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A20736 Lectures on the XV. Psalme read in the cathedrall church of S. Paule, in London. Wherein besides many other very profitable and necessarie matters, the question of vsurie is plainely and fully decided. By George Dovvname, Doctor of Diuinitie. Whereunto are annexed two other treatises of the same authour, the one of fasting, the other of prayer. Downame, George, d. 1634. 1604 (1604) STC 7118; ESTC S110203 278,690 369

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vpon the world halting betwixt God and Mammon and esteeming gaine to be godlinesse we may be theeues yea diuels as he was And not to insist any longer in the seuerall parts of Gods worship this may be said of all externall worship in generall that so oft as it is seuered from the inward spirituall worship of God it is hypocritical and detestable in the sight of God To which purpose the Lord professeth by his Prophet That he which killeth a bullocke is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a sheep as if he cut off a dogs necke he that offereth an oblation as if he offered swines bloud he that remembreth incense as if he blessed an idole Wee must therefore beware least we rest in the performance of outward seruice or cōtent our selues with opere operato the deed done which is the rotten pillar of popish superstition For it is not sufficient to doe that which is right vnlesse we do it with an vpright heart If with Amaziah wee doe that which is right but not with an vpright heart we may fall away as he did Wherefore that exhortation which the Apostle maketh to mens seruants much more belongeth to vs who are the seruants of God namely That we shold performe our duties towards him from our heart not in eye-seruices as men-pleasers but with simplicitie of heart fearing God and from our hearts obeying the holy will and commaundements of God Out of all which it appeareth euidently that without vprightnesse of heart neither the graces of the spirit which wee may seeme to haue are of any worth or our worship of any account with God But howsoeuer the most excellent graces without it be glorious sinnes and the most glorious worship counterfeit yet on the other side where vprightnesse is the graces which we haue though as small as a graine of mustard seed and our worship though performed in much weakenesse is acceptable vnto God The second argument is taken from the authoritie of God himselfe auowing the necessitie of vprightnesse And hereunto appertaineth first the testimonie both of the holy ghost in this place affirming That those who are to dwell in Gods holy mountaine are such as walke vprightly as also of our Sauiour Christ Matth. 5. denying that we shall euer enter into the kingdome of heauen vnlesse our righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies The righteousnesse which the Pharisies obserued themselues and taught others to obserue was altogether outward whereby they abstained from outward and more grosse offences neglecting inward and s●cret corruptions Secondly the commaundement of God enjoyning vprightnesse For this is the especiall dutie which we are to performe towards God viz. that wee bumble our selues to walke with our God For when the Lord was to establish his couenant with Abraham and his seed this condition he requireth to be performed on their part to walke before him and to be vpright This is that which Dauid commendeth to Salomon as his last will and testament Know thou the God of thy father and serue him with an vpright heart and a willing mind which Iosua in his last speech commendeth to the people of Israel that they should worship the Lord in spirit and truth As Moses also before had charged them Deut. 18. Thou shalt be vpright therefore before the Lord thy God For seeing the Lord is a spirit he will therefore be worshipped in spirit and in truth And as himselfe is a spirit so is his law spirituall restraining not onely the hand and tongue but also the heart Now the commaundement of God imposeth a necessitie not absolute indeed but with this condition If we will auoid his curse Thirdly the same is prooued by the oath of God which he sware vnto our father Abraham that he would giue vs who are the sonnes of Abraham and heires of promise that being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies we should worship him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him For as the commaundement of God imposeth the necessitie of dutie so the oath of the Lord imposeth a necessitie of certainetie or as the schoolemen speake of infallibilitie And therefore if we doe not walke vprightly worshipping the Lord as before him it is as certaine as the oath of the Lord is true that we can haue no assurance that wee are redeemed by Christ out of the world to raigne with him in his holy mountaine The third and last argument enforcing the necessitie of vprightnesse may be this For either wee must be vpright or hypocrits There is no third for not to bee vpright is to be an hypocrite and not to be an hypocrite is to be vpright But we may in no case be hypocrites For hypocrisie is a sinne most odious vnto God most foolish in it selfe most pernicious to them that are infected therewith It is most odious vnto God for as the vpright are the Lords delight so the hypocrit is an abhomination vnto him For that which is highly esteemed among men is abhomination in the sight of God And not without cause For all hypocrisie and doubling is a double if not a triple sinne for counterfeit pietie is double impietie both because it is impietie and because it is counterfeit And as hypocrisie is a counterfeiting it containeth also two sinnes opposed to simplicitie and truth both which are comprised in integritie viz. falshood opposed vnto truth as it is mendacium facti and deceit or guile opposed vnto simplicitie as duplicitie or doubling The hypocrite in respect of his falsehood and disguising in the Greeke tongue is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a stage-player who although perhaps he be little better than a rogue representeth sometimes the person of a prince or monarch Those therefore are hypocrits who lead their life as it were vpon a stage cloaking sinne vnder the shew of vertue hauing some ●orme or vizard of pietie but denying the power of it Qui in superficie boni sunt sed in alto mali as Augustine speaketh who seeme to honour God with their lips but remooue their heart farre from him who desiring to seeme good but not to be so and not to seeme euill but to be so make cleane the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of briberie and excesse and are therefore compared by our Sauiour Christ to painted sepulchres which appeare beautifull outward but are within full of dead mens bones and all filthinesse And as the fruit which groweth neere to Mare mortuum when it is ripe maketh a faire shew but within is full of cinders or ashes as some write so these men outwardly appeare righteous vnto men but within they are full of hypocrisie and iniquitie But as in the disguising of hypocrits there is falshood so in their doubling there is guile wherby they indeuouring to deceiue
hast sayth he vnto the Lord shewed vnto thy seruant Dau●d my father great mercy when he walked before thee in truth and in righteousnesse and in vprightnesse of heart with thee Of Ezechias you heard before But omitting other examples let vs call to mind the example of Enoch by which being the first in this kind we may best conceiue what account the Lord maketh of Integritie For when as he walked before God vprightly the Lord did therfore translate him out of this valley of teares that he should not see death and assumed him into heauen where he might inioy immortall glorie But if neither the golden reason of excellency can moue vs nor the siluer reason of profit allure vs then must the yron reason of necessitie enforce vs to Integrity and vprightnesse of heart For first such is the necessity thereof that without Integritie the best graces we seeme to haue are counterfeit and therefore but glorious sinnes the best worship we can performe is but hypocrisie and therefore abhominable in Gods sight For vprightnesse is the soundnesse of all graces and virtues as also of all religion and worship of God without which they are vnsound and nothing worth And first as touching graces if they be not ioyned with vprightnesse of hart they are sinnes vnder the maskes or vizards of virtue yea as it may seeme double sinnes for as Augustine sayth Simulata aequitas est duplex iniquitas quia iniquitas est simulatio Fained equitie is double iniquity both because it is iniquiti● and because it is ●aining Wherefore in the Scriptures it is required that our faith should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnfained that is such a faith as inwardly purifieth the hart and outwardly worketh by loue otherwise it is not a true and a liuely but a counterfeit and dead faith Likewise our loue must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnfained that is as Iohn saith we must loue not in speech and tongue but in deed and truth Or as Paul speaketh our loue must proceed from a pure heart a good conscience and ●aith vnfained Our wisedome also must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without dissimulation not that mixt or Machiuilian prudence which politicke men in the world so greatly praise being mixed with hypocrisie and deceit but that prudence of serpents tempered with the simplicitie of Doues otherwise it is as Iames saith earthly carnall and diuellish Lastly our repentance and conuersion vnto God must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnfained and from our whole hart For it is not the renting of the garments but of the heart that pleaseth God Neither is it the bowing of the head like a Bul-rush but the humiliation the melting the contrition of the heart that is acceptable before him Such as was the repentance of Iosiah 2. King 22. not as that of Achab 1. King 21. nor yet as that of the dissembling Israelites who made semblance of repentance and turning to God but their heart was not vpright with him If therefore without vprightnesse our faith be dead our loue cold our wisedome diuellish our repentance counterfeit then is vprightnes no lesse necessary to saluation then I say not any one of these graces but thē all But as those graces which we may seeme to haue without vprightnes are coūterfeit so our religion worship of God without it is hipocrisie For although it be the common practise of mē not only to content themselues with a profession of religion pietie towards God neglecting the duties of charitie towards men but also to rest in an outward and bodily worship notwithstanding it is no true religion before God which is altogether wanting in the duties of charitie neither is the outward worship without the inward acceptable vnto God This is notably declared in the Prophecy of Micah where to the hypocrite demanding wherewith he should come before the Lord and bow himselfe before the high God and making large offers if outward seruice would stand for good payment Shall I come before him saith he with burnt offerings and Calues of a yeare old will the Lord he pleased with thousands of Rammes or with ten thousand riuers of oyle shall I giue my first borne for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule Answer is made He hath shewed thee ô man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee surely towards men to do iustly and to loue mercie and towards God to humble thyselfe to walke with thy God The reasonable seruice that is the spirituall worship of God is that liuing holy and acceptable sacrifice vnto God For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth As for bodily exercise that profiteth little yea if it be seuered from the spirituall it hurteth much Therefore the Prophet denounceth the fearefull judgements of God against those who comming neere vnto him with their mouth and honoring him with their lippes do notwithstanding remoue their heart farre from him But the truth of this doctrine will more clearely appeare if we shall descend into the particuler consideration of the seuerall parts of Gods worship As first of prayer to the acceptable performance whereof there is required vprightnesse not onely in the action it selfe but also in the life of him that prayeth For as touching the action it selfe it is not sufficient to moue the lippes or to vtter a certaine number of words as Papists and other hopocrites do but our prayer if it shall be acceptable must also be a prayer of the heart and of the spirit a lifting vp of the soule a lifting vp of the heart with the hands a pouring forth of the soule before the Lord and to pray aright is to pray with our whole heart with an vpright heart out of a pure heart with lippes vnfained finally it is to pray in truth that is in vprightnesse and to this vpright prayer is the promise of hearing our prayer restrained Psal. 145. 18. The Lord is neere to them that call vpon him What to all yea to all saith the Prophet of purpose excluding hypocrites that call vpon him in truth For the Lord in our prayers doth not so much regard our tongue as our heart As for them which draw neare vnto the Lord with their lippes and are remooued from him in their heart they abuse the Maiesty of God whiles crying vnto him but not from their hearts they lye vnto God and go about to deceiue him with their lippes and by their hypocrisie to cast as it were a mist before his eyes But herein they are greatly deceiued For how soeuer masking vnder the vizards of hypocrisie they may hide themselues from men yet before God such maskers do as it were daunce in a net for before him all things
or passing on in hope of trans●ation to a better estate This word therefore the holy-ghost doth vse to signifie that a citizen of heauen is a pilgrim on earth and that his life here is a pilgrimage And so Peter calleth the time of our life the time of our pilgrimage And Iacob professeth that the daies of his pilgrimage meaning his life were few and euill And likewise Dauid I am a stranger saith he before thee and a pilgrim as all my forefathers were In a word it was the profession of all the faithfull That they were strangers and pilgrims vpon the earth Here therefore wee are taught so many as desire to be citisens of heauen to behaue our selues as pilgrims on the earth Who being exiles in a forraine land desire to come vnto our owne country He that hath a good patrimonie in his owne countrey great wealth kind and able kinred and friends and is forced for a time to sojourne in a strange land where he is ill intreated disturbed molested assailed by his enemies on euery side hee will affect nothing in that strange countrey neither will he set his heart vpon any thing there but his mind is vpon his countrey desiring nothing more than to returne thither But our countrey is in heauen where we haue an euerlasting inheritance an incorruptible and inestimable treasure where is God our heauenly father Christ our eldest brother and the rest of our brothers and sisters the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the quire of heauenly Saints and celestiall spirits and wee are pilgrims for a time here vpon earth where we are hated ill intreated assaulted with the temptations of Satan the world and the flesh subject to many inward infirmities and outward troubles And therefore it behooueth vs not to set our hearts on worldly things or to place our paradise vpon the earth For if our hearts be on the earth how is our treasure in heauen if the earth be our countrey how are we citizens of heauen Wherefore if we bee pilgrims in the world let vs not bee addicted to worldly desires let vs not mind earthly things but being wained from worldly cogitations let vs mind those things which be aboue Let vs vse the world as though we vsed it not and let vs be so affected towards earthly things as pilgrims and wayfaring men are toward such delights or commodities as they see in their journey or at their inne Which if they vse as meanes to further them in their journey yet they set not their hearts vpon them And yet assuredly our abode in this life in respect of our continuance in the mountaine of Gods holinesse is not so much as the time of our lodging or bait in an Inne Therefore howsoeuer such as be but earth-wormes doe crawle as it were vpon the earth and mind earthly things Yet must we remember that we are citisens of heauen and pilgrims on the earth Are wee pilgrims liuing as it were exiled from our celestiall countrey and heauenly father What ought wee then more feruently to desire than to be in our country and that this earthly Tabernacle of our body being dissolued wee might dwell in that habitation made without hands eternall in the heauens Are we such pilgrims as indeed desire to be in our countrey Let that then bee our chiefest care and indeuour to trauell into our countrey Let vs first seeke the kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and carefully vse the meanes of our saluation And let vs thinke that if wee bee pilgrims wee must also be wayfaring men Are we wayfaring men in this life then will wee vse hac vita vt via This life as a way and the things of this life as they may bee helpes vnto vs in this way Let vs make choise of the high and as it were the Kings way which leadeth vnto heauen the way of true faith and vnfained repentance Let vs insist and persist therein though it bee a narrow and an afflicted way Let vs walke before God in the duties of our lawfull callings and in those good workes which God hath prepared for vs. This is the way let vs walke therin Let vs not returne to our sinnes let vs not de●●●ne from the way of Gods commaundements either to the right hand or to the left let vs not stand at a stay nor looke backward with Lots wife and much lesse goe backward but with Paule let vs doe one thing forgetting that which is behind and striuing to that which is before let vs make on towards the marke vnto the price of the high calling of God in Iesus Christ knowing that whosoeuer perseuereth to the end he shall bee saued And this was the former part of the question concerning a true member of the Church militant which the holy ghost hath expressed in these wordes Who shall soiourne in thy Tabernacle calling the Church militant the Tabernacle of God and teaching that hee which is an heire of the kingdome of heauen is a pilgrim on earth Now followeth the later part of the question which is concerning the member that shall bee of the Church triumphant and inheritour of the kingdome of heauen in these words Who shall dwell in the mountaine of thy holinesse The kingdome of heauen by a metonymy of the signe he calleth the mountaine of God For the mountaine of God was a type of the kingdome of heauen And this mountaine was either the land of Canaan which was a type of the coelestiall Canaan as it is said Exod. 15. Thou shalt plant them O Lord in the mountaine of thine inheritance in the place which thou hast made for thine habitation or else the mount Sion which elsewhere is called the mountaine of Gods holinesse and was a type of the heauenly Ierusalem or lastly the Mount Moriah where the Temple was placed which is somewhere called the mountaine of the congregation standing on the North part of Sion and is therefore called the holy mountaine because it was the place of the holy assemblies which the Lord sanctified for his habitation and for his worship and this al●● was a type of the temple of God that is to say of heauen Whereas therefore heauen is called the mountaine of God it is a metonymy such as wee find elsewhere in the Psalmes I cried vnto the Lord and he heard me out of the mountaine of his holinesse that is heauen And thus the most interpret this place as namely among the Greekes Basil saith this mountaine doth signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The supercelestiall religion which is euery way conspicuous and bright which some call Coelum Empyrium wherof the Apostle speaketh Heb. 12. Among the Latines P. Lombard in thy holy mountaine that is saith he In euerlasting blisse where is the vision of peace signified in the name Ierusalem and the supereminence or height of