not being able to equalize them in wealth peradventure not descending of so ancient a house as they Tunè Syri Damae aut Dionysi filius audes Dejicere è saxo cives tradere Cadmo It was an old objection in the Satyrist what darest thou being thus and thus descended presume to give judgement upon a man that is better born then thy self yes why not hee is now in Gods place He that lifteth the poore out of the myre and raiseth the beggar out of the dunghil that he may set him with the Princes of his people hath styled him with his name and set him in his room I remember a story in Herodotus of Amasis an Egyptian king who in the beginning of his reign was scorned of his subjects by reason of the basenesse of his parentage which when the king observed he took a golden basen wherein his guests were wont to wash their feet and use to some homely purposes and thereof made an image of one of their Gods and set it in an eminent place of the city which when the Egyptians saw as they were marvellous superstitious they came flocking on heaps unto it and worshipped it Hereupon Amasis calling the people together told them that he was like unto that basen which before was vile and abject yet now was worshipped because of the forme it bare so he though before he was mean and base yet now was to be honoured because he was the king for the persons sake whom he did represent It skilleth not what the Magistrate hath been or what hereafter he may be For the present be thy reputation never so great thou art to honour and reverence him if not for the mans sake yet for Gods sake whose person hee beareth The story of Quintus Fabius is very worthy the noting Quintus Fabius was sent by the Senate of Rome to his sonne who was Consul and resided at that time in Apulia The old man either by reason of his age or to trie his sonnes courage went riding to his sonne which when his sonne observed he sent a Sergeant and commanded him to light and come on foot if he would speak with the Consul The by-standers thought it great arrogancy in the young man to be so bold with his aged father But old Fabius who had experience what it was to be Consul knew well that he did no more then did beseem him experiri volui fili said he satin ' scires Consulem te esse It is not for a Magistrate to debase himself neither is it for others of what reputation soever to equalize themselves with the Judge whom God hath placed over them whom Solomon would have to be feared whom Peter would have to be honoured whom Paul would have to be obeyed not for wrath only but even for conscience sake 10. And this is not only meant of godly and religious Magistrates such as are described by Moses which make Gods law of their privy Counsel and turn not aside to the right hand or to the left but of wicked and ungodly governours too such as are described by Samuel which take mens sons and appoint them to his charets and to be his horsemen and to runne before his charets and take their fields and give them to his servants and their vineyards and give them to his Eunuches The reason is because as well the bad as the good are of God The one he gives in his love the other in his anger He that gave the regiment of a Common-wealth to Caius Caesar a milde and gentle Prince gave it also unto Marius a bloudy Consul He that gave it unto Augustus a myrrour of humanity gave it unto Nero a monster of crudelity He that gave it unto Vespasian gave it unto Domitian He that gave it unto Constantine a religious defender of Christianity gave it unto Julian an author of apostasie saith Austine And be they good or bad we have no commandment from him but parendi patiendi of obeying them when their precepts are not repugnant to Gods statutes and of suffering with patience whatsoever they shall lay upon us It was a worthy saying of the mother of the two Garaes when they kept Sigismond in prison that a crowned king if he were worse then a beast could not be hurt without great injury done to God himself A lesson which she learned from David whose heart smote him when he had cut the the lap of Sauls garment because he was the anointed of the Lord although he himself was before that time anointed to be king over Israel and was without cause hunted by Saul like a Pelican in the wildernesse and an Owle in the desart 11. Then to draw thy sword and to seek perforce to depose such as God hath placed over thee either because they are not sutable to thy affections or not faithful in their places what is it but with the old gyants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight with God with the curre dog to bite at the stone and not regard who casteth it or with the rebellious child to snatch at the rod and never remember who smiteth with it The weapons of a Christian in this case when such a case doth happen must be preces lacrymae prayers that either God would turn the heart of an evil Magistrate or set in his room a man David-like after his own heart and tears for his sinnes which as they are the cause of warre famine pestilence and all other calamities so are they also of wicked and ungodly Magistrates Otherwise they have reason to fear that if God should displace an evil Magistrate hee would set a worse in his room According to that of the old wife of Syracuse who when others prayed for the death of Dionysius the Tyrant she prayed for his long life being sent for by Dionysius and demanded wherein she was beholden unto him that she so devoutly prayed for him in nothing said she am I beholden to thee and yet I have great reason to pray for thee For I remember when I was a young wench there was a cruel tyrant that reigned over us and all of us prayed for his death I as fast as any shortly after he was slain and then came a worse in his room Then we prayed for his death at length he was dispatched Now after both these art thou come and thou art a thousand times worse then all thy predecessours And wl o knowes but when thou art gone God may if it be possible send a worse in thy room This they may justly expect which continue in their sinnes and think by their private endeavours to crosse Gods ordinance Thus much of those duties which are required at the hand of every private man towards the Magistrate 12. My second inference shall touch those duties that are required at the hands of Magistrates in that God hath made them his deputies As God hath
he should rather have runne unto God to have given him thankes for all his benefits but it may be God came in a more terrible manner then he was wont not so the text saith the voice of the Lord came he did but send his voice not his fearefull and terrible which shakes the Wilderness but his mild and gentle voice it came walking it came not running to take vengeance and therefore it must needs be that his guilty conscience made him afraid Cain after he had murthered his innocent brother howsoever he could prettily excuse the matter unto God telling him that he was not his Brothers keeper yet had he an inward accuser which laid the murther so hard unto his charge that he was enforced to confess the fact and desperately to cry out my sinnes are greater then can be pardoned Jacobs sonnes when they sold their Brother Joseph were never troubled in conscience for it but many yeares after upon their trouble in Egypt their consciences were awaked Gen. 42. 21. They said one unto another wee have verily sinned against our Brother in that wee saw the anguish of his soule when besought us and we would not heare him therefore is this trouble come upon us Ahab was one that sold himselfe to worke wickednesse that provoked the God of Heaven to anger more then all the Kings that were before him then Baasha then Omri then Jeroboam the sonne of Nebat that made Israel to sinne this wicked King hearing from the mouth of a poore Prophet who a little before fled out of the Country for saving his life those fearful judgements that God would bring upon his house was smitten in conscience and rent his cloathes and put sackcloath upon him and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went bare footed 1 King 21. 2. the Scribes and Pharises brought a woman that was taken in adulterie to Christ desirous to know his opinion but to no other end save only to tempt him our Saviour made no particular enumeration of their sinnes but only wrote with his finger upon the ground adding these words He that is without sin amongst you let him cast the first stone at her What followed when they heard it being accused by their owne consciences they went out one by one beginning at the eldest even to the least there was never a greater contemner of God then was Caligula never man burst out into more outragious sins then he he was one of those fools that say in their heart their is no God yet none so fearfull as he when he saw any signes of Gods judgements insomuch that when it thundred he was wont to hide himselfe under his bed his guilty conscience made him feare that God whom of purpose he studyed to contemne 4. I doe not speake this as though I were of opinion that all men were alike touched with a feeling of their sinnes I know there is great difference between the sons of God and the sons of Belial when they have sinned between such as sin of infirmitie and such as by long practise have gotten an habit Sin is to the Children of God asit it were a thorne in their sides and a prick in their eyes they feel it at the very first yea and that most grievously too but thewicked which sinne with a high hand have so overcharged their conscciences that they are benummed and past feeling as the Apostle speakes Eph. 4. 19. such have their consciences burned as it were with a hot Iron as he elswhere saith meaning that they are so dulled and hardened by custome that they can hardly be brought to any feeling of their sinnes and no marvell for Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati custome of sinning taketh away the feeling of sinne I may compare the conscience of Gods Child to the eye of a needle which streitneth the smallest thred but such as have gotten a custome of sinne their consciences are like to great broad gates at which a loaden Camel may finde easie entrance or it may be likned unto a greene path in soft and marish ground which in the beginning is so soft that a man cannot set his foot upon it but will leave an impression in the ground but in processe of time by continuall passage it is worne unto the gravell and then a loaden Cart will scarce leave any print behind it so like wise the conscience at the first is so soft that the least sinne leaveth a wound and print in it but continuance in sinne weareth it to the gravel and maketh it so hard that the greatest iniquity can scarcely be felt Now the Children of God commonly sinning upon infirmity seldom upon presumption never upon habit after they be effectually called but the wicked adding drunkenness to thirst that is heaping one sinne in the neck of another without entring into a due consideration of their wicked estate it fals out that the ungodly for the most part are not so soone touched with a feeling of their sinnes as are Gods children when they have transgressed Holy David after he had committed adulterie with Bathsheba slept divers moneths in his sinne a thing not so ordinarily befalling the Children of God but he was no sooner rouzed out of this Lethargie by the Prophet Nathan then the prick of sinne did sting him to the heart and made him crie as in Psal 51. Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy great mercies and according to the multitude of thy compassions doe away mine offences One deep calleth upon another the deepnesse of his sinnes calleth for the depth of Gods mercies but Herod had so long enjoyed Herodias his Brothers wife that the preaching of John Baptist a greater man then the Prophet Nathan a Prophet yea and more then a Prophet could not move him from that particular though he disswaded him from other sins to which he was not so much inured The same Prophet David when he had numbred the people a thing of it selfe indifferent if he had taken no pride in the multitude of his Hoast was smitten at the heart and said unto the Lord I have sinned exceedingly in that I have done If his Predecessor Saul had done the like it may be supposed he would have defended the lawfulness of the fact who was so ready to excuse himselfe for keeping the fat Oxen of the Amalekites contrary to Gods commandement Godly Austin in his old age was moved in conscience for the least faults he had committed when he was a Child for playing at the Ball when his Parents had forbidden him for stealing a few wild Peares out of his Neighbours Orchard sinnes which few will remember or if they doe it is onely to brag of them so then it is without question that such as are not inured to any sinn will be sooner moved then those which by long custome have made it naturall unto them but yet none are so wicked though with Ahab they sell themselves to worke wickedness but their consciences will
the ordinarie course and beyond the extent of the statute enacted after mans transgression to say nothing that their change shal be equivalent with death that it may be as great a question whether their bodies be the same which they were before as it was amongst the Athenian Philosophers whether the Ship wherein Theseus sailed to Crete to kill the Minotaure was the same when the decayed parts of the ship were repaired with new planks till at length none of that wood was left that furrowed the Sea between Athens and Creet the rest which are without this compasse have an hour assigned them when they must leave their bodies in the Wilderness but then be carefull of their health use recreation observe dyet seek to the Physitian all these as they will not add one cubit to their stature so can they not add one minut to their appointed time Indeed Hezekiah had fifteen yeers added to his dayes but this was not by the help of man but by his immediate power which turneth man to destruction and again he saith Come again ye sons of Adam and again it was not added to his appointed time for as God is not as man that he should lye so is he not as the son of man that he should repent but it was added to that time wherein by the course of nature the thred of his life should have been broken the thred of nature is tyed to the foot of Jupiters chaire for as it is with the fruits those which are not pulled off the trees when they are ripe will fall themselves so it is in men those that are not by force taken away by the course of nature drop down themselvs that axiom in natural Philosopie is true that every thing is resolved into that whereof it is composed which made Anaxagoras to say when he heard his sonne was dead I knew still that I had begotten a mortall man and Epictetus when walking one day into the fields he saw a woman break an earthen pot at the Well and going abroad the next day he heard some Children weep for their Father that was dead when he came home his speech was this heri vidi fragilem frangi bodie vidi mortalem mori it is no greater matter that a mortall man should dye then that an earthen vessel shall be broken if any man should doubt of the certainty hereof I would say unto him as Bildad said to Iob Inquire I pray thee of the former age and prepare thy self to search of their Fathers for wee are men of yesterday and are ignorant so our dayes on earth are but as a shadow will not they teach and tell thee that all flesh is grasse How many millions have lived before thee and where are they Omnis haec magnis vaga turbaterris Iviâ— ad manes so that I may say with Iâ— know ye nothing have ye not heard it hath it not been told you from the beginning have ye not understood it by the foundations of the earth he sitteth on the circle of the earth and the Inhabitants therof are as grashopers he bringeth the Princes to nothing and maketh the Judges of the earth as vanity as though they were not planted as though they were not sown as though their stock took no root in the earth so he bloweth upon them and they wither and the whirl-wind shall blow them away in stubble Isa 40. Out of which place its plain that as God hath set every man his limits and bounds which he cannot passe which was my first collection out of the second part of my division mine appointed time so it is evident likewise that this time is but short which is my second observation dayes To this purpose it is that Moses saith teach me O lord to number my dayes if he had said moneths they had been but the passing of the sun through a sign or yeares they had been but a few revolutions of the swift running Giant through the Zodiack quickly gone but yet to shew unto us the momentarie shortness of our lives he expresseth them by dayes which if they be naturall they contain but so many turnes of the heavens upon the axeltree of the world or artificial they contain but the remaining of the sun in our Horizon which seemeth to be Davids meaning when he saith that God hath made his dayes as it were a span long a short winter day he makes but a little fragment of a circle and then presently the sun of his life is down as the Lord liveth said he unto Ionathan and as thy soule liveth there is but a step between me and death he meant in that place that he was dayly in danger of his life by reason of Saul which never ceased from persecuting him though there were no persecuting Sauls in the world as there are too many yet with David as many as are sprung from the loyns of Adam have but one step between them and death it is neerer unto them then their clothes on their backs they carrie it about with them in their own bosoms and though it presently get not the masterie yet Serpent like it is still nibling at their heels and will never leave tripping them till it hath brought them to the ground Prima quae vitam dedit hora carpsiâ— The first houre that they began to breath but an inch from the thred of their life if a mans bodie were made of Adamant or steel or brasse the wicked Ethnick needed not to have exclaimed against God that the Raven and the Hart and the Phoenix should live so many ages whereas the life of a man like a Weavers shuttle or swift post is presently gone for though they should come at length to a full point as the flint will at length be broken and brasse and steel cankered and consumed yet they should first passe so many ages that they could not say with Iacob few and evill have our dayes been but alas they are but of a glassie mettall the least fall will crack them they are of potters clay the seast knock will break them so that we may say to death with him in the Tragedy Parce venturis tibi mors paramur Sis licet segnis properamus ipsi Hence it is that mans life is counted as as a buble of the water a vapour a smoak a dream a spaâ—n a tale that is told And are these things so hence then we might first learn not to put our trust and confidence in man as though he were able to prolong our dayes for let him be as tall as the sons of Anak or mightier then Og king of Basan whose bed was of Iron or more terrible then Goliath which so affrayed the Israelites that they durst not come neer unto him yet he cannot deliver his own much lesse thy bodie from the grave or make an agreement unto God for it he is but a man whose breath is in his nostrils
yet is Esau left and the birth-right given to Jacob and that before they were borne when the children were yet unborn when they had neither done good nor evill that the purpose of God might remaine according to election not by works but by him that calleth it was said The elder shall serve the younger as it is written I have loved Jacob c. What will the enemies of Gods grace and good pleasure answer to this Forsooth God in Jacob demonstrates that he makes choise of those whom he foresees worthy of his grace in Esau that he rejects those whom he sees unworthy But why doth he say the children were unborne why adds he that they had neither done good nor evill why is it said that the purpose of God might remaine according to election not by works What wilt thou say to that which followeth What then shall we say saith the Apostle Is there injustice with God God forbid As if he had said although God to those that are equall give things unequall although he deprives Esau of his Birth-right and gives it to Jacob yet God forbid that we should accuse him of injustice seeing his will is the rule of all justice which in the words following hee proves to be the prime cause of election and praeterition therefore saith he It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth c. Again He hath mercie on whom he will c. And O man who art thou that disputest with God Hath not the potter power of the clay c. All that the Potter can do with the clay is to bring an accidentall forme into it the clay he cannot make but God is Author not only of the accidents but of substances too and therefore hath greater power over his creatures then the Potter over his clay Well then if you ask why God conferres a Kingdome upon his Flock of Sheep and not on Goats why he loves Jacob and hates Esau why he pardons Peter and not Judas we all deserving death being plunged over head and eares in the water of corruption thou hast the answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It s our fathers pleasure he will have it so And why will he have it so I answer with Austin Tu homoes expectas responsum a me qui sum homo itaque ambo audiamus dicentem O homo c. Melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia Occulta Jehovae c. Revealed things belong to us and our Children but secret things to God None hath ever pryed into his Ark lived Oculos amittunt qui eos acrius in solem figunt sic nos omne amittemus mentis lumen si eam intendamus in hoc lumen Gods will is the supream cause to aske further is to seeke a cause of that which hath none Now then Compescat se humana temeritas id quod non est non quaerat ne id quod est non inveniat Now humane Scrupulosity must be silent and not search for that that is not least it finde not that that is Let us leave Pelagins and his Bratt Arminius a little and speak closely to the Papist concerning merit of works First Nothing can properly merit the Kingdome of Heaven but that which is absolutely perfect both in respect of parts and degrees if you look for Heaven by merit of works you must with the Sun in the Zodiack keep a precise course under the Ecliptick Line of Gods Law and not divert an haires breadth to the right hand or to the left if thou faile but in the least Iota heare thy doome Cursed is he that continueth not c. He that offendeth in one is guilty of all Jam. 2. Let the Papist with his Forefathers the proud Pharisees boast that he hath been so good a proficient in Gods Schoole tha◠hee hath fulfilled all Gods precepts from his youth an easie matter so to do he can go further and become a transcendent and with the Icarian wings of Supererogatory works soar above the predicaments of the Law and merit the Kingdome of Heaven not for himselfe onely but for others too But for thee beloved Christian if thou be wise confesse with the faithfull in the Prophet Isa 64. That all thy righteousnesse is as filthy clouts with Peter That the Law is a yoake which neither thou nor thy Fathers were ever able to beare Acts 10. With Paul That it is impossible in as much as it is made weak because of the flesh Rom. 8. Say with John If we have no sin c. 1 John 1. And with an ancient Father Multum in hac vita ille profecit qui quam longe sit a perfectione justitiae proficiendo cognovit It s an easie matter I confesse for an idle Fryar who with the Spider spins his Web out of his owne bowels and spends his whole time in making of Sophismes against the truth as Chrysippus did in making of Fallacies and measures God by himself as Praxiteles painted Venus like his owne Wise to say somewhat for salvation by works but he that will look upward to Heaven and consider the Almighty as he is described in his word at whose brightnesse the Starrs of Heaven are darkned by whose power the earth is shaken at whose anger the mountaines are melted at the presence of whose purity all things seem impure who maketh not the wicked innocent who is a burning and a consuming fire let him sit on the bench of judgment and sift and boult our works in the Sieve of his justice let him try them who looks not on the outward appearance of man but enters into his heart and searcheth every corner thereof and like a curious Critick spells every syllable of our thoughts long before they be conceived and who can abide his judgment Who then dare to boast of his owne righteousnesse or challenge the Kingdome of Heaven by his good deeds Behold saith Job he found no stedfastnesse in his Saints and layd folly upon his Angels how much more on them which dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust Job 4. 18. And againe Behold he found no stedfastnesse in his Saints and the Heavens are impure in his sight How much more is man abominable and filthy which drinketh iniquity like water Job 15. 15 16. Hither hither let us lift up our eyes and all boasting of our owne righteousnesse will vanish away as the morning dew at the heat of the Sun it will make us say with Austin God brings us to eternall life not for our owne merits but for his mercy With Bernard Meritum nostrum miseratio Domini VVith Job We are not able to answer him one for a thousand And with David Enter not into Judgement with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Secondly But Dato non concesso suppose that which shall never be granted that thou couldst say truly with Saul and the Pharisee I have
giving Sentence or if Sentence be given from executing of Judgment or if Judgment be already begun from further proceeding Take one or two examples Psal 106. They joyned themselves to Baalpeor and ate the Offerings of the dead they provoked him to anger with their own inventions and the Plague brake in amongst them but when Phineas stood up executed Judgment the Plague was staied and the Lord said unto Moses Phineas the Son of Eliazer the Son of Aaron the Priest hath turned away mine anger because he was jealous for his God and hath made an Attonement for the Children of Israel Numb 25. For Achans sin God substracteth his helping hand from the Israelites they flee at the sound of Leafe shaken and turn their backs upon their Enemies the sinner is put to death and the Lord turneth from his fierce wrath See Jos 7. for Sauls bloody house and cruelty against the Gibeonites God sends cleanness of teeth in all the Cities and scarcity of Bread in all the Villages of Israel when Judgment is executed God is appeased with the Land See 2 Sam. 21. But till judgement be executed upon Sauls bloody Family let David do what he can the Lord will not be appeased toward the Land Till Achan be stoned let Joshuah and all the Elders of Israel rent their Clothes and put dust upon their heads and fall down and pray before the Ark the Lord will not turn from his fierce wrath Till Phineas execute Judgment thongh Moses and all the Congregation of Israel weep before the Door of the Tabernacle the Plague shall continue If a Land be defiled with blood do what otherwise may be done it will not be cleansed but by the blood of him that shed it Numb 25. 23. Thus then when the Gods of the Earth execute Judgment upon the transgressours of the Law they give an inhibition to the God of Heaven from further proceeding Hence be these and the like speeches so frequent in Charges given in the Law to Magistrates for punishing Offenders so shalt thou take evill away forth of the mids of thee Deut. 13. Deut 19. and in other places what evill not only malum culpae but that which is a consequent and fruit of it malum paenae too as is plain Deut. 13. 17. that the Lord may turn from his fierce wrath and shew compassion upon thee On the other side where they suffer the sword of Justice to rust and canker in the Scabberd and suffer their Inferiours as if they lived in an Anarchie to do what they lust and let the Reines loose to all licentiousnesse ut cum carceribus sese effudêre quadrigae fertur equis auriga as if there were no providence in the Almighty Then the Lord who is jealous of his honour and abhors all irregular motions awakes as one out of sleep and as a Giant refreshed with wine he unsheatheth his glittering Sword and executes vengeance both upon Prince and People and unlesse repentance follow turnes them to a perpetuall shame whereof you have many examples in the Book of Judges to which David alludeth Psal 106. The wrath of the Lord was kindled against his people insomuch that he abhorred his owne Inheritance and gave them over into the hands of the Heathen and they that hated them were Lords over them And what a fearfull Judgment did Lot his neglect of executing Judgment bring upon himselfe and Family and upon all Israel of Israel there fell by the hands of the Philistims at two Battels 3400. Hophni and Phineas were both slain with the Sword old Eli at the newes broke his neck his Daughter in Law Phineas his Wife at the hearing thereof was brought to Bed before her time and died and which had never before happened as she complained at her Death the glory departed from Israel and the Ark of God was taken This heavy curse came upon Eli and upon his house and upon all Israel for not executing of Judgment upon such as by their sinnes had kindled Gods wrath and through the whole Book of Judges how many Plagues are executed upon Israel for this sin this is meant by that which is so often repeated in that Book In those daies there was no King in Israel Judg. 17. 6. 18. 1. 21. 25. that is no ordinary Magistrate to inflict condigne punishment upon notorious Offenders As there is a neglect in executing Judgment in matters criminall So I feare in administration of Justice in matters civill Where if it be true which is commonly spoken too many frustratory and venatory delaies as Bernard calls them are used it s a generall complaint amongst those that have Law suits that expedition is a Court-Lady so nice and dainty that a common person shall hardly be able to speak with her yea that men of good rank must wait long and woe much and make Freinds and send love tokens some peradventure as costly as she used to take who gave occasion of the Proverb Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum before he can see her Face or injoy her favour thus it is with him that beginnes a Suit in any Court of Justice whether ecclesiasticall or civill I call them both so because they both should be so as with him that ventures upon the Ocean Caelum undiqueet undique pontus or with one that enters into a maze where he finds it an easie entry Sed revocare gradum hoc opus hic labor est He that is to contend with a potent and contentious adversary must as he that undertakes voyage to the East-Indies furnish himself before hand with 2. or 3. yeares provision at the least or he shall be â—nforced to put on shore for new supply before he shal be able to discover the Cape of good hope the Medicine proves worse then the Disease insomuch that if a man shall in the end prevaile against his Adversary he may peradventure give the same answer to his Neighbours that rejoyce for his successe that Pyrrhus gave his friends who came to congratulate with him after a great Victory he had got over the Romanes but with much blood-shed and losse of his best Souldiers and Captaines yea quoth he but if I shall get such another Victory I shall be for ever undone This makes some willing rather to part with their own Right then to buy it at so high a rate in those places ubi major erit expensarum sumptus quam sententiae fructus as one complained of the Popes Court. I do not I cannot I will not lay the blame upon the reverend Judges who sit to heare and determine Causes in their severall Courts the Causes that come before them are many and as in all other things so especially in matters of Judicature it s almost impossible in a short time to do much and all well Veritas latet in abdito profundo as Democritus said Truth lies hid in the bottome of a deep and dark pit they must delve and digge and seek
though thou be as Purple which is twice dyed to wit in the Wooll and in the Cloth Though thou be dyed in the Wooll the first lineaments of nature with original dâ—pravation and in the Cloth after thy natural perfection with actual transgression yet he will make thee as white as the snow in Salmon he will binde all thy sins in a bundle and cast them into the bottom of the Sea he will nail them unto his Sons Crosse he will remove them as far from thee as the East is from the West or the North distant from the South No man ever begged an alms at Gods hand in faith and returned empty Heaven gates are never shut when penitent sinners knock there is a Master of requests in that Court which is more ready to prefer thy Petition unto God then thou canst be to request his help and will he which for ten mens sake would have spared Sodom and for one mans sake have passed by the crimson sins of Jerusalem who was moved with compassion at the hypocritical repentance of wicked Ahab and revoked his Sentence at the counterfeit humiliation of proud Niniveh stop his ears at the petition of any penitent sinner doubt not but he will hear thy petition and give his royal assent to that thou desirest though thou canst but with David roar and not speak or with the poor Publican utter a short and abrupt speech O Lord be merciful unto me a sinner c. or with Hezekiah chatter like a crane and mourn like a Dove Oh then flee unto him as a Dove unto the Windows hide thy self in the holes of the true Rock put thy finger in Christs side there thou shalt finde both Oyl to soften and Wine to cure thy festered soul cry mightily to God with Niniveh say with David I have sinned mourn with Hezekiah weep bitterly with Peter fall down at Jesus his feet with Mary Magdalen say with blinde Bartimaeus in the Gospel O Son of David have mercy upon me And doubt not but God will be mercifull unto thy sinnes and make his favourable countenance shine upon thee Again is Gods mercy such that hee will spare the wicked for the righteous sake Here then yee sonnes of Belial may learne this lesson to spare the righteous for the wickeds sake I mean to cherish and to make much of all those that fear the Lord if for no other reason yet even for this because such men are often times a means to keep away Gods judgements from the evill doers the chaffe shall not be burned as long as it is mingled with the wheat Plutâ—rch saith that in the sacking of Cities such houses as were erected near unto a Temple of any of the heathen Gods were untouched when the rest were overthrowne by the enemy as long as a sinner standeth near unto a Temple of the living God he needeth not feare an overthrow God could do no hurt unto the Sodomites as long as just Lot was in their company as he blessed the house of Obed Edom and all that hee had because of the Ark that was with him so the blessings that fall upon the wicked mans head are because of the godly with whom he dwelleth it was the encouragement that Casan gave unto the Boatman when his Boat was almost over-whelmed by the violence of the waves in the river Anius that hee should not fear because Caesar was in his company And the best encouragement that can be given to the wicked in the time of danger is that some good man is in their company then they may say as Michah said when he had hyred a Levite to be his Priest now I know that the Lord will be good unto me seeing a Levite a man that feareth the Lord is with me and therefore at the least in this one point let them resemble the just man which maketh much of them that fear the Lord Psal 15. because they are as it were Bucklers to keep away the force of the blow and with faithfull Moses they stand in the gappe to turn away his wrathfull indignation lest it should destroy them But if they seek as the custome of so many is by all means possible to destroy them to trample them in the dust and as much as in them lieth to root them out of the land of the living that they may have none to controle them for their unlawfull deeds then they do their best to cut asunder the thread that keepeth up the sword of vengeance or Sampson like to pull downe the pillers upon which their house standeth and so to bring all down upon their heads Again is God so slow to anger so unwilling to revenge had he rather save one righteous man then punish a whole City of such as sinne against him Where be the gallants of our dayes who will not brook the least offence offered against them Nothing shall wash it away but the peccants Blood it is a disgrace unto me an ignominy unto my whole kinred is that a disgrace in thee which is an honour in God For thy kinred I little account of it If thou canst draw it from the loynes of Adam thou gettest nothing there but shame unlesse thou canst step a foot higher as Luke doth in the Genealogy of Joseph and say that Alam was the Sonne of God if thou wouldest be counted the Sonne of God tread in his steps walk as thou hast him for an example Be thou mercifull as thy Father which is in Heaven is mercifull For so doing thou shewest thy self to be a sparkle derived from that infinite flame a droppe taken from that bottomlesse Ocean it is remarkable which one observeth that God hath given unto Beasts both weapons of defence and offence the Lyon hath his Pawes the Oxe Horns the Boar Tusks the Serpent his Sting the Birds Clawes the Fishes Scales the very Hedge-hog is not without his Pricks But man the excellency of his dignity and the excellency of his power as Jacob speaks of Reuben he brings into the world smooth and naked in token that hee should be like unto him soft to anger slow to revenge Esau that was borne red and rough God disinherited as a Monster and no true Child of his but smooth Jacob hee acknowledged to be his Sonne The child of wrath is no Sonne unto the God of mercy How often doest thou sinne against thy God By thy blasphemous oathes thou tearest him by thy hypocriticall holinesse thou mockest him by thy uncleannesse thou pollutest him by thy arrogant pride thou disdainest him and spittest in his face The least trespasse that thou committest against him is no lesse then treason against his royall person and doth God for every offence un-shâ—ath his sword against thee Si quoties peccant homines sua fulmina mittat Jupiter c. If God should in judgement punish every sinne upon the offendor where should wretched man be now
sinnes as are most pleasant unto man are most unpleasant in the sight of God It will not stick charitably to censure others but it makes a man most sharp in censuring and condemning his owne sinnes it resteth not contented with any one degree of perfection but forgetteth that which is behind endeavoureth to obtain that which is before and followeth hard toward the marke for the price of the calling of God in Christ Jesus Beloved in our best beloved Jesus Christ doe you all desire to be fully assuâ—ed that you are of that little number whose names are written in the booke of life I know you desire it for alas what comfort can a man have in this life though he should be Monarch of the whole World and to have Kings to lay their crownes before his footstoole if he doubt what shall become of his owne soule that of the heathen Emperour animula vagula blandula quae nunc abibis in locis c. Though it be allowed by popish Divinity 't will be but a cold comfort to a Christian on his death bed he shall never come in Heaven that is not perfect of the way before he goe hence This is the best marke whereby you may assure your selves that ye are already in the high way even your sanctification Oh then be not as too many are like painted tombes guilded without rotten within tippe not your tongues with godlinesse when your soules are full of gall and bitternes Beare not Bibles in your hands and Mammon in your hearts Let the remembrance of this that holinesse of life is the cognisance of every true member of Christs Church be as it were a knife to cut asunder the cords of vanitie wherewith Satan strives to strangle you or to draw you headlong into hell and dâ—struction Let it be as a spurre to prick you forward in the course of idlenesse assuredly howsoever my words may now passe away as a wind and not sinke into the hearts of many that shall heare them yet Cum volat ille dies c. When those muddie walles are readie to fall and fall they must for all your daubing there cannot a greater terrour befall you consciences to make you feare that you are but rotten members at the best of Christs Church then the remembrance of an evill life nor on the other side can there a greater comfort betide you when your pitchers are ready to be broken at the cistern then to assure your selves by your lives past abounding with good workes which are the fruits of a justifying faith that you are amongst those that God hath adopted to be his children For then you may goe with greater desireâ— to your graves then a weary pilgrim unto his bed assuring your soules that your soules should be transported into Abrahams bosome there to raigne with the holy Angels into eternall happiness for ever more The second proposition followeth no particular place is so priviledged but that it may revolt and fall from God If eveâ— Citie that was seated under the cope of Heaven had a Pattent from the God of Heaven for her perseverance in religion it was Jerusalem for as of all the countries in the world he chose Judea so of all the Cities of Judea he preferred Jerusalem Sometimes his tabernacle was placed in Shilo but this he disliked and remooved unto Jerusalem as the only place which he had picked and culled out of all others to set his name there according to that of the Prophet He refused the Tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the Tribe of Ephraim but he chose the Tribe of Judah even the hill of Sion which he loved and there he builded his Sanctuarie as an high palace like the earth which he stablished for ever Psal 78. 67 68 69. This he made a seate for himselfe an holy place for the Tabernacle of the most highest Here was a Temple for the Lord an habitation for the mightie God of Jacob those that shall but sleightly peruse the grants and priviledges which God had promised this one City will thinke that it had been as impossible for her to fall away as for the Sunne to be darkned in the midst of heaven The hill of Sion is a faire place even the joy of the whole earth upon the North side lieth the citie of the great King God is well knowne in her palaces as a sure refuge Ierusalem have I chosen out of the tribes of Israel to put my name in it for ever 2 King 21. 7. The Lord hath chosen Sion to bee an habitation for himselfe he hath longed for her saying this shall be my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have a delight therein Here was the seate of judgement even the seat of the house of David To whom the Lord had sworn by his holinesse that his seed should endure forever and his seate should be as the sunne before him that he should stand fast for evermore as the Moone and the faithfull witnesse in heaven Psal 89. When the Israelites were yet in the Wilderness God told them by his Servant Moses that he had appointed them a place in the in the Land of Canaan where they should all meet out of their severall tribes and towns to offer their first fruits and to sacrifice unto the Lord You shall seeke the place which the Lord your God shall chuse out of all your tribes to put his name there and thither you shall come and bring your burnt offrings and your sacrifices and yous tithes and the offrings of your hands and your vowes c. And there yee shall offer before the Lord. Deut. 12. This was Jerusalem for thither the tribes came up even the tribes of the Lord to testifie unto Israel and to give thankes unto the name of the Lord. Psal 122. Moreover he was there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their chiefe Councell or high Commission consisting of the King and Princes of the people to wit the chiefe of every tribe and of seventie Elders and of the high Priest with the Doctors of Law in which all matters of greater moment were concluded and unto which as unto the Oracles of God in difficult points which could not be decided by Judges of particular Townes and Cities they were to have recourse for the full determination thereof according to that of the Prophet If there rise a matter too hard for thee to judge betweene blood and blood betweene plea and plea betweene plague and plague in the matters of controversie within thy gates then shalt thou arise and goe up unto the place which the the Lord thy God shall chuse and thou shalt come unto the Priests of the Levites and unto the Iudge that shall be in those dayes and aske and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgement and thou shalt doe according to that thing which they of that place which the Lord hath chosen shall shew thee and thou shalt observe
be afraid to commit any sinne so that he may be rewarded for his pains And how can it be otherwise for hee is like an hunger-starved man which will do any thing so that he may satiate his appetite Covetousnesse like the pit of hell is never satisfied and like the barren wombe it never saith I have enough Quo plus sunt potae plus sitiuntur aquae the more bloud the two daughters of the horsleech shall suck the more eagerly they cry out give give This barren and dâ—y earth is never satisfied with water nec sitim pellit nisi causa morbi Nothing will content this dropsie but that which more augmenteth the disease as nothing wil satisfie the fire but that which more augmenteth the flame He is like unto him that hath the Caninus appetitus the more he eateth the more he hungreth Some Physitians say that gold is good for him that is in a consumption but I never read that it is good against a surfeit But experience proves it true that a gold-hungring man doth not onely long for this metall when hee is in a consumption but farre more when he hath taken a surfeit through abundance congesto pauper in auro est The richer the poorer his mind hungereth as much for gold as Dionysius his belly hungred for flesh who used to stand all the day in the shambles quod emere non potuerat oculis devorabat That which he could not buy with his penny he devoured with his eyes And here that comes in my mind which Herodotus recordeth of Alcmaeon the Athenian who because he had kindly entertained the messengers which Croesus sent to the oracle of Delphos Croesus sent for him and offered him asmuch gold as at one time hee could bear out of his treasure house Alcmaeon not a little glad of the offer prepared a large doublet with wide sleeves a paire of breeches reaching down to his heeles both of them fitter for Hercules then for himselfe This done he went to Croesus his coffers and first filled his breeches as full as he could stuffe them then his sleeves and bosome then glued as much as he could to the haires of his head and beard and then lastly stuffed his mouth with as much as he could thrust in it and so with much adoe crept out of the treasure house This sinne as of all men it is to be avoided so especially of magistrates which sit at the stern to direct our ship in this glassie sea and which are the pillars of justice to support her battered fabrick Yee must not give it the least welcome in your hearts but like the wise traveller stoppe your ears at the songs of this Syren and not give it the least attention though it charm never so cunningly You should have eyes like unto Lynceus to dive into the bottome of the most deep and abstruse controversies Now hope of reward blindeth the eyes of the wise so that as a blind man which hath a pearle upon his eyes cannot see his way but stumbleth at every block and falleth headlong into every pit right so if you shall have this rich pearle this pearle of riches before your eyes you can never tread right in the way of truth The eye or any faculty of the sensuall or intellectual part if it be busied about any one object neglecteth the rest and if your eyes be exercised about this object it will make you negligent in publike affaires Intùs apparens prohibet alienum if the species of gold possesse your hearts there will be no room for justice to lodge in them For these two be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non benè conveniunt nec in unâ sede morantur They can no more lodge within the same breast then light with darknesse the arke with Dagon God with Mammon It was Caesars saying borrowed from Euripides in his Phoenissa If justice must be broken it must be for raigning But he might more truly have said for gaining For gold could never away with justice and therefore the Poets faine that when gold first began to be digged out of the earth justice durst tarry no longer but presently fled into heaven Therefore jethro describing the quality of a good judge saith that he must deal justly or truly and then he addes as it were by way of explication for the better understanding of the former word that he must hate covetousnesse as if he had said if he be a covetous and gold-thirsting man he cannot be a true and just dealer And to this purpose David prayeth Psal 119. that the Lord would encline his heart to his testimonies and not to covetousnesse 7. Now as this insatiable desire of gaine is not to sit on the bench with the judge so is it not to plead at the barre with the counsellor which with the key of knowledge is to unlock the secrets of the law and with as skilful and expert hand to untie the knots of hard and difficult questions It will make him Pharisee-like to straine a Gnat and to swallow a Camel to tith the mint and cummin and to let passe judgement and fidelity it will make his tongue play fast and loose with justice at its pleasure A golden key commonly opens a wrong lock Auro loquente nihil pollet quaevis oratio When Pluto speaks Plato may hold his hand on his mouth like Harpocrates the Egyptian God and say nothing It is a great commendation which Tullie gives unto a Lawyer The mouth of a Lawyer is an oracle for the whole city But if this mouth be once corrupted with gold it will prove like the oracle of Delphos of which Demosthenes complained in his time that it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak nothing but what Philip which gave it a fee would have it to say And such an oracle Demosthenes himself sometime proved who being feed to plead a cause and immedatly after receiving a large summe of money of the other party for holding his peace the next day comes into the court in a rugge-gowne having his neck and jawes all muffled with furres and warm cloathes and told the Judges he was troubled with a squinancie that he could not speak Whereupon one that perceived his disease said that it was not a cold but gold that hindered his speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Oxe I warrant you was in his tongue The Athenian coyne which was stamped with the forme of an Oxe had bunged up his mouth no marvel if hee was speechlesse 8. But especially this sin is to be avoided of you that are witnesses and jurors which are the one by testifying the other by examining the truth to make a finall decision of controversies If you shall entertain any such thought as to say with Judas What will yee give me yee shall be sure to find some Simon Magus ready to say What shall I give you Falsity and lying have ever been
the Gospel of peace his ministers the Ambassadours of peace his natural Son the Author of peace his adopted sons the children of peace if then ye will be the sons of the most highest your endeavor must be this to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Consider what I say and the Lord give you wisdome and understanding in all things Finally to speake unto all and so to make an end of all seeing that we are all Tenants at will and must be thrust out of the doors of these earthly Tabernacles whensoever it shall please our great landlord to call us hence let us have our loines girt and our lampes continually burning that whensoever the Lord shal call us hence in the evening or in the morning at noon-day or at mid-night he may find us ready Happy is the man whom his Master when he comes shall find watching Let us every day sum up our accounts with God Ita aedificemus quasi semper victuri ita vivamus quasi cras morituri let us build as if we would ever live but let us live as if wee were ever ready to dye Then may every one of us in the integrity of heart and syncerity of conscience when the time of his departing is at hand say with the blessed Apostle If have fought a good fight and have finished my course I have kept the faith from hence forth is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Unto this God one eternall omnipotent and unchangeable Iehovah in essence three persons in manner of subsistence the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all honour and glory power might and majestie both now and forever more Amen Galathians 3. 10. As many as are of the workes of the Law are under the Cuurse for it is written cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to do them IN which words observe two things 1. A Doctrine 2. A Reason of the doctrine in the former part the reason in the latter I have spoken of the doctrine I purpose now to speake only of the reason for it is written c. wherein observe three things 1. It is to no purpose to begin a good course of life unlesse thou hold it out and continue till the end 2. It s not enough for a Christian to performe obedience to some of Gods precepts and to bear with himself wilfully in the breach of others Cursed is he that continueth not in all 3. That the rule of our obedience is no unwritten tradition but the written Word of God that are written in the booke of the Law But before I speak of these I gather from the connexion this conclusion That no man can in this life perfectly fulfill the Will of God it followeth thus because as it is written Cursed c. So it is written This doe and thou shalt live and the man that doth these things shall live in them So that the Apostle takes this for granted or else his argument is of no force this is evidently confirmed by many places of Scripture 1 Kings 8. 49. Eccles 7. 22. Psal 143. 2. Isa 64. 6. Acts. 15. 10. Acts. 13. 39. 1 Ioh. 1. 8. 2. It is confirmed by reason the first is drawn from the corruption of nature which is in the best Christians from which wee may thus argue he that consisteth of flesh as well as of Spirit cannoâ— fulfill the Law no not in his best actions but the best Christian that ever lived consisteth of flesh as wel as of Spirit therfore he cannot fulfill the law The minor hath been formerly proved The Major is plaine for as he is carnall he is sold under sinne The wisdome thereof is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Thus it is proved from the the death of Christ for if righteousnesse be by the workes of the Law then Christ dyed without a cause Gal. 3. 21. and if they which are of the law be heires then saith is made void and the promise is made of no effect Rom. 4. 14. for he came to fulfill the law Matth. 5. 17. which was impossible to be fulfilled of us in as much as it was weake because of the flesh Therefore God sent his sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh Rom. 8. 3. But the Romish Sophisters answer that this maketh against the Pelagians which were of opinion that a man might by the strength of nature fulfill the law not against them which hold that this abilitie comes from grace and that the good workes of a Christian proceed from Christ as the juice in the branches proceedeth from the Vine To this I answer 1. That neither the Pelagians nor these against whom the Apostle disputeth did altogether exclude grace and therefore if it be strong against them it will be of force against the Papists too 2. Their answer is grounded upon a false supposition as that the works of a Christian doe proceed wholly from Christ for they they doe in part proceed from the flesh and therefore though as they are the workes of the holy Ghost who applieth unto the faithfull the force and efficacie of Christs resurrection they be perfect yet in respect of the flesh they be stained and polluted 3. Christ died for us not by any inherent but by his imputed righteousnesse which righteousness is applyed and appropriated unto us principally by the holy Ghost instrumentally by faith whereby wee are incorporate into Christ and so partakers of his righteousnesse wee might be justified I thinke Abraham was as holy a man as Ignatius the father of Jesuits or Dominicus and Franciscus the founders of Friers in whom saith Bellarmine their very adversaries can find nothing that deserveth reprehension praeter nimiam sanctitatem save their too much holiness and yet it was not his good workes but his faith for which he was counted righteous I know that this imputative righteousnesse is counted with them a putative and imaginarie righteousness but herein the injurie is not done unto us but unto him who saith to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Even as David declareth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sinne wee say that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousnesse now it is not written for him only that it was imputed unto him for righteousness but also for us to whom it shal be imputed for righteousnesse c. A third reason to prove that no man can fulfill the Law is because all have need to say forgive us our debts who more excellent amongst the old people saith Austin then the holy Priests and yet the Lord commanded them that
lose the goale of everlasting felicity but a true Christian must be constant in his course he must resemble the sunne which comes forth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to runne his course and yet in one thing he must be unlike the sun he ascendeth above the horizon in the morning and travaileth to the meridian where he sheweth himself in his best strength at noon-day but from that hour he declineth and casteth his beams more and more obliquelie waxing faint by degrees till at length he hide himselfe under the western horizon a Christian must not be like the afternoon sunne he must still strive towards the top of Heaven he must never decline let all the powers of Hell stand in his way they shall never make him runne away perhaps they will beate him downe on his knees but then he fals to prayer if they bring him to the ground then he is humbled and so Antaeus like stronger then he was before perhaps they may violenly drive him backwards but yet he will strive against them and passe through the midst of them as our Saviour passed amongst the Jewes when they would have stoned him dangers before him honors and worldly preferments behind him riches on the right hand pleasures on the left hand all these shall not make him discontinue his course but with greater speed to flie towards Heaven as a Dove into the window he must keep a streight course like the two kine that carried the Arke from Ekron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left Thus have we seen what a danger it is for a man to fall into such sinnes as he hath once left to drinke the deadly poyson of iniquitie after he hath once been recovered to runne into the danger of his spirituall enemies after he hath been once cured of his wounds that were inflicted upon him it may here be demanded whether a man relapsing into sinne may repent and so be again received into Gods favour Montanus the Heretick denied all hope of salvation after a relapse This Heresie was by the Novatians who for their uprightness did proudly tearm themselves Cathari Puritans The Donatists who were the right Cathari because they deemed their Church love without spot or wrinkle refused to communicate with such as they suspected to be polluted with any sinne Tertullian who was much addicted to the heresies of the Montanists insomuch that in his old age he became a Montanist granteth that a man may once repent after a relapse but no more then once And of this opinion saith B. Rhenanus were many old writers and amongst others St. Austin but Austin meaneth only that publick repentance which he calleth humilima poenitentia and Lombard and the school-men tearm poenitentia solennis which was imposed onely for such grievous offences as whereby a Citie or Common-Wealth was greatlie scandalized And the reason why it was but once granted by the Church was lest the medicine being made too common should lesse profit the sick as Austin speaks in an Epistle written to Macedonius in which Epistle he plainly averreth that a sinner relapsing after this solemne repentance and afterward repenting of his fall may obtaine a pardon at the hands of God But wee have a better witnesse of this point then Austin even God that cannot lye who by the mouth of his Prophet hath promised that Whensoever the wicked turneth from his wickednesse that he hath done and shall doe that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soule and live And therefore be not dismaied thou faint and drooping soul which hast fallen into such sinnes as were somtimes hateful in thine eyes It may be that Sathan will object the place of the Apostle before cited if wee sinne willingly c. for answer whereof thou must know that the Apostle speaketh not of every kind of backsliding But First Of that which is committed with a full consent of the Will if wee sinne willingly and this the child of God after his conversion can never commit because he is partly flesh and partly Spirit so that though the carnall part be still ready to draw him unto most hainous and grosse sinnes yet the Spirit is at his elbow ready to pull him back againe it is unto him as the Angel was to John when he was ready to worship him see thou doe it not said the Angel see thou doe it not said the Spirit or as Abigail was to David who met him in the way as he was going to kill Naball and disswaded him from that bloodie fact and though it doe not still prevaile by reason that the flesh is like an headstrong horse that can hardly be curbed yet it prevaileth thus farre that the Will giveth not his absolute consent to the committing of such sinnes and again the Apostle meaneth not every sinne wherein the Will yeildeth his full assent for without doubt the elect before their conversion fall into such sinnes but of a generall malicious and purposed revolting from the knowne truth and a proud and scornsul rejecting of the blood of Christ once offered for sinne such as was in Julian who first professed Christianitie but afterward became a most bloodie Persecutor of Christians even till his last gaspe so that when he was deadlie wounded with an Arrow and ready to yield up the Ghost he thrust his hand into the wound and threw his blood into the aire crying blasphemously against the Sonne of God Vicisti Galilee O Galilean thou hast overcome So that this place is understood of sin against the holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come of which also the Apostle speaketh Heb. 6. 4 5. 6. it is impossible that they which were once lightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost if they fall away shall be renewed by repentance In which places if every relapse were understood then who should be saved for the dearest of Gods Children have sliden backwards after their conversion Lot into incest Noah into drunkennesse David to murther and adulterie Solomon to Idolatrie Peter to forswearing his Lord and Master 2. The consideration whereof made Constantine bid Acesius a Novatian Bishop who refused to communicate with such as had fallen after baptisme set a ladder for himselfe to climbe into Heaven noting his intollerable pride as if he and his followers had guided their feet so well that they had never slid after baptisme It is very dangerous to commit such sinnes as have been once left and forsaken as hath been already proved but yet Gods Children have no particular priviledge For First their inbreâ—d corruption though it be quelled yet it is not killed And therefoâ—e it is still ready to give them the foile and carrie them captives to the Law of sin again the causes remain which may move God to give over his Children a little unto themselves and
and lusts of the flesh as the Hebrews by little and little rooted out the Cananites it seeketh to represse this rebellion as David did the plots of his son Absalom Experience we have in the main pillars of the spirituall Temple David a man after Gods owne heart so moved at the prosperity of the wicked that he begins to say that certainly he hath cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in innocencie there is a carnall David which make his feet almost to goe and his steps well-nigh to slip but when he goeth in the Sanctuarie of God then he understandeth the end of these men there is spirituall David which makes him condemn his former thoughts and speeches so foolish was I and ignorant even as it were of a Beast before thee Peter who sometime was so confident as to continue true unto his Master that he made protestation that if all should deny him yet he would never doe it presently after he begins to follow afarre off and anon after the rock of Peters faith is so shaken with the voice of a damosel that he begins to curse and sweare that he never knew him but presently again at the crowing of a Cock the spirit is awakened and goes about to take some avengement of the flesh he went out and wept bitterly who more strong in the spirit then Paul was in zeale fervent in labours abundant in nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles and yet he hath given him a prick in the flesh the Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which makes him say when he would doe good evill is present with him and that he finds a Law in his Members rebelling against the law of the mind and carrying him captive to the law of sinne and good reason it should be so for if the spirit should so domineer over the flesh then there were no resistance and reluctation then would we not have an earnest and longing desire to be out of this world we would not with the faithfully say Come Lord Jesus come quickly we would not desire to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven but would say as Peter did Master it is good for us to be here To end then that wee should long after our future perfection when corruption shall put on incorruption and mortallity shall be swallowed up of immortallity we find this conflict in our own bowels that we may be wearie of this present state and say as Rebecca did when Esau and Iacob strugled in her womb if it be so why am I thus Only here is our comfort that though the flesh be still lusting against the spirit and we have more flesh then spirit for flesh is like to Goliath the spirit is like to little David yet the spirit shall be in the end sure to prevaile as David prevailed against Goliath for though it be little in quantity yet it is fuller of activity as a little fire hath more action though lesse resistance then much earth for it fareth with these two as with the house of Saul and David the spirit like the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger but the flesh like the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker it is with them as it was with John Baptist and Christ I must decrease saith John but he must increase the flesh which like John is before it must decrease but the spirit which like Christ comes after whose shoe latchet the flesh is not worthy to loose it must grow and increase and this is plain and of this place for whereas the flesh objecteth that man is sick and perisheth and where is he and again If a man dye shall he live again the Spirit replyeth and puts the flesh to silence All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come Is it true beloved Christians That the Children of God yea even in such as have obtained the greatest perfection that a meer man hath obtained in this life there is reluctation between the flesh and the spirit Oh then let as many of us as long after life and desire to see good daies even life everlasting and daies which never shall have an end Let us I say labour to subdue this Rebel and bring it into subjection to the Spirit for it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh will profit nothing The flesh is like Caligula who as Tacitus saith of him was a good servant but an ill master It will be a good servant if we keep it in subjection to the spirit but it will be an exceeding bad master if it once get the upper hand and it will use the spirit as the Scythians servants dealt with their masters who when their masters had for many years warred in the Southern parts of Europe and Asia in the mean time married their wives and got possession of whatsoever they had and therefore we must use it as these Scythians used their servants who when they could not prevail against them with open war at length handled them like servants and slaves took rods and beat them and so recovered their ancient possessions We must not proceed against the flesh as against an equal enemy but we must use rods and scourges we must chasten and correct it and so bring it again in subjection to its lawful commander It is like the dumb divel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting we must implore the assistance of Gods spirit being of our selves unable that we may be strengthened and enabled to overcome it we must by fasting withdraw its food wherewith it is nourished I do not mean only our meat and drink but all worldly delight and enticing allurements to sin wanton and idle spectacles they be food of our carnal eyes these we must withdraw away and with Job Make a covenant with our eyes that we will not look upon wantonness foolish and undecent speeches be the delight of the tongue those we must remove away and pray with David Set a watch O Lord before our mouthes and keep the dore of our lips In a word whatsoever will be an incitement to sin and is like to strike fire in the tinder of our corrupt affections that must be debarred and kept from them Let us then use the flesh as the enemy useth a besieged City observe and watch the by-wayes that there be no intercourse or secret compact between it and Sathan that there be no provision carried by Sathan and his vassals into it that so it may be inforced to yeild it self or as the Hunters use Mole and Foxes in the earth stop the passages that through hunger it may be at last inforced to come out and leave its habitation otherwise if by excessive eating and drinking we nourish it if by gorgeous and costly attire wee deck it if by epicureous and voluptuous delights wee pamper it what doe we but arme our enemies against us and
presseth the Lord with his sinnes as a Cart is pressed with Sheaves is a filthy Swine and none of CHRISTS Flock The backsliding Hypocrite that like Nebuchadnezzars Image hath â— head of Gold and feet of Clâ—y a good beginning and a bad ending that with Mâ—â—diabilis first offers a golden then a silver then a leaden Sacrifice and with the Gallathians begins in the spirit and ends in the flesh is an unclean Dog licking up his own Vomit and none of Christs Flock the oppressing Land-lord that wringeth and squeezeth his Tenant like a spunge and eates up their guts and puls the skin from the flesh and the flesh from the bones as the Prophet speaketh is a ravenous Wolfe and none of Christs Flock The unjust Magistrate that sitteth to judge according to the law and commandeth to smite contrary to the Law and maketh his place a Monopoly for himselfe is a wilie Fox and none of Christs Flock The deceitfull Lawyer that hides the weakness of his Clyents Cause as the Panther doth the deformity of his head when he would allure other Beasts to follow him is a deceitfull Leopard and none of Christs Flock The Priest and Jesuite that barbours in every quarter of our Land like the Egyptian Frogs and goeth about to poyson the hearts of Christs Sheep with the inchanted cups of the Italian Circe is a venamous Toade and none of Christs Flock All those we wish to be removed and seperated from this little Flock into their own proper Elements The Sow to the Mâ—re the Dog to his Kennell the Wolfe to his Den the Fox to his Earth the Leopard to the Wildernesse the Toade to the stinking Italian Fennes where they be bred And I pray God that you R. H. and others like unto you I mean zealous godly and watchfull Shepheards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might deal with as many of these as are incurable and incorrigible as our Saviour dealt with the Gaderens Swine when they were possessed with Devils Drive them into the Sea that they might be choaked in the waters or as the Legend fables Saint Patrick delt with the Irish Toades or as the Welchmen used the English Wolves root them out that there might not one be left alive to worry the tender Lambs of this little Flock Give me leave in handling the first Point to touch two or three propertyes of a Sheep wherein every man must study to resemble her that will acknowledge Christ for his Shepheard 1. She is Sincerum simplex Sine fraude pecus Simple without all guile and dissimulation 2. Meek without all harme or offence 3. Patient without all desire of revenge Concerning the first We must have this Sheep-like simplicity and that in heart in word in deed we must be plain and simple of heart so we must be wise as Serpents but simple as Doves Matth 10. 16. Plain and simple in speech for we must cast off lying and speak every man the truth unto his Neighbour Ephe. 4. 25. Plain and simple indeed for he that doth uprightly and worketh righteousnesse shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle Psal 15. 1 2. But alas where is that Sheep-like simplicity that should be amongst us where is that true Nathaniell that true Israelite in whom is no guile So far hath deceitful hypocrisie prevailed in mens hearts that amongst all vocation â— in Court and in Country in Church and in Common-Wealth dssimulation is now counted a great part of policy and it is grown a common Proverbe in our mouths but much more in our practise Qui nescit dissimulare nescit vivere And this sheep-like simplicity is contemned and condemned for meer folly and brutish stupidity in so much that a sheep a simple man and a foole are become Symonyma all one in signification to cog to cloak to fawne to flatter to speak what thou never thinkest and think what thou never speakest Oh these are high points of wisdome And as under the fayrest flowers and greenest grass lye the most poysonful serpents so oftentimes under the fairest and sweetest tongues the most poysonful and deceitful hearts Briefly men so live as if our Saviour had not given this Commandement Be wise as Serpents and simple as Doves but Be wise as Doves and simple as Serpents They resemble the Dove and the Serpent too but in contrary qualities the Dove in knowledge the Serpent in simplicity for knowledge I mean saving knowledg it is as far from them as the Dove is from being a great States-man or wise Politician and for plain and honest simplicity it is as proper unto them as it is to the wilie and winding Serpent so that it is plain there is no truth in their hearts and â—eynes Now if the fountaine be polluted is it likely that the streame will be cleane If the root be bitter will the fruit be sweet If the house be full of smoak will the chimney be faire without I the Clock be out of tune below will the Bell strike right above If the heart be full of deceit and hypocrisie will there be truth in our words Surely no For of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And no marvail therefore seeing we dissemble with our double hearts if that be true also which immediately goes before They speak deceitfully every one to his neighbour And as simplicity is banished from our hearts and tongues so from our actions as we have double hearts double tongues so we have double hands and love double dealing So that we may cry with David Help Lord for there is not a godly man left the faithfull are minished from amongst the children of men They speak deceitfully every one to his neighbour they do but flatter with their lips and dissemble with their double heart Psal 12. 1 2. And here I could be well contented to break off this point and passe to another without discending to any particulars but that I see two sorts of men so directly in my way that I must needs salute them before I goe both which although they converse and live amongst the Lords sheep yet in nothing save in the outward appearance they resemble sheep Beware of them for they come to you in sheeps Cloathing but inwardly they be ravening wolves Or if they will needs be called sheep I will be so bold as call them as they deserve Rotten sheepe Introrsum turpes speciosus pelle decora their hearts are rotten they are wholly corrupted they have nothing but a faire sheeps-skin to cover and conceale their inward deformities from the eyes of the world The first is he that wears a vizard of Religion the other that under a cloak of Law and consequently of Justice worâ—eth his owne private intendments with the losse and hinderance of other men The fiâ—st shrouds himself under God the second under the King both damnable hypocrites and seeing the Scripture will warrant us to call every hypocrite a Fool we may call the first of these
Gods foole and the second the Kings To speak a little of either of these by themselves the first is our Statute-Proteâ—tant our indifferent Apelles our hollow-hearted Interimist our luke-warm Laodicean which howsoever he make an outward shew and profession of Religion yet he counts no more of it then the Gaderens did of Christ who made more reckoning of their swine then they did of him And this man rather then for Christs cause he should lose a swine hee can be contented that Christ should part out of his Coasts He will make an outward shew to the world as if he did love and reverence the truth he will perform the outward works thereof as farre as the law of man binds him but all without a simple and sincere heart only upon some sinister respects and indifferent considerations As 1. because he will not be singular but desires to live at unity with the people with whom he converseth 2. For feare of humane Laws 3. Religion is to him as a faire Cloak to a beggerly Swaggerer it hides his rotten rags and keeps him from wind and weather 4. Peradventure it serves him as a ladder to advance him unto some preserment and as soon as he hath attained the top of his hopes he cares not though he push it down with his heels Now because he makes no account of Religion but only as an instrument to effect his owne private purposes hereupon it falls out that he is ready to embrace any Religion or no religion as the circumstance of persons time and place shall require For as they fable of the Sea-god called Proteus that he doth always resemble the colour of the Rock upon which he lies or as Glass reflects the visage of him that shall look upon it or as water forms it selfe according to the fashion of the vessel into which it is powred so he is always ready to joyne in profession with them with whom he liveth and converseth the reason in all is the same the Proteus and the Glasse have no perfect colour nor visage of their owne and therefore they reflect the colour and visage of others that are next unto them The water hath no figure of his owne for humidum suis terminis non est terminabile and therefore it applies it selfe to the vessel that contains it And this man hath no Religion of his owne it is enough for him if he have some species and reflection thereof from others By this unstablenesse and mutability of profession may this hypocrite be discerned and distinguished from a true Professour For as wild Apes are catched while they imitate the motions and dancing of men so may this same Ape be catched and disclosed by framing his Religion to the disposition and affection of others For though hee hath no man save himselfe in his Pater Noster yet hee hath every man in his Creed because every mans Creed for the time is his This Countrey is full of this kinde of Vermin I have found it too often amongst the meaner sort and I pray God that all of you that are Gentlemen and of place and authority in the countrey could wash your hands from this sinne I charge no particular I cannot For no man knows the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him Only let me crave leave to propose a few queries and let every man upon the examination of his own heart at his best leasure return an answer Is there any among you any Pharisee that under a colour of long prayers devours widows houses Any Absolom that under pretence of performing a vow practiseth rebellion against his father Any Jezabel that under a colour of executing Judgement sucketh the blood from guiltlesse Naboth If there be as I hope there will a non est inventus returned upon all these Let me go a little further Is there any Ambidexter that can play with both hands Any Satyr that can blow both cold and hot out of the same mouth Any Jew that can swear by God by Malchom Any Assyrian that can serve God and his Idols Is there any that can be contented to hear a Sermon in the Church and to see a Masse at home That yoaketh an Oxe and an Asse in the same Plow and weareth Linnen and Woollen in the same Garment and soweth his field with mingled seeds To speake plain English that hath not Joshuah's resolution I and my house will serve the Lord but comes himselfe to Church leaves his wife to say over her Beads at home and permits to his children and familie greater liberty in their Religion then in their Garments to shape what fashion they like best I pray God there be no such if there be I pray God turn their hearts that there may be no such but those that will maugre what can be said or done unto them continue such and hang like a Thiefe upon a Gibbet between Heaven and Hell God and the Devil the Pope and the King It were to be wished they were handled by the Magistrate as Tullus Fostilius dealt with Motius Suffetius when hee stood indifferently affected between the Romans and the Fidenates or used as Birds use the flying fish because it is a master in the Sea the Dolphin persecutes it there and because it is a master in the Aire the Fowls set upon it there So because they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither Protestants nor Papists it matters not if they were expelled out of both their Elements If not yet let them fear and heare Laodiceas censure Rev. 3. 16. I speak not these things out of any spleen to any particular persons what soever he that knows the thoughts of my heart knows that I lie not my worst wish to any of you is the salvation of his own soule in the day of Jesus Christ I am perswaded far better things of many of you and for others as far as charity binds me I judge the best and therefore if any be offended at my speech it is scandalum acceptum non datum not I but his owne guilty conscience that deserves the blame If I should in this place seek to please man I were no fit Ambassador of Christ As long as the Chyrurgeon works according to the rules of his Profession let his Patient weep and cry and complain of cruelty yea and scratch him on the face he needs not care for it And he that rides in the street armed on every side from top to toe what counts he if all the dogs of the Town bark at him As long as a man is faithfull in his Vocation and without feare or favour of man doth those things that are proper to his place Hic murus aheneus esto He is armed on every side with Gods protection and therefore may say with David The Lord is on my Side I will not feare what man can do unto me But let us come to the other Hypocrite which I called the Kings Fool this is
of wholsome Lawes for the safety and peace of this Kingdome should have been made like to that old Tophet where is burning and much wood kindled as it were with a river of Brimstome Or as Aetna did of old Flammarum globos liquefactaque volvere saxa belching out flames of fire and heaps of stones not much unlike to the destructions of Sodome and the miserable desolations of dolefull Gomorrah When those true Professors which should have remained after such an overthrow should have been like a few scattered grapes after the vintage is ended and like Pellicans in the Wildernesse and could have expected for nothing but what was written in Ezechiels scrowle Lamentations and Mourning and Woes O daughter of Babylon worthy to be wasted with misery happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast deserved of us Yea blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and dasheth them against the stones Now did not he who hath said Feare not little flocke who keepeth us from the snare of the hunter keepe us from those snares which they had laid privily for us and from the traps of those wicked doers Did not he which taketh the wilie in their owne craftinesse and saveth the poore from the hand of the violent man as Eliphaz speaks in Iob Let these fall into their owne nets and let us ever escape them Yes doubtless it was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes By this which hath been said the Doctrine is cleare let us now come to the Use Is Gods care and providence over his children such that they need not be discouraged by humane or mundane terrours and feares Oh then comfort thy selfe thou child of God whosoever thou art which art tossed with contrary winds in the tempestuous Sea and begin to say unto thy weary and distressed soule with the Kingly Prophet Why art thou so sad O my soule and why art thou so disquieted within my breast Doth he Who layes the beames of his chambers in the water and makes the clouds his chariots and walks upon the wings of the wind care for Agar and her brat and will he neglect Sarah and her sonne Doth he make his Raine to fall his Sunne to shine upon the unjust and will he suffer to famish the soule of the righteous Is he a Saviour of all men and will he forsake them that believe Doth he nonrish the roaring Lyon feed the young Raven give the little Wren her dinner provide for the poore Sparrows whereof two are sold for a farthing Mat. 10. that's too dear five for two farthings in this Chapter In a word doth he give food to all flesh and will he oversee his owne Doth his providence extend to senslesse creatures to the grasse and Lilie of the Field What will he not do for them for whose sakes these and all other creatures in the world were made Hee that hath given us his Son what will he deny us He that hath provided for us and promised us the Kingdom of Heaven will he deny us the Earth so far as it is expedient for us to have it Heaven and all creatures under it shall change their natures rather then this little Flock shall be left desolate The hungry Lion shall not touch the Lords Prophet The devouring Fire shall stay its burning The Whale shall preserve Ionas The Earth without labour shall yeeld her encrease The Sunne and Moone shall stand still The barren Wildernesse shall afford bread The raging Sea shall become dry ground and the flinty Rock shall be turned into a springing Well before the least Lamb of Christs little Flock shall be left destitute Go too then let Hell rage let fury swell let the men of this world threaten to swallow thee up quick when they are so wrathfully displeased with thee yet put thou thy trust confidence in him who hath said Fear not little flock and say In the Lord put I my trust how say ye then unto my soule that she shall flee like a bird into the hills The Lord is my strong rocke and my defence whom then shall I feare the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I then be afraid What if the greatest Potentates of the world shall joyne their Forces against thee he who hath said Feare not little flocke and I will not leave thee nor forsake thee is able though they had sinewes of iron and necks of brasse to break them with a rod of iron and to crush them in pieces like a Potters vesselâ— so that thou mayst boldly say I will not feare what man can doe unto me What if the boysterous sea carry thee up to to the heaven and downe againe into the deep What if the waters do compasse thy soule and the weeds be wrapped about thy head as Ionah speaks of himselfe Feare not any of these things that shall come upon thee for though the waves of this troublesome Sea be mighty and rage horribly yet the Lord that dwels on high is mightier So that they shall not be able to drown thee but as Noah's flood carried the Ark above the waters so they shall carry thy head above the water floods till they bring thee to the Rock that is higher then thee Come rock come tope come evill come Devill come what can come nothing can come amisse For he that hath given the barres and hath said unto it Hither shalt thou goe thou shalt goe no further here shalt thou stay thy raging waves He that can put a hook in the lips of Leviathan and peirce his jawes with an Angle though he make the depth to boyle like a pot and the Sea like a pot of oyntment as Iob speaks hath bound Leviathan that piercing Serpent as Esay calls him and all the powers of Hell in chaines of darknesse so that they shall not move one foot to hurt thee but as he permits them and looseth out their chains The spirituall Pharaoh may be a terrour to thee as he of Aegypt was to the Israelites but he shall not hurt her For though he be not cast into the bottome of the Sea lest thou shouldst be secure yet he is dead on the shore lest thou shouldst despair The world may be to thee as the Canaanites were to the Israelites thornes in thy sides and pricks in thine eyes but it shall not overcome thee Thy wife may be as Sampsons was to him fetters and snares of Satan to entangle thee but they shall not prevaile against thee Thy children may be as Absolom was to David a wicked and a rebellious off-spring but they shall not overthrow thee Feare not for as the Angel said to Gideon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man Thou art a branch of that Vine whereof the least sprig shall never be cut off Thou art a member of that body whereof the least part shall never be corrupted Thou art a Sheep of that little flock whereof not one
fulfilled the Commandements of God yet wantest thou one thing for that work which must merit must be Opus indebitum Now obedience to every branch of Gods law is a debt which we are owing to God by the law of creation and God may say to every one of us as Paul said to Philemon Thou owest to mee even thine owne selfe Doth a Master thank that servant which did that which he was commanded to do I trow not so likewise When yee have done all things which were commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have but done that which was our duty to do Inutilis servus vocatur saith Austin qui omnia fecit quia nihil fecit ultra id quod debuit And Theophylact upon that place The servant if he work not is worthy of many stripes and when he has wrought let him be contented with this that he hath escaped stripes 3. That work by which thou must merit must be thine own but thy good works if thou look to the first cause are not so Quid habes quod non accipisti 1 Cor. 4. It s God that worketh both the will and the deed Phil. 2. 13. Not I but the grace of God in me 1 Cor. 13. So then put case thou couldst fulfill the law and it were not a payment of debt yet is no merit due to thee but to him whose they are Dei dona sunt quaecunque bona sunt Every good and perfect gift comes from above even from the father of lights And Deus sua dona non nostra merita coronat 4. Admit it were in thy power to fulfill the law that it were no debt that thy works were wholly thine and God had no part in them this is not enough there must be some proportion between the work and the reward or no proper merit Now between thy best works and the Kingdome of heaven promised to Christs little flock there is not that proportion that is Inter stillam muriae mare Aegeum as Tullie speaks between the light of a candle and the light of the Sunne between the least grane of sand that lies on the Sea-shore and the highest heaven as shall presently appear 5. Last of all that thy work may merit at Gods hands some profit or honour must thereby accrue to him But my goodnesse saith David O Lord reacheth not unto thee but to the saints that are on the earth If thou be righteous saith Elihu what givest thou to God or what receiveth he at thine hand Job 35. Who hath given unto him first Rom. 11. 35. All these five things are requisite for the merit of works but not onely some but all of them are wanting to our best works and therefore we must with the Scriptures ascribe our whole salvation to the grace of God and acknowledge nothing inherent in us to be the prime cause of all his graces but his owne good will and pleasure I count the afflictions of this world not worthy the glory that shall be revealed Rom. 8. And in another place he tells us That wee deserve hell for our evill workes The wages of sinne is death but not heaven for our good deeds and sufferings but of Gods bounty and mercie Eternall life is the gift of God Rom. 6. Not by the works of righteousnesse which wee had done but according to his mercie he saved us Tit. 3. And ye are saved by grace through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2. And how doth he prove that Abraham was justified by faith and not by works because Ei qui operatur merces non imputatur secundū gratiam sed secundum debitum And if Abraham had been justified by works he had wherein to rejoyce but not with God Rom. 3. These are places of Scripture and let me build upon this occasion to produce an assertion which once I brought upon another point which some that I see here present were pleased to except against as savouring of blasphemy though the words excepted against were none of mine but of Justin Martyr who lived above 1400. years agoe and confidently brought by him in his discourse with Tryphon a Jew if any I will not say Pelagian or Arminian or Papist but if all the Fathers of the Primitive Church if all the ancient Councels if Moses and all the Prophets if Paul and all the Apostles if an Angel from heaven nay if God himself these are the words of Justin the Martyr should deliver any doctrine repugnant to that which is contained in this booke I would not believe him Agreeable unto these places of Scripture was the doctrine of the ancient Church Gratia evacuatur si non gratis donatur sed meritis redditur Aug. Epist 105. Non dei gratia erit ullo modo nisi gratuita fuerit omni modo And in a third place Non pro merito quidem accipimus vitam aeternam sed tantum pro gratia Tract 3. in Ioh. And thus have I confirmed my proposition by reason by Scriptures and by the testimonie of the Church and Contra rationem nemo sobrius contra ecclesiam nemo pacificus contra scripturas nemo Christianus senserit as a Father saith Unto all these might be added if it were needfull the confession of the learnedst of our Adversaries let our Enemies be Judges who cry down this blasphemous doctrine of Merit God saith one of them doth punish Citra condignum but rewards Vltra condignum and Scotus as Bellar confesseth holds that Bona opera ex gratia procedentia non sunt meritoria ex condigno sed tantum ratione pacti acceptationis divinae And of the same opinion saith he were other of the old Schoolmen and of the new Writers Andreas Vega. Ferus as in many other points between us the Pontificians so in this he is as sound a Catholique and as good a Protestant as Calvin himselfe or any that hath written on this subject in Math. cap. 20. vers 8. Gratis promisit gratis reddit si dei gratiam favorē conservare vis nulla meritorum tnorum mentionem facito And in Acts 15. Qui docet in operibus confidere is negat Christi meritum sufficere Both which places many others of the same Author their Index Expurgatorius hath wiped out using him the ancient fathers as Tereus dealt with Progne who cut out her tongue lest she shold tel the truth Yea and Bellarmine himselfe after he hath spent seventeen leaves in defence of merit of works and scrapt and catcht and drawn in by the shoulders whatsoever he could out of the Scriptures or ancine Fathers for colouring that Tenent at length brings this Orthodoxall conclusion with which I will conclude this point Very Orthodoxall indeed if two letters be transposed Propter incertitudinem propriae justitiae let it be Propter certitudinem propriae injustitiae propter periculum inanis gloriae tutissimum est fiduciam totam in sola Dei misericordia benignitate
God affords us in this land of the living in a conscionable walking with God after the example of Enoch and Noah To omit the generall as every man hath a particular calling so let him make conscience to use as to Gods glory so to the good and benefit of his Country the Minister in a faithfull dispensation of the Word of God to them that are committed to his charge the Magistrate in using the sword of Justice put into his hands for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of him that doth well He is Vir gregis the Belweather in Christs little Flock and as he goes the rest will follow if by honest and upright and conscionable dealings he shall lead them the right way the lesser and weaker Sheep will be ready to follow him into the green Pastures of the Lord that are beside the waters of comfort To this purpose let him remember that God hath set him in his own room and stiled him with his owne name The studie of a Poet that every speech and action and gesture be sutable to the person hee brings upon the Stage Sit Medea Ferox c. The fifth Sermon MATTH 7. 22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied And then I wil professe to them I never knew you THAT which our Saviour delivered in the former part of the Precedent verse That not all that professe Christ to be their Lord shall be saved is in these two verses confirmed for a man may have most excellent gifts and in respect of his Calling come neer unto Christ be his Vice-gerent and supply his roome and for all that misse heaven Many will say unto me c. In which words note 1. The plea of certaine persons 2. Christs answer Then will I professe c. In the Plea note 1. The persons described by their Offices they are Prophets and they have taken pains in their calling Have not wee prophesied 2. Their number Many 3. The time when this plea shall be made At that day 4. The Judge before whom Vnto me The first will be as much as I shall be able to runne through at this time which I purpose not to handle ut thema simplex but as it hath relation to Christs answer Have not we in thy name That is by thy authority and appointment as being called by thee to that office Prophesied that is either foretold things to come that 's the proper signification of the word or else explained and expounded the word The Prophets in the time of the Law did both and in the New Testament it is used both wayes In those days there came certain Prophets from Jerusalem to Antiochia Act. 11. 27. That is such as by revelation of the Spirit did foretell things to come such was Agabus and the daughters of Philip Acts 21. There you have it in the former signification Despise not prophesie 1 Thes 5. 20. Covet spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesie 1 Cor. 14. 1. And in the next verse Prophesie is defined A speaking unto men to edification and to exhortation and to comfort there you have it in the letter here it 's taken generally as infolding both these particulars So that from hence may be gathered these two propositions which shall be the subject of my speech at this time 1. A man may be a Prophet that is a foreteller of things to come and be a reprobate 2. A man may be a learned Preacher and a meanes of saving others and for all that be damned himselfe To foretell future contingents as they are considered in themselves and not in their causes for so they are in some sort present its proper to him from whose all-seeing eyes nothing is hidde Who calleth things that are not as though they were and understandeth the thoughts of our hearts things of all other most purely contingent long before and therefore the Lord brings this as an argument against the Idols of the Heathen to prove that they were no gods because they could not foretell things to come Isa 41. 23. It 's hee and none but hee that could name Josias long before he came into the world and call Cyrus his Shepheard above 100. yeares befor he was borne and number the years of the Jewes captivity before they were carried to Babylon and foresee the foure great Monarchies of the world before they were notwithstanding as the true Prophets have foretold these and other future events not by help of Melancholy which made them more addicted to contemplation as Bodin fondly dreameth but meerly by divine illumination so hath the Lord revealed some of the like nature unto such as were not of the houshold of faith which as it is plain by my Text so also by the example of Caiphas an enemie to Christ and Balaam A stranger from the common-wealth of Israel and Saul a reprobate and the Devill himselfe who could never certainly have foretold Sauls death unlesse the Lord had revealed it unto him which places are so plain that Bellarmine De gratia libero arbitrio lib. 1. cap. 10. confesseth as much in substance as now I labour to prove If it please you to leave the Scriptures a little and to passe to heathen men you shall find that they were not without their Prophesies Hierom upon his Epistle to Titus saith that Epimenides whom Paul calls a Prophet of Crete wrote a booke of Predictions out of which the Apostle borrowed that heroicall verse which is cited in the first Chapter of that Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning their Oracles although they were oftentimes given in amphibologicall termes when the event could not be known such as was that to Pyrrhus if such was given which Tully doubts Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse And that given to Croesus Croesus Halyn penetrans pervertet plurima regna Croesus passing Halys shall great Kingdomes overthrow viz. either of his owne or others and such as was given to Alexander King of Epirus that he should beware of the Citie Pandosia and the river Acheron those two being in Epirus and others of that name in Italie where he was slain and sometimes were of things already begun to be done the news whereof was carried by Spirits in a moment of time unto places far distant such as that was in the first book of Herodotus where the Oracle tells Croesus his messengers what he was doing at that time in his own house and sometimes were of such things as had naturall causes unknown to men yet known to Devils by reason of their greater subtilty and quick apprehension yet were they not all of these kinds some being of such nature as could never be knowne without divine revelation To tell Alexander the time place and manner of his death as the Indian Oracle did if that Epistle be not counterfeit which
be a great Eclipse of the Moone signified unto them by a Messenger that he was a Prophet sent unto them from the great God of Heaven and Earth and that if they would not furnish him and his company with such things as they wanted God whose Prophet he was would utterly destroy them In token whereof quoth he the next night at such an houre the Moone shall loose her light they for all this continued in their obstinacy and scorned his threatnings At the houre named the Moone by degrees entring into the shadow of the earth was at length in those parts for a space quite darkened which when the Barbarians saw presently they ran unto Columbus they fell down at his feet they honoured him as a man they worshipped him as a God they offered themselves and whatsoever was theirs to be wholly at his service Verily the Papists do Columbus great wrong who for this witty shift deserves rather the name of a Prophet amongst them then that great Elias of the new World Francis Xaverius for his juggling Tricks in those Parts deserves the name of a waker of Miracles To end this Point Seeing it is a matter of such difficulty to distinguish a true Prophet from that which is false both because they are of things to come the truth whereof cannot be sifted out before the time be expired and though they have naturall causes yet be they such as cannot be known unto men and if they could yet seeing as already hath been proved the Infidels and Pagans have had their prophesies let the Papists prove the gift of Prophesy to be perpetual in their Church which they can never do and let them bring us as great Catalogues of their Prophesies as they do of their Miracles and lying Wonders a thing not impossible to men of such rare invention but let none from these slender Premises infer this conclusion that there is the true Church of God but rather let him undoubtedly beleive that the words of my Text are verified of these men Many shall say unto me at that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied c. Let us not think that the Precept of the Law was given in vaine If there arise a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreames and give thee a Signe and a Wonder and the Signe and Wonder which he hath told thee shall come to passe saying Let us follow strange Gods as these men do thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soule Deut. 13. 1 2 3. Thus much of the first the second followeth A man may be a Preacher of the Gospell and a meanes of saving others and be damned himselfe I have a long Journey to go and the time allotted me but short so that I cannot stand upon the proofe of this Proposition neither is it needfull I should having no Donatists no Anabaptists to impugne let it suffice to add unto my Text the words of the Apostle Phil. 1. 15. Some preach Christ through envie and strife truly for all that not sincerely else would not the Apostle have added that which followeth I therein joy yea and in that will joy This Sermon upon the Mount of which my Text is a Branch was preached at the Consecration of the twelve Apostles of which number Judas was one whom a while after he sent abroad to preach the Gospell then called he the twelve Disciples and sent them to preach the Kingdome of God and to heale diseases and they went through every Town preaching the Gospell and healing every where Luk. 9. 2. 6. For all Judas his preaching and healing he did not preach unto nor heale himselfe it had been good for him that he had never been born Matth. 26. The first Use and Inference of which let me â—rave your patience to spend some time shall concerne the hearers of the word It may lesson them not to have the truth of the glorious God in respect of persons as Iames speakes or that I may expresse my selfe in other words that they do not forsake or neglect a truth preached because the life of the Speaker is offensive and scandalous Saul may prophesie and Caiphas may prophesie and Iudas may prophesie And many shall say unto me at that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied Shall not Saul be credited because he is rejected why not is not Saul also amongst the Prophets 1 Sam. 19. Shall Caiphas his prophesie not be esteemed because he took away the life from the Lord of life surely yes for this spake he not of himselfe but being high Priest that yeare he prophesied that Jesus should die for the Nation Ioh. 11. 51. Shall Iudas his Sermons be set at nought because he is a damned Reprobate himselfe surely no For whosoever shall not receive you nor heare your words it was spoken to the twelve of which Iudas was one Truly I say unto you it shall be easier for them of Sodome and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment then for that City Matth. 10. 14. 15. Oh then shall any man be such an Enemy to his own Salvation as that if the life of his Teacher be misliked he will therefore set at nought the word of God truly though not sincerely delivered what were this but to reject God himselfe as he saith unto Samuel It is not thee but me whom they haue rejected 1 Sam. 8. 7. The word of God is a Touch-stone to try every mans Actions whether they be Gold or Drosse it is a line and squa re to make us fit Stones for Gods Temple Now shall I mislike the Touch-stone because the Gold is counterfeit shall I make fit the Rule for the Stone and so make it a Lesbian Rule especially if it be a rough and unhewed Stone and as yet not fit for that building whereof Christ Jesus is the corner Stone If I be sick unto death shall I refuse physick because I mislike the Physician or because he will not take the same physick himselfe An tibi cum fauces urit sitis aurea quaeris Pocula cum esurias fastidisomnia praeter Pavonem rhombumque When thou art thirsty will thou refuse Drink unlesse it be given thee in a guilded Bowle When thou art hungry will no Meat content thee but Patridges and Pheasants Surely thou hast too dainty a Stomack it commonly falls out otherwise men that are hungry will not refuse wholesome meat though they have no good opinion of the Party that reacheth it and when they are thirsty they will not refuse Drink though it be given them in a woodden Dish Shall a man have a care of his Body and none of his Soule if my Soule be sick unto death shall I refuse physick because the Physician takes it not himselfe or shall I refuse the bread of life and water of life