poenae the Evills of offence and the Evills of punishment Those are sinnes These are the paine inflicted for sinne One of the most righteous men that ever was said of himselfe and of all his fellowes m 1. Ioh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sinne wee deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Neyther was there ever any of the most holy and perfect who was ashamed to begge of God to cry to heaven for forgivenesse of his sinnes and who did not esteeme that n Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 19. cap. 26. Ipsa iustitia nostra quaÌ„vis veâ—a sit propter veâ—i boni finem ad quam refectur tamen tanta est in hac vitâ ut potius peccatorum remis sione constet quà m perfectione virtutum his righteousnesse consisted rather in the forgivenesse of his sins than in the perfection of his vertues For all the Saints which have beene before us had all the Saints which are in the world have and all those who shall come after us shall have in themselves the evill of sinne what marvell then if all had if all have torum remissione constet quà m perfectione virtutum if all shall have also the evill of paine Where the cause is present working no wonder if the effect follow hard tread it on the heeles The evill of sinne is in all why then should not the evill of paine be in all 2 Sinne is morally evill Punishment is but naturally evill Sinne is an offence to God the punishment of sin is an hurt and griefe to man What is man but a worm what is the sonne of man but a little worm what then are all the evils which all men suffer what is death it selfe o Rom. 6.23 death which is the wages of sinne death which is the last evill wherein all the evills that are incident to man doe meet and end what is the damnation of all Angels and all men compared to the least offence given unto the infinite Majestie of Almighty God Not so much as a drop of water matched with the great and huge Ocean Sinne is the destruction of the well-being of man which consisteth in his union with God through the conformitie of his will with the will of God The punishment of his sinne is but the destruction of his being consisting in the union of his body with his soule He that heeded not his well-being he that hath refused to remaine united to his God by obedience and holinesse of life deserved he not to lose his being which he received for his well-being Or to speak more popularly He who was created to knowe and serve God he whose felicitie consisted in the knowledge and service of God he who scorned to be happy after that maner merited he not by all right and reason to be deprived of his life which he received for that end and to be miserable and unhappy for ever Let men speake as they will to speak properly the afflictions of this life are evils in our feeling onely but sinne against God who is the soveraign good is evill in it selfe and the evill of evills whether we feele it or we feele it not Who then shall be allowed to complaine if the great evill which he hath committed be rewarded with the small evil which he suffereth 3 Yet the righteous man hath fewer sinnes than other men have and if ye will permit me so to speake lesse sinfull Sin reigneth in the men of the world it is weakened and mortified in Gods children Sinne in worldlings floweth from the stinking puddle of their hardned and malicious heart To do evill they finde nothing too hote nothing too cold p Psal 10. â— 3 4 5. The wicked blesseth the covetous because they are like himselfe he puffeth at all his enemies Through the pride of his countenance hee will not seeke after God for all his thoughts are that There is no God neither will he suffer to be admonished as yee may learn by the examples of Ahaz Ahab Manasses and of daily experience The spring of sinne in a righteous man is his infirmitie and therefore it is no sooner set before his eyes but he breaketh it off by repentance as David and Peter did If then we compare men with men not with God wicked mens sinnes are like unto q Mat. 7.3 beames whereas the righteous mans sinns are but motes and light faults God registreth in the book of his rigorous judgement the sinnes of the wicked and will r Psal 50.21 reprove them and set them in order before their eyes but hee hath made a covenant with the righteous Å¿ Ier. 31.34 that he will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sinne no more and that for Iesus Christ his deare Sonnes sake t Eph. 1.7 in whom we have redemption i. the forgivenesse of sinnes through his blood according to the riches of his grace And yet a strange thing and a matter of much astonishment the v Psal 10.5 wayes of the wicked prosper alwayes and Gods iudgements are farre above out of his sight On the other side Many are the Evils of the Righteous 4 His evills or as they are called in the translation his afflictions are so many that it is uneasie to number them all They hold one another by the hand and conspire together to swallow up the righteous yet wee may reduce them to two heads for they are eyther externall in losse of honour of goods and of life or internall in great heavinesse and anguish of minde The Divels first care is to darken with calumnies the reputation of the righteous man and as David speaketh x Psal 4.2 to turne his glory into shame that they who shine in the glorious light of their owne conscience being spotted and blemished by false reports may be rendred odious to all men and unprofitable for the setting forward of Christs kingdome in their callings The first accusation is against their Religion as being the fittest to stirre up and kindle the hatred of a superstitious people against them and to stop the course of the heavenly doctrine This accusation is stuffed with manie common places of antiquitie of multitude of glorie of honours of riches of succession of union of Kings Princes people of their agreement and combination to maintaine the old doctrine of the Fathers against the new Sect of the little flocke of a few poore snakes of an handfull of forlorne fellowes men of a vile condition of no birth of lesse gifts y 1. Pet. 3.20 Noah was esteemed a madde fellow because of his lowlinesse The citizens of Sodome rejected z Gen. 19.9 Lots admonition threatned him because he was a forreiner and so journer amongst them a Gen. 31.53 Laban swearing by the gods of Abraham the gods of Nacor that is by the gods of their father Thare laid covertly in Abrahams Isaacs and Iacobs dish the reproach of
thereof and profane men who make no scruple of ill-doing live in prosperitie and l Psal 10.3 boast of their hearts desire But Many are the Evils of the Righteous XII What is the Church of God but the Congregation of righteous men Wicked men are in the Church but they are not of the Church as Lice Fleas Wormes are in the body and are ingendred of the corruption thereof but are no part of the body therefore the Church is called m Deu. 33.5 IESURUN that is the Righteous or the Vpright when it is said of Moses that he was a king in Iesurun i. amongst the upright n Ier. 8.22 Is there no balme in Gilead is there no Physician there If there be none there where shall ye seek them If there be no righteous men in the Church where shall ye finde them It is true that it may be often excepted against the Church considered by great and in the multitude that o Deut. 32.15 IESURUN the upright waxed fat and kicked that when he was growne big fat and thicke he forsooke God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rocke of his salvation p Matt. 20.15 for many be called but few be chosen And these which are chosen have their owne moles and blemishes they are q Isa 48.8 all transgressours from the wombe But if they be compared with other men they are terrestriall Angels and celestiall men as Chrysostome called Paul And we may say in that respect with the Prophet Habakkuk that r Habak 1.13 the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than hee Notwithstanding that the congregation of righteous men the Church of God the deare spouse of our Lord Iesus Christ is so vexed and turmoiled with evils that her God husband nameth her by them as if they were her christned name calling upon her and saying Å¿ Esa 54.11 Oh thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted So that not only this or that righteous man but the whole companie of the righteous if they were to make choice of a Liverie might take for their device the Gules or red colour or as wee use here in England the red Crosse which is the right badge whereby Christ will have his followers to be known saying unto them and of them t Matt. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse and follow me And if they were to seeke a word to their device amongst thousands which may be found they shall finde none fitter or at least truer than this Many are the afflictions of the Righteous XIII What then were it not better to send a bill of divorce to righteousnesse and bid it farewell that wee may be eased of these many evils for to the righteous the Lord hath said v Ioh. 16.20 Ye shall weepe and lament but of the wicked he saith The world shall reioyce Is not rejoycing better than weeping Is it not better to feast with Herod and to dance with Herodias daughter than to fast to lye in prison and to lose the head for righteousnesse sake with Iohn Baptist The world doth so because the world judgeth so But yee welbeloved know both by your fathers and your owne experience that x Psal 58.11 verily there is fruit for the righteous he hath his reward within himselfe a ful pleasure and delight in the peace of an upright conscience y Pro. 15.15 which is a continuall feast hee liveth in this present World a Tit. 2.12 godly towards God who is the most excellent object that his minde can chuse and most worthie to be loved praised and served in heart words and deeds Righteously towards his neighbour who is his owne flesh and to the purchasing of whose good he is bound by the bands of nature and inward suggestion of his owne conscience Soberly in his owne person to whom he oweth a decent and respectuous care that he never do anie thing misbecoming a man unbeseeming a Christian and unworthy of the ranke wherein God hath placed him For whom shall he not neglect if hee neglect his owne honestie and whom shall he respect if he respect not his owne honour Living so he hath b 1. Tim. 6.6 godlinesse with contentment which is great gaine for c Esa 32.17 the worke of righteousnesse shall be peace and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever But d Esa 57.21 there is no peace to the wicked saith my God And in the end of the world when the Lord Iesus shall come e Mat. 3.12 with his Fanne in his hand and throughly purge his floore then he will gather his Wheat into the Garner but will burne up the chaffe with unquenchable fire f Matt. 25.32 c. Then in his most righteous judgement he will sunder the good from the lewd the upright from the froward the righteous from the wicked Then he shall set the righteous on his right hand and the wicked on the left Then then by the power of the unchangeable sentence of his most righteous mouth all the wicked shall depart from him into everlasting fire and all the righteous shall goe into eternall life The wicked to burne eternally with the Divell the righteous to reigne for ever and ever with their Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Therefore g Hos 10.12 sow to your selves in righteousnesse and ye shall reape in mercy contentment peace joy eternall life through the merites of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father the holy Ghost be all power honour and glory world without end Amen SERMON II Of the many evils of the Righteous man PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. THe Righteous man hath the evils of sinne and of punishment 2 The evill of sin is worse than the evill of punishment 3 The righteous man hath fewer sinnes and lesse sinfull than the wicked man yet hee hath mo Evils of punishment 4 He is slandered of heresie and blasphemy against God whereof there are many examples in the ancient Church 5 And in ours 6 Hee is also slandered of rebellion against the high powers and of all the evills that are in the world So it was 7 So it is 8 Hence all kind of Evills come upon him 9 Whereof Iob is a very cleere example 10 Vnder the Old Testament the faithful were tried by losse of goods 11 By many afflictions in their bodies 12 And by shamefull reproaches 13 The Christians also have beene tryed after the same maner with losse of goods 14 And of their lives 15 Namely under ten heavie persecutions 16 Great cruelties practised against the Reformed Churches of Germany and of France 17 Exhortation to pray for the peace of the Church 1. THe Righteous mans Evills are of two kinds The evills which he doth the evils which he suffereth In the Schools we call them l Malum culpae malum
be proper unto him because he not onely bare witnesse to the truth but also sealed it with his most precious blood So all true Christians are Christs Martyrs because their whole life is nothing else but a martyrdome that is to say a testimony which they render to the Gospel Martyrium vitae that it is of God and to Iesus Christ that hee is the Sonne of God Testimony which they bare with such fervencie and zeale that they would chuse rather to be scorched racked torne in peeces and die the most cruell death that mans wit can invent than to leave off to glorifie their God and Saviour by publike confession and holinesse of life Such men are Martyrs in affection before God who judgeth of men not according to the event of things but according to their will and intention If any man live in the Church meaning to deny Christ rather than to suffer losse of goods or any bodily paine for his sake he is an Apostate in Gods eyes though he never bee put to that triall and die peaceably in his bed confessing Christ with his mouth So he that is resolved to make lesse account of his life than of the Gospel is a true Martyr before God n 1. Sam. 15.7 who looketh on the heart though God spare him and preserve his life from the hands of the wicked If Paul said truely of Priscilla and Aquila that o Rom. 16.4 for his life they had laid downe their owne neckes because they feared not to undergo all dangers for his releasing shall God p 1. Reg. 8.39 who onely knoweth the hearts of all the children of men neglect the zeale and affection which his faithfull servants have to his service Martyrium sanguinis Notwithstanding the Church which diveth not into mens hearts giveth not this glorious name of Martyrs but to those which are Martyrs in action which I say cannot by most exquisite torments and painfull deaths be driven back from their profession which they sealed most constantly with their innocent blood which though Christ did yet we give not the name of Martyrdome to his death because it had a more speciall end and is the ransom of mankind The Church hath ever called Steven the first Martyr as being the first which suffered death for Christs cause * Act. 12.2 Iames the brother of Iohn was the second VII In them yee finde the three qualities which are necessarily required in them whom Christ honoreth with this glorious title 1. They were full of faith and of the holy Ghost I say that they were godly men for a good conscience a godly and an upright life is so needfull in this case that the Apostle saith q 1. Cor. 13.3 Though hee give his body to be burned and have not charitie it profiteth him nothing This is called by some the Martyrdome of life and is more difficult than the Martyrdome of blood for it is not so easie to a man to kill sinne in himselfe to burne his covetousnesse his pride his ambition his lusts and unlawfull desires in the fire of the Spirit as to suffer the executioner to cast his body in a fire of wood Which I pray you all to lay to your hearts that in this time of outward peace with men yee may bee Martyrs inward with God Martyrs not in the flesh but in the Spirit having your praise not of men but of God 2. They suffered for the best cause that ever any innocent man suffered for Suffered they not for the Sonne of God who is r Psal 45. fairer than all the children of men Suffered they not for the Gospel which is Å¿ Rom. 2.16 the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth and therefore more excellent than the Law for which the Iewes suffered Let no man say that the theefe upon the crosse was a Martyr because he repented and confessed Christ for repentance changeth not the nature of crosses neyther can it be said truely that all those which repent at the houre of their death are Martyrs The thiefe confessed he not that t Luk. 23.41 he suffered iustly and received the due reward of his deeds And have we not this commandement of the holy Ghost v 1. Pet 4.15 16. Let none of you suffer as a murtherer or as a thiefe or as an evill doer or as a busie-body in other mens matters yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalfe x Aug. Epi. 61. 166. It is the cause which maketh the Martyr not the punishment y Euseb lib. 5 cap. 16. Aug. de correctione Donatistarum cap. 7. Let not the Montanists the Pepusians the Marcionites the Donatists the Circumcellions and other heretiques bragge of their Martyrs there was never any heresie so blockish so ridiculous so impious but there was found some obstinate fellow who offered to dye willingly for it Men in our dayes have gone to the fire with a merry countenance for maintaining of Atheisme For the divell hath also his Martyrs whom an ancient Doctor calleth most properly z Martyres Sataricae virtutis Martyrs of a diabolicall courage and therefore a Aug. in Psal 68. all the praise of Martyrdom is in the goodnesse of the cause not in the grievousnes of the pain Martyrs make not their cause to be good or their doctrine to be the Gospel it is the good cause it is the Gospel that makes Martyrs Our sufferings make not our cause iust but a iust cause will make our sufferings glorious 3. They had the choice of death and life if they would have recanted and ioyned themselves to the Iewes against Christ they had not beene killed If a Christ an be put to death for Christs sake without offer of life upon condition of abjuring the Church calleth him not a Martyr for who knoweth what hee would have done if the option of life had beene given unto him b Mat. 2.16 The innocent babes which Herod slew for Christs sake were not Martyrs because they had no such election neither could they in that age have accepted it if it had beene offered Our fathers also which were massacred tumultuously without any accusation examination exhortation promise of life for the same cause were not Martyrs These these onely which seeing on the right hand the Priest the Altar the Incense to offer the breaden God to worship and on the left the hang-man stirring the fire unsheathing and shaking threatningly the fatall sword erecting the gibbet or the scaffold trussing his arme to hit right a deadly blow spet at the Idols flye from the Altars run to the fire to the sword to the gallows to the water cry as Montalchino did at Milan Let Christ let Christ live and Montalchino dye these I say these are the men whom the Church hath honoured with the excellent title of Martyrs who dye in Christ with Christ