preachers tell vs goe forwarde I beseech you in all other sinnes and you shall finde but a verie small number that say I beleeued and therefore I heard The medicine to purge out all these corruptions is a true faith the which if either you leaue at home or lose it by the way the labour is all lost that you take therein Oh how lamentable and damnable a sinne is infidelitie when the iudgements of God are not beleeued and the mercies of God are abused But this greeueth all godly hearts to the quicke that euen in our daies and times there should be such that as a godly father saith are armed with the name of good christians yet fight against the faith of true beleeuers Looke vpon it in time least as death followeth sicknes through want of phisicke so the death of your soules follow their sickenes through want of faith Beleeue saith Christ and al things are possible the dead haue beene raised by faith the sicke haue beene releeued by faith the mountaines may be remooued by faith and the diuell himselfe is droue away by faith therefore bring faith with you vnto the hearing of the sermons the scriptures are the Lords wordes and they are set to sale by the preaching of the ministers themselues beeing his factors faith must buye them as money doth or bee exchanged for them as one thing is for another for there is no crediting vpon wordes no obligations vpon dayes that can get them from vs but present payment of a liuely faith Therefore if any will knowe howe to heare the Gospell with profit and to enioy it with comfort let him bring faith with him that the worde deliuered may bee sealed for truth and sinnes beeing reprooued may bee receiued for truth and suffer no starting holes of infidelitie to carrie our soules from the rocke of God his truth into the sea of heathenish securitie or endlesse aduersitie O yee elders That is you gouernours of the people whom the Lord hath honoured with long life and the world with great authoritie And from hence we note this doctrine that the most honourable must most of all giue eare to the worde of God whether that honour bee in the Church as the ministers or in the common wealth as the magistrates or in the familie as the father thereof or in the warres as the generall thereof all these beeing exalted aboue other haue also a charge aboue other that euerie one walke worthie of his profession which is onely by studying and hearing the word of the Lord. The Lord so commandeth Deut. 17. 19. That the king himselfe shall cause to be wrote a booke for him of the lawe that he keepe it with him and read therein all the daies of his life Those which haue the greatest charge must vse the greatest labour to discharge their places as none could be iudges in Israell till the Lord had giuen them of the spirit of Moses so none can sincerely execute their duetie that the world may be satisfied the Lord may be glorified and their owne soules comforted vnlesse they receiue of the spirit of God and by the ministerie of the word is the spirit deliuered Gal. 3. 2. Hearken therefore you rulers of the Lordes people that which excelleth all glorie being richer then all wealth and wiser then all learning euen the spirit of God may be receiued when the word of God is deliuered Oh how are they deceiued that thinke the ministerie a base profession not meete for any but for the poore to liue by for the lame disfigured for yonger brothers for bankerupt for seruingmen for blunt-headed-schollers and such as can be good in nothing How are they also deceiued that thinke it not an exercise fit for noble men and persons of estate knights and gentlemen and such great ones which haue the world at their wils and the countrey at their pleasures shall these say they make themselues drudges to the Gospell schollers to the preachers and goe on pilgrimage to a publike sermon Yea all these must resigne their crownes of maiestie their gownes of nobility their swords of chiualrie and their estimation of gentrie vnto the voice of the blessed spirit of God speaking in the scriptures and preaching in his ministers And if these must bend their knees we must bow our bodies to the earth and put our necke vnder the yoke of Christ Iesus that he may lift vp our head liues to the participation of glorie The Lord that bindeth kings in chaines and nobles in fetters of Iron and maketh the mountaines to cleaue in sunder at his roaring willeth and commandeth vs from heauen to heare his son and it shal so come to passe that the soule shal be cut off from the Lords people that hath not kissed the prince of glorie and commeth not to offer obedience and seruice to his royall Lord who is able to cast him body and soule into fire euerlasting Let vs therefore study to enter into the courts where the Gospell of Christ soundeth and reigneth least we fall away from grace and glorie after the euill example of those long agoe condemned infidels and reprobated apostataes which gaue their eares to falshood their toongs to blasphemie their liues to vanitie their bodies to luxurie and their soules to euerlasting miserie Let not the graye haires of old men the great wealth of rich men the worship of Magistrates nor the honour of gouernement draw away our hearts from the hearing of this message which being hid from vs maketh vs cursed castawaies but being declared vnto vs regenerateth vs to the hope of eternall happines The reasons of this doctrine are also easily gathered out of the word of God First the same which Samuel vseth in his first booke cap. 12. ver 14. at the annointing or crowning of their new king Saule to perswade them and their king to the diligent hearing of the word and reuerent feare of God he vseth this as a reason That then they shall be the people of the Lord God As if Samuel had said vnto them you know that this is the glorie of our nation that we alone are the selected band and chosen soldiers to fight the Lords battles and this is an honour against all the world beside that they seruing Idoles and worshipping diuels we serue the Lord of hostes if therefore you will indeed be the Lords people you must in truth heare the Lords word what could be said more forcibly to mooue a rebellious nation to a quiet submission And this being the badge and liuerie of the Church of God we may be bold to say openly and defend confidently that they which heare not the Gospell as now it is preached in our English nation are none of the true followers of his heauenly maiestie Euen all whether they be the archenimies of Christ the Papists or the new sectary of Recusants the Brownists or the vaine religion bablers the Newters or the priuy haters of the
for their follies by preaching forsake their fashiōs of the world to be new fashioned in their minds that in stead of infidelitie wherwith the most of that crew are infected they may haue faith engraffed in them by hearing the Gospell least as they consume their purses they condemne their soules neither can robbe for more soules as they do for more purses Then will you say beloued you haue ploughed in vaine vpon the rocke but better let vanitie be vanitie then preaching be vanitie better let gamesters be deceiued then Apostles be falsified and better let Lordes and Ladies Gentlewomen and seruingmen and all the route which be contrary minded to this doctrine perish and depart from their pleasures then that the sonne of God the church of God and the ministers of God should depart from the truth It is no blasphemie to say with Paul It pleased God through preaching to saue them that beleeue Therefore no preaching no saluation or with Iohn He that heareth vs not is not of God Therefore they which stop their eares when they shoulde heare the preachers shall heare against their wils Go yee cursed into the fire of hell Nowe let vs come and see what particular vses the holy Ghost maketh of this doctrine in other places of Scripture And let that generall exhortation of our Sauiour Matth. 13. 9. be the first when he saith He that hath an eare to heare let him heare And this is as if our Lord had saide the Gospell of saluation is of such waight that it concerneth all the people of the worlde by the preaching thereof the gray headed the yoong men the tender women and the little children may and must receiue some profite old men must bee prepared to the graue yoong must be strengthened to fight with their pleasures women must be gouerned like the daughters of righteousnes and children instructed in the worke of redemption The king must heare as Dauid did the noble man must heare as Obadiah did the gentleman must heare as Sergius Paulus did the ladie must heare as Esther did the yeoman must heare as Elisha his host did the labourer must heare as Apollos did the women must heare as Marie did and the little children must heare as they did which when they sawe Christ cried Osanna in the highest For euery one that hath an eare to heare must lende the same to the worde of God The Gospell of Christ is not like other professions that when they haue most followers one marreth anothers trade but when all men if it were possible shall be ioyned to the Lorde in the profession of the truth then is the glory thereof greater then the brightnesse of the sunne Therefore my beloued rouse vp your heauie and hanging downe sences and consider with your selues that if the Lorde hath giuen you your eies to see withall your hands to worke withall your toongs to speake withal your feete to walke withall then thinke also that he hath giuen you your eares to heare his worde withall And if they which haue eares to heare must heare what shall they not forfaite their eares for not hearing Truely if the forging and counterfaiting of a noble mans seale or of a peece of euidence be by the lawes of man most woorthily deemed to be punished with cutting off their eares bicause it bringeth harme to a common wealth then also it may easily followe that in like case they deserue the loosing of their eares which will not lend them to the Lords preacher This I speake not to make any ciuill constitution but comparing sinne with sinne I would gladly manifest the great euil that hangeth on their neckes which haue their elbowes as ready to heare as their eares Most lamentable it is to consider that if they were all deafe that will not heare our sermons what a deafe world would this quickly prooue O my beloued brethren know you not that hearing is the sence of obedience and therefore you cannot iustifie your selues to obey vnlesse you testifie that you will heare God his ministers If he were accursed that layeth a stumbling blocke before the blinde then are they also accursed which stop their eares against the Lords ordinance Was it not a heynous thing to remooue but a land marke which our elders planted and therefore much more heynous is it to remooue hearing God his word from our eares which the Lord himselfe hath planted Come therefore my beloued and as you would be called Christians so fulfill the minde of Christ for as the vine branche is good for nothing but to beare grapes euen so the eares of man are but combrances into vs in most matters except in hearing the worde of God in the world they are too long in the Lord they are too little therfore for amending of our follies let vs apply our eares to heare while we can heare least it be too late when we would Secondly we make another vse thereof that seeing the ministers of God must call vpon the people to heare the word it is also requisite to shew you the true way for the sauing hearing of the Lords truth for in one and the same maner of preaching there is not one and the same manner of hearing therefore the holy Ghost speaketh by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes cap. 4. ver 2. Vnto vs was the Gospell preached as also vnto them but the word that they heard profited them not bicause it was not mixed with faith in those that heard it where we may learne if men and women heare the word of God with such diligence as the dearest seruants of the Lord doe yet are they many times neuer the better and he giueth the reason thereof bicause they do not mingle it with faith There are some seeds so smal and of that nature that when the gardiner will sowe them he must first take vp a great deale of earth and crushing it very small doth mingle it with his seed and then casteth it into the earth and it prospereth exceedingly euen so deerely beloued if you mingle not the pure earth of a sound faith with the seed of the Lordes word you shall neuer receiue any profit by our preaching And this is the verie cause that the Gospell groweth not mens hearts tremble not and their liues amend not because they bring minds full of infidelitie vnto the congregations The close Papist saith to himselfe I will heare this preacher but I will beleeue nothing that he vttereth contrary to my first receiued superstition the proude man saith to himselfe all the sermons in the world shall neuer humble me the couetous man he saith for all their preaching and telling me that I shall neuer enter into the kingdome of heauen yet I will not beleeue them if Christ himselfe say so the ruffians will not forsake their vanities for any instruction the common people say we preach but for our liuings and God forbid that all should be true which the scripture and
churches reade our bookes and beleeue not our Sermons Now thinke with thy selfe that hast liued thus long in a strange place yet knowest not nor obeyest the Lord of that place art thou not in danger to be arraigned for rebellion Yes verily and so are all those that liue with good men and know them not that may haue the truth and labour not for it that might be saued and yet will be reprobated Be not therefore an enimie to godlines or to any member of the church for if thou heare them not their words will hurt thee if thou helpe them not their wants will witnesse against thee and if thou oppresse them the Lord himselfe will iudge thee The xl Sermon Vers 13. Put in your sithes for the haruest is ripe come get you downe for the wine-presse is full yea the wine-presse runneth ouer for their wickednesse is great 14. O multitude ô multitude come into the valley of threshing for the daie of the Lorde is neere in the valley of threshing AT the length by the assistance of God we are come to the last part of the execution contained vnder the allegorie of an haruest and threshing of corne In the haruest and wine-presse we must consider their death and vnder the threshing their condemnation For the first where hee compareth their destruction to a haruest he doth but as it is vsuall in the Scriptures both olde and newe to set foorth a massacre of men by cutting downe of corne the which is applied to the latter iudgement in the Reuelation onely heere is mention made of sithes but there the angels are saide to reape with sickles the matter is all one for as one saide Non multum refert an vno grandi fluctu an paulatim aqua subrepente nauis submergatur It commeth all to one thing to haue a shippe drowned either with one great waue or by a leake and it is no matter whether a mā be killed with a sword or a rapier so the iudgement is alike both with the sickle and with the sythe By the allegorie both of the haruest and of the wine-presse wherein there is not a stalke but it is cut nor a grape but it is pressed out we may note that not one shall escape the iudgement of God Amos 9. 2. The which thing the Lorde by this plaine similitude woulde haue vs obserue that euery day wee might see our miserie and learne to mitigate the wrath of God towarde vs. Neither is the estate of the wicked more tolerable bicause it seemeth they are heere compared to corne for it is but the woorst and basest corne such as is cut with the sythe not reaped with a sickle For although they are corne yet they are not for the Lordes spending Dauid saith they lie like sheepe in hell are they the better in hell bicause they are compared to sheepe no verily no more are they the happier bicause they are resembled to corn The reason of this vniuersall iudgement is because the Lorde will bring euery action whether it be good or bad vnto iudgement Eccl. 12. 14. If he will bring euery action then much more euerie man for euery man hath a thousand actions all which shall be so adiudged as we shall know the particular censure of God vpon euery one of them Seeing therefore there is not one man in the worlde but hee must come to iudgement as there is not one stalke in a corne-fielde but it must be cut downe and as the apostle saith 2. Cor. 5. 10. that wee must euery one appeere before the iudgement seate of God then let vs liue in the continuall expectation thereof A man that is wrongfully imprisoned thinketh it long till the iudge come who will set him at libertie because he knoweth his iniurie in like sort a man that is a christian is a prisoner in this worlde hauing his flesh for his gaole his sinnes for his irons the diuels for his keepers and Christ his Sauiour for his iudge thinketh long till his iudge come and set him at libertie and therefore desireth euery day to come into the presence of God A iudgement we must all vndergo therefore they are happy men that desire the same let not any be so wilfull as to wish there were none for they which cannot like iudgement doe denie iustice and they which denie iustice shall certainely feele it Appeere before the Lorde often with thy praiers that hee may knowe thee at the generall iudgement Be not as vnwilling to come before him as a theefe that careth not for the face of the iudge but as Ioseph thought long till hee sawe his father Iacob after he knew hee was aliue so doe thou thinke euerie daie manie yeeres till thou haue seene the Lorde in his kingdome Againe when in the second place he mentioneth the wine presse saying it runneth ouer and their wickednesse is great he thereby noteth the qualitie of sinne namely if God had not set a measure thereof it would growe immeasurable for as the measure of the wine presse neuer staieth till it bee full and when it is full it ceaseth not till it runne ouer so will the sinnes of men neuer cease til they exceede measure Ier. 9. 3. whereby we may see a wonderfull worke of God for there is not one man liuing but he hath in him the seede and spawne of all sinne now it is wonderfull that euery one groweth not and that any man liuing should haue in him any little drop of goodnesse We may also lament our corrupt and sinfull estate that during the time of our life we are subiect to all sinne for there is no subiect so true but if God let him fall he will become a traitor no woman so honest but she may become an adulteresse no man so righteous but he may become a theefe and to conclude there is not any so glorious but hee may be as infamous for as we are subiect to all sicknesses so are we to all sinnes O miserable men that wee are who shall deliuer vs from these bodies of sinne it is borne with vs it groweth with vs it liueth with vs and it dieth with vs it is the death of it selfe and the death of vs the death of it selfe by killing vs and the death of vs by exceeding measure for as the sonnes of Zeruiah were too strong for Dauid although he was king so our sinnes are too strong for vs although we shoulde rule them We were happy men if our sins were not or if they were not so immesurable They will com at the first to be our slaues as the Philistines but in the end they will be our lords as they would be to Israell Oh woulde God we might conquer them and driue them out of our soules as they expelled the Philistines out of Ierusalem The reason is because the power of sathan which is the efficient cause of sinne doth encrease to deceiue vs 2. Thess 2. 9 11. The diuell