Holinesse Mat. 5.16 Fourthly let men know renounce as an extreme folly that temporall Thrift which causeth an eternall losse Surely if that Lord who is Wisedome it selfe commended the Steward for a Wiseman that abated his temporall Reckonings to increase his eternall Rewards hee cannot but disprayse for a Foole that man that wil increase a little perishing vanity that hee may decrease an exceeding weight of eternall glory Whereas a hundred abated heere would increase a thousand hereafter this man by a most foolish thrift will saue fifty here that hee may lose fiue hundred hereafter Ill Husbands they are in the midst of their good husbandry and the Husbandmen of this generation shall rise in iudgment against them for these will not sow sparingly that they may reape sparingly but with a full hand do sow that with a full hand they may mow Let vs therefore pray the Lord of the Haruest he that as he increseth our seed will also increase our sowing that as he outwardly ladeth vs with the bounty of his blessings he will inwardly fill vs with the bountie that giueth these blessings that partaking of his good things wee may also partake of the goodnesse that bestoweth them Then by the same goodnesse which gaue vnto vs shall we giue vnto others the goodnes of God supplying vs both within and without inwardly giuing vs the power of giuing and outwardly giuing vs the matter of giuing And to these men that are filled with this goodnesse the Mother of good Workes is especially recommended that saying of S. Paul Hee that prouides not for his owne is worse then an Infidell To such I say it belongs who are likely to stray too farre on the right hand of Bounty and not to such who most commonly abuse it for the defence of their left-handed Parsimonie This place is to limit those that are excessiuely good not to stop and bound those that are not yet good enough Wherefore goe on boldly a good way farther for there is yet a good distance betweene this place and thee except thou art in doubt of being too good There is yet a third sort which I would only name and I wish that there might be no Examples of such hereafter knowne in Gath nor spoken of in Ashdâ—d and that is when they that beare the true marke of God in their foreheads and haue ript off the Badge of worldly loue from their harts yet in some sleepe of their consciences the enemie soweth some Tares of worldly Lust Couetousnesse or Ambition Dauid sinned in one kind and no doubt men of perfect hearts sinne in other kindes and single Actions of sinne issue from them that haue an habite or rather a nature of Grace God hath left the Canaanite in vs to exercise vs to humble vs that wee may haue an Enemy to fight against before we weare the Crownes of Glory and that we may haue a patterne of our corruption to humble vs as the Valleyes before we receiue his showres of Grace and Mercy from those hils from whence commeth our Saluation What remaynes but that we fight like men for the killing of that old man which fighteth to kill vs While we stand let vs stand in humility taking heed lest wee fall and this humilitie which makes vs take heed lest wee fall will best keepe vs from that falling whereof wee are to take heed And if wee doe fall as what man lineth that sinneth not let vs rise by giuing our hand to Christ in Faith and Repentance who by his bloud washing vs and by his Spirit quickning vs will raise vs againe set vs on our feet That we may run the way of his CoÌ„mandements Neyther let the wicked in the fals of the Godly magnifie themselues and despise the other as such Pharisies vse to do for though these two did the same kinde of fact yet the fact is different The godly man fals by infirmitie as by the weight of his body or slip of his foote the wicked fals with the swinge of his will as if hee ran his head against the Rockes The godly man hates his owne fault and ariseth from it the wicked man neuer truly hates it neuer heartily forsakes it Yea the godly man is bettred by his fals and by falling stands the more strongly because the more humbly and warily And finally though hee passe by some particular frailties yet vpon the whole he is still better and growes from strength to strength vntill he appeares before God in Sion CHAP. XI An Errour that forbids men though mortally diseased to be cured by a sicke Physician THere is an Errour which though it possesseth not many yet some it possesseth strongly and this is a great mischiefe belonging to it that they thinke themselues better then others for being deceiued and so they become angry with those that would cure them because they seeme to indeauour not to take away an Errour from them but to depriue them of their Eminence Their misbeliefe is this That none but sanctified Preachers can teach vnto Sanctification and Saluation And first for a generall remedie I desire these men to consider that as in naturall so in spirituall fiâ—e there are two things of especiall and inseparable vse the one is Light the other Heate Let the heate of Nature make a mans body neuer so actiue and able yet if the eyes be shut vp so that this heate by the inward light which it makes cannot entertayne the outward light the more actiue and stirring this man is the more hee stumbles and the more hee fals Euen so in the things of Grace if a man will separate heate from light hee diuorceth those â—hat in the spirit are ioyned together and therefore it is likely that such are Saint Iudes men separaters sensuall not hauing the spirit For where the spirit is there light is the guide of heate and such are led by euident Truth not by blind violence But to meete with their Errour more particularly I will first lay my foundation and it is this An assured discouery of the true cause of mans Saluation Not to runne into by-wayes the true way to life is Christ The Way the Truth and the Life Christ our life shall appeare saith Paul and againe Our life is hid with Christ in God More particularly Christ entring into man doth abolish the olde man which is the bodie of Sinne Death and giues vs the new man wherein is included a right of Inheritance vnto Life Eternall The bodie of sinne by sinne had bound vs vnto death and by Dominon had bound vs to sinne but Christ Iesus entring into vs by his Spirit by his Death freeth vs from the Death to which we were bound and by his sanctifying Grace freeth vs from that Dominion by which wee were bound vnto sinne So from henceforth neyther sinne nor death haue dominion ouer vs but the free and freeing Spirit of Christ dwels in vs whereby we are sonnes and heires of Life Eternall Rom.
the blind fury of our lusts it comes into vs to quench their heat and to abate their rage It giues vs also sober counsels by restrayning our senses vnder discipline and custody so to put off the dangerous temptations which by the senses would breake in vpon vs. But these men haue a contrary busines they kindle that which the Spirit quencheth they set fire on the body which is the house of the soule they giue life vnto that which is mans death and striue to kill men better that are already too much dead in sinnes and concupiscences Brokers for the Deuill that make wares for hell and the returne of their merchandise is the soules of men But leaue off this needlesse as well as wicked Trade Lust is as good an euill Painter as your selues it needs no obiects nor representations for it selfe chuseth obiects fast enough and makes to it selfe too many imaginations and pictures But if you will shew the excellence of skill doe something of rarity and make such Images that may fright away Lust by the apparition of torments and miseries attending it or may perswade Temperance by some liuely patternes and characters of Sobriety and the excellent benefits following it Another kinde of Representation and which is done most to the life is that which is done most by the liuing so that life it selfe dwells in that Representation Hence things so represented though past are freshly animated by the spirits of others and liue in them againe and that so naturally that they seeme not to be others but the same and not so much to bee the second as the first And surely if this Representation were of profitable commendable things in a profitable and commendable manner I doe not see how it can be condemned except a thing may be condemned for being profitable or for being a Representation The first no man will affirme and I thinke the latter can hardly bee defended for the personating of others may be patterned euen by Diuine examples One Prophet takes to him the representation of a foolish Shepheard another of a man wounded by him whose prisoner he set free a third of a man fettered in chaines and all these to teach more liuely and to mooue more forcibly But such great abuses haue defiled this kind of Representation that it hath not onely left the true and naturall profit of it but it hath seemed to many graue and godly men rather fit to bee taken away then hopefull to be cured On the other side I see no hope of the taking away and therefore I desire it may bee cured and to that end am willing to shew the chiefe corruptions of it so that eyther the diseases may bee healed or the whole may abstaine from being infected A first Abuse of this kind of Representation is in the person represented when such are represented for pleasure whose representation to wise men is lothsome or to weake men is dangerous I should here beginne with the transfiguring of men into fooles so to make men merry with the deprauation and abasement of a Creature made to Gods Image yea of the very Image of God in that Creature For this feeds that euill humour and condition of foolish men that vseth to reioyce in folly and make it selfe merry with that which makes a wise man eyther angry or sorry But the world is inexorable in this point and they will not haue the foole taken from them but wil needs delight in their like and therefore I will passe to points of more hope and greater possibilitie A second Fault in this kind is the Representation of Women by Men which I thinke is a most dangerous and pestilent Spectacle I need not goe to the old Law for proofe but only appeale to new and lamentable experience and desire the confession of them that know the times whether the shape of a woman hath not made masculine loues and whether the maide hath not procured loue to the boy I am loth to speak of that wherof the very speech is lothsome but it may not bee that sinnes should haue priuiledge to prosper because they are lothsome to be mentioned but euen because they are lothsome they should the more terribly be reprooued But I will goe a middle-way betweene saying all and nothing and wish that there were not so much merchandize of Play-boyes nor so much counterfeiting intisement to that trafficke Sure I am in some Countries at some times the purchase and attendance of a play-boy hath been a speciall ornament and if there bee faults issuing of this fountaine I onely say thus much That for such Lands vse to spew out their Inhabitants Heauen raynes down Hell on Earth and men of Earth goe downe aliue to Hell A third Fault is when the persons of men eyther holy by profession or conuersation are brought forth to the mockes and scornes of prophane Herods In such God himselfe is sacrilegiously derided while eyther his functions or graces are turned into laughing stockes It is a cursed laughter that laughs at him by whom we laugh and he who made laughter doth also make weeping and as certainly as they now laugh and his Spirit is grieued so hereafter will hee laugh and they for griefe shall weepe and that weeping shall be eternall for it shall be caused by a worme that dieth not and a fire that neuer shall be quenched A second sort of Abuse is when euill speaches that corrupt good manners are represented Of these I will name three sorts A first is rotten and filthy language wherein one defiles his owne tongue that he may defile another mans eares he takes the fire of his owne lust and by his tongue flings it in at the windowes of the eare to set young or youthful souls on fire And left this poyson should doe no harme filthinesse very often is conserued and sugred in wit that death may be sure to be swallowed and that the filthinesse may enter and pierce the deeper being poynted by the sharpnesse and pleasantnesse of wit Surely such men become deuills vnto men and turne wit into temptation peruerting that excellent issue of the Soule to bee a Factor for the Flesh yea to carry errands of beastlinesse between Flesh and Flesh the inuenter and the hearer Yea the Soule by this meanes becomes a destroyer of Soules for while it foldeth vp the Flesh in sweetnesse it killeth the Soule that made it and the Soule that heares it if with hearing it be loued as it will be if wit can doe it But besides this lowe debasing of so high and excellent a power of the Soule Let mee tell them for an aduantage that it is often the signe of an hungry and needy brayne for as filthinesse sometimes borrowes of wit to make it handsome so a bad wit often borrowes of filthinesse to make it selfe toothsome for a little wit with a great deale of filthines hath often among vulgar and muddy eares more fauor then much wit if it
Wine more hereafter Secondly If thy tast delight thee how much is that exceeded by the delights of the Spirit The Church confesseth that the kisses of Christ Iesus who kisseth his Church by the Spirit are pleasanter then Wine Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua sayth Dauid Hee is fayne to aske how sweet because he cannot tell nor expresse the sweetnesse of it What is sweeter then hony sayth Samson and yet Dauid sayth The Word of God being tasted by the Spirit is sweeter then hony How many Saints haue left their meat and drinke for the Wine of the Spirit How many haue beaten downe their bodies by abstinence that they might the more fully tast the Sweetnesse of God Wherefore if thou wilt indeed tast sweetnesse get thee a Spirituall tast receiue the Wine of heauen giuen by Christ Iesus the Wisdome of God For he it is that Pro. 8. calleth the sonnes of men promising to fill them with delights vers 31. And surely those must needs be the chiefe delights which issue from the taste of the Deity which is the vppermost Sweetnesse Wherfore desire thou rather to taste God in himselfe then in his Creatures for that is the highest pleasure of tasting which flowes from the taste of the sweetnesse of the Highest Thirdly If thou desire Wine for the cheerfulnesse and ioy which it breedeth know that the Spirit of God is the Fountaine of Consolation and then chuse thou whether thou wilt drink of the streame or of the fountaine The Spirit of God hath in it the ioy and comfort of Wine Yea Wine hath his ioy and comfort from the Spirit for the Spirit of God as once by miracle so still by course of Nature turnes water into Wine But there is another euen a new Wine in the kingdome of God and this is the best wine A new Wine it is to vs but not in it selfe new to vs because wee were first filled with the old Wine of our fall and secondly with this Wine of excesse and after wee come to drink this wine of regeneration and glorification So it is new to vs but it is old in it selfe as flowing eternally from an eternally from an eternall Deity This is the true Wine which recoyceth the heart not of the body onely but of the soule also to which the outward Wine connot reach This is the Wine of blessed Spirits the drinking whereof is the cause of those vnvtterable ioyes which dwel in the dwellers with God In this the Spirit giues not some grosse and bodily relish thereby to become comfortable to the bodily part of Man but in this the Spirit communicates the sap tast and relish of its owne primitiue sweetnesse vigour and cheerfulnesse so that wee doe not so much tast comfort as the Comforter himselfe In the drinking of this Wine shew thy manhood Drinke deep and true healths for with this drinking is ioyned true and eternall health The more thou drinkest of this the wiser the holyer the more sober thou art for in the same Spirit wherein is cheerfulnesse is also Wisdome and Vertue The tast of this Wine is a bequeath of dying Christ Iesus to his beloued Spouse the Church whom he comforteth and supporteth with the flagons thereof in his absence before the Day of his great Marriage where it shall bee giuen in fulnesse And the comforts of it are sufficient to strēgthen vs against all sorts of griefe yea they make vs cheerfully to scorne and despise the pleasures of sinne they make vs to looke on death with disdayne as vpon a Snake whose fling and teeth are pulled out Death where is thy sting Graue where is thy victory They make vs to long for heauen and stirre vp the stomacke of the soule by these measured tastes of God to tast him perfectly in a most blessed full and eternall fruition But perchance thou wilt tell mee that thou tastest no such sweetnesse in God thou hast heard him spoken of in Churches and Pulpits and thou sayest thy prayers as others doe and yet thou perceiuest no such matter as I talke of Surely I must confesse This Wine is not for euery mouth neyther is euery mouth for this Wine The holy Wine must be put into holy Vessels for it is farre holyer then the shew-bread for the receiuing whereof Abimelech would that the young mens Vessels should be cleane The corrupt and lustfull Flesh as it tasteth not this Wine no more doth this Wine indure to be tasted by it this fruit of the tree of Life cannot be receiued but where the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill is spit out and denyed The louers of Egyptian Onions are no true tasters of celestiall Manna therfore striue to cast out the old Man corrupt with deceiuable Lusts which makes thy taste grosse and earthly and then thou shalt taste the sweetnesse of God and his consolations And hauing tasted it thou shalt despise the tast of thy former gluttonies and drinkings and thou shalt say with Dauid Thou hast put more ioy into my heart then formerly there was when the Oyle and Wine were plentifull This is a priuiledge of Saints bee thou a Saint and inioy the priuiledge Thirdly for drunkennesse had need to be haled out with a three-fold cord behold a benefit of this Spirituall wine which the other wanteth yea behold the same thing commendable in the one damnable in the other and that is excesse Thou must drinke too much of the outward wine but canst not drinke too much of the inward and therfore if thou loue safety better then danger loue the wine of the Spirit rather then the fruit of the Vine If thou knowest a Physitian that heales all that he meddles with and another that hath killed as many as he hath vndertaken doest thou not shew thy folly to preferre the killer before the sauer Surely the spirit saues all that it vndertakes and wine hath slaine many soules and bodies by excesse O loue life and seeke not death by the errours of this life Drinke the Spirit without feare but drink wine still in feare thou mayst not feare in the drinking of the spirit except thou wilt feare increase of comfort of light of holinesse Thou canst not drinke freely of wine without feare except thou do not feare the losse of light the losse of reason of goodnesse of thy whole selfe The spirit by how much it groweth in thee the wiser the better the more larger thou art But by how much more thou drinkest the wine of excesse the foolisher the wickeder the lesser thou art Therefore when thou takest the Cup of Saluation open thy mouth wide that it may bee largely filled but when thou takest thy cup of wine know it is a cup of danger and let in danger as sparely as thou mayst It is the saying of a Wiseman Hee that loueth danger shall perish in it and surely hee that loueth wine loueth danger and therefore hee that lowine is likely