a beam of the house fell in a banquet and knocked a professed Atheist alone on the head there is then some ground for our censure for then the word and worke of God meet together else there can bee no certaine judgement because as it is Eccles 9.1 2. I have surely given mine heart to all this and to declare all this that the just and the wise and their workes are in the hand of God and no man knoweth either love or hatred of all that is before them All things come alike to all and the same condition is to thee just and to the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath And that which is befallen another may befall thee for it is no faith but a fancy whereby any man thinketh himselfe excepted from any outward calamity having no promise for freedome Therefore should no man judge another that liveth outwardly well by ought that befalleth him for it may befall him and that in Gods justice as Proverb 24.17 18. This tels how it is warrantable to judge and censure of other men such as are wicked and prophane Vse 2 and yet cry out that any man should sit on them but themselves and of those wee meane who boast of as good and sincere a heart to God as the best though their lives be not so religious as theirs yea when they are prophane and notoriously wicked yet men must judge charitably of them because they can not see into their thoughts and know what there is there But we answer them that their lives tell us what lyes hid nay that which is within cannot be hid because their lives are such For Math. 7.18 a man need not dig into the ground to see what the root is the fruit will easily discover the tree so is it with the heart actions by good actions we may be deceived because of the disposition of the partie Math. 6. Almes and Prayers by vaine glory or want of sincerity are not good at all to the doer but evill cannot be good by good intention for that which is evill in it self cannot be made good to any for any end And so evill actions still argue an evill heart as bad fruits an evill tree And so it is a very ridiculous thing for men to brag of a sound and good heart when their lives be as they bee For Jam. 3.11 Evill words saith the Apostle corrupt good manners their own and others much more evill workes good men yea they argue the doer corrupt within for it is not the fruit makes the tree bad but it is the badnesse of the tree that maketh the bad fruit the fruit discovereth the naughtinesse of the tree For as the Adder hath a sting before he stingeth so are men wicked before they work wickednesse then is it knowne she hath a sting and they corruption for as the mouth speaketh from the abundance of the heart so the heart worketh from the abundance of the soule so that lawfull it is for me to judge a common swearer a known adulterer a manifest deceiver an usuall drunkard c. to have a corrupt heart for when the earth is broken up and a filthy stench commeth out argues it not that there was some dead corps there so when men send out cursings blasphemies swearings raylings and such like that a man should not be able to endure from whence issue these but from a dead and a rotten soule these carry about them then the grave and sepulcher of the Soule Now that which is said of the words may be applyed to the workes As a man therefore comming to a tombe though never so costly and curiously or so royally deckt yet if at some vent be apprehend a filthy savour issuing out of it he knoweth well there is not only a dead but a rotten carkasse within so when a man feeleth a filthy and unwholsome sent either of prophane speech or of dissolute life issuing from the heart which is the fountaine of both he must needs conclude neither is it against charitie to censure it that there is a soule not only dead and buried but even rotten in sinne and corruption Therefore let no man delude himselfe while he would deceive others to beare men in hand that he is sound at heart when he is unsound and corrupt in his life as if a man might beperswaded that it is a vine or figtree which he seeth hanging full of crabs and wildings Nay it must needs be otherwise therefore as Christ said Math. 12.33 Either make the tree good and his fruit good Or else make the tree evill and his fruit evill for the tree is known by his fruit If thou hate sinne shew it in thy life if thou feare God shew it by thy carefull walking in his waies and seeking to please him If thou lovest the word frequent the assembly with diligence and devotion and not carelessely and slippily If thou thinke reverently of the service of God be carefull reverently to addresse thy selfe to the performance of it Otherwise know thy practice proclaimes the want of these things and thinke not much if others judge thee by that for thy have their warrant from Christ their King By their fruits you shall know them If yee offer the blind The Lord he requires not all the substance of a man to his service but a few things and those not very costly yet he requires the choise and best in their kind and they be accounted of better then any others the best should not be deare to them nor too deare for him Men ought to offer their best things to God Doctr. and to thinke nothing too deare for him either to give to him or for him Gen. 22.2 2 Sam. 24.24 This serves to reprove all hypocrites Vse 1 such as the world the Church is full of who offer not the best but the worst unto God think those things good enough having many things too dear for him when as nothing is too good for their back bellies for their pleasures delights to serve the flesh world withall But generals touch not for particulars First the maintenance of the Ministers is the Lords portion as not to seek it feare off Mal. 3.8 for if the spoiling of them be the spoyling of him then è contra But how many have we that thinke every thing is too much that they have and any thing is good enough for them I say nothing of them who bestow all on pleasures and give nothing to the Lord portion who as they think playing better then preaching bestow much on Players but nothing on Preachers But I aime at such as account of Preaching and injoy the benefit of the ministery and yet a vaine man will bestow more on a player in a yeere then they in many on a
spoken against him Plumea verba plumbea pondera windy words if they be wicked words lye as a dead weight on thy soule Take heed of lifting up his name take heede of an oath for it bringeth an heavy burthen But it is our incouragement I say that God rewards us for good words as well as for our deeds though they seeme to be but little worth they are arguments of a sanctified heart and of the feare of God as it is Matth. 12.34.35 O generation of vipers how can you speake good things when ye are evill for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of an evill treasure bringeth forth evill things And a booke of remembrance was written before him That is he keepes the remembrance of the things he knowes The Lord as he seeth and knoweth all things so he remembreth them Doctrine as he hath knowledge without ignorance of any thing so he hath remembrance without oblivion of the same things good or evill Therefore is he here said to have a booke because things are more certainely and perpetually kept in it then left to remembrance of man Hence is that Amos 8.7 The Lord hath sworne by the excellency of Iaakob surely I will never forget any of their workes Heb. 6.10 For God is not unrighteous that he should forget your worke and labour of love which ye shewed toward his name in that ye have ministred unto the Saints and yet minister Psal 139.2 Jer. 44.21 Psal 56.8 Thou hast counted my wandrings put my teares into thy bottell are they not in thy register Dan. 7.10 Revel 20.12 A similitude taken from Kings who have things written for memory Ester 6.1 though God need not Because of his eternall and infinite apprehension Reason 1 being as able to apprehend things and keepe them done thousand yeares since as but yesterday as man is able to remember things done but yesterday as that Psal 90.4 2 Pet. 3.8 Because he is absolutely perfect Reason 2 without either sinne or imperfection therefore without oblivion that in many things is sinne and in any thing imperfection even as ignorance of things necessary to be knowne and which may be knowne is sinne of things not necessary is imperfection and infirmity though without sin Isaiah 43.25 Object I even I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Then God doth forget and there is oblivion in him Gods forgetting of sinne Answer is like his not seeing of sinne Num. 23.21 which is not that he seeth not the act and thing done but hee seeth it not to impute it to them in that respect hee is as though he saw it not So he forgetteth not the act and the thing done but not to impute it to him or to punish him for it which is in effect to forget it As his remembrance is taken for the effect of his remembrance As Isaiah 38.3.9 I pray thee let me have the effect and feeling of thy remembrance let me know by experience thou dost remember me So his forgetfulnesse or forgetting is taken for the effect and feeling of it They should finde he had as it were forgotten To let us see the folly of wicked men Vse 1 as in committing sinne in secret and darke thinking the Lord cannot or doth not see so in seeking to cover it committed and labour to bring an oblivion of it who though the corruption cleave to them as Jer. 17.1 The sinne of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond and graven upon the table of their heart and upon the hornes of your Altars Yet they by all meanes labour to forget it and if they have escaped and prospered with it for a month or two or a yeare or two c. they thinke also God hath forgotten it But doe they not deceive themselves when with God is no oblivion no forgetfulnesse What benefit can they then get by this even as a malefactor that hath committed some haynous offence whom the Magistrate lets alone to see what he will doe whether he will seeke his pardon or no and he goes about to corrupt or remove all that should give evidence against him when it is in the power of the Judge both to be witnesse and Judge and proceed of his owne knowledge and out of his owne memory of the act and who also cannot forget So here What got the sonnes of Iaakob by smothering their treachery to their father and brother It may terrifie the wicked that every evill word is registred Matth. 12. and though God should not the Divell would keepe them in mind to accuse them Rev. 12. yea and their owne consciences Gods register booke To instruct every man to keep his bookes of account well Vse 2 and to remember all his debts and his sinnes seeing they shall be remembred though he would forget them or could when as his remembrance of them to humble himselfe and to get his pardon makes God to forget them Saint Chrysostome would have a man not to forget his sinnnes after pardon * Non ut teipsum c. Chryso ho. 12. ad popu Antioch Not to consume thy selfe with the thought of them but to teach thy soule not to grow wanton nor to fall into the same sinnes againe But most necessary before that he may have God to forget them who as he justifies him that condemnes himselfe pardons him that accuseth himselfe so he forgets his sinnes who remembers them himselfe in that forgetfulnesse is incident to him And as Saint Ambrose * Novit omnia Deus sed c. Ambrose God God knowes all things yet he expects thy confession not that he may punish but pardon thee So the Lord remembers all yet he expecteth the sinner should remember him of them not that he might punish them but pardon them Comfort for men as to doe well because the Lord seeth Vse 3 so though they doe not see their rewards and finde but a meane recompence among men as if all their labour were forgot yet to hold on and continue and not to faint for the Lord cannot forget and as he in sinne he remembring of it cannot but punish it in time so in good he cannot but reward it And as the way to have remission of sinnes and to have them forgotten is to remember them so the way to have reward of our workes is to forget them As Saint Paul Phil. 3.13.14 For them that feared the Lord. Some thinke the Lord tooke speciall notice therefore of it because it was so rare and commendable a thing for any to hold his feare faith and a good conscience in the midst of that wicked and froward people It is a thing most commendable Doctrine for men to be upright in the midst of a wicked and froward people and not to be carried with the
those that are deare to him If God will and must deale thus with his owne Vse 1 generall and particular let the whole Church and every member thinke of it that they be not deceived as if to them there were no feare of judgments and punishments though they feare not sinne because they are his It is such a corruption and deceit that may seize upon those who are his even truely his though usually they are deceived by the sleight of Sathan whom he hath before deceived with another perswading them they are gods when they are not for commonly none so confident as those none so bold as these blind byards but whosoever he is that is tainted with this let him know that as the Husbandman preserveth the sheepe of his pasture in a moist yeare from rotting in the heart and liver when they are a little tainted by the salt waters of the Sea so may he be recovered and preserved by those waters of the Sanctuary even by those salt waters when the streame runnes thus that he will not nor he hath not spared those who are as deare to him as the apple of his eye untoothsome happily may they be but without doubt wholesome they are let no Church then trust in lying words Jer. 7.4 if they continue in their wickednesse vers 9. and make his house a den of theeves vers 11. but let them know he sees it and goe to Shiloh vers 12. and other Churches and see what he hath done to them and the like will he doe to it vers 14. Let no particular man thinke he may sinne as presuming he is Gods for if he spared not Moses Miriam David and others how him could they not have challenged more than he or is it not likely that God would have spared them as well as he Let him thinke of that to Solomon I will be his Father and he shall be my sonne if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of Iron but my mercy shall not depart from him 2 Sam. 7.14 15. if God make it true in him it is the best he can looke for If any aske what benefit it is to be Gods I answer much every way as that God will passe by many infirmities of thine when thou servest him many sinnes of passion when they are not continued in Have you not heard of the patience of Job Againe is it no benefit to be his Fathers Heire unlesse he may be suffered to doe what he list without controlement or correction Besides even this is a benefit for if that be true Let the righteous smite me and it shall be a kindnesse Psalm 141.8 much more this when that we are chastned that we may not be condemned 1. Cor. 2.32 This may serve for comfort when affliction and punishment is befallen one who is his Vse 2 In such a condition a man is ready to faint and his heart to faile him for feare as if God had utterly cast him off but it riseth from the ignorance of this that God hath and will afflict his children and because they have not beene experienced under the hand of God A child when he is young and tender not acquainted with his Fathers threats and corrections no sooner sees his father lay hand upon rods but feares he hates him but a little use under this teacheth him there is indeed love where hatred is in show And so with them but they must learne this that their hearts may rest upon it as the Arke did stay upon the mountaine of Ararat after it had floted a long time upon the waters seeing he afflicts his owne yea more than the wicked in this life and yet still his people Israel having forgotten their late miseries and calamities the sence and feeling of them being worne cleane out of memory they returne againe to their former corruptions and sinnes and are newly threatned with other and more heavy judgments If men Doctr. many or few a County or City one or a company after they have beene delivered or freed from some calamity and judgment doe forget it passing it over without profit and returning to their sinnes and corruptions againe they are in danger of new and more fearefull judgments for he did this to the greene tree what will he doe to the dry if to the naturall Olive-tree what can the wild Olive looke for This is manifest by Esay who reproveth the people because they profited not by former judgments but remained obstinate and in their sinnes Chap. 1. ver 5. specially vers 21 22 23. How is the faithfull City become an Harlot it was full of judgment and justice lodged therein but now they are murtherers thy silver is become drosse thy wine is mixt with water thy Princes are rebellious and companions of theeves every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards they judge not the fatherlesse neither doth the Widows cause come before them whereunto he addeth therefore saith the Lord God of Hostes the mighty one of Israel Ah I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies vers 24. To this I adde Esay 12.9.17.21 inferred upon vers 13. manifest by Deut. 28.45 Jerem. 5.3 John 5.14 An example of this also the Ninevites may be comparing together the Prophecies of Jonah and Nahum Because it cannot be equall and right Reas 1 that God should goe away and give over as overcome by the obstinacy and stubbornnesse of men that were as if a Prince should give over a Rebell because he were not able to subdue him with a small company and not gather more forces it were too much indignity and dishonour So in this for God striking for sinne must not lay downe his Armes till the Rebells come in as Joab gave not over the siege of Abel till Shebaes head was given him 2 Sam. 20.22 Because it is dangerous for a people to harden them in their sinnes Reas 2 for if because sentence against an evill worke is not exeted speedily therefore the heart is fully set to doe evill Eccles 8.11 if the deferring be thus dangerous what is the removing and not renewing or doubling the judgment it hardens men Because he must doe it whether his owne or not Reas 3 if his owne that he may cure them as Physitians or Chirurgians double the dose of their medicines and use more violent meanes when they finde the body hard to worke upon the disease more setled so the Lord when he findes his owne more obstinate if not his that he may consume them and shew his power upon them that he is able to abase and destroy every one that is obstinate against him Learne then to feare before God Vse and to profit under his hand to turne unto him that smites us and to seeke the Lord of Hostes lest otherwise God be provoked to cut off from us head and tayle branch and roote in one day Esay 9.13 14. By the ministery of Malachy or by the hand of Malachy The
the vally shall picke it out and the young Eagles shall eate it And if the King must be well thought of Eccle. 10.20 how the parent to whom our affection naturally is more Chams curse came in part for his unreverent thought towards his Father Gen. 19. Because God hath made them reverent Reas 1 in that he hath communicated unto them part of his excellency and dignity now then as a man cannot endure to see so much as his picture or image lightly regarded and not set by but cast at the heels of those who ought to reverence it so God who regardeth the heart and inward affection as much or much more then the outward action cannot abide to see any sparke of his own image despised or any unreverent thought conceived of those whom he hath graced with extraordinarie dignitie of excellency or authoritie Because they ought to love them Reas 2 and if they doe love them they cannot disdaine them nor despise them For 1 Cor 13.5 Love disdaineth not Because else outward reverence is unsound Reas 3 fained counterfeite when the inward is wanting as the inward is lame maymed and unperfect without the outward To teach every child to see his sinne Vse 1 even every one of us for who can say that his heart is cleane that hath had naturall parents living when he had use of reason to whom though he have given outward respect reverence for some sinister respect for feare or shame or gaine of the rod the world or hope of some better portion yet he hath had many disdainefull and despising thoughts of his parents which if they were disliked and resisted were the lesse sinne but not checked in them they have proved the seed and spawn of many outward corruptions unreverences toward them yea of much disobedience and dishonouring of them for as the mouth speaketh of the abundance of the heart so the eye looketh scornefully or the tongue speaketh disdainfully or the whole outward cariage is disloyall when the heart is so corrupted for Chams dishonouring his father to his bretheren rose from the disdaining of him in his heart in secret But if it hath not broken out to this but either grace hath subdued it or worldly respect hath made us smother it yet must it be put upon the account among our sinnes when we humble our selves before the Lord for them to get a discharge of these as well as others To teach every childe Vse 2 to whom God hath given that comfort that he hath parents both or one to labour for all good and reverent affection towards them to honor them in his heart and inwardly to have all honourable estimation of them for the Lord he lookes into the heart and this he requires as the other and by all meanes labours against the contrary and that which is condemned of God which will make them contemne the counsells and advice of their Parents whose persons they disdaine in their hearts and take every thing from them in the worse part and so make their whole government unprofitable unto them Besides the feare of Gods curse threatned Prov. 30. as he well said he was a sinner with a witnesse whom the Holy Ghost gave witnesse against so he is accursed with a witnesse whom the Holy Ghost so accurseth for it saith Tremel God will condemne and bring that person to some evill end or other who shall scorne and disdaine his Parents for his curses are not threatnings alone but inflictions not denouncings but performance This were a good caveat to be written upon the doores of young mens and womens hearts to banish and keepe out unreverent and scornefull thoughts of their Parents and a sitter Posie to be written upon the walls of Parents than the vaine inventions of Poets and Painters The second is outward reverence both in word and carriage towards them Children Doctr. sonnes and daughters must outwardly reverence their Parents that is in behaviour and speech give them all reverent respect in gesture and such titles as are due unto them For if inward more outward seeing the contrary is more offence to them who take notice of it more griefe to their Parents that see and heare them Here to belongs that Prov. 30.11 There is a generation that curseth their father and hath not blessed their mother and that he speaketh of the eye verse 17. shewes that in the whole outward man is required reverence Hence was the blessing of Shem and Japhet Gen. 9.23 26 27. Hence was the excuse of Rachel Gen. 31.35 and the practice of Solomon 1 King 2.19 20. Besides those in the former point this may confirme it Reason because they have their bodies whole and parts from them made of their seed framed in her wombe nursed and nourished up by them then ought they by the whole and parts to doe them all the reverence they possibly can To teach every one to see his sins past or present Vse 1 when they have beene in this marvellous defective nay doing the contrary little reverence in gesture and speech to their Parents short of that it should have beene nay often carrying disdainfull eyes disloyall and despightfull tongues the sinnes of our youth in this respect to be repented of The cause with many why they are despised and want this outward reverence of theirs God using this retribution because they have done so yea and when they have children of yeares to discerne such things who see them unreverently use their Parents both in gesture and speech both with looks and words who teach them how to use theirs while they let them see how they use theirs Yea divers Parents my selfe have beene an eye-witnes of some who teach their children when they are young not onely to disdaine others but themselves the father teaching the child to scoffe or miscall his mother and delight in it which falls out justly that they keepe the sent of this liquor and when they are elder so despise and contemne them But if now when they finde such things from theirs it is good to call to mind their owne sinnes and to think that they thus use me for I have used mine the like and yet never repented of it To perswade every child as before to labour to give them all reverence both in his word and carriage Vse 2 to thinke it little enough to reverence them with the whole and every part which they received from him Let none thinke this is needlesse or too much curiosity to stand upon such things they acknowledge them their Parents and respect them somewhat what need all this for this must be done and not greater things neglected Nonnunquā in parvâ deterius quà m in majori culpâ peccatur major enim culpa quo citiùs agnoscitur cò etiam celeriùs emendatur minor verò dum quasi nulla creditur eò pejor est quo securiùs in usu retinetur Greg. and the sinnes of children in this kind are in
but this bindes more as a twofold cord the law because of our creation the Gospell for our election and redemption we are no more servants but sonnes Galat. 4.5 6. But must we the lesse serve him or not this were a gallant Gospell indeed Nay we must the rather because sonnes Mala. 3.16 we must not change our service but the manner of our service for he hath made us to serve him Luke 1.74 75. that hee would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life Not as servants for wages but as sonnes in a more honourable kinde of service with a free affection in no mercenarie manner In primo dedit me mihi in secundo dedit se mihi cui debeo me propter me debeo plusquam me propter se Ber. otherwise this bindes us more then before and to doe more if it were possible then the law requires If the other though free yet not so rare doe bind how much more this so rare a benefit should bind us In the first he gave me to my selfe In the other he gave himselfe to me To whom I owe my selfe for my being to him I am more indebted for giving himself to mee more is then due unto him and more must we endeavour if our being and being men require it of us what this being sonnes without which it had beene better wee had never been yea a thousand times If his bounty in creating us what his mercy and love in electing us The world though peevishly and corruptly it upbraids those that are Gods and in some sinister and corrupt affection challenges more of them then of others towards themselves then towards God yet those who are indeed Gods must thinke such speeches are goades to pricke them forwards to more For God hath done more for them therefore more is required of them yea more then they thinke they ought to performe Every one must argue as David see 2 Sam. 6.21 And David said unto Michal it was before the Lord which chose me before thy father and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel therefore will I play before the Lord It will not serve and goe for currant if Gods children elected be not more diligent to honour him then others Where is my honour wee have seene by what right God requires this we must see now the thing it is honour which is indeed childelike and filiall feare to obey and serve him for love rather then feare as sonnes doe their father and of this I will thus speak first that men must give it to God the sonnes to the father Secondly how it differs from the servile feare Thirdly the effects of it that it may be known whether had or no and if not it may be sought if had it may be joyed in First that Men must give it unto God Doctrine The Children of God that is his sonnes and daughters ought to honour him that is to serve and obey him to doe the good he commands not for feare of punishment or hope of reward but for the love of good and righteousnesse and his goodnesse and mercy willingly and of conscience hereto may we apply that Psal 130.4 and Rom. 12.1 and 1 John 2.1 inferred upon the second Reas 1 Because else they can not be sonnes and daughters Servilis est timor quamdiu ab amore non manat qui de amore non venit honor non honor sed adulatio Bern. Cant. 83. whose nature is to obey their parents and doe them all service of love feare is servile if it flow not from love and the honour which comes not from love is not honour but flattery a formall fawning Because if they obey him and honour him for hope of good Reas 2 and feare of evill and punishment it is self love that moves them not God love nor the love of righteousnesse now if men require more nor account not of this when selfe love hath the sway and men seeke themselves how should God and why should men expect it from him * One blesses God because he is powerfull Est qui confitetur Deo quia potms est est quoniam sibi bonus est est quia simplicitèr bonus est Psal 118.1.19 primus servus est timet secundus mercenarius cupit sibi tertius filius est diligit patrem another because he is good to him another because he is simple good in himselfe Psal 118.1 The first is a servant and feares The second is an hireling and lookes for gaine The third is a sonne and loves his father There are many promises of good things for obedience Object and threats of evill for disobedience are they made to servants or written for them alone or also for sonnes If Sonnes why may not they look to them and for them doe service Without question whatsoever is written is for sonnes not servants Sol. or principally for them yet is it not acceptable to God when it is done for these for nothing proceeding from hirelings or slaves can be acceptable why then are these written Namely to helpe them in it not to be the principall mover of it vide James 2.8 This proves that many mens workes and obedience are not the honour of God Vse 1 nor things acceptable though according to the law and things commanded which in another are his honour and accepted of him the end or motive not being good and right as it should The second thing to be observed is how this child-like and filiall feare differs from the other servile feare and that it doth in divers things The first difference is in respect of the object that is of that which is feared that is sinne the one feares sinne as it is sinne and because it is sinne the other onely the punishment of sin and not sinne at all but in regard of the punishment the former curbs the action onely Hosea 3.5 the other the affection the one liketh and loveth sinne but he dare not commit it in regard of the danger that may ensue of it the other hateth and abhorreth sinne and would not commit it though he might doe it without danger at all as Prov. 8.13 The feare of the Lord is to hate evill Psal 97.10 And because it deales with the affection it is called a pure feare Psal 19.9 The feare of the Lord is cleane or pure for it purgeth the heart as faith is said to doe Acts 15.9 The other is a melting feare but this is a purging and refining feare The second difference is in their grounds the one is grounded onely uon the wrath of God and for his justice the other regardeth them but specially his mercy and goodnesse Psal 130.4 Hosea 3.5 The filiall feare to offend God in regard of benefits past the servile for evill to come Se
reason ought all men to deale with God and towards him Because his justice will not suffer him to passe over the breach of his law unpunished Reas 2 no more then he will or can be unjust nay no more then he will not be God for if unjust no God if he let things slip over unpunished he must be unjust except in things where men judge themselves first Then in the Church must there be feare of God Vse 1 namely of his justice and power and not of his mercy only contrary to some who thinke in the Church onely men should feare God for his goodnesse I answer that it is true this should be the principall thing for which they should feare but in the Church though we be all one mans servants yet we are not all one mans children yet if all were so because of the unregenerate part this ought to be in that a man is not altogether freed and made a sonne but is partly a servant c. Then ought every one in the Church to endeavour to know his power and justice Vse 2 and to acknowledge them for howsoever it is true that all are alike in the hand of God and his dominion over all as the Psalmist speakes yet all doe not regard and take notice of it A great many doe not beleeve nor are perswaded of them and that maketh them they feare not God as they should For as Ignoti nulla cupido there is no desire of that which is unknowne so nulla formido there is no feare for feare riseth not so much out of the outward evill as it doth of the inward apprehension of it And therefore not the neernesse of the danger but the conceit of the evill raiseth the affection of feare in the heart therefore Isaiah saith of some that they goe downe laughing to Hell they play merrily upon Hells mouth as the Child without feare playeth uon the Cockatrices den because they are ignorant what danger they are in So then it is not all who are in his power and over whom his authority and justice is but such as know them for present or how they may feele them after that feare and stand in awe of him as they should To teach men if they have not the spirit of sonnes Vse 3 the love of God and righteousnesse that for conscience they will obey yet at the least that they endeavour to obey him for feare of his power and justice as servants if not as sonnes The other is that which is acceptable yet this is that which God calls for and men ought to doe even the outward act of Gods service for feare of his power and justice Though I cannot say it hath any promises of good things yet hath God shewed good and given blessings to those which have it onely As to Ahab and the Ninevites for their repenting at the feare of his judgments and threatning To shew how he will much more accept the repentance of his yea and to draw on such servants to the like for that is a speciall benefit to his Church they be orderly in the outward duty The second thing concerning this servile feare is the effects of it which are these The first that it is tanquam fraenum ad equum as a bit and a bridle to men to with-hold them from sinne from the wilfull practice of wicked things it is the strongest curbe that can be to keepe mans corrupt nature from running forth into outrage if it be surely setled once in them Manifest in Laban when he pursued after Jacob Gen. 31.29 And that of Paul when he sheweth that the want of this maketh the open high-way to the practice of all sinne Rom. 3.18 And that this should be such a restraint it stands with reason because there are two maine things which draw men to sin and the practice of wickednesse The first is the desire of some good men may get by the committing of it but this desire is crossed by feare which is the strongest and most violent affection of all others and so stoppeth the passage of all other desires so that it is neither profit nor pleasure that can make a timorous man hardy or can master and overcome feare in any mans minde but it will overcome all desire of them and nodesire of it nay not the pleasure it selfe all the pleasure in the world cannot comfort a condemned person nor banish feare out of his minde so long as the halter hangeth over his head so long as he dayly and hourely looketh to be drawne to execution But feare is able to expell pleasure and the desire of those things we love most as in Sampson in Dalilaes lap when a noise of Philistims and a false Alarum was upon him Gods feare expells all other feares as is manifest by the Midwives Exod. 1.17 Jer. 1.17 Isaiah 8.12 13. As a stronger nayle drives out a lesse so the feare of God other feares the greater feare the lesse the feare of Hell-fire will carry the mastery of all other feare Luke 12.4 5. We may make use of this Vse 1 first to prove many men amongst us not onely void of a filiall feare which makes men avoid small sinnes and to shun the act of any sinne but of this servile feare because great sinnes are small or no sinnes with them and they have the very habite of all sinne living in the practice of some one or many grosse and impious sinnes whoredome adultery murther and blood oppression and cruelty covetousnesse and usury swearing and blasphemy c. so that whatsoever they say we may say Psal 36.1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no feare of God before his eyes when as then men goe on in their wicked courses and a small pleasure or desire of it will carry them to the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh and to all voluptuousnesse and practice of all pleasure a small feare make them commit any sinne and either coveting some pleasure or thinking to avoid some displeasure of the world they onely neglect not the good but make no bones to commit sin and to lye in it they have not certainly come so farre as to have this servile feare and so they are not sonnes no not servants of God nay though they have the shape of men as Nabuchadnezzar had yet they have not so much understanding as a beast lesse than he had For as Bernard saith Divers 12. Let us lade and over-burthen an Asse and toyle him with labour he cares not because he is an Asse but if we assay to put him into the fire or thrust him into a Ditch or Quarry he shunneth all he can because he loves life and feareth death And yet these run headlong to Hell and breake forth into all kind of impiety as the Horse into the battaile when they know these will worke their everlasting confusion This may teach every man who would keepe himselfe free from the practice
and trade of sinne Vse 2 and that neither the pleasures nor displeasures of the world the delights nor the dreads of it shall draw him to be enticed and openly sinne to labour for this feare by which he shall be able to overcome temptations on all sides For if he have this feare a man would never sell himselfe to eternall torments for a draught of pleasure or for a Million of Gold when it might be said to him as Joshua 22.18 Ye also are turned away this day from the Lord and seeing yee rebell to day against the Lord even to morrow he will be wroth with all the congregation of Israel Loe to day he offendeth and to morrow God will be wroth and he shall perish in his wrath surely no profit or pleasure tendered unto him would make him incurre this danger And for the other temptation hee would easily overcome it by this even the feare of mens feare with the feare of Gods punishments and say happily as David though he spoke it more sanctifiedly Psal 119.161 Princes have persecuted me without cause but mine heart stood in awe of thy words If he have this feare hardly such temptations will assault him For as Chrysost Hom. 15. ad pop Ant. If it be once knowne and heard that an armed Souldier stands watching in a house for the defence of it there is neither thiefe nor robber nor any that practiseth such evill will come neere it So when feare is the keeper of mans heart there is neither the temptation of pleasure or profit or worldly feare will set upon a man but will fly away or be easily expelled subdued as it were by the command of feare God hath set two Schoole-masters over us Pudor Timor shame and feare that should lead an ingenuous nature but if not that yet this should unlesse we will be worse than beasts The second effect of this feare is that it is tanquam acus ad filum the needle or the bristle to the threed that is that as they goe before and make way for the threed but abide not there when it is once come but goes out againe So this feare first entereth the heart of man and makes way for love or the Child-like feare that loving feare first when he is converted and it entereth in for this end to bring or draw in love after it and love when it is once entered casteth feare out of doores that made entrance before 1 John 4.18 This is further manifest by the example of Paul Acts 9.3 6. and Josiah 2 Chron. 34.19 27. so Act. 2.37 38. and 16.30 Rom. 7.10 Because God respects and accepts men to give them grace when they are troubled Reas 1 and are smitten with this feare Isaiah 66.2 and it is spoken exclusivè none but them this then must needs goe before Because mans heart is not capable of grace without this first Reas 2 without this it is not fit to receive the impression of Gods Spirit It gives no grace but it makes capable of grace as we see fire though it give the metall no fashion yet it maketh it liquid and fit to be cast in any mould it maketh the waxe fit to receive any impression of the Seale So this feare though it worke no grace in the heart but leaveth it as corrupt as it findeth it yet it mollifieth it and maketh it plyable for Gods Spirit to worke upon which before could not take the stamp of Gods grace This manifesteth that many men must needs be without grace Vse 1 because many have not had this feare which is ever before grace wheresoever it comes and grace never comes any where where this Usher hath not beene before it is the forerunner of grace as John Baptist was of Christ As God appeared to Elias so he approacheth to the soule 2 Kings 19 12 13 14. he was neither in the winde nor earthquake which rended the earth and clave the rockes nor in the fire that devoureth all before it nor he went not before them but he was in a soft voyce which came afterwards So is the spirit and grace of God it goes not before the servile feare it is not with it when it rends the hard hearts of men and when it melts and mollifies them with the fire of Gods wrath but it cometh after and speaketh peace and rest to the soule whereas many never tasted of this feare and shew it by their lives they have no feare of God nay in words brag they had never no such rentings and meltings of heart nay jest at those which have they shew themselves voyd of grace of true grace yea many who are not so outragious but civill or rather secure who indeed never felt any such trouble and fight in them any such feare or terror but all things is and ever was at peace within they are men voyd of true grace and saving grace they may have the shaddow and similitudes of grace but no substance and truth of it This may teach every man that hath this feare in him Vse 2 to make much of it and nourish it it being the forerunner of grace and as it were the harbinger of it without which it never appeares as God never comes with grace unlesse this apparitor go before as men therefore who desire the Prince and joy in his comming will rejoyce at the comming of his Harbinger and make much of him so ought they of this feare yea and the greater this feare is the more rejoyce at it aswell as men may rejoyce in feare for the greater grace follows after for in the examples of the Scriptures those who have had most feare and conflicts in their conversion have been the best men and women most full of grace God saith Bernard hath two feet the one of feare the other of love and when he would enter a mans Soule he is wont to send afore or step first in with his foot of feare then after his foot of love and the greater the feare is which went before the greater the love is which follows after The third effect of this feare is to make the party it possesseth credulous apprehending every surmise against him making him encline to the worst and forecast the utmost of the evill As in that feare which the Goaler was possest with Acts 16.27 he apprehended the worst and utmost In Samuel and Josiah so in the Ninevites Ion. 3.5 therefore it made them apprehend the worst and beleeve it would be so Because feare brings to minde a mans sinnes and deserts Reas 1 even those which were long before committed and for them makes him apprehend danger and deeper then indeed it is As in the brethren of Joseph Gen. 42.21 no marvell then if it make them easily beleeve that such things may fall upon them Because they know by themselves Reas 2 that those who are injured and offended doe hate the offenders and where hatred is joyned with power and might there must needs be
private man if he reprove an offendor when he seeth him comitting sinne he is not bound to enquire and take notice of what they doe or curiously to watch over them but not for a Magistrate Minister c. He must Prov. 27.23 bee diligent to look to the stateof his flocke and look well to his heards The Minister is Episcopus a pryer to signifie it is his charge to pry and look to the lives of those who are committed to him and so ought every particular master of a family for his house is his Diocesse though he may not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meddle in an other family 1 Pet. 4.15 It is not enough for them to take notice of things that are offended in the open view but they must enquire into their secret carriage many imagine they are bound no further then to take notice of open sinnes and thinke ignorance of close crimes will excuse them but such affected ignorance when they might have knowledge increaseth the sinne for they might either prevent it or humble themselves for it as Job or reprove them as Elisha did his servant 2 Kings 5. and free themselves from their sinne The second thing is that they have power to punish when they cannot prevent It is enough for a private man when he sees a sin to reprove to bewaile it and pray for him that sinned but not for him that hath charge he must use the power of the sword being a Magistrate of the keyes being a Minister of the rod being a Master or Parent yea and in obstinacy dis-inherit as Abraham cast out scoffing Ismael and his Mother and expulse his house as David said he would purge his house Psal 101. And without this can they not keep themselves from the sinnes of others To teach ever inferior to submit to his superior Vse 3 or to him that hath charge over him to be pryed into reproved or corrected as their power is It is profitable to have an enemy prying profitable to have a child tell us the cloake hangs awry as Chrysost more profitable to have a friend of whose faithfulnesse we doubt not and whose duty must make us beare with him as with Physitians though they deale with us very homely And you say wherein have we polluted thee The second reply of this people adding denyall to denyall they would not grant that they did so that they offered polluted bread One sinne drawes on an other the first a second that a third Doct. and both a greater we may say of sin as Leah said of her sonne that her Maid Zilpa bore Jacob Gen. 30.11 a troppe commeth we see it in our first Parents in David 2 Sam. 11. in Asa 2 Chro. 19.10 in Peter Because one sinne must serve to bolster and uphold another Reas or else to smother and conceale another This people though it a shame having once denyed their fault not to defend it and stand out to the utmost But it is manifest in the example of David of which Basil thus the Devill seeing that after the doing of it he was ashamed of what he had done and willing to hide his shamefull wound he made that shame of his a broker to another sinne and so drew him to draw one ulcer over another while seeking to cover his adultery with murther he made him an author and so guilty of both This ought to teach men not to give place to sinne Vse 1 to any one great or small but to resist them all for as Proverb 17.14 The beginning of strife is as one that openeth the waters Therefore ere the contention be medled with leave off As when a man maketh a way to a current or streame of a river which when he hath once let into his grounds he cannot stay again though he would never so faine so is the begining of sinne To give the water passage is to let the tongue loose for the carelesse minde slideth away by degrees till it fall and he that is not carefull of idle and harmlesse words at the first commeth soone to wicked and hurtfull words at the last Greg. past 3. the like may be said of other sins The way to Heaven is upward hard and difficult the way to Hell is downward Now he that runneth down a Hill cannot stay when he will or if he set downe with himselfe how farre and where he will stay he is not like to observe it so in sinne he cannot take up himselfe when he would to say thus farre and no further I will sinne for the corruption of his nature is as fierce horses and the devill as the driver he shall not command himself when he would Did not David fall from idlenes to wantonnesse and from adultery to murther from a filthy sinne to a bloody crime did not Salomon from excessive buildings where his sin begun for he was as long again about his own house as he was about Gods house to abundance of wives and from the love of strange women to the service of strange gods Did not Asa fall from distrusting God to the imprisoning of Gods Prophets and from that to oppressing of his people yea from distrusting in God to trust wholly in Physitians and are we better then these who was like them in Israel and what is our strength in comparison of them It is good then that we withstand small sinnes and the first If any be overtaken with sin unawares let him shake it off with speed Vse 2 lest he come to binde sin to sin and so shall he be sure not to escape unpunished let him labor to rise out of it and to stay himselfe as Job 40.5 Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further So say thou once have I sinned but I will doe not more yea twise but I will proceed no further And to lessen thy fault excuse not thine offence seek no excuses and pretences to cover or colour it for that will bring thee to be more intangled As one saith beginning are with more ease and safety declined when we are free then proceedings when wee have begun so small beginings then continuance the further and longer the harder it will be to rise and the smaller the sinne is the harder haply to rise for hee that fals lightly he makes no great haste to rise againe whereas he that fals hard and foul hee hastens to arise so in this It is Sathans policy not to draw men to great sinnes at first but by degrees lest they should abhorre them before the conscience be inured and somewhat hardened As the way to good is by degrees because of the diffiuclty of it so to evill because of the horriblenesse and shame of it And by one sinne if it be lived in without repentance there is left in in the heart a ore provocation to sinne the same sinne againe yea and a greater pronesse then before to any other sin whatsoever of the same
deceiveth his owne heart this mans religion is vaine And Matth. 12.34 O generation of vipers how can you speake good things when yee are evill for of the abundnace of the heart the mouth speaketh Hence is that Matth. 26.73 So after a while came unto him they that stoody by and said unto Peter surely thou art also one of them for even thy speech bewrayeth thee Though the tongue may now and then prove a false glasse yet it is then when it maketh shew not of the worse but of the better as false glasses doe commonly make men seeme fairer than they are and not fouler Because the nature of man is so hypocriticall Reas 2 and willing to be accounted good that if any thing be in the heart that good is it will shew it selfe nay though nothing be in it yet it will dissemble at least for time and place so when there nothing appeares but evill and the whole course is nought it must follow that the heart must needs be starke naught Many Apples rotten at the heart are whole skinned but if rotten in the outside they have the taint of the heart This controuleth such rash censurers Vse 1 as will goe further than Gods Prophet as will judge of men not by their lives and their actions but by their owne fancies and conceits contrary to their actions If the Prophet a man of that wisdome and revelations did content himselfe with their actions and joyne issue with them upon their outward carriage shall these men who have no such thing nor any extraordinary gifts to discerne spirits sit upon mens soules and judge their secrets and condemne them for hypocrites and contemne them for deepe dissemblers though they can find nothing in their lives that may argue their hypocrisie and hollownesse But doe such wise men of the world these things without ground Object It cannot be Answ neither is but they are deceitfull grounds The first is the strict course of life that the parties take they thus judge a marvellous thing different spirits The Prophet condemnes men for their dissolute lives these for the straitnesse of their lives Thus if any man doe make conscience of sinne he is by them noted as a Pharisee that is an hypocrite That as he said Non potest esse salvus qui non vult esse malus salvus saltem à linguis maledicis si it is 1 Pet. 4.4 It seemeth unto them strange that ye runne not with them unto the same excesse of riot therefore speake they evill of you But as S. Bernard said that Balaam when he thought to have cursed Gods people for hyre did blesse them againe and againe though against his will so these men more commend than discommend these persons where they seeke so to disgrace them while unwillingly they heape praises as reproaches upon them and while they goe about to back-bite them against their wills they acquit them because the object good things instead of evill against them as if they could find no matter of evill in them But Matth. 23.23 Christ condemnes the Scribes for strictnesse in paying tythes Object But the latter part answers the former Answ and it sheweth they are hypocrites not for doing the lesse but omitting the greater as on the other side that they are hypocrites who doe the greater and omit the lesse If they cannot justly challenge them for omitting the greater they cannot make them hypocrites nay happily these that are censured may justly by Christs rule judge their censurers as hypocrites because they omit the lesse and are altogether negligent in them For undoubtedly the heart can be sound in neither that is not in both Luke 16.10 He that is faithfull in the least he is also faiothfull in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much It is a sure token of an hypocrite for a man to live apparently in the practice of any one known sinne though in other things hee seeme never so strict For Eccles 10.12 Any one dead Fly corrupts the oyntment But to condemne a man for an hypocrite in being stricter than our selves in some cases and for being nice in matters of small moment when the whole tenour of his life is otherwise righteous also it is to condemne him for that which Christ will commend him for at the last when no man shall take his praise or his joy from him Matth. 25.21 But these men thus condemne themselves for as the Heathen Vt quisque optimus est ita quemque optimum esse putat so Vt quisque pessimus c. as Heliogabalus thought every man dishonest in heart because he was so himselfe so these men thinke that men cannot without hypocrisie either be nice in small things or very carefull and zealous in greater things because themselves are not come to that sincerity to make conscietice of them themselves and therefore if they should seeme to doe it they should but dissemble and they measure other mens consciences by their owne In a word thus to judge is a most corrupt course as if a man would needs have it that the tree is rotten at the roote because the fruit of it seemed to be good or at least because the fruit of it shewed better and fairer then the fruit of many other trees that grew neer it Then as Math. 7.1 Judge not that yee be not judged Else if thou thus judge Gods servants take heed of a censure from him and it may be from those whom thou thus censurest because 1 Cor. 6.2 The Saints shall judge the world The second ground of these mens judging is some strange judgment that befals them that seeme thus religious and carefull for if one that hath made conscience of his wayes be overtaken with any judgement an unusual crosse or dye suddenly then judge they of him as Jobs friends did of him that God hath found out his hyprocisie what would they doe if he had dyed in that misery and yet might he have done well enough for all that and did trust in God Job 13.15 Loe though hee slay me yet will I trust in him and I will approve my wayes in his sight Thus the Barbarians judged of St. Paul Acts 28.4 And so the Disciples John 9.2 But as men shall not be judged before God for that they have suffered but done so men shall not be judged of men for so Christ shewed by crossing his Disciples judgement John 9.3 as also theirs Luke 13.3 5. as he sheweth not only by this which might come from the malice of Pilate but from that of the 18. who perished under the Tower of Siloam for the like may befall to another and themselves But may not a man judge at all by Gods judgements Object Yes Answ in these and the like cases if God have foretold such a thing Numb 16.29 30. when it comes we may judge or if the judgment befall him that hath been and so continues anotorious wicked man as in Athens when
if faith and holinesse of life be wanting here it is apparent in these Priests not accepted for all the dignity of their office Cain was the first borne and had that priviledge yet for all that God received not his offering but Abels Gen. 4. so betwixt the Pharise and publicane Luke 18.10 c. as betwixt the rich men and the widdow Marke 12.41 42 43. Because he is no accepter of persons Acts 10. that is Reas 1 for any outward thing for he accepts for inward It is borrowed from Judges who being corrupt are swayed not with the uprightnesse of the cause but with the person his place his honor his riches and such like which being denyed in God shewes why he accepts not the wicked Because he looks not as man looks Reas 2 upon outward things This will serve to check a corruption in our times Vse 1 and not in ours onely but that which hath ever beene in all ages great men nobles and Princes wealthy and worshipfull personages perswade themselves so are soothed up by their flatterers that a little thing from them is greatly accepted of God a few cold prayers a little devotion a carlesse hearing shall be accepted from them though they never trouble themselves for the true feare of God and to worke righteousnesse whereas first in reason there is more due to God where he hath given more But why should he accept lesse from them because they are great as if he were an accepter of persons or as if they were or could be great in respect of him Let no estate hinder a man from this service Vse 2 for the best excuseth not the meanest makes us no lesse acceptable VERSE X. Who is there even among you that would shut the doores and kindle not fire on mine Altar in vaine I have no pleasure in you saith the Lord of Hosts neither will I accept an offering at your hand WHo is there among you Here is the rejecting of them and their sacrifices threatened which is the maine point in the verse but in the former part as divers of the learned doe so take it he returnes unto his former expostulation reproving the priests for their ingratitude and corruption of his worship And then it will be read who is there among you that will shut the doores or doe you kindle fire on my altar for nothing And some expound it that the Priests would not so much as shut the doores till they had their wages payed others that they did nothing in Gods service but they were rewarded for God arguing their unthankfulnesse to him by his bounty to them But others take the words as they are here read both more agreeable to the originall as also more squaring to the present matter to shew how he rejected them and their sacrifice when he wisheth that some body would shut the doores of the Temple or that they would offer none at all and so keepe out the Priests that they could not come to sacrifice any thing upon his Altar which he did so distaste and dislike and so it is I would rather you should not offer at all then as you doe For the particular words And kindle not fire upon mine Altar q.d. that yee might not come to offer upon mine altar kindle not my altar so in the originall a Metonymia In vaine id est to no end the word signifieth freely Job 1.9 for nothing so unjustly without cause Psal 69.5 so scotfree without punishment Prov. 1.11 to no end or purpose Job 2.3 Pro. 1.17 so here I have no pleasure in you The former is a wish this is the reason of the wish All is in vaine and to no end because I like not you and will none your sacrifices he shews that he esteemed not these offerings not from the nature but from the minde of him who did offer them If he were indued with piety and holinesse God would accept his offerings and service If otherwise God would take no delight in them for all their offerings Neither will I accept an offering at your hands These offerings he simply refuseth not being things he had commanded but because they were offered by them qd I am so farre from accepting at your hands these corrupt and imperfect sacrifices that if they were never so perfect and agreeing to the lawes of men prescribed yet I would not accept you please me not your gifts and offerings cannot be accepted of me here is first a wish and the reason of it he wished that they would offer no sacrifices to him at all rather doe him no service then doe it as they did The Lord had rather have no service done unto him of the sonnes of Men Doctrine then to have it done carelessely and negligently corruptly and not as he hath commanded it So is it manifest from this place as from that Isaiah 1.11 12 13 and 58.1 2 and 66.3 Math. 7.22 and 6.1 5 16. Because this argues contempt of God and as we may speak Reas 1 of his person yea often times more contempt then not to doe the works of his service at all for where any man is duly respected either for love or feare there the duties and offices to bee performed unto him are done neither negligently nor carelesly as the child that honours his father the servant that feares his master doe with all diligence and care their dutyes Where they are done coldly or cursarily there is not the respect of the person that should be Againe dutyes may be omitted without contempt as of ignorance not knowing what a man ought to doe of infirmity or an erronious conscience because hee thinks he may not doe that which he can not doe in all perfection But to doe them carelesly and that wittingly with corruption can have no such excuse and so more contempt Because the Lord hath no need of the sacrifice and service of men a man cannot be profitable to him Reas 2 as hee may be to his neighbour It is nothing to him that thou art righteous that thou prayest or performest any other service unto him Job 22.2 May a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe therefore he as a rich King values not the gift but the mind of the giver he looks more to the manner of doing than the deed he respects more the heart than the hand the inward affection than the outward action No marvell then if he had rather have nothing than carelesly and corruptly done And this made him esteeme more of the Widows two farthings and mytes than of the rich mens treasure * Deus puram magis conscientiam exaudit quà m preces August contr lit Petil. Donat. lib. 2. cap. 53. God rather heares a pure conscience than prayers Phil. 1.15 Object 16 18. better Christ be preached any wayes than not at all It is better in regard of others Sol. who have the benefit of it and to whom by such leaden and
onely if they have got more knowledge then they had and gone away more wise as a Scholar from his Master but if they have their hearts more fully perswaded of the promises of the Gospel say with the Samaritans Joh. 4.44 We now more beleeve having heard Christ himself As they who having apromise of a Prince of some great matters or the relation of some great good done for them at the second or third hearing of it are made more joyfull and more stedfast to beleeve it so with them if they find themselves put in mind of many duties they knew before but affection blinded them and passion overcame them and now make more conscience of the practice of them As they who knew some dangerous meat to their health yet affection would not let them abstaine after they have heard a Physitian speak go away with resolution to be more carefull of their diet yea their hearts are inflamed with a greater love of good things with more zeale for the glory of God with more hatred of sin who go away as Naaman the Syrian did from the Prophet with a resolution to serve no God but the God of heaven not his old Gods his belly or his purse or his lust the world sin or any other Nor consider it in your heart The second thing in the exception the considering of that they have heard The word is put or lay it upon your heart an Hebraisme signifying to attend diligently and to set a mans heart upon that which is spoken or to lay it surely up It is required that men do not onely heare the word Doctrine but that they ponder and consider it lay it up in their hearts and set their hearts upon it by marking applying and diligently meditating or recalling To this purpose is Deut. 6.6 11.18 Psal 119.11 Col. 3.16 Because it is a right treasure and gold Psal 19.10 Rev. 2. Reason 1 And therefore not onely to be sought for as treasure but to be laid up in the best and chiefest chest and treasurie Because it is a Sword whereby a man may defend himselfe Reason 2 and offend Satan Ephes 6.17 No man having his enemy alwayes and in every corner lying in ambush for him seeking to spoile him will be without his sword but carry it ever about with him Because it else will never be profitable unto them for salvation Reason 3 nor fruitfull in them to glorification for if it be not ingrafted in them it will not save them Jam. 1.27 And if it take not root it cannot do it no more then the seed that lieth upon the bad stony or thorny ground This is to reprove all carelesse hearers Vse 1 who heare and retaine nothing never lay it up their memories are as sives whereout the water runs as fast as it comes in Luk. 2.18.19 And all that heard it wondred at the things that were told them of the Shepheards but Mary kept all those sayings and pondred them in her heart To shew the reason why so little profit comes by the Word Vse 2 because it is heard but not kept not laid up often not received either because it is a strange thing Hosea 8.12 or else because they are so full that it is water powred upon a full vessell and passeth all by they are so full of their worldly pleasures and delights profits and desires or it staieth not with them as Physicke doth no good that is not kept And to use Christs comparison Matth. 13.33 leaven put in not hid not remaining makes no change To perswade to heare with all diligence Vse 3 and lay it up with all carefulnesse and seek it may as it were take root in us Heb. 2.1 wherefore we ought diligently to give heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip Jam. 1.21 Wherefore lay apart all filthinesse and superfluity of maliciousnesse and receive with meeknesse the word that is grafted in you which is able to save your soules the word that is grafted in you To give glory unto my Name Here is the third thing in this exception to do things worthy or fitting their ministery or calling they may thereby glorifie his Name that is this being made opposite to that which was in the former Chapter of polluting his Name they may make his worship to be regarded and honoured These Priests must not onely heare and lay up the Word and Commandment but also obey and do it if they will escape the curse and enjoy the blessing And if they be carefull in their place to reprove teach direct to reject their corrupt sacrifices then should his worship be uncorrupted and kept pure Men must not onely heare and beleeve Doctrine 1 and lay up the word of God but they must draw it forth into obedience and practice if they would escape the curse or enjoy the blessings either in this life or the life to come So much here and Jam. 1.25 Rev. 2.26 And keep my workes The Ministers of God Doctrine 2 if they be carefull in their places to instruct what men ought to do to reprove when they offend to direct them and reject them and their sacrifices when they are not as they should be Gods worship will not be corrupt but keep very holy and pure So here This is manifest by the dedication of the seaven Epistles to the Churches to the Angels of them because they being faithfull there would be no such carelesnesse and coldnesse Hence are the charges given to Timothy and Titus by Saint Paul 1 Tim. 5.21 2.4.1 and that 2 Tim. 2.2 All the time Eli was young and able to looke to the worship of God being faithful it was pure and the offerings of God regarded 1 Sam. 1.2 So of Iehoiada 2 Chron. 24.2 Hence that Acts 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock whereof the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own bloud Hence is that of Hegesippus in Eusebius while the Apostles lived and they who heard Christ teaching the Church remained a pure and incorrupt virgine but when that age was past errour and corruption was spread abroad Because while they are faithfull and watchfull Reason 1 the envious man will not sow his tares They who have desire to corrupt the puritie of doctrine and worship of God will not shew themselves or obscurely or fearfully and if they do yet they will be soone pulled up and the growth of them prevented Because the people shall by their diligence be armed by instruction to discern and withstand corruption from without Reason 2 and be excited against their owne coldnesse and carelesnesse which naturally would come upon them as naturally men thinke any thing too much and every thing good enough for Gods service unlesse they have remembrances to the contrary Then most commonly if not alwayes Vse 1 by the corruption and contempt of Gods service
principally this The other a man may well have and have a lawfull marriage but without this it can be nothing so holy a marriage seeing it wanteth the principall and the most holiest end which was the end of it even in mans innocency when he was without sinne Therefore ought every one principally to aime at this and indeed to have it and therefore ought they to chuse so or give consent that this may follow not with those who have a false religion or no religon because it hardly will be that the Church should be increased by them for children will ever follow the worse part though it be the weaker for a little strength drawes downward it must be a great strength that must pull upward Corruption is downeward and with the tyde Religion is upward and against it And having a fit match children ought to be desired of them and to account it their honour Psal 128.3 Not for cost or paines avoid it or feare it and having them to give all care and diligence for their education to bring them up in the feare and instruction of the Lord to instruct them in knowledge of God and his true worship and to edifie them by example For parentum exempla decere possunt magis quam vox St. Hierem. That when they are gone they may praise them as Augustine did his mother Majore solicitudine me parturiebat spiritu quam carne pepererat Confess 5.9 Their care was more to bring them up religiously then their paines was to bring them into the world they loved their soules better then their bodies and they desired more that they might be Gods sons and daughters then theirs by which they shall increase their glory for they who beget many to righteousnesse shall shine as the starres for ever Dan. 12.3 And they who shall increase Gods Church here he shall increase their glory as they his worship Vse 3 Then are not they bound who have the gift of continency not to marry for though marriage be a remedy yet is it not onely nor principally for both this is an end and more principall They who can preserve their chastity in virginity may desire it but not absolutely but in respect of some troubles and incumbrances which for the most part accompany marriage yet they may marry for this end which is the more excellent I doe not say they are bound to marry for this end because marriage is of those things which are indifferent as Bernard speakes of virginity It is not commanded but advised and onely they who cannot containe are commanded to marry yet as there is more necessity in marrying for that end so there is more religion in this end In that a man principally respects himselfe in this God the increase of the Church and the inlarging of the kingdome of Christ that which Saint Augustine speaketh de bono conjugali Cap. 15. may be applyed here Iustus qu indò cupit dissolvi esse cum Christo tamen sumit alimentum non cupiditate vivendi sed officio consulendi ut maneat quod necessarium est propter alios Sic misteri foemin is in re nuptiarum officiosum fuit sanctis non libidinosum Quid enim sit eibus ad salutem hominis hoc est concubitus ad salutem humani generis And so specially for the Church and increase of Gods Kingdome for though he can make children of stones yet hath he ordained this meanes Therefore little reason and lesse religion hath the Church of Rome to preferre virginity before holy marriage for besides that may be said to them it were better they would approve virginity by their deeds then praise it by their words And as Hierom adfuriam why doth the tongue sound out chastity and the whole body shew forth uncleannesse Or as Epiphanius of the Origenists You refuse marriage but not lust It is not holinesse but hypocrisie that is in honour amongst you Besides this virginity is never save onely in some respect better then marriage but marriage is oftentimes absolutely better then virginity and by no reason more then this because this may increase the Church and bring forth sonnes and daughters to God not that Neither is it against this that some object that Christ saith That after this life there is no marrying at all and that 1 Cor. 7.38 He that giveth her to marriage doth well but he that giveth her not to marriage doth better For the first it is not against us seeing we speake of the state of this life onely after which as there shall be no marriages so no vowes of virginity And as for S. Paul Better with him is as much as fit or more commodious For if it were simply better it were never lawfull to do otherwise which he alloweth Therefore he thus spake not for the nature of the thing but in respect of circumstances as you may see verse 26.28.32.35 Finally if virginity be the more holy why have they made marriage a sacrament rather then it Sure if it were more holy it should rather be a sacrament then marriage Therefore keep your selves in your spirit The dehortation of the Prophet from this vice and the better that they may doe it and not transgresse he perswades them to labour for sober mindes and chaste affections from thence riseth this sinning against their wives which would easily be avoided if their mindes were sober and chaste The way for a man to keep himselfe from actuall and outward sinne and the practise of it is to labour to keep his heart pure Doctrine and to take heed to that On the contrary if he neglect his heart he shall be sure to be corrupt in the outward man and to fall into outward sinnes against God and man He may happily in some sinister respect and by some circumstances of time place or person for want of opportunity ability and meanes refraine them but those things befalling him he will easily fall into that So much this exhortation sheweth So much also that sheweth Prov. 4.23.24.25 Keep thine heart with all diligence for thereout commeth life Put away from thee a froward mouth and put wicked lips farre from thee Let thine eyes behold the right and let thine eye lids direct the way before thee Matth. 15.19 Out of the heart proceed evill thoughts adulteries c. and Jam. 1.13.14 1 Pet. 2.11.12 Because the heart and spirit is the fountaine of actions Reason 1 whence they all spring the other parts are but the chanels and it is a flowing fountaine not a standing water which ever sends out such water as it hath if then the fountaine be clean and sweet so will the chanels be and è contra Because it is the commander of the whole man the whole life Reason 2 Now such as the Commander such is the Subject such as the Captaine such are the Souldiers Much more here for the conjunction is neerer and when they are subject to it as the weapon is to him
take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine Not guiltlesse but under that bitter curse of condemnation Deut. 27.26 Zach. 5.2.3.4 James 5.12 But before all things my brethren sweare not neither by heaven nor by earth nor by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay lest ye fall into condemnation Because he hates such oathes Reason 1 Zach. 8.17 And let none of you imagine evill in his heart against his neighbour and love no false eath for all these are the things that I hate saith the Lord now hating these he must needes for them hate those that love and practise them and hatred will procure judgement wrath and destruction Because swearing by others they are idolaters Reason 2 for whereas an oath is not onely God ordinance but a speciall part of his worship both because there is invocation and because it is in the first table commanded and of the solemne forme of imposing an oath which was this give glory to God Josh 7.19 And the solemne rite of taking an oath among the Jewes which was to stand before the Altar 1 Kings 8.31 and was a custome among the Athenians and Romanes Then to give Gods worship to another is idolatry and idolaters must be judged and condemned Because if rashly by him Reason 3 the name of God so deare unto him he dishonouring and vilifying it by such usual rash swearing he wil revenge it If seriously yet not in truth for things past or to come knowing them to be false intending not to do them he cals God as a witnesse of his false-hood and a revenger of it and so must he come upon him for this he tempteth God desperately and dareth him as it were to his face to execute his vengeance upon him This may shew us the fearefull estate not of a few but of a multitude and whole troopes of men and women Vse 1 being common and usuall false swearers who can neither buy nor sell meet nor depart neither speake seriously nor in jest neither perswade nor promise neither intreat nor threaten neither relate things past nor draw men to the expectation of things to come without swearing and many oathes oftentimes by those which are no Gods committing idolatry usually rashly and unadvisedly and not seldome wickedly falsly and deceitfully In this sin are wrapped both parents and children masters and servants rich and poore high and low noble and base Minister and people If the Lord that threatneth to be a swift witnesse against such and a severe Judges should now come to destroy and cast to hell all such how fearefull then would we thinke and account their condition to be Verily how nigh that day of Assize and of his glorious appearing is no body can tell few suspect it to bee so nigh as it is but say it be as farre off as they suppose yet doth he judge them every day It is a judgement and a fearefull one that they sinne every day and sweare every houre and see it not to leave and forsake it but the morning swearing is punished with the afternoone this day with to morrow c. And for all these the plague of God and his judgements ready to breake in at the doores though he see it not yet others may see it manifestly Tell me what wouldest thou thinke his state and condition to be that had a bal of fire hanging over his house ready to fal upon him to consume him his wife and children servants and all that he hath in a moment and yet he and they all within doores give themselves to chamberings and wantonnesse to drunkennesse and gluttony to whoredome and uncleanenesse by that meanes to drawe and hasten this to fall upon him and consume him wouldest thou not thinke him in a fearefull condition such is the state of every swearer the plague of God tends upon their house the volume of curses is hovering and flying about their houses and this fire hanging over them and still by their oathes as the Faulconer by his Lure and hallow calling this to fall upon him and their case the more fearefull because custome hath made them when they sweare they deny they did and if they be evicted for it they account it as nothing no more then an ordinary speech As Saint Chrysost ho. ad Baptiz si quis jurantem increpaverit risus movet jocos narrare putatur But the same day or the day after that Lots sonnes in law mocked and despised their fathers admonitions the fire of God devoured them and their City Gen. 19. So may it upon them pitty then their fearefull conditions and feare and flye their society their fellowship their families for though thou hast escaped hitherto yet when the flying book enters in at their doores and windowes thou maiest happily be there then and partake in their plague but in truth thou hast not escaped but as they by the custome of their owne sinne are growne sencelesse so thou by theirs art grown lesse to fear an oath then thou didst before and so hast got more hurt to thy soule then ever they shall be able to doe thee good to thy body and state howsoever thou promise thy selfe great things by them This may serve for secure men Vse 2 who lye in this sinne to hate swearing or are ready to fall into it to perswade them as Zach. 8.17 And let none of you imagine evill in his heart against his neighbour and love no false oath for all these are the things that I hate saith the Lord. If not for the haynousnesse of the sinne yet for the punishment If not in a state where there is little law against it yet in a Church where the King of it is both a swift Witnesse and a severe Judge and will both judge and condemne every false swearer S. Chrysostome disswading from this sinne and perswading little at length breakes forth into this * Vtinam mihi liceret frequenter jurantium animas exuere ipsorum oculis subjicere vulnera cicatrices quas quotidie capiunt a juramentis nec admonitionis nec concilii indigeremus quoniam vnlneram aspectus omni sermone potentius Hom. 14. ad pop Antioch I would I might uncover and lay open the soules of ordinarie swearers naked and set their wounds and skarres before their eyes which they daily receive by oathes then there would be no need of admonition or counsell because the sight of their wounds would more prevaile then all my words This would I wish to give them the sight of their sin and the guilt of it but if it prevaile not I would I could give them the sence of it that I could make them see and beleeve the judgements and punishments which belong to it that the flying booke full of curses is long since come abroad and is ready to seize upon their houses and persons That Christ
obeyes and doth service to his father or master and knowes it is not acceptable and yet if he be told what way he may take to have it accepted will not so in this if there be any desire to please him labor not so much to doe as how to doe or to know what you doe and this not onely by siting at Gamaliels feet and hearing the Ministers but by reading the Scriptures and word of God your selves diligently and painfully Col. 3.16 for the Apostle so perswades Let the word of Christ dwell in you plenteously in all wisdome teaching and admonishing your selves in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs singing with a grace in your hearts to the Lord not as Chrysost well saith that the word should be in you that is come as a stranger and stay for a night a season and gone againe but it must dwell in you and that not sparingly but copiously and abundantly Chrysost exhortation is not so necessary for these times and this audience to get them Bibles for they must have them in their hands and houses but to use their Bibles which most neglect Therefore as he de Lazaro Semper horter hortari non desinam ut non hic tantum attendat is iis quae dicuntur verum etiam cum domi fueritis assiduè divinaruÌ„ scriptur arum lectioni vacetis Quod quidem iis qui priv atim mecum ingressi sunt non desisto inculcare Chrysost Hom. 3. I againe and againe exhort you not only here to attend to the things that are spoken but when you are at home to read the Scriptures carefully which I use to presse upon them that are about me If this may prevaile a little more may that of Moses Deuter. 6.6 7 8. and that of Christ John 5.39 and the former of S. Paul But alas how may that complaint of Chrysostome be applyed Homil. 13. in John QuinostruÌ„quaeso repetit domi aliquid out Coristiana dignum opus aggreditur Quis Scripturarum sensus perserutatur Nemo sane sed alveâ—los talos frequenter invenimus libros quam rarissimos Chrysost Who is it that when he comes home doth any thing worthy of a Christian who is it that seekes the meaning of the Scripture None at all we may ordinarily finde you at Tables or Dice but very seldome at your Bibles Doth not he describe many of our Christians and their familes and so that being without knowledge all they doe is unacceptable Let us labor then for this knowledge and be not Idols in the Church who have eyes and see not so much knowledge is required as there is capablenese and meanes And if yee offer the lame Lame sacrifices forbidden signified the dislike that God had of such service as was done by halfes in body and not in minde è contra inhypocrisie for fashion and custome and such like Lame service which is done to God Dorct is unacceptable unto him whether it be done with the body without the heart or pretended to be done with the heart when the body goes another way when it is hypocriticall and dissembling or by parting or sharing with God it is abominable and not acceptable unto him therefore rejected he the lame sacrifices the ceremony leads to this substance the shaddow to this body 1 Kings 18.21 And Eliah came unto all the people and said how long halt yee between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal be hee then goe after him And the people answered him not a word This God complained of Isaiah 29.13 Jer. 12.2 Ezek. 33.31 Act. 4.36 with 5.1 2. Math. 6.2 5. Because all and the whole is his Reas 1 both body and soule by his three-fold right of creation redemption and preservation or gubernation therefore he will have all or nothing can be accepted of him Because this is to make a false God of him Reas 2 for it is a position full of truth that a true God as hee will not be worshipped with fained and counterfeit worship so not with partiall worship but he will have all or none whereas false gods will be content so they may have but a share But the true God is like the true Mother 1 King 3.26 will not have it divided This condemneth all presenting of the body before an Idoll Vse 1 or in Idols service under pretence of keeping the heart to God whether it be done by feare fancy or for profit and gaine This is to offer up a lame sacrifice to God such as he abhorres it is without any president or precept in the Scriptures nay the Commandements precepts lawes admonitions judgments of the Law and Prophets of the Old and new Testament are all against it commanding to fly Idols and Idolatry The companions of Daniel chose rather to bee cast into the fiery fornace then to bow to the Kings Idol The mother in the Maccabees and her children embraced death rather then they would eare swines flesh contrary to the law of God Infinite are the Martyrs of all times who have couragiously embraced death before they would doe any such thing who had been all very unwise and fooles if this would have served and God would have accepted such lame sacrifice But for all this a man may goe to masse and such superstitions Object may he not No more to the one then to the other Answ for this is the greatest Idol in the world and for it more abominable Idolaters are the Papists then any other for never any worshipped the thing it selfe as they doe the breaden God and the crosse but they worshipped God at it and in it as their old distinction hath been But we goe to make us abhorre it Object when we see their follie and vanity This were as if a man should goe into a harlots house or stews Answ under pretence to see and to abhorre whom shall he make beleeve that is his end if it were apparent yet what madnesse were it for a man to lay himselfe open to bee taken with such a danger He presumes of his strength nay he provokes God to take his strength from him and to let him fall into it as in Peter This is not the way to abhorre it But as he that would abhorre uncleanenesse or drunkennesse must not take that course to go to stewes or to frequent tavernes for that is to make him more in love with them but must labor for a chaste and sober heart and that will make him abhorre it so here for a religious and holy heart for it is not the seeing of evill that makes men abhorre it but the seeing of good If men labor for true grace they shall easily abhore sinne and in this as in all others evill must not be done that good may come Nay though never so much good would ensue yet when God hath forbidden it when he dislikes it it must be avoyded This condemneth all prophane men who talke of serving God with
their hearts Vse 2 howsoever they serve him not with their bodies and they doubt not but God will accept them The Lords day is a day God hath required men to doe him publique service in how many spend that day either in journeying for some small affaires or withdrawing themselves upon some small occasion and yet tell us they doubt not but God will accept their thoughts and their heart as they ride or the like as if he that dishonors God in his body could honor him in his heart at one the same time or if he could he would accept it As if he could serve him within that rebels against him without As if a child or servant could think to perswade his father or master that hee respected and served him in his heart when he disobeyed and dishonoured him in all his outward carriage and did not that he bade him Nay the contrary is most true so for alms that it is enough to looke upon the poore rufully and speake mournfully to them and seeme to have affections within but their goods they bestow upon harlots and vaine persons their labour and strength upon them And yet they thinke God will accept their heart as if a subject should pretend a loyall heart to his Prince and thinke to be accepted for it when he gives his goods and spends his strength in a service against him serving his Enemy Here is condemned all lame service of God Vse 3 when men will give their bodyes but reserve their hearts from him they will come before him and draw neere to him with the outward man heare the word pray and offer him prayses and receive the sacraments but in the meane time their hearts are absent they are without their soule for all things are done without understanding praying and hearing c. they were as good be done in a strange tongue in respect of them yea better for they had the more excuse Their affections which are as their hands either to receive that is offered to them or to hold up that which they bring to God are so full of their covetousnesse and worldlinesse of their feares joyes severall pleasures and delights that they can receive nothing else but whatsoever is offered them is as water powered upon a vessell that hath the mouth full stopped and so all runneth by or if they receive a little yet their pleasures or covetousnesse or such like doe soon exclude them or choak them as thornes doe the corne or seed To reach every man to endeavour Vse 4 and performe services to God both in body and soule as 1 Cor. 6.20 seeing his right is to one as well as the other and the giving of him one condemns a man for not giving of him the other If God was so angry with Ananias and Sapphira that he divided them because they had devided that which they ought to have given whole unto him how will he accept a man that shall divide himselfe when he comes to him Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty Hosea 10.2 we must bring both body and soule to the service of God to pray with the mouth and to pray with the understanding to hear with the eare and to speake with the heart for the body hath both os and aures to speak to God and to hear him Men must give God the bodily presence when hee calleth for it they must come to his service but they may not leave their hearts behinde them or suffer them to be carried away when they are present but leave every thing when they come behind them that may hinder them as Abraham did at the foot of the mount yea when they would fall upon his service as the fowls would upon Abrahams sacrifice Gen. 15.11 drive them away and performe all duties with the whole man that it may be a whole and so an acceptable sacrifice 2 Sam. 5.8 And sicke Sick sacrifices of beasts were condemned to shew how God dislikes that service that is without spirit and affection faintly and drowsily performed Sick service God dislikes Doctrine when things are performed without spirit and affection when the duties are done without zeal and fervencie without alacritie and cheerfulnesse This was the reason why Aaron and his sons would not eat the sin-offering because they could not doe it cheerfully Levit. 10.19 Hee would have all things done cheerfully fervently zealously Isaiah 58.13 1 Cor. 9.17 Rom. 12.8 11. 2 Cor. 9.7 Eccles 11.1 Because when things are done dully and coldly by one Reas it argues little account of Gods Person and small desire of the things he hath but the contrary is when they are done fervently and busily when a man sets his heart to the work as that Dan. 6.14 when as the cold and carelesse performing of these things argues no account nor love to God and his service no marvell then though he dislike it and contrariwise accept it being done with fervencie This condemneth those who condemn zeal fervencie Vse 1 and heat in the service of God To teach every man to labour to doe all things in the service and fear of God with zeal alacritie and earnestnesse Vse 2 not to goe about it as sick men doe about the works of their callings faintly and feebly but earnestly whether they pray or preach hear or give almes whether for a short time or long It is not enough that the Lords day be kept that the Word is heard and preached that the Prayers be made almes given and such like unlesse they have that affection which God requires and be done with that sense and feeling that zeal and fervencie which is fitting The work is common to hypocrites and profane men with the Children of God the affection is proper to his owne not that the other have not the naturall affection but that they have not the sanctified affection Their affections are about worldly things pleasant or profitable these about pirituall things As the vaine men or worldly men are tickled and marvellously affected with the things they goe about so ought men in the service of God And though happily it is not to be attayned unto to have as fervent affections to the things of God as carnall men have to the things of the world because they are wholly carnall these but partly sanctified they have nothing to hinder them these have great hinderances and pull-backs even their own corruptions yet must they endeavour what they may to doe every thing with all cheerfulnesse and even grieve to see them goe about their sports and profits their delight and gaine with greater spirits and more cheerfully then themselves about these holy things yea let it grieve them that they themselves follow worldly things more eagerly and affectionately then spirituall things and find greater chearfulnesse in the one then in the other And so things done drowsily and heavily without cheerfulnesse shall not be accepted But what if this affection be wanting Quest shall a man