Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n
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A05318
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An exhortatory instruction to a speedy resolution of repentance and contempt of the vanities of this transitory life. By Samson Lennard
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Lennard, Samson, d. 1633.
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1609
(1609)
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STC 15460; ESTC S108479
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125,824
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546
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with his grace It is a hard thing and onely possibly to the power of God to soften the heart of a man for that which neither by the patience and long sufferance of God is woon to repentance nor is toucht with compunction that which is not broken with feare nor sofrned with loue but is hardned as well with scourges as with benefits lastly that which feareth neither God nor man who can rent in sunder but he that in his passion rent the vaile of the Temple Matt. 27 51. and cloue the stones Who can take away a stonie heart and giue a fleshy heart but hee from whom commeth euerie good and perfect gift euen the Father of light A great sinner hath need of great mercie that where sinue did abound grace may superabound The Lord is faithfull Wisd 1.13 hee hath not made death neither hath hee pleasure in the destruction of the liuing hee will not the death of a sinner but that he conuert and liue For he whose desire it is that sinners doe repent and therby returne vnto God wil not suffer vs to bee tempted aboue our strength but with the temptation will giue vs power to resist and by how much the more fraile we are and in greater necessitie so much the more ready is he to helpe vs if the fault bee not our owne as in the siege of a citie the greatest aide is sent to defend that place that is weakest and where the enemie is strongest The Lord is faithfull and hee that saieth Come vnto mee all yee that labour and are heauie laden and I will refresh you cannot denie himselfe For as a Physician suffereth many wrongs and railing speeches of his lunatike patient and yet is not angry with him but doeth neuerthelesse whatsoeuer the nature of the disease doeth require to the curing thereof wherewith though the sicke man bee afflicted yet on the part of the Physician his affliction is no reuenge of the wrongs receiued from his patient but the cure of his infirmitie in as much as if the sicke man being to recouer health the Physician receiueth ioy and comfort therat with greater alacritie proceedeth in his cure and forgetteth his former iniuries euen so our Lord God whose propertie it is to haue mercy and to forgiue who iudgeth with loue and with great respect disposeth of vs when we are in our greatest madnesse of sinne is neuer moued against vs with any affection of reuenge for those sins we hane committed And forasmuch as he is impassible he punisheth not our sinnes in this life with passible anger but with vnspeakable clemencie with the affection of a Physician not a torturer and that hee doeth not for himselfe as reuenging his wrongs for the nature of God is not capable of any such thing but for our correction and benefit As a louing mother is angry with her sonne that hath offended her reprehendeth him chidech beateth him whom neuerthelesse if she shall see to runne into any danger of his estate or life she presently helpeth him putteth foorth her hand nay endangereth her owne life to saue his and that childe whoÌ„ being angry she did beat as if she had not loued him now she holdeth him vp and saueth him as if she had not been angry when shee beat him Euen so God chastiseth vs for our finnes to protect vs sinners and for the most part out of his mercy he sendeth a temporal punishment lest out of his iustice he should inflict an eternall reuenge And if any man shall persist in his hardnesse and with Pharo grow more whose 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 hath long expected not connerted he adiudgeth to â—ernall damnation As a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his garden or 〈◊〉 planteth a tree not that 〈◊〉 should bee cut downe 〈◊〉 cast into the fire and 〈◊〉 when after a long expestâ—â— on he seeth it to bring 〈◊〉 no fruit he cutteth it down and burnes it So our 〈◊〉 full God cutteth off no 〈◊〉 from the land of the 〈◊〉 that yeeldeth any fruit 〈◊〉 testimonie of a true faith 〈◊〉 in that hee willeth the 〈◊〉 of a sinner it is by 〈…〉 sinne committed not of 〈◊〉 selfe but by his conseqâ—â—â— will as Diuines call it 〈◊〉 by he willeth for some 〈◊〉 alreadie done or before all beginnings foreseene and according to this will he would that all reprobates should bedamned whoÌ„ afterwards by his anteced ent will he would saue by al meanes ministing them occasion to attaine saluation As it is the will of a Law-giuer that all his Citizens should bee good and peaceable farre from committing those offences which vpon paine of death he hath forbidden and yet if his ownsonne bee he neuer so deare vnto him transgresse the law hee must die the death though it bee much against the will of his 〈…〉 by his owne 〈…〉 serued death 〈…〉 ture which in our 〈◊〉 rents was whole and entire by their sinne is wholly corrupted and hath altogether lost both righteousnesse and immortality wherby it could beget no other but corrupt vnrighteous and mortal children who as in Adam sining they haue sinned so in the same Adam dying they are dead And therfore whosoeuer hee bee that hath escaped death let him giue thanks vnto God in that hee hath escaped death that was due vnto him and found life not due vnto him To him that is deliuered mercie is shewen without desert to the end hee may giue thanks vnto God vpon him that his damned iustice is executed with desert to the end hee should reprehend nothing in God that neither he should glory in his owne worth nor this complaine of his owne vnwoorthinesse For how should God iustly be accused in his iudgements when hee iustly condemneth a guiltie offender When a debt is truly demanded how can the creditour be iustly condemned So that neither in requiring nor remitting what is due is God with whom there can be no iniustice vniust There is mercy acceptable where reuenge is iust that thereby it may more plainly appeare to him that is freed from iust punishment freely iustified how great a benefit is conferred vpon him in that another not more guiltie than himselfe without any iniustice in him that punisheth is iustly chastized Ro. 11.33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisedome knowledge of Godâ— how vnsearchable are his iudgements and his waies past finding out For who hath knowen the waies of the Lord or who hath beene his counsellour From that which hath been spoken thou maiest gather deere brother how thou runnest from one sinne into another and by long custom art hardned in them thou working it in thy selfe and God withdrawing hiâ— speciall grace from thee God is patient and of lonâ— sufferance hee tollerateâ— thee for beareth and expecteth thee to repentance being alwaies readie to take from thee thy stonie heart and to giue vnto thee a fleshie hart and to mollifie thy benummed insensible hardnesse with the deaw of his grace And though he
enticement to sin There is life without death rest without labor vnspeakable ioy without sorrow charitie without discord securitie without care beautie without deformitie How happie is that citie wherein there is euerlasting solemnitie and how pleasant a court that knowes no care Heere is neither labour nor old age nor deceit nor feare of enemies but one voice of reioicing one agreement feruencie of hearts because God shall wipe away al tears from their eies and sorrow from their hearts There veritie reigneth eternall saluation aboundeth there no man deceiues nor is deceiued none that is blessed cast out none that is accursed admitted There is assured securitie secure peace peaceable delight delightful happinesse happy eternitie in that blessedly eternall and eternally blessed life There the essentiall reward which belongs to the essence of blessednesse and without which the soule can not bee truely blessed consisteth in the cleere sight presence of God The sight or presence of God the first gift or grace of the soule and this is the reward of faith because those things that are heere beleeued bâ— faith are there seene in theâ— true forme and likenesse But both these are the gift of the inward man because God whilest we are in the waie is knowen of vs in spirit as it were in a glasse obscurely but in heauen our true home hee is seene face to face not with corporall cies but spirituall as the Prophets being absent in bodie saw manie things done in the spirit and by dreames sleeping knew many things by the spirit though their outward senses were bound And as in a glasse we see onely the image of the thing and that imperfectly so whilest wee heere know as it were by a similitude the inuisible things of God by those things that are made we come to the knowledge of God as it were by a glasse and obscurely but there directly-looking one vpon another wee shall see God cleerely and nakedly euen face to face one in substance three in the difference of persons As many as are there shall together see the whole essence of God bet forasmuch as by reason of his infinitenes he cannot totally be comprehended therefore he shall not be equally seene of all but by a spiritual vision of one more darkly than of another according to that measure wherewith euerie one shall be more or lesse enlightned with the light of glory For as the materiall sunne which equally offereth it selfe to the eies of all is not seene without the emission of the light or beame thereof into the eie of a man and yet all doe not alike see it and looke vpon it but diueisly more or lesse according to the diuers disposition of the eie to see so the eie of the minde being weake is not capable of that excellent light of God except it bee strengthned of God by a created and infused light of glory as it is written In thy light shall wee see light The light of the diuine substance is seene in the light of glory whereby the naturall light of the vnderstanding and the spirituall eye is eleuated more or lesse to the knowledge of God according to that great or lesse faith and charitie whereby it is caried vnto him The face therefore and forme of God shall bee seene more cleerely by one than by another as one and the same thing is better seene from farre by one than by another and one and the same writing beeing read by diuers is diuersly vnderstood which diuersitie proceedeth not from the thing or wrâ—ting but the diuers disposition of the seer and the reader And because God is euery where present by essence therefore he shall not there be seene by distance but whersoeuer the soule is there shall it see God present with it It shall see God in it selfe and it selfe in God God in others and others in God By an vnspeakable meanes shall it depart from it selfe and be turned wholly into the similitude of God Otherwise how shall God be in all if in man there remaine any thing of man 1. Cor. 15. The substance of man shall continue but in another forme another glorie For as a small quantitie of water powred into a great deale of wine loseth it owne nature and is turned into the taste and colour of the wine as burning iron changeth his proper forme and is made like vnto fire as the aire being inflamed by the beames of the Sunne is transformed into the same cleerenesse of light insomuch as that it seemeth not to be inlightned but light it self and as a looking glasse directly stricken with the beames of the sunne receiueth into it selfe the similitude of the sunne insomuch that a man may thinke it another sunne so the saints of God in heauen are totally penetrated with the cleere light of God in their inward parts and so being deiformed are transformed into the similitude of God So to bee affected is to bee deified as it is written Psal 82. I haue said yee are Gods that is by participation for there is one onely God by essence You are deified by him he deifying you And in another place 1. Iob. 32 When he shall appeare we shall be like vnto him for we shall see him as he is And as looking in a glasse a man seeth himself many things besides there present about him so the blessed seeing God together and at once with one and the same vision see themselues and whatsoeuer is necessarie to the perfection of their happinesse They see that their sinnes are forgiuen them not to their confusion but to glorifie the great mercy of God whereby whilest they reioice for their deliuerie from so great a miserie they alwaies magnifie his holy name For how should they giue thanks vnto God if they should not remember why they are to doe it If there bee there so great comfort for sinnes forgiuen how great is there for good works done Though euery mans conscience lie open to one another yet there is no man there more ashamed of his sinnes than he is heere of his wounds that are healed or than an old man of those things he did in his infancie as Peter is no way abashed at his triple deniall nor Mary Magdalene and diuers others at their sinnes formerly committed now pardoned Touching their knowledge if the Prophers as yet mortall men could know manie things past present and to come how much more can God who is a voluntarie and free looking glasse represent whatsoeuer to whomsoeuer and whensoeuer and therefore an old doting decrepid woman in that glory knoweth more than all the Philosophers in the world can know in this life There they know by what meanes the father begot the sonne equall vnto him and that from both the holy Ghost proceeded coequall vnto both What doe not they know that know him that knowes all things They haue alwaies libertie to behold God alwaies to haue him alwaies to possesse him alwaies to