in all diligence and in your love to us so see that ye abound in these graces also Respexitque Jehova ad Hebelum ad munus ejus Ad Kajinum verò ad munus ejus non respexit Gen 4. 4.5 April 29. 1599. WHich words contein the acceptation of the service of Cain and Abel with God which is the matter of greatest moment and which putteth the greatest difference between them and all the world and is a pattern of the distinction which is between the godly and the wicked begun in this life and perfected in the great day of the Lord when he shall set Abell and histure Worshippers on his right hand and Cain and his false Worshippers on the left In the denomination of the name which Eve gave her first Son I told you what is the worlds censure viz. that Cain is a name of great price in the judgment of the world but as for Abell that is a name of great contempt and such as Abell was are persons of no account but here we see Gods censure upon them both is otherwise for as the Apostle saith He that praiseth himself is not allowed but he which God praiseth the second to the Corinthians the tenth and the eighteenth verse so Cain that was so precious in the eyes of the world is of no account with God but Abel which was of no reckoning with men but despised as a thing of nought he is highly accounted with God for he hath respect to his oblaion but as for Cain and his oblation he respected them not So we see that as on the one side God makes the stone that was refused to be the head stone of the corner Psalm the one hundred and eighteenth and the twenty second verse so on the other side we see it true in Cain and Abel which Christ affirmeth in the sixteenth of Luke and the fifteenth verse that which is high in the account of man is abominable with God The words contain two points first Gods regard to Abel and his offering secondly his want of regard towards Cain and his oblation first that we may understand what is meant by regarding respicere is not only aspicere for God beheld Cain and his offering no less than Abel God seeth all things be they never so private he seeth Sarah when she laugheth behinde the Tent door Genesis the eighteenth and the twelfth verse whether we flie up to heaven or lie down in hell he is present with us we cannot goe from his spirit nor flye from his presence Psalm the one hundred and thirty ninth and the seventeenth and eighteenth verses but respicere is when one likes a thing so well that he looks on it again as we behold those things that we love God seeth all things and all present when he loves he beholds with an amiable look for ubi amor ibi oculus so God beheld Abel and his offering with an amiable look as not contenting himself to look once upon it The example of a Nurse Isaiah 66. 12. which gracious respect of God is set out by a loving regard that a Nurse hath to the Child when she beareth it on her lap Isaiah the sixty sixt and the twelfth verse Of the next oblation offer this which Noah offered to God it is said that the Lord smelled a savor of rest the eighth chapter of Genesis and the one and twentieth verse by which smelling and by this seeing and beholding with the eye is meant nothing else but that God received them in good part and therefore the Paraphrast expoundeth these words suscepit Dominus which exposition is grounded upon the words of the Prophet Malachy the first chapter and the eighth verse the offering is no more regarded nor received acceptably in his hands On the other side the Lord beheld Cain and his offering but he suffered not his eye to stay upon it for hee did not allow of it Testified by visible signs this acceptation the Fathers say was testified by a visible signe and they ground this opinion upon the word for the Apostle saith the eleventh chapter to the Hebrewes and the fourth verse God bears Abel witnesse that hee was just for it was usuall with God to testifie his liking of the service of his servants by outward and visible testimonies Leviticus the ninth chapter and the twenty fourth verse there came fire from the Lord and wasted Aarons burnt offering to shew that hee allowed it so hee approved Gedeons Sacrifice Judges the sixth chapter and the one and twentieth verse when the Angell touching the flesh with the end of his staffe caused fire to come forth and consume the flesh whereby hee knew that his offering pleased God So when Salomon had ended his Prayer fire came downe from heaven and consumed his Sacrifice and Oblation the second of the Chronicles the seventh chapter and the first verse but it is plain in the first of the Kings the eighteenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse By fire The God that answereth by fire let him bee God saith Elias to shew that the true God doth by outward tokens testifie who bee his true worshippers But to come in particular to Abels Oblation Gods liking is upon two things upon the Person and then upon the Gift for non ex seipsis placent munera sed ex offerentibus and St. Augustine non ex muneribus Abel sed ex Abel muner a placuerunt And St. Ambrose priùs is qui dabat quam ea quae 〈◊〉 placuerunt so the person hath the first place but he respected not the person only nam ne vanae putentur oblationes it is not said he had respect to Abel and not to his offering but respexit ad Abelem munera that is not to Abel alone but to him and his gift The person must first be pleasing to God before his gift be accepted the person must first please before the gift can be accepted but as he respects the person so will he have the gift withall and therefore God that said I will have no Bullock out of thy house nor Goats out of thy folds saith gather my Saints together that make a Covenant with me with Sacrifice the fiftieth Psalm and the fifth verse and where he saith thou desirest no sacrifice he means God chiefly respects the persons of men that they be such as may please him otherwise all their oblations are to no purpose but when they are so qualified that they can offer to him a contrite and a broken heart then God will accept of their Sacrifices which they offer upon his Altar the fifty first Psalm and the ninteenth verse non est detrahendum oblationis sed adjiciendum 〈◊〉 as Abel offered by faith the eleventh to the Hebrews and the fourth verse so we may not take away obtulit but joyn fides with it so shall our oblations please when our persons are by faith in Christ reconciled to him the person
bringeth one grief upon another his Oxen were taken away his Servants slain then another came and told him his Sheep were burnt another his Camels were taken another his Sonnes and Daughters were slain c. Sathan in his temptation of Eve begins at the eare and from the eare to the eyes from the eyes to the fingers from the fingers to the mouth his proceeding was from hearing to seeing from seeing to touching from touching to tasting Sathan first made a question Eve she made a doubt per adventure we shall die which doubt Sathan resolved you shall not die at all these are the three parts of Eves inward temptation Vidit tulit comedit she saw the forbidden fruit she took it and she did eat thereof these be the three parts of Eves outward temptation seeing taking and eating As before the hearing of the eare was the temptation to incredulity so here the seeing of the eye is the temptation to sensuality as before esca intellect ûs was the bait of the understanding to know both good and evill so here esca sensûs is the bait of the sense that so Eves reason inwardly and her sense outwardly might be deceived which temptation of the sense is treble here of the eye that seeth of the fingers that touch of the mouth that tasteth The Serpent full of subtilty will make noe visible temptation untill he hath throughly infected the heart when neither for love nor for feare he seeth Eve regardeth the commandement then he knoweth that she will be allured easily by the sence and therefore he brings her where she may see the Tree But did not Adam and Eve see the tree that was forbidden in the middest of the garden in the time of innocency Well saith one Non dedit Deus iis legem ae arbore quam non v derunt God gave them not a law of restraint from a tree which they saw not for they did see this tree before their fall in love and in feare their love then to God and his Word was such that much water could not quench it neither could that love be bought with all the substance of the world Cantic 8. 7. and then their feare where with they feared the Lord was to them His method in his Temptation a well-spring of life to avoid the snares of death Prov. 14. 27. but when the mist of incredulitie did arise in their heart then sathan had hope of prevayling in his temptation then he begins with corrupt speeches You shall not die at all you shall be as Gods knowing good and evill and evill speakings as you know corrupts good manners 1 Cor. 15. 33. The end of his Temptation and then with vaine shewes of pleasure he tempteth the sence this is the subtlety of the devills method in tempting Eve Now the subtlety of his end in his temptation is partly to withdraw the minde partly that of a sparke there may become a flame that from seeing the fruit she may be brought to the eating of the same and so doe that God hath forbidden albeit that his speech eritis sicut Dei scientes bonum malum tickled her minde but that was not the very end yet it is plaine that every lie runneth lamely yet every liar covereth the imperfection that then there might be no delay nor no stay the serpent presently bringeth her to the tree and sheweth her the fruit that her sense might verifie so much as he had said Non vidit tulit lignum quia prohibitum sed quia bonum shee looked on the tree shee tooke of the fruit because she was perswaded that thereby would come to her all excellency all knowledg and that by the eating of it she should not die at all They probably thought they should not die at all in the 17 of the 2. chap. it is called the Tree of knowledg of good and evill wherein they thought to be the virtue of all knowledg and the tree of life they had still which perswaded them they should live for ever they were perswaded that they should have still the sacrament of immortality and of universall knowledg and indeede plus posse plus noscere is that wherewith sathan hath infected us all for he perswades us we can doe more then we can doe that we shall live still and know all things Sathan thought that delay would be dangerous and that if he had given her any leisure the sifting of the Commandement would have beene prejudiciall unto his temptation and therefore presently he brought her to see the Tree the fruit whereof he had so highlie magnified that so shee might breake the Lawe of God The Fathers doe say well It was not the force of the devils words but Gods punishment that made her beleeve the devill and fall from God qui dubius est infidelis erit he that doubteth Gods word shall become an Infidell and beleeve the devills words this is Gods punishment of incredulitie to beleeve a lyar even the father and founder of Lyes for if men will not beleeve Gods writings nor his words John 5. 47. God therefore shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve Lyes 2 Thes. 2. 11. so that the beleeving the Serpent rather than God is not the force of the devils words but Gods punishment of their incredulity poenalis est necessitas God as it is Zepha 1. 17. saith tribulabo homines ambulabunt ut caeci quia domino peccavêrunt I will bring distresse upon men that they shall walke like blinde men because they have sinned against the Lord so did God deale here say they with Eve and Adam Here Sathan after his dixit comes with vides so soone as he had tooke her though she did eate she should not dy but enjoy all happiness he shewed her the forbidden tree that she beholding it might busie herselfe with the pleasure of seeing that which was so pleasant and so much to be desired that so then when she had most cause to fear and tremble the pain which she should incurre by her eating thereof should not so much as be thought upon this is Sathans subtlety to proceede from saying to seeing from debasing their state present wherein they knew nothing but good to extoll their faln state wherein they should know good and evill As Chrysostome saith from hodie to cras from this day to to morrow from things before our eyes to see what hereafter we shall enjoy as much as if he should say I will shew you what I tell you you shall see that I say truely let your sense judge of my speech beleeve your sense not mee you see the fruit is pleasant to behold when you taste it you shall finde no poyson in it the shew is correspondent to my words and when you eate of it you shall finde the virtue I have said to be in it you doe see it is pleasant you shall taste it is wholsome in a word the Tree will speake
both agreeable to the action we have in hand and also a good dependance upon that wherein we have been heretofore conversant But that these words are to be applyed to the holy 〈◊〉 and Sacrament of the Lords Supper appears for that before he calls himself the bread of life verse the thirty fift The bread from Heaven verse the fourty first The living bread verse the fifty first and all along this chapter there is nothing spoken of Christ but as he is the matter of this Sacrament and therefore these words are to be understood of the holy Eucharist And so these words as they yeeld comfort to the commers perswading them that they are of those whom God the Father hath given to Christ so no lesse comfort is reached to them here for that they understand from Christs own mouth That if they come to him they shall not be cast out but received of him so as none shall be able to take them out of his hands John the tenth chapter and the twenty eighth verse On the other side They that come not may know from hence that as they are not in the number of the Fathers Donatives that is such as are given to Christ but are the portion of Satan For they shall be cast out into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Apocalyps the twenty first chapter and the eighth verse And into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth Matthew the eighth chapter and the twelfth verse Touching the dependance his words have with that part of Scripture which we usually have held when we spake of Cains departure from Gods presence we heard that he did set himself as neer Eden as he could be that he was content for a little trifling pleasure that shortly fadeth to forgoe Gods presence where is pleasure for evermore that for a little worldly gain with Balaam he gives over all godlinesse which is the true gain and that not he but the whole world through ambition as Lords doe seek the worlds honor with the losse of the honor and favour of God Being thus departed from God we heard he came to a Land called Nod that is a Land of unquietnesse and troubles both in respect of the inward disquietness of his soul by continual fear the outward vanities of the whole world where he found that having forsaken God with whom is fulnesse of joy he could not have his desire satisfied by any pleasure that the world could afford But we left not Cain there but heard that the end of that journey was woe as it shall be the end of all those that walk in Cains way Jude the eleventh verse And for that there is none but may fall into the same way it concerns every man to think how being departed from the presence of God he may come back to Christ and especially that he watch his opportunity to come at such a time as Christ will not cast him out And that is taught us here in these words where Christ saith That whosoever commeth to him as he is the bread of life he shall not be cast forth But we must watch this opportunity for there are two wenite's Come to me all ye Matthew the eleventh chapter that have departed from me to receive worldly pleasures and gain The other Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome Matthew the twenty fift chapter and the thirty fourth verse But he that will have his part in this latter venite must have his part also in the first He must come again to Christ by repentance else he cannot come to be partaker of the heavenly Kingdome In these words of Christ we have three persons First Pater dans Secondly Homo veniens Thirdly Christus non ejiciens Whereof the two former parts be the Condition the third person belongeth to the Promise The Condition stands in The Fathers giving and our comming The Promise is Christs not casting out Touching which parts joyntly we are to observe these That every one by experience sindes that the state of sinners live they never so pleasantly is but as Cain called his sonne Chanoch that is a good beginning For the mid'st of that state is unquietnesse and the end everlasting death Which being considered it will make every man willing to come again to God if there be any hope they shall be received In regard of our selves as St Paul speaketh of her that departed from her husband the first cpistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the eleventh verse so it were just that in as much as we have willingly forsaken God and departed from him preserring transitory and earthly delights before his favour he should say Qui discedit discedat that being once gone from him he should not receive usagain But here we are to admire the goodnesse and mercy of God and Christ that instead of a revenger and punisher he is a mercifull receiver that where in Justice Christ might be a rock of offence to such as depart from him he will be a rock of refuge to them that he is so farre from casting out if they come that he is content to seek such as are lost Luke the nineteenth chapter and the tenth verse That he sends and sends again that they should come back Matthew the twenty second chapter That he stands at the dore knocking Apocalyps the third chapter And saith Come to us all ye Matthew the eleventh chapter So there is no doubt but Christ will receive them that come to him For as the ancient Fathers note If when he comes to us we cast not him out neither will he cast us out when we come to him And that no unworthinesse by means of any filth either of body or soul doth keep him from us we see for bodily uncleannesse he was content to be received by Simon the leper Mark the fourteenth chapter and the third verse And in regard of spiritual pollution howsoever a man know himself to be a sinner that is to have an unclean soul yet not to despair because Christ by the confession of his enemies is such a one as doth not only receive sinners but eats with them Luke the fifteenth chapter and the third verse yea he not only 〈◊〉 them that deserve to be cast out as unworthy to inher it s he Kingdom the first epistle to the Corinthians the sixt chapter and the ninth verse but doth also wash sanctifie and justifie them in his 〈◊〉 name and by the spirit of God The Condition on our part was That we come the meaning where of if we look into the ancient Fathers upon the thirty fift verse He that commeth to me is some externall part of Gods worship for so they expound it by the Apostles words Romanes the tenth chapter If thou beleeve in thy heart and confesse with thy mouth for 〈◊〉 eving is the affection of the heart but confession is outward in the conversation of life as some are said to deny God
sound of voyce Psal. 14. 1. So there is a double word speaking the one is verbum vocis the other cordu But to speak truly and properly there is but one word which is in our hearts as our word is first cloathed with aire and so becommeth audible to mens eares so faith one Christ the word of his Father being cloathed with 〈◊〉 was visible and manifest to all men So to conclude the word is that he conceived first in the Closer as I may say of his 〈◊〉 and then doth make it plain here by Creation and after by redemption And here we may learn the difference between us and God In us there is one thing by which we are and another thing by which we understand and conceive things but in God both his being and understanding are of one and the same substance And this substantial Word of God is that where with St. John beginneth his Gospell God created that which was not but the word was in the begining Therefore it is verbum increatum it made all things at the beginning Coll. 1. 15. 16. Therefore it was before the beginning John 17. 5. Thus we see as Christ saith how Moses scripsit de me John 5. 46. this word of God is proceeding from God John 8. 42. as the holy Ghost doth also John 15. 26. The proceeding of the Sonne is four folde But Christs manner of proceeding is determined after four sorts First as a sonne proceeding from a Father Secondly as an Image from a Picture Thirdly as the light from the Sunne Fourthly as a word from the speaker as a Sonne from the Father Psal. 2. 7. this day I begot thee this day that is from all eternity for to God all times is as one day also he begot him in respect of the connaturality and identity of nature and substance that he hath with God the Father As an Image from a pattern that is in likeness and resemblance to the Father Coll. 1. 15. for he is like God in property and similitude of quality and therefore is called the lively and express character and graven Image form and stamp of his Father Heb. 1. 3. Thirdly in respect of Coeternity For as the light proceeded from the Sunne so soon as ever the Sunne was so did Christ the word from eternity Heb. 1. 3. and therefore he is called the brightness of his Fathers glorie So at what time God was at that time the brightness of his Sonne appeared and shone from him Last of all in regard of the immateriality 1. John 1. For as a word conceived in us is no matter or substance so this was Coemateriall but an incorporeall generation Thus we see that his proceeding is foure fold Christ distinct in person one in substance Now this word is distinct from the Father in person and one with him in substance That he is distinct from him it appeareth Gen. 19. 24. Psal. 110. 1. the Lord said to my Lord 30. Prov. 4. what is his name and what is his sonnes names Esay 36. 9. the father brought forth a sonne ergo divers from himself Touching the Godhead of Christ Job saith surely my Redeemer liveth and I shall see God with these eyes Job 19. 25 26. Psal. 45. 7. God even thy God shall annoynt thee There is God annoynting God for he is called thy God also whom wee must worship Esay 9. 6. Jer. 63. 6. his name is the righteous God In the new Testament Rom. 9. 5. even as he was verbum incarnatum 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 16. and John 17. 2. this is eternall life to know God and him whom he sent Jesus Christ. I have made it plain before that the Heathen had notice of his second person As the Persian called him the second Understanding The Caldeans called him the Fathers Understanding or Wisdome Macrobius a Counsell or Wisdome proceeding from him so may we say likewise of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is attributed to Christ for they seem not to be ignorant of that name Some called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is verbum Hermes calleth him the Naturall Word of God Orpheus the Word of the Father And Plato most plainly in his Epistle to Hormias But most strange is that which 〈◊〉 writeth inlib de preparatione Evangelii scited out of AEmilius and Heraclitus and let this suffice for the distinction of the duty and notice of Christ which is Verbum Dei Now this word hath a relation to him that speaketh it and also to the things Created therefore it is called verbum expressivum in respect of God and verbum factivum in regard of his works for his Precept did in respect of himself express his Will but in respect of us it had a power to Create and make things that were not Therefore 1. John 3. he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the 15. verse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that both in regard of his Father and us he is a word Little divinity and much danger is in those late Divines which say that this was but a temperarie word which God used in Creating all things for we see this is verhum increatum and the very root of which all that is said after are but as branches derived therefrom And thus much for the authority of this Word Fiat lux Now to the Creation of light Moses maketh plain mention That the first several thing which God perfectly made was Light Wherefore we will first speak of the Order then of the Nature God is Pater Luminum Jam. 1. 17. Therefore first he brought forth light as his sunne But some having little Philosophie in them doe reason against this work of God very impiously as if it were not to be said that light was made three dayes before the Sunne which is the cause thereof But if we respect God the Father of lights or the Sunne which is the light of the World or the necessity of light for Lux est vox verum because that which things cannot express by voyce and words they doe plainly shew by the comming of light which manifesteth all things Again God being about the work of distinguishing it was necessary first to make the great distiuguisher of all things which is light for in nocte est color omnibus idem tenebrae rerum discrimina tollunt but the light distinguisheth one thing from another Again of the three beginnings we shew that the first beginning was of time but we could not have a morning to make a first day without light of it was first made for the naturall common Clock of the world to distinguish times is the course of light and darkness which is the essence of day and night Furthermore we have seen that the Heavens were the first and most excellent therefore the light being the first quality and affection of the the Heavens the first body made must by right order be made first Last of all we
or else in the low and humble Earth Therefore of his goodnesse he vouchsafed to seek a treasure house in the Earth wherein to keep his chosen and so hath made the Earth as it were the ornament of the Heavens Thus we see the Decree in respect of God 2. Secondly for the Word As we saw the word of God to be the piller of the Heavens so here we see it serveth to build and uphold the Earth and as the Spirit then moving by dilatation made and spead abroad the Heavens so here the work and power of the Spirit is seen in contraction for so the Earth was made and the Seas gathering in the waters and as the Heavens were by division so now the Earth and Waters are made by union being joyned together So that as a mans hand is called instrumentum instrumentorum So Gods word is Gods hand by which the Heavens and Earth were made Psal. 33. 6. By the word of the Lord the Heavens were made that is Psal. 102. 25. they are the work of his hands the Word and Spirit and as there he speaketh of them as of a body so here he calleth it Synagoga aquarum a concourse or gathering of waters thereby comparing the Sea to a great Cathedrall Church and the Arms Streams and Rivers to be as it were Parish Churches to that Sea or Diocesse so that as all inferiour Parishes are ordered and depend on their Mother Church so doth this teach us to think of the Seas and gathering of waters Touching the name and title given to them there are divers judgements and opinions but they may be reduced to these four 1. The first hath a denotation and pointing at the properties and qualities of the water and Seas 1. And first from the plenty and aboundance of them in which sense we call any great quantity a Sea as a Sea of People of troubles c. 2. Secondly For the instability in which respect the wicked are compared to the Sea as tossed in trouble and wavering in inconstancle Esay 57. 20. 3. Thirdly In respect of the raging and unrulinesse of the Seas Psal. 65. 7. 2. therefore for these ill qualities of the waters they think that God gave the Sea this name Other think that God gave not that name to signifie any evill but rather the good properties and nature of it and therefore they say that it hath its name because the Seas were as it were the mother out of whose wombe the earth was taken as Eve out of Adams side and it was not only taken e visceribus aquarum as having a wombe as Job saith 38. 8. but also the Earth taketh his nourishment ex visceribus aquarum for of it self it is dry witherly withall Prov. 30. 16. and is as a Child thirsting gaping and opening his mouth for the moisture of the waters to drink and be satisfied with it Psal. 143. 6. so they think that it hath his name hereof and from and out of it issueth the Earth and is nourished also thereby 3. The third sort think that it is nominated from the scituation and place which it hath for if we look in a Map of the World and set our face to the East we shall see that the Seas are placed on the right hand and the Earth scituated on the left as giving it the right hand of fellowship 4. The fourth and last sort are the best who considering the two words which signifie the Earth and the Sea Majim Jamin for the first letter put to the latter end of the other word maketh them all one and the last letter of the second word put before the first maketh the two words to be all one without difference which is done only by a transposition of letters which shew that Waters naturally are above the Earth and yet by Gods transposition the Earth is set above the Waters and so they are without difference joyned as in one Globe This transposition of the things they gather out of the transposition of words for at the first naturally the Seas eat up and devoure the Earth but now being transposed and set aloft it feedeth and nourisheth it at the first it was the grave of the Earth but now it is as a garment to it Psal. 104. 6. and so by Gods spirit it is transposed and God did as it were change and transpose his Decree to have it so Job 38. 10. The third point is That it is set down in the plurall number for though we call all the gathering together of the waters but one body singular yet it hath two shores which are the Seas lips through which he thrusteth forth as it were his tongue by rivers into the land so in his parts it is plurall as in arms and fingers but all this plurality joyneth together in one salt Sea Gen. 14. 3. and we doe call that the main Ocean Sea which is the greatest place whereto is the gathering together of all waters Joshuah 15.7 and 47. Job calleth the Seas the bottom of waters 38. 16. and the other Rivers and streams to be as it were salt tears dropping and distilling from the eyes of the deep Seas which running through the veins of the Earth is cleansed and purified from his brackish and barren nature and so it is made profitable and pleasant and good Now to the second part of this work which is Gods approbation touching which first of Gods view and then of the goodnesse of them This speech is taken from Artificers for as they having made a thing will return to behold and view it either to amend it if it be amisse or to commend it if be well So it is said That God having perfected all waters above and below and the Earth he took a view and consideration of them not to amend or correct them for he needed not because he is so perfect a workman that all his works are most perfect and cannot be amended or made better for though foolish men think this or that evill or imagine how it may be better yet God knoweth all to be most absolutely and perfectly good and therefore it is said that his looking on it was only to approve and allow it as good in it self for us and herein God differeth from men for men are carelesse in their work so they doe it they care not how it be done but God will not doe a thing but he will see it well done and confirm and avouch it to be perfectly good Duplex usus This example teacheth us to have a double use of Gods Creatures The one a naturall use of them as the Earth to tread on the light to see by The other is a spirituall use which is usus reflexus which is the consideration of Gods mercie and goodnesse in making these things and our gratefull acknowledgement thereof for as God would not make them materially but regard and consider them in their qualities
terram Great then is their humilitie to us which are subject to corruption whose brothers and sisters are the very worms So that the Sunne in his very name in Hebrew doth import that it is not Deus but servus hominum At Joshua's commandement the Sunne stayed in Gibeon and the Moon in the valley of Aielon Joshua 10. 12. Isaiah showed this sign that Hezechiah should restore his health he brought the Sunne back again ten degrees God then sheweth great favour unto man that can make the Sunne to stand still and retire back again 2 Kings 20. 9. These Lights then were assigned to divide the day from the night their Function is for the inferior Earth and the superior Heaven they were ordained for the decking of the Celestiall part and for the use of man and lastly for the glory of God They doe serve for the Earth and they doe shew forth Gods praise yea the starres of the morning praise God together Job 38. 7. The Sunne and the Moon and all the bright Starres shall praise him Psal. 148. 3. Et fuit ita Fecit enim Deus duo illa luminaria magna luminare majus ad praefecturam diei luminare minus ad praefecturam noctis atque stellas Et collocavit ea Deus in expanso coeli ad afferendum lucem super terram Et ad praesidendum diei ac nocti ad distinctionem faciendum inter lucem hanc tenebras viditque Deus id esse bonum Sic fuit vespera fuit mane diei quarti Gen. 1. 15,16,17,18,19 BEFORE we have spoken of the Decree now of the execution and of the return of the censure or approbation and so we will end the fourth day Of them in order and it was so some say fecit others posuit all the six dayes work stand upon these three joynts creavit fecit and sint It was so It was so This is the return and execution of Gods Decree it is the usuall eccho of Gods word it is the Amen of that which proceedeth from his mouth herein is the verifying of his edict the power of his word and the expedition of that he commandeth Herein is the conformity of the return and the commandement and the continnance of that is commanded Let this suffice for and it was so For the continuance God promiseth to David I will stablish thy seed for ever and thy throne from generation to generation Psal. 89. 4. These lights are placed in the Heavens where is no error by his power they were made he bringeth forth the innumerable hoste of starres by his word the Lord biddeth Abraham to look up unto Heaven he biddeth him tell the starres if he be able to number them and he said unto him So shall thy seed be chap. 15. 5. For the expedition The Sunne rejoyceth like a mighty man to run his race Psal. 19. 5. He runneth a long race in a short space For the conformity in the Heavens we doe daily pray sicut in Coelo in Terra that Gods will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven As for the constancy of the Heavens it is circular regular and certain God did swear by his holinesse that he would not fail David saying His seed shall endure for ever and his throne shall be as the Sunne before me Psal. 89. 36. Thus saith the Lord Jer. 33. 20. If you can break my covenant of the day and of the night that there should not be day nor night in their seasons then may my covenant be broken with David my servant that he should not have a sonne to sit upon his throne But as the armie of Heaven cannot be numbred neither the sand of the Sea be measured so will I multiply the seed of David And it was so Eclipses and Conjunctions are by their certainty oh wonderfull is their immutability in their continuall mutability by them is the differences of all times of all seasons It was so even by the hand of God by his hand they were made they were placed Every good and perfect gift is from above and commeth from the father of lights with whom is no variablenesse James 1. 17. The Earth is immovable yet subject to alteration the Starres are in their motion immutable they were made to lighten the Earth to rule the day and the night they were not made to be adored Austin maketh this dialogue between these lights and man Creator est supra me te qui fecit me te me prote te pro se this is spoken by the Sunne God made these lights for man he made man for himself David in the 8. Psalme 3. saith When I behold thine Heavens and the works of thy fingers the Moon and the Starres which thou hast ordeyned What is man say I then that thou art mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou regardest him Thou hast made him little lower than God and hast crowned him with glory and worship thou hast given him dominion over the works of thine hands yet is he by Abrahams confession but dust The worms are his kinsfolk saith Job The words of his mouth are iniquitie and deceit saith David Psal. 36. 3. Creata sunt omnia per Deum Patrem ordinata sunt per Verbum ornata per Spiritum His spirit hath garnished the Heavens Job 26. 13. Let all the Kings of the Earth sing the praises due unto the Lord Psal. 138. 5. Austin saith well What greater obedience can there be dixit and facta sunt What greater love can there be then quod pro nobis facta sunt Oh therefore let all the Nations of the Earth be thankfull to the Lord who hath made us and them and them for us Of what are they made surely of somthing sit lux that was of nothing fecit stellas that was of somthing He created the form and formed the matter fecit and fuit is not all one the matter is the light the Heavens is the form God hath stretched out the Heavens which are strong as a moulten glasse Job 37. 18. They are made by the best opinion of water and light The Sunne and the Moon Now what is made Two great lights the Sunne and the Moon which are as a great fire and the Starres are as little sparkles as two great torches and as many little wax candles The Moon is lesser than many starres according to Astrologie which Moses doth not impugne though it be a lesser body yet is a greater light in respect of the starres and a lesser in regard of the Sunne and so saith Moses Moses was very great in the land of Egypt not great of personage but great in favour Exod. 11. 3. The greatest Apostle is not taken in the quantity but in the quality the great men are said men of dignity of account that are in much favour Paul counteth himself the least of the Apostles not as one of lowest stature but of least desert David was great
motion to avoid the same God might have seemed cruell It followeth Which the waters brought forth in abundance Which the waters brought forth in aboundance Whole shoales of fishes doe appear by their motion at the times of the year upon the coasts the spawns are infinite the singlenesse of one word hath made such infinite numbers of fishes that their names may make a Dictionary and yet shall we not know all their names When Jacob blessed Joseph and his two sonnes he prayed that they might grow as fish into a multitude in the the middest of the Earth Genesis 48. 16. In their kindes It is to be wished that it were remembred that Salomon did shew his wisdome in speaking of trees of beasts of fowls and of fishes 1 King 4. 33. Diverse kindes of Fishes there is diversity of kindes of fishes in Deut. 14. 9. there are clean and unclean the fishes that had finnes and scales they might but fishes without finnes and scales they might not eat There are fishes of the Sea and of the Rivers Levit. 11. 10. There are shel-fishes and fishes covered with a skin as a Lampree God made no such great fowls in the aile as is the Whale a fish in the Sea lest we should be in danger and they fall upon our heads Flying Birds and therefore even to the birds God gave wings according to their kinde flying is the perfection of the birds motion the wings are the Instruments Volucres are the birds flying with feathered wings and insecta having wings not any feathers as the Bee and the Bat There are wilde fowl and tame fowl land fowl and water fowl Divers kinds of Birds They doe differ in the talent and in the beak having crooked beaks and sharp talents being sharp sighted seeing their pray afar off some water fowl having feet broad like an oare and others talents sharp like a needle some living in the water by the fishes others living in the aire having fishes for their meat so living in the aire and by the water As Heaven and the Aire are joyned the Comers in the one like the Starres of the other Lakes are in the Land and the Land in the Sea Birds that flie in the Aire and feed in the Sea So in divers respects there are divers kindes both of fowls and of fishes The Approbation Now of the approbation that God saw it was good Gods eyes were not dimme for he said they were good who knew they were good There is as we have told you often heretofore triplex bonum in God there is bonum utile God hath said these things are good take then heed to the word of the Lord Jer. 2. 31. In God is also bonum jucundum whereupon David in the 34. Psal. 8. saith Taste you and see how gratious the Lord is And in the 16. Psal. 11. In his presence is the fullnesse of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore In him there is also bonum honestum for Mercy and Justice are throughout the Scriptures ascribed unto him The goodnesse of Fishes This goodnesse may be ascribed to the Sea in regard of it self for Navigation or in regard of the fishes Bonum utile When Moses blessed the Tribe of Zabulon he said they should suck the aboundance of the Sea and of the treasures hid in the sands Deut. 33. 19. the people remembred the fish which they did eat in Egypt Numb 11. 5. When the people lusted for flesh being six hundred thousand footmen Moses asked whether all the sheep and beeves should be slain Or whether all the fish of the Sea should be gathered together the 22. verse of the said chapter Christ for the most part fed upon fish unlesse it were at the Passover Fish is good for all Nations but especially for Islanders who by nature should be Icthyophagi for flesh came and was transported unto Islands Among the calamities denounced upon Egypt one was this That the Fishers should mourne and all they that cast Angleinte the River should lament and that all they that spread their nets upon the waters shall be weakned Esay 19. 8. So that fish is good in regard of profit for meat and the bones and oyle of those which serve not for meat are for other purposes very profitable Further by fishing and using themselves to storms men are enabled to doe service for their Countrie When Jacob blessed his sonne Zebulon Cen. 49. 13. he faith Zebulon shall dwell by the Sea side he shall be an haven for ships They used fishing and by abiding the storms on the Sea they got this profit to be able men so that the people of Zebulon did jeopard their lives 〈◊〉 the death in the field against Sisera when Ruben did abide among the sheepfolds Gilead stayed beyond Jordan Dan remained in ships and Aship sat on the Sea bank and stayed in his decayed 〈◊〉 Judges 5. 18. Zebulon is a tribe of account as well as Benjamin Judah and Neptali Psal. 68 27. Bonum jucundum Next for bonum jucundum in them there is a pleasant good Fishing is delightfull to most that use it and the taste of many fishes is most pleasant the basest fish a shell fish called Purpura giveth our purples the most sumptuous and pleasant colour that which adorneth Princes doth come from a fish whereupon it is said aquarum est quod in regibus adoratur Margaretae the precious pearls that beautifie Princes robes come from the Sea So they are pleasant for meat to the mouth and for colour to the eye Bonum honestum In them also there is bonum honestum They are for examples to imitate they are symbola viltutum ut insitensur specula 〈◊〉 ut fugiamus Though they are dumb yet will they teach us yea the fishes of the Sea will declare unto us the power of God Job 12. 8. we learn by them not to have their dull sense the greater fishes cate the lesser God maketh man as the fishes of the Sea Abacuke 1. 14. this ravening and still savoring of the salt water must be avoided We are to follow the fishes in this that they goe in shoals as in an army they goe as Salemon saith the Grashoppers goe in bands Prov. 30. 27. Hereby we doe learn unity which above all things we ought to follow ☜ The Kingdome of Heaven is like a draw-net cast into the Sea that gathereth of all kinde of things Matth. 13. 27. The world is as the Sea his word is the net his Church is the ship the Apostles are the Fishermen Matth. 4. 19. Mankinde are the fish the Heaven is the shore Christ is the Pilor Caste symbolum Resurrectionis Lastly the Whale is symbolum resurrectionis a resemblance of the Resurrection for as Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly Jonas 1. 17. So shall the Sonne of Man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of
Thirdly a Proviso 1. The Phrase For the first God blessed God blessed them Benedixit hath an affinity with creavit In the Hebrew Barath is for being and Barak for blessing being and ingendring crevit and creavit have an affinity Benedixit Deus is as much to say God gave good words Dixit fiat est factum bene dixit bene est factum Gods blessings are better than ours God blesseth and man blesleth Mans blessing is verball Mans blessing is to wish well as to say The blessing of the Lord be upon you or we blesse you in the name of the Lord Psal. 129. 8. Man blesseth God with praises reverence and with obedience Our blessing is but fair words blown out of golden bellows it is but verbal Gods blessing is reall God blesseth us otherwise for his blessing is reall for when God blesseth he leaveth a blessing behinde him Joel 2. 14. destroy not the vine for a blessing is in it Esay 65. 8. our blessing is but of windie words When Christ blesseth a power went from him he felt it goe from him in Matthews Gospel David termeth it the dew of his blessing for that it soaketh to the root and his curse is like oyle The eccho of Gods benedixit is benefecit bene precari nihil praestare is mans blessing bene precari praestare is Gods blessing His blessings are infinite The water droppeth out of his bucket and his seed shall be in many waters Numb 24. 7. God is blessednesse it self Christ is called the Sonne of the blessed But among all his blessings here is meant that which is spoken of Gen. 49. 25. namely the blessing of the brests and of the womb which is the power of fruitfulnesse and of fertility When Isaac blessed Jacob the smell saith he of my sonne is as the smell of the field which the Lord hath blessed Gen. 27. 27. Fertility Gods blessing fertility is the blessing of God maledictio Dei Gods curse of the Earth is barrennesse chap. 3. 17. For the sinnes of the People maledictio depascet terram the curse shall devour the Earth Esay 24. 6. The restraint of Gods blessing causeth barrennesse The words of God saying before caused but effects Here he ordaineth his Creatures not only his works but to be causes and fellow workers with him his blessings of this place are bestowed upon all sorts Gods righteousnesse is like mighty mountains Psal. 36. 6. This word Barak is applyed to the knee and signifieth as it were mothers tendernesse to the Babe sitting upon her knee Rachel saith to Jacob chap. 30. 3. Goe in to her and she shall bare upon my knees where barake is used When the Babes are upon their Mothers knee they kisse them they wish well they cherish them So doth God setting us on his knee so that blanda est in Deo matrum affectio Let then every tongue speak his praises let every knee bend when God is named Saying Saying As it is referred unto God the very beasts doe understand Gods dialect and obey The Lord spake unto the fish and it cast out Jonas upon the dryland Jonah 2. 10. God commanded the Ravens to feed Eliah and they brought him bread and flesh to eate 1 Kings 17. 4. If the Lord doe but hisse the flies from Egypt and the Bees from Ashur though they be dumb shall come and shall light in the desolate valleys Esay 7. 18. 2. The Tenor of the 22. vers The Tenor is tripartite Crescite multiplicamini replete aquas Crescite multiplicamini replete aquas Growing is referred to quantity multiplying to numbers Nec esse potest luxuries verborum things grow bigger multiplying by conjunction of male and female filling the waters For the place all waters the two first are for propagation and to replanish the whole Sea the pond of the World auxesis erat The Husbandman soweth the seed but God giveth a body at his pleasure even to every seed his own body 1 Cor. 15. 38. Yet at length such is the increase that the Corn serveth not only their Countrie but for Merchandise they carry Wheat for other Countries also Ezechiel 27. 17. whether thou sleep or wake thy Corn groweth the growth of living things also is from God for who by taking care can adde one cubite unto his stature Matth. 6. 27. Learn there how the Lilies grow incrementum a Deo est Plants doe grow crescunt viventia But propagation is appropriate unto viventia which is a ripenesse of generation and an ingendring of the like He that findeth seed for the sower will minister bread for food and will multiply your seed 2 Cor. 9. 10. there is for that cause distinction of sexes God hath given seed to one in his loyns ad gignendum to other a womb ad pariendum It was God did with-hold from Rachel the fruit of the womb chap. 30. 2. If God be so pleased there is no strength to bring forth Esay 37. 3. So it is a blessing to bring forth and to bring up it is benedictio uberam to make the barren fruitfull Filling the waters is a preservation of things multiplyed Four parts of this Conservation Edictum est hoc conservationis it hath four parts 1. Naturall love First natural love of the engenderer to the thing engendred As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her byrds stretcheth out her wings taketh them and beareth them upon her wings Deut. 32. 11. yea even the Dragons draw out the breast and give suck to their young but the Daughters of my People is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wildernesse saith Jeremy Lament 4. 3. The Pellican pierceth her own breast to feed her young it is a great blessing that the young ones shall know their Damms however they be hatched as the Partridge gathereth the young which she hath not brought fourth Jer. 17. 11. 2. The natural knowledge of their meat The second point of their preservation is the natural and ordinary knowledge of their meat As the Bee flyeth to the flower the land fowl to the seed the water fowl to the root the Crab watcheth the Oysters gaping he knoweth pabulum latibulum thev know their place the Sparrow findeth her an house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young Psal. 84. 2. and therefore they make their nest hard without and soft within The Dove maketh her nest in rocks to be in safety Jer. 48. 24. 3 Knowledge of their enemies The third part of preservation is that they know their enemies the Dove feareth the Kite not the Swan the Partridge the Hawke not the Goose and the fishes flie the Pike The Bee hath knowledge of her sting therefore in her anger she stingeth the birds trust some in their beaks some in their talents and the weak and simple Dove trusteth in her wings They have knowledge of time place the
the tongue who will finde fault in this or that which God hath made this commeth to passe when men will seem to see more than God himself did see When that God did trie every work of his here seven times in this chapter as for the words of the Lord they are pure as silver tryed in a furnace of earth fined seven fold Psal. 12. 6. So are his works also and this is a bridle to our licentiousness to suspend our judgment and not to finde fault with Gods works God hath said they were very good habent ergo bonitatem etsi nobis ignotam Divers things are good in their place divers in their time Fire in the cold of Winter is good in the heat of Summer it is not so good Water in the Summer is good It is Gods curse and a great grief to eat in darknesse Preach 5. 17. In time things be good all things have their time Preach 3. In a word let every one say thus with himself God hath seen this or that good I silly man cannot see it otherwise Omnia sunt munda mundis sicomnia bona bonis all things are clean to the clean and all things good to the good God createth good things he ordereth evil things the thing is not ill but the ill applying is evil not the power There is potest as ad infestandum if it be applyed to the Malefactor it is even bonum justitiae Sic non est dedecus culpae sine dedecore vindictae God saith It shall be well with the just for they shall eat the fruit of their works but woe be to the wicked for it shall be evill with them Esay 3. The punishing the wicked and rewarding the just is good for we know that all things work to the best unto them that love God Rom. 8. 28. If any thing be amisse the evill is in man not in God God hath made us good but by Adams transgression and our daily sinne we are evill It is our iniquities that hath separated between us and our God it is our sinnes that have hid his face from us Esay 59. 2. and Jer. 5. 25. Say not then this is ill or that is ill but say I am ill and I am wicked God who made all things could best see that every thing was very good but either by ignorance or by ill desert we are dymme sighted 3. Lastly For imitation we must see as God did that we may see our works good Bonitas bonitatum omnia bonitas was the state of the first creation By sinne it was that Salomon saith the beginning of the Preacher that vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas and therefore let us be warie Gods deeds were visible they were not good words only but good gifts let not us say only ecce dixi but let our acts be good to the needy with ecce dedi let us imitate God in that his goodnesse There are two good things come from man the one in 2 Pet. 1. 9. Knowledge temperance love c. The other in the 4. to the Philippians 14. to communicate to the afflicted benefacite communicate is the summe of all So the evening and the morning were the sixth day In the former dayes there was creation of nothing a disposition and ordering of things created and an adorning of things ordered Here is an accomplishment of all his works God before man was observed the dayes and the number but here he delivereth unto man the Kalender of times which we have received and shall be received to the worlds end The evening goeth before the morning rest is in the evening labor in the morning to the which man is ordained After this his last work cometh the seventh day the day of rest God he resteth not in the waters nor in the Earth he resteth not in the Heavens but to conclude with the excellent saying of St. Austin Requiescit Deus in homine ut homo in Deo requiescat God took his rest in man that man might take his rest for ever with God Which God of his mercy grant us all to whom be all honor glorie and praise world without end Amen AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON the second Chapter OF GENESIS LECTURES Preached in Saint PAULS Church LONDON Itaque perfecti sunt Coeli Terra omnisque exercitus illorum Gen. 2. 1. April 22. 1591. IN the course of the former Chapter ever we have seen the closing up of every dayes work to have this usuall and ordinary return dixit Deus Now the seventh day being come we are not to look for the old usuall dixit but for a new course of speaking and manner of dealing for as God finished and perfected his Law in ten words when he spake in Sinay So here in ten words he perfectly finished the whole work of Creation and therefore now need no more to command any thing else to be made because Heaven and Earth and all the fullnesse of them are thus perfectly done and finished If there be any thing in all the world either they are here spoken of or else are in lumbis terrae Creatoris in the loyns of the efficient or in the womb of the World For within the six dayes all things were made so that we may say with the wise man Preach 1. 9. What is now or shall be hereafter but that which hath been made or done before hand therefore there is now no new thing under the Sunne As that first Chapter was for the world so this Chapter some call Mans Chapter for it is but the remainder of the former Chapter and is accompted as only a glosse or Commentary of the Creation of man set down in the 27. verse of the first Chapter The former Chapter doth describe the great world in general but this speaketh especially of the lesser World viz. Man This Chapter doth consist of three parts 1. The first is the Complement of the Creation with the description of the Sabbath or rest or seventh day in the first three verses 2. The second containeth a brief summe and abridgement of the Creation of the great World from the 4. to the 7. verse 3. The third part is a repetition of the Creation of the little World or the continuation of the history of man from the 7. to the end Touching the first as it is contained in three verses so in it there are three parts or members to be marked 1. In the first The Holy Ghost standeth upon the perfection of Gods works 2. In the second he sheweth That having perfectly finished all he gave himself to rest 3. In the third That he instituted that day and sanctified it to be a sabboth for ever to be used observed and kept Which three parts doe depend one upon another for God having perfected all he rested and in that rest he blessed the seventh day and instituteth the Sabboth these are the three branches of the
too But God doth all things not only with faculty but with the greatest facility that may be for nothing is hard to him or beyond the compasse of his power therefore we cut off all wearinesse from God and say That his resting was only a ceasing or leaving off to make any more new things for his rest is only negatio operis non affirmatio laboris Object The other question is Doth God then cease and rest from all manner of work hath he ever since done nothing more Resp. That is impossible for seeing he is Actum primum therefore he cannot be idle and rest from all things as we may imagine as he bath quietem activam so hath he motum stabilem a quiet motion without any labor and this we may learn out of Moses words for he saith not simply that then God rested but he rested from his works and not absolutely from every work but only from the works which he had created that is A novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis from creating any more things from the works of creation he rested a novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis for this was the Sabbath dayes work which then he began So saith Christ pater meus adhuc operatur ego operor John 5. 17. That is both in the propagation and bringing forth the things which he made also in preserving of them We say in the Schools that there is a double cause of things the one is causa sieri the other is causa esse The first is the cause of making As a Carpenter having made a house perfect forsaketh it and careth no more for it till it fall down or as the fire is of heat or as the clock keeper is of the going of the clock who when he hath set it to his minde leaveth it untill the plumets fall down causa esse is as the candle is of light which being taken away the light is gone So is God the cause of our life being as a candle whose being is of light And in that respect David saith Lift up the light of thy countenance as if God were our candle who being taken away our life and light is clean put out and become darknesse Psal. 104. 29. If he take away his breath from us we dye We say then that he rested not from preserving and governing though he did rest from making Hermes by the light of reason could say That it were very absurd to think that God should leave and neglect the things he had made and God imputeth it as a fault to the Ostrich Job 39. 18 19 to leave her eggs without care and regard in the sands therefore God himself will be free of that blame and blemish which he condemneth in others As we say of the Father so we say of the Sonne which is the word of God Psal. 33. 9. He commanded and they were made there is creation He said the word and they stood fast which is the second work of preservation and guiding Also Psal. 148. 5 6. He first made them with his word which is the first work of creation long sithence ended and he gave them a Law which they should not break which is the other work of establishing and governing things made So Coll. 1. 17. Paul speaking of Christ saith By him all things have their being or existence and Heb. 1. 3. By him all things have their supportance and are held up He resteth not also from the ruling and governing of the World A Sparrow is one of the basest and meanest Birds Matth. 10. 29 30. Yet their motion is directed by his providence and will yea the hairs of our head are numbred and none of them fall without his providence how much more then is he provident in disposing and governing mans motions He hath a stroke in all that we doe Prov. 16. 1. The answer of our tongue is guided by God and in the 9. verse the direction of our wayes and the end and issue of their purposes and thoughts yea he ordereth and governeth our hands and feet Psal. 33. 10. Psal. 56. 13. He I say fashioneth all our thoughts and knoweth them long before so that we have no power in our heart to think in the tongue to speak or hand to doe ought but as we are directed by God yea for things most casuall as Lots and Chances which are attributed to fortune Prov. 16. 33. Even that is ruled by the Lord God Act. 1. 26. The Lot of Matthias and Joseph called Barsabas is cast into the Lap but the Lord doth dispose it and causeth it to fall unto Matthias That also which we call Chance-medley as when many men walking in the street one of them is killed with a stone falling on him of such a chance God saith Ego Dominus extuli illum hominem Exod. 21. 13. So that God hath his stroke even in ordering such things If this be so then let us not say as they did Job 22. 13. Tush God walketh above and regardeth not the things on earth or with them God seeth us not For he both seeth governeth and preserveth all on earth For though the Lord be in heaven yet he humbleth himself to look down and behold the sonnes of men and considereth that there is none of them good Psal. 14. 2. And God hath not only Librum rerum creatarum Psal. 139. 16. But he hath a register verborum factorum of words and deeds also Mal. 3 16. And that we may know not our being only but our preserving and guiding is of the Lord and his work he will at the last bring all these things to Judgment Preach 12. 14. As for Gods rest after That he had made all things for himself Prov. 16. 4. Then did he introire in regnum suum Heb. 4. 10. So that he went out of his rest for our sakes and having made all for us he is said not to rest in his work nor after his work but from his work for he had no need of these things for he had most perfect rest in his own glory which he had before the World was made John 17. 5. into that rest then he now returned Secondly we see that in Gods rest his works goe before it for the word is not quievit but requievit which sheweth that if we be first imployed about the works of God and then rest it may well be called Gods rest but that rest which is without work is Issachars rest Gen. 49. 15. that is idlenesse and such as give themselves to that are called Cretians idle and slow bellies as St. Paul calleth them and those shall never enter into Gods rest for it is pigra vocatio and not a return to rest If God had his work six dayes before he rested in creation and if Adam had his work in the state of innocency then it is much more meet now That man should goe forth to
but as it is a help to sanctific us and a furtherance to true holinesse for if it be a hindrance to piety or a cause to make us lesse holy rest is evill and farre worse than work and honest labour Wherefore they which spend the Sabath day not in the publique Congregation but privatly at home in their houses and chambers doe ill and were condemned by that ancient Conncell of Gangren which was holden in France And we read in 44. of Ezecbiel 19. that there were Officers to look that the Sabath day should be well kept it must much lesse then be made a Sabath of belly cheer spent in no other then such as whereof commeth nothing but dung being the only fruit of their festivall and holy-dayes and God so hated it that he cast it in their faces that so kept it neither must it be spent in wanton recreation and lascivious pastime Nor yet as the men of Ashedod did Nehem. 13. 15. by making it a Market day and Faire to sell their Merchandises for this is to make our purse and our belly Mammon and Bacchus our Gods and to consecrate a holy-day to them Nor as Shiloh did to dancing Nor as our L. in frequenting Theaters and Playes Bear and Bull baiting for this is to turne away our foot from the Sabath and from doing Gods will on the holy-day We must not doe so but we must call the Sabath a delight to consecrate it to the Lord and honor it not doing our own wayes nor seeking our own will nor speaking a vain word I say 28. 13. but we must I say delight in the Lord upon that day and then his blessings of all sorts shall light upon us verse 14. But let us come now to speak of these two things apart which respecteth our sanctification and observation of the Sabath to see what we should not doe and then what we should doe as is required of us Touching the rest from things inhibited it is somewhat dangerous to speak of it because our nature is given to such extremes for there are two ancient Councels which doe bewray our corrupt disposition The one is Concilium Aurelianense in France which sheweth that in those dayes the People were so straight laced that they were perswaded that it was utterly unlawfull to doe any thing either Adjutorem or ad necessitatem to trim up their houses and themselves or to dresse meats We read again within fourty years after that their mindes were so 〈◊〉 gone wide from that that they fell into the other extreme clean contrary that they thought it was lawfull for them by Christian liberty to doe in it what they list To 〈◊〉 which foul error there was made the second Counsell of Mascon which made a Cannon That the people should sequester themselves from all mechanicall works of their vocations Hinderances to the observation of the Sabbath The things which are now interdicted to Christians as hindrances of this holy 〈◊〉 six in number 1. The first is bearing of burdens Jer. 17. 24. 2. The second is travailing journeyes Exod. 16. 29. 3. The third is earing ploughing carting or taking in of harvest Exod. 34. 21. 4. The fourth for bearing merchandizes buying and 〈◊〉 Nehem. 13 15 16 17. c. 5. The fifth not to build Temples or Churches Exod. 31. 13. c. 6. The sixth idle playes and pastimes to which men are too much given at such times Which because they are divers and men are diversly given thereunto in sundry places I will name some which the Fathers in their times have sharply reproved and inveighed against as the abuses and prophanings of Sabaths in their ages and severall places in which they lived for we read that the Councels of the Church doe not only concur joyntly with Gods word in interdicting the former things but also other particular abuses of their age and place As proper then St. Jerome upon the 20. of Ezekiell sharply reproveth stage playes on that day Augustine 119. Epistle inveigheth against Dauncing Gregorie against Hunting and Hawking which great personages then used Leo spake against Dice and Cards by which the Sabbath was prophaned in his time I will come to the Heathen and we will see the things which they by the light of reason condemned on their holy-dayes as prophane abuses of them which did 〈◊〉 them as they thought Of the which this is one of their rules die sacra requiescat aratrum for they thought it a pollution to their holy-dayes for though they were lawfull and necessary on their dayes yet they thought them not ad decorem hujus diei They which doe these things inhibited and forbidden by God as a hinderance of sanctification God so misliketh that he appropriateth to this sinne a speciall punishment Jer. 17. 27. and that is to send fire to their Cities As this is against the one extreme so we are to give a caveat for the other least while men avoid prophanesse Precisenesse â—…ching the Sabbbath they fall into that precisenesse of the Jews as to think it death and deadly sinne to doe any thing at all on the Sabbath day This was the jewish error of Kiffon a 〈◊〉 who held it necessary that on the evening before the 〈◊〉 if any man were found siting in the same place and state he must remain sitting untill the end of the Sabbath But Origen speaking of him as too strickt expoundeth that place of Exod. 16. 29. Maneat quisque in loco suo thus in his place saith he that is within the space of two thousand Cubits So that he thought it no breach of the day to keep within that compasse but this is to strain at a Gnat c. For God hath not made restraint of works in such labors in matters of piety and necessity For Christ saith That Priests in the Law did break their bodily rest And yet were blamelesse as in blowing of Trumpets in stead of ringing of Bells in fetching water carrying of wood and killing of oxen These things being sacrorum causa were accounted holy labors as to goe about to see the Sabbath day kept Ezech. 44. 14. He made custodes Sabati to the which use are our Church-wardens to attend So say we also for necessity for the Maccabes 1. Book condemneth those which on the Sabbath day would not fight to resist the rage of the enemy then presently setting upon them Elias walking fourty dayes must needs travail some Sabbath and break the bodily rest In this case of absolute necessity the labor of Midwives and such as are attending on so needfull and present a businesse may not be deferred Periculum animae pellit Sabatum for it is a work of mercy to save a mans life God will have mercy rather than sacrifice yea Christ will excuse them which doe toyle and labor on the Sabbath day to pull a beast out of the mire Matt. 12. 11. But let not this liberty give occasion to
sociable to us nor be serviceable to us but only at our table for meat wherefore they being as it were of another world and of another nature and disposition divers from ours they could not be meet for our company and therefore in vain had it been to have called them into this solemn assembly of earthly creatures God is said then to bring all these creatures before man therefore they came not at mans call nor yet of their own accord but by the speciall commandement of almighty God And indeed without Gods powerfull commission we may come to them for they will not come to us or if they come it is to doe us hurt or to make us affraid of them Job 39. 12. This word then of God which brought them together is not an audible word Sed vox in silentia as Job saith Job 4. 16. And it is called Gods whistle Esay 7. 18. for if he call yea if he doe but hisse and whistle for innumerable Caterpillars and Froggs they will speedily come in swarms to doe his will Psal. 105. 34. Thus we see that verbum illud quod produxit idem adduxit haec omnia Adamo By which words we may observe that God doth also now invest man into his rule and dominion over all the creatures by bringing them before him as their Lord to doe their homage unto him for it was the like custome in Israell when any was annointed King that all Israell should suddenly come together before him that they might know and acknowledge him to be their ruler 1 Sam. 10. 17. Such a like thing is here for all creatures by Gods appointment doe as it were meet at a Parliament by generall consent to annoint man to be their King Now in the next place we must consider the end why this solemn assembly was made the principall thing indeed is to discover to Adam that amongst all the creatures which were yet made there was not one meet and worthy enough to be his companion as it may appear in the 20 verse But withall there is besides it a second subordinate end which is that man should give names to all creatures and to see how Adam would call them by which we see that God loveth not dumb shews and will not have Adam idle in beholding his creatures but would have him to exercise that wisdome which God had given him in giving them names for it is said to be a wise part by the outward sight and view of things to be led to an inward and wise consideration thereby by which he might learn instruction so will God have him too while he looketh over them first to be led to a wise consideration of the natures of the things that he seeth and then to give fit names to them according to their divers natures which by sight he perceiveth which we have seen to be the very order that God useth Gen. 1. 4. So soon as he saw the light presently he is said to consider of it namely that the nature of it was good and therefore presently proceedeth to give it a fit name agreeable to the nature which he saw to be in it In the first God doth establish in man as a meet thing for that reasonable creature the speculative part of wisdome which is the duty of meditation study and contemplation which is expressed by the word seeing for so the prophers were called in the old times Seers of this 1 Sam. 9. 9. And again we must know that this speculation by study and reason looking into the nature of things is not only lawfull and allowable in divine matters which is the studie of divinity but also in the generall study of naturall Philosophy by which we may look into the nature of all the creatures which God hath made which is by nothing else but by meditation to call them to minde and then as having them before us wisely to consider of their natures and names so David did confesse That he did often meditate of all the works of Gods hand Psal. 143. 5. Another point that Adam was not only enjoyned to see and consider of their natures and names but also to utter in words and in names the things which in his wisdome he had conceived of them by which God doth as it were untie the string of his tongue and open his mouth that by speech and audible and sensible words he might shew and utter his wise conceipts for the communicating of that knowledge which was in him unto all others after him to this end therefore God made him a tongue as well as eyes that his wisdome and learning should not be buried in his breast but might be expressed for the good of others by which also we doe see the approbation commendation and allowance of two other notable Arts and Sciences given unto man namely Grammer and Rhetotick by which our mouths are opened to utter knowledge aright God cannot abide that men should misname things as to call things which are good by evill names or to call evill good Esay 5. 20. Therefore God will have him take a speciall view of all things first and then afterwards to name them First therefore we must have knowledge by studie and contemplation before we take upon us to professe it by eloquution But now a dayes it is not as it was at the beginning for we take upon us to be 〈◊〉 professors and preachers of knowledge before ever we studie we attain to the knowledge and understanding of that which we professe to teach This authority which man hath to give names to all creatures doth first argue his sovereignty and his supremacy over them all Psal. 49. 11. For there David saith when men have houses and lands of their own then they take upon them as having most right to call them after their owne name that is to give them what names they please to impose So doth God himself reason 45 Esay 4. I have called them by my own name therefore they are mine It was God's course in 17. Gen. 5. when Abram had vowed his subjection to God by the Sacrament of Circumcision and given himselfe to bee his servant then God to shew his authority over him gave him a new name calling him Abraham So was it the custome of kings and princes having by force of arms made any subject unto them to shew their soveraignty over them they used to alter their names and call them by names of their own inventing as we may read 2 Kings 23. 24. for of Eliakim is called Joakim and Mateniah is called Zedekias 2 Kings 24. 17. So here God having made all things subject to man and him the Lord and Ruler over them Psal. 8. to declare that royall prerogative which he had he giveth him also leave and authority to give them what names he pleaseth and so they for ever should be called Which also doth argue the great and rare wisedome and knowledge which Adam had in this happy
estate for it is a great point of wisedome so to distinguish the natures of Gods Creatures as to give them fit and proper names expressing their natures he knew as it appeareth not only rerum Idola but also was able to give verborum idiomata that is such a propriety of words and names to each severall thing whereby their divers natures and qualities might be discerned The man therefore gave names to all the Cattell c. The reason of the Mandate or Writ as we have heard was partly to honour man as Gods Lievtenant on earth and as Lord of all his Creatures and partly to express the great and singular wisedome and knowledge which God then had induced him withall The Content of which was to call a generall muster and assembly of all his Creatures before Adam that a survey might be made to see whether any meet help for man might be found to avoyd solitariness because it was not good for him to be alone and it was Gods purpose at this solemne meeting and Parliament to invest man into his dominion and to declare him to be their Lord by giving them names Now in this verse is first contained the execution of the Writ shewing all was so and then in the latter end of the verse is set down the retorn of the Writ in these words he found not a meet help for him As the Commandement had 2. parts namely the considering their natures and giving them names so hath all wise men distinguished by all the ancient Hebrews calling some men of profound judgement and deepe knowledge and others men of eloquence and excellent judgement and utterance Both which gifts of God hardly are found together in any one man 〈◊〉 are given ro divers diversly as it pleaseth the Giver But to Adam at the first both were given in a full and perfect measure and both of them are here gounded upon Gods allowance as being lawfull and good and also upon Gods Commandement as a thing most agreeable to the nature of man namely to spend his time in study for the increase of knowledge and in declaration of his knowledge to others by wise sentences and words for to this end God made man animal rationis orationis particeps with which no other earthly creature is endowed therefore the ancient Fathers have noted in Adam's two estates the one to be pater viventium the other to bee pater scientium that is The Father and teacher of all knowledge for as Tubal is said to be the father and author of Musick Gen. 4. 21. so may Adam be said to bee pater Theologiae Philosophiae Gramaticae Rhetoricae c. hee was the first that practised Contemplation and the first that practised Eloquution by that excellent light of nature which God had given him and the first as here wee see that gave proper sit and significant names and words to expresse the natures of things and hee was not only the father of all the liberal Sciences but also of all mechanical Arts Gen. 3. 19. pater agriculturae c. by all which wee briefly see the perfection of his minde and the excellency of his gifts with which hee was endowed So that Adam then must needes bee granted to bee the first and the chiefest Author of all Knowledge and Learning that ever since in all ages of the world hath beene among men for from him it was derived and spread abroad among his posterity into all parts of the world for Adam's knowledge both of Divinity and all other natural things was derived to the house of Sheth and from him to Noah and so conveyed to the house of Sem and after remained amongst the sonnes of Heber Gen. 10. 21. and from thence was kept and continued in Abraham's family which were called the Children of the East Gen. 52. 6. from which East parts of the world this Knowledge and Learning which was first in Adam was spread abroad among the learned men of Egypt Acts 7. 22. In which learning of the AEgyptians Moses was trayned up and therefore was prepared not only by the instrument of God's spirit but also by the known received truth of the knowledge of these points in all the world to set down unto us these things of our fore-Fathers in the beginning of the world and it may appeare by this that Adam was worthy to be counted the Father of all knowledge and learning because herein is seen the perfection thereof in him for to name all good creatures so infinite in number and so divers in kinde and that to give to every one of them a distinct name and yet so fit and proper to them according to their natures as that God would not change nor 〈◊〉 them but say so shall they be called this argueth in him an absolute perfection of knowledge which hath not since been had As he was the Father of knowledge within so was he of utterance and expressing it by words because we say that he was the first Linguist that was in the world and indeed intelligence and utterance have very neer affinity and friendship as the Latine words shew for Ratio and Oratio doe sound alike and in Greek the word doth signifie not only the act of contemplation for knowledge but also the act of utterance for speech and conference by which it is made known for the one is verbum 〈…〉 the other verbum ore 〈◊〉 and is agreed upon by all learned men that the Hebrew tongue is the originall tongue and most ancient by which Adam expressed his minde Hebrew the the ancient language and therefore it is called of many the holy 〈◊〉 for this tongue went from Adam to Noah from Noah to 〈◊〉 and from thence 〈◊〉 is manifested that it continued as the general tongue and language in all the whole world untill the confusion of 〈◊〉 Eusebius 〈…〉 doth prove this most plainly and 〈◊〉 that the 〈◊〉 tongue was the first and most ancient from the beginding and that which Adam here used in 〈◊〉 names to all the Greatures for he of purpose here confuteth the 〈◊〉 which doe affirm that all knowledge language and learning are derived from Chaldea which he first disproveth by the letters of the Alphabet And that the Greek tongue was derived from the 〈…〉 proveth because 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 which Greek words signifie their men of learning and knowledge are words plainly derived from the 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 they doe borrow their 〈◊〉 and original As therefore 〈◊〉 knowledge and wisdome being 〈◊〉 is most perfect and absolute so is this tongue and language of 〈◊〉 which Adam 〈…〉 rich and sufficient of it 〈◊〉 For whereas all other tongues even the Greek doe shew their beggerlinesse and argue and she 〈◊〉 imperfection in this that they borrow words and 〈◊〉 from their senior tongues and because they are sain to make 〈…〉 pounds to expresse their minds but this Hebrew and holy 〈◊〉 on the other side borrow 〈◊〉 not of any tongue
womans creation before and shewed Gods bringing them together and joyning them in marriage Now in these words he goeth forward and sheweth what liking he had of her and also what name and title he gave unto her for so in his speech we are to consider his affection and her name which is here expressed before in the 19. and 20. verses We have seen that Adam seeking and searching among all the Creatures of God could finde no meet help or Companion for him for he saw only muta bruta versuta that is brutish things without reason speech or any other resemblance or likeness to him But now he awaking suddenly out of sleep and but one only creature being brought to him he at the first sight perceiving her both in nature body and minde to be most like unto him seemeth with the joy of a Bridegroom to say why this is mine own self one even after my heart and desires even another new Adam saving for the sex This may seem to be his confession at the first sight when he had found her In which confession is expressed his joy and affection towards her as it may appear in the emphasis of this word jam nunc for so we shall see it often in the Scriptures for a note of some joy or gladness conceived within So it is Gen. 29. 32. Now my husband will love me likewise 35. verse Now I will praise the Lord c. In which words Leah sheweth her joyfull affection at the birth of Juda and Levi besides the utterance of the words doe argue her rejoysing for we may observe in the former verse that whereas not his placing and pleasu in Paradise not the presence or enjoying of the Tree of life nor any else which he saw there could make him open his lipps to talk of it as not being much moved or delighted with them yet now as soon as ever he seeth and enjoyeth her presence and person he could not contein but breaketh out into this triumph of joy and love as who should say I doe not esteem and take any such love or comfort in the pleasures or treasures of Paradise nor in the Lordship of the Creatures nor in the possession of the whole earth nor all that is therein as now I doe in the presence and possession of this Woman which God in singular love and of his speciall grace hath given to me In which he teacheth us nothing else but that which Salomon saith of a good and virtuous wife Pro. 19. 14. riches lands and possessions may men give us or may fall to us by inheritance sed mulier intelligens est denum dei q.d. she is farre more precious than all things and most worthy to be esteemed which we see is most plainly found in Adam in this place who could not be drawn to such a joyfull speech untill now Because all the things in Paradise were small joy or comfort to him so long as he was in solitariness and wanted the companion of his life If we look into the nature of these words 〈◊〉 and bone we shall see that by them are fitly expressed the two ends for which woman was made for by this phrase he signifieth that if she was of him of the substance of his flesh and bone so was she made for him to be as helpfull and as necessarie for his good as his flesh and bone The bones of men as we know are the strength and props to uphold the body so should there be an ability and strength in the woman to help and sustain the man and his 〈◊〉 And as this is the help of society so as she is flesh she is as good a help and means to beare children to the man which is said to arise out of the nature of the flesh John 1. 13. for all Adams sonnes are born after the will of the flesh and to this end God hath placed delight and pleasure in the flesh which is called the 〈◊〉 of the flesh John 1. 16. So that the end of the womans creation 〈…〉 ad problem And thus much of the speech as it 〈◊〉 her denomination in which we may see that God doth not give him the honor only to give names to other Creatures which were made to be his servants but also he giveth him leave to impose a name to his wife which is after a sort equal to himself In which denomination he doth communicate and impart his own name unto her and would have her to wear a part of his own name by which she may be known to be his own which custome we see is yet 〈◊〉 and continued amongst the children of Adam yea even amongst the heathen whose saying was to them whom they vowed to make their wife ubi ega sum Caius tu eris Caia that is thou shalt be intituled and endowed first with mine owne name So we see that after the Wedding in which the wife is brought and given to the man her name is for ever eclipsed as our Law saith and she must shine by her husbands name and the giving this name to her doth not only argue a propriety and right in her but also a sovereignty and power over her as her head which also is manifested in this that she was not only made ex eo sed propter eum she was not only brought ad eum but also had her name de eo which four prepositions propter ad ex de are four strong arguments to prove her subjection Again we see that Adam giveth her not every name by which he was called But his speciall and chiefest names is Ish out of which the name Ishah which is woman This his name Ish is a name of dignitie and honour which as some say is taken for the word Jashah which signifieth he is the Monarch and only Ruler of all Gods Creatures wherefore if Adam was preferred to this title of honour to be a King then he will impart it to his wife and make her as Queen and Empress with him We may read in the Scripture this note of difference touching his names being diversly applied for Ben Ish which is filius hominis is spoken in honor of those that are the best and excellent men But Ben Adam which is fillius Adam implieth the common and basest for Adam is a name of humility to put him in minde of the matter he was made of but Ish is a name of nobility to shew him Gods mercy in exalting him on earth But we shall best conceive what Adam meant in naming her thus by the reason which he rendred by calling her so Quia sumpta erat ex viro which is as if he had said this is the cause why I would have her called so because in this name all may see the wonderfull work of God in making her so and that all may know I love thee as my self therefore this shall be thy name To conclude concerning this name we must note that
waters of blood and bitternesse gotten with peril To be desired to get knowledge But happily the bellie might be satisfied with the fruit of some one of the trees that were permitted yet all the pleasure of the other trees in Paradise were not so pleasant in Eves eyes as was this The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing Preacher 1. 8. That every tree in the Garden of Eden was pleasant to the sight and good for meat chap. 2. 9. In Eves sight this tree was more pleasant and better for meat than all the other trees in Paradise In 1 Sam. 6. 19. the men of Beth-shemash would needs be looking into the Ark of the Lord which none might touch into which none might look but the Priests this was the reward God slew fifty thousand and seventy men Eve will eat that she might not eat But when we will see that we ought not to see this desire of vanitie will admit the fruit of the forbidden tree to be both good for meat and full of pleasure The chiefest of the three goods is that it is atres to be desired to get knowledge whereupon chiefly she relieth that she shall attain the knowledge of good and evill every one desireth knowledge Triplex est tentatio this latter temptation is treble Eve seeing the tree is tempted by necessitie by vanitie of the eye and curiositie of reason she should have followed the advise of Paul in Heb. 12. 1. seeing she was compassed with such a multitude of assaults she should have cast away every thing that would have withdrawn her from obedience she should have taken away the occasion whereby sinne would have hanged on she should not have beheld the tree This amplifying of the goodnesse of this tree for meat for pleasure and for knowledge and for what so might be desired argueth a notable fetch in the Devill that she busying her eyes in beholding the same and being imployed in thinking of the great good that should come to her by eating thereof might at length take and eate and never think of Gods words in quocunque die comederitis mortem moriemini but rather regarding the Serpents words in quocunque die comederitis ex eo eritis sicut Dei scientes bonum malum He cloyeth her with pleasure he maketh no mention of punishment The Children of Israel in Exodus 16. 3. being a little pinched with samin they could murmur and remember their flesh pots in Egypt and that then their bellies were full of bread but they bring not in remembrance the sirie furnace wherein they were inforced to make brick Sathan in Matthew 4. 8. in the 〈◊〉 of our Saviour oftendit sibi regnum mundi gloriam regni he shewed him the Kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them but he shewed him not the cares and dangers that are in Kingdomes For Kings themselves have termed their Governments of their Kingdomes splendidam servitutem a glorious service or servitude Here the Serpent causes Eve to see three things in this tree The fruit was wholsome for meat the pleasure to the eye and that it was good to be desired to get knowledge So he might have told her of three things written for the eating of this fruit which he omitteth The first whereof is Gods wrath the second is death and the third death again moriendo moriêris dying thou shalt dye the one is the death of the body which he incurred willingly the other the death of the soul which he must consequently run into for the reward of sinne is death and for the goodnesse of the tree it shall have the bitternesse of sinne for the beautifull fruit which his eyes beheld tenebrae exteriores outward darknesse for the desire to know all things man shall have Gods nescio vos I know you not In every sinne there is an allurement and a punishment as it is in 1 Tim. 6. 9. there is an allurement and a snare as in covetousnesse Lust bath a bait and an 〈◊〉 covered and not seen as may appear by James 1. 14. When a man is tempted he is drawn away by his own concupiscence and is inticed Tenebantur eorum oculi their eyes were holden that they could not know Christ Luke 24. 16. And here the eyes of Adam and Eve were holden that they should not see the truth for it is Gods punishment because they will hearken to the words of the Devill because they have sinned against the Lord therefore they shall walk like blinde men Zephaniah 1. 17. God he saw that if they did eate of the tree forbidden they should 〈◊〉 die the Serpent he saw they should not die at all but if they did eate their eyes should be opened and they should be as Gods what God saw they would not see but what the 〈◊〉 that would they 〈◊〉 Here Eve saw that the fruit was good for meat for meat for the body and for meat for the soul that is knowledge where with Paul Philip. 4. 18. saith he was filled In 2 Kings 4. 39. they put 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 and knew it not and were not poysoned The fruit of this tree was to Eve such meat as was the wine of the Vine of Sodom for 〈◊〉 it is in Deut. 32. 32. The Vines of Sodom Gomorr ah were pleasant to behold but what followeth the wine of those Vines is the poyson of Dragons the cruel gall of Aspes So here the tree is pleasant to the eyes and beautifull in outward shew but the fruit to them is most 〈◊〉 in the taste The former part of this verse is Eves sinne the latter 〈◊〉 sinne which we will not now handle for the occasion of 〈◊〉 was in her seeing the goodnesse whereof res ipsa loquitur Her disposition to 〈◊〉 is in her taking the fruit and stretching her hand to the same The sinne it self is in the eating of that which God hath said you shall not eat Eve by seeing took the fruit A Father saith well Dedit Deus 〈◊〉 propter bonum dedit palpebr as propter malum God gave us eyes only to behold good and eye lids that we should not see evil But seeing they have abused Gods commandement God hath put this tree as a stumbling block of their iniquitie before their face as it is in Ezech. 14. 3. As before we did justly reprehend Eve for her hearkning to the Serpents first speech which was a question So now much more Eve is to be reprehended for her hearkning to the Serpents second speech which is meerly repugnant to the word of God you shall surely 〈◊〉 saith God you shall not dye at all Sathan saith Where she heareth not a speech of his dissimuled subtiltie but even the speech of 〈◊〉 maliciousnesse and open blasphemy apparant to the simplest for now she should have stopped her eares she should have stepped upon the Serpents head and she should even have stamped the Serpent which was so malicious under
it was seemly to cover his shame for to cover a starre or the Sunne is a blemish to either a Rose or a Lilie are best uncovered in their proper natures and so Adams nakedness in his innocencie was best without apparel The just man shall shine like the Sunne in the Kingdome of his father the thirteenth of Matthew the fourty third verse The second regard out of this covering or clothing is That the birds are covered with their own feathers the beasts with their haire and wooll but man must die for nakednesse unlesse he hath his cloathing from others Thirdly Goe to the brute beasts and wear their skinnes and by looking on them learn that if thou hadst been obedient thou hadst not need of such clothing and repeat that of the fourty ninth Psalm the twentieth verse Man was in honour and understood it not and now he is become like beasts that perish Lastly From the beasts being slain To put him in minde that though he may preserve his bodie for a while yet in the end in pulverem revertêris though these must die to feed and cloath thee yet in the end thou must die thy self These penitentiall meditations may be taken from this modell of apparell The nakedness of the soul. Now touching the nakednesse of the soul and the covering thereof spiritually hereto may be applied that of the sixteenth of Ezekiel the seventh verse Jerusalem was naked and barren but thou hast got thee excellent garments we are wretched poor and naked the third of the Revelations the seventeenth verse then this nakednesse which is of the soul it must be covered it is that whereto that of the sixteenth of the Revelations the fifteenth verse hath relation Blessed is he that keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and men see his filthinesse And God through his mercie covereth our sinne and it must be covered with a covering of skinne the brutish affection must be covered with morall virtues the brutish affection of anger of the Lion must be covered with patience the brutish affection of 〈◊〉 of the Goat must be clothed with chastity the pride the skinne of the Lamb of God which was the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent with the humilitie of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world the thirteenth of the Revelations the eighth verse must be thy cloathing and we put on Christ by Baptism the third to the Galathians the twenty seventh Jacob was clothed with skinnes which did represent this If then we goe to the soul it is to be clothed analogically with the bodie the nakednesie thereof is to be clothed by faith with Christ Jesus the Lamb of God Et dixit Jehova Deus Ecce homo estne sicut unus ex nobis cognoscendo bonum malum nunc igitur videndum ne extendens manum suam accipiat etiam de fructu arboris vitae ut comedat victurus in seculum Gen. 3. 22. Januar. 14. 1598. IN the former verses of the Sentence I told you their several uses and that in the last of them was matter for penitentiall meditation The execution of the Sentence I told you was laid in these three last verses This verse containeth a deliberation or a resolution of what God should doe and it is as it were the writ for execution In the two next verses is conteined the execution it self God hereby seemeth so respective of them that he is so unwilling to execute upon them yet is he carefull of his truth for he said at the first restraint in the seventeenth verse of the former chapter Thou shalt die the death if thou eat the forbidden fruit and that God hath said must be performed for his words are not bruta fulmina and therefore that all may concur in his Sentence was imposed on him a painfull life and that it may be more painfull he is here deprived of Paradise and likewise the corruption of life was appointed him which in him and his posterite we see daily verefied that dust returneth to dust and here it is made more manifest by the taking away of the tree of life This verse divideth it self into two general parts the one in these words Behold the Man is become as one of us to know good and evill the other in that which remaineth For the first part I agree fully with the opinion of the ancient fathers which are the most wise and the most learned that these words the man is become as one of us c. is no Ironie but as one of them saith very well est vox magni fragoris it is a voice of great thunder wherein is written the misery that Adam is in as Christ at his death had a superscription whereby was expressed wherefore he suff red Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum or as Malefactors have written in Papers on their heads wherefore they are punished So these words are a publishing wherefore they are thus used because they would become as God knowing good and evill that they and others may know the cause of their fall that as it is in the twenty ninth of Deuteronomie the twenty fourth verse If any shall aske wherefore hath the Lord done thus They shall answer because they have broken the 〈◊〉 of the Lord their God because they went and served other Gods and worshipped them even Gods which they knew not And here because Adam obeyed the Serpent whom he knew not and disobeyed God whom he knew because he would be as God and know good and evil he tasted the deserved punishment of Gods wrath The form of the words Now for the matter conteined herein the ancient Fathers doe gather hence Matter of faith first matter of faith quasi unus ex nobis Adam is like one of us hereby is taken a certain apprehension of the Trinity to refute the Jews that God speaketh not as Princes doe and like Emperors We charge you It is our pleasure c. that though he be one that speaketh yet he useth the plurall number but this doth resute them for what Prince or Monarch saith Like one of us to shew the unity of Godhead and trinity of persons he said not like unto Angells but like one of us In which words he sheweth both a remembrance or token of the unity and the Trinity in the fourth of John the twenty third verse the person of the Father in the twenty seventh verse there following the person of the Sonne saith I am he So that in one is the Godhead in us is the persons So much of the character Ironie Secondly It may seem God speaketh this as an Ironie in a scorning sort for surely it cannot be spoken directly for he is not become like God that knoweth all things but rather like the brute beast without understanding he is become by his disobedience liker the Serpent that seduced him than God that made him Sarcasmus Some take them as Ironicall or which is more as a Sarcasmus or
the Kings the 22. 27. The reign of the King is the service of God for in the thirteenth of the Acts the thirty sixt verse it is written David after he had served his time slept with his fathers yea in the fift of Johns Gospel the seventeenth verse Jesus saith His Father worketh and he himself worketh also for Jesus for our sakes made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant the second of the Philippians the seventh verse and only by this his obedience as a servant he hath made us all righteous the fift to the Romans the ninth verse The third use Take this also for a third use ut operaretur terram de quâ sumptus est to teach us that we must doe service to the Country wherein we live Every one is content and forward operari terram quae est to take pains and labour in trimming the earth de quâ factus whereof he was made his own person a mans private every one respecth and will for flow no means to perfect his own state but he must operari terram de quâ desumptus est he must occupie his diligence and service in the earth from whence he is taken It is the office of the Prince the Priests and People to pray for the peace of Jerusalem Psalm 122. 6. The King the 〈◊〉 and the Soldiers or Captains joyn in the building of the Citie Nehemiah 2. And according to that of 2 Sam. 10. 〈◊〉 The Souldiers are 〈◊〉 and valiant for their People and the Cities of their God they fight for the 〈…〉 they were taken Salomon the King bestoweth his 〈◊〉 and his pains 〈◊〉 inrich and better his land Not only 〈◊〉 but the 〈◊〉 Queen Hester though with danger of her life resolved to make petition to the King for safety of her People Hester 7. 3. she prayeth not only for her own life but also for the life of her People and if they had been sold only for servants or hand-maids she would have held her 〈◊〉 And Moses after the People had fallen to 〈◊〉 such was his zeal for the safety of his People that he 〈◊〉 more than once for the safety of them and that God would pardon them or if he would not to 〈◊〉 or raze him out of his book And Christ himself would 〈◊〉 rebukes for our sakes Rom. 14. 3. We must wish and work the good of the Land wherein we live both for this life and for the life to come though it be with the 〈◊〉 of the losse of our own lives with Moses Hester and our Saviour Women not exempted Further that we may joyn Women in this also who though they are not named yet they are not exempted from occupying themselves in this service of the Earth for though her husband be imployed abroad yet she overseeth her houshold and she 〈…〉 the bread of idlenesse saith the wiseman Prov. 31. 27. She is to doe her husband service She will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life She seeketh wooll and flax and laboureth with her hands And with her hands she planteth a Vineyard And by the whole discourse of that chapter it appeareth that she is not to live in idlenesse Here shall be work in the earth for women also For she shall eat of the fruit of her own hands and her own works shall praise her in the gates the thirty first of the Proverbs the thirty 〈◊〉 verse And Paul in his second chapter of his Epistle to Titus the fourth and the 〈◊〉 verses sheweth the duty of Women to love their Husbands to keep at home and to be subject unto them The especial matter of consideration is this that we were not altogether taken from earth but we have also a Heavenly part God breathed in us the breath of life we had a breathing from God So that as we owe service to the earth from whence our bodie was taken so we owe service to God from whom the Heavenly part of our soul came for the soul of man is 〈◊〉 substantia then we owe not all our service unto the earth but a greater service unto God for vain is it when man 〈◊〉 all his labour for his mouth but his soul is not 〈◊〉 the sixt of 〈◊〉 the seventh 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 for the soul As the body is 〈◊〉 so the Soul is 〈◊〉 by mans service unto God for ut anima est 〈…〉 so 〈…〉 vita animae the soul is the life of the body and God is the life of the soul. Besides as heretofore we have considered in his other 〈◊〉 that he joyneth Mercy with Judgement so likewise he joyneth Mercie here with his Justice yea his Mercie exceedeth his Justice Mercie and Judgement are joyned together in a good man the hundred and twelfth Psalme and God is mercifull and full of compassion the hundred and eleventh Psalme the fourth verse yea which is more by the hundred fourty 〈◊〉 Psalm the ninth verse His mercie is above all his works yea his 〈◊〉 shall not only be joyned with his Justice but even triumph over Justice The ancient Fathers doe gather the second mercie by or out of this sending and they doe expresse it out of the eighth chapter of this book by the sending of the Raven and the Dove out of the Arke for Noah sent forth the Raven which returned not when the waters were diminished from off the Earth but after the waters were abated the Dove returned with an olive leafe in her bill The Dove when she came brought hope of returning to the earth from whence Noah and his familie were taken In the fourty seventh of Genesis the twentieth verse though Joseph bought for Pharaoh all the Land of Egypt yet after Joseph gave them seed and only the sift part of the increase was for Pharaoh the rest for themselves and they were well content to till and husband the land and to become for this relief in their famine the servants of Pharaoh And out of Missus they gather another mercie God shall send us one and his name saith Jerom is Missus one sent upon the word Shiloh mentioned in the tenth of Genesis the twenty fourth verse and of Silo or Siloam which is by interpretation sent the ninth of John the seventh verse Moses in the fourth of Exodus the thirteenth verse when God would send him to Egypt saith Oh my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send The Prophet in the sixteenth of Esay the first verse saith send ye a Lamb to the Ruler of the world from the rock of the wildernesse This Lamb there prophecies that was sent was our Saviour And this word Missus sent is appropriated to Christ and he is sent that we might return again to Paradise Adam had hope that by one which should come from the promise in the seed of the woman he should once return again You have a plain example in the twenty
wicked which are the ofspring of cursed Cain For albeit it seemed God had no care of his faithfull servant Abel in that he suffred him to be slain yet we see he takes care for his blood so that it shall not be shed but he will call Cain to account for it So that they may learn this for their comfort that howsoever we reckon of it Yet the death of Gods Saints is pretious and of high estimation in Gods eye Psalm the one hundred and sixteenth and that whether they live or dye they are the Lords in the fourteenth chapter of the Romans for as both our bodies and souls are Gods in the first to the Corinthians the sixth chapter and the twentieth verse so no doubt but he takes care of both wherewithall we are to observe that God is so carefull of his servants that he careth not for himself to shew his care to them for he had received many indignities himself from Cain in that he without any regard offered to God that which came first to his hand not making choice of his sacrifice as Abel did Note And again when notwithstanding the Sermon which God preached to him he doubted not to proceed from one sinne to another till at last he had murthered his Brother but yet God calls him not to account for these but only for the wrong which he did to Abel his Servant A comfort and so the godly see to their great comfort God seeth our wrong to revenge it that howsoever in regard of present afflictions God seemeth to have cast off all care of them yet he will forget himself that he may be mindfull of them The point of terror to Cain and his posterity is that howsoever they 〈◊〉 themselves Psalm the ninety fourth and the seventh verse The Lord shall not see neither will the God of Jacob regard it yet here we have a plain instance that God doth see Cain murther his Brother though he doe it in the field He seeth Sarah laugh within her self behinde the Tent dore Genesis the eighteenth chapter His eyes behold the way of the Adulterer though he wait for the twie light and say no eye shall see me Job the twenty fourth chapter and he doth not only see them and their works but videt requiret in the second of the Chronicles the twenty fourth chapter and the twenty second verse that is as Job and Salomon affirm Hee will after this life call them to an account and bring them to judgment for every thing they have committed be it never so secret whether good or evill Job chap. 19. Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter and the fourteenth verse wherewithall we are to note that that is here verified which Jehu spake in the second of Kings and the tenth chapter that is that no word of the Lord shall fall to the ground For before Cain had committed this murther God told him If thou doe evill sinne lyeth at the dore And we see here that albeit Cain used all the means he could to cover his fact yet it is discovered by God and though his sinne seemed to be asleep while he concealed it within himself yet God will not suffer him but wakes him out of his sleep Note And so we are to know whosoever are guilty of these or the like sinnes that we cannot keep them so closs but he that hath the key of David will open the dore of our consciences and bring them to light The Examination standeth upon two parts first Gods Question and secondly Cains Answer In the Question we shall see that the wayes of God are Mercy and Justice Psalm the twenty fifth First Touching his Mercie if we ask what was Gods intent in asking Cain this Question we shall finde doubtless that it was not to learn where Abel was for he knew that Cain had slain him though Cain thought within himself that his fact was unknown to any For his intent St. Ambrose tells us what it was ignorantiam simulat ut confessiones urgeat and as Austen saith non interrogantis ut discat sed invitantis ut poeniteat The gate of repentance is confession of sinne the gate of repentance is confession of sinne and God makes as if he were ignorant what was become of Abel that so he might provoke Cain to confess his fact and so consequently shew himself sorry for it for the sore or wound cannot be healed so long as it is kept secret but when it is disclosed the Physition is willing to cure it and as a Judge is the more provoked by the importunacy and obstinacie of the offendor so nothing doth appease him so much as when the offendor doth willingly confess his fault and by voluntary confession shew that he hath grace This was that which God desired in asking this Question and the reason is that Cain by his voluntary confession if he had not been hindred with the hardness of his heart might as Joshua said to Achan Joshua the seventh chapter Give glory to God that is by accusing himself to clear God We must confesse that we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was Cains part to have confessed that as he was the cause of Abels death so he slew him being not inforced thereunto but using all means he could to dispatch him and that God is not to be charged for his death in any respect for that he laboured before by all means to diswade withdraw him from that vile fact Touching which voluntary confession and accusing of our selves the Fathers out of Proverbs the eighteenth chapter and the seventeenth verse say justus in principio sermonis est accusator sui and they read these words of the Prophet Isaiah the fourty third chapter and the twenty sixt verse dic tu iniquitates prior utjustifioeris for the way to be justified before God is to accuse and condemn our selves for it is a thing acceptable to God that we accuse and judge our selves worthy to be destroyed for our iniquities Ezekiel the thirty sixt chapter and the thirty first verse Judging our selves we prevent Gods judgement for as the Apostle saith the judging of our selves is the way not to be judged of God in the first to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter for by this means we prevent his judgment so that Gods intent herein was an intent of mercy wherein we are to observe these three qualities whereby God draweth men to repentance his goodness and his long suffering and patience Romans the second chapter and the first verse which goodness of God towards Cain appeares herein that having already used perswasions and preservative physick to keep Cain from sinning he contents not himself but ministreth medicine curative now he hath sinned Here the words of the Prophet are fulfilled Psalm the sixty second and the eleventh and twelfth verses Semel atque iterum loquutus est Deus and both speeches of mercy the first in the seventh verse ne peccet the
second in this verse ut si peccasset poeniteat The first speech was as the Apostle speaks in the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter qui stat videat ne cadat but now that he is fallen he speaks again ut resurgat poeniteat Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the fourth verse Shall they fall and not arise both which effects of Gods goodness the Prophet noteth in these words Psalm the one hundred and fourty fifth and the fourteenth verse Note The Lord upholdeth them that are ready to fall and lifteth up them that are down Gods mercy Secondly his long suffering appeares in that post tot scelera after that he hath sinned both against God and himself very grievously and against his Brother yet God ceaseth not to call him to repentance and whereas the Lord saith For three transgressions and for four I will not turn Amos the first chapter and the sixt verse yet when Cain hath sinned not three or four times but five or six and addeth transgression to transgression yet still he continueth to be mercfull to him if he would accept of it as Job sheweth God speaketh once and twice and man seeth it not in dreams and visions of the night then he opens their eares by correcting them Loe all those things will God work twice or thrice with a man that he may turn back his soul from the pit Job the thirty third chapter and the twenty ninth verse Thirdly to long suffering we may add patience in that God speaks to him non increpando sed interrogando medici instar potius quam judicis and so we see Gods intent in asking the question is an intent of mercy that by his goodnesse long suffering and patience he might have drawn Cain to repentance had he not in the hardness of his heart heaped up wrath for himself against the day of wrath Romans the second chapter Secondly for Gods justice shewed in this Question the advised proceeding of God in the matter of Cain and Abel is a pattern for all Judges how to proceed in judgment namely that albeit they know the party accused be guilty of the fact yet they may not proceed against him till they have made him confesse the fact which was the purpose of God with Cain for so he dealt with our first Parents in that first judgment He knew Adam had eaten of the tree and yet he asketh Hast thou eaten in the third chapter so he dealt with Sarah Genesis the eighteenth chapter and the fifteenth verse Secondly from Gods example they are taught to proceed with favour not with a headlong and furious spirit but with the spirit of meekness as Joshua with Achan Joshua the seventh My Sonne give the Lord glory and confess so the Apostle willeth Galatians the sixt chapter If any be overtaken restore him in spiritu 〈◊〉 Thirdly from hence they have a good ground to make inquiry and examinafor the shedder of blood not only upon the finding of a dead body but if the party be missing as God for that Abel was not present examineth Cain where he is and what is become of him Now followeth Cains Answer wherein first generally two things offer themselves The 〈◊〉 of sinne First the nature of sinne is set out unto us which is to draw men from one sinne to another for so Cain was drawn from hypocrisie to envy from envy to murther from murther to hardness of heart and so to defend and excuse his sinneThis the Prophet calleth a twisting of sinne when he saith of sins that they weave the spiders web Isaiah the fiftly ninth chapter and the fifth verse sinne is like fire-bushes or thorns that are folden one within another Nahum the first chapter and the tenth verse it is like the disease called the canker which fretteth in the first to Timothy the second chapter even so sinne maketh men to proceed unto more ungodliness and to goe from one sinne to another Of this we have a plain example in Cain and not in him only but even in David the the Servant of God who after he yeelded to one sinne stayed not there but proceeded to the committing of another in the second of Samuel and the eleventh chapter Secondly we are to consider the hiding of sinne that it is such a thing as desires to be concealed and not to be disclosed So it was with Adam in the matters of concupiscence and in Cain in the matter of revenge both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lust and wrath are such things as we would have concealed and not come to the hearing of all men Note that is we have in us not only sinfull souls but guilefull spirits Psalm the thirty second Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and in whose soul there is no guil The Prophets meaning is that we doe not only sinne against God but we would beguile God in hiding our sinnes from him if it were possible as if we were other manner of persons than indeed we be and as if we were altogether free from those sinnes which God seeth we have committed Therefore we are to know that as confession is the dore to repentance Hiding of sinne shutteth the dore of repentance so the hiding of sinne is the damming up of the dore of repentance for 〈◊〉 we will have favour at Gods hand we must confesse our sinnes but if we say we have no sinne we deceive our selvse whereby we see that sinne is a thing to be avoided Secondly that it is unlawfull in that whosoever committeth sinne doth that which he dare not avouch or acknowledge for the Apostle saith Romans the fourteenth chapter Blessed is he which doth not allow in his act that which he covers for many allow and approve of that in their actions which in word they dare not but condemn They which commit murther as Cain or adultery whether it be lust of revenge or the lust of uncleanness howsoever they yeeld to it in the practises of their life yet they cannot justifie it by word of mouth be they never so wicked whether they will or no their consciences will make them confesse they have done that they ought not to have done Adam and Eve made a confession of their fault though it were with excusing themselves by laying the fault one upon another but in Cain we finde not only an excusing of it but an obstinate denying of it In which regard his sinne is of a greater last and scantling than Adam's and hereby he 〈◊〉 himself not to be of Adam but ex maligno illo John the third chapter and the twelfth verse Of the Answer there are three parts First Abnegatio veritatis in these words I know not Secondly Abnegatio charitatis in that he denyeth that he is his Brothers keeper Thirdly Abnegatio humilitatis in that without all modesty he answereth by a question Am I my Brothers keeper For the first In saying he knoweth
with him as the Prophet speaks Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the twelfth verse Were they ashamed when they had commitied sinne Nay they were not ashamed and for confession he would make none of whom that is verified periit confessio Jeremiah the seventh chapter and the twenty eighth verse Whereas the patience long suffering should have lead them to repentance Cain found nothing in himself but had an heart that could not repent Romans the second chapter in regard whereof the sentence of God pronounced upon him is just Secondly it is just in that it is a severing of Cain from Gods favour for as Cyprian saith 〈◊〉 cum Serpente inimicitia cum Deo sequitur for it is just that he should be delivered to the party with whom he was entred into league Thus God dealt with his people Judges the tenth chapter and the thirteenth verse They have forsaken me and served other Gods Goe and crie to them let them deliver you and as the incestuous Corinthian had made a league with Satan so the Apostles will is ut tradatur Satanae in the first epistle to the Corinthians the fift chapter and this separation from Gods favour is from his presence which he sheweth to his people that meet together to praise and pray to him and to hear his Word and be partaker of his Sacraments of which presence he giveth this command Seek ye my face to which the Prophet saith Thy face Lord will I seek Psalm the twenty seventh and the eighth verse wherewith agree the Apostles words in the second to the Corinthians the second chapter and the tenth verse To whomsoever I forgive any thing I forgive it for your sakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est in the face fight or presence of Christ and as he was cursed from the presence of God so we see he went out presently from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the Land of Nod Genesis the fourth chapter and the sixteenth verse This is the effect and summe of that part of the Sentence which is ecclesiasticall or spirituall touching his soul for all that remains contains that part of the Sentence which is terrestrial where we see it was Gods will that he which had shewed himself savage towards mankinde in killing his Brother should be banished from the company of men So that when it is said Cursed art thou from the earth which hath received thy Brothers blood from thy hand The meaning is he shall be cast out of his own Country whereby God doth plainly expresse thus much That wilfull murther is to be punished by casting out both from Church and Common-wealth both from the Communion of Saints and the Society of men For envy is a sinne of such nature that God thinking hell not to be a sufficient punishment for it causeth Cain to consume himself on earth with vexation of minde for as the Wise-man saith The effect of envy is the rotting of the bones Proverbs the fourteenth chapter and the thirtieth verse Secondly God sets down a reason why the earth should detest and abhor such persons as Cain was and the reason is double First For that there is a wrong done to the earth when a man is wilfully murthered that is she is bereaved of one of those that should till and dresse it and of one of her Inhabitants It is the reason why the Crowners sit upon those that wilfully make a way themselves for they are no lesse injurious to the earth than they that kill others Secondly Because the earth must needs abhorre that which is contrary to nature and doth violate the course of nature for nature doth will all men to seek the safety and preservation of others but Cain wickedly and unnaturall sheddeth the blood of his Brother which God doth 〈◊〉 and pathetically expresse thus That blood which Cain doth unnaturally shed the earth doth kindely and lovingly receive that it should not lie open in the sight of the Sunne which act is like to that of Rizpah which David commended so highly that she took sackcloth and covered the dead bodies of them that were hanged and suffered neither the birds of the air to light upon them by day nor the beasts of the field by night in the second of Samuel the twenty first chapter and the tenth verse wherein the earth it self void of sense appeared more kinde to Abel than Cain for as the Wise-man saith God will arm his creatures to be revenged of his enemies in the fift chapter of the Wisedome of Solomon and the tenth verse omnis creatura ingemescit Romans the eighth chapter they shall all grieve and abhorre that act which is unnaturall As before the blood it self cried to God for vengeance so here the earth it self receives the blood into her bosom which was so unnaturally shed and these are two witnesses by whose testimony Cain is sufficiently convicted of his sinne and howsoever they be dumb in themselves yet they have a voice which God heareth so that no man can keep his sinne so secret but it will be revealed as Job confesseth Job the thirty first chapter and the thirty eighth verse My land will crie against me and the furrowes thereof will complain together if I have eaten the fruits thereof without silver Which detestation conceived by the earth against the fact of Cain is further set forth in the next verse two waies First negando cibum Secondly negando sedem for the first it is said when thou tillest the earth it shal not yeeld her strength unto thee to feed thee Secondly thou shalt be in contiuall feare and it shall deny it self to thee not affording thee any certain mansion for thou shalt be an Exile and Vagabond upon earth All that the earth affords us is pabulum latibulum that is as the Apostle speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first to Timothy the sixt chapter it doth both alere sustinere Two things we desire on earth sufficiencie of living and maintenance and peace and rest against trouble Against these two are set for Cains punishment First want in that the earth shall deny its strength and unquietness or restlesness in that he shal be an Exile and Vagabond For sufficiencie of feeding albeit God before had cursed the earth yet not so but that by labour it should yeeld to man bread but now God saith if Cain labour and take never so great pains in tilling the earth his labour shall be in vain though he sweat and labour never so much yet it shall withdraw that humor and fatness whereby it is wont to send forth corn for food that is her fruit shall not make bread and maintain the life of him that is a shedder of blood So whatsoever Cain enjoyeth upon earth is not of right for except the earth be willing both to feed him and to sustain him he hath no just possession or interest in it quodjure non possidetur furto latrocinio usurpatur every peece
of bread that Cain and all those that walk in his way doe eat they eat it wrongfully and shall make and an account for it as if they had stolen it So that though Cain speak never so much to the corn and wine and oyle and they in his behalf call to the earth and the earth to the heavens and the heavens crie unto God yet there shall be no answer for his relief Hosea the second chapter and the twenty first verse but they shall all con pire and plague Cain for his sinne Job saith If I have eaten the fruit of the earth without silver or grieved the soules of the Masters thereof Job the thirty first chapter and the thirty ninth verse to shew us there is a right not only of labour but of person for Adam may eat of the fruits of the earth by right of his labour bestowed in dressing it but Cain for that he is a person accursed cannot eat thereof God gives Adam food upon condition of his labour but food is denyed to Cain though he take never so much pains for that Cain is a person accursed by God and hath no part in that blessed seed in whom all the promises of God touching this life and the life to come are yea and amen in the second to the Corintbians the first chapter and the twentieth verse Secondly As we desire sufficientie of living against want so we desire rest and quietness from trouble and this we desire rather than the other For a little with the fear of the Lord is better than great treasure with trouble Proverbs the fifteenth chapter and the sixteenth verse but as the earth denyed him sufficiencie so it will not afford him a dwelling place to rest in Of these words there are two constructions and both profitable First The 〈…〉 these words Vagabond and Runagate gemens tremens that is in grief and feare shalt thou be all the daics of thy life without any certain dwelling to rest in He that is in grief is heavie and burthensom to himself but he that is in fear is suspicious of others which is a great vexation which kinde of punishment is laid upon them that keep not Gods Commandements that they shall be smitten with searefulness they shall fly at the shaking of a leaf Leviticus the twenty sixt chapter and the sevententh verse They shall flye when no man pursueth Proverbs the twenty eighth chapter And albeit they goe from place to place seeking for rest and peace yet non est pax impiis Isaiah the fifty seventh chapter Of this Fear we have an example in Cain who being guilty of the breach of Gods Command confessed that he was now in that case that whosoever shall finde him might kill him Secondly The other sense which they gather of these words that where there are but two places for men to rest in either his own native Country or some other where he can be Cain shall tarry neither in his own Country nor in any other but shall 〈…〉 and remove from place to place and finde rest no where therefore he went out of his own Country and went and built a City in the land of Nod and yet was not quiet there neither And this is the case of an evill conscience not to rest any where for to a good conscience Angulus sufficit but for him that hath a bad conscience ipse mundus angulus est Therefore we are to think of these things when we begin to commit any sins namely that thereby we deprive our selves both of living and 〈◊〉 welling so that if we sinne against God by transgressing his Precepts we can neither look to have food sufficient nor place convenient to dwell and rest in The qualification of this Sentence or mercy with God sheweth herein is that 〈◊〉 Cain be punished with want of food and dwelling 〈◊〉 it is but super terram therefore if he repent while he is on the earth he may set himself in a better state for this restraint doth shew that God gave to Cain space to 〈◊〉 Apocalyps the second chapter and the twenty first verse so that there is hope for sinners so long as God suffers them to continue upon earth for if God would not have Cain repent he should have been presently swallowed up of the earth as Korah was and have dyed suddenly as Ananias did Therefore this super terram is a mercy It sheweth also that all Cains care was set upon earth We are punished with that which is our delight and therefore God doth punish him with that which was his delight as he had no care at all of heaven as appeared by the manner of his Sacrifice which he offered to God without any choice at all but set his affection upon earth so God punisheth him with an earthly punishment that he should finde no comfort or rest on earth and this he doth both in justice and mercy to draw him back to repentance and to make him sorry having a sense of his miseries Hosea the second chapter and the seventh verse I will goe and return to my first husband that the want of food on earth and of rest might make him sorry with the prodigall Son in the fifteenth chapter of Luke I will goe to my Father God suffers Cain to live in penury that the sense thereof might inforce him to this resolution 〈◊〉 ad Patrem As the dove sent out of the Arke finding no rest had no place to goe to but to the 〈◊〉 from whence she came Genesis he eighth chapter so God doth punish Cain with a restlesse life on earth that he might seek for rest in heaven And as the Angell called Agar when she wandred from her Mistris to return to her and humble her self under her hands Genesis the sixteenth chapter and the ninth verse so it was Gods will that Cain considering his restlesse life on earth should return to God from whom he had now strayed as a lost 〈◊〉 by means of his greivous sinnes and 〈◊〉 himself under his mighty hand as it is in the first epistle of 〈◊〉 confessing his sinne and craving forgivenesse That so God might have mercy on him receive him into everlasting Tabernacles Luke the sixteenth chapter where is rest void of trouble and sufficiency of all good things Tum Kajin dixit Jehovae Major est poena mea quam ut sustinere possim Gen. 4. 13. Septemb. 〈◊〉 1599. THE word which signifieth sinne here in other places of Scripture is used for the punishment of sinne as in the thirty second chapter of Numbers and the twenty third verse Yee have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sinne shall sinde you out Which double signification maketh that there is a double reading of this verse The one in the Text My punishment is greater than I can bear The other in the Margent My sin is greater than can be pardoned So in the Text the word is translated the
punishment of sinne in the Margent the sinne it self which is the primarie signification of the word And they that turn it punishment for sinne doe thereby expresse Cain's murmuring against God They that turn it for sinne doe shew Cain's desparation I rather follow that in the Margent viz. that the sense is thus My sinne is greater than can be pardoned First because punishment of sinne Secondly because the Hebrews expound it so Thirdly for that all the old Fathers read it so Fourthly for that there is no mention of the third person Lastly because the full sense is comprehended in the next verse So that we are to take it thus That Cain being examined and hearing the sentence pronounced by God upon him breakes forth into this complaint My sinne is greater than can be forgiven In which words generally wee see a new Cain for no man would imagine that Cain who a little before answered God so presumptuously would submit himself so gently that he which said I know not where my brother is would now upon the sudden confess his fact that he that before was so bold should now become so dejected in the sight of his sinne he that had shewed himself a gyant should so suddenly become a Peasant but it is not Cains case only but the case of all his progenie For Pharaoh that so proudly and boldly said in the fifth chapter of Exodus and the second verse Who is the Lord that I should hear his voice I know not the Lord after doth acknowledge the Lord and submit himself to him in the ninth chapter of Exodus and the twenty seventh verse I have now sinned the Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked Pray thou to the Lord that there be no more thunders Saul having committed a very grievous transgression against God doth notwithstanding very boldly say to Samuel in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter and thirteenth verse I have fulfilled the commandement of the Lord but a litle after verse the thirtieth he submitteth himself I have sinned but honour mee And Judas the perfect example of Cain albeit he had purposed to deliver his Master into the hands of the Scribes and Pharisees is as bold to deny that he had any such intent as any as it is in the twenty sixth chapter of Matthew and the twenty fifth verse but after the deed done we see he is touched with remorse for it and said in the twenty seventh chapter of Matthew and the fourth verse I have sinned betraying the innocent blood This is a strange metamorphosis and it is expedient that we mark this new stile That when a man sees Cain's offering he may say with the Prophet in the fift chapter of Jeremiah and the thirty first verse Quid fiet in novissimo For if our case were as Cains was that no man should stand in our way but presently we might be revenged of him without danger it were a thing to be liked but wee see Cain himself doth not escape unpunished Who would not desire to be in their case of whom Job speakes in the twenty first chapter of Job and the seventh verse If their flourishing estate would hold which live and wax old and grow in wealth their seed is established in his sight and his generation before their eyes But that which maketh their condition miserable is that which followeth in the thirteenth verse They spend their dayes in wealth and suddenly they goe down to the grave The Prophet confesseth he was greatly disquieted at the prosperity of the wicked till he went to the Sanctuarie of God for there he understood their end that they are set in slipperie places Psalm the seventy third So albeit Cain had the dominion over his brother and slew him thinking none would call him to account for it yet wee see at length he acknowledgeth his sinne and affirmeth it to be so great as that it can have no pardon Wherefore if we will judge rightly of Cain whom we have heard before what he was we must not stay there but read on forward and see what he is now For we must judge of the wicked by their deed of them our Saviour Christ saith in the 12. chapter of Matthew Their end is worse than their beginning Before his sin lay still and his condemnation slept And thus it is with the wicked that while they are asleep in sinne they will believe nothing nor give credit to any word of God Wherefore we see a plain example in Lot's sons in law in the nienteenth chapter of Genesis and the fourteenth verse when he told them the Lord would destroy the City he seemed to them to be som jester And when sinne awaketh and damnation sleepeth no longer then it is a matter of earnest it maketh Cain to cry out My sinne is greater than can be pardoned And howsoever Esau contemn his Birth-right yet when he seeks it cannot be had again it maketh him weep bitterly Genesis the twenty fifth chapter and Hebrews the twelfth chapter So that albeit at the first they see not the inconvenience and danger of sinne yet in novissimo Jeremiah the thirtieth chapter and the twenty fourth verse at the last day they shall understand it plainly Touching the words themselves here is a confession though it be faulty for true confession hath prayer joyned with it as the Prophet having made confession of his sinne saith For this cause I prayed Psalm the thirty second And Peter to Simon Magus Pray if the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the twenty second verse but this confession hath no prayer and therefore is faulty But to speak so much of it as is good in his confession First he confesseth his sinne not every sinne but his crooked and perverse sinne such as Job speaketh of in his thirty third chapter and the twenty seventh verse I have sinned and perverted righteousness Again in that he saith his sinne is great he sheweth that he felt the weight of it and doth not 〈◊〉 it and make it lesse than it is This confession is well but only for two exceptions that are easily taken against it First that which Chrysostome maketh That it was too late for it should have stood in the eighth verse for as the Wise-man saith in the eighteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the seventeenth verse Justus in principio sermonis accusator sui And as the fathers read in the fourty third chapter of Isaiah and the twenty sixth verse Die tu iniquitates prior ut justificeris for we may not foreslow the time but seek the Lord while he may he found Isaiah the fifty fift chapter Secondly because albeit it be said of repentance Siver a nunquam sera yet si sera rarò vera if it be late it is seldom true And this confession of Cain as it is no true confession for that it was long deferred so chiefly for
his speech Matthew the twenty sixt chapter so by a mans talk it will appear how his heart is affected His speech consists first of a preface Heare my voice ye wives of Lamech hearken to my words Secondly the body of his oration I have killed or will kill a man in my wound and a young man in my hurt Thirdly If Cain shall be avenged seven times then Lamech seventy times seven times In which words he saith in effect that he will neither doe right not suffer wrong His Preface we see is a solemn and grave Speech as if Solomon himself were delivering some great piece of wisedome or as if some Prophet were to declare some weighty matter in the name of the Lord. That we may see that the wicked are as carefull in stirring up the hearers to hear their blasphemies as the Prophets and Saints of God are to crave attention to their heavenly doctrine They are like the words of Jacob to his Children Genesis the fourty ninth chapter and the second verse Hear ye Sonnes of Jacob hearken to Israel your Father where to hearken is more than to hear and the speech is more than the voice whereby Lamech willeth his Wives with all attention to bow their eares to that which he saith which sheweth that he imagined that which he spoke was some great matter whereas indeed it is nothing but a vain boasting of his power that he can doe mischief Psalm the fifty second for the Prophet saith That the great men speak out the corruption of their hearts and they wrap it up Micah the seventh chapter and the third verse and so doth this great Gyant Lamech we see by his words he hath this opinion that he ought to be heard being a man of this power For as the Wise-man saith of the practise of the world If the rich man speaks all must hearken to his word but the poor when he speaks cannot be heard but see what is the effect of his speech for all his good preface therefore we must not presently impute wisedome to every one that beginneth in this solemn manner Of the body of his Oration be two parts First a proclaiming to the world What he will doe if he be touched Secondly If Cain be avenged seven times then Lamech seventy times seven fold Of the former there are two readings the one is I have stain a man being but wounded and killed a young man in my hurt The latter is I would kill a man If it be the former it is a Commemoration If the latter a Commination wherein he breatheth forth threatnings as Saul did Acts the eighth chapter against any that should doe him wrong The one is a bragging of his strength that he feels himself so strong as if he were wounded yet he is able to be avenged of him that shall touch him The other shewes his vindicative spirit that is so far from suffering that if he be but touched he will kill he threatens pro vulnere mortem In the first by that which the Apostle saith in the second to the Corinthians the tenth chapter That if God give strength and power to any man it is not to destroy but to 〈◊〉 We see it is no true boasting which Lamech makes he doth not boast aright that saith he is of strength to doe hurt the commendation of strength is not in killing and wounding but in saving and defence For the second interpretation we are to know it is no just dealing to kill him that hath but inflicted a wound for justice is there should be talio wound for wound and not death for a wound If it be read as the Fathers read it I have killed a man in my wound then it is a confession Now we know confessions proceed of repentance but that was not the cause of Lamechs confession for then he would not have chosen these confessions but it is in the spirit of arrogancie that he confesseth to his wives what he hath done He saith that when he had killed one man in his wound then he proceeded to kill a young man that is he added blood to blood It is enough for a man to sinne though he doe not brag of it but when they doe as the Sodomites did that is praedicare peccata sua Isaiah the third chapter and the ninth verse then they are come to the 〈◊〉 of wickedness if they brag of their sinne and are so far from sorrowing for their finne that they seek applause for it as if they had done well This preaching of sinne and that rejoying in wickedness which the Wise-man speaks of Proverbs the second chapter and the fourteenth verse exultat in rebus 〈◊〉 falls upon none but such as are in profundo peccatorum that is grievous sins and at the pitch of all naughtiness Naturally men are ashamed of sinne and it is a signe of grace so to be affected therefore the Lord saith Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the twelfth verse Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination but where instead of covering their faces with shame for sinne Men have 〈◊〉 foreheads and will not be ashamed Jeremiah the third chapter and the third verse that is a sinne out of measure sinfull for shame is a 〈◊〉 of that singultus cordis that is of that inward grief of heart in the first of Samuel the twenty fift chapter which they conceive that they have offended God but when instead of sorrow and shame there is an exaltation or rejoycing of the evill they have done and a hardness of heart so as they cannot be touched with any grief of their 〈◊〉 These are the tokens of one that is past grace and these appeared in Lamech of whom the Apostles words are verified That his shame is his glory Philippians the third chapter In both these he justifieth Cain for he was ashamed to confesse that he had killed Abel and therefore answered the Lord I know not am I my brothers keeper and after he is very sorry and greatly cast down and therefore saith My sinne is greater than can be pardoned This is it we learn in the 〈◊〉 part The second is worse for where there is no shame there may be fear He that hath lost shame for 〈◊〉 is like the beast 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 ninth for the beast is not ashamed of any thing but though 〈◊〉 beasts be without shame yet they have fear for they will 〈◊〉 willingly run into the fire it is so terrible to them therefore he that feareth not when he 〈◊〉 the danger of sin he is 〈◊〉 than a 〈◊〉 yea than the Devils themselves Who 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 the second chapter Therefore where as 〈◊〉 is not 〈◊〉 to kill and murther him that should but wound him having not 〈…〉 That if a man 〈◊〉 evill sinne 〈◊〉 at the dore but 〈◊〉 an 〈◊〉 of Gods wrath upon Cain for murther that is a sign that his 〈◊〉 is greatly hardened A man would think the very 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be
therefore they would have another seed like the starres of heaven such as should have their conversation in heaven it is that which the Prophet tells us there is semen nequam Isaiah the first chapter that is a naughty and corrupt seed such was the seed of Cain and there is semen sanctum Isaiah the sixt chapter such a seed was it that Adam desired Cain was a naughty seed but they would have a holy seed for there is not only good seed but tares as Christ sheweth Matthew the thirteenth chapter Such is the difference that is in seeds A holy seed is such as shall sinne but yet shall not doe sinne in the first epistle of John the third chapter that is not operarius iniquitatis Matthew the seventh chapter because the seed of God is in them but they that sell themselves to all manner of sinne are the corrupt seed such as power out themselves to all wickedness because they have not the seed of God in them but the Serpents seed of whom it may be said verò ex patre Diabilo estis John the eighth chapter Fiftly This other seed might be another seed yet not like Abel that is a seed more civill and temperate in the course of this life than Cain was and his posterity but they desire a seed for Abel that is such another seed as Abel was They desire a Child not simply but pro Abele that is such a Child in whom they may finde the spirit of Abel that they might say here is another Abel that though Abel be taken off yet there might another like Abel be ingraffed The last point is in these words For Abel whom Cain 〈◊〉 There were many things that Cain could endure well enough in Abel but the cause why he 〈◊〉 him was for that he had a desire to please God and to sacrifice to him in the best 〈…〉 could his desire was to offer plurimam hostiam 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse that is a Sacrifice that should be in 〈◊〉 more and in quality de 〈◊〉 of the best of his sheep so they would not only have one religious as Abel but one that should be opposite to Cain and as it were the Heir of Abels 〈◊〉 one that might accomplish that which was lacking on Abels part in the first to the Thessalonians the third chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse 〈◊〉 as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him 〈◊〉 was born after the spirit Galatians the fourth chapter so they might have one to maintain his quarrel and might uphold that holy seed Concerning which as God hath a purpose that the patience of his Saints should appear Romans the ninteenth chapter 〈…〉 patientia Sanctorum for which cause he suffers Abel to be 〈◊〉 so he will have his providence appear too and therefore he sets up Seth so as Tubal-Cain with all his armor shall not remove him So we see in every of these words there is a power They would have this other seed like Abel in all things saving in this that Abel was but shewed only to the world but they would have Seth a permanent seed So doth God make the distinction between his Saints to some he saith as to Peter John the twenty first chapter Follow me that by thy death thou maist glorifie me Of others he saith as of John the Evangelist I will have thee tarry still that is he will have some Saints to be 〈◊〉 as Peter and others he would have to live out all the dayes of their life as John the Evangelist and John that dieth in Domino is no less blessed 〈◊〉 Peter that dieth pro Domino So 〈◊〉 he would have Abel 〈◊〉 taken a way and 〈◊〉 to live out the course of nature yet the one is no lesse acceptable to him than the other Lastly These words contain a plain 〈◊〉 of Eve not only in regard of her stile for of Cain she said I have obtained a man of the Lord but of Seth Deus posuit The one is 〈◊〉 Evae the other positio Del. But in regard of that account which now she makes of Cain Why should not Cain be still her Jewell as before for he lives still and hath a great and mighty seed She faith the cares not 〈◊〉 him for that he is cut off from Gods Church a stranger from the promises of God And as for Abel whom before she 〈…〉 now she desires one like him though he should be 〈…〉 Abel 〈◊〉 So she condemnes her self for having so great a 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisedome at last is justified of her Children For a time 〈◊〉 〈…〉 accounted of but at last Abel shall be found to be 〈…〉 case Out of which we see that which the Prophet 〈◊〉 That men must not make too much 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 Isay 〈◊〉 twenty 〈◊〉 chapter if the Lord 〈◊〉 and come not so soon as we 〈◊〉 we must wait and he that 〈◊〉 will come Hebrews the second chapter Give not over if Abel be lost God will provide another seed Secondly We see here the propriety of the Church it is a thing set as the Prophet speakes in the twenty eighth chapter of Isaiah I will lay a Stone in Sion a chief corner Stone upon which Stone the Church is built so as the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Matthew the sixteenth chapter Therefore the Apostle saith Colossians the first chapter the faithfull are radicati fundati in fide whereupon it followeth that as God himself is from everlasting and world without end Psalm the nintieth so he will be with his Church to the end of the world Matthew the eighteenth chapter so we see there is a reward for the righteous though he were killed touching the body yet he lives still in heaven And now in as much as there is one like Abel he revives in earth and so he hath his reward in heaven and earth Howsoever before Cain was preferred before Abel yet now by the testimony of Adam and Eve is counted one not worthy the ground that he treads upon but Abel is acknowledged to be a great blessing and therefore hath his desire one like him Sed ipsi Schetho genitus est filius cujus nomen vocavit Enoschum tunc coeptum est invocari nomen Jehovae Gen. 4. 26. Februar 17. 1599. YOU see here that albeit Moses might have deferred these two verses to the next chapter wherein he drawes down the genealogie of the godly seed yet he could not contain himself but before he concludes this chapter he will make some mention of some that regard the worship of God as well to shew that God did not clean forget his promise and his people as also that he might counterpoise the evill of the wicked that went before as last of all that he might make a good conclusion that as he had a good beginning in Abels oblation so he might end it well in the invocation of Enosh and he doth end
Congregation of such as did invocate the name of the Lord. AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON Severall choice Texts BOTH out of the Old and New TESTAMENT LECTURES Preached in the Parish Church of St. GILES without Cripple-gate LONDON Sed advolavit ad me unus ex istis Seraphim habens in manu sua prunam quam forcibus sumpserat ab altari Admovitque ori meo dicens c. Isaiah 6. 6. Octob. 1. 1598. IN the Liturgy of the ancient Church these words are found applyed to the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood for it is recorded by Basill That at the celebration thereof after the Sacrament was ministred to the people the Preist stood up and said as the Seraphin doth here Behold this hath touched your lips your iniquity shall 〈◊〉 taken away and your sinne purged The whole fruit or Religion is The taking away of sinne Isaiah the twenty seventh Chapter and the ninth verse and the speciall wayes to take it away is the Religious use of this Sacrament which as Christ saith is nothing else but a seale and signe of his blood that was shed for many for the remission of sinnes Matthew the twenty sixt Chapter and the twenty eighth verse for the Angell tells the prophet that his sinnes are not only taken away but that it is done sacramentally by the touching of a Cole even as Christ assureth us that we obtain remission of sinnes by the receiving of the Cup Now as in the Sacrament we consider the Element and the word so we are to divide this Scripture For first in that the Seraphin touched his mouth with a burning Cole taken from the Altar therein we have the element and the word of comfort which the Prophet received was that the Angell said to him Behold this Cole hath touched thy lips and now thine iniquity is taken away and thy sinnes purged And there is such an Analogie and proportion between the Sereaphim and the Priests between the Altar and the Lords Table between the burning Cole and Bread and Wine offered and received in the Lords Supper As we cannot but justifie the wisdome of the ancient Church in applying this Scripture to the holy Eucharist For as St. John sheweth this vision shewed to the Prophet Isaiah is to be understood of our Saviour Christ John the twelfth and the fourty first verse for saith the Evangelist These things said Esay when he saw his glory and spake of him and therefore by this burning Cole taken from the Altar is meant Christ Jesus who by the Sacrifice of his death which hee offered up to God his Father hath taken away our iniquities and purged our sinnes as it is in the sixt chapter to the Hebrewes and therefore for the confirmation of our Faith wee are here taught That our sinnes are no lesse taken away by the element of bread and wine in the Sacrament then the Prophets sinne was by being touched with a Cole The occasion of this touching is set downe in the former verses of this Chapter which doe stand upon a vision and a confession The vision shewed to the Prophet was That hee saw the Lord sitting upon an high Throne as a Judgeready to give Sentence before whom the very Angells were forced 〈◊〉 cover their faces The confession that hee made was Woe is mee for I am uncleane I am a man of polluted lips mine eyes have seene the King and Lord of Hosts From whence wee learne that howsoever by the consideration of his former life and the sinnes that have scaped from him a man may bee brought to some remorse of Conscience yet then especially hee is humbled when hee seeth the vision of Gods glory and therefore nothing is more 〈◊〉 to bring us to repentance than to consider that at the last generall day Wee shall see Christ Jesus the sonne of God come in glory and sit downe in his Throne of glory and give Sentence of condemnation upon the wicked The Prophet who otherwise was no grievous sinner but only guilty of omission for that he had beene silent and did not glorifie God with his 〈◊〉 as he should have done notwithstanding in the sight of Gods glory is touched with remorse cryeth out Woe is me Whereby again wee learne that wee sinne not only when wee speake of these things which wee should not but when wee are silent when we should apply our tongues to Gods glory so that though the excellency of our upright and honest conversation bee never so great in the world yet the Majesty of God is such as shall shew That even those duties that we have omitted shall be sufficient to confound us before his glorious presence unlesse it please him to be mercifull to us therefore when wee appeare before his judgement-seate it shall bee in vain for us to alleage what wee have done forasmuch as the least duty that wee have lest undone is enough to condemn us It shall bee our duty therefore notwithstanding all our righteousnesse to judge our selves worthy to bee destroyed for our iniquities and sinnes of omission Ezechiel the thirty sixt chapter and the one and 〈◊〉 verse and to say with this Prophet Woe is mee for I am a man of polluted lips We must acknowledge that nothing belongs to us but Woe and that God may in justice confound us for the least duty we have omitted Upon this confession made by the Prophet there came an Angell flying from God which by touching his lips with a hot Coale assured him that his sinne was taken away wherefore as by the former wee learne that wee should repent us of our sinnes when wee consider the great Majesty of God so by this wee are taught what to hope for that is that if wee bee penitent God will not bee wanting unto us but will send a Seraphin unto us with a word of comfort to assure us that all our iniquities are purged Two parts First Elementall The outward element appointed by God to confirme his faith was the flying of a Seraphin unto him to touch is mouth with the Cole Secondly Invisible grace the word or invisible grace signifyed by the element was that by that touching his sinne was taken away In the outward action wee are first to consider the element it selfe that was the burning Cole on the Altar next the application persormed by a Seraphin who tooke the Cole from the Altar and touched the Prophets lips First The Element First therefore considering that none can take away sinne but God only wee must needs confesse that there was in this Cole a divine force and virtue issuing from Christ who is the only reconciliation for our sins without which it had not beene possible that it could have taken away sinne But what is here said of this Cole is to bee understood of Christ of whom Esay speaketh in this place When hee saw the glory of Christ John 12. 41. for hee is the Cole by which our sinnes
faith by means whereof that was made present to Abraham which otherwise was absent The fathers by faith beheld this promise afarre off Hebrews the 〈◊〉 chapter and the seventh 〈◊〉 c. And were as sure of them as if they were performed Thirdly He rejoyced It is said that God gave charge touching the Patriarchs and ancient Fathers Nolite tangere unctos 〈◊〉 Psalm the hundred and fift and the fifteenth verse Which 〈◊〉 was Abraham who was 〈◊〉 with the oyle of gladnesse Psalm the fourty fift By which the conceived joy when by faith he saw the day of Christs 〈◊〉 Here we are to inquire of the matter and words of this joy The 〈◊〉 and cause of Abrahams joy was deliverance which is a great cause of joy When the Lord brought again the captivity then was our mouth filled with laughter Psalme the hundred twenty sixt So Abraham 〈◊〉 to think that he was delivered from being dust and 〈◊〉 that now be might say with David They 〈◊〉 not leave my 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 nor suffer me to see 〈◊〉 Psalm the sixteenth and the tenth 〈◊〉 Secondly He rejoyced considering that by means of Christ his 〈◊〉 he should not only 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 which is death of body For dust thou art and to dust 〈…〉 Genesis the third chapter And the death of the soul which is the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 the sixt chapter But should have 〈…〉 and that not temporal but spiritual in 〈…〉 the first chapter and the third verse For as the 〈…〉 they 〈…〉 not earthly blessings but heavenly For 〈…〉 had been mindfull of earthly blessings They had 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 and had 〈…〉 them Hebrews the 〈◊〉 chapter and the 〈…〉 But the matter of Abrahams joy was the hope of a 〈◊〉 blessing 〈◊〉 Christ. This God 〈◊〉 when he promised That his seed should not only be as the dust of the earth which is an earthly 〈…〉 the thirteenth chapter but As the starres of Heaven Genesis the fifteenth chapter By which is meant the blessing of Heaven This blessing was That he should enjoy those things which the eye bath not seen the first epistle to the Corinthians the second chapter and the ninth verse Thirdly That this blessing should come to him per semen suum not by a strange or foraign means this did increase Abrahams joy to think quod Servator Abrahae est semen Abrahae And that he whom David called his Lord was his sonne Matthew the twenty second chapter Fourthly His joy was the greater considering that this benefit was not appropriated to the Jews only that were of the stock of Abraham but that in him all Nations should be blessed not only he and all his children but as many as were to be blessed should obtain this blessednesse in him So say the Angels that the birth of Christ is matter of the Peoples joy because it belongs to all People Luke the second chapter That in this life all that are blessed with faithfull Abraham Galatians the third chapter And after this life shall be blessed by being received into Abrahams bosome Luke the sixteenth chapter For the manner of his joy As his desiring sight was spiritual so his joy is not carnal as ours but spiritual We desire to see the feast of Christs nativity and we joy when it comes but in a carnal manner but it must be spiritual as Mary saith My spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Luke the second chapter There is a joy of the countenance which is outward but the true joy is of the heart and conscience To desire Christs dayes before he come and to joy when he is come are the true touchstones of our love to him When our Parents heard God was come they hid themselves Genesis the third chapter So he that is in state of sinne desires not Gods comming or presence neither rejoyce at it They say Let the holy one of Israel cease from before us Isaiah the thirtieth chapter and the eleventh verse So farre are they off from desiring his comming And for joying when he is come they will say with the Gergasites Depart out of our Coasts Matthew the eighth chapter and the thirty fourth verse But contrariwise the godly to testifie their desire say Break the Heavens and come down Psalme the hundred fourty fourth 〈◊〉 So for joy The hope that is deferred makes the heart to faint but when it comes it is as a tree of life Proverbs the thirteenth chapter and the twelfth verse Therefore we must proceed from desire to sight and by it as also by our joy we conceive at the day of Christs birth we may examine whether we be the children of Abraham and so may conceive hope to be partakers of blessing with him But if we rejoyce as the carnal Israelites did of whom it is said The People sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play Exodus the thirty second chapter and the sixt verse If we testifie our joy by eating and drinking that is no true joy Our 〈◊〉 day shall be 〈◊〉 Malachie the second chapter This joy is the Heathens joy whose hearts are filled with food and 〈◊〉 Acts the fourteenth chapter They eate cakes and drink wine and make themselves 〈◊〉 therewith Jeremiah the fourty fourth chapter But that is not Abrahams joy it is spiritual wherein is blessednesse For blessed are the People that can rejoyce in thee Psalm the eighty ninth We must learn to rejovce a right at the day of Christs birth If we will rejoyce as Abraham did we must pray with David Remember me Lord that I may see the 〈◊〉 of thy chosen and bee glad with thy people and give thanks with thine inheritance Psalm the hundred and sixt and the fourth and fift verses Abraham knew a day would come that should take away all his earthly joy and therefore desired the day of Christs birth which might make him to rejoyce in 〈…〉 the fift chapter And rejoyce in afflictions the first epistle of Peter and the fourth chapter such a joy as na man shall take away John the sixteenth chapter As we must rejoyce at this day of Christ after Abrahams example so Christ hath a second day wherein he will give to every man according to his works Romans the second chapter If we rejoyce at this day when it comes and desire it If we love the glorious comming of Christ the second epistle to Timothy and the fourth verse If we look for the appearing of the just God Titus the second chapter and the twelfth verse then shall we shew our selves the Children of Abraham Of that day to see it he saith it shall be matter of joy Lift up your heads Luke the twenty sixt chapter and the twenty first verse For your redemption draweth neer To others matter of sorrow They shall hide them in the rocks Revelations the third chapter but we must say with David I remembred thy judgements and received comfort Psalme the hundred and ninteenth Principes populorum congregantur
kept but to be layed out and bestowed for our use Datus est nobis ut detur à nobis And this is done in the latter verse In which we have to consider First the Gift Secondly Limitations First for the time As long as he lived Secondly the end To serve God If we ask why Hannah and the Virgin doe give to God the reason is because God being offended must be appeased and nothing doth more serve to appease wrath than a gift Proverbs the twenty first chapter and the fourteenth verse therefore Jacob 〈◊〉 a present to Esau Genesis the thirty third chapter Ut cum 〈◊〉 placeret muneribus As this kinde of satisfaction hath place in all offences so chiefly when offence is made per ablationem we have taken away and robbed God Philippians the second chapter of the faith and obedience we owe to him Therefore as we have offended per ablationem so must we satisfie per oblationem as Jacob having robbed Esau of his birthrigh by taking his blessing from him doth satisfie and appease his wrath by offering to him that is the ground and reason of our gift But if we will appease by a gift there must be an equality we may not offer a thing under the value of the thing which wastaken away that is the reason why all the sacrifices of the Law could not appease God as the Apostle sheweth It is impossible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sinnes Hebrews the tenth chapter and Psalm the fourtieth therefore the Prophet saith Wherewith shall I come and appear before God shall I bring Rams and Sheep or Rivers of Oyle shall I give my first borne Michah the sixt chapter But all that will not satisfie God for that we have taken from him The value of our obedience to God is such as cannot appease and satisfie his Majestie being offended The soul is more precious than all the world and no sufficient ransom can be given by man for it Matthew the sixteenth chapter But if we can offer to God a thing of equall price to the obedience which we owe to God then no doubt but he will be appeased especially if we offer a thing of a higher rate But Christ is of greater value than all that we can take from God for howsoever the sinne be great in that we that are but men should sinne against God who is infinite yet if we look to Christs person who hath satisfied for us it is of such dignity as doth worthily serve for a ransom for the sinnes of all the world And for our concupiscence the love of Christ hath made a sufficient satisfaction for it which love is such as the Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that now we may sing both Mercie and Judgment Psalm the hundred and first of our selves we are to rely upon Gods mercy in Christ But in as much as Christ in our persons hath so fully satisfied for us we may be bold to tell his Justice now That his righteousnesse is made ours and we are made the righteousnesse of God in him the second epistle to the Corinthians the fift chapter The limitation for the time is all the dayes of his life To make him a Nazarite was not enough for that continues but for certain dayes Numbers the sixt chapter But Hannah gives her sonne to the Lord 〈◊〉 his life that is for ever Such a Nazarite was Sampson not for a few dayes but from the day of his birth to the day of his death Judges the thirteenth chapter and the seventh verse And besides these 〈◊〉 finde none that continued Nazarites so long But if we come to 〈◊〉 composition we shall finde that whereas before Christ many were made Nazarites and Priests to serve the Lord because they were not suffered to indure by reason of death For Samuel though he lived fourscore years which age no man scarse exceedeth Psalme the nintieth He whom the blessed Virgin offered to be a Nazarite was such a one as endureth for ever and whose office cannot be intercepted by death Hebrews the seventh chapter and the twenty third verse As he is such a King as of whose Kingdome there is no end Luke the first chapter and the thirty fift verse so he hath an everlasting Priesthood The Lord hath appointed him to be a Priest for ever Psalm the hundred and tenth to make reconciliation between God and men so hath he obtained for us eternal redemption Hebrews the ninth chapter and the twelfth verse And is become the author of eternal salvation Hebrews the fift chapter and the ninth verse So that the limitation which Hannah speaks of stands more firm in Christ than in Samuel The second limitation is for the end signified in these words And he shall serve or worship the Lord For it stands with good reason that as 〈◊〉 was the beginning so it should be the end for as the Priest 〈◊〉 said in the first book of Samuel and the second chapter If man offend against God who will be his dayes man and come between God and him There is none to undertake this matter but he that is appointed to be the only mediation between God and man the first epistle to Timothie the second chapter and the fift verse that is Jesus Christ who as he is God and man so is God blessed for ever Romans the ninth chapter For a Mediator is not of one Galatians the third chapter but of two parties that are at variance and the mediator is to stand between them both Now there is great disagreement between God and man by reason of sinne which hath made a separation And therefore we are to inquire who shall be the mediator It is certain Samuel while he lived stood between God and the people as a Mediator to appease him by sacrifice But his mediatorship is come to an end Therefore wee must look for a more perfect Mediator such a one as Samuel himself needed Now the Mediator that stands between God and us is not Samuel the Priest but Christ the Sonne of the Virgin Who to appease the wrath of God his Father offered up himself as a lambe Isaiah the fifty third chapter to be a sacrifice for us Secondly Because we need a mediator to stand between us and Sathan he also doth perform this and deliver us out of the jawes of that roaring Lyon Wherefore as before he was a lambe as 〈◊〉 God as Samuel did so here like Sampson he delivers us like that Lion of the tribe of Judah which Jacob foretold Genesis the fourty ninth chapter and hath shewed himself in the fifth chapter of the Revelations as before he was a Priest so here he shewes himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews Thirdly he was to be our Intercessor in respect of judgement It is with us as it 〈◊〉 out between the Judges and the Clyent and therefore Christ is called an Advocate in the first epistle
willingly will come as often as they may and not like those that swell with pride and say another time will serve as well as now as Davids servants said to Naball in the first book of Samuel the twenty fift chapter We come now in a good time for thou makest a feast and art in case to relieve us another time peradventure thou wilt not be so prepared So men ought to take the opportunity and to say in their selves Now is the time of the celebration of Gods mercy and loving kindnesse Now we receive Christ and therefore there is great hope that if we come he will receive us Now we celebrate the memory of his death when he was content to receive the thief that came unto him and therefore it is most likely that he will receive us if we come to him But if we come not now happily we shall not be received when we would It is Christs will That they which are given him of the Father be with him where he is and may behold his glory John the seventeenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse Therefore it stands us upon to come to Christ that he may receive us to be one with him in the life of grace and partakers with him in his Kingdom of glory Qui verò haec audierunt compuncti sunt corde dixerunt ad Petrum ac reliquos Apostolos Quid faciemus viri fratres Petrus autem ait ad eos Resipiscite c. Act. 2. 37. April 12. 1600. OUR Saviour Christ promised Peter Acts the fift chapter to make him a fisher of men and 〈◊〉 the thirteenth chapter That the 〈…〉 of Heaven is like a 〈…〉 which catcheth fish of all 〈…〉 The first casting forth of this act and 〈…〉 draught that Peter had is by 〈…〉 these verses And the draught which he made was 〈…〉 souls verse the fourty first If we 〈◊〉 of what 〈◊〉 They were 〈◊〉 souls of them that killed the Sonne of God and 〈…〉 the spirit of God whom they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 holy Ghost to 〈◊〉 verse the 〈…〉 These men are full of new 〈◊〉 Which when we advisedly consider it cannot but be matter First Of great comfort Teaching us that albeit we be great sinners as the Jews that put the sonne of God to death yet there is a quid faciemus what to doe that is a hope of remission of sinnes Secondly Of instruction touching the means That if we repent and be pricked in heart with the consideration of our sinnes as they were we shall attain this mercie which they received First St. Luke sets down the Sermon of Peter Secondly The sruit and effect of it As the Sermon it self propounds the death and Resurrection of Christ so in the effect that followed of it we see the means how we are made partakers of his death and Resurrection and that is set down in these two verses which contain a question and an answer In the question is to be observed First the cause of it that is the compunction of their hearts Secondly the cause of that compunction and that was the hearing of Peters Sermon Touching this effect which Peters Sermon wrought in the hearts of his hearers it is compuncti sunt corde Wherein note two things First the work it self Secondly the part wherein of the work it self it is said they were pricked Wherein first we are to observe That the first work of the spirit and operation of the word is compunction of heart howbeit the word being the word of glad tidings and comfort it is strange it should have any such operation but that Christ hath foretold the same John the sixteenth chapter When the comforter comes he shall reprove the world of sinne Now reproof is a thing that enters into the heart as Proverbs the twelfth chapter and the eighteenth verse There is that speaketh words like the prickings of a sword and as Christ gave warning before hand so now when the holy Ghost was given we see that Peters hearers are reproved and pricked in their consciences that they dealt so cruelly with Christ. As this 〈◊〉 the Elect of God so there is another spirit called by the same name of pricking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the eleventh chapter and the eighth verse that is the spirit of slumber which shews it self upon those that shall not be saved Touching the manner of this operation we see it is not a tickling or itching but a pricking and that no light one but such as pearced deeply into their hearts and caused them to cry Whereby we see it is not the speaking of fair words saying with the false Prophets Jeremiah the twenty third chapter The Lord hath said ye shall have peace it is not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the sixteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse that makes this effect but this speaking The part wherein this work was wrought was the heart as Luke the twenty fourth chapter they burned in their hearts and 〈◊〉 the second chapter and the fourteenth verse I will speak to their hearts So it was 〈◊〉 of the eares in the second 〈◊〉 to Timot hie the 〈◊〉 chapter or of the brain that they felt but a 〈◊〉 of the very 〈◊〉 and so should we be affected at the hearing of the word As 〈…〉 is pricked in the flesh is disquieted till he have remedy so should the consideration of our sinnes disquiet us and make us seek for cure This is our duty from their example and it is a good signe of distinction to shew us whether we be of the number of those that shall be saved whether of the good fish that shall be gathered together or the bad fish that shall be cast out Matthew the thirteenth chapter and the fourty eighth verse So if we pertain to God we shall feel this pricking at our hearts after we have heard the word The cause of this compunction is his auditis that is they had heard a speech of St. Peter which did disquiet them till they asked counsel of Peter and the rest The word of God of its own nature hath no such operation for the Patriarch Job saith Job the twenty third chapter It was agreeable to him as his appointedfood And David Psalm the nineteenth saith The Commanaements of the Lordrejoyceth the heart and is sweeter than the honey and the honey-combe But yet it hath this effect in regard that it meeteth with that which is an enemy to our Salvation that is sinne the deputy of 〈◊〉 as the word is Gods 〈◊〉 Without the Law sinne is dead but when the Commandement came sinne revived Romans the seventh chapter and the eighth verse for sinne is a sting the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter which lyeth dead so long as it is not reproved But when it is reproved by the commandement of God then it reviveth and stings the heart it makes men have a conscience of sinne Hebrews the tenth chapter and when sinne is
disquieted the heart also wherein it resteth is disquieted For the words of the wise are as goads and pricks Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter and Matthew the fift chapter as salt and mustard seed Matthew the thirteenth chapter as wine To a putrified sore Luke the tenth chapter So that whether we respect the old or new Testament we see the words have this 〈◊〉 to disquiet sinne especially such words as Peter spake to his Auditors out of the Prophet Joel where he sheweth that as Christ hath a day of resurrection which is past whereby he gave his Apostles those gifts of the spirit so he hath another day which is the featfull and great day of Judgement when the word of the Rulers shall not be enough for them that have killed the Lord of life though they promised to serve them harmlesse Matthew the twenty eighth chapter For here they shall give an account of their cruelty to Christ. And thirdly whereas he moveth them to repentance First In this consideration of the day of Judgement Secondly of the sinne they committed that they slue and crucified Christ Thirdl of the grievousnesse of their sinne that he was the sonne of God whom they dealt thus with and every sinne hath a sting but especially 〈◊〉 For the remembrance of it stings the conscience so as it cannot be quiet Now in that they not only committed murther but murthered such a one as was both a holy and just one Acts the third 〈◊〉 and the blessed sonne of God this could not but 〈◊〉 their hearts as we see the remembrance of the day of Judgement is such a thing as made Felix tremble Acts the twenty fourth chapter And when we hear of the Judgement to come it should bring out of us these questions Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the sixt verse Quid feci and Isaiah the fifty seventh chapter and the fourth verse Cui 〈◊〉 upon whom have you gaped To consider not only the sinne we have committed but the person against whom that it is God of all 〈◊〉 stie and power And Matthew the twenty first chapter Quid faciam that is he considers of the Judgments of God which belong to us For these so grievous sinnes these are means to prick our hearts at the hearing of the word But yet we say though the word of God hath this nature yet except the work of the spirit doe concur with the word the conscience is seared the first epistle to Timothy and the fourth chapter and cannot be touched with any thing The soul is possessed with the gangrene that is without life and feeling so that it hath no sense be it pricked never so deeply the second 〈◊〉 to Timothie the first chapter but he that feels himself pricked in heart for his sinnes may assure himself his conscience is not feared but both a heart of flesh easily to be touched with sorrow for sinne and that his soul is not dead in sinne but liveth spiritually In the Question we have to observe First that this compunction made him speak for as the Wise-man saith Qui pungit cor educit sermonem So here when they were pricked they said Men and Brethren as if the holy 〈◊〉 should say if a man say nothing after he is pricked it is nature compunction For if when men are moved inwardly with a feeling of their sinnes for all that they say nothing nor seek direction of them that are skilfull they doe smother and detein the truth Romans the first chapter Secondly We must observe what they said and that was Quid faciemus what shall we doe A first the People then the 〈◊〉 and after the Publicans said to S John the 〈◊〉 Luke the third chapter which is the second thing to be noted that as true compunction is not dumb so not 〈◊〉 but would be doing somthing they say not What shall we say but What shall we doe Quid faciemus as if the same spirit which pricked their hearts had also taught them that something must be done The like question did St. Paul make being pricked Domine quid vis me facere Acts the ninth chapter and the sixt verse So the Angel said to Cornelius Goe to Joppa and Simon shall tell thee what thou oughtest to doe Acts the tenth chapter So said the Jayler to the Apostles Acts the sixteenth chapter What shall I doe that I may be saved I and my houshold and that I may be rid of the pricking of my conscience For as compunction must not be silant so neither must it be idle or unfruitfull in the knowledg of the Lord the second epistle of Peter the first chapter Thirdly Observe after what manner they said What shall we doe and that was not as Cain and Judas said Genesis the fourth chapter and Matthew the twenty seventh chapter Their what to doe Quid faciemus was a note of desparation Nor as the P arisees said desparately in their sury and rage What shall we doe John the eleventh chapter If such have their sinnes laid before them their hearts will not be pricked but cleave asunder as they to whom St. Stephen 〈◊〉 Acts the eighth chapter The heart may be cast down with too much grief so as a man shall say with Cain My sinne is greater than can be forgiven or else moved with malice and be pricked so as they will prick again as they that being pricked with the reproof of the Prophet 〈◊〉 Let us sting him with our tongues as he hath stung our hearts Jeremiah the eighteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse for this is the effect which the word of God hath in many that are wicked But that which Peters Auditors say is spoken in heavinesse and a desire to have sinne that doth disquiet them that which the Apostle calleth the sin that doth so easily beset us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrews the twelfth and the first verse taken from them This their heavinesse makes them conformable to Christ and therefore is commendable in them For it is Gods will that such as shall be saved be made 〈◊〉 to the Image of his sonne Romans the eighth chapter and the twenty ninth verse for Christ was pierced not only with a bodily spear in his side but with grief of soul And as he suffered of compassion over us so we must suffer in compassion with him Out of that which the ancient Fathers observe in Sorrow we have five things to note First That something may be done as a remedy against sinne For albeit we have sinned never 〈…〉 yet there is hope tamen adhuc spes est Esdras the tenth chapter and the second verse there is hope of some means to be used which if it be done as Ezechiel the eighteenth chapter privata vestra non 〈…〉 Domine scandalum Secondly By that which they say is to be gathered that as something may be done so it ought to be done that the terror of minde being removed we may be assured of the favour and grace of
petition Mark and regard In the Passion two things are to be considered first the grievousnesse of his sufferings noted in these words If ever there were the like sorrow Secondly the cause of it in these Where with the Lord hath afflicted me Upon which follow these three actions First to see Secondly to consider Thirdly to regard and esteem of it as a thing which concerns us As is implyed in the first words which are thus read Nonne ad vos pertinet for the first point here is some spectacle to behold in as much as he directeth his speech to them that passe by the way Omnes qui transitis viam When a stay is made not of one but of all there is some great matter and the holy Ghost tells us that there is no journy so important nor haste so great that should hinder us from considering of the sufferings of Christ. The motives that he useth to quicken our weaknesse are two the one taken from the thing it self the other from the beholders For the thing it self we know those things that are rare draw our eyes to behold them therefore he saith If ever there were sorrow like my sorrow And this reason he takes from the beholders as Doth it not concern or pertain to you For the things that were shewed chiefly are such as concern us as for other things that appertain unto us we respect them not The sufferings consist as all other doe either in sensu or damno that is either privatively or positively That which is translated sorrow or prayer is a blow or wound which is a matter of sense and it signifies such a blow as strikes off both root and leaves that is it we are to consider in this spectacle That which he felt was either in body or soul. Touching his bodily sufferings our own eyes are witnesses For there was no part of him neither skin nor bone nor sense nor any part wherein he was not stricken His blessed body was an Anvile to receive all the stroaks that were laid on him And we have no better argument hereof than Pilates Ecce homo John the nineteenth chapter for he thought they had brought him to that 〈◊〉 already that even the hard-hearted Jews would have pitied him But that which is said here si fuerit dolor sicut is not so verified of his bodily sufferings as in that which he suffered in his soul For in bodily sufferings many have been equall to him but the suffering of the soul is most grievous as the greatest heavinesse is the heavinesse of the heart the afflictions of the body may be susteined but a wounded spirit who can bear Proverbs the eighteenth chapter Therefore St. Paul calls that suffering which he felt in his soul corpus mortis Romans the seventh chapter Upon these sufferings it is that he cryeth out Ecce si fuerit dolor sicut The grievousnesse of whose suffering we argue not so much from that which is recorded of him that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark the fourteenth chapter and the thirty third verse that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke the twenty second chapter and the twenty fourth verse that his soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matthew the twenty sixt chapter as from the bloody sweat Ecce si fuerat sudor that is verified when no uncleannesse is offered when a man lying on the cold earth for then it was cold so as they were fain to make fire then to sweat not tenues sudores but granos sanguinis He that considers this may make a cause of it that there was never any such sorrow or sweat The cause of this sweat was bought as indeed the word imports where with the Lord hath boyled me as in a furnace as after in the next verse Ignem misit Dominus he was in a furnace of Gods fierce wrath therefore the Greek Church prayeth By thy unknown sufferings good Lord deliver us For that which was taken from him that was 〈◊〉 Domini he was spoyled both of earthly comforts and heavenly graces For the first He that had gone up and down feeding healing and preaching among the Jews receives no comfort from the earth their words were not his but Barabas Again His blood be upon us and our children Lastly When he was on the Crosse they scorned him He trusted in God let him save 〈◊〉 and Thou that savest others come down and save thy self As for his Disciples from whom he might have looked for most comfort one of them betrayed him another denyed him and all forsook him and he is stript of all earthly comfort And as for his soul that was bereaved of all heavenly graces or influence there was a traverse or draw-bridge drawn as appeareth by his words My God why hast thou for saken me It is not so with the 〈◊〉 for they in the 〈◊〉 of their pains and sorrows feel drops of heavenly consolation which make them cheerfull But it was not so with our Saviour there was a sequestration whereby the influence of his divinity was restrained from his humanity whereupon ensued that cry My God why hast thou for saken me there was never the like cry Thirdly From the party that complaineth we may argue there was never the like sorrow A little thing done to a person of great excellencie doth aggravate the matter but never the like person suffered and never the like sorrow Exodus 23. 3. God takes order men shall not handle the poor beast barbarously but be ready to relieve and help him but more respect is to be had of a man although a Malefactor and much more an Innocent as he that fell among theeves and was hurt Luke the tenth chapter But if it be not only an Innocent but an exalted person as Josiah then great respect is to be had but ecce major Josiah hìc Matthew the twelfth chapter it is Christ that suffers of whom not only Pilate saith Ecce John the nineteenth chapter but the Centurion 〈◊〉 Verè hic salis est Deus this makes it a cause not to be matched The cause of those his sufferings is imputed not to the bloody Soldiers or hard-hearted Jews or high-Priests Scribes but afflixit Deus When God doth as well chasten in wrath as christen in his displeasure this is not don in his mercifull chastisement but in his wrathfull displeasure in die furoris ejus nay his colour was red When God is angry or punisheth grievously it is for some grievous sinne and is for some notable sinne of which it may be said non sicut had our Saviour deserved the wrath of God in such manner Pilate confesseth He found nothing in him John the fourteenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse Why then did he suffer It was foretold The Messias should be stain Daniel the ninth chapter and the twenty fist verse not for himself but for others He that took not a penny was made to pay for all That is the nature of surety ship
to create the world 〈◊〉 in Jesus Christ. By the seed of the woman is meant our Saviour Christ who 〈◊〉 of time was made of a woman Galatians the fourth chapter So that when God saith I will put enmity between thy seed and the 〈◊〉 feed we have in these words a manifest promise of Christ and it is as much in effect as if the Lord after he had by his word created all things should at length say as he did of all things else 〈◊〉 the first chapter Fiat Christus Let there be a Christ that is seeing Man is fallen and hath degenerated from his first estate wherein he was created Let there be a creation of a Messiah and Saviour by whom he may be restored By this seed we are shadowed from she firie two edged sword that was set to keep the way of the tree of life Genesis the third chapter and the twenty fourth verse and if by faith which is our victory the first epistle of Joha the fift chapter and the fourth verse we can overcome the Serpent we shall eate of the tree of life which is in the mid'st of the Paradise of God Apoculyps the second chapter and the seventh verse And unto this promise of God 〈◊〉 the Apostle speaks Hebrews the second chapter and the first verse 〈◊〉 are bound to give the more earnest heed because this Gospel was not preached by man in this world which is a vail of misery but by God himself in Paradise Wherein before we consider the words themselves these things are generally to be observed That howsoever the old Serpent that is the Devil did with grief 〈◊〉 the first part of the Sentence pronunced upon him yet 〈◊〉 was content in that he in the malice of his heart thought that he had now swallowed up man in destruction with himself and that he had so taken all the generation of Mankinde captive as that it was impossible for them to get out of his shares the second epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the twenty sixth verse Secondly That our Parents knowing the they had transgressed Gods commandement did now wait every hoot when he would give them over into the hands of the 〈…〉 to be destroyed with eternal death both of body and soul as God had threatned thou shalt dye the death 〈◊〉 the second chapter Thirdly That albeit the Devil 〈…〉 his 〈◊〉 imagination that he had fully wrought out 〈…〉 God 〈◊〉 this malice by means of this 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 our Parents in conscience of their own 〈◊〉 and disobedience were out of all hope of recovery yet God 〈◊〉 them not to despair but comforts them with this promise That the 〈◊〉 of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head that is shall both destroy him that had the power of death and set at liberty those that were subject to the bondage of sinne Hebrews the second chapter and the fourteenth verse For thus doth God speak in effect to the Serpent Thou supposest that thou hast deceived them already and taken them captive so as they shall never escape thee but know that I will take them out of thy Jaws and set them at liberty thou did'st boast in thy malice Psalm the fifty second but I will not only take away this thy boasting by delivering them from that destruction whereunto thou hast brought them but they shall have a hand over thee for where thou shalt but bruise his heel he shall break thy head On the other side of our Parents he saith on this manner That howsoever they by sinning against his expresse Commandement had destroyed themselves yet God instead of delivering them to their enemy the Devil will make them to wage warre with him and to get the victory of him And so this was a blessed disappointing both of the Serpents malice and also of mans desparation This course God took in two respects First That the Devil should not wax proud against God if his devise touching mans destruction had prospered God had said at the first Let us make man after our own Image and he created him according to the same Genesis the first chapter which although it was decayed by the malice of the Devil yet God to shew that neither mans unfaithfulnesse nor the Devils malice can make Gods faith of none effect Romans the third chapter and the fourth verse hath taken order That his Image in man should be renewed Ephesians the fourth chapter Another respect that God had herein was to shew Adam and all his Posterity That whereas the Devil would make them beleeve that God did maligne and envie their good estate this was but a false suspition for as he doth not delight in the destruction of any Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and the thirty second verse so when men by sinne had wrought their own destruction yet he is so mercifull that he forgives their misdeeds and destroyeth them not Psalm the seventy eighth and the thirty eighth verse So when it was in his hands to have destroyed our Parents for their disobedience yet he did not destroy them but provided a means of salvation for them And as the father seeing his sonne afarre off ran and met him and imbraced him Luke the fifteenth chapter so God that our Parents should not despair of mercy prevents them by telling the Serpent that he hath a way to deliver them out of his bondage before he pronounceth any Sentence upon them for the Sentence given upon the Man and his Wife was after this promise And those two that is the Malice and Pride of the enemy at our destruction and Gods mercy are the two motives whereby the Church perswadeth God to be gratious unto her Lamentations the first chapter and the ninth verse Touching this objection Why God doth utter this promise by way of commination to the Serpent whom it concerneth not and doth not rather direct his speech to Adam and Eve it may be thus answered That beside Gods custom which is in wrath to vememher mercy Habakkuk the third chapter and the second verse in the valley of Achor to open a dore of hope Hosea the second chapter and the fifteenth verse and to cause light to shine cut of darknesse and so to make the light of his favourable countenance to shine in the face of Jesus Christ the second epistle to the Corinthians the fourth chapter and the sixth verse when men can look for nothing but warth and disoleasure we may see it to be reasonable that because they had deserved nothing therefore he doth not make his speech to them but to the Serpent by way of a Curse that we may know that it is not for mans deserts that God is fayourable but as the Prophet speaks It is for his own sake that he doth put away our iniquities Isaiah 43. 52. The parts of this verse are two First a proclaiming of hostility between the Serpent and the Woman and between his seed and hers Secondly a promise of victory
child and the woman to be in his Throne the Angels are ready to fight for them In that it is said The Dragon prevailed not it may be gathered that for all that he might begin again but where it is added And their place could no more be found in Heaven thereby we learn that Michael and his Angels set upon the Dragon and his Angels and drave them out of Heaven That which ariseth from hence on our parts is of two sorts First The thankfulnesse we are bound continually to render to God that we are of such regard in his sight that in Heaven they fight for us the elect angels with the evil angels Michael with the Dragon and his companie It is that which Christ tells us Luke the eleventh chapter When the strong men keep the Palace all things are in peace but then comes a stronger c. Man is even in the estimation of the Devil a Palace howsoever we by our sinnes make our selves a Hogstie therefore both Christ and the Devil esteeming so highly of us we may not esteem basely of our selves The angels have charge not only to keep us Psalm the ninty first but to wage battail about us and therefore it is plain the soul of man is no mean thing The Angels as we see are ready to enter field with the Dragon and his Angels Neither doth Heaven only take this care of us but the Earth also is ready to help us and openeth her mouth and swalloweth up the flood which the Dragon casts out of his mouth Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the sixteenth verse Therefore if they have such care of us it is reason we should have care of our selves if they take such care for man that is but earth then ought we for Heaven to be carefull If no man be crowned no not the Angels themselves except they strive aright the second epistle to Timothy the second chapter no more shall we be crowned unlesse we be as carefull of our selves as the Angels If the Angels were so busie to defend the earth we must be more diligent to fight for Heaven Again here we see that to come to Heaven is a matter of fight and wrastling Ephesians the sixt chapter If we look upon Christ and the Apostles we will say it is Lucta a wrastling but if upon common Christians it is but Ludus a pastime and sport And he that stirrs up this warre and conflict is not dead howsoever he was put to the worst but only driven out of Heaven That battail which was in Heaven among the Angels is come down to men on earth and now the Dragon fights with the womans seed and therefore it imports the womans seed to fight with him For the warre we have is not only with flesh and blood that is with our own passions and affections which is the philosophical warre though we must fight with them also because fleshly lusts fight against the spirit the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the eleventh verse But our wrastling is chiefly with the spirits with spiritual wickednesse in heavenly places Ephesians the sixt chapter And what is this enemy the Dragon foolish and weak after his conquest had over finne No he is the old Serpent therefore full of experience These enemies or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephesians the sixt chapter therefore they want no power But are they discouraged upon this overthrow No but he is the more fierce and his wrath kindled knowing his time is but short Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the twelfth verse Then seeing we have such an enemy we must strive rightly if we will be crowned si place at Corona place at studium we must take the more heed to our selves because as Gregory saith Magis est fortis nostrâ negligentiâ quà m 〈◊〉 potentiâ Secondly As we give God thanks that he makes this account of us so are we to thank him that he hath created and commanded such excellent spirits to fight for us and to pray that they which have thus fought for us in Heaven may in earth fight with us to help us that as they have cast him out of Heaven so 〈…〉 come him in earth We are to thank God that we which by our sinnes have made our selves like the beasts that perish 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke the twentieth chapter and to 〈◊〉 that we may drive the Dragon into the bottomlesse 〈◊〉 Thirdly we are to take heed that we provoke not the Angels with our misdeeds Exodus the twenty third chapter and twenty first verse nor alienate them from us with the wicked words of our mouths Ecclesiastes the fift chapter and the fift verse If we suffer our selves to sinne by filthy words and speeches we make them turn their favour from us When we come into the Church we must come with a due regard and reverence propter Angelos the first epistle to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter for by rude and uncomely behaviour in the Congregation and by suffering our mouths to utter offensive speeches we offend the Angels and deprive our selves of their favour so as they will not care for our safeguard But if as the Angel tells Danil Daniel the tenth chapter and the twelfth verse We set our hearts to understand and to humble our selves by fasting before God that may draw their affection towards us for repentance is that which doth minister joy to the Angels in Heaven Luke the fifteenth chapter Lastly By this means though we obtain not such a perfect conquest over the Dragon as the Angels did yet we shall attain to the first degree though we cannot drive him out of earth as they did out of Heaven yet we shall obtain thus much That he shall not prevail against us no more than he did against them We see it in Paul though he fought never so much yet he could not avoid it but sinne would dwell in him Romans the seventh chapter but this victory he obtained that it did not reign in his natural body Romans the sixt chapter Though till our corruption be dissolved we shall not drive him out we shall so be armed That he shall not prevail against us We must indeavor our selves that by thankfulnesse to him for vouchsafing to us this help and by intercession to continue the same we may still resist the Dragon not suffering our selves to take the soyl howsoever we cannot utterly drive him out And in this respect when we shall be like the Angels then shall we tread Satan under our feet then shall the Dragon be bound in chains and cast into the bottomlesse pit so shall we have a final conquest over him Now we must labour to 〈◊〉 to the first degree of the Angels victory and so shall we be crowned Quicquid dat mihi Pater ad me veniet eum qui venit ad me nequaquam ejecerim foras John 6. 37. Octob 7. 1559. THE words are Christs and are