that they know him it is evident Col. 3. 1 2 3. by the testimony of the Apostle Behold thou art called a Iew and restest in the Law and gloriest in God but that they did not know him truly the same Apostle also testifieth saying The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you yea the Rom. 2. 17. 24. Divels knew him and his death but yet idly historically onely not unto Salvation And many so beleeve historically no further than the very Divels themselves doe For sinne still raigneth Iam. 2. 19. in them notwithstanding the commandement of the Apostle Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6. 12. But to returne to our Papists who have opened their mouth against Heaven whose tongue walketh through the world for pride is to them as a chaine they are found to be notable hereticks denying not in words but in truth the Lord Iesus First they make him no Iesus by ascribing purging of sin to the bloud of Martyrs which they call Thesaurum Ecclesiae the treasure of the Church out of which they grant their Indulgences They make him no Christ by denying his Offices first they make no Priest by erecting a daily unbloudy sacrifice they rob him of his intercession by praying to Saints They make him no Prophet by ascribing so much to their traditions by giving the Pope authority over the Gospell to coyne Lawes as they list by bringing in with Cyrill the Monke Evangelium aeternum an everlasting Gospel which say they abolisheth the Gospell of the Father in the time of the Law and the Gospell of Christ in the time of Grace They make him no King by giving all power to the Pope to save to destroy to pull out of Heaven to pluck down to Hell Such a Cerberus is this of Rome not with three heads but with three crownes boasting De plenitudine potestatis of the fulnesse of power whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse among them that perish This hath Sathan parted his Kingdome that the Turke in the 2 Thess 2. 9. East should deny Christs Natures and the Pope in the West his Offices and Merits For the former Romane Empire stood on Injustice the latter of Impiety the first injuring Men the other God yet not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Christ The Papists alleage the words of the Apostle Hereby shall yee know the spirit of God every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God but by the Spirit there is meant the doctrine not of men the doctrine is of God though not the man They quote also another place of Iohn Whosoever Christ alone paid the whole ransome of our Redemption beleeveth that Iesus is Christ is borne of God but Saint Iohn speaketh not of a bare confession but of a right beleefe for the Divels confessed Christ To conclude they hold not the foundation with us For other 1 Iohn 5. 1. Luke 4. 1 Cor. 3. 11. Gal. 5. 2. foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Christ Iesus For if the Galathians joyning Circumcision with Christ overthrew all for so saith the Apostle If yee circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing The Papists joyning workes with faith nature with Grace the Law with the Gospell the Sacrifice with the Sacrament Moses with Christ must needs overthrow all for whole Christ or no Christ Totus Christus aut nullus Christus Hee payd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ransome and either hee paid all or not a 1 Tit. 2. Act. 4. penny Non est aliud nomen there is no other name given unto men whereby they shall bee saved save onely by the name of Iesus One compareth Christ to a man that purchaseth a Lease with his owne money and lets it to his successors to hold it by a Pepper kernell or a Rose leafe Christ hath paid for our Salvation For we are redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold c. But with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled all our 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. workes are but as a pepper kernell yea as nothing For when we have done all those things that are commanded us wee may say that wee are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duties to do Luke 17. 10. If the fathers of these men had never sinned yet could they not doe greater injury to the Church of God than to beget such sonnes or monsters rather as Tully said of Catiline Ecce ecclesiam apostaticam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non Catholicam utinam Deus Nestorem excitaret qui lites inter nos illos componeret Behold a Church Apostolicall and strife-stirring not Catholike I would God were pleased to raise some Nestor up to compose these jarres betweene us and them But to leave this note that Christ here is called our Lord which he is two wayes Iure creationis Iure redemptionis First By right of Creation for by him God made the World Hebr. 1. 2. Secondly By the right of Redemption for God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne to save the World Hereupon Iohn 3. 16. 1 Cor. 6. 20. saith Paul Yee are bought with a price Now redeeming is either by price and paying or by power and force Christ hath done both hee gave a price to God And gave himselfe a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. men Hee came by water and bloud not by water onely but by water 1 Iohn 5. and bloud In water is signified washing by bloud Redemption Secondly by his Power he redeemeth and hath taken us from the Divell So saith the Author to the Hebrewes Hee hath delivered Hebr. 2. us from death and him that hath the Lordship of death And Saint Iohn saith that Hee saw a great battell in Heaven Micbael and his Divers effusions of Christs bloud Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels but prevailed not neither was their place any more found in Heaven It was a greater matter to Christ to redeeme the World Apoc. 12. 7. than to make the World Hee made it in six dayes but he was thirtie and three yeeres in redeeming it hee made all with a word yea with a breath By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and the hoast of them by the breath of his mouth For the letter Psal 33. 6. ◠He in the Hebrew is but a breath But hee redeemed it with a great price not with silver and gold but with bloud not with bloud of Buls Goats but with his own precious Bloud 1 Pet. 1. 18. Gold and silver are but red earth and white earth which the error of
horses neigh after your neighbours wives For God will visite for these things and his soule wil be avenged on you Tremble you greedy men that sell the poore for shoes and the needy for silver For God will not forget any of your workes he hath sworne it by the excellencie Amos. 8. 6. 7. of Iacob the land shall tremble for this and every one mourne that dwelleth therein Tremble ye contemners of Gods 2 Poâ— 3. word that deride his preachers as the old world did Noah The Lord himselfe will have you now in derision And let all sinners tremble Let them beware by Dives that cries for a spoonefull of water to coole his tongue tormented in the flames with more rivers of teares than ever Esau did for the blessing and yet cannot have it But if they will not beleeve hell fire they shall feele it before Luk. 16. 27. they beleeve it They shall lie in Hell like sheepe death shall devoure them There lie many jollie fellowes that would give tenne Psal 49. 14. thousand worlds to come out if they had them The very Poets by some flash of Gods spirit intimate Hell in naming Caron Phlegeton Archeron Erebus with Tantalus his apples and Ixions wheele and Titius his liver and Sysiphus his stone we Christians speake of Gods judgement seate and they name Minos Rhadamanthus Aeacus Triptoleme we have heaven they name Campâ—s Tert. in Apologetico adversus Gemes Elysios we speake of God they speake of Dis Pluto Proserpina For as Tertullian said potaverunt poetae de Prophetarum fonte The Poets dranke of the fountaines of the Prophets Inde Philosophi sitim ingenii sui rigaverunt There the Philosophers refreshed the thirst of their wits Antiquior enim omnibus est veritas Truth is more ancient than all omnia adversus veritatem de veritate constructa sunt All things against the truth were heaped togither and made of the truth But to returne to our matter The Schoolemen distinguish of fire that there is Ignis ardoris faetoris terroris Fire of heate of stench and of terrour Of heate as in Mount Aetna of stench they the have heaven here must have hell hereafter as in mount Heda of terrour and feare as Ignis fulguris the fire of lightening in America All those fires say they are in Hell But omitting the Schoolemen the holy Ghost noteth this fire to be most terrible even to Kings therefore to meane men Tophet that is to say Hell where the wicked are tormented is prepared Esai 30. 33. of old it is even prepared for the King so that their estate and degree cannot exempt them if they be wicked It is made deepe and large the burning thereof is fire and much Wood the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Multi in hac vita quaerunt suavia potius quam gravia varia quam sana delicacia quamutilia amara ergo gustabunt in inferno Many in this world seeke more after sweet than grave things more after vaine than sound things more after daintie then profitable things therfore shall they tast of bitter things in Hell As Abraham said to the rich man Sonne remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasure and Luk. 16. 25. contrarywise Lazarus received paine but now is be comforted and thou tormented Nemo potesthic illic voluptate frui no man can enjoy pleasure in this life and in the life to come also For twise happy men cannot be but the way to heaven is to saile by Hell For by many tribulations we must entre into the kingdome off heaven A Schooleman that wrote sermones disciplè maketh five differents Act. 4. betwene our fire and Hell fire First in regard of heate For our fire being compared to Hell fire is like a fire painted upon a wall and therfore called a lake of fire and brimstone where the beast Apot. 20. 10. and false prophet shal be tormented day and night Secondly our fire burneth the body alone it tormenteth not the soule but the fire of Hell tormented and burneth body and soule Hereupon saith our Saviour Feare not him that can hurt the body and have no power over the soule but feare him that is able to send both body and soule into Mat. 13. 28. Hell Thirdly our fire where it burneth there it shineth there it lighteneth but the fire of Hell burneth but giveth no light at all Therfore Christ calleth it utter darknesse Mat. 23. 13. Fourthly our fire wasteth and consumeth whatsoever is cast into it but the fire of Hell consumeth nothing For as the Salamander liveth in the fire so shall the wicked live in the fire of Hell they shall seeke for death but they shall not find it Semper cumburentur nunquam consumentur they shall alwaies be burned Aug. but never consumed Fourthly one fire may be quenched but the fire of Hell cannot and therefore called unquenchable vna scintilla ignis Gehennae Mar. 4. 44. plus laedit impium quam si mulier in partu mille annis perseveraret one sparke of Hell fire doth more torment the wicked than if a woman should continue in her travell a thousand yeares Bern Another Schooleman nameth these paines in Hell first heat and therfore called a Luke of fire Apoc. 19. 20. Secondly stinch and therfore called a Lake that burneth with Hell terrible to all but especially to the wicked fire and brimstone which stinketh horribly 3. Bands Take and bind him hand and foot 4. Darkenesse Cast him into utter darkenesse 5. Visions of divels Goe ye cursed into hell fire prepared for the divell Mat. 22. 13. Ibidem Mat. 25. and his Angels 6. The howling of the damned and therefore it is said that all the kindreds of the earth shall waile before him Apoc. 1. 7. 7. Separation from God for they shall be punished with eternall perdition from the presence of God and from the glory of his power And 2 Thes 1. 8. this Gregory calleth Paena damni the paine of losse Finely said Bernard Paveo Gehennam Iudicis vultum contremisco ab ira potentis à facie furoris ejus à fragore ruentis mundi à conflagratione elementorum Bern. Ser. 26. in Cant. à voce Archangeli à daemonibus rugientibus paratis ad escam I feare Hell and the countenance of the Iudge I tremble for the wrath of the Almighty for the face of his fury for the noyse of the falling world for the burning of the elements for the voyce of the Archangell and for the roaring Divels prepared to devoure But if Bernard feared what may the wicked doe whose hearts tell them that they have done little or no good in the world The Glutton whose faith is his kitchin and whose God is his belly The Whoremonger who hath eyes full of adultâ—ry The Oppressor Phil. 3 17 2 Pet. 2. 14. Esa 1. 15.
World for sinne The drowning of the old World the burning of Sodom the destruction of Ierusalem were assured tokens that the Lord would not put up the infinite iniquities of the World but will judge it and punishit the pleading of the Conscience foretelleth a judgement to come the sentence of of death pronounced in Paradise and renewed with such terrour on mount The Lord Iesus Christ shall iudge Sinai did evidently assure us that God meant to call men to judgement the lesser judgements in this life are fore-runners to this great and last judgement the dragging of men out of the World by death is nothing else but an Alarum to judgement God hath promised that there shall be a judgement I will contend with thee in iudgement saith God The nations shall see my iudgements saith God I will sit and iudge the people saith God Now all the promises of God are Yea and Amen so firmely ratified that Heaven and Earth shall passe away but his Word and promise shall not passe The day and the night may faile in their courses the Sunne and Moone may faile in their motions the Earth may faile and totter upon her props the Sea and Rivers may faile and bee emptied of their waters but the promises of God shall not faile God promised a floud and it came Et qui verus erat in diluvio cur non in iudicio He that performed it in the one why should he not performe it in the other The Iustice of God requireth that there shall be a judgement Hîc optimi pessimè agunt Here the best men are the worst used and most wronged Here Iezabel sits braving in a window whilest Ieremy lies sticking in the mud Here Dives sits in his palace cloathed richly faring daintily while Lazarus lies at his gates naked and hungry Here Herod will please Herodias though it be with the head of Iohn the Baptist Nonne visitabit haec shall not God visit come to iudgement for these things Certainly iudgement will come and then downe go the wicked and up the godly horrour hell and death shall be the doome of the wicked heaven ioy and life shall be the lot of the righteous Thus yee see there shall be a Iudgement I will passe on to the next Who shall be the Iudge in this Iudgement The Lord The Lord saith Enoch commeth with thousands of his Saints to give iudgement c. And in that the Lord shall be our Iudge there will be first rectum iudicium a right and true iudgement for the Lord is true and cannot faile either Ignorantia legis as not knowing the Law For he gave the Law and will iudge according to the Law nor yet Ignorantia facti as not seeing the fact for his seven eyes goe thorow the World Yee may interpret them if yee will seven thousand thousand eyes Zach. 4. Againe if the Lord bee the Iudge there will bee aequum iudicium his Iudgement will be righteous and good for Necerrat ipse nec sustinet errantem He can neither sinne himselfe nor yet indure a wilfull sinner wee cannot corrupt him he hath no need of our goods But when he saith The Lord shall be the Iudge and come to iudgement yee shall understand that this word Lord is taken sometime essentially and then it signifieth all the three persons in the Trinity and so it is taken in the Psalme The Lord even the most mighty hath spoken and called the round World c. And indeed in Christ shall iudge in his humanity respect of authority the whole Trinity shall be the Iudge but sometime this word Lord is taken personally and then it signifieth the second person in the Trinity as here in this my Text The Lord shall come to Iudgement For in respect of the execution of this iudgement Christ alone shall iudge And why Christ And not the Father and the Holy Ghost First because Saint Iohn tells us The Father hath given all iudgement to the Sonne Iohn 5. And as Saint Bernard expounds the words non ut Filius suus sed ut Filius Hominis not as hee is the Sonne of God but as hee is the Sonne of the blessed Virgin borne in the world 2. The Sonne iudgeth and not the Father because it best befitteth a King to iudge his owne subiects and we are now the immediate subiects of the Sonne Indeed in our creation wee were absolutely the subjects of God but by rebelling against God we became the slaves and vassals of the Divell and not the subjects of God yet now being redeemed from death and from him that hath the power of death the Divell by the precious bloud of the Sonne of God we are become the subjects of the Sonne not that this is to be understood Exclusive as excluding from the worke of our redemption the Father and the Holy Ghost sed AppretiativeÌ„ as the Schoolemen speake but because the price of our redemption was paid by the Sonne and not by the person of the Father or Holy Ghost and in that the Sonne did sustinere poenas undergoe our punishment et procurare praemia purchase our reward hee must dispensare praemia poenas both dispose of our punishment and reward But forasmuch as there be two natures in Christ the Divine and humane it may be questioned in what forme or Nature hee shall iudge Saint Augustine answereth Eadem forma iudicabit te qua sub Iudice sâ—etit pro te In the same nature he shall iudge thee wherein he stood before the Iudge for thee he shall iudge us not as God but as man according to that in the Gospell Yee shall see the Sonne of Man not of God but of Man comming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory Veniet qui Deus non qua Deus he that shall iudge us is God but he shall not iudge us as he is God Vrsinus in his Catechisme pag. 451. giveth three reasons of this Quia per eum Mediatorem glorificanda est Ecclesia per quem iustificata est because the Church is to bee glorified by that Mediator by which she was iustified SecundoÌ„ ob consolationem nostram dum scimus illum fore Iudicem qui redimit nos est enim frater noster caro nostra Secondly for our comfort to give us to understand that he shall bee our Iudge which redeemed vs and is our brother and our flesh Tertio propter iustitiam Dei quia filium hominis contumelia affecerunt Thirdly for the Iustice of God because the Sonne of Man hath beene much reproched with many contumelies and slanders If any man will object that Christ saith That Though Christ shall come in humanity yet with power and great glory he came not to iudge the World but to save the World I answere that these words are not to be understood of his second but of his first comming into the World then indeed he came to save the World but now to iudge the
compassion as appeareth by his own words saying Oh that my head were full of water and myne eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of Ier. 9. 1. my people How greeved it Samuel after that God had cast away Saul The text doth say that Samuel mourned for Saul and God did chide him for it saying How long wilt thou mourne for Saul seeing 1 Sam. 15. 25. Cap. 16. 1. I have cast him away for reigning over Israel Samuel did not say as many doe Let him perish Let him die He is a reprobate Let him goe but mourned and sorrowed for him Yea the Lord Iesus wept over Ierusalem so saith the Evangelist When he came neere and beheld the City he wept over it saying Oh if thou haddest Luk. 19. knowne at the least in this thy day the things that do belong unto thy peace c. As if hee should have said Alas poore towne alas poore people yee are now merry and jocund but oh poore soules you know not your state how neere your fall is whereupon one noteth We read that Christ was hungry weary sorry angry how he wept often but wee read not that hee laughed for even this Mat. 21. Iohn 4. Iohn 11. Mat. 3. Mat. 12. 25. laughter proceedeth from vanity Ea sola ridentur quae notant turpitudinem aliquam non turpiter As Christ was God he said I give thee thanks O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hidde these things from the wise and prudent and hast opened them to children But as he was man he sorrowed for the wicked and here by the way note for the weake and penitent that when wee speake roughly and denounce menaces wee doe it not to them but to the impenitent For as a Father sometimes layeth Rats-bane to kill mice and the children ignorantly fall upon it so the weake apply the menaces done to the reprobate to themselves but yet they pertaine not to them but to the bastards to the impenitent The Lord will try the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth Psal 11. 5. 6. iniquity doth his soule abhorre upon the wicked hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormy tempest this is the portion of their cup. Wherefore heare the Word of the Lord ye scornefull men You say that you made a Covenant with death and are with Hell at agreement but your Covenant with death shall bee dissolved and your agreement with Hell shall not stand but the scourge shall runne over you and passe thorow you c. Againe though we must have compassion of some and pitty them yet this compassion and pitty must chiefely extend to the We must imitate Christ in mercy compassion soule of a sinner as partly was touched before for Saint Iude speaketh here of the soule this is the highest and greatest point of compassion in the world to pitty the soule to helpe it Learne this of the Schoolemaster of the world of the wisdome of the Col 2. Hebr. 2. Apoc. 1. Father of the brightnesse of glory the Ancient of dayes for he had pitty on the ignorance of the people saith the Evangelist When he saw the multitude he had compassion upon them because he saw Mat. 9. 36. them destitute as sheep wanting a shepheard He weepeth now over many a congregation in England that is without a pastour hee pittieth all sinners He is a mercifull and faithfull high Priest and hee Hebr. 2. 17. cap. 4. 15. is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Wee are all to learne of Christ to have pitty on our ignorant brethren to instruct them to teach them to exhort thē to do them good blessed are such so saith Salomon He that winneth soules that is that bringeth thē to the knowledge of God is wise the tongue of such a one is as fined Prov. 11. 30. Prov. 10. 20. silver those pastours feed best that are pittifull and compassionate Papists pretend to follow Christ in those things that are impossible as in fasting forty dayes in giving the Holy Ghost to their shavelings in opening the eyes of the blind in doing miracles but in teaching and preaching shewing mercy to the peoples soules they never come neere him they seeke not the rest of their soules as Christ did I am commanded to have compassion on the body of my brother as To deale bread to the hungry to bring the poore that wandreth into my Mat. 11. 29. Esay 58. 7. house to cover the naked and never to hide my face from mine owne flesh but specially I must have compassion on the soule of my brother for the more precious that a thing is the more care is ever to be had of it herein standeth the love of a father to his children of the Prince to his subjects of the minister to his flocke of one friend to another for you know the Commandement Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt Levit. 19. 17. plainely rebuke thy neighbour and suffer him not to sinne It is strange to see how wee pitty an Oxe or an Asse fallen into a ditch but not a brother drowned in sinne it is vile to set an house on fire but it is vile also to passe by it and not to quench it when it is in our power it is vile to wound a man but it is vile also to passe by him as the Levite did and as the Priest did and not to helpe him as the Samaritane did it is vile to sinne it Luk. 10. is vile also not to reprove a sinner and in time of need not to comfort him to save a soule He that hath converted a sinner from going Iam. 5. 20. astray out of the way shall save a soule from death and he shall hide a multitude of sinnes We thinke it a great matter to give a penny or two to a poore man but what though I helpe his need fill his belly cloath his nakednesse and yet pitty not his ignorance blasphemy and to increase knowledge zeale and the feare of the Lord in him our liberality is maimed wee pitty but the worst and weakest part that is the body follow therefore the Obstinate sinners must bee terrified counsell of the Apostle Instruct with meeknesse them that are contrary minded meaning such as are not come to the knowledge of the trueth but fall through ignorance proving that God at any 2 Tim. 2. 25. time will give them repentance that they may know the trueth Againe as some men are to be pittied so other some are to be reproved and must have the judgements of God denounced against them and must be terrified with menaces for that they sinne of malice not of weakenesse in knowledge not in ignorance they be pertinaces stubborne obstinate opinionative so to be handled For as we must not be too sharpe against a weake brother
of the World to them all Venite benedicti come yee blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome Mat. 25. 34. prepared for you and therefore as the Hart desireth the water-brookes so long their Soules after God their Soules after God yea after the living God and they cry day and night Come Lord Jesus come quickely Thou which art our Lord by right of creation by right of redemption by right of gubernation Apoc. 22. by right of preservation Come come away quickely and crown us with glory receive us into thy kingdome where is Gaudium sine fine sine metu finis Ioy without end without feare of end Thus much of the Persons saluted their vocation sanctification and reservation to Iesus Christ THE FOVRTH SERMON VERS II. Mercie unto you and Peace and Love c. Mercy Peace and Love from Father Sonne holy Ghost I Am now come to the Salutation wherein the Apostle wisheth and prayeth for three things 1 Mercy 2 Peace 3 Love Three things more excellent than Mat. 2. the three gifts which the Wisemen bestowed on Christ Gold Frankincense 2 Sam. 23. and Myrrh three things more puissant to overthrow the Divell than the three mighty men that were in the hoast of Israel to overthrow the Philistines and to fetch water out of the well of Bethelem that David longed for three things more comely than the three things that Salomon commended that is a Lion Prov. 30. among beasts a Gray-hound and a Goat Mercy which is the first thing here wished for is ascribed to God the Creator Peace which is the second to Christ the 2 Cor. 1. 3. Ephes 2. 14. Rom. 5. 5. Reconciler Love which is the third to the holy Ghost the Comforter For God hee is called The Father of Mercies Christ is called Our Peace and the holy Ghost Love The Apostle therefore in saying Mercy Peace and Love be multiplied is as if he should have said The God of Mercy forgive you your sinnes the God of Peace give you Peace that passeth all understanding and the God of Love grant that your Love may abound more and more that yee may bee rooted and grounded in Love And yet all this proceedeth from one and the same person Generall and speciall Mercies of God for albeit Mercy be ascribed to the Father Peace to the Sonne and Love to the holy Ghost Creation to the Father Redemption to the Sonne and Sanctification to the holy Ghost yet all these create redeeme and sanctifie For wee worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity wee confound neither the persons nor yet their worke Mercie be unto you Mercy in God is not passive but active Non quoad affectum sed quoad effectum No suffering with us in our wants but succouring us in them Mercy is here taken for grace and the meere favour of God The Apostle therefore in wishing Mercy Peace and Love to the Saints teacheth us Quales esse debent Christianorum salutationes nos literis nostris epistolis honorem opulentiam salutem longam vitam amicis optamus Iudas verò misericordiam pacem charitatem dona coelestia his tribus Ecclesia opus est aliter actum esset And first hee beginneth with Mercie For instead of Grace used by the Apostle Paul in sundry of his Epistles Iude heere nameth Mercy which is all one Mercy and Grace is that whereby all good is conveyed to us therefore an excellent blessing to bee prayed for and this Grace and Mercy of God is fourefold 1 Generall 2 Speciall 3 Temporall 4 Eternall The generall Grace and Mercy of God are those graces and mercies that hee bestoweth upon all men Hence is it that hee causeth the Sun to shine upon good and bad and his Raine to fall upon the just and unjust For there bee some good things which God giveth indifferently both to the good bad as Riches Honour Strength Beautie Health c. And there be some good things which God giveth onely to the good and not to the wicked as saving Faith saving Grace a new Heart a right Spirit peace of Conscience joy in the holy Ghost eternall Life And there are some evill things whereof the good taste as well as the bad as Sickenesse Sorrow Weakenesse of body Imprisonment Famine Sword losse of Friends c. And there are some evill things which God layeth upon the wicked and not upon the good as intolerable horror of conscience desperation Psal 104. 17 18. damnation c. This generall Grace and Mercy of God is over all his cratures the Fowles of the Aire the Fishes in the Psal 145. 9. Sea the beasts of the Fields His Mercie is over all his Workes His speciall Mercy is that whereby hee succoureth his elect This was the Mercy of God that preserved Lot from the burning of Sodome Daniel from the devouring jawes of the hungrie Gen. 19. Lions David from the cruelty of Saul and the Israelites Dan. 6. from the firy Furnace This is that Grace and Mercy which the child of God above all things desireth Lord lift thou up Psal 4. the light of thy countenance upon us His temporall Mercie is that whereby hee spareth sinners and standeth at their doores expecting and waiting their conversion Temporall and eternall Mercies Hereupon one descanteth very finely saying When vaine pleasure biddeth us to sell God and be gone his Mercy and Grace will not so part with us when we are lost in our selves his Mercy and Grace findeth us out when wee lye long in our sinnes his Mercy and Grace raiseth us up when wee come unto him his Mercy and Grace receiveth us when wee come not his Mercy and Grace draweth us when we repent his Mercy and Grace pardoneth us when wee repent not his Mercy and Grace waiteth our repentance The eternall Mercy and Grace of God is that which concerneth our everlasting Salvation this is that Mercy and Grace principally wished for By Grace wee are saved through Faith not of Ephes 2. our selves for it is the gift of God This word Mercy or Grace teacheth us to looke up unto God not unto our selves if wee looke to bee saved wee choose not the Lord but he us Vt salus esset penes figulum non penes lutum Aug. Paul ascriberh all to Grace and Mercy By the Grace of God saith hee I am that I am and his Grace which is in me was not in vaine and thus he taught the Romanes At this present there is a remnant through the election of Grace and if it bee of Grace it is no more of Workes or Rom. 11. 5 6. else Grace were no more Grace but if it bee of Workes it is no more Grace or else were worke no more worke an invincible Argument Peter letteth the Iewes see Terminum a quo terminum ad quem pervenerunt their state under the Law and under Grace Hee hath called you saith
that were without Law to the weake he became as weake that hee Act. 20. 20. 1 Thess 2. 11. might winne the weake and became all things to all men that by all meanes he might winne some Hee taught publikely and privately throughout every house exhorting and comforting every one as a Father doth his Children Even so the Minister of God must be carefull of every soule that he may bee partaker of this common salvation 2. Secondly hee calleth it common salvation because it is not prepared for some few as the Arke was for the Deluge For 1 Pet. 3. 20. Exod. 19. Iohn 4. 22. then but a few that is Eight persons were saved in the water Neither because it appertaineth to one nation Kingdome or people as the Law of Moses to the Israelites Salvation is of the Iewes But the doctrine of the Gospell is offered unto all Christ sent his Apostles in orbem non in urbem Goe into the world preach the Gospell to every creature Erunt illi testes usque ad fines terrae they were As Salvation is common so the Church is Catholike his witnesses to the end of the world With these places Augustine refuted the Donatists which tyed the Church to a small corner of the world Africa Thirdly hee calleth it common Salvation because we are all saved by one common meanes that is by Christ Salvation is of the Lord. Ego sum ego sum praeter me non est Salvator I am I Psal 13. Esa 43. am and besides mee there is no Saviour no true Saviour All other come short Vana salus hominum Mans salvation is in vaine And therefore the Elders the Angels and all Creatures give this glory to Christ Salvation is of him that sitteth on the Throne and of the Lambe and they all together cry Amen For these causes it is called common Salvation In this sense as Salvation is called common so the Church is Apoc. 4. called common or Catholike in three respects First it is not tyed to any time as the time of the Law but it endureth ever Mar. 16. Secondly it is not tyed to any place as to Iuda For in Iuda was God knowne and his name was great in Israel but to the whole Psal 76. 1. Act. 10. 34. world For God is no accepter of persons but in every nation hee that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted And the true worshippers worship him in spirit truth As Christ said unto the woman Iohn 4. 23. Thirdly it is not tyed to any persons as to the seed of Abraham but to all that beleeve There is neither Iew nor Gentile there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female but wee Gal. 3. 28. are all one in Christ Iesus In these respects Salvation is called catholicke or common and so is the Church It is worth your noting that Iude sayth hee gave all diligence to write For Iude speaketh here of necessity of writing For Hosius Eckius Pigheus Andradius say that Christ commanded the Apostles to preach not to write and that their writings are subesse non praeesse fidei nostrae that Scripturae sequuntur Ecclesiam the Scriptures follow the Church and not the Church the Scriptures But Saint Peter saith he wrote that the truth might remaine to posterity his words are these I thinke it meete so long as I am in 2 Pet. 1. 13 14 15. this tabernacle to stirre you up by putting you in remembrance seeing I know the time is at hand that I must lay downe my tabernacle c. I will endevour therefore alwayes that yee also may bee able to have remembrance of these things after my departing So Saint Iohn wrote to all Little children I write unto you that your sinnes are forgiven you And againe I write unto you Fathers because yee have known him 1 Iohn 2. 12 13 14. that is from the beginning And againe I write to you young men because yee have overcome the world I write unto you babes c. Chrysostome writing upon these words They that are in Iewry let them flie to the Math. 24. 16. mountaines Id est qui in fide sunt conferant se ad Scripturas that is quoth Chrysost Let them that are in the Faith flie unto the Scriptures I love not allegories but it is true that Chrysostome said Traditions the meanes of propagating errors though not upon that occasion S. Iohn saw three Gospells written viz. Mathew Marke and Luke and approved them S. Peter allowed of Pauls Epistles and commended them unto the Churches yea the Prophets nayled their prophecies in writing 2 Pet. 3. 15. Hebr. 2. 2. Hebr. 2. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 16. to the doores of the Temple which the Priests reserved in the Sanctuarie lest the things should runne out that they received by word of mouth Paul at the end of his life saith of all the bookes of the New Testament that they were able to make the man of God perfect Traditions and unwritten verities or vanities have beene ever the Pandora-boxes full of poyson the Troiane horse out of which all enemies have issued that cursed water of Styx that killeth them that taste it These traditions the Holy Ghost sometime likeneth to sowre grapes which cannot bee eaten Sometime to broken cisternes that can hold no water Sometime to sand wherupon Esa 5. Jer. 2. Mat. 7. Esa 64. to build it is not lawfull Sometime to a menstruous cloth And sometime to things more base and vile than any of these On the Contrarie the written Word is called a Fountaine waters of life a Rocke whereupon the Church is built the sword of the Esa 55. Apoc. 21. Luk 6. Ephes 8. Ephes 2. 19. spirit Basis Ecclesiae the foundation of the Church But what will not hungrie dogs eate and Papists receive all the spite of the Papists is against the written word that they may give us poyson for meate sowre Leaven for sweet dough thornes for grapes thistles for figges the Legend for the Gospell mens traditions Mat. 15. 9. Gen. 8. for Gods precepts the cup of the whore of Babylon for the cup of the Lord. But as Noahs dove found no rest but in the Arke so our consciences find no rest but in the Word Augustine calleth the scriptures the Lords Scales which shew Quid grave quid leve what August contra Donat. is heavie and what is light Vbi non appendimus quid volumus sed omnia per trutinam Domini whereby wee apprehend not what we would but all things according to the ballance of the Sanctuary of the Lord himselfe And he saith unto them often Auferantur de medio chartae nostrae procedat in medium codex Dei take away from among us our owne writings and let the booke of God be brought forth Non audiamus Haec dico haec dicis sed hoc dicit Dominus Let us not heare these words This
say I this saiest thou but this saith the Lord. Christ entring into his glory could have said much of the traditions of the Prophets yet notwithstanding he alledgeth only those things that are written Luk 24. 44 45. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer c. Traditions and leaving the written word is the originall of all mischiefe Hence came the Iewish Cabal and Thalmud the Turks Alcoran the Russian tales of S. Nicholas the Irish fables of S. Patricke the Romish traditions of their new Saints hence come the horrible opinions of Ebion and Cerinthus de regno Christi terreno of the earthly Kingdome of Christ and of the Leviticall observations under Milde exhortations more powerfull than menaces colour or pretext of Apostolicall traditions And the Apostles being all dead Sua dogma vocarunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though it contained the most deep knowledge of heavenly things but was indeed drawne out of the dungeon of hell Thus as Midas had power to turne all he touched into gold so these men have power to turne all they touch into lyes and all under colour of traditions The Apostles dehortation therefore is to bee embraced Beware lest there be any man that spoile you through Philosophie and vaine deceit Col. 2. 8. through the traditions of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ The third reason taken from the Person of the Apostle is from the mildnesse manner of his doctrine For he exhorted them he intreated them as if a man should lay his hands under their feet he came not in the Imperative but in the Optative mood hee came not like Tyrants or great men with Sic volo sic jubeo For meÌ„ will rather be drawne with lenitie than driven by extremitie He came not with a searing iron not with vinegar to ulcerate but with oyle to mollifie he came not with a rod as Paul to the Corinthians sedspiritu lenitatis with the spirit of gentlenesse 1 Cor. 4. Exhortation is Gods whetstone to â—et an edge of our zeale it is Gods spurre to make us runne faster in Religion it is Gods milke to nourish us What face of flint or heart of Adamant but will be moved with exhortation The three thousand Iewes though vile men were moved by it it pricked their hearts and made them crie out Men and brethren what shall we doe It moved Valentinian much when Ambrose said Rogamus Augustum non Act. 2. 46. pugnamus we pray Augustus we fight not Arma nostra sunt preces lachrimae our weapons are prayers and teares And it moved Arcadius much when Chrysostome wished that the Emperor might see his heart as he saw his face that he might see his care to doe him good The Minister must learne here to be diligent in exhorting So saith the Apostle Preach the Word be fervent in season and out of season improve rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine and 2 Tim. 4. 2. as Paul commanded it so he practised it You know saith Paul how we exhorted you and comforted you and besought every one of you as 1 Thess 2. 11. a father his Children The shepheard hath his whistle and his dog and the Minister hath exhortation and reprehension witnesse the Apostle These things speake and exhort and rebuke with all authoritie And as the Minister must exhort so you the people must suffer the word of exhortation I beseech you brethren saith the Author to the Hebrewes suffer the word of exhortation The wounded man must suffer the Surgeon to lanche to seare his wounds The Hebr. 13. 22. sicke man must suffer the Physitian to prescribe sweet or bitter potions unto him and the ignorant man of a dull spirit must suffer the Minister to exhort him So God cried unto Ierusalem As Ministers must exhort so the people must suffer the word of exhortation Be you instructed ô Ierusalem lest my soule depart from you lest I make you desolate as a land not inhabited So wee cry to you to bee instructed O England bee instructed O Norfolke bee instructed O Northwalsham bee instructed lest the soule of the Lord depart from you and the rather because we have cried long like Cocks that crow at midnight and againe at three of the clocke but Ier. 6. 8. longest and loudest towards day The ministers are Gods Cocks they crowed in King Edwards dayes and in Queene Elizabeths days but longest and lowdest in King Iames his dayes As Peter therefore wept at the crowing of the Cocke so let us weep and wake at the crowing of these cocks For now considering the season it is high time for us to wake out of sleep for our salvation is neerer than Rom. 13. 11. when wee beleeved the night is past the day is at hand let us cast away the works of darknesse and put upon us the armour of light Bee awake therefore and strengthen the things which remaine and are ready to dye Even so awake England thou hast slept fifty yeares like Endimion like the seven boyes of Ephesus mentiond by Nicephorus like Abner that would not be awaked The cruellest Lion is tamed 1 Sam. 28. 15. by long art the stiffest yce is thawed with long heate the hardest marble is pierced with continuall dropping and let us be pierced with continuall exhorting We teach and exhort you from yeare to yeare from thursday to thursday let us not rolle Sisyphus stone nor reach for Tantalus apples let us not cast pearles before swine nor give holy things to dogs Mat. 7. 2 Cor. 5. 20. We intreate you as Paul did the Corinthians That yee will be reconciled unto God wee pray you to heare the word not to sweare we pray you to sanctifie the Sabboth to be chast liberall mercifull c. The unrighteous Iudge though a vile man was overcome with importunity and let our importunity overcome you Suk 18. and be you moved with continuall exhortation Let not God say of us as he did of the Iewes I have spread only my hand all the day unto a rebellious people which walked in a way that was not good even after their owne imaginations a people that provoked me ever to my face Esa 1. c. But let us be warned by the admonition of the Prophets for by these God exhorteth continually and stretcheth out his hand to draw us THE SEVENTH SERMON VERS III. For the maintenance of the faith which was once given to the Saints Faith a gift of God a fruit of the spirit THE second reason is taken from the person of God that he gave Faith Now every man must maintaine the ordinance of God For we can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth So reasoned Ambrose with Valentinian when hee commanded him to give up his 2 Cor. 13. 8. Church to the Arrians Si Naboth vineam patrum tradere noluit c. If
say that bare reading is bare feeding and a thing unable to worke faith in us is to avouch a great untruth But the especiall ordinary meanes and the most powerfull usuall meanes is the word preached This is that which the scripture laieth downe How shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard how shall they heare without a preacher And againe It pleaseth Rom. 10. 14. Gal. 3. 1 God by preaching to save Reading is profitable but preaching doth profit more than reading doeth Spice when it is whole smelleth sweetly but when it is broken and bruised by the hand of the Apothecarie it smelleth a great deale more So is the word read of The ministery of the word motion of the spirit meanes of faith us or to us sweet as they hony and bringeth the light of life to many but if the spirituall Apothecarie breake it and bruise it cut it and divide it as the Lord hath appointed by preaching then reacheth the savor of such heavenly sweet to many moe in a fuller measure by reason of the blessing that God giveth unto it The Eunuth read but he understood not but when Philip preached unto him the sweet brake out to his lasting good Act. 8. The inward meanes wherby faith is wrought in us is the blessed Spirit of God which softeneth and openeth our hearts and maketh them as good ground that when the seed of the Word is cast into them it taketh deep rooting and bringeth forth the blessed fruit of faith The Apostle saith that His preaching was 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. in demonstration of the spirit that their faith might be in the power of God And the preaching of the Gospell is tearmed A ministration of the Spirit yea he useth this phrase The Spirit of faith because 2 Cor. 3. 8. cap. 4. 15. that faith is wrought inwardly by the Spirit Thus yee see faith is wrought in us outwardly by the word of God and inwardly by the Spirit of God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where are confuted Andradius Latomus Hosius who say that Philosophie iustified the Gentiles that Socrates Plato beleeved aswell as Abraham Isaak and Iacob Yet Howlet a Papist saith that faith is both begunne and increased by the word preached 1 Pet. 1. 23. and that therefore it is called Incorruptible seed Here are confuted also the Atheists that thinke that faith is common For all of them say that they beleeve but faith is a gift yea a most rare gift of God God sent his Patriarchs in the ancientest age of the world and could find no faith Hee sent his Prophets in a latter generation and could find no faith Last of all he sent his owne Sonne a man approved of God and approved his doctrine with miracles and signes following and could find no faith And when the Sonne of man shall come shall he find faith on the earth We read but of two beleevers in all the host of Luk. 18. 8. Num. 14. 1 Pet. 3. 20. 2 Tim. 1. 26. Act. 1. 15. Apoc. 3. 4. Mat. 16. Iam. 2. 19. Israel but of eight in all the old world but of one family that beleeved in all Asia but of a hundred and twentie in all Christs time but of a few in all Sardis Caro sanguis non dant fidem sed pater in coelis Flesh and blood give not faith but the Father in heaven Many boast of faith but if they have any it is the Divels faith Nay many beleeve not so much as the Divell doth but say with the foole Non est Deus non est daemon non est infernus non Psal 14. 1. est coelum There is no God no divell no hell no heaven All by nature are Infidells we draw it from Adams loynes and sucked Gen. 3. it from the breasts of Heva who beleeved the divell before God And in that some few beleeve it is by grace not by nature Now grace is rare therefore saith the Apostle unto you it is given for Christ that not onely yee should beleeve in him but also c. If any aske me when God gave this faith I answere that he did it in the beginning and it hath doth and shall continue for ever This As God is immutable so true faith and Religion commendeth the Faith the Religion of God that it is before all religions the ancientest Philosophers and Poets as Orpheus Homer Hesiod exceeded not the dayes of Salomon who yet lived five hundred yeeres after Moses the writer of the Law Againe all the wonderfull things recounted in the Scripture are recorded by the Heathen as Noahs flood by Berosus the tower of Babel by the Sibyls the storie of Abraham by Dupolimus the acts of Salomon recorded by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus But to proceed to the next point This faith was once given once for all once for ever which commendeth unto us the constancie of God With whom is no variablenesse nor shadow of change Hee Iam. 1. 17. Psal 33. 9. speaketh and it is done he commandeth and it is made he giveth and granteth without revocation Therefore it was well said Balaam God is not as man that he should lye nor the Sonne of man that he Num. 23. 19. should repent Shall God say and not doe shall he speake and not performe With men there is unconstancy as in Iael who offered Sisera rest and milke but there withall a nayle and a hammer Saul granted peace to David with a breath and with a breath revoked Iudg. 4. 1 Sam. 26. 2 Sam. 13. Iohn 6. it Ammon loved Thamar once but hated her by and by more than hee loved her The Iewes gave Christ the title of a King anon after the title of a Rebell The Antiocheans honored Paul as a God but after changed their mind There is such mutabilitie in men that they change like the Moone they alter like the Cameleon but God alters not but giveth his gifts to his Church once for ever The gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Note this word Once so often repeated once God gave the Law once he gave the Gospell Once more will I shake not the earth only but also Heaven And againe After he had offered one sacrifice Hebr. 12. 26 27. for sinnes sitteth for ever at the right hand of God And againe with one offering he hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified And againe Heb. 10. 12. 14. Hebr. 9. 27 28. Rom. 6. 10. It is appointed for men once to dye c. so Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many And againe In that he died he died once to sinne Note all these Texts one Gospell one Sacrifice one death one appearing of Christ one death of Christ one for all and one for ever If any object and prove a change in God because God gave Circumcision the Passeover the
Hereupon saith David All my delight is upon Psal 16. 3. Psal 37 28. Ephes 3. 8. the Saints in Earth and on such as excell in Vertue And againe Hee forsaketh not his Saints And Saint Paul calleth himselfe The least of all Saints And Saint Iude here speaketh of Faith given unto the Saints The Papists will acknowledge no Saints till three things come unto them first they must bee canonized by the Pope secondly they must bee dead first and thirdly it must be an hundred yeeres after death Risum teneatis amici But to leave all this In that this Faith is given unto the Saints wee learne that holy things are not to be given to Dogs Mat. 7. 6. a Gold ring becommeth not a Swines snout Cardui benedicti are not for the mouthes of Mules the songs of Nightingales are not for the eares of Asses Faith is not given to the Reprobate God hath made other Pro. 11. 22. things for them they for other things He hath made them For Prov. 16. 4. Deut. 4. Jer. 6. the day of evill God gave the Law yet to the Israelites not to the Hittites Canaanites Peresites Hee gave the Arke but not to the Philistines He gave Incense to Sheba Balme to Gilead fine Spices to Arabia Ezek. 37. Milke and Honey to Canaan Silver to Tharsis Gold to Ophir but Hee gave his word to Iacob Ier. 9. Ezec. 37. Deut. 6. 1 Cbr. 29. Psal 147. Mat. 13. 11. 13. 1 Cor. 10. 15. his Statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel hee hath not dealt so with every nation neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Lawe Christ speakes mysteries but hee explaned them only to his Apostles Paul spake but yet unto them that had knowledge I spake to them saith Paul that have understanding judge yee what I saw So wee speake but not to them that are wilfully ignorant that shut their eyes stoppe our eares and harden their hearts against the Word with such men we meddle not but in the sin wherein we finde them in that we leave them we speake onely to beare witnesse of their sinne against the day of the Lord they have sinned and their sinne will finde them out as Moses said to the two tribes Behold yee have sinned against the Lord Numb 32. 25. and be sure your sinne will finde you out and yee shall bee assuredly punished for your sinne All things are given unto the Saints and nothing is given to the Reprobate but in Gods wrath and for the elects sake for their sake God made the world for their sakes hee redeemed it For God so loved the World that hee Gen. 1. gave his onely begotten Sonne that who soever beleeveth in him might not perish but have life everlasting For their sakes he preserveth it and Iohn 3. 16. when the body of Christ is made perfect the number of the The wicked usurpers of Gods gifts Saints accomplished God will dissolve the frame of this evill World and therefore when the soules of the Saints that were killed cryed out How long Lord holy and true tariest thou to iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth Answere was made that they should rest for a little season untill their fellow servants Apoc. 6. 10 11. and their brethren that should bee killed even as they were were fulfilled That the wicked live they may thanke the Saints the Godly how soever they hate them yet they enjoy all for their sakes the wicked are but usurpers and intruders to gift of God is due unto them but plagues onely Vpon them hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone storme and tempests this shall be their Psal 11. portion to drinke For judgements are prepared for the scornefull and stripes for the fooles backe For tribulation and anguish shall be upon the Soule of every man that doth evill Rom. 2. 9. As Elisha would not have spoken but for Iehosaphats sake so wee would not speake unto you but for some good mens sake that are amongst you otherwise you should dye in your sinne and rot and dye in your sinne you have neither part nor fellowship Act. 8. Apoc. 22. in Iesus Christ as Philip said to Simon Magus Let him therefore that is filthy be filthy still THE EIGHTH SERMON VERS IV. For there are certaine men crept in c. The Church and Religion hath their adversares WEE are now come to the third reason taken from the person of the Adversaries and it lyeth thus The adversaries impugne the Faith therefore the Saints must stand for it The Church hath many adversaries like Bees in an hyve like Moates in the Sunne like Pismires on a molehill Iohn saith That Apoc. 12. 7. he saw a great battel in Heaven that is in the Church Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragonfought and his Angels And Paul said There were many 1 Cor. 16. 9. adversaries Wee may say of the Church the Faith and Religion of God as David said of his owne person Mine enemies Psal 38. 19. live and are mightie and they that hate mee wrongfully are many in number As there is a contrary in all day and night cold and heate sicknesse and health life and death so in Religion Chrysostome In ser de nequitat depulsa saith Ferrum rubigo laedit lanam tinea ovem lupus Polium segetes grando vineam c. Rust hurteth Iron the Moth Wooll the Woolfe the Sheepe the Leopard the Kidde the Haile the Vine the Cockle the Corne the Caterpillar the Fruits few but have their adversaries So Faith and Religion Atheists Papists Pagans Heretickes Schismatickes Sectaries all these barke against the Saints as dogges against the Moone Religion divideth men in an house I am come saith Christ Secret enemies most dangerous that pretend Love to put fire on the Earth and what is my desire if it be already kindled Thinke yee that I am come to give peace in earth I tell you nay but rather debate From henceforth there shall bee five in one house divided three against two and two against three The Father shall be divided against the Sonne and the Sonne against the Father the Mother Luke 12. 49 51 52. 53. against the Daughter and the Daughter against the Mother the mother in law against the daughter in law and the daughter in law against the mother in law The godly the faithfull are as Lambes amongst wolves as Lilies amongst Thornes as Doves amongst Ravens Mat. 10. 16. many oppugne the Faith therefore wee must be ready to defend it yea strive for it unto death as Ioab fought for God so let us speake for God and write for God If wee had as many tongues and pennes as Argus had eyes let them all speake and Eccles 4. 2. Sam. 10. write for the Truth yea if wee had as many as haires on our heads as Ierome said to Helvidius Si veritas
divine power have yee not heard it hath it not beene told you from the beginning have yee not understood it by the foundation of the Earth Hee sitteth upon the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as Grasse-hoppers he stretcheth out the Heavens as a curtaine and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in And Salomon reasoneth thus Who hath ascended up to Heaven and descended who hath gathered the Wind in his Prov. 30. 4. fist who hath bound the Waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the World what is his name or his Sonnes name if thou canst tell And God reasoning with Iob saith Where wast thou when Job 38. 4 5 6. 8. I layd the foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast understanding who hath layd the measures thereof if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line over it whereupon are the foundations thereof set or who hath layd the corner-stone thereof or who hath shut up the Sea with doores When it issued and come forth out of the Wombe c. The world is Schola Dei the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke And the Apostle affirmeth Psal 19. 1. that God left not himselfe without witnesse in that hee did good and gave us raine from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladnesse O every showre of raine is a Preacher and tels us there is a God Note this that nothing was made of it selfe nor for it selfe but for another The Heavens we see doe serve the Ayre the Ayre serveth the Earth the Earth the Beasts the Beasts serve Man Man therefore not made of himselfe was made to serve another which can bee no other but God The Lord hath made all things for his owne sake If all things therefore Man which Pro. 16. 4. confuteth Atheisme Againe it is an arrow yea a hammer against Atheisme that all men have a conscience of sinne and are affraid of it Conscience is a witnesse either with us or against us either to excuse us or accuse us It beareth witnesse of what of secret particular actions Against whom against thy selfe To whom to God seeing neither men nor Angels know the secrets of thy heart Let all Atheists barke against the God-head as long as they will Intùs est vermis qui illos mordet within there is a worme that gnaweth them In that men are afraid and ashamed of sinne it argueth that there is a God we see that all creatures purge themselves of their corruption The Sea her froth the water her skumme the earth her vapours the birds their feathers the wine his lees the fire his smoke the oile his some Man therfore that would avoid his sinne and be rid of it hath a conscience of God and proveth there is a God But alas Religion beggeth in these dayes Probitas laudatur alget our religion is in imagination not in faith in opinion not in judgement in the braine not in the heart in word not in deed and effect They professe they know God but inwardly in their works they doe denie him being abominable disobedient and unto every Few truly religious but many Epicures and Atheists good worke reprobate they have a shew of godlinesse but have denyed the power thereof O vile times the worst that have beene ever since the creation of the world and if these dayes should not be shortned no flesh should be saved but for the Elects sake God hath shortned them We Tit. 1. 16. 2 Tim. 3. 5. Mat. 24. 22. Esa 58. 1. 1 Reg. 19. Mar. 3. had need crie aloud and not spare lift up our voices like trumpets For ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary sinning We cannot come to you as God came to Elias in a still wind in a soft voice we must have Stentors voice be like Iames and Iohn the sonnes of thunder The Heathen said of their infidels Plus amant bovem quā Iovem they love the oxe more than Iupiter we may say of many Christians Plus amant coenam quam coelum cibum quam Christum they love more their supper than heaven more their meat than Christ they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like lapwings that delight in dung like Vespatian who took a tribute of urine Many nations have lived without cloaths without King without armour but never any without God as Tullie said Nulla gens tamfera tamimmanis c. never nation was so wilde so cruell so barbarous but have acknowledged and confessed that there was a God Neere the river Ganges in India be men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without mouthes that live by the sent of flowers among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without hearts that beleeve nothing Socrates said Hoc scio quod nihil scio I know this that I know nothing and they hoc credo quod nihil credo I beleeve this that I beleeve nothing they have set downe their rest Non esse Deum non esse daemonem non esse coelum non esse infernum there is no God there is no divell there is no heaven there is no hell and therefore they say Our life is short and tedious and in the death of a man there is no recovery neither was any knowne that have returned Wisd 2. 1 2 3. 4 5. from the grave wee are borne at all adventure and wee shall be hereafter as though we had never beene for the breath is as smoake in our nosthrills and the words as a sparke raised out of the heart which being extinguished the body is turned to ashes and the spirit vanisheth as in the soft ayre c. Come therefore let us enjoy the pleasures that are present c. These wilde Bores roote up the Lords vineyard these Foxes destroy the grapes these Ionas's trouble the ship of England For Christs Psal 80. 13 14. Church is Christs ship tossed with waves but let us runne with the Apostles and awake our Saviour that hee may hurle out Mat. 14. these Ionas's Thirdly the wicked are here described by their carnalitie and libertie they turne grace into wantonnesse for ungodlinesse hath two branches iniquitie in life and manners and impuritie in religion of the first he saith They turne grace into wantonnesse of the second it is said that they denied God and Christ Iesus Of the Act. 6. Rom. 8. first sort were the Libertines that disputed with Steven Paul had to doe with such hereticks vile men that said faciamus mala ut inde veniat bonum Let us doe evill that good may good come thereof Gods grace ought to lead to repentance Or let us be evill that God may be good let us commit iniquitie that Gods glorie may bee revealed let sinne abound that grace may superabound But their judgement is just and their damnation sleepeth not such are all presumptuous sinners Rom. 6. 1. that will sinne of purpose
with an high hand an hard heart and a whorish forehead such are idolaters blasphemers drunkards usurers adulterers robbers which say yet once more will I doe this or that sinne once more will I dallie one cup more will I have for God say they is patient and long suffering thus sin toucheth sinne but God will whet his sword and bend his bow and Psal 7. 11 12. then yee know what followes the blacke arrowes and instruments of death Paul sheweth a better end of grace than wantonnesse hee saith The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared Tit. 2. 11 12. and teacheth us to deny impietie and wicked worldly desires and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world The goodnesse of God leadeth us to repentance honor health wealth long Rom. 2. 4. life taketh thee by the hand and leadeth thee to repentance as the Angell led Ezechiel into the Sanctuarie Noli peccare spe nam Bern. paenam dabis re sinne not in hope for thou shalt smart for it indeed It is as great a sinne to presume of grace and mercy as to despaire of grace and mercie for they that despaire may be raised up but such as presume are seldome saved He that heareth Deut. 29. 19. 20 21. the Words of this curse and blesseth himselfe in his heart saying I shall have peace although I walke in the stubbornesse of my heart thus adding drunkennesse to thirst The Lord will not be mercifull unto him but then the wrath of the Lord and his iealousie shall smoake against that man and every curse that is written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall put out his name from under Heaven Therefore Paul in all his writings when he handleth the doctrine of grace and mercie he handleth it very warily as a man handleth gunpowder or quicke-silver lest they should turne it into wantonnesse As 1 Tim. 4. 10. We trust in the living God which is the Saviour of all men 1 Tim. 4. 10. Rom. 8. 1. especially of those that beleeve And Rom. 8. 1. Now there is no condemnation to them that are in Cerist Iesus which walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts And 1 Pet. 2. 9. Yee are a chosen generation Gal. 5. 24. a royall priesthood an holy nation that yee should shew forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darkenesse into his marveilous light God is a Saviour of all that is of all beleevers there is no condemnation so that we walke in the spirit we are Christs if we crucifie the flesh a royall priesthood if we shew forth the vertues of him that hath made us Kings and Priests Other wisdome hath no portion of the Spirit of God we have neither part nor fellowship in Iesus Christ Sumus in felle nequitiae wee are in gall of bitternesse Let us not then turne the grace of God into wantonnesse as Gods benefits and bounty oft make licentious and impious many do for the better God dealeth with them the worse they deale with him turning grace into wantonnesse and Christian libertie into carnall licentiousnesse not regarding the Apostles Counsell Brethren yee have beene called into libertie only use not your libertie as an occasion unto the flesh but by Love serve yee one another Gal. 5. 13. If God give us an inch wee take an ell and abuse his goodnesse God dealeth with us as a nurse doth with her Child he nourisheth and bringeth us up but wee deale with him as the Asses foale with her damme when she hath sucked her damme shee kicketh with her heele as the swallow doth with men she harboureth with us all summer and in winter departeth and leaveth nothing but dirt behind her Thus Moses complained of Israel Doe yee so reward the Lord O yee folish people and unwise Is not he thy father that hath bought thee he hath made thee and proportioned thee So Deut. 32. 6. Esau complaineth of Iuda I have nourished and brought up children but they have rebelled against me The oxe knoweth his owner and the Esa 1. 3. Asse his masters cribbe but Israel hath not knowne my people hath no understanding Ieremie reneweth the same complaint a little before the captivity They said not where is the Lord that brought us out of the land of Aegpyt that ledus thorough the wildernesse thorough a desart Ier. 2. 6. a wast land thorough a dry land and by the shadow of death by a land that no man passed thorough and where no man dwelt and againe O generation take heed to the word of the Lord have I beene as a wildernesse unto Israel or a land of darkenesse wherefore saith my people then wee are Lords we will come no more unto thee Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire Yet my people have forgotten me dayes without number The matter is more fully handled by Ezechiel Ieremie his mate and companion both before and in the captivity saying Thou hast not remembred the dayes of thy youth when thou wast naked and bare and wast polluted in thy blood Thus all the Prophets Ezech. 16. 22. with open mouth crie out against iniquitie The richer wee are the vainer wee are the higher wee are the prouder wee are the stronger wee are the crueller and the more quarrellous wee are the yonger the lascivier the more healthfull the more sinnefull and carelesse wee wound God with his owne weapon For hee that should have beene upright when hee waxed fat spurned with the Deut. 32. 15. heele thou are fat thou are grosse thou art laden with fat therefore hee forsooke God that made him and regarded not the strong God of his salvation We abuse every blessing of God wee are like Aesops snake that lay still in the frost but stung him that warmed her in his bosome so long as God keepeth us sicke and lame and poore we are in some order our eares are full of Sermons our lips full of prayers our hands full of almes our hearts full of holy meditations For when the outward man perisheth the inward man is renewed daily but if we come to health and wealth and strength we rage 2 Cor. 4. 16. like Giants we are like bad ground which the more sweet dewes it receiveth the more weeds it bringeth out And therefore wee Gods patience makes us presumptuous are neere unto cursing whose end is to be burned If God give some libertie and remission wee stretch it too farre if hee permit hawking and hunting we spend most of our dayes in it wee make an Hebr. 6. 8. occupation of play Because God permitteth us to eate and drinke and weare apparell wee eate till wee surfet and drinke till wee be drunken and attire our selves like peacocks like Geta the Emperor that was served
whatsoever they pretend in words Quid dicta audiam cum facta videam what doe I heare thee talke when I see thy deeds Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven saith Christ but he that Mat. 7. 23. doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Those men are come to the height of sin For there be sixe degrees of sin first Neglectus Ephes 4. 2 Thes 2. Rom. 1. Esa 40. notitiae Dei the neglect of the knowledge of God the second is Execatio execation blindnesse the third is Idolatry a fruit of execation of blindnesse the fourth outragious wickednesse the effect of idolatry the fifth a reprobate mind the sixth the fruits of a reprobate mind that is an universall injustice in all their workes for they deny God in every worke The wicked deny God and yet all his creatues declare him and Psal 19. 1. that foure wayes saith Hemingius in his Enchiridion First In the Varietie of them They that here feele not Gods graces shall feele his power Secondly In the Vtility of them Thirdly In the Order of Creation And fourthly In the End of their Creation The first declareth his Power The second his Iustice The third his Wisedome The last his Glory Seeing all things are made for man it cannot bee but man is made for another and that is God onely but the wicked shall find God and feele God when it is too late though here they doe deny him Therefore Hemingius distinguisheth of Gods presence that it is fourefold A presence of Power in all men even in the Reprobate a presence of Grace even in the Elect only a presence of glory in the Angels Saints departed and an hypostaticall presence of the Father with the Sonne Quoad essentiam as touching his essence The wicked that deny God here shall feele his power one day and say Wee have erred from the way of Truth the light of Righteousnesse hath not shined unto us Wis 5 6. 7. and the Sunne of Vnderstanding rose not upon us We have wearied our selves in the wayes of wickednesse and destruction and wee have gone through dangerous wayes but wee have not knowne the wayes of the Lord c. Thus God complained of Israel and Iuda saying They have grievosly trespassed against me saith the Lord they have denyed the Lord and said It is not hee c. Thus may wee complaine Therefore Ier. 5. 11. 12. I say to England as hee said to Iuda O daughter of my people gird thee with Sackcloth and wallow thy selfe in the ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us They deny the onely God c. God here is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the onely God to note the Trinity in Vnity there is one God one Essence of the three persons Deus unus trinus unus Essentia trinus Hierom. personis God is one and three one in Essence and three in persons Thus Moses taught Israel The Lord our God is Lord onely Deut. 6. 4. Malachi asketh the Iewes if one God hath not created them As if hee should say yee know well enough for the question Mal. 2. 10. is more Emphaticall than a simple proposition In this point Paul noteth a great difference betwixt the Christians and the Heathen saying Though there be many that are called gods in Heaven or in Earth as there bee many gods and many Lords yet unto us 1 Cor. 8. 6 7. there is but one God which is the Father of whom are all things and wee in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him Againe hee speaketh of the Deitie as of the Mediatorship Vnus Deus unus Mediator c. There is one God and one Mediator 1 Tim. 6. betweene God and Man even the Man Christ Iesus And a number of vnities he commendeth to the Ephesians There is one Body andone Spirit one hope of your Vocation there is one Lord one Faith Ephes 4. 4 5 6. one Baptisme one God and Father over all c. We must neither confound Many resemblances to illustrate the Vnity and Trinitie the persons nor divide the Essence but hold the plurality of persons and the unity of the Essence The Heathen thought it impossible for one God to governe this great world therefore they made one God for Heaven as Iupiter another for Hell as Pluto one for Bread as Ceres another for Wine as Bacchus one for the Sea as Neptune another for the Winde as Aeolus one for Learning as Minerva another for Merchandize as Mercury Thus the Heathen vowed Tenths to Hercules that they might be rich they killed a Cock to Aesculapius that they might recover their health they sacrificed a Bull to Neptune that they might saile prosperously But what doe I name the Heathen when the Papists multiplied to themselves many gods they prayed to Sebastian for helpe from the Plague to Anthony for the Gangrene to Patronilla for Agues to Apolonia for the Touth ache to Benedict for the Stone to Hubert for the biting of a madde Dog yea they have made a severall God for every Countrey as Saint George for England Saint Iaques for Spaine Saint Dennis for France Saint Patricke for Ireland Saint Palladius for Scotland Yea for every beast a severall God as Loye for Horses Anthony for Pigges Wendeline for Sheepe But their madnesse is evident to all 2 Tim. 3. 9. men If they say they make not these Gods I aske why pray they unto them How shall they call on him in whom they have not beleeved But wee beleeve in God alone therefore must we pray to Rom. 10. 14. him alone There is but one Sunne in the Heavens one Phaenix in Arabia one master-Bee in an Hyve one Pilot in a Ship one God in the World The Trinity of Persons the Fathers have shadowed forth unto us by divers similitudes as in the Rainebow in which is one substance namely the cloud and yet three differences which thou art not able to discerne In the Fountain where there is Scaturigo the boyling or rising up of the water out of the Spring Rivus the River Stagnum and the Poole In the Minde where there is Intellectus Vnderstanding Voluntas the Will Memoria and the Memory In the Soule where there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Minde and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit and yet there bee not three Mindes nor three Soules but one Minde and one Soule but three powers in the Minde and Soule In the Sun where there is Corpus the Body Calor Heate Splendor Light or Brightnesse and yet not three Sunnes but three distinct things in the Sunne The Orthodoxe Fathers said truely and wisely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Godhead and one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity And God is
will not be moved with it O Iesu take away these stony hearts and give us fleshly hearts O duri indurati obdurati filii Adae O durate indurate and obdurate sonnes of Adam quos non movet tanta benignitas whom such great gentlenesse and courtesie cannot move Let us sorrow with Corinth wash Christs feet with Mary let us weepe bitterly 2 Cor. 7. with Peter that wee serve God no better The Sunne knew Christ and therefore against kind was eclipsed the wind knew Luke 7. Mar. 15. Mar. 2. Mat. 14. Mat. 28. Iohn 1. 10. him and therefore left blustring at his word the Sea knew him and therefore bare him up that hee walked drie foote upon the waters the Earth knew him and therefore opened when hee rose the Divels knew him onely vile man knoweth him not Hee came among his owne and his owne received him not but let us receive him and serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse let us obey his commandements feare his judgements and submit our selves 1 Sam. 3. 18. to his blessed will and pleasure saying with Eli It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good THE TENTH SERMON VERS IV. Which were of old before ordained to this condemnation c. Destruction the end of the the ungodly HAving thus described the wicked Which were before of old ordained to condemnation by their life hee commeth now to describe them by their end and here hee preventeth an objection by a figure called Praeoccupatio lest they should take offence and say why doth God suffer these wicked men Hypocrites Atheists Wantons Libertines Blasphemers why doe they prosper why is pride unto them as a chaine why doe the wicked live Psal 73. 6. Iob 21. 7 8. 9 10 11 12 13. and waxe old and grow in wealth their seede is established in their sight with them and their generation before their eyes their houses are peaceable and without feare and the rod of God is not upon them their Bullocke gendreth and faileth not their Cow calveth and casteth not her calfe they send forth their Children like Sheepe and their sonnes dance they take the Tabret and Harpe and reioyce in the sound of the Organs they spend their dayes in wealth and suddenly they goe downe to the grave Iude answereth them That God hath ordained them to Iudgement Fret not thy selfe therefore because of the ungodly neither Psal 37. 1. bee envious for evill doers For they shall soone be cut downe as the grasse and withered like the greene hearbe Here they fare well here they have cappe and knee and all the honour that may bee but Respice finem they walke upon ice in the end they fall For evill doers shall bee cut off yea the armes of the wicked shall be broken the Psal 37. 9 10. 20. wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall bee consumed as the fat of Lambs even with the smoke shall they consume away Looke not therefore to their lives but to their end their end is damnation The enemies of Gods Church and Children shall not long flourish For tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soule that doth evill In the end God will raine upon them fire brimstone storme and tempest this shall be their portion to drinke Wheat and Chaffe goe together till they come to the flaile but then the wheat is reserved and the chaffe burned Sheepe and Goats goe together Rom. 2. 9. Psal 11. 6 7. Mat. 3. 12. Mal. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 1. Deut. 32. 19. till they come to the fold but then they are separated Gold and Drosse goe together till they come to the Fornace but then the Gold is the purer and the Drosse is moulten Respice ergo finem looke not unto their lives but unto their end O that they were wise then they would understand this they would consider their latter end For surely the prosperity of the wicked shall not continue it shall have an end and their hope shall be cut off God Prov. 24. 19. hath appointed them to Iudgement they shall have no inheritance in the Kingdome of God Thou seest Pharaoh in his Chariot Exod. 14. pursuing Israel but looke againe and thou shalt see him in the Sea feeding Haddockes Thou seest Nebuchadnezzar in his Palace of Babel vaunting and bragging Is not this great Babel that I have built for the use of my Kingdome by the might of Dan. 4. 27. my power and for the honour of my Majestie but looke againe and thou shalt see him in the wildernesse amongst brute beasts Thou seest Herod in his Throne honoured as an Angell but looke againe and thou shalt see him on the ground amongst Act. 12. wormes Thou seest Dionysius in his Chaire of Gold in Siracusa but looke againe and thou shalt see him in Corinth teaching Boyes tossing a Scepter inferulam A Christian must not bee like Polipheme the one-eyed Giant If with one eye wee see Damocles in a bed of Gold with the other eye wee shall see a Sword hang over him in a haire to dash that pleasure If thou lookest on the prosperity of the wicked looke on his end also which is Damnation Antiochus shall not ever make havoke of the Church the rich man shall not ever ruffle in Silke and purple Senacherib 2 Mach. 9. Luke 16. shall not ever raile on the daughter Sion Sapor of Persia shall not ever bee drawne in a Chariot by foure Kings there will be an Prov. 23. 18. end there will bee an end and their hope shall bee cut off They here used more the Greeke word signifieth noted or written in a booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a phrase often used The Prophet Mal. 3. 16. Malachi useth it saying Then spake they that feared God and the Lord harkened and heard it and a booke of remembrance was written before him for them that feared God and thought upon his name And Christ our Savior useth the very phrase saying Rejoyce not that the Luke 10. 20. spirits are subdued unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven And Saint Iohn useth also the same phrase I saw the dead both small and great stand before the throne and the bookes Apoc. 20. 12. were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of Life And againe the same phrase is used in the description of the heavenly Ierusalem And there shall enter into it no uncleane thing neither whatsoever worketh abomination or Iyes but they which are Gods decree hath two parts Election Reprobation not to be enquired into written in the Lambes booke of Life Not that God needeth any Booke for this is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for our capacitie For hee is God onely wise in him are hid all the treasures of Wisedome Knowledge and Vnderstanding hee knoweth all from everlasting and is the cause of all the Knowledge that is in all both
like a roaring Lion seeking whom to devoure 1 Pet. 5. 8. The dragon with his tayle drew the third part of the starres out of heaven and cast them to the ground and the dragon is ready to devoure us as soone as wee bee brought forth but wee must resist him Resist the Divell and he will flie from you So long as Ioas 1 Pet. 4. had Iehojada at his elbow he did well he walked uprightly in the sight of the Lord. So long as Vzziah had Zechariah to teach him he sought God and he understood the visions of God and God 2 Chron. 24. 2. 2 Chron. 26. 5. made him prosper but they being taken away Satan prevailed both with the one and with the other Therefore the Word is compared to showres so saith Moses My doctrine shall drop as the raine and my speech shall still as doth the dew as the showre upon the hearbs and as the great raine upon the grasse Deut. 32. 2. The Word is compared to an hammer Is not my Word like a fire saith the Lord and like an hammer that breaketh a stone And it is compared to Wind I saw saith S. Iohn an Angell standing on the Ier. 23. 29. Apoc. 7. 1. Iohn 6. 27. foure corners of the earth holding the foure windes of the earth that the windes should not blow on the earth And the word is compared to Food hereupon saith our Saviour Labour not for the meate that perisheth but for that which will indure to eternall life Grasse groweth not greene with one showre of raigne knottie wood is not riven with one stroke a ship saileth not with one blast a Child groweth not to a man with one meale and wee goe not to heaven with one sermon but with precept upon precept precept upon precept Esa 28. 10. line unto line line unto line that is with doctrine upon doctrine and wee must have one thing oft told This meeteth with those preachers and auditors that make strawberries of the Word to have it once in a yeare or once in a quarter but it is Food and every one must have his portion of meate in due season it is not strawberries It is also food for that we must heare it often it must be familiar unto us There is a waste in the body by reason of the heate in the stomacke and the liver and therefore must be repaired with a fresh supply of meate So there is a waste in the soule which must bee repaired with a supply of intellectuall meate that is the word Sometime there is a waste in the understanding which is darkened sometime in the will and affections ' Meditation recordation meanes to enrich the soule which are unruly sometime in the memory which is brittle sometime in our faith which is weake or in our love which is small or in our zeale which may be cold or in the minde which is earthly or in the whole man which is lumpish heavy unfit for Coll. 1. Coll. 3. Hebr. 12. Luk. 17. Phil. 3. 19. any good thing Come therefore still unto the Word heare it still heare it to learne and learne to remember it and remember to follow it and follow to continue it that I may say to this towne of Wallsham as Christ said to Zacheus house This day is salvation come unto your towne But as Lords and Barons never put on their Luk. 19. 9. Parliament robes till they goe to the Parliament house So wee put not on Religion till we goe to the Church and there wee leave it till the next Sunday We remember little and practise lesse like Cambridge Schollers that leave their Logicke in Sophisters hills till they returne againe But wee must heare to bee put in remembrance and though many bee soone wearie yet must not wee Be not weary of well doing saith the Apostle be not Gal. 6. wearie of hearing I see many that if they have a preacher in their towne on the Sunday refuse to heare any other on the weeke day as though they could heare too much Let the Word of God dwell in you plenteously not as a guest for an houre but as Col. 3. 16. an owner continually which cannot be except we be put oft in remembrance and heare often But in saying I will put you in remembrance he insinuateth that they had forgotten these following examples for wee are like the Ostrich that forgetteth her eggs in the dust like Partriches Iob 29. Jer. 17. which gather the yong that be not theirs like the bird Fulica that forgetteth her nest and hatcheth strange birds like the Philosopher that forgat his owne name we had need therefore be put in remembrance and often thinke and meditate of the doctrines we have heard Christians must be like the cleane-beasts that parted the hoofe and chewed the cud so we must ruminate and chaw that at home and concoct that which we have heard in the Church Marie laid up the words of the Shepheard In her heart we must learne of her For the heart is Thesaurus the Luk. 2. 17. treasure-house to store up all doctrines of life and of salvation the memorie is as a chest or coffer if wee had never so great Iewells yet if they be not safely kept as well as truely gotten all is lost not they that eate but they that digest most are the most healthfull not they that get most but they that keep most are richest So not they that heare most but they that remember most are most edified Our memories are like Bankrouts purses and like Danaides tunne the one can hold no money the other no liquor and our memories can hold no doctrine But let us strive to remember and as the Apostle speaketh Whatsoever things are Phil. 4. 8. true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are iust whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things pertaine to love whatsoever things God offereth mercy before hee inflicts iudgement are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise thinke on these things which yee have both received and heard c. But what are the things that Iude would remember them of Three notable examples of Gods wrath he calleth to their remembrance The first of the Israelites and therein observe with me three things Gods mercy in delivering them the first His iustice in destroying them the second Their sinne the Cause of Gods iustice the whetstone unto it the third and last But first let us looke upon Gods mercy in their deliverance for God beginneth with mercy that is the first act mercy is Alpha Iustice is Omega so David placeth it For speaking of Gods attribute he placeth mercy in the foreward Iustice in the rereward saying My song shall be of mercy and judgement God is patient and Psal 110. 1. Rom. 2. 4. full of mercy Paul calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the riches of Gods mercy God never useth Iustice but when
and from noone unto night In the day Ios 10. of Ezechia the Sunne went tenne degrees backward In the day of Christs passion the Sunne waxed darke and the Moone lost her light the 1 Reg. 20. earth quaked the graves opened the stones brake the dead rose but in the day of Christ there shal be no Sunne no Moone no Heaven no earth For the Heavens shall passe away in manner of a tempest the Element shall melt for fervent heat the 2 Pet. 3. earth and all that is therupon shall burne and yet this burning shall not be a consuming of the substance but only a purging of the creatures from the drosse of those alterable qualities wherunto they are now subject And therfore finely to this purpose saith venerable Bede Per imaginem transeunt per essentiam subsistunt praeterit figura hujus mundi non substantia their image Beda faileth their essence remaineth the figure of this world passeth away not the substance For if the day of Christs humiliation was so glorious what shal be the day of his glorification Where then will appeare those that make the world and the things of the world their stay when the world and all the wealth and substance of the world must passe away And wher ewill the penny-father and covetous person appeare who like the serpent is ever licking up the dust of the earth and scraping up gold and silver that red and white earth when silver and gold and earth shal be no more Where will the proud ones appeare that fold themselves in silkes and loade themselves with pearles and Iewels when Iewels and pearles shal be no more Where then shall appeare the greedie oppressour whose throate hath beene an open sepulcher When he shal not find a man to oppresse any more Where shall the whoremonger appeare whose body hath beene as the Oven of a Baker when he shall find none to defile any more Where shall the slanderer appeare whose tongue hath cut like a sharpe rasor when he shall not finde any to slander any more where will the drunkard appeare that hath washed his soule with wine and strong drinke when there shal be no liquor any more Where will these magnificent and stately builders appeare when building and state shall fall all to the ground Where shall the usurer appeare who is worse than Hell for Hell torments only the bad but the usurer crusheth and oppresseth both good and bad I say where shall he appeare seeing his house here is the banke of the Divell and his purse Os diaboli the mouth of the Divell Surely he with the Divell must abide in Hell and torments surely all these and The fearfull estate of all sinners at the last judgment all other that have sowen in sinne shall reape miserie for these that have plowed wickednesse shall reape iniquitie Vanitie was their traffique and griefe will be their gaine Detestable was their life and damnable shall be their death For as they have sowen Hos 10. 13. so shall they reape they have sowen in the flesh and of the flesh they Gal. 6. 8. shall reape corruption Tribulation and anguish shall be upon the soule of every one of them when this great day shall be Let us pray therfore that in this great day Christ his wisdome may answere for ourfollie his humilitie for our pride his meekenesse for our crueltie his righteousnesse for our sinnes that this Lambe that was without spot may answere for us who like Iacobs Lambes are full of spots Ostende patri latus vulnera Shew the father thy side and wounds that thy side and wounds may heale us from these sinnes that like the blood of Abel crie against us Amen THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON VERS VII As Sodom and Gomorah and the Cities about them which in like manner as they did c. Sodomesfinne all kind of uncleanesse WEE are come to the third example of Sodome and Gomorah Wherin also he noteth their Sinne. punishment Their sinne was uncleanesse Fornication whordome Incest Buggerie their punishment hell fire the second death the burning lake fletus stridor dentium the horrour of conscience torments unspeakeable Now for their sinne it appeareth how filthy it is seeing that Paul would not have vs eate with whoremongers If any 1. Cor. 5. 11. saith he that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a rayler or a drunkard or an extortioner With such see yee eate not And in another place he would have us to be so far from this sinne that he would not have it to be once named amongst us much lesse committed For so runne his words But fornication and all uncleannesse or covetousnesse let it not be once named amongst you Ephes 5. 3. The name as it were darkeneth the Ayre and polluteth the earth the Lord Iesus condemneth the very intent of the heart even lusting after a woman though the act be not done you have heard Mat. 5. 27. 28. saith he that it was said unto them of the old time thou shalt not commit adulterie but I say unto you whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adulterie with her alreadie in his heart Whordome is one of the manifest workes of the flesh For the Apostle reckoning up the workes of the flesh nameth adulterie Sodoms sinne all kind of uncleanesse first and placeth is as Vrias in the forefront of the battell The workes of the flesh saith he are manifest adultery fornication uncleanesse wantonnesse c. Yea this sinne brings with it horrible dishonour If a theefe saith Salomon steale to satisfy his soule because Gal. 5. 9. he is hungry men doe not so despise him but he that committeth adultery with a woman is destitute of understanding he shall find a wound Pro. 23. 27. and a dishonour that shall never be put away for a whore is a deepe ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Yea this sinne will make a man make shipwracke of innocency and honesty A man may aswell Pro. 6. 27. take fire in his bosome and not be burnt or goe upon coales and his feet not be burnt as goe into his neighbours wife and be innocent Pro. 23. 28. The strange woman increaseth the transgressors among men so that it is impossible to be incontinent and honest It is a sinne Hos 4. 11. Pro. 9. 18. Pro. 18. Pro. 6. 26. of which a man or a woman can hardly repent For whordome and wine as the Prophet notes take away the heart The Guests of a strange woman art most of them in Hell For the wiseman further avoucheth Surely her house tendeth to death and her pathes unto the dead This sinne will bring Gods curse upon a mans estate many a man by it is brought to a morsell of bread For fornication is a fire that will devour to destruction and roote out all a mans increase
hold of Hell And Chrysostome saith Vncleanenes harply eschew ed wee have so many motives to it Quid moecharis quid semen jaces in aquas unde nihil es messurus aut si metes ad ignominiam futures est fructus Ex adulterio enim nascitur Nothus qui te vivo carebit honore te mortuo extabit ad ignominiam monumentum Why doest thou commit adultery Why doest thou cast thy seed upon the waters where nothing is to bee reaped Serm. de non sectando concupiscentias carnis or if thou reapest any thing the fruit will turne to thy ignominy and dishonour A Bastard is borne of Adultery who as long as thou livest will deprive thee of honour and being dead hee shall be as a monument erected to thy reproach and infamy And as some say it shall bee a fire brand in Hel to burne the parents Quot nothi tot taedae ardentes in inferno ad comburendum parentes How many Bastards so many burning torches to burne the parents in Hell Bernard goeth further Qui scortum osculatur pulsat inquit inferni januam Hee that Bern. kisseth or imbraceth an harlot rappeth and knocketh at Hell gates to bee let in For her feet goe downe to death and her steps Prov. 5. 5. take hold of Hell Moechus Vt Sus plus amat lutum quà m lectum Eburnium The Adulterer loveth to wallow in the dirt and clay more than in a bedde of Ivorie hee burneth Apoc. 21. 8. in the fire of Leachery and hee shall burne in Hell fire Now because this temptation of uncleanenesse is one of the strongest in the world and most hardly resisted under Heaven the enemy that wee carry in our bosome being so strong that is Lust and our flesh so weake to resist it Mat. 26. 41. Gen. 3. Chrysostome cryeth out against all Adulterous Women and saith that the adulterous Woman is Acutum telum diaboli the sharpe dart of the Divell Per mulierem Adamus foelicissimus 2 Sam. 11. 1 Reg. 11. Iudg. 15. Mat. 14. perdidit Paradisum per mulierem David piissimus homicidium perpetravit per mulierem Salomon prudentissimus in idolatriam incidit per eam fortissimus Sampson vinctus est per eam mundi lucerna Iohannes Baptista decollatur By a Woman Adam the happiest lost Paradise by a Woman David the holiest perpetrated Murder by a Woman Salomon the wisest fell to Idolatry by a Woman Sampson the strongest was fettered and bound and by a Woman the light of the World John the Baptist was decollated beheaded I speake onely against wicked Women For good Women shall bee Heires with men of the grace of life and shall see thee goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the Living To conclude this point let us learne to keepe our vessels in holinesse and not to bee of the number of the defilers of 1 Tim. 2. 15. the flesh as bee Whoremongers Adulterers Fornicators Wantons c. and let us shunne the occasion of this sinne which is surfetting and drunkennesse For Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus without Corne and Wine Venus starveth and where Ceres and Bacchus is there Venus reigneth And take idlenesse Surfeting and drunkennesse occasion of Whoredome away and Cupids bow will soone decay Let us make a Covenant with our eyes as Iob did Let us meditate upon the Word of God which is a forcible meane against this sinne It shall keepe us from the bad Woman which flattereth Iob. 31. Prov. 6. 22. 24. with her lips forsaketh the husband of her youth and breaketh the Covenant of thy God THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON VERS VIII And despise government and speake evill of them that are in authoritie The Divell the first rebell and author of all rebellion THis is the third vice objected against the wicked They despise government A vice objected to the like men by Saint Peter who seemeth to have drawne his water from this fountaine and his words from this Apostle hee saith The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation 2 Pet. 2. 9 10. and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to bee punished and chiefely them that walke after the flesh in the lusts of uncleanenesse and despise governement These men as they rebell against God like the old Giants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So they resist man ordained of God Gen. 11. Luke 8. they are like the unrighteous Iudge that neither cared for God nor man And no marvell For the Divell their master-head Captaine and father rose against God and cast off his obedience whereupon Paul calleth pride the sinne of the Divell noting both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reatum condemnationem The guilt and the 1 Tim. 36. punishment Thus hee set upon Christ For being come unto him he said If thou bee the Sonne of God command these stones to bee made bread Thus hee warred with Michael and his Angels I saw saith Iohn a great battell in Heaven Michael and his Angels fought Christ and his Apostles taught and preached obedience to heathenish Princes with the Dragon and the Dragon and his Angels fought and prevailed not He is the Dragon that opened his mouth To blaspheme against God to blaspheme his name and his Tabernacle and they that dwell in heaven He is the beast that shall goe out To deceive the people which are in the foure quarters of the earth even Gog and Magog to gather them together to battell whose number is as the sand of the Apoc. 12. 7 Apoc. 13. 6. Cap. 28. 8. Iohn 8. 44. Sea As Christ said of the Pharisees that they were like their father the divell in lying So say I of the wicked that they are like their father in rebellion hee inspired them with the spirit of pride and rebellion For he worketh in them It was well said of Samuel Hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnt offrings and sacrifice as when the voyce of the Lord is obeyed Behold to obey is better than sacrifice Ephes 2. 2. 1 Sam. 15. 22. 23. and to hearken is better than the fat of rammes but rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and transgression is wickednesse and idolatry which words may extend aswell to the civill as celestiall government I know that obedience to God is obedience to man and on the contrary disobedience to God disobedience to man haec tamen conjungi magis quà m confundi velim quoth Calvin I had rather conjoyne these than confound them Calvin The Lord Iesus performed all obedience to Rulers even then when they were heathen and knew not God note his precept note his practise note both his precept was Da Caesari give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Mat. 22. 21. Gods his practise was that he paid to Caesar tribute and to that end willed Peter to goe to the
and with his foot pusht it off againe Hildebrand caused Henry the 4. to stand three dayes at his gates bare-footed and bare-legged before hee would open his gates unto him Thus have they tossed government up and downe and have put them out of their places Chrysostome and Tertullian call them the chiefe men of the earth and next to God and Saint Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most excellent Our latter Papists 1 Pet. 2. 13. call civill Magistrates carnall Lords humane creatures and is not this to take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soveraigne and supreme authority from them that ought to have it which Iesus Christ denyed to his Ministers and servants saying The Kings of the Gentiles Luke 22. 25. beare rule over them and they that beare rule over them are called gratious Lords but you shall not so Let us therefore Brethren be subject to the higher power and never despise government Let us subject our selves to every ordinance of Ro◠13. 1. man for the Lords sake For by them we reape much good for governours are appointed of God For the punishment of evill doers but 1 Tim. 2. for the laud of them that doe well under them we lead a quiet and a godly life and where as there is no government there is no order and whereas there is no order Ibi ruinae ostium patet the doore is open to ruine and destruction Hereupon saith a Father Malum quidem est ubi est nullus principatus c. It is a passing evill whereas there is no government for take from the Quier the Chanter and the Song will neither be in good tune nor in good order take from the Souldiers the Captaine and the same cannot march on either in due number or decent manner take from the Ship the Pilote and it must needs miscarry take from the flocke the Shepheard and they must needs be scattered and so take from the people Governours and they must come to destruction ye see therefore the good of Government And to disobey oras Iude speaketh To despise Government it is dangerous Paul saith They that resist shall receive to themselves Rom. 13. damnation And he reckoneth up disobedient persons among those that shall not come into the Kingdome of God I will conclude Gal. 5. with the admonition of Salomon My sonne feare the Lord and the King and meddle not on any pretence with them that are seditious Prov. 24. 21. and despise not government If Governours be impious pray for their piety if tyrannous pray to God to inspire them with clemency Pray for Kings saith Paul yea though they were such as Gentiliter vixerunt lived Heathenishly saith Optatus Milenitanus THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON VERS IX Yet Michael the Archangel when hee strove against the Divell and disputed about the body of Moses durst not blame him with cursed speaking but said the Lord rebuke thee Raylers confuted by Michael the archangels example THese words containe the confutation of those heady and unruly spirits that despise government and hee confuteth them two waies first Michaell the Archangell would not raile in a dispute betweene him and Satan how dare then these pesants base and vile men take upon them to speake evill for there is no comparison betweene men and Angels for God hath made men lower than the Angels indeed in the last day our Psal 8. 5. Mat. 22. honour shall be like unto them but not till then Secondly Michael and the Angels durst not rayle on the Divell that cursed creature how dare then these chips and draine of the people and skum of the world raile on Rulers and dignities ordained of God Or the reason may thus be contracted An Archangell would not give judgement these men judge and censure all estates an Archangell dispute these condemne hearing no cause an Archangell durst not raile these dare speake all evill for Pride is a chaine unto them and cruelty covereth them as a garment They are Ps 73. 6. 8 9. licentious and speake wickedly they talke presumptuously They set No Scripture lost that is necessary for salvation their mouth against Heaven and their tongue walketh thorow the earth This History Totidem syllabis is not recorded in the Bible and yet we must not thinke that Iude fained it but rather that there is much Scripture lost which we have not seeing that Antiochus in the Law and Dioclesian in the Primitive Church burned the Scriptures and all Libraries we want the Booke of the battels of the Lord mentioned by Moses the Booke of the righteous Numb 21. 14. cited by Iosua and we want much of the Chronicles of Israel Ios 10. 13. 2 Reg. 16. and Iuda we have not the Bookes of Shemaiah the Prophet and Iddo the Seer the Booke of Nathan the Prophet and the Booke 2 Chron. 12. 15. of the Prophecie of Ahiah wee want many of Salomons Bookes who wrote of beasts stones herbes trees from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysope on the wall as you may read 1 Reg. 4. Origen 1 Reg. 4. Origine lib. ◠de principiis saith that this Text was taken from a Booke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ascention of Moses so say Clemens Alexandrinus Didimus and Athanasius For so say they Paul alledged Epimenides Aratus and Menander why might he not then quote this saying Others saw that it was delivered by tradition from hand to hand Tit. 1. 12. Act. 17. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 23. 2 Tim. 3. 8. So Iannes and Iambres are named and that speech uttered by the Apostle Remember the words of the Lord Iesus how that he said It is a blessed thing to give rather than to receive It is not orderly so written in any place of Scripture yet it is gathered by divers places Acts. 20. 35. in effect Papists here cry out that Iude alledged some prophane Author or some tradition ergo non solum haerendum est Scripturis therefore we must not onely cleave unto the Scriptures I confesse Paul cited some things from prophane Writers but it was not to confirme any dogmaticall conclusion concerning faith and beleefe for as touching these things they cited only the Scriptures but when they came to intreat of manners then they borrowed some things of the Ethnicke and Heathen and that to this end to shame Christians But Christ said Scriptum est it is written non traditum est not is it a tradition Thus Sadnele answered Turrianus and so I in this cause answer Stapleton Staphilus and the Iesuites Michael is here named who is also named by Daniel and by Dan. 12. 2. Apoc. 12. 7. Saint Iohn this Michael is here called an Archangell but I will first speake concisely of Angels then of Archangels In the Scripture five good Angels are onely named The first is Michael as here in this my Text and also by the Prophet Daniel the Dan. 10. 13. Dan. 8. 16. Luk. 1. Esdr
but to draw the party to remembrance And so there is place left in the Church as well for Cursing as Blessing for rough as for milde speech so that Gods glory bee sought in the suppression of sinne Vt omne os obstruatur that every mouth may be stopped and that all glory may bee given to God Thus we Gen. 3. cap. 9. Deut. 27. read that God cursed the Serpent that Noah cursed Cham of the twelve tribes sixe of them stood on Mount Garazim to blesse and sixe on mount Hebal to curse all the people to say Amen Iacob uttered a dire imprecation upon Simeon and Levie saying Curbe Gen. 49. 7. Mat. 23. Mat. 13. their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell And lest any should restraine this to time of the Law Note that Christ pronounceth many woes against the Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites in one Chapter And hee cried woe to the impenitent saying Woe be to him by whom offences come And againe Woe bee Mat. 11. Mat. 26. to thee Corazim Woe bee to thee Bethsaida c. And againe Woe to that man by whom the Sonne of man is betraied it were good for that man if 8 Cor. 16. hee had not beene borne And againe Woe to the World because of offences And Simon Peter cursed Simon Magus saying Thy money perish 2 Tim. 4. 14. with thee And Paul cried Maranatha Anathema to them that love not the Lord Iesus And hee cursed Alexander the Copper-smith Act. 13. 10. Gen. 49. He hath done mee saith Paul much evill the Lord reward him according to his workes And so hee cursed Elimas the sorcerer and called him the Child of the divell an enemy to all righteousnesse But yet wee must curse the sinnes not the party So Iacob cursed Apoc. 2 the rage of his Sonnes not themselves So God hated the deeds of the Nicholaitans not the men Yea sometimes both sinnes and men may be cursed if they give signes of reprobation So the Church prayed against Iulian not for him And Saint Iohn 1 Iohn 5. 16. tels us that there is a sinne unto death I say not that thou shouldest pray for it But to leave all this Michael striving with the Divell durst not give him a railing sentence but saith The Lord rebuke thee Let us learne this lesson of Michael in all reproaches and bitter speeches of our brethren to say unto them The Lord reprove thee for passion must not overmaster us But these railers wee must answere sometime with silence for unto many natures to answere againe is to put fuell to the fire for anger is fire and words are fuell But if silence will not serve the turne then it is good to give place unto it I meane to goe away from Rem 12. 19. a railing person till his anger be over and if that will not serve the turne then answere him as Michael did here the Divell The Lord reprove thee And in any wise take heed you prouoke We must give account of idle much more of evill words not anger for the forcing of Wrath bringeth forth strife as the churming of milke bringeth forth butter and wringing the nose bringeth forth bloud Let us therefore avoyd the customary sinnes of passions and not answere evill for evill or rebuke for rebuke but say with Michael The Lord rebuke thee And with David Iudge me o God and Prov. 30. 33. Psal 43. 1. defend my cause against the unmercifull people that is the cruell company of mine adversaries deliver me from the deceitfull and wicked man The Lord rebuke thee This teacheth us as to avoyd all railing so to study carefully and diligently the government of the tongue and to beware of rotten speeches The mouth is the messenger of the heart and from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh A filthy tongue argueth a filthy heart an unbridled tongue a licencious heart A poisoned tongue that belcheth out nothing but banning and cursing railing and reviling speeches doth manifest a cursed and corrupt heart Our Saviour saith A Mat. 12. 13 good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth goodthings and an evill man out of the evill treasure of his heart bringeth forth evill things but I say unto you that of every idle word that men shall speake they shall give account thereof at the day of judgement If then at the end of the end of the world and day of judgement wee must reckon and account for idle words How much more for our railing reviling speeches Let us therefore hearken unto the counsell of the Apostle Let not corrupt communion proceed out of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying that may Ephes 4. 29. minister grace unto the hearers Wee should be of a patient nature and follow the example of Michael who striving with the Divell durst not give him a railing sentence but say The Lord rebuke thee If an Archangell abstaine from all railing having to doe with the Divell the greatest enemie of God and his people wee that have to do with bad men must not take liberty to our selves to use reviling speeches We must commit revenge unto God who hath said Vengeance is mine I will repay THE NINETEENTH SERMON VERS X. But these speake evill of those things they know not c. Malice turnes men into dogs THis is the fourth note that he giveth unto the wicked you shall know them by their evill speaking they are like unto blacke-mouthed Rabshakeh they rayle on God and good men He calleth them first sleepers secondly defilers of the flesh thirdly despisers of government and here raylers they speake evill of all things As fire lyeth not long in the stubble or in the flaxe but the flame breaketh out so hatred lyeth not long in these mens hearts but breaketh out in evill speeches and many times They will speake evill of things they know not Munster writeth of men in India Qui non loquuntur sed latrant which speaketh not like men but barke like dogs so these barke like dogs against the Moone Gorgon turned men into stones and Circe changed them into swine and malice turneth these men into doggs like Hecuba at the siege of Troy for their rayling David saith The wicked speake evil from their mothers wombe even from their belly have they erred and speake lyes their poyson is even as the poyson of Psal 58. 3 4. a serpent like the deafe Adder that stoppeth her eare that is they passe in malice and subtilty the crafty Serpent the first thing they doe is to speake evill it is Alpha and Omega first and last with them As the serpent vomiteth up her poyson before she drinketh Malice in the heart â—he cause of rayling in the tongue of a cleare fountaine so this is the sinne that must bee avoided before we drinke of the water of life the Word of God Lay
their followers were hanged and it were overlong to speake at large of Iohn and Francis Throgmorton Brooke Redman Parry Babington Arden with divers others who received according to their deserts Let every soule therfore learne to Rom. 13. 1. submit himselfe to the higher powers and never to resist For we must suffer the Princes will to be done aut à nobis aut de nobis either of us or on us of us when he commands for truth on us when he commands against truth either we must be patients or agents Agents when he is good and godly Patients when he is tyrannous and wicked If we resist our end will be damnation either temporall for The wrath of a King is as the roring of a lion he that prouoketh him to Pro. 20. â— anger sinneth against his owne soule or eternall as is manifest in Chore who went downe quicke to Hell If murther be a crying sinne then treason may well be called a roring sinne and calles for speedy judgement But for as much as I have spoken before of this point I will proceed no further with it VERSE XII Metaphors very vsefull in teaching These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you without all feare feeding themselves c. IN this Text are contained two things A detection of their sinnes and A denouncing of Iudgement The sinnes here are three The first is Epicurisme in that they eate and drinke without feare feeding themselves The second is Pride in that they are like the waves of the Sea swelling on high The third is Hypocrisie in that they are as clouds promising raine and yet have nothing but drynesse in them empty clouds in that they are as Trees which promise fruit and yet have nothing but leaves corrupt trees in that they are as starres which promise light and yet have nothing but darknesse in them wandring starres Their Iudgement is to be reserved to blacke darknesse that is Hell fire hell paines and there hee amplifieth it by setting out Gods Iudgement how hee shall come with thousands of Angels and that he shall judge all men namely them Dan. 7. that speake against him Lastly that he shall judge them for every evill worke and word so fearefull shall it be But first for the manner and then for the matter The manner of handling is plaine he teacheth them by plain things as spots waves clouds trees starres things sensible and objected to our eyes because he had a desire to profit them So Christs similitudes are fetched from light salt fannes corne chaffe trees Mat. 3. 5. 10. 13. 6. sheepe wolves seed pearles So Pauls Metaphors and borrowed speeches are taken from planting watering building tilling running fighting leaven sweet dough 1 Cor. 3. 1 Cor. 5. 9. c. Who had better gifts than Paul more learning more Philosophy more tongues he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel he was not inferiour to the very chiefe Apostles for though hee Act. 22. was rude in speaking that is though he used no worldly eloquence yet for knowledge and understanding hee did exceed and spake with tongues more than they all his Epistles are as the shop of an Apothecary 1 Cor. 11. 5 6. a man cannot read them but he shall carry away the smell ofexcellent learning yet came he not in the wisdome of words 1 Cor. 1. 1 2. for hee regarded not to know any thing save Iesus Christ and him crucified We come to the Word in the pride of our heart and have our eares tickled not our hearts edified to heare some strange thing that may bring us into a wonderment of things Gods Word hath its elegancy and eloquence we know not God in his justice suffereth us to depart empty yea worse than we came If the Preacher fil not the Pulpit full of fine words trim Phrases Fathers Doctors Councels Poetrie Philosophy if hee doe not aucupari syllabas hunt after syllables to please itching eares wee crie out that hee was unlearned and a plaine homely teacher and English Doctor But wee must desire wholesome not tooth-some meat For as we must teach wholesome Doctrine For if any man teach otherwise 1 Tim. 6. 3 4. and consenteth not to the wholesome words of the Lord Iesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godlinesse hee is pust up and knoweth nothing so yee must heare wholesome doctrine not be like unto those of whom Paul prophesied saying The time will come when they will not suffer wholesom doctrine but having their eares 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. itching shall after their own lusts get them an he ape of teachers and shall turne their eares from the truth and shall be given to fables to false and unprofitable doctrine We must speake and you must heare as the words of God All Doctors Councels Poets Philosophers are but darkenesse the Word is light onely so saith David 1 Pet. 4. 11. Thy word is a Lanthorne to my feet and a light to my pathes The Word must sit on the Bench when all these shal stand at the bar Psal 119. those that bom-baste their Sermons that fill the Pulpit full of these Authors either they deliver little doctrine or else unprofitable doctrine not as Paul did Hee kept backe nothing that was profitable but shewed and taught openly and through every house Act. 20. 20 21. witnessing both to the Iewes and to the Grecians the repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ Such builders either have no mortar or else untempered mortar like the false prophets Such Cookes either have no salt or unsavoury salt Ezech. 13. 10. Mat. 5. 13. such nurses either have no milke or else corrupt milke that hath taken wind the Word is sincere milke and yet I deny not but Gods Spirit hath his eloquence and no writings more eloquent 1 Pet. 2. 2. than they To give you a little taste speaking of Iuda and Ierusalems punishment for their idolatry hee saith I will stretch over Ierusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Ierusalem as a man wipeth a dish which hee wipeth and turneth upside-downe And David speaking of the Sunne-rising and wherrying about the Heavens hee saith that hee commeth forth as a bridegroome out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a mighty man to run Psal 19. 5. Esa 5. his race So the Prophet Esay speaking of the sinne of the people he saith that they did draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sinne with cart-ropes And speaking of Gods power hee setteth it out with such eloquent words as the like have not beene heard for marke his phrases Who hath measured the Waters in his fist and counted Heaven with his spanne and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountaines in a waight and the hils in a Esa â—0 12. ballance For Esay was a
abate your sinnes that God may abate your punishment Nay cast away all your workes of darkenesse that yee may never come into the place of darkenesse the Divels dungeon where the worme dyeth not where the fire goeth not out but continuall weeping and gnashing of teeth howling yelling and crying without ease of paine or comfort of mind that is such endlesse misery as the griefe thereof can neither be conceived of us nor expressed of them that feele it THE FIVE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XIV XV. And Enoch the seventh also from Adam prophesied of such saying Behold the Lord commeth c. Antiquity with Verity bring Authority to Doctrine HEre hee describeth the judgement of God at large which is ready to hasten nay to full upon these Epicures and Hypocrites and all proud swelling men yea and upon all ungodly persons whatsoever For as the power of the Lord had her day in the creation of the World and the mercy of God her day in redemption of man the little World so the justice of God must have her day in the just punishment of the unjust and wicked of the world This text of judgement devides it selfe into foure branches 1 That there shall bee a judgement 2 That the Lord shall be the Iudge 3 The manner of the judgement 4 The end of it To condemne all the ungodly of their evill deedes and cruell speakings against God But first he citeth his Author and saith that Enoch the seventh prophesied of such men that is of such Epicures of such proud swelling persons of such hypocrites Enoch is named the seventh Though some Scripture bee lost yet it is supplied in others and is perfect from Adam for Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahalaleel Iared lived before him and dyed onely he was taken up alive into Heaven as was Elias in a firie chariot Tanquam candidati resurrectionis as the forerunners of the resurrection So that note here the antiquitie of the Prophesie of Enoch which Iude citeth to purchase authority unto the doctrine antiquity joyned with verity is of great force Quod primum illud verum quod posterius illud falsum whatsoever is first that is true what is later that is false Ieremy sendeth men to the old wayes Stand in the way saith he and behold aske for the old way and walke Ier. 6. 16. therein ye shall finde rest unto your soules Christ debating a question sendeth them to Antiquity saying Ab initio non fuit sic from Mat. 19. 8. the beginning it was not so Ab initio non Papae non Cardinales c. from the beginning no Popes no Cardinals no Patriarches c. therefore shall they not continue for ever sed eradicabuntur but shall be rooted out So reasoned the Wise man for idols saying Wisd 14. 12. cap. The inventing of Idols was the beginning of whoredom and the finding of them is the corruption of life for they were not from the beginning neither shall they continue for ever Sed vetusta consuetudo sine veritate vetustus Cypr. error an old custome without truth is but an old error The Papists to warrant their traditions and unwritten verities mightily urge the Prophesie of Enoch but this prophesie is not counterfeit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inscriptum quiddam but wee must know that much Scripture is lost which we have not which might bee when Antiochus and Maximine caused the bookes of the Law to bee burnt We lacke many of Salomons workes who wrote of all things from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysop on the 1 Reg 4. wall In that God hath not given us the bookes of Nathan of 1 Chro. 29. 2 Chro. 9. Gad of Iado of Shemaia of Athia the Shilonite of Iohn the sonne of Hanani c. It is not for that the Scriptures are unperfect and to bee supplied with unwritten verities but for some other causes best knowne to God They say the Scriptures are unperfect and therefore have added their unwritten traditions which they call Apostolicall unto the Scriptures to make the totall rule of Faith the Scriptures making but one part thereof and their traditions another as it appeareth by the late Trident Councell and of Bellarmines exposition thereof The Councell saith Omnes libros veteris novi Testamenti necnon traditiones ipsas Sess 4. decret 1. tum ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes tanquam vel ore tenus a Christo vel à Spiritu Sancto dictatas continua successione in Ecclesia Catholica conservatas pari pietatis affectu reverentia suscipit ac veneratur Tridentina Synodus that is All the bookes of the old and new Testament as also the traditions themselves pertaining both to Faith and manners as being either pronounced by the mouth of Christ or delivered by the holy Ghost and by continuall succession preserved in the Catholike Church the Councell of Trent receiueth and honoreth with like and equall affection of pietie The Papists hold the Scriptures insufficient without traditions and reverence And Cardinall Bellarmine writeth thus Asserimus in Scripturis non contineri expressè totam doctrinam necessariam sive de fide sive de moribus proinde praeter Verbum Dei scriptum requiri etiam Verbum Dei non scriptum idest divinas Apostolicas traditiones that is Libro de verbo Dei non Script cap. 3. We affirme that in the Scripture is not contained expressely all necessary doctrine whether of faith or manners and therefore beside the written Word of God is required also the unwritten word of God namely divine and Apostolicall traditions And againe he saith Scripturae sine traditionibus nec fuer unt simpliciter necessariae necsufficientes The Scriptures without traditions were Ibid. cap. 4. neither simply necessary nor yet sufficient And againe Dico Scripturam etsi non sit facta praecipuè ut sit regula fidei esse tamen regulam Ibid. cap. 12. fidei non totalem sed partialem totalis enim regula fidei est Verbum Dei sive revelatio Dei Ecclesiaefacta quae dividitur in duas regulas partiales scripturam traditiones I say that the Scripture though it were not made especially to be the rule of faith yet it is the rule of faith not in whole but in part For the whole rule of faith is the Word of God or the revelatiō of God made unto the Church which is devided into two partie-rules Scripture and traditions Besides they further alledge that the Church was 2249. yeeres before the Word written but how shall that appeare that the Church then had not the written Word Why Moses citeth a booke called The warres of the Lord and in Iosua the booke of the iust is cited and it may bee that Noah Abraham Numb ◠Ios 10. and Isaac wrote those things that did belong to those times Iude also in this Epistle eiteth the booke of Enoch Papists alledge that
which is written in Ieremie I will put my Lawes in their minds and in their hearts will I write them And they alledge the saying of Ier. 51. Paul Yee are our Epistle written not with inke but with the Spirit of the living God Nay they say further that the Apostles went beyond 2 Cor. 3. yond their Commission when they did write the Scriptures for they were commanded to preach not to write But the Apostle Mat. 28. 19. to the Hebrewes while he doth write the doctrine of the new Covenant alledgeth the forenamed sentence of Ieremy and Paul had already written two Epistles to the Thessalonians and the former Epistle also to the Corinthians when as hee said Tee are our Epistle witten not with inke c. But as Carpocrates Cerdo Manes rejected the bookes of the Law and Cerinthus all the Gospell except Mathew and Severianus and Paulinus the Epistles and Actes of the Apostles so Papists doe accuse the whole Scripture of imperfection and ambiguity Paul being ready to finish his course and to bid a farewell to the world as appeareth in his second Epistle to Timothie when as already the bookes of the New Testament were written saith thus unto Timothie The whole Scripture is given by inspiration and is 2 Tim. 3. 16. profitable to teach to improve to correct and instruct in righteousnesse All things necessary to salvation contained in Scripture where hee bringeth the whole Scripture unto foure heads doctrine redargution correction instruction doctrine is occupied about the chiefe points of faith and religion Redargution confuteth errours in faith and religion instruction comprehendeth information of manners correction is occupied in reproving and punishing delinquents If the Word of God be a two-edged sword to wound the Divell If it bee the hatchet to cut off the head of all hereticks If the Word be mighty in operation entreth thorow even to the dividing asunder of the soule and of the spirit of the ioints and of the marrow If it bee a lanterne unto our feeâ— and a light unto our paths If Christ used no other weapon to repell the Divell but the Word saying It is written If Apollo confuted the Iewes openly proving by the Scriptures Iesus to be Christ If Christs proofes were Scriptum est and his demands Quomodo legis How read you and his Apologies Scrutamini Scripturas search the Scriptures certainly in the Scriptures is contained alone all things necessary to salvation I will therefore conclude this point with the saying of Augustine Neither will I alledge the Councell of Nice neither shalt thou August lib. 3. cap. 14. aduers Maxim alledge the Councell of Arimine against me by the authority of the Scriptures Let us weigh matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason There is no cause therfore why Papists should take the wings of the morning and fly from the written Word unto unwritten verities that the fathers of Colen should call the Scriptures A nose of waxe that Pighius should tearme it The Leaden rule of the Lesbian building that other Papists should tearme it A shipmans-hoase A black Gospell Inken divinity If any will adde or Apoc. 22. detract from it let the curse be pronounced upon him and let all the people say Amen It is false that we have the Baptisme of infants the celebration of the Sunday the distinction of the persons in the Trinity the number of the bookes of the Scripture by tradition not by the written Word God hath kept his law in the Arke and all Popish Philistines could not keep the Arke 1 Sam. 5. Iohn 20. from us These things are written that yee may beleeve Traditions are gathered of an evill egge digge the Papists never so deep they shall not find the myne nor spring of them in the Primitive Church they labour to put life into a dead carcasse of them but it will not be Avant therefore yee Anabaptists with your revelations Avant yee Montanists with your new comforter Avant yee Iewes with your Cabal and Talmud Avant Trent Councell and Papists with your Traditions our salvation is Christ for There is no other name given unto men whereby they shall be saved save only by the name of Iesus The way to salvation is faith the guide Act. 4. 12. to this way is the Scripture Hereupon saith Paul Yee are no longer forenners and strangers but Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and There is a foure-fold iudgement Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone So much for the Author cited Enoch the seventh from Adam Now to the thing prophesied which is judgement and therein Ephes 2. 19 20. first we have to observe that there shall be a iudgement There is a fourefold judgement The first judgement was that that was accomplished of man and Angels at their first fall The Angels that fell were judged and throwne out of Heaven Adam that fell was judged and throwne out of Paradise Gen. 3. Secondly There is a middle judgement and so God judgeth the wicked and the godly every day Visiting â—â—eir sinnes with Psal the rod and their offences with the scourge There is a third a particular judgement in the day of every mans death of Lazarus and good men to Heaven of Dives and bad men to Hell and of this particular judgement the Author Luk. 16. of the Epistle to the Hebrewes speaketh thus It is appoynted for all men once to dye and then commeth the Iudgement Hebr. 9. 27. Fourthly there is generall judgement of quicke and of dead whereof Enoch prophesied here saying The Lord will come with thousands of his Saints to give iudgement c. But some will say Why should God judge man after death since hee hath his judgement at his death I answere that in death wee have a particular judgement but God will also have his generall Aug. judgement Secondly In death we have the judgement of the soule But God will judge both body and soule Thirdly In death wee have a secret Doome But God will have an open Assise a publike Sessions and a manifest Iudgement Concerning which generall Iudgement I could produce a cloud of Scriptures to avouch it both out of the old and new Testament Ezechiel saith An end is come an end is come it is looked for Behold it is come Moses also prophesied of this Iudgement Deut. 32. and David Psal 50. and Salomon Eccles 11. 9. and Daniel Cap. 7. 13. and Ioel Cap. 3. and Malachy Cap. 4. So did Christ himselfe Mat. 24. and Paul the Apostle of us Gentiles 2. Thes 5. and Peter 2. Pet. 3. and Iohn 9. Apoc. 20. Neither is this assurance of the judgement to come warranted by the words of Gods servants onely but the Lord hath left many workes of his own to teach us that hee will once at length for all judge the whole
of the Ayre He counteth all the haires of our head Hee putteth all the teares of the afflicted into his bottle Hee knoweth the cattell upon a thousand mountaines All our members were written in his booke before we were borne Now if hee call the starres by their names if hee number our steps if hee tell the sparrowes if hee count the haires of our head if hee register the teares of the afflicted if hee know all the cattell on the mountaines if he wrote our members in his booke long before wee were borne then surely hee hath written all our sinnes in his booke as is said by Ieremy The sinne of Ier. 17. 1. Iudah is written with a penne of â—ron and with a point of a Diamond graven upon the table of his heart Infinite are the sinnes of one yeere of one moneth of one weeke yea of one day how many vaine thoughts idle words ungodly workes passe from us in one day David said they passed the haires of his head hee said that hee could not number them Job said that wee drinke iniquity like water Esay said Wee draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sinne like cart ropes Salomon saith that the mouth of the wicked swalloweth iniquity A thousand idle words yea oaths wee utter in one day Septi es in die cadit justus the righteous sinneth seven times a day that is many times in a day what by committing of evill what by omitting of good how often then in our whole life and yet not one sin doth escape God What is done in earth is registred in heaven in one moment it is in Gods debt-booke And herein is Gods omniscience herein differeth the knowledge of God from that of Thoughts and words shall be iudged as well as workes men and divels Deus scit praesentia praeterita futura God knoweth things past present and future they know not things future God onely knoweth the thoughts of our hearts they onely our words and workes not our thoughts Yea every thought also shall bee judged We say Thought is free but God shall arrest it indite it arraigne it it shall hold up the hand at the barre of God for the Law is spirituall and bindeth as well the spirit as the body so saith the Apostle We know that the Law is spirituall so that it can judge the affections of Rom. 7. 14. Psal 44. 21. the heart God knoweth the secrets of the heart A true hand and a true heart a chast body and a chast minde must goe together else all is lost O Ierusalem wash thy heart from thy wickednesse Ier. 4. 14. that thou maiest be saved how long shall thy wicked thoughts remaine within thee Not deedes but thoughts must bee washed and cleansed As our deeds and thoughts so our words shall be judged All the cruell speakings which wicked sinners have spoken against God shall come to iudgement It will bee said here that none are so mad as to speake against God Yes and men speake against God two wayes First when they speake against any ordinance of God 1 Secondly when we speake against the servants of God 2 Against the ordinance of God as thus Stephen charged the Iewes that they resisted the holy Ghost yet resisted they but his Act. 7. 51. 1 Cor. 10. 21. word The Corinthians were said to provoke God for being present at Idols feasts The Apostle charged the Iewes to rise up against the Lord Iesus for that they resisted the preaching the doctrine of Act. 4. 27. Iesus Againe men speake against God when they speake against the servants of God as thus Christ codemneth Paul for persecuting Act. 9. 4. him yet persecuted he but the Saints of Ierusalem The people in contemning Samuel cast God away So God told Samuel 1 Sam. 8. 7. They have not cast thee away but mee away And well said said Gamaleel that to strive against the Apostles had beene to strive Act. 5. 39. against God So Moses told Israel Your murmurings are not against Exod. 16. 7 8. us but against the Lord. But among all that speake against God our swearers are the chiefe The Prophet said Hee was a man of polluted lips but no Esay 6. lip more polluted than the swearers they spue out their venim against God spit him in the teeth justle with him for his chaire throw him into the channel trample upon him with their filthy feet making his name a tennise ball a page and waiting-man to their choller Because of oaths the land shall mourne and mens mouthes now are dyed red with oaths they make no conscience to speake against God many mens hearts be all earth their stomakes all water their braines all ayre and their tongues all fire being set on fire of hell Saint Ambrose telleth us of a dogge that pulled Swearing and falshood came into the world together out the throate of him that murdered his master Shall a dogge doe this for him that giveth him a crust of bread and shall not our wrath kindle against them that have killed the Iam. 3. 6. Ambr. libr. 6. Hexam Lord Iesus Mens sinnes mens oathes mens blasphemies and perjuries have pierced him and nailed him and let out his heart blood These were the nailes and speare that lanced him Iudas Pilate Herod could have done nothing unto him if these our sinnes had not given them strength One saith that three members of the body are hardly governed the heart the reines the Vinaldus libr. de cont tongue In the heart is vanity in the reines is pleasure in the tongue is falshood perjury blasphemy He that can rule these three is a persect man So saith the Apostle If a man sinne not in Iam. 3. 2 3 4. word he is a perfect man and able to bridle all the body behold wee put bittes into the horses monthes that they should obey us and wee turne about all their body behold also the ships that though they be great and are driven of sierce winds yet are they turned about with avery small rudeer wheresoever the governour listeth Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth of great things Behold how great a thing a little fire kindleth and the tongue is a fire yea a World of wickednesse c. Better it is that men should never speake then to sweare and blaspheme and so speake against God Vita mors est in potestate linguae life and death is in the power of the tongue Metalls are iudged by the sound whether they be gold or brasse A man is iudged by his speech whether he be good or evill if his words be brazen his heart cannot be golden Chrysostome noteth that swearing came into the world when all untrueth entred into the World and all villany In the first age men were beleeved on their word but in the ages following they were scarce beleeved on their oath lying brought swearing swearing brought per
jury into the world Ex multis iâ—ramentis perventum est â—andem in peâ—iuâ—ia in multilâ—quio non deest peceatum From many oathes men Chrysost came at last to perjury and in much speaking there is sinne with much water there goeth some gravell with much fire some smoke and with many words some lies as among many wounds some skarres Aquinas saith that we must use an oath as we use physicke which is not used but in necessity in diseases So an oath is to be used in necessity when the trueth otherwise cannot appeare Parcè utenda medicina parcè iur amentum A medicine Aquin. is to be used sparingly and an oath sparingly yet a number cannot talke but they must sweare As the girle said of Peter Thou art of Galilee for thy speech bewrayeth thee So these Mat. 26. swearers that thus speake against God are of the Divell By thy barking I know thee to bee a dog by thy hissing to bee a serpent and by thy swearing to bee a vile man Shall I call that a sweet fountaine that sendeth out nothing but brine salt water and sulphurous Shall I call that good earth that yeldeth nothing but briers and brambles And shall I call him a Christian The generall Iudgement most certaine that cannot speake five words but one shall bee against God one shall be an oath by God and by God As she said Call me not Naomi but call me Mara So call not these Christians but beasts monsters Divels as Christ called Iudas These men Iohn 6. 70. as S. Iohn said have the hornes of the Lambe but they speake like the dragon they have a shew of religion but they sweare like reprobates they speake by the mouth of a greater beast Apoc. 13. then themselves These men are like belles that hang in the steeple but they are not seene but heard so these men though they be nor seene they may be heard in the Ale houses and Tavernes as men passe by there they roare and sweare and speake against God and count it a gentlemenly quality In times past Gentlemen were knowne by three properties Learning Armes and Gentlenesse but now by swearing wantonnesse and taking of Tobacco I speake not of all God hath his number Lord how are men degenerated from that they have beene What a Metamorphosis is in the world Have men drunke of Circes cup or are they changed with Hecuba for railing at the siedge of Troy into dogges that they barke thus against God Well they shall come to Iudgement one day for this Christ will come and we expect it To give iudgement against all men and to rebuke all the ungodly among them of all their wicked deeds that they have committed and of all their cruell speakings which ungodly sinners have spoken against And Come Lord Iesus come quickly Apoc. 22. One thing further let me observe unto you that he saith Behold the Lord commeth with thousand of his Saints to give iudgement against all men c. That hee speaketh in the present tense not in the future tense to note the certainty of his comming So Esay Esay 9. said of Christ Vnto us a Child is borne yet was he not then borne but five hundred yeeres at the least after So Iohn spake Ecce venit Apoc. 1. 7. in nubibus Behold he commeth in the clouds and yet hee is not come but to note the trueth of his comming he affirmeth that he commeth The Apostle saith That Faith overcommeth the World and yet we are striving with the world as yet wee are in the 1 Iohn 5. 1. mayne battell as yet the plowers plough long furrowes on our backs as yet we strive unto bloud and yet he saith We have overcome the world because wee shall overcome it The Shepheards said that the words of the Angell were come to passe yet had they Luk 2. 15. Rom. 3. Numb 23. 19. not been a Bethelem Let God be true and all men liers He is not a man that hee should lye neither as the Sonne of man that hee should repent hath be said and shall he not doe it and hath he spoken and shall he not accomplish it Heaven and earth shall passe before one iot or tittle of his Luk 16 17. Word shall passe As for him that thinkes that the Lord will never come to iudgement nor that this body shall rise againe Let him remember that he who bringeth the Sunne out of his Chamber daily who reneweth the dead hornes of the Moone Psal 19. Psal 104. every moneth who dried up the sea in one night who caused None so vile but sometime feareth iudgemeÌ„t inwardly Aarons withered rod in one night to beare ripe Almonds who quickened Sara her dead wombe who revived the dead corne in the ground can raise againe this body and howsoever the Exod. 14. Gen. 18. 1 Cor. 15. wicked seare up their consciences with a hot iron yet I am perswaded there is none so wicked but sometime trembleth at the iudgement That the Lord shall come with thousand of his Saints to give Iudgement on all flesh c. None so riotous but sometime he saith Esca ventri venter escis Meate for the belly and the belly for 1 Cor. 6. 13. meate but God shall destroy both it and them None so covetous but sometime saith The rust of these things will be a witnesse against me None so blasphemous but at one time or other Iam. 5. 3. saith The plague departeth not from the house of the swearer None so adulterous but saith I may not make the Ecclus 23. 12. members of Christ the members of an harlot I may not make the 1 Cor. 6. temple of God the stable for the Divell And to conclude none so past all feare of God but sometimes saith This geare will not last alway what shall become of me when I stand before Gods iudgement seate Foelix trembled when he heard Paul preach of Iudgement and Adrian the Emperour said at his death Animula Act. 24. vagula blandula quo nunc vagaris O my little wandring tender soule whither doest thou now goe Thou wouldest not have the conscience of a damned creature to gaine tenne thousand worlds and to bee the Monarch of them for so many thousand yeers Well yee see there shall be a Iudgement yee see the person that shall be our Iudge The Lord he shall come in his owne person to iudge us and what a comfort will this be that hee shall come for us that went up to send the Comforter unto us Yee see the manner of his comming with thousand of his Saints The end of it to rebuke all the ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all the cruell speakings that wicked sinners have spoken against And now to make some use of all this that hath been spoken concerning this Iudgement The use of it is triple 1. For terrour 2. For comfort
Qui phreneticum ligat Lethargicum excitat ambobus molestus ambobus tamen utilis Hee that bindeth a franticke man vexed with a frensie and he that awaketh a drowsie man possessed with a Lethargie hee is troublesome to them both and yet profitable to them both Let charity therefore go on to bind the one to awake the other and to love both Ama fratrem sed noli adulari Love thy brother but flatter him not Obsequium amicos veritas odium parit Flattery getteth friendship and truth hatred yet Veritas temporis filia Truth is the daughter of time and in fine will save it selfe Answere flatterers as Antigonus did his clawbacks Mentiris thou liest quoth hee to one of them Mentiris in gutture thou liest in thy throate Hae virtures non latent in me These vertues that thou speakest of I have not but I am like a Leopard that have tenne blacke spottes to one white Augustus Caesar and Tiberius Caesar were deadly enemies to these oyle-mouthed flatterers in somuch that they would not indure to be called Lords by their owne Children If they living in darkenesse did thus detest this sweet poyson how ought wee to abhorre it which are the children of light Finely said one If thy friend praise thee to thy face give no countenance to his words lest of a friend hee become a dissembler and if a common parasite commend thee reject and contemne his praises because he is a flatterer If this Counsell were well followed Satan would cease to transforme himselfe into an Angell of light and Such as delight to be flattered are vaine and unconstant his Orators who as Diogenes affirmeth are worse than Crowes should in stead of living men bee compelled to prey upon Carrion the fittest food for such flattering Harpies and greedy fowles One cals flattery the food of folly and the spurre of vaineglory wherewith when the eare is infected the soule is soone perverted Another cals flattery the Divels praise who as he is a lier from the beginning so his praise is ever fained and adulterate The Athenians so grossely flattered Demetrius that they decreed Vt quod Demetrius iuberet apud deos sanctum apud homines iustum esset That that which Demetrius commanded should be accounted holy among the gods and iust among men For they thought him like the gods as Herod tooke himselfe for a God Act. 12. Mens tongues are chained to great mens affections as Praxaspes a Noble man of Persia said to Cambyses for he having admonished the King to drinke more sparingly the King to deliver himselfe from that suspicion shot with an arrow at the heart of Praxaspes his child and left the arrow in his heart asking Praxaspes whether he had shot well To whom he answered Apollo certiùs mittere non potuit Apollo himselfe could not have shot more certenly Dij illum hominem malè perdant animo magis quà m conditione Seneca mancipium adulare regem non amare didicit The gods punish such a man a slave rather in mind then in condition that learned to flatter the King not to love him Wee should stop our eares against these flatterers as Vlysses did against the Sirenes Bernard compareth them that love praises to wind-milles For they are carried with the blast of mēs mouthes to the Moone which because it hath borrowed light sometime shee waxeth sometime she waneth and sometime she is not seene at all So they that depend upon other mens lips sometime are of great account sometime of little account sometime of no account but he that with the Sunne carrieth his light within him may say as Paul said Gloria mea testimonium conscientiae My glory is the testimony of my conscience Vertue requires no scaffold but a good 2 Cor. 1. 12. conscience As for the wicked they have a borrowed light a borrowed fame a borrowed praise and therefore it lasteth not Thus when Caesar triumphed in other mens blood his parasites said that he was Semideus when Caligula spake like a foole in the Senate Domitius gave him the price of eloquence and Vitellus affirmed that he had beene with the Meeni The Sicilians soothed up Dionysius his cruelty by the name of Iustice The parasites make of Molehilles mountaines if thou beest blacke they say thou art manly if faire that thou art heavenly when thou runnest thou art Pegasus when thou wrastlest thou art Samson or Hercules when thou speakest thou art Mercury Thus the Iewes told Herod that his voice was vox Dei The voice of God not of man but you know his end Many will say any thing for advantage Flatterers sooth men in their sinnes and applaud them as vertuous so they may gaine by it like Harpalus who said Quod Regi placet mihi placet That which pleaseth the King pleaseth me when Astyages set his owne Sonne before him to feed upon him But we must say Quod Deo placet mihi placet That which pleaseth God pleaseth me Our tongues may not be tyed to other mens humours For we must speake not as they that please men but God which trieth the hearts Answer these flatterers as Alexander Magnus did who being hit with an arrow in the siege of an Indian City which would not heale told his parasites Vos me dixistis Iovis filium vulnus autem istud clamat me esse hominem You say that I am Iupiters sonne but this wound cries that I am but a man So say thou to thy flatterers which without shame or blushing heape upon us many praises you say that I am wise but I see I am not so wise as I should be you say I excell in many vertues but I see and know that in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no goodnesse away away I will not believe you THE EIGHT AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XVII But yee beloved remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ The godly the wicked opposed THese words containe a comparison betwixt the faithfull and the unfaithfull the sonnes of light and the sonnes of darkenesse lambes and goats Doves and Serpents Vessels of wrath and Vessels of Mercy the end of the one and the destruction of the other for the opposition holdeth in all points The Godly remember the words of God they goe forward in faith à fide in fidem from faith to faith they pray in the Spirit they continue in love they looke for mercy lastly their end is eternall life On the contrary the Wicked forget all words of God they flout at Religion they live at randome they walke after their lusts they are naturall they are Sectaries renting asunder Christs coat without seame they keepe not the vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4. 3. First there is a dependance of these words from the former hee putteth not a narrow river but a maine sea betwixt the godly and the ungodly The
Emphasis is in the conjunction Autem as if he had said Thou must not be like the wicked they murmure complaine speake proudly flatter for gaine but thou must not doe so but thou must turne over another leafe learne Christians must not live like Heathen Infidels a new lesson But yee beloved this teacheth all Christians to love like Christians to walke worthy of their calling not to bee like the Pagans the Heathen For what hath light to doe with darknesse 2 Cor. 6. 14 15 16 17. or righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse What concord hath Christ with Belial And what part hath the beleever with the Infidel Come out therefore from among them and separate your selves saith the Lord and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you Christ will not have his Apostles be like the Heathen When ye pray use no vain Mat. 6. 7 8. repetitions like the Heathen be not like to them And he would not have us to bee like the Pharises For all the workes that they doe is Cap. 23 6 7 8. to be seen of men they love greeting in the market and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi but be yee not called Rabbi for the godly and the ungodly have two diverse fathers God and the Divell yee are of Iohn 8. 44. your father the Divell and the workes of the Divell doe yee two diverse mothers the Church and the Synagogue of Satan two diverse Schoolemasters the Flesh and the Spirit two diverse Rom. 6. 8. Esa 30. Countries the Heavenly Ierusalem and Tophet therefore their life must be diverse So reasoneth Christ Take no thought saying What shall we eate or what shall we drinke or wherewith shall wee bee cloathed After all these things seeke the Gentiles for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Thus Paul Mat. 6. 32. maketh an Antithesis betweene the Gentiles and the Christians This I say therefore and testifie in the Lord that yee hence forth walke not Ephes 4. 17 18 19 20. as other Gentiles walke in vanity of their minde having their cogitations darkned and being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their heart which being past feeling have given themselves to wantonnesse to worke all uncleanenesse with greedinesse but yee have not so learned Christ Againe having spoken of the enemies of the Crosse he maketh the comparison betweene them and the Apostles the friends of Christ saying Brethren bee yee followers of mee and looke on Phil. 3. 17 18 19 20. them which walke so as ye have have us for an ensample for many walke of whom I told you before and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the Crosse of Christ whose end is damnation whose God is their belly whose glorie is their shame which minde earthly things But our conversation is in Heaven from whence also wee looke for a Saviour even the Lord Iesus Let others live as they list but wee will remember the words of the Lord. So Iosuah said Let others serve Idols Ios 24. 15. I and my houshold will serve the Lord Let other perish their life is no rule to us Vivimus praeceptis non factis Wee live by precepts not by deeds Legibus Dâ—i non exemplis hominum by the Lawes of God not by the examples of men Foolishly therefore said Radbode the King of Phrisia for comming to the Font to be baptized hee asked What was become of his Ancestours And answere being made that they died in a fearefull state unchristned replyed that hee would rather perish with the multitude than goe to heaven with a few So Constantius said that Athanasius Gods Word doth stay from running on with the wicked with his few troubled the whole world But he answered him againe Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth â—o destruction and many there be which goe in thereat strait is the gate and the way narrow that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it If but eight Mat. 7. 13 14. men in all the world should be saved as in Noahs flood labour thou to be of these eight Many reason thus Others do it most men doe it therefore will I doe so These be the drunken arguments of the world but we must not follow a multitude Major pars saepe vincit meliorem the greater part ofteÌ„ times overcommeth Exod. 23. 2. the better The Nicene Councell had erred but for Paphnutius but eight onely were saved in Noahs Arke but two Israelites of Gen. 8. Num. 14. Act. 1. Ezech. 9. Apoc. 3. 4. 600000. entred into Canaan but an hundred and twenty beleevers were found in the primitive Church but few in Ierusalem were marked with the letter Tau but few in Sardis walked with God in white To conclude The whole world is set on wickednesse Good men are as blacke swannes wee must shine as lights in the middest of a 1 Iohn 5. 19. Phil. 2. 15. crooked nation If other be dogges let us be Lambes if other be crowes let us be doves if other bee tares let us bee wheate let others live as they list let us live in the Lord let us say with the Saints Come let us go up into the Mountaine of the Lord and to the Mich. 4. 2 5. house of the God of Iacob he will teach us his waies we will walke in his pathes yea let us walke in the name of our God for ever and ever Let others murmure complaine walke after their owne lusts speake proudly and flatter men because of advantage Let us remember the words of the Lord Let us build on in our most holy faith let us pray in the spirit and clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and grow up in full holines 2 Cor. 7. 1. in the feare of God Let not us looke at the multitude to goe to hell with them for company Non enim minor erit gloria si fueris foelix cum paucis nec minor erit poena si miser erit cum multis For thy glory shall not be the lesser if with few thou beest happy nor thy paine the lesser if with many thou be miserable every man shall have paine enough in hell not the lesser for the multitude but the greater For as the Saints in heaven have joy each one from another so the damned in Hell have the more griefe each one from another Mat. 22 13. Now more particularly hee biddeth them remember the words of the Apostles to stay up and to comfort them in the middest of murmurers complainers proud men flatterers sectaries mockers and sendeth them to the Scriptures to the words of the Apostles But I will arise ab Hypothesi ad Thesin from the supposition to the position And here wee learne to whom the Scriptures are profitable and comfortable even to them that remember
them Wee must not bee forgetfull readers nor forgetfull hearers For He that is not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of Iam. 1. 25. the Word is blessed in his deed There be two points of husbandry to We heare the Word but remember it not get and to hold fast and there bee two points of Christianity to learne and to remember that wee have learned many have this first few the latter Christ speaking of the future state of the Church biddeth them remember Remember the Words saith Iohn 15. 20. Christ that I said unto you The servant is not greater then the Master c. The Apostle speaking to the Hebrewes chargeth them with forgetfulnesse And yee have forgotten saith he the consolation Hebr. 12. 5. that speaketh to you as children The Lord Iesus writing to the Church of Sardis biddeth it remember Remember how thou hast Apoc. 3. 3. received and heard and hold fast and repent When Paul commeth to this his zeale breaketh out in great measure he doth not sound out words but a trumpet like Esay he doth not speake but thunder Esa 58. 1. Mar. 3. like Iames Iohn he crieth out like a Giant as a strong maÌ„ refreshed with wine his zeale breaketh out as the Sun thorow a cloud Furthermore brethren whatsoever things ar true whatsoever Phil. 3. 8. things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things pertaine to Love whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue or any praise thinke on these things At the newes of Christs birth many heard many wondred some mocked but Mary kept it in her heart the words of the Shepheards also she kept and would neither forgoe them nor forget them Many good lessons in a yeere doe we heare but wee profit but a little because we remember not if it be an evill word that we will remember or a promise of debt that we looke to profit by our memory is of brasse but Lord how forgetfull in the best things Which of us is there that having a portion left us by the will and testament of our Father will not remember What hearts have wee of flesh or of flint or folly or of madnesse that wee cannot remember a better inheritance left to us in the Word of the Lord That is our Coppy or free Deed rather for thereby we hold Heaven Hereupon Paul commended the elders of Ephesus first to God secondly to the Word of his grace which is able to build further that is to increase them with more graces and to Act. 20. 32. give them an inheritance among all them that are sanctified The Word remembred worketh faith faith apprehendeth Christ Christ uniteth us to God and giveth salvation For salvation is of the Psal 3. 8. Lord and his blessing is upon the people and our Saviour and Redeemer is the mighty one of Iacob God would have his Word so Esa 60. 16. remembred that he chargeth his people Israel saying Yee shall Deut. 11. 18. lay up these my Words in your heart and in your soule and bind them for a signe upon your hand that they bee as a frontlet betweene your eyes that yee may ever remember them David did it I have hid thy Word Psal 119. 11. within my heart that I might not sinne against thee And thus he describeth a good man The Law of his God is in his heart and his goings shall not slide The Apostle crieth out to the Corinthians to receive Psal 37. 31. the Word of God fruitfully Wee beseech you saith he that yee receive not the grace of God in vaine But alas how often have we The neglect of the Word will bring a famine of it received it in vaine How often have we come to Gods Schoole and have taken out never a lesson How often have wee received the food of our soules and never digested it How many Sermons have we heard in vaine How often hath the sower sowed 2 Cor. 6. 1. his seed in vaine Either in the high-way or among stones and thornes If in the time to come wee profit no more than in the times past I assure you our graves will meet with us in the way and it will bee too late to learne when wee are fallen into the pit of silence and into the land where all things are Psal â—â— 12. forgotten Not hee that eateth most but hee that digesteth most is most healthfull not hee that heareth most but he that remembreth most is most edified and most comforted by it hearing is as chewing Christus auditu devorandus Christ is to be devoured by hearing and remembrance is unto the soule Bern. as digestion is to the stomacke meate is nothing without digestion the Word is nothing without remembrance of it by it we are saved if we keep it in memory that is it that maketh or marreth all In this plenty but not of bread in this abundance 1 Cor. 15. 2. but not of water we shall I feare me for our negligence and forgetfulnesse we shall have a famine not of bread a thirst but not of water I feare me the dayes will come that the Word of God will be rare as in the dayes of Heli that a good Minister will be 1 Sam. 3. Amos 8. 11. 2 Chro. 15. 10. precious in our eyes as in the dayes of Amos when mâ—n ran from sea to sea to heare and could not heare as in the dayes of Asa who was wroth with Hanani the Seer and put him in prison Except the time of the Prophets and the Primitive Church wherein they spake with fierie tongues and cloven tongues there was never I am Act. 2. 3. perswaded such a time as this is such excellency and variety of Gods gifts For surely for doctrine for exhortation for prayer arguing utterance and perswasion men in these dayes have rare gifts and the contempt of such precious gifts cannot but bring some rare and great plague upon this age yea the plague that Amos threatned The prudenr shall keep silence in that time For it is an evill time and no marvell we regard not the Word but sit gaping for sleep in the Church as Ravens upon the house-top for heat in the Summer time Magnes ferrum rubiginosum ad se non trahit The Load-stone draweth not to it selfe rusty Iron but iron that is pure and Iet draweth not unto it selfe straw that is soule but that which is cleane Sic Verbum reprobos non ad se trahit nisi fuerint Spiritu Dei sanctificati So the Word doth not draw unto it the Reprobates except they bee sanctified by the Spirit of God it worketh not upon incredulous sluggish Auditors which are not touched with any care of the Word but upon attentive and diligent hearers such as bring with them before they come to heare 1. A desire to heare Who are profitable hearers of the
Word 2. A preparation to heare 3. A purpose to obey And such as in hearing bring 1. Attention 2. Circumspection 3. Application And such as when they have heard the Word use 1. Meditation 2. Action 3. Continuation To these the Word is a savour of life unto life but unto those that regard not these things it is a savour of death unto death I have read of many florishing memories Seneca writeth of himselfe that he was able to recite by heart 2000. names in the same order wherein they were spoken Portius Latro had such a memory that yee could not name that martiall man but hee would runne thorow his acts presently and Cyneas the next day hee came to Rome could salute all the Senators of Rome in order and all the people that stood round about him whom he never saw nor knew before and Tully for memory commendeth Hortentius and Lucullus Lucullus for matter the other for words Now the excellentest matter of all others either for the memory to account or for any part of the soule to conceive is the Word of God therefore saith Iude Remember the words which were spoken c. Memory is as the verticle of the soule and the habitacle of the Word as the meate in the stomacke so the Word in the memory The belly is the bodies storehouse and the memory the soules treasury Thesaurus custos omnium In this storehouse Esdras is reported to store up the Bible and Mary the sayings of our Saviour in this Carindes did lay up volumes Aug. prologo in lib. 1. de doctrina Christi and Cyrus of Persia 300000. Souldiers and Antony the unlearned Eremite of Aegypt by hearing remembred and by remembring came to understand the Scriptures The beasts that chew not the cud were holde for uncleane the mind that remembers not the Word is unpure uncleane there is Memoria reminiscentia the habituall actuall memory the present and recalling remembrance which some resemble to a booke and the reading in the booke unseparable twinnes in matters of Divinity lest our memory unpractised bee turned like Pharoes butler to forgetfulnesse is well compared to a game at tennise which so long indures quà m diu pila inter èos proijciatur as the ball is tossing and the Scriptures so long profit as they are remembred Sicut nullum momentum est quo homo non utetur vel fruatur Dei bonitate Ita nullum debet esse momentum quo Verbum in Hugo de anima memoria non habeat The Word of God ought to be so frequent in out memories as Gods blessings are to our ordinary senses the one is ever present the other ought never to bee forgotten but ourmemory as touching this Word of God it is as an unthrifts purse that holdeth no mony like a riven dish that holdeth We are dull to heare careless to remember Gods Word no water ut Danaidum dolium which runneth out so soone as it is filled our eares are like a riddle or five which letteth go cleane water and keepeth gravell and stones still but they must be like a glasse window that shutteth out a tempest admitteth the light they must be stopped at vaine things and opened to good things yee must not be like them of whom Paul prophesied Which will not suffer wholesome doctrine but having their eares itching 2 Tim. 4. 3. shall after their owne lusts get to themselves an heape of teachers Men are so dull deafe carelesse that God sometime is enforced to speake to the Heavens saying Heare ob Heavens and harken oh Earth for the Lord hath spoken Sometimes to the Earth O Earth Earth Earth heare the Word of the Lord sometime to the Esa 1. Ier. 22. 29. Mountaines Heare O yee Mountaines the Lords quarrell and yee mighty foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people sometime to the trees so he may speake to the pillars roofe and glasse windowes for wee will not heare him or if we heare him wee remember it not Aristotle saith that the Thracians doe not count above five they cannot remember to five but wee can remember five hundred things of the World but not five things of Gods doctrine Can a maid forget her ornament or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten mee dayes without number Ier. ◠32. we neither remember the text nor any doctrine nor any exhortation delivered from it like the Philosopher that remembred not his owne name like the Ostrich that remembreth not her egges left in the dust but wee must heare to learne and learne to remember to follow it and follow it to continue in that good that wee have heard then are wee blessed so saith our Saviour Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it that is that keepe it in his life and keepe it in his memory that wee Luk. 11. 28. may say of our Sundayes as Titus Vespasian said of his dayes wherein he gave not an Almes Hoc Sabbatum perdidi I have lost the Sabbath Yea a thousand yea tenne thousand Sabbaths have we lost we are no whit the better for comming unto Church as Peter said to Christ Master wee have laboured all night and have catched nothing so may we say We have come to the Church and have heard the Word of Life and Salvation but we have learned nothing we can remember nothing we are now hit the better for comming to the Church Frustrà Dei gratiam accipimus wee have received the Word of God in vaine Memorie is as a chest If a ◠Cor. 16. 1. man have all the gold of Ophir and the silver of Tharsis and the treasures of Ganges it is nothing except he hath a place to keepe them in if a man heare tenne thousand sermons it is nothing except hee remember them they are gotten in the Church and forgotten and scattred in the Churchyard like Hannibal that could get the victory but could not keepe it Tell mee O tell me what day in the weeke doe we give so evill The doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the foundation of the Church example of sitting and lulling in our beds as on the Sabbath either we come not to Church or if we come wee heare not or if we heare we remember it not O filthy favour that ariseth out of this loathsome channell I spare to speake I shame to see I rue to know what I fully know against our soules in this respect how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation Hebr. 2. 2. Sinnes past be gone and the Lord forgive us some be to come and the Lord strengthen us lye wee may not the Lord beeing judge cleere our selves wee cannot our consciences bearing witnesse of so many negligences and our great forgetfulnesse How great might our knowledge have beene How strong our faith How ardent our love How fierie our zeale How reformed our lives if we had heard
with any conscience Tertullian telleth of a water in Paphlagonia called Salmacis of the which they that drinke either fall into a phrensie or into a lethargie so are wee not either mad or fallen into a dead sleepe to heare God so often and remember him so little Shame appertaineth unto us and confusion may cover us as a cloake O deafe eares dumbe Dan. 9. tongues dead hearts dull soules How long shall Wisedome crie How Prov. 1. 20 21 22. long shall shee utter her voyce in the streetes shee calleth in the highstreete among the prease in the entring of the gates and uttereth her words in the City saying O yee foolish how long will yee love foolishnesse and the scornefull take their pleasure inscorning and the fooles hate knowledge But let us leave this sinne and learne to remember more and keepe more else the more shall be our judgement But what must we remember we must remēber the words of the Apostles not of the Rabbines Fathers Doctors of the Church therefore it is noted of the three thousand that they continued in the Act. 2. 42. Apostles doctrine It is Basis Ecclesiae so saith Paul Yee are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being Ephes 2. 20. the chiefe corner stone Peter calleth it a most sure word We have 1 Pet. 1. 19. saith hee a most sure word of the Prophets to the which yee doe well that yee take heede as unto a light that shineth in a darke place c. Esay sendeth all men to the Law To the Law to the testimonie saith the Prophet If they speake not according to this Word it is because Esa 8. 20. there is no light in them Ieremy calleth all mens traditions dreames chaffe How long doe the Prophets delight to prophesie lyes Ier. 23. 26 27 28 29. Even prophecying the deceit of their owne heart Thinke they to cause my people to forget my name by their dreames which they tell every man unto his neighbour as their fore-fathers have forgotten my Name for Baal The Prophet that hath a dream let him tell a dream he that hath my Word let him speake my Word faithfully what is the Chaffe to the Wheat saith the Lord Is not my word even like a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the stone These Saint Peter calleth deceivable fables Wee followed not quoth he deceivable fables when wee opened 2 Pet. 1. 16. unto you the power and comming of our Lord Iesus Christ What neede we to run to the channell when wee may drinke of the The Scripture the rule of faith the touch stone to trie Scripture fountaine or to feed of Acornes when we may have the pure Wheat Or to see with a Candle when we may have the Sun light All mens writings they are as puddles and cesternes that can hold no water they are Labruscae sowre grapes I looked saith the Lord that my vineyard should have brought forth good grapes Ier. 2. Esa 5. 3. and it brought forth wild and sowre grapes Now by these sowre grapes hee meaneth errors in doctrine as well as in life The Zuingsius Word of God must sit on the Bench when Fathers Councels Doctors Rabbines Poets Philosophers must stand at the barre Paul discussing the question of Iustification he saith not What saith reason What say the Rabbines The Thalmud The Caball What say the Bishops Doctors of Ierusalem But What saith the Scripture So Peter proveth all from the Scripture Wherefore it is contained in the Scripture Behold I put a stone in Sion Rom. 4. 3. c. This is to build on the Rocke but a most miserable state it is when a man buildeth on the sand The house must needs fall when the Church goeth from the doctrine Apostolicall to Luk. 6. the doctrines of men then is the Sunne as sackecloth the Moon turned into bloud the starres have lost their light then the three Apoc. 6. uncleane Frogges be come out of the mouth of the Dragon when Popes Cardinals Schoolemen rule the Church Removeantur Chartae Apoc. 13. 16. Aug. Donato nostrae procedat in medium Codex Dei Let our writings be taken away let Gods Booke bee produced and brought in the place Let us take away our deceitfull ballance and let Gods ballance weigh and sway the truth of our cause Martin refused Scripture and fled to traditions and therefore Tertullian calleth him Apostaticall not Apostolicall He calleth the Marcionites Owles Lucifrigas scripturarum saith that Tertull. lib. 4. contra Marcionitas the Waspes make nests aswell as the Bees and that the Marcionites erect Churches aswell as Christians but in their nests is no hony and in the Churches of the Marcionites is no Truth no Scripture they teach for doctrine precepts of men they are like unto Ravens which conceive not with seed but with wind their Mat. 15. doctrine is the doctrine of the wind and the speech of the East-wind Wee are borne againe not of mortall but of immortall seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. even by the Word of God which liveth and indureth for ever that is the true seed The Papists are like the Marcionites and the Valentinians qui prius persuadent quà m docent which first perswade and after teach but Christians doe first teach and after perswade and teach too out of the Scriptures as Apollo did He proved by the Scriptures Iesus to be Christ for he was a man eloquent and Act. 18. 24 28. 1 Thess 4. 15. mighty in the Scriptures Thus Paul taught This say we unto you by the Word of the Lord thus must wee say for every point of Doctrine Againe in that Iude bids them Remember the Words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ some gather from these words that this Epistle is not Canonicall not written by The Saints of God are meek and gentie Iude the Apostle But I answere that Iude naming other Apostles excludeth not himselfe but rather useth the authority of others then of himselfe So Iohn calleth himselfe Iohn at every word not an Apostle yet avoucheth his calling against Cerinthus Apoc. 1. 4 9. and Ebion saying that the Lord Iesus commanded him to write Apoc. 1. So Paul modestly and humbly having to do with God renounceth his titles and saith that he was not worthy to be called an Apostle hee saith that he was among them in much weakenesse that 1 Cor. 15. 8. 1 Cor. 2. 3. he persecuted and wasted the Church of God that he preached in infirmity that he was mad in his Iudaisme but having to do with the false apostles and Pharises hee avoucheth his calling and rowzeth himselfe like a Lion I certify you brethren that Gal. 1. 13. Act. 26. 11. Gal. 1. 12. 1 Cor. 9. 1. 1 Cor. 13. 10. Gal. 2. 8 9 11. the Gospell which was preached of me
to content their owne sinnefull humour But so to reprehend is no way lawfull wee must deale with sinners as Samuel did with Saul chide them for their sinne yet pray for their soule as Moses did with the Israelites who corrected their iniquities yet would be blotted out of Gods Booke for their safeties as David did with Absalom who detested his fault and yet would have died for his sake then shall wee shew our selves true physicians that seare the sore to preserve the person and hate the sinne to preserve the soule THE NINE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XVIII How that they told you that there shall bee mockers in the last time c. Scorning and mocking the highest degree of sin NOw he commeth to the words that he will have them to remember they be these That there shall come in the last dayes mockers hee calleth the wicked mockers for in mustering up their sinnes hee beginneth with their flouting as an arch sinne a capitall sinne hee placeth it in the forefront as Ioab did Vrias it is a Metropolitan sinne as Salomons harlot 1 Reg. 3. was among women the worst of all as the beast in the Apocalyps Apoc. 13. which inspired the other with blasphemy like Antiochus who did more hurt then all the Tyrants before him Of these mockers speaketh Peter as though he had followed Iude verbatim word for word but he hath answered them so fully that we need not go any further for their confutation There shall saith he come in the last dayes mockers which will walke after their lusts and say Where 1 Pet. 3 3 4 5 6 7. 8 9. is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly know not that the Heavens were of old and the earth that was of the water and by the water by the Word of God wherefore the world that then was perished overflowed with the water but the Heavens and earth which There have beene scorners in all ages are now are kept by the same Word in store and reserved unto fire against the day of Iudgement and of the destruction of ungodly men Dearely beloved be not ignorant of this one thing that one day with the Lord is as a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres as one day The Lord is not slacke concerning his promise as some men count slacknesse but is patient toward us c. Salomon had to doe with such All things come alike to all Eccles 9. 2. and the same condition is to the just and to the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth and he that feareth an oath so they said in Chrysostomes time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give me something here let hereafter go to others Mat. 22. such were in Christs dayes the Sadduces they denied the Resurrection Paul had to doe with these beasts which said Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye But if Peter reasoned well 1 Cor. 15. 32. 1 Pet. 47. saying Now is the end of all things at hand be yee therefore sober and watching in prayer The Epicures in Pauls time reasoned vilely and beastly nam contrariorum contraria est ratio for of contraries there is a contrary reason Such skummes have beene in all ages when Esay spake of sackloth they spake of slaying of oxen and Esa 22. drinking wine when the Apostles spake with new tongues they spake with their old tongues and said that they were drunken with new wine when Paul spake of the true God the Athenians Act. 2. 13. called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a babbler a rascall a trifler when Christ wrought miracles they said that he did them by the Divell and Mat. 12. now that we speake of God and the Kingdome of God they say that we are idle and must say something and that our doctrine is good for those that have little to doe they deride us as simple men that know nothing with the Corinthians they call our preaching foolishnes with the Aegyptians they call our resort unto the Church idlenesse with the Captaines they call our Exod. 8. 2 Reg. 9. Act. 26. 1 Cor. 1. 21. Act. 26. 25. preachers madde men with Festus they call our zeale plaine dotage and madnesse and with Pliny they call our meetings conventicles but wee will answere them as Paul did the Corinths It pleaseth God through the foolishnes of preaching to save them that beleeve As the Apostle did Festus Wee are not mad but wee speake the Words of truth and sobernes As the Christians did Plinie Trajane and others for their night meetings our witnesse is above our praise is not with men but with God The Latines for mocking use a triple Synonyme Irrisio subsannatio Rom. 2. illusio à risu â—â—gatu ludo a laughing to skorne a mocking by snuffing up the nose and a scorning by way of jesting the first two are open the third more secret when we breake a jest upon our neighbour that tends to his disgrace Of these mockers there be sundry kindes Some that mocke God Some that mocke Gods man They that mocke God are of two sorts the open that deny Divers sorts of mockers both of God and men God in word and in deed as Pharaoh And the secret that professe in shew but deny in truth like the Sonne in the Gospell who in word said I go father but in truth went not at all Multi adorantes Crucem exteriùs Crucem spiritualem per contemptum conculcant Many will beare the Crosse in their bosomes that never imprint it in their hearts and many fall before it in their closet that never follow it in their lives Irrisor non poenitens qui adhuc agit quod penitet He is a 〈◊〉 Iside no repenter whose works are not answerable to their words These mocke-Gods shall one day feele the hand of God Glaucus that scoffed at Venus was torne in pieces with his mares Lycurgus despising Bacchus chopt his owne legs asunder as hee lopt his vines Holofernes acknowledging no God but Nabuchodonozer Iudith 13. was murthered by a woman the people that will sacrifice to the Queene of heaven were consumed with the sword of famine Nicanor that derided the Lord of the Sabbath lost his head hand shoulder Phericides in derision of the God-head bragged Ier. 44. 17. abroad that himselfe had as much prosperity that never did sacrifice as they that offred an hundred Hecatombs to the gods but was as Herod coÌ„sumed with lice Daphida a scoffer in derision Act. 12. 23. of Apollos Oracle at Delphos enquired of it whether he should find his horse that he lost when indeed hee had none the Oracle made this answere Inventurum quidem sed ut co turbatus periret that
Ier. 20. 3 4. Balaam say Moriatur anima mea Let my soule dye the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like unto his Iulian tooke his bloud Numb 23. 10. in his hands being strooken with an arrow from Heaven and threw it up into the Ayre saying Vicisti Galilaee O man of Galile thou hast gotten the victory Calvin writing upon the hundred and fifteenth Psalme verse sixteene telleth a notable story how God suddenly shut up the mouth of a Blasphemer and made him dumbe who derided God saying Coeli coelorum Domini The Heaven of Heavens unto the Lord and the Earth hath he given to the children of men as though men in Earth might live at randome Thus Esay traverseth the scorners of Ierusalem saying Heare the Word of the Lord yee scornefull men because yee have Esa 28. 14 15. said Wee have made a covenant with Death and with Hell are wee at an Scoffers and mockers punished agreement though a scourge runne over and passe thorow it shall not come at us for wee have made falshood our refuge and under vanity are wee hid But saith God I will lay Iudgement to the rule and Righteousnesse to the ballance and your covenant with Death shall bee disannulled and your agreement with Hell shall not stand now therefore bee no mockers lest your bonds increase So heare this yee scorners of Norfolke God will meete with you one day Hee will wound the head of his enemies and the hairie scalpe of him that walketh in Psal 68. 21. Psal 21. 8 9. his sinnes and his right handshall finde out all these mockers that hate him Hee shall make them like a fiery Oven in the time of his anger The Lord shall destroy them in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them These mockers shall not alwayes doe him this dishonour but God will draw his hand yea his right hand out of his bosome and consume them Psal 74. 11. Foure notable scoffers I knew in my time that held of one ging the first dyed mad the second hanged himselfe the third is a begger and yet was richly left the fourth is strooken blind Let men take heed if God be God they shall not goe unpunished for they open their mouth against Heaven David cryeth out that hee was a worme and not a man a shame of men and Psal 22. 6. 7. the out-cast of all people that all that saw him had him in derision they made a mow and nod the head at him but yet hee gathereth heart and insulteth over these his enemies saying Let the wicked be put to confusion and to silence in the grave and let these lying lips bee made Psal 31. 17 18. dumbe which cruelly proudly and spightfully speake against the righteous Herod and Pilate scoffed at the Lord Iesus his simplicitie made a May-game of him the rascall souldiers flouted Iuke 22. him but hee left the vengeance to his Father who met with them all One saith that the scoffers shall bee punished in Hell in their tongues quoting Luke 16. 24. for said hee In quo membro peccamus in codem plectemur In what member wee sinne in the same must wee be punished as the Envious in their eyes the Gluttons in their throats the Lecherous in their bodies the Malicious in their hearts the Covetous in their hands the Scoffers in their toungs but this is but a speculation a quiddity for surely the damned are tormented in all parts but yet chiefely in that part that hath offended paena peccato respondet the punishment is answerable to the sinne The World is full of these mockers for men are come to a wonderfull height of sin and are growne to be most notoriously wicked and ungodly so it is said that cursed Cham mocked his Father Noah I smael mocked godly Isaac because it is like I smael Gen. 2. 22. Gen. 21. seeing godly Isaac performing some duties of Religion Prayer Thankesgiving or the like hee laughed him to scorne The Athenians mocked Paul What will this babbler say So the Scribes Act. 17. Mat. 26. 68. and Pharisees mocked our Saviour saying Haile King of the Iewes The Iewes mocked Saint Peters Sermon saying These Scoffing a kind of persetion men are ful of new wine they are possessed with the spirit of the Buttery The children of Bethel mocked Elisha saying Goe up bald pate This was the complaint of godly Ieremy O Lord I am in 2 Reg. 2. 22. Ier. 20. 7. derision dayly everie one mocketh me and as it was so it is still and shall bee the World is full of such lewd and wicked men as Nilus of Crocodiles such mockes-God that mocke and mow at all good duties scoffing and scorning all Religion flowting and misusing all Gods faithfull Ministers raile upon them and revile them yea if any man feare God and worke righteousnesse attend to reading exhortation and doctrine pray evening and morning and at noone-day instruct their families with Abraham and will not sweare with the swearer drinke with the drunkard nor runne with the prophane in all excesse of riot this man shall bee derided mocked scorned jested at and railed upon branded with many odious names but let these mockers take heed God will come in judgement hee will bee a swift witnesse and a sharpe Iudge against them Looke on that cursed Cham and scoffing Ismael behold Gods vengeance upon those fortie two boyes that mocked Elisha What became of them that mocked and misused the Prophets of the Lord What became of them that mocked and misused Christ Iesus our Saviour and yee shall see none of them escaped unpunished This mocking is a kinde of persecution these mockers are persecutors Ismael did but gybe and fleere and flout at Isaac yet Gen. 21. Gal. 5. 29. Mat. 27. 39. Paul calleth it persecution those that railed on Christ despited him as much as they that crucified him with their hands as those that ranne him to the heart with a speare The wicked now persecute the Saints and laugh and gybe and fleere at them to the full but God shall laugh at them another day hee will yee mockers Hee will laugh at your destruction and mocke you when Prou. 1. 26 27. your feare commeth like suddaine desolation and your destruction shall come like a whirlewind when affliction and anguish shall come upon you c. The rich mans tongue burned in Hell and could not have a spoonefull of water and shall not these tongues fry in Hell Luke 16. that raile that jest that mocke at Honesty and Religion Who say that they will beleeve their hound before a Preacher for hee will not hunt counter God will burne one day these tongues For if that tongue that mocketh his earthly Father and Mother shall bee pulled out As Agur said The eye that mocketh Prov. 3. 17. his Father and despiseth the instruction of his Mother let the Ravens in the valley pick it
read the ancient Fathers to prove and trie every thing and Sectaries seek novelties and admire them to hold that which is good and not to depart from the faith of the Catholicke Church For there is but one dove one spouse one body of Christ Of this sinne the Apostle giveth the Church warning saying Let us consider one another and provoke unto love Hebr. 10. 24 25. and unto good Workes not forsaking the fellowship that we have among our selves as is the manner of some It is the manner of some to turne with the spiders breath the sweet iuyce of flowers into poison to seeke knots in bulrushes to stumble at every straw that stoppeth the course of their eager spirit to breake the bonds of peace to forsake this fellowship that wee should have among ourselves and to single and sever themselves by themselves they busie their braines about Pythagoras numbers Plato's Idea and Aristotles commonwealth they see not at Damascus a strange 2 Reg. 16. 10 11 Altar with Ahaz but they strait-way get the patterne and Vrias the Priest must make them the like at home But what saith Paul concerning these Sectaries I beseech you brethren saith he marke them diligently which cause division and offences contrary to the Rom. 16 17 18. doctrine which yee have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not the Lord Iesus Christ but their owne bellies and with faire speeches and flattering deceive the heart of the simple The Prophet David saith Ierusalem a figure of the Church is built as a City that is at unity in it selfe and when the Holy Ghost Psal 122. 3. Act. 2. 1. Act. 4. 32. Iudg. 20. 1. came downe in visible signes upon the Apōstles They were all with one accord in one place and it is said that the whole multitude of them that beleeved in the first times had but one heart and one Soule It is said of Israel that they came together as it had beene one man with the same mind and intent not with as many opinions as persons The Iewes had but one kind of worship prescribed and 2 Chro. 30. 12. that in one only Temple And it is said of Iuda that the hand of the Lord was in Iuda so that he gave them one heart to do the commandement of the King and of the rulers according to the Word of the Lord So if we will become a spirituall building unto God if wee will receive the promise of the Holy Ghost if we will worship God in Spirit and truth if we will have the hand of the Lord upon us we must be at unity and concord with our selves we must abide with one accord and one mind in an house wee must have one heart to doe the commandement of the King and of the rulers we must not leave the Temple to follow every opinion but we must be no makers of Sects but must keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace S. Peter prophesied and foretold of these Sectaries Ephes 4. 3. which privily should bring in damnable heresies even denying the 2 Pet. 2. 1 2 3. Lord that hath bought them and bring upon thmselves swift damnation and that many should follow their damnable wayes by whom the way of truth saith he shall be evill spoken of and through covetousnesse shall they with fained words make marchandize of you c. There is in a naturall body a quicking soule a radicall humour and a naturall heate and there is in the spirituall body Division sometime more dangerous than Idolatry of the Church the Holy Ghost to give life to it Faith is the radicall humour to continue it and charity as the naturall heate or vitall Spirit carried throughout the Arteries or parts of the Church For All things must be done in love Division and discord 1 Cor. 10. 14. Sects and Schismes are the cause of all evill of all mischiefe this is that Pandoras boxe that Trojane horse from whom all evill and mischiefe doe proceed Example among many other may be the Church of Corinth who beginning about matters of ceremonies and policie proceeded first to division and separation some holding of Paul some of Apollo some of Cephas and some of Christ and so to false doctrine denying the Resurrection 1 Cor. 1. 12. and therefore by the Canon of the Apostle to be avoided and Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria told Novatus that it was Euseb de vit Const 2. more grievous to breake the unity of the Church then to commit Idolatry For this saith hee was punished but with the sword but the other with the opening gulfe of the earth swallowing up the Authors and confederates thereof Et non dubitabitur sceleratius esse commissum quod gravius erat vindicatum And there is no doubt but that was more haynously committed which was more sharply and severely punished If yee have bitter Iam. 3. 14 16. envying and strife in your hearts saith the Holy Ghost reioyce not for where envying and strife is there is sedition and all manner of evill wayes There be three Furies in Hell Heresy Schisme Apostacy Saith a learned man Haeresis errorem fundamentalem in side tuetur Heresy defendeth some fundamentall error in the faith Schisma unitatem Ecclesiae ob minuta discindit Schisme cutteth in sunder the unity of the Church for small and trifling things Apostasia rectam fidem religionem penitùs abdicat Apostasie utterly rejecteth and forsaketh the right Faith Religion of God and turneth from the holy Commandements given of God For heresy is occupied about dogmaticall conclusions concerning Faith and beliefe Schisme about rites and ceremonies and other things of no moment For whosoever shall obstinately defend any perverse corrupt opinion is an Hereticke whosoever shall divide himselfe from the Church for manners and rites is a Schismaticke Againe one and the selfe-same errour in divers men hath divers names For a false opinion of God is in a Iew Infidelity in an Ethnike Paganisme in a Christian heresy in a Turke Ignorancy Heresy is only in such as are baptized even as Schisme is Finely said Bibliander that one sinne according to divers effects hath divers names For to doe any thing against the Scriptures saith hee it is sinne or rebellion rather to thinke any thing contrary to the Scriptures it is foolishnesse to contradict them is error to forsake them Apostacy Pride the cause of heresy schisme All these are pardonable if they be not wilfull we must therefore be very watchfull that Satan possesseth not our mind heart or life our mind with perverse doctrine our heart with wicked affections our life with evill manners Study therefore day and night to keep the mind in purity and in the knowledge Hemming of the trueth the heart with pious and holy cogitations and thy life with chast manners and good examples Cyprian saith Vnum tentat diabolus tentat ut
lupus ovem à grege The Divell tempteth Cypri and assaieth one thing as a Woolfe he tempteth the sheep from the flocke as an hawke hee tempteth to sever the flying Dove from her company as a sword-player hee proveth to divide and cut the member from the body And so the Divell tempteth to sever and divide a Christian from the Church than which nothing is more dangerous Hilary saith Periculosum est atque etiam maximè miserabile tot nunc fides existere quot volunt ates Hil. lib. ad Constan tot nobis doctrinas esse quot mores tot causas blasphemiarum pullulare quot vitia sunt dum aut fides scribuntur ut volumus aut ita ut volumus intelliguntur It is most dangerous and very miserable that there are so many faiths as wills and so many doctrines as manners of men and thereby so many causes of blasphemy should spring up as there are private faults and vices in men whilest either we set downe and penne our faith as we will or els expound and understand it as wee lust and like of And indeed for Sects and Schismes we abound Omnes volunt esse Apostolos Cypr. lib. 1. ep 1. All would be Apostles all Prophets all Doctors Pastoris officium oves vendicant The sheep doe vendicate and challenge the office of the shepheard the foote contendeth to bee the head the souldier striveth to be the Captaine every member would usurpe anothers office and be in others place hinc Schismata hence spring Schismes and Sects et radix eorum superbia and the Nazianz. roote of them is pride The Sects in Christs time among the Mat. 22. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Pharises Sadduces Essenes the Sects that sprung up in Corinth those in Rome where of yee may read Rom. 16. and the Sects Schismes that are this day in our Church rose either of pride or of covetousnes As a member cut from the body dieth as a branch cut from the vine whithereth as a river cut and divided into many parts drieth up so if we be cut and divided from the Church wee perish utterly For what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath the beleever with the Infidell or what agreement hath the Temple of 2 Cor. 6. 15. God with Idols Yet this I note withall that these Sects hinder not the Church forever God by them revealeth his truth Si hostes Ecclesiam gladio persequuntur exercent ejus patientiam If enemies August de civit Dei lib. 18. cap. 51. persecute the Church with the sword they doe exercise her patience sin malè sentiunt exercent ejus sapientiam but if they imagine evill against the Church they do exercise her wisdome There must needs be offences aswell in doctrine as in manners God turnes the malice of hereticks to the good of his Church oportet esse haereses there must be heresies That they which are approved among you might be knowne For Gods Church is not only subject to dissention as touching orders and manners but also to heresies as touching doctrine Per haec otium torporem Ecclesiae discutit Deus By these things God shaketh off the idlenesse Mat. 18. 1 Cor. 11. 19. or slothfull heavinesse or dulnesse of his Church and wipeth away the rust thereof and maketh the Church people of God carefull and diligent to search the Scriptures whereby all heresy and schismes might be destroied and so avoided But you will say that these hereticks and Sectaries quote Scriptures and what shall the simple doe I answere that wee must deale with them as Christ did with Satan returne Scripture upon them For the Divell having taken Christ into the holy City and set him on the pinacle of the Temple said unto him If thou be the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe For it is written He will give his Angels charge over thee and with their hands they shall Mat. 4 5 6 7. lift thee up lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foote against a stone But Christ our Saviour retorted Scripture upon him againe and said It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God The Pelagians to prove Gods grace is not sufficient without our will alledge these words of the Almighty If yee consent and obey yee shall eate the good things of the land The Anabaptists to overthrow Esay 1. 19. Magistracie quote the words of Paul Standfast in the libertie wherwith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled againe with the yoke Gal. 5. 1. of bondage The Donatists to prove a perfection quote the saying of the Apostle Now the God of peace sanctifio you throughout and I Gal. 5. pray God that your whole Spirit soule and body may bee kept blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. The Anthropomorphites to prove God like a man quote the saying of the Psalmist The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their prayers Psal 34. 15. The Familists to prove that wee are co-deified with God and God co-hominified with us alledge the saying of the Apostle Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not the seed of God abideth in him neither 1 Iohn 3. 9. can he sinne for he is borne of God The Papists to prove the primacy of the Pope alledge God made two lights the greater Light to Gen. 1. 16. rule the Day and the lesser the Night meaning say they the Pope and the Emperour the Pope to rule the Clergy and the Emperour the Laity To prove Purgatory they quote the 8. Psalme Thou hast put all things under his feete all sheep and oxen yea Psal 8. 8. and the beasts of the field the fowles of the ayre and the fishes of the sea per pisces animas in Purgatorio intelligunt by fishes they understand the soules in Purgatory as by the birds the Angels and by beasts men The Brownists to prove that no good can be done by a Parliament quote these words of the Holy Ghost Neither by an army Zacha 4. 6. or strength but by my Spirit saith the Lord. To prove that Kings have no authority in the Church they alledge this text To bind their Kings in chaines and their Nobles with linkes of iron To prove that we have in our Church no Word preached no Sacraments The Papists charging us with Sects have more themselves rightly ministred no Minister lawfully called of God they alledge this Scripture How shall they preach except they bee sent To all which we must be able to say Rursus scriptum est as Christ did we must have judgement We must abound in knowledge Psal 149. Rom. 10. 15. Mat. 4. 7. Phil. 1. 9. Hebr. 13. 9. 1 Cor. 14. 20. and in judgement The heart must be established with grace we must not be children in understanding as concerning maliciousnesse wee must bee children but in understanding we must
were all damned for so must they bee if they savour not of Gods Spirit For the Wisdome of the flesh is death the Wisdome of the Spirit is life and Rom. 8. 6 8 13. peace and againe They that are in the flesh cannot please God and againe If yee live after the flesh yee shall dye but if yee mortify the deeds of the body by the Spirit yee shall live and againe Whatsoever a man soweth that shall hee reape hee that soweth Gal. 6. 7 8. to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption and hee that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life everlasting Now temporall and eternall are opposite The things that are seene are temporall but the things which are not seene are eternall But not 2 Cor. 4. 18. Temporall and Spirituall But this was the policy of the Papists to name themselves spirituall that they might withdraw themselves from the Magistrate as though they pertained to God only not to Caesar Secondly they called their The regenerate onely have the Spirit of God in them lands and livings spirituall to exempt them also from the Magistrate and yet Paul calleth all these earthly commodities carnall as in his Epistle to the Corinthians If wee have sowne unto you spirituall things is it a great thing if wee reape 1 Cor. 9. 11. your carnall things And againe If the Gentiles bee made partakers Rom. 15. 27. of their spirituall things their duty is also to minister unto them in carnall things And to the end to defeate Caesar they set the Image of the Church upon their Coyne not Caesars Image Thirdly to make the more gaine they tooke to the punishment of Adultery Incest Drunkennesse Vsury Perjury Simony Sorcery under the colour of spirituall things and so they caught Testaments Legacies Marriages Dowries Ierome calleth the people Secular men but Temporall no man calleth them as though their hope reached but unto this life only whereas they are to bee saved aswell as Church-men To whom wrote Paul but unto the people For whom else prayed hee His words are plaine Brethren my hearts desire for Israel is that they might bee saved Well They have not the Spirit not the Spirit of Regeneration and sanctification but they have the Spirit of illumination but Gods children they have Gods Spirit of regeneration they are led by Gods Spirit and the Spirit of God certifieth Rom. 8. 16. their Spirits that they are the sonnes of God and he that hath not the Spirit of God is none of Gods it is the Spirit of God that worketh in us all in all The bath of regeneration and the renovation of the Spirit saveth us Wee are justified sanctified and Tit. 3. 1 Cor. 6. Gal. 5. 22. washed by the Spirit All good works are the fruits of the Spirit untill Gods Spirit hath renewed us wee are stables for the Divell Si durus sit hic sermo as the Disciples said Iohn 6. Luk 11. 21. blame him that spake it O there is No medium betwixt these two either Gods Spirit dwelleth in us or Satan Know yee 1 Cor. 6. 16. not that yee are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you The Spirit is the same in the Church as the soule in the body it is it that quickneth us hee leadeth us into all Iohn 16. 3. truth hee sealeth up all graces in our hearts hee applieth all the mercies of God all the merits of Christ Iesus unto us hee worketh all graces and giveth all spirituall gifts unto us The Apostle making the comparison betweene the 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Cor. 13. 3. 8. Gal. 5. 2. flesh and the Spirit resembleth it to a tree that yeeldeth all manner of good fruits like the apple-tree of Persia or like the Tree of life Let us then intertaine Gods Spirit make much of him nourish every good motion that is wrought in us by him and every sparke will bee a fire flaming out of us every drop will bee a river issuing out of us to eternall life if wee nourish it but let us not quench the Spirit All grace and goodnesse flowes from Gods Spirit nor grieve the Spirit lest Saint Iude his Prophesy bee verified of us that wee are naturall men fleshly not having the Spirit but let us stirre up the gift of God in us blow at the coale and put spurres to this horse 1 Thess 5. 19. THE ONE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XX. But yee beloved edifie your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost The godly and the wicked every way opposite STill hee proceedeth in the comparison betwixt the godly and ungodly the elect and the reprobate the lambes on the right hand and the goates on the left hand of the Lord Iesus noting that the godly remember the words of the Lord they are peaceable without sects spirituall they increase in faith they pray in the Holy Ghost they keepe themselves in the love of God they looke for eternall life but on the contrary the wicked remember nothing they scoffe at Religion they be scorners they bee unquiet they be meere naturall men they decrease in goodnesse they pray not they love not God they cannot looke for life but death and destruction Tribulation and anguish shall bee upon the soules of them Vpon Rom. 9. Psal 11. 6 7. them God will raine snares fire and brimstone storme and tempest this shall be their portion to drinke A Lion out of the forrest shall slay them and a Woolfe in the wildernesse shall destroy them a Ier. 1. 5 6. Leopard shall watch over their Cities every one that goeth out shall bee torne in pieces because their trespasses are many and The Church and Saints as houses must be edified or builded dayly their rebellions are increased Sed but yee beloved but this Conjunction discretive here is emphaticall Sed vos autem dilecti but you beloved as if hee should have said You must not be like the wicked they be mockers they walke after their ungodly lusts they are makers of sects fleshly having not the Spirit but you must not doe so but you must turne over another leafe learne a new lesson This teacheth all Christians to live like Christians not as miscreants the true Christian turnes away his eyes from vanity as Iob the miscreant applies his senses to folly as Holofernes The Iob. Iudith 10. true Christian setteth a watch before his mouth and keepeth the doore of his lips the miscreant gives liberty to his tongue to speake evill and raile like Rabshakeh the true Christian is alwayes doing good as Abraham the miscreant alwayes doing 2 Reg. 18. evill as Achab the one loveth goodnesse the other badnesse the one setteth Gods judgements before his face the other puts them from his sight the one kils sinne in the thought the other suffers it to raigne in the heart the one knowes the end of his sinne
will be tristitia pudor confusion and punishment but the other thinkes of nothing but his present joy merriment Let others therefore live as they list we must edifie our selves and build up our selves in our most holy Faith let other serve Mammon or Bacchus or Venus wee must serve none of them but the Lord Iesus But of this I have spoken before in the seventeenth Verse But yee beloved edifie your selves This word edifie signifieth to build the metaphor is taken from Carpenters from builders who by little little reare up their worke until it come to a certain height and perfection this metaphor is not improperly applied to the Saints for building edification is proper to houses Now the Church and Saints of God are as houses therfore may be said to bee builded and edified Saint Peter calleth the Saints an house saying The time is come that iudgement must beginne at the house of God And againe And yee as lively stones are 1 Pet. 4. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 5. made a spirituall house So spake Paul Now therefore yee are no more strangers and forreners but Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold Ephes 2. 19 20. of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone And againe writing to the Hebrewes he saith Christ is as the Sonne over his own Hebr. 3. 6 house whose house wee are For in obeying the Sonne wee are made the house of God But most plainely in his Epistle unto the the Saints at Corinth Yee are Gods husbandry and Gods building 1 Cor. 3. 9. This teacheth us two things first that all Christians should bee edifiers builders that is should make themselves a seemely house for God to dwell in Wee read what care David had to build a Temple but God would not suffer him but now every man must build a Temple for God even his own soule We read The Word of God must be the square wherewith we must build what cost Salomon bestowed upon the Temple but now God careth not for such Temples made of stone he will have a Temple made of lively stones For howsoever Heaven is his seate and the Earth his foot-stole yet his most principall princely palace of 1 Chro. 17. 1 4. 1 Pet. 2. 5. pleasure is mans heart hereupon saith a father Quà m excelsus es Domine humiles corde sunt domus tuae O how high how Soveraigne art thou O Lord yet the humble-hearted are the houses wherein thou dwellest For as the Lord loved the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Iacob so hee loveth a faithfull heart a devout soule more than all the pavillions of Princes All true Christians must bee builders therefore saith Paul Let all bee to edification 1. Cor. 14. 27. but before they build they 1 Cor. 14 27. must know how to build and the way to come to this knowledge is the Scripture No Carpenter will build an house without rule and square and the rule and square of Christian building is the Word of God by it our hearts and soules are squared and made fit for Gods house and therefore Saint Paul taking his leave of the Church of Ephesus commendeth them to God and to the Act. 20. 32. Word of his grace which is able to build further and to give them an inheritance with all them that are sanctified Where withall saith David Psal 1 19. shall a young man cleanse his way Even by ruling himselfe after thy Word Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child his grandmother 2 Tim. 3. 15. Lois and his mother Eunica taught him them Without the knowledge of the Scripture wee can no more edifie and build than a Carpenter can build without tooles or a Mariner saile without his compasse or a bird flye without his feathers it is the Word of God that is able to make the man of God perfect it is that that will make him become a fit house and Temple for the Lord Of this building Saint Peter speaketh thus Yee are come to the Lord Iesus as a living stone reiected of men but precious and chosen of God wherefore you your selves bee built as lively 1 Pet. 2. 4. stones a spirituall house And Saint Paul Let all things be done to edification 1 Cor. 14. 27. that is Let this be the end of all thy workes the building of Gods spirituall Temple bee more carefull to build it than Salomon was for his Temple If Salomons workemen were one moneth in Libanus about the worke of the Temple and 1 Reg. 5. 14. two moneths at home about their owne businesse Let us exceed them let us imploy two moneths about the Lords building and but one about our owne businesse Let us first seeke the Kingdome of God for as Elias said unto the widow of Sarepta Bake me a cake Mat. 6. 33. 1 Reg. 17. 13. first and after provide for thee and thine so saith Almighty God to us Build me an house first and after for thee and thine And as wee must edifie and build houses for ourselves so for our brethren also so saith the Apostle Exhort one another and edifie one another but especially wee must edifie our children a 1 Thess 5. 11. sonne in Hebrew is called Ben that is a building because the father should especially build his sonne in Religion and Vertue Parents must edifâ—e their children by godly instâ—uction Nature teacheth all men this the Savage Beare fashioneth her whelpes being deformed with her tongue so should all Christians with gentle admonitions frame the deformed manners of their children That commandement which injoyneth fathers to teach their children what the Passe-over meant teacheth them Deut. 6. 10. this building and all Parents if they will have their Children lead a pure life if they will have them strong in the Lord and through the power of his might if they will have them to overcome the Divell if they will have them true Saints Sonnes of Abraham they must edifie them with instruction and see that the Word of God dwell plentifully in them in all Wisedome Papists were great builders they built Churches Religious houses as Col. 3. 16. Abbeyes Nunneries c. but they left the principall worke undone they did not build themselves by the Word of God in their most holy faith neither would they suffer others to build but their guides and leaders tooke away from the people the levell and square of the Word without which men cannot build but God bee blessed the Word is restored wee have the levell to build by let us not bee idle but build up an holy house for God that hee may dwell with us and that wee may dwell with him hereafter for ever Secondly this teacheth us that it is not ynough to begin to build in faith and good workes but wee must goe on goe forward
the dead and of eternal Iudgement we can say nothing Here I am to speake to two sorts of men the one is proud and say they have enough they eede not to learne as Laodicia said I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing the Apoc. 3. 17. other is dull and saith hee cannot learne The first is confuted by the Apostle If any man thinketh hee knoweth any thing he knoweth 1 Cor. 8. 2. 1 Cor. 13. 9. nothing yet as hee ought to know Wee see here in a glasse in a darke speaking Letus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us not presume Rom. 12. 3. to understand above that which is meet for us to understand but that wee understand according to sobriety Plura nescio quà m scio I am ignorant of many moe things than I know Ignorantiam meam non ignoro Aug. Origen Cal. I am not ignorant of my ignorance Hoc unum scio quòd nihil scio this one thing I know that I know nothing as I should know The other the dull man hee belyeth God hee belyeth not man but God for God hath said wee may learne If thou callest Pro. 2 3 4 5 6. for knowledge and cryest for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for treasures then shalt thou understand the feare We must bee diligent and constant in seeking Knowledge of the Lord and finde the knowledge of God for the Lord giveth Wisedome out of his mouth commeth Knowledge and Vnderstanding And again the Wise man saith That all the wayes of God are plaine to them that will understand meaning that the Word of God is Pro. 8. 9. easie to all that have a will and a desire unto it so bee thou willing to understand the Lords Word and Way and thou shalt understand it there is no want but Will Aske saith our Saviour and it shall be given you seeke and yee shall finde knock and Mat. 7. 7. it shall bee opened unto you so that if so bee wee would but take a little paines our knowledge would not bee at the ebbe as it is Ephorus and Theopompus were two Schollers the one needed a bridle the other a spurre the one went on too fast the other too slow it is not the bridle but the spurre that wee need Our faith I must confesse is a little stronger our knowledge a little greater our lives a little better than in the time of Popery for theÌ„ we were blind indeed not as whelps that see after nine daies not as the man in the Gospell that saw men walke like trees but blinde as Beetles blinde as the men of Sodom that groped for Lots doore but alas how weake is our Faith how small is our Knowledge how cold is our Zeale in respect of that which we might have had if wee had applied our hearts to Wisedome What know wee at fourescore yeeres old that a child knowes not at eight yeeres old If a childe should never grow in height nor Wisedome it were prodigious even so wee are children still nay monsters But bee not saith the Apostle children in 2 Cor. 14. 20. understanding but as concerning maliciousnesse bee children but in understanding be of ripe age But wee have inverted the order Let us follow the counsel of the Wise man In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening let not thy hand rest that is doe good in thy Eccles 11. 6. youth doe good in thy age yea at all times bee not weary of sowing and bee not weary of working Of well doing for in due season wee shall reape if wee faint not the seede time is nothing Gal. 6. 9. the growth is nothing the harvest is all in all to doe well in youth is nothing to doe well in age is nothing but to continue till death to the last gaspe is pietie in deede If the righteous turne away from his righteousnesse and commit iniquity and doe Ezech. 18. 24 26 according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee live All his righteousnesse that hee hath done shall not bee mentioned but in the transgresston that hee hath committed in his sinne that hee hath sinned in them hee shall dye for when a righteous man turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity hee shall even dye for the same hee shall even dye for his iniquity that hee hath done As well may we drowne in the Havens mouth as in the middest of the boysterous sea as well fall through the peevishnesse of age as through the lusts and concupiscences of youth but of many it may be said Caput canum cor vanum a gray head and a greene wit Anni multi acta stulta dies vberes fructus steriles facies rugosaâ—at We must build here against the time to come lingua nugosa many yeeres but foolish acts plentifull dayes but barren fruits a wrinckled face but a trifling toyish tongue The wicked is like the Vintner in the Gospell who broached his best wine first and after that which is worse like Nebuchadnezers Iohn 2. 10. Image whose head was all of gold whose shoulders were of silver whose belly was all of brasse whose legges were all of yron and feete of clay still worse and worse O brethren wee build apace but it is with bloud as the Prophet sayd They build up Sion with bloud and Ierusalem with iniquity but Sion shall bee Mich. 3. 10 12. plowed up as a field and Ierusalem shall bee an heape c. And Woe unto Hab. 2. 12. to him that buildeth a towne with bloud and erecteth a Citty with iniquity But if wee build not in zeale faith knowledge our houses here shall fall or bee desolate even great and faire without inhabitant the foundation is not good but if wee doe good and Esa 59. be rich in good workes if we bee ready to distribute and communicate Then shall wee lay up for our selves in store a good foundation against the time to come Wee have no houses in Heaven wee 1 Tim. 6. 19. cannot say with Paul Wee know that if the Earthly house of this Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5. 1. bee destroyed wee have an house that is to say a building not made with hands but eternall in Heaven We have faire houses here but what have wee in Heaven Are wee built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ himselfe being the head corner Ephes 2. 20. stone Can a man goe a long journey with standing still Did the Istaelites goe into Canaan Or the wise men to Bethlem with never moving Heaven is a long journey wee must not stand still but runne wtih patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12. 1. And can wee goe to heaven with doing nothing With learning nothing Beleeving nothing We weave Penelopes webbe Ipsa texuit retexuit what she woave in the day shee
life and grace and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit For these causes ought wee to keep our selves in the Love of God These among many are reasons most sorcible to keep our selves in the Love of God How our God is to bee loved our Saviour sheweth Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soule and with all thy mind But first wee must love Mat. 22 37. him with all our heart that is with all our affections joying and delighting in none but in him For he loves not God that delights in any thing more than God as Augustine saith truly Minus te amat qui aliquid tecum amat quod non propter te amat He loves thee not who loves any thing with thee which he loves Aug. not for thee 2. Wee must love him with all our soule induring rather a separation of the soule from the body than that our soule should bee separated from God who is the Soule of the soule and the comsort both of soule and body How we are to love God 3. Wee must love him with all our mind so that our cogitations must bee fixed upon him and ruled by him his Word should direct our reason our reason rule our wills that so wee may say with the Apostle wee live not but God doth live within us Our chiefest care should bee how to performe this duty to God how to love him as the Church said I am full of love I am sicke of love All owe this duty to God but few pay it or if they Cant. 5. 8. doe it is with crackt money not currant in Gods Exchequer for our love to God is cold yea plaine dead and that appeareth in the breach of the first Table wee are bankrupts both in piety towards God and charity towards men we love the world and our pleasures more than God wee worshippe not God in Spirit and in truth wee sweare and blaspheme the name of God wee prophane and pollute the Sabbaths of God wee come seldome to the house of God how can wee say that we love God The Love of God standeth in the keeping of his Commandements So saith our Saviour Hee that hath my Commandements Iohn 14. 21 23 24. and keepeth them is he that loves mee And againe If any man love me hee will keep my Word and my Father will love him and wee will come unto him and dwell with him And againe Hee that loveth mee not keepeth not my words c. Hee speaketh positively and privatively The blessed and undivided Trinity will dwell with that man who loveth God truely but till wee serve God in holinesse and righteousnesse till wee pray diligently heare his Word attentively receive the Sacraments penitently keepe the Sabbaths religiously use his name reverently let us be ashamed to say that wee love God Nam Regnum Dei non est in verbis 1 Cor. 4. 20. sed in virtute The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power Many Christians are mutilated and lame either they want an eare and cannot heare God or they want a tongue and cannot praise God or they want an heart and cannot love God These Atheists are a disgrace to Religion a Moth in the garment of the Church Monsters in nature Divels in shape of men as Christ said of Iudas hollow trees not holy trees these men are reprived till the last Sessions a gibbet is built in hell for them and all the gold in the world cannot purchase their pardon this is durus sermo sed verus sermo an hard saying but a true saying Wee talke of the love of men and say Charity is waxed cold but as touching the Love of God there is altum silentium not a word wee are like unslaked lime hot in the water cold in the Sunne as the stone of Thracia which burneth in the river but is quenched with hot oyle wee are pennie-wise and pound-foolish like the Pharises which did tithe Mint and Rew and all manner Luk. 11. 42. of hearbes and passed over judgement and the Love of God And yet if we loved God an ell where wee love him an inch it were but due debt O it is a most honorable thing to bee a lover of God! it was one of Abrahams greatest titles of honour to bee called the friend The hope of eternall life makes Gods precepts seeme easy of God it is a most blessed thing to bee a lover of God They that love the Lord shall be as the Sunne that riseth in his strength And it is a most miserable thing not to love God for Maranatha Anathema to them that love not the Lord Iesus Therefore as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that God would guide their hearts in his Love and this Iudg. 5. 31. 1 Cor. 16. ought to bee thy prayer and my prayer and all our prayers that God would guide our hearts in his Love And God guide our hearts in his Love evermore THE FOVRE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XXI Looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall Life The hope of eternall life makes Gods precepts seem easie YEE have heard before that Iude gave the Saints many precepts now to mitigate the rigour of those precepts hee biddeth them looke for eternall life as if hee should say If it bee grievous to remember the words of the Lord to heare it to get faith to pray to keep themselves in the Love of God if nature if flesh and bloud wil hardly take out these lessons yet comfort your selves with the hope of eternall life there will bee an end of all troubles Salomon hath told you this long agoe saying Surely there is an end and thy hope shall not bee cut off Prov. 23. 18. all teares shall bee wiped from your eyes and yee shall bee filled with perfect joy after this iron world there is a golden world Esa 25. 8. there is a better life prepared for them in Gods house there are many dwellings as Christ said In my Fathers house there bee many mansions the time of refreshing will come as Peter said Act. Iohn 14. 1. 3. 19. And this is all joy and there is no joy but this I will give you Luk. 10. 19 20. power saith our Saviour to his disciples to treade on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you Neverthelesse in this rejoice not but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven Let not the rich man rejoice in his riches nor the Hope of reward makes all labours light wiseman in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength as Ieremy speaketh but let us rejoice that our names are written in heaven Shal the souldier in the wars the mariner in the boistrous Ier. 9. waves the husbandman in the cloddy lands the prentice in a hard service undergoe great paines in hope and shal not we For what
lest we deprive him of hope so we may not be too soft with an obstinate man lest we increase his pride the one may be driven to desperation the other to presumption we may not incidere in Scyllam evitare Charybdim We must not fall into Scylla to avoid Charibdis but draw out Gods sword and lay Gods axe to the roote of their trees so S. Paul in one of his Epistles to Mat. 3. the Corynthians used oyle to mollify in the other wine to search 1 Cor. 5. the wounds hee brought not a search-cloth but a searing iron For there bee foure uses of the Scripture to teach 2 Tim. 3. 16. trueth to confute errour to instruct in manners to reprove viciousnesse of life this aggravated the sinne of Ananias that hee Act. 5. 4. sinned willingly and this extenuated the sinne of the Iewes that they did it ignorantly Ignorantia enim liberat non à toto sed à tanto If Elymas had beene a weake brother Paul would not have used the Act. 3. 17. roughnesse that he did but because he was an inveterate enemy steeped in his Lees frozen in his dregs he rattleth him up and saith O full of all subtilty and mischiefe the child of the Divell and Act. 13. 10. enemy of all righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to pervert the straight wayes of the Lord So Saint Peter dealt with Simon Magus Thy money Act. 8. 20. perish with thee because thou thinkest that the gift of God may be obtayned with money Iames and Iohn were filij tonitrui sonnes of thunder wee had need now not speake but thunder not use tongues but trumpets men are so asleepe that they will not awake except we thunder It is said of the three Ministers of Geneva Vireto nemo fatur dulcius Farrello nemo tonuit fortius Calvino nemo docuit doctius None ever spake more sweetly then Viret none thundred more strongly than Farrell none taught more learnedly than Calvin He that could doe all these three were a perfect Minister A Christian must not be afraid to reprove sinne Noah reproved the old world Lot Sodom and Gomorah Samuel Saul Nathan David the King Iaddi and Ahias Ieroboam the Idolater Hanani 1 Reg. 13. 1 Reg. 14. Asa Elias Ahab Ieremy but what should I rip up all the Prophets Christ Iohn the Baptist the Apostles Ignatius reproved Trajane Ambrose Theodocian Polycarpe Martion Chrysostome the Clergy Gelasius Anastasius All these reproved sinne and are presidents to us to doe the same If Herod will marry his brothers wife Let Iohn tell him Non licet it may not be if Ahab will goe The Prophets of God have terrified the wicked to Ramoth in Gilead Michea must tell him hee shall never returne if Amazia forbid Amos to preach hee may tell him Thy wife shall be an harlot in the Citty and thy sonnes and thy daughters shall fall by the sword and thy land shall be divided by line and thou shalt dye in a Mat. 14. 1 Reg. 22. Amos 7. 17. polluted Land and Israel shall surely goe into captivity If the men of Ierusalem will scorne us and our doctrine Let us say unto them Heare the Word of the Lord yee scornefull men Thus saith the Esa 23. 14 17. Lord Iudgement will I lay to the rule and righteousnesse to the ballance and the haile shall sweepe away your vaine confidence c. This teacheth Ministers to deale plainely and roundly not to blanch not to bring honey in stead of wormewood not to do as the false prophets did of whom God speaketh thus They have healed the hurt of Ier. 6. 14. the daughter of my people with sweet words saying Peace peace when there was no peace This was their sinne the prophets looked out Lamen◠2. 14. vaine and foolish things for you they have not discovered your iniquities but have looked out false prophesies and causes of banishment Esay said of the prophets of that time Qui ducunt te Esay 9. 15. seducunt te The leaders of the people cause you to erre and they that are ledde by them are devoured they should have mourned not piped Ieremy cried out against these prophets I have seene in the prophets of Ierusalem filthinesse they commit adultery and walke in Ier. 23. 14. lyes they strengthen also the hands of the wicked that none can returne from his wickednesse they are all unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorah therefore thus saith the Lord of Hostes Behold I will feed them with wormwood and make them drinke the water of gall for from the Prophets of Ierusalem is wickednesse gone foorth into all the land Heare not the words of these prophets saith the Lord of Hosts that prophesie unto you and teach you vanity and speake the vision of their owne heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord they say still unto them that despise me The Lord hath said yee shall have peace and they say to every one that walketh in the stubbornnes of his owne heart No evill shall come upon you So did Ezechiel at Gods owne commandement cry out against these prophets saying Wo unto the foolish prophets that follow their owne spirit and have seene nothing O Israel thy prophets are Ezech. 13. 3 4. like the Foxes in waste places they have seene vanity and lying divinations c. And of these prophets Almighty God cōplaineth sore Ezeth 22. 25 26 28. saying The prophets are like roaring Lions ravening for the prey they have devoured soules they have taken the riches and precious things they have made her many widowes her priests have broken my Law and have defiled mine holy things They have put no difference betweene the holy and prophane neither discerned betweene the cleane and uncleane they have hidde their eyes from my Sabbaths and I am prophaned among them they dawbe with untempered mortar seeing vanities and divining lies c. Ministers must not be of the number of these prophets but they must cry alowd and not spare they must lift up their voices like trumpets they must shew the people their offences and the house of Esay 58. 1. Iacob her sinnes Christ who brake not a bruised reede yet thundered against the Pharises and denounceth many woes against They that reproove profit more thā they that sooth them This also teacheth the people to suffer the Word of Exhortation but flatterers are most esteemed of them such as can sow Mat. 12. 20. cap. 25. Esay 30. 10. 1 Reg. 22. 8. pillowes under their elbowes and can preach placentia pleasing things unto them Ahab cannot abide Michea if he prophesy otherwise than hee would have him This is the difference betweene a wise man and a foole the wise will heare rebukes but the foolish will not so saith Salomon Rebuke not a scorner meaning them that are incorrigible such as Christ calleth dogges Prov. 9. 8. and hogges or he
as Chaffe the least blast of Gods wrath will overthrow all their happinesse and felicity which at the best is most uncertaine and mutable Iob saith They spend their dayes in pleasure and suddenly goe downe to Hell And hee saith The Lord Iob 21. 18. doth make them as stubble before the winde and as chaffe shall they bee dispersed for in a moment they are gone and like chaffe scattered abroad the godly are as trees the wicked are as chaffe there is difference betweene chaffe and trees Ieremy layeth out the estate of the wicked by comparing them to sheepe Let us talke with thee of thy judgements saith Ieremy Ier. 12. 1 2 3. to God Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse Thou hast planted them and they have taken roote they grow and bring foorth fruit thou art neere in their mouth but farre from their reynes and at last hee saith Pull them out like sheepe for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter Now they live and within an houre are led to the shambles Iob compareth them to a dreame or vision in the night and saith That the rejoycing of the wicked is but Iob 20. 5 8 9. short and the joy of hypocrites is but for a moment hee shall flee away as a dreame and they shall not finde him and shall passe away as a vision in the night so that the eye which had seene him shall see him no more and his place shall see him no more Moses compareth them to a tale that is told and hee saith that they bring their yeeres to an Psal 90. end as a tale that is told and Saint Iames to a vapour that continueth but a little season How soone is the yee moulten How soone Iam. 4. is the flowre withered How soone is a vapour consumed of the Sunne How soone is a dreame vanished How soone is a tale told How soone is a ship past How swift is the flight of an Iob 4. 25. Eagle And such is our life so elegantly David setteth out their fall I have seene saith hee the wicked strong spreading himselfe like a greene Bay tree yet he passed away and he was gone I sought him but hee could not bee found they are gone they shall no more returne Psal 37. 35 36. to their faire houses and their places shall know them no more where they dwelt how they lived we know but where they dyed where they are God knoweth they were here but they are gone Ederunt biberunt riserunt luserunt they have eaten drunken laughed sported and made themselves merry but suddenly No mans estate permanent they are gone Feare dwelleth in their houses and brimstone is scattered in their habitations their rootes are dried up beneath and above is his branch cut downe his remembrance shall perish from the earth and Iob 18 15 16 17. hee shall have no name in the street David in his Epitaph cryeth out Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mighty overthrowne So how are these wicked ones overthrowne So Saint Ambrose made it the foot of his song speaking of the death of the three noble Emperours Valentinian Gratian and Theodosius Omnibus O Valentiniane Gratiane speciosi fuistis O Valentinian and Gratian that have beene Oratione funebride Theodosiâ— obitu Gratiani beautifull to all and admired of all conjoyned in life not divided in death one grave did not separate them whom one affection joyned together meeker than Doves swifter than Eagles stouter than Lions gentler than Lambes the bow of Gratian never turned backe neither did the sword of Valentinian returne empty Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mightie fallen O quomodo O how how Againe speaking of Theodosius hee saith Obitum ejus omnia elementa moerebant All the Elements mourned for his death the Sunne was eclipsed the Moone did not shine the Ayre was darkened the Earth trembled the Waters roared and the whole World bewailed the losse of such a man Quomodo ceciderunt potentes O quomodo corruerunt How are the mighty fallen How are the mighty overthrowne c. No mans state is permanent let no man trust his present state for how soone are rich men impoverished How suddenly are wise men infatuated How soone are the honourable abased How suddenly are the strong weakened How suddenly are the faire blemished Laban hath lost his sheepe Achitophel his wisedome Haman Gen. 30. 2 Sam. 16. Ester his honour Samson his strength Absolon his beautie Dionysius his kingdom How suddenly do the wicked perish The wicked are as men in the fire ready to be burned as prisoners adjudged ready to be executed as sheepe for the shambles For behold Pharaoh now sitting in his chariot now drowned in the Sea Exod. 14. and meate for Haddockes Behold Balthasar now tossing the pots and by and by quaking like a beast behold Herod now sitting in a chaire of gold and the people crying The voyce of a God and not of a man and presently strucken of an Angell and eaten of Wormes behold Dionysius to day a King in Syracuse to morrow a Schoole-master in Corinth Lastly behold Cardinall Woolsey with silver pillars pollaxes and golden crosses writing I and my King and within a while dead at Leicester of an Italian Figge with his stinch putting out the torch To these examples of Balthasar Pharaoh Dionysius and others â—erome addeth many more Nam feriunt summes fulmine montes subitò The Lightnings strike the high mountaines suddenly Constantins Death comes not sudden to the godly dyed suddenly in a Village called Mopsi Iulianus was suddenly hit with an arrow from Heaven Iovinianus stifled with stinch in a vomit of bloud Valius perished in the warres against the Goths Gratian was slaine suddenly at Lions Valentinianus the younger was hanged Procopius Maximinus Eugenius quoth he dyed suddenly on the sword they say that Gregorie the thirteenth died suddenly of a Rheume of whom Beza wrote Nec panifex nec potifex sed carnifex Papa pater pontifex This is the case of all men But what wicked man will beleeve this till hee feele it Every man flatters himselfe till the plague come and then hee cryeth out that it came too suddenly it came ere hee looked for it For certainely when a man shall heare the words of the curse and Deut. 29. 19 20. blesse himselfe in his heart and saith I shall have peace although I walke after the stubbornnesse of mine owne heart thus adding drunkennes to thirst the Lord will not bee mercifull unto him but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and every curse that is written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall put out his name from under Heaven Salomon noteth three things in the wicked their plague commeth shortly suddenly and without recovery for marke his words His destruction
tendeth the exhortation of Saint Iames See that yee bee doors of the Word not hearers only deceiuing your owne selves So did the Thessalonians Iam. 1. 22. they received the Word not as the word of man but as it is 1 Thess 2. 1. indeed the Word of God 4. It must expell dishonest things as namely all maliciousnes and all guile all dissimulation and envy and all evill speaking So did 1 Pet. 2. 1. the Antiochians for the hand of the Lord was with them so that a great Act. 11. 21. number beleeved and turned unto the Lord. All these benefits come by the teacher under God For as the nurse hath two brests to give milke to the Infant so the Minister hath two also doctrine and life the one for example the other for instruction touching both wee will say as Paul said Yee are witnesses and God also how 1 Thess 2. 10. holily and justly and unblameably wee behaved our selves among them that beleeve Wee appeale not to the Infidels but to the beleevers For if an inquest of Infidels bee impannelled on us certenly wee goe downe Elias shall be said to trouble Israel the Apostles shall bee seditious Iohn Baptist shall have the Divell 1 Reg. 18. Christ is an enemy to Caesar wee appeale therefore from Infidels to beleevers and wee hope they will acquite us for wee may labi in domo fall in the house but not à domo from the house they shall find us sine crimine without offensive fault though not sine peccato without fault Ministery the meanes of salvation Well said the women of Rome to Constantius the Emperour when hee would have deposed Foelix the Bishop or have joyned with him Liberius the hereticke Vâ—us Deus unus Christus una fides unus Episcopus One God one Christ one faith one Bishop quoth he Pretty is the fable of Demostenes how the woolves made league of peace with the sheepe so that the dogges might bee removed but when the dogges were removed the sheep were woorried so the Divell maketh league with worldlings so that they will put away their Ministers but when they are removed bee sure the Diuell will woorry and devoure the soules of the people as the woolves did the sheepe For the great redde Dragon that hath seven heads and ten hornes and seven crownes upon his heads and who with his taile drawes down the third part of the starres of Heaven and casts them to the earth stands before the woman travelling with Child to devoure the Child as soone as it is brought forth For when the shepheard is smitten the flocke will be scattered and your adversary Mat. 26. 1 Pet. 5. 8. the Divell as a roaring Lion goeth about seeking to devoure Well of all the indignities offered to us we will say as Mauritus said to Phocas murdering his children Videat Dominus judicet So let God judge betwixt you and us wee labour to save you and you are like the dogge in the water who biteth him by the hands who would save him from drowning When Fulvius cóquered over the French Scipio over Numantia the people cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Saviour A Saviour the earth rebounded and the birds of the ayre fell down dead with the resound of the earth yet these saved but mens bodies Ministers save mens soules As wee cannot have trees without planting 1 Tim. 4. 13. nor corne without sowing nor houses without building so wee cannot come to heaven without teaching the clowds powre downe rayne and make the earth fruitfull Ministers are the Ephes 4. 20. Deuter. 32. clowds and their doctrines as the dew to make our hearts fruitfull Can a bird live without aire or a fish without water or a body without a soule No more can the soule without the Word It is Verbum vitae the Word of life Triplex est vita there is a threefold life Vitanaturae brutis peculiaris a life of nature peculiar Iobn 6. Eccles 2. Col 3. 3. Ephes 4. 18. to beasts Vita gloriae Angelis A life of glory proper to the Angels Vita gratia elect is and life of grace to the elect and this life is had by the Word of God Pregnant are the similitudes that the Holy Ghost useth in the Scriptures where hee compareth Ministers to Fathers to mothers nurses watchmen 1 Cor. 4. 15. Gal. 4. Ezeeb 3. 1 Reg. 13. Hebr. 13. 7. Apoc. 12. 2. and souldiers overseers starres Children cannot bee without fathers nor brought up without mothers nor tended without nurses Cities in warre cannot bee kept without watchmen nor kingdomes without souldiers nor men walk in the dark without sta-light Solem mundo tollunt qui Verbum Dei tollunt They take the Sunne out of world that take away the Word they are the Without the light of the Ministery all in darkenesse light of the world the salt of the earth all would wander and ranckle in their affections if they were not they should bee as the men of Cimmeria who never saw the Sunne men should sit in the Church as the Aegyptians did in their houses not able to Exod. 10. Wisd 5. 6. arise in three dayes Men might say We have erred from the light of trueth the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us and the Sunne of Vnderstanding rose not up uponus Philip rejoiced that Alexander was borne in the dayes of Arislotle Socrates rejoiced that he was borne an Atheuian and rejoice thou that thou art a Christian that thou livest in the dayes of a learned Ministery The Queene of Sheba pronounced Salomons servants happy for hearing him 1 Reg. 10. how happy then shall wee thinke our selves that heare God speake to us by a Minister O blessed men that may heare God speake to us every Sunday and every Thursday for the increase of faith and repentance in every one of us Blessed bee that day and happy bee that houre wherein God speaketh unto thee by a man How happy was Galatia then How did all the Churches count that a blessed Church Philip thought Alexander happy that hee was borne in the dayes of Aristotle and wee thinke our selves unhappy that wee are borne in the time of Light and doctrine We wish a change we wish Mariana tempora we say that it was a good world then men loved one another yet then they knew no love no faith no hope no God no Christ they beleeved as the Church beleeved and the Church beleeved as they beleeve and neither could tell what they beleeved O blind times ô vile dayes If a Prince should send an Ambassadour to Rebels to proclaime pardon and they should take and abuse him would it not kindle the ire of the Prince So standeth the case betwixt God and his people Ministers being Gods Legats Gods Harolds men having runne all the dayes of their life the broad way when death commeth then they call for a Guide but then
ever Amen So concluded the other Apostles The God of peace that brought againe from the dead the Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the Heb. 13. 20 21. bloud of his everlasting covenant make you perfect in all good workes to doe his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom bee praise for ever and ever Amen And thus concluded Saint Peter Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ to him be glory both now and evermore 2 Pet. 3. 18. Amen Augustine said Tu Domine sic excitas ut laudare te delectet fecisti nos pro te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te thou August lib. 1. confess cap. 1. Lord doest so excite mee that to praise thee it delighteth mee thou hast made us for thee and our heart cannot be quiet till it rest in thee Vae tacentibus de te taceat laâ—des tuas qui miserationes tuas non novit Woe bee to them which speake not of thee hee setteth not foorth thy praise who is ignorant of thy mercies Again saith the father Si omnia membra nostra verteventur in linguas si tot haberemus quot Argus oculos nequaquam sufficerent If all our August lib. Meditationum members were converted into tongues if wee had as many tongues as Argus had eyes they were not sufficient to set foorth thy praises thou art a Lord exceeding great and infinite without measure and end and oughtest to be praised and beloved of all Paul could not name Christ but abruptly but breaketh out into thankesgiving having often other matters inhand yet cannot he stay but soundeth out his gratitude as with a trumpet as writing to Timothy handling other matters on a sudden he leaveth the thing in hand and crieth out Now unto the King everlasting immortall invisible unto God onely wise be honour and glory for 1 Tim. 16. 17. ever and ever Amen So writing to the Romans and handling the priviledges of the Iewes on a sudden he leaveth off and breaketh out into thankesgiving saying Of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is God over all blessed for ever Amen So writing Rom. 9. 5. to the Corinthians and handling the resurrection from the dead on a sudden hee breaketh out to gratitude saying Thankes bee to God which hath given us victorie through Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 57. our Lord. Iude here useth a figure called Pleâ—nasmus to expresse his zeale hee doubleth and redoubleth tripleth and multiplieth his words till they be many in number hee is full as the Moone he Iob 32. floweth as the Sea hee is as the new vessels which have no vent for if the fountaine be full the channels cannot bee empty if The Saints plentifull in thanksgiving there bee moysture in the roote the branches cannot wither if there bee heate in the chimney the house cannot bee cold if the heart abound the mouth will bee full of Gods praises Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur out of the abundance of the heart Luke 6. the mouth speaketh Note this in all the Saints of God how plentifully doth David describe his thankefulnesse My soule praise thou the Lord and forget not all his benefits And againe Praise the Lord ô my Psal 103. 1 2. Psal 146. 1. soule I will praise the Lord during my life as long as I have any being I will sing unto my God With how many words commendeth hee the Law What variety hee useth What cornucopia hee hath Marke his words The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soule the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisedome Psal 19. 7 8 9. unto the simple The Statutes of the Lord are right and rejoce the heart the Commandement of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes The feare of the Lord is cleane and indureth for ever the judgements of the Lord are truth and righteous altogether Marke I pray you how hee calleth it the Law the Testimonies the Statutes the Commandements the Feare the Iudgements of the Lord then what Epithites hee giveth it the Law Perfect the Testimonies sure the Statutes Right the feare Cleane the iudgements Truth then what fruits he ascribeth to it that it converteth the soule giveth wisedome rejoyceth the heart endureth for ever Thus let us learne to measure our selves and to know the goodnesse of our hearts by the mouth if wee can speake scantly of God and good things plentifully of the world and the vanities of it our heart is naught it is withered like grasse all the dewes of Gods grace are dryed up in it but wee must rowze up both our hearts and tongues and say with David My heart is prepared O my Psal 57. 7 8 9. God my heart is prepared I will sing and give praise Awake my tongue awake viole and harpe I will awake right early I will praise thee O Lord among the people and I will sing unto thee among the nations But to come to a more particular description of Gods attributes and the attributes wherewith hee is described are Wisedome Salvation Glory Majestie Dominion and Power And yet this description is but in part not a full description for who can describe him perfectly hee is shadowed out unto us by the holy Ghost after this manner The Lord the Lord strong Exod. 34. 6 7. mercifull and gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodnesse and truth reserving mercie for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon their Children unto the third and fourth generation And againe Salomon King Salomon wise King Salomon shadoweth him out after this manner Who hath ascended up to Heaven and Prov. 30. 4. descended Who hath gathered the Winde in his fist Who hath bound All men ignorant till inlightened the Waters in a garment Who hath established all the ends of the World What is his name or what is his Sonnes name if thou canst tell Oh who can tell his name or his Sonnes name Est bonus sine qualitate magnus sine quantitate praesens sine situ sempiternus sine tempore sine initio sine fine Hee is good without quality great without quantitie present without situation everlasting without time without beginning and without end Seditut aequitas dominatur ut majestas novit ut veritas amat ut charitas hee sitteth as equity ruleth as majesty knoweth as verity and loveth as charitie For these be not qualities but of the essence of God Of Rom. 11. him and for him and through him are all things Hee calleth him onely wise wherein hee bestrippeth all men and bereaveth them of wisedome as the Cumane Asse of the Lions skinne as Aesops Crow of her feathers except they have it of God Hereupon saith the Apostle If any man want
condemnation in the second Councell of Ephesus his members consumed and his tongue rotted in his mouth The like the tripartite History reporteth of Nicasius the Donatist and the Eumenians who eate up Cyrillus liver or heart with salt The toungs of the wicked shall rot in this life or burne in hell fire that give God no glory T is not enough to meditate of Gods goodnesse in thy heart but thou must also proclaime it with thy tongue Noli nimis vultum seu oculos meditationis intueri nam meliora sunt ubera gratiarum actionis Doe not behold the countenance or eyes of meditation too much better are the brests of prayses and thankesgivings David said I will alwaies give thankes unto the Lord Psal 34. 1 2. his praise shall bee in my mouth continually my soule shall glory in the Lord c. So let us alwayes praise our God and never rob him of his glory There bee two sorts of theeves that robbe God the proud man and the envious the proud man robbes him of his glory the envious of his Iustice these bee greater robbers than the Sabeans Iob 1. 14 17. who carried away Iobs Oxen and Asses then the Caldeans who carried away his Camels then Achan who stole the wedge Wee should exercise our selves to this duty of thankfulnes of gold then Barrabas for all these robbed but from men but these from God and that not the least thing but the greatest his glory When we should sound our praises and glory to God we are silent like Pythagoras Schollers who spake not in five yeeres like the dumbe man in the Gospell who spake not at all Ios 7. Mat. 27. I appeale to your consciences whether for fourty requests made to God we have given him one thanks No no shame may cover our faces wee may hang downe our heads with the Publican and say Lord be mercifull unto us ingratefull unkind forgetfull Luk. 38. and vile men The Father of all mercies and the God of all consolation give us eyes to see and hearts to feele so great unkindnes Let us awake our tongues our hearts as David did and let us say My heart is fixed ô God my heart is fixed I will sing Psal 57. 7 8 9. and give praise awake my tongue awake viole and harpe I will awake earely I will praise thee ô Lord among the people and I will sing unto thee among the nations There is a spirituall palsy in our tongue that wee cannot praise God a vaile is over our eyes that wee see not Gods glory an impostumation is in our eares that wee heare not his Word a Cardiaca passio hath covered over our hearts that wee thinke not of his blessings a lethargy in the whole man that we give him not glory say therefore with David Awake ô my tongue awake viole and harpe I will awake earely Psal 103. 1 2. I will praise thee ô Lord among the people and I will sing unto thee among the nations Speake unto thy soule chide it and say My soule praise thou the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name My soule praise thou the Lord and forget not all his benefits Vow to God as the Prophet did that thou wilt praise the Lord during thy life Yea as long as thou hast any being to sing unto God and fulfill his desire I meane Davids ô sing praises sing praises unto Psal 146. 1. our God sing praises sing praises unto our King for God is the King of the whole earth sing yee praises with understanding Marke how hee doubleth redoubleth his words as Roscius did his gestures as the Nightingale doth her notes as the Camelion doth her colors When the people would not praise and glorify God hee spake to the Heavens Heare ô Heavens and harken ô earth And Esa 1. 3. Ier. 9. 22. hee spake unto the earth O earth earth earth heare the Word of the Lord. And hee spake unto the mountaines Heare ô mountaines the Mich. 6. Lord his quarrell and yee mighty foundations of the earth He may do so now this English people will give him no glory yet all that we have our wit our wisdome our riches our honour our authority we should use these to his glory this is the right end why God hath given them wee must not seeke our owne glory in them but Gods when Herod was magnified of the people for his eloquence and honored as a God Immediatly the Angell of Act. 12. 23. the Lord smote him because he gave not the glory to God and so hee was eaten of wormes and gave up the Ghost O brethren it is wonderfull that the Heavens raine not downe fire and brimstone upon us Our unthankfulnes deserveth Gods vengeance as upon Sodom that the ayre infect us not as it did Iuda that the earth openeth not and swallow us quicke to hell as it did Corah and his company that the fire burne us not as it did Sodom For that which Christ objecteth to the Iewes may be verified of Gen. 19. 2 Sam. 24. Numb 6. 16. us How can yee beleeve which receive honour one of another and seeke not the honour that commeth from God alone In all things that wee doe wee must seeke to set forth the glory of God If any man Minister saith Saint Peter let him doe it as of the ability which God ministreth that God in all things may bee glorified Iohn 5. 44. 1 Pet. 4. 11. through Iesus Christ Say to God as Aeschines said to Socrates when others gave him gold silver Iewels Aeschines gave himselfe like the poore widow who cast into the treasury two mites even all her substance So give God all thine eyes to see his glory thine eares to heare his Word thine heart to beleeve in him thy tongue to praise him thy foote to follow him and thy hand to serve him and let the saying of the Apostle bee never forgotten Yee are bought with a price therefore glorify God in 1 Cor. 6. 20. your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods stirre up thy tongue therefore to speake of God and his works plentifully shall thy bow and thine arrowes thy hawke and thy hound thy cart and thy plough have thy tongue tied to them to delite in their talke And shall not the Minister in Christ Iesus Hath thy tongue no portion in such heavenly things Or if it it bee in thy heart will it not fill thy mouth with praise Sermo index animi thy speech is a messenger of thy minde an Heavenly heart will use Heavenly talke and an earthly heart sendeth out vaine and earthly words deceive not thy selfe such as thy speeches are such is thy heart if thou canst eate drinke ride play journey with men and seldome or never talke of God it argueth a barren heart If there bee no meate in the dresser there is little in the kitchin the mouth is as the dresser the
understanding What blindnesse hath possessed our braine And how hath a covering of brawne covered our hearts that wee give no Majestie to God That which Paul said of the Gospel If our Gospell bee hid it is hid to them that 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded their mindes So say I of Gods wonders This sinne of England is written with an Iron penne and with a point of a Diamond God revealeth himselfe Ier. 17. 1. to the World six wayes 1 By his Word 2 By Visions Act. 26. 18. Esa 1. 1. 3 By Dreames 4 By Wonders or Miracles Numb 12. Iohn 5. Mat. 28. 19. 5 By Sacraments 6 By Types and figures By foure or five of these meanes God hath made himselfe knowne to us especially by wonders yet wee know him not wee are greater fooles than Nabal and verier beasts than ever was Nabuchadnezzar 1 Sam. 25. Dan. 4. Ier. 8. 5 6 7. God must end us before hee mend us wee are turned backe to a perpetuall rebellion Wee give our selves to deceit and will not returne no man repents him of his wickednesse saying What have I done Every one turneth to his race as the horse to the battell Even the Storke in the ayre saith God knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord. This is a nation that heareth not the voice of the Lord nor receiveth Discipline shall not these two great earth-quakes this yeere the one in the day the other in the night worke in us a feare of Gods majestie It is a token Amâ—â— 1602. that God is angry and so applied by the Prophet The earth trembled and shoke the very foundations of the Earth were seene at thy chyding at the blasting of the breath of thy displeasure Psal 18. When God would take revenge of the people in the dayes of Tiberius hee overthrew with an earth-quake twelve Cities of Asia and in Constantines dayes ten or eleuen townes in Campania Lipisius when the Iewes under Iulian had tooles of silver to reedify Gods dominion is in all creatures especially in man Ierusalem the earthquake in the night destroyed their worke in the day fire from heaven burnt up their tooles The righteous will see this and rejoyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth and who is wise that hee may observe these things that God is a God of Majesty and magnificence for it is he alone that doth wondrous things The fifth thing here attributed to God is Dominion which is the authority of commanding and making Lawes unto all men in the world by which meanes God ruleth and hath a dominion or Kingdome in every one of us whereof the Lord Iesus speaketh in the knitting up of his prayer to God For thine is the Kingdome c. Of this David speaketh The Lord hath prepared his Mat 6. 13. Psal â—03 19 22. Throne in Heaven and his Kingdome ruleth over all And againe Praise the Lord all works of his in all places of his dominion And againe Thy Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and thy dominion endureth Psal 145. 13. throughout all ages And here learne a profitable lesson that when wee obey the Word of the Lord and suffer it to rule and overrule our passions then hath God a Kingdome and wee ascribe Dominion to him hereof the Lord Iesus spake For when Luk. 17. 20 21. hee was demanded of the Pharises when the Kingdome of God should come He answered them and said The Kingdome of God commeth not with observation neither shall men say Loe here or loe there for behold the Kingdome of Heaven is within you he meant not the Kingdome of glory but of grace For this dominion or Kingdome is threefold of Power Grace Glory The Kingdome of Power is whereby God subdueth his enemies and Tyrants of his Church and crusheth them in pieces like a potters vessell and of this Kingdome the Prophet thus Psal 2. 9. Psal 93. 1. Psal 97. 1 2. speaketh The Lord reigneth and is cloathed with Majesty the Lord is clothed and girded with power c. And againe the Lord reigneth let the people tremble hee sitteth betweene the Cherubins let the earth bee moved the Lord is great in Zion and high above all people His Kingdom of Grace is that wherby God ruleth in his elect through his Spirit inwardly as his Word outwardly whereof the Prophet speaketh thus With righteousnes shall he judge the poore Esa 11. 4 5 6. and with equity shall hee reprove c. Iustice shall bee the girdle of his loynes and faithfulnesse the girdle of his reines the Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard shall lye with the kidde and the calfe and the Lion and the fatte beast together and a little Child shall lead them When the corruption of our nature beginneth to bee like the house of Saul weaker and weaker and faith repentance zeale knowledge and other graces of the Spirit stronger and stronger in us and wee now beginne to love feare trust and serve and obey God then is the Kingdome of grace in us The Kingdome of Glory is that wherein the Angels and Saints We count our selves subjects of Christs Kingdome of grace but are rebellious departed now are and wee shall bee hereafter when mortality shall be swallowed up of life when wee shall sing the songs of our triumph O death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory The songs of our joy such as none can understand save the hundred forty and foure thousand which are received up from 1 Cor. 15. the earth But here hee meaneth chiefely the Kingdome of grace for God is a King everlasting immortall invisible and onely wise Wee 1 Tim. 1. 17. are then his subjects The Lawes are the Word Psal 2. 8. Psal 119. 105. Ephes 6. 12. The enemies of this Kingdome are Satan sinne death Hell domination the flesh and the wicked The time of it is to the worlds end Mat. 28. 20. The place is this world and the world to come Apot. 5. 10. But ô foolish men how doe wee pray for this dominion and Kingdome of the Lord when in our works wee destroy it When wee rebell against the Word like a rebellious nation Ezech. 2. 3 4. and like impudent children and stiffe-hearted As the horse rusheth into the battell so we rush into our sinnes we sinne Ier. 8. 6. Ephes 4. 19. with greedines wee draw it with cordes of vanity wee love the wicked we loath the godly we freeze in love we boile in malice Esa 5. we sell vertue we buy vice we refuse Christ we chuse Barrabas wee lay away life and embrace death wee overthwart the will of God in all things wee follow our owne wills and desires wee are traytors to God in
Non tamen pugnat ejus potentia cum voluntate his power fighteth Tart. adversus Prax. not with his will Lay thy hand on thy mouth with Iob reason not against God Quis es qui litigas cum Deo Who art thou that strivest with God so much for the attributes Wisdome Salvation Glory Majesty Dominion and Power But it is further to bee noted that in naming God To God only wise c. Hee comprehendeth the three persons for these attributes are due to all the whole Trinity Wisdome Salvation Glory Majesty Power and Dominion The Scripture speaketh diversly of the Trinity sometime ascribing things to one person sometime to another sometimes to all joyntly as power to the Father wisdome to the Sonne goodnesse to the Holy Ghost Psal 104. 1. Prov. 14. Greeve not the good Spirit of God saith the Apostle Yet power wisdome goodnes are due to all the persons of the whole Trinity in a Gods glory dominion power is eternall more strict sence signification Againe yee shall see the creation of all things ascribed to the omnipotency of the Father the administration of all ascribed to the Sonne the sanctification Ephes 4. 30. Gen. 1. Prov. 9. 1. 1 Cor. 6. â—1 of all ascribed to the Holy Ghost yet all three create preserve and sanctify the Church Pater à se Filius per se Sanctus Spiritus à Patre Filio The Father of himselfe the Sonne by him and the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne Augustine speaketh Aug. thus Sicut ex intellectu generatur voluntas ex his ambobus procedit memoria in anima ipsa As the will springing from the understanding and from them both the memory in the soule it selfe so the Sonne is begotten of the Father and from both these proceedeth the Holy Ghost This causeth the Scriptures to speake so diversly of the Trinity Power is attributed to the Father but not exclusivè exclusively quoth Vrsinus in his Catechisme sed inclusivè but inclusively for all three are of equall power sed Patri potentia tribuitur Vrsinus quia est fons origo but power is given to the Father because hee is the fountaine the originall the rest of the persons are from him but not as touching their essence but person and manner of existing To conclude the works of the Trinity quoad extra are indivisible but quoad intus they bee singuler as the Father begetteth the Sonne is begotten the Holy Ghost proceedeth from them both hold this Axiome in divinity and learne to speake wisely and soberly of the Trinity Well this glory Majesty dominion and power must be yeelded now and ever for the glory of God endeth not with the end of the world it is for ever here and in heaven the continuance of this world before God is but as a day the Morning of this day was the creation of the Heaven and of Adam untill the flood the Noone of this day was the comming of Christ the Evening is the end of the world a thousand and six hundred yeeres S. Iohn cals but one yeere A thousand and six hundred yeeres are past as 1 Iohn 2. an houre but the glory of the Lord is from eternity to eternity from everlasting to everlasting from eternity as touching election quae est sine principio to eternity quoad reprobationem as touching reprobation for it shall abide without end but in that hee saith both now and for ever this teacheth us that there must be no end of praising God his praises must bee ever in our mouth First for spirituall blessings bestowed here in earth in Heaven as Election Redemption Adoption Vocation Iustification Sanctification Psal 86. Glorification for every one of these commeth from God therefore hee is to be praised both now and for ever Now in this life wee must sing Hosanna to the Sonne of David and hereafter we shall sing Allelujah in Heaven with all the Saints For all spirituall blessings wee must say with the Apostle Blessed be God which hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings For temporall blessings Ephes 1. 3. glory and praise is to bee given to God Christ gave thanks for God is to bee prayed to and praysed for all things food Anna for a child Iacob for riches Abrahams servant for prospering his journey and in a word for all other temporall blessings as health wealth peace prosperity God is to be praised now and ever As there is no end of his benefits towards us Iohn 6. 12. 2 Sam. 2. 1. Gen. 32. 10. Gen. 24. 48. so there should bee no end of our praises towards him but wee must praise him both now and ever To conclude this point here is a secret comparison betweene the glory of man and the glory dominion and power of God mans glory is as a flowre All flesh is grasse and all the glory thereof as the flowre of grasse for so Esay was willed to cry but though hee Esa 40. 6. cry it few will beleeve it wee trust not the Lord one speaketh of an Epitaph graven in the tombe of a great man Hic fuit hic fecit pugnavit vicit amauit Composuis libros gentes populósque subegit Quid mihi cum fuit aut erit est valet vnum He was he did he fought he conquer'd lov'd Wrote books nations and people hee subdu'd But what have I to do with was or Shall With me the Present only is worth all Things past bee gone things to come are uncerten that which is and is for ever goeth for all glory present will bee past and glory future will bee for ever haec vita haec gloria non est vita non est gloria this life this glory is neither life nor glory for wee are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ which is our life shall appeare then shall we appeare with him in glory AMEN This word is an Hebrew word and it is taken in the Scriptures three manner of wayes sometime as a Nowne signifying Christ himselfe sometime as an Adverbe so Christ useth the word saying Amen Amen that is Verily Verily I say unto you and sometime as a Verbe as in this place signifying So be it or be it so So that this word Amen contayneth more than the prayer it Apoc. 1. Iohn 3. selfe For in the prayer wee testify our desire how that wee desire Glory Majesty Dominion and Power to bee given unto God but in this word Amen wee witnes our faith that wee believe Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power to bee his So that from hence wee have to observe to pray with faith to beleeve we shall receive those things wee have prayed for This appeareth in the Prophet Praised bee the Lord for evermore so bee it even so be it And Christ hath taught us thus to shut up our prayers Psal 89. 52. Mat. 6. 13. and the Apostle closeth
and concludeth his Epistle with it Grace bee with you Amen for wee must not doubt of Gods promises but beleeve stedfastly That all the promises of God are in Amen diversly used in Scripture Christ yea and are in him AMEN Againe this word Amen teacheth us to desire earnestly 2 Tim. 4. 22. and fervently the thing wee pray for For the prayer of the righteous availeth much if it bee fervent David was fervent in his Iam. 9. 16. Psal 106. 48. prayer Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever and let all the people say Amen And verily this word Amen noteth our desire our earnest fervent desire to bee heard and to obtaine it is in effect thus much O Lord thus bee it unto mee what my tongue or soule have begged give it me grant it me Amen Amen So Lord even so Lord. FINIS THE TABLE OF THE Sermons upon Saint IVDE Points handled Serm. 1. THe holy Ghost the Author of all Scripture Fol. 1. Two Iudases 1 Iscariot 2 Brother of Iames 1 Some Scriptures doubted of 2 A threefold office of the Church concerning Scripture 3 Honourable titles given the wicked why 4 Stormes should not discourage the godly ibid. Three sorts of servants ibid. Gods service most happy 5 Gods service perfect freedome ibid. Brings all good to us 6 All other service vile or dangerous 7 Mans dignity in three things 8 Priviledges of Gods servants ibid. Pope abuseth the title of servant 9 Servants must imitate their Master obey him 10 Gods servants rewarded ibid. Servants may not Lord it over the rest of the Family 11 Godly profession brings more glory than honourable alliance 12 13. Sermon 2. VOcation the first step to Salvation 15 Before calling wee are children of wrath not capable of Christ 16 The happinesse of having the Gospell 17 Vocation Externall Internall Invitation Admission 17 18 Externall calling unprofitable without internall 18 The efficacie of Gods Word in the ministery thereof 19 Vocation diverse in respect of time and place 20 None called for desert ibid. Sanctification followes vocation 21 God as he beginne will finish till he glorifie ibid. Sanctification three-fold Imputed unto us Wrought in us Wrought by us 22 Difference of righteousnesse of Iustification and Sanctification 23 Papisticall doctrine tends to licentiousnes ours to holinesse ibid. Faith and Workes joyned in the person justified in the act of justification 24 Sermon 3. CHrists Priesthood two parts Redemption Intercession 26 Redemption hath two parts Reconciliation and Sanctification ibid. Reconciliation consists in two points Remission of sinnes and imputation of Christs righteousnesse 27 Iustification what it is ibid. Adoption what it is ibid. Benefits of Adoption and Iustification 27 Sanctification consists in mortification and vivification 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath his beginning godly sorrow his companion the Spirituall combat ibid. Sanctification but in part as our knowledge ibid. Divers acceptions of holinesse 29 Wee must bee holy because God is holy 30 Wee must bee holy because it is the end of our Redemption 31 Without holinesse no salvation ibid. Wee must bee holy because called Saints ibid. All our holinesse is from God 32 The persons of the Trinity distinguished 33 Preservation in the state of Grace the chiefest blessing 34 Gods providence preserves in all accidents of life 35 God frees from all afflictions 36 God preserves his Scriptures and Saints 37 Gods preservation of soule and spirituall estate most gracious 38 39 Sermon 4. MErcie Peace and Love three most excellent gifts 40 How these three flow from the Trinity ibid. How mercy in God 41 A rule for Christian salutations ibid. Mercy fourefold ibid. Generall mercies bestowed on all ibid. Speciall mercies on the elect ibid. The long suffering of God 42 The greatest mercy concernes salvation ibid. Our election is of Mercy ibid. Gods abundant mercy in Christ 43 Mercy seven-fold ibid. All that wee have is of mercy ibid. Misericordia communis peccantium portus ibid. Peace three-fold 44 Peace the ornament of the Church and signe of Christs Kingdome ibid. God the Author of Peace 45 A commendation of peace ibid. Contention cause of destruction 46 Vnion makes powerfull ibid. True peace to bee sought and imbraced 47 Righteousnesse cause of peace ibid. Peace of Conscience passeth all understanding 48 Prosperity profiteth not without peace of Conscience ibid. The wicked have no peace 49 Christ dyed rose ascended to perfect our peace ibid. Peace is used for outward prosperitie 50 All priviledges spirituall and temporall belong to the godly ibid. Yet sometime God withholds outward blessings 51 Sermon 5. God loves the fountaine of mercy peace and all good things 52 Gods love is most abundant immeasurable immutable unspeakeable 53 How God is said to be love ibid. Love of man to man the most excellent vertue 54 No Love to man without the love of God 55 True love rare among men 56 That love which is truely Christian must be embraced all other abandoned 57 Not sufficient to have grace but there must be a desire of increase till we come to glory 58 Sermon 6. FAith the most necessarie and excellent vertue 61 Sonnes three-fold by Nature by Doctrine by Adoption or Inspiration 62 Faith set out by it's attributes that wee might labour for it 63 Many carelesse to get Faith or maintaine it ibid. Faith must bee maintained to the death 64 A foure-fold fight and flight of Ministers ibid. The zeale of Idolaters and Heretickes for false religion should make us to be zealous for Gods truth 65 Divers degrees of zeale ibid. God lookes to the truth of our zeale not the heate 66 God accepts according to that a man hath if in truth ibid. Love ought to bee shewed in all our instructions and reprehensions 67 What love required in Ministers to their people ibid. Wee must be zealous in the matter of Religion and industrious for our soules 68 Salvation ought to be our onely ayme to have it assured to our selves and propagated to others 69 Many more regard humane writings yea vaine pamphlets than Scriptures 70 All men ought to labour to get assurance of salvation 71 Salvation common in three respects ibid. As salvation is common so the Church Catholicke 72 Writing the most safe meanes to performe God truth ibid. Traditions bring errors to the Church 73 Exhortation powerfull urged in meekenesse 74 The Minister must exhort and the people suffer the Word of exhortation 75 Sermon 7. GOds truth must bee maintained 76 Faith the gift of God a fruit of the Spirit ibid. Divers acceptions of Faith 77 Divers excellent attributes of saving Faith ibid. Faith a worke of the Trinity 78 The meanes to beget Faith outwardly the Ministery of the Word inwardly the operation of the Spirit 79 True Faith in few in all ages ibid. True Religion most ancient and Scriptures before all other writings 80 As God is immutable so his truth and Religion ibid. Though types and shadowes vanish truth and
in fraenandis libidinibus Of the Image of God there be two parts sancity of understanding the one and sanctity of will the other in brideling lusts and this the Apostle calleth The new man which after God that is the image of God is shapen in righteousnesse and true holinesse Loosen the reines to thy lusts and there is no image of God in thee but of Ephes 4. 24. the Divell which seduceth thee and therefore reserved to the The Godly man though lust be in yet it raignes not over him day of Iudgement to be punished because thou walkest after the flesh in the lust of uncleannesse Seneca telleth us of one Sextius qui nocte animum suum semper interrogabat quod malum hodie sanâsti which nightly would aske his owne soule What evill hast thou 2 Pet. 2. 10. healed to day What vice hast thou resisted In what part art thou better to day then thou wert yesterday O if thou a Christian couldest doe this thou wert a blessed man O happy golden day in which thou hast tamed one lust one sinne thou maiest then say with Paul I have fought a good fight c. Sapientis est animus 2 Tim. 4. 6. ut status mundi supra lunam a wise mans mind is as the state of the world above the Moone Nec nubes nec fulgur nec turbines ibi sunt There be neither clouds nor lightning nor whirlewinds but all things bright and shining calme and quiet Sic nulla ira nulla libido nulla perturbatio cadit in animum sapientis So no anger no Seneca lust no perturbation commeth into a wise mans mind but I will not say none but not so much as in other men libido inest sed non praeest lust is in him not over him habitat sed non regnat Rom. 6. 12. it dwelleth in him but raigneth not bellat sed non debellat it warres in him but it winnes not we are not like the Heathen 1 Thess 4. 5. which keep their vessels in the lust of concupiscence Satanas duobus armis nos oppugnat voluptate timore Satan oppugneth us with two weapons voluptuousnesse and feare with voluptuousnesse he taketh us and with feare he breaketh us against the one let us arme our hearts with godly affections against the other with faith and confidence let us take the shield of faith wherewith we may quench the fiery darts of lust and concupiscence THE SEVEN AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XVI Whose mouth speaketh proud things having mens persons in admiration c. The tongue the discoverer of the heart HAving formerly described the wicked by their impatiencie and by their lusts hee commeth now thirdly to describe them by their pride and he saith that their mouth speaketh proud things These words seeme to be drawne from Saint Peter where speaking of the wicked hee saith that they utter swelling words of vanitie they beguile with wantonnesse thorough 2 Pet. 2. 18. the lusts of the flesh them that were cleane escaped from them which are wrapped in errour For Iude wrote later than the other Apostles Where note first that hee proceedeth from their walking to their speaking from their heart to their mouth from the fountaine to the channell for commonly if the heart be humble the speeches are lowly but if it be proud the speeches are lofty For of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Lingua penna Luke 6. seu nuntius cordis the tongue is the penne or messenger of the heart Hercules body was knowne by the length of his foot and the heart is knowne by the speech of his mouth good men speake well for their heart is good so saith the Prophet The mouth of the righteous is exercised in wisedome and his tongue will talke Psal 37. 30 31. of judgement For the Law of God is in his heart and bad men speake vilely for their heart is naught For no constancie is in their mouth within A proud heart sheweth it selfe by proud speeches they are very corruptions their throat is an open sepulchre and they flatter with their tongue Ex putredine quid nisi putridum prodeat From rottennesse and corruption what can proceed but that which is corruptible and rotten What shall a man expect from a bitter Psal 5. 9. fountaine but bitter waters What from the egge of a Cockatrice but a Serpent What from a Spider but poyson What from the lake Asphaltis but stinch and corruption The Apostle telleth us That unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minds and Tit. 1. 15. consciences are defiled It seemeth that Iude here alludeth unto David For hee ever bringeth in the wicked on the stage speaking presumptuously like Thraso loquuntur ampullas their words are bombasted heare them from morning till night and all their speech like Goliah is bragging all their talke tendeth to the commendation of themselves they are in love with themselves as Narcissus with his shadow their mouth as a trumpet soundeth out their owne praise they reckon up all their vertues but they passe over all their vices like captaines who number their souldiers but marke not how many are of the side of the enemy to encounter them and therefore lose the field oftentimes The nature of the wicked is to boast so David speaketh of the enemies of the Church They are inclosed in their owne fat that is they are post up with pride as the stomacke that is choked with fat and their Psal 17. 10 11. mouth speaketh proud things they have compassed us now in our steps they have set their eyes to bring us downe to the ground They say With our tongue will wee prevaile our lips are our owne Who is Lord over us Psal 12. 4. These proud tongues are never quiet from prittle prattle from skanning this neighbours wealth that neighbours wit this mans doings that mans sayings coursing over the whole Countrey till all men have beene within the compasse of their tongues drawne out by them peradventure by the power of a pot too much or such like influence For their mouth is unnaturally bigger than their hand what they want in doing they supply in talking though they cannot worke it yet they can word it Linguis si non factis praevalebunt they will prevaile with their tongues if not with their deeds Os ponunt in Coelos they set their mouth against Heaven and their tongue walketh thorow the Psal 73. 9. Earth they are licencious and speake proudly and talke presumptuously Portant gladium non in vagina sed in ore they carry a sword not in their sheath but in their mouth Their teeth are speares and arrowes and their tongue a sharpe sword Thus boasted Psal 57. 5. railing Rabshakeh with most insolent words and haughty pride and said to Hezechiah that he would make his men eate their owne
dung and drinke their owne pisse and thus boasted the Kings and 2 Reg. 18. 27. Rulers of the Earth against the Lord and against his Anoynted Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Happy is hee that can see his owne vilenesse but it followeth well there Hee that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorne the Lord shall have them in derision Let not the wiseman glory in his wisdome nor the strong man in his strength Psal 2. 3. but he that will glory let him glory in the Lord and make his boast of his praise The Pharises boasted much of their doings they delivered their almes with the sound of trumpets but they muttered their sinnes in the eares of their fellowes they spake softly quoth Epiphanius like the peacocke that croweth when he looketh at his wings but is mute when hee looketh at his feet which are foule and ugly This sinne of pride is naturall or universall and therefore the more to be eschewed of the children of God Habet quisque naevos superbiae not droppes but rivers blottes staines of Ierome pride spotted like a Leopard wee drew it from the loines of Adam and sucked it out of the brests of Heva for they were proud and would be like unto God Sed dum rapere voluerunt divinitatem August amiserunt foelicitatem whiles they would have caught the divinity they lost their felicity yea the Angels that sinned before man fell through pride though not only pride Paul 1 Tim. 3. calleth it The condemnation of the Divell Not long after the destruction of the old world and the reparation of the new the builders of Babel fell this way saying proudly Faciamus turrim extensam in coelos Let us build a City a tower whose top may reach Gen. 11. unto the heaven But God plagued their pride with the confusion of tongues and divided them into seventy three tongues which before spake all but one tongue It is naturall to us to thinke proudly of our selves to speake proud things to deale arrogantly and to boast outragiously We are like the Ciclopians and like Poliphemus see but with one eye we see our vertues not our vices which are tenne to one as the Leopard hath tenne blacke spots to one white but he is an happy man that can see his vilenesse his sinne and can accuse himselfe not praise himselfe as Paul did when he said God forbid that I should rejoice in anything but in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus whereby the world is crucified Gal. 6. 14. unto me and I unto the world Paul was a great Apostle circumcised the eighth day of the kindred of Israel of the Tribe of Benjamin an Phil. 3 4 6 8. Hebrew of the Hebrewes by the Law a Pharisee concerning zeale wonderfull touching the righteousnesse which is in the Law unrebukeable Yet hee was not proud of any of these things but counted all things losse and did iudge them to bee dung that he might winne Christ and writing to the Corinthians he saith thus Who is weake and I am not weake Who is offended and I burne not If I must needs reioice I will 2 Cor. 11. 30 31. reioice in mine infirmities as imprisonments beating hunger thirst and such like which things the adversaries did condemne as infirme in him And againe he said I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified he knew no oathes no lies no rancour no whoredome by himselfe no Capitall sinne for the Child of Iesting base fruit of wit God may say with Christ in some respect Which of you can reprove me of sinne yet would not he boast for he had peccata occulta secret Iohn 10. sinnes There be some that apply their wit and understanding to nothing else but to frumpes and jests to disgrace others to move laughter if they can nippe or by a girding scoffe disgrace another honester then themselves we call them merry Greeks pleasant companions good fellowes but this is the least harvest the least fruit of their wit Iocis utuntur qui currum poties quà m Curiam decent as one saith they use jests and sportes which become rather the Cart then the Court Quique vomitum citius quà m risum moveant and which will sooner move vomit than sport and then they triumph but in truth without victory These are dogs not men For of evill men there be two kindes alij sunt Canes alij porci some are dogges some are hogges Fooles are hogs which neglect the truth secure and refuse the Word but some are dogges which slander and deride the professors of the truth beware of these dogges these dogges shall not goe to Phil. 3. 2. Apoc. 22. 14. Heaven as Seneca said of Sylla that he left killing when none were left to be killed so these proud tongues will leave scoffing when there are no honest men to be plaied upon Good men strive to debase themselves they stop their eares at their praises as Mariners doe at the song of the Meremaid As Adders doe at the voice of the Charmer they say with David Peccatum meum semper coram me My sinne is ever before me they Psal 51. are vile and will be more vile as David said to Michol who taunted him nay despised him in her heart when shee saw him dancing before the Arke O how glorious quoth she was the King 2 Sam. 6. 20 21 22. of Israel this day which was uncovered to dâ—y in the eyes of the maidens of his servants as a foole uncovereth himself But he answered her That which he did was for noworldly affection but only for the zeale he bare to God and to his glory and I will quoth hee bee yet more vile then thus and I will bee low in mine owne sight c. So Gods Children they are vile and low in their owne sight they can say with David Lord I am not high-minded I have no proud lookes I Psal 131. 1 2. doe not exercise my selfe in matters that are too high for me c. But many are proud hauty boasting bragging of their works as of their prayers almes readings fastings c. But doest thou glory in thy prayers O foole where thou praiest one prayer others pray a thousand The Eutiches prayed continually Iames had his knees horne-hoofed with prayer Christ prayed a whole night which thou never diddest Doest thou glory of thy Almes O foole where thou givest a penny thou receivest a pound at the hands of God and in all that thou art but a steward and thou must reddere rationem give an accompt of thy stewardship Zachee would give halfe his good to the poore thou not the hundred not the thousand part yet hee boasted not Doest thou glory in thy reading Where thou readest a line others read a We must so live that our conscience may comfort us volume Alphonsus King of Naples read over