habitations The Lord could take your souls from you before ye depart this place if ye depart in safetie before ye come into your houses or before you goe to bed or before you rise in the morning but if you injoy to day and to morrow and the next day despise not the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience and long suffering knowing that his bountifulness leadeth you to repentance Be not like to the wicked Iob 21. which take the Tabret and Harpe and rejoyce at the sound of the Organs and spend their dayes in wea'th and then suddenly goe down into the Grave Nor like those in Eccles 9. 12. which do not know their time but like fishes which are taken in an evill net and like birds that are caught in a snare so they are snared in the evill time which falleth upon them suddenly nor like the evill servant in the Gospel which saith in his heart my Master doth deferre his coming and begins to smite his fellow-Servants and to eat and to drink with the drunken lest death come upon you in a day when ye look not for it and in an houre that you are not aware of and cut you off and ye receive your portion with Hypocrites in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Blessed is that man whom the Lord when he cals him from hence shall find waking but woe yea thrice woe be to that man whom the Lord when he cometh shall find sleeping verily I say unto you it had been good for that man if he had never been borne wherefore once again I say use this golden opportunitie to the honour of your God redeem the time because the dayes are few not for a day but even all your dayes which is the fourth note and which I can but touch let it be your care not how you may be rich in this world but how you may be rich unto God not rich in goods but in goodnesse let your chief study in this life be how he may be saved in the life to come Alas it was but a cold comfort to Adrian the Emperour when he was readie to dye to jest with his soul doubting what should become of it Animula vagula blandula hospes comesque corporis quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nidula nec ut soles dabis jocos What speeches but this or worse then this can any expect will proceed from you in your sicknesse when you are ready to leave the world if in your health you have not studied to make your election sure if in your life ye offer to God nothing but dregs there is little hope you will set forth good wine at the houre of your death late repentance is oftentimes counterfeit never so accepted with God we must blossom in the spring if wee will bring forth fruit in harvest it is no commendation to offer to the world and Satan the flower of our youth and sacrifice to God the withered stubble of old age to turn to God when we can scarce turn our selves in our beds and to leave this world when it is ready to take a farewell of us wherefore have your loynes still girded about and your lights still burning and you your selves waiting and expecting nay desiring not only for that time when your souls and bodies shall be separated but much more for that great day when they shall again be united and conjoyned let these and the like be each of your meditations and prayers How long Lord how long holy and true as the heart desireth the water brook so longeth my soul after thee O God my soul is a thirst for God even for the living God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth yea thou art my helper and my redeemer O my God make no long tarrying but come Lord Jesus come quickly The 5th and last thing which was observed out of these words was this That death to the Children of God is but a change to a better and more blessed state for so with Mercer and other learned Divines I take the meaning of the words to be when it is said my changing and not to be meant of the resurrection as some would have it Death is the wages of sinne saith the Apostle Rom. 6. 23. not only a temporarie death which is a separation of the body from the soul but an eternall death which is a separation both of bodie and soule from God for so it was told our Grand-father before he tasted the fruit of the forbidden tree whensoever thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt dye the death seconded after the fact with this iudiciall sentence dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne Gen 3. and so by the transgression of one death reigned over all unto condemnation Rom. 6. 14. But behold the abundant Ocean of the riches of the mercie and bountifullness of our God who by the balme of Christs blood hath so tempered this popson that like Treacle which is made of venemous wormes it becomes a preservative against poyson and hath broken the teeth of this Lyon that we may say with the Prophet the Lyon and the Lamb may dwell together hath taken the sting from this Scorpion that we may even now in some sense say O death where is thy sting thus by the grace of God the punishment of sin is to us turned to a freedom from sin it was said to our first Parents saith Austin thou shalt dye if thou sinne now it is said to a Martyr dye lest thou sinne then it was said if thou transgresse the commandement thou shalt dye the death now it is said if ye refuse to dye ye transgresse the commandement that which then was to be feared that they should not sin is now to be undergon lest they sin then death was gotten by sinning now justice is fulfilled by dying Behold the great difference of death in the godly and the wicked to the wicked it hath the same force which before it had to the godly it is like a sleep which resteththeir bodies and makes them more lively then before to the ungodly it brings a taile or sting with it and that is condemnation to the godly it is as it were a Bee without a sting to the godly it is terminus a quo of miserie and vexation to the wicked it is the beginning of sorrow and damnation to the ungodly it is Sathans Cart to carry them to Hell to the righteous it is like Elisha's fierie Chariot to mount them to Heaven to the wicked it is Sathans Serjeant to carrie them to Tophet which is prepared for them to the godly it is the Lords Messenger to remove them to their expected home let then the ungodly feare and tremble when they heare of death and let them
the threatnings of the law would not mollifie his stony heart When the High Priests and Elders send Officers to apprehend Christ Judas goes with them as their captain and brings them to the place where Jesus was and though the barbarous Souldiers and pittilesse Officers and cruel servants were so appaled and daunted with his speech that when he told them that he was the man whom they sought they were so farre from apprehending him that presently they started back veluti qui sentibus anguem pressit humi nitens as a man doth when he treads upon a snake and were beaten down with the breath of his mouth For the text saith they went backward and fell to the ground John 18. 6. and moreover were struck into such amazement and astonishment of heart that when Peter drew his sword and smote off one of their eares they scarce or as it is probable not at all observed it For when they were come into the High Priests hall and Peter amongst them though they could say this is one of them and sayth his speech betrayeth him yet none could say this is he that cut off Malchus his eare yet all this wind shakes not Judas Is seu dura silex stat vel Marpesia cautes all the thunderbolts of the law will not make a breach in his flinty heart whereby repentance might enter in For all this when hee heares that Christ is condemned then he begins to repent The conscience is of marvellous great force saith the heathen Oratour and that two wayes for those that have done well are not afraid poenam ante oculos semper versari putant qui peccaverunt and those which have done amisse think that God is alwayes shaking his rod over them The righteous is bold as a Lyon his conscience hath passed upon him and found him not guilty but the wicked flieth when none pursueth his own guilty conscience hath condemned him He may perhaps be hid from the eyes of men but he can never assure himselfe that he cannot be catched as Epicurus in Seneca speaketh Suppose his sinne be hid from the eyes of men let him think that the Angels that are about him do not take the least notice of it let him imagine that he hath drawn a curtain before the eyes of God so that he cannot behold it let him say with those Epicures in the Psalmist tush God doth not regard it there is no knowledge in the most highest He hideth away his face and he will never see it yet there is one within him that noteth it in the table of his heart as it were with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond it is a witnesse to accuse him a bayliffe to arrest him a prison to contain him a jury to convince him a judge to condemn him an hangman to kill and torment him The Poets fable of Prometheus that he was tied to the mountain Caucasus and had an Eagle still gnawing upon his heart for offending Jupiter me thinks it is a fit embleme of a sinner who for offending his God is as it were tied to a stake and hath the worme of conscience as a hungrie eagle still gnawing upon his heart Plutarch compares it to a boyle or impostume in the flesh For as a boyle pricketh and eateth the flesh so doth a sinners conscience his mind Now as those that have cold or hot agues within them are more troubled then when they are made cold without by the frost or heated by the beams of the sunne So those grievances which happen by some external cause are farre easier then this inward sting of conscience and therefore saith he a mind void of sin were more to be wished for then houses then lands then dignities then riches then any thing which this greedy world doth so much gape after The saying of Diogenes is notable for this purpose who seeing his host in Sparta making great provision for a feast what needeth all this said he for an honest man hath a feast every day meaning that an honest man hath a good conscience and a good conscience is a continual feast Prov. 15. 13. Those that were to be crucified amongst the old Romanes did beare the Crosse upon which they were to suffer So the wicked do carrie with them the crosse of a guilty conscience which though for a little they may lay it down yet can they never cast it from them till they come to the place of execution indeed they willmake a goodly shew outwardly as though nothing did trouble them within they laugh they jest they quaffe they play but all this is but from the teeth outward they are like theeves saith one in aprison which are condemned to death who will sometimes play at dice or cards to put out of their mindes the cogitation of their future execution but all in vaine for haeret lateri laethalis arundo It is so rooted in their hearts that no spunge of oblivion can wipe it out they are in Damocles his case they see Gods sword of vengeance still hanging over their heads readie to fall upon them and to hewe them in pieces that deep wise man saith Tacitus said not without cause that if Tyrants hearts and what he spake of Tyrants is true of all such as sinne with a high hand were laid open a man should see them torne and rent asunder for as the body is torne with stripes so their minds are rent with the sting of conscience for their cruelties their lasciviousnesse their oppression and such other sinnes as they have committed for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the conscience of a sinner doth whip and scourge his soule therefore saith the Poet Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time When thou art about to doe any unlawfull act feare thy selfe though thou want a witnesse for thou art not alone Nocte dieque tuum gestas in pectore testem Thou carriest a witnesse withthee thy bosome and that is thy conscience which is as good as a thousand witnesses wretched and desperate is thy case if thou make not account of this witness 3. Examples will make this point plaine begin with the first man that ever sinned and the first sinne that ever he committed Our great Grandfather Adam had no sooner transgressed Gods commandement by eating of the forbidden tree but presently his conscience accused him and made him ashamed for when he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the coole of the day he hid himselfe from the presence of the Lord among the the trees of the garden Why was Adam so afraid of Gods presence had he not been with him before He had made him he had made a helper for him he had made him Lord over the whole world and put all things in subjection under his feet all Sheep and Oxen yea and all the Beasts of the feild the fowles of the aire and the fishes of the seas and therefore a man would thinke that
and their knees to smite one against another But to leave these and to make an end of this point Seeing that sinne is such a burden unto our consciences let us take head that we do not load them too much if we were fully perswaded that such and such meats would cause an ague we would willingly abstain from them Now sinne causeth a greater sicknesse unto our soules then is an ague unto our bodies viz a troubled conscience and a wounded spirit who can bear how then dare wee commit it when Rebecca felt the strugling of Esau and Jacob in her wombe she wished she had been barren and said if it be so why am I thus Sinne may be pleasant in getting but it is bitter in bearing better we were barren then feel the pains and throwes before we be delivered of it And if it be so why are we thus Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur alter Better to give this guest no entertainment at all then discredit our selves with God for harbouring it Therefore before thou do any thing consider with thy selfe whether it be a sinne or no examine it by the law of God if it be a sinne see thou do it not lest afterward thou feel the pain when it shall come into thy bowels like water and like oyle into thy bones When the remembrance of it shall burn within thee like fire and gnaw like a worm upon thy heart perchance thy conscience is so heardned that thou canst not feel nor call to remembrance thy sinnes which if it be so miserable and wretched art thou for without a feeling of sinne and repentance for the same there is no remission to be expectedyet there will a day come when God knowes but certainly it will come when thou shalt find them to be heavier then lead upon thine heart When thy master shall call thee to a reckoning and the day of thy departing cometh then will the book of thy conscience be laid open and thou shalt read such a Catalogue of thy sinnes therein that even then thou sha't plainiy perceive the never dying worm to gnaw upon thy soule and the unquenchable fire to beginne to burn within thee unlesse the Lord in merey shall give thee grace to repent that so thou mayest be saved therefore strive alwayes to hav a good conscience and if thou wilt be carefull that thine eye because it is the most tender and precious part of thy body be not troubled with the least mote Be much more careful of thy conscience the eye of thy soul that it be not troubled with beams of great and horrible sinnes Wilt thou never be sad live well this is the best means to gain the joy and peace of conscience Happy is that man who when his fatal hour approacheth can say with Paul I have in all good conscience served God until this day Verily this will more availe him then if he should conquer the whole world and have all the Monarchs of the earth to cast down their scepters before his footstoole Thus much of the first point his condemnation I proceed to the second his mortification or imperfect repentance He repented himself c. THis repentance was an extreme grief of heart arising from the curses of the law and apprehension of Gods wrath which as it was in Judas so was it in Pharaoh and Ahab and the Ninevites and many of the heathen Orestes and Nero when they had killed their Mothers were exceedingly troubled and wished to be clensed and Hercules in the Tragedy when he had kill'd his wife and children runnes up and down like a madman and cries out that if the whole sea should runne through his hands it would not wash him from that bloudy fact So that this is no part of true mortification yet it is a preparative thereunto The wheat must be threshed with the flayle before it be fanned from the chaffe with the wind and a natural man must be as it were threshed with the terrours of the law before he be fanned from his corruptions with the wind of the Spirit In natural mutations before a substantial forme be corrupted andan other educed è potentiâ materiae certain alterations or previal dispositions are required as necessary for hastning of this change So in a Supernatural mutation when a sonne of wrath is to be made a sonne of God the terrours of the law are required as necessary precedents for hastning this change The law like the shoomakers elson pricks the heart legal sorrowes and fears like the bristle come after and true mortification like the thread comes in the last place Take the elson and the bristle from the shoomaker and he cannot use his thread take legal sorrow and compunction of heart from a natural man and he cannot be brought to true repentance So that Judas goes well thus farre he goes yet further he makes confession of his fault first in general I have sinned then in particular I have been a traytour I have betrayed and which is worst of all I have betrayed the innocent blood If Judas this repentance notwithstanding be damned to hell merciful God what shall become of thousands amongst us which go under the name of Christians and come short of Judas in repentance They are seldome touched with any sorrow for their sinnes but say they be surely not half of that sorrow that Judas was in admit they be come they to the next step do they make confession admit this too come they to a third do they make satisfaction doth the sacrilegious Church-robber bring back again that which he hath wrongfully taken from the sonnes of Levi and say I have sinned doth the bloud-sucking Usurer restore that which he hath wrongfully taken from the poor by sundry practises of covetousnesse and say I have sinned is there any who after that he hath done wrong is sorry for it and confesses his fault and is ready to make amends and say thus and thus have I done thus and thus have I sinned all these are necessary to salvation but these are not all that are necessary to salvation We must go thus farre with Judas but we must not here stay with Iudas Iudas by stepping a foot short got a break-neck fall and is tumbled into the pit of hell We must go a step further and fasten our feet upon the corner stone by a true and saving faith and then our sinnes be they never so many never so grievous shal not bring us to condemnation but though they be as Crimson they shall be made white as snow though they be red like scarlet they shall be as wool We read in the Gospel of 3 whom our Saviour rased from death to life the first was Iairus his daughter she was dead in the house and Christ raised her in the house The second was the widowes sonne of Naein he was dead in the way they were carrying him to the place of burial and Christ raised him in
the way The third was Lazarus and he was dead stinking in his grave and Christ raised him there Saint Austin doth thus moralize the stories ista tria genera mortuorum sunt tria genera peccatorum c. These three kinds of dead men are three kinds of sinners whom our Saviour doth daily raise from death unto life These are those that be dead in the house these be they that have conceived sinne in their hearts but have not actually committed the same he feare dead in the house for there is no sinne no not the least exorbitant thought of its own nature venial but he that raised Iairus daughter will upon their repentance raise these the second sort are those that are dead in the way these are they that have conceived sins in their souls and actually committed the same these are in the way to be buried in Hell but he that said to the widdows sonne of Naim young man arise is able and willing upon their repentance to raise these The third are those that with Lazarus lye stinking in the grave these are they that have not onely conveyed sinne in their hearts and actually committed the same but by long continuance have got an habit of sinning and continued custome like a great stone is laid upon their graves the case of these men is fearefull but he that said Lazarus come forth is able and readie if they lay as deep as Hell upon their serious repentance to raise these Non haec dico fratres saith he ut qui vivunt vivant sed ut qui mortui sunt revivificant I speak not these thiâ—gs Brethren that those that live in sin may be incouraged to continue therein but that those who are dead in sinne may be revived well then let us be sorry with Judas let us make confessâ—ion with Judas let us make fatisfaction with Judas but let us never despaire with Judas be our sins never so hainous for there is no more proportion between our sins and Christs merits apprehended by faith then there is to use Tullies phrase inter Sillam muriae mare Aegeum between a drop of brine and the Aegean nay the whole Ocean Sea For as Rahab the Harlot was saved by reason of a red thred which was tied to her window when Jericho was destroyed so be thou ten thousand times worse then ever Rahab was if the red thred of Christs bloody passion be tyed to the window of thy heart by faith doubt not but thou shalt be saved though not Iericho but the whole world should be destroyed But without this faith our legal sorrow will availe nothing our confession nothing our satisfaction will profit nothing for as a plaster be it never so excellent if as soone as it is laid upon a sore it be wiped off will not heale the sore and as a potion be it never so precious if as soone as it be drunke it be vomited up again will not 〈◊〉 he inward maladies that are in a mans bodie So the precious plaster of Christs merits will not heal the wounds of our soules if it be wiped off by unbeliefe nor will the Soveraign potion of his merits cure our inward maladies if they be vomited up by incredulitie I have read somewhere of a Lacedemonian who riding on his way hapned to finde a dead man and not knowing perfectly that he was dead he alighted from his horse to trie whether he could make him stand when he could not but the dead fell sometime this way and sometime that he said to himself deâ—st profecto aliquid intus there is something wanting within that should keep him up he said truly for his soul was wanting a man without faith be he never so sorrowfull for his sinnes make he never so ample a confession of them be he pressed even to the mouth of hel with a dolefull remembrance of his iniquities yea though he could say the whole Bible on his fingers ends he is never able to stand in judgement nor to make answer before the Lord in the congregation of the righteous and no marvell for by faith wee stand 2 Cor. 1. 24. and therefore it stands us all upon for the best of as all hath but fidem implicitam I mean a weake and imperfect faith to pray with the Apostles O Lord encrease our faith and with the father of the possessed child Lord I believe help my unbeliefe PSAL. 82. 6 7. I have said ye are Gods but yee shall die like men THere are three sorts of men who if they be faithfull in their places and follow the direction of their books are the chief pillars to support a Christian common-wealth the Physitian the Divine and the Magistrate These three are in the body politick as the three principall parts the liver the heart and the braine are in the body of man The Physitian is the liver the Divine is the heart and the Magistrate is the brain of the common-wealth The liver is called the beginning of the natural faculty it segregateth the humours it ingendreth alimental bloud and by veins sends it into each part of the body whereby the whole is nourished and preserved Like unto it is the Physitian who purgeth the body of man from such noxious humours as whereby it may be endangered and prescribeth such a diet as whereby it may be best nourished and kept in health The heart is called the beginning of the vital faculty it ingendreth the vital spirits and by arteries sendeth them into every particular member To which I compare the Divine For as the heart is the fountain of the vital spirits and the beginning of the vital faculty so is the Divine the fountain and beginning though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of generation nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of radication yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the Physitians terms of the dispensation of the true vital spirit Hee is the means to make thee of a natural man such as the Physitian leaveth thee a spiritual substance The brain which is called the beginning of the animal faculty is the chief commander of the whole it sitteth in the highest room as in a stately palace being compassed about with the pericranium the cranium and the two meninges as so many strong castles and countermures against all forrain invasion It hath the five externall senses as intelligencers to give notice what is done abroad the common sense the phantasie and the understanding as privy counsellers the memory as a book of records But yet it is not idle but is continually busied in tempering the spirits received from the heart which it sendeth by the nerues through the whole body thereby giving sense and motion to every part A fit embleme of a good Magistrate who as he hath his forts and guard and counsellours and records c. so must he remember that he hath not these for his own proper use but for the whole and therefore should bestir himself for benefitting the whole
hath for iron Glaucus made no good market with Diomedes when he changed his golden armour for armour of brasse but many clients complain that they meet with worser merchants who for a puâ—se full of angels give them nothing but a black boxe full of papers Procrastinations and unnecessary delayes for filling of the lawyers coffers and pilling of the poor clients is a fault which I have glanced at heretofore and might a thousand times hereafter ere ever it be reformed For never was it more spoken against then now and never was it so much practised as now Well fare the old Athenian lawes which as Anacharsis once said were like unto Spider-webs that catched the little Flies and let the Waspe and the Bee and the Beetle burst though them in respect of them that hold Waspe and Bee and Beetle and all and scarce any can burst through them But what do I now Condemn I the law I do wrong Is the law sinne saith Paul he speaks of the moral law Nay the law is holy and just and good but I am carnal sold under sinne So say I is our law sin Nay our law is just and good Here is the break-neck of all too many of our Solliciters Atturnies and learned Scribes are meerly carnal and sold under sinne using it not to that end for which it is ordeined the glory of God and the peace of the common-wealth But as the fowler doth his net for catching of plovers to inrich themselves withal making that which should be for the common good a Monopolie for themselves a profession of mockerie and a meer shop of most horrible and detestable covetousnesse But it is the worst thriving in the world to rise with an other mans fall It was a short but a sharp quip which a captive gave unto Pompey the great Nostrâ misiriâes Magnus It is our misery that gave thee thy surname It is so in this case Nostrâ miseriâ es Magnus may the client say to his counsellour As the swelling of the splene argueth the consumption of other parts so the inriching of the lawyer the impoverishing of the client If then his cause be good alas why is it never ended If it be nought why is it still defended If the cause be nought the defence is worse then nought Understand me rightly it may be a Counsellours hap to be a speaker in an ill cause and yet he not worthy any blame The party may misinform him in the truth of the cause Judgements in the like case may be different or some other circumstance may deceive him But where it plainly appears to be nought indeed by nimblenesse of wit and volubility of tongue to smooth it over with colourable probabilities thereby as farre as thou canst to give the truth an overthow this is but to guild over a rotten post to call good evil and evil good to let loose Barabbas and destroy Jesus to make the devil who is a fiend of darknesse to appear in the likenesse of an angel of light and therefore worse then nought Better with Papinian to have thy head parted from thy shoulders then to be a common Advocate in such causes There is a kind of men in the world who though they know before they begin their suits or at least before they have waded farre in them as well as they know their own names and the number of their fingers that the matter which they prosecute by extremity of law is manifest wrong yet either out of a malitious humour to give their adversaries an overthrow or because their ability is such that it will hold them out or because others do joyn with them and make it a common quarrel or because they love Salamander-like to be broyling in the fire of contention can by no means be disswaded from their wicked enterprise This matter so wickedly and mischievously begun one counsellour or other that loves with the Eele-catchers in the old comedie to be fishing in muddy waters and desires alife to bathe himself in any pool that an Angel shall trouble must manage He must find some probable title in the law for it he must as long as the law will afford him any kind of weft weave it out in length and when it fails he must Spider-like spinne it out of his owne bowels He must prolong judgement and deferre the matter from one day to another from one tearm to another from one year to another from one court to another till at length he who hath both God and the law and a good conscience on his side for very wearinesse be enforced to give it over or be brought to extreme beggery that he can follow his suit no longer or till Atropos have cut in sunder the thred of his dayes and so made an end of the quarrell Well were it for the Commonwealth if such seditious quarrellers and make-bates were by some severe punishment taught not to delude justice and oppresse the truth that others by their example might be terrified from such wicked attempts and that honest and godly men might live in more peace and tranquillity If my words do sound harsh to som of my hearers I must say of them as Hierom saith of som in his epistle to Rusticus dum mihi irascuntur suam indicant conscientiam multoque pejùs de se quam de me judicant If they be offended with me they bewray their own guilty consciences and have a farre worse opinion of themselves then they have of me I name none I know none I speak in generall against sinne and if any mans conscience condemn him God is greater then his conscience and knoweth all things and therefore let him goe his way and sinne no more lest a worse thing happen unto him My hope is that all you are of a better disposition But I kow ye are all men and therefore subject to the like passions and infirmities that others are Let me therefore once againe to returne to that from which I have a little digressed beseech you in all your pleadings and legall proceedings to remember that account that yee must make unto God when yee shall be called hence Remember that there is woe denounced against them that call good evill and evill good Remember the end of your profession it is not to sowe dissention to fill your own coffers to make a mart to utter your own wares to shew your ready wits and voluble tongues in speaking probably of every subject good or bad but to help every man to his right to cut away strife and contention and to restore peace and unitie in the common-wealth that all the Members of the body politick may be of one heart and one soule Even as there is one hope of our vocation one Lord one faith one baptisme one God one father of all which is above all and through all and in us all Remember that our God is called the God of peace his Gospel
time will I waite till my changeing shall come Whence this note doth naturally arise That in this life in the regenerate man there is a combat and conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit A naturall man of himselfe is like a heavie bodie which in a well disposed medium moveth downwards of it self without resistance he goes downwards without violence nay praecipitat non descendit he throwes himselfe downe as Sathan would have perswaded Christ to cast himself downe from the Pinacle of the Temple and doth not descend downe by staires but a regenerate and spirituall man as he cannot easily fall downe being holden up with the two wings of saith and hope so can he not easily ascend being pressed down by a weighty burthen too heavie for him to beare he is like to the Gyant under Sicily Nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe Dextrae sed Ausonio manus est subjectae Peloro Laeva Pachine tibi Lylibaeo crura premuntur Aetna caput Upon his right hand lye presumptuous sins upon his left honour and feare upon his feet and thighs the lusts and affections of the flesh upon his head blindness and ignorance doubting and unbeliefe so that oftentimes the good which he would that he cannot doe but the evill which he would not that he doth or he may be compared to a man that swims against the stream with much ado he gets upward but if he misse the stroke the streame carryeth him back again or to one which ascendeth up to the top of a Hill with a but then on his back much panting and sweating hath he before he can get up and if his foot chance to slip so heavie is the load on his back that he will hardly recover himself without a fall the spirit strives against the streame to swim up to the fountaine of goodnesse and the flesh strives to beat him back and as it were with an easie tyde to carrie him down into the Ocean of sin and iniquitie the spirit strives to creep up the hil upon hand and foot as Jonathan and his armour bearer did between the two rocks Bozez and Seneh when they went against the Philistims but the flesh striveth to beate him backward and to tumble him down like Nebuchadnezzars stone from the top of the mountain so that it fareth with a regenerate man as it did with Rebecca when she was with Child the flesh and the spirit fight and strugle one with another as the Children did in her womb so saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to another so that wee cannot doe the thing which we would which is not so to be understood as though the body fought against the soule or that these two the flesh and the spirit were locally separated for as the flesh is partly spirituall so the spirit is partly carnall these two are mingled and joyned in both body and soule and in every part and facultie thereof In the understanding there is knowledge mixed with ignorance and blindness there is spirit mixed with flesh in the Will there is a willing and a nilling in the affections there is a desiring and forsaking of that which is good as Medea in the Poet had between naturall reason and carnall appetite Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor The reason is manifest For as a Child becomes not a perfect man in an instant but groweth by little and little So after our regeneration when we are new born of water and the spirit wee become not presently strong men in Christ Jesus but wee grow dayly in perfection wee ascend as it were up Iacobs ladder wee climb from one degree or staire of perfection to another till all imperfections be removed from us For howsoever justification be actus individum simul totus as judicious writer truly aver-Justification is an individuall act and admits of no degrees yet sanctification comes by parts and degrees for it fareth with him as it doth with cold water when it is made hot by fire as the cold is by degrees expelled so is the heate brought in by degrees omnis remissio est per admissionem contrarii In like manner as the old man which like the earth is cold perisheth so the new man heated by the fire of the spirit quickneth and reviveth and again as there is a strugling and mutuall conflict and encountring betwixt the the contrary qualities Frigida cum calidis pugnant humentia siccis One indeavouring to captivate and destroy the other so it is betwixt these two the spirit indeavoureth to conquer the flesh but like a naturall agent agendo repatitur it suffereth blows of the flesh which rebelleth against it and leadeth it captive to the law of sinne only here is the difference that two contrary qualities may be so tempered as that a mean consisting of both and not specifically distinguished from both may be produced of them but the flesh and the spirit will never make one and therefore the spirit saith to the flesh as Alexander did to Darius who offered him half of his kingdome so that he might quietly enjoy the other half but as one world cannot have two suns so one kingdom must not have two kings and therefore 't wil endeavour utterly to dispossesse the flesh and depose it from its estate which it holdeth in man as Alexander did to depose Darius from his kingdom it can no more live in agreement with the flesh then Sarah could with Hagar and her sonne and therefore it saith as she did to Abraham Cast out this bond-woman and her sonne for the sonne of the bond-woman may not be heire with my sonne Isaac Of heate and cold may be made one individuall quality which wee call luke-warme but the flesh and the spirit cannot be mixed no Christian may be luke-warm for such will Christ spue out of his mouth Thus you see that so long as a Christian remaineth in this world so long there is a contention betwixt the regenerate and carnall part the flesh which like a Zopyrus keeps within the wals of the City is ever ready to betray him unto his enemies hands it is to him as the Canaanites were to the Israelites thorns in their eys and pricks in their sides so that a Christian may say of it as David did of Absalom Even my sonne which comes out of my bowels seeks my life or take up that complaint which the Prophet doth elswhere it is not my open enemie that doth me this dishonour for then peradventure I could have borne it neither was it mine adversarie that did magnifie himselfe against me for then peradventure I could have hid my selfe from him but it is thou my guide and mine own familiar friend my flesh which eatest my bread that liftest up thy heele against me on the other side the spirit seeks to root out the earthy affections
dealing holily and hating covetousness and such I hope all are that be here present Now that which I have spoken concerning them that are deceitfull and unconscionable is no more a disgrace unto these and their Calling then it was to Christs Apostles that one of them was a Judas or to the Leviticall Priests that one of them was a Caiphas or to the Sons of God the good Angels Jobâ— that the Prince of darkness the Devil was one of their company Only this one thing let me beseech them to take notice of the better that any thing is the more dangerous it is when it is abused Can there be any thing more necessary then Fire and Water when they keep their proper places displace them remove the fire from the hearth into the house-top and astus incendia volvunt it indangereth the whole Town remove the River out of its Channell into the mowne Meadowes and new grown Corn and Sternit agros sternit sata laeta boumque labores It sweepes away the Câ—râ— and makes havock of all Was there ever Creature that God made more excellent then the Angels and yet those Angels that fell and kept not their first Estate no Creature under Heaven so hurtfull and dangerous as they Come to man is there any calling if ye respect publick peace so necessary as the Magistrate whom God hath set in his own room and stiled with his own name If yee respect the Soule of man so worthy as the Minister if yee respect the health of Body so necessary as the Physitian if yee respect the outward and temporall Estate so requisite as the Lawyer But if these abuse their places if the Magistrate under a colour of executing of Justice practise Tyranny if the Minister for sound Doctrine preach Heresie if the Physitian instead of wholesome Physick minister poyson to his Patients who so pernicious So likewise the Lawyer if in stead of opening and explaining the Lawes and defending the right and standing in the gap that falshood and wrong may not enter he labour to smother the Law and outface the truth and patronize falshood who more hurtfull then he The more you are to be exhorted for you are all but men and no man walke he never so uprightly but he is subject to fall to walke worthy of that excellent vocation whereunto you are called love your Freinds honour the Mighty regard your Clients respect your Fees The labourer is worthy of his hyre But preferr truth and a good conscience before them all and let neither might nor feare nor Client nor Freind nor Fee nor any thing in the World cause you to make shipwrack of a good conscience or to give leave to your tongues which as the Heathen man said should be Oracles of the truth to be Bauds and Brokers for an ill cause remembring that that description which old Cato and Quintilian gave of an Orator as it agreeth to us that are Ministers so to you also that are Lawyers Viz. that he is Vir bonus dicendi peritus and therefore as he must be Dicendi peritus a good Speaker to must he also be Vir bonus a good liver Enough of this To conclude this first generall Point and so to descend unto the second for I will not now trouble you with the other two properties of a Sheep seeing the Dove-like or sheep-like simplicity is a virtue wherwith every Member of Christs Flock must be qualified we are all to be exhorted and let me say unto you with Saint Austine Hortor vos omnes charissimi meque hortor vobiscum I beseech you yea and my selfe with you to avoid hypocrosie and that the rather because it is a sin unto which all Adams Posterity are yea though they be regenerate by the spirit of God in a greater or lesser degree subject To this purpose we are to labour for single hearts because these are the soul of our actions without which well they may have a being yet have they neither life nor moving For as the Body when the Soul is separated from it how comely soever it be in outward form will presently stink and become noysome so all our words and actioâ—s whether they concern Piety or honesty God or our Neighbour if the heart be not joyned with them are but stinking Carrion and filthy Abominations in the Nostrils of Almighty God The second generall Point is the unity of Christs Church she is but as one Flock as the Sheep under one Shepheard though never so many do all concur to the making of one and the same numericall Flock So all Christians though never so dispersed over the Globe of the Earth being fed in the green Pastures of the Lord which are beside the waters of comfort do make but one and the same individuall Church And this the very word it selfe doth imply if we look into his Parentage in the Greek tongue viz. a Congregation or collection of many particulars into one society and city of God for which cause she is called one undefiled Love Cant. 6. 8. one Body Ephe. 4. 4. within which nothing is dead without which nothing is alive as Hugo speaks one Sheepfold John 16 Figured by one fleece of Gideon which was wet with the Dew of Heaven when all the ground beside was dry shadowed by the Arke of Noah wherein eight Persons were saved when all the rest or the World was drowned the Boards of which Arke were conglutinated and pitched together within and without within that she should not loose her own and without Ne admitteret alienam that she should not leake in forrain waters as a Donatist did not unfitly expound it or rather as Austine moralizeth it Vt in compagine unitatis significetur tolerantia charitatis ne scandalis ecclesiam tentantibus sive abâ—ijs quritus abijs sive quae foris sunt cedat fraterna junctura solvatur vinculum pacis August contra Faustum lib. 12. Chap. 14 reason 1. In respect of Christ the Shepheard is one therefore the Flock but one the Bridegroome one therefore the Spouse but one the Head one therefore the Body but one In this respect Cyprian holds the whole Church one Bishoprick not that his meaning is that any one man should be ministeriall head of the whole church in Christs corporal absence that the Bishop of Rome for that were to marry the chast Spouse to two Husbands instead of a faithful Spouse to make her a filthy Harlot Cyprians words wil admit no such Interpretation unus est episcopatus c. And what account he made of the Bishop of Rome which then was a man of better worth then al those Magogs who have possessed that Chaire for a thousand yeares last past it may appeare by this that he contemned his Authority vilipended his Letters opposed his Councell to his his Chaire to his called him a proude man an ignorant man a blinde man and little better then a Schismatick It is then one
Bishoprick in respect of Christ the Bishop of our Soules 1 Pet. 2. 25. The sole oecumenicall and universall President of the whole Church So then as there are many Beames proceeding from the same Sun yet one Sun in which they are United many branches growing from one Tree yet one roote wherein they are conjoyned many Rivers yet one Sea wherein they all meet many lines in a circle but one Center wherein they all concur So the Members of Christs Church though in respect of themselves they be divers yet they have all but one beginning one Spring one roote one Head one Center and in this respect all but one as one in respect of the Head so in respect of the Spirit which animateth every Member thereof This is the soule that informs the whole Church it is that Intellectus agens of which Philosophers have so much dreamed which is Vnas numero in every Member of Christs mysticall Body So that as the integrall Members of mans Body though of themselves they be specifically distinct flesh bones nerves muscles veines arteries c. Every one of them having a peculiar essentiall and specificall form yet being informed with one humane Soule they are but integrall parts of the same man So all Christians in the World though in sex and state and degree and calling and Nation and language they be different yet being regenerated and animated with the same spirit they are but integrall Members of one and the selfe same Church 3. One in respect of Faith and Religion and profession contained in the sacred volume of the Bible the two Brests of the Church out of which Christs Lambs do suck the sincere Milke of the word that they may grow thereby The two Cherubims that with mutuall counterview do face the mercy Seate that is Christ the two great lights that inlighten the World the old like the Moon to rule the night the new like the Sun to rule the day that for the Patriarks this for us the two Pillars to leade us from Egypt to Canaan the old of a Cloud dark and obscure in figures and shadowes the other of fire bright and cleare both of them making one and absolute rule of our faith and profession she is then one because one spirit quickeneth her one because one rule directeth her that is the essentiall form this is the proper passion flowing from this form by which the Church a Posteriori may be demonstrated For they are my Sheep saith Christ which heare my voice John 10. 27. thus then briefly one Spouse one love one Dove one Body one Fleece one Arke on Spirit one Faith one Religion one Head one Shepheard one Flock Here to come to so me application give me leave to use the Apostles protestation I say the truth in Christ Jesus Ilye not my conscience bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart and with the Prophet Jeremy could wish that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the Schismes and divisions that are at this day in the Christian world There was a time there was Woe worth that unhappy Tense there was but Est bene non possum dicere dico fuit I cannot say there is I must needs speak as it is There was a time when the whole Church of God in all places of the world was of one heart and one minde of one accord and of one judgment And howsoever there was and ever will be some difference about some circumstances of no great weight yet was there not the least discrepance amongst them in any one essentiall point of our faith Vna agebat in omnibus membris divini spiritus virtus erat omnibus anima una fidei propositum idem divinitatis celebratio omnibus una Euseb lib. 10. hist Eccl. Chap. 3. in somuch that as when any member of the body is ill affected all the rest do conspire to cure it or when a house is set on fire the whole town will run to quench it So if any heresie happened to spring in any part of the World their common desire was to crush the serpents head to make it like Ionas his gourd of short continuance and to smother it in the birth and make it like the untimely fruit of a Woman which perisheth afore it see the Sun they did conspire to heale the affected member and did concu to stay the flame from further combustion Thus did they from the most parts of the world concur at Nice against Arius at Constantinople against Macedonius at Ephesus against Nestorius at Chalcedon against Entiches Thus was the head of Britaines snake as Prosper Aquitanus tells Pelagius crushed by provinciall Synods in most places of Christendome And long before these times when as yet there was not a Christian Emperour thus they dealt with Montanus in many of their Synods And at Antioch against Paulus Samosatenus they met from all Churches under Heaven as it were against a common theife that stole the Sheep out of Christs flock But now O times the one and undivided spouse of Christ is like a Traytor drawn and quattered the North and the South the Orient and the Occident each differ from other in sundry materiall and essentiall points of Faith And here in the West that Church whose faith was once famous through the whole world which was as a Beacon upon an hill a guide for all the Churches round about her a Sanctuary for orthodoxall exiles one of the four Patriarchicall Seas and that in respect of place and order the first the Empresse of the World the Glory of Kingdomes the pride and beauty of Nations the faithfull City is so estranged from the Bridegroomes Voice and hath so depraved the purity of Christian religion both by loosing of her own and the taking in of Forraine water that as one sayd of Athens we may say of Rome thou mayst seeke Rome in Rome and canst not finde it being become like unto one of the old Aegyptian Temples beautifull without and Cats and Ratts and Crocodiles adored within And whereas shee hath no more reason to be called Catholike then the old Mahometans to call themselves Saracens then the Jewes had to call Herod that was ready to be eaten with wormes a God then the Persians that were shortly afterslaine by the Romans to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then Manes had to stile himselfe an Apostle of Jesus Christ then Celsus the Heathen Philosopher to entitle his Books written against Christian Religion the word of truth or Drunkards to be tearmed good fellowes or light housewives honest women having made the rule of her faith like Glaucus the Sea which loosing some part of his Body by beating upon Rocks and shelves hath the same repaired by rocks and sand that cleave to him yet must shee be called the only Catholike Church of
consider how they weary and wear and wast themselves while they thus rubb one upon another It was a prettie invention of the States of the low Countreys upon some feare of discord between them and England when they painted two earthen pots floating upon the Seas with this motto Si collidimur frangimur the like might they justly feare Si collidimur frangimur If we thus be knocked together we shall both be broken in peices If wee thus bite and devoure one another we shall be bitten and consumed one of another And last of all which is not the least of all oh that they would consider that the Politician at home and the Papist abroad looks upon them and howsoever they may seem in outward shew to incline to the one or the other party yet indeed they laugh in their sleeve and in their hearts say There there so would we have it Hoc Ithacus velit magno mercentur Atridae It is noted that when the Grecians strove amongst themselves Philip got them all into his hands and certainly there is not a fitten opportunity then this for the dissembling Atheist and the neutralizing Worldling and the statizing Polititian for the Foxes these little Foxes that dwell amongst us and have already destroyed our Vines and left us nothing upon them save a few small grapes to obtaine their much desired prey For these are like the Eele-catchers in the old Poet it 's best fishing for them in troubled and muddy waters Tacitus notes of the ancient inhabitants of this Land that by their continual factions and dissentions they made an easie way for the Roman conquest Britanni factionibus studiis trahuntur nec aliud adversus validissimas gentesnobis utilius quam quod in communi non consulunt sed dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur While the present Inhabitants of this Land tread in the foot-steps of those ancient Britannes behold Hell hath enlarged it selfe the Antichristian Synagogue of Rome hath hereout sucked no small advantage and the Romans do their worst to come and take away which God forbid both our place and our Nation True it is say they which thou hast said the Church is one Flock one Bodie one Spouse one Sheep-fold all the members thereof have one belief one heart one soule This very point doth manifestly demonstrate the Protestants to be not so much as members of the Catholique Church because they be at continuall jarrs and wars amongst themselves To whom I may return this Proverb Physitian heale thy selfe Or I may say as one said unto Philip when he began to reprove two forreiners for dissentions betweene themselves quoth one unto him look first to your owne house and make peace there and then reprove your neighbour Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes Our dissentions we see we lament and bewaile yet are they neither in number so many springing all from one or two roots or in quality so flagitious being matters of question not of faith about the hemme and fringe not about the garment it selfe about the husk not about the kernell about ceremonies and circumstances not about the essentials and fundamentals of faith or that they exclude us not from the society of the faithfull unlesse Austin and Jerome and Ruffinus and Epiphanius and Chrysostome Cyrill and Theodoret Ireneus and Victor Paul and Barnabas be excluded together with us who although as was before said they consented in all the fundamentals of Religion yet in some points of circumstance and ceremonie they varied But what do al the builders of Babell speak the same language do all the Romans agree amongst themselves indeed as well as Dogs in a Kitchin or Cocks in a pit or as did the Midianites host and Cadmus his Souldiers they consent together as did Herod and Pilate both at odds amongst themselves yet both against Christ Or as Sampsons foxes their heads looke every one severall wayes marry their tayles are tyed together with fire-brands in them for annoying their enemies or as the Beasts which Cacus an old Italian Gyant who dwelt where the Pope now dwels was wont to steale from others which lest by their foot-steps they should be discovered he was wont to draw into his denne by their tayles their faces looking another way all the unitie that they can boast of is in the tayl whereby they are drawn to yeild and submit themselves and their works to the censure of the Romish Church their heads looking another way I will not now speak of their actual and morall dissentions neither of the many schismes and divisions which have been in the Romish Church when sometimes there were two sometimes three Popes at once and for the space of two yeares together none at all Neither will I mention the difference of their Religious orders whereof there are or have been at the least 100. in many things differing one from another their intellectuall and dogmaticall differences are such and so many as that if I should repeat them unto you I should both weary my selfe and much abuse your Christian attention Our learned Solomon in his Apologie for the oath of Allegiance hath gathered 11. gross contradictions out of Bellarmine Pappus hath observed 237. different opinions cited in Bellarmine Crastovius hath observed 205. contradictions amongst the Jesuites Willet hath cited 57. points wherein Bellarmine contradicteth himself 39. points wherein Popery crosseth it selfe 100. opposite constitutions in their Canon law and 70. contradictions between the old and the new Papists Bishop Ridely hath quoted 17. manifest contradictions out of Steph. Gardiner in one question viz. touching the Sacrament of the Altar as they call it And a worthy Prelate of our Land in his Catholique Apologie hath confirmed almost all those positions which we maintain against the Church of Rome by evident testimonies out of their owne Writers What shall I say more Let the Papists if they can name any maine controversie between them and us wherein they doe agree amonst themselves For my part I thinke it requires more paines and judgment to set down the doctrines and positions of the Church of Rome then demonstratively to confute and overthrow the same If I alledge Bellarmine Suarez or the greatest Jesuites Pighius Catharinus or who weare the name one or other peradventure will reply that it is but a particular opinion and not the doctrine of their Church Whither then shall I goe to the Pope himselfe then say I the Papists must condemne their Communion under one kind for so did Gelasius nay they concur with the Montanists for so did Zepherinus with the Arrians for so did Liberius with the Nestorians for so did Anastasius 2. with the Monothelites for so did Honorius with other Hereticks in other points for so other Popes have done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus see you Pythagarus determine Here I am put off with the words of their nice and quirling distinctions The Pope as a private Doctor may
us out of darknesse into his marvellous light Aristotle notes of the Eagle whether truly or no I will not dispute that when her Birds are pen-feathered in a hot sun-shining day shee holds their eyes directly towards the beames of the Sun those that cannot endure that intensive light she casts out of her nest as degenerous such as directly eye the Sun she loves and feeds as her owne Hereby it will appeare whether we be Jovis aquila Gods birds or no if we look upward upon the Son of righteousnesse and have our eyes the eyes of our soules fixed on Heaven and heavenly things then are we of this Feather if downwards and have our cogitations Swine-like rooting in the earth and wallowing in the filthy puddle of worldly vanities then are we a degenerous of-spring not worthy to be called Sonnes of such a Father What an absurd and indecent thing were it if a Gally-slave or a Kitchin-boy should have that honour as to be made the adopted Son and Heire of some great Prince and he not considering his high advancement should continue in his former sordidnesse and basenesse of condition Much more undecent it is that a man when he is advanced from a child of wrath and a bondslave of the Devill to that transcendency of honour as to be made a Son of the King of Kings should continue as before in his blindnesse of heart crookednesse of will uncleannesse of affection and perversness of action Shall such a man as I flee said Nehemiah to Shemaiah and shall such a man as hath God for his Father debase himselfe like the Cat in the Fable who being turned into a Gentlewoman kept her old nature and leapt at a Mouse Or like the Popes Asse who adorned with golden Furniture as soon as he came to a Carriars Inne began to smell at a Pack-saddle Cyrus when of a Shepheards Son for so he was then supposed to be he was made a King in a Play began to shew himselfe like a King and Saul when he was annoynted by Samuel to be King had his heart changed He had another heart 1 Sam. 10. 9. Honours change manners if then we be advanced to this high dignity let us be ashamed of our natural basenesse let us have our hearts changed and walke worthy so high a calling not doing our owne will but his who when we were of no strength Rom. 5. nay when we were worse then nothing sent his own naturall Sonne to dye for us that we might be his Sonnes by grace of adoption I urge this point the rather because it is not onely a necessary duty which God requires at our hands but also the most certaine and infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods child and consequently a matter of the greatest moment in the World upon which depends the everlasting salvation or damnation of our soules If at these Assâ—ses a man shall in a case criminall be convict of Felony perhaps his Book may save him suppose not he at the worst but looses his life for it his soule if he repent is in no danger If in a civill controversie a Verdict shall go against him he looseth but the thing in question but he that hath not God for his Father and none have him but such as work righteousnesse and in holinesse of life endeavour to resemble him looseth all his title and claime to the Kingdome of Heaven and is for evermore in body and soule a Bond slave to the worst Master that ever man shall â—erve unlesse God in mercy shall effectually call him and ingraft him into the body of his onely Son by faith And it is lamentable to see so many Marthaes and so few Maries in the World so many that drowne themselves in worldly imployments and doubt where there is cause and use meanes to clear their doubts and neglect this Vnum necessarium as if it were a matter not worthy the regarding If a mans body be ill affected he will send to the Physician if he doubt of the weight of his Gold he will seek to the Ballance if of the goodnesse of the mettall he will try it by the Touchstone if the title of his Lands be questionable he will have the opinion of a Lawyer but whether he be a Son of God and consequently whether he shall be saved or no he never doubts but whatsoever he doe or thinkes or speaks hee takes it as granted The most wicked and hellish liver who serves no Master but the Devill will as I have â—ayd direct his prayers to God as to his Father others we have whoâ—e practice is farr better being kept from grosse sins by Gods restraining grace our careles and carnall Goâ—pellers our sleepy and drowâ—e Protestants who content themselves with the shadow and let fall the substance of Religion these if they be Baptized and can say that in their Baptisme they were made children of God if they come once or twice in a week to hear Prayers or Sermons if at usual times they receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper if they give their assent to the Law and the Gospel that they are both true and with a generall faith believe all the Articles of the Creed and withal have a care to lead a civill life amongst men then they perswade themselves their case is good they are sound Christians children of God and sheep of that little flock to whom our heavenly Father will of his good pleasure give a Kingdome But alas a man may doe all these and more then these and be a sonne of the Devill He may do all these 1. He may be baptized so was Simon Magus 2. He may heare the word preâ—ched so did Pharaoh 3. He may receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so did Judas 4. He may believe the Law and the Gospel and all the Articles of the Creed to be true so doth the Devil 5. He may lead an honest and civill life amongst men so Socrates and divers Pagans if ye look to the matter of good works have out-stripped many Christians in the practise of sundry morall duties He may do more then all this and be a reprobate and child of the Devill 1. He may be sorry for his sinnes and make satisfaction both these we see in Judas 2. He may confesse them even in particular and desire good men to pray for him both these we see in Pharaoh He may have a delight in the Word and love the Preacher both these did Herod He may for a time be zealous of Gods glory so was Jehu He may be humbled for his sinnes and declare his humiliation by fasting and weeping so did Ahab and the Ninivites Hee may have a certaine tast of faith which much resembleth a justifying faith so had Simon Magus Hee may in many things reforme his life so did Herod and Maxentius Hee may tremble at the threatnings of Gods judgment so did Falix and so doth the Devill Now then how can such drowsie
be a great Eclipse of the Moone signified unto them by a Messenger that he was a Prophet sent unto them from the great God of Heaven and Earth and that if they would not furnish him and his company with such things as they wanted God whose Prophet he was would utterly destroy them In token whereof quoth he the next night at such an houre the Moone shall loose her light they for all this continued in their obstinacy and scorned his threatnings At the houre named the Moone by degrees entring into the shadow of the earth was at length in those parts for a space quite darkened which when the Barbarians saw presently they ran unto Columbus they fell down at his feet they honoured him as a man they worshipped him as a God they offered themselves and whatsoever was theirs to be wholly at his service Verily the Papists do Columbus great wrong who for this witty shift deserves rather the name of a Prophet amongst them then that great Elias of the new World Francis Xaverius for his juggling Tricks in those Parts deserves the name of a waker of Miracles To end this Point Seeing it is a matter of such difficulty to distinguish a true Prophet from that which is false both because they are of things to come the truth whereof cannot be sifted out before the time be expired and though they have naturall causes yet be they such as cannot be known unto men and if they could yet seeing as already hath been proved the Infidels and Pagans have had their prophesies let the Papists prove the gift of Prophesy to be perpetual in their Church which they can never do and let them bring us as great Catalogues of their Prophesies as they do of their Miracles and lying Wonders a thing not impossible to men of such rare invention but let none from these slender Premises infer this conclusion that there is the true Church of God but rather let him undoubtedly beleive that the words of my Text are verified of these men Many shall say unto me at that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied c. Let us not think that the Precept of the Law was given in vaine If there arise a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreames and give thee a Signe and a Wonder and the Signe and Wonder which he hath told thee shall come to passe saying Let us follow strange Gods as these men do thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soule Deut. 13. 1 2 3. Thus much of the first the second followeth A man may be a Preacher of the Gospell and a meanes of saving others and be damned himselfe I have a long Journey to go and the time allotted me but short so that I cannot stand upon the proofe of this Proposition neither is it needfull I should having no Donatists no Anabaptists to impugne let it suffice to add unto my Text the words of the Apostle Phil. 1. 15. Some preach Christ through envie and strife truly for all that not sincerely else would not the Apostle have added that which followeth I therein joy yea and in that will joy This Sermon upon the Mount of which my Text is a Branch was preached at the Consecration of the twelve Apostles of which number Judas was one whom a while after he sent abroad to preach the Gospell then called he the twelve Disciples and sent them to preach the Kingdome of God and to heale diseases and they went through every Town preaching the Gospell and healing every where Luk. 9. 2. 6. For all Judas his preaching and healing he did not preach unto nor heale himselfe it had been good for him that he had never been born Matth. 26. The first Use and Inference of which let me â—rave your patience to spend some time shall concerne the hearers of the word It may lesson them not to have the truth of the glorious God in respect of persons as Iames speakes or that I may expresse my selfe in other words that they do not forsake or neglect a truth preached because the life of the Speaker is offensive and scandalous Saul may prophesie and Caiphas may prophesie and Iudas may prophesie And many shall say unto me at that day Lord Lord have not we by thy name prophesied Shall not Saul be credited because he is rejected why not is not Saul also amongst the Prophets 1 Sam. 19. Shall Caiphas his prophesie not be esteemed because he took away the life from the Lord of life surely yes for this spake he not of himselfe but being high Priest that yeare he prophesied that Jesus should die for the Nation Ioh. 11. 51. Shall Iudas his Sermons be set at nought because he is a damned Reprobate himselfe surely no For whosoever shall not receive you nor heare your words it was spoken to the twelve of which Iudas was one Truly I say unto you it shall be easier for them of Sodome and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment then for that City Matth. 10. 14. 15. Oh then shall any man be such an Enemy to his own Salvation as that if the life of his Teacher be misliked he will therefore set at nought the word of God truly though not sincerely delivered what were this but to reject God himselfe as he saith unto Samuel It is not thee but me whom they haue rejected 1 Sam. 8. 7. The word of God is a Touch-stone to try every mans Actions whether they be Gold or Drosse it is a line and squa re to make us fit Stones for Gods Temple Now shall I mislike the Touch-stone because the Gold is counterfeit shall I make fit the Rule for the Stone and so make it a Lesbian Rule especially if it be a rough and unhewed Stone and as yet not fit for that building whereof Christ Jesus is the corner Stone If I be sick unto death shall I refuse physick because I mislike the Physician or because he will not take the same physick himselfe An tibi cum fauces urit sitis aurea quaeris Pocula cum esurias fastidisomnia praeter Pavonem rhombumque When thou art thirsty will thou refuse Drink unlesse it be given thee in a guilded Bowle When thou art hungry will no Meat content thee but Patridges and Pheasants Surely thou hast too dainty a Stomack it commonly falls out otherwise men that are hungry will not refuse wholesome meat though they have no good opinion of the Party that reacheth it and when they are thirsty they will not refuse Drink though it be given them in a woodden Dish Shall a man have a care of his Body and none of his Soule if my Soule be sick unto death shall I refuse physick because the Physician takes it not himselfe or shall I refuse the bread of life and water of life
was to marrie a captive woman taken in the Wars was first to shave her head and pare her nayls So a Minister when he is in his Sermon to joyne a sentence of a secular Writer with the Scripture hee must shave and pare off all superstition prophanenesse idolatry and whatsoever may seem to be repugnant to the doctrine of godliness 4. He must so carry himselfe in this business that his Hearers may be benefited his Duty discharged and Gods Name glorified 2. Observe That a Minister being Gods Embassadour must after the example of my Prophet deliver no private message of his owne but only that which he hath in commission from him that sent him Duo sunt pontificis opera saith Origen Vt aut a deo discat aut populum doceat sed ea doceat quae ipse prius a deo didicit such a one was Moses c. The charge contains two branches 1. Judgement must be executed 2. It must be executed without partiality it must be just judgement I deliver them in these two Propositions 1. It is the duty of a good Magistrate to see that the good lawes of his Countrey be duly and speedily executed 2. A Magistrate must with out partiality or respect of persons give just judgment Touching the first It 's Gods commandemennt and no sacrifice so acceptable as obedience Behold to obey it better then sacrifice It 's true in the generall especially in this particular To do justice and judgement is more acceptable to God then sacrifice Prov. 21. 3. It is a proper work of the Magistrates calling and he is a sloathfull person that goes carelesly and negligently about the works of his vocation it is a worke of God Ye judge not for men but for God 2 Chron. 19. 6. And cursed is hee that doth the worke of the Lord negligently Jer. 48. The Law of it selfe is a dead letter execution is the soule of it As the body without the soule is dead so is it without execution of judgement It 's not materiall how good a mans Will be if the executors who are put in trust doe not perform it The laws I may call Gods Will and the Will of the King it s no matter how good they be if those who are appointed Executors neglect to put them in execution In this case they are no better then Scar-crows which being set up in the Fields by Husband-men to keep away Birds at the first because they seem to be fenced with bows and Bills and other weapons are terrible to the Fowles but at length seeing them still in the same place and doing nothing they make bold with them and sit on their heads and worse too Or like the Stock in the Fable which Jupiter cast into a poole amongst the Frogs desiring a King At the first by it's fall it so troubled the water that they were all afraid of it and hid themselves but afterwards observing it to be still they came croaking about it and skipt over it and counted it as it was a dead block So the Lawes though never so dreadfull at the first if they be not duly executed by them that are in place grow in contempt and give occasion to the bad to go on with boldnesse in their lewd courses as Solomon hath well observed Eccles 8. 11. Where sentence is not executed speedily against an evill worke the hearts of the sonnes of men are fully set in them to do evill So they are now and they are therefore so now because Sentence is not executed speedily against an evill work the complaint is great too true I doubt that there is too great remisnesse in executing Judgment and that first in matters criminall Secondly in civill controversies between party and party The first of these doth not so much touch or rather scarce at all the reverend Judges of this Circuit as those that are of the Commission of Peace and other Officers in the County whereof some because they would not be holden busie bodies others because they would not be counted rash and indiscreet persons others because they would be reputed gentle and quiet men content themselves with the honour of their Office and neglect the duty and burden and suffer many good Lawes to faint and languish for want of Execution Like Gallio Deputy of Achaia who when an open Out-rage was committed before his face when he sate on the Bench past it by and took no notice of it the Graecians took Sosthenes and beat him before the Judgment Seat but Gallio cared nothing for these things Act. 18. In some particulars conducing to the publick good we see some hope of Reformation and if the old Proverbe be true according to the sound of the Letters Principium dimidium totius and dimidium plus toto it s done already and many think that 's all will be done I am better perswaded of you I would be loth to place any of you amongst those improvident Builders who having not counted the losse before hand after they have said a good Foundation give over and are not able to bring it to perfection But there be many other things of a civill nature the redresse whereof would prove much beneficiall to the whole Publick which Gallio is pleased to wink at and those things which are of a spirituall nature which every Magistrate above all other things should take to heart and so far as the Sphere of his Authority will extend procure Judgment to be executed upon the Offenders true Religion and the Service of God Gallio cares for none of these things if popish Recusants grow more and more insolent if their number increase if Priests and Jesuites run up and down the Country at their pleasure if Gods name be horribly blasphemed if his Sabboths prophaned Gallio cares for none of these things are your mindes set on Righteousnesse O yee Congregation and do yee judge the things that are right O yee Sonnes of men Alas what skilleth it how great or how powerfull or how good a man be in respect of generall vertues or how able and sufficient for his particular place if he shall be deficient in the practise of those duties which are proper to that State and Condition of life wherein God hath placed him Now a fearelesse and just and impartiall executing of Judgment upon Malefactors is the best flower that growes in a Magistrates Garden it s the grace and ornament nay the very life and esse and specificall form of a good Governour and the main end for which God Almighty puts the Sword into his hand and herein he shall not only cleare his own conscience in discharging his duty and credite his calling and do good Service to his Prince and Country and incourage the good and dishearten the bad but which is more he shall make peace between God and his Country and send a prohibition to the Court of Heaven and stop the mouth of the Judge of all the World from