictions troubles vexations and temptations If we be children we are also heires euen the heires of God and heires annexed with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him For I count saith the Apostle that the afflictions of this present time and of this present transitorie life are not worthy yâ— glorie which shal be reuealed and shewed vnto vs whereof in due time we shal be partakers Now as for our sinnes it is so farre off that they shall The remembrance of sins no hurt to the adopted to dismay them and to put them beside their hope bréed any trouble vnquietnesse or vexation of minde to remooue vs from the hope of our inheritance that the remembrance thereof shal be as a goade or a spurre to hasten vs on to persorme all good workes And as we haue giuen our members as weapons of vnrighteousnesse to sinne so shall we with all readinesse giue our selues vnto God as they that are aliue from the dead and as they who by the power of Christ their sauior haue fully triumphed ouer the world and the flesh and the deuill ouer sinne and death and hell For behold this thing that we haue béen great offenders what care it will worke in vs least we should fall into sin againe what holy anger and indignation against our selues for our sinnes past what a desire to please God what a zeale and forwardnesse in all goodnesse and greatly indeuouring also the contrary to those sinnes wherein we haue greatly offended If in drunkennesse auoiding all occasions and vsing all sobrietie if in filthinesse and vncleanesse in whoredome and wantonnesse hating the sin auoiding the meanes of our fall and framing our selues to all holinesse and christian conuersation and so likewise in all other sinnes After king Dauid had committed adulterie and murder how did he repent him how zealous
The other is concerning praier A good conscience maketh request vnto God and when we haue an euill conscience with what heart shall we offer vp our praiers to God or how shal they be accepted at gods hand According to that we reade Iob. 11. 13. If thou prepare thine heart and stretch out thine hand toward him if iniquitie be in thine hand put it farre away And therefore Mardocheus is bold to come into Gods presence vnder the warrant of a good conscience Hester 13. 12. Thou knowest saith he all things and thou knowest Lord that it was neither of mallice nor presumption nor for any desire of glorie that I did this and not bowe downe to proud Haman For I would haue bene content with a good will for the saluation of Israel to haue kist the sole of his feete But I did it because I would not preferre the honor of a man aboue the glory of God and would not worship any but onely thee my Lord. And this haue I not done of pride Séeing therefore the ioy of a good conscience is so great well might the wise man say Pro. 15. 15. A good conscience is a continuall feast and the greatest comfort in the greatest trouble and such a comfort that the world cannot giue The ioy and comfort whereof may appeare by the contrary in the wicked For where the want of a good conscience is there is neither ioy nor comfort but feare and sorrow As we reade Prou. 15. 13. A ioyfull heart maketh a cheerfull countenance but by the sorrow of the heart the mind is heauie And Iob. 11. 20. The eies of the wicked shall faile and their refuge shall perish and their hope shall be sorrow of minde An ill conscience bringeth great dumpes and the heart of the people is filled therewith And this is one of the chiefest iudgements that God doth lay vpon the wicked as we may reade Wisd 17. That they were sick and died for feare and they swounded when a sodaine feare not looked for came vpon them For it is a fearefull thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie and a conscience that is touched doth euer forecast cruell thinges By the which feare the succours which reason offereth are betraied for indéede no reason can allay the force therof but only the grace and good spirite of God which is farre from the obstinate and vnrepentant sinner Whose hope the lesse it is within the greater doe the tormentes to come séeme vnto them Wickednesse is full of feare and giueth testimonie of damnation against it selfe and a troubled conscience alway suspecteth cruell matters to be imminent and to hang ouer it selfe as it maketh account to haue descrued The miserable estate of a wicked mans conscience is also liuely described Iob. 15 in these wordes A wicked man is prooued all the daies of his life though time be vncertain how long he shall play the tyrant The sound of terror and feare is alwaies in his eares and although it be in time of peace yet he alway suspecteth some treason against him expecting on euery side the sword to come vpon him When hee sitteth downe to eate he remembreth that the day of darknesse is ready at hand for him tribulation terrifieth him and anguish enuironeth him euen as a king is enuironed with souldiers when he goeth to war What can be more miserable then that man that hath such a butchery and slaughterhouse within his own heart What are his fearee how great are his anguishes Suspecting all things doubting their own shadowes fearing euery little noise thinking euery one to come against them that come toward them and others that talke togither to talke of them and their sins Such a thing sin is that it bewraieth it selfe though no man accuse it it condemneth it selfe though no man beare witnesse against it Pro. 28. The wicked man flieth thogh no man pursue him And why doth he flie Because that he hath within his conscience an accuser pursuing him whom alwaies he carrieth about him And as he cannot flie from himselfe so cannot he flie from his accuser but wheresoeuer he goeth he is pursued and whipped by the same his wonnd incurable And wherehence groweth all this feare but only because our consciences shal be our greatest accusers at the day of iudgement as we reade Reuel 20. 12 And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes of their consciences were opened and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in those bookes according to their workes Now therfore it appeareth that one of the chiefest ioyes of the godly is the testimonie of a good conscience which is only proper to the godly and vnto the which the wicked can in no sort attaine Without the which there is nothing but the feare of death and damnation Wherefore let euerie one haue care to make a good conscience his only ioy and let all our works be ruled thereby without the which all things no doubt shall go farre out of square The ioy also of the godly consisteth in this that they The glorie of God turne all their ioy to the setting forth of Gods glory According to the example Hamah the mother of Samuel who being in great sorrowe of minde because she was barren and wanted the ioy of children she made her humble and earnest request vnto god to make her a ioyful mother Promising therewithall that if God would vouchsafe to graunt her a child that she would him to the Lord and consecrate him to his seruice Contrary to the course of the wirked and the fashion of the world which perisheth who réferre and apply all their ioy to the fulfilling of their pleasures and the saisfying of their lustes Which thing the Apostle Saint Iames doth worthily reproue in them Chap. 4. 3. 4. Yee aske and receiue not because ye aske amisse that yee might consume it on your lustes Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the amitie of the world is the enmitie of God Whosoeuer therefore will be a friend of the world maketh himselfe the enemy of God Looke what ye sowe ye shall reape if ye séeke Gods glory ye shall reape honour and if your ioy bee setled in worldly and sinfull matters your ioy shall be turned into shame And herehence ariseth another kind of ioy of the godly Heauenly blessings who counting worldly ioyes but sinne and shame or at lestwise but friuolous vaine haue resolued with themselues to settle all their delight in heauenly blessings and inward comforts and in such things wherin the wicked hath no delight As in praier to God in singing Psalmes in hearing his word in reading his lawe Blessed is the man whose delight is in the lawe of the Lord and who meditateth therein day and night And séeing they are risen with Christ they séeke those things which are aboue their treasure is in heauen where their heart is As for the earth they
ioy and to her crowne who was ful néere her death The greatnesse of our peril can be no stop to our deliuerance because the power of our deliuerer is infinit Indéed we sée that men are altogither amazed and in a manner berest of wit and vnderstanding when they féele themselues daungerously tossed too and fro But do we not also sée that when they crie vnto the Lord in their trouble he bringeth them out of distresse hee turneth the storme to calme so that the waues thereof are still Do we not sée how that they passe through tribulations to the kingdome of heauen and through stormie tempests are brought to the hauen where they would be This the Lord doth that we might confesse his louing kindnesse before him and his wonderfull workes before the sonnes of men God for diuers secret causes leadeth his church through many bitter afflictions as it were to no other purpose then by trying them by the crosse to make them true to his crowne and then either in death doth giue them patience and constancie or by deliuerance doth send them ease and libertie Psal 38. 19. Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of them all It is euen the time of Iacobs trouble saith the Lord yet shall he be deliuered from it and shall be in rest and prosperitie and none shall make him afraid And there shall be a day Zacha. 14. 7. it is knowne to the Lord neither day nor night but about the euening time it shall be light And loe in the euening there is trouble but afore the morning it is gone Esay 17. 14. The wrath of the Lord endureth but the twinkling of an eie and his pleasure is life heauinesse may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning Ps 30. 5. The thoughts of the Lord are thoughts of peace and not of trouble to giue you an ende and your hope Ieremy 29. 10. Then shall ye cry vnto me and I will heare you ye shall seeke me and find me because ye shall seeke me with all your heart And if hee come out presently at our call it is most méete and conuenient that wée should waite his pleasure Knowest thou not or hast thou not heard that the euerlasting God the Lord hath created the ends of the earth neither fainteth nor is weary there is no searching of his vnderstanding But he giueth strength to him that fainteth and vnto him that hath no strength he increaseth power Euen the yong men shall faint and be weary and they shall stumble and fall Eut they that wait vpon the Lord shall renue their strength they shall lift vp theire winges as the eagles they shall runne and not be weary they shall walke and not faint Somtimes it pleaseth God to send his people deliueraÌ„ce by turning the hearts of the percecutors So was the firie and fierce wrath of Nabuchodonozor turned to great good will toward Shadrake Meshake and Abednago Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the saints of God was conuerted miraculously and Saule a persecutor became Paule the professor and then had the churches rest in those daies King Agrippa beganne to yéeld and from iudging was readie to defend Paule Pontius Pilate spake for Christ when all the Iewes were against him saying I finde no fault in him at all Sometimes by sending danger and trouble to the persecutors Themselues in danger themselues As when Dauid was almost taken and like to come into the hands of Saul his enemy then he heard that the Philistines had inuaded his land Lastly God sendeth comfort and ioy by powring foorth Gods ven gâ—ance being powred out his vengeance on their enimies Vengeance is mine I will repay faith the Lord. God in time will reuenge our cause According to that we reade in the prophet Ieremie against king Nabuchodonozor and his land Iere. 50. 22. Acrie of Eze. 25. 17. 26. 5. 28. 22. 23. battell is in the land and of great destruction How is the hammer of the whole world destroied and broken how is Babel become desolate among the nations At the noise of the winning of Babel the earth is mooued mooued and the cry is heard among the nations Make bright the arrowes gather the shields the Lord hath raised vp the spirit of the king of Medes For his purpose is against Babel to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord and the vengeance of his temple Iere. 5. 11. Re. 16. 19. Great Babylon came in remembrance before God to giue vnto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath 18. 20. Oheauen reioyce of her and ye holy Apostles and Prophets For God hath giuen your iudgement on her and reuenged your cause in punishing her and in one houre shee is made desolate But let vs come a little néerer and behold Gods iudgementes vpon persecutors and the ouerthrow not of the And his iudgmentes being put in execution meanest but of the greatest and mightiest in the world kinges and emperours Ioas slaine of his seruauntes after he had caused Zachariah to be put to death by stoning Senacharib murthered by two of his owne sonnes after that he Eze. 28. 26. 35. 11. ca. 39. 21. 22. had blasphemed God and done his worst against godly Ezekiah Antiochus perished by grieuous tormentes in the bowels so that wormes came out of his bodie in aboundance and being aliue his flesh fell from him for paine and torment and all his armie was gréeued at his smell yea and he himselfe might not abide his owne stinke When Nero one of the Emperours of Rome went about by all meanes to extinguish and blot out for euer the religion of Christ and had caused both Paul and Peter and many holy martyrs to be murdered at length he also receiued reward according to his crueltie For being left of all his prouinces souldiers and acquaintance being iudged of the Romaine Senate an ennemie and condemned by most ignominious death to suffer flying at midnight with Sporus his page there fell before bis féete a thunderbolt whereat afraid and hiding himselfe and falling into vtter dispaire he vttered these words Filthily haue I liued and worse shall I die and so taking his dagger with the helpe of Sporus he cut his owne throate and perished What punishments Domitian Traiane Antoninus Verus Seuerus Maximinus Decius Valerianus Emperours yet bloodie and cruell persecutors of Gods church haue suffered time would faile to declare vnto you Most euident it is that Aurelian for his crueltie against the Saints was slaine of his seruaunts that Dioclesian after he had shead much Christian blood druncke poyson in extreame desperation and so perished that Maximian was hanged at Massilia by Constantine and Maximine strooken for his crueltie with Antiochus his disease wormes growing in bodie and deuouring him vp Infinite the like examples might be alledged of the iust iudgements of almightie God vpon such as