Mendaci ne credas ne iurantiquidem thou hast lost thy birth-right for the lyars cannot call God their Father for they haue a father by themselues euen the diuell who is the father of lies t Iohn 8.44 stay therefore these beginnings lest the latter end proue fearefull vnto thee for thou canst not shake of these things when thou wilt and therefore doe it when thou mayest Consuetudo est altera natura take heede of a custome in euill for a Blackemoore shall sooner change his hue or a Leopard his spots then they shall euer doe good that haue been accustomed vnto euill u Ier. 13.23 So then let vs conclude this vse cure the disease in time before it grow incurable whether it be pride enuie slander disobedience deceit oppression reuenge prophanenesse adulteries falshoods murmurings treacherous practises or the like clense thy heart in time lest thou become incorrigible and inconuertible which must needes be damnable in the latter end Vse 2. This serues to display the diuels hatred vnto mankind who doth not onely seeke like a Lion whom to deuoure but also is alwaies tempting vs to deuoure w 1. Peter 5. one another as here Iezabel hath nothing to ease her stomack withall but blood and reuenge thus we deuoure one another as if man who is created after the Image of God were of no more account but presently vpon our priuat discontentments and grudges to butcher them vp as if we were Canibals euen to feede vpon our brethren and to drinke vp their blood as it were in boules Hence it is that if any man stand in our way or in our light wee conclude him presentlie and either by potion or some other sinister practise wee pronounce him dead so little account doe wee make of that blood which is so pretious in the eyes of God thus wee fall one vpon another vpon a displeasure as Caine doth vpon Abel x Genes 4.8 and ease our stomacks and haue our desires forgetting that blood must haue blood and that it cries for vengeance against vs this is the Diuels mallice against vs who stirres vppe after this manner Wilt thou endure and pocket vp these wronges wilt thou bee accounted base minded and wilt not maintaine thy reputation this is rhetorique and the rule is that the lie deserueth the stabbe that it is honourable and the tryall of an Heroicall spirite to enter into single combate and their honour is their life and these Maximes maketh them like fierce Tigers one against another so cruell are wee growne so dangerous the times as that Ieremies caution may well bee our obseruation for our latter times y Ier. 9.4 Take you heede euerie one of his neighbour and trust you not in any Brother for they will vtterly supplant and destroy one another Thus vindicta vindicta is our cōmon place among the common people yea nobler brests haue been set on fire with reuenge as if the blood and death of innocents would not as wel cry for vengeance against them as against other men but he that lookes into the booke of God finds that the greater the offender is in this kind the greater the punishment hath bin not one of Ahabs house shall bee left to make water against the wall and as for Iezabel her selfe the very dogs shall licke their lips after her blood and be glutted with it let this therefore but especially the feare of the Lord temper our passions so guide our vnderstandings that we giue not place vnto the diuell z Ephes 4. in these so deadly and damnable enterprizes Vse 3. This serues for our animaduersion as concerning the condition of them that thus proceede in the degrees of finne surely their iudgement sleepeth not but increaseth as their sins are enlarged Hell is said to be enlarged with these augmentators for they are vpon the skore and it runs vpon the reckoning vntill the Lord come to render vnto euery man according to his works the mercifull Aduocate Iesus Christ the righteous pleadeth the causes of all penitent sinners a 1. Iohn 2.1 but these men in their hearts that cannot repent heape vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath and declaration of the vengeance and iudgement of God who as the Apostle saith will render it vnto them b Ro. 2.5.6 This is a fearefull condition for if euery sinne in his owne nature deserue death and that is the wages of it 1 Rom. 6.23 how then shall these men answere the many thousand sins that haue been committed by them without feeling The Apostle shewes that the destruction of such men sleepeth not d 1. Pet. 2.2.3 The Lord will awaken vnto them and suddenly come with the account they haue beene long inthe action but their destruction shall sweepe them away in a moment and their confusion must be of longer continuance for as they haue beene continuall transgressors so must they be continually tormented with flames vnquenchable with horror vnspeakable loe thus they stand or rather fall who doe not thinke our God is iust to recompence their wickednesse When they are ripe or rather rotten in their sinnes then comes the dreadfull haruest they shall bee serued as God threatneth the Amorites e Gen. 15.14 When they haue filled vp the measure of their sinnes then shall they be rooted out saith the Lord. This is the same which was declared vnto Amos in a Vision f Amos 8.1 ◠where hee saw a basket of Sommer fruite whereby is meant ripenesse or the time that the fruite should be gathered Now saith the Lord the end is come I will passe by this people no more Let this be considered O yee men of earth the God of heauen will not be mocked and therfore be not you deceiued whatsoeuer sins are newly committed doe not thinke the old sinnes are forgotten vnlesse thou be a new man then thy sins of old shall not be imputed vnto thee g Psal 32.1 otherwise it will goe hard against vs vnlesse that garment of righteousnesse couer vs the Lord will write bitter things against vs and make vs to possesse the iniquities of our youth h Iob 14.26 Vse 4 Seeing the wicked grow worse and worse let the righteous worke by contraries let them grow better and better from grace to grace from vertue to vertue Let them proceed in goodnes Christians ought to be Graduates in godlinesse as the other doe in wickednesse let them bee the Lords Graduates and proceede in that famous Vniuersitie of Sion euen in the Church of God of this proceeding the Propher Dauid speaketh in the Psalms i Psal 84.7 The righteous grow from strength to strength vntill they appeare before God in Sion there they are to bee presented and there it is that they shall bee eternized let them therefore begin with godlines and ende with golinesse and they shall not loose their labour for it hath the promises both of this life and the life to come k 1. Tim. 4.8 proceede therefore O you Saints and seruants of the Lord you feare the Lord they that doe so neede to feare nothing else keepe your inheritance it is farre beyond Naboaths Vineyard Iezabel shall not hurt you the gates of hell shall not preuaile against you the Kingdome of heauen is prepared for you and for all those that loue the comming of the Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the most blessed Spirit one eternall immortall inuisible and God onely wise be praise and dominion with al glorious ascription now and for euermore Amen FINIS
THREE SERMONS THE FORMER DISCOVERING A DOVBLE and false Heart vpon the 1. King 21.9 and 10. THE SECOND CALLED THE BLESSEDNES OF the Righteous vpon Psalm 37. verse 37. THE THIRD THE COVRT of Guard or Watch of Angels 1. Sam. 17.37 Nathaniel Cannon Preacher of Gods Word at Hurley in Berkeshire LONDON Printed by T.C. and B.A. for William Welby and are to be sold in Pauls Church yard at the Signe of the Swan 1616. TO THE THRISE HONORED PEERE MY LORDS Grace the Duke of Lennox Earle of Richmont Lord High Steward of his Maiesties Houshould Knight of the most noble and illustrious Order of the Garter and one of his Maiesties most Honourable Priuie Councell IF it may become a Seruant to make tender of his dutie vnto his Lord and Master then may your Grace vouchsafe to patronage this poore present notwithstanding it comes thus meanely apparelled My offering is but little and lesse then euer was offered to so great a personage yet let it not perish but find such acceptation as may giue testimonie of your most heroicall disposition When first I had leaue to call you Lord it was in my heart to doe something but neuer had the heart till now now too soone for I may truly acknowledge to your Grace that this hoc aliquid nihil est this is a very something nothing that is produced And yet great Lord I doe not nor I dare not speake meanely of my calling but my gifts with ioy with confidence and I hope with conscience I may ioyne with our Apostles saying that I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Rom. 1.16 because it is the power of God vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth so that in this respect although the Lord hath made you great yet if you were greater and the greatest vpon the face of the earth yet know it is the word of God of that glorious God who is the Creator and the Kings and Princes Dukes and Nobles are but his creatures as other men vos estis domini terrae indeed you are the Lords of the earth Psalm 82.1 and yet your selues are but Terra domini euen the earth of the Lords as other men O therefore let a seruant speake if you would double and trebble Honors vpon your head let the Word of God be the lanthorne vnto your feete and the light vnto your pathes Psalm 119. you shall see the way that leades vnto life euerlasting verbum est via the Word is the way haec via ducit ad vrbem this way leades vnto the hauen yea vnto the heauen prepared for those that loue that heare that reuerence and obey this word of God there shall you chāge your Dukedome for a Kingdome for he crownes his children Reuel 5.10 If then the eminent Lords would raise their houses let them raise vp their hearts and set them vpon righteousnesse for them saith God that honour me I will honour them but they that neglect or despise the Lord shall downe to the ground Be pleased therefore most Honorable Lord 1. Sam. 2.30 in respect of him whose word it is to looke vpon this small Exposition although in respect both of my weakenesse and vnworthinesse that doe present it may fall to the ground Plutarch in vita Artax Be vnto me in this kind a Princely Artaxerxes he receiued a handful of running water from a poore laborer be as gratious noble Lord in receiuing this from me a poore Scholler whilest I according to my beūden duty pray to my God for your increase of honor and happines internall externall eternall and so rest Your Graces Chaplaine in all dutifull obseruance Nathanael Cannon A DOVBLE HEART 1. KING 21.9.10 And she wrote in the letters saying Proclaime a fast and set Naboah among the people and set two wicked men before him to beare witnesse against him saying Thou didst blaspheme God and the King and then stone him to death EZechiels Vision is full of demonstration a Ezech. 8.8 and in a liuely maner doth present vnto vs the course or rather curse of sin it shewes vs the gradation of it as if it grew vp by the rule of multiplication from bad to worse from much to more from one mischiefe to another vntill the full measure of wickednesse and abomination it selfe bee made vp Goe saith God vnto the Prophet in that place and dig into the wall and thou shalt finde a doore which doore breake open and thou shalt see all manner of abominations and when thou hast scene those saith God goe a little farther and then thou shalt see more and the further thou goest the more abominations thou shalt find My Text seemeth to haue the like reuelation for by that time the walls of the Scripture are broken downe and the doore of it opened wee shall see such degrees of sinne and such a progression in wickednesse that the truth of that Scripture will appeare vnto vs which Esay speakes of as concerning the nature of wickednesse which is to draw sinne vpon sinne and iniquitie vpon iniquitie as it were with cart ropes b Esay 5.8 This course is here taken by a cursed woman for so God pronounceth Iezabel to bee who hauing with her husband Ahab set their eyes vpon that which was not their owne and longing after Naboaths Vineyard which was neere adioyning vnto their Pallace they propose it vnto him that they might obtaine it for a price or els that they might exchāge with him for some other but his answere is Negatiue God forbid saith hee that I should sell my fathers inheritance This refusal in vnpleasing to Ahab as if it had beene a great offence in Naboath to keepe his owne In this discontentment Iezabel takes her time and of a resolution to accomplish her wicked purpose incenseth Ahab after this manner Art thou a King saith she and rulest Israel As who should say Dares hee denie thee his vineyard Thus are there alwaies wicked instruments to prouoke and worke vngodly offices especially where wicked women become counsellors whose mallice is no lesse then is noted vnto vs when it maintaind that there is no head to the head of a Serpent Eccles 35. nor no malice to the malice of a wicked woman The consequence of this Text is an instance so it is very probable that Ahab would haue giuen this ouer after a little more grumbling But Iezabel scornes such a repulse shee wil haue his Vineyard and his bloud and for that purpose shee arraignes him condemnes him and executes him all at once as appeares in this Text. Thus hauing broken downe a little of the wall to make way vnto it that so we may see the occasion from whence all this proceeds wee will now adresse ourselues vnto the dore and looke in thereat that so we may enter into this Scripture and take into our consideration such seuerals as in a course of deuision this Text will naturally afford vnto vs The
deuision of the Text into three parts 1. Naboaths death 2. The meanes of his death 3. The colouring of his death 1. His death is decreed aforehand stone him to death saith Iezabel she wil haue it according to the desperate rule Sic volo sic iubeo stet pro ratione voluntas 2. The meanes of his death by subornation of false witnesse Set two wicked men before him saith she and let them accuse him of blasphemie against God and the King answerable to that Popish proposition as Heathenish as the former inra periurasecretum prodere noli 3. The pretended color for the lamenting of his death Proclaime a fast as if shee did commiserate the mans case and as if he had been iustly condemned and that shee for his better preparation to his death would haue this fast proclaimed partly to haue it conceiued that shee and others were sorrowfull for his death but chiefly that by meanes of such an Assembly and so holy any action as fasting was shee would haue it appeare that shee did it to no other end but onely to bring Naboath to a feeling of his fault as if he had deserued death and shee great commendations for this charitie and compassion towards him in prouiding thus religiously as shee would haue it thought for his peaceable departure Thus the Camelion cast her colour and this miste must arise to make many fall into error she hauing concluded that it was enough to make this shew Et satis est potuisse videri Thus wee haue taken the Scripture asunder let vs desire God to ioyne with vs in the enlargement of the whole And for asmuch as the last part of this deuision are the first words of this Text I will therefore begin with them and so take them in their course as they lie in order Proclaime a fast Simulata sanctitas est duplex iniquitas saith Austin Augustin in Psalm 36. a dissembled holines is double vngodlinesse It had been wickednes to shed innocent blood and falsely to condemne cruelly murder the harmelesse and guiltlesse man but thus to trick it vp color it vnder pretence of pity doubles the impietie But here is matter of great amazement comming forth to meet vs. For first of all it is a trembling businesse no question to the wicked themselues to shed blood for it quakes nature and excludes grace and cries for vengeance and proues alwaies so discouerable that as wee see by daily experience God suffers neither time nor place nor greatnesse to couer the blood that is so barbarouslie shed would not all these stay the hand or stagger the heart it is more then a miracle vnto vs Secondly it is no lesse to be wondered at that the nature of sinne should grow to bee so desperate as to make choise of the most sanctified actions for their colourable protections For example What action can there be more leading vnto true sanctification then our mortification What leadeth more vnto mortification then religiously and sincerely from the bottome of the heart to hold a religious fast vnto the Lord. Behold it is here but a vizard to produce a most monstrous and prodigious acte Heare O Heauens and hearken O Earth and maruell O yee sonnes of men at this impudency O who should dare to prophane such deuine actions as these are but only those who are incurable and so vtterly incorrigible as that they care not though they act the Diuels owne part Iudas kisseth Christ c Luk. 22.48 but hides his treason and so Iezabel proclaimes a Fast but hides the knife from Naboaths that must giue him his death The Panther Plin. nat hist lib. 8. as Pliny reporteth carrieth with him a sweete sent but an vgly force therefore he hides his talents vntil he haue the pray within danger In like manner Iezabel will sucke the blood of Naboath and yet shee hides this venome vnder a fast proclaime a fast saith shee from whence we may draw this obseruation Doctrin 10 Euery sinne will shelter it selfe vnder some pretence There are no perquisities of lasting and certaine tenure but onely those which a crew from vertue notwithstanding so quick is our apprehension in the point of profit and our wils so absolute in the doing of euill that though shame run by vs like a lacky and confusion prooue the close and full point of our deriuations yet will the wicked proceede and verily perswade themselues there can be no quare impedit either to hinder or cut off them or their designes But it were a necessary question to demand of them why they disguise themselues Aristot Quaedam videntur non sunt why they are like Aristotles videnturs who affirmes that there are many things seemes to be that which they are not The answere will aford it selfe for by their shadowes mists and colours that they cast they doe deceiue the people whereas if they came in the proper resemblance of their deformed courses they would bee more then monstrous in the eyes of the people and therefore our Sauiour speakes of these pretences when hee shewes that there are some that haue put on sheepes clothing but inwardly they are rauening Wolues Sinne ashamed of it selfe where we may see the hatefulnesse of sin that it dares not bee seene in his owne likenesse but must assume another shape for it the which let me now endeuour to proue from the Scriptures as formerly I proposed it in the doctrine namely that euery sinne will shelter it selfe vnder some pretence The Scribes and Pharisies who were party coluored in all their actions and clouen-footed in all their treadings did many foule and fearefull things vnder pretences but amongst all others how ill did they vse poore widdowes Christ saith That they deuoured widowes houses d Ma. 23.14 How did they deuoure thē euē vnder the pretēce of long praiers It was a fearefull thing to offer violence vnto them aboue al others for God commandeth vs to helpe them to comfort them and to bee a father to their fatherles and the Apostle shewes that this is as the euidence of our religion e Iam. 1.27 pure religion and vndefiled before God is to visit the fatherles and widowes so that to do them wrong were hatefull but to oppresse them or to draw blood frō thē vnder pretence of some prayers most damnable for so Christ affirmeth therefore saith he your damnation is greater because of your monstrous hypocrisie f Iohn 12.6 Iudas also puts on his cloake to his couetousnes as appeareth in the Gospell This oyntment saith he would haue been sold and the money giuen to the poore O what a faire pretence is this who will or can dislike that man which shall speak for the poore but God knew his heart that it was not vpright He care for the poore No such matter let them starue sinke or swimme it was all one to him This he said saith the Text not that hee cared for the poore
but that hee was a theefe and carried the bag and therefore was loath that such a morsell should goe from his own mouth g Mat. 2.8 Herod also seems wonderful forward in the sending away of the wisemen to Bethelem to seeke out the Babe Christ and when you haue found him bring me word saith he that I also may come and worship him Would Herod worship Christ No such matter but if he could come at him he would murther him for hee is afraid of his crown as al Tirants are Balam h Num. 23.1 pretends the glory of God when hee goes about his magical spels and yet comes the Lord and calles for altars Build me here saith he seuen Alters if so be it may please the Lord to answere me Hee workes in sorcery and yet pretends great pietie iust after the manner of that which the Apostle speaks of in the Epistle of i Titus 1.16 Titus They professe that they know God but in workes they denie him being abominable and disobedient and vnto euery good worke reprobate Thus from the Scriptures haue we prooued this doctrine and further might confirme it from k 1. Sa. 15.8 Saul who vnder the pretence of sacrifice reserueth Agage and the rest of the booty Further from Ammon l 2. Sa. 13.6 Dauids son who pretends sicknes to rauish his Sister Tamar from Ioab who vnder pretence of curtesie stabs Amasa to the heart m 2. Sa. 20.9 From the Scriptures come vnto our owne times what is there that we will allow to be sinne haue wee not a cloke a vaile for euery transgression Doth not the couetous person shroud himselfe vnder pretence of prouiding for his familie n 1. Tim. 5. Doth not the drunkard couch vnder good fellowship and loue doth not murder goe now for manhood is not lying and excusing answered and defended with good intents and what sinne shall there be named that will not be defended Alas my brethren our defenses and intimations reseruations and mentall conclusions distinctions and euasions will not suffice vs. Amongst others if we shall looke vpon the example of Vzza ◠2. Sam. 6.6 Good intents will not excuse it is notable to this purpose to put vs from the good intents when the Ark was in danger of falling by the stumbling of the oxen hee put forth his hand out of a good intent out of his loue vnto the Lord yet in regardd there was a commandement to the contrary the Lord was angry with him and strikes him dead the which with all other allegations to this purpose as the Apostle meanes in the 3. Rom. 3.8 to the Romans that we must not doe euill that good may come thereof This therefore might raise admiration but that wee can collect the reasons why sinners wil lodge themselues vnder these pretenses and imaginarie euasions Reasons 1. They wil doe all their euill actions vnder good pretences in the imitation of their Master the Diuell whom they serue Satan neuer comes to tempt like a diuell but to that end that he may blind or deceiue he will transforme himselfe into an Angell of Light q 2. Cor. 11. and he is so cunning in the delusions that he offereth that as our Sauiour saith if it were possible hee would deceiue the very Elect r Matth. 24. This lesson hath he taught his instruments alwaies to pretend some good in the wickedest actions that can be enterprised and amongst other maxims and principles of Satan how foule so euer the fact is yet you must not confesse it but either iustifie the act vnder some good pretence or else so extenuate it as it were not worthy the reproouing This shuffling our first parents kept s Genes 3. It is one of the Diuels principles neuer to acknowledge a fault Adam saith God hast thou eaten of the fruite The woman hee saith that thou gauest me she gaue me and I did eate Marke it was no sinne of his but the womans yea he will lay the imputation vpon God as if he had been in the fault for giuing the woman The woman that thou gauest me Then to the woman Why hast thou done this The Serpent saith she beguiled me and I did eate Thus they poste their sinnes one from another This tricke Satan hath taught all his for the thiefe in his deedes of darkenesse vseth the night that none may see him but if he be brought to light Why then what would you haue me doe I am in wants and I was ashamed to beg and I could not worke and therefore I did this for necessities sake The Fornicator or Adulterer being made manifest doth hee take it to heart in that he broke the commandement No verily but when his finne is vrged his excuse is ready Why it is but a tricke of youth and I am not the first and if all our sinnes were written in our foreheads others might bee ashamed to shew their faces as well as I and therefore saith he Let him that hath done no sinne cast the first stone The Curser and common blasphemer that rips vp the woūds of Christ and sweares ex tempore at euerie word is he to blame when his sinne is cald in question and he told that the plague of God is vpon that house where aswearer is and lieth betweene the wainscot and the wall t Zach. 5.4 Doth this either moue him or reforme him no not at all but he will defend it why did you prouoke me then saith he it is your sinne to vrge me saith he and not mine Reason 2. Iesabel and her disciples will haue pretences to giue some kind of satisfaction as it were to the common people especially if it concerne a publike action for so Iezabel carrieth this Naboath is set in the midst of the people and a fast is proclaimed and euery thing carried in that pitifull manner as if none had been more mooued with compassion then Iezabel yet because he was a blasphemer he must needs die but in the manner of his death she would shew all the fauour that could be A Similitude like vnto some theeues who when they haue stript a man out of all he hath would faine be accounted mercifull theeues in that they do not murder those whom they haue robbed or in that they do not bind them so cruelly as some others haue done Thus that bloodie Emperor wold be accounted pitiful Nero. in that he let his school-master die an easie death wheras it was monstrous crueltie in him to do him to death at al especially vpon no better ground but because he whipt him when hee was his Scholler But let vs gather towards the haruest of our doctrine and that is such profitable vses as may bee deriued from this point which shewes vs that euery sin will shelter it selfe vnder some pretence Vses 1. This shewes what a fearefull sinne couetousnesse is the which this action of Iezabels will demonstrate vnto vs for
if God doe not stay vs. Sinne will begin to possesse that man that doth not resist it and break it of in time for it enters in three waies as one of the learned obserues 1. Blandiendo first 3. Degrees in a course of sin it smiles vpon vs like the strumpet Prou. 7. 2. Delectando Secondly it takes away our hearts as Absolom would steale away the hearts of the people 2. Samuel 3. Regnando Thirdly it takes possession like the strong man n Luke 11. then whose are we vntill a stronger come and cast him out thus the wicked they decline sinne per omnes casus Innominatino per superbiam in genitiuoper luxuriam in datiuo per Symoniam in accusatiuo per detractationem in vocatâ—to per adulationem in ablatiuoper rapinam and yet for all these Iezabel and her crew are certainely perswaded that they can sinne and not be seene 1. Reasons for the progresse of sinne Sinne groweth in the heart as the child doth in the wombe for as the infant hath his increasings euen by degrees vntill he come to see the light and bee borne into the world according as Iob hath it o Iob 10.10.11 Thou hast powred me out as milke and turned me into curds like cheese thou hast clothed mee with skinne and flesh thou hast ioyned mee together with bones and sinewes So is it with the vngodly man his beginnings were but euill imaginations which hee neuer resisted then afterwards out of the abundance of his heart his mouth spake either falsely furiously or fainedly which he neuer repented and then at length he becomes all these and acts any part of wickednesse whatsoeuer Reason 2 The iudgements of God are vpon such men as neuer made conscience of lesser sinnes by meanes whereof they are at length giuen ouer to a reprobate sense and become past feeling which the Apostle notes p Rom. 1.28 that as they haue not regarded to know God so the Lord hath giuen them vp to their owne hearts lusts to worke all maner of wickednesse and this comes first of all by the little or no account that we make of sinne Bernard Tract de de gradibus hum at first this as that father noteth vpon the point of excusing or extenuating sinne when sinne is found out and the question is who hath done it the sinner answereth Nonfaeci if that will not serue the turne but that it be proued then t is turned Si faeci non male faeci if the euill be proued then it is translated si male faeci non multum male if the qualitie and quantitie be proued then it hath a fourth euasion si multum male non male intentione if good or euill intents bee by diuinitie confuted then our last refuge is aliena tamenfaeci perswasione and thus we spin out iniquitie and giue it sucke from such a brest of mainetenance and excuse as if it were very lawfull to doe euill Let vs therefore descend vnto the life of this doctrine that is to shew our vses and applications Vses 1. All these proofes reasons examples and illustrations doe eccho foorth vnto vs this first vse Principijs obsta looke to the beginning of euil kill sinne in the neast before it bringeth foorth for it hath a cursed ofspring thou must set a watch ouer thy mouth as Dauid saith q Psalm 39. thou must make a couenant with thine eies r Iob. â—1 thou must examine thine hart s Psalm 4. if it be a proud hart at the first it wil after spawne foorth into a false heart if become a false heart it will not bee long before it be a cruell heart if it grow to be a cruel heart a little time will make it a hard heart if it be hardened then surely the next degree must needs be a reprobate sense the very iudgement that God suffers the most vngodly to fall into O then stay the beginnings of wickednesse and follow the deuine counsell of thy Christ who wisheth thee to look vnto thy members and if thine eie offend thee to pluck it out if thy hand offend thee to cut it off that is cut or take away that sinne that groweth by meanes of thine eie or thy hand and doe it in time least with the leprosie it run further and further Amongst the many diseases or maladies that happen vnto mans body there is one that they call by the name of Gangren The Gangren which doth affect altogether the ioynts and the present remedy thereof is immediatly to cut off that first ioint which is first affected or else it presently taketh another and so from that vnto a third vnlesse it be thus ordered by decision this is the nature of sinne which vnlesse it bee cut off in the motion proceedeth vnto the action from the action vnto delectation Aristot log Habitus est difficulter mobilis a subiecto from delectation vnto assuefaction or custome from that vnto a habite neuer to bee remooued a dangerous leprosie both for infection and dispersion vnlesse there be a timely preuention Let this bee considered in all our temptations vnto sinne Thetheefe if it be vnto stealth we begin with a pin then a point then a shilling then a pound at length any thing O let the young thiefe take heede of an olde iudgement vnlesse hee repent and leaue that sinne It may bee they haue escaped many times and that emboldens them but hee that leades them will neuer leaue them vntill they are left vnto the law both of God and man vnles they stay these beginnings by true touch of conscience The adulterer doth not presently fall vpon the bed to commit wickednesse The adulterer but first his eye sends a message to his heart his heart giues consent vnto the action and then the time and place purpose is concluded whereas if the eye went single the whole body would haue bene single and that first restraint would cut off the cursed consequents that alwaies do proceede from that sinne The lyar The lier Mendacium perniciosum officiosum ioco sum who kills his owne soule and vents falshoods of al sorts sometimes to destroy a Brother as these false witnesses did against Naboath sometimes out of their pretended charitie to saue anger or preuent displeasure sometimes out of the olde wiues Calender tell strange and merrie lyes fables of great antiquitie and no lesse iniquitie all these lies had their beginning which should haue beene suppressed at the first but for want thereof maketh the ingredient so perfect that a man cannot beleeue one word that commeth out of his mouth and if it happen that such a man speake truth which is but sildome yet it is not beleeued and it is iust vpon a lyer speaking trueth but sildome neuer to be beleeued O then season thy mouth at first with trueth for thy God is a God of trueth and in that thou hast not preuented this sinne in time