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
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
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
they opened the schoole besides that most of them who spake as though they hated vice did liue as though they hated vertue it was the iudgement of those whose iudgement was most receiued that the nature of good and of that which we call honest was not so much in deed as in opinion and custome Yet could they not deny that to be true which Tully in one of his bookes de natura Deor. Of the nature of Heathen gods speaketh of that many did summâ improbitate vti non sine summâratione that is commit notorious crimes but not without great helpe of reason Neither could they but erre in other matters who erred so much in that which was chiefe to wit the end of mans life as that there were scarce two found of one opinion But wee vpon whom it hath pleased God in the riches of his mercy to shed the beames of his louing and bright countenance and to lighten the darkenesse of our reason with the day-starre of his grace haue learned out of the schoole of Christ that the naturall man whose members are weapons of vnrighteousnesse and foolish heart is full of darkenesse Rom. 1.21 doeth not perceiue the things of the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 And seeking wee haue found that his life is vanitie his vnderstanding blindnesse his iudgement opinion his reason foolishnesse and his being in the World but a kind of being in a Wildernesse wherein hee is estranged from the Citie of the liuing God For euer since hee was not onely cast out of the garden of God but kept out by the Cherubim Gene. 3.24 hee hath beene a stranger to Heauen hauing had no other accesse or entrance thereunto then it hath pleased him that cast him out to giue him by effectuall vocation Now what it is in this sense to bee a stranger or banished man to be denied the priuiledges and libertie of our naturall soile and to goe exile into flat Atheisme and opposition to the true God it may bee somewhat discerned by the bitter and heauy dayes that goe ouer their heads who are but put out of their earthly countrey by Tyrants and but for some short time The naturall affection that euery man feeles toward his owne countrey and proper home may sufficiently teach vs what it is to bee strangers from our countrey of Heauen and not for a short time or life but for euer In other banishments wee may finde some remedy one place to vs may be as good as another and we are all Socrates his countrey men that is as he was wont to say Citizens of the World and therefore banished but out of one part of our countrey into another but hee that is thrust out of this Citie is thrust out of all and though he dwell in the fairest Cities of the World yet doeth he but liue the life of one that wanders in a Wildernesse and hath no Citie to dwell in Againe whereas in other banishments we are denied but a temporall freedome and suffer onely the losse of goods and liuings in this our banishment from heauen we are put from an euerlasting freedome and loose not vncertaine but true riches nor some temporall but an eternall inheritance nor liuing onely but life also and not this short life but the life that endureth euer the life of saluation and the blessed life of the Saints in glory And where in other cases our banishment may bee vniust and our exile for righteousnesse and so wee the banished may haue for the supply of our naturall soile the pleasant paradise of our good conscience to walke in in this case to be cast out of Heauen is worthy to be cast out and in the punishment of it selfe what good conscience can releeue vs when it is iust and deserued And now as the state of them who are strangers from the citie of the blessed is miserable enough seeing they are denied the libertie that is so much worth so is their misery doubled by this that they haue made themselues worthy of it being depriued of the glory of God because they haue sinned Rom. 3.23 partly by not vnderstanding which was the darkenesse of their minde partly but principally by not seeking after God which was the frowardnesse of their will and because they would haue it so Rom. 3.11 For they gaue themselues ouer to worke all vncleanenesse euen with greedinesse Ephes 4.19 But what this is we shall better vnderstand if we examine those titles with the which the Apostle in this Chapter doth describe stile those Christians that were Gentiles where hee calleth them first Gentiles in the flesh Ephes 2.11 which name though it were a common name to the Nations of the Earth yet was it now and was holden a name of as great reproach to them of Gods citie as the name of Barbarian to a Grecian and the name of Turke to a Christian. The reason was the Gentiles were great Idolaters and the things which they sacrificed they did sacrifice to Deuils and not to God 1 Cor. 10.20 Also for that world of wickednesse which they were giuen vnto it was such as might not bee named that is which they could not speake of for shame 1 Cor. 5.1 And when our Sauiour Christ would put them to the worst that would not heare the Church the worst name he gaue them as the worst that could be giuen them was the name of a Heathen Mat. 18.17 So the Apostle in this Epistle exhorting these Ephesians to watch ouer their liues and themselues with some care and diligence forbids them to walke as other Gentiles that is as the worst sort of men Ephes 4.17 No lesse opprobrious was the name that the Apostle gaue them in the second place Ephes 2.11 by calling them the vncircumcision it being the marke by which they were distinguished and knowne from Gods peculiar people And therefore it is said that no stranger that is vncircumcised in heart or vncircumcised in flesh shall enter into the Sanctuary of God accounting all to be strangers from God and Gods peculiar inheritance that are such Ezech. 44.9 For this cause doeth Dauid call Golijah the vncircumcised Philistim 1 Sam. 17.26 and Saul desired his Armour-bearer to kill him least hee should fall into the hands of the vncircumcised Philistims 1 Sam. 31.4 and Steuen drawing a Metaphore from hence Act. 7.51 calleth the desperate Iewes men of vncircumcised hearts and eares Thirdly he calles them when they were Heathen men without Christ Ephes 2.12 that is without the hope and grace of the blessed Seed in Christ and not so onely but alienes from the common Wealth of Israel that is from the externall profession and outward fellowship of the Church and thereby strangers from the Couenant of Promise because they knew not his iudgements Psalm 147.20 And hereof ensueth that which is reckened in the last place that they were not onely without hope because without the Law and Word in which were the Promises by which Hope
were by Moses to them in sundry tipes figures and shadowes of things to come Exod. 4.10 But to vs hee hath spoken plainely by Christ in the Gospel So that wee haue the same Word that they had but more legible and in a fairer letter and they haue the same Law that we haue but more vailed with ceremonies and darker to them then it is to vs. The Church and people of Rome who say with those Iewes which pursued Christ to death wee haue a Law Ioh. 19.7 Haue another rule not drawne vpon the ground nor according to the rule of faith neither yet built vpon the foundation that is here spoken of but of Popes and Councels The great things of Gods Law they count as a strange thing or thing they much respect not Hos 8.12 only their owne dreames please them But there is enough least written for the guiding of euery true beleeuer to Christ and to life in him Iohn 20.31 and they that will not heare Moses and the Prophets how shall other things perswad them Luke 16.31 Here also we haue no building but vpon the Apostles and Prophets Ministers and Christ the Master vpon their Doctrine and his person and what warrant then for additions to these by such as they were of whom God complaineth by Ezechiel that they set their threshold by his thresholds and their posts by his posts Ezech. 43.8 I speake of our aduersaries who adding to that which is written so many vnwritten fabulous vanities to which they giue the countenance of Scripture doe set the threshold of tradition by the threshold of the Word written making the Lords siluer drosse and mingling his Wine with worse then water Esai 1.22 But wee that haue a most sure Word of the Prophets let vs take heede vnto it 2 Pet. 1.19 and be wise in that not aboue that with Heretickes nor against that with Atheists that is able and therefore sufficient enough of it selfe to make vs wise to saluation 2 Tim. 3.15 Let vs not with the Papists whom we heare condemned make it onely a partiall rule of our liues but impartially set our wayes to it with respect to all Gods Commandements Neither let vs presume to giue our selues a dispensation for any thing forbidden by it though neuer so small which is but to erect a court of faculties in our owne bosomes against it For some will commit a sinne and then stretch the Word to make it a little sinne if it bee great and if it be little to make it nothing But good Christians must be builded as well in their conuersation as faith vpon the Apostles Prophets and Christ that is vpon the whole Word of God that they may bee absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes 2 Tim. 3.17 that is made perfect indeed and furnished thorowly to the power of godlinesse And therefore they are iustly reprooued who seeke to any thing in their corporall and spirituall distresse rather then to the Scriptures In the worship of God some more esteeme their owne opinion and the tradition of their Elders then the rules of the Word If they bee sicke they will goe first to carnall meanes and lastly to Scripture In their apparell they are rather led by the fashion in their recreation by the company in eating and drinking by their appetite then the Scriptures And generally in their liues it is esteemed a course too strict and of too much nicenesse to stand to the direction of the Scriptures Gods intent in writing and giuing his Word was the setling of our hearts in the truth and the grounding of our affections by the nature thereof if therefore wee care not to build our faith vpon it by the Ministerie nor to direct our course by it in our ordinary way that it may bee said though in a better sense this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled Iohn 19.36 we frustrate Gods purpose of inditing holy Scripture and make our selues guiltie of a prodigious sinne or a sinne as bad as the sinne of Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 Besides in our obedience this way our owne good is sought but wee ouer throw it and our selues by odious disobedience Therefore the Lord by Ezechiel speaketh thus Statutes and ordinances haue I giuen them which if a man doe he shall liue in them Ezech. 20.11 Loe the doing of them is our life or our gaine as the not doing of them must needes be and iustly our destruction Lastly not to build vpon the Word is to build vpon ignorance and so to build Popery in vs which in stead of building in Conscience is to build in Hell for there is no conscience that is good conscience without it and without good conscience what are we but vnconscionable sinners So much for our building vpon the foundation but what manner building must this be for the manner it must be a coupling together and for the end it must be a holy Temple in the Lord as it followeth VERS 21. In whom all the building coupled together groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord. THE common knot that coupleth vs to God and one to another is the spirit and in the spirit this building must be coupled as with the foundation by Faith so in it selfe by loue for it commonly falleth out that that which is diuided in it selfe is easily from it selfe diuided also And therefore as we haue one God and Father of all which is aboue all and through all and in vs all one Lord one Faith one Baptisme Ephes 4.5 so must we prouide to be knit together in one minde and in one iudgement 1. Cor. 1.10 and to be as the primitiue beleeuers were of one heart and of one soule Acts 4.32 endeauouring to keepe as much as we may the vnitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 They dwell neere together that inhabit in one Citie but Christians who are holy Citizens are Citizens with the Saints should dwell neerer in heart then men doe in their houses The communion of Saints is as an vndiuided Citie and Cities in vnitie are goodly Cities so is it a goodly thing for brethren to dwell together in vnitie Psal 133.1 Againe Christs Coat had no seame and shall his body be diuided was Ierusalem compact in it selfe and shall Ierusalems Citizens iarre must her buildings touch together Psal 122.3 and shall not Christian brethren touch neerer who are linked in faith and ioyned in Christ must our houses be vniforme and shall wee that liue in such houses liue in no agreement One saith well the Church leaueth to be when she leaueth to be one And therefore they doe not a little deceiue themselues who thinke they can grow in the root and be torne from the branches or hold the foundation and be rent in the roofe for the branches must be vnited that will grow in the root and the roofe must be sound and well coupled that will any while keepe the foundation This would be considered of all
moneths yet we shall one day pay to God the shot of time in the strict account of our houres when our poore soules shall bee committed to torments and bodie and soule shall bee cast into hell This should make vs enter into a trembling consideration with our selues about our great arrerage of time as to thinke how much is vpon the booke for excessiue sleepe for immoderate gaming for our carnall fellowship for much idle talke vaine thoughts and inordinate worldlinesse and finding so much lost and spent already do as wise husbands in such a case should do that is grieue for that which is past and bee better husbands hereafter of all our houres redeeming the time behind and beginning prouidently to saue before all be gone Seuenthly let vs consider and call to minde the example of Christ whose doings as our light wee should follow and to whose person as our best precedent wee should conforme hee saith Iohn 9.4 I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day he saith hee must and it is sure he did for hee spent the day in teaching and the night in prayer Luke 6.12 21.37 Let vs eightly consider that as God hath appointed that good should be done so he hath set the opertunities and seasons wherein to doe it and therefore hath made euery thing beautifull in the time thereof Eccles 3.11 Now if wee neglect this time with Ierusalem what can we looke for but that the line of Ierusalem should be spred ouer vs for such our negligence and more then brutish contempt of good houres Luke 19.42 43 44. And now to cast vp the reckoning of all that hath beene spoken let vs put these together the nothing of our flight time the price it carieth with the children of wisedome how little of it is in our owne power how short and flitting it is how much Sathan to teach or shame vs setteth by it for his owne ends that houres and minutes must be accounted for that Christ for our imitation lost no houre of time for his Fathers seruice and Glory and that good is to bee done in that time and season that God most wise hath appointed to it and hauing made this account let vs denie if wee can that time is to be redeemed O then let vs not suffer any good occasion of doing good to slip away from vs but let vs lay sure hold of it exhorting one another while it is called to day Hebr. 3.13 Euery moment of our life is the opportunitie giuen for amendment of life it is that acceptable time and day of saluation spoken of 2 Cor. 6.2 that time of life wherein God visiteth vs with his Word and Gospel speaking to vs by his Word and knocking at our hearts by his mercies and iudgements Oh let vs not suffer the blessing of these golden times to bee lost or in vaine to bee bestowed vpon vs. Some good things reach not vnto nor may bee done at all times as the hearing and reading of the Word the reading of good bookes conference solemne and set prayer admonition reproofe almes For these must haue and enioy their owne oportunities but euery time is a time of turning to God all times are fit times for the exercise of our faith for repentance of sinnes for amendment of life and for reconciliation with God Oh therefore let these seasons and oportunities of times in Gods mercy bee euer deere vnto vs let vs deferre no meanes or time that the Lord shall offer fitly to vs for these dueties but redeeme them with our present industrie and labour of loue not receiuing so much grace in vaine Let vs consider our mispent time and by greater diligence in well doing fetch as much of it as we can backe againe by running the way of Gods Commaundements Psal 119.32 Let Saul runne to the harpe of his pleasures and they that are drunken with the delights of life as with that wine wherein is excesse let them make themselues musicke with mery fellowship to driue away dumpes but let vs to whom God hath giuen a better minde and another spirit take heede how we forfeite the oportunitie of repentance for such vaine matters and let vs remember that time well past is the best pastime in the World Hee that other wayes passes his time turnes his pastime into sinne And because as was said our time goes away fast enough faster then a Post and as soone as a thought what neede wee so much and ordinarily in vaine sports to seeke remedies against it The yeeres we haue seene are gone the few that are behind will not tarry long after and one end shall bee vnto all This end is death the common end of the liuing and the happy end of the righteous Let it bee our care therefore to redeeme time not to cast it away and our soules with it vpon the pleasures of sinne as they who doe more seruice to their bellies in one day then they doe in a whole yeere of dayes to God Wary wel-thriuing husbands hauing had some great losse will watch all Markets and oportunities to recouer it Now what greater losse can come to a truely and wel-thriuing Christian then his great losse of the time of the Gospel which is the time of repentance and should not this force him to follow earnestly and continually all the Markets and oportunities of Religion that he can heare of thereby to make vp his former great losse at such Christian assemblies The way-faring man hauing slept too long in bed or sate too late at dinner will make amends for it by making more haste afterwards in his way so we that trauell to our owne Countrey of heauen hauing before either slept out our good time in an idle life or sate it out in pleasures should be by so much the more carefull hereafter to quit the way faster by giuing all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 for it is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time past of our life after the lust of the Gentiles walking in wantonnesse 1 Peter 4.3 Now it is high time that wee bestow that well and carefully in Gods seruice that is to come redeeming with our bodies goods and life if neede were that which is past We heard how our Sauiour Christ bestowed all his houres to the glory of his Father and good of mankinde at great feasts hee would loose no time and at one feast how many things taught he concerning the feasts of Christians and bread of heauen Luk 14.15 16. c. At Iacobs Well when he talked with the woman that was a harlot how did hee forget his owne neede of the water of the Well to satisfie her necessitie with the waters of the Well of life Iohn 4.7 10 11 12. c. how after did he neglect his owne meat to doe that which was his meat and drinke the will of his Father Iohn 4.34 What occasion did hee omit to doe
good by occasions of the haruest how did he prouide and speake for his fathers spirituall haruest Mat. 9.37.38 And by occasion of leauen how did hee warne his Disciples of the leauen of corrupt doctrine and corrupt men Mat. 16.11 And what is this but to teach vs to redeeme time by his example that lost none And if filthy persons can take all occasions of filthy talke and doings shall wee that are Saints by calling loose any occasion of speaking well and doing good to the edification of our selues and others so much the rather as it followeth in the last place because The dayes are euill No day considered in it selfe is euill and all dayes considered in their Creator and first creation are good Gen. 1.31 Here then we must confesse a trope and that the dayes are not properly but by a figure euill that is euill for the euils in them or because they are infected with the pitch and canker of the world that lieth wholly in wickednesse 1 Iohn 5.19 So the daies here are said to be euill because the men in them were euill And this is reason enough to perswade the children of God to be good husbands of their houres and to take heede into what places and companies they come least they take the infection as a man may comming into a plaguy-house for no plaguie aire can so soone infect the body as the aire of euill company may the soule This is plaine by the examples of Lot and Ioseph and of Dauid among the Philistims Lot learned to drinke liberally in Sodome and did so out of Sodome Gen. 19.33.35 Ioseph in the Court of Pharaoh courted it with dissembling and swearing by the life of Pharaoh Gen 42.15 and Dauid who suffered much and learned great obedience by the things which he suffered being but a while among the vncircumcised Philistims learned to lye and to dissemble 1 Sam. 27.10.11 Seeing therefore the dayes are so euill that is the men in them how circumspectly should good men walke and wisely passe their time least they be circumuented seeing so many thornes are about them how wary should they be both what they touch and how they goe The world will say because the dayes are euill let vs be euill for company but the spirit saith not so but redeeme the season because the dayes are euill that is though others be naught and starke naught yet be you good and very good good your selues and meanes to make others good and some say the dayes are euill therefore as the dayes are so be yee but the spirit saith the dayes are euill therefore take heede ye be not as they are that is naught as they be But were the dayes euill when the Apostle wrote then what should let vs to call them euill now or were they then in the positiue euill they are now in the suparlatiue worst for that that was full then runnes ouer now iniquitie I meane that hath gotten the vpper hand and workes with both hands At the reformation of the Gospell by the zeale of blessed Queene Elizabeth one diuell was cast out but seauen haue returned since Luk. 11.26 we haue seene the growth of spirituall Esau among vs Gen. 25.27 the euill men and deceiuers waxe worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued 2 Tim. 3.13 but we grow not as Iacob from good to better we are turned from Poperie but are we turned to the liuing God and not turned rather from him to Atheisme that is from the false God to no God the furnace of strange lusts as that of Nabuchodonosor in Babylon is it not come from one heating to be heated seauen times more in our dayes then in any age before vs Dan. 3.19 that is is not lust the furnace seuen times more lustfull Pride seauen times more proud Wantonnesse seauen times more wanton Adulterie seauen times more adulterer Drunkennesse seauen times more drunkard and euery sinne is it not seauen times more sinfull and doe we grow as Iacob or rather doe we not grow as Esau from euill to worse Gen. 25.27 What treasons in Court What poisonings at Court What vnwonted prophanenesse in Court and Countrey In our Sauiours dayes men sold and bought in the Church in our times Churches themselues are bought and sold Iohn 2.24 In the Apostolike and first times of the Gospell the Heathen onely persecuted Christians in our age of it Manasseh Ephraim Ephraim Manasseh and both against Iudah Esay 9.21 Iesuites and Priests one against another and both against the Gospell nay which is a warre more vnnaturall Iudah against it selfe and the diuisions of Rubin haue bred great thoughts of heart Iud. 5.15 I cannot containe to remember what mischiefes this bitter warre of brethren hath already and is like further to bring forth and what Christian heart can abstaine from sighes and lamentations to see so many graue wise and learned Christians to molest one another The Shepheards to be at variance the poore Sheepe for whom the Lord Iesus shed his most precious bloud to be so turned out to Wolues spoile the common people to be so distracted errours and Atheisme so to abound and get head the cause and glory of the Gospell so to be weakned and men also discouraged by them by whom they should be lured and begotten to the truth that it may truely be said in our dayes which was spoken long since Quae modo mater erat formam capit illa Nouercae quos lacte aliut conficit illa flagris that is She that was a mother becomes stepmother and whom once she suckled with milke shee torments with stripes Our contention is hotter and hotter our enemies increase that trouble vs they that hate vs laugh but the Church weeps that should be comforted by vs and though she bleede in a veine of ignorance through our common distraction yet no man saith to his brethren at variance Why striue yee why doe ye wrong one to another Acts 7.26 O! that it were considered what great losse the Church daily suffereth by this plague of dissention O! that we had betimes or would yet in time remember How good a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie If wee did or had done so the storme that waxeth thicker and thicker had bin scattered and we should haue seene a faire calme of peace in the Churches of England at this day but our breach is as the Sea and these euill dayes know nothing of the wayes of peace But to goe on in the Apostles dayes and neare them what running to the Gospell now what running from it then what plainenesse in teachers now what equiuocation then what obedience to heathen Caesar now what practising against Christian Caesars then what strengthning of the Gospell now what vnder-mining it by the builders themselues It were infinite to speake euen of generall euils that are infinite and therefore I will come to an issue with you and draw to an end Seeing the dayes are thus euill the