him in this his service and duty Did he not most graciously regard him and his offering hath he not put it here into his owne booke to his perpetuall prayse Heb. 11.4 1. Joh. 3. and not only here but else-where in the new testament once and againe that from the beginning to the end of the world he might be famous wheresoever either this text or those should be preached that which he hath done should not be forgotten Did he not most deeply avenge his innocent blood vpon his jmpious brother and made him the first and most fearfull spectacle of his justice and malediction to the terror of all succeding generations And which is more then all this hath not the Lord crowned him with glory and immortality in the heavens with himself as well as renouned him for holynes and piety here on earth He is the first whose soule every saw the face of God noe man ever went from earth to heaven before him among the innumerable spirits of just and perfect men who now and for ever live there with the Lord in glory He was the first martyr had the first crowne none every dyed for the Lord before him none could liue with the Lord before him he was the Lords first witnes among all the Lords worthyes this righteous Abel as Christ call's him stood in the fore-frunt of the battell shed the first blood for the faith testimony of Iesus before there was any to back or abett him And as the Lord tooke great notice of this first soe also hath he done in like manner of the rest who have began betime to be acquainted with him in his service How came Samuell to be soe rare a man and to be numbred among the most speciall favourites of God Moses Iob Daniell Noah c Why doe you not remember what we have sayd of his mother how she gave him to God in resolution before she had him and was as good as her word assoone as he was weaned doe you not remember what is sayd of himself the childe Samuell ministred before the Lord the childe Samuell this was worthy to be acounted wonderfull that a childe should minister before the Lord especially being so yong that as yet he knew not the voyce or call of God from Elyes but ranne to Ely once and againe when the Lord called vpon him about the first busines he had to doe for him What may be the cause that Iosiah is soe mightily cōmended that as if he were matchlesse it is sayd of him that there was none like before him nor any to succeede that should be such a one as this peerelesse prince was true it is that never any king either of Jsraell or Iudah no not among the good kings before or after him went soe farre in the worke of Godfor the purgatiō purifying of his worship as he did this king did surmount them all but how is it that he came to doe what none had done more then they all why he begun to worke the worke of God betime that may be a mayne reason why he did so much at eight yeare olde saith the scripture he sought the Lorde 2. King 23.1 and that is but in childe-hood all men know What should I tell you of Solomon of Timothie and such others as I might mention to this purpose nothing is more sure then this that they have beene the rarest and most excellent men in piety and religion and the most able instruments of Gods honour who in the beginning of their dayes have begun to doe good they must needes be neerest heaven who set out on their way soonest continue going on thither-warde Only it is seldome that we see any enter vpon religion soe early now a dayes they are very few that begin to be soe soone faith full Note The more are they to be admired of godly men and the more to be comforted of God who are founde sucklings in grace assoone as they are weanelings in nature and hang vpon Gods breasts when they have given over they mothers So that by all that hath beene sayd it appeareth to be a happy thing and they to be most happy men who have learned this lesson of the Lord and walked according to the light therof which leade's on directly in the way of life wherin howsoever a man may possibly meete with some molestation and misery yet the end of it will vndoubtedly be endles infinite glory with him who wil make those most glorious beyond all time who betooke themselves to glorify him betime Much might be spoken to enlarge their consolation who have harts to doe according to this instruction But of this more hereafter we now passe to our 2. Vse Vse 2 And that concerneth all vngodly persons who howsoever they will because they must and cannot for starke shame say otherwise after a sort acknowledg this our doctrine to be true yet walke most wickedly in a course farre wyde of it nay cleane contrary to it their mouthes cannot be soe monstruously finfull but they must confesse it to be a truth howbeit their hellish harts and lives doe deny it in their most jmpious practise all the dayes of their life yea they have taught their tongues to lye herin notoriously and that not to men alone but to the Lord of whome and of whose service they vse to say it is not yet time it may be time enough heareafter O yee impious children of the father of lyes can you say it is true that every one shoulde begin betime and it were not amisse if it were soe and yet tell God and men to their faces that any time is time enought hereby you shew your selves to be the very jmps of the devill who hath taught you such a language as one part of your speech confutes nay confound's another and such a practise as overturnes Gods truth which you dare not deny and confirmes that falshood which none ought to affirme Miserable soules how are yee given over of God into the hands nay into the bands of Satan who if you speake or breath out but one true word can make your life both to bely and abolish that and to ratify every jot and tittle of those infernall falshoodes that he suggests into your soules Doe yee not sin presumptuously and against the light of your owne knowledg and conscience that can thus speake and dare thus doe and is such a sin a light matter or easy to answer to the judge of the whole worlde know you will not finde it soe in the day of the great and vniversall assize when all flesh shall at once stand before him to give account and receive recompence according to what they have done Notwithstanding the world hath beene ever full hell wil be one day full of soe many of them as repent not of such as either turne God out of all time or bring him in the tayle of all the time they live
the children of God for consolation the vngodly for reprehension all men for instruction Vse 1 And first for the saints the sons and daughters of God it cannot be but exceeding happy comfortable to them who have harts convinced of this truth and lives that have expressed it since the first day it was revealed to them from the Lord before whome they have sincerely endeavoured to give him the first fruits of their knowledge of this lesson though either through their owne personall ignorance therof or through the error of parents in their education they have not given him the first fruits of their practise while they were in their non-age It is a most happy thing to be rightly convicted of a divine truth because many are superficially perswaded an will give a slight consent lesse the Divell if he be put to it wil not doe to many holy truthes of God but they whome the Lord convinceth a right as he doth all his owne he cōforteth in giving them a harts resolution setled in their very soules to say within themselves this is the vndoubted truth of the euerliving God thus we must doe endeavour to stire vp others to doe the same and if it be a truth which we should haue practised before we must repent for neglect past be vpright with God for the time remayning and goe the faster because we began soe late and doe our best to draw others after vs to that way which both they and we should have gone long before He that is thus convicted shall not goe long vncomforted It is a simple impossibility that men called at their ripe yeares or in their age should give their first fruits to the Lord those dayes are gone and past but to give the Lord at what time it pleaseth him to call vs the glory of this truth in our sounde perswasion that it is thus and singleharted humiliation because it had not place in our practise before now most carefull provocation to our vtmost possibility that it may be thus in ours and all others with whome by any good meanes we can prevayle this is to be truly happy and in a most comfortable condition we are accepted of God thus doing as if we had done it our selves from the first day of our life How famous is Abraham few men soe much renowned in religion as he none more yet from his childe hood he had not done service but to Satan in jdolatry and such other jmpiety as vsually accompanieth that jniquity But at the first call he came and assoone as he heard he did obey and perceiving that the Lord had lost such duty by him as in his former dayes he should have received from him he is cōvinced hereof and resolved that his children shall give it though his owne childe-hood was given to sin And the discerning of this in him was that that gave the Lord content and Abraham comfort Is not Moses a man abundantly magnified and that of God himself as if he had beene as indeede he was some extraordinary servant of his yet for forty yeares of his life what was he so farre as we finde but such as others were that lived in the court of that Pagan Prince who was the oppressor and adversary of Gods people it may be he might be lesse grosse then some of his fellow courtiers who were inclined to egregious jmpiety but that he was good or savoured of any saving grace is more then appeareth to me Howbeit inasmuch as he freely and resolutely cast off all the creddit and profsit of his high dignity preheminence in court when the Lord would summon him to serve him it was well taken that from that age and time he wayted on the worke of God though neither his childe-hood nor youth were the Lords in time past What should I multiply more as I might of many other most worthy saints who in the same case have had the same comfort what is over-past and cannot be actually recovered and performed if it be rightly repented of in our selues and reformed in others to our best power it is all one as if we had done it in our owne person Let vs bewayle our owne want of duty and Gods want of glory by vs and doe as Hannah did for such as may come within our possibility to dispose off or perswade namely give them to the Lord from the first instant that we have any interest in them and it shal be well with vs. And this I doe of purpose insert here because Satan is malicious and hungry to gnaw vpon the very harts of Gods saints when once he gett's a truth by the end wherin their time for performance is past then doth he come with his pearceing temptations to wounde and rende the soules of such as are single harted and to lay it in their dish that this and that they should have done long since God should have had their whole lives for his service now many yeares be gone and there can be noe recalling of them and can they thinke which way to make all well when it is an vtter jmpossibility to recover one moment much lesse many yeares with these and the like spight full and greivous suggestions he doth teaze and torture their gracious mindes to breede despayre in them But now we are armed I hope to answer him and that we may doe and pay him double both for himself to whome we may say with joy and scorne better once then never for thy part thy first dayes were as due to God as mine but he will never call but ever accurse thee Note and for our selves but for my part though I have lost my first dayes my God will not lose me ever seing he call's once and be that come's then comes time enough for mercy though he should have came sooner in duty and moreover know the Lord hath made many a happy man for his best service among those who in their first dayes have beene fouly misled I greive that I gave him not my childe-hood or youth but if he please to accept of my age I joy and will joy and doe my best to offer all that I can prevaile withall assoone as I should haue offered my self These and the like answers will confound his cavills and make him weary of vs and he being thus resisted our God and we may be the more intimate and familiar in the sweetest passages of his singuler favour And see we see there is sounde comfort for such as are perswaded herof and would have done it and are humbled because God hath beene robbed of his right in their minority Againe for such as have offered their first fruits to the Lord there comfort cannot be behinde if it exceede not theirs that went before Our A bell here who was soe carefull to give the Lord the first of his flocke and I cannot easily doubt but that he gave the first of himself also how doth the Lord magnify
him to be any way one of Gods principall secretaryes or meete to be entrusted with this rare jmployment of penning any part of scripture especially considering that he was brought vp in Pharaohs court as a Pagan for the first forty yeares of his life But for the cleare manifestation of this matter and for the justification of the authority of this sacred booke against all accursed cavills we answer and doe acknowledge that howsoever every thing reported therein by Moses were acted long before his birth yet neverthelesse all things written therin are as absolutely true as if Moses had beene borne had seene and heard each passage in his owne person The Lord made choyse of a man living so long after these things were done that he might honour himself and this his sacred historie aboue all humane histories vnder heaven For wheras no profane writer is able infaillibly to report any thing for matter of fact but what was done in his owne dayes and came to passe in his owne ceartayne knowledge the Lord is able to instruct such as he will set a worke to report the proceedings of his churches in all ages in the incontroleable truth of all things that came to passe though they that recorde it were vnborne when they were acted And who knoweth whether the Lord hath not done this and of purpose made vse of such persons who had not a being in the world till long after the time wherin the things themselves which they relate had their being that soe he might shew himself an alsufficient instructor of his servants in those things which were done long before their time and declared long after It is not my purpose to digresse into any generall discourse of those evidences that doe authorise and warrant the whole scripture which are discovered at large by many worthy judicious and learned Divines only that it may manifestly appeare that this booke is no lesse scripture then any other let vs take into our harts the due consideration of those things which may as vnreproveably argue God to be the author as Moses to be the penner of the same and they are among a multitude that might be produced these few that follow 1. Moses doth tell vs of some passages concerning God before the creation which no creature could heare or vnderstand as that of the first creature all the rest when he sayd of every of them Let there be light c. who could tell what God spake touching every of these seing as yet they were not when they were yet till man was created all other were voyd of vnderstanding 2. Hee relates to vs touching the creation of man what God sayd of his making to wit the matter and forme of his body and the infusion of his soule as also of the manner of the making of the woman when the man was in a deepe sleepe and perceived it not and what the man sayd of the woman when the Lord brought her to him 3. After the creation he report's the passages of mans fall and discover's the subtiltyes of Satan in seducing the first man and the first woman which relations must needes be of God for we cannot conceit that the divell would soe detect himself in the evill both of his grosse sin and great punishment 4. After mans fall he tell 's vs of divers secret passages as of Adams knowing his wife of Cains anger conceived inwardly and vnjustly against Abel his brother before it brake out of Noahs drunckenes and nakednes of Lots fayling and the manner therof how he was abused by his daughters with their close carriage of the matter how he knew not what was done when he had slept with them both of the close conveyance which Rebecca vsed to obtayne the blessing for Iacob with the most private circumstances therof and a multitude more of the like to these things soe secret that no flesh could know or relate but they must needes be recorded by the Lord himself 5. He make's narration of the sins of the most holy men and women either that which was common in those times to most of them as the Polygamie of the Patriarchs or such offences as any one of them particulerly fell into not sparing Abraham the freind of God nor any of the sincerest of his servants which a good man would have done had he beene guided but by his owne spirit Nay which doth absolutely seale the truth and authority of his writings to be of God Moses spare's not himself in his owne sins but make's a manifest discovery of his owne infidelity and vnadvised anger and the just punishment of God vpon him for them both This impartiality argue's a supernaturall spirit to guide it when a man cannot spare his freind nor himself but will leave both vpon everlasting record to be blamed and blemished to all posterity A thing not vsuall if at all vsed in humane history wherin men speake and write the best they can and many times more then they should of themselves those whome they favour It must be God that must make men thus to doe therefore this is one of the prerogatives royall of his writings 6. And lastly he tell 's vs of the most secret things that can be imagined nothing can be conceived soe close as the counsell of heaven what God speaketh there who can heare especially when he speaketh not in any such sort or soe openly where Angell's may heare but in his owne private closet nay which is yet more in his owne breast or bosome yet Moses can tell the world not only what God sayd in heaven but what he sayd in his hart how he was jnwardly affected Soe we finde in one chapter of this booke where Moses make's knowne how God repented and was greived at his hart at mans wickednes and in another how he was graciously disposed for the continnance of the constant course and succession of all the affaires of this inferiour world saying And the Lord sayd in his hart I will not againe curse the earth c. See Moses is privy to Gods hart and can make vs know what were his most jnwarde resolutions And who could give him the least light or acquaintāce of these things but God himself who made him his secretary and so made these secrets knowne to him And thus by all these evidences which are common to all other scripture as well as this but coummunicable to no bookes but the booke of God we see that there is no reason of doubting or debateing any thing in this parte of holy writ or any parcell of it because it was penned by Moses and he borne so long after all things written and recorded in the same were gone and past He had a singuler and all sufficient tutor even the most wise God and he himself did endite all that he taught and enabled Moses to write so that every jot and tittle of this booke of Genesis must be of absolute
and infaillible truth And soe having now by the way cleared this scruple we should proceede vnto our discovery of Abels sacrifice as we have it here layd downe in the words of the text which make report vnto vs what kinde of sacrifice it was and wherof it consisted But we must first take away another doubt which may be made by some how Abell could know the minde of God for these matters and soe readily offer a sacrifice of this kinde and doe it soe suitably to Gods prescription considering that as yet the law of the offering of first fruits nor any other part of the morall or ceremoniall was not given We answer it was giuen but not written as we have it now it was given in those dayes by divine tradition originaly from God to man and successively from man to man Then did the father informe the childe acquaint him with the dutyes that pertayned to piety and the children they received it from their parents obeyed it as from God And this course and manner of revealing the will of God by this kinde of traditioÌ„ endured all the dayes of the holy Patriarches and such as lived after them till Moses and also during all the dayes of Moses till that part of his life wherin the Lord employd him about the penning of this booke and that is diversly conjectured of some suppose it to be written before he went into Egypt within the compasse of these fourty yeares wherin he kept sheepe in Madian others imagine he did it immediately after his departing out of Egypt even in the first yeare therof Howbeit this as the former is no point of such importance as that we must of necessity have an exact knowledge of the same But that Gods law was delivered by this kinde of tradition till the time we speake off we nothing doubt and therefore the more foule is that slander layd vpoÌ„ vs by the papist that we acknowledg not nor endure any traditions judeede those that are popish and vnwritten we cannot abide but doe abhorre them all because none of them can be defended but by blasphemy and some of them in particular are apparantly blasphemous But that there were traditions â—â—ce to wit such as the Lord by himself or by his Angells made knowne to man man beleeved related to his posterity we doe no more deny then we doe that Moses penned this part of holy scripture which till his time was a tradition and vnwritten but can be none from that time forward And if the Lord have ceased his owne hath any man power to erect more that are none of his especially now that his holy will is sufficiently revealed in the writings of the Law and Prophets the Gospell That there were some traditions we freely confesse that any are of God now we dirictly deny those that are being not of God we detest because they are the fruit of the Popes braine who hath a very crazy head in heavenly things though he be applauded to be the head of the church and able to distill spirituall influence into it But to returne to Abel it is probable that he received the light and knowledge he had to offer sacrifice from his father who from God did instruct him how and what to doe in such duties as were to be required of him And vpon this did he embrace and obey the Lord in his ordinances which course of his and his forwardnes thus to doe in those times wherin no scripture was penned nor every man that spake of the things of God traditionally so infalliblely inspired as were all they by whome the Lord hath left his truth written to vs shall rise vp against vs to condemne our vntowardnes who refuse to be taught of God and to be obedient to him though he hath left vs a more happy way to learne then they had who had but a part of his good pleasure manifested and that not written wheras we have the whole and written vpon such records as can never be razed The saints of those times were most willing to take knowledge of the wayes of God and yeeld their obedience to them by that meanes which in comparison of ours are but meane and were but weake yet enough to bring them to God who lived by faith in the truth thus revealed The sinners of our dayes to whome the Lord hath dispenced a more absolute and most sufficient course of comming neere to him are farre from the Lord and will not give him neither such nor soe much duty as these did whose knowledg and practise is not soe much magnifyed as ours shal be manifested plagued of the Lord who looke's they should be the best schollers who have the best teaching Note Miserable will it be with those men to whome the Lord shall say these knew litle of my minde in respect of you yet have done much I made it all knowne to you yet have you done litle or nothing Let not this consideration be in vaine but thinke we how cheerefully Abel learned how conscionably he performed the worship of his God having but litle helpe to further him that we by due ponderation herof may be both ashamed for our faylings past and enforce our selves as it were by a holy violence for time to come to be more faithfull and industrious both to know and to doe what on our part we owe vnto the Lord what vnsepakeable shame is it that we should lye behinde them that have gone before vs in those dutyes wherin many of them had but few to follow nor any scripture to learne them but we have both Gods whole booke to giude vs and all his blessed saints are gone before vs yet are we exceeding short of those holy ones who lived graciously in that age which may truly be called the infancy both of the world and of the church But I will not dwell here we see the holy Ghoste beare's record of Abels offering let vs now come to the words of the text which tell vs what manner of sacrifice it was And Abel he also brought of the firstlings or first borne of his flock Exod. 22.29.30 cap. 34.19 26. Levit. 23.10.12 Num. 15.20.21 Deut. 12.17 cap. 18.4 cap. 26.1.2.11 and of the fate of them Of the first-lings or first borne that is the first encrease of cattell that the Lord gave him The Lord made a most exact law for the offeriÌ„g of the first borne both of man and beast and of all fruits vnto him and this law of his we finde to be very frequently repeated in divers places of the foure bookes of Moses Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomie And as it was often itterated by God to Jsraell soe was it faithfully obeyed by Israell before the Lord both before the captivity in Hezekiah dayes 2. Chron. 31.1.51 Neh. 10.3.32.35 and after in the dayes of Nehemiah as appeareth in the storie of their lives nay from the begining before this law
would vse God Admitt a manns beast like Balams asse could speake if he should say to his master as these doe to the almighty While I am yonge and strong I must follow my pleasure you must give me leave till my olde dayes and then I wil be yours to command and give my self wholy to your service What would the owner answer thinke you would he yeeld to his beast thinke well of the motion and take him home to house and make much of him when he were aged and diseased and both vnfitt and vnable to doe busines surely noe if he could not be broken and brought to worke before he should be beaten out now though he did offer himself And must God take that from vs which we will not endure from beasts the last the worst the dregs and reffuse of our dayes must they fall to his share the only vnfit time for any thing must that be his only time and all he shall have at our hands Can we hope of acceptation and entertaynement in heaven then when men refuse and the world refuse's our service Wofull men who hath bewitched you that you should not beleeue the truth Even Satan who because he would have you wholy his owne doth therefore witholde you from being Gods till you be vnable to honour him and it be impossible he should receive you it is he that doth abuse you herin he knowe's it is with men in respect of God as with beasts in respect of men in their aged dayes they are more fit for slaughter then for service so olde men who have deferred their duty are now more like to be adjudged of God for neglecting it in time past then accepted for time to come What doth not every thing weare grow worse with age all olde things are accounted litle worth olde cloathes to put on olde houses to dwell in the same we might say of all other things in their kinde no man care's for or regared's any such But this is wonderfull that men who see that the fruit of our sin in other creatures make's them vnserviceable to vs yee see not sin it selfe abiding and encreasing in vs for soe long time should make vs soe to God Time vse age doth corrupt all other things to vs but sin the only venyme and poyson of all things make's men by this reckoning most fit for God for the only time they chuse for him is when sin hath had his greatest sway all their lives before as if the corruption of our nature and life had noe power at all to enfeeble or vnfit vs for our God Is not sin our spirituall sicknes and the only desperate disease of our whole man hath it not a corroding quality to eate quite through all the parts of our bodyes all the powers of our soules to pollute infect and annoy vs in all respects and who I pray you would entertayne an aged diseased and infected man into his house as more fit for his turne now then in his former times when he was free from these contagious maladies thinke by your owne reason what hart the Lord of heaven can have to take in these late commers being in farre worse case to serve him then the most disabled man may be to attend a Prince Now then if we see reason to conceive as we cannot but doe if the Lord enlighten our eyes that our wilfull and wofull deferring of our duty till our olde dayes doth deprive vs of harts to goe vnfaynedly to God and debarre him from having a hart graciously to accept of vs then this plea is pernicious to vs and we now we know it most jmpious in vrging it as we have done But let vs come to the fourth last plea for this proroguation of piety Plea 4 4. It is pleaded that there is mercy with God at any time even at the last cast as the theife on the crosse did well finde and soe shall we we hope why should we not even at our last breath This pretence is put vpon vs daily vpon all occasions we heare of it at all times it is layd in our dish to bolster vp rebellion against God and to barre repentance vnto life Noe word of God soe much abused no worke of God more This president of the Lords extraordinary mercy is made the ordinary packhorse to carry all mens jmpiety and seing he was pleased to be soe gracious to one he shall fare the worse with many for millious of men doe builde their gracelessues vpon this grace of his But because we finde by pitifull experience that this holy worde and this holy worke of God both being right worthy to be thought vpon with all the admiration and honor of our harts is become the commō hackney wheron every hell-hounde rides poast to his owne perdition and as he goe's kicks and winces at Gods long suffring and loving kindnes I will therefore endeavour the vttermost that I am albe to see if some may yet be recalled that are gone farre and others may be stayed that are comming after and some preuented that are setting out to run this reprobate race Vndoubtedly did men deliberate at all or could any wise consideration enter into their soule 's they could not thus plead they would not produce this rare and matchlesse example of favour and grace to support their owne vngodly prophanes jmpiety Yea and to adde another evill to all the rest in the very vse and vrging of it to wit to peruert and abuse the sacred word of God and to abase and prostitute this glorious worke of his either of which whosoever doth he doeth it to his owne destruction he destroye's himself in the very deede 2. Tet. 3.16 2. Cor. 4. 3.4 if the apostle say true in one place and in another too where he tell 's vs that if the Gospell be hid and soe it is to them that can see to doe nothing with it but to abuse it it is hid to them that are lost who are hud winckt by the divell that they discerne not the true sence vse of the same but vrge it argue from it to such ends as God doth abhorre that now his word must wounde himself and nothing shall be made such an occasion of his dishonour as that which he once did to renowne himselfe and the glory of his goodnes The Evils of it and favour for ever And how doe we jmagine the Lord will take it that his owne acts should be thus mistaken as to be made weapons against his owne majesty which he ordayned to destroy our jmpiety Doubtlesse that theife that malefactor never did halfe the robbery or any villany comparable to that which these men doe who thus abuse his example to wrong the Lord and their owne soules and the soules of others soe vnspeakeably as they doe And that they may see and vnderstand as they shall if the Lord have a purpose to save them we will crave your patience and
one peice of scripture by another to overthrow Gods worde by Gods worke and soe to divide God against God as Satan against Satan to make the Lord say a thing in one place and in another to vnsay it and finally to draw from the Lord himself a dispensation and liberty of sining that soe what he requires in soe many places of his law he shoule release and cancell in one part of his Gospell Let any man whome God hath endued with any measure of sound vnderstanding judge whether this be not to make a rent in the Lords revealed wil and if soe it be it is time for vs to judg our selues for soe doing for before the Lord will endure this the soule that doth it shal be rent from him throwne among reprobates the judgment and damnation of these disgracers of God and depravers of his holy word sleepeth not and there is noe way to shun or escape it but by a through judging of your selves in respect of this impiety which if they doe not whose mouthes have spoken it and whose myndes have thought it vengeance shall surely overtake them even that vengeance which is due to such as doe this insufferable indignity to God and his word This is the 2. step they tread who follow this way we see it sink's deeper then the former toward that dreadfull confusion which cannot be avoyed if this fearfull evill be not abandoned Let vs yet see further to the third 3. the producing and aleadging of this president of the theife thus that we may play the theiues with God and rob him of his first fruits doth breede and ingender many foule falshoods and vile blasphemyes in our harts He that proposeth this president for his apologie against the manifest light of truth we have proved maketh this scripture the patrone of such atheisticall principles as are to be abhorred in the thought of every man and not to be once vttered of any Let vs see some few of those many monstrous vntruths which we might mention Evill 3 1. it doth posesse vs with a perswasion that by authority of scripture we may rejourne the obedience that long since we owed vnto the Lord. Wheras the holy ghost is clearely opposite herevnto God calleth for nothing more as we have heard then the first and condemneth nothing more then putting off what he command's His servants such as he hath effectually called have made all the haste and expedition that was possible So saith David I will run the way of thy commandements and againe I made haste and delayed not to keepe thy righteous judgments So saith Cornelius to Peter Then I sent for thee jmmediately and Paul saith the same of himself jmmediately I consulted not with flesh and blood c. The evidence of God Psal 119.32.60 Act. 10.33 Gal. 1.16 to hasten our duty is vndeniable the sin of not doing soe is in excusable yet by these mens argumēts the same God that is soe eager for expedition doth warrāt our delay And can any thing be more false thē that God should abet these two contraries Evill 4 2. it doth patronage not only delay but presumptuous delay such as men are guilty of by presuming against all good ground they shall finde the same measure of mercy that this theife did Now to presume of pardon for a sin of presumption is to presume of more favour then the theife found for for ought we know his sin was not of presumption but either of meere ignorance if he were a Romane as some suppose him his fellow to bee or of grosse ignorance if he were a Iew. Sure it is he knew not Christ for he reviled him at the first as well as the other And must you by his example presume of delay in Gods dutyes which he never meant and of mercy for presumptuous delay which this theife never found shall God become the prop of our presumtion when it is a sin that his soule hate's and he is soe farre from having any mercy in store for it that he hath not greater store of justice heaped vp scarce against any vngodlynes they that befaulty are sayd to store or treasure vp wrath against the day of wrath that is Ro. 2.5 every day to augment enlarge and adde vnto their owne damnation This jmpiety is next neighbour to that which is vnpardonable if once a man be soe jmpudent that he dares offend presumptuously he had neede bethinke himself where he is and what he doe's the next leape may be into the bottomlesse pit especially if he shall adde this vnto all that he will father such offences vpon the Lords allowance soe turne his extraordinary mercy into extraordinary jmpiety Note David had another spirit when he prayed against presumptuous sin that he might be free from the great transgression did not the spirit of the divell posesse these wofull men Psa 19.13 they would surely doe the same But Satan ha's enough even all that he would have to make them build their presumption vpon God because he knowe's that by soe doing he shall provoke God against them to abhorre them for ever But let vs looke yet a litle further Evill 5 3. The vrging of this example thus doth loose vs bynde God we are enlarged for all our life till the last his hands are tyed that with double bands Is not this vndeniably true and a cleare consequent of this allegation doe we not presse it to put off that wherevnto we are bound not to give the Lord first of our lives but to be free to come when we will though at the last day or houre or instant doe we not take it for graunted that till we doe come we must have health peace foode and all other favours from God and that we must be accepted also So we are free God is bound we are free from duty during our pleasure and a great deale of kindnes we must have for many yeares and doe him no service but he is bound to mayntaine vs till we come and entertayne vs when we come And is it not fearfull and hydeous jmpiety for vs to seeke to enslave the Lord to our sinfull lives and to set our selves at liberty in them against him But perhaps you will say God hath bound himself saying At what time soever a sinner shall repent him and that Christ hath done the same saying he that commeth to me I cast not away Well if touching the former we graunt the truth of those words though they are not litterally expressed in any text that the Lord will refuse none but is tyed to take them when they come yet I hope it is with condition of their comming as they ought to come that is with warrant from him at his call with abilitye of grace from him to repent without both these it is an jmpossibility to come and if we come not thus as we are bounde to doe God is free to refuse vs. Note
a man to live by stealing all he eate's and to dye in eating all he steale's Let vs thinke on these motives which are the substance of those jnducements which the ceremoniall law did but shaddow We now proceede to presse a few other which may yet more move vs if we ponder them as we ought either in the benefit that come's by the obedience of this truth or the evill that issue 's from the neglect thereof I pray you note bath 1. First if we did give the Lord our first doe but thinke what a world of sin we might save which is committed and continued in by millions till we doe give our selves to God Did we throughly know the danger of one sin even the least we can be guilty of we would doe much to prevent it seing that everlasting pordition is due to it but here is a course that would spare a multitude nay all our trangressions for from the time we are the Lords he reckon's no sin to vs but account's vs righteous and accept's vs blamelesse in his beloved Now to avoyd sin with the dishonor it brings to God with the damnation it brings to vs yea to others too by our example who would not rēder the Lord his right most freely let him have his owne frō vs that Satā might never have us as his owne frō God Assuredly he that coulde ever conceive the Lords damage his owne disadvantage by sin what glory God wants what greife it is to his spirit what provocation it is to his patience how jniurious to his goodnes and favour how abusiue to his long suffering loving kindenes would never deny himself to the Lord from the first day he did vnderstand how he might acceptablely yeeld himself vnto him what a siranger should Satan be in vs what a familiar would God be to vs if we begin betimes with him 2. Consider that as we might save much sin soe this were also the only way to have much grace The more early any thing begins to be good the more goodnes is hoped from it the sooner any man sett's himself towards beaven the more heavenly must he needes be Oh what a most happy thing is it when grace begins to grow betimes in vs then is the Lord much honoured by vs then are men much bettered by vs then are we fitter for all duty then are we more safe from sin the cōtagion of sinners then are we more able to worke out our salvation and more sure to posesse the same A mans life is a heaven vpon earth when his graces are well growne in him his affection his conversation cannot but be in heaven such a man may be bolde with his God at all times and Satan can have no hope to prevaile against him whē it cometh soe to passe with a man in good as it did with him in evill in whome the divell had beene from a childe he was the more hardly cast out soe the more easily is he kept out and hardly nay never shall he possibly enter to posesse that person who of a childe and from the first hath beene gracious What have we in this worlde to doe or to busy our selves most about but to get that grace that may further vs to glory and what better way to get much then to fall to worke assoone as is possible 3. Consider that the Lord never gave any man a time of grace that would dare to set God a time to come for it The man that shal be soe jmpious and jmpudent as to prescribe and lymit the Lord at what time he will come never hath hart to come at all Is it not good reason that when we neglect yea and despise too so great salvation as is tendered nay commanded to vs in our tender yeares that he whome we have denyed in his time of grace should deny vs in our time of sin especially considering that he hath power to confine vs to the instant of his call but it is intollerable jmpiety in vs to bounde him to ours Shall God waite vpon the diuell and accept vs at that houre when our sin will let vs come we having cast of his day houre of mercy before How reade we in the scriptures for this what finde we nothing but thunder and lightening from heaven to peale these wicked wretches to perdition They that were bidaē were not worthy saith Christ And againe The dore was shut against them that were not prepared for the bridegrome at the instant of his comming and though at their owne time they came afterwarde with much jntreaty yet it could not be opened but they were banished thence and abandoned to hell Pre. 1.24.25.26 Zach. 7.13 And yet againe by the prophets Because I have called and you have refused therefore shall yee cry and not be heard So that you see God sett's noe time to him that setts God any nothing remayne's to such but disdayne from heaven damnation in hell 4. Consider that what extraordinary honour God ever intended to himself by any man or men whome he would make instruments of the same he meant to make all such persons gracious betime Doe but ponder it well in the first Adam in the second In the first all mankinde might have beene happy and God mightily honoured through all generations now to bring this about Adam shal be righteous from his first being and honour the Lord from the time of his creation In the second Adam all the elect shal be happy through him the glory of Gods infinite favour shall shyne vpon them to furnish him for this wonderfull worke he sanctifyed himself before he was borne and after in our infancy and soe throughout all ages of our life during the dayes he lived Indeede he attayned not our olde age I will not take vpon me peremptorily to determine why but it may be it was to shew that olde age doth not easily attayne him that soe these presumptuous olde fooles might be the more terrefyed and daunted from dareing to be so audacious as they have beene Did the Lord ever glorify himself in that man or glorify that man with himself that refusing to come when God called came when himself would name one instance if it be possible Noe he will sanctify all such as shal be glorious to him in earth or glorious with him in heaven I say he will sanctify all such in his purpose before time and in his practise in such time as wherin they shall come when he shall call be it more early as Ieremiah Iosiah John Baptist or more late as Abraham and such other as we have named before He gave them harts to attend his time not one of them ever dared to reject that and to cause the Lord to attend theirs These few inducements I hope shall draw and enforce vs to the Lord whose we are and whose all our dayes are and all our abilityes both of body and soule from him we have them in mercy if he have them not from vs againe in duty it had beene better for vs we had never beene borne Lay these holy considerations to hart offer not to presume vpon grace in thine owne time it is presumptuous sin to doe soe that man is extraordinarily gracelesse that dare's presume of grace in extraordinary time They that come to crave more then common kindnes of vs must be more then common freinds vnto vs litle reason hath God to be more then vsually good to them who have beene grossly evill to him as all they are who render him not his right in their first dayes If we would be the Lords for ever let vs ever resolve to be soe at the first Dearely beloved take these things into deliberatiō let them lodge in our harts rest and rooste in our myndes that soe the Lord our God may take vs into his favour and compassion Olde yonge middle-age all ages have this in good remembrance for it is a truth that make's vs happy if we hearken to it miserable if we doe not To the aged I say yet not I but the Lord looke backward see how much of your glasse is out and forward how litle remayneth to run and run apace to the living God to be received before all be gone and no hope be left thinke that voyce of God spoken to you 1. Pet. 4.2.3 It is sufficient that we have spent the time past after the lusts of the flesh c therevpon hasten towards heaven with all expedition it may be the Lord may take that litle time that is left and receiue you into everlasting habitations To the younge I say also Remember thy Creator thy redeemer too in the dayes of thy youth and jmagine that other voyce of heaven spokē to you for it is now time to a wake Ro. 13.11 c it is great reason that the flowre of your abilityes should be the Lords from whome you had them and to whome your account must be made for them In a word I say to you all and to every one of you Doe but thinke 1. how farre it is to heaven seing we must goe from sin to grace that we may goe thence to glory 2. how hard it is to finde the way because flesh blood cānot shew it then 3 how hard to enter goe on because the gate is so straight the enemy soe strong we soe weake wearied out with sin cōtinually clogging vs. And soe I end with that speech in Iob If thou wilt seeke vnto God early Job 8.3.6.7 and make thy supplication to the almighty if thou be pure and vpright surely he would now awake vnto thee and make the habitation of thy righteousnes prosperous and though thy begining be but small yet thy latter end should greatly encrease And that thus we may be and thus doe Let all sorts vncessantly seeke his face for ever Glory be to God on high