lent one to another by turnes so must wee lend not onely all the eye of the heart but euen all the good wee haue receiued to the good of others For as there are many members of the body yet but one heart to impart life to them all so all cit wee are many yet must we haue but one heart the multitude of beleeuers haue but one heart Acts 2. one soule God will giue them one heart and put a new spirit into them Shall the wicked say Ezek. 11 Marsupium sit vnvm Pro. 1 let vs haue all one purse and shall not wee much rather say Let vs haue one heart Beholde how good and ioyfull a thing it is for brethren to dwell in vnity First it is good Secondly pleasant Sen. Et nullius boni sine socio iucunda possessio Without a cōpanion there is no pleasure in any possessions Thirdly it is deare for brethren and what more deare then they Fourthly it is safe for in vnum they dwell in vnity Many valiant souldiers are not easily ouercome many stickes in a bundle many small hayres in a lace are not easily broken by the strongest man Consider that this goodnesse is the true stampe figure feature and shape of a perfect man and deliuers vs all the dimensions of a good Christian Would you make choyce of seruants Here is their full dimension goodnesse If he haue it not he is no fit seruant for he is not man but beast Will you haue a wife chosen out of the multitude Beholde here is her dimension too euen goodnesse If she want this she is no fit wife Would you haue a magistrate to your liking Here is his dimension also euen goodnesse Would you haue an excellent preacher Here is his dimension goodnes If they want this they are no fit magistrates no fit preachers And the same man we say of all sorts of men O that God would giue vs the goodnesse of his grace to chuse our wiues and seruants our magistrates and preachers by this dimension Then how happy should masters of Families be in their wiues and seruants How blessed should the Church bee in their magistrates and preachers What mischiefe the want of this direction works in all estates is well seene and lamentably felt But especially if the seruants of kings and Princes be not aduanced for their goodnesse If the wife and seruant know not God feare him not leade not a godly and Christian life they are ill chosen wiues and seruants If the magistrate and the preacher doe not the like and make a Conscience of all their wayes they are but staynes to their places and banes to their owne Soules It is not wealth nor wit nor beauty and kindred in wiues It is not sharpenesse of witte excellency of shape Learning wisedome nor other excellent qualities in seruants that makes them fit but onely goodnesse It is not witte and experience and skill in the Lawes and policy not eloquence and profoundnesse in the magistrate and preacher that makes them fitte but onely goodnesse For that is the whole dimension of an excellent man and what hee wants of that hee wants of Man Lastly seeing goodnesse is such that it delights God Angels men and all the creatures and euery good giuing perfect gift is from aboue Let vs labour by all holy meanes to acquaint our selues with this goodnesse that so we may procure the continuance of Gods goodnesse to vs and turne away his iudgements from vs. You cannot but remember how that for want of this goodnesse amongst vs God hath taken his goodnesse from vs and scourged this kingdome with many plagues Fires consuming many townes and much treasure and riches and after fires waters drowning many townes and much lands And after waters pests and sicknesse wasting and wandring thorowe the veines of this land And after all these worse then all these a deadly vnrecouerable blow which striking at the roote lopt away the noblest highest and chiefest branch the right eye of this land the glorious Sun-rising of a happy succeeding age the very ioy of our hearts took away Pr. Hen. I say suddenly and for our finnes for our pride whoredome and other monstrous impieties for want of goodnesse I say it againe and againe for want of goodnes Let vs take heede that our sinnes prouoke not God any more For as the wife Roman said well Sen. In illa die qua luserant nauigia absorbentur In the same day that the shippes seeme to dally and play with the Ocean in the same day are they swallowed vp So was it with vs then and so now wee were vnder sayle top and toppegallant but suddenly a storme came that not onely made vs strike sayle but brake our maine mast close to the hatches God grant it neuer bee so any more with vs. The Israelites would not let Dauid goe out to battell lest they should extinguish the light of Israel How much more ought our care to be that our vngodlinesse and impieties put not out the light of England For our sins are more like to do it to vs then Dauids battles to them God in his greatest mercy continue his goodnesse to vs that this blessed sparke of our hope Pr. Char. this glorious beame of our comforts be neuer put out bee neuer eclipsed but that he may come to his graue in a full age Iob. 5 as a shock of corne commeth in in his season that the stones of the fielde may be at league with him and the beasts of the field at peace with him that there may be peace in his Tabernacle all the dayes of his life and in his death the peace of God Amen FINIS LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes dwelling in Foster-lane 1619.
and of more maiesty and vse vessels of honor dishonor 2. Tim. 2. Thirdly those parts of the house that are destitute of goodnesse as sinkes draughts and such voyding places seruing for base yet necessary vses are ordayned to the common good of the whole house and so as that it cannot want them without a great inconuenience And therefore if the master builder to preuent these particular euills should leaue them our of his building he should preiudice and hurt the common good of his house which cannot bee without them So hath our God prouided in this goodly building of the World that euery man should bee good in his nature and kinde and that some should be vessels of honor better then the rest and withall that the wicked and impenitent which are the sinks and draughts to keepe the rest of the house sweete should for the common good exercise and seruice of the whole house be tollerated as necessary though stinking and noy-some euills Next are wee to consider the markes and euidences of goodnesse that it may bee knowne of euery man It is so painted out in the holy Scriptures and in such broade characters that euen runners may reade them Therefore if you would know where goodnesse is by the head you must obserue these foure enrollements First her witnesses Secondly her seales and assurances Thirdly vshers Fourthly her attendants First the witnesses which testifie for goodnesse are to bee found out For if witnesses bee needefull in euery doubtfull case then to prooue where true goodnesse is witnesses will bee most needefull If you please to call for them 2. Cor. 7. Saint Paùle hath rankt them for you into a short but sweete summe These witnesses are without all exception they wil proue infallibly where goodnesse is Let vs produce them The first witnesse is a care to come out of our sinnes The second is a clearing of the Conscience by a true and vnfayned repentance The third is an indignation against sinne and our selues for our sinnes The fourth is a holy feare to fall into any sin againe The fift is a great desire to be out of that fearefull and damnable estate The sixt is a zeale of Gods glory The seauenth is a punishing and taking vengeance of our selues for our sinnes that God may not punish vs nor take vengeance on vs here or hereafter Examine the goodnesse of thy heart by these witnesses If these witnesse for thee then happy art thou that euer thou wast borne if not labour to get these witnesses but take heede of suborning them The seales and assurances of goodnesse come next to be examined Call for them of Saint Peter 2. Pet. 1 they are also seauen in number The first of them is a liuely faith working by loue The second is a sound knowledge of God in Iesus Christ The third is temperance in all the good creatures of God the fourth is patience to beare sweetely whatsoeuer God shall please to lay vpon him The fift is godlinesse not to stagger or swerue from the commandements of God for any disaster The sixt is brotherly kindnesse in dispensing the blessings of God The last is loue of God and man euen our enemies that they may not want the vttermost of our helpe in body goods and minde If these things be amongst vs and abound wee shall neuer bee vnfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ These seales make our calling and election sure for if these things be in vs we shall neuer fall Let our labour bee to get these seales of goodnesse to seale vnto vs the inheritance of Heauen But the better to know this noble Empresse this goodnesse we must also behold her vshers For as Kings and noble Personages are knowne by their vshers euen so is goodnes Now shee hath not only one but fiue seueral vshers Gal. 5 no quarter waiters they waite all at once The first is called loue for all true goodnesse proceeds from loue The second is ioy for goodnes reioyceth whē it doth any good The third is peace for euen the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding is in the heart of him that loues goodnes The fourth is long suffering for no iniuries can abate his goodnes The last is gentlenesse to entertaine sweetly all occasions of doing good And then followes goodnes All these I call vshers to goodnes because they leade and conduct goodnes to all her honourable actions for these make the way for goodnesse to worke In a word the last meanes to know goodnes by is her attendants They are not many but they are very excellent you may euer know her by them They are but three Gal. 5 as Saint Paul accounts them but they are worth all the glittering traynes of Kings and Emperours of the world One of them is called Faith a fit attendant to waite on goodnes and all great personages The second is Meeknesse the sonne and heire of Faith euermore at the heeles of goodnes that shee swell not with any conceite of her owne worth The last is Temperance another of Faiths issue to bring goodnes onely necessaries and to keepe off all superfluities Thus goes goodnes attended you easily may know her by her traine no King in the worlde is so nobly attended For seldome doe such seruants as these get any roome to serue in with great personages Onely goodnes giues them entertaynement else they might goe a begging For who will admit into his seruice such poore base bare leane hunger-bitten strangers as faith meeknesse and temperance but I must make an end Thus you see what a worlde of excellent matter my theame offers mee euen a whole body of Diuinity an Ocean of learning But I must now be contented to haue brought you thus farre acquainted with goodnesse in hope that Gods grace may so work the loue of it in your harts that you may be enamoured and rauished with the wonderfull beautie of it And that this beautifull Rahel may possesse the loue of your hearts the onely way is to put away that bleare eyde Leah the loue of the world for the loue of goodnesse and the loue of this world can neuer stand in any league together The sicke person though hee change his bedde and lodging neuer so oft hath neuer the better rest because hee carries his sicknesse with him the cause of his vnrest So though we lie neuer so soft though we think neuer so well of our selues yea except wee put away the loue of our goods which doth hinder euermore the loue of goodnes we shall neuer become the children of goodnesse or heires with God Temporall things may wel be compared to the tree that the Elephant leanes vnto that beeing halfe cut thorow deceiues him when he leanes vnto it Like vnto mandrage which if duly taken is good phificke but if immoderatly it casts one asleepe congeales the spirits and killes the naturall faculties So doe riches and the things of this life if we
loue them immoderately they cast vs into strange dreames make vs growe colde in deuotion and religion congeales our affections and in conclusion kils both soule bodie Like the seedes of henbane which kill all birds sauing Sparrowes Auicenna to whom they are nourishing food it kils not thē as one saith because their veines are so narrow that the fumes of it cannot passe to the heart to kill it as they doe to other creatures So temporall blessings doe not hurt the godly as they doe the wicked because they haue the narrowe veines of knowledge and pitty so that the deadly fumes of that henbane the loue of worldly things neuer passe to the heart If riches increase if honours increase they set not their hearts vpon them For as the Wise man saith Syr. 39 Omnia bonis in bonum All things to the good godly are turned to good If then we will giue our own soules satisfaction touching this excellent duty of goodnes which is Totum hominis All that can be desired of a man let vs not leane to this false deceiuable tree of the world that is cut thorough and deceiues and ruines all the Elephants and mighty men of the worlde that leane vnto it nor let vs so greedily swallowe this Mandrage which stupifies our vnderstandings and reasons congeales our deuotion goodnesse and casts vs into a dead sleepe of security Nor let vs aduenture vpon this henbane that so soone kils the heart except we bee assured of our selues that we are those holy Sparrowes that will not suffer the fumes of it that is the loue of the worlde to possesse our hearts For it is this goodnes onely that is like vnto Salomons siluer Eccles 10 and answereth vnto all I know the world doth like much better of Salomons siluer then of Salomons goodnesse but it is for want of that acquaintance with goodnes that they haue with siluer Cicero saith that in his time Nihil erat tam populare quà m bonitas There was nothing that the people of Rome affected more then goodnes and what made goodnes so popular but the practice of it and the number of excellent persons as Cato Fabritius and many more who loued and countenanced it Such men are the very barres gates and brazen walles of kingdomes Therefore one sayd wel Chrys that in a kingdome well gouerned the want of one good man was more then the famine of bread and wine For wee haue seene God send a famine for the demerits of one man and after that abundance for one good mans sake What goodnes hath a common-wealth if it haue no good men And what wants it if it want not good men To which purpose is that Clem. in Ituer lib. 1 one reports of Saint Peter that he heard Saint Peter speake it That if Abraham had not interceded when God burnt Sodome and her three sisters with fire and brimstone the whole world had been burnt so wicked was the whole worlde at that day and yet at Abrahams prayer the iudgement fell onely on Sodome and her three sisters And surely it seemeth that the prayer of Lot saued Zoar albeit the Inhabitants were most flagitious and wicked men And of such value are good men that a Father confesseth Aug. whensoeuer he heard a knell ring for the dying his soule was sore perplexed whether hee should pray for the good that die that they might liue longer or the wicked that liue that they might liue better For that there is as great reason to weep for the life of the badde as for the death of the good All this that I haue sayd is to shew the vnualuable worth of goodnes good men and what preseruatiues they are to that State wherein they liue and are cherished Now must I then conclude all I haue to say in these three obseruations out of the Text. The first is that vnder this one vocable of Goodnes is comprised all the substance and marrow of piety religion and honesty and vnder that word Man euery man liuing of what condition soeuer whereby we may be put in minde of an excellent grace that should be amongst vs namely vnity That wee should bee all Tanquam vir vnus As one man in euery thing that tends to the glory and preseruation of the Church and Policy to bee thus one is to bee all and more then all to be more or lesse then thus one is in the end to be none and lesse then none Diuision is an ill companion to glory perpetuity and safety A house diuided a Kingdome a City cannot stand Truth that cannot lie hath spoken it and those diuided shall surely feele it One is the beginning of all numbers without which no number can bee into which all numbers are resolued and by addition of which Acts 17 numbers are multiplied So God hath of one blood made all nations of men nay wee are all the of spring of God himself who is simplicissima vnitas The most simple vnity And we cannot bee of the number of his children except wee beginne continue and end in one nay resolue all as one man and so by addition of this one shall we be multiplyed as the starres of Heauen which cannot be numbred All excellent things in nature are but one one Frmament one Sunne one Sea one Earth one Fire one Ayre euery pretious stone is but vnio an vnion of many beauties and perfections in one body All excellent things aboue nature are but one one God one Faith one Hope one Charity so in my Text one man one goodnes therefore if wee will bee excellent any kinde of way in nature or in grace wee must be one As many members make but one body many branches but one tree many graines but one loafe so many persons by faith and loue make but one Church My doue Cant. 6 my vndefiled is but one saith Christ Ye are all one in Iesus Christ saith Paule Gal. 3 there is neither Iew nor Gentile English not Scottish bond nor free male nor female but all are one Gen. 45 What then Then fall not out by the way saith Ioseph to his brethren Gal. 5 If you bite and deuour one another take heed ye be not consumed one of another Charity and loue is like the cement and mortar that of many stones and those different in nature makes one wall able to keep off the violence of many stormes Like the seed Pistillij that of sundry peeces of flesh in one pot makes not onely good broth but also one firme lump For whersoeuer the seeds of charity sowne in the heart by the holy Ghost do boyle they work a sound cōiunction of natures in themselues most diuided Wheresoeuer is bonitas goodnes there all mē are but as one man euery one labouring the good of another as his own The Poets feigne that the three Gorgons being three most beautifull sisters had all three but one eye which they