greater wisedome is required of vs and must be vsed by vs for our auoiding of the infection of that corrupt fellowship and misgouernment that like venome sheds it selfe vpon all that come neere it So farre off we must be because the dayes are euill from being euill as they are that wee must take the more paines and heede to be good And here we should rather goe alone in the narrow way then follow a multitude to doe euill Exod. 23.2 If it be of the fashion to be euill we must be like vnto Christ and resemble good Christians who doe not fashion themselus like vnto this world Rom. 12.2 but are in their Masters fashion and conforme to him But some will doe as the world doth and goe whither the most lead them and whither is that euen to the house where the dead are Pro. 9.18 and what to doe to be mad with the company to be baited with their allurements and to eate of such things as please them but no example should preuaile so farre though of thousands that so doe as to draw vs into wayes of wickednesse with follies children and if we would not be damned with such mates we must not follow their damnable wayes their pipes of smoake and pots of excesse Againe some feare not the contagious aire of any companie why what is their confidence No company say they can doe vs hurt Can it not and why can it not hurt them Is it because they are already so bad that no company can make them worse or haue they forgotten what company was able to doe against Peter himselfe a farre holier man then themselues in Caiaphas hall Mat. 26.70 72 74. Likewise how it preuailed against righteous Lot vertuous Ioseph and Dauid Gods owne King If these were intangled shall they goe free if these carried with them a smatch of the company that yet they liked not shall they that runne desperately vpon the sharpe of this worldly fellowship and take pleasure in it keepe their state still It cannot be and therefore to make my end here I beseech you remember your great danger and forget not your holy calling in these euill dayes so euill that you may not bee moued from your hope for this cause take vnto you the whole armour of God that yee may be able to resist in the euill day and hauing finished all things stand fast Eph. 6.13 The God of power giue you to bee so minded and to this God the Father with his holy Sonne Christ Iesus and the Spirit of both three persons in Trinitie one God in vnitie be rendred all glory dominion and honour now and euer Amen FINIS THE SHORT PROSPERITY of the Wicked AND THE HAPPIE ESTATE of the IVST PSAL. 37. Ver. 35 36 37. I haue seene the wicked in great power and spreading himselfe like a greene Bay-tree Yet he 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 I Haue seene the wicked strong c. There are two things obseruable in this Scripture the vnstable prosperity of the wicked vers 35 36. and the certaine and constant felicitie of the righteous vers 37. Albeit that the wicked man be neuer so strong and in the pride of his heart spread abroad like a greene Bay-tree neuer so faire yet hee suddenly passeth and is little marked he vanisheth speedily and is as little remembred whereas the iust and vpright man though his life be a kinde of warfare on earth findes peace at the last and after his red euening a faire day followeth Mat. 16.2 This is the sum and scope of these three verses A point if euer necessary now most needfull for our present times and state and such as can neuer be too much vrged or enough considered specially since it is a thing incident to the best to looke but on the outside of things and to measure the secret iudgements of God with the scant yard of his outward blessings whereas indeede his very chastenings are blessings and that which we account blessing but a fatning to the slaughter for not to say any thing of meere flesh and bloud who say in their hearts there is no God Psal 14.1 or at the best no Prouidence of God Quòd malis benè est bonis malè seeing it goeth well with those that are euill and ill with those that are good it is a temptation greater then the very children of God can ouercome or resist as long as they are cloathed with this earthly and mortall tabernacle to see the wicked so greatly and high to rise aboue the head of the righteous and to haue not a large measure but such an ouer-measure of these commodities and blessings that they so much want whose godlinesse notwithstanding hath the promise of the life present and not onely of the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 for albeit godlinesse be great of it selfe I doe not say riches but gaine and haue enough in it selfe to commend it for it selfe to all that are godly-wise yet I know not how it commeth to passe that we praise the thing but labour for the reward and stand more vpon the fruit then the conscience of a good worke We can be content with the old people and children of Israel to giue an eare to the Commandement of louing the Lord and of fearing him and swearing by his name as we finde it of record in Deuteronomie chapter 6 8. but our chiefe respect and speciall eye is to the promises there spoken of as the prolonging of our dayes in the Land our increase therein and prosperitie in the blessings thereof our hauing of Cities which we builded not houses full of goods which wee filled not Wels which wee digged not Vineyards and Oliue-trees which wee planted not Deut. 6.2 3 10 11. We can be content to seeke the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse Mat. 6.33 but not in the first place and with our first care and our zeale will soone waxe cold if all other things be not added to vs. In a word we can be content to thinke that godlinesse is great riches but if the promises which it hath of this life be not presently performed to it we thinke wee haue clensed our hearts in vaine and washed our hands in innocencie Psalme 73.13 Howbeit the want of these outward things in the godly though it be a tentation very grieuous doth not so much trouble them as that they are poured out in so great plenty and fulnesse vpon the wicked for howsoeuer there are to be found that haue so farre profited in the Schoole of the crosse that they can suffer many things for Christ and for his name and testimony with great patience and sound ioy yet who is hee that is not moued beyond his patience and afflicted euen aboue the measure of his affliction to see the wicked not onely free from troubles in the
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
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
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
study of the former part and practise of the latter because the first is a demōstration of the grounds the second an exhortation to the fruits of Faith That which he spake truely of that one Epistle may be obserued in all the rest and generally in all his writing for he planteth by doctrine and watereth by exhortation in euery Epistle laying the foundation by teaching and building vpon it by exhortation to a holy life that the true Christian rooted in faith and strengthned through hope may by the sanctification of the spirit grow to a perfect man in Christ Herein the proportion he vseth is not alwayes alike nor the same as standing sometimes more vpon doctrine then exhortation namely in that large Epistle of his to the Romans sometimes more vpon exhortation then doctrine as in this to the Ephesians yet doth he apply both and vse either as one becommeth more needefull then another to profit with And surely if euer there were a time wherein there was more taught then followed more knowne then practised and therefore more neede of exhortation then doctrine it is ours and it is now for euen now and at this time we are a great number of vs better Schollers then men and vnder the full sailes of our science what doe we but make ship-wracke of all good conscience Therefore I haue not thought it amisse to intreat of that part of the Apostles exhortation wherein hee generally aduiseth the Ephesians and in them vs that seeing they were called from being strangers and forreiners to be Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and seeing they were made of enemies sonnes and translated out of darknesse into so great light they would therefore as Citizens and sonnes or as sonnes and children of light take heede not onely though carefully to the doctrine which they had receiued but circumspectly to their wayes walking not onely directly therein in regard of themselues but wisely in respect of others and not as fooles in the vanitie of their opinions but as wise vnderstanding what the will of the Lord is not neglecting the grace then offered but redeeming the season or buying it backe againe like good chapmen of time Now in these words the Apostle requireth first diligence take heede then the ordering of our wayes by diligence how yee walke after all auoiding of offence in walking that yee walke circumspectly and circumspectly with discretion not as fooles but as wise and lastly that wee take all occasion to doe good not loosing but redeeming the opportunitie the reason is the dayes are euill or we liue in a bad age and with men of bad conditions so euill and nought that they haue euen tainted time it selfe and the very dayes in which wee liue To take heede and not to our walking is no diligence to walke and not circumspectly no discreet diligence to be circumspect and not wise is great follie to be discreet and wise in other things and not for time is vanitie and no godly discretion but so to take heede that we walke so to walke that we be circumspect that we be wise so to be wise that we redeeme the time or bin out for well doing that precious commoditie that others despise who therefore are no good husbands of time but spendthrifts of it is the way indeede to make the dayes that are euill to others good to vs. Take heede is as much as watch ouer your Christian state that you receiue not the grace of God in vaine of this duetie as there are many causes to moue vs to it so there are many occasions to withdraw vs for whether we looke into the world that was made to serue vs or into our selues who were made to serue the Lord whether we cast our eyes vpon things without vs or call to minde the things that are within vs what are they take them at their best but causes to moue vs to walke worthy of our vocation but take them in their corruption and what are they but occasions of euill what but snares in the world and the chaines of the Prince of darkenesse to hold vs in wickednesse And both these as they are of no small force the one to bring vs to our duties if well considered the other to lead vs away from them to all vanitie of minde error of life if not well watched and taken heede vnto so doe they exact at our hands no small labour and diligence duely and well to obserue both one and other for albeit godlinesse be of it selfe so great riches that it neede nothing but it selfe to commend it to vs and sinne be of it selfe so great not gaine but losse and loathsomenesse that it hath enough in it selfe to make it vile vnto vs yet that there may be nothing wanting to stirre vp our diligence by all meanes in this matter many things are spoken of the one to make vs to seeke it with more care and as much is noted of the indignitie of the other to make vs auoid it with more contempt for the first consideration if wee would enter into the soule of it acknowledging the great care that God hath of vs how can it but moue vs to double diligence and heede in the matter specially being thereby waged and with some hire to seeke that which is so worth the seeking for to speake nothing of our creation which was of nothing nor how he made all things subiect to vs that we for whom he made all things might be subiect to him alone when we were worse then nothing he redeemed vs and when we had lesse then nothing hee endued vs with the graces of his spirit that being dead to sinne we might liue vnto righteousnesse and being deliuered from the hands of our enemies we might serue him without feare all the dayes of our life in righteousnesse and true holinesse before him Luk. 1.74 75. Now that hee deliuered vs from so great a bondage as we were subiect vnto not onely generally by the fall of Adam but more particular by being cast out of the common wealth of Israel was such a benefit as deserueth whatsoeuer seruice we are any way able to performe vnto him but that he should redeeme vs with so great a price as the death of his first and onely sonne and call vs also to so high an estate to be Citizens with the Saints and heires with him of an inheritance immortall vndefiled that fadeth not reserued in heauen for vs this is a blessing that is many degrees greater then the seruice of our whole life can attaine vnto but beyond all this that hee should endue vs with those gifts and blessed graces that make vs to walke worthy of this vocation and able as it would seeme to pay him with his owne lent loue by making vs so rich in him what heart created can conceiue what this is and if it cannot be conceiued by vs how doth it concerne vs to take heede seeing these