the 31. verse to the end wherein hee drawes all that hee hath spoken in this Chapter to a short summe contayning the glorious triumph of a Christian ouer all his enimies The triumph is first set downe generally verse 31. What shall wee then say to these things if God bee with vs who can bee against vs c. This generall incontinent hee parts in two there is sayeth hee but two things may hurt vs either Sinne or Affliction As to Sinne hee triumphs against it verse 33. and 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God his chosen it is God that iustifieth who shall condemne It is Christ who is dead or rather who is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request for vs. As to Affliction hee triumphs against it from the 35. to the end Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation anguish or persecution shall famine nakednesse or perill yea shall death doe it or that which is much more shall Angels principalities or powers doe it No In all these things wee are more than Conquerours through him that loued vs. Thus doth the Apostle like a faithfull steward in the house of God take by the hand the weary sonnes and daughters of the liuing God that hee may leade vs into the Lords winesellers there to refresh and stay vs with the â—lagons of his Wine to comfort vs with his Apples to strengthen vs with his hid Manna and to make vs merry with that Milke and Hony which our immortall husband Iesus Christ hath prouided for vs to sustaine vs that we faint not through our manifold tentations that compasse vs in this barren wildernes We come then to the first part of the Chapter wherein the Apostle keepes this order First hee sets downe a generall proposition of comfort belonging to the iustified man Secondly he subioynes a confirmation therof Thirdly he explanes his reason of confirmation and fourthly applyes iâ—first by commination of them who walke after the flesh secondly by consolation of the godly against the remanents of the flesh thirdly by exhortation of both not to walke after the flesh In the proposition againe set downe Verse 1. first he points at the comfort Now then there is no condemnation secondly he sets downe a limitation restrayning this comfort To them who are in Christ thirdly hee subioynes a clearer declaration of those persons who are in Christ to wit they walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Verse 1. Now then This is a relatiue to his former discourse and is as I haue said a Conclusion inferred vpon that which goeth before Seeing wee are iustified by Faith in Iesus Christ and are now no more vnder the Law but vnder Grace seeing we are buryed with Christ by Baptisme into his death that like as he was raised from the dead by the glory of his Father so we also should walke in newnesse of life hauing receiued that spirit of Christ whereby wee fight against the Law of sinne in our members which rebelleth against the Law of our minde seeing it is so we may be sure that the remanent power of sinne in vs shall neuer be able to condemne vs. We see then that these words containe the Apostles glorying against the remanents of sinne the sense whereof in the end of the last Chapter made him burst out in a pittifull lamentation and cry O miserable man who will deliuer me from the body of this death but now considering the certaintie of his deliuerance by Iesus Christ he reioyceth and triumpheth Wherein for our first lesson we marke the diuersitie of dispositions to which the Children of God are subiect in this life sometime so full of comfort that they can not containe themselues but must needs breake forth into glorious reioycings at other times so far deiected in mind that their ioy is turned into mourning and this ariseth in them from the variable change of their sight and feeling The Disciples on mount Tabor seeing the bright shining glorie of Christ were rauished with ioy but incontinent when the cloud ouershadowes them they become afraid If the Lord let vs feele his mercies wee are aliue but if hee hide his face and set our sinnes in order before vs wee are sore troubled As the troubles wee haue in this life are not without comforts blessed bee God the Father of our Lord Iesus the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts vs in all our tribulation so our ioy saith Saint Peter is not without heauinesse the one arising of the knowledge of that vndeserued inheritance reserued for vs in heauen the other of our manifold tentations to which wee are subiect here vpon earth it is these vicissitudes and changes which wrought in Dauid such different dispositions as appeareth in him in the Booke of the Psalmes and which all the godly may be experience finde in themselues Pascimur hic patimur for here we are so nourished with the comforts of God that we are nurtred with his crosses It is the Lords dispensation and we are to reuerence it resting assured that the peace and ioy which once the Lord hath giuen vs may be interrupted but can neuer vtterly be taken from vs the Lord who will not suffer the rod of the wicked for euer to lie vpon the back of the righteous least they put out their hand to wickednesse will fâ—rre lesse suffer his owne terrours continually oppresse our consciences least we faint and dispaire though he wound vs he will binde vs vp againe after two daies he will reuine vs and we shall liue in his sight Weeping may abide in the Euening but ioy shall come in the Morning The chosen vessell of God shall not alway lament and cry woe is me sometime the Lord will put a song of thanksgiuing in his mouth and make him to reioyce thus de aduersis prosperis admir abilivirtute vitam Sanctorum contexuit Deus The life of a Christian may bee compared to a webbe so meruailously mixed and wouen of comfort and trouble by the hand of God that the long thread thereof reaching from the day of our birth to the day of our death are all of trouble but the weft interiected manifold comforts and this haue we marked vpon the coherenee of the beginning of this Chapter with the end of the former Now in these words it is to be obserued the Apostle saies not there is no sinne in them who are in Christ but he saith there is no condemnation to them he hath confessed before that he did the euill which he would not and that he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his minde but now hee reioyceth in Christ that sinne in him is not able to condemne him It is then a false exposition of these words which is made by Caietane and
wicked may be put to death for their most vnreasonable disobedience her commandements for number being but ten and so not burdenable to the memorie for vnderstanding plaine written in the hart of euery man for equitie not contradictable for the Law craueth nothing of man but that which by the holinesse of his nature receiued by Creation hee was able to performe neither doth the law command any thing profitable to God vvho gaue it but vnto man who receiued it And for holinesse euery precept of the law when God proclaymed it on mount Sinai was assisted with a thousand of his Saints as witnesses of the holinesse therof all these circumstances doe aggrauate the waight of that iudgement which the law shall giue out against the transgressors thereof Then from the Law iudgement shall proceede to Conscience and Conscience shall witnesse against them of their transgressions against euery precept of the law wherein they shall be so cleerely conuinced that their perticular sinnes with the circumstances thereof time and place though now they haue cast them behind their backs shall then be set in order before them and so iustly euery manner of way shall iudgement goe out against them Eliphaz spoke it falslie to Iob thy owne mouth and not I condemnes thee but most iustly shall the ruler of the world lay it vpon the wicked out of thy owne mouth I iudge thee O thou euill and vnfaithfull seruant the voyce of thine own conscience and no other shall condemne thee And as this condemnation will bee most righteous so shall it bee also most fearefull not onely in regard of the manner of the Lords proceeding in that last iudgement but chieflie in regard of that irrevocable sentence of damnation which shall be executed without delay The Law was giuen with Thunders and Lightnings and a thicke cloud vpon the mount with an exceeding loude sound of the Trumpet so that all the people were afraide yea so terrible was the sight that Moses said I feare and quake The lawes of mighty Monarches are executed with greater terror then they are proclaymed what then shall we looke for when the God of glory shall appeare to iudge the world according to his law the Heauens shall passe away with a noyse the Elements shall melt with heate the Earth with the workes which are therein shall be burnt vp the Archangell shall blow a Trumpet at the voyce whereof the dead shall rise If Moses the seruant of the Lord quaked to heare the first Trumpet how shall the wicked condemned in their owne conscience tremble and quake to heare the second Then shall the Kings of the Earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe Captaines and the mightie men hide themselues in the Dennes and among the rockes of the Mountaines for what strength is there in man who is but stubble to stand before a consuming fire and or euer their doome bee giuen out they shall crye Mountaines and Rockes fall vpon vs and hide vs from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne but when they shall heare that fearefull sentence depart from me yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Diuell and his Angels O how shall the terrour thereof confound their spirits and presse them downe to the bottome of hell O fearefull sentence depart from me what shall the creature doe when the Creator in his wrath commaunds it to depart and by his power banishes it from his presence O man wilt thou consider in time vvho shall receiue thee when God casts thee out from his face or who shall pittie and bee able to comfort thee when God shal persecute thee with his wrath assure thy selfe euery creature shall refuse her comfort to thee if a drop of colde water might bee a reliefe vnto thee thou shalt not get it Happie therefore are they vvho in time resolues themselues vvith Peter Lord whether away shall wee goe from thee thou hast the wordes of eternall life For they who doe now goe a whoring from the LORD wandring after lying vanities shall in that day receiue this for a recompence of their errour goe to the Gods whom yee haue serued Your whole life was but a turning backe from mee now therefore depart from mee and whether into fire and what fire euerlasting fire and with whom with the Diuell and his Angels thou hast forsaken mee thou hast followed them goe thy way with them a companion of their torment O fearefull sentence quae cum it a sint bene nobiscum ageretur si iam nunc sic nos paeniteret super malis nostris quomodo tunc sine vllo remedio paenitebit It were good therefore sayes Augustine if novv all men could so repent of their sinnes as it is certaine in that day they shall repent without any remedie for then the wicked vvill shed teares aboundantly but they shall bee fruitlesse And if yet all this cannot waken thee to goe to the Lord Iesus vpon the feete of faith and repentance that in him thou mayest bee deliuered from this fearefull damnation yet remember that seeing this iudgement is supreame and the last from which will bee no recalling most foolish art thou if in time thou doe not foresee and prouide how thou mayest stand in it Now if thy conscience condemne thee thou may get if thou seeke absolution in Christ but in that day if the Lord condemne thee thou shalt neuer be absolued the day before the Trumpet sound mercy shall bee preached to the penitent and beleeuers by the Gospell but from the time that once the sentence is giuen out there shall neuer bee more offering of mercy the doore shall be closed though the wicked cry for mercy and vvith Esau seeke the blessing vvith many teares yet shall they neuer finde it Of all this novv it is euident vvhat an excellent benefit wee haue by Iesus Christ in that vve are deliuered from this threefold condemnation For first being iustified by faith vve haue peace vvith God in our consciences that holy spirit of adoption testifying vnto vs that our sinnes are forgiuen vs whereof arises in our heart an vnspeakable and glorious ioy which ioy notwithstanding cannot be full nor perfect vntill the former sentence of our absolution be also pronounced in the other two iudgements that in the houre of death wee heare that ioyfull sentence Come to mee thou with the Apostle the terrour of that day but surely when the Lord shall set vs on mount Sion among those thousands which follow the Lambe and we shall see the smoake of the damned ascending continually when we shall stand at the right hand of the Lord Iesus and shall heare that fearefull sentence pronounced on the wicked and see the speedie and terrible execution thereof the earth opening incontinent to swallow them then shall we perfectly know how greatly the Lord hath magnified his mercies towards vs in
sinne For answere let vs marke that the Apostle saith not wee are fully freed from sinne in this life but we are freed from the law of sin that is both from the commaunding and condemning power thereof Sinne doth not now raigne in our mortall bodyes as before neither hath it power any more to detaine vs vnder death But as for the temptations of sinne there is no sort of men more troubled with them then they whom God hath begunne to deliuer from the Law of sinne for Sathan being impatient of his losse seekes daily to recouer his formeâ— dominion From the time that once the Gibeonits made peace for themselues with Ioshua all the rest of the Kings of Canaan made warre against them and so soone as we enter into a couenant with the Lord Iesus Sathan shall not faile the more fiercely to assault vs seeking to recouer his old possession yet if as the Gibeonits did we send speedilie messengers to Ioshua to shew him how wee are troubled for his sake hee shall not with-draw his helping hand from vs. Our deliuerance from sinne is begunne now but not perfected but we know that our God is faithfull by whom we are called hee shall also confirme vs to the end Euen hee who hath begunne this good worke in vs will performe it vntill the day of Christ. As the Angell who deliuered Peter out of prison appeared to him with a shining light in the darke prison smote him vpon his side and wakened him out of his sleepe made his chaines to fall from him and caused him to arise and follow him went still before him to lead him in the way through all impediments and departed not from him till hee had entred him within the Cittie of Ierusalem so the spirit of our Lord Iesus who hath once come downe vpon vs in this prison and hath lightned our darknesse wakened vs out of our dead securitie and loosed the chaines of our sinnes wherewith wee were bond shall abide continually with vs gouerning vs with his light and truth till hee haue entred vs within the portes of heauenly Ierusalem Blessed be the Lord where before wee were the captiues of sinne now the course of the battell is changed sin is become our captiue through Christ it remaineth in vs not as a commaunder but as a captiâ—e of the Lord Iesus it is true the boltes of sinne are yet vpon our hands and feet to admonish vs of our former miserable thraldome we draw as yet the chaines of sinne after vs which makes vs indeed goe forward the more slowlie but are not able to detaine vs in that bondage wherein wee lay before And as concerning our deliuerance from death wee are to know that death is two-fold the first and second the first is a separation of the soule from the body the second is a separation of them both from the Lord Mors prima pellit animam nelentem de corpore mors secunda detinet animaÌ„ nâ—lentem in corpore The first death expels the soule against the will out of the body the second death compels the soule against the will to abide in the body for vnto the greater augmentation of their paine as they were companions of sin so shall they be compelled to abide companions of punishment This second death hath three degrees the first is when the soule by sinne is separated from the Lord the second is when the body by the power of that curse due to sinne is turned into dust and the soule is sent to hell the third is when both soule and body being ioyned together againe in the resurrection shall be banished from the presence of the Lord and cast into vtter darknesse And it is called the second death because it is executed vpon the wicked after their first death otherwise the first death that euer came in the world was the first degree of the second death Mors animâ— prâ—cessit anima deserente Deum mors corporis sequutâ— est anima deserente corpus deâ—eruit Deum voleâ—s animâ— coacta est deserere corpus nolens the death of the soule went before the soule departing from God and the death of the body followed the soule departing from the bodie the soule departed from God willing and therefore is compelled vnwillingly to depart out of the body Now from both these deâ—â—hs wee are deliuered by the Lord Iesus for our soules being freed from sinne are reconciled with God and so exempted from that wrath which is to come For albeit the deere children of God bee sometime exercised with inward terrours of conscience which in their owne nature are forerunners of these paynes prepared for the wicked and are as the smoake of that fiâ—e which afterward shall torment them yet vnto the godlie their nature is changed they are sent vnto them not to seperate them from the Lord but to draw their harâ—s neereâ— vnto him and to worke in them a greater conformitie with Christ. And as for the first death wee are so deliuered from it that albeit in the owne nature it bee the Centre of all miseries and a fearefull effect of Gods curse on man for sinne Yet to the godly the nature thereof is also changed so that now it is not the death of the man but the death of sinne in the man mors est sepultura vitiorum death saith Ambrose is the buâ—iall of all vices As the worme which is bred in the tree saith Chrisostome doth at last consume it so death which is brought out by sinne doth at the length consume and destroy sinne in the children of God Finally death is the progresse and accomplishment of the full moâ—tification of all our earthly members wherein that filthie â—luxe of sinne is dryed vp at an instant It is a voluntarie sacrificing of the whole man soule and body to the Lord the greatest and highest seruice wee can doe to him in the earth for where in the course of our life wee are continualâ—y fighting against our inordinate Iustes and affections to bring them in subiection to Christ by death as it were with one stroke they are all smitten and slaine and the soule is offered vp to God in a sacrifice of full and perfect obedience Verse 3. For that that was impossible to the Law in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and that for sinne condâ—mned sinne in the flesh THE Apostle hauing set downe in the first Verse a Proposition of Comfort belonging to them who are in Christ and confirmed it in the second he proceedeth now to the explication of the Confirmation Declaring how it is that Christ hath freed vs from the law of sinne and first he shewes how Christ hath freed vs from the condemning power of sinne in this verse namely that hee taking vpon him our nature and therewithall the burden of our
many times when it doth not appeare and these desertions which endure for a while are but meanes to effectuate a neerer communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. hee turneth away from thee saith Chrysostome for a short while that he may haue thee for euer with himselfe Now it remaines that wee consider of these benefits wee haue by the dwelling of Christs Spirit in vs and of the duties which we owe againe vnto him The benefites are many and great Si enim tanta sit vis animae in massa terrae sustinenda mouendâ— impellenda quanta erit vis Dei in anima quae natura agilis est mouenda for if the soule be of such force to giue life and motion to this body which is but a masse of earth what shall the spirit of God doe vnto our soule which naturally is agill the wonderfull benefits that the body receiues by the dwelling of the soule in it may leade vs some way to consider of those great benefits which are brought vnto the soule by the dwelling of the spirit of God in vs. But of many we will shortly touch these two onely the first is that where this holy spirit comes to dwel he repaires the lodging man by nature being like vnto a ruinous pallace is restored by the grace of Christ. This reparation of man is sometimes called a new creation sometimes regeneration and it extends both to soule and body as to the soule the Lord strikes vp nevv lights in the miâ—do restores life to the heart communicates holinesse to the affections so that where before the soule was a habitation for vncleane spirits lying vnder the curse of Babel the Iim and Zijm dwelling in it the Ostriches lodging the Satires dauncing the Dragons crying within her pallaces that is defiled with all sorts of vile and vncleane affections the Lord Iesus hath sanctified it to be a holy habitation vnto himselfe And as to the reparation of our bodies it consists partly in making all the members thereof weapons of righteousnesse in this life and partly in deliuerance of them from mortalitie and corruptibilitie which shall be done in the day of resurrection which for the same cause is called by our Sauiour the day of regeneration for then shall hee change our mortall bodies and make them like vnto his owne glorious body thus by his dwelling in vs haue we the reparation both of our soules and bodies The other benefit we enioy by his dwelling in vs is the benefit of Prouision where hee comes to dwell hee is not burdenable after the manner of earthly Kings but his reward is vvith him for he hath not chosen vs to be his habitation for any neede hee hath of vs sed vt haberet in quem collocaret sua beneficia but that he might haue some on whom to bestow his benefits non indiget nostro ministerio vt domini seruorum sed sequimur ipsum vt homines lumen sâ—quuntur nihil ipsi praestantes sed beneficium a lumine accâ—pientes he hath no need of our seruice as other Lords haue neede of their seruants but we follow him as men follow the light giuing nothing to it but receiuing a benefit from it It falles commonly out that where men of meane estate receiue to lodge those that are more honourable they disease themselues to ease their guests but if thou receiue this rich spirit of the Lord to lodge non angustaberis sed dilataberis thou shalt not be straited but shalt be enlarged sayth Augustine hee knew the comfort hee reaped by this presence of God and therefore could speake the better thereofvnto others quando hic non eras angustias patiebar nunc implesti cellam meam non meam exclusisti sed angustiam meam when thou Lord dwelst not in me much anguish of minde oppressed mee now thou hast filled the cellers of my hart thou hast not excluded mee but excluded that anguish which troubled mee In a word the benefits wee receiue by him doe not onely concerne this life but are stretched out also to eternall life Dauid comprises all in a short summe the Lord is a light and defence hee will giue grace and glory and no good thing shall be withholden from them that loâ—e him The greater benefits we haue by the dwelling of Christ in vs the more are we obliged in our dutie to him O how should that house be kept in order wherein the King of glory is resident what daily circumspection ought to bee vsed that nothing be done to offend him not without cause are these watch-words giuen vs grieue not the spirit quench not the spirit There are none in a familie but they discerne the voyce of the master thereof and followes it they goe out and in at his commandement if he say vnto one Goe he goeth if to another Come he commeth if the Lord be our master let vs heare euery morning his voyce and inquire what his will is we should doe with a promise to reâ—igne the gouernment of our hearts vnto him for it is certaine he will not dwell where he rules not as he will admit no vncleane thing within his holy habitation so will he not dwell with the vncircumciâ—ed in hart the Lord will not take a wicked man by the hand noâ— haue fellowship vvith the throne of iniquitie If holy men when they see brothels abhorre them and goes by them how much more shall wee thinke that the most holy Lord will despise and passe by their soules which are polluted rather like to the filthie stewes of Sodome than the holy sanctuary of Sion for the Lord to dwell in And if hereby the weake conscience be cast downe reasoning within the selfe alas how can my beloued dwel with me who am so polluted and defiled remember that the more thou art displeased vvith thy selfe the more thy Lord is pleased with thee for thy daily pollutions hee hath appointed daily washings in that fountaine which he hath opened to the house of Dauid for sin and for vncleannesse Sweepe out thy sinnes euery day by the besome of holy anger and reuenge and vvater the house of thy hart with the teares of contrition quoniam sine aliquo vulnere esse non possumus medelis spiritualibus vulnera nostra curemuâ— seeing wee cannot be without some wounds of Conscience let vs daily goe to the next remedie that vvith spirituall medicines wee may cure them chastising our selues euery morning and examining our selues vpon our bed in the euening And againe seeing wee are made the Temples of the holy Ghost there should be within vs continuall sacrifices offered vnto God of prayer and praysing together with a daily slaughter of our beastly affections Among the Israelites Princes vvere knowen by the multitude of their sacrifices vvhich they offered vnto God but now they who sacrifice most of their vncleaâ—e affâ—ctions are most approued
it in the graue longest from rottennesse and corruption and how when themselues are gone to preserue their names in immortall remembrance with the posteritie thus by the very instinct of nature are men carried away with a desire of eternitie but herein are they foolish that they seek it the wrong way they lay out their siluer but not for bread they spend their labour and are not satisfied immortalitie and life is to bee sought there where the word of the Lord directs vs let the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee and thou shalt liue otherwise though thou wert the greatest Monarch in the world though all thy meate were soueraigne medicines though thy body were laid in graue with as great externall pompe as worldly glory can afford to any creature and thy flesh were embalmed with the costliest oyntments these are but miserable comforts perishing preseruatiues thou shalt lye downe in dishonour and shalt be raised in greater dishonor to euerlasting shame and endlesse confusion Now as wee haue these three degrees of eternall life by the Spirit dwelling in vs so are wee to marke the order by vvhich hee proceedes in communicating them vnto vs first hee restores life to the soule and secondly he shall restore life vnto the body saith the Apostle where the one is done bee assured the other shall bee done the one is the proper end of his first comming therefore his Heraulds cryed before him Behold the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world In his second comming shall bee the redemption of our bodyes when hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious bodie Let this reforme the preposterous care of men art thou desirous that thy body should liue be first carefull that life be communicated to the soule for surely the redemption of thy body shall not follow vnlesse the restitution of thy soule goe before Oportet cor nostrum conformari humilitati cordis Christi priusquam corpus conformetur glorioso corpori eius our heart must first bee conformed to the humilitie of Christs heart before that our body be configurated to his glorious body this is the first resurrection blessed are they that are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power But it is out of doubt qui non resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad poenam hee that riseth not now in his soule from his sinnes shall rise hereafter in his body to iudgement But now leauing the condition to come to the comfort he that raysed vp Christ from the dead saith the Apostle shall also quicken your mortall bodies What necessitie is there here that he who raysed Christ shall raise vs yes indeed the necessitie is great the head and the members of the misticall body cannot be sundred seeing the head is raysed from the dead no member can be left vnder death the Lord workes in euery member according to that same mightie power by which hee wrought in the head his resurrection necessarily imports ours seeing hee arose not as a priuate man but as the head of all his members full of power to draw the body after him and to communicate that same life to euery member which he hath declared in himselfe Christ in risen from the dead and is made the first fruits of them that sleepe the first fruit is â—isen the after fruit shall in like manner follow Vexit in coelum carnem nostram tanquam arhabonem pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae the Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pledge of the whole summe which afterward is to be brought thether hee hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt hee hath carryed vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then we see that our Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid when God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shal the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or will the patient refuse to drink that potion which the phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if wee looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion who hauing his fathers name written in their foreheads follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goeth singing that new song which none can sing but they whom hee hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection Why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramen transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingressum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that he might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too and fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man nor the power of nature but by the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith wee must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull that when God promised him a sonne in his old age he was not weake in the faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that he who
vs from the seruice of all other Masters that he might binde vs the more straightly to serue himselfe And indeede if Christ commaund vs as hee ought no other thing shall commaund vs beside him otherwise if we be not seruants to him we shall be slaues to euery thing beside him O quam multos dominos habet qui vnum non habet O how many Lords hath that man who hath not Christ to be his Lord assuredly there is no thing which will not vsurpe superioritie ouer thee who liues not as a bound seruant to Iesus Christ either thy belly shall become thy God and for a mease of pottage with Esau thou shalt sell thy birth-right and blessing or a wedge of gold shall become thy confidence and thou shalt not care for gaine to loose a good conscience or then some other vncouth Lord who hath no title to thee shall tyrannize ouer thee Thus wee see that the Christian libertie we haue by Christ makes vs free from the seruitude of sinne as the Apostle teacheth vs and not free to commit sinne as the carnall Atheist conceiues it But seeing we are debters let vs see with what bondes wee are bound surely the obligations are many by which we are bound debters to the Lord but specially now wee will shortly consider these two Creation and Redemption It is a principle receiued among all men that the fruit and vantage of a mans owne workmanship should redound to himselfe Who planteth a vineyard and eates not of the fruit thereof or who feedeth a flocke and eates not of the milke of the flocke No man begets sonnes and daughters but he will be honoured of them hee that hyreth seruants requires seruice of them yea Balaam will be offended if his beast serue him not according to his pleasure this is the measure wherwith men mete vnto themselues what reason then is ther we should refuse to doe that dutie vnto the Lord our Superiour which wee craue to our selues from our Inferiours The Lord hath made vs wee made not our selues his hand hath formed and shaped vs the life we haue wee hold it of him we can not abide a moment longer in this house of our earthly tabernacle than the Lords thinkes expedient his will makes the last day yea as we said before all our necessarie maintenance for this mortall life is furnished out of his hand seeing wee our selues craue seruice of those to whem we giue the smallest things shall wee not much more giue seruice vnto GOD from whom wee receiue the greatest The other is the bond of Redemption Wherein we are to consider these three things first that vve are bought secondly that we are sworne thirdly that we haue receiued wages before hand all for this end that vve should serue him Ye are bought saith the Apostle with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits for they are Gods And againe wee are redeemed not with corruptible things as gold and siluer from our vaine conuersation but with the pretious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotted and vndefiled we should not therefore liue as seruants of men farre lesse as seruants of Sathan and sinne but as seruants of that Lord who hath redeemed vs. Of all fooles those are the greatest who sels their life for the silly shadowes of sinfull pleasures which Iesus Christ hath bought with the greatest price that euer was payed Not onely are we bought to be Christs seruants but also we are sworne for baptisme as on the part of God it is a seale of the couenant of grace to confirme that promise of remission of sinnes which God hath made to vs in the blood of Iesus Christ so on our part it is a solemne resignation of our selues and our seruice to the Lord wherein we giue vp our names to be enrolled among his souldiers seruants swearing binding and oblieging our selues to renounce the seruice of the Diuell the World and the Flesh and this oath of resignation we haue renued so oft as wee communicated at his holy Table Whereof it is euident that they who hath giuen their names to Christ and yet liues licentiously walking after the flesh are for-sworne Apostates guiltie of perfidie and of foule apostasie and desertion from Iesus Christ. And thirdly not onely are we bought and sworne but we haue receiued wages and payment in hand which should make vs ashamed if we haue so much as common honestie to refuse seruice to the Lord vvhose wages we haue receiued already It may be said to euery one of vs which Malachie in the name of the Lord spake to the Leuiets of his time who among you shuts the dore of my temple or kindles a fire vpon my alter in vaine who among vs can stand vp and say that hee hath done seruice to the Lord for nought Consider it when ye will for euery peece of seruice ye haue done to the Lord ye haue receiued wages more then ten times who hath called aright on his name hath not been heard who hath giuen thanks for benefits receiued hath not found Gods benefits doubled vpon him who hath giuen almes in the name of the Lord and not found increase I speake not now of rewards which God â—ath promised vs I speake only of that we haue receiued already the least of Gods mercies shewed vpon vs already doth farre exceede all that seruice that we poore wretches haue done vnto him as therefore we are content to receiue the Lords pay let vs neuer refuse to giue the seruice of our bodyes and spirits vnto him But alas is not this the common sinne of this generation to receiue good things out of the hand of God and with them to sacrifice vnto other Gods to whom they owe no seruice at all A horrible sacriledge a vile idolatry for this the Lord complaines of the Iewes they haue receiued my gold and my siluer and made vp Baal to themselues and the same complaint stands against the prophane men of this age The couetous man as riches encrease doth hee not set his heart vpon them though with his tongue hee denie it doth he not say within himselfe that which Iob protested hee would neuer say to the wedge of Gold thou art my confidence The glutton when hee hath receiued from God abundance of Wheat Oyle and Wine though hee know the commandement be not filled with wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit yet how oft takes hee in superfluous drinke and spares not for loue of it to grieue the Spirit sacrificing to his belly as vnto God those things which bindes him to doe seruice vnto the Lord thus neither are the benefits of God returned to doe honour vnto him from whom they come but sacrilegiously also abused to the making vp of Bâ—al or some other Idoll abhominable to God for which it it most certaine that the moe wages
Christians shall wee iudge by the place vvhich ye delight most to frequent are there not many among you oftner in the Tauerne then in the Temple filling your belly intemperately at that same time vvherein the Sonnes and Daughters of the liuing God are gathered together into their fathers house to be refreshed with his heuenly Manna shall we iudge you by your garments doe they not in many of you declare the vanitie of your minds if we estimate you according to your companions what shall wee thinke but that ye are such as those are with whom ye delight to resort ye sit in the seat of scorners if thou seest a theefe thou must with him and art pertaker with the adulterers If wee try you by your language yee shall be found vncircumcised Philistims and not holy Israelites for yee haue learned to speake the language of Ashdod ye speake as Micah complayned of the wicked in his time out of the corruption of your soule making your throat an open sepulchre yee send out the stinking breath of your inward abhominations by your euill and vncleane speaches ye corrupt the minds of the hearers And thus seeing euery part of your life giues sentence against you as a cloud of many vvitnesses testifieng that yee are vncleane what haue yee to speake for you to proue that yee are Christians shall your naked word be sufficient to doe it no certainely for against it the Lord Iesus hath made exception before hand Not euery one that sayth Lord Lord shall enter into my kingdome your workes must be your witnesses and your deedes must declare who it is to whom ye acknowledge your selues seruants and debters Not to the flesh Sometime the flesh signifies the body and in that sense wee are debters vnto it for the couenant sayth Bernard which the Lord hath bound vp betweene the soule and the body is not to be broke at our will but at the Lords will and in the meane time wee are bound to nourish it but the flesh here is put for the sinfull lusts of the flesh and so we are not debters vnto it Take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the sinfull lusts thereof But alas the corruption of our nature is so great that without great circumspection we cannot nourish the body vnlesse we also nourish sinne in the body many vnder pretence of doing dutie to the one failes in the other so they pamper the body that they quench the spirit ouercome with gluttony they are not able to pray Wee are with the godly to keepe a meane of a shaking sword to keepe Adam from the way of the tree of life so the Apostle stands here betweene vs and death with a sentence like a two edged sword in his mouth to keepe the sonnes of Adam as farre as hee can from the way of death the one stood as a minister of Gods iustice the other stands as a messenger of mercy The Lord hath sworne by himselfe as I liue I desire not the death of a sinner but that he should returns liue he iustifies his word by his deed in that in all ages of the world hee hath sent out messengers to warne them to goe by the way of death so that novv if any man perish it is because hee stoppes his eares at the warning of the watchman of God for thou canst not say but Moses and the Prophets Iesus Christ and his Apostles and Preachers haue met thee in the way of thy sin and warned thee many a time by the vvord of the Lord that if thou vvalke on that vvay thou shalt assuredly dye vvhere thou passing by them all rushest headlong after the lusts of thy flesh and so thou perishest and thy blood shall be vpon thine owne head As the Apostle to the preceding exhortation annexed an argument a debito from that which we are bound to doe so now hee subioynes another argument partly a damno from the losse wee incurre if we doe it not in these words if yee liue after the flesh yee shall dye and partly a commodo from the vantage we shall reape if we do it in these words if yee mortifie the deedes of the bodie by the spirit yee shall liue If wee vvere such men as wee should be the former exhortation taken from honestie and dutie were sufficient to moue vs but in that the spiâ—it of God doth also threaten vs with death is an euident argument of the froward rebellion of our nature The word of God is compared not onely to milke but also to salt we haue neede of the one because of our infancy that being nourished therewith wee may grow and because of our corruption wee haue neede to be seasoned with the other to both these ends should Preachers vse the word of GOD to some as milke for their nourishment to others as salt for their amendment But these are the times foretold by the Apostle wherein the itching eares of men cannot abide wholesome doctrine they hate him that rebukes in the gate as Achab hated Micaiah to the death because hee prophecyed no good vnto him that is hee spake not according to his phantasie but warned him faithfully of the iudgement which afterward came vpon him so the hearers of our time can abide no teachers but such as are after their owne lusts but alas they are foolish for are not my words good to him that walkes vprightly sayth the Lord. Aduersarius est nobis quamdiu sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei the word of God is an aduersarie to none but such as are aduersaries to themselues neither doth it condemne any but such as assuredly shall be condemned of the Lord vnlesse they repent Stop thine eare as thou wilt from hearing of the threatnings of the word yet shalt thou not stop that iudgement which the word hath threatned against thee There is a cry that will come at midnight and will waken the dead but blessed are they who in time are wakened out of the sleepe of their sins by the cryes of the watch-men of God for vndoubtedly a fearefull and painefull consumption shall torment them for euer who now cannot suffer that the salt of the Word should bite their sores to cure them The opposition made here by the Apostle vvarnes vs that a necessitie lyeth vpon vs to mortifie our sinfull lusts it stands vpon our liues vnlesse wee slay sinne sinne shall not faile to slay vs. It is like a Serpent in our bosome which cannot liue but by sucking out that bloud vvherby we liue here is a vvholesome preseruatiue against sinne if at euery occasion vvee vvould carry it in our minde vve would make no doubt to put sinne to the death that our selues might liue For alas what pittifull folly is this vvee hate them that pursues our bodily life vvee eschew them by all bodily
and seruitude vnder which they lye which works in them an horrible feare but in his second operation he is a spirit of Adoption making them free who were bound before comforting them with the sight of Gods mercy whom before he terrified with the sight of their owne sins to the one hee vseth the preaching of the Law which discouers our disease to the other the preaching of the Gospell which points out the Physition As the proclayming of the Law wrought a terrour in their hearts who heard it so doth the preaching thereof for who can heare himselfe accursed and condemned by the mouth of God and not tremble Iohn the Baptist began at the preaching of the Law Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree euery tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewen downe and cast into the fire then hee proceeded and poynted out the Lambe of God that takes away the sinnes of the world by the first hee prepared a way to the second for his auditours being cast downe in themselues with the threatning enquired earnestly what shall wee doe then that we may bee saued and were glad to heare of a remedy It is out of doubt that they who are not touched with a remorse for their sinnes nor a feare of the wrath to come and into whose hearts neuer entred that care what shall I doe that I may be saued haue not knowne as yet so much as the very beginnings of saluation Wee are not then to thinke here that the Apostle is comparing the Godly vnder the Gospell with the Godly vnder the Law but hee is comparing the Godly vnder the Gospell with themselues their second experience of the operation of the Spirit with the first it is true that once sayth hee yee receiued the Spirit of bondage working feare this was his first operation in you but now yee haue experience of another and are made pertakers of a more excellent operation hee is become vnto you a Spirit of Adoption by whom yee call vpon God as vpon your Father For the Godly vnder the Law were pertakers of this deny that Sarah was his Wife made Peter deny that Christ was his Lord this feare made Ionas refuse to goe to Niniue and made that worthy Prophet Samuel vnwilling to annoint Dauid for hee feared least Saul should slay him yet are they so subiect vnto it that the feare of God at length ouercomes in them The third sort is seruile feare the obiect whereof is the iudgements of God onely and this is proper to the wicked they feare the plagues of God but so that they loue their sinnes and hates and abhorres euery one that doth snibbe or restraine them in the course of their sinnes The fourth is filiall so called because it is proper to the sonnes of God they doe not onely feare him for his iudgements but loue him and feare him for his mercy mercy is with thee O Lord that thou mayst be feared As for the Diabolicall feare Saint Iames saith the Diuels know there is a God therefore they feare and tremble they haue receiued within themselues the sentence of damnation they know it shall neuer be recalled they seeke no mercy nor shall they obtaine it and the seruile feare of the wicked shall at the last end in this desperate feare of the damned finding themselues condemned without all further hope of mercy they shall tremble and feare continually Of this it is euident that the feare wherof here he speaks is the first part of filiall feare namely a feare of that punishment which is due to sinne and to the godly is an introduction to worke in them feare of God for his mercies conioyned with loue so then his meaning is cleere albeit in the time of your first conuersion you were striken with a feare of that wrath which is the recompense of sinne yet now the spirit of adoption hath not onely released you of that feare of damnation which you conceiued at the first through the knowledge of your sinnes but hath also made you certaine of saluation and assured that God is become your father in Christ Iesus In the wicked the feare of Gods wrath once begunne encreases daily till it proceede as I spake to that desperate feare of the damned but in the godly the feare of Gods iudgements is but a preparation to the loue of God feare shall not alwayes abide in their harts for when God shall crowne them with his mercies and his loue in them shall be perfect then perfect loue casts out feare therefore Augustine compares the feare of Gods iudgements in the godly to a Needle that goes through the seame and prepares in it a place for the thread which is to remaine so doth the feare of Gods iudgements goe through the secret seames of the hart and prepares a place for the loue of God which shall abide and continue for euer in the godly when feare shall bee away The Lord at the first deales hardly with his children as our Sauiour delt with the woman of Canaan whom hee comforted at the last and as Ioseph entreated his brethren roughly whom at the last for tender compassion hee imbraced with many teares but all these terrours and feares wherewith God humbles his owne are but preparatiues to his consolations at the length hee shall make it knowne to them that hee is their louing father as for the wicked though they haue not suffered from their youth the terrours of God it is because they are reserued for them Neither are they euen now exempted from their owne feares for albeit there were none to reproue them their owne consciences sends out accusing thoughts to terrifie them and if at any time they shall heare the word of God faithfully and with power deliuered vnto them then doe they much more tremble feare for the word strengthens the conscience to accuse and terrifie them but feare is both the first and last effect it workes in them and therefore is it that being so oft disquieted with hearing of the word as Felix was with the preaching of Paul they are no more desirous to heare it but rather hates it and abhors it because it testifies no good vnto them more than Micaiah did to Achab and so they neuer attaine to his other operation of the spirit they are not transchanged by hearing into the similitude of the sonnes of GOD neither receiues that but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not like the strong bloud of God but the blood of man But as for the Children of God they can not be deceiued of their generation they know that God is their Father and with greater homelinesse and more freedome of spirit yea and surer knowledge they call God their Father then any son in the world is able to call on his earthly Father Whereby we cry The Apostle here doth teach vs that it is by the spirit of
who saile in her that how euer they change their action yet goe they on in their course toward their wished hauen so is it with vs doe what wee will whether wee eate or wee sleepe wee are hasting alway toward our ends The Psalmist againe compares our life to a spanne or hand breadth to the grasse which groweth vp in the morning and is cut downe in the euening to a sleepe which slippes away before wee can know what were doing in it to a dreame which of all things is most fickle and vaine to a thought which is not well begunne when it is ended and last of all to a declyning shadow as is the shadow of the Sunne in the setting which a man shall see on the toppe of a mountaine lesse and lesse vanishing till it be no more The Apostle S. Paul compares our life to a race and S. Iames compares it to a smoke or vapour Thus we see how little the spirit of God esteemes of that whereof all the sonnes of Adam accounts so much Our sinne hath shortened our dayes and made them miserable the pleasures of this life are worme-eaten and the glory of flesh is but like the gourd of Ionas which the one day growes vp and the next day is consumed by the wormes If Salomon who proued all the pleasures this life could yeeld after tryall of them cryed out all is vanitie if Iob when his wealth had worne from him looking to his forepassed dayes was compelled to conclude I haue had for inheritance the months of vanitie what shall wee looke to finde more comfort in this wretched life than those men of God before vs haue found let vs not thinke it if wee seeke our comfort in her perishing gaine or glory we shall lament at the last we haue fished all night and haue taken nothing wee haue former seauen yeeres of plenty so shall the endlesse sorrowes of the vvicked make all their former pleasures to be forgotten the dayes shall come vpon them in the vvhich they shall say I haue no pleasure in them Oh that men could consider this double losse they incurre by continuing in their sinnes Esau sold his birth-right for a mease of pottage and Adam lost paradise for an apple and thou more to be lamented that becomes not wise by their example looses like a foole that glory to be reuealed for a floure for what better are the best things of the world than the floure of the Rose vvhich vvanteth not the owne thornes and vermine being plucked in the garden it vvithers in thy hand before thou canst bring it home to thy house and yet for the like of these thou doest forgoe those things which are aboue and more then that redeemes those shadowes by bringing vpon thy selfe that infinit weight of wrath vvhich is to be reuealed vpon all the children of disobedience Of the glory The end of our present sufferings here vve see it is glory Yee shall weepe and lament saith our Sauiour and the world shall reioyce yee shall sorrow but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy Sometime God giues his children notable comfort before trouble as Elias receiued a double portion before his forty dayes fasting Peter Iames and Iohn saw the glory of Christ transfigured on Mount Tabor before they saw his fearefull and bloody sweat in the garden it pleased the Lord by the sight of the one to confirme them that the sight of the other should not confound them Sometime againe the Lord in the middest of trouble giues his children such comfort as deuoures all their present sorrowes to Peter in the prison there appeared an Angell and a light shining round about him and Iacob banished from his fathers house sees a more comfortable vision at Bethel than any that euer he had seene at home but albeit the Lord deales not alway with al his children as he did with these yet are they all sure of this comfort glory shall be the end of their sufferings To be reuealed The Apostle calleth it a glory to be reuealed hee telleth vs in another place that it is prepared already yea it was prepared before the foundation of the world but it is not yet reuealed beatitudo illa comparari hic potest possideri non potest that felicitie may bee obtayned here but cannot be possessed here Ne itaque quaeras in via quod tibi seruatur in patria seeke not therefore that in the way which is keept for thee till thou come to thy country let vs possesse our Soules in patience waiting for that which in this life is neyther reuealed nor can be possessed Moses besought the Lord to shew him his glory and he receiued this answere No man can see it and liue and when that glory filled the Tabernacle it is said that Moses could not enter into it Seeing it is so that our wretched nature can not abide that glory and we cannot liue and see the Lord let vs prepare our selues with ioy and contentment to dye that wee may see him And in the meane time by that glory which God hath reuealed in his works let vs iudge of that which is not reuealed if these workes of God which wee see bee so beautifull what shall we thinke of those wee see not out of all doubt among all the workes of God those which are inuisible are most excellent as the body of man is a beautifull workmanship but not comparable to the soule This glory I account it the highest degree of eternall life the first is Righteousnesse the second Peace the third Ioy the fourth is Glory Righteousnesse breeds Peace and Peace breeds Ioy and our Ioy shall be crowned with glory if the doing of the workes of righteousnesse bring such comfort to the minde as the Godly find in experience how shall our comfort abound when we receiue the reward of righteousnesse which is Glory Si sic bonus es quaerentibus te qualis es assequentibus if thou Lord be so good to them who seeke thee what shalt thou bee to them who finde thee wee may be assured that these first fruites of the Spirit and the earnest of our heauenly inheritance wherin now stands our greatest the Lord face to face and shall in such sort behold his glory that wee shall be transformed into it This change as witnesseth the Apostle is begun by that sight of God which we haue in the Gospell for euen now we beheld as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face and are changed from glory to glory by the same image by the spirit of the Lord but in heauen this change shall be perfected and wee shall be fully transformed into his holy similitude so that nothing shall be left in vs but that which is his owne workmanship O how hath the Lord magnified his mercy towards vs hee hath raised our honour from the dust and deliuered our soules for the lower
and foresee their end for eyther that shall be fulfilled in them which Mâ—rdecay said to Ester who knowes if for this thou art come to the kingdome that by thee deliuerance may come to Gods people or else that which Moses in Gods name said to Pharaoh the oppressour of the Church in her adolescencie I haue set thee vp to declare my power because thou exaltest thy selfe against my people May wee not behold here how vnsure their standing is and how certaine their fall who when they are highest abuse their power most to hold the people of God lowest what else are they but obiects whom the Lord hath raised vp to declare his power and iustice vpon them If wee shall mark the course of the Lords proceeding euer since the beginning of the world wee shall finde a blessing following them whom he hath made instruments of good vnto his Church and that such againe haue not wanted their owne recompense of wrath who haue continued instruments of her trouble When the Lord concluded to bring his Church from Canaan to soiourne in Egypt hee sent such a famine in Canaan as compelled them to forsake it but made plentie in Egypt by the hand of Ioseph whom the Lord had sent before as a prouisor for his Church and by whom Pharaoh was made fauourable to Iacob but when the time came that the Lord was to translate his Church from Egypt to Canaan then hee altered Pharaohs countenance and raised vp a new King who knew not Ioseph hee turned the Egyptians hearts away from Israell so that they vexed Israell and made them to serue by crueltie Thus when the Lord will bring them to Egypt hee maketh Pharaoh fauourable which also brings a blessing vpon Pharaoh and his people but when the Lord vvill haue them to goe out of Egipt hee maketh another Pharaoh an enimie vnto them whereby both they are made willing to forsake Egypt and Pharaoh prepares the way for a fearefull iudgement on himselfe and his people Againe when the sinnes of Israell came to that ripenes that their time was come and their day drew neere the Lord stirred vp the King of Babell as the rod of his wrath and staffe of his indignation He sent him to the dissembling nation and gaue him a charge against the people of his wrath to take the spayle and the pray and to tread them vnder feete like mire in the streets and to this effect that the Lord might be auenged of the sinnes of Israell he subdued all the kingdomes round about them vnder the King of Babell that no stoppe nor impediment should be in the way to hold back the rodde of Ashur from Israell But yet againe when the Lord had accomplished all his worke vpon Israell and the time of mercy was come and the seauentie yeares of captiuitie expired then the Lord visited the proud heart of the King of Ashur and for his Churches sake he altered againe the gouernement of the whole earth translating the Empyre to the Medes and Persians that so Cyrus the Lords annoynted might performe to his people the promised deliuerance All which should learne vs in the greatest changes and alterations that fall out in the world to rest assured that the Lord will worke for the good of his Church though the earth should be moued and the mountaines fall into the middest of the sea yea though the waters thereof rage and be troubled yet there is a riuer whose streames shall make glad the cittie of our God in the middest of it yea if they who should be the nourishng Fathers of the Church forsake her and become her enimies they shall assuredly perish but comfort and deliuerance shall appeare vnto Gods people out of another place The Lord for a while may put the brydle of bondage in the Philistims hand to humble Israell for their sinnes but it shall be taken from them at length his Church shall with ioy draw water out of the Well of saluation and prayse the Lord saying though thou wert angry with mee thy wrath is turned away and thou comfortest mee yea Sion shall cry out and shout for ioy for great is the holy One of Israell in the middest of her And therefore in our lowest humiliations let vs answere our enimies Reioyce not against me O mine enimie though I fall I shall rise when I shall sit in darkenesse the Lord is a light vnto mee I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntill hee plead my cause and execute iudgement for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall see his righteousnesse then hee that is mine enimie shall looke vpon it and shame shall couer him who said to mee where is the Lord thy God now shall hee be trodden vnder as the mire in the streets yea so let all thine enimies perish O Lord. For the best This good or best is no other thing but that precious saluation prepared to be shewed in the last time reserued in the heauens for vs and whereunto wee are reserued by the power of God through Faith Of this it is euident that our best is not yet wrought it is onely in the vvorking and therefore vvee are not to looke for it in this life There is a great difference in this betweene the Godly and the wicked the one enioyes their best in this life the other not so but looketh for it If if should be demaunded when a wicked man is at his best I would answere his best is euill enough but then is bee at his best when hee comes first into the world for then his sinnes are fewest his iudgement easiest it had beene good for him that the knees had not preuented him but that hee had dyed in the birth For as a riuer which is smallest at the beginning increases as it proceedes by the accession of other waters vnto it so the wicked the longer he liueth waxeth worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued proceeding from euill to worse till at length hee be swallowed vp in that lake that burnes with fire and brimstone And this the Apostle expresseth most significantly when hee compaâ—es the wicked man vnto one gathering a treasure wherein hee heapeth vp wrath vnto himselfe against the day of wrath for euen as the worldling who euery day casteth a piece of money into his treasure in few yeares multiplyes such a summe that hee himselfe is not able to keepe in minde the particulars thereof but when hee breaketh vp his boxe hee finds in it sundry sorts of coyne which were quite out of his remembrance Euen so it is and worse with thee O impenitent man who not onely euery day but euery houre and moment of the day doest multiply thy transgressions and defile thy conscience by hoording vp into it some dead worke or other to what a reckoning thinkest thou shall thy sinnes amount in the end though thou doest
forget them as thou committest them yet the Apostle tels thee that thou hast laid them vp in a treasurie Yea not onely hast thou laid vp in store thy sinnes but with euery sinne hast gathered a portion of wrath proportionable to thy sinne which thou shalt know in that day wherein the Lord shall breake vp thy treasure and open the booke of thy conscience and set thy sinnes in order before thee then shall thine owne wickednesse correct thee and thy turning backe shall reproue thee then shalt thou know and behâ—ld that it is an euill thing and a bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Thou shalt be astonished to see such a multitude of witnesses standing vp against thee those sins which thou hast cast behind thy backe thou shalt see them set in the light of the countenance of God woe then shall be vnto thee for the Lord then shall turne thine owne wayes vpon thiâ—e head the Lord shall giue thee to drincke of that cuppe which thou hast filled with thine owne hand when thou shalt haue accomplished the measure of thine iniquitie and hee shall double his stripes vpon thee according to the number of thy transgressions But as for the children of God if yee doe aske when they are at the best I answere praysed be God our worst is gone our good is begunne our best is at hand As our Sauiour said to his kinsmen so may wee say to the worldlings your time is alway but my time is not yet come We were at the worst immediately before our conuersion for our whole life till then was a walking with the children of disobedience in the broad way that leads to perdition then we were at the worst when we had proceeded furthest in the way of vnrighteousnesse for then we were furthest from God Our best began in the day of our recalling wherein the Lord by his word and holy spirit called vpon vs and made vs change our course turning our backes vpon Sathan and our faces toward the Lord and so caused vs to part company with the children of disobedience that where they went on in their sinnes to iudgement we came home with the penitent forlorne vnto our fathers familie That was a a happy day of diuision betweene vs and our sinnes in that day with Israell we entred into the borders of Canaan to Gilgall there were we circumsised and the shame of Egipt taken from vs euen our sinne which is our shame indeede and which wee brought vvith vs euen from our mothers wombe The Lord graunt that we may keepe it in thankfull remembrance and that we may count it a double shame to returne againe to the bondage of Egipt to serue any more that Prince of darknesse in bricke and clay that is to haue fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darknâ—sse but that like the redeemed of the Lord wee may walke from strength to strength till we appeare before the face of our God in Sion Alway this difference of estates betweene the godly and wicked should learne vs patience let vs not seeke that in the earth which our gratious father in his most wise dispensation hath reserued for vs in heauen Let vs not be like the foolish Iewes who loued the place of their banishment in Babell better than their home Now our life is hid with God in Christ and we know not yet what we shall be but we know when hee shall appeare we shall be like him the Lord shall carrie vs by his mercy and bring vs by his strength into his holy habitation hee shall plant vs in the mountaine of his inheritance euen the place which he hath prepared and sanctuary which he hath established then euerlasting ioy shall be vpon our head and sorrow and mourning shall flye from vs for euer And now till the Lord haue accomplished his worke in vs let vs not faint because the wicked floorish how euer they prosper they are to bee pittied more than enuied let them eate and drinke and be merry sure it is they will neuer see a better life then that which presently they enioy they haue receiued their consolation in this life and haue gotten their portion in this present world Surely no tongue can expresse their miserie and yet as Samuel mourned for Saul when God reiected him and Ieremie wept in secret for the pride of his people that would not repent of their sinnes how can wee but take vp a bitter lamentation for many of you whom in this time of grace wee see to be strangers from grace wee wish from our harts ye were not like the kinsemen of Lot they thought hee had but mocked when hee told them of an iminent iudgement and therefore for no request would goe out of Sodome but tarryed till the fire of the Lords indignation did consume them but that rather as Sarah followed Abraham from Caldee to Canaan so yee would take vs by the hand and goe with vs from hell to heauen but alas the lusts of the flesh hold you captiue or then the loue of the world doth bewitch you but all of them in the end shall deceiue you for all the labour vnder the Sunne is but vanitie and vexation of Spirit when you haue finished your taske you shall be lesse content than you were at the beginning you shall be as one wakened out of a dreame who in his sleepe thought hee was possessor of great riches but vvhen hee awaketh behold hee hath nothing or not vnlike that rich man who said in his securitie Now my Soule thou hast much goods for many yeares and euen vpon the next day redacted to such extreame necessitie with that other who dispised Lazarus that he had not so much as a drop of cold vvater to coole his tongue withall then shall you lament and say We haue wearied our selues in the way of iniquitie and it did not profit vs. Alas how shall I learne you to be wise Is not this a pittifull blindnesse the Lord vvhen hee created man made him Lord aboue all his creatures and now vnthankfull man sets euery creature in his heart aboue the Lord. O fearefull ingratitude Doe you so reward the Lord O foolish people and vnwise There is nothing which yee conceit to be good but when yee vvant it you are carefull to seeke it vvhen you haue it you are carefull to keepe it onely you are carelesse of the Lord Iesus though hee be that incomparable iewell vvhich bringeth light in darkenesse life in death comfort in trouble and mercy against all iudgement ye should set him as a signet on your heart as an ornament on your head and put him on as that glorious attire vvhich gets you place to stand before God But vvhat paines doe ye take to seeke him vvhat assurance haue yee that yee are in him or vvhat mourning doe yee make for that yee doe not possesse him can you say in truth that the
stand at the right hand of Iesus and heare that fearfull condemnation of the wicked Depart from mee c. when vvee shall see the earth open and swallow them then shall wee reioyce and prayse the mercy of our God O happie time wherein the Lord sent his messengers among vs to call vs from the fellowship of the damned There is no difference by nature betweene the Elect and reprobate neyther in inward nor outward disposition till God make it by grace Paul as bloudy a persecuter as euer was Domitian or Iulian. Zacheus as vnconscionable and couetous a Worldling as was that rich Glutton damned to hell The elect and reprobate men before Grace make a difference are like two men walking in one iourney with one minde and one heart like Eliah and Elisha walking and talking together when a chariot of fire did incontinent seperate them and Eliah is taken vp into heauen Elisha left vpon the earth not vnlike is it when the vnlooked for calling of God commeth and seperateth those two who before were walking together yea running in the same excesse of ryot the one changing the course of his life returneth back againe to the Lord from whom hee had stollen whereas the other not touched with the same Calling meruailes that his former companion hath forsaken him and walketh still on stubbornely in the former course of his sinnes to his condemnation Apply this vnto your selues and see whether this effectuall Calling hath seperated you in your conuersation from the wicked or not an euident argument that ye shall be seperated from them in their condemnation Blessed is hee that walketh not in the counsell of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornfull And if wee finde after tryall that the Lord hath called vs then should wee alway shew forth his prayses who hath translated vs from darknesse into his meruailous light The Lord shewed a great mercy to Israell when he deliuered them out of the house of bondage he set the remembrance of that benefit in the forefront of his law as a bond euer oblieging them vnto thankfulnesse but their bondage was not so horrible as ours Pharaoh oppressed their bodies and compelled them to worke in bricke and clay yet their spirits were free to sigh and cry to God for the bondage but here so long as we were the slaues of Sathan he compelled vs to worke the abhominable workes of darknesse and vncleannesse and therewithall did so captiue our spirits that we could not so much as cry and sigh vnto God for the bondage and therefore our deliuerance should neuer goe out of our remembrance and our hearts and mouthes should euer be filled with the prayses of our redeemer when we think of this yeere of Iubilie wherin he hath opened the doore of the prison and set vs at libertie as the freemen of God who were the captiued and bond slaues of Sathan The author of this calling is the Lord euen hee who calles things which are not and makes them to be Caâ—ling is a new creation and the first resurâ—ection The Lord that commanded light to shine out of darkenes is he who hath giuen to our mindes the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Iesus Christ. It is he who creates in vs a new hart and puts in our bowels a new spirit that we may walk in his statutes As man when hee was not could not helpe to create himselfe and Lazarus when he was dead helped not to raise himselfe so a stranger from Grace helpes not to call himselfe to the fellowship of Grace the Lord who makes the barraine wombe a mother of many children makes also the barraine hart to be fruitfull The praise of our calling belongs to the Lord onely Nemo dicat idâ—o me vocauit quia colâ—i Deum quomodo coluisses si vocatus non fuisses let no man say therefore hath God called me because I worshipped him for thou couldst not haue worshipped him vnlesse he had called thee The calling of God findes euery man either vainely or wickedly exercised When God called Paul to be a Preacher he found him a persecuter when he called Matthew he found him sitting at the receipt of custome when he called Peter and Andrew they were mending their nets no such minde had they as to be fishers of men As Saul was seeking his Fathers Asses when Samuel came to call him to the kingdome and as Rebecca had no errand to the well but to water her fathers goods when Eliezer came to seeke her in marriage vnto Isaac so if wee doe enquire at our owne consciences how we were exercised when God called vs we shall finde our harts were set vpon the trifling things of this world and that we had no minde of his kingdome let the praise therefore of our calling berâ—sâ—rued to the Lord onely As this worke of calling is the Lords onely so hee extends it to none but vnto those who are chosen it makes a perticular seperation of a few from the remanant and doth so distinguish betweene man and man in all ranckes and estates that of two brethren as Iacob and Esau of two Prophets as Moses and Balaam of two Kings as Dauid and Saul of two Apostles as Peter and Iudas of two theeues the one is taken the other is reiected The first distinction betweene man and man was in Gods eternall counsell and this is secret the last distinction will be in that last day wherein the one shall stand at the right hand of Iesus the other at the left and that shall be manifest the middle distinction is presently made by this calling of God his Gospell is the arme of his Grace being extended sometime to one corner of the world sometime to another according to his owne dispensation to seuer out his owne from among the remanent of the world Whereof it comes to passe that this sauing grace of the Gospell enters into a land but not into euery Cittie it enters into a Cittie and not into euery familie it enters into a familie but comes not on euery person of the familie Of Husband and Wife of Maisters and Seruants of Parents and Children of Brethren and Sisters the one is taken the other reiected It came to Iericho and chose out Zacheus it came to Philippi and chose out Lydia and the Iaylour it entred at Rome into the Court of Nero but lighted not vpon Nero it entred into the Familie of Narcissus but not into the heart of Narcissus As the Lord so gouernes the cloudes that he makes them raine vpon one Cittie and not vpon another so doth hee dispense the dew of his grace that he makes it drop vpon one hart not vpon another The Gospell is preached to many but the blessing that comes by the Gospell abides onely vpon the children of peace Let euery one among you see to himselfe this preaching of the Gospell
among you assures vs that the Lord hath a haruest here that is a number that belongs to the election of Grace but who they are that are his the Lord knoweth but as for vs we may lament as Augustine did of the hearers of his time In aperto est vnde doleam c the matter of our griefe is manifest for wee see many of you who hitherto haue receiued the word of grace in vaine but the matter of our comfort is not so apparant yet doe wee not doubt but that among this chaffe the Lord hath some good Wheat whom he will perfect by our Ministrie and gather into his garner to his glory and our comfort when wee shall see that fruit of our labour which now weâ— cannot see Alwayes of this which we haue spoken we exhort you who as yet stands strangers from grace to consider how miserable your estate is It should peirce thy very hart for griefe to consider that the grace of God hath conuerted so many in the cittie yea perhaps in the familie wherein thou dwellest and hath not lighted vpon thee but left thee in thy old sinnes If the Lord should so doe to you as hee did to Israell in the dayes of Achab cause it to raine for three yeeres and a halfe vpon all the land about you and not vpon your land would you not take it as a token of Gods anger aganist you O hipocrite that can discerne the face of the skie and can marke the tokens of his anger in the creature canst thou not discerne the state of thy own soule nor consider this sensible curse of God that these thirty or forty yeeres the showres of his sauing grace hath discended vpon otheâ—â— round about thee but neuer vpon thy selfe thou possessest still a hard a barraine and fruitlesse heart What shall I say vnto thee to cut thee off from hope of mercy and to send thee to dispaire I haue not that in commission there is euer some hope of a better as long as God calles vpon thee but of this one thing I can certifie thee that for the present thy estate is lamentable and if this grace goe by thee in time to come as it hath done for the time forepassed it had beene better for thee that thou hadst neuer beene borne The time of our calling is but short and limited let it not goe by vs without grace but let vs striue to redeeme it It is called sometimes an acceptable yeere and sometimes a day of saluation some dayes are longer and some are shorter but they haue all an end The lewes had a faire long sommer day of Saluation sixteene hundred yeeres did the Lord offer grace to the house of Sem but now the bright shining Sunne of righteousnesse hath gone downe vpon them and darknesse is vnto them instead of diuination and other sixteene hundred yeeres hath the Lord been offering grace to the house of Iapheth perswading them by the Gospell to come and dwell in the tents of Sem and that by their seuerall families hee beganne at the Churches of the East they had their owne day although but a short winters day compared with that of the Iewes From them in the East the light is now come praised be God to vs in the West now is our day how long it is to continue with vs who can tell While therefore the light is with you walke in the light least darkenesse come vpon you Let vs consider the season for if once the day of grace goe by vs wee shall neuer finde it againe For suppose this day of saluation were to shine vpon this land still on to the worlds end yet what is it to thee seeing the day of grace endeth to thee in the day of thy death after that the Lord shall neuer any more offer mercy vnto thee in that the Apostle wils vs to doe good while we haue time he tels vs that after this there is no time let vs not thinke quod apud inferos ad faciendos fideles atque liberandos euangelium praedicatum sit vel adhue etiam praedicetur quasi ibi sit Ecclesia constituta that the Gospell euer hath ben or yet is preached in hell to worke Faith in men there for their deliuerance as if there also were a constitute church in it Here by preaching grace is offered to thee that if thou wilt beleeue thou mayst be saued but if now thou dispise it there remaines nothing but a fearefull looking for of iudgement And no lesse deceitfull is that opinion that by suffering hereafter thou mayst redeeme that life which here thou hast not obtayned Vita hic aut amittitur aut tenetur cum istinc excessum fuerit nullus paenitentiae locus nullus satisfactionis effectus Now life is eyther kept or lost for when wee goe out of the body there is no place of repentance no effect of satisfaction It is a principall pollicie of Sathan to steale away from man the time of Grace he will not simply say to any man yee neede not to repent at all hee knoweth the most prophane man will abhorre that hee seekes onely a delay thou needest not saith hee to repent as yet and so stealeth away one day after another till the day of Grace be gone When Pharaoh was stricken with Frogges and Moses offered to him that when hee would bid him hee would pray to God that hee might be deliuered from them it was but an vnwise answere hee gaue him Pray for mee to morrow it had beene better for him to haue said Pray for me presently but more miserably blinded are they to whom the Lord presently offers saluation they delay not till to morrow onely but till the next yeere yea for many yeeres they are called vpon in their youth but they refuse to repent till they be old seeking first leaue to kisse their father that is to follow their owne pleasures before they will resolue to follow the Lord Iesus and so lets their dayes one after another be stollen away from them till at length they be taken away in their sinnes and the day of Grace be closed vpon them And whom hee Called them also hee Iustified Hauing spoken of our Calling wee come now to speake of our Iustification This is a new benefit different from the former benefit of our Calling posterior to it in order of working but not in time for in the same moment wherein the Lord by effectuall Calling giues vs faith to beleeue he doth also iustifie vs. That wee may vnderstand what a benefit this is we are to know that the word of Iustifying hath three principall significations First to iustifie is all one with this to sanctifie or to infound by grace new qualities into the soule of man and so Iustification is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu motus ad Iustitiam as Dan. 12. They who iustifie many shall shine as Starreâ— for euer and in
to Ioseph when she pulled the garment from him There are three notable things for which we striue and which the world is neuer able to take from vs the loue of God which he hath borne to vs the grace of God which hee hath communicated to vs in our calling the glory of God and eternall life which hereafter doth abide vs no power of man nor Angell is able to depriue vs of these things An example whereof we haue in that notable warriour of God Patient Iob whom the Lord set vp as an obiect of all Sathans buffets and against whom hee was permitted to vse all the strategems of the spirituall warfare that possibly hee could hee crossed him not onely in his goods in his children and in his owne body but also in his minde by his wife hee tempted him to blasphemie by his friends to diffidence yet by none of these could hee ouercome him In his outward troubles his resolution was the Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord for euer in his inward terrours his resolution was Albeit the Lord would slay me yet would I trust in him so impossible is it for Sathan by any tentation whatsoeuer to seperate from the loue of God his Children chosen called and iustified To cleare this let vs yet know that God is many manner of wayes present with his children in trouble first hee is with them by preuenting the danger so that hee will not suffer the intended euill of the enimie to come neere them so he brought Senacherib to see Ierusalem without but suffered him not to shoot so much as a dart against it within Somtime again the Lord enters his children into the trouble as Daniel into the den Ioseph into the prison the three Children into the fire but deliuers them in such sort that both his glory and their comfort is greater than if they had not beene in trouble at all Sometime hee suffers his children to end their mortall liues in trouble and yet is with them strengthening them by his glorious might to all patience and long suffering filling them with such a sense of his loue that in death they rest vnder the assurance of life The practise of this see in the examples of Eliah and Paul when Iezabel vowed to haue the life of Eliah yee shall see that the Lord is with him sometime to hide him that albeit Achab and Iezabel seeke him they cannot finde him sometime God lets Achabs captaines see where hee is but consumes with fire them that came proudly to take him Sometime hee presents him to Achab and Iezabel but bridleth the tyrants that they haue no power to stirre him The Apostle Paul in like manner being sent prisoner to Rome the Lord assisted him in such sort that hee deliuered him out of the mouth of the Lyon Nero and yet the second time suffered him to fall by the sword of the same tyrant shall wee thinke that the Lord was not with the Apostle to assist him the second time as well as the first let it be farre from vs. The Lord was with him indeed to make his death a seale and confirmation of that Gospell which hee had preached in his life The comfort then remaines that howeuer God worke with his children in trouble no aduersarie is able to take from vs that for which wee striue to wit grace and glory they may be vnto vs as the sharpe rasers of God to cut away our superfluities but shall neuer be able to bereaue vs of the end of our Faith which is the euerlasting saluation of our soules Verse 32. Who spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him for vs all vnto death how shall he not with him giue vnto vs all things also NOw followeth the second part of the Apostles generall triumph wherein hee gloryeth that the Christian can want nothing needfull for him for seeing the Lord hath giuen vnto him the greatest and most excellent gift to wit his owne Sonne is it possible that he will denie him any secondary or inferior gifts needfull for him Sathan who is a lyer from the beginning accused the Lord of two things first of an vntruth albeit the Lord hath said it yet ye shall not dye secondly of Enuy. In the first Sathan is proued false and the Lord is found true for are they not dead to whom the Lord said yee shall dye In the second Sathan is found a calumniator for what good tree will the Lord refuse to his owne who hath giuen vnto them this excellent tree of life which brings with it vnto them all things needfull for them To amplifie this great loue of God the Apostle saith not simply that hee gaue his Sonne for vs but that hee spared not to giue him O wonderfull loue the Naturall and onely Sonne of God is not spared that the adoptiue sonnes may be spared for our sins being imputed to him by the ordinance of God his Father and voluntarily accepted by himselfe so the punishment of our sinnes and chasticement of our peace was laid vpon him that by his stripes wee might be healed The bitter cuppe due to vs was propined to him for the which albeit hee prayed to his Father that if it were his will this cuppe might passe by him yet the Father spared him not but held it to his head till hee dranke out the vttermost dregs thereof So straite is the Iustice of God that sinne being imputed to the Sonne of God who had no sinne of his owne is pursued to the vttermost The greatest example of Iustice that euer the Lord declared in the world the drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome the plaguing of Egypt were terrible proofes of the straitnesse of diuine Iustice but nothing comparable to this Which I marke partly for a comfort to the Godly and partly for a warning to the wicked it is our great comfort that the saluation which Iesus hath purchased vnto vs hee hath obtained it with a full satisfaction of his Fathers Iustice so that now wee that are in him are not any more to feare it The great Iudge of all the world will not doe vnrighteously to require that againe from vs which our Christ whom hee himselfe hath giuen vnto vs hath payed for vs. And as for the wicked who are not in Christ how miserable will their state and condition be for they must beare the punishment of their owne sinnes in their owne persons If the burden of that wrath due to our sinnes caused Iesus to sweat bloud and to say that his soule was heauy vnto the very death O how shall the burden of this wrath presse downe the wicked it is euen a horrour to think of it their faces shall be confused without and their spirits oppressed within with tribulation and anguish hee that spared not in his owne Sonne sinne imputed vnto him will hee spare in
thee sinne committed by thy selfe no no when he beginneth to smite thee hee shall neuer lift vp his hand from thee but double his stripes vpon thee and there shall be no end of thy sorrow As the ioyes prepared for the godly so the paines prepared for the wicked are such as the eye neuer saw the tongue cannot vtter nor the heart conceiue That place of the damned is the great deepe the Ocean of all the iudgements of God all his temporall plagues are but like little riâ—ers and strands running into it If therefore the beautie of Sion doth not allure vs let the terrour of Sinai afray vs. The Lord proclaimed his Law in a fearefull manner vpon mount Sinai but in a more terrible manner will hee execute it if Moses who was so familiar with the Lord trembled when hee heard it proclaimed what horrible feare shall ouer-take the wicked when they shall see it executed vpon themselues Let therefore the children of wisedome hearken in time to the ioyfull tidings of peace which are daily proclaimed on mount Sion let vs drinke of the still and peaceable waters of Siloh which flow from it let vs embrace that mercy which Iesus by the merit of his death hath conquered vnto vs that so wee may be saued from the wrath which is to come His owne Sonne Iesus Christ is called Gods owne Son both in respect of his diuine and humane natures for as hee is God he was begotten of the Father by so vnspeakable a generation that as Esay saith none are able to declare it and as hee is man hee is the Sonne of God conceiued by the holy Ghost made man indeed but not after the manner of other men but of this see Verse 3. But gaue him for vs all This is very often alleadged in holy Scriptures as an argument of the great loue of God toward vs that he gaue his sonne to death for vs and so it is indeed for it is not by any corruptible thing as Gold and siluer that he hath redeemed vs but by the precious blood of his owne Sonne the Lambe vndefiled and without spot There is no man will giue much for that whereof he esteemes but little we measure the price of a thing according to the worth of it in our iudgement euen so of the greatnesse of that gift which our God hath giuen for vs wee may estimate the greatnesse of his affection toward vs. Pretious indeed in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints who to redeeme vs from death spared not to giue his dearest sonne vnto the death It was the Lords reasoning to Abraham now I perceiue thou louest mee because for my sake thou hast not spared thine onely sonne and haue we not much more cause to turne ouer the same reasoning to the Lord now Lord we perceiue thou louest vs because for our sake thou hast not spared thine onely one sonne The Lord shed abroad in our hearts more aboundantly the sense of that inestimable loue that we may be carefull to requite the kindnesse of the Lord putting his holy will before all things in our affection and endeauouring in holy loue to serue him who hath saued vs. Shall hee not with him giue vs all things also Wee are to vnderstand all things that are needfull for vs And here it is necessary that we put a difference betweene our right and our possession The children of God haue the right and propertie of all Gods good creatures for Christ their Lord is the heire of all and hath made them with himselfe fellow heires All things are yours saith the Apostle and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods But as for the possession of them the Lord giues it or with-holds it according as hee sees may be for the good of his children We know our father Abraham had the right of Canaan when he had not the possession of it and are not therefore to thinke it strange that the Lord giues not alwayes possession of that to his Children whereof they haue the right But as for the wicked they haue possession without a right and therefore shall be punished as theeues and robbers and violent vsurpers of Gods creatures whereunto Iesus Christ who is the heyre of all hath neuer giuen them a right Secondly wee marke here that the giuing and dispensation of earthly things is from God if wee could remember this it would moderate our care and make vs in our callings first to seeke the Lords blessing loath any manner of way to take the things of this world vnlesse we see they be giuen vs out of the hand of God For we are to know that Sathan who is a counterfaiter of God doth also arrogate to himself though falsely to be the giuer of things hee that durst say to the sonne of God all the kingdomes of the earth are mine I will giue them to thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me will hee stand in awe to speake it vnto sinnefull man No indeed it is his daily tentation by which he circumuents many intangling their hearts with the loue of worldly gaine that to obtaine it they care not to lye to steale to sweare to oppresse to deceiue one another which in effect is to fall downe before Sathan and worship him Thus Sathan rules in the kingdome of Babell like a spirituall Nabuchadnezar presenting to his subiects his great image of gold accompanied with all sorts of musicall instruments that is worldly pleasures vvealth and prosperitie which bewitch the simple and makes them fall downe and worship yeelding themselues seruants to Mammon But happy are those children who refuse so to do and can stand vp vvith their father Abraham lifting vp his hand to heauen can say I will not haue so much as the latchet of a shoe from the king of Sodome I will haue nothing by any crooked or indirect meanes out of the hand of Sathan or any of his instruments the buddes of Balak shall not hire me to doe euill neither the wages of iniquitie nor the reward of Sodome for doing good shall euer cleaue to my hands I will looke for my portion from the Lord. Againe seeing God is the giuer of all things let vs learne with the Apostle in whatsoeuer state we are to be content remembring that euery mans portion of vvorldly things is measured vnto him from the Lord. We see that a steward in a familie ministers not alike vnto all that are in it the aged and the young the seruant and the Lord receiues not a like portion yet no man gainsayes it and shall vve not reuerence the Lords dispensation who is the great steward of his familie in heauen and earth shall vve murmure against him if he giue Beniamin a double portion and bestow vpon some of his children these worldly things in greater aboundance than he doth vpon others farre be it from vs for he dispenses these