tartnes no sharpnes no bitternes in these afflictions no not in death it selfe for as God sweetly disposes and pleasantly compounds the rest so Christ Iesus is theyr taster in this He hath tasted death for all Hebr. 2.9 This is their maine cheare To this Sage and Succory Marioram gentle Patience and Honesty Harts-ease and Hearb-grace are sprinckled in for salades And all this before the banquet For that comes after wherein as wee see at feasts the same things serue for the Banquet too but otherwise cooked and disguised so it may happily fall out in this for remissiō of sinnes and hope of euerlasting glory are saies Latimer the sweet-meats to the feast of a good conscience And as for fruits as we are called in scripture the first fruits of his creatures so if we be of S. Pauls companie we haue the first fruits of his spirit Rom 8.23 where of S. Paul serues in often a brace Grace peace in God the Father c. And oftentimes a lease Grace mercie and truth c. And wee finde almost a douzen in a dish Galath 5.22.23 The fruits of the spirit is loue ioy peace long-suffering gentlenes goodnes Faith meekenes temperance c. After these come in all choyce and rare dainties mentioned in Isay 11.2 Wisedome and vnderstanding councell and strength Knowledge and the feare of the Lord which are called in Esay 55. by the names of Water milke and wine saturitie Fatnes c. In other places they are iointly named the Annoynting the oyle of gladnes where with as Christ Iesus was annoynted aboue his fellowes so being as S. Peter stiles him the Byshop of our soules he doth therewith annoint and consecrate vs Priests vnto God euen an holy and a Royall Priesthood 1.2.9 which is an oynement most sauory and redolent The sauour of thine oyntment is better then all spices Cant. 4.10 which heauenly Oyle is shead in our hearts by the holy Ghost that is giuen vs. Rom 5.5 Ther 's an other banquetting dish of loue and knowledge mine together For knowledge of it selfe is too windy it swell a man like puff past and shewe him vp but loue modefies and allayes it and makes it wholesome Then comes in the louing kindnesse of the Lorde making the Good-mans estate equall with that of Kings as Saint Paul tolde Agrippa in which regarde God is sayde to crowne vs with louing kindnes tender mercy Psa 103.4 So that righteous mē are so many crowned Kings Nay faieth the Apostle more then conquerours Rom. 8. What 's more then conquerours Why Triumphers for hee makes vs to triumph in Christ 2. Cor. 2.14 Next the good faithfull soule receiues in this banquet a Christall bellie made of the blood of Christ not Sanguis Draconis but Leonis of the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda or rather of the Lambe of God a strange and strong restoratiue more then all their pectorall rowles or Mythridate or aurum potabile that will fetch life againe sooner then all their cordiall waters for this indeede is the true Aqua Coelestis and Rosa Solis of the Sunne of righteousnesse one droppe whereof is sufficient for a thousand worlds After this comes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that full assurance of faith in Christ which is the true Manus Christi that passeth all their Marmelade Succate And last of all is that food of Angels hidden Manna so called Apos 2.17 which is a kind of secret consolation which the Lord infuseth into the hearts of his faiththfull seruantes such as keepe a good conscience which farres exceeds all the stellifyed meates of Alchymists and Coniurers transports and rauisheth the soule of man as S. Peter hauing a taste of it talkes of building Tabernacles and Saint Paul it seemes had some relish of it where hee sayeth I ouerflow exceedingly I abound with all ioy amidst our tribulation This it makes a man forget all sensuall pleasure and is not only food but a riuer of spirituall drinke to the soule which prouokes Austin to cry Pota me Domine torrente volupt atis vt nil iam mundanorum libeat degustare veneualae dulcedimis Giue mee of this drinke Lord that I desire not the poysonous delights of the world This occasioned the same Father to entitle a good conscience a paradise abounding with graces and delights And Hugo to stile it a garden of delight and the golden diuing Chamber of the holy Ghost And so much for the meat and drinke The second thing that commends a feast is the Company It is a speech of a Romane in Plutarch that hee had only eaten not supped when he wanted company Now company are eyther guests or attendants both these magnifie the feasts of a good conscience for the guests are the blessed glorious Trinity For a good conscience wee haue heard hath the spirit his bosom-friend such a foule the Tēple the closet of the holy-Ghost for his father our Sauiour tells vs Iohn 14. to the man that loues him his Father will come and dwell with him And of himselfe Rerel 3.20 Beholde I stand at the dore and knocke if any man heare my voyce and open the dore I will come in to him and will suppe with him and he with me Our best friends vse to be best welcome and can a man haue a dearer Guest a better friend then Christ Iesus for he vouchsafes to call good men his friends Ioh 15.13 his kinsmen in other places his brethren his children his mother his Spowse to shew that he loues vs with all these loues the friendes the kinsmans the brothers the fathers the wifes Nay his is as high aboue these as is Heauen aboue earth and therefore hauing him our guest wee haue him in the knot and ring and packe of all our frinds together As for the Attendants at this feast they are no common wayters ordinary Seruing men but the blessed Angells of heauen Are they not all ministring Spirits sent out to minister for their sakes that shall be heyres of saluation Hebr. 1. vlt who as they ministred to Christ assoone as the diuell forsooke him so when we are once ridde of the diuell of hell of an euill conscience they presently be our seruants and as they ministred to him in his hunger for the Angells to all his in thyrst and hunger are as Luther is bolde to say Cookes and Butlers 3. The third circumstance of a feast is light t' is therefore a plague saith Ecclesiastes to a couetous wretch that alwayes he eates in darknes And indeed what is a feast without light so t is in the soule therefore the wicked hart or conscience is described in scripture to be voyde of light full of darknes hauing theyr cogitations darkned Ephes 4.18 Their foolish heart is full of darknes Rom 1.21 And all they can doe all their works are deedes of darknes Rom 13.12 But the children of God like the land of Goshen haue light enough they walke in the light and are children of
it and thou shalt passe on drie ground through the midst thereof And as thus afflictions in generall do not endammage the true and righteous seruants of God but that they are bulwarkes and defenced against them so wee shall finde it true by running ouer some particulars Let there bee warre and deuastation sacking burning of townes rauishing of Matrones and Virgines and all the retinue of rage and horror enter vpon a land with noyse of weapons and tumbling of garments in blood as the Prophet describes it yet all this will not breake his truce with heauen he shal in the midst of warre enioy that peace which Christ left his Disciples That peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding Let it bee rumorde that all the braue and daring men in the world are comming on nay let him bee assured as vndoubtedly hee is from the word of God that all the Peeres and Princes of Hell are vp in Armes Principalities and powers and worldly gouernours Princes of the darknesse of this world spirituall wickednesse in hie places are banded and leagued against him yet he will bee able not onely to resist in the euill day but hauing finished all things to stand fast Ephes 6.12.13 And where the Apostle there mentions a girdle of verity and shooes of preparation a brest-plate of righteousnesse and a shield of faith an helmet of saluation and a sword of the spirite wee must know that hee which hath a good conscience hath all this furniture this complete harnesse of a Christian altogether For that alone is the armour of righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left which makes a good man as Solomon speaks bold as a Lion valiant as Gedeon or Sampson afrayde neyther of the arrow sayth Dauid that flies by night nor the plague which destroyes at noon day Nothing nothing can dismay the resolute Christian Stelliger mundus sonet flammas hic ille iaculetur polus Let the earth bee moued sayth Dauid and the foundation of it shake the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea I will not feare Si fractus illabatur orbis impauidum ferient ruinae though the world cracke and flie off the hindges yet this shal nor apall him but his heart wil be still like the hart of the Leuiathan firme as a stone and as hard as a peece of the neyther milstone Iob. 41.15 Let such a man bee defamed causelesly traduced in his good Name yet Tullie was able to say Conscientia virtuti satis amplum Theatrum A good Consciēce is a Theater large enough for vertue and the man that is not guiltie or conscious to himselfe of deseruing infamy hath saith Horace Murum aheneum a wall of brasse to retort and shoot into theyr owne bosomes all these fiery dartes of the wicked It seemes indeed that this scourge of Tongues is no meane vexation for Dauid calles such detraction by the names of Swordes and speares and sharpe arrowes and poysoned dartes and complaines miserably in his Psalmes an 100. times at least how cruelly hee was galled and infested with such weapons yet both hee and all the children of God from time to time haue vsed no other rampire but this of a good conscience which they haue euer sound so firme and solide that it hath been able in middest of the hottest assaults not to preserue from danger only but to powre into them a noble contempt of their assailers and a spirituall complacency in this kinde of calamity as wee heard from Saint Paules testimony of himselfe I take pleasure in infirmities and next addes in reproches in persecutions c. Let it be pouerty to him it is an estate full of pleasure Christ Iesus himselfe hath made it glorious and the Heathen hath tolde him Facile consolatur honestas egestatem Pouerty is soone cheared vp with honesty if hunger or thirst assayle him hee hath a good conscience to feed him which is a continuall Feast assuring him the Kingdome of Heauen stands not in meate and drinke Nay the righteous man is so far from affrightment at such trifles that Elihu tels vs When famine comes then comes his ioy his delight a destruction and famine hee shall laugh and though death be to wicked men vltimum terribilium a dampe a dampe that puts out all their light and marres their musicke yet to an honest heart and a good conscience it brings rather an affluence of comfort and reioycing a thing the children of God wish and long for Cupio dissolui I desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ Iesus So that in all afflictions how great how grieuous soeuer the conscience of a godly man is not distracted it may perchance slacken it selfe and bee scattered or dissolued at the first encounter but when it returnes into it selfe and arrests on the holy spirite of God and strength of his grace it doth not onely settle from all such wauerings and weakenesses but it growes so firme and bolde as to take ioy and solace therein when that which before was sowre and distastfull becomes sweet and gracious And this must needes be so it needs no proofe for how can it bee otherwise but that Gods children should bee men of ioy glad men as Dauid speakes Psal 68.3 Leaping for ioy when wee are taught by God himselfe that his Kingdome is the place of ioy nay nothing else but peace ioy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 and his Gospell the matter of ioy as the Angell proclaimes from heauen Behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shall be to all people To this purpose we haue plentifull testimonies in scripture that God will euer keepe and defend his chosen seruants tenderly as the apple of his eye beares them safe from danger as he did the Israelites vpon his wings as vpon a featherbed soft and secure he giues his Angels charge ouer them that they dash not their foot against a stone or if any one chance to fall Siceciderit sayth Dauid yet hee shall not perish for the Lord puts vnder his hand The Lions doe lacke and suffer hunger but they that seeke the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good Psal 34.10 Many sorrowes to the wicked but he that trusts in the Lord mercy imbraceth him on euery side Be glad ô yce righteous showt for ioy all yee that are true of heart Psal 32.10.11 The voyce of ioy and reioycing and saluation shall bee in the tabernacles of the righteous Psal 118.15 sayeth Solomon answeres a good man in the ioy of his heart Eccles 5. vlt. They that obey and serue him shall spend end their dayes in prosperity and their dayes in prosperity and their yeares in pleasure Iob. 36.11 God giues such sayeth Esaie beauty for ashes the oyle of ioy for mourning the garment of gladnesse for the spirite of heauines And as wee haue it in promise from God so in example of godly men that haue euer found it so as Dauid who
out of his experience beganne many Psalmes with prayer and ends them with thanksgiuing And the blessed Virgine My Soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirite hath reioyced in God my Sauiour And Saint Paul is exemplum exemplorum all his speech of himselfe is but a comment on this Text and a large exposition of this point in hand Hee confesseth it Our reioysing is this the testimony of our conscience and in the 2. Cor. 7.4 I ouerflow exceedingly I abound with all ioy amidst our tribulations and that it is the generall condition of all Gods seruants Saint Peter tels vs where he sayeth that though they see him not yet beleeuing reioyce with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious This might easily be proued by shewing that such men haue all the true grounds foundations of ioy and contentment As first that they haue remission of sinnes in Christ and secondly adoption to become the Sonnes of God and in the thirde place haue â—ight and title to Heauen but t is Horaces counsell quaedam dicenda remittere not to amasse and heape vp all that might be said to any one point and therfore we come to the last part namely the fitting and applying of this resemblance heere vrged by Solomon wherin following the former Method I will first present to your consideration howe the wicked conscience is no Feast or if one not a continuall one and next that the good Conscience is one and secondly a continuall one A good Conscience is a continuall Feast First wicked men haue no feast For such men haue lost all tast of good and heauenly things They doe not relish or sauour the things that bee of God saith the Apostle as we see Swine neglect pasture and eat draffe So these men banquet but t' is with poyson like Tereus feast or rather t' is Scilicornium a funerall Feast for such a man as S. Paul speaks of a widow that liues in the pleasure of sinne is dead while he liues Their food breeds onely winde and froath and inflation no perfect or pure blood So that wee mistake iudging such a man full because Rich t is true he hath enough his bellyful but t' is with wind Eccles 5.16 or else theyr eating procures a corrosion and convulsion priuie gripings and qualmes stitches and aches wormes and distortion of the stotion of the stomacke that they cannot sleepe or take rest vpon it The satietie of the Rich will not suffer him to sleepe Or if hee doe hee shall spue soone after it as Iob saith hee hath deuoured substance and shall vomite it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Iob. 20. Or if it settle and stay with him then it inflames his soule and hart-burnes him For a practised sinner is saide to haue his soule singed and seared his Conscience burnt with an hotte yron 1. Tim. 4.2 or lastly as poyson if it kill not presently breakes out in tumors and byles so his wickednes doth occasion diseases and his bones are full of the sinne of his Youth Iob 20.11 and as he goeth on in vers 12. Though wickednes be sweet in his mouth and though he hide it vnder his tongue and keepe it like a delicate Epicure in the midst of his palate yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of Aspes within him And this is theyr viandes their cates theyr delicates of which Dauid desires to eate no part Psalm 141. If wee desire to knowe what they drinke at such a feast Iob tells vs they drinke iniquity like water Iob 15.16 and their wine the scripture saith is the wine of astonishment or else a certaine kind of compounded stuffe that Dauid speaks of ps 75.8 In the haÌ„d of the Lord ther is a cup it is red wine it is full mixt and hee powres out of the same Surely all the wicked of the earth shal wring out drink therof and in Psalm 11. he describes their burnt wine which seemes the very same that the Deuils drinke in hell God will raine snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shal be the portion of their cuppe As for the companie of these men what can it be but a noyse and sette of Diuells for Satan returning saith our Sauiour returning and finding such mens hearts like houses swept and garnished prepared for him enters with seuen worse then himselfe and the ende of that man is worse then the beginning It is not strange then that prophane and lewde men will fancie and conceite themselues the onely flourishing people vpon earth when wee see that their very banquetting stuffe is but gall poyson theyr drinke vengeance and their companie Diuells But let vs grant them that their seeming mirth and iollity they liue in may be tearmed a feast which is their portion vpon earth all they can looke for yet alasse it is not a continuall feast but exceeding fleet and momentanie Euen in laughter the heart is sorrowfull at that very instant They banquet as theeues in a caue or a wood alwayes in feare Esay tels vs that the Harpe the Violl the Tabret Pipe are in their feasts Esay 5.12 But this will not hold for hee addes in ver 14 Therefore Hell hath enlarged her selfe and opened her mouth wâ—de And their pompe and he that reioyceth shall descend into it So soone they are gone They breake off as it were in the middest of their meale and sinke into hel Nor can the damned soule thinke to take it out when hee comes there Indeed as hee in his life time made a feast of his soule to the Diuell and drest it for him to make his Helship merry for as the good Angels reioyce at a sinners conuersion so wee must thinke the Diuels mirth is his rebellion So now Sathan to bee quiet with him prepares him a feast a blacke banquet onely two dishes weeping serued in for the first course and gnashing of teeth for the second It is true it shall bee a continuall feast but worse to him then any feast for he shall bee so farre from receyuing pleasure in it that hee shall howle roare out with Diues for some drinke to his hote meate euen for a drop of water to coole his tongue And this for the first part of the comparison The second is that the goodman hath in his conscience a feast and not so onely but a continuall Feast First hee hath a Feast for a godly man like that vngodly one in the Gospell fares deliciously euery day keepes a spirituall Christmas alwayes drinkes deepe in the Wine-sellar as it seemes by the Spouse in Canticles 2.4.5 Hee brought mee into the Wine-seller and loue was his banner ouer mee Stay mee with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue So it is in that song of the blessed Virgin Hee filles the hungry with good things fils them giues them enough feasts them Like a noble Lord God with his proper gifts and graces And in examining