fruit of sinne shall not easily be snared with the deceit of it that for which a man sinnes bides not with him onely the guiltinesse remaines which he contracted to obtaine his apparent good If a man remembred this hee would be loath to make his guiltinesse greater for a good which will not bide with him Mother-sinnes EVery sinne would be resisted but especially Mother-sinnes professed enemies to vertue Vipers which can not liue but vpon the life of him that entertaines them such as Pride Passion and Pleasure Euery one of these Captaines is like Goliah in Sathans armie vnlesse a man come against them in the name of the Lord armed with his grace hee can not stand before them Pride PRide said Augustine is grandis in oculo trabes a great beame in the eye which neither lets a man get a right sight of his God nor of himselfe nor of his neighbour It is Primogenitum diaboli sathans first borne by it the Serpent lurkes at the roote of euery high Cedars to vnderdermine it for he knowes there is nothing so high which by pride is not easily brought lowe Lucifer falling from heauen and Nabuchadnezzars golden head for his pride soone turned from his throne to the fields and manners of beasts among innumerable moe examples may serue to proue it Antidote for Pride THe best Antidote for this poison is Humilitie Superbia tumor est non magnitudo Pride is a swelling but no greatnesse but this makes a man little in his own eyes yet in very deede great both with God and Man It is a vertue in any man but most of all in a man of honour Magna prorsus virtus humilitas honorata the highest buildings hath the lowest foundations Magnus esse vis a minimo incipe Cogitas magnam fabricam construere celsitudinis de fundamento prius cogita humilitatis Wilt thou be great begin at the lowest degree Doest thou thinke to reare a great building of height thinke first vpon the foundation of humilitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the beginning of all Philosophy Passion PAssion or inordinate commotion of the minde is an vnruly euill said Lactantius it makes a man rage without moderation more turbulent then the raging sea it defaces his countenance were it neuer so pleasant it felters his tongue were it neuer so eloquent it fiereth the eyes which are conduits of water it captiues the vnderstanding which is the ruler of the whole man Perit omne iudicium vbires transit in affectum all iudgement is lost when the matter commeth to passion Remedy of Passion THe best remedy for it is that heauenly grace of patience flowing from faith and loue three of the most rich and rare iewels wherewith a Christian can be adorned for by faith we possesse Christ Iesus and haue right to all his benefits by loue we possesse our neighbour reioycing in their good as if it were our owne and by patience we possesse our selues and becomes Maisters of our own wits senses words actions and all this is Christian fortitude and in very deede the highest point of manhood fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit He that conquereth himselfe is stronger than he which vanquisheth most strong things Pleasure PLeasure is a Pest so much the more perillous in that it is more plausible then others spreding out it selfe into as many branches as there are in men affections for all are not miscaried after one sort Trahit sua quemque voluptas Euery man as his pleasure leades him Inuincible Alexander vanquished in peace with the pleasures of his mouth Wise Salomon temperate of his mouth ouercome with the pleasures of his flesh yea if they be not ruled by grace the conceit of their honour makes them all generally dreame of this priuiledge and imagine it to be their owne that quod lubet licet and in this pit hath perished many a worthy man The remedy of inordinate pleasure THe remedy of this euill is the feare of God and therewithall feruent and continuall prayer that the grace of God which hath appeared and brings saluation to men may teach vs to deny all vngodly lusts and to liue holily toward God soberly in our selues and iustly toward men A meete answere for Dauids question PSAL. 119. THere is a question propounded by Dauid it were good for vs to consider that wee might prouide in time an answere to it whether shall I goe from thy presence or where shall I flee from thy spirit If I ascend to heauen thou art there if I lye downe in hell thou art there what then if there were a way to goe from him yet is there not a way to liue without him all that goe a whooring from him shall perish where away Lord shall wee goe seeing thou hast the words of eternall life Shall we then bide with thee because wee cannot doe otherwise Nay Lord albeit we might which is impossible flee from thee yet is there none worthy to be loued like vnto thee as we cannot flee from thee for thy power so wee will not flee fro thee for thy mercy The wrath of man may be eschewed by flying from him as Iacob did flying from Esau the Lords wrath is onely pacified by running vnto him Achitophels heires who they are THe men of this world are wise in things without them but fooles as concerning themselues like to Achitophel who put his house in order and hanged himselfe what greater folly then this he ordered his house and ordered not his heart and therefore in the perturbation of his minde went he to the place of confusion Many heyres hath he left behind him who orders wisely all things concerning their bodies but suffers yea praecipitates foolishly their soules into perdition Selfe-murther AChitophel and Iudas who hanged themselues were both worthy to be hanged yet were they twise miserable because they died twise guilty the one of Dauids blood and his owne the other of the bloud of Christ and his owne also He that is slaine innocently by an other leaues his bloud behinde him that cries for vengeance on him that shed it but the murtherer of himselfe caries the guilt of his owne blood with him and so goes away both a murtherer and a murthered Desertions I Thinke a two-fold disease may befall a godly man one wherein the spirit of God relents in him his former operation whereof ensues a decay of the sense of mercy trouble of minde and great inability to any spirituall good the other when by extremities of bodily diseases reason and memory deserts him but sure I am neither of these can be preiudiciall to his saluation which is grounded not in man but in the vnchangeable God Because thou art not changed therefore wee are not consumed A Christians answere to Sathans accusatious VVHy troubles thou me by laying my sinnes to my charge I know I haue many waies offended my God but this comfort I haue that what euer I
THREE HEAVENLY TREATISES concerning Christ 1 His Genealogie 2 His Baptisme 3 His Combat with Sathan TOGETHER VVITH deuout Meditations for Christian Consolation and Instruction By Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods Word LONDON Printed by T. S. for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at his shops at the great South doore of Paules and at Brittaines Bursse 1612. TO THE RIGHT Noble Lord Iohn Earle of Montrose Lord Graeme and Mugdok one of his Maiesties most Honourable Priuy Counsell in this Kingdome My Lord I Haue beene bold to publish these Treatises vnder your Honourable name not for any light that by them can accresse to that treasure of knowledge which is in your Noble minde but that so farre as I can I might make euident to others for imitation that grace which God hath made so eminent in you I may truely say there is no qualitie which in the iudgement either of learned Ancients or recents hath beene required to complete Nobilitie lacking in you Your honour being not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely Noble by birth but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also generous by manners such as retaine yea by vertue encreases the honour of your honourable Fathers It passed among the ancient wise men in a prouerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because commonly it fals out that children of worthy men comming short of their fathers vertue derogates to their glorie aequat rara patrem soboles And therefore in them qui clariores genere censâ—ntur it was euer thought an high commendation maiorum famam sustinere like as no greater shame can be to them of that ranke then when by their ignoble life they quench the light of their noble stock et generi suo dedecori sunt It is now twelue hundreth years since your honourable name hath beene famous in this kingdome but which is much more and wherein in my iudgement it is marueilous the first mention of your Tribe in the story doth not record the rising therof from a small estate vnto an higher as it doth in many Peeres of the land who for their vertue also were aduanced but at the first sight it presents your worthy Predecessor standing in the highest top of Honour wherein a subiect can be for not onely was he then brother in law to king Fergus the 2. but for his Wisedome Valour Manhood by consent of the Nobles both Scots Picts then gathered to battell he was chosen as meetest Chieftaine to demolish that diuision-wall of Abircorne stretching from the East sea to the West built first by Victorine and fortified thereafter more strongly by Gallio both of them Romane Lieutenants but more victoriously first last broken down by the valiant Graeme in presence of both the Kings that so a way might be prepared to their armies to make irruption vpon the Romans for which vnto this day the remanents of that worke beares the name of Graeme his ditch when himselfe is gone Facta ducis viuunt operosaquè gloria rerum Haec manet It is true there are many honourrable families in this land who communicate with you in the same name but that this is the honour of your house is euident not onely by the lands bordering with that wall possessed as yet by your L. and was as the story recordeth one of the motiues why that waighty charge was committed to your worthy ancestors but in this also that the remanant families who come vnder the communion of the same name hold lands of your house from which as from a most ancient stocke they as sproutes and branches haue growne and sprung out And of this as it is euident that your honourable house is more ancient then the Chronicle can declare so doth this greatly increase the glory of it that it hath continued in honour euer since euen to the daies of your noble Father of famous memory who for fidelitie to his Prince loue to his Countrey equity toward all men after he had borne many other offices of honour was in his olde age honored to be his Maiesties high Commissioner and also great Chancellor of this kingdome his house like the open court of Ahasuerus his palace wherein hee banquetted his people euer plenished and patent to such as pleased to resort In a word no lesse honourable in this Kingdome hath your Familie beene then the Tribes either of Leontis or Aeantis among the Athenians for their feates of armes and glorious victories atchieued in battell or among the Romanes these fiue principall families Vitellij Fabij Antonij Potitij Mamilij who for their most ancient discent were called Aborigines But howsoeuer these be great things yet are they not the greatest which doe commend you Virtute decet non sanguine niti It is a miserable pouertie where a man hath no matter of praise in himselfe but must borrow it from others Miserum est aliorum incumbere famae Yea the more honourable the parentage is the greater is the shame of him that degenerates from it and so becomes indignus genere Perit omnis in illo Gentis honoâ— cuius laus est in origine sola Here then is your greatest praise that as you are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lineally discended of so Noble and ancient a stocke for no writ nor memory of man can record the interruption of your Line so are you the vndoubted heyre of those vertues which shined in them Wisedome declared in doubtsome and difficult matters Manhood tryed as we say in discrimine Truth fit enim quod dicitur your words are sufficient warrants to such as know you Noble manners Veram nobilitatem testantur facies mores these are Insignia numina diuum And beside these beautified with other two rare graces wherunto they in regard of their times could not attain at least in the like measure Pietie and Erudition your honour being learned not onely in the common languages of the most famous countries of Europe but in the three most renowned languages whereby as yee haue attained to the knowledge of liberall Sciences so doe ye stil conserue and dayly encrease it by diligent reading and conference with the learned who for learning are loued and honoured by you Nam quae mox imitere legis nec desâ—nit vnquam Tecuâ—…â—…rataloqui Tecum Romana vetustas That which the wise K. Salomon said of Beauty without discretion the like may be said of Honour without Erudition It is as a ring in a swynes snout and therefore hath the learned expressed Erudition by the name of humanitie both because the care and study of Sciences is committed to man onely among all the creatures and for that man without Erudition is liker a beast then a man Turpe est viro principi parem dignitatisuae virtutem non afferre And these two Honour and Erudition shine so much the more cleerely in you that they are both crowned with singular and vnsimulate Pietie both professed and practised and that in a time of reuâ—lting great
and ordained in most solemne manner to doe the office of the Mesias that is of an anointed King Preist and Prophet for our Saluation so that he is now no more a priuate man but a publike by most sure authoritie and in most solemne manner become our head and redeemer And in his temtation we see how immediately after his ordination he encounters with Sathan in a singular combat ouercomming him in the wildernesse who before had ouercome our parents in paradise and so by his first deed after his consecration makes it manifest that he was come to destroy the workes of the Diuell If these three be ioyned together in one wee shall finde them making vp vnto vs a compleat doctrine of Christian consolation The Lord Iesus in regard of his diuine nature is called by the Prophet Zachary Gnamith Iehoua that is the fellow and companion of Iehoua or as Saint Paul expounds it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equall with God In regard againe of his humaine nature Iob calleth him Goel my kinsman In regard of his vnited natures he is called by Esay Emanuel God with vs. Now we know that by the law he who was neerest kinsman had power to reuenge the blood of his brother vpon the Murtherer if hee had found him without a Citie of refuge and therefore was he stiled by the name of an auenger and likewise hee had power to redeeme the inheritance which his brother through pouertie had lost for the word Gaal from which Goel commeth hath in it these two principall significations to redeeme and to reuenge So that heere wee see how the Lord Iesus being neerest of kinne vnto vs as wee may see out of his Genealogie being likewise clad with the power of a redeemer and reuenger as wee shall learne out of his Baptisme commeth immediately after his entrie to the publicke Office of the Messias vpon Sathan that murtherer and finding him out of a Citie of refuge enters into combat with him to reuenge the blood of his Brethren and to redeeme the inheritance which they had foolishly sould for nothing yea moreouer he doth that which no tipicall Goel vnder the Law was able to doe for not onely doth hee ouerthrow the murtherer but restoreth life againe to his brethren that were slaine and murthred by him Yours in the Lord William Cowper THE GENEALOGIE OF CHRIST Declaring how Iehoua becomes Gnimanuel GOD with vs. MATTHEVV 1. 23. Beholde a Virgin shall be with Childe and shall beare a Sonne and they shall call his name Emmanuel which is by interpretation GOD with vs. THE FIRST TREATISE declaring Christ his Genealogie THe Genealogie of IESVS CHRIST our LORD is written for this end that wee might know him and beleeue that Iesus the sonne of Mary is the Christ the sonne of God that blessed seede of the Woman promised to Adam that should breake the Serpents head that seede of Abraham in whom all nations were to be blessed for whom the godly looked in all ages the same is he whom in the fulnesse of time GOD hath exhibited vnto vs a branch of righteousnesse a pllant of renowne sprung of Iuda his tribe according to the flesh Herein haue wee neede to be confirmed that wee wander not in vncertainties but our faith may be stablished and grounded aright in him There are foure which haue written vnto vs the holy Gospell not at one time nor at one place nor yet aduising one with another for so it might haue beene thought there had beene some collusion among them but in that they wrot in seuerall places and times and yet doe speake all as it were with one mouth no difference at all being among them in these Articles that concerne the substance of saluation to wit the Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord it is out of all doubt as Chrisostome calles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very great demonstration of the verity Of these foure there are two onely that records his Genealogie vnto vs Saint Mathew and Saint Luke and these write of it diuerso modo sed non aduerso diuersly but not contrarily and the diuersitie being well considered shal be found to make vp the greater harmony as shall appeare in the particular handling thereof For Saint Mathew reckons from the Fathers downeward to the children but Saint Luke reckons from the Children vpward to the Fathers the one lets vs see how both they and wee come from God by his eternall Word Christ Iesus the other how by that same Word incarnate wee assend and returne to God againe We are of him by Christ Creator as his creatures or sonnes by our first creation we goe to him by Christ Redeemer as his new creatures or his sonnes by regeneration the first of these is common to all men the second proper to those onely who are of Christs spirituall kindred and the praise of this communion betweene God and man is to be reserued to CHRIST Iesus onely for it is no lesse absurditie to say that wee can goe to GOD the Father by any other then Christ then if it should be said also that wee came of God the Father by another then Christ. But now for orders sake wee will diuide the whole Genealogie into fiue sections reckoning as Saint Mathew doth from the Fathers to the Children for the better help of our memories the first is from Adam to Noah the second from Noah to Abraham the third from Abraham to Dauid the fourth from Dauid to Zorobabel the fifth from Zorobabel vnto Iesus Christ. In the first and second from Adam to Abraham Saint Luke runnes him alone In the third from Abraham to Dauid Saint Mathew and Luke runne together In the fourth from Dauid to Zorobabel they take different courses for where Saint Mathew goes downe from Dauid by Salomon Saint Luke followes the line from Dauid by Nathan and both of them meets in Salathiel where going on two steps together they part againe and the one takes his course from Zorobabel by Rhesa to Mary the other from Zorobabel by Abiud to Ioseph and in the end both of them meetes againe in Christ Iesus the reason of which diuersitie will appeare God willing in handling the seuerall sections thereof The first then is from Adam to Noah contayning ten Fathers Adam Seth Enosh Kenan Mahalaleel Iared Henoch Methusalem Lamech Noah Here as I said Saint Luke reckons him alone where Saint Mathew goes no higher then Abraham the reason of this diuersitie is that Saint Mathew in writing had a special respect to moue the Iewes to embrace the Gospell and therefore beginnes it in a manner most plausible to them The booke of the generation of Iesus Christ the sonne of Dauid the sonne of Abraham because it was then most commonly in the mouthes of all men that the Mesiah should be the sonne of Dauid But Saint Luke
wee should faint and be discouraged when we heare that Iaphet our father of whom wee are descended is not in the line of Christs parents let vs remenber that promise which God made to Iaphet and his posteritie at the same time that he entred into couenant with the house of Sem and wee shal be comforted for then the Lord promised that hee should perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Sem that is in most louing manner he should allure the posteritie of Iaphet to embrace the couenant made with the house of Sem like as at this day praised be God he hath performed For now partly obstinacie is come to Israel till the fulnesse of the gentiles come in Sixteene hundreth yeares did the Lord dwell in the house of Sem and now other 1600 yeares hath he dwelt in the house of Iaphet going through the seuerall families thereof among whom hee hath also visited vs in these ends of the earth his holy Name againe be blessed therefore for euer for now wee see that vnto vs no lesse then to them appertaineth the promises of Mercie and couenant of Grace And therefore though our parents be not among the progenitors of Christ according to the flesh for that is the priuiledge of our elder brethren the Iewes that theirs are the fathers of whom Christ is come according to the flesh yet let vs endeuour to make sure this comfort to our selues that we are come of him according to the spirit grace of regeneration When that woman in the gospell cried out after our Lord Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the papps which gaue thee sucke she receiued this answere from him yea rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it And when againe one told him behold thy Mother and thy Brethren stand without desiring to speake with thee he answered who is my Mother and who are my Brethren he stretched out his hand toward his Disciples and said behold my Mother and my Brethren Now it is knowne that many of his Disciples were not his kinsmen according to the flesh but to remoue all scruple and to shew how much hee esteemes of the spirituall kindred he subioynes For who soeuer shall doe my fathers will who is in heauen the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother It is true indeede all Christs progenitors were blessed being honoured by him and endued with faith by his grace teaching by the way all children to communicate the best things they haue vnto their parents yet is it true of them all which Beda cited by the Rhemists themselues said of the Virgin Mary She was blessed indeede in that she was the tempor all meane and minister of the Incarnation but much more blessed in that she continued the perpetuall keeper of his word that is blessed indeede in that she was the mother of our Lord and conceaued him in her wombe but much more blessed for conceauing him in her heart by faith Then our instruction is that though neither our names nor our Fathers be in the catalogue of Christs progenitors yet if we be in the roll of his children and brethren wee shall haue comfort sufficient though hee be not come of vs according to the flesh if wee be come from him according to the spirit as his sonnes and daughters by regeneration wee shal be blessed in him euen as they were The third section containes the roll of Fathers from Abraham to Dauid fourteene in number Abraham Isaac Iacob Iuda Phares Esrom Aram Aminadab Naasson Salmon Booz Obed Iese and Dauid Where first it comes to be considered how is mention made that Iacob begat Iuda and his brethren more then that Abraham begat Isaac and his brethren or that Isaac begat Iacob and his brother the reason is that all the sonnes of Abraham did not belong to the couenant howsoeuer circumcised neither did the Lord choose their posterities to be his Church and peculiar people as hee did choose the sonnes of Iacob and their children for vnto them all pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Couenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of God and promises What a dispensation is this all the sonnes of Iacob are pertakers of the externall Adoption not so the sonnes of Abraham But so it is the calling of the Lord is freely he is debtor to none and therefore they to whom his calling is come should so much the more acknowledge themselues obliged to his mercy as this day wee are bound to doe considering that he hath passed by so many of the sonnes of Adam so many of the families of Iaphet more famous and honourable then wee are and hath beene pleased to make his couenant with vs but let vs be wise euer remembring that there are many within the couenant externally Adopted who doe not for all that belong to the election of grace and therefore giuing thankes to God for the one that wee are in the couenant and haue receiued the seales thereof let vs prease further to be pertaker of the other that is the grace of the Couenant Next it is to be considered heere why in this Genealogie Thamar Rahab and Bethsabe are mentioned among the mothers of our Lord and not Sara nor Rebecca women famous for godlinesse whereas this Thamar howsoeuer shee had an earnest desire of seede and thereby declared her faith in the promises of God yet shee sought it by an vnlawfull incestuous copulation with her owne father in law and Rahab by Nation was a Cananite by conuersation a harlot and Bethshabe the wife of Vriah was shee with whom Dauid committed double adultrie The reasons of this are many but wee content vs with three the first is to humble the Iewes the second is to comfort sinners the third to shew the great glory of Christ. As for the first it is knowne how insolently the Iewes gloried that they were the posteritie of Abraham neglecting the vertues of their fathers they boasted that they were their children esteeming their fathers vertue a sufficient Apologie and defence of all their vices and therefore to humble them the blemishes of their parents are purposly shewed in this Genealogie And to teach all men that true Nobilitie is not in the priuiledges of flesh but in the graces of the minde neither to be sought without vs in the prerogatiues of our parents but within our owne proper vertues whereby we are rectified But at this day it may be spoken to many which as Nazianzen records was sometime answered to a Noble man despising another that was come of meane parentage boasting of his owne nobilitie mihi inquit probro genus meum est tu autem generituo My parentage is a reproach to me but thou art a reproach to they parentage The second reason is to comfort poore penitent sinners The Lord Iesus
came into the world non vt iudex sed vt medicus not as a iudge but as a Phisitian non vt nostra fugeret opprobria sed extingueret potius that hee might not shunne our reproches but rather that hee might blot them out and heale them If it had pleased him hee might haue created mans nature anew such as had neuer sinned as was Adams nature before the fall such a one I say might hee haue created and ioyned it in a personall vnion with his diuine but if so hee had done where then should haue bene the comfort of sinners wee had still remained vnder desperation without any hope that this nature of ours should euer haue beene deliuered from the corruption thereof but that now hee assumed our nature which once was sinfull and hath fully seperated it from all sinne it giues vnto vs liuely hope that hee will also sunder vs from our sinnes so that they shall not be able to hinder our spirituall fellowship and communion with him The third reason is to manifest Christ his greater glory by declaring to the world that hee tooke no holinesse of his fathers If all his parents mentioned in this Genealogie had bene famous for godlinesse onely it might haue beene thought a small matter for Christ to be holy that was come of so holy progenitors but in that he descended of sinnefull parents and yet was borne a holy one and without sinne it declared him to be that great high Preist holy harmeles vndefiled separate from sinners who giueth holinesse to all that are in communion with him but takes not holinesse from any This is his peculiar glory belonging to himselfe alonely and to none other And therefore the Papists while as they goe about to honour Christ by affirming that his mother the blessed Virgin was conceiued and borne without sinne doe in very deede rather dishonour him as if from her he had taken the holinesse of his nature or that hee could not haue beene conceiued and borne without sinne vnlesse his mother had beene conceiued and borne without sinne before him They might consider that the holy Ghost by whom our Lord was conceiued could very well discerne the seede of Dauid in the Virgins wombe from the sinnefull corruption thereof he tooke that seede hee sanctined it and separated it from sinne and of it framed the humane body of our Lord and this is the true doctrine reseruing to Iesus Christ his proper glory and to poore sinners their necessary comfort But the contrary doctrine of the Aduersaries long before vs was condemned by Bernard as a presumptuous noueltie the mother of Temeritie the sister of of Superstition the daughter of Leuitie so hee termed that vnaduised attempt of the Channons of Lyons who first did institute a feast of the conception of Mary to be obserued in the Church in the honourable remembrance of her conception without sinne for it is saith he the onely prerogatiue of Christ who was to sanctifie all hee came without sinne to take away the sinnes of others quo excepto de caetero vniuersos respicit ex Adamo natos quod vnus humiliter de seipso veraciter consitetur In iniquitatibus conceptus sum et in peccato fouit me mater mea What then wil be the reason of this festiuall conception how shall that conception be esteemed holy which is not of the holy Ghost but of sinne or how shall it be honoured with a feast which is not holy Lubenter gloriosa virgo tali honore carebit quo vel peccatum honorari vel falsa induci videtur sanctitas willingly saies hee will the glorious Virgin want such honour by which either sinne seemes to be honoured or a false holinesse brought into the Church In the rest of this section no other particular is to be touched but that Salomon begets Booz of Rahab who was a Cananitish woman and Booz begets Obed of Ruth a Moabitish woman both of them Gentiles yet reckoned in by name among Christs mothers according to the flesh and that for the comfort of the Gentiles also to let vs see that God is no accepter of persons but that whosoeuer calles vpon the name of the Lord shal be saued for in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision auailes any thing nor vncircumcision but saith which workes by loue Both Iew and Grecian bond and free male and female are now all one in Christ Iesus And if we be Christs then are wee Abrahams seede and heires by promise The fourth section containes the roll of Fathers from Dauid vnto Zorobabel where againe Saint Mathew and Saint Luke takes diuerse courses for where Saint Mathew diduces the line from Dauid by Salomon Saint Luke brings it downe from Dauid by Nathan not Nathan the Prophet but another of that name Dauids sonne by Bethshabe and so Salomons brother germaine Where if the doubt be moued how our Sauiour could discend of them both they being two brethren it is answered that by the Law established among the Iewes it was prouided that if a man had died without issue his brother or neerest kinsman was bound to marrie his wife and raise vp seede vnto him now Salomons race we may see ended in Ieconiah the eighteenth man after him according to that word of the Lord by Ieremie O Earth Earth Earth heare the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord write this man childelesse for there shal be no man of his seede that shall prosper and sit vpon the throne of Dauid or beare rule any more in Iuda It is true that to this same Ieconiah children are ascribed 1 Chro. 3. but these are children by succession not by generation And therefore Ieconiah as I haue said dying without issue Salathiel the sonne of Neri in the line of the other brother Nathan comes in as neerest Heyre and is reckoned by Saint Mathew the sonne of Ieconiah to wit Legall For wee must vnderstand that there was a double discent vsually reckoned among the Iewes the one Legall the other Naturall the Naturall discent was when as one by Naturall generation discended of another the Legall when one not naturally discended of another yet succeded as neerest of kinne to the inheritance now to let vs see the agreement of the Euangelists Saint Luke diduces the Naturall line of Christ from Dauid making it knowne how Christ by Nathan is the Naturall sonne of Dauid according to the flesh but Saint Mathew diduces the Legall line of Christ from Dauid making it knowne how Christ as Salomons heire and lawfull King of the Iewes succeeded as neerest of kinne to sit vpon the throne of Dauid his father For the which also Saint Mathew calles him borne King of the Iewes and the Iewes themselues could not name any of there nation neerer then he and therefore hauing no lawfull exception against him cryed out in their wilfulness Wee will haue no King
wee affirme that this is a perishing life and yet wee care for life eternall as if it would last but for one yeere but wee care for this life as if it would neuer come to an end Will wee looke to Dauid and others of the Children of GOD what moued him may we thinke to pray seauen times in the day to water his Couch with teares when hee lay downe and to preuent the morning watch to prayer but that hee knew it was a difficult thing to get through the snares of this life and attaine vnto eternall life But the professors of this age liue as if it were nothing to come to heauen and they were sure at length to get it for a wish and therefore they doe liue busie about many things with Martha pertaining to the body but carelesse of that one thing needfull commended in Mary From this blindnesse of minde the Lord deliuer vs. VERSE 4. And Iesus answered and said HEre the Lord Iesus repelleth this first temptation of Sathan by a testimonie of holy Scripture which conueniently he alledges out of the eight of Deutronomie there Moses sheweth the Israelites how that when ordinarie food failed them in the Wildernesse God fed them with Manna from heauen to declare vnto them and all others that it is not by bread man liueth onely but by the word of God and therefore will our Sauiour say to Sathan thou dost wrong to restraine the prouidence of God to this particular meanes of Bread seeing both the written Word testifieth and GOD by his Word hath declared that any meanes is good enough to preserue the life of man if God by his Word grant his blessing vnto it yea his word without all meanes is able to doe it It is written OF this first we learne how in our spirituall warfare wee should vse the written word as being the sword of that spirit by which Sathan is confounded Of this first Papists are conuinced who debarre the poore people from the comfort of the word alledging it pertaines to churchmen and not to simple people to reade the Scriptures whereas by the contrary as Chrysostome witnesseth it is much more necessarie for them then for the other Qui enim versantur in medio vulnera quotidie accipiunt magis indigent medicamine for they who comes out in publike and are euery day wounded hath most neede of medicine yea how can they fight as the good soulders of Christ seeing the armour of GOD is taken from them by such as pretends to be their gouernors so that in effect as if they were in couenant with Sathan they deliuer the poore people of God armourlesse vnto him handling them as the Philistimes did the Israelites who left not a Smith among them to make them a weapon that so they being armourlesse might more easily be kept in subiection And next carelesse professors are also reproued who being commanded to search the scripture that in them they may finde eternall life and hauing now in the reformed church libertie granted them to doe so yet will not vse it but willingly interdite themselues from the comfort of the word of the Lord threatens the famine of the word as a great plague Quid igitur infoelicius quam vt quod deus in panam minatur hoc tu iam sponte in caput tuum attrahas what more miserable thing can be then this to draw that willingly vpon thine owne head which GOD hath threatned as a curse Man liues not by bread onely THis answere hath two parts Whereof the first is Negatiue denying that necessity which Sathan alleadged the other is affirmatiue The first is here wherein our Lord doth not deny that man liues by bread if the Lord vse it as a meane to nourish him but that man liues not by bread onely Of this first we learne that the second meanes appointed by God are not to be despised for we see our Sauiour in this disputation with Sathan excludes them not for in the right vse of them the power wisedome prouidence and goodnes of God are praised who hath prouided so many good things for the good of man and hath giuen power vnto things without life to helpe the life of man And this I marke first for weake Christians who are so farre abused by Sathan sometime that they thinke it not lawfull for them to eate and drinke and to nourish that body wherein sinne is harboured against the Lord it is true indeede euery christian ought to haue a care that the nourishment of the body become not a nourishment of sinne in the body but so that thou runne not to the other extremitie to account that euill which God hath ordained for thy good Certainely as Sathan enuies that thou should enioy the fauour of thy GOD so enuies hee that thou shouldst enioy the comfortable vse of any creature that euer God made yea euen of meate and drinke Where he cannot tempt thee to the abuse of it by intemperancie hee doth what he can to defraude thee of it working vpon thy weake conscience makes thee to conceiue a scrupple where there is none and bindes thee there where God hath made thee free And next the vse of the meanes is marked for idle men who are desirous to liue wanting nothing necessary for their life but they wil not work these as afterward followes are tempters of God despising the meanes they will eyther be fed miraculously by the hand of God as Israel was in the wildernes or else impiously will seeke their foode by vnlawfull shifts out of the hands of Sathan Next wee learne that howeuer the second meanes are to be vsed yet are wee not to trust in them as if it were they and not Gods blessing that did helpe our life Physicke is good but because Asa trusted in it it could not profit him And flesh is good for nourishment but because Israel thought that their life was in it GOD slew them by the same meane by which they thought to liue and therefore the Lord to teach men that the vertue is not in the meanes but in his blessing Sometime hee workes without meanes as when hee made light without the Sun fertilitie of the earth without raine when hee kept the life of Moses without meate and made cornes grow vnto Ezechia without sowing and sometimes to small meanes hee giues great vertue as when hee made one paire of shooes and one sute of raiment last Israel forty yeares There were many in the daies of Elisha who had more oyle and meale then the widdow of Sarepta had but wanted the blessing shee had and therefore was theirs spent when her portion being lesse remained to the ende Beside this the very nature of the meanes which wee vse may teach vs it is not they that preserues our life for they being things without life themselues and such as by time putrifies and rots what life can
they giue or keep vnto vs Or if they be things endued with life we see that they must first loose their life before they become helpes of our life to teach vs that howeuer by them we liue yet in them is not that vertue that conserues our life Last of all experience confirmes it if bread preserued the life then they who are best fed would be most liuely but we see the contrary more lusty was Daniel vpon his potage then the other children were on the kings delicates Dauid in his old daies wanted no couerings nor garments but none of them could get heate to his body We see by experience some consuming more then may content other three yet in the midst of wealth they dwyne away and poore labourers feeding on the refuse of bread and water more strong and liuely then they all these doe declare it is not the meanes which preserue the life but how it is preserued he declares in the affirmatiue part that followeth But by euery word that comes out c. THat is by euery decree and ordinance of God any meane which hee appoints is sufficient to nourish thee If hee decree that thou liue without bread it shall be so with thee as with Moses and Elias or if he say the word that a handfull of meale shall serue thee for a long time so it shall be And hereof first wee learne how that the life of man hangs on the word of God to continue or to cut it short at his pleasure Thou turnest man to destruction againe thou saiest returne ye sonnes of Adam But alas how few considers this to giue vnto the Lord the praise of the continuance of their life by liuing to him but by the contrary in the blindnes and stupiditie of their mindes rebels against him by whom alonely they liue A fearefull ingratitude man can giue seruice to man of whom he holds his land and can not giue seruice to God of whom hee holds his life The Sidoneans would not make warre with Herod because they were nourished by his lands yet man feares not offend the Lord from whose hand euery day hee receiues nourishment without which he could not liue And next wee learne here how to remedie our faithlesse cares when either ordinarie meanes failes vs or can not profit vs as when in sicknes medicine helpes not in pouerty ordinary meanes relieues not our want in trouble no appearance of deliuerance shal we therefore despaire No farre be it from vs but remember it is not by bread that is by the ordinarie meanes that man liues onely but by the word of God and therefore let vs rest in God and trust in him who raises the dead and many timesmakes the second meanes to faile vs that so we may be chased to runne vnto himselfe MATH 4. VER 5. Then the Diuell tooke FOllowes the second Temptation Wherein Sathan keepes a course plaine contrarie to the first in the former he tempted to Desperation thy poor indigent estate proues thou canst not be the Sonne of God in this hee tempts to presumption If thou be sure that thou art the Son of God then doe what thou wilt nothing can harme thee Thus Sathan assaults not the godly alwayes with one temptation but can craftily change them for his owne aduantage such as hee cannot draw to one extremitie he labours to draw to another and albeit by this craft hee preuailed nothing with the Sonne of GOD yet doth hee many time by it speede among men There are some whom he can not moue to be carelesse in religion and them he tempts to the other extremitie to be superstitious in religion some whom he cannot induce to shake off conscience yet hee makes scrupulous in conscience doubting where they neede not and so of other temptations for the which wee haue neede to be armed with the armour of God on the right hand and on the left This temptation Saint Luke makes the third S. Mathew the second but the difference is nothing for in the Euangelists describing this History of Christ doe not so much stand vpon the precise order of the times as vpon the substance matter of things which were done In the first assault we haue seene how our Lord did ouerthrow Sathans first Captaine Desperation with his followers Now we shall see how in the other wing of Sathans armie hee ouercomes his second Captaine Presumption with his followers Wherein the time first is noted Then that this temptation ensued vpon the end of the former learning vs after victorie gotten in any battell against Sathan not to fall into securitie but to stand still in our armour expecting another assault In bodily conflicts securitie after victorie hath many times brought destruction to mighty armies the Amalekites sitting downe to eate and drinke after the burning of Ziklag suddenly in their securitie ouerthrowne by the sword of Dauid may stand for a proofe of it but in the spirituall battell it is much more dangerous Secondly the place is described the holy Citie Ierusalem where first wee haue to consider how it is that Sathan carryes him vnto it whether was this transportation mentall or corporall The first I denie for it could not be that our Sauiours imagination could be so farre abused as that he should thinke he was carried when he was not caryed nothing in him could be deceiued All his tentations as I said were externall onely and proceeded not to the mouing or affecting any of his internall faculties and therefore I agree vnto the second that this transportation was corporall Where if it be offensiue to any of Gods Children to heare that our Sauiours blessed body should be handled and carried from place to place by that vncleane Spirit let them consider that this was done not against his will but with his owne will as afterward willingly hee was lead by Sathans members like a sheepe to the slaughter so now willingly is he carried by Sathans selfe to be tempted of him and that for the greater glory of his owne name greater confusion of Sathan and greater comfort of his children The Lord Iesus permits the aduersarie to handle his holy body to carry it for a time to such places as might yeeld him greatest vantage to tempt it hee permits him to speake what hee pleased and to shew what obiects he could for his allurement yea he is content to be deliuered into the hands of wicked men Sathans instruments and giues them libertie to abuse his blessed body to spit vpon it to buffet it to scourge it to crucifie it and yet for all that hee could doe either by himselfe or by his members he can neuer preuaile against the Lord Iesus Certainely the more liberty Sathan had granted to him in all this the greater was his owne shame and confusion and the more manifest the glory of our inuincible captaine who cannot be ouercome nay not
when he is in the hands of his very enemies Againe this is for the comfort of Gods children for sometime power is giuen to Sathan ouer their bodies to afflict them as we see for a time in Iob or for a time to possesse them as hee did the body of Magdalen for albeit then shee was not called yet euen then was shee an elect woman least therefore the children of God should at any time be discouraged with the like of this to take it for an argument of reprobation or finall deliuery of them vnto Sathan that the Lord for a time permits him to haue power our their bodies the Lord Iesus who would in all things be tempted as we are except sinne did taste of this temptation also for our comfort This being spoken concerning the manner of his carrying now we come to the place which is the holy City Ierusalem more particularly the very Temple which stood in the sight of all Ierusalem Sathan sets him on the platforme of it wherein were turrets with pinacles on their tops this place he takes as most conuenient for his purpose thou hast lurked too long as a priuate man among this people if thou be the Sonne of GOD that promised Messiah the king of Israel here is the time and place to shew thy selfe in the sight of Ierusalem all the people shall admire thee and acknowledge thee for to be the Sonne of God if thou cast thy selfe downe among them which easily thou maist doe without all perill or harme seeing the Lord hath giuen his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee Concerning the place beside that which we marked in the first temptation how that there is no place so holy on earth wherin we can be free from the temptations of this vnholy spirit In Paradise he tempted Adam at Christs table he tempted Iudas and in the very Temple dedicated to the seruice of God how often finde wee by experience that hee dare tempt vs making vs eyther to turne the house of God into an house of marchandise while hee drawes away our mindes to thinke vpon worldly affaires or else into a den of theeues whilst he carryeth our Eyes to wander after vanitie that so hee may infect the heart or else at least he casts vpon vs the spirit of slumbring that wee cannot with reuerence heare the word of the Lord. Sathan is an enemie to euery good action standing alwayes at Iosuahs right hand to hinder him but specially doth hee resist vs in the Exercâ—ses of the Word and Prayer and seeketh to polluâ—e vs most in those places wherein wee should be most sanctified and therefore as the Iewes in the building of Ierusalem had their weapon in the one hand and their worke-toole in the other so wee when wee come to edifie our selues in the most holy Faith haue neede to haue an eye continually vpon our aduersarie and our weapon ready to resist him And set him on a pinnacle of the Temple FOr what end Sathan set our Lord there is euident out of that which followes that he might from thence cast him downe Sathan in his working is contrary vnto the Lord for the Lord casts downe to the end hee may raise vp so did hee with S. Paul first he cast him to the ground and then raised him vp to the honour of an Apostle but Sathan if he raise vp any man it is for this end that he may cast him downe It is true preferment comes neither from the East nor from the West but from the Lord yet such as come to high places by euill meanes are said to be raised vp by Sathan It were good for men to abhorre such preferments with those famous Martyrs who when offers of honourable Offices were made to them answered Nolumus honorem vnde nobis nascetur ignominia wee will none of that honour which breedes vs ignominie for that honour wherevnto men come with an euill conscience shall assuredly end in shame If thou be THis tentation as wee said is to Presumption and Vaine-glory Before men thou shalt haue great honour if by this Miracle thou manifest thy selfe the Sonne of God and at Gods hand thou needest feare none euill for since thou art his Son thou maist doe what thou wilt hee will not let thee perish This temptation to presumption in this age preuailes mightily ouer many who abuse Gods mercy and turne the grace of God into wantonnesse conceiting with themselues that because God is mercifull and Christ hath dyed for sinners and they haue receiued the seales of the Couenant and are now by adoption the Sonnes of God therefore they may doe what they list And though they cast not their bodies from on high to the ground being loath to endanger their naturall liues yet they spare not to make daily shipwracke of their Soules and Consciences by casting themselues downe head-long into euery snare of the Diuell A lamentable thing that the death of Christ should be abused to entertaine the life of sinne he died to abolish sinne and destroy the workes of the Diuell and miserable man will take boldnesse to sin the more freely because Christ dyed for him Where desperation enters all men see and abhorre it but though this presumption possesse the greatest multitude in this generation yet are they few who perceiue it The other branch of this temptation as I noted tends to a seeking of vaine-glory before men while hee would prouoke our Sauiour to manifest by vnlawfull meanes that hee was the Sonne of God And this is Sathans ordinarie temptation whereby hee assaults such as are endued with graces aboue others If the Apostle S. Paul had neede of counterpoyse against pride alas what haue wee Many doth Sathan so bewitch with a loue of their owne glory that rather then it shall not be manifested they will blaze it abroad themselues in most vaine-glorious manner and so vnawares they cast downe themselues before Sathan for to seeke thine owne glory is not glory But this is strange that Sathan hauing power to set our Lord on the toppe of the Temple puts not to his owne hand to cast him downe but tempts him to cast himselfe downe thus we see how in the greatest libertie Sathan hath hee is alwayes bound and brideled that he cannot doe what he would if hee get a commission or power it is euer with limitation as wee see in Iob loe he is in thine hand but saue his life And except wee our selues giue him armour he cannot hurt for it is by man himselfe that hee gets at any time vantage ouer man Let vs praise the power of God that restraines him let vs marke the impotence of Sathan let vs confirme our harts by grace to resist him so shall hee neuer be able to hurt vs. Last of all as here his voyce is Cast thy selfe downe so is it in the next assault Fall downe and worship mee This is the
proper voyce of Sathan Cast thy selfe downe Neuer hath he any word for himselfe or others to bid them mount vp to the Lord but alwayes to draw them downe Hee cast himselfe downe from heauen to hell and if he might would cast downe all Gods Children from the state of grace into the state of condemnation Oh if we could remember that in effect this is the summe of all Sathans temptations Cast thy selfe downe seeking no other thing but our downe-fall disgrace and vtter destruction And yet alas how many are bewitched by him to cast downe themselues and wallow in euery puddle of iniquitie doing those works of vncleannesse which are base and most vnseemely for a Christian who in regard both of his first and second creation is an honourable creature For it is written VVEe haue heard what Sathan craued in this temptation now followeth the reason whereby he would allure our Lord to yeeld vnto him The end of all is to take out of Christs heart the feare of any inconuenience that might befall him by this precipitation of himselfe And this is Sathans customable policie also to steale out of the heart the feare of iudgement which hee knowes God worketh in his owne as a curbe to keepe them from sinne If you eate of the Tree whereof I haue forbidden you saith the Lord yee shall dye No saith Sathan though yee eate of it yee shall not dye Blessed is hee that teacheth his heart continually to feare Let vs therefore keepe this feare that it may keepe vs from sinne It was Iosephs argument to his Brethren I feare God and therefore dare doe you no wrong Feare is called by Gregorie Anchora cordis the Anchor of the heart which holds fast that it be not driuen away by the restlesse waues of temptations Now in this testimonie we haue first to see how Sathan abuseth it and next how were should vse it for our comfort His abusing of it I gather in three things first this is a great abuse to draw any part of Gods Word to serue him in tempting a man vnto sinne seeing it is true of it all which S. Iohn speakes of one part of it My Babes these things I write vnto you that yee sinne not And in this his miserable captiues are become his learned disciples when they vse any sentence of holy Scripture of strengthen themselues or others in a sinne so the Drunkard abuseth that saying of the Apostle to cheare vp his heart to intemperance Drinke no longer water but vse a little wine for thy stomackes sake and thine often infirmities whereas if the Apostle were now aliue hee would change that precept to our belly-gods and giue them the contrary Drinke no longer wine but vse more water not onely for conscience sake but euen for the stomackes sake for Intemperance destroyes euen the naturall life The idle man againe to confirme himselfe in his sinne abuseth that saying of our Sauiour Care not for the morrow and many thinke the lesse of adultery and murther because Dauid was guiltie of them and yet a man commended of God not remembring that the vertues of good men are registred for our imitation but their sinnes are recorded for our humiliation Vt casus maiorum sit tremor minorum that meaner men should tremble at great mens fals This is a piece of Sathans diuellish diuinitie to confirme thy selfe in a sinne by any thing that euer thou heardst or readst in the Word of God Secondly his abusing of holy Scripture is euident in this that rehearsing such a place of holy Scripture as describes the office of Elect Angels and the blessed estate of Elect men who are protected of God by the ministerie of Angels and so might very well haue remembred him of that first happy estate and of his present vnhappy condition whereinto he had fallen by pride yet he makes no profit by it at all hee is not touched with any remorse for his sin nor once moued so much as to lament according as hee had cause Alas that euer I fell from the fellowship of those holy Angels Alas that I should abide in this desperate estate as to impugne the glory of God which cannot be oppugned and to fight against his Saints ouer whom I shall neuer preuaile Nay no such thought or motion enters into his heart This proceedes from his great obstinacie in euill which lockes him vp in finall impenitencie in that sinne which is against the holy Ghost that neyther can he nor will he repent but contrary his light wilfully and of malice hee sets himselfe alwayes a contradicter of the Lord. These are Viae Daemonum praesumptio obstinatio the wayes of damned Diuels Presumption and Obstinacie Propter praesumptionem stare non potuit propter obstinationem resurgere non potest for presumption hee could not stand for obstinacie hee cannot rise the one casts him into the sinne of shamefull Apostasie the other holds him vnder the sinne of fearefull impenitencie and these are the sins into the which Sathan labors most to draw men finding by his owne experience they are most forcible to bring men to the fellowship of his condemnation Wee cannot deny we are guiltie of the first which is Apostasie the Lord preserue vs from the second which is impenitencie And herewithall let vs acknowledge the great loue of GOD towards vs that whereas Apostate Angels haue fallen and shall neuer rise againe and reprobate men haue sinned but cannot repent the Lord hath reserued mercy for vs renuing and raising vs vp daily by the grace of repentance O what a mercy is it we were once plunged with them into the same deepe but the Lord stretcheth out his hand vnto vs to pull vs out from among them and to bring vs to an happy fellowship with himselfe and his holy Angels Let vs reioyce in this kindnesse of our God let vs be thankfull for it let vs daily delight in this grace of Repentance lamenting our apostasies recounting our fore-passed sinnes in the bitternesse of our hearts that so the sense of peace and reconciliation with God in Christ Iesus may be encreased in vs. And againe here is a warning to all senselesse and stupid hearers of the Word of God who when they heare their sinnes condemned are eyther not moued at all or else if they be moued are not mended So Pharaoh had some motion and prayed Moses to pray for him but it was without continuance being choked by the hardnesse of his hart Achab rent his cloaths and put on Sackcloath at the threatning of Elias but his humiliation continued not Foelix trembled when Paul preached but hee proceeded no further Yet euen these may condemne the senselesse hearers of this age who after so long hearing haue beene so little moued And those come ouer-neare vnto the nature of Sathan who is so confirmed in his sinne that no conuiction made by the cleare light of
the Word of God can moue him to repent It is farre otherwise with the godly if the Lord speake they tremble if his Word condemne any sinne in them they fall downe and mourne before him till hee forgiue it So were the Publicanes moued at the preaching of Iohn the Baptist to cry What shall we doe So were the Iewes pricked in their hearts at the preaching of Peter saying What shall we doe So cryed the Iaylor to Paul and Silas What must I doe to be saued And good Iâ—fias his heart melted at the hearing of the Law Fruits which are vnripe will not easily fall though the tree be shaken by the hand of a strong man but those which are ripe may be pulled by the hand of a Childe Ita in cordibus electorum sine magna difficultate efficax est verbum gratiae à quocunque tandem annuntietur The word of Grace is powerfull in the hearts of the Elect without any great difficultie by whosoeuer it be preached When Augustines hearers with great applause commended his preaching but mourned not for their sinnes it was a notable answere hee gaue them Folia haec sunt nos fructus quaerimus these are the leaues we seeke for fruit And the like hath Chrysostome Si haec audientes doletis maximas me debere vobis gratias confiteor quis est enim qui me laetificat nisi qui contristatur ex me If yee hearing these things are grieued I confesse that I am greatly endebted vnto you for who is hee that maketh mee chearefull but hee who is made heauy and sorrowfull by me Both of them teaching vs that then onely is Gods word profitable vnto vs when it worketh in vs that godly sorrow that causeth repentance to saluation neuer to be repented of And thirdly his abuse of the Scripture appeareth in his mutilation of it for hee leaueth out these words In all thy wayes because they made against him for it is not the way of a godly man to precipitate himselfe from a height but to come downe some ordinary way And this is also a piece of Sathans skill in tempting men to hide from them that which may restraine them from sinne and onely to let them see that which may embolden them vnto it And herein also we learne how wee should vse the promises of Gods protection to our comfort and not abuse them to the offence of our God It is true God hath promised protection to his Children but all his promises are euer with a condition that wee keepe ourselues within the wayes of God The Lord is with you while yee be with him Sathan knoweth this very well that so long as men walke in the way of God the Lord is a hedge vnto them and his Angels are as a guard to keepe them and therefore his first care is to draw them out of the way of God that so spoiling them of their protector they may become a pray vnto him this is cleare in that policie which Balaam taught Balak and wee may see by experience it is the daily practise of Sathan Now hauing seene how Sathan abuseth this testimonie it remaineth that wee consider the right vse of it Where first of all wee haue to consider the great maiestie and glorious power of the Lord our God who hath vnder his charge these armies of innumerable Angels for thousand thousands stand before him and tenne thousand thousands minister vnto him The Chariots of God are twentie thousand thousands of Angels and the Lord is among them as in the Sanctuarie of Sinai Wee admire the glory of worldly Princes when wee see them come forth backed with their strong Guards and pompous traine for Salomon saith The glory of a King is in the multitude of his Subiects But if wee did see this hoast of the liuing God wherein are two millions of strong warriours any one whereof is able to ouerthrow the army of the most puissant King of the earth as was declared on Sennacheribs armie then would we say hee must be a great and glorious God who hath so great and worthy warriours and all of them of his owne making vnder his charge Againe the fatherly care and goodnesse of the Lord to his children comes here to be considered his prouidence it selfe is sufficient enough to preserue and protect vs and yet for helpe of our weakenesse hee hath giuen vs his Angels as ministring Spirits to attend vpon vs and that in such sort that as Nurses carry young Children in their armes or otherwise holds them by both their hands till they may goe forward at their owne leasure vpholding them when they are ready to fall euen so hath the Lord giuen charge to his Angels with their hands to lift his Children least at any time they dash their foot against a stone otherwise it were not possible for vs to step one step forward without some great inconuenience befalling vs by Sathans malice if the protection of the Lord our God by the ministry of his Angels made vs not sure And Iesus answered and said vnto him HEre followeth our Sauiours reply to this Temptation wherein first wee see that as oft as Sathan impugnes so oft our Lord defends euer contradicting and refusing him teaching vs also to doe the like Resist the Diuel and hee will flye from you such as resist not when they are tempted declare themselues not to be Christs Souldiours but Sathans Captiues snared of the Diuell and taken of him at his will Secondly our Sauiour here by his example recommends vnto vs the sword of the Spirit which is the Word as a most necessary weapon in our spirituall warrefare against Sathan As it were a great ouer-sight in a Souldiour who knowes hee can at no time goe forth but hee must fight to goe forth without his armour so is it much more in a Christian. Where wilfully men neglect to get knowledge by the Word what maruell Sathan easily snare them both in Religion and manners They haue reiected saith Ieremie the word of the Lord and what wisdome then can be in them But of this wee spake in his reply to the first temptation Thirdly he answeres by Scripture not to oppose Scripture vn-Scripture for it cannot be contrary vnto it selfe but to proue that to be the wrong sense of Scripture which Sathan would haue enforced vpon it and out of this also wee learne how the best way to attaine vnto the true sense of Scripture is to conferre Scripture with Scripture Thou shalt not tempt THe summe of our Lords answere is As for the truth of that oracle alledged by thee I doubt nothing of it so long as his Children keepe his wayes they are sure of his Fatherly protection now that this is not the way of God to neglect the ordinary meanes appointed by God that is but a tempting of God expressely forbidden in the word of God As for the forbidden
tempting of God men fall into it many manner of wayes sometime they tempt him in his prouidence as Israel did in the Wildernesse limiting the holy one Sometime they tempt him in his mercy as they who cast themselues into vnnecessary dangers vnder hope that God will deliuer them And somtime they tempt him in his Iustice walking without repentance in their sinnes and yet thinke God will not punish them But most commonly they tempt him by neglecting the ordinarie meanes which God hath appointed to do good eyther to their bodies or soules as at this day many carnall professors doe who contemning the Exercises of the Word and Prayer do notwithstanding vainly conceit that they shall be saued as if now the Lord saued men by miracles as hee did that malefactor on the Crosse and not by the ordinarie meanes appointed by himselfe MATH 4 VER 8. Againe the Diuell tooke him vp SAthan now perceiuing both the wings of his armie discomfited by the armour of righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left wherewith our Lord resisted comes now forward with his maine battell wherein stands the loue of the world with the pleasures and preferments thereof but this he doth with no better successe then he had in the former for this Captaine also with his Fiftie or rather with his Legion is consumed by the fire of our true Elijah the onely Sonne of God hauing in most singular manner Iehouah for his strong God and Father In him I say did the fiery graces of the holy Ghost burne so feruently that all his powers were enflamed with a loue of the glory of God and saluation of his brethren and no place for the loue of the world was left in him In this temptation as in the former the Aduersary takes vantage of the place for now hee carries him from the Temple to the top of a mountaine as Balak King of Moab changed his place three times thinking to get Israel cursed in one place when hee could not in another but all in vaine so here doth Sathan but in vaine also And here we haue first the onset made by Sathan to be considered Secondly the repulse giuen by our Lord. In the onset we haue first to see how hee tempts our Sauiours eye with a shew of the glory of worldly kingdomes Secondly how he tempts his eare with an offer of them all vnto him And thirdly vpon what condition If thou wilt fall downe and worship me By this temptation of worldly things pleasant to the eye did he entangle our first Parents by this since then hath he snared and wounded all their posteritie and by it now as his strongest temptation doth hee hope to preuaile against the Lord Iesus but as wee haue said the successe is not according to his expectation And he shewed him HOw it is that Sathan could shew our Lord all the kingdomes of the world wee are not curiously to enquire seeing by the subtiltie of his wit and knowledge gotten by long experience hee being now almost sixe thousand yeares olde hee can doe many things which wee cannot vnderstand for if a man by the quicknes of his wit hath found out the way to present a view of the whole world in a Mappe or to let a man see himselfe represented in a glasse if this I say man can doe by the helpe of nature who for knowledge is but a childe if he be compared with Angels and for experience but of yesterday why shall wee thinke it strange to heare that Sathan could make a real representation in the Aire of all the glorious kingdomes of the world which we thinke he did But howeuer he did it certaine it is he presents to our Lord a glorious worldly sight for wee will neuer thinke that hee made him beleeue he saw that which he saw not and his end in presenting this pleasant obiect to the eye was out of all question to assay if hee could allure his heart with the loue thereof for this is one of his customable temptations whereby he hath greatly preuailed among the sonnes of men by the eye to encroach vpon the heart He deceiued Euah by looking on the Apple pleasant to the eye he deceiued the Sonnes of God who were of the line of Seth by looking on the daughters of men who were of the house of Cain he deceiued Achan by looking on a wedge of Gold and a goodly Babilonish garment hee deceiued Dauid by looking on the beauty of Bathsheba but so could hee not preuaile ouer our Lord for neither was his nature mutable from good as was Euah in her best estate farre lesse infected with a corrupt inclination to euill by exterior obiects as was Dauids and therefore could not this temptation worke vpon him But as for vs we haue great neede to arme our selues against it by reason of our inhabitant corruption which is easily wakened by exterior obiects vnlesse by holy discipline wee keepe and obserue our senses with no lesse holy care then Lot kept his in Sodome whose righteous soule was vexed but not delighted by hearing and seeing the vnrighteous words and deeds of the Sodomites Potiphars wife first cast her eyes vpon Ioseph Prima adulterii tela oculorum sunt the senses especially the eye saith Gregory sunt quasi quaedam viae mentis per quas for as veniat by which it comes after a sort out of the body to view things which are without by them quasi per fenestras exteriora animus respicit respiciens concupiscit and then doth death come in at our windowes when by our eyes concupiscence of things vnlawfull is wakened in our soules and therefore did Nazian in his lamentations wish that his eyes and eares should neuer open but vnto that which is good Malis autem vtrunque sua sponte clauderetur and Iob protested that hee suffered not his heart to walke after his eye but this will require both circumspection and earnest prayer with Dauid Lord turne away my eyes from regarding vanitie Secondly Sathan shewes our Lord the glorie of worldly kingdomes but he can speak nothing to the commendation of the heauenly kingdome once he was a partaker of it but hee lost it through his pride hee knowes it will neuer be his againe and therefore hee hath no delight to speake of it This I marke for worldlings that they may know of what spirit they are who when the heauen is offered to them in the Gospel hath no delight neither to heare nor speake of it all their talke is of the earth surely euen their speech bewrayes them for hee that is of the earth sanctis viris insolens est intolerabile quicquid illud non sanat quod intus amant but vnto men who are truely holy euery word which sounds not of that which inwardly they loue is not onely vnaccustomed but also intolerable And thirdly here is
Sathans craft discouered hee shewes him the glory of worldly kingdomes but not the vanity and misery that followes them In appearance it seemes to be Paradisus bonorum but in very deede it is as Chrysostome called it Euripus malorum but Sathan like a craftie fisher makes a shew of the baite but hides the hooke so he in all his temptations makes a vaine shew of the apparant pleasure or profit a man may haue by sinne but lets him not feele the terrour or paine comes by it till he be snared in it Fourthly wee marke here a difference betweene the kingdomes of this world and the kingdome of heauen the kingdomes of this world may be shadowed and represented they are seene and perceiued by our senses yea the glancing shew of their glorie doth farre exceede the substance which in effect any man hath euer found in them All the glorie of flesh is but like the flower of the field and but a phantasie so S. Paul speaking of the great pompe of Agrippa and Bernice saith they came downe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but what figure can represent the glory of that heauenly kingdome as it is None at all the eye saw neuer the eare heard neuer neither is the heart of man able to vnderstand those things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Here hee comforts men by things which hee hath made there he shall satisfie them with himselfe Deus est vita beatae non de his quae condidit sed de seipso verissimus largitor So it is indeed Sed nemo dormiens solem intuetur but as no man while he sleepes can behold the sunne quae putat se videre figmenta sunt and those things which in his sleepe hee thinkes hee sees are but plaine fictions so cannot a man in whom is no more but the spirit of the world taste of that glorie which is to come Relinquamus itaque vmbram qui solem quaerimus deseramus fumum qui lumen sequimur let vs therefore forsake this shadow if wee be seeking the bright shining sunne let vs goe forth from this smoke and darknes if wee be following the cleare light In a word as we are taught by the Apostle let vs awake from our sleepe and stand vp from the dead and Christ shall giue light vnto vs. And this is yet further confirmed when it is said he shewed them in the twinckling of an eye It was a glorious shew but it lasted not a short time tryes the vanity of al earthly pleasures they quickly vanish and which is worthy the marking if they did continue of pleasures they would turne into paines and sore displeasures let vs not therefore iudge of them by the present shew wherein Sathan may deceiue vs but by their continuance which Sathan is not able to giue The pleasures of sinne endure but for a season like the calmenesse of the sea like the fulnesse of the Moone like the fairenesse of winter so is all the prosperitie and pleasure of this life apparet ad momentum disparet in perpetuum for a moment it appeares and for euer againe it vanishes All this power will I giue thee HAuing seene the obiect which Sathan presented to our Sauiours eye now followes the offer hee makes in his eare both tending to this end to assay if by them hee could infect his heart In his offer wee see two notable lyes first saith he all these are mine al this power is deliuered into my hands The Psalmist saith The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof and wee reade in Daniel that honour glory and dominion are the Lords he changes kingdomes c. and this shamelesse Beare saies all is his when in very deede not so much as any beast in the world is his farre lesse any kingdome thereof for hee could not doe so much for all his pretended power as enter into a Sow vntill the Lord gaue him power Where if ye obiect vnto mee how is it then that Sathan is called by the Apostle the God of this world I answere that is onely in regard of the reprobate whom the Lord in iustice hath giuen ouer vnto Sathan and in whom hee commands and workes at his pleasure no otherwise then an executioner to whom the iudge giues power to punish a malefactor sometime in his goods sometime in his person and sometime by taking away of his life if this executioner should vaunt that he were Lord of life and death or had power of health and sicknes riches and pouertie such as knew him would not regard him It is euen so with Sathan he is but a false deceiuer for hee being the executioner of God imployed by the Lord to punish the wicked in their bodies in their mindes or in their goods will notwithstanding beare his blinded wretches in hand as if all this power were his owne The other lye hee makes is that he pretends hee would giue all these vnto Christ which as it was not in his power to doe so was it farre from his minde for he enuies that man should enioy any creature that euer the Lord made so the ende will declare when he shall bring his miserable captiues to such a scarsitie and famine of all good things that if a drop of water might comfort them they shall not get it We must therefore put a difference betweene Sathans promises and his performance liberall in the one poore in the other faire in promises but false in deeds He promised to make Euah like vnto God but hee made her like vnto himselfe with Laban hee can name a Rachel and giue a Leah Like Ioab hee can kisse with the mouth and slay with the hand he can promise victory to Achah that so he may chase him to confusion name what he will what can he giue but a part of his owne portion that is to make miserable man a partaker with him in his most fearefull condemnation And yet alas how many are dayly bewitched by him to follow him as if the world were at his Donation for where as men doe seeke the things of this world by stealing lying deceiuing oppressing thinking to be rich and honourable by iniquitie Is not this to take out of the hand of Sathan Such as multiplyes children by harlotrie and encreases their rents by impietie can they reioyce with Iacob saying with my staffe and bagge came I ouer Iordan and now God hath giuen me these bands or can they glory with Abraham I will not haue so much as the latchet of a shooe from the King of Sodome least it should be said hee it is that made Abraham rich Good were it for such men that the Lord in time of his mercy and not in his wrath would giue a purgation to cause them vomit by restitution all that substance which wickedly they haue deuoured for euen reprobate Iudas at length shall cast back againe the wages of
iniquitie but happy is he who repents in time that euer hee tooke any thing out of the hand of Sathan that so hee may get mercy while it is to be found But marke here yet further in that he offers to giue vnto Christ all the kingdomes of the world how he can frame his temptations to men according to that estimation which he hath of them great things offers he for them whom hee sees cannot easily be conquered but smaller for those of whom he accounts lesser euen as an experienced Marchant bids but a small price for that which is little in his estimation but spareth neither gold nor siluer to giue for that which he esteemes more precious or may make him most gaine there are some whom hee sees to be so base creatures that hee bids but a small price for them so bought hee Achan for a wedge of Gold and Esau for a messe of pottage and many an intemperate man like him for a belly-full of drinke so bought hee Iudas to doe him seruice for thirtie pieces of siluer and many a couetous man at this day doth hee hire to lye to sweare to forsweare and deceiue as wee see in buying and selling daily practised for one very small piece of mony whereas againe of others hee esteemes so much that hee offers them greater things to become his as high honours and rich rents but to none did hee euer make so liberall an offer as here vnto our Lord All the kingdomes of the world will I giue vnto thee c. And this I marke to make the men of the world ashamed who for smallest trifles make ship-wracke of their consciences and bowe downe to Sathan to serue him If there were no more but a sparke of true man-hoode and courage in them this were sufficient to beget in their hearts a disdaine of the Diuell that they see in his estimation they are but base creatures and therefore hee thinkes by smallest trifles to make conquest of them If thou wilt fall downe and worship me HItherto wee haue heard Sathans offer now followeth his petition wherein wee haue to see what it is hee craues for his offer For will hee thinke wee at any time giue any thing except it be for the better if hee giue any thing it is to get thy selfe for it Hee gaue Adam an Apple and thereby made him his owne slaue if mercifully the Lord had not recouered him hee offered Esau a messe of Pottage conditionally hee would loose his Birth-right and it is his daily practise to offer vnto men the things of this World but with such an hard condition as of necessitie bindes them to for-goe their part of that heauenly Kingdome and so like blinded fooles they lose them both Alas that men would alwaies remember that warning of our Sauiour If a man should gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule what recompence can it be vnto him What can Sathan giue vnto a man worthy of that which he would haue from him Shall a reasonable soule made to the Image of God and redeemed by the bloud of God come vnder the bondage and seruitude of Sathan for the vaine shew of any perishing pleasure that Sathan can offer vnto it The Lord open our eyes to discerne the deceit of this craftie Iugler that wee may beware of him that so oft as hee makes any offer vnto vs wee may giue him that wise and couragious answere which the fourtie Martyrs gaue the Deputie Putas ne tantum te daturum nobis quantum eripere contendis Dost thou thinke that thou canst giue vs so much as thou striuest to take from vs But here the men of the world I know will obiect and say Is there any man so beastly as to fall downe and worship the Diuell that is an impietie which all men abhorre to heare but would to God they thought it also an abhomination to doe it Wee are commanded to haue no God but one that is to trust in him onely to feare him to loue and obey him Wee are also commanded to worship him not after our owne will for that wil worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainly condemned in which of these soeuer wee faile we fall in among them who are charged in Scripture to be worshippers of Sathan for there the worshippers of Idols of gold and siluer timber and stone which haue eyes and see not c. and the worshippers of Deuils are put in one ranke and though there be many who by corrupt iudgement faile not this way in the matter of Gods worship yet by reason of their peruerse affection and heart not rightly set to the loue and obedience of their God are charged also among those who haue gone after a strange GOD. Thus is the couetous man called an Idolater and the intemperate man said to haue his belly for his God And more generally euery man is declared to be a seruant vnto that whereunto hee giues obedience as hee that will not obey the Lord by sanctification of the Saboth nor by sanctification of his owne body in that holy manner which GOD hath commanded him or hee that in the pride and impenitencie of his spirit careth not to deliuer all that hee hath yea himselfe both soule and body to Sathan If these and such as they be be examined according to the rule of the Word it will be found they are worshippers of Sathan in deede how euer in their words they say it is an abhominable thing to doe it And Iesus answered and said THis last answere which our Lord giueth to Sathans last temptation is sharper then any of the former teaching vs by his example that wee should not so much as here it required of vs without anger that we should giue the glory of God to any other then himselfe especially to his aduersary It is true that Sathan in all his temptations should be resisted but sometime hee is to be repelled rather with a disdainefull reiecting of him then with reasoning as namely when hee dare be so bold as to deny those grounds of Religion which most iustly are to be holden for vndoubted truths then is this answere meete for him Hence from me Sathan For it is written THe testimonie our Sauiour alledgeth against him is out of Deut. 10. ver 20. Out of which it is cleare that in the matter of Worship the Lord will suffer no Companion If yee come said Samuel to the Lord with all your heart then put away the strange Gods from among you for yee cannot keepe both If God be the Lord said Elijah then follow him if Baal be hee then follow him the Lord can suffer no halting betweene two Out of which it is euident that the Aduersaries while they part the worke of our saluation ascribing part of it to Christs satisfaction and part to humane satisfactions while againe they part the worke of mediation
ioyning others with Christ in it Making some prayers to God and some to creatures making some religious bowing of the body to the Lord and some religious bowing of the body which they thinke lawfull to giue vnto Saints not reseruing falling downe for worship to God onely doe faile against this Commandement and how euer they please themselues with distinctions thinking to hide their sinne vnder a couering of words yet this most cleare word of the Lord doth conuince them of the crime of Idolatry They say that the worship of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they giue vnto God onely as due vnto him To Creatures they giue no more but the worship of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But against their owne distinction sometime they teach that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be giuen to others than vnto God And if we take these words according to the vse of Scriptures it is cleare that these two are indifferently vsed for one the whole seruice men owe to Christ is comprised vnder the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 16. 18. And the Apostle condemnes the Galathians of Idolatrie because they gaue the worship of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those things which by Nature are no Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which manner of reasoning were not forcible if this distinction of the Papists were true that the worship of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be giuen to those which are no Gods according to the vse thereof in Scriptures But what euer they meane by these words of Worship why do they bowe the knee to things of Gold siluer and stone they cannot say it is for ciuill reuerence for their Images haue not eyes to see them nor tongues to answere them If it be as it is for religious Worship why doe they not remember that by this the Lord distinguisheth true Worshippers from false I haue seauen thousand that neuer bowed their knee to Baall and that the three Children are commended for that they would not bowe the knee to fall downe and worship Nabuchadnezars Golden Image Or how can they excuse their offering of Incense to their Images seeing it is commanded to be offered vnto God himselfe and the Iewes are condemned for offering Incense to the brasen Serpent and to Baal Where if they obiect vnto vs that we doe great wrong in comparing their Images which are of Saints now glorified in heauen with the Images of Nebuchadnezzar of Baal c. I answere wee acknowledge a great difference betweene the Saints of God and those falsely reputed Gods of the Heathen but in this point wee affirme it is no lesse Idolatry to giue religious worship to the Saints or their Images then it was for the Iewes to giue it vnto Baal It is true Paul and Barnabas are more excellent Creatures being the chosen vessels of the liuing God then Iupiter and Mercurius yet to giue religious Worship to them is no lesse Idolatry then to giue it to Iupiter and Mercurius for if they be compared in this point Paul and Barnabas are no more Gods then Baal Iupiter or Mercurius But to returne let vs for our owne instruction take diligent heede to those things which the Lord hath reserued to himselfe onely and be content with those things which hee hath offered vnto vs. Where hee saith Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God onely farre be it from vs to breake that limitation by giuing any part of his worhip vnto another I will not saith the Lord giue my glory to another that which the Lord will not giue how dare man be so bold as to giue that vnto another what greater glory hath the Lord then the glory of a Sauiour and Redeemer hee made vs wee made not our selues What greater glory hath hee then that hee is the Father of lights from whom euery good gift doth descend shall wee take this glory and giue it vnto another shall wee seeke from another the fulfilling of our necessities then from him is there any eyther more willing to help seeing hee is our father or more able seeing hee is almightie Shall I goe to him by another Mediator then by his Sonne seeing the Father hath proclaimed This is my Sonne in whom I am well pleased Or shall we ioyne other Mediators with him seeing the Apostle saith Hee is able to saue perfectly all those that come to God by him From such impieties the Lord deliuer vs for his great names sake to whom be all praise honour and glory for euer Amen FINIS MEDITATIONS for Instruction and Consolation Very profitable and right necessary for euery Christian to read PSAL. 119. 15. I will meditate in thy precepts and consider thy wayes LONDON Printed for Iohn Budge 1612. MEDITATIONS for Instruction and Consolation The glory of Britaines Ile EVery Kingdome glorieth of their priuiledges we haue our owne also wherein wee are nothing inferiour to them but let this be the greatest glory of our Ile that 2600. yeeres agoe the Lord promised to giue the ends of the earth for a possession to Christ which in our time blessed be his holy name for it is abundantly performed The Law came forth of Sion the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem and with a speedy course ouer-shadowed this Ile with the brightnesse thereof whether it was by S. Paul as Theodoret affirmes or by Simon Zelotes as Dorotheus and Nicephorus witnesseth or by Ioseph of Arimathea as many testifie sure it is by some either Apostle or Apostelique man soone after the death of our Lord from Gentilisme we were conuerted to Christianitie long before that Papistry or papall power was knowne in the world for which by the testimonie of the aduersaries themselues euen they who dwell in the Northmost part of the I le are honoured with the stile of ancient Christians Scoti antiquiores Christiani A warning to the I le of great Britaine AS the going forth of the Sun is from the one end of heauen vnto the other rising in the East and running on like a mightie man in his course toward the West so hath the light of the Gospell from them in the East shined towards vs in the West where now it stands more marueilously then the Sunne did in Gibeon in the dayes of Ioshua till the fulnesse of Gentiles in these parts be brought into the Tents of Sem. And sure we are it shall stand like a cleare light in the Firmament of his Church till all his Saints be gathered together Now the Candlesticke is remoued from them in the East the Sun is gone downe ouer their Prophets darknes is vnto them in stead of diuination While we haue the light let vs walke in the light for woe shall be to vs also if the Lord depart from vs. Time of Grace how dispensed by the Lord. THe time of grace is called by the Lord an acceptable yeere or day of saluation to tell vs it is but short and therefore wee should redeeme
the time Some dayes are longer some shorter but all of them are limited and come to their end The Iewes had a faire long Summer day of Grace sixteene hundred yeeres dwelt the Lord with them as with his owne peculiar people and their Father Sem was the first vpon whom God vouchsafed this happinesse and honour as to call himselfe his God blessed be the God of Sem from them hath the Lord remoued to the house of Iaphet and other sixteene hundred yeeres hath hee beene alluring Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Sem offering mercy and grace to their seuerall families according to his wise and gratious dispensation and among the rest he hath also vouchsafed to visit vs. Oh that we knew those things which belong to our peace The course of the Gospell OTher Trees when they grow doe fasten their rootes in the earth and send their branches toward heauen but the Gospell is such a Tree of the Paradise of God as hath the roote of it in heauen for it bred in the bosome of the Father but the branches grow downward to the earth that we may eate of the three-fold fruit which grow vpon it Righteousnesse Peace and Ioy. Wee neede not now to say Who shall ascend into heauen The Word is neare thee If wee be not refreshed with the fruit of that heauenly Paradise the fault must be in the want of good will in our selues not the want of a good occasion seing the Lord hath turned the branches of this tree of life downeward toward vs that the more commodiously we might eate of the fruit thereof The triall of a true Gospeller IN the Gospell there is a truth and a power the truth is embraced by many professors the power is knowne to few Now it is thought religion good enough if a man receiue the truth so great is our corruption not remembring that truth knowne shall but conuince them who by the power thereof are not conuerted to walke after it A golden Rule for the vse of things indifferent ALl things which are lawfull are not alwayes expedient where the lawfulnes is certainely knowne aduise on the expediencie and when thou art resolued of both yet remember it is not good to come vnder the power of any thing custome drawes a carnall man to necessitie that hee cannot want that which he hath beene vsed to haue but so to vse the creature that thou keepe thine heart free vnthralled with the seruitude thereof and ready at all occasions to want it is the perfection of him who hath learned while he walkes vpon earth to haue his conuersation in heuen Three helps to a godly life THere are three things which helpe a man to liue godly as Dauid records who found it by his owne experience Determination Supplication Consideration Determination is first by it we resolue and conclude to liue a godly life Supplication is second for without helpe obtained of God our determinations soone vanish Consideration is the third whereby we examine our selues whether or not we haue done as we determined Determination helps vs to beginne to doe well and this purpose would be renewed euery morning Supplication holds vs forward continuing in well doing and consideration brings vs home when we haue gone astray I may say happy is that man in whose life one of these three is alwayes an actor A spurre to Repentance HEe that goes downe to the graue saith Iob shall come vp no more namely to liue here on earth as he was wont to doe he that goes to a farre countrey goes from his friends in hope to come backe againe it is not so with him that goes to the graue and therefore it is a point of great wisedome in time to doe what thou hast to doe What wee learne not one day we may learne another and so long as wee haue time what wee haue left vndone at one time wee may doe at another but if we dye not well wee shall not returne to dye better where the tree falles there it lyes and such as a man is when hee dies such abides he for euer let vs therefore so liue as learning to die happy is the man who wil not liue in that state wherein he dare not die The gaine of Godlines THe Apostle saith that Godlines is great gaine and the Psalmist that there is fruit for the righteous but what we gaine by godlines and what fruit growes on the tree of righteousnes is not well knowne in this life here of all men they who are godly seeme to most miserable because they must suffer many persecutions but as the sweet grapes of the vine tree are gathered in the vintage and the fruit of the husbandmans labour comes home in the haruest so doth the gaine of godlinesse in the houre of death when all other comforts forsakes vs then godlinesse lets vs taste of her fruits peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Grace of thanks giuing AS a vessell by the scent thereof tels what liquor is in it so should our mouthes smell continually of that mercy wherewith our hearts hath beene refreshed for we are called vessels of mercy Sathans defiancâ— IT makes no matter what our enemies be though for number Legions for Power Principalities for subtilty Serpents for crueltie Dragons for vantage of place a Prince of the Ayre for maliciousnes spirituall wickednes stronger is he that is in vs then they who are against vs nothing is able to separate vs from the loue of God In Christ Iesus our Lord wee shall be more then conquerours A warning to battell HE shall not be in heauen with the Church triumphant who liues not on earth a member of the Church militant I suppose thou hast no enemies without and knowest no externall crosse to trouble thee thy chiefe enemie and most dangerous is the corruption of thy owne heart within thee against which if thou fight not with the daily weapons of the word and prayer thou art a captiue and at a cursed peace with Sathan And yet alas how many are so liuing in securitie neuer grieued nor troubled with their inhabitant corruption Gedeons armie OF thirty thousand men that rose at the sound of Gedeons Trumpet onely three hundreth after triall were found meete for the battell and of many thousands who now at the sound of the Gospel makes a shew as if they would follow Christ in his warfare few wil be found after triall to receiue the crowne for many are called but few are chosen let euery man take heede to himselfe Three most excellent vertues THese are Faith Loue and Patience he who is partaker of them is a possessor of all good which is to be desired for by Faith he possesses Iesus Christ all his blessings by Loue he possesses his neighbour and hath ioy of all the good which is in them and by Patience he possesses himselfe A watch-word for impenitents now vnder grace SInnes done against the Law may be cured by the
neuer to be forgotten TAke heede to thy selfe This is a precept most necessary to be practised The Lord is said to number our steps to ponder our pathes to weigh our selues and Sathan is said to winnow vs and to consider vs what great neede haue wee then to consider our selues The fruitlesse care of worldlings VVOrldlings take paines in their life to prouide for others who will not so much as remember them when they are gone for his place shall know him no more Where is the fruit of thy labours O wretched worldling in the heauen Thou hast laide vp no store for thy selfe there for thou neuer had a care to make thy selfe friends there of the riches of iniquitie what hope then canst thou haue to be receiued into those euerlasting mansions for comfort of the earth where is it all the fruit of thy labors thou must leaue to another who will be blythe to burie thee in the earth Oh that men could remember this Or it belong the earth will refuse to beare thee thy body will refuse to lodge thee thy friends will no longer retaine thee and who then shall receiue thee If the Lord also refuse thee and bid thee depart from him where away wilt thou goe for comfort O man make peace with thy God in time Couerings of sinne AS Adam after his transgression couered his nakednes with figge-tree leaues so is it Naturall to his sonnes to seeke couerings to their sinnes but of all it offends the Lord most when men seeke to couer their sinnes vnder the garment of God this was obiected to the Iewes Mal. 2. 16. who couered their adulteries with a shadow of diuorcements allowed as they thought by Moses and is yet practised by the Atheists of our time who bring defences for their sinne out of the word of God for such mockers heauy iudgements are prepared Knowledge and Deuotion AS a Bird that hath but one wing cannot flye the right way so a Christian wanting any one of these two cannot serue God in a right manner yet seldome goe these two together for some haue Knowledge without Deuotion and others haue Deuotion but without Knowledge None of these are good but the first is the worst of the two for the seruant that knowes his Maisters will and doth it not is worthy of double stripes A discouerie of the vanity of worldly honour MAn in his best estate is altogether vanitie his highest honour is like the vanishing shadow on the tops of mountaines when the sunne goes downe Put him in his chariot of triumph let it be drawne with horses of price yea if hee can with stately Lyons let him be decked in most gorgeous manner as Herode was on his birth-day these two interrogators shall soone discouer his vanity First what hath he vpon him or about him which is his owne hath he not borrowed from euery creature to make vp himselfe a begged glory garments from beasts of the earth feathers from foules of the ayre pearles from fishes of the sea silkes from creeping wormes and beasts and wormes and fishes at length shall deuoure his flesh in a recompence of that which they haue lent him And Secondly that which hee hath how long shall hee haue it the Samaritane Prince who this day leaned on the kings shoulder and the next day was trampled vnder the peoples feete stands vp among innumerable examples to witnesse how mutable and vaine the glory is of flesh Surely as Nabuchadnezzars image had a head of Gold but feete of Clay so is it with all worldly honour glorious in the beginning but it ends in dust and ashes Euery day should shadow our death THe end of euery day is a shadow of the end of our life our lying downe in the bed vnder couerings of clothes to rest vs till the morning should remember vs of our lying downe in the graue vnder the couering of moulds The sting of sinfull pleasure not perceiued in the day doth sting more liuely the conscience of men in the night when they examine themselues on their beds and all are at quiet no sight presented to the eye nor sound to the eare to distract the minde then conscience speakes the more loudly to warne a man of his sinnes and this may forewarne vs that if we doe not vnfainedly repent vs in time our sinnes will much more trouble vs in the end of our life let vs not keepe such a serpent in our bosome Contentment to dye I Desire not to out-liue the time whether it be long or short appointed to mee of the Lord. I know hee is permanent Iehoua death cannot take me from him but restore me to him Prophets dye and people to whom they speake die also but the word of the Lord endureth for euer and no word spoken in his name shall fall to the ground I know it shall not be well with the wicked though I see not their end and thy Saints shall haue cause to praise thee and say there is fruit for the righteous Glory be to God Si quid feceris honestum cum labore labor cito abit si quid turpe cum voluptate turpitudo manet voluptas abit Aul Gel. FINIS THE BAPTISME OF CHRIST VVherein the typicall Goel is compared with the true and is shewed how CHRIST our kinsman is made our right REDEEMER MARKE 1. 9. And it came to passe in those dayes that Iesus came from Nazaret a citie of Galile and was baptised of of Iohn in Iordan LONDON Printed for Iohn Budge 1612. A TABLE OF THE PRINCIpall points contained in this Booke A A Ccusations of Sathan and the Christian mans answere to them pag. 306 Adam the first son of God among men and the first father of Christ according to the flesh pag. 8 The euill that Adam brought on himselfe and his posteritie 59 How the second Adam hath the same similitude of generation with the first 13 What course the second Adam takes in our Redemption 58. the effect and comfort thereof 59 Our spiritual Adoption how confirmed 14 Our Election and Adoption impugned by Sathan 170 How wee should confirme our selues in the assurance of our Election and Adoption 175 Atheists conuinced 182 Professors of Atheisme 170 B BAptisme of Christ among sinners shewes his loue and humilitie 57 Christ baptizing with the spirit seeks the Baptisme of water from his owne seruant 60. to what end hee did so 61. the reasons thereof 62 Christ baptized to sanctifie Baptisme 66. and to seale vp his fellowship with vs. 68. he receiued it with prayer 64 The seale of Baptisme with the promises thereof 65 Why Constantine deferred his baptisme 67 The order of Sathans threefold Battell 162 How a Christian should order the Battell against him 163 Desperation fights in the left wing of Sathans battell 167. and Presumption in the right wing 192 A warning to Battell 277 Glory of Brittaines Ile 265 A warning to Brittaines Ile 267 C THe fatherly care and prouidence of God to his
those things which the Prophets of old prophesied were to be done by the Messia are all accomplished in the person of Christ Iesus we shall finde the word like a light shining in darknesse clearely declaring vnto vs that Iesus the Sonne of Mary is the promised Messia It was promised in Paradise that he who should trample down the head of the Serpent was to be the seede of the Woman this was made clearer by Esay that a Virgin should conceiue a Sonne whose name should be Emmanuel how this was fulfilled S. Mathew records shewing how that when Mary was betrothed to Ioseph before they came together she was found with childe of the holy Ghost Micah foretold that out of Bethleem should come that ruler in Israel whose goings forth hath beene from the beginning and euerlasting Now that Christ was borne in Bethleem is euident out of the Euangelists Hosea fore-prophesied that he should be called out of Egypt And S. Mathew witnesses that when Herode sought Iesus to destroy him the Angell of the Lord appearing to him in a dreame commanded him to flee vnto Egypt that it might be fulfilled saith hee which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet Out of Egypt haue I called my Sonne Malachy foretold that a messenger should be sent before the Messia to prepare his way whom after that he calles Eliah the Prophet Who should be said Esay a crying voice in the wildernesse Prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the desart a path for our God euery valley shall be exalted and euery mountaine made lowe How this was fulfilled S. Luke witnesses for Iohn Baptist came before the Lord Iesus in the spirit and power of Eliah and hee cried in the wildernesse Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight his pathes Againe it was foretold by Esay that hee should beginne his preaching in Galile And so indeede witnesses S. Mathew that when Iesus heard that Iohn was deliuered to prison hee returned into Galile and leauing Nazareth hee went and dwelt in Capernâ—um which is nere the sea in the borders of Zabulon and Nephtalim that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esay The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephtalim by the way of the sea beyond Iorden Galile of the Gentiles the people which sate in darknes saw great light and to them that sate in the region and shadow of death light is risen vp In like manner it was spoken by Esay that he should confirme his preaching with many miracles as that the blind should see and the deafe should heare all which the Euangelists records was performed by the Lord Iesus Zacharie fore-prophesied that hee should come riding to Ierusalem on an Asse which the Euangelists testitestifies was done It was also fore-shadowed in Dauid his type and figure that his own familiar friend whom he trusted and did eate of his bread should lift vp the heele against him and that hee should be sold for thirtie peeces of siluer said Zacharie with the which thereafter a potters field should be bought and so indeede was our Lord betrayed by his owne Disciple Iudas and sold for thirty peeces of siluer which when he had cast againe to them that gaue it to him they bought with it a potters field to be a buriall for strangers and of his suffering Esay fore-prophefied as if he had seene it that hee was counted among transgressors that hee was wounded for our transgressions the chastisement of our peace laid vpon him that with his stripes we are healed Ioyne with this the prediction of Dauid that they should peirce him hand and foote and when they had crucified him they should scorne him and nod their heads at him saying hee trusted in the Lord let him deliuer him and againe that they should part his garments among them and cast lots about his vesture and should giue him gall in his meate and in his thirst vinegar to drinke all which the Euangelists record most clearely to haue beene accomplished in the Passion of Iesus Christ for they executed him betweene two theeues scourged him scorned him and crucified him Yea more particularly also haue they foretold that he should lye in the graue of a rich man that he should rise the third day as was shadowed in his figure Ionas that hee should ascend on high and leade captiuitie captiue all these with many moe prophesies fore-spoken of the Messias concerning his person his actions his sufferings his triumphant resurrection and ascension as more particularly they are collected by Athanasius Since wee see them so clearely fulfilled in the person of Iesus Christ what remaines but that wee close the mouth of Sathan and of our owne infidelitie receiuing this for an vndoubted truth which the Lord in this heauenly Oracle deliuereth vnto vs that this Christ Iesus the Sonne of Mary is the Sonne of God and that promised Messias on whom all the Fathers since the first beginning fastened their hope and of whom all the Prophets hath spoken pointing him out as it were with the finger how hee was to come to worke the worke of our saluation which in all circumstances wee see performed by him as was prophesied by them to our euerlasting comfort Wee might hereunto adde some testimonies of the Gentiles as of Mercurius Trismegistus little posterior in time to Moses whose testimonie Lactantius cals Diuino simile Diuine-like as likewise out of the Oracles of Sibillae which were tenne in number so called because they declared the counsels of God quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and were by some of the Fathers accounted prophetesses of the Gentiles for seeing the Lord Iesus was to be sent into the world for saluation both of Iewes and Gentiles it pleased the Lord long before his comming to make signification thereof not to the Iewes onely by Prophets raised vp among themselues but to the Gentiles also who because they could not easily embrace the testimonie of the Iewes in a matter of religion it pleased him by their own Prophets to make predictions and descriptions of Iesus Christ that when they should come to passe they might haue no exception against them And therefore is it that the heathen persecuting Emperours stirred vp with hatred by Sathan against the very name of Christians the mysterie whereof they no manner of way vnderstood nor yet would receiue any light that might bring them to the knowledge therof forbade the reading of their owne Sibilline Oracles and that because euen their owne prophesies bare witnes to the veritie of Christian religion But for the present we content vs with that most sure word of the Prophets as S. Peter calles it and rests in this heauenly Oracle which the Father from heauen proclaimed concerning his Son Blessing the
Lord our God who hath opened vnto vs the mysterie of his will according to his good pleasure which hee had purposed in Christ. By whom wee haue redemption through his bloud the forgiuenes of sinnes according to his rich grace To him be praise and glory for euer Amen THE COMBAT OF CHRIST VVITH SATHAN Declaring a working power in our Redeemer answerable to his vocation MATHEVV 4. 1. 2. Then Iesus was led aside of the Spirit into the wildernes to be tempted of the diuell And when he had fasted forty dayes and forty nights he was afterward an hungry LONDON Printed for Iohn Budge 1612. A TREATISE OF Christ his Temptation WE are now come to the historie of Christ his tentation which being ioined with the former two whereof wee haue spoken makes vp vnto vs a complete doctrine of Christian comfort for in his Genealogie we haue seene what manner a man Christ Iesus is In his Baptisme wee haue learned how he is become ours and now in his temptation we see how hee beginnes to worke the worke of Sathans confusion and our Redemption Great ioy was there in the campe of Israel when they saw that Dauid ouercame Goliah cast him to the ground and cut off his head for he was a dreadfull enemie hee had reuiled the host of the liuing God and none of Saul his warriours durst encounter with him But greater ioy should be in our hearts when we see how our Dauid in this singular combate fights with spirituall Goliah hand to hand and ouercomes him who euer since the creation hath beene a shamelesse blasphemer of the euerliuing God and an spitefull enemie of all true Israelites In this first combat the Sonne of God casts him downe In the last combat which he fights with him on the crosse he bursts his head Sathan tempting the first Adam in Paradise ouercame him and so caried him away and his posteritie in a fearefull captiuitie and bondage but the second Adam suffering temptation by Sathan in the wildernes ouercomes him and by a more glorious victory then Abraham had ouer Chedarlaomer doth hee recouer his owne Lots from the power of this enemie In all we haue three points here to be treated of first the circumstances premitted Secondly the combat it selfe consisting of a three-fold assault made by Sathan with their seuerall repulses giuen by our Lord Thirdly the euent and issue thereof The circumstances premitted are sixe First the time which is declared to haue beene immediately after his Baptisme Secondly the place expressed to be the wildernes Thirdly the motion by which hee is caried thither to wit by the spirit Fourthly the person who is tempted namely Iesus full of the holy Ghost Fiftly the tempter named here the Diuell Last of all the occasion of the temptation which is said to be CHRIST his hunger after that hee had fasted fotty dayes As for the time it is noted to haue beene immediately after his baptisme hee had liued twenty nine yeares a priuate man and all that time wee reade not that Sathan tempted him but now when hee comes out in publike to doe the worke of a Redeemer for the glorie of God and good of his brethren hee is assaulted of Sathan with all his might Whereof it is euident how Sathan intends his greatest malice against them who are set vp into those high callings in the which greatest good may be done to the glorie of God and saluation of others So was it with Moses so long as he liued a priuate life he liued a peaceable life but when hee came forth to be a deliuerer of his brethren from their bondage in Egypt then was he persecuted by Pharao So also with Dauid in his priuate calling hee had quietnes but from the time that hee had once begunne to worke the deliuerance of Israel by the slaughter of Goliah and was annointed King by Samuel for the greater benefit of that people then did Sathan stirre vp Saul against him who hunted him like a Partrich through the fieldes and mountaines of Israel The like also may be seene in the Apostle S. Paul in Sosthenes and many others As trees on the toppes of hilles are obiect to euery winde so persons in a high calling if in a good conscience they labour to discharge it shall finde themselues on euery side compassed with temptations Neither is it so onely with those that are set vp in more eminent callings but with euery Christian also what malice Sathan practised against the head that same will he practise against the members So soone as our Lord was borne so soone was he persecuted by Herod so soone as he was baptised so soone was he tempted by Sathan thus as saith Chrysostome ab ipfis vitae initiis ad tentationes praeparamâ—r then we see that euen in the cradle our Lord began to beare the crosse and no sooner we are borne by regeneration to be his but so soone without further delay doth Sathan set vpon vs with all his might like a new Pharao pursuing Israel to see if hee can reduce vs to his former seruitude and bondage And this I marke for the comfort of weake and young Christians who after their conuersion finde themselues troubled with great temptations wherewith before they were not acquainted let them know that it is a cursed peace to be at peace with Sathan and giue thankes to God who now hath put them in an inimitie with him for thereby they may know they are none of his but are called to a fellowship and communion with Christ Diabolus enim non persequitur nisi bonos Sathan pursues none but good men such as hathcast off his yoke as for the wicked what needes hee to pursue them seeing hee possesses them yea so farre is he from tempting them that he vses them as his instruments to tempt others and therefore let vs not be discouraged but rather confirmed when wee finde our selues tempted by Sathan The second circumstance is of the place noted here to be the wildernes Wherin two things we obserue one in the person of the Aduersarie letting vs see how he is a restlesse tempter sparing no place not Paradise nor the wildernes in the Temple Vbique insidiatur homini euery where hee lyes in waite for vs neither can wee goe our way Wherein hee hath not his snares laid before vs multi laquei quacunque progredimur there be many snares wheresoeuer we goe our way on earth being like the way of Israel wherein lurkes many fiery Serpents to sting vs that hurts vs many time before wee can perceiue them none of all the children of God but they haue marked this in their own experience for where is the place wherein we haue not beene tempted yea wounded by this subtle serpent and almost slaine to the death if mercy and grace had not come in from God to succour vs The remedie is that we suspect this