our soule all our mynde all our might all our strength all our force in this his seruice All our members both head handes and heart yea all partes that we possesse are tyde to his obedience The least sinne could not shadowe it selfe but it shewed it in vs not condempning only our outward actes but geuing sentence against our wicked thoughtes yea all our idle motions without consent And therefore since all flesh created of God is corrupted so that the verie imaginations of mans hart are onely euill continually since that by the Law it is coâ—â—inced that there is none that doth good no not one but all are concluded vnder sinne and subiect to the same guilt of damnation Since by the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne and that it stoppes euery mans mouth and makes all the worlde subiect to Gods iudgementes and summons them to appeare before his seate since it was added because of transgressions that our sinnes might more appeare and abound therefore it is called to the vnregenerat man an importable yoke the occasion of sinne hence it is called the law of sinne and of wrath the administration of condempnation the oldnes of the letter which can not giue life but pronounceth all our workes accursed And here beholde the strength and sting of death How did death enter By sinne How did sinne appeare and what is the strength of the same The Law of God which giueth sentence of condempnation agaynst all flesh and leaueth not one iustified in his sight And yet notwithstanding all this the Law of God is holy iust and good opening his very will setting a blessing before our eyes as well as a cursse It was not contrary to our nature before it was corrupted but agreeable for the Image of man in which he was first created It teacheth the very patterne of true obedience what is agreeable to God and his nature how much he hateth sinne and delighteth in goodnes It offereth both lyfe and death lyfe to the obeyers death to the breakers Therefore let vs all glorifie God let euery mans mouth be stopped from accusing him or his Law Let vs confesse against our selues our sinnes and say vnto him Shame and confusion belonges vnto vs Death and dampnation is our due the heauie anger wrath and hell are our desartes And thou O blessed God art iust righteous good and gratious in all thy doinges for euer Let vs thus I say giue sentence against our selues that God may be founde cleare euen to the most wickedst men when he is iudged Well then let vs beare in minde that God is not too rigorous in punishing vs with eternall death by reason of our sinnes so conuinced by his lawe and that Gods infinite iustice thus broken disobeyed coulde not otherwyse be answered of man but by infinite susteyning of eternall death Marke therefore I pray you the whole kingdome of the Deuil He first fighteth and warreth with temptations which are as dartes to wounde our soules to death which if we resist not being so tempted but yeelde to sinne then comes the Law against vs with his force and by vertue of the Law death entreth and triumpheth For the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law for it sheweth vs Hel which is the pallace of Death leaues vs in perdition So that you see according to my promise what Death is it selfe what Prince it hath and what strong Souldiers it hath to keepe his kingdome to wit the Deuill him selfe sinne lawe wrath of God and all to vpholde it Wherefore it is no maruel yf the remembraunce of death be bitter to many and that they abhor and hate it I say it is no wonder if all their ioyntes do tremble and shake a sunder for the horror thereof made the Sonne of God oft to pray against it to sweate droppes of bood for the agonie of it and to cry out to his Father as a man forelorne Why hast thou forsaken mee Neither yet was this so strange a miracle to see the Sonne of God so amazed at death for it set both Deuill Lawe Sinne Hell Graue and wrath of God against him all these were armed to ouerthrow him all these were Death his Souldiers and appoynted captaynes to conquer Christ And any or the least of these without him will quite destroy vs. But now to your comfortes that beleeue let vs see who got the victorie whether Christ or Death or which of them was spoyled that so we may learne to confirme our fayth in the middest of our conflictes You haue heard already what death is in it owne nature now heare what it is through Christ Our estate without him we know we are euen holden in the shadow of death being fettered in our finnes The weight of our finnes is the Law of God layde vpon vs. Hel is our prison death is our Iaylor to hold vs. See how we are locked from God yet most iustly as I noted In this distresse and deepe dungion Iesus Christ came to visite vs euen God and Man a right redeemer for vs he takes our cause vppon him and he reasons and wrastles with the Deuill that helde vs captiues This mightie Sauiour tooke flesh and blood to take our part that he might destroy through death him that had power of death that is to say the Deuil and that he myght delyuer all them which for feare of death were all their lyfe time subiect to bondage He suffered for our sinnes the Iust for the vniust that he might bring vs to God and was put to death concerning the flesh but quiâ—kened in the spirite that he might be our ransome Marke therefore diligently I beseech you this his combat and conflict For he had to deale with the Deuill who helde vs captiues The Deuill for his defence had the Law euen the righteous law of God which man had transgressed and therefore now worthely subiect to his power The obiections therefore that he made against man to Christ are these Whosoeuer breaketh the Law of God shall die the death but man hath broken the Law of God therefore he shall die the death and by the vertue of the Law sayth the Deuill I will holde him in death Againe the Law of God is according to his nature good holy and righteous And therfore the death of man pronounced by the Lawe is iust and his damnation righteous God the Law giuer is infinite and eternall therefore his death must be endles and euerlasting God is iust and can not denie himselfe He sayd that man yf he should breake his lawe should die the death and therefore death shal hold him God is perfect pure and therefore the satisfaction must be according to his nature His law bindes both soule and body euen thought worde and deede and therefore let man performe this and he shall liue These and many more are the dartes of the Deuil which he throweth agaynst our foules to wound
he created vs and cast vs of whom he had made euen to the forme of his Image And as through sinne he gaue vs ouer to the deuill so he iustly appointed the meanes to hamper vs neither was this his doing contrarie to his iustice nay rather if he had not so done he should haue seemed to deny himselfe and to be repugnant to his worde pronounced In the beginning he created man in righteousnesse and holinesse according to his owne shape and likenesse So long as he kept this forme he enioyed his blessed presence his protection and prouidence ruled ouer him He wanted nothing that was necessary for him all creatures were his seruants they came at his call bowed at his beck euen the beasts of the fielde the fowles of the ayre and the fishes of the sea he put all things in subiection vnder his feete so that it forceth the Prophet to cry out and with a lowde voyce to exclaime O Lord how excellent is thy name in all the worlde what is man that thou art so mindefull of him or the sonne of man that thou so regardest him thou madest him lower then the Angels to crowne him with glorie and great worship he wanted nothing that harte could wishe he was placed in Paradise amongst all passing pleasures The ground of it selfe yeelded foorth her increase without toyle or trauell He was made Subiect to no creature but was Lord of all him onely excepted who had so preferred him This God and this Lorde for all these his graces and blessings vnspeakable required no great homage or seruice at his hand he exacted no high rente he did not ouer charge him But only this to shewe his soueraigne authoritie ouer him he gaue him a commaundement no weightie thing to be obserued but a matter easily to be performed to wit that he hauing aboundance of al things beside he should absteyne for his pleasure from tasting of the tree of good and euill and all this he did to trye his obedience Marke now on the other side this vnkinde creature this vngratefull wretch and wicked man forgetting God and what he had done for him casting all aside behinde his backe most traiterouslye villanously and most lyke a monster rebels against his Lord contemneth his Creator and sets his God at naught so listens to the deuill beleeue his lyes following lyke a beast his sensuall appetite and euen in that one thing forbidden spighteth his God regardeth not his worde feareth not Death that was threatned but eateth of the forbidden tree maugre the beard of God and his iudgements See therefore the greatnesse of his sinne and the due deserts of this euerlasting death which I spake of could any punishment bee great enough or any bitter plague bad enough for such a haynous fact that whereas God had giuen him such libertie and freedome of all things he would not so much as obey him in one Againe God did not onely binde him to obey him but threatned his disobedience If thou eate thereof thou shalt dye the death Notwithstanding both Gods commaunding and his threatning he is most carelesse and swiftly runnes headlong to sinne and wickednesse and so entred into such a masse of miseries whence neither he himselfe or his posteritie could euer vnwinde themselues For so abusing his owne freewill he lost it and was made a slaue vnto himselfe defacing Gods image he became like vnto the diuell and contemning life he found out death euen death erernall This was the wages of his sinne this was the hyer of his labour this great profit reaped he for his paines Marke nowe the fruite of his disobedience God thrust him out of Paradise and being extruded kept him out by Cherubins so he sawe his owne shame and could not couer his wickednesse his Figge leaues would not serue his turne but God accursed him and his seede he plagued the earth with barrennesse made all creatures feele the smart of this fall and as he disobeyed God so caused he disobedience in the creatures towardes him Hereof comes thefearcenesse of Lions Beares Tygers Wolues and all wilde beasts hereof arised all rebellions and warre disorder scarcitie dearth hunger cold nakednesse plagues murther and all kinde of miseries that are in the world all which are fore-runners of this eternall death and ringleaders to damnation And to conuince vs of this our accursed state the better God renewed his law first written as I said in nature but blotted out by our fall euen in tables of stone to shew vs the hardnesse of our hearts that so as in a glasse we might see our owne condemnation For amidst the heapes of other sinne pride so possessed our hearts that although we were nothing but sinne yet we thought our selues cleane holy and righteous We were so blinded that we knew not sinne vntill the law layd it open shewed vs our nakednes Without the law saith Paul we had not knowen sinne I knew not saith he sinne but by the law for I had not knowen lust except the law had sayd Thou shalt not lust But sinne tooke an occasiō by the cōmandement wrought in me al maner of concupisence for without the law sin is dead Not as though there were no sinne in the world before the publishing of the law for euen the Gentiles them selues which had not the law written shewed the effect of the law in their harts their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing and therfore being conuinced of sin in their soules without the lawe written are a lawe vnto themselues and sinning without the lawe shall perish without the law written by the lawe of nature ingrafted in their hearts This is prooued by many morrall vertues that they naturally followed and by many vices which they naturally hated This knowledge of the lawe of nature though vnperfect yet sufficient to confound them Albeit sinne indeed was then hidden in respect and their best knowledge of the lawe so ouershadowed and well nigh blotted that sinne could not appeare in his nature But when the lawe was renued sinne that seemed to be dead reuiued and shewed it selfe all our spots did then appeare which before were darkened by ignorance of Gods lawe which we gained by our fall The lawe then conuinced vs of sinne reuealed our nakednesse which our Fig leaues had hidden it opened the inward man with all his concupiscence it shewed vs our shame and confusion our vgelsome shape most monstrous to behold how wee were transformed from the Image of God to the similitude of the diuell it put vs in remembrance of our deuine nature which wee had lost it shewed vs hell and the wrath of God Nothing but condemnation appeared by it it let vs vnderstand how farre we were falne from God how all things both within vs and without vs were corrupted it painted out God in his nature according to his most pure holinesse and iustice how he requireth all our heart all
our enemies that we might serue him without feare Now then all we which beleeue are freed from the slauerie of sinne kingdome of the deuill gulfe of hell and chaynes of death So that hencefoorth death is no death to Gods chyldren through Christ but great aduantage and appoynted for a passage to a better lyfe And therefore though wicked reprobates tremble at the name of death to whom they are in thraldome yet Gods chyldren being conquerours through Christ may well triumph for now through him we haue an entrance made to heauen and death is the very doore to life a passage out of this world to the Father from the prison of this body to goe to Christ It is a returning to our heauenly countrey from which we were exiled And this is the cause why the godly sigh and sorrow to be loosed and to be with Christ being subiect to sinne And heere let vs note that whereas death is a dissolution of the soule from the body that therefore the body is nothing els but a prison in which our soules are bound And he that desireth to liue is like a madde Prisoner that is delighted in his giues that may be free from his fetters and cares not that may go out of the Iayle and will not Wherefore we must consider of Death not as it seemes in it selfe but as it is Christ naturally we couet to be and consequently we shunne Death which depriues vs of our being Death is horrible to the best for a while because it is repugnant to their nature but on the other side we see how we are held as in a prison so long as this body of sinne compasseth vs about Therefore wee ought to long for the euerlasting life which is promised vs after death for when wee drawe towards death then come we nigh vnto it and Death is the very gate of life assuring our selues that for asmuch as Iesus Christ hath passed the same way we neede not be afraide that Death shall ouercome vs for it is through him a rebaâ—ed and blunted sword whose point is broken whose edge is taken off so that it cannot hurt vs and although it drawe some bloud of vs yet notwithstanding the same shall be but to purge vs and rid vs of all our diseases Since therefore wee haue learned what Death is in it selfe and what in Christ and knowe the worste since Death is aduantage to the faithfull and the very high waye to heauen let vs learne how to prepare our selues there to which is the last thing which I promised to performe First therefore in this our preparation let vs arme our selues against these temptations with which both diuell world and flesh will mightily assaile vs. What man saith the deuill wilt thou dye why then beholde the company of thy sinnes the wrath of God the graue and hell are ready to deuoure thee the Law is thy Iudge which doth condemne thee To these temptations of the deuill we must oppose Christes righteousnesse satisfactions and merits in which God holdeth himselfe fullye appeased The world it setteth abroche his baites What wilt thou dy O man why see thy goodly buildings thy bags of golde thy landes and liuings thy rents and reuenues thy pastime and thy pleasures thy Iewels and thy treasures thy delights and all that thy heart desireth In deed O worlde this felicitie is good but yet no otherwise then it standeth with the fauour of God it is to be kept but yet so farre foorth as by the keeping of it we loose not God and yet we see the vanitie of thy pleasures the frailtie of thy glory and the ficklenesse of thy goods are therefore nothing in respect of the ioyes of heauen and happy lyfe which after death I am sure to haue Wherefore I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of God who is the keeper of our life For this our life which now we lead is no life in deed but a death for wee are dead and our lyfe is hid with God in Christ we walke by faith and not by sight yea so long as we are at home in this our body we wander and go astray from God our Lorde And O thou worlde which allurest me so to loue this life What is thy wages If I should serue thee I am sure to be a foe to Christ who loues thee not who prayeth not for thee whose kingdome is not of thee and therefore to loue thee is to hate my God which to doe is worse then death Thy rewarde I knowe is nothing but nakednesse for naked I came vnto thee and naked I shall goe from thee And therefore I am willing to forsake thee and desire to be losed and to be with Christ who will couer my nakednesse with the robes of his righteousnesse lastlye comes the flesh with trembling and quaking And wilt thou die O man why see thy friends and thy family thy wife and thy children thy father and thy mother weepe and wayle crye and call vnto thee and wilte thou depart thus wilte thou needs go from them But O thou flesh fight not thus against my soule it is good in deede to tarry still amongst our friends yet so that wee abide not there in Gods displeasure and hereafter to dwell in hell with the diuels in fyre euerlasting There is nothing vnder God but it may be kept so that God being aboue all thinges which wee haue be not lost He that loues father or mother wife or children c. better then Christ is not worthy of his presence And therefore though they lament the losse of my life yet can they not redeeme it for what man is he that liueth and shall not see death And shall hedeliuer his soule from hell No no neither riches nor strength neither power nor pollicie can preuaile in this point for whether we sleepe or whether we wake we drawe towards death God hath set vs our bounds which we cannot passe and as the greene leaues in a thicke tree some fall and some growe so is the generation of fleshe and bloud one commeth to his ende and another is borne wee came not altogether neither must wee returne altogether Therefore O flesh be content O my friends be quiet for needes vvee must departe yet to meete againe vvee are sure And in going from you my fleshly friends I goe to the Saintes of heauen to the mounte Sion and to the cittie of the liuing God the celestiall Ierusalem to the companie of innumerable Angels to the assemblye and congregation of the first borne and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirites of iust and perfect men I know that so long as I am in this flesh I cannot please God and therefore I desire to be losed and to be with Christ We haue heere no continuing cittie wee looke for one of God And I know if this my earthly house of this tabernacle be once destroyed I shall haue