first But wee must giue our heart freely and with a willing minde our whole heart must we giue and that continually Deut 6.5 Vae duplici cordi saith Saint Austen They dissemble with a double heart saith the Psalmist Psal 12. But this I say Cor diuisum moritur A diuided heart is a dead heart Et qui diuidunt partem diabolo partem Deo iratus Deus à sua parte discedit diabolus totum possidet and therefore giue God all or thou giuest him nothing at all yea and do it continually non Deo in iuuentute diabolo in senectute like the foolish Galathians which began in the spirit Gal. 3. but would end in the flesh In a word we may giue our knowledge to the ignorant our goods to the poore our taxes to Ceesar but our hearts only to God freely and wholy Because that as one flie corrupteth the whole boxe of ointment Reason so one sinne makes vs liable to condemnation The Apostle therefore speakes of sinne in singular Rom. 6.23 Stipendium peccati The wages of sinne not of many but of any sin is death And if we should suffer so many deaths as we haue committed sinnes yet were Gods iudgements iust and right A ship is endangered by one leake in the side and a citie surprised by one breach in the wall and a fowler catcheth the bird as well by one part as the whole bodie So sinne is like leauen and a little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe Gal. 5.9 2. King 2. one Coloquintida brought death into the pot and one dead worke of darknesse destroyeth the soule Vse It serueth to condemne the halting profession of our dissembling age wherein many will be content to leaue some sinnes 1. Sam. 1 5.9 but keepe others as Saul spared Agag and the fatlings and as Herod spared his lust and vnlawfull marriage Mat. 6.12 Ananias and Saphira were willing to bring a part to the Apostles but they were loth to bring all The yong man in the Gospel would follow Christ but he was loth to sell all so that this word all marres all Euery man would go to heauen with his darling The couetous would go with his gold the vicious with his harlots the ambitious with his braue attire c. But touch the world in these their profitable pleasant darling and bosome sinnes and you shall heare men speake as in the house of Rimmon like Naaman the Assyrian God be mercifull to me in this 2. King 5. Preach to the vsurer or oppressour That he which doth not prouide for his owne familie is worse then an infidel or against prodigality or suretiship and your word shall be as the first and latter raine and sinke deepe into his romembrance but turne him to Psal 15. where no vsurer shall rest in Gods holy hill or 1. Cor 6. where no extortioner shall enter into the kingdome of heauen or to Saint Matthew concerning workes of mercie or to Saint Luke against couetousnesse and you shall finde him eared like the deafe adder and his heart harder then the nether milstone But it is written If thy right eye offend thee that is Math. 5. if thy sinne be as deare vnto thee as the apple of thine eye yet pull it out and let not thine eye spare it or if thy right hand offend thee that is if thy sinne be as profitable and commodious as thy hand whereby thou gettest thy liuing yet cut it off and cast it from thee or if thy foote offend thee to cause thee to sin that is if thy sinne be so necessary as thy foote wherewith thou bearest thy selfe yet spare it not For it is better to enter into the kingdome of God blinde and lame and maimed then otherwise to be cast into hellfire For one sinne in the soule is like a serpent in the bosome cast it from you or it will sting you to death and as Dalila neuer left fawning and flattering Sampson till she made him a mill horse to the Philistimes so your sinne if you trust it will betray you to the diuel and he will send you with such a grist to grinde that you shall pay your soule for the tole As therefore it is said of Iob. 1. that he was integer rectus and so must we be integri sound and not hollow and recti straight and not crooked and so are all good men and euery good worke both within and without And to this purpose ought we to set God alwaies before our eies 1. 2. 3. 4. Eph. 6.6 and to think vpon iudgement and our account and to consider that eye seruice is nothing pleasing to God and to remember that as Christ gaue his heart bloud for vs so as Saint Bernard saith Iustè cor nostrum vendicat quisuum pro nobis dedit He I say hath redeemed vs and therefore ought we to cleanse our hearts from all sinne and giue all to his seruice This is the point which I aime at viz. the triall of out integrity when a man can say with good conscience as Psal 139. Try me O God and know my heart proue me and knew my thoughts and consider if there be any way of wickednesse in me or at the least as it is Psal 7.3 if there be any wickednesse in my hands Surely brethren I say to you that are the elect of God Let vs thus examine our owne hearts vpon our beds Psal 4. and in our chambers secretly and cleanse our selues from all filthinesse All filthinesse I say both of the flesh and spirit which is the last passage of this point viz. The speciality of the parts and powers infected 5. 5. The speciality of the parts and powers infected Of the flesh and spirit There was a law in Rome De purgandis fontibus and it holds good in Scripture where we must purge our hearts which is fons vitoa tam naturalis quà m spiritualis and in purging of our heart we must cleanse our bodies yea and our soules also from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit whence note Doct. We must mortifie our bodies and mortifie our soules and so giue the whole to Gods seruice Rom. 12.1 I beseech you brethren by the mercies God that you giue vp your bodies and soules a liuing sacrifice c. In stead of the bodies of dead beasts we must giue our bodies a liuing sacrifice and in stead of the bloud of beasts which was a shadow and pleased not God of it selfe we must giue vp the acceptable sacrifice of the soule and this is iuge sacrificium viz. a perpetuall mortifying of the will reason affections and members Atque haec obedientia non potest plus dare dedit enim se And therefore must we mortifie both that we may sanctifie him both in body and soule not onely saying in the outward organe of speech My soule praise thou the Lord Psal 103.1 but body and soule flesh and spirit must
A DIVINE ENTHYMEME OF TRVE OBEDIENCE OR A Taske for a Christian Preached at Pauls Crosse the tenth of September 1615. by ANTHONIE HVGGET Maister of Arts and Parson of the Cliffe neare Lewis in Sussex Viuendo morimur monendo viuimus The Text. Seeing we haue these promises dearely beloued let vs cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and grow up to full holinesse in the feare of God 2. Cor. 7.1 London Printed by Richard Field for Francis Faulkner and are to be sold at his shop in new Fish-street vnder Saint Margarets Church 1615. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE AND MY VERY GOOD LORD WILLIAM Lord Howard Baron of Effingham increase of all true honour and happinesse c. RIght Honorable the importunitie of some good Christians that heard this Sermon at the Crosse hauing ouercome mee to publish it to the world I haue presumed vnworthy though it be to present your Lordship with it as being the best meanes I had to manifest my dutie and how much I honour your Lordship your zeale to true religion your honorable respect and loue shewed to schollers and to me in particular your vnworthy Chaplaine makes me hope it shall find a fauourable acceptation The which if it shall please your Lordship to grant I haue a condigne counterpoise of all my labour Thus in all humblenesse crauing pardon for my boldnesse with my dayly supplications that God would multiplie vpon you all temporall blessings in this life and eternall in the life to come I rest Your Honours most dutifull and deuoted Chaplaine ANTHONIE HVGGET A DIVINE ENTHYMEME OF TRVE OBEDIENCE 2. COR. 7.1 Seeing we haue these promises dearely beloued let vs cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and grow vp vnto full holinesse in the feare of God THE proeme of Moralitie holds good in Diuinitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Aristot Eth. l. 1. c. 1. omne appetit bonum and it is a sure axiome Finis bonum conuertuntur that vaste Vniuersall like that confused Chaos in the beginning Gen. 1.2 out of whose wombe were first drawn all things which were made each particular with the whole it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do endeuour their end as the smoake flieth vpward which truth is well seene in the great bodie of nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the little bodie of man which is a compendium of all this All. And hath not mortall man his supernaturall end where his soule a stranger here may stay it selfe for euer Yes sure he hath and the end is the accomplishment of Gods promises for by faith we stand and receiue in hope 1. Ioh. 3.2 Now are we the sonnes of God but it doth not appeare what we shall be c. The Apostle therefore in the precedent Chapter hauing earnestly warned his Corinthians to flee the societie and pollutions of Idolaters as being themselues temples of the holy Ghost in the two last verses he setteth downe the scope and summe of mans blissefull end the full period of all their desites euen the sweete and comfortable promises of God in Christ Iesus as namely ver 16. I will dwell in them Leuit. â—â— 12 and walke in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people And againe ver 17 18. I will receiue you Isa 32.1 Ier. 31.1 and wil be a father vnto you and you shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almightie Now vpon the consideration of these premised promises promises he inferreth and inforceth that sanctitie whereof my text doth treate Seeing we haue these promises dearely beloued let vs cleanse c. Which words containe in them an exhortation not barely and simply propounded but syllogistically and perswasiuely inforced and may very well be called A diuine Enthymeme of true obedience The Antecedent part whereof is the Foundation and the consequence is the Building or if you will the roote and growth of godlinesse The Apostle thus layeth the case Seeing we haue these promises dearly beloued and makes the issue this Let vs cleanse our selues from c. Let vs begin as he doth that we may end as he did He begins his suite vpon a sure ground Seeing we haue these promises and followes the cause for our welfare Let vs cleanse our selues from c. Thus who so begins and ends his dayes shall die the death of the righteous and his last end shall be like vnto his Turne backe your eyes once more vpon the words and you shall find in them a grounded motiue to holinesse in which obserue the matter the maner and both are Euangelical 1. Modus compellendi dearly beloued vox verè apostolica issuing from no other lips but such as had bin touched from the Altar of the high God with the hote burning coales of zeale and loue Isa 6.6 and well beseeming the scholler of such a Lord who both in life and death did shew himselfe to be the Lord of loue 2. Causa vel fundamentum competendi viz. promissiones In which maine ground of his inforcement he makes vs ioynt purchasers with himselfe viz. Nos habemus and that of an inheritance which shall stand for euer viz. has promissiones Promissiones that is the maine thing Obiectum Obiectum the ground point of this exhortation and that we may build vpon this ground he sheweth our interest and iust claime and that is Subiectum Subiectum Nos habemus We haue these promises and that is the Antecedent the ground the reason the roote of that which followes and that which followes is an exhortation to sinceritie and sound obedience to integritie and perfect holinesse To the perfection whereof there are two maine labours 1. Remotio mali Remotio mali Let vs cleanse our selues 2. Substitutio boni Substitutio boni and grow vp c. For the former that we may take our worke with vs let vs remember the passages 1. Let vs cleanse that is the propertie of the worke 2. Our selues that is the proprietie of the person 3. From filthinesse that is the matter to be wrought vpon 4. All filthinesse there is the generalitie of the taske 5. Of the flesh and spirit there is the specialitie of the parts and powers infected Hitherto my text hath brought vs downeward the way and path of the death of the righteous Mortificatio wherein we must crucifie the old man not leaue one hoofe behind not one sinne vnsearched Mortifie therefore your earthly members c. Colos 3.5 The Apostle tels vs that he which ascended is he which descended first Ephes 4.9 and as I haue descended with you to the similitude of his death so must you be ingrafted to the similitude of his resurrection Rom. 6.5 For you must rise againe the hill of holinesse when we are rooted in humilitie we must rise and spring Substitutio boni so the text faith Let vs grow
would now giue a world if he had it for one drop of cold water to coole his tong to teach vs that there is great differēce twixt the rich mans non mouebor c. their downfall imply descendunt in infernum Psal 30.6 Iob. 21.13 O how suddenly do they vanish perish and come to a fearefull end but as for Gods Saints be they despicable in the eies of men yet their prayers and teares are written in the booke of Gods remembrance Esa 38.5 and right deare and precious in the sight of God is the death of all his Saints Psal 116.15 6. Seeing these promises for this life and a better life redound to vs to vs only then hence let vs learne to take comfort in these promises in all things whatsoeuer our dangers and distresses are for God euen our God is Pater omnipotens both able and willing for to do vs good Art thou then in affliction know that there is no darknesse but flieth from the Sunne no poyson but yeeldeth to medicine no winter but is remoued by Sommer for if God doth suffer calamity to befall vs for his glory and our good he will take it away againe Psal 34.19 For many are the troubles of the righteous but here is the Lords promise which is our comfort he will deliuer out of all we haue this promise which is as the faithfull witnesse in heauen for our comfort 7. Seeing the faithfull onely haue these promises then ought we to labour for a true faith for this is the instrument of our redemption the fruite of the Spirit the clothing of our soules the ioy of the godly the perfection of the Church the euidence by which we hold both our Being Mark 9.24 and well being Lord we beleeue helpe our vnbeleefe 8. Lastly hath God giuen vs these promises Let vs then learne to giue vnto God that which is Gods viz. thankes and praise For he that offereth me thankes and praise hehonoureth me Psal 50.23 Surely brethren there is not the least of his mercies but deserues a Quid retribuam Psal 116.12 Psal 8.4 And What is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou sor egardest him c. What is to be found in man which might moue the Lord to be so gracious or to be expected from man which may adde vnto his honour to whose complete and all-sufficient fulnesse nothing can be added Surely this is some and all Thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50.14 to sing and say Corde cordis fide fidibus Glory be to God on high on earth peace goodwill towards men Luk. 2.14 Our hearts shall be glad when our lips speake his glorie and our tongues shall sing of his righteousnesse while we liue will we praise the Lord and giue thankes vnto him for a remembrance of his holinesse for to vs hath he giuen these promises and therefore Regi saeculorum 1. Tim. 1. 17. Now saith the Apostle Now is a time to lift vp your hearts and say as he saith To the King eternall immortall inuisible and God onely wise be honour and glory for euer and euer Amen And of the subiectum thus far and now the Praedicatum cometh in place viz. these promises Promises Promissiones 1. Politicae Promises I finde to be generally of two sorts politicall or ciuill and religious or diuine vnder the former are ranked all contracts compacts bargaines and other cases of commutatiue iustice in the Common-wealth betwixt man and man 2. Religiosae Legales Euangelicae Religious promises I name such as wherein God doth more properly challenge a share as being either the inlargemēts of the bounty from God to man or the ingagement of obedience from man to God and these I find to be double Legall or Euangelicall 1. Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 Legall ex pacto simpliciter hoc fac viues and againe Cursed is he that continueth not in all things that are written in the Law 2. Euangelicall ex pacto secundum quid being the free donations of Gods soueraigne bounty which worketh all good in all Come vnto me all ye that trauell and are heauie Haba 2.4 Mat. 11.28 Ioh. 3.16 Isa 43.25 c. So God loued the world that he c. I am he behold I am he that putteth away thy vnrighteousnesse euen for my names sake Isa 43.25 These are called the promises of Gods grace because freely giuen and so performed gratis the promises of the Spirit Eph. 1.13 Rom. 10.8 because the Spirit is both the author and applier of them the words of faith because they are made with the condition of faith to apprehend and apply them they are also the promises of hope because that our haruest is in hope onely Heb. 6.17 The hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie hath promised Tit. 1.2 God hath made a couenant with his people and it is called the couenant of promise Eph. 2.12 the Arke of which testimony is the sure words of the Gospell the keepers and interpreters whereof are his holy ones vpon whom he hath put his Vrim and Thummim Exod. 28.30 to cause Israel to heare and know and do his couenant The franchised liberties thereof are his promises the hedges or walles of defence are his iudgements the feales of assurance are his counsell his word his oath his Sacraments the earnest penny is the spirit of sanctification the stipulators are the Maker and his creature God and man God of his free bounty promising all good things for this and a better life in Christ for the glory of his goodnesse and man protesting faith and perfect obedience to his heauenly Maker So that Subiectum huiusfaederis are the sonnes of God onely as I haue shewed before the sonnes of promise Gal. 4.28 Rom. 9.8 such as through faith in a pure conscience keepe his commandement alway This couenant by faith we apply it we hold it in hope and shew forth the fruites thereof in a godly life and holy conuersation Thus farre we haue walked at large but now returne I pray you with me from whence we haue digressed for the bounds of my text do bound me within the liberties of this holy couenant for so my text tels vs Has promissiones Sinne is a bad Mistresse which makes men serue long for little and in the end paieth with bad wages For the wages of sinne is death Rom. 6.23 but our God is liberall as an Emperour who hath bestowed a great gift vpon vs in our creation and that being lost hath giuen vs a greater and promised greatest of all As a good Physitian he healeth vs and as a good merchant hireth vs non vt duram seruiamus seruitutem but that we should be made coheires with Christ Has promissiones these promises also God hath promised saluation to his people which haue bene since the world began from Adam to Abraham Gen. 3.15 from
promises of God are the ground of obedience I beseech you by the mercies of God saith Saint Paul Rom. 12.1 that you giue vp your bodies and soules a liuing sacrifice vnto God c. Where he makes Gods mercies the onely motiue to obedience for howsoeuer some do his will of compulsion because they dare do no other yet plures colligit amor and good men loue God for himselfe euen of zeale to his glory The Lord hath two ordinary Heralds of obedience viz. his promises and his threats Aut sequeris aut traheris either his mercies to allure vs or his iudgements to terrifie vs and therefore we say on behalfe of his mercies that the liberty of a Christian doth necessarily imply not lasinesse but holinesse and when we say that the promises of God are gratuitae our meaning is ex parte antecedente non consequente free on Gods part to vs for no inducement in vs to moue him to compassion but not so on our part towards him for they are done vpon condition of our obedience It is in his promises as in his threatnings they all runne not absolutely but with a prouiso expressed or at least wise vnderstood Si nisi non esset perfectum quidlibet esset Were it not for conditions and exceptions our end was present destruction Except you repent you shall all perish but the Nisi comes in like a Repriueall betwixt the sentence and the execution day and as it is in the case of threatning so likewise of promise for there is a twofold nisi of repentance and of obedience so that except we performe the conditions we haue no part nor claime in the promises The charge of Iosua makes it plaine Iosua 23. as that chapter doth dilate at large neither need I stand to cleare this point that all the promises run with the condition of holinesse for all the Sermons of the Prophets and Apostles giue witnesse to this purpose And this is the will of God euen your sanctification God hath purchased you to be a people Tit. 2.14 holy and peculiar to himselfe that you should be zealous of good workes therefore Gods loue and our obedience which God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder Vse 1 Are the promises of God the ground of obedience Then our doctrine is not a doctrine of liberty neither is the calling of a Christian a calling of ease for we preach not mercies or promises that men should liue as they list Should a malefactor contemne his Prince because he is mercifull or a sonne disobey his father for his loue and affection This I say that precedent promises can purchase no license for subsequent sinnes It is not our hope but the profession of our hope that shall saue vs. Saint Paule therefore saith 1. Cor. 5.7 Purge out the old leauen that you may be a new lumpe for Christ our passeouer is sacrificed for vs. Because he was crucified for vs let vs not crucifie him againe but rather because he was sacrificed for vs let vs sacrifice our selues for him in obedience and sanctity For Gods mercie and our obedience must be ioyned together and they that turne away obedience and faith from their hearts turne away Christs merits and mercies from their soules and they that will not weepe ouer him whom their sinnes haue wounded he shall neuer bleede ouer them that their sinnes my be pardoned and therefore 2. See the calumniation of our quarrelling aduersaries the aduersaries of the grace of God the Church of Rome which charge vs with that we neuer taught God he knowes our innocency viz. that we teach promise without obedience faith without workes and therefore that we are solifidians and teach a doctrine of licenciousnesse to all impietie But to these I say that we haue not so taught Eph. 4.20 neither haue we so learned Christ for we teach faith without workes to be a dead faith and the promises of God without our obedience shall do vs no good for howsoeuer they are sufficient in themselues yet are they not effectuall in vs. But to bring home their sinne to their owne doores to pay them with their owne coine or rather to strike thē with the rod which they haue prepared may I not say and experience beare me witnesse that I speake the truth in Christ and lie not Is not their doctrine a doctrine of liberty 1 Tim. 4.1 or rather of diuels which make merchandise of sinne as of flesh in the shambles making shipwrack of faith and a good conscience and hauing clad themselues with the figge leaues of a blind dispensation from a Popish broker they blush not at most direfull proiects but walke secure in the machinations and executions of all villany What shall I name that which is not to be named amongst Christians the tolleration of stewes and the like which yet is not paralelled among the nations Alas paruaqueror these be but trifles Seneca Audent aliquid breuibus gyaris carcere dignum To kill a King or poison a Prince to blow vp a Senate to defie God deface religion plot treasons spoile a nation these and the like are patronized among those Satanicall spirits and the actors canonized for worthies and their acts for workes of supererogation I might instance in their intended desolations in the dayes of our famous Deborah the memoriall of whose name shall be blessed for euer and their hellish treasons now in the dayes of our happie Ioshua whose yeares the Lord make as many ages and fill all his dayes with peace a Monarch for his power and a man after Gods owne heart so famous for his learning so learned in religion and religious in profession innocent from wrong peaceable in his wayes and mercifull to all if not too mercifull to them and yet did not these infernall spirits Antichristian pioners and Romish Mold warpes seeke to extinguish this glorious light and the life of the whole land vno tactu vno ictu vno nictu with one blow sulphurious blast in the twinkling of an eye to haue dismembred and crushed together the gouernment counsell wisedom learning iustice and religion of God in the whole land Oh inauditum nefas oh nefandum scelus Oh vnspeakable villanie especially to be countenanced or canonized but in the Rolles of hel or by a Pope a diuel incarnate and doth not the Pope giue libertie and dispensations for the committing of the same is not this a doctrine of libertie which doth giue libertie to make themselues as it were drunke with the bloud of so many worthies I dare be bold to say that all the Masses Dirges Trentals smoakie fumes and polluted lip-seruice and as the Apostle speaketh beggerly rudiments Gal. 4.9 or if you will cosening shifts of all the idolatrous Iesuites Monkes and Friers and adde to them all the English calues begotten by the buls of Rome cannot wash this one bloudie sinne from the Popes bloud-guiltie soule 3. What shall I say of the
will seale them a mittimus and send them to hell body and soule This then is the difference The godly say with Dauid Wash me throughly from mine iniquitie cleanse me from my sinne for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sinne is before me against thee thee onely haue I sinned and done euill in thy sight c. Psal 51.2.3 He humbles himselfe with the prodigo Luk. 15. I haue sinned against heauen and against thee ô Father of my flesh and spirit Knockes his breast as the arke of all iniquity and sighing saies Luk. 18.13 God be mercifull to me a sinner But the wicked Ieremy describes them thus They blush at nothing they haue an harlots forehead Ier. it is meate and drinke to them to commit wickednesse and Peter saith They wonder at the children of God Pet. because they runne not riot as they do and in one word in the one sinne reignes but in the other sinne onely remaines Reason 1 1. Because we haue sucked corruption from the breasts of our mothers yea not onely borne but conceiued in sinne Psal 51.5 Nemo naescitur sanctus and therefore in that we are heires in hope Non tam generatio quà m regeneratio spectanda est euery Natus must be renatus for it is written Except you be borne againe c. Ioh. 3.5 Yea and regeneration is not presently perfected but by degrees as a wilde oliue tree growing out of a stone-wall the boughes and branches thereof may be cut and corrected but the roote remaining by the sent of water will be ready to sproute anew till the wall be broken and the roote pulled vp so old Adam who remaining in the wals of this earthly tabernacle may be curbed and suppressed that sinne reigne not in our mortall bodies yet will he be prompt and readie to bring forth fruites of vnrighteousnesse vpon occasion till the walles of this earthly house be destroied by death to be raised againe more gloriously 2. Because our sanctification is but in part as Saint Paule doth dispute the point Rom. 7.22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde 3. Because by this we might be humbled with our wants and keepe our soules waiting on Gods mercy and more earnestly endeauour to be in Christ Paule for our example was filled with the Spirit and had abundance of reuelations taken vp into the third heauen and heard such mysteries as is not possible for the tongue of man to vtter but lest he should be exalted out of measure there is giuen him stimulus concupiscentiae and the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him 2. Cor. 12.7 For as the diuell brings euill out of good so God brings good out of euill causing the wants of his Saints and their infirmities yea their sinnes which the diuell worketh as poyson to kill them to be for their welfare in his prouidence and potions to cure them for by these he humbleth them so that all things worke for their good Vse 1 1. Rom. 8.28 Is there drosse in the best Then can we expect no iustification by our workes for sinne cannot iustifie sinne and in our best actions are manifold imperfections Gal. 2.16 Know that a man is not iustified by the deedes of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ c. 2. See here the Errour of the Catharists which hold that after regeneration none can sinne for say they As of a wilde tree the old top being cut off and new impes ingrasted it bringeth fruite no more wilde but good fruite so we being ingrafted into Christ sinne not grounding on that text Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not 1 Ioh. 3.9 But I answer that their Simile holds not and I put this question whether they make Christ or the man to be the stocke so grafted for we know that the fruite is good by vertue of the impe and not of the stocke if then we are the impes in Christ by their reason he should be made fruitfull and good by vs but if they make man the stocke and Christ the impe or grafts I say the new man Christ sinnes not so saith Saint Ioh. 3.9 But yet they must remember the old stock to looke to the roote which will not be presently changed but will yeeld still wilde branches bearing fruites of vnrighteousnesse 3. This teacheth vs by their drosse to purge our selues and not to take liberty to sinne because they haue sinned Because one man hath fallen into the sea and scaped drowning shall a man leape into the sea this were high presūption Build not therefore vpon their ruines for their infirmities are written for our instruction to shew that God will not spare sinne wheresoeuer he findes it no not in his Saints but doth register and chronicle their reproches to all posterities like Lots wife which was turned into a pillar of salt and set vp as examples to season others Gen. 19.26 and to giue vs warning vpon whom the ends of the world are come that whereas for them there was a cure behind the sacrifice of the Lambe which was not yet slaine but for such as shall now sinne Christ dieth no more Reu. 22.7 for his next coming shall be in iudgemen 4. Mat. 7.1 We are taught to beware of rash iudgement to condemne a man for some few infirmities as because one professor is discouered for an hypocrite therefore to censure all as if all the Apostles were to be condemned for Iudas Should a sonne despise his father because he is poore or the blind disdaine to be directed by the lame because he cannot walke with him Surely we are not to contemne the meanest gifts for in the building of the Temple all haue not the chiefest place but some square the stones some fit the mortar some carry and some place the worke Ex quouis ligno non sit Mercurius so to the building of the Temple of Christ 1 Cor. 3.13 1 Cor. 12. some bring stubble some straw some mortar euery man according to the measure of faith which he hath receiued and in the end euery mans worke shall be tried by the fire and till the end let all this be vsed to edification If none should study physick but those that could cure all diseases we should haue no Physicians and if none should serue God but those that could serue God perfectly we should haue none to serue God Which of you casteth away a crackt peece of gold or a broken siluer cup No more are we to despise the graces of God in a meane person though imperfect for he which hath receiued most hath many wants and a wise mans iudgement begins at his owne house 5. And lastly we learne not to brag and boast of our broken seruice but to be humbled with our manifold wants and infirmities When we haue preached all our liues and praied with
bind sinnes together as it were with cart-ropes Esa 5.18 1. King 21 where as Ahab sold himselfe to worke wickednesse in the sight of the Lord so men as beasts haue giuen themselues ouer to worke all vncleannesse euen with greednesse Eph. 4.19 some like the proud Angels feathering their wings in presumptuous pride soaring aloft til their plumes like Daedalus his wings melted with the fire of Gods wrath driue them downe to the pit of destruction some like the couetous Caterpillar deuouring the fruite of the poore mans vineyard some like the vnsatiable maltworme dead drunkē in the streets yea here may you see murder and malice runne headlong to destruction monstrous Anakims men of might Gen. 11. building a Babel their owne confusion Ester 3. enuious Hamans macerating themselues for their brethrens welfare Gen. 29. 1. Sam. 25. 2. Sam 16. Esa 37. Iudith 13. snudging Nabals and churlish Labans withholding the wages of the hireling and grinding the face of the poore cursing Shemeies and blackmouthed Rabsakeis vnnaturall Sodomites painted Iezabels drunken Olifernes Iose head and soule and all and which hath brought your sinnes to the height that an adulterous and an idolatrous religion hath still footing in your City and dwellings Surely brethren if I should totall all in iust account Dies me deficeret this day yea and the daies of my mortall pilgrimage would sooner haue an end then my labour and therefore I must be forced to vse a peece of ciuill policy Meete but with Agag and the fatlings the foule and crying sinnes 1. Sam. 15. and the dependants may more easily be reformed And as a man that aimeth at a multitude can at one shoote would only some few so giue me leaue shooting at all filthinesse to crush in peeces these two that follow viz. drunkennesse and whoredome which go hand in hand and haue kissed each other and are not more hainous then common in this City and Suburbes And for the hatefull sinne of drunkennesse howsoeuer it be but a fiction that Cyrces charmes turned mē to swine yet sure I am and wofull experience makes knowne too oft that Bacchus charmes viz. strong drinke it turneth men to beasts the soule of man miraculously created by Gods infusion and infused by creation lieth drowned in the drunkards body his body which should be the temple of the holy Ghost distempered by excessiue riot is such that his soule might loath to dwell therein and his goods or possessions be they more or lesse lent for the maintenance of himselfe and his are all hoorded in the pot and put in a bottomlesse bag The Lacedaemonians a people which knew not God by the light of nature did so abhorre this brutish sinne that their Helots slaues which they bought for villanage they would make drunken and bring them into the market place and expose them as malefactours on a gibbet that their children seeing their vncleannesse and filthinesse might thereby detest and abhorre that swinish sin But we need not buy Helots to set vp as scarecrowes to the world for eueu before your doores and in your houses may you daily see these beastly Epicures and were there not a remnant of the house of Israel amongst you to stand in the gap like Moses Aaron twixt the liuing and the dead inwardly mourning and lamenting and as much as in them lieth labouring and reforming forming these foule offences the end of this Citie would be sudden as the fire of Sodome But it is written Woe to you drunkards of Ephraim c. Esa 28. 1. Woe to them that rise vp early to follow drunk ennesse and sit till the wine inflame Esa 5.11 Woe to them that are mighty to drinke wine and strong to poure in strong drinke Esa 5.22 Awake ye drunkards faith Ioel 1.4 and howleye that are strong to drinke And thinke you that all these woes are written in vaine Then is our preaching vaine and your faith also vaine and this booke of truth hath no truth in it Hearken therefore ye men of vnderstanding and you shall heare the drunkards doome woe vpon woe shall light vpon them their posterity shall be beggers their estate consumed their name shall rot and perish their bodies odious euen to them and which is heauier then all their soules repulsed from the grace of God shall dwell with the foule and infernall spirits who as their desire was to enter and dwell in the heard of swine Math. 8. so shall these swine remaine with them in chaines of darknesse for euermore And such is the end of this filthinesse To which I may adde whoredome like Sodome and Samria sisters in impurity for gluttony and drunkennesse are the gallery and way of whoredome Venter bene pastus cito dispumat ad libidinem Gen. 19. drunken Lot and incestuous Lot both in one person at one time and they are seldome sundred for it is no thing new or strange for a person which shall first become a beast to do after like a beast It is a sinne against nature for whereas other men sow for an haruest foule fornicators and wicked adulterers which plow with other mens heisers they sow that which they dare not reape But they shall be punished both here and hereafter Here first with beggery He that feedeth harlots wasteth his substance Prou. 29.3 Yea he or his posterity shall be glad to beg a peece of bread Prou. 6.26 2. With infamie for his name and credite shall take such a deepe and incurable wound that his reproch shall neuer be done away Prou. 6.33 3. With most loathsome diseases for the most high righteous hath appointed that they which will taste the sweete of sinne shall also be filled with the gall of punishment it bringeth corruption of the bloud dissolution of the sinewes rottennes of the marrow aches in the ioynts crudities in the stomacke paines in the head defects and weaknesse gouts and palsies heauinesse of heart and stinging of the conscience 4. Yea and after all these it shall be punished with hel fire for it is writen Fornication vncleannesse inordinate affection c. the wrath of God remaineth on such Col. 3. 6. And againe Whoremongers and adulterers God wil iudge Heb. 13.4 The holy Ghost ioyneth a whore and a dog together Deut. 23.18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore nor the price of a dog into the house of God and Ieremy compareth adulterous beasts to neighing horses Ier. 5.8 And the wiseman likens them to an oxe going to the slaughter Prou. 7.22 and calles the whore a deepe ditch a narrow pit Prou. 23.27 And they that enter in to her hardly returne againe to take hold of the way of life Prou. 2.19 And in the latter end when iudgement shall bring his sinne to the doore of his conscience he shall wonder at himselfe and say O now was I deceiued Prou. 5.12 I conclude the point with that of S. Hierome O ignis infernalis