him in this his service and duty Did he not most graciously regard him and his offering hath he not put it here into his owne booke to his perpetuall prayse Heb. 11.4 1. Joh. 3. and not only here but else-where in the new testament once and againe that from the beginning to the end of the world he might be famous wheresoever either this text or those should be preached that which he hath done should not be forgotten Did he not most deeply avenge his innocent blood vpon his jmpious brother and made him the first and most fearfull spectacle of his justice and malediction to the terror of all succeding generations And which is more then all this hath not the Lord crowned him with glory and immortality in the heavens with himself as well as renouned him for holynes and piety here on earth He is the first whose soule every saw the face of God noe man ever went from earth to heaven before him among the innumerable spirits of just and perfect men who now and for ever live there with the Lord in glory He was the first martyr had the first crowne none every dyed for the Lord before him none could liue with the Lord before him he was the Lords first witnes among all the Lords worthyes this righteous Abel as Christ call's him stood in the fore-frunt of the battell shed the first blood for the faith testimony of Iesus before there was any to back or abett him And as the Lord tooke great notice of this first soe also hath he done in like manner of the rest who have began betime to be acquainted with him in his service How came Samuell to be soe rare a man and to be numbred among the most speciall favourites of God Moses Iob Daniell Noah c Why doe you not remember what we have sayd of his mother how she gave him to God in resolution before she had him and was as good as her word assoone as he was weaned doe you not remember what is sayd of himself the childe Samuell ministred before the Lord the childe Samuell this was worthy to be acounted wonderfull that a childe should minister before the Lord especially being so yong that as yet he knew not the voyce or call of God from Elyes but ranne to Ely once and againe when the Lord called vpon him about the first busines he had to doe for him What may be the cause that Iosiah is soe mightily cōmended that as if he were matchlesse it is sayd of him that there was none like before him nor any to succeede that should be such a one as this peerelesse prince was true it is that never any king either of Jsraell or Iudah no not among the good kings before or after him went soe farre in the worke of Godfor the purgatiō purifying of his worship as he did this king did surmount them all but how is it that he came to doe what none had done more then they all why he begun to worke the worke of God betime that may be a mayne reason why he did so much at eight yeare olde saith the scripture he sought the Lorde 2. King 23.1 and that is but in childe-hood all men know What should I tell you of Solomon of Timothie and such others as I might mention to this purpose nothing is more sure then this that they have beene the rarest and most excellent men in piety and religion and the most able instruments of Gods honour who in the beginning of their dayes have begun to doe good they must needes be neerest heaven who set out on their way soonest continue going on thither-warde Only it is seldome that we see any enter vpon religion soe early now a dayes they are very few that begin to be soe soone faith full Note The more are they to be admired of godly men and the more to be comforted of God who are founde sucklings in grace assoone as they are weanelings in nature and hang vpon Gods breasts when they have given over they mothers So that by all that hath beene sayd it appeareth to be a happy thing and they to be most happy men who have learned this lesson of the Lord and walked according to the light therof which leade's on directly in the way of life wherin howsoever a man may possibly meete with some molestation and misery yet the end of it will vndoubtedly be endles infinite glory with him who wil make those most glorious beyond all time who betooke themselves to glorify him betime Much might be spoken to enlarge their consolation who have harts to doe according to this instruction But of this more hereafter we now passe to our 2. Vse Vse 2 And that concerneth all vngodly persons who howsoever they will because they must and cannot for starke shame say otherwise after a sort acknowledg this our doctrine to be true yet walke most wickedly in a course farre wyde of it nay cleane contrary to it their mouthes cannot be soe monstruously finfull but they must confesse it to be a truth howbeit their hellish harts and lives doe deny it in their most jmpious practise all the dayes of their life yea they have taught their tongues to lye herin notoriously and that not to men alone but to the Lord of whome and of whose service they vse to say it is not yet time it may be time enough heareafter O yee impious children of the father of lyes can you say it is true that every one shoulde begin betime and it were not amisse if it were soe and yet tell God and men to their faces that any time is time enought hereby you shew your selves to be the very jmps of the devill who hath taught you such a language as one part of your speech confutes nay confound's another and such a practise as overturnes Gods truth which you dare not deny and confirmes that falshood which none ought to affirme Miserable soules how are yee given over of God into the hands nay into the bands of Satan who if you speake or breath out but one true word can make your life both to bely and abolish that and to ratify every jot and tittle of those infernall falshoodes that he suggests into your soules Doe yee not sin presumptuously and against the light of your owne knowledg and conscience that can thus speake and dare thus doe and is such a sin a light matter or easy to answer to the judge of the whole worlde know you will not finde it soe in the day of the great and vniversall assize when all flesh shall at once stand before him to give account and receive recompence according to what they have done Notwithstanding the world hath beene ever full hell wil be one day full of soe many of them as repent not of such as either turne God out of all time or bring him in the tayle of all the time they live
and infaillible truth And soe having now by the way cleared this scruple we should proceede vnto our discovery of Abels sacrifice as we have it here layd downe in the words of the text which make report vnto vs what kinde of sacrifice it was and wherof it consisted But we must first take away another doubt which may be made by some how Abell could know the minde of God for these matters and soe readily offer a sacrifice of this kinde and doe it soe suitably to Gods prescription considering that as yet the law of the offering of first fruits nor any other part of the morall or ceremoniall was not given We answer it was giuen but not written as we have it now it was given in those dayes by divine tradition originaly from God to man and successively from man to man Then did the father informe the childe acquaint him with the dutyes that pertayned to piety and the children they received it from their parents obeyed it as from God And this course and manner of revealing the will of God by this kinde of traditioÌ„ endured all the dayes of the holy Patriarches and such as lived after them till Moses and also during all the dayes of Moses till that part of his life wherin the Lord employd him about the penning of this booke and that is diversly conjectured of some suppose it to be written before he went into Egypt within the compasse of these fourty yeares wherin he kept sheepe in Madian others imagine he did it immediately after his departing out of Egypt even in the first yeare therof Howbeit this as the former is no point of such importance as that we must of necessity have an exact knowledge of the same But that Gods law was delivered by this kinde of tradition till the time we speake off we nothing doubt and therefore the more foule is that slander layd vpoÌ„ vs by the papist that we acknowledg not nor endure any traditions judeede those that are popish and vnwritten we cannot abide but doe abhorre them all because none of them can be defended but by blasphemy and some of them in particular are apparantly blasphemous But that there were traditions â—â—ce to wit such as the Lord by himself or by his Angells made knowne to man man beleeved related to his posterity we doe no more deny then we doe that Moses penned this part of holy scripture which till his time was a tradition and vnwritten but can be none from that time forward And if the Lord have ceased his owne hath any man power to erect more that are none of his especially now that his holy will is sufficiently revealed in the writings of the Law and Prophets the Gospell That there were some traditions we freely confesse that any are of God now we dirictly deny those that are being not of God we detest because they are the fruit of the Popes braine who hath a very crazy head in heavenly things though he be applauded to be the head of the church and able to distill spirituall influence into it But to returne to Abel it is probable that he received the light and knowledge he had to offer sacrifice from his father who from God did instruct him how and what to doe in such duties as were to be required of him And vpon this did he embrace and obey the Lord in his ordinances which course of his and his forwardnes thus to doe in those times wherin no scripture was penned nor every man that spake of the things of God traditionally so infalliblely inspired as were all they by whome the Lord hath left his truth written to vs shall rise vp against vs to condemne our vntowardnes who refuse to be taught of God and to be obedient to him though he hath left vs a more happy way to learne then they had who had but a part of his good pleasure manifested and that not written wheras we have the whole and written vpon such records as can never be razed The saints of those times were most willing to take knowledge of the wayes of God and yeeld their obedience to them by that meanes which in comparison of ours are but meane and were but weake yet enough to bring them to God who lived by faith in the truth thus revealed The sinners of our dayes to whome the Lord hath dispenced a more absolute and most sufficient course of comming neere to him are farre from the Lord and will not give him neither such nor soe much duty as these did whose knowledg and practise is not soe much magnifyed as ours shal be manifested plagued of the Lord who looke's they should be the best schollers who have the best teaching Note Miserable will it be with those men to whome the Lord shall say these knew litle of my minde in respect of you yet have done much I made it all knowne to you yet have you done litle or nothing Let not this consideration be in vaine but thinke we how cheerefully Abel learned how conscionably he performed the worship of his God having but litle helpe to further him that we by due ponderation herof may be both ashamed for our faylings past and enforce our selves as it were by a holy violence for time to come to be more faithfull and industrious both to know and to doe what on our part we owe vnto the Lord what vnsepakeable shame is it that we should lye behinde them that have gone before vs in those dutyes wherin many of them had but few to follow nor any scripture to learne them but we have both Gods whole booke to giude vs and all his blessed saints are gone before vs yet are we exceeding short of those holy ones who lived graciously in that age which may truly be called the infancy both of the world and of the church But I will not dwell here we see the holy Ghoste beare's record of Abels offering let vs now come to the words of the text which tell vs what manner of sacrifice it was And Abel he also brought of the firstlings or first borne of his flock Exod. 22.29.30 cap. 34.19 26. Levit. 23.10.12 Num. 15.20.21 Deut. 12.17 cap. 18.4 cap. 26.1.2.11 and of the fate of them Of the first-lings or first borne that is the first encrease of cattell that the Lord gave him The Lord made a most exact law for the offeriÌ„g of the first borne both of man and beast and of all fruits vnto him and this law of his we finde to be very frequently repeated in divers places of the foure bookes of Moses Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomie And as it was often itterated by God to Jsraell soe was it faithfully obeyed by Israell before the Lord both before the captivity in Hezekiah dayes 2. Chron. 31.1.51 Neh. 10.3.32.35 and after in the dayes of Nehemiah as appeareth in the storie of their lives nay from the begining before this law
that in regard of his rare and extraordinary repentance expressed in many particulers the suddaine chang of his hart and tongut for he as well as his fellow did at first blaspheme Christ now he rebuke's him and condemnes both himselfe and his fellow justly the excellent confession he made of Christ before them all that now when he was vpon the torture where he could also not withstanding all paynes pray instantly Did ever any barren dry tree beare soe much fruit in an instant by any ordinary course The fig tree was very strangely and miraculously cursed which so soone withered with a word of Christ mouth and was not this tree miraculously blessed which so soone did yeeld such abundance nay was it not a greater even a double miracle that such a bramble such a rebell should become an olive and beare plentifully the first day houre of his being soe Now then if all this be thus that in each of these and divers other instances this particuler were soe peculiar and extraordinary what is it that any wicked man nay conclude hence for himself more then this and note it well thou godles and gracelesse person as thou readest it Note well That when Iesus Christ shall come againe in the flesh and fall into the hands of men to be crucifyed and that two other must be hangd on either side of him it come to thy turne to be one of those two the better of the twayne that hang's by him vpon whome he will shew his diety to convert thee miraculously vnto whome againe thou shewest the fruits of repentance extraordinarily then mayst thou be assured to spede as this theife did Other warrantize I can give none vpon any other tearmes then these in any common case howsoever it is most true that there want not evidences nor experiences at any such time as the Lord shall please to excercise his speciall patience and grace yet by vertue of this example or president every way thus extraordinary no such matter can be concluded as most men would make of it To delay what is due to the Lord and to rejourne what he commands hath no colour of ground or reason here to doe soe is more then this theife himself did who having in all likelyhood lived all his life without God or any meanes of good doth now come at the first call which is more then thou hast done nay thou being daily called vpon by the Lord doest poast off thy comming to him by his example that came assoone as he was called if thou doe worse then he doe'st hope to fare as well nay rather how righteously may the just God take this allegation out of thy mouth and retort it vpon thee who pleadest the putting off of thy service to the Lord by his pretence that made more then ordinary haste to come to Iesus Christ and went so fast towards him that he got to heaven the same day with him Beholde now wherevnto it is come that every vngodly man that presse's this president to this purpose is condemned out of his owne mouth and the mouth of jniquity is stopped by that very evidence whereby it did open it self against heaven Note And this is the first of the mischeifes that ariseth from the misaledging of this example when men will soe vnreasonably and without all sence presse and plead the last fruits of christs mercy to one malefactor to prevent the first fruits of that duty that all men owe to god their creator and make that ordinary to every one which he was pleased to jmpropriate but once and but to one alone and if they be soe deepe at the first step let vs looke a litle further how in going forward this way they plunge thenselves past all recovery into perdition Evill 2 2. The perverse perverted pressing of this theifes particuler to that end which vngodly men vrge it doth breede most evident and jrreconcileable contradictions in the scriptures make bate betweene one part of Gods blessed word and another And he that doth thus if he did know what he doth doubtlesse would looke well about him er'e he would offer it For why to set the scripture together by the eares what is it Is it not as was observed before to make God who is truth it self and whose word it is a lyar for if one peice be contrary to another all cannot be true and sounde Is it not to expose the sacred booke of God to contempt in taking from it that incommunicable property and prerogative royall that it hath aboue all bookes vnder heaven to be ever more at absolute vnity within it self and making it like humane writings which are full of error and falshood Is it not to make our preaching vayne and your faith vayne and to keepe you still in your sins for if the ground wher vpon we preach and you beleeve be vnsounde and not such absolute truth as may beare vp both then is neither to any purpose Nay is it not to bring all to vtter and remediles confusion by shaking Gods foundation and overthrowing the whole frame of his blessed building vpon this infaillible truth of his owne one title wherof if it should be false noe worde of all the rest would be thought true and foe these like those pagans doe their best to turne the truth of God into a lye Rom. 1.26 Now is not the abusiue vrging of this scripture a setting of one word of God against another let vs weigh it well and we will see it and say it also For why It is a ruled case and past all question as we have proved that God will have the first fruits of vs all we have made Gods minde vndeniably manifest for that now if that be soe is not the allegation of this example as manifest a contradiction of this truth as may be for why doe men stand vpon this scripture why is it soe often vrged and itterated why are we replyed vpon when we reprove mens jmpiety and have this evermore cast in our dish from day to day Is it not to plead for proroguation of piety till hearafter do's it not make men say through their owne jmpiety that it is too soone yet it is not yet time there is time enough for these things in time to come Are not these words made the only refuge of all rebellions against God and a counterpoyson to that early and timely duty that we owe vnto him doe not men thinke they have stop't our mouthes and satiffyed their owne myndes sufficiently when they have thus spoken and done enough to vndoe all that we can say to the contrary And I pray you what call you this but contradiction when you oppose set this one word of God against all the words of God spoken elswhere when he soe often call's for the 1. fruits you will choake all with that favour which was once shewed to one man at the last This is to confute
and that houre of our life which fall's out to be soe neere death that a man cā neither serue himself nor the world nor Satan because of extreme imbecility of body is reserved for God to serue him in though it be but in saying Lord have mercy vpon me And this they dreame to be enough to bring them to heaven that or their Pater noster if they can but have time to say it will make them happy enough they care for no more and soe poore sooles they goe like oxen to the slaughter conceiting that two or three words speaking will purchase Gods glorious kingdome and posesse them of it without any more a doe Which jmagination is more blasphemous then ever came into a Papists apprehension for as grosse as they are in the matter of merit yet they are not soe foule as to say that glory may be gotten with soe slight desert nay they exhort men to doe good works betime and abundantly I never read any of them that helde heaven might be had for a few bare words especially proceeding from a minde and soule more sicke then at the pangs of death the body can be And this pestilent conceit of prorogeuing time with God is a vniversall disease and hath slayne many that are gone and infected desperately millions of men that yet liue in the christian worlde Every one throwe's off the day of this duty breake 's that commandement in the substance which they were bound to obserue in the shaddow Exod. 22.29.20 where God saith Thou shalt not delay to offer thy first fruits whether of oxen cattell of liquor or any other thing Delay is a thing that the Lord still detested in any thing that he had for vs to doe he would never endure protraction of time he hath ever pleaded with his people for haste and expedition and for priority before all things yea to be put in the first place before all things as well he doth deserue to be in the conscience of the corruptest man among christians And albeit that both these be soe that the Lord hath soe loved to be first served and loathed in his soule to be set behinde yet as if prolonging and poasting off the piactise of piety were a thing that would rather make vs acceptable to the Lord then detestable in his sight the divill who is both Gods and our avowed adversary herin doth not only perswade jmpious persōs to stay rejourne whatsoever is required of them in true religiō but also he puts into their mindes and mouthes what to plead against God their owne best good but they litle know it in the truth of this point which we now vrge arme's them to opē their mouth with strange insolency against heaven to defend their double jmpiety in devising damnable shifts to support them therin that they may be still and for ever holden fast in the cordes of their jniquity and linger soe long in their sinfull courses and accursed carriage till time shal be no more and it be too late to wish for the day of grace the day of Gods patience and our repentance which being now past gone we are to beare for ever the righteous vengeance of the wretched neglect of that happy opportunity It is a sure thing that Satan never helpe's man to a jmpious hart to doe an evill but he also help 's him to an jmpudent mouth to defend the sin he doth Pretences for putting of Gods service and because his pretences are such and doe seeme soe plausible as that they doe misleade the most part of men in the worlde let vs looke into them a litle and try whether they be currant or counterfeit pure or hase by the truest touch-stone even the word of God which is truth it self But before we come to any particulers let vs premise a few words in generall to all such as doe plead any thing in this particuler to the end and purpose afore sayd let them therefore know and receive for a memorandum thus much That all that they speake is against God and their owne eternall good and that it is for the Devill and his advantage to their owne everlasting evill In all this plea what are they Adversaryes to God and themselves and Advocates for the Divell against themselves But let vs heare them speake although all they speake be not worth the hearing They say though God say the contrary and themselves confesse it too that though men should begin betime and it were well if they would yet there is no such necessity lying vpon it that we should be soe nice vpon it And why Plea 1 1. Because as they cursedly conceit a man may make too much haste too much a doe and what neede one be soe curious precise at present there is time enough for these matters heareafter This is their first Plea Wherin I must be bolde to aske these men first whether they speake when they thus speake as they thinke or not If not what hellish hypocrisy is it in any man to belye his owne minde with his owne mouth what wofull impiety is it to vtter that in others hearing which a man 's owne hart doth contradict within himself If they doe thinke as they say which I thinke every man would be well advised before he would doe if he knew all then let vs see if we can shew them what blasphemy is wrapped vp in this speach inasmuch as the scope therof is guilty of the fearfullest fellony that almost may be committed Note God is robbed by them of his right in the duty of their owne and the first dayes of such other as they doe thus delude They are robbed by Satan but with their owne consent for they plead for the theife of that right which Christ Iesus hath purchased for such as are obedient to his truth Others also are robbed of the same good by vttering these vngodly sayings to seduce them sinfully to sett off the time of their turning to the Lord. And I thinke the man that knew this would not be so free of these words which are soe wofull as we see were there noe more to be sayd against them But let vs come neerer The evill of it and pry more narrowly into this plea and the further we goe the more foule abhomination shall we finde and detect therin and that in divers respects a few wherof we will notify before you Evill 1 1. This plea supposeth an absolute cearteinety of more time yet to come and to be remayning vnto our lives why should any man in common sence say it is time enough heareafter if he were not as he thinks assured of more time to come after-warde Now thus to surmize is grosse sin inasmuch as the Lord hath taught vs to know that we cannot expect much lesse warrant one instant of time or a moment more to breath in then we doe already enjoy Tro. 27.1 Iam. 4.14 Doth not the wise
one peice of scripture by another to overthrow Gods worde by Gods worke and soe to divide God against God as Satan against Satan to make the Lord say a thing in one place and in another to vnsay it and finally to draw from the Lord himself a dispensation and liberty of sining that soe what he requires in soe many places of his law he shoule release and cancell in one part of his Gospell Let any man whome God hath endued with any measure of sound vnderstanding judge whether this be not to make a rent in the Lords revealed wil and if soe it be it is time for vs to judg our selues for soe doing for before the Lord will endure this the soule that doth it shal be rent from him throwne among reprobates the judgment and damnation of these disgracers of God and depravers of his holy word sleepeth not and there is noe way to shun or escape it but by a through judging of your selves in respect of this impiety which if they doe not whose mouthes have spoken it and whose myndes have thought it vengeance shall surely overtake them even that vengeance which is due to such as doe this insufferable indignity to God and his word This is the 2. step they tread who follow this way we see it sink's deeper then the former toward that dreadfull confusion which cannot be avoyed if this fearfull evill be not abandoned Let vs yet see further to the third 3. the producing and aleadging of this president of the theife thus that we may play the theiues with God and rob him of his first fruits doth breede and ingender many foule falshoods and vile blasphemyes in our harts He that proposeth this president for his apologie against the manifest light of truth we have proved maketh this scripture the patrone of such atheisticall principles as are to be abhorred in the thought of every man and not to be once vttered of any Let vs see some few of those many monstrous vntruths which we might mention Evill 3 1. it doth posesse vs with a perswasion that by authority of scripture we may rejourne the obedience that long since we owed vnto the Lord. Wheras the holy ghost is clearely opposite herevnto God calleth for nothing more as we have heard then the first and condemneth nothing more then putting off what he command's His servants such as he hath effectually called have made all the haste and expedition that was possible So saith David I will run the way of thy commandements and againe I made haste and delayed not to keepe thy righteous judgments So saith Cornelius to Peter Then I sent for thee jmmediately and Paul saith the same of himself jmmediately I consulted not with flesh and blood c. The evidence of God Psal 119.32.60 Act. 10.33 Gal. 1.16 to hasten our duty is vndeniable the sin of not doing soe is in excusable yet by these mens argumēts the same God that is soe eager for expedition doth warrāt our delay And can any thing be more false thē that God should abet these two contraries Evill 4 2. it doth patronage not only delay but presumptuous delay such as men are guilty of by presuming against all good ground they shall finde the same measure of mercy that this theife did Now to presume of pardon for a sin of presumption is to presume of more favour then the theife found for for ought we know his sin was not of presumption but either of meere ignorance if he were a Romane as some suppose him his fellow to bee or of grosse ignorance if he were a Iew. Sure it is he knew not Christ for he reviled him at the first as well as the other And must you by his example presume of delay in Gods dutyes which he never meant and of mercy for presumptuous delay which this theife never found shall God become the prop of our presumtion when it is a sin that his soule hate's and he is soe farre from having any mercy in store for it that he hath not greater store of justice heaped vp scarce against any vngodlynes they that befaulty are sayd to store or treasure vp wrath against the day of wrath that is Ro. 2.5 every day to augment enlarge and adde vnto their owne damnation This jmpiety is next neighbour to that which is vnpardonable if once a man be soe jmpudent that he dares offend presumptuously he had neede bethinke himself where he is and what he doe's the next leape may be into the bottomlesse pit especially if he shall adde this vnto all that he will father such offences vpon the Lords allowance soe turne his extraordinary mercy into extraordinary jmpiety Note David had another spirit when he prayed against presumptuous sin that he might be free from the great transgression did not the spirit of the divell posesse these wofull men Psa 19.13 they would surely doe the same But Satan ha's enough even all that he would have to make them build their presumption vpon God because he knowe's that by soe doing he shall provoke God against them to abhorre them for ever But let vs looke yet a litle further Evill 5 3. The vrging of this example thus doth loose vs bynde God we are enlarged for all our life till the last his hands are tyed that with double bands Is not this vndeniably true and a cleare consequent of this allegation doe we not presse it to put off that wherevnto we are bound not to give the Lord first of our lives but to be free to come when we will though at the last day or houre or instant doe we not take it for graunted that till we doe come we must have health peace foode and all other favours from God and that we must be accepted also So we are free God is bound we are free from duty during our pleasure and a great deale of kindnes we must have for many yeares and doe him no service but he is bound to mayntaine vs till we come and entertayne vs when we come And is it not fearfull and hydeous jmpiety for vs to seeke to enslave the Lord to our sinfull lives and to set our selves at liberty in them against him But perhaps you will say God hath bound himself saying At what time soever a sinner shall repent him and that Christ hath done the same saying he that commeth to me I cast not away Well if touching the former we graunt the truth of those words though they are not litterally expressed in any text that the Lord will refuse none but is tyed to take them when they come yet I hope it is with condition of their comming as they ought to come that is with warrant from him at his call with abilitye of grace from him to repent without both these it is an jmpossibility to come and if we come not thus as we are bounde to doe God is free to refuse vs. Note