Law were under the curse for it is written saith he i Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every man that confirmeth not all things that are written in the Law to doe them Now there is no commandement which is not written in the booke of the Law to which whosoever k Deut. 4.2 addeth is accursed To these plaine and evident passages of Scripture may bee adjoyned three like unto them The l Ezek. 18.4 Rom. 6.23 1 Cor. 15.56 soule that sinneth shall dye The wages of sinne is death and The sting of death is sinne These pregnant testimonies the Cardinall endeavoureth to elude with these and the like glosses The soule that sinneth that is mortally shall dye and the wages of sinne that is of mortall sinne is death and the sting of death is sinne that is deadly sinne With as good colour of reason in all Texts of Scriptures wherein we are deterred from sinne he might interpose this his glosse and say eschue evill that is all deadly evill flye sinne that is mortall sinne and consequently deny that veniall sinnes are any where forbidden But as when wee reade in the common or civill law these and the like titles the punishment of felony murder treason fimony sacriledge we understand the law of all crimes of the same kind so in like manner when the Apostle saith indefinitely the wages of sinne is death we are to understand him of every sin for Non est distinguendum ubi lex non distinguit we must not distinguish where the law distinguisheth not For he that so doth addeth to the law or taketh from it and thereby incurreth the curse pronounced by the law-giver And though other Texts of Scriptures might brooke the like restriction yet not those above alledged For what is the meaning of this phrase Death is the wages of sin but that sinne deserveth death which is all one as to say that sinne is mortall Now adde hereunto Bellarmines glosse The wages of sinne that is mortall sinne is death and the soule that sinneth that is that sinneth mortally shall dye and the propositions will prove meere tautologies as if the Prophet had said The soule that sinneth a sinne unto death shall dye and the Apostle sinne that deserveth death deserveth death What is it to deprave the meaning of the Holy Ghost if this be not especially considering that the Prophet Ezekiel in the selfe same chapter ver 31. declareth his meaning to be of sinne in generall without any restriction or limitation Cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart so iniquity shall not be your destruction Here ye see no means to avoid death but by casting away all transgressions for sith the Law requireth m Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all entire obedience he that violateth any one commandement is liable to the punishment of the breach of the whole Law To smother this cleare light of truth it is strange to see what smoaky distinctions the adversaries have devised of peccatum simpliciter and secundùm quid and peccatum contra Legem and praeter Legem sinnes against the Law and besides the Law Veniall sinnes say they are besides the Law not against the Law Are not they besides themselves that so distinguish For let them answer punctually Doth the Law of God forbid those they call veniall sinnes or not If not then are they no sinnes or the Law is not perfect in that it meeteth not with all enormities and transgressions If the Law forbiddeth them then are they against the Law For sinne saith Saint John is the n 1 John 3 4. transgression of the Law If then veniall escapes are sinnes they must needs be violations of the Law and so not onely praeter besides but contra Legem against it The Law as Christ expoundeth it Matthew the fifth forbiddeth a rash word a wanton looke nay unadvised passion and what lesser sinnes can be thought than sinnes of thought therefore saith o Moral p. 1. l. 4. Azorius the Jesuit we must say that veniall sinne is against the Law as Cajetan Durand and Vega taught we must say so unlesse we will reject the definition of sinne given by Saint Austine and generally received by the Schooles dictum factum vel concupitum contra Legem aeternam that sinne is a thought word or deed against the eternall Law unlesse wee will contradict the ancient Fathers by name Saint p Greg. l. 8. in Job In praesenti mortem carnis patior tamen adhuc de futuro judicio graviorem morte destructionis tuae sententiam pertimesco quantâlibet enim justiciâ polleant nequaquam sibi ad innocentiam vel electi sufficiunt si in judicio districtè judicentur Gregory In the morning if thou seeke mee thou shalt not finde mee Now I sleep in dust that is in this present I suffer the death of the flesh and yet in the future judgement I feare the sentence of damnation more grievous than death for the Elect themselves how righteous soever they are will not be found innocent if God deale with them according to strict justice And Saint q Ep. 14. Omne quod loquimur aut de latâ aut de anguttâ viâ est si cum paucis subtilem quandam semitam invenimus ad vitam tendimus si multorum comitamur viam secundum Domini sententiam imus ad mortem Jerome Whatsoever we doe whatsoever we speake either belongs to the broad way or to the narrow if with a few we find out a narrow path we tend toward life if we keep company with many in the great road we goe to death And in his second r Lib. 2. cont Pel. c. 4. Quis nostrûm potest huic vitio non subjacere cum etiam pro otioso verbo reddituri simus rationem in judicio si ita sermonis injuria atque interdum jocus judicio coucilioque gehennae ignibus delegantur quid merebitur turpium rerum appetitio booke against the Pelagians where rehearsing the words of our Saviour He that is unadvisedly angry with his brother shall bee in danger of judgement thus reflecteth upon himselfe and his brethren Which of us can be free from this vice If unadvised anger and a contumelious word and sometimes a jest bringeth a man in danger of judgement councell and hell fire what doe impure desires and other more grievous sinnes deserve And Saint ſ Chrys com in Mat. 5. Mirantur multi hominem qui fratrem levem aut fatuum appellaverit sempiternae morti condemnari cum tertio quoque verbo alti alus id dicere soleamus Chrysostome who thus quavereth upon the same note Many are startled when they heare that he shall be condemned to eternall death who calleth his brother giddy-braine or foole sith nothing is so common among us wee hardly speake three words in disputing with any man but we breake
out into such course language Yea but some will say What is the nodding at a Sermon the stealing a farthing the breaking of a jest such an hainous matter that it deserveth everlasting torments of body and soule in Hell I answer with Saint t Aug. l. 2. cont Donat. Non afferamus stateras dolosas ubi appendamus quod volumus quomodo volumus pro arbitrio nostro di centes hoc grave est hoc leve sed afferamus stateram divinam de Scripturis sanctis tanquam de thesauris Domini in illâ quid sit grave appendamus Austine in the estimation of sinnes we ought not to bring out deceitfull weights of our owne but out of the Scriptures golden weights sealed by God and in them see what is light and what is weighty In these scales wee shall find the least sinne to be heavie enough to weigh down to the ground yea to Hell for every offence committed against an infinite Majesty deserveth an infinite punishment every transgression of the eternall Law excludeth a man from eternall happinesse and deserveth eternall death Whosoever shall breake one of the least commandements saith our u Mat. 5.19 Saviour and teach men so shall be least in the Kingdome of heaven Here Bellarmine wisheth us to marke that Christ saith not simply hee that breaketh one of the least commandements but he that breaketh it and teacheth others to doe so We mark it well and that clause may serve to brand him and his fellow Priests and Jesuits for who teach men to break the least commandements if not they whose doctrine is that veniall sinnes are not against the Law nor simply and properly to be called sinnes but rather naevuli aspergines and pulvisculi that is dustings or spertings or small spots warts or blisters Yee all perceive how much this Text of Scripture maketh for us in our doctrine against Papists but I feare it maketh as much against us in our lives Doe we so live as if we were perswaded that the least sinnes inasmuch as they are committed against an infinite Majesty and are breaches of his eternall Law are exceeding great nay infinite Could we drink iniquity as the beast doth water if we thought it were deadly poyson Doe we make great account of small sinnes nay doe we not rather make small account of the greatest Who ever espyed an Adder thrusting his sting at him and started not backe Natures insensible of paine and ignorant of that danger doe no lesse For if any venemous thing be applyed to any part of our body the bloud as if it took notice of its deadly enemy flyeth back turneth it streams another way and shall not our conscience which hath knowledge and sense of the venome of sinne be much more fearfull of it It is no amplification of the malignant nature of sinne to compare it to a poyson it is rather a diminution For no poyson could ever yet be made so strong that the least imaginary quantity thereof was deadly the least thought of sinne yea the sinne of thought is so Poysons be they never so pernicious and deadly are pernicious and hurtfull to that part onely which of it selfe is mortall I meane our bodies but sinne killeth that part that naturally cannot dye it slayeth our immortall spirits There are many forcible arguments to deterre us even from small sins and to excite us to watch over them as 1. Quia difficiliùs caventur because it is a thing more difficult to avoid them than the greater Many are choaked with small bones of fishes but few with greater because they are usually felt in the mouth before they goe downe the throat Solinus writeth of a kind of * Polihist c. 8. Brevissima apud Amyclas vipera est ac propterea dum despectui est faciliùs nocet viper of a small quantity that doth much more hurt than the greater because the most part of men sleighten it 2. Quia difficiliùs curantur because the wound that is given by them is with more difficulty cured as a pricke made with a bodkin or a steeletto if it be deep is more dangerous than a wound given with a greater weapon because the flesh presently closeth up and the bloud issuing not forth runneth inwardly with greater abundance 3. Quia ad majora viam muniunt because they are a preparation and disposition to greater offences As the wimble pierceth the wood and maketh way for the auger so the smaller sinnes make a breach in the conscience and thereby a way to greater The least sins are as the little theeves that creep in at the windowes and open the doores to the greater that rifle the house and rob the soule of all her spirituall wealth whence is that observation of Saint x Lib. 9. mor. in Job Si vitare parva negligimus insensibiliter seducti majora etiam perpetramus Gregory If we sticke not at small sinnes ere we are aware we shall make no bones of the greatest 4. Quia parva peccata crebra ita nos praegravant ut unum grande because small sinnes with their multitude and number as much hurt the soule as great sinnes with their weight The Herrings though a weake and contemptible kind of fish yet by their number kill the greatest Whale What skilleth it saith Saint y Aug. ep 108. Quid interest ad naufragium an uno grandi fluctu navis operiatur an paulatim subrepens aqua in sentinam per negligentiam derelicta impleat navem atque submerguntur Et serm 10. de divers Quid interest utrum te plumbum premat an arena plumbum una massa est arenae minuta grana sunt nonne vides de minutis guttis impleri flumina minuta sunt sed multa sunt Austine whether a ship be over-whelmed with one great wave or drowned by a leake in the bottome unespyed in which the water entereth drop by drop What easeth it a man to be pressed to death with a heap of sands more than with a sow of lead Are not the greatest rivers filled by drops The sinnes we ordinarily commit minuta sunt sed multa sunt they are small but they are many and what they lose in the quantity they get in the number These indeed are important considerations yet mee thinkes there is more nay there is all that can be said in this clause of the Apostle The end of those things is death the smaller sinnes as well as the greater in their owne nature are mortall It is a more fearfull thing I confesse to be plunged into the bottome of a headlesse lake than to sinke a little under water yet he that is held under water how neere soever it be to the top till his breath is gone is as certainly drowned as he that is found dead in the bottome It is but a miserable comfort to bee put in hope of an upper roome in Hell and not to be thrust into the lowest dungeon Wherefore as yee
after a more effectuall manner even because hee cannot utter his prayer by speech his very dumbnesse pleads for him so the sorrow of a penitent sinner which faine would expresse it selfe by teares but cannot which rendeth the heart continually and maketh it evaporate into secret sighes best expresseth it selfe to him of whom the Prophet speaketh Psal 38.9 Lord thou knowest all my desires and my groaning is not hid from thee 6. If he sink so low that the pit is ready to shut her mouth over him and he being now even swallowed up in the gulfe of despaire breathe out his last sigh and roares most fearfully to the great dis-heartening of all that come about him saying I have no touch of remorse no sense of joy no apprehension of faith no comfort of hope My wounds stinke and are putrefied and all the balme of Gilead cannot now cure mee The Spirit is utterly extinct in me and therefore my case desperate In this extreme fit of despaire give him this cordiall out of the words of my Text Hast thou never felt any remorse of conscience in all thy life Wast thou never pricked in heart at the Sermon of some Peter Wert thou never ravished with joy when the generall pardon of all thy sinnes hath been exemplified to thee in the application of the promises of the Gospel and sealed to thee by the Sacrament Hast thou never had any sensible token of Gods love I know thou hast thou acknowledgest as much in confessing amongst other thy sins thine intolerable ingratitude towards the Lord that bought thee then bee yet of good comfort the flaxe yet smoaketh the fire is not clean out thou hast lost the sense but not the essence of faith Thou art cast out of Gods favour in thy apprehension not in truth Thou art but in a swoune thy soule is in thee Thou discernest no signe or motion of life in thee but others may Thy conscience will beare thee record that sometimes thou didst truly beleeve and true faith cannot be lost Gods covenant of grace is immoveable his affection is unchangeable he whom God loveth he loveth to the end and hee whom God loveth to the end must needs bee saved in the end and so I end And thus have I blowne the smoaking flaxe in my Text and you see what light it affordeth to our understanding and warmth to our consciences what remaineth but that I pray to God to kindle in us this light and inflame this heate more and more to revive the spirit of the humble to cheare up the drouping lookes and cure the wounded consciences and heale the broken hearts of them that mourne for their sinnes that is to beare up the bruised and bowed reed that it be not broken and revive and kindle againe the dying lampe that it bee not quite extinguished So be it O Father of mercy for the passion of thy Sonne through the Spirit of grace To whom three persons and one God bee ascribed all honour glory praise and thanks-giving now and for ever Amen THE STILL VOICE A Sermon preached before the high Commission in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth Novemb. 20. 1619. THE THIRD SERMON MATTH 12.19 Hee shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streets Most REVEREND c. IN these words we have set before us in the person of our Saviour an Idea and perfect image of meeknesse the characters whereof are three 1. Calmenesse in affection He will not strive 2. Softnesse and lownesse in speech Hee will not cry c. 3. Innocency in action He will not breake c. 1. Impatience is contentious He will not strive 2. Contention is clamorous He will not cry 3. Clamour is querulous No man shall heare his voice in the street If it be objected that he did strive and that with such vehemency that he sweat bloud and that hee did cry and that very loud for as wee reade Hebr. 5.7 he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares unto him that was able to save him from death and that his voice was heard in the streets when he stood up in the last day the great day of the Feast John 7.37 and cried saying If any man thirst let him come unto mee and drinke wee need not flye to Anselme and Carthusians allegory for the matter who thus glosse upon the words of my Text His voice shall not be heard in the streets that is in the broad way that leadeth to destruction Such Delian divers may spare their paines for the objections are but shallow and admit of a very facile solution without any forced trope Hee will not strive viz. in revenge but in love he will not cry in anger but in zeale neither shall his voice be heard in the street viz. vox querelae but doctrinae no voice of complaint but of instruction or comfort So that the three members in this sentence are like the three strings in a Dulcimer all Unisons Wherefore in the handling of this Text I will strike them all together Seneca in his books of clemency Cambden hist Reg. Eliz. Seneca l. 1. de clem Conditum imò constrictum apud te ferrum sit summa parsimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis humili loco positis litigare in rixam procurrere liberius est leves inter pares ictus sunt regi quoque vociferatio verborumque intemperantia non ex Majestate est which Queene Elizabeth so highly esteemed that shee gave them the next place to the holy Scriptures reades a divine Lecture to a Prince in these words Let thy sword not onely be put up in the sheath but also tyed fast in it bee sparing of the meanest and basest bloud It is for men of lower condition to fall into quarrels and strifes equals may exchange blowes one with another without much danger it standeth not with the Majesty of a Prince to engage himselfe in any quarrell or fight because he hath no equall to contend with him so far ought it to be from a Prince to brawle or wrangle that the straining of his voice is unbefitting him upon any occasion whatsoever What the wise Philosopher prescribeth to a good Prince the Prophet Esay describeth in our King Messias who was so milde in his disposition that hee was never stirred to passion so gentle in his speech that he never strained his voice in choler so innocent in his actions that he never put forth his strength to hurt any We reade in the booke of a 1. Kin. 19.11 12. Kings that there was a mighty wind but God was not in the wind and after the wind an earth-quake but God was not in the earth-quake and after the earth-quake a fire but God was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice in which God was There God was in the still voice but here the Evangelist out of the Prophet informeth us that there was a small still voice in
singular Priest an everlasting Priest a royall Priest a Priest who neither succeeded any nor any him a Priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek For the opening of this passage three points are to be cleared 1. The name 2. The person 3. The order or office of this singular and extraordinary type of Christ 1. Touching the name though it bee one word in the Greeke and Latine and carry the forme of a proper name yet in the originall it is two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seemeth rather to be an appellative signifying my righteous Lord or the righteous Lord of my appointment as Psal 2.6 I have set my King c. Howbeit as the name of Augustus was the common stile of all the Romane Emperours yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sirname of Octavius from whom the rest received it so it is not unlikely that the stile of Melchizedek was at the first attributed to this famous King of Salem who met Abraham with a present as he returned from the slaughter of the Kings yet afterwards either by adulation or for other reasons it might be given to his successors Of the interpretation of this name we can make no doubt sith the Apostle hath construed it unto us viz. ſ Hebr 7.2 King of righteousnesse and after that King of Salem which is King of peace whence some gather consequently that the most righteous Kings are most peaceable and that hee can bee no King of peace who is not a King of righteousnesse Where righteousnesse doth flourish there shall be abundance of peace As in the name of Melchizedek King of Salem so in the heart of every good King righteousnesse and peace ought to kisse each other Now Christ is a King of righteousnesse in three respects 1. Administrando because he administreth 2. Operando because he wrought and still worketh 3. Imputando because he imputeth righteousnesse He administreth righteousnesse because hee ruleth his Church with a t Psal 45 6. The scepter of thy Kingdome is a right scepter scepter of righteousnesse he wrought righteousnesse in fulfilling the Law which is called u Mat. 3.15 Thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnesse righteousnesse and by his grace also he enableth us to work righteousnesse and in some good measure to fulfill his commandements he imputeth righteousnesse when he justifieth the ungodly and accounteth faith for * Rom. 4.5 righteousnesse to him that worketh not but beleeveth for God made him that knew no sinne to be x 2 Cor. 5.21 sinne for us that wee might be made the righteousness of God in him that no flesh should glory in his presence for of him are y 1 Cor. 1.30 we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisedome and righteousnes and sanctification and redemption 2. Tovching the person of Melchizedek there are sixe opinions the first 1. Of certaine Heretickes called the Melchizedekians who taught that Melchizedek was a z Epiph. haeres 55. power of God greater than Christ and that hee was the Mediatour and Advocate of Angels as Christ is of men 2. Of Hierax the Egyptian and his followers who taught that Melchizedek was a Ystella in Gen. 14. Christ himselfe who before his incarnation appeared in a humane shape to Abraham 3. Of the author of the booke q. Vet. N. Test who writeth that Melchizedek is the Holy Ghost 4. Of Origen and Didymus who thought Melchizedek to be an b Hieron ep ad Evag. Angel 5. Of Aben Ezra Bagud Haturim Levi Benyerson David Chimki and of the c Jer. Epiph loc sup cit Samaritans and Hebrewes generally who confidently affirme that Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah 6. Of d Coel. hierarc c. 9. Haeres 55. in Gen. 14. Dionysius Areopagita Epiphanius Theodoret Hippolytus Procopius Eusebius Eustathius Calvin Junius Musculus Mercerus Pererius Pareus and divers others who hold it most probable that this Melchizedek was one of the Kings of Canaan In this variety of opinions backed with manifold authorities as Tully spake of the soule that it was lesse difficult to resolve what she is not than what she is so we may say of Melchizedek that it is a far easier matter to determine who he was not than who he was Refut 1 1. He was not any power of God greater than our Saviour or the Angels Advocate for neither is there any inequality between the divine persons neither have the evill Angels any Advocate to plead for them who are condemned already and reserved in chaines of darkness till the great day The text of Scripture which they wrested to their fancy no way advantageth them For Christ is said a Priest after the order of Melchizedek not because he was inferiour to him in person or office but because he succeeded him in time and bare an office framed after a sort according to the patterne of his Refut 2 2. He was not the Sonne of God the second person in Trinity for the type must needs be distinguished from the truth but Melchizedek was a glorious type of Christ and is said e Hebr. 7.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assimilari to be likened to the Son of God he was not therefore the Son of God but his fore-runner in the office of Priesthood Refut 3 3. He was not the Holy Ghost for Moses describeth him to bee a man that ruled in Salem and executed also the office of a Priest to God which cannot be affirmed of the Holy Ghost who never tooke our nature upon him nor is any where in holy Scripture termed a Priest of the most high God The onely footing which this opinion hath is upon that ground that Melchizedek is said to be f Hebr. 7.3 without father which ground no way supporteth this opinion For wee cannot argue from one attribute of Melchizedek affirmatively though we may negatively This argument is good He that hath a father reckoned among men is not Melchizedek but this is not so The Holy Ghost is without father therefore he is Melchizedek For God the Father the first person in Trinity is as also Adam the first man was without father or mother yet neither of them Melchizedek Refut 4 4. He was not an Angel for it is a thing unheard of in the Church of God that the angels of heaven should sway earthly scepters or discharge the function of Priests What have Angels of heaven to do with feasting armies or receiving tythes of spoyles as Melchizedek did from the hands of Abraham These foure opinions have been long agoe exploded the two remaining stand still in competition for the truth 5. The advocates for Sem plead hard Sem say they as appeareth in the story of Genesis lived to the time of Abrahams victory to him it was promised that the Canaanites should be his servants and consequently that Salem their Metropolis should be his seat where Melchizedek was King Neither was there any greater man than Abraham to
tender the life of your bodies and soules hearken to a word of exhortation Taste not the least drop of the poyson of sinne for though it put you not to so great torment and be not so present death yet deadly it is and without repentance and saving grace will kill your soules Destroy the Cockatrice in the shell breake the smallest seeds of sinne in your soule as the Emmet biteth the seeds which she layeth up for her selfe that they may not grow againe in the earth Parvulos Babylonis allidite ad petram in quâ serpentis vestigia non reperiuntur Dash the Babylonish babes against that rocke into which no serpent can enter I know not how it commeth to passe that as in nature we see the Adamant which nothing relenteth at the stroake of the hammer is dissolved with the warme bloud of a Goate the Elephant which no great beast dare encounter is killed by a small Mouse creeping in at his truncke and eating his braines and the Lions in Mesopotamia are so pestered with a kind of Gnat flying into their eyes that to be rid of the paine they sometimes teare them out with their clawes and sometimes drowne themselves so the strongest Christians are often over-taken with the least temptations and conquered with a reed nay with a bull-rush To forbeare more examples David was taken by a look only Peter affrighted by the speech of a Damsell Alipius was overthrowne by a shout in the Theater The breach of the Commandement in lesse things even because they are lesse and so might more easily be avoided maketh the disobedience the greater and all sinne is the more dangerous by how much the lesse it is feared Saint Austine maketh mention of certaine flies in Africa so small that they can scarce be discerned from moates in the ayre Quae tamen cum insederint corpori acerbissimo fodiunt aculeo which yet are armed with a most venemous sting those little sins that are so small that we can scarce discerne them to be sinnes are like those Cynifes Saint Austine speaketh of they pricke the conscience with a most venemous sting Now if the sting of these small Flies put the conscience to such paine and affect it with such anguish who will be able to endure the teeth of the Adder or the taile of the Scorpion If whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgement and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the Councell and whosoever shall say Thou foole shall be in danger of hell fire what punishment is he like to endure who beareth malice in his heart against his brother envieth his prosperity undermineth his estate woundeth his good name nay spilleth his bloud this is a crimson sinne and mortall in a double sense not onely because it slayeth the soule but also because it killeth the body If we shall give an account at the day of judgement for every idle word what answer shall we make for irreligious and blasphemous words for calumnious and detractious speeches for uncharitable and unchristian censures for false witnesse for oathes for perjury I am loth harder to rub on the sores and galls of your consciences and leave them raw therefore my conclusion shall be the application of a plaister unto them which will certainly heale them That which our Saviour after his resurrection promised to those that should beleeve on his Name that if they z Mar. 16.18 dranke any deadly thing it should not hurt them was performed according to the letter to the Disciples in the first ages but in the spirituall sense to all of us at this day If we have drunke any deadly poyson of sinne as who hath not yet through repentance and faith in Christs bloud it shall not hurt us The nature of poyson is to work upon the bloud and to venome that humour but contrariwise the bloud of our Saviour worketh upon the poyson of sinne and killeth the venemous malignity thereof Though the most veniall sins in mens esteeme are mortall in their owne nature yet the most mortall are made veniall by grace No sin mortall but to the reprobate and infidell no sinne veniall but to the elect and faithfull nay no sinne but mortall to the reprobate and infidell no sinne but veniall to the faithfull and penitent Nothing deadly to Gods chosen nay not death it selfe For the sting thereof is plucked out by Christ O death a 1 Cor. 15.57 where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be unto thee O b Hieron epit Nepot Gratias tibi Christe Salvator nos tua agimus creatura quòd tam potentem adversarium dum occideris occidisti Saviour who hast given death his deaths wound by thy death Beloved Christians so many sins as we have committed so many deaths eternall wee have deserved from so many deaths Christ hath delivered us and therefore so many lives if we had them we owe unto him and shall we not willingly render him this one for which hee will give us immortality blisse and glory in heaven with himselfe Cui c. THE GALL OF ASPES OR THE PANGS OF THE SECOND DEATH THE XLV SERMON ROM 6.21 For the end of those things it death Right Honourable c. I Hope time hath not razed those characters out of your memory which I borrowed from time it selfe to imprint my observations upon this Text in your mind Sinne as yee have heard may be considered in a reference to a three-fold time 1. Past 2. Present 3. Future In relation to the first it is unfruitfull to the second shamefull to the third pernicious and deadly The unfruitfulnesse of sinne cannot but worke upon all that have regard to their estate in this world the shamefulnesse of sinne cannot but touch neere and affect deeply all that stand upon their reputation and good name but the deadlinesse or pernicious nature thereof cannot but prevaile with all to beware of it that tender their life here or immortality hereafter If sinne be unfruitfull have no fellowship with the workes of darknesse but reprove them rather If sinne be shamefull hate even the garments spotted by the flesh let not such things be named among you much lesse practised which cast a blurre upon your good name and fame among the Saints of God If sinne be pernicious and deadly flye from it as from a Serpent taste not the wine of Sodome nor presse the grapes of Gomorrah for their wine is the bloud of the Dragon a Job 20.14 and the gall of Aspes which we know is present death The end of those things That is all the pompe and vanity of this world the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye the pride of life all sinfull pleasures wherewith yee surfeit your senses shall have an end and this end is death and this death
sonne when it is ripe which he permitted to grow in the father without applying any such remedy outwardly unto it yet this is most certaine that he never visiteth the sinne of the father upon the children if the children tread not in the wicked steps of their father Thus much the words that follow in the second Commandement imply unto the n Exod. 20.5 third and fourth generation of them that hate mee He often sheweth mercy to the sonne for the fathers sake but never executeth justice upon any but for their owne sinnes The sinne of the sonne growes the more unpardonable because he would not take example by his father but abused the long-suffering of God which should have called him to repentance The Latine Proverb Aemilius fecit plectitur Rutilius Aemilius committeth the trespasse and Rutilius was merced for it hath no place in Gods proceedings neither is there any ground of the Poets commination o Hor. l. 3. od 6. lib. 1. od 28. Negligis immeritis nocituram postmodo te natis fraudem committer◠fo rs debita jura vicesque superbae te maneant ipsum Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane For God is so far from inflicting punishment upon one for the sins of another that he inflicteth no punishment upon any for his own sinne or sins be they never so many and grievous if he turne from his wicked wayes and cry for mercy in time for God desireth not the death of a sinner but of sinne he would not that we should dye in our sinnes but our sinnes in us If we spare not our sinnes but slay them with the sword of the Spirit God will spare us This is the effect of the Prophets answer the summe of this chapter and the contents of this verse in which more particularly we are to observe 1. The person I. 2. The action or affection desire 3. The object death 4. The subject the wicked 1. The person soveraigne God 2. The action or affection amiable delight 3. The object dreadfull deprivation of life 4. The subject guilty the wicked The words are uttered by a figurative interrogation in which there is more evidence and efficacy more life and convincing force For it is as if he had said Know ye not that I have no such desire or thinke ye that I have any desire or dare it enter into your thoughts that I take any pleasure at all in the death of a sinner When the interrogation is figurative the rule is that if the question be affirmative the answer to it must be negative but if the question be negative the answer must be affirmative For example Who is like unto the Lord the meaning is none is like unto the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but thee that is I have none in heaven but thee On the other side when the question is negative the answer must be affirmative as Are not the Angels ministring spirits that is the Angels are ministring spirits and Shall the Son of man find faith that is the Son of man shall not find faith Here then apply the rule and shape a negative answer to the first member being affirmative thus I have no desire that a sinner should dye and an affirmative answer to the negative member thus I have a desire that the wicked should returne and live and ye have the true meaning and naturall exposition of this verse Have I any desire that the wicked should dye 1. God is not said properly to have any thing 2. if he may be said to have any thing yet not desires 3. if he may be said to have a desire of any thing yet not of death 4. if he desire the death of any yet not of the wicked in his sinne Have I As the habits of the body are not the body so neither the habits of the soule are the soule it selfe Now whatsoever is in God is God for he is a simple act and his qualities or attributes are not re ipsâ distinct from his essence and therefore he cannot be said properly to have any thing but to be all things Any desire Desires as Plato defineth them are vela animi the sailes of the mind which move it no other wayes than the saile doth a ship Desire of honour is the saile which moveth the ambitious of pleasure is the saile which moveth the voluptuous of gaine is the saile which moveth the covetous Others define them spurres of the soule to prick us on forwards to such things as are most agreeable to our naturall inclination and deliberate purposes Hence it appeares that properly there can be no desires in God because desire is of something we want but God wanteth nothing Desires are meanes to stirre us up but God is immoveable as he is immutable If then he be said to desire any thing the speech is borrowed and to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such sort as may agree with the nature of God and it importeth no more than God liketh or approveth such things That the wicked should dye A sinner may be said to dye two manner of wayes either as a sinner or as a man as a sinner he dyeth when his sinne dyeth in him and he liveth as a man he dyeth either when his body is severed from his soule which is the first death or when both body and soule are for ever severed from God which is the second death God desireth the death of a sinner in the first sense but no way in the latter he desireth that sinne should dye in us but neither that we should dye the first death in sin nor dye the second death for sinne He is the author of life p Job 7.20 preserver of mankind He is the q 1 Tim. 4.10 Saviour of all especially them that beleeve Hee would not that any should r 2 Pet. 3.9 perish but all should come to repentance If he should desire the death of a sinner as he should gain-say his owne word so he should desire against his owne nature For beeing is the nature of God Sum qui sum I am that I am but death is the not beeing of the creature No more than light can be the cause of darknesse can God who is life be the cause of death If he should desire the death of a sinner he should destroy his principall attributes of wisedome goodnesse and mercy Of wisdome for what wisedome can it be to marre his chiefest worke Of goodnesse for how can it stand with goodnesse to desire that which is in it selfe evill Of mercy for how can it stand with mercy to desire or take pleasure in the misery of his creature Doth he desire the death of man who gave man warning of it at the first and meanes to escape it if he would and after that by his voluntary transgression he was liable to the censure of death provided him a Redeemer to ransome him from death calleth all men by the Gospel to
that any one Divell should get possession of our hearts yet seven nay a legion may be cast out by fasting and prayer God forbid that any of us should be long sicke of any spirituall disease yet those that have been sicke unto death have been restored yea those that have been long dead have been raised God forbid that wee should forsake our heavenly Fathers house and in a strange countrey waste his goods and consume our portion yet after we have run riot and spent all the gifts of nature and goods of this life and lavished out our time the most precious treasure of all yet in the end if we come to our selves and looke homewards our heavenly Father will meet us and kill the fat calfe for uâ— Therefore if wee have grievously provoked Gods justice by presumption let us not more wrong his mercy by despaire but hope even above hope in him whose mercy is over all his workes Against the number and weight of all our sinnes let us lay the infinitenesse of Gods mercy and Christ his merits and the certainty of his promise confirmed by oath As I live I desire not the death of a sinner if hee returne he shall live Oh saith Saint a Bern. in Cant. Quis dabit capiti meo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut praeveniam fletibus fletum stridorem dentium Bernard that mine eyes were springs of teares that by my weeping here I might prevent everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell What pitie is it that we should fret and grieve and disquiet our selves and others for the losse of a Jewell from our eare or a ring from our finger and should take no thought at all for the losse of the Jewels of Gods grace out of our soules We are overwhelmed as it were in a deluge of teares at the death of our friends who yet are alive to God though dead to this world but have we not a thousand times greater reason to open those floodgates of salt waters which nature hath set in our eyes for our selves who are dead to God though alive to the world St. b De laps Si quem de tuis chatis mortalitatis exitu perdidisses ingemisceres dolenter fleres facie incultâ veste mutatâ neglecto capillo vultu nubilo ore dejecto indicia moeroris ostenderes animam tuam miser perdidisti spiritualitèr mortuus es supervivere hic tibi ipse ambulans funus tuum portare caepisti non acritèr plangis non â—ugitèr ingemiscis Cyprian hath a sweet touch on this string If any of thy deare friends were taken away from thee by death thou wouldst sigh thou wouldst sob thou wouldst put on blacks thou wouldst hang doâ—ne thy head thou wouldst dis-figure thy face thou wouldst let thy haire hang carelesly about thine eares thou wouldst wring thy hands thou wouldst knock thy breast thou wouldst throw thy selfe downe upon the ground thou wouldst expresse sorrow in all her gestures and postures O wretched man that thou art thou hast lost thy soule thou art spiritually dead thou survivest thy selfe and carriest a dead corps about thee and dost thou not take on dost thou not fetch a deepe sigh hast thou not a compassionate teare for thy selfe wilt thou not be thy owne mourner especially considering that all thy weeping and howling for thy friend cannot fetch him backe againe or restore him to life whereas thy weeping for thy selfe in this vale of tears and seriously bewailing thy sinnes may and by Gods grace shall revive thy soule and recover all thy spirituall losses and that with advantage Experience teacheth us that the presentest remedie for a man that is stung in any part of his body by a Scorpion is to take the oile of Scorpions and therewith oft to annoint the place sinne is the Scorpion that stingeth our soules even to death if we apply nothing to it yet out of this Scorpion sinne it selfe and the sorrow for it an oile or water may be drawne of penitent teares wherewith if we annoint or wash our soules we shall kill the venome of sinne and allay the swelling of our conscience c Pind. od 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a most soveraigne water which will fetch a sinner againe to the life of grace though never so farre gone It is not Well water springing out of the bowels of the earth nor raine powred out of the clouds of passion but rather like a d Cyp de card Chris op De interioribus fontibus egrediuntur torrentes super omnes delicias lachrymis nectareis anima delectatuâ— non illos imbres procellosae tempestates deponunt ros matutinus est de coelestibus stillans quasi unctio spiritus mentem deliniens post affectio se abluit lachrymis baptizat dew falling from heaven which softeneth and moisteneth the heart and is dried up by the beames of the Sun of righteousnesse Have not I a desire that the wicked should turne from his wayes and live When a subject hath rebelled against his naturall Soveraigne or a servant grievously provoked his master or a sonne behaved himselfe ungraciously towards his father will the Prince sue to his subject or a master to his servant or a father to his sonne for a reconciliation Will not an equall that hath a quarrell with his equall hold it a great disgrace and disparagement to make any meanes that the quarrell may be taken up will he not keepe out at full distance and looke that the partie who as he conceiveth hath wronged him should make first towards him and seeke to him Yet such an affection God beareth to us that though we silly wormes of the earth swell and rise against him yet he seeketh to us he sendeth Embassadours to e 2 Cor. 5.19 20. treat of peace and intreate and beseech us to be reconciled unto God For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God Stand not out my deare brethren resigne the strong holds of your carnall imaginations and affections deliver up your members that they may serve as weapons of righteousnesse and yeeld your selves to his mercy and yee shall live Turne and live Should a prisoner led to execution heare the Judge or Sheriffe call to him and say Turne backe put in sureties for thy good behaviour hereafter and live would he not suddenly leap out of his fetters embrace the condition and thanke the Judge or Sheriffe upon his knees And what think ye if God should send a Prophet to preach a Sermon of repentance to the divels and damned ghosts in hell and say Knock off your bolts shake off your fetters and turne to the Lord and live would not hell be emptied and rid before