and mother saying I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughter of the Philistines therefore give me her to wife Judges 14. 2. The very Heathen doe regard the consent of Parents in chap. 34. 8. Hamor who was an uncircumcised man came to Jacob to ask his consent for Sechem that he would give his daughter Dinah unto his sonne for wife And in 2 Sam. 13. 13. Tamar answereth Amnon Defloure me not speak to the King my Father for me and he will not deny me unto thee As there must be no giving nor taking in Marriage without Gods consent I mean the Israelites might not take wives among the Idolatrous Heathen for God himself in Deut. 7. 3. saith Neither shalt thou make Marriages with them neither give thy daughter unto his sonne nor take his daughter unto thy sonne so must there be no marriage without the Parents and friends consent the Law is in the 22. of Exodus 16 and 17. verses That if a Man entice a Maid that is not betrothed and 〈◊〉 with her he shall endow her and take her to his wife Yet if her father refuse to give her to him there was no marriage but he should pay her money according to the Dowry of Virgins The consent of the parties Secondly In respect of their own consent The consent of the Woman is required After the Parents of Rebekah had agreed to give their daughter to Isaac yet they would have her to be called that she might also give her consent chap. 24. 39. and 57. God drew not Eve to Adam perforce but lead her willingly she was brought to him with joy and gladnesse as it is in Psal. 45. the 15. verse Hereby all enforced matches are condemned and all extort agreements are abrogated As those under age those that are made by mad and drunken persons are disalowed and may be undone The consent of such maketh not a match for tales non adduxit Deus such God bringeth not together Yet if a Christian man have a wife that beleeveth not if she be content to dwell with him let him not forsake her for the unbeleeving wife is sanctified by the husband their Children are holy which else were unclean 1 Cor. 7. 14. This is for their consent The contract and betrothing After the Parents and parties themselves have given their consent then commeth the contract the affiance and the espousals between them before the face of God for as soon as God had brought Eve unto Adam he said now in this present time She is bone of my bones she is my lawfull wife which you may see in the law of Nature for in chap. 19. 14. Lot called them his sonnes in Law that should have married his daughters after they were betrothed unto them if she be not betrothed she is called a Maid Exodus 22. 16. and after she is betrothed to an husband she is his wife Mary the mother of Jesus conceived by the Holy Ghost after she was betrothed unto Joseph before he knew her carnally before he was publiquely married to her as may appear by the 1. of Matthew 18. for Marie and Joseph were even then Man and Wife before God and therefore the Fathers say well that contractus facit consensum animorum The solemnity Next to the Contract is the Solemnity As in the Marriage of Adam and Eve it was solemnized before the glorious companie of heavenly Angells God himself as the Priest joyned them together he as a Father gave her unto Adam chap. 3. 12. and it was God that coupled them together Matthew 19. 6. She first entred into Gods house then into Adams house she first took God by the hand and then Adam by the hand And this Marriage must be our example for this is the Marriage Sermon to the whole world Man shall leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife and after this they be Man and Wife before God and before Man Then followeth Gods blessing of them in chap. 1. 28. God blessed them and God said unto them increase and multiply and fill the Earth And the last point is of the unity By this union they are become one flesh and carnall conjunction is permitted them Abimelech for that out of a window he saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah said therefore of a surety she is his wife chap. 26. 8. But he that joyneth himself with his neighbours wife is not innocent Prov. 6. 29. The Wife hath not power over her own body but her Husband nor the Husband bath not power over his own body but his wife 1 Corinth 7. 4. The Gentils are inheritors of the same body with the Jews and the partakers of the same promise in Christ by the Gospell the third to the Ephesians 6. 2. The duties in Marriage Now concerning the Duties in Marriage whereof we will speak in general and then in several Faithfulnesse and Love The general duties which doe concern Man as well as Woman and Woman as well as Man which doe concern them both are two Faithfulnesse and Love Which two we must alienate from all other Women and appropriate them only to our Wives The heart of the husband trusteth in a faithfull wife Proverbs 31. 11. see 1 Cor. 7. 4 and 5. The one hath power over the others body Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Hebr. 13. 4. Faithfullnesse is promised in the celebration of Marriage but the faithlesse Woman forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the Covenant of her God Prov. 2. 16. the paths of a strange Woman are movable Proverbs 5. 6. there is no faith to be reposed in such a Woman The other dutie is Love For that Woman was taken out of mans side she was his 〈◊〉 closse to his heart which is the seat of love Man must love her as his part and she must also love him for that he was wounded mortally for her sake and had been in great danger of his life had he not had so excellent a Physition and Surgeon to close up his side again Man is the Image and glory of God Woman is the glorie of Man 1 Cor. 11. 7. And again A vertuous Woman is the crown of her Husband Proverbs 12. 4. There is a communion of their name and of their nature which will move mutuall love which procureth inward comforting and outward cherishing for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Ephesians 5. 29. The Woman must be subject to the Man and the Husband must give honour to the Wife as to the weaker Vessel 1 Peter 3. 7. The man is as the stock the woman as the branch the wife must be loving for a contentious and angry Wife is condemned Proverbs 21. 17. And Husbands must love their Wives and not be bitter unto them Colos. 3. 19. This mutuall love must be above the love to the Parents or to the Children there was a
not where his Brother is that is a lye with two additions First Mendacium impium In that he lyeth not to man but to God in the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the fourth verse The Wise-man saith of Kings which are but mortall men in the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the thirteenth verse Righteous lips are the delight of Kings and the King loveth him that speaketh right things Then much lesse can God which is the King immortall away with lyes for lying lips are an abhomination to the Lord in the twelfth chapter of the Proverbs and the twenty second verse Hee knoweth all things and his Majesty is greater than all the Kings of the earth Therefore Salomon prayeth in the thirtieth chapter of the Proverbs Take from me vanity and lyes Secondly As it is impious and ungodly so it is foolish in that we seek by ly es to blinde Gods eyes To whom the darknesse is no darknesse but all is light Psalm the one hunded thirty ninth For the Wise-man saith the 14. of the Proverbs and the 22. Errat omnis qui facit iniquitatem that ignorance and wickednesse are twinnes and inseparable companions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cain sheweth his folly in that he believeth the Devill the Father of lyes that he may conceal his fact from God soe as he shall not know of it Secondly because God might object upon his deniall thou wast seen goe into the fields with thy Brother since which time he was not seen he prevents this objection and justifieth his lye and withall defends his sinne for he saith he is not his Brothers keeper that is he denieth that he is to take care of any but himself We are to have care of our Bretheren in three respects That position of Cain is false for he was to have a care of his Brother First if he had been but a man Secondly in that he was his Brother Thirdly for that he was his inferiour committed to his government The law of humanity would teach him to be carefull of Abel in regard of the first The law of naturall affection or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will inforce him to respect his Brother And in that he was his inferior made subject to him the law of nature will inforce him to have a regard of him being 〈◊〉 to his trust This is the law of nature saith Chist in the seventh chapter of Matthew That what we would have men doe to us we doe the same to them for that is the Law and Prophets If our neighbours oxe goe astray or fall down under his burthen Gods will is we succour him Deuteronomie the twenty second chapter Much more are we to have a tender regard of men because they are our own flesh from whom we may not hide our compassion in the fifty eighth chapter of Isaiah But if that will not move Cain yet let naturall affection provoke him to take care of Abel because he is his Brother issued out of the loynes of Adam as he himself was Thirdly he is to take care of him because he is under his government Secondly As Cains position is false so is it wicked For if all men should take care only for themselves and not for others it would be the dissolution of all societie But the law of nature willeth that the members of the body have the same care one for another as they have severally any one for it self in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the twelfth chapter The law of the Church is Nemo quae sua sunt quaer at sed quisquis quae alterius in the first to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse Which rule as it concerneth all men generally so especially it toucheth those that doe dominari as Cain whose duty non praeesse solum sed prodesse As one private man may not renounce the care that he is to have of another privat man so much lesse may a publique person lay aside the care of a private man Jeroboam had no care of the people though they perished in death in the 13. of Hosea and the 2. verse And when Judas came to the High Priest and confessed his fault They as if they were to care for none but themselves answered What is that to us Looke thou to it in the twenty seventh chapter of Matthew they were perswaded they were not bound to take any notice of his state These were steps of Cains sinne and grievous sinnes Thirdly we are to consider the manner of his answer which is not a simple deniall of his duty but an unmodest speech Am I my Brothers keeper as if he shhold say Am I bound to take care of my Brother In this answer we see that Cain to his former sinnes of lying and malice adds the sinne of pride and presumption Of which the Prophet saith Be not mercifull to them that offend of malicious wickedness which sinne whosoever committeth cannot be clear from the great sinne which is irremediable as David saith Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes so shall I be clear from the great sinne Psalm the nineteenth and the fourteenth verse The instruction that we are to gather hence is that wee avoid the wayes of Cain if we will escape his curses in the eleventh verse of the epistle of Jude He was carried with a lying spirit in the first of Kings and the twenty second chapter and 〈◊〉 may not seek to beguile God as he did as if we would hide our sinnes from him Secondly There is spiritus malignus in the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse the malicious spirit which perswaded Cain that he was not bound to take care for his Brother Wee must take heed of that spirit like wise Thirdly Wee must be ware of the haughty and proud spirit which made him answer God so immodestly we must learn to bee humble for as the Wise-man saith pride is the forerunner of destruction Wee must 〈◊〉 before our selves the example of Abrahams humility who acknowledged him selt to be but dust and ashes in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis And with Job say I will repent in sack cloth and ashes for if wee in humilitie confesse our sinnes God is mercifull and just to forgive us our sinnes in the first epistle of John the first chapter and the seventh verse Wee must instead of the lying spirit possesse our selves with the spirit of truth for the malicious spirit we must have the spirit of charity and for pride put on the spirit of humilitie Dixit verò Deus Quid fecisti ecce vocem sanguinum fratris tui me ab ipsâ humo inclamantium Gen. 4. 10. Aug. 19. 1599. IN which words is set down Cains conviction for howsoever he might imagine he was escaped by that bold utterance of a known lye and untruth yet he was deceived as all they shall be decieved that having
the eighth chapter If we will come 〈◊〉 we must not be 〈◊〉 but diligent and watchfull We must use both attention Luke the twenty first chapter Take 〈◊〉 to your 〈◊〉 and contention Luke the thirteenth chapter Strive to enter Therefore the Prophet saith Psalm the thirty seventh Hope in the Lord and 〈◊〉 doing good there is both hope and diligence The Apostle saith We have great and 〈…〉 made us the second epistle of Peter the first chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse That is our hope but we must be diligent adding to our hope virtue to virtue knowledge and these if we be without we 〈…〉 of the promises which 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 the fift chapter That faith worketh by 〈◊〉 And he that hath this 〈…〉 himself the first epistle of John the third chapter and the third 〈◊〉 Job 〈◊〉 did perfectly hope was not negligent as he 〈◊〉 〈…〉 in eum Job the thirteenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse so he sheweth his carefulnesse Veritas omnia opera 〈◊〉 Job the ninth chapter Paul that said He was sure of the love of God Romans the eighth chapter doth not cease to be diligent lest he should be vexed first epistle to the Corinthians the ninth chapter The same Paul saith Philippians the third chapter and the tenth verse I forget that which is behinde and indeavor towards that which is before This is that which concludes this point i. seeing faith sheweth it is possible to attain to Heaven though it be hard we must use diligence which may make it a thing possible Not that we are sufficient of our selves as from our selves to think any good or to use any diligence to bring this to passe for all our sufficiencie is of God the second epistle to the Corintbians the third chapter And therefore the Apostle when he had said I labored more than they all correcteth himself yet not I but the grace of God within me the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the tenth verse He did not say before It was I that persecuted the Church but the sinne that dwelleth within me but ascribes that wholly to himself But if we doe any good thing we must wholly ascribe that to God who by his spirit doth give us grace and ability to doe it And therefore whosoever feel themselves to receive grace the second epistle to the Corinthians and the sixt chapter and be indued with virtue from above Luke the twenty fourth chapter they must take heed they be not wanting to that grace and heare it in vain but having grace from God we must labour to make that possible which faith sheweth to be possible Secondly They must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make it apparent there is a secret diligence but that which the Apostle requireth is an ostensive diligence For as James saith Ostende mihi fidem ex operibus James the second chapter and eighth verse So the Apostles meaning is I care not for the concealed diligence let me see it appear by your outward conversation For if the Heathen being indued with the light of Nature only did shew the work of the Law written in their hearts by doing moral virtues Romans the second chapter much more ought Christians that are indued with grace from above to shew forth this diligence that it may be visible to the world The Apostle shews there are two hopes Spes internae dulcedinis extremae operationis the one is concealed and inward the other is apparent and to be seen The inward hope bringeth this to passe That the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts Rom. 5. 5. and therefore is to be likened This hope doth likewise effect this That we have the spirit of God bearing witnesse to our spirits that we are the Chrildren of God Rom. 8. It is as it were absconditum Manna Apoc. the second chapter which doth inwardly feed our souls But howsoever this be good yet not without danger for as the Apostle sheweth there are that have been lightned with knowledge and have tasted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come and yet fall away Hebrews the sixt chapter and the fourth verse Therefore he calls not for this diligence but will have them make it evident which he expresseth in these words that it be the same diligence which is the third point Wherein he teacheth in what this demonstrative diligence standeth that is as the former verse sheweth in the work and labour of love and in ministring to the Saints that is the doing of works of charity makes the oftensive diligence Whereby he teacheth that this oftensive or demonstrative diligence is the touch stone of our hope as the Apostle saith The works of love are the touchstone of faith for true faith worketh by love Galatians the fift chapter This diligence cannot deceive us of which our Saviour Christ saith John the fift chapter They that have done good shall come forth into 〈◊〉 life and the comfortable sentence pronounced by the Judge at the 〈◊〉 day upon all those that have shewed forth this diligence in doing the works of mercy shall be Come ye blessed possesse the kingdome prepared for 〈◊〉 Matthew the twenty fift chapter It 〈◊〉 not to say to a brother or sister that is naked and destitute of daily food Depart in peace warm your selves fill your bellies but the inward compassion must shew it self outwardly by giving them those things which are needfull to the body James the second chapter and the fifteenth verse Therefore the Apostle Peter willeth them that are perswaded of the great and pretious promises that are made them not to stay there but make their election sure to them by this oftensive diligence that to their faith they add virtue to virtue knowledge which if they doe they shall never fail the second epistle of Peter the first chapter And the Apostle St. John saith Hereby we know that we are translated from death unto life because we love the brethren and that not in word and tongue only but in deed and truth the first epistle of John the third chapter and the fourteenth verse God to assure us of his mercifull promises in Christ is said not only to have sealed us but also to have given us the earnest of the spirit into our hearts the second epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter and the twenty second verse The concealed diligence is as the earnest which a man puts in his purse but the oftensive diligence is like to a seal which may be shewed to all men for as Christ witnesseth Our lights must so shine before all men that the wicked and ungodly by seeing our good works may take occasion to glorifie God and be converted Matthew the fift chapter If we use diligence and shew forth our diligence in doing those works of love we shall attain to hope and that not faint or
and men of great honour could be content to labour all the day 1 Sam. 11. 5. I trow our World now is wiser in which men hold scorn of work Then Jacob when he saw the money in the sacks thought it some over-sight of Joseph and therefore sent it again Gen. 44. 12. But now men are wiser they count restitution a childish thing and think other mens oversight to be their good gain It had an infancie then at the beginning at which time God by his word conceived three children Deformity Confusion Darknesse of the first he made the Earth of the second the Waters of the third the Lights which may teach us to setch our Pedigree aright by lineall descent from the first beginning for we are all the sonnes of Adam which was the sonne of dust which was the sonne of Deformity which was the some of nothing and this is the first father and beginning of our generation which may suffice against the error of the Heathen Pagans 2. 2. Another error there is which they being forced by reason to acknowledge a beginning yet did with it hold that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it hath been made from everlasting ever since there hath been a God for they say That as the beam had his beginning when the light began and as a shadow hath his beginning with the body so had the World a beginning when God began to be and then by necessity it must needs be Against which Moses saith not only that it was produced but it was produced in die in a certain prescribed day and therefore this proceeding was not eternall And here we must note that in die is not here taken for some one only day as some ground their conceit as if God made all things in one day For the day in which the light was made there was no Earth and when the Herbs were made there was in that day no man untill the sixth day as it is in the fifth verse This therefore overthroweth the second error before because all was made in a certain bound of time 3. Another â—ort there was which granted both these that the World was made and that in die but yet affirmed that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely that it was self borne and made it self or was produced and came of it self as a thing casuall and by chance which foolish and grosse opinion of Epicures was ever for the absurdity thereof hissed out of Schools but Moses meeteth with this also saying that the Lord made it And because it may be thought that there was divers Gods he telleth us by a name which was never heard of before this time by the which he describeth him unto us and that is Jehovah Thus he hath recapitulated all the former Chapter unto these three considerations which is all one with the first use of the first Chapter saving that here is expressed the name Jehovah which is not there for this name of God is the most glorious name Deut. 28. 58. and therefore Moses here reserveth it till every thing in this glorious World be fully accomplished and perfected In the 6. Exod. 3. it is said he was not known by this name before then that is whilest he was bringing any thing to passe and not yet perfected he is Elohim but when he hath fully performed it and set it on foot then he is known to be Jehovah by whom the thing hath his being and is that which it is for he is the essence and being of things that are There are many difficult mysteries in these names which because some are too curious in standing upon and others have itching eares listening too much after curiosities I will omit only this we must needs know which the nature of the word sheweth that God is he which is of himself and by whom all things are move and have their being for seeing we know not nor can see the nature of God we must give him a name according to the greatest benefits which we receive and the greatest works which we have seen But the work and benefit which is most common to all things is being Therefore by that name he is most fitly called for life moving and reason all things have not but every Creature hath his benefit of being and therefore he taketh his name from this general benefit which is seen in all Another reason of this name Jehovah is taken from the perfection of this being Exod. 3. 14. which is set down Revel 1. 4. because he was is and shall be for ever Therefore no Creature but God can ever say I am this is my name for if a Creature of the time that is past should say Before Abraham was I am John 8. 58. he should make himself God So if a Creature should in respect of the future tense say I am with you untill the end of the World Matth. 28. 20. he should therein make himself God who by propriety of nature may still say I am as it is his nature therefore this his name Jehovah signifieth that he hath the perfectest being and only such a being And thus much of the reasons of his name Elohim signifieth Power and Judgement The one sheweth his Might in doing the other his Truth and Justice in judging both which in his name shew that as it was he that did make the World so it is he also which shall judge the World at last for that as the one allureth us to love so the other yeildeth us matter of dread and fear So Jehovah signifieth not only Hagah which is making of things but also destroying and dissolving of things to nothing again Ezech. 7. 26. where it signifieth calamity and destruction So doth his name Shaddi import not only plenty and nourishment but also punishment and undoing of things So that in all his names this nature of Mercie and Justice is expressed There is yet a further thing to observe for whereas before Heaven was first placed and had the precedence of Earth here the preheminence is given to the Earth and the Heaven doth come behinde in the last place Which whether it be the propriety of the tongue which usually beginneth with the latter thing was spoken of before or a mysterie to shew closely that the Heavens were made for the Earth and not the earth for the heavens or whether it darkly shadoweth out to us that in Christ Jesus Adam which is earth that is our nature shall be exalted above the highest heavens in the day of restauration I will not curiously discusse but allow each sense as having a good and a godly use to such as be sober minded Et omnem stirpem agri c. Verse 5. MOses in this verse passeth over the first estate of Creation and cometh now to the state of propagation in which things now 〈◊〉 that we may know that these things were not only made by the power of Gods word Coll. 1. 17. But also
As if he should say my commandement and will shall be the rule and direction of your will and works so in the new Testament St. Paul saith we must not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. But that we be sober and know and understand according to sobriety which is to prove what every thing is by the perfect will of God Rom. 12. 2.3 This then is the difference between Gods commandements and those which men doe make when men though they be the greatest doe command any thing they therefore doe command things because they be good and lawfull and when we deal with them we therefore obey their Laws so farre forth as the things they command are lawfull and good because their words and commandements have no power to make things good But when we deal with Gods commandements we simply obey all that he willeth because his commandement and word doe make things absolutely good ye though they before may seem to be evill yet after he hath commanded them they are made therefore perfectly good Nos volumus qua bona sunt bona autem sunt quia voluit Deus Gods good will therefore is the best and most beneficiall thing for us and our good and the things he commandeth are the wisest things for us to follow howsoever they seem to corrupt reason and sense which are ill Judges in those matters Thus much then for our application and use that when our actions are agreeable to Gods word and law then they are according to Gods will And therefore we may be sure that it is best for our behoof Nam quo die comederis de eo utique moriturus es Gen. 2. 17. June 22 1591. EVery Law hath in it two principall parts the one containeth the body and tenor of it the other comprehendeth the sanction and penalty Touching the body of the Law we have entrcated already both of the subject and also of the action of it Now therefore we are come to the latter part to consider of the punishment threatned to the breach of it concerning which we say That as there is required necessarily in the Law giver authority and right to command so likewise in him must be a power and ability to correct and punish the transgressors or else his authority is without an edge Both these therefore are seen in the Law-maker by the parts of this Law the one being the directive part serving for direction the other being the corrective part which serveth for execution And every one may be sure that he is subject and under one of these This then is as if Moses had said Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this Non comedes but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this If you will needs eat and 〈◊〉 your will before mine and your lusts before my love then be ye sure of this That in that day thou shalt dye the death for death is the sower and bitter sawce of this sweet meat Rom. 6. 23. Touching the punishment in it self we are to know that in every punishment inflicted for offence there is required Justice to give it in a due proportion that there be an equality between the punishment and offence As in the Law he that will desire another mans Sheep and steal it he in justice is to restore four-fold Again reason and equity requireth that the punishment must be of greater force to 〈◊〉 and discourage from sinne then the sinne must be to perswade and entise us to it Such an equality is in this For because he took liberty to stretch his will and desire further than he should therefore that he should lose the first liberty he had for this is just and equall 〈…〉 etiam poneret modum beneficio and that he that observeth not the manner of using it should lose the right use which he had It is therefore reason and right that either we should Dimittere voluntatem male vivendi aut amittere facultatem bene 〈◊〉 This we say to justifie God because men think that this sinne of eating such a fruit is not a capitall offence and that God was too hard to 〈◊〉 this so sore a punishment on it Touching the second point which is concerning the cause of his death which must not be ascribed to God because the cause is found in our own selves for God saith If you eat you shall die that is you shall be causes and authors of your own death your blood light on your own heads for I am not guilty thereof which we shall the better percive and esteem if we consider that which before I have shewed that Adam was made immortall non necessitate naturae sed vi 〈◊〉 gratiae not by natural necessity but by the priviledge of Gods grace for Adam consisting of contrarie qualities by his own nature they must needs in regard of themselves be the cause of death to them as they were to the beasts But notwithstanding this subjection to mortality and possibility to dye in regard of their nature Gods grace did sustain their bodily life and kept them from death so long as they kept themselves from sinne But now si hence transgression besides the necessity of nature their sinne also did pluck death upon them and was the cause of this curse So long therefore as man kept his first estate he was united to God which was life and had use of the tree of life which then was 〈◊〉 Deo and had this grace to preserve life and by that means so long we had an immunity from death because we were 〈◊〉 with the prop of Gods grace which was the cause of our immortality but when 〈◊〉 did cause that prop to be pulled away which sustained the 〈◊〉 of our nature then we could not choose but dye both by the necessity of nature and desert of our sinne If we had leaned still to the stay of our nature and not trusted so much to our own wills and wisdoms it had gone well with us But this voluntarie forsaking of God and leaning on the broken staffe and reedis stay of our own was the cause of our fall into sinne and so unto death Thus we see God justified in this sentence saying Morieris because he is neither the Author or Cause of Malum naturae which is sinne nor yet of 〈…〉 which is death But man causing both culpam poenam doth both wayes cleer God and condemn us and our selves are proved to be the cause of both 3. Point The kinde of death Now touching the third point which respecteth the kinde of death here threatned for there are several kindes of death Rev. 2. 11. Rev. 20. 6. there is the temporall and eternall the naturall and spirituall the first and second death which of these is here in this punishment threatned St. Augustine answereth that God doth here mean both whatsoever death may be included from the beginning of our life unto the last death all that is here
sociable to us nor be serviceable to us but only at our table for meat wherefore they being as it were of another world and of another nature and disposition divers from ours they could not be meet for our company and therefore in vain had it been to have called them into this solemn assembly of earthly creatures God is said then to bring all these creatures before man therefore they came not at mans call nor yet of their own accord but by the speciall commandement of almighty God And indeed without Gods powerfull commission we may come to them for they will not come to us or if they come it is to doe us hurt or to make us affraid of them Job 39. 12. This word then of God which brought them together is not an audible word Sed vox in silentia as Job saith Job 4. 16. And it is called Gods whistle Esay 7. 18. for if he call yea if he doe but hisse and whistle for innumerable Caterpillars and Froggs they will speedily come in swarms to doe his will Psal. 105. 34. Thus we see that verbum illud quod produxit idem adduxit haec omnia Adamo By which words we may observe that God doth also now invest man into his rule and dominion over all the creatures by bringing them before him as their Lord to doe their homage unto him for it was the like custome in Israell when any was annointed King that all Israell should suddenly come together before him that they might know and acknowledge him to be their ruler 1 Sam. 10. 17. Such a like thing is here for all creatures by Gods appointment doe as it were meet at a Parliament by generall consent to annoint man to be their King Now in the next place we must consider the end why this solemn assembly was made the principall thing indeed is to discover to Adam that amongst all the creatures which were yet made there was not one meet and worthy enough to be his companion as it may appear in the 20 verse But withall there is besides it a second subordinate end which is that man should give names to all creatures and to see how Adam would call them by which we see that God loveth not dumb shews and will not have Adam idle in beholding his creatures but would have him to exercise that wisdome which God had given him in giving them names for it is said to be a wise part by the outward sight and view of things to be led to an inward and wise consideration thereby by which he might learn instruction so will God have him too while he looketh over them first to be led to a wise consideration of the natures of the things that he seeth and then to give fit names to them according to their divers natures which by sight he perceiveth which we have seen to be the very order that God useth Gen. 1. 4. So soon as he saw the light presently he is said to consider of it namely that the nature of it was good and therefore presently proceedeth to give it a fit name agreeable to the nature which he saw to be in it In the first God doth establish in man as a meet thing for that reasonable creature the speculative part of wisdome which is the duty of meditation study and contemplation which is expressed by the word seeing for so the prophers were called in the old times Seers of this 1 Sam. 9. 9. And again we must know that this speculation by study and reason looking into the nature of things is not only lawfull and allowable in divine matters which is the studie of divinity but also in the generall study of naturall Philosophy by which we may look into the nature of all the creatures which God hath made which is by nothing else but by meditation to call them to minde and then as having them before us wisely to consider of their natures and names so David did confesse That he did often meditate of all the works of Gods hand Psal. 143. 5. Another point that Adam was not only enjoyned to see and consider of their natures and names but also to utter in words and in names the things which in his wisdome he had conceived of them by which God doth as it were untie the string of his tongue and open his mouth that by speech and audible and sensible words he might shew and utter his wise conceipts for the communicating of that knowledge which was in him unto all others after him to this end therefore God made him a tongue as well as eyes that his wisdome and learning should not be buried in his breast but might be expressed for the good of others by which also we doe see the approbation commendation and allowance of two other notable Arts and Sciences given unto man namely Grammer and Rhetotick by which our mouths are opened to utter knowledge aright God cannot abide that men should misname things as to call things which are good by evill names or to call evill good Esay 5. 20. Therefore God will have him take a speciall view of all things first and then afterwards to name them First therefore we must have knowledge by studie and contemplation before we take upon us to professe it by eloquution But now a dayes it is not as it was at the beginning for we take upon us to be 〈◊〉 professors and preachers of knowledge before ever we studie we attain to the knowledge and understanding of that which we professe to teach This authority which man hath to give names to all creatures doth first argue his sovereignty and his supremacy over them all Psal. 49. 11. For there David saith when men have houses and lands of their own then they take upon them as having most right to call them after their owne name that is to give them what names they please to impose So doth God himself reason 45 Esay 4. I have called them by my own name therefore they are mine It was God's course in 17. Gen. 5. when Abram had vowed his subjection to God by the Sacrament of Circumcision and given himselfe to bee his servant then God to shew his authority over him gave him a new name calling him Abraham So was it the custome of kings and princes having by force of arms made any subject unto them to shew their soveraignty over them they used to alter their names and call them by names of their own inventing as we may read 2 Kings 23. 24. for of Eliakim is called Joakim and Mateniah is called Zedekias 2 Kings 24. 17. So here God having made all things subject to man and him the Lord and Ruler over them Psal. 8. to declare that royall prerogative which he had he giveth him also leave and authority to give them what names he pleaseth and so they for ever should be called Which also doth argue the great and rare wisedome and knowledge which Adam had in this happy
estate for it is a great point of wisedome so to distinguish the natures of Gods Creatures as to give them fit and proper names expressing their natures he knew as it appeareth not only rerum Idola but also was able to give verborum idiomata that is such a propriety of words and names to each severall thing whereby their divers natures and qualities might be discerned The man therefore gave names to all the Cattell c. The reason of the Mandate or Writ as we have heard was partly to honour man as Gods Lievtenant on earth and as Lord of all his Creatures and partly to express the great and singular wisedome and knowledge which God then had induced him withall The Content of which was to call a generall muster and assembly of all his Creatures before Adam that a survey might be made to see whether any meet help for man might be found to avoyd solitariness because it was not good for him to be alone and it was Gods purpose at this solemne meeting and Parliament to invest man into his dominion and to declare him to be their Lord by giving them names Now in this verse is first contained the execution of the Writ shewing all was so and then in the latter end of the verse is set down the retorn of the Writ in these words he found not a meet help for him As the Commandement had 2. parts namely the considering their natures and giving them names so hath all wise men distinguished by all the ancient Hebrews calling some men of profound judgement and deepe knowledge and others men of eloquence and excellent judgement and utterance Both which gifts of God hardly are found together in any one man 〈◊〉 are given ro divers diversly as it pleaseth the Giver But to Adam at the first both were given in a full and perfect measure and both of them are here gounded upon Gods allowance as being lawfull and good and also upon Gods Commandement as a thing most agreeable to the nature of man namely to spend his time in study for the increase of knowledge and in declaration of his knowledge to others by wise sentences and words for to this end God made man animal rationis orationis particeps with which no other earthly creature is endowed therefore the ancient Fathers have noted in Adam's two estates the one to be pater viventium the other to bee pater scientium that is The Father and teacher of all knowledge for as Tubal is said to be the father and author of Musick Gen. 4. 21. so may Adam be said to bee pater Theologiae Philosophiae Gramaticae Rhetoricae c. hee was the first that practised Contemplation and the first that practised Eloquution by that excellent light of nature which God had given him and the first as here wee see that gave proper sit and significant names and words to expresse the natures of things and hee was not only the father of all the liberal Sciences but also of all mechanical Arts Gen. 3. 19. pater agriculturae c. by all which wee briefly see the perfection of his minde and the excellency of his gifts with which hee was endowed So that Adam then must needes bee granted to bee the first and the chiefest Author of all Knowledge and Learning that ever since in all ages of the world hath beene among men for from him it was derived and spread abroad among his posterity into all parts of the world for Adam's knowledge both of Divinity and all other natural things was derived to the house of Sheth and from him to Noah and so conveyed to the house of Sem and after remained amongst the sonnes of Heber Gen. 10. 21. and from thence was kept and continued in Abraham's family which were called the Children of the East Gen. 52. 6. from which East parts of the world this Knowledge and Learning which was first in Adam was spread abroad among the learned men of Egypt Acts 7. 22. In which learning of the AEgyptians Moses was trayned up and therefore was prepared not only by the instrument of God's spirit but also by the known received truth of the knowledge of these points in all the world to set down unto us these things of our fore-Fathers in the beginning of the world and it may appeare by this that Adam was worthy to be counted the Father of all knowledge and learning because herein is seen the perfection thereof in him for to name all good creatures so infinite in number and so divers in kinde and that to give to every one of them a distinct name and yet so fit and proper to them according to their natures as that God would not change nor 〈◊〉 them but say so shall they be called this argueth in him an absolute perfection of knowledge which hath not since been had As he was the Father of knowledge within so was he of utterance and expressing it by words because we say that he was the first Linguist that was in the world and indeed intelligence and utterance have very neer affinity and friendship as the Latine words shew for Ratio and Oratio doe sound alike and in Greek the word doth signifie not only the act of contemplation for knowledge but also the act of utterance for speech and conference by which it is made known for the one is verbum 〈…〉 the other verbum ore 〈◊〉 and is agreed upon by all learned men that the Hebrew tongue is the originall tongue and most ancient by which Adam expressed his minde Hebrew the the ancient language and therefore it is called of many the holy 〈◊〉 for this tongue went from Adam to Noah from Noah to 〈◊〉 and from thence 〈◊〉 is manifested that it continued as the general tongue and language in all the whole world untill the confusion of 〈◊〉 Eusebius 〈…〉 doth prove this most plainly and 〈◊〉 that the 〈◊〉 tongue was the first and most ancient from the beginding and that which Adam here used in 〈◊〉 names to all the Greatures for he of purpose here confuteth the 〈◊〉 which doe affirm that all knowledge language and learning are derived from Chaldea which he first disproveth by the letters of the Alphabet And that the Greek tongue was derived from the 〈…〉 proveth because 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 which Greek words signifie their men of learning and knowledge are words plainly derived from the 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 they doe borrow their 〈◊〉 and original As therefore 〈◊〉 knowledge and wisdome being 〈◊〉 is most perfect and absolute so is this tongue and language of 〈◊〉 which Adam 〈…〉 rich and sufficient of it 〈◊〉 For whereas all other tongues even the Greek doe shew their beggerlinesse and argue and she 〈◊〉 imperfection in this that they borrow words and 〈◊〉 from their senior tongues and because they are sain to make 〈…〉 pounds to expresse their minds but this Hebrew and holy 〈◊〉 on the other side borrow 〈◊〉 not of any tongue
〈…〉 all and also 〈◊〉 in such simplicity of words and yet hath such a 〈◊〉 and majestle in every phrase that Eusebius faith well of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 for so we see that God approveth all the names which Adam giveth to the Creatures saying that as the man called them so should their 〈◊〉 and so continue to the worlds end Now we are come from this generall consideration of his tongue and language to consider of the names in particular which he gave Touching it I will give you but a taste of a few because it were infinite to reckon all the excellent significant and most fit names of the Creatures which he gave Adam having first severed the Beasts from the Fowls as being distinct in nature among all the Beasts he seeing a Horse he knew that God had made him for man to ride and trundle upon for his case and better speed doth therefore at the first sight according to the nature of him give this name which in 〈◊〉 signifieth a swift Runner So seeing the Sheep and knowing that God had made them to beare wooll to cloath and keep warm he by and by calleth him the man clothier An Asse he nameth the mase Porter because he knew his nature was to carry mens burdens c. So for the Fowls he seeing the Eagle to be the Prince and chief of Birds giveth him a name of the noblenesse of his nature The Peacock he calleth a pround Bird of that inward property of pride which he knew to be in him The Stork he calleth the gratefull loving or pitifull bird for the dutifull care and kindnesse which he hath of his Damme So for creeping things he calleth the Serpent by the name of subtilnesse or deceivablenesse which knowledge of his dangerous nature might have made him beware and take heed of him The Locust hath his name of going out in swarms The Bee hath his name given him of his artificiall cunning workmanship with which God hath naturally indued him in making his Combes of honey and waxe By all which Adams great wisdome and insight into the nature of things is seen because the name doth so fitly answer the nature of things And thus much of the execution of the Decree concerning the denomination of Creatures Now we are come to the 〈◊〉 of this Writ which is set down in these words He found not a meet help for him Touching which we may observe that he returneth not the answer of this that he had given meet names to all the Creatures by which they should be called for ever But letting this passe he saith that He could not finde a meet help for Man which sheweth indeed that this was the most chief and principall end of the assembling the Creatures before him that he might finde a help and fit companion for him if any were for not finding argueth a seeking and seeking argueth a desire to have a companion like him and that desire argueth a want which want made him to seek diligently but he could not finde therefore here he returneth Non est inventus This is then q.d. somewhat Adam found by search and seeking namely the divers natures and qualities of good Creatures which were made for his good But yet because they were all bruitish and unreasonable he refused them all to be his mate for in Adam God had placed naturally not only appetitus socii sed etiam similitudinis that is to be one of his own kinde nature and disposition but he found none as yet This confession of his want doth argue there this conclusion of his desire to God as Augustine saith 〈◊〉 simile non est simile ergo Domine fac simile Vocavissetque Adam nominibus pecudem quamlibet volucrem Coeli omnemque bestiam agri non aderat Adamo auxilium commodum Gen. 1. 20. Octob. 19. 1591. I Shewed that the Precept was directed to the Beasts and Fowl to come before man Gods Lieutenant whereby he was invested with honour and supremacie above the beasts here Gods generation in the 4. verse is named by man This verse standeth upon the execution and return of the Precept directed to man which commandement as I told you stood upon two parts Seeing and Calling The Hebrews in their tongue call themselves not only men of speculation but also men of utterance and practise adduxit ut videret vocaret It is received as approved in divinity that in Adam are two estates First out of the fourth verse of this Chapter that though God be Pater generationis yet Adam is Pater generatorum the father of the World as in the 20. verse of the next Chapter Hevah had her name for that she was Mater cunctorum viventium Adam pater contemplationis And secondly hence they say he is called Pater contemplationis for by the Divines both ancient and new there are in Adam two perfections the one of Minde and Understanding the other of his Will the one is gratia gratis dats the other is aceepta the one concerneth his Wisdome the other his Justice Hence they gather his Wisdome by the knowledge of natures to give apt names and his Justice out of the last verse of the first Chapter God bash made man righteous but they have sought many inventions saith the Wiseman Preach 7. 29. that is God made mans minde without corruption in the beginning his will was free his thoughts strait his understanding without questions The multitude of Quarists and Quomodists of those that make doubts and questions come from the Devill who saith in the beginning of the third Chapter cur praecepit vobis Deus ut non comederitis Wisdome in contemplation and utterance Tertulltan saith well that the knowledge of man standeth either in scientiis mutis as in contemplation in videre or in scientiis disertis that is in utterance in vocare that is as the School-men say in the science of Reals and Nominals For the first which is to weigh in silence Paul in 1 Cor. 13. 2. saith There is a knowledge of 〈◊〉 and of Mysterie Adam as it were induced with a propheticall spirit in the 23. verse said that she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh being before in an heavie sleep There was in Adam a science of Mysteries in that he was made in Gods Image the 26. of the first Chapter and by his obedience he knew the Mysterie of the tree of life which was his erernall reward as it is in the end of the 22. verse of the next Chapter Now last for the knowledge of The knowledge of Adam in naural Philosophie Philosophie it was in Adam The knowledge of wisdom is as gold of the Creation as of silver this of nature and of names as pearl Of Salomon Great was the knowledge of Salomon in natural Philosophie who spake of the nature of Trees of Beasts and of Fowls 1 Kings 4 33. Of Moses And Moses he was
learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians Acts 7. 22. Yet by the Fathers in this knowledge of the natures of things above both these Moses and Salomon Of Noah Noah is preferred who knew the clean beasts from the unclean which by paires he took into the Ark chap. 7. 2. The wisdome of all the Heathen Philosophers compared to the knowledge of these three Noah Moses and Salomon was but ignorance Adam a greater Philosopher than they Yet Adam was a greater Philosopher than those three The reasons thereof For first Adam was created in wisdome without corruption their wisdome was bred in corruption and the Heathen are destroyed in their own wisdoms Psal. 9. 15. They three and all the wise men of the World had the light of their understanding per scientiam acquisitam by study and former observation Adam had his without observation non per discursivam scientiam sed intuitivam for when he had beheld them he gave them names Others got their wisdome by studie and travell for in the multitude of wisdome is much grief and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow saith the Wiseman in Preach 1. 18. but Adam in Paradise had no grief No one of them knew all things but Adam knew all things not only perfectly but exactly whereupon Austin saith well that Ignorantia est paena lapsi non natura originis Adam Magister viventium Lastly Adam is not only Pater but Magister viventium God gave him wisdome he learned it not Doceo requireth a double Accusative in Esay 28. 9. the Prophet faith Quem docebit scientiam Whom shall God teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts But Adam was not weaned from the breasts which had no Mother 〈◊〉 a man of good learning gathereth out of the Greek Fathers Adam sons scientiae that Adam was as a fountain of knowledge From him cometh others wisdome which came from him by tradition and observation unto Noah and so to Abraham and so to his sonnes dwelling in the East Countrie chap. 25. 6. in Chaldea and Persia from thence it came to Egypt Salomon in 1 Kings 4. 30. is said to have excelled in wisdome all the wise men of the East and of Egypt from Egypt it came to Greece from thence to Italie and so to us in this West corner of the World He gave names apt And that the wisdome of Adam excelled all other they ground it upon this for that he gave them names which God approved Non dedit nomina ex suo arbitrio he gave them names not by chance but with discretion the name agreeing fitly with the nature and infinite fit names in one day did he give unto a multitude of Creatures which argueth great wisdome to be in him which he could not have done unlesse he had looked into their natures and the naming is allowed for that God praiseth it as it is in 2 Cor. 10. 18. Rehoboams name unmeet Our names sometime by unskilfulnesse prove just contrarie as Salomon named his sonne Rehoboam a delighter but he was a destroyer of the People Elimas Elymas had his name aright for he was a Sorcerer Acts 13. 9. Naomi Marah Naomi after she was in miserie would no more be called Naomi which is beautifull but Marah which is bitter Ruth 1. 20. This is the ground of Lologie Secondly From hence they gather the institution of Lologie that is of speech both in videre and nominare is great wisdome in silence and speech is a wiseman known the Greeks in logos doe expresse both the Latines in two words differing but a letter the one ratio the other oratio Aaron was wise in speech Exod. 4. 14. Paul in 2 Cor. 11. 6. saith though I be rude in speaking yet I am not so in knowledge Apollos is said to be a man of knowledge an eloquent man Acts 18. 24. The originall tongue hath natural The original tongue by the names expresseth the natures which tongue was the most ancient when all the world were of one tongue And though that in the dayes of Peleg the sonne of Heber the sonne of Shem the sonne of Noah the earth was divided by diversitie of languages chap. 10. 25. yet Peleg kept it Peleg kept the originall The Greeks tongue from it Eusebius saith the Greeks doe boast that their tongue never came from other but from it self But quoth he from whence have they α and ω their first and last letters have they them not from Aleph and Beth of the Hebrews Magus and Sophos wisemen in Greek comes not the one from agath the other from zopho in Hebrew Cadmus from Heber brought Aleph and Beth into Phoenicia It borroweth nothing This tongue borroweth nothing from any other tongue all tongues borrow from it it is the most sufficient tongue Fire and water in Greek have their original from the Hebrew It is without composition All other tongues saith he are full of composition this in simplicitie and majestie excelleth all other for no tongue is so capable of trope and figure as is this as they know well that have skill in the tongue The antiquity qualitie and dignitie of the originall And after that Eusebius hath shewed the antiquitie the qualitie and majestie of this tongue he concludeth thus lingua haec digna est Adamo institutore Deo approbatore The name agrees with the nature Now for the naming the names agree with the nature of the thing named The ignorant man nameth a thing following not esse 〈◊〉 but scire suum not the nature of the thing but his own knowledge But Adam as a man of exact wisdome giveth names according to their nature that have stood since the beginning and shall stand so to the end of the world The name expresseth the propertie The nature of a thing is called the essence or the propertie he gave a name according to the nature not of the essence but of the propertie Gassanus a learned man saith a Creature of it self is nothing but from God all things receive their essence In Hebrew God is called the name The name of God who can tell saith Esay Gods two names God hath two names one qua est which is of his essence incomprehensible the other is qua câ—…sa est this is the name of his goodnesse and so we may conceive him All names man giveth is of the property we say commonly this is the nature scilicet the propertie of a thing Propertie sensible or intelligible The knowledge of which properties is either sensible of outward things or intelligible of inward qualities The names of things after Adam were of properties sensible as Esau was so called for that he was red and rough with haire Jacob was so called for that at his birth he held Esau by the heel his
brothers supplanter Genesis 25. And Peleg had his name aright namely division Adams names of inward properties But Adams names came from inward qualities which he could perceive partly by the light of nature wherein are to be considered three things as you may see by 1 Kings 4. 29. Adams knowledge In Salomons wisdome was knowledge By the light of nature Secondly intelligence or understanding Of grace And thirdly he had a large heart even as the sand on the Sea shoare that is he was able to comprehend all things by the capacitie of his memory But these were more excellently in Adam than in Salomon who had no vanity to seduce him no sicknesse to weaken him no temptation to hinder his wisdome as Salomon had He could also see these inward qualities by the light of Grace In lumine tuo videbimus lumen saith David Psal. 36. 9. In thy light O Lord shall we see light The divisions of the light of grace The Fathers doe say that lumen gratiae is either per Deum or Angelos This light of God came to men either by apparition as to Noah Moses c. or by revelation which is inspired into us By vision many saw this light Wisd. 17. 6. and Gods knowledge slideth into our hearts The other light we see is of Angells by their visitation as Gabriel visited Daniel and made him understand the vision Daniel 8. 16. Which visitation of Angels Adam had The light of glorie Beyond these there is lux gloriae the light of glorie Whereby Adam saw his reward in the Heavenly Paradise by obedience visio essentiae divinae is the reward to see and enjoy the essence of God was his reward whereunto Adam whilest he lived obedient in Paradise hoped to be translated from the earthly to the heavenly Paradise To him that overcommeth shall be given a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it the name is reward and honour Revel 2. 17. Then shall we see God face to face that is in lumine gloriae in the light of his glorie whom now we see through a glasse darkly 1 Cor. 13. 12. Two glasses whereby we see God The Glasses whereby God is seen in this world are of two sorts the one is dark the other bright the one is dimme as the light through an horn the other is a light through a Glasse Adam we the Angells see God We see God in this world as through a dimme light Adam in Paradise in state of innocencie as through a bright Glass The Angels see him in heaven essentially Our sight was from the earth where is miserie Adams from Paradise where was grace The Angels sight is in the heavenly Paradise where glorie beholdeth glorie Our knowledge of God is inaenigmate is as in a Riddle The knowledge of God by Adam in Paradise was as through a clear Glasse But the Angels in the heavens knew God face to face The things named Now of the object and what was named by man There were Six names God giveth six individuall names given by God himself as the light God called day a time active Seconly The darkness he named night a time to recover strength called lagela leagala Thirdly The firmament he called heaven from whence is the influence of the aire and the winde Fourthly The drie land he called earth Fistly The Sea which of its own nature would swell fifteen cubits above the highest hill was altered by the name from turning magim to jagim Lastly he called Man Adam that is of the earth Adam giveth apt names Here Adam giveth names first to the beasts that are serviceable and then to the birds and fowls that flie in the Aire To the Beasts He at the first sight without a Counsellor gave apt names to every beast to all the Cattell of the field which are infinite and this we may see for all the Cartell in the names of three to the Horse he gave a name to be mans currer to the Sheep to be his Clothier to the Asse to be his Porter for so the names of these doe sound in the Hebrew tongue To the Fowl Likewise he gave apt names unto the Birds as the Eagle is a noble bird for it preyeth not upon the bird that keepeth him warm all the night neither doth he flie that way in the morning that that bird flyeth the Peacock is proud the Stork is kinde the Serpent a slider the Ant bites the end of the Corn that it should not grow the Ant called a Gnawer from the Elephant to the Ant did he give apt names The Locusts of the swarms the Bees of their government have their names Naming for distinction of kinde and propertie So the virtues of naming are two for the distinguishing of kinde and of propertie So that the argument is good from the thing to the name and from the name to the thing according to the name is the nature and according to the nature is the name Jacob had his name aright his name was Supplanter and he supplanted his brother But for Adam there was not a meet help Briefly of the return But for Adam was not found an help meet for him A Non est inventus is returned a Creature suitable to mans nature found he not and that he should not want a meet help Woman was taken out of man Not finding implyeth a seeking seeking a desiring and desiring implyeth a want A neccessarie conversion And that we doe want we desire and that we desire we seek and that we seek we shall finde Adam among the beasts found not a meet help yet he sought an help which he desired because he wanted Non invenit 〈◊〉 bestias adjutorem 〈◊〉 sibi yet did he behold the beasts and the end of this contemplation is not fruitlesse there is a curious contemplation such was that of Hevah chap. 3. 6. The end of Mans contemplation in Paradise was in humility and the end of the contemplation of the Beasts and Fowls here you see is a supply of an help For the first you doe see Preach 3. 10. that the travell of men is given them by God to humble them David in Psal. 8. 5. saith Quid est 〈…〉 memor es ejus Domine When he hath considered the natures and beheld the beasts and finding among them no meet help then he desireth a supplie And happie is the meditation when it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oratione in prayer Among Beast helps not meet helps Among so many beasts no doubt he found some helpers but they were mute without conference bruitish without reason all of them looking downward But man before his fall was in honore positus he was straight both in body and in minde Psal. 49. 20. Among them as I have shewed he found many helpers as the Horse to ride upon the Sheep to cloath him the Asse to bear
womans creation before and shewed Gods bringing them together and joyning them in marriage Now in these words he goeth forward and sheweth what liking he had of her and also what name and title he gave unto her for so in his speech we are to consider his affection and her name which is here expressed before in the 19. and 20. verses We have seen that Adam seeking and searching among all the Creatures of God could finde no meet help or Companion for him for he saw only muta bruta versuta that is brutish things without reason speech or any other resemblance or likeness to him But now he awaking suddenly out of sleep and but one only creature being brought to him he at the first sight perceiving her both in nature body and minde to be most like unto him seemeth with the joy of a Bridegroom to say why this is mine own self one even after my heart and desires even another new Adam saving for the sex This may seem to be his confession at the first sight when he had found her In which confession is expressed his joy and affection towards her as it may appear in the emphasis of this word jam nunc for so we shall see it often in the Scriptures for a note of some joy or gladness conceived within So it is Gen. 29. 32. Now my husband will love me likewise 35. verse Now I will praise the Lord c. In which words Leah sheweth her joyfull affection at the birth of Juda and Levi besides the utterance of the words doe argue her rejoysing for we may observe in the former verse that whereas not his placing and pleasu in Paradise not the presence or enjoying of the Tree of life nor any else which he saw there could make him open his lipps to talk of it as not being much moved or delighted with them yet now as soon as ever he seeth and enjoyeth her presence and person he could not contein but breaketh out into this triumph of joy and love as who should say I doe not esteem and take any such love or comfort in the pleasures or treasures of Paradise nor in the Lordship of the Creatures nor in the possession of the whole earth nor all that is therein as now I doe in the presence and possession of this Woman which God in singular love and of his speciall grace hath given to me In which he teacheth us nothing else but that which Salomon saith of a good and virtuous wife Pro. 19. 14. riches lands and possessions may men give us or may fall to us by inheritance sed mulier intelligens est denum dei q.d. she is farre more precious than all things and most worthy to be esteemed which we see is most plainly found in Adam in this place who could not be drawn to such a joyfull speech untill now Because all the things in Paradise were small joy or comfort to him so long as he was in solitariness and wanted the companion of his life If we look into the nature of these words 〈◊〉 and bone we shall see that by them are fitly expressed the two ends for which woman was made for by this phrase he signifieth that if she was of him of the substance of his flesh and bone so was she made for him to be as helpfull and as necessarie for his good as his flesh and bone The bones of men as we know are the strength and props to uphold the body so should there be an ability and strength in the woman to help and sustain the man and his 〈◊〉 And as this is the help of society so as she is flesh she is as good a help and means to beare children to the man which is said to arise out of the nature of the flesh John 1. 13. for all Adams sonnes are born after the will of the flesh and to this end God hath placed delight and pleasure in the flesh which is called the 〈◊〉 of the flesh John 1. 16. So that the end of the womans creation 〈…〉 ad problem And thus much of the speech as it 〈◊〉 her denomination in which we may see that God doth not give him the honor only to give names to other Creatures which were made to be his servants but also he giveth him leave to impose a name to his wife which is after a sort equal to himself In which denomination he doth communicate and impart his own name unto her and would have her to wear a part of his own name by which she may be known to be his own which custome we see is yet 〈◊〉 and continued amongst the children of Adam yea even amongst the heathen whose saying was to them whom they vowed to make their wife ubi ega sum Caius tu eris Caia that is thou shalt be intituled and endowed first with mine owne name So we see that after the Wedding in which the wife is brought and given to the man her name is for ever eclipsed as our Law saith and she must shine by her husbands name and the giving this name to her doth not only argue a propriety and right in her but also a sovereignty and power over her as her head which also is manifested in this that she was not only made ex eo sed propter eum she was not only brought ad eum but also had her name de eo which four prepositions propter ad ex de are four strong arguments to prove her subjection Again we see that Adam giveth her not every name by which he was called But his speciall and chiefest names is Ish out of which the name Ishah which is woman This his name Ish is a name of dignitie and honour which as some say is taken for the word Jashah which signifieth he is the Monarch and only Ruler of all Gods Creatures wherefore if Adam was preferred to this title of honour to be a King then he will impart it to his wife and make her as Queen and Empress with him We may read in the Scripture this note of difference touching his names being diversly applied for Ben Ish which is filius hominis is spoken in honor of those that are the best and excellent men But Ben Adam which is fillius Adam implieth the common and basest for Adam is a name of humility to put him in minde of the matter he was made of but Ish is a name of nobility to shew him Gods mercy in exalting him on earth But we shall best conceive what Adam meant in naming her thus by the reason which he rendred by calling her so Quia sumpta erat ex viro which is as if he had said this is the cause why I would have her called so because in this name all may see the wonderfull work of God in making her so and that all may know I love thee as my self therefore this shall be thy name To conclude concerning this name we must note that
Church which professeth his name By this means then the Devill became not only envious but also an enemy to mankind and to effect the plot of his mischief which he had imagined Moses telleth us that he doth use the means and Instrument of a Serpent which was the subtillest beast of the field of which we shall have occasion to speak the next time Serpens autem erat astutus astutior quâvis bestiâ agri quam fecerat Jehova Deus Gen. 3. 1. THe persons which concurred in this temptation I shewed were of two sorts first the Tempter and then the Tempted The persons tempting are of two sorts the one plainly expressed by name to be the Serpent the other necessarily implied and to be understood namely the old Serpent which is called the Devill and Satan the destroyer and deceiver of mankinde Rev. 12. 9. so that we must conceive in this place that Satanus hic est personatus Serpens est inspiratus the Devill is in the shape of a Serpent and the Serpent is possessed with the Devill for we know that Serpents cannot speak and reason therefore it must needs be somewhat in him Herein then we see the disposition of evill and damnable Spirits who being fallen into miserie doe seek to draw all others into the same calamity in the which they are wrapped and plunged for the Devill will not only perire but also perdere and therefore as we see doth use all forcible means to bring it to pass But because he knew that he should never bring about the destruction of man so long as man should be united and tied fast to God in love and duty obeying his will therefore first of all he laboureth most subtilly to untie the knot by dissolving the Law and Commandement of God through the transgression of man and thus much of the chief actor in this temptation which is the Devill Now we come to the second person which is the means and instrument which he used for this purpose namely the Serpent Touching which we shall see that the ancient Philosophers and wise men of the world may seem to have had some knowledg for they call the evill Spirit the Serpentine Devill and a hellish Fury in the form and shape of a Serpent as if they had had some notice that he made choice of this Creature especially above other to doe the greatest mischiefto man In considering of the entrance of the Devill possessing the Serpent we must needs know that if the Devill will needs tempt Adam unto evill then he must of necessity doe it either with some inward suggestion or motion within or else by some externall temptation and allurement without But the Devill knew that Adam then in that estate of innocency had no evill concupiscence or corruption within by which he might fasten any ill motion or suggestion for his lust and affections were not as tinder that is were not apt to take any spark of the Devills temptations as ours are for we are not only as tinder very prone to take evill but as Gun-powder which with every spark is wholy enflamed and violently is carried away with the desire of evill his soul was not yet poysoned with the corruption of sinne as ours are therefore he saw that then there was no time nor place to assault him with inward temptations or perswasions to make him doe evill and therefore useth some sensible and ex ternall allurements to besiege him without To this end therefore he must needs appear in some visible and sensible shape and resemblance and that must either be in some form and shape suteable agreeable to Adams nature or else in some other apparition and form unlike him if he had appeared in some ugly and loathsome shape like to himself he knew that though he could not be terrified with fear being innocent and therefore without fear yet Adam and Eve would have contemned such an instrument and not have suffered him to have set abroach his assaults for which cause his policy and devise was to cover himself with a fairer mask and vizard that he may seem better and more beautifull then he was indeed Object But why did he not choose a better shape then of this Serpent Resp. I answer that no doubt his will was good for he would have fashioned himself into an Angell of light or have put on him the shape of a grave and sage Prophet as he did in deceiving Saul 1 Sam. 28. 13. But it must not be as the Devill will have it but as it pleaseth God to appoint and permit him And the fathers doe think that almighty God of set purpose did allot him this creature and restrain him all other for these two respects first thereby to punish the pride and the ambitious nature of the Devill that he might see and all the world perceive to what this sinne of pride had brought him because he which a little before was so vainglorious as to presume to exalt him in Gods throne and be as God is now cast down in most vile and miserable sort basely and contemptibly crawling upon the ground and being as the abject and most hated worm on the earth that so all men might see and consider what pride and ambitious vain glory will bring them unto but the Devills malice and envy towards man being now greater than his pride was before therefore it is no matter how vile and base the instrument and means be so it will serve his turn he will refuse nothing no not the Serpent if by his means he might bring man to the same condemnation and wrath in which he is already plunged The other respect they think was that the temptation of Satan might be more easie for Adam to resist and withstand for who would not think it most easie for Adam and Eve being so wise and excellent and furnished with all graces of Gods spirit to espie and contemn such ill counsell which would have him withdraw his allegiance and duty to God his gracious Creator especially being solicited thereto by so vile and base a creature as a Serpent is Who would not think it impossible that a weak worm should prevaile agaist Adam in the prime and excellency of his strength Again the very name of the Serpent which Adam according to his wisdome gave unto him might have given him a caveat and warning to sulpect the fly 〈◊〉 and subtilty of his nature for as Sathans name is by interpretation Tempter so in Hebrew Serpentare is as much in signification as Tentare and therefore such as are 〈◊〉 and eggers on of men to doe evill are in that tongue called Serpentes for their flynesse and craft because as Salomon saith Prov. 30. 19. A Serpents way can hardly be discerned So that Adam had a greater 〈◊〉 age of the Devill in this and might have taken such warning hereby as one would think it should have been easie for him to resist and overcome
speech in the 5. verse is rugitus Leonis in which he bewraieth himself at the full of which two the first is but introduction to the other mischief insuing For this is not the least policy of the Devill not to set upon her bluntly But like a Serpent slily and slowly to creep in her by little and little untill he hath espied some vantage Therefore his order is to bring her from questioning in talk to a doubt in opinion and from that to an error in judgement and so at last to a corrupt action in practise and to corrupt her minde within first he useth this order to tickle her eares with curiosity and by that to cause her to have a giddyness and swimming in the brain by fantasticall imaginations and surmizes and then to make her secure and careless of the truth and so at last maketh her somewhat inclineable to error and falsehood Now let us come to the particular word of God which the Devill in his dialogisme doth mean to intreat of which we see is that which is set down Gen. 2. 16. 17. In propounding of which we may consider how craftily and corruptly he dealeth with the sacred word of God to make it the better serve his turn in the temptation for he pareth off all that might make against him and instead of that putteth in by addition more than ever God spake that so it may be the fitter for his purpose he leaveth out first both all that went before and that which is after the Commandement that is he keepeth from her the consideration of Gods love and liberality which is in the 16. verse which was set to urge and induce them to willing obedience and also he 〈◊〉 off the consideration of Gods severe judgements which was set after to keep them by fear from disobedience If we shall compare this also with that originall in the 16. and 17. verses before we shall see how he depraveth and corrupteth the text for whereas it is said precipit Jehova the Devill doth extenuate it and saith dixit Deus q.d. If he did say it he did but speak it by way of talk as if he would not urge it for any matter of weight and importance Thus we see the Devills subtilty and sophistrie in disputing and the Devills Rhetorick in propounding this question the end of all which is either to make them doubt or at least to set light by the commandement of God Though he seemeth to give her good counsell and to advise her as a friend to consider of this thing more seriously for the bettering her estate yet his intent is at least to leave a scruple in her minde The chiefest poison that is hid in this dialogisme is in the interrogation cur or quare or as some will have it ne by which he demandeth whether it be so indeed said so It is scarce credible that God which maketh shew of favouring you should so hardly deal with you as to impose so hard a Law as this is and withall this his speech is so cunningly devised that it enforceth by way of insinuation a doubt and diffidence 〈◊〉 her thus q.d. Surely I for my part can hardly be induced to beleeve that God would enjoyn you such a Law I see no reason why it should be so By all which we see how he teacherh and bringeth her on to doubt and waver Last of all it is a flattering and cogging kinde of speech q.d. Though I may erre and be deceived being your poorest and simplest Servant yet you my Ruler whom God hath made wise as an Angell to judge uprightly of all things may happily conceive more of this matter than I can And withall it is a kinde of cunning to curry and keep in favour with her whatsoever effect the temptation should take for if she should have misliked of his speech he could have excused himself thus alas I made but a bare motion I neither affirmed it nor durst deny it but according to my simplicity asked the question and therefore I trust you will have me excused Tum dixit mulier Serpenti illi c. Gen. 3. 2. Novemb. 〈◊〉 1591. WE have seen before what the Devils Rhetorick and Sophistry is in his deceivable Dialogues both to bring a wavering doubt into her minde and at last to bring Gods holy word in discredit and contempt all which vile and blasphemous things if the Devill had said to Adam no doubt he would have dealt wisely as a Serpent with this wyly and wicked Serpent for he would have either stopped his eares and abhorred to hear the deceitfull words of this inchanting charm or else he would have shaked him off with apage as Christ did Matth. 4. 10. and said avant Satan get thee hence c. And so it may be thought to have been the greatest wisedome either to give him no eare or no answer or else a sharp check or reproof for these wicked tempting words This we may conjecture that the Man would or might have done but let us see what the Woman answered unto him in this verse In which we have two things to consider before we come to the effect of her answer First we gather that in this estate of Innocency the Woman was not afraid of the Serpent but without fear durst see a Serpent approach to her and speak unto him for as all things were subject to mankind as their Lord and Sovereign so Adam as we have heard Genesis 2. 23. made Eve Mistriss and Lady to rule with him and therefore all Creatures as yet stood in a reverend awe of them and they were without any fear of them at all for fear came into our nature with sinne but as yet there was no sinne and therefore no fear Again as yet there was no war proclaimed between the seed of the woman and the Serpent and therefore no cause why they should fear one another The other thing is that as she was not moved at the sight of the Serpent so no more was she astonished to hear the Serpent speak she knew no doubt that it was not naturall to Serpents so to speak but she knew not or at least considered not well who it was that spoke in him What then was there ignorance in Eve in the state of Innocency I answer that no doubt there was both in Adam and Eve the ignorance which is called Nescientia but not that which is properly termed Ignorantia The difference between Ignorance and Nescience for this is the difference between these two Ignorantia is a not knowing of such things which we are bound and ought necessarily to know and this kinde we say was not in them for it is an evill imperfection in whomsoever it is because as Salomon saith in 19. Prov. 2. without this knowledge which is absolutely necessary the soule of man is not good therefore we hold that they had given them a full and perfect measure of knowledg of Gods will so
shall see the nature of sinne that sinne bringeth sinne unlesse it be extinguished by repentance for Austin saith well of sinne Quod nisi deleatur duplicatur which unlesse it be extinguished it is doubled In Esay 14. 29. the Prophet saith That out of the Serpents root shall come a Cockatrice and from the Cockatrice egge shall come a firie flying Serpent and here from the Serpents malice came Eves sinne and from Eves sinne came Mans fall the Serpents temptation brought forth Eves disobedience and that Cockatrice egge hatched Adams downfall and so they were both robbed of their righteousnesse This is their discending from Jerusalem to Jericho Luke 10. 30. Rebellion with sinne Againe after the woman hath eaten this her giving of the fruit to her husband to eate is a further circumstance in the nature of sinne to add rebellion unto sinne for the devill will not only seduce the woman but by her will seduce man for he draweth also the mighty by his power Job 24. 22. The Serpent will destroy both the weak and the strong the foolish and the wise The sociablenesse of sinnes Thirdly Sinne will be associate for the sinner will try the righteous if he will offend that even here Adam may be as deep a sinner as her self for indeed good fellowship is not so apparently seen as among sinners for they joyn hand in hand manum in manu saith Salomon Prov. 16. 5. They doe consult in heart and make a league against the Lord Psal. 83. 5.6 The Ishmaelites and Moabites c. Sinners are as thornes folded one in the other Nahum 1. 10. This is the sociablenesse of sinne Sinne infectious Fourthly it is hence observed that sinne is infectious The Serpent he infected Eve with his breath of craft and maliciousnesse made her beleeve him and eat of the fruit and she being infected her self infected him This is called Pollution He that toucheth pitch is defiled She went not only out of the way her self but she caused many to fall from the Law Malach. 2. 9. her word did fret as a canker as Paul speaketh 2 Tim. 2. 17. for sinne is contagious it poysoned Eve and Adam also See 1 Tim. 1. 6. Austin upon this saith well That if God strook blind the soul of Eve she could not see her own miserie from her originall righteousnesse The Serpent gave and Eve gave the fruit The Serpent gave to Eve and Eve gave to Adam the same material fruit but not with like affection She in giving to Adam of the fruit thinks she doth him an especial favour and that whereof he needs not fear for though by the giving him the same she take away from him original righteousnesse the favour and fear of God yet she accounteth that she makes him a great reward But this her reward may well be compared to the present of Ehud Judges 3. 16. who presented Eglon the King of Moab with a curious made dagger wherewith after he killed him The Apple wherewith Eve presented Adam was his destruction but yet as I said she did it not with the minde of the Serpent for he caused her to eat of a malicious minde knowing it would be her bane Yet Eve she gave it to Adam of a good affection not of any malicious intent 2. Means that women seduce men Now the means wherewith she induceth man to bring him to eate are of two sorts which are the two means that women use to seduce men withall both are by the voice as you may see in 17. verse following Adam obeyed the voyce of his wife so that it should seem that she used some oration to perswade him blanditiarum verba 1. Flatterie and flatterring words 1 King 11. 4. The idolatrous wives of Salomon turned his heart to Idolatrie blanditiis by their flatterie And here Eve saith to Adam as it were thus You may see that I have eaten and find the fruit to be pleasant I have eaten and yet I am living and thus with a protestation of love she wisheth Adam that he would eate Adam in the mean while as a Father saith well stood in doubt either to eat or not to eat inter preces uxoris cōminationes Creatoris between the prayer of his wife and the threats of his Creator God had said in the day they did eat thereof they should die he saw she had eaten and yet was living Salomons wives blanditiis by flatterie overcame Salomon 2. Importunity The other thing wherewith women overcome men is Importunity It was this that Delilah used to overthrow Sampson she was importunate with him continually and therefore he told her all his heart Jud. 16. 16. So that these are the two means wherewith woman overcommeth man namely blanditiis importunitatibus by flatterie and importunitie And he did eat Now it followeth to speak of Adams sinne And he did eat In the 17 verse of this chapter God curseth man because he had obeyed the voice of his wife and for that he had eaten of the tree whereof God had commanded him that he should not eat whereby you see that not only the giver of the forbidden fruit but the taker thereof also both the perswader and the consenter to sinne deserve death The manner how he consented is in this with her Adam he came to her not she to him say the Fathers For although God had created Man in uprightnesse though he were placed by God in Paradise and though Gods love to man were shewed in making Eve to be his help yet he gave no eare to the speeches of Gods love nor to his threats but rather hearkned unto Eve and her allurements The woman hereby is convicted of carelesnesse and the man of negligence in that he permitteth her to wander from him where she pleaseth but the woman must not depart no not a little lest she fall A third thing is Eve and Adams curiositie of this tree they would eat it to try what virtue was in it they would try a conclusion if they should eat thereof whether they should dye as God had said or be as Gods knowing good or evill Moses commanded That there should be no manna reserved till the morning yet Exodus 16. 20. some there were that would try conclusions that obeyed not Moses but reserved it till the morning and it was full of worms and it stank Again as it appeareth in that chapter to try conclusions some there were contrarie to Moses words that upon the Sabbath day went forth to gather Manna Paul 2 Cor. 11. 3. saith I fear lest as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your mindes should be corrupt from the simplicitie that is in Christ. In Adam his body from his soul his sense from his reason should not have swerved Eve beleeved not God but the Serpent Adam beleeved not God but Eve Paul Coloss. 2. 7. would have us rooted and builded in Christ and stablished in the faith But the
must be by an excrement bread is the interest of thy continuall labour this is the yoke of the sins of Adam God in punishing the Israelites will remember the land which he gave them Leviticus 26. 42. and they must suffer the punishment of their iniquitie yea when you shall remember your own wickedness yee shall judge your selves worthy destruction for your iniquitie in the thirty sixth of Ezekiel and the thirty first Paul in the first of the Corinthians the ninth and the fifteenth saith it were better for him to die than not to doe his duty The use of the Scripture Now this sentence upon Adam hath this use for us spinae tribuli the thorns and thistles when we walk in the field speak to us as Gods book doth and make us a Sermon telling they should not have grown there but for us the earth should not have been cursed with barreness but for our wickedness if the thorn prick or the nettle sting thee it will say hoc propter te I was first brought and still I grow to make thee remember thy obedience so that the very nettle that is good for nothing shall put thee in mind of thy 〈◊〉 Be not angrie with the earth if it be barren for it will say it was so non propter se sed propter te To conclude this point well saith a Father we must have not only sensum poenae in corpore the feeling of punishment in our body but sensum irae divinae in mente the seeling of Gods wrath in our soul. But now not to leave you plunged in despair with consideration of grievous punishment in a word I will touch the alay of this punishment be comforted though God be just yet he is mercifull non est Crux sine Christo hast thou a Cross then hast thou Christ to comfort thee Mercies in this Sentence are five God hath left five signes of his mercie in this sentence which the ancient Fathers term vestigia miserantis gratiae impressions of Gods mercifull favour 1. The first is non dixit maledictus tu cursed be thou as he said to the Serpent but terra maledicta cursed be the earth the nature that sinned is not cursed nor is it like Cains curse in the fourth Chapter and eleventh verse for there is he cursed from the earth but here the earth of which Adam was made not Adam himself was cursed 2. Secondly he is punished but with a little labour to his great sinne with a watry drops of sweat and the sweat is but an easie sweat of the face not like Christs sweat in his prayer the twenty second of Luke the fourty fourth verse which was like drops of blood trickling down to the ground 3. Thirdly God might have suffered the earth to have been fruitless let man have laboured never so much but that man for all his sinne yet with his labour shall make the earth fruitfull in my opinion is a great mercy which I ground out of the one hundred twenty eighth Psalme when thou eatest the labour of thy hands saith David thou shalt be blessed It is a blessing when the Wife is fruitfull as the Vine upon the house side when thy Children are as the Olive plants about thy Table and it is a blessing that yet with labour the earth shall bring forth fruit It is a comfort that your labour shall not be in vain as St. Paul speaketh the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth and the fifty eighth God in mercy sendeth rain to water the earth what to doe Isaiah telleth you in his 55. chapter and 10. verse to give not only bread to the eater but even seed to the sower It is a comfort when we sowe that we shall reap he that soweth eareth reapeth thresheth doth it in hope the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter and tenth verse God giveth bread to the hungry and the seed to further increase by labour dat acquisitum that thou hast gained through thy labor 4. Fourthly it is a great mercie to call it panis taus thy bread thou shalt eat of thy own bread this is mercy I say to terme that mans which is Gods Lastly this labour hath a date and an end it hath tempus refrigerii upon the amending your lives God will put away your sinnes and a time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3. 19. Let this be lastly your comfort that though you labour long yet you shall have a resting after your labour In sudore vultûs tui vescitor cibo donec revertaris in human cum ex eâ desumptus fueris nam pulvis es inpulverem revertêris Gen. 3. 19. October 〈◊〉 1598. NOw are we to handle the other part of Adams Sentence and punishment The ground and nature of the Sentence and in the Sentence we are to consider the ground of it and the nature or form of it Disobedience is the ground of this sentence and this Sentence is made even a Law for according to that of Paul Romans 6. 2. The Law of life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death so that sinne is the cause of death Hence sprung the Pelagian heresie condemned by the Councell of Carthage Concil Carth. 7. That said that though we sinned yet we were freed though we lived never so dissolutely yet we were saved After Christs comming death was not the reward of sinne but mark what St. James in his first chapter and thirteenth verse saith When lust hath conceived it 〈◊〉 forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death and St. Paul in the fifth to the Romans the nineteenth and the twenty first saith Death That as by one mans disohedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many were made righteous and further That as sinne reigned unto death so grace by righteousnese might reign to eternall life Truth it is that through sin came death and that death hath rule over all Adam at the first by sinne brought death the last Adam by obedience brought everlasting life and as Paul in the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixth verse saith That the last enemie that Christ should destroy was death for as it is in the same chapter As in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive and the very wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life saith Paul in the sixth to the Romans and the twenty third verse The nature and form of sinne Touching the nature and form of the sinne God is not cause of sinne God is not the agent in sinne but the cause of sinne is only from Adam himself And according to that of the Wise man in his first chapter and thirteenth verse Adam and sin cause of death God hath not made death neither hath he pleasure in the
regard of this life that of the twenty ninth chapter and one and twentith verse is that of this life my terme is ended Zathaca this name belongeth to all females in respect of this life for all bring forth life though to die It only this life were here regarded the ancient Fathers that came from her though they lived long yet they died and have long layn dead and in regard of the length of their death shee might have beene called the mother of the dead therefore this name is understood of the other life which is eternall for after death they had hope of another life David in the twenty seventh Psalme and the thirteenth verse Should have sainted but that hee beleeved to see the goodnesse of God in the land of the living And in the hundred forty second Psalme and the fifth verse hee had his portion and hope in the land of the living God is the God not of the dead but of the living the two and twentith of Mathew and the thirty second verse Now where there is a Commandement or Promise of life there is meant eternall life Hee that doeth the Commandements shall live not a mortall but an immortall life the Covenant of life to the Priests and People in the Leviticall law is that life That was it that made Job in his ninteenth chapter and twenty fifth verse to assure himselfe that his Redeemer lived and so should hee but most plainly speaketh Christ himselfe the eleventh of John and the twenty fifth verse of himselfe that hee is life and hee that beleeveth in him though hee mere dead yet shall hee live and in the very nature of the word it selfe is a double being the one temporall the other permanent which is expressed in the originall by difference of one letter Hagab and Havah all have the common life but there are those that are strangers from the life of God the fourth of the Ephesians and the eighteenth verse and there are those to whom God is life and length of dayes the thirtith of Deuteronomie and the twentith verse so that not by consequence but by the very essence of this name is meant life eternall God hath his booke where hee writeth the living the thirty second chapter of Exodus and the thirty second verse there is a booke of life the sixty ninth Psalme and the twenty ninth verse God promiseth to give to him that overcommeth to eate of the Tree of Life the second of the Revelations and the seventh verse and the ancient Fathers upon that place non dedit corollam sed coronam vitae he gave a crown of life which is life for ever There is a mysterie also in the qualitie of the name which is comprehended in the word it selfe which is a bringing of good news and glad tidings as are cold waters to comfort the thirstie so is good news from a farre Country the twenty fifth chapter of the Proverbs and the twenty fifth verse When Jacob heard that Joseph his sonne was yet alive in a farre and strange Countrey and that they had brought him Chariots these tydings revived Jacob that was in age the fourty fifth chapter and the twenty seventh verse this name of life is even as a name of joyfull tydings If in matters of this life it bee so then much more in things spirituall after wee have sinned and deserved punishment then absolution and remission is a joying of a mans heart and there is joy in this name that word is life vita est ex verbo man at the first was made a living soule the seventh of the former chapter In the sixth of Saint Johns Gospell the sixty third verse The words Christ spake are spirit and life and againe in the sixty eighth verse of the same chapter Peter saith to him thou hast the words of eternall life It is observed by the Greeke Fathers that the seventy Interpreters did put downe Hevah under the same letter Evangelium which is good tydings this word is the abstract of the eternall word In the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the forty fifth verse the first man Adam was a living soule the last Adam was a quickning Spirit a living Soule is in it selfe a quickning Spirit is unto others in the word was life the first of Saint Johns Gospell and the fourth verse and in the first Epistle of Saint John the first chapter and the first verse Christ was the word of life and life it selfe verbum vitae vita hence wee receive Grace here and hereafter And herein is the manifestation of the Trinitie given in this very name of Evah The mysterie of salvation was known to Adam before hee gave the name God hath given to his sonne power over all flesh that hee should give eternall life to all them that beleeve in him the seventeenth of Saint John and the first verse The Promise of Christ was in this that the seede of the woman should breake the Serpents head not the seede of man but of woman therefore hee still keepeth his owne name but changeth her name from 〈◊〉 to Evah saying with himselfe I am Adam still from mee is nothing but earth but from the Promise made by God to the woman hee giveth her the name of Hevah and from Hevah hee giveth life to the end of the world for the Fathers gather out of the first of the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the one and twentith verse That by Adam came death hee is pater morientium but by the Promise of Christ in this name shee is mater viventium the mother of the living for by Christ wee live and hee is therefurrection of the dead the ancient writers observe that Adam was 〈◊〉 in pulverem reversurus hee was dust and to dust hee should returne that is of his owne nature but by Hevah is promise of Grace and though wee as by nature die with Adam yet God will raise 〈◊〉 up by Jesus Christ the second to the Corinthians the fourth chapter and the thirteenth verse It is hee that rayseth the needy out of the dust according to the hundred and thirteenth Psalme and the seventh verse this is it that made Paule the second to the Galathians and the twentith verse to say That I live yet not I but Christ that liveth in mee and in that I now live in the flesh vivo in fide fiilii viri the just liveth by faith and shall live the life of Grace shee is here then called the mother of that life set this verse aside wee have no memorie that the promise before made was of eternall life hence then is a fountaine of life which was by transgression the originall of death for shee transgressed and thereby came death but God brings light out of darknesse and life out of death But what is faith without 〈◊〉 even nothing for faith worketh by charitie the fist to the Galathians and the sixth verse then as from hence
there is faith to bee taken so out of this name is a worke of charitie to comfort us and Eve her selfe that was dejected and miserably plunged in sorrow by seeing shee had cast downe her selfe and all mankinde by her sin making her by her new name partaker of Gods love and charity this Charitie is not conteined in Eve alone but continued in her posteri ie unto the end of the world Abraham had great comfort the twelfth chapter and the third verse that omnes gentes all the Nations of the earth in him should bee blessed the eighteenth of the same chapter and the eighteenth verse and the two and twentith chap er and the eighteenth verse but this promise of all blessednesse was that in her omnes viventes all living should bee blessed for all that have beene all that are and all that shall bee are partakers of this promise for it reacheth from Eve to the end of the world In the first name Isha shee is the mother of nature of them that live and then die but by this name shee is the mother of Grace of them that though they are dead yet shall live for ever by the one the mother of mankinde by the other of the Church Job in his tenth chapter and twelfth verse saith vitam gratiam tribuisti mihi which life is the life of God eternally Therefore Adam by this name did comfort himselfe his wife and all others in their miseries in that wee must bee not only the seede of nature by her first name but the seede of Eve of Grace of the Promise and of Hope and so children of the Church of the holy seede to obtain the life of God eternall And lastly according to that of the second of Malachy Wee shall bee partakers of the Covenant of Peace and Life Fecitque Jehova Deus Adamo uxori ejus tunicas pelliceas quibus vestivit eos Gen. 3. 21. Dec. 7. 1598. THIS verse is as it were the opening of Gods warehouse and giving thence his liverie and aparrell wherein is mercy and favor even in judgement for after the Sentence God promiseth life and here giveth aparrell so that as Abacuck speaketh this commendeth Gods mercy in his anger as there was a mercy precedent in the Promise so here is a mercy subsequent in this provision and God mingleth mercy with judgement and joyneth Provision with punishment according to that of the seventy eighth Psalme and the twenty ninth verse this favour God vouchsafeth before hee ends his Sentence hee giveth hope of life everlasting and here addeth aparrell as the signe of his favor for all the care of this world is for foode and the back but seeke the kingdom of God and these things shall bee ministred unto you the sixt of Matthew and the three and thirtith verse Five parts of this verse This verse doth offer in it self five parts as they lie in order The first is the persons of Adam and his Wife The second is that God made The third is aparrel The fourth is of Skins The fift is that therewith they were arayed Out of each of these there is a double consideration of good use To begin then in order 1. Out of the persons of Adam and Eve we learn that though they were sinners yet God gave them his providence and provision The Sun shineth on the good and on the bad the rain falleth on the just and the unjust the fifth of Maithew and the fourty fifth he is kinde nnto the unkinde in the sixth of Luke and the thirty fift If God then give not over the wicked much more he will not leave the faithfull Secondly he extendeth his providence not only to sinners but even to the bodies of sinners which is shewed in his providence before for the bellie and here for the back both these are expressed in the tenth of Deuteronomy and the eighteenth Food and rayment is all we should desire in this world the first to Timothy the sixt and the eighth yea Gods providence goeth further than for the bellie and back for by it all the hairs of the head are numbred the tenth of Matthew and the thirtieth his providence watcheth over the soul and the body over the wicked then much more the good 2. God made The second point is God made he arraied the Heavens with starres and the Earth with grass and here he arraied Man with skins Here let us not search into the curiosity of the Jewes how God made them and what skins they were It is said in the holy Scriptures that God builded an house it is not meant that he was a Carpenter and here it is to be understood not that God was their Taylor but that God gave them power to kill beasts and capacity to make and shape apparrell he was not the Workman himself In the seventh verse before they made themselves Breeches of figge-leaves to cover their nakedness they were for no use nor continuance they were but vain God must teach them and direct them their clothing Mans reason without God hath a shew of wisedome but is without understanding the second to the Colossians and the twenty third In the first of Samaell 15. 15. Saul in his own conceit thought he had done well to save the best of the Sheep and Oxen. That apparrel that Adam made was cold and could not hold 3. Coats The third is Clothes or Coats in the originall tongue it is expressed that which is to cover and to defend Before Adam in Paradise had a care to have a Cover ad honestatem for shame there is a Commandement against the uncovering of shame in the eighteenth of Leviticus and the sixth which Paul in the first to the Corinthians the twelfth chapter and the twenty third verse calleth our uncomely parts Sem and Japhet will cover shame though wicked Cham will discover it The bruitish Savages respect not their nakedness The Sect of the Cynicks and the Adamites were shameless of their shame in the sixth of the Revelations shame must not be seen Adam by the light only of reason covered his shame that so this covering might be Velam verecundiae a Vail of shame fastness We must beware that we change not our clothing in vexillum superbiae to be the standard of pride at the first it was ordained for a covering for lust we must not then make it a provocation for 〈◊〉 it is made by God to suppress lust we must not then make it as a procurer of sensuality Such is the attire of an enticing Woman in the seventh of the Proverbs and the nineth St. Jerome upon this place saith that it is opposite unto this use or first institution of apparrel to make it nidum luxuriae a nest for lasciviousness The second reason why God made them apparrel was for defence both of the cold of Winter and the heat of Summer to save them from the weather St. Paul in the second to the
when Parties are convicted upon witnesses which is the more usuall way but when by manifest arguments and proofs they are proved guilty For so in Cain The falling down of his countenance His going into the fields with his Brother And he being found slain thereupon are manifest tokens that he slew Abel for there was none else to doe it Upon those grounds God proceeds to give sentence against Cain In which sentence we have an Ecce of Gods Severity in his Justice and of his Bounty in Mercy For first This is a great mercy to Cain that where God did not take this judiciall course with Korah for resisting the Magistrate of Gods people but caused the earth presently to swallow him up in the sixteenth chapter of Numbers and punished Ananias with sudden death for that he lyed not to men but to God Acts the fifth chapter and never stayed either to see whether he would confesse or to convince him yet he will not proceed against Cain till he have proved him guilty and condemned him accordingly Of Gods proceeding in justice against Cain there are three parts First the spirituall part against his soul. Secondly the Oeconomicall part against his labour bestowed in tilling the earth Thirdly his Politicall punishment which standeth herein That he shall be an exile and Vagabond on earth The first part of his punishment is in these words Cursed art thou from the earth for Gods meaning herein as Cain himself doth apprehend it verse the fourteenth is that Cain is cast out from the earth and from the presence of God that is God doth inflict upon him an Ecclesiasticall severing from Gods presence not from the presence of his Providence for of that Psalm the one hundred thirty ninth Whither shall I goe from thy presence Presence of Gods favour but from the presence of Gods favour and grace of which the Prophet prayeth Cast me not from thy presence Psalm the fifty first from the fellowship of the Saints as in saying Cursed art thou from the earth he pronounceth upon him the sentence of Banishment out of the society of men As God doth separate Cain out of the family of Adam which was an Image of the Church wherein he heard Gods word so also he doth baniish him out of the company of men Touching the first point we know that it is the highest punishment that can be inflicted to be cursed of God for in the third of Genesis and the fourteenth verse the sentence pronounced upon the Serpent was Cursed art thou if there had been any punishment more grievous doubtlesse God would have laid it upon him And in the end of the world the last and most fearfull punishment or sentence upon the Devill and his Angels is Ite maledicti Matthew the twenty fift chapter Especially when the curse is directed to the person maledictus tu as if it were shot out of purpose against him so he directed the curse to the Serpents person Genesis the third chapter and the fourteenth verse Cursed art Thou above all cattel But when God came to Adam he spared his person and laid the curse upon the earth Maledicta terrapropter te Genesis the third chapter and the seventeenth verse But here we see the sentence is pronounced against Cain's person as it was against the Serpent Cursed art Thou from the earth Wherein we may see that Cain's sinne is another manner of sin than Adam's and therefore is more grievously punished as it standeth with justice 〈◊〉 ad rationem peccati 〈◊〉 plagarum modus Deuteronomie the twenty fourth chapter But Cain's sinne is greater than Adam's five wayes First Adam's sinne proceeded out of concupiscence but Cain's came of malice which deserveth no mercy as the Prophet sheweth Psalm the fifty ninth Be not mercifull to them that sinne of malicious wickednesse Secondly Adam's sinne was committed upon a sudden and did not take root as Cain's did for his sinne was a long time hatching and breeding for all Gods preaching to him yet he went forward in sinne albeit he had long admonition from God to keep him from it Thirdly Adam having committed his sinne was taken with fear and fled to hide himself if he could but Cain was not a whit afraid but faced it out and never shewed any sorrow for it Fourthly when Adam was examined he confessed his sinne willingly but Cain obstinatly denyed it and would not be brought to confesse it though God had three times laboured to make him confesse He denieth his fault non tam audacter quam procaciter Wherefore Adams sinne and Cains are not both of one regard or nature and therefore must not be punished alike but the one more grievously than the other So yet we see here is a great correspondencie between the Serpents sinne and Cain's for as the Serpent of envy murthered our first Parents so Cain is here the instrument of the Serpent to kill Abel for that he envyed him And therefore the Wise-man said Invidiâ Diaboli intravit mors Fiftly As the Devils sinne is pride Ero similis altissimo Isaiah the fourteenth chapter the fourteenth verse so Cain shewed his pride by his contempt of Gods word command who forewarned him not to kill his Brother as also by his saucy answer to God Am I my Brothers keeper Wherefore as Cain's sinne is equall to the Serpents sinne so he hath the same punishment that the Serpent had Maledictus tu In regard of which likenesse of their sinne the Apostle saith Cain is ex maligno illo in the first of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse that is rather the Son of the Devill than of Adam and therefore the Son is punished with the like punishment that was laid upon the Father For the contents of the word Maledictus The nature of a curse is That the party upon whom it is pronounced must be evill as the Prophet saith Isaiah the third chapter and the eleventh verse Dicite justo quia bene vae autem malo quia male especially that party is cursed that hath no good in him for wee see in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis if there had been any good in Sodom but five persons the Lord would have spared it but because there was no good in it it was plagued with fire and brimstone which doth most of all resemble hell But on the other side because there was wine found in one cluster the Lord said destroy it not Isaiah the sixty fifth chapter and the eighth verse In the new Testament God promiseth mercy to the Church of Philadelphia quia modicam habes virtutem in the third of the Revelations and the eighth verse The goodness of a sinner But Cain had no goodnesse left in him for whereas the goodness of a sinner is fear shame compassion and repentance Cain had none of these Adam was afraid when he had sinned but Cain was 〈◊〉 little afraid that he faced out his sin and as for shame it was
Thirdly In this proceeding of Gods councell and wisedome if neither of these take place that neither Cain himself nor others are the better for this mitigation yet as the Woman said in the second of Samuel the fourteenth chapter that albeit one of her Sons had slain the other yet she would not be deprived of him that was alive for that she was willing that her husbands name and 〈◊〉 should continue upon earth so it stood with Adam he had two Sonnes whereof the one was the bane of the other and albeit Cain deserved to die presently yet God doth not so consider the greatness of his sinne that he will forget the nature of man which himself had created and therefore as well to preserve mankinde as to shew that godly posterity is not hereditarie he suffers Cain yet to live For as Adam had a Cain so from Cain who was that evill one in the first epistle of John the third chapter Gods purpose was to derive such as should pertain to the Covenant Of one and the same Parents Gods will is one shall be born after the flesh another after the spirit and he that is born after the flesh shall persecute him that is born after the spirit Galatians the fourth chapter and the twenty ninth verse As we say of his wisedome so it stands not with Gods justice that whosoever findes a Malefactor shall kill him for God doth plainly expresse his will that a Murtherer being worthy of death in himself for all that shall not be murthered of every one Therefore God saith whosoever shall presume of himself to kill Cain though it be with this pretence that he is a murtherer shall be punished seven fold for it is not in every mans power 〈…〉 If any man have committed a crime the Judge shall see whether he be worthy of death and as the Judge shall judge him so shall he be punished Deuteronomie the twenty 〈◊〉 chapter Exodus the twenty second chapter The Magistrate being Gods Ordinance Romans the thirteenth chapter hath power to put a murther to death for he hath the Sword committed unto him for that end But he that taketh up the Sword shall perish by the Sword Matthew the twenty sixt chapter For if every one that findeth a mans 〈◊〉 might kill him it would soon root out all mankinde And that this inconvenience should not fall out God takes order that every man shall not doe that to Cain which Cain hath done to Abel no man may kill a Murtherer unless he have authority committed unto him for that end That is for his sparing The second point is for the punishment of him that transgresseth thus that is he shall be punished seven fold It is strange that be which kills a murtherer shall have a more grievous punishment than he The number of seven is numerus complens hebdomidem therefore by the 〈◊〉 punishment Gods meaning is that he will lay a compleat and consummate punishment upon such a party but howsoever it seem strange yet it is justice for that as God will not have him spared whom he condemns to death as Saul spared Agag in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter nor let him goe whom he hath appointed to die in the first of Kings the twentieth chapter and the fourty second verse so it is a grievous sinne to kill him whom God will have spared and this is it which makes the sin of such a party grievous besides the consideration of Gods wrath against them that doe addere afflictiones afflicto Zechariah the first chapter and the fifteenth verse God saith he will be 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 that help forward the affliction of them with whom he was a little angry and therefore such a one shall not escape but before plagued and the Prophet saith the Lord will not judge and condemn a man twice for one fault Nahum the first chapter and the ninth verse Such a man committeth a sinne more grievous than Cains sinne in two respects First Cain transgressed only the Law of nature written in his heart but the other transgresseth not only the naturall Law but Gods express Command who gave order that no man should of himself presume to kill Cain Secondly It is more grievous in that he maketh Cains example a warrant to commit murther but God saith he must not doe so for if a man seeing Cain punished for his sinne shall notwithstanding sinne as he hath done he addeth to his transgression and must therefore have a greater punishment than Cain From those two parts already handled we may gather that to those that sit as Judges in Gods place there is left a power of life and death a power to crucifie and a power to let loose as Pilate said to Christ John the 19th chapter verse the tenth that they have power both to mittigate and to abrogate the punishment of Offenders For the first David was fain of necessity to forbear Joab being himself weak and old and to delay his punishment when he had murthered Abner and Amasa men more righteous and better than he till Salomon his sonne was established in the first of Kings and the second chapter But the reason why Cain's punishment is delayed is not any forbearance of necessity but because the lengthning of his punishment is a better means to restrain men from the like sinne than if he had at once been punished with death For this cause the Prophet saith Psalm the fifty ninth and the eleventh verse Slay them not least my people forget it but scatter them abroad by thy power It is magis ad bonum publicum that the Offenders be spared If Cains life had been presently taken away it might have been doubted whether Cain had ever committed any such sinne or no or if they did beleeve it yet they might soon forget the punishment laid upon him therefore God thought it better he should be spared that others seeing Cain live in continuall miserie might take occasion to inquire what he hath done that understanding the cause of his miserie they may be warned to avoid his sinne Secondly From hence is grounded the aggravation of punishments so that where thest is ordinarily punished with four fold restitution Exodus the twenty second chapter He that stealeth a poor mans sheep that hath no more is by Davids judgment the child of death in the second book of Samuel the twelfth chapter he that finneth upon contempt of Gods command and not of any necessity as he that gathereth sticks upon the Sabbath day Numbers the fifteenth chapter such a one is more grievously to be punished When the party offended will have a man spared then to kill him contrary to his command is a sinne that deserves extraordinary punishment for mensura peccati is that which brings us unto plagarum modus Deuteronomie the the twenty fifth chapter and the second verse Cain being warned from the law of nature kills his Brother and therefore deserves punishment but he that being warned
chastity are a full comprehension of the duty of sanctification which God willeth us to perform And as Cains sinne stands first in the story so it is first in nature for a Child before he be able to speak one word will by his sower face shew that he hath a revenging spirit But in this story of Lamech we must observe a farther thing for it standeth upon two parts First in the ninteenth verse is shewed not only that he was infected with a spirit of uncleanness but also verse the twenty third a contemptuous and insolent spirit which is a degree beyond Cain for there he braggeth of his sinne and contemneth God and his Judgments as if he should not be revenged of him for it For when a sinner is not only possessed and infected with malice and envy in his heart and with lust in his reins but braggs of his sin in contempt of God and his Judgments then he is at the height of sinne Peccator cum in profundum venerit contemnit Thus where there are but three faculties of the soul all are corrupted by the infection of the Serpent as for reason it was corrupted in Adam when the Serpent perswaded him that he should be like God and the angry part was corrupted in Cain when he was stirred up to kill his Brother without all cause Thirdly the will and the coveting part was corrupted in Lamech so as neither the bond of nature nor the will of God which is a spirituall bond could keep in order but he will shew his uncleanness When not only Adam looseth faith and Cain charity but Lamech chastity then is sinne at the height In the first verse there is a genealogie of four discents wherein there is no matter of great edification Howbeit as when mens Fields and Closes are laid out all must not be taken up for pasture but a little way must be left whereby every man may pass to his own ground so in the Scripture there must be a passage from one storie to another And as in the body for that there are a great many lymbs and parts they must of necessity be compacted one with another by the help of the sinews so both in prophane Writers and in the Scripture many things are set down to shew the dependance that one story hath with another which otherwise would not seem so necessary Even so the shewing how Cain is joyned with Lamech which is done in this verse is very necessary Secondly There is a farther matter in this heaping of names besides the continuance of the story for it would have seemed strange that the Scripture doth make mention of Lamech and his wicked course unless it were withall shewed from whence he came But in setting down that Lamech is of the posterity of wicked Cain no man will marvell that he doe expresse the manners of Cains Besides that we may not think that this heaping of words is vain for as the Fathers note there is no name in Scripture without profitable consideration for howsoever men that deal in woods and base mettals care not to let chips and parings fall from them yet as they that work in gold and Silver will not lose the least parings The like is to be done in reading the word For it is pure as silver that hath been purified seven times Psalm the twelfth More to be desired than gold Psalm the ninteenth therefore we must have this conceit of it that whatsoever seemeth to be superfluous in the word of God hath great value both for faith and life For Isidor saith est in nominibus sacris sua theologia and as Jerome saith in nominibus sacrae Scripturae insculpuntur mysteria Therefore the Apostle saith That the Sonne of God is more excellent than the Angels in as much as he hath a more excellent name than they Hebrews the first chapter and the fourth verse so when the blinde man is sent to wash himself in Shilo John the ninth chapter and the seventh verse The word signifying sent importeth that he could not be purified by that water unless he was sent so in the names of holy Scripture we see as Jerome saith there are ingraven mysteries Now we give names to our Children ad placitum but in the old Testament the Fathers gave names of set purpose with great advise so we see Eve giveth a reason why she called her Sonne Cain Genesis the fourth chapter and the first verse so is there a reason of Seths name Genesis the fourth chapter and the twenty fift verse of Noah the Sonne of Lamech Genesis the fift chapter and the twenty ninth verse of Isaack and Jacob and all the Patriarches The reason why they had this regard in giving of names are reduced to two First in those that are the Children of the godly their names are a kinde of Prophesie concerning the disposition of the Childe which choice of names their Fathers made for that being endued with the spirit of God they foresaw the disposition of their Children On the other side the wicked and the reprobate cannot prophesie yet their names are specula paternae affectionis as the names of godly Children are prophesies puerilis indolis That it is thus in these names we shall observe an encounter made between the seed of Cain and the seed of Seth which as they were of a contrary disposition so gave their Children contrary names Cain called his Sonne Enoch that is dedicated to the pleasure of the world but Seths Sonne is called Enosh that is sorrowfull Genesis the fift chapter On the one side there was Cain on the other Kenan Irad on the one side Jerad on the other Methushael and Methushelah by which names the seed and posterity of godly Sheth shew a contrary affection and such as differeth from the wicked and the seed of Cain as appeareth by the signification of their names Touching the opposition that appeares to be between the generation of Seth and the posteritie of Cain Enochs name who was Cains Sonne signifieth dedication and there is one of the Children of God called by the same name Genesis the fifth chapter and the ninteenth verse but Seths Enoch as Jude saith was the seventh from Adam verse the fourteenth that is one dedicated to the seventh or Sabbath day one that gave himself wholly to the service and worship of God but Cains Enoch was the first and next to Cain that is one dedicated to the first day which is a working day to shew that he was one that gave himself to the affaires of this life that sought to be mighty on earth And this difference of affection holds to this day for all men are followers either of the first or second Enoch The next of Cain is called Irad that is Lord of a City the same that Herod signifieth wherein we see his ambitious spirit that he was such a one as sought to be great in the world And as Jeroboam when he was not able to maintain
either promise that which they cannot perform as being weak as Psalm the twenty first and the tenth verse or which they will not perform as Naball in the first book of Samuel and the twenty fist chapter But if we can finde one that is both able and willing to keep his promise that is a great kindnesse not to be distrusted And such a one is God who of his own goodnesse is become indebted to us by making us most great and pretious promises he is true of his word for he is Deus mentiri nesciens Titus the first chapter he cannot lye And for his power and ability Apud eum non erit impossibile omne verbum Luke the first chapter And for his willingnesse the Angels testifie of it that there is in God good milk towards men even the same which he heares to Christ his own Sonne of whom he 〈◊〉 from heaven in the third chapter of Luke This is my 〈◊〉 Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly For the thing promised Though it be God that 〈◊〉 yet if the thing promised be a matter of no great value wee respect it the lesse but this is a great and most 〈◊〉 promise Now that is pretious for which a man will give any thing as for a pearle a man will sell all that he hath to composse it Matthew the thirteenth chapter and what will 〈◊〉 a man give for the ransome of his soul the whole world nay a thousand of worlds is little enough to give for it Matthew the sixteenth chapter and the sixteenth verse So then this promise is pretious in respect of the thing promised Secondly It is pretious in regard that it cost dearly For wee are bought not with corruptible things as silver and gold 〈◊〉 with the 〈◊〉 blood of Christ in the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the eighteenth verse Thirdly It is a pretious promise in this respect because our blessednesse here promised stands not only in having our sinnes forgiven or in being made righteous that is not the thing we are 〈◊〉 with or to be with God which was the desire of our first Parents Genesis the third chapter and of Lucifer Isaiah the fourteenth chapter ero similis 〈◊〉 but it stands herein that we shall be made partakers of the Divine nature and enjoy those things 〈◊〉 eye bath not seen c. in the first epistle to the 〈◊〉 the second chapter and the third verse he doth not promise that we shall be partakers of Gods glory joy and felicity as 〈◊〉 sonnes would have been Matthew the twenty first chapter but 〈◊〉 of his nature That as we are subject to sicknesse death and all crosses by being partakers of the nature of the first Adam so we shall be partakers of glory joy and 〈◊〉 And being partakers of the second Adam as the branches receive life from the vine John the fifteenth chapter so it shall be between Christ and us he will derive his benefits to us As the 〈◊〉 is holy so wee that are branches 〈…〉 shall be 〈◊〉 Romans the eleventh chapter and the sixteenth verse As we partake of the miseries of the first Adam so of the joy and 〈◊〉 of the second Adam As we have been partakers of the 〈◊〉 so of 〈…〉 in the first epistle to the 〈◊〉 and the fifteenth chapter Fourthly If we consider from how base estate we to whom this promise is made are 〈◊〉 not only from the nature of 〈◊〉 Psalm the fourty ninth Of wormes and 〈…〉 17. and which is more base from being the Children of wrath 〈◊〉 the second chapter and Children of the Devil Acts the thirteenth chapter to be partakers of the divine nature that will 〈◊〉 to be a 〈◊〉 promise containing matter of so great comfort whereby that is by the knowledge of God that hath called us to glory and 〈◊〉 or by whom that is by Christ taking knowledge of him as in the fifty third chapter of Isaiah My 〈…〉 by his knowledge shall 〈◊〉 many and in the seventeenth chapter of John and the third verse This is eternall life to know thee and Jesus Christ. The Heathen and Turkes are not capable of this pretious promise because they take no notice of Christ It is a promise made to Christians for because they are partakers of flesh and blood He also took part with them Hebrews the second chapter As Christ took part of our nature so he makes us partakers of his It is the Christian only that beleeves this and therefore he is capable of this so pretious promise for albeit Christ were man yet it pleased God that the fulnesse of the God head should dwell in him bodily Colossians the second chapter and the ninth verse and as he is in us by his humanity so are we in him in respect of his Divinity God partakes with Christ because of his Divine nature and man partakes with Christ in as much as he hath assumed our humane nature He is partaker of our humane nature for he is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone Ephesians the fifth chapter and we by his Spirit are partakers of his Divine nature for in the first epistle to the Corinthians the sixth chapter He that cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us by the spirit which he hath given us in the first epistle of St. John the fourth chapter and the thirieenth verse Christ imputeth his nature two wayes First by regeneration in Baptisin for except ye be born again of water and the holy Ghost John the third chapter Secondly by eating and drinking in the Sacrament In which respect the Apostle saith that we must bibere spiritum the first epistle to the Corinthians the twelfth chapter and the thirteenth verse In this life we must seek for Gods grace and glory and he hath promised to give both Psalm the eighty fourth and then we shall Intrare in gaudium Domini Matthew the twenty fift chapter and so we shall be alwaies with him the first epistle to the Thessalonians the fourth chapter and see him as he is the first epistle of John the third chapter and the first verse that is be partakers of his divine nature and which goes beyond all he shall not be glory in one and joy in another and immortality in a third but he shall be omnia in omnibus the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the twenty eighth verse Now the promise is with a restraint nobis qui that is to us which eschue the corruption The like we have in John the third chapter and the sixteenth verse ut omnes qui credant and Matthew the eleventh chapter Come to me omnes qui And great reason it is that if we will have God to perform his promise to us we keep the condition on our part towards him so the Apostle disputes in the second epistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the
carnall and are not spirituall Temperance will make men depart from the flesh and grow spirituall and so be like the 〈◊〉 nature To Temperance hee exhorts to add Patience the first voice of this quire which the Apostle reckons among the fruits of the Spirit Galathians the fift chapter and the twenty third verse for three reasons as the Philosophers observe to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is next adjoyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the effective part is joyned courage For as is observed from John the first chapter and the thirteenth verse not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man There are in man two wills the will of the flesh and the manly will for God having planted in the Soule desire to follow good there followes courage to remove whatsoever shall hinder our desire and as wee have a virtue to moderate our concupiscence or sensuality so here is Patience against our courage Secondly what makes a man intemperate but 〈◊〉 as Genesis the twenty fift chapter Esau must needes die except hee have the meat hee desires therefore 〈◊〉 is a virtue necessarily required in the faithfull the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the ninteenth chapter of the Revelations Haec est sides patientia Sanctorum The third reason of the dependance is 〈◊〉 vincit qui patitur Intemperance and Impatience are the great Conquerors of the world the one being the Nurse of Phisitians the other of Lawyers And as we have had a virtue to conquer intemperance so it followes by good order next that wee have the virtue against impatience As the one sort are said to bee clothed in white that is the innocency of the Godly Apocalyps the seventh chapter and the ninteenth verse so others by Patience have made their garments purple in the blood of the Lamb Apocalyps the ninteenth chapter Secondly when wee know what to doe wee must not be drawn from it by any terror For as the devill to alure us to sinne joyns dulce malum so to keepe us from good hee joynes bitter with that which is good He joynes to 〈◊〉 labour and disgrace that by them hee may keepe us from it Labour is a thing our nature cannot away with durum pati the object of this virtue is tribulation as Romans the twelfth chapter bee patient in tribulation a virtue that becommeth Saints Apocalys the ninteenth chapter haec est fides patientia Sanctorum For the originall of tribulation men doe not feare the evils of the life to come and therefore God is faine to send them crosses while they live which must bee borne patiently as Micah the seventh chapter portabo iram Domini quia peccavi Secondly they are sent for tryall of our faith ut tollet ferro rubiginem addat 〈◊〉 puritatem That was the cause of Jobs trouble to try his faith The use of this virtue in respect of men is as Matthew the fift chapter If they smite thee on the one cheeke to turne the other If they take way thy coate let them have thy cloak also If men reproach ye as David was to beare it as hee did the second of Samuel and the sixteenth chapter to endure the spoyling of our goods as Hebrewes the twelfth chapter In such cases it is the perfection of the Saints while they live here to possesse their Souls with Patienee as it is in Saint Luke the one and twentith chapter For the use the Apostle makes of this virtue patience is needfull for the avoiding of corruption Give not place to the Devil by suffering the Sunne to goe down upon thy wrath Ephesians the fourth chapter For men in their impatience utter the corruption of their hearts Michah the seventh chapter Secondly It makes them like God as John the third chapter and the first verse for there is nothing in God more divine than patience this virtue he shewed to the old world which he endured so long the first epistle of Peter the third chapter and to the new world the second epistle of Peter and the third chapter He is not slack but patient to all and would have all repent The same is the affection of the Sonne of God towards his Church What did Moses admire Exodus the third chapter to see the bush a fire and not burn but videt rubum ardentem Even so now the faithfull shall drink deadly poyson and it shall not hurt them as Christ promiseth Mark the sixteenth chapter that is the evil tongues of the wicked which are as the poyson of Asps as Psalm the hundred and fourtieth The Apostles exhortation is James the first chapter and the fourth verse Be patient that ye may be intire and perfect and as the first epistle of Peter the fift chapter If ye suffer but a little God shall make you perfect And Christs advise is To bring forth fruit in patience Luke 8. Tolerantiae pietatem pietati verò fraternum amorem fraterno verò amori charitatem 2 Pet. 1. 7. IN the first of these three verses the Apostle makes his first conjunction of Faith Teaching that as we must be of a sound belief so of a virtuous life The second of Knowledge not to be drawn from a virtuous life by any deceits Of Temperance against allurements And Patience against terrors and troubles all these are moral virtues And to these he joynes in the third verse the threefold train of Godlinesse Brotherly love and Charity all which are theological virtues For as Christ exhorteth not only to doe good to them from whom we receive good Luke the sixt chapter and the thirty third verse which be the virtues of kindnesse that the Heathen practised but to add Christian virtues Doing good to them that hurt us and as Matthew the sixt chapter Our righteousnesse must exceed the righteousnesse of Scribes and Pharisees So theological virtues doe not exclude moral but as the Apostle shews we 〈◊〉 beside moral virtues 〈◊〉 these theological Faith doth not abolish but establish the Law so Romans the third chapter the Gospel requires of a Christian both will virtues and theological In the course of the world we finde it otherwise the civil man will shew himself temperate and patient but makes little account of religious virtues Others as Jude the first verse will seem to be religious by hearing and discoursing of the word and by certain religious terms but neglect those moral duties According to the first table they are religious but neglect the duty of the second Therefore for the Civil man albeit moral virtues are the perfection of this life yet if he look higher to the great and pretious promises of being partaker of the divine nature his moral virtues cannot raise him up so high as those virtues of Christianity that must doe that And for them that stop at the moral duties of the second Table and content themselves with a shewing religion by theological virtues If any man seem to be religious