good So did Adam will nothing but good for Gods Will was his 4. In his life Gods Image did appeare thus that even as God if he had assumed mans Nature would have lived outwardly So did Adam for God would have lived according to his owne Will Law and Rule So did Adam Adams body was the Lanthorne through which Holinesse like a lampe burning in his heart shined this was Gods Image by means of which as it is said in the description hee plesed GOD similitude being the ground of love and hence God did most dearely love him and highly honour him to be Lord over all creatures hence no evill could hurt him here was no sorrow no sicknesse no teares no feares no death no hell nor ever should have beene if there hee had stood Objection How was this estate ours Answ. As Christs righteousnesse is a Beleevers by imputation though hee never performed it himselfe So Adams righteousnesse and image was imputed to us and accounted ours for Adam received our Stocke or Patrimony to keepe it for us and to convey it to us Hence hee proving Banquerupt wee lost it But we had it in his hands as an Orphant may have a great estate left him though he never receive one pennie of it from him that was his Guardian that should have kept it for him and conveyed it to him Here see the horrible nature of Sin that pluckes man downe by the eares from his Throne from his Perfection though never so great Adam might have pleaded for himselfe and have said Although I have sinned yet it is but one and the first fault Lord behold I am thy first borne Oh pitie my poore posterity who are for ever undone if thou forgivest not Yet see one sinne weighs him downe and all his posterity as wee shall heare into eternall ruine Hence learne how justly God may require perfect Obedience to all the Law of every man and curse him if he cannot performe it because man was at first made in such a glorious estate wherein hee had power given him to please God perfectly God may therfore require this debt of perfect obedience Now man is broke and in prison in Hell must he lie for ever if hee cannot pay justice every farthing because God trusted him with a stocke which if hee had well improved hee might have payd all See what cause every man hath to lament his miserable estate hee is now fallen into For beggars children to live Vagrants and poore is not so lamentable as for a great Princes children to become such One never in favour with the Prince grieves not as hee doth that was once in favour but now cast out Man is now rejected of God that was beloved of God he is now a runagate up and down the earth that was once a Prince and Lord of all the world This is one aggravation of the damneds sorrowes oh the hopes the meanes the mercies that once I had Can these doe these lament for the losse of their bare hopes and common mercies Lord what hearts then have men that cannot doe not that will not lament the losse of such speciall high favours now gone which once they had It is said that those that saw the glory of the first Temple wept when they saw the glory of the second and how inferior it was to the first You that either have the Temple of GOD begunne to bee repaired in you or not begun at all Oh thinke of the Temple burnt the glory of GOD now vanished and lost This speakes comfort to all Gods people If all Adams posterity were perfectly righteous in him then thou that art of the bloud Royall and in Christ art perfectly righteous in him much more in as much as the righteousnesse of the second Adam exceeds the first so art thou more happy more holy in the second Adam than ever the first in himselfe was he might lose all his Righteousnesse but the second Adam cannot hath not so that if Christ may be damned then thou mayest else not This likewise reproveth three sorts of people I. Such as are ashamed of holinesse LORD what times are wee fallen into now The Image of GOD which was once mens glory is now their shame and sinne which is mens shame is now their glory The world hath raised up many false reports of holy courses calling it folly and precisenesse pride hypocrisie and that whatsoever shews men may make they are as bad as the worst if their sinnes were writ in their foreheads Hence it commeth to passe that many a man who is almost perswaded to bee a new man and to turn over a new lease dares not will not for shame of the world enter upon religious courses What will they think of me then saith he men are ashamed to refuse to drinke healths hence maintain them lawful Our gallants are asham'd to stay a mile behind the fashion hence they will defend open and naked breasts and strang apparell as things comely O time-servers that have some conscience to desire to be honest and to be reputed so yet conforme themselves to all companies if they heare others sweare they are ashamed to reprove them they are ashamed to enter the lists of holy discourse in bad company and they will pretend discretion and wee must not cast pearles before swine but the bottome of the businesse is they are ashamed to bee holy O fearefull Is it a shame to bee like God O sinnefull wretâ—hes It 's a credit to be any thing but Religious and with many Religion is a shame I wonder with what face thou darest pray or with what looke thou wilt behold the Lord of glory at the last day who art ashamed of him now that will be admired of all men Angels and devils then Dost thou looke for wages from Christ that art ashamed to own Christ or to weare his livery 2. It reproves them that hate holinesse which is more than to bee ashamed of it 3. It reproves them that content themselves with a certaine measure of holinesse Perfect holinesse was ADAMS Image whereby he pleased God and shall a little holinesse content thee Now there are these three sorts of them 1. The Formalist who contents himselfe with some holinesse as much as will credit him The forme and name of Religion is honos honour sometimes but the power and practice of it is onus a burden hence men take up the first and shake off the second And indeed the greatest part take up this course if they have no goodnesse they should bee the shame scorne and table-talke of the times therefore every man will for his honours sake have his forme Now this forme is according to the mould wherein hee is cast if his acquaintance bee but civill hee will be like them if they be more exact as to pray reade conferre he will not stay one inch behinde them If to bee better than his companions to beare
wise for the world after they have beene made new But lastly is it now from a slavish feare of hell which workes this alteration Nothing lesse they abhorre to live like slaves in Bridewell to do all for feare of the whip Fourthly From Gods Register or notary which is in every man I meane the Conscience of man which telleth them there is a GOD and although they silence it sometimes yet in thunder-time or great plague as Pharaoh or at the day of Death then they are neere Gods Tribunall when they acknowledge him clearely The fearefull terrors of Conscience prove this which like a Bayliffe arrests men for their debts Ergo there is some Creditor to set it on sometimes like a hangman it torments men ergo there is some strange Iudge that gave it that command whence arise these dreadfull terrors in men of themselves No surely all desire to be in peace and so to live and sleepe in a whole skin Comes it froÌ„ Melancholy no for melancholy comes on by degrees these terrors of conscience surprise the soule sodainely at a sermon sodainely after the commission of some secret foule sinne Againe Melancholy sadnesse may be cured by Physicke but many Physitians have given such men over to other Physitians Melancholy sadnesse may bee borne but a wounded Spirit who can beare Thus you see that there is a God But who ever saw God that every one is bold to affirme that there is a God Indeed his face never was seene by mortall man but his back-parts have beene seene are seene and may bee seene by all the world as hath beene proved Objection All things are brought to passe by second causes Answ. 1. What though Is there no Master in the House because the servants doe all the worke This great God maintaines state by doing all by the Creatures subjection yet sometimes we may cry out in beholding some speciall peeces of his administration here is the finger of God 2. What though there be such confusion in the world as that shillings stand for pence and counters stand for pounds the best men are bought and sould at a low rate and worst men prized and preferred yet if wee had eyes to see and conceive wee should see an harmony in this discord of things God is now like a wise Carpenâ—er but hewing out his worke There is a lumber and confusion seemingly among us let us stay till the day of judgement and then wee shall see infinite wisedome in sitting all this for his owne glory and for the good of his people Object But if there be a God why heares hee not his peoples prayers why doth hee forget them when they have most need of him I answer Noah's Dove returnes not presently with an olive-branch of peace in his mouth Prayers sometime that speed well returne not presently for want of company enough to fetch away that abundance of mercy which God hath to give The Lord ever gives them their asking in mony or mony-worth in the same thing or a better The Lord ever gives his importunate beggers their desires either in pence by little and little or by pounds long he is many times before hee gives but payeth them well for their waiting This is a use of reprooâ—e to all Atheists either in opinion or practice First In opinion such as either conclude or suspect there is no God Oh blasphemous thought Are there any such men men nay beasts nay Devils nay worse than Devils for they beleeve and tremble Yet the foole hath said in his heart there is no God Psal. 18. 1. Men that have little heads little knowledge without hearts as scholars sometimes of weak brains seeing how things come by second causes though they might beleeve their bookes yet cannot raise their dull thoughts to the beholding of a first cause Great Politicians are like children alwayes standing on their heads and shaking their heeles against Heaven these thinke Religion to bee but a peece of policie to keepe people in awe prophane persons desiring to goe on in sinne without any rubb or checke for sinne blow out all the light of nature wishing there were no God to punish and are willing to suspect that which is not Those also that have sinned secretly though not openly against nature or the light of Conscience GOD smites men for incest sodomy selfe-pollution with dismall blindnesse Those also that are notorious worldlings that looke no higher than their barnes no further than their shops the world is a pearle in their eyes they cannot see a God Lastly I suspect those men that never found out this thiefe this sinne that was bred and born with them nor saw it in their owne hearts but there it lies still in some darke corner of their soules to cut their throates these kind of men sometimes suspect there is no God O this is a grievous sinne for if no God no heaven no hell no martyrs no prophets no Scriptures Christ was then an horrible lyer and an Impostor Other sinnes wrong and grieve God and wound him but this sinne stabs the very heart of God it strikes at the life and is as much as lies in sinfull man the death of God for it saith there is no God Secondly This reproveth Atheists in practice which say there is a God and question it not but in works they deny him Hee that pluckes the King from his throne is as vile as hee that saith he is no King These men are almost as bad as Atheists in opinion And of such dust-heapes we may finde in every Corner that in their practice deny God men that set up other gods in Gods roome their wealth their honour their pleasure their merits their backs and bellies to be their gods men that make bold to do that against this true God which Idolaters dare not doe against their Idoll Gods and that is continually to wrong thisâ—God Men that speake not for all they want by prayer nor returne all backe againe to God by praise A second use is for exhortation O labour to see and behold this God Is there a God and wilt thou not give him a good looke Oh passe by all the Rivers till thou come to the spring head wade through all creatures untill thou art drowned plunged and swallowed up with God When thou seest the Heavens say where is that great Builder that made this when thou hearest of mutations of Kingdomes say where is the Lord of Hosts the great Captaine of these armies when thou tastest sweetnes in the Creature or in Gods ordinances say where is sweetnesse it selfe beauty it selfe where is the Sea of these drops the Sun of these beames Oh that men saw this God its heaven to behold him thou art then in a corner of hell that canst not dost not see him and yet what is lesse knowne than God Methinks when men heare there is a God about them they should lye groveling in the dust because of
secret hypocrisie whoredome prophannesse and with shame in thy face come before this God for pardon and mercy Admire and wonder at his patience that having seene thee hath not damned thee 8. Hee is a True God whereby he meanes to doe as he saith Let every Child of God therefore know to his comfort that those things which hee hath not under feelings but under a promise shall one day be all made good and let all wicked men know what ever threatning God hath denounced whatsoever Arrowes are in the bow-string will one day fly and hit and strike deepe and the longer the Lord is a drawing the deeper wound will Gods arrow that is Gods threatning make 9. Hee is an holy God Be not ashamed therefore of holinesse which if it ascend above the common straine of honesty the blind and mad world accounts it madnesse If the righteous that is those that bee most holy bee scarcely saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appeare 1 Peter 4. 18. Where Not before Saints and Angels for holinesse is their trade Not before the face of the man Christ Iesus for holinesse was his meate and drinke Not before the face of a blessed God for holinesse is his Nature Not in Heaven for no uncleane thing crawles there they shall never see God Christ Saints Angels or Heaven to their comfort that are not holy weare therefore that as thy crowne now which will be thy glory in Heaven and if this bee to be vile be more vile 10. He is a just and mercifull God just in himselfe and so will punish all sinne mercifull in the face of Christ and so will punish no sinne A just GOD against an hard-hearted sinner a mercifull God towards an humble sinner God is not all Mercy and no Justice nor all Justice and no Mercy Submit to him his mercy embraceth thee Resist him his justice pursues thee When a Child of God is humbled indeed commonly hee makes God a hard-hearted cruell God loth to helpe and saith can such a sinner bee pardoned a wicked man that was never humbled makes God a God of clouts one that howsoever he speaks heavie words yet he is a mercifull God and will not doe as he saith and hee findes it no difficult worke to beleeve the greatest sinne may be pardoned conceive therefore of him as you have heard Thirdly God is glorious in his Persons which are three Father begetting Sonne begotten and the Holy Ghost the third person proceeding Here the Father is called the Father of glory Eph. 1. Christ is called the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2. and the Spirit is called the Spirit of glory 1 Pet. 4. the Father is glorious in his great work of Election the Son is glorious in his worke of Redemption the Holy Ghost is glorious in his work of Application the Father is glorious in choosing the house the Son is glorious in buying the House the Spirit is glorious in dwelling in the House that is the heart of a poore lost sinner 4. He is glorious in his Works in his works of Creation and in his workes of providence and government wonder therefore that he should so vouchsafe to looke upon such wormes such dunghils such Lepers as we are to provide protect to slay his Sonne to call to strive to waite to give away himselfe and all that he is worth unto us O feare this God when you come before him People come before God in Prayer as before their fellowes or as before an Idoll People tremble not at his voyce in the Word A King or Monarch will bee served in state yet how rudely how slovenly do men goe about every holy duty Thus much of the first Principall Head that there is One most glorious God Now we are to proceede to the second viz. CHAP. II. THat this God made all mankind at first in a most glorious and happy estate like unto himselfe For the opening of which Assertion I have chosen this Text Eccles. 7. 29. God made man righteous which clearely demonstrates That GOD made all mankind at first in Adam in a most glorious happy and righteous estate Man when he came first out of Gods mint shined most glorious There 's a marvellous glory in all Creatures the servants and houshold stuffe of man therfore there was a greater glory in man himselfe the end of them God calleth a Parliament and gathers a Councell when man was to bee made and said Come let us make man in our owne Image as though all the Wisedome of the Trinity should be seene in the creation of man Wherein did the glory or blessednesse of man appeare In the impression of Gods Image upon him Gen. 1. 26. Can there be any greater glory for a Ioseph for a subject than to be like his Prince What was the Image of God The Schoolmen and Fathers have many curious yet some necessary though difficult questions about this I will omit all theirs and tell you only what is the APOSTLES judgement Colossians 3. 20. out of which this generall description of GOD s Image may bee thus gathered It is mans perfection of Holinesse resembling GODs admirable holinesse whereby onely man plâ—aseth God For all other inferiour Creatures did carry the workes and footsteps of GODs power wisedome goodnesse whereby all these Attributes were seene Now the most perfect Attributes of God that is his Holinesse that hee would have onely appeare in and be made manifest by man his best inferior creature as a Kings wisedome and bounty appeares in managing the affaires of all his Kingdome but his Royal Princely and most eminent perfections appeare in the face and disposition of his Sonne next under him But more particularly this Image of GOD appeared in these foure particulars 1. In mans understanding this was like unto Gods Now Gods Image here chiefly consisted in this particular viz. As God saw himselfe and beheld his owne infinite endlesse glory and excellency so man was privie to Gods excellency and saw God most gloriously as Moses though a sinfull man saw him face to face much more Adam a perfect man God loving man could doe no lesse than reveale himselfe to man 2. In his Affections the image of God chiefly appeared in two things First As God seeing himselfe loved himselfe So Adam seeing God loved this God more than the World more than himselfe as Iron put into the fire seemes to bee nothing but fire So Adam being beloved of God was turned into a lumpe of love to love GOD againe Secondly As God delighted in himselfe So did Adam delight in God tooke sweete repose in the boâ—ome of GOD. Mee thinkes I see Adam wrapt up in continuall extasies in having this God 3. In his Will the Image of God chiefely appeared in two things First As GOD onely willed Himselfe as his last end So did Adam will GOD as his last end not as man doth now Secondly As God willed nothing but