and so louingly embraced is this he whom he saluted with such sweete kisses and teares of ioy was it for him that the fat calfe was killed and is all this feasting and reioycing for his returne as though he had neuer offended surely so it should seeme But what shall man now giue vnto God for so greate loue and fauour or how shall we shew our selues thankfull for such kindnesse vndeserued Surely this is the Lordes doing and it is wonderfull in our eyes but that our profit may encrease to the further instruction of our iudgmente and comfort of our faith we will by the grace of God set downe certain pointes to consider of and by this text to be examined First we will consider how or by what meanes we are come into this fauour with God and how we are come by the knowledge thereof Secondly we will see the exellencie of the children of God aboue other men Thirdly we will enquire what duety the children-of God do owe vnto God their heauenly father wherby they may shew themselues thankful for such fauour restored Fourthly we will consider why the Lord both here and els where vseth these wordes My sonne Last of all we will see what may bee gathered frō them as they bee the words of Solomon How we are made the sonnes of God NOw touching the First point if we be the sonnes of God then God is our father the church of god is our mother the members of the church be our bretheren and the kingdome of heauen is our inheritance This purchase the father hath bestowed vpon vs the sonne hath bought it for vs and the holy ghost hath sealed vnto vs. Of this couenant God is the author the sonne of God is the purchaser and the spirite of God is the certifier It is freely graunted it is fully discharged it is certainely assured and shall be for euer possessed This prerogatiue as it is great so the first cause thereof was the infinite loue of God in his son Iesus Christ. It is the free gift of the father so saith the sonne Feare not litle flocke it is youre fathers pleasure to giue you a kingdome It is the free gift of the sonne so saith the Lord Iesus My sheepe heare my voice and follow me and I giue vnto them eternall life It is also the gift of the Holy Ghost so saith the prophet Dauid Lord let thy good spirite lead me into the land of righteousnesse and therefore it is no way merited or purchased by our selues while we liue nor gotten by any friendes for vs when we are deade as Papists teach for nothing can be more contrary than these To haue it of our selues and to be freely giuen of God The euidence or assurance which we haue to shew for this priuiledge is Gods promise which is surely ratified in heauen by the eternall decree of the holy Trinitie as it were by an euerlasting Act of Parlement neuer to be repealed wherunto the father the word and the spirite do beare sufficient witnesse If therefore we receiue the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater The recordes of this charter promise are left among vs here vpon earth in the written word of God contained in the bookes of the old and new testament whereupon all the faithfull must rely as vpon their fathers last will and testament and these we are al cōmaunded to search because they beare witnesse of the loue of God in Christ to our eternal saluation Therefore if any forsake this foundation to build vpon reuellations and dreames as Anabaptistes do or vpon mens traditions as the Papists do or vpon the persuasions of their owne hearts as Atheists do what do they els but builde vppon the sands The proclaimers and publishers of high prerogatiue are pastors and teachers which are appointed to be ministers of the Gospell truly sent of God and lawfully called of Gods church whose badges are knowledge and holines whose feete are beawtifull because they bring the glad tidings of peace The seales of this charter are either outward or inward The outward seales are the Saeraments of Baptisme and the Lordes Supper duely administred according vnto Christs holy institution The inward seales are two one is the spirite of adoption which beareth witnesse to our spirits that we are the sonnes of God and sealeth vp our heartes to the day of redemption The other is a good cōscience in all thinges desiring to liue honestly whereby we know that the spirit of God is in vs. The hand by which we receiue it is faith the closet wherin we keep it is the heart and till the soule may fully possesse it she must lye at the anchor of hope and so much for the first point The excellencie pleasures and beautie of Gods Children NOw let vs take a little viewe of the commodities and benefits which belong vnto this charter and priuiledge of beeing the sonnes of God and then shall we see the excellencie and dignitie of Gods children aboue all other which be not the children of God Their excellent estate and condition doth partly appeare in the very names and titles that be giuen them in the word of God where they be called the citizens of the heauenly Ierusalem a royall priesthood a kingly generatiō the beloued of God the spowse of the lambe Christ the signet of the Lords right hand the apple of his eye the annointed of God the friendes of God the brethrenand sisters of the Lord Iesus his loue his doue and his vndefiled the bodie of Christ the Lordes vineyard his holy ones the saintes of God the seruauntes of the most high and that which passeth all the rest the sons and daughters of God Now as Dauid said when he should haue married Saules daughter Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a kinges sonne seeing that I am a poore man and of small reputation So seemeth it to any a light thing to be sonnes and daughters of God the king of all kinges seeing wee are sinfull men and of no reputation but deserued rather eternall confusion It is a great matter as it seemeth by Dauids words to be a kings son but hee that is sonne and heire to a 1000. kingdomes or 1000. worlds if it were possible cannot compare with the sons of God if they were as naked as euer Iob was or as poore as euer was Lazarus The sonnes of Princes are in great accompt with men but the children of God are in accompt with God and man The children of princes are attended vpon by noble men and garded with strong men yet both but mē whose breth is in their nostrels and their handes cannot accomplish the deuise of their heart The children of God are attended vppon by God himselfe whose eye is alwaies ouer the righteous and they are garded by the angels of God who for their swiftnesse are said to haue wings for their readinesse they are said to
the publisher God is our father indeede Salomon is but Gods minister and speaks like a father to all that of all he might win some Salomon was a king yet he giueth counsell like a Preacher and teacheth men how to order their liues according to the word of god and therefore he calleth himselfe a Preacher So should rulers and men in authoritie giue their inferiours counsell like Preachers and though they be not Preachers by office yet by their graue counsell and holy aduise they may and ought to be Preachers and so should all men be But now if men speake like Polititians and can giue craftie counsell to serue all mens turnes they are the men but if any speake like a holy Christian or like a diuine or like a Preacher he is acconted a Puritane a foole and called a Preacher in derision well Salomon though he be a king and no Preacher yet he giueth the charge on the Iudgment seat like a diuine and he counselleth like a Preacher indeed but he speaketh like a father and from a fathers affection with desire not to shew himselfe but to profit his auditors and his readers therefore see how he tempereth his counsels and his doctrine with wordes of loue saying My sonne as if that were the onely way to win men to God So when the Apostle would make the Galathians in loue with his doctrine he calleth them his children yea his litle children this is to teach al teachers how to make their doctrine most profitable vnto their auditors they haue put vpon them the persons of fathers therefore with a fatherly affection they must teach the Lords people and humble them as children especially weake ones which are but comming on But those that are falling away and sinne of mallice and wilfullnesse are to be handled after another maner and therefore it is that Salomon in this booke hath so much adoe with fooles and scorners though he speake to some as to babes and children And that kind of teaching is of loue too and from the spirite of God yea when Paule ratled vp Elymas the sorserer calling him a man full of subtiltie and mischeife a child of the deuill an enemie of all righteousnesse and a peruerter of the straight waies of the Lord it is said of him that he was full of the holy ghost As this doth not patronise bitternesse of spirite or vnseemely rayling in any so it serueth to proue that a minister of GOD may sometime as occasion serueth deale roundly in laying open of sin and seuerely thunder the iudgment of God neither can we without sinne charge him with railing or malice or choller as the manner of some is to charge the preachers of the word of God My sonne saith Salomon to teach vs that wee must speake with a louing and kinde affection but not with a couetous and vainglorious affection if euer wee will winne men to God My sonne saith Salomon to teach vs that whether we teach doctrine or correct maners or reprooue sinne or denounce iudgements we should first see that there be that kinde affection in vs towardes the parties with whō we haue to deale which is in fathers towards their children and that fatherly loue will sweeten all our reprehensions and all our admonitions make them in time go down into the stomack if they were as bitter as any pils if men be not whollie giuen ouer of God My brethren saith S. Paul in all his Epistles as if he made as much reckoning of them as of himselfe and to shewe them that he wished them to do nothing but that hee himselfe woulde helpe them in it and doe it with them You haue manie instructors and teachers saith the Apostle but not many fathers but in Christ Iesus I haue begotten you through the Gospell wherefore I pray you be followers of me to teach vs how to make the people become our followers Oh the loue the patience the faithfulnesse and the wisedome of a father how great is it or ought it to be towards his children so great should be the loue the patience the faithfulnesse and the wisedome of the minister of God As S. Paul teacheth Timothie for want whereof much learning and eloquence is shewed many argumentes and aucthorities are spent many admonitions and doctrines are deliuered both publiquely and priuately by Ministers and Magistrates and of all sorts and little or no fruite come vp after because the affection is not first sanctified by the spirite of loue This is also a lesson for vs if we be housholders or maisters of families for they must be preachers too in their families after a sort if wee woulde haue our counsell and correction doe good with those that are vnder our gouernment let them see our tender affection and a fathers loue both in our words and deedes In the 7. of Luke it is said of the Centurion that hee had many seruauntes vnder his aucthoritie and they were all at his becke most readie to obey him in anie thing that he set them about but how did hee bring them to any such good order surely it is said that his seruants were deere vnto him that is hee made a speciall reckoning of them and was a father vnto them So let all maisters make a reckoning of their seruants for if thy seruant can perceiue that he is deere vnto thee thou shalt in time worke him like wax to thine owne minde except hee hath solde himselfe to worke wickednesse If thou be a husband and wouldst win thy wife to God or if thou be a wife and wouldest winne thy husband to God draw you on one another with the sweet words of loue speaking kindly one to another because gentle wordes doe pacifie anger as water quencheth fire Remember what counsell the auncient counsellors of Salomon gaue vnto Rehoboam king of Israel that hee might winne the heartes of the people speake kindly vnto them saide they and they will serue thee for euer after So speake one to another in kinde wordes and you will loue one another for euer after Wordes spoken in season saith Salomon are like apples of gold with pictures of siluer what wordes more seasonable than wordes of loue and kindenesse but wordes of despight and reproch are alwaies out of season and shall neuer do good Sometime one worde of kindenesse may giue grace vnto all the rest of the speech and one worde of reproch and despight may spill all thy counsell if it be neuer so graue and godly otherwise for a little leauen sowreth the whole lumpe This we see by daily experience if a man say but thou to some one he cannot beare it doest thou me will hee say againe An other againe will take some one worde more to heart than all the rest oh that same one word will hee say went to my verie heart The Iewes which hated the Lord Iesus woulde not vouchsafe to giue him his name when they
it and therefore that all our care and studie must be to aduance him and to direct all our actions to his glorie as he hath directed his glorie to our good So that these wordes My sonne are to be considered after a double manner of speaking First as spoken by God the first authour of them next as proceeding from Salomon the minister of God and so much briefly for the persons by whom they were spokē The persons which are called sonnes NOw we are to consider of the persons that are called by the title of sonnes and because God is first in order we will first see of whom hee speaketh in this place when hee saith My sonne for many be called the sonnes of God in the scripture and they are of three sorts some are by nature the sons of God some are by adoption the sonnes of God and some for their exellencie are called the children of God By nature none is the sonne of God but Iesus Christ onely who was begotten from all eternitie of his fathers nature and substance By adoption all the faithfull are his children whom God hath elected before all worldes that he might call them in his time appointed by the liuely preaching of the Gospell and the effectuall working of his spirite in their hartes vnto the blessed and certaine hope of eternall glorie in the kingdome of heauen being first iustified by the righteousnesse of the Lord Iesus christ the naturall sonne of God These are called sonnes by adoption or made sonnes which before were no sonnes at all As if a king should take in a begger nay a traitor and make him his heire euen so did God with vs and such fauour did he freely shew to so many of the sonnes of Adam as it pleased him to adopte and to make his children wherein appeared the wonderfull loue of God to vs ward of which S. Iohn speaketh by way of administration Behold saith he what loue the father hath giuen to vs that we should be called the sonnes of God as if it were to be wondred at and not to be expressed The Angels are called the children of God Iob 1. 6. Iob 2. chap. and 1 verse When the children of God stood before the Lord Sathan came also and stood amongst them c. And they are so called partly for their excellēt state and condition but principally for their willingnesse and readines to doo the will of God Sometime also the Lord is called our father in respect of our creation onely as in Mat. 2. 10. Haue we not all one father hath not one God made vs and in Esa. 64. 8. But now thou O Lord art our father we are the clay thou art our potter we are the worke of thy handes So Adam is called the sonne of God by immediate creation in the 3 of S. Luke the last verse In this respect God is a common father not onely to all his creatures in generall but to the very reprobate also for he created them also and he made them good saith Salomon but they found out many inuentions but we shal neuer find that God vouchsafed to call any reprobat in the scripture by the name of his sonne Non tam praestanti reprobos dignatur honore He did neuer honour them with so excellent a title Many are so called and so accoumpted amongst men which doe iudge onely by the outwarde appearance but when they come before the Lord whose waies are not our waies and whose thoughts are not our thoughts the case is altered If any shall obiect and say that there is neuer a father without a childe and that they be relatiues and therefore seing as God is called a father of the reprobate in respect of creation the reprobate may at the least be called the sonnes of God though they be not the sonnes of God as the elect are they are to know that some are called fathers in the scriptures Metaphorically which were but the first inuenters of thinges and in that respect they are called fathers as Iaball the sonne of Adah the wife of Lamech is called the father of such as dwell in tents for he was the first inuenter of tents And Iuball his brother is called in the next verse the father of such as play vpon the Harpe and vpon Organes or pipes shall we therefore call the tentes Iabals children or must the organs and pipes be called the sonnes of Iuball So God is called the father of the reprobate because he first created them but yet they can no more be called the children of God than the tentes might be called the children of Iabal or the harps and organs the children of his brother Iubal But when the scriptures do speak of God as he is a father not onely by creation but also by adoption then is the title of sonnes also therewithal bestowed vpon those whom he hath created because he hath also adopted them to be haires of his kingdome through Christ but it is limited onely to the elect which do receiue him by faith as in Iohn 1. 12. As many as receiued him to thē he gaue prerogatiue to be called the sons of God So doth the Apostle Paul also restraine the title of Gods children onely to the godly As manie as are led by the spirite of God saith he are the sonnes of God And because the reprobate and all hypocrites wil boast of the spirite as well as the children of God as Zidkijah said hee had the spirit of God as wel as Michaiah therfore the scripture hath put a difference betweene the giftes of the spirite and the spirite of sanctification for Saul may haue the spirite of God that is some giftes and graces of Gods spirit as knowledge iudgement courage strength pollicy wisdome wealth c. as the wicked and thereprobate may haue to their condemnation but the spirite of sanctification or holinesse which worketh newnesse of life and changeth both the affections within and all the actions without that is proper onely to the elect children of God indeed And least anie shoulde deceiue themselues The Lord Iesus hath laid downe an euerlasting rule By their fruits you shall know them And the fruits of the spirite saith S. Paul are these Loue Ioy Peace Long-suffring Patience Goodnesse Gentlenesse Faith Meekenesse Temperance c. Against which there is no law that is to condemne them for they that are Christs haue crucified the fleshe with the affections and Iustes But there is a kinde loue and ioy and peace and suffering c. amongst the children of darkenesse because Sathan in his members can counterfeit whatsoeuer God doth commaund and there is amongst the members of the Church malignant in shew whatsoeuer the church of God militant haue in trueth whē Sathan doth change himselfe into the likenesse of an angel of light it is a hard thing to discerne the one from the other therefore hath the Lord
ioyned his word and his spirit togither by which as by a true tuchstone all false loue is discerned from true loue and all false peace and false ioy is tried from true peace and true ioy and so of the rest and therfore is the word called the sword of the spirite because it doth not try nothing nor worke any thing ordinarily but by the word of God And last of al least Sathan should abuse delude the children of God with the manifold corruptions imperfections and rebellious thoughtes of their heartes and make them conclude thereupon that they haue not the spirit of God They are to know that the spirite of God in the elect is not alwaies felt in themselues nor perceiued in them by others in a like measure but it is in them as the sunne which sometime shineth and sendeth foorth her light dispersing the clouds and somtimes againe is hidden vnder the cloudes It is in them as the ebbing and flowing of the sea It is in them as the waxing and waning of the Moone It is in them as the fire when it is kindled and when it is raked vp in the ashes And it is within them as the sap of the tree is in Winter and Sommer sometime in all the branches and sometime gone to the roote And as the elect are like Trees planted by the waters side which doe bring forth fruite in due season so the same trees haue both a summering and a wintering a spring time and a fall of the leafe when winter come they seeme as though they were dead but in summer they shall waxe fresh and greene againe The fruits of the spirite in the elect children of God are likewise like the fruit of the tree which is first in the sap only then it commeth into buds and then into blossomes whereof some are smitten with blasting some are nipped with frost cold some are eaten with worms but if they escape al these then from blossoms they come to be appls and at the first they are green and louely and many doe lust to eate of them but they are still hard and harshe but in time they come to their full growth And when they are ripe then are they eyther shaken downe with the winde and swine deuour them or beaten downe with cudgels and theeues do steale them or if they be fairely gathered yet are they pluckt from the tree that hath borne them then are they bought and sold whereof some perish and are cast out of dores the fairest and the sweetest is brought either to fire to be rosted or to the boord to be pared and cut in peeces and so to be eaten then the tree is naked and seemeth to be dead but the next spring doth fetch all againe So are the fruites of the spirite in the adopted children of God first in the sap of faith only which is hidden in the heart then it commeth into good thoughtes then into good wordes then into good workes by degrees but many times they are nipped and smitten in the bud or in the blossome that is either in thoughts or wordes that they neuer come into workes The workes likewise of the godly are at the first faire and freshe but yet hard and harsh and when they are come to any perfectiō they are either wind-shaken and deuoured by beasts or smitten with persecution then are they bought and solde and euerie man handleth them as they list In a worde the fairest the pleasantest and the best of our workes must be pared and picked for dainty mouths and queasie stomackes and in the end consumed of all and then are our labours come to their perfection wherher they be of Church or common-wealth and then doe many of Gods children thinke themselues naked and dead but there is no cause why they should for as all that fruit when it is so and so handled doe prooue that sap is in the tree so all the fruites of the elect whether they perishin the bud or in the blossome or in the ripening or howsoeuer they be handled yet they proue that the sap of Gods spirite is in them and the next spring of Gods grace will fetch all againe But then they doubt of themselues because perhappes they haue not so much fruit as they had or so much as others haue but there is no cause why they shold doubt of thēselues for though they haue not so much as they had yet it is as good and sound as that which they had it is not counterfait and fained but it is in trueth that which it seemeth to be and so long they may care but they neede not to feare the want of Gods spirite in them for it is not so materiall how much faith or howe much zeale or how much loue or how much patience a man hath but how good faith howe good zeale how good loue how good patience a man hath whether the faith loue zeale c. be true or counterfeit from the heart or in hypocrisie must be the question That as men say of fruit this is but little but it is good heere be not many of them but those that are of them are verie daintie they are right of such and such a kind So the children of God may say My faith is but little and weake my loue is not so much as I would it were my zeale is but litle and my patience is but small but it is true faith and true loue and true zeale and true patience euen from the verie heart root without dissembling O Lord increase it and strengthen it And thus much for the difference betweene the children of God by creation only and the children of God both by creation and adoption And thus much of the spirit of God both in the one and in the other Now let vs come to the matter in hand We haue heard who be called the sonnes of God how this title is giuen to the Lord Iesus how to Angels and how to men hath been also declared but to imagine that in this place it were spokē to the Lord Iesus were no lesse than blasphemy because he was euer without sinne and to enquire whether it were spoken to the Angels or no were vaine curiositie Now if it be man to whom the Lord saith My son as it is indeede O Lord what is man that thou doost speak so kindly to him or the sonne of man that thou doest so regarde him Againe if it be spoken to man how art thou O Man gotten into such fauour with God which sometimes thou hadst lost How happy and honourable are those men which are the sonnes of God But is it spoken to me in deede what to sinfull and miserable man and are the sonnes of Adam among the sons of God as Saul was amongst the prophets is the prodigall son come home againe is it for him that such costly robes are brought forth and is it he that his father went out to meete
kings paie without his fauour and what good shall the goodes of his subiectes doe him without their heartes and good will This knew the old counsellers of Salomon well inough and therefore when Rehoboam who succeeded Salomon asked them what course he should take to winne the heartes of the people they gaue him counsell to speak kindly vnto them at the first and they would be his seruantes for euer meaning that some token of loue or shewe of a kind affection towardes them would more preuaile with them than any thing els Shall the hope of Rehoboams loue make his subiects serue him for euer and shall not the assurance of Gods loue make vs serue him for euer Shall the kind words of Rehoboam the king of Ifrael win the heartes of his people for euer and shal not the kind wordes of Iehouah the king of heauen and earth win the hearts of his people for euer and for euer vnto himselfe besides that Rehoboam had neede to speake kindly to his subiects or els it is the worse for himselfe Iehouah needeth not to speake so for if we neuer loue him it is not the worse for him but for our selues yea if we be righteous we are righteous for our selues and if we all perish God wil not loose a whit of his glory shall we not then listen vnto the Lord when he speaketh so kindly vnto vs and hath displayed the flagge of Truce with My sonne the badge of loue vpon it When God commaunded Abraham to sacrifice his sonne Isaac he was ready to do it So deare was the loue of God vnto him but if all the world besides had persuaded him therevnto he would neuer haue yeelded God doth not commaund vs to sacrifice our sonnes but our sinnes least they sacrifice vs now if we thinke our selues as much beholding to God as Abraham was we wil not spare them though they be as necessarie for vs as our right hand or as profitable vnto vs as our right eye If Iudas had been the child of God as he was the child of perdition would he haue sold the loue of Christ for 30 pieces of siluer no nor yet for 30 thousande worldes but so it is with all Hipocrites and reprobate persons which are best knowne to the searcher of hearts They cannot be persuaded that God is their father in Christ their spirites are not assured by Gods spirit that God doth loue them They conceiue of the Lord as of their enemie and therefore as they could neuer feele the sweetenesse of Gods loue in their soules so they can neuer afford him their loue in their liues Whervpon it commeth to passe that the least temptation in the world the least feare of mans displeasure and the least shew of pleasure and profit doe easily persuade them to doe any thing against god against his glory against his word and against his feruantes as Baalam did who serued for the wages of iniquitie But the faithfull indeed hearing God calling them his sonnes and his daughters hauing the spirit of sanctification to assure them of their adoption they I say do fall into the reckoning of Gods vnspeakable loue in Christ vnto them howbeit not all at one time nor alwaies alike he that is not now may be hereafter but when they consider of it indeed they do therewithall resolue with themselues in token of thankfullnesse to serue the Lord in righteousnesse and true holines all the daies of their life yet still depēding vpon God by prayer and herein through Gods grace they are resolute whatsoeuer dislike of men or hinderance in the world or daunger to their owne liues they might purchase for their labor And thus wee see what an Orator the loue of God is Therfore when the Lord saith My son let vs looke for no more eloquēce to entice vs nor reasons to persuade vs for heare is eloquence inough reasons inow and learning inough and fathers inow to persuade any man that hath the spirit of God in him and whosoeuer doth not find the cords of Gods loue and authoritie strong inough to knit his hearte vnto the statutes of the Lord he hath good cause to suspect himselfe as yet that he is not the child of God Why My sonne in the singular number and not my sonnes NOw we will see why the Lord saith not My sonnes in the plurall number seeing as he speaketh to all his childrē but My sonne as if it concerned but onely one body This is partly for the particular encouragement and confirmation of euery one in his duety and partly for the particular comfort of euery one of Gods children when he shall be troubled for doing of his duety for when the Lord in particular shall giue euery one his charge then if any man be offended at him he may shew his warrant and say thus Sir the Lord did not speake generally to all least one should post it off to another but he speaketh particularly to me aswell as to another and therefore I am discharged for when the Lord speaketh indefinitly meaning none he excepteth none But in this particular kind of speaking the Lord doth binde euery one of his children in particular wholy to serue him and none els so therewithall he giueth vs to vnderstand that he hath a speciall eye and fatherly care ouer euery one in particular that is his childe and will surely protect and defend him as his childe against all annoiances watsoeuer than the which there can be no greater comfort whensoeuer the crosse shall come But we will first see how they doe binde vs wholy to God and afterwarde we will see how God hath bound himselfe to vs and euery one of vs if we be all his children as I hope we be Some thinke it lawfull to serue God and the worlde too to be of this Reiiglon and of that Religion too to goe to Bethell the house of God and to Bethauen the house of Idolitrie To goe with Barnabas and Barrabas and to ioyne with Simon Magus as with Simon Peter thinking themselues sufficiently discharged if they serue God a little now and then or if they keepe their consciences to themselues and giue God their heartes like Protestantes at large which thinke they need not heare a sermon because they heard seruice or they need not come in the after noone because they came in the forenoone or like the most which think when they haue heard a sermon they are then at libertie to do what they will or like those men which will heare a Masse and worshippe the crosse at the least in other countries that they may get commodities thereby but they will keep their consciences to themselues as our church Papists doe here amongst vs but all these men are deceiued for no man can serue ij maisters Therefore my good brother when any such temptations do beginne to fawne vpon thee Remember that God doth here call euerie particular member of the church
no children and doing nothing but of seruile feare can doe nothing that is good for first they faile in the matter of their good workes putting in practise the traditions of men in stead of Gods preceptes Secondly they faile in the maner of doing for that which they doe is done to a wrong end and with a wrong affection for it is too iustifie themselues thereby before God as the Pharisie did and therefore this white flagge of truce My sonne is not put out to them because they haue broken the conditions of peace Our Popish merit-mongers are like the elders of the Iewes which went to Christ in the behalfe of the Centurion for his sicke seruaunt They besought him instantly as though they might not be denied and they tell him forsooth that the Centurion is worthie of so much fauour as that the Lord Iesus should come to him and heale his seruant for proofe whereof they alleage two strong reasons like our Papistes One is He loueth our nation Another is He hath built vs a synagogue so plead our Papistes we are worthy O Lord of thy fauour we haue deserued so much at thy handes or such a one that is nowe gone hath deserued so much as that thou shouldest receiue his soule for he loued vs well while he liued hee was an honest man hee made vs good cheere hee kept a good house hee filled our bellies and our purses too Besides that he hath built vs a stately synagogue goodly Churches and Chappels of ease he mended our hie-waies he erected such a Colledge such a friery and such a Nunrie Againe such a man is a good Catholique Lord for he helped the Priest to say Masse he gaue his consent to the poisoning of such a king and the murthering of such another hee did what hee could to dispatch all christian Princes because they are not of the Popes Religion so zealous a catholique was he But Lord he made a conscience of euery thing he would not eate a bit of flesh nor so much as an egge in Lent or vpon a friday he woulde neuer go out before hee had crossed himselfe before and behind his house was neuer without a Crucifix nor his windowes without a picture of the Trinitie a number of good workes more hee did which the tally will not holde and those are for his honest neighbors which will giue any thing for them Therefore Lord thou must of necessitie receiue his soule when hee is dead or els thou doest him great wrong And thus wee heare howe Papistes plead like the elders of the Iews for the Centurion and his seruantes But what saide the Centurion himselfe O Lord saith he trouble not thou thy selfe for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe neyther did I thinke my selfe worthie to come vnto thee but onely speake the worde and my seruaunt shall bee whole And this message saith the Euangelist hee sent to Christ by his friendes as if they which pleaded his worthinesse and workes were his ennemies and not hys friendes But howe did the Lord Iesus like of this message Surely he maruelled at such humilitie commended the faith of the Centurion euen by the name of greatfaith to shew that merit-mongers haue no faith at all except the Deuils faith Now to end this pointe If any man be the child of God in Christ let him also become a new creature and liue as becommeth the sonnes of God let no man say If I bee the child of God I need not care what to doe or as the manner of many is GOD is mercifull and Christ died for our sinnes what need we feare for as there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ so they which are in Christ liue not after the flesh but after the spirite On the other side If thou feele thy self a new creatur in Christ and transfourmed into the likenesse of the sonnes of God then faint not vnder the crosse for thy heauenly father will beare thee vp in his arms plead not for thy selfe by any thing that is in thy selfe but appeale to the mercy of thy heauenly father and say Lord he whom thou louest is in want as the sisters of Lazarus said to christ for their brother Lord he whom thou louest is sicke And claime the promise of God thy heauenly father in his sonne Christ and then feare not thy sinnes My sonne saith God for I euen I will do them all away euen for my names sake and for my sonnes sake in whom thou art my sonne and in whom I am well pleased And thus we see al our feare turned into ioy because we are made the sonnes of God in Christ. When a lion roared vpon Sampson the spirite of strength came vpon Sampson and he rent him in pieces Not long after in the same Lion he found a swarme of Bees with their stings but therewithall he found a Hony-combe to feede vpon So our sinnes and the Deuill roared vpon vs and thought to haue deuoured vs. but our true Sampson Iesus Christ hath torne him in pieces which went about like a roaring Lion seeking to deuoure vs. Now if we looke into our owne heartes which are as a Lions den we shall find after this victory not a swarme of Bees as Sampson did in the Bellie of the Lion but a swarme of corruptions and sinnes with their stings like prickes in our flesh to humble vs but there withall we shall find Honny to comfort vs euen a rich Hony-combe of Gods mercies to feede vpon if the spirite of faith and courage be in vs as the spirite of strength and boldnesse was in Sampson and then we may say plainly as Sampson said in a riddle Out of the eater came meate and out of the strong came sweetnesse for what is stronger than a Lion and what is sweeter than Hony But we may say What is stronger than sinne and what is sweeter than mercy What sight more terrible than the blacke flagge of defiance with My Rebell the colours of vengeance vpon it What more comfortable than to see that pulled in and the white flagge of truce put forth with My sonne the words of mercy and peace vpon it My Rebell is gone My sonne is come in the steede The Lord take away the Rebellions of our heartes and graunt vs so to keepe his conditions of peace that we may be his sonnes indeed and find peace to our consciences for euermore Thus we see that as the Lord did once bring light out of darkenesse so our heauenly father hath wrought comfort out of sinne to all his children in Christ Iesus blessed be his name for euer And thus much for these wordes My sonne as proceeding from God to man My sonne as being the wordes of Salomon considered NOw if we consider them as they be the wordes of Salomon somthing more may be gathered from them for as God was the Authour so Salomon was