aedificationem bonorumque actuum nexum fundat so Dyonisius Carthusianus He that yields prompt obedience to Christs commands builds himself a spiritual house a secret Cabinet of his mind a building of vertues and a close compacted tenement of good deeds Good works beloved they are the structure of every Christian builder the inseparable companions of every true beleiver This is a true saying saith Saint Paul and these things I will that thou shouldest affirm Tit. 3. 8. that they which have beleived God might be careful to shew forth good works Faith must be shewed by good works For as the body without the spirit is dead even so Faith without works is dead also Saint James James 2 18. Faith therefore though it be the foundation of good works and evidence of things not seen yet it is nothing worth if works be wanting nor can it justifie any man before God unless by good works it self be justified before men Was not Abraham our Father justified through good James 2. 21. works saith Saint James when he offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar that is was he not by his works known and found to be justified Did not Jobs works thus manifest his faith Who was no less than eyes to the blind feet to the lame and a pittiful Father to the distressed poor as he testifies of himself Yea as possible it is to separate light from its fountain the Sun as good works from saving Job 29 15 16. Tit. 1. 16. faith the mother Use 1. What then shall we think of all those that have only a form of Godliness denying the power thereof Such as profess that they know God yet by works deny him and are abominable and disobedient and to every good work even reprobates as St Paul speaks of them to Titus Surely beloved these though perhaps they may acount themselves in the number of Gods faithful builders yet are they indeed no better than Babel builders building to themselves nothing else but aerial Castles of sad and sempiternal confusion clouds they are without water carried about of windes corrupt trees without fruit twice dead and pluckt up by the roots wandering Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for Jude vers 12. evermore so Jude in his general Epistle verse 21. Serpit hodie putrida tabes hypocrisis per omne corpus Ecclesiae quo tolerantius eo desperatius eoque periculosius quo communius Bern. The corrupt consumption of counterfeiting hypocrisie creeps at this day through the whole body of the Church which is so much the more desperate so much the more dangerous by how much the more indured by how much the more common 't was the complaint of good Saint Bernard in his time and I would to God there were not as great need at this time for me to make it mine for do no not all or at least most of all slighting sincerity content themselves with the bare shew and formality of Religion Nay which is worse is not religion commonly made a cloak to palliate deformed vice which seldome or never dare shew her self in publick unless she steal the robes of vertue and actuate her mischeif with sly hypocrisie Is not Pharisaical avarice now vailed under a pretence of long prayers as sometimes we read it was in our Math. 23. 14. blessed Saviours time Is not Herodians cruelty now covered over with the vizard of holy devotion as heretofore it was with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may come and Math. 2. 8. worship him Yes yes we are I fear most of us all like whited tombs appearing beautiful outward but are within full of rottenness We have fair leaves but foul fruit good words but no good works and yet we would be counted in the number of Gods faithful builders too but let us not O let us not dear Brethren I beseech you any longer deceive our selves with a vain conceit of couzening God who is not mockt like men with shadowes nor yet mislead like us with outward shews Let us not think to mask our impiety from his omniscient Majesty under religious pretences nor yet to muffle our hypocrisie under the garment of zealous devotion No no Bonav Ostensio enim reverentiae in ore fallax est nisi adsit pariter exhibitio obedientiae in opere as Bonaventure well observes in vain do they honour God with Isa 29. 13 14. their lips whose hearts are farre from him so the Prophet Isaiah Who shall ascend into the Mountain of the Lord Psal 24. 3 4. and who shall stand in his holy place 't was the question of worthy David and his answer immediately follows even he that hath innocent hands and a pure heart that hath not lift up his mind unto vanity nor sworn to deceive his neighbour Chrys Answer me now O dissembling hypocrite saith Saint Chrysostome if it be good to appear good why wilt thou not be that which thou wouldest fam appear to be And if it be ill to appear ill why wilt thou be that which thou wouldst not appear to be but if it be good to appear good 't is than farre better to be good and if it be ill to appear ill 't is farre worse to be ill be therefore that which thou appearest or else appear what thou art so farre Saint Chrysostome Check now thy self thou vermonger that with a madding thought thus chasest fleeting shadows for frivolous it is for thee externally to profess thy self the servant of Christ and yet to wear the devils Livery In vain it is for thee to acknowledge God to be thy only Lord in publick prayer and yet to obey in all things the world the flesh and the devil in thy private practise Yea impious it is to be thus the divils 1 Cor. 4. 20. Rom. 2 13. builders in substance and Gods only in shew Non enim in verbis situm est regnum Dei for the Kingdome of God is not in word saith the Apostle Non Auditores sed factores legis justificabuntur not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall be justified so the same Apostle Quid Iam. 1. 22. vocatis me domine domine c. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I speak saith our Saviour Be ye therefore doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving Math. 7. 21. your own selves so Saint James For not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven so likewise our Saviour Christ Labour not therefore any longer dear Brethren I beseech you to cover your nakedness with the fig-leaves of vain-glorious hypocrisie but now at length indeavour to compass your loyns with the girdle of sincerity that so ye may be found of God not fictitious but faithful builders not supine but industrious doers which is the second thing by which a
and them will I endue by my spirit with the like faith in me That confession which thou hast made shall be the foundation of all beleivers so Theophylact. Supra Petram aedificat qui supra Christum aedificat so Stella He that buildeth and layeth his foundation on Christ buildeth and layeth it on a Rock Four reasons I find why Christ may and that not unfitly be resembled to a Rock First Because a Rock is a sound firm and stable stone Petca enim est rupes penitus immobilis on which whosoever buildeth buildeth most strongly buildeth most surely Christ in like manner is a stone yea a corner stone utterly unmoveable He that buildeth on him buildeth most firmly buildeth most safely against whom Math 16 18 the Gates of Hell cannot prevail Secondly a rock is a stone as well of offence as defence it defendeth and keepeth from ruine that which is built upon it so likewise doth it offend and break to peices all obstacles that shall justle against it Christ in like manner is a stone of offence as well as defence as he defendeth and keepeth his Elect that are founded and built upon him from ruine and destruction So likewise doth he offend and break to peices like potters vessels all wicked and ungodly obstacles that shall jussel against him to them is he made a stone to stumble at and a Rock of offence as Saint Peter speaketh And that they that justle against Christ thus must needs be confounded hear what our 1 Pet. 2. 8 Saviour Christ himself saith Whosoever shall fall on this stone he shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will dash him to pieces Take heed therefore beloved of justling Christ either Math. 21. 44. by your contemptuous mocking of his service or disdainful deriding of his servants lest the like confusion seaze on you that sometime fell on Julian that justling Apostata which constrained him in horrour of heart to confess and to cry out Sozom. Vicisti Galilee vicisti Galilee Thirdly A third reason why Christ is resembled unto a Rock is because that hence did refreshing water sometimes gush out and that in abundance for the miraculous releife of the children of Israel in the dry and thirsty wilderness And Moses lift up his hand and with his Rod he smote the Rock twice and the water came out abundantly Numb 20. 11 Ps 78. 15 16 Wisdom 11. 4 He cleft the Rock in the wilderness and gave them drink as out of the great depth He brought floods also out of the stony Rock so that it gushed out like the Rivers so the Psalmist And again when they were thirsty they called upon thee and water was given them out of the high Rock and their thirst was quenched out of the hard stone This all this Saint Paul explaineth and applyeth to Christ And the Children of Israel did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank saith he of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ This 1 Cor. 10. 4 Rock was struck for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities as the Prophet Isaiah saith From whence floweth unto all Gods children that live in the dry and thirsty wilderness of this wicked world most large refreshing Isa 53. 5. streams of living water Salientes in vitam aeternam springing up unto everlasting life as our Saviour Christ himself telleth us As therefore the children of Israel in their dry necessities quenched their souls with the sweet streams that Jo. 4. 14. issued out of that typical Rock in the wilderness So let us beloved in all our dry dolours and thirsty distresses run unto this Rock of Christ refresh our parched souls Psal 46. 1. with the living fountains of his holy Gospel and quench our thirsty hearts with the most comfortable waters of his evangellical promise Fourthly and Lastly Christ is resembled to a Rock because a Rock is a receptacle for innocent Doves to preserve them in safety from the piercing claws of devouring Birds so likewise is our Saviour Christ a receptacle for all faithful simple meek harmless Dove-like Christians to defend them from the raging malice of all the malignant Kites of the World that would devour them he he is the Rock of our salvation and present help in trouble A Rock beloved beyond the reach of all though never so malevolent adversaries in whose cliffs the Dove like-Christian abides most safely on which he builds most surely Statuitque fundamentum super petram And laid his foundation on a Rock Obs It is then you see the duty of every good Christian not to build on merits but to lay their foundation on a Rock not to trust confidently in their own deserts but to rely faithfully on Christs deservings The Father of the faithful built not on merrits But laid his foundation Gen. 15. 6 a Rock For Abraham believed in God and that was accounted to him for righteousness Behold he that lifteth up himself his minde is not upright in him but the Habac. 2. 4. just shall live by his faith To trust then in our selves or in any worldly thing besides is never to be at quiet The only rest is to rely upon God by faith for being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Rom 5. 1. Christ our Lord. The reason of the point or cause why Gods children ought not to rely on good works is evident For by faith 2 Cor. 1. 24 Gal. 2. 16 ye stand saith the Apostle And again We know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ so the same Apostle Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and from all things which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses by him every one that beleiveth is justified so Saint Paul Act. 13. 38 39 Good reason therefore have we to distrust our selves and to disclaim our own righteousness seeing that in us there dwelleth no good thing seeing we are all gone out of the way and that there is none that doth good no not Rom. 7. 18 Psal 14. 3 Isa 64. 6. one In a word seeing that we have all been as an unclean thing and all our righteousness as filthy cloutes And great reason have we to lay the foundation of our faith on the Rock of Christs merrits who of God is made unto us wisdom sanctification righteousness and redemption as Saint Paul expressly telleth us 1 Cor. 1. 30 Applic. How grossely then do they erre that forsaking this Rock fasten their foundation chiefly on the fickle sand of good works and that as Maldon in loc Rom. 7. 24. Firmissimum salutis suae fundamentum as Maldonat the Jesuite on this place Whenas alass who knows not how miserable and how wretched we are in our selves carrying alwayes about us no
that would serve Nebuchadnezzar the King of all the earth so he also I never molest any that are content to serve me the Prince of the present world as he is termed Jo. 14. 30. Q But why may some man say doth God permit the waters of affliction to arise and the floods of temptations thus to beat upon his childrens buildings A. Truely beloved the reasons for it are many but I will satisfie my self and I hope content you also with these three following First God suffereth the waters of affliction thus to arise against his own children that he might the better manifest his anger against sin that all may take notice if he spare not his own children but and if judgment begin at their houses what the wicked may nay what they must expect and where the ungodly shall think to appear Secondly Therefore doth God permit the floods of temptations to beat upon his childrens buildings that he might thereby manifest unto the world the fidelity of his chosen now I know saith God to Abraham that thou fearest God Not that God was ignorant of this before his bitter tryal of him by commanding him to sacrifice his only Son but that by this fact of his he might make known that his obedience unto others God by this extraordinary act of self-denyal made Abrahams faith and obedience manifest to others Not unfitly therefore are Gods children likened to spices whose odoriferous savour is then strongest smelt when they are soundliest pounded Saint Greg. Virtus per quietem se exercuit in Job sed virtutis opinio commota per flagella fragravit saith Saint Gregory Thirdly and lastly therefore doth God permit both the waters of affliction to arise and the floods of temptation also to beat upon his childrens buildings that he might preserve them in safety from that great gulf of presumptuous security and that he might keep them from the stragling by paths of eternal destruction who otherwise Psal 119. 67. would be too too apt to start aside and with David before his affliction to go astray the best ground untlled soonest runs out into rankest weeds Such are Gods children sudenly overgrown with security ere they are aware unless they be often exercised with Gods plough of affliction Greg. in Mor. Electis suis ad se pergentibus dominus hujus mundi iter asperum facit ne dum quisque vitae presentis requie quasi viae amenitate pascitur magis eam diu pergere quam citius pervenire delegit ne dum oblectatur in via obliviscatur quod desiderabat in patria so Saint Gregory God saith he permitreth his childrens pilgrimage here to be very bitter and extream sharp least any of them should be so far in love with the pleasantness of the path as to forget what they so earnestly desired in their country to come Crosses therefore though in themselves they be bitter arrows yet are they shot from a loving hand and 1 Sam 20. 10 therefore become like to Jonathans sometime shot to David serving only for directing caveats Apollonius writeth of certain people that could see nothing in the day but only in the night Many Men I am sure are so blinded in the Sunshining day of prosperity that they then see nothing belonging to their good only in the night of misery are their eyes open and to them Schols crucis is converted into Scholam lucis which is the third and last cause I mentioned why God permits the waters of affliction to arise and the floods of sorrows sometimes to beat upon his childrens buildings From which I pass unto the reasons why afflictions as I conceive are here and elsewhere too in Scripture compared to waters which are likewise these three following First Propter confluentiam For their confluency Secondly Propter utilitatem For their utility Thirdly Propter salsitudinem For their saltness First I say for their confluency for as one waye followeth and falls on the neck of another even so do afflictions in the righteous pursue each other One deep calleth another as the Psalmist speaks They come so thick upon them as stormy waves at sea a perspicuous Psal 42 7. example of this we have in Job while he was yet speaking saith the Text came anothâ—r and then while he was yet speaking came another and again while he was yet speaking came another c. We live here beloved in an Job 1. 16 17 18. ocean of troubles wherein we can see no firm Land One wave falling on the neck of another ere the former have wrought all his spight mischeifs strive for places as if they feared to lose their roome if they hasted not this for their confluency Secondly afflictions are likened to waters in regard of their utility in respect of their profit for as the one serves to cleanse the outward so doth the other serve to purge the inner man Davids experience shall be a sufficient proof of their utility in this respect who by them was reduced from his erroneous straglings to a constant keeping of Gods commandments Neither are waters profitable onely for purgation nor afflictions onely for restauration but both also for transportation For as without Ps 119. 67. the benefit of water we cannot pass into another country as France Spain or Italy so neither can we pass from hence to Heaven without the benefit of affliction there is no going thither unless we saile through the salt waters of affliction witness that holy Apostle who constantly averreth That we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdome of God But happy beloved yea thrice Acts 14. 22. happy are those mishaps that make a way to a greater perfection and this for their utility Thirdly and lastly afflictions are resembled to waters because of their saltness and harshness to be endured See water though for curing of the itch and many other things it be very soveraign yet by reason of its extream saltness it is very unwelcome unto most mens pallates Afflictions in like manner though they are very wholsome and profitable to heal all spiritual diseases in regenerate men and therefore in one place especially â—ommended by the Apostle for the curing of itching eares Yet are they allso salt and harsh very distastful and wondrous difficult to be endured even of the very best of Gods children 2 Tim. 4. 3. we need not travail any further for an example of this than to our Saviour Christ himself whose words were these Father if it be possible let this cup pass from Math. 26. 39. me The way to Heaven beloved is by the gates of Hell and like that which Jonathan and his Armour-bearer 1 Sam. 14. 13. passed Rocky Foul and Thorny No sooner do the waters arise but presently the Floods do beat upon the house And when the waters arose the flood beat upon that house A threefold Flood I find that beateth upon all Gods childrens houses First A Flood of sin Secondly A