and welfare of Church and State to which he was carried by s Scias me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pacis semper studiosum fuisse Idem in Kesp ad Epist. 1. Petr. Molinaeâ— p. 172. nature as well as by designe and that he meant the same Faction or Sect of Preachers to whom his beloved King James was so deservedly severe as being alwaies infested by them will undeniably appear to every intelligent and honest Reader who will t Conser opusc p. 39. 40. ut p. 31. 33. cum p. 165. 166. seq compare that Latin Sermon with his three Epistles to learned Moulin What the admired Bishop Andrews and the judicious Mr. Hooker and many other wise men of the age last past did only feare and foresee we the first of their Posterity have liv'd to feel I mean the lamentable effects which are wont to follow I say not the liberty but the licentiousnesse of the Pulpit What comes too late to be prevented may yet in time be capable of some redresse Be our condition never so ill we cannot hope to make it better by meerly despairing of our Amendment What I have hitherto premised concerning the nature of our Disease is not intended to deject or afflict any Reader but only to make him the more attentive to what is offer'd in this Volume at least as one means of Cure and Restauration Where there are too many Sermons I apprehend there are too few And the more numerous they are who preach up Heresie and Schisme and Disobedience the greater number is needfull to preach them down The more unruly and vain * Tâ—t 1. 10. Talkers especially they of the Circumcision the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe †Vers. 11. subvert whole Houses and teach things which they ought not for filthy lucres fake the more need have we of such as hold * Vers. 9. 11. fast the faithfull word and are able by sound Doctrin both to exhort and to convince and to stop the mouths of Gainsayers The greater plenty there is of them * 1 Tim. 4. 1.2 who depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing spirits and Doctrins of Devils speaking lyes in Hypocrisie having their Conscience seared with an hot iron The more must They be needs wanted who are †Vers 6.7.13.15.16 good Ministers of Christ nourished up in the words of Faith and good Doctrin refusing prophane and old Wives Fables giving attendance unto Reading and Meditation and continuing in both that they may save themselves and them that hear them By how much the more we doe abound with such as * 2 Tim. 3. 6 7.8 creep into Houses leading captive silly Women ever learning but never learned such as like Jannes and Jambres resist the Truth The greater abundance there ought to be of such as †Vers. 14. 17. continue in the things which they have learned and been assured of knowing of whom they have learned them and are throughly furnished unto all good works The more there are of those * 2 Tim. 4. 3.4 itching and prurient Eares who cannot endure sound Doctrine but heap to themselves Teachers who have as prurient and itching Tongues and turn away their attentions from aged Truth unto newly devised Fables and Conceipts after the Mode By so much the greater is the necessity of such as are knowing and stable men holding †2 Tim. 1. 13 fast the form of sound words and preaching according to the * Rom. 12 6. Analogie of Faith teaching the People to walk in the †Jer. 6. 16. old and the good way that walking therein they may finde rest unto their Souls In a word The more Interpreters there are who have a Luk. 11. 52 taken away the Key of knowledge neither entring in themselves nor suffering others to enter in by so much the more we stand in need of all those faithfull * 1 Cor. 4. 1.2 and able * 1 Cor. 4. 1.2 Stewards who may b Prov. 2. 12. deliver us from the way of the evil Man from the man that speaketh froward things Now if ever any Bishop since the Apostles own Times was both a faithfull and able Steward rightly using the Key of knowledge religiously opening the Mysteries of God bringing c Mat. 13. 52 forth out of his Treasures things new and old If ever any Pastor took d Act. 20. 28 1 Tim 4. 16. carefull heed unto himself and to his Flock over which the holy-Ghost had made him Overseer e 2 Tim. 4. 5. watching in all things enduring afflictions doing the work of an Evangelist and making full proof of his Ministerie If ever any f 2 Tim. 2. 15 Workman needed not to be ashamed as rightly dividing the word of Truth and venting nothing out of the Pulpit but what is g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5. 17. est Ser monem elaborare Authore nostro Judice in Conc. ad Cl. p. 32 elaborate and exact If ever any Preacher had both Urim and Thummim the former in his words and the later in his example h Tit. 2. 8. unreprovable in his Doctrin and k 1 Tim. 3. 2. Tit. 1. 7. unblamable in his life The most admired Bishop Andrews may passe for one of those l Tit. 2. 7. Patterns in whom these Lines of perfection were all concenter'd And this I say so much the rather because I finde him to have the honour of being hated and * Correp Corr. p. 190. 206. 208. snarl'd at by a late profane and sawcy Scribler who as if he were willing to kill the dead and pluck a glorified Saint out of the Land of the m Psal. 27. 13 Living hath not only attempted to sullie the Name and the Writings of this Great Author but hath publickly malign'd his very imparadised Soul too He hath not only defam'd his Doctrin as Atheological irrational and worse than that of Arminius which in the judgement of the Accuser is no small crime nor hath he only reproach't him by a most odious comparison with one exceedingly below him whom yet he presumeth to prefer as far before him for sooth in sanctity but by an unchristian insinuation would make his Reader to believe That Bishop Andrews was the worse for being Bishop Andrews that Dr. Andrews was more a Saint than the Lord Bishop of Winchester and by consequence that his last dayes were very unhappily his worst too But since the Author of such profanenesse is very sufficiently stigmatiz'd by avowing himself in print the Author of it I shall not in a preface say more than this That the great n 1 Pet. 2. 25 Bishop of our Souls was far worse dealt with and in the later part of his life was called a Wine-bibber a Glutton a p Mat. 26. 65 Mar. 2. 7. Blasphemer a Demoniack How consummate a Divine how exact a Preacher how acute a Disputant how judicious a
is otherwise with God whose word without instrument or pains or without any delay 〈◊〉 throughly effect his work which he will have done And thus we see the reference this word hath of these two words and what we learn by it The third thing is a matter of inquiry because in the former work only these two fiat factum est and nothing between saying and it was done but here is put in fecit as by way of Parenthesis between them in this work which surely we must know is not idly set down but to great purpose and therefore not curiously of us to be inquired of why it is so placed to answer which we must know that it was for our sake simul fieri 〈…〉 it was all one to God saying and finishing at one time but it was meet for us to have his action and work expressed herein Therefore Moses dealing here as a Prophet doth foresee some danger and error which might arise by leaving of this clause fecit Deus therefore he betimes doth labour to prevent it by setting it down for he knew that God would not have his truth sown among thornes of Errors Jer. 4. 4. therefore Moses here before hand endeavoureth to stubbe them up Error Timaei Platonis For Time us the Pythagorean and Plato that great Philosopher holding the truth of the Creation doe notwithstanding advise this rooted thorne that they suppose God only but to give out the Edict and direction how and what should be done and to make certain Demones Intelligentiae to be the workers doers and bringers to passe of the work and so in that respect ascribing worship and honour to them as the Instruments and Agents in this action But God is here set down not only as the Master Builder to oversee and give direction but also he was the only Agent and Workman which did make it himself he both gave out the Edict with his word and with the same did fulfill and bring it to passe So that there was but one Commander who the self same was the Maker also Esay 40. 13 14. Dixit non fuit ei consiliarius fecit non fuit ei auxiliarius So that this excludeth any Copartner with God in this businesse for then he was alone and alone of himself did make it not caused it to be made Angels Created for the Angells and celestial Spirits were created when God said fiat lux for then not only all light things in mundo sensibili were made as starres c. but also all things in mundo intelligibili as 2 Cor. 11. 14. which also may appear by the order and placing them first in Psal. 148. 2. so that they could not be created before for then they should be eternall nor after for then there is nothing to insinuate it and indeed there is no danger thus to understand it but there is great danger of error to hold the contrary that they were created before for then they may think that as Hiram sent the matter of the Temple and Salomon gave the form so God gave the matter of the world and the Angels the form and fashioning of it But God in this work is alone for his work standeth not as ours doth that is that the matter and the form of the work should come from divers Authors as before we can come to Iron plate we must fetch the matter from the Ironmonger and the form from the Smith before we can have a Garment we must have the matter from the Draper and the form from the Taylor But with God it is not so for from him proceedeth both the matter and form of all Creatures creat facit format This is the first resolution of this question to which there is a second answer which is good for instruction Gnasha taken out of the nature of the word gnasha for the Hebrews use it in their phrase not only to make a thing but also to trim up and to give a better form to any thing in which sense it is said 2 Sam. 19. 24. that Mephiboseth had not made his beard nor his feet by which is meant had not trimmed his beard nor washed his feet which he had made to him before So God in this place is said by this gnasha to give the outward form to these Heavens and so to trim and perfect them up as they should be for they being made before in gross now he stretched them out after a circular form Job 9. 8. as having made a Curtain should spread it abroad and set it up whereas before it lay wrapt up rudely together Job 22. 14. tendit Coelum that is now he did bend and bow the Heavens compassed as a bow which was made before but not half round but circular round and sphericall and not only did he set this form to them but also gave them a circular sphericall motion to turn round in their course about the Earth Psal. 19. 6. it doth goe in his compasse in gyra sue Preach 1. 5 6. the Sunne and Windes doe goe a circuit in circuttione vel circuitu suo Thirdly He in this kinde of making them did now add to them a virtue force and heavenly influence Job 38. 31. which heavenly and comfortable influence is called the sweetnesse of the Heavens Deut. 33. 13. Therefore we are willed to praise God in firmamento virtutis suae Psal. 150. 2. by which virtue the Heavens have a comfortable and reviving force an action influence and dominion as the word sign fieth in these Creatures below And thus much of fecit Now of the things which he made First We see that whereas the Heavens before were compact and entire Now by Gods workmanship they are scattered and spread round about and divided for being made it was Gods purpose that it should be to this use to be parted asunder into two parts The Heavens by some is called tenue expansum that is a thing thinly spread abroad In the making of it we consider the Maker and the manner of it which is both simply and plainly and also comparatively by way of resemblance set down in the Scriptures The Spirit of God for the power force by which it was made was the Spirit of God The Word of God the Executionâ—r and Minister of that thing was Gods Word the second person who willed and commanded it to be done Psal. 104. 30. He sendeth forth his Spirit and they were created Job 34. 14 15. If he draw or gather in his Spirit they perish again So that all that is made is ascribed to the expansion and motion of the Spirit going out and the undoing or marring any thing is attributed to the drawing in of it again The breath of Man hath a divers force and nature as it is drawn in or out Warm and hot for as it â—s with open mouth breaâ—hed out which is halitus it is warm and being drawn in it
fruit which would make us as Gods when he knew that it would be as poison to our bodies and make us damned Devils Now this following of the Devills counsell and advise in this place is so much the worse in Adam and so much the more to be condemned because twice before he had followed it with ill success and saw he was deceived which might have been a double caveat and fair warning to him now to beware but as he had followed the Devils counsell twice before in practise and deed so we shall see him to follow it twice hereafter in word For first of all touching his word and speech the Devill teacheth him a peece of his Sophistry teaching him that he must needs answer to put non causam pro causa And secondly in the other place he teacheth him a peece also of the Devils Rhetorick which is called translatio criminis a laying the fault upon another and so shifting it from himself outward covering and inward dissembling hath a very good correspondence and therefore hypocrisie is compared to a Cloak or masking Hood Job saith 31. 33. If I hide my sinne as Adam did concealing my sinne in my bosom will not God finde it out and punish it But Adam being bewitched and infatuated by the Devill that spirit of error had learned to make choice rather to strive with Gods justice than to appeal to his mercy for favour and grace whereas by confessing he might have had pardon he by defending it brought himself the more deeply into judgment and his sin the more into question and triall By confessing his sinne Christ would have been his advocate to plead for his pardon but by defending and justifying it he made him to be a Proctor to plead against him and Judge to give sentence against him whereas by confessing his disease God would have been his Physitian to heal him he è contra by taking on himself to heal his own sickness made himself and his disease more grievous and more desparare But let us come to see how he seeketh a quia and an ergo that is a good reason and argument to defend and justific his deed Let us I say come to the particulars of his answer and see the strength and validitie of his reasons for if it be good and justifiable it will hold the proof and the examination will doe it no hurt Concerning which first we know it in corrupt policy that it is good alwayes to begin a lye with a truth or at least with great likelyhood of verity that so the lye may after run more currant and goe more roundly away therefore at the first in the forefront of his answer he places indeed a manifest and known truth that he heard Gods voice and the second also is truly said that nothing might be suspected namely that he was afraid In which two truths confessed the Fathers doe say are contained the first and second degrees which by Gods Decree should have been the two chief inducements to move men to repentance and therefore in that he was not moved to submission and confession of his fault thereby they gather that this part of his confession also is against himself therefore these two evasions are nothing but to make against his cause The second excuse is of decencie and 〈◊〉 or comelinesse as who should say I saw it a shamefull thing and very unmeet and undecent to appear before thee being naked and therefore I hid my self in which he doth make his thought and imagination a rule to measure Gods estimation and judgement by as if that which he thinketh inconvenient and uncomely God must think and esteem to be unseemly and unmeet also The Prophet Samuell saith 16. 7. 1 Sam. 16. 7. That God seeth not as man seeth neither are our thoughts his thoughts he is not moved with the like passions that we are for Job in sterquilinio was more pretious and amiable in the eyes of God and more acceptable to his minde quà m Heredes in solio as a Father saith and the reason is because he looketh to that holiness which is within and accepteth a man thereafter and regardeth not the outward estate of the body whether he be 〈◊〉 or in poor aparrel as men of corrupt judgment doe Jam 2. 3. 4. therefore Adams thought and conceit of his bodily nakedness which seemed unseemly to him ought not to be taken as a rule to measure Gods thoughts and to prove and determine what is undecent and unreverent in the eyes and judgment of God touching the outward things for seeing that nakedness is factum dei it cannot simply displease him or be detestable in his sight for he saw all that he had made was passing good nothing to be ashamed of as undecent therefore it is certain that if this had been all the matter which he pretendeth he might have boldly for all his nakedness have presented himself without shame or fear before God for as I have shewed that nakedness of their bodies in which they were made and which they enjoyed being innocent was no matter of blushing but of beauty no blemish or undecencie but an ornament glory to them as the nakedness of the Sun and Moon is such a glory and beauty to them that if any should put upon these glorious bodies a Cloak of velvet or Cloth of gold it would be so farre from beautifying them that it were a blemish and disgrace undecent for them and this is the hope and expectation of the Sonnes of God one day to enjoy that happy estate again in which they shall want no bodily garments to cover them but shall all shine in glory as the Sun in the skie Thus we see that this quia and ergo will not stand it is not Gods art or workmanship nor his voice that made him feare flie or hide but somewhat else which he had done and committed whatsoever it be which God will bring to light and make apparent hereafter Now let us come to the consequence here set down ergo abdidi for which we shall perceive that this is no good or right reason or consequence which he should have inferred uppon the premisses for thus he should have concluded I was afraid and naked and fled for conscience of my sinne therefore I confess humbly my sinnes before thee and doe crave pardon for them Thou diddest open mine eyes that I saw my sinne and thou openedst mine eares by feare that I knew thy judgment ergo now also open my mouth that I may confess humbly and open my heart that I may repent truly for it thus he should have made his consequence I heard thy presence with majesty comming ergo I prepared my self to meet my Lord right humbly confessing my finnes that I might have found pardon this was Jacobs resolution and conclusion in policie Gen. 32. 7. when he heard that Esau came against him he feared and was troubled and therefore used all means preparing
remember from whence they were fallen and repent the second of the Revelations the fift verse or according to that of the fifty first of Esay the first verse They should look to the rock whence they were hewed and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged This then planteth in them humilitie for no question but only for humilitie there needed no mention of these words whence they were taken God had said in the 19. verse Out of the earth wast thou taken dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return And Moses in the second chapter before the seventh verse saith Man was made of the dust of the ground and here again Out of the earth wert thou taken this iteration of the same thing in effect is not needlesse for the holy Ghost setreth down nothing that is needlesse for true is that saying that Nunquam nimis discutitur quod nunquam satis But this is 〈◊〉 so often to put us in minde of humility lest that should stick still in their stomachs which made them first to transgresse and to banish the thought from their mindes that they should be as Gods which thought were enough to cherish pride but rather that in remembrance of their sorrow and repentance they should cast dust upon their heads with Jobs friends the second of Job the twelfth verse The second use is the Justification of Gods righteousnesse and equity Man was not a native of Paradise he was a stranger he was not borne there for God took him elsewhere and put him into this Garden at the first the fifteenth of the former chapter He was brought from the Earth and put here And again here non est sumptus unde missus but missus unde sumptus he is not taken from whence he was sent but tent to the Earth from whence he was taken He was brought I say to Paradise not made there for this Garden of Eden was given him to take all pleasure and full use of it at the first upon a condition he should keep Gods Commandement in the seventeenth of the former but he brake the Law of Paradise and therefore according to his just demerrits he is sent to Earth from whence he was taken and this answereth with Gods truth and his Justice Yet this Justice is tempered with mercie for God sendeth him but to the Earth from whence he was taken The sinne of the Devil you see in the 14. Of Esay the 14 verse what it was He would ascend above the height of the Clouds saying Ero 〈…〉 I will be like the most high but God brought him down to the grave and sent him to Hell fire spoken of in the twenty first of the Revelations the eighth verse So man carrieth upon his forehead his sinne Ecce homo factus tanquam unus 〈◊〉 Adam would be as God knowing good and evill the very same crime then that was in Satan is in Adam the transgression of them both is one and the same This was mercy then not to punish them alike not dealing so with man as he had done with the Angell Lucifer Adam is here made as a scape Goat that had all the sinnes and 〈◊〉 of the people upon his head and so was sent into the 〈◊〉 the sixteenth of Leviticus the twenty first verse Adam had his sinne upon his forehead by the last verse and here is sent to the earth to till it So that this is mercy with judgement 4 The end of his sending The fourth point is the end Ut operaretur terram to serve to till to dresse the ground from whence he was taken this is the end Not to walk up and down unprofitable and to be idle nor to be at case and doe nothing but to be occupied in labour and service for none are to be exempted from this labor none I say as Job speaketh from him that grindeth in the mill to the Prince that sitteth upon his 〈◊〉 Paul in the first to the Thessalonians the fourth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse admon sheth them to love them that labour among them in the Lord for their work sake yea even the sonne of Man came not to be served but to serve the twentieth of Matthew the twenty eighth The servant which is idle and unprofitable shall be cast into utter darknesse the twenty fift of Matthew the thirtieth verse there is his punishment Sr. 〈◊〉 saith That God sent not Adam out of Paradise to the earth to make the earth a Paradise or garden of pleasure but a place of labour 〈◊〉 operaretur that he should work and till the Earth for though the rich man in the sixteenth of Luke lived at case and fared 〈◊〉 every day and made this world a world of pleasure whereas Lazarus lived in pain and labour yet mark what was the end It was said by Abraham in the twenty 〈◊〉 of that chapter Remember that in thy life time thou receivedst thy pleasure and Lazarus pains now therefore he is comforted and thou art tormented so was he punished for making this world to himself a Paradise Abraham made not this world a garden of pleasure but removed his tent from place to place the thirteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse Idlenesse and fullnesse of bread is afterwards punished The office of the Priest is not to be idle but to serve the fourty fourth of Ezechiel the sixteenth Mare mortuum made by labor The best Writers are of opinion that where now is mare mortuum the dead Sea was heretofore in times past made by mans labour only for a place of pleasure as the Garden of God but God changeth it into the contrarie Tyrus sometimes lived as in Eden the garden of God the twenty eighth of Ezechiel the thirteenth but in the seventeenth verse God will cast Tyrus to the ground and bring it to ashes And if we will live in the earth in 〈◊〉 and in pleasure as in Eden and make it our Paradise be assured there will follow pains and a great torment The second use Secondly He must doe this service to the ground And so was Kain said in the second verse of the chapter following to be a tiller of the ground In the twenty second verse they wrought metals taken out of the ground as brasse and iron and in other places they work in quarries of stone as in mines of metal we labour the earth for bread and for drink all must operari terram Apply hither the thirty second of Jeremy the fourty third verse Kings themselves live in this world but to serve they are Gods servants in things holy and in things civil for they are the Ministers of God to reward the good and punish the wicked the thirteenth to the Romans the fourth verse And in the sixt verse for this cause pay you tribute to Princes for that they are Gods Ministers If the King say put this man in prison and feed him with the bread of affliction it is done the 1 of
his Sentence and therefore as Christ saith Luke the thirteenth chapter Except 〈◊〉 repent ye shall all likewise 〈◊〉 so all threathings in the Scripture goe with this condition The soul that sinneth it shall die except it repent Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and he that calls his brother fool is in danger of hell fire except he 〈◊〉 Matthew the fifth chapter and the twenty second verse So that the justice of God is no hndrance but that the most grievous sinner that is may obtain forgiveness if he repent and because Cain repented not therefore he is excluded from the remission of sinnes The point that remains is That we consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second to the Corinthians the second chapter the devises and fetches which the enemie of our Salvation useth to work our destruction for when sinne is to be committed he brings them to presumption and albeit God hath threatned plagues for such and such sinnes yet he perswades a man as Peter did Christ in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew Non fiet haec tibi that is before sinne is committed but when finne is finished and the Devill hath that he would have then he laboureth to bring men into desperation saying it must needs be and they cannot avoid the wrath and judgements of God In the reading of the old Testament he layeth a vail over the hearts of men as it was with the Jews that by the Law they might not see the grievousnesse of sinne and so avoid the danger of it in the second epistle to the Corinthians and the third chapter but when he hath entised men to commit sinne then he blindeth their eyes that the light of the Gospell whereby they are assured of the forgivenesse of sinnes and of the mercy of God in Christ should not shine into their hearts in the second to the Corinthians the fourth chapter he will neither let them see the grievousnesse of sinne before they commit it nor behold the mercy of God after it is committed Which mercy of God is so generally offered to all sorts that even murtherers lyars albeit they be grievous sinners cannot despair of mercy for we see both David and Peter obtained pardon and none are debarred but only they that say Quid nobis tecum Jesu Nazarene in the first chapter of Mark and the twenty fourth verse That which excluded the Devill himself from mercy was this desperate fear for as Augustine saith Obstinatione suâ non enormitate sceleris Daemon est Daemon Even so Cain the Child of the Devill seemeth to say thus much in this his confession I desire no pardon at thy hands O God because I see the greatness of my offence is greater than thy mercy For Cain we see what befell him because as the Prophet speaketh Noluit intelligere ut bene ageret Psalm the thirty sixt because he had no care to doe as God would have him therefore God gave him up to the lusts of his own heart and as the Apostle speaketh in the second to the Thessalonians the second chapter and the tenth verse because when God spake to him he believed not the truth that he might be saved God sent him strange delusions that he should believe the Devils lyes who preached to him and perswaded him after he had sinned that his sinne was greater than Gods mercy for if Pharaoh first harden his own heart Exodus the eighth chapter and the thirty second verse it is just that God harden his heart so as he shall not hearken to his ministers Exodus the ninth chapter and the twelfth verse But because the Prophet complaineth that while he would have healed Israel then the iniquitie of Ephraim was discovered and the wickednesse of Samaria Hosea the seventh chapter Therefore we must be heedfull that while we seek to cure desperation we make not a way to presumption for that is the great sinne against which the Prophet prayeth in the ninteenth Psalme Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes so shall I be clear from the great sinne This was the sinne of Cain and we must beware that we walk not in his way as Jude counselleth Quia è nimiâ spe presumptio is the high way to desperation therefore when we know Gods will as Cain did we must seek no faither nor follow our own wisdom It was Sauls sinne he would be wiser than either Samuel or the Lord himself for being commanded to destroy the Amalekites with all they had Saul as if God knew not what he did takes upon him to spare the best things in the first book of Samuel the fifteenth chapter this was his presumption We must beware saith Moses in the twenty ninth chapter of Deuteronomie and the ninteenth verse That when we hear the words of the curses and the punishments which God threatneth against the transgressors of his Law That wee doe not blesse our selves in our hearts saying I shall have peace though I walk after the stubbornness of mine own heart thus adding 〈◊〉 to thirst It we will not despaire we must fear for so did Job and therefore he saith Timor meus spes mea in the fourth chapter of Job and thesixth verse The fear he had and felt when he was about to sinne wrought in him an assured hope and assurance of Gods favour and that fear made him say Etiamsi 〈◊〉 sperabo in eum Job the thirteenth chapter That fear is a means of hope the Apostle S. Peter sheweth for having said that he would have all men to hope perfectly in the first of Peter the first chapter and the thirteenth verse he expresseth the means how they shall attainto this perfect hope that is by passing their conversation in fear verse the seventeenth This course did not Cain take but contrariwise when he heard God tell him that if he did evill sinne lay at the dore he for all that blesseth himself in his heart and said I shall doe well enough though I walk after the stubbornnesse of mine own heart and kill Abel my Brother contrary to Gods commandements En expellis me hodie à superficie istius terrae ut à facie tua abscondam me cumque vagus sim infestus agitationibus in terra si ullus fuerit qui me inveniat interficiet me Gen. 4. 14. Septemb. 9. 1599. CAINS speech to God as we see stands upon two parts one touching his sinne in the thirteenth verse the other concerning his punishment in this verse which also contains two parts First a meer repetition of the sentence given upon him in the eleventh verse Secondly an addition which Cain himself makes That now whosoever should finde him should kill him which is his chief complaint For the first part When sentence is passed upon any person God requireth two things First Agnitionem culpae whereunto two things belong That 〈◊〉 Promissio poenitentiae as Ezekiah promiseth That he will walk all the dayes of his life in the bitternesse of
in such sort his religion is vain except he add moral James the first chapter and the twenty sixt verse That he refrain his tongue and keep himself unspotted Secondly For the order or method of the Apostle There is an order not only of things productive one of another but that are adductive And having already gone through the powers of the soul that is Reason Affection and Corruption and prescribed internal virtues Knowledge Temperance and Patience Now he comes to the outward man and shews That to God who is above us is due Godlinesse to them that are neer us that is Christians and spiritual brethren that have one Father Brotherly love and to them that are farre off that is all men Charity Godlinesse is required in respect of the divine nature Brotherly love in respect of the familiarity or Church which are the houshold of Faith that is kindnesse to be shewed to Christians Thirdly Charity is a duty to be extended to all both Jews and 〈◊〉 as well as to Christians For as John the first chapter and the thirteenth verse there is the will of the flesh and the will of man whereunto Temperance and Patience have respect So there is the will of God too and that is it that Godlinesse takes hold of The want of Patience to bear made Peter to deny Christ And therefore first he must be patient and next after will follow Godlinesse All that will live godly must suffer affliction the second epistle to Timothy the third chapter So when we are armed with patience we are fit to hear of Godlinesse So it was with Peter and the rest of whom it is reported that having this virtue ibant gaudentes Acts the fift chapter having first planted patience godlinesse follows by good consequence Thirdly Godlinesse is that virtue whereby we are affected towards God as the worldly mans is to wordlinesse or the fleshly man to carnal pleasure Cornelius is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts the tenth chapter and Acts the seventeenth chapter and the twenty third verse it is used for the worship of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we ask as Elias to whom God is God One hath his belly for his God Philippians the third chapter such a one was Esau therefore called a prophane person Hebrews the twelfth chapter Others have no other godlinesse but gain as the first epistle to Timothy the sixt chapter and the fift verse such were they that were content to retain Diana's religion for their gain Acts the nineteenth chapter When we are as carefully affected to God as worldly men are to the world and carnal men to the flesh then we have Godlinesse But to consider of this how deeply Godlinesse is joyned we carry up our thoughts to God as to the chief truth to him that is the fountain of all goodnesse and joyes We are 〈◊〉 that he is the highest wisdome that knows all our actions and the highest power that can minister deliverance to their troubles that he is a regarder of them that seek him and a severe punisher of such as contemn him This inward affection is Godlinesse and this inward affection and perswafion of God is the mystery of Godlinesse the first epistle to Timothy the third chapter and the truth that is according to godlinesse Titus the first chapter and the first verse But as we must have this inward conceit so we must professe godlinesse the first epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the tenth verse For as in the first Commandement of the Law we must serve God in the truth of the spirit so in the second Commandement in the service of the body in the third with the blessing of the mouth we must blesse and praise God that is we must professe our 〈◊〉 at all times and all occasions not only privately 〈◊〉 publiquely in the fourth Commandement that is intirely by all the parts of the body even with the tongue which is our 〈◊〉 especially on the day of our publique profession not only to 〈…〉 opinion of God but as the Church calls us Come Les 〈◊〉 fall down before the Lord Psalm the ninety fift not only to say with the Apostle Romans the seventh chapter I serve God in my spirit but Ephesians the third chapter I bow my knees to God the Eather And 〈◊〉 to worship God by vocal prayer I will praise him with my mouth Psalm the sixtieth Hast thou faith babe 〈◊〉 te Romans the fourteenth chapter and the twenty second verse So if thou have an inward conceit of God have it with thy self but withall thou must professe it 〈◊〉 The visard of Godlinesse must be plucked off and the power shewed We must exercise and 〈◊〉 godlinesse the first epistle to Timothy the fift chapter and the sixt verse There must be godlinesse of life the second epistle to Timothy the third chapter All that will live godly Cornelius was godly for he 〈◊〉 his godlinesse by giving almes and praying to God Acts the tenth chaptor By his exercise of godlinesse he shewed the power of godlinesse working in him and that is the chiefest thing For 〈◊〉 are spiritual sacrifices the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and to them we must add that which the Prophet calls 〈…〉 Hosea the fourteenth chapter without which we are not truly godly And to both these there was added a sacrifice of the 〈◊〉 this spiritual 〈◊〉 is a broken and contrite heart Psalm the 〈◊〉 first to that is to be added Psalm the thirty second I 〈…〉 my 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 an outward profession and vocal confession an 〈…〉 of the body And lastly the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sixt chapter I will have mercy and not sacrifice Not to give good words as James the second chapter God be merciful but the real mercy Hebrews the thirteenth chapter to distribute and to doe good forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased Thus shall we approve our selves to be godly as also if we say with David Psalm the twenty sixt I have loved the habitation of the just If we account the Sabbaths our delight Isaiah the fifty eighth chapter If we esteem of places and times of godlinesse aright and cleave to the persons that 〈◊〉 godlinesse as Acts the seventeenth chapter and the thirty fourth verse Dionysius and Damar is they that doe so shew Godlinesse The second Virtue is love of brethren For as in the Law he goes from the first Table to the second so here having noted what is due to God he prescribes us duties to be performed unto men So the Gospel as well as the Law commands both purity and charity and we must take the ground of our love ex fonte puritatis God makes his Sunne to rise upon the just and unjust Matthew the fist chapter So must we shew not only brotherly love to Christians but charity to all men Which brotherly love is not to be extended to natural brethren as Matthew the twelfth chapter My brothers