THE PEACE OF ENMITY. A SERMON Preached in PAUL'S Church the 12 day of February, in the year of our Lord God, 1639. BY AUGUSTINE HILL, Rector of Dengey in the County of ESSEX. AUG. Pacem habete cum hominibus, Bellum cum Diabolo, vitiis, vanitatibus. LONDON, Printed by E. P. for Nicholas Bourne, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange. 1640. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY GARWAY, Lord Mayor of the City Of LONDON; And to the Right Worshipful The ALDERMEN His BRETHREN: Right Honourable, YOur Lordship's favourable acceptance of my weak endeavours puts life into them, which were even before their birth dead, in mine own opinion of them, and had died as soon as they were borne, but that you was pleased to breathe upon them, so that having from you received a public life, they humbly beg of your Lordship to foster them, in this hard censorious age. Your encouragements came to me, as God's mercy came to Adam, and us in him in my text, in the needful time of trouble, therefore are more grateful to me, and with more gratitude ought to be, and are received. God knows best which way to bring us to himself, and if our Pilgrimage was sweet, we should forget our Country, yet where God sends us comforts, not to kiss that hand, by which we receive them, is wretched unthankfulness. My poor Sermon, enriched by your Honour's acceptance, flies into your bosom for shelter, and may the comforts exhibited therein, remain there, and in the hearts of all yours, and of all the pillars of this government, whereof you are principal. It is published as near as I could, totidem verbis, as it was preached. I feared to add any thing to it, lest that which was put to, might be displeasing to your Lordship, and so discarded of your protection, or to leave out any thing, lest some part of it (though never so mean) might have been beneficial to one or other, and so an injury done in the loss of it. It hath a great disadvantage, in that what little life there was in the delivery, is wholly lost, unless quickened by the Fancy and apprehension of the reader, whose ear might relish that which the eye will perhaps distaste, and for myself, though preaching be my delightful burden, yet the press is a pressure more than ordinary to me, being no whit acquainted that way, nor having friends and acquaintance to direct me in it. But I beseech you to cover all my weaknesses with your most favourable construction, and not only to cover them yourself, but to shelter them from the storms of censure, which are likely to light on them. The Lord continue and increase unto you the blessings of his right hand and of his left, and to those that are your right hand and right eye, in the Government of this ancient corporation, the right Worspipfull, the Aldermen your Brethren, that you and they may see clearly into, and see strongly executed those things which belong to the safety and welfare of this renowned body, and that they, whose lips preserve knowledge, may still have a cheerful portion of meat in due season. It is the Crown of your honour and estates, and your poor Orator will pray that it may ever flourish, and that the Oil may abound in your cruses, and multiply in the effusion of it, as is the desire of him that is Yours, ready to be commanded AUGUSTINE HILL. THE PEACE OF ENMITY. GEN. 3.15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, he shall break thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. WHen God had made the great world, he made man the little world, as an abstract of the creation, & Epilogus operum, Aug. a conclusion of all his works, placed him in paradise, who was a Paradise in himself; his soul as rich as that soil, naked, because clothed with innocency, instead of a garment, Sin it was that opened the eyes of his body, and shut the eyes of his mind, clothed his outward and stripped his inward man: hinc illae lachrymae, hence are the tears of us his posterity. The sum is that of Solomon: God made man righteous, but he hath sought out many inventions, and in seeking his inventions, he found a way to lose himself, and all of us. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on us also, and by a gracious promise of his own son in my text, restores him. Mortality seizeth upon Adam, everlasting death had stretched out her hand to have smitten him (as jeroboam did against the Prophet) but God withered it. justice cries give, give, and sets open her devouring throat to swallow him, but the Lord stops her mouth with a morsel from Heaven. The substance of my text is Gods wonderful mercy in sinful Adam's restauration, brought in by a gracious Parenthesis, in the midst of God's justice, and man's necessity, in the very pinch of extremity, like a shower of rain in the time of draught, or tanquam flos rosarum in diebus hybernis. Isidore. The weight and moment of the matter, requires your attention: it's Oceanus Theologiae, a main Ocean of Divinity, it is omnis latitudo Scripturarum, the whole breadth of Scripture, our forefather's Gospel, and the seminary of ours. On this, the eyes of all primitive believers were fixed, and by faith in this promise were saved. 'Tis the foundation of Christian Faith, the secret of Christian hope, the inducement of Christian love, and therefore aught to be thrice welcome to us Christians. The just Judge of all things, commonly ordinates' the punishment to the offence, he that is the first in sinning, must be the first in suffering, Adam, the last in the transgression, must be the last in execution. The Anathema first takes hold on the serpent, Bernard. Chrys. Diabolum serpentem, or Diabolum per serpentem, the devil by the serpent, speaking through that cane and trunk, like a jesuite through an image, whose malediction, as it is divided into two verses, so it hath divided the minds of men into two opinions, some restraining it to the spiritual serpent the Devil, others conjoining the terrene serpent, as a sharer of the punishment, which is most consonant to divine justice, which punisheth the act done, and suffereth not the means by which it is done, to go : as an affectionate father, having his only son murdered, causeth not only the murderer himself to suffer condign punishment, but expresseth his indignation towards that weapon, by which that bloody fact was committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Chrys. In the former verse God wracks the instrument, in this he ruins the author of rebellion. I will put enmity between thee, etc. My text is, like the times, litigious, it thunders out wars, and rumours of wars, seditions, tumults, colluctations, enmity. We may name it as Isaac did the first well he digged, Esek contention, or his second well, Gen. 16, 20, 21 Sitnah hatred: contention, and hatred are in it, open violence and secret circumvention: God himself the breeder of this contention, the occasioner of this quarrel 'tis vox Dei the voice of God and not of man, who here is both a Prophet, and a Preacher of enmity, I will put Enmity; and therefore it is not evil, for God himself, who is goodness itself, is author of it: It is not casual or contingent, as the Philistines were half persuaded of their plague of Emeralds, a chance had happened to them: but a predestinate, prevised decree, 1 Sam. 6. a settled enmity, I will put, 'tis not a slender and trivial discord, but enmity itself in the abstract; 'tis not unjust in regard of the adverse parties, the Serpent, and the woman, once at a false amity, now God puts a true enmity betwixt them; which was not only personal, bounded to themselves alone, but derived to their posterities, perpetuum certamen, an everlasting conflict between them, and their seeds for ever: nor is the issue uncomfortable, for the victory is already determined for the woman, and her seed: he shall break, etc. Now whereas the Septuagint render it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, observabit te, it should rather be, as a Critic observes, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conteret; or else it is too short, and though the Original be equal in both, yet Divines have generally noted an inequality, multo gravius accipies damnum quàm offeres. He shall break thy head, Tremell. and thou shalt (but) bruise his heel. So that my text is, Castrorum acies bene ordinata, an army well marshaled where every one keeps his place and rank. First, here is the prime agent, and heavenly disposer, I. Secondly, his active power, determination or constitution itself, will put. Thirdly, the Instrument, or means used to effect it, enmity. Fourthly the subjects of this contrariety, the serpent, and the woman, his seed and her seed, opposite ex Diametro one to the other. Fiftly the effects. He shall break thy head, and thou shalt &c. or in military terms, we have, First the mover of this quarrel, divine goodness, justice, and providence. Secondly, the measure of it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enmity, not only simultas, a secret spleen, but open manifest malice, and detestation, joined with a desire to do hurt. Thirdly the Antagonists or Combatants; The serpent and the woman, and their innumerable armies. Lastly, the Success of the Combat, the conflict is fierce, there are hurts on both sides; but the conquest is glorious: He shall break thy head, etc. In the one Champion you may see valour, and victory; valour in that he aims, and strikes at the head: victory in that he breaks the head. In the other, Wicednesse and Weakness: Malice joined with power restrained, and disabled to perform his mischievous intents: In that he can but bruise, though he desires to do more, and that but the heel, though he desires to go farther: Thou shalt but bruise, his flesh is impenetrable; and but his heel, his body is impregnable. Gal. 4.24. Yet this is but the casket, there is a rich jewel within, for I must use the Apostle his phrase. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, These things are an Allegory, there is a sweet kernel shut up under this shell of words? And this particle he, or it hath a double portion among the rest. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most fair, and rich Margarite: Christ himself, a precious treasure hid here in this field of enmity, and he whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, is couched in this small continent, The seed of the woman, by whom the head of the serpent must be broken, the Son of God, in whom all the nations of the earth must be blessed. I am sure, full of grace and truth are these words, in God the Father, so fully, freely, and fitly promising to send his own Son, to save the world, as soon as it was lost, and to restore man, as yet by an actual sentence of judgement, uncondemned. These choice particulars are in this text: all which with brevity I will orderly and plainly point at. I must begin well, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with God himself (l). God is in this place in this particle. Aug. Ego cum pondere pronuntiandum, saith a Father. But if any not satisfied with this Solecism should ask this Question, what is his name, and his son's name; Let him know, Prov. 30.4. Deus est nomen suum, & nomen suum ipse est, God is his name, and his name is himself: and if we will be wise to sobriety, let us not be so curious to know what he is in himself, as careful to observe what he is to us: Our Creator in the first chapter, our Redeemer in this verse. I will] the will of God is the first fountain, and Sovereign cause of all things; He worketh all things according to the counsel of his own Will. He is no idle, Ephes. 1.11. or Idol God, as ignorants make him, that sits in the chair of contemplation, but he is always active and operative, Curiosus et plenus negotii' Deus: A curious, exquisite, provident God, full of business. Aug. Nor is he housed above the Moon, as the Peripatetics would have him, but he taketh care of things below, and that from the highest to the lowest, yet nec superior in illis, nec inferior in istis, neither superior in those, Aug. nor inferior in these; he sees and forsees all things, from eternity to eternity, as if present; he foreknoweth what they shall be, he worketh them before they are, decrees them before he works them, brings to pass what he decrees, and turns all things he brings to pass to his own peculiar designed ends: and this is all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to the counsel of his will: and in my text it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good will and pleasure of God prevising, purposing, providing aforehand, that mercy and comfort which he meant to show to his in future generations, I will. But can such bright beams produce such a foggy vapour as enmity? can so pure a fountain send forth such troubled streams? Fare be it from the Maker of all things to do that which is unbeseeming his heavenly moderation and as fare be it from us to conceive so of our merciful Creator. The rule is true, Ideo misit Deus bonam separationem, ut malam rumperet conjunctionem. God therefore sent a good separation, that he might dissolve an evil conjunction. And as for the inference of this enmity, Zach ●. 7. Grace, Grace unto it: yea blessed be the womb that bore it, and the paps that gave it suck. This war is our peace, this strife is our atonement. This enmity between Satan and us, is our unity with God, and our amity with the blessed Angels: Hear are grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles, the sealed gates of everlasting life rend open by these brushes. Ephes. 3.10. This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifold wisdom of God, that fetcheth about his purposes from a fare, and by strange means effects his designments, works out his own ends, and our comforts by contrary instruments, procures health by poison, taketh honey out of a weed, water out of a Rock, oil out of a stone, good out of evil, light out of darkness, salvation out of enmity. I will put enmity. The next thing is the parties betwixt whom the litigation and contention is, the Serpent and the woman, two companions in evil, confederates in rebellion: now God sets them at variance. It is a rule of Tacitus, that society once throughly broken proves deadly, and he gives the reason of it, Quae apud concordes vincula charitatis, Tacitus. incitamenta irarum apud infensos sunt. Those things which before coupled their friendship, in a mutual, interchangeable familiarity, are now occasions of greater detestation. The text verefies it: The serpent, and the woman were as inward as might be, in injustice, they took sweet sour counsel together, had stricken their right hands together, in a wrong fellowship, now they are in an uproar, and intestine insurrection, The society that keeps not within the pale of obedience, is nothing else but a partnership in conspiracy, a disordered Order easily broken, Concordia discors, it gins in sedition, and ends in contention: and though wicked men symbolise in that which is naught, yet God doth Commonly knap in sunder their staff of bands, bruise the heel or break the head of their combination. And though there be a day when Herod and Pilate be made friends, Luke 23.12. and cleave together in their devices, like the woman and the serpent, against the first and second Adam; Yet there shall be a time, when they shall be separated each from other as fare as the East from the West, Their affections as fare remote, and distant as the Hyena and the dog; the weak strings of their rotten society loosed, and their bows strongly bend in a mutual opposition. It is just with God to set them one against another, who have set themselves against him: and to make revolters from him their Captain, to mutinize among themselves. Thus God threatened to set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; as Cadmus his army, bred of serpent's teeth, Isa. 19.2. killed each other. Capital is this enmity between the serpent, and the woman: So that you may as soon bring the two poles of heaven together, as these two to unity. For it is enmity in the abstract, and so it bars the subjects of any coalition. Reconciliation may be made between enemies, but never where enmity itself is settled, as betwixt these two: And being thus parted, my discourse must likewise sever them. Thee]. i. the Devil: whose Creation, or corruption it pleased God that Moses his pen should not exactly describe unto us, et secretum suum sibi, nec audemus hic aliquid coniicere, quod ille curavit retinere, As Saint Bernard well, Bern. upon a better occasion, Let the Lords secrets be with himself: I will not have an eye to see, where God hath not a finger to set down. And though I am ignorant of his nature, yet will I strive not to be ignorant of his devises: Revel. 20.8. undoubtedly He it is whom the spirit of God calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Dragon, the old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan. A Father briefly describes him and his companions, Aug. they are Spiritus nocendi cupidissimi, a justitia penitus alieni, superbia tumidi, Jdem tract. 100 in joh. invidentia lividi, fallacia callidi. And in another place the same Father terms them both desertores, forsakers of God, and deceptores, deceivers of us. This is one of the Champions, you may match him with that Goliath of the Philistines. The other is a weak opponent, but comes like David, in the Name of the Lord. The woman) mannesse, or she-man according to the original: man's helper, dimidium anime, his better half, his yoke-fellow, his second self. Yet Translators have here rendered it Mulier, à mollity, from her niceness, her tenderness of constitution, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 genus mulierum, a Creature that delights in Ornaments. Saint Chrysostome saith keenly, she was the Devil's engine to undo man. Tim. 2.14. But Saint Paul more mildly, she was of two earthen vessels the weaker, and deceived in the transgression: And his conclusion is sweet, through bearing of children she shall be saved, for she should at the last bear him that should both save her, and all true believers. Prov. 31. Mulierem fortem quis inveniet, (saith the wise man) who can find a strong, or a virtuous woman! which a Father expounds to be an admiration, Bern. not a dubitation: For though Solomon knew the weakness of that sex, yet he looked at the stability of God's promise, that the same hand should be an instrument of wounding, and healing: Et qui vicerat per foeminam, Bern. vinceretur per ipsam. He that had overcome by the woman, should be overcome by the woman: though not by the same individual person: For divines note that Eve imagined herself to be the mother of the holy seed; and therefore when she bore Cain, she said, Genes. 4 1. acquisivi virum a jehovah, I have gotten a man of the Lord: Others more punctually making (eth) a sign of the accusative case, and not only so, Genes. 4.2. but an emphatical demonstrative equivalent to the Greek Article (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) render it, Acquisivi virum, jehovah, I have gotten that man that is the Lord: but seeing her expectation frustrate, she names her next son Abel, vanity, to show how vain her opinion was. For it was not Eve, but that handmaid which the Lord had appointed. These are the two combatants, Numb. 22. that stand in my Text, like the Angel in Balaams' way, with their swords in their hands drawn one against the other: the persons whom God sets at variance: yet neither is this their enmity personal, bounded to themselves, or limited to their proprietaries, but diffusing itself through the veins of their seed, and like a Gangrene, running over the whole body of their posterity, thy seed and her seed. Immortal is the hatred and dissension of mortal men, and enmity runs in a continual line. The malice kindled among Ancestors is cherished by succeeding progeny: Nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis: Children and children's children will add fuel to it, and possess the inflamed blood of their parents. To have jonathan saul's son to love David saul's reputed enemy, is as great a wonder, as to have Saul himself among the prophets: following generations commonly tread the steps of the former: Chrys. but especially endless are those quarrels ubi inimicitiae divina authoritate firmantur. As in the text, between the serpent and the woman and their seeds. Thy seed] Whose? The Devils! Surely, we may say, as the Disciples in another case, This is a hard saying: or we may beg with them, Master, teach us these things: there wants some Oedipus of holy writ to dissolve this doubt. It hath been the fond opinion of some, that Devils are corporeal and have seminal propagation. Psellus set it a foot, Cardanus maintained and confirmed it; and Scaliger justly confutes it. Math. 9.34. Probable it is, that there is a chief of those wicked spirits, styled the Prince of Devils, Ephes. 2.2. and the Prince of the power of the Air; and pointed at before in the Text, in that single term, thee: And many others there are, it not seduced by him (as Aquinas thinks) yet subjected to him, or at least sharers with him both of his sin and punishment, Math 25. called his Angels, and in my text, his seed. There are also others which are of the Serpent's seed; we shall not need rake hell to find them, they are not of the nature of spirits, but clothed with flesh and blood: As Tully speaks of Catiline, Vivunt & in Senatum veniunt, They live and daily converse amongst us. Christ calls judas a devil, john 6.70. john 8.44. Marlorat. in locum. Aug. in joh. tract. 42. tells the Pharisees, Ye are of your Father the Devil: Non quoad substantiae traducem, sed naturae corruptelam, not in regard of the traduction of their substance, but the corruption of their nature: non nascendo, as the Manichees held; but, imitando, by imitating his cursed works. These two ways they are the devil's seed, by corruption of their nature, by imitation of the devil's works. Such are those, qui conantur destruere fidem, that endeavour to destroy faith, and take that out of the earth, as Tyrants; or corrumpere fidem, to corrupt the faith, as Heretics: When Martion asked Policarpus, Agnoscis me? Dost thou know me? His answer was, Agnosco te primogenitum Satanae: I know thee to be the devil's first borne child: or those that seek disrumpere charitatem, to break the bond of Christian charity, as Schismatics, and in general, all carnal unregenerate men, that either truly know not Christ, or in the whole course of their lives deny him, are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Saint john saith, of that evil one, the Devil. Her seed] The woman's seed must be conceived to be Christ and Christians. Christ in the first place. He was the woman's seed, of her loins, of her bowels, bone of her bone, and flesh of her flesh; Eusebius Emissenus. he took from her a true real substantial body, Sanguinem quem pro matre obtulit, antea de sanguine matris accepit: Contrary to that of the Marcionites and Manichees; the one dreaming of an imaginary body of his, only in show, semblance and apparition, corpus Phantasticum, the other of a bare heavenly body, which he brought with him from heaven, and with which he passed through her body, as water through a Conduit-pipe, without any assumption of her nature. In my text he was the seed of the woman, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 1.3. john 1.14. Galat. 4.4. jerem. 31.22. he was made flesh, made of a woman, (though not by the usual course of nature.) The Lord shall create a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man. Foemina circundans virum est virgo concipiens Deum. Bernard. Hom. 2. A Virgin shall conceive, and bear God incarnate. But how a mother, and yet a Virgin? wonder we may, yet we cannot but believe, when the holy Ghost supplies the place of a parent, Non goneratione, sed jussione, Aug. & benedictione, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not by carnal effusion of seminal humour: but by manufacture, or handiwork. I may conclude with Saint Ambrose: Ambros. Multa in Christo invenies secundum naturam, & ultra naturam. It was natural that he should be the seed of the woman, above nature, that it could be without the seed of man. And this is the compliment of all humane generations: Adam was neither of man, nor woman, but slime. Eve of a man, without a woman; all we of man and woman: Christ of a woman, without a man. Her seed,]. i Christians in the second place, which are not so properly the woman's seed, as her seeds seed, borne not of flesh and blood, john 1.13. 1 Pet. 1.23. Psalm. 22.30. nor of the will of man, but of the Will of God, the Word of God, the seed that serve God, and are accounted to him for a generation; not that natural seed of Abraham, of which God said to him that his seed should be as the dust of the earth, Genes. 13.16. But that spiritual seed which should be as the Stars of Heaven. Genes. 15.5 So then his meaning is, that betwixt Christ and believers on him, and the Devil, and his adherents in hell, on earth, there is a perpetual enmity. Christ's enemy the Devil was in his Cradle, on the Cross, an enemy at the temptation, in his preaching, in his miracles, and in that whole work of man's redemption. An enemy to Christians he is and ever will be: He makes war with the remnant of her seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Apoc. 12.17. Apoc. 13. He persecutes those that dwell in heaven, those that live here with erect conversations, lifted up unto the Author and sinisher of their faith. It is not thus with the wicked, they feel not the forces of his enmity, Pax, Pax, all that they possess is in peace, while Satan peaceably possesseth them: they make a covenant with hell, are at an agreement with death, and stick not to say, Apoc. 18. as the great Whore, I sit as a Queen, and shall never be removed. No man hunts for tamed Fowls, but wild and estranged, these are his already, it is in vain to seek their further Captivation. But he looks with the aspect of a Basilisk upon the life of a righteous man. A Saint's soul is a pearl in his condemned eye, true believing Christians are the maliced parties, whom he and his do prosecute with deadly hatred. In sanctificatis nobis maxime diaboli tentamenta grassantur, quia magis exoptata est ei victoria de sanctis. Sanctified men are the mark of his temptation, and over them he doth principally desire a victory: As there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth; so is there joy in hell over one righteous man that falls into sin, and the snares of the Devil, more than over many that are his bondslaves. Chrys. Adhoc praelium accinge te Christiane. Buckle thyself, O Christian to encounter this enemy of thy Master, and of thyself, that hath undone thy parents, and seeks to destroy thee likewise, et pro affectu, pro charitate, pro ipsa denique naturâ, for affection, for Charity, even for nature's sake, revenge on him these injuries, and let him never triumph, and set up his banners for tokens in the ruins of them, and thee. We must all know, that we have such an enemy, that Viet armis labours for, and delights in our destruction. Mortalium Calamitates epul● D●monum, our miseries are his banqueting dishes, et solatium perditionis, Synesius. as Lactantius thinks, Lactant. the only comfort he hath to bring us into the same perdition with himself. And that we may more seriously consider our danger in regard of him, we may discover him to be a powerful, a Politic, and a malicious enemy, And these three concurring in him, the danger is so much the greater, power to do, skill to direct and manage, and an inward principle of malice to set both brain and hand on work must needs be noxious. 1. Powerful he is, of great strength, Luke 11. and therefore called a strong armed man, he is said to have ten horns, to denote his great puissance, to push at the servants of God, and cast them down. He is Leo in cubili, Aug. in Psal. 9 in quo & vis & Dolus, A Lion in his den, in whom there is both strength and deceit. 2. Politic. Astus pollentior armis: Cunning and skill to manage a battle is of as great consequence as force, and power; the devil is not wanting in this kind, he hath his plots and stratagems of war, Mille nocendi arts. No Ulysses comparable to him for deceit, he can transform himself into an Angel of light: No Proteus can equal his variableness, 2 Cor. 11. and cunning unconstancy; He is said to have seven heads, now seven is a number of perfection; he is then Master of his trade for sleights and subtleties: And this he hath partly from his knowledge, partly from his experience. His knowledge, either natural, for he retains a great part of that he once had, and is deeply acquainted with the Mysteries of second causes; or acquired by an easy, and infallible way of speculation, not by a tedious searching of causes by their effects: proceeding à notis ad ignotiora, as we do. Partly from his experience, he is acquainted with all ages and passages past, and keeps a sure Register of them. Seris venit usus ab annis: Experience comes from old age. He is, and needs must be experienced, that is as ancient as the world itself; therefore he is called that old serpent. But these two would not disadvantage us if there was not nocendi animus, a mind to do us mischief, but such there is in him: he is 3. A malicious enmity. Saint Basill writes of the Leopard, that he bears such a natural hatred to man, that if he do but see his picture, he is ready to fly upon it, and tear it in pieces: such a spiritual hatred hath the Devil to man's soul, Hoc continuum stadium ejus, hoc unicum desiderium, ut animas devoret. Aug. sol. 16. This is his continual study, his daily desire, to devome souls. Make we use then of this brief discovery of our enemy. Let his power teach us to give ourselves unto prayer, that is a Christians best offensive weapon. Bern. Gravis equidem nobis inimici tentatio, Aug. de civ. Dei. l. 5. c. 26. sed long gravior illi nostra oratio. Prayer is B●mbarde Christianorum (as Luther calls it) and as Constantine fought with Eugenius the tyrant, Magis orando quàm f●riendo; so must we with this enemy of ours; for when we pray to heaven, heaven fights for us, and he that hath God to his friend needs fear no enemy. And our best defensive, it will be as a shield and buckler to ward off all blows, yea an Armour of proof against all assaults. As Saint Bernard to his hearers, Rogo vos fratres, ut semper ad manum habeatis tutissimum orationes refugium. But withal, Bern. ser. 5. Qu●d ag. let us remember, that our prayer be not light frozen or perfunctory, for than it will have no force to offend our enemy, or power to defend ourselves, but such strong cries as our Saviour is said to send up in the days of his flesh, to resist our strong adversary, that his potency may be overcome by that kind of omnipotency of prayer. Let his policy teach us vigilancy, to lie always in excubiis in watch and ward, to resist our adversary, to secure ourselves. Magna & necessaria vigilantia est. Aug Euch. ad Lam. c. 60. We have need of a great deal of watchfulness, to be careful to prevent him, who is so watchful to circumvent us. Why are we then so secure, O Christians! do we so little prize our own safety, or suspect our enemy? Sic notus Ulysses: vigilat hostis, dormis tu? Therefore, Aug. Arise Samson, the Philistines be upon thee. Awake O Christian the Philistines of hell be upon thee. His malice will teach us wisdom, to be wise as serpents to resist that old serpent the devil: let us be sure to preserve our head Christ by faith, not to put off our skin, our armour, but in a certain security, that which is in heaven, and for the present to have ever about us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 9 Lastly to carry about us our sting, ●he Word of God, Scriptum est, which is, Origen. i● N●●er. supra omnia tormentorum genera, above all kind of torments to the Devil, the only way to destroy him. And as we have, so we ever shall have such an one, an implacable, an irreconcilable adversary, Habemus praelium nullo unquam foedere dirimendum. We have a difference that shall never be composed, a war that no truce shall ever take up. Therefore let us not think of a league or dream of any conditions of peace, Male cum hoste conjungitur a quo divinâ sententiâ separatur. It is ill combining ourselves with him from whom God's commandment doth separate us. There must be no harmony where the chief musician will have a jar: this discord pleaseth God: And the Lord of hosts hath enrolled us in his Muster book to be his soldiers. Let us sight manfully these battles. Et, bella geri placeat magnos habitura triumphos. Let us wage these wars, which will have both a certain victory, and a glorious triumph. An enmity there is we see, between Christians, and the serpent with his infernal seed. Nor is it otherwise with his terrestrial: they are of their father the Devil, and his works they will do. Hitherto tend the practices of Tyrants, Bern. de pugna spirit. ser. 2. Heretics, and Schismatics, to oppose Christ and Christians. Inter Babylonem, et jerusalem nulla pax, sed guerra continua. Genes. 25. So that I may say of my text, as God did of Rebecca's womb: two several nations are in it, and two manner of people to be divided out of the loins thereof: Christians, and unbelievers; sheep, and goats; the Children of promise, and the children of the flesh; the children of God, and the children of the Devil; betwixt whom there will ever be a division, separation, a partition wall, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great gulf of contradiction. I find the Genesis of this enmity here in my text, the Exodus thereof I know not where, nor when to find: From the beginning it was thus, now is, et excandescit eundo, it gets strength the further it goes: And when an Angel from heaven hath sworn by him that liveth for ever, there shall be no more time; then, and not till then, there shall be no more enmity. I allege no other reason then that of the Apostle, 2 Cor. 6. what communion hath light with Darkness etc. For my part, I will not blow the Coals of dissension, there are too many Phaeton's that set the world in a combustion: Et utinam abscindantur, say I, with the Apostle, I would they were even cut off that are troublers of peace. Gal. 5. We cannot but see and condole the enmity, that is between the woman's proper seed, and how her children struggle within her to her great pain and travail; here is not only Jsmael's hand, but Isaac's hand against Isaac, one Christian against another, as though we meant of purpose to verify that which our Saviour spoke ex hypothesi: I came not to send peace, Math. 10.35. but a sword, to set a man at variance against his father, and the Daughter against her mother. Or that other: there shall be five in one house divided; three against two, Luke 12.52. and two against three. The Poet complains Serpentum concordia major, quàm hominum interse. Inven. There is more agreement of Serpents among themselves, then of men; nay betwixt Devils, than Christians: Aug. Legiones Daemonum in uno homine convenerunt, et duo homines in unâ domo vix conveniunt. A Legion of Devils could agree together in one man, and two Christians can scarce agree in one house. Surely prodigious is our intestine enmity; And though God did graciously in my text make it the Church's restitution, yet we seek to make it her ruin. It is observed, that when sheep fall a butting one against another, a storm follows not long after: when the sheep of Christ are so malignant one to another, it is a fearful presage of an ensuing storm. They say of Bees, when they stir and strive among themselves, it is a sign their King is about to remove and leave the hive. When we make such stirs, tumults, and schisms in Religion, it may be feared, God is going to remove from us. But let us all labour to continue his presence still among us, that he may still take delight to walk in the midst of the seven Golden Candelestickes. O pray for, and practise the peace of jerusalem, that he who makes men to be of one mind in an house would make us to be of one heart and of one soul together in a blessed communion of Saints, which may never be dissevered; and let us all endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Ephes. 4.3. Leave we then this enmity, and follow the line of my text, and it will bring us to the Prince of peace. He) Faustus the Manichee puts a rub in my way, in saying the old Testament had nothing in it prophetical concerning Christ: but I will easily step over it; for who was jacobs Shiloh, I saiahs Immanuel, Zacharies' Branch, and this semen mulieris in the text, but Christ? And the vulgar translation seems to stop my course, ipsa she shall; so it reads the word. And the Papists commonly, either to dignify the Mother above the Son, that she, not he, should break the serpent's head, as most of their wooden Priests, and many of their brazen faced jesuites: or by the Son, that she by him should break the Serpent's head, as Bellarmine with more modesty, but Ribera with a few others, with more honesty, do acknowledge it wholly to belong to Christ, according to the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: he, and he alone could break the serpent's head, without any further Damage than a bruised heel. The power of Christ is described both by the effect which it produceth, and the object it worketh upon. The Object is the head, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the highest part of the body, and most sovereign for the direction of it, caput, because the senses do capere initium, take their beginning from thence. The effect is breaking, the word signifies not only to wear and waste by degrees, but to break as a ship is broken in a tempest, it is so used job 9.17. (And further there is an Ellipsis of the particle. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Both these imply the total and final victory of Christ. The part is dangerous, the head: the wound is deadly, and shall never be healed, he shall break thy head. Thus the prophet; Isa. 17. The Lord shall pierce Leviathan that crooked serpent: and our Saviour himself, Luke 10.18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven: and that beloved Disciple, for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 1 john 3.8. that he might destroy the works of the Devil. These works were of Adoration, of consultation and of temptation. Of Adoration: For before Christ's incarnation he did tyrannize over the world, and his kingdom was established, he was generally then adored and worshipped, as he is now by Indians in Dei imitationem, Eusebius. as Eusebius observes, after the manner of God; nay humane flesh was not too precious to do sacrifice to him: even among God's people their tender infants must not be spared to pass through the fire unto Moloch, jerem. 32.35. which some think to be Mercury, others Saturn, others jupiter the King of the Gods, (Melech, and by corruption Moloch) which Gods of the Nations were truly Devils. And that addition which Saint Steven sets down, gives a liberty of conjecture that it was Deus tutelaris, Acts 7.43. the tutelary God of the Ammonites, to him was this bloody sacrifice poured out: but when the fullness of the time was come, these bloody sacrifices were broken off, Christ abolished this tyranny, and took the sceptre into his own hand, to govern his people by righteous laws, and commandments, which are not grievous, till they come to reign with himself in his heavenly Kingdom, 2. Consultation. His Oracles were then the General rule of counsel and advice, both for public and private actions, till Christ came; who having the words of eternal life, brought grace and truth into the world: And then all his Oracles ceased; as it is recorded of Augustus Caesar, who enquiring at the Oracle at Delphos who should succeed him in the Empire, had this for an answer, Peucerus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. An Hebrew Child, King of the Gods, hath commanded me to leave this House, and to return to Hell, therefore henceforth forsake our Altars. 3. Temptation: whereby he corrupted the hearts, and lives of men: The vigour of this is taken away by Christ, so that his solicitations are not so prevalent as they were before, Heb. 4.15. because Christ was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, and so is able to secure them that are tempted. In sum: venit, vidit, vicit, he came from heaven, he saw the earth, he overcame the Devil: he spoiled Principalities and Powers, Colos. 2.15. Hebr. 2.14. Psal. 68.18. He hath destroyed death, and him that had the Power of death, that it the Devil. When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive; that is, the captivity of the Devil, as Chrysost. expounds it: then was my text fully accomplished, and the serpent's head was broken. Now if we ask the ground of Christ's quarrel with the serpent, and the occasion of this victory: We must know the cause was ours, the serpent had broken our head first, therefore Christ undertook for us, and broke the serpent's head: The conquest is ours, communicated to us now, and to be consummate when we come to heaven. The comfort is ours, that our Captain hath conquered our enemy, and we need not fear to encounter with a broken staff a Debilitated opponent; And the thankfulness must be ours, to sing every day some song of thanksgiving unto him that hath taken us out of the fangs, and throat of destruction. Luke 1.75 And this must be remembered, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, must serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And now I come to the last part of my text, which is like the sting in the tail of the Scorpion, Thou shalt bruise his heel. The hurt our Saviour received, did principally light on him on the Cross; touching which, if sense be judge, more than his heel was bruised; and his heel more then bruised: but faith will testify, that but his heel was but bruised: For he saw no corruption, he delivered himself from death; he revived his dead ashes, built again his destroyed Temple within three days, and on the fourtieth after, carried it up with him into heaven, and crowned it with immortality. So that, the phrase is elegant, being a resemblance of the humane nature of Christ, of a passable quality and condition: and an intimation of his divine, sustaining his weak manhood to endure those sufferings, to digest those bitter pills, and to make them medicinal to himself, and his. Greg. Ni Naturae nostrae integumento caelata fuit divinitas, ut instar Piscium, cum escâ carnis simul attraheretur hamus divinitatis. Christ like a skilful fisher, did cover and hid his Godhead with the worm of his humane nature: now the Devil thinking to swallow the worm of his humanity, captus est hamo divinitatis, was caught with the hook of his divinity: and so in bruising Christ's heel, his own head was broken. Or like a cunning wrestler, Christ did set out the heel of his humanity for his adversary to strike at, and with the hand of his divinity cast him down, yea broke his head. Nor is this applied only to that one passion of Christ, but extended to all his sufferings, which shall be for ever accomplished in his militant members. For he is the head, the Church is his body, believers the several parts of it: he must needs then be sensible of of their sufferings, and their damages and hurts redound to him. Acts 9.4. Aug. in Psal. 30. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? non ait, quid sanctos meos, quid servos meos, sed quid me persequeris? hoc est, membra mea: Caput pro membris clamabat, et membra in se caput transsigurabat. He saith not, why persecutest thou my Saints, my servants; but me, my members? The head cried for the members, and did transfigure them as it were into itself. So that his heel may be said to be bruised, when his children are tempted by satan, or afflicted by his malicious seed. Two things naturally arise from hence. A toleration of the Serpent's malice. A limitation of his might. For the first, God doth suffer the Serpent to exercise his malice on the members of Christ here below, to bruise their heels, and that either for their trial, as to Saint Peter, Luke 22.31. 2 Cor. 12. or for their humiliation, as to Saint Paul: or for some other end, which himself best knoweth. I am sure, all things shall work together for their good; Aug. etiam peccata, even their sins, either ad poenitentiam, or, ad cautelam; to make them repent of sin past, or take heed of sin for the future: and the bruising of their heels shall be the saving of their souls: yet bruised they must be. Conteritur quidem serpentis caput, Bern. sed facile est experiri calcaneo insidiantem. Christ hath taken us out of the devil's claws, notwithstanding we are not yet out of the reach of his chain: Modico adhuc tempore sinitur malignari. A little while he is suffered to bruise our heel, Rom. 16.20. but the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. And as God suffers the devil himself to tempt them, so doth he his Imps to afflict them here; righteous Abel is slain by cursed Cain; joseph sold by his wicked brethren, the Children of Israel in bondage under Pharaoh, john Baptist beheaded for a dance, Revel. 14.15. here then is the patience of the Saints. Let us then be contented to have our heels bruised: It is happiness enough to get the blessing, though with jacob we be sent halting to our graves. Therefore let every one resolve with himself, Totum licet saeculum pereat, nihil moror, dum patientiam lucrifaciam. Tertul. Let the whole world perish; I care not, so I may gain patience. For the second. God doth not suffer the Devil to wreak his malice, and to pour out the full viols of his spite on them, but sets him his bounds which he cannot pass: he must but bruise their heel: his malice is limited, his power is restrained; he can go no further than the permitting hand of heaven will give him leave: Aug. Job 1. Job 2. Math. 8. Ne oviculam unam; he could not touch one of jobs sheep, till he had his commission; nor his body till it was renewed: nor enter into the heard of Swine, without Christ's sufferance, muchless can he go beyond his licence in touching the souls of the Elect by temptations. I confess his malice is boundless, endless, inexorable, as the grave or hell, never satisfied: But God puts his hook in his nostrils, bounds him with a huc usque, hither shalt thou go, and no further; here shalt thou stay the proud waves of thy malice, thou shalt but bruise his heel. As Achilles being dipped in the Stygian lake, had his body so impenetrable, that no part of it could be endangered but his heel: so the faithful being washed in the precious blood of Christ, have such a strong munition for their souls, that their vital parts cannot be endamaged; their heels may be touched, but their head and heart are sure enough: Saint Bernard sweetly to this purpose; Est quidem Leo rugiens, sed gratias ago Leoni de tribu Inda, rugire iste potest, Bern in Psal. qui habitat. ser. 13. ferire non potest. The Devil is a roaring Lion, but I give thanks to him that is the Lion of the tribe of judah, he may roar, but he cannot devour. And Saint Augustine: Aug. de Temp. ser. 197. Latrare potest, sollicitare potest, sed mordere non potest nisi volentem, He may solicit us to sin, he may bark at us, but he cannot by't us, unless we give him leave to fasten. So much do we owe to our blessed Saviour. Finally, as God shortens the devil's horns; so he doth his hands, his instruments, that they can go no further to the damage of his, than he permits them: And God is faithful, 1 Cor. 10.13. who will not suffer his to be tempted above that they are able. And when he hath chastened them enough, he will throw the rod into the fire: here is the comfort of the Saints; that God will hedge about his Church with his providence, and enclose it in a maze of his mercies, that the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail against it. Therefore, be comforted ye weak hands, be confirmed ye feeble knees, cheer up ye drooping spirits; doubtless we have a strong City: Isaiah 26.1. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. And let this be our consolation, that Christ hath overcome the world, and greater is he that is with us, than he that is with the world. Now to him that is the greatest of all, to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be given all due honour, praise, service, and thankfulness, now, and for ever, Amen. FJNJS.