he may will and commaund But the abundant mercy of God towards mankind doth most of all consist in this that he hath giuen his onely sonne for vs when we were his enemies As it is written God so loued the world that he hath giuen his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life Againe God setteth out his loue towards vs seeing that while we were yet sinners Christ died for vs much more then being now iustified by his bloud we shal be saued frō wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more being reconciled we shall be saued by his life In all this then wée may cléerely behold the infinite mercy of God towards vs poore sinners For is it not a great matter that the sonne of God should take our nature vpon him should be so abased as he was should humble himself to death euen to the death of the Crosse For as the shadow of the Diall went backe ten degrées that Ezechias might receiue length of daies much happinesse so Christ the sonne of righteousnesse hath gone backe many degrées that we might haue eternall life His humiliation therefore is our exaltation his sufferings our ioy his death our life For we haue no other remedy or refuge but onely his merits righteousnes He is our city of refuge whither we must fly where we must take sanctuary He is the Balme of Gilead whereby our soules are cured He is that poole of Bethesda where euery man may bée cured of what disease so euer hée hath He is the riuer of Iordan where Naaman may wash away all his Leprosie He is that Pellican who by pecking a hole in his owne brest doth restore his yong to life againe by his blood Yet one thing we must note by the way which hath béene partly touched before that al the mercy of God and merits of Christ are to be restrained onely to the elect only to the true members of the Church As plainely appeareth in the 103. Psalm Where the mercies of God which there are largely described are restrained onely to them that feare him kéepe his couenant thinke vpon his Commandements to do them And touching Christ it is said that he is a prince a Sauiour vnto Israel that he shall redéeme Israel from all his iniquities Againe it is written That Christ being consecrate was made the author of eternall saluation to them that obey him None do or can obey him but onely the Elect therefore he is the authour of saluation onely to the Elect. And consequently the prophane world whatsoeuer they say whatsoeuer they brag boast haue no true title or interest in him This thing was figured in the law in this that the mercy seate which was a type of Gods mercy in Christ the Arke which was a figure of the Church were by the expresse commandement of God fitted each to other both in length and breadth For as the Arke was two cubits and a halfe long a cubit and a halfe broad iust so was the mercy seate Noting thereby that the mercy of God in Christ should onely bée fitted to his church belong only to the Church so as not one without the Church should be saued For he that hath not the church for his mother cannot haue God for his father Lastly we are to obserue that as God is infinit in mercy of great compassion towards penitent sinners so also is he most constant in the course of his mercies towards his children And therefore one of the Psalmes carrieth this foote His mercy endureth for euer his mercy endureth for euer his mercy endureth for euer Noting thereby both the constancy and eternity of Gods mercy To the same purpose it is thus written It is the Lords mercies that we are not consumed it is because his compassions faile not Let vs know therefore that God as touching his mercy to his children is of a most constant and vnchangable nature As he saith I am the Lord I change not For if God were of a changeable nature as we are and subiect to passions then were we in a most miserable case Then must he néeds smite vs downe and take vengeance of vs euery day and euery houre in the day because we prouoke him euery day euery houre in the day But the God of heauen is not as a man that he should be subiect to passions and affections he is of a most constant and immutable nature For though wée prouoke him euery day with new sinnes yet is he so farre off from taking reuenge that the next day he rewardeth vs with new mercies and breaketh through all our vnkindenesse to shew kindnesse vnto vs and through all our naughtinesse to doe vs good All our infirmities cannot make him breake off with vs or cease to loue vs. He is content to take vs with all faults and to loue vs dearely though we haue great faults He regardeth not our infirmities though we be oftentimes waiward and eluish yet for all that he loueth vs neuerthelesse Euen as a louing mother though her young suckling crie all night and be excéeding treafe and weiward so as she cannot rest an houre in the night yea though she endure much loathsomnesse trouble with it yet in the morning when she ariseth she loueth it neuerthelesse but dandles it plaieth with it smileth and laugheth vpon it so the God of all mercies whose loue towards vs far passeth the loue of mothers though we gréeue him with our infirmities continually yet loueth vs neuerthelesse and is content to put vp all to forget and forgiue all for he is a most constant louer Where he once sets and settles his loue he loueth most constantly nothing can alter him nothing can remoue him Euen as a Father when his little childe catcheth a fall breaketh his shinnes and hurteth his face is so far from being offended or displeased with him therefore that he doth pity him and bemone him séeking remedies for his hurt so our mercifull Father is so farre off from being angry displeased with vs for some slips and falles that he doth the more pity vs and lament our case Euen as a louing and wise husband though his wife haue many infirmities yet knowing that she loueth him dearely and that her heart is with him he is well content to winke at all her faults to hide them to beare with them yea and to make nothing of them louing her neuerthelesse for them So our deare husband and Spouse Jesus Christ because he knoweth we loue him and that he hath our hearts is content to beare with all our infirmities and to make light of them For this cause it is that he saith to his Spouse in the Canticles Though she was blacke and full of infirmities behold thou art faire my loue behold thou
yet appeare what they shall bee but when hee commeth they shall bee made like vnto him Their names are already taken and entred into the booke of life and one day they shal be crowned One day it shall be said vnto them Come yee blessed c. One day they shall enioy his presence where is fulnesse of ioy and at whose right hand there is pleasure for euermore Psal 16. Therefore let all Gods secret ones reioyce sing and be mery For howsoeuer in this world they be contemned trodden vnder the foot made no bodies and walke as shadowes being counted as the very rags of the earth and the abiects of the world yet the time wil come when their happinesse and felicitie shall be such as neuer entred into the heart of man it is endlesse vnspeakeable and vnconceiueable Phila. I doe now plainely see that there is no cause why Gods people should be too heauy and dumpish in their afflictons I see that though they be not free from all afflictions yet are they free from all hurtfull afflictions For no rod no crosse no chastisement is hurtfull vnto them but all in the conclusion commeth to a blessed issue Theol. You haue vttered a great and a most certaine truth For there is no affliction or trial which God imposeth vpō his children but if they endure it quietly trust in his mercy firmely and tary his good pleasure obediently it hath a blessed and comfortable end Therefore the people of God may well be merry in the middest of their sorrowes They may with patience comfort submit themselues to their Fathers corrections taking them patiently and euen kissing his holy rod and saying in themselues Sith my Father will haue it so I am content séeing it is his minde I am willing withall As old Ely said It is the Lord let him doe what hee will And as Dauid in like submission said in a certain case Behold here am I let him doe to me as seemeth good in his owne eyes And in another place he saith I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because thou Lord hast done it Behold here then the patience of Gods Saints and their humble submission vnto his most holy will They know all shall end well and that maketh them glad to thinke of it I conclude then that the children of God are happy in what state soeuer they are happy in trouble happy out of trouble happy in pouertie happy in plenty blessed in sicknesse blessed in health blessed at home likewise and abroad and euery way blessed But on the contrary the wicked are cursed in what state soeuer they are cursed in sicknesse cursed in health cursed in plenty cursed in pouertie cursed in prosperitie cursed in aduersitie cursed in honour cursed in dishonour For all things worke together for their destruction Nothing doth them any good They are not any thing the better either for Gods mercies or iudgements All weathers are alike vnto them They are alwayes the same in prosperitie and aduersity they are no changelings And as we say A good yeare doth not mend them nor an ill yeare paire them Phila. You haue long insisted vpon this point Now proceed to the fourth signe of a mans damnation which is the contempt of the Gospell and lay open both the greatnesse of the sinne and the danger of it Theol. This sinne is of another nature then the former It is a sinne against the first Table It toucheth the person of God himselfe For to contemne the Gospell is to contemne God himselfe whose Gospell it is If to contemne the Ministers of the Gospell be to contemne God and Christ as our Lord Jesus auoucheth Luke 10. 16. how much more then to contemne the Gospell it selfe Therefore it is dangerous meddling in this sinne It is to meddle with edged tooles to meddle with princes matters to touch the Arke to come héere the holy mountain which all were things full of great perill and danger Yea it is to spill the Sacrament It is Noli me tangere It is to raile at a King It is to spit God in the face It is high treason against the King of glory Therefore this sinne of all other can neuer be endured and may at no hand be borne withall For can a mortall King endure the contempt of his lawes can he put vp the contempt of his owne person Can he abide any to spit at his Scepter or to throw a stone at it No surely hée will not Therefore the holy Ghost saith He that despiseth Moses Lawes dieth without mercy vnder two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall hee bee worthy which treadeth vnder foot the Sonne of God and counteth the bloud of the Testament as an vnholy thing wherewith hee was sanctified and doth despise the Spirit of grace And againe If they were punished which obeied not the word spoken by Angels how shall wee escape if we neglect so great saluation If they escaped not which refused him that spake on earth how shall wee escape if we turne away from him that speaketh from heauen Therefore our Sauiour Christ saith That it shall be easier for Sodome in the day of iudgement then for the contemners of the Gospell Moreouer he saith The Queene of the South shall rise vp in iudgement against all froward despisers of his Word For she came from the vttermost parts of the earth to heare the wisedome of Salomon and behold a greater then Salomon is heere For Christ is greater then Salomon his doctrine and wisedome farre more excellent And therefore their sinne is the greater which contemne it They shall neuer be able to answer it For the spirit saith Hee that despiseth the word shall be destroied S. Peter also telleth vs that the old world and men of the first age are now in hell fire because they both despised were disobedient to the doctrine of Christ which though not personally yet in his diuine spirit he spake by Noah So then we sée clearely God will neuer take it at our hands that his glorious Gospell should be so vniuersally openly contemned as it is Phila. You haue spoken most truly and also shewed it out of the Scriptures that the contempt of the Gospell is a most hainous sin yet for all that it is most lamentable to consider how little men esteeme it and how light they make of it Many regard it no more then an eg-shell they thinke it is not worth a gally half-penny they will not goe to the doore to heare it they take it to be but a breath from vs and a sound to them and so the matter is ended They esteeme it but as a noise or empty sound in the aire or as a voice afar off which a man vnderstandeth not they neuer felt the power of it in their hearts Therefore they preferre their sheep their Farmes their Oxen their profits their pleasure yea euery
and shut the heauens Abraham likewise preuailed so farre with God by his praiers for Sodome that if there had béene but ten iust men found in it it had béene spared The almighty God saith in the 15. chap. of Ieremy Though Moyses and Samuel stood before me yet mine affection could not bee toward this people Which doth plainely shew that Moyses and Samuel might haue done much with him had he not béene so fully bent against his people for their sins as he was So likewise he saith in the Prophecie of Ezechiel Though these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were amongst them they should deliuer but their owne soules by their righteousnesse Which also sheweth that if there had béene any possible entreating of him for the Land these thrée men might haue done it but now he was resolutely determined to the contrary In respect therefore that the zealous preachers and true professors of the Gospell doe so much preuaile wish God by their praiers they are said to be the defence and strength of Kingdomes and Countries of Churches and Common wealthes as it is said of Eliah that he was the Chariot of Israel and the horsmen thereof Elishah also was enuironed with a mountaine full of horses and Chariots of fire And sure it is that Eliah and Elishah are not onely the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel but also by their praiers they do cause God himselfe to be a wal of fire round about it as the Prophet saith in the 22. of Ezechiel verse 30. the Lord God saith I sought for a man among them that should make vp the hedge and stand in the gappe before me for the land that I might not destroy it but I found none Which sheweth that if there had béene but some few to haue stood in the breach he would haue spared the whole land This also appeareth more plainely in the Prophecie of Ieremy where the Lord saith thus Run to and fro by the streets of Ierusalem behold and inquire in the open places thereof if yee can finde a man or if there be any that executeth iudgement and seeketh the truth and I will spare it Oh then marke and consider what a man may doe yea what one man may doe what an Abraham may doe what a Moyses may doe what an Eliah may doe what a Daniel what a Samuel what a Iob what a Noah may doe Some one man by reason of his high fauor with the Eternal is able sometimes to do more for a land by his praiers and téeres then many prudent men by their counsell or valiant men by their swords Yea it doth euidently appeare in the sacred volume of the holy Ghost that some one poore Preacher being full of the Spirit and power of Eliah doth more in his study either for offence or defence either for the turning away of wrath or the procuring of mercie then a Campe-royall euen forty thousand strong or as the Spirit speaketh though they all haue their swords girded to their thighes and be of the most valiant men in Israel All this is clearly proued in one verse of the booke of the Psalmes where the Prophet hauing reckoned vp the sins of the people addeth Therefore the Lord minded to destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood in the breach to turne away his wrath lest he should destroy them Sée therefore what one man may do with God! Some one man doth so binde the hands of God that when he should strike he hath no power to doe it as it is said of Lot I can doe nothing till thou be come out Sée how the Lord saith he can doe nothing because he will doe nothing Hée doth wittingly and willingly suffer his hands to be manacled and bound behind him for some fewes sake which he doth make more account of then all the world besides so pretious and deare are they in his sight Likewise it is written that the Lord was excéedingly incensed against the Israelites for their idolatrous Calfe which they made in Horeb yet he could doe nothing because Moyses would not let him And therefore he falleth to intreating of Moyses that Moyses would let him alone and entreat no more for them Oh saith the Lord to Moyses let me alone that my wrath may wax hote against this people and that I may consume them Thus wée sée that except Lot goe out of the City and Moyses let him alone he can doe nothing Oh the profoundnesse and altitude of Gods mercy towards mankind Oh the height and depth length and breadth of his loue towards some Oh that the most glorious inuisible God should so greatly respect the sonnes of men For what is man that hée should be mindfull of him or the sonne of man that he should regard him Let vs therfore that are the Lords remembrancers giue him no rest nor let him alone vntill wée haue some security and good assurance from him that he will turne away from vs the wrath which we most iustly haue deserued that he wil spare vs and be mercifull vnto vs. Yea as the Prophet saith Let vs neuer leaue him nor giue him ouer till he repaire and set vp Ierusalem the praise of the world lest for default héereof that be charged vpon vs which was charged vpon the head of some of the Prophets in Israel that they were like the foxes in the waste places that they had not risen vp in the gaps neither made vp the hedge for the house of Israel For now adaies alas wée haue many hedge-breakers few hedg-makers many openers of gaps few stoppers many breakers of breaches to let in the flouds of Gods wrath vpon vs but very few that by true repentance goe about to make vp the breach and to let downe the sluces that the gushing streames of Gods vengeance may be stopt and staied Phila. I doe now plainely see that there be some in high fauour with God and as wee say greatly in his books sith his loue is so great vnto them that for their sakes he spareth thousands Theol. It is written in the Prouerbs of Salomon that the righteous in a land are the establishment of the kings throne and the wicked the ouerthrowing of the same The words are these Take away the drosse from the siluer and there will proceed a vessell for the finer Take away the wicked from the King and his throne shall be established in righteousnesse Likewise in another place the wise man affirmeth that the righteous are the strength and bulwarke of Cities Townes and Corporations but the wicked are the weakening vndoing of all Scornefull men saith he set a City on fire but the wise turne away wrath To this purpose most excellent is that saying of Eliphas in Iob The innocent shall deliuer the Iland and it shall be preserued by the purenesse of their hands Wée reade in the booke of the Chronicles that when the Leuites the