loe the thankfull earth returnes fruites and that in abundance The Christian soule hauing receiued such holy operations inspirations and sanctifying motions from aboue is neuer found without a gratefull fertility Yea as the Earth to man so man to God returnes a blessed vsurie tenne for one nay sometimes 30. sometimes 60. sometimes an hundred fold But the succeeding doctrine will challenge this demonstration I haue been somewhat copious in the first word the breuity of the rest shall recompence it The operatiue cause that worketh the good earth to this fruitfulnesse is a heauenly Raine that falls oft vpon it and the earth doth drinke it vp Wherein is obseruable that the raine doth come that it is welcome God sends it plenteously and man entertaines it louingly It comes oft and he drinkes it vp Gods loue to man is declared in the comming in the welcomming mans loue to God In the former we will consider 1. The matter 2. The manner The matter that commeth is Raine The manner consists in 3 respects 1. There is mercy It commeth It is not constrained deserued pulled downe from heauen It commeth 2. Frequencie it commeth often there is no scanting of this mercy it flowes abundantly as if the windowes of heauen were opened Often 3. Direction of it right vpon this earth It falls not neere it nor besides it but vpon it To begin with the Raine GOds Word is often compared to Raine or Deaw Moses beginnes his Song with My doctrine shall drop as the raine my speech shal distill as the deaw as the small raine vpon the tender herbe and as the showers vpon the grasse Therfore in the first verse he calls to the earth to heare his voice Man is the Earth and his Doctrine the Raine Mica 2. Prophecie yee not the originall word is Drop ye not c. Amos 7. 16. Thou sayest Prophecy not against Israel drop not thy word against the house of Isaac Ezek. 21. Sonne of man set thy face toward Ierusalem and drop thy word toward the holy places The Metaphore is vsuall wherein stands the comparison In 6. concurrences 1. It is the property of Raine to coole heate Experience tels vs that a sweltring feruour of the ayre which almost fryes vs is allayed by a moderate shower sent from the clouds The burning heate of sinne in vs and of Gods anger for sinne against vs is quenched by the Gospell It cooles our intemperate heate of malice anger ambition auarice lust which are burning sins 2. Another effect of Raine is Thirst quenched The drie earth parched with heate opens it selfe in refts and cranies as if it would deuoure the cloudes for moisture The Christian soule thirsts after righteousnesse is drie at heart till he can haue the Gospell a showre of this mercy from heauen quencheth his thirst he is satisfied Whosoeuer drinketh of the water that I shal giue him shal neuer thirst but it shall bee in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life 3. Raine doth allay the windes When the ayre is in an vprore and the stoutest Cedars crouch to the ground before a violent blast euen Towers and Cities tremble a showre of raine sent from the cloudes mitigates this fury When the Potentates of the world Tyrants little better then Diuels Gog and Magog Moab and Ammon Turkey Rome Hell storme against vs God quiets all our feares secures vs from al their terrours by a gracious raine droppes of mercie in the neuer-fayling promises of the Gospell 4. Raine hath a powerfull efficacy to cleanse the ayre When infectious fogges and contagious vapours haue filled it full of corruption the distilling showres wash away the noysome putrifaction We know that too often filthy fumes of errors and heresies surge vp in a land that the soule of faith is almost stifled and the vncleannesse of corrupt doctrine gets a predominant place the Lord then droppes his word from heauen the pure Raine of his holy Gospell cleanseth away this putrifaction and giues new life to the almost smothered truth Wo to them then that would depriue mens soules of the Gospell and with-hold the Truth in vnrighteousnesse When they locke vp the gates of grace as Christ reproued the Lawyers and labour to make the heauens brasse they must needes also make the Earth iron How should the earth of mans heart bring forth fruits when the raine is with-held from it No maruell if their ayre be poyson'd 5. Raine hath yet another working to mollifie a hard matter The parched and heat-hardned earth is made soft by the deawes of heauen O how hard and obdurate is the heart of man till this raineâ—falls on it Is the heart couetous no teares from distressed eyes can melt a peny out of it Is it malicious no supplications can begge forbearance of the least wrong Is it giuen to drunkennesse you may melt his body into a dropsie before his heart into sobrietie Is it ambitious you may as well treat with Lucifer about humiliation Is it factious a Quire of Angels cannot sing him into peace No means on earth can soften the heart whether you annoint it with the supple balmes of entreaties or thunder against it the bolts of menaces or beate it with the hammer of mortall blowes Behold GOD showres this raine of the Gospell from heauen and it is sodainely softned One Sermon may pricke him at the heart one droppe of a Sauiours bloud distilled on it by the Spirit in the preaching of the Word melts him like waxe The Drunkard is made sober the Adulterer chaste Zaccheus mercifull and raging Paul as tame as a Lambe They that haue erst serued the Diuell with an eager appetite and were hurried by him with a voluntary precipitation haue all their chaines eaten off by this Aqua fortis one droppe of this raine hath broken their fetters and now all the powers of hell cannot preuaile against them There is a Legend I had as good say a tale of an Hermite that heard as he imagin'd all the Diuels of hell on the other side of the wall lifting and blowing and groning as if they were a remouing the world The Hermite desires to see them admitted behold they were all lifting at a feather and could not stirre it The application may serue yeeld the fable idle Satan and his Armies Spirits Lusts Vanities Sinnes that erst could tosse and blow a man vp and downe like a feather and did not sooner present a wickednesse to his sight but he was more ready for action then they for instigation now they cannot stirre him they may sooner remoue the world from the pillars then him from the grace and mercy of God The deaw of heauen hath watred him and made him grow and the power of hell shall not supplant him The raine of mercie hath softned his heart and the heat of sinne shall neuer harden it 6 Lastly Raine is one principall subordinate cause that all things fructifie This holy deaw is the operatiue meanes
Another sits dallying with the delights of lust vnder a green bush a third is borough'd in the ground mining and intrenching himselfe in the quest of riches Alas how should the deaw of grace fall vpon these Thou wouldst not shelter thy ground from the clouds lest it grow barren oh then keep not thy soule from the raine of heauen You haue heard how the raine is come now heare how it is made welcome The good groūd drinkes it nay drinkes it in Imbibit The comparison stands thus The thirsty Land drinkes vp the raine greedily which the cloudes poure vpon it You would wonder what becomes of it you may finde it in your fruites When your Vines hang full of clusters your Gardens stand thicke with flowers your Medowes with grasse your fields with corne you will say the earth hath been beholden to the heauen That hath rained moisture this hath drunke it in we see it in our fruits The Lord sayth I will heare the heauens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and the wine and the oyle and they shall heare Iezreel The fruits of corne wine oyle witnesse that the earth hath heard them that heauen hath heard the earth and that the Lord hath heard the heauen The heauens giue influence to the ground the ground sappe to the plants the plants nourishment to vs the Lord a blessing to all The Lord watereth the hills from the chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of the workes Hee causeth the grasse to growe for the cattell and herbe for the seruice of man Wine to make glad his heart and oyle to make his face shine and bread to strengthen mans heart c. With such thirsty appetite and no lesse happy successe doth the good soule swallow the dew of grace If you perceiue not when the faithfull take it you may see they haue it for their fruits testifie it It is a most euident demonstration that they haue bin beholding to the Gospell they haue a sanctified life Drinkes it in There bee very many great Drinkers in the world The maine drunkennesse that giues denomination to all the rest is that throte-drunkennesse whereof the Prophet Vae fortibus ad potandum These are they that will not drinke this mysticall wine in the Church so willingly as bee drunk in the tap-house Wine-worshippers that are at it on their knees protesting from the bottomes of their hearts to the bottome of the cups if the health be not pledged actum est de amicitia farewell friendship I haue read of a streete in Rome called vicus sobrius sober street Find such a street in any Citie or populous towne in England and some good man wil put it in the Chronicle It hath beene sayd that the Germanes are great drinkers and therefore to Carowse is giuen to be deriued from them the word being originally to Gar-rowse which is to drinke off all Gar signifying totum so the Germanes are called by themselues Germanni quasi toti homines as if a Germane were All-man according to another denomination of their Country Allmanie And so wee are growne to thinke him that can tipple soundly a tall man nay all-man from top to toe But if England plyes her liquor so fast as shee begins Germany is like to loose her Charter I haue heard how the Iesuits out-stripp'd the Franciscans Indeed Saint Francis at the first meeting sawe sixe thousand Fryers Ignatius because he could not begin his order with so many made vp the number in Diuels The Germanes had of vs both priority and number for drunkards Our English beggars first got the fashion but because their number was short and it was like that the Nation would be disgrac'd it was agreed to make it vp in Gallants No maruell if the Lord for this threaten vs with the rod of famine and to scourge vs with that most smarting string of his whippe God hath layd himselfe faire in his bow already and is ready to draw this arrow vp to the head and send it singing into our bosomes Ferro saeuior fames it is one of Gods sorest iudgements Beasts and Sword kill quickly and the Plague is not long in dispatching vs but Dearth is a lingring death Lament 4. They that be slaine with the sword are better then they that be slaine with hunger for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field We see how our seasons are changed because we can finde no season to repentance Our Springs haue bin graues rather then cradles our Summers haue not shot vp but withered our grasse our Autumnes haue taken away the flockes of our sheepe And for our latest Haruest wee haue had cause to inuert the words of our Sauiour Luke 10. Hee sayth the Haruest is great but the Labourers are few pray ye therefore the Lord to send forth more Labourers into his haruest But wee might haue sayd the Labourers are many and the haruest is small pray ye therfore the Lord to send a greater haruest for the Labourers God hath thus as it were pulled the Cup from the Drunkards lippes and since hee will know no measure the Lord wil stint him If there will bee no voluntary there shall be an enforced fast Wee haue other great drinkers besides What say you to those that Drinke vp whole townes vnpeople countreys depopulate villages inclose fields that Pharise-like swallow vp poore mens houses drink their goods though mingled with teares of damme and young ones mother children Are not these horrible drinkers Sure God will one day hold the Cup of vengeance to their lippes and bid them drinke their fils The Proud-man is a great drinker It is not his belly but his back that is the drunkard He pincheth the poore rackes out the other fine enhanceth the rent spends his owne meanes and what he can finger besides vpon clothes If his rent-day make euen with his Silkeman Mercer Taylor he is well And his white Madam drinkes deeper then he The walls of the Citie are kept in reparation with easier cost then a Ladies face and the appurtenances to her head The Ambitious is a deepe drinker O hee hath a dry thirst vpon him He loues the wine of promotion extremely Put a whole monopoly into the cup and he will carouse it off There is a time when other drunkards giue ouer for asleeping-while this drinker hath neuer enough Your grimme Vsurer is a monstrous drinker you shall seldome see him drunke at 's owne cost yet he hath vow'd not to be sober til his Doomesdaye His braines and his gowne are lin'd with foxe hee is euer afoxing It may be some infernall spirit hath put loue-pouder in his drinke for hee dotes vpon the deuill extremely Let him take heed hee shall one day drinke his owne obligations and they wil choke him The Rob-altar is a huge drinker Hee loues like Belshazzar to drinke only in the goblets of the Temple Wo vnto
of heauen and showres from the cloudes to make it fruitfull It is granted the Sunne shines the dewes fall The Garden hereupon brings forth herbes the desart thornes If these blessings of heauen were the proper cause of the weeds why hath not then the good ground such cursed effects The euerlasting lampe of heauen sends forth his sauing rayes and the sacred deawes of the Gospell fall on the pure and vncleane heart There it is requited with a fertile obedience here with an impious ingratitude Let not the mercy of God be blamed for this mans miserie Perditio ex se God hath done enough to saue him S. Augustine directly to this purpose Simul pluit Dominus super segetes super spinas Sed segeti pluit ad horreum spinis ad ignem tamen vna est plâ—uia GOD at once raines vpon the herbes and the thornes Vpon the herbs or good seed to shoot it vp for his barne for himselfe vpon the thornes to fit them for the fire yet is it one and the same raine This shall couer the faces of Libertines with â—uerlasting confusion who are euermore rubbing their owne filthinesse on Gods puritie and charging him as the authour of their sinnes If the Diuels in hell should speake what could they say more wee haue falne from our happinesse and God caused it Reprobate thoughts Men haue spilt bloud defiled forbidden beds strucke at Princes with treasons ruin'd countries with depopulations filled the earth with rapes and shot at heauen with blasphemies and lay their damnation on their Maker deriuing from his purpose excuses of their wickednesse The ineuitable decree of Gods counsell is charged the thought of that hath made them carelesse so with good food they poison themselues Willing fooles racke not your beleefe with impossibilities Behold God is so farre from authorizing your sinnes and falls that he raines on yoâ— the holy deawes of his word to mollifie your hearts Iustifying himselfe by this proffered meanes of your saluation that he would not the death of a sinner O but his hidden will is to damne vs. Mad men that forsake that signed will written in tables published with trumpets commanded with blessings cursings promises menaces to which euery soule stands bound and fall to prying into those vnsearchable mysteries couered with a curtaine of holy secrecy not to be drawne aside till the day comes wherein we shall know as we are knowne Cease aspiring man to roote thy wickdnesse in heauen and to draw in God as an accessary to thy profanenesse God would haue thee saued but thou wilt beare thorns and briars though thou endangerest thy selfe to cursing Is this the requitall for his mercy Are all his kindnesses to thee thus taken That when he hath done so much to bring thee to heauen thou wilt taxe him for casting thee to hel when he hath so laboured to make thee good thou wilt lay to his charge thy owne voluntary badnesse No iustifie God and magnifie his mercie Accuse thine owne corrupt heart that turnes so good and alimentall food into offensiue crudities Say Heauen is good but thy ground is naught Fatnesse and iuyce hath been bestowed on thee but thou hast yeelded pestilent and noysome fruits Lay not the fault on heauen but on the natiue corruption of thy owne heart that hath decocted the goodnesse of God into venome 3. This obseruation shall make way and giue place to another That the ground is very vnthankfull which answeres the kindnes of heauen in rayning on it with bryars and thornes Wretched man that receiues so blessed deawes from the fountaine of mercie and returnes an vngratefull wickednesse Vnthankefull it is as failing in both these essentiall parts of Gratitude acknowledging and requiting a benefite and so guilty both of falshood and iniustice Say the wicked did confesse Gods mercies yet where 's their obedience True thankfulnesse is called Gratiarum actio non dictio Whiles for holy deawes they render vnholy weedes this disobedience is the greatest Ingratitude The silence of our tongues the not opening our lippes to let our mouth shew forth his prayse is a grieuous vnthankfulnesse He is of an euill disposition that conceales or dissembles a benefite This is one branch of Ingratitude but our speech hitherto keepes but lowe water let vs rise vp to view the mountenous billows of that ingratitude here taxed a reall actual sensuall senselesse vnthankfulnesse if it bee not a degree beyond it and vnthankfulnesse too poore a word to expresse it Meere ingratitude returnes nothing for good but this sinne returnes euill for good Silence in acknowledging is too short we must thinke of a contumacious and contumelious retribution God after his mercifull raine lookes for some herbs of Grace when he walks down into his Garden to see whether the Vine flourished and the Pomegranates budded And behold weedes stinking weedes stinging weedes thornes and bryars Here is Ingratitude in ful proportion wiith all the dimensions of his vgly stigmaiticke forme This is that wickednes which brings the ground here to reiection malediction combustion Obserue further that 4. Wicked men proue commonly so much the worse as they might haue been better and diuert the means of their conuersion to their confusion The more raine of the Gospell they receiue the more abundantly they thrust forth the thornes of iniquities The rootes of these bryars are surely earthed in their hearts and do boyle out at the warme deaws of the Word It fares with them as with a man of a surfeted stomach the more good meate he eates the more hee increaseth his corruption The former crudities vndigested vnegested hauing the greater force turne the good nutriment into themselues There is such an antipathie betwixt the good word of God and the heart of a reprobate that the more it wrastles to bring him to heauen the more he wrastles against it that hee might be damned Tully mentions a Countrey wherein a great drought and heat maketh abundance of mire and dirt but store of raine causeth dust It is here experimentally true the plentifull raine of Gods blessed word is answered with the dusty and sandy barrennesse of mens euill liues So the Sunne shining vpon vncleane dung-hils is said to cause a greater stench yet no wise man blames the beames of the Sunne but the filthinesse of those putrified heapes for such offence The Sunne of righteousnesse hath sent downe the glorious rayes of his Gospell among vsâ— the wicked hereupon steame out the more noysome and stenchfull fruites Vpon whom shal the accusation light Gods comfortable heate of mercie or our putrid and ranke iniquities Sometimes the Sunnes heat working vpon a muddy and baneful obiect breeds horrid serpents No wonder then if this raine of the Gospel ingender in reprobate minds weeds and prickles The Cicones haue a riuer that doth harden the bowels and make the entrals stony a strange operation in them that drink it But if the water of life do harden the hearts of Pharaohs
and working cause next vnder the grace of God in our Lord Iesus Christ that the soules of Christians should bring forth the fruits of faith and obedience I know God can saue without it we dispute not of his power but of his worke of ordinary not extraordinary operations God vsually worketh this in our hearts by his word Thus for the matter the manner is 1. It commeth 2. Often 3. Vpon it It commeth IT is not forc'd nor fetch'd but comes of his owne meere mercy whose it is Iam. 1. So sayth the Apostle Euery good gift and euery perfect gift is from aboue and commeth downe from the Father of lights They that want it haue no merit of congruity to draw it to them they that haue it haue no merite of condignitie to keepe it with them It is the mercy and gratuitall fauour of God that this Gospell commeth to vs. For if ipsum minus be munus how highly is this great gift to be praysed What deserue we more then other Nations They haue as pregnant wittes as proportionable bodies as strong sinewes as we and perhaps would bring forth better fruits Yet they want it with vs it is Wee need not trauell from Coast to coast nor iourney to it it is come to vs. Venit ad limina virtus will you steppe ouer your thresholds and gather Manna When the Gospell was farre off from our Fathers yet in them Studium audiendi superabat taedium accedendi the desire of hearing it beguiled the length of the way But we will scarce put forth our hand to take this bread and as in some ignorant countrey townes be more eager to catch the raine that falls from the out-side of the Church in their buckets then this raine of grace preached in it in their hearts Oh you wrong vs wee are fond of it we call for preaching yes as your forefathers of the blind times would call apace for holy water yet when the Sexton cast it on theÌ„ they would turn away their faces and let it fall on their backes Let God sow as thicke as he will you wil come vp thinne You will admit frequencie of preaching but you haue taken an order with your selues of rare practising You are content this Raine should come as the next circumstance giues it Often GOD hath respect to our infirmities and sends vs a plentiful raine One showre will not make vs fruitful it must come oft vpon us Gutta cauat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo The raine dints the hard stone not by violence but by oft-falling droppes Line must be added to line here a little and there a little God could powre a whole floud on vs at once but mans vnderstanding Is like a viall narrow at the toppe Not capable of more then drop by droppe Sayes the Poet. If much were powred at once a great deale would fall besides and be spilt Like children wee must bee fed by spoonfulls according to the capacity of our weake natures It is not an abundant raine falling at once that makes the plants grow but kindly and frequent showers One sermon in a yeare contents some throughly and God is highly beholding to theÌ„ if they wil sit out that waking You desire your fields your gardens your plants to be often watred your soules will grow well enough with one raining How happy would man be if hee were as wise for his soule as he is for his body Some there are that would heare often may be too often til edification turne to tedification and get themselues a multitude of Teachers but they wil doe nothing You shall haue them run ten miles to a Sermon but not steppe to their owne dores with a morsell of bread to a poore brother They wish wel to the cause of Christ but they will doe nothing for it worth God-a-mercie The world is full of good wishes but heauen only full of good workes Others would haue this Raine fall often so it be such as they desire it Such a cloud must giue it and it must be begotten in thunder faction and innouation Till Euangelium Christi fit euangelium hominis aut quod peius est Diaboli Till the Gospell of Christ be made mans Gospell or which is worse the deuills If the raine as it falls doe not smell of Nouelty it shal fall besides them They regard not so much heauen whence it comes as who brings it I haue read of two that meeting at a Tauem fel a tossing their religion about as mâ—rily as their cuppes and much drunken discourse was of their profession One protested himself of Doctor Martins Religion the other swore hee was of Doctor Luthers Religion whereas Martin and Luther was one man No raine shall water them but such a mans otherwise be it neuer so wholesome they spew it vp againe As if their conscieÌ„ce were so nice delicate as that ground at Coleine where some of St. Vrsula's eleuen thousand Virgins were buried which will cast vp againe in the night any that haue bene interred there in the day except of that company though it were a child newly baptised For our selues the limits of sobriety being kept desire wee to heare the Gospell often and let our due succeding obedience iustifie the goodnesse of our thirst When Christ spake of the bread of life the transported Disciples beseech him Lord euermore giue us this bread So pray wee Lord euermore showre down vpon vs this raine Vpon it GOd so directs this deaw of his Word that it shall fall on our hearts not besides The Raine of the Gospell like the raine of the clouds hath sometimes gone by coasts Amos 4. I haue with-holden the raine from you and I haue caused it to raine vpon one Citie and caused it not to raine vpon another Citie one piece was rained vpon and the piece whereupon it rayned not withered But I haue wetted your fields moysten'd your hearts with the deawes of heauen giuen you my statutes and ordinances sayth the Lord I haue not dealt so with euery people there be some that haue not the knowledge of my lawes The Sunne shines on many nations where this spirituall raine falls not This is not all but as at the last day two in one bed shall be diuorced so euen now one seat in the Church may holde two vpon one whereof this sauing raine may fall not on the other The Spirit blowes where hee pleaseth and though the sound of the raine be to all open eares alike yet the spirituall deaw drops only into the open hart Many come to Iacobs well but bring no pitchers with them wherewith to drawe the water A good showre may come on the earth yet if a man house himselfe or bee shrouded vnder a thicke bush or borough'd in the ground hee will be drie still God sends downe his raine one houseth himselfe in the darkenesse of securitie hee is too drowsie to be told in with the bells
are Gods giftes Iames 1. 17. Bee thankfull then and after the raine of mercy bring forth the herbes of obedience You see what this Fertillitie concludes Thankfulnesse Heare now what it excludes 2. Idlenesse This good ground lyes not dead and barren nor returnes all heauens raine with a naked and neutrall acceptation it brings forth You read Luke 19. of a Seruant to whom when his Lord had intrusted a Talent he hidde it in the ground as an Vsurer his money to keepe it safe And at his Lords returne Domine ecce tuum hee answered his account with Lord behold thine own I knew that thou wert seuerus Magister a hard Master therfore I thought it my securest course to make good thine owne againe But the Lord replyed Ex ore tuo Oh euill seruant out of thy owne mouth I condemne thee Thou shouldst then haue answered my austeritie with thy laborious care of my aduantage Therefore heare his doome Cast ye the vnprofitable seruant into outer darknesse there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth Hee did not euill with his talent no it was enough to condemne him he did nothing There is abundance of this dead ground in the world which brings forth nothing Idle wretches that sleepe out time and admonition but their damnation sleepeth not It was neuer sayd Samson hath lost his strength till hee slept in the lappe of Dalila Idlenesse doth neither get nor saue there is nothing more emptie of good fruits nor more abundantly pregnant with euill That man doth ill that doth nothing and he looseth whiles hee gaines not Many beholding with cowardly and carnall eyes what a long and tâ—oublesome iourney it is to heauen sit them downe and fall fast asleepe O barren grounds will ye bring forth nothing Is difficulty made your hindrance that should bee a spurre to your more eager contention Know you not that the violent shall get the kingdome of heauen Some can follow their dogges all day in the fielde others hunt Mammon dry-foote in their shoppes yeare after yeare and neuer complaine of wearinesse Only an houre or two in the Church puts an ach into our bones as if nothing wearyed vs so soone as well-doing Is it feare of too much labour that keepes you from God why doth not the same reason deterre you from seruing the diuell His lawes are true burdens and his seruice drudgerie But Christs yoke is easie and his burden light I'may boldly affirme it your couetous man takes more paines to goe to hell then the godly ordinarily to get to heauen He riseth early and resteth late and eates the course bread of sorrow and after tedious and odious miserie goes to the Diuell for his labour Shall we refuse easier pains for a farre better recompence It is but Satans subtiltie that makes men beleeue the passage to life so extremely difficult that it is impossible Herein the Diuell doth like the inhospitable Sauages of some countries that make strange fires and a shew of dismall terrors vpon the shores to keepe passengers from landing The Sluggard sayes Salomon doth but faine Beares and Lyons as the superstitious doth bugges in the way as apologies of idlenesse that he may sit still and be at ease The slothfull person is the Diuels shop wherein he worketh engines of destruction He is most busie in the lazie But whatsoeuer thy hand findeth to doe doe it with thy might for there is no worke nor knowledge nor deuice nor wisedome in the graue whither thou goest If thy soule be watred with the deaw of heauen thou must needes bring forth What 2. Herbes There is Fertilitie in Goodnes THe eldest daughter of Idlenesse is to doe nothing the next borne to doe something to no purpose But the good man is not onely doing but well doing Math. 24. Blessed is that seruant whom his Lord when he commeth shall finde so doing This so consists in doing Bonum and Bene. As the former verse may seeme to intimate He giues them meate there he doth good in due season there he doth it well The forbearance of wickednesse is not enough to acquit the soule but the performance of righteousnesse The rich Glutton is tormented in hell not because he did hurt but because he did not helpe Lazarus Non quod abstulerit aliena sed quod non donarit sua sayth S. Chrysost. Not for taking away another mans but for not giuing his owne He would not giue the poore the crummes that fell from his boord and so facere damna lucrum make a gaine of his losses for they were lost that fell from his libertine table and yet would haue refreshed the hungry and famished soule But Diues would not giue a crumme to get a crowne He wore fine linnen but it was his owne Hee was cloathed in rich purple but it was his owne Hee fared sumptuously euery day but hee did eate his owne meate he tooke none of all this from Lazarus Yet hee went to hell God condemned him because hee did not giue some of this to Lazarus Thus it is not only the commission of lewdnesse that sinkes men to hell but euen also the omission of goodnesse Dost thou heare O Earth vnlesse thou bring forth herbes thou shalt be condemned The Fig-tree had no bad fruit on it yet was it cursed because it had none at all The axe that is layd to the roote shall hew downe euen that tree which brings not forth good fruite though it bring forth no euill Fire shall take the barren as well as the vveedie ground Except your righteousnesse shall exceede the righâ—â—ousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen Wherein me thinks our Sauiour implyeth a three-fold gradation to heauen First there must be Iustitia Righteousnesse an habituall practise of godlinesse an vncorrupt life which shall only be entertain'd to Gods Hill But the ground must be made good before it can produce good herbes for the person must bee accepted before the worke And this worke must be good both quoad fontem and quoad finem wee must deriue it from an honest heart and driue it to a right ende In the next place this Righteousnesse must bee a mans owne Nisi iustitia vestra Heere that ground which brings forth herbes receiueth blessing not that borrowes them of another For so as stony and barren an heart as Cheapside may be a far richer garden then some of those where those herbes brought thither naturally grew The Pope hath a huge harden of these herbes wherewith hee can store as many as will pay for them Iohn Baptist fasted more then hee was commanded and Mary liued more strictly then God required Now the Church of Rome keepes an Herball of these superabundant workes and money may haue store of them But heauen and Rome stand a great way asunder And as God neuer gaue the Pope authority to make such bargains so he neuer means to stand to
cor All his affections haue a low obiect not out of humilitie but base deiection His hope desire loue ioy are set on these inferiour things and like a Mole he digs still downewards till he come to his Center his owne place Hell Telluris inutile pondus 2 For coldnesse Experience teacheth that the earth is cold coldnes is a natural quality pertinent to it though accidentally there be bred in it fierie vapours The wicked man hath a cold heart frozen vp in the dregs of iniquitie though there be an vnnaturall heat sometimes flaming in him the fire of lust and malice tormenting his bowels but this is no kindly heate to warme his conscience That is deriued from the fire of the Temple that neuer goes out and only giuen by Iesus Christ that baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire 3 For foulenesse The squalid earth for we speake not heere of any good ground is called Lutulenta terra miery and noysome yet is it neate and cleane in comparison of a sinne-contaminated soule The body was taken from the earth not the Soule the body shall resolue to the earth not the soule yet the polluted soule is more sordid then either a leprous body or a muddy earth In the eye of GOD there is no beautie so acceptable no foulenesse so detestable as the soules The Doue carried the prayse of beautie from the Peacocke by the Eagles iudgement that though the Peacocke liuing had the fayrer plumes yet dead he hath but a blacke liuer Gods iudgement of all mens fairenesse is by the liuer the cleanesse of the heart in his eye-sight 4 For obscuritie and darkenesse the earth is called a place of blacke darkenesse the land of forgetfulnesse So Iob and Dauid tearme it The wicked Soule is full of darkenesse thicknesse of sight caecitie of vnderstanding not seeing the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Our Gospell is hid to those that are lost Whose minds the god of this world hath blinded There is in them Hebetudo mentis which is acutae rationis obtusio carnalis intemperantiae crassis sensibus inducta They are so vtterly ignorant of heauen that as it is in the Prouerbe ne pictum quidem viderunt they haue not seene it so much as in the mappe or picture As to men shut vp in the low cauernes of the earth not so much as the sunne and starres and the lights of heauens lower parts haue appeared Tolerabilior est poena viuere non posse quam nescire Ignorance is a heauier punishment then death sayth the Philosopher Darkenes is their desire because their deeds are euill Perhaps at last after a long dotage on their darke delight earth they come to heare of a better richer countrey and then take onely with them the Lanterne of Nature to find it But so erepto lumine can delabrum querunt Hauing lost the light they grope for the Candlesticke A man that comes into his house at midnight sees nothing amisse in the day-light he finds many things misplac'd Nature is but a darke Lanterne when by it we endeuour to ransacke the conscience Onely the light of grace can demonstrate all the sluttish and incurious misorders in our soules 5 The maine resemblance betweene an euill ground and worse man consists in the ill fruites that they both produce bryers and thornes and such not onely vnhelpefull but hurtfull vices This is the principal analogie which our Apostle intends the pith and marow of this reference But before we come to a particular anatomizing of this Subiect some obseruable doctrines fall profitably to our instruction Obserue therfore 1 The word of God will worke some way It fals not vpon any ground in vaine but will produce herbes or weeds It is such Physicke as will either cure or kill It mollifies one makes another more hard Some hearts it pricks others it terrifies though conuerts not as it made Foelix tremble None euer heard it but they are either better or worse by it We preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling blocke vnto the Gentiles foolishnesse But vnto them which are called both of Iewes and Greeks the power of GOD and the wisedome of God In this Epistle it is called a double-edged sword c. It is either a conuerting or conuincing power sealing receiuers to redemption contemners to reiection The word which I haue preached shall iudge you in the latter day If this doctrine were considerately digested in hearers hearts what a zealous preparation would it worke in their soules It would bring vs to these seats with other minds if we remembred that wee returne not backe to our owne doores the very same wee came out but either somewhat better or much worse Sergius Paulus was turned Elimas obdurated at one Sermon After our Sauiours heauenly Sermon Iohn 6. Some went backe and walked no more with him that Christ bespake his Apostles Will ye also goe away Others stucke more close Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of eternall life The Prophet Esay speakes fully to this purpose As the raine commeth downe and returneth not backe but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may giue seede to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not returne vnto mee voyd but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it The word that we haue preached shall either saue you or iudge you It shall be either a copy of your pardon or a bill of your inditement at the last day Iohn Baptist cals the Gospell a Fan that will distinguish betweene true and false children betweene Wheate and Chaffe It will make knowne the faithfulnesse of those that with honest harts embrace it and scatter hypocrites like chaffe by reason of their insolid leuity Simeon so prophecied to Mary the Virgin of her Son That he should be the fall and the rising the reparation and ruine of many and whiles he is set for a signe Which shall bee spoken against by this meanes the thoughts of many hearts shall be reuealed The word is like fire that hath a double operation vpon the seuerall subiects it works stubble or gold It fires the one and fines the other Some hearts it enflames with zeale to it other it sets on fire to quench impugne persecute it It is to conuersion if beleeued to confusion if despised Lo Christ himselfe preaching some faithfully entertaine others reiect as the Gergesens that had rather haue their hogges saued then their soules 2. That thornes are produced the fault is not in the good Raine but the ill ground What could I sayth God haue done more to my Vineyard I haue done inough to make it beare good grapes Wherefore then or from what cause brings it forth wild grapes The earth desires the influence