upon the wicked From the former spirituall wisdome gathereth the sweet fruit of comfort from the latter the bitter fruit of terror from both the most wholesome fruit of instruction The fruit of comfort she gathereth by using Jacobs ladder to rest upon when she is weary Hagars fountaine to quench her thirst the widowes meale to sustaine her in famine Jonah's gourd to shade her in heat Jonathans hony to cleere her eye-sight Hezekia's figs to heale her plague-sores the Samaritan's oyle to supple her wounds and Christs Crosse to support her in all The bitter fruit of terrour she gathereth when she maketh the drowning of the old world a warning to her for security the confusion of Languages at Babel for pride the burning of Sodome for unnaturall lust the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned for backsliding and disobedience the plagues of Egypt for hardness of heart the captivity of Israel and Judah for Idolatry and the finall destruction of the City and Temple for infidelity and persecution of Christ and his Gospell When the Divell offereth us any forbidden fruit seem it never so pleasant to the eye let us thinke of Adam when a wedge of gold of Achan when red broth of Esau when a pleasant vineyard lying neere to our house of Ahab when a bribe of Gehazi when holy vessels to carouse in of Belshazzar when mony for the gifts of the holy Ghost of Simon Magus when the price of innocent bloud of Judas when a share in sacriledge of Ananias Let us learn by Adams fall to shut our eares against evill counsell by Noahs shame to abhorre drunkennesse by Davids adultery to fly idlenesse by Josephs swearing by the life of Pharaoh to avoid ill company by Peters deniall to beware of presuming on our owne strength by Pauls buffetting to take heed of spirituall pride Doe the students at the law follow all Courts and are ready at all assizes with their table-books to note what passeth in all trials to put downe the cases and take the sentences of the Judges and shall we neglect the judgements of the Almighty and not write downe in the tables of our memories such cases as are ruled in the Court of heaven There is nothing will more deject us in the opinion of our own wisdome and stir us up to the admiration of Gods wisedome justice and power than to observe how he compasseth the wise of the world in their owne wayes and shooteth beyond them in their owne bow and over-reacheth them in their highest designes how he chuseth the foolish things of the world to convince and rebuke the wise the weake things of the world to conquer the mighty the ignoble things of the world to obscure the glorious and the things that are not to confound the things that are When we see him draw light out of darknesse sweet out of sower comfort out of misery joy out of sorrow and life out of death how can we distrust his goodnesse Again when we see on the sudden how he turneth day into night liberty into captivity beauty into ashes joy into heavinesse honour into shame wealth into want rule into servitude life into death how can we but feare his power When we see Scepters made of mattocks and mattocks of Scepters hovils of Palaces and Palaces of hovils valleyes raised high and hils brought low Kings cast out of their thrones to the ground and poore raised out of the dunghill to sit with Princes how can we be proud When we observe the godly man like the Oxe that goeth to plow worn out with labour and pain and the wicked like beasts fatted for the slaughter abound with riotous superfluity how can we but be patient When we see daily stars rise and fall in the firmament of the Church how can we then but be solicitous Lastly when we see our wants as well as our wealth our defects as well as our exceedings our falls as well as our risings our sorrowes as well as our joyes our fasts as well as our feasts our sicknesse as well as our health our terrors as well as our comforts our crosses and afflictions as well as those we call blessings worke for the best for us how can we but be content This rule of wisedome every man by his experience can easily draw out at length and the time calls upon me to cut the threed of this discourse wherefore in a word I will now deliver that precept of wisedome in the last place which in practice must challenge the first viz. that in all serious and weighty affaires especially such as concerne our spirituall estate we aske counsell of God who among other glorious attributes described by the Prophet Isaiah is stiled the wonderfull p Esay 9.6 His name shal be called the wonderfull counseller Aâ—oc 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold c. Counseller who freely gives us that counsell which cannot be got by any fee from mortall man Successe crowneth no great attempt which wisdome undertaketh not wisdome undertaketh nothing but by the advice of counsell and no counsell safe in deliberations of this kind but from the spirit of God The Israelites usually asked counsell of God by the Ephod the Grecians by their Oracles the Persians by their Magi the Egyptians by their Hirophantae the Indians by their Gymnosophistae the ancient Gaules and Brittaines by their Druides the Romans by their Augures or Soothsayers It was not lawfull to propose any matter of moment in the Senate q Cic. de Arusp resp priusquam de coelo servatum erat before their wisards had made their observations from the heaven or skie That which they did impiously and superstitiously we may nay we ought to doe in another sense piously viz. not to imbark our selves into any action of great importance and consequence priusquam de coelo servavimus before we have observed from heaven not the flight of birds or houses of planets or their aspects or conjunctiâ—ns such fowle or star-gazing is forbid by a voice from heaven but the countenance of God whether it shineth upon our enterprises or not whether he approve of our endeavours projects and designes or dislike them if he approve of them we need not feare the successe for if it be not good for the present it shall be good if he dislike them we may not hope for successe for if the issue be not bad for the present it shal be bad in the end Tullies resolution is good r Cic. ep ad Att. sapientis est nihil praestare praeter culpam a wise man is to looke to his intentions and to answer for his actions that they be without blame not to undertake for the events Let us make good our ends and the meanes we use and God will make good the issue and turne all to the best A Pilot as Quintilian observeth cannot be denied his lawfull plea dum clavum rectum teneam though the ship be cast away or drowned he is
Thou shalt plant vineyards and dresse them but shalt neither drinke of the wine nor gather the grapes for the worme shall eate them Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts but thou shalt not annoint thy selfe with the oyle for thine olive shall cast his fruit Hereunto if we adde the infinite armies of plagues and judgements mustered in this chapter against Gods enemies we cannot but subscribe to the Prophets conclusion Non est pax impio there is no l Esay 48.22 57.21 peace to the wicked saith my God there is no fruit of sinne for it is the vine of m Deut. 32.32 33. Sodome and of the fields of Gomorrah the grapes thereof are the grapes of gall their clusters are bitter Their wine is the poyson of Dragons and the cruell venome of Aspes Would yee know all the miseries that sinne hath brought into the world reckon then all that are or ever were in the world For they are all concomitants effects or punishments of sinne Sinne cast the Angels from Heaven into Hell thrust man out of Paradise drowned the old world burnt Sodome and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone ruinated the greatest Monarchies destroyed the ancientest Cities and hath rooted up the most flourishing Churches and shall wee looke for better fruit of it But this interrogatory of the Apostle What fruit had yee seemeth to mee rather to aime at the particular endammagement and detriments of sinne which every soule that committeth it sustaineth within it selfe whereof many have been already recounted yet the greater part is behind among whom this is not the least that it blindeth the eyes of the mind and infatuateth the sinner Whereupon Saint Austines observation is If a theefe or fellon should presently upon his fact lose the sight of his eyes every body would say that it was the judgement of God upon him Oculum cordis amisit ei pepercisse putatur Deus behold God hath taken away the sight of his soules eyes and doest thou thinke that hee spareth him or letteth him goe n Cic. de Arusp respons Oculorum caecitas ad mentem translata est unpunished What greater losse to a noble mind than of libertie which is forfeited by sinne Sinne enthralleth our soule to our body and our body and soule to the Divell If captivitie of the body be so grievous a calamity what may wee judge of the captivitie of the soule If wee so disdaine to be slaves to men how much more should wee to bee vassals to beastly lusts To speake nothing of peace of conscience which crying sinnes disturbe and divine motions which worldly cares choake and heavenly comforts which earthly pleasures deprive us of and sanctifying graces which impure thoughts and sinfull desires diminish to leave the consideration of shame and death for matter of ensuing discourses by that which hath been already delivered all that are not besotted by sin and blind-folded by Sathan may see great reason for this question of the Apostle What fruit had yee A question which the proudest and most scornfull sinners who have them in derision that make conscience of unlawfull gaine shall propound unto themselves one day and checke their owne folly therewith as we reade in the booke of o Wisd 5.8 Wisedome What hath pride availed us or what profit hath the pompe of riches brought us Then shall they change their mindes when they cannot their estates and sigh for griefe of heart and say within themselves looking up to Heaven and seeing the felicity of the righteous crowned with eternall glory Ibid. Ver. 4 5 6 7. This is hee whom wee sometimes had in derision and in a parable of reproach Wee fooles thought his life madnesse and his end without honour But now how is hee accounted among the children of God and what a portion hath hee among the Saints Therefore wee have erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined upon us We have wearied our selves in the wayes of wickednesse and have gone through many dangerous pathes and the way of the Lord wee have not knowne Howbeit two sorts of men in the opinion of the world seeme to make great gaine of sinne the covetous and the ambitious the former is indebted to his extortion oppression and usury for his wealth the other to his glozing dissembling undermining perfidious and treacherous dealing for his honour and advancement in the Court of Princes The spirit of the former hath been conjured downe heretofore by proving that whosoever gathereth wealth or mony by unjust and indirect meanes putteth it into a broken bagge and that his mony shall perish with him unlesse hee breake off his sinne by repentance and make friends of unrighteous Mammon I come to the Politicians who correct or rather pervert that sentence of Saint Paul Godlinesse is great gaine thus a shew of godlinesse is great gaine of whom I would demand what shew of reason they have for this their politicke aphorisme If they beleeve there is a God that judgeth the earth they cannot but thinke that hee will take most grievous vengeance on such as goe about to roote out the feare of God out of mens hearts and make Religion a masque and God himselfe an Image the sacred Story a fable Hell a bug-beare and the joyes of Heaven pleasant phantasies If men hold them in greatest detestation who faulter and double with them shall not God much more hate the hypocrite who doubleth with his Maker maketh shew of honouring and serving him when hee indeed neither honoureth nor serveth him at all Simulata sanctitas est duplex iniquitas counterfeit sanctity is double iniquity and accordingly it shall receive double punishment When our Saviour threateneth the most hainous transgressours that they shall have their p Mat. 24.51 portion with hypocrites hee implyeth that the condition of none in Hell is lesse tolerable than of the hypocrite The q Psal 14.1 foole hath said in his heart there is no God and even in that hee shewed himselfe the more foole in that hee said it in his heart supposing that none should heare it there whereas God heareth the word in the heart before it bee uttered in the tongue and what though other know it not sith hee whom hee wrongeth who is best able to revenge it knoweth it But to wound the Politician with his owne sword If a shew and appearance of Religion is not onely profitable but necessary in politicke respects shall not Religion it selfe be much more Can there bee a like vertue or power in the shadow or image as in the body it selfe If the grapes painted by Zeuxis allured the Birds to pecke at them would not the Birds sooner have flowne at them had they been true grapes All the wit of these sublimated spirits wherewith they entangle the honest simplicity of others cannot wind them out of these dilemmaes If it bee a bad thing to bee good why doe they seem so If
at a Masque in the habit of a Whiffler The ancient Romans glanced at this retaliation in their sacrifices to Ceres and Bacchus to whom they offered Swine and Goats because these of all creatures most annoy corne and wine m Ovid. fast l. 1. Martial l. 13. cui nomen Xen. Lascivum pecus viridi non utile Baccho dat poenas nocuit nam tener ille Deo Prima Ceres avidae gavisa est sanguine porcae ulta suas meritâ caede nocentis opes Rode caper vitem tamen hinc cum stabis ad aras in tua quod spargi cornua possit erit I will not charge your memory with more examples at this present than of Pope n Bodin l. 6. de rep Alexander the sixth who was poysoned in that very cup through a mistake and with that very potion which he prepared for the Cardinals of the opposite faction and of the o Suet. in Jul. Caes conspirators against Julius Caesar in the Senate who most of them were slaine with the same daggers numero wherewith they had stabbed him before and of Saul who fell upon that sword of his which he sought to draw through Davids bowels as he here prophesieth of him They shall cause him or his bloud to run out like water by the hand of the sword viz. his owne sword Doctr. 4 And they shall be a portion for Foxes Beasts were given to men for their food Unnaturall punishment for unnaturall crimes but here men are given to beasts for a prey A lamentable spectacle to see the vilest of all creatures ravenously feast themselves with the flesh of the noblest and irrespectively hale and teare in pieces the casket which whilome inclosed the richest jewell in the world Is it not against the law of Nature that men should become beasts meat yea the meat of such beasts as are carrion and not mans meat Questionlesse it is yet Nature giveth her consent to this kind of punishment of unnaturall crimes For it is consonant to reason that the law of Nature should be broken in their punishment who brake it in their sinne that they who devoured men like beasts should bee devoured of beasts like men that they who with their hands offered unnaturall violence to their Soveraigne should suffer the like by the clawes and teeth of wilde beasts their slaves that they who bare a Foxe in their breast in their life should been tombed in the belly of a Foxe at their death Saint p August in Psal 62 Jud ei ideo voluerunt Christum â—ccidere ne terram perderent ideo terram perdiderunt quia Christum occiderunt quia repulerant Agnum elegerunt Vulpem ideò praeda Vulpium facti sunt Austin expounding this whole prophecy of Christ yeeldeth a speciall reason of this judgement of God by which the Jewes were condemned to Foxes The Jewes saith hee therefore killed Christ that they might not lose their countrey but indeed they therefore lost their countrey because they killed Christ because they refused the Lambe and chose Herod the Foxe before him therefore by the just retribution of the Almighty they were allotted to the Foxes for their portion Notwithstanding this allusion of Saint Austin to Foxes in speciall Jansenius and other Expositors extend this grant in my Text to all wilde beasts and fowles which are as it were in patent with the Foxe and have full power and liberty given them to seize upon the corps of Traitors to God and their Country But Foxes beare the name because they abound in those parts where was such store of them that Sampson in a short time with a wet finger caught three hundred so that upon the matter they shall be a portion for Foxes is all one with that doome in the q Hom. Il. 1. Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall be exposed to the teeth of every cruell beast and to the bill and talons of every ravenous fowle I might insist upon the severall branches of this Scripture with delight and profit but because the occasion of our meeting at this present is rather to offer unto God the fruits of our devotion for his Majesties and our enemies destruction than to gather fruits of knowledge from Scripture for our instruction I descend from the generall explication of the whole to the particular application of the parts and first I will shew you how this prophecy according to the severall members thereof was accomplished in Christ Davids Lord then in David the Lords Christ and last of all in King James our David Saint Austin Saint Jerome Arnobius and almost all the ancient Interpreters of this propheticall Psalme understand the letter spiritually of Christ on the other side Calvin Musculus Mollerus and others understand the spirit literally of David I know no reason why we may not spell them together and of two make one perfect and compleat interpretation of this Scripture Wherefore to avoid vaine jangling where the golden bels of Aaron may bee orderly rung and distinctly heard for the literall exposition I accord with the later Interpreters yet beare a part with the Ancients in their spirituall descant upon the ground of the letter the rather because David is a knowne type of Christ and therefore by the law of contraries Saul and his host of Sathan or Antichrist and their infernall troups but especially because as r Calâ—in epist ad Fran. gallo reg Nusquam legimus reprehensos quod nimium de fonte aquae vivae hauserint Calvin piously observeth that wee never read of any blamed for drawing too much water out of the Well of life so it is most certaine that we cannot offend in ascribing too much honour to the King of glory Then take the cliffe as you please the notes will follow accordingly if you take it higher from Christ thus the notes follow They that seek my soule to destroy it that is Herod and Pilate Scribes and Pharisees Rulers and people that conspire against the Lord and against his annointed to take away his life from the earth they I say shall goe into the lowest parts of the earth that is the nethermost hell without repentance they shall make him run out like water that is Pilat who in discontent was driven to slay himselfe as also did Saul to whom the letter pointeth or as we reade in my text They shall fall by the edge of the sword that is the Nation of the Jewes shall fall by the sword of the Romans who shall make such a slaughter of them at Jerusalem where they crucified Christ that the channels shall run with gore bloud and the streets be strowed with dead carkasses left unburied for a prey to the fowles of heaven and every ravenous beast but the King viz. the King of glory and Prince of Peace Christ Jesus shall rejoyce in God and triumph at the right hand of his Father and every one that sweareth by him and
cause in favour of the defendant and being taxed for it by his friends in private shewing them the coyn he received demanded of them quis possit tot armatis resistere who were able to stand against so many in complete armour Steele armour is bullet or musket proofe but nothing except the feare of God is gold or silver proofe Nothing can keepe a Judge from receiving a reward in private in a colourable cause but the eye of the Almighty who seeth the corrupt Judge in secret and will reward him openly if not in his lower Courts on earth yet in his high Court of Star-chamber in heaven 5 All corruption is not in bribes hee who for hope of advancement or for favour or for any by-respect whatsoever perverteth judgement is not cleere from corruption though his hands be cleane The Judges who absolved the beautifull strumpet Phryne had their hands cleane but their eyes foule The Judges who absolved Murena that by indirect meanes purchased the Consulship of Rome are not taxed for taking any bribe from him yet was their judgment corrupt because that which swayed them in judgment was not the innocency of Murena but his modest carriage together with his sickness then upon him moving them unto compassion An upright Judge must in a morall sense be like Melchisedek without Father or Mother kiffe or kin I meane in justice hee must take no notice of any affinity or consanguinity friendship or favour or any thing else save the merits of the cause to which 6 Hee must give a full hearing for otherwise the Poet will tell him that g Sen. in med Qui aliquid statuit parte inauditá alterá aequum licet statuerit baud aequus est though the sentence he gives may be just yet he cannot be just The eare is not only the sense of discipline or learning as the Philosopher speaketh but of faith also as the Apostle teacheth yea and of truth also and justice Though a Judge need not with Philip stop one of his eares while the accuser is speaking yet ought he alwayes to reserve an eare for the defendant and according to the ancient decree of the Areopagites h Demost orat de coron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heare both parties with like attention and indifferency their full time Albeit our Lord and Saviour knew the hearts of men which no earthly Judge can yet to prescribe a rule to all Judges hee professeth sicut audio sic judico i Joh. 5.30 as I heare so I judge Never any Romane Emperour was so much censured with injustice and folly as k Sueton. in Claud. Claudius Caesar and the reason why hee so oft mistooke was because hee often sentenced causes upon the hearing of one side only and somtimes upon the full hearing of neither But of hearing you heare every day not onely the Preachers at the Assizes but the Counsell on both parts call upon you for it I would you heard as oft of that which I am to touch in the next place without which hearing is to no purpose 7 Expedition If the time had not prevented me I would have long insisted upon the prolonging of suits in all Courts of justice For a man can come into none of them but hee shall heare many crying with him in the Poet Quem das finem Rex magne laborum When shall we leave turning Ixions wheele and rowling Sisyphus stone O that we had an end either way long delayed justice often more wrongeth both parties than injustice either I am not ignorant of the colourable pretence wherewith many excuse these delayes affirming that questions in law are like the heads of Hydra when you cut off one there arise up two in the place of it which if it were so as it argueth a great imperfection in our laws which they who are best able make no more haste to supply than beggars to heale the raw flesh because these gaine by such defects as they by shewing their sores so it no way excuseth the protraction of the ordinary suits disputes and demurres in which there is no more true controversie in point of law than head in a sea-crab 8 Of courage and resolution I shall need to adde nothing to what hath beene spoken because the edge of your sword of justice hath a strong backe the authority of a most religious and righteous Prince under whom you need not feare to doe justice but rather not to execute justice upon the most potent delinquent 9 There remaines nothing but Equity to crowne all your other vertues which differeth but little from moderation above enforced for moderation is equity in the minde as equity is moderation in the sentence Bee not over just saith l Eccl. 7.16 Solomon but moderate thy justice with equity and mitigate it with mercy for summum jus est summa injuria justice without mercy is extreme cruelty and mercy without justice is foolish pity both together make Christian equity Therfore these two vertues resemble Castor and Pollux which if either alone appeare on the mast is ominous but both together promise a prosperous voyage or like the metals which are so termed quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the veynes succeed one the other after the veyne of one metall you fall upon the veyne of another so in scripture you shall finde a sequence of these vertues as in the Prophet Micah m Micah 6.8 Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to doe justly and love mercy and in Zechary n Zech. 7.9 Execute true judgement and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother and in Solomon o Pro. 21.21 Hee that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy findeth life righteousnesse and honour To gather then up at length the scattered links of my discourse to make a golden chaine for your neckes Be instructed O ye Judges of the earth either Judges made of earth earthly men or made Judges of the earth that is controversies about lands tenures and other earthly and temporall causes serve the Lord of heaven in feare and rejoice unto him with trembling bee religious in your devotion moderate in your passions learned in the lawes incorrupt in your courts impartiall in your affections patient in hearing expedite in proceeding resolute in your sentence and righteous in judgement and execution So when the righteous Judge shall set his tribunall in the clouds and the unrighteous Judge as being most contrary to him shall receive the heaviest doome ye that are righteous Judges as being likest to him shall receive a correspondent reward and bee taken from sitting upon benches on earth to be his Assessours on his throne in heaven To whom c. THE APOSTOLICK BISHOP A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the L. B. of Bristow before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seale and divers other Lords Spirituall and Temporall and other persons of eminent quality
Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastours and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Ver. 12. Till wee all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ Till all the Elect be come God ceaseth not to call by the ministery of the word and none may call without a calling to call Needs must there be therefore a settled order in the Church for the calling of those to the ministery of the word sacraments who are to call others by their ministery This constant ordination of a succession in the Church some make a royalty of Christ or an appendant to his princely function for it is for Kings to set men in authority under them in the affaires of the Kingdome Others annexe it to his priesthood because the high Priest was to consecrate inferiour Priests A third sort will have it a branch of his propheticall office because Prophets were to anoint Prophets All these reasons are concludent but none of them excludent For the entire truth in which these three opinions have an equall share is that the establishing the ministery of the Gospell and furnishing the Church with able Pastours hath a dependance on all three offices 1 On the Kingly in respect of heavenly power 2 On the Priestly in respect of sacred order 3 On the Propheticall in respect of ministeriall gifts Each of Christs offices deliver into our hands as it were a key 1. Clavem Coeli 2. Clavem Sanctuarii or Templi 3. Clavem sacrae Scripturae 1. His Kingly office conferreth on us the key of heaven to open and shut it 2. His Priestly the key of the Temple to enter into it and administer holy things 3. His Propheticall the key of holy Scripture to open the meaning thereof Thus you see ordinem ordinis an order for holy orders you heare who is the founder of our religious order and whose keyes we keepe Which consideration as it much improveth the dignity of our calling so it reproveth their indignity who walke not agreeable thereunto A scar in the face is a greater deformity than a wound or sore in any other part of the body such is the eminency of our calling beloved brethren that our spots can no more be hid than the spots in the Moone nay that it maketh every spot in us a staine every blemish a scar every pricke a wound every drop of Inke a blot every trip a fall every fault a crime If we defile Christs priesthood with an impure life we do worse than those his professed enemies who spit on his face If we foule and black with giving and receiving the wages of unrighteousnes those hands wherwith we deliver the price of mans redemption in the blessed Sacraments we more wrong our Saviour than those who pierced his sacred hands with nailes If we in these holy Mounts of God wherein we should presse the purest liquor out of the grapes of the Vines of Engaddi vent our owne spleene and malice what doe we else than offer to Christ againe vinegar and gall If we Christs meniall and domesticall servants turne m Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some copies mis-read and serve the time instead of serving the Lord. If we preach our selves and not Christ crucified if we beare the world in hand to wooe for our master but indeed speake for our selves if we use the staires of the Pulpit as steps only to our preferment if we heare our Lord and Master highly dishonoured and dissemble it if we see the Sea of Rome continually to eat into the bankes of our Church and never goe about to make up the breaches if that should ever fall out which a sweet sounding Cymball sometimes tinckled into the eares of the Pope that n Bernard de considerat ad Eugen Multi necessarii multi adversarii non Doctores sed Seductores non Praelati sed Pilati the greatest enemies of Christ should be those of his owne house if Pastours turne Impostours if Doctours Seductours if Prelates Pilates if Ministers of Christ servants of Antichrist either by silence to give way or by smoothing Romish tenets to make way for Popery no marvaile then if judgement begin at the house of God as it did in the siege at Jerusalem with the slaughter of Ananus the high Priest no marvaile if God suffer sacriledge to rob the Church of her maintenance almost in all places when the Church her selfe is guilty of worse sacriledge by robbing God of his worship and service But on the contrarie if as Ambassadours for Christ we deliver our message faithfully and roundly if we seeke not our owne but the things that are Jesus Christs if we esteeme not our preferments no nor our lives deere unto us in comparison of our Masters honour if we preach Christ crucified in our lives as well as in our sermons if in our good name we are the sweet smelling favour of God as well as in our doctrine we may then Christi nomine in Christs stead challenge audience yea and reverence too from the greatest powers upon earth whatsoever State-flies buzze to the contrary For as he that o Luke 10.16 despiseth Christs ministers despiseth him so he that p Mat. 10.40 receiveth him receiveth them also No man who honoureth the Prince can dis-esteeme his Ambassadours If Scribes and Pharisees must be heard because they teach in Moses chaire how much more Saith St. Chrysostome may they command our attention who sit in Christs chaire The same Apostle who chargeth every soule to be q Rom. 13.1.4 subject to the higher powers who beare not the sword in vaine as strictly requireth the faithfull to r Heb. 13.17 obey them that have the rule over them in the Lord and submit unto them for they watch saith he for your soules as they that must give account that they may doe it with joy and not with griefe for that is unprofitable for you Therefore ſ Sym. epist ad Anast Defer Deo in nobis nos Deo in te Symmachus kept within compasse when he thus spake to Anastasius the Emperour Acknowledge God in us and we will acknowledge him in thee Deus est in utroque parente we hold from Christ as you from God as we submit ourselves to Gods sword in your hands so you ought to obey Christs word in our mouthes And so I passe from the person consecrating to the persons consecrated He breathed on them and said receive ye the holy Ghost The holy Martyr St. t Cypr. de unita Eccles Apostolis omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem tribuit dicit sicut misit me pater ego mitto vos accipite Spiritum sanctum si cui remiseritis peccata remittentur ei c. Hoc
ad Eugen l. 2. I ergo tu tibi usurpare aude aut dominans apostolatum aut apostolicus dominatum c. Bernard was in the wrong for hee inferres the cleane contrary from it and which is most considerable in a booke of consideration dedicated to the Pope himselfe Peter could not give thee that which he had not what he had that he gave thee care over the Churches but did hee not also give thee dominion heare what himselfe saith not as being Lords over Gods heritage but being made examples to the flocke lest any man should thinke that this was spoken onely in humility and not in truth it is the voice of the Lord in the Gospell Kings of the nations beare rule over them but it shall not bee so with you it is plaine that Lord-like dominion is forbidden to the Apostles goe too therefore now and assume to thy selfe if thou dare either the office of an Apostle if thou be a Lord or Lord-like Dominion if thou be an Apostle Howbeit I deny not that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used sometimes signifieth to rule with Princely authority and Lord-like command both in Scriptures and prophane Writers as a Hom. Il. 1. Homer stileth King Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepheard of the people so God himselfe calleth Cyrus his b Esay 44.28 That saith of Cyrus he is my shepheard Shepheard and which is very observable Cyrus as if hee had taken notice of this name imposed by God upon him before his birth was wont usually to say c Xen. Cyr. poed l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a good Prince was like a good Shepheard who can by no other meanes grow rich than by making his flocke to thrive under him the prosperity of the subject is not only the honour but the wealth also of the Prince All this maketh nothing for the Popes triple Crowne to which hee layeth claime by vertue of Christs threefold pasce or feede Joh. 21.15.16.17 for neither doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 originally nor properly nor usually signifie to reigne as a King especially when oves meae or grex domini my sheepe or the flocke of God is construed with it nor can it be so taken here or Joh. 21. as the light of both texts set together reflecting one upon the other will cleer the point For that which Christ enjoyneth Peter Joh. 21. that Peter here enjoyneth all Elders the words of the charge are the same Feede my sheepe there Feede the flocke of God here But Saint Peter enjoyneth not all Elders in these words to rule with soveraigne authority as Kings over the whole flocke or as Lords over their owne peculiar for this hee expressely forbiddeth ver 3. therefore to usurpe authority over the whole Church or to domineere over any part thereof is not to feede according to Christs charge to Saint Peter or Saint Peters to all Elders What is it then if you have reference to the Etymology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to feede as the word imports in the originall is to reside upon our cure or abide with our flocke where the spouse is commanded to seeke Christ d Cant. 1.8 goe thy way forth to the footsteps of the flocke And indeed where should the Sentinell be but upon his watch-tower where the Pilot but at the sterne where the intelligence but at his orbe where the sunne but within his ecliptick line where the candle but in the candle-stick where the diamond but in the ring where the shepheard but among his flocke whom hee is to feede for whom he is to provide of whom hee is to take the over-sight to whom hee ought to bee an example which hee cannot be if hee never be in their sight But because this observation is grounded only upon the Etymology I will lay no more stresse upon it The proper and full signification of the word is pastorem agere to play the good shepheard or exercise the function of a Pastor which consisteth in three things especially 1 Docendo quid facere debeant 2 Orando ut facere possint 3 Increpando si non faciant 1 In teaching those of his flock what they ought to doe 2 In praying that they may doe it 3 In reproving if they doe it not All which may bee reduced to a threefold feeding 1 With the Word Jer. 3. Jer. 3.15 I will give you pastors according to mine owne heart that shall feede you with knowledge and understanding 2 With the Sacraments Apoc. 2. Joh. 6. 3 With the Rod Micah 7.14 To feed with the Word and Sacraments is the common duty of all Pastors but to feed with the rod is reserved to Bishops they are Seraphims holding the spirituall sword of excommunication in their hands to guard the tree of life whose speciall office and eminent degree in the Church is implyed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the vulgar latine rendereth providentes but Saint e Aug. de civ l. 19 c. 19. Supervidentes appellantur ut intelligant se non esse episcopos qui prae esse dilexerint non prodesse Austine more agreeable to the Etymology supervidentes super-visours or super-intendents Yet this is but a generall notation of the name every Bishop is a super-visour or over-seer but every super-visour is not a Bishop The Lacedaemonian Magistrates were called Ephori which is an equivalent stile to Episcopi and f Euseb vit Constant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constantine the great spake as truely as piously to his Bishops Yee reverend Fathers are Bishops of them that are within the Church but I of them that are out of the Church where your pastorall staffe is too short I will piece it out and lengthen it with my scepter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the most proper and restreyned signification is to exercise Episcopall authority or performe the office of a Bishop which consisteth in two things 1 In ordaining 2 Ordering 1 Giving orders 2 Keeping order Saint Paul giveth g Tit. 1.5 Titus both in charge for this cause left I thee in Crete to ordaine Elders in every Church there is the first to wit ordination and to set in order things that are wanting or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to correct things out of order there is the second viz. ordering or reformation Timothy likewise the first consecrated Bishop of Ephesus is put in minde of these branches of his Episcopall function of the first h 1 Tim. 5.22.19 Lay hands suddenly on no man of the second Against an Elder receive not an accusation but under two or three witnesses i ver 20. Them that sinne rebuke before all that others also may feare Be not k ver 22. partaker of any other mans sinnes to wit by not censuring or punishing them These two offices to bee most necessary in the Church every mans reason and common experience will informe us For
thy noble Prophet of the royall race t Esa 53.8 5. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgressions of my people was he stricken He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes wee are healed therefore was Barabbas acquitted and Jesus condemned to the scourge and the crosse Againe ver 12. hee powred his soule unto death and hee was numbred with the transgressors therefore Jesus was executed with two malefactors the one on the right hand the other on the left Againe hee bare the sinne of many and made intercession for the transgressors therefore Jesus when they crucified him said u Luk. 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they doe How readest thou in Moses law * Deut. 21.23 cursed is he that hangeth on a tree therefore Jesus who became a curse for us hung on the tree of the crosse Againe all things by the law are purged by sprinkling of blood with a bunch of Hyssope therefore Jesus blood was x Joh. 19.29 shed upon the crosse and a bunch of Hyssope there offered unto him How readest thou in the booke of Psalmes y Psal 22.21 they gave me gall to eate and when I was thirsty they gave mee vinegar to drinke therefore Jesus said on the crosse I thirst and they filled a spunge full of vinegar and put it on a reede and gave him to drinke Againe z Psal 22.18 they parted my garments among them saith David Christ his type and on my vesture did they cast lots therefore after Jesus * Mat. 27.35 gave up the Ghost the souldiers parted his garments and cast lots Christ was fastened to the wood of the crosse as a Gen. 22.9 Isaak was bound to the faggot Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled hee b Esa 53.10 made his soule an offering for sinne be not faithlesse but believe Christ was lift up c Num. 21.9 upon the crosse as the brazen serpent was set up upon a pole for a signe Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled d Zach. 12.10 they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced be not faithlesse but believe Christs flesh was torne bruised pierced and as it were broached on the crosse as the paschall Lambe yet without any bone broken Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled e Psal 22.16 they pierced my hands and feet and thou f Psal 34.20 keepest all my bones so that not one of them is broken Be not faithlesse but believe sith every circumstance of Christs passion is a substantiall proofe every indignity offered unto him is an Axiome every nayle and thorne a poignant argument every marke and scarre in his flesh a demonstration à signo and his extension on the crosse a declaration and ostension that hee is the true Messiah The Jew hath his payment I now take the Gentile to taske Vs 2 Contr. Graec. Gentiles who maketh a laughing stocke of the crosse O foolish Greeke why dost thou esteeme the doctrine of the crosse foolishnesse in which all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid The Abderites tooke Democritus for a man besides himselfe but Hypocrates that great Physician made them know that they were out of their wits not the Philosopher The folly O Greeke is in thy judgment not in the doctrine of the crosse the shadow is in thine eye or the dust in thy spectacle and not in the object for hadst thou a single eye and a cleare spectacle thou mightst see the crosse beset with foure Jewels 1 Wisedome in the height and top 2 Humility in the depth and basis 3 Obedience on the right side 4 Patience on the left Thou mightest see by God his infinite wisedome light drawne out of darknesse and good out of evill and order out of confusion Thou mightest observe in it infinite justice and mercy reconciled thou mightest admire glory conquered by shame power overcome by weakenesse wisedome confounded by folly death killed by dying the grave destroyed by being buryed in it and hell by descending into it Yea but thy pride will not brooke to have any faith in a man crucified or to hope for salvation from him who could not save himselfe from the accursed tree Indeed if he had beene inforced thus to die if he had not laid downe his life of his owne accord and made his soule an offering for sinne thy objection had something in it considerable but sith he dyed by power and not of infirmity for though to dye simply be of infirmity yet so to dye to lay downe his life at his own pleasure and take it up again was of power sith being in the form of God he g Phil. 2.8 humbled himselfe to death even the death of the Crosse and in it triumphed over death hell and the Divell stop thy mouth for ever from blaspheming the crosse or rather open it to the everlasting praise of him that dyed on it whose misery if thou beleeve is thy happinesse his ignominy thy glory his death thy life his Crosse thy Crown Thou eternizest the memory of Codrus Curtius the Decii and D. Claudius for devoting and sacrificing themselves for their Country how canst thou then but much more love and honour yea and adore Jesus Christ who Codrus-like put on the habit of a common souldier or rather servant and dyed in the battaile to gaine us an everlasting victorie over all our enemies Curtius-like leapt into the Hiatus or gulfe of death and hell to save mankinde from it Decius and Claudius-like devovit se pro terrarum orbe gave himselfe up to death for the life of the whole world Use 3 And so I let the Greeke passe the Romanists turne is next who maketh an Idol of the Crosse Contra Papist O superstitious Papist why dost thou vow pilgrimages and creepe on all foure to the Crosse Why dost thou fall downe at it and often lash thy selfe before it Why dost thou kisse it and weepe upon it and make a woodden prayer to it saying Ave lignum spes unica all haile thou wood of the Crosse our onely hope Was the Crosse crucified for thee Did thy gilt crucifix die for thee Hast thou not heard how the Gentiles of old traduced the Christians quod h Minutius Fâ—elix 〈◊〉 Oâ—â— 12 10. Crucis erant religiosi that they religiously worshipped the Crosse and what answer the godly Fathers in those purest times returned unto them Cruces nec habemus nec optamus we neither have Crosses nor desire them Didst thou never heare what S. Helena the renowned mother of great Constantine did when she discovered the true Crosse to which our Lord was nailed by the inscription St. Ambrose telleth thee i Orat. de obit Theod. Invenit titulum Regem adoravit non utique lignum quia hic est
where divers candles or torches in a roome concurre to enlighten the place the light of them remaineth impermixt as the Optickes demonstrate by their severall shadowes so all the divine graces conjoyne their lustre and vertue to adorne and beautifie the inward man yet their nature remaines distinct as their speciall effects make it evident to a single and sharp-sighted eye God was in the bush that burned and consumed not yet God was not the bush The holy Ghost was in the fiery cloven tongues yet the holy Ghost was not the tongues The spirits runne along in the arteries with the purer and refined blood yet the spirits are not the blood The fire insinuateth it selfe into all the parts of melted metall and to the eye nothing appeareth but a torrent of fire yet the fire is not the metall in like manner zeale shineth and flameth in devotion love godly jealousie indignation and other sanctified desires and affections it enflameth them as fire doth metall it stirreth and quickeneth them as the spirits doe the blood yet zeale is not those passions neither are all or any of them zeale howsoever the schooles rather out of zeale of knowledge than knowledge of zeale have determined the contrary 2 Secondly zeale is defined to bee not a morall vertue but a divine gift or grace of the Spirit the Spirit of God is the efficient cause and the Spirit of man is the subject which the Apostle intimates in that phrase i Rom. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fervent or zealous in Spirit This fire like that of the Vestals is kindled from heaven by the beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse not from any kitchen on earth much lesse from hell They therefore qui irae suae stimulum zelum putant they who imagine the flashes of naturall choler are flames of spirituall zeale toto coelo errant are as farre from the marke as heaven is distant from the earth No naturall or morall temper much lesse any unnaturall and vitious distemper can commend us or our best actions to God and men as zeale doth The fire of zeale like the fire that consumed Solomons sacrifice commeth downe from heaven and true zealots are not those Salamanders or Pyrausts that alwayes live in the fire of hatred and contention but Seraphims burning with the spirituall fire of divine love who as Saint Bernard well noteth kept their ranke and station in heaven when the other Angels of Lucifers band that have their names from light fell from theirs Lucifer cecidit Seraphim stant to teach us that zeale is a more excellent grace than knowledge even in Angels that excell in both Howbeit though zeale as farre surpasse knowledge as the sunne-beame doth a glow-worme yet zeale must not be without knowledge Wherefore God commandeth the Priest when hee k Exod. 30.8 lighteth the lamps to burne incense though the fire bee quicke and the incense sweet yet God accepteth not of the burning it to him in the darke The Jewes had a zeale as the l Rom. 10.2 Apostle acknowledgeth and the Apostle himselfe before his conversion yet because it wanted knowledge it did them and the Church of God great hurt No man can bee ignorant of the direfull effects of blind zeale when an unskilfull Phaeton takes upon him to drive the chariot of the sunne hee sets the whole world in a combustion What a mettled horse is without a bridle or a hot-spurred rider without an eye or a ship in a high winde and swelling saile without a rudder that is zeale without knowledge which is like the eye in the rider to choose the way or like the bridle in the hand to moderate the pace or like the rudder in the ship to steere safely the course thereof Saint m Inser 22. in Cant. Bernard hits full on this point Discretion without zeale is slow paced and zeale without discretion is heady let therefore zeale spurre on discretion and discretion reyne zeale fervor discretionem erigat discretio fervorem regat Discretion must guide zeale as it is guided by spirituall wisedome not worldly policy and therefore Thirdly I adde in the definition of zeale that it quickeneth and enflameth all our holy desires and affections according to the direction of spirituall wisdome For wisdome must prescribe zeale when and where and how far and in what order to proceede in reforming all abuses in Church and State and performing all duties of religious piety and eminent charity What Isocrates spake sometime of valour or strength is as true of zeale viz. n Isoc ad Dem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that zeale and resolution with wisedome doth much good but without it doth much mischiefe to our selves and others like granadoes and other fire-works which if they be not well looked to and ordered when they breake do more hurt to them that cast them than to the enemie Yet that we be not deceived in mistaking worldly policy for wisdome I adde spirituall to difference it from carnall morall or civill wisedome for they are too great coolers they will never let zeale exceed the middle temper of that * Vibius Statesman in Tiberius Court who was noted to bee a wise and grave Counseller of a faire carriage and untainted reputation but hee would o Juven sat 4. Ille igitur nunquam direxit brachia contra torrentem never strike a stroake against the streame hee would never owne any mans quarrell hee would bee sure to save one Such is the worldly wise man hee will move no stone though never so needfull to bee removed if hee apprehend the least feare that any part of the wall will fall upon himselfe The p Cic. de orat l. 1. Tempus omne post consulatum objecimus iis fluctibus qui per nos à communi peste depulsi in nosmetipsos redundarunt Romane Consul and incomparable Oratour shall bee no president for him who imployed all his force and strength to keepe off those waves from the great vessel of the State which rebounded backe againe and had neere drowned the cocke-boate of his private fortune Hee will never ingage himselfe so farre in any hot service no not though Gods honour and the safety of the Church lye at stake but that he will be sure to come off without hazzard of his life or estate Hee hath his conscience in that awe that it shall not clamour against him for not stickling in any businesse that may peradventure reflect upon his state honour or security In a word peradventure he may bee brought with much adoe to doe something for God but never to suffer any thing for him This luke-warme Laodicean disposition the lesse offensive it is to men the more odious it is to God who is a jealous God and affecteth none but those that are zealous for his glory he loveth none but those that will bee content to expose themselves to the hatred of all men for his names sake Hee q
see thy selfe in heaven with one eye than to see thy selfe in hell with both better hoppe into life with one legge than runne to eternall death with both better without a right hand to bee set with the sheepe at Gods right hand than having a right hand to bee set at Gods left hand and afterwards with both thine hands bee bound to bee cast into hell fire c ver 44.46.48 where the worme never dyeth and the fire is not quenched and againe and a third time where the worme never dyeth and the fire is not quenched At the mention whereof it being the burthen of his dolefull Sonnet our Saviour perceiving the eares of his auditors to tingle in the words of my text hee yeeldeth a reason of that his so smart and biting admonition saying For every one shall be salted c. and withall hee sheweth them a meanes to escape that unquenchable fire which they so much dreaded and to kill the immortall worme which even now began to bite them The meanes to escape the one is to bee salted here with fire and the meanes to kill the other is to be salted here with salt for salt preserveth from that putrefaction which breedeth that worme He who now is salted with the fire of zeale or heart-burning sorrow for his sinnes shall never hereafter bee salted with the fire of hell this fire will keepe out that as d Ovid. Met. l. 2. Saevis compescuit ignibus ignes Jupiters fire drove out Phaetons and hee who macerateth here his fleshly members with the salt of Gods uncorrupt word and the cleansing grace of his spirit shall never putrefie in his sinnes nor feele the torment of the never dying worme The Philosophers make three partitions as it were in the soule of man the first they call the reasonable or seate of judgement the second the irascible or seat of affections the third the concupiscible or the seat of desires and lusts In the reasonable part they who knew nothing of the fall of man and originall corruption find little amisse but in the concupiscible they note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something like superfluous moisture inclining to luxury in the irascible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something like cold or rawnesse enclining to feare behold in my text a remedy for both fire for the one and salt for the other And that wee may not lose a sparke of this holy fire or a graine of this salt so soveraigne let us in a more exact division observe 1 Two kindes of seasoning 1 With fire 2 With salt 2 Two sorts of things to bee seasoned 1 Men without limitation Every 2 Sacrifices without exception All. God e Gen. 4.4 had respect unto Abel and his sacrifice first to Abel and then to his offering hee accepteth not the man for his sacrifice but the sacrifice for the mans sake First therefore of men and their salting with fire and after of sacrifices and their salting with salt Every one shall bee salted with fire Saint f Hieron in hunc locum Mire dictum est c. ille verè victima domini est qui corpus animam a vitus emundando Deo per amorem consecratur nec sale aspergitur sed igne consumitur quando non peccati tantum contagio pellitur sed praesentis vitae delectatio tollitur futurae conversationi totā mente suspiratur Jerome was much taken with this speech of our Saviour it is saith he an admirable saying That which is seasoned with salt is preserved from corruption of vermine that which is salted with fire loseth some of the substance with both the sacrifices of the old Law were seasoned such a sacrifice in the Gospell is hee who cleansing his body and soule from vice by love consecrateth himselfe to God who then it not onely sprinkled with salt but also consumed with fire when not onely the contagion of sinne is driven away but also all delight of this present life is taken away and wee sigh with our whole soule after our future conversation which shall bee with God and his Angels in heaven It is newes to heare of salting of men especially with fire an uncouth expression yet used by our Saviour to strike a deeper impression into the mindes of his hearers and verily the Metaphor is not so hard and strained as the duty required is harsh and difficult to our nature It went much against flesh and blood to heare of plucking out an eye or cutting off an hand or foot yet that is nothing in comparison to salting with fire salt draweth out the corrupt blood and superfluous moisture out of flesh but fire taketh away much of the substance thereof if not all For the fattest and best parts of all sacrifices were devoured by the flame of such things as were offered to God by fire If such a salting bee requisite wee must then not onely part with an eye or a hand or a foot but even with heart and head and whole body to be burned for the testimony of the Gospell if so the case stand that either we must leave our body behind us or wee leave Christ Such a salting is here prescribed by our high Priest as draweth out not onely corrupt moisture but consumeth much of the flesh also yea sometimes all that is not onely bereaveth us of superfluous vanities and sinfull pleasures but even of our chiefe comforts of life it selfe our friends our estates our honours yea sometimes our very bodies So hot is this fire so quicke is this salt Those that are redeemed by Christs blood must thinke nothing too deare for him who paid so deare for them rather than forfeit their faith and renounce the truth they must willingly lay all at stake for his sake who pawned not onely his humane body and soule but after a sort his divine person also to satisfie the justice of God for us Every one How farre this Every one extends and what this salting with fire signifieth the best Interpreters ancient and latter are not fully agreed Some restraine every one to the reprobate only and by fire understand hell-fire others to the elect onely and by fire understand the fire of Gods spirit or grace burning out as it were and consuming our naturall corruptions They who stand for the former interpretation conceive that Christ in these words yeeldeth a reason why hee said that hell-fire shall never bee quenched Ver. 48. for every one that is say they of the damned in hell shall bee salted with that fire the fire shall be to their bodies as salt is to flesh which keepeth it from putrefying O cruell mercy of hellish flames O saving destruction O preservation worse than perdition O fire eternally devouring and yet preserving its owne fuell O punishment bringing continuall torments to the damned and continuing their bodies and soules in it It is worse than death to be kept alive to eternall pains it is
his souldiers came unto him and demanded of him what they should doe hee would have returned them this short answer Quit your calling and throw away your armour and undertake another profession but on the contrary he allowing their calling directeth them how to demeane themselves in it saying Doe u Luke 3.14 violence to no man nor accuse any falsly and be content with your wages Christian Religion is purest of all religions from all staine of bloud A Christian Commander would more heartily wish than ever Antonius did Utinam possem multos ab inferis revocare I would it were in my power to restore those to life whom the sword hath devoured but when the onely meanes to save the life-bloud about the heart is to let out some of the corrupt bloud in other parts hee is a cruell Physician that will nâ—â— pricke a veine When the right of a Crowne when the honour of the Stâ—â—e when the Common-wealth and every mans private fortunes when Râ—â—iâ—â—ion and our Faith lyeth on bleeding not to use the speediest meanes that â—â—y bee to drive away Usurpers Invaders Rebells Traitors and other bloud-suckers is bloudy cruelty and which is worst of all cruelty to our selves and our own bowels To conclude if any upon what pretext soeveâ— shall cast a blurre upon the noble honourable profession of a souldier he goeth about not onely to take off the Garland from the heads of all Davids Worthies but also the Crowne from David himselfe and Constantine the great and Theodosius and many other the most glorious Princes that ever swayed mortall Scepters All that Christianity requireth in waging warre is comprised in that golden sentence of Saint Austin Esto bellando pacificus Be thou a peace-maker even in warring warre with peace warre for peace Warre with peace being perswaded in thy conscience of the lawfulnesse of the quarrell and beare no private malice nor bloudy minde towards thine enemy conquer him as fairely as thou canst and let this be the end of taking up armes that armes may be safely laid downe on all hands And that warres especially thus managed are lawfull and warrantable even among Christians none but braine-sicke Anabaptists doubt But what kinde of warres are lawfull is a point not so soone determined Some are meerly for defensive warres * Ovid. l. 1. Fastorum Sola gerat miles quibus arma coerceat arma And that such warres are lawfull Nature her selfe teacheth x Cic. pro Milunc Est enim haec non scripta sed nata lex ad quam non docti sed facti non instituti sed imbuti sumus This is a law written in the heart of all men to repell force with force and beat backe armes with armes therefore defensive armes need no apology or defence Offensive armes are allowed by the Oratour in two cases onely pro fide salute when the safety or honour of the State requires either to right or to save our selves Christian Religion is not so strait-laced But maintaineth all warres to be just when they are necessary and to judge when they are necessary belongeth to the soveraigne power of the State in whomsoever it resideth either in the Prince as in all free Monarchies or in the Senate and prime men as in an Aristocratie or the major part of the people as in a Democratie It may bee said that no necessity can bee pretended to invade a forraine country and root out all the natives and inhabitants and settle our selves in their places which was Josuah and Israels case How then was this warre lawfull The answer hereunto is two-fold First that the Israelites title was good to the Land of Canaan by the donation of God himselfe for more than foure hundred yeeres before this time Secondly Josuah had a speciall command from God himselfe to root out the Canaanites and to plant Gods people in their room Therefore as he had good warrant to undertake this war so he had great reason to pursue manage it valiantly For where God giveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he giveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where God giveth authority to doe a thing lawfully there hee giveth power to doe it effectually Be strong and of a good courage In these words the Lord of hosts inspireth Josuah the Generall of his Army with the spirit of fortitude and courage to performe this noble service to settle his people in their long promised inheritance hee exhorteth them to put on a resolution to adventure upon all dangers to breake through all difficulties and contemne all terrours in the accomplishment of this honourable worke Be strong and of a good courage there are the positive acts Be not affraid nor dismayed there are the privative acts of Christian fortitude strength taketh away feare courage dismayednesse be strong in body and of good courage in minde or be strong in thy selfe and couragious against thy enemies bee not surprized with any inward feare nor dismayed with any outward terrour For I am the Lord and can I am thy God and will be thy guard and convoy in all thy wayes whithersoever thou shalt goe Fortitude and magnanimity is one of the cardinall vertues consisting in a mediocrity or middle temper of the minde between audacious temerity and timorous cowardize It is usually divided into two kindes 1. Fortitudinem in ferendo Fortitude in bearing 2. Fortitudinem in feriendo Fortitude in attempting or assailing The former is the glory of the Martyrs the later the crowne of Christian souldiers both are requisite to make up the perfect entire vertue of Christian fortitude which must have as well a backe of patience to endure all hardnesse as an edge of valour or courage to set upon all difficulties and goe through all dangers not sticking at death it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the king of all feares This vertue is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from a word signifying a man as manhood in our Language to intimate that it is the most proper vertue of a man and that hee is not a man who is not manly and couragious in Gods cause and his Countries Degeneres animos timor arguit Fearefulnesse is an argument of a base minde but valour is the proper ornament of a generous spirit which hath beene alwayes held in that esteeme in the world that all trophees triumphs obeliskes coats of armes and other ensignes of honour have beene appropriated to this vertue and that deservedly For all other x Cic. pro Murena Omnes artes latent sub tutelâ rei bellicae arts and professions whatsoever lye under the safe protection of it In which regard Fulvius removed the images of the nine Muses out of a Chappell in Ambracion and placed them in Hercules Temple at Rome to shew that as armes need the commendation of arts so all arts stand in neede of the defence of armes To this vertue wee owe our liberty our honour our wealth our
blessings In which regard we may rightly terme Kings Stewards of their crownes Lords of their lands Captaines of their armies Bishops of their diocesse Pastours of their parishes Housholders of their families and every private man of the closet of his conscience and treasury of his heart For all Kings are Gods subjects all Captaines are his souldiers all Teachers are his schollers all Masters are his servants and consequently all Lords his stewards In a word there is none of so high a calling in the world that is more nor any of so low a calling or small reckoning that is lesse than a Steward of the King of kings who shall one day call not onely all men of sort but even all sorts of men to a most strict and exact account Kings for their scepters Magistrates for their swords Officers for their staves Bishops for their crosiers Souldiers for their weapons Clerkes for their pens Landlords for their possessions Patrons for their advowsons Merchants for their trade Tradesmen for their crafts Husbandmen for their ploughes calling to every one in particular Give an account of thy Stewardship Touching the third some render the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 render a reason others give an account some actus tui of thy Factorship as Tertullian others villicationis tuae of thy Bailiwicke as Saint Jerome a third sort dispensationis tuae of thy Stewardship as the Kings Translators A great difference in sound of words but little or none at all in sense for though a Factor in forraine parts and a Steward at home and a Baily in the country are distinct offices and different imployments yet to the meaning of this Parable they are all one For they all deale with other mens mony rent or goods and are all liable to an account and upon it dischargeable And in this place whether wee translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reason or a reckoning all commeth to one reckoning for upon the matter to render a reason of monies disbursed by us is to give an account A carefull Steward or Accomptant in any kinde besides the casting of the summes setteth downe a reason of every parcell of mony laid out by him after this maner Item in provision so much Item in reparations Item for workmens hire Item for law sutes c. thus much Howbeit they that delight in tithing Mint and Cummin and nicely distinguishing between words of very like if not altogether the same signification observe that in precise propriety of speech wee are said to give an account how but render a reason why wee have disbursed such monies and that our account must bee of our Masters goods but our reason of our owne actions and wee are accountable onely for that we have laid out but we are answerable or to yeeld a reason to our Master as well for that wee have not laid out for his profit in due season as for that we have laid out for his necessities For hee expecteth gaine of every talent committed to us and will not onely accept his owne without advantage The things wee are to account for are contained under these three heads 1. Goods 2. Gifts 3. Graces By goods I understand the blessings of this life which the Philosopher calleth bona fortunae By gifts indowments of nature which they call bona naturae By graces divine vertues which the Schooles call habitus infusos In our booke of account Under the first head viz. goods of this world wee must write How bestowed Under the second viz gifts of nature we must write How imployed Under the third viz. graces of the spirit we must write How improved And if it appeare upon our accounts that we have well bestowed the first in holy pious and charitable uses and well imployed the second in carefully discharging the generall duties of a good Christian and diligently performing the particular workes of our speciall calling and have much increased the third by our spirituall trade with God by hearing meditating reading conferring praying and the constant practise of piety and exercise of every divine vertue and grace then our Master will say unto us Well d Mat. 25.21 done good and faithfull servant thou hast been faithfull in a little bee thou ruler over much enter into thy Masters joy But if we have kept unprofitably or wasted riotously the first the wealth of the world and retchlesly abused the second the dowry of nature or by idlenesse let it rust and rather diminished than increased the third the treasury of spirituall graces then we are to render a reason make answer for these defaults and if our answer be not the better to make satisfaction to our Lord to the uttermost farthing after we are put out of our Stewardship as the reason annexed to the command implyeth For thou maist be no longer Steward Give then an account of thy Stewardship that is of thy life whereof thou art not lord but steward to spend it in thy Masters service and lay it downe for his honour Cast up all the particulars of thy life summe up thy thoughts words and deeds redde rationem 1. Mali commissi 2. Boni omissi 3. Temporis amissi Make answer for 1. The evill thou hast committed 2. The good thou hast omitted 3. The time thou hast pretermitted or mis-pent either in 1. Doing nothing at all 2. Or nothing to the purpose 3. Or that which is worse than nothing tracing the endlesse mazes of worldly and sinfull vanities Now to proceed from the exposition of the words to the handling of the parts of this Scripture which are evidently two 1. A command Division wherein I observe 1. The person commanding God under the name of a rich man 2. The persons commanded all men under the name of Stewards 3. The thing commanded to give an account 4. The office for which this account is to bee given a Stewardship 5. The propriety of this office thine 2. A reason wherein I note 1. The Stewards discharge and quitting his office thou mayest c. 2. The time now Which particular points of observation direct us to these doctrinall conclusions 1. That God is Lord of all 2. That all men are Stewards 1. Not Lords 2. Not Treasurers 3. That all Stewards shall be called to an account 4. That the office for which they are to account is their own Stewardship not anothers 5. That upon this account they shall be discharged These conclusions resemble the rings spoken of by St. f Aug l 21. de civit Dei Austin whereof the first being touched by the Load-stone drew the second the second the third the third the fourth and the fourth the fifth For here the first point inferreth the second If God be Lord of all men can bee but Stewards The second inferreth the third If all men are Stewards all men are accountable The third the fourth If all men are accountable for a Stewardship this Stewardship must needs be their owne The fourth the fifth
must all appeare before his tribunall which is so certaine a thing to come to passe that Saint y Apoc. 20.12 13. John in a vision saw it as present And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the bookes were opened and they were judged according to the things wrote in those bookes Now for the terrour of that day I tremble almost to rehearse how it is described in holy Scriptures by S. z Apoc. 20.11 John I saw a great white throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and by Saint * 1 Pet. 4.17 Peter The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God and if it begin there what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel and if the righteous shall scarce bee saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appeare It is hard to say whether the antecedents are more direfull or the concomitants more dolefull or the consequents more dreadfull The antecedents are formidable The a Mat. 24.29 Sunne shall be darkened and the Moone shall be turned into bloud and the starres shall fall from the skies and the powers of heaven shall bee shâ—â—â—â— b Luk. 21.25 26. In the earth shall be distresse of Nations and perplexity and the sea and tâ—â— waters shall roare and mens hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that are comming on the earth The concomitants are lamentable Behold he c Apoc. 1.7 commeth in the clouds and all eyes shall see him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him And yet the consequeâ—â— are more fearfull than either the antecedants or concomitants For the bookes of all mens consciences shall be spread abroad and every man shall answer for all the d Eccles 12.14 workes that he hath done nay for every e Mat. 12.36 word he hath spoken nay for every thought purpose and intent of the heart For when the Lord commeth he will bring to light the f 1 Cor. 4.5 hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart Having set up a faire light I will now take away some blockes and râ—â—â— that lye in the way of my discourse The first is that God executeth judgement in this world and therefore Salvianus hath written a booke Deâ—â—â—â—â— senti Dei judicio of Gods providence over his Church and present judgement Doth hee not open his treasures to the righteous and poure downe the vialls of his wrath upon the wicked in this life Doth not Saint Paul affirme that those that beleeve are g Rom. 5.1 justified already And Saint John that those that beleeve not are condemned h John 3.18 already What place then remaines for a future tryall Secondly immediately upon our death our soule is carried either by good Angels into Abrahams bosome or by evill into the dungeon of hell what then need they come to the generall assizes who have received their doome at the quarter sessions Thirdly if all mens consciences shall bee ripped up and all their secret sinnes be discovered in the face of the Sunne at the day of judgement that day cannot be but dreadfull to the most righteous man on earth yet Christ saith to his Disciples i Luke 21.28 When these things come to passe lift you up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh and they in this regard long for his second comming and pray continually Come Lord k Apoc. 22.20 Jesu come quickly The first rubbe is thus removed though Gods judgements overtake some yet not all in this life For the afflictions of the godly and the prosperity of the wicked were a great eye-sore to l Psal 73.12 David and m Jerem. 5.28 Jeremy Moreover God hath rewards both temporall and eternall the former he dispenceth in this life the later in that which is to come Hee that beleeveth is justified already before God and in the sense of his owne conscience for he hath peace with God And in like manner hee that beleeveth not is condemned already in Gods decree and hee hath received also the sentence of condemnation within himselfe as a fellon is hanged in the law and may know what his sentence shall be before it bee executed or pronounced against him This hindreth not but that the publike sentence shall passe upon both at the last day for eternall salvation or damnation The second is thus removed Immediately upon death every soule knoweth what shee is to trust to but this it not knowne to the world Besides the body must bee rewarded or punished as well as the soule therefore partly to cleare the justice of God in the sight of men and Angels partly to render to the body and soule that have been partners in evill and good their entire recompence after the private session at our death God hath appointed a publike assizes at the day of judgement The third rubbe is thus taken away The day of judgement is both terrible and comfortable to the godly terrible in the beginning comfortable in the end terrible in the accusation by Sathan comfortable in the defence by Christ our Advocate terrible in the examination but comfortable in the sentence Yea but their sores are laid open and they are fowle their debts are exhibited and they are very many their rents in their conscience are shewed and they are great It is true their sores are laid open but annointed with Balsamum their debts are exhibited but with a faire acquittance signed with Christs bloud their rents in their conscience are seene but mended and filled up with jewels of grace It is farre otherwise with the wicked their sores appeare without any salve their debts appeare but no acquittance their rent in their conscience appeareth and remaineth as wide as ever it was being never made up or mended by repentance therefore they cry n Apoc. 6.16 to the mountaines fall on us and to the hills cover us from the presence of the Lord and from the wrath of the Lambe This point of doctrine is not more evident in the proofe than profitable in the use which is threefold 1. To comfort the innocent 2. To terrifie the secure 3. To instruct all First to comfort the innocent For many that have walked sincerely before God have been censured for hypocrites many innocents have been falsly condemned many just men have suffered for righteousnesse sake and many faithfull Christians have been adjudged to mercilesse flames for their most holy profession To all these the day of judgement will bee the brightest day that ever shone on them For then their innocency shall break out as the light and their righteous dealing as the noone day then they shall have the hand of their false accusers and judge their Judges then they shall see him for whom they have stood all their life time and strived even to bloud Every losse they have sustained for his
us they may receive us into everlasting habitations 5. To seeke the Lord whilest hee may bee found and not to deferre our repentance from day to day 6. To be sure to provide for our eternall state whatsoever becommeth of our temporall and to preferre the salvation of our soule before the gaining of the whole world 7. To examine daily our spirituall estate and to informe our selves truly how we stand in the Court of Heaven in Gods favour or out of it 8. To observe to what sinnes wee are most subject and where wee are weakest there continually to fortifie against Sathans batteries 9. In all weighty occasions especially such as concerne our spirituall estate to aske counsell of God and take direction from his Word 10. To consider the speciall workes of Gods providence in the carriage of the affaires of this world and make use thereof to our selves 11. Lastly to meditate upon the Law of God all the dayes of our life and consider their blessed end that keep it with their whole heart and their accursed death that transgresse it And so I fall upon the second branch of my Text Observ 3 They would consider I have already proposed wisedome to your desires now I am to commend consideration to your wisedome The Schoole Divines make this the speciall difference between the knowledge of men and Angels that the knowledge of Angels is intuitive but of men discursive they see all things to which the beame of their sight extendeth as it were on the sudden with one cast of the eye but we by degrees see one thing after another and inferre effects from causes and conclusions from principles and particulars from generalls they have the treasures of wisedome and knowledge ready alwayes at hand we by reading hearing conference but especially by meditation must digge it out of the precious mynes where it lyeth In which regard Barradius alluding to the sound of the word though not to the Grammaticall originall saith meditatio est quasi mentis ditatio meditation is the enriching of the soule because it delves into the rich mynes of wisedome and maketh use of all that wee heare or reade and layeth it up in our memories Seneca fitly termeth it rumination or chewing of the cud which maketh the food of the soule taste sweeter in the mouth and digest better in the stomacke By the Law of God the u Levit. 11.3 7. beasts that chewed not the cud were reckoned among the unclean of which the people of God might not eate such are they in the Church that never ruminate or meditate upon those things they take in at the eare which is the soules mouth I know no difference more apparent between a wise man and a foole than this that the one is prometheus hee adviseth before the other is epimetheus he acteth first and deliberateth afterwards and * Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wardeth after hee hath received the wound the one doth all things headily and rashly the other maturely and advisedly A man that hath an understanding spirit calleth all his thoughts together and holdeth a cabinet councell in the closet of his heart and there propoundeth debateth deliberateth and resolveth what hee hath to doe and how before hee imbarke himselfe into any great designe or weighty affaire For want of this preconsideration most men commit many errours and fall into great inconveniences troubles and mischiefes and are often caught unawares in the Divels snare which they might easily have shunned if they had looked before they leaped and fore-casted their course before they entred into it It is a lamentable thing to see how many men partly through carelesnesse and incogitancie partly through a desire to enjoy their sensuall pleasures without any interruption suffer Sathan like a cunning Faulkner to put a hood upon their soules and therewith blind the eyes of the understanding and never offer to plucke it off or stirre it before hee hath brought them to utter darknesse O that men were wise to understand this cunning of the Divell Application and consider alwayes what they doe before they doe it and be they never so resolutely bent and hot set upon any businesse yet according to the advice of the x Cic. Orat. pro Pub. Quint. Si haec duo solùm verba tecum habuisses Quid ago respirasset credo cupiditas c. Orator to give their desires so long a breathing time till they have spoken these two words to themselves Quid agimus what doe we what are we about is it a commendable worke is it agreeable to the Word of God and sutable to our calling is it of good report and all circumstances considered expedient if so goe on in Gods name and the Lord prosper your handy-workes but if otherwise meddle not with it and put off all that the Divell or carnall wisedome can alledge to induce you unto it with these checkes of your own consciences saying to your selves Shall we offend God shall we charge our consciences shall we staine our reputation shall we scandalize our profession shall we despite the Spirit of grace shall we forfeit our estate in Gods promises and foregoe a title to a Kingdome shall wee pull downe all Gods plagues and judgements upon us in this life and hazzard the damnation of body and soule in hell and all this for an earthly vanity a fading commodity a momentary pleasure an opinion of honour a thought of contentment a dreame of happinesse Shall we bett with the Divell and stake our soules against a trifle shall we venture our life and put all the treasures of Gods grace and our crowne of glory in the Divels bottome for such light and vile merchandize as this world affordeth Is it not folly nay madnesse to lay out all upon one great feast knowing that we should fast all the yeere after to venture the boiling in the river of brimstone for ever for bathing our selves in the pleasures of sinne for an houre We forbid our children to eate fruit because we say it breedeth wormes in their bellies and if wee had the like care of the health of our soules as of their bodies wee would for the same reason abstaine from the forbidden fruit of sinne because it breedeth in the conscience a never dying worme O that we were wise to understand this and to Consider our later end I have proposed wisedome to your desires in the first place and in the second referred consideration to your wisedome now in the last place I am to recommend your later end to your consideration A wise man beginneth with the end which is first in the intention but last in the execution and as we judge of stuffes by their last so of all courses by their end to which they tend It is not the first or middle but the last scene that denominateth the play a tragedy or a comedy and it is the state of a man at his death and after upon which wee are to
passe judgement whether he be happy or miserable No man knoweth who hath gotten honour or infamy till the race is runne but after the course is finished when the rewards are distributed to every man according to his worke when they that have kept within the wayes of God and held on straight to the price of their high calling receive an incorruptible crowne of glory but they who have turned out of the right way to pursue earthly vanities receive their wages eternall death then all men shall see who was the wiser of the two and tooke the better course then the wicked themselves shall confesse their beastly folly thus rubbing upon their owne sores and fretting their owne wounds as we reade in the booke of Wisedome And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves y Wisd 5.3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. This was he whom we had sometimes in derision and a Proverbe of reproach We fooles accounted his life madnesse and his end to bee without honour How is he numbred among the children of God and his lot is among the Saints Therefore have we erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us and the sun of righteousnesse rose not upon us We wearied our selves in the way of wickednesse and destruction yea we have gone through desarts where there lay no way but as for the way of the Lord we have not knowne it What hath pride profited us or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us All those things are passed away like a shadow and as a Poste that hasted by And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water which when it is gone by the trace thereof cannot bee found neither the path-way of the keele in the waves Where is now our gay and gorgeous apparrell where are our sumptuous hangings our rich cubboard of plate our gold and silver where are our orient pearles our blushing rubies our glowing carbuncles our sparkling diamonds our beautifull damsels our pompous shewes our various delights and pastimes our riotous banquets our effeminate songs our melodious musicke our lascivious dancing our amorous imbracings All these things are vanished like shadowes but our sorrowes come upon us thicke and threefold all our joyes delights and comforts are withered at the root but our terrours hearts griefe and torments grow on us more and more and shall till time shall be no more Application If these piteous complaints and hideous shrikes of the damned in hell move us not I tremble to speake it they shall be one day ours then with anguish of heart and bitternesse of soule we shall sigh and say O that wee had been wise then wee would have understood these things and in time considered of our later end Observ 5 Our later end setteth before us quatuor novissima the foure last things 1. Death most certaine 2. Judgement most strict 3. Hell most dreadfull 4. Paradise most delightfull O Death how bitter is thy remembrance to him that is in the prime of his pleasures and pride of his fortune yet the remembrance of judgement is more bitter than of death of hell than of judgement death in comparison were no death if judgement followed not after and judgement were no judgement or nothing so dreadfull if immediately upon it hell were not opened and hell were not hell if it deprived us not of the pleasures of Paradise for ever O that men were wise to consider in the beginning or at least before it bee too late what their later end shall bee first to dye then to bee brought to judgement and after sentence Application either to be led to the rivers of pleasure springing at the right hand of God for evermore or to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone with the Divell and his angels and all the reprobate and damned the z Apoc. 14.11 smoake of whose torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night Ashes keepe fire alive and the consideration of our end and dissolution which shall be into dust and ashes not onely keepeth alive but also stirreth up the sparkes of Gods grace in us after this manner Why doe I thus torment my selfe with projects cares and designes I shall shortly I know not how soon returne to my earth and then all my * Psal 146.1 thoughts shall perish Why doe I beare my head so high now it shall lye low enough one day Why doe I lay on so much cost on gorgeous apparrell which covereth nothing but dust and dung Why doe I prodigally lavish out my patrimony in exquisite dainties and all kindes of delicious meates which feed nothing but wormes Why dote I upon the fairest beauty flesh and bloud can present to a lascivious eye if it be artificiall it is nothing but paint and powder if naturall nothing but dust and ashes Why doe I send to the uttermost parts of the earth for the rarest stuffes the finest linnen and napery I shall carry nothing of it all away with mee but my winding sheet Lastly why doe I make so great purchases of lands and possessions I shall keep the possession of nothing but the measure of my grave and perhaps bee disturbed in it too as two of the greatest purchasers of land in the world were William the Norman who conquered a great part of this Island and Alexander the great who conquered the greatest part of the knowne world both lay a long time above ground unburied being denied that which the poorest beggar that never had foot of land in all his life hath freely given unto him a hole to lay his head in under ground Verily as nothing can quench the burning slime of Samosaris called a Plin. nat hist l. 2. c. 104. Limum flagrantem quam Maltham vocant◠tetra tantum extingui docuêre experimenta Flagrat mons Chimaera immortali flammâ extinguitur tamen terrâ fimo Maltha nor the flame of the hill Chimaera but onely earth so nothing can extinguish the ever burning desires of the ambitious for honour of the voluptuous for pleasure of the covetous for gaine but onely mold and earth the complements of our grave and remaines of our later end In my discourse of our later end to draw towards an end before the destruction of the holy City and Temple Josephus writeth of a man afflicted in minde that ran about the City crying Wo to the City wo to the Temple wo to the Priests wo to the people and last of all wo to my selfe at which words he was slaine on the walls by a stone out of a sling Let us take away but one letter turning wo in O and his prophesie for the future may be our admonition and the application of this observation for the present O that the world O that this Kingdome in the world O that this City in this Kingdome O that we in this
City here present were wise then would wee understand this this spectacle of our nature this embleme of our frailty this mirrour of our mortality Applicat ad defunct and in it consider our later end which cannot bee farre off For our deceased brother is here arrested before our eyes for a debt of nature in which wee are as deeply ingaged as hee and if either the wealth of the world or gifts of nature or jewels of grace might have redeemed him if either skill of Physicians or love and care of his friends or prayers and teares of his kindred and his dearest second selfe could have bayled him hee had not been laid up as now you see him But let no man sell you smoake to dazâ— your eyes in such sort but that you may all see your owne faces in thiâ— broken glasse There is no protection to bee got from King or Nobles iâ— this case no rescuing any by force from this Sergeant of God death aâ—â— baile or mainprise from this common prison of all mankinde the grave all our comfort is that we may hereafter sue out an habeas corpus which the Judge of all flesh will not deny us at the generall Assizes that we may make our corporall appearance at his barre in the clouds and there have our cause tryed Doe you desire to know how this debt with infinite arrerages groweth upon us and all mankinde Saint Austin giveth you a good account the woman tooke up sinne from the Serpent as it were by loane consensu Adam fecit cautionem usura crevit posteritati Adam by consenting sealed the band the interest hath runne upon all his posterity and the interest that death had in him by sinne and upon us by him and the interest upon interest by numberlesse actuall sinnes eateth us out one by one till death that swalloweth us up all in the end be swallowed up into b 1 Cor. 15.15 victory and then shall be fulfilled that prophesie O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory At which Goale-delivery of all deaths prisoners wee that are living shall not prevent our brother that lyeth asleep before us in his winding sheet upon whose hearse after I have strowed a few flowers I will commit him to the earth and you to God 1. The first flower is a Rose the embleme of charity For a Rose is hot in nature it spreadeth it selfe abroad and after it is full blowne shattereth both leaves and seeds so charity is hot in the affection spreadeth it selfe abroad by compassion and scattereth seeds by almes-deeds Our deceased brother like a provence or double Rose for God doubled the blessings of this life upon him spread himselfe abroad every way by largesse and shed seeds plentifully but withall so secretly that his left hand knew not what his right hand did his Legacies by his death were not great because his will was in this kind to be his owne executor by his life time 2. The second flower is the Lilly the embleme of purity and chastity For the Lilly is perfect white in colour and cold in operation and thereby representeth pure chastity which cooleth the heat of lust this flower he kept unblasted in the time and place of most danger in the prime of his youth and in his travels beyond the sea where hee chose his consort out of pure love and ever loved his choice with a constant and loyall affection unto death 3. The third flower is the Violet the embleme of humility For the Violet is little as the humble is in his owne eyes and groweth neere the ground from whence the humble taketh his name humilis ab humo and of all other flowers it yeeldeth the sweetest savour as humility doth in the nostrils of God and man Of his humility hee gave good proofe in his lovely and lowly carriage towards all in his refusing places of eminency in renouncing all confidence in his owne merits at his death and forbidding that a Trumpet should bee blowne before his workes of piety or charity Wherefore I must be silent of the dead by the command of the dead with whose Christian and happy end I will conclude I was the happinesse of Homer to bee borne in Rhodes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rosa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viola a place taâ—â—â—g the name from Roses and to bee buried in Chios taking the name â—â—â—m Violets this was the happinesse of our brother who was borne and buried in the garden of Christs Spouse where he drew in his first and let out his last breath in the sincere profession of the Gospel which is the savour of life unto life which happinesse God grant unto us all for his Son Jesus Christ his sake To whom c. THE EMBLEME OF THE CHURCH MILITANT A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell THE XXIII SERMON APOC. 12.6 And the woman fled into the wildernesse where shee hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Right Honourable right Worshipfull c. THe a Caussin parab hist Ceraunias in locis fulmine tactis invenitur Naturalists write of a precious stone called Ceraunias that it is found only in a day of thunder glistering when the skie is overcast with darknes With these gems the Spouse of Christ is adorned whose faith constancy and patience shine most brightly in time of adversity and persecution when all the earth is full of darknesse and cruell habitations As b Plin. nat hist l. 2. In Troglodytis fons solis circa meâ—idiem maximè frigidus mox paulatim tepescens ad noctis medium ferventissimus est c. 103. the fountaine of the sunne in the country of the Troglodytes is cold or lukewarme at mid-day but most extreme hot at mid-night such is the nature of zeale in the day of prosperity and high noone of temporall glory it is cold or at the best luke-warme but in the night of adversity and dead time of persecution it is most fervent and flagrant Then the sincere professors open their hearts most freely in prayer to God and their bowels of Christian charity and compassion to their afflicted brethren the feare of their enemies husheth their private differences their losse of goods and lands is an inducement to them to contemne the world and as having little or no comfort in this life to set their hearts wholly upon Heaven On the contrary peace usually breeds carnall security abundance luxury wealth pride honour ambition power oppression pleasure sensuality and earthly contentments worldlinesse the bane of Religion In which consideration especially we may conceive it is that our blessed Lord the Husband of the Church who loveth her more than all the world besides which hee preserveth onely for her sake yet seldome crowneth her in this world with worldly happinesse and eminent greatnesse but exerciseth her now under the crosse as hee did under the bondage of Egypt and captivity of
of Galatians hee endevoureth to prove according to the true characters and points in the Hebrew is novum nomen a new name never given to any but our Saviour of this name above all other names it is most certain that no man knoweth the vertue thereof but he that is partaker of it In which interpretation the Jesuites affection seemeth to me to have over-swayed his judgement For as Aristoxenus the Musician out of an admiration of his own profession defined the soule to be an n Cic. Tusc 1. harmony so this expositour out of a love to his own society resolveth this new name can be no other than a denominative from Jesus But he should have considered that this new name here promised to the Angel of Pergamus is 1500. yeeres elder than Ignatius their Patriarch and is not promised to him onely but to all Christian conquerours in alleges whereas the name Jesuite before Layola in this age so christened his disloyall off-spring was never heard of in the world Neither lyeth there hid such a mystery in the name Jesuite that no man knoweth it saving hee that receiveth it it is knowne well enough not onely to Romanists of other orders but also to those of the reformed Church who yet never received the badge of their profession nor any marke of the o Apoc. 14 9. beast Victorinus and some others with more probability ghesse the new name to be here meant Christianus of which they understand those words of p Esa 62.2 Esay they shall bee called by my new name Aretas giveth the same interpretation of the white stone and the new name by both which the conquerour in proving masteries was made knowne to the people Carthusian distinguishing of the essentiall and accidentall rewards in heaven and calling the former auream the latter aureolam conceiveth this white stone to bee aureolam a gemme added to the Saints crowne of glory in it the name of Beatus engraven which no man can know but he that receiveth it because q 1 Cor. 2.9 eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him r Illyr in Apoc Scribam cum haeredem vitae aeternae Illyricus and Osiander relating the custome of the Romanes in the election of their chiefe Magistrates to write his name to whom they gave their voice in a white stone thus comment upon the words of my text Him that overcommeth I will entertaine with hidden Manna and I will declare him heire apparent to a crowne in heaven I will elect him to a kingdome ſ Comment in 2. Apoc. Pareus expoundeth novum nomen nomen dignitate praestans a name of honour and renowne t Junius annot in Apoc. Induendo novum hominem quem nemo novit nisi spiritus hominis qui in ipso est cujus laus non est ex hominibus sed ex Deo Junius glosseth it signum indicium novitatis vitae a signe and token of newnesse of life Lastly Victor Pictabionensis Sardus Beda Bulenger Melo Primasius Rupertus Pererius and other expositours generally concurre upon Filius Dei the new name say they written in the white stone is the sunne of God Which their opinion they illustrate by other texts of Scripture as namely Rom. 8.15.16 and 1 Joh. 3.1 and they backe it with this reason The new name here is such a one as no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth it and what can that name bee but the title of the sonnes of God which no man knoweth saving hee that receiveth the Spirit of adoption whereby hee cryeth u Rom. 8.16 Abba Father which Spirit testifieth to his spirit that hee is the childe of God All other expositions may after a sort bee reduced to this for this is a blessed name according to Carthusians interpretation for the children of God are the children of the resurrection and they are most happy It is the name of Christian conquerors according to Victorinus and Aretas his glosse for * 1 Joh. 5.4 every one that is borne of God overcommeth the world and this is the victory that overcommeth the world even our faith This is also a symbol and token of newnesse of life for all the regenerate sonnes of God x Eph. 4.24 have put on the new man This name indeed is a glorious name in Pareus his sense for if it were an honour to David to bee sonne-in-law to an earthly King how much more honourable is it to be the adopted sonne of the King of heaven Lastly this name importeth according to Illyricus and Osianders joint explication haeredem vitae aeternae heire of eternall life for if y Rom. 8.17 sonnes then heires And thus as you heare the strings are tuned and all interpretations accorded now I set to the lessons or doctrinall points which are foure 1 The title of sonnes novum nomen 2 The assurance of this title inscriptum calculo 3 The knowledge of this assurance novit qui recipit 4 The propriety of this knowledge nemo novit nisi qui recipit The Roman Generals after their conquests of great countries and cities had new names given unto them as to Publius Scipio was given the sirname of Africanus to Lucius Scipio of Asiaticus to Metellus of Numidicus to Pompey of Hierosolymarius in like manner our celestiall Emperour promiseth to all that overcome their spirituall enemies a new name and eminent title of honour even that which Alexander the conquerour of the whole world most triumphed in when the Egyptian Priest saluted him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sonne of God But why is this called a new name Either because it is unknown to the world and worldly men or in opposition to our old name which was sonnes of Adam That is the name of our nature this of grace that of our shame and misery this of our glory and happinesse that is a name from the earth earthly this is a name from the Lord of heaven heavenly And it appertaineth to all the Saints of God in a threefold respect 1 Of Regeneration 2 Adoption 3 Imitation Regeneration maketh them sonnes of God Adoption heires with Christ Imitation like both When the Astronomer that calculated the nativity of Reginaldus Polus was derided of all because the disposition of the man was knowne to all to be contrary to those characters which he gave of him Poole facetely excused the matter saying Such an one I was by my first nativity as hee hath described me but since that I was born again This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or second birth though Nicodemus at the first deemed a riddle because it could not enter into his head how a man could re-enter his Mothers wombe and be borne the second time yet after our Saviour ingeminated this doctrine unto him z Joh. 3.5 Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit
even as a good Carpenter in stead of a rotten groundsill layes a sound The same trust then must we give to God which we must not give to riches him must we esteeme above all things looke up to him in all things depend upon him for all things This is to trust in God which the Psalmist in his sweet dittie saith is a good thing good in respect of God for our trust in him is one of the best pieces of his glorie Joseph holds Potiphars trust a great honour 2. For us for what safety what unspeakable comfort is therein trusting to God Our Saviour in his farewell Sermon John 16. perswading to confidence saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word signifying boldnesse and what is there in all the world that can worke the heart to so comfortable and unconquerable resolution as our reposall upon God The Lord is my trust whom then can I feare They that put their trust in the Lord are as mount Sion that cannot be moved Oh cast your selves therefore into those almighty hands seeke him in whom you shall finde true rest and happinesse honour him with your substance that hath honoured you with it trust not in riches but trust in God Riches are but for this world the true God is Lord of the other therefore trust in him riches are uncertaine the true God is Amen ever like himselfe ergo trust in him riches are meere passive they cannot bestow so much as themselves much lesse ought besides themselves the true God gives you all things to enjoy riches are but a livelesse and senselesse metall God is The living God Life is an ancient and usuall title of God he for the most part sweares by it When Moses asked his name he described himselfe by I am He is he liveth and nothing is and nothing lives absolutely but he all other things by participation from him In all other things their life and they are two but God is his owne life and therefore as Aquinas acutely disputeth against the Gentiles must needs be eternall because beeing cannot be severed from it self Howbeit not only the life he hath in himselfe but the life which he giveth to his creatures challengeth a part in this title A glympse whereof the heathen had when they called Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those creatures which have life we esteem beyond those that have it not how noble soever other waies those things be Therfore he that hath the perfectest life must needs be the best God therefore who is life it self fountain of all that life which is in the world is most worthy of all the adoration joy love and confidence of our hearts and the best improvement of that life which he hath given us Trust therefore in the living God not in riches that is idolatrie yea madnesse What greater madnesse can there be than to bestow that life which we have from God upon a creature that hath no life in it selfe nor price but from men Let me then perswade every soule that heares me this day as Jacob did his houshold Put away the strange gods that are among you or as St. Paul did his Lystrians O turne away from these vanities to the living God who gives us richly All things to enjoy Every word would require not a severall houre but a life to meditate upon and the tongues not of men but of Angels to expresse it God not onely hath all in himselfe but he gives to us and gives us not somewhat but all things and not a little of all but richly and all this not to looke on but to enjoy Here the Preacher said it should content him to top the sheaves onely because he could not stand to thresh them out it shall content me with the Apostles to rub some few eares because I cannot stand to top the sheaves Whither can you turne your eyes to looke besides the bounty of God If you looke upwards his mercie reacheth to the heavens if downewards the earth is full of his goodnesse and so is the broad sea if you looke about you what is it that he hath not given us aire to breathe in fire to warme us water to coole us cloathes to cover us food to nourish us fruits to refresh us yea delicates to please us beasts to serve us Angels to attend us heaven to receive us and which is above all his sonne to redeeme us Lastly if we looke into our selves hath he not given us a soule rarely furnished with the faculties of understanding will memorie and judgement a body wonderfully accommodated to execute the charge of the soule and an estate that yeelds due conveniencies for both moreover seasonable times peace competencie if not plentie of all commodities good lawes religious wise just Governours happie and flourishing dayes and above all the liberty of the Gospell More particularly cast up your Bookes O yee Citizens and summe up your receits I am deceived if he that hath least shall not confesse his obligation to be infinite There are three things especially wherein yee are beyond others and must acknowledge your selves deeper in the bookes of God than the rest of the world First for your deliverance from that wofull judgement ef the Pestilence O remember those sorrowfull times when every moneth swept away thousands from among you when a man could not set forth his foot but into the jawes of death when piles of carcasses were carried to their pits as dung to the fields when it was crueltie in the sicke to admit visitation and love was little better than murderous Secondly for your wonderfull plentie of all provisions spirituall and bodily Yee are like the Sea all the Rivers of the land runne into you nay sea and land conspire to enrich you Thirdly for the priviledge of your governement your charters as they are large and strong so your forme of administration is excellent and the execution of justice exemplarie For all these you have reason to aske with David Quid retribuam and to trust in God who hath beene so gracious unto you And thus from the duty we owe to God in our confidence and his beneficence to us we descend to the beneficence which we owe to men expressed in the varietie of foure epithetes to one sense To doe good to be rich in good workes ready to distribute willing to communicate all is but beneficence This heape of words shewes the vehement intention of his desire of good workes and the important necessitie of the performance and the manner of this expression enforceth no lesse Charge the rich c. Hearken then yee rich men of the world it is not left arbitrarie to you that you may doe good if you will but it is layd upon you as your charge and dutie the same necessity there is of trusting in God is of doing good to men Let me fling this stone at the brasen forehead of our Romish Adversaries whom their shamelesse challenges
3.3 Thou hadst a whores forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed they were not ashamed neither could they blush I answer 1 By distinguishing of shame which is sometimes taken for the inward affection and irksome passion of a sinner that hath cast any foule staine upon his conscience sometimes for the outward expression by dejection in the countenance faultring in the speech a cloud in the eye and flushing in the forehead and cheekes No sinner is without shame in the first sense though many by custome in sinne grow senselesse thereof and consequently shamelesse in the latter sense and in the end they come to that height of impudencie that they blush for it if they blush and are ashamed of their shamefacednesse pudet non esse impudentem But this hardinesse doth them no good at all for they doe but stop the mouth of the wound that it bleed not outwardly it bleedeth inwardly the faster and much more dangerously 2 A sinner may be considered either before or after his regeneration before his regeneration he committeth many sinnes whereof he is not then ashamed either because he accounteth them no sins or not such sinnes as may any wayes trench upon his reputation For though the dim light of corrupt nature discovereth some workes of darkenesse yet not all nor any in the right hiew As a man that is in the water feeleth not the weight of it so the sinner whilest he is in the state of corruption feeleth not the weight of sinne For he accounteth great sinnes small and small none at all but when he is out of that state then he feeleth the smallest sinne unrepented of as heavie as a talent of lead able to drowne his soule in eternall perdition as it followeth For the end For the end of these things is death That is the end of all these things By end here the Apostle meaneth not the finall cause moving the sinner but the finall effect of sinne for the sinner propoundeth to himselfe a divers end either gaine which the covetous man shooteth at or glorie which the ambitious or pleasure which the voluptuous but they misse their marke and in stead of gaine which the covetous man promised himselfe in his sinfull course of life in his returne by weeping crosse he findeth irrecoverable losses for what fruit had yee in stead of glorie and honour which the ambitious aimeth at shame and infamie whereof yee are now ashamed in stead of a pleasant temporall life which the voluptuous shot at a painefull and eternall death For the end of these things Is death Is death That is death temporall which is the sinners earnest as it were and death eternall which is his full hire and wages death corporall which is the separation of the soule from the body is hastened by sinne death spirituall which is the separation of the soule from God is sinne and death eternall in Scripture termed the second death which is the tormenting of body and soule for ever in the lake of fire and brimstone is the full reward of sinne and this death is here principally meant as may be gathered from the words ensuing my text but the gift of God is eternall life for that death which is opposed to eternall life can be no other than eternall death Obser The meaning of the text being thus cleared the speciall points of observation are easily discerned the first is That the smart of the wound of conscience for sinnes past is a speciall meanes through grace to keepe us from sinne to come Upon this the Apostle worketh in the words of my text What fruit had yee in those things whereof ye are now ashamed The burnt child doth not more dread the fire nor the scholar severely corrected beware the fault for which he smarted nor the Pilot keep off from the rock at which he formerly dashed his bark and hazzarded his life and goods nor the intemperate gallant tormented with an extreme fit of a burning feaver forbeare the pouring in of wine and strong drinkes which were the oyle that kindled and maintained the flame within his bowels than he that hath felt the sting of sinne in his conscience and beene formerly confounded with the shame thereof dreadeth and flieth and seeketh by all meanes to shunne those sinnes which have left so sad a remembrance behind them As some parts of our bodies are more sensible than others the sinewie parts more than the fleshly yet all that have life in them have some sense of paine so some consciences are more tender that feele the least pricke of sin some harder and more stupid and benummed like the u Solin c. 29. Matres Ursorum diebus primis 14. in â—omnum ita concidunt ut ne vulneribus pridem excitati queant Numidian Beares which scarce feele stripes or wounds yet all that have any life of grace in them or use of reason have some touch of conscience at some times which marreth all their mirth and overcasteth their faire weather with clouds of griefe powring downe showres of teares I know the wicked seeke to dissemble it like the man in Plutarch who having a foxe under his cloake never quatched though the beast bit through his sides and devoured his bowels The * Pro. 14.13 foole saith Solomon maketh a mocke of sinne but the heart knoweth the bitternesse of his soule for even in laughing the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is mourning I speake not of a melancholy dumpe but of an habituall and constant pensivenesse arising from the sting of sinne left in the soule No tongue can sufficiently expresse it onely the heart that feeleth it can conceive the nature of this griefe and smart of this paine which the lash of conscience imprinteth x Juven sat 13. Mens habet attonitos surdo verbere caedit Occulto quatiente animum tortore flagello Yet some sense wee may have of it by the similitudes whereby it is expressed It is called a y Act. 2.37 pricking of the heart and lest that wee should imagine it to bee as it were a pricke with a small pinne or needle it is called a wound in the heart My z Psal 109.22 heart was wounded within me O what paine must a wound in the heart needs be where the least prick is death Yet farther that wee might not thinke this wound might bee drawne together it is called the cutting asunder of the heart * Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments yet farther that wee might not thinke any part of the heart to remaine entire it is called the a Psal 51.17 breaking of it into small pieces and b Psal 22.14 melting these also and can there bee any sorrow like unto this sorrow which pricketh the heart nay woundeth it being pricked nay rents it being wounded nay breaketh it being rent nay melteth it being broken This pricking wounding renting breaking melting the heart is nothing else
bring us for his Son Jesus Christ his sake Cui c. THE VINE OF SODOME THE XLI SERMON ROM 6.21 What fruit had yee then in those things c. Right Honourable c. ALL the advised thoughts and purposes of men that are not elevated above the levell of earthly desires to a higher marke than the top of worldly happinesse fall and fasten themselves upon such things as most neerly concerne either life it selfe and the commodities or necessities of life or their credit and reputation among those with whom they live These three life estate estimation are their portion in this life and therefore the maintenance of them their chiefe care The world hath nothing besides these to allure and draw on the love of her darlings for the pleasures that are spring out of these and are either their fruits or their blossomes honour is the pleasure of the ambitious wealth of the covetous and the pride of life of all As for those sensuall delights which now I know not how have engrossed the name of pleasures to themselves they receive their birth from youth the spring of our age their nourishment and maintenance from wealth and prosperity So that the former limits within which I have confined the aime and desires of the naturall man stand sure and immoveable Of all things in this life or rather of this life nothing is so deare and precious as life it selfe for without it neither honour nor riches nor pleasures can bring forth any fruit because they can have no root life oftentimes surviveth them they never survive it Howbeit because a miserable and painfull life is a kind of sensible death and to live and not to be reputed of is in effect to be reputed not to be infamy and obscurity being the death of our name and oblivion the buriall of our best parts hence it commeth to passe that the restlesse desires and endeavours of men for riches and honour especially if they be pricked on forward by covetousnesse and ambition are not much lesse eager and violent than is the striving and strugling for life it selfe The pursuit of these is the highest flight of the naturall man but the regenerate Christian who is of a nobler breed soareth farre higher in his desires and affections the life he pursueth is immortality the riches hee esteemeth of are celestiall graces the honour he aspireth unto is a crowne of glory Now the meanes to attaine the ends of both viz. temporall happinesse and happy eternity the glory of the Kingdomes of the earth and a Kingdome of glory in heaven is one and the selfe same the religious service of the onely true God in whose gift they are for a 1 Tim. 6.6 c. 4.8 godlinesse is great gaine and hath the promises of this life and the life to come therefore by the law of contraries ungodly and sinfull courses must needs bee incommodious and to our greatest losse as having the curses of this life and the life to come Whereby as by many other things else we may perceive the folly and blindnesse of the naturall man who taketh a wrong course to compasse his ends for his way lyeth in the straight pathes of Gods Commandements but he taketh by-pathes laid out by Sathan and treadeth endlesse mazes As the b Eras Apoph Athenians against whom Diogenes whet his cynick tooth in the feasts of Aesculapius even when they sacrificed to health banqueted riotously against health so the worldly wise man by inordinately desiring and craftily pursuing and immoderately affecting the blessings of this life loseth them and his life too for these his desires and pursuits are sinnes and by sinne all the promises and covenants of God which are the onely deeds by which wee hold our estate in the blessings of this life are forfeited Good God how doth the god of this world delude the children of the world whom he perswadeth that the ready way to purchase all the comforts and contentments of this life is to fall downe and worship him and to sell themselves with Ahab to worke wickednesse against God whereas sinne unrepented of not onely depriveth them of all hope of a better life hereafter but of all the joy of a good life here For it consumeth their substance it blasteth all the fruits of their labours it disableth and wasteth their body miserably troubleth their consciences staineth their name and shorteneth the dayes of their life I feare there are too many in the world who have no mind of because no knowledge of spirituall riches and celestiall joyes yet there is no man in his right senses who regardeth not either his estate or his credit or his life here The ambitious man little esteemeth worldly gaine because Chamelion-like hee feedeth upon the ayre and breath of mens commendations Againe the covetous man setteth light by praises and honour because he like the worme feedeth upon the earth The voluptuous man careth not much for honour or wealth because like the Beetle hee feedeth upon the doung of unsavoury pleasures yet there is none of all three but tender their life and therefore none who can be unsensible of the Apostles incision in my Text. Doth any desire the commodities of this life let them flye sin for sin bringeth no fruit at all What fruit c. Doe any desire glory and honour they must eschue sinne for sinne bringeth shame Whereof yee are now ashamed Doe any desire continuance of life they must abhorre sinne for sinne bringeth death the end of these things is death Sinne is altogether sterill and unfruitfull and therefore to be set at nought it is shamefull and therefore to bee loathed it is deadly and therefore to be fled from as from a Serpent Here we have three peculiar adjuncts of sinne sinne is unfruitfull for the time past shamefull for the present and deadly for the time to come the first adjunct the unfruitfulnesse of it is so fruitfull of observations that this houre may be fruitfully spent in gathering them What fruit had yee It was the usuall demand of one of the wisest among the c Cic. in Verr. Romane Judges Cassius surnamed the Severe in all cases of doubt in matter of fact about the person of the delinquent Cui bono who gained by the bargaine on whose side lay the advantage assuring himselfe that no man of understanding would put himselfe into any dishonest or dangerous action without hope of reaping some fruit by it as also that there can be no enterprise so beset with difficulties and dangers which some men for apparent hope of great gaine and profit would not goe thorow with no arguments conclude so necessarily in the opinion of the greater part of men as those that are drawne ab d Demost Olynth 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utili This topick place the Divell made choice of above all other Haec omnia tibi dabo in tempting our Saviour and though this his sharpest dart could not enter into
shall have no end This is the last and most forcible argument of the three wherewith the Apostle laboureth with might and maine to beat downe sinne and put to flight even whole armies of temptations Yee may observe a perfect gradation in the arguments the first though strong and forcible drawne from the unfruitfulnesse of sinne is not so necessary and constraining as the second drawne from the shame and infamy thereof nor that as the third drawn from the wages thereof which is everlasting death As honour and glory is to be more set by than gaine and commodity life than honour immortality than life so shame and infamy is worse than losse and disadvantage death than shame hell than death The holy Apostle hath now made three offers unto us and put us to a three-fold choice First he laid before us the faire fruits of Paradise to bee gathered from the tree of life and corrupt rotten fruit from the forbidden tree that is invaluable treasures to be got and inestimable profit to be made by godlinesse and irrecoverable losses to be sustained by ungodly and sinfull courses of thriving Secondly he tendered unto you glory and honour to be purchased by the service of God as on the contrary shame and infamy by retaining upon Sathan and pursuing sinfull pleasures Now in the third place hee setteth before you life and death life by the gift of God and death for the hire of sinne Shall I need to exhort you in the words of b Deut. 30.19 Moses Chuse life how can ye doe otherwise Is the flesh appalled at the death of the body though the paine thereof endure but for a moment and shall not the spirit be much more affrighted at the death of the soule the pangs and paines whereof never have an end If there be any so retchlesse and carelesse of his estate that hee passeth not for great and irrecoverable dammages and losses so foolish that hee esteemes not of inestimable treasures if any be so infamous that he hath no credit to lose or so armed with proofe of impudency that hee can receive no wound from shame yet I am sure there is none that liveth who is not in some feare of death especially a tormenting death and that of the soule and that which striketh all dead everlasting Therefore it is as I conceive that the Apostle according to the precept of Rhetoricians c Cic. de orat l. 2. Puncta caeterorum argumentorum occulit coucheth as it were and hideth the points of other arguments but thrusteth out this putting upon it the signe and marke of a reason For. For the end of those things is death And this hee doth for good reason because this last argument is worth all the former and enforceth them all it not only sharpneth the point of them but draweth them up to the head at the sinner For therefore are lewd and wicked courses unprofitable therefore we may be ashamed of them because their end is so bad For the end Why doth the Apostle skip over the middle and come presently to the end why layeth hee the whole force of his argument upon the end 1. Because there is nothing in sinne upon which wee may build or have any assurance thereof but the end as there is nothing certaine of this our present life but the incertainty thereof Sin somtimes hath no middle as wee see in those fearfull examples of Corah Dathan and Abiram who had no sooner opened their mouths against Moses but the earth opened her mouth to swallow them up quicke of Achan who had no sooner devoured the accursed thing but it was drawne out of his belly with bowels heart and all of Herod who had no sooner heard the people cry The voice of God and not of man but hee felt himselfe a worme and no man of Zimri and Cozbi who had no sooner received the dart of lust in their heart than they felt a javelin in their bodies of Ananias and Sapphira who no sooner kept backe part of the price for which they sold their possessions but death seized upon them and they gave up the ghost and of many others whose deaths wounds yet bleed afresh in sacred and profane stories 2 Because there is nothing permanent of sinne but the end the duration if it have any is very short like to that of Jonahs gourd d Jonah 3.7 which rose up in a night and was eaten up with a worme in the morning 3 Because nothing is so much to bee regarded in any thing as the end for fines principia actionum the end setteth the efficient on worke and all is well that endeth well as wee say in the Proverbe e Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise saith God by Moses then they would consider their latter end If wee invert the speech it will bee as true O that men would consider their latter end and then they would be wise For assuredly he that in his serious contemplation beginneth at the end of sinne in his practise will end at the beginning To consider the end of sinne is to take a survey of all the miseries and calamities incident to intelligent natures of all the plagues that light upon the bodies and soules and estates of impenitent sinners in this life with a fearfull expectation of hellish torments then a violent separation of the soule from the body which is no sooner made but the soule is presented before the dreadfull Judge of quicke and dead arraigned condemned and immediately upon sentence haled and dragged by ugly fiends to the darke and lothsome dungeon of hell there in all extremity of paines and tortures without any ease or mitigation to continue till the generall day of the worlds doom when meeting again with the body her companion in all filthinesse iniquity and ungodlinesse they are both summoned to the last judgement where all their open and secret sinnes are laid open to the view of men and Angels to their inexpressible and astonishable confusion after conviction the sentence at which not the eares onely shall tingle the teeth chatter the knees smite one the other but the heart also melt the sentence I say of eternall damnation shall bee pronounced in their hearing f Mat. 25.41 Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels A most heavie sentence never to bee recalled and presently to bee put in execution the Devill with reviling and insultation carrying them with all their wicked friends and associates to the place of endlesse torments to endure the full wrath of God and the paines of everlasting fire O what will it bee to feele the second death which it is death to thinke or speake of who can read the description thereof in Saint g De vit contemp l. 3. c. 12. Fieri patriae coelestis extorrem mori vitae beatae morti vivere sempiternae in aeternum cum diabolo expelli ubi sit mors secunda damnatis
exilium vita supplicium non sentire in illo igne quod illuminat sentire quod cruciat inefficacis poenitentiae igne exuri consumentis conscientiae verme immortaliter rodi inundantis incendii terribiles crepitus pati barathri fumantis amarâ caligine oculos obscurari profundo gehennae fluctuantis mergi Prosper with dry eyes To bee banished for ever from our celestiall countrey to bee dead to all joy and happinesse and to live to eternall death for ever to bee cast out with the Divell thither where the second death serveth for a banishment to the damned and life for a torment there to feele in that unquenchable fire the torment of heat and not receive any comfort of light to bee cruciated with heart burning sorrow and uneffectuall repentance to bee gnawne with the immortall worme of conscience to frye perpetually in crackling flames to have their eyes put out with the smoake of the river of brimstone to be drowned floating in the bottome of hell The end c. Understanding by end the finall effect not the finall cause of sinne by those things all those things hee spake of before and by death that death which is opposed to eternall life each of these words Finis Horum Mors yeeldeth a most wholesome and fruitfull observation 1 That all sinfull courses and wayes have an end Finis 2 That all sins are mortall of which before Horum 3 That eternall death of body and soule in hell is the wages which the impenitent and obstinate sinner shall receive to the uttermost farthing Mors. That all sinfull pleasures and delights have an end no man can doubt for they cannot survive our life here our life often surviveth them and what is our life but h Pind. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fumi umbra the shadow of smoake or dreame of a shadow that is lesse than nothing Seneca out of his owne experience found honour to bee of the nature of glasse quae cum splendet frangitur which when it most glowes and glisteneth in the furnace suddenly cracketh and pleasure to bee like a sparke quae cum accenditur extinguitur which is quenched in the kindling And surely all comforts and contentments of worldly men are like bubbles of soap blowne by children out of a wallnut-shell into the ayre which flye a little while and by the reflection of the sun beams make a glorious shew but with a small puffe of winde are broken and dissolved to nothing But alas it is not so with the paine of sin as it is with the pleasure that is as lasting as the other is durelesse Leve momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum est quod cruciat The delight of sinne is for a moment but the torment remaineth for ever Who will be content to fast all the weeke for one good meales meat to lye in prison all the dayes of his life for one houres liberty and jollity These similitudes fall short and reach not home to the representing of the sinners folly who for swimming an houre in the bath of pleasure incurreth the danger of boyling for ever in a river of brimstone and torrent of fire Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum est quod cruciat Those things whereof yee are ashamed have an end and how soone yee know not but the death which is the end of them hath no end and this wee know That wee may more fully understand what is meant by this end wee are to take notice of a double death The first commonly called death temporall The second which is death eternall h Aug. de Civ Dei l. 21. Prima mors animam nolentem pellit de corpore secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore Idem de Civ Dei l. 13. Prima mors bonis bona est malis mala secunda ut nullorum bonorum est ita nulli bona The first death driveth the soule out of the body being unwilling to part with it the second death keepeth the soule against her will in the body the first death is the separation of the soule from the body the second death is the separation of body and soule from God and by how much God is more excellent than the soule by so much the second death is worse than the first The first death is good to good men because it endeth their sorrowes and beginneth their joyes but evill to evill men because it ends their joyes and beginneth their everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth the second at it belongeth to none that are good so it is good to none Both of these doubtlesse are due to sinne and shall bee paid at their day the sentence pronounced against Adam morte morieris by the reduplication of the word seemeth to imply as much as thou shalt dye againe and againe the first and second death the first death is as the earnest-penny the second as the whole hire both make up the wages of sinne the first is like the splitting of the ship and casting away all the goods and wares the latter as the burning both with unquenchable fire In this death which is the destruction of nature that Maxime of Philosophy holdeth not Omnis corruptio est in instanti for here is corruption in time nay which is more strange and to the reason of the naturall man involveth contradiction Corruptio aeterna mors immortalis an eternall corruption and an immortall death i Aug. loc sup Nemo hic propriè moriens seu in morte dicitur sed ante morté aut post mortem id est viventes aut mortui ibi è contrariò non erunt homines ante mortem aut post mortem sed sine fine morientes nunquam pejus erit homini in morte quam ubi erit mors ipsa sine morte In this life men cannot properly bee said to bee dying or in death but alive or dead for whilest the soule remaineth in the body wee are living and after the separation thereof wee are dead whereas they that are in hell cannot bee said properly to bee dead because they are most sensible of pain nor to be alive because they suffer the punishment of the second death but continually dying and never shall it be worse with man in death than where death it selfe is without death where life perpetually dyeth and death perpetually liveth Saint k Greg. l. 9. moral c. 45. Gregory sweetly quavereth upon this sad note Mors sine morte finis sine fine defectus fine defectu quia mors vivit finis incipit deficere nescit defectus The death of the damned is a deathlesse death an endlesse end and undefcizible defect for their death alwayes liveth and their end beginneth and their consumption lasteth And that this death is meant in my text either only or especially the correspondencie of this member to that which followeth but the gift of God is eternall life maketh it manifest Yet for further confirmation
possible vehemency and earnestnesse yet presently he yeeldeth to forgoe his will and undergoe his passion Sed fiat voluntas tua non mea But thy will be done not mine or Neverthelesse not as I i Mat. 26.39 will but as thou wilt Not as I will these words imply an unwillingnesse Neverthelesse be it done as thou wilt sheweth a resolute will here is a consent of will without a will of consent a will against a will or a will and not a will Non mea sed tua As man he expressed a naturall feare of death and desire of life yet with a submission to the will of his Father it was not his will to take that cup for it selfe and antecedently and as he saw wrath in it yet as hee saw the salvation of man in it and greater glory it was his will to drink it off consequently because such was his Fathers good pleasure to which his will was alwayes subordinate Saint k Cyp. de bono patient Dominus secit voluntatem Patris sui nos non faciemus patiemur voluntatem Domini Cyprian speaketh home in this point to all that repine at what God sendeth them be it never so bitter to their carnall taste Our Lord did and suffered the will of his Father shall not we doe and suffer the will of our Lord he conformed his will to his Fathers shall not we ours to his If these inducements from the love of God and example of our Saviour which prevaile most with the best dispositions worke not kindly with us let vulgar and common discretion teach us to make a vertue of necessity Suffer we must what God layes upon us for who can l Rom. 9.19 resist his will If we suffer with our will wee gaine by our sufferings a heavenly vertue for a worldly losse or crosse we make a grace of a judgement if we suffer against our will we suffer neverthelesse and lose all benefit of our sufferings We adde drunkennesse to thirst and impatience to impenitence passive disobedience to active and what doth obstinacy and rebellion against the will of God availe us Doe the waves get by their furious beatings against the rockes whereby they are broken the bones in our body by resisting the lightening whereby they are bruised and consumed the soft and yeelding flesh being no way hurt The strong and tallest trees by their stiffe standing and setting themselves as it were against the wind give the wind more power over them to blow them downe to the ground and teare them up by the root whereas the reeds and bents by yeelding to every blast overcome the wind and in the greatest and most blustering storme keep their place and standing Alas the more we struggle and strive and tugge to plucke our necke out of Gods yoake the more paine we put our selves to the oftner and stronger we kicke at the prickes of Gods judgements the deeper they enter into our heeles m Vae oppositis voluntatibus quid tam poenale quà m semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit inaeternum non obtinere quod vult quod non vult inaeternum sustinere Woe be to these crosse wills saith St. Bernard they shall never attaine what they would and they shall ever sustaine and endure what they would not As grace in the godly is a means to procure the increase of grace as the cymball of Africa sweetly tinckleth Ipsa meretur augeri ut aucta mereatur so punishment in the wicked through their impatience becommeth a meanes to improve both their sinnes and punishments for after they have suffered for not doing the will of God they are againe to suffer and that most deservedly for their not suffering patiently their most deserved punishments If any be so wedded to their wills that they will not be severed from it no not to joyne it and themselves to God let them in the last place consider that the only meanes to have their will perpetually is to resigne it to God not only because Voluntas inordinata est quae non est subordinata The will which is not subordinate to God is inordinate and therefore not to be termed will but lust but especially because such is the condition proposed to us by God either to suffer temporall chastisements for our sinnes with our wills or eternall punishments against our wills If we will have our will in all things here we shall want it for ever hereafter but if we will be content to want our wills here in some things for a time we shall have our will in all things and fill also of heavenly contentments for evermore hereafter And chasten If all afflictions of the godly are chastenings and all chastenings are for instruction then to make the right use of them we are not only in general but also in particular to search our selvs what those sins are in our soules which God seeketh to kill in us by smart afflictions If our affliction be worldly losses let us consider with our selvs whether our sin were not covetousnesse if disgrace and shame whether our sinne were not ambition if scarcity and famine whether the sinne were not luxury if bodily paines torments or aches whether wee offended not before in sinfull pleasures if a dangerous fall whether the fault were not confidence in our owne strength if trouble of mind and a fit of despaire whether before we provoked not God by security and presumption This to have bin the practice of Gods Saints as in other examples so we may cleerly see in the brethren of Joseph who impute the hard measure that was mett to them in Egypt to the like hard measure they had mett to their brother Joseph saying one to another n Gen. 42.21 We verily sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soule when he besought us and we would not heare therefore is this anguish come upon us We find it also in Saint Paul who conceived that the o 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him that he might not be lifted up above measure with his so many graces and speciall revelations And when certain virgins ravished by barbarous souldiers in regard they found in themselves no spot of impurity before they suffered this violence called in question the justice of God for permitting those unclean persons to have their will of them who had all their life preserved their honour and reputation untainted and their bodies unspotted Saint p Lib. 1. de civit Dei c. 28. Austine wisely adviseth them to search their hearts whether those insolent indignities offered them by the worst of men might not be a punishment of some other sinne rather than unchastity and in particular whether their sinne were not their pride of this vertue and too highly prizing their virginity for pride even of virginity is as fowle a sinne before God as impurity As many
yet not willing to bee put to an infamous cruell and accursed death he became obedient to death even the death of the crosse The repeating the word death seemeth to argue an ingemination of the punishment a suffering death upon death It was wonderfull that hee which was highest in glory should humble himselfe yet it is more to bee obedient than to humble himselfe more to suffer death willingly or upon the command of another than to be obedient more to bee crucified than simply to die Hee was so humble that hee became obedient so obedient that hee yeelded to die so yeelded to die as to bee crucified his love wonderfully shewed it selfe in humbling himselfe to exalt us his humility in his obedience his obedience in his patience his patience in the death of the crosse His humility was a kinde of excesse of his love his obedience of his humility his death of his obedience his crosse of his death He humbled himselfe According to which nature divine or humane In some sort according to both according to his divine by assuming our nature according to his humane by taking upon him our miseries And became obedient It is not said hee made himselfe obedient because obedience presupposeth anothers command wee may indeed of our selves offer service to another but wee cannot performe obedience where there is no command of a Superiour parere and imperare are relatives To whom then became hee obedient To God saith Calvin to Herod and Pilate saith Zanchius the truth is to both to God as supreme Judge according to whose eternall decree to Pilate by whose immediate sentence hee was to suffer such things of sinners for sinners To death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether inclusivè or exclusivè whether is the meaning hee was obedient all his life even to his last gaspe or hee was so farre obedient that hee yeelded himselfe to the wrath of God to the scorn of men the power of darknesse the infamy of all punishments the shame of all disgraces the cruelty of all torments the death of the crosse The difference betweene these is in this that the former maketh death the limit and bound the latter an act of his obedience to which interpretation I rather subscribe because it is certaine that Christ was not onely obedient unto the houre of his death but in his death also and after his death lying three dayes and three nights in the grave Here then we have the sum of the whole Gospel the life and death of our Lord and Saviour his birth and life in the former words He humbled himselfe his death passion in the latter and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse He humbled that is took on him our nature infirmities became obedient that is fulfilled the law for us by his active satisfied God for our transgressions by his passive obedience Obedience most shews it selfe in doing or suffering such things as are most crosse repugnant to our wil natural desires as to part with that which is most dear pretious to us and to entertain a liking of that which we otherwise most abhor Now the strongest bent of all mens desires is to life honor nothing men fear more than death especially a lingring painful death they are confounded at nothing more than open shame whereby our Saviours obedience appeares a non pareil who passed not for his life nor refused the torments of a cruel nor the shame of an ignominious death that he might fulfill his fathers will in laying down a sufficient ransom for all mankinde Even the death of the crosse As the sphere of the Sun or Saturn c. is named from the Planet which is the most eminent part of it so is the passion of Christ from his crosse the crosse was as the center in which all the bloody lines met He sweat in his agony bled in his scourging was pricked in his crowning with thornes scorned and derided in the judgement hall but all this and much more hee endured on the crosse Whence we may observe more particularly 1 The root 2 Branches 3 Fruit. Or 1 The cause 2 The parts 3 The end of all his sufferings on it 1 Of the cause S. a Aug. l. 3. de Civ Dei c. 15. Regularis defectio non nisi in lunae fine contingit Austin demonstrateth that the Eclipse of the sun at the death of our Saviour was miraculous because then the Moon was at the full Had it bin a regular Eclipse the Moon should have lost her light and not the Sun so in the regular course of justice the Church which is compared to the Moon in b Cant. 6.10 Scripture should have been eclipsed of the light of Gods countenance and not Christ who is by the Prophet Malachy stiled c Mal. 4.2 Sol justitiae the Sun of righteousnesse But as then the Sun was eclipsed in stead of the Moon so was Christ obscured in his passion for the Church he became a surety for us therfore God laid all our debts upon him to the uttermost farthing The Prophet Esay assureth us hereof d Esa 53.4 5. He bare our infirmities carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him by his stripes we are all healed O the wonderfull wisdom justice of God! the just is reputed unjust that the unjust might be reputed just the innocent is condemned that the condemned might be found innocent the Conquerer is in bonds to loose the captive the Creditor in prison to satisfie for the debtour the Physitian taketh the bitter potion to cure the patient the Judge is executed to acquit the prisoner What did the welbeloved of his Father deserve that he should drink the dregs of the vials of wrath why should the immaculate Lamb be put to such torture in the end be slain but for a sacrifice why should the bread of life hunger but for our gluttony the fountain of grace thirst but for our intemperancy the word of God be speechlesse but for our crying sin truth it self be accused but for our errors innocency condemned but for our transgressions why should the King of glory endure such ignominy shame but for our shameful lives why should the Lord of life be put to death but for our hainous and most deadly sins what spots had he to be washed what lust to bee crucified what ulcers to bee pricked what sores to bee launced Doubtlesse none at all our corrupt blood was drawn out of his wounds our swellings pricked with his thornes our sores launced with his speare our lusts crucified on his crosse our staines washed away with his blood It was the weight of our sins that made his soule heavie unto death it was the unsupportable burden of our punishment that put him into a bloody sweat all our blood was corrupt all our flesh as it were in
sake shall bee then their gaine every disgrace their honour for every teare they have shed they shall receive a pearle for every blew stripe a saphir for every green wound an emerald for every drop of bloud a ruby to bee set in their crowne of glory Secondly it serveth much for the terrour of the wicked who goe on confidently in their lewd courses and proceed from evill to worse adding drunkennesse to thirst let these know that o Rom. 2.5 they heape wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God and that as the farther backe the axe is fetched the heavier is the stroake so the longer their punishment is deferred the heavier in the end it will fall upon them Let them who feare not to doe wrong but carry their sinne with a high hand bearing themselves upon their wealth or some potent friend at Court know that they shall be brought to Christs barre ore tenus and that none upon earth shall be able to rescue them Let them who lay snares in the darke and looke for their prey in the twi-light and say in their hearts no eye seeth us know that God hath p Apoc. 1.14 eyes like a flaming fire enlightening the darkest corners of the inmost roomes and that hee q Psal 50.21 will reprove them and set their sinnes in order before their eyes and that what they commit in secret and would not for a world that any witnesses should be by shall bee brought to an open examination before men and Angels Thirdly to instruct all so to live that they may not feare to come before the face of God so to cleare their accounts here that they need not to dread their examination there To this use the holy Ghost pointeth r 2 Pet. 4.11 12 14. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought yee to be in all holy conversation how diligent that wee may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse When Alcibiades came to visit Å¿ Eras Apoph Atqui inquit potius quemadmodum rationem non redderes laborares Pericles and found him very busie about his accounts Why saith he doest thou thus trouble thy selfe in seeking to make up thy accounts thou shouldest rather use a meanes to put it off and thinke of a course to free thee from this care and take order that thou shouldest never bee called to an account I doubt not but that many Treasurers and Stewards of great Princes make good use of this advice and by friends and mony so bring it about that they are never brought to an account If wee have any such thought wee deceive our selves there is no dodging with God no delay no not for a moment when hee sendeth his Pursuivant for us from the high Court of Starre-chamber in Heaven as he in Saint Gregories dayes found by woefull experience who being summoned by death approaching to bring in his accounts before they were ready cryed out pitifully Inducias vel ad horam O reprivall but for a day truce but for an houre respite but for a minute but could not obtaine it but was suddenly posted away to the judgement seat of Christ and who of us knoweth whether he shall be the next to whom God will send a messenger to bring him before him to render an account of his Stewardship saying to him in the words of my Text Redde rationem dispensationis tuae Give an account Of thy Stewardship Thy. I know not how it commeth to passe that most men now a dayes are sicke of Saint Peters disease when Christ telleth them of their duty or fore-sheweth them their end they are inquisitive about others saying t John 21.21 What shall this man doe There are divers kindes of Stewards some of powers some of wealth some of knowledge some of the Word and Sacraments Kings dominions and Bishops diocesses and Lords lands and Rich mens mony and Clerkes writings and Merchants trades and Tradesmens shops and Husbandmens ploughes are their Stewardship of which they must give an account and yet few there are that minde their owne account to their Master for that wherewith they are trusted but every man looketh to anothers The Ploughman censureth the Tradesman the Tradesman the Merchant the Merchant the country Gentleman the country Gentleman the Courtier and all the Ministers of God as if to impeach others were to cleare themselves At the audit day they will finde that it will little availe them to say I am no tot quot I am no joyner of house to house or land to land I am no usurer oppressor or extortioner like other men when it will be replyed unto them but thou art like the Pharisee a deep dissembler a counterfeit saint a secret hypocrite a slanderous backbiter a busie-body an uncharitable censurer a streigner of a gnat in others when thy selfe eatest many a flye nay swallowest many a camell u Plut. tract de curiosit Plutarch rightly observeth that they who delight to gad abroad for the most part have smoaky nasty or dankish houses or at least ill rule no content at home so when men range abroad and play the spies and scouts and pry into other mens actions it is a signe that they have a foule house at home and ill rule in their owne conscience Wherefore * Stella in Luc. Observa etiam diligenter quod hic non dicit dominus Redde rationem villicationis alienae vel redde rationem villicationis alterius sed villicationis tuae pro priae enim vitae tuae factorumque tuorum non alienorum redditurus es rationem Deo unusquisque enim redditurus est de propriâ—s factis rationem Stella according to his name Starre well illustrateth this Text Give an account of thy Stewardship not of any other mans Pry not into his life set not his actions upon the racke reade not a lecture upon his manners but meditate and comment upon the booke of thine owne conscience that thou mayest make even reckonings there It is an uncivill part to over-looke other mens papers especially bills of account which no way concerne us yet there are those that take to themselves a liberty to looke into and examine the bookes of other mens conscience not being able to reade a letter in their owne herein resembling the crocodile which seeth nothing in the water which is his chiefest place of aboad yet is very quicke and sharpe sighted on the land out of his owne element to doe mischiefe I will undertake that any man shall have worke enough to cast up his owne accounts if hee looke into every particular for which hee is to reckon every stray thought every idle word every inconsiderate action sudden passion God is not herein like unto many great personages who seldome or never call their Stewards to an account or if they call them they looke over their bookes and bills but sleightly taking the
sore beat by him Applicat Deus unum habuit filium sine flagitio nullum sine flagello 1. Is it so doth God chasten every sonne whom he receiveth nay in whom he delighteth not sparing his only beloved sonne with whom he was ever well pleased why then should we looke to be priviledged and exempted from the orders of Christs schoole How nice and tenderly have wee been brought up that we cannot endure the sight of our heavenly Fathers rod We sticke to sip of that cup which was Davids diet-drinke and Jeremy and Job tooke it all off are we better than these holy men nay are we too good to pledge our Saviour in the cup of his passion Doe we breathe out some sighes in our crosses hee sighed out his last breath in torments upon the crosse Nos suspiramus in cruciatibus ille expiravit in cruce Doe our troubles and vexations draw some watery teares from our eyes his drew from him teares of bloud yea clotted bloud from all parts of his body Doth the burthen of our sinnes presse our soules the burthen of the sinnes of the whole world lay upon him Are wee pricked with cares hee was crowned with thorns Are we cruciated he was crucified Tacitus reporteth that though the amber ring among the Romans were before of no value yet after the Emperour began to weare it it became to be in great esteem so mee thinkes sith our Lord and Saviour both bore his crosse and was borne upon it we should make better reckoning of crosses and it should be counted an honour for every Christian to take up his crosse and follow him 2. Againe doth God chasten as many as he loveth and consequently loveth them not at all whom he never chasteneth how far then are most of us besides the matter in our judgement and opinion of these things If we see a man flourish in prosperity we commonly say such a man is beloved of God for he thriveth in the world and all things prosper with him but if on the sudden all the fruits of his labours are blasted with some sharp wind of adversity if wee see him never without some griefe or other some crosse or other we alter our opinion and suppose him to be some wretch whom God plagueth for his sinnes If the Viper be upon Pauls hand hee is presently a t Act. 28.4 murderer whom vengeance would not suffer to live whereas the verdict and sentence of the Holy Ghost whereto our judgements should absolutely submit is farre otherwise Loe these are the wicked who have their u Psal 17.14 portion in this life the rod of God is not upon them they grow in wealth and their seed is established in their sight They come in no * Psal 73.5 6 7. trouble like other folke neither are they plagued like other men Their eyes stand out with fatnesse and they have more than heart can wish Thou hast planted x Jerem. 12.2 them and they have taken root and bring forth fruit I speake not this to detract from the bounty of our gracious God who hath the blessings of this life and the life to come in store for his children and he bestoweth them upon them when he seeth it good for them but to lessen somewhat our great opinion of them and put us in a better conceit of afflictions which are surer arguments of Gods love than the other Had the Apostle said We must through many pleasures enter into the Kingdome of Heaven it is to be thought Heaven would have been full by this time but he saith not so but the direct contrary We must through many y Acts 14.22 afflictions enter into it Wherefore as passengers that have been told that their way lyeth over a steep hill or downe a craggy rocke or through a morish fen or dirty vale if they suddenly fall into some pleasant meddow enameled with beautifull flowers or a goodly corne field or a faire champian country looke about them and bethinking themselves where they are say Surely we are out of the way we see no hills nor rockes nor fens nor deep clay this is too good to be the right way So in the course of our life which is a pilgrimage upon earth when we passe through fields of corne or gardens of flowers and enjoy all worldly pleasures and contentments let us cast with our selves Surely this is not the way the Scripture directeth us unto here are not the tribulations we are to passe through we see no footsteps of Gods Saints here but only the print of Dives feet somewhere we have mist our way let us search and find out where and when we turned out of it This anxiety of mind this carefull circumspection this questioning our selves and suspecting our owne wayes will bring us into the right way for by thus afflicting our selves in prosperity we shall make it the way to Heaven As the Passeover was to be eaten with sowre herbes so let us sawce all our worldly comforts with these sharp and sowre meditations that we surfeit not of them We find no grievous crime laid to Dives his charge only this is father Abrahams memento to him Sonne remember thou receivedst thy pleasure in this life Continuall z Lact. divin instit l. 6. c. 21. Cavenda sunt oblectamenta ista tanquam laquei plagae ne suavitudinum mollitie capti sub ditionem mortis cum ipso corpore redigamur cui mancipamur prosperity and worldly pleasures are like luscious fruit more sweet than wholsome they distemper the spirituall taste they breed noxious humours in the body and dangerous maladies in the soule And if they end not in sorrow we are the more to sorrow for them according to that sweet speech of Saint * Aug. confes l. 10. c. 1. Caetera vitae hujus tantò minus flenda quantò magis fletur in iis c. Austine The joyes and delights or rather the toyes and vanities of this life are by so much the lesse to be bewailed by how much more we bewaile and by so much the more to be bewailed by how much the lesse we bewaile them and for them On the contrary afflictions are usually tokens of Gods love badges of his servants arguments of his care remedies against most dangerous evills and occasions of excellent vertues and as the other have a sweet taste at the first but are bitter afterwards so these are bitter at the first but sweet at the last For in the end they bring the quiet fruit of a Heb. 12.11 righteousnesse to them thot are exercised thereby b John 16.20 Yee shall mourne saith Christ to his Disciples but the world shall rejoyce but be of good comfort your sorrow shall be turned into joy What then are we professedly to pray for afflictions No God requireth no such thing but only that we patiently endure them May we not enjoy the blessings of this life We may but not over-joy in
them What Christ speaketh of riches may be said of the rest If honours if promotions if all sorts of worldly comforts abound to us let us not set our hearts on them let us neither accept the greatest preferments with his curse nor repine at the greatest afflictions with his love As Fabritius told Pyrrhus who one day tempted him with gold and the next day sought to terrefie him with an Elephant which before he had never seen Yesterday I was no whit moved with your gold nor to day with your beast So let neither abundance transport us nor wants dismay us neither prosperity exalt us nor adversity deject us but both incite us to blesse God In prosperity to praise his bounty and in adversity his justice and in both his provident care over us And the Lord of his infinite mercy informe us by his Word of the true estimate of the things of this life that we neither over-value earthly blessings nor under-value crosses and afflictions that we be neither lifted up with the one nor depressed with the other but alwayes even ballanced with his love And because the bitter cup of trembling cannot passe but first or last we must all drinke it let us beseech him to sweeten it unto us and strengthen us with cordialls of comfort that we faint not under his rod but endure with patience what he inflicteth in love and overcome with courage what he suffered for love that following his obedience and bearing his crosse we may enter his Kingdome and weare his Crowne Cui c. THE LOT OF THE GODLY THE XLVIII SERMON APOC. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. I Have discovered unto you in the opening of this Text foure springs of the rivers of Paradise for the comfort and refreshing of all that are heavie laden and wearied in their travell to the celestiall Canaan and often scorched with the heat of heart-burning sorrowes and griefe The first arising from the authour of afflictions The second from the nature of afflictions The third from the subject of afflictions The fourth from the end of afflictions 1. God sendeth afflictions I. 2. Afflictions are chastenings chasten 3. Chastenings are the lot of all his children as many 4. All his children thus chastened are beloved as I love 1. God hath a hand in the scourging his children I. Let us therefore 1. Submit under his mighty hand in patience 2. Lay our hand on our mouth in silence 3. Lift up our hands to him and in prayer turne to him that smiteth us 2. All our sufferings are chastenings of our heavenly Father for our amendment Let us therefore 1. Be instructed by them 2. Take comfort in them 3. Be thankfull for them 3. Chastenings are the lot of all Gods children therefore let 1. None repine at them 2. All looke and prepare for them 4. God striketh his children not in anger but in love therefore let us 1. Seeke to be of the number of his children 2. Embrace his love 3. In like manner chasten those whom we love The water of the two former springs we have tasted heretofore let us now draw out of the third which is so great and spacious that all Gods children may bathe in it together As many God scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth not exempting his best beloved and only begotten Sonne For the * Esay 53.5 chastisement of our peace was laid upon him he was chastened for our sinnes but wee for our amendment In every part of Gods floore there is some chaffe affliction is the fanne to cleanse it in all the gold of the Sanctuary there is some drosse affliction is the fire that purgeth it in all the branches of the true Vine there are some superfluous stems affliction is the pruning knife to cut them off in all the members of the mysticall body there are some peccant humours affliction is the pill to purge them We are all too greedy of the sweet milke of worldly pleasures therefore God weaneth us from them by annointing the teat with wormwood When the Angel in the a Apoc. 14.17 Apocalypse had recorded all the troubles and calamities and miseries that should fall in the last times he closeth up all with this epiphonema Here is the patience of the Saints as if the Saints were to beare them all who certainly beare the greater part For besides common evills in which most men if not all have their part though usually Benjamins portion is the greatest I meane losse of goods decease of friends captivity banishment imprisonment sicknesse and death there are many heavie crosses laid upon the Saints of God which the children of the world never see and much lesse feele the weight of them Many have written learnedly of the divers sorts and formes of materiall crosses wherewith the bodies of Gods children have been tortured by persecuting Tyrants but none yet hath or as I am perswaded can describe the spirituall crosses wherewith many of them have been and are daily martyred in minde I will set five before you and let every one adde his owne particular crosse unto them they are 1. Derision 2. Indignation 3. Compassion 4. Spirituall desertions 5. Godly sorrow 1. Derision for as Ismael derided Isaac and as Michol scoffed at David so they that are b Gal. 4.29 borne of the flesh mocke at them that are borne of the spirit and this scorne and derision so grievously afflicted many of Gods children that it is called in Scripture c Heb. 11.36 persecution and a great triall Others had triall of cruell mockings and as he that was borne of the flesh persecuted him that was borne of the spirit so it is now 2. Indignation at the prosperity of the wicked which was a great eye-sore as wee heard before to d Job 21.7 8 9.10.11 12 13. Job e Psal 73.3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12. David and f Jer. 12.2 Jeremy 3 Compassion for the miseries of Gods chosen 2 Cor. 11.28 29. 4 The state of spirituall desertion when God seemeth for a time to withdraw the comforts of the Spirit from them Psal 22.1 2. 5 Godly sorrow when they are cast downe to the ground with the weight of their sinne and have a quicke sense and feeling of the displeasure of their heavenly Father The three former scourges draw many teares from their eyes but the two latter life-blood from their hearts and if God stayed not his hand and in the depth of their sorrowes refreshed them with comforts they could not but be swallowed up in the gulfe of despaire For the more a man feareth God and is sensible of his love the more tender hee is to beare his wrath and the tenderer hee is the arrowes of God pierce deeper and sticke faster in the soule which none can plucke out but hee that shot them g Ovid. de trist l 1. Qui vulnera fecit Solus Achilleo tollere more potest The reprobate