7 8. The ghests that were bidden to the supper were bidden by the Spirit to it but they refused to come Luke 14.18 19 20. Steuen spake by the Spirit to the Iewes but they stopped their eares Act. 7.57 neither vouchsafing to heare him nor the Spirit by which he spake Many times the Ministers of the Gospel knocke at our hearts by their exhortations and warnings to repentance yea many biddings wee haue by sickenesse and other wayes and wee doe as much But this is to refuse grace when the Spirit offereth it which cannot but grieue the Spirit by the which wee are sealed to the day of our redemption Ephes 4.30 And this is one kinde of sinne against the Spirit another is when wee make the Spirit weary of vs hauing receiued it or grieue it by our wicked behauiour not vsing our Ghest well Which made the Apostle in the foorth Chapter of this Epistle and the thirtieth verse as wee heard to exhort these Ephesians not to grieue or make sad the Spirit in them Where hee compareth the holy Ghost to a ghest and our bodies and soules to Innes Now as men will vse their ghests well that they may come againe so would the Apostle haue all Christians in these Christian Ephesians so to entertaine a good motion as a good ghest when it is offered that it may come againe and bring more company with it to enrich this shall I say Inne Nay Temple of the Spirit the heart with the aboundance of spirituall wealth and blessings in heauenly things in Christ But the children of God themselues doe not alwayes keepe one tenure in receiuing the Spirit when by it grace is offered to them for the auoiding of some euill or the doing some good For sometimes they are lesse apt to pray lesse sit to heare and lesse prepared to the Sacrament then at some other times they bee Yea they may haue lesse feare of sinne care of well doing zeale in prayer and comfort in the Word at one time then another This indeede is a tempting of the Spirit which though it make him not desirous to be gone yet somewhat cooles his loue toward vs as in Dauid and others And therefore we must striue with prayer against all manner of decay in these spirituall riches and omit no oportunitie to doe well as hee that meanes to bee rich in his trade will omit no meanes of gaining by it And here let vs consider what a shame it is for the children of God though they cannot loose the Spirit to loose for some season any graces which they once had of the sanctifying Spirit For was it not a shame for Lot who was so chast in Sodom to commit such incest out of Sodom in a Caue in the Mountaine Gen. 19.33.35 And did it not greatly blot Dauids Chronicle that in the dayes of peace which hee did not in the time of warre hee should fill his eyes with adultery and staine his hands with blood 2 Sam. 11.2 3 4 5.15 How weake was Sampson that was so strong and how ridiculous that was so feared when the Lord departed from him Iudg. 16.20.25 So Peter loosing by the deniall of his Master much of that courage hee had when hee cut of Malchus right eare Iohn 18.10 how was he posed and ouercome of two silly maydes Mat. 26.69.71 And surely if it bee a matter of discredit being rich to become poore in worldly substance what greater shame is it being rich in grace to decay in the Heauenly treasure This should make vs to purge our selues daily from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 not to be carelesse as if in prosperitie we could not be moued Psal 30.6 7. for a man may take a dangerous surfet after a full feast of grace and to be humbled when wee haue done our best confessing that we are vnprofitable Luk. 17.10 the best haue their infirmities and in euery Christian wombe as in Rebeccahs there is an Esau of flesh and Iacob of spirit strugling together Gen. 25.22 we are sanctified but in part and corruption goeth not out but with our last enemy In a word in all the regenerate there is a mixture of sleeping and waking Cant. 5.2 of sinne and grace it concernes vs therefore that put on our harnesse not to boast as he that putteth it off 1 King 20.11 and so to take heede that we giue the spirit no occasion by fainting or becomming secure in that warre which is betweene the flesh and spirit in euery Christian soule Gal. 5.17 It is sure that the elect can neuer quite loose the spirit that is the sauing graces of the spirit that dwelleth in them and yet it is as sure that the same may by sinning against it sundry wayes loose the feeling the comfort the ioy and peace of it for a season which made Dauid to pray vnto God that he would not take his spirit that is the ioy of his spirit from him as appeareth Psal 51.11 12. They that take him to speake otherwaies say that he spake but as a distempered sick-man who speakes he knowes not well what himselfe and what maruell that a guiltie prisoner at the bar the water standing in his eyes should misse in reading of his owne pardon But I take it that Dauid was come to himselfe when hee penned that exemplary Psalme of his sinne for the Churches instruction and that therefore hee knew what he said not distrusting any totall losse of the spirit of adoption but onely desiring that his feeling might come againe vnto him and that he might haue as he once had both a free and ioyfull spirit in worshipping toward God Yet let his example be a warning to vs who haue receiued a farre lesser portion of sanctifying grace then Dauid had for where such a Cedar fell let him that standeth take heede least he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 if so excellent a man so highly exalted as vpon his strong hill Psal 30.7 was so quickly vpon the loe ground in his adultery and murder as appeareth by his penitentiall Psalme wee had neede to take heede that we grieue not the spirit who stand vpon so loe a banke already How this may bee and how this our most worthy Ghest may bee grieued after wee haue receiued him into house and so our light eclipsed though not quenched as in the darknesse it selfe wee may see it though somewhat darkely in certaine earthly similitudes for as if when some noble Ghest should offer to come vnto vs we should receiue him but in some out or backe house not in our best lodgings wee should constraine him with indignation to leaue vs. So for this Lordly Ghest the Spirit who commeth to vs in his Word gloriously as in his Charet if we turne both it and him contemptuously into some forsaken corner as it were backe-romes of the heart what hope is there hee should tarry with vs and his Word any while abide among vs How much lesse if we receiue his
THREE SERMONS PREACHED BY THAT LEARNED and reuerend Diuine Doctor EEDES sometimes Deane of WORCESTER For their fitnesse vnto the present time now published by ROBERT HORN Minister of Gods WORD The seuerall titles and Texts follow on the next page ECCLES 12.10 The Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words and that which was written was vpright euen words of truth LONDON Printed by G. M. for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meredith and are to be sold at the Golden Lyon in Pauls Churchyard 1627. The Christians Admission and foundation in Gods houshold The Text. EPHES. 2.19 20 21 22. Yee are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God And are built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone c. The Christians Guide to a wise Conuersation EPHES. 5.15 16. Take heede that yee walke circumspectly not as fooles but as wise Redeeming the time for the dayes are euill The short prosperitie of the wicked and the Happy estate of the IVST PSAL. 37.35 36 37. I haue seene the wicked in great power and spreading himselfe like a greene Bay-tree Yet hee passed away and loe hee was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Marke the perfect man and behold the vpright for the end of that man is peace THE PVBLISHER to the READER GOOD Reader the substance of these Sermons was long since preached by a reuerend and learned Deane Doctor Eedes Deane of Worcester which being giuen me in sundry broken and cast papers after his death I perused at my times of leasure and perceiuing they might be of vse to many by Printing I was very vnwilling to engrose them for priuate vse from publique benefit And that made mee thus to set them together as I could with some supply where any thing was wanting and where the reading was troublesome with some small alteration Thou hast them therefore not altogether as they were preached but as I could copie them from the Authors first lines They concerne the times we liue in as directly and particularly as if they had bin set vnto them by the Preacher If any thing here set downe may any whit further thy walking in the way of grace I thinke my labour this way well paid for God blesse thy reading in this and other good Bookes specially in the Booke of God for which I pray who am Thine in the Lord Iesus Christ ROBERT HORN THE CHRISTIANS ADMISSION into the houshold of GOD and his foundation in the same EPHES. 2.19 20 21 22. Yee are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God And are built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord In whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit YEE are no more strangers and forreiners but Citizens c. Great was the goodnesse of God in creating great in continuing the world for mans sake his power in the one was more then the wisest of the world could expresse his loue in the other is more then the best of Christians can conceiue but neither was the creation of the world more then the election of his Church nor the continuing of the one which is great beyond the preseruation of the other which is greatest It was much that he created the world of nothing more that he redeemed it of nothing the one he did for vs when we were his owne and that without cost the other when we were his enemies but not without the death of his onely sonne Therefore how much the greater a benefit it was that God should saue vs then that he should make vs that we should be borne anew then that we should be borne so much the better it were for vs not to be borne then not to be chosen and not to be then not to be of his Church Wherein howsoeuer Iacob had a priuiledge and Iudah the prerogatiue so that they were chosen as the Lillie before the flowers of the field as the sheepe before all the beasts of the earth as the Vine before all the trees of the Forest as the Doue before all the birds of the aire and as his peculiare people before all the Nations of the world yet was the benefit to the Gentiles no lesse and the mercy of God to them a great deale more that they which were no people should bee called a holy people and which were wild by nature should by grace become naturall and legitimate branches in the true Oliue which is the Church of God For which cause the Apostle in this place commendeth to the Ephesians and in them to vs not onely the estate of their calling in Christ but the ground and end thereof in him In the speaking whereof that I goe no farther then the words lead me three things may well and chiefely be obserued as first the calling of the Gentiles secondly their foundation being called and thirdly their building vp In their calling wee are to consider from whence and to what they were called in their foundation by whom and vpon whom they were laid and in their building vp how and to what end they were built They were called from being strangers and forreiners to be citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God They were laid by the Prophets and Apostles vpon Christ and they did grow for the manner as coupled together and for the end to bee a holy Temple in the Lord and the habitation of God by the spirit For the first there is no one thing that doeth more mooue a man to consider what hee is then to remember what hee was So great a light to our iudgements doeth this light of comparing our selues with our selues bring and so deepe an impression in our hearts doeth the conscience of that which is past being set to the present make For as there is no misery greater then to haue beene happy so is it not the least part of happinesse to remember that we haue beene miserable Adam the better hee was in Paradise the worse hee was out contrarily the Gentiles the further they were from the Couenant promise the greater was their benefit in it And therefore as the Church of Ephesus was bidden to remember from whence shee was fallen Apoc. 2.5 that remembring her great fall she might sorrow and bee more ashamed then if she had neuer beene mounted so high in that loue which the Apostle there calleth her first loue verse 4. so here the Ephesians are bidden to remember to what they were raised as from being Gentiles in the flesh and strangers in Israel to bee worshippers in spirit and of the Israel of God that they might thinke more highly of that excellent estate to which they were called and in him
Abraham Mat 3.9 and he made them that were Gentiles no longer Gentiles that is strangers but sonnes and those that were vncircumcised in the flesh circumcised in the spirit and the old men of sin the new borne of God and those without Christ the very members of Christ and those heires of promise that had no hope and those that were aliens from Israel partakers with Israel of the couenant of life and strangers Citizens and farre of neere and without God in the world Gods children and no people a glorious people Yet because he is not a Iewe that is outwardly one and because many that are called few are chosen therefore we that are Citizens must liue as Citizens not the worlds Citizens but Citizens with the Saints Ierusalem is builded as a Citie that is compact together Psal 122.3 this was spoken of the earthly and may well be applied both to the spirituall Ierusalem the Church of Grace and the heauenly which is the Church in glory for we must not thinke that Gods delight was any way set vpon timher and stone or at any time vpon faire and well compacted buildings but this was rather to admonish the Citizens then to praise the Citie teaching them that if God be pleased with such an vniformitie and compactednesse in materiall buildings much more will he respect in them his owne building by grace spirituall order and compactednesse of minde And so if the Citizens at Ierusalem must be in order to God shall the Citizens in the Gospel breake order and liue in no conformity to him Are we then Citizens of God we must keepe Gods order and not what rule we list in his Citie we must honour his person and word reuerence his name and Sabbaths bow to him onely and to no creature with him keepe his ordinances and obserue his lawes The Magistrates that watch his gates must see that no prophanenesse be either practised or countenanced within them they must see that the good be encouraged and the euill taken away or reformed also that all within their authoritie as it were gates serue the Lord or be made to serue him The Ministers must faithfully execute their charge in the watch of this Citie they must not be blinde guides nor sleepie watchmen and they must eate the roule and goe and speake to the house of Israel Ezech. 3.1 they must warne the people of their danger with the trumpet at their mouth Ezech. 33.3 6. and feeding them with good and sound teaching lead them to the pure streames and riuer of life The people the Citizens must be ruled by the good word of God and by humaine ordinances and lawes agreeable to it not resisting gouernment and giuing honour to God by honouring those powers that are of him Thus if we be Citizens we must liue as they that dwell in Gods Citie and not in the worlds forest So if we be of the houshold of God we must liue as his houshold seruants and sonnes and not as seruants of sinne and sonnes of Belial and so shame our Masters house and discredit our Masters seruice or we must liue that is holily liue as his seruants and sonnes Now holinesse becommeth Gods house Psal 93.5 and they that are of his houshold must be holy Many get in that are not so but they shall be turned out as hee was that had not on his wedding garment Mat. 22.11.13 for God cannot endure that any vncleane person that any Moabite Cananite Ismalite or other sonne of Belial should be witnesse of his praise The gates of the Lord are gates of righteousnesse and the righteous shall enter into them Psal 118.19 His house is the house of his honour and they that be of his houshold must doe him seruice which dogges and swine cannot doe and therefore though such be sometimes in the house yet they are but strangers and none of the houshold which is true in all that prophane rabble of swearers drunkards filthy adulterers and other notorious offenders and in all hypocrites of whom the Apostle Saint Iohn speaketh thus they went out from vs but they were not of vs 1 Iohn 2.19 and generally in all contemners and despisers of God who though they liue in his house haue no inch of priuiledge neither any allowance therein Gods houshold is the houshold of faith and of faithfull men or it is the Church of Gods Saints and not a stable of beasts or cage of vncleane birds In a word Gods house it is the house of good people and of goodnesse and will ye steale murther and commit adultery and sweare falsely and burne your incense to strange Gods and come and stand before the Lord in the house whereupon his name is called though ye commit all these abominations Ier. 7.9 10. If ye be of the houshold of God ye must not conspire against him in his owne house as a houshold of rebels and increase of sinfull men and ye must be ruled by him and doe reuerence to him that hath the key of the house of Dauid Some liue in his house that both dishonour him and his house and many arme themselues with the name of the Church when yet saue for name the Church hath no greater enemies then they are therefore least in stead of the Arke of the Church we fall into a ship of Pirats and in stead of the Lords house vpon a den of theeues we must as followeth see that our Christian outward calling haue a good and sure foundation VERS 20. Built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and Iesus Christ himselfe the chiefe corner-stone THat is grounded by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles vpon Christ The Rhemists in their annotations vpon the new Testament would wrest this which is here spoken of the foundation in Christ to the persons of the Prophets and Apostles his seruants But besides that it makes flatly against the supremacy of Peter to haue that giuen to all that they would appropriate to him it seemes to haue no shadow of that that they would haue it in substance to be for whether by the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles be meant as some vnderstand it that the vocation of the Gentiles had the same ground which the Prophets and Apostles had or which seemeth to be neerer to the Apostles minde that the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets was the foundation of their calling in Christ in neither can it any way fauour their absurd opinion or if there had bin any respect of persons in this recitall of names the Apostle might as well haue mentioned the Patriarks to whom the promise was made and the worthy Kings by whom it was continued as the Apostles and Prophets by whom it was but spoken And here first he nameth them that were last to wit the Apostles not that they preached any other doctrine then was agreeable to that of the prophets which were before them but because they witnessed that to be done which before was
walke no longer in the flesh but in the spirit or good way of life and lanch foorth Luke 8.22 or saile forward as a Ship gone out of the Hauen from the shore of the new birth to the Hauen of our peace in death Many are at a stand in knowledge and rather goe back-ward then forward in the way of grace Such grow but vntowardly and prooue dwarfes and not men of any stature in Christ But in viâ virtutis non progredi est regredi in the way of true vertue not to goe on is to goe backe and as it cannot be a member of a growing body that groweth not as the body doeth so neither can it bee any liuely member of a true Church that prospereth not as that Church doth with the increases of God All non proficients therefore in the degrees and schoole of regeneration are bad Christians and not members growing into Christ but members pro forma that is for fashion onely and so are as farre from the end as they fall short of the meanes of being as it followeth An holy Temple in the Lord c. For how can that bee a fit Temple or habitation for God by his Spirit to dwell in which groweth not into a building What man can conueniently and will contentedly dwell in a house that is but begun to be built and before it haue any either roofe or couer And will the high God dwell in any house in his Ierusalem below whose neither wall is builded nor roofe couered but to proceede the words that follow haue two points in them of speciall consideration as the qualitie of this Temple it must be holy and the reason thereof it is the habitation of God by his Spirit It is called a Temple by allusion to the Temple that was at Ierusalem which was a type of the spirituall Ierusalem and Church of Christ and this is either of all the stones together which is the Church framed with the corner-stone which is Christ or of the stones considered separately by themselues euery one of which makes a singular temple as all together makes an vniuersall in Christ So many Christians therefore so many liuely stones toward the building of the generall Temple and yet euery true Christian is a Temple to God 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 And this Temple both the whole and euery stone in it must be holy that is endewed with holinesse and purged from the lust of concupiscence which was the lust of those which knew not God 1 Thes 4.4 5. which worke of reformation though it shall be hindred by many as the second Temple at Ierusalem had many aduersaries Neh. 4.1 2 7 8 2.19 20. yet shall it proceede to the perfection of the body of Christ as that other building went forward and was finished notwithstanding all that either malice or craft could doe against it Onely let vs not hinder it our selues by liuing in vncleannesse and by neglecting to purge our selues that wee may be a peculiar people to God zealous of good workes Tit. 2.14 And what we beleeue let vs practise wee beleeue a holy Catholique Church let vs therefore practise holinesse that our practise be not against our faith Let vs labour to be holy as hee is holy that hath called vs. 1 Peter 1.15 16. And seeing hee hath washed vs who hath giuen himselfe for vs let vs not plunge our selues againe in the mire Ephes 5.25 26. to wit in the mire of our first corrupt nature VERS 22. In whom you all are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit FOr who will prepare for a great man his friend in a foule house or lodge him in a stable And is any person greater or friend better to vs then God Or is any house or roome of the house fowler then an vnpurged conscience And what stable is more loathsome then the loathsome stable or rather stie of a wicked heart But how doeth God dwell in vs Resp Ministerially by his Word and Sacraments and principally by his Spirit For his Word therefore seeing hee dwelleth in vs by it wee must resolue to giue to it as to himselfe our best entertainement lodging it in the best roome of the house the heart and not in the out-house of the eare And for the Sacraments chiefely that of the Supper the chamber must be trimmed wherein Christ will eate that Sacrament with his Disciples Marke 14.15 16. And for that which is chiefe and expressed in my Text the Spirit seeing it is the Spirit of God and very God wee must take heed how wee sinne against it that is the good motions of it in our hearts wilfully and dispitefully for that is a sickenesse to death for which there is no Phisicke by repentance This is a sinne of men enlightned with the trueth The Gentiles without God cannot commit it neither the Iewes that are without Christ A sinne wherein a man falles away generally and malitiously from God yea for euer and vtterly from him in all the effects of a reprobate heart and heart that cannot repent This is that great sinne which Satan hath so blacked that it can neuer bee made white a sinne that shall not bee forgiuen to a man either in this World or in the World to come that is neuer Mat. 12.32 Quest But is not the sinne against the holy Ghost a sinne against the Father and Sonne as well as him Ans This sinne if we consider the person of the holy Ghost it is no more against it then it is against the persons of the Father and the Sonne but because the holy Ghost immediately both conuinceth conscience and enlightneth it therefore when we sinne against knowledge and the light of our hearts we are said properly and directly to sinne not against the Father or Sonne but holy Ghost But a Christian may sinne against the Spirit though in a farre lesser degree of sinne against him then by this which is so bitterly offensiue against all his graces in our hearts To know how wee must first know how and in what respect the holy Ghost may be said to dwell in a Christian or God by him And this is not in regard of substance for the whole substance of the holy Ghost which cannot bee diuided cannot bee shut vp within the body or soule of man but in respect of some particular worke or operation Now a Christian may sinne against this worke of the Spirit in him either when grace is offered and not accepted of or accepted of and not well vsed For example grace was offered to the old World by Noah and hee warned them for a hundred and twenty yeeres by preparing the Arke but they had neither eares to heare it nor hands to receiue it and so the Arke that is the time of repentance offered by it condemned them Heb. 11.7 Sodom was exhorted to repentance by iust Lot and a pleasant land yet shee reiected the Spirit that spake by these vnto her 2 Pet. 2.6
Word into our hearts as into some prison-house holding the trueth in vnrighteousnesse Rom. 1.18 or behead it as Iohn was in prison Mat. 14.10 Secondly if we shall not receiue a great man our friend chearefully or with good well-come wee shall giue him good cause with contempt to passe by vs another time so if we shall not receiue gladly and willingly the Spirit of comfort how can wee but driue away the Comforter If wee doe not flow vnto him as the Sea after such an ebbe and low-water of knowledge and true goodnesse how can wee retaine that God who will not tarry any while but where he findes a cheerefull giuer Thirdly though a man receiue his great friend into his best roomes yet if he doe not dresse vp those roomes and make them sweete remouing all noisome sauours he shall greatly offend that person his friendly stranger so though wee should receiue the Spirit into our hearts in some graces yet if wee prepare not for his comming nor make ready our hearts for his abode among vs remouing our filthy and vnsauory sinnes that offend so much how can wee but giue iust occasion to that same Spirit to forsake vs For what greater despit can bee offered to the Spirit of Grace and of Glory then to see sinne his most deadly enemie in his owne habitation 1 Sam. 2.32 Fourthly though a man receiue some great man his friend into a house swept and garnished that is well prepared for him yet if afterwards hee bring his enemie the greatest hee hath to out-face him and to vexe him in the same place how can hee but bee mooued against and offended with such an host So though we entertaine the Spirit for a time in some good motions and in a heart reformed in many things as Herods was yet if after some time wee returne being thus washed to our wallowing againe in the mire and begin to licke vp the vomit that wee cast how can wee thinke to reteine the Spirit and this forme of sinning together For as if one should set vp a rebell in that Kings owne dominions so are they who bringing sinne into the heart Gods owne Throne or further into any of their outward senses his owne dominions doe vexe him as it were at home in his owne possession Fiftly though one receiue a noble man into a faire and well furnished house and possesse him quietly of it yet if hee prouide not conueniently for his person and traine how can hee please him So who can please the Spirit though hee make neuer so godly a shew of being zealous in the Law if he abridge him of the diet and ordinary that belongeth to his good keeping in him If hee care not to nourish his good motions at Sermons and in the point of hearing scantle him by attending vpon the Word but at certeine times onely and so become as Master Latimer merily said but a Straw-berry-hearer And may not the Spirit say to such as Christ to those on his left-hand at the last day I was hungry and yee fed me not thirstie and ye gaue me no drinke Mat. 25.42 Lastly though this great man should bee receiued in all conditions and manner answerable to his great place and companies yet if after a day or two as being weary of our Ghest before he bee willing to leaue vs wee withdraw things necessary from him wee cannot but much offend him so howsoeuer wee begin in the Spirit yet if waxing weary of well doing with those foolish Galatians that ranne well c Gal. 3.3 we end in the same in the flesh wee must needes grieue the holy Ghost and shall heare the last state of these men is worse then their first Luke 11.26 then shall wee bee seuen fold more the children of the Deuill And thus wee haue heard how many wayes the Spirit after it is receiued may bee made sad by vs and caused with griefe to leaue vs. Let vs bewar how wee so offend lest we turne the habitation of God into an habitation or hold of vncleane spirits And now to conclude with that which is full of singular comfort seeing wee are the habitation of God by his Spirit we may learne that God is not in vs as a stranger in another mans house but as at home in his owne and therefore will not loose vs as no man will loose his inheritance that is able to keepe it and who so able as hee that is Almighty Neither being the habitation of God can wee lacke any thing that is good that is that is good for vs. For what want can there bee in the Kings house And as all good things are brought to the court so what so euer is excellently good is to bee had here Here is loue ioy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance against which there is no Law Gal. 5.22 23. Here is no Winter nor fall of the Leafe but a perpetuall Spring-time and hee that would haue what hee can wish if hee will wish lawfully and well let him come hither Let him build in grace and set his house vpon Wisedomes pillars Prouerbs 9.1 and no enemie shall hurt him For it is the Bethel of God or house vpon the Rocke Matthew 7.24 And hee that is in it will keepe it when they that come against it shall fall downe before it for who dares interrupt Gods possession Or if hee dare shall not perish Thus the securitie is great and the walkes are strong where God is the inhabitant and hee that is a wall of defence about his people will bee a wall of fire against his peoples enemies Zecharie 2.5 Esa 4.5 Hee that builds Sion will throw downe Babel and hee that saues Ierusalem will ouerturne Palestina The reason is his Tabernacle is in Salem and his dwelling at Sion Psal 76.2 But Babel and Palestina were Countries wherein hee neuer vouchsafed either to dwell or bee as in his Church So I conclude make God your inhabitant and yee are sure but if hee dwell not in you by his Spirit yee shall neuer dwell in safetie And now hee that dwelleth in vs and in his elect by promise keepe vs and his whole Israel yea blesse vs and saue his Israel the Church which hee hath purchased with his owne blood that being the habitation of God by his Spirit it may bee a temple of holinesse dedicated to his glory in the grace of Christ and loue of God the Father to both which with the holy Spirit of both be rendred and giuen all praise and glory now and euer Amen FINIS THE CHRISTIANS GVIDE TO A wise Conuersation EPHES. 5. VER 15 16. Take heed that yee walke circumspectly not as fooles but as wise Redeeming the time for the dayes are euill TAke heed that yee walke circumspectly c. It is written of a Cardinall Pole Cardinall Pole that being demaunded which was the best way to vnderstand the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans answered to begin with the
him Math. 15.8 9.20 To be hearers of the Law and not doers is to deceiue our selues Iam. 1.22 For so wee shall make our eares to accuse vs and our owne mouthes to speake against vs. And they who like Monsters haue longer tongues then hands that is can say more then they will doe are not vnfitly compared to leaues without fruit lampes without oile clouds without water hauing a shew of godlinesse but denying the power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 To these as Gregory noteth in his moralles it commeth to passe in the iust iudgement of God that by the wickednesse of their liues they loose the opinion of their faith For though we are to confesse with the mouth as wee doe beleeue with the heart Rom. 10.10 Yet as Cyprian saith in his booke de Duplici Martyrio efficaâ—ius est vitae quà m linguae testimonium more speaking is the Testimony of our life then the witnesse of our tongue And in the same booke further habent opera suam linguam habent suam facundiam etiam tacente linguâ Our workes can speake and that eloquently for vs though we hold our peace In the end hee concludes that as our good workes professe God so our euill doe say for vs that wee thinke there is no God It cannot be denied but that the Word of God is like vnto fire and therefore as able to worke in vs not onely the knowledge of Gods will but obedience to the same as fire giues vnto water not onely heate but motion making it not onely hote but to boile ouer Yet as fire it selfe though neuer so hote doeth not burne the hand that lightly toucheth it passing quickely through the flame so neither doeth the Word worke where it is little regarded or passeth presently through vs. And here their negligence commeth to bee reprooued who though they acknowledge the Doctrine of Christ and can be content in their manner to giue their names to the trueth doe not much trouble themselues in shewing it foorth by their deedes how so euer other wayes they will be wary enough to doe nothing directly against it But though they thinke it good to sleepe in a whole and warme skinne and to passe through this life as a Ship through the Sea that leaueth no signe of her being there yet they shall finde how so euer they can reasonably cleare themselues of doing no euill that they shall answere for not doing of good and further for not doing as much good as they might And therefore let them that liue in no particular vocation flater themselues as much as they list because in doing nothing they doe no euill though indeede it be euill to doe nothing and idlenesse bee as Bernard proueth as well the mother of vice as the step-mother of vertue they shall heare one day that sentence of condemnation read against them I was hungry and ye gaue me no meate I thirsted and yee gaue me no drinke I was naked and yee cloathed me not Math. 25.42.43 It is not said that when Christ in his poore members was hungry yee tooke away his bread but it is said yee did not feede him nor that yee tooke away his drinke when hee was thirsty but that yee gaue him no drinke neither that yee vncloathed him but that yee cloathed him not when hee was naked So Saint Augustine but as wee must walke so wee must so walke that wee bee circumspect Walke circumspectly c. Because there is but one way right and the same narrow Mat. 7.14 where there are many by-wayes and broad withall it is necessary and required that in our walking we bee circumspect looking about vs and to our feete where we set them and that as well in respect of our selues that we doe not erre as in respect of others that we doe not offend For our selues we shall not doe amisse if as the Sailor hath alway the North pole and the Archer his marke in his eye so we euer haue in the eye of our minde the end at which we should aime in our whole course euen that which is the North pole of our Christian Nauigation and white or leuell of our best and holiest endeuours here And therefore if wee did well consider to what end we were created and since the image of God was defaced in vs to what end wee were redeemed it would moue vs to take that course that could best bring vs to that end and to thinke all that labour lost that is bestowed to the contrary or impertinently thereunto The rather also should wee so doe because it is not in our power or choise to propose to our selues in our Christian walke what end and manner wee list but haue the same pitched and set vnto vs by the will of God whose will in his Word is our sanctification and that euery one of vs should know how to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour 1 Thes 4.3 4. Now this holinesse of life being the chiefe end or white at which the regenerate should aime and bend vnto in their Christian conuersation doeth set a price vpon it and all other things else which though lawfull and needfull in our mortall life we should much lesse esteeme then it and it being chiefe much more then them all For this cause it behoueth vs to bee very circumspect that seeing temporall blessings are necessarily and may lawfully in a sort be desired we bee not caried away with the tide of our affections to set our hearts vpon them or to esteeme them either for themselues or for any other end and with any other minde then for the exercise of godlinesse For as the Moone is darkened and Eclipsed when the Earth doeth come betweene her and the Sunne so the mindes of the godly suffer and are in a certaine Eclipse of Pietie when earthly cogitations come betweene them and the Sunne of Righteousnesse Christ Iesus Therefore well was it noted by Gregory in his Morals that solus in illicitis non cadit qui se aliquando a licitis cante restringit that is that hee onely doeth not offend in things vnlawfull that now and then restraines himselfe from things lawfull And now if wee must bee so circumspect in things indifferent and lawfull as not to desire them either more or other wayes then we should how much more circumspect ought we to be in those things that of themselues are vnlawfull and wicked There is no fellowship betweene light and darkenesse betweene the workes of the Spirit and the deedes of the flesh 2 Cor. 6.14 If we will liue in the Spirit wee must walke in the Spirit Gal. 5.25 And if we bee Christs wee must crucifie the flesh with the affections and the lusts Gal. 5.24 One saith well if wee would bee of the minde before we sinne of the which wee commonly are when we haue sinned and did marke our pleasures as Aristotle doeth aduise not as they come but as they goe away wee would not commit such
grose sinnes and so with greedinesse as wee doe nor drinke iniquitie as the most doe who drinke it as the beast doeth water Neither are wee to be wary or circumspect onely in the greater euils but in smaller offences also wee must stop their course when they are a beginning and roote them vp when they are young For little sparkes may proue great fires and small springs rise to great ponds The least infirmities wee haue doe bring as Saint Hierom noteth though not death yet sickenesse to the soule and though they doe not quench yet they make sad the Spirit of God And therefore as they that loue their bodily death doe not onely preuent death but the diseases that make way to it so they that care for the health of their soules will bee as diligent to preuent the disease as they would the death of it when they see it comming For if it bee true in the life of the body it is much more true in the life of the soule that vita non est viuere sed valere that is it is not life to liue but to bee in health and many liue by breathing that are dead in sinne If therefore we did as constantly beleeue that which wee cannot denie to be most true which is that our aduersary winnoweth vs as wheat and that we shall giue an account of euery not onely wicked but idle not onely deede but word Mat. 12.36 we would as Saint Ierom counselleth vs minima pro maximis cauere be as circumspect in small things as in great specially since the least sinne committed is made greater then wee can answer by the greatnesse of him against whom it is done This should make vs carefull to preuent not sinne onely but the occasions thereof that we be not ouer-taken ere we be aware and take the disease before we suspect it Animus vereri qui scit scit tuto vadere the minde that knoweth how to feare knoweth how to walke safely and without feare and it is care to be prouided against occasions that make vs secure As therefore it is written of the Africans because their Countrey is troubled much with Snakes that they tread lightly in euery place and if they chance to feele any cold thing doe more then halfe suspect it is a Snake and as they that ride with a charge in the night doe because of the darkenesse and their feare furthered by it take euery bush for a thiefe euen so wee who by reason of a greater charge goe in greater danger and are threatned with the bitings of sharper teeth then Snakes haue any should much more suspect vpon euery occasion thinking euery place we tread on to be a net to snare vs and euery thing we doe to be a bait to catch vs in euery grasse we should feare a snake and in euery bush a thiefe of our saluation as well against small as great sinnes we should come well appointed with the armour of light hauing about our loines the girdle of truth in our hands the shield of faith and sword of the spirit which is the word of God for the couer of our feet the preparation of the Gospell and the helmet of saluation on our head righteousnesse for our breast-plate and for all parts prayer which is the button or knot that holds all the peeces together that we loose nothing These we haue in the armory of Scripture by the key of Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians chapter 6. verses 14 15 16 17 18. If wee take these peeces from thence arme with them vpon all occasions and vse them as we ought wee shall not runne into euill and when the enemy assaileth vs wee shall be ready both to giue him battaile and to send him backe And yet it will not be enough for our circumspect walking that we she all not onely sinne but occasions of sinne our selues except we so beare our selues in respect of others that we giue no occasion of iust offence to them by word or deede I say iust offence because many times an offence may be taken when it is not giuen So the aduersaries of the truth are offended at our doctrine which is true and at the fruits of it which are good like as the Iewes when Stephen did truely charge them to be men of vncircumcised hearts and eares such as euer resisted the holy Ghost as their fathers did were euen cut to the heart and gnashed at him with their teeth Acts 7.51 54. But how can we helpe it the offence is taken by them not giuen by vs. Now if the malice of the wicked be such that they will take offence at that which is well done how circumspect should we be and how circumspectly should we walke that by our euill deedes we giue them no iust occasion This occasion though it may be giuen diuers wayes either when we teach some false or vncertaine doctrine contrary to that which we haue receiued or when in things indifferent we abuse our Christian libertie eating with offence and wearing our apparell so as may iustly giue offence yet is it chiefely ment in this place as spoken of that offence that is giuen by our euill life for we ought to haue an honest testimony euen of them that are without and our light should so shine vnto others in our godly conuersation that they may see our good workes through it and by it or beholding it glorifie our father which is in heauen Mat. 5.16 we must not be an occasion that the name of God be blasphemed through vs Rom. 2.24 the rather because they that are without and also because they that are weake within haue their iudgement led by no other rule nor esteeme of the doctrine further or otherwise then they see it fruitfull in the followers therefore doth the Apostle exhort the Ephesians since they were called in hope to adorne the calling with their good liues and being renewed in the spirit of their minde to cast off the old man and to put on the new in holinesse Ephes 4.22 23 24. since they were lightned hee bids them to lay aside the workes of darkenesse and in an honest conuersation to doe the deeds that will not flye the light So he wrote to the Romans who also had bin called by God out of darkenesse into his marueilous light bidding them since that night was past to walke honestly as in the day Rom. 13.12 13. that is to doe the workes of the day of the Gospell not the vnfruitfull workes of the night of ignorance and of sinne The same Apostle writing to the Church at Corinth doeth in great zeale and with many reasons charge them to giue none offence either to the Iewes or to the Gentiles or to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 but to edifie one another with their good example as well as doctrine ver 33. 1 Cor. 14.12 and in his former Epistle to the Thessalonians fift chapter and 22. verse for this cause hee
home with their eyes in a basket but put them on when they goe abroad But there are none that looke lesse into themselues then they that looke so much into others For whereas the honest minde the better it is it selfe the lesse it suspecteth others to be euill and either looketh not at all vpon others or looketh on them as on a glasse in the which her owne infirmities are reflected vpon her selfe and therefore is as farre from iudging ill of others as she is from thinking her selfe to bee good the minde that is fouled with sinne and thereby enforced to loathe her owne filthy home is glad to flie out and to wander among others and there either by discouering their sinnes to couer her owne or by reprouing them to gaine to her selfe an opinion and seeming not to be as she is To conclude all these follies in one and many other not spoken of which to single out by one and by one were an endlesse labour they walke as fooles that walke after their owne sancie and not as they haue direction from God in his word and therefore in the next place it is required that wisedome bee the Guide to our circumspect walking But as wise Here least any man might be deceiued in the word or mistake what true wisedome is in the 17. verse that followeth it is said to be that which vnderstandeth what the will of the Lord is excluding all wisedome of the flesh and iudging none wise but who are made wise by the word to saluation Where yet the Apostle doth not so oppose betweene that wisedome which is of God and that excellent facultie of vnderstanding which is a gift of the spirit of God common to good and bad to the spirituall and in the naturall man as if none were able to conceiue the things of God but men vnlearned and men not trained vp in humaine knowledges for howsoeuer morall wisedome is meere foolishnesse with God when in the surges of her owne conceit she is lifted vp aboue that which is meete yet when shee holdeth her owne proper course and channell in sobriety she proueth an instrument of much seruice to Gods glory and Church and therefore as one speaketh of many si vtiscias ancilla est si nescias Domina that is if thou canst tell how to vse her she is thy seruant but if thou canst not she will be thy mistresse so may it be said of wisedome acquired with industry being sanctified thou maist command her not directed aright she will not serue but command thee To be wise then is so to be by the word of God more generally to be wise is to walke in a contrary way to fooles How they walke we haue heard and so wee haue heard how wee ought to walke that is as Antipodes to them and as was said in contrary wayes It is sole wisedome to feare God and one maine point of it is to walke in his Commandements Eccles 12.13 Psal 111.10 Pro. 1.7 Deut. 4.6 Iob further the feare of the Lord it wisedome and to depart from euill is vnderstanding Iob 28.28 It was once said by one that it was res ingeniosa esse Christianum a matter of wit to be a Christian now it may be said all things well considered that it is a point of great wisdome to be a good Christian for though the rules of Christian life be so constantly true as that they all draw the varietie of our wayes and the differences of our callings to that one thing which is necessarie Luk. 10.42 as to their proper center yet are there in the world courses of our naturall life so many cases and some of conscience which require a right iudgement in regard of circumstances and manner of doing that he had neede of more then a minde to doe well that will walke as hee ought in things honest towards them that are without and in things indifferent towards them that are weake within for we must not thinke that it is perfect wisedome onely to vnderstand the will of God but perfect and true wisedome is to expresse it to the life in all the actions of our life To doe ootherwise or contrary is not to walke wisely but as fooles And therefore hath the Scripture concluded all vnrighteousnesse vnder the name of folly whether it be of ignorance in the minde or peruersenesse in the affections and will so Miriams sinne of grudging against her brother and Lord Moses is called a foolish sinne Num. 12.11 so the Israelites a froward people are said to be a foolish people Deut. 32.6 and Samuel told Saul when hee had done wickedly that he did foolishly 1 Sam. 13.13 Dauid confesseth as much against himselfe after he had numbred the people saying I haue done very foolishly 2 Sam. 24.10 the Princes of Zoan are called fooles Esay 19.11 so are the wicked people in Ieremie 4.22 and the Pharises that were hypocrites Mat. 23.16 17. and the rich man that was couetous Luk. 12.20 and the two Disciples that beleeued not Luk. 24.25 The Gentiles also are called fooles that knowing God glorified him not as God Rom. 1.21 22. and Paul saith to the Apostate Galathians foolish Galathians Gal. 3.1 And thus it is plaine that all vnrighteousnesse is folly and that all workers of iniquitie are fooles If therefore we will be truely wise we must be wise to doe good and simple to that which is euill The heart of a wise man is at his right hand but the heart of a foole is at his left saith Saloman Eccles 10.2 It is properly vnderstood of the good and bad successe that followeth the actions of the wise and foolish and yet it may not vnproperly be referred to their different courses of life as that the heart of the wise is euer inclining to good and the heart of fooles euer declining as by a left hand from it And this seemeth to be the reason why the Phylosopher as hee accounted wisedome the Queene and life of all morall vertues so he did shut vp all vices in that one of folly Where he thought not enough to doe bona the things that were good except wee did them bene that is wisely and well in euery circumstance for if we erre but in one circumstance we doe ill and wee cannot doe perfectly well vnlesse well in all therefore in the not perfection of our wayes whose very perfection as Hierome saith is to acknowledge how farre wee are from perfection Our first point of wisedome is not onely to commit no folly but to haue an eye to the good wee doe and to that which we would doe wisely that it be good both in substance and in manner of doing and throughly and in euery part good yea well and good well as from vs and good to our neighbour Further we may be said to walke wisely when wee not onely seeme but are Religious and walke both as the Law requires and as good conscience directs not thinking it enough to walke closely