Orbes if the Intelligences faile in their mouing office nor can I wonder at the inordinate actions of this sublunarie world when Gods Intelligencers dare not tell Israel of her sinne Isa 58.1 and Iudah of her transgressions Now if I durst aduenture I could put some into a wonderfull Strait and bring some soules before the iustice of God whom the opinion of the world hath openly quitt Should I say that Simon Magus is turned a great Patron of Benefices amongst vs and that his bosome-seruant Quid dabis were a disposer of Liuings I know not how this Age would take it Should I say that some gallants weare Vicars cloathes or spend the Clergies bookes in yellow ruffes they may perhaps haue pepper in the nose as well as Cloues in their bands Or should I condemne the generall Apostacie of the world from that good estate and plight wherein our Fathers haue knowne it some Stoicall Athenian may iustly as his wisedome thinketh aske what will this babbler say If they or any of them will needes know then this I say and yet not I but others whose shooe latchets I am not worthy to loose that for the particular sinne of Sacriledge all that is so gotten is aurum Tholossanum and that all the bread at such Patrons tables are cheat loaues And for the generall estate of the whole world as one sayd bitterly of Rome probabilius est strui nouam quam emendare antiquam more like to haue a new Rome built then the old to be amended so I say of the world that it is more probable sooner to see it changed in substance then in manners in regard that so farre as I see the world is likely sooner to cease to be then to be wicked and hence is nostri mundi calamitas that men had rather ten times commit one sinne then once heare of ten sinnes Dauid tooke all in good part that Gad spake though it were neuer so harsh and blamed none but himselfe for being brought into this Strait I would that all that heare me this day were herein not almost but altogether such as Dauid then would Herod heare the reproofe of Iohn Baptist gladly then would euery man so heare the word as to amend his life according to the word then would God be honoured his Ministers comforted and the World well amended But if the dease Adder will not heare when wee charme the world with zeale and discretion happily vnited then the Lord commands to cry aloud and spare not to lift vp our voyces like a trumpet Luk. 18.1 and to deale as that oppressed widow moue them with vncessant preaching and to be bolde as Lyons in Gods cause Let Peter tell Simon Magus plainely Act. 8.23 Acts 13.10 that he is in the gall of bitternesse and the bond of iniquitie Let Paul tell Elymas the sorcerer that he is the child of the diuell if he be full of all wickednesse We must learne of Gad not spare to speake though we spare to speed And all godly and conscionable hearers must learne of Dauid to heare with quietnes to beare with patience and to mend with willingnes As Dauid chides not with Gad so he quarrels not with God and though as our Prouerb goes losers must haue leaue to speake yet hee though I suppose his heart waxed hote within him neuer spake with his lips to iustifie himselfe Psal 39. Thus might his Pharifaicall thoughts haue suggested Ah my Lord I haue a long time gone in and out before this thy people O Lord thou knowest that I loue thee and haue with all my heart sticken to thy testimonies I haue had so great a care of my wayes as not to offend in my tongue O thou Lord good and gracious full of mercy and compassion is thy mercy cleane forgotten or shall all the former passage of my life be too little to expiate one small sinne Thou madest proffer of mercy to fiue Cities for ten righteous and wilt thou not spare one man for one sinne Thou that pardonest such a number of sinnes to thy people wilt thou not pardon such a sinne as numbring of the people Thus might Dauid seem to haue pleaded for himselfe Apud Linium Tullus an interpreter of the Law hauing pleaded for the life of Horatius who had murdered his Sister and not preuailing the Father of this Horatius demands of the Romans whether they could lead his sonne to death but his owne demerits and valiant acts would euen giue a dumbe shew to haue his life saued So might humane iudgement had it now beene Aduocate haue pleaded for Dauid but it would not haue preuailed nor haue beene a sufficient baile to haue freed Dauid from this vnsuspected Sinne and vnexpected sorrow Now he that hath an eare to heare a heart to consider and a memory to remember cannot in sense but heare in reason he must vnderstand and vnlesse he will forget himselfe remember this for his instruction Doctr. That the waight of mans merit is not sufficient by many graines to counterpoise the burden of one wilfull sinne if God be extreame to enter into iudgement with the Sonnes of men though they be such as are indeed the Sonnes of God How faire soeuer the preceedent part of their liues haue been both in their publique and priuate callings yet that great King of heauen who can espie one man amongst many without a wedding garment can in his omniscience and may and doth often in his iustice enter into iudgement for the commission of one sinne especially if wilfull as was this of Dauid as we see in the Church of Ephesus Reu. 2.2 though laudable for her workes her labour her patience and perseuerance yet there is a something that God hath against her for which he will remoue the Candlesticke out of his place except she repent Many plankes well pind and calkt make the Ship to float one and but one leake will sincke it One wound may strike Goliah dead as well as three and twenty did Caesar Sam. 17. Sueton. Iudg. 16.18 One Dalilah will doe Sampson as much spight as all the Philistims One wheele broken spoiles all the whole clocke One veines bleeding will let out the vitall spirits as well as more One flie will spoile a whole boxe of ointment 1 Reg. 49. One hearb Colloquintida spoiles all the pottage One Apple lost Adam the pleasant Paradise 1 Sam. 14.27 One licke of honey endangered the life of Ionathan One Achan was a trouble to all Israel Ios 7.25 One Ionah if faulty Ionah 17. is lading too heauy for a whole Shippe And one sinne is enough to procure Gods anger and too much for a man to commit Reason Now that God may not be challenged of any iniustice as though hee would easily picke a quarrell with men Iam. 2.10 heare what S. Iames auerreth That he that failes in one point is guilty of all A stone cast into the midst of the
Macies noua febrium Terris incubuit cohors Semotique priùs tarda necessitas Lethi corripuit gradum Had not the old world swomme in security and Epicurisme Gen. 6.13 they had not floated in that generall deluge Gen. 18.20 Had not Sodome beene tainted with so filthy sinnes they had not felt so fierie a punishment Luke 19.42.43 Had Ierusalem seene the day of their visitation it had not seene the day of desolation Had not Dauid committed some great sinne hee had neuer beene in this great strait When Pilate heard the people cry out to haue Christ crucified Mat. 27.23 hee asketh in the audience of them all What euill hath he done So reason and equity may heere demand in Dauids behalfe Quid mali admisit Why will God thus vexe and perplexe at the heart a man after his owne heart the Text answers hereunto verse 1. Dauid had numbred the people Numbring of people was vsed in ancient time by Sergius Tullus the Romane Liu. Aul. Gel. lib. 10. to know how many were fit for warre and the age amongst them was from 17. to 46. and in dangerous times till 50. and our Sauiour Christ commendeth a wise King who will forecast whether he be able to meet his enemy or not Beside Luke 14 31. they were numbred by Moses Exod. 38. and againe Numb 1. why might not then an action repeated by Moses and daily practised by other Princes be as lawfull for Dauid Shall Dauid fight Gods battailes and not know the strength of his army or goe in and out before a people and not know the number of them and thus the verdict of flesh and blood returnes ignoramus We find no fault at all in this man But stay a while fond opinion and take this in charge That a thing lawfull nay good in it selfe may in the manner or end of doing become vnlawfull and so a sinne For Omne quod non licet est peccatum Prayer is commanded and best if it be done in a corner that no man may see it Mat. 6.2 but if in the corners of the street that all men may see it is abhominable Almes are commended yet the noyse of a trumpet blowne before them drownes all their worth and leaues them splendida peccata and no better Are things so good so soone turned bad How then are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of themselues neyther good nor bad Fasting is good if it be done to tame the flesh and bring it in subiection but if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee admixed to be seene of men it is hypocrisie If a man out of the weaknesse of his iudgement shall refuse a ceremony or gesture as fearing to wound his soule by committing idolatry I pitty his case his action being tolerable but if any stiffe-necked or stiffe-hammed Schismaticke shall doe it out of opposition to the order and discipline of the Church his holy singularity is no better then stubbornnes and deep hypocrisie Dauids case Herein then Dauid failed First it was needlesse hauing no warre in hand Secondly it was a curious crotchet ideò numeratur vt numeretur onely to know Thirdly it sauoured of pride to glory in the number of the people which three circumstances being weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary proued in Gods estimation and Dauids owne confession verse 10. a sinne a wickednesse an exceeding folly nor could hee charge God iustly of any iniustice for bringing of him into this great strait Thus wee see that came not by fate but from God it came not vniustly but for sinne and this sinne by name was numbring of the people Now the manner of Dauids falling into this strait stands like a pillar of Salt for our remembrance and instruction and he that runneth may plainly reade this for his obseruation Doctr. That a faire Saint may fall into a foule sinne nor can the best man carry himselfe so equally with God but that sometimes by sinne he fals into his lurch and becomes liable to punishment For Dauids part were not his heart so candide as to confesse the truth we may deale with him obsignatis tabulis namely Gods faithfull Register the holy Scripture which doth charge and challenge him of a former and a fouler sinne in the matter of Vriah the Hittite 1 Sam. 11. whose blood like the blood of Abel the innocent could witnesse against him But what need we any further witnesse seeing we haue heard of his owne mouth in that poenitentiary Psal 51. wherein he sheds many teares for shedding of onely this mans blood But lest I should by one Swallow to proue a Summer and for one mans sinne to condemne the generation of the iust although I desire not to vncouer the shame of the Saints yet fith all things are writen for our instruction 1 Cor. 10.11 giue me leaue to shew some spots and moales which haue been no small blemish to their perfection Amongst the twelue there was but one Iudas one sonne of perdition but one that burst his bowels with a fall but none of the rest escaped without a fall To omit the ambition of Zebedees sonnes Marke 10.37 Iohn 20.25 the incredulity of Thomas the doubting of the two Disciples come wee to the Papists master-peece their Dominicall letter of the Apostles Peter is reproued for tempting his Master Mat. 16.22 recorded for denying him Mat. 26.70 and all the Disciples seeing their Master apprehended in the Garden for feare forsooke him and fled Mat. 26.56 Nor was this Leprosie a new disease in the Apostles time or like Ionahs goord come vp in a night but if wee shall vse the Historians optich glasse we shall discouer a farre off as in a Landsceipe Gen. 9.21 Noah lye drunken in his Tent and naked too did not his good sonnes Sem and Iapheth couer him Immersus aquâ vino mergitur Neither did any lesse happen to Lot whose righteous soule was vexed at the vncleane conuersation of the Sodomites 2. Pet. 2.7 the onely man thought worthy to be pluckt out of the fire of Sodome Intactus igne vrit libidine and his drunkennesse committed a sinne Gen. 19.36 which had there beene one righteous man in Sodome his soule would tremble to haue committed it To call the life or wisedome of Salomon in question in mee it were but folly and yet no more then he committed who by the multitude of his Dalilahs suffered his heart to bee stolne away from God Lorinus praef in Act. Tenorius Archbishop of Toledo making question whether Salomon was saued or damned caused his picture to be drawne in his Chappell halfe in heauen and halfe in hell this was about his state of glory But should my rude pencill delineate him in the state of grace I would both picture him and all the rest of Gods people halfe in heauen and halfe in earth in heauen by reason of their holy and heauenly conuersation in heauen by reason of their
assurance of glory and saluation but on earth by reason of that body of sinne and death which they carry about them hauing the flesh pressing with continuall fight and oppressing with often conquest When Nebuchadnezzar made choice of some of the children of the Captiuity to stand before him he commanded to bring such as were of the Kings seed and of the Princes well fauoured and without blemish Si verbis audacia detur giue me leaue to apply this God the King of heauen hath out of his meere mercy chosen out of Satans captiuity some to stand before him they are of the Kings seed and of the Princes sonnes of God and brethren of Christ Iesus 1. Cant. 15. faire they are and pleasant the chiefe among ten thousand Free from the vsuall deformities but onely they are sometimes troubled with the falling sicknesse witnesse the examples before mentioned and the fall of Dauid into this great strait not that the Protoplastes of our spirituall feature and perfection were the cause of this but euen that originall sinne and corruption which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and coeuterine with vs pluckes vs by the heele as Iacob did Esau and pinches them as the Angell did Iacob in the thigh Gen. 2.25.26 that they neuer claw off this halting so long as they liue in these houses of clay I learned this lesson of Salomon that God made man vpright but he sought many inuentions Adam was taught a tricke by the Diuell to lose his happinesse and Dauid who was before at large is now taught by Satan and brought by him into this strait Now although by such enormities of the Saints there cannot but accrew dishonour to God shame and scandall to their profession and euill example to the infecting of others Yet Almighty God who brought light out of darknesse life out of death can also bring good out of euill and like a wise Architect can so dispose of euery peece except those for the fire as to build a glorious Temple for the Holy Ghost First hereby is laid the foundation of humility in the hearts of men The aduenturous Christian when he heares of the two Tables of Gods Commandements Iudg. 16.3 Mat 19.20 and 25.25 thinkes he can carry them as easily as Sampson did the gates of Azzah and say Lord thou hast thine owne all these haue I kept from my youth But finding at the length like Sampson that his strength is but as other mens he is stricken as low as the Center and shrinks to an Acome in his owne conceipt Now being brought to this ebbe he is a good foundation for God to build vpon now growing conscious of his owne infirmities like Peter walking vpon the water he cries Master saue me now hee will no more of his owne strength but onely of the grace of God which is onely sufficient for him The Swans of Thames and Po beholding with a retorted neck their goodly feathers thinke themselues Rarae aues in terris but when their blacke legs and feete are become the obiects of their sight then they find that they are nigris Cygnis simillimae So when men behold their liues in what they are commendable or tolerable the Pharisee himselfe is not more proud then they but when they looke into the glasse of the Law of God then goes the hand to the breast and the word from the mouth O God be mercifull vnto me a sinner Luke 18. The liues of the best men that liue vpon earth are like Nebuchadnezzars image hauing feet of clay as well as a head of gold Here then is Schola scala coeli a Schoole to teach a neare way and a ladder to helpe vp the best way to heauen O happy daughter of so vnhappy a mother Now Nathan may bee heard if he reproue Now Saint Peter may catch fish when the water is troubled Dauid before by Sathan drawne beside himselfe is now by Sin driuen out of him selfe As much I conceiue of Peter that his faint heart was now become an humble heart and though Petrus was Petra yet like the rocke in the wildernesse he yeelded abundance of water which makes me giue the more credence to Clemens Romanus affirming of him that hee spent euery morning in weeping vntill his eyes were dimme with weeping and deepe furrowes were plowed in his face with teares tam vi quam saepe cadendo Oh that it may euer be seene that if in the seruice of God the Saints misse the first Lesson of integritie they be sure to reade and learne the second Lesson of humility Magis enim Deo placet humilitas ex malè factis quà m superbia ex benè factis He that exalteth himselfe in his good deeds shall be humbled but hee that shall humble himselfe for his euill deeds shall be exalted This falling of the Saints into sinne though casuall and vnusuall doth worke in them a cautelous and carefull carriage in the sequell of their liues danger is the adequate obiect of feare and warinesse and sinne being an auersion of the creature from the Creator the dangerous and miserable effects thereof cannot but deterre and affright the once entangled soule from any relaps or recidiuation into the same Ictus piscis sapit The children of God who by Sathans malice and ouer-reaching policie are brought into Sinne and by Gods mercy brought out of it againe do passe the remainder of their time and worke out their saluation in feare and trembling The Turks now inhabiting in that sometimes citie of Ierusalem Timberl trauel hauing an old Prophecy that the Citie shall be retaken at the same place where before it was assaulted and conquered haue in and neare that place immured all passage and preuented all probability of entring in like manner if Sathan our mortall enemie haue heretofore made assault vpon our soules and like a strong man entred and spoiled vs if at the priuie dore of our hearts by sinfull imaginations let vs be sure to keepe our hearts with all diligence If at the too too open dore of our lippes by filthy communication Ps 141.3 let vs set a watch before our mouth and keepe the doore of our lips If he shall enter by our eares which often prooue carelesse Centinels by admitting and entertaining idle talke filthy and corrupt communication lying or slanderous reports rather become like deafe men and heare not then euer that raging and malicious enemy shall foyle vs at the like aduantage While thornes and weeds are suffered to couer the face of the sluggards garden they must needes be an hinderance to the increase and growth of either pleasant flower or profitable hearbe Stella 1. in Luc. but if thence transplanted they are placed in the hedge they serue to fence the garden that the beasts of the field annoy it not So while Sinne is suffered to haue roote in the heart of man no increase of good no hearbe of grace can be expected as our Sauiour applies it in
the Parable wherein the thornes are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now if these thorny and soule-wounding sin be remoued from the heart and affection and placed in the memory it will proue in some sort good to Gods children to haue sinned for hauing felt the chastisement by rods they will tremble to thinke vpon Scorpions and finding Sathan so cruelly tyrannizing vpon a small sinne so vnfaithfull in a little they will be loath to trust so bad a Counsellour or for a great matter commit their soules to so bad a Steward Can we thinke but Dauid was now growne more cautelous or that if he had againe his former freedome that Satan should againe so haue inueigled him Surely the bought wisedome of the Saints proues good if not the best Oh that we could be made so wise by our sins and the fruits of them as by one to auoid many by smaller to auoid greater by the pinch of a weesel to auoid the pawes of a Lyon 2 Tim. 2.7 Consider here what I say and the Lord giue vs vnderstanding in things Vse Salomon passing by the field of the Sluggard obserued nettles and thornes vpon the face of it and he learned instruction here is multiplicity of learning What came you hither to learne humility then behold what thou art without the preuenting grace of God or if charity iudge here of thy falling neighbour as subiect to infirmity or if further instruction Phil. 2.12 for the remainder of thy dayes learne here to walke wisely and worke out thy saluation with feare and trembling S. Paul 1 Cor. 1.20 glorying in Gods mercy and power demands Where now is the Scribe where now is the disputer of this world And hoping that I may glory likewise in the truth of this proposed and proued Theorem I demand where now is the Papist where the Pelagian what is become of the Saints perfection in this life This heresie was bred in North-Wales there was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first hatcht afterward bred vp at West-Babylon Pestifero vomuit coluber sermone Britannus Whereunto I may adde Pestifero docuit coluber sermone Quirinus For the Church of Rome hauing lickt vp the vomit of this Arch-hereticke as the Poets are fained to haue done Homers haue spit forth the same againe to the infection of many a soule Grant we to the Church of Rome a thing which they can neuer euince that Peter was head of the Church as Pilate said to the Iewes Behold your King so say I to them Behold your Peter if his faults and falls were not like vnto other mens Surely the foundation of the Church being thus shaken and the vaile of the Temple rent asunder I may easily coniecture what betides the rest if the case goe thus with the greene tree what shall become of the dry tree What cost Peter so many teares what was the cause of this strait of Dauid was perfection then God is vniust No it was imperfection let God be iust and the Church of Rome a lyar Dangerous then and damnable is their opinion causing men so much to dreame of perfection that they neuer labour for it procul hinc If we maintaine the bond-woman wee must keepe her son if we maintaine perfection then also merits and not onely that but another monstrous bastard with sixe fingers on a hand workes of supererogation certainly for perfection of Romish Iesuites thus much and no more will I euer grant that they are perfect in the Popish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolute Machiauilians absolute traytors monsters of men and matches for the Diuell I grant them also to be meritorious but for all the paines they haue taken in our English vineyard their wages haue beene such as that the Hangman hath beene their pay-master Gretserus Yea but the Pope saith Gretserus must needs be holy Si non sanctitate propriâ sanctitate tamen officii and so taller by head and shoulders then his fellowes But if deposition plucke this stoole from vnder him where lies his Holinesse then Sure their knowledge is no more then other mens all knowing but in part Indeed some Popes knowledge was not in part Alphons de Castro for Alphonsus de Castro affirmes that some of them knew nothing at all Their sanctification no more then others for though Alexander the sixt were holy by vertue of his office yet as he was Alexander he gaue his soule to the diuell and so by the Schoole-mens helpe was damned with a distinction Whatsoeuer the pride of the Church of Rome may conceiue or their insolency dare maintaine God let me euer be a member of that Church while I haue any being which though reformed in other things may seeme deformed in this that it acknowledgeth no particular member of it to be exempt from humane frailty and though not subiect to the dominion of sinne yet falling many times vnder sinnes vsurped gouernment and haue daily need to be renewed by repentance Holy Dauid though in the generall course of his life a man with whom God was wel pleased suo laborat naeuo and the best that liues may semel in anno nay septies in die fall into a great sinne and so by the iust iudgement of God into a great strait I conclude this Theorem with this corollary That if all the diuine and admirable gifts and graces of Gods holy Spirit as wisdome knowledge sanctification c. were doubled vpon the head of one man be he no more then a man may sinne of weaknesse though not of wickednesse and offend as grieuously though not so frequently as his brethren Thus haue we seene Dauids entrance into this strait now see we the nature of it and the manner how he apprehends it How Dauid apprehended it As all misery and sorrow of it selfe is grieuous vnto flesh and blood so some aboue the rest by the iust iudgement of God is more heauy and grieuous then other and doth more perplexe the mind of man Principally these two 1 For the matter if it be such as is intollerable 2 For the manner if it be such as is ineuitable Iaacobs seruice of seuen yeares for Rachel was ineuitable yet being but a seruice and such a seruice it was tolerable Israels seruitude in the iron fornace was intolerable yet in regard of Gods promise to visit them it proued euitable But the things here propounded to Dauid in their nature were 1. intolerable Famine Sword Pestilence Secondly God that propounded them makes them ineuitable Chuse one Dauid is onely left happy in this that though he cannot chuse but hee must haue one yet hee may chuse which one he will haue That we may the better apprehend the Strait of Dauid Apoc. 6. I will briefely open three Seales where wee shall see the three Furies which Gad the Seer presents to Dauid to take a hard and haplesse choise of either of them First comes Famine riding vpon a pale Horse killing with hunger and with death Sometimes
water troubles euery part of the water euen to the very banke But I speake not this as if any man hauing committed one sinne should in a desperate moode aduenture the committing of more because when he hath done all he can but be found guilty and so punished God forbid that any man should heare like Malchus with his left eare only But this is my drift if it were possible to deterre and affright the hearer from countenancing or giuing the least entertainment to the least sinne whatsoeuer or the least motion of that sinne As it was spoken in another case Ex pessimo genere ne catulus quidem educandus So I say in regard of the purity of God who can abide no sin and his iustice which may punish euery sin let vs not giue way to any sin And if God thus take account of one sinne let vs take heed of all sinne as being accomptable for in Gods sight One sinne a small sinne in mans iudgement may procure and prouoke God to send a heauy iudgement Secondly we may here obserue the impartiall hand of God may not Dauid be spared for a sinne true it is veniam laeso numine nullus habet Conijah if he offend though he were the Signet on Gods right hand Ier. 22.24 God will cut him off Neuer was any sinne committed but must be punished either in the sinner or in the Sauiour and though it be quoad aeternam poenam pardoned and punished in the Saniour yet it stands with the iustice of God temporally to punish a little sinne in a great Saint yea one onely sinne though in his owne children Dauid is noted but for one sinne before and for that one his one child borne in adulterie died Which kind of proceeding in almighty God though it may seeme harsh and bitter as the waters of Marah yet hence it doth receiue its dulcoration in that it proceeds from a blessed trinity of attributes in almighty God his iustice his holinesse his wisedome Iustice punishing one sinne his holinesse brooking no sinne his wisedome preuenting many sinnes all concurring in one act of punishing His Holinesse that holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth requires holy thoughts holy words holy actions and therefore any thing that is vnholy must needs grieue his holy spirit and that not only in Cain Saul Iudas Iulian c. vessels of wrath and sonnes of perdition but also in the vessels of honor the heyres of grace nay further taking indeed the matter more hainously at their hands As we reade of Caesar who of so many wounds giuen him at his death complained of none but of Brutus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thou my son So for Ierusalem to play the harlot the holy City become a cage of vncleant birds he will neuer endure As one good motion and inclination in the young Man made Christ begin to loue him Mat. 19. and the sparkes of goodnesse shining were wel-pleasing vnto him though the young man were not right So on the contrary one euill admitted and perpetrated by a child of God makes God in his holinesse dislike and distaste though not absolutely and finally the person yet the sinne by whomsoeuer committed nor can there bee any peace betwixt a righteous God and a wretched sinner His wisedome who seeing sinne the daughter of impunity and the fruitfull mother of such a damned brood doth principiis obstare killing this Cockatrice in the egge and preuenting this dangerous and farre-creeping fire before it run too farre and rage too sore dealing as a wise father with his child who breakes him of his vntoward disposition before it grow to a setled habit men are of that disposition which God complaines of Psal 50.15 These things hast thou done and I held my peace and thou thoughtst I was euen such a one as thy selfe and therefore it followes I will reprooue thee and set before thy face in order the things that thou hast done If hee should not aurem vellere and make his iudgements the remora's of sinne either the God of Iacob would be thought not to regard it or the reuenging arme to be shortened or else that God laying aside his holinesse did in part begin to approue those of which his soule hath said heretofore I hate them The least of which three gaps being layd open the Gadarens Swine ranne not so fast and headlong into the Sea as men would poast and precipitate themselues to the bottomlesse gulfe of Hell His Iustice who though he loue his Saints with an Eternall loue yet is not bound to the tolleration of the least nor the conniuencie at any sinne but on Gods part that he may declare his iustice and on their parts that they are Sonnes and not bastards Heb. 12.8 doth afflict correct and chastise them and though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a finall and destroying punishment be properly the portion of the wicked yet his iudgements 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for instruction and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for warning and example are no more often then iustly let loose vpon his owne Children and albeit God hath promised to spare them yet hee will but spare as a man doth his Sonne not to free from a fatherly correction but from scourges and whips which are onely for the backs of fooles and wounds which are for the hairie scalpes of such as goe on in their wickednesse Psal 68.21 So then his holinesse his iustice and his wisdome being the mouing causes of this action we must in such a case with Iob lay our hand vpon our mouth and with old Eli rest contented It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Now if iudgement beginne at the house of God 1. Pet. 4.17.18 Psal 130.3 and if the righteous shall not be spared what shall become of them what shall be their end that obey not the Gospell of God Psal 116.15 If thou Lord be extreame to marke what is done amisse yea by thy Saints so deare and pretious in thine eyes yea the very apples of thine eyes Oh what a fearefull expectation is it of iudgement and fierce indignation Heb. 10.27 which shall destroy the aduersaries of God If Dauid fell into this great strait for one Sinne what shall be done to Edom Moab and Tyrus Amos 1.9.12 2.2 for three transgressions and for foure but fire a destroying fire which shall consume Teman of the Edomites Kerioth of the Moabites and the walls of Tyrus If Dauid be auenged seuen-fold surely the vngodly that drinke in sinne like water and draw iniquitie with cordes of vanity shall be auenged seuenty times seuen fold If this be done to a green tree what shall be done to a drie tree Consider and I beseech you againe consider and remember this you that forget God you whose liues are nothing but a continuall rebellion and grieuing of the spirit of God To you I speake quorum etiam laudabilis vita damnabilis est si
That the motto of the most afflicted soule may be The mercies of our God are great The rather for these reasons following In the act of punishing God punisheth a little and pardoneth a great deale not suiting his plagues according to our deserts for then wee should be consumed but as a louing and mercifull Creditor when the debtor owes an hundred bids him take his pen and write fiftie or at the most foure score nay indeede not taking so much as fiue in the hundred of his debtors cutting off onely the hemme of our garment or the skirt of our rayment when we owe vnto him our soules as forfeit by reason of our transgression Any sinne committed against our infinite God deserues an infinite punishment If God therefore shall abate eternitie and send vs punishment is not his mercy great If when we deserue many stripes he giues vs but stripes is not his mercy great for man in this kind would haue had the vtmost farthing In the end of punishing farre is it from God to ayme at the destruction of his people nay hee aymes at their instruction that they might learne to keepe his Statutes and Commandements And whereas an enemie would funditus delere nocentem that his name Esa 55.8 nor the name of Israel might be had no more in remembrance Gods wayes are not as mens wayes God indeede sometimes destroyes the body that he may saue the soule he punisheth his children with the world that they may not be condemned with the world Others take vengeance out of hatred God out of his loue Castigans non quod odio habeat sed quod amet The originall of this action being so farre different must of necessitie suppose a contrary end A great Armada preuailing kills vp all A Powder-treason vndiscouered blowes vp all Ab vno intenditur ruina ab altero doctrina God meanes good man meanes mischiefe In the manner of punishing Gods mercies are great Albeit the iustice of God be mooued and his patience prouoked and though with men Laesa patientia vertitur in furorem Patience prouoked turnes to furie and yet not furor breuis a short furie but an irreconcileable hatred Yet God though offended will not alwaies be chiding Psal 103.9 neither keepeth he his anger for euer yea although he whet his sword and bend his bow and make ready his arrowes yet a poore soule may haue a present appeale a Deo irato ad Deum placatum being so appeasable and facile vnto such as shall vpon the bended knees of their soules sue out grace and pardon by renouncing of their sinnes and relying vpon his great mercies Nay the Lord himselfe of himselfe in this present plague without any intreaty to the comfort of penitent sinners I speake it did commaund the destroying Angell to hold his hand as grieuing to see the misery of his people and that so soon that Dauid had not time to offer any sacrifice propitiatorie but at the ceasing of the plague a free-will offering gratulatory for the remouall of so heauy a iudgement In this very punishment the Lord is more then iustifiable in all his wayes and holy in all his works and had he now decreed that whatsoeuer was left of the famine the sword should destroy and whatsoeuer was left of the sword the pestilence should destroy and so haue sent althose three furies of hell at once to haue assailed Israel what cursed Atheist durst haue said or thought but the Lord is iuste but now hehold him also mercifull he opens but one Seale sends but one punishment Nor is that positiuely set downe or cald out by name to enter combat with Israel but left arbitrary to Dauid Chuse one It is much if beggers may be chusers more if sinners Traian intending the death of Seneca bade him make choyce of the manner of his death Traian was cruell in his decree though kind in such a proffer God not cruell but mercifull vnto all his workes makes Dauid heere pronounce the sentence of iudgement Chuse one Is not heere great mercy Now Seneca in his wisedome chose the easiest to bleed to death in a bath and Dauid now hauing considered the mercies of God great of themselues but yet greater if compared with the mercies of men chuseth to fall into the hands of God who is iust and mercifull in the act of punishment gracious and mercifull in the end of punishment patient and merciful in his manner of punishment and lastly exceeding mercifull in this very punishment As the great mercies of God may iustly prouoke our admiration so Dauids wise choyce may be iustified as Christ did that of Mary he chose the better part Luk. 10.42 to fall into Gods hands whose mercies are great Can we now but wonder at Dauids choyce when all things considered ipsa iustitia Dei sit misericordia Foolish and vnfortunate was the ingresse into this sinne but most prudent and happy the euasion out of it Obiect But how was it so happy seeing the Apostle to affright from Sinne determines and defines It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God Heb. 10.31 After that I haue serued necessity in the reconciling these two places I must obey the time Thus then briefely Resp 1 Two things must here be considered First of what maner of sinne and sinners the Apostle speaketh Willet vbi supra namely of those that tread vnder foote the Sonne of God that count the bloud of the Couenant wherewith he was sanctified an vnholy thing and haue despited the spirit of grace as appeareth verse 29. But Dauids case and theirs are not alike his was a Sinne but of a child of God it was a Sinne but of infirmity Theirs are Sinnes but Sinnes of reprobates theirs are Sinnes but of that nature that the first is intolerable the second is like vnto it abhominable and the third as Christ the truth it selfe hath pronounced impardonable either in this world or in the world to come That is sauing Bellarmines patience they shall not haue any sense or feeling of pardon in this world Explic. locus Mat. 12.32 or benefite of remission of sinnes in the world to come or as our Church in shorter termes neuer Here then is the case It is one case to appeare before a temporal Iudge as a malefactor in wrong or violence to my neighbour which may be answered and auoyded by some legall meanes or if not the punishment may extend to losse of goods or good name and not touch life It is another case when a man shall appeare as guilty of that roaring sin of Treason against his Soueraigne a monstrous sinne worthy ten thousand deaths if a malefactor had so many liues what a wofull and fearefull case is this So it is one thing to sinne and another thing to sinne with so high an hand and herein it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God The Apostle speakes not of