vp yea and flourish in the courts of our God to full holinesse that we may stand fast in this estate we must take the staffe of Gods feare to prop vs vp in the feare of God Reu. 20.6 And this is rising to life viuification and blessed are they which haue part in this first resurrection And thus hauing seene a short view of all the words containe in them two generall parts 1. The antecedent or reason premised 2. The consequent or conclusiō inferred The antecedent in these words Seeing we haue these promises dearly beloued The conclusion in these Let vs cleanse our selues from all fi lt hinesse of the flesh c. And first of the former and then of the latter where with transposition of the words without alteration of the sense giue me leaue to salute your patience in the Apostles order Dearely beloued Dearely beloued Modus compellendi Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur in nature and in Scripture you know it to be true and here example and experience makes it good in both the Apostle such is the abundance of his loue that his tongue cannot containe but expresse the feruent desire of his heart in that he calleth his people Dearly beloued If you turne but your thoughts to that which he faith to his Philippiās 1.8 you shall find him like the Spouse euen sicke of loue toward them God is my record faith he how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Christ Iesus c. Had the Apostle either receiued or expected benefite for his loue it had bene lex talionis Ioh. 6.26 as the multitude loued Christ for the loaues and hypocrites do euen the same but for Paul to loue his Maisters flocke for their good on his part gratis and that in the absence of his Maister this loue is great Act. 9.15 and worthy of Paul whom Christ loued and chose him to be the Apostle of the Gentiles This Paul this patterne of loue must not be put vnder a bushell bur set on a candlesticke to giue light to all for this fatherly affection is one chiefe point of the Pastorall office Saint Peter for the example of all others Doct. 1. is bound vpon the allegiance of his loue to feed the flocke Ioh. 21. to seed them I say as a good shepheard with a watchfull and fatherly care and affection Saint Iohn if you reade his writings you shall find them dulcicora melliceta full as the Moone and nothing but full and plentifull drops of loue sweeter then the honey and the honey combe calling them children 1. Ioh. 2. little children babes little babes beloued and dearely beloued Moses complaineth of the yoke and burden which loue laid vpon him by consequence of his place for so you shal reade Numb 11.11 Wherefore haft thou afflicted thy seruant and wherefore haue I not found fauour in thy sight that thou layest the burden of all this people vpon me haue I conceiued all this people haue I begotten them that thou shouldest say vnto me Carrie them in thy bosome as a nurse beareth her sucking child By which we may see that teachers are pascendo pastores sed diligendo patres pastors for instruction but fathers for affection For howsoeuer we must sometime come like the watchmen in the Canticles qui non vult duci debet trahi yet this seueritie must be paterna non tyrannica Dum das verbera ostende vbera faith Bernard Bern. this gall must be mingled with honey this bitter water must come out of a sweete fountaine this sharpe reprehension from a louing affection it must be in spiritu mansuetudinis Galat. 6.1 Brethren if a man be fallen by occasion of infirmitie ye that are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse And in a word as our voices must be the voice of Iohn Baptist to crie vnto them so our hearts must be the hearts of Paul the Apostle to loue them for you are vnto vs dearely beloued And are you so to vs our dearely beloued Vse Then so ought we to be vnto you your dearely beloued for if our hearts must be liuely fountaines running full streames of loue towards you yours must not be drie cisternes of lead to wards vs againe for Amor amoris magnes durus est qui amorem nonrependit Loue is the loadstone of loue and for the children not to loue their fathers it is the highest pitch of ingratitude a finne against nature and such as is not to be named 1. Thess 5.12 1. Cor. 16.11 Gal 6.6 It is the Apostles rule that you should know and that after a speciall maner those which labour amongst you in the Lord and haue them in singular respect for their workes sake Surely brethren I must speake a little what I both heare and see to your iust commendation It would be a notable incitement and prouocation to all Gods messengers abroad in the land to labor diligently and conscionably in their callings if their pains were but requited with such loue and respect as is in this Citie if the wels of charitie which should water the Eden of God were vnstopped and made to flow towards them in other places abroad as they do here amongst you That which Saba said of Solomons 1. King 10.8 seruants may well be applied to the Ministerie of this Citie Happie are the men and happie are those thy seruants which stand euer before thee and heare thy wisedome so happie are those Ministers happie are those seruants of God which stand and speake in your presence which waite and minister at your altars But alas we that are criers in the wildernesse find other measure farre vnsuting our labour of loue If we did raine downe euery day golden Angels into their laps they would crie with him Ille mihi semper erit Deus illius Aram hugge vs nay adore vs make gods of vs bring buls drest with garlands to sacrifice vnto vs but showring downe that which is more precious then gold and whose price is farre aboue pearles the precious comforts of the Gospell the meanes of their eternall saluation they are senslesse of the good we do them O what good bloud would it breed in vs if as some other of your sweet ointments good examples I meane so this of loue and kindnesse to them that teach you the way to heauen might runne from the head to the skirts of the garment the vtmost coasts and corners of the land To conclude this point you that are called and entred into the place of nursing fathers and you that receiue the sincere milke of the word that your soules may grow thereby let me exhort you in the bowels of Christ Iesus to lend all your helping hands and consenting hearts that as you haue begun so you may make perfect this holy combination of Paul and his dearely beloued Concordia crescunt minutissima discordia vel maxima dilabuntur Surely brethren
Abraham to Moses Gen. 17.4 from Moses to Christ Luk. 18.5 Luk. 20,27 Gal. 4.4 Exod. 14.10 Heb. 9.15 And in the fulnesse of time God sent our Sauiour according to his promise Luk. 1. 54. Act. 3.12 and our Sauiour Christ did mightily shew himselfe to be the Sonne of God and the Redeemer of his people Israel Luk. 24 19. in whō all the prophecies promises and figures did meet as many lines in the center These promises also The Apostle doth alledge onely two texts of these promises which are like the grapes and fruites of Eschol which the spies brought from the land of Canaan as if he should say By these few you may taste and see how sweete the Lord is and if I should labour to go through them all I suppose they are moe in number then the haires of my head and the plenty of them would beget want of strength in me to deliuer them Moses the man of God doth giue vs to wit 1. Promissiones rarae that these promises are first Rarae inauditae worthy his performance onely who in all things with his holy arme doth get himselfe the victorie Psal 98.2 Who would haue thought that a wombe of ninety yeares barrennesse should be a ioyfull mother of children God promised it Gen. 17.17 and he performed it Gen. 21.6 Who would imagine that God would bring Israel out of Aegypt thus as it is said and after so strange a maner by tentations by signes and by wonders by warre by a mightie hand and by a stretched out arme and by great terrors according to all that the Lord did for them in Aegypt Deut. 4.34 Who could haue thought that the Red sea should be diuided or Iordan driuē back Exod. 14.21 Iosh 10.12 Exod. 16.13 Num. 20.8 or the Moon should stay her course and the Sunne forget his going downe that Manna should be rained from heauen that liuing waters should flow from the flintie rocke These things God promised Exod. 3.19 and these and greater then these the Lord hath done in their due season for he is the God who made all things of nothing which quickneth the dead and calleth those things which are not as though they were Rom. 4.17 2. 2. Promissiones certissime Mal. 3.6 Most sure and certaine as proceeding from the eternitie and immutabilitie of his will and verity with whom is no change nor shadow of changing God saith concerning him that promiseth by vow or oath Implebit omne quod promisit Numb 30.3 He shall not breake his promise but do according to all that he hath promised And shall the Lord say and not do it promise and not performe it Surely God shall as soone not be himselfe as his proceedings not be the truth he were not omnipotent but impotent if it were otherwise Therfore the Apostle doth thus stile him God that cannot lie Tit. 1.2 The faithfull God Deut. 7.8 with whom is no change his promises are therefore Yea and Amen 2. Cor. 1.20 certissimae 3. 3. Promissiones gratuitae Gratuitae the effects of his mercie and goodnesse without any merite or desert of ours Deut. 7.7 He set not his loue vpon you saith Moses to Israel nor chose you because you were moe in number then other people for you were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loued you c. And in the riches of his mercie God chose this people first and his first promise he made to them Leuit. 26.12 I will walke with you I will be your God and you shall be my people yea and enlargeth the same Ier. 31.1 I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shal be my people c. When Adam sinned against God God had compassion towards him yea when he maketh Gods liberalitie the patrone of his iniquitie saying The woman which thou gauest me c. then did he promise The seed of the woman should breake the Serpents head Genes 3.12 These and the like are gratuitae promissiones without any precedent merit of man as a motiue to moue him thereunto the free donations and enlargements of his goodnesse and bountie 4. 4. Promissiones magnae pretiosae Magnae pretiosae so Saint Peter teacheth vs to esteem them 2. Pet. 1.3 For these that our God will be with vs wheresoeuer we go ruling and assisting vs in whatsoeuer we do these are magnae pretiosae Oh how sweete are thy promises Exod. 5.18 Psal 119. He ruleth vs according to his promise not as Pharaoh ruled Israel with a rod of iron toyling them in their taskes of bricke allowing no straw but he commands vs weldoing and helpes vs to do it and when our seruice is done of dutie herein his bountifull dealing passeth our conceiuing when for a broken seruice on earth he makes a promise of heauen not as they are now subiect to corruption 2. Pet. 3.10 For the heauens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall be consumed with heate but as they shall be then refined most glorious and stable for the comfort and crowning of his Saints Magnae pretiosae So that as a Father saith The children of God hauing tasted hereof in the life to come do mourne and grieue in the heauens that their repentance was no sooner their thankfulnesse no more and their obedience no greater to glorifie God on earth so that as it is said of the glorious Church Quà m mirabilia de te narrantur ô Ciuitas Dei Oh how great and wonderfull things are spoken of thee O thou Citie of God! such are his promises according to the excellencie of his wisedome and power Magnae pretiosae And in the fift place that we may inherite the promises 5. Promissiones futurae I must informe you that they are futurae viz. of things to come the promises of hope Our life saith Paul is hid with Christ and it appeares not what we shall be Peraduenture some will say better to haue something certaine But to them I say our hope is not a dead but a liuely hope 1. Pet. 1.3 2. Pet 3.8 not depending vpon man whose breath is in his nostrils but vpon our God with whom one day is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day The Apostle saith God is faithfull and We know whom we haue beleeued If our life therefore be a warfare our hope is an helmet Eph. 6. if a sea-faring hope is our anchor to stay our ships in danger Act. 27.33 till the day appeare Act. 28. And in a word in all things this is our stay God is faithfull he hath promised and will performe it but all in his due time his I say and not ours Psal 40.1 that we should keepe our soules still waiting on the Lord therefore they are futurae 6. 6. Promissiones augustissimae To comprise many in one and not to totall all in iust account in briefe
promises of God are the ground of obedience I beseech you by the mercies of God saith Saint Paul Rom. 12.1 that you giue vp your bodies and soules a liuing sacrifice vnto God c. Where he makes Gods mercies the onely motiue to obedience for howsoeuer some do his will of compulsion because they dare do no other yet plures colligit amor and good men loue God for himselfe euen of zeale to his glory The Lord hath two ordinary Heralds of obedience viz. his promises and his threats Aut sequeris aut traheris either his mercies to allure vs or his iudgements to terrifie vs and therefore we say on behalfe of his mercies that the liberty of a Christian doth necessarily imply not lasinesse but holinesse and when we say that the promises of God are gratuitae our meaning is ex parte antecedente non consequente free on Gods part to vs for no inducement in vs to moue him to compassion but not so on our part towards him for they are done vpon condition of our obedience It is in his promises as in his threatnings they all runne not absolutely but with a prouiso expressed or at least wise vnderstood Si nisi non esset perfectum quidlibet esset Were it not for conditions and exceptions our end was present destruction Except you repent you shall all perish but the Nisi comes in like a Repriueall betwixt the sentence and the execution day and as it is in the case of threatning so likewise of promise for there is a twofold nisi of repentance and of obedience so that except we performe the conditions we haue no part nor claime in the promises The charge of Iosua makes it plaine Iosua 23. as that chapter doth dilate at large neither need I stand to cleare this point that all the promises run with the condition of holinesse for all the Sermons of the Prophets and Apostles giue witnesse to this purpose And this is the will of God euen your sanctification God hath purchased you to be a people Tit. 2.14 holy and peculiar to himselfe that you should be zealous of good workes therefore Gods loue and our obedience which God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder Vse 1 Are the promises of God the ground of obedience Then our doctrine is not a doctrine of liberty neither is the calling of a Christian a calling of ease for we preach not mercies or promises that men should liue as they list Should a malefactor contemne his Prince because he is mercifull or a sonne disobey his father for his loue and affection This I say that precedent promises can purchase no license for subsequent sinnes It is not our hope but the profession of our hope that shall saue vs. Saint Paule therefore saith 1. Cor. 5.7 Purge out the old leauen that you may be a new lumpe for Christ our passeouer is sacrificed for vs. Because he was crucified for vs let vs not crucifie him againe but rather because he was sacrificed for vs let vs sacrifice our selues for him in obedience and sanctity For Gods mercie and our obedience must be ioyned together and they that turne away obedience and faith from their hearts turne away Christs merits and mercies from their soules and they that will not weepe ouer him whom their sinnes haue wounded he shall neuer bleede ouer them that their sinnes my be pardoned and therefore 2. See the calumniation of our quarrelling aduersaries the aduersaries of the grace of God the Church of Rome which charge vs with that we neuer taught God he knowes our innocency viz. that we teach promise without obedience faith without workes and therefore that we are solifidians and teach a doctrine of licenciousnesse to all impietie But to these I say that we haue not so taught Eph. 4.20 neither haue we so learned Christ for we teach faith without workes to be a dead faith and the promises of God without our obedience shall do vs no good for howsoeuer they are sufficient in themselues yet are they not effectuall in vs. But to bring home their sinne to their owne doores to pay them with their owne coine or rather to strike thē with the rod which they haue prepared may I not say and experience beare me witnesse that I speake the truth in Christ and lie not Is not their doctrine a doctrine of liberty 1 Tim. 4.1 or rather of diuels which make merchandise of sinne as of flesh in the shambles making shipwrack of faith and a good conscience and hauing clad themselues with the figge leaues of a blind dispensation from a Popish broker they blush not at most direfull proiects but walke secure in the machinations and executions of all villany What shall I name that which is not to be named amongst Christians the tolleration of stewes and the like which yet is not paralelled among the nations Alas paruaqueror these be but trifles Seneca Audent aliquid breuibus gyaris carcere dignum To kill a King or poison a Prince to blow vp a Senate to defie God deface religion plot treasons spoile a nation these and the like are patronized among those Satanicall spirits and the actors canonized for worthies and their acts for workes of supererogation I might instance in their intended desolations in the dayes of our famous Deborah the memoriall of whose name shall be blessed for euer and their hellish treasons now in the dayes of our happie Ioshua whose yeares the Lord make as many ages and fill all his dayes with peace a Monarch for his power and a man after Gods owne heart so famous for his learning so learned in religion and religious in profession innocent from wrong peaceable in his wayes and mercifull to all if not too mercifull to them and yet did not these infernall spirits Antichristian pioners and Romish Mold warpes seeke to extinguish this glorious light and the life of the whole land vno tactu vno ictu vno nictu with one blow sulphurious blast in the twinkling of an eye to haue dismembred and crushed together the gouernment counsell wisedom learning iustice and religion of God in the whole land Oh inauditum nefas oh nefandum scelus Oh vnspeakable villanie especially to be countenanced or canonized but in the Rolles of hel or by a Pope a diuel incarnate and doth not the Pope giue libertie and dispensations for the committing of the same is not this a doctrine of libertie which doth giue libertie to make themselues as it were drunke with the bloud of so many worthies I dare be bold to say that all the Masses Dirges Trentals smoakie fumes and polluted lip-seruice and as the Apostle speaketh beggerly rudiments Gal. 4.9 or if you will cosening shifts of all the idolatrous Iesuites Monkes and Friers and adde to them all the English calues begotten by the buls of Rome cannot wash this one bloudie sinne from the Popes bloud-guiltie soule 3. What shall I say of the
of herbes then a tree and lastly hath boughes and branches wherein the fowles of heauen make their neasts And so the kingdome of heauen is oft compared to things increasing to teach our growth and progresse in weldoing if we haue faith to confirme it Lord I beleeue helpe my vnbeleefe Mar. 9.24 Luk. 7.47 Psal 129.139 if loue to increase it Many sinnes are forgiuen her for she loued much if zeale to enkindle it The zeale of thy house hath euen eaten me vp And as God hath begun and continued a chaine of his high fauours towards vs in predestinating calling Rom. 8.30 iustifying sanctifying and glorifying his Church so let vs encounter his loue with all diligence ioyning to our vertue faith to faith knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godlinesse to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse to brotherly kindnesse loue 2 Pet. 1.5.6 And thus by ioyning together the linkes of this golden chaine of his graces we must grow vp from grace to grace Reason 1. Because we are as new borne babes and as a building begun As new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the word that you may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Now as babes which are not fed do perish and as a building begun and not followed comes to nothing it is euen so in the nursing and building of the inward man 2. Because we haue tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come and therefore if we proceede not in well doing we crucifie the Lord anew vnto our selues and make a mocke of his fauours Heb. 6.6 Vse 1 1. This serueth for the examination and condemnation of those which the world calls harmelesse men who haue set vp their pride in this viz. To do no harme But he which proceeds no further is as one that hauing a long iourney to trauell doth pitch downe his rest in the midst of the way but as the Israelits that staied and died in the desert they saw not the land of Canaan no more shall any such see the saluation of God for the breach of the law is not onely commission but omission and the wages of sinne is death and omission of duty is commission of iniquitie This I say that he which endeuoureth an harmelesse life to deale vprightly and iustly and not to defraud or wrong his brother this man is in the way to the king dome of heauen but if thou wilt be perfect Hoc vnum restat do well and endeauour thy selfe to euery good work and thus we must grow in grace that we may attaine to ful holinesse and that is the perfection of our worke and the part that now ensueth To full holinesse The Apostle would haue vs like the wise builder in the Gospel who gaue not ouer his worke till he brought it to perfection we must grow to full holinesse from whence obserue No man must content himselfe with the beginnings of viuification but endeauour perfection The Israelits gathered Manna euery day but vpon the Saboath day to teach vs and teach thē that vntil that euerlasting Saboath of rest where we shall be glorified bodies and soules we must neuer stand still in our Christian growth But as the waters spoken of in Ezechiel grew vp by degrees first to the ankles then to the knees then to the loynes and lastly to the head and as the wheate our Sauiour spoke of grew vp by degrees first there was the blade thē came the stalke after that the full corne but lastly came the haruest euen so like that water we must grow higher and higher til we come to our head Christ and like that corne riper and riper vntill the end of the world when the Lord shall winnow the chaffe from the wheate the wheate he shall receiue into his garner but the chaffe to be burnt vp with vnquenchable fire Thus we must grow vnto full holinesse Mat. 2.9 For as the starre which directed the wise men in their search ceassed not till it came to the place where Christ was and there it stayed so must we not stay in the course of holinesse till we come to heauen where God is And as the kine of the Philistims which drew the Arke of God 1. Sam. 6. though they were milch and had calues at home the one to weaken them the other to withdraw them yet without turning to the right hand or left they kept on their way till they came to Bethshemesh so hauing once ioyned our selues to the yoake of Christ and bearing the arke of his law vpon our shoulders in the way of a vertuous life though we haue many hindrances wordly allurements the diuels temptations and our owne sinfull prouocations yet must we keepe on the way of holinesse to perfection and so the apostle exhorteth Phil. 3. Let vs as many as be perfect be thus mindid Luk. 1. like Zachary and Elizabeth of whom Saint Luke reporteth that they were both righteous befor God walking in all the commandements and iustifications of the Lord without rebuke that is without iust exception to be taken against them yet to dreame of an absolute and Angelicall perfection in a mortall man was the errour of the Pelagian heretikes but our perfection is in part not wholly in respect not absolute or perfect we may be said towards men but not in relation to God There is also a perfection by way of comparison with others and so optimus ille est qui minimis vrgetur he is the most perfect man which hath the fewest faults Yea and further there is a perfection of holinesse secundùm huius vitae modum according to the measure and proportion of this life and this perfection euery good man must haue Saint Paule describes it thus Phil. 3.3 I account not my selfe that I haue attained perfection but one thing I do I forget that which is behind and endeauour my selfe to that which is before and follow hard toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus So that this is the point We must resolue endeauour contend and striue for perfection as for a prize euer be adding grace till we are in some sort according to the capacity of our humane nature perfect men in Christ Ie sus and to this our Sauiour exhorts Beye perfect as your heauenly Father is perfect Math. 5.48 neither must we desist till we come to full holinesse Reason Because non progreds est regredi and our life is like the tumbling of a bowle vp an high hil which if it be throwne part of the way or halfe or more it returneth againe but if it be throwne to the top there it resteth so the hauen of holinesse it is Olympus an high hill which we must climbe to the top for to sticke or stay in the midst is but lost labour Againe our life is as a Boate rowed against the streame where if the rowers stay it goeth backeward of it selfe so in
obserue Doctr. All our holinesse must be perfected in feare For as I haue formerly noted the greatest perfection of our holinesse hath in it many imperfections According to the measure and proportion of this life so is our holinesse and no otherwise yea and the least part doth not consist in this to know and confesse our wants Saint Paul wil therefore haue vs to workeout our owne saluation in feare and trembling Phil. 2. and Saint Peter to Passe the time of our mortall pilgrimage in feare Our estate is neuer secure of danger for the Angels though in heauen yet thence did they fall Iude. Gen. 3. Math. 4. Adam and Eue though in Paradise yet there tempted and ouercome Our Sauiour in the vaste and wilde desert yet there the diuell finds him And the Saints of God though in the bosome of the Church Psal 105. yet they haue had many foule slips and falls and therefore our holinesse must be perfected in feare Secondly seeing that the feare of loue and not of punishment is the truest measure of our perfection obserue Note We must grow to full holinesse euen of zeale to Gods glorie and goodnesse must be loued for it selfe oderunt peccare mali for midine poenae To do well for feare of punishment is but an asses vertue And herein is the triall of a perfect heart if a man can ioy in holinesse conscionably though it come alone yea though accompanied with many miseries Singular is the example of Dauid to this purpose Psal 119 126. Psalm 119. It is time for thee O Lord to lay to thine hand for men haue destroyed thy law therefore saith he euen for the loue and zeale that I haue to holinesse and Gods glorie therefore I say loue I thy command ments aboue gold and all false wayes do I vtterly abhorre This is the point our perfection consists in this if we can be content to embrace holinesse euen for it selfe and for reuerence to our heauenly Father By which it may appeare that feare and the feare of loue is the measure and perfection of our holinesse Reason 1 1. Because of the danger that may befall vs for want of this feare viz. lest hereby we fall from our constancie and so for want of perseuerance do hazard our saluation The diuell is a cunning and diligent aduersarie Luk. 11.24 ready to take adnantage vpon euery occasion and if he find the house swept and garnished and no resistance be made he entreth in and dwelleth there and the end of that man is worse then the beginning and therefore we ought at all times and in all things to walke circumspectly and in feare Eph. 5.15 2. For feare of giuing offence to others and by our halting or standing still we wound the weake hands and feeeble knees of the brethren and so become partakers of their sinnes Praeceptamonent exempla mouent yea know that examples in sinne do draw multitudes to offend and therefore we ought to feare our selues euen for the good of others 3. Lest that by our securitie and standing still the enemie be comforted and haue cause to blaspheme and the Angels of God and the Spirit of God be grieued within vs who as they do reioyce for the conuersion of a sinner so do they grieue at the falls of the righteous Vse The vse of the point is to teach vs to beware of securitie and to let the feare of God euermore keepe the doores of our hearts the wants whereof doth breed in vs a numnesse of soule and doth much withstand the ordinance of God for our saluation For when men come to this that they are cold to holinesse if they heare so it is if not they feele no great want if they receiue the Sacrament they haue no great delight or ioy or if they for beare they feele no grieuance and for other exercises of religion they can be content to do them for ceremonious custome but not for conscience and feeling Such a secure and carelesse estate as this doth shew them to lie in some grosse sin presently or else are in danger to fall into some great transgression or some grieuous punishment But all the paths of the Lord are hedged about with feare that we should not forget nor for sake the Lord at any time Beleeue in God we cannot alwayes and to reioyce is not alwayes present faith is sometime faint loue is little ioy is sicke hope is dead and seeling fallen asleepe but the feare of God in a godly iealousie ouer our owne wayes is the meanes to recouer all againe Our sanctification is but in part He that thinkes that he stands let him take heed lest he fall and Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes Surely brethren it is a good thing through godly feare euer to get victorie of out infirmities before they come to be ioyned with the sinnes of the world to the griefe of the godly the reproch of the wicked the trouble of our owne consciences or the hazard of Gods glorie Thus the feare of God is the beginning of wisedome Prou. 1 yea and the perfection of holinesse is the feare of the Lord. heare the end of all Feare God and keepe his commandements It is the Alpha and Omega of our holinesse the measure and foundation of the same and Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord Psal 112. Of God My text hath at last brought me to the end of our iourney euen to God the Lord who alone is to be feared And seeing it is now high time to leaue you here I will leaue you for I cannot leaue you better then with God Consider therefore a little the height of his Maiestie the brightnesse of his glorie the perfection of his goodnesse the strength of his power the excellency of his wisedome the eternitie of his being the holinesse of his truth the sweetnesse of his mercie the blessednesse of his presence in whose sight there is length of dayes and in his presence is fulnesse of ioy for euermore Let his name be had in honour from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe thereof Againe Oh Lord of hoasts how excellent is thy name in all the world Againe God is the feare of his Saints For the strength of Israel is a dreadfull God clothed with vnspeakable maiestie as with a garment and the splendor of his glorie is ten thousand times more bright then the Sunne in his greatest beautie yea the beholding of his face is present death to a mortall man The Angels tremble the heauens melt away the mountaines smoke the sea is dried vp and Iordan driuen backe and the earth doth totter vpon the foundations at the sight thereof The voice of the Lord is a glorious voice and hath the preheminence The voice of the Lord bringeth mightie things to passe Heare and feare and tremble before the Lord your God ye men of Israel In conclusion therefore seeing we know that one and onely God euer to be worshipped and feared whose authoritie doth command and power execute and prouidence gouerne vs and all things let vs as Henoch walked with God so passe the time of our mortall pilgrimage in feare and holinesse as if we walked in his presence whose eye seeth all and whose eare heareth all alwayes remembring that his all-seeing eye and all-hearing eare shall bring you and me and vs all to iudgement In the feare of God therefore let vs begin and so end all endeuours to cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and grow vp to full holinesse that at the appearance of the Sonne of God to iudge the ends of the earth we may be found faithfull seruants and as we haue dealt truly in a little so he may then make vs rulers ouer much through the riches of his grace who hath freely and formerly beloued vs not for our owne sake but because himselfe is loue and takes delight in his owne goodnesse To which God be ascribed all goodnesse and glory and mercy and power both now and for euermore Amen Amen FINIS