vnprofitable seruants and like an impartiall christian he beginnes at home with himselfe and sayth Wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this body of death If you beleeue not him yet melt at the lamentation of our mother the Church whose iron heart making her lumpish and vnfit to goe to GOD without Gods spirit like an Adamant to dravve her cryes out in the first of the Canticles and sayth Drawe me and I will runne after thee And yet the Papists do so much flatter flesh and bloud that they make mans soule as a birde in a cage hauing wings to flie if the cage were open and like a lame man going vpon chrutches needing perhaps a little helpe as though they woulde make him cooperate with God Whereas weak men God knowes we want both wings and legges both will and power vnto goodnesse for from God cometh trust Paul rather then Bellarmine himselfe velle perficere Lactantius who was the hammer of gentilisme pleades against the heathens and sayth that their gods were not the authours of corne and wine and oyle hee sayth hee can proue these things were in the world before eyther Ceres or Saturne were borne But if these things were inuented by them who but onely God gaue them wit to inuent such things We are all of vs of the metall of a stone wee can rowle downe a hill by our selues of our own nature but vp to heauen-ward we cannot go without the help of Gods holy spirit We are like a spring-locke of our selues wee can shut and keepe out the graces of God wee cannot open our selues to receiue them in but by the help of thee O Lord who art the onely key But blessed be God who takes away our hearts of stone and giues vs hearts of flesh who at the first by his preuenting grace doth worke in vs to be willing and after with his subsequent grace he accompanieth vs that being willing wee should not will in vaine Therfore In nullo gloriandum est quia nihil est nostrum we must boast our selues of nothing because nothing is our owne we are starres we deriue all that we haue from the Father of lights Iam. 1. Giue therfore Lord what thou commandest and then commaund what thou wilt For goodnesse is a flower that growes not in our gardens It becomes vs al to looke vpon our trailing wings and confesse that we cannot fly for no spices can flowe out of our gardens no vertues out of our soules vnlesse Gods holy Spirit inrich our soules vnlesse the North and South arise blowe vpon our gardens For of ourselues we are naturally inclined to euill as Ephraim was so if you aske who mixt he mixt himselfe if you aske where he mix himselfe among the people What Ephraim hauing all Israel as a traine to follow after they all making by many degrees the maior part of the sonnes of Abraham they being tenne tribes and Iuda but onely two being ioined with the people too were not they a goodly companie euen as the morning spred vpon the mountains Yes their multitude was great but they were not therefore holy because they were many and therfore insteed of wine Bellarmine brocheth that which is worse then water when for one of the markes of the Church hee sets downe multitude as though there were not a broade way that leades vnto hell and many passengers in that way Math. 7. 14. What glory did multitude bring vnto the Church when Elias mourned because there were so few that professed true religion as though he had been left alone as a sparrow vpon the house top In the daies of Traian the Emperor the Church of God was like a doue in the holes of the rock therfore the Christians in his time being excepted against for their conuenticles were apologized by Plinie the second who wrot vnto Traian and told him that he found no fault with the Christians vnlesse it were a fault to pray and praise their God in their antelucane hymns There was a time whē the Arrian heresies spred so fast that there was Athanasius against all the world and all the world against Athanasius Gods chosen was a pearle in the rock and a vain of gold hid in the earth hard to be found The wildernesse is great where the goates do range the folde of God but small yet feare not little flock it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome Ephraim hath mixt himselfe among the people They were an irreligious and idolatrous people which were as thornes in the sides of Ephraim and means to draw them vnto euill Out of which words doth arise this second obseruation that wee must auoide euill companie For with the froward we shall learne frowardnesse The wicked are like stickes one vnto an other kindling the heate of concupiscence mid-vviues they are by their perswasions helping monstrous births in the world bringing to passe that the sooner lust may conceiue and bring forth sinne and sinne when it is finished may bring forth death They reach out one vnto an other the hand of errour saying not Come let vs goe vp into the house of the Lord but let vs go vp to Bethel and transgresse to Gilgal multiply transgression A wicked companion is like vnto Dan an adder in the path which bites the horse makes the rider to fal backward he makes those whō he worketh vpō by his perswasions to becom retrograde with Demas to forsake Paul embrace this present world with the Church of Ephesus to leaue their first loue becom Apostats in matters of Christianitie It is a perillous conflict between the fire and the stubble euen iron sayth Isidorus will melt at this fire the most stayed man seeing all men haue such flaxen soules and so apt to take fire will thaw into vanity when he meetes with euill company As Ieroboam reared vp golden calues in Dan and Bethel to keepe the people from going to serue God at Ierusalem So to draw those that are flexible from their good and godly purposes they erect vanities and games vnto Bacchus and Flora which idoles I meane drunkennesse and wantonnesse are better cliented vpon the Sabboth day then the Ministers of Gods word With a thousand lures euill companions prouoke vnto intemperate courses and like Fimbria in Tullies pleadings for Roscius who was angry with Scaeuola that hee would not receiue all his sword point and blade into his bowells so these are angry that all others will not runne with them into the same excesse of riot But it becomes you who haue better learned Christ to bee like Arethusa which passeth through the Sicilian Sea and yet takes no saltnesse to liue as Paul woulde haue men to liue blamelesse in the middest of a frowarde and crooked generation It is with the common corruptions of the world as with a
of Hosea could bee rightly valued we should finde that herein is imbarked as great riches of grace as euer yet the word of God the siluer stream of the water of life hath landed vnto our soules since first we sinfull men had trafficke with that renowned King Whose dominion is from sea to sea and from the riuer vnto the end of the world Among all the Prophecies especially this of Hosea among the chapters of this Prophecy this the 7. and in this 7. these verses that I haue read vnto you doe ayme principally at the kingdom of Israel not of Iuda at the 10 tribes committed to the gouernment of Ieroboam not vnto the two tribes left with Rehoboam the son of Salomon In the handling of which words I desire your minds as well as your bodies and that my words may rather diue downe into your hearts then swimme in your eares therefore I wil not intangle you in the maze of any curious diuisiō but plainly I will obserue these three things 1. The sinne of Ephraim and al Israel 7. 8. which is 1. Bred at home All like an ouen Which sinne had 3. effectes 1. The deuouring of their Iudges 2. Slownesse in not returning 3. Their not calling vpon God 2. Borrowed abroad Ephraim mixt himself c. which borrowed sinne had one effect and that wss this he was as a cake on the hearth not turned 2. The dulnesse of Ephraim of which dulness I obserue 1. The arguments or euidences which were 1. Wilfull ignorance in not knowing ver 9. 2. Slownesse in not returning ver 10. 3. Simplicity and credulity in being ouerreached v. 11 2. The aggrauation that is by these circumstances or for these causes 1. Strangers deuoured their strength 2. Gray hayres were here there vpon him 3. The pride of Israel testifieth to his face 3. Gods alarum to rouze them out of their slumber and awake their dulnesse ver 12. but when they shall goe c. where I obserue these fiue things 1. Gods prouidence hee will see them as they goe 2. His wisdom he will spread a net 3. His power he will draw them down 4. His iustice he will chastice them 5. His truth he will make good what he hath sayd in the congregation As if the Prophet should haue sayd O ye men of Israel especially you of the house of Ephraim concupiscence boiling within you hath made you hot as an ouen Kings and Iudges haue been your fuell you haue not called vpon the Lord by reason of the mixture of your selues among the people you haue been tainted with idolatrie partly rawe and partly rosted you haue had a knee for God and a knee for Baal you might haue beene warned by the inuasion of strangers and by the approche of olde age yet you haue beene possessed with blinde and lame and lumpish spirits for I obserue your dulnesse and your slownesse and your simplicitie you haue beene without eyes not knowing without feete not returning without hearts and as a doue deceiued yet sayth God by the Prophet when you goe I wil see you by my prouidence and spread a net for you by my wisdom and drawe you downe by my power and chastice you by my iustice and make good the truth of that which you haue heard affirmed in your congregations They are all hotte as an ouen Which is a borrowed speech implying their sin bred at home There is a fire wherewith Christ baptizeth Matth. 3. and wherewithall the Apostles were inriched Acts 2. I meane the vertue of Gods holy spirit which when it takes possession of a man it makes his heart hot within him and while he is musing the fire kindleth and he speakes with his tongue But his words are like the words of Nepthali Who is like a Hinde giuing good words they are eyther prayses vnto his God or charitable comforts vnto his brethren or holy meditations vnto himselfe Yet the same diuel that had a floud of water to send out of his mouth to drowne the Church and her children Reuel 12. hath water also to quench this holy fire and in stead thereof hee hurls balls of wilde-fire into our soules hee fanneth them with the blandishments of the world that the sooner Lust might conceiue bring forth sinne that sinne when it is finished might bring forth death Such is the forme of an ouen that by reason of the vault and damming vp therof the inward parts therof are black and vnclean and the fire worketh more vehemently then in ordinary places so it is with sinne It takes possession of the heart the strongest holde which is the throne of the minde and by degrees surpriseth the other parts of the body The tongue by dropping the poyson of aspes vnder it the hand by making them the hands of iniquitie the feete by making them swift to shed bloud the eyes by making them swell with lust the wayes by making them exorbitant from the wayes of peace So that when God seeth the garment of righteousnesse which he hath bestowed rent and torne the work of sanctification out of reparations and his owne image canceld he may say as his sonne our Sauiour did once say of the Romane coyne Whose image and superscription is this It is Caesars then giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars and vnto God that which is Gods Whose image and superscription is this It is the diuels or the worlds or the fleshes then giue vnto them that which is theirs they are not stamped with my seale I acknowledge them not to bee mine owne When Caesar was wounded vnto death by the Senators of Rome it grieued him much but much more when hee perceiued himselfe to bee hurt by Brutus whome he loued aboue the rest therefore his dolefull tongue copied out of a more dolefull mind these words Et tu fili And thou my sonne also So no doubt but it grieues God to bee pierced through with the sinnes of Atheists and irreligious men but it grieues mee more may God say when thou that art my childe rebelst against mee thou whome as mine owne sonne I haue created vvhome I haue redeemed whome I haue iustified whome I haue sanctified whome I meane to glorifie For where the more debt is forgiuen there the most loue and obedience is due sayth Christ to Simon Luke 7. The world is olde and very sickly and one wee see is distempered with a consumption of enuy an other with a hotte feuer of malice another with lunaticke and rauing fittes of swearing an other with a tympany or swelling of ambition an other so loseth himselfe by drunkennesse that a man may seeke a man in a man and not finde him Yet if you in this sinne-sicke world can auoide the tinctures and staynings of concupiscence and make wrack neyther vpon the Rockes nor vpon the Sandes neyther vppon open nor secret sinnes then neyther the arrowe that flyes by day nor the Pestilence that
all his creatures fire water hayle yee snowe storme and tempest to bee the portion for the wicked to drinke The world is olde and now in her dotage but good God what a wonder is it though she be olde shee is euer in child-bed in trauell euery month of newe fashions of newe sinnes of new vanities of all new things saue only of the new Man That hath brought in so many vncouth diseases as punishments for these new sins That old man is in such request that the world is ready to say with the yong man in the Gospel whom Christ bade follow that she wil follow but first she must go bury her Father She hath an old man at home that is not yet dead an old man the old Adam the man of sinne liuing and not dead not dead but liuing in her owne loynes Thales Milesius had an asse which beeing laden with salt melted the salt in the water and so was disburdened and afterwards being laden with wooll plunging the same burden in the water was more burdened we are all fraught in some measure with that salt which euery man should haue in himselfe that we melt away by bathing our selues in the pleasures of the world then we are laden with vanity far lighter then wooll which while we plunge in the same stream we are vnawares so burdened that we cannot clime vnto the hill not to the hill of Sion not vp to heauen not vp to those hills from whence commeth all our helpe These vanities these sins these these do lime the soules of men and hinder their flight to heauen and with a false key they open the doore to vengeance They wring the sword out of the hand of God Presume not therefore to sin for that wil make your sins sins of a whorish forhead but rather be led by the punishmēt to the sin as by the stream vnto the spring Slander not the frost the hayle and the wind and the weather they are Gods pursuiuants sent to call you home though you think them vnseasonable and vnwelcom rather kiss the rod and submit your selues vnto his power and looke into your owne distempered estates suppresse those rebells within you your affections retaine S. Paul for your counsellour who tells you that as you sowe so shal you reap Sowe not saith the Prophet the wind for feare you reape the whirlewind for your haruest So we not drunkennesse for feare you reape for your haruest the cancelling of the image of God which is vpon you bend not your knees to drinke healthes and carowses which should be bent in your prayers and soliloques for the seruice of the liuing God nor let that mouth which should praise your God be like Idoles euer gaping to deuoure much of that which would releeue Gods children Stand in awe and feare least those two cannot be seuered which Saint Paul hath linked together the belly the God and the end damnation When the diuell wounds or kills by any sinne excepting drunkennesse he pearceth with a single bullet one sinne onely but when by drunkennesse then by chaine shot many sinnes linked together it is neuer alone it drawes on swearing and quarrelling and ribaldry and words what not saue onely them that are powdred with salt and deeds what not saue onely the fruits of the spirit By the lawe Leuiticall there was no beast allowed to bee a sacrifice that was blinde or lame or vncleane vvhen men are so drunken that they cannot see and therfore blinde that they cannot stand therfore lame that they fome at the mouth and therfore vnclean neither God nor the world wil iudge them to be liuing sacrifices vnto their God Beware of drunkennes for surely there is mors in olla death in the pot if it be abused So we not blasphemy and swearing least you reap for your haruest many plagues yea that plague that neuer departeth out of the house yea that flying booke which will breake into your houses whether you will or not The wheeles of the clock within are neuer in order when the bell makes not true report of the time of the day the tong is the index of the mind Apply it to your selues if the tong sound not forth good words the mind within without doubt is distempred that man is scarce to bee thought a temple of the Lord but a nest for owles and ostriches out of whose mouth there comes such a flight of vncleane birds Sowe not couetousnesse let not the daughters of the horseleech yawne within you crying giue giue with a desire as large as hel Let not your heaps of wealth be your graues for then you are in danger to fal into many snares and be pearced through with many sorrowes but rather treasure vp your hearts in heauen where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt you wil find this gaines greater then ten in the hundred there is nothing but losse to bee had by being as Niniue was and I pray God you be not a bloudy Citie and full of lyes and robberie and one from whome the prey departeth not she is famous for the lions den and the pasture of the lions whelpe Bloody by oppression full of lyes and robberie in bargaining famous for lions for deuourers and for the lions denne 〈◊〉 chests and coffers wherinto many mens goods do fall and they are eaten vp While I touch this veine and speake of this matter I doubt not but some and they none of the meanest could be content to say to me at the seruants of Hezekiah say de vnto Rabsaketh Speake wee pray thee to thy seruants in the Aramites language for wee vnderstand it and talk not with vs in the Iewes tongue in the audience of the people that are on the wall I make no question but you are loth the world should know much of your dealings and he that comes to ransacke among you must needs be an vnwelcome guest Sowe not idlenesse least you reape brambles and briers it is a lethargie it dulls a mans faculties but many about this City be like the lillies which neither labour nor spin yet whether by robbing or swaggering or cony-catching I cannot tel they farewel they are cloathed like Salomon in all his royalty Many of vs God knows are like him in the Gospelso possessed with a diuell that somtimes we fal into the fire somtimes into the water somtimes the diuel teares vs and wee foame at the mouth wee fall sometimes into the fire of concupiscence sometimes into the vvater and ouerflowing of drunkennesse somtimes the diuell teares vs with rage and anger and then wee foame at the mouth by slander and blasphemie we haue little sinnes like little theeues to creep in at the windowes vnto our soules and make way for greater till sinners be robbed of their best treasure like little wedges they make way for greater til in the end they be cleft for fuel
such strangers in the booke of God that they knew not what was deliuered concerning the resurrection by Ezechiel vnto whom was shewed great heapes of scattered bones which the Lord yet put together and laide sinewes vpon them and made flesh grow thereon and then couered both with skinne and afterwarde breathed life into them God sayth Saint Chrysostome dealeth with the soule as a man pulling downe a ruinous house doth with himselfe hee retires himselfe into some other place least he be annoyed with dust and rubbish and returnes into it againe when it is built more firme and glorious so God giues the soule a repose in heauen it is not annoyed with the dust of the graue but at the day of the resurrection when the house is built more glorious then it was before when this mortall shall put on immortalitie then shall the soule take possession of the body againe but these things are to be scanned by faith they are out of the reach of humane reason some againe take vpon them to tell the time of the day of iudgement and grounding vpon the saying of Saint Peter that a 1000. yeares with GOD is but as one day and one day as a 1000. yeares haue set downe that after 6000. yeares should come an eternall Sabbaoth or rest Now because it is sayde for the electes sake there shall bee a shortning of those dayes therefore they affirme the time of Christs second comming shall fall out betweene the yeares 1688 and 1700. Some againe are so impudent that they venture as farre as humaine reason will leade them to prooue incongruences in the booke of GOD and some belch their impietie so openly that they would prooue in iustice in the designes of GOD as namely Machiuel who is not ashamed to say that Moses and the Israelites were as much vsurpers vpon the Land of promise as the Gothes and Vandales were vppon Christendome That desire of knowledge that like a corne of salte distempered the taste of our first parents is become an habituall saltnesse in Adams posteritie vnto which malady Saint Paul applieth a correctiue when he aduiseth men to be wise vnto sobrietie Fourthly they that know not the things that belong vnto their soules health know not what they need to know such was Ephraim in this place Semblable vnto Ephraim are many who know too much and too little too much of other mens states but too little of their owne Therefore prie not into other mens actions and wordes scoure not your mouthes vpon thē as Petilian the heretick doing gaue Saint Austen occasion to tell him that his tongue was no fanne for the Lords floore to discerne the wheate from the chaffe looke not ouer other mens hedges as they that haue tender eyes doe when they complaine that the Sunne is waterish and dimme when it is not so but themselues are weake sighted Such men as are euer commēting vpon other mens actions make the godly woe that they are constrained to dwell with Mesech and to haue their habitations in the tents of Kedar Rather turn your eyes into your owne bosomes as Christ bid them that iudged the woman taken in adulterie Iohn 8 Hee that is without sinne cast the first stone at her so they went away from the eldest vnto the least Prie not you too much into other mens estates nor too litle into your owne you haue husbandry inough at home you haue eyes looke that they bee not sweld with lust you haue hands looke they bee not hands of iniquitie you haue feete looke they bee not swift to shed blood you haue tongues looke the poyson of aspes bee not vnder them you haue members looke they bee not weapons of vnrighteousnesse But as Polo the Tragoedian acting the part of Electra vpon the stage being mournefully to bring in the bones of her brother Orestes in a pot hee brought the bones of his owne sonne lately buried that the sight of them might wring foorth true teares indeede and therefore hee might act it more famously So shall wee more truely expresse ioy in the holy Ghost and repentance for our sinnes if wee take a view of the estates not of other men but of our own soules that wil breed true ioy and true griefe indeede when we say not as the disciples saide when Christ tolde them that one of them should betray him Master is it I Master is it I but Master it is I Master it is I that haue sinned that haue committed treason against thee the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Let your selues be the center of your owne circling thoughts and bend your selues to knowe those things that may serue your turns at the day of accoūt Scipio could weep when he sawe Carthage a burning because the like misery might befall Rome his natiue country But Belshazzar made not so good vse of his fathers troubles and therfore Daniel sayth And thou his sonne O Belshazzar hast not humbled thy selfe though thou knowest of al these things God shareth out his stripes vnto the ignorant and many stripes vnto thē who haue meanes to knowe and will not And therefore the Prophet Esay deliuers a burden against the valley of vision as well as against Egypt where was ignorāce Cimmerian darkenes Saint Barnard speakes of some who knowe only because they would know and that is curiositie some knowe because they would bee knowen and that is vanitie some knowe because they would edifie and that is charitie some knowe because they would bee edified and that is true christianitie That learned Father fannes away as chaffe the two former kindes of knowledge but as wheate hee preserues the two later which tend to the edifying of the soule The word of God hath flowed among you like Nilus or Gihon in the time of haruest God hath stretched out his hand all the day long his arme is reuealed the preachers of the worde haue carefully planted in this place O giue not their fruites vnto the caterpiller nor their labours vnto the grashopper not as I may bee bolde to compare it to the world not to the flesh nor the mulberie trees vnto the frost not vnto the colde numnesse of zeale of charitie Experience that hauing many relators seeth with the eyes of all the world telles vs that frustra sapit qui sibi non sapit and therefore they that know and doe not vse their owne knowledge to their owne good they fall vpon a wrong sent and runne counter after their saluation knowledge and performance should bee twinnes of one burden He that sayeth I knowe him and keepeth not his commaundements is a lier and the truth is not in him he offers no sacrifice but a lie vnto the author of truth Learne that you may knowe knowe that your selues may better yoursoules so did not Ephraim though gray haires were heere and there vpon him yet he knewe it
not and the pride of Israell his stubbornesse his impudency testifieth to his face and they doe not returne vnto the Lord their God nor seeke him for all this They did not know their daunger they did not returne vnto their harbour they did not returne vnto the Lord their God When wee haue sinned we must returne vnto the Lord our God first by repentance for our sinnes Hee is a iealous God Secondly by reforming of our sinnes Hee is a holy God Thirdly by hoping in God who doth pardon our sinnes hee is a mercifull God By repentance for our sinnes for in the first and second of Amos the language of the prophet is nothing but a volley of iudgements against Damascus Tyrus Edom Ammon Moab and Iuda vnder whose sinnes God was pressed as a Cart is pressedwith sheaues for they had threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron for three transgressions and for foure sayeth God I will not turne vnto them It concerned them then and vs also to turne vnto him by repentance left for 3000. transgressions or for foure hee come with the besome of his wrath and sweepe vs all away Wee are beleaguered and compast about with iniquitie of our owne heeles let vs not hypocritically dote vpon our selues saying peace peace when there is no peace let vs rather by the heat of zeale distill teares from our eyes for there is no peace as my God sayth vnto the wicked There was a woman in the 7. of Luke who as one in trauaile of a new soule had the grace to repent her of her sinnes and therfore shee wounded Christ with one of her eyes and with the cheine the cheine of graces about her necke shee came into the Pharises house boldly and stood behinde him shamefastly at his feete humbly and mournefully shee washt his feete with her teares and as one one neglecting her best ornament in respect of Christ shee wiped them with the haires of her head louingly shee kissed his feete and bountifully shee annointed them with ointment When a woman came to bee purified in the time of the Lawe shee was to offer a Lambe which if shee were not able to compasse then shee was to offer a paire of turtle doues the authors of the heroglyphickes compare a Lambe to innocency and a paire of turtle doues to a paire of mournefull eyes if any bee so poore in good workes that they cannot offer the one let them bee so forwarde in repentance as to offer a paire of the other and let them desire of God as the wife of Othoniel did of Caleb and Ioshua that seeing they are parched with sinne and with the heate of concupiscence as shee complained of an hote countrey there may bee giuen vnto them springs aboue springs beneath springs of tears in their eyes aboue and springs of bloud if it be possible in their hearts beneath It is Gods will that as Iacob was first married vnto Leah that was bleare eyed and after an other prentishippe vnto Rahel that was more beautiful so should the sonnes of Iacob first vnto repentance bleare eyed and full of teares and after the induring of that godly sorrowe which will cause repentance vnto saluation they shall inioye the ioyes of heauen which are beautifull like Rahel For all teares shall be wiped away from their eyes Grammarians deriue terra a terendo So why should not man who is earth and ashes terra quiateritur because hee is harrowed vp with a feeling of his sinnes When the wind is inclosed in the hollows of the earth it striues for passage so makes an earthquake many times O earth and ashes thou tremblest quakest at the remembrance of thy sinnes but fear not that sorrow comes of God it is because there is within thee the holy Ghost that winde which bloweth where it listeth When thy soule O man is troubled for thy sinnes that garboyle within thee is like the troubling of the water Iohn 5. Be thou sure the Angell of the Lord hath beene there that sorrowe of thine comes from God hope in Christ but sorrow for thy sinnes eate thy pascall Lambe with sower hearbes As they that looked vpō Syllaes ring could not choose but take notice both of Syllaes seal and the treason of Iugurtha because that was grauen vpon vpon the seale so consider weigh both the seale wherewith you are sealed against the day of redemption and the treason of your forefathers also which gaue occasion of the sealing of such a pardon vnto you Therefore as the nightingale in the night time sings merily with a prickle at her breast so in this valley of the shadows of death sing prayses vnto your God but euer with a compunction a feeling of your sinnes and sorrow for them Neither must you only mourn for your sinnes but you must abandon them also for feare of the Diuelles reentrie with seuen Diuels worse then himselfe and then your latter end will be worse then your beginning But as I noted in the second place you must turne vnto the Lord by reforming of your sinnes and obseruing Gods commandements which iniunction vnto flesh and bloud is durus sermo For though we could be content to die the death of the righteous and say with Balaam Lord let my later end be like vnto theirs yet this liuing of the life of the righteous is hard of digestion as hard as the gayning of the land of promise was to those spies which cōfessed that the land was a good land and full of fruits but there were in it the sonnes of Anach and they were gyants The reward of a Christian many think to be a good prize but they are loth to wrestle with the difficulties of Christianity those be the sonnes of Anach and they be giants it is better for flesh bloud to crowne themselues with rose buddes before they be withered then to sit vp late and rise early and eate the bread of carefulnesse though God so giue his beloued sleepe When they feele the paine that belongeth vnto the seruice of God they say with her who longed for children but could not indure the pain of child-bearing Seeing it is thus why am I so wāton Florus could say Ego nolo Caesar esse equitare per Britannos cursitare per Germanos pati pruinam c. I would not for any good be Caesar to indure so many frosts watchings amongst the Britans and Germans but Caesar thirsting after victory retorted it thus vpon him Ego nolo Florus esse ambulare per tabernas latitare per popinas c. I would not for any good be Florus to spend my time in vanity There is great difference betwixt a carnal man and those that desire through Iesus Christ to be more then Conquerours the carnall rather then they would lose their swine desire Christ to depart out of their coasts wheras the
the obliquitie of the action when impietie was once aflote God by his wisedome ordained a channell for it that it might turne to his glory and the greatest good of Iob. When a skilfull musician plaies cunningly vpon a Lute that is out of tune the iarre if there be any comes from the lute not from the hand when mens liues are out of tune ought they to blame that wise and powerfull finger of God without which they cannot worke No no O sinner all that iarring comes of thy selfe It is not God O drunkard but thy selfe that drinkes thee drunke Not God O thou murtherer but thy selfe that staines thy selfe with bloud Not God O thou blasphemer but thy selfe that filles thy mouth with words that are clothed with death build not thy sinnes vpon the backe of God thou mockest thy self when thou thinkest to shift thy burden from thy selfe vnto his shoulders The same soule that sinneth the same must die vnlesse Gods mercy bee all the greater As the Diuell brings darkenesse out of light so the manner of God is to bring light out of darkenesse therupon Saint Origen speaketh of a great pedigree of blessings deriued from that vnnaturall sinne of the selling of Ioseph into Egypt which blessing after many yeares returned plentifully againe vnto his fathers house Saint Austen in fewe wordes determines this question the Diuell tempts man consents God forsakes Let God bee true and all men liers Let God be iustly esteemed pure and all the world be tainted with impietie God in his wisedome shewes his iustice oft and many a time vpon vs as at this time vpon Ephraim that by his correctioÌ„s hee may call vs home vnto him Hee drawes vs gently with the cordes of a man euen with the bands of loue least wee should bee drawen from him by Egypt or by Ashur by little sinnes or by great by the cordes of vanitic or by the careropes of iniquitie And therefore in the wordes following he cals them chastisements which chastisements when men are incorrigible deafe adders and stop their eares against the wise charmer are the best meanes to cast salte vppon affections and giues eyes vnto reason hee sayeth I will chastice them The chasticements of GOD lay heauie that my discourse may beare date then and not before the comming of our Sauiour in the flesh vpon the sonne of GOD himselfe the roddes wherwith God did suffer him to bee chasticed were his enemies and his friends his enemies were like as many dogges that came vpon him and as the Sunne entring into the constellation called the Dogge argueth a hote season so the conflict must needes bee hote when the Sunne of righteousnesse fell among so many dogges his friendes the flocke were so amazed the shepheard being smitten â—hat he was like a tree hauing all the leaues beaten of not only the withered leaues those which followed him for his bread and for his miracles fell away but the greene leaues also they which loued him best his own Peter both denied and forsware him If these things fell vnto the greene tree what shall bee done vnto the drie tree The Church could not scape sorrow but hath hen as a lodge in a garden of cucumers and as a besieged Citie When the diuell trieth hee trieth with a siue Satan hath dâ—sired to winome thee as wheat When God trieth heetrieth with a sanne With a fanne will hee purge his floore a siue keepes the bad and sends away the good a fanne keepes the good and sends away the bad therefore the trials of the diuell do rob vs of our vertue and the trials of God by affliction do dispatch away al our vices Be not afraid saith Petrarch though the house the body be shaken so the soule the guest of the body fare well Affliction is the whetstone of zeale which made God sometimes let his Church taste of it and lie among the pots though her wings be of siluer and her feathers of golde God doth come with loue or with a rod inter changeably as it pleaseth him Hee hath piped vnto vs by many earthly blessings haue our hearts danced for ioy and in our songs haue we pray sed him He hath mourned vnto vs by the shaking of diuers rods and calamities ouer our heads and hath our mourning for sinne beene like the mourning of the mother for the losse of her first borne If we will bee reconciled by neither meanes hee will doe vnto vs as hee did vnto Ephraim For when hee piped to Ephraim by his loue and by his worde they would not treade right measures by their obedience therefore hee tolde them they must adresse themselues to weeping for now he meant to mourn vnto them and to chastice them as their congregation had heard Such is the confluence of opinions for the exposiâ—ion of these words so diuers and so iustling the crowde of interpreters that I cannot without wronging you ouermuch marshall them into their seuerall rankes therfore I will at this time build vpon that which is subscribed vnto by the best and excepted against by none which I take to bee the quick of these words and that is this that they had often heard in their coÌ„gregations by thelaw the prophets that the chasticements and the rods of God would treade vpon the heeles of their sinnes if they continued in them Happy were the men of Ephraim if they had knowen their owne happiness yet being as they were they were happy for being forewarned they were forearmed So was Niniueh for the noyse of destruction after fortie daies made the Niniuites turne vnto the Lord and so preuent the danger Arise quoth Elias to Aâ—â—â—b and prepare thy chariot for I heare a sound of raine vnlesse thou passe quickly thou canst not passe there the sound of raine preuented the daunger that might haue come by raine So though the iustice of God require the cutting downe of sinners yet God in his mercie first putteth the axe to the roote of the tree to see if that repentance and amendment of life may preuent that cutting Seeing then you haue so many warnings in the congregations to forearme you against danger make vse of them and be bettered by them least they proue a cloud of witnesses against you I will chastice them as their congregation hath heard Out of which words I obserue first that the preacher who is the tongue of the congregation ought to tell the people of their danger to come Secondly the people who are the eare of the congregation ought to yeelde their obedience vnto the voice of the shepheard a well composed body that hath such a tongue and such an eare The preacher should tell the congregation of the danger to come but some cannot some dare not some will not some though they doe it doe it to no purpose Some cannot for they runne before they be sent not hauing eaten
the little booke that Saint Iohn and Ezechiel were commanded to eate they giue counsell before they receiue it of the Lord they preach without meditation they onelie turne the cocke and let the water runne whereas fishers of men should bee as the Apostles were when they were fishers who were not alwayes casting in their nets but som times mending their nets so if these men bee alwayes feeding others by their preaching neuer feeding thēselues by reading and meditation they will proue but dry nurses in a while and vnfit to giue the sincere milke of the word to others what then is there no balm in Gilead is there no physition there Yes but some dare not Some dare not forgetting that when occasion serueth they must bee sonnes of thunder as well as of consolation Woe vnto them that gild ouer ragged wals and rotten posts who dawbe with vntemperedmorter sowe pillowes vnder the elbowes of sinners saying peace peace when there is no peace Let such a tongue cleaue to the roofe of the mouth let such a dawbing right hand forget his cunning In the Gospell wee read of a woman that seasoned three peckes of meale till all were leauened I compare the three peckes of meale to three sorts of men our superiours our equals our inferiours some preachers can be content to put leauen sharpnesseinough into their equals and inferiours but when they should come to season their superiours they dare not they Hatter in stead of leauen they bring hony they are in som sort like Surgeons though they haue not Lions harts courage to launce and pearce cure the sinnes yet they haue Ladies hands which they say are enured to complexions and paintings they haue complexion for euery vice both will and skill to iustifie the ballances of deceipt and wickednesse be it neuer so great in a friēd or in a man of power They be like ciphers which are nothing of thēselues but serue to raise the figure to a higher number so these are men of no worth only they serue by their flatterie to puffe men vp with an opinion that they be more then indeed they are Hottoman a learned Lawyer sayth that an Ambassador should not be like a stage player to change his person hee must stand constantly vpon the will and pleasure of his King If an Ambassador must bee so then Gods Ambassador must be so more then so deliuering neither more nor lesse then the counsell of God Iohn Baptist that day starre before the Sunne the forerunner of Christ did not sticke to tell Herode that it was not lawfull for him to haue his brother Philips wife though Amaziah said vnto Amos Go thou Seer into the Land of Iuda prophecie there but prophecie not in Bethel it is the Kings chappell it is Ieroboams court Such agents for the Diuell that breed singing in the eares of great men and make their heads giddie vould perswade that those great men of the world who haue their authoritie giuen them as a talent whereby they may punish others should become sanctuaries for sinne and that no man should dare to meddle with any vice that they are giuen vnto When the hatchet of any man hewing timber did by chance flie out of his hand hit hurt or kill a man there was allowed him a Citie of refuge If any preacher hewing timber for the building of the Lord touch or wound any of his auditors shal there not be allowed vnto him a City of refuge Yes the necessitie that lies vpō him to discharge his own conscience deliuer the Lords counsell will be sufficient to plead his pardon Some againe will not though they can and dare they are like Issachar who was a strong asse cowching downe vnder two burdens two or three liuings saying Rest is good Such a one was Alexander the sixt who was more fit to keepe the castle of Saint Angelo against Charles the eight King of France then to tend the flock of God against the inuasions of Satan hee I say hauing sonnes whome hee especially aduanced vnto honor viz. the prince of Sicily Caesar Borgia first a Cardinall then Duke of Valentia first Caesar then nothing according to his own speach the duke of Spain who being murdered and cast into Tyber and dragged for by his careful father made his father then perhaps only then worthy to be accounted a fisher of men Christ if you marke them well with many working words doth inforce ministers to be careful guardians of their congregations though Peter himselftels him thrice that he loues him yet he will not take his loue to be sincere vnlesse Peter will feede his sheepe feede his lambs by all the tearmes of loue that may be he pleades and becomes an aduocate for his people lest the sheep of his fould should wander in the wildernes without a guide Ministers are called shepheards watchmen laborers their names are not still borne but haue their signification and teach them their duty yet som wil not though their office be to be orators for the people Ambassadors from God Some againe though they doe it doe it to no purpose as when they giue good oracles out of Moses his chaire and yet haue not cōsecrated hands to perform what they speak which makes the people thinke of some great mysterie of Atheisme that was neuer yet imparted to them It should be with the minister as in the vision that Ezechiel sawe a hand vnder a wing they should not only haue knowledge to mount vpwards but a hand also to perform that which they know is meet Therfore in the olde Testament there was not only Aaron that had vpon his breast plate Vrim and Thummim perfection of life as well as light of vnderstanding but in the new Testament also there was Iohn Baptist who was a shining and burning candle not only shining with knowledge but burning also such was his zeale It was an argument of the calling of Moses when his rodde brought forth both blossomes and ripe almondes No man will deny that Minister to be lawfully called who hath both the goodly blossomes of learning and the ripe fruits of a liuely faith those that haue the one are like Saul vvho ouercame his thousand but those that haue them both are like Dauid who ouercame his ten thousand and beeing made keepers of the vines they may reioyce that they keepe their owne vines also Cant. 1. 5. Some cannot some dare not some wil not some though they do it do it to no purpose These words I doubt not are drunk vp into the eares of many with as longing a desire as Behemoth would swallow vp Iordan into his mouth but what Is there sin onely in the house of Leui not among the rest of the Tribes no not onely I may not silence the sins nor the duty of the people the people also
nouum after a newe maner but no other word then that which was from the beginning and they stand vpon the watch towers in your Churches to descry the danger giue you warning heare thē by their preaching together with the power of gods holy spirit a beam of the Sun of righteousnes you wil quickly perceiue your soules not to be virgins you wil see your own sins corruptions that you may amend as the beam of the sun shining in a house discouers many motes which before were vnperceiued woldst thou not be caught by the hooks of Satan then let not thy mind leap out of the poole out of the wel of the water of life at euery flie at euery wordly vanity wouldst thou haue thy affectiōs deep died in religiō so that thy mind clothed with thē may be taken to wear the liuerie of God then let thē stay long in the liquor let thy body stay in the Church thy minde besetled vpon the word that is read preached so by the hāmer of Gods word without and the fire of the holie Ghost working within thou wilt be beaten fashioned into a signet neer deer vnto God but if Coniah like thou being a signet on Gods finger dost rebell against him he will pull thee off But some will not be pleased when they marke but like Apes Monkies which break euery glasse they look into because euery glasse doth shew them their own deformitie so they quarel with al preachers and preaching because the truth deliuered cannot chuse but shew them their own ouglines They haue their galles in their eares whatsoeuer they heare turns into the gall of bitternes they loue to haue their ears sheaths for flattery they relish nothing but placentia if there be any sin that rules in them as who hath not one or other that is praedominant then they acknowledge no king but Caesar no ruler but that euill affection the word of God shal not ouerrule them by their good wils How much better were it for men when they are touched by sermons to giue God thanks for it because God hath sent a special messenger that day to take them aboue others as brands out of the fire like stinging spirits to bring them vnto God For such words bind kings in chaines and nobles in linkes of iron they carrie not away the eare vnto God for a present but a heart which he himselfe requires of all his sons O God may they say who are touched for their sinne I thank thee this day is saluation come into my house Some again be they pleased or displeased wil not obey Thogh the word of God like the Sun stāding stil in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Aielon hath beene a long time at the noone point and height that by the benefit of it wee might be reuenged of our greatest enemy yet I feare the Diuell may still walke in drie places as he delights to doe among those I meane that are not moystened with this well of liuing water or if they haue heard the word yet it takes little or no roote because it hath fallen in stonie or thorny places When Naaman murmured at Elisha saying that Abanah and Pharphar riuers of Damascus were better then either Iordan or any riuer in Israell the seruant of Naaman said vnto him If the man of God should bid thee doe a great matter wouldest thou not do it much more when he bids thee wash thy self seauen times in Iordan and be cleane So should wee doe any thing that God commands in his worde euen because hee commands much more when hee bids vs obey and bee saued The assurance that we haue for our saluation is in the word of God we know in whom to trust but God keepes a counterpane thereof hee is not ignorant but knowes whom wee must obey as he will on his so must wee on our parts performe conditions If hauing gone astray and being in daunger of Herod of the Diuel worse then Herod we will not with the wise men of the East returne home another way then God may say as Dauid sayde in the pang and burthen of his soule O my sonne Absalon O Absalon my sonne my son you would needes be rebels but as hee was hanged in his own haire so your lot is to perish by your own rebellion Heare the worde then as though the very message brought you wings to flye to God let not sinne that shot without noyse wound you vnawares and possesse you so strongly that you be loth to leaue it till it leaue you so that you say of it as Abraham sayd of the sonne of the bond-woman O that Ishmael might liue in thy sight And surely such is the nature of man that euerie one hath a sin which I may call a peculiar beloued with an extraordinarie loue for which he desires a dispensatiō though he can be cōtent to forgoe all other sinnes but that As Lot sayd of Zoar O Lord spare it it is but a little City so euery man saith of his be loued sin O lord spare that it is but a smal sin I am naturally inclined vnto it and therefore to be borne withall from other sinnes I am content to bee weaned Thus euery man would be so sawey as to passe a faculty with God if he were not both wise iust The diuell is like Nimrod a great hunter O Lord keep vs out of his chase yet men like the pleasures of sin and though they be in danger to be molested with many spirits and terrors who come within the compasse of sinnes inchanted circle yet are they neuer willing out of the Diuels by-pathes to follow their mother the Church by the steps of the flocke Cant. 1. 7. not from vertue to vertue from grace to grace which is the progresse of Christians to whom Christ saith Arise my loue my faire one and come away Moisture in the feet strikes vp into the head the sinne of the meanest member dishonours our head Christ. Let thē the girdle of verity be straight girt about your loins I meane obserue strictly that which God commaunds he sayth Prepare your selues for heauen say you O God my heart is ready my heart is ready he sayth Seek ye my face answere you againe and say Thy face O Lord will I seeke lay your noses open vnto the sweet sauour of life vnto life your eyes vnto the Day-starre that is sprung from on high your eares vnto the charmes of the wise charmer and seeing God by his word knocks at your doores Lift vp your selues you gates and be ye lift vp ye euerlasting doores that the King of glory may enter in Let not the Ministers of Gods word rowe any longer against winde and tide but seeing they are appointed to raise vp seed to their elder brother Christ Iesus by preaching as Gregory doth moralize that leuitical