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A37274 Sermons preached upon severall occasions by Lancelot Dawes ...; Sermons. Selections Dawes, Lancelot, 1580-1653. 1653 (1653) Wing D450; ESTC R16688 281,488 345

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disgorge and cast up whatsoever lies on his stomach I doubt not but their apish tricks will in time move the heart and stomach of our gracious and merciful Coeur de Lion and other Magistrates in their places to cast up and shew such tokens of their inward grief as they shall have just occasion to conceive against them and to purge the body politick from these noxious humours wherewith it is endangered And without this there is no assurance of peace For as Jehu said unto Jehoram when he went against the house of Ahab is it peace Jehu said Jehoram What peace said the other while the whoredoms of thy mother Jezabel and her witchcrafts are in great number So say I what peace can be expected as long the whoredoms of the Romish Iezabel and her witchcrafts and inchanting cups wherewith she withdraweth the people from their obedience to their Soveraign and stealeth their hearts from him as did Absolon the hearts of the Israelites from David his father are in great number As long as the Pope can set any foot-hold in Britain he will bestir himself to molest the peace of our Sion Et si non aliquâ nocuisset mortuus esset But enough if not too much of this subject It is a point which I vowed to handle not out of any spleen to any particular person whosoever he that seeth the thoughts of my heart knowes that I lie not but for the love of the truth the zeal of Gods glory the integrity of my conscience and the discharge of my duty And herein liberavi animam meam look ye unto it The third proposition followeth 23 Ye shall die What mettal other creatures were made of whether immediately of nothing or of some preexistent matter I finde no expresse mention in Gods book This I finde that man was made of a matter and that not gold nor silver pearl or pretious stones but of earth the basest and vilest of all the elements yea of the dust of the earth even of dry dust which is good for nothing that if he shall with proud Phaeton in the Poet boast that Apollo God is his father he might presently call to mind that poor Clymene the earth is his mother that he was made of dust that he is but dust and that he shall return to dust And yet I know not how it comes to passe but I am sure it is true that many in authority resemble the dust in no property better then one that as the dry dust in the streets is with every blast of winde blown aloft into the air so are their hearts blown aloft and swelled up with a windie tympanie of their own greatnesse But let them climbe as high as they can God will one day send a shower and lay this dust They are but natural men and the threed of nature as a Poet feigneth is tyed unto the foot of Jupiters chair he can loose it when it shall please him Though Adams wit was such that he could give names unto every creature according to their natures yet he forgot his own name He did not remember that he was called Adam homo ab humo by reason of that affinity that was between him and the earth These sons of Adam are very like their old grand-father they are witty in seeking out the names and properties of other creatures but they forget their own names and their natures too And this is the cause why they be so holden with pride and overwhelmed with cruelties They will with Nebuchadnezzar strive to advance themselves above the stars of God and to match their old grand-father the first Adam who though he was made of earth yet with the wings of pride and arrogancie would needs soar up into heaven and care little for resembling their elder brother the second Adam who took upon him our weaknesse that we might be strengthened our poverty that we might be inriched our nakednesse that we might be clothed our basenesse that we might be exalted our mortality that we might be invested in the robe of immortality and was contented to descend from heaven to earth that he might make a way for us to ascend from earth to heaven But let them secure themselves as much as they will their hour-glasse is continually running the tide of death will tarry no man Our father hath eaten a sowre grape and his childrens teeth are set on edge Our grand-father for eating of the forbidden tree had this sentence denounced against him that he should return to dust And his children are liable unto it till heaven and earth be renewed and there be no more death Those great and mighty Gods of the earth which clothe themselves in purple and fine linnen and dwell in houses of Cedar and adde house to house and land to land as if the way to heaven layd all by land have a time appointed them when their insatiable desires shall be contented with a Golgotha a place of dead mens skulls a little portion of the great potters field as much as will serve to hide and cover a dead carkasse in it You which sit on the seat of judgement whom the Lord hath so highly extolled as to be called Gods you have your dayes numbred your moneths determined your bounds appointed which ye cannot passe It is not the ripenesse of your wits nor the dignity of your places nor the excellency of your learning nor the largenesse of your commission that can adde one inch unto the threed of your dayes Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regúmque turres Deaths arrow will as quickly pierce through the strong castle of a King as the muddie wall of a countrey swain Were ye wiser then Solomon stronger then Samson richer then Iob mightier then the greatest Monarch of the earth faithfuller in your places then Samuel that faithful Judge of Israel Ire tamen restat Numa quò devenit Ancus This must be the conclusion Ye must die as men and yeeld your bodies to deaths Serjeant to be kept prisoners in the dungeon of the earth till the great and general assizes that shall be holden by our Saviour Christ in the clouds of the skie at the last day The conclusion is most certain howsoever the premises be fallible and doubtful Alexander when by his followers he was called a God forgot that he was to die as a man till by a poysoned arrow he was put in minde of his mortality and then he confessed the truth Vos me Deum esse dixistis sed jam me hominem esse sentio You said that I was a God but now I perceive I am but a man And shortly after he perceived it with a witnesse when he was poysoned by Antipater and then inclosed in a small parcel of ground whose aspiring mind the whole world could not fil Cui satis ad votum non essent omnia terrae Climata terra modò sufficit
and lusts of the flesh as the Hebrews by little and little rooted out the Cananites it seeketh to represse this rebellion as David did the plots of his son Absalom Experience we have in the main pillars of the spirituall Temple David a man after Gods owne heart so moved at the prosperity of the wicked that he begins to say that certainly he hath cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in innocencie there is a carnall David which make his feet almost to goe and his steps well-nigh to slip but when he goeth in the Sanctuarie of God then he understandeth the end of these men there is spirituall David which makes him condemn his former thoughts and speeches so foolish was I and ignorant even as it were of a Beast before thee Peter who sometime was so confident as to continue true unto his Master that he made protestation that if all should deny him yet he would never doe it presently after he begins to follow afarre off and anon after the rock of Peters faith is so shaken with the voice of a damosel that he begins to curse and sweare that he never knew him but presently again at the crowing of a Cock the spirit is awakened and goes about to take some avengement of the flesh he went out and wept bitterly who more strong in the spirit then Paul was in zeale fervent in labours abundant in nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles and yet he hath given him a prick in the flesh the Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which makes him say when he would doe good evill is present with him and that he finds a Law in his Members rebelling against the law of the mind and carrying him captive to the law of sinne and good reason it should be so for if the spirit should so domineer over the flesh then there were no resistance and reluctation then would we not have an earnest and longing desire to be out of this world we would not with the faithfully say Come Lord Jesus come quickly we would not desire to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven but would say as Peter did Master it is good for us to be here To end then that wee should long after our future perfection when corruption shall put on incorruption and mortallity shall be swallowed up of immortallity we find this conflict in our own bowels that we may be wearie of this present state and say as Rebecca did when Esau and Iacob strugled in her womb if it be so why am I thus Only here is our comfort that though the flesh be still lusting against the spirit and we have more flesh then spirit for flesh is like to Goliath the spirit is like to little David yet the spirit shall be in the end sure to prevaile as David prevailed against Goliath for though it be little in quantity yet it is fuller of activity as a little fire hath more action though lesse resistance then much earth for it fareth with these two as with the house of Saul and David the spirit like the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger but the flesh like the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker it is with them as it was with John Baptist and Christ I must decrease saith John but he must increase the flesh which like John is before it must decrease but the spirit which like Christ comes after whose shoe latchet the flesh is not worthy to loose it must grow and increase and this is plain and of this place for whereas the flesh objecteth that man is sick and perisheth and where is he and again If a man dye shall he live again the Spirit replyeth and puts the flesh to silence All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come Is it true beloved Christians That the Children of God yea even in such as have obtained the greatest perfection that a meer man hath obtained in this life there is reluctation between the flesh and the spirit Oh then let as many of us as long after life and desire to see good daies even life everlasting and daies which never shall have an end Let us I say labour to subdue this Rebel and bring it into subjection to the Spirit for it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh will profit nothing The flesh is like Caligula who as Tacitus saith of him was a good servant but an ill master It will be a good servant if we keep it in subjection to the spirit but it will be an exceeding bad master if it once get the upper hand and it will use the spirit as the Scythians servants dealt with their masters who when their masters had for many years warred in the Southern parts of Europe and Asia in the mean time married their wives and got possession of whatsoever they had and therefore we must use it as these Scythians used their servants who when they could not prevail against them with open war at length handled them like servants and slaves took rods and beat them and so recovered their ancient possessions We must not proceed against the flesh as against an equal enemy but we must use rods and scourges we must chasten and correct it and so bring it again in subjection to its lawful commander It is like the dumb divel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting we must implore the assistance of Gods spirit being of our selves unable that we may be strengthened and enabled to overcome it we must by fasting withdraw its food wherewith it is nourished I do not mean only our meat and drink but all worldly delight and enticing allurements to sin wanton and idle spectacles they be food of our carnal eyes these we must withdraw away and with Job Make a covenant with our eyes that we will not look upon wantonness foolish and undecent speeches be the delight of the tongue those we must remove away and pray with David Set a watch O Lord before our mouthes and keep the dore of our lips In a word whatsoever will be an incitement to sin and is like to strike fire in the tinder of our corrupt affections that must be debarred and kept from them Let us then use the flesh as the enemy useth a besieged City observe and watch the by-wayes that there be no intercourse or secret compact between it and Sathan that there be no provision carried by Sathan and his vassals into it that so it may be inforced to yeild it self or as the Hunters use Mole and Foxes in the earth stop the passages that through hunger it may be at last inforced to come out and leave its habitation otherwise if by excessive eating and drinking we nourish it if by gorgeous and costly attire wee deck it if by epicureous and voluptuous delights wee pamper it what doe we but arme our enemies against us and