Orbes if the Intelligences faile in their mouing office nor can I wonder at the inordinate actions of this sublunarie world when Gods Intelligencers dare not tell Israel of her sinne Isa 58.1 and Iudah of her transgressions Now if I durst aduenture I could put some into a wonderfull Strait and bring some soules before the iustice of God whom the opinion of the world hath openly quitt Should I say that Simon Magus is turned a great Patron of Benefices amongst vs and that his bosome-seruant Quid dabis were a disposer of Liuings I know not how this Age would take it Should I say that some gallants weare Vicars cloathes or spend the Clergies bookes in yellow ruffes they may perhaps haue pepper in the nose as well as Cloues in their bands Or should I condemne the generall Apostacie of the world from that good estate and plight wherein our Fathers haue knowne it some Stoicall Athenian may iustly as his wisedome thinketh aske what will this babbler say If they or any of them will needes know then this I say and yet not I but others whose shooe latchets I am not worthy to loose that for the particular sinne of Sacriledge all that is so gotten is aurum Tholossanum and that all the bread at such Patrons tables are cheat loaues And for the generall estate of the whole world as one sayd bitterly of Rome probabilius est strui nouam quam emendare antiquam more like to haue a new Rome built then the old to be amended so I say of the world that it is more probable sooner to see it changed in substance then in manners in regard that so farre as I see the world is likely sooner to cease to be then to be wicked and hence is nostri mundi calamitas that men had rather ten times commit one sinne then once heare of ten sinnes Dauid tooke all in good part that Gad spake though it were neuer so harsh and blamed none but himselfe for being brought into this Strait I would that all that heare me this day were herein not almost but altogether such as Dauid then would Herod heare the reproofe of Iohn Baptist gladly then would euery man so heare the word as to amend his life according to the word then would God be honoured his Ministers comforted and the World well amended But if the dease Adder will not heare when wee charme the world with zeale and discretion happily vnited then the Lord commands to cry aloud and spare not to lift vp our voyces like a trumpet Luk. 18.1 and to deale as that oppressed widow moue them with vncessant preaching and to be bolde as Lyons in Gods cause Let Peter tell Simon Magus plainely Act. 8.23 Acts 13.10 that he is in the gall of bitternesse and the bond of iniquitie Let Paul tell Elymas the sorcerer that he is the child of the diuell if he be full of all wickednesse We must learne of Gad not spare to speake though we spare to speed And all godly and conscionable hearers must learne of Dauid to heare with quietnes to beare with patience and to mend with willingnes As Dauid chides not with Gad so he quarrels not with God and though as our Prouerb goes losers must haue leaue to speake yet hee though I suppose his heart waxed hote within him neuer spake with his lips to iustifie himselfe Psal 39. Thus might his Pharifaicall thoughts haue suggested Ah my Lord I haue a long time gone in and out before this thy people O Lord thou knowest that I loue thee and haue with all my heart sticken to thy testimonies I haue had so great a care of my wayes as not to offend in my tongue O thou Lord good and gracious full of mercy and compassion is thy mercy cleane forgotten or shall all the former passage of my life be too little to expiate one small sinne Thou madest proffer of mercy to fiue Cities for ten righteous and wilt thou not spare one man for one sinne Thou that pardonest such a number of sinnes to thy people wilt thou not pardon such a sinne as numbring of the people Thus might Dauid seem to haue pleaded for himselfe Apud Linium Tullus an interpreter of the Law hauing pleaded for the life of Horatius who had murdered his Sister and not preuailing the Father of this Horatius demands of the Romans whether they could lead his sonne to death but his owne demerits and valiant acts would euen giue a dumbe shew to haue his life saued So might humane iudgement had it now beene Aduocate haue pleaded for Dauid but it would not haue preuailed nor haue beene a sufficient baile to haue freed Dauid from this vnsuspected Sinne and vnexpected sorrow Now he that hath an eare to heare a heart to consider and a memory to remember cannot in sense but heare in reason he must vnderstand and vnlesse he will forget himselfe remember this for his instruction Doctr. That the waight of mans merit is not sufficient by many graines to counterpoise the burden of one wilfull sinne if God be extreame to enter into iudgement with the Sonnes of men though they be such as are indeed the Sonnes of God How faire soeuer the preceedent part of their liues haue been both in their publique and priuate callings yet that great King of heauen who can espie one man amongst many without a wedding garment can in his omniscience and may and doth often in his iustice enter into iudgement for the commission of one sinne especially if wilfull as was this of Dauid as we see in the Church of Ephesus Reu. 2.2 though laudable for her workes her labour her patience and perseuerance yet there is a something that God hath against her for which he will remoue the Candlesticke out of his place except she repent Many plankes well pind and calkt make the Ship to float one and but one leake will sincke it One wound may strike Goliah dead as well as three and twenty did Caesar Sam. 17. Sueton. Iudg. 16.18 One Dalilah will doe Sampson as much spight as all the Philistims One wheele broken spoiles all the whole clocke One veines bleeding will let out the vitall spirits as well as more One flie will spoile a whole boxe of ointment 1 Reg. 49. One hearb Colloquintida spoiles all the pottage One Apple lost Adam the pleasant Paradise 1 Sam. 14.27 One licke of honey endangered the life of Ionathan One Achan was a trouble to all Israel Ios 7.25 One Ionah if faulty Ionah 17. is lading too heauy for a whole Shippe And one sinne is enough to procure Gods anger and too much for a man to commit Reason Now that God may not be challenged of any iniustice as though hee would easily picke a quarrell with men Iam. 2.10 heare what S. Iames auerreth That he that failes in one point is guilty of all A stone cast into the midst of the
that saw themselues in an euill case but they knew not how to helpe it While he is thus ruminating of this hard bargaine Gad tarries for an answer and now impatient of further delay demands a speedy resolution Verse 13. that hee may returne an answer to him that sent him Thus then at the length out of the abundant sorrow of his heart his trembling lips and tongue vtter these or the like words of passion Oh man of God pray for me vnto the Lord that if it be possible this pride of my heart may be forgiuen me Oh carry God my sighes and teares perhaps that sweet incense may appease him Present vnto my louing God my straitned soule and see if that will satisfie him tell him my soule cries out of the grate of misery for grace and mercy My sinne hath so ingaged my soule vnto God that my heart is broken and such a sacrifice my God will not despise But here the Seer interrupts him Dauid now leaue off passion and arme thy selfe with patience The decree of God is set down and God will neuer grant decree vpon decree the sentence is past and may not be reuersed thy sinne was great Note so must be thy punishment As no counsell though of thy friend could diuert thee from the one so no prayer though neuer so carnest shall auert from thee the other Herein was Gad a faithfull messenger but a miserable comforter The diuell ought Israel a spight and now he hath payed it them When Nathan told Dauid of his adultery and murder hee presently absolues him vpon his repentance The Lord hath put away thy sinne Why may not Gad say as much Hath God forgotten to be gracious Oh but if we well remember the child borne of that adulterous bed dyed for Dauids sinne and hath God forgotten to be iust Thus is Dauid still in a great strait Had hee beene now numbring of his dayes he had applyed his heart to wisedome but now in numbring the people his heart gaue way to folly Now not only is he brought to the Logicians dilemma but indeed to Trilemma as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vsed in war cast it any way and still one poynt lies vpward obuious to the face and hurtfull to the foote Now I conceiue your iudicious apprehensions ready to forestall me and already to conceiue a Doctrine which I shall propound as a true borne Childe lawfully begotten from Dauids case and my premised discourse Doct. That it is a farre easier matter to yeeld to sinne then to answere for it Sampson was bound with seuen greene cordes and hee brake them from his armes like a third Dauid is now tyed with one twist of a threefold cord and cannot get loose I haue heard and read of some Noctambulones that haue left their beds in their sleepe and haue clombe vp such daungerous places that waking they could scarse tell how to get downe againe So fares it with the wilfull sonnes of men who being lulled asleepe in sinne questionlesse dreame of great security but when their slumber is past when the word or their conscience shall awake them then their voyce is the voyce of Dauid Angustior It may be sayde of Sinne as the Poets sayd of Venus Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet For sinne still presents to men vtile iucundum or honestum which being by and by apprehended Sathan suggests man consents and both their fingers itch till the fear be wrought which being once effected the pleasure of sinne lasting but for a season is withdrawne and gone Sathan deales as Ammon did by Thamar thrusts him out bolts the doore and takes no notice of the poore sinner Then is poore man left to himselfe and hath no company but a wounded conscience and then hee finds himselfe in a strange perplexity in a wonderfull strait And what I now beloued say concerning one sinner I say of all When neither the voyce of reason can reuoke them the bridle of Religion restraine them nor the checke of conscience moue them they that in the heat of sinne will bee like Dauid vsing the vtmost of their liberty shall in the height of punishment find themselues like Dauid in a great strait But that I may not seeme to want proofe within the confines of my Text fixe we but our eies on Dauid T is a braue thing to number the people it was indeed so is a Waspe a pretty thing to see too but it beares a sting in the taile So is Sinne Mulier formosa supernè outwardly and vpwardly faire but desinit in piscem whatsoeuer the premises or the promises of sinne may be the Sinner may in the end say to it as dying Agrippa did to his dogge Abi hinc in malam rem qui perdidisti animam meam See here what Dauids numbring or practice in Arithmetique came too Addition of sinne Substraction of liberty Multiplication of sorrow Diuision like the diuision of Reuben euen great thoughts of heart It is the manner of Worldlings to deale in sin as Prodigals doe in expences spend and call and neuer mind the reckoning no nor their generall estate till pouertie come vpon them like an armed man And thus the sinner multiplies his transgressions neuer minding the fearefull euent and dire Catastrophe of his wickednesse when as indeed he should like the wise builder sit downe and casts vp his reckoning But Satan like a cunning Sophister sets the best side forward separates the end from the meanes as if Sinne and sorrow were of no acquaintance and did not vse to kisse each other S. Iohn did eate the booke which the Angell gaue him in his mouth it was as sweet as honey but in his belly as bitter as gall But he that swallowes the bait which Satan giues him shal find the pleasures of sinne to last but for a season and in the end bitternesse bitternesse Eue saw the apple that it was faire to the eye but after could haue wished that she had neuer seene it The Foxe mentioned by Horace got easily into the Garner of corne but hauing eaten his fill could not so soone get out The hunters horne debts liuely embleme is easily entred but hard in the egresse A man falling downe with the tyde may easily shoot the bridge but to returne against the streame hic labor hoc opus est Facilis descensus Auerni Iunenal Diues may slip into hell and misery without either spoiling his purple garments or pinching his well-fed belly But then there is magnum Chaos not a wall but a world of seperation betwixt him and happinesse The vnthrifty Tradesman that makes the Tauerne his shop the Play-house his Exchange gaming his traffique and whores his customers when need and debt en-Counter him and his former follies like Spiders poison him that he breaks then and not till then is hee made sensible of his owne misery then his letters certifie his friends and his tongue cries out to his Creditors I am in
a wonderfull strait Had that wealth-famous Croesus had any more then an after-wit he had not in his extremity needed to cry Oh Solon Solon Had the Mariners beene ruled by Paul Acts 27.21 they had saued the wracke of their ship and the losse of the wheat As Martha said to Iesus Lord if thou hadst beene here my brother had not died so may I say of this and the like case had Prometheus beene there a wisedome to foresee and foresight to preuent neither would any men at other time or Dauid at this time haue fallen into this great strait Oh how the denunciation of Gods iudgements doth amaze and perplexe the soules of Gods seruants when they find no expiation or atonement for sinne Call me now no more Dauid beloued call me no more happy but hated What hard hap had Dauid that Gad the Seer was not a Pope If some Christian especially Antichristian Prince should haue the conscience to be troubled or wounded for such a sinne as this a Romish Bishop though neither Prophet nor Seer would haue taught him a tricke to haue auoided this strait Gad had no Commission to pardon but to tell Dauid of his sinne But now Omnia Romae vaenalia ipsa etiam venia est vaenalis Gad would not free Dauid for an Altar built in the flowre of Araunah the Iebusite Rome will nullifie a sinne and deifie a deuill for a contribution to a Iesuite and what Such a sinne as numbring the people Nay murder adultery incest rebellion and what not Surely then a Subsidie of Peter-pence throughout all the Land of Iudaea would haue freed them from this punishment If this be so that pradons are so frequent I must intreat his Holinesse to pardon me one thing namely in that I condemne and abhorre the sowre leauen of the Church of Rome and lest for want of iudgement and experience of their iugling my tongue may be thought no slaunder let any man with sounder iudgement and mature deliberation perpend their practices and hee shall ex vngue leonem make an easie coniecture that all their Religion is superstition their practices cleanly cosenage deepe hypocrisie and horrible abhomination My senses now tell me that many heare this and my Conscience tels me that I care not who hears it what is seated in my heart were it written in my forehead I vow that I haue lost the vse of that hand that should euer wipe it out and let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth if vpon iust occasion I spare or feare to tell the Church of Rome of their monstrous enormities and their strong delusions wherewith they fill the Popes coffers with gold their Clergy with glory and the vnderstanding world with wonder Durst Gad blesse when God did curse or pronounce peace when God proclaimed warre but this is the impiety of that man of sinne to exalt himselfe not onely as Lusifer to make his seat with the most high but to make his Apostolicall seat aboue Christ and to exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God Ego Rex meus argued in the proud Cardinall little pollicy but Ego Deus meus argues in that Romish Prelate but little piety If euer any man grow weary of that Christian liberty wherein Christ Iesus hath placed him I wish him no other seruitude then a Romish yoake or if any man will cancell his sense and reason so farre as to be ruled by them I dare pawne my hand that too much learning will neuer make him mad I conclude this point with a Tridentine phrase * Forma Tridentina Materia Angelicana Whosoeuer shall beleeue that the Pope of Rome hath any more power of pardoning sinnes but onely ministeriall that is where God hath first pardoned and giuen warrant by his word to haue it pronounced by the Minister Anathema esto The position is true according to our doctrine the conclusion shall bee theirs that made it I hope not for ours but rather for their owne vse Concerning the point thus much Fumo pereant qui fumum vendunt S. Peters keyes are now abused by popish pick locks if these men belong to God I beseech him pardon them effectually for pardoning so many for so much to so little purpose The third generall point How Dauid tooke it Quantapatiētia pertulit When Gad had brought this message to Dauid in the morning next his heart we cannot but thinke that he tooke it much to heart but yet he so demeaned himselfe that though the message was grieuous yet the messenger was welcome He deales not like the impious sonne of Nebat 1. Reg. 13.4.1 Reg. 22.8 to bid lay hands vpon the Prophet nor doth he hate him as Ahab did Michaiah because he prophecied euill and not good but considers him as the voice of a crier and the messenger of the high GOD not imputing so much to Gad as the troubling of Israel And though Dauid was not Timon-like to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as desirous to see misery and mortality amongst men yet he thought this word though harsh of it selfe to bee good as being the word of the Lord he neither can nor will challenge God as vniust nor the Prophet as vnfaithfull in his message but to shew himselfe a man after Gods owne heart in saying nothing hee seemes to consent vnto God as Eli did 1. Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good O iust God O faithfull Gad O patient Dauid Now could I wish that this patient spirit of Dauid were doubled vpon all the sinfull sonnes of this generation who are so farre from patient hearing of Gods iudgements denounced that their eares are grated if not stopt at the Rehearsall Sermon of their sinnes Surely if reprofe vexe them to the heart as it did Ahab tydings of iudgement will break their necks 1. Sam. 4.18 as it fared with olde Eli. Is it not from hence that men are of that impatient and gun powder humour because they loue not to heare of their faults Is it not hence that the Ministers of God are so much discouraged Is it not hence that like Ionah men had rather turne mariners then Ministers Without any further question hence comes impenitence euen from impatience hence custome and obduration in Sin hence in a word comes that which a religious soule cannot but see the Land deserueth to mourn for Some Seers are so choakt with a Church and a Steeple that they cannot of all other language pronounce Sinne in a Patron Some dare not aduenture to displease a great one yea whosoeuer shall dare like Tarquin to strike at the heads of the tallest poppies 1. Sam. 15. or like Samuel at the head of Agag at their greatest sin shal in the wise censure of some be thought to babble beside his Text or be enrolled in the blacke booke neuer to haue fauour at their hands A true Aristotelian will neuer wonder at the irregular motion of the