ship in prophanesse as well as superstition 2 Many come within the compasse and suffer vs to cast our nets ouer them but they runne themselues so deepe into the mudde that the nette cannot get vnder them In the 33. Eze. 33.31 of this Prophecy verse 31. Sonne of Man my people sit before thee and heare thy words but they will not doe them for eyther they make themselues merry or else their heart runnes after couetousnesse They runne into the mudd of pleasure and pelfe of this world that wee cannot catch them 3 Now the third and best sort are caught and so long as the nette is dragged the same way that they swimme they come currently forward but when they perceiue how they be restrained of their former liberty and how their consciences are intangled in this net they giue a ierke and breake net and all Wee had neuer more neede to sit and mend our nets for let vs twist them as soundly out of holy writ and weaue them as strongly as possibly we can Psal 2.3 these sonnes of Belial who cannot abide a negatiue will breake them They will heare vs preach out of the two Tables while the bellowes hold they will deuoure whole Gomers of Manna and yet neuer the better liking but Aarons rod they cannot endure to heare of it though their soules haue surfeted neuer so much of sinne though their Consciences be neuer so dangerously wounded as much of the Samaritanes oyle as you will to heale it presently and draw a skinne ouer it but for that sharpe wine to scoure the wound for that Corasiue Diuinity to eate out dead workes for the Churches Physicke by Contrarie they will perish before they can take it After they haue suffered their mindes to wander after their eyes in the corners of the world and to feede vpon vnlawfull vanities tell them of afflicting their soule and crucifying their affections and lusts of confining their thoughts vnto deuotions and the Meditation of vnpleasing obiects Death Hell Anger to come of Dauids daily Vowes of striuing of labouring of watching vnto Prayers with all perseuerance Ephes 6.18 After they haue corrupted themselues in the seruice of Mammon tell them of Zaccheus his restitution and Almes-deedes for all their mis-deedes that all may bee cured by the contrary and made cleane vnto them Luk. 11.41 Luk. 11.41 After they haue pampered their flesh and fulfilled the lust of it tell them of the Corinthians reuenge vpon themselues for so offending such a gracious God 2 Cor. 7.11 of Pauls not beating the Ayre 1 Cor. 9.26 Psa 102.9 Luk. 7.38 but beating downe his body of Dauids ashes for Bread and mingling his drinke with weeping of the sinfull womans Poenitent Bath and her Towell and of that destruction of their flesh that their spirits might bee saued in the day of the Lord Corin 5.5 Doe but shew them this rod they are presently gone and Aaron is not able to hold them except Moses helpe him To heare of Discipline either voluntarily inflicted by themselues or necessarily imposed by others is detestable If there must needes bee a Rod they will chuse Moses Rod though it turne Serpent and sting them like a Scorpion rather then Aarons though it bud and blossome and would become in the end neuer so fruitfull and comfortable to their soules It was Aarons rod and not Moses which God commanded Moses Num 17.10 and not Aaron to preserue in the Arke The first time that I finde this Rod missing in the Arke of God was in Salomons dayes 1 Kin. 8.9 in the happy and peaceable dayes of Salomon and then was Plenty Peace and Liberty the abuse whereof brought an iron rod for want of Aarons Rod Rehoboams Scorpions the renting of the Tribes leading into captiuity turned Salomons Canticles into Ieremies Lamentations and all for want of Aarons rodde for if wee would iudge our selues wee should not bee iudged 1 Cor. 11.31 O Cherub Protectour vouchsafe to looke downe into this Arke of God consider the want of this rod in these quiet peaceable Salomons dayes Aarons rod is missing in the Arke of God our Church in her book doth still complaine of the want of this Rod Vntill saith Shee the discipline of the Primitiue Church may bee restored againe which thing is much to bee wished c. In steede whereof is a Commination against sinners as much regarded of the people as Bell Booke and Candle But had we that discipline which the Fathers of the Primitiue Church had who respected not so much the multitude of professours as the truth of their deuotion had we I say that seuere discipline in these dissolute daies which they had and power to execute it and grace to vse it aright men would quickly bee weary either of those sinnes which they now commit with greedinesse or of that counterfeit profession of Christianity This is the Fan that Iohn Baptist speaketh of Mat. 3.12 which would purge the flower and seuer the chaffe from the good corne for want of this there is no triall or manifestation either of faith by workes or of Repentance by the exercise of mortification but as by a vaine dead faith so by a slight vnsound Repentance wee deceiue both our selues and others so consequently there is no feare no awe no remorse of conscience And were it not that the mercy seat is aboue the Arke that the inuincible mercy and long suffering of God in Christ is aboue all his workes wee should soone feele the want of this Rod. But the seat of God amongst vs is a mercy seat and his oracles is the comfortable voyce of the Gospell of Christ which defendeth vs and the whole Church It was the voyce of him that dwelt in the Bush which preserued the Bush from burning though it was all of a flaming fire and it is the voyce of the Gospell of Christ which hath preserued this Church from fire and powder The annoynted therefore as he hath already with his Cherubs quill so let him euer after with both his wings defend protect and couer this Gospell so long as the heauens couer the earth with his owne wings they be his let him then suffer none to plucke them lest the Church of God bee left naked and vncouered They be a paire of wings let him keep them in their due proportion Moses and Aaron bee brethren it were vain to contend for seniority who was the elder brother they are brethren God leadeth his people by the hand of Moses and Aaron If we see any one Psal 77.2 hee or shee beat their hands one against another presently we imagine there is a distempered person let the annoynted Cherub to bring vs in temper prune and proportion his owne wings that in their due places and bounds they may bee both stretched out to protect the Church of Christ 4 Thus far we haue presumed to ascend yet one step higher to conclude with the voyce of the
the other and became saluation vnto both that the Iew might not contemne the Gentile therefore he was a light to lighten the Gentiles that the Gentile might not insult ouer the Iewe hee was the glory of Israel and saluation prepar'd before the face of all people Now the God of all wisedome and power who is onely One without diuision That eternall sonne of his the onely patterne of true vnion That holy spirit of his whose function it is to build vp and knit together the members into one body in the bond of peace That blessed Trinity vnited inseparably in one Deity so guide and moderate your Wisedomes and consultations herein that Iacob may carry the image of the God of Iacob that hee may be a light to the one and glory to the other and happinesse to both For setting forward of which happinesse obserue a threefold blessing entwined and twisted together in this short sentence promised to Iacob enioyed by vs. 1 Dabo tibi semen a posterity to Iacob which his progenitors wanted long 2 Dabo terram tibi Semini a blessing prepared for his posterity also when thou shalt waxe old and grow weary of this clodde of earth when thou shalt desire to plucke vp thy feete and steppe into a better kingdome The land whereupon thou sleepest is for thy seede after thee 3 Dabo te semen tuum terrae a blessing of all blessings to this land wherupon to the land it selfe and an happines prepared before the face of all people This triple cord is not easily broken neither was it euer broken in the house of Iacob something vntwisted it was in the captiuity but neuer broken before the appearing of the sonne of God in flesh then was that Kingdome deliuered vnto Christ that he might be all in all That blessing be vpon vs and our children vpon Iacob and his seede till the appearing of our Lord in the clouds from whence we expect a true kingdome wherof all these are but shadowes That euerlasting kingdome purchased by the bloud of his deare Sonne and our onely Sauiour and Redeemer to whom with the Father and Spirit three persons and one God bee all Honour and Glory from this time forth and for euer Amen FINIS THE TVMVLTS OF THE PEOPLE Another Sermon at the Court in White-Hall before the King EXODVS 32.1 But when the people saw that MOSES tarried long ere he came from the mountaine the people gathered themselues together against AARON and said vnto him vp make vs gods to goe before vs. THE circumstance of Time is a powerfull circumstance eyther to aggrauate a crime or to make any action more effectual the very same time that God was prouiding a law for his people and writing it in Tables of stone they were conspiring idolatry against him The same night that Christ was betraied he tooke bread 1 Cor. 11.25 instituting a Sacrament of life for them who were plotting the treason of death against him With this opposition did the Law and the Gospell both begin by which it doth appeare that that old arch enemy of mans happinesse was the chiefe agent in this businesse It was not Iudas so much as hee that entred into Iudas nor the Serpent so much as hee that spake by the Serpent nor the people so much as hee that driues them like an heard of swine headlong to the accomplishing of Sathans purpose and their owne destruction for Sathan had a further purpose in this intent then the people thought of Hee had beene 2000. yeares in blotting Gods Law out of mans heart he sees that labour like to be lost for that Law is at this present renewing by God in the mountaine and a writing by his owne finger in Tables of stone to continue therefore a plot must be deuised eyther to breake the tables in peeces or some way to deface the worke and hee plots it vnhappily for in the very instant when Moses came within sight they were in the middest of their madnesse shouting after a Calfe the sight whereof so wrought vpon the feruency of Moses zeale that down fell the Tables and brake in peeces As Dauids prayer was his onely defence against Achitophels policy 2 Sam. 15.31 so must we pray to bring Satans Councell to nought for none but he can doe it Sathan is the principall agent yet not mentioned no more then in his first temptation Genesis the 3. Moses historicum agit non interpretem let vs therefore consider of this Scripture as it is an history the Tract is plaine and the passage easie by the steps 1 The chiefe actors mentioned in the businesse are the people 2 The occasion they tooke for this attempt Moses absence in the mountaine his long absence as they pretend 3 The instrument wrought for their purpose must bee Aaron 4 The meanes whereby they wrought him by force in a tumultuous assembly 5 The worke whereunto he was forced Make vs Gods to goe before vs. Where the people be principall actors there 's a daungerous peece of worke towards it is via serpentis where the taile guides the head where the people command Aaron The true visage of an Anarchy for if euer wee should fall into the hands of a disordered multitude we should see the sweetnesse of gouernment Carendo magis Heere 's a multitude It is like the waues of the Sea that dash against this Rocke and that Sand and breake one vpon another here against Moses there against Aaron at the last against themselues And herein is the power of God saith King Dauid in the Psalmes In appeasing the noyse of the waues Psal 65.7 and the madnesse of the people the one by his inuisible power the other by that beautifull gouernment which is his owne blessed ordinance But what people be these that disorder themselues or to whom doe they belong The people and my text hath it twice for failing The people In the third Chapter and the seuenth verse I haue seene I haue seene the affliction of my people then were they Gods people and all along the history they bee tearmed the children of Israel the posterity of Iacob but now they be neyther Gods nor Iacobs but their owne a rout of masterlesse men that none will owne so in the 32. of Deuteronomy They haue corrupted themselues Deut. 32.5 not being his people but a froward generation Doubtlesse it greeued Moses at the very heart vers the 7. When God saide vnto him Get thee downe for thy people which thou brought out of the land of Aegypt haue corrupted their waies Thy people saith God to Moses Gouernours had neede to haue a tender care ouer Gods people for when they transgresse God turnes them ouer to them And had not Moses a tender care No imputation could lie vpon him hee had prouided sufficiently for them in his absence Aaron Hur besides the Elders and Nobles of the Elders of Israell therfore harke how Moses answers God againe in his
apple and presently haue his eyes opened and become a God in knowledge A fault beloued that died not in Paradise but liues still neuer more then in these daies where knoledge Diuinity do budd and blossome and ripen all in a trise like Aarons rod as if we were suddenly inspired from heauen or we our selues had a clouen tongue at command The treasures of wisdome and knowledge are not all gathered in one day haddest thou a more excellent wit and gifts more famous then young Timothy of whom Prophesies went what a notable instrument he was like to prooue 1 Tim. 1.18 yet Timothy must so belabour it that his stomacke shall bee the worse for it and his body subiect to many and often infirmities 1 Tim 5.23 Dost thou relie vpon Gods speciall grace and assistance neuer so much as S. Paul did not I but the grace of God with me yet Pauls bookes and parchments must not be forgotten for all the spirit A man would thinke that visions and reuelations were neuer more rife then in these daies to see a young Diuine plunge himselfe out of one Church into another Determine Religions and challenge Moses and Aaron as if himselfe in a trice had throughly digested the volume of Gods booke and drunk vp the whole current of the ancient Fathers but if Paul will be a planter of Religion he must take spade and mattocke digge deepe and labour more aboundantly then they all yea and spend a more precious humour then the sweate of his browes Librorum helluo makes the best Diuine Ezek 2.8 by Eating of the booke and not of an apple doe wee attaine to Diuine knowledge howsoeuer Adam will touch and tast haue his eyes opened And by this time it remaines to enquire what is become of him Behold saies God he is become like one of vs. And thus far shal suffice for the 1. point of Adams purpose and aspiring minde to become a God Now followes the shamefull mille of his purpose that in trueth hee became nothing lesse then like one of vs which is truely expressed in the manner of speech being Ironicall Behold the man is become like one of vs. 2 Ecce Adam behold the man Quid superbis puluis cinis Diabolus superbit sed non puluis cinis saith St. Angustine It had beene a wonder if Lucifer the brightest of Angels had become a God being but a creature but for man Dust and ashes a peece of clay taken from vnder the feet of beasts to be extolled amongst the gods this was exceeding wonderfull This man is become such a god that attired in skinnes turned out of the Garden the bruit beasts had they the tongue of Balaams Asse might haue saluted him in good sooth without a figure Behold the man is become like one of vs shrowded in a Leatherne hide from the parching heate of the Sunne and the pinching frost of the night like one of vs nay respecting his condition farre worse then one of vs Quanto peius est fieri quam nasci belluam farre better it is to be a beast by natures priuiledge then by degenerating to be compared to beasts worse then that sent to the schoole to learne of beasts by Salomon to the Conies and Pismiers for wisedome and prouidence by a greater then Salomon to the Rauens and Fowles of the ayre for trust and confidence in God by Ieremy to the Oxe and Asse for knowledge and religion Ierem. 3.2 The Oxe hath known his Owner and the Asse his Masters Cribbe but my people haue not knowne nor Israell vnderstood This is that goodly Godhead almighty God meanes in this figure vpon which phrase of speech it is worth the while a little to pauze Behold saith God he is become but how came hee factus est sed quis fecit Vers 44. In the two and thirty chapter of the booke of Exodus when the Israelites went a madding after a Calfe which Aaron had fashioned for a God Moses put Aaron to his Apologie who made this narration for himselfe They gaue me their golde I cast it into the fire and thereout came this calfe what Aaron became that a calfe by hap hazard without hands or did it make it selfe a calfe theront came this calfe Aaron was ashamed to say hee had made a God that the God of Israel should bee the worke-man-ship of his hands wherefore he passeth that ouer in silence and sayes I cast the gold into the fire and thereout came this calfe in like manner God in this place to make the wonder greater neither expressing the Authour nor manner of this Metamorphosis onely Behold the man is become like one of vs notwithstanding that may bee easily gathered by the allusion and reference of this sentence to that of the serpents in the fifth verse Eritis sicut Dij his meaning is that man was a God of the Diuels making who finding our parents of a Thrasonicall and swelling disposition aspiring towards a Deity comes vpon them like Gnatho with Eritis sicut Dij yea you shall be Gods a practise so performed of all hands as it is become a maine piller of Sathans Kingdome Parasitatio quam facilis quam pestifera an easie part the Coblers Crow will conne that yet neuer playd without a Diuell Peter no sooner saluted our Sauiour in this smoothing dialect but presently he discouered a Diuell Get the behinde me Sathan Sathan neuer mooued the tongue of Beasts but to sooth and flatter Almighty God neuer opened the mouth of dumbe beasts but to reprehend and the simplest Asse in seruice shall stand his master in better stead in this kinde then the nimblest tongued Serpent that walkes in this garden art thou then placed in a Paradise of pleasure abounding with all delights mans heart can desire beware the serpents poyson that will make thee to swell bigger then the skinne will holde to stretch thy selfe beyond thy selfe till thou consume as smoke that vanisheth by encreasing Art thou a Caesar vpon eath parting thine Empire with Iupiter himselfe Caue à salutatoribus these are the Crowes that pecke out thine eyes being aliue and make thee stone-blinde that thou shalt not bee able to know or discerne thy selfe Art thou set vpon the Candle sticke of the Church to giue light to all that are in the house of God art thou determined in shining to others to consume and spend thy selfe for Sions sake Looke to thy followers there was a Parasite amongst the Disciples pul'd Christ by the sleeue tooke him aside bade him fauour himselfe T is a world to see what preheminence this profession hath gotten in the world no state so holy or absolute no person so base or of small worth whom this Court holy-water hath not besprinkled If all thy earings gold or siluer or what euer pluck'd from men women and children by violence and extortion will but raize a Goulden Calfe The whole host of Israell will play the Parasites or that
Dauid will haue God to put off his sacke-cloth and gird him with gladnesse must himselfe put it on and mourne with sorrow Capernaum sayes our Sauiour which art lifted vp to heauen shalt bee brought downe to hell for if these things which are done in thee had beene done in Tire and Sidon they would haue repented in sacke-cloth and ashes therefore the onely way to keepe Capernaum out of hell is sacke-cloth and ashes when the Iudge of the world shall giue sentence at the last day see the goodnesse of God to mankinde euen in the sentence of condemnation Goe yee cursed into hell fire prepared for whom for you no for the Diuell and his Angels when thou wilt become one of Lucifers Angels mount thy selfe into the seat of God Esay 14. Ero similis altissimo become a God like one of vs Then shalt thou fall from heauen like lightning pierce the clouds as a thunderbolt and come downe with such a vengeance Therefore let vs tread the steps of our Lord that hath broken the Ice and trod out the way for vs who desires vs to learne but one lesson of humility for the rest of our soules It may seem a strange speech deliuered from Christ When I am lift vp I will draw all men vnto me Iohn 12.31 signifying what death he should die is it like that himselfe hanging vpon the crosse could entise others to that cursed tree It must be a great humiliation surely and so it must be Non decet sub spinoso capite membrum esse delicatum If the head of Christ wore a crowne of Thornes It is no dishonour for the foot to catch a thorne let it not grieue vs to tread the steps of the eternall Sonne of God and king of glory but learne of him euen of him that ridde vpon an Asse was mounted vpon a Crosse to be humble and so you shall finde rest vnto your soules The peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding shall possesse your humble soules and the Prince of Peace descend like a shower into a fleece of wooll into your meeke and gentle soules Then shall the dew of heauen water your contrite and broken soules with all celestiall graces Then shall we reape euery graine we haue sowed in teares and these soules that haue mourned and turmoy led themselues in this cloddy and mirie earth of sinful flesh shall returne with ioy to the Father that gaue them carry their sheaues with them from which sorrow to which ioy hee deliuer vs and bring vs that hath redeemed vs and bought it for vs les us Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit be all honour and glory from this time forth and for euermore Amen THE NECESSITY of the PASSION A Sermon on good Friday at the Crosse LVKE 24.46 So it is written and so it behoued Christ to suffer and to rise againe from dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes might be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Ierusalem THIS is one of the little Gospels of Christ reuealed now in plain words hidden before in Moses and the Prophets euen from the Apostles and Disciples till it pleased our Sauiour Christ to open their vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the Scriptures and then to deliuer these words which now by Gods prouidence in the Euangelicall writings be come vnto our hands For God in his Diuine dispensation thought it meete that Moses face should shine through the vaile that the Arke of the Couenant should be couered that the Tabernacle should bee ouershadowed with a Cloud that there should be a vaile of the Temple which should bee as a wall before the Holy of Holies vntill the fulnesse of Time came that his owne Sonne should bee manifested in the flesh to speake face to face to vs. Vntill the couer of the Arke that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is called Romanes the 3. should be opened at the Passion that we might looke into it Rom. 3.25 and see what it behooued Christ to suffer vntill the Sonne of righteousnesse should rise againe the third day to dispell the cloud of the Tabernacle vntill the vaile of the Temple should be rent that wee might behold the Mercy-seate of God in stead of iudgement that we might see the Cherub with stretched wings ready to flie with the glad tidings of Remission of sinnes to all Nations beginning at Ierusalem So that the Remoouing of those vailes was nothing but the reuealing of these mysteries which my Text declares That Sonne of God our Sauiour who opened the vnderstandings of the Disciples to see so much remooue the vaile from your hearts that you may discerne as much and rightly apply the same And that it may the better sticke by vs and worke vpon vs obserue the order of the Holy Ghost in the Text deliuered in foure distinct points The Proofe of the Redemption The Worke of the Redemption The Fruites of the Redemption The Ministration of the Redemption 1 The Proofe a Testimony of Scripture So it is written 2 The worke consisting in two things the Suffering 2 The worke consisting in two things the Resurrectiō 3 Out of these two spring two fruites Repentance out of the Passion 3 Out of these two spring two fruites Remission out of the Resurrection For as the Passion of Christ workes in vs Repentance which is the Passion of a Christian so the Resurrection dissoluing the bands of Death doth absolue vs from the chaines of sinne which is the Resurrection of a Christian 4 The ministration of it to the world by publique proclamation The text calls Preaching 2 This preaching with authority in his name 3 This authority giues a large commission to all Nations 4 Yet not confusedly but in orderly proceeding beginning at Hierusalem This I conceiue to be the most easie and plaine tract of this Scripture So it is written and so it behooued c. So it is written The proofe This sword of the Spirit Christ did take vnto him when hee first entred the lists with Sathan in the 4. of Matthew and so now after his resurrection taking his leaue off the Church armeth his Disciples with the same sword So it is written and as Sathan at the first laboured to wrest it out of the hands of Christ so euer since hee hath endeauoured to driue vs from it knowing it to bee safest for vs and the most deadly weapon against him So it is written 1. Great Loue of God Magnus amor that hee vouchsafed to feede his Church in the infancy so famlliarly with Reuelations but a greater Loue when the is Reuelations are vpon record that posterities might haue recourse vnto them to iudge of Reuelation and decerne of Spirits by So it is written No maruell therefore though writing the Law made the Diuell so madde that he set the people a madding vpon a Calfe hoping by that stratagem to put their Captaine Moses into