must be by an excrement bread is the interest of thy continuall labour this is the yoke of the sins of Adam God in punishing the Israelites will remember the land which he gave them Leviticus 26. 42. and they must suffer the punishment of their iniquitie yea when you shall remember your own wickedness yee shall judge your selves worthy destruction for your iniquitie in the thirty sixth of Ezekiel and the thirty first Paul in the first of the Corinthians the ninth and the fifteenth saith it were better for him to die than not to doe his duty The use of the Scripture Now this sentence upon Adam hath this use for us spinae tribuli the thorns and thistles when we walk in the field speak to us as Gods book doth and make us a Sermon telling they should not have grown there but for us the earth should not have been cursed with barreness but for our wickedness if the thorn prick or the nettle sting thee it will say hoc propter te I was first brought and still I grow to make thee remember thy obedience so that the very nettle that is good for nothing shall put thee in mind of thy 〈◊〉 Be not angrie with the earth if it be barren for it will say it was so non propter se sed propter te To conclude this point well saith a Father we must have not only sensum poenae in corpore the feeling of punishment in our body but sensum irae divinae in mente the seeling of Gods wrath in our soul. But now not to leave you plunged in despair with consideration of grievous punishment in a word I will touch the alay of this punishment be comforted though God be just yet he is mercifull non est Crux sine Christo hast thou a Cross then hast thou Christ to comfort thee Mercies in this Sentence are five God hath left five signes of his mercie in this sentence which the ancient Fathers term vestigia miserantis gratiae impressions of Gods mercifull favour 1. The first is non dixit maledictus tu cursed be thou as he said to the Serpent but terra maledicta cursed be the earth the nature that sinned is not cursed nor is it like Cains curse in the fourth Chapter and eleventh verse for there is he cursed from the earth but here the earth of which Adam was made not Adam himself was cursed 2. Secondly he is punished but with a little labour to his great sinne with a watry drops of sweat and the sweat is but an easie sweat of the face not like Christs sweat in his prayer the twenty second of Luke the fourty fourth verse which was like drops of blood trickling down to the ground 3. Thirdly God might have suffered the earth to have been fruitless let man have laboured never so much but that man for all his sinne yet with his labour shall make the earth fruitfull in my opinion is a great mercy which I ground out of the one hundred twenty eighth Psalme when thou eatest the labour of thy hands saith David thou shalt be blessed It is a blessing when the Wife is fruitfull as the Vine upon the house side when thy Children are as the Olive plants about thy Table and it is a blessing that yet with labour the earth shall bring forth fruit It is a comfort that your labour shall not be in vain as St. Paul speaketh the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth and the fifty eighth God in mercy sendeth rain to water the earth what to doe Isaiah telleth you in his 55. chapter and 10. verse to give not only bread to the eater but even seed to the sower It is a comfort when we sowe that we shall reap he that soweth eareth reapeth thresheth doth it in hope the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter and tenth verse God giveth bread to the hungry and the seed to further increase by labour dat acquisitum that thou hast gained through thy labor 4. Fourthly it is a great mercie to call it panis taus thy bread thou shalt eat of thy own bread this is mercy I say to terme that mans which is Gods Lastly this labour hath a date and an end it hath tempus refrigerii upon the amending your lives God will put away your sinnes and a time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3. 19. Let this be lastly your comfort that though you labour long yet you shall have a resting after your labour In sudore vultûs tui vescitor cibo donec revertaris in human cum ex eâ desumptus fueris nam pulvis es inpulverem revertêris Gen. 3. 19. October 〈◊〉 1598. NOw are we to handle the other part of Adams Sentence and punishment The ground and nature of the Sentence and in the Sentence we are to consider the ground of it and the nature or form of it Disobedience is the ground of this sentence and this Sentence is made even a Law for according to that of Paul Romans 6. 2. The Law of life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death so that sinne is the cause of death Hence sprung the Pelagian heresie condemned by the Councell of Carthage Concil Carth. 7. That said that though we sinned yet we were freed though we lived never so dissolutely yet we were saved After Christs comming death was not the reward of sinne but mark what St. James in his first chapter and thirteenth verse saith When lust hath conceived it 〈◊〉 forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death and St. Paul in the fifth to the Romans the nineteenth and the twenty first saith Death That as by one mans disohedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many were made righteous and further That as sinne reigned unto death so grace by righteousnese might reign to eternall life Truth it is that through sin came death and that death hath rule over all Adam at the first by sinne brought death the last Adam by obedience brought everlasting life and as Paul in the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixth verse saith That the last enemie that Christ should destroy was death for as it is in the same chapter As in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive and the very wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life saith Paul in the sixth to the Romans and the twenty third verse The nature and form of sinne Touching the nature and form of the sinne God is not cause of sinne God is not the agent in sinne but the cause of sinne is only from Adam himself And according to that of the Wise man in his first chapter and thirteenth verse Adam and sin cause of death God hath not made death neither hath he pleasure in the
of his blessings on him in this happy place which sheweth Adam in all justice worthy to be condemned as filius mortis 2 Sam. 12. 5. in that he having such infinite store of all good trees that were yet was not content but did impiously and ungratefully take away and steal from him which had but only one tree From both these we gather that it is not lawfull in respect of Gods will nor against the Law of nature but it is allowed and permitted to man in the estate of innocencie to desire and to use and enjoy both plenty and variety of Gods blessing here on Earth which are pleasant and good that is such good Creatures which may serve for delight and profit David Psal. 23. 5. giveth God thanks for both for God gave him balme which is a thing for pleasure and an overrunning cup which is for plenty And Salomon 2 Chro. 9. 21. and in the 1 King 10. 22. when his Navie went to Ophir he took order according to the wisedome God gave him that they should bring him Apes Peacocks and Parrots c. which we know are only for delight and hath a use for pleasure so he had both a desire and fruition of such things and our saviour Christ which is wiser than Salomon John 18. 2. he often resorted to and reposed himself in a garden and took pleasure therein and Luke 24. 43. there we see he cate of an honey-Combe for the pleasure of taste and St. Augustine giveth this reason because God caused Bees not to gather honey for the wicked only but for the godly also The desire then and the use is lawfull only we must take this Caveat by the way and beware that we long not after the forbidden Tree that is that we both in respect of our wills and desires in regard of the means to obtain and get these things and also of the use and enjoying them must beware that we doe not that which is forbidden for to desire those things in affection immoderately to seek them by evill means inordinately and indiscreatly or to use them in excesse unthankfully is the abusing and making them evill unto us And let this suffice for the first part Now for walking about the Garden Moses here calleth us into the mid'st of it and we know that usually in the mid'st of their places of pleasure men will have some curious devise so God applying himself to the nature of men is said to have a speciall matter of purpose in the mid'st which Moses will have us now see and consider We read in the 1 Cron. 16. 1. that in the middle of the Temple and in the mid'st of the middle part God caused the Cherubins and the Ark to be set where his glorie and presence did most appear for there he contriveth and conveyeth the most excellent things in all Paradise and setteth them in the mid'st thereof to be seen which were no where else that is to say the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evill which he expresseth by name as for all the rest he hudleth them up in a general term as not worthy the naming in respect of this Touching which two St. Austin saith well that we must note that they came out of the ground not out of the Aire that is they were not fantasticall trees as some men have imagined but very true and substantial trees as the rest not differing but only this in prerogative and special fruit which by Gods blessing they brought forth fructus erat non ex natura arboris sed ex gratia Creatoris as è contra it was not an evill or hurtfull tree ex voluntate plantantis sed ex culpa comedentis for by Adams sinne it became deadly We see then that as Paradise was a natural place though it had reference to a spirituall place for in this tree of life is both matter of Historie which proveth the very true and essential being of it and yet withall matter of mysterie For as it is a true use to be applyed to the body and natural life to maintain it So besides that History in it was a mysterie to signifie a heavenly matter to be spiritually applyed to our souls as the Scriptures doe teach And in these two respects we shall have a perfect comprehension of these trees in the middest Touching the tree of life and the corporal use of it we must remember that it is said in the 7. verse that God gave man a spirit of life and made him a living soul that is such a soul which could give life to every part in the body with the functions and faculties thereof as to eat and drink to move goe and stirre which the soul of Beasts also giveth to them naturally Touching the natural life and living soul of Man all Physicians doe well agree with divinity in this that it standeth in two points and that there were two causes ordained by God by which it should be maintained or impaired the one is set down Deut. 34. 7. Humidum radicale the natural vigor and strength of nature in moisture the other is called Calor naturalis 1 Reg. 1. 1 2. that is natural heat So long as they two are perfect and sound the bodily life doth continue perfect but when there is a defect or decay of them then the natural life doth cease and end Wherefore God taketh order that by eating and drinking there should be a supply of that natural moisture which should be spent in us by travail and labor Jer. 18. 15. And therefore it is called a refection and recovering by food that moisture which before hath been decayed in us now because the moisture and juice which cometh of meats and drinks would at last by often mixture become unperfect as water being mixed with wine is worse therefore God gave this tree of life for mans bodily use that whatsoever naturall defect might grow in these two yet the fruit of this tree shall be as balm as it were to preserve his bodily constitution in the first perfect good estate of health Secondly though there be no decay of moisture or that yet sinne which is the sting of death might impair or destroy this immortall life 2 Chron. 15. 16. For when God doth punish or chastise man for sinne then even as a moth fretteth a garment so doth sinne consume our life Psal. 39. 11. Therefore God ordeined also the other tree of knowledge to a remedy for that that as the body should be sustained by that corporall fruit of life so his heart also might be propped up or upheld by grace Heb. 13. 9. which this tree of knowledge did teach him to apprehend And thus much of the corporall use of these trees which were truely in the Garden as this History doth shew Now for the other part it is not to be doubted but that as it hath a true matter of history So it hath in it also a spirituall mystery
As if he should say my commandement and will shall be the rule and direction of your will and works so in the new Testament St. Paul saith we must not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. But that we be sober and know and understand according to sobriety which is to prove what every thing is by the perfect will of God Rom. 12. 2.3 This then is the difference between Gods commandements and those which men doe make when men though they be the greatest doe command any thing they therefore doe command things because they be good and lawfull and when we deal with them we therefore obey their Laws so farre forth as the things they command are lawfull and good because their words and commandements have no power to make things good But when we deal with Gods commandements we simply obey all that he willeth because his commandement and word doe make things absolutely good ye though they before may seem to be evill yet after he hath commanded them they are made therefore perfectly good Nos volumus qua bona sunt bona autem sunt quia voluit Deus Gods good will therefore is the best and most beneficiall thing for us and our good and the things he commandeth are the wisest things for us to follow howsoever they seem to corrupt reason and sense which are ill Judges in those matters Thus much then for our application and use that when our actions are agreeable to Gods word and law then they are according to Gods will And therefore we may be sure that it is best for our behoof Nam quo die comederis de eo utique moriturus es Gen. 2. 17. June 22 1591. EVery Law hath in it two principall parts the one containeth the body and tenor of it the other comprehendeth the sanction and penalty Touching the body of the Law we have entrcated already both of the subject and also of the action of it Now therefore we are come to the latter part to consider of the punishment threatned to the breach of it concerning which we say That as there is required necessarily in the Law giver authority and right to command so likewise in him must be a power and ability to correct and punish the transgressors or else his authority is without an edge Both these therefore are seen in the Law-maker by the parts of this Law the one being the directive part serving for direction the other being the corrective part which serveth for execution And every one may be sure that he is subject and under one of these This then is as if Moses had said Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this Non comedes but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this If you will needs eat and 〈◊〉 your will before mine and your lusts before my love then be ye sure of this That in that day thou shalt dye the death for death is the sower and bitter sawce of this sweet meat Rom. 6. 23. Touching the punishment in it self we are to know that in every punishment inflicted for offence there is required Justice to give it in a due proportion that there be an equality between the punishment and offence As in the Law he that will desire another mans Sheep and steal it he in justice is to restore four-fold Again reason and equity requireth that the punishment must be of greater force to 〈◊〉 and discourage from sinne then the sinne must be to perswade and entise us to it Such an equality is in this For because he took liberty to stretch his will and desire further than he should therefore that he should lose the first liberty he had for this is just and equall 〈…〉 etiam poneret modum beneficio and that he that observeth not the manner of using it should lose the right use which he had It is therefore reason and right that either we should Dimittere voluntatem male vivendi aut amittere facultatem bene 〈◊〉 This we say to justifie God because men think that this sinne of eating such a fruit is not a capitall offence and that God was too hard to 〈◊〉 this so sore a punishment on it Touching the second point which is concerning the cause of his death which must not be ascribed to God because the cause is found in our own selves for God saith If you eat you shall die that is you shall be causes and authors of your own death your blood light on your own heads for I am not guilty thereof which we shall the better percive and esteem if we consider that which before I have shewed that Adam was made immortall non necessitate naturae sed vi 〈◊〉 gratiae not by natural necessity but by the priviledge of Gods grace for Adam consisting of contrarie qualities by his own nature they must needs in regard of themselves be the cause of death to them as they were to the beasts But notwithstanding this subjection to mortality and possibility to dye in regard of their nature Gods grace did sustain their bodily life and kept them from death so long as they kept themselves from sinne But now si hence transgression besides the necessity of nature their sinne also did pluck death upon them and was the cause of this curse So long therefore as man kept his first estate he was united to God which was life and had use of the tree of life which then was 〈◊〉 Deo and had this grace to preserve life and by that means so long we had an immunity from death because we were 〈◊〉 with the prop of Gods grace which was the cause of our immortality but when 〈◊〉 did cause that prop to be pulled away which sustained the 〈◊〉 of our nature then we could not choose but dye both by the necessity of nature and desert of our sinne If we had leaned still to the stay of our nature and not trusted so much to our own wills and wisdoms it had gone well with us But this voluntarie forsaking of God and leaning on the broken staffe and reedis stay of our own was the cause of our fall into sinne and so unto death Thus we see God justified in this sentence saying Morieris because he is neither the Author or Cause of Malum naturae which is sinne nor yet of 〈…〉 which is death But man causing both culpam poenam doth both wayes cleer God and condemn us and our selves are proved to be the cause of both 3. Point The kinde of death Now touching the third point which respecteth the kinde of death here threatned for there are several kindes of death Rev. 2. 11. Rev. 20. 6. there is the temporall and eternall the naturall and spirituall the first and second death which of these is here in this punishment threatned St. Augustine answereth that God doth here mean both whatsoever death may be included from the beginning of our life unto the last death all that is here
his wife The second is his eating Inordinate Consent Touching the first The giving eare to the voyce of his wife it is nothing unlesse it bee accompanied with another circumstance hee may heare the voyce of his wife if shee speak that is reason and so the superior may heare the voice of the inferior In the second of the Kings the fift chapter and thirteenth verse the Master must hear the voyce of the Servant in reason If the Prophet saith Naamans servant to Naaman had commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much rather when hee saith to thee but this Wash and be cleane and there Naaman heard the voyce of his servant so that licet audire vocem 〈◊〉 the words of reason are to be heard from our Inferiour be it Wife Child or Servant for reason ruleth all out of the mouth of whomsoever it commeth but we must not hear words noysome and of wicked desire but when they are brutish senseless and of foolish desire we must not hear them but above all not words contrary to Gods word for vox dei praecipiens commanded him not to eat vox uxor is disuadens perswaded the contrary yet he heard the voice rather of his Wife than of God so the fault is disobedience to God which is not alone but is accompanied with another fault called Ignavia negligence carelesness not regarding Gods Commandement This laying the bridle carelesly on the neck is to be subject to her voice that was subject to him and by such negligence was drawn to transgression the 〈◊〉 act It was no excuse to Joab that he had Davids letters to murther Urias as it is 2 Sam. 11. 14. nor Solomons Idolatry was not to be excused because he was perswaded thereunto by his Wives It is a great offence non contristari mortiferas delitias not to be sorry for deadly delight The pleasing voice of Eve was no excuse to Adams breach of Gods Commandements 2. The disordered Act. The other branch is the disordered act of Adam which is a second degree of sinne for to have heard the voice of his Wife and there to have stayed and not to have sinned had been worthy commendation to have remembred the voice of God and not regarded the voice of Eve had been commendable before he heareth the voice of God but here he obeyeth the voice of Eve Out of this act of sinne the Fathers gather two Circumstances the first is that the voice of God might easily have been obeyed Of all the trees in the Garden thou maist eat de illâ arbore of that one tree alone thou shalt not eat in such plenty one might have been forborn so that great was the disobedience when so small a matter commanded by God was not obeyed by Man according to that of St. Austin upon this place Magna est iniquitas ubi non magna obediendi difficultas here is great ingratitude not to for bear this one having all other in aboundance The Second Circumstance in this act of sin is to doe it though charge were given before to the contrary with pain of death in the 17. of the former Chapter It was otherwise with Paul 2 Cor. 15. he remembreth their obedience to be with fear and trembling Not death shall separate Paul from his obedience but Adam was disobedient though death were denounced disobedient to death so that the aggravating the act is the contempt of Gods denouncing of death and punishment So much may suffice of the Fault The Punishment or Penaltie Now touching the Punishment Cursed is the earth for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life c. I consider this Punishment of Adam after two sorts either as a Sentence or as a Law Now we will speak of it only as a Sentence hereafter by Gods patience we will handle the other as a Law Herein we will consider the proportion of that Fault with the Punishment with the Fault and with the Act it self In the Sentence are two Punishments The first cursed be the earth for thy sake c. The second in the sweat of labour shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return to dust for dust thou art and to it shalt thou return The one part of the Punishment is a hard life the other a corruption by death In Proportion As Eves so Adams punishment is in proportion First his desire was unlawfull and the Act was sin for according to 1. of St. James 15. When lust conceiveth it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Eves lust made her sinne and she was punished Adams neglect to suffer an Inferiour to prevail against God is punished with labour for labour is poena ignaviae and Mans ingratitude to God is punishment with the Earths ingratitude to Man he was disobedient the earth shall be unfruitfull he offended in meat and he is punished in his meat the earth that should feed him is cursed for him he offended in unkindness active he is punished with unkindness passive he dealt unkindly with God he shall suffer the earths unkindness Eve her punishment was in bringing forth life Mans is in bringing forth living to maintain and nourish life which is a great difficulty both have their pain labour and sorrow Hers is in intension great but for a few houres his is great in extension to indure all the dayes of his life And so much generally of the Punishment In his meat Now in particular the first part of mans Punishment is in his meat Men must needs have whereof to eate for life without living and maintenance will not be preserved there is not only a bringing forth of Children but there are also curae oeconomicae houshould cares meat and cloathing must of necessity be had according to that of the Wise man Preacher 6. 7. all the labour of man is for his mouth and the 16. of the Proverbs and the 26. is to like purpose he must eat and the hearb of the field must be his meat fuell must maintain the fire and meat must maintain life Adam came of the earth and must live by the earth the earth that was his Mother must be his Nurse and from thence mankinde must be maintained even all the meanest and the Monarch for as it is Preacher 5. 8. the aboundance of the earth is over all the King consisteth by the field that is tilled The hearb of the field bread was the only sustenance of the Patriarchs before the Flood but after the waters had taken away by over much moisture the strength that was in hearbs and bread God gave them then other meats drinks of strength in the 9. Chapter of this Book 20. Noah planted Vineyards and drunk the wine thereof But that Adam is here to 〈◊〉 is the hearb of the field and the bread of his own labour These two wereable to strengthen mans hart as it is said
destruction of the living and in the eighteenth of Ezekiel and the twenty third God hath no desire that the wicked should die but if even the wicked return from his waies he shall live so that Adam and his sinne was the cause of death death was made by him for God is the God of life It was the sinne of Nineveh that made God to threaten destruction to Nineveh within fourty dayes but when as it is in the third of Jonah and the eighth they returned by repentance from their evill waies God shewed mercie and they were not destroyed Adam he forsook God of himself and so he brought death to himself So long as he shewed his obedience unto God the other Creatures were obedient unto him there was no enmity between him and the other Creatures in time of obedience he was not in danger of death God breathed into Adam life Adam brought death The Prophet in the 104. Psalme 29. saith If thou take away their breath they return to their dust so that life is Gods but dust is their own ground and they have their moisture and when that moisture is dried up and taken away it turneth to dust ex argillâ fabricavit hominem Deus Job in his tenth chapter and ninth verse saith to God Remember that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me to dust again for if the moisture of the grace of God be taken away what are we but dust The Heavens send down the dew from above to moisten the Earth Isaiah 45. 8. It is the spirit of God that giveth the moisture to beliefe John 7. 39. If that be taken away we are but dust Thus farre of it as a Sentence A Law Now of this as of a Law To dust shalt thou return First touching the certainty of it in these words to dust thou shalt return of the uncertainty when donec untill There are those that escape the first part of this punishment of Adam that live not in the sweat of their face qui non vivunt ex labore sudoris there are those that live at ease and yet fare daintily that have aboundance and take no pains that lie upon their Beds as the door turneth upon his hinges Proverbs 26. 14. But though they escape that part of the Sentence this part takes hold of all for all must die this is universall this is certain Statutum est it is a Statute and a Law that all must die from the first to the last Adam the fift to the Romans the fifteenth David himself saith of himself in regard of mortalitie of the body Psalme the twenty second and the sixth I am a worm and not a man We have comfort in Jesus Christ to live for ever this was it that Jesus said that John should not die the twenty first of John and the twenty third and by him we look for the resurection of the body This it was that made Job in his nineteenth chapter and twenty sixth verse to say That though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh A universall Law Touching the extent of this that it is universall to all to die it is plain not to be denied for as it is in the eighty ninth Psame and the fourty eighth verse What man liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the grave Though God hath said to Kings and Princes and Judges of the earth yee are Gods and Children of the Almighty yet yee shall die as men and fall like others Psalme the eighty second and the seventh laquei mortis the snares of death compass about the Godly their body goeth to the grave but their soul returneth to rest Psalme the one hundred sixth and the seventh verse and as it is in the second of the Preacher and the sixteenth The wise man dieth as well as the fool Look what sentence is given upon man falls upon the rest of the Creatures for man is the great Count-palatine of the world and the chief mover in the Sphear as he moveth all are moved and the Elements and Birds and Beasts were subject to Mans change his disobedience made all disobedient and out of order yea as the Wise-man saith in the nineteenth of Ecclesiast and the fifth All the living know assuredly they shall die So much for the certainty to all Uncertainty Donec untill Now of the uncertainty of the time donec untill which is verie uncertain Isaack though he were old and neer his death yet in the twenty seventh of Genesis and the second he said senex sum diem mortis nescio I am now old and know not the day of my death The men of this world have their Portion in this life there are the gates of death as David speaketh and laquei mortis the snares of death This time cannot be discerned it is nighest us when we think our selves most secure For when the rich man had layed up store for many years and said to his soul take thou thy rest even then came it hâc nocte this night thou shalt die Death is pronounced upon all but a flaming fire and vengeance belongeth only to the ungodly the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the eighth and ninth verses Mercy in death Now touching the mittigation of this death in this sentence of death for as the Wise-man speaketh in the seventh chapter and the seventeenth verse The vengeance of the wicked is fire and 〈◊〉 this bitterness must be alayed for as Bernard saith non est crux sine Christo non est punctio sine unctione there is no cross without comfort no punishment without ointment The fear of death Christ delivereth them from the fear of death that is Gods anger that all their life were subject to bondage the second to the Hebrews and the fifteenth The hope of life so then the fear of death must be alayed with the hope of life For though the wicked be cast off for his malice yet the righteous hath hope in his death the fourteenth of the Proverbs and the thirty second This is joy to us even in death that Christ will change this vile body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body the third to the Philipians and the twenty first and according to the fourteenth of the Revelations and the thirteenth their hope is with a blessing beati mortui qui in domino moriuntur blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their laboures Now in the verie words of the Sentence are implied two sorts of this delay Donec implieth an end of labour Donec implieth that they shall labour untill then untill implieth no eternity there is a consummation of labour there is end of labour and an assurance of rest the blessed rest from their labours tempus est refrigerii there is a time of refreshing the third of the Acts and the
the 14. of the 11. Thy pompe and pleasure is brought down to the grave the worms shall cover thee then with Job 17. 14. 〈◊〉 maist say to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Mother and Sister and as it is in the 26. of Isaiah and the 19. the dust must be our dwelling joy not then in the joyes of this world which are but dust and corruptible they are as Austin saith gaudia privanda but sorrow for gaudia aeterna privanda sorrow lest 〈◊〉 be deprived of eternall joyes 3. Our life unconstant or death uncertain The third use for instruction is out of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 The state of our life is alwaies in motion and in revolving like a Ship a sailing Job in his 14. chapter and 14. verse called the resurrection after death a changing it is like a shadow it is still turning and returning Paul saith in the thirteenth to the Hebrews the fourteenth verse Wee have here no continuing City but wee looke hereafter for one our life is unconstant our death uncertain alwaies changing this the inconstancie of mans life is the motive to good as the other is the retentive from evill Paul saith hee dieth daily from sin here on the earth wee must not seeke for the hill of certain repose but look in heaven for a perpetuall City The Tents and Tabernacle are taken away therefore with Abraham Wee must looke for a City having a foundation whose builder and maker is God the eleventh of the Hebrews and the tenth verse 4. A time to return The fourth use is out of donec revertêris untill thou returne a time of returning where wee must learne to returne by repentance unto God before wee returne to dust that so wee may returne againe from dust 〈◊〉 God let men bee alwaies ready spend not thy daies with the wicked that goe suddenly down to the grave the twenty first of Job and the thirteenth the fourty fifth of I saiah and the eighth And as they live so they die like beasts the third of the Preacher and the ninteenth 5. We must return to God The fifth and last is that we must return to God For shall the dust give thanks unto thee the thirtieth I salme and the ninth verse The godly shall be delivered out of temptation though the unjust be reserved to judgement the second of Peter the second and the ninth We must return to God per poenitentiam Let it not be thought incredible that God should raise again the dead the twenty sixth of the Acts and the eighth the first of Jea and the eighth So a man shall return to God very well by due consideration of these things from the first pulvis es thou art dust to return to God by humility by the second not to joy in this world but in God by the third to rest our turning and returning in God and by the fourth to comfort our selves that out of the grave we shall rise to live with God Abraham addeth ashes to dust But what made Abraham to add ashes to dust the eighteenth of this Book and the twenty seventh he saith I am O Lord but dust and ashes The Fathers upon this place say that dust is our beginning and if we doe not obey God by fire we shall be turned into ashes ashes will be our ending We are all naturally dust and we are all by desert also but ashes and although by no means you cannot avoid to be dust yet by an upright life you may avoid to be ashes though we cannot but incurre the first death let not the second death take hold of us Though the grave inclose us let not hell swallow us All we eat all that we care for in this world is but for dust and for that will turn to dust If we be nothing but dust if we hope for nothing but dust if we care for nothing but dust we shall be swallowed up in dust Let us remember we are clay but God is the Potter Isaiah 64. 8. Above all regard thy soul. Above all regard thy soul then shall thy body of dust return to dust and from dust shall return again to God that made it and thee thou and thy body shall return to glory Vocavit autem Adam nomen uxoris suae Chavvam eò quòd ipsa mater sit omnium hominum viventium Gen 3. 20. December 10. 1598. ADam here calleth his Wife by a new name not by the former name in the 23. of the former which was Woman The mysterie of this name compared with the former Sentence is great she is called here Hevah she hath no name of dejection and despair but of life and of comfort Hereby is to be gathered that notwistanding the sinne committed and sentence pronounced yet there was in Adam some matter of hope for he beleeved the promise made in the 15. verse before that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head This was as it is in the 〈◊〉 to the Corinthians 2. 16. The savour of life unto life Abraham beleeved in Gods promise the 15. of this book the 6. by this Scripture Adam left a Monument of his beliefe as in the other Abraham left a Monument of his faith The seed of Abram in his age was promised to be in the 5. verse of that chapter as the starres of heaven Abraham desired to see the day of Christ and he saw it by faith Herein we will consider these two things first the imposition of a name and then of this name For the first the imposing of names is an argument of superiority and power in the 19. of the former chapter it is shewed in the naming of all the Creatures by man which names were properly given by him In the thirty fifth chapter and the eighteenth verse Jacobs Wife before her death called her sonnes name Ben-oni but his Father changed that name and called him Benjamin from the sonne of sorrow to the sonne of 〈◊〉 Jacob was after called Israel the tenth of the same chapter the name of Sarai was turned to Sarah the seventeenth of Genesis and the fifteenth verse as of Jacob by the Angell into Israel the two and thirtith chapter and the twenty eighth verse and out of these new names is taken matter of great mystery And Adam before called her Ishah woman as another from man but here hee changeth that to Hevah which is a name of life to others Now then touching the imposition of this name wherein wee will consider the signification of this name and then the qualitie thereof In the seventh of the former chapter God 〈◊〉 into man the breath of life and man was a living soule and here her name is a name of life now life is two fold either for a time or for ever shee is a mother of life in regard of this life for that her birth is not of an abortive it is a blessednesse production and education are in
of the Offerer hath a great priviledge for be the work never so excellent if it come not from a person qualified in such fort as God may take liking it is to no purpose The same words I have sinned used by David in the second of Samuel and the twelfth chapter pleased God but in Judas were not respected Matthew the twenty seventh chapter so for prayer both the Pharisees and Publicans went to one place for one purpose but the one departed justified rather than the other Luke the eighteenth for the Sacraments Simon magus was baptized and never the better but Saul and the Jailor were baptized and obtained remission of sinnes the eighth of the Acts and the sixteenth verse so Judas was partaker of the Supper with the other Apostles but he only was an unworthy partaker The reason is If the fruit be good we must make the tree good also Matthew the twelfth It cannot be good fruit that commeth of an evill tree The same work of mercy done by an Heretick and prophane person is not respected but in a Christian is highly accounted with God God is no respecter of persons but looks upon the heart not that God respects persons for he looks not as man looks but he looks on the heart the first of Samuel the sixteenth chapter and the seventh verse and regards no mans person Matthew the twenty second chapter for if he should respect one more than another then he should regard Cain rather being the first born But yet there is something in the person of Abel which made him more respected than Cain and that is that which God respects in mens persons Jeremiah the fifth and the third verse occuli tui respiciunt fidem and the Apostle saith that it was by faith that Abels offering had the preheminence the eleventh to the Hebrews and the fourth verse And respects faith that hath relation to Gods promise which faith because it had relation to the word of God was accepted of God for Abel beleeved the word of God uttered Genesis the third and the 〈◊〉 touching the blessed seed that should break the Serpents head and give an entrance into Paradise which was kept with a shaking sword This word of God is a great and pretious promise the second to Peter and the first chapter which Abel respected more than all things besides in the earth as David saith of Gods word that it was the joy of his heart Psalm the hundred and ninteenth and the one hundred and eleventh so because Abel so much respected the word and promise of God that it was the only joy of his heart therefore God had a speciall respect to him more than to Cain as his name did signifie vanity All things to be counted vanity in respect of God and his Word so he counted himself and all the world nothing but vanity and gave not himself to vanity Proverbs the thirtieth chapter and the eighth verse As David saith Psalm the seventy third and the twenty fifth verse Whom have I in heaven in comparison of thee and there is nothing on earth which I desire besides thee so Abel had this account of God that he desired nothing on earth in respect of God and his word Touching his Oblation if there be an unfained faith the first to Timothy the first chapter and the fifth verse then there is a fained and counterfeit faith Abel's faith true and visible by works but that we may know that Abels faith was a true faith and not fained we see it had opus fidei the first to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the third verse It was a visible faith for he shemed his faith by his works James the second and the eighteenth that is by the effects of faith proceeding from it for as there is spiritus fidei the second to the Corinthians and the fourth chapter so it hath a body and in that regard the faith of our Father Abraham is said to have steps wherein we must walk Romans the fourth and the twefth verse but a spirit hath no steps That which proved Abrahams faith to be true and nufained was the work of faith which he performed of which it is said obtulit Abrahamus filium Hebrews the eleventh chapter and the seventeenth verse and the same thing proves Abels faith to be a true faith Hebrews the eleventh and the fourth verse fide obtulit Abel For Imitation and the offering faith is that faith which is commended to our imitation Steps of Abel's faith The steps of faith which were in Abraham and Abell are 1. Gratitude First Gratitude whereby we offer a little of that we have in thankfulnesse to God from whom we acknowledge all to be received 2. The act of Obedience Secondly the act of Obedience when by yeelding fomething of that we have we acknowledge our selves ready to lose all we have for his sake that gave us all 3. The act of Humilitie Thirdly the act of Humility when by offering a lambe to God we confesse thereby that we our selves deserved to suffer that which the poor beast suffereth and such an act of faith God respecteth ad quem respicio ad humilem in the fixty fixt of Isaiah 4. The act of Hope and perswasion Fourthly the act of Hope and perswasion when being perswaded that the death of a corruptible beast is no just recompence for the life of man we hope to be saved and cleansed from our sinnes in the blood of Christ the lambe of God which was signified by Abel's lambe These acts are the steps of the faith of Abel and Abraham and God there looketh upon such as testifie their faith by these effects The faith of the Elect ever shewed these effects And that we should bring this faith and these oblations we are to consider that such hath been the faith of Gods servants from the beginning Before the flood Abel's offering was in faith after the flood Noah in faith offered Genesis the eighth chapter and the twentieth verse In the time of the law God gave charge that both poor and rich should offer Exodus the thirtieth chapter and the fifteenth verse During the Tabernacle which was carryed hither and 〈◊〉 Exodus the thirty fift chapter God commanded whosoever was of a willing heart let him bring an offering When the Temple was up David prayeth to God O Lord the people have offered to thee willingly with joy accept it therefore and keepe this for ever in the purpose and thought of their hearts that they may still offer the first booke of Chronicles and the twenty ninth chapter After the Gospell they brought all that they had and laid it at the feet of the Apostles in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Not only the rich were to offer as it is in the one and 〈◊〉 chapter of Exodus but the poor that could not bring jewels were to offer Camels hair to the
verse Fourthly he breaks the bond of nature for the party murthered is his brother and so he becommeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the first chapter Fiftly he feares not to kill him though he know it will be to the great grief of Adam and Eve his Parents wherein he deals worle than Esau who would not utter his hatred against Jacob till the dayes of mourning for his Father were past Genesis the twenty seventh chapter Sixtly it was not done ex irae impetu but ex odii habitu and against such the Prophet prayeth be not mercifull to such as sinne of malicious wickedness psalm the fifty ninth Seventhly his hatred was not open Cloaked hatred under colour of friendship but cloaked and hidden under a shew of love which makes it more grievous It was not mine enemie that did me this dishonour for then I could have born it It was not mine adversary that exalted himself against me for I would have hid my self but it was thou my companion my guid and familiar friend therefore let death seiz upon him Psalm the fifty fifth and the twelfth thirteenth and fifteenth verses Eighthly this sinne is committed after Gods admonition who had uied all means to draw him to repentance Ninthly not only being admonished but seeing his Father made an example of Gods wrath whom he saw daily labouring and moyling in the earth for his disobedience to God Tenthly that which makes Cains sinne out of reason sinfull Romans the seventh is the cause not for any offence that Abel had committed but for doing his duty in Gods service as the Apostle noteth in the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse Wherefore slew he him because his own works were evil and his brothers good Cain Patriarch of hypocrites and persecutors of the Godly As before he was the Patriarch of all hypocrites so here Cain is the Patriarch of all persecuting Tyrants for that he slew his brother for no other cause but for well doing and for this good sacrifice whereby he pleased God Abel the first righteous Martyr And as Abel is said to be the first of all righteous men Matthew the twenty third chapter and the twenty fifth verse so here we see him the first Martyr wherein we see the works of the Devill who is a mutherer from the beginning John the eighth chapter and the fourty fourth verse Anger conceived hatred is murther of the soul. for he did not only murther our first 〈◊〉 in Paradise but he makes Cain a mutherer first of his own soul by conceiving hatred against his brother and purposing his death and then by killing the body of his brother Envy the meanes As this is the effect of the Devill so he makes the sinne of envy the means of which sinne the Wise-man saith Proverbs the twenty seventh chapter and the fourth verse Who can stand before envy there is no way but death with them that are envyed Examples The Bretheren of Joseph were content with nothing but the death of their brother but that two of them did withstand it Genesis the thirty seventh chapter It was envy that made the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie Christ Matthew the twenty seventh chapter Of hatred 〈◊〉 murther We see how Cain proceeded against his brother from envie to anger from anger to hatred and from it to murther these degrees must be observed Note that we may avoid them in our selves because there is no man but may sall as well as Cain except the grace of God doe stay him To conclude It is a necessary point that we consider aright of of this matter for the Prophet complaineth in the fifty seventh chapter of Isaiah and the first verse The righteous perisheth and no man considereth it So it is a fault if we do not consider the death of righteous Abel The Wiseman complaineth in the seventh chapter of Ecclesiastes and the seventeenth verse In the dayes of my vanity I have seen a good man punished in his justice and a wicked man continue longer in his malice This was Abel's case but when a man shall consider that death was at the first inflicted upon sinne because it is the wages of sin Romans the sixt chapter and the last verse and that 〈◊〉 is the means by which death entred into the world Romans the fift chapter and yet that Abel a righteous man is the first that drank of this Cup in the old Testament as John Baptist was in the new it will make him say Hoc est onus Jehovae as it is in the twenty third chapter of Jeremiah and the thirty fourth verse and hic est durus sermo John the sixt chapter The Apostle saith Godlinesse hath promises both in this life and the life to come in the first epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter and the eighth verse and among the promises of this life long life is one in the sixt chapter to the Ephesians and the third verse which God promiseth to them that honour their Superiors On the other side God threatneth that the blood thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out half his dayes Psalm the fifty fift And yet Cain lived long and Abel a godly man dyed soon Therefore when we see the righteous dye quickly and the wicked live long we must take heed we stumble not at Gods doings but justifie God and acknowledge that he is just and true and every man a lyar Psalm the fifty first Romans the third chapter Therefore to make this point plain it is true long life is promised as a blessing of God which he promiseth to the observers of his command but withall we must know there are certain causes wherein this rule holdeth not true that the dutifull and holy man shall live long in this world The exceptions are First in respect of the parties themselves to whom this blessing is promised It is with a Godly man as with the fruit of trees if after it is once ripe it besuffered to continue on the trees it will be rotten so it is with good men in this world And therefore the Wiseman saith of Enoch that because he lived amongst sinners God translated him and he took him away least wickednesse should alter his understanding and deceit beguile his minde Sapi. the fourth chapter In such a case it is not a benefit but a detriment for a man to live long And there is no man but in such a respect will be content that God shall break promise with him Secondly Another exception is in respect of the punishment of sinne If a party that pleaseth God should by living long become miserable he would not think long life a blessing and therefore God in mercy took away good Josiah that he should not see the miseries that were to come upon the Jews by the captivitie in the second booke of Chronicles and the thirty fourth chapter this favour he vouchsafed to that godly King
which inward desire of revenge must likewise be overcome as the Apostle willeth Romans the twelfth chapter Avenge not your selves sed vince malum bono we must overcome the evil of our fleshly lusts and desires of revenge with the grace of mortification and patience 2. Extra Secondly The seed of the Serpent is without us for there are filii Belial of whom were those to whom Christ said John the eight chapter You are of your Father the Devil Such as will doe mischief for doing well such enemies are men of corrupt mindes and understandings that are destitute of the truth and are bold to say that gain is godlinesse from which we must separate our selves the first epistle to Timothy the sixt chapter and the fift verse And if we overcome in this warre then we shall be partakers of this promise But who overcommeth in this warre and who can say he is a conqueror in this battall The Apostle saith That he that sinneth is overcome of sinne and brought into bondage of the sinne the second epistle of Peter the second chapter and the nineteenth verse Therefore where the promise is here made only to him that overcommeth we must see if the Scripture offereth more graces James the fourth chapter and the sixt verse And if we look into Apocalyps the second chapter and the fift verse we shall finde there he that makes this promise offers more graces that is Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and doe thy first works Dâ—… victoria So there are two victories the first is continere a peccato the other is paenitere de peccato If we cannot get this victory over the Serpent that he doe not cause us to sinne at all yet if we so farre overcome him that sinne reign not in our mortal bodies Romans the sixt chapter and the twelfth verse if we wound his head which was promised Genesis the third chapter and the fifteenth verse so as though he cause us to sinne yet he get not the head or set up his throne in our hearts then we are to hope that we shall be 〈◊〉 of this promise if we return from whence we are fallen and repent us of the sinnes we have committed and doe the first works then no doubt we shall be restored to our first estate and Christ shall give us a new right in the tree of life But he that either fighteth not at all but is at a league with Hell and hath made a Covenant with death Isaiah the twenty eighth chapter he that will deny sinne nothing but will fulfill the lusts of the flesh or if he fight yet he fight not lawfully nor strive to overcome but is content to follow every temptation as an oxe led to the slaughter Proverbs the seventh chapter and not only so but put stumbling blocks before himself which may make him fall Ezekiel the fourteenth chapter and use all means that he may be overcome And if having fallen they labour not to get the victory after by repenting of his former sinnes and doing the first works then they have no part in this first promise Men may draw neer to the holy mysterie of Christs body and blood and snatch at the tree of life but Christ gives it not except they be such as overcome either by the grace of abstinencie from sinne or of repentance and sorrow for sinne They may be partakers of the tree of life de 〈◊〉 but not de jure The bread of life is to them as the bread of wrong Proverbs the fourth chapter and the seventeenth verse and the bread of deceit which shall in the end fill their mouths with gravell Proverbs the twentieth chapter So both the promise and condition are touched But the question is How we shall overcome that we learn Apocalyps the twelfth chapter where the Saints are said to overcome the great dragon the old Serpent with the blood of the Lambe Which blood hath two uses First that which the Apostle calls the sprinkling of the blood of 〈◊〉 Christ the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the second verse Secondly That by receiving the cup of blessing we are partakers of the blood of Christ the first epistle to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the sixteenth verse So that in these words is a reciprocation vincenti ut comedat comedenti ut vincat dabo edere the body and blood of Christ is the fruit of that tree of life which the Apostle speaks of the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the twenty fourth verse That he bare our sinnes in his body upon the tree Of which fruit whosoever are partakers in the Sacrament when it is ministred to them doe receive power to overcome that so they may eate of the tree of eternal life For in this Sacrament we have both a means of victory and a pledge of our reward that is the life of grace begun in us here to assure us of a glorious life in the world to come Every tree must have a root and the root of that tree which Christ speaks of is here in this Sacrament for in it is sown in the hearts of the receivers as it were a kernel which in time shoots forth and becomes a tree for as there was a death of the soul by sinne before God inflicted a death of the body so answerable to that first death of sinne there must be in us a life of grace which is the root of that tree from whence we shall in due time receive the life of glory In this sacrament the tree of the life of Grace is town in us that is a measure of grace wrought in our hearts by the power of Gods spirit by which we shall at length attain to eate of that tree which shall convey unto us the life of glory As there are two trees of life so we must have a double Paradise We must have liberty to be of the Paradise on earth that is the Church Militant which is called hortus conclusus Canticles the second chapter before we can be received into the heavenly Paradise that is the Church Triumphant So there is a plain analogie between those As when we are dead in sinnes and in the uncircumcision of the flesh Colossians the second chapter and the thirteenth verse we receive the life of grace by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ in baptism so when we are fallen from the life of grace and are restrained from the life of God Ephesians the fourth chapter and eighteenth verse and dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephesians the second chapter then we obtain victory against sinne and death by the blood of the Lamb being drunk in the Sacrament Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the eleventh verse For if the material tree of life in Paradise received such influence from God Genesis the third chapter that being dead in it felse it had power to convey the natural life of our Parents while they eat of
the fruit thereof then is God able as well to give such a power to the Creatures of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament that albeit they are dead of themselves to convey into us the life of grace even as the tree of life did prolong natural life for so saith Christ John the sixth chapter and the fifty third verse Except ye eat the flesh of the sonne of man and drink his blood ye have no lifein you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life he that eateth me shall live by me And he that 〈◊〉 of his body shall live for ever There is no life but in God first 〈…〉 the thirtieth chapter ipse enim est vita mea and he committeth life to the sonne Therefore it is said There is a River of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb Apocalyps the 〈◊〉 second chapter and the first verse And as the Father hath life in himself so he hath given to the Sonne to have life in himself John the fift chapter and the twenty sixt verse And as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them so the sonne quickneth whom he will John the fift chapter and the twenty first verse God being the fountain of life draws life to his sonne as into a Cistern from whence we draw life therefore it is said of the wisdome of God that is Christ that he is a tree of life Proverbs the third chapter and the eighteenth verse of whom it is now said in ipso er at vita John the fourteenth chapter and therefore he calls himself this life John the fourteenth chapter This is the Cistern of life to give life to them that are dead in original sinne by the sprinkling of his blood in 〈◊〉 And when they are dead in actual sinnes he gives new life to them that are 〈◊〉 of his body and blood in the Sacrament of the Supper In this Sacrament Christ hath provided a tree of life of graces against the death of sinne whereof they must be partakers that will eat of the tree of life which Christ here promiseth So that whereas the Wiseman saith Fructus justi est lignum vitae Proverbs the eleventh chapter and the thirtieth verse The seed of this tree is here sown and bringeth forth the root of a better tree for as grace is the root of glory so glory is the fruit of grace Here in this life the root of grace is planted in us and brings forth the fruits of righteousnesse that in the life to come it may make us partakers of the tree of glory and to assure us of this life we are sealed with the holy spirit of promise as the earnest of our inheritance Ephesians the first chapter and the thirteenth verse and the second epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter and the twenty second verse That albeit we are fallen and can be overcome of finne yet if we fight better and doe the first works we shall be partakers of the life of glory The kernel of grace is planted in us by the participation of the body and blood of Christ of which kernel commeth a tree which bringeth forth the fruits of holinesse and righteousnes in our whole life Which God will in due time reward with the Crown of life and glory in the world to come Cupimus autem ut unusquisque vestrûm idem studium ad finem usque ostendat ad certam spei persuasionem Hebr. 6. 11. August 24. 1599. AS in the old testament the Prophetisse Deborah in the service of the Children of Isha against Jabin doth specially praise God for the willingnesse of the people Judges the fift chapter so here the Apostle commendeth the Hebrews for the work and labour of their love in that they spared no cost in shewing themselves good Christians Now the crown of our rejoycing is the summe of our desire and therefore as there Deborah desireth to have the promptnesse and readinesse continued in the people so the Apostle wisheth that all the Hebrews as they have been carefull to practise the fruits of faith so should they still shew further diligence in that behalf The special drift of the Apostle is to shew that the Christians comfort standeth in the perfection of their hope The Apostle Hebrews the eleventh chapter and the first verse maketh their hope for to be the definition of faith For though matters Historical and Dogmatical pertain to faith yet chiefly faith hath hope for its object for as Augustine Credimus non ut credamus sed 〈◊〉 speremus therefore the Apostle saith the end of all Scripture is that we may have hope Romans the fifteenth chapter and the fourth verse and that which he affirmeth in the first epistle to the Corinthians the ninth chapter That he which planteth planteth in hope is as much true in all actions the ground whereof is the hope we conceive of some benefit for he that soweth soweth in hope he that saileth saileth in hope and he that marrieth doth it in hope that his estate will be bettered thereby For sure it is that it is but a comfortlesse thing to beleeve that there is everlasting joy and glory laid up in Heaven except a man be perswaded that he shall be partaker of it Exanguis res fides sine spe quia spes fidei exanguis est Amb. And as hope is the blood of faith as the Prophet saith Isaiah the thirtieth chapter and the fifteenth verse In quietnesse and in confidence shall be your strength so hope is that which whets diligence and therefore the Prophet saith in the second book of the Chronicles the fifteenth chapter and the seventeenth verse Be strong and let not your hands be weak for your work shall have an end And in the new Testament the Apostle saith Be stedfast and immovable knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord Quod labor vester non erit inanis in Domino the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the fifty eighth verse So nothing is more to be desired than to have hope in the evil day and the means of this hope is to shew forth diligence But for the easier intreatie of the contents of this verse the points which the Apostle holdeth are first That we are not only to beleeve but also to hope Secondly Not with a feeble or faint hope but with the fulnesse of hope Thirdly This hope must not be for an hour as Christ speaketh of St. John John the fift chapter but continuing to the end Then for the means of this hope his request is First That Diligence be used Secondly This Diligence must be shewed forth For the first point the Apostles desire is That they should hope for that which they beleeve wherein standeth the real difference that is between the faith of the Devils and men reprobate and the faith of the Children of God for even to the Devils the Apostle ascribes
therefore we say a day hath twenty four hours a week hath seven dayes a moneth thirty dayes a week likewise hath seven nights a moneth thirty nights but evening and morning are all one day And the first day as the first day of the week of moneths of time this was a day by it self as the other six were dayes by themselves God saith at the institution of the 〈◊〉 Exodus the twelfth chapter and the second verse This moneth shall be unto you the beginning of moneths it shall be to you the first moneth of the year But by Basill this 〈◊〉 had a meaning for our natural use that we should esteem twenty four hours one day though some count the day no longer than the light is seen The first day is 〈◊〉 example to the dayes after in this first day we behold all the other 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 them all things created In this first day of years 〈…〉 Creation the 〈◊〉 the Birth 〈◊〉 B was the 〈◊〉 letter the Redemption the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 was upon the first day of the week year 〈◊〉 The spiritual use The spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this place saith We are not in 〈…〉 〈◊〉 may be applyed to 〈◊〉 morning and evening 〈◊〉 A 〈…〉 morning and 〈◊〉 at even the one a 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 Numbers the twenty eighth chapter the fourth and 〈…〉 David 〈◊〉 the beginning of the hundred fourty first 〈◊〉 〈…〉 God 〈◊〉 my prayer be 〈◊〉 in thy sight 〈…〉 and the listing up of 〈…〉 evening sacrifice Let 〈…〉 a Father open the morning 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of prayer and 〈…〉 the evening with the bolt 〈◊〉 prayer In these two there is 〈◊〉 and alternation 〈…〉 the day 〈…〉 〈◊〉 now long how 〈…〉 in them we see joy 〈…〉 in the night 〈◊〉 is alternation of 〈…〉 then 〈◊〉 Now 〈…〉 Babylon 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 and did 〈◊〉 in the day 〈…〉 〈◊〉 for the 〈…〉 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 and the first verse 〈…〉 it Sit in the 〈◊〉 sit on the ground set still and get thee into darknesse evill shall come 〈◊〉 the and thou shall not know the morning there os 〈◊〉 there is a use 〈◊〉 order in things 〈◊〉 so is there in things spiritual the evening and the morning The very Heathen doe say that to a man 〈◊〉 disposed 〈◊〉 a good minde after Matthew in his fourth chapter and the sixteenth verse saith The people which 〈◊〉 in darknesse saw great light and to them which 〈◊〉 in the region 〈…〉 of death light is risen up knowledge is a light and Ignorance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 saying Estprimo vespertina 〈…〉 which grows from light to a lighter knowledge If a man 〈…〉 not according to Gods word it is because there 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 in him 〈◊〉 the eighth chapter and the twentieth 〈◊〉 for it is the 〈◊〉 of God that is 〈◊〉 that lightneth our very 〈…〉 This hath also an use for our affections for temptation of any sin is ever before the issue First we are 〈◊〉 then we yeeld to the temptation but after the yeelding the godly have repentance but to yeeld to the temptation and 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 is the continual evening of the wicked The godly hath here in this world in this life his evening sorrow 〈…〉 death but his joy commeth in the morning that is 〈◊〉 life to 〈◊〉 His vespere is luctus his mane gaudium His weeping may abide at the evening but joy commeth in the morning Psalm the 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 verse A man hath secret sinnes which be hid and presumptuous which be apparent Psalm the nineteenth and the 〈◊〉 verse God 〈◊〉 them both The wicked have their morning in this life they live in posperity and have what they can desire but in the long evening in the world to come they shall finde endlesse adversity Notwithstanding the godly in this life be tossed as a ship and though they suffer shipwrack of their life yet this is their hope that post tenebras spero lucem Though Jacob wrestled in the evening yet had he a blessing in the morning Genesis the thirty second chapter and twenty fourth verse The Godly and the wicked doe both dye and both are buried in the grave the righteous shall have domination over them in the morning but God shall save the soul of the righteous from the grave Psalm the fourty ninth and the fifteenth verse God saith that in the day of the desolation of Jerusalem there shall be no clear light but dark That day is known to the Lord which shall be neither day nor night but about the evening time it shall be light Tertullian in his book de resurrectione maketh a resemblance of the evening and the morning to the grave and the resurrection We are in the grave in silence and solitarinesse but the morning of our resurrection appeareth cum gaudio cultu dote gloria sepulti vesperè manè revivescite What though here we suffer some crosses hereafter we shall have endlesse joy better is it to have our evening here and our morning hereafter than contrariwise Though the Gluttons morning were his delights his dainty â—…ir his costly apparel when it was Lazarus evening who was hungry naked and diseased but afterward the rich man was tormented and Lazarus for ever comforted Luke the sixteenth chapter So there is a resemblance of the resurrection in Gods works before the same was expressed in his words Now is the light mixed with darknesse and darknesse with light the darknesse of the night hath the light of the starres and somtime the shining of the Moon the light of the day is often overcast with the mist or with clouds but the morning of the resurrection shall be without end The evening of condemnation to the wicked shall never have morning and the morning of glorification to the blessed shall never have evening Untill that day of resurrection there shall be a mixture but then and not before there shall be light without darknesse to the blessed and endlesse darknesse without light to the damned And thus much shall suffice concerning the first day and the work of the first day Sic fuit vespera fuit mane diei secundi Gen. 1. 8. Novemb. 12. 1590. Place this in pag. 56. at the end of the Sermon upon Gen. 1. 8. IT is the second day in relation to the first day in the matter an Incubation and hatching there were five things the first day the incubation and hatching were in the first day In this second day as well as in the first there is a being and order of distinction of nature and a giving of a name Bonum lacketh here and why Here lacketh bonum the goodnesse And he saw it was good is not put down in the second day Some of the Hebrew say and give this reason why bonum lacketh here the Angells fell the creating of hell was in the second day Tophet is prepared of old as it is in the thirtith chapter of Esaâ— and the twenty seventh
considered that considering how God hath plagued them in the Devil we should beware that we fall not into the like sinnes Touching the Curse of God As it is the first so the greatest part of this Sentence And is a punishment most fearfull for all men doe abhorre to be cursed and to incurre the displeasure of a man much more of God whose word is his deed so that he no sooner speaks but it is done Jacob was loth to doe any thing to deceive his Father because so saith he I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing Genesis the twenty seventh chapter Indeed as the Wise-man speaks the curse that is causelesse and proceeds from foolish people shall not light upon a man Proverbs the twenty sixt chapter and the second verse But if a godly man such as Jacob and Isaac were doe curse it shall not fail but come to passe Much more shall the curse of God take effect for it shall come into a mans bowels like water and like oyle into his bones Psalm the hundred and ninth the seventeenth verse For the meaning of this Curse the Holy Gohst hath set down a large commentary in 〈◊〉 the twenty eighth chapter and in Leviticus the twenty sixt chapter and the Prophet saith Gods curse is a flying book twenty cubits long and ten cubits braad containing the curse that gotth over the whole earth 〈◊〉 the fift chapter and the third verse It is a book written within and without with lamentations mournings and woes Ezekiel the second chapter By these places it appeareth how large Gods Curse is in respect of this life But if with this we joyn that which Christ addeth concerning the life to come that is everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Matthew the twenty fift chapter his curse will appear to be farre more large Secondly There is no malediction but in regard of some evill The evill that procured this curse unto the Devill was the evill of his malice which he shewed not only in speaking evill of God but in seeking to destroy man both in body and soul And his malice appears herein because he did those things being not provoked thereunto and for that he did it without any 〈◊〉 to himself As the Devill is malicious so are all they that are of that evill one Cain had no other cause to hate his Brother and to slay him but because his works were righteous and his own evill in the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse The 〈◊〉 persecuted Christ not for any evill that they found in him worthy of death but only of envy Mark the fifteenth chapter and the tenth verse Thus to sinne of malice is a thing so displeasing unto God as albeit he did in mercy forgive men when they sinned through frailty yet he will punish their own inventions Psalm the ninty ninth and the eighth verse and therefore against such the Prophet prayeth Be not mercifull to those that offend of malicious wickednesse Psalm the fifty ninth and the fifth verse But consume them utterly in thy wrath that they may perish verse the thirteenth Where the Lord saith Cursed art thou and not be thou he sheweth that the curse commeth not from God but from the Devils malice and so whatsoever misery betideth us it is nothing else but the sparkles of our own sinnes Job the fift chapter and the ninth verse and as the Psalmist saith They are the dreggs of Gods wrath Psalm the seventy fift for as the Prophet speakes Wee our 〈◊〉 batch the 〈◊〉 egge that is sinne and the Serpent that is bred of this egge is the curse of God inflicted upon us both in this life and the life to come We doe first by sinne as it were cast the seed and the crop that we 〈◊〉 is all manner of misery and calamity Isaiah the fifty ninth chapter and in Justice God doth reward us thus for the wages of sinne is not only punishment with sicknesse povertie and such like in this world but hereafter with eternall death and destruction both of body and soul Romans the sixth chapter the twenty third verse In that God speaks by way of comparison Cursed art thou 〈◊〉 all beasts he doth not drop a curse upon the Serpent but as Daniel speaks the curse is 〈◊〉 upon him Daniel the ninth chapter and the eleventh verse And that this curse was verified in the visible Serpent appears hereby that not only Men but even all beasts doe shun the Serpent as a Creature principally accursed of God much more it is true in the invisible Serpent the 〈◊〉 for not only the godly but even the wicked that are of their Father the Devill 〈…〉 stick to curse him The visible Serpent being an unreasonable creature could not be so malicious But the invisible Serpent the more policie he hath the more pernitious and hurtfull he is 〈◊〉 he is so malicious that as he himself is fallen from his first estate and hath plunged himself in the bottom of Hell so he laboureth to bring all men into the same estate therefore thus was his malice rewarded Now to the two other branches of this Sentence where we shall finde two 〈◊〉 punishments for two sorts of sinnes for pride must have a 〈◊〉 and lust must loath and we shall see that they are both rewarded accordingly as Salomon saith That Pride goeth before dejection Proverbs the sixteenth chapter and the eighth verse So the Devil having 〈◊〉 himself must be thrown down to creep upon the ground for it is great equity that he that would fly should creep And as it was meet that glory should end in shame Philippians the third chapter so is it as meet that God should punish inordinate last with loathsomnesse And this is the course of Gods Justice as the Wise-man saith in Proverbs the twentieth chapter and the seventeenth verse The bread that is gotten by deceipt is sweet but at the last it will fill the mouth with gravel All the sinnes of the world may he reduced to these two that is The desire of greater glory than God hath appointed to us And of greater pleasure than is lawfull for us First we are to inquire How the first of these two punishments is verified in the visible Serpent for we know that all Creatures saving Man are dejected and creep as it were upon their belly and as one saith 〈◊〉 their breast between their feet only man being lift up with his countenance is taught not to set his minde upon earth but to meditate upon heavenly things But as Jonathan went of all four when he climbed up to the rock upon his hands and feet the first book of Samuel the fourteenth chapter and the thirteenth verse so doth man somtime grovel and creep upon earth when he is earthly minded But the difference that is between the Serpent and other beasts is this The Serpent having no legs lyeth flat upon his belly and is therefore
shall you rule Even as it is in the text Over the fishes of the Sea by the Angle Christ bids Peter cast in his angle and take the fish Matth. 17. 27. Or by the net Christ also bid Peter let down his net to make a draught Luke 5. 4. Angling and fishing are to man both for profit and for pleasure And over the fowl of Heaven By Fowling by Hawking by power or by policie either killing them with arrows or taking them in pits or by snares as in Prov. 7. 23. the 20. Joshua 13. God for the Ravens and for the young birds prepareth their meat Job 39. 3. So that the fowls and birds are to man for service for solace and their notes of musick And over every beast This is indeed a large Charta de foresta We are permitted and authorized hereby to hunt the wild beasts of the forest and being hunted to eate the flesh thereof Levit. 17. 13. Thou mayest eat flesh even what soever thy heart desireth Even as the Roe buck and the Hart is eaten so shalt thou eat it Deut. 12. 22 23. There they were permitted the eating of all kinde of flesh they might before eat the flesh of that they had hunted as of the Roe-buck and of the Hart. It was caro justitiae which they got by hunting it was dainty meat unto the Hunter for unto the hungry soul every thing is sweet Prov. 27. 7. The Hunter had his snares Psal. 91. 3. The Hound hunteth the Deer both are serviceable unto man there is pleasure in the hunting and chasing the game is for meat when it is pulled down We have rule over Horses and Doggs who serve us though not to feed us The Dogge defendeth our flocks from the Wolfe our houses from theeves our bodies from injurie the swiftnesse of the Horse helpeth our slownesse the Elephant in battel helpeth our weaknesse the Sheep help our nakednesse cloathing us with their wooll the Oxe plougheth the ground to give us bread and eateth grasse to be our food he giveth his hide to shoe us and every thing that moveth in the Earth is for man We finde great goodnesse many wayes in the Bee and in the Silk-worm God saw man feeleth the goodnesse of those things God hath created So that subjicite terram is the tenor of all Law a giving possession of inheritance and dominamini is a rule and dominion given to man over the utensils the riches of the Sea Land and Aire A spiritual Analogie There is here also observed by the Fathers a spiritual Analogie in dominamini In man there is a spirit and a soul in him there is also Earth the cares of the body ought to be lesse than those of the soul est enim anima in homine coelum corpus autem coenum saith Basil non sit coenum coelo superius sed sit coelum coeno superius Let the soul have dominion over the body and the concupiscence thereof the body is earthly given to lust anger envie pride Here they admonish us to subdue these beastly affections and to tame the savagenesse of our corrupt nature The whole nature of beasts and of birds and of creeping things and things of the Sea is tamed and hath been tamed of the nature of man but the tongue can no man tame it is an unruly evill full of deadly poyson this place doe they allege out of the 3. James 8. And as James saith that the tongue should be tamed from evil speaking malicious slandering back-byilng lying and dissembling so say they and that very well that all the brutish affections ought to be tamed and subdued that so the soul might reign in the body and the body be subject to the soul. Praeterea dixit Deus Ecce dedi vobis omnes Herbas sementantes semen quae sunt in superficie totius Terrae omnesque Arbores in quibus est Fructus arboreus sementantes semen vestrae ad comedendum erunt c. Gen. 1. 29,30,31 Februar 11. 1590. THIS is Gods third speech of this sixth day concerning man The first in the 26. verse is of his power in creating him The second dixit in the 28. verse is of his providence in preserving mankinde This third speech is Gods further care for the nourishment of them whom he hath created and by propagation preserved In the 30. verse God sheweth his love to man having before given unto man the beasts of the field yet he giveth to his beasts their meat The last verse is the closing up of the sixth day Mans meat The Argument of the 29 verse is for provision for mans meat An Objection Here ariseth a question made by some Man in the estate of his innocency was immortall what need had man then of any meat The Answer True it is that Adam was created immortal yet having a possibility to be immortal Thereupon the School-men say there is a double immortality posse non mori fuit Adami mori non posse est Dei for Christ only who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords hath this immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. which is bestowed upon us by way of reward through Christ our Saviour whereby our nature is ingrasted in the divine nature of the second immortality for the first man Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit that is bringing us from Heaven the spirit of life the first was of the Earth earthly the second of the Heaven heavenly 1 Cor. 15. 45. Adam was created with a possibility of immortality the part immortal of mans creation was from God but through mans disobedience and ambition when he did eat of the forbidden fruit of good and evill God shut him out of the garden of Eden lest he should take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever chap. 3. 22. whereby Adam was deprived of life for it was said in the 2. chap. 17. When in that day he did eat of the forbidden fruit he should dye the death So that by mans disobedience man became mortal who before in the state of his innocencie had a possibility of immortality for then he had the Image of God perfectly but by sinne came death per peccatum mors and so by mans transgression Gods Image was defaced for by one man sinne entred into the World and death by sinne and so death went over all men by this Adams sinne even Babes were subject to death though they had no actuall sinne Rom. 3. 12. And life came to Mankinde through one that is Christ Jesus As by the offence of one the fault came on all men to condemnation so by the justifying of one the grace abounded to all men to the justification of life the 18. of the foresaid chapter For by him this mortall must put on immortality this corruptible incorruption for Christ swallowed up death in victorie saying Death where is thy sting Hell where is thy victorie 1 Cor.
15. 45. Man was not immortall by himself but the life he had God gave him In the state of his innocencie he had heat and moisture which God breathed into him when he breathed life chap. 2. 7. and therefore man needed even then food to preserve heat and moisture Man before was immortall and his meat uncorrupted but by mans fall man became mortal subject to death so that both man and mans meat were corrupted and Adam was a debtor to the flesh to satisfie his hunger Before God said Dominamini all beasts and fowls were peculium Dei Gods proper store The trees and fruits were before but this is mans warrant To touch any thing any tree any herb for their meat Herein then more particularly we will consider two things what God gave unto man and to what end Ecce Ecce Behold is a word of wonder expressing a matter of wonder and Gods great love to Mankinde Ecce saith a Father on this place patentem amentem Creatorem He is not only a Creator full of power but even a faithfull Creator 1 Pet. 4. 19. for behold he is both mans Creator and mans Cator He visiteth the Earth and watereth it be maketh it very rich and for men he prepareth corne Psal. 65. 9 And he saith unto man Deut. 28. 4. and 5. That if he obey God blessed shall be the fruit of his body the fruit of his ground the fruit of his cattel and blessed shall be thy basket and thy dow So that God provideth us corn for bread and bread to eat It is even God that giveth us life and meat he maketh us and serveth us quis autem est major but who is greater he that sitteth at the Table or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at the Table And I am among you saith Christ as he that serveth Luke 22. 27. God the great Jehovah ministreth unto man all that he needeth David assureth himself that God will help and defend him Psal. 38. 22. from the hand of his enemies God made for man coats of skinne and cloathed them chap. 2. 21. God giveth to men beds whereupon to take their rest God will strengthen him upon the bed of sorrow and turn all his bed in his sicknesse then will God send him comfort Psal. 41. 3. Thus much of Ecce behold Ecce dedi He saith not Ecce dixi but Ecce dedi He opens his hand not his mouth he sheweth his liberalitie which is wonderfull it is a beholding of works not of words Manifold are the works of God the Earth is full of his riches Psal. 104. 24. There is also a further thing for he saith not Ecce do but Ecce dedi as much as to say Oh man before you were born I provided for you all herbs and all trees I respected you before you were I had you in minde in all the dayes of the Creation Fecit quae fecit omnia pro homine Deus before he said faciamus hominem he made all things for man before that he made man which sheweth Gods care and fatherly love he bare to men even before man was What shall I say hereof more but this Amor Dei erga hominem est antiquior homine Every Herb having seed every Tree having fruit He giveth unto man every herb having seed every tree having fruit bearing seed whereby he giveth us all grain seed corn pulfe spice the grape and other fruitfull trees Adams diet objected to be raw It may be objected That to eat of nothing but of herbs and of trees and of such fruit as the Earth brought forth were but a raw diet Well fare Noah's Table for he had flesh in great plentie for his meat Gen. 9. 3. for as the green herb so gave God unto him all things for meat If God be our Cator as he is liberall so he will be frugall Eliah was fed by the Angell with a cake baked on the coals and a pot of water 1 Kings 19. 6. yet in the strength of that meat walked he fourty dayes and fourty nights Answer And surely unto Adam the trees of Paradise were better and more pleasant than all the dainties of Noahs Table for the trees that were there were pleasant to the sight and good for meat chap. 2. 9. These innocent meats were fit for the state of innocencie even unto this day the service of delight is the herbs and fruits of the Earth even then when flesh was for meat it was to be eaten without the blood the Hunter might eat that he had hunted Virgo terrae fuit herba blood corrupted the Earth all meats are but obsonia but sawce in respect of bread which is the comfort of the heart if we be thankfull for otherwise though God give us our desire yet will he send leannesse into our soul Psal. 106. 15. By simples at this day the Physitions use to restore health If God conveyed every herb then every herb was meat for man yea then so was the Coloquintida which is called now fel terrae and a vehement poyson yet Elisha caused the people to eat thereof and they had no hurt yet they said that in it was death 2 Kings 4. 40. and that death was in the pot mors in olla came by sinne it was not so from the beginning Furthermore here is no necessity imposed upon man to eat of all the trees but a liberty is given him to eat of any Some also make another objection If he might eat of all trees then of the forbidden tree But the Fathers answer That saying that gave to Adam every tree bearing ordinary fruit such were not the trees of knowledge and of life To what end Herbs and Trees are given Man The last point is To what end God gave man herbs and trees Fuit ut sint alimentum that they might be for meat to have herbs and trees given and that for meat are divers things For fruition There is a man to whom God hath given riches and treasures and he wanteth nothing that he can desire but God giveth him not power to eat thereof but a strange man shall eat it up Preach 6. 2. Elisha told the King That he should see with his eyes the great plenty that should be in Samaria but he should not eat thereof 2 Kings 7. 19. Though a man have aboundance yet his life standeth not in his riches Luke 12. 15. and therefore in that chapter what availed it the rich man to have much fruit many barns and much goods layed up for many yeers when that even in the same night they should fetch away his soul Then whose were those things which he had provided Dedi vobis ut sint in escam There is the fruition In esca tria In escâ tria sunt 1. The first is a content of the appetite which avoideth famine for when God shall break the staffe of bread men shall eate and not be satisfied
but as it is a help to sanctific us and a furtherance to true holinesse for if it be a hindrance to piety or a cause to make us lesse holy rest is evill and farre worse than work and honest labour Wherefore they which spend the Sabath day not in the publique Congregation but privatly at home in their houses and chambers doe ill and were condemned by that ancient Conncell of Gangren which was holden in France And we read in 44. of Ezecbiel 19. that there were Officers to look that the Sabath day should be well kept it must much lesse then be made a Sabath of belly cheer spent in no other then such as whereof commeth nothing but dung being the only fruit of their festivall and holy-dayes and God so hated it that he cast it in their faces that so kept it neither must it be spent in wanton recreation and lascivious pastime Nor yet as the men of Ashedod did Nehem. 13. 15. by making it a Market day and Faire to sell their Merchandises for this is to make our purse and our belly Mammon and Bacchus our Gods and to consecrate a holy-day to them Nor as Shiloh did to dancing Nor as our L. in frequenting Theaters and Playes Bear and Bull baiting for this is to turne away our foot from the Sabath and from doing Gods will on the holy-day We must not doe so but we must call the Sabath a delight to consecrate it to the Lord and honor it not doing our own wayes nor seeking our own will nor speaking a vain word I say 28. 13. but we must I say delight in the Lord upon that day and then his blessings of all sorts shall light upon us verse 14. But let us come now to speak of these two things apart which respecteth our sanctification and observation of the Sabath to see what we should not doe and then what we should doe as is required of us Touching the rest from things inhibited it is somewhat dangerous to speak of it because our nature is given to such extremes for there are two ancient Councels which doe bewray our corrupt disposition The one is Concilium Aurelianense in France which sheweth that in those dayes the People were so straight laced that they were perswaded that it was utterly unlawfull to doe any thing either Adjutorem or ad necessitatem to trim up their houses and themselves or to dresse meats We read again within fourty years after that their mindes were so 〈◊〉 gone wide from that that they fell into the other extreme clean contrary that they thought it was lawfull for them by Christian liberty to doe in it what they list To 〈◊〉 which foul error there was made the second Counsell of Mascon which made a Cannon That the people should sequester themselves from all mechanicall works of their vocations Hinderances to the observation of the Sabbath The things which are now interdicted to Christians as hindrances of this holy 〈◊〉 six in number 1. The first is bearing of burdens Jer. 17. 24. 2. The second is travailing journeyes Exod. 16. 29. 3. The third is earing ploughing carting or taking in of harvest Exod. 34. 21. 4. The fourth for bearing merchandizes buying and 〈◊〉 Nehem. 13 15 16 17. c. 5. The fifth not to build Temples or Churches Exod. 31. 13. c. 6. The sixth idle playes and pastimes to which men are too much given at such times Which because they are divers and men are diversly given thereunto in sundry places I will name some which the Fathers in their times have sharply reproved and inveighed against as the abuses and prophanings of Sabaths in their ages and severall places in which they lived for we read that the Councels of the Church doe not only concur joyntly with Gods word in interdicting the former things but also other particular abuses of their age and place As proper then St. Jerome upon the 20. of Ezekiell sharply reproveth stage playes on that day Augustine 119. Epistle inveigheth against Dauncing Gregorie against Hunting and Hawking which great personages then used Leo spake against Dice and Cards by which the Sabbath was prophaned in his time I will come to the Heathen and we will see the things which they by the light of reason condemned on their holy-dayes as prophane abuses of them which did 〈◊〉 them as they thought Of the which this is one of their rules die sacra requiescat aratrum for they thought it a pollution to their holy-dayes for though they were lawfull and necessary on their dayes yet they thought them not ad decorem hujus diei They which doe these things inhibited and forbidden by God as a hinderance of sanctification God so misliketh that he appropriateth to this sinne a speciall punishment Jer. 17. 27. and that is to send fire to their Cities As this is against the one extreme so we are to give a caveat for the other least while men avoid prophanesse Precisenesse â—…ching the Sabbbath they fall into that precisenesse of the Jews as to think it death and deadly sinne to doe any thing at all on the Sabbath day This was the jewish error of Kiffon a 〈◊〉 who held it necessary that on the evening before the 〈◊〉 if any man were found siting in the same place and state he must remain sitting untill the end of the Sabbath But Origen speaking of him as too strickt expoundeth that place of Exod. 16. 29. Maneat quisque in loco suo thus in his place saith he that is within the space of two thousand Cubits So that he thought it no breach of the day to keep within that compasse but this is to strain at a Gnat c. For God hath not made restraint of works in such labors in matters of piety and necessity For Christ saith That Priests in the Law did break their bodily rest And yet were blamelesse as in blowing of Trumpets in stead of ringing of Bells in fetching water carrying of wood and killing of oxen These things being sacrorum causa were accounted holy labors as to goe about to see the Sabbath day kept Ezech. 44. 14. He made custodes Sabati to the which use are our Church-wardens to attend So say we also for necessity for the Maccabes 1. Book condemneth those which on the Sabbath day would not fight to resist the rage of the enemy then presently setting upon them Elias walking fourty dayes must needs travail some Sabbath and break the bodily rest In this case of absolute necessity the labor of Midwives and such as are attending on so needfull and present a businesse may not be deferred Periculum animae pellit Sabatum for it is a work of mercy to save a mans life God will have mercy rather than sacrifice yea Christ will excuse them which doe toyle and labor on the Sabbath day to pull a beast out of the mire Matt. 12. 11. But let not this liberty give occasion to
to be understood as the Scriptures well teach us Augustine saith that the tree of life served not only ad alimenta sed etiam ad sacramenta for doubtlesse as Adam in his estate of innocency had a bodily Sabbath so therein he had a spirituall use of these trees in the mid'st of the Garden and that in this sort First for the tree of life it was not so called as if it gave life to him for God breathed that into him at the first But besides that the tree of life was a means to preserve it It was also a Symbolum and memoriall also to put him in minde to know that it was not 〈…〉 virtute arboris but vi virtute divina by which he had life at first and by which his life and length of dayes shall be continued hereafter In the middest of the Garden was the Pulpit and this is the Sermon which was preached unto him by these things which the trees did represent namely That God was his life and length of dayes 〈◊〉 30. 20. And that this gratious visitation did preserve his life Job 10. 12. As he breathed out his life into him at the first Again it did put him in minde that seeing he had received a spirituall life of immutability in esse so also he received a spirituall life of eternity in posse Therefore he had matter and just occasion of thankfulnesse for the one and of obedience for the other Adam had two things injoyned him the one was praeesse Creaturis the other subesse Creatori he had no need of a Caveat for the one for he was ready enough to govern and bear soveraignty but for his duty to God he had great need to be put in minde and for the try all and practise thereof he caused this tree of knowledge to be planted there with an inhibition not to eat of it upon pain of death which now and ever hath offended many Some wish it had not been in the Garden Others wish Adam had never tasted it But Saint Augustine saith if it were good and pleasant why should it not be there Gods purpose therefore in planting the forbidden tree was that it might be a triall of his obedience and practise of his duty that if he should continue as he might and had ability given him then he should have the greater reward afterward 〈◊〉 saith Rev. 2. 7. Vincenti dabo edere de ligno vitae in medio Paradisi Well saith St. Paul But no man can overcome except he strive first and fight the good fight 2 Tim. 2. 5. And no man that will or can strive well but he abstaineth from something 1 Cor. 9. 25. For which cause therefore that we might be rewarded it was necessary that there should be a commandement and forbidding for his abstinence that when there should be a tryall of the Tempter saying Eat of this he should strive and say I may not and so get the victory and be crowned that is eate of the tree of everlasting life and live for ever with God in Heaven On the contrary side 17. verse if in triall he should wilfully fall then for transgression the tree of life should be a tree of death Mortem morieris And the reason of this choice why God should prescribe him a law and form of obedience is because this should be primor dialis lex as one saith ut nostrum obsequi sit nostrum sapere Deut. 30. 20. This is our wisdome to know and doe that which God will have us to doe if God give a Law at large every one will consent to it As if God had said No man shall disobey or transgresse my will none will deny it But let it come to positive law and bring the triall and practise of that generall to a particular as to say I forbid and restrain this tree none shall break my will nor eat of it then is the triall of obedience indeed Object But some may say What hurt is it to know good and evill For we read Esay 7. 15. that Christ shall doe that And therefore it is no sinne Resp. I answer that God forbiddeth not to eat the fruit nor that he would have us ignorant of that knowledge quam quis quaerit a Deo sed quam quis quaerit a seipso And no doubt Adam had the knowledge both of good and evill per intelligentiam si non per experientiam And he knew how to choose the one and to refuse the other to pursue the one and to fly from the other he understood it then but when he would know both by experience Gen. 3. 6. He could not see why God should forbid him and therefore the Tempter taking occasion by it made him make an experiment of it This is the cause then why at last Adam came to know evill by sense and experience and saw to his shame what evill was for to take he knew and confessed by experience that bonum erat adhaerere Deo as the Prophet saith Jer. 2. 19. And now he knew by tast how bitter a thing it was to forsake the Lord And that he knew it appeareth Gen. 3. 8. by hiding himself for fear he shewed that he knew it when he did feel ante-ambulatores mortis which is sorrow and sicknesse and when he saw the Statute of death that now it must necessarily come to him and all his posterity to dye the death then he knew evill by wofull experience You see the cause of the Law and of his sinne of good and evill it remaineth that we believe Adam in his knowledge and in his experience both of good and evill For by his good lost we come to the knowledge of the means by which our good may be lost that is if we seek to satisfie our lusts and curiously not contented with the open knowledge of his revealed will shall try conclusions with God and say what if we should break the Law Wherefore abandoning these faults which by experience we see were the cause of evill in him it behoveth us to receive more thankfully of God the good things we have and live obediently resting on the Sonne of God for good things to come And so at last Christ will be unto us the tree of eternal life hereafter as we have made him the tree of knowledge wisdome and sanctification to us in this life Fluvius autem procedit ex Hedene ad irrigandum hunc hortum inde sese dividit ferturque in quatuor capita Primi nomen est Pischon hic est qui alluit totam Regionem Chavilae ubi est aurum Et aurum illius Regionis praestans ibidem est Bdellium lapis Sardonyx Gen. 2. 10,11,12 June 10. 1591. THe verse going before containeth as we have seen the planting of the Garden and the devise of God framed and set in the middest of Paradise which is a plain resemblance of all Divinity both touching our duty in knowledge and
understood Object But it may seem hard and unjust that seeing only the Body did take and eat of the forbidden fruit that the Soul also should be condemned to this death as well as the Body Resp. But to satisfie this doubt the Fathers say That as well the Soul as the Body was in the transgression alike guilty and therefore in Justice should be alike punished and this they make plain by this familiar parable and comparison Be it say they that a blinde man and a criple or lame man should be in an Orchard and this one charge should be given alike to both that upon pain of death they should not take and eat of this one tree The blinde man of himself could not steal of the fruit because he could not finde where the tree was the lame man for his part could not alone take of the fruit because though he saw yet he was not able to goe to it So when neither of them without other could be guilty they conspired both together and agreed that the blinde man should carry the lame man to the tree and so to take their pleasures and fulfill their desires by which means they both became guilty of death Such a thing say they in resemblance was between the body and the Soul the Soul had a desire and appetite being forbidden but could not perform the Action wherefore the inward affection within moved and conspired with the outward action of the body and so perfected the sinne joyntly and therefore together are worthy of this death Object Notwithstanding this It seemeth to some that here is meant only the second death spirituall to be the punishment and not the corporall and temporall their reason is because God saith In what day thou shalt 〈◊〉 of it thou shalt dye therefore seeing present death and 〈◊〉 insued not the sinne but some lived nine hundred yeers after therefore they are induced to think that God here intended especially the second death of the Soul Resp. But to refell this opinion we see Gen. 3. 19. that in the same day they sinned the sentence of the bodily death was denounced irrevocablo 〈…〉 in pulverem reverter is which also is shewed by debarring him from the tree of bodily 〈◊〉 And that it is plainly meant of the corporal death also St. Paul sheweth it Rom. 5. 15. For only this death came to all Gen. 7. 21. 1 Gar. 15. 21. It is the death from which we rise again wherefore we make no 〈◊〉 but that this is meant of the bodily death and as of that so we say of the death of the Soul we all being 〈◊〉 transgressores in Soul are said 〈◊〉 in soul to be dead and to have this sentence given out against us Our Saviour Christ saith Matth. 8. 22. Sinite mortuos sepelire mortuos that is let the dead in soul bury the dead in body Also our 〈◊〉 is set out in the lost 〈◊〉 Luke 15. 31. He was dead but is alive again that is spiritually dead in sinne and alive by repentance And St. Paul more plainly saith 1 Tim. 5. 6. They being alive are notwithstanding dead By death here is understood the death of miseries Rev. 9. 6. that is the calamities and 〈◊〉 of this world which sinne will bring upon us which are 〈◊〉 more grievous and bitter than death it self for it is said that men being alive in those 〈…〉 wish and desire death as being lesse horrible than it On the contrary side to the Godly there are provided such joyes which are better than life it self Psal. 63. 5 6. for Gods loving favour and the light of his countenance is better than the 〈…〉 in this life in which regard the 〈◊〉 esteem 〈◊〉 of life but wish to be out of this life that they may enjoy that The Jews by 〈◊〉 of this 〈◊〉 eating 〈…〉 eat and 〈…〉 doe gather this By the first that he might eat both for necessary use and also for delight and pleasure And so by the second which containeth the punishment they make this 〈◊〉 〈…〉 dye that is 〈…〉 Heb. 2. 9. For the first and bodily death is but a sipping and tasting or death but when he saith thou 〈…〉 the death that is say they thou 〈◊〉 suck and 〈◊〉 up the very dreggs of death both which are comprehended in these two words Rev. 20. 14. Mors 〈◊〉 Death and Hell Object Hereout then 〈◊〉 another 〈◊〉 that is Whether God in 〈◊〉 threatning intended the pains of Hell fire There have been 〈◊〉 men that have 〈◊〉 that Moses in all his books spake not either of Heaven or 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 or of death Resp. but they were 〈…〉 〈◊〉 32. 21. 〈…〉 conceive that the 〈…〉 Statute and Law 〈…〉 priviledge of faith in Christ is reversed and taken away 4. Point Now we are come to the fourth point which is the time for this hath bred a scruple and been a bone for some to gnaw upon for seeing Adam is said to live so many hundred years after his fall Gen. 5. 5. which is answered diversly of sundry men Some say out of Peter 2 Epist. 3. 8. that with God 〈◊〉 dies est 〈◊〉 mille 〈◊〉 and therefore seeing Adam reached not to a full thousand years old he may truly be counted with the Lord and in respect of his reckoning to dye in the same first day The ancient Writers doe say that by assigning the time quo die is only an extent of the Law and is not extended to the punishment when it should take place So that they say it is q.d. Thou shalt ever and at all times oboy and no day break it As the like is Luke 21. Cavete ne qua die c. as if God allowed no day or hour in which the contrarie should be done Et semper ad semper faciendum est so the negative bindeth for ever But touching this matter the Judgment of Augustine and Theodoret I like best who say That not the act and execution of Death was presently to be inflicted the same day in which he should sinne but the sentence of death should that day be denounced as we see it was Gen. 3. non actum moriendi sed debitum mortis for then death was made a debt and became such an inevitable sentence which should not be revoked They received the sentence before the execution of Gods Judgments So did St. Paul 2 Cor. 1. 9. We received the 〈◊〉 of death in our selves because we should not trust in our selves but in God c. And in the Law he is accounted a dead man which hath his judgement and hath received the sentence of death And after this sort Adam and all his Posterity were dead in the same day 〈…〉 erat in dominium mortis saith St. Paul Rom. 6. 9. that is God delivered him being guilty and condemned for sinne unto the Sheriff of death to be kept and reserved unto the execution day which is
at the good pleasure of Almighty God Therefore being delivered into the dominion and 〈◊〉 of the Messengers and Ministers of death by and by he was subject to the Guives and Manacles of death which doe seize upon all parts of our bodies for sinne Morbi enim sunt laquei mortis which is we are held sure untill we die also the Ministers and Servants which ever since that sentence was denounced doe attend upon us to our end are cares and sorrows within labours and travails without which seizing on us doe make our deaths as sure as if we were already dead for we cannot escape it therefore saith David Psal. 89. 48. Quis homo vivit non videbit mortem for all of us have sorrow which is primogenitus mortis Job 18. 13. the same day 〈◊〉 brought it forth Gen. 3. and we have and feel daily the forerunners of death which are diseases which make our bodies even in this life 〈◊〉 mortis a body of death Rom. 8. 10. Wherefore we may be sure that death it self will come most certainly though the time be uncertain for it is a debt which must be paid we must all dye Heb. 9. 27. when the time is come that God hath appointed Dixerat autem Jehovah Deus non est bonum esse hominem solum faciam ei auxilium commodum ipsi Gen. 2. 18. Octob. 1â— 1591. THe Prophet Esay 51. 1. exhorteth the Church of God after this manner Look back saith he 〈◊〉 the stone out of which yee were 〈◊〉 and to the 〈…〉 of which you were digged By which he 〈◊〉 the Church of God that there is a very necessary and profitable consideration to be made out of the historie of Abraham and 〈◊〉 and their lives as it is expressed in the Scriptures So may we say of the historie of Adam and Eve our first Grandfather and Mother for they are more properly indeed to be termed the first stone out of whom all mankinde were hewn and the pit out of whose womb we all were digged and taken And so much more profitable is this 〈◊〉 and the explication thereof because St. Paul faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the creation of Eve and her marriage is 〈…〉 shewing us the mysterie of Christ the second Adam and his 〈◊〉 to the Church which was his Eve taken out of his side I told you that from the 6. verse of this Chapter to the end of it is 〈◊〉 a Commentary upon the 27. verse of the first Chapter where Moses in one word dispatched the Creation of Man and Woman saying 〈…〉 which he so briefly passed over there because he purposed in this Chapter 〈…〉 a more large and ample discourse thereof We have heard of the Creation of Adam in the former part of this Chapter hitherto which is nothing else but a 〈◊〉 upon these words of the first Chapter 〈…〉 Now therefore we 〈◊〉 to the explaning of the other part which is 〈…〉 which he performeth from this verse to the end of the Chapter Two principâ—… points In all which verses the Fathers say than there are but two principall points to be considered the first is The 〈◊〉 of the woman the other The 〈◊〉 and marriage of her to the Man Touching the creation and 〈◊〉 of Eve it 〈◊〉 partly a deliberation and then the work of creation 〈◊〉 self the 〈◊〉 is in these words 〈…〉 〈◊〉 which containeth also two parts first the 〈◊〉 in this 〈◊〉 verse and then the occasion of it in the verses 〈…〉 But before we 〈◊〉 of the consultation 〈◊〉 first consider 〈◊〉 coherence with that which 〈◊〉 before which is 〈…〉 After the Almighty God had 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 which is his Church by the 〈◊〉 made 〈◊〉 God and man Now in the next place he 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 estate 〈◊〉 which is of 〈…〉 by the duty of Man and Wife in Marriage By which God would 〈…〉 know that by his will and ordinance all men next after our 〈◊〉 to Almighty God which is first are bound to have a most speciall care and regard of their duties in that other society which is this If they be Husbands their next care must be of their duty to their Wives if Children of their duty to their Parents if Servants of their duty to their Masters for these duties of the private Families in the Common-wealth are next in honour and reverence to the divine duties which we own in the houshold of Faith which is in the Church unto God for this society is lege ipsa antiqua as one saith and therefore we must give more honour and reverence unto it Now for the summe and scope of this verse we will divide it into two parts first into Gods Dixit and secondly into the tenor of his speech which is Non est bonum c. and first briefly of dixit Deus because we often heard of it before we must note that qui dicendo facit verbo facit which teacheth us to give honour to Christ the second person in Trinity who is the word of God of whom all things are made and ordained John 1. 3. Secondly touching this Dixit which we see by it and other singular prerogatives herein given to Mankinde which we may add to all the former For in the creation of other Creatures God used only the word of authority fiat but here he useth the word of his good will and pleasure which is faciam Before he ever directed his speech to that which was not Gen. 1. 3. saying fiat lux when there was then no light but all darknesse But now he reflecteth his speech to himself as it were consulting with deliberation about this work in that the Contents of his speech in touching the good and happinesse of Man in foreseeing what is not good for him in providing that which is best for him we doe not only see his care over us above other Creatures but also we are taught to acknowledge how well and reverendly we ought to esteem this ordinance of marriage for God knew that many speeches and reproaches would arise among men against this work which God had in hand of making Woman Some by way of jest and merriment to disgrace that sex and others in contempt to dispraise them calling them necessarie evills c. therefore God saw it needfull to expresse the absolute good which cometh to Man by Woman as being so necessarie that we cannot be well without them for seeing we cannot deny but that God that doth best know what we want and what is good doth affirm that it is good for us to have Eve made and that it were evill for us to be alone without her therefore that we preâ—ume not foolishly in jest nor earnest to contradict and crosse Gods will The tenor or content of the Consultation standeth upon two parts The first is a reason or cause which moved God to make Eve in these words Non est bonum c. The other is his purpose
is in the state of man described in the second Chapter All that shall we see in this Chapter to be overthrown by the work and malice of the Devill At the sight and consideration of which Tragedy as St. Augustine saith all the Creatures especially mankinde ought with sighs and groanes to dissolve themselves into teares to think of our and their utter and irrecoverable confusion were it not for this which is annexed unto it namely the hope of the seed of the woman promised to come at the fulness of time to restore all things which were lost in Paradise and to bring us a more excellent Paradise than that ever was The cause of all these evills which we see in us and in the world Moses here relleth us in the beginning of this Chapter to be the verifying of that Prophesie which God 〈◊〉 Adam Gen. 2. 17. that is what time soever he should sinne and break the Commandement of God he should die that is have all the Messengers and Ministers of death ferzing upon him untill death it self the reward of sinne should take hold on him which first part of the Chapter we shall divide as St. Paul doth teach us Rom. 6. 1. into two parts the first he calleth peccatum the other peccati obsonium that is into the cause and nature of sinne and into the effect and punishment which followeth it Concerning the transgression he setteth down first the temptation of sin in the first 5. verses then the preparation which is the sinne it self in the 6. verse then followeth the stipend and hier of sinne from that verse unto the 15. verse In which verse then the prophet sheweth that God in justice remembred mercie and as St. James saith caused his mercy to triumph over justice in the promised seed without which remedy Adams sinne had been incurable and his case and our condition had been most desperate whereas by this means as St. Augustine saith the Devills envy is foelix invidia and Adams sinne is foelix culpa that is falleth out to the greater glorie of all the elect sonnes of God Now more particularly we are led to consider two things in the temptation first of all the persons both agent and patient and then the allurements and inticements thereof The chief in this temptation was the Devill and the Woman and then in regard of consent Adam himself grew accessory and guilty thereof so that there were three causes of sinne The chiefest Author of it was the Devill the next is Eve the yeelder to him the third was Adam the consenter to them both Serpents we know speak not for they were not made to reason and dispute therefore we must needs understand another high person besides he Serpent which spake in him and used him as his Instrument and means to effect this evil devise And in this respect the Devill is called Rev. 12. 9. the old Serpent as his name appellative by which he was once called and Satanas Revel 〈◊〉 2. as his proper name by which his 〈◊〉 and malicious nature is made known As therefore the Devill craftily and closely did put into Judas head and heart by his suggestion how to seek Christs fall and death John 13. 2. so doth he as sly lie put into the Serpents mouth this temptation by which he might betray the first Adam and bring him to death and therefore as Christ truly though not properly called Judas Satan because he saw the Devill used him as his Instrument So by the same right and reason may we call the Serpent the Devill because it was he in this Serpent who did bring this thing to pass If any doe aske why Moses did not make mention of the Devil in all this Chapter we may say that it was Moses purpose to perform the office and duty of a Historiographer which is only to make a plain and true report of the outward accident and thing which was sensibly done leaving the hidden and secret meaning and true understanding of those things which are mysticall unto his Interpreters and Expositors For to this end Moses had some alwaies in Gods Church which did not only read the letter and words of his writings but also expound the true meaning thereof and what Expositor is there but by the consequence of this story and by conference of the Scriptures can otherwise understand this then of the Devill Our Saviour Christ telleth us that the Devill was a lyer and murtherer from the beginning John 8. 44. that is he is the primitive and principall Author of all untruth and evill therefore is he called that evill Matth. 13. 19. and the deceiver of mankinde Revel 12. 9. and therefore Moses doth first deal with this evill one and setteth him down as the chief author of this evill under the form and name of a Serpent Touching him therefore we must know as I told you Chap. 2. 1. that when God is said to make the hoast of heavenly Creatures that then also he made the Angells as David saith Psalme 148. 2. which Angells God made 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to be his ministring spirits Psalme 104. 4. but some of them kept not their first estate Jude 6. but fell away from their holy and blessed estate in which they mere made and so there they became evill Angels reserved in chains to everlasting fur Of this fall of Angells Job seemeth to have knowledge Job 4. 18. God saith he found folly even in his Angels Christ maketh mention of their fall Luke 10. 18. and the cause of their fall is said to be sinne 2. Pet. 2. 4. and the particular sinne may seem to be pride Isaiah 14. 13. 14. ero similis altissimo for which cause that sinne is called morbus Satanicus and as the wiseman saith initium peccati est superbia But we will not curiously inquire what speciall sinne it was which caused his fall because indeed it is sufficient for us to know in generall that sinne was the cause thereof that we may the more beware of it He then being fallen became not only an adversary to God which cast him off for ever but also an envious enemie to mankinde for not being able to wreack his mal ceagainst God he maliciously invented and attempted all the mischief and evill he could against man which was the Image of God and the only Creature on whom God had set his heart and delight to doe him good For as they which love the Father cannot but love and shew kindness to his Children which are deerest to him as we see in Davids example So è contra hatred and malice make evill mindes to doe their enemies hurt 〈◊〉 despite even in the things which are most deer and precious unto them so is the Devill said to doe Rev. 12. 13. when he was not able to hurt the Woman he pursued with hatred and rage her Child which she brought forth and because he could not reach to him being ascended therefore he still persecuteth his
waters of blood and bitternesse gotten with peril To be desired to get knowledge But happily the bellie might be satisfied with the fruit of some one of the trees that were permitted yet all the pleasure of the other trees in Paradise were not so pleasant in Eves eyes as was this The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing Preacher 1. 8. That every tree in the Garden of Eden was pleasant to the sight and good for meat chap. 2. 9. In Eves sight this tree was more pleasant and better for meat than all the other trees in Paradise In 1 Sam. 6. 19. the men of Beth-shemash would needs be looking into the Ark of the Lord which none might touch into which none might look but the Priests this was the reward God slew fifty thousand and seventy men Eve will eat that she might not eat But when we will see that we ought not to see this desire of vanitie will admit the fruit of the forbidden tree to be both good for meat and full of pleasure The chiefest of the three goods is that it is atres to be desired to get knowledge whereupon chiefly she relieth that she shall attain the knowledge of good and evill every one desireth knowledge Triplex est tentatio this latter temptation is treble Eve seeing the tree is tempted by necessitie by vanitie of the eye and curiositie of reason she should have followed the advise of Paul in Heb. 12. 1. seeing she was compassed with such a multitude of assaults she should have cast away every thing that would have withdrawn her from obedience she should have taken away the occasion whereby sinne would have hanged on she should not have beheld the tree This amplifying of the goodnesse of this tree for meat for pleasure and for knowledge and for what so might be desired argueth a notable fetch in the Devill that she busying her eyes in beholding the same and being imployed in thinking of the great good that should come to her by eating thereof might at length take and eate and never think of Gods words in quocunque die comederitis mortem moriemini but rather regarding the Serpents words in quocunque die comederitis ex eo eritis sicut Dei scientes bonum malum He cloyeth her with pleasure he maketh no mention of punishment The Children of Israel in Exodus 16. 3. being a little pinched with samin they could murmur and remember their flesh pots in Egypt and that then their bellies were full of bread but they bring not in remembrance the sirie furnace wherein they were inforced to make brick Sathan in Matthew 4. 8. in the 〈◊〉 of our Saviour oftendit sibi regnum mundi gloriam regni he shewed him the Kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them but he shewed him not the cares and dangers that are in Kingdomes For Kings themselves have termed their Governments of their Kingdomes splendidam servitutem a glorious service or servitude Here the Serpent causes Eve to see three things in this tree The fruit was wholsome for meat the pleasure to the eye and that it was good to be desired to get knowledge So he might have told her of three things written for the eating of this fruit which he omitteth The first whereof is Gods wrath the second is death and the third death again moriendo moriêris dying thou shalt dye the one is the death of the body which he incurred willingly the other the death of the soul which he must consequently run into for the reward of sinne is death and for the goodnesse of the tree it shall have the bitternesse of sinne for the beautifull fruit which his eyes beheld tenebrae exteriores outward darknesse for the desire to know all things man shall have Gods nescio vos I know you not In every sinne there is an allurement and a punishment as it is in 1 Tim. 6. 9. there is an allurement and a snare as in covetousnesse Lust bath a bait and an 〈◊〉 covered and not seen as may appear by James 1. 14. When a man is tempted he is drawn away by his own concupiscence and is inticed Tenebantur eorum oculi their eyes were holden that they could not know Christ Luke 24. 16. And here the eyes of Adam and Eve were holden that they should not see the truth for it is Gods punishment because they will hearken to the words of the Devill because they have sinned against the Lord therefore they shall walk like blinde men Zephaniah 1. 17. God he saw that if they did eate of the tree forbidden they should 〈◊〉 die the Serpent he saw they should not die at all but if they did eate their eyes should be opened and they should be as Gods what God saw they would not see but what the 〈◊〉 that would they 〈◊〉 Here Eve saw that the fruit was good for meat for meat for the body and for meat for the soul that is knowledge where with Paul Philip. 4. 18. saith he was filled In 2 Kings 4. 39. they put 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 and knew it not and were not poysoned The fruit of this tree was to Eve such meat as was the wine of the Vine of Sodom for 〈◊〉 it is in Deut. 32. 32. The Vines of Sodom Gomorr ah were pleasant to behold but what followeth the wine of those Vines is the poyson of Dragons the cruel gall of Aspes So here the tree is pleasant to the eyes and beautifull in outward shew but the fruit to them is most 〈◊〉 in the taste The former part of this verse is Eves sinne the latter 〈◊〉 sinne which we will not now handle for the occasion of 〈◊〉 was in her seeing the goodnesse whereof res ipsa loquitur Her disposition to 〈◊〉 is in her taking the fruit and stretching her hand to the same The sinne it self is in the eating of that which God hath said you shall not eat Eve by seeing took the fruit A Father saith well Dedit Deus 〈◊〉 propter bonum dedit palpebr as propter malum God gave us eyes only to behold good and eye lids that we should not see evil But seeing they have abused Gods commandement God hath put this tree as a stumbling block of their iniquitie before their face as it is in Ezech. 14. 3. As before we did justly reprehend Eve for her hearkning to the Serpents first speech which was a question So now much more Eve is to be reprehended for her hearkning to the Serpents second speech which is meerly repugnant to the word of God you shall surely 〈◊〉 saith God you shall not dye at all Sathan saith Where she heareth not a speech of his dissimuled subtiltie but even the speech of 〈◊〉 maliciousnesse and open blasphemy apparant to the simplest for now she should have stopped her eares she should have stepped upon the Serpents head and she should even have stamped the Serpent which was so malicious under
her foot Every one cannot spy Sathan when he appeareth as a friend When Christ would have gone to suffer at Jerusalem Peter as a friend in words of compassion saith to him 〈◊〉 thy selfe this shall not be 〈◊〉 thee Christ he perceived friendly Sathan in Peter Matt. 16. 23. But in the grosse sinne of Idolatry 〈◊〉 downe and worship mee and in this notorious sinne of 〈◊〉 you shall not die at all any man may easily discover Sathan But Eve shee was not moved at the report of an Angell of light but at the words of a base Serpent or buggish worme shee was not only content to hear his needlesse questions his reproaches to Gods word and his blasphemous termes against God himselfe but which is more she heard him willingly shee beleeved him and shee was very forward to doe as the 〈◊〉 perswaded her Aspiceret 〈◊〉 timentibus oculis shee should have beheld the Tree with twinckling eyes as it is 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 3. 11. with tingling eares she should not have striven about words which were to no profit but to the perverting of the hearers yet heare you that Eve giveth her eyes to behold the Tree her eares to hear blasphemous words she giveth her hands to take of the fruit she giveth her mouth and bellie yea all her bodie unto the 〈◊〉 But it is not good to eat much honie nor to seek glorie by the sense When that she could not refrain her appetire she was like a 〈◊〉 which is 〈…〉 and without walls Proverbs 25. 28. and her inward parts were battered We finde in the outside three things vidit tulit comedit she saw she took and she did eate The first was the concupiscence of the eye The second the stretching out the arme to take of the fruit was the attempt The last was the actuall sinne and the 〈◊〉 The ancient Divines doe call the first desiderium the second conatum the endeavor the last actum the accomplishment The The desire of the eye and the endeavor of the hand doe argue a consent and by the assent of reason she yeeldeth to eate Seven degrees in every sinne The ancient Fathers doe make seven degrees in every sin out of this very first sin of Eve But five of these degrees are past before we come to tulit and the other two last one concerneth the taking the other the act 1. Suggestion The first of these degrees they call a suggestion 2. 〈◊〉 the second they call the invading of the consent 3. Consent to delight the third they call consensum in delectatione a consent to sinne with delight 4. Lingring the fourth they call moram a lingring and stay in the delight 5. Consent to sinne the fift they 〈◊〉 call 〈◊〉 in actum a consent to the very practise of sinne 6. Taking Then after these five degrees commeth the 〈◊〉 which is tulit the taking the fruit 7. Eating and the seventh which is comedit the very act of sinne These seven degrees are seven several motions and distinct as you may easily see in this sinne and disobedience of Eve The first suggestion in Eve to disobedience was wrought by the Serpent but now the suggestion in our mindes is by our selves Here the Serpent made question of Gods goodnesse now the corruption of our own nature maketh many needlesse questions Sathan hath two wayes to convey concupiscence either by his Pipes to play unto us pleasant notes or by his Glasse therein to shew us many allurements But after the Fall the Devill needed not to use his suggestion for behold all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart were only evill chap. 6. 5. Christ calleth these suggestions cogitationes ascendentes mounting and ambitious thoughts She saw three things which are three degrees and all the three are the second general degree The first degree of the seeing they doe call allubescentiam an entertaining of the luggestion and we call it here aspectum intuitum arboris the beholding of the outward shew of the tree The second degree of seeing is by beholding it to withdraw our asfection from the fear of God which we call 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 our turning our selves from God 3. Consâ—… sua cum delectatione The third degree I told you was called a consent with delight which is a further bair not only willingly but even wishly to behold the fruit and to look into the nature of the fruit This degree they call inspectum and contuitum vidit quod delectabile she seeth that which is delightfull to the sight and this is consensus intellectus a consent of the understanding as it is in Job 20. 13. when wickednesse was sweet in her mouth she hid it under her tongue and favoured it and would not for sake it but keep it close in her mouth 4. Morosa delectatio The fourth degree is beyond the third it is mora and morosa delectatio a lingring of the del ght this makes her dote on every circumstance on the beautie on the virtue of this tree Hereby when we have removed from us the thoughts of sinne sinne is resumed this is non inspectio sed introspectio she seeth knowledge not to be seen Hereby she seeth quod concupiscendum this degree is the hunger and thirst of sinne a burning desire to sinne wherein she seeth lignum delectabile and desiderabile that the tree is pleasant and to be desired to get knowledge 5. Consensus in actum The fift degree as I told you is called consensus in actum the consent to the act it self thinking with themselves If the beholding this tree be so pleasant having in it to the eye all varietie of pleasure what and how wonderfull delightfull will the taste thereof be surely it will be full of all pleasure and therefore I think it expedient to take thereof and I doe long to eat of the same this is the consent of reason ad opus malum to work wickednesse even with greedinesse and they doe call this last degree of sinne vidit aberrationem cordis a wandring astray of the heart See Prov. 20. 1. 6. Conatus In the sixt place comes the sixt degree which is conatus the endeavor to streatch our the hand and to apply our hand to the pulling of the fruit from the forbidden tree 7. Actus peccati In the seventh place comes the last degree which is the eating of the fruit the consummation of all even the sinne it self These seven degrees are compared to the seven degrees of 〈…〉 of a childe in the mothers bellie by the ancient Divines and that out of James 1. 15. where the Apostle saith When last hath conceived it briugeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death And indeed Eve by seeing was brought to bed of sin which was the first begotten of Sathan The Cavilists doe say of suggestion here of Sathan by his question that the suggestion is as
it were the woing of the woman which is with some 〈◊〉 The second degree allubescentia the invading and entertaining the thought of sinne is as the yeelding of the woman to the Suiter The third the consent with delight this is the prostitution and submitting her minde to the Serpent The fourth 〈◊〉 delectatio the lingring and soothing up the conceived sinne the 〈◊〉 the delight to sinne is as the conception of the childe in the mothers wombe The fifth which we called consen sum ad opus the consent to put in practise the sinne is as the quickning of the childe The sixt which is the endeavor and disposition to sinne in the taking of the fruit is as the labour of the woman in Child-bed that was the wickednesse of the hands as it is in Psalme 7. 3. The seventh which is the eating is as the birth of the child for this eating the forbidden fruit is sinne it self which is the first born of the Devill Now will we speak of the endeavor of the Woman in the taking of the fruit of the forbidden tree The taking of the fruit came per 〈◊〉 Serpentis and pulchritudinem arboris by the guile of the Serpent and by the beauty of the tree These are the two motives in Eve to take of the fruit from the tree for as Jeremiah speaketh in his ninth chapter the twenty first verse death is come up into the windows and sinne is entred into our palaces sinne is already in our eyes and is entred into the pallace of her heart Hence it was that her feet were 〈◊〉 carrying her bodie from the trees permitted to the sorbidden tree David as he speaketh in Psal. 119. 59. That he hath turned his feet into Gods testimonies and in the 101. verse of the same Psalm As for evill I have refrained my feet from the evill way that I might keep thy word But Eve here turneth her feet from Gods testimonies and his word and she turneth her feet to the Serpent to goe in the way of evill At the first she 〈◊〉 say with Job as he protesteth in his 31. chapt 5. vers If I have walked in vanitie or if my foot have made haste to deceit let God weigh me in his just ballance and he shall finde mine aprightnesse But behold now Eve she walketh to see 〈◊〉 such are the feet of Eve they are swift in running to mischief as Salomon speaketh of the 〈◊〉 of the wicked in Proverbs 6. 18. It is the prayer of David in Psalme 36. 10. Non veniat mihi pes superbiae that the foot of pride would not come upon him She came with a proud foot to behold this tree And as it is in the said 10. verse of the 36. Psalme The hand of the wicked moved to evil Eve here she takes the tree with an high hand she takes of the fruit with an out stretched arme God he will doe well to those that be good and true in heart But saith David in Psal. 125. 5. Those that turn aside to their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them with the workers of iniquitie So doth God here lest they should put forth their hands to take of the fruit of this tree Eve her self in the third verse confesseth that God commanded she should nottouch it God he guideth the meek and teacheth the humble their way Psal. 25. 9. Eve she saith she may not touch the fruit yet she taketh the same in her hand This is iniquitas and contradictio evill and absurditie She doth not only touch the fruit but takes the fruit of the tree As her inward soul was infected per imposturam Serpentis by the flatterie and deceit of the Serpent so her senses of seeing and taking or touching were inticed per pulchritudinem arboris by the 〈◊〉 of the tree There was a time when the eyes of man waited upon the Lord as doe the eyes of the hand-maid upon her Mistrisse Psal. 123. 2. God he was the guide of man Psal. 48. his hands touched nor the mouth tasted nothing but that which was permitted But now she is content instead of God to have the Serpent for her guide she will give her eares to hear his speeches her eyes to behold vanitie her feet to runne to deceit her hands to work mischief and her mouth to taste of sinne thus giving to Sathan all her members as weapons of unrighteonsnesse unto sinne as Paul speaketh in Rom. 6. 13. She was possessed with an itch as may appear by the form of answer Ne forte moriar and by the pleasantnesse of the fruit in her sight the jaundice of concupiscence might be perceived in her eyes Her feet would be gadding where they should not whose feet cannot abide in her house Prov. 7. 11. Her hands were as lime twigs her fingers itched till she were fingring of the fruit forbidden When she had taken of the boughs and fruit fuerunt aridirami and putrida radices quia non cepit quod caperet because she took not of the tree which was permitted cepit de fructu arboris per quam capitur she took of the delightfull and pleasant fruit where with her self was taken even as the fish which taketh the bait but is taken it self of the hook See chap. 15. 16. And she did eat And she did eat This is the consummation of sin for the accomplishment of Eves disobedince is in actuall sin If Conatus the endeavor to sinne if the practise of treason though the treason be not fully accomplished deserve death by the laws of man if the concupiscence of the eye which brought David from the adulterie of Bersabe to the murthering of Urias deserve the punishment and revenge of God then the beholding with concupiscence the beauty of the forbidden fruit deserveth Gods wrath Much more then perfected disobedience which is in the comedit deserveth the death for comedendo comedes moriendo moriêris Doe as God hath commanded thee and eating thou shalt eat of all the trees but if thou eat of the forbidden fruit moriendo moriêris dying thou shalt dye To eate that which God hath said you shall not eat implyeth a plain contradictorie to Gods word and a manifest disobedience to his commandement and by ones disobedience many were made sinners as Paul speaketh Romans 5. 19. Esau did eat his broth and bread with a good stomach and in regard of them contemned his birthright chap. 25. 34. In Genesis 37. 25. they regarded more the plasure of their own Jacobs sonnes were eating when Joseph was in the pit It is Davids prayer in Psal. 141. 4. Let me not O Lord eate of the delicates of the wicked The bread that the wicked eate saith Osee in chap. 9. 4. shall be as the bread of mourners and all that eate thereof shall be polluted By sinne primogenitura the birthright of Eve is gone with Esau The pleasure he took in his pottage was but short while he was hungrie The space of every pleasure
is but short as the Fathers say it endureth no longer than while a man may be eating an apple the continuance of all pleasure is momentarie the pleasure remained but while the fruit was a eating The punishment of disobedience But for this transitorie and vain pleasure she incurred endlesse pain of body and of soul for as the Fathers say well the eare that would not hear the words of love ne comedite eat not of it shall once hear this speech of Gods wrath discedite maledicti depart you accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his followers The eyes that beheld with joy and delight the pleasure of the forbidden fruit those eyes shall be weeping and wailing for their amisse all whose tears shall not avail them The feet that did run unto iniquitie shall be bound in iron and heavie chains the hand of Gods wrath shall be stretched out against that hand that presumed to stretch forth it self to take of the fruit that was forbidden as it is in Esay 9. 12. And the mouth that did eat of the forbidden fruit thinking thereby to attain all pleasure shall be full of gnashing of teeth according to that In Hell there shall be weeping and wailing stridor dentium In a word the wormes in the grave shall devour and eat her body that did eate of the fruit which the was forbidden and the Dragon shall devour her soul both her body and soul shall be in endlesse pain still dying never dead for the reward of sinne is death God hath said they should not eat yet she did eat and by eating fell into many sinnes simplex est Dei verbum but multiplex comedendi peccatum Twelve sorts of sinne The ancient Divines upon this place say that there are twelve sorts of sin whereof the first three they doe call peccatum occasionale the second three they doe call peccatum primitivum the next three peccatum derivativum the last three peccatum instrumentale which they gather out of Job 24. 13. They abhorred the light and continue not in the paths thereof Three occasionall 1. Ingratitude The first of the three occasionals is Ingratitude or the neglect of the due measure of thankfullnesse to God for all the benefits whatsoever bestowed upon Eve in Paradise and us in this world in that the mouth is not imployed in the praising of God for all his benefits but he filleth his mouth with this ne forte lest peradventure This first is the neglect of love 2. Securitie The second is a neglect of fear which is a security God he hath made me Monarch over all the Creatures he hath given me all the trees which are infinite in Paradise what though I eat of an apple surely I shall not dye for so small a matter God will not punish me 3. Carelesse curiositie The third occasion is negligence of that wherein we ought to be most carefull we should not enter when God had forbidden the tree this is carelesle curiositie by the seeing the pleasure of vanitie more than the will of God himself These are the three causall sinnes The neglect of love the neglect of fear the negligence of that is commanded and the curiositie of that is needlesse Three primitive The three primitive sinnes concern the superior part of the soul the three derivative sinnes the inferior part of the soul Of them in order first of the superior after of the inferiour 1. Incredulitie First the reason is infected with incredulitie to God and credulitie to the Serpent whereby they beleeved not that if they should eat they should dye the death but if they did eat they should be as Gods 2. Tediousness The second primitive sinne is Discontent a malecontented minde which is the tediousnesse of this yoake whereby this commandement and easie restraint is a burthen unto them 3. Self-love The third sinne of this kinde is of the lower part of the soul which is self-love Accounting her self as if she had made her self not as if she were made by God I see the tree is wholsome and to be desired why should I then seeing this refrain from it Three derivative Now for the three derivative sinnes 1. Stupiditie First from Incredulitie in Gods word commeth a Child which is the credulitie in the Serpent which is called stupor an astonishment at the Serpents speeches which is a blockish patience in being content to hear the most abject Creature a silly worm a subtle Serpent which is pejor omnibus viventibus worse than any living Creature even 〈◊〉 God And from self-love are derived two other sinnes 2. Pride for from thence commeth pride 3. Ambition and from pride commeth ambition pride and ambition are not one sinne but several sinnes for ambition is the lifting up of that which pride hath conceived So that pride and ambition are the two Daughters of self-love Three Instrumentall The last is the instrumentall sinne 1. A licentious seeing The first whereof is that of Jeroboam who stretched out his hand to take the Prophet of God and his hand withered 1 Kings 13. 4. 2. A presumptuous reaching The second is that of Lots wife who would look back to Sodom yet was forbidden to see the vain pleasure wherefore she became a piller of salt 3. A greedie eating The third is Esaus eating of his pottage for which he lost his birth-right Eves eye saw the fruit her arme reached to take the same her mouth did eat the same The first is a licentious beholding the second is a presumptuous taking the last is a greedie eating and devouring of the forbidden fruit Etiamque dedit comedendum viro suo secum qui comedit Verse 6. Novemb. 27. 1591. THese words I have now read unto you I told you contained Adams sin which words if you mark them doe contain Adams first sinne and Eves second sinne for after she had eaten of the fruit her self she gave of the fruit to him there is her second sinne and he did eate there is his first sinne The Wiseman in 42. 17. of his book saith very well God hath appointed that his saints should declare all his wondrous works which he hath stablished by his Majesty But behold Eve who was a Saint when she became a sinner published not Gods commandement but the Serpents words and the commendations of the forbidden fruit this is the woman that representeth iniquitie Zach. 5. 7. She is as the woman in Rev. 17. 13. that gave her power and authority to the Serpent Not only to eat her self but to give also to Adam the forbidden fruit is as a Father saith well propinare Adamo to drink to him in the golden cup of sin in giving him the fair and pleasant fruit of iniquitie that they 〈◊〉 may eate The Serpent in his first question speaketh of him and here Dixitne Deus ut non comederitis hath God
said ye shall not eate 〈◊〉 speaking of both And again in his second dixit he saith They shall not dye the death and their eyes shall be opened and they should be as Gods By his saying they their he meaneth not Eve alone but Adam also This plural dialect of the Serpent argueth that he tempeth both Eve Adam At what time the Serpent beginneth his temptation he beginneth with one not with both with the woman not with the man with the weaker with her that was but a rib of mans strength with one that is more credulous of his word than man to whom the commandement is delivered in a word he maketh her to fall who is lesse able to stand So that there were then but two sinners in the world the Serpent and the Woman Adam was still upright But here when Adam eateth of the forbidden fruit he maketh up the third sinner So that Sathan Eve and Adam are all sinners Sathan in the Serpent inticed the woman by his curious question in all subtilty to commit sin and indeed prophane and vain bablings they doe increase to more ungodlinesse 2 Tim. 2. 16. The Serpent when he hath plaid his part and made her eat he is gone But as the Sepent was the Devils instrument to tempt the woman so here the Devil instead of the Serpent will work the destruction of the Man by the Woman causing her to give the forbidden fruit unto him Sathan by the Serpent which was the most craftie and the most sabtle made his first assault And here he made his second assault upon Man per charissimam by her that was most dear unto him for in that he saith of her in chap. 2. 23. she is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of man that she weth his affection of his earnest love to her He useth subtilissimum and charissimum that which is most craftie and that which is most deare as his two instruments He tempteth the weaker and simpler by subtiltie the wiser by affection As I told you before he assaulteth the weaker Woman that was but a ribbe having the commandement but by tradition from her husband who had it from God himself and so here in his temptation of man he assaulteth the affection which is the weaker part of mans soul For S. Gregorie saith very well Quod est vir uxor in vinculo nuptiali idem est ratio affectio in vinculo naturali that which the man and his wife is in the bond of Marriage that is the reason and the affection in the bond of Nature reason is the stronger as the husband affection the weaker as the wife Sathan he knew well that such was the affection of Man to his wife that he reposeth such trust in her that he will not examine what she demandeth nor refuse what she offereth for the heart of her husband trusteth in her Prov 31. 11. he 〈◊〉 semitam animae suae the way of his soul and that way will he assault Adam In 2 King 3. 14. Elisha the Prophet not because of Jehoram King of Israel who was wicked but only that he regarded Jehosaphat King of Judah he would not have looked toward Jehoram nor seen him So the Serpent doth here deal with Adam Adam he would not have looked toward the Serpent nor toward the tree had it not been that he regarded the presence of Eve This is his means by the perswasion of the Woman to get his affection and that so Sathan may seize upon it But this is the counsell of Nahum chap. 7. 5. Trust not in a friend nor in a Counsellor keep the door of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosom There is neither trust in friend nor wife this is the mithridate for this poyson we are to beware of Domesticall servants and professed friends which do draw men to mischief more than sworn enemies wherefore follow the advise of our Saviour Matt. 18. 8 9. If thy foot or thy hand cause thee to offend cut them off if thine eye cause thee to off end pull it out better is it to goe into life halt and blinde than to goe with a sound body to Hell fire Cast from thee whatsoever is neer and deer unto thee even the wife of thy bosome rather than to be tormented in the everlasting flames of Hell fire The Devils resolution here is by the woman whom Sathan had enforced to assault man Perverting Gods Councel and purpose So he shall be sure first to pervert the councell of God Secondly the woman shall enter deeper into sinne by making man to sinne Thirdly that Sathan might be Master thereby of them both The disordering of Gods purpose is in this he hath made her for an help but Sathan maketh her an hindrance to obedience The wife should be beautifull as the Vine upon the sides of thy house Psal. 128. but she is become as the Ivie to destroy the tree whereby it groweth she giveth the fruit to Adam to choak him he giveth her to Adam as Saul gave his daughter Michal to David that she might be a snare unto him 1 Sam. 18. 21. He made her to him as Jezabell was to her husband Ahab who by her counsel sold himself to work wickednesse by her counsel he gave himself wholly to serve sinne 1 Kings 21. 25. But woe be to the man by whom offences comes Matth. 18. 7. 1. The womans deeper entrance to sinne It was one thing peccare to sinne and peccare facere to cause another to offend In that she took of the fruit and did eat her self she did sinne she gave to Adam she caused him to sinne and this is an aggravation of sin to make her sinne the more 2. The Devils gain and Adams losse Lastly is the Devils gain by the losse of Adams soul which standeth upon two parts the one is on Eves part and the other on Adams part Eve gave to her husband and Adam did eat For the former Eve after she had eat of the fruit she wiped her mouth and gave of the fruit to Adam like the adulterous woman in Prov. 30. 20. that eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have not committed iniquity after she hath satisfied her own desire she maketh as though she had not offended When she had sucked the gall of Aspes and when the Vipers tongue had slain her Job 20. 16. she then wipes her mouth as though there were nor death nor danger in the same and having eaten her self she giveth to her Husband to eat also Evill did Sathan doe and knew it to be so Eve she had after the fall flattering inticements in her mouth her words were as oyle but the end of her speeches was bitter as wormwood her feet goe down to death and her steps goe down to Hell Prov. 5. 4.5 But yet Eve here thought she had done well Sinnes bringeth forth sin You
But here on the contrarie part Adam exalted himself he became even disobedient unto the death the everlasting death of body and soul could not withhold him The motive to sinne was small and 〈◊〉 the retentive was great and terrible 4 The manner The fourth circumstance is the manner of sinne It was citò factum soon committed Peters denyall was ad vocem ancillulae at the 〈◊〉 of a sillie made Adams transgression was without delay at the voice of his wife 5. The Place The fifth circumstance is of the place It was in Paradise that he was polluted But though Lucifer were the most glorious in the Heavens yet for his pride God sent him headlong from the Heavens Man was Monarch of the earth all in Paradise were at his command yet for his disobedience God sent him out of Paradise 6. The Time The sixt circumstance is of the time He was servent in obedience in the beginning but he continued not therein many dayes time as a file filed away his righteousnesse he sell in the beginning 7. The Punishment The seventh circumstance is of some notable hurt aliquod damnum that should come to man by his disobedience whereby both God and man are damnified It before while he was righteous he were in the image of God for in the likenesse of God was Adam made chap. 5. 1 then surely by mans disobedience Gods Image in man was defaced Adam who was now unrighteous was no more like God who was only righteous and 〈◊〉 of Wisdome but Adam as David speaks Psal. 73. 22. was foolish and ignorant he was even as a beast before God and his sinne was not only his own confusion but the ruine of us all of all mankinde It is Christ Jesus that will make our sinnes and iniquities to be no more remembred Heb. 10. 17. It was the transgression of Adam that brought grave jugum super 〈◊〉 a grievous burthen to all the world from this sinne came all sinnes hence came the heap of all evill The Fathers say that Omnia 〈◊〉 sunt appendices 〈◊〉 all misehief doth depend upon this disobedience of Adam and they say that because this is the greatest sinne it deserveth the greatest punishment The ancient Divines consider a difference in Eves sinne and in Adams sinne Eve she sinned in three respects First In hearing Gods name reproachfully blasphemed Secondly In that she heard this blasphemie not from the mouth of an Angell of light but from a paultry and abject Worm And lastly In that she became scandalum a means to slander God and seduce Man Adams sinne is seen in three other respects First The man was stronger and yet he was seduced by the weaker Secondly Man was made as the womans head and therefore when he heard her say she had eaten when he did see her offer him of the forbidden fruit it was his part to have reproved her Thirdly the root of nature was in him not in her yet the corruption of all came by Eve unto Adam and from both to us all which hearing the words of the Serpent and the Woman which seeing the pleasant fruit which eating of the forbidden tree did bring the punishment and death of body and soul to all men living The Remedy But the remedy for this so vile and 〈◊〉 a sinne and the redresse of this punishment is by the promised seed our Saviour Christ born of a Woman It was our Saviour that for the flattering 〈◊〉 of Adam heard all reproaches Adam beheld the fruit which was pleasant in his eyes Christ he was buffetted about the eyes Adam took the tree in his hand Christ was fastned to the tree for the stretching out of Adams hands to take of the fruit his hands were stretehed out and nailed upon the crosse Adams eating of this pleasant fruit was 〈◊〉 by his eating of bitter gall and sharp Vinegar according to that Psal. 69. 21. They gave him gall in his meat and in his thirst they gave him vinegar to drink Man had his side pearced but Christ had his heart opened All these things did God doe to deliver us out of that miserie whereinto by Adams sinne Mankinde had fallen who shall deliver me from the body of this death but God through Jesus Christ. In Ezechiel 3. 3. they that shall eat the roll that God shall give them it shall be in the mouth as honie In beleeving Christs name we shall have life John 20. 31. If then we eat of the forbidden tree eat not of the promise which we have in Christ we shall dye the death both body and soul shall be tormented We must not say Quid mihi tecum Christe Christ what have I to doe with thee but we must receive him that is our Redeemer In the 〈◊〉 we must therein eat of the bread which is his body Mat. 26. 26. who brake the bread in his Supper and offred his body on the Cross Christ through suffering death tasted death for all men that through affliction the Prince of our salvation might be consecrated Heb. 2. 10. And by our faith in him death shall be to us but as the tasting of the poyson which death shall not swallow up our soul though our body dye our soul shal live for ever But the sinners that eat of the tree that commit wickedness if they repent not shal be cast into endless afflictions As by Adam we all eat of the forbidden tree in the mid'st of the Garden in the beginning of the bible so by Christ the blessed shall eat of the tree of life in the mi'dst of the heavenly Paradise wherein there are twelve manner of fruits and the leavs thereof doe serve to heal all the Nations of the Earth Rev. 22. 2. The leaves of this tree in the end of the Bible will serve for medicine here in this life but after this life ended this tree of life shall fill us all with 〈◊〉 joy and glorie everlasting Which God of his infinite mercy grant c. Amen Tunc aperuerunt sese oculi amborum noveruntque se nudos esse consutis foliis ficulneis fecerunt sibi subligacula Gen 3. 7. January 25. 1591. THE opening the eys of our first Parents by which they saw that they were made naked which was the former part was sent from God that they seeing that sin which was against God was a losse of their glory which is called bonum utile and that instead thereof brought unto them nakednesse shame and confusion which was against bonum honestum and also that it did cast them into that distresse and anguish of minde that they could not tell what to doe or finde to cover their shame but figg leaves which was against bonum jucundum which opening of the eyes comming from God was to this end that by seeing this they might return to their own hearts Esay 46. 8. and enquire as Esay willeth them 5. 19. wherefore they had done this and transgressed Gods
and nature doth mildly begin to deal with him saying ubi es And thus writers gather because the Hebrews have in their tongue a double ubi the one is a reproachfull and sharpe ubi but this here is that which Jeremiah in his Lamentations doth often use and therefore is a sorrowfull ubi as who should pitty them which are not where they should be wherefore this voice and question is without any exprobrations or bitter taunting words lest he should be overcome with despaire and grief but hereby God doth as it were give him a safe conduct as it were giving him free leave to answer for himself the best he could as it is said favorably to Paul Act. 24. 10. You are permitted to speak for your self you shall be favorably heard which is a speciall grace and mercy of God because whereas he might have cut him short off and stricken him dumb yea and dead too without any more a doe Now to the tenor and matter of this verse as it sheweth and letteth out the Justice of God for as God is mercifull and loving so Justice must come forth to judgment against sinne Psalm 94. 15. For this is a matter of consequence that albeit God is for a long time patient and mercifull yet at length he will shew himself to be righteous and just by comming to judgment but indeed even Gods very judgment is a mercy shewed to men as I have shewed for so is this judiciall proceeding in judgment set down as a favor and mercy Luke 19. 15. shewed to servants and subjects for vers 27. it is said to be the state of an enemy to be slain without judgment for of such God saith bring him forth slay him before my face presently Again carry these away binde them and cast them into utter darknesse They therefore which will not hear God ut consulentem patrem shall hear against their wills ut condemnantem judicem And he which will not obey the Judg willingly shall obey the Hangman whether he will or no. This course of Gods judgment holden being the first is a pattern and plat-form of the whole proceeding of judgment in all Courts and places of Justice that shall be in the end of the world for here in this place we may gather the whole right proceeding of Justice in a place of Judgment for in the 7. vers God sendeth out first a processe to arrest and cite them which they refusing in the 8. vers God sendeth an attachment which is a more peremptory kind of vocation more effectually by feare to constrain them and bring them to their answer which when they had shifted off also he came himself and in the 11. vers brought them to their triall and purgation then in the 12. ver there followeth the confession of his guilty conscience and then followeth the just sentence in the 14. vers and in the 22. vers beginneth the execution thereof and so an end Gods course therefore is first to call forth Adam to his answere but this may seem at the first sight to be a defective course because here is none but the Judg and the party arraigned to accuse and to be a witnesse against him upon which the Judg might proceed for no other person being there it must needs be that either God must proceed in this Judgment ex officio or else make Adam accuse himself Foelix Act. 25. vers 16. saith that it was not the manner of the Romans to arraigne any before there was brought in evidence against him by accusers and witnesses but to answer this we say that as it were erroneous to hold that there was no third person to accuse him for here is the Devill which is the accuser of all men therefore there wanted not an accusation and besides him which accused by suggestion no doubt Adams own conscience within and evident action without did accuse and witnesse against him for Adams flight and hiding himself accused him of feare and shame and fear and shame argued him to have a guilty conscience and his guilty conscience accused and testified against him that he had done some hainous offence against God and so the evidence of his crime being manifestly layd open before them all God might and must orderly proceed in Judgement against him Error Therefore it is also an error in those which hold that there may not be any just lawfull and ordinary proceeding judicially against any unlesse there be brought 〈◊〉 face to face to accuse them for it is plain and evident that uppon such strong presumptions one may be called before the Judge and the Judge may judicially proceed against him thereupon as we see in the case of murther how God proceeded against Cain Gen. chap. 4. vers 9 10 11 12. and how God proceeded against Sodome and Gomorrah Gen 18. 20 21. and how they proceeded in an extraordinary course against Jeremie Jer. 29. 26. when the matter concerneth the trouble and confusion of a Country or Commonwealth for if it was permitted to a private man by the Law of Jealousie to make his wife purge herself and to bring her to triall upon surmise and suspicion Numb 5. 14 15. c. then much more may men in authoritie who must be jealous over the Commonwealth and State of a Kingdome when they see it in danger by troubles and tumults that arise use such an extraordinarie manner and course of judgment in bringing men to their trialls of whom they have a strong suspicion and surmise to be the causers thereof for so did Joseph to avoid danger to the State upon surmise and suspicion call his bretheren before him accusing them for spies Qui dixit Vocem tuam audiebam in hoc horto extimui autem eò quòd nudus sim abscondi me Gen. 3. 10. February 3. 1591. WE have heard how vain a thing it is to dissemble or hide either our selves or our sins from God for well may a sinner set himself in such a place and case that God may be hid from him and where he may not see God and his gracious presence but it is impossible for any to set himself in any place so secret or close where God shall not be able to see him ergo it is a folly to hide our sinnes either by deniall or dissimulation yet we see the Devils voice and counsell to sinners is still cover hide flie deny and dissemble your sinnes in no wayes confess it for if you doe there is no waybut one with you that is that God in severity and justice should proceed in judgment to condemn you to death so that this is the Devils art and endeavour to make us beleeve that confession is a deadly poyson to kill us which indeed God hath ordeined and made to be a speciall means and mithridate to save our souls from sin being committed As before it was his subtilty to make us beleeve that the Tree forbidden did bear so virtuous a
recoverie and amendment But for him that was so indurate in malice that to his power exalting himself to be like God added this malicious and envious seeking of the fall of others there was no hope either of pardon from God or of amendment in him for when Christ came into the world he said to Christ Quid nobis tibi there was no hope of him being in the state of a Rebell and so the seeking of the examination and tryall of him as of the other would not avail Now to the first part that is the Reason In which we are to consider this Why God begins not absolutely Maledictus es but Maledictus quia and so renders a reason why he is accursed so executes the sentence though not judicially according to course of Law yet justly that the mouth of all the world might be stopped and that the infernall spirits themselves might be enforced to acknowledge that the Lord is righteous and his judgements just Psal. 119. 137. That the judgement is just though the tryall hold not the reason is quia fecisti hoc he was the doer of that and was the contriver of the platform of that act and therefore God begins with him wherein as the ancient Fathers note God would have us to observe two senses first the sense of the emphasis and the second of difference For the emphasis Gods meaning is because thou hast done this quia fecisti hoc that is that thou hast overthrown Man for whom all things were created and consequently so much as in thee lay hast sought to overthrow my determinate Councell and to bring to naught all that I have made therefore thou art cursed for doing this Then for as much as we see this emphasis of Heaven and Earth it should make us consider the greatnesse of sinne which moved the son of God not only to take our flesh but to shed his blood also even for this hoc That men would remember when they sin that they are about a hoc that brought all the curses which followed after that therefore they should not make a light accompt of it reckoning it a small matter but to reckon of sinne as God quare 〈◊〉 hoc And as it serves by way of vehemencie to aggravate the offence of the offence so it serveth for distinction As if God should say another thing Thou hast done but because thou hast done this therefore the sentence is come upon thee Thou thoughtest in thy self to make thy self equall with God Isay 14. and because thou hast done that that is come upon thee which Christ saith Matth. 25. Ever lasting fire is prepared for thee But now because thou wast not content with that but hast mingled poyson whereby thou hast venomed and poysoned others because thou hast been an homicide for that is his second fault John 8. 44. there is thy punishment for doing this Now we see the ground of Gods proceeding with him The sentence in it self consists of four parts which we reduce to these two one concerns himself the other us That which respects him is in this verse that which concerns us is in the next The first is threefold First That he is cursed above all Cattel and above all the Beasts of the field Secondly That he shall goe and creep upon his belly Thirdly He shall eat the dust of the Earth Wherein as in the beginning generally so here in special you are to consider the Analogie of every part of his punishment First then he is maledictus and the reason is quia maledixerat maledictio doth in justice befall him quia loquutus est malè as you may see in the five verses before not that God had done it but it came of himself for he had defamed God speaking evill of God great reason it is then that evill speech should befall him So there is an equality between the Devils sinne and his punishment Now in regard of the second which is in the 15. verse That he should goe upon his bellie for as much as he doth take upon him to exalt himself Isay 14. And for that he tells Eve If yee eat of it eritis sicut Dii therefore he is cast down the proportion to him that will flie is by the contrary to creep not to goe on his leggs but on his bellie So the Serpent because he would flie up into the highest place is made to creep on his bellie So the second part of the Sentence stands with equity As also the third for his temptation was that they should eat of the forbidden fruit now cibi prohibita poena is that he that lusts after that he should not eat shall be forced to eat that he would not as Augustine saith In Psal. 106. they that long for meat which they ought not to desire shall be punished with eating that which their soul most abhorreth that is for the equity kept in the three branches of this Sentence Concerning the Serpent himself In the first branch which is thou art cursed are two points very necessary to be considered First That God saith Maledictus es and not Maledictus sis for thereby God plainly sheweth that it comes not from him but from the Serpent for then he would have said Maledictus sis but it is Maledictus es shewing that the Serpents curse comes from himself So all the curses miseries and calamities of this world and torments of the world to come proceed not from him but from himself as Job calls them sparks Job 5. 7. So they are the very sparks of the fire of concupiscence of sinne that is kindled in us as also the Prophet saith the fruit and crop of that seed of sinne is calamitie and miserie Hos. 10. 13. which was is and ever shall be the fruit of it therefore called the Revenues of sinne Prov. 12. 16. and the wages of sinne Rom. 6. that is there was an evill in him first to speak evill of that partie in whom was noe evill and so malum ad se malum trahit one evil brings another the Serpents evil speaking is the cause that evill is spoken of him for that is it that makes the difference as Pro. 26. 2. there is a curse that is causlesse and that shall return upon himself as Shemeis curse against David 2 Sam. 16. So should the curse of Balaam if he had cursed the People of God but he was wiser and said How shall I cursewhere the Lord blesseth but it is otherwise when Noah a just man 〈◊〉 Canaan Gen. 9. And when Elisha cursed the Children that called him baldhead 2 Reg. 24. they were cursed indeed for when it is a just curse and hath root in 〈◊〉 es then it takes place for we see there was a maledictio in those persons whom Noah and Elisha cursed they had spoken evill before and therefore evill is spoken of them for one evill is a loadstone or jet stone to draw another evill It is that which Jerome notes upon 1
nineteenth They that live in ease are weary of it Salomon in the first of the Kings the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse died in his age Abraham in the twenty fifth of Genesis and the eighth yeelded the spirit and died a good age Death is a resting from Labour and from sinne and death is not only a resting from labour but from sinne also Paul in the seventh to the Romans and the twenty fourth desireth to be delivered from the body of sinne which he calleth the body of death The holy Fathers on that place but this difference that the Martyrs desire to die that they might not sinne the Malefactors because they have sinned A delaying of the punishment The other part of the delay is the chiefest which is the consideration that there is an exemption of death from the best part of man a qualifying of the punishment A bodily punishment for the soul and body both offended but the body only is punished the soul mans better part is free that is not touched He saith not here thou shalt die the death but thou shalt return to dust for as it is in the third of the Preacher and the twentieth all 〈◊〉 of the dust and all shall return to dust It is the body only that returneth to dust but the soul returneth to God that gave it Mans heavenly part shall be free from this sentence The Soul immortall the head of man his soul which is neerest God shall be safe though his heel be bruised The earthly part shall return to that it was but the heavenly 〈…〉 still the immortality If Christ be in us the body is dead because of sinne but the spirit is life for righteousness sake the eighth of the Romans and the tenth This then giveth comfort in death that though the body die the soul shall live for ever This gave comfort to Adam that he had thus well escaped Hevah the Mother of the living that in the very next verse he calleth his Wife with joy Hevah which is the Mother not of the dead but of the living for Hevah is mater viventium In the twentieth of Luke the thirty seventh and thirty eighth verses The Lord is Deus viventium The Lord is called the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob yet is he not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him yet then the Patriarchs were dead but though the Grave had their body God had their soul the Patriarchs died their soul lives the third of Exodus the sixth to be compared with the former place for after death they were not dead but removed to another state of life God will bring his again from the depth of the Sea Psalme the sixty eight and the twenty second The first death so the godly shall suffer the first death Revelations the twenty first and the eighth expoundeth that place But the wicked and the accursed shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death The second death the first death is the death of all the first death only is the death of Saints but the second death is the death of sinners Davids soul is delivered from the sword Psalme the twenty second and the twenty first but death seedeth 〈◊〉 upon the wicked as sheep feed upon a Common and as their life was without repentance so their death shall be without end the godly wish for death to rest from their labours the wicked wish for death that live in torment which is great Revelations 9. 6. The gates of death are mentioned in the Psalmes and in the seventh of the Proverbs and the twenty seventh Penetralia mortis the Chambers of death The wicked live not only in the Gates in the Courts in the Chambers of death but even in the Dungeon of death in the twenty third Psalme and the fourth verse and in the seventh of the Romans the twenty fourth are to be delayed in the one is mention of umbra mortis in the other corpus mortis they are to be delayed with the 9. of Marke the 1. where it is said that some there are that shall not taste of death till they have seen the Kingdome of God come with power So that the first death takes hold of the gody but the second death toucheth them not For they that be faithfull unto death shall be crowned with a crown of life Revel 2. 10. and in the 11. verse the godly that overcome shall not be hurt of the second death Isaiah 26. 19. Death naturall and eternall they are subject to the naturall death but free from the eternall death This is their comfort in the first death to have deliverie from the second death Resurrection By the resurrection of the dead to life is a second return for by the first return the body returneth from dust to dust but the second is from dust to glorie Return which is a return not of the soul but of the body also according to that of Job This body of flesh shall be covered with immortalitie and according to that of Hosea the 13. Chapter and the 14. verse The godly shall be redeemed from the power of the grave and death and according to that place of the Prophecie Christ will be the death of death it self but most plain of all is that of the 1. of the Revelations the 18. spoken of Christ That he is alive but was dead but now he is alive for evermore and he hath the keyes of hell and of death This then doth alay and qualifie the bitterness of this sentence The use hereof is diverse to learn Hence now may we gather use to our selves in these five things 1. Humility The first is though it be bitter yet it is wholsome the first use is taken out of pulvis es Learn hence unde es from whence thou art thou art but of a clod be not proud thou treadest upon that thou art made let that put thee in minde of humilitie boast not of thy honour for thy honour is in the dust There is nothing in the grave whither thou goest Preacher 9. 11. Quid ergo attollis cervicem in pulverem reversuram this is a means to learn humility learn of your selves what you are and then be humble Austin saith that the time will come to give an account to God of thy doings remember thy own frailty and be not proud for God knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth we are but dust Psal. 103. 14. 2. To regard things of this life as dust The second use is out of pulvis in pulverem dust to dust We must remember whither we are to goe we are now dust but sub alienâ formâ in the likeness of flesh but we shall be dust in the likeness of dust it self our flesh of dust shall be turned into dust and according to that of
graved with Cherubims the first of Kings the sixth chapter and the twenty seventh verse And likewise in the second building of the second Temple in the fourty first of Ezekiell were there many Cherubims And likewise the Angell in the fourteenth of the Revelations and the seventeenth verse with the sickle that came from Heaven was taken for a Cherubim and why was it a Cherubim that was appointed to defend this passage to the Tree of life to punish Adam and debarre him of Paradise with Sword and Fire It 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 of Ezekiell and the twelfth verse That the Cherubim had a body with wings took 〈◊〉 coals and scattered them over the City and being appointed for a guard for Paradise therefore it is requisite they should be watchfull therefore it is said they were full of eyes round about or according to the fourth of the Revelations and the seventh verse they were full of eyes before and behinde which sheweth their knowledge which is requisite in them To this also it is necessary that there be added that they be armed with power of Fire and Sword for as the Cherubims of themselves were fearfull so Fire and Sword makes the passage more fearfull for to behold the Sword which will cut and the Fire which will burn it is dreadfull for incisio in the one and insentio in the other the edge of the Sword and the flame of the Fire are both more terrible and it is very usuall in the Scriptures to see them armed The Angell that stood in the way of Balaam riding upon his 〈◊〉 the twenty second of Numbers and the twenty third verse had his Sword drawn in his hand And in the first of the Chronicles the twenty first chapter and the sixteenth verse The Angell that appeared to David was armed with a drawn Sword in his hand And the Cherubim in the tenth of Ezekiell and the seventh verse was armed with Fire against Jerusalem and again in the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the eighth verse The Angels of God doe appear in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that doe not know God nor obey the Gospell And here the Angell of God appeareth to Adam both with a Sword and with Fire to punish him because he would not obey God nor his commandment That we may conclude then that God hath sufficiently fenced this passage with his Angell thus armed with a burning Sword the very Asse which is of least understanding feared the Angell armed with a drawn Sword and perceived it before Balaam but to be armed with Fire it is more fearfull than with a Sword for many a one would run upon a Sword that by all means would shun the Fire look what scapeth the sword shall be devoured by the fire and the ancient Fathers upon Job 22. 20. And S. Jerom upon this place saith That the Cherubims are thus armed to shew that they have not only plenitudinem scientiae by their many eyes but plenitudine mpotentiae by being armed in this sort God taketh order that they should have both to be watchfull and powerfull But what doth this visible sign of Cherubyms and of a Sword shaken mean To make them to have a continual remembrance of their sin and likewise a 〈◊〉 griese to thinke of the pleasure and happy place that they 〈◊〉 and to see themselves lest to misery and 〈◊〉 of returning to that blessed Paradise by so strong a guard so strongly armed that there is no hope left to enter again into that former state happiness and again how grievous is it to see the elect Angels above and the damned Angels beneath yea all Gods creatures to become his enemies and to be banisheed from Gods presence all his pleasure turned to labor all plentie to necessity all joy to sorrow so that all that he saw without him was terror and fear and all that was within him was lamentations and mourning and woe as it is in the second of Ezekiell and the nineteenth verse And as we see when the Angell appeared unto David in the time of the great mortality that slew with the pestilence seventy thousand David in sack-cloath mourned and said it is even I that have finned but what have these sheep done alas they have not sinned I should have been punished and my fathers house and not this people the first of the Chronicles the twenty first chapter and the seventeenth verse And what greater grief could be devised than to be banished Paradise and to have no hope left of return not to live any longer there but to live in the barren earth in the valley of Achor the second of Osee and the fourteenth verse which is interpreted the valley of mourning and yet as the Prophet saith there that valley shall be for a gate or dore of hope for in that God doth not pull up the Tree by the root nor doth he cut it down as unprofitable we have hope that we shall have use of it hereafter for it is fenced to some use neither is Paradise layed waste nor utterly destroyed which giveth us a gate of hope The shaking of the Sword Secondly the Fathers say we have further matter of hope in regard the Sword is but shaken the Angell shakes the Sword but strikes not with the Sword St. Austin upon this shaking of the Sword saith that qui dicit percutiam non percutit minatur mortem non occidit minae ejus medicinae ejus He that saith I will strike striketh not he that threatneth death slayeth not his threatnings are as his curings and again he placeth the Cherubims armed in the East of Eden at the entrance into Paradise as the evill Angell that provoked them to sinne came with fair words and was in shew a friend but proved a deadly enemy so they say that though the Angell that keepeth the passage of Paradise doe seem an outward enemy yet in the end he will prove our very friend Versatilis Thirdly there is matter of hope in this that it is a moving Sword why then saith St. Jerome may it not be removed if Adam repent and remove himself far from his former sin Why may not God likewise repent of this Punishment neither is it unusuall that God doth so for in the first of the Chronicles the twenty first chapter and the fifteenth verse After God had sent his Angell to destroy Jerusalem as he was destroying God repented of the evill and said to the Angell that destroyed it is enough let thy hand cease and that Angell had a Sword drawn in his hand and after that David had built an Altar and made a burnt-offring in the twenty seventh verse of the same chapter The Lord spake again to the Angell and he put up his Sword again into his sheath It was Davids case the seventy seventh Psalm and the seventh verse In sorrow and great grief he said Will the Lord absent himselfe for ever and will be shew
no more favor hath God forgotten to be mercifull no doubt God will shew the mercy that hee found in his misery or if with the Prophet Jer. 47. 6. we fay Oh thou sword of the Lord how long will it bee ere thou cease turne again into thy scabbard rest and be still no doubt God will be mercifull And for the Cherubyms the Cherubyms that covered the two ends of the mercy seate in Exodus the 25. chapter and the 18. verse were Cherebims of protection that covered with their wings the Mercy-seat And in Ezekiel 28. it is said That the king of Tyrus had been in Eden the garden of God and verse 14. That he was the 〈◊〉 Cherub that covereth it was a Cherubym of protection They no doubt that accompanied the Lamb Revel 14. were Angells and Cherubyms singing and harping for joy and these Cherubyms that here are appointed with fire and sword if it please God to be mercifull may turne their shape and lay downe the Sword for if Gods wrath be appeased no wrath is executed as in the case of David and of Jerusalem and of Ninivie where God stayed the hand of his Angell and his wrath ceased for God giveth power to Angells in Heaven and Princes on the Earth and all the shields of the world belong unto God Psal. 47. so that if he be appeased they yeeld their power and if God will have mercy upon man and will say deliver him that he goe not downe the pit for I have received a reconciliation then shall he be restored to his former state Job 33. 24. Upon mans repentance God will deliver his soule from destruction and if here God were once reconciled the sword should be taken away from the Angell and he should put it up into his sheath and man should recover his former state and the Angell shall become an Angell of mercy like the Cherubyms Exod. 25. 〈◊〉 covered with their wings the mercy seat or Propitiatory Now the meanes of reconciliation is a Propitiatory sacrifice for Sacrifice is the way of Reconciliation When Abraham with his offering of his sonne had pleased God the Angell stayed Abrahams knife and he found favor with God chap. 22. After David by his sinne had procured the punishment of his people he repented him of his sinne ond offered him up a burnt offering and a peace offering and then the Lord answered him by fire from heaven upon the Altar of burnt-Offering and when the Lords wrath was appeased the Angell sheathed up his Sword 1 Cron. 21. 26. and here if in Adams Case Gods wrath be appeased and he reconciled the Angell will lay down his firySword and flamma quae ardet gladius qui mactat the fire that should burne shall be extinguished and the sword that should slay shall be sheathed and by a Sacrifice Gods wrath shall be appeased for Exod. 12. chapter Where God seeth the blood upon the 〈◊〉 of their houses God and his Angell will passe over their houses and plague nor destruction shall not fall upon them the token of blood shall be a reconciliation of Gods favor and the Angell passed by This brings us to the great Propitiatorie Sacrifice the like whereof never was in the world in the which is not the blood of Lambs Goats or beasts but the blood of the immaculat Lamb Jesus Christ Gods sonne and mans Saviour who offered his pretious blood for the sinnes of us all who was the only and all sufficient Sacrifice to apapease the wrath of God and reconcile man to his Love this Sacrifice drew the alliance of Men with Angels made a reconciliation with God and restored man to the tree of life and the Paradise of God and the Angels shall rejoyce and be glad at this reconciliation and that Christ was exalted the eleventh of the Revelations and the fifteenth verse And the seventh place the Fathers doe alledge that this place is a poynting even unto the Gospell that in the fencing thus of Paradise it was foretold that one should come that through his obedience should remove the armed Cherubyms and give unto mankinde a passage into Paradise and this they ground upon the first of Ezechiell and the tenth verse and upon the tenth of Ezechiell and the fourteenth verse and the fourth of the Revelations and the seventh verse they agree that there were foure Cherubyms in the first of Ezechiell and the tenth verse they had the face of a Man the similitude of the face of an Oxe of a Lyon and of an Eagle and in the tenth of Ezekiell and the fourteenth verse one had the face of a Cherubym the other of a Man of a Lyon and of an Eagle and for the Cherubyms in the fourth of the Revelations and the seventh verse The one was like a Lyon the other like an Oxe the third like a Man the last like an Eagle and these foure beasts in the Revelation theydoe referre unto the foure Evangelists But the other places and this also they doe referre unto the four principall acts of Christ in our reconcillation They doe apply the face of the Man to Christs nativitie who was borne man of a pure virgin The face of the Oxe to his passion who resembled his death to the death of an Oxe sacrificed for the sinnes of the People and the face of the Lyon to his Resurrection who thereby triumphed over death even he that was a Lyon of the Tribe of Judah And lastly they compare the face of the Eagle to his glorious ascention whereby he mounted like an Eagle above an Eagles pitch only to reconcile us unto Gods favor And if the Sacrifice of Christ be applyed unto us then doth it appease Gods wrath to us David applyeth Nathans rebuke to himselfe after all his sorrow and acknowledgment of his sinne in the one and fiftith Psalme with deepe and hearty repentance he sheweth that the Sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit and a broken heart he despiseth not and if with David in the fourth Psalme and the fist verse We examine our owne heart and offer the Sacrifices of righteousnesse and trust in the Lord this application of our Sacrifice to this Sacrifice is by our hearty repentance and then shall the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus be unto us a reconciliation and a propitiatory Sacrifice even to us that are penitent for hee that mourneth and sorroweth for his sinnes that repenteth from his heart of his former wickednesse shall be sure to have a part of this blessed Sacrifice once offered for all upon the Crosse And this is Pauls Sacrifice in the twelfth to the Romans and the first verse offer upyour bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable serving of God these then that sacrifice their Soules and Bodies by Repentance shall be assured to have a part in Christs sacrifice If thy eye offend pull it out the ninth of Marke and the fourty seventh verse apply by thy repentance Christs passion
we were like to perish till he provided for us so we must give him a present even the first fruits of that we have acknowledging that all came from him in the twenty sixt chapter of Deuteronomie The ground of our oblation is to testifie so as the ground of our oblation 1. our thankfulness is the testifying of our thankfulnesse 2 our subjection to God Another end is the testifying and acknowledging of our subjection to God that as he gave us our souls so we confesse we ought to bestow our souls on God And that we shall doe if when our own reason cannot attain to see how that should be just which he requireth 1. to give and subject our souls to God yet we be content to make our souls subject to him and to bring them into the obedience of Christ in the second of the Corinthians and the tenth chapter If as we have grieved the spirit of God with our sinnes so we be content to grieve our souls and to break them with sorrow which is a sacrifice to God in the fifty first Psalme and the seventeenth verse 2. to subject our bodies to God Secondly as we have received our bodies from God so we must make them subject to God by abating the desires which our flesh delighteth in that we may delight in that which God requireth and that we be content to impoverish the body to chasten it and bring it under by fasting in the first of the Corinthians and the ninth chapter From both soul and body our mouths must shew forth Gods praise that it may be more fit for his service we must not only acknowledge in our soul that we owe our selves both soul and body to God but we must open our lips and shew forth his praise with our mouthes in the fifty first Psalme 3. We must honour God with our substance And lastly we must honor God with our substance in the third chapter of the Proverbs And not content our selves with the oblation of the lips as a sacrifice that cost us nothing in the second of Samuell and the twenty fourth chapter The sacrifice also hath two grounds The sacrifice also hath two grounds 1. The confession of our sins aud why First The confession of our sinnes for in that the poor Lamb or other beast whatsoever hath his throat cut what is it else but a confession that what the Lamb suffereth the same we our selves deserved to suffer As the Lamb dieth so we deserve the death both of body and soul And as the Lamb was burnt to ashes so we deserved to be burnt in the lake of sire and brimstone in the twentieth of the Apocal. and the tenth verie For sine effusione sanguinis non est peccatorum remissio in the ninth chapter of the Hebrews And so in that the poor beast hath his blood poured out we doe thereby confesse that we cannot have remission of sinnes without the shedding of blood if we seek it in our selves 2 The confession of our faith in Christ which maketh the other perfect and why But there is a second ground of the sacrifice and that is the confession of our faith which maketh all the other confessions perfect for how is it possible that a Lamb should be worth a Man and that the death of an unreasonable creature should be a sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of a reasoable soul the Apostle saith It is impossible that the blood of Lambs and Goats should take away sinnes in the tenth chapter of the Hebrews and the fourth verse It cost more to redeem souls then so vise a price or the price of the most pretious things in the world in the fourty ninth Psalme Christ the Lamb slain by whose blood we have remission of sinnes and why Therefore the reason why they offered sacrifice was to make confession of their faith in Christ whom they confessed to be the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world by whose blood we have remission of sinnes So the Lambe which Abel offered in the fourth chapter of Genesis which Esay foresaw should stand before his shearrer in the fifty third of Isaiah whom John Baptist pointed at John the first chapter and the twenty ninth verse Ecce Agnus Dei is Christ the Son of God slain from the beginning of the world to take away sinnes Apoc. the thirteenth chapter And in the blood of that Lambe are the sinnes of the whole world purged as it is in the first Epistle of St. John the first chapter and the seventh verse 4. The warrant whereby they offered oblations and sacrifice Fourthly The warrant whereby they offered their oblation and sacrifices was not any expresse command of God in the Scripture and God only knoweth what kinde of service best pleaseth him and of themselves they were not to devise any thing 1. Adam was instructed by God and they by Adam but they were taught by Adam and Adam was instructed by God As Adam had experience that God was able to bring light out of darknesse so he taught Adam by his spirit that as by the tree of life he would give life so by death he would give life For as in the Sacrifices of the Law the Jews were taught that out of death God would give them life We by our Sacraments so now in our Sacraments Christians are assured that by the death of Christ whereof the Supper is a commemoration the faithfull obtain life Made known 1. By the light of nature The meanes whereby God made this known to them was first the light of nature That they had offended God which told them that seeing so many infirmities and sicknesses lay upon them it was for that they had offended som body 2. That they owe thankfulness for all they had to be acknowledged in heart word and works Secondly that all they possessed was from some superior power to whom they ought to be both thankfull and dutifull and to acknowledge both these in words as well as in heart and to expresse this subjection by works that is by offering somthing to God 2. For the confession of faith no reason or light of nature taught but by Gods spirit But as for confession of faith no reason of man no light of nature that could apprehend that but as Christ saith in the sixteenth of Matthew it was the Revelation of Gods Spirit which taught them that Christ the Lambe of God should be offered as a Sacrifice for sinne of which all the sacrifices that went before were types Concerning Cain and Abell we are to observe two points First what they had in common Secondly what severally All both poor and rich must offer For the first As we learn that all must offer both in the Law in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus for God will have his offering be we rich or poor and in the Gospell where Christ alloweth
in hell to endure torments for ever This is a thing worthy our consideration That if we doe not well we shall be punished for sinne lyeth at the door and if we sinne against the Lord be sure your sinne will finde you out Numbers the thirty second chapter and the twenty third verse Note for sinne doth intangle men as it were with cords and snares Proverbs the fifth chapter Sinne lyeth at the dore first in diem judicii asservatur wherein are two points First concerning the lying of sinne Secondly the place where it lyeth By lying is understood the act of sinne and as that which lyeth is said to rise again so sinne is not so low nor so asleep but after it hath lyen a while it will rise again that is after the act performed there 〈◊〉 a remorse of conscience for the sinne committed for the act of sinne howsoever the lips of a strange woman drop as hony yet of the remorse he saith the end is more bitter then wormwood Proverbs the fifth chapter and the third verse for sinne is never so sweet in committing as it is bitter in remembring The bread of deceit is sweet to a man in the act of sinne but after when he is touched with remorse it filleth his mouth with gravell Proverbs the twentieth chapter and the seventeenth verse Whosoever devoures holy things they prove a snare to them Proverbs the twentieth chapter and the twenty fifth verse How goodly a colour soever the wine have in the cup and how pleasantly soever it goe down yet in the end it will bite like a Serpent Proverbs the twenty third chapter and the thirty first and thirty second verses They that are desirous to fall asleep hide themselves in some private corner that they may not be 〈◊〉 so there is a secrecy of sinne and men would fain hide sinnes but there is a day of the Lord which when it commeth it shall illuminare occulta tenebrarum the first to the Corinthians the fourth chapter and the fifth verse then the most secret sinnes shall be laied open for there is nothing covered that shall not be known nor hidden that shall not be revealed Luke the twelfth chapter and the second verse Touching the place where sinne lyeth it is at the dore or gate and this it maketh sinne to awake For it cannot sleep by a dore where there is continuall knocking But there is a double interpretation of the word dore First it is referred to the dore of a mans conscience of which it is said Behold I stand at the dore and knock in the third chapter of the Revelations and the twentieth verse And according to this sense Gods meaning is that when sin is once committed a mans conscience will easily be disquieted with the least knocking for the sleep of sinne is like the sleep of him that sleepeth upon the top of a mast in the twenty third of the Proverbs and the thirty fourth verse which being tossed to and fro of the winde suffereth him not to take any quiet rest And that sinne is wakned by the dore of the conscience we have a plain example in the Children of Jacob Affliction knocketh at the dore of conscience to awaken it being asleep for when affliction did knock at the dore of their consciences they remembred their sinne and confessed that all that misery was befallen them for their cruelty towards Joseph in the fourty second of Genesis and the twenty second verse and after Jacob was dead the remorse of conscience did so waken them that they would not be quiet till they had asked Joseph forgivness for their cruelty towards him Secondly because there are some that can sear up their consciences so as they will not be touched with any remorse Therefore there is another dore whereat sinne is said to lye that is the dore or gate of death Psalm the ninth Isaiah the thirty eighth and the tenth verse I am going to the gate of death This gate or dore cannot be shut up we cannot escape death Judex stat prae foribus Jeremiah the fifth chapter as soon as we are out of the dore of death we shall see the Judge ready to give sentence upon us and to condemn us for our sinnes Sinne barketh like a dogge then sinne shall not bark like a Dog but howle and roar as a Lyon not suffering us to take any rest but keep us in continuall torment The consideration of so great miserie as is procured by sinne should terrific us from sinne unless we be worse than beasts who by no means will be brought to run into the fire or any other apparent danger use what extremity towards them you will At erga te est appetitus illius tu praees illi Gen. 4. 7. July 21. 1599. WHich words as heretofore I have told you contain a very gracious and mercifull admonition or if you will have it so a Sermon and that the best Sermon that ever was made by God to Cain concerning the reforming in himself of those inward trespasses of hypocrisie to God and malice conceived against his brother Of which as the ancient Fathers have divided them be four parts First by way of expostulation Why art thou wrath c. Secondly a point of doctrine and direction to the promise If thou doe well c. And the third a point of correction 〈◊〉 by God by way of commination If thou doe not well sin lyeth at the dore And these three we have already handled now come wee to the last which is the manner how God will deal that he shall be inexcusable saying erga te erit appetitus ejus the meaning whereof it is good that wee know for indeed the diverse taking of the word ejus where unto ejus should be referred makes that the words are 〈◊〉 diversly translated yet are all true and of due and high regard and have very fruitfull and godly meditations for there 〈◊〉 that refer this word ejus to Abell that is thy brothers desire shall be to thee which is not here meant There are others that refer it thus because no mention is made here of Abell but that sinne is the last thing spoken of therefore they refer it to sinne thus the desire of it shall be to thee which is the best translation and the most fit and congruent sense agreeing with the words So then to deal truly and uprightly I have told you that the words may bear both senses well and with good profit therefore I will take them both first together and then tell you which is best If then we understand it to be Abel which cannot be referred to any mans person so well as to Abels take it so as if God should say indeed I respect thy brother and if thou rejoycest that Abel is respected thou dost well for so thou shouldst doe but thou art grieved thereat Why then art thou so sad Here God expostulates with him it is
and waking A third distinction is peccatum cubans and vigilans that is sinne sleeping and lying still and sinne waking that is the temptation of sinne before and while it is committed and then the remorse after The fourth and last distinction is that which 〈◊〉 a difference between the Children of God and of the Devill between the reprobate and the regenerate that in the godly there is peccatum 〈◊〉 but not dominans sin ruleth but reigneth not from hence is grounded that which the Prophet saith in the nineteenth Psalm Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes and in the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm Direct my steps that no iniquitie have dominion over me so the Apostle in the sixth chapter to the Romans Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies yet he confesseth in the seventh chapter to the Romans that sinne dwelleth in him By which we may see plainly what it meaneth for sinne would command a mans body his eye foot and hand yea set all the parts of his body a work about that it 〈◊〉 But that party when sinne biddeth him 〈◊〉 and goe 〈◊〉 still when sinne biddeth him stretch out his hand can clasp it close when sinne biddeth him delight his eye can shut it close when sinne biddeth take to heart and one doth with sighs shake it off he that when sin commeth running shutteth the dore against it avoideth all provocations in such a one there is peccatum currens but not dominans That is for the division and the difference between these two sorts of persons But secondly we have a main foundation which the ancient Fathers and Doctors ground upon the thirteene verses of the third chapter where God useth the same words to the woman that he useth to Cain here Why hast thou done this And the Woman said The Serpent beguiled me It sheweth that the proceding of Cains sinne was as the first sinne was for the Serpent first shewed her the fruit and she did eat and then after she shewed it to Adam and it pleasing his sight he likewise did eat This is the proceeding of sinne from the Serpent to Eve from her to Adam and so here the presuming of reason in Cain contrary to reason was as that in Eve and Adam and therefore as after God said to the woman Thy desire shall be subject to thy husbands and he shall rule over thee so here he saith Cain shall bear rule over sin and the same shall befall in mans sensuality that is his lusts and concupiscence which befell his uper part which is his reason alluring him and drawing him to sinne Therefore they call the understanding and reason which is the uper part of the soul Adam and the lower part that is the affection Eve The desire and pleasure of sinne that is the apple and sinne is as the Serpent As this is grounded upon the speech of God so is it upon the similitude and manner of sinne whereby man is caught as a fish with the bait in the first chapter of James for reason taketh the bait first Such a proceeding is in all sinne and there is no other temptation to sinne now then there was in the beginning to Adam and Eve Thus much for our state and duty arising by way of instruction and exhortation to behave our selves so as sinne get not the rule over us I come now to the last in these words But thou shalt bear rule over it Wherein we ask How shall this be fulfilled can we give to nature that power and freewill nay it is plain we cannot neither is Gods intent so to doe for we are not able of our selves as from our selves to think a good thought as it is in the second to the Corinthians the third chapter and the third verse for we have all been as an unclean thing all our righteousnesse is like a filthy cloth in the sixty fourth chapter of Isaiah and the sixth verse so that he that hath no more in him than the strength of nature is as he that followeth the steps of an harlot whose case is like to the oxe that goeth to the slaughter as it is in the seventh chapter of the Proverbs Therefore it is not to be desired neither is it in our strength to doe it for where God saith Tee shall rule over it Is our strength able to doe thus No. Further as Moses said in the 30. of Deuteronomie and the 14. that Gods meaning in giving him the Law was not that he could doe it or should of himself but it was verbum fidei the word was as near to thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart to doe it This word is the word of promise as Paul expoundeth it in the tenth chapter to the Romans The means to rule sinne is as near thee as sinne is Say not in thy heart who shall goe up into heaven the means is the word of faith which assureth thee of Christ the promised seed who shall for thee break the head of the Serpent as it is in the third chapter of Genesis and give thee the victorie over sinne for else this doctrine had been false if that promise had not gone before then there is Christ without whom we can doe nothing but sinne as himself speaketh Sine me nihil potestis facere in the fifteenth chapter of John the fifth verse It is he that giveth repentance in the second 〈◊〉 to Timothie the second chapter by whom they come 〈◊〉 amendment 〈◊〉 of the snare of the Devill And therefore as the Apostle saith Wee must be strong in the Lord that we may be able to resist in the sixth chapter to the Ephesians For we are able to doe all things in him that strengthneth us as it is in the fourth chapter to the Philippians that is by the strength of his grace enabling us For the performance whereof we must sue to him and begge it at his hands by prayer And that is the meaning of the words that we should ire ad Dominum ut in Domino dominemur 〈◊〉 must goe to him that hath trod upon the bead os the Serpent and overcome the power of Hell Sinne and Death and he shall tread down Sat an under 〈◊〉 feet in the sixteenth chapter to the Romans and the twentieth verse In the one hunderd and tenth Psalme He shall bear rule over his enemies then he may justly bid us bear rule over sinne seeing he is both able and milling to help us There is no man hath set it down more excellently than St. Gregory who saith Justus Deus instat praecepto quia cùm instat ptaecepto praecurrit auxilio so that if a man can remember what Christ hath done how that he which hath broken the Serpents head will give us power to bear rule over sinne as he is able so will he if we be earnest suitors to him for 〈◊〉 give us grace and strength whereby to resist temptations of sinne So saith the Apostle in the second to
reprehension Then the shewing of the promise which God maketh to them that doe well and on the other part the danger of the 〈◊〉 that belong to them that doe evill and when withall we 〈◊〉 that 〈…〉 will set upon us yet it shall not prevail against us but we shall have the mastry over it if we accept of Gods grace offered to us Now seeing God laboureth by all these means to drive Cain from sinne and he notwithstanding continues hardened in it we see the Prophets words verefied that God ordereth his works in 〈◊〉 for t That the mouth of wickedness may be stopped Psalm the one hnndred and seventh and the fourty second 〈◊〉 God may in this respect say to Cain and every wicked man quid debui facere quod non feci I saiah the fifth chapter so that we are not to accuse God that Cain proved so wicked for he is to be justified when he is judged Psalm the fifty first The use hereof 〈◊〉 to those that are Preachers of the word that seeing the Scholar is not above his Master seeing the Messenger is not greater than he that sent him we should content our selves if our preaching have not that success we with seeing Gods Sermon made to Cain did want effect And yet we see our weakness in the Prophet who seeing that his pains took no place with his auditors resolved that he would speak no more in Gods name Jeremiah the twentieth chapter and the ninth verse but Esay made a better conclusion Isaiah the fourty ninth chapter and the fourth verse For albeit he confessed he laboured in vain and spent his strength in vain yet he will goe on still for that he knew his reward was with God Heb. 6. When God preacheth and Cain never the better Our labour is not in vain in the Lord. when Christ in his first Sermon could doe no good we are not to think it strange though our preaching want success Though others profit not feeing nothing befalls but what befell God and Christ the Prophets and Apostles for it was St. Pauls case also the second to the Corinthians and the second chapter Note it is better it should want effect being preached than it should not be preached at all and better it should perish in the eares of the hearers than in the mouths of such as are Ministers Thus much we have to observe on Gods part It is Cains way not to profit by Sermons but to grow worse after Now on Cains part we are to note first what is Cains way that taking notice of it we may labour to avoid it for the Apostle saith Woe to them that walk in the way of Cain Jude the eleventh Now the way that Cain walked in was to hear Sermons but not to profit by them As he was careless in his sacrifice and thought any thing would serve to offer to God so when God preacheth to him he had no respect how he heard and therefore he had no profit thereby When God had used all means that could be to draw him from sinne First by shewing him that it was an absuid thing to finne more 〈◊〉 a bruit beast than a reasonable man Secondly by shewing him not only that he should by finne deprive himself of God but procure his own woe and be brought to account for it And lastly by ministring to him comfort that from the blessed seed of the woman that hath broken the head of the Serpent he should receive strength to subdue sinne yet for all this he stops his eare lyke the deaf Adder Psalm the fifty eighth and saith with them Jeremiah the fourty fourth and the sixteenth verse Say what you will we will doe what pleaseth our selves This was Cains humor and this was theirs also that heard Jeremy Ezekiel the thirty third chapter and thirty first verse They come and fit before thee they hear thy words but doe them not but their heart goeth on their covetonsness and runneth upon their worldly affaires Cain was the Patriarch of all such and as they walk in his way so they must come to be partakers of that woe that belongs to him and to all his of spring But we are further to note that Cain was not only not a whit better but far worse after the Sermon he went as the Psalmist speaks Psalm the sixty ninth from one wickedness to another Note he proceeded from wrath to deadly hatred and from hatred to murther from peccatum in affectu to peccatum in effectu for the word that goeth out of Gods mouth shall not return to him void but shall accomplish that which God will and prosper in the things whereto he sent it Heb. 6. It is like the rain that falleth down from heaven and watereth the earth which though it bring not forth good corn yet it causeth thorns and thistles to spring up Isaiah the fifty fifth chapter and the tenth and eleventh varies and so the Apostle saith that the Gospel preached by him is not in vain but is either odor vitae ad vitam or odor mortis ad mortem the second to the Corinthians and the second chapter and this effect it hath not that it is the nature of Gods word to bring forth evill Example but as the nature of water is to coals and never to kindle unless it be in lime which is hot and kindled by means which naturally cooleth and quencheth all other things so where the nature of Gods word is to kill sinne if it be uttered to the wicked which perish sinne is made unreasonably sinfull by the word Romans the seventh chapter and wicked men are the more hardened in their sinne when by the word they are reproved of sinne Hence it is that men being reproved and checked of sinne by the word have proved more sinfull Note The worse by reprehension As Abner being reproved by Isbosheth was the worse in the second of Samuel and the third chapter so Asa being reproved of the Prophet was the worse in the second of the Chronicles and the fifteenth chapter For the pariculars of this verse we must know that Cain's sinne is not a sinne presently committed but that kinde of sinne which is plowed for He goeth about and fetcheth a compass before he committeth the deed He had already resolved to murther his Brother if opportunity would serve before he spake word to him And as he that looketh after a woman to lust after her hath already committed adulterie in his heart in the fifth chapter of Matthew Murther in heart not acted so Cain was already guilty of murther though it were not actually committed and so it was with Judas so soon as he had agreed with the Scribes and 〈◊〉 to kill Christ he was guilty of murther before God as if it were already done All the while that he was compacting with them about his death he was in that sinne as Christ saith of him Quod facis
fac cito John the thireenth chapter and the twenty seventh verse only Cain and Judas wanted but opportunity which so soon as they had obtained they committed their sinne actually The causes of Cains proceeding to the committing of this act are diverse down after diverse sorts First he seeketh a convenient place and opportunity and maketh choyce of the field because he would not be hindred in doing the murther for he could not have any opportunitie at home for Adam and Eve being at hand would have been ready to hinder him And as he makes choyce of this place not to be hindered so in that after he denyed the fact it appeareth his desire was as well not to be discovered as not to be hindred Wherein we have to respect first his great blindness that could not see the nature of sinne for in that he sought such a place for the doing of it as might be hid and unknown It is strange he could not perceive it to be a work of darkness his own conscience did condemn him for he durst not be seen to doe that which he did but in hypocrisie would seem not to be what he was this was his way and we must beware that we walk not in it Again it is strange that he was more afraid of Adam a mortall man than of the omnipotent God and was more fearfull that Adam his Father a mortall man should see him than that God who is able to grinde him in a morter should behold his fact Wherefore as sinne is a dishonest thing perswading against all reason to fear man more than God so is it a dishonest thing for that we will not be seen to commit sinne as a thing that standeth not with their credits and therefore make choice of such places as are fittest for the concealing thereof Note Secondly he deviseth how to draw Abel to that place and what means to use that Abel might goe confidently with him thither To that end though he have not now spoken to him of a long time yet he is content to speak kindly to him The heathen man saith that if a man will hate he must doe it apertè unless he will be worse thin wilde beasts for they violenly flie upon those things which they hate Dissembled hatred discovered by silence but the Devill hath taught men to dissemble their hatred that they might be worse than beasts Hatred commonly is discerned by silence one argument of that hatred and grudge which Josephs bretheren bare to him was not potuerunt alloqui illum Genesis the thirty seventh chapter and so Absolom having conceived hatred and displeasure against Ammon spake neither good nor ill to him the second of Samuel and the thirteenth chapter but as the 〈◊〉 when he most of all hated our first Parents would seem to be touched with some commisseration of their estate Genesis the third chapter Note Hath God indeed said ye shall not eate Nay but he knoweth c. So he 〈◊〉 Cain to dissemble his hatred with fair words which dissimulation is a sinne condemned not only of the heathen but abhorred by the Saints of God For when such a one as walks in the house of God with him as his friend and companion should deceive him then David had cause to pray against such a one Psalm the fifty fifth Let death seize upon him Cain though he hated his brother and purposed his death yet to accomplish his purpurpose he makes a fair semblance of love Example So Absolom being minded to murther Ammon pretends great love to him he must needs have Ammon to the Sheep-shearing or else all his cost is lost But shall not Ammon my brother come the second of Samuel and the thirteenth chapter this course took Joab with Amasa the second of Samuel and the twentieth chapter so Judas dissembled his malice with hail Master and kissed him John the twenty ninth This sin is abominable yea it containeth seven abominations as the Wiseman tells us Proverbs the twenty sixth chapter and the twenty fifth verse and they that 〈◊〉 hatred with love and slattering words walk in the way of Cain That which Cain spake with Abel when they were alone as St. Jerome thinketh was that he 〈◊〉 Abel what God had said to him and what he had taught him the 〈◊〉 referres it to this verse that his words to him were eamus ad agrum whatsoever it was he said it was abominable hypocrisie Thirdly we see that Abel obeyed the voice of his elder brother for that it was Gods will he should bear rule over him so he went thinking all had been well The best natures not suspicious for the best natures are least suspicious as we have an example in Gedaliah who beleeved that Ishmael had no purpose to hurt him Jeremiah the fourtieth chapter for charity is not suspicious in the first to the Corinthians and the thirteenth chapter especially Abel had little cause to suspect him that was come from a Sermon and seemed to be a new man Note so that he spake kindly to him that had not given him a good look along time This change in Cain made Abel to goe with him and being in the place appointed Cain arose and slew him Degrees of Cains sinne 〈◊〉 Touching the death of Abel we are to observe from the words First it was a violent death for his life did not goe out of him but as the word signifieth it was rent from him Secondly it was a bloody death as the words of God to Cain shew The voice of thy Brothers blood which thou hast slain cryeth to me verse the tenth Thirdly it was a sudden death and therefore more grievous because thereby not only the body is killed but the soul also of such a party that is in state of sinne and hath not respite graunted to repent thereof In this act of Cain we have to observe these things wherby his sin is aggravated First the sinne which he committeth is murther a sinne the more grievous for that it is the defacing of Gods Image Genesis the ninth chapter Secondly his fact the more odious for that the party murthered is one more weak than himself for he was younger than Cain therefore it was a cowardly part to set upon his inferiour It is the thing which the Wise-man complaineth Ecclesiastes the eighth chapter I saw one man bear rule over another not for good so the authority and superiorty which was committed to Cain should have been for Abels good but he abused it to the hurt of his younger brother Thirdly where God will not have any innocent blood shed but sacrifice must be offered Deuteronomie the twenty first chapter Cain kills innocent Abel which doth in a third degree aggravate his sinne for to shed innocent blood is a thing that Pilate himself could not abide and therefore washed his hands declaing that he was clear from killing Christ Matthew the twenty seventh chapter and the twenty fourth
of his sinne is dispatched in a word My sinne is greater but he takes his punishment in pieces and thinks of it particularly whereupon one saith of Cain and the wicked that the repetition which they make is eorum quae ferunt non quae fecerunt they are generall in their sinne but particular in their punishment For as of the abundanee of the heart the mouth speaketh Matthew the twelfth chapter so we may gather by Cains words that he thinks more of his punishment than of his fault that which offends him stood more in his sight and grieved him more than that which offended God but the godly are of another minde for they will be content to have the punishment remain upon them so that the guilt may be taken away But there is a third point in this repetition which is a perverting of the order which God set down in giving the Sentence God began with the curse ended with casting out of the earth but Cain beginneth with his casting out of the earth wherein he sheweth what is his greatest grief for if a man suffer many pains he will speak of that first which doth most pinch him and complain first of the losse of that thing which he doth most of all affect in that he first complaineth he is cast out from the face of the earth he sheweth he took more care for the face of the earth than the face and presence of God and it grieved him more to be deprived of the good will of men than of the favour of God It is otherwise with the Saints of God for they crie Psalm the seventy third and the twenty fift verse Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none in earth whom I desire besides thee Psalm the 〈◊〉 third Thy kindness is better than life it self and when they come to make composition between heavenly things and earthly we see what David saith in the second of Samuel the fifteenth chapter and the twenty fift verse If I finde favour in Gods sight I will see the Ark again that is the presence of God and makes choice of that as his greatest felicity not to enjoy his Scepter or to be restored to his Wives and Children which earthly men would make most account of so the Apostle Philippians the third chapter and the eighth verse Esteeming all things as dung in respect of Christ. Whereby we see that as Cains punishment grieved him more than his sinne so the earthly part of his punishment offends him more than the heavenly One thing more is to be added that is Cains Commentary or interpretation of Maledictus for he saith that to be cursed is to be cast out from Gods presence The presence or face of God hath reference to the power of God or to his favour from the presence of Gods power knowledge or spirit there is no escaping Psalm the one hundred and thirty ninth If I climb up to heaven 〈◊〉 art there if I goe down to hell thou art there also of which the Prophet saith Jeremiah the twenty third chapter and the twenty fourth verse coelum terram ego 〈◊〉 but that is not his meaning but that he is cast out from the presence of Gods favour so are 〈◊〉 words to be taken to Moses Exodus the tenth chapter and the twenty eighth verse Get thee from me and look thou see my face no more Rsalm the thirty first and the twenty second verse I said in my half I am cast out from thy presence and Psalm the eightieth Turn again O Lord cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved so that we must know that albeit God be present every where with his power yet he is not present with his favour and not only that but it signifieth the place where the favour and grace of God is intailed that is his House and Church of which the Prophet saith Psalm the ninty fift Let us come before his presence or face with thanksgiving When shall I come and appear in the presence of God Psalm the fourty second of which presence Christ saith Matthew the eighteenth chapter When two or three be gathered together I am amongst them and the Apostle in the second to the Corinthians the second chapter In the presence of Jesus Christ forgive I them that is in the Church where God speaketh to us in his word and we again speak to him by prayer so Cains punishment is both spirituall and ecclesiasticall for that he is not only shut out of Gods favour but cast out of the place where the presence of his favour and grace is shewed and the punishment was justly inflicted upon Cain that durst commit so great an offence in the presence and sight of God and when it was committed feared not Gods presence but denyed it as if God knew not of it The second point is Cains admonition wherein the first thing to be observed is how in this repetition it comes to pass that Cain saith whosoever shall finde him will kill him seeing in the sentence there is no mention of death the reason comes from the guiltiness of his conscience severiorum seipso Judicem habet 〈◊〉 whereupon it falleth out that though the Judge absolve yet the party guilty addeth a sentence of condemnation upon himself so doth Cain condemn himself as worthy of death God indeed afterward saith He 〈◊〉 shedeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed Genesis the ninth chapter but seeing Cain 〈◊〉 God hath uttered his opinion of murther that it is a sinne mortall it may be said to him ex ore 〈◊〉 te 〈◊〉 Luke he 〈◊〉 chapter that men may know that wisedome is justified of 〈◊〉 children 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter so 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 of her children Secondly Where he saith he shall be killed with a 〈◊〉 and bloody death this is secundum dictamen rationis ut 〈…〉 fecit expectes Cain is told by his own conscience that 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 murthered Abel so himself must look to be murthered This is that Lex 〈◊〉 written naturally in the hearts of all men which made the bretheren of Joseph to say Genesis the fourty second chapter and the twenty first verse We have sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear him therefore is all this come upon us By that Law it was just that as Hammon had made Gods people afraid so he himself should fear and be dealt with as he had purposed to deal Esther the seventh chapter and the sixt verse therefore the Prophet saith Isaiah the thirty fift chapter and the first verse Woe be to them that spoile for they shall be spoiled and our Saviour Christ saith agreeably Matthew the seventh chapter With what measure ye meat the same shall be measured to you again Thirdly He saith Omnis qui inveniret there could but one kill him and yet his 〈◊〉 tells him he deserveth to die at the hands
Thirdly In this proceeding of Gods councell and wisedome if neither of these take place that neither Cain himself nor others are the better for this mitigation yet as the Woman said in the second of Samuel the fourteenth chapter that albeit one of her Sons had slain the other yet she would not be deprived of him that was alive for that she was willing that her husbands name and 〈◊〉 should continue upon earth so it stood with Adam he had two Sonnes whereof the one was the bane of the other and albeit Cain deserved to die presently yet God doth not so consider the greatness of his sinne that he will forget the nature of man which himself had created and therefore as well to preserve mankinde as to shew that godly posterity is not hereditarie he suffers Cain yet to live For as Adam had a Cain so from Cain who was that evill one in the first epistle of John the third chapter Gods purpose was to derive such as should pertain to the Covenant Of one and the same Parents Gods will is one shall be born after the flesh another after the spirit and he that is born after the flesh shall persecute him that is born after the spirit Galatians the fourth chapter and the twenty ninth verse As we say of his wisedome so it stands not with Gods justice that whosoever findes a Malefactor shall kill him for God doth plainly expresse his will that a Murtherer being worthy of death in himself for all that shall not be murthered of every one Therefore God saith whosoever shall presume of himself to kill Cain though it be with this pretence that he is a murtherer shall be punished seven fold for it is not in every mans power 〈…〉 If any man have committed a crime the Judge shall see whether he be worthy of death and as the Judge shall judge him so shall he be punished Deuteronomie the twenty 〈◊〉 chapter Exodus the twenty second chapter The Magistrate being Gods Ordinance Romans the thirteenth chapter hath power to put a murther to death for he hath the Sword committed unto him for that end But he that taketh up the Sword shall perish by the Sword Matthew the twenty sixt chapter For if every one that findeth a mans 〈◊〉 might kill him it would soon root out all mankinde And that this inconvenience should not fall out God takes order that every man shall not doe that to Cain which Cain hath done to Abel no man may kill a Murtherer unless he have authority committed unto him for that end That is for his sparing The second point is for the punishment of him that transgresseth thus that is he shall be punished seven fold It is strange that be which kills a murtherer shall have a more grievous punishment than he The number of seven is numerus complens hebdomidem therefore by the 〈◊〉 punishment Gods meaning is that he will lay a compleat and consummate punishment upon such a party but howsoever it seem strange yet it is justice for that as God will not have him spared whom he condemns to death as Saul spared Agag in the first of Samuel the fifteenth chapter nor let him goe whom he hath appointed to die in the first of Kings the twentieth chapter and the fourty second verse so it is a grievous sinne to kill him whom God will have spared and this is it which makes the sin of such a party grievous besides the consideration of Gods wrath against them that doe addere afflictiones afflicto Zechariah the first chapter and the fifteenth verse God saith he will be 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 that help forward the affliction of them with whom he was a little angry and therefore such a one shall not escape but before plagued and the Prophet saith the Lord will not judge and condemn a man twice for one fault Nahum the first chapter and the ninth verse Such a man committeth a sinne more grievous than Cains sinne in two respects First Cain transgressed only the Law of nature written in his heart but the other transgresseth not only the naturall Law but Gods express Command who gave order that no man should of himself presume to kill Cain Secondly It is more grievous in that he maketh Cains example a warrant to commit murther but God saith he must not doe so for if a man seeing Cain punished for his sinne shall notwithstanding sinne as he hath done he addeth to his transgression and must therefore have a greater punishment than Cain From those two parts already handled we may gather that to those that sit as Judges in Gods place there is left a power of life and death a power to crucifie and a power to let loose as Pilate said to Christ John the 19th chapter verse the tenth that they have power both to mittigate and to abrogate the punishment of Offenders For the first David was fain of necessity to forbear Joab being himself weak and old and to delay his punishment when he had murthered Abner and Amasa men more righteous and better than he till Salomon his sonne was established in the first of Kings and the second chapter But the reason why Cain's punishment is delayed is not any forbearance of necessity but because the lengthning of his punishment is a better means to restrain men from the like sinne than if he had at once been punished with death For this cause the Prophet saith Psalm the fifty ninth and the eleventh verse Slay them not least my people forget it but scatter them abroad by thy power It is magis ad bonum publicum that the Offenders be spared If Cains life had been presently taken away it might have been doubted whether Cain had ever committed any such sinne or no or if they did beleeve it yet they might soon forget the punishment laid upon him therefore God thought it better he should be spared that others seeing Cain live in continuall miserie might take occasion to inquire what he hath done that understanding the cause of his miserie they may be warned to avoid his sinne Secondly From hence is grounded the aggravation of punishments so that where thest is ordinarily punished with four fold restitution Exodus the twenty second chapter He that stealeth a poor mans sheep that hath no more is by Davids judgment the child of death in the second book of Samuel the twelfth chapter he that finneth upon contempt of Gods command and not of any necessity as he that gathereth sticks upon the Sabbath day Numbers the fifteenth chapter such a one is more grievously to be punished When the party offended will have a man spared then to kill him contrary to his command is a sinne that deserves extraordinary punishment for mensura peccati is that which brings us unto plagarum modus Deuteronomie the the twenty fifth chapter and the second verse Cain being warned from the law of nature kills his Brother and therefore deserves punishment but he that being warned
the Kingdome which he had usurped began to meddle in Religion and to set up two Calves saying Behold your Gods in the first of Kings the twelfth chapter so Irad calls his Sonne Mehujael First what thing is God such a one as saith with Pharaoh Who is the Lord Exodus the fift chapter that is that cared not for God And as Abraham when he came to Gerar said Surely forasmuch as the feare of God is not in this place they will kill me Genesis the twentieth chapter so Mehujael that cared not for God begets Methujhael that is a desparate fellow that cares not for death and his Sonne is Lamech that is a violent fellow a persecutor and an oppressor one that spoileth and treadeth down every man On the other side as Cain hath Irad one that would exalt himself to be Lord so Seth hath Jerad one that is content to goe down for Mehujael a contemner of God among the Children of God there was Mahalaleel id est anuncians or laudans deum a religious person that would praise God For Methushael among the godly there was Methushelah whose name tells us death is triumphing because it is the reward of sinne and hath a worm that dieth not and a fire that is never quenched For Lamech the wicked he is the seventh from Adam as Enoch the Sonne of Seth but this Enoch being the seventh respects things that pertain to the seventh day wherein Lamech is given to oppression This Enoch prophesied an excommunication against sinners that did wickedly spake proudly saying The Lord commeth with thousands of his Saints to give judgement against them as it is in the fourteenth verse of the epistle of Jude and we shall not see any in the Scripture that spake so proudly as this Lamech for he not only brags of his sinne but contemns Gods threatnings and saith he will kill any that come to him therefore this excommunication concerns him for as Seths Enoch walked with God so Lamech that comes of Cain walked after the spirit of the world In the story of Lamech there are two things to be observed First his overflowing lust Secondly his contempt of God and the punishment which God threatned The excesse of his lust stands in this that he took two Wives Where we are to note that he is the first that durst vaunt of poligamie he is primus sacrilegus nuptiarum for in so doing first he did violate the institution of God which is A man shall forsake Father and Mother and cleave 〈◊〉 his Wife Genesis the second chapter and the twenty fourth verse not to his Wives and they two shall be one flesh not three in one flesh Secondly His taking of two Wives is a violating of humane custome for he is in the seventh generation from Adam Adam had but one Wife no more had Cain nor the rest but Lamech treading all custome under foot takes two wherein it is plain that a breach is made of the primitive custome for as Christ saith Matthew the ninteenth chapter non sic fuit abinitio Thirdly Marriage is a mysterie Ephesians the fift chapter and the thirty second verse for God commends unto us a sacred thing in marriage that is the spirituall and holy conjunction of Christ with the Church In which regard persons in that state should not exceed in lust but possesse their Vessels in holiness in the first to the Thessalonians the fourth chapter and the fourth and fift verses and not in the lust of concupiscence As Lamech sinneth against the institution of marriage in these three respects so in regard of the ends of the same which are three First To be a remedy against fornication in the first to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the second verse but Lamechs two Wives were an allurement to it rather and no remedy against it for every man must have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the third verse therefore if he have Wives it is an allurement to lust Secondly The end of marriage is propagation of Children that there may be not only a seed but semen sanctum Malachie the second chapter For that cause he made Adam but one Wife whereas he had spirit enough and might have made him more but he sought a holy seed therefore if any seek seed by more Wives it is not a holy seed but semen nequam semen corruptem Isaiah the first chapter Thirdly The end is for mutuall help but to have more Wives at once the one is a hindrance and no help so were Rachel and Leah to Jacob Genesis the twenty ninth so were Annah and Peniah to Elkanah in the first of Samuel the first chapter Assumpsit autem sibi Lemec uxores duas prioris nomen fuit Hada nomen secundae Tzilla Peperitque Hada Jabalum hic fuit autor habitantium in tentoriis pecuariae Nomenque fratris ejus fuit Jubal hic fuit autor omnium tractantium citharam organon Tzilla verò ipsa quoque peperit Thubal-Kajinum qui erudivit omnem fabrum aerarium ferrarium sororemque Thubal-Kajini Nahamam Gen. 4. 19.20.21.22 Decemb. 16. 1599. IN which verses is set down first the Marriage and after the Race and Ofspring of Lamech The former point verse the ninteenth the latter in the three verses following Concerning the Marriage of Lamech we have already made an entrance into it besides that which hath been already said If we will know what to reckon of this second Wife which Lamech took the Holy Ghost doth set it out unto us in her name For even in the names of holy Scripture as we have heard is engraven most excellent divinitic His second Wifes name was Zillah which hath relation to his first for it signifies her shadow but truth and shadowes are opposite and therefore the Holy Ghost by this name tells us a second Wife is no true Wife but a false and that in such a marriage there is not the body and substance of Gods Ordinance but only a shadow of it as our Saviour Christ said to the Woman that had five Husbands John the fourth chapter and the eighteenth verse He whom thou now hast is not thy Husband And the sentence and judgment of the Hebrew Writers is that where Lamechs former Wifes name is Adah taken from a word that signifies an open assembly and the second Zillah that is a shadow or secret place it is to teach us that Lamech had his former Wife only for a shew but he kept Zillah in secret places to satisfie his unclean lust privily Now because we see this evill act of Lamech hath not so much as a good pretence it is so much the worse and that he wanted a good pretence we shall finde if we inquire what moved him to break out so farre contrary to the Ordinance of God in the Creation who therefore created Adam but one Wife to teach him he might not have more at once
Congregation of such as did invocate the name of the Lord. AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON Severall choice Texts BOTH out of the Old and New TESTAMENT LECTURES Preached in the Parish Church of St. GILES without Cripple-gate LONDON Sed advolavit ad me unus ex istis Seraphim habens in manu sua prunam quam forcibus sumpserat ab altari Admovitque ori meo dicens c. Isaiah 6. 6. Octob. 1. 1598. IN the Liturgy of the ancient Church these words are found applyed to the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood for it is recorded by Basill That at the celebration thereof after the Sacrament was ministred to the people the Preist stood up and said as the Seraphin doth here Behold this hath touched your lips your iniquity shall 〈◊〉 taken away and your sinne purged The whole fruit or Religion is The taking away of sinne Isaiah the twenty seventh Chapter and the ninth verse and the speciall wayes to take it away is the Religious use of this Sacrament which as Christ saith is nothing else but a seale and signe of his blood that was shed for many for the remission of sinnes Matthew the twenty sixt Chapter and the twenty eighth verse for the Angell tells the prophet that his sinnes are not only taken away but that it is done sacramentally by the touching of a Cole even as Christ assureth us that we obtain remission of sinnes by the receiving of the Cup Now as in the Sacrament we consider the Element and the word so we are to divide this Scripture For first in that the Seraphin touched his mouth with a burning Cole taken from the Altar therein we have the element and the word of comfort which the Prophet received was that the Angell said to him Behold this Cole hath touched thy lips and now thine iniquity is taken away and thy sinnes purged And there is such an Analogie and proportion between the Sereaphim and the Priests between the Altar and the Lords Table between the burning Cole and Bread and Wine offered and received in the Lords Supper As we cannot but justifie the wisdome of the ancient Church in applying this Scripture to the holy Eucharist For as St. John sheweth this vision shewed to the Prophet Isaiah is to be understood of our Saviour Christ John the twelfth and the fourty first verse for saith the Evangelist These things said Esay when he saw his glory and spake of him and therefore by this burning Cole taken from the Altar is meant Christ Jesus who by the Sacrifice of his death which hee offered up to God his Father hath taken away our iniquities and purged our sinnes as it is in the sixt chapter to the Hebrewes and therefore for the confirmation of our Faith wee are here taught That our sinnes are no lesse taken away by the element of bread and wine in the Sacrament then the Prophets sinne was by being touched with a Cole The occasion of this touching is set downe in the former verses of this Chapter which doe stand upon a vision and a confession The vision shewed to the Prophet was That hee saw the Lord sitting upon an high Throne as a Judgeready to give Sentence before whom the very Angells were forced 〈◊〉 cover their faces The confession that hee made was Woe is mee for I am uncleane I am a man of polluted lips mine eyes have seene the King and Lord of Hosts From whence wee learne that howsoever by the consideration of his former life and the sinnes that have scaped from him a man may bee brought to some remorse of Conscience yet then especially hee is humbled when hee seeth the vision of Gods glory and therefore nothing is more 〈◊〉 to bring us to repentance than to consider that at the last generall day Wee shall see Christ Jesus the sonne of God come in glory and sit downe in his Throne of glory and give Sentence of condemnation upon the wicked The Prophet who otherwise was no grievous sinner but only guilty of omission for that he had beene silent and did not glorifie God with his 〈◊〉 as he should have done notwithstanding in the sight of Gods glory is touched with remorse cryeth out Woe is me Whereby again wee learne that wee sinne not only when wee speake of these things which wee should not but when wee are silent when we should apply our tongues to Gods glory so that though the excellency of our upright and honest conversation bee never so great in the world yet the Majesty of God is such as shall shew That even those duties that we have omitted shall be sufficient to confound us before his glorious presence unlesse it please him to be mercifull to us therefore when wee appeare before his judgement-seate it shall bee in vain for us to alleage what wee have done forasmuch as the least duty that wee have lest undone is enough to condemn us It shall bee our duty therefore notwithstanding all our righteousnesse to judge our selves worthy to bee destroyed for our iniquities and sinnes of omission Ezechiel the thirty sixt chapter and the one and 〈◊〉 verse and to say with this Prophet Woe is mee for I am a man of polluted lips We must acknowledge that nothing belongs to us but Woe and that God may in justice confound us for the least duty we have omitted Upon this confession made by the Prophet there came an Angell flying from God which by touching his lips with a hot Coale assured him that his sinne was taken away wherefore as by the former wee learne that wee should repent us of our sinnes when wee consider the great Majesty of God so by this wee are taught what to hope for that is that if wee bee penitent God will not bee wanting unto us but will send a Seraphin unto us with a word of comfort to assure us that all our iniquities are purged Two parts First Elementall The outward element appointed by God to confirme his faith was the flying of a Seraphin unto him to touch is mouth with the Cole Secondly Invisible grace the word or invisible grace signifyed by the element was that by that touching his sinne was taken away In the outward action wee are first to consider the element it selfe that was the burning Cole on the Altar next the application persormed by a Seraphin who tooke the Cole from the Altar and touched the Prophets lips First The Element First therefore considering that none can take away sinne but God only wee must needs confesse that there was in this Cole a divine force and virtue issuing from Christ who is the only reconciliation for our sins without which it had not beene possible that it could have taken away sinne But what is here said of this Cole is to bee understood of Christ of whom Esay speaketh in this place When hee saw the glory of Christ John 12. 41. for hee is the Cole by which our sinnes
have not only the Cole that touched the Altar but the Altar it selfe even the Sacrifice of Christs death represented in the Supper by partaking whereof our sins are taken away Secondly the Word or invisible grace The word of comfort whereby the inward Grace is preached unto us is that the Angell said to the Prophet Loe this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity shall bee taken away and thy sinnes purged concerning which wee finde that the Leper was cured of his Leprosie not only by the word but by the touching of Christ but the Centurian said only but speake the word and thy servant shall bee whole Mat. the eighth chapter and the eighth verse so hee can doe what he will with his only word It pleased God to take away the Prophet sinnes by touching his lips And albeit he can take away our sins without touching of bread or wine if he will yet in the councell of his will he commendeth unto us the sacramentall partaking of his body and blood It is his will that our sins shall be taken away by the outward act of the sacrament The reason is not only in regard of our selves which consist of body and soul and therefore have need both of bodily and Ghostly meanes to assure us of our Salvation but in regard of Christ himself who is the burning Cole Forever since God ordained that Christ should take our nature and aptare sibi corpus in the tenth chapter to the Hebrewes and the fifth verse that so he might worke our Reconciliation As Christ became himself a man having a bodily substance so his actions were bodily As in the Hypostasis of the Sun there is both the Humane and Divine nature so the Sacrament is of an Heavenly and Earthly nature As he hath taken our body to himself so he honoureth bodily things that by them we should have our sinnes taken away from us By one bodily sacrament he taketh away the affection unto sin that is naturally planted in us By another bodily Sacrament he taketh away the habituall sins and the actuall transgressions which proceed from the corruption of our nature And here we have matter offered us of faith that as he used the touching of a cole to assure the Prophet that his sins were taken away so in the Sacrament he doth so elevate a peice of bread and a litle wine and make them of such power that they are able to take away our sinnes And this maketh for Gods glory not only to beleeve that God can work our Salvation without any outward means by the inward Grace of his Spirit but also that he can so elevate the meanest of his creatures not only the hemme of a garment but even a strawe if he see it good shall be powerfull enough to save us from our sinnes As Christ himself is spirituall and bodily so he taketh away our sinnes by means not only spirituall but bodily as in the Sacrament For if there be a cleansing power in the Word as Christ speaketh in the fifteenth chapter of John and the third verse If in prayer as Peter sheweth to Simon Magus Pray to God that if it be possible the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the twenty second verse If in shewing mercy and giving almes sinnes shall be forgiven as Salomon saith in the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the sixth verse Per misericordiam purgantur peccata much more in the Sacrament wherein both the word and prayer and the works of mercy doe concurre to the cleansing of sinners from their sinnes Whereas the Seraphim did not take the coale in his mouth but with tongues and applied it not to the Prophets care but to his tongue We learn that it is not the hearing of a sermon that can cleanse us from sinne but we must 〈◊〉 of the bodily element appointed to represent the invisible grace of God It is true that meditation privately had will kindle a fire in the hearts of many in the thirty ninth Psalm and the third verse And the word as it is a fire Jeremie the twenty third chapter and the twenty ninth verse will also kindle a man and heat him inwardly But because in the Sacrament all those doe meete together therefore nothing is so availeable to take away sinne as the touching of bread and wine with our lips The effect The effect of this touching followeth wherein we are to consider First the efficacy of this action Secondly the certainty that as sure as this coale hath touched thy lips so surely are thy sinnes taken away Thirdly the speede that so soon as the coale touched presently sinne was taken away and purged The efficacie standeth of the removing or taking away of sinne and of the purging away of sinne The taking away and purging of sinnes have two uses Some have their sinnes taken away but not purged for something remaineth behinde Some have Adams sigge leaves to hide sinne that it shall not appeare for a time but have not Hezekiah his plaister to heal it in the thirty eighth chapter of Isaiah and the one and twentieth verse But by the touching of this Coal that is of the body and blood of Christ we are assured that our sinnes are not only covered but quite taken away as with a plaister as the Lord speaks I have put away thy transgressions like a cloud and thy sins as a mist Isaiah the fourty fourth and the twenty second verse whereby the Lord sheweth that our sinnes are scattered and come to nothing when it pleaseth him to take them away The other sense gathered from the word purging is that God doth no forgive our sinnes as an earthly Judge 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 or so that he 〈◊〉 away with his 〈◊〉 without any 〈…〉 shewed him 〈◊〉 that he likewise becometh favourable unto 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to doe us all the good he 〈◊〉 If 〈◊〉 can obtain 〈◊〉 pardon at the hands of temp orall Judges it is all they 〈◊〉 looke for but they never come to any preferment But God doth dor only give us 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 as he doth pard on out sinnes so 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 loving and kinde to us Christ doth not only take us away from God that he should not proceed to punish us for our 〈◊〉 but offers us up to God as an acceptable sacrafice as Peter 〈◊〉 Christ once suffered for sinnes the just for the unjust that he might offer us up to God in the first of Peter the third chapter and the eighteenth verse for as the wiseman saith Take the drosse from the silver 〈◊〉 shall proceed a vessel for the refiner Proverbs the twenty fift and the fourth verse So after sinne is taken away from us our nature is most acceptable to God because there remaineth nothing but his own nature Secondly for the certainty As thou hast a perfect sense of the touching of this coal so certainly are thy sinnes taken away
which assurance we are likewise to gather to our selves in this 〈◊〉 that as surely as we corporally doe taste of the bread and wine so sure it is that we spiritually feed on the body and blood of Christ which is communicated unto us by these elements as the Apostle 〈◊〉 in the first to the 〈◊〉 the tenth chapter and the fifteenth verse that the bread broken is the communion of the body of Christ that the cup blessed is the communion of his blood that by partaking of this spirituall food we may be fed to eternall life Thirdly this act was performed with speed the Ceraphin came flying with wings and being 〈◊〉 he hath a present effectuall power to take away his sinne for a little before he that cried out that he was in woefull case verse the 〈◊〉 Vae mibi by and by being touched and revived with comfort of forgivenesse saith Ecce ego mitte me in the eighth verse whereby we learn that the touching with the coal thus taken from the Altar and the participating of the body and blood of Christ hath a power not only to purge and heale the sore of our nature but that it giveth a 〈◊〉 to serve God more cheerfully and carefully than we did before 〈◊〉 us serventes spiritu servent in spirit Rom. the twelfth and the 〈◊〉 verse so that we care for nothing nor count our live 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 may finish our course with joy Acts the twentieth and the twenty fourth verse The summe of all is that seeing it is a fearfull thing to appear in the presence of Gods Majesty and knowing that one day we must all appear before his tribunall seat and throne of glory we do 〈◊〉 with the Prophet that albeit we have lived never so upright a life yet if we have beene silent when we should have spoken to his glory if we have omitted never so little a duty which we ought to have performed for all that our case is miserable untill it please God by the burning coale of his Altar and by the sacrifice of Christs body offered up for us upon the crosse to take away our sinnes And that if we 〈◊〉 humble our selves before God and acknowledge our sinnes then our sinnes shall be purged by the death of Christ and by partaking of the sacrament of his bodie and blood the rather because in the sacrament we doe touch the sacrifice it self whereas the Prophets sinne was taken away with that which did but touch the sacrifice Then after the receiving of this sacrament we must take a view of our selves whether we can say Nonne cor 〈…〉 in nobis Did not our heart burn within us Luke the twenty fourth chapter and the thirty second verse because in this sacrament we finde a fire of Christs love towards us And whether we finde in our selves that willingnesse to serve God aright which was in the Prophet in the eighth verse Behold send me Ecce mitte me As in regard of our misery we made the confession of sinfull men so having experience of Gods mercie in taking away our sinnes we must make the confession of Angels crying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Lastly We must not only shew forth the heat of our love to our needy and poor Brethren by doing the works of mercy but even to our enemies as both Salomon and the Apostle teach If thine enemie hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for so thou shalt heap 〈◊〉 of fire upon his head Proverbs the twenty fift chapter and the twenty first verse and Romans the twelfth chapter and the ninteenth verse For so as thouarta burning coale in thy self so thou shalt kindle in him the coals of devotion to God and of love to thy self Attendite ne justitiam vestram exerceatis coram hominibus ut spectemini ab eis alioquin mercedem non habebitis apud Patrem vestrum qui est in Coelis Matth. 6. 1. Octob. 15. 1598. THE drift of our Saviour in these words is to separate that which is vile from the pretious Jeremiah the fifteenth chapter to sever the tare of vain glory from the good corne of righteousnesse and mercie But as Christ gives charge That while his Disciples laboured to gather away the tares they should beware that they pluck not up the good corne Matthew the thirteenth chapter So while we labour to pluck up the tares of vain glorious intentions we must take heed that we doe not withall pluck up the good corne of good works for heretofore the good seed of the Doctrine of good works was not so soon taught but presently the Devil sowed in mens hearts the wicked opinion of merit of works as tares among good corne And while men laboured to take away the opinion of merits then he takes away out of mens hearts the care of works In the counsel of Christ two things are to be noted First the corn must be sowed take heed ye doe good works Secondly the 〈◊〉 must be plucked up but doe them not to be seen We must doe righteousness both privatly in our own consciences and publiquely before men as the Apostle sheweth Provide for things honest before all men Romans the twelfth chapter But the tares are to be avoided that is to be seen ut videamini where we have a command First Christ will not have us doe good works to this end to be seen Secondly That we may not we must take heed as if he should say My will is ye shall not give almes to this end to be seen Thirdly That ye may avoid this fault ye must take heed Whereby he signifieth that to doe almes to this end to purchase praise to our selves is a hurtfull thing And to avoid this fault is a matter of great difficul y. For the first point Christ saith When ye give almes doe not blow a trumpet when ye fast or pray let not all the world know of it neither let the end be ut videamini Touching which we are to know that our good works are not worse in themselves for being seen but are the better even as the goodnesse of a colour stands in the lightnesse of it so our good works are more commended if they be known And they of themselves desire the light as Christ sheweth in John the third chapter and the twenty first verse But such is our corruption that if we think our works are known we with our pride doe corrupt them For as pride is the way to dry up the fountain of Gods grace as James saith God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble James the fourth chapter So the sight of good works is a means to overthrow our humility The Pharisees knew this full well which purposing to tempt Christ covered their hooks with praise Seeing we know that thou art a teacher come from God and regardest no man tell us is it lawfull Matthew the twenty second chapter But Christ to teach us what a dangerous thing it
nature so with his name He is wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the Prince of Peace Isaiah the ninth chapter Thirdly With his miracles For he raiseth the dead and quickneth whom he will no lesse than the Father John the fift chapter and the twenty first verse Fourthly Because exception was taken against his miracles For they said that he did them by Belzebub Matthew the twelfth chapter therefore he is further sealed with a voyce from Heaven saying This is he in whom I am well pleased heare ye him Matthew the seventeenth chapter not only whom he commands but where he promiseth to refresh them that come to him Matthew the eleventh chapter Fiftly He hath sealed him with the spirit The spirit of the Lord is upon me Luke the fourth chapter And that not only rests John the third chapter the three and thirtieth and four and thirtieth verses content with receiving the spirit for himself but with a power to give it to his So that by his intercession with God the Father He sent down the spirit upon the Apostles Acts the second chapter Being thus sealed by God he is able to nourish us by his flesh crucified for us unto eternall life if he give us grace to lay hold of it by faith Dixit igitur eis Videte cavete ab avaritia nec enim cujusquam vita ex iis quae ipsi suppetunt in eo sita est ut redundet Luke 12. 15. Novemb. 26. 1598. HERE Christ gives two commandements to covetous men First To discern and see the sinne of covetousnesse Secondly To beware of it Against the latter of them as against every other Commandement the corrupt nature of man makes two questions First of Rebellion Why should we beware Secondly of Ignorance How shall we beware The former question is resolved three wayes First We must beware of it because the sinne of 〈◊〉 is hardly avoided the desire of having aboundance is so rooted in the hearts of all men Secondly Because as it is hardly avoided so it is a sinne very hainous in Gods fight being committed howsoever we perswade our 〈◊〉 that those sinnes are the least that are naturally planted in us Thirdly Because whereas men may repent for other sinned they can hardly repent of this For other immoderate desires doe cease by two means either 〈◊〉 they are satisfied or else when death doth approach 〈◊〉 doth yield to neither of these means for the more that riches increase the more doth his covetous desire increase and the 〈◊〉 that death is the more doth a covetous man imbrace his riches and still covet more Touching the second question Though we be perswaded that we ought to avoid this sinne yet we know not how How to avoid 〈◊〉 and therefore we ask How shall we avoid it The word of God appoints 〈◊〉 three means First Trust in God Secondly Prayer against the sinne Thirdly Meditations concerning the same The first means Trust in God First it is a good way for the avoiding of 〈◊〉 to trust in God for that is a thing that the heart of a covetous man will not set himself against He will in no wise follow the counsell of the Philosopher which teacheth That to avoid covetousnesse a man must give himself to the actions of prodigality he would rather hear how he might get money than how to spend that he hath But if he be advised to put his trust in God he will not be against that as a thing which is not so contrary to his sinne as prodigality But this means doth the Scripture inculcate Trust not in uncertain riches the first epistle to Timothy and the sixt chapter If riches increase set not your hearts upon them Psalm the sixty second Riches avail not in the day of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nam per det in die ira Proverbs the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse Let not the rich man glory in his riches 〈◊〉 the ninth chapter and the twenty third verse As the Scripture exhorts us not to trust in riches so it sets forth examples of them that in vain put their trust therein For this is the man that took not God for his strength but trusted in the multitude of his riches Psalme the fifty second But of confidence in God it speaketh thus It is better to 〈◊〉 in the Lord than to put confidence in man Psalm one hundred eighteen O Lord of hosts blessed is the man that putteth his trust in 〈…〉 the eighty fourth Our father 's trusted in thee and thou didest deliver them Psalme the twenty second and the fourth verse The 〈◊〉 shall hunger but such 〈◊〉 trust in the Lord shall want 〈◊〉 good things 〈◊〉 the thirty fourth and the tenth verse A horse is 〈◊〉 thing to 〈…〉 man but the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and trust in 〈◊〉 Psalme the thirty third and the seventeenth verse To deliver their souls from death and to feed them in the time of 〈◊〉 After that a man hath admitted this opinion which is so confirmed by Scripture then there is cause to perswade him for the 〈◊〉 gives two commands in the first to Timothy the sixt chapter and the seventeenth verse Charge the rich of this world not to trust in 〈…〉 but in the living God and to distributs To 〈◊〉 them That the cause why men doe not distribute is for want of trust in God They could be content to sow good works but they look up and fear a cloud of poverty will come upon them and they shall want themselves which would not be if they did trust in God but men give more trust to the uncertainty of riches than to the certainty of Gods promise To help this error our Saviour saith Care 〈◊〉 for your heavenly Father knoweth that you need all these things Matthew the sixt chapter and the thirty second verse And the Apostle saith Let your conversation be without 〈◊〉 for God 〈◊〉 said I will not leave thee nor for sake thee Hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the fift verse If we were perswaded that he that seeks to obtain Gods favour by doing good works layeth up a better 〈◊〉 for the time to come than he that heaps up riches the first epistle to Timothy the sixt chapter and the nineteenth verse it would make us use this means for the avoiding of 〈◊〉 For be a man never so rich in this world and never so honourable yet his glorie shall not goe with him Psalm the fourty ninth and the seventeenth verse But their works follow them opera 〈…〉 Apoc the fourteenth chapter and the thirteenth verse Therefore it were good for us rather to respect and provide for the time to come And as it is good for the life to come so for this life present For a little that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly Psalme the thirty seventh and the sixteenth verse And Godlinesse hath promise of this life and that which is
to come the first epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter and the eight verse Again to trust in God and not in riches is a better foundation not for our selves only but for our posterity I never saw the righteous for saken nor 〈◊〉 seed begging their bread Psalm the thirty seventh and the twenty fift verse The seed of the righteous is blessed Psalme one hundred and twelve and the second verse The second mean Prayer The second means to avoid this sinne is Prayer either with a moderate desire to pray with Salomon Proverbs the thirtieth chapter That God will give neither poverty nor riches or with David Psalme the hundred and nineteenth Incline my heart is thy Laws and not to 〈◊〉 And this is a good means such as a covetous man will 〈◊〉 admit For howsoever the sinne of covetousnesse be rooted in the heart of man yet when he considers the danger that he is in by the same he will pray that he were not covetous And howsoever the Apostle saith The prayer of a righteous man availeth mush if it be servent Oratia 〈◊〉 pravales James the fift chapter and the sixteenth verse yet God will sometime hear the prayer of a wicked man if it be not servent yet if it be offered up often it will not be in vain not by the violence or weight but by often rising up as the water that often falls makes the stone hollow The prayers of wicked men are turned into sinne if they be ordained to sinne Psalme the hundred and ninth and the seventh verse And God doth not hear them that ask to spend upon their lusts James the fourth chapter and the third verse But when wicked men pray against sinee and seek for grace to destroy sinne in them God doth not reject these prayers For Christ will not 〈◊〉 the smoking 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 flashing of such destics in the 〈◊〉 of coverous men enough they be not so vehement as the prayers of righteous men Mathew the twelfth chapter Christ did not quench the small desire that was in 〈◊〉 at the first but accepted of it so that it grew to be a desire of shewing greater works of liberality Luke 19. The third 〈◊〉 The third means is Meditation Every covetous 〈…〉 these flashing desires in his heart that he were not to covetous As 〈◊〉 though he lived wickedly yet desired to dyethe death of the righteous But that those desires may be constant they 〈◊〉 wife from meditation which will stitre them up often For so they will be 〈…〉 ad meridiem Proverbs the fourth chapter and the eighteenth verte Whereas otherwise they are as the sudden flash of lightning that doth no sooner appear but is presontly gone Therefore that he may avoid this sinne the covetous man among all his thoughts of vanity I will goe to the Citie and buy and fell 〈◊〉 the fourth chapter I will pull down any barus and make greater I will act and drink Luke the twelfth chapter must 〈◊〉 these true thoughts which only keeps him from it First he must think of the means whereby he obtains riches Secondly of riches what it is to be rich and what riches are That he may consider of the means of getting riches as he ought he must think first To how many cares he is brought with the desire of being rich how infinite and 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 are that they are like 〈◊〉 he hath 〈◊〉 sooner rid himself of one care but another ariseth in his heart For when a man hath enough yet still he hath his cares They that want meat and drink doe but say What shall we eat and 〈◊〉 At 〈◊〉 the sixt chapter and the rich men that have to eat and drink are also car 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 more and to enlarge 〈◊〉 banos to receive more Lake the twelfth chapter therefore the Apostle saith well They that will be 〈◊〉 pearct themselves with many sorrows the 〈◊〉 epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the sixt chapter Secondly to how many sinnes the 〈◊〉 man doth end anger his soul while to gather riches he sticketh not to sinne against God by oppression by deceit by peryury swearing and 〈…〉 Thirdly to how many judgments and 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 he is subject by means of these sinnes even while he is in this life 〈◊〉 That by means of his 〈◊〉 he is like no 〈◊〉 forever A sorrow 〈◊〉 to every sinne For whereas there is a sorrow due to every sinne which 〈◊〉 by repentance is remitted and 〈…〉 at the 〈◊〉 of God The sinne of the covetous man is so 〈◊〉 in him 〈◊〉 he cannot be sorry for it the more he hath the more he still desiteth and the neerer he is to death the more 〈…〉 his 〈◊〉 of covetousnesse Of restitution Without it no remission If he will be truly penitent for 〈◊〉 he must make restitution as 〈◊〉 Luke the nineteenth chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 non 〈…〉 But this is that which makes a 〈◊〉 mans sinne 〈◊〉 before God That he cannot make restitution which notwithstanding must be made and other sinnes require no restitution therefore Christ 〈◊〉 well That it is as hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdome of Heaven as for a Camel to passe through the eye of a needle Matthew the nineteenth chapter When the young man was willed to sell all he had and to give to the poor he was very sore grieved so loath are they to restore that which they have unjustly gotten together But howsoever the Doctrine of restitution is durus serme yet it is sanus sermo The consideration of these four things that doe accompany the greedy desire of getting riches will make a man to avoid this sinne if he think upon them throughly Uncertainty of riches evils they bring The second observation is touching riches wealth it self If thou consider how deceitfull and uncertain a thing riches is for which thou hast brought thy self to so many inconveniences and such infinite cares so many grievous sinnes to so many judgements of God daily hanging over our heads for the same and into such difficulty of 〈◊〉 it will make thee avoid it therefore our Saviour calls riches deceitfull Matthew the thirteenth chapter and the twenty second verse And the Apostle saith they are uncertain vanity the first epistle to Timothie the sixt chapter The reason is because he that hath them to day may lose them to morrow and though they make mans life comfortable for a while yet they cannot prolong life The reason is because our life doth not stand in the aboundance of wealth In which words the holy Ghost gives them leave to imagine that if they be covetous they shall be wealthy and rich howbeit it is not any means that the covetous man can use that will make him wealthy for which of you by taking thought Proverbs the twenty second chapter and Matthew the sixt chapter The blessing of the Lord maketh rich Sola 〈◊〉 Domini Proverbs the tenth chapter
Christ which wee should chiefly desire to see is that joyfull day of his birth whereof the Angels brought word a day of great joy to all the people that this day is born a Saviour Luke the second chapter In the desire it self we are to consider two things First the Degree Secondly the Manner of this Desire First for the Degree It is noted in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is leaped for joy of that day in regard of the great benefit which should come unto the world by Christs birth Which joy the babe John Baptist expressed who before he was borne leaped in his Mothers womb Luke the first chapter and the fourty first verse The joyfull desire here mentioned is as St. Peter speaks a joy unspeakable and glorious the first epistle of Peter and the eighteenth chapter To teach us that the day of Christs comming in the flesh is a day most of all to be desired and a matter of the greatest joy that can be Secondly For the Manner of this Desire It was a desire joyned with trust and confidence without which our desire is in vain be it never so hot Abrahams desire of seeing Christs day was joyned with hope that he should see it which he so much desired The Creatures desire to see the day of their redemption for they groan Romans the eighth chapter but this desire is without hope These desires are both to be seen in Jacob For when his sonnes being sent from Joseph told him that Joseph was alive and was Governor in the land of Egypt his heart wavered Then he had a desire to see Joseph but it was not joyned with hope for he beleeved them not But when they told him Josephs words and shewed him the Chariots that were sent for to bring him then he had a desire with hope and his spirit revived within him Genesis the fourty fift chapter and the twenty sixt verse The hope that he conceived of seeing him whom he desired to see made him rejoyce Touching the Reason of this desire he had sufficient matter of present joy for he was exceeding rich in Cattel and Silver and Gold Genesis the thirteenth chapter and the second verse Why then doth he long after a joy to come The reason is though God had blessed him with aboundance of temporal blessings yet he considered a day would come when his present joy should be taken from him John the sixteenth chapter Therefore he desires a joy that had a foundation that is not earthly but heavenly joyes Hebrews the eleventh chapter Such as should not be taken from him John the sixteenth chapter and the twenty second verse as Job knew that his Redeemer lived Job the nineteenth chapter So Abrabam desired a Redeemer and such a one he had For thus saith the Lord which redeemeth Abraham Isaiah the fourty ninth chapter and the twenty second verse That might redeem his soul from Hell Psalm the fourty ninth And his body out of the dust of death Psalm the twenty second for he confessed himself to be both dust and ashes Genesis the eighteenth chapter Dust in regard of his nature and therefore subject to corruption but ashes in regard of his sinnes by which he is subject to everlasting condemnation in respect of both he desired a Redeemer that might deliver both his body from death and his soul from destruction that might say revertite silii Psalm the ninetieth and the third verse He considered he needed a Redeemer for his soul and body that he might not be dust and ashes and therefore exceedingly desired one that would deliver his soul from being ashes and his body from the dust Secondly It is said of Abraham that he saw Christs day the notice of Gods eternal mercie herein was Abrahams desire by whose example all that will see Christ must first desire the sight of him as he did Et desiderium sit eum spectare Though Abraham did not actually see Christ in the flesh yet he had a desire which was all one as if he had seen him with bodily eyes For if the concupiscence only of evill be sinne though the act follow not then desire of that which is good is accepted albeit it be not actually performed therefore Nehemiah prayeth Hearken to thy servants that desire to fear thy name Nehemiah the first chapter and the eleventh verse The very hungring and thirsting after righteousnesse is effectual to blessednesse Matthew the fift chapter When we can say with David Coepit anima me a desider are justitias tuas Psalm the hundred and nineteenth We desire to be more desirous of it as a thing acceptable before God and though our soul desire not yet the want of it is our woe and the fainting of our joyes while we say When wilt thou comfort us Psalme the hundred and nineteenth Those are as the bruised reed and smoaking flax which he will not quench Isaiah the fourty second chapter That which Abraham did see was Christs day which is true in what sense soever we take it He saw the day of his Deity Genesis the eighteenth chapter the second and third verses when seeing three men he ran to meet them and bowed himself to the ground saying Lord which was a vision of the Trinity Secondly For the day of his death and passion he saw that too Genesis the twenty second chapter and the fourteenth verse when Abraham making the great promise of his obedience by sacrificing his sonne upon mount Moriah when after Christ was crucified said In mane 〈◊〉 provideat Dominus though he take not my sonne Isaac yet will he take one of my seed that shall be the sonne of Abraham Thirdly He saw the day of Christs nativity when he said to his servant Put thy hand under my 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 by the Lord God of Heaven and God of the earth 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 fourth 〈◊〉 and the twenty third verse Quod 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉 saith 〈◊〉 but it was to shew that the seed in whom all 〈◊〉 should be blessed should come out of his loins and take flesh of him for he took the seed of Abraham Hebrews the second chapter So Abraham saw all the dayes of Christ. But secondly We are to inquire in what 〈◊〉 he saw this day For which point we must know he saw not Christs day 〈◊〉 Simeon whose eyes did behold 〈◊〉 salvation Luke the second chapter nor as 〈◊〉 to whom Christ saith 〈◊〉 are the eyes that see the things which 〈◊〉 see Luke the tenth chapter that is with bodily eyes which many 〈◊〉 and Kings could not see So Abrahams outward man 〈◊〉 not see Christs dayes but he 〈◊〉 it in the 〈◊〉 man Romans the 〈◊〉 chapter He saw it spiritually with the eyes of 〈…〉 Ephesians the first chapter and the eighteenth verse And 〈◊〉 the eyes of faith which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 things not 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 By which things invisible to the eyes of the body are made visible to the eye of the minde by the eye of
forward to that perfection Hebrews the sixt chapter and the first verse That as we may not 〈◊〉 be babes in knowledge that must be taught line upon line Esay the twenty ninth chapter but labour to come to a fulnesse of knowledge which the Apostle calls A treasure of wesdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Colossians the second chapter and the third verse So for being faithfull men we must not content our selves with a weak and feeble faith but must strive to attain to an assurance of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrews the tenth chapter and the twenty second verse not to say as Agrippa Acts the twenty sixt chapter I am somwhat perswaded to be a Christian that is but a beginning of faith but when we have this beginning we are to goe forward and so in hope we must not content our selves with a good perswasion at the first and so to rest in a mammering but proceed till we be fully assured And this St. Peter telleth plainly we must perfecte sperare the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the thirteenth verse trust perfectly This is Peters desire as it is the Apostles here Which full assurance that it is a different thing from faith the Apostle sheweth Ephesians the third chapter and the twelfth verse In whom we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by faith in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That confidence or fiducia as the Apostle calls it is the perfection of our hope and we attain to it as he faith per fidem This fiducia is the effect of faith as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 access and boldness of speech are the effects of hope the second epistle to the Corinthians the third chapter and the twelfth verse Those beginnings of hope and faith are not to be disliked Mark the ninth chapter and the twenty fourth verse I beleeve Lord help my unbelief but he that hath such a faith must strive to come to Abrahams faith Qui contra spem sub spe credidit Romans the fourth chapter So he hath that small meature of hope which the Prophet speaketh of Joel the second chapter and the fourteenth verse Who knoweth if the Lord will return and repent and leave a blessing hehinde him Jon. the third chapter and the ninth verse These 〈◊〉 beginnings not to be disallowed so that he strive further to the perfection of hope which was in Job Job the thirteenth chapter and the fifteenth verse Etenim si occiderit sperabo in eum Which made Paul say Romans the eighth chapter and the thirty eighth verse I am sure that neither life nor death things present nor to come c. Thirdly This fulnesse of hope must continue to the end and not abide for a time As Christ blames Luke the eighth chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Apostle finds fault with temporary hope It is that which we see in Demas he beleeved and had hope and gave great hope for a time so that Paul acknowledged him his fellow laborer but his faith and hope had soon an end for he for look Paul and fell to embracing the present world the second epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter Therefore it is not enough to hope for a time but our hope must continue to the end for as the Apostle saith thou mayst see the goodnesse of God in breaking off the natural branches to graff thee in if thou continue for else he will shew like severity to thee Romans the eleventh chapter and the seventeenth verse but thou must permanere The same Apostle saith Galatians the fift chapter and the seventh verse You did run well as if he should say nay you fate still and therefore all is to no purpose Therefore the Apostle exhorts So to run that they may obtain the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter as he himself doth in chastising his body and subduing it least while he preach to them he should be rejected His meaning is albeit he be assured That nothing shall separate him from the love of God Romans the eighth chapter and the thirty eighth verse yet he will runne still and keep his hope For the state 〈…〉 is like the fanctifying of the Nazarite If at the end of six dayes he did touch any unclean thing he was to begin again Numbers the sixt chapter and the twelfth verse So it is in the matter of hope and other virtues And therefore the Prophet prayeth not only for the spirit and an ingenious spirit but a constant spirit that may continue Psalm the fifty first The means are set down in these words First he would have them use Diligence Secondly it must be demonstrative and expert Diligence Thridly it must be the same Diligence that is shewed in the works of Love and Charity and in the distribution to the poor Of these three points the first is The Apostle 〈◊〉 we may deceive our selves in our hope He that said I shall never be moved Psalm the thirtieth and and the sixt verse had hope enough and too much and he that said Though all men for sake thee yet not I Matthew the twenty sixt chapter hoped enough and too much and therefore hope doth well in injoyning the means for as in the beginning of the chapter verse the sixt is matter of feare and in the end verse the eighteenth matter of hope so here he willeth them to shew diligence that this hope may appear and that it be not a negligent and sluggish hope as he speaks ut ne fit is semper sperantes For as fear if it be not mixed with hope doth degenerate into desperation so hope if it be not tempered with fear will turn to presumption And it was the case of these two Saints David and Peter and we see what came of it And therefore of Job who had such an assured hope in God even in death it is said Nonne timor tuus spes 〈◊〉 Job the fourteenth chapter he felt in himself a fear to commit sinne and that fear say the ancient Fathers was his hope And the Apostle that wills them perfectè sperare to trust perfectly the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the thirteenth verse saith after verse the seventeenth Passe your time in fear He that before called for a perfection of hope doth here require fear for so our hope may not fall asleep or wax negligent And as Basil saith Vide spem num sit ver a spes The true hope is that which hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is coact and moved to diligence Such a hope is not his that perswades himself his Master 〈◊〉 his comming and so falleth to be negligent that is a confounding hope But the diligent hope is that which confounds not Romans the fift chapter and the fift verse For as faith teacheth that it is impossible to attain to Heaven so withall it tells us it is 〈◊〉 a matter of difficulty Wherefore Christ saith Vigilate Mark
in their works 〈◊〉 the first chapter and the sixteenth verse There are diverse sorts of comming First We are said to come to Christ in Baptisme Mark the tenth chapter Sinete parvalos venire ad me Secondly In Prayer for as Augustine saith Preeibus non passibus iter ad Deum Thirdly In the hearing of the word so many reforced and came to Christ Luke the fifteenth chapter and the first verse And we likewise come to Christ when we come to hear his Ministers for he that heareth him heareth us Luke the tenth chapter Fourthly By Repentance as Luke the fifteenth chapter I will goe to my Father But Christ receiveth none of these but that we come to him as he is panis vitae when we come to Christ as he offers himself in the Sacrament to be the lively food of our souls when we come to the same and doe it in the remembrance of his death And there is reason why both we should come to Christ and he should receive us comming First There is reason we should come to Christ in regard of our sinnes already past For we have need of a Sacrifice both in respect of the grinding and upbraiding of our consciences for the sinnes we have committed and by reason of the punishment we have deserved by them This sacrifice we are put in minde of in this Sacrament That Christ hath offered himself to God an 〈◊〉 and sacrifice of a sweet smelling favour wherein we have planted in our hearts the passive grace of God for the 〈◊〉 of our consciences against sinne past by the taking of the cup of Salvation which makes us say 〈◊〉 into thy rest O my soul Psalm the hundred and sixteenth and for the turning away of deserved punishment as the blood of the Paschal Lamb sprinkled upon the dores saved the 〈◊〉 from destroying Exodus the the twelfth chapter So in this true passover we receive the blood of the immaculate Lamb Christ to assure us of peace with God and to deliver us from the destroying Angel As the Heathen had their Altar whereon they offered to their gods so we have an Altar that is the Lords Table where we celebiate the remembrance of that obiation once made by Christ Hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the twelfth verse In respect of sinne to come likewise we have need to come to Christ for thereby there is wrought in us active grace whereby we are enabled to resist sinne For the endowing of our 〈◊〉 with much strength Psalm the hundred thirty eighth and with much power from above is here performed unto us that come aright Luke the twenty fourth chapter And therefore the 〈◊〉 would have us to 〈◊〉 our hearts with grace the spiritual food and not with meat 〈◊〉 the thirteenth chapter For by this means we shall be made 〈◊〉 both to indure the 〈◊〉 of sinne and to be 〈◊〉 over 〈◊〉 and our own corruptions Thirdly For that the eating of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and the drinking of the blood is a pledge of our 〈◊〉 up at the 〈◊〉 day verse the fifty fourth and that after this 〈◊〉 we which come to the Lords Supper shall be invited to the supper of the Lamb of which it is said Apocalyps the nineteenth chapter and the ninth verse blessed are they which are called to the Lambs supper Again it is reason Christ should receive us in two sorts First In respect of the communicants or commers for there is no man ever in better state and more disposed to be received than at the celebration of this Sacrament If a contrite spirit for sinne can set a man in state to be received of Christ man is most contrite and broken in heart at this time If Christ will then receive us when he may dwell in our hearts by faith Ephesians the third chapter at this time is our faith at the highest for when we have the body and blood of Christ in our hands then it makes us say with Thomas John the twentieth chapter Domine mi Deus mi If prayer made with 〈◊〉 and confidence may move Christ at any time to receive we never have more confidence in prayer than at that time then is the love of God most of all shed in our hearts by the holy Ghost Romans the fift chapter and the fift verse by which we are received not only to give for no man is to appear empty but also to forgive as Christ willeth That remembring our brethren hath ought against us we leave our gift and be reconciled Matthew the fift chapter If at any one time more than other Christ be more ready to receive then is he maximè receptivus Secondly In respect of the action it self which is a memorial of that sacrifice which he offered at his death to God for sins Then he received the thief that said Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome Luke the twenty third chapter Then he prayed for his 〈◊〉 Father forgive them Therefore there is a great congruity that now much more he must be carefull to us and receive us when we celebrate the remembrance of his goodnesse and mercie But the chief point is that in the Sacrament Christ himself is received and therefore it is very fit that he which is to be received be ready to receive them that come to him The second Condition is touching the Fathers gift All that my Father giveth Which is a limitation For as many pressed upon Christ but there was but one that tou hed that was the woman healed of her issue of blood Luke the eight chapter and the fourty fift verse so many come to the Lords Table but to the end they may be received they must be known by this mark he must be datus à Patre tractus doctus John the sixt chapter the fourty fourth and fourty fift verses There are that are dati ab hominibus or as the Apostle speaks the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the thirteenth verse ab human â ordinatione that is the most part come not being given or drawn of the Father but compelled by man Their fear is taught by mens precepts Matthew the fifteenth chapter and Isaiah the twenty ninth chapter Again there are that have a shew of Godlinesse the first epistle to Timothie the third chapter Such come not upon any motion of Gods spirit that they feel in themselves but for fashions sake They will not be seen to refuse the order of the Church but doe as others doe but they that are given to Christ of God are such as come of conscience knowing they ought to performe this duty of thankfulnesse to God such as hunger and thirst after the right cousnesse of Christ the spiritual food of their souls in conscience of their own unworthinesse and ill deservings and therefore seek for righteousnesse in him with as great desire as for bodily food they that come with such an earnest inclination as given and drawn of the
willingly will come as often as they may and not like those that swell with pride and say another time will serve as well as now as Davids servants said to Naball in the first book of Samuel the twenty fift chapter We come now in a good time for thou makest a feast and art in case to relieve us another time peradventure thou wilt not be so prepared So men ought to take the opportunity and to say in their selves Now is the time of the celebration of Gods mercy and loving kindnesse Now we receive Christ and therefore there is great hope that if we come he will receive us Now we celebrate the memory of his death when he was content to receive the thief that came unto him and therefore it is most likely that he will receive us if we come to him But if we come not now happily we shall not be received when we would It is Christs will That they which are given him of the Father be with him where he is and may behold his glory John the seventeenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse Therefore it stands us upon to come to Christ that he may receive us to be one with him in the life of grace and partakers with him in his Kingdom of glory Qui verò haec audierunt compuncti sunt corde dixerunt ad Petrum ac reliquos Apostolos Quid faciemus viri fratres Petrus autem ait ad eos Resipiscite c. Act. 2. 37. April 12. 1600. OUR Saviour Christ promised Peter Acts the fift chapter to make him a fisher of men and 〈◊〉 the thirteenth chapter That the 〈…〉 of Heaven is like a 〈…〉 which catcheth fish of all 〈…〉 The first casting forth of this act and 〈…〉 draught that Peter had is by 〈…〉 these verses And the draught which he made was 〈…〉 souls verse the fourty first If we 〈◊〉 of what 〈◊〉 They were 〈◊〉 souls of them that killed the Sonne of God and 〈…〉 the spirit of God whom they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 holy Ghost to 〈◊〉 verse the 〈…〉 These men are full of new 〈◊〉 Which when we advisedly consider it cannot but be matter First Of great comfort Teaching us that albeit we be great sinners as the Jews that put the sonne of God to death yet there is a quid faciemus what to doe that is a hope of remission of sinnes Secondly Of instruction touching the means That if we repent and be pricked in heart with the consideration of our sinnes as they were we shall attain this mercie which they received First St. Luke sets down the Sermon of Peter Secondly The sruit and effect of it As the Sermon it self propounds the death and Resurrection of Christ so in the effect that followed of it we see the means how we are made partakers of his death and Resurrection and that is set down in these two verses which contain a question and an answer In the question is to be observed First the cause of it that is the compunction of their hearts Secondly the cause of that compunction and that was the hearing of Peters Sermon Touching this effect which Peters Sermon wrought in the hearts of his hearers it is compuncti sunt corde Wherein note two things First the work it self Secondly the part wherein of the work it self it is said they were pricked Wherein first we are to observe That the first work of the spirit and operation of the word is compunction of heart howbeit the word being the word of glad tidings and comfort it is strange it should have any such operation but that Christ hath foretold the same John the sixteenth chapter When the comforter comes he shall reprove the world of sinne Now reproof is a thing that enters into the heart as Proverbs the twelfth chapter and the eighteenth verse There is that speaketh words like the prickings of a sword and as Christ gave warning before hand so now when the holy Ghost was given we see that Peters hearers are reproved and pricked in their consciences that they dealt so cruelly with Christ. As this 〈◊〉 the Elect of God so there is another spirit called by the same name of pricking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the eleventh chapter and the eighth verse that is the spirit of slumber which shews it self upon those that shall not be saved Touching the manner of this operation we see it is not a tickling or itching but a pricking and that no light one but such as pearced deeply into their hearts and caused them to cry Whereby we see it is not the speaking of fair words saying with the false Prophets Jeremiah the twenty third chapter The Lord hath said ye shall have peace it is not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the sixteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse that makes this effect but this speaking The part wherein this work was wrought was the heart as Luke the twenty fourth chapter they burned in their hearts and 〈◊〉 the second chapter and the fourteenth verse I will speak to their hearts So it was 〈◊〉 of the eares in the second 〈◊〉 to Timot hie the 〈◊〉 chapter or of the brain that they felt but a 〈◊〉 of the very 〈◊〉 and so should we be affected at the hearing of the word As 〈…〉 is pricked in the flesh is disquieted till he have remedy so should the consideration of our sinnes disquiet us and make us seek for cure This is our duty from their example and it is a good signe of distinction to shew us whether we be of the number of those that shall be saved whether of the good fish that shall be gathered together or the bad fish that shall be cast out Matthew the thirteenth chapter and the fourty eighth verse So if we pertain to God we shall feel this pricking at our hearts after we have heard the word The cause of this compunction is his auditis that is they had heard a speech of St. Peter which did disquiet them till they asked counsel of Peter and the rest The word of God of its own nature hath no such operation for the Patriarch Job saith Job the twenty third chapter It was agreeable to him as his appointedfood And David Psalm the nineteenth saith The Commanaements of the Lordrejoyceth the heart and is sweeter than the honey and the honey-combe But yet it hath this effect in regard that it meeteth with that which is an enemy to our Salvation that is sinne the deputy of 〈◊〉 as the word is Gods 〈◊〉 Without the Law sinne is dead but when the Commandement came sinne revived Romans the seventh chapter and the eighth verse for sinne is a sting the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter which lyeth dead so long as it is not reproved But when it is reproved by the commandement of God then it reviveth and stings the heart it makes men have a conscience of sinne Hebrews the tenth chapter and when sinne is
the furnace and cast them up in the 〈◊〉 and they caused a stink And David in his sicknesse saith Psalm the thirty second His moisture was like the draught in Summer Therefore in the plague of Leprosie Leviticus the thirteenth chapter and the fourty fift verse the Leper was to have his mouth shut up David in that great 〈◊〉 spoken of in the first book of Chronicles the twenty first chapter and the thirtieth verse would have gone to 〈◊〉 but be found he should not feared with the Angel Therefore the servant of God saith Proverbs the fourteenth chapter A wise man 〈◊〉 the plague and shunneth it but the foolish goeth on still But these are not the only causes For besides 〈◊〉 there is some divine thing to be considered for there is no 〈◊〉 but a spirit belongs to it as Luke the thirteenth chapter and the eleventh verse a spirit of infirmity So are we to conceive that besides natural causes there is some spiritual of the sicknesse as 〈…〉 twelfth chapter a destroying Angel So in Davids plague in the second book of Samuel the twenty fourth chapter And 〈◊〉 the thirty seventh chapter and the thirty sixt verse the Angel went forth and slue And Apocalyps the sixteenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse The Angels poured out the Vials of the wrath of God and there fell a noysome sore So it is Gods hand that brings in these plagues The cause stands on two parts First Gods wrath 〈◊〉 which all evil things proceed For affliction commeth not from the earth Job the fift chapter and the sixt verse They are sparks of his anger And he is not angry with the waters that they should drown 〈◊〉 the third chapter nor with the aire that it should corrupt but for these things commeth the wrath of God that is for our sinnes 〈◊〉 the fift chapter He doth but make a way to his wrath and then the earth 〈◊〉 up the 〈…〉 Psalm the seventy eighth The sinnes of the people are the cause of Gods wrath Peccata morum goe before peccata humorum There is first corruption of the soul Michah 〈◊〉 first chapter and the third verse All flesh had corrupted their 〈◊〉 Genesis the sixt chapter So there is infection in mens wayes before the streets be infected There is plaga animae the plague in the soul before it appear in the body It is sinne that bringeth sicknesse and death Romans the sixt chapter So they are both joyned Psalm the thirty eighth and the third verse There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne Therefore it is our sinne and infection of the soul that must be looked into If it were some outward cause only it could not be but the plague should stay 〈◊〉 there is so great store of means Jeremiah the eighth chapter Is there no balme in Gilead But he saith Jeremiah the fourty sixt chapter and the eleventh verse Frustra multiplicas medicanda sinne being not taken away physick will doe 〈◊〉 good First the corruption of manners must be holpen and then bodily help will follow Psalm the fourty first Heal my soul for I have sinned against thee And that course our Saviour keeps Matthew the ninth chapter first he saith Thy sinne is forgiven and then Take up thy bed and walk These sinnes he calls inventions Inventions please us greatly and all new things our new omnia better than old Manna Numbers the eleventh chapter But if it be our own inventions then we goe a whoring after it Such is the delight we take in it verse the thirty ninth Our first Parents were of this minde so proud they would not take a rule of life from God but would sicut Dii Genesis the third chapter They set up to themselves graven Images Exodus the 〈◊〉 chapter They have Dii alieni such as their Fathers had Not when men living otherwise then God 〈…〉 I shall have peace Deuteromie the twenty ninth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse These webbs that we weave our selves and these eggs that we hatch Isaiah the fifty ninth chapter are our confusion and 〈◊〉 God and great reason For Exodus the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixt verse he saith If thou 〈…〉 to my 〈◊〉 I will lay no disease Ego Dominus 〈◊〉 But if we follow our own inventions we can look for nothing but diseases quid tibi praecipio haec 〈…〉 Deuteronomie the twelfth chapter 〈◊〉 men will be 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 that was Sauls rebellion he would not destroy all as God commanded he was wiser than so But what were these inventions It is said verse the twenty eighth They joyned themselves to Baal 〈◊〉 Numbers the twenty fift chapter that is the sinne of whoring and fornication and that impudently before the congregation committed by Zimry and Cosby It was the adoring of an abhominable Idoll a sinne so grievous as it is said many years after 〈◊〉 not enough of the sinne of Peor Joshuah the twenty second chapter it is a sinne that will not be cleansed at the first And we see daily the sinne of uncleannesse ends with a plague that is infectious For the Cure It is certain As there are natural causes so natural cures of this Diseise 〈◊〉 as some Writers doe hold had this Disease and used not only prayer but a plaister by the Prophets direction Isaiah the fifty eighth chapter But as the cause of the plague is not only natural so here is used a spiritual remedy that is in as much as contrary curantur contrariis viis If the provoking of Gods anger be the Cause of the plague the appeasing of it by prayer must be the Remedy The two remedies are out of the double sense of the word which signifieth prayer and punishing Prayer is an appeaser of Gods wrath not only in other points but in this Numbers the twenty fift chapter They all wept and prayed And David in the second book of Samuel the twenty fourth chapter and the seventeenth verse fled to this remedy I have sinned but these sheep what have they done And Hezekiah being infected with the plague turned himself to the wall Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter And in Salomons prayer the first of the Kings and the eighth chapter where plagues or corrupt agues shall hop here then in heaven And there is a good proportion between this remedy and the disease For if there be a corrupt smell the way to take it away is by the good smell of incense or perfume So as our sinne doth give an evil savour and stink in Gods nostrils so the spiritual incense will remove it and that incense is prayer Psalm the fourty first Therefore the prayers of the Saints are called odours Apocalyps the fift chapter But it must be prayer qualified in two sorts First Phinehas prayer that is the prayer of the Priest So David had Gad to pray for him Hezekiah had Isaiah Lift thou up thy prayer Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter The Corinthians had Gad to pray for them the
to create the world 〈◊〉 in Jesus Christ. By the seed of the woman is meant our Saviour Christ who 〈◊〉 of time was made of a woman Galatians the fourth chapter So that when God saith I will put enmity between thy seed and the 〈◊〉 feed we have in these words a manifest promise of Christ and it is as much in effect as if the Lord after he had by his word created all things should at length say as he did of all things else 〈◊〉 the first chapter Fiat Christus Let there be a Christ that is seeing Man is fallen and hath degenerated from his first estate wherein he was created Let there be a creation of a Messiah and Saviour by whom he may be restored By this seed we are shadowed from she firie two edged sword that was set to keep the way of the tree of life Genesis the third chapter and the twenty fourth verse and if by faith which is our victory the first epistle of Joha the fift chapter and the fourth verse we can overcome the Serpent we shall eate of the tree of life which is in the mid'st of the Paradise of God Apoculyps the second chapter and the seventh verse And unto this promise of God 〈◊〉 the Apostle speaks Hebrews the second chapter and the first verse 〈◊〉 are bound to give the more earnest heed because this Gospel was not preached by man in this world which is a vail of misery but by God himself in Paradise Wherein before we consider the words themselves these things are generally to be observed That howsoever the old Serpent that is the Devil did with grief 〈◊〉 the first part of the Sentence pronunced upon him yet 〈◊〉 was content in that he in the malice of his heart thought that he had now swallowed up man in destruction with himself and that he had so taken all the generation of Mankinde captive as that it was impossible for them to get out of his shares the second epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the twenty sixth verse Secondly That our Parents knowing the they had transgressed Gods commandement did now wait every hoot when he would give them over into the hands of the 〈…〉 to be destroyed with eternal death both of body and soul as God had threatned thou shalt dye the death 〈◊〉 the second chapter Thirdly That albeit the Devil 〈…〉 his 〈◊〉 imagination that he had fully wrought out 〈…〉 God 〈◊〉 this malice by means of this 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 our Parents in conscience of their own 〈◊〉 and disobedience were out of all hope of recovery yet God 〈◊〉 them not to despair but comforts them with this promise That the 〈◊〉 of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head that is shall both destroy him that had the power of death and set at liberty those that were subject to the bondage of sinne Hebrews the second chapter and the fourteenth verse For thus doth God speak in effect to the Serpent Thou supposest that thou hast deceived them already and taken them captive so as they shall never escape thee but know that I will take them out of thy Jaws and set them at liberty thou did'st boast in thy malice Psalm the fifty second but I will not only take away this thy boasting by delivering them from that destruction whereunto thou hast brought them but they shall have a hand over thee for where thou shalt but bruise his heel he shall break thy head On the other side of our Parents he saith on this manner That howsoever they by sinning against his expresse Commandement had destroyed themselves yet God instead of delivering them to their enemy the Devil will make them to wage warre with him and to get the victory of him And so this was a blessed disappointing both of the Serpents malice and also of mans desparation This course God took in two respects First That the Devil should not wax proud against God if his devise touching mans destruction had prospered God had said at the first Let us make man after our own Image and he created him according to the same Genesis the first chapter which although it was decayed by the malice of the Devil yet God to shew that neither mans unfaithfulnesse nor the Devils malice can make Gods faith of none effect Romans the third chapter and the fourth verse hath taken order That his Image in man should be renewed Ephesians the fourth chapter Another respect that God had herein was to shew Adam and all his Posterity That whereas the Devil would make them beleeve that God did maligne and envie their good estate this was but a false suspition for as he doth not delight in the destruction of any Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and the thirty second verse so when men by sinne had wrought their own destruction yet he is so mercifull that he forgives their misdeeds and destroyeth them not Psalm the seventy eighth and the thirty eighth verse So when it was in his hands to have destroyed our Parents for their disobedience yet he did not destroy them but provided a means of salvation for them And as the father seeing his sonne afarre off ran and met him and imbraced him Luke the fifteenth chapter so God that our Parents should not despair of mercy prevents them by telling the Serpent that he hath a way to deliver them out of his bondage before he pronounceth any Sentence upon them for the Sentence given upon the Man and his Wife was after this promise And those two that is the Malice and Pride of the enemy at our destruction and Gods mercy are the two motives whereby the Church perswadeth God to be gratious unto her Lamentations the first chapter and the ninth verse Touching this objection Why God doth utter this promise by way of commination to the Serpent whom it concerneth not and doth not rather direct his speech to Adam and Eve it may be thus answered That beside Gods custom which is in wrath to vememher mercy Habakkuk the third chapter and the second verse in the valley of Achor to open a dore of hope Hosea the second chapter and the fifteenth verse and to cause light to shine cut of darknesse and so to make the light of his favourable countenance to shine in the face of Jesus Christ the second epistle to the Corinthians the fourth chapter and the sixth verse when men can look for nothing but warth and disoleasure we may see it to be reasonable that because they had deserved nothing therefore he doth not make his speech to them but to the Serpent by way of a Curse that we may know that it is not for mans deserts that God is fayourable but as the Prophet speaks It is for his own sake that he doth put away our iniquities Isaiah 43. 52. The parts of this verse are two First a proclaiming of hostility between the Serpent and the Woman and between his seed and hers Secondly a promise of victory
hath no doubt a seed that is the wicked which are his Children which are alwaies at warre with the seed of the Church As the seed of Serpents doth prove to be Serpents so for that wicked men are the seed of the old Serpent Christ calls them Serpents Matthew the twenty third chapter and because Judas was the child of the Devil therefore Christ calleth him a Devil John the sixth chapter the seventieth verse The reason why the wicked are called Serpents is because they stop their cares like Serpents and will not hear the voyce of the 〈◊〉 salm the fifty eighth because they sharpen their tongues like Serpents and hide Adders poyson under their lips Psalm the hundred and fourtieth that is blaspheme God and speak evil of men So 〈◊〉 as the Elect are the seed of the woman spiritual so the wicked and 〈◊〉 are the cursed seed of the spiritual Serpent And God pronounceth that there shall be perpetual hostility between them There is a corrupt seed Isaiah the first chapter and the fourth verse The other a holy seed Isaiah the sixth chapter and the thirteenth verse Our Saviour expounds the good seed to be the children of the kingdome and the cockle to be the children of the world Matthew the thirteenth chapter and the thirty eighth verse The Apostle compares the children of God and the children of the Devil together the first epistle of John the third chapter and the tenth verse between these is that perpetual enmity that is here spoken of The same is between the Church of God Acts the twentieth chapter and the Synagoue of Sathan Apocalyps the twenty ninth chapter between the two Cities the Citie of God whose foundation is upon the holy hill Psalm the eighty seventh and great Babylon Psalm the hundred thirty seventh and Apocalyps the eighteenth chapter between the two Camps or Tents whereof the Prophet speaks that is the Tabernacles of the Lord God of Hostes and the Tents of the ungodly Psalm the eighty fourth This enmity is within every one of us as Peter speaks Abstain from fleshly lusts which wage warre against the soul the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the eleventh verse We wrestle not with flesh and blood but with spiritual wickednesse Ephesians the sixth chapter therefore he saith The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual and mighty through God to overthrow strong holds the second epistle to the Corinthians the tenth chapter and the fourth verse And the thing that God aimeth at is that there be not only an enmity between these two Cities and Camps but that this enmity be perpetual and send at the least to the killing of sinne and to the vanquishing of Sathan So soon as this Sentence was given there was enmity between Cain the seed of the Serpent who was of the evil one the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse and Abel who was spiritually be gotten by the Church of the seed of the world Genesis the fourth chapter Ismael and Isaac the one being born after the flesh the other after the spirit persecuted one another Galatians the fourth chapter He that was of the Serpents seed mocked and derided the seed of the woman Genesis the twenty first chapter and the ninth verse Jacob and Esau being divers seeds the one hated the other and vowed to kill the other Genesis the twenty seventh chapter and the fourty first verse Lastly This enmity was practised between the Church of God Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the Synagogue of Sathan Apocalyps the nineteenth chapter Of these spiritual Combats the Scripture hath many examples and therefore it is called The book of the warres of the Lord Numbers the twenty first chapter and the fourteenth verse The Serpent deserved to have been utterly destroyed and God who calleth things that were not as if they were Romans the fourth chapter and the seventeenth verse was able to have destroyed him at least to have chained him up that he might not trouble his servants as he will at the last day Apocalyps the twentieth chapter and the tenth verse but the Councel of God in suffering him still to practise his malice against us is for our good that we should be still exercised and kept in a warre for as Christ saith What thanks is it Luke the sixth chapter and thirty second verse and what praise is it to obtain eternal life the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the twentieth verse unlesse in this life we doe somthing towards it The Apostle saith No man is crowned except he strive aright the second epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the fifth verse Therefore God hath appointed us an enemy that is the Devil whom we must continually fight with If we resist his allurements by pleasure and his terrors in oppressing us with crosses we shall at the length be crowned with the crown of life and then he will according to his promise tread down Sathan under our foot so that he shall not trouble us any more Romans the sixteenth chapter and the twentieth verse But in the mean time he is opposed against us by the wise Councel of God as an enemy that we should continually strive against him As this is a threatning to the Devil so it is a promise in respect of us and that a promise of grace to be shewed us that are of the seed or the woman without which grace we cannot strive with the Serpent nor once conceive any desire to resist him And therefore if we have any desire to resist the Devil and his temptations it is not of any natural power of our selves but the grace of Gods spirit working in us who saith I will put enmity between thy seed and the woman Whereupon whereas the Apostle saith that by reason of the continual rebellion that is between the flesh and the spirit we cannot doe that we would Galatians the fifth chapter and the seventeenth verse Augustine saith that yet we are bound to thank God that he gives us his spirit to stirre us up to the resisting of the flesh and the corrupt lusts thereof for hereby he perform his promise which he makes in this place And except we had the grace of his spirit it were impossible for us but that we should be at agreement with the flesh and like well of the temptations thereof for naturally we are given to make league with bell and death Isaiah the twenty ninth chapter and the fifteenth verse to be friends with our 〈◊〉 and worldly lusts which doe still solicite and perswade us to break Gods Commandement and Law And if by the special grace of God he work in us some dislike of our flesh and the corruption thereof for a time yet this is not perpetual and though it did continue perpetually yet it is not 〈◊〉 mortal and to the death for we never labour to kill sinne and to 〈◊〉 the old man utterly but all that
we can doe is to bruise his head And many are so 〈◊〉 from that that they fetch balmes and oyntments to heal his head so soon as it is wounded Instead of treading him under our 〈◊〉 many doe tread under their feet the Law and word of God as Samuel speaks in the first book of Samuel the fifteenth chapter and the twenty third verse and tread under feet the blood of the Covenant Hebrews the tenth chapter and the twenty ninth verse which God appoints as a means to 〈◊〉 us in this fight By nature we are enemies to God and to the crosse of Christ Philippians the third chapter and the eighteenth verse except God vouchasafe us the benefit of this promise and make this enmity between the Devil and us We see this enmity was fulfilled between the Devil and Christ that was the seed of the woman for they say What have we to doe with thee Jesus Matthew the eighth chapter and the twenty ninth verse and between him and the wicked Jews which were of the Serpents seed which said to Christ Behold a glutton and a wine drinker a friend to Publicans and sinners Matthew the eleventh chapter and the nineteenth verse And thus still the Devill and his generation doe oppose themselves against Christ and the faithfull that are born anew of the immortal seed of the word the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the twenty third verse But as for the ungodly the Devil doth never disturb them for in them the strong armed man bath 〈◊〉 full possession so as all that he hath is in peace Luke the eleventh chapter and the twenty second verse And the Devil doth no sooner hold up his hand to them but they are ready to doe whatsoever he will But he that hath not his part in this hostility and spiritual conflict with the Serpent shall have no part in the promise of victory which is made to the godly Hoc conteret tibi caput tu autem conteres buic calcaneum Gen. 3. 15. Aug 10. 1598. IN this last part of the Curse pronounced by God upon the Serpent there are two points First a proclaiming of warre Secondly a promise of Victory the summe whereof is the breaking of the Serpents head as the holy Ghost speaks here or as the Apostle saith in the first epistle of John and the third chapter the loosing of the works of the Devil In the proclaiming of enmity we have to consider First the enmity it self Secondly the persons between whom it shall be Touching the enmity we shewed first That it is kindly that preposterous love and amity should end in hatred and mortal enmity as it fell out between the Serpent and the woman Secondly That God is the author of this enmity who saith of himself I will put enmity Whereupon we gather That as God is the stirrer up of all affections so especially of that hatred which is between good and evil 〈◊〉 and error between Babel and Sion the Tents of the godly and the wicked as they are opposed in the eighty fourt Psalm And therefore as it is Christs rule That no man should separate that which God hath joyned Matthew the nineteenth chapter so where God promiseth that he will 〈◊〉 the wicked and the godly let no man seek to conjoyn them nor make peace when his will is there should be mortal hatred and warre The persons are the Woman and the Serpent By the Woman is meant not Eve as she is the mother of them that dye but the Church which is signified by her in regard whereof she is called The mother of the living Genesis the third chapter and the twentieth verse As allo the bodily Serpent is not meant but the Devil that old Serpent The first thing then to be noted in the persons is That as there is naturally a hatred between the Woman and the visible Serpent so God threatneth this as a punishment to be laid upon the Devil That there shall be continual warre and harred between him and the Church Secondly This enmity shall not be for a time for he contents not himself to say I will put enmity between thee and the Woman but that it shall continue between their seed that is it shall be hereditary to abide till the worlds end so long as God hath a Church By the seed of the Woman is understood the faithfull that are born and begotten in the Church which is the mother of us all Galatians the fourth chapter By the Serpents seed is meant the wicked whom Christ calls Serpents and a generation of Vipers Matthew the twenty third chapter and the thirty third verse Thirdly It shall be no light harred but deadly and mortal for it shall proceed to grinde one another to powder The hatred which the Church beareth towards the Devil is such as shall break his head in peeces as an earthen vessel is broken so that it shall not be fit for any use not so much as to fetch fire in any peece of it Isaiah the thirtieth chapter and the fourteenth verse Wherefore touching this former part As it is a great punishment for a proud man to have them set before him whom he thinks to be farre under him so for as much as the Devil hold us captive at his will the second epistle to Timothy and the second chapter it is a grievous curse which God layeth upon him that we shall not only be set at libetry from him but have the mastery over him and trample him under our feet Secondly for our selves As it is a blessing for a man not to be deceived of him whom he thinks to be his friend so God vouchsafeth us a great blessing in that he promiseh to ftirre up in us a hatred against sinne and the Devil so that we shall not make a league with hell nor an agreement with death Isaiah the twenty eighth chapter but shall still be at enmity with him Contrari wise if we make truce with the Devil and please our selves in our sinnes then are we accursed and like the fool that laugheth when he is lead to the Stocks to receive correction Proverbs the seventh chapter Thirdly It is a general Prophecie That if God 〈◊〉 not enmity between us and the Serpent in this life he will set enmity between us and himself in the life to come so that we shall say How have we hated instruction and our hearts despised correction proverbs the fift chapter and the twelfth verse Sinne goeth down sweetly but in the end it will bite like a Serpent Proverbs the twenty third chapter and the thirty second verse Thus we see that because we did abuse that general peace that was between us and the Creatures God hath thought it necessary to stirr up war between us so that we shall have the Devil an adversary to us And as he tempted us to evil so we shall still be enemies to him God indeed might easily have destroyed the Devil for causing us
root of all bitternesse is infidelity for Adam seeing Eves case that though she had eaten of that pleasant and forbidden tree yet she was living and that there was as yet no apparent signe of any ill thought the rather surely God spake not this in earnest neither for the eating of a small apple shall man dye But should have accounted Gods word to be infallible and that mortem moriêris was a sentence of condemnation Faith should be rooted in Gods word but from incredulitie which is the root of bitternesse it commeth that he beleeveth Eve by an inordinate love not of lust but of necessitie to his wife which we call a bashfulnesse and the Fathers call it noxia verecundia In 1 Kings 2. 4. So long as Davids sonnes shall walk in the way of truth with all their hearts and all their souls their posteritie shall inherit the Kingdome Adam by eating this fruit shewed a desire in him to grant her request he loved her entirely for that she was taken out of him and given unto him by God and then there were no more women in the world He did eat that he might be accounted indulgens maritus a most loving husband that as Austin saith In unitate peccati etiam socius sit that even in the unitie of iniquitie he might be her companion The Heathen call necessarium 〈◊〉 mulierem a woman to be a necessarie evill So intire is his love to his wife that as S. Gregorie saith well Plus credit uxori quà m 〈◊〉 he beleeveth more his wife who is his helper than God who is his maker St. Ambrose saith Man will be content to hear blasphemous and obscene speeches ut offendatur Deus ne offendatur amicus that God may be offended rather than his friend displeased Now by the 22. verse you may see the ambitious desire of Adam to become as God himself to know good and evill therefore it is by the Fathers presumed That by Eves information he presumed to be so He was now wearie of credere and obedire to beleeve and obey God and his word He desired now to command and controll to be non sub Deo sed sicut Deus to be no longer under God but as God his faith and obedience became a burthen he was not content with his knowledge of good alone but he would needs by eating attain the knowledge both of good and evill he began frige fieri in affectu to waxe cold in his affection toward God And lastly he made full account that he should be preferred he should not be punished none should be so excellent he should be equall with God But if that God were angrie with him yet Adam had his excuse that he for the love and entire affection to her which was taken out of himself for a good minde which he had to her gave her his consent to eat of the forbidden fruit which they gather out of the twelfth verse of this chapter where Adam saith The woman which thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat He did behold what Eve did see and thought that thereby he should attain knowledge But here the Holy Ghost to avoid rediousnesse briefly without any farther repetition saith And he did eat Adams understanding it was corrupted his will it was infected he was perswaded that he should be as a God and that there was great virtue in the tree whereupon he transgressed that is he went beyond the Commandement God said he should not eat but he did eat Whereas Paul saith 1 Tim. 2. 14. Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and was in the transgression The Serpent deceived Eve and Eve was Sathans instrument to deceive Adam Upon which place the Fathers doe make inquirie of Adams sinne saying That Adam yeilded to Eve though he were not properly deceived by her this his sinne say they is the sinne of necessity not of his will Salomon for the love he did bear to his wives was tempted to Idolatry Ahab for fear committed murther It was neither love nor fear of God could keep man in Gods commandement and yet they impute malice to God and they are even set on mischief Exod 32. 22. Adams sinne came out of himself out of Eve which was his rib Wickedness first came from the Devill himself and his Cockatrioe egge that hatcheth iniquitie is malice he that imagineth to doe evill men call the author of wickednesse Prov. 24 8. According to the old and ancient proverb in 1 Sam. 24. 14. wickednesse proceedeth from the wicked Sathans wickednesse is of malice Eves wickednesse is of error Adams is of infirmitie then cometh noxia verecundia a guilty shame fac'dness Adam he fell of infirmitie in that he loved his wife more than he loved God The ancient Divines considering Adams sin doe consider the same by the circumstances which are seven 1. The person The first circumstance is of the person Adam he was Gods vassal from whom he received infinite benefits whom he made governour of Paradise as if a Countie Palatine to whom he gave a short Law and an easinesse not to sinne to whom he gave strength to withstand all violence to whom he permitted all the trees in the Garden reserving but one to himself for whom also being alone he made woman to be to him a meet help The bond of love unto God was before ever there was any Eve It was love that linked Adam unto Eve it was fear love that linked Adam unto God he therfore should have regarded more the word of God than of woman 2. The Object The second Circumstance is in respect of the object against whom he offended he sinned against God that created him that gave unto him the government of Paradise as a Father saith well Quem nunc despicitis 〈◊〉 fecit he whom now you despise is your maker Besides it was he that made her to be an help but now she setteth her self against God He gave to Adam a commandement brevissimum levissimum that was most short to be remembred and most easie to be observed seeing that he will offend him that is so gracious seeing he will break that Law which so easily may be kept this circumstance maketh the sin of Adam to be the greater 3 The motive and retentive to and from sinne Thirdly They doe consider the motive to sin and the retentive from sin What was it that moved Adam to sinne and to lose Gods favour It was but an Apple a small fruit that seemed pleasant to the eyes wherein there was but a short and transitorie pleasure while the fruit was a eating and in the mouth But the retentive was in the highest degree mortem 〈◊〉 thou shalt dye the death thou shalt dye eternally the fear was 〈◊〉 greater than the pleasure Paul Philip. 2. 8. faith of Christ That he humbled himbled himself and became obedient unto the death even the death of the crosse