the eares of God then a speechlesse repining of the soule Heat is more intended with keeping in but Aarons silence was no lesse inward He knew how little he should get by brawling with God If he breathed our discontentment he saw God could speake fire to him againe And therefore he quietly submits to the will of God and held his peace because the Lord had done it There is no greater proofe of grace then to smart patiently and humbly and contentedly to rest the heart in the iustice and wisedome of Gods proceeding and to bee so farre from chiding that we dispute not Nature is froward and though shee well knowes we meddle not with our match when we striue with our Maker yet she pricks vs forward to this idle quarrell and bids vs with Iobs wife Curse and dye If God either chide or smite as seruants are charged to their Masters wee may not answer againe when Gods hand is on our backe our hand must be our mouth else as mothers doe their children God shall whip vs so much the more for crying It is hard for a stander by in this case to distinguish betwixt hard-heartednesse and piety There Aaron sees his sonnes lye he may neither put his hand to them to bury them nor shead a teare for their death Neuer parent can haue iuster cause of mourning then to see his sonnes dead in their sinne if prepared and penitent yet who can but sorrow for their end but to part with children to the danger of a second death is worthy of more then teares Yet Aaron must learne so farre to deny nature that he must more magnifie the iustice of God then lament the iudgement Those whom God hath called to his immediate seruice must know that hee will not allow them the common passions and cares of others Nothing is more naturall then sorrow for the death of our owne if euer griefe be seasonable it becomes a funerall And if Nadab and Abihu had dyed in their beds this fauour had been allowed them the sorrow of their Father and Brethren for when God forbids solemne mourning to his Priests ouer the dead hee excepts the cases of this neernesse of blood Now all Israel may mourne for these two only the Father and Brethren may not God is iealous lest their sorrow should seeme to countenance the sinne which he had punished euen the fearfullest acts of God must be applauded by the heauiest hearts of the faithfull That which the Father and Brother may not doe the Cousins are commanded dead carkasses are not for the presence of God His iustice was shewne sufficiently in killing them They are now fit for the graue not the Sanctuary Neither are they caried out naked but in their coats It was an vnusuall sight for Israel to see a linnen Ephod vpon the Beere The iudgement was so much more remarkable because they had the badge of their calling vpon their backs Nothing is either more pleasing vnto God or more commodious to men then that when he hath executed iudgement it should bee seene and wondred at for therefore he strikes some that he may warne all Of AARON and MIRIAM THe Israelites are stayed seuen dayes in the station of Hazzeroth for the punishment of Miriam The sinnes of the gouernors are a iust stop to the people all of them smart in one all must stay the leasure of Miriams recouerie Whosoeuer seekes the Land of Promise shall finde many lets Amalek Og Schon and the Kings of Canaan meet with Israel these resisted but hindred not their passage their sinnes onely stay them from remouing Afflictions are not crosses to vs in the way to heauen in comparison to our sinnes What is this I see Is not this Aaron that was brother in nature and by office ioynt Commissioner with Moses Is not this Aaron that made his Brother an Intercessor for him to God in the case of his Idolatry Is not this Aaron that climbed vp the Hill of Sinai with Moses Is not this Aaron whom the mouth and hand of Moses consecrated an high Priest vnto God Is not this Miriam the elder Sister of Moses Is not this Miriam that led the Triumph of the Women and sung gloriously to the Lord It not this Miriam which layd her Brother Moses in the Reeds and fetcht her Mother to be his Nurse Both Prophets of God both the flesh and blood of Moses And doth this Aaron repine at the honor of him which gaue himselfe that honour and saued his life Doth this Miriam repine at the prosperity of him whose life she saued Who would not haue thought this should haue beene their glory to haue seene the glory of their owne Brother What could haue beene a greater comfort to Miriam then to thinke How happily doth he now sit at the Sterne of Israel whom I saued from perishing in a Boat of Bul-rushes It is to mee that Israel owes this Commander But now enuy hath so blinded their eyes that they can neither see this priuiledge of nature nor the honour of Gods choyce Miriam and Aaron are in mutiny against Moses Who is so holy that sinnes not What sinne is so vnnaturall that the best can auoyde without God But what weaknesse soeuer may plead for Miriam who can but grieue to see Aaron at the end of so many sinnes Of late I saw him caruing the molten Image and consecrating an Altar to a false god now I see him seconding an vnkind mutiny against his Brother Both sinnes find him accessary neither principall It was not in the power of the legall Priesthood to performe or promise innocency to her Ministers It was necessary wee should haue another high Priest which could not bee tainted That King of righteousnesse was of another order He being without sinne hath fully satisfied for the sinnes of men Whom can it now offend to see the blemishes of the Euangelicall Priesthood when Gods first high Priest is thus miscaried Who can looke for loue and prosperity at once when holy and meeke Moses finds enmity in his owne flesh and blood Rather then we shall want A mans enemies shall be those of his owne house Authority cannot fayle of opposition if it be neuer so mildly swayed that common make-bate will rather raise it out of our owne bosome To doe well and heare ill is Princely The Midianitish wife of Moses cost him deare Before she hazarded his life now the fauour of his people Vnequall matches are seldome prosperous Although now this scandall was onely taken Enuy was not wise enough to choose a ground of the quarrell Whether some secret and emulatory brawles passed between Zipporah and Miriam as many times these sparkes of priuate brawles grow into a perillous and common flame or whether now that Iethro and his family was ioyned with Israel there were surmises of transporting the Gouernment to strangers or whether this vnfit choice of Moses is now raised vp to disparage Gods gifts in him Euen in fight the exceptions were
behold be commeth leaping by the mountaines and skipping by the hils Loe I haue no sooner called but hee heares and answers mee with his louing voice neither doth he onely speake to me afarre but he comes to me with much willingnesse and celeritie so willingly that no humane resistance can hinder him neither the hillocks of my lesser infirmities nor the mountaines of my grosser sinnes once repented of can stay his mercifull pase towards me 9. My welbeloued is like a Roe or a young Hart loe hee standeth behinde our wall looking forth of the windowes shewing himselfe thorow the grates So swiftly that no Roe or Hinde can fully resemble him in this his speed and nimblenesse and loe euen now before I can speake it is hee come neere vnto me close to the doore and wall of my heart And though this wall of my flesh hinder my full fruition of him yet loe I see him by the eie of faith looking vpon me I see him as in a glasse I see him shining gloriously thorow the grates and windowes of his Word and Sacraments vpon my soule 10. My Welbeloued spake and said vnto me Arise my Loue my faire one and come thy way And now me thinks I heare him speake to mee in a gracious inuitation and say Arise O my Church rise vp whether from thy securitie or feare hide not thy head any longer O my beautifull Spouse for danger of thine enemies neither suffer thy selfe to be pressed with the dulnesse of thy nature or the carelesse sleepe of thy sinnes but come forth into the comfortable light of my presence and shew thy selfe cheerefull in mee 11. For behold winter is past the raine is changed and gone away For behold all the cloudie winter of thy afflictions is passed all the tempests of tentations are blowne ouer the heauen is cleare and now there is nothing that may not giue thee cause of delight 12. The flowers appeare in the earth the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land Euery thing now resembles the face of a spirituall Spring all the sweet flowers and blossomes of holy profession put forth and shew themselues in their opportunities now is the time of that heauenly melodie which the cheerefull Saints and Angels make in mine eares while they sing songs of deliuerance and praise mee with their Alleluiahs and say Glory to God on high in earth peace good will towards men 13. The Fig-tree hath brought forth her young Figs and the Vines with their small Grapes haue cast a sauour arise my Loue my faire one and come away What speake I of blossomes behold those fruitfull Vines and Fig-trees of my faithfull ones whom my husbandrie hath carefully tended and dressed yeeld forth both pleasant though tender fruits of obedience and the wholsome and comfortable sauours of better desires wherefore now O my deare Christ shake off all that dull securitie wherewith thou hast beene held and come forth and enioy me 14. My Done thou art in the holes of the rocke in the secret places of the clifts shew mee thy sight let me heare thy voice for thy voice is sweet and thy sight comely O my beautifull pure and chaste Spouse which like vnto some solitarie Doue hast long hid thine head in the secret and inaccessible clifts of the rocks out of the reach and knowledge of thy persecutors how-euer thou art concealed from others shew thy selfe in thy workes and righteousnesse vnto mee and let mee bee euer plied with thy words of imploration and thanksgiuing for thy voice though it be in mourning and thy face though it be sad and blubbered are exceedingly pleasing vnto me 15. Take vs the Foxes the little Foxes which destroy the Vines for our Vines haue small grapes And in the meane time O all yee that wish well to my name and Church doe your vtmost endeuour to deliuer her from her secret enemies not sparing the least who either by hereticall doctrine or prophane conuersation hinder the course of the Gospell and peruert the faith of many especially of those that haue newly giuen vp their names to mee and are but newly entred into the profession of godlinesse 16. My Wel-beloued is mine and I am his he feedeth among the Lillies My beloued Sauiour is mine through my faith and I am his through his loue and we both are one by vertue of that blessed vnion on both parts whereby wee mutually enioy each other with all sufficient contentment And how worthily is my loue placed vpon him who leadeth mee forth into pleasant pastures and at whose right hand there is the fulnesse of ioy for euermore 17. Vntill the day breake and the shadowes flee away returne my Wel-beloued and be like a Roe or a young Hart vpon the mountaines of Bether Come therefore O my Sauiour and vntill the day of thy glorious appearance shall shine forth to the world wherein our spirituall mariage shall bee consummate and vntill all these shadowes of ignorance of infidelitie of troubles of conscience and of outward tribulations bee vtterly dispersed and chased away come and turne thee to mee againe thou which to the carnall eies of the world seemest absent come quickly and delay not but for the speed of thy returne be like vnto some swift Roe or Hinde vpon those smooth hils of Gilead which Iordan seuers from the other part of Iury. CHAP. III. 1. In my bed by night I sought him whom my soule loued I sought him but I found him not MY securitie told mee that my Sauiour was neere vnto my soule yea with it and in it but when by serious and silent meditation I searched my owne heart I found that for ought my owne sense could discerne hee was farre off from mee 2. I will rise therefore now and goe about in the Citie by the streets and by the open places and will seeke him that my soule loueth I sought him but I found him not Then thought I with my selfe Shall I lie still contented with this want No I will stirre vp my selfe and the helpe I cannot finde in my selfe I will seeke in others Of all that haue beene experienced in all kinde of difficulties of all deepe Philosophers of the wisest and honessest worldlings I will diligently enquire for my Sauiour amongst them I sought him yet could receiue no answer to my satisfaction 3. The watchmen that went about the Citie found mee to whom I said Haue you seene him whom my soule loueth Missing him there I ran to those wise and carefull Teachers whom God hath set as so many watch-men vpon the walls of his Ierusalem who sooner found me than I could aske after them to whom I said as thinking no man could be ignorant of my Loue Can you giue me no direction where I might finde him whom my soule loueth 4. When I had past a little from them then I found him whom my soule loueth I tooke hold on him and left him
death so deiected when hee feeleth sicknesse and so desparate when he feeleth the pangs of death nor that euery Balaam would faine die the death of the righteous Henceforth I will enuie none but a good man I will pittie nothing so much as the prosperitie of the wicked 40 Not to bee afflicted is a signe of weaknesse For therefore God imposeth no more on mee because hee sees I can beare no more God will not make choice of a weake Champion When I am stronger I will looke for more and when I sustaine more it shall more comfort me that God findes me strong than it shall grieue me to be pressed with an heauie affliction 41 That the wicked haue peace in themselues is no wonder they are as sure as Tentation can make them No Prince makes warre with his owne subiects The godly are still enemies therefore they must looke to bee assaulted both by stratagems and violence Nothing shall more ioy me than my inward quietnesse A iust warre is a thousand times more happy than an ill-conditioned peace 42 Goodnesse is so powerfull that it can make things simply euill namely our sinnes good to vs not good in nature but good in the euent good when they are done not good to be done Sinne is so powerfull that it can turne the holiest ordinances of God into it selfe but herein our sinne goes beyond our goodnesse That sinne defiles a man or action otherwise good but all the goodnesse of the world cannot iustifie one sinne as the holy flesh in the skirt makes not the bread holy that toucheth it but the vncleane touching an holy thing defileth it I will loath euery euill for it owne sake I will doe good but not trust to it 43 Fooles measure good actions by the euent after they are done Wise men before-hand by iudgement vpon the rules of reason and faith Let mee doe well let God take charge of the successe If it be well accepted it is well if not my thanke is with God 44 He was neuer good man that amends not For if hee were good he must needs desire to bee better Grace is so sweet that who euer tasts of it must needs long after more and if hee desire it he will endeuour it and if he doe but endeuour God will crowne it with successe Gods familie admitteth of no Dwarfes which are vnthriuing and stand at a stay but men of measures What euer become of my bodie or my estate I will euer labour to finde somewhat added to the stature of my soule 45 Pride is the most dangerous of all sinnes For both it is most insinuatiue hauing crept into Heauen and Paradise and most dangerous where it is For where all other Tentations are about euill this alone is conuersant onely about good things and one dram of it poisons many measures of grace I will not bee more afraid of doing good things amisse than of being proud when I haue well performed them 46 Not onely commission makes a sinne A man is guiltie of all those sinnes he hateth not If I cannot auoid all yet I will hate all 47 Preiudice is so great an enemie to truth that it makes the minde vncapable of it In matters of faith I will first lay a sure ground and then beleeue though I cannot argue holding the conclusion in spight of the premisses but in other lesse matters I will not so forestall my minde with resolution as that I will not bee willing to bee better informed Neither will I say in my selfe I will hold it therefore it shall bee truth but this is truth therefore I will hold it I will not striue for victorie but for truth 48 Drunkennesse and Couetousnesse doe much resemble one another For the more a man drinkes the more hee thirsteth and the more hee hath still the more hee coueteth And for their effects besides other both of them haue the power of transforming a man into a beast and of all other beasts into a Swine The former is euident to sense the other though more obscure is no more questionable The couetous man in two things plainly resembleth a Swine That hee euer roots in the earth not so much as looking towards heauen That hee neuer doth good till his death In desiring my rule shall bee necessitie of nature or estate In hauing I will account that my good which doth me good 49 I acknowledge no master of Requests in Heauen but one Christ my Mediator I know I cannot bee so happie as not to need him nor so miserable that hee should contemne mee I will alwaies aske and that of none but where I am sure to speed but where there is so much store that when I haue had the most I shall leaue no lesse behinde Though numberlesse drops bee in the Sea yet if one bee taken out of it it hath so much the lesse though insensible but God because hee is infinite can admit of no diminution Therefore are men niggardly because the more they giue the lesse they haue but thou Lord maiest giue what thou wilt without abatement of thy store Good praiers neuer came weeping home I am sure I shall receiue either what I aske or what I should aske 50 I see that a fit bootie many times makes a theefe and many would bee proud if they had but the common causes of their neighbours I account this none of the least fauours of God That the world goes no better forward with me For I feare if my estate were better to the world it might be worse to God As it is an happy necessity that inforceth to good so is that next happy that hinders from euill 51 It is the basest loue of all others that is for a benefit for herein we loue not another so much as our selues Though there were no HEAVEN O Lord I would loue thee Now there is one I will esteeme it I will desire it yet still I will loue thee for thy goodnesse sake Thy selfe is reward enough though thou broughtest no more 52 I see men point the field and desperatly ieopard their liues as prodigall of their bloud in the reuenge of a disgracefull word against themselues while they can bee content to heare God pulled out of Heauen with blasphemy and not feele so much as a rising of their bloud Which argues our cold loue to God and our ouer-feruent affection to our selues In mine owne wrongs I will hold patience laudable but in Gods iniuries impious 53 It is an hard thing to speake well but it is harder to be well silent so as it may bee free from suspicion of affection or sullennesse or ignorance else loquacity and not silence would be a note of wisdome Herein I will not care how little but how well He said well for this Not that which is much is well but that which is well is much 54 There is nothing more odious than fruitlesse old age Now for that no tree beares fruit in Autume vnlesse it blossome
kinde to thee as to be vniust to himselfe God will be iust goe thou on to presume and perish There can be no satisfaction by any recompence of ours an infinite iustice is offended an infinite punishment is deserued by euery sinne and euery mans sinnes are as neere to infinite as number can make them Our best endeuour is worse than finite imperfect and faulty If it could be perfect we owe it all in present what wee are bound to doe in present cannot make amends for what we haue not done in time past which while we offer to God as good payment we doe with the profane traueller thinke to please him with empty Date-shells in lieu of preseruation Where shall we then finde a paiment of infinite value but in him which is onely and all infinite The dignitie of whose person being infinite gaue such worth to his satisfaction that what hee suffered in short time was proportianable to what wee should haue suffered beyond all times He did all suffered all payed all be did it for vs we in him Where shall I begin to wonder at thee O thou diuine and eternall Peace-maker the Sauiour of men the Anointed of God Mediator betweene God and man in whom there is nothing which doth not exceed not onely the conceit but the very wonder of Angels who saw thee in thy humiliation with silence and adore thee in thy glory with perpetuall praises and reioycings Thou wast for euer of thy selfe as God of the Father as tne Sonne the eternall Son of an eternall Father not later in being not lesse in dignity not other in substance Begotten without diminution of him that be got thee while he communicated that wholly to thee which he retained wholly in himselfe because both were infinite without inequality of nature without diuision of essence when being in this estate thine infinite loue and mercy to desperate mankinde caused thee O Sauiour to empty thy selfe of thy glory that thou mightest put on our shame and misery Wherefore not ceasing to be God as thou wert thou beganst to be what thou wert not Man to the end that thou mightest be a perfect Mediator betwixt God and man which wert both in one person God that thou mightst satisfie man that thou mightst suffer that since man had sinned and God was offended thou which wert God and man mightst satisfie God for man None but thy selfe which are the eternall Word can expresse the depth of this mysterie that God should be clothed with flesh come downe to men and become man that man might be exalted into the highest heauens and that our nature might be taken into the fellowship of the Deitie That he to whom all powers in heauen bowed and thought it their honour to be seruiceable should come downe to be a seruant to his slaues a ransome for his enemies together with our nature taking vp our very infirmities our shame our torments and bearing our sinnes without sinne That thou whom the heauens were too strait to containe shouldst lay thy selfe in an obscure cratch thou which wert attended of Angels shouldst be derided of men reiected of thine owne persecuted by Tyrants tempted with Deuils betrayed of thy seruant crucified among theeues and which was worse than all these in thine owne apprehension for the time as forsaken of thy Father That thou whom our sinnes had pierced shouldst for our sinnes both sweat drops of bloud in the Garden and powre out streames of bloud vpon the Crosse O the inualuable purchase of our peace O ransome enough for moe worlds Thou which wert in the counsell of thy Father the Lambe slaine from the beginning of time cam'st now in fulnesse of time to bee slaine by man for man being at once the Sacrifice offered the Priest that did offer and the God to whom it was offered How graciously diddest thou both proclaime our peace as a Prophet in the time of thy life vpon earth and purchase it by thy bloud as a Priest at thy death and now confirmest and appliest it as a King in heauen By thee onely it was procured by thee it is proffered O mercy without example without measure God offers peace to man the holy seekes to the vniust the Potter to the clay the King to the traitor Wee are vnworthy that we should be receiued to peace though wee desired it what are wee then that we should haue peace offered for the receiuing An easie condition of so great a benefit he requires vs not to earne it but to accept it of him what could he giue more what could he require lesse of vs SECT VI. The receit of our peace offered by Faith THe purchase therefore of our peace was paid at once yet must bee seuerally reckoned to euery soule whom it shall benefit If wee haue not an hand to take what Christs hand doth either hold or offer what is sufficient in him cannot be effectuall to vs. The spirituall hand whereby we apprehend the sweet offers of our Sauiour is faith which in short is no other than an affiance in the Mediator receiue peace and bee happy beleeue and thou hast receiued From hence it is that we are interessed in all that either God hath promised or Christ hath performed Hence haue we from God both forgiuenesse and loue the ground of all either peace or glory Hence of enemies we become more than friends sonnes and as sonnes may both expect and challenge not onely carefull prouision and safe protection on earth but an euerlasting patrimonie aboue This field is so spacious that it were easie for a man to lose himselfe in it and if I should spend all my pilgrimage in this walke my time would sooner end than my way wherein I would haue measured more pases were it not that our scope is not so much to magnifie the benefit of our peace as to seeke how to obtaine it A corolary of the benefit of this receit Behold now after we haue sought heauen and earth where only the wearied Doue may finde an Oliue of peace The apprehending of this all sufficient satisfaction makes it ours vpon our satisfaction we haue remission vpon remission followes reconciliation vpon our reconciliation peace When therefore thy conscience like a sterne Sergeant shall catch thee by the throat and arrest thee vpon Gods debt let thy only plea be that thou hast already paid it Bring forth that bloudie acquittance sealed to thee from heauen vpon thy true faith straightway thou shalt see the fierce and terrible looke of thy conscience changed into friendly smiles and that rough and violent hand that was ready to dragge thee to prison shall now louingly embrace thee and fight for thee against all the wrongfull attempts of any spirituall aduersarie O heauenly Peace and more than Peace Friendship whereby alone wee are leagued with our selues and God with vs which who-euer wants shall finde a sad Remembrancer in the midst of his dissembled iollitie and after all vaine strifes shall
precept of the Philosopher who taught him that by sitting and resting the minde gathereth wisdome * * Guliel Paris Another leaning to some Rest towards the left side for the greater quieting of the heart * * Dâ—onys Carthus A third standing with the eies lift vp to Heauen but shut for feare of distractions But of all other me thinketh Isaacs choice the best who meditated walking In this let euery man be his owne master so be we vse that frame of body that may both testifie reuerence and in some cases helpe to stirre vp further deuotion which also must needs be varied according to the matter of our Meditation If we thinke of our sinnes Ahabs soft pase the Publicans deiected eies and his hand beating his brest are more seasonable If of the ioyes of heauen Steuens countenance fixed aboue and Dauids hands lift vp on high are most fitting In all which the body as it is the instrument and vassall of the soule so will easily follow the affections thereof and in truth then is our deuotion most kindly when the body is thus commanded his seruice by the Spirit and not suffered to goe before it and by his forwardnesse to prouoke his master to emulation CHAP. XII NOw time and order call vs from these circumstances Of the matter and subiect of our â—editation to the matter and subiect of Meditation which must be Diuine and Spirituall not euill nor worldly O the carnall and vnprofitable thoughts of men We all meditate one how to doe ill to others another how to doe some earthly good to himselfe another to hurt himselfe vnder a colour of good as how to accomplish his lewd desires the fulfilling whereof proueth the bane of the soule how he may sinne vnseene and goe to hell with the least noise of the world Or perhaps some better mindes bend their thoughts vpon the search of naturall things the motions of euery heauen and of euery starre the reason and course of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea the manifold kinds of simples that grow out of the earth and creatures that creepe vpon it with all their strange qualities and operations Or perhaps the seuerall formes of gouernment and rules of State take vp their busie heads so that while they would be acquainted with the whole world they are strangers at home and while they seeke to know all other things â—â—â—y remaine vnknowne of themselues The God that made them the vilenesse of their nature the danger of their sinnes the multitude of their imperfections the Sauiour that bought them the Heauen that he bought for them are in the meane time as vnknowne as vnregarded as if they were not Thus doe foolish children spend their time and labour in turning ouer leaues to looke for painted babes not at all respecting the solid matter vnder their hands We fooles when will we be wise and turning our eies from vanity with that sweet Singer of Israel make Gods statutes our song and meditation in the house of our pilgrimage Earthly things proffer themselues with importunity Heauenly things must with importunity be sued to Those if they were not so little worth would not be so forward being forward need not any Meditation to solicit them These by how much more hard they are to intreat by so much more precious they are being obtained and therefore worthier our endeuor As then we cannot goe amisse so long as we keep our selues in the tracke of Diuinitie while the soule is taken vp with the thoughts either of the Deitie in his essence and persons sparingly yet in this point and more in faith and admiration than inquiry or of his attributes his Iustice Power Wisdome Mercy Truth or of his workes in the creation preseruation gouernment of all things according to the Psalmist I will meditate of the beauty of thy glorious Maiesty and thy wonderfull workes so most directly in our way and best fitting our exercise of Meditation are those matters in Diuinitie which can most of all worke compunction in the heart and most stirre vs vp to deuotion Of which kinde are the Meditations concerning Christ Iesus our Mediator his Incarnation Miracles Life Passion Buriall Resurrection Ascension Intercession the benefit of our Redemption the certainty of our Election the graces and proceeding of our Sanctification our glorious estate in Paradise lost in our first Parents our present vilenesse our inclination to sinne our seuerall actuall offences the tentations and sleights of euill Angels the vse of the Sacraments nature and practice of Faith and Repentance the miseries of our life with the frailty of it the certainty and vncertainty of our death the glory of Gods Saints aboue the awfulnesse of iudgement the terrors of hell and the rest of this quality wherein both it is fit to haue variety for that euen the strongest stomacke doth not alwaies delight in one dish and yet so to change that our choice may be free from wildnesse and inconstancy CHAP. XIII The order of the worke it selfe NOw after that we haue thus orderly suited the person and his qualities with the due circumstances of time place disposition of body and substance of the matter discussed I know not what can remaine besides the maine businesse it selfe and the manner and degrees of our prosecution thereof which aboue all other calleth for an intentiue Reader and resolute practice Wherein that we may auoid all nicenesse and obscurity since wee striue to profit we will giue direction for the Entrance Proceeding Conclusion of this Diuine worke CHAP. XIIII The entrance into the worke A Goodly building must shew some magnificence in the gate and great personages haue seemely Vshers to goe before them who by their vncouered heads command reuerence and way Euen very Poets of old had wont before their Ballads to implore the aid of their gods And the heathen Romans entred not vpon any publike ciuill businesse without a solemne apprecation of good successe 1 The common entrance which is Prayer How much lesse should a Christian dare to vndertake a spirituall worke of such importance not hauing craued the assistance of his God which me thinkes is no lesse than to professe he could doe well without Gods leaue When we thinke euill it is from our selues when good from God As Prayer is our speech to God so is each good Meditation according to Bernard Gods speech to the heart The heart must speake to God that God may speake to it Prayer therefore and Meditation are as those famous twinnes in the story or as two louing Turtles whereof separate one the other languisheth Prayer maketh way for Meditation Meditation giueth matter strength and life to our prayers By which as all other things are sanctified to vs so we are sanctified to all holy things This is as some royall Eunuch to perfume and dresse our soules that they may be fit to conuerse with the King of Heauen But the prayer that leadeth in
harsh which also holds no lesse in the actiuities of the hand And if it happen that one man be qualified with skill of diuers trades and practise this varietie you shall seldome finde such one thriuing in his estate with spirituall gifts it is otherwise which are so chained together that who excels in one hath some eminencie in more yea in all Looke vpon faith shee is attended with a Beuie of Graces Hee that beleeues cannot but haue hope if hope patience Hee that beleeues and hopes must needs finde ioy in God if ioy loue of God hee that loues God cannot but loue his brother his loue to God breeds pietie and care to please sorrow for offending feare to offend his loue to men fidelitie and Christian beneficence Vices are seldome single but vertues goe euer in troupes they goe so thicke that sometimes some are hid in the crowd which yet are but appeare not They may bee shut out from sight they cannot be seuered 8 The Heauen euer moues and yet is the place of our rest Earth euer rests and yet is the place of our trouble Outward motion can be no enemie to inward rest as outward rest may well stand with inward vnquietnesse 9 None liue so ill but they content themselues in somewhat Euen the begger likes the smell of his dish It is a rare euill that hath not something to sweeten it either in sense or in hope Otherwise men would grow desperate mutinous enuious of others weary of themselues The better that thing is wherein we place our comfort the happier wee liue and the more we loue good things the better they are to vs. The worldlings comfort though it be good to him because hee loues it yet because it is not absolutely and eternally good it failes him wherein the Christian hath iust aduantage of him while he hath all the same causes of ioy refined and exalted besides more and higher which the other knowes not of the worldling laughs more but the Christian is more delighted These two are easily seuered Thou seest a goodly picture or an heape of thy gold thou laughest not yet thy delight is more than in a iest that shaketh thy spleene As griefe so ioy is not lesse when it is least expressed 10 I haue seene the worst natures and most depraued minds not affecting all sinnes but still some they haue condemned in others and abhorred in themselues One exclaimes on couetousnesse yet he can too well abide riotous good fellowship Another inueighs against drunkennesse and excesse not caring how cruell hee bee in vsurie and oppression One cannot endure a rough and quarrelous disposition yet giues himselfe ouer to vncleane and lasciuious courses Another hates all wrongs saue wrong to God One is a ciuill Atheist another a religious Vsurer a third an honest Drunkard a fourth an vnchaste Iusticer a fift a chaste Quarreller I know not whether euery Deuill excell in all sinnes I am sure some of them haue denomination from some sinnes more speciall Let no man applaud himselfe for those sinnes he wanteth but condemne himselfe rather for that sinne he hath Thou censurest another mans sinne hee thine God curseth both 11 Gold is the heauiest of all metals It is no wonder that the rich man is vsually carried downeward to his place It is hard for the soule clogged with many weights to ascend to heauen It must be a strong and nimble soule that can carrie vp it selfe and such a load yet Adam and Noah flew vp thither with the double Monarchie of the world the Patriarkes with much wealth many holy Kings with massie Crownes and Scepters The burden of couetous desires is more heauie to an emptie soule than much treasure to the full Our affections giue poize or lightnesse to earthly things Either abate of thy load if thou finde it too pressing whether by hauing lesse or louing lesse or adde to thy strength and actiuitie that thou maiest yet ascend It is more commendable by how much more hard to climbe into heauen with a burden 12 A Christian in all his waies must haue three guides Truth Charitie Wisdome Truth to goe before him Charitie and Wisdome on either hand If any of the three bee absent he walkes amisse I haue seene some doe hurt by following a truth vncharitably And others while they would salue vp an errour with loue haue failed in their wisdome and offended against iustice A charitable vntruth and an vncharitable truth and an vnwise menaging of truth or loue are all to be carefully auoided of him that would goe with a right foot in the narrow way 13 God brought man forth at first not into a wildernesse but a Garden yet then hee expected the best seruice of him I neuer finde that hee delights in the miserie but in the prosperitie of his seruants Cheerefulnesse pleases him better than a deiected and dull heauinesse of heart If wee can be good with pleasure hee grudgeth not our ioy If not it is best to stint our selues not for that these comforts are not good but because our hearts are euill faulting not their nature but our vse and corruption 14 The homeliest seruice that we doe in an honest calling though it be but to plow or digge if done in obedience and conscience of Gods commandement is crowned with an ample reward whereas the best workes for their kinde preaching praying offering Euangelicall sacrifices if without respect of Gods iniunction and glory are loaded with curses God loueth aduerbs and cares not how good but how well 15 The golden infancie of some hath proceeded to a brazen youth and ended in a leaden age All humane maturities haue their period onely grace hath none I durst neuer lay too much hope on the forward beginnings of wit and memorie which haue beene applauded in children I know they could but attaine their vigor and that if sooner no whit the better for the earlier is their perfection of wisdome the longer shall be their witlesse age Seasonablenesse is the best in all these things which haue their ripenesse and decay We can neuer hope too much of the timely blossomes of grace whose spring is perpetuall and whose haruest begins with our end 16 A man must giue thanks for somewhat which he may not pray for It hath beene said of Courtiers that they must receiue iniuries and giue thanks God cannot wrong his but he will crosse them those crosses are beneficiall all benefits challenge thanks yet I haue read that Gods children haue with condition prayed against them neuer for them In good things wee pray both for them and their good vse in euill for their good vse not themselues yet we must giue thanks for both For there is no euill of paine which God doth not nothing that God doth is not good no good thing but is worthy of thanks 17 One halfe of the world knowes not how the other liues and therefore the better sort pittie not the distressed and the miserable enuie not
worst be spared is happiest 40 It was a fit comparison of worldly cares to thornes for as they choke the Word so they pricke our soules Neither the Word can grow vp amongst them nor the heart can rest vpon them Neither body nor soule can finde ease while they are within or close to vs. Spirituall cares are as sharp but more profitable they paine vs but leaue the soule better They breake our sleepe but for a sweeter rest we are not well but either while we haue them or after we haue had them It is as impossible to haue spirituall health without these as to haue bodily strength with the other 41 In temporall good things it is best to liue in doubt not making full account of that which wee hold in so weake a tenure In spirituall with confidence not fearing that which is warranted to vs by an infallible promise and sure earnest He liues more contentedly that is most secure for this world most resolute for the other 42 God hath in nature giuen euery man inclinations to some one particular calling which if he follow he excels if he crosse hee proues a non-proficient and changeable but all mens natures are equally indisposed to grace and to the common vocation of Christianity we are all borne Heathens To doe well Nature must in the first be obserued and followed in the other crossed and ouercome 43 Good-man is a title giuen to the lowest whereas all Titles of Greatnesse Worship Honor are obserued and attributed with choice The speech of the World bewraies their minde and shewes the common estimation of goodnesse compared with other qualities The World therefore is an ill Herald and vnskilfull in the true stiles It were happie that Goodnesse were so common and pitty that it either should not stand with Greatnesse or not be preferred to it 44 Amongst all actions Satan is euer busiest in the best and most in the best part of the best as in the end of Praier when the heart should cloze vp it selfe with most comfort He neuer feares vs but when we are well emploied and the more likelihood he sees of our profit the more is his enuy and labour to distract vs. We should loue our selues as much as he hates vs and therefore striue so much the more towards our good as his malice striueth to interrupt it We doe nothing if we contend not when we are resisted The good soule is euer in contradiction denying what is granted and contending for that which is denied suspecting when it is gaine-said and fearing libertie 45 God fore-warnes ere he try because he would be preuented Satan steales vpon vs suddenly by temptations because he would foile vs. If we relent not vpon Gods premonition and meet not the lingring pase of his punishments to fore-stall them he punisheth more by how much his warning was more euident and more large Gods trials must be met when they come Satans must be seene before they come and if we be not armed ere we be assaulted we shall be foiled ere we can be armed 46 It is not good to be continuall in denunciation of iudgement The noise to which we are accustomed though lowd wakes vs not whereas a lesse if vnusuall stirreth vs. The next way to make threatnings contemned is to make them common It is a profitable rod that strikes sparingly and frights somewhat oftner than it smiteth 47 Want of vse causeth disabilitie and custome perfection Those that haue not vsed to pray in their Closet cannot pray in publike but coldly and in forme He that discontinues meditation shall be long in recouering whereas the man inured to these exercises who is not dressed till he haue praied nor hath supped till hee haue meditated doth both these well and with ease He that intermits good duties incurres a double losse of the blessing that followeth good of the facultie of doing it 48 Christianity is both an easie yoke and an hard hard to take vp easie to beare when once taken The heart requires much labour ere it can be induced to stoope vnder it and findes as much contentment when it hath stooped The worldling thinkes Religion seruilitie but the Christian knowes whose slaue he was till hee entred into this seruice and that no bondage can be so euill as freedome from these bonds 49 It is a wonder how full of shifts Nature is ready to turne ouer all good purposes If we thinke of death she suggests secretly Tush it shall not come yet If of iudgement for sinne This concernes not thee it shall not come at all If of heauen and our labour to reach it Trouble not thy selfe it will come soone enough alone Addresse thy selfe to pray It is yet vnseasonable stay for a better opportunitie To giue almes Thou knowest not thy owne future wants To reproue What needst thou thrust thy selfe into wilfull hatred Euery good action hath his let He can neuer be good that is not resolute 50 All Arts are Maids to Diuinitie therefore they both vaile to her and doe her seruice and she like a graue Mistresse controlles them at pleasure Naturall Philosophy teacheth that of nothing can bee nothing made and that from the priuation to the habit is no returne Diuinitie takes her vp for these and vpon supernaturall principles teaches her a Creation a Resurrection Philosophy teaches vs to follow sense as an infallible guide Diuinitie tels her that Faith is of things not seene Logick teaches vs first to discourse then to resolue Diuinitie to assent without arguing Ciuill Law teacheth that long custome prescribeth Diuinitie that old things are passed Morall Philosophy that tallying of iniuries is iustice Diuinitie that good must be returned for ill Policy that better is a mischiefe than an inconuenience Diuinitie that we may not doe euill that good may ensue The Schoole is well ordred while Diuinitie keepes the Chaire but if any other skill vsurpe it and checke their Mistresse there can follow nothing but confusion and Atheisme 51 Much difference is to be made betwixt a reuolter and a man trained vp in error A Iew and an Arrian both deny Christs Deity yet this opinion is not in both punisht with bodily death Yea a reuolt to a lesse error is more punishable than education in a capitall Heresie Errors of iudgement though lesse regarded than errors of practice yet are more pernicious but none so deadly as theirs that once were in the truth If truth be not sued to it is dangerous but if forsaken desperate 52 It is an ill argument of a good action not well done when we are glad that it is done To be affected with the comfort of the conscience of well performing it is good but meerely to reioyce that the act is ouer is carnall He neuer can begin cheerefully that is glad he hath ended 53 He that doth not secret seruice to God with some delight doth but counterfeit in publique The truth of any act or passion is then best tried when it
the present fauour of God we haue many times and feele not The stomacke findes the best digestion euen in sleepe when we least perceiue it and whiles wee are most awake this power worketh in vs either to further strength or disease without our knowledge of what is done within And on the other side that man is most dangerously sicke in whom nature decaies without his feeling without complaint To know our selues happy is good but woe were to vs Christians if we could not be happy and know it not 67 There are none that euer did so much mischiefe to the Church as those that haue beene excellent in wit and learning Others may be spightfull enough but want power to accomplish their malice An enemy that hath both strength and craft is worthy be feared None can sinne against the Holy Ghost but those which haue had former illumination Tell not me what parts a man hath but what grace honest sottishnesse is better than profane eminence 68 The entertainment of all spirituall euents must be with feare or hope but of all earthly extremities must be with contempt or derision For what is terrible is worthy of a Christians contempt what is pleasant to be turned ouer with a scorne The meane requires a meane affection betwixt loue and hatred We may not loue them because of their vanitie we may not hate them because of their necessary vse It is an hard thing to be a wise Oast and to fit our entertainment to all commers which if it be not done the soule is soone wasted either for want of customers or for the misrule of ill ghests 69 God and man build in a contrary order Man laies the foundation first then addes the walls the roofe last God beganne the roofe first spreading out this vault of heauen ere hee laid the Base of the earth Our thoughts must follow the order of his workmanship Heauen must be minded first earth afterward and so much more as it is seene more Our meditation must herein follow our sense A few miles giue bounds to our view of earth whereas we may neere see halfe the heauen at once Hee that thinkes most both of that which is most seene and of that which is not seene at all is happiest 70 I haue euer noted it a true signe of a false heart To be scrupulous and nice in small matters negligent in the maine whereas the good soule is still curious in substantiall points and not carelesse in things of an inferiour nature accounting no duty so small as to be neglected and no care great enough for principall duties not so tything Mint and Cummin that he should forget iustice and iudgement not yet so regarding iudgement and iustice that he should contemne Mint and Cummin He that thus misplaces his conscience will be found either hypocriticall or superstitious 71 It argues the world full of Atheists that those offences which may impeach humane society are entertained with an answerable hatred and rigour those which doe immediately wrong the supreme Maiestie of God are turned ouer with scarce so much as dislike If we conuersed with God as we doe with men his right would be at least as precious to vs as our owne All that conuerse not with God are without God not onely those that are against God but those that are without God are Atheists Wee may be too charitable I feare not to say that these our last times abound with honest Atheists 72 The best thing corrupted is worst An ill man is the worst of all creatures an ill Christian the worst of all men an ill professor the worst of all Christians an ill Minister the worst of all professors 73 Naturally life is before death and death is onely a priuation of life Spiritually it is contrary As Paul saith of the graine so may we of man in the businesse of regeneration He must die before he can liue yet this death presupposes a life that was once and should be God chuses to haue the difficultest first we must be content with the paine of dying ere we feele the comfort of life As we die to nature ere we liue in glory so we must die to sinne ere we can liue to grace 74 Death did not first strike Adam the first sinfull man nor Caine the first hypocrite but Abel the innocent and righteous The first soule that met with death ouercame death the first soule that parted from earth went to heauen Death argues not displeasure because he whom God loued best dies first and the murtherer is punished with liuing 75 The liues of most are mis-spent onely for want of a certaine end of their actions wherein they doe as vnwise Archers shoot away their arrowes they know not at what marke They liue onely out of the present not directing themselues and their proceedings to one vniuersall scope whence they alter vpon all change of occasions and neuer reach any perfection neither can doe other but continue in vncertaintie and end in discomfort Others aime at one certaine marke but a wrong one Some though fewer leuell at the right end but amisse To liue without one maine and common end is idlenesse and folly To liue to a false end is deceit and losse True Christian wisdome both shewes the end and findes the way And as cunning Politikes haue many plots to compasse one and the same designe by a determined succession so the wise Christian failing in the meanes yet still fetcheth about to his steady end with a constant change of endeuours such one onely liues to purpose and at last repents not that hee hath liued 76 The shipwracke of a good conscience is the casting away of all other excellencies It is no rare thing to note the soule of a wilfull sinner stripped of all her graces and by degrees exposed to shame so those whom we haue knowne admired haue falne to be leuell with their fellowes and from thence beneath them to a mediocritie and afterwards to sottishnesse and contempt below the vulgar Since they haue cast away the best it is iust with God to take away the worst and to cast off them in lesser regards which haue reiected him in greater 77 It hath euer beene counted more noble and successefull to set vpon an open enemy in his owne home than to expect till he set vpon vs whiles he make onely a defensiue war This rule serues vs for our last enemy Death whence that old demand of Epicure is easily answered Whether it be better Death should come to vs or that we should meet him in the way meet him in our minds ere he seize vpon our bodies Our cowardlinesse our vnpreparation is his aduantage whereas true boldnesse in confronting him dismaies and weakens his forces Happy is that soule that can send out the scouts of his thoughts before-hand to discouer the power of death a farre off and then can resolutely encounter him at vnawares vpon aduantage such one liues with securitie dies with
nature veniall and not worthy of death more that our originall sinne is but the want of our first iustice no guilt of our first fathers offence no inherent ill disposition and that by Baptismall water is taken away what euer hath the nature of sinne that a meere man let mee not wrong Saint Peters successor in so tearming him hath power to remit both punishment and sinne past and future that many haue suffered more then their sinnes haue required that the sufferings of the Saints added to Christs passions make vp the treasure of the Church that spirituall Exchequer whereof their Bishop must keepe the key and make his friends In all these the gaine of Nature who sees not is Gods losse all her brauery is stolne from aboue besides those other direct derogations from him that his Scriptures are not sufficient that their originall fountaines are corrupted and the streames runne clearer that there is a multitude if a finite number of Mediators Turne your eyes now to vs and see contrarily how we abase Nature how wee knead her in the dust spoiling her of her proud rags loading her with reproaches and giuing glory to him that sayes he will not giue it to another whiles we teach that we neither haue good nor can doe good of our selues that we are not sicke or fettered but dead in our sinne that we cannot moue to good more then we are moued that our best actions are faulty our satisfactions debts our deserts damnation that all our merit is his mercy that saues vs that euery of our sinnes is deadly euery of our natures originally depraued and corrupted that no water can entirely wash away the filthinesse of our concupiscence that none but the blood of him that was God can cleanse vs that all our possible sufferings are below our offences that Gods written Word is all-sufficient to informe vs to make vs both wise and perfect that Christs mediation is more then sufficient to saue vs his sufferings to redeeme vs his obedience to inrich vs. You haue seene how Papistry makes Nature proud now see how it makes her lawlesse and wanton while it teacheth yet this one not so vniuersally that Christ dyed effectually for all that in true contrition an expresse purpose of new life is not necessarie that wicked men are true members of the Church that a lewd mis-creant or infidell in the businesse of the Altar partakes of the true body and blood of Christ yea which a shame to tell a brute creature that men may saue the labour of searching for that it is both easie and safe with that Catholike Collier to beleeue with the Church at a venture more then so that deuotion is the seed of ignorance that there is infallabilitie annexed to a particular place and person that the bare act of the Sacraments confers grace without faith that the meere signe of the Crosse made by a Iew or Infidell is of force to driue away Diuels that the sacrifice of the Masse in the very worke wrought auailes to obtaine pardon of our sinnes not in our life onely but when we lye frying in purgatory that we need not pray in faith to be heard or in vnderstanding that almes giuen merit heauen dispose to iustification satisfie God for sinne that abstinence from some meats and drinkes is meritorious that Indulgences may be granted to dispense vvith all the penance of sinnes afterward to bee committed that these by a liuing man may be applyed to the dead that one man may deliuer anothers soule out of his purging torments and therefore that hee who vvants not either money or friends need not feare the smart of his sinnes O religion sweet to the wealthy to the needy desperate who will now care henceforth how sound his deuotions be how lewd his life how hainous his sinnes that knowes these refuges On the contrary we curbe Nature we restraine we discourage we threaten her teaching her not to rest in implicit faiths or generall intensions or external actions of piety or presumptuous dispensations of men but to striue vnto sincere faith without which we haue no part in Christ in his Church no benefit by Sacraments prayers fastings beneficences to set the heart on worke in all our deuotions without which the hand and tongue are but hypocrites to set the hands on worke in good actions without which the presuming heart is but an hypocrite to expect no pardon for sinne before we commit it and from Christ alone when wee haue committed it and to repent before we expect it to hope for no chaffering no ransome of our soules from below no contrary change of estate after dissolution that life is the time of mercy death of retribution Now let me appeale to your soule and to the iudgement of all the vvorld whether of these two religions is framed to the humour of Nature yea let mee but know vvhat action Popery requires of any of her followers which a meere Naturalist hath not done cannot doe See how I haue chosen to beat them with that rod wherewith they thinke we haue so often smarted for what cauill hath beene more ordinary against vs then this of ease and liberty yea licence giuen and taken by our religion together with the vpbraidings of their owne strict and rigorous austerenesse Where are our penall workes our fastings scourges haire-cloth weary pilgrimages blushing confessions solemne vowes of willing beggery and perpetuall continencie To doe them right we yeeld in all the hard workes of will-worship they goe beyond vs but lest they should insult in the victory not so much as the Priests of Baal went beyond them I see their whips shew me their kniues Where did euer zealous Romanist lance and carue his flesh in deuotion The Baalites did it and yet neuer the wiser neuer the holier Either therefore this zeale in workes of their owne deuising makes them not better then we or it makes the Baalites better then they let them take their choise Alas these difficulties are but a colour to auoid greater No no to worke out stubborne wils to subiection to draw this vntoward flesh to a sincere cheerefulnesse in Gods seruice to reach vnto a sound beliefe in the Lord Iesus to pray with a true heart without distraction without distrust without mis-conceit to keepe the heart in continuall awe of God These are the hard tasks of a Christian worthy of our sweat worthy of our reioycing all which that Babylonish religion shifteth off with a carelesse fashionablenesse as if it had not to doe with the soule Giue vs obedience let them take sacrifice Doe you yet looke for more euidence looke into particulars and satisfie your selfe in Gods decision as Optatus aduised of old Since the goods of our father are in question whither should we goe but to his Will and Testament My soule beare the danger of this bold assertion If we erre wee erre with Christ and his Apostles In a word against all staggering our Sauiours rule
there is not lesse craft then violence For since they haue perceiued the blood of Martyrs to bee but the seede of the Church and that these perfumes are more dispersed with beating they haue now learned to murder without noise and to bring forth if at least they list sometimes to make the people priuy to some examples of terror not men but carcasses Behold the constant confessions of the dying Saints haue made them weary of publike executions none but bare walles shall now testifie the courage and faith of our happy Martyrs A disguised corpse is onely brought forth to the multitude either for laughter or feare Yet because the very dead speake for truth in a loud silence these spectacles are rate and the graues of heretikes are become as close as their death Yet lest since neither liuing mouthes nor faithfull pens may be suffered to insinuate any truth those speeches should perhaps be receiued from the Ancients which in vs were hereticall the monuments of vnpartiall antiquitie must be depraued all vvitnesses that might speake against them must be corrupted with a fraudulent violence and some of them purged to the death So whiles ours are debarred and the Ancients altered posteritie shall acknowledge no aduersarie What should I speake of those plausible deuices which they haue inuented to make superstitious and foolish Proselytes Their proud vaunts of antiquitie vniuersalitie succession and the name of their fore-fathers doe not onely perswade but amaze and besot an ignorant heart The glorious shewes of their processions the gaudy ornaments of their Altars the pompe and magnificence of the places and manner of their Seruices the triumphs of their great Festiuals are enough to bewitch any childish simple or vaine beholders Who knowes not that nature is most led by sense Sure children and fooles such are all meere naturall men cannot be of any other Religion Besides all these their personall vndertakings vvhat for cunning what for boldnesse could promise nothing but successe They can transforme themselues into all shapes and in these false formes thrust themselues into all Courts and companies not oftner changing their habit then their name They can take the best opportunities to worke vpon those vvhich are either most vnable to resist or most like to bestead them That I may not speake of the wrongs of vnseasonable trauell vvherein many vnsetled heads haue met dangers and sollicited errors who like fond and idle Dinahs going abroad to gaze haue been rauished ere their returne Neuer was any bird so laid for by the nets and calls of the fowler as the great heire of some noble family or some fiery vvit is by these impostors They know that greatnesse is both lawlesse and commanding if not by precept yet by example their very silence is perswasorie and imperious But alas for that other sex Still the Deuill begins with Eue still his assault is strongest where is weakest resistance Simon Magus had his Helena Nicolas the Deacon had his choros foemineos as Hierome calls them Marcion had his Factoresse at Rome Appelles his Philumena Montanus his Prisca and Maximilla Arrius his Constantines-sister Donatus his Lucilla Elpidius his Agape Priscillianus his Galla and our Iesuites haue their painted Ladies not dead but liuing both for obiects and instruments When they saw they could not blow vp religion with French powder into heauen they now try by this Moabitish plot to sinke it downe to Hell Those filly women which are laden with sinnes and diuers lusts must now be the stales of their spirituall fornications But for that these enterprises want not danger that both parts may securely succeed behold publique libertie of dispensations vvhether for dissembled religion or not vnprofitable filthinesse These meanes are like the Authors dishonest and godlesse Adde if you please hereto those which pretend more innocent policy their common dependances vpon one Commander their intelligences giuen their charges receiued their rewards and honours perhaps of the Calender perhaps of a red Hat duely conferred Neither may the least helpe be ascribed to the conference of studies the conioyned labours of whole Societies directed to one end and shrouded vnder the title of one Author to large maintenances raised from the death-beds of some guilty benefactors from whence flow both infinite numbers and incomparable helps of Students Vnder which head for the time past not a few are moued by the remembrance of the bounteous hospitalitie of the religious who hauing ingrossed the vvorld to themselues seemed liberall in giuing some thing like vnto some vaine-glorious theeues which hauing robbed wealthy Merchants bestow some pence vpon beggers Further the smothering if not composing of their frequent strifes and confining of brawles within their owne thresholds vvith the nice menaging of their knowne oppositions hath wonne many ignorant friends Lastly the excellent correspondence of their doctrines vnto nature hath been their best sollicitor We haue examined particulars in a former Epistle vvherein wee haue made it euident that Popery affects nothing but to make Nature either proud or vvanton it offers difficulties but carnall and such as the greatest louer of himselfe would easily embrace for an aduantage That we may therefore summe vp all I need not accuse our carelesnesse indifferencie idlenesse loose cariage in all vvhich would God wee had not aided them and wronged our selues nor yet their zeale and forwardnesse worse meanes are guilty of their gaine In short the faire outside which they set vpon Religion which sure is the best they haue if not all their pretended miracles vvilfull vntruths strait prohibitions bloody and secret inquisitions deprauations of ancient witnesses expurgation of their owne gay and garish sights glorious titles crafty changes of names shapes habits conditions insinuations to the great oppugnation of the vveaker sexe falshood of answers and oathes dispensations for sinnes vniting of forces concealing of differences largenesse of contributions multitude of actors and meanes accordances to mens naturall dispositions Where we on the contrarie care not to seeme but to be disclaime miracles dare not saue the life of Religion with a lye giue free scope to all pens to all tongues to all eyes shed no blood for Religion suffer all Writers to speake like themselues shew nothing but poore simplicitie in our deuotions goe euer and looke as we are reach the truth right-downe in an honest plainnesse take no vantage of imbecilitie sweare true though we die giue no hope of indulgence for euill study each retired to himselfe and the Muses publish our quarrels and aggrauate them anger nature and conquer it Such gaine shall be grauell in their throats such losses to vs in our not daring to sinne shall bee happy and victorious in all other regards are both blame-worthy and recouerable What dulnesse is this Haue wee such a King as in these lists of Controuersie may dare to grapple with that great infallible Vicar for his triple Crowne such Bishops as may iustly challenge the whole Consistorie of Rome so
conscience ye finde nothing and all this by the legier-de-maine of the heart Thus Achan hath hid his wedge and now he dares stand out to a lot Thus Salomons Harlot hath wip't her mouth and it was not she Thus Saul will lie-out his sacrilege vntill the very beasts out-bleat and out-bellow him Thus the swearer sweares and when hee hath done sweares that he swore not Thus the vncleane fornicator bribes off his sinne and his shame and now makes challenges to the world of his honesty It cannot be spoken how peeuishly witty the heart of man is this way neither doubt I but this wilinesse is some of the poyson that the subtile serpent infected vs with in that fatall morsell They were three cunning shifts which the Scripture recordeth of three women as that sex hath beene euer noted for more sudden pregnancie of wit Rachel Rahab and the good wife of Bahurim The first hiding the Teraphim with a modest seat the second the spies with flaxe-stalkes and the third Dauids scouts with corne spred ouer the Well but these are nothing to the deuices that nature hath wont to vse for the cloaking of sinne God made man vpright saith Salomon but he sought many inuentions Is Adam challenged for sinne Behold all on the sudden it is passed from his hand to Gods The woman that thou gauest me Is Saul challenged for a couetous and disobedient remissenesse the sinne is straight passed from the field to the Altar I saued the fattest for a Sacrifice to the Lord thy God So the one begins his sin in God and the other ends it in him Is Dauid bewitched with lust to abuse the Wife the Husband must be sent home drunke to hide it or if not that to his long home in a pretended fauour of his valour Is a griping Vsurer disposed to put his money together to breed a monster he hath a thousand quirks to cozen both law and conscience Is a Simoniacall Patron disposed to make a good match of his peoples soules it shall be no bargaine but a gift he hath a liuing to giue but an horse to sell And sure I thinke in this wise age of the world Vsurers and Simonists striue who shall finde the wittiest way to hell What should I speake of the secret frauds in contracts booties in matches subornation of instruments hiring of oathes feeing of officers equiuocations of answers and ten thousand other tricks that the heart of man hath deuised for the conueiances of sin in all which it too well approues it selfe incomparably deceitfull The false semblance of the heart is yet worse for the former is most-what for the smothering of euill this is for the iustifying of euill or the disgrace of good In these two doth this act of falshood chiefly consist in making euill good or good euill For the first The naturall man knowes well how filthy all his brood is and therefore will not let them come forth but disguised with the colours and dresses of good so as now euery one of natures birds is a Swan Pride is handsomnesse desperate fury valour lauishnesse is noble munificence drunkennesse ciuility flattery complement murderous reuenge iustice the Curtizan is bona foemina the Sorcerer a wise man the oppressor a good husband Absolom will goe pay his vowes Herod will worship the Babe For the second such is the enuy of nature that where shee sees a better face than her owne shee is ready to scratch it or cast dirt in it and therefore knowing that all vertue hath a natiue beauty in it she labours to deforme it by the foulest imputations Would the Israelites be deuout they are idle Doth Dauid daunce for ioy before the Arke he is a foole in a Morris Doth Saint Paul discourse of his heauenly Vision too much learning hath made him mad Doe the Disciples miraculously speake all the tongues of Babel They are ful of new wine Doe they preach Christs kingdome they are seditious The resurrection they are bablers Is a man conscionable he is an Hypocrite Is he conformable he is vnconscionable Is he plaine dealing hee is rudely vnciuill Is he wisely insinuatiue he is a flatterer In short such is the wicked craft of the heart that it would let vs see nothing in it owne forme but faine would shew vs euill faire that we might be inamored of it and vertue vgly that we might abhorre it and as it doth for the way so doth it for the end hiding from vs the glory of heauen that is laid vp for ouer-commers and shewing vs nothing but the pleasant closure of wickednesse making vs beleeue that hell is a palace and heauen a dungeon that so we might be in loue with death and thus both in cunning conueyance and false semblance The heart of man is deceitfull aboue all things Ye haue seene the fashion of this deceit cast now your eies vpon the subiect And whom doth it then deceiue It doth deceiue others it can deceiue it selfe it would deceiue Satan yea God himselfe Others first How many doe we take for honest and sound Christians who yet are but errant hypocrites These Apes of Satan haue learned to transforme themselues into Angels of light The heart bids the eies looke vpward to heauen when they are full of adultery It bids the hands to raise vp themselues towards their Maker when they are full of bloud It bids the tongue wagge holily when there is nothing in the bosome but Atheous profanenesse It bids the knee to bow like a Camell when the heart is stiffe as an Elephant yea if need be it can bid a teare fall from the eie or an almes or iust action fall from the hand and all to gâ—ll the world with a good opinion In all which false chapmen and horse-coursers doe not more ordinarily deceiue their buyers in shops and faires than we doe one another in our conuersation Yea so crafty is the heart that it can deceiue it selfe By ouer-weening his owne powers as the proud man by vnder-valuing his graces as the modest by mis-taking his estate as the ignorant How many hearts doe thus grossely beguile themselues The first thinkes hee is rich and fine when hee is beggerly and naked so did the Angell of Laodicea The second is poore in his owne spirit when hee is rich of Gods spirit The third thinkes that he is a great fauourite of heauen when he is rather branded for an out-cast that hee is truly noble when he is a slaue to that which is baser than the worst of Gods creatures sinne Let the proud and ignorant worldling therefore know that though others may mocke him with applauses yet that all the world cannot make him so much a foole as his owne heart Yea so cunning is the heart that it thinkes to goe beyond the deuill himselfe I can thinks it swallow his bait and yet auoid his hooke I can sinne and liue I can repent of sinning and defeat my punishment by repenting I can runne vpon
the score and take vp the sweet and rich commodities of sinfull pleasure and when I haue done I can put my selfe vnder the protection of a Sauiour and escape the arrest Oh the world of soules that perish by this fraud fondly beguiling themselues whiles they would beguile the Tempter Yet higher Lastly as Satan went about to deceiue the Sonne of God so this foolish consort and client of his goes about to deceiue God himselfe The first paire of hearts that euer was were thus credulous to thinke they should now meet with a meanes of knowledge and Deifying which God either knew not of or grudged them and therefore they would bee stealing it out of the side of the apple without God yea against him Tush none eye shall see vs Is there knowledge in the most high saith the sottish Atheist Lord haue not wee heard thee preach in our streets haue not we cast out Deuils in thy Name sayes the smoothing hypocrite as if hee could fetch God ouer for an admission into heauen Thou hast not lied to man but to God saith S. Peter to Ananias And pettish Ionas after hee had beene cooled in the belly of the Whale and the Sea yet will be bearing God downe in an argument to the iustifying of his idle choler I doe well to be angry to the death But as the greatest Politicians are oft ouertaken with the grossest follies God owes proud wits a shame the heart of man could not possibly deuise how so much to befoole it selfe Psal 94.10 11. as by this wicked presumption Oh yee fooles when will ye vnderstand He that formed the eye shall he not see Hee that teacheth man knowledge shall not hee vnderstand The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanitie A rod for the backe of fooles yea a rod of iron for such presumptuous fooles to crush them in peeces like a Potters vessell Ye haue seene the fashion and the subiect of this deceit the sequell or effect followes euery way lamentable For hence it comes to passe that many a one hath had his heart in keeping fortie fiftie threescore yeeres and more and yet is not acquainted with it and all because this craft hath kept it at the Priscillianists locke Tu omnes te nemo It affects to be a searcher of all men no man is allowed to come aboard of it And if a man whether out of curiositie or conscience bee desirous to inquire into it as it is a shame for a man to be a stranger at home Know ye not your owne heart saith the Apostle it casts it selfe Proteus-like into so many formes that it is very hard to apprehend it One while the man hath no heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Salomon Psal 12. Then hee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heart and an heart saith Dauid and one of his hearts contradicts another and then how knowes he whether to beleeue And what certainty what safety can it bee for a man to liue vnacquainted with himselfe Of this vnacquaintance secondly arises a dangerous mesprison of a mans selfe in the nature and quantity of his sinne in the quality of his repentance in his peace and intirenesse with God in his right to heauen and in a word in his whole spirituall estate Of this mes-prison thirdly arises a fearefull disappointment of all his hopes and a plunging into vnauoidable torments Wherein it is miserable to see how cunningly the traiterous hearts of many men beare them in hand all their liues long soothing them in all their courses promising them successe in all their waies securing them from feare of euills assuring them of the fauour of God and possession of heauen as some fond Bigot would bragge of his Bull or Medall or Agnus Dei or as those Priests that Gerson * * Qui publicè volunt dogmatizare seu praedicare populo quod si quis audit missam in illo dâ—e non erit caecus nec morietur morte subitanea nec carebit sufficienti sustentatione c. taxes who made the people beleeue that the Masse was good for the eye-sight for the mawe for bodily health and preseruation till they come to their death-beds But then when they come to call forth the comforts they must trust to they finde them like to some vnfaithfull Captaine that hath all the while in Garrison filled his purse with dead paies and made vp the number of his companies with borrowed men and in time of ease shewed faire but when hee is called forth by a sudden alarum bewraies his shame and weaknesse and failes his Generall when hee hath most need of him right thus doe the perfidious hearts of many after all the glorious bragges of their security on the bed of their last reckoning finde nothing but a cold despaire and a wofull horror of conscience and therefore too iustly may their hearts say to them as the heart of Appollodorus the Tyrant seemed to say vnto him who dreamed one night that hee was fleaed by the Scythians and boyled in a Caldron and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is I that haue drawne thee to all this Certainly neuer man was or shall bee frying in hell but cries out of his owne heart and accuses that deceitfull peece as guilty of all his torment For let Satan be neuer so malicious and all the world neuer so parasiticall yet if his owne heart had beene true to him none of these could haue hurt him Let the rest of our enemies doe their worst onely from the euill of our owne hearts good Lord deliuer vs. It were now time for our thoughts to dwell a little vpon the meditation and deploration of our owne danger and misery who are euery way so inuironed with subtlety If we looke at Satan his old title is that old Serpent who must needs therefore now by so long time and experience bee both more old and more Serpent If we looke at sin it is as crafty as he Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne If at our owne hearts wee heare that which wee may feele that the heart is deceitfull aboue all things Oh wretched men that we are how are wee beset with Impostors on all hands If it were more seasonable for vs to bewaile our estate than to seeke the redresse of it But since it is not so much worth our labour to know how deepe the pit is into which wee are fallen as how to come out of it heare rather I beseech you for a conclusion how wee may auoid the danger of the deceit of our false heart euen iust so as wee would preuent the nimble feats of some cheating Iugler Search him watch him Trust him not Looke well into his hands pockets boxes sleeues yea vnder his very tongue it selfe There is no fraud so secret but may be descried were our hearts as crafty as the deuill himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
not without the interuention of a Sauiour To which claime is laid in two kindes either as imputatiue or as inherent The inherent wrought in vs the imputed wrought for vs. How easie were it to leade you through a thicket of distinctions into a large field of controuersie concerning the nature meanes manner of our Iustification No head in all Diuinity yeelds either more or more important Problems In so much as Cardinall De Monte Vice-President for the time of the Councell of Trent in an Oration made by him in the eleuenth session professes that when they meant to dispatch their Decree concerning Iustification in fifteene daies it cost them seuen moneths to finish without one daies intermission and when all is done they haue left the world which was before as Pighius ingenuously intricated by the thorny questions of Schoolemen rather more vnsatisfied and perplexed than they found it It is the maine care of our liues and deaths what shall giue vs peace and acceptation before the dreadfull Tribunall of God What but righteousnesse What righteousnesse or whose Ours or Christs Ours in the inherent graces wrought in vs in the holy works wrought by vs or Christs in his most perfect obedience and meritorious satisfaction wrought for vs applied to vs The Tridentine faction is for the former wee are for the latter God is as direct on our side as his Word can make him Euery where blazoning the defects of our owne righteousnesse the imperfections of our best Graces the deadly nature of our least sinnes the radicall sinfulnesse of our habituall concupiscence the pollution of our best works Euery where extolling the perfect obedience of our Redeemer the gracious application of that obedience the sweet comfort of that application the assurance and vnfailablenesse of that comfort and lastly our happy rest in that assurance I instance not open the Booke see where your eies can looke beside these Satis apertè saith their Cassander The Scripture is cleare ours So is all antiquity if they beleeue that learned Arbiter So are their more ingenuous Doctors of the last age So would they all be if they had grace to know God themselues grace sinne heauen hell God perfectly iust themselues miserably weake Grace sensibly imperfect sinne vnmeasurably sinfull Lastly if they knew that heauen is for none but the pure that hell is for the presumptuous O Sauiour no man is iust through thee but he that is sanctified by thee What is our inherent justice but sanctity That we aspire towards wee attaine not to Woe were vs if we were not more iust in thee than sanctified in our selues wee are sanctified in part according to the weaknesse of our receit we are iustified thorowly according to the perfection of thine acceptation were we fully sanctified here we should be more than men were we not thorowly iustified we should be no more than sinners before thee whiles wee stand before thee as sinners we can haue no peace Let others trust in the Charets and Horses of their owne strength wee will remember the Name of the Lord our God The worke of thy Iustice shall bee our peace Peace is a sweet word Euery body would be glad of it especially Peace at the last as the Psalmist speakes How haue the politickly religious held out twigs for the drowning soule to catch at Due satisfactions vndue supererogations patronages of Saints bargaines of Indulgences woolward pilgrimages and at last after whips and haire-clothes leaue the dying soule to a feare of Hell doubt of Heauen assurance of Purgatory flames How truly may it now say to these Doctors as Iob to his friends Miserable comforters are yee all Hearken O yee deare Christians to a better voice that sounds from heauen Mat. 11.28 Come to mee all yee that labour and are heauy laden and I will giue you rest Is there any of you whose vnquiet brest boiles continually with the conscience of any foule sin whose heart is daily tyr'd vpon by the vultur of his secret guiltinesse whose bosome is gnawed before-hand with that hellish Worme which can no more giue ouer than die It bootes not to aske thee if thou wouldest haue peace Peace Rather than life Oh wherewithall shall I come before the Lord and bow my selfe before the most high God Micah 6. Shal I come before him with burnt offerings Wil the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rammes or with tenne thousand Riuers of Oyle Shall I giue my first borne for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule Heare O thou distracted heart what talkest thou of giuing to the owner The world is his thou art not thine owne Yea were these things thine and not his yet know it is not giuing but taking that must procure thy peace An infinite Iustice is offended an infinite Iustice hath satisfied an infinite mercy hath applied it Take thou hold by the hand of faith on that infinite mercy and justice of thy Sauiour The worke of his Iustice shall be thy peace Fly about whither thou wilt O thou weary Doue thorow all the wide Regions of the heauen waters thou shalt no where finde rest for the soles of thy feet but in this Arke of Christs perfect righteousnesse In vaine shalt thou seeke it in schooles of morality in learned Libraries in spacious fields and forrests in pleasant gardens in sullen retirednesse in witty conuersation in wanton Theaters in drunken cellers in tables of gluttony in beds of iust chests of Mammon whiffes and draughts of intoxication songs of ribaldry sports of recreation No no the more thou seekest it in most of these the further it flies from thee the further thou art from finding it and if these things may giue some poore truce to thy thoughts it shall soone end in a more direfull warre There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Stray whither thou wilt O thou wounded heart thorow the Lawnds and Woods alas the shaft sticks still in thee or if that bee shaken out the head None but the soueraigne Dittany of thy Sauiours righteousnes can driue it out and till it be out thou canst haue no peace In plaine termes wouldst thou haue peace None but Christ can giue it thee He will giue it to none but the penitent none but the faithfull Oh spend thy selfe into the sighes and teares of true repentance and then raise thy humbled soule to a liuely confidence in thine all-sufficient Redeemer Set thy Lord Iesus betwixt God and thy sins God cannot see thy debt but through thine acquitance By his stripes we are healed by his wounds we are stanched by his death we are quickned by his righteousnesse we are discharged The worke of his righteousnesse is our peace Oh safe and blessed condition of beleeuers Let sinne Satan world death hel doe their worst Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth who shall condemne It is Christ that died yea rather that
eyes of all them from whom it is made as euermore casting vpon them the imputation of euill whereof all men are impatient And hence it commeth to passe that the Church of England can better brooke the vilest persons continuing communion with it than any whomsoeuer separating from it though vpon neuer so iust and well grounded reasons SECTION III. I Wrote not to you alone what is become of your partner yea your Guide The pardon I written to and their 〈◊〉 To M. Smith and M. 〈◊〉 Ringe-leaders of the late separation at Amsterdam Charact of the Beast written by M. Smith Pref. Be it knowne therefore to all the separation that we account them in respect of their constitution to be as very an Harlot as either her Mother the Church of England or her Grandmother Rome is c. Iterato baptizâ—us scienter iterato Dominum cruciâ—git De consecr dist 4. Quivis c. Woe is me he hath renounced our Christendome with our Church and hath washe off his former water with new and now condemnes you all for not separating further no lesse than wee condemne you for separating so farre As if you could not bee enough out of Babylon vnlesse you be out of your selues Alas miserable Countreymen whither runne you Religion hath but his height beyond which is error and madnesse hee tells you true your station is vnsafe either you must forward to him or backe to vs. * * The crime of the separation how great M. Perry in his Disc of this subiect I obiected separation to you yet not so extreme as your answer bewrayes a late separation not the first my charity hoped you lesse ill than you will needs deserue you grant it odious because it casts imputation of euill vpon the forsaken Of euill Yea of the worst an estate incurable desperate He is an il Physitian that wil leaue his Patient vpon euery disteÌ„per his departure argues the disease helples were we but faulty as your Land-Lord Churches your own rules would not abide your flight Vid. IOHNSON Preface to his Inquirie Esay 5.20 Hence the Church of England iustly matches Separatists with the vilest persons God himselfe doth so who are more vile than Patrons of euill yet no greater woe is to them that speake good of euill than those that speake euill of good So wise Generals punish mutinous persons worse than Robbers or Adulterers Num. 16.31 Exod. 32.30 So Corah and his company a Story cunningly turned vpon vs by your Martyr for their opposition to Moses were more fearefully plagued than the Idolatrous Israelites These sinnes are more directly against common society the other more personall and if both haue like iniquity yet the former haue both more offence and more danger And if not so yet who cannot rather brooke a lewd seruant than an vndutifull sonne though pretending faire colours for his disobedience At least you thinke the Church of England thinks her selfe Gods Church as well as your Saints of Amsterdam You that so accurse Apostasie in others could yee expect shee should brooke it in you Prov. 21. â— But your reasons are iust and well grounded euery way of a man is right in his own eyes Said we not well that thou ar a Samaritane and hast a Deuill say the Iewes What Schisme euer did not thinke well of it selfe For vs we call Heauen and earth to record your cause hath no more Iustice than your selues haue charity SEP And yet separation from the World and so from the men of the World and so from the Prince of the World that reigneth in them and so from whatsoeuer is contrary to God is the first step to our communion with God and Angels and good men as the first step to a ladder is to leaue the earth SECTION IIII. The kinds of the Separation and which is iust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 YET there is a commendable and happy separation from the World from the Prince and men of the World and whatsoeuer is contrary to God who doubts it There were no Heauen for vs without this no Church which hath her name giuen by her Father and Husband of calling out from other Out of the Aegypt of the World doth God call his sonnes But this separation is into the visible Church from the World not as yours out of the Church because of some particular mixtures with the World or if you had rather take it of profession out of the World of Pagans and Infidels into the visible Church not out of the World of true though faulty Christians into a purer Church That I may here at once for all giue light to this point of separation we finde in Scripture a separation either to good or from euill To good Num. 8 1â— Num. 16.9 Deut. â— 1â— Exod. 1â— 12 Leuit. 15. â—1 Deut. 1.41 Rom. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Leuites were separated from among the children of Israel to beare the Arke and to minister so the first borne first fruits and Cities of refuge So Paul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separated which some would haue allude to his Pharisaisme but hath plaine reference to Gods owne words Acts 13.2 Separate mee Barnabas and Saul Though this is rather a destination to some worthy purpose than a properly called separation From euill whether sinne or sinners From sinne so euery soule must eschew euill whether of doctrine or manners and disclaime all fellowship with the vnfruitfull works of darknesse 1 Thess vlt. ad fin Ier. 15.19 Vide Tremel Tiâ— whether in himselfe or others So S. Paul charges vs to hold that which is good and abstaine from all appearance of euill so Ieremie is charged to separate the precious doctrine or practise from the vile From sinners not onely practised by God himselfe to omit his eternall and secret Decree Num. 16. Mat. 15. ad fin 2 Chron. 19.2 1. Cor. 6. ad fin Nulla cum malis conviuia vel colloquia misceantur simusque abijs tâ—m Separati quam sunt illi ab ecclesia Dei profugi Cypr. l. 1. epist ad Corn. 2. whereby the Elect are separated from the Reprobate both in his gracious vocation sequestring them from nature and sinne as also in his excecution of iudgement whether particular as of the Israelites from the Tabernacles of Corah or vniuersall and finall of the Sheepe from the Goats But also inioyned from God to men in respect either of our affection or of our yoke and familiar society whereof Saint PAVL Bee not vnequally yoked with Infidels Come out from among them and separate your selues In all this wee agree In the latitude of this last onely wee differ I finde you call for a double separation A fast separation in the gathering of the Church A second in the menaging of it The first at our entrance into the Church the second in our continuance The first of the Church from Pagans and Worldlings an initiatorie profession The second of
lewd men from the Church by iust censures You speake confusedly of your owne separation one while of both another while of either single For the first either confesse it done by our Baptisme or else you shall be forced to hold we must rebaptize Charact. of Beast Praef. But of this Constitutiue separation anon For the second of sinners whether in iudgement or life some are more grosse hainous incorrigible others lesse notorious and more tractable those other must be separated by iust censures not these Which censures if they be neglected the Church is foule and in your Pastors word faultie Iohns Inquir and therefore calls for our teares not for our flight Now of Churches faultie and corrupted some raze the foundation others on the true foundation build timber hay stubble From those we must separate from these we may not PETERS rule is eternall Ioh. 6.68 Whither shall wee goe from thee thou hast the words of eternall life where these words are found woe be to vs if we be not found Amongst many good separations then yours cannot be separated from euill for that we should so farre separate from the euill that therefore we should separate from Gods children in the communion of the holy things of God that for some after your worst done not fundamentall corruptions H. Cl. Epistle before Treatise of Sinne against the Holy Ghost we should separate from that Church in whose wombe wee were conceiued and from betwixt whose knees we fell to God in a word as one of yours once said to separate not onely from visible euill but from visible good as all Antichristian who but yours can thinke lesse than absurd and impious Grant we should be cleane separated from the World yet if we be not must you be separated from vs Doe but stay till God haue separated vs from himselfe Neque propter paleam relinquam aream Domini neque propter pisces males rumpimus retia Domini Aug. epist 48 will the wise Husbandman cast away his Corne-heap for the chaffe and dust Shall the Fisher cast away a good draught because his Drag-Net hath Weeds Doth God separate from the faithfull soule because it hath some corruptions her Inmates though not her commanders Certainly if you could thorowly separate the World from you you would neuer thus separate your selues from vs Begin at home separate all selfe-loue and selfe-will and vncharitablenesse from your hearts and you cannot but ioyne with that Church from which you haue separated Your Doctor would perswade vs you separate from nothing but our corruptious Answ Counterpoyson p. 2. you are honester and grant it from our Church it were happy for you if he lied not who in the next page confutes himselfe shewing that you separate from vs as Christ from the Samaritans namely from the Church not the corruptions onely Counterpoyson p. 7. 8. c. and not as he did from the Iewes namely from their corruptions not from their Church His memorie saues our labour and marres his discourse SEP The separation we haue made in respect of our knowledge and obedience is indeed late and new yet is it in the nature and causes thereof as ancient as the Gospell which was first founded in the enmitie which God himselfe put betwixt the seed of the Woman and the seede of the Serpent Genes 3.15 which enmitie hath not onely beene successiuely continued but also visibly manifested by the actuall separation of all true Churches from the World in their collection and constitution before the Law vnder the Law and vnder the Gospell Genes 4.13 14.16 6.1 2. 7.1.7 with 1 Pet. 3.20.12 12.2 Leuit. 20.24.26 Nehem. 9.2 Ioh. 17.14.16 Acts 2.40 19.9 1 Cor. 6.17 SECTION V. YET if not equitie it were well you could plead age The antiquitie and examples of separation This your separation in the nature and causes of it you say is no lesse ancient than the first institution of enmitie betwixt the two seedes you might haue gone a little higher and haue said than our first Parents running from God in the Garden or their separation from God by their sinne But we take your time and easily beleeue that this your late separation was founded vpon that ancient enmitie of the seed of the serpent Euseb Hist Ecc. with the womans That subtle Deuill when he saw the Church breath from the persecutions of Tyrants vexed her no lesse with her owne diuisions seeking that by fraud which by violence he could not effect Hence all the fearefull Schismes of the Church whereof yours is part This enmitie hath not onely beene successiuely continued but also too visibly manifested by the actuall but wilfull separation of Heretikes and Sectaries from the Church in all ages But I mistake you yours is as ancient as the Gospell What Hen. Steph. Apol Herod Fox Act. Monu H. N. his booke Gal. 1.6 Eph. 6.17 Col. 1.5 1 Tim. 1 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Euangelium aeteruum of the Friers whose name they accursedly borrowed from Reuel 14.6 Or that Euangelium Regni of the Familists Or that Euangelium aliud whereof Saint PAVL taxeth his Galatians None of all these you say but as that Gospell of Peace of Truth of Glory so ancient and neuer knowne till Bolton Barrow and Browne Could it escape all the holy Prophets Apostles Doctors of the old middle and later world and light onely vpon these your three Patriarchs Perhaps Nonatus or Donatus those Saints with their Schooles had some little glimpse of it but this perfection of knowledge is but late and new So many rich Mines haue lien long vnknowne and great parts of the World haue beene discouered by late Venturers If this course haue come late to your knowledge and obedience not so to others For loe it was practised successiuely in the constitution and collection of all true Churches through all times before the Law vnder the Law after it We haue acknowledged many separations but as soone shall you finde the time past in the present as your late separation Iren. de Valen. l. 1. Innumerabilem multitudinem Scripturarum quas ipsi finxerunt afferunt ad stuporem insensatorum Vid. Preface to M. Iacobs and Iohnson Confer and Barr. pass Description of the true visible Church Nihil autem miram si ex ipsius instrumento aptentur argumenta cum oporteat hereses esse quae esse non possunt si non perperam Scripturae intelligi possunt Tertull. de Resurrect Ibid. So Barrow tearmes Mast Gyffords Refut pag. 102. Si Christianus Iudaicae praeuaricanti carnaliter coniungatur à commuâ—â—ne Ecclesiae segregetur Dist 28. q. 1. Caâ—â— cap. siquis Iudaicae c. 1 Pet. 3.19 2 Pet. 2.5 in the ancient and approued You quote Scriptures though to your praise more daintie indeed than your fellowes Who cannot doe so Who hath not Euen Satan himselfe cites the word against him which was the word of his
there should bee granted by Iohn 22. a Pardon for no lesse than a million of yeeres Who can endure since by their owne confession this fire must last but till the conflagration of the world that yet in one little Booke there should be tendred vnto credulous poore soules Pardons of but eleuen thousand thousands of yeeres What should we make many words of this There is now lying by me a worme-eaten Manu-script with faire Rubrickes in which besides other absurd and blasphemous promises there is power giuen to one little prayer to change the paines of hell due perhaps to him that sayes it into Purgatory and after that againe the paines of Purgatory into the ioyes of Heauen Lib. de Indulg Bellarmine had wisely respected his owne reputation if hee had giuen his voice according to that which he confesseth to haue beene the iudgement of some others That these like Bills were not giuen by the Popes but lewdly deuised by some of his base Questuaries for an aduantage But that which he should excuse hee defends What ingenuity of shame is to be expected of Iesuites and how cleane hath an old Parrot as he said of old forgotten the wand Who may abide this vniust and inhumane acceptation of persons that the wealthier sort may by their purses redeeme this holy treasure of the Church and by money deliuer the soules of themselues and their friends from this horrible Prison while the needy Soule must be stall frying in this flame without all hope of pardon or mature relaxation vntill the very last Iudgement day Lastly who can endure that whiles it is in the power of Christs Vicar to call miserable soules out of this tormenting fire which hell it selfe is said to exceed onely in the continuance yet that he should suffer them to lie howling there and most cruelly broyling still and not mercifully bestow on them all the heapes of his treasure as the spirituall ransome of so many distressed spirits Ambr. de Nabâ—th A wretched man is he as Ambrose said of the rich man which hath the power to deliuer so many soules from death and wants the will Why hath God giuen him this faculty of Indulgences if hee would not haue it beneficiall to Mankinde Auth. operis imperfect and where the Owner of the house will bee bountifull it is not for the Steward to bee niggardly Let that Circè of Rome keepe these huskes for her hogges SECTION XIII Concerning the distinction of Veniall and Mortall sinnes PArdons doe both imply and presuppose that knowne distinction of Mortall and Veniall sinne which neither hath God euer allowed neither whiles he gaine-sayes it will euer the Protestants That there are certaine degrees of euill we both acknowledge and teach so as we may here iustly tax the dishonesty and shamelesnesse of Campion Durcus Coccius and the Monkes of Burdeaux who haue vpbraided vs with the opinion of a certaine Stoicall and Iouinianish parity of sinnes yea Bellarmine himselfe hath already done this kinde office for vs. Some offences are more hainous than other yet all in the malignitie of their nature deadly As of poysons some kill more gently and lingringly others more violently and speedily yet both kill Moreouer if wee haue respect vnto the infinite mercy of God and to the obiect of this mercy the penitent and faithfull heart there is no sinne which to borrow the word of Prudentius is not veniall but in respect of the Anomy or disorder there is no sinne which is not worthy of eternall death Euery sinne is a Viper there is no Viper if we regard the nature of the best but kils whom she bites but if one of them shall haply light vpon the hand of Paul she is shaked into the fire without harme done Let no man feare that harmefull creature euer the lesse because he sees the Apostle safe from that poyson So is sinne to a faithfull man Saint Iohns word is All sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 6. Saint Pauls word is The wages of sinne is death Put these two together and this conceit of the naturall pardon ablenesse of sin vanishes alone Our Rhemists subtill men can no more abide this proposition conuerted than themselues All sinne indeed say they is anomia a transgression of the Law but euery transgression of the Law is not sinne The Apostle therefore himselfe turnes it for vs All vnrighteousnesse saith he is sin But euery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vnrighteousnesse saith Austen vpon the place For the Law is the rule of righteousnesse therefore the preuarication of the Law is vnrighteousnesse Yea their very owne word shall stop their owne mouth for how is sinne vniuocally distinguished into Veniall and Mortall if the Veniall be no sinne and the wages of euery sinne is death That therefore which the Papists presume to say that this kinde of sinne deserues pardon in it selfe vnlesse they will take the word merit catachrestically with Stapleton And that which Bellarmine and Nauarus adde that Veniall sinnes are not against but beside the Law and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fr. à Vict. summa sacr Poenitentiae nu 100. p. 63. That which Franciscus à Victoria writes that a Bishops blessing or a Lords Prayer or a knocke on the breast or a little holy water or any such like slight receipt without any other good motion of the heart is sufficient to remit Veniall sinne is so shamefully abhorring from all piety and iustice that these open bands both of nature and sinne must be eternally defied of vs. It is an old and as true a ride Decr. 23.4.4 est iniusta c. Petr. Alagâ—â—nae Comp. Manual Nauarri p. 91. p. 267. p. 140. p. 191. p. 352. p. 100. Socr. l. 5.21 â—asinesse of pardon giues incouragement to sinne And beside what maner of sinnes doe they put in the ranke of Venials Drunkennesse adultery angry curses or blasphemies couetousnesse yea stealing lying cursing of parents horrible offences shroud themselues with them vnder this plausible title of veniall He must needs be shamelesly wicked that abhorres not this licentiousnesse Surely Socrates the Historian prophecied I thinke of these men There are some saith he that let goe whoredome as an indifferent matter which yet striue for an holy-day as for their life The ordinarie and not slight Controuersie as Cassander thinketh of the name nature condition punishment of the first sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Originall as Chrysostome calls it I willingly omit Neither doe I meddle with their Euangelicall perfection of vowes nor the dangerous seruitude of their rash and impotent Votaries nor the incoueniences of their Monkerie which yet are so great and many that the elect Cardinals of Paul the third doubted not with ioynt consent to affirme All the Orders of Couents we thinke fit to be abolished but for the condition of that single and solitary life let that be done which Cassander and
vel nasciturus Nec ipsi etiam virgines essent quia nati non essent Ex foecunditate enim illorum orta est istorum virginitas Magnum igitur bonum est foecunditas de qua sancta praecessit virginitas Quia autem virgines esse debeant qui nuptiarum fructus facientes docet cos verbum quod Deus seminat in cordibus illorum In aliorum enim cordibus seminat verbum bonae foecunditatis nuptiarum fructum facientis in aliorum vero cordibus seminat verbum virginitatis * * Deest opinor pars clausula Illi ergo in quibus seminat verbum virginitatis c. ipsi virginitatem seruare desiderant In quibus vero verbum nuptiarum seminat ipsi facere nuptiarum fructum appetunt WHICH FOR MY COVNTRYMENS SAKE I haue thus Englished I Would faine know who it was that first ordained that Christian Priests might not marry God or Man For if it were God surely his determination is to bee held and obserued with all veneration and reuerence But if it were Man and not God and this Tradition came out of the heart of Man not out of the Mouth of God then neither is saluation got by it if it be obserued nor lost if it be not obserued For it doth not belong to Man either to saue or destroy any man for his merits but it is proper only vnto God That God hath ordained this it it neither found written in the Old Testament nor in the Gospell nor in the Epistles of the Apostles in all which is set down whatsoeuer God hath inioyned vnto men It is therefore a Tradition of Man and not an institution of God nor of his Apostles As the Apostle instituted rather that a Bishop should be the Husband of one Wife which he would neuer haue appointed if it had beene adulterie for a Bishop to haue at once a Wife and a Church as it were two Wiues like as some affirme Now that which hath not authority from the holy Scriptures is with the same facility contemned that it is spoken For the holy Church is not the Wife not the Spouse of the Priest but of Christ as S. Iohn saith He that hath the Bride he is the Bridegroome Of this Bridegroome I say is the Church the Spouse and yet it is lawfull euen for this Spouse in part to marry by Apostolique Tradition For the Apostle speakes thus to the Corinthians because of fornications let euery man haue his owne Wife And I would that all men were as I am but euery man hath his proper gift of God one thus another otherwise For all men haue not one gift namely of Virginity and Continency but some are virgins and containe others containe not to whom he granteth mariage lest Sathan tempt them through their incontinency and they should miscary in the ruine of their vncleannesse So also of Priests some are continent others are incontinent and those which are continent haue receiued the gift of their continence from God without whose Gift and Grace they cannot be continent But those which are incontinent haue not receiued this gift of grace but whether by the intemperance of their humour or the weaknesse of their mind run out into fleshly desires which they would in no wise doe if they had receiued from God the Grace and Vertue of Continence For they also which are deliuered by the Grace of God from the body of this death feele another Law in their members rebelling against the Law of their minde and captiuating them to the Law of sin and compelling them to doe that which they would not This Law therefore holding them captiue and this Concupiscence of the flesh prouoking them they are compelled either to fornicate or mary whereof whether is the better we are taught by the authority of the Apostle who tels vs it is better to marry then to burne Surely that which is the better is to be chosen and held now it is better to marry because it is worse to burne and because it is better to marry then to burne it is conuenient for those which containe not to marry not to burne For mariage is good as August speaks in his booke super Genesin ad Literam in it is commended the good of nature whereby the prauity of incontinence is ruled and the fruitfulnesse of Nature graced For the weaknesse of either Sexe declining towards the ruine of filthinesse is well relieued by honesty of mariage so as the same thing which may be the office of the found is also the remedie vnto the sicke Neither yet because incontinence is euill is therefore Mariage euen that wherewith the Incontinent are ioyned to be reputed not good yea rather not for that euill is the good faulty but for this good is that euill pardonable since that good which mariage hath yea which mariage is can neuer be sin Now this good is three fold the Fidelity the Fruit the Sacrament of that estate In the Fidelity is regarded That besides this bond of Mariage there be not carnall society with any other In the Fruit of it That it be louingly raised and religiously bred In the Sacrament of it That the mariage be not separated and that the dismissed party of either Sexe be not ioyned to any other no not for issues sake This is as it were the Rule of Mariage whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauity of Incontinence ruled And this Rule of Mariage and this three-fold good the eternall Truth hath appointed in the order of his Decree and that eternall Law of his against which whatsoeuer is done spoken or willed is sinne which Augustine in his booke against Faustus the Manichee witnesseth saying Sin is either Deed Word or desire against the Law Eternall This Eternall Law is the diuine Will or Decree forbidding the disturbance and commanding the preseruation of due naturall order whatsoeuer therefore commands naturall Order to be disturbed forbids it to be conserued prohibits men to vse Mariage and to attaine to the threefold good thereof Fidelitie Issue Sacrament and commands them to breake that Rule of Eternall Truth whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauity of Incontinency is ruled commands men to abhorre those things whereby naturall Order is held and maintained This Commandement I say forbids naturall Order to bee obserued commands it to bee disturbed and therefore is against the Law of God and by consequence is sinne For they sinne that ordaine such a command by which naturall Order is destroyed These men doe not it seemes beleeue that of the children of Priests God takes for the building of his City aboue and for the restoring of the number of Angels For if they did beleeue it they would neuer ordaine such a Mandare because they should wittingly and ouer rashly goe about to effect that the supernall City should neuer be perfited and the number of Angels neuer repayred For if the supernall City be to be
meanes neither are blessings or curses euer traduced The chaste bed of holy Parents hath ofttimes bred a monstrous generation and contrarily God hath raised sometimes an holy Seed from the drunken bed of Incest or Fornication It hath been seene that vveightie eares of corne haue growne out of the compasse of the tilled field Thus vvill God magnifie the freedome of his owne choyce and let vs know that wee are not borne but made good Contemplations THE THIRD BOOKE Iacob and Esau Iacob and Laban Dinah Iudah and Thamar Ioseph BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LORD DENNY BARON OF WALTHAM MY SINGVLAR GOOD PATRON All Grace and Happinesse RIght Honourable I Know and in all humility confesse how weake my Discourse is and how vnworthy of this diuine subiect which J haue vndertaken which if an Angell from Heauen should say hee could sufficiently comment vpon J should distrust him Yet this let me say without any vaine boasting that these thoughts such as they are through the blessing of GOD J haue wouen out of my selfe as holding it after our Sauiours rule better to giue than to receiue It is easier to heape together large volumes of others labours then to worke out lesser of our owne and the suggestion of one new thought is better then many repeated This part which together with the Author is yours shall present to your Lordship the busiest of all the Patriarks together with his tryalls and successe wherein you shall see Esau stripped by fraud of that which he willingly sold Iacobs hard aduentures for the blessing and no lesse hard seruices for his wiues and substance his dangerous encounters ending ioyfully the raâ—e of his onely daughter seconded with the trecherous murder of his sonnes Iudahs wrong to Thamar repayed by his owne vncleannesse Iosephs sale imprisonment honour pietie The sinne of his brethren well bestowed well answered J so touch at the vses of all these as one that knowes it is easie to say more and impossible to say enough GOD giue a blessing to my endeuours and a pardon to my weakenesse to your Lordship an encrease of his graces and perfection of all happinesse Your Lordships humbly and officiously deuoted in all dutie IOS HALL Contemplations THE THIRD BOOKE Of IACOB and ESAV OF all the Patriarkes none made so little noyse in the World as Isaac none liued either so priuately or so innocently Neither know I whether hee approued himselfe a better sonne or an Husband For the one he gaue himselfe ouer to the knife of his Father and mourned three yeeres for his Mother for the other he sought not to any handmaids bed but in a chast forbearance reserued himselfe for twenty yeeres space and prayed Rebecca was so long barren his prayers proued more effectuall then his seed At last she conceiued as if shee had beene more then the daughter in law to Sarah whose sonne was giuen her not out of the power of Nature but of her husbands Faith God is oft better to vs then we would Isaac prayes for a sonne God giues him two at once Now shee is no lesse troubled with the strife of the children in her wombe then before with the want of children we know not when we are pleased that which we desire oft-times discontents vs more in the fruition wee are ready to complaine both full and fasting Before Rebecca conceiued she was at ease Before spirituall regeneration there is all peace in the soule No sooner is the new man formed in vs but the flesh conflicts with the spirit There is no grace where is no vnquietnesse Esau alone would not haue striuen Nature will euer agree with it selfe Neuer any Rebecca conceiued onely an Esau or was so happy as to conceiue none but a Iacob She must be the mother of both that she may haue both ioy and exercise This strife began early Euery true Israelite begins his warre with his being How many actions which we know not of are not without presage and signification These two were the champions of two Nations the field was their mothers wombe their quarrell precedency superiority Esau got the right of Nature Iacob of grace yet that there might be some pretence of equality lest Esau should out-run his brother into the World Iacob holds him fast by the heele So his hand was borne before the others foot But because Esau is some minutes the elder that the younger might haue better claime to that which God had promised he buies that which he could not winn If either by strife or purchase or suite we can attaine spirituall blessings we are happy If Iacob had come forth first he had not knowne how much he was bound to God for the fauour of his aduancement There was neuer any meat except the forbidden fruit so deare bought as this broth of Iacob In both the receiuer and the Eater is accursed Euery true sonne of Israel will bee content to purchase spirituall fauours with earthly And that man hath in him too much of the blood of Esau which will not rather dye then forgoe his birth-right But what hath carelesse Esau lost if hauing sold his birth-right he may obtaine the blessing Or what hath Iacob gained if his brothers Venison may counteruaile his Pottage Yet thus hath old Isaac decreed who was now not more blind in his eyes then in his affections God had forewarned him that the elder should serue the yonger yet Isaac goes about to blesse Esau It was not so hard for Abraham to reconcile Gods promise and Isaacs sacrifice as for Isaac to reconcile the superiority of Iacob with Esaus benediction for Gods hand was in that in this none but his owne The dearest of Gods Saints haue beene sometimes transported with naturall affections He saw himselfe preferred to Ismael though the elder he saw his father wilfully forgetting nature at Gods command in binding him for sacrifice He saw Esau lewly matched with Heathens and yet he will remember nothing but Esau is my first borne But how gracious is God that when we would will not let vs sinne And so orders our actions that wee doe not what we will but what we ought That God which had ordained the Lordship to the yonger will also contriue for him the blessing what he will haue effected shall not want meanes the Mother shall rather defeat the Sonne and beguile the Father then the Father shall beguile the chosen sonne of his blessing What was Iacob to Rebecca more then Esau or what Mother doth not more affect the elder But now God inclines the loue of the Mother to the yonger against the custome of nature because the father loues the elder against the promise The affections of the Parents are diuided that the promise might be fulfilled Rebeccaes craft shall answer Isaacs partiality Isaac would vniustly turne Esau into Iocob Rebecca doth as cunningly turne
parting now therefore he wisely prefers his own estate to Labans loue it is not good to regard too much the vniust discontentment of worldly men and to purchase vnprofitable fauour with too great losse Behold Laban followes Iacob with one troop Esau meets him with another both with hostile intentions both goe on till the vtmost point of their execution both are preuented ere the execution God makes fooles of the enemies of his Church he lets them proceed that they may be frustrate and when they are gone to the vtmost reach of their tether hee puls them backe to their taske with shame Loe now Laban leaues Iacob with a kisse Esau meets him with a kisse Of the one he hath an oath teares of the other peace with both Who shall need to feare man that is in league with God But what a wonder is this Iacob receiued not so much hurt from all his enemies as from his best friend Not one of his hairs perished by Laban or Esau yet he lost a ioint by the Angell and was sent halting to his graue He that knowes our strength yet wil wrestle with vs for our exercise and loues our violence and importunity O happy losse of Iacob he lost a ioynt and wonne a blessing It is a fauour to halt from God yet this fauour is seconded with a greater He is blessed because hee would rather halt then leaue ere he was blessed If he had left sooner he had not halted but hee had not prospered That man shall goe away sound but miserable that loues a limbe more then a blessing Surely if Iacob had not wrestled with God he had beene foyled with euills how many are the troubles of the righteous Not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dyeth And when but in her trauell and in his trauell to his Father When he had now before digested in his thoughts the ioy and gratulation of his aged Father for so welcome a burden His children the staffe of his age wound his soule to the death Reuben proues incestuous Iudah adulterous Dinah rauished Simeon and Leui murderous Er and Onan striken dead Ioseph lost Simeon imprisoned Beniamin the death of his Mother the Fathers right-hand indangered himselfe driuen by famine in his old age to die amongst the Aegyptians a people that held it abomination to eat with him If that Angell with whom hee stroue and who therefore stroue for him had not deliuered his soule out of all aduersity he had beene supplanted with euils and had beene so far from gaining the name of Israel that he had lost the name of Iacob now what sonne of Israel can hope for good daies when he heares his Fathers were so euill It is enough for vs if when wee are dead we can rest with him in the land of Promise If the Angell of the Couenant once blesse vs no paine no sorrowes can make vs miserable Of DINAH I Find but one onely daughter of Iacob who must needes therefore be a great darling to her Father and she so miscaries that she causes her Fathers griefe to be more then his loue As her mother Leah so she hath a fault in her eyes which was Curiosity She will needes see and be seene and whiles she doth vainely see shee is seene lustfully It is not enough for vs to looke to our owne thoughts except wee beware of the prouocations of others If wee once wander out of the lists that God hath set vs in our callings there is nothing but danger Her Virginity had been safe if she had kept home or if Sechem had forced her in her mothers tent this losse of her Virginity had been without her sin now she is not innocent that gaue the occasion Her eyes were guilty of the temptation Onely to see is an insufficient warrant to draw vs into places of spirituall hazard If Sechem had seen her busie at home his loue had beene free from out-rage now the lightnesse of her presence gaue incouragement to his inordinate desires Immodesty of behauior makes way to lust and giues life vnto wicked hopes yet Sechem be wrayes a good nature euen in filthinesse He loues Dinah after his sinne and will needs marry her whom he had defiled Commonly lust ends in loathing Ammon abhors Thamar as much after his act as before he loued her and beats her out of doores whom hee was sicke to bring in But Sechem would not let Dinah fare the worse for his sinne And now hee goes about to entertaine her with honest loue whom the rage of his lust had dishonestly abused Her deflouring shall bee no preiudice to her since her shame shall redound to none but him and he will hide her dishonour with the name of an husband What could hee now doe but sue to his Father to hers to her selfe to her brethren intreating that vvith humble submission which he might haue obtained by violence Those actions vvhich are ill begun can hardly be salued vp with late satisfactions whereas good entrances giue strength vnto the proceedings and successe to the end The yong mans father doth not only consent but sollicite and is ready to purchase a daughter either with substance or paine The two old men would haue ended the matter peaceably but youth commonly vndertakes rashly and performes with passion The sons of Iacob thinke of nothing but reuenge and which is worst of all begin their cruelty with craft and hide their craft with Religion A smiling malice is most deadly and hatred doth most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled We cannot giue our sister to an vncircumcised man here was God in the mouth and Saran in the heart The bloodiest of all proiects haue euer wont to be coloured with Religion because the worse any thing is the better shew it desires to make and contrarily the better colour is put vpon any vice the more odious it is for as euery simulation addes to an euill so the best addes most euill themselues had taken the daughters and sisters of vncircumcised men yea Iacob himselfe did so why might not an vncircumcised man obtaine their sister Or if there be a difference of giuing and taking it had beene well if it had not beene onely pretended It had beene a happy Rauishment of Dinah that should haue drawne a whole Country into the bosome of the Church but here was a Sacrament intended not to the good of the soule but to murder of the body It was a hard taske for Hamor and Sechem not onely to put the knife to their owne foreskins but to perswade a multitude to so painfull a condition The sons of Iacob dissemble with them they with the people Shall not their flocks and substance be ours Common profit is pretended whereas onely Sechems pleasure is meant No motiue is so powerfull to the vulgar sort as the name of Commoditie The hope of this makes them prodigall of their skin and blood Not the loue to the Sacrament not the
loue to Sechem sinister respects draw more to the profession of Religion then conscience if it were not for the loaues and fishes the traine of Christ would bee lesse But the Sacraments of God mis-receiued neuer prosper in the end These men are content to smart so they may gaine And now that euery man lyes sore of his owne wound Simeon and Leui rush in armed and wound all the males to death Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell Indeed filthinesse should not haue beene wrought by Israel yet murder should not haue beene wrought by Israel if they had beene fit Iudges which were but bloody executioners how far doth the punishment exceed the fault To punish aboue the offence is no lesse iniustice then to offend one offendeth and all feele the reuenge yea all though innocent suffer that reuenge which he that offended deserued not Sechem sinneth but Dinah tempted him She that was so light as to wander abroad alone only to gaze I feare was not ouer-difficult to yeeld And if hauing wrought her shame he had driuen her home with disgrace to her Fathers tent such tyrannous lust had iustly called for blood but now hee craues and offers and would pay deare for but leaue to giue satisfaction To execute rigour vpon a submisse offender is more mercilesse than iust Or if the punishment had bin both iust and proportionable from another yet from them which had vowed peace and affinitie it was shamefully vniust To disappoint the trust of another and to neglect our owne promise and fidelity for priuate purposes adds faithlesnesse vnto our cruelty That they were impotent it was through their circumcision what impiety was this in stead of honouring an holy signe to take an aduantage by it What shrieking was there now in the streets of the City of the Hiuites And how did the beguiled Sichemits when they saw the swords of the two brethren die cursing that Sacrament in their hearts which had betrayed them Euen their curses were the sins of Simeon and Leui whose fact though it were abhorred by their Father yet it was seconded by their brethren Their spoile makes good the others slaughter Who would haue looked to haue found this out-rage in the family of Iacob How did that good Patriarke when he saw Dinah come home blubbered and wringing her hands Simeon and Leui sprinkled with blood wish that Leah had beene barren as long as Rachel Good Parents haue griefe enough though they sustaine no blame for their childrens sins What great euills arise from small beginnings The idle curiosity of Dinah hath bred all this mischiefe Rauishment followes vpon her wandring vpon her rauishment murder vpon the murder spoyle It is holy and safe to bee iealous of the first occasions of euill either done or suffered Of IVDAH and THAMAR I Find not many of Iacobs sonnes more faultie then Iudah who yet is singled out from all the rest to be the royall Progenitor of Christ and to be honoured with the dignity of the birth-right that Gods election might not bee of merit but of grace Else howsoeuer he might haue sped alone Thamar had neuer beene ioyned with him in this line Euen Iudah marries a Canaanite it is no maruell though his Seed prosper not And yet that good children may not be too much discouraged with their vnlawfull propagation the Fathers of the promised Seed are raised from an incestuous bed Iudah was very yong scarce frō vnder the rod of his Father yet he takes no other counsell for his mariage but from his own eyes which were like his sister Dinahs rouing and wanton what better issue could be expected from such beginnings Those proud Iewes that glory so much of their Pedigree and Name from this Patriarke may now choose whether they will haue their mother a Canaanite or an Harlot Euen in these things oft-times the birth followes the belly His eldest sonne Er is too wicked to liue God strikes him dead ere he can leaue any issue not abiding any siens to grow out of so bad a stocke Notorious sinners God reserues to his owne vengeance He doth not inflict sensible iudgements vpon all his enemies lest the wicked should thinke there were no punishment abiding for them else-where Hee doth inflict such iudgements vpon some lest he should seeme carelesse of euill It were as easie for him to strike all dead as one but hee had rather all should be warned by one and would haue his enemies find him mercifull as his children iust His brother Onan sees the iudgment and yet followes his sins Euery little thing discourages vs from good Nothing can alter the heart that is set vpon euill Er was not worthy of any loue but though he were a miscreant yet he was a brother Seed should haue been raised to him Onan iustly leeses his life with his Seed which he would rather spill then lend to a wicked brother Some duties we owe to humanity more to neerenesse of blood Ill deseruings of others can be no excuse for our iniustice for our vncharitablenesse That which Thamar required Moses afterward as from God commanded the succession of brothers into the barren bed Some lawes God spake to his Church long ere he wrote them while the author is certainly knowne the voyce and the finger of God are worthy of equall respect Iudah hath lost two sonnes and now doth but promise the third whom he sinnes in not giuing It is the weaknesse of nature rather to hazard a sin then a danger and to neglect our owne duty for wrongfull suspition of others though he had lost his son in giuing him yet he should haue giuen him A faithful mans promise is his debt which no feare of damage can dispense with But whereupon was this slacknesse Iudah feared that some vnhappinesse in the bed of Thamar was the cause of his sonnes miscariage whereas it was their fault that Thamar vvas both a widow and childlesse Those that are but the patients of euill are many times burdened with suspitions and therefore are ill thought of because they fare ill Afflictions would not bee so heauy if they did not lay vs open vnto vncharitable conceits What difference God puts betwixt sinnes of wilfulnesse and infirmitie The pollution is punished with present death the fathers incest is pardoned and in a sort prospereth Now Thamar seekes by subtlety that which she could not haue by award of iustice the neglect of due retributions driues men to indirect courses neither know I whether they sin more in righting themselues wrongfully or the other in not righting them She therefore takes vpon her the habit of an harlot that she might performe the act If she had not wished to seeme an Whore she had not worn that attire nor chosen that place Immodesty of outward fashion or gesture bewraies euill desires the heart that meanes well will neuer wish to seeme ill for commonly we affect to shew better then we are
Many harlots will put on the semblances of chastity of modesty neuer the contrary It is no trusting those which doe not wish to appeare good Iudah esteemes her by her habit and now the sight of an harlot hath stird vp in him a thought of lust Satan finds well that a fit obiect is halfe a victory Who would not bee ashamed to see a sonne of Iacob thus transported with filthy affections At the first fight he is inflamed neither yet did he see the face of her whom he lusted after it was enough motiue to him that she was a woman neither could the presence of his neighbor the Adullamite compose those wicked thoughts or hinder his vnchast acts That sinne must needs be impudent which can abide a witnesse yea so hath his lust besotted him that he cannot discerne the voice of Thamar that he cannot foresee the danger of his shame in parting with such pledges There is no passion which doth not for the time bereaue a man of himselfe Thamar had learned not to trust him without a pawne He had promised his sonne to her as a daughter and failed now he promised a Kid to her as an Harlot and performeth it Whether his pledge constrained him or the power of his word I enquire not Many are faithfull in all things saue those which are the greatest and dearest If his credit had beene as much indangered in the former promise he had kept it now hath Thamar requited him She expected long the enioying of his promised son and he performed not but here he performes the promise of the Kid and shee stayes not to expect it Iudah is sorry that he cannot pay the hire of his lust and now feareth lest he shall be beaten with his owne staffe lest his signet shall be vsed to confirme and seale his reproach resoluing not to know them and wishing they were vnknown of others Shame is the easiest wages of sin and the surest which euer begins first in our selues Nature is not more forward to commit sinne then willing to hide it I heare as yet of no remorse in Iudah but feare of shame Three moneths hath his sinne slept and now when he is securest it awakes and baites him Newes is brought him that Thamar begins to swell with her conception and now he swels with rage and cals her forth to the flame like a rigorous Iudge without so much as staying for the time of her deliuerance that his cruelty in this iustice should be no lesse ill then the vniustice of occasioning it If Iudah had not forgotten his sinne his pittie had beene more then his hatred to this of his daughters How easie is it to detest those sinnes in others which we flatter in our selues Thamar doth not denie the sinne nor refuse punishment but calls for that partner in her punishment which was her partner in the sinne the staffe the signet the handkerchiefe accuse and conuince Iudah and now he blushes at his owne sentence much more at his act and cries out She is more righteous then I. God will finde a time to bring his children vpon their knees and to wring from them penitent confessions And rather then he will not haue them soundly ashamed he will make them the trumpets of their owne reproach Yet doth he not offer himselfe to the flame with her but rather excuses her by himselfe This relenting in his owne case shamed his former zeale Euen in the best men nature is partiall to it selfe It is good so to sentence others frailties that yet we remember our owne whether those that haue beene or may be with what shame yea with what horror must Iudah needs looke vpon the great belly of Thamar and on her two sonnes the monuments of his filthinesse How must it needes wound his soule to heare them call him both Father and Grandfather to call her mother and sister If this had not cost him many a sigh he had no more escaped his Fathers curse then Reuben did I see the difference not of sinnes but of men Remission goes not by the measure of the sinne but the quality of the sinner yea rather the mercy of the Forgiuer Blessed is the man not that sinnes not but to whom the Lord imputes not his sinne Of IOSEPH I Maruell not that Ioseph had the double portion of Iacobs land who had more then two parts of his sorrowes None of his sonnes did so truely inherit his afflictions none of them was either so miserable or so great suffering is the way to glory I see in him not a cleerer type of Christ then of euery Christian Because we are deare to our Father and complaine of sinnes therefore are we hated of our carnall brethren If Ioseph had not medled with his brothers faults yet he had beene enuied for his Fathers affection but now malice is met with enuy There is nothing more thanklesse or dangerous then to stand in the way of a resolute sinner That which doth correct and obliege the penitent makes the wilfull mind furious and reuengefull All the spight of his brethren cannot make Ioseph cast off the liuery of his Fathers loue what need we care for the censures of men if our hearts can tell vs that we are in fauour with God But what meant young Ioseph to adde vnto his own enuy by reporting his dreames The concealement of our hopes or abilities hath not more modesty then safety He that was enuied for his dearnesse and hated for his intelligence was both enuied hated for his dreames Surely God meant to make the relation of these dreames a means to affect that which these dreames imported We men worke by likely meanes God by contraries The maine quarrell was Behold this dreamer commeth Had it not been for his dreames he had not bin sold if he had not bin sold he had not bin exalted So Iosephs state had not deserued enuy if his dreams had not caused him to be enuied Full little did Ioseph thinke when he went to seeke his brethren that this was the last time he should see his fathers house Full little did his brethren thinke when they sold him naked to the Ismaelites to haue once seene him in the Throne of Aegypt Gods decree runnes on and while we either thinke not of it or oppose it is performed In an honest and obedient simplicity Ioseph comes to enquire of his brethrens health and now may not returne to carry newes of his owne misery whiles he thinkes of their welfare they are plotting his destruction Come let vs slay him Who would haue expected this cruelty in them which should be the Fathers of Gods Church It was thought a fauour that Reubens entreaty obtained for him that he might be cast into the pit aliue to dye there He lookt for brethren and behold murtherers Euery mans tongue euery mans fist was bent against him Each one striues who shall lay the first hand vpon that changeable cote which was dyed with their Fathers
hand yet if any other had done it he had falne with the dead and not stood betwixt the liuing and dead in stead of the smoke ascending the fire had descended vpon him And shall there be lesse vse or lesse regard of the Euangelicall ministerie then the Legall When the world hath powred out all his contempt wee are they that must reconcile men to God and without vs they perish I know not whether more to maruell at the courage or mercy of Aaron His mercy that hee would yet saue so rebellious a people his courage that hee would saue them with so great a danger of himselfe For as one that would part a fray he thrusts himselfe vnder the strokes of God and puts it to the choice of the reuenger whether hee will smite him or forbeare the rest Hee stands boldly betwixt the liuing and the dead as one that will either dye with them or haue them liue with him the sight of fourteene hundred carcasses dismayed him not he that before feared the threats of the people now feares not the strokes of God It is not for Gods Ministers to stand vpon their owne perils in the common causes of the Church Their prayers must oppose the iudgements of the Almighty When the fire of Gods anger is kindled their Censers must smoke with fire from the Altar Euery Christian must pray for the remouall of vengeance how much more they whom God hath appointed to mediate for his people Euery mans mouth is his owne but they are the mouths of all Had Aaron thrust in himselfe with empty hands I doubt whether he had preuailed now this Censer was his protection When we come with supplications in our hands we need not feare the strokes of God Wee haue leaue to resist the diuine iudgements by our prayers with fauour and successe So soone as the incense of Aaron ascended vp vnto God he smelt a sauour of rest he will rather spare the offenders then strike their intercessor How hardly can any people miscary that haue faithfull Ministers to sue for their safety Nothing but the smoke of hearty prayers can cleanse the ayre from the plagues of God If Aarons sacrifice were thus accepted how much more shall the High-Priest of the New Testament by interposing himselfe to the wrath of his Father deliuer the offenders from death The plague was entred vpon all the sonnes of men O Sauiour thou stood'st betwixt the liuing and the dead that all which beleeue in thee should not perish Aaron offered and was not stricken but thou O Redeemer wouldest offer and be strooke that by thy stripes we might be healed So stood'st thou betwixt the dead and liuing that thou wert both aliue and dead and all this that we when we were dead might liue for euer Nothing more troubled Israel then a feare left the two brethren should cunningly ingrosse the gouernment to themselues If they had done so what wise men would haue enuied them an office so little worth so dearly purchased But because this conceit was euer apt to stir them to rebellion and to hinder the benefit of this holy souerainty therefore God hath endeuoured nothing more then to let them see that these officers whom they so much enuied were of his owne proper institution They had scarce shut their eyes since they saw the confusion of those two hundred and fifty vsurping sacrificers and Aarons effectuall intercession for staying the plague of Israel In the one the execution of Gods vengeance vpon the competitors of Aaron for his sake In the other the forbearance of vengeance vpon the people for Aarons mediation might haue challenged their voluntary acknowledgement of his iust calling from God If there had beene in them either awe or thankfulnesse they could not haue doubted of his lawfull supremacie How could they choose but argue thus Why would God so fearfully haue destroyed the riuals that durst contest with Aaron if he would haue allowed him any equall Wherefore serue those plates of the Altar which we see made of those vsurped Censers but to warne all posteritie of such presumption Why should God cease striking whiles Aaron interposed betwixt the liuing and the dead if he were but as one of vs Which of vs if wee had stood in the plague had not added to the heape Incredulous minds will not be perswaded with any euidence These two brothers had liued asunder forty yeeres God makes thē both meet in one office of deliuering Israel One halfe of the miracles were wrought by Aaron he strooke with the rod whiles it brought those plagues on Egypt The Israelites heard God call him vp by name to mount Sinai They saw him anointed from God and lest they should thinke this a set match betwixt the brethren they saw the earth opening the fire issuing from God vpon their emulous opposites they saw his smoke a sufficient antidote for the plague of God and yet still Aarons calling is questioned Nothing is more naturall to euery man then vnbeliefe but the earth neuer yeelded a people so strongly incredulous as these and after so many thousand generations their children doe inherite their obstinacie still doe they oppose the true High-Priest the Anointed of God sixteene hundred yeares desolation hath not drawne from them to confesse him whom God hath chosen How desirous was God to giue satisfaction euen to the obstinate There is nothing more materiall then that men should bee assured their spirituall guides haue their Comission and Calling from God The want whereof is a preiudice to our successe It should not be so but the corruption of men will not receiue good but from due messengers Before God wrought miracles in the Rod of Moses now in the rod of Aaron As Pharaoh might see himselfe in Moseses rod who of a rod of defence and protection was turned into a venemous Serpent So Israel might see themselues in the rod of Aaron Euery Tribe and euery Israelite was of himselfe as a sere-sticke without life without sap and if any one of them had power to liue and flourish hee must acknowledge it from the immediate power and gift of God Before Gods calling all men are alike Euery name is alike written in their Rod there is no difference in the letters in the wood neither the characters of Aaron are fayrer nor the staffe more precious It is the choise of God that makes the distinction So it is in our calling of Christianitie All are equally deuoid of possibility of grace all equally liuelesse by nature we are all sonnes of wrath If we be now better then others who separated vs We are all Crabstocks in this Orchard of God he may graffe what fruit he pleases vpon vs onely the grace and effectuall calling of God makes the difference These twelue Heads of Israel would neuer haue written their names in their rods but in hope they might be chosen to this dignitie What an honour was this Priesthood whereof all the Princes of Israel are
and now heare that their neerenesse of abode was an vnremoueable barre of peace It was quarrell enough that they were Canaanites God had forbidden both the league and the life of the natiue inhabitants He that cals himselfe the God of peace proclaimes himselfe the God of Hosts and not to fight where he hath commanded is to breake the peace with God whiles wee nourish it with men Contention with brethren is not more hatefull to him then leagues with Idolaters The condition that hee hath set to our peace is our possibility and power That fals not within the possibility of our power which we cannot doe lawfully What a smooth tale did these Gibeonites tell for themselues of the remotenesse of their Countrey the motiues of their iourney the consultation of their Elders the ageing of their prouisions in the way that it might seeme not onely safe but deserued on their parts that they should bee admitted to a peace so farre sought and purchased with so much toyle and importunity Their clothes and their tongues agreed together and both disagree from the truth Deceit is euer lightly wrapped vp in plausibilitie of words as faire faces oft times hide much vnchastitie But this guile sped the better because it was clad with much plainnesse For who would haue suspected that clouted shooes and ragged coats could haue couered so much subtiltie The case seemed so cleare that the Israelites thought it needlesse to consult with the mouth of the Lord. Their owne eyes and eares were called onely to counsell and now their credulity hath drawne them into inconuenience There is no way to conuince the Gibeonitish pretences of antiquity but to haue recourse to the Oracle of God Had this beene aduised with none of these false rags had shamed the Church of God whether in our practice or iudgement this direction cannot faile vs whereas what we take vp on the words of men proues euer either light or false wares The facility of Israel had led them into a league to an oath for the safety of the Gibeonites and now within three daies they find both their neighbourhood and deceit Those old shooes of theirs would easily hold to cary them backe to their home The march of a great Army is easie yet within three dayes the Israelites were before their Cities Ioshua might now haue taken aduantage of their owne words to dissolue his league and haue said Ye are come from a farre Country these Cities are neere These are not therefore the people to whom we are ingaged by our promise and oath And if these Cities be yours yet yee are not your selues Ere while ye were strangers now ye are Hiuites borne and dwelling in the midst of Canaan wee will therefore destroy these Cities neerehand and doe you saue your people afarre off It would seeme very questionable Whether Ioshua needed to hold himselfe bound to this oath for fraudulent conuentions oblige not and Israel had put in a direct caueat of their vicinity yet dare not Ioshua and the Princes trust to shifts for the eluding their oath but must faithfully performe what they haue rashly promised Ioshuaes heart was cleare from any intention of a league with a Canaanite when he gaue his oath to these disguised strangers yet he durst neither repeale it himselfe neither doe I heare him sue to Eleazar the High-Priest to dispence with it but takes himselfe tied to the very strict words of his oath not to his owne purpose His tongue had bound his heart and hands so as neither might stirre lest while he was curious of fulfilling the will of God he should violate the oath of God And if the Gibeonites had not knowne these holy bonds indissoluble they neither had beene so importunate to obtaine their vow nor durst haue trusted it being obtained If either dispensation with oathes or equiuocation in oathes had been knowne in the world or at least approued these Gibeonites had not liued and Israell had slaine them without sinne Either Israel wanted skill or our reseruers honesty The multitude of Israel when they came to the wals of these foure exempted Cities itched to be at the spoile Not out of a desire to fulfill Gods commandement but to enrich themselues would they haue falne vpon these Hiuites They thought all lost that fell besides their fingers The wealthy City of Iericho was first altogether interdicted them the wals and houses either fell or must be burnt the men and cattell killed the goods and treasure confiscate to God Achans booty shewes that City was both rich and proud yet Israel might be no whit the better for them carying away nothing but empty victory and now foure other cities must be exempted from their pillage Many an enuious look did Israel therefore cast vpon these wals and many bitter words did they cast out against their Princes the enemies of their gaine whether for swearing or for that they would not forsweare But howsoeuer the Princes might haue said in a returne to their fraud We swore indeed to you but not the people yet if any Israelite had but pulled downe one stone from their wals or shed one drop of Gibeonitish blood he had no lesse plagued all Israel for periury then Achan had before plagued them for sacriledge The sequell shewes how God would haue taken it For when three hundred yeeres after Saul perhaps forgetting the vow of his fore-fathers slew some of these Gibeonites although out of a wel-meant zeale all Israel smarted for the fact with a three yeers famine and that in Dauids raigne who receiued this Oracle from God It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slue the Gibeonites Neither could this wrong be expiated but by the blood of Sauls seuen sonnes hanged vp at the very Court-gates of their father Ioshua and the Princes had promised them life they promised them not liberty no Couenant was past against their seruitude It was iust therefore with the Rulers of Israel to make slauery the price both of their liues and their deceit The Israelites had themselues beene drudges if the Gibeonites had not beguiled them and liued The old rags therefore wherewith they came disguised must now be their best suites and their life must be toilesomely spent in hewing of wood and drawing of water for all Israel How deare is life to our nature that men can be content to purchase it with seruitude It is the wisdome of Gods children to make good vse of their ouer-sights The rash oath of Israel proues their aduantage Euen wicked men gaine by the outside of good actions Good men make a benefit of their sinnes CONTEMPLATIONS VPON THE PRINCIPALL PASSAGES OF THE HOLY HJSTORY The third Volume JN THREE BOOKES By IOS HALL D. of Diuinity and Deane of VVorcester AT LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE and NATHANIEL BVTTER Ann. Dom. 1624. CONTEMPLATIONS ⧠The ninth BOOKE CONTAINING The Rescue of Gibeon The Altar of the Reubenites Ehud and Eglon. Jael and Cisera Gideons
the Owner of all things ELY and his Sonnes IF the conueyance of grace were naturall holy Parents would not bee so ill suted with children What good man would not rather wish his loyns dry then fruitfull of wickednesse Now we can neither traduce goodnesse nor choose but traduce sinne If vertue were as well intailed vpon vs as sinne one might serue to checke the other in our children but now since grace is deriued from heauen on whomsoeuer it pleases the Giuer and that euill which ours receiue hereditarily from vs is multiplied by their own corruption it can be no wonder that good men haue ill children it is rather a wonder that any children are not euill The sons of Ely are as lewd as himselfe was holy If the goodnes of examples precepts education profession could haue been preseruatiues from extremitie of sin these sonnes of an holy Father had not been wicked now neither parentage nor breeding nor Priesthood can keepe the sonnes of Ely from the sons of Belial If our children bee good let vs thanke God for it this was more then we could giue them if euill they may thanke vs and themselues vs for their birth-sinne themselues for the improuement of it to that height of wickednes If they had not been sonnes of Ely yet being Priests of God who would not haue hoped their very calling should haue infused some holinesse into them But now euen their white Ephod couers foule sinnes yea rather if they which serue at the Altar degenerate their wickednesse is so much more aboue others as their place is holier A wicked Priest is the worst creature vpon earth Who are Deuils but they which were once Angels of light Who can stumble at the sinnes of the Euangelicall Leuites that sees such impurity euen before the Arke of God That God which promised to bee the Leuites portion had set forth the portion of his Ministers hee will feast them at his owne Altar The brest the right shoulder of the peace-offring was their morsell these bold and couetous Priests will rather haue the flesh-hooke their rabiter then God whatsoeuer those three teeth fasten vpon shall bee for their tooth they were weary of one ioynt and now their delicacie affects variety God is not worthy to carue for these men but their owne hands And this they doe not receiue but take and take violently vnseasonably It had been fit God should be first serued their presumption will not stay his leisure ere the fat bee burned ere the flesh bee boyled they snatch more then their share from the Altar as if the God of heauen should wait on their palate as if the Israelites had come thither to sacrifice to their bellies and as commonly a wanton tooth is the harbinger to luxurious wantonnesse they are no sooner fed then they neigh after the Dames of Israel Holy women assemble to the doore of the Tabernacle these varlets tempt them to lust that came thither for deuotion they had wiues of their owne yet their vnbridled desires roue after strangers and feare not to pollute euen that holy place with abominable filthinesse O sinnes too shamefull for men much more for the spirituall guides of Israel He that makes himselfe a seruant to his tooth shall easily become a slaue to all inordinate affections That Altar which expeiated other mens sinnes added to the sinnes of the sacrificers Doubtlesse many a soule was the cleaner for the bloud of the sacrifices which they shed whiles their own were more impure And as the Altar cannot sanctifie the priest so the vncleannesse of the Minister cannot pollute the offering because the vertue thereof is not in the agent but in the institution in the representation his sinne is his owne the comfort of the Sacrament is from God Our Clergy is no charter for heauen Euen those whose trade is deuotion may at once shew the way to heauen by their tongue and by their foot lead the way to hell It is neither a coule nor an Ephod that can priuiledge the soule The sinne of these men was worthy of contempt yea perhaps their persons but for the people therefore to abhorre the offerings of the Lord was to adde their euill vnto the Priests and to offend God because he was offended There can no offence be iustly taken euen at men much lesse at God for the sake of men No mans sinnes should bring the seruice of God into dislike this is to make holy things guilty of our profanenesse It is dangerous ignorance not to distinguish betwixt the worke and the instrument whereupon it oft comes to passe that we fall out with God because we finde cause of offence from men and giue God iust cause to abhorre vs because we abhorre his seruice vniustly Although it be true of great men especially that they are the last that know the euils of their owne house yet either it could not be when all Israel rung of the lewdnesse of Elies sonnes that he onely should not know it or if he knew it not his ignorance cannnot be excused for a seasonable restraint might haue preuented this extremity of debauchednesse Complaints are long muttered of the great ere they dare breake forth to open contestation publike accusations of authority argues intolerable extremities of euill nothing but age can plead for Ely that he was not the first accuser of his sons now when their enormities came to be the voice of the multitude he must heare it perforce and doubtlesse he heard it with griefe enough but not with anger enough he that was the Iudge of Israel should haue vnpartially iudged his owne flesh and bloud neuer could he haue offered a more pleasing sacrifice then the depraued bloud of so wicked sons In vaine doe we rebuke those sinnes abroad which we tolerate at home That man makes himselfe but ridiculous that leauing his owne house on fire runs to quench his neighbours I heard Ely sharpe enough to Anna vpon but a suspition of sinne and now how milde I finde him to the notorious crimes of his owne Why doe you so my sonnes It is no good report my sonnes doe no more so The case is altered with the persons If nature may be allowed to speake in iudgement and to make difference not of sinnes but offenders the sentence must needs sauour of partialitie Had these men but some little slackned their duty or heedlesly omitted some rite of the sacrifice this censure had not been vnfit but to punish the thefts rapines sacriledges adulteries incests of his sonnes why Why doe yee so was no other then to shaue that head which had deserued cutting off As it is with ill humours that a weake dose doth but stirre and anger them not purge them out so it fareth with sinnes An easie reproofe doth but incourage wickednesse and makes it thinke it selfe so slight as that censure importeth A vehement rebuke to a capitall euill is but like a strong showre to a ripe field which layes that
as to giue vs all lookes for a returne of some offering from vs If we present him with nothing but our sins how can wee looke to bee accepted The sacrifices vnder the Gospell are spirituall with these must we come into the presence of God if we desire to carie away remission and fauour The Philistims knew well that it were bootlesse for them to offer what they listed their next suit is to be directed in the matter of their oblation Pagans can teach vs how vnsafe it is to walke in the wayes of Religion without a guide yet here their best teachers can but guesse at their duty and must deuise for the people that which the people durst not impose vpon themselues The golden Emerods and Mise were but coniecturall prescripts With what security may we consult with them which haue their directions from the mouth and hand of the Almighty God strucke the Philistims at once in their god in their bodies it their land In their god by his ruine and dismembering In their bodies by the Emerods In their land by the Mise That base vermine did God send among them on purpose to shame their Dagon and them that they might see how vnable their god was which they thought the Victor of the Arke to subdue the least Mouse which the true God did create and command to plague them This plague vpon the fields beganne together with that vpon their bodies it was mentioned not complained of till they think of dismissing the Arke Greater crosses doe commonly swallow vp the lesse At least lesser euils are either silent or vnheard while the eare is filled with the clamor of the greater Their very Princes were punished with the Mise as well as with the Emerods God knowes no persons in the execution of iudgements the least and meanest of all Gods creatures is sufficient to be the reuenger of his Creator GOD sent them Mise and Emerods of flesh and blood they returne him both these of gold to imply both that these iudgements came out from God and that they did gladly giue him the glory of that whereof hee gaue them paine and sorrow and that they would willingly buy off their paine with the best of their substance The proportion betwixt the complaint and satisfaction is more precious to him then the Metall There was a publike confession in this resemblance which is so pleasing vnto God that he rewards it euen in wicked men with a relaxation of outward punishment The number was no lesse significant then the forme Fiue golden Emerods and Mise for the fiue Princes and diuisions of Philistims As GOD made no difference in punishing so they make none in their oblation The people are comprised in them in whom they are vnited their seuerall Princes They were one with their Prince their Offering is one with his as they were Ring-leaders in the sinne so they must be in the satisfaction In a multitude it is euer seene as in a beast that the body followes the head Of all others great men had need to looke to their wayes it is in them as in figures one stands for a thousand One Offering serues not all there must bee fiue according to the fiue heads of the offence Generalities will not content God euery man must make his seuerall peace if not in himselfe yet in his head Nature taught them a shadow of that the substance and perfection whereof is taught vs by the grace of the Gospell euery soule must satisfie God if not in it selfe yet in him in whom we are both one and absolute we are the body whereof Christ is the head our sinne is in our selues our satisfaction must be in him Samuel himselfe could not haue spoken more diuinely then these Priests of Dagon they doe not onely talke of giuing glory to the God of Israel but fall into an holy and graue expostulation wherefore then should ye harden your hearts as the Aegyptians and Pharaoh hardned their hearts when hee wrought wonderfully amongst them c. They confesse a supereminent and reuenging hand of God ouer their gods they parallell their plagues with the Aegyptian they make vse of Pharaohs sin and iudgement What could be better said All Religions haue afforded them that could speake well These good words left them still both Philistims and superstitious How should men be hypocrites if they had not good tongues yet as wickednesse can hardly hide it selfe these holy speeches are not without a tincture of that Idolatry wherewith the heart was infected For they professe care not onely of the persons and lands of the Philistims but of their gods that hee may take his hand from you and from your gods Who would thinke that wisedome and folly could lodge so neere together that the same men should haue care both of the glory of the true God and preseruation of the false That they should bee so vaine as to take thought for those gods which they granted to be obnoxious vnto an higher Deitie Oft times euen one word bewrayeth a whole packe of falshood and though Superstition be a cleanly counterfeit yet some one slip of the tongue discouers it as we say of deuils which though they put on faire formes yet are they knowne by their clouen feet What other warrant these superstitious Priests had for the maine substance of their aduice I know not sure I am the probability of the euent was faire that two Kine neuer vsed to any yoake should runne from their Calues which were newly 〈◊〉 vp from them to draw the Arke home into a contrary way must needs argue an hand aboue Nature What else should ouer-rule bruite creatures to preferre a forced cariage vnto a naturall burden What should cary them from their owne home towards the home of the Arke What else should guide an vntamed and vntaught Teame in as right a path toward Israel as their Teachers could haue gone What else could make very beasts more wise then their Masters There is a speciall prouidence of God in the very motions of bruit creatures Neither Philistims nor Israelites saw ought that droue them yet they saw them so runne as those that were led by a Diuine Conduct The reasonlesse creatures also doe the will of their Maker euery act that is done either be them or to them makes vp the decree of the Almighty and if in extraordinary actions and euents his hand is more visible yet it is no lesse certainly present in the common Little did the Israelites of Bethshemesh looke for such a fight whiles they were reaping their Wheat in the Valley as to see the Arke of God come running to them without a Conuoy neither can it be said whether they were more affected with ioy or with astonishment with ioy at the presence of the Arke with astonishment at the Miracle of the transportation Downe went their Sickles and now euery man runs to reap the comfort of this better haruest to meet that Bread of Angels to
our spirituall combats when we haue not a Prophet to leade vs It is all one sauing that it sauours of more contempt not to haue Gods Seers and not to vse them He can be no true Israelite that is not distressed with the want of a Samuel As one that had learned to beginne his rule in obedience Saul stayes seuen dayes in Gilgal according to the Prophets direction and still he lookes long for Samuel which had promised his presence sixe daies he expects and part of the seuenth yet Samuel is not come The Philistims draw neere the Israelites runne away Samuel comes not they must fight God must be supplicated what should Saul doe rather then God should want a sacrifice and the people satisfaction Saul will command that which he knew Samuel would if he were present both command and execute It is not possible thinkes he that God should be displeased with a sacrifice he cannot but bee displeased with indeuotion Why doe the people runne from me but for want of meanes to make God sure What would Samuel rather wish then that we should bee godly The act shall be the same the onely difference shall be in the person If Samuel be wanting to vs we will not be wanting to God it is but an holy preuention to be deuout vnbidden Vpon this conceit he commands a sacrifice Sauls sins make no great shew yet are they still hainously taken the impietie of them was more hidden and inward from all eyes but Gods If Saul were among the Prophets before will he now be among the Priests Can there be any deuotion in disobedience O vaine man What can it auaile thee to sacrifice to God against God Hypocrites rest onely in formalities If the outward act be done it sufficeth them though the ground be distrust the manner vnreuerence the cariage presumption What then should Saul haue done Vpon the trust of God and Samuel hee should haue stayed out the last houre and haue secretly sacrificed himselfe and his prayers vnto that God which loues Obedience aboue Sacrifice Our faith is most commendable in the last act It is no praise to hold out vntill wee be hard driuen Then when we are forsaken of meanes to liue by faith in our God is worthy of a Crowne God will haue no worship of our deuising we may onely doe what he bids vs not bid what he commands not Neuer did any true pietie arise out of the corrupt puddle of mans braine If it flow not from Heauen it is odious to Heauen What was it that did thus taint the valour of Saul with this weaknesse but distrust He saw some Israelites goe he thought all would goe he saw the Philistims come he saw Samuel came not his diffidence was guilty of his misdeuotion There is no sinne that hath not his ground from vnbeleefe This as it was the first infection of our pure nature so is the true source of all corruption man could not sinne if he distrusted not The Sacrifice is no sooner ended then Samuel is come and why came he no sooner He could not be a Seer and not know how much hee was lookt for how troublesome and dangerous his absence must needs be He that could tell Saul that hee should prophesie could tell that hee would sacrifice yet hee purposely forbeares to come for the triall of him that must be the Champion of God Samuel durst not haue done thus but by direction from his Master It is the ordinary course of God to proue vs by delayes and to driue to exigents that we may shew what we are He that anointed Saul might lawfully from God controll him There must bee discretion there may not be partialitie in our censures of the greatest God makes difference of sinnes none of persons if we make difference of sinnes according to persons we are vnfaithfull both to God and man Scarce is Saul warme in his kingdome when hee hath euen lost it Samuels first words after the Inauguration are of Sauls reiection and the choice and establishment of his Successor It was euer Gods purpose to settle the Kingdome in Iuda He that tooke occasion by the peoples sinne to raise vp Saul in Beniamin takes occasion by Sauls sinne to establish the Crowne vpon Dauid In humane probability the Kingdome was fixed vpon Saul and his more worthy Sonne In Gods Decree it did but passe through the hands of Beniamin to Iudah Besides trouble how fickle are these earthly glories Saul doubtlesse lookt vpon Ionathan as the Inheritor of his Crowne and behold ere his peaceable Possession hee hath lost it from himselfe Our sinnes strip vs not of our hopes in heauen onely but of our earthly blessings The way to entaile a comfortable prosperitie vpon our Seed after vs is our conscionable obedience vnto God IONATHANSVictory and SAVLS Oath IT is no wonder if Sauls courage were much cooled with the heauie newes of his reiection After this he stayes vnder the Pomgranate tree in Gibeah He stirs not towards the Garison of the Philistims As Hope is the mother of Fortitude so nothing doth more breed cowardlinesse then despaire Euery thing dismayes that heart which God hath put out of protection Worthy Ionathan which spring from Saul as some sweet Impe growes out of a Crabstocke is therefore full of valour because full of faith He well knew that he should haue nothing but discouragements from his fathers feare as rather choosing therefore to auoid all the blockes that might lie in the way then to leape ouer them he departs secretly without the dismission of his Father or notice of the people onely God leads him and his Armour bearer followes him O admirable faith of Ionathan whom neither the steepnesse of Rockes not the multitude of Enemies can disswade from so vnlikely an assault Is it possible that two men whereof one was weaponlesse should dare to thinke of incountring so many thousands O Diuine Power of Faith that in all difficulties and attempts makes a man more then men and regards no more armies of men then swarmes of flyes There is no restraint to the Lord saith he to saue with many or by few It was not so great newes that Saul should bee amongst the Prophets as that such a word should come from the Sonne of Saul If his Father had had but so much Diuinity he had not sacrificed The strength of his God is the ground of his strength in God The question is not what Ionathan can doe but what God can doe whose power is not in the meanes but in himselfe That mans faith is well vnderlayed that vpholds it selfe by the Omnipotency of God thus the Father of the faithfull built his assurance vpon the power of the Almighty But many things God can doe which he will not doe How knowest thou Ionathan that God will be as forward as he is able to giue thee victory For this saith he I haue a watch-word from God out of the mouthes of the Philistims If they
no leisure to sinne The idle hath neither leisure nor power to auoide sinne Exercise is not more wholsome for the bodie than for the Soule the remission whereof breeds matter of disease in bothe The water that hath beene heated soonest freezeth the most actilie spirit soonest tyreth with slackning The Earth stande still and is all dregges the Heauens euer moue and are pure We haue no reason to complaine of the assiduitie of worke the toyle of action is answered by the benefit If wee did lesse we should suffer more Satan like an idle companion if hee finde vs busie flyes backe and sees it no time to entertayne vaine purposes with vs We cannot please him better than by casting away our worke to hold that with him wee cannot yeeld so farre and be guiltlesse Euen Dauids eyes haue no sooner the sleepe rubbed â—ut of them than they roue to wanton prospects Hee walkes vpon his roofe and sees Bathsheba washing her selfe inquires after her sends for her sollicits her to vncleanenesse The same spirit that shut vp his eyes in on vnseasonable sleepe opens them vpon an intising obiect whiles sinne hath such a Solliciter it cannot want either meanes or opportunitie I cannot thinke Bathsheba could bee so immodest as to wash her selfe openly especially from her naturall vncleannesse Lust is quick-sighted Dauid hath espied her where shee could espye no beholder His eyes recoyle vpon his heart and haue smitten him with sinfull desire There can be no safetie to that Soule where the senses are let loose Hee can neuer keepe his couenant with God that makes not a couenant with his eyes It is an idle presumption to thinke the outward man may bee free whiles the inward is safe He is more than a man whose heart is not led by his eyes hee is no regenerate man whose eyes are not restrained by his heart Oh Bathsheba how wert thou washed from thine vncleannesse when thou yeeldedst to goe into an adulterous bed neuer wert thou so foule as now when thou wert new washed The worst of Nature is cleanlinesse to the best of sinne thou hadst beene cleane if thou hadst not washed yet for thee I know how to plead infirmitie of sexe and the importunitie of a King But what shall I say for thee O thou royall Prophet and Propheticall King of Israel where shall I finde ought to extenuate that crime for which God himselfe hath noted thee Did not thine holy Profession teach thee to abhorre such a sinne more than death Was not thy Iustice woont to punish this sinne with no lesse than death Did not thy very calling call thee to a protection and preseruation of Iustice of Chastitie in thy subiects Didst thou want store of Wiues of thine owne wert thou restrayned from taking more Was there no beautie in Israel but in a Subiects Marriage-bed Wert thou ouercome by the vehement sollicitations of an Adulteresse Wert thou not the Tempter the Prosecutor of this vncleanenesse I should accuse thee deeply if thou hadst not accused thy selfe Nothing wanted to greaten thy sinne or our wonder and feare O God whither doe wee goe if thou stay vs not Who euer amongst the millions of thy Seruants could finde himselfe furnished with stronger preseruatiues against sinne Against whom could such a sinne finde lesse pretence of preuayling Oh keepe thou vs that presumptuous sinnes preuayle not ouer vs So only shall wee bee free from great offences The Suites of Kings are Imperatiue Ambition did now proue a Bawd to Lust Bathsheba yeeldeth to offend God to dishonour her Husband to clog and wound her owne Soule to abuse her bodie Dishonestie growes bold when it is countenanced with greatnesse Eminent persons had need be carefull of their demaunds they sinne by authoritie that are solicited by the mightie Had Bathsheba beene mindfull of her Matrimoniall fidelitie perhaps Dauid had beene soone checked in his inordinate desire her facilitie furthers the sinne The first motioner of euill is most faultie but as in quarrels so in offences the second blow which is the consent makes the fray Good Ioseph was moued to folly by his great and beautifull Mistris this fire fell vpon wet Tinder and therefore soone went out Sinne is not acted alone if but one partie be wise both escape It is no excuse to say I was tempted though by the great though by the holy and learned Almost all sinners are misse-led by that transformed Angell of light The action is that wee must regard not the person Let the mouer bee neuer so glorious if he stirre vs to euill he must be entertained with defiance The God that knowes how to rayse good out of euill blesses an adulterous copulation with that increase which he denyes to the chast imbracements of honest Wedlocke Bathsheba hath conceiued by Dauid and now at once conceiues a sorrow and care how to smother the shame of her Conception He that did the fact must hide it Oh Dauid where is thy Repentance Where is thy tendernesse and compunction of heart Where are those holy Meditations which had woont to take vp thy Soule Alas in steed of clearing thy sinne thou labourest to cloke it and spendest those thoughts in the concealing of thy wickednesse which thou shouldest rather haue bestowed in preuenting it The best of Gods Children may not onely bee drenched in the waues of sinne but lye in them for the time and perhaps sinke twice to the bottome what Hypocrite could haue done worse than studie how to couer the face of his sinne from the eyes of men whiles hee regarded not the sting of sinne in his Soule As there are some Acts wherein the Hypocrite is a Saint so there are some wherein the greatest Saint vpon Earth may bee an Hypocrite Saul did thus goe about to colour his sinne and is cursed The Vessels of Mercie and Wrath are not euer distinguishable by their actions Hee makes the difference that will haue mercie on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth It is rare and hard to commit a single sinne Dauid hath abused the Wife of Vriah now hee would abuse his person in causing him to father a false seede That worthy Hittite is sent for from the Wars and now after some cunning and farre fetcht Questions is dismissed to his house not without a present of fauour Dauid could not but imagine that the beautie of his Bathsheba must needs bee attractiue enough to an Husband whom long absence in Warres had with-held all that while from so pleasing a Bed neyther could hee thinke that since that face and those brests had power to allure himselfe to an vnlawfull lust it could be possible that Vriah should not bee inuited by them to an allowed and warrantable fruition That Dauids heart might now the rather strike him in comparing the chaste resolutions of his Seruant with his owne light incontinence good Vriah sleepes at the doore of the Kings Palace making choice of a stonie Pillow vnder the Canopie of Heauen rather
for so painfull a worke in the stable of Bethleem yet he that made and gaue the Law will rather keepe it with difficulty than transgresse it with ease Why wouldest thou O blessed Sauiour suffer that sacred foreskin to bee cut off but that by the power of thy circumcision the same might be done to our soules that was done to thy body we cannot bee therefore thine if our hearts bee vncircumcised Doe thou that in vs which was done to thee for vs cut off the superfluitie of our maliciousnesse that we may be holy in and by thee which for vs wert content to be legally impure There was shame in thy birth there was paine in thy circumcision After a contemptible welcome into the world that a sharp rasor should passe thorow thy skin for our sakes which can hardly endure to bleed for our owne it was the praise of thy wonderfull mercy in so early humiliation What paine or contempt should we refuse for thee that hast made no spare of thy selfe for vs Now is Bethleem left with too much honour there is Christ borne adored circumcised No sooner is the blessed virgin either able or allowed to walke than shee trauels to Ierusalem to performe her holy Rites for her selfe for her Sonne to purifie her-selfe to present her Sonne She goes not to her owne house at Nazareth shee goes to Gods House at Ierusalem If purifying were a shadow yet thanksgiuing is a substance Those whom God hath blessed with fruit of body and safety of deliuerance if they make not their first iourney to the Temple of God they partake more of the vnthankfulnesse of Eue than Maries deuotion Her forty daies therefore were no sooner out than Mary comes vp to the holy City The rumor of a new King borne at Bethleem was yet fresh at Ierusalem since the report of the wise-men and what good newes had this beene for any picke-thanke to carry to the Court Here is the Babe whom the Starre signified whom the Sages inquired for whom the Angells proclaimed whom the Shepherds talkt of whom the Scribes and high Priests notified whom Herod seekes after Yet vnto that Ierusalem which was troubled at the report of his Birth is Christ come and all tongues are so lockt vp that he which sent from Ierusalem to Bethleem to seeke him findes him not who as to countermine Herod is come from Bethleem to Ierusalem Dangers that are aloofe of and but possible may not hinder vs from the duty of our deuotion God saw it not yet time to let loose the fury of his aduersaries whom hee holds vp like some eager mastiues and then onely lets goe when they shall most shame themselues and glorifie him Well might the blessed Virgin haue wrangled with the Law and challenged an immunity from all ceremonies of purification what should I neede purging which did not conceiue in sinne This is for those mothers whose births are vncleane mine is from God which is purity it selfe The law of Moses reaches onely to those women which haue conceiued seed I conceiued not this seed but the Holy Ghost in me The law extends to the mothers of those sons which are vnder the law mine is aboue it But as one that cared more for her peace than her priuilege and more desired to be free from offence than from labour and charge she dutifully fulfils the Law of that God whom she carried in her wombe and in her armes Like the mother of him who though he knew the children of the Kingdome free yet would pay tribute vnto Caesar Like the Mother of him whom it behoued to fulfill all righteousnesse And if she were so officious in ceremonies as not to admit of any excuse in the very circumstance of her obedience how much more strict was she in the maine duties of moralitie That soule is fit for the Spirituall conception of Christ that is conscionably scrupulous in obseruing all Gods Commandements whereas hee hates all alliance to a negligent or froward heart The law of Purification proclaimes our vncleannesse The Mother is not allowed after her child-birth to come vnto the Sanctuary or to touch any hallowed thing till her set time be expired What are we whose very birth infects the mother that beares vs At last she comes to the Temple but with sacrifices either a Lambe and a Pigeon or Turtle or in the meaner estate two Turtle doues or young Pigeons Whereof one is for a burnt offring the other for a sin-offring The one for thanksgiuing the other for expiation For expiation of a double sinne of the mother that conceiued of the childe that was conceiued We are all borne sinners and it is a iust question whether we doe more infect the world or the world vs They are grosse flatterers of nature that tell her she is cleane If our liues had no sinne we bring enough with vs the very infant that liues not to sinne as Adam yet he sinned in Adam and is sinfull in himselfe But oh the vnspeakeable mercy of our God! we prouide the sinne he prouides the remedy Behold an expiation wel-neare as early as our sinne the bloud of a young lambe or doue yea rather the bloud of Him whose innocence was represented by both clenseth vs presently from our filthinesse First went circumcision then came the sacrifice that by two holy acts that which was naturally vnholy might be hallowed vnto God Vnder the Gospell our Baptisme hath the force of both It does away our corruption by the water of the Spirit It applies to vs the sacrifice of Christs bloud whereby wee are cleansed Oh that we could magnifie this goodnesse of our God which hath not left our very infancy without redresse but hath prouided such helps as whereby wee may be deliuered from the danger of our hereditary euills Such is the fauourable respect of our wise God that hee would not haue vs vndoe our selues with deuotion the seruice be requires of vs is ruled by our abilities Euery poore mother was not able to bring a lambe for her offring there was none so poore but might procure a paire of turtles or pigeons These doth God both prescribe and accept from poorer hands no lesse than the beasts of a thousand mountaines He lookes for somewhat of euery one not of euery one alike Since it is hee that makes differences of abilities to whom it were as easie to make all rich his mercy will make no difference in the acceptation The truth and heartinesse of obedience is that which he will crowne in his meanest seruants A mite from the poore widdow is more worth to him than the talents of the wealthy After all the presents of those Easterne worshippers who intended rather homage than ditation the blessed Virgin comes in the forme of pouerty with her two doues vnto God she could not without some charge lie all this while at Bethleem she could not without charge trauell from Bethleem to Ierusalem Her offring confesseth her penury The best
therefore thou thoughtest good to fast as by the reason of these precedents might be without preiudice of thine humanitie which if it should haue pleased thee to support as thou couldest without meanes thy very power might haue opened the mouth of cauils against the veritie of thine humane nature That thou mightest therefore well approue that there was no difference betwixt thee and vs but sinne thou that couldst haue fasted without hunger and liued without meat wouldst both feed and fast and hunger Who can bee discouraged with the scantinesse of friends or bodily prouisions when hee sees his Sauiour thus long destitute of all earthly comforts both of Societie and sustenance Oh the policie and malice of that olde Serpent when hee sees Christ bewray some infirmitie of nature in being hungry then hee layes sorest at him by temptations His eye was neuer off from our Sauiour all the time of his sequestration and now that hee thinkes he espyes any one part to lye open hee driues at it with all his might We haue to doe with an Aduersary no lesse vigilant than malicious who will bee sure to watch all opportunities of our mischiefe and where hee sees any aduantage of weaknesse will not neglect it How should wee stand vpon our guard for preuention that both wee many not giue him occasions of our hurt nor take hurt by those we haue giuen When our Sauiour was hungrie Satan tempts him in matter of food not then of wealth or glorie He well knowes both what baits to fish withall and when and how to lay them How safe and happie shall we be if we shall bend our greatest care where we discerne the most danger In euery temptation there is an appearance of good whether of the bodie of minde or estate The first is the lust of the flesh in any carnall desire the second the pride of heart and life the third the lust of the eyes To all these the first Adam is tempted and in all miscarryed the second Adam is tempted to them all and ouercommeth The first man was tempted to carnall appetite by the forbidden fruite to pride by the suggestion of being as God To couetousnesse in the ambitious desire of knowing good and euill Satan hauing found all the motions so successfull with the first Adam in his innocent estate will now tread the same steppes in his temptations of the second The stones must be made bread there is the motion to a carnall appetite The guard and attendance of Angels must bee presumed on there is a motion to pride The Kingdomes of the Earth and glory of them must be offered there to couetousnesse and ambition Sathan could not but haue heard God say This is my welbeloued sonne hee had heard the Message and the Caroll of the Angels he saw the Starre and the iourney and Offerings of the Sages hee could not but take notice of the gratulations of Zachary Simeon Anna hee well knew the Predictions of the Prophets yet now that hee saw Christ â—sâ—ting with hunger as not comprehending how infirmities could consist with a God-head hee can say If thou bee the Sonne of God Had not Sathan knowne that the Sonne of God was to come into the World he had neuer said If thou be the Sonne of God His very supposition conuinces him The ground of his temptation answers itselfe If therefore Christ seemed to bee a meere man because after fortie dayes hee was hungry why was hee not confessed more than a man in that for fortie dayes hee hungred not The motiue of the temptation is worse than the motion If thou bee the Sonne of God Sathan could not choose another suggestion of so great importance All the worke of our Redemption of our Saluation depends vpon this one Truth Christ is the Sonne of God How should hee else haue ransomed the World how should hee haue done how should hee haue suffered that which was satisfactory to his Fathers wrath How should his actions or passion bin valuable to the sinnes of all the World What maruell is it if wee that are sonnes by Adoption bee assaulted with the doubts of our interest in God when the naturall Sonne the Sonne of his Essence is thus tempted Since all our comfort consists in this point heere must needes bee laid the chiefe battery and heere must bee placed our strongest defence To turne stones into bread had bin no more faultie in it selfe than to turne Water into Wine But to doe this in a distrust of his Fathers Prouidence to abuse his power and libertie in doing it to worke a miracle of Sathans choice had beene disagreeable to the Sonne of God There is nothing more ordinary with our spirituall enemie than by occasion of want to moue vs to vnwarrantable courses Thou art poore steale Thou canst not rise by honest meanes vse indirect How easie had it beene for our Sauiour to haue confounded Sathan by the power of his God-head But hee rather chuses to vanquish him by the Sword of the Spirit that hee might teach vs how to resist and ouercome the powers of darknesse If hee had subdued Sathan by the Almighty power of the Deitie wee might haue had what to wonder at not what to imitate now hee vseth that weapon which may be familiar vnto vs that hee may teach our weaknesse how to bee victorious Nothing in Heauen or Earth can beate the forces of Hell but the Word of God How carefully should wee furnish our selues with this powerfull munition how should our hearts and mouthes bee full of it Teach mee O Lord the way of thy Statutes O take not from mee the words of Truth Let them bee my Songs in the house of my pilgrimage So shall I make answere to my Blasphemers What needed Christ to haue answered Sathan at all if it had not beene to teach vs that temptations must not haue their way but must be answered by resistance and resisted by the Word I doe not heare our Sauiour auerre himselfe to be a God against the blasphemous insinuation of Sathan neyther doe I see him working this miraculous Conuersion to proue himselfe the Sonne of God but most wisely hee takes away the ground of the temptation Sathan had taken it for granted that man cannot bee sustayned without bread and therefore inferres the necessitie of making bread of stones Our Sauiour shewes him from an infallible Word that hee had mislayed his suggestion That man liues not by vsuall food only but by euery word that proceedeth from the mouth of God Hee can either sustaine without bread as hee did Moses and Elias or with a miraculous bread as the Israelites with Manna or send ordinary meanes miraculously as food to his Prophet by the Rauens or miraculously multiply ordinary meanes as the Meale and Oyle to the Sareptan Widdow All things are sustayned by his Almighty Word Indeed wee liue by food but not by any vertue that is without God without the incurrence of whose Prouidence bread would
men according to no other conditions then of their faith The Centurions seruant was sicke the Rulers sonne The Centurion doth not sue vnto Christ to come onely sayes My seruant is sicke of a Palsie Christ answers him I will come and heale him The Ruler sues vnto Christ that hee would come and heale his sonne Christ will not goe onely sayes Goe thy way thy sonne liues Outward things carie no respect with God The Image of that diuine Maiestie shining inwardly in the graces of the soule is that which wins loue from him in the meanest estate The Centurions faith therefore could do more then the Rulers greatnesse and that faithfull mans seruant hath more regard then this great mans sonne The Rulers request was Come and heale Christs answer was Goe thy way thy sonne liues Our mercifull Sauiour meets those in the end whom hee crosses in the way How sweetly doth he correct our prayers and whiles he doth not giue vs what we aske giues vs better then we asked Iustly doth he forbeare to go downe with this Ruler lest he should confirme him in an opinion of measuring his power by conceits of locality distance but he doth that in absence for which his presence was required with a repulse Thy sonne liueth giuing a greater demonstration of his omnipotencie then was craued How oft doth hee not heare to our will that hee may heare vs to our aduantage The chosen vessell would be rid of tentations he heares of a supply of grace The sicke man askes release receiues patience life and receiues glory Let vs aske what we thinke best let him giue what he knowes best With one word doth Christ heale two Patients the sonne and the father the sons feuer the fathers vnbeleefe That operatiue word of our Sauiour was not without the intention of a triall Had not the Ruler gone home satisfied with that intimation of his sonnes life and recouerie neither of them had beene blessed with successe Now the newes of performance meets him one halfe of the way and hee that beleeued somewhat ere he came and more when he went grew to more faith in the way and when he came home inlarged his faith to all the skirts of his familie A weake faith may be true but a true faith is growing He that boasts of a full stature in the first moment of his assent may presume but doth not beleeue Great men cannot want clients their example swaies some their authoritie more they cannot goe to either of the other worlds alone In vaine doe they pretend power ouer others who labour â—ut to draw their families vnto God The Dumbe Deuill eiected THat the Prince of our Peace might approue his perfect victories wheresoeuer hee met with the Prince of darknesse hee foyled him he eiected him He found him in heauen thence did hee throw him headlong and verified his Prophet I haue cast thee out of mine holy mountaine And if the Deuils left their first habitation it was because being Deuills they could not keepe it Their estate indeed they might haue kept and did not their habitation they would haue kept and might not How art thou falne from heauen O Lucifer He found him in the heart of man for in that closet of God did the euill spirit after his exile from heauen shrowd himselfe Sin gaue him possession which he kept with a willing violence thence hee casts him by his word and spirit He found him tyrannizing in the bodies of some possessed men and with power commands the vncleane spirits to depart This act is for no hand but his When a strong man keepes possession none but a stronger can remoue it In voluntary things the strongest may yeeld to the weakest Sampson to a Dalilah but in violent euer the mightiest caries it A spirituall nature must needs be in ranke aboue a bodily neither can any power be aboue a spirit but the God of spirits No otherwise is it in the mentall possession Where euer sinne is there Satan is As on the contrary whosoeuer is borne of God the seed of God remaines in him That euill one not onely is but rules in the sonnes of disobedience in vaine shall wee try to eiect him but by the diuine power of the Redeemer For this cause the Sonne of God was manifested that hee might destroy the workes of the Deuill Doe we finde our selues haunted with the familiar Deuills of Pride selfe-loue sensuall desires vnbeleefe None but thou O Son of the euerliuing God can free our bosomes of these hellish guests Oh clense thou mee from my secret sinnes and keepe mee that presumptuous sinnes preuaile not ouer me O Sauiour it is no Paradox to say that thou castest out more Deuils now then thou diddest whiles thou wert vpon earth It was thy word When I am lifted vp I will draw all men vnto me Satan weighes downe at the feet thou pullest at the head yea at the heart In euery conuersion which thou workest there is a dispossession Conuert mee O Lord and I shall be conuerted I know thy meanes are now no other then ordinary if we expect to be dispossessed by miracle it would be a miracle if euer wee were dispossessed Oh let thy Gospell haue the perfect worke in me so onely shall I bee deliuered from the powers of darknesse Nothing can be said to be dumbe but what naturally speakes nothing can speake naturally but what hath the instruments of speech which because spirits want they can no otherwise speake vocally then as they take voices to themselues in taking bodies This deuill was not therefore dumbe in his nature but in his effect The man was dumbe by the operation of that deuill which possessed him and now the action is attributed to the spirit which was subiectiuely in the man It is not you that speake saith our Sauiour but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you As it is in bodily diseases that they doe not infect vs alike some seize vpon the humors others vpon the spirits some assault the braine others the heart or lungs so in bodily and spirituall possessions In some the euill spirit takes away their senses in some their lims in some their inward faculties like as spiritually they affect to moue vs vnto seuerall sinnes One to lust another to couetousnesse or ambition another to cruelty and their names haue distinguished them according to these various effects This was a dumbe Deuill which yet had possessed not the tongue onely of this man but his eare not that onely but as it seemes his eies too O suttle and tyrannous spirit that obstructs all wayes to the soule that keepes out all meanes of grace both from the doores and windowes of the heart yea that stops vp all passages whether of ingresse or egresse Of ingresse at the eye or eare of egresse at the mouth that there might be no capacity of redresse What holy vse is there of our tongue but to praise our Maker to confesse our
forefathers Ioshua caused the Sunne to stand still Elias brought fire downe from heauen Samuel astonisht the people with thunder and raine in the midst of haruest If thou wouldst command our beleefe doe somewhat like to these The casting out of a Deuill shewes thee to haue some power ouer hell shew vs now that thou hast no lesse power ouer heauen There is a kinde of vnreasonablenesse of desire and insatiablenesse in infidelitie it neuer knowes when it hath euidence enough This which the Iewes ouer-looked was a more irrefragable demonstration of diuinity then that which they desired A Deuill was more then a Meteor or a parcell of an element to cast out a Deuill by command more then to command fire from heauen Infidelitie euer loues to be her owne caruer No sonne can be more like a father then these Iewes to their progenitors in the desert that there might be no feare of degenerating into good they also of old tempted God in the Wildernesse First they are weary of the Egyptian bondage and are ready to fall out with God and Moses for their stay in those fornaces By ten miraculous plagues they are freed and going out of those confines the Egyptians follow them the Sea is before them now they are more afflicted with their liberty then their seruitude The Sea yeelds way the Egyptians are drowned and now that they are safe on the other shore they tempt the prouidence of God for water The Rocke yeelds it them then no lesse for bread and meat God sends them Manna and Quailes they cry out of the food of Angels Their present enemies in the way are vanquished they whine at the men of measures in the heart of Canaan Nothing from God but mercy nothing from them but temptations Their true brood both in nature and sinne had abundant proofes of the Messiah if curing the blinde lame diseased deafe dumbe eiecting deuills ouer-ruling the elements raising the dead could haue beene sufficient yet still they must haue a signe from heauen and shut vp in the stile of the Tempter If thou be the Christ The gracious heart is credulous Euen where it sees not it beleeues and where it sees out a little it beleeues a great deale Neither doth it presume to prescribe vnto God what and how he shall work but takes what it findes and vnmoueably rests in what it takes Any miracle no miracle serues enough for their assent who haue built their faith vpon the Gospell of the Lord Iesus Matthew called THE number of the Apostles was not yet full One roome is left void for a future occupant who can but expect that it is reserued for some eminent person and behold Matthew the Publican is the man Oh the strange election of Christ Those other disciples whose calling is recorded were from the Fisher-boat this from the Tole booth They were vnlettered this infamous The condition was not in it selfe sinfull but as the taxes which the Romans imposed on Gods free people were odious so the Collectors the Farmers of them abominable Besides that it was hard to hold that seat without oppression without exaction One that best knew it branded it with poling and sycophancie And now behold a griping Publican called to the familie to the Apostle-ship to the Secretary-ship of God Who can despaire in the conscience of his vnworthinesse when hee sees this patterne of the free bounty of him that calleth vs Merits doe not cary it in the gracious election of God but his meere fauour There sate Matthew the Publican busie in his Counting-house reckoning vp the sums of his Rentals raking vp his arerages and wrangling for denied duties did so little thinke of a Sauior that he did not so much as look at his passage but Iesus as he passed by saw a man sitting at the receit of custome named Matthew As if this prospect had bin sudden and casuall Iesus saw him in passing by Oh Sauiour before the world was thou sawest that man sitting there thou sawest thine own passage thou sawest his call in thy passage and now thou goest purposely that way that thou mightest see and call Nothing can be hid from that piercing eye one glance wherof hath discerned a Disciple in the cloathes of a Publican That habit that shop of extortion cannot conceale from thee a vessel of election In all formes thou knowest thine own and in thine own time shalt fetch them out of the disguises of their foule sinnes or vnfit conditions What sawest thou O Sauior in that Publican that might either allure thine eye or not offend it What but an hatefull trade an euill eye a gripple hand bloody tables heapes of spoile yet now thou saidst Follow me Thou that saidst once to Ierusalem Thy birth and natiuitie is of the land of Canaan Thy father was an Amorite thy mother an Hittite Thy nauell was not cut neither wert thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all thou wast not swadled at all None eye pitied thee but thou must cast out in the open fields to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast borne And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne blood I said vnto thee Liue yea I said vnto thee when thou wast in thy blood Liue Now also when thou passed it by and sawest Matthew sitting at the receit of custome saidest to him Follow mee The life of this Publican was so much worse then the birth of that forlorne Amorite as Follow me was more then Liue What canst thou see in vs O God but vgly deformities horrible sinnes despicable miseries yet doth it please thy mercy to say vnto vs both Liue and Follow me The iust man is the first accuser of himselfe whom doe wee heare to blazon the shame of Matthew but his owne mouth Matthew the Euangelist tels vs of Matthew the Publican His fellowes call him Leui as willing to lay their finger vpon the spot of his vnpleasing profession himselfe will not smother nor blanche it a whit but publishes it to all the world in a thankfull recognition of the mercy that called him as liking well that his basenesse should serue for a fit foyle to set off the glorious lustre of his grace by whom he was elected What matters it how vile we are O God so thy glory may rise in our abasement That word was enough Follow mee spoken by the same tongue that said to the corps at Nain Young man I say to thee Arise Hee that said at first Let there bee light sayes now Follow mee That power sweetly inclines which could forcibly command the force is not more vnresistable then the inclination When the Sunne shines vpon the Isicles can they choose but melt and fall When it lookes into a dungeon can the place choose but be inlightened Doe wee see the Iet drawing vp strawes to it the Load-stone iron and doe wee maruell if the omnipotent Sauiour by the influence of his grace
willing their torment they may be made most sensible of paine and by the obedible submission of their created nature wrought vpon immediately by their appointed tortures Besides the very horrour which ariseth from the place whereto they are euerlastingly confined For if the incorporeall spirits of liuing men may bee held in a loathed or painfull body and conceiue sorrow to bee so imprisoned Why may wee not as easily yeeld that the euill spirits of Angels or men may be held in those direfull flames and much more abhorre therein to continue for euer Tremble rather O my soule at the thought of this wofull condition of the euill Angels who for one onely act of Apostasie from God are thus perpetually tormented whereas we sinfull wretches multiply many and presumptuous offences against the Maiestie of our God And withall admire and magnifie that infinite mercy to the miserable generation of man which after this holy seueritie of iustice to the reuolted Angels so graciously forbeares our hainous iniquities and both suffers vs to be free for the time from these hellish torments and giues vs opportunitie of a perfect freedome from them for euer Praise the Lord O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who for giueth all thy sinnes and healeth all thine infirmities Who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and compassions There is no time wherein the euill spirits are not tormented there is a time wherein they expect to be tormented yet more Art thou come to torment vs before our time They knew that the last Assises are the prefixed terme of their full execution which they also vnderstood to be not yet come For though they knew not when the Day of Iudgement should be a point concealed from the glorious Angels of heauen yet they knew when it should not be and therefore they say Before the time Euen the very euill spirits confesse and fearfully attend a set day of vniuersall Sessions They beleeue lesse then Deuils that either doubt of or deny that day of finall retribution Oh the wonderfull mercy of our God that both to wicked men and spirits respites the vtmost of their torment He might vpon the first instant of the fall of Angels haue inflicted on them the highest extremitie of his vengeance Hee might vpon the first sinnes of our youth yea of our nature haue swept vs away and giuen vs our portion in that fierie lake he stayes a time for both Though with this difference of mercy to vs men that here not onely is a delay but may be an vtter preuention of punishment which to the euill spirits is altogether impossible They doe suffer they must suffer and though they haue now deserued to suffer all they must yet they must once suffer more then they doe Yet so doth this euill spirit expostulate that he sues I beseech thee torment mee not The world is well changed since Satans first onset vpon Christ Then hee could say If thou be the Sonne of God now Iesus the Sonne of the most high God then All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me now I beseech thee torment mee not The same power when hee lists can change the note of the Tempter to vs How happy are wee that haue such a Redeemer as can command the Deuils to their chaines Oh consider this ye lawlesse sinners that haue said Let vs breake his bonds and cast his cords from vs How euer the Almighty suffers you for a iudgement to haue free scope to euill and ye can now impotently resist the reuealed will of your Creator yet the time shall come when yee shall see the very masters whom ye haue serued the powers of darknesse vnable to auoid the reuenges of God How much lesse shall man striue with his Maker man whose breath is in his nostrils whose house is clay whose foundation is the dust Nature teaches euery creature to wish a freedome from paine the foulest spirits cannot but loue themselues and this loue must needs produce a deprecation of euill Yet what a thing is this to heare the deuill at his prayers I beseech thee torment me not Deuotion is not guilty of this but feare There is no grace in the suit of Deuils but nature no respect of glory to their Creator but their owne ease They cannot pray against sinne but against torment for sinne What newes is it now to heare the profanest mouth in extremitie imploring the Sacred Name of God when the Deuils doe so The worst of all creatures hates punishment and can say Lead me not into paine onely the good heart can say Leade mee not into temptation If wee can as heartily pray against sinne for the auoiding of displeasure as against punishment when wee haue displeased there is true grace in the soule Indeed if wee could feruently pray against sinne we should not need to pray against punishment which is no other then the inseparable shadow of that bodie but if we haue not laboured against our sins in vaine doe wee pray against punishment God must be iust and the wages of sinne is death It pleased our holy Sauiour not onely to let fall words of command vpon this spirit but to interchange some speeches with him All Christs actions are not for example It was the errour of our Grand-mother to hold chat with Satan That God who knowes the craft of that old Serpent and our weake simplicitie hath charged vs not to enquire of an euill spirit surely if the Disciples returning to Iacobs Well wondred to see Christ talke with a woman well may wee wonder to see him talking with an vncleane Spirit Let it be no presumption O Sauiour to aske vpon what grounds thou didst this wherein wee may not follow thee Wee know that sinne was excepted in thy conformitie of thy selfe to vs wee know there was no guile found in thy mouth no possibilitie of taint in thy nature in thine actions Neither is it hard to conceiue how the same thing may bee done by thee without sinne which wee cannot but sinne in doing There is a vast difference in the intention in the Agent For on the one side thou didst not aske the name of the spirit as one that knew not and would learne by inquiring but that by the confession of that mischiefe which thou pleasedst to suffer the grace of the cure might bee the more conspicuous the more glorious so on the other God and man might doe that safely which meere man cannot doe without danger thou mightest touch the leprosie and not be legally vncleane because thou touchedst it to heale it didst not touch it with possibility of infection So mightest thou who by reason of the perfection of thy diuine nature wert vncapable of any staine by the interlocution with Satan safely conferre with him whom corrupt man pre-disposed to the danger of such a parle may not meddle with without sinne because not without perill It is
His Vow 992 A pretty expostulation of Ieptha's daughter in meeting her father 993 Iericho Of the siege of Iericho 950 Of their feare and courage 951 A pretty vse to bee made of the peoples walking about Iericho seuen dayes 952 Ieroboam 1315 He set vp two calues in Dan and Bethel 1316 Of his wife 1323 She is disguised but found out 1324 1325 The Prophets thunderclaps of vengeance against him 1325 Iesuite A caueat for Kings to beware of them 372 Their couetousnesse and ambition 416 417 The Iesuites cunning insinuations into those whom they hope to peruert 679 680 Accompanied with horrible vntruths 681 682 Their coniurations 683 They haue nothing but the ouside of Religion 684 Iezabel Of her counsell to Ahab in the matter of Naboth 1357 Ignorance It is a wise Ignorance not to pry into things not reuealed p. 1 Ignorance cannot acquit if it can abate our sinne 1067 the affectation of ignorance desperate ibid. Imitation A caution to be had in it 59 60 These sins that nature conuaies not we haue by imitation 1010 Impatience The ill wishes of the impatient often heard 929 Importunitie It s good speed 1205 Imprisonment Of its comfort 305 Impunitie Hope of it drawes on sinne with boldnesse 1111 Inconsideratenesse What it oft doth 969 Inconstancie The inconstant is vnfit for societie 36 The vnconstants Character 191 Increase A certaine way of it 1032 Indifferencie In humane things it is most safe to bee indifferent 136 Indulgences Popish Indulgences censured as against antiquitie reason and Scripture 433 Parents indulgence what 1015 Cruell to themselues 1034 It is a notorious sinne in Parents ibid. Infants Of them and Herod 1176 c. Infidelitie Its Character 196 A sharpe reproofe of it 425 505 Infidelitie is craftie yet foolish 891 It is lawfull enough to deale with Infidels with a caueat 1017 Infirmities Euen the best of Gods Saints haue them 1077 When they best appeare 1108 Ingratitude Three vsuall causes of ingratitude 26 Very Nature hates ingratitude 895 Inheritance Our heauenly inheritance glorious and not subiect to alteration 64 Iniuries Three things follow an iniury so farre as it concernes our selues p. 16 Iniuries hurt not more in the receiuing then in the remembrance 30 Iniuries like a wound 857 Innocencie It is no shelter for an euill tongue 921 Inquisition Its tyranny with a fearfull example on the executioners 283 Insultation That in the rigour of Iustice argueth creation 1020 Intention Good intentions cannot warrant vnlawfull acts 1128 What bewrayes euil intentions more then vicious Agents 1312 Inward Our inward disposition is the life of our actions 934 And a mans inward disposition doth presage the euent 948 Ioab and Abner 1119 Ioabs execution 1261 Iohn Baptist Of his baptising Christ his modesty 1190 1191 Ionathan Of his victory 1064 His admirable faith ibid. Of his loue and Sauls enuy 1086 His and Dauids loue prettily set out ibid. Iordan Of it diuided 948 Ioseph His brethrens enuy prettily described 853 Ioseph twice stript of his garment 854 Ioseph praised for his patience and wisedome ibid. Ioy vid. Reioyce It is shamefull for true Christians not to be ioyfull 46 47 Of worldlings ioy and the godlies 51 The ioy of such as haue an euil conscience is but dissembled 76 T is the safest way to reserue our ioy till wee haue good proofe of the worthinesse and fitnesse of its obiect 1058 Isaac He sacrificed 834 835 Israel His affliction 863 Israels iust now scoured 864 Israel fed with Sacraments â—92 Of their seuen mutinies against Moses 928 What pretences â—re be made a true Philistim will bee quickly weary of a true Israelite 1002 The great change in Israel 1127 Iudaisme The fearfull danger of being in it 426 Iudges A note for them in regard of partialitie 1074 1075 Iudging We may Iudge but we must take heed to the order 491 The not iudging according to appearance is a vsefull rule for auoiding errour in iudging 491 Excellent things of iudging a mans selfe 1060 God separates before hee iudgeth and so should wee 1074 What to doe that wee may not care to bee censured of men 1287 1288 Iudgements God is to be magnified in his iudgements 49 The Day of Iudgement how terrible shewed by resemblance 898 Wicked men neuer care to obserue Gods iudgements vntil theÌ„selues be touched 931 Gods sentence of iudgement certaine 941 Gods mercy in letting vs to see his iudgements on others 1035 God knowes no persons in the execution of iudgements 1048 Nothing but grace can teach vs to make vse of other mens iudgements 1058 The Iudgements of God are not alwayes open but iust 1093 When wee make a right vse of the iudgements of God 1128 Iudgement assuredly attends on those that dare oft vp their hands against Gods Vicegerents 1263 Iunius commended 287 Iustice It giues to euery man his owne 215 A buyer of places of Iudicature will surely sell iustice 519 Of the two-fold iustice Legall and Euangelicall 538 Of Legall and distributiue iustice 1540 How Iustice is a notable work of mercy ibid. The Churches peace ariseth from iustice 541 Insultation in the rigour of iustice argueth cruelty 1020 Wee may not alwayes measure the iustice of God by present occasions 1121 The beautifull face of iustice both effects and light and comes to it 1245 Iustification The Romish heresie concerning it 643 K KIng vid. Princes described by his qualities actions Naturall Morall 229 c. Our King commended 479 Parallel'd with Constantine 482 483 The neere relation of sinne and punishment in the Soueraigne and subiect 484 Of Kings humouring their people in their sinnes 900 Kings sinnes are a iust stop to the people 915 Gods ancient purpose to raise vp a King to his people 1052 In Kings mercy and iudgement should bee inseparable 1059 A Kings first care must be to aduance Religion 1127 It well beseemes a King to heare a Prophet 1142 Kingdome Euery man hath a Kingdome within himselfe· 14 Kneeling at the Sacrament defended 583 Knowledge What 〈◊〉 best to know p. 31 Knowledge of a mans selfe is the best knowledge 36 Of knowledge without foundnesse 53 Wee must labour if we will haue a right rellish of diuine knowledge 63 Of our knowing one another in heauen 326 The itch of impertinent knowledge is hereditary 1110 L LAbour labouring minds are the best receptacles for good motions 1017 Laugh There is nothing more lamentable then to see a man laugh wheÌ„ he should mourne 1109 Law Of it 896 How terrible in its deliuery 898 The power of it 〈◊〉 mans soule ibid. Learning Who fit to learne and and who to teach p. 10 Humane learning well improued makes way for diuine 1170 Legion What it imports 1300 Leuite Of Micha's Leuite 1010 1011 c. The Leuites Concubine 1015 Liberalitie What 221 The extreames thereof ibid. Life He that liues well cannot but dye well p. 9 The shortnesse of life how mans happinesse 17 Of his dissolution 23 Three things wherein
he hath corrected so can ease them Folly is neuer Ieparated from wickednesse Their heart told them that they had no right to the Arke A Councell is called of their Princes and Priests If they had resolued to send it home they had done wisely Now they doe not carry it away but they carry it about from Ebenezer to Ashdod from Ashdod to Gath from Gath to Ekron Their stomacke was greater then their conscience The Arke was too sore for them yet it was too good for Israel and they will rather dye then make Israel happy Their conceit that the change of ayre could appease the Arke God vseth to his owne aduantage for by this meanes his power is knowne and his iudgement spred ouer all the country of the Philistims What doe these men now but send the plague of God to their fellowes The iustice of God can make the sinnes of men their mutuall executioners It is the fashion of wicked men to draw their neighbours into the partnership of their condemnation Wheresoeuer the Arke goes there is destruction The best of Gods Ordinances if they bee not proper to vs are deadly The Israelites did not more shout for ioy when they saw the Arke come to them then the Ekronites cry out for griefe to see it brought amongst them Spirituall things are either soueraigne or hurtfull according to the disposition of the receiuers The Arke doth either saue or kill as it is entertained At last when the Philistims are well wearie of paine and death they are glad to bee quit of their sinne The voyce of the Princes and people is changed to the better Send away the Arke of the God of Israel and let it returne to his owne place God knowes how to bring the stubbornest enemy vpon his knees and makes him doe that out of feare which his best child would doe out of loue and duty How miserable was the estate of these Philistims Euery man was either dead or sicke those that were left liuing through their extremity of paine enuied the dead and the cry of their whole Cities went vp to heauen It is happy that God hath such store of plagues and thunderbolts for the wicked If he had not a fire of iudgement wherewith the yron hearts of men might bee made flexible hee would want obedience and the world peace The Arkes reuenge and returne IT had wont to bee a sure rule Wheresoeuer God is among men there is the Church Here onely it failed The testimony of Gods presence was many moneths amongst the Philistims for a punishment to his owne people whom hee left for a curse to those forrainers which entertained it Israel was seuen moneths without GOD How doe wee thinke faithfull Samuel tooke this absence How desolate and forlorne did the Tabernacle of GOD looke without the Arke There were still the Altars of GOD his Priests Leuites Tables Veiles Censers with all their legall accoustrements These without the Arke were as the Sunne without light in the midst of an Eclipse If all these had beene taken away and onely the Arke had beene remaining the losse had beene nothing to this that the Arke should be gone and they left For what are all these without God and how all-sufficient is GOD without these There are times wherein GOD withdrawes himselfe from his Church and seemes to leaue her without comfort without protection Sometimes wee shall finde Israel taken from the Arke otherwhiles the Arke is taken from Israel In either there is a separation betwixt the Arke and Israel Heauy times to euery true Israelite yet such as whose example may relieue vs in our desertions Still was this people Israel the seed of him that would not bee left of God without a blessing and therefore without the testimony of his presence was God present with them It were wide with the faithfull if God were not ofttentimes with them when there is no witnesse of his presence One act was a mutuall penance to the Israelites and Philistims I know not to whether more Israel grieued for the losse of that whose presence grieued the Philistims their paine was therefore no other then voluntary It is strange that the Philistims would endure seuen moneths smart with the Arke since they saw that the presence of that Prisoner would not requite no nor mitigate to them one houres misery Foolish men will be struggling with God till they be vtterly either breathlesse or impotent Their hope was that time might abate displeasure euen whiles they persisted to offend The false hopes of worldly men cost them deare they could not be so miserable if their owne hearts did not deceiue them with mis-expectations of impossible fauour In matters that concerne a God who is so fit to be consulted with as the Priests The Princes of the Philistims had before giuen their voyces yet nothing is determined nothing is done without the direction and assent of those whom they accounted sacred Nature it selfe sends vs in diuine things to those persons whose calling is diuine It is either distrust or presumption or contempt that caries vs our owne waies in spirituall matters without aduising with them whose lips God hath appointed to preserue knowledge There cannot but arise many difficulties in vs about the Arke of God whom should wee consult with but those which haue the Tongue of the Learned Doubtlesse this question of the Arke did abide much debating There wanted not faire probabilities on both sides A wise Philistim might well plead If God had either so great care of the Arke or power to retaine it how is it become ours A wiser then he would reply If the God of Israel had wanted either care or power Dagon and we had beene still whole why doe we thus grone and dye all that are but within the Aire of the Arke if a diuine hand doe not attend it Their smart pleads enough for the dismission of the Arke The next demand of their Priests and Soothsayers is how it should be sent home Affliction had made them so wise as to know that euery fashion of parting with the Arke would not satisfie the owner oftentimes the circumstance of an action marres the substance In diuine matters wee must not onely looke that the body of our seruice be sound but that the clothes be fit Nothing hinders but that sometimes good aduice may fall from the mouth of wicked men These superstitious Priests can counsell them not to send away the Arke of God emptie but to giue it a sinne-offering They had not liued so farre from the smoake of the Iewish Altars but that they knew God was accustomed to manifold oblations and chiefly to those of expiation No Israelite could haue said better Superstition is the Ape of true deuotion and if we looke not to the ground of both many times it is hard by the very outward acts to distinguish them Nature it selfe teacheth vs that God loues a full hand He that hath beene so bountifull to vs