A SERMON PREACHED AT MAPPLE-DVRHAM in Oxfordshire AND PVBLISHED at the request of Sir RICHARD BLOVNT By I. B. D. D. and Chapleine in Ordinary to his Maiestie Quoties 〈◊〉 toties iudicamur Hierom. LONDON Printed by T. S. for Iohn Hodgets 1616. ROMANS 6. 23. The wages of Sinne is Death but the gift of God is eternall Life through Iesus Christ our Lord. ALl Scripture commeth from one fountaine which is the spirit of God and therefore all Scripture is fit to perfect the man of God But as in Paradise though there were one Fountaine yet it was diuided into foure Riuers whose waters were diuersly rellished according to the nature of the soile through which they passed Or as in an Instrument of Musike though one winde giue a generall sound yet by the diuersitie of the Pipes and Organs the Tones are varied So the holy Scriptures inspired by one spirit haue an accidentall difference according to the nature of the Pen-men of the facred Scripture Hence is it that Gregorie compared some Scriptures to Iacobs hasle rods partly pilled and partly couered other Scriptures to Achabs house of Iuory without any couering The Scripture that I haue read is of the former sort which craueth your attention whilst it is enterpreted craueth your affection when it is applied And iustly doth it craue both the Holy Ghost ioyning together Ima summis the highest and the lowest things as Leo speaketh The first proposition being of Death The second of Life Death of all things the most terrible Life of all things the most comfortable To leaue an impression in you I will compare them to the two remarkeable Trees in Paradise The first is as the Tree of the knowledge of good euill The second as the Tree of immortalitie The first the experimentall Tree of Death The second as the Sacramentall Tree of Life Both of these haue a double consideration In the tree of death you may consider First the bitter roote which is sinne and the euill fruit which is death the wages of sinne In the tree of life you may consider the sacred roote which is Gods gift and the happy fruit which is eternall life by Iesus Christ our Lord. Sinne the roote of death Death the fruit of sin The gift of God the roote of life Life the fruit of the gift of God are the foure corners of the Alter vpon which at this time we will offer vp our sacrifice vnto God Sinne. The first is Sinne which Saint Iohn doth define to be the breach of Gods law A law so much vrged by the iustice of God that our Sauiour Christ proclaimeth that heauen and earth shall passe away but one iod or title shall in no wise passe from the law til all be fulfilled One Iod which is but a letter amongst the Hebrews as the graine of Mustard seed the least of all letters but one point of a letter From whence the Rabines haue obserued that God changing the name of Sarai to Sara tooke one Iod from her name which that it might not be taken from the Law he added one Iod to Osheah and called him Iehoshuah A Law so vrged that S. Paul repeates the sentence of God in a language of fear trembling Galat. 3. 10. Cursed is euery man that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to doe them VVe are bound we are All bound all to Doe to doe All all to Continue to continue vnder paine of a Curse a curse which implieth a riuer of brimstone and the breath of the Lord to set it on fire This is the sentence of God against Sinne against euery Sinne against the least Sinne whether it be a sinne of Thought or Word or Act or Degree or Delight or Desperation or Omission God hath concluded All Sinne to be the Roote of Death and destruction How iust then is the Complaint of S. Augustine Vaepeccatis hominum quae sola inusitata exhauressimus VVoe to the custome of sinne that taketh away the sense of sinne and causeth vs to feare none but vnusuall monstrous prodigious impieties Common ciuility keepeth many a man from rednesse of the eyes the inheritance of the Drunkard from rottennesse of the bones the leprosie of the Adulterer from Iezabells dogs the sepulcher of the Oppressor But Couetousnesse Pride Enuy Detraction Bribing Flattering Idle-Complementing and Fashioning of our selues to all luxurious ambition and foolish-vanities of the world are now become Free-Denisons of Court of Citty of Country that challengeth the priuiledge of the vnrighteous Iudge neyther to be afraid of the iustice of God nor to be ashamed in the sight of men I doe confesse that there are Essentiall and Accidentall differences of sinnes Some doe grieue some doe resist some doe quench the spirit of God But yet euery sinne in the owne nature hath the sting of a Viper and doth wound vs mortally Take a view and you shall finde that Adam lost Paradise for eating of an Apple Some say it was an Indian figge an entising bait of sweetnesse You shall finde that God drowned the world for Imaginations Gen. 6. 5. You shall finde that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of feathers dalliances chamberings wantonnes and the scumme of lasciuiousnesse shall make vs giue an account at the day of iudgement Sagitta leuiter volat sed grauiter vulnerat Idle words are as feathered arrowes which flye lightly but wound the soule deeply Yea you shal find that there are sinnes of Gesture Quando cum oculis fabulamur VVhen saith S. Augustine wee speake lewdly with our eies which God so punished in Lots wife that shee is a pillar of Salt vntill this day These sinnes so small in our estimations so familiar to our corruptions so vsuall in our conuersations so glued to our affections they haue poyson in the roote and the fruit of them is death VVe read in Ecclesiasticall history of Cassianus a Schoolemaster of Children and a Scholler and Martyr of Christ who by the commandement of the Tyrant was stabbed to death by his Schollers pen-kniues VVe read in Scripture of Amasa whose bowels were shed out by the sword of Ioab Of Sisâ—raes head gored with a nayle we read of Achaâ— who was wounded in his breast with an arrow VVe read of Christ whose side was pierced with a speare All these did not wound a like deepely but all did wound alike deadly Speares swords arrowes nailes pen-kniues all instruments of the death of the body Deeds swords lookes gestures thoughts all causes of the death of the soule Our sinnes in Scripture are compared vnto sands which are very small considering them seuerally and yet the greatest shippe is easily swallowed vp of quicke-sands There is not a sinne of any nature but is as big as one of Herods wormes which deuoured Herods bowels Noli despicere peccata tua quia parua sunt nam et pluuiarum guttae paruae sunt Despise not Augustine
thy sinnes because they are little for the drops of raine are small and yet they are the bottles of the heauen and the fountaines of the Ocean To conclude this point No sinnes are lesser then the point of those thornes that pierced the head of Christ. Pro quibus abluendis sanguis Christi effusus For the washing away of which Christ shed drops of bloud in the garden and opened the spouts of bloud on the Crosse. So bitter a roote is sinne that it could not be taken away but by the death of our Sauiour And as sinne is a roote so bitter so no better is the fruit which the text calleth Death The wages and guerdon of Iniquity The wages of Sinne is Death Death is the Fruit but death as wages For it is not a singular but a plurall death The least sicknesse in the stomacke paine in the head ache in the tooth consumption in the lungs winde in the belly grauell in the kidneyes are the harbingers of death are the wages of sinne and iniquity But to speake more distinctly Death saith S. Augustine is three-fold First Quando Deus deserit animam volentem VVhen God forsakes the Soule that will be forsaken Secondly Quando anima deserit corpus VVhen the soule forsakes the body that would not be forsaken Thirdly Quando anima nolens tenetur in corpore VVhen the vnwilling soule is manacled to the body The first expressed in the young man Matth. 8. 22. to whom Christ sayd Let the dead burie the dead A strange speach for a man would thinke that the dead were more fit to be buried then to burie But therefore was it deliuered by Christ that euery Christian man may know That a sinners body is but the breathing Sepulchre of a sinners soule The second expressed in Lazarus Iohn 11. 39. Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath bin dead foure daies VVhose body in life is a beautifull caske of Iuory within foure daies after the soules departure is nothing else but a stinking and loathsome carrion The third expressed in Diues Luke 16. 24. Hee prayed to Father Abraham therefore he had a Soule He had a tongue to be cooled therefore he had a Body That wretched man may know that this is euerlasting Death when soule and body are coupled together with euerlasting chaines of sorrow that they may be sensible of their endlesse torment But howsoeuer these three deaths are the wages of sinne yet there is a difference in the manner For the death of the soule is the wages of sinne as an act of order The death of the body as an act of iustice The death of soule and body as an act of proportion First there is order in disorder Mans disorder God doth order You read Exodus 7. 13. that Pharaoh hardned his owne heart before God hardned the hart of Pharaoh Durities est hominis peccatum obduratio iudiciū Dei they are the words of Caluin vpon the third vers which I purposely alledge Hardnesse of heart is mans sinne hardening of the heart is Gods iudgement You read in 1 Sam. 10. 9. 10. that God gaue to Saul an other heart 1 Sam. 15. 26. Samuel said to Saul Thou hast cast away the Lord the Lord hath cast away thee 1 Sam. 16. 14. The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an euill spirit from the Lord troubled him So you see that Saul first resisted Gods spirit before God sent vpon Saul an euill spirit In the very root of Reprobation Adam first sinned and then God punished It is the Conclusion of Augustine which shal conclude this point Ad bonum prior est voluntas Creatoris ad malum prior est voluntas Creaturae Gods will in goodnes is the first efficient Mans wil in wickednes is the first deficient Sinne goes before and Death of the soule followes in order as the wages of sinne Secondly Bodily-death when the soule is breathed out as it was breathed in when the body which was composed of dust is resolued into dust is the wages of sinne as an act of Iustice. It is the sentence of God Genes 3. Because thou hast harkned to the voyce of thy Wife and hast eaten of the forbidden tree thou shalt returne to dust from whence thou wert taken Because thou hast eaten thou shalt returne to dust Therfore if man had not eaten he should not haue returned to dust Gods power was as sufficient to haue trāslated Adam from Paradise without death as to take vp Elias to heauen in a Chariot of fire Let no Scotist nor Andradian nor Iesuit bewitch you with any Philosophicall speculation as that of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euery thing that is composed must be resolued Nor with that of Damascen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euerything that is made is subiect to be mard Nor with that of Aristotle that euery body composed of contrary elements disposed into contrary humors must at length haue a naturall date of corruption For S. Paul tels you that death is not the dissoluing of what God created but the wages of sin which man committed VVill you know the reason You see by experience that the same Sun remains in the same substance and indiuiduall circle but all sublunary bodies do continue in succession If then Philosophers giue probable reason of this difference because they say Forma coeli tollit contradictionem materiae The forme of heauen taketh away all contrariety preserues them in an euiternity Shall wee thinke then that Afflatus oris diuini that the breath of Gods owne mouth as Tertullian calls the soule had not a celestiall power in the creation to haue eternally preserued a corruptible body from corruption Againe Diuinity hath made it plaine Genes 2. God created two sorts of trees in Paradise All the common trees in the garden for eating but one celestiall tree for preseruing Reliquae arbores erant alimento arbor vitae erat sacramento The other trees were for aliment the tree of life was for a Sacrament Examine then the cause of naturall death which is the decay of radicall humor If then the eating of the tree of life did not as ordinary meate onely refresh the body but as a Celestiall cordiall did repaire the naturall sappe of the body then no question but the Angells sword that kept our first Parents from the tree of life brought vpon them brought vpon vs Legem moriendi as the Fathers speake the Law of Death and destruction This is Gods iustice when man defaced Gods image in his soule to take away the power of the soule This is Gods iustice when man eates of the forbidden fruit to forbid him to eate of the fruit of Life In the third place the Death of Soule and Body is the Wages of sinne by way of proportion For if any man shall wonder at the seuere iudgement of God that extends his indignation to eternity when the act of euery sinne
with his droues of Harlots could not any way be satisfied amongest the heards of Hoggs In the 5. of Iohn verse 3. There lay a multitude of impotent folk at the poole of Bethesda Some blinde some halt some withered So many sicke so many sinners It is plaine by Christs words Sinne no more least a worse thing come vnto thee Sinne no more Therefore hee sinned before therefore he sickned therefore Iezabell died therefore all the world shall be dissolued It is the wicked mans curse that Hee shall not liue out halfe his dayes VVhy doth God alter his decrees Surely no But man hauing a generall period of Life by naturall constitution that if sicknesse within and casualties without doe not take away life hee may attaine to the yeares of his Fathers But wicked men pull vpon themselues ordinary rottennesse and extraordinary iudgements They liue not out halfe their dayes To conclude Why will you die O you house of Israell No man is so fearefull at his Death as the Carnall man that is Prodigall of his life But if this were all the Epicure would doe well enough Hee would say of his Death Quando mors est nos non sumus quando nos sumus mors non est VVhen Death is wee are not VVhen wee are Death is not There is therefore another Death which imprisons a damned soule in a tormented body VVhere Death is and Man is Vbi anima est non viuendi causa sed dolendi VVhere saith S. Austen the soule is not to giue comfort of life but to giue the sence of eternall Death The apprehension of which Death hath drawne water out of rocks and clouen iron hearts in sunder It is the excellent speech of Luther Qui nouit quid sit certare cum formidine aeternae mortis in sanctorum fletibus nullos excessus reperiet Hee that knoweth what it is to striue with the feare of eternall Death shall finde no strangenes in the affected passions of the Saints of God You read of Peter that he wept bitterly Of Ieremy that he was drunke with wormewood Of Mary that washed Christs feete with teares Of Dauid that he caused his bed to swim Of Ionas that hee cried out of the belly of hell Their hearts whilest they sinned were like frozen snowballs when they melted with apprehension of eternall fire they thawed out at their eies and caused a flood of teares It is obseruable in Christs prayer Luk. 13. 34. Father forgiue them they know not what they do In the Conuerts prayer Act. 2. Men and brethren Quid faciemus what shall we do VVhen they crucifie they know not what they doe when they heare they haue crucified they know not what to doe I will conclude this point with another passionate meditation That a sorrowfull soule apprehending the wrath of God and the infinit punishment due to sin Such a sinner goeth to heauen by the very gates of hell his sighes as pillars of smoake perfumed with myrhhe ascend vp into the presence of God to implore mercy being fully assured in the middest of all his feares that howsoeuer Eternall Death is the wages of sinne yet that the Gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. This is the Tree of life the Roote whereof is the Grace and gift of God by Iesus Christ The Fruit eternall Life and happinesse Of these the time will not permit to speake largely and yet no Tongue can speake sufficiently In the Roote we may first obserue that it is a Gift Death is wages no Gift Life is a Gift and no Wages Wages supposeth Demerrit Gift supposeth no Merit If it bee a Gift then is it not deserued If it bee Deserued then is it no Gift In one word S. Bernard hath concluded it Sufficit ad meritum scire quod non sufficiant merita It is sufficient to know of Merits that there is no sufficiency of our Merits A Gift then it is but not euery Gift A gift it is but not euery way a Gift For first It is Donum Dei the Gift of God to make a distinction from mens Gifts And next it is per Iesum Christum by Iesus Christ to distinguish it from the common Gifts of God First It is the Gift of God not the Pharises Gift Math. 28. They gaue large gifts to the Souldiers to equiuocate lie artificially Say that whilst wee slept his Disciples stole him away But the Gifts of God are not giuen to corrupt vs but to amend vs. It is no Pharises Gift Neyther is it Dionysius Gift to rob the temple that they may build an Hospitall The price of Christ was such a Gift to buy the Potters field to burie strangers but it is the Field of Blood vntill this day God takes not life from one that hee may giue it to another Our Saluation is not builded vpon the Angels Damnation But in the due order of causes hee would haue all to be saued It is not Iacobs Gift for feare of Esau to pacifie Esaus wrath For whether we liue we liue vnto the Lord or whether we die we die vnto the Lord whether wee liue therefore or dye wee are the Lords Romanes 14. 8. It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeke Orator speaks the Huksters Gift who looke for more for the reward of their gift then the price of the gift For our liuing for euer addes nothing to Gods blessednesse but to our happinesse It is not any mans gift which is subiect to repenting for the vnthankefulnesse of the receiuer For the gift of life in the Saints of God hath this power that as it giueth Happinesse so it worketh thankfulnes He that is not thankfull to God hath not yet receiued the first fruits of Grace All these wayes is it distinguished from the gifts of Men But aboue all these it is per Iesum Christum by Iesus Christ and so it is aboue all the gifts of God For without Christ the Sunne riseth vpon the iust and vniust Without Christ Esau hath the fat of the earth Naball his Flockes of sheepe Nimrod his Heards of beasts Nabuchadnezzar his pile of wonderment Herod his robe of starres But Eternall life as it is Gods gift so it is Christs purchase not of gold but of Bloud not of the bloud of Goates but of the pretious bloud of Iesus Christ. Looke in euery linck of the chaine of Heauen How are we predestinated to the Adoption of Children By Iesus Christ Ephe. 1. 5. How are we called to Glory By Iesus Christ 1 Pet. 5. 10. How are we iustified In Iesus Christ Rom. 4. 26. How are wee sanctified In Iesus Christ Ephes. 2. 10. In what is our Hope In the resurrection of Iesus Christ 1 Peter 1. 13. In whom is our Peace In Iesus Christ Rom. 5. 1. VVho is the Mediator of Redemption Iesus Christ 1 Timothy 2. 5. VVho is the Mediator of Intercession Our Prayers are offered vpon a goulden Censure by the Angell of