vnfulled which openeth it selfe to euery winde and storme Christ the Sauiour is our enimie and we persecute him and crucifie him the Saints of God we regarde not the promises of God we know not our hope is vanitie and our God is iniquitie Call to your remembrance the houres the daies the weekes the monethes and the yeeres of your life thinke euermore on that mercie and that power that in the ruffe of all this iniquitie forbeareth forewarneth and forgiueth you Thinke thus with your selues I was a helhounde I was a heathen the tyger is better then my parentage and the serpent then my education I was naked without grace and not able to buy it the Lord that solde it was my enimie and I durst not aske vpon credite Howe many enormities haue I runne into against my God which the Lord foreseeing hath forgiuen the curse of my nature he hath remooued the euill of my conuersation he hath remitted the emptines of my soule he hath replenished and the sentence of my condemnation hath he recalled Thus hath the Lorde dealt with my life when I was sinfull he was mercifull when I blasphemed he blessed when I made warre against him hee made peace with me hee tooke my blowes on both cheekes he gaue me his coate and his cloake and to conclude when I walked through the valley of the shadowe of death his rodde and his staffe was my comfort therefore now will I giue my life for his my body for his garment my bloud for his blowes my soule for his sake and my whole person wealth honour dignitie labour and leasure for his saluation Secondlie another vse we may make of recording time past and the seueral works of God with his particular iudgments is the same which the prophet Dauid maketh Psalm 8. which is this after the rehearsall of the glorious workes of God he compareth man with them and saith Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou visitest him Euen so when we see and heare of the great workes of God vpon others lay them to your selues by particular application to your soules and reckon them vp in order for your furtherance Little Canaan tolde his father of his grandfathers drunkennes and nakednes and he was accursed and all his posteritie But I haue in my youth done many thousand greater sins yet the Lord doth stil blesse me was the Lord too rigorous against him or too partiall with me that he all his life long wore such a badge as also disgraceth all his progenie but he laieth not to my charge the follies of my youth Moses and Aaron bicause they once distrusted the hande of God they were neuer suffered to enter into Canaan but I not once onely but many hundred times haue distrusted his promise denied his worde and forsaken his truth why do I liue so long in the lande of promise when more righteous then my selfe coulde not set their foote therein Ananias and Saphira kept backe but a part of their owne to serue them in aduersitie and denying the same were sodainly slaine by the Lord but I haue kept backe not mine but the Lordes from the Lorde and haue lied not once to the holy Ghost but many times and yet I liue my credite not impeached my profession is not blamed my life is not shortened and my daies are not ended Oh beholde the seueritie of God towards these that fell but the mercy of God towardes me that standeth And thus may we say of nations and whole people why was Egypt destroyed and Israell saued why were the Canaanites cast out and the Israelites planted in why was Edom made tributarie to Iacob Babylon to Persia Persia to Graecia Ireland to England Surely surely we might haue beene the slaues and they the Lordes we the bondmen and they the freemen Euil wars might haue beene in our daies as it was in our fathers and that which was greatest poperie or heresie or hethenisme might haue beene professed in these our times as it was long agoe Thinke therefore my beloued how many bonds of obedience the Lorde hath bounde vs in and consider what had beene our hap if we had beene those children that were ripped out of their mothers bellies if we had beene those yoong men that perished in battell if we had beene those women that eate their babes to saue their liues and finally how much more are we bound vnto God that we were not Infidels Pagans Papists haeretikes Atheistes or any other kinde of cursed men Let vs also say with the prophet Psal 147. vlt. With euery nation hath he not dealt thus Let therefore euermore the worde of God bee in our mouthes the praises of God be in our hearts the Gospell in our liues and by howe much more we haue tasted of the Lords goodnes aboue other so much more let him taste of our thankefulnes aboue other The fourth Sermon And tell you your children of it and let your children shewe to their children and their children to another generation NOw the prophet hauing bidde them to enquire of their forefathers also willeth them to tell this wonder to them that shall come after namely to their children with this commandement also that they in time to come being made parents shoulde likewise declare this vnto their posteritie Where first of all the prophet giueth vs this doctrine that it is the dutie of fathers that if anie notable and woorthie worke of God happen in their daies to shew the same vnto their children for the wordes are tell your children c. Euen this doth the Lorde warne the Israelites Exod. 13. 14. to shew the wonders in Egypt vnto their posteritie and peculiarly at the eating of the passeouer For in truth this care and conscience of godlie parents is the verie conduit pipe or kings highway whereby all religion all feare of God and the vniforme profession of the truth is preserued By this meanes came Moses to be a fit and able writer of the Scriptures although hee handle matters done two thousand yeeres before he sawe the worlde he had no recordes nor writings to helpe him but that truth which descended as it were by propagation from father to sonne vnto his daies which began to be corrupt the holy Ghost approoued and Moses recorded Therefore the learned haue obserued that in seauen generations it came to Moses Adam say they taught the Historie of the creation and fall of man with other thinges to Methusaleth Methusaleth told them to Sem Sem shewed them to Iacob Iacob to Kohath Kohath to Amram and Amram to Moses And in this sort was this noble story of Genesis with visions places and persons deliuered from hande to hande from father to sonne and from one generation to another that the wordes and workes of God might be euerlastingly remembred This sheweth how by the carefulnes of parents the pure knowledge of God was maintained and the true worship of
and fro amongst ten thousand waues being full of passengers without either pilote or mariner is in extreme hazard of drowning bicause they haue none to sound the bottomes for to throw foorth their anchor to staie them in the stormes or when the calme commeth they haue not one among them to direct them to the shore euen so when the floudes of troubles shall threaten the ouerthrow of any particular church or nation they hauing no preachers or prophets among them who should perswade them to patience during their aduersitie and to cast out the anchor of their hope during their danger or hauing escaped those fierie and fearefull troubles yet who but the ministers of God shall instruct them in righteousnesse and direct them to heauen In the raigne of Iosiah although his daies were happie through peace and his subiects ioyfull through a good king and religious nobles yet this was the glory of his kingdome that there was one Huldah a Prophetesse the wife of Shallum that tolde him his owne prosperitie bicause his hart melted at the voice of God his worde and also that there is one Helkijah a priest 2. Kings 22. that gaue him the law of his God so are we happie through long enioyed peace being shadowed vnder the wings of a mercifull Prince and religious Magistrates yet this is the glorie of our nation that many Prophets and Preachers haue offered vnto vs the verie word of God the which if it were wanting all were worth nothing therefore if God build not who can reare If he send not who can prosper If he speake not who can prophesie and if he diminish the number of his seruants the preachers we may complaine in our miseries as the Iewes did There is not one Prophet more left and yet remaine comfortlesse The vses which we will briefly make here of are these First the same which our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs vpon this doctrine Mat. 9. 28. Pray saith he the Lord of the vineyard that he would thrust foorth labourers into his haruest There is no more Christian exercise or necessarie practise then with vnfeined soules to desire at the handes of him who ruleth all with his hand that in times of ignorance and neglect of heauenly worship when the corne is ripe and fit to be gathered into the Lords barne that he would haue pitie vpon his wandring sheepe and care of his planted corne euen the worke of his owne handes and not suffer them to be cast away for want of instruction Oh howe would it and doth it grieue a christian soule to consider that the image of God himselfe should be lost which shineth so beautifully in euerie one of mankind pray therefore my beloued in the Lord for hereby onely shall you performe a worke acceptable to God because you are humbled beneficiall to the church because you aske for her labourers comfortable to your selues because you tender your brethrens soules and ioyfull to the verie angels for the conuersion of sinners The ruler of the temple Mat. 9. 18. hauing but his daughter sicke and diseased yet came to our Sauiour and entreated him for her health which he performed and she recouered Let vs therefore in pitie of many thousand sons and daughters of the world come to the courts of the Lords house within the closets of our owne soules and desire with feeling and earnest prayers the Lord Iesus that he would shewe and shine forth his truth by his word in the mouthes of many more ministers of peace to conuert many moe sinners vnto righteousnes to turne the hearts of fathers to their children of mothers to their daughters of princes to their subiects and of the nations to their God There is not any one point that proueth more substantially to a mans soule that hee loueth Christ vnfaynedly then this the practise of it to pray for the increase of heauenly pastors Euen as in the world nothing is so commendable as the workes of mercie as to feede the famished to cloath the naked to deliuer the imprisoned and to acquite him that is wrongfully condemned so in the church of God there is no grace like to the gift of the ministerie the starued are fed by them with the bread of life the naked are cloathed by them with the garments of a Sauiour they which lye fast bound in the verie dungeons of hell and the prisons of darkenes are deliuered by them into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God and euen they which were condemned to temporall miseries and eternall calamities are acquited discharged and released by their message Let vs all therefore say vnto the Lord Lord increase the number of painefull preachers And if we ought to pray for them how damnable is their estate that pray vpon them if it be the highest seruice of God to promote them then is it the highest seruice of the diuell to persecute them If they be blessed where the word is preached and beleeued then are they accursed where it is not heard nor receiued If Christ blamed his disciples that would haue had him to blame them that cast deuils out in his name then are they to bee blamed which will vpon euerie light and easie occasion labour to the vttermost to stop the mouthes of Gods seruants to discourage the people from hearing the olde men from instructing the yoong men from studying the children from learning the women from asking the seruants frō obeying the word of God Therefore if we haue any care of the Lords seruice any compassion of them that are tyrannously oppressed any conscience of the soules of men then pray for the peace and number of the preachers For as when the teeth are fallen out of the mouth the life is hardly nourished and quickly turnd Euen so when the ministers which are the teeth of the church to grinde the word vnto them are remooued then followeth the graue and sepulchre of the Lords family To Ioel the sonne of Pethuell heerein is no hardnes and euerie one may easily perceiue the meaning hereof for the prophet nameth himselfe and also declareth his parentage and it is very like that his father was a man of good estimation that the Prophet thus barely without any further addition prefixeth his name to this prophesie We obserue out of this description of the ministring cause of this prophsie this doctrine that God preferreth the seruice of men before the seruice of angels in the building of the church he rather choseth and appointeth that his heauenly immaculate word should be manifested by earthly and sinfull men then by celestiall holy angels Act. 1. 8. The Lord Iesus maketh this his ordinance that his disciples shall witnes the redemption in Ierusalem Iudea and Samaria and the vttermost parts of the earth Euen the same Lord which not long before told them that he had the angels at commaund now rather vseth the helpe and ministerie of men Men would thinke it a strange proceeding
preachers tell vs goe forwarde I beseech you in all other sinnes and you shall finde but a verie small number that say I beleeued and therefore I heard The medicine to purge out all these corruptions is a true faith the which if either you leaue at home or lose it by the way the labour is all lost that you take therein Oh how lamentable and damnable a sinne is infidelitie when the iudgements of God are not beleeued and the mercies of God are abused But this greeueth all godly hearts to the quicke that euen in our daies and times there should be such that as a godly father saith are armed with the name of good christians yet fight against the faith of true beleeuers Looke vpon it in time least as death followeth sicknes through want of phisicke so the death of your soules follow their sickenes through want of faith Beleeue saith Christ and al things are possible the dead haue beene raised by faith the sicke haue beene releeued by faith the mountaines may be remooued by faith and the diuell himselfe is droue away by faith therefore bring faith with you vnto the hearing of the sermons the scriptures are the Lords wordes and they are set to sale by the preaching of the ministers themselues beeing his factors faith must buye them as money doth or bee exchanged for them as one thing is for another for there is no crediting vpon wordes no obligations vpon dayes that can get them from vs but present payment of a liuely faith Therefore if any will knowe howe to heare the Gospell with profit and to enioy it with comfort let him bring faith with him that the worde deliuered may bee sealed for truth and sinnes beeing reprooued may bee receiued for truth and suffer no starting holes of infidelitie to carrie our soules from the rocke of God his truth into the sea of heathenish securitie or endlesse aduersitie O yee elders That is you gouernours of the people whom the Lord hath honoured with long life and the world with great authoritie And from hence we note this doctrine that the most honourable must most of all giue eare to the worde of God whether that honour bee in the Church as the ministers or in the common wealth as the magistrates or in the familie as the father thereof or in the warres as the generall thereof all these beeing exalted aboue other haue also a charge aboue other that euerie one walke worthie of his profession which is onely by studying and hearing the word of the Lord. The Lord so commandeth Deut. 17. 19. That the king himselfe shall cause to be wrote a booke for him of the lawe that he keepe it with him and read therein all the daies of his life Those which haue the greatest charge must vse the greatest labour to discharge their places as none could be iudges in Israell till the Lord had giuen them of the spirit of Moses so none can sincerely execute their duetie that the world may be satisfied the Lord may be glorified and their owne soules comforted vnlesse they receiue of the spirit of God and by the ministerie of the word is the spirit deliuered Gal. 3. 2. Hearken therefore you rulers of the Lordes people that which excelleth all glorie being richer then all wealth and wiser then all learning euen the spirit of God may be receiued when the word of God is deliuered Oh how are they deceiued that thinke the ministerie a base profession not meete for any but for the poore to liue by for the lame disfigured for yonger brothers for bankerupt for seruingmen for blunt-headed-schollers and such as can be good in nothing How are they also deceiued that thinke it not an exercise fit for noble men and persons of estate knights and gentlemen and such great ones which haue the world at their wils and the countrey at their pleasures shall these say they make themselues drudges to the Gospell schollers to the preachers and goe on pilgrimage to a publike sermon Yea all these must resigne their crownes of maiestie their gownes of nobility their swords of chiualrie and their estimation of gentrie vnto the voice of the blessed spirit of God speaking in the scriptures and preaching in his ministers And if these must bend their knees we must bow our bodies to the earth and put our necke vnder the yoke of Christ Iesus that he may lift vp our head liues to the participation of glorie The Lord that bindeth kings in chaines and nobles in fetters of Iron and maketh the mountaines to cleaue in sunder at his roaring willeth and commandeth vs from heauen to heare his son and it shal so come to passe that the soule shal be cut off from the Lords people that hath not kissed the prince of glorie and commeth not to offer obedience and seruice to his royall Lord who is able to cast him body and soule into fire euerlasting Let vs therefore study to enter into the courts where the Gospell of Christ soundeth and reigneth least we fall away from grace and glorie after the euill example of those long agoe condemned infidels and reprobated apostataes which gaue their eares to falshood their toongs to blasphemie their liues to vanitie their bodies to luxurie and their soules to euerlasting miserie Let not the graye haires of old men the great wealth of rich men the worship of Magistrates nor the honour of gouernement draw away our hearts from the hearing of this message which being hid from vs maketh vs cursed castawaies but being declared vnto vs regenerateth vs to the hope of eternall happines The reasons of this doctrine are also easily gathered out of the word of God First the same which Samuel vseth in his first booke cap. 12. ver 14. at the annointing or crowning of their new king Saule to perswade them and their king to the diligent hearing of the word and reuerent feare of God he vseth this as a reason That then they shall be the people of the Lord God As if Samuel had said vnto them you know that this is the glorie of our nation that we alone are the selected band and chosen soldiers to fight the Lords battles and this is an honour against all the world beside that they seruing Idoles and worshipping diuels we serue the Lord of hostes if therefore you will indeed be the Lords people you must in truth heare the Lords word what could be said more forcibly to mooue a rebellious nation to a quiet submission And this being the badge and liuerie of the Church of God we may be bold to say openly and defend confidently that they which heare not the Gospell as now it is preached in our English nation are none of the true followers of his heauenly maiestie Euen all whether they be the archenimies of Christ the Papists or the new sectary of Recusants the Brownists or the vaine religion bablers the Newters or the priuy haters of the
and they sacrificed and none else but they altered and it came to one tribe and they also were abrogated and so it came to men approoued in the church who are deemed the speciall portion of the Lord in this world And surely if the seruants of Salomon were blessed that hearde his wisedome and waited in his court they are much more blessed which waite in the Lords house and heare and see the secrets of the kingdome of heauen It is therefore a most fearefull thing to aduance any vnto this to bee the Lords seruant who is not woorthy to sit in the chaire of Moses and there is no reason why they shoulde minister in the church which are not woorthie to be the porters of the doore Surely the prophanenes of many in these places is so great and so damnable that besides the iniuries done to Christ many run headlong into hell thorough the euill example of their pastours The Lords seruants followe their maister in holinesse and not the world in lewdnesse they looke to the soules but these waite for the fleeces they preach vpon conscience these doe it for fashion they preach onely the truth but these bring the fire of poetrie philosophie and such like to the altar of God to conclude they bee the helpers vnto faith but these quench their owne giftes and keepe other from pure knowledge The reasons are these because the whole life of the minister must be onely exercised in spirituall heauenly matters Act. 6. 2. 4. The apostles would consent to nothing which was not consonant to their ministerie or that might any waies hinder the same And for this cause the Lord hath so prouided that they should be exempted from all worldly businesse and receiue their maintenance from other not onely for themselues but for their children and families The which thing considered would aduertise a number of vs that wee which warre should not entangle our selues with the things of this life we should neuer giue ouer our seruice for that is nothing else but to forsake God wee must neuer cause our sinnes to make vs be thrust out of the ministerie for that will exclude vs from heauen wee must neuer bee idle and vnprofitable seruants in our ministerie for that will worke our curse and wee must neuer be wearie of our places for that will weaken and lessen our giftes But alas once there might come no rasor on the ministers heads but now adaies heads and beards and all are powled if wee shoulde not nowe looke to our owne maintenance wee might soone want sustenaunce and our children are easily suffered to begge though their parents haue well deserued of the Church of God Another reason is because none may offer them any violence but the Lorde accounteth it his owne Exod. 16. 8. and hee saith by the prophet Dauid Touch not mine annointed and doe my prophets no harme How desperate is the case of all men who are daily by wordes and deedes reuiling the ministers of the gospell and thinke themselues happy if they can giue a priest a deadly blowe by their enuenomed toong Truely I will say our owne sinnes were the cause of all this yet if the kisse of Iudas was so mortally punished these mens not kisses but wounds not with lips but with toongs and hands shall neuer escape vnrewarded for as by their toongs they haue killed vs so the Lord with his toong shall condemne them From hence let vs of the ministerie learne our dutie which is seeing we are the Lordes owne seruants let vs labour to present euerie man perfect in Iesus Christ Col. 1. 28. there is no seruant but he desireth not onely to do much worke but that hee may present it faire and beautifull to his masters viewe this is our labour to bring many soules and saints to the Lorde of glory Abraham sending his seruant to fetch a wife for Isaac his sonne he brought him godlie and beautifull Rebecah wee are the Lordes seruants and wee are sent to fetch a wife for Iesus Christ the sonne of God oh let vs be as faithfull vnto God the father and to Iesus Christ as that seruant was to Abraham and Isaac let vs doe our message with diligence let vs execute our charge with praier let vs giue them the golden bracelets of God his truth and let vs with all speede and haste returne againe to him that sent vs. When Iacobs sonnes went into Egypt Iudah promised him to bring Beniamin againe if he woulde let him go or else he shoulde slaie his owne two sonnes and so if wee bring not againe to the Lorde his beloued children he will slaie our bodies and soules for euer and euer for at our hands will he require them Come on therefore my deere and holy annointed brethren we haue the leading of God his children wee haue the keeping of Christs Queene we haue the tillage of the Lords corne we haue the vse of the Lords treasure we haue the price of our Sauiours bloud if we loose his childrē he wil slay ours if we defile his wife he wil curse vs if we neglect his husbādry he will spoile ours if we waste his treasure he wil sel vs to perpetuall bondage and if we spill our Sauiours bloud he shall condemne our bloud body and soule Oh therfore let vs be instāt in preaching holy in liuing earnest in praier zealous in exhortatiō careful in admonition instructing the children correcting the youth and comforting the aged that as Iacob returned with many more soules out of Syria into Canaan then hee brought so may wee come with many soules out of this world into the world to come Another vse shall be for the people that considering wee be the Lordes owne seruants and therefore open and shut the priuie chamber doore which leadeth vnto him and to vs is committed the building of the church then as the Apostle exhorteth you Ephes 4. 11 14. that ye giue heed to them whom the Lorde sendeth you for spirituall guides direct not your praiers to Angels and saints in heauen for they haue not the keeping of the Lordes workes but the ministers which be aliue are the priuie counsellers to the Lordes maiestie whom if you will not beleeue neither can you beleeue though an angell come from heauen vnto you And therefore as all the people were wonte to waite for the comming out of the priest that hee might blesse them so do you all euermore waite for the blessing and mercy and grace and counsell and loue of God to come from them to you As the Lorde turneth the bloude of a woman into milke for the nourishment of hir childe so doth hee turne our wordes and gifts and knowledge and learning and studie and life to be the nourishment of you his church Come to vs for comfort and instruction and edification and saluation you are the Lordes housholde we are his stewards come to vs for your meate of soule and wages
13. what a matter is this that our knee-praiers our lip-labours our Easter-communicants our time-seruing hearers and all of that broode whose deuotion is as hot as Iacobs stone should wearie the Lord with their vaine petitions their idle presence their outwarde reuerence and their temporall obedience that he abhorreth both them and theirs Whose toong shall perswade them of the truth hereof verily if the prophet Isay should come from the immediate presence of God with his toong purified by a Seraphim yet they would no more beleeue him then they doe vs except they feele the smart of their idlenesse Another reason because God doth not regarde temporall sorrowe for sinne as wee may see in Esau and Ahab and therefore much lesse that seruice which is but temporall and outwarde also And although Ahab was spared for his fained repentance yet it was but respited and the iudgement came notwithstanding whereby we may see how vnwilling is our mercifull father to take vengeaunce of our sinnes if there appeere in vs any small sparkles of grace or any remorse for punishment Let vs therefore learne that no visor can deceiue God and that there is no halting before him it is not our lifted vp eies our knocking of breastes our sighing our whipping our launcing fasting and pining that can satisfie the Lords expectation or minister any comfort vnto vs at the day of iudgement Let vs learne from hence that exhortation of the Apostle Gal. 6. 7. that we be not deceiued The maine point of religion is this that wee bee assured of life euerlasting What shall we be if wee bee deceiued if we haue ghesses in steede of knowledge wauering in steede of constancie weaknesse in steede of faith darknes in steede of light and vanitie in steede of diuinitie what are we but deceiued If we make Christ in our mouthes religion in our eies and mortification in a friday fast or Christianitie to continue no longer then while we be in the churches if we be not deceiued in this then were neuer any deceiued We deceiue our brethren with shadowes our God with shewes and our selues with sinne we deceiue our harts of knowledge our liues of holinesse and our soules of meate and life euerlasting Oh how doe men deceiue themselues and deceiue other when in the meane season the Lorde crieth out Be not deceiued What fooles are men to be so besotted with follies making hypocrisie their heauen Sathan their God and counterfeite religion their soules worship The Lorde hath sent strong delusion among men that they might be damned which receiued not the loue of the truth yea it is most equall that they should be damned by falshood which would not be ruled by truth Yet let vs take heede to our soules that we deceiue them not and mocke the Lord for the case is dangerous if we consider it and desperate if we fall into it We will sing in voice and we will sing in spirite euen so we will repent in hart and repent in teares let vs professe with the mouth that wee may bee saued and beleeue in the soule that we may bee iustified Let vs also receiue the exhortation of the Lord Isa 1. chap. that we wash our selues from dissimulation and haue the euill thereof remoued from vs. The filth of this sinne is so odious in the eies of God that vntill it be scowred off there is not any thing in vs that may satisfie his wrath or pacifie his displeasure Therefore if either the feare of his highnesse or the regarde of our owne soules may any way mooue vs to amendment let vs wash away this abhominable filthinesse It is but a painted hew the water will purge it it is like snowe the water will melt it and it resembleth hoare frost which the water dissolueth but I meane not the water of the earth but the blood of Christ for that is the onely medicine against hypocrisie Pray for it and thou shalt haue it wherewithall if it be once washed it shal neuer be defiled againe Flatter not thy selfe and rest not in the shew of holinesse but reforme thy soule throughly Of all sicknesse the falling euill is the worst for it maketh one seeme without life and so of all euill hypocrisie is the worst for it maketh men liue as if there were no God it defaceth good things it denieth religion for it maketh it to haue a harlots face mens liues it defileth and mens minds it corrupteth therefore bring not such a monster into the Lords sight which altereth all thy proportion and lineaments disfigureth the glorious gifts of God But of this thing we haue elsewhere spoken and now it sufficeth to touch it lightly Lord your God Now the prophet telleth them to whome this conuersion must bee made that is to God for whose sake onely men must repent From hence obserue that so long as wee are vnrepentant wee erre and runne away from God Psalm 119. 67. Vntill God called Adam so wrought repentance in him he hid himselfe from the sight of God and so doe all the posteritie of Adam flie from the Lorde as Ionah did vntill wee are repentant We abhorre his Gospell we deny his truth we renounce all goodnes so long as we are vnregenerate we speake euill of the things wee know not and corrupt our selues in the things we knowe Iud. 10. we eate in riot wee sleepe in pride we walke in pleasure and liue in vnthankfulnes Rich men aduaunce themselues aboue other poore men murmur against God yoong men liue in open sinne and old men die in wicked ignorance and all because they are not repentant Thus men wander some one way and some another and few or none the right way What maruell is it to see so many abhominations arise in the world seeing men run from the truth that is Christ forsake the light that is the spirit and die in miserable death because they haue departed from the life that is God Oh miserable men that cast themselues into such a sea of euils wherein the farther they wade the deeper they are plunged and the longer they go the harder they are reclaimed and if at any time they straine at any euill it is not for loue of God for him they haue forsaken but it is for shame of the world which they feare more then death The first reason is because of our selues we haue no knowledge of saluation neither can we inherite the kingdome of God Matth. 18. 17. whereby it is euident how little wee are able to do in any good thing but euery day waxe woorse and woorse And this may serue vs for a notable and lamentable spectacle to behold our vile nature which draweth vs the farther from God that it might drowne vs the deeper in condemnation If wee haue nothing in vs but good nature there is nothing in vs of God his grace we are not building timber but fire wood it is repentance that chuseth vs and squareth
vs and ioyneth vs to God The Lord in this worke is the builder the ministers are the carpenters the worde is the axe the griefe of heart is the stroke and regeneration maketh vs the frame otherwise we are stones refused of the builder Another reason because in our vnrepentant estate wee cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. seeing we cannot please him we run from him we forsake and denie him This would make ones hart to melt to consider that all actions not grounded on a new life doe swarue from God Some obiect if God did not like them they could not doe them So may a thiefe an adulterer or rauisher of women defend his iniquitie but it will not goe for payment for God suffereth you to follow your pleasures against his pleasure that your pleasures may taste of euerlasting paynes Therefore labour for repentance that you may be brought into the Lords sheepefold and be incorporated into his congregation and saued by his deerely beloued sonne then shall your waies be altered and your pleasures ouerturned and you shal pray with Christ Not our will but thy will O heauenly father bee done Being in an vnrepentant estate wee runne away from God yet let vs looke backe on God as Isay exhorteth Isa 45. 22. and then we shall be saued If thou be running from God through a lewd life giuing ouer thy selfe vnto libertie yet looke backe vpon him often the children of Israel if they were stoong by serpēts by looking on the brazen serpent recouered presently And although the sting of thy sinne is greater then the sting of adders yet the Lord is mightier and wholesomer then the brazen serpent therefore looke vnto him if thou wilt be healed Old Simeon so soone as he had seene Christ presently desired to die for ioy and Zacheus hauing but a minde to see him was made that day a notable christian Looke often on the Lord for by beholding him thou maist grow in loue with him wish continually to be with him as the Iewes which being captiues in Babell yet made their praiers toward Ierusalem Esau at the sight of Iacob fell to weeping loued him the better euer after so if thou wilt cast thy eies to heauen behold his glorie then looke vpon the world and see his gouernment then behold the earth and consider his benefits learne his Gospell and note his truth and life thy eyes to Christ to marke his mercie thou wilt surely turne the saile of thy wicked life and come with the Sabaean Queene to worship in his church Consider his workes for they defend thee thinke vpon his iudgements for they threaten thee marke well his kindnes for it maintaineth thee and beleeue his worde for it shall conuert thee cast but one of thy eies vpon the Lord and thou shalt winne him looke often vpon him least minde and eies be both blinded and neuer see him more Another vse wee must lament the plague of our sinnes raigning among vs Isa 59. 9. 10. when the Prophet had shewed them their danger he bringeth them in mourning on this wise Therefore is iudgement farre from vs neither doth iustice come neere vs we waite for light but loe it is darkenes we grope for the wall like the blinde grope as one without eies we stumble at the noone day as in the twilight we are in solitary places as dead men we roare allike beares mourn like doues c. Thus must men that are not yet regenerate re count their miseries after they heare them condemned by the word saying vnto themselues Howe blinde are our eies that we cannot see the glorious light of the Gospell wee are quite forsaken of the Lorde who keepeth vs from beleeuing of his truth wee haue no power to performe the least part of that Gospell to walke in any tollerable obedience sanctification goeth against the haire and though we like it yet wee cannot doe it wee see that hee that refraineth from euill maketh himselfe a praie therefore let the Lord come and reforme our liues and adorne our mindes with righteousnes that wee may bee deliuered from this slauerie of sinne let him turne the heartes of children to their fathers and turne our course vnto himselfe Moreouer think what deadnes is in your soule what sinfulnesse is in your life and what wrath of God hangeth ouer your heads for assuredly except you confesse in this sort you shall be confounded before you be conuerted Let your harts be awaked betimes that wrath ouertake you not and let whatsoeuer may further you to God although it be shame or iudgement or nakednes or pouertie or death bee most speedily receiued The xxij Sermon YOur God After all this preaching of repentance nowe hee beginneth to comfort their distressed mindes which coulde not but be grieued grieuouslie and therefore he putteth them in minde that the Lord is their Lorde and God Howe may this bee if he be theirs then they are his and will he suffer them to bee made a pray vnto brute beasts and to make the heauens to thunder their destruction what comfort haue they by his seruice or what pleasure hath he in their cries verie much for sometimes a tender nurse and louing mother wil make hir childe weepe bitterly that it may loue hir the better so the Lorde to trie his owne casteth them into a bed of sorrowes From hence wee must gather that in our greatest calamitie and aduersitie God is our mercifull God Artthou tormented with sorrowe that it is bitter to thee to liue and better for thee to die or art thou vexed with sore sicknes and intollerable imprisonment hast thou no meat for thy selfe and thy tender babes and seest thou a whole nation in an vprore yet for all this acknowledge with Dauid Psalm 22. 1. that God is thy God although thou seeme forsaken Oh sweete mercy of a father and glorious condition of a sonne whom no pouertie no miserie no iniquitie can part in sunder though he chasten vs yet he loueth vs though wee be helpelesse yet hee remembreth vs though we be in death yet he saueth vs. God is euermore the father of his church and of euery member therein he scorneth not their parentage he refuseth not their pouerty he regardeth their sufferings and desweth their saluation Let vs then say with Iob that although hee slaie vs yet we will trust in him death shall not driue vs in sunder but conioyne vs togither The reasons are First bicause in prosperitie he will bee knowne to maintaine vs and in aduersitie to comfort vs Esay 51. 12. If men would or coulde vndergoe all the former euils without comfort then might they haue some colour torefuse and distrust God but they are not able neuer is any man at one time distressed in bodie and distracted in minde or oppressed outwardly and not comforted inwardly If thy minde be heauie thinke on the comforts of this life if thy bodie bee vexed then confider