TREATISE ON THE FIRST PSALM. BY MATHEW STONHAM. Minister and Preacher in the City of Norwich. S. Basil. prefat in psalm. The divine Hymns are high in mystery, profound in sense, and comfortable in doctrine. printer's device of George Eld AT LONDON. Imprinted by G. Elder for Walter Burr. 1610. in God, JOHN Lord Bishop of Norwich, all health and happiness. SOme private reasons moving me (Right Reverend) to publish this my Treatise upon the first Psalm: your Lordship by best reason, first above all other, came into my mind, to whom I mought dedicate it. Praecedens beneficium, sequatur officium. Among many other inducements, your Lordship's special love toward myself, and respective care for my good, hath necessarily challenged this duty at my hand: Si grate hoc qualecun● non beneficium sed officium Sen●c. de B●●●i lib. 2. cap. 22. meum accipias, non primam, sed totam eius pens●●nem soluisti. Your Lordship's acceptation, shall be my sole satisfaction. The bond of my duty hath this only bound of my hope. The God of heaven so vouchsafe, to water you and yours with the dew of heaven; that you may with the Godly man in this Psalm, prosper, is trees of his planting, and so bring forth fruits in due season in this life, that at the end of this life, your reward may be the beginning of this Psalm, even, true blessedness. Thus in all dutiful humility, I take my leave. Your Lordships Chaplain▪ most bounden in duty and ●●●e, MATTH. STON●●● The first Psalm. 1. Blessed is the man that doth not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3. For he shall be like a tree planted by the riuer● of waters, that will bring forth her fruit in due season: whose leaf shall not fade: so whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. 4. The wicked are not so, but as the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5. Wherefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked shall perish. A Treatise on the first Psalm. The Psalm divided, and sins multiplicity. TO omit any Preface or Preamble concerning either the whole Book of the Psalms in general, or this particular Psalm in special: my purpose is for to close with the Psalm itself. This Psalm therefore in a word, was Penned by David, and Inspired by the Spirit of God, standing as a Preface to the residue of the Psalms, placed by Esdras, or any other, who were the disposers thereof, to exhort (no doubt) all godly men, the perusers of this Book, to study and meditate on heavenly Wisdom, which principally above other Scriptures, is contained therein. This whole Psalm may be divided into three general Verse. 1. 2. 3. parts, whereof the First concerneth the Godly, in the three first verses thereof. The Second the ungodly, ver. Vers. 4. 5. 4. and 5. The Third a Conclusion, by way of a certain Epiphonema, or Acclamation, respecting them both, ver. 6 Vers. 6. The particulars whereof I shall then further limb and branch out, when I shall come to the handling of them. The First part of this Psalm therefore concerneth the Godly in the three first verses, who are therein set down unto us; First, by an Evidence of their virtues. Secondly, by the Recompense of their virtues. 1. The Evidence of their virtues is contained. i. in a negative contestation, in three points, vers. 1. First, that he Vers. 1. doth not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Secondly, that he doth not stand in the way of sinners. Thirdly, that he doth not sit in the seat of the scornful. 2 Secondly, it is contained in an affirmative contestation, vers. 2. in two members: First, in that he taketh Verse. 〈◊〉 pleasure in the law of the Lord, his delight is in the law of the Lord. Secondly, in that he taketh pains about the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night: Whereout I may observe unto you; first, the practice of his pains; meditation: Secondly, the subject of his pains, his law: Thirdly, the perseverance in his pains, day and night: Fourthly, his vigilancy, in that he doth it not only in the day, wherein God hath appointed man to labour, but in the Night, which God hath ordained for man to rest in. 2, Secondly, the Godly man is set down unto us, by the Recompense of his virtues, wherein there be considerable; the declaration and tenure of it. vers. 1. Secondly Vers. 4. 1. Vers. 3. the further dilatation and Title unto it. vers. 3. First then, the Godly man is set forth unto us by the Evidence of his virtues, in ● negative contestation: of which I will first speak more generally, and secondly, more specially. More generally; first that there is a variety or multiplicity of Sins; for we see that the variety of their number causeth a diversity of their names, the counsel of the wicked: the way of sinners: the seat of the scornful. Saint Cyprian writing in a Sermon of his De mortalitate, saith, Cypri●ser: de mortal. that peccati frugifera seges, etc. there is a fruitful crop of sin; If Covetousness be cast to the ground, Lust riseth up in place; if Lust be vanquished, Ambition succeed; if Ambition be dissolved, Anger exasperateth us, Pride swelleth us, Drunkenness enticeth us, Envy breaketh Concord, and Wrath Friendship. It is like an evil Weed, which groweth both quick and thick, speedily and plentifully, according to the Proverb, An evil weed hath good speed. Sin is folly, therefore when as David in numbering of the people had done very Sinfully, he maketh his confession, that he 2. Sam. 24. 10. had done very Foolishly. The whole world is full of Fools & Follies, therefore also is it ●ul of Sinners & Sins. As the Sons which have come from the loins of Adam be infinite, so the Sins which have flowed from the disobedience of Adam, are far more infinite, because there is never a Son of Adam, but he may say with Manasses in his prayer: I have sinned above the number of the Sand of the Sea. sins therefore are most innumerable, most infinite! As there be many Errors, and but one Truth; many Diseases and but one Health; so for one Virtue there be many Vices. Sins are compared unto Moats, Moats we know Math. 7. 3. to be infinite; so the birth of Sin is like the troops of Madian, which are said to be without number. judg. 6. 5. Democritus the Disciple of Epicurus and Leucippus, foolishly imagined the World to be first made and form of Moats; but the truth is, that the World hath been marred and deformed by the infinite Moats of enormous transgressions. As Iron sharpeneth Iron, so one sin touleth on another, till they become Prou. 27. 17. as a Flood, to the over-whelming of our soul, as that grand and terrible Flood of Waters drowned all Flesh, Gen. 7. 21. CHRIST was offered a Sacrifice, which is Infinite, unto GOD his Father, a Majesty which is Infinite, to purge us from all Sin, which is also Infinite! 1. joh. 1. 7. Quot crimina to● d●monia; how many Evils there be, so many Devils there be: as Devils therefore are assembled in Legions, so be Evils. There is but one Soul, but a whole army of Lusts Luke, 8. 30. which ●ight against it. Quemadmodum, si quis cla●dere volverit aquae currenti● meature &c. (saith Saint Chrysostome) 1 Pet. 2. 11. Chr●●est. oper. in. per●. in Matth. As if a Man will go about to stop the passage of a running Screame, if he shall exclude it in one place, it with greater violence breaketh forth in another: even so it fareth with sin.. If it be not such a sin as concern the council of the wicked, yet may it belong to the way of sinners: if it be neither, yet may it appertain to the seat of the scornful. As the brood of Sin is manifold, so ought our care to be much to withstand it. The Mariner if he knoweth his Ship beset with many Pirates, will be the more Careful: the Shepherd if he perceiveth his Flock to be assailed with many Wolves, will be the more Diligent: the Gardener if he seethe his Ground surcharged with over many Weeds, will be the more Painful: the Soldier if he understandeth his Fort to be environed with many and mighty troops of his mortal and bloodthirsty enemies, will be more Vigilant. Oh these sins of ours are not only Pirates, Wolves, Weeds, Enemies, which do Be-set, Assail, Sur-charge, Environ our Souls and Spirits, to the utter wrack and confusion of them; but they be also many, yea almost infinite in number! Oh it standeth us in hand therefore with the Mariner, Shepheard, Gardiner, Soldier, to become Careful, Diligent, Painful and Vigilant! and so much the rather, because the moment of the matter we strive for, is far more great then of a Ship, a Flock, a Ground, a Fort, being that precious soul, for which Christ hath suffered his most precious blood to be shed. Let us therefore be Careful, lest we be overgrown with Security: and then it fareth with us, as with the Crocodile, who securely suffereth ●. Pet. 1. 19 the little Bird Trochilus to pick his teeth, while his enemy the 〈◊〉 getteth into his mouth and belly and killeth him. Let us be Diligent, lest we be intercepted by delay, and fail of that answer which Cyprian made to Aspasius Paternus, the Proconsul of Africa, Cyprian. In rebus sacris nulla sit deliberatio: About holy matters let all delay be absent. Let us be Painful, lest Idleness surprise us, and so (as a Father speaketh) we become as the devils shop wherein he forgeth a new spawn of vices. Let us be vigilant, least being a sleep with Adoniah, the multitude of our sins deal with us as Baanah and Rechah dealt with him, who took 2 Sam. 4. 7. away his life from him. Let us (to conclude) as Christian Knights, stand upon our guard against all the infernal troops, and (as I may so say) Black Guard of hell. Let us be strong in the Lord, and power of his might: putting on the whole armour of God, as we which wrestle not against a principality, or a power, or against a Prince of darkness of this world, or against a spiritual wickedness, as of one: but against all Principalities, and Power, and the prince of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness, as of many: It standeth us in hand therefore not to take unto ourselves a part of it, but the whole armour of God, that we may be able to make resistance Ephes. 6. 10. 11. 12. and stand fast: ver: 13. having our loins gird about with verity, and having on the breast plate of righteousness, and our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, taking above all things the shield of faith, wherewith we may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked: taking also the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all manner of prayers and supplications in the spirit Ephes. 6. and watching thereunto: That so we may not only take Council against the Council of the wicked, but stop the Way against the Way of Sinners: and as Christ in the Temple ouerthr●w the seats of those profaners thereof: john. 2. So we may overthrow the seats of the scornful. Ioh 2. The second general point that I will speak of before I come to the particulars of this Text, is the Groweth and Increase of Sin: It beginneth in a doubtful walking, wandering as it were up and down as uncertain what to do: after proceedeth to a determination, whereby uncertainty cometh to a certainty, and wandering up and down endeth in a Period or full point of standing still; but concludeth and endeth in obstinacy and obfirmation of mind, that whatsoever may be said to the contrary, it will (an easeless ease, and a restless repose) set down. Sin creepeth like a Canker, which groweth not to ripeness but by degrees; the custom of it, causeth it to grow from strength to strength: Psalm, 84. 17. Augustine openeth this point, The Devil first August. lib. Confess. 8. by concupiscence suggesteth evil thoughts, evil thoughts egg on delight, delight toulleth on consent, consent groweth to necessity, and necessity in sinning is the forerunner of death. This increasing of sin from Walking, to Standing, from Standing to setting down; It holdeth the course both in that sin which con●rneth the corruption of doctrine by heresy, as also, that which respecteth the corruption of manners by impiety. First, it increaseth in the corruption of doctrine, by heresy, which howsoever it at the first may seem of small Reckoning or of no importance, as that which never then showeth itself in the right coull●rs: Yet, crescit eundo, it creeps on and gathers strength like the cloud which Elias Servant saw. 1. Reg. 18. 44. at the first nothing could be seen, then began it to rise, as big as a man's hand, in the end it darkened the whole sky, and fell forthwith in a great Storm. So Heresy is a spark which not suddenly and all at once, but by little and little, and degrees, breaketh forth into a flame▪ in which is v●rified that saying of Gregory Nazianzen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Nothing is suddenly made Greg. Nazi. great. This may appear unto us by an Introduction of all Nicephor. Eccl●s. hist. lib. 8. cap, 5. Sleid●. in● commenta. Mast Knolles. gene. hist. of Turks. heresies which have pestered the Church from Time to time; more especially of that of Arius in the ancient times of the Church: of the Anabaptists in the late times thereof; as likewise that Sect of Mahomet in the middle times betwixt them both; but it were in so manifest a truth, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to show light to the Sun, as the Greek Adage speaketh. All which have first begun to walk by error; proceeded to stand in Schism, and have concluded to set down in Heresy. Secondly, the increasement of sin, from Walking to Standing, from Standing to Setting down, holdeth the course in the corruption of manners by impiety, so it was in judas, who was first a cunning dissembler. Second, a secret Thief, third an Impudent Liar: fourth, a Bloody Traitor, fift, and lastly a desperate Reprobate. First, sin seemeth Importable, then Heavy, then Light, then Desirable, then Insensible and past feeling, and in the end Defensible; so as we make a shameless and public defence of it. Sin therefore getteth strength by committing, as Figures in Arithmetic by numbering, where the first place standeth but for One, the second for Ten, the third for an Hundred, the fourth for a Thousand. So Sin when it is first committed, seemeth to have but the strength of One, in the second place of Ten, in the third place of an Hundred, in the fourth place of a Thousand; and so if it be infinitely committed, it may be infinitely multiplied. Chrisostom in Psalmos. Calleth our sin by the name of Rags, to show that as rags the longer they be worn the more they are increased: So sin the more it is practised, the further it is enlarged. A storm we see by experience, if it in the first beginning thereof dissolveth, groweth to nothing but a barren mistiness, and so departeth: but if it more and more gathereth unto itself, and thickneth in the own substance: it falleth from heaven to the earth by the rage of an infinite dropping: peccatum procella (saith Chrysost) Sin is this storm, which if we shall at the first Chry, homil. 5. add ●opull Antioch. dispel or disparke, it shall be shaken off with no more hurt to our souls, than the viper brought to Paul's hand, when he shook it into the fire, and it did him no harm. Acts 28. 5. But if we shall by often committing make it like unto him, Abac. 2. 6. who was laden Act. 28. 5. Abuc. 2. 6. with thick clay, it will like unto the Indian Figtree ground itself with an infinite rooting. Sin is not unlike to a Ringworm which desireth to be rubbed, and then increaseth by rubbing. The itching humour of one Sin intifeth us to the committing of many, the committing of many to a custom of sinning, a custom of sinning to a senselessness of sin, a senselessness of sin to a final impenitency, when that saying of Hesiodus shall be verified in us. Men, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, wax old in wickedness, yea Hesiodus. and die in it also, bequeathing (Oh fearful security!) their bodies to the Beer of death, while they themselves sit in the Chair of sin. Isiodorus saith, that sin is committed, either by ignorance, Isiodorus. this may be likened to the walking in the council of the wicked: or by Infirmity, this may answer to the Standing in the way of sinners: or else of set purpose; this may fit the sitting on the seat of the scornful. This is the full pitch of sin, causing sin to be as the Sun at noonday in his full strength. This increasing of sin, whereby sin is so entertained, as it is also cherished, aught to mpose upon us the exercise of a twofold Task for the avoidance thereof. The former Task concerneth the hindrance of the Planting of Sin before it be planted. The second Task informeth the Supplanting of sin after it be planted. Concerning the hindrance of the planting of sin before it be planted. A most happy thing it is if God give us grace to attain unto it: for what more happy thing can there be then to have escaped the mortal sting of a deadly Serpent? Sin is this Serpent from which, because it stingeth as a Serpent, we are willed to flee as from the face of a Serpent, Eccles. 21. 2. What is more happy then to have avoided the raging flame of a tormenting fire? Sin is this fire which a man cannot bear in his bosom, but he must of necessity be burnt with it, Prou●● 6. 27. What is more happy then to have declined the flattering treasons of a false Traitor? Sin is this Traitor, fawning on a man with a Kiss, and betraying him to the Cross, as sometime did judas. Math. 26. 49. What is more happy then to be Ridded from the jaws and Talants of a hungry & angry Lion, who longeth speedily & greedily to devour us? Sin saith S. Basil, is the Devil, and the Devil is this Lyon. 1. Pet. 5. 8. What (to conclude) is more happy then to be delivered from a mortal poison, which will not only work the dissolution of the body, but even the wrack of the Soul? Sin is this deadly poison, james, 3. 8. Oh! than it must needs be deemed a quintessential part of happiness, or an happiness of happiness to hinder this planting: that as, not a Dart of Senacherib was shot against jerusalem the City of the Lord. 2. Reg. 19 32. So not a plant of Satan, may take root in our souls, the garden of the Lord. Let us therefore with Hearts of Love, and Arms of zeal, affect and embrace that Council which Saint Basill giveth, Quaeso ne bibas poculum. S. Basill. a●m. ad Fil. spiritu. etc. I entreat thee not to drink of the cup whereby thou hast seen many to perish: Receive not the meat which thou hast seen eaten to the destruction of others: Go not that way, where thou hast known many to suffer shipwreck: Avoid those snares wherewith thou hast understood others to be taken. To the which I may Add: prevent those Plants whose increase is so prodigious, whose sap so venomous. Secondly, seeing sin proceedeth from footing to rooting, from rooting to shooting out to such an increase: It is necessary for us if we cannot hinder the Planting of sin by Providence, yet to make the Supplanting of it with speed, which is either done by making of Resistance unto it, or else by craving of Assistance against it. First it is done by making of resistance unto it, and this is performed either, by weakening the ability of Sin, or else by opposing of his contrary unto sin. First, by weakening of the ability of sin; as by taking away all the occasions to sin, by removing all the susteinments of sin; by making a holy Covenant with every member of our bodies and power of our souls, ever to to repel sin, never to admit it; by which means it may come to pass, that sin may be as a Lake, into which the current of no Stream runneth, which must needs be dried up: as a House without a foundation, which must needs be ruinated; as a City besieged without sustenance, which must needs be ●a●●ished. Secondly, it is done by opposing of his contrary unto sin, Charity to Malice, Temperance and Sobriety to Gluttony and Drunkenness, Liberality to Nigardise, Vigilancy to Security, Confidence to Distrust, Faith to Infidelity, Truth to Leasing, Chastity to Incontinency; and so of the rest; by which means it may fall out betwixt Virtue and Vice, as betwixt Christ and Satan; because vice with Satan, as a strong man man keepeth possession of his Palace, until Virtue with Christ, as a stronger man, cometh and overcommeth it, taketh away the armour thereof, and divideth the spoils. Luke, 11. 21. 22. Secondly we ought to work the supplanting of sin by craving of Assistance against it, A blessing like unto that which Isaac gave unto jacob his son, even the Dew of Heaven, because it cometh down from Heaven. Gen. 27. 28. The means to obtain it, is by Prayer in the spirit, and the benefit of it is the Power of the spirit, even the grace of GOD, before the which the Troops of sin can no more prevail, than Dagon did before the Ark of God, which fell down before it, having both Head and hands cut off. 1 Sam. 5. 4. Grace dealeth with sin, even as the rod of Aron with the rods of the Egyptian Enchanters. Ezod. 7. 12. which devoured them: or as the feathers of Eagles are said to do with the feathers of other Birds, which consume them: If then Sin, Hell, the Grave, and all the in●ernall troops shall band and bend themselves against us; yet if grace be with us, GOD is with us; If GOD be with us, what need we care though the whole World be against us: Is any man doubtful? So in the like case was the Servant of Elishah, when he saw the Horses and Chariots of the Aramites compassing Dothan, until his Master had prayed unto the Lord that he would open his eyes; and when his Eyes were opened, he looked, and behold, the Mountains were full of horses and chariots of ●ire round about Elishah, finding therein the speech of his Ma●ster to be true, who said fear not, for they that be with us are more than they which be with them. 2. Reg. 6. As therefore at the prayer of Eliah fire came down from heaven to consume the offering, so as the wood and stones, and the dust was also devoured, and the water in the ditch licked up. 1. Reg. 18. 38. So, let us with humble and devout hearts pray for the heavenly fire of God's holy grace, whereby our vices may be consumed, misdoings devoured, and sins supplanted. From these general Doctrines, I am to deal with the particular branches of this Psalm: and therein first, with the Evidence of the godly man's virtues, set forth unto us by the negative contestation thereof, in these words, that he walketh not in the council of the wicked. wherout I may observe: 1. That there is a council of the wicked. 2. that the ungodly walk in it. 3. that the godly walk not in it. First, it appeareth then that there is a Council of the wicked. This is either a council which is Private in themselves, or else Public with others. The council of the wicked, which is private in themselves, is a necessary precedency in every wilful and intended sin. In a wilful and pretended sin. (as the Shoolemen speak) Three things do meet and concur together, Consilium, Actus, Exitus. A council, an act, an issue, upon that Act let me instance this matter by some particular examples: David after the walking on the roof of his Palace after the sight of the beauty, and his surprise with the love of Bathshebah, first took council in himself, concerning an inquiry what she was, and sending of Messengers unto her to move her to come to him. 2. Sam. 11. 3. 4. Secondly, committed the Act, and Lay with her. Ver. 4. Thirdly, the issue thereupon ensuing, was, that Bathshebah was conceived with child. David for the salving of his credit, was enforced to cause Vriah her husband to be murdered, that so Bathshebah mought become his own Spouse; that David being admonished by Nathan, repent, and was absolved from Spiritual, but not from Temporal punishment; but that the child conceived in adultery died: Absalon his son rose up in Arms agaist David his Father, and Destowred his Concubines in the open Sun-light. 2 Sam. Cap. 15. and 16. Ahab after the liking of Naboaths Vineyard, first took council how he might compass it, either by the exchange of another Vineyard, or 1 Reg. 21. 2. else by giving the worth there of in money. And in the end because he could not so obtain it by the advise of his wife jesabel, he took council also that False Witnesses might be suborned against Naboath, that so Naboath might be unjustly Stoned for Blasphemy, and his Vineyard seized upon to the King's use, v. 8. 9 10. Secondly, this was acted, vers. 11. 12. 13. Where they proclaimed a fast, and set Nabaoth among the chief of the people, and there came two wicked men and sat before him, and the wicked men witnessed against Nabaoth, saying Nabaoth did blaspheme GOD and the King: Then they carried him out of the City, and stoned him with stones, that he died: And vers. 16. Ahab rose and took possession of Nabaoths' Vineyard. Thirdly, the issue which followed here-from, was, that which was prophesied by the Prophet Eliah the Thesbite, that Dogs licked the blood of Ahab, even in that place where they had licked Naboaths blood, Reg. 22. 28. And in the field of jezrael, dogs did eat the flesh of lesabell, so that there was no more of her left then the skull, and the feet, and the Palms of her hands. 2. Reg. 9 35. The like might be exemplified concerning Absalon, judas and others, but for fear of being over-tedious: In all which it may appear unto us: that the counsel of the wicked is the first egg of this venomous Basilisk, Sin preparing the way for the Act, as the Needle doth for the Thread; like the head of a Serpent, which if he getteth in first, then draweth he all his poisonous train after him. Saint Bernard saith in a certain Sermon, Quare peccas● quia nescis quid facias? absit. Why sinnest thou? because Saint Bernard. thou knowest not what thou dost? Be infarre from us to think it. Quia cogeris ut facias? absit: because thou art compelled to do it? be it far from us to imagine it. Sed quia placet ut facias, but because it pleaseth thee so to do. This pleasure of ours that we will so do, hath a near alliance with the counsel of the wicked, which they privately take in themselves, the seed of this Coloquintida, the first head of sin. Secondly, there is a counsel of the Wicked public with others: This is either Temporal or Ecclesiastical. Temporal, one example for all is, that when Absalon in his Insurrection against David his Father, withal the people the men of Israel, came to jerusalem. Then Absalon 2. Sam. 16. 20 said unto Achitophel, even in that bloody and unnatural conspiracy, give Council what we shall do. And he gave that wicked counsel concerning, Going in Vers. 21. to his Father's Concubines. Secondly, there is a public counsel of the wicked, in matters of assemblies Ecclesiastical, as amongst, and above, the rest, that Council which was assembled and gathered together for condemning and executing our Innocent and guiltless Saviour, Mark. 14. 55. where it is said, that the high Priest and all the Council, sought for witness against jesus to put him to death, and found none. It is an error in the Church of Rome, by no friend of truth to be tolerated, that they so stiflye hold and maintain that General Counsels cannot err, and that Counsels of the Church cannot prove Counsels of the wicked. Indeed it is true of Counsels of the Church, so far as the Church continueth to be the pillar and ground of truth. But by reason that councils consist of Churchmen: 1. Tim. 3 15. and Churchmen are compounded of the Church, and Men, in many things, it cannot be avoided. But that as Men, they may and do err in regard of their variety of opinions, personal imperfections, multiplicity of interpretations, mistaking, as Isaac (though he were a Prophet) mistook jacob for Esau. The difference is, Gen. 27. that Isaac took the good jacob, for the evil Esau. But they herein forsake the Good for the Evil. Saint Augustine writeth, that councils are most Saint August. ●pist. 1 19 wholesome Antidotes against the poison of heresies, yet will he have them to be subjecteth unto the spirit, and Scriptures, which alone are privileged, Non errare: not to err. Though Bellarmine and Stapleton, sweat in the proof and avouching of the contrary, yet can it not be modestly denied, which Eusebius lib. 7. Ecclesiast. Histor. hath anciently recorded, that councils in number (no fewer than ten) have confirmed the then overspreading heresy of Arianisme. Three councils, as an 3. councils errid. other grave Author, Commenting upon Cyprian, reporteth, have miscarried in establishing the rebaptizing of converted herctiques. What should I speak of the second Ni●ene Council, which reared up Idolatry and 2. councils of Nice. gave bodies to Angels, and the souls of men? Counsels therefore have been mis●ed, and may err, whether they be Provincial, or Occumenicall, as (if I thought it fit) I could plentifully prove. Thales when he looked towards Thales. the Stars, stumbled at a stone and fell on the earth: So men in their Counsels, while they pretend godliness may maintain wickedness. Council in the Hebrew is called Gnatsc of a Root, Gnets which Gnets. signifieth a Tree. To show unto us, that as Trees be both good and bad: so also may Counsels: that as a good Tree bringeth forth good fruit, so do good Counsel like a Tree. Counsels, and a bad Tree bringeth forth bad fruit: so do evil councils, becoming therein the Counsels of the wicked. The second point which from hence I do observe, is that the wicked walk in this Council. Among other things observable in him that walketh, this is one principally intended, a man's Recreation or Pleasure. In that the wicked then walk in wicked 2. Sam. ● 1. counsel, they may be said to make it as an Alley or Gallery to delight and recreate themselves therein. As David sinned when he walked in his Gallery: so the ungodly make sin their Gallery to walk in. Sin is divided into three parts, Lust of the eyes: Lust 1. ●ohn. 2. 16. of the flesh, and Pride of life: Hac tria pro trino numine Mundus habet. These three Pleasures of Vanity, are esteemed of by the world, as the Three persons of the Deity: for the world so possesseth the Lust of the Eyes, as it joyeth in it; the Lust of the flesh, as it rejoiceth in it: the pride of life, as it delighteth in it, and them all as it walketh in the pleasure of them. He that purposeth to be sinful, so delighteth in sin, as he therein can prescribe no bound unto himself, for the pleasure of sin towleth him on, to become without measure in sinning. Let Absalon be our example, who first sinned, in ●. Sam. 16. 22. that he went in to the Concubines of another: Secondly, was impudent in his sin, in that they were the Concubine's of his Father. Thirdly, he took such delight in it, and rather vaunted then walked in the pleasure thereof, as after a triumphing sort he caused, ●ents to be spread in the top of the house, and committed the folly in the sight of all Israel, and open sunne-light. He was not abashed that the Sun of Heaven should see his so rebellious Incontinency. The pleasure which the ungodly take in sin, may appear in this, that it is their desire to commit it: first, every whit; secondly, every where; thirdly, ever: or if you will; First, all; secondly, at all places; and thirdly, in all times. First, the wicked so walk in sins pleasure, as they wish to commit it every whit, or all; the wise man is said to fear the Lord in all things. Eccles. 18. 26 So a fool (such as be the wicked here spoken off) wisheth to anger the Lord by all sins. As David answered Michol, that he would be more vile still; So the ungodly 2. Sam. 6. 22: purposeth to be more wicked still, until they have gone through, genera singulorum, the kinds of all sins, and singula generum, the p●rticulers of all those kinds. Adding sin to sin, as we read of joining house to house, that they may sin alone, as they so do that Esay. 5. 8. they may dwell alone in the midst of the earth, as it is Ibidem. in the same place. Leaving (if it were possible) no sin for others to commit, as they no place for others to inhabit, retaining, voluntatem peccandi, a will of sinning, though they have not, fac●●tatem, an ability to sin, with Caligula: when they cannot sin against heaven, Caligula yet casting stones against heaven, they would make a Monopoly of sin, as men willing to engross it in their own hands. Secondly, the wicked so walk in sins pleasure, as he desireth to commit it every where, or at all places, not privately but publicly in the open view of all men. Therefore is he said to cloth himself with it, as with a raiment. We Psalm. 109. 1● put on our raiment, that our nakedness being covered, we may boldly come into the sight of men; In that then Sin is by the Wicked put on as a raiment, it argueth that their sin is become as a Harlot's forehead, without shame. Doing as the Torlacchis, a certain Sect in great Torlacchi. estimation among the Turks, who practise their sins openly, because the more wicked they are, the more religious they are deemed. Thirdly, the wicked so walks in sins pleasure as he delighteth to commit it ever, or in all times, not only in his youth, concerning the sins, whereof because it is more inclinable hereto then the other branches of our life, David putteth up a Supplication, Lord remember not the Psalm. 25 7. sins of my youth: but even in his old age, when a man would think it were high time to leave Sin, because sin is ready to leave him, but then dealeth the ungodly with sin, as Phaltiel the son of Laish did with Michol 2. Sam 3. 16. the Daughter of Saul, his wife, when she left him, to go unto her former husband David, who followed her weeping. It is recorded of Saint john the Evangelist, that he died with Love in his mouth, so could the Sinner be● content to die with sin in his bosom: such delight taketh he in Sin, even the walk of pleasure to the wicked. The third point which from hence I do observe, it is that the Godly walk not in it. The Godly walk not in it, for as much as they take no pleasure in it, for they well know themselves to be the chosen of God, his elect ones like a beautiful horse in the battle. Not to fight the combat Zachar. 10. ●. of Satan, but to Abet and defend the cause of the Lord. For their dignity, the godly are said to be as a crown: for their price, as the Precious stones of this Crown: for their honour like the Stones of a Crown lifted up. They have therefore a great care, that they may not impair this dignity, vilify this price, aba●e this honour, which they cannot avoid but do, If they walk in Zachar. ●. 16 the Counsel of the wicked, and therein take pleasure in ungodliness. It is said, Ezra. 4. 14. We have been brought up in the King's Palace, it is not meet for us to see the King's dishonour, much more may Gods Elect say; We have been brought up in the King of heavens Palace, that is, in the Militant kingdom of GOD'S Church, whose last Act shall end in Triumph: How then can we see such a King's dishonour? Seneca witnesseth, touching Tiberius and Caius Gracchi: Seneca lib. conso●. cap. 1. Qui bonos viros negaverit, magnos fatebitur: Whosoever shall deny them to be good men, will confess them to be great men; but the children of God, in that they are good men, think themselves also to be great men: and in that they are thus, great men, suppose themselves necessarily occasioned to become good m●n: for their greatness is effected by their goodness, and their goodness is furthered by their greatness. They know that if this their spiritual Greatness should become Badness; first, the World would sooner perceive it in them, and in whom it is more eminent and conspicuous, like a little spot which is more easily seen in white then in Brown paper. Secondly, God doth more speedily and severely punish it, as Vincentius writeth. Because Peter was a great Pastor: Vincentius in speculo. Nulla vel levis in eo ferenda culpa vel curiositas. No Fault at all though but a light one: no Curiosity was to be borne with all in him, but himself was speedily also reproved: That this fault might be as speedily and Ibidem. effectually removed; The same Author saith, that if Dust cleave to our Feet, we much respect it not, but on our head we will suffer no Defilement. The Godly well know, that as a man in this case is affected towards himself, so GOD is affected towards Man, and therefore the rather with holdeth himself from sinning, lest God should not withhold his hand from smiting. The Godly are contrary to the ungodly: as the ungodly affect, so the Godly abhor, not only the act, but, so far as may be, the thought of Sin every whit, every where, ever, or all, at all places, in all times. First, the godly abhor sin, every whit, or all, not 1. Thes. 5. 22. Jude ver. 23. only in Existence, but even in appearance, hating the very garment spotted by the flesh. Secondly, the Godly abhor Sin, every where, or, at, all places, not only publicly in the eyes of men, but Privately also before the eyes of God, In whose presence the darkness and light are both alike, therefore will he Psal. 1●9. 12. surely know it, and find it out. Thirdly, the Godly abhor Sin ever, or, in all times, not only in time of Age, then like unto the foolish Pilot, cutting the Cables of iniquity, and weighing his sinful Anchors, when himself is feeble, his Sails torn, mast crazed, ship leak, when the Sea is troublesome, and the winds contrary, In so much as there seemeth then great difficulty, and without Gods especial aid, impossibility, ever to attain to the Haven of Happiness: but even in the time of his youth, from his very youth, making himself a Samuel dedicate to the Lord: consecrating unto GOD the first fruits of his youth, as he 1. Sam. 1. 28. is ALPHA, and the last Act of his Age, as he is Apocal. 1. 8. OMEGA. God protesteth by his Prophet Michah, that his soul longeth for the first ripe Grapes, which is the Godly one, even in the strength of his age, while there is store of oil in his lamp, while his bones are full of marrow, & his breast runneth full of milk, while he is fresh as a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber and strong as a Giant to run his course. The Godly then abhorreth to walk in the counsel of the wicked ever; in Age, because than he would be most wise: in Youth, for as much as he knoweth Epist. jude. vers. 11. it standeth him in hand then to be most wary. He detesteth to walk in the way of Cain, because he desireth to walk with God as Henoch, Gen. 5. 24. Wisdom (Prover. 8. 11.) is praised to be better then precious stones, and all pleasures are not to be compared to her. This rich Wisdom is to be found in the Godly, Wise, and therefore this Pleasure in the walk of sin (in comparison of her own Pleasure) is despised and shunned by her. Wisdom persuadeth the Godly to despise and shun the walk of sins pleasure, or the pleasure of sins walk. First, because she knoweth and assureth the souls Rom. 6 21 Ibid. vers. 23 of the righteous, that it is pleasure without profit, & therefore unfruitful, if there be any fruit the● of, it is Shame or Death. Florida quidem rosa est, sed mihi tristitiam infligit; Saint B●sil de paradiso. The Rose is flourishing, but the Thorn therein affecteth me with sorrow, because it putteth me in mind of my sins, for which the Earth hath been condemned to bring forth Thorns and Thistles. So the Beauty of Sin bringeth Bane, the sweet, sour, Pleasure▪ pa●●● with it. And the Bane is more than the beauty, the sour more than the sweet, the Pain more than the Pleasure, as among Roses, the Thorns are more than the Flowers. Secondly, because she knoweth and a●sureth the Souls of the righteous, That it is pleasure without equity, and therefore unlawful for, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sin is the transgression of the Law, it is Privative, not Positive, ●. Ioh 3. 4. it maketh a Law to become as no Law, and therefore is unlawful. Thirdly, she knoweth and assureth the souls of the Righteous, that it is a pleasure which woundeth the Conscience, and therefore is sorrowful like unto a sweet poison which leaveth Death behind it, like The Locusts which had Faces of men, and hair of women: Apoca. ● Apoca. ● S. Chrysom Psal. 50. but brought the Tails and stings of Scorpion's behind them. Conscientia (saith Saint Crysost) codex in quo quotidiana peccata conscribuntur, our Conscience is a book wherein our daily sins are written. So written are our sins in the register of our Conscience, as according to the Evidence thereof, the conscience itself performeth the office of an Accuser, judge, Tormentor, against ourselves. This is a bitter gall of Conscience, not unlike unto that gall of bitterness. Act. 8. 23. under the private curtains of those Act. 8. 23. tragical theatres, the Gorgon's, Sphinxes, Hidra's, and Harpies (that the Heathen speak off) do Act their bloody parts. Fourth, she knoweth and assureth the souls of the Righteous, that it is a pleasure, Cuius extrema luctus occupat, the bound of whose extremity is the extremity of grievance, and whose Conclusion is knit up in Confusion, whose train traileth after it, Affrightful Death, Rageful Hell, and Rueful Damnation, and therefore must needs itself be most Affrightful, Rageful, Rueful. Since than it appeareth unto us that there is a Council of the wicked, That the wicked walk in it; that is take their pleasure in the same, wishing in that regard, that Sin mought be committed by them every whit, every where; ever: but that the godly walk not in it, as they who have weaned their souls from such impious vanities, or vain impieties, All, At all places, In all times, and so much the rather because it is a pleasure unfruitful, unlawful, sorrowful, affrightful, rageful, rueful. Oh▪ let us not conform the Inclination of our affections, the affectation of our will, or the conversation of our manners, to the crooked, but to the upright: to the reprobate, but to the elect: to the sinful, but to the sanctified Ones! But let us rather deal with Sin that wild Beast, which layeth in wait to spill our souls; as the Dragon did, to devour the Child: as Commodus Apoc. 12. 4. the Emperor dealt with those wild beasts he cast his Darts at, who (as Histories report) never miss the Mark he threw at, and never gave a wound, but it was deadly. Oh let us also give a deadly wound unto sin, which would deadly wound us, that so it may betide the monster-sinne as it sometime befell the Giant Goliath: who thinking to have slain David was himself slain by David, 1. Sam. 17. Auersemur (as writeth Saint Basill) Saint Basil. peccatum ut assolent bruta animalia, etc. Let us avert sin as brute beasts are wont to deal with poisonous weeds: and let us follow Righteousness as they do wholesome fodder: If we look to Reign with Rom. 8. 17. Christ. Sin must not reign in us. Rom. 6. 12. Let us then take our Council at GOD'S Oracle. Rom. 3. 2. and not of the Council of the wicked. Let us run the way of the Spouse, who saith that if he shall draw her she will run after CHRIST. Cant. 1. 3. and not walk the path of the Strumpet, whose feet goeth down to death, and her steps take hold of hell. Prover. 5. 5. that so our walk may approve us to be Godly, and not reprove us as ungodly. The second particular point in the Negative Contestation, whereby the Evidence of the godly man's Virtue may appear unto us, is that, he standeth not in the way of sinners, whereout may be observed, first, that there is a way of sinners. Second, that the ungodly stand in it. Third, that the godly standeth not in it. First, than it is proposed, that there is a way of Sinners: for the better understanding whereof, we must know that there is a twofold way, Away of righteous, and Away of sinners. First, the way of the Righteous is called in Scripture, by the name of GOD'S Commandments: The way of truth, GOD'S way, etc. The way of Sinners in the Psal. 119. same Psalm, is termed an evil way; A wicked way, A false way, the way of Lying. The way of the Righteous, differeth from the way of Sinners in the Entrance into the way: the Company in the way; the Passage out of the way. First, the way of the Righteous, differeth from the way of Sinners in the Entrance into the way. The way of the Righteous in the first Ingate thereunto, seemeth (as indeed it is) A strait, rough, and unpleasant way: On the other side, the way of Sinners appeareth in the first Front thereof to be a Broad, Smooth and Pleasant way. The way that the Righteous must begin (and continue to walk in the pilgrimage of this li●e) it is according to the direction of GOD'S wisdom, appointed to be Strait, Rough, and Unpleasant: A way that is beset with Thorns; as the Church herself is said to be A Lily among thorns. As a Crown of thorns stood upon the Head of Christ, Cant. 2. 2. So it is very fit and convenient that the Feet of Christians should tread upon a way of thorns. That which the Prophet Hosea speaketh may heere-uppon fitly Hosh. 2. 6. be applied to the Righteous: I will stop thy way with thorns: Doth a Man gather grapes of thorns? Math. 7. 16. Yet is it certain that the Righteous are as Grapes growing, though not on, yet amongst these thorns; which being bruised and squeazed by the Winepress of Afflictions, become as a delicate Wine, sweetly tasting on the Lord's Palace. We must of necessity ascribe by an infinite Computation, more Wisdom to GOD then to a Gardener: gardiner's hold opinion that Roses, and Violets sown or set near unto Onions or Garlic, are made of more sweet savour. The graces and gifts of God in the Righteous, are as Roses and Violets, which being sown or set near unto Afflictions and Tribulations, which are strong & untoothsome, as Onions and Garlic, will make them more delightsome and acceptable. The Righteous are as Gold, therefore must they not fear the furnace: as Wheat, and therefore must they not fear the flail: as Oil, and therefore must they not fear the pressure: as Iron, and therefore must they not fear the file: as the palm-tree, and therefore must they not fear the burden: as Sons, & therefore must they not fear the chastisement, To conclude, as Lilies: and therefore Cant. 2. 2. must not be oversett with fear, though they may happily be beset with Thorns. David's lot consisted in two points, in a kingdom, and in a trouble: He had also two famous heirs, Solomon, who inherited his Kingdoms: and Christ, who inherited his troubles: Solomon and Christ by nature were brethren in blood, but not in inheritance of the same nature: Solomon was Rich, Christ poor; Solomon passed his time in peace, Christ in disquiet: Solomon was a King, Christ (by the censure of the world) but a Servant: Solomon had a Palace, Throne, Power. Christ a Stable, a Manger, Infirmity. Oh! it S. August. becometh, yea it behoveth us rather to be like Christ the Truth, than Solomon the Type: For as a father writeth; every action not of Sal●mō but of Christ, aught to be our Imitation. We ought therefore to be like Christ in his Poverty, in Disquiet, Bondage his Stable, Manger, Infirmity, then to be like Solomon in his riches, Peace, Royalty, Palace, Throne, Potentacy; especially considering y● as the exercise of the Cross is (as the Shoolemen speak) Communis terminus; as common as Community itself unto the godly: yet (be it spoken in the way of comfort unto them) though there be so frequent a Community of it, yet have they also a privileged Immunity against it: for be it granted, not only, that it is a Arodde to scourge them, but which is more, a staff to bruise them; yet by God's merciful disposal, shall both this Rod and ●●affe comfort them. A rod Psal. 23. 4. shall it become rather of Consolation then of Desolation, a Staff rather of Supportation, then of Supplantation. It ought to be our practice, because it is CHRIST'S challenge. If any man will ●ollow me, let him forsake Math. 16. 24. himself, and take up (not salomon's Crown) but his Cross and ●ollow me; as if there were no following of CHRIST but by this Crossway strait, rough and unpleasant in the in-gate there-into, Second, the way of Sinners hath the first front or entry thereinto, Broad, Smooth, Pleasant, as a way which appertaineth unto such as Live and wax old, grow in wealth, their seed is established in their sight, with them and their generations before their Eyes: Their houses are peaceable without fear, and the rod of GOD is not upon them: their Bullock gendereth and faileth not, their job. 21. from ver. 17. to 14. Cow calueth, and casteth not her calf, they send forth their children like sheep, and their sons dance, they take the Tabret and the Harp, and rejoice in the sound of the Organs. They have then (as appeareth hereby) Goods, Houses, Lands, cartel, Children, Music and A long-life to enjoy all this: Then which way therefore in the first entrance thereof, what can be more gaynsome? What more delightsome? They have prosperity in that abundance, that they are Drunken with it, as it is said of Ephraim. Esay. 28. 1. The Gardener despaireth of that Vine which he pruneth not. The Chirurgeon hath little hope of that festered wound which he lanceth not. The Father giveth over that Son whom he rebuketh not, and GOD reprobateth that servant which he chasteneth not. It is said, Ezech. 16. 42. I will make my wrath to rest, and my jealousy shall departed, and I will cease and be no more angry. S. Bernar. Sir in Cant. 42. Whereupon Saint Bernard hath these words, Solo auditu contremisco, vides quod tunc, magis irascitur Deus, quando non irascitur. Misericordiam hanc ego nolo: supra omnem ira miscratio ista. I tremble only at the hearing hereof. Thou seest how GOD is then more angry, when he is not angry. I will none of this mercy (Oh LORD) This favour is above all displeasure. The same Father writing (Bernar. medit. Cap. 6.) Saith also, Sitecum Deus non est per gratiam, adest per vindictum. If GOD be not with thee by his grace, he is with thee by his revenge. But woe be to thee if he be so with thee: (yea saith he) woe be unto thee if it be not so with thee, for there is GOD'S wrath where he doth not scourge for Sins; et quem hic flagellando non emendat, in futuro damnat: And whom here he doth not mend by scourging, he doth condemn hereafter. By the outward blessings of this World cannot a man judge whether he stand in GOD'S anger, or favour. Yea as they are the blessings of Esa●, rather than of jacob, of the le●t rather than the right hand, unless GOD season them with the Dew of Heaven, the grace of his spirit, they argue that GOD is rather angry then pleased with us in bestowing them vpp●n us, as they which are to be found in the entrance of the way of Sinners. The second difference which is betwixt the way of the Righteous, and the way of sinners, is of Company in the way. This Company is threefold; it is either Precedent, or going before them: Concomitant or walking with them: Subsequent or following after them. First, the Company Precedent, in the way of the Righteous, have been Abel, Abraham, Isaac, jacob, job, Moses and the Prophets, Apostles, and Evangelists, and such like, being the congregation of the first borne, which are written in Heaven; and the spirits of just and perfect men, Hebr. 12. 23. Who have already cast off the bonds of this li●es imprisonment, that they might be received into the glorious liberty of the sons of God in Rom. 8. 21. Heaven. Secondly, the Company Concomitant in the way of the Righteous, are all they which live at the same time with the Righteous in this present world, whom GOD hath so Predestinate before the World, As he hath called them out of the world: As he may justify them in the world: And purposeth to glorify them after this World: As Saint Augustine allegeth alluding to August. Rom. 8. 29. 30. Thirdly, the Company Subsequent in the way of the Righteous, are all they, who while the Earth shall stand upon her Pillars, while the Heavens shall be spread abroad as Curtains: and while the frame of the world itself shall have any being, shall hereafter until the final Consummation of all things, so breath on the earth amongst men, as they shall belong to GOD in Heaven: A Blessed society known unto GOD, not known unto us: Sealed by God, as yet Concealed from us, for it is with GOD a foundation that remaineth sure, and hath this ●ale, that GOD knoweth who are his. 2. Timo. 2. 19 Secondly, on the othher side, The Company in the Way of Sinners Precedent, have been Cain, Corah, Esau, Ishmael, Saul, Ahab, jeroboam, Herod, Pilate, judas and the like. Of all whom it may be said, as o● ●●●au only. Rom. 9 13. That the Lord hath hated them. The Company in the way of Sinners, Concomitant, are all such as living in the same age with them, are dealt with all by the LORD as the LORD sometime dealt with Pharaoh, whose heart he hardened. These have so their Feet in the way with sinners, as they lift up their Heel against Heaven by Sinning, as judas did sometime against CHRIST by Treason. The Company in the way of Sinners, Subsequent, are all such as shall Heap up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and of the declaration of the just judgement of GOD, Rom. 2. 5. Sons of Beliall who shall abandon the Colours of CHRIST. that they may receive the Mark of the Beast Apoc. 13. 16. To him that traveleth in the way, there is nothing more Delight some then to have Good, there is nothing more Irksome then to have bad Company: Behold here be offered unto us, and set before us two Ways, The one of the Righteous, who have Precedent, Concomitant, and Subsequent good Company, as we have heard. The other of the Sinners who have Precedent, Concomitant, and Subsequent bad Company, as hath been delivered unto us. Now we may perceive that in some sense it lieth in our choice which of these Two Ways we will take. And I make no doubt, but that if the dew ●f Heaven be not wholly dried up: If the sparks ●f grace be not altogether quenched in us, we will betake ourselves unto the Good way, that so we may have good Company: not to the Evil way where we shall have bad Company: By the former shall we be made like unto Young Tobiah, who had an Angel of GOD in his company, by the latter Tob 5. 4. ●. Sam. 16. 14 shall we become like Saul, who had an evil spirit sent from God to vex him. The third difference between the way of the righteous, and the way of Sinners, is the passage out of the way. The passage out of the way of the righteous is from Bondage to Liberty, from Poverty to Wealth, from Sorrow to joy, from Tears to Triumph, from Death to Life: from Hell (as I may so say) in this world, to Heaven in a better. On the other side, the passage of the wicked out of the way of sinners, is from Liberty to Bondage; from Wealth to Poverty; from joy to Sorrow, from Triumph to Tears, from Life to Death, from their Heaven in this world, to Hell in an other. It may then appear unto us by that which hath been delivered, that the way of the righteous, is not unlike unto 2 Reg. 2. vers. 19 22. the waters of jericho, which were first bitter, and then made sweet. So the way of the righteous, though it yieldeth the taste of bitterness in the beginning: yet shall it recompense the same with sweetness in the end. But the way of Sinners is like the waters of Sodom, which were at the first sweet and pleasant: but after that (as Histories mention) became they (and so continue unto this day) bitter and unwholesome, resembling herein the Panther, who is said to allure other beasts after him, by the sweet sent of his skin, and afterward to pray upon them ●y bloody rage of his Talons. Oh how shall we then sl●●ken to walk in the way of the righteous? which is like the fruit of the Tree of life, which groweth by degrees from bitterness to sweetness, as fruit useth to do, and being once sweet, can never wax bitter again: And how far off ought it to be from us, and we from it, to step into the way of Sinners? which is like Esau's pottage, Gen. 25. 34, which, it may be, refreshed him for a time, but afterward cost him his Birthright. So will this cost us no smaller price than our Birthright, God's kingdom; the estimate whereof is invaluable: and not only so; but will also subject us to the torture of Hell's thraldom, the sorrows whereof are unconceaveable. Picus Mirandulanus, breaketh Pi●us Miran: Epist. quadam. out into these speeches, concerning the floating vanities of this life. Quid optabile in Mundi voluptatibus? quae dum quaeruntur fatigant, dum acquiruntur infatuant, dum amittuntur excruciant. What is to be wished for i● this world's pleasure? whose getting is weary someness, enjoyment folly, loss, grief. If these also be found in the way of Sinners; after them all followeth Hell to. For as Death is the passage out of the Way: so Hell followeth after Death in this kind. Apoc. 6 8. The second thing which here-out may be observed, it is, that the ungodly stand in this way. The ungodly first begin with a doubtful walking; then proceed they to a determinate standing. The former is as a seeking: this is as a finding; the former is but (as it were) a floating, this a settling: because the wicked by standing in this way of Sinners, do (as I may so say) pitch their Tents, and erect their dwelling places there. For so standing is sometimes taken in the Scriptures, Our feet shall stand P●al. 122. 2. in thy gates O jerusalem! Where by standing, is to be understood a resting or settling to dwell there. In that the wicked stand in the way of Sinners, that is, dwell there, they seem to be affected to the way of Sinners, in a bad affection, as GOD was to the Hill of Zion, in Psal. 132. 14. a good acceptation: Who saith, This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. Whereout there is observed: first, a precedent determination; here is my rest: Secondly, a future resolution, even for ever. Hear hap what hap will, will I dwell, here will I stand. Thirdly, a reason thereof, because I delight therein: or because my delight is in it. Wherein the wicked become apparently like the Dog or Sow, whereof the former returneth unto his Vomit, the other to her Wallowing in the mire, because they both delight therein; 2. Pet. 2. 22. as the wicked do Stand, and in that respect Dwell in the way of Sinners, because they repose their delight in it. This Standing in the way of Sinners, implieth with it an impossibility of Amendment, so long as they so stand. In Repentance or Amendment of life, there be two bounds, Malum, et Bonum, from the one thereof (if we look at any time truly to Repent) we must of necessity pass to the other; of which passage the former part is done, Auersione a malo, by the turning from that which is evil. Now needs must it be granted, that where there is a standing still, there is no motion; where there is no motion, there cannot be (as they speak in Schools) any Lation or transmigration, from place to place, and of necessity must it be inferred, that where that is wanting, cannot be any Aversion or turning away from that which is evil, or Conversion and turning to that which is good. The wicked then, in that they have their standing in the way of Sinners, are as a standing puddle of corrupted waters, which the longer they stand still, grow more and more corrupted. Sith than we ought to be careful, that we walk not in the counsel of the wicked: oh how much more watchful are we to be, that we stand not in the way of Sinners! To stand in the way of Sinners, it is like unto an Ulcer bred in the bone, which will never out of the flesh, until God shall consume such flesh by fire, as he sometime drowned all flesh by Water. Gen 6. 13. The reason of the past drowning▪ all flesh by water, is set down Genes. 6. 12. because all flesh had corrupted his way: but the Reason of the future consuming of such flesh as this, is by fire, may be because all such flesh stands in a corrupt way, even this way of Sinners, here spoken of. Saint Gregory saith of Sin, that it is Cathena infernalis, Saint Greg●r. An infernal chain: and so indeed may it be thought to be, because with the ligature thereof, as with the Iron links of a Chain, the Sinner is so tied & bound as he cannot stir or move himself either one way or other, but is enforced to stand still: He standeth in the wa● of Sinners. The third thing which here-out may be observed, is that, the Godly stand not in the way of Sinners. They stand not in it. For as much as they are ever watchful over themselves, (so near as may be) that they may not so much as step into it. Who will step into that way wherein they know a Serpent to be? The way of Sinners (as the Godly well know) is such a way, and therefore are they so far from stepping into it, as they flee from it, Eccles. 21. 2. Sins are the weapons of unrighteousness: for Rom 6. 13. which cause the Righteous are affected unto them, no otherwise than David was unto the weapons and Armour of Saul, who put them off, when he went against Goliath, 1. Sam. 17. 39 as they which were unfit and unmeet for him. The Godly wish not to sin, not so much for fear of punishment, as for love of Virtue, which Virtue in as much as it cometh from God, and leadeth to God, the godly esteem as their Summum honum; their chiefest, highest and supremest good: Amiable, Estimable, Desirable, not in any by-respects, but of and for itself only. It is a saying, Nolens peccare propter se, fit volens propter aliud. He which is unwilling to sin for sins sake, is made willing for some other consequence sake, which may depend upon it, whether it be Pleasure, Lucre, Honour, or the like: but the Righteousone admitteth of neither, rejecteth both: he prayeth so to be furnished by the seven spirits Apocal. 1. 4. which are before the throne of GOD, that (if it may be) he may not fall at all. But if his spirit be so vanquished by his flesh, as he not only falleth, but falleth seven times a day, a lot from which even the righteous man is not privileged, Prou. 24. 16. Yet as Saint Jerome writeth, Saint Jerome. P●●nie Ep●st. 4●. looseth he not the name of a righteous man, because he as often riseth by repentance again. Pliny mentioneth a certain fresh water, which retaineth the freshness, though it runneth among the brinish waves of the Sea: Such are the righteous, who though they live in the darkness of this world, yet do they not the works of darkness: though they be among Sinners, yet with Sinners do they not stand in the way of Sinners, but are righteous still, much more performing that by the light of grace, which Anacharsis a Scythian did by the glimpse of Nature, who Erasmus in vidua Christi. being at Athens (as writeth Erasmus) in which City it was a most hard thing to be a good man. Nihil tamen de sua severitate remisit: yet diminished he nothing from his gravity. So the righteous do much less impair any thing in their goodness; but, tanquam margarita in Coeno. As Pearls in a Puddle: so do they keep their virtue still. It appeareth then by the premised matter, that there is a twofold way: The one of the Righteous, the other of Sinners. That also there is a great difference between these Two ways, both in regard of the entrance into the Way: Company in the Way, passage out of the Way: that moreover the Vngodly-one Standeth, that is, Plants and Settleth himself in this Way. On the contrary side, that the Godly standeth not in this way, because he is careful what in him lieth, by the direction of GOD'S spirit, not so much as to step into this way: Oh let us then in the fear of GOD, if we would be accounted as we are, and be as we are accounted! Let us I say, refrain our feet from this Way, yea, even from the Path, that is the least means of conveyance which may lead us to this Way, If we Prou. 1. 15. will of necessity betake ourselves unto a Way: oh by how much is it better for us to betake ourselves unto the way of GOD'S Commandments; saying, as job. My job. 23. 11. foot hath followed his (that is GOD'S) steps, his way have I kept, and have not declined. Though the Sinner s●pposeth that he standeth in the way of Sinners; Yet as Saint Bernard witnesseth; he rather falleth by Sin, Saint Ber● de ●●na domini. then standeth in the way of Sinners: and his fall hath been, as that Father speaketh, on stones to bruise him, and on pollution to defile him: a pollution so base and despiceable, Ezech. 24. 6. as it is called by the name of Scum, which first ariseth of corruption: secondly, is light: thirdly, is unprofitable. So is Sin also, Corrupt, Light, Unprofitable: and he which standeth in it, standeth in Corruption, Vanity, unfruitfulness. Whereas the Righteous aught to be Incorrupt, Virtuous, Fruitful, as he which looketh to receive a Crown, Incorruptible, Glorious, Precious: and therefore he which is in the way of su●h preferment, as Heaven is, will avoid to stand in the way of such defilement, as sin is. The third particular point in the Negative Contestation, whereby the Evidence of the Godly man's Virtues may appear unto us, is, that he sitteth ●ot in the seat of the scornful. Wherein there be considerable: First, what is meant by the scornful here spoken of: Secondly, that there is a seat of such scornful ones. Thirdly, that the wicked do sit i● this seat: Fourthly, that the Godly do not sit in it. First, it must then appear, what the scornful are, or what is meant by them. Scorners here spoken of, are of two sorts: either such as scorn Men, or such as scorn God. Such as scorn Men, be either such as do it of Pride, because they think themselves better than others; or of Envy, because they would have none better than themselves, or else of Mischief, because they wil● have none worse than themselves. The first fruit of Scorning, groweth from the root of Pride, which maketh them, who are therewithal tainted, to suppose that they are better than others, and therefore in regard of themselves, do they contemn and overlook others. This kind of Pride is called by the Greeks', 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is necessarily joined with the disdain of others. These kind of Men, if they have Wealth; wax proud of it, and scorn other, who are poorer than themselves. If they have Honours, they swell with them, and scorn others, who are meaner than themselves. If they have Strength, they are puffed up with it, and scorn others, who are weaker than themselves. To conclude: if they have Health, Beauty, Friends, Liberty, Wisdom▪ Eloquence, Zeal above others, they grow haughty and high minded with them, and scorn other more Sicklye, Deformed, Friendless, Enthralled, Dullconceited, Stammering-tongued, Coldly-affected then themselves: saying, in the abundance of their riches: Depart from me, for I am wealthier than thou: in the arm of their strength, Depart from me, for I am mightier than thou: in the staff of their friends: Depart from me, for I am more gracious than thou: in the fervour of their zeal, Depart from me, for I am holier than thou: To conclude, In the confidence of any blessing which it hath pleased GOD to lend them: Depart from me, for I am better than thou. Men they are, who wrist those gifts which GOD hath vouchsafed them, unto a wrong end. For where as God hath anointed them, with the Oil of bounties, above their fellows, to that end that they should support and maintain their inferiors: they pervert them to disdain and scorn their Inferiors. But why art thou so borne alo●t (O man!) as thou scornest other by Pride, when thou oughtest so to be abased: as to loathe thyself through Humility, whose Conception cannot be thought on without shame: whose Birth cannot be remembered without sorrow: whose Life cannot be advised without vanity: whose Death cannot be mused on without misery, who was made of the Earth the lowest Element; of the slime, the basest earth: not only Vain, but Vaynity, not Vanity in part, but altogether vanity. ●alm. 39 5. In regard of the base matter he was made off, was Man called Adam: in regard of the miseries he hath since fallen into, is he termed Aenosh, subject to the Fire, which may consume him: to the Pestilence, which may dispatch him: to the Famine, which may starve him: to Inondations of waters, which may drown him: to the Infection of the Air, which may taint him: to the quaking gapings of the Earth which may swallow him: to Thunderbolts, which may blast him: to a whole Army of diseases, which may assault him: to Venom, which may poison him: to little contemptible creatures, as hies, Lice, Frogs, which may discomfitt thee: besides evil Spirits to possess him: maladies of the mind, to torture him: Vanities of youth, and Infirmities of age to affright him. Since than thou art compassed with such A cloud of miseries, as Heb. 12. 1. we read of a Cloud of witnesses. Why dost thou, yea how darest thou go on? oh Man! to say that thy little finger shall be heavyer than thy Father's loins, with Reboam: And dost not rather protest that thy Soul Cleaveth to the dust with David; Psalm. 119. 25. 1 Reg. 12. 10. Why dost thou seek to build thy nest in the Sun with the Eagle, and not rather mourn and lament with the Pelican in the Wilderness? What is man that thou art so mindful of him, as to crown him with glory and worship (saith Psal. 102. 6. Psal. 8. 4. 5. the Kingly Prophet) But I may say, what art thou O Man? which art so unmindful of thyself, as to scorn others by vainglory and contempt? that whereas thou oughtest to look to thyself by Fear: Thou overlookest others with Pride, which is the first root of scorning of man.. The second fruit of the scorning of Man, groweth from the root of Envy, because we would have none better than ourselves. Thus when Cain saw that the sacrifice of Abel was respected, and his own rejected, his countenance is said to Gen. 4▪ 5. fall, that is to say, he could hardly afford him a good look, because he was big with scornful disdain against him. Thus when David had vanquished Goliath, and had made other prosperous expeditions against the Philistians, and the women of Israel sang, that David had slain his ten thousands, and Saul but his thousand. Saul waxed wroth, is said after that time to have an eye at David, what 1 Sam. 18. 9 meaneth it that he had an eye at him, but that, invidit, he envy him, and with a look of scorn and disdain pried into him. Thus was Michol an evil daughter of as bad a father, saw David more forward in holy zeal than herself, in so much that he danced before the Ark of God 2 Sam. 6. 14. with all his might. Looking through a window, and seeing him leap and dance she despised him in her heart, ver. 15. and that in such measure as she speaketh to his face. O how glorious was the King of Israel this day? Which was uncovered this day in the eyes of the Maidens of his servants, as a fool uncovereth himself. Ver● 20. The King of Aram commandeth his Captains to fight against the King only▪ & to let the common soldiers alone. 1 Reg. 22. 31. So Envy bandeth and bendeth her scornful troops against Virtue only, and letteth base Vice alone. The envious returneth the darts of scorn on them from whom he is wounded with the darts of their Virtues, as Saint Basil writeth in a certain Homily of his. Inuidius (saith he) nihil ab homine nudo qui omnium iaculis petitur, differre videtur: fort is est aliquis? alive forma Basil. Hom. de invidia. Charus? Eloquentia? Prudentia? tot sunt jacula. That ●s, the envious man seemeth nothing to differ from a naked man, who is aimed at by the darts of all men; is any man valiant, Notable for his Beauty, Eloquence, Wisdom? Then this Valiancy, Beauty, Eloquence, Wisdom, be as so many darts to wound him, whose guise is to turn virtue from others, into wounds to himself, and to return scorns from himself, for virtues from others. This is the second root of the scorning of man. The third fruit of the scorning of man, groweth from th● root of Mischief: Because man will have none worse than himself: Men of this kind are such as from the sole of the foot unto the crown of the head, have nothing whole in them but wounds and swellings, and sores full of corruptions. Esay. 1. 6. What then can we else expect from Men Esay. 1. 6. th●s affected, but only wounds of scorning? from such wounds, but swelling of disdain: from such swellings; but sores and corruption; from such sores so full of corruption. Can a man hope for oil out of the flint; or for honey out of the spider; for grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? No, it is a thing altogether impossible, and verily a thing as impossible it is, to look for goodness of mischief. For mischievons minded-men, who make Evil to be their only Level; are altogether Unprofitable: Therefore are there none that do good, no, not one; have their feet to shed Rom. 3. from Ver. 12. to 19 blood: therefore are they murderous: have Destruction, and Calamity in their way: therefore are they barbarous. The way of peace have they not known, therefore are they rebellious. The fear of God is not before their eyes, & therefore are they mischievous. And how I beseech you can it be otherwise? considering that their throat is an open sepulchre: that their tongues have they used to deceive: the poison of asps is under their lips, & their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, Rom. 3. from ver. 12. to 19 That is of execration and scornfulness, the third root of the scorning of man. The second kind of Scorners, are such as scorn God. Though the kindness of these men be many, yet will I insist only in three of them. Whereof the first is the Covetous Mamonist. The second, the Sensual Carnalist. The third, the Godless Atheist: whereof the first is possessed with the World, the second swayed by the Flesh▪ the third, blinded by the Devil. The first●hen of the three is the Covetous Mammonist possessed by the world. We read 2. Corinth. 4. 4. of a God of the world; But these men make the World their GOD; appointing gods of gold and silver to go before them: and as Riches increase, setting their hearts upon them, contrary to that, Psal. 62. 10. Of this Mammonist, if we would know him in his right colours; there be these signs. 1. an eager and sharp desire of getting, and heaping together; for a man that hath a wicked eye hasteth to get riches: 2. ● ●rou. 28. 22. pinching and niggardly keeping that he hath gotten, never willingly parting from it, though it be to never so holy an use. 3. A neglect of holy duties, and a coldness in God's matters. 4. A trust in riches, A thing which the Covetous minded man is so prone unto, as Timothy is admonished of S. Paul, not only to exhort, but as if that were too little, to charge the rich men in this world, not to trust in uncertain riches. If Mammonists then trust in their riches, 1 Tim 5. 17. what do they but make them their God? As if when riches ●ee on their side, nothing could be against them. Not unlike the rich worldling a● these professed worldlings. Luk 12. 18. 19 who wh● he had resolved with himself that he would pull down his barns, and build greater, and therein would gather all his fruits and goods: charged his soul with this vain Applause. Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years, line at ease, eat, drink, and take thy pastime. To this end Covetousness is called by the name of Idolatry. Colo. 3. 5. A golden Image is it, which though there be no Commandment for it, as was for that golden Image which Nabuchadnezzar set up, yet all nations and language are ready to fall down and worship. Dan. 3. 5. Covetsous men, as they cannot serve God and Mammon, so do they forsake God to cleave to Mammon: playing herein the part of an Adulterer, who being joined to his wife, coupleth himself with an other: So the Covetous man howsoever he be Married unto God, yet Adultereth in embracing Gold, and then scorneth God, as the Adulterous Husband doth his Wife. The second kind of Scorner, which doth Scorn God, is swayed by the flesh, The wisdom of which flesh is enmity against God. If it be granted that it is enmity against Rom 8. 7. God, then is there no doubt but that it beareth an Affection of Scorn against himself. The sensual Concupiscence which is found in the carnall-minded man, may be likened unto Hagar the bondwoman, who when she had conceived, Despised Sara her mistress; so when this Lust had conceived and brought forth Sin. then will it despisea & Scorn even God● himself. The third kind of Scorner which doth scorn God, is the Goddess jam. 1. 15. Atheist whom the Devil hath blinded. This hath the devil done that he may the rather lead them to Hell, as Heliah struck the heart of Aramites with blindness to lead them to Samaria, and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. 2 Reg 6. 18. 19 Hence it is, that while they gracelesselye, yea hellishly, maintain that God's Omnipotency is Impotency: his Wisdom folly: his Providence ignorance: his justice partiality: his Truth a lie: & Himself either not to be at all: or if he be, that he regardeth not human actions. They cause their Heart to wax big against the Searcher of Psal. 2. 4. Hearts: they lift up their heel against Heaven, and whet their tongue against their Maker: so as they have him in derision on earth; who hath them in derision in heaven: and so scorn him, who will hereafter scourge them for it. A kind of people be these, who may rather be called Devils incarnate, than people. Who as a worthy Historian writeth, have defaced the divine Character French. Hist. in Charl 9 of the soul, and have prostrate the same, at the pleasure of the stinking gate of Hell. A Vermine, which as the same Historian mentioneth in the Kingdom of France, in the reign of Charles the ninth attained to the number (O ruthful report!) of thirty thousand men: (as their chief Leader then confessed) but since that time (saith he) it hath had so great a scope, as such as deal with it in great houses, are called Philosophers and Astrologers. As this hath been said concerning France: So do I humbly bend the knee of my soul before the Throne of God's Majesty, praying both with the uttmost and inmost zeal of my spirit, that it may not once be suspected of England. A brood of hell are they, not to be confuted with words of argument: but to be cut off with sword of punishment. That so without reply, both their mouth may be stopped, and breath choked. A judgement (no doubt) too merciful for them, who call into question that which Heaven, and Earth, Angels, Men, Devils, all Ages of the World, all Languages of Nations do affirm avouch, attest, approve, and verify: and the conscience of the Atheist is more than a thousand witnesses, to testify as one writeth; affirmant tibi. non sibi, interdiu, non noctu: Tney affirm so to thee not to themselves; in the day, when they think they may be more bold; not in the night when fear doth more possess them. Tully writeth of Metrodorus an Atheist of his Tully. time. Nec quenquam vidi; qui magis ea timeret, quae timenda esse negaret, mortem dico, et Deos: Neither have I seen any man man more fearful of those things which he said were not to be feared; I mean Death and God. If God be to be Feared, then is he not (O cursed Atheists!) to be Scorned. The second thing that I am to handle, is that there is, A chair of those scornful ones. The Scripture commendeth unto us a threefold Chair, of Doctrine of justice, and of scorning. First, of Doctrine, in this sense, our Blessed Saviour saith of the Scribes and pharisees, that they sit in Moses' chair. Math. 23. 2. Teaching as he taught in the same seat: but swerving from the purity of his Doctrine, because they taught with much corruption. Secondly we read of a chair, or seat of justice or 1. Reg, 10. 18. judgement, such a one may that throne seem to be which Solomon erected. Thirdly the Scripture mentioneth unto us a chair, or seat of the scornful, spoken off in this present Psalm or place, Nor sit in the seat, or chair of the scornful. This Chair is a place of ease and repose, wherein the Proud, Envious and Malicious-men which scorn man; The Covetous, Carnal and Malicious men which scorn GOD, do accustom themselves to sit, even as Herod sat in the seat of proud vanity, and as sometime Babylon did, who vaunted that she did sit being a Queen, and was no widow; therefore in scorn Act. 12. 21. (as it were) of all that God could do to her, she should see no mourning. The third thing that I am to handle is, that the wicked sit in this chair or seat. They sit in it, both as lewd Epicures, corrupting themselves, and as false Doctors misinstructing others. First, they sit so in this seat, as they make it notorious unto the whole world, that they are as lewd Epicures corrupting themselves. They add by all possible endeavour, Transgression unto sin, as some do add Drunkenness to Thirst; and when they have so done, they sit them down in the seat of the scornful, that they may take their case there, yea it may be that they may fall a sleep there also. Oh this easeful sleep of sin may well be called (as saith the Greek Poets) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Death's brother, or, if you will, a dead sleep. The Apostle, Rom. 11, 8. calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the spirit of slumber. These are they who have their souls the more desperately sinne-sicke, because they feel not themselves sick at all. They have as the Schoolmen speak, Conscientiam tranquillam, et malam, a conscience quiet, but evil; like unto an uncurable Fistula whose outward part seemeth sound and cured, but the inward core is rotten and putrefied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, such as have their consciences seared up with a hot iron: so as all sense is mortified in them. It is a point well worthy our observing, that the more ease we think to find in sin, the further are we off from any case at all. A Man that walketh, and becometh weary of walking, thinketh to find ease by standing still, but lo; standing ' still, as we have heretofore been taught, is worse than walking: A Man that is weary of standing still, supposeth to find ease by sitting down: but behold, to sit down maketh him in a worse case than when he stood: A man who is once entered into the way of sinners, cannot get out unless he walk: for as-much as when there is no moving, there cannot possibly be any removing from sin; and he that sitteth must first Rise and Stand, before he can Walk. He than that Walketh, hath but one step to repentance, namely, coming forth: he that Standeth, seemeth to have Two: walking and coming forth: but he that sitteth hath Three: first Standing, then walking, and in the end Coming forth. It is therefore a matter not of pleasure, but of terror thus to sit. Secondly, the wicked sit in the seat of the scornful, as false Doctors misinstructing others. This they practise either by Voice, which seemeth to be a speaking example: or by Example which may be called a dumb voice. The fourth thing that I am to handle is, that the godly do not sit in this seat. They do not sit in it, first, be-because they are careful not to corrupt themselves in this Epicurious ease, in security committing thereby, even capital crimes, and enormous transgressions. But they rather on the other side, bear a watchful regard over every part and member about them, that they may not offend or do amiss: Over their Ears, that they may hear no uncleanness: over their Eyes, that they may behold no wantonness: over their Hands, that they may do no violence: over their Feet, lest the Mis-going of any step should prove a Misdoing against their Maker: and so consequently over their whole, both outward and inward man: that neither may offend God, since both were made to serve God. But if at any time they do amiss (as he must needs do amiss in so saying, who saith he never doth amiss:) No sooner doth the Grace of God knock at the gate of their heart, as the face of CHRIST looked upon Peter: but they go Math. 26. 75. out of their sins, as he went out of the judgement-hall, & with him do they weep bitterly. Math. 2●. 75. That as the Tears of the Vine (as Pliny reporteth) do cure Plin. lib. 23. Leprosy, So the tears of themselves which are graffed into the true Vine CHRIST JESUS, may salve the lepry of their sins. They labour that the speech of Saint Cyril concerning Peter may be verified of them, Locum flendo recepit, quem negando perdiderat: He received that place by Weeping, from which he hath fallen by Denying. There is a twofold denying, or denial of CHRIST, the one, Ore, by Word: ●us did Peter deny, ●ne other, Opere, by Work: thus more or less every sinner denies him: if the Godly at any time have incur●ed God's displeasure, by the Tears of sin; they forthwith endeavour again 〈◊〉 be reconciled by the Tears of repentance: that it may so come to pass, That the heads of the Dragons Psalm 74. 13. may be drowned in the waters: that is, that sins as venomous and bloody as the Dragon, may be drowned by the watery streams of their flowing tears, they are so far from fitting still in their Sin, as Herode did in his Sin, which concerned his brother Philipps wife, as they rather deal with sin after the acting of it, as Ammon did with his Sister Thamar, after he had d●slowred her, who forthwith, first hated her; secondly, exceedingly more then he before had loved her: thirdly, he put her 2. Sam. 13. vers. 15. 17. out of doors: four, he locked the door after her, lest she should come in again. Secondly, they do not sit in this seat, as misinstructing others by false Doctrine, because concerning their Voice, they utter with it, words that are gracious always, and powdered with Salt. Coloss. 4. 6. Touching their Example, it is Rom. 13. 12. not the works of darkness, as of them who have no delight to sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, Luk. 1. 79. But it is the example of such, as have on them the Armour of light. Whereby they may and do so shine before Rom. 13. 12. men, as they seeing the light of their good example, may glorify their Father which is in Heaven: As they themselves look also to be glorified with their father which is Matth. 5 16. in Heaven. Hitherto have the Evidence of the Godly man's Virtues appeared unto us by the Negative: Now cometh i● to be opened by the Affirmative contestation, vers. 2. of this Psalm. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. In which words I observe, first, the Pleasure which the Godly man taketh in the law of the Lord, in that he delighteth in the law● of the Lord. Secondly, the pains which he taketh about the law of the Lord, for that, in his law he doth meditate day & night. In the pleasure which the Godly man taketh in the law of the Lord, may I consider first the object of it: the law of the Lord: Secondly, the act of it, he delighteth in it. The object offereth itself to be explained in two points: first, whose law this is: of the Lord: secondly, what law this is here spoken of. The pleasure then which the Godly man taketh in the law of the Lord, cometh in the first place to our handling, and that in the object of it in that branch thereof, whose law it is: the Law of the Lord: that is, the Law of GOD himself, who is the Creator of all things, called Lord, in a sense of Super-eminency, or Excellency, because he is Apoc. 19 6. the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords: A King, unto whom all Kings are Lieutenants: a Lord, unto whom Prover. 8. 15. Prover. 8. 16. all Lords are Vassals: a King, by whom King's reign, and Princes decree justice. A Lord, by whom Prince's rule, and the Nobles and judges of the Earth. That which the Philosopher speaketh of Rhetoric may be said of Law, making that, in making of a law, Aristo. Rhetor. lib. 2. cap. 1. whereby the manners of men are to be squared, that it may be of more heedful regard, and important efficacy: three things are necessarily required: Wisdom, whereby he may be beloved: Love, whereby he may be respected: Authority, whereby he may be feared: these three things may abundantly be found in this sovereign and supreme Lawgiver the Lord, here spoken of; who hath first Wisdom, in regard whereof, he may and must be believed, being not only, ipsa sapientia, as Saint Augustine speaketh; Wisdom itself, and that Aug. de cognition. verae vitae. essential in himself, but containing in him all the derivative treasures of all Wisdom for others. The Wisdom then of all other creatures, it is but a Derivative from Coloss. 2. 3. his Primitive, a Branch from his Root, a Spark from his Fire, a Stream from his Fountained: and to conclude, as a Beam from his light, Qui idem intelligibilibus quod Sol sensibilibus, saith Greg. Nazian: Who is the same to Greg. Nazian. de Theolog. lib. 2. matters intelligible, that is, the object of understanding: of which kind, Wisdom seemeth to be: which the Sun is to things sensible. Things sensible without the light of the Sun should not be perceived: so things intelligible without the rays of God's wisdom could never possibly be conceived. GOD is therefore not only wise, but first Primarily: secondly, Absolutely: thirdly, Essentially-onely-wise: and therefore ought he as a wise Lawemaker, to be believed. jud. ver. 25. Secondly, he hath Love, in regard whereof he is to be respected, in whom mercy and judgement be so cou●●ed Psal. 145. 9 together, as his mercy is over all his works. Who so punisheth a Sinner, as he hath no pleasure therein, but desireth rather that he may live then die. Who is so brightness Ezech. 18. 2. and Amber; a testification of his love: and Fire, an argument of his wrath; as his Love by Brightness and Amber is to be found in his upper, his Wrath by Fire Ezech. 8. 2. in his neither parts. Who is said, to love the world: If you would know how; Much, every way, in regard of the boundless measure of it: So, that is in such abundance as cannot be expressed: Touching the effect of it, that he gave his only begotten son: in respect of the end, that whosoever believeth in him, should have life everlasting. john. 3. 16. Worthily therefore was it spoken by Saint Bernard. Bernar. decon sid. lib. 5. Quid est Deus? quod ad se, ipse novit, quod ad ecclesiam spectat salus. What is God? what he is to himself, he knoweth best himself: but to his Church or Elect, he is Saving-health: And because of his love to us, is God to be loved again of us, as a kind Lawegiver, having love, whereby he is to be respected. Thirdly, he also hath Authority, whereby he is to be feared. Needs must Authority attend upon him, who was so the Author of all things by his wise omnipotency, as he ever since hath been, and yet is, the supporter of all things by his mighty word. To the Heb●. 1. 3. sceptre of whose regiment, the Knee, and Hand, and Heart of every creature, are so pliant, as he is called the Lord of Hosts, because the Hosts of all his Creatures are at the beck of his Providence, ready to execute the pleasure of his will, not only among Angels and Men, Beasts, Fowls, Fishes, Worms, Trees and Plants: but even the very senseless, yea lifeless creatures themselves. Thus the fire commanded by him, burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah. Genes. 19 The water enjoined by him, drowned the whole world. The Earth appointe● Gen. 7. by him, opened her mouth, swallowed up Dathan, and Num. 16. Psal. 106. 17. covered the congregation of Abiram. Not the Rams of war, but the sound of Rams horns enabled by him, beat down the walls of jericho. Josh. 6. Hailstones, which for their bigness are called great stones joshuah 10. 11. ordained by him, did discomfit and overthrow the army of the five Kings, which were combined against joshua, so as more died by them, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Josh. 10. Thus the Stars in their courses fought against Siserah. judg. 5. 10. Thus to conclude, as it appeareth by the Ecclesiastical Histories, the Heavens and winds fought for Theodosius, that good Christian Emperor; In so much as the Poet saith of him: O nimium dilect Deo, cui militat aether, Claudian. Et coniurati veniunt ad Classica, venti. O Gods beloved! whom powers Aerial, And winds come armed to help, when thou dost call. He hath therefore authority that he may be feared. The second thing is, what this Law is, or what is meant by it. By Law, in this place is not only to be understood the Moral law of Moses, consisting of Ten precepts: which with so great terror of Thundering and Lightning, and Smoke, which ascended as the Smoke of a Exod. 20. Furnace, and a thick Cloud also upon the Mountain, and with the sound of a Trumpet, was delivered by GOD unto his peculiar people Israel: But by a Tropical speech, of the part, put for the whole; By Law in this place, is intended all the whole Scripture of God, all the holy Book of God, which cometh not by any private motion, but as the holy men of God have been moved, and inspired by the holy Ghost, 2. Pet. 1. 20. 21. So far (as one describeth a Law) as the whole Scripture is, Ratio summa quae inbet Ciccro del●gi. 1. eam quae facienda: prohibetque contraria: A chief reason which commandeth those things which are to be done, and forbiddeth the contrary: which is to be found, not only in the Moral law of Moses, but even throughout the whole sacred volume of God's Book. The second thing is the Act of this pleasure, his delight is in it. A Law it is, worthy; thrice worthy, yea, infinitely worthy to be delighted in, both in regard of the Author of it, which is God: as also in respect of the Authority of it, which is manifold. First, we are to delight in the law of the Lord, in respect of the Author of it, which is God, not any false or imagined idolatrous God of the Heathen; but the true, certain, and eternal God of Heaven. The Heathen, that they mought make men to take the more delight in their laws, have grounded the original of them upon some God. So hath Numa among the Romans' on the Nymph Aegeria: Solon among the Athenians on Minerva: Lycurgus among the Lacedæmonians on Apollo: Minos among them of Crete on jupiter: Charondas among the Carthaginians on Saturn: Osiris among the Egyptians on Mercury: Zamolxis among the Scythians on Vesta, and others the like. But all these were Idols; the Idea and fantasy whereof, was first invented and hatched in the brains of men: & as an Idol is nothing in the world: so these laws had their groundwork laid 1. Corin. 8. 4. upon nothing, But the Law of the Lord here spoken of, aught to be more wisely and gravely pondered of us, and delighted in by us, as that which issueth from that Author, who is the only God, who is the Father, of whom are all 1. Corin 8. 6. things, and we in him Secondly, we are to delight in this law, in regard of the Authority of it: as in that law which is most fully authorized by the Antiquity, justice, Wisdom, Truth, Pleasure, Profit of it. The serious meditation of all which, ● suppose should cause the Law of the Lord to deal with us, as the Church did with Christ: of whom Christ saith, in regard of the surplusage of his love towards her, My Sister, my Spouse, thou hast wounded mine heart with one of thine eyes, and with a Chain of thine neck. Ca●t. 4. 9 This Chain, therefore, wherein the Excellency of the Law of the Lord standeth, consisteth of the six forementioned Links. Whereof the first is, that it is most Ancient. Long was it before the Paeinims Gods were extant. The last writers of the Hebrew Canon, which were almost six hundred years before the coming of Christ, namely Aggaeus, Zacharias, Malachias, Esra, flourishing about the time of the beginning of the Persian Monarchy, were before the times of Thucydides, Pherecides, Xenophon, Hellanicus, Herodotus, the most ancient of the Gentil Historians: the matter & subject of whose writings, is chief the ●ests of the Persian Monarchy. And although we grant that Orpheus, Hesiodus, Homer, being Poets, and Lycurgus the Lacaedemonian Lawgiver, were more ancient than they: yet therewithal do we urge, that (as an undeniable truth) it may be granted, that the eldest of them fell short of the days of King Solomon, which Solomon lived after Moses, the first penman of the Bible, five hundred years. After the time of which Moses, many of the Cradles of the Heathen Gods, as of Vulcan, Meroury, Apollo, Ceres, Aesculapius, Hercules, Castor, E●phemer in Genca. Deor. Pollux, were for a long space unrocked, because themselves were unborn, much less could the names of Gods be then borne by them. jupiter also, Neptune, Pluto, whom the Orator, de natura deorum, calleth Deos maierum T●ll. de natu. deorum. gentium. The Gods of greater, or, elder nations, succeeded the times of Abraham, who lived about five hundred years before Moses. He which desireth a furth●●●●tisfaction concerning this point, let him read Euseb●●●●●● preparatione evangelica. lib. 9 cap. 2. 3. 4. By all which it appears, that the Law of the Lord hath Antiquity, 〈◊〉 consequence Authority, for the which we ought 〈…〉 light in it. It is a thing naturally given unto us, to delight in that which is ancient, vidz. Coins, Statues, Rings, Pictures, or any other Monument; semblably doth it be-come, or rather behove us, to delight in this Law of the Lord, because (a first Link of this Chain) it is most Ancient. The second Link of this Chain, whereby the Law of the Lord is so adorned as we are to delight in it, is that it is a most just law; giving to every man as his deserts shall be: Wherein consisteth the very deist and intendment of the Law of the Lord. justitia (saith justinian) justinian. Institut. lib. 1. est constans & perpetua voluntas, etc. justice is a constant and perpetual will of giving to every man, that which is his due: which justice may abundantly be found in the Law of the Lord, because all the judgements thereof are righteous altogether, Psal. 19 9 The same justinian in the same place, saith, That the precepts of a Law, according to this justice, be, to live honestly: justinian. Ibidem. not to hurt another; to give to every man that which belongeth unto him: which precepts if they be not to be found in this Law of the LORD, they are not surely elsewhere to be sought for. Every Leaf, Page, yea I had almost said Line, are full of such motives, full of such admonishments. We ought therefore to delight in this Law of the Lord, because (a second Link of this Chain) it is most just. The third Link of this Chain, whereby the Law of the Lord is so adorned, as we should delight in it, is that it is a most wise Law, so wise as it giveth Wisdom even to them who are hardly capable of Wisdom, even to the simple ones. S 〈…〉 the Law of the Lord, as Psal. 19 7. what soever is Wise amo 〈…〉 entiles is borrowed, and as Clemens Alexandrin 〈…〉; rob from thence. At Clem Alexan. the Well of the Law 〈…〉 ets, Plato (being a Prince of the Gentle Wise-m●● 〈◊〉 so full a draft, as he is called, Altar Moses, and, Moses Atticus, another Moses, and an Athenian Moses: and justinus Martyr, an Author justin. Mart. Apolog. 2. so ancient, as he is well-neare Apostolic, witnesseth these words. Proinde et Plato cum dixit (âileioe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,) a Mose id acceptum protulit. Therefore Plato also when he said (the fault is in him that did chose; but God is without fault:) produced it as received from Moses. Seeing therefore all the wisdom of the whole World, jews, Christians, and Gentiles, depend on this Law of the Lord, we are to esteem it as a main point of our duty, to delight in it, because (a third Link of this Chain) it is most wise. The fourth Link of this Chain, whereby the Law of the Lord is so adorned, as we should delight in it, is, that it is a most true law, wherein never was, nor shall be found any contradiction. So perfect is it in the true accomplishment of the Truth thereof, as it is said to be a perfect law. To the which if any man shall add any Psal. 19 7. thing; GOD shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this Book, if any man shall diminish any thing, GOD shall take away his part out of the Book of life, and from the holy City. Apoc. 22. 18. 19 Hear alone is to be found the true urim and THUMMIM: the urim, that is light, and the THVMMIM, that is, Perfection: or if you please, the light of perfect truth, or the true perfection of light. We must therefore acknowledge, that we ought to delight in the law of the Lord, because (a fourth Link of this Chain) it is most true. The fifth Link of this Chain, whereby the Law of the Lord is so adorned, as we should delight in it, is, that it is a most Pleasant law, not according to the floating and uncertain pleasure of the Flesh, but according to the constant and permanent pleasures of the Spirit. In which sense it is said to be Sweeter than the honey, and the hony-comb: Psalm. 19 10. A Sweetness not Sensual, belonging to the Flesh, but Intellectual, appertaining to the Spirit. Every way of Sin, and transgression is a way of Darkness; but the way of GOD'S Law, is the way of light, as holy Peter worthily witnesseth. We also have a most sure word, to the which ye do well, that ye take heed as unto a light, that shineth 2 Pet. 1. 19 in a dark place. As therefore it is without comparison a more Delightsome thing, to walk in a Lightsome, then in a Darksome way: so much doth the way of God's Law excel in pleasure the way of Lawless transgressors, (a fifth Link of this chain) that, we are to delight in it because it is most pleasant. The sixth and last Link of this Chain, whereby the Law of the Lord is so adorned, as we should delight in it, is, that it is a most profitable Law: It is more to be desired, than gold, yea then much fine gold: yea it is dearer than thousands Psalm 19 1. Psalm. ● 19 of gold and silver. It is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A thing which is profitable to every use: a Watch, or Dial whereby we are to spend our Time: A Fan which winnoweth the chaff of sin from the grain of God's graces. The Staff of out journey toward Heaven, more fortunate than that of jacob was, whereby he passed over jordan: A Star which leadeth the Godly wise to the Heavenly Bethel, where Christ is; as the Blazing star brought the Wisemen of the East to Bethelem, where Christ was. This Law of the Lord is to the poor, Pure gold, whereby they may be made spiritually Rich; to the naked White raiments; to clothe their souls: to the blind, spiritual eyesalve to recover their eyesight. And as Saint Hierome saith of Manna, Hier●. Apoca. 3. 18. that it had the relish of every good taste; so may it be said concerning this Law, that it hath the fruit of every Good benefit: (A sixth Link of this Chain) that we are to delight in this Law of the LORD, because it is most profitable. Since then the Word of God, the Law of the Lord, here spoken of, appeareth unto us by the matter promised to be a most Ancient, Just, Wise, True, Pleasant, Profitable, Law, Oh how ought? (as the hearts of the two Disciples, which went to Emaiu; burnt within them to hear Luk. 25. 3●. the conference of Christ with them.) How ought I say, also our Hearts our Souls and Spirits to be inflamed, enkindand burn within us, in an holy and uncessant zeal towards this Word of God, the Law of the Lord here spoken of? How ought we more earnestly to long for the Waters of the Well of Life, than David did for the waters of the Well of Bethleem? and when we have them, never, oh never, to deal with these Waters of Life as the Isralites did with the bread of Heaven? which (oh be it far from us so to do) loathed it. But much, oh much better, shall we provide for ourselves, if with the woman of Samaria we shall say still, and again, LORD give me to drink of these john 4. 15. Waters, crying out for these Waters, which bring us to a Crown of Life, as CHRIST did on the Cross of his death, Sitio: I thirst; and again I thirst, and evermore, I thirst. Yea let us so thirst after them that we may follow them: let us so follow them as we may attend on them, let us so attend on them as we may continue both in the Hearing and Reading of this Law of the Lord, the two true streams of these waters, whereby we with them, and they with us do spring up, unto life everlasting. john 4. 14. Two sorts of men there be who not rightly relishing the delight-some sweetness of this Law, do sail to have the waters thereof to become the Waters of comfort, unto them. Psal. 23. 2. The one sort be Recusants at all to hear it. The other sort Delingentes in hearing it. The Recusants to hear it at all, are either such as do it of Superstitious contempts, as the Papists and schismatic, or such as do it of a Careless neglect as the Worldlings and Epicures, The Delinquentes in hearing it, consist principally in a twofold miscarriage: the one of a Wandering thought: the other of a slumbering eye. First, a Wandering thought, setteth (as it were) a false pias to the affections of the hearer. Whereby (when he ought to attend his ear, and intent his mind to the Word delivered) he is mis-drawn some other way. Thus the wanton neglecteth the Word, and thinketh on his pleasure: the Miser on his coin: the Drunkard on his cups: the Glutton on his dish: the Prodigal on his game: the proud on his garments, his gate or his glass; abusing the presence of GOD herein so much the more, in that When GOD is a spirit and not a body. john, 4. 24. they are present in body only, and not in spirit. When we preach, it is not we that speak, but, it is the spirit of God that speaketh in us. We, alas, are but the means, God is the Author: we be the Instruments, the Holy Ghost the is the inspirer. The Message which we bring, it is not the Word of man, without God, but it is the Word of God within man.. Oh with what willingness do we hear matters in Civil Assemblies, at the star-chamber, or such like? though the discourse of them be continued for some hours together, being but the only invention of Man, and concerning matters Temporal, for this life alone: & which happily appertain to other Men, & not ourselves; And shall we, who are of the Church of God, the true star-chamber indeed; whereof the lower room is the Church Militant here on earth, having the Stars to be the roof thereof above; whereof the upper room is the Church Triumphant in Heaven, having the Stars to be as the Pavement thereof below: shall we I say, be so dull eared? coldly affected? wandering-minded? in the hearing of those matters, and that but one hour alone, whose inspiration is from God above, which concern matters spiritual, and a better life to come, and not so much belonging to others, as dearly and nearly appertaining to ourselves. The second Delinquent in hearing the Word: the Law of the Lord here spoken off, is he that hath a slumbering eye, using his seat in the Church, as a seat if not of scorners: forementioned; yet of sleepers, and the voice of the Preacher as a pleasant song to sing him asleep. A singing indeed Ezech. 33. 32. it is which may prove unto such (without God's special preventing grace) as the stinging of the Adder, which bringeth a man first into a pleasant sleep, and into death immediately after it. This sleeping while God's labourers are sowing: that so the Enemy Satan may sow his tars among the Wheat: it is alas, and again I say alas, overusuall. Wherein the subtle malice of the old-Serpent may appear unto us, who being not able to keep the Word from us, as in the time of Ignorance, keepeth us from the Word by this sleepy Negligence. It is Morbus pandemicus, a pandemical disease; common, overspread, ordinary, usual, and that not in some, but (a thing to be uttered with grief) well nigh in all congregations, as the practice almost of all men proveth it, their consciences witnesseth it, the Pastors of God from the places of their function (to their grief) have too often observed it, and God himself who is present Ever, and in all places, sleepeth never, and in no place, knoweth it, and will (without our amendment preventeth it) no doubt punish us for it. If we look in a glass, and see but a spot in our countenance, we will not suffer it to remain there, but forthwith remove it: behold▪ we have at this time by the glass of the Word discovered unto us a most gross, and unseemly blemish, and that as it were in our Faces, because as the Face is most in sight, so is this done in the Face of the Church, in the public view of the whole Congregation. Oh let us therefore speedily labour to wash and wipe it away, that so it may be redressed. If it cometh of Infirmity, let us pray against it; yea let us fast against it also; that so Fasting may make us less heavy, and our Prayer may make us more lively. If it cometh of willingness, either because we resist it faintly: or else because we admit it gladly; what then can be said of such but that they are as Idol-hearers, as the Prophet speaketh of Idol shepherds, such Hebr. 4. 1●. as deserve A Woe not only to be denounced against them, but also to be imposed upon them: It is said that the word of God is lively: and shall we be in a dead sleep at the hearing of it? Mighty in operation, and shall it show no might in us, to hold us waking? Sharper than a two edged sword: and shall we be duller than the earth itself in receiving of it? which entereth even to the dividing a sunder of the soul and the spirit, of the ●oynts and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts ●nd intents of the heart: & shall we be more hard than an ●stamant in with-standing it? Oh let that be far from 〈◊〉 unless peradventure, we delight to have God to be far from us, as we in sleeping, while he is speaking, are far from him. Let us remember that we are The children of the light, and of the day, and not of the night, and of darkness. 1 Thess. 5. 9 1 Thess. 5. 5. and therefore are we not to sleep as the Children of the Night and Darkness use to do: but to awake as the Children of the Day and of the light ought to do. The second thing is, the Pains that the Godly man taketh about the Law of the Lord, after his Pleasure in this Law to be handled: And in his Law doth he meditate day and night. Wherein I may observe four points. Whereof the first is, the practice of his pains, He doth Meditate: The second is the subject of his pains, In his Law The third perseverance, Day and Night: The fourth vigilancy, in that he is said so to do, not only in the day, which GOD hath ordained for Man to work in: but also in the Night, which GOD hath appointed Man to rest in. First am I then to speak of the Practice of the pains of the Godly-One, in that he doth Meditate. Without this Meditation, the Law of the Lord either in time will be forgotten, whereby we shall become unmindful of it; or else will prove as a talent wrapped up in a napkin and buried in the earth, Utterly unfruitful unto us, being as the fire in the flint, without smiting, or as the sent in the Pomander without chaffing, both of them fruitless and useless also. This Meditation, it is the third step of a truly converted and rightly informed Christian. Whereof the first step is to hear the Word of GOD readily: the second to Remember it diligently: the third to meditate on it seriously. This Meditation or calling ourselves to remembrance, is like that rumination or chewing of the cud; to be found in the clean beasts, whereas They Deut. 14. 6. 7. 8. which chewed not the cud were unclean. This Meditation it is as a Looking-glass, or rather the very Eye of the soul whereby she seeth herself, and looketh into her whole estate, her riches, her poverty, her gifts, her defects: her safety, her danger: her way, her journey in the way, and the place whereunto she iournyeth. It is the Key which unlocketh the very door of our heart, where all our books of accounts do lie. It fareth with the Word of GOD, as with the Womb of a woman, where there is first Hearing, this may be likened to Conception: secondly Remembrance, this answereth to Retention: Thirdly Meditating, this agreeth with Quickening. Without all which together, Conception, Retention, Quickening, the Child must needs come lifeless into the World: So also without this Hearing, Remembering, Meditating, the Word must needs be fruitless unto us. This Meditation of it be rightly used, will not only become as As a bridle of temperance to restrain our misdoings, but even a●● As the club of Hercules, to beat and bear down all the monstrous brood of awlesse transgressions, as that is said to quell, and subdue the Monsters of the World. It would first beat and bear down the Monster of Covetousness, by a Meditation, that the possessions of this life are sickle; that the lives of the possessors are brittle; that the transitory things o● his World may be either taken from us as they were from job; or else that we may be taken from them, as the covetous minded Worldling to whom it was said, Thou Fool this night shall they fetch away thy soul from thee Luke 12. 20. that such as are covetous are Earthly minded, Philip. 3. 19 and thereby have their hearts cleaving unto the Earth, for which cause must they much more become an Abomination unto the LORD then those Creeping things which naturally go with their Bellies upon the ground. Levit. 11. 20. that though they have some Kingdom, yet have they but a small portion of the Earth, and that the least fixed Star in the Firmament as the Astrologians testify, is eighteen times bigger than the whole Earth: that the Heathen Man could say by the Light of Nature, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. An unsatiable desire of getting, is the greatest mischief among men: that Covetousness worshippeth Angels, not of Glory, but of Gold; even the Creature for the Creator, making Goods (as they call them) their Chiefest Good: and Gold, a God, because Covetousness is Idolàtry, Coloss. 3. 5. That to conclude, ●iuitiarum homm● non sints ponitur ullus, Man hath no end in getting, or in his desire to get. But as he which hath the dropsy, the more he drinketh, the more he thirsteth: So the Earthly-minded Cormorant the more he possesseth, the more he coveteth: multiplying his possession, but not increasing his joy, as we read, Esay. 9 3. of multiplying the nations, and not increasing their joy. Secondly, this Meditation would beat and bear down the Monster of Ambition, by pondering that though the Ambitious man be growing, so long as he is living, yet doth he no more than the slimy and brutish Crocodile; that God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace, to the humble. Thus resisted he proud Nimrod, Saul, 1 Pet. 5. 5. Haman, Holofernes, Herod, etc. Thus gave he grace to humble Abraham, David, Mordochee, judeth, john Baptist: That it is not the Sweet Figtree, nor the Fat Olive-tree, nor the Pleasant Vine; but the tearing and renting Bramble, that presumptuously usurpeth The dignity Judge. 9 8. 9 10. Phavorinus. of a Kingdom, that the ambitious man, according to the fage judgement of a wise Gentile, is, Ridiculus, odiosus, miserabilis: to be laughed at, to be hated, to be pitied, To be laughed at, is he because he seeketh after honours, not measuring his own strength, whether he can be able to bear them: to be hated, because he coveteth to be aloft rather for the glory and honour of himself, then for the good and lucre of his Country: to be pitied is he, because it fareth with him for the most part, as with the Snail, who it may be climbeth up to the highest branch of the tree, yet never attaineth to the full top thereof, because the winds (happily) unto whose force, it is then most exposed, puffeth and bloweth it down in whom is verified that saying. Tolluntur in altum, lapsugraviore ruant. Ciaudia. lib. 1. They are more advanced in their raise, that they may be more bruised in their fall. The Ambitious man is an eyesore to others, and a sore to himself as one saith: Honours' tumores, Honours are Tumours, and Tumours are sores.— Esay. 1. 6. Thirdly, this Meditation would beat and bear down the Monster of drunkenness, by weighing that it maketh a Man a Beast; yea worse than a Beast, for as much as a Beast taketh that measure which is convenient for Nature, and then is satisfied: but Man seeketh not only to content Nature by Natural appetite: but to quench Nature by Artificial quaffings, being herein far more beastly than the Beast, in that the Beast is still sustained on his legs, whereas Man cannot stand, but, while his head waveth, Brain swimmeth, Heart faileth him, he reeleth, falleth by his reeling, and lieth still being fallen: that on a Drunkard, which cannot bear it, the world crieth shame, as on him whose legs foundereth, hands shaketh, head reeleth, countenance is disfigured, eyes inflamed, tongue swollen, belly belcheth, and whole man (to conclude) is become a scorn of men, because he seemeth to be the outcast of the people: that against a Drunkard which can bear it, God denounceth a Woe. Woe be to them Esay. 5. 20. that are mighty to drink Wine, and to them which are strong to power in strong drink: that Saint Chrysostome calleth Ch●●st. Sen●ca. the Drunkard, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Living, not Body, but Carcase: That Drunkenness is nothing else (as one speaketh) but a voluntary madness: a madness is it so dangerous, as it hath caused the great Conqueror of the World, Alexander the great, never therein to conquer himself, but to be conquered by his passions, so as he slew his most dear friend Clitus, burned the renowned Quint. Cur●●. City Persepolis; stabbed his Physician, and committed many other filthy and infamous deeds: that (to conclude) the Drunkard, as writeth Saint Ambrose; Though Ambros. he swalloweth down the Wine, is swallowed up of the Wine, abhorred of God, despised of Angels, derided of men, destitute of Virtue, confounded of Denills, and trampled upon by the feet of all men. The like may be said, that this Meditation will do with Gluttony, Incontinency, Malice, and that grand sin (of which Trismegistus saith, that it is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the great disease of the Soul) I mean of Mercurius Trismegist. Atheism; which execrable, rather than miserable sect, though they be both, because they give little heed to the Book of GOD, or the sacred volume of the holy Scriptures, if they would a little more strictly, draw home the lose reins of their inconsiderate Sensuality, and meditate somewhat more seriously on the books of Nature, contained in the greater volume of the great World; and the smaller Tome of Man himself, who is called the Little World; they could not choose but assume and challenge to themselves that name, which the Scripture giveth them, that they are fools. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. By this than which hath been spoken, may in some Psal. 14. 1. measure appear, the danger which cometh by the neglect; the good that ariseth by the Practice of Meditating. If Philosophy be the study of Wisdom; and the knowledge of Christianity, be the true Wisdom, then be Christians alone the true Philosophers: one saith of the life of a Philosopher, that it is a perpetual Meditation: much more than ought the life a Christian so to be: as here we see, that the task of the Godly man in his pains, is, to meditate. The second thing is, the subject of his pains in his law: before we mentioned the a●te of meditating, out-spread, and at large more generally ●now are we to consider the same, as it is reduced and bound up unto the subject more specially, in his law doth he meditate. David doth measure the manage of a Godly man's behaviour by the carriage of his own virtue. I will meditate in thy precepts, and consider thy ways. Yea and his meditation hath Psal. 119. 15. been inflamed with the fire of that zeal, that he hath Cleaved unto his testimonies, and my hands will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved, and my study shall be in thy slatutes. Ibid. ver. 48. What meaneth that talking of the laws of the Lord, when Ibid. ver. 48. we tarry in the house, when we walk in the way, when we lie down and when we rise up, that we should bind them for a sign upon our hand and set them as frontlets betwixt our eyes, and that we should write them upon the posts of our houses and upon our gates? Deutero. 6. 7. 8. 9 but that as ver. 6. they should be in our heart, that is that we should meditate in them, engraving them religiously in the tables of our hearts, as the pharisees bore them about superstitiously in the skerts of their hats. We must not only lay them up in our hearts, but so as we ponder them being Matt. 23. 5. there laid up: as Mary did Luke. 2. 51. Not to hear this Law of the Lord at all, is to be like Malchus without an ear to hear, and not to remember is to be like Messala without a memory: to remember it and not to meditate john. 18. 10. on it, is to be like Nabal without an heart. 1. Samuel. 25. 37. The third thing is his Perseverance Day and Night. Perseverance is the garland that crowneth all our actions. This is that which bringeth the Church to her rest after her labours: to her Peace after her conflict: to her Glory after her misery: to her Heavenly crown after her bloody crosses and torturing passions, even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he which overcometh: as may plentifully appear. If we would be the beloved of God as David was, and Apoc cap. 2. 3. his name signifieth, then must we do as David did, we must be no truants in the school of CHRIST'S Law, but having cunned one lesson, we must covet to learn another; and still call upon GOD as a good scholar upon his Master, Oh teach me thy testimonies, teach me thy statutes, teach me thy ways, etc. As we are the Psal 119. 1. The●. 5. 5. 2. Pet. 1. 4. Children of the Day and the Light. So are we to meditate day and night. As the GODLY are partakers of the Godly nature, So ought they to labour to approach as near the actions of GOD as may be, to whom the day and night are both alike: so are they to meditate day and night. GOD which hath bounded the Day with the Psal. 139. 12. Night, hath set no bound to a godly man's meditation; but he must meditate day and night, to show that the life of the Godly is no easeful, but a painful life, a matter not of sleepy carelessness, but a diligent watchfulness, where we must not stand still, like the Sun of joshuah: neither go backward, like the Sun of Hezekiah: but go on like David's Sun, which rejoiceth as a Giant to run Psal. 19 5. his course. The four Beasts never cease day nor night, the Lamps of the Temple burn continually, Timothy must be instant, opportune & importune, in season and out of season. 2. Tim. 4. 2. The Church in the Canticles sleepeth, but her heart awaketh. Saint Ambrose saith, Etiam somnus Ambros. sanctorum operarius esto, even the sleep of the Saints, let it be a waking or working: It is nothing to be, first, one that heareth the word. Secondly, One that receiveth it. Thirdly, Speedily. Fourth, With joy: if fifthly, he shall be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for a time only: if he shall not also continue to meditate therein day and night. Matt. 13. Three chief offenders there be against the intendment of this doctrine. Whereof the first are such as go on it may be, though with some wavering, in the day of prosperity: but in the night of adversity, they become like the Swallow, who in Winter forsakes that house, wherein during the whole season of the Summer, it hath been safely harboured: whose guise is not with Paul, to rejoice Galath 6. 14. Philip. 3. 14. in the Cross of Christ: but rather with the worldlings, to be enemies to the Cross of Christ: For this cause flee they from it, as Moses did from his Rod turned into a cerpent. Exod. 4. 3. Fitly may these men be compared to the Grasshoppers, Nahum. 3. 17. Who lay in the Hedges in the cool of the day: but when the Sun ariseth, they fly away, and the place is, not known where they were; so these men, while the cool shade of prosperity overspread them, as the pleasant Gourd did the head of jonas: so long they with jonas, are exceeding glad: but when the Worm of corruption is john. 4. 6. b●ed, and the ground therewithal so smitten as it withereth: and the fervent East wind breatheth, and the sun beateth upon them, as upon the head of jonas, than they with jonas are discontented, and wish to die. Their john. 4. 7. 8. building up in religion, is like the walls and structure of a certain Castle that the Chronicles speak of, which fell down as fast in the night, as they were builded up in the In Vthert Pendragon. day: so these men run away as swiftly being clouded by the black Night of Adversity and Persecution: as they ever came, being invited by the lightsome day of Prosperity and Peace. Oh how far was holy job from this! wh● hath been right worthily renowned for his resolute pa●●ence: and meriteth as high a pitch of praises for his constant perseverance, who not tired with that which was past, nor oppressed with that which was present, protesteth in the f●ruour of his soul, concerning the scourge to come, though he kill me, yet will I trust in him. Oh inimitable job. 13. 15. pattern, of patternlesse perseverance, even in a Gentil as job was! very seldom matched, though there be cause sufficient why it should be outmatched of us job. 1. 1. which be Christians, who as we are termed Christians of Christ, so ought we to be named Godly of God, & by consequence with the godly man, hold on and continue in all good actions, both in the day of prosperity, and in the night of adversity, & as here it is required, meditate day & night. The second sort of offenders, who cross the intendment of this doctrine, are those who go not on at all, but stand still, who though by likelihood they may be of a turbulent stirring, and fiery spirit, in awaking the spouse of Christ, in perplexing the peace of jerusalem, and infesting the holy rest of the Church; yet may they be compared to the Wheel or Sail of a Mill, which never ceaseth turning about all the day, and yet standeth in the same place at night, it was in the morning: men are they, who being not carried forth with any stream of rightly informed zeal, are like the dead Sea, at a stand: and therefore with the dead Sea are they easily corrupted. The Angels on the Ladder, which jacob saw in his vision, were either such as ascended, or such as descended; none of them did stand still. So the Church of Christ, as the Ladder of jacob, Gen. 28. 12. in the part Militant, like unto the foot in the part Triumphant, like unto the top of that Ladder, aught in the members therein contained, to have a motion of proceeding, no determination (much less action) of standing still. The life of t●e Righteous, is called a way, Proverb. 4. 18. What is more fi●ting with a way, then to go on and to walk? what is less agreeing then to be at a stand, and to go no further? In the same place, this way is said to be a light: but not as the light of the Evening, which Ibid. by little and little declineth, till the mantel of the Night hath veiled the Earth with darkness, but as the Morning light which shineth more and more, until it be perfect day. Let us therefore with that alacrity of heart, and intention of spirit, which becometh Christians, embrace August. de ver. Apost. ser. 15. that saying of holy S. August. Semper tibi displiceat, id quod ès, si vis pervenire. ad. id quod nondum es, etc. Let that always displease thee, what thou art, that so thou mayest come to that thou art not: for, if thou hast begun to please thyself, there thou hast made thy stay, Si autem dixeris, sufficit etiam periisti. But if thou shalt say, it is sufficient, thou hast also perished: add always, walk always, profit always: noli in via remanere; remanet qui non proficit; Stay thou not, or, stand thou not still in the way: he stayeth or standeth still, who profiteth not: whereas it is the guise of the godly man, to meditate day and night. The third sort of offenders, who cross the intendment of this doctrine, as they are the last, so be they also the worst, a monstrous crew of such as go backward, for they are to be deomed no less monsters in grace, than they are in Nature, whose guise is to go backward. It is not in God's battle against Satan, as in Gedeons' battle against Madian: for God giveth no permission, as Gedeon did, that such of his Soldiers as were timorous and fearful should go back, and return home again. God permitteth it not, jud. 7. 3. yet we, I speak it with grief of heart, practise it; for may we not be challenged, as the Church of Ephesus was, that we have lost our first love? have not the darkness of Apocal. 2. 4. Pope●y been deemed to have produced more fruits, than the light (let our faces blush to hear it, and our hearts intent to amend it) than the light I say of the Gospel hath among us? hath not their ignorance been censured to be more charitable than our knowledge? their Error more fettill, than our Truth? their barrenness more bountiful, than our fruitfulness? The records, say t●ey, of Works and Writings, do testify it: the memory of the aged confirm it: the Edifices of Hospitals, the foundations of Schools, the Monuments of Churches & Chapels, the rubbish and ruin of defaced & demolished abbeys and Monasteries, and Truth herself, who is naked and cannot be falsified, with the colour of any dissimulation, do not secretly suggest it, but openly proclaim it: all which hath occasioned even the ignorance of those times, to break forth into joy against us, because though they Esay. 54. 1. were desolate, yet have they brought forth more children, than the married wife. Oh this is a thing not privately whispered, but openly divulged, and publicly objected unto us! hence the brains of our adversaries have been working, their pens writing, their presses Printing, and their Pamphlets and books scattered and sparsed, not only in Gath, and in the streets of Ascalon, to make the Philistims 2. Sam. 1. 20. rejoice, and the daughrers of the uncircumcised to triumph. 2. Sam. 1. 20. but even to drency all Christian eyes with tears of mournings, even so far as the arms of the world do embrace the name of Christ: that our Religion is no Religion, it fructifieth not, our Faith no faith, it worketh not, our Charity no charity, it feedeth not the hungry, clotheth not the naked, refresheth not the thirsty, visiteth not the sick, comforteth not the imprisoned, etc. That we ourselves are Libertines, because we, while we have only faith in our mouths, have therewith (as they say) deceit in our tongues, poison in our Luk. 17. 32. lips, lust in our eyes, cruelty in our hands, blood in our feet, revenge in our heart, and disobedience in all our actions; But oh! that we could rightly remember Lot's wife, who for that she did but look back, was turned into a pillar of Salt: but much more shall the punishment of such be sharp, which shall go back. The fourth and last thing is his Vigilancy, in that he doth meditate not only in the day which GOD hath appointed man to labour in: but in the night also, which GOD hath ordained for man to rest in. The Godly man than meditateth in the Law of the Lord, not only in the day, but in the night also, whereas we are backward and untoward to attend it, either day or night. In the night it is not among us by custom required, that we should hear and hearken unto the sweet Oracles of God, but according to our received custom, in the time of the day only; and chief (though on other days it may commendably be practised) on one in the seven, eucn that Lords day, & that not the whole day, but haply some few hours therein: and yet then how drowsily do we attend it? sluggishly receive it? how sleepily entertain it? as if our Oratories were turned into Dormitories, Temples into Cradles', & our Churches mought deservedly be called by those names, by which, of the Greeks' the Churchyards have been termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, sleeping places, that albeit the word of God should be of that force, that though we be as dead stones, yet it should make us living stones: yet we being living men at the hearing thereof, become as dead Pet. 2. 5. stones. We have now finished as God hath assisted the Evidence of the virtues of the Godly man, and that considered in the two membears thereof, both in the negative and affirmative contestation. Now am I to assume to mine handling the Recompense of the Godly man's virtues, the second part of the first general head of this Psalm, which Recompense is set forth unto us in two branches whereof the former is the declaration and Tenure of it, vers. 1. Blessed is the man: the other is the further Dilatation, and Godly man's tittle unto it Verse. 1. verse. 3. for he shallbe like a tree planted by the river, etc. Verse. 3. the special limbs whereof shall then appear, when we shall come to the special handling of it. The Recompense then of the virtues of the Godly is prefixed and published in the beginning of this Psalm in words very short in sentence, but sweet in sense, Blessed is the man. If you would know what man, not every man, but that man, whose most holy virtues (both in keeping himself from evil in that he walketh not in the council of the wicked, standeth not in the way, and setteth not in the seat of the scornful as also in betaking himself to a sacred pleasure in, and a vigilant pains about the Law of the Lord) have been formerly handled. Before than we heard of his Labours, now are we to hear of his Wages; before understood we his Diligence, now are we to understand of his Recompense, before considered we his Pains, now are we to consider his Penny; before observed we his Virtue with toil, now are we to observe his Bliss in triumph. God Who cannot suffer a cup of cold water to go unrewarded, Mat. 10. 42. How can he suffer the virtues of his Saints to go away unrecompensed? He will not do it, for he is merciful, he cannot do it, for he is just. A judge of the whole world is God, the pillars of whose throne are the parts of David's song, Psalm. 101. 1. Mercy and judgement, a merciful and just judge of the whole world is he, and shall not the judge of the whole world do that which is Gen. 18. 25. right? A question is it which includeth a necessary affirmative illation, as if so be Abraham should have said it is impossible to be otherwise. If the appointed judges in the vain Olympic games assuredly crowned there conquerors, much more is it undoubtedly, to be expected that he which is, Magniregnator Olympi, as the Poet speaketh: that is the great commander virgil. of the large territory of Heaven, will infallibly crown his champions, even with this crown, though not of Gold, or silver, of grass, of oak, or of bays as in those games wear accustomed, yet of most rich and immortal blessedness. Blessed is the man. It was not enough for the knot of Gordius to be in the hand of Alexander the great: but if he will be conqueror of Asia he must undo it: It sufficeth us not also to hear of this blessedness here spoken of, tied up (as it were) in the knot of general terms, but if we would be possessed of Heaven a far better atcheivement than the conquest of Asia, we must untie it; we must lose it. That therefore even the inmost playtes of this knot may be the better untwisted, and laid open unto us, we must know that there is a twofold Blessedness; whereof the the one is only an apparent or seeming blessedness: the other an existent or being Blessedness, the one may be compared to the image of David, with which Michol deceived Saul her father's Messenger's, the other may be likened to true David himself, the one not unlike the serpents of the Egyptian enchanters, whose rods becams Serpents only 1. Sam. 19 13. in show, the other resemble the rod of Aron, which was turned into a Serpent indeed, the one to conclude is a false blessedness so misdeemed by Men, the other a true blessedness Exod. 7 12. so allowed by God. This apparent or seeming, false Blessedness so misdeemed by men, is a thing highly prized m 〈…〉 ollowed, & greatly delighted in by the profane, unre 〈…〉 at & irregular ones of the world, which that they who a●● the better sort may the better know as mariners do 〈…〉 for the knowledge of Syrteses and sands, & rocks the rather to decline them: They must understand that the limits of this false blessedness were so largely extended, as Varro a great wise man among the varro. Mo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. dever●●at ●●risti. relic. c●p 18. Romans reporteth, that in the books of the Philosophers there were to be found in his time 288. sects: but my purpose is to reduce them to a three fold rank: viz: the supposed good things, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is (as they are called) of Fortune, of the body; of the mind. First, the World reposeth the chiefest Blessedness in the good things of Fortune, so principally called, because they are but Fortunae ludibria, like balls in a Tennis-Court, being bandied and tossed too and sroe with the Rackets of speedy and continual change; which howsoever they be many fold in nature, yet will I bring them as dispersed members to one of these three heads: Treasures, Honours, Pleasures: which as men be diversly affected, so they diversly in their several acceptations embrace and prefer: He which is covetously affected, placeth his Summum bonum, his chief Happiness in Treasures: he which is ambitiously inclined, in Honours; he which is Epicure-like disposed, in Pleasures. The first good thing therefore (as it is called) of Fortune, is that, which by the covetous man is deemed the only happy Estate, and the chiefest Blessedness, consisting in the riches, treasures and possessions of this life: therefore maketh he this to be the bound of his thoughts, and the utmost pitch of his desires, to have his coffers full with Dives. Luke, 16. his granaries full with the rich Worldling: Luke●, 12. His Stables full with Solomon, 1 Reg. 4. His table's full●●ith Belshazar, Dan. 5. His Purse full with Craesus● 〈…〉 grounds full with job. Benzo reporteth 〈…〉 Indians seeing the greediness Benzo. of the Spaniards 〈…〉 said, That Gold was the God of the Spaniards: so may these earthly and transitory possessions be avouched to be the God of the covetous, who long for, and labour after riches, not that they may do good with them, as Abraham and other the holy patriarchs did, who thereupon (as Saint Hierome writeth) deserved rather to be called Dispensatores, then ●romc. Divites, Stewards to dispose, then Rich men, to possess: or (as S. Chrysostom saith) Dispensatores, rather than Domim: Chrysost. Stewards to distribute them, than Lords to appropriate them to their own use: but they hoard up goods to the alone benefit (as they think) of themselves, although they wholly tend to the hurt and endamagement of others: for this purpose have they their unsatible affection like unto the flesh-hooke spoken off, 1. Sam. 2. 13. armed with a threefold tooth, whereof the first may be said to be Petax, which desireth all: the second Rapax, which rauineth all, the third, Tenax, which holdeth all. The covetous minded-man is not only like Hell in the enlarging of his desire, Abuc. 2. 5. to contain all: but as the same hell which hath straightened his bowels, to retain Abuc. 2. 5. all, that from him as from Hell there may be no redemption. More vehement (as S. Basill writeth) is covetousness Basil. Homil. in abquot. script tu. locor. than fire, which enkindled in any matter goeth out when the matter goeth out. Auarum autem quis retinere poterit. etc. But who can repress the covetousness, whose desire doth burn, as well when he hath no matter, as when he hath? But leave off, Oh thou covetous Miser, more abundant in folly than thou art in money! though thy money consist in millions of millions: leave off I say to deem false treasures true blessedness: for how can that be true blessedness which maketh man to become an abomination to his Maker, even as the Mole is said to be; because with Levit. 11. 30. the Mole he is both blind in good things, and bunyed in the earth, in that he is Earthly-minded. Philip. 3. 19 How can that be true blessedness? Of which the Heathen man could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Love of money is the Mother of all mischief. And Fire and Water may as well agree together as Blessedness and Mischief. How can that be Blessedness which wanteth in the midst of wealth, as Tantalus thirsted in the midst of the waters? For this is a memorable punishment which God imposeth on the covetous man, that he should become like the spider which hath long legs, a great belly, and a little head: so hath the covetous it may be, long fingers to get, great bags to put his get in, but little wit to use them. Auaro tam deest quod habet, quam quod non habet. The Miser as well wanteth what he hath; as what he hath not.— How can that be blessedness, which is said to purchase Not a crown to dignify us, but thorns to choke us, snares Math. 13. 22. 2 Tim. 6. 9 10. to entangle us, perdition to drown us, and darts of sorrows to pierce us through. To conclude, how can that be blessedness, whose matter is without price, for it is dross? whose measure is without abound, for it is unsatiable? whose working is without mercy, for it is barbarous. Cruel is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this desire of having more, unto others, for it oppresseth them: irksome also is it unto the covetous themselves, for it pierceth them. The covetous rich man if he may be called rich, (who is covetous) is as the Carbuncle which is the name both of a precious stone & of a loathsome ulcer: so possesseth he glistering wealth, and fretting woe, both of them together: we must therefore elsewhere seek it, for here is not to be found true blessedness. The second good thing (as it is termed) of Fortune, is that which the Ambitious man valueth to beethe Only blessedness, consisting in the honours, dignities and preferments of this World. The swelling of this humour moveth the Ambitious man with Simon Magus to labour to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simon Magnus Act. 8. 9 even Some great man: affecting the truth of that Proverb verified in himself, which is a custom among the Rabbins, that he may rather be the head of a Fox, than the tayl● of a Lyon. But cease, O thou ambitious aspirer, whose deeds are more to be pitied then state to be admired; cease I say to censure thy honours as true blessedness, for that which is not in honorato, in him which is honoured, but in honorant, that is, at the disposition of the mutable common-people which Give the honour: how can that be blessedness? That which, as Saint Arist. in Ethic. Basil writeth d●humilitate causeth the mind to be like Basil. de humilit. unto the swelling of an exulcerat and inflamed body; bringing with it Peri●litand● principium, pereundi occasionem, the beginning of danger, and the occasion of death; how can that be blessedness? That which goeth before a fall, and causeth the fall, when it befalleth, to be the more dangerous, because it is the more deep, as may appear by A●salon, who had his own hair become his halter; by Haman who had his gibbet become his own gallows; by Antiochus and Herod who thought themselves as gods and no men, yet by their Ambition became they as worms and no men: As breathing graves and living carrions, or rather dying food for living worms: How can it then be blessedness? That which is a Greatness without a bottom; an height without a foundation, which as Seneca writeth: Seneca. Epist. 8 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 Duplici laborat invidia, nam ei invidetur, invidet ipsa. Laboureth of a double envy, for both others envy it, and it envieth others— That, of which Clemens Alexandrinus witnesseth that that it seemeth a wonder unto him, that they which sustain Cl●● 〈◊〉. ludag 2. it are not pressed to death under the weight of so great a burden. How can it be true blessedness? We must therefore elsewhere inquire after it, for hear is not to be found the true Blessedness, The third good thing (as it is Termed) of ●ortune, is that which the Epicure esteemeth to be the true blessedness, which be the vain pleasures, and pleasing vanities of this life, which as they be sundry, so are they holden in chase by sundry Epicures. The first of these is the Vainglorious Epicure, who mostly hunteth after those pleasures, which are grounded on a twofold foundation, of the Back, and of Buildings. The first ground work of Vaine-glorious-Epicurious-Pleasures is laid on the foundation of his Back; whereon he weareth that apparel (whatsoever condition he be off) to be singularly observed of men, which is not only for charge Sumptuous, but for shape Monstrous, being not ashamed, to wax proud of that which God gave our first parents to cover their shame with: and recounting that Gen 3. 10. 21. as no mean point of his happiness, which being well advised, must needs be accounted as it is in itself, a perpetual monument of their and our Unhappiness. The second groundwork of Vaine-glorious-Epicurious-pleasures is laid upon the foundation of their Buildings, which they make like the Web of Penelope, which was so by her Woven as it was also Vnwoven, so Vnwoven as it was Woven again, so they so build as they pull down, pull down, as they may build again, making their nests for glory like the stars, As the Eagle maketh Obadi. ver. 4. her nest among the stars: glorying in their vncer● ta'en mansions, which God hath sent them, but for a time, even as Nabuchadnezzar did of his Babel. Is not this Babel? yea great Babel? Moreover, which I have builded by the might of my power: yet further, for the honour of my majesty: Two infallible badges are these of a Vaineglorious-Epicure. The second is the Gluttenous● Epicure; who pursueth Dan. 4. 27. those pleasures which concern the pampering of the belly; wishing their belly, which they make their God, Phil. 3. 19 to be as the God Bell among the Babylonians, who spent every day Two great measures of fine flower, forty sheep, and six great pots of Wine. Men Hist. E●l. and Drag. ver. 3. are they so disposed, as the spacious Regions of the Air, Water and Earth are scantly sufficient to satisfy the narrow straight of their throat, like to Antonius, Vitellius, Heliogabulus, three Epicures rather than Emperors among the Romans'; of whom the first spent in one supper a thousand Boars: the second two thousand Fishes, and seven thousand Fowls: the third six hundred heads of Struthio camels. The third is the Drunken Epicure, who entertains those pleasures which rather appertain to the quenching of Nature, then of thirst, by incessant and unstenchable quaffings: these are they who rise up early to follow drunkenness and continue till night, till the Wine doth inflame them. Esay. 5. 11. The fourth and last is the Carnal Epicure, who is wholly sold over to those pleasures which concern the wanton dalliance of the flesh, rather Swine than Men are they, delighting altogether to wallow in the mire of filthiness, resembling the Centaurs and Minotaures, whose upper parts were of Men: but the lower 2. Pet. 2. 22. parts of Horses and Bulls. But may (I beseech you) in these pleasures of Vainglorious, Gluttonous, Drunken and Carnal Epicurism, be found and enjoyed, this sound and solid Blessedness which we seek for? Oh nothing less, and be it far from us once to imagine it. First how can it be lodged in Vainglory? whether it be that Vainglory which concerneth the pride of our Backs, wherein though we be like unto Solomon, yet are we Short of the Lilies of the field, or whether it Math. 6. 29. be that Vainglory which respecteth the state of our Buildings, which may as soon prove a Babel of confusion, spoken of, Gen. 11. as Babelles of Majesty, mentioned Dan. 4. Secondly, how can it be contained in Gluttony? which as Saint Hieron saith, is an infernal fire, whose matter is superfluity, flame, pride, sparkles, unclean speeches, ashes, Hieren. poverty, end, hell. Thirdly, how can it be comprised in Drunkenness? against which the Scripture denounceth many Woes, as (to let pass other places) Esay. 5. 11. and 22. vers. which Drunkenness Saint Augustine, in a Sermon de Aebrietate, August S●r. de Aebrieta. calleth Infernifoveam, the very Pit or Ditch of Hell. Fourthly, how can it be comprehended in the unclean and wanton pleasures of the flesh? which begin in Lust, proceed in shame, and (for the most part) end in Lepry and Contagion. These pleasures be a deep Pit, and he (not which is in favour with the Lord) but with whom the Prou. 22. 17. Lord is angry, shall fall into it. Seeing then in these treasures, honours and pleasures, the good things of Fortune it cannot be found, we must elsewhere seek, that seeking, Matth. 7. 7. we may find, this true blessedness. Secondly, therefore the world reposeth the Chiefest blessedness, in the good things of the Body, which though they be many, yet our consideration shall only respect three of the chiefest of them, namely Beauty, Health, Strength. First, concerning Beauty, it is excluded from beholding the true beauty of this blessedness, whether it consisteth in the clear brightness of the skin, which is named Pulchritude, or in the clean making of the body which is called Form; for how can that be rightly graced with the name of blessedness, which Nature the Handmaid of God, so for the most part bestoweth upon the body, as it is accompanied with some defect in the mind? as they on the contrary side, who are black, deformed, lame, and impotent in body have therewithal some extraordinary Blessings in the mind like the Spirit of Eliah, which rested upon 1. Kin. 2. 9 G●● 32. 25. 29 Elishah in a double portion. Or like to jacob who halted and was blessed both together. Secondly for Health it cannot sustain the person of true blessedness, which if it shallbe continual is rather a curse then a blessing, as that which argueth rather Gods anger then his favour, as that Godly Hermit made application to himself, who having by an annual course been visited in sickness by the hand of God, one year among the rest finding an intermission, lamented and wept as if that year had been over-sinful, and in that regard God had forgotten him. Thirdly Strength cannot rightly be esteemed the price and crown of true blessedness, whether it be Natural as that of Hercules, of Milo Crotoniata, or of Maximinus the Emperor, Which yet is short of the strength of an Elephant, and therefore being in a greater measure in a beast cannot be blessedness in, or for a man: or whether it be strength supernatural such as was to be found in Samson, for that was so vain and brittle, (being taken Literally and not Typically) as the flattering tongue of a false hearted Dalilah could betray it. Thirdly the world reposeth the Chief Blessedness in the jud. 16. 17. good things of the Mind, which passing by others of less moment consist principally in those 3. Memory, Wit, Science. Memory is a wonderful and excellent blessing of God, which approacheth so near God himself, as Plato saith Plato. that he which remembreth, all things, forgotten no thing, seemeth to be no Man But a God; yet the most that we can yield it, is to be a singular Blessing, not this Blessedness, for how can that be adjudged Blessedness, which affecteth Man's soul with Bitterness? man by nature committeth more evil than good; the more perfect the memory is, the more perfectly doth it present and suggest unto the conscience to trouble the peace thereof all the evil thoughts, words, & deeds where with man hath stained himself, oppressed Man, and displeased God, so as unless his mercy doth pardon him, he must needs punish him. Memory must therefore remembrance herself, that she is uncapable of this blessedness. The sharpness of wit is a great possession, but because the wicked enjoy it as well as the godly: and all men herein are far outmatched by Devils. I hope, with the Devils, we will exclude it from this true blessedness. Science also must have her due and deserved commendations, whether it be that part of her which is called Prudence, which sitteth at the helms of Monarchies, Kingdoms, Provinces, Cities, and Corporations, or whether it be that part which is termed Sapience, which either Metaphysically presseth near the knowledge of God himself, of Angels and Spirits: or Physically searcheth the natural causes & motions of natural bodies; or mystically ●euealeth secrets: or morally instructeth the manners of men, or orderly comprehendeth Arts, not only Mechanical common among men of common condition; but also and especially those, which are more rare and hidden, which are named Liberal, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Music, Astronomy, Arithmetic, Geometry. All which, being most ample portions given by God unto man; yet by man are to be debarred from this true blessedness. First, who which is wise hearted, will account Prudence blessedness, when he shall consider that it harboured in such plentiful manner in Achitophel, as his Counsel was Sam. 16. 23. received as an Oracle of God: yet was it an occasion to become his own executioner, and to hang himself. Sam. 17. 23. Secondly, Sapience must be thought to fall short of this blessedness: because Blessedness is perfection, and Sapience among men cannot be found so perfect, but that it may be made more perfect. jabal, Tuhal and jubal, were the first inventors of Tents, of cunning workmanshipp, in Brass and Iron, and of Music, Genes. 4. 20. 21. 22, have that termination of their names which in Hebrew signifeth Vanity, to show that as in these, so in all other Arts and Scicnces in not contained the true Blessedness. To conclude therefore seeing in Treasures, Honours, Pleasures in Beauty, Health, Strength: in Memory, Wit, Science, that is to say in the good things of Fortune of the Body, of the Mind this Blessedness cannot be found. Let us not settle our hearts and selves on the things of this life as if they could make us Blessed. Let us consider that the 1. john. 2. 17. world passeth away and the lusts thereof. Let us advise ourselves that all flesh is grass, and the very grace thereof (that is whatsoever therein is most precious) is as the flower of the field. Esa. 40. 6. Oh we must not therefore take our full repast of the things of this life, if we look after this life to sup with Abraham Isaac and jacob. where the place of our Supper shallbe the Kingdom of God, and the diet of our Supper true blessedness, which that we may the better perform let us seriously meditate Augustine. upon the saying of holy Angustine. Mundi gaudia diaboli venena, The joys of the world be the poisons of the Devil: poisons which will work not the death tempotall, which is the separation of the soul from the Body: but which will effect the death Spiritual, which is the fearful separation of God from the Soul: we must not then embrace the world, lest the Devil embrace us: we must not glut ourselves with the pleasures of the world, lest the Devil poison us. Moller in Psal. 1. From the Apparent or Seeming, must I now pass over to the existent or being Blessedness, in the original plurally expressed: Blessed is. etc. This is the true blessedness indeed, to be found of him that shall seek it both in this life grounded on grace, and also in the life to come established on glory. First this Blessedness is to be found by seeking as it is in this life grounded on grace, a sacred issue proceeding from the Spirit of God, which Spirit as it is said, to be seaven-fould, Apo. 1. 4, so be the Gifts and Charismes which ariseth there from, according to the mystery of the number, seven manyfould, an holy offspring is it inspired by God, called the fruits of the spirit, Galat. 5. 22. 23. fruits of the spirit are they, like the fruits of the Tree of life, many and souera●g●c, Apocal. 22. 2. many in kind, sovereign in virtue. The Apostle in the forecited place, showeth us some principal Gal. 5. 22. 23. particulars of them: Love, joy, Peace, long suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, temperancy, the particulars whereof 〈◊〉 cannot amplify: only, let this be● sufficient, that he which hath the foundation of this Blessedness laid on the groundwork of Grace in this life, so frameth his manners, as he loveth man for God's sake, because in him there shineth the Image of God: as he rejoiceth in the good of another man, as if it were his own, as he is peaceable, as in whom serpentina prudentia, Matth. 10. 16. and, columbina mnocentia, the wisdom of the Serpent, and the innocency of the Dove, are to be coupled together: as he suffereth long, leaving vengeance to the Lord Rom. 12. 19 to whom it belongeth, as he hath gentleness in manners towards all men, though they be in their affections enemies; in their Religion, Turks, jews and Infidels: as he is good, even in imitation of God himself, who causeth his rai●e to fall, as well on the vn●ust as on the iu●, and his Matth. 5. 45. s●nne to shine as well on the bad as on the good: as he is faithful toward God, in heart and zeal; toward Man in word and promise: as he is me●ke, as the spirit of God is said to be a spirit of me●kn●sse; as he useth the bridle of Temperance, to restrain his over-heady affections, both concerning meats and drinks, and apparel, or what-so ever else mought prove out of course or disordered. The Gentle wisemen were not ignorant of the Blessedness which cometh by Grace, as 〈◊〉 Sr●t Augustine, August. de Ciu●ta. dci. lib. 10. cap. 2. who hath these word, 〈◊〉 Philos●phi tenent qui docent nos fore beatos, obieclo q●odam l●mme intelligibili quod Deus est nobis: that is, The Philosophers also do hold a certain Grace, whereby they teach that we shall be happy, by reason of a certain intelligible heart, which God is unto us. The same Father, in the same place p●oduceth one of them, Plotinus by name, who illustrateth this matter by a similitude of the Sun, which being the Fountain of all light, transmitteth the beams to enlighten the Moon, which otherwise should be in darkness: So (saith he) doth GOD transfuse the rays of his grace on us, to make us happy, which otherwise should be in wretchedness. Secondly, this Blessedness is to be found, by seeking in the life to come, as it is established on Glory: and this either to be handled, as it is builded on in some model or portion of glory, or else as it shall hereafter be accomplished, in the fullness and perfection of glory. First, it is to be handled as it is builded on in some model or portion of Glory, in a rich, though not in the richest measure. This Blessedness the Godly ones, are then made partakers of, when the Apostles wish is become their portion, namely, to be dissolved, and to be with CHRIST JESUS, Philip. 1. 23. For far be it, Oh be it far from us to dream with some fantastical and giddy spirits, which both early and late have troubled the peace of the Church: That the Souls even of the dearest Saints of God, being losened from the body, are not forthwith admitted into joy, but fall a sleep, and so shall continue until the Resurrection. A pestilent Doctrine is it, which no Text in GOD'S Book doth warrant, but the whole volume of the blessed Scriptures turneth against, and overturneth it. It is said, Ecclesiast. 12. 7. That the Dust returneth to the earth: That is the Body made of Dust, and the spirit, that is the Soul to GOD that gave it. If the Spirit returneth, than it hath a motion: if it hath a motion, then is there no binding up of the finewes, the instruments of sense and motion, as in sleep it happeneth, if there be no ligature or binding up of these moving and feeling finewes of the soul, then as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the spirit of slumber, Rom. 11. 8. moveth these men to think, or rather dream, there cannot be admitted into the soul after her disunion from the body any sleep. The Apostle Paul, Philip. 2. 23. wished to be dissolved, and to he with CHRIST JESUS, which was best for him. Where he maketh the end of his wish not to fall a sleep, but to be with CHRIST, not so, as with CHRIST he should be overwhelmed with a senseless slumber, but so as with CHRIST he should be ravished with a sense of joy, for which he addeth, that it is best for him. Further, it is not likely, but rather absurd, to think that CHRIST, will suffer their spirits to sleep in his kingdom, whose bodies he would not suffer to sleep in the Garden, Matth. 26. 40. But let CHRIST the wisdom of GOD his Father. 1. Corinthians 1. 24. confute and confound the Wisdom of this World, which is enmity unto him, which he will therefore destroy, and ca●t away the understanding of the prudent in this kind. 1. Corinth. 1. 19 That mortal blow which he gave the Sadduces, Matth. 22. 32. may serve also as a fatal wound to strike these men dead. I am (saith GOD) the GOD of Abraham and of Isaac and of jacob. GOD is not the GOD of the dead, but of the living. If he be not the God of the dead, but of the living, then is he not the God of such, whose spirits are fallen a sleep, and so by consequence bear the Image of death, ●ot of life with them. Moreover, what comfort could the good Thief receive from the speeches of our Blessed Saviour, hanging upon the Cross? that he should be with him in Paradise, if his spirit should sleep there? or what possibility was there, that Abraham should speak Luk. 23. 43. and confer with Dives, if the spirit of Abraham, and of all the faithful, which be the Children of Abraham, Luk. 16. 25 were a sleep? To conclude, what such resolution and protestation, could rightly and truly have been found and made in, and by Polycarpus: (as the Ecclesiastical histories witness) one living even in the prime and purer times of the Church, before he entered into the flames to give his body to be burned, that he mought become a whole burnt-offering of a sweet savour unto the Lord, enen that, that day (as he saith) he should be presented unto the Lord in spirit, if his spirit, should be presented unto God in the same nature, that Eutychas was in, when Paul preached fallen a sleep. An opinion hath it Act. 20. 9 been, which hath not seized alone on the Foot, but even possessed (as some men will have it) the Head of the Church. Which hath not bashfully stood at the Footstool, but boldly set on the Chair of Peter (that the souls of men sleep till the Resurrection) which matter may surely serve, not only as a black-coale, both to blemish the name, and to obscure and blot out the writings and works of them, who have by Pens and Presses witnessed the contrary, but álso as an impregnable proof, that the Pope may err. An Opinion hath it been, I say, or rather an Heresy than an Opinion, because it hath been manteined with pertinacy or stiffness against the Scriptures, hatched, broached, published and patronized, by one of the Popes themselves, even Joban. Gers. Ser. de Pasch. par. 3. Pope john the 22. as Gerson a learned man testifieth, who would have the Souls even of good men to be bereft of the Happy-making vision of God's face until the day of judgement; and so in some sense to sleep until the awaking time of the resurrection, A matter (as it was well worthy) condemned as Heretical by the whole University of Paris with the sound of trumpets in the presence of Philip then King of France: a thing was it not of God, therefore could it not stand. But we which are Act. 5. 38. taught of God a better lesson, aught to hold another course and believe that in the life to come there is a building on, of our blessedness begun in this life, the former step of our glory. Secondly this Blessedness in the life to come, is to be considered as it is (a second step thereof) consummate in glory, which shall then be fully accomplished, when the bodies and souls of the Saints shallbe reunited and knit together again, in peerless blessedness, & endless Immortality, chiefly & above all intended in this place Blessed is the man.. Which blessedness that we may the better know, & by knowledge ensue it, we must understand that it chiefly consisteth in two points. First this sulnes of Blessedness consisteth in that matchless perfection which shall be enjoyed from within us: secondly in that endless consolation which shall arise to us from without us: The matchless perfection within us shall, concern both our Bodeiss and our souls. First, our Bodies which are now earthy, then shall become heavenly, are now mortal, then shall become immortal, are now corruptible, then shall become incorruptible, are now subject to passion, then shall become impassable, Mat, 13. 43. are now dull and heavy, then shall become quick and lively; are now (it may be) black and deformed, 1. Cor. 15. 43. then shall become shining as the Sun in the Kingdom of there father: are so now as to be sown in dishonour, but then shall they be razed again in honour: so now as to be sown in weakness, but then to be raised up in power. Where the Eye shall so see the glory of God, as it shall never be dazzled, the Ear shall so hear the most melodious music of the Heavenly Choir, as it shall never be wearied, the Nostrils shall so participate of the most delicate sent of the Paradise of God, as they shall never be satisfied, the palate shall so taste, how sweet the Lord is, as it shall never be cloyed, and to conclude the whole man in his hole body and in every particular, thereof as in his joints, sinners, veins, arteries, flesh, blood bone, ligament, mussekle and whatsoever part or parcel beside, shall be so affected and disposed as they shall have a never ceasing contentment, an everlasting rejoicement, for, they shallbe satisfied with the pleasures of God's house who shall give them drink out of the rivers of his pleasures. Psal. 36. 8. The Eye hath seen much, yet the eye hath not seen it: the Ear hath hard more, yet the Ear hath not heard it, the Heart is able to conceive most, yet never hath it, doth it, or shall it enter into the heart of Man, what the heart of Man shall then enter into, a joy which we must enter into it is so large. Matthew. 25, 23. For it cannot enter into us we are so little. A masters toy which is able to master the conceits and capacities of all men who seek to comprehend it. When that complaint of Gregor. Nazianz. shall cease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am little and great, base and high, mormortal Gr●go. Nazian. Epitaph in sratrem. & immortal earthly and heavenly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having those things after the flesh, these according to the spirit, but then in regard of the glorified flesh we shall become Great only, and not Small, High only and not Base; Immortal only and not Mortal, Heavenly only and not Earthly, because Christ shall then change our vile body that it may be Fashioned like unto his glorious body, Phili. 3. 2. 1. A matchless perfection of the body, one branch of this Blessedness. The second matchless perfection of this Blessedness is to be found in our mind; whose Wit shall then be so sharpened as it shall never become dull again: whose Memory shall then be so confirmed, as it shall never forget again: Whose Wisdom shall then be so enlarged as it shall never be diminished again: whose Understanding shall then so be enlightened, as it shall never wax dark again. Whose will shall so then be directed, as it shall nevermiscarry again. To conclude, whose knowledge, shall then be so accomplished as it shall never be ignorant again. As the Wit, Memory, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, of an Infant in the womb of his mother, is nothing at all, especially in comparison of a Man in the full pitch of his age and the ripeness of his best education: so, and much less than so, ●s the Wit, Memory, Wisdom, Understanding Knowledge, of a Man, of the most absolute compliments in this world, in comparison of that which in the world to come, we may certainly expect and shall undoubtedly receive if we be God's Children. In the one we are as a child, in the other we shall be as a man and put away childishness: in the one we see as in a glass darkly; in the other we shall see face to face: in the o●e we shall Know in part, in the other, We shall know even as we ourselves are known. 1. Corm: 13. 11. 12. Hear are we clogged with the weight, and entangled wi●h the shackleses of an heavy and cumbersome body; from whence the soul of man being then and there delivered, it shall become more ready in cont●yning and less doubtful in resolving, and every way more perfect, occulorum acies (saith S. Chrysostom) dum lucida est Chrysost ●n evang. johan. vel Ho●li. 1. well minutissima cernit etc. The sight of the eye, while it is clear seethe even the smallest things, but being dimmed with humours that fall out of the head, is blind in perceiving even the greatest objects: so is it with the soul, which being wrapped and encumbered, with the thick mantle of a massy body, is ignorant almost of every thing, but being once enlarged and set at liberty, soas she is an abstracted substance separated therefrom, especially in the brightsome light of God's kingdo●e, it is unconceivable what she conceiveth, and what kingdom it is; unconceivable what she conceiveth, and what she understandeth passeth understanding. The Christail the clearer it is, the more capable it is to receive, and the more brightly doth it represent the rays of the Sun, which shine upon it. So the spirit of man being then purged and cleared from the dross of any corruption, receiveth more easily, and representeth more fully the light of God's wisdom which resteth on it. A matchless perfection of the soul, a branch also of this Blessedness. Secondly, this Blessedness hear spoken off, consisteth in an endless consolation arising unto us, out of us, to be observed in sundry particulars: leaving the residue which might be collected, my purpose is to stand upon these five. Whereof the first, is the Company which we shall then enjoy off God: Angels: Saints. First, this endless consolation out of us, doth arise unto us by the fruition of the Company of God, in whose Presence, there is first joy, secondly, fullness of toy. Psal. 16. 12. Whom to behold is Blessedness. Math. 5. 8. Where we shall be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge, that we may be filled with all fullness of God. Where we shall attain to Ephes. 3. 18 19 the mystery of the indivisible Trinity, in Unity. The Power of the Father, the Wisdom of the Son, and the Love of that Holy Ghost. If it were a praeeminent dignity for those Magistrates to see the face of King Ahashuerosh: then undoubtedly must it of necessity be true Blessedness itself to Beh●ll the face of God, the reward of the godly man's virtue here spoken off. A Reward indeed (is it saith Berinthia 〈◊〉 Bern. meditate. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 deum, vinere cum deo, vivere de deo, etc. To see God, to live with God, to live of God, to be with God, to be in God, who shall be All in All unto us; habere id quod ●st simmum bonum: to have that which is the chiefest good, the Blessedness here intended. Secondly, this endless consolation, out of us, doth arise unto us by the company of Angels, who for their Dignity, are Principalities; for their Might, Pours: for their Authority, Dominations. Ephes. 1. 21. For their Number, Thousand thousands, and ten thousand thousands, which are infinite Dan. 7. 10. for their Glory so surpassing, as some of them be called Zeraphim. Esay. 6. 2. tha 'tis bright, fiery, or burning, and therefore bright and glorious. Thirdly, this endless consolation out of us, doth arise unto us by the company of Saints, which are called our fellow Citizens, Ephes. 2. 19 A glorious order of patriarchs, an holy assembly of Prophets: a blessed convocation of Apostles and Evangelists: an innumerable and most noble army of Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors, which All being of the household of God with us. Ephes. 2. 19 must needs afford us a mutual and perpetual consolation; a branch likewise of this Blessedness. The second of the five particulars; wherein this endless consolation doth consist, which out of us shall arise unto us in God's Kingdom, it is the State which we shall there sustain; Being a State of no less than Kings. A Kingdom which we shall attain unto, not by force and policy, but by GOD'S free favour and mercy. Fear not little Flock, it is your father's pleasure to give Apoc. 1. 6. you a Kingdom. For which cause also, Christ shall say at his judgement unto the elect, Come ye blessed of my father, Luke, 12. 31. inherit ye the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. It is indeed prepared for us, but Math. 25. 34. so, as we should not think, that though we sit idle the whole day of this life, we cannot fail of it, but if we will find it we must seek it. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Math. 6. 33. And then shall we be made partakers of the Good things that belong thereunto, which be both Internal, the Righteousness thereof & External, and all these things shall be ministered unto you. A Kingdom; concerning which S. Agust. witnesseth Quale erit gaudium? cum te videris esse socium Angelorum. etc. What manner of joy will it be, when thou shalt August. contra Jud. ●. cap. 21. see thyself to be a fellow of Angels, a partaker of the Kingdom of heaven, to reign with the King, by desiring Nothing, to possess All things, to be rich without coveting, to govern without treasure, to judge without a successor, reigning without fear of Barbarians, and living an eternal life without fear of death? A Soveraingne (no doubt) consolation, a branch of this Blessedness. The third of the five particulars, wherein this endless consolation doth consist, which out of us, shall arise unto us in GOD'S Kingdom, is the place where we shall enjoy it, even in the Heaven, as witnesseth the Apostle. 2. Corin. 5. 1. We know that if the Earthy house of this Tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building given of God, that is an house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. The outward Courts whereof if they be and appear so glorious what shall we think that the Sanctum sanctorum is? The Pavement whereof, if it be so beauteous: What shall we think that the Roof and inward Ceilings are? If the Suburbs thereof out-spread themselves (as it were) with Curtains of State and Majesty; no doubt then but that thou art thrice worthy that very excellent things should be spoken of thee. O thou City of GOD! Excellencly concerning this point, writeth holy Basit: St sanctorum Atria; scilicet Caeli talia sunt, Basil. Hexa. Homil. 2. et templi vestibula, tantam adeuntibus se reverentiam incutiunt, etc. That is, if the Courts of the Saints, namely the Heavens be such, if the porches of God's Temple do strike a great reverence into them which go unto it: and do bear themselves aloft with such and so great a weight and state of their pulchritude, as they do dazzle our eyes (as it were) with twinkling and blazing lightnings; What do we think that the Holy of holies is itself? No doubt an endless consolation, a branch of this Blessedness The fourth of the five particulars, wherein this endless consolation doth consist, which out of us, shall arise unto us, in God's Kingdom; is the practice we shall there exercise: Kings indeed we shall be, and that of an heavenly Territory: but not cark and care, watch and ward, for the defence of subjects, and the offence of enemies, as the Kings of the earth use to do; but such Kings shall we be, As are coupled with Priests. Apoc. 1. 6. in offering up the sacrifice of continual praises, the sweet odours which shall ascend out of the Censers of our hearts, accompanied with the Calves of our lips: continually saying with the sour and twenty Elders, Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy wills sake they are, and have been created: Apoc. 4 11. questionless an endless consolation, a branch also of this Blessedness The fift and last of the five particulars, wherein this endless consolation doth consist, which out of us, shall arise unto us in God's Kingdom: is the Time for which it shall last and continue, even for evermore: therefore our building which God without hands shall build for us, shall not only be in the Heavens, but everlasting in the Heavens. 2. Cor. 5 1. A Kingdom, whose King is the Trinity, whose law is Charity, & whose bound is Eternity. Worthily therefore might Saint August. apply that August, de civitate. dei. lib. 2. cap. 1. 19 speech (which sometime jupiter, in the Poet, spoke to Venus concerning Aeneas her son) unto the Kingdom of heaven. His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono. Imperium sine sine dedi To these do I set neither bounds of things, nor times, but have I given an Empery without end. An endless consolation indeed, a branch also of this Blessedness. Hence may I further note (in a word) that the Spirit of God in this place saith concerning the Blessedness, not presently enjoyed, but futurely to be reaped in the time to come: not that Blessed shall be-, but Blessed is the man: To show that a Man that is especially called Godly, qualified, and truly sanctified, may be assured of this blessedness, and by consequence of his salvation. Seeing then to conclude by that which hath been delivered, it appeareth that this True blessedness consisteth in the groundwork of Grace in this life, and is both builded on in Glory, and consummate in the fullness of Glory in the life to come: which containeth in it a matchless perfection both in Body and Soul within ourselves; and also an endless consolation, arising both by the company of God, Angels, and Saints: by our state, Kings, by our place the Heavens, by our task, singing the songs of Praise and thanksgiving; out of ourselves. Oh let us in the name of Christ (in whose name alone we look to be saved) Let us I say practise the virtues of the Godly, that we may receive the reward of the Godly. Let us not walk in the counsel of the wicked: let us not Stand in the way of sinners: Let us not sit in the seat of the scornful: but let us delight in the law of the LORD and meditate therein day and night. That so we may be Blessed of GOD our Father, as jacob was by Isaac his Father: Let us not think to get heaven (the substantial model of this Blessedness) by sluggish idleness, and unprofitable security: but we must know, that as the children of Israel could not come to the temporal Canaan with out Arms and Conflict, Blood and Battle; so we can never attain unto the spiritual Canaan, without many ●n●●unt●rings, many bicker; against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, that they may not subdue us, to walk in the counsel of the wicked, to stand in the way of sinners, to sit in the seat of the scornful: For the Spirit, to advance the power thereof, so as we may delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate therein day and night. Non e●● facilis ad magna ascensus, Cypria tracta de habit vir●ia. saith Saint Cyprian. Things which are great, are not easily climbed unto. What sweat, what labour, taketh a man before he cometh up to the top of an hill? how much more is a Man to labour and sweat, before he attain to the height of Mount Zion. In cuius summo, summum manet bonum. In the top whereof resteth the top of our blessedness. Hitherto have I handled the former part of the Recompense of the virtues of a Godly man, namely the declaration and tenure of it, Blessed is the man. Now am I to pass over unto the second part thereof, contained verse the third of this Psalm, that is the further dilatation and title unto it. For he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of Waters, that will, etc. The Words contain in them a similitude, in which as in a similitude, we may note two parts. The former is the proposition or the precedent part: the other is the adjection or subsequent part thereof, in these words. so whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. The precedent part, or the proposal of the similitude, tendereth to our consideration: First, whereunto the Godly man is semblanced and compared to a tree: Secondly, not every common or trivial tree, of ordinary occurrence, but to a Tree which first, for the original of it, planted; secondly, for the situation of it, by the Rivers of waters; Thirdly, for the fructifying of it, that will bring forth her fruit in due season. forth her fruit in due season. Fourth, for the slourishing of it Whose leaf shall not fade. First then man by this similitude is compared to a Tree. Sundry be the resemblances wherein man may be compared unto a Tree; but omitting other, my mind is only to insist in these four vidz. The Shape, the Growth, the State, and the Trunk of a Tree. Man may first be said to be like a Tree in the shape, of a tree. As a tree hath his root which is as his head, which groweth on to his stock or trunk, which is as his Body, and then spreadeth itself into boughs and branches and smaller twigs: so Man's head is as his root, which groweth forth into his body which answereth unto a stock or trunk, and then sheddeth itself into arms and legs which be as boughs and branches, which as in smaller twig do end in fingers and toes. The difference is that the root or head of the Tree natural standeth in the earth and extendeth her Stock, Boughs, and Branches toward Heaven upward, but Man (this mystical Tree) hath his head as his root standing toward the Heavens and out-spreadeth his body as his stock or trunk, and his arms and legs as his boughs, and branches to the earth downward: to show that as the material Tree receiveth that sap which is like unto Esau's blessing, the fatness of the earth. Genes. 27. 39 so man this mystical Tree ought to be nourished with that juice which is like unto the blessing of jacob, the dew of heaven. Genes. 27. 28. Man then is as a Tree but not as an earthly Tree: but as the Philosopher speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an heavenly plant, the sap and juice of whose nourishment, is not to be derived Plato. from the fatness of the earth below, because his root standeth above and not below: but from the dew of Heaven above, because his root standeth not below but above. An excellent shape is this of Man's body to inform him how to form and fashion his mind, to provide that for as much as he is no earthy but an heavenly Tree, so he should not be earthy-minded, Philip. 3. 19 but that his conversation ought to be in heaven. There is our Philip. 3. 20 Country, and there ought our desire to be: there is our City, and there ought our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our civil behaviour to be: there is our root, and there ought our affections to be rooted. A place where the whole Deity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost is, and there ought we, who are partakers of the heavenly nature to be: where the Angels are, and we whose allotment is to be, as the Angels must be: where the Saints 2. ●et. 1. 4 Matth 22. 30. Ephes. 2. 19 are, and we likewise which are fellow Citizens with the Saints, are of necessity to be. In Heaven must we have our conversation, because from thence is our generation. This knew and affirmed that thrice great Hermes, Hermes Trism●g. in Peman. among the Egyptians: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. GOD hath begotten man like unto himself, whom he hath loved as his own issue: those speeches also of Plato make unto the truth of this point: who in many places, especially Plato de legi. lib. 5. saith of man, that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, meaning no doubt, in respect of his soul, the kinsman of God, everlasting, immortal. It is an old Proverbial speech, and it is as true as it is old: that It is wisdom for every man to know his place, I am 3. 17. so is it no doubt a plentiful measure of the best wisdom, even of that Wisdom which is from above, to know our place: We which are but worms in regard of our flesh, and in respect of our bodies, but dung and corruption; yet touching our spirits are we partakers of the divine nature, the generation of GOD, as his issue, kinsmen, everlasting, and immortal. A certain and lively representment hereof, is made unto us in this, that Man is as a Tree, whose head as his root, is planted and fixed toward the heaven. Let us not therefore neglect so great a dignity, despise so high a calling, debase so honourable an advancement, let us not serpentlike set our hearts on the dust as the Serpent doth place his belly on the dust; in that it Both goeth on the dus● & eateth the dust all the days of his life Gen. 3. 14. Let us not be like those heavy and weighty fowls, quae frustra alatae. etc. Which being winged in vain, seldom or neu●● use them, but are detained on the earth among the beasts. Which Saint Basil speaketh of in a certain Epistle. But let us, whereas Christ is there, as Christians be affected to be: B●sil. Epist. quadam. Mat. 24. 28. as where the Carcase is there Eagles will be gathered. We are as Mariners sailing in the Ship of the Church, under the Mast of the Cross, guided by the Helm of the word, carried on by the Wind of the Spirit, floating on the sea of this World, who look in due time to arrive at the Haven of happiness. Mos est nauclerts in Caelum aspicere. etc. It is the manner of Mariners to look up into Heaven, in the Day on the Sun; in the night; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the North-pole or some other apparent star, that so they may direct there way the better saith Saint Basil: so ought we in the ●asil homil, in princip. proverb. like estate to frame our actions to there so necessary a precedent: we are to turn our faces by Grace even thither whether they are already turned by Nature: we ought to shape our course in the day time according to the light; motion and influence of our Blessed Saviour, who is so the Son of God as he is also the Sun of Righteousness. In Mala. 4. 2. the Night also ought we to be guided by him, who is the only resplendent Star to go before us to bethel the house of God, as the Star Math. 2. 9 became a lodestar unto the wise men to bring them to Bethlem which is interpreted the house of bread, as he was the bread of life. joh. 6. 48. That as we are trees whose roots stand towards Heaven, so we may thereby be admonished not to be Earthly minded. Secondly, man may be said to be like a Tree in the growth of a tree, which is first tender and flexible in the twig, secondly stiff and tough in the stock; thirdly withernig and drooping in the age of it: so man while he is as a twig in the first spring of his infancy or childhood, is tender in his body being but as a flower which is son blasted and withered away: And in his mind is flexible as a twig easily inclined either to Virtue if he be informed, or to Vice if he be neglected, being as wax which may be wrought and brought into all forms, but being once stiffened and confirmed in the strength of his ●●cke by his youth or Mans-age he is (it may be) in his body more firm (though ●ee can never be wholly without them) against infirmities, and more tough in his mind either to retain the habit of Virtues, if he shall be seasoned with them, or to cotinue the poison of vices if he hath been nuzzled up in them. An excellent Caveat unto all Parents and governors unto whom the education of these young springs (even in the first sprig or twig of them) is committed that they may while they be tender enbow them, frame them while they be pliable, and work them while they be flexible; lest that when of pliant sprigs they shall become stockish trunks, they grow cureless they wax redreslesse. As Adam our first Parent was appointed to tend the Trees of Pradise, so we his offspring Gen. 2. 15. have mystical trees committed to our keeping and dressing even the fruit of our bodies. Which if they shall be timely tended, duly ordered and rightly framed unto that Mica. 6. 7. which is good, will prove such plants as shall be both peaceable and pleasant, peaceable shall they be because they shallbe as Olive plants, pleasant shall they be, because they shallbe as curtains of ornament spread round about our table. Psal. 118. 3. But if we shall be over-indulgent and overtender toward them (a fault over-rife in these times) they will grow stiff in sin, and be hardened in the thick dregs of there own lose and misleading courses, proving no better than wild-trees which will bring forth fruit no better than the Wild grapes. Esay. 5. 4. resembling the bramble in presuming against us, and usurping over us there parents and Governors, though we be towards them for Fatness, as the Olive Tree, for Sweetness, as the Figtree: for Pleasantness, as the Vine: Rough and untrimmed Brambles Judge. 9 indeed will they argue themselves to be, which unless they may have their minds, will threaten fire to come out of them, which shall consume the Cedars of Libanon. A lesson is this seriously to be weighed, and ●eedfully to judg. 9 15. be practised in these times, wherein the complaint of Saint Chrysostome, may often and again be used, Patr●: Chrysost sup. illud Matth: accessit ad illum matter Zeb●d●orum. et matres corpus suorum natorum amant, animam autem contemnunt, etc. Fathers and Mothers do ●oue the bodies of their children, but lightly pass by their Souls, for they desire only to see them in this world, not caring what they shall suffer in the life to come. A folly is this, even with tears of the bitterest sorrow to be lamented, that Men should love the husk, and neglect the grain; regard the Shell, and reject the Kernel; esteem of the Bag, and despise the Treasure therein contained, beautify the Bodies of their children, and suffer their Minds to be black, deformed, corrupted, whereby these mystical trees wax so rough and tough in their stock, being not otherwise set and disposed in their twig, as they will be broken before they be bend, ended before they be mended. Moreover, in the third place, is man in his growth like a tree flourishing (haply) in his youth, but drooping in his age: looking toward the Dust, before he returneth to Gen. 3. 19 the dust. This is the work of Time, who is the great conqueror of all things. A time is appointed to ●uery thing: so Eccles. 3. 1. cannot this thing escape from this appointment: There is a time to be borne, & a time to die; so is there (according to to the same proportion) a time to be Young, and a time to wax Old also. Man's life is but a day, whose evening will certainly follow his morning, until the night of death maketh him to sleep in the bed of the grave, unto the time that the day of the resurrection shall awaken him again Be it that a Man in his youth be as strong as the Oak, as tall as the Cedar, as strait as the Pine-tree, as flourishing as the Green Bay-tree, yet when the winter or his age shall cease upon him his strength will be weakened, his tallness abated, his straightness, crooked, his flourishing withered, because then the Keepers of the house that is the hands will tremble; the Strongmen that is the legs will bow, the Grinders that is the teeth shall cease, they shall ●axe dark which look out at the windows that is the eyes, the doors shall be shut without, that is the lips, and he shall rise at the voice of a bird, that is sleep shall departed from him and the daughters of Music that is the ears shallbe abased, and they shall be afraid at the high thing, that is they shall stoop towards the earth again: and the Almond Tree shall slorish, that is their hair shall be as white at the blossoms of that tree: and the grasshoppers that is (as some will have it) the shoulder-pinnes shall stick up. And old-age shall be as an house which every man (if death cut him not of before) must go unto. Eccle. 12. 5. Eccl. 12. The Philosopher mentioneth small flies near to the banks of a certain river which live but one day. They are bred in the morning, like unto Man in his infancy, therein Aristo. de natu. animal. lib. 3. as a Tree in the twig: they are at there full strength at noon, like unto man is his confirmed age therein as the Tree in the stock, they are at night growing toward there end like Man in his Old-age, therein as a Tree in the drooping thereof. Third, Man may be said to be like a Tree in the state of a Tree, which the higher it is the more dangerfull it is, as that which then is more exposed to the violence of the Winds, to the blasting of the lightning, to the dent of the Thunderboult, and the less fruitful it is as may appear by the Cedar one of the talest Trees, yet none of the frut-fullest, whereas those Trees which are of a lower and more base growth are both less dangerfull, as they which are exempted by there submissenesse and dejection from the ragings of the Winds, the flashings of the lightnings, and the fury of the Thunderbolts; as also more fruitful as it may appear by the Vine, the lowest almost among the Plants, as that, which unless it be by the care and hand of man, shoared and underpropped, creepeth upon the ground, leaneth and layeth still upon the face of the earth, yet yieldeth she her fruit in Grapes, her Grapes in clusters, and her clusters in abundance of plenty. So is it with Man, this mystical Tree, wh● the higher he is, the more dangerfull he is, and the less fruitful. First, he is the more dangerfull, Locaquae aliis celsa, ipsis praeupta videntur, saith Seneca. Those places which seem Seneca. to be stately unto others, are steep unto themselves: they lay open unto the contrary winds of alterations, to the blasting lightnings of disaster aspects, if they be subjects of their sovereigns, if they be soucraignes, yet of GOD who is the great Monarch and sovereign of the world, at the bar of whose tribunal they stand ever arraigned, & many of them, as Pharaoh, Antiochus, Belshazzar, Herod, etc. have been as with a flash of lightning, both very suddenly and fearfully punished and confounded. Who sit on their chairs of estate, as sometime Damocles did on the throne of Dionysius, having not one, but many swords hanging over them: a sword of Envy from their equals in foreign states: a sword of mutinies and insurrestions from their inferiors, of poysnings from their feigned friends in their own territories; and of murtherings from their open enemies, both foreign and domestic: It is an excellent saying of Hugo Victorinus. Quatuor sunt quae trahunt H●g●Victorinus. elationis currum, etc. Four things there be which draw the chariot of Advancement: Desire of rule, Love of our own praise, Contempt, & Disobedience: the wheels of this Chariot, are first, Boasting of mind; secondly, Arrogancy, thirdly, gloriousness of speech: four, Levity or lightness. The driver of this Chariot, is the spirit of pride. They who are borne therein, are Lovers of this world. But far from security is both this Chariot, and they which are borne in it, because as the same Author speaketh, the horses are unbridled, the wheels easily turned, the driver froward, and they but weak who are borne in it. And therefore if the Chariot shall be overturned, must needs be the more grievously bruised, and more easily oppressed. High places may be compared, to the Cantharideses, whose outward show is glorious, but their inward working poisonous: like a Tree, which the higher it is, the more danger it hath. Secondly, Man (this mystical Tree) the higher he is, the less fruitful, as Trees use to be. An high place (unless grace doth alter it) occasioneth an high mind, and an high mind is like an high Mountain, which the higher it is, is also the barrener. Saint Gregory saith, Greg. in moral. Radix cuncti mali, et regina omnium vitiorum superbia. Pride is the root of all Evil, and the Queen of all Vices— How can a man then gather Grapes of this Thorn, or Figs of this Thistle? It is not possible. It may also appear unto us that man in regard of the state thereof is like unto a Tree: because as a Tree the lower he is, the less dangerfull he is, and the more fruitful. First, he is less dangerfull, because he is not subject to Changes, to Dis-favours, to Envy, to Insurrections, Poisonings, Murtherings, as to so many several raging wi●des, blast, lightnings, fearful thunderbolts: for as much as he with little David sitteth at home, tending (it may be) The Ewes great with young ones, when his elder and stronger brethren are mustered to ma●ch under saul's colours against the Philistines. 1 Sam. 17. The smaller the marke●, the more hardly it is hit: But the greater the more easily it is pierced. The smaller fry may escape the net when the greater fishes shall be entangled; and needs must he be safe, whose Lord Protector the Lord of hosts becometh, by whose grace and blessing it cometh to pass; that when the Bow and the mighty are broken, than the weak and humble gird themselves with strength. 1 Sam. 2. 4. And though the lords adversaries be proud like unto them, whom the Lord professeth That he will resist. 1, Pet. 5. 5. Yet shall they be destroyed, and out of Heaven shall the LORD thunder upon them. 1. Sam 2. 10. While he on the other side raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the beggar from the dunghill to set them among Princes, and to make them inherit the seat of 1 Sam. 2. 〈◊〉. glory. To which end also judith the humble handmaid of the Lord faith: Thou O Lord art the help of the humble, and of little Ones, and a defonder of the weak, and a protector of them that are for-saken, and the Saviour of them which are judg. 911. without help. Like a Tree, the lower the safer. Secondly, Man (this mystical Tree) the lower he is the more fruitful, therein not unlike to the Valleys. Humility is not only the foundation of our Righteousness S. Chrysoft. as S. Crysost. writeth, but of our Religion, which according to the testimony of blessed james, If it be pure and undefiled before GOD, even our Father visiteth the fatherless and Widows in their adversities, and causeth a man to keep himself unspotted of the World. I am. 1. 27. By consequence whereof it may appear, that none can sincerely have either true Purity in himself, in keeping himself unspotted of the World: or true Charity toward other in visiting the fatherless and widows, unless he be religious, which true Religion man cannot have without Humility. Humility therefore it is the groundwork of every good work, like a Tree, the lower the fruitfuller. The fourth and last thing wherein Man may be likened to a Tree, is the end of a Tree. The end of a Tree is, either to become when it is cut down, timber for building, ●t fuel for burning. So Man (this Mystical Tree) being cut down by the axe of death, becometh either as an holy Timber to be built in the Heavenly jerusalem, a member of that Spiritual house mentioned. 1. Pet. 2. 5. Wherein our building in Heaven, shall not be like unto that building up to Heaven, as it was intended. Gene. 11. 4. That proved but a Babel, a matter of confusion, as in the same chapter is manifest; but, so shall this building 2. Co●in. 5. 1. be reared up in Heaven, As it shall become avernal. A building where the Stone shall not cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, Woe be unto him, which buildeth a Town with blood, and erecteth a City by iniquity. Abacu. 2. 11. 12. But shall sing like the Seraphins one to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole world is full of his glory. Esay. 6. 2. As Math. 21. 12. We read of an house of prayer: so shall we then be in an house of praise. Furthermore Man (this mystical Tree) being cut down by the Axe of Death, otherwise becometh as fuel for the fire; but for what fire? Not for The fire Material, which when matter faileth, forthwith goeth out; but for Fire (Alas) Immaterial, Infernal, Unquenchable, Math. 3. 12. which goeth not out. Mark, 9 44. A Tophet Esay. 30. 33. for the antiquity of it Prepared of old: for the equity prepared not only for the Beggar, but for the King: for the capacity of it, in bottom, Deep, in compass, Large: For the fuel of it, Much Wood, yea the Burning thereof, is said to be Fire and much Wood, where fire is made to be as fuel to the fire: for the bellows thereof, it is the Breath of the Lord, like a River of Brimstone, to enkindle it; as the Lord ever liveth, so this fire ever lasteth, because the bellows of God's breath never faileth. Seeing the Scripture in this place likeneth us unto trees, whose end (as we see) is either to become building in the Lord's House, of his Kingdom; or else fuel for the sulphury flames of Hell. Let us in the name of GOD, whose name is great, wonderful and holy: and in the fear of God, whose judgements we perceive to be so grievous and terrible, labour, as blessed beams, shining with the beams of most bright glory, to be couched in the building of the Lord: and avoid to become as cursed brands appointed to be scorched with the hellish fire of ever continuing torments. Let us make use of the saying, of holy Chrysostome, Chrysost. who saith that God doth menace us with hell-fire, because he would not have us come unto it. Let men be wiser than children, and let warned men, be as burnt children. The child (saith the Proverb) dreadeth the fire, though it be but a fire material and quenchable. Oh how much more ought we to dread (especially being warned) that fire which is Immaterial and Unquenchable: that so we may not be as Trees appointed for Tinder in the devils furnace; but as Trees ordained for Timber in GOD'S Palace. As hitherto we have heard Man compared to a Tree, so the godly man is not like unto an ordinary or trivial Tree of a common condition: but as it followeth in this Psalm, he is as a Tree, which first for the original of it; is Planted. Secondly, for the situation of it [By the Rivers of Waters: Thirdly for the fructifying of it [Will bring forth her fruit in due season: Fourthly, for the flourishing of it [Whose leaf shall not fade. First then this Tree is set down unto us by the original of it. [Planted; It cometh not up then of the own accord, but as it is planted by God's hand. If it came up of itself, than were it not of Gods planting, if it be not of Gods planting, then must it be Plucked up by the roots: But it is otherwise with this Tree, which being in the number of those trees of righteousness, spoken of by the Prophet Esay, is with them in that place of Gods planting Esay 61. 3. and therefore come not up of itself. This Doctrine first disableth and infringeth the free-will of Man, this missticall Tree unto good, because he must be planted, he cannot plant himself. Indeed Man at his first creation had free-will unto good, but since his fall that blessing is fallen from him as writeth Saint Augustine, Male utens predidit se et liberum arbitrium, Evilly using his free-will he hath lost himself and his free-will, so Angust. de libero Arbit. that now it so standeth with him that his Sweet is turned into Sower, his Righteousness into Unrighteousness his Light into Darkness, and the Freedom of his Will to that which is Good, into a thraldom of the same into that which is Evil, in so much as though it mought then be said of him potuit non peccare, he could not have sinned, yet now it must be said of him, non potest non pecare, he cannot but sin. The truth of this point may appear unto us by the proof of a plentiful argument First, what good can be willed by him? who being considered as he is a mere natural man, is as a dead man: dead in trespasses and sins. Ephe. 2. 2. Colo. 2. 3. so dead as to be made alive he must be borne again. john. 3. 3. yea created again. Ephe. 2. 10. Secondly, what good can be expected from him as a fruit of his Free-will thereunto? who is wholly prone unto, and totally possessed with that which is evil. The imagination of man's heart is evil, even from his Gen. 8. 21. youth up. Whereout I may observe unto you: first that man is evil; second that the heart of man the fountain of all his actions is evil; third that the imaginations of that heart the streams (as it wear) and riverettes derived therefrom are evil: fourth ever, even from his youth up. Which being necessarily so, because the Scripture hath affirmed it to be so: what I beseech you, is left in man that is sound? Yea what is there left in him that is not unsound? The like testimony we find, Roman. 5. 8. They which are after the flesh, savour the things of the flesh. Savour the things of the flesh; that is, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, their wisdom, which should be most savoury in them, is become fleshly, that which should be most savoury in them, is corrupted. If that which is most savoury in man, even his best parts, is fleshly and corrupted? What may we then conclude concerning that which is almost unsavoury in him, but that it is most defiled, polluted, unclean? Thirdly, the proof of this point appeareth by the Contestations and witness-bearing even of the Gentiles themselves, who no doubt having derived the same from the blessed fountain of the Scriptures, do avouch and testify the truth of this matter. To omit the residue I will insist on the Authority of two of the chiefest of them. Plato writeth that virtues are inbred in men, afflatu numinis by the inspiration of the godhead. Plato. Arist. Ethi. lib. 1. Aristotle saith, Si quod donum dei est, faelicitatem illud esse statuendum est, etc. If there be any thing which is the gift of God, we must determine that to be Faelicity, or Blessedness. But this Blessedness, is no other thing (saith he) but the best action which proceedeth from the best faculty of the mind: But how? Per virtutem praestantissimam, by the best Virtue, which best Virtue cannot properly intimate any other thing unto us; But God. Fourthly, the ancient and most flourishing times of the Church, hath both affirmed and confirmed, approved and proved the soundness of this Truth: That Man of himself cannot plant himself in any good course, as may be made manifest unto us both by Counsels and also by the wrighting of the most Orthodoxal fathers of the Church. Amongst other councils, the Council of Carthage and the Milevitane Council, may give us satisfaction which both concerning this point have been anciently holden against Pelagius, and with a sentence authorized by the Scriptures have condemned man's free-will unto good as, heretical. Among the Orthodoxal Fathers: S. August. hath said. It is true, Man when he was first created, received great Augu. s●r. de corp 〈◊〉 Christi. Aug. in psal. 90. Aug. 〈◊〉 de Verbis Apost. 7. gr●ce of free will, but by sinning he hath lost it. The same Father elsewhere breaketh ●orth into this pathetical ●●clamation. Oh free will which without God art evil! The same Father in another place calling (as it were) fora Psalm of mercy at the hands of God; uttereth these speeches: Miserere mei deus, etc. Have mercy upon me O God: again: have mercy upon me O God, and the third time have mercy upon me O God, (as if he would therein include a mystery of the Trinity) Wherefore (saith he) because I have virtue, by the which I may deserve thee? Notse. Wher-ore then? Because I bear the freedom of will, whereby my merit Orig. in Rom. jerom in Jerem cap. 16. chrysost ser. 1. de advent domini. ●m●● os de voca. ent. lib. 2. cap. 2. Bernard. de gra. & liber. arbitrio. may go before thy grace? Not so. But of thine own mercy. The like (but that I would be short) mought be alleged, to whom I refer the Reader, out of Origen, Jerome, Chrysostome, Ambrose, Bernard, with many others. By all which, and more that mought be alleged, it is clear and evident, that man in this his estate of depraved nature, hath no free-will unto good: as he which is dead to virtue, wholly prone to vice, in his will; which is blind in truth, sharp-sighted to error in his understanding. Let us not therefore presume on the sinews of our strength; as if thereby, we could make ourselves good: neither yet trust to the wings of our own worthiness, as if we thereby could mount into heaven: for how shall we be able being borne aloft with the sick feathers o● those feeble wings, to mount up into glory? When the freedom of our will to goodness is so enthralled & eclipsed, as we cannot thereby plant ourselves in Grace upon earth, for we are as Trees, not planting ourselves, but planted by God [For he shall be as a Tree planted Secondly, this doctrine, in that man (this mystical Tree) must Be planted, establisheth and confirmeth the free Grace of God; by which when we fail to plant ourselves, yet as yet appeareth by the text are we planted. The Lord must first turn himself unto us, before we can be turned unto him: Lament. 5. 21. Fulgentius a reverend Father; first, will have all the good Fulgent. Epist, ad Thcodor. Senatorcm. we do, ascribed to the Grace of God: second, that when we faint in any good action, we should crave a supply at the hands of God: third, that this mind of ours, whereby we crave Grace, is the work of Grace: which beginneth first to be powered into us, that it may afterward be begged of us; even as the light of the air doth first go into the eye to cause it to see before it can see, which otherwise though it were made to see, remaineth blind. In his own might shall no man be strong: and it is the 1 Sam. 2. 9 Lord which keepeth the feet of his Saints, as in the same place: From whence I may note unto you two things: first, that every man is utterly dis-abled in himself: in his own might shall no man be strong: second, that the whole enable of man, is from the grace of God; It is the LORD which keepeth the fcete of his Saints. The Prophet David Psal. 119. 22. saith, I will run the way of thy Commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart: Whereout we may observe, first, that David cannot run the way of God's Commandments until his heart be enlarged: second, that none can enlarge his heart but God: When thou shalt enlarge my heart. When (as excellently writeth a learned late Writer) all Z●nb, de Religi. Christ. cap. de liber A●bitrio. good things may be reduced to three heads. The first, is the good which appertaineth unto the Sensitive and Vegetative soul which is common with us and the Beasts. viz. to eat & drink, to be nourished, to be healthful, to beget our like, etc. The second, is the good thing which belongeth to the reasonable soul & life of man only viz: all arts both Liberal and Mechanical, Virtues, Moral, Political and civil Science and the whole body (as it is called) of Philosophy. The third head of good things, respect & concern, a Spiritual, Divine, and Supercaelestiall life, begun here in this world, consisting in the true knowledge of God, and in faith, and in the effects thereof: regeneration, obedience, charity, etc. In the two former, God (saith he) is a great help: yea in the latter of the two, the good things which do concern the humane and reasonable soul of ●●n: Saint Augustine goeth so far, as he will have all Augus●. count Juli. Pelagi. lib. 4. cap. 3. Arts to be the gift of God: but howsoever it be, it must needs be granted, that GOD hath the main and principal stroke therein, as experience may teach us, that those gifts do more eminently appear in some, than they do in othersome, for no other reason, but because it pleaseth God so to dispose of them. But in the third head of good things, of the life spiritual, supercaelestiall, divine; Man is wholly to be excluded: GOD is only to be admitted, and his grace alone to be acknowledged. This is God's doing, to the end that no flesh should rejoice in his presence, but that every mouth and tongue 1. Cor. 1. 29. mought be open to confess with the Apostle, By the grace of GOD, I am that I am, and his grace which is in me, was not in vain: For his Grace is both the Fountain 1. Cor. 15. 10 from whence any good thing is originally ordained unto us; and the conduict-pipe whereby it actually falleth upon us: As when we were made, it was GOD that made us, and not we ourselves: so when we were redeemed, it was GOD that bought us, and not we ourselves: when we became righteous, it was GOD that justified us, and not we ourselves: when we were made holy, it was GOD which sanctified us, and not we ourselves. To conclude, if we be Planted Trees, it is GOD that hath planted, and not we ourselves. After the planting of this Tree, am I in the second place to consider the situation, By the Rivers of waters. M●ller, in Psal. 1. It is by the greatest likelihood supposed, that the Tree whereunto the godly-man is here compared, should be the palm-tree: because Pliny saith of the palm-tree: Plini. lib. 13. cap. 4. Palma gaudet riguis, totoque animo biberc amat. The palm-tree rejoiceth in watery places, and heartily loveth to drink much: that is to be much watered: and this Tree in this place, is said for the better fructifying of it, to be planted by the rivers of waters. First, it is said to be planted by the waters: Secondly, By the rivers of those waters. By Waters in this place, are to be interpreted the holy Scriptures of God, as they are accompanied and strengthened, and actuated by the cooperation or fellow-working of the spirit of God. The Scriptures of God thus qualified, may in several properties be likened unto water. First, water serveth as a Looking-glass, wherein a man may see the blemishes and defilements of his countenance: so is the word of GOD as a Glass, jam. 1. 23. Whereby a man may perceive, the spots and sta●nes of his soul. Secondly, Water doth not o●ely show and detect these blemishes and defilements, but also can cleanse and wash them away: so the word of GOD hath a purgative virtue, if it shall be employed to wash away and purify the blots and stains of our spirits and conscices: For which purpose, after the Kingly Prophet Danid had propounded that demand: Wherewithal s●all a young man cleanse his way? he forthwith makketh this answer? Even by ordering himself according to thy word. Psal. 119. 9 Thirdly, water hath no colour in it, so the word of GOD is and aught to be without gloss. The word of God is and aught to be like God himself, without colour or shadow. jam. 1. 17. If the Water hath any colour, it is that most ordinarily which it receiveth from the sky, whose colour it, for the most part, ●epresenteth: if it hath any other colour, it is but artificial, and accidental: so the word, if it receiveth any colour, it ought to be that whose tincture is from above, otherwise it is to be reputed foreign and adulterine. Fourthly, Water quencheth heat: so the word of God also restinguisheth the heat of our ou●r-inflamed passions: which may appear unto us: First, by the repressing of the enkindled passion of lust: Which is as a fire which never leaveth (as saith Saint Basill) till it hath consumed Bastard Virginita. the matter which it hath been bred in: a fire which if a man be but singed with, blisters do certainly arise thereof: yet the word serveth as water to quench it. Secondly, it may appear unto us by the restinguishing of the inflamed passion of wrath, a flame that ariseth of the over-heating of blood; for which cause the Prophet David, Psal. 18. 7. 8. speaking of Anger, mentioneth therewithal smoke: consuming fire, and the kindling of Coals: S. Basil saith also, Basil. Hom. de ira. that the Angry man, à daemonibus neque, formae, neque, anim● affectu differt: differeth not from the Devils, neither in form, neither in affection of mind; whose kingdom is in fire, to show that Anger is fiery: yet the word of GOD, by the sacred precepts therein, serveth as water to quench it. Thirdly, it may appear unto us, by the putting out of the over-hott passion of praeposterons zeal, which if it be not allayed with knowledge, will prove like james and john, who forthwith would have commanded fire from heaven to have consumed the Samaritans: & where as in the Luke. 9 53. same place they allege the example of Elias, our Saviour Christ made answer unto them, that their spirit was different from that of Elias, for they knew not (which no doubt was known to Elias) what spirit they were of. Luke 9 55. This intemperate zeal may be compared to the fever Hectic, which consumeth the body wherein it is. The very cause and original is this, of trouble and tumults among men, in reasonings and d●sputations, as writeth Gregory Nazianzen. Like to the over-swift motion of Gregor. Naz. oration. 21. the highest Spheres in the heavens, which unless it were repressed and allayed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or countermotion of the inferior Orbs, would (as it is probable) set the whole world on a fire; like the benefit of the water of the word, to repress and redress unbridled zeales-violence. Fiftly and lastly, Water doth fructify and make fruitful those places which be watered and drenched by it: An example of this matter we have in Nilus: The inundations of whose streams, fructifieth, even to this day the whole country of Egypt, in which sense most properly in this place, the word of God is to be accepted, and thereof to abound with fruit, or to fructify in abundance. To this intent, jesus the son of Sirach, among other things whereunto he resembled Simon the son of Oniah, who had been very bountiful and beneficial unto his country, likeneth him (to express the better the fruits of his well-doing) to the Lilies by the Springs of waters. And when God had ordained his Paradise, appointed Eccle. 50. 8. he also the rivers of Pishon, Gihen, Hiddekell and Perath, to water the same, and to cause it to be fruitful: to intimate unto us the barren ground of our hearts, the Trees here spoken of, cannot fructify without the Water of the Word, and therefore are they hear said, for their better fructification, to be as a Tree planted by the waters. Secondly, this Tree is said to be planted by the ri●ers of waters: whereout I am first to handle, the Quality, a River: Secondly, the Plurality, Rivers of waters. First, this Tree is said to be Planted by those waters, which for their quality are a river. Two remarkable properties be observed in a River, first that the guise thereof is to flow forth without standing. second, that by reason of this perpetual flow it holdeth fresh and sweet without corrupting. In the first place the quality of a River is to flow without standing; answerable whereunto aught the Word to be as a river ever-flowing by the currant of a double stream, the one of reading, the other of preaching. The river of the word floweth and aught to flow by the stream of reading; a thing which though not in so great r●easure as preaching, yet hath been very profitably begun and from time to time continued in the Church of God. When the children of Isarel stood half of them over against Mount Garizim, and half over against Mount ebal, joshuah read all the words of the Law the blessings and cursings according to all that was written in the book of the law, there was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which joshuah read not before the congregation of Israel, as well before the women and children as the stranger that was conversant among them. Ezras also is said to read the Law of Moses in the broad place of the gate of the Temple from joh. 8. 34. 35. morning to midday, before the Men and the Women, and all the multitude hearkened thereunto. 1. Esd. 9 41. they so approved it as they wear very attentive. Thus read Baruch the sermons of jeremy. Paul exhorteth Timothy to give Bar. 1. I●r. 36. attendance as well to reading as exhortation and Doctrine. 1. Tim. 4. 13. The same Apostle chargeth the Thessalonians that his Epistle should be read to all the brethren the Saints. 1. Thessalo. 5. 27. He also instructeth the Ephesians that by reading his Epistle they mought know his understanding in the mystery of Christ. Ephes. 3. 4. What should I tell you? that Moses had them which preached him, in that he was read in the Synagogue every Saboth. Act. 15. 21. Or what should I allege? that there is an Happiness proclaimed even for him which readeth Apoca. 1. 3. or that Tertulian calleth reading of the Scriptures the feeding of the soul, and that the most ancient and pure Church had there Lectore, readers. etc. We hold him unwise, who saith that the least star in the Firmament hath no glory, because it is not therein comparable to the Sun. No less senseless is he to be adjudged, who shall deny Reading of the word even in the open assembly, to have no profit in it, because it yieldeth not so much fruit as Preaching. The gifts of God's spirit in the Church, are like the stars in heaven, one differing from another in glory. 1. Corin. 15. 41. so one of these gifts differeth from another in glory: Preaching hath his portion in a greater measure of glory: Readin● hath his shate in a lesser measure of glory: one of the streams of the flowing River of these Rivers here spoken of. The other stream whereby the current of the word of God floweth, it is by preaching, which consisteth in the true understanding; right dividing: saithful interpreting: zealous uttering: & powerful applying either of the judgements, or the mercies of God, (as occasion shall serve) to the hearts and souls of the people, unto the which personally Timothy, successively, all they which bear the office of Timothy, even the whole Ministry of GOD are exhorted. 2. Tim. 4. 2. Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season, improve, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine. Ministers of this Function Matth. 5. 13. are the Salt of the Earth: by whose precepts, the mind of man being seasoned, should not be corrupted with the contagion of vices: are the light of the world, Matt. 5. 14. because they are to enlighten (as it were) the smaller Lamps of others by the more bright Cresset-light of their doctrine: are the Trumpeters which ought to sound with courage, the Trumpet in Zion, and to shout in the holy Mountame: are the disposers of God's secrets, to make the people acquainted with GOD'S ●oel. 2. 1. counsels, 1. Coxinth. 4. 1. are Watchmen from the Watchtower, to foretell the people of dangers to come, Ezech. 33. 7. are shepherds: First, to strengthen the weak sheep: secondly, to heal the sick sheep: thirdly, to bind up the broken sheep: four, to bring again the stray Sheep: fifthly, to seek up the lost Sheep, Ezech. ●4. 4. A blessing of the Word preached, a stream of the River here intended. The Church of Rome would have these waters of the Scriptures to be no flowing Rivers, but as standing pools, for which purpose they intercept and dam up the course and current of them, by locking them up in ●strange language, contrary to the old custom, even of that Church. Quando benedictiones & caetera omnia Lira. in Corin cap 14. fiebant in vulgari lingua: When blessings and all other things were done in the vulgar tongue, If all other things were done in the vulgar tongue, than was reading of the Scripture also so performed. A manner was this never altered in the Grecke-Church, both anciently in use, as also at this day continued in Russia, (the regiment of which Church have been derived from the Greek Hierarchy) where they have throughout that large Empire their church-service all and altogether read and celebrated in Discovery of Eng●shmen. pag. 290. their own mother tongue, that every man may understand it. The second remarkable property in a River is, that by reason of the continual flowing, it holdeth out fresh and sweet without corrupting: otherwise is it then, with that stagnum piscatorium, the standing Fish-poole of them: who do pass all things, sub annulo p●scatorio, under the signet of the Fisherman, and do vaunt that they sit in Peters-Chayre, which was a Fisherman: for as in a River successively, wave follows after wave, and stream after stream, a great avoidance o● corruption, and a main continuance of wholesomeness: so ought the doctrine which floweth in the currant of this River of the holy Scripture, to be pure, not tainted, hail, not unsound; true, not erroneous; sincere, and orthodoxal, not corrupted and Schismatical, a stream like God himself, the Fountain from whom it is derived. jere. 2. 13. Secondly, from hence may I note their plurality, in that this Tree is not Planted by a River, but by Rivers of Waters: to show that the measure of this word, and of the fruit that cometh by it, ought not to be in scantness and barrenness, but in plenty and abundance: so as it may not lodge for a night, or sojourn for a season, but dwell in us, and that not in any stinted or scanted measure, but plenteonsly, not in some, but in all Wisdom, not only so as we do receive Documents and instru● ctions from others, but so as we may in some good sort be able to teach and admonish ourselves. Coloss. 3. 16. This was the estate of the Ancient Church, as writeth Saint Chrysostome. Nunc verbum Dei inter nos habitat abunde, cum omni sapientia, etc. Now doth the word Chrysost. in Rom. cap. 1. of GOD dwell among us abundantly with all wisdom, etc. This also ought to be the condition of the Church at all times, and is (God be praised) of this our English-Church at this time; wherein the Bells of Aaron are continually sounding, not in some, but almost in all congregations, not at some, but well-nigh at all times. The Lord give us his grace, that according to the free endowments of his most gracious favours, we being as Trees a long time planted by the Rivers of these waters, may fructify so in our knowledge, as we become not barren in our practice; Unto whom much is committed, of them shall much be required. Oh much hath been every Luk. 12. 48. way committed unto us! Behold we have been planted, not of ourselves, but by the hand of GOD, not in any dry or barren wilderness, but by the foysoning and fructifying waters of the holy Scriptures: not near some small and shallow-running beck or brook, but upon a River: neither yet upon a River only, as of one, but Rivers as many: therefore of us must much and every way much necessarily be required, much skill in truth, much will to good, much comfort in contemplation, much fruit in action, much knowledge, much practice. Oh, let us not then where the word is most plentiful, there least account of it, most disregard it; like affected toward the Word, which is dearer than thousands of gold or silver, as the Indians are towards their gold and silver; which because they have the veins and mines thereof among them, therefore bear they but a slight love and slight affection towards it. But let us receive it with our ear●s, lodge it in thalamo cordis, even in the chamber of our heart, practise it in our lives and conversations. Let us so attend with our ears in listening, as we also extend our hands to practising; thus to extend the Palms of our hands in Earth, will put Palms into our hands into heaven. The giving of the ear without the giving of the hand, hearing without doing, hearkening without working, it is but a carcase without a quickening spirit, as bottles without wine, clouds without water, lamps without oil, shadows without substance, shells without kernels, and trees without fruit. Which though they be planted by the rivers of waters, are not fructified; but we on the contrary side, if ever we look to be Denizens of the City with twelve gates: even the heavenly jerusalem. Apoc. 21. 21. ought to be as the Tree of Life, which bringeth forth Twelve manners of fruits, and the leaves thereof serve to heal the Nations. Apoc. 2. 22. After the situation of this Tree, are we in the third place to consider the fructifying of it, which may easily be branched into four members. Whereof the first is profit, in that it bringeth forth fruit. The second, Perseverance, in that it is not said for the time present that it doth; but for the time to come also, that it [will bring forth fruit. The third, Propriety. [Her fruit, The fourth and the last, Opportunity [In due season. The first Member of the fructifying of this Tree, is Profit, [Bringeth forth fruit. This is the necessary duty of every godly Man, that he should be as a Tree fruitful, as a Plant profitable, especially considering with himself, that the planting of himself (such a Tree) 〈◊〉 by the flowing and fresh rivers of the Waters of the word; where God becometh his alone Planter, and only Waterer, therefore must he not in any case fail to bring forth increase: God hath fixed his root and shall not he fructify in his branch? Oh be that far from him! But for as much, as by likelihood the dullness of our corrupted nature blunteth and represseth the edge and forwardness of our desire in this behalf. Le●te us I beseech you, conceive in our hearts a few reasons and arguments; the authority whereof may somewhat egg on and incite us, to become not Dry, but fruitful, not barren but profitable trees. We are then as trees of Gods planting to become fruitful. 1. in regard of God. 2. of the Gospel. 3. of Man, both ourselves and others. First we are to bring forth fruits in regard of God, and that in a sundry observation. 1. because he deserveth it. 2. commandeth it. 3. is glorified by it. First, God deserveth it, in that himself hath taken the pains to become our planter. As it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves: So is it he that hath planted us and Psal. 100 2. not we ourselves; whereby we are made the griftes of his orchard, as Psalm. 100 2. We are called the sheep of his pasture. He that planteth a vineyard is worthy to eat of the fruit thereof: He that feedeth a flock is worthy to eat of the milk of the flock. 1 Corin. 9 7. And shall GOD plant v● and nourish us being so planted, and receive nothing from us? O! this must needs prove us to be unthankful toward him, who towards us hath showed himself most bountiful? We read of a generation of Vipers Math. 3. 7. Here-unto, if unto aught else, may the unthankful man be compared. The brood of Vipers eateth out the bowels of the Dam that breedeth them: the unthankful man requiteth not, yea often-time iniuryeth him; the bowels of whose commiseration hath relieved him. It is intolerable to be ingrate unto man: but unthankfulness unto God is execrable yea damnable. Shall God deserve at the hands of man? and shall man the work of GOD'S hand de●eine from God, what God hath deserved? Will God come to judgement and be a swift witness against them, which detain the hirelings wages. Math. 3. 5. and will he not much more avenge the keeping back of his own deserved recompense? It than standeth us in hand, unless we will have the wrath of God, armata manu, with an armed hand, or band of his innumerable and irresistible hosts to stand up against us, to become fruit-bearing-trees, because by his so planting us, he hath deserved it. Secondly, we are to bring forth fruits, in regard of God which commandeth it. An excellent charge whereunto is given unto us by the Apostle S. Peter who, no doubt, moved by the spirit of God, in the counsel of God himself, commandeth us that as he which hath called us is holy, so should we be holy in all manner of conversation: neither 1. Pet. 1. 15. doth he only so, but rendereth a reason of this matter, drawn from the authority of God himself, derived from Levit. 11. 44. For it is written be ye holy, for I am holy. He 1. Pet. 1. 16: then which is most holy commandeth us to be holy, and shall we affect rather still to be unholy? God which mought command and yield no reason, because his command can never be severed from right reason of his unspeakable mercy, yieldeth a reason; and he which by his absolute authority mought only have said be ye holy: yet vouchsafeth to add, for I am holy: which adjection may serve both for a reason why we should be holy, and a rule how we should be holy That we may therefore know the better, what our own holiness ought to be, we must first look what Gods holiness is: a glimpse whereof is set forth unto us, in that description mentioned. Deuter. 10. 71. 18. In that he ac● cepteth no man's person, nor taketh reward, in that he doth right to the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger giving him food and raiment. etc. If then we would be rightly holy, as God is holy, and so by consequence truly fruitful, as Trees of GOD'S ' own planting: we must accept no man's person, must be corrupted with no man's rewards, we must do right to the fatherless and widow, and so love the stranger as we give unto him food and raiment. The extent whereof aught in these and other virtues to be so largely out-spread, as it doth and shall concern not some, but all manner of conversation. 1 Pet. 1. 15. The reason why we must obey when the Magistrates command, is, because, they are called gods: how much Psal. 82. 1. more important necessity compelleth us to obey when God himself commandeth. Every man will be offended that it should be said of him that he loveth not God: yet behold he that obeyeth him not, loveth him not, for, He which loveth him, keepeth his commandments. john. 14. 15. O beloved it is one of the enjoyed commandments of the most high God, that we should become Holy as his Chosen, Fruitful as his Plants; and shall we deal with God as Saul did, who disobeyed his voice? Is there nothing so pleasing unto God as obedience, which he therefore preferreth Before sacrifice and the fat of rams, & shall 1 Sam. 15. 22. we fail to be obedient? Is there nothing more displeasing to God then disobedience? which is therefore branded with the mark of rebellion, and styled the Sin of witchcraft: and shall we like, to be disobedient? O how 1 Sam. 15. 23. much better were it for us to submit ourselves to the commandments of God's voice, that we may become fruitful as the vine. Psal. 128. 3. then feel the voice of his judgements, which will cause us to shiver for fear, and break into shivers though we be as tall as the Cedar: that Psal. 29. 5. so our duty in becoming fruitful trees, may answer to his authority who commandeth us to be trees bringing forth fruit. Thirdly, we are to bring forth fruit in regard of God because he is glorified by it. Let your light so shine before Math. 5. 16. men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven. Our Fructifying then is made Gods Glorifying. What greater praise and cause of joy can the●e be unto us, then to see the glory of him enlarged, who hath prepared for us a far most excellent and an eternal weight of glory. Doth the King of glory crown man 2 Cor. 4. 17. Psal. 8. 5. with glory and worship, and shall not man augment and increase the glory and worship of the King of glory. Was it not a woeful voice as ever was bruited in Izraell, which occasioned the wife of Phinehas (old Elies so●ne) to call hi● son Ichabod, because the glory was departed from Izraell: And shall it not be a rumour of far more mournful report to have it noised that glory is departed from the God of Izraell? Is God so jealous of his honour 1 Sam. 4. 21. that he will give it to no other? and shall we be cold Esay. 42. 8. in tendering to him the thing nee so greatly loveth. The Heathen think they bestow a kind of glory on their Idols, when they make them of Gold or silver: but it is most true that we shall magnify the glory of the God of heaven, if as fruits of this ●ree we shall charitabley bestow our gold and silver. The Wise man saith Ecclesi. 10. 23. That the glory of the rich is the fear of the Lord: But we may say that the charitable fruit of the rich is the glory of the Lord. The glory of man without glorifying 1 Math. 2. 62. of the Lord, is but dung and worms: but this dung and worm by glorifying God shall be made glorious. When Phillip 3. 21. Christ shall come to judgement he shall come with power and great glory. With power: Why? to punish no Mar. 13. 26. doubt the reprobate: with glory: Why? to glorify no doubt the godly: that they which have (as the sons of God) brought forth the fruit of their planting, in ascribing unto him, and procuring for him glorious praise, may be in God's good time, rec●●●ed into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Rom. 8. 21. Secondly, we are as trees of Gods planting, to become fruitful in regard of the gospel; that it may be beautified by it: that as the feet are beautiful of them which bring unto us the glad t●dings of the Gospel. Rom. 10. 15. So also the hands of them may be bountiful which do receive the same: If we hear the words of the Gospel, and bring not forth the fruits of the Gospel, We are like barren ground which receiveth seed from the hand of the Husbandman, and yield him no increase. As a woman is not adorned with outward appareling, as with broided hair, or gold put about, or the putting on of apparel but when the hid man of the hea●t is uncorrupt, 1 Pet 3. 3. with a meek and quiet spirit, which is before God a thing much set by. So the Gospel cannot be said to be beautified, when the outward parts thereof are materially garnished with Emblems, decked with stones of price, or filletted with gold, but when the inward sense thereof is so digested in the heart, as the same also prospereth & f●uctifieth in the outward actions and dealings of our life. The Apostle protesteth, that, he is not ashamed of the gospel of CHRIST. Oh we ought to be ever and seriously Rom. 1. 16. careful that the gospel of Chri●● be not ashamed of us! shall the Turks grace their Koran with good works, which are earnestly urged & a●d●l●igently practised among the●: and shall not we beutify the most holy gospel of Christ, by adding the fruits of the Pomegranates to the bells of Aron? the substance of our good deeds to the sound of God's glad tidings? Is the Gospel a light that shmeth in darkness? And shall we become as a thick and papable darkness, to blind Luke. 1. 79. and obscure this light? Hath GOD given the Word that blessing, if we have grace to apprehend it, that it would iusufie, ●rrchsie, and might one day glorify us? and shall not we so much as beautify it? The way to 〈◊〉 t, is to ●●●●●fic by it. As the Philippians profiting Philip 4. 1. by the labours of Paul, are c●l●ed Acrowne: so they 〈◊〉 according to the precepts of the Gospel, become plentiful in good works, become a Crown to the Gospel, to dignify and grace the same. It is said, that an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 woman, is a crown to her husband, but ●●ee that maketh 〈◊〉 ashamed is rottenness to his bones. l ●ou. 12. 4. The fiugali and fruitful Christian may be compared to this hu● wifely and painful Woman, which thereby becometh a Crown to the Gospel, as she to her husband: but if he shall be id●e or evil, doing either nothing or nought, therein becometh ●ee a shame to the Gospel, as such a Wife is to her Husband, yea and in some sort rottenness to the bones thereof, because he grieveth the holy spirit of GOD, I phes 4. 30. The Gospel, (Matth 13.) is said to be the Kingdom of God. Did Solomon so garnish the porch of the Temple, that it was thereupon called Beautiful: and shall not we rejoice, Acts. 3. 2. that by our equites, not the Porch of the Temple which may (haply) not seem much, but the Temple itself, and the Holy of holies of the Temple is adorned, because the Gospel, and by co●●●quenc● the Kingdom of God which containeth the whole frame of the Temple, not only material but also dragogicall i, beautified? Thirdly, we are as Trees of GOD'S planting, to become fruitful in regard of man, both ourselves and others. Touching ourselves, we are as Trees to become fruitful, to make our salvation sure: For certain it is, that though we be not saved by our works, yet can we not be saved without our works. Non sunt causa regnandi, sed via regni, saith Saint Bernard. They are not the cause Bernard. of reigning, but the way of the Kingdom. As a man then cannot come to his journeys end without his way: so can we not arrive at the Kingdom of God (the utmost goal of our race) without this way of Works to walk in. Hence cometh it to pass that the Figtree, which being mercifully spared for three years space, yet remained barren, hath this doom passed against it, that it should be cut down. Luke, 13. 7. that the unprofitable servant having ●eceiued but one Talon making no advantage of it but burying it in the Earth, had this Talon taken from him, and was himself cast into utter darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That it Math. 25. 30. is set down as a definitive sentence against us all, that unless our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and pharisees, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of heaven: Math. 5, 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be two negatives, which according to the propriety of the Greek tongue, maketh the stronger negation, serving as two bolts to shut such out of the Kingdom of heaven. When Christ shall come to his judgement, he shall not give his sentence against the godless and reprobate ones, that they should as cursed depart from him into euc●lasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels, because they starved the hungry, took the drink from the thirsty, dislodged the stranger, rob the naked of his garments ma●e the hail sick, and imprisoned them which were at liberty, therein doing that which they ought not to do: but because they gave no meat to the hungry: imparted no drink on the thirsty, lodged not the stranger, clothed not the naked, visited not the sick and imprisoned: therein leaving that undone which they ought to do. Math. 25. 41. 42. 43. Seeing then the fruitless Figtree was to be cut down: The unprofitable servant to be cast into utter darkness, Where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth: That unless our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, We cannot enter (by any means) into God's kingdom: that Christ shall give his sentence when he cometh to judgement, not only according to that which we have evil done, but also, according to that which we have not well done. It appeareth, that without good works, without good deeds, the fruits of this Tree our Salvation, i● not sure: and so by consequence, that by good works, by good deeds the fruits of this Tree (our salvation) is made sure. If we take a lease of House or Land, or of some other matter of like nature, for certain years: we will carefully look unto it, that the instruments and conveyances thereof be not wavering, floating, or doubtful, in any one point of it, but that they be most certain, firm, and infallible: Behold here not a lease of our own purchasing, but a deed of gift of God's free gran●, passed over unto us, not of earthy houses and lands, but of heavenly mansions and territories: not for a certain term of years, but aeternal in the heavens: And shall not we have a care to assure it? to confirm it? to ratify 2. C●●in. 5. 1. it? A work is this of good works, a fruit by which we are both to be known unto men, by their fruits Match 7. 20. Matth. 7. 23. ye shall know them, and without which God will not know us, In regard of men also, others beside ourselves, are we as Trees to become fruitful; whether they be our brethren by grace: or adversaries to grace. First, our brethren by grace do expect at our hands that we should be fruitful, both they which are not called, that they may be won; as the Ecclesiastical Hi● ories report concerning justmus Martyr, that he seeing the patiented constancy, and the unvanquishable virtue of the Martyrs of those times, became himself a Martyr: as also they which are already called, that they may the rather be encouraged, to level themselves according to our rule, and guide themselves according to our direction, to work according to our pattern, that when they see our Patience they may follow after Patience, when they see our Humility they may follow a●ter Humility, when they see our Chastity they may follow as-Chastity, when they see our Constancy they may follow after Constancy. When they see our Zeal they may follow after Zeal, even as the Apostle willeth, wh●●●ce 1. Cor. 14. see love to follow after love. That as we go before, and make Christ to be the Lodestar of our direction so they may follow after and make us to be the Level of their intention, as writeth the same Apostle. 1. Corint. 11. 1. Be ye followers of me even as ●am of Christ. In respect of men likewise, are we as Trees, to become fruitful, which are adversaries to Grace, that we may silence their words, and stop their mouths, who do whet their tongues and strengthen there sides to both decla●me and exclaim against us: saying, or rather crying out then saying, that if we be not Nullisidians, that is such as have neither Faith nor Religion, yet be●ray we ourselves to be Solifidians' that is, which ●aue ●aith only without Works, the fruits of Religion. This if they mean concerning our Doctrine, the ●ead of this objection hath often been cut of, but that it with Hydra sorthwith bringeth up another. Quo●●●dit in sedem capitis. caedemque prioris, that speed●●h no better than his follow ●●d before him. But if they mean it concerning our manners. Oh may not the guilt of our convicted consciences gall our hearts with gri●ffe and die our faces with blushing, in regard of our defective miscarriages in this behalf! God hath indeed planted us his Vineyard, on a fruitful hill of his Church, hedged us in with the shield of his protection: hath gathered out the ●ones of errors, and planted us with the best Plants both of Doctrine and Sacraments, and nath built in the midst of it the tower of Discipline, and when he mought justly look for grapes, because he may say in regard of his pains, what could I have done any more to my vineyard that I have not done? Esay. 5. 4. yet do we either bring forth no grapes, or if they be any at all they be no better then wild grapes. The same God also hath planted us as Trees by the waters of his word, whose streams are as rivers ●lowing without standing, fresh without corrupting to water and moisten our roots, tha●●o our branches may wax fruitful, & are we not by reason of our corruption become as those Trees wh●ch being fixed in the rivers Silarus and Eurimenus. Du. 〈◊〉. w●●k 1. day. 3. have both boughs and barks, and leaves and fruits turned into s●●ne? Stone may we be s●id to be turned into, because our stony hearts are become like unto the stony Mat 13. 5. ground, bar●en and fruitless. It is rather three times twenty years then three years since the Lord hath spared us as the fig-tee was spared. L●. 13. 17. For as much then as he hath year by year for so long succession of years, sought that Fruit of us which is aught by us, and hath found none, is it not now with fear and trembling to be expected, that he will give his sentence against us which he sometime uttered against that Figtree. Cut it down. Luke. 13. 17. Shall the Turks at this day be given to good works, the 〈◊〉 Turkish 〈◊〉 cap. 21. building of Temples, of colleges and Hospitals? whereas their own private houses are but base and contemptible, and shall we with those ancient Tarentines, as if we should live ever, die never; build our own private houses in state and magnificence, and suffer in the mean while Hospitals for the poor Colleges for the Student, and Tem les for God himself, to be defaced, demolished, 〈◊〉. and ruinated, which are Christians? The most part of their legacies are given to religious, holy and public uses, according to there Mahumetane profession, either toward there Meschittes and Temples, or the making and repairing of their highways, Bridges, Causies Conduits, Cisterns, Water-pipes, or toward the redemption of prisoners, and the enrichments of their Soraglioes or Hospitals, whereof one of them may spend by yearly revenue an hundred and fifty thousand ducats. And shall we be either as Trees having leaves with worm-eaten fruit like Heretics: or leaves only without fruit, like Hypocrites, or else having neither leaves nor fruits, like Barbarians, Savages and Canniballes? shall we seek only our own profit and not the mutual profit of each other? shall we be borne for ourselves only? and neither for the commonweal as Politique-men, nor (which is more to be lamented) of the Church as Christian-men? Oh how poor is our devotion toward the poor? And what a diminutive, is our Minutum, our Mite, which we give to God's ministers? Alas it is but a mite, yet if we would bestow it on them with that cheerfulness of heart, with which the poor widow cast her two Mites into the treasury Mark. 12. 42. as that was commended by Christ, so by likelihood mought this be accepted with God, and we brought into his favour by it, but being done with such grudging with such repining, how can it be gracious in 2. Corin. 9 7. the sight of him which loveth a cheerful giver? Oh the injury is not done to us, the Messengers of God; it is done to God himself, whose Mouth we are, and whose office we sustain, whose treasure we bear about with us in these 2. Corin 4. 7 earthen vessels. To spare our purse therefore in such a case it is to bring a curse upon v●, and it will be as the proverb speaketh, to lose, that in the Shire, which we think to save Malach. 3. 9 in the hundredth; to forego the recompense of an hundredth fold, increase in God's kingdom, while we will stick & hucke with God's Priests for there duties in God's Church. O! Let us therefore that we may not bury our talent▪ but perform our task, turn away God's wrath and purchase his love towards, us prove ourselves to be as trees bringing forth fruit, and that in consideration of God who deserveth it, commandeth it, is glorified by it, for the sake of the Gospel of God which is beautified, of ourselves secured, ou● brethren gained and confirmed, our adversaries ashamed and abashed through it. The second branch of the fructifying of this Tree, is perseverance, in that it is here said, for the time to come also, that this Tree will bring forth fruit. It is nothing to begin well in well doing, unless we therein continue to the end; yea it is better never to have begun well, than not to continue to the end. We are Trees 2. Pet. 2. 21. of righteousness, Easy 61. 〈◊〉. therefore must we proceed to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, otherwise it had been better for us never to have known the ways of righteousness, then after the knowledge thereof, to become as the dog returning to his vomit, and the Sow that is washed to the wallowing in the mire. 2. pet. 2. 22 Sundry be the Motives, which if God shall accompany, with the dew of his grace, and the operative virtue of his holy spirit, may move us to this perseverance in our fructifying or fruitbearing. The first may be drawn from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or derivation of the name of religion, which as both Saint Augustine, and also Lactantius do affirm, taketh the name à religando, of binding or tying, because thereby, as with a bond August. li●. de q●antita. anima cap. 36. Lactant. glib. 4. cap. 28. of Godliness, we are straightly bound unto God; and as writeth Augustine: the soul tieth herself through reconciliation to one God. This tying therefore, or knitting ourselves unto God, aught to be as a bond or a knot, firm and durable: a bond of perseverance, as Ephes. 4. 3. We read of a bond of peace. Four things are chiefly to be taught by religion: first, what things are to be believed: this is Faith. Secondly, what things are to be loved: this is Charity. Thirdly, what things are to be performed: this is Sanctity. Fourthly, what things are to be sustained: this is the Perseverance here required, which is even the sister of Patience, and can no more be separated from her, than a man can well separate heat from fire, or light from the Sun. The second motive or reason which may persuade us to this perseverance, it may be drawn from the nature of Religion, a unity of spirit, to be found in one body the Church; depending on one spirit the holy Ghost: one Lord Christ jesus, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, which is above, through all, and in all. If then Religion Ephes. 4. from vers. 3. to 7. be but one: the Truth one, the Church, Spirit, Lord, Faith, Baptism, and God himself but one; then unless we mind to cast off all piety and religion, and be found fighters against God, in that we open our mouths against heaven, in denying there is a God; We are so in God and godliness to proceed; so to persever, as we have begun. If we shall either be at a stand, that we will go no further, as Lot's wife being turned into a Pillar of Salt, or turn back and relapse, like Ecebolius in the ancient Church, who after repenting, craved of the Church to tread upon him as unsavoury Salt. Surely, as Peter answered Christ, when he asked him whether he also would go away, as many of his Disciples did, who went back and forsook him. Master (saith he) to whom shall we go? Ioh, 6. 66, 67. 68 thou hast the words of aeternal life: So may it be said of us, Whether shall we go? for here only are the words, and not elsewhere, of aeternal life, and therefore here only we must continue, and produce the fruits of the Tree of life, where only are to be found, the words of aeternal life. The third motive or reason, which may persuade us to this perseverance, may be drawn from our present good beginnings, and (by likelihood) forward proceed, in the fruits of godliness; and shall we now shrink? shall we now give over? shall we hold on all the heat of the day? and shall we faint and languish, and yield in the cool (as it were) of the Evening? Have we prosperously guided our vessel through the main and deepest Seas? and shall we suffer it to be wracked at the very entrance of the Port of our happiness? oh zealous speech of holy Polycarpus! worthy to be a perpetual precedent of our serious and religious imitation, who made it Euseb e●cl●s. Hist lib 4. cap 15. an argument, that he was still to serve Christ, because he had so long a time formerly served him, therefore in the midst of persecutions, more hot in zeal then his torments in bloodshed, broke he forth into this protestation: Sexaginta et sex annos seruio Christo, et nihil me l●sit unquam, quomodo possum maledicere ei, et blasphemare regem meum, qui salutem m●hi dedit? Sixty and six years do I serve Christ, and he hath never hurt me at any time, how can I now speak evil of him, and blaspheme my King, which hath given saving-health unto me? Of this so holy a speech may we make an holy use unto ourselves: That for as much as we have so and so many years, been as fruitful Trees in the Lord's service, we should not now in any case become barr●n. Is it reported of Socrates, that he never changed his countenance? and shall we change our Religion? Ought we to forget that which is Philip. 3. 13. behind, and endeavour ourselves to that which is before? and shall we go back from Christ, to follow the world with Demas, 2. Tim. 4. 10. Oh no ●let that be far from us: but rather as God hath continued a chain of his graces towards us: whereof the first ●incke is by predestinating us, the second by Calling us: the third, by lustifying us; the fourth shall be accomplished by glorifying us in the world to come, Rom. 8. 30. Let us also recontinue toward him, a Chain of those graces which we have received from him, that so there may be grace for grace: for which purpose are we to give all diligence, that we may join virtue with our faith, and with our virtue knowledge, and with our knowledge, temperance, and with our temperance, patience: and with our patience, goodness: and with our goodness brotherly kindness: and with our brotherly kindness, love, that so we may not be standing still, idle and unfruitful. 2. Pet. 1. verse. 5. to 9 but going on working and fruitful in the knowledge of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, like Trees, that still will, and will still, bring forth fruit. The fourth motive or reason which may persuade us to this perseverance, may be drawn from the nature of God himself, with whom is no variableness nor shadowing by turning, unto the which we ought to be conformed, jam. 1. 17. and become like it. First, because it is necessary we should so be, in regard hereof, that we are said, to be partakers of the divine Nature. The Divine nature, is without 2. Pet. 1 4. Variableness; so must we which are partakers thereof not change, but immutably go on, to be fruitful: Secondly, because it will be most acceptable unto God, if we so be, who being our heavenly Father will rejoice no doubt, as earthly father's use to do, in those Sons which are most like him. Thirdly, because in so being, we shall be most honourable unto ourselves, for the greatest honour (as writeth Greg: Nazianzene) is to come nearest the Image of God, wherein we were created: whose Image we then without ●reg. Nazian. ●rat●, 26. question do represent when we become unchangeable as he is unchargeable, whose name is like his nature, I am that I am. Exod. 3. 14. The fifth and last reason or motive which may persuade us to this perseverance, is the hazard which otherwise may and will be that we shall never be saved. He that endureth to the end shallbe saved. Mat. 24. 13. We are in the Church of God as in a vineyard, where we must labour and continue our labour unto the end, before we can receive our penny, as in a race wherein we must run and continue to the end, before we can be recompensed: as in a warfare, wherein we must fight unto the end, before we can be crowned. For we ought to be faithful unto the death, if we look to receive a crown of life: Apoc. 2. 10. to which purpose saith Saint Cyril: Nolite vobis blandiri fratres, etc. S. Cy●il. Do not flatter yourselves brothers, that ye have heard and received my speech: This is but the beginning only of salvation: unless ye shall abide in the same, it shall not avail you, Non qu●ritur initium sed finis (saith S. Jerome) The beginning S. Jerome. is not sought after, but the end. Saul and judas began well but ended evilly. The one killed himself and lost his kingdom; the other hanged himself tha● he mought go to his own place. Act. 1. 25. Paul on the other side begun evilly, but ended well, so far forth as he was resolute in it; that for as much as he had fought a good fight & ended his course, there was laid up for him a crown 2 Tim. 4 7. 8. of righteousness. 2. Tim. 4. 7. 8. We must in the compass of our profession be like a circle in Geometry, we must continue, a puncto ad punctum, from point to point: from Alpha to Omega, from the first to the last, as Trees ever fruitful. Will bring forth. This perseverance here required, showeth that the life of a good man, aught to be the life of such a man as shall testify himself to be. First, Laborious, in always bearing and bringing forth the fruit enjoined him. No ease, no idleness which the Fathers call D●monis puluinar, the devils cushion: But sweat, but labour must be his task, his portion. Saint Chrysostome witnesseth writing upon S. Cryso●● in Math. 24. 13. 〈◊〉 the words. He that continueth to the end shall be saved. Nomen tollerantiae est nomen sudoris. The name of Tollerancie, is a name of sweat; and that which is translated to abide, or continue, is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, One that remaineth under, as it fareth with the porter in the bearing of his burden: as a Tree laden with his fruit. Secondly, this perseverance showeth that the good man ought to testify himself to be Courageous: to withstand the lets which may hinder him in this his will of ●uture fructifying. Religion is a thing though inwardly sweet and comfortable, yet outwardly sharp and bitter: Like john the▪ Baptist whose inward mild virtues, were clothed, with an outward rough vesture, not better than camels hair. Math. 3. 4. Many difficulties will affright him, dangers repress him, crosses discourage him, snares entangle him, afflictions encounter him, persecutions affront him, winds shake him, and floods threaten to oppress, and all to defeat the intended course of his Perseverance, unless he shall fight under the colours of the Lion of the Tribe of juda. Apocal. 5. 5. himself bold and confident as Prou. 28. 1. a Lion: void of fear, full of courage? Richard the first of this Kingdom was styled Ceur de Lion, not so much because some say of him that he did tear out, but because he bore about with him the heart of a Lion: Such hearts must we also have if we look to win Gods heavenly Kingdom: as he thereby vanquished the holy Land. For we must look to have combat; conflict and battle with them which are first mighty principalities and powers, and strong coloss. 2. 15. 2 Cor. 10. 4. holds: secondly, many not a principality, a power and a hold as of one, but principalities and powers, and holds as of many: thirdly, which are so bloody, barbarous, malicious, as they have (as it were) the hearts of an Adamant not to relent; faces of brass not to commiserate, & hands of iron to make havoc of all things. This hath God appointed us, and this must we embrace as a necessary point of our calling; A thing is it that God himself hath in some measure typed out unto us; in that he hath joined the Cherubins and the blade of the sword shaken together: to show unto Genes. 3. 24. us that if we mind to come to the Cherubins in his kingdom, we must pass by the blade of the sword shaken, in this life: Which though it shall be shaken against us, yet must▪ we remain unshaken still; being in the midst of all tempests and turmoils, as the Rock in the midst of the winds and floods neither moved nor movable: for it becometh yea it behoveth us to be fruitful not fearful still. This hath been the estate of Christ, of his Apostles, of his disciples, & of Millions of his Martyrs who have not with the slothfull-one suffered themselves to be turned out of the way: because (as he allegeth a Lion standeth in the way and he shall be slain in the street. Prou. 22 13. but have themselves become, as judas Maccabeus of whom it is said that. In his acts he was a Lyon. 1▪ Macca. 3. 4. fearing nothing, but going on still, like a Tree, yea the * Moller. 〈◊〉 Psalm. 1. Palm-tree meant in this place: Which the more it is pressed the better it prospereth, so they the more they seem to be hindered, the better are they fructified, not only constant for the present, but resolved for the time to come, will bring forth fruit The third branch of the fructifying of this Tree it is Propriety: Her fruit. This Tree than expecteth not to be bettered and benefited by the fruits of another, but for the good of herself and others, bringeth forth her own fruit. The Doctrine of the works of Supererogation, which the Church of Rome standeth upon, whereby an holy man may (as they say) not only do that which he ought to do, but more than is required at his hands; as the word itself implieth; the Surplusage whereof as a Church-treasury Supererogati● quasi supèr id quodreogatur: becometh an advantage to others which are more defective, may as by other many, so by this Text of Holy Scripture be convicted to be etr●neous; that the Godly man is as a Tree which will bring forth her fruit. This Doctrine of works of Supererogation standeth upon a double impossibility. Whereof the first is, that no man (Christ only excepted) can in good duties do more than sufficient for himself, when as (alaffe) no man was ever able to do that which is sufficient: Which if any man be able to do, he doth it either by that sufficiency, which is of Nature, or of Grace. First he cannot do it by that sufficiency, which is of Nature: because we are all by nature as the Canaanites. Ezech. 16. 3. that is given as that people, to sin and abomination: Polluted in our own blood. vers. 6. that is stained with Original, and prone to Actual corruption: cast out into open field to contempt. vers. 5. as of whom there is no further hope to be expected. For which cause Saint August. moveth this question: August de nature. & grat●a. cap. 52. Why is the possibility of nature so presumed on? When alas it is wounded, maimed, troubled, lost, and needeth rather a true confession, than a false defence. Secondly, he cannot do it by that sufficiency which is of Grace, because the measure of Grace which we receive in this life, is imperfect, and that even in the best. David maketh his supplication unto the Lord: Enter not into judgement with thy servant O Lord! for in thy sight shall none that liveth be justified. Where David asketh favour for Psal. 143. 2. himself, being in the state, not of Nature, but of Grace, because he saith, with thy servant, which David could not be, considered as a man merely natural. Upon which words writeth holy August. ne intres. etc. August. de Temp. ser. 49. Enter not with thy servant into judgement. What is that enter not? But stand not with me in judgement, requiring of me all things which thou hast willed, which thou hast commanded, for thou shalt find me guilty if thou enter into judgement with me. Esay also including himself in the number (who no doubt stood in the state of Grace) Esay, 64. 6. witnesseth that all our righteousness is as a filthy cloth. Paul in like manner, who could say, that by the grace of God he was what he was. 1. Cor. 15. 10. yet in the greatest measure of this grace found he, A law in his members, rebelling against the Law of his mind and leading him captive into the law of sin, which forceth him to cry out. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. If then David, Esay, and Paul, which have been as tall Cedars in the Church of God, have been defective in doing that which they ought to do: I hope it may be granted as an impossibility concerning others, being but base shrubs in comparison of them, that they do so far exceed them, as they have done and do more than they ought to do. The first impossibility both in Nature and Grace. The second Impossibility whereon this Doctrine of the work of Supere● ogation standeth, is, that if we should grant that any man could do more good works than are required, which is a t●ing that can never be Proved: yet could it never become available unto us: both because it wanteth Warrant and Means. First it wanteth Warrant, as that which the word of God (which must be the rule of our direction) doth no where, either by express word or by way of consequence affirm Nova omnia quae Christus non docuit, iure damnamus, quia S. Ambros. fidelibus vita Christus. saith Saint Ambrose. All new things which Christ hath not taught do we of right condemn, because Christ is life to the faithful. This doctrine of the benefit which may come by the works of Supererogation is a new thing which Chr●st in his holy word hath neither by express testimony, nor by way of consequence taught, and therefore by the judgement of reverend Ambrose, is not only to be rejected, bu●, which is more condemned: iure damnamus. etc. Secondly it can never be available unto us because it wanteth means. Indeed it is true concerning Christ that 〈◊〉 Righteousness is become our Righteousness. 1. Co●inthians. 1. ●0. In which sense we are said to put on the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Rom. 13. 14. that so being arrayed in the garments of our elder brother Christ we may obtain the blessing of God our Father: as jacob clothed in the raiment of his elder brother Esau got the blessing of Genes. 27. 15. Isaake his father. But all this is done by the means of faith, which in this matter serveth as an hand to apprehend, apply, and gird about us the saving robes of our blessed Redeemer: but that this hand should apprehend and fix the handfast upon any creature besides him, it were to make another name under heaven, whereby we look to be saved, then by the name of JESUS; contrary to that the Apostle confirmeth, Act. 4. 12. It were to put our confidence in jerem. 17. 5. man and to make flesh our arm, and to withdraw our heart from the LORD. jerem. 17. 5. and so to deserve to be punished with that curse which the Prophet jeremy in the same place denounceth against such, etc. There is no application of Righteousness without Faith, which Faith in a right of propriety belongeth unto CHRIST only. If then it shall be fastened upon any creature, it must of necessity be much deragatory from him; and so become as a whetstone to set an edge on his wrath; to punish it, to avenge it: For, shall not the Lord visit for these things: Shall not his soul be avenged on such an act jerem, 5. 29. as this. Since then, this doctrine of the works of Supererogation appeareth to be unpossible, both in regard of our insufficiency by Nature and Grace, and also that it wanteth Warrant and means. Let us not I beseech you build our hope upon such floating and sandy foundations: Let us not which a●e Christians, in looking after works of Supererogation from others, perform that which may be a derogation from Christ: Let us know that if we have any imputed Righteousness, it must be only Christ's. Concerning any other righteousness, if we will have it avayleable for us, it must by the grace of GOD, be wrought by ourselves not brought from others. As another man's meat cannot nourish me, but mine own, another man's garment cannot warm me, but mine own, another man's eye cannot guide me, but mine own, another man's strength cannot enable me, but mine own, another man's health cannot make me sound, but mime own, so to conclude another man's works shall not avail me, but mine own. Therefore must we all in general, and each one in particular be like a tree which will bring forth her fruit in due season. etc. not the fruit of another. The fourth branch of the fructifying of this Tree, is Opportunity in due season. A word spoken, (much more a deed done) in due season is like apples of gold with pictures of silver. proverbs. 25. 11. bring forth fruit in due season is, so to bring forth fruit (as it may seem best to be interpreted) as the foison thereof may do most good, and that not for ourselves alone but for others, even yielding our fruit as Trees do, whereunto we are compared, which fructify not for themselves which are rather burdened then bettered thereby, but rather for others who shall gather them. For this cause hath God made us his Stewards, that we should dispose of his blessings to the good of others; the Magistrate by governing, the Minister by teaching, and every particular man in his particular calling by doing that he doth not, as the Machiavelli and Politician of this world to his own private good: but if he be the Son of GOD, ought he to be like the Sun of the World, which having received that rich portion of light without which all things should remain in darkness, shineth not for itself which seethe nothing, but to and for others, and those not the good alone, but the bad also? So is it the duty of us to do good unto all. Especially to them Which are of the household of faith: From whence we may observe that more specially and with a more tender care we must do good unto them, which are of the household of faith: but in a more general acceptance unto all men, not unto our friends only, but to our enemies also. For if we love them which love us, what thank have we? Do not the publicans even the same? If then our enemy hunger we Math. 5. 46. must feed him, if he thirst we must give him drink, Rom. 12. 20. As they which must not be overcome, malo culpae, with the evil of the fault: but must overcome malum paenae, the evil of the fact with goodness. Rom. 12. 21. judas was Christ's enemy, and that in the highest pitch of enmity: A Wolf in sheeps clothing, an enemy under the mask of a friend, yet when he gave him that kiss wherewith he betrayed him, as noteth S. Hilary, Dominus non respuit, etc. The Lord refused it not; to teach us, saith that S. Hilar in Math. Cano. 32. Father. Inimicos omnes, eos● quos sciremus maxime in nos desaevituros diligire: To love even our enemies, and those whom we should know that they will most rage against us. The further we profit in this point, the nearer we come to God himself: for as to do evil for evil, is a bestial thing: to do good for good is a moral thing: to do evil for good is a devilish thing: so to do good for evil, is a divine thing; wherein certainly we do in good measure express the nature of GOD himself, who is so Maximus, the Greatest: as he is also Optimus, the best. By thus doing shall we either winnne our enemies to their head CHRIST: or heap coals of fire on their head; Rom. 12. 20. And for ourselves (in God's due season, for bringing forth our fruit in due season:) we shall be dignified with our Head Christ jesus, having crowns of glory on our own Heads, for all everlastingness. Having handled the sanctifying of this Tree, I am in the fourth place to deal with the flourishing of it [Whose leaf shall not fade. By Leaf in the Scripture is understood, as it may in this place also be taken, the Outward show and appearance of man. Thus the Tree which Nabuchadnezzar dreamt off, which was indeed himself, was said to have Leaves, that is outward state and countenance, in that they were said to be fair. Dani. 4. 18. And these outward leaves of external appearance consist, either in Speech, as S. Jerome jerom, in Psal. 1. taketh here Leaves to be interpreted: or 〈◊〉 in Gesture and Behaviour, that is outward Gravity, Modesty, Sobriety or the like. This Leaf, is twofold: of Hypocrites, of Saints: First the Leaf of Hypocrites, is that which always is to be found alone without fruits: whose Speech is feigned without sincerity: and whose Behaviour is counterfeit without integrity. In both of them are they as Tombs painted and gorgeous without, but full of rotten bones within: not unlike the Alchemists gold which appeareth in colour to be Gold, but when it is brought either to the touch of the stone, or to the stroke of the hammer, it is proved to be but Adulterine by the one, and is easily broken by the other. A disease there is, called, Noli me tangere, which becometh speedily contagious unto others, but cannot endure to be touched itself: so the Hypocrite in outward speech is ready to find fault with the Moat which is in the eye of another, but will not permit that the Beam which is in his own eye should once be meddled with. Math. 7. 4. like them who have the Dropsy, who for get the tumorous swelling of their own belly, to blame the smaller bounth of their neighbour's finger. The Workman maketh the face without the heart▪ God maketh both the face and the heart, the action of the Hypocrite may be compared with the act of the Workman, which consisteth only in the outward face, as leaves alone without fruit. The action of the Saints may be likened unto the work of God, which standeth not only in the composition of the face, which is as the leaf; but of the heart, which is as the fruit. The Saints than are like nathanael, whom Christ saw under the Figtree: a true Izraelite, in whom there was no guile: But the Hypocrites like the Figtree itself, which Ioh 1. 47. 48. Christ found, having nothing, but leaves, Matth. 21. 19 Izraelttes only without, Rom. 2. 28. within nothing b●t guile. A brood of Vipers, Matth. 3. 7, which though they outwardly seem to hiss with zeal, and to delight with the variety of their painted skin, yet within have they nothing but poison, nothing but venom. This leaf of the hypocrite standeth not in that happy estate, which the leaf of the righteous standeth in: for whereas the spirit of God testifieth in this Psalm, that the leaf of the righteous shall not fade: the leaf of the Hypocrite, cannot but fade. Whose leaf. shall become as the leaf of the Oak which shall fade away. Neither shall Esay. 1. 38. the leaf only fade, that is, the outward appearance shall perish: but even the Tree itself which beareth such leaves, shall whither from the roots. It may be they may Math. 21. 19 flourish for a time, but the continuance of such Hypocrites will prove like the growth of a Rush which is without mire, & therefore soon waxeth ●eare, as the Grass without Water which cannot hold out; and their trust, that is the thing wherein they have most affiance, is but like the house of a Spider, which is both subtle and brittle, soon brooken down; and though their leaf be green, and not yet cut down, yet s●all it whither before any job. 8. 11. 12. 13. other herb. The second leaf is the leaf of Saints, which is always accompanied with fruits, whose words are outwardly unfeigned with inward sincerity: and whose whole behaviour is outwardly incorrupt with inward truth, in both which may they be likened to salomon's Temple whose outward gate was beautiful, and inward courts were more beautiful. Act. 3. 2. In an Hypocrite the Leaves are great but the fruit none at all, but in a Saint the leaves are small and the fruit great. The Saints indeed are not altogether without their Leaves there outward show, ye● are they but little in comparison of there fruit their inward comfort; like the King's Daughter who no doubt was beauteous without in that her clothing was of broidered gold, but nothing answerable to that she was within, for she was first Glorious, second all glorious within. Psalm. 45. 13. These Leaves these outward and extreme appearances, because they are accompanied with fruit, therefore, (as Laban was blessed for jacobs' sake, and Pharaoh prospered for josephes' cause) shall these Leaves be so established for the fruits sake, as neither Fruit nor leaf shall fade. O then how fearful a thing is it to be Trees, bringing forth Leaves without fruit, with the Hypocrites! for then not only the Leaves, but the Trees also themselves, by the fearful yet most just judgement of God, as proud jesabel, and her painted face, shall both of them perish together. On the otherside how bliffull a thing will it be? to bring forth Leaves with fruit, as the Saints use to do for then not only the Fruit, but the Leaves also, by the favourable provision of Gods most merciful protection, shall both of them flourish together, even as he which dieth in the Lord & his works go both of them to heaven together. Oh let us then, seeing it is the pleasure of G O D S spirit to call us by the name of Trees, not become such Trees as have a show of Leaves only without the substance of fruit, therein as Hypocrites, lest that God meet with us in the extreme rigour of his sharpest judgement, not only to shake of our leaves, jeremy. 8. 13. but even to lay an Axe to the roots of such trees to cut them down, Matth. 3. 10. But let us rather strive with the best strain of our might, to prove ourselves such trees, which shall produce Leaves of show, coupled and accompanied with fruits of substance, therein as Saints: that so God may deal with us in that loving kindness, which may not only conserve our fruit, that it may become living like the fruit of the tree of life: but also, that our very Apocal, 22. 2. Leaf may not only be durable to continue, but medicinable also to do good, as the Leaves of that Tree there mentioned, according to the truth of this Text; whose leaf shall not fade. The second part in the similitude, it is the adjection, or part subsequent, [So whatsoever he doth shall prosper. Wherein there is contained: First, a further Declaration, or Dilatation of that Blessedness promised as a recompense of the virtuous labours of the godly man, vers. 1. in that it is said of him, that he shall prosper. Secondly, how he shall prosper, [So, etc. that is even as the tree planted by the rivers of waters, which will bring forth her fruit in due season, whose leaf shall not fade. Thirdly, wherein he shall prosper in his doings, [He shall do, etc. Fourthly, in what doings, not in some, but in all his doings; Whatsoever he shall do, etc. First then, touching the further Declaration or Dilatation of the recompense of the Blessed man, He shall prosper. He shall be in the house of God, as joseph in the house of Putiphar, so assisted by the Lord, as whatsoever he doth shall prosper in his hand. Though the World labour Genes. 39 3. to procure him adversity, yet shall the Lord bless him with prosperity. This was the estate of David, who though he were a man of war, not only because he made war against his enemies; but also because an army of troubles made war against him: as the Bear, the Lion, the malice of his Brethren, the persecution of Saul, the strength of Goliath, the railing of his Subjects, the insurrection of his own Son, together with many other calamities, yet was he not under the burden of all these crosses depressed and quenched; but rather as one that prospered and grew. And no marvel, for the reason thereof in the same place is added, because the L O R D 1. Chro. 11. 7. was with him. The second thing is, how he prospered, So, etc. that is: as the Tree planted, etc. Whose very leaf shall not fade, that is, the very outward deportment and carriage of his actions, sh●●l not perish, shall not miscarry. God's mercy is over all his works, who will pardon all our misdoings, if we be penitently faithful, and will reward also all our we●l-dooings, if we be rightly fruitful. What smaller thing can there be, than a cup of cold water? or a couple of mites, both which takes but a quadrin, that is, about half a farthing? yet the one goeth not away without his Matth. 10 42. reward, and the other by the estimate of Christ himself, a●e so highly prized, that being with a good affection bestowed, they are said to be more, than all which beside them, were ca●t into the treasury. Mark. 12. 42▪ 43. The third thing is, wherein he shall prosper in his doing [he shall do. The state of a godly man than it is, not a state of standing still idle, but of doing. If we will have Christ to be our guest, as he was to Martha and Mary, Luke. 10. 38. two sisters. These two (as Sisters) ought to be linked together in us. Meditation as Mary, which sat at Christ's feet to hear his ●reaching. Action as Martha, Luk, 10. 3●. though not in temporal matters, as she was yet in spiritual employments busied about many matters. Luk. 10. 41. We must profess the life spec●ulatiue and active, theorical and practical, joined both of them together. We must have, not saying only, but doing, if we would prosper. Hearing and Saying are but as the face: but Doing and Practising are the true life of religion. Hearing and Doing must go together, like unto those couples, Gen. 7. 2. male and female. Hearing aught to go before, as the male to beget, and doing aught to follow after as the female, to conceive, bring forth, and be fruitful. If we would be holy Children, we must, first, hear; Secondly, bring forth fruit: Thirdly, as the planted Rose. Fourthly, by the brooks, not of our enclosed and private Gardens, but of the open and public fields, where the profit may redound, to the benefit, not of some, but of Eccle. 39 13. many. To hear the Word gladly, is to commence no higher degree in the School of Christ then Herod did, Mar 6. 20. But if we will be proficients, graduates indeed: so as we may come home with true joy, which Herod was never acquainted with: we must bring our sheaves, that is, our Fruits with us. We must not only practise to Psal. 126. 7. hear, but here to practise. Hearing, without practising, what else will it do, but add more number to our stripes? That servant which knew his masters will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. What else will it do, but add more Luk. 12. 47. weight unto our condemnation? to this end our Saviour breaketh forth into this denunciation of judgement. Woe he unto the Corazin: Woe be unto the Bethsaida, for if the works which were done in you, had been done in tire and Sidon, they had repent long since in Sackcloth and Ashes: but I say unto you, it shall be easier for tire and Sidon in the day of judgement, then for you, Matth, 11. 20. 21. On the other side: Hearing to practise, bringeth with it a member of true Blessedness, the prosperity here spoken of. His doings shall prosper. The fourth and the last thing is, what doings of his shall prosper, not some, but all his doings: Whatsoever he doth shall prosper: whatsoever, etc. Which, that it may the better appear unto us, we must know, that the doings of a Godly man, are such as he under-taketh, faciendo, by action: or such as he undergoeth, patiendo, by passion or sufferance. The doings of the godly which he under-taketh in Action, they be either his Virtues or his Vice's. First, he may be said to prosper in his Virtues. These be they which will cause God to lift up the height of his countenance upon us; a thing prayed for by David. Psal. 4. 6. performed on Daniel: who while he was praying and confessing his sins, and the sins of his people, had the Angel Gabriel (a token of God's holy acceptation of his Dan. 9 20. action) sent unto him, who among other things, told him, that he was greatly beloved of G O D, Dan. 9 23. Virtue is a fruit, whose prosperity G O D so greatly tendereth, as if there had been but ten righteous persons in Sodom and Gomorrah, he would not have destroyed it Gen. 18. 32. for tens sake. G O D for the sakes of ten righteous persons, would have spared five whole Cities: the stench of whose sins were grown so loathsome and detestable, as they cried to heaven for vengeance. Gen. 18. 20. But what speak I of ten righteous men, the odour of whose virtues should have appeased G O D S wrath, and conserved Sodom? when one virtuous lot in regard of his righteousness, was such an impediment to this action, as the Angel willed him to make haste unto Zoar, which should be reserved in safety for him, because he could do nothing until he came thither. Genes. 19 22. He could do nothing, etc. As if God's judgement had been enthralled, where his mercy was engaged. Lot's righteousness had that interest in God's mercy, that it procured (as it were) a supersedeas for his justice, I can do nothing until, etc. Seeing then the Virtues of the righteous are wholly stated in the mercies of G O D, their doings (as in this place) must needs be prospered. Let holy job further exemplify this point unto us, who before it pleased God to try him (as for their good he dealeth with all his children) is said so in his just courses to be prospered, as that, an hedge was made about him, and about his house and about all that he had on every side, and that God had blessed the work of his hand, and his substance was increased in the land. job. 1. 10. His virtuous actions, as the virtuous actions of the righteous were prospered. Secondly (which haply may seem strange) he shall prosper in his Vices. This prosperity accrueth unto the righteous man from his Vices; not simply but respectively: not in regard of the being or existence of the Vice, but of the dependence or consequence thereupon: not in respect of the act, but of something derived from the act. For be it far from the heart of any man to think it: from thetongue of any Pastor, whose lips God hath touched with a coal from his Altar, to publish it: for the ear of any Christian to listen unto it, which certain men, whom the God of this world hath blinded. 2. Corin: 4, 4. namely the Libertines, Swenck●eldians, but most especially the Familists have broached and maintained, that when GOD is Hominified in man, and man Deified in GOD: whatsoever man doth, yet is it accepted with GOD, alleging for themselves Scriptures, to no better purpose than the Devil. vidz. All things shall be clean unto you. If all things say they shall be clean, than our sins Math. 4. Luk. 4. Luk. 11. 41 likewise. Again there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ jesus. If no condemnation, say they, then let them do whatsoever they will they shall be saved. An interpretation of Rom. 8. 1. Scripture, with like unto the viper's brood eateth out the bowels of the text: by taking the which may serve their turn: omitting that which may make against them: whereas they should have well scanned, that which our Saviour Christ speaketh, who is so far from admitting that darkness should become light, as these men would have it, in that they would make vice virtue, as he● 〈◊〉 urgeth this caveat: that we should Take heed, that o●r ●●ght doth ●o● become darkness. Likewise th● Apo●●l● S. Paul in the fore-alleged Luke, 11. 35. place, that, there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesu●, Annexeth that which must of necessity be imply●d to them which walk not after the flesh, but af●er the spirit. These men therefore if they walk after the Rom. 8. 1. fl●sh stand not in the state of salvation: but are to be sentenced with doom of condemnation. But where I affirm that, that the doings of the godly man shall prosper as well in his Vice as his Virtues, my meaning is not as I formerly distinguished simply in the existence and act of sin, but respectively in the dependence, or something derivative from the act thereof. The Godly man no sooner falleth into sin, but he forthwith riseth again. How many fall, so many rise: how many errors, so many returnings into the way: how many pollutions and defilements by the sin of Adam, so many bathe, and cleansings by the blood of Christ: that as his Offences do abound, so his Repentance may superabound. Led thy captivity captive thou son of Abinoam. jud. 5. 12. The Godly man hath been led captive by sin: but so, as afterward, he also leadeth this his captivity captive: though sin causeth them on whom it seizeth, both in the affections and actions to be Bestial, Beastlike; yet useth the Godly man repentance as the Priest used the sacrificing-knife to kill those beasts, in mortifying of his earthly members. Coloss. 3. 5. Though his sins be as tars in his conversation, yet his Repentance as tears in his eyes, sueth and sobbeth for remission. He indeauoureth for that perfection, which may occasion him truly to avouch with David, Psal. 6. 6. 7. that he doth not only shed tears, but in that abundance which 1, watereth his couch. 2. causeth his bed to swim. 3. not some, but every night. 4. so as his ●ie was dimmed: yea as it is in the Original, his eye was eaten (as it were) with worms. He riseth from the Grave of sin: as Christ arose from the grave of death, 1. betimes. 2, never to return thither again. He provideth all that he may not to sin at all: but because it cannot be avoided but he must sin, when he hath sinned he husbandeth his sin to the best advantage, and will not continue in it but as speedily as may be deliver himself from it, answering therein as writeth. Saint Augustine, to the August. praesat. in lib. retrecta. Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, fore-wit and after-wit: (by which name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or after-wit, repentance is also called) His offending of God causeth Godly sorrow, this Godly sorrow, leadeth unto repentance not to be repent of. 2 Corinth. 7. 10. The effect of that is in him to be found which is witnessed by Saint Chrisost. Peccatum dolorem peperit, dolour Chryso. hom. de penitent. peccatum contrivit. Sin hath brought forth sorrow, and sorrow hath crushed sin a sunder; even (saith he) as the worm which is bred in the wood perisheth the wood that breedeth it, so sorrow which is borne of sin proveth sins destruction. In which sense even the doings of the vices of the GODLY man may be said to be Prospered. Moreover we may observe a twofold fruit, which the GODLY man reapeth by repentance, and by consequence, by sin which causeth repentance, whereof the former is, that he is made more wise in his knowledge, the other more wary in his carriage: and through them both by occasion of his vices prospered. First, after his repentance for sins committed is he made more wise in his knowledge, for hereby is he taught that. In his own strength no man is strong, but it is the Lord which keepeth the feet of his Saints. 1. Sam. 2. 9 That God dealeth with his chosen as mother's deal with there children, who let them go of themselves till they wave and reel, and then lay they hold of them to keep them from falling: or as Christ dealt with Peter walking upon the sea whom he first suffered to size, and then stretched forth Math. 14 30. 31. his hand and saved him from sinking. Secondly, hereby is he made more wary in his carriage, that after the first he may not fall into the second shippwracke: that after the first he may not be tainted by the second venom: that after the first he may not receive the second wound of his spiritual enemy. Indeed the wicked leave sin as the Lecher the Stews, with a mind to return thither again: But the godly man as Amnon did Thamar, never to regard her again. The wicked deal with their wickedness as Chiurca (a certain joseph. Acosta. nature. moral. hist. East●●nd West Indies. beast in Brasilia among the West-Indians) with her young ones which she whelpeth a thousand times & as often receiveth them into her womb again. But the godly in his repentance dealeth with sin as Iael● with Siserah. who jud. 5. 26. not only pierced his Temples, but cut off his head, that he mought never revive again. He doth with S. Bernard, labour Bernard in cant. and strive, and so near as he can take a bond of himself that he will present himself unto God rather, indicatum judged by himself; then i●di●andum to be judged by God. In which acceptation the very actions of a godly man (in his vices) may be said respectively or effectively to be prospered. The second kind of actions of the godly man is such as he undergoeth, patiendo, by passion or suffering. Which though they be Passions in regard of the carriage of the burden of them; yet in respect of the godly man's carriage of himself under this burden may they be reduced to the head of Actions. Herein all crosses, losses, afflictings, persecutings, torturings, torment, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. fire, gallows, renting of wild beasts, ripping up of bowels, distraction and contrition of bones, bruising of members, binding ●gnatius ●pist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. of the whole body yea, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishment of the Devil himself. Which holy Ignatius speaketh off, shall become an advantage to the Godly man, and therefore under them, in regard of his carriage toward them shall he prosper. The whole body of bloody persecutions consist of Tortures; Whereof the one is of that nature, that it taketh not suddenly our life from us, but lingereth it in torments for a time. In this the action of the Godly man doth prosper, because there-under he betaketh himself to God by Grace, as children than ●unne most to the Parents when they are in most peril. The other kind of torture is of that condition that it speedily and forthwith dispatcheth us and maketh a separation of our soul from our body. In this also the action of the Godly man doth prosper, in that calling on God, and saying with Stephen Lord jesus receive my spirit, he shall be brought to God in glory, like Eliah who with a whirlwind and fiery chariot was mounted up into heaven. Oh then how blessed? how happy a thing is it to be A Godly Man? the lease of whose outward appearance, joined with his inward truth shall not perish, and whatsoever he doth it shall prosper. Whether it be his actions, either in virtues or in vices; also as they lead him to speedy repentance, and make him for the time to come more wise in knowledge and more wary in his carriage, or whether they be his passions and sufferings, as means to bring him near unto God in this life by Grace, and to cause him to dwell with God in the life to come in Glory, requickning or reviving him (as the Phoenix out of her own ashes) so out of the ashes of the fiery trial of bloody persecutions, not with the Phoenix to a life of five hundred years: but to an age of Millions: yea Millions of ages, everlastingly. No marvel though Ignatius despised, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The ends of the world and the Kingdom of this age in comparison of this most glorious a●●heiuement. Where the Apostle saith of Godliness, that, it is great gain. 1. Tim. 6. 6. He mought well have said, that it is the greatest gain, which bringeth with it such profits, such privileges, such praefermentes. The second general part of this Psalm is that which concerneth the wicked. vers. 4, & 5. Wherein we may please to be advised of two points: Frst the Introduction into the matter of it, in the beginning of the forth vers. The wicked are not so. Secondly the Declaration of the matter itself, first by way of Similitude, But as the chaff which the mind scattereth away. Second by way of Sentence from thence derived ver. 5, the particular branches whereof shall in there due place be opened and handled. First, must be assumed unto our handling the Introduetion into the matter. The wicked are not so. The speech is negative and excludeth the wicked from all that which the spirit of God in the foregoing part of this Psalm hath witnessed concerning the Godly, both touching the Evidence of their Virtues, and the Recompense for there Virtues. The Evidence of the Virtues of the Godly in the Negative part of it was, that they walk not in the counsel of the wicked, stand not in the way of sinners, sit not in the seat of the scornful, but it is Affirmative in the wicked which is Negative in the Godly, because, they walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of the scornful. The Evidence of the virtues of the Godly in the affirmative part thereof, was that there delight was in the Law of the Lord, and in his Law do they meditate day and night, but it is Negative in the wicked, which is Affirmative in the Godly; for there delight is in nothing less than in the Law of the Lord. Neither do or will they meditate therein, either night or day. From the Recompense for the virtues of the GODLY, the wicked are also excluded by this Negative testimony. Blessedness is the reward of the GODLY, but, cursedness is the wages of the wicked: cursed be the man which obeyeth not the words of God's Covenant. jerem. 11. 3. The Godly man is said to be A tree planted of GOD himself, by the rivers of waters, which will bring fo●th her fruit in due season, whose very leaf shall not fade: But the ungodly man is as a wild tree planted not by God, but growing of himself: not by the Rivers of waters, but in the waste and barren Wilderness, not that will bring forth her fruit, in due season, but which will bring forth no fruit at all in any season, and his leaf, of outward show, of pomp and vanity, otherwise then the leaf of the godly shall fade. To conclude: as it is said of the godly, Whatsoever he shall do it shall prosper. So is it to be an indubitable and undeniable speech touching the wicked: [The wieked are not so. But whatsoever he doth shall not be prospered. For the better understanding hereof: Let us (I beseech you) draw the Actions of the ungodly to those heads; unto the which we have formerly drawn the Do of the godly: and we shall undoubtedly find, that as the actions of the godly, shall, are, and have been prospered, So the doings of the ungodly neither have been, are, or shall be prospered. These doings or actions consist (as before we have heard) either in that which they under-take, faciendo, by doing, or else in that which they under-go, patiendo, by suffering. Those actions which the wicked under-take faciendo, by doing, let them be observed, in their Virtues (so abusively called) and in their Vices. First, for their Virtues. They are as August▪ speaketh of the words of Infidels, but, spendida peccata, glistering August. sins. The beauty whereof can no more dispense with them to be no sins; then the sweet which it may leave on the palate can warrant poison to be no poison. The virtues of the wicked they be no virtues but the Image of them, as the Image of David was showed by Michol to delude Saul her father's messengers, for David himself. 1. Sam. 19 16. These their virtues are done by the wicked first, for show, as Hypocrites, like a dunghill covered with snow, white without, but full of stench and pollution within. Hypocrites though they be, as fire without, hot and bright: yet be they as water within, first cold as water, secondly (as we use to say in a proverb) Weak as water, They have (it may be) the colour, and appearance of salt, but not the smack and relish of it. What taste is there 〈◊〉 the white of an Egg? job. 6. 6. so may we say what taste is there in the salt of an Hypocrite? The spirit of GOD witnesseth of an Harlot, that Prou. 5. 3. 4. her lips drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is more soft than oil, but the end of her is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a twoedged sword. That which there is said of the Harlot, may also be verified of the Hypocrite: that the sweetness of honey, and smoothness of oil, is in his outward countenance, and appearance; but within lurketh even the bitterness of wormwood, and the dissembling of a double heart, like the wounding of a twoedged sword. How can then even the virtuous actions (if it be lawful so to call them) of such as mas●ke under the vizard of Hypocrisy be prospered by GOD? who will be worshipped not in show, and doubling, but in spirit and truth, john. 4. 24. Yea how shall he not rather not only defeat and disprosper them? but also even utterly avenge and confound them? to give these Hypocrites their portion With Hypocrites where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, Math. 24. 51. Weeping which cometh of heat; and gnashing of teeth, which cometh of cold, to them which are Lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, as it is said of the Church of Laodicia. S. Basil likeneth the hypocrite unto the Idol Bell, extern quidem habenti aes, lutum vero sub aere, falgente absconditum: Basil H●mil. in a●quo. Script. locos. Having br●sse without, but clay hidden under that shining brass within: Of this also may we be sure, that the lot of the Hypocrites shall become, by the just judgement of God like unto the lot of Bell, who being delivered Dargon. Hist. Bell & into the hand of Daniel (which signifieth the judgement of God) was by him destroyed. Therefore in regard of these virtuous actions of the wicked, varnished over with the gloss of Hypocrisy, cannot they be said to be prospered, but rather as the Scripture importeth, to be confounded and overwhelmed The wicked are not so. Secondly, these their virtues are done by the wicked, for praise of men, Like vaine-glorious-ones, who may, deservedly be censured to have hunted after the wind, and when they have caught, and as they think possessed it, yet do they but inherit the wind. Prou. 11. 29. Vainglory is a limb of pride, and God, which resisteth the proud. 1. Pet. 5. 5. resisteth also these vainglorious actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The gifts of enemies are no gifts: so the virtues of the wicked are no virtues: virtues in name, but not in nature, pretending great matters in title, but not in truth, like Absalon whose name signifieth the Father of peace, yet disturbed he his father's peace, and himself became the son of rebellion. Absalon to get himself a popular applause among men, and a name on earth, reared up unto himself A pillar in the Kinges-dale to keep his name in remembrance because he had no son, which he called after his own name 2. Sam. 18. 18. So the wicked exercise their virtues, even as the old World builded their Babel, to get them a name and a renown amongst men. But as Absalon was not prospered in his intendment, for as much as what he purposed one way, God disposed another: his end being to be hanged by the hair on an Oak; to be pierced through with darts: to be cast into a pit in a Wood, and to have a mighty great heap of stones laid upon him. 2. Sam. 18. 17. So these vainglorious virtuous actions of the wicked shall be dispersed not prospered, as the true virtuous actions of the godly shall be prospered, not dispersed, [The wicked are not so. Thirdly, these their virtuous actions are done by the wicked for their own good, consisting either in Profit, or in Praeferment, like Politicians. For their own good, consisting in profit, like usurers forbearing the present principal, for future advantage. Thus the devil himself may be said to be a Well-doer, who will as, experience teacheth, benefit and help the bodies, to the end he may gain and swallow up the souls of men. The wicked do also virtuous actions, for their own good, consisting in Praeferment, to get men's hearts, to the end that men's hearts thus gotten may give them high place and advancement. This was the devils case, who when he he had Christ up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the Kingdoms of the world, and would have given them him also; but not of simple charity and true bounty; but upon condition, that he mought gain the greatest honour that ever yet was yielded to any creature, namely that CHRIST the Son of God, yea a GOD himself (at whose name every knee should bow: of things in heaven: the good Angels of things in earth: Men, and of things under the Earth Devils: Phil. 2. 10.) Should bow the knee: yea which is more Luke, 4. 5. Should fall down and worship him. This likewise is the case of all the wicked, which are of their Father the Devil, Who will help up somewhat (inwordly policy) the state of them which are down; to the end they may help their own estate up. But these virtuous doings of these ungodly doers cannot be prospered: because Christ will overthrow such Money-changers themselves, which change small, that they may gain great sums of money; as sometime he overthrew the ●ables of the Money-changers in the Temple. john. 2. ●5. and make a scourge for the backs of such Merchandizers of Profit. And for them which by this means affect preferment. There exaltation shall prove like an Exhalation, mounting aloft, and forthwith turned into lightning, which shall be cast down; the estate of Satan himself, and the lot of his followers, who was seen to fall as lightning from Heaven, Luk. 10. 18. Therefore though the Luk, 10. 18. virtuous actions of the godly shall prosper, yet may it be said of the ungodly, The wicked are not so. Secondly, the doings of the wicked, are those which he under-taketh, faciendo, by action, respecting his Vices. Seeing his virtues have been found to have no better success, his vices can much less be expected to be prospered. The vices of the godly, not simply but respectively, were said to prosper, because they lead him to a speedy, wise, and wary repentance. But with the ungodly it is far otherwise: he knoweth not what repentance meaneth. He may say of repentance (the work of the holy-ghost) as those Disciples of Ephesus said of the holy-ghost himself: that they had not so much as heard whither there were an holy-ghost or no. They know well Act. 19 2. what belongeth to the returning unto sin but are wholly ignorant of that which concerneth the turning away from sin. Therefore these actions of the wicked, Oh how can they prosper! Yea alas, how can they be but defaced, disprospered! In them is rather to be found bitterness, than sweetness; disprofit then profit, as may appear unto us by a summary view of these particulars: Arguments that they cannot prosper. The first is, that the Vice of the wicked by the continual practice of it, hardeneth the heart of him that practiseth it. Hence it is, that they which would be called, (though they deserve it not) the Children of Abraham, become as stones hardened, as Matth. 3. 9 we read of stones, whom God is able to raise up, that they may be the Children of Abraham. This maketh the fleshy tables of their Exod. 34. ●. hearts, to be as the tables of stone, in which were graven not the sweet comforts of the Gospel, but the affrightful terrors of the Law. It maketh the ground of their heart to become as stony ground, which causeth the seed of the word Matth. 13. 5. 6. sown thereon to parch and whither. A stony heart, which being thoroughly hardened by the custom of sin, proveth more impenetrable than the stony rock in the wilderness; because the Rod of Moses smiting this rock, so mollified the stiffness thereof, as it became as a living Fountain, to yield water to the thirsty Israelites: but, not the Rod of Moses, but the Sceptre of God himself, Exod. 17. 6. smiting not once, but often, not on the stony Rock of Horeb, but on the rocky stone of our hearts, is so far from mollifying it, as it rather proveth like the Adamant, of which some say, that the more it is beaten upon, it is still more and more hardened. The second point, whereby the bitterness and disprofit of the wicked (which cometh by the actions of their vices) may appear unto us, is the guilt and galling of Conscience, which continually recordeth and suggesteth unto them their sin committed, God's law violated, his Majesty offended, punishment deserved, etc. And are in the soul, as Antiochus worms were in his bowels, continually gnawing. The Whip with which CHRIST drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, was but for a john. 2. 15. time: but the scourge of a bad conscience is uncessant, perpetual, yet hidden and secret. Occultum quatienti animo tortore flagellum. Juvenal. The Tormenter shaking an hidden whip in the soul of the tormented. This is a damp that putteth out all the light, and a pang which taketh away all the delight of the wicked: so that their vicious actions cannot prosper. The third point, whereby the bitterness and disprofit of the wicked (which cometh by their actions of vices) may appear unto us, is the Angering of GOD thereby. Sins be the cause of God's anger, because they be the only Vanities which provoke him to anger. An anger which (because sin is both the fuel & the bellows of it) shall burn even to the hottome of hell, and s●all consume the earth with her increase, and will set on fire the foundation of the mountains. Deut. 3 2. 21. It is much to consume the earth, and the increase of it: more to set on fire the foundations of the mountains: most of all, to burn to the bottom of hell. As there is a depth of God's Wisdom, so is there of his Wrath, which descendeth from the surface of the earth to the foundations of the Mountains, and from the foundations of the Mountains, to the bottom of hell: a Wrath, which in the 42. verse of that Chapter is called by the name of Arrows and a sword: of Arrows which kill, eminus, a far off, and of a sword which woundeth cominus, near hand. These Arrows are not ordinary Arrows, but Arrows which are made drunk with blood. This Sword, not a sword Ibid. of common use, but a Sword which shall eat flesh. Seeing then the vicious actions of the wicked, do provoke such and so great a Lord, to such and so great an anger, though it be said of the Godly, that whatsoever they shall do, shall prosper: yet▪ The wicked are not so. T●e fourth point, whereby the bitterness and disprofit of the wicked, which cometh by their vicious actions, may appear unto us, is, that they are no true possessors, but usurpers of the outward blessings of this life: for they of right and due claim, belong only to the godly, as the blessed Apostle witnesseth, speaking of, and to the Saints: All things are yours: which general title he after openeth by the particular members of it, not only Paul, or Apoll●s, or Cephas, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, but even also the world itself. The wicked then 1. C●rin 3 21 22. 2. C●rin. 4. 4. may be said to be Lords of the World, as the Devil to be God of the world, by forged Evidence, Intrusion, usurpation. Therefore as in a possession evilly gotten, unjustly holden, with the Godly they cannot be prospered. The wicked are not so. The fifth point, whereby the bitterness and the disprofit of the wicked, which cometh by their vicious actions, may appear unto us, is that they shut them out of God's kingdom; for whereas there is a blessedness for them which do Gods Commandments, by entering in through the gates into the City: the wicked, which are as Apoc. 22. 14. 15. Dogs and Enchanters, and whoremongers, and murderers and Idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh lies, shall stand without. Apocal. 22. 15. Therefore [the wicked are not so. The sixth point, whereby the bitterness and disprofit of the wicked, which cometh by their actions of vices, may appear unto us, is that they Press them down (without repentance) to hell. A notable testimony, concerning which point is set down, Esay. 5. 14. In the former part of which chapter, the Prophet having set down, not only the barrenness of the wicked to good, but their proneness, yea greediness to evil, as their oppression, which caused a cry among the people, vers. 7. covetousness in joining house to house, and field to field, till there be no more place but that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth vers. 8. drunkenness, which men rose up early to follow, and continued at it till night, until the Wine did inflame them, vers. 11. In vers. 13. denounceth he a temporal punishment against them consisting of Captivity, Shame, and Famine. But vers. 14, cometh he to the most heavy and insupportable spiritual judgement itself: that therefore: that is, for the cause of these vicious actions, Hell hath, first, enlarged herself within: Secondly, lest the passage should seem to be too straight or intercluded, hath opened her mouth without. Thirdly, both within and without, in entrails and entrance, spacious▪ without measure. Fourthly, not only that the multitude of the wicked, but even, their glory and pomp, and he that rejoiceth therein, not may, but shall descend into it. Therefore as the godly, can they not prosper. The wicked, etc. The second sort of actions of the Wicked, be those which they undergo, (with the Godly, not as the Godly) patiendo, by suffering. Wherein we may find the carriage of themselves, under the carriage of their burden, to be diverse, yea adverse from that of the Godly. For be it that their necks once be yoked, or their backs burdened with losses, crosses, afflictions, persecutions, torturings, torment, fire, gibbet, renting of members, racking of bones, etc. forementioned in the Godly. What doth it I beseech you, beget and produce in them? but among other disapproveable, yea reprooveable effects, as they which are utterly destitute of the fellowship of that spirit which is called the comforter, these two furies rather than fruits, Impatiency or Desperation. First, it begetteth and produceth in the wicked Impatiency. It fareth with them, under this manifold burden of the Cross, as it did with Issachar, who is said to be an Ass, strong indeed (as the Text there speaketh) as those men also seem to be in the outward view of the world, yet, couching betwixt two burdens, Gen. 49. 14. so under many burdens, not able to sustain them. From the bitter fountain of this Impatiency floweth a twofold unwholesome and untoothsome stream: The one of Pining away of the wicked themselves: the other of Repining against God their maker. The Pining away of themselves cannot be avoided, forasmuch as their darkness is without light, their sour without sweet: their sorrow without solace, their crosses without comfort. For any ease they can find, within, without, above, beneath, before, behind, on either hand. or round about them, may be said to be (alas) a miserable comfort, as job said of his friends, that they were miserable comforters. Their trouble is like fire in a Furnace, which job. 16. 2. finding no vent, waxeth furious in itself, increasing the measure of the own heat, beyond all measure, so these finding from no means, or place, the desired issue of any consolation, rage against and within themselves, like Saul, who no doubt, when in his moody Melancholy, the evil spirit was upon him, was, ipse suum cor edens, as one 1. Sam. 16. 1● that did eat his own heart, or as them, Esay 9 20. who eat the flesh of their own arm. Pining in themselves. The other stream of this Fountain is Repining against God their maker: not only in thoughts, but in words: an Instance, we have in those Israelites, who having foregone the fleshpottes of Egypt, to the which they were accustomed, Exod. 16, 3. and being pinched in the wilderness, Exod. 16. 3. forthwith repined and murmured against Moses and Aaron, vers. 2. and by consequence, against the Lord himself, verse 7. julian the Apostata, may be an other Instance hereof, who being mortally wounded in battle submitted not his heart to his redeemer, but turned his face against heaven, defiling the air from his mouth with blasphemies, from his hands with blood, uttering these opprobrious terms of grudging and fearful repining, Vicisti tandem Gal●l●e, calling Christ in contempt a Galilean, and telling him in scorn, thou hast overcome. A most terrible, and memorable example of this matter is also recorded in the French French Hist. in Hen. 4. History even in the beginning of the King now reigning, Henry the fourth, of a certain Duke called Duke joyeuse who in his rebellion, against the King his Master being overthrown in the field, was heard repining against G O D in his distress, and vomiting forth these words of blasphemy, I run this day an high fortune, farewell my great Cannons: Ha I renounce God. The second Fury rather than Fruit, which by suffering and crosses, etc. is begotten and produced in the wicked, is Desperation, as in Saul, judas, Achitophel, with diverse others alleged in Histories, both Ecclesiastical and Political, may appear unto us, who bearing the cross on their backs, have impatiently run a desperate race, the goal whereof have been the wrack of their own lives, wrought by the work of their own hands. Persecution, and tribulation, falling on diverse subjects, produceth diverse effects. As excellently writeth Augustine, Sicut sub eodem igne aurum rutilat, et palea fumat. etc. Saint Augustine in Psal. As under the same Fire, gold brighteneth, and dross smoketh: under the same ●●aile the Chaff is bruised, and the corn purged, and with one motion the spice is ●rayed, and the sent raised, Ita una tr●bulatio irruens, etc. so one tribulation falling on us, doth purge those which are good, but doth reprobate, exterminate, annihilate the bad. The reason of all which is, that as the Godly is prospered in all things he doth or suffereth; so, The wicked are not so. The second point is the Declaration of the matter itself: both by way of Similitude and of Sentence. First, by way of Similitude, in these words, [But as the Chaff which the wind driveth away. Wherein there be two limbs: First the matter whereunto the wicked are likened, unto Chaff; Secondly the condition of the Chaff which the wind driveth away. First, the matter whereunto the wicked be ●●kened is Chaff. The wicked and ungodly may be compared un-chaffe, both as Chaff is Naturally & Accidentally to be considered. First, as Chaff is naturally considerable, are the wicked and ungodly as Chaff, whose nature is both light and unprofitable. First Chaff is light, containing in it not and weighty matter, but a slight, and frothy substance, so the wicked and ungodly, they are not in there purposes, and weighty in there carriage, and courses, but slightly, easily wrested, frothy, easily tossed, and blown away. This, that it may the better be manifested unto us, let us not wrap up this matter in general terms, but unfold the particulars thereof wherein we may clearly see that the wicked be as Chaff, because they be light as the Chaff is light. First, it may appear vn●o us that the wicked be as Chaff Light, because they be Light of bele●fe; to give too light an ear, and to speedy a credit to those windy, uncertain and slanderoous reports, which be brought un-them against there neighbours, which may either impeach there credit, or give an occasion of jar betwixt them. The ear of such, is not the ear of the wise, which seeketh Prover. 8, 15. learning and understanding, because it proveth and discerneth not words, as the ear of the wise doth, job. 34. 3. where it is said that the ear trieth words even as the mouth tasteth meat. How (I beseech you) doth the mouth taste meat? but so, as if it findeth it to be untoothsome and unwholesome it forbeareth it and casteth it forth again, but if it findeth it to be love-some and nourishable, it conveyeth it further into that place which nature hath ordained to be as the source and fountain of nutrition and strength to the whole body in general, and every singular member thereof particular. But on the other side the care of the wicked become as the Sponge which sucketh up all, both good and bad, or rather as the Sieve which letteth go the good and keepeth the bad. As therefore we read of a fools mouth. Proveb 18. 7. so may this be said to be a fools ear. A fools mouth speaketh any thing: so a fools ear heareth any thing but a fools mouth speaketh ever, or for the most part, that which is bad: so a fools ear heareth seldom or never that which is good: as Flattering is to the ears of the great: so are the words of a tale bearer to the ears of the great: so are the words of a tale bearer to the ears of the wicked they go down into the bowels of the belly. Pro. 18. 8. They go down by light credence, deep, even unto the bowels of the belly, by malicious Remembrance, because the wicked are as the Chaff light of ear, as that is light of substance. Secondly it may appear unto us, that the wicked are as Chaff light, because they be light of there Word. They have not there mouth in there heart like the Wiseman that they may be constant: but they have there heart in there mouth like the Fool that they may be uncertain, wavering, mutable. Eccle. 21. 26. The certainty of the word of the wicked is like the groweth of a Mushroom, which cometh up in one night and is gone in another. It is said of words that they be as wind: so may it be said of the words of the ungodly that they be more light than the wind, and also more flitting: Do they promise any thing? there promises are but as Esdras visions which proved but as vanishing apparitions: for he which is Wiced is also Unwise and a lie is oft in the mouth of such a one. Do they Vow any thing? which is more than an ordinary Ecc. 20. 23. promise because it carrieth a Protestation with it, yet keep they there vows no better than they did which Act. 23. 12. vowed Paul's death, which they never performed: the difference is, that the vowers of Paul's death performed it not, because they could not: but these perform not there vows because they will not. Do they swear and bind the matter with an oath? yet be there oaths like Bells or Bubbles in the water which swell and break in a ●erom. moment. As the Godly sweareth in judgement, verity and righteousness, as is prescribed. jere. 4. 2. whereupon Saint Jerome writeth in judgement, in respect of themselves, lest they should do it rashly, in Verity and in regard of justice of the cause they swear for; in veritate, ne falsa sit; in verity lest it should be false; in justicia ne illicita, in justice lest it should be unlawful, as also it is alleged by Thomas Aquinas: so the wicked and ungodly do neither Tho. Aquin. Sum par. 2. 2. q 〈…〉 t. 89. A●ti. 3. swear of judgement in respect of themselves, but rashly, inconsideracely: neither in Truth and justice, touching the cause: not in Truth, because, be it true or false it is all one to them: not in justice; because whether it be lawful or unlawful, they regard not: As therefore they swear lightly, so likewise forswear they as lightly, in Promise, Vow, oath, and by consequence in their word, light as the chaff is light. Thirdly, it may appear unto us that the wicked a●e as Chaff, Light, because they be light in their minds, entertaining and excluding, admitting and rejecting, receiving & repelling hundreds, yea thousands, not of variable and changeable, but of varied & changed interpretations determinations, courses, purposes, whose counsels and intentions hang no better together than if a man should wreathe (as the proverb saith) a rope of sand; velut ●gri somnia vana: as the vain dreams of a sick man. That which one while pleaseth them, forthwith discontents them: that which one while affects them with mirth, forthwith surpriseth them with sorrow: that which one while lifts them up with pride, forthwith casts them down in baseness: They now sing, now sigh: now leap, now languish: now laugh, now weep, Caereus in vitium flect●, may Ho●ace. be the ungodly man's Motto, because like Wax he may be wrought and brought into all shapes and forms, by a very sudden mutation; but in all things tending unto Vice, like a certain creature called Nabis which cosisting of many shapes make but one monster. Neither doth this Pli●●y. lightness in their minds concern their Moral intents only, but also their religious courses. For were there as great variety of religions in the world as there is of faces and countenances (whereof never were two found that in all respects were like each other) yet could they be content to be of them all, so as from them all, they might reap any advancement or advantage at all. But while they take all religions, in all they, have none; even as the water, which receiveth the semblance of all colours, indeed hath none. He that is without religion is at the sayrest, but immortal pecus: an immortal beast: Immortal, in respect of his soul which cannot die: a Beast because he laboureth rather to stain that soul by Sin, then to save that soul by Grace. The Religion of such standeth (if it standeth at all) only in outward appearance, not like unto the Sacrifice which God approveth, Levit. 1. 9 whose inwards must be washed. The Confession of Peter was his Religion, Math. 16. 16. which our Saviour, Vers. 18. calleth by the name of a Rock: If religion be as A Rock, it ought not to be (I will not say) easily, but at all removed or altered, but stand firmly and unchangeably grounded and rooted. Gregor. Nazian. witnesseth concerning Constantius Grego. Nazian. orat. funeb. in Laud. Athanas●i. the Emperor when he was ready to die, that he complained that there were three evils which chief happened to his Empire, while he reigned: the one was the slaughter of Gallus his son in law; the second was the setting at liberty of ●ulian the Apostata, the third, the innovation of religion. But that which Constantius deemed and doomed to be a main evil to his whole Empire, viz: the change of religion, the wicked supposeth to be no indamagement to his particular self; for he is in his Mind, and by consequence in his religion, light as the chaff is light. Fourthly, it may appear unto us that the wicked are as Chaff, Light, because they be Light of their Bodies; by committing of manifold adulteries and fornications; A sin which is committed by them with greediness of sinning: by which they do not only offend, but defend it, when they have once offended by it: calling it by the name but of a Trick of Youth. But tell me, you, against whom there is A woe denounced even by the mouth of the Prophet, because you call sour sweet, light darkness, evil good, tell me (I say) is that but a trick of youth▪ For which even▪ David the servant and beloved of the Lord was threatened, that the sword should never departed from his house. 2. Sam. 12. 10. Is that but a trick of youth for which Hemor and She●chem the father and the son, and many other both men and women, and children were murdered by Simeon and Levy old jacobs' sons? ●enes. 34. 25. That, for which the Lord flew Hophni and Phinees the two sons of Ely the Priest in the battle with the Philistines, is that 〈◊〉 Sam. 4. 11. but a trick of youth? Doth a man by being light of his body, beside the damnifying of his soul, first Sin against his own body? 1. Cor●●th. 6. 18. Secondly, against his goods? For, it rooteth out all his increase. job. 31. 12. Thirdly, against his name? because he shall find a wound, and dishonour, and his reproach shall never be put away. Prou. 6. 33. Fourthly, against his wife? if he be yoked in the holy estate of matrimony, because, he giveth his body which is not his own but hers, from her to another. 1. Cor●n. 7. 4. Fiftly, against his children? The sword s●all never departed from his house, as in such a case it be fell David, 2. Sam. 12. 10. because he had done so and so to the wife of Vriah the H●ttite. And shall this sin then that scandalizeth and damnifyeth in so high a degree our bodies, goods, names, wives, children be accounted but as a trick of youth? Oh, it is an assertion not to be holden in the Courts of the Lords sanctuary, but to be thought to be set abroach and a fluate only in the Synagogue of Satan: not among such as make the Lord to be their rock and fortress with David. Psal. 18. 2. But among such as make the Devil to be their Anchorhold, as writeth S. Basill. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Adultery or uncleanness wherewith Bas●●. men become as Chaff light of their body is the devils hook which haileth men to destruction. Fiftly, and lastly, it may appear unto us that the wicked are as Chaff light, because they be light even in their virtues and good things, counterbalanced against their vices and evils. For let their virtues be placed in the one, and their vices in the other scale of the balance: and their vices shall be found many and weighty, when their virtues shall declare themselves to be but frothy and light. So that it may be said of their virtues as it is reported concerning Belshazar: Tekell, thou art weighed in the balance and art found too light. Dan. 5. 27. Seeing then that the wicked are Light of belief, Light of their word both in promise, vows, and oaths, Li●ht in their minds and that in their most religious purposes: Light of their bodies by incontinent motions and passions; Light in their virtues and best parts, counterpeized with their vices and evils, which are in them: well may they be termed, as here by the Holy ghost they are censured to be As Chaff, light as the Chaff is light. Secondly, the nature of Chaff is to be unprofitable, good for no use: but as unsavoury salt is to be cast forth, So unprofitable Chaff is to be burnt up. Math. 3. 12. The portion of Chaff unprofitable is to be burnt up with fire unquenchable. The wicked may be found to be as Chaff unprofitable: 1. in regard of matters Temporal, wherein though they happily have ability, yet have they no will to do good with them. 2. ●n regard of matters Spiritual, wherein though happily they may have will, yet have they no ability to benefit others by them. First, they are as Chaff unprofitable, in regard of matter Temporal; in which for the most part, they have ability enough, if not too much: yet want they will, to regard the afflictions of joseph. First, because either their Will is wholly bend upon coue●eousnesse, pinchingly to gather all, to no other use, then to look it up in their co●●ers with one lock, it may be from others, but with a hundred, yea a thousand locks from themselves, because every covetous thought, which infinitely spring and ri●e in their hearts, is as a spring and ward, to lo●ke both it from them, and them from it. Such have less Interest in their own wealth than others have in it. For as much as others neither possess it, nor are possessed by it, therein remaining at liberty: but, themselves do so not possess it, as they are possessed of it therein enthralled by slavery. These are among their golden treasures, as the Griffons among the Indians are reported to keep their mines of go●d, so as neither they enjoy the benefit of them themselves, neither yet suffer other to approach near them. O then, is it not a Sickness, yea as it is called an evil sickness, when men have, first riches: Second those Reaches which are not only for the present, but in that they are said to be Reserved, treasured up for the time to come: yet to no other end then to the evil of their owners. Eccles. 5. 12. To the evil of their owners, indeed, first, because they become slaves unto them: second, because they are ●●rmented with the cark of evil keeping of them: third, because they are but Stewards and must give account for them; if they shall be found in the day of their account to have been unprofitable, as Chaff is unprofitable, then must they assuredly expect no other sentence then that which was denounced against the Unprofitable servant. Cast therefore that unprofitable servant into utter darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, Math 25. 30. Secondly, the wicked have Ability and yet no will to do good in matters Temporal, because their will is wholly bend upon prodigality, profusely to spend all in abuse, which also maketh a man become as Chaff unprofitable in matters Temporal. For while man hath so many unsatiable Le●ches sucking upon him, as the Leech of Gluttony, Luxary, Apparrel●ings, Buildings, Riotings, Gamings: He becometh as a S●arce, which having many ventes, and holes, how much water socuer is powered into it, forthwith remaineth empty and dry. The fire consumeth and (as we say in a Proverb) hath no mercy; so the Prodigal one consumeth all on himself, and hath no mercy on others: by reason of his prodigality, As the chaff unprofitable. Secondly, the wicked may be found to be as Chaff unprofitable in respect of matter Spiritual, because though they therein it may be have a Will (which is also rare to be found) yet want they ability to benefit others by them. How can a man give that which he hath not, or speak that which he knoweth not? First, they have not a spiritual blessing to give, as they which are only carnal, as yet altogether borne of the flesh, and therefore nothing but flesh, john. 3. 6. As Peter could give a Spiritual gift, saying to the Cripple at the beautiful gate of the Temple, Such as I have give I unto thee, in the name of jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, but could give no Temporal alms: Silver and gold have I none: so the contrary is to be found with the wicked, for when Act, 3 6. they have ability, yet want they will in temporal jousts, concerning the bestowing of silver and gold: but be it that they have a will, yet want they ability in giving of a spiritual blessing, because therein themselves are as cripples to be healed, not in case to heal cripples. Moreover they know not a spiritual blessing to utter it, a man's knowledge is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his wisdom, and the natural minded man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 savoureth not, non sapit, r●hsheth not, hath not sapientiam, that is as writeth Augustin, sapidam scientiam, S. Aug●●●. 1 Cor. 2. 14. of those things which are of God's spirit. 1 Corinth: 2. 14. How 〈◊〉 they ●p●● C●rists c●u●sell, which know not Ch●●●●s voy●●? a ●uality not in●ident to these Coats, but a proper●y belonging to Christ's s●e●pe only. O these john. 10. 4. wicked ones are for the most part most eloquent in worldly discourse, but Infants which are so called, a non s●●●●, of not speaking in heavenly precepts, Children are they, but not in maliciousness, for in that they are men grown: 1. C●●. 14. 20. but in knowledge contrary to that counsel of the Apostle. Be you not children in understanding, but concerning maliciousness be you children: and therefore in spiritual matters are they unprofitable as the Chaff is unprofitable. Hitherto hath it appeared what Chaff is, and that the wicked are like the Chaff, naturally considered: Now are we (in a word) to advise what this Chaff is, and how the wicked resemble this Chaff, accidentally observed. In Chaff accidentally observed, there be two estates or conditions, whereof the former is, as it is preserved for a time, while it is in the field with the good corn, lest both of them should perish together. A care which God had, who would not suffer the tars to be plucked up by his servants, lest they should pluck up the good wheat with them: so Matth. 13. 29. the bad are (it may be) while they are with the good, spared for the good sake; as the tars while they were intermeddled with the wheat, were spared for the wheats sake. The other estate or condition of Chaff, accidentally observed, is the sifting & separating the same from the good corn or wheat, which shall be at the harvest of God's judgement spoken of, Matt. 13. 30. when it shall (as appeareth by the second limb following) be driven away with the wind. The second limb of this similitude, is the condition of this Chaff. [Which the wind driveth away. Wherein, may it please us to be given to understand of two members. The former member is what is meant by this wind. The other member is what is done by this wind. Namely, the driving away of the wick●● as Chaff. Concerning what is meant by this wind, no doubt but ●t signifies and setteth forth unto us the judgement of God. This judgement of God is in the holy Scriptures expressed by sundry things: by Fire, a Swo de, Arrows, a Stone, whereon if we fall it cannot be avoided, but we shall be sore bruised, but if it falleth on us, it will grind us to powder; by a Sickle, a Fan, and he●re in this place it is called by the name of a Wind. But that we may not superficially view the face, but somewhat more inly look into the heart of these words. Let us ca●l to mind these principal considerations, wherein God's judgement may resemble the wind. Three chief and main considerations may we be remembranced of, in which the judgement of God is, and may be deemed as the wind. The first is, the place it cometh from: the second, the place it cometh too: the third is the quality of the wind. The first consideration in which the judgement of God is and may be deemed as the wind, is the place it cometh from. The wind cometh from above, even cut of the Lords own treasure-house, who may be said to be the great Lord Treasurer of the winds, which at his pleasure bringeth forth the winds out of his treasures. The four Psal. 1357. main and primary winds, whereof the residue are compounded, because they come from heaven, are called the four winds of heaven; so doth God's judgement, likened here to the wind, come from above, even from heaven: Dan 7. 2. which whether it be inflicted upon us, either by Angels or Men, good or bad, yet are they but God's instruments, for if we call the matter to mind in capite, as it originally springeth, it ariseth from God: In which sense we must know, that as it is said, that there is no evil in the city but it cometh of the Lord: so we must distinguish, as the godly Fathers have done before us of evils. There is a double evil: malum culpae, an evil of fault; and malum paenae, an evil of punishment. From the evil of fault the Lord is wholly to be excluded: but touching the evil of punishment may the Lord be admitted, that there is no evil in the city, but it cometh of him. God's judgement therefore is like the wind, because it cometh from above, the place from whence the wind also cometh. The second consideration, which may remembrance us, that the judgement of God is as wind, it is the place it cometh to, even the centre of the world we dwell on, & the round globe of the earth we live and move in. Such a one was that wind, which as a swift Arrow of God's judgement, came flying from above, so as it made the banqueting house of jobs children, to be the mark it shot at, Io●. 1. 19 and so smote the four corners of that house, being on earth, as itself on them, and they died: so the judgement of God, here likened unto the wind, hath terminum a quo, the bound from whence it came, from heaven. Hath also terminum ad quem, the bound to which it goeth, the earth; yea the more earthy-minded and muddily affected, a man is on the earth, so much the more subject is he to the tempest of this wind. Pharaoh, Adonibezeck, Saul, jeroboam, Ahab, Antiochus, Herod, etc. great men, whose greatness consisted in earthly dignity, had so the wind of God's judgement, as earthy subjects the rather borne unto them, and bend against them, as Pharaoh, which had formerly drowned the males of the Izraelites in the river, was himself overwhelmed by Exod. 1. 22. the wind, with the waves of the Sea: as Adombezeke had the thumbs of his hands and feet cut off, as he had served Exod. 14 27 scutcheon Kings before: as Saul, who would have fastened judge 1. 6. 7. 1. Sam. 18. 11. 1. Sam. 31. 4. David to the wall with his Javelin, slew himself with his own Sword on mount Gilboah: as jeroboam, which had defiled the Religion and house of the Lord, should himself become, as that which is most defiled, even as dung. and he which had made molten Images to dishonour GOD; himself should not have a living Image or 1. R●g. 14 1●. Ibid. Child in his posterity, to continue his name: and he which lived as a plague to the Church, died plagued by God: as Ahab, who had shed Nahaoths innocent blood, 2. Chr. 13. 20 1. Reg. 21. 13. had his blood also shed, and dogs licking up the same: as that Antiochus which despised GOD, and Herod which 1. Reg 22. 38 took that honour upon him, that was due unto God, were consumed of worms. Against these, the rage of the wind 2. Macch. 9 9 Acts. 12. 23 of God's judgement hath been carried, as against men of an earthy affection, inclination, disposition, which were not in their time, as it is said of the Saints of God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, as the word signifieth, men singled, (as it were) and sifted from the earth, but like the old Giants, terrae fil●i, the sons of the earth, who as they have fought against heaven, so hath heaven fought against them by this wind of God's judgement. The third consideration, which may remembrance us, the judgement of God is as the wind, it is the quality of the Wind, wherein we may take sundry observations. First, the quality of the wind is to be invisible to the eye, so cometh the judgement of God invisibly, when men are least aware of it; for when men shall say, Peace; yea, when in a double confidence, they shall double their security, 1. Thess. 5. 3. and say, peace, peace, then shall sudden destruction come on them. God's judgement is, securis in securitate inflicta, an Axe laid to the root of the Tree to cut it down, when the Tree thinketh herself furthest from the blow, a stroke which is felt before it is seen, even as of the wind. Nabuchad-nezzar was swollen up with the wind of his vain heart, boasting in the height of his pride, concerning his Babylon. Is not this great Babel which I have Dan 4. 27. built, for the house of the Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my Majesty. Where we may observe, that of the manner of his speech, he uttereth it by way of interrogation, or ask of a question, examining (as it were) himself therein, that so the great thoughts of his proud heart, mought with a secret Affirmative, make answer unto him; by means whereof he mought further glory that it was so. But while he was thus puffed up with the wind of vanity, the invisible wind of God's judgement seized on him; a wind indeed, because as a wind, it was heard and felt, but not seen; He saw nothing, but he heard a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nabucchadnezzar, to thee be it spoken, thy kingdom is departed from thee, vers. 28. Yea and felt also a stroke, which even the same hour caused that alteration in him, that he was driven from men, he did eat grass as the Oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like Aegle Feathers, and his natles like Vers. 30. Birds claws. We read of the beating of the earth with the sound of GOD'S thunder. Thunder is not seen but Eccle. 43. 17. heard and felt; because it hath a sound and beateth the earth; so is it with the wind of God's judgement, which was both felt and heard of Nehucchad-nezzar, but not seen, because it came as the wind, invisible. Secondly, the quality of the wind is, to be swift in his course, so the judgement of God cometh swiftly, when it cometh, for it is as a winged book which cometh flying. Zacha. 5. 1. as the wind itself is said to have wings. Psalm. 18. 10. Fierceness and swiftness they go together, as therefore the wrath of the LORD is a fierce wrath, so must it also be a swift wrath. The jere. 4. ●. coming of Nabucchadnezzar against the people of Izraell for their sins, is likened, for the speedy assault thereof, unto the most swift things, as that for his person he shall come up as the Clouds: for his charets, there should be as a tempest: for his Horses, they should be lighter than Aegle. jerem. 4. 13. And jerem. 4. 11. 12. is this his coming compared: First, to a wind, Secondly, to a dry North-wind, whose force is most swift and boisterous. Thirdly, to a mighty wind, to show unto us that the judgement of God, here called by the name of the wind, is and must be accordingly. An Arrow driven out of the bow of some Archer among men goeth very swiftly: much more swiftly of necessity must the arrows of God's judgement fly which he sendeth out of the bent-bow of the clouds. In which place God by Solomon is described as an armed Champion who purposeth to avenge himself on his enemies, whose armour is jealousy. vers. 17. breastplate righteousness, helmet judgement. vers. 18. invincible shield, holiness. vers. 19 sword, wrath, and the whole world the abetters of his quarrel against the wicked. verse. 20. arrows, thunderbolts which shall not vainly rove in the air, but, fly to the mark out of the bend bow of the clouds. ver. 21. Arrows which wust needs be most swift and piercing, being such arrows delivered out of such a bow by such an Archer: further as if all this were too little it is added verse, 22. agreeable to this of my purpose that a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and shall scatter them as a storm: like the wind than is God's judgement, because swift as the Wind. Thirdly, the quality of the Wind is to be unequal, not bearing at all times one and the self same force, but Intended and Remitted in his strength: so fareth it with the judgement of GOD, which sometimes alighteth on our goods, which be near, sometime on our Friends, Children, Bodies, which be nearer than they: sometimes on our Lives, which be nearest of all. We wade in the waters of troubles which GOD hath allotted for us even as Ezechiell passed through the waters that issued out of the Temple. First up to the ankles, than up to the knees, after up to the loins, and in the end it became a river impassable. Ezechi. 47. ●. 4. 5. God's judgement is as a cup mixed with wine and dregs, to show that as the Wine is better than Psa. 75. 8. the dregs, and the dregs worse than the Wine, so there be degrees and distinctions in the execution of God's wrath, who raineth from heaven upon the ungodly, snares, fire, and brimstone and stormy tempest, not snares alone, nor fire & brimstone alone, nor stormy tempest alone, Psa. 11. 6. lest there should seem to be an equality of his punishment: but snares, fire, and brimstone, stormy tempest mixed together, a compounded potion to become the wickeds confounding portions, this is the portion of then cup. Ibid. stormy tempest is ill, it blasteth and wasteth their cattle and substance, etc. a snare seemeth worse, because it en●hralleth their liberty: but fire and brimstone questionless be worst of all, for they shall burn up and consume themselves. As the Wind, therefore is God's judgement not always of one strain, but inaequally, either intended or remitted, as the wind is. Fourthly, the quality of the wind is to be impatient of resistance: for where it findeth itself most oppugned, there the power of the wind is most opposed, viz. against the high Mountains, tall Cedars, lofty Pines, and spyred Turrets or Pinnacles, etc. Which things as they be most exalted against the wind, so are they also more assaulted by the wind. So the judgement of God in this kind, answereth to the wind. For the higher a man be (if he be high minded, because he is in high place) the more open layeth he to the wind of God's judgement, as Luk. 1. 52. those mighty ones which he putteth down from their seat. Excellent examples we have of this matter in holy Scriptures, in Pharaoh, Antiochus, Herod, Corah, Dathan, Abiram, etc. In Ecclesiastical Histories also almost infinite, One for all, Gregory Nazianzen reporteth, that when the jews were set a work by julian the Apostata, Greg. Nazian. ora●●. 2. in julian. Aposta, to build again the walls of the Temple, therein to resist God to his face, by insringing his truth, in that it is said, that, not one stone should not be left upon another, which should not be dissolved in the temple. While they were about their labour, the wind of God's judgement finding so great a resistance, by so perverse, & contumatious, rather contempt, than attempt, enforced itself with the greater force, to the defeating of this their impious enterprise, in so much as Thunderings and Lighnings (as that Father mentioneth) wrought the confusion of there work, and fire from heaven (in a most rueful and fearful manner) consumed the workmen, so as they were constrained to desist from there work, As the Wind therefore is the judgement of God, most Impatient, where it findeth most Resistance. Fistly the quality of the Wind is, though it be Actually fearful and furious, yet to bring good effects Accidentally with it. The Wind though in the strength of it, it breaketh and beareth down all things before it: yet accidentally purgeth and cleanseth it the air, causing the same to become more pure and wholesome, so God's judgement, howsoever it wracketh and overthroweth them against whom it is bend, yet by Accident (as we say) it bringeth the benefit of a manifold good with it for, first, it getteth God glory as in Pharaoh, Secondly It purgeth Rom. 9 17. the whole world of Monster●: thirdly, It tendereth an example to other that they tread not in the Step, lest they drink of the Cup of the wicked, that they follow not there example whom they find to be made so fearful examples, that they deal not in the acts of them, the last act of whose Tragedy they observe to be so bloody, together with many other wherein the judgement of God, is as the Wind, fearful in act, but fruitful by accident. Sixtly and lastly the quality of the Wind is to bring (as we say in a proverb) a Calm after a Storm. so God's judgement (that I may close up the bitter Cup of his judgement with a cordial) always continueth not in the extremity of it, but yieldeth a making alive after killing, a raising again after the grave, exaltation after humility, and riches after poverty, as Hanah the Lord's Handmaid singeth by her own experience. 1. Sam. 2. 6. 7. herein like the spear of Telephus which became a plaster to the wound it first made. This judgement of God by S. Basil is S. B●s●ll H●●●●● omil 5. compared to the Figtree, which hath a very bitter root but endeth in a most sweet fruit. Be it that the judgement of GOD is as a great ●lowd and fire, and not only A Wind, but A whirlwind, yet Amber (a representation of mercy) is said to Ezechi. 1. 4. come out of it. Ezech. 1. 4. That GOD which hath appointed the Day to follow the Night, Light to follow Darkness, Heat cold, the fruitful Summer, the barren Winter, hath also ordained the insuance of a Peaceful calm, after a windy storm, Mercy after judgement. Hitherto have we seen in what and how many principal respects, the judgement of God resembling the Wind, may as in this place be called the Wind: and what is meant by this Wind. Now according to the second propounded member am I to handle what this Wind doth. [Driveth away. If you would know what this Wind driveth away, even the ungodly, which before we heard to be like unto Chaff easily dispersed. It is a Metaphorical or borrowed speech from that Husbandry which concerneth the reaping of the grain of the earth. The Husbandman we know, reapeth and carrieth into the barn the Grain and the Chaff both together, which so continue until he cometh, after the threshing of them with his slayle, to the winnowing of them with his fan, which for the most part is performed by him in a windy-place, that while as the waightyer corn remayveth still, the lighter and unprofitable Chaff separated therefrom may be blown away. So GOD calleth, which is like to reaping, and bringeth and arraigneth at his judge-ment-barre which is like to the bringing into the Barn, the good and bad, like unto the Corn and Chaff, which so continue till they pass the slaile both together, of some more light or particular judgement, it may well be: But when they come to the fan of GOD'S more heavy judgement, called in the book of GOD so often by the name of A burden, if not inflicted in his world, yet to be at that general doom expected at the end of this world, then shall the good, as good Wheat be severed and conserved, but the bad as empty Chaff shall be sparsed and scattered by the Wind of Gods most just wrath. Behold then the estate of the wicked, what place or preferment soever they have, what port or pomp soever they bear among men, yet their hope (which when it faileth all things seem to fail with it, as that which is the last refuge of a distressed soul) their hope I say, is but like the dust which is blown away with wind, and like a thin scum which is scattered abroad with the storm, and as the smoke dispersed with wind. Wise. 5. 14. As the desire and pleasure of the wicked have consisted chief in three things while they flourished in this world, in Covetousness, which is like unto Dust, in Incontinency, like unto Froth, or Scum; In Ambition like unto smoke, so their confusion consisteth in the blowing away of the same dust, froth, and smoke, by the wind of God's judgement. Oh then how may the wicked and ungodly justly Wisdom, 5. 8. 9 10. 11, 12. complain with those wicked Ones. What hath pride profited us? or what profit hath the pomp of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that passed by, or as a Ship that passeth over the waves of the water, or as a bird that flieth through in the air, or as an arrow that is shot at a mark, so that the passage of worldly vanities of themselves is very swift, compared unto the most swift things, as a Shadow, Post, Ship, Bird Arrow, & in regard of their punishment ordained for them made most swift, taken away as with a wind, as we may read of taking such a Way as with a flood. Oh then let it Psal. 90. 5. not be scriptum in glacie, but sculptum in aere, not written in the fleeting Tables of our weak fantasy, but in the living Tables of our never dying remembrance: that sin is not only a breach of the law, a wound in the conscience, a bellows to kindle the brand of God's burning displeasure, a lepry of the soul, a wearisomeness to the body, but also that it causeth a Wind that quite riddeth and taketh us away! It may bear a kind of pleasure for a time, like jesabels' painted face, which bore an outward face of beauty, but was no true beautiful face: but in fine will it prove like Lamia, a certain monster having a beautiful face, and beautiful breasts, so fair, as no Painter can Dion Hist. Li. hiae. sive Affri. cae. imitate with his pencil, but from the middle downward is a Serpent, wholly given to prey and ravine: see sin enticeth (as experience proveth) with the bait of her face and the beauty of her breasts, but atrum desinit in p●scem, virgo formosa superne, she is a stinging Serpent behind and swolloweth Hora●e. dea●. poetic, up both bodies and souls of men so into the bowels of her, as into the bowels of Hell, from whence there is no redemption: for Hell is the draft which such meat passeth into, through such a paunch, never to be recovered. Let us therefore by all possible endeavour, avoid to be wicked as the wicked are, least with the wicked we be like unto an house builded on the sand, which when the rain fell, and the floods came, and the wind of God's judgement (here mentioned) blow and beat upon, it shall show itself, to be before the whisk of that wind, as the chaff here spoken of, not able to resist it, but so to fall by it, as the fall thereof is great. But let us rather labour with al● diligence, to be godly, as the godly are, that with the godly we may be as an house builded on a rock that when the rain falleth, the flood cometh, and the wind of God's judgement M●●t. 7. 26. 27. 28. (here intended) bloweth and beateth upon it; we with it may be like the sound and good corn, rather sifted then scattered, secured from falling. The Declaration of the matter concerning the wicked, being now handled in that part thereof, which contained Similitude, am I to assume that part of it, which is expressed by Sentence from thence derived. vers. 5. therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners, etc. This sentence passeth against the ungodly by two names: First, as they are Wicked, they shall not stand in the judgement: Secondly, as they are sinners, they seal not stand in the assembly of the righteous. In the former of the two are we to be informed of two points, first, what is meant by judgement in this place: secondly, that, the wicked shall not stand, or as it is in the (a) Original, not rise up in that judgement. Jerom. For the better understanding what is meant by judgement here, we must know that GOD (whose judgement is here intended) hath a twofold judgement. The former it is a particular judgement to be found even in this World; the other it is the general judgement; which we believe and expect shall be at the consummation of the world. GOD'S Particular-iudgement, is either more Large and universal, or else it is more Strict and Singular. GOD'S more large and universal, Particular-iudgmen, is that which in this life concerneth the extirpation even of whole Countries, Cities, Families, etc. for their sins. Of whole Countries: So the whole Country of Samaria, people which the King of Ashur had brought from Babel, Cuthah, Avarice, Hamath, Sepharuaim, and placed them in the Cities of Samaria; among whom for as much as they feared not the LORD Lions were sent from the Lord which slew them, even the whole nation 2 Reg. 17. 10. or Country of them. Of whole Cities, as may appear by those Cities of Sodom and Gomorah, who for that they fostered among them, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness, therefore Ezech. 16 49. were they consumed with fire and brimstone from heaven. Genes. 19 24. 25. Of whole Families, a notable example hereof we have in Corah, Dathan and Abiram, who for that they resisted Moses and Aaron the Magistrate and the Leune: and therein resisted God himself, had the judgement of God bend so both against them and their families, even the●r wives and their sons and their children, Numb. 16. 27. That the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up with their families and all their goods. Vers. 32. Achan may also exemplify this point unto us, who for that he had caused the Lord to be so angry with his people that they fell before the men of Ay, by reason that he had taken an Excommunicate booty, contrary to the Commandment of the Lord of of the spoils of jericho, as A goodly Babylonish garment, two hundred sickles of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, and covered them in the earth in the midst of his tent, had the judgement of God not only upon himself in person, but also on his whole family and sons and daughters, and his oxen and his asses, and his sheep, and the silver, and garment, and the wedge of Gold; and his tent, and all that he had, for they all Being brought into the valley of Anchor, were stoned Josh. 7. form vers. 24. to the end. by stones, and burnt by fire. The second particular judgement of God to be found in this life is more strict, or singular, as it alighteth upon some one particular and singular person. Thus betides it to jeroboam for his Idolatry, who died plagued by God, 2. Chro. 13. 20. To Senacherib for his blasphemy, in that by his messengers he had railed against the living God, the holy one of Israel, 2. Reg. 19 22. in that nature that as he had railed against God by his Messengers, so was he slain by his sons; and he which had railed against the true God, was slain as he was worshipping of Nisroch his false God, Verse, 37. mingling these passionate words with the blood of his mortal wounds (as Histories do mention) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He that beholdeth me let him become godly. To the man who contrary tot he law of God gathered sticks on the Sabbath day and was therefore Stoned with stones without the host. Numb. 15. 35. To Absalon for his unnatural disobedience to his most natural father, in that he would have taken the Crown from the head of David his father; without whom, himself should never have had an Head to wear a Crown, nor body to bear an Head: But God's singular judgement so met with him, as the very hair which he would have circled with a Crown, was entangled with an oak; and those locks which (no doubt) he esteemed for none of his meanest ornaments, were made his halter: and a branch of the Oak became a gibbet to so graceless a branch of so good a stock: I mean so bad a Son of so good a Father; And he which would have betrayed a Father, a King, a Saint, whom he ought in these three regards to have reverenced, which is worthy the marking, himself was betrayed by three things, the Oak, his Locks, and his M●le, which went from under him, until that joab also made an end of him with three darts, 2. Sam. 19 14 and his burial also consisted in a threefold disgrace, A pit, a Wood, and A great heap of stones cast on him. Vers. 17. To Ahab for his murder of innocent Naboth, in somuch as himself was also slain, and the dogs licked up his blood, 1 Reg. 22. 38. To the Unclean even by the Testimony of the Apostle, that Such a one sinneth against his own body, 1. Corinth. 6. 18. To false-witness bearers, An excellent instance is yielded us by the Ecclesiastical History which mentioneth three wicked men. suborned to confirm a lie by false witness against Nars ●usebius ●●cles. Hist. lib 6. cap. 8. cissus the good Bishop of jerusalem: Whereof the first said, If I lie let me be burnt with fire. The second, If I speak not the truth let my body be consumed by some fearful disease. The third, If I bear false witness let me lose mine eyesight: whereof the first, a spark upon some unknown cause alighting upon his house in the night taking fire, was burnt in his bed, together with his house to ashes. The second was in his body from top to to● surprised with such a disease as he wished for. The third perceiving the vengeance of God on the other two (his comforts) and fearing the like judgement on himself, bewrays the whole perfidious and false complotte against Narcissus, and shed such plenty of tears in the sorrow of his heart, as he lost his eyes and became blind. This is but the particular judgement of GOD in this life only, which is not a thing so much here intended, where it is said, the wicked shall not stand in the judgement, etc. There is a second judgement of GOD, which we expect shall be at the consummation of this world. This we do not only confidently look for, as a matter of civil credit among men; but necessarily believe, as an Article of Christian faith. This judgement is here principally meant. A judgement is this which the two Testaments both Old and New are able with most authentic and absolute testimonies to prove unto us. In the Old the Prophet jeremy saith: The LORD shall roar from above and thru●●out his voice from his holy habitation: He shall roar upon his habitation and cry aloud, etc. The sound shall come to the ends of the Earth for the LORD hath controversy with the nations and will enter into judgement wi●h all flesh. jerem. 25. 30. 31. What meaneth it that He will enter into judgement with all flesh, but the testification of General judgement? The Prophet Danyell speaketh of this judgement to come, as if it were already present. When he mentioneth his own Beholding the sitting up of thrones, and the ancient of days sitting thereon, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool, his throne like the fiery flame, and his wheels as a burning fire. Afrery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand thousands stood before him, and the judgement was set, and the books were open. Dan. 7. 9 10. Whereout I may note, first, the certainty of this judgement, because it was a matter which as Daniel said he then beheld: Second the Wisdom of the judge, because when age bringeth experience, and experience wisdom, the judge is said to be the ancient of days: Third, a most magnificent and majestical judgement, having for seats Thrones; for attendants, such as are by nature Spirits: and by office Archangels, Angels, Thrones, Dominations, Pours. etc. by their number, thousand thousands, and ten thousand thousands, indeed infinite: Fourth, a most just judgement because it shall be done according to the Evidence of Records and Books, which are opened: Fift, a most merciful judgement for the good, betokened by those garments, white as snow, and by that hair white as wool: sixth, and lastly to the wicked and ungodly, a judgement most fearful, wrathful, wrackful; for the Throne is like fire, and the wheels as burning fire: and lest that any man should think that this fire should contain itself only within the compass of this Throne: or the circle of these wheels, so as it should never break forth, as the sword of many a careless Magistrate, so always dwelleth in the case of the scabbard, as it is never drawn out; it is added also that a Fiery stream issueth therefrom: no doubt to deal with the wicked and ungodly, As the fire that came from heaven dealt with the two Captains over fifties and their fifties, that is, to consume and burn them up. 3 Reg 1. 11. In the new Testament also be their very pregnant proofs that there shall be A general judgement. Among and before others our Saviour Christ, marvel not at this, for the hour shall come, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the son of man and shall come forth, they which have done well to the resurrection of life, and they which have done evil to the resurrection of joh. 5. 28 29 condemnation. The Apostle Paul followeth his Master; in that speech of his to the men of Athens. God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, ●y that man whom he hath appointed, whereof he hath given assurance to Act. 17. 31. all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. From which speech of the Apostle we may chief obseque six points. First, that the day is appointed, before which it cannot be, and after which once accomplished, it cannot but be: Secondly, who hath appointed it? God, into whose hidden counsel no man can look: it is appointed only by him, and known only to him: Thirdly, whom God hath appointed to be the judge in this judgement, by that man, that is Christ his son, both God and man. Fourthly, whom he hath appointed to be judged, the world: Fiftly, How? in righteousness: Sixtly, and lastly, the reason to confirm the truth of this whole matter, in that God hath given an irrevocable and indissoluble assurance of it, in that he hath raised his son from the dead. He hath quickened him being dead, to the end he may become the judge both of the quick and the dead. It is sufficient for us to believe certainly, that there is a time, when this judgement shall be: we must not search curiously after the particular time of this judgement. But let us be assured of this, that it cannot be far of, but even hard at the doors. We read in Histories, that Cato a grave Roman Senator, Plin. lib. 15. cap. 18: by a green Figtree which he brought into the Senate-house, that had grown but three days before in Carthage, the seat of their mortal enemies, took occasion to discourse unto them, the danger the Roman estate was in, which had men of such hostile affections against them, within three days journey of their City. The Signs like unto the budding of the Figtree, Matth. 24. 32. may much more admonish us, of that Summer's approachment, in the which shall be the harvest of God's judgement, that it is near, even at hand. For if since the time of Christ, then now, most chief, hear we of wars and the rumours of wars, nation rising against nation, realm against realm, pestilence, famine, earthquakes. This last age of the Church hath been, and is, the time of afflicting, kill, hating, betraying one another, of the rising of false Prophets, deceiving many: Now if ever doth iniquity increase, and the love of many wax cold. Hath not (I beseech you) the Gospel of the Kingdom been preached to all nations, throughout the whole world, beginning like the Sun in the East, and setting in the West thereof? Hath not since that time, by reason of corruption of the truth, the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, stood in the holy place, a place where it ought not? hath not the Sun been darkened, and the Moon turned into blood and the stars fallen from heaven? Whether we understand by the Sun (as some will have it) Christ, who hath been darkened by Atheism, by the Moon the Church, which hath been turned into blood by persecution: by the Stars, the Pastors, which may be said to have fallen from heaven, by reason of their Apostatising from the truth, Or whether we interpret, as others, the Sun for the Magistrate Ecclesiastical, who is darkened by contempt: the Moon for the Magistrate civil, who is become bloody, though not (God be praised) among us, yet in other our neighbour countries, by murders, and by the Stars (the Common-people) which have fallen from heaven, some by Schism, some by heresy, some by Apostasy. Or whether we do expound, as othersome do think by the Sun, Faith, which giveth light to other virtues, and is now hardly to be found in the earth: by the Moon, Charity, which is now waxed cold: by the Stars, other virtues, which are so choked with vices, as the small remnant of the elect may say, Come Lord jesus, come quickly because unless, Those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. O then, what can we now but look for this day of judgement! that it is near even at hand. Since all signs else be fulfilled, but even that one sign that remaineth, the sign of the son of man in heaven, coming in the clouds with power and great glory, and that he should even now send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather together the elect from the four winds, and from one end of the heaven to the other that so they may come to this judgement. The second point is, that the wicked shall not stand, or as Matth. 24. 30. 31. it is in the original, rise up in this judgement. But may some ungodly one say: This is the thing we look for, we wish for, long for; that we may not appear before the angry countenance of that displeased judge, whose presence is to us so intolerable, punishment unsupportable. What more blissful thing and more to our hearts content, then to have glutted ourselves with sin? to have ●ulled our benumbed spirits asleep on the bed of iniquity? to have pampered our flesh, to have stifled our spirit, to have disglorified God, to have despised his truth, to have cast off every yoke of dutiful obedience, to have loved ourselves, so as we have hated all besides ourselves, to have drawn unto us sins with cartropes, & iniquity with the cords of vanity? to conclude to drunk as it were) an health to Satan, in the strumpet's cup of abomination, and never to make a reckoning for it, never to make an Apoc. 17. 4. account concerning it, never to be called to the judgement? But that I may cut (as it were) the sinew of this objection, and abate the crest of these proud vanters, Qui torquent textnm ne ipsi torqueantur, which rack and torture the text, that they may not (as they deserve) be racked and tortured themselves. We must know that the wicked and ungodly shal●, & that avoidable both rise and stand in this judgement, and yet in some acceptation, cannot possibly (as this Scripture witnesseth) rise or stand in this judgement. They must unescapably rise and stand in this judgement: First, in regard of their appearance there, The Lord will enter judgement with all flesh. If with all flesh, jere. 25. 31. then with them, as a species of that genus, and chief with them who are so flesh, as they are nothing but flesh, not borne of the spirit, to be spirit; but borne of the flesh to be flesh, joh. 3. 6, Secondly, they must rise and stand in this judgement, in respect of their arraignment at the judgement bar, for we must not only appear in judgement, but, before the judgement seat of Christ, that is, we are to be arraigned 2. Corin. 5. 10 at the judgement bar. Thirdly, they must rise and stand in this judgement, to be indicted, for God will bring every work of theirs unto judgement, not only those things, which are so notoriously done, as the world taketh notice of them, but every secret and hidden thing, whether it be good or evil. Eccl●. 12. 14 Fourthly, they must rise and stand in this judgement, to hear the sentence of the judge pass against them Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire, which is prepared Matt. 25. 41 for the Devil and his Angels. A thundering sentence is this indeed, uttered by him which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the glorious Psal. 29. 3. God that maketh 〈◊〉 thunder, whereof every word seemeth to be as a boltte, to cause the children of the spiritual Babylon, Hell, to become as the children of the temporal Babylon dashed a sunder. The first is, what they should Psal▪ 137. 9 do, depart. Secondly, how they should dapart, as cursed. Thirdly, from whom, from me, that is from Christ, to be sundered from whose presence is the pouring out of the full Vial of God's wrath upon them, the accomplishments of all woes and infelicities. Fourthly; whether, into fire. Fiftly, what manner of fire, everlasting fire. Sixtly, by what right appertaining unto them, as their due desert prepared for them, to become their merited portion. seven, and lastly, with what company, with the Devil and his Angels. Hitherto the wicked must and shall rise and stand in this judgement, but after this sentence once given they neithe: ought nor ●ay, nor can, rise or stand in this judgement. But to make this matter more plain. The wicked as this scripture speaks, though they shall both rise and stand in this ●ud●ement, in respect of the praemissed considerations, yet sha●l not be able either to rise or stand therein, partly before the ●entence given, if judgement be taken as Tremelius translateth ●t, in ●llo judicio, that is the judgement of the Godly forementioned, because with the Godly they shall neither rise nor stand in the judgement in the state of God's favour: partly also, which is chiefly to be admitted, after the sentence given shall they not be able to rise or stand therein, in regard of the weakness of there own power. That the evidence of this point may be yet more cleared unto us, The wicked shall not be able to rise or stand in this judgement, first in respect of the wrath of the judge, second of the wrack of the judgement, thirdly, of the weakness of themselves. First, they cannot rise or stand in this judgement, in respect of the wrath of the judge Who hath wrath, anger and indignation. Wrath that breaketh forth as a stormy Eze. 13. 〈◊〉 wind; anger that is a great shower, and indignation which shall bring with it hailstones and those not ordinary ones, but hailstones that shall consume, consuming hailstones, like those which God in the furiousness of his wrath. Psal. 78. 49. brought among the Egyptians mingled with fire which seemed to run and walk on the ground, Exod 9 23. Such and so vehement is this wrath of God, as when it is said only to be begun, and to be but gone out from the Lord, it consumed 14000. and 700. men before Moses and Aaron, making all the speed they could, with the fire of the Altar with there censer & incense could assuage it. So fierce (above measure) is this wrath of the Lord, as all nations in a wondering recordation may accord together in the foot Deu 29. 2●. of that song. O how fierce is his great wrath! If jeremy maketh it to be one of the passionate notes of his mournful song which he singeth and sigheth together in the book of his Lamentations, that the Lord hath poured out his wrath like fire in that particular judgement which the Babylonians brought upon the jews in there captivity. Oh! how much more may it be said concerning the general judgement of fire which God himself shall bring at that day on all the world, that then and there his wrath shall be poured out like fire? A wrath of a judge not tolerable by the judged; who in being wicked and ungodly no doubt shall not be able to rise or stand in this judgement, Secondly the wicked and ungodly shall not be able to rise or stand in this judgement, in regard of the wrack of the judgement. When the very powers of heaven shallbe shaken Math. 24. 29. If the powers of heaven shall be shaken, what then shall become of these plants of the earth? in whom the heavenly spirit hath rather become earthly, like there body, than the earththy body, heavenly like there spirit? How shall not these earthen vessels be dashed and crushed a sunder, with the iron Maule of God's omnipotency, at that time when the Heavens themselves shall pass away with a noise? Shall not the wicked being but a parcel of one earthy element melt away. when not one, but all the Elements shall melt a way with heat? Shall not those earthy moules which have builded themselves nests even in the bowels of the earth, be burnt together with the earth? and these earthlyworkers Perish with the earthly works? 2. Peter. 3. 10. If Holy Chrisostome though he wear a good man, yet protesteth that it maketh him to tremble so often as he S. chrysost in Mat. Ho. 77. thinketh of the judgement. O! how much more shall it bring not only trembling fear, but also tearing confusion upon the wicked and ungodly to undergo it, to feel it? They wear Soldiers, and therefore men of the best courage, armed Soldiers, and therefore with greater difficulty to be abashed, unto whom when our Saviour Christ spoke a little before his passion. john. 18. 6. using only these words, I am he; they fell to the ground, O! how much less shall, not soldiers in respect of their office, quorum membra, arma, whose members be Iron Cicer●. and steel, but men only in regard of their natutes, whose whole composition is but dust and ashes, be able to endure the lightning of Christ's countenance, in his Majesty? the thunder of Christ's words in his judgement? the execution of Christ's wrath in the fierceness of his indignation? but that they being wicked and godless, of necessity must be so far from rising and standing, as themselves shall wish to fall and lie buried, under the ruins of Mountains and Rocks falling on them, Apo. 6. 15. Thirdly, the wicked and ungodly shall not be able to rise and stand in this judgement, in respect of their own weakness. Man how-so-ever at the fist otherwise created; yet since his fall by sin, hath he become weak in himself, simply considered, by means whereof we find him in holy Scripture to be compared to dust, ashes, grass, smoke, a bubble, and vanity itself, etc. but far more weak is he comparatively esteemed in collation with this judgement. As the children of Izraell seemed Num. 13 3●. but as Grasshoppers compared with the Anakims', being Giants of a matchless stature, so these Anakims' the Giants themselves, shall be less than Grasshoppers, in comparison of this judgement. The sum of that hath been delivered, is, that there is a twofold judgement of God, one particular, the other general. That ●n this place is meant the general judgement. That the wicked shall rise and stand there, so far as Appearance, Arreigament, Indightment, Sentence: but either in regard of God's favour, proper only to the godly, before these, or in regard of their own estate after these, can they neither rise up, nor stand there, for as much as the Wrath of the judge, the Wrack of the judgement, the Weakness of themselves, will in no case suffer them. GOD therefore give us grace, that we may become righteous, that so we may rise and stand in the fiery trial of this judgement, because we are as gold and silver, and precious stones, builded on the foundation of Christ jesus, and that we may not be as the wicked, who being but hay and stubble, are speedily consumed, and cannot stand in this judgement. 1. Cor. 3. 13. 13. Secondly, this sentence passeth against the ungodly, as they are Sinners [Nor the sinners in the assembly of the righteous. There be herein likewise offered unto our observation two points. First, what is meant by the assembly of the righteous. Secondly, that the Sinners shall not rise nor stand there. For the better understanding, what is meant by the Assembly of the righteous, we must learn that thereby is to be understood, the true Church of God, Mount Zion the city of the living God, the celestial jerusalem, the congregation of the first-born. Hebrew. 12. 22. 23. Which Church of God, the true Assembly of righteous, just and perfect men, consisteth of two parts: whereof the one is Militant here on earth: the other Triumphant in heaven. The Church Militant may be known by two badges here in this world, whereof the former is Affliction, the other Imperfection. First, the Church Militant is under Affliction; and weareth that estate for her badge here in this life. The Church of God is the house of God. At which his house it is God's ●. Tim. 3, 15. pleasure, that the judgement of Affliction should begin. 1. Pet 4. 17. According to the lot of it is the name given unto it: for it is called the Church-Militant, which is as much as the Warre-faring-Church, because under the bloody colours of the Cross of Christ, she fighteth against infinite crosses. The righteous aught and do walk in the Lord's way, which is the way of the whirlwind and the storm, to intimate unto us, that as Eliah was rapt to heaven by a Naum, 1. 3. whirlwind; and Christ himself entered into glory by a Storm of many tribulations; so we must not expect the exemption of any privilege, but that we also must pass the kings highway, to the kings Palace, even that way which the King himself hath appointed: A whirlwind and a storm. We ●●st by Gods own ordinance do the work of Hirelings before we can come to the wages of Heirs: to which purpose God hath here appointed our life to be as the life of an hireling. job, 7. 1. S. Jerom. Epist. 26. Saint Jerome speaking of the name of jerusalem, saith that in Scripture there be three names given thereunto, jebus, Salem, and jerusalem. In tribus quidem nominibus trinitatis demonstratur fides, etc. In the three names is there declared the faith of the Trinity. The first name jebus doth signify that which is Spurned at or despised: The second name Salem betokeneth Peace: The third name jerusalem is interpreted, the vision of peace: Paulatim quip pervenimus ad finem. For by little and little come we to the end. After Conculcation and treading upon an Image of the Church Militant; arrive we at, and attain we to The vision of peace A lively resemblance of the Church triumphant. It is then the certain and undoubted condition of GOD'S children, to be trodden upon, before they can triumph; to be wholly bereft of peace, before they can see any peace: To wear the badge of the Cross, before they can come to the price of the Crown: The former badge of the Church-militant; this Assembly of the righteous. The second badge of the Church-militant; 〈◊〉 Assembly of the righteous, is Imperfection. This Imperfection consisteth both in sinners to be found in this Church Accidentally, and in sin also which it hath Personally. First, this Church is imperfect here in this life, because it hath sinners in it, and with it, Accidentally. It is as a floor where chaff and wheat be mixed together before the winnowing, it is as a mine where dross and gold be confounded together before the purifying: it is as a garden where weeds and herbs grow together, before the Weeding. A mongthem of the Church indeed, be these sinners but not of them, as the forementioned Chaff and Dross and Weeds are among the Wheat, and Gold, and Herbs, but not of the same substance with them. These sinners if they could be found out are to be censured and punished, how beit because they are not ever to be discovered they are necessarily to be tolerated, until they may (as time shall give occasion) be justly proceeded against. Ouer-heady therefore is the zeal or rather hea●e, of them, like unto that of james, and john when out Blessed Saviour told them that they knew not what spirit they were of. Luke. 9 55. Who can not away with the Moon because she hath her spotes, with the Church because in this respect she hath her blemishes, but will forthwith make a schime and rend a separation? How much better wear it for them if they would be truly holy children to embrace concerning this point) the counsel of an holy Father? In ecclesia nonnullos toleramus, quos corrigere vel punire non possumus. etc. We tolerate some August Epist. 48. in the Church whom we cannot correct or punish, neither yet for the Chaffes sake do we forsake the threshing flore of the Lord, nor for the bad F●sh sake do we break the net of the LORD, nor for the Goats, which are to be severed in the end, do we leave the fold of the LORD, nor for the vessels made to dishonour do we fl●t out of the house of the Lord. Secondly this Imperfection consisteth in sin, personally, to be found in the Church herself, the Assembly of the righteous here spoken of. The Church while she is in this vale of misery cannot certainly expect that she is or can be without the stain of iniquity: who confesseth of herself that she is black by reason of her i●perfections. Whosoever therein shall say that he, hath no Cant 1. 4. 1 job, 1. 8. sin deceiveth himself and there is no truth in him: and thereby at leastwise, because he lieth becometh he a sinner. As there was the Tree of knowledge of good and evil in one Paradise. So as well evil as good will be found in Gene. 2. 9 one man. The knowledge of evil was in Paradise, the best place: so the practice of evil will be found in the righteous the best men. Where was this Assembly of the righteous at that time else to be found but in the house of godly jacob? Yet even then therein were many imperfections. Reuben his eldest son incestuous: Simeon and Levi murderers: Dinab his daughter a wanton; and all betrayers of their brother joseph. The Church of God, Cant. 6. 9 is compared to the Moon, the Moon first receiveth her light from the Sun: so doth she from her Husband Christ the sun of righteousness. Secondly, the Moon (of all those heavenly bodies) is Mala. 4. 2. citima terris, most near the earth: so the Church of God, said to be Militant here upon, Earth, cannot avoid, but thereby become somewhat earthy. Thirdly, the Moon is eclipsed by the interposition of the earth betwixt the Sun & it: so the Church of God (no doubt) is somewhat blemished by the interposition of the eatrthhy members of our fleshly concupiscence, between the graces of Christ and it. Fourthly, the Moon hath her spots; so hath the Church of God her blemishes. The Moon then (we may see) for one benefit that she hath received, in that she is made glorious with the beams of the Sun, hath a threefold inconvenience, that she cannot but somewhat be tainted by the earth being the nearest celestial body unto the earth: that she is eclipsed and obscured by the putting between of the earth betwixt the Sun and her: that she hath her spots in her, to show, that if the church here siguified by the Moon hath any good, she hath it not from herself▪ but from Christ, as the Moon hath her brightness from the Sun, and for that one good with the Moon she hath a threefold evils. Imperfect therefore is the Church in this life, as she that weareth this badge of imperfection. We must further know that this part of the Assembly of the righteous, the Church militant which groaneth under affliction and ●mpeth by imperfection, is congregate and met together chief to exercise a threefold duty first to hear the word: secondly, to be partakers of the sacraments: thirdly, to beg what we need, and to offer up the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. A thing anciently used by the Church, and perpetually to continue in the church: this may appear to have had an ancient use in the church, by those three thousand souls whom Peter by one Sermon had added to the Act. 2. 42. Church, which first Continued in the Apostles doctrine there is the assembly of hearing the word. Secondly in breaking of Bread: there 〈◊〉 receiving of one of the sacraments: Thirdly, In prayer, there is begging that was needful, and the tendering to GOD the sacrifice of thanksgiving. This is one part of the Assembly of the righteous, which howsoever it is not wholly to be excluded, yet is not so directly intended in this place, where it is said, that the sinners shall not ●●se or stand in the Assembly of the righeous. The second part of the Assembly of the righteous, is that which is triumphant in heaven; which shall then be accomplished on Gods chosen, when they which suffer here with Christ shall in heaven be glorified with Christ: at Rom, 8. 17. which time, the affliction and imperfection which have been annexed unto their Cross, shall be turned into triumph and perfection, necessarily accompanying their Crown. In the Church militant (as one speaketh) mala pers●quntur, evils do persecute us: But in the Church triumphant, bona sequentur, good things shall follow us. The ever-flowing, and indeed overflowing abundance of which happy estate causeth Saint Augustine August. to say that therein we may more easily tell, quid non sit, quam quid sit, what there is not, than what there is. For of this we may be well assured, that in this glorious Assembly of the righteous there shall be no weakness, no sorrowing, no calamity, no corruption, no death, no grief, no discontentment. But the things we shall there enjoy, are first, for their quality, joy and pleasures: Secondly, for their quantity, fullness of them: Thirdly, for their Constancy at God's right hand, from whence it is unpossible they should be removed. Fourthly for their continuance for evermore, even in the presence of God. In whose presence there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand Psal. 16. 12. there is pleasure for evermore. This is the Assembly of the righteous here principally meant, which the Sinners shall not rise nor stand in: because they shall never attain to this triumph, never to this perfection, never to this pleasure, this presence, this right hand, this joy. The second point offered, unto our observation, having learned, what is the Assembly of the righteous is that the sinners shall not rise nor stand there. But may some man say, this is a hard saying, joh. 6. 60. Who then can be saved? For we are all sinners. The authority of the Apostle excellently proveth this point, Rom. 5. 12. As by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death went over all men, for as much as all have sinned. The Apostle in that place intendeth to Mark, 10. 26. show the entrance of death into the world in four points. First, from whom: from one man that is Adam▪ Secondly, by what, by sin: Thirdly, to whom, to all men. Fourthly, the reason of it, because, All men have sinned. If there wear any man which had not sinned, that man could not die; But all men die (as we say in schools) either Actualiter, or Potentialiter, in Act, or in Power, because though Henoch and Heliah where taken away before their death, yet had they sinful bodies subject unto mortality: therefore must all men of necessity be convicted of sin also. The earth is the most vn●elane Element, as that which settleth itself in the bottom of this glorious frame or fabric of the world, as the dregs do in the lowest parts of their vessel: of this earth is every man composed. If then the heavens themselves, whose Curtains are spread out with more glory than those of Solomon. Cant: 1. 4. be unclean in God's sight. job. 15. 15. how much more man, which is but dust and earth? If God hath found no steadfastness, no not in his Saints, which are so named of holiness: What is man that he should be clean, or he joh. 15. 14. 15 that is borne of a woman, that he should be just Man may be considered in two estates: in the estate of nature: and in the estate of grace. In the estate of nature, whereby a man is merely man, and borne of a woman, in which respect he mu●● be said to be unclean and unjust. In the estate of grace, by which a man becometh a Saint; yet in that estate also in the fore-a●eaged; ●lace, God findeth no steadfastness in him. In neither state then can man be cleared, but in both estates condenmed to be sinful. The Heathens themselves have not been unacquainted with the truth of this matter: among whom one saith, Cebes in tabu. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ●●e●y man co●mi●g into this life dri●keth from the cup of 〈◊〉, e●●or, and ignorance. ●●●ery man then be a sinner, and no 〈◊〉 shall rise 〈◊〉 stand in the assembly of the righteous: what 〈◊〉 ●●vs. but ●x●ect that se●●●nce which Christ● 〈◊〉 ag●●●st sinners: Depart from me yea Matth. 7. ●3. that work iniquity. That I may the better answer this objection: we must know tha● there is a twofold Sinner. The former so sinneth, as he 〈◊〉 with ●is●th from his sin, having (because he hath sinned) contrition in his soul and spirit, con●ession in his heart and tongue, and newness of life in his ●eeds and manners: neither doth he only repent, solicit. carefully, but mature speedily, as writeth S. Ambros: S. Ambro●. de 〈◊〉 lib. ●. cap. 2. ●east that (saith he) that husbandman in the Gospels, which planted a sigg●-●●ce in his vineyard, coming to 〈◊〉 ●r●ite and finding none, saith to the keeper of the v●●eyarde 〈◊〉 it aowne, for what doth it combri●g the ground: He doth (as saith ●aint Augustine) accuse himself Aug. de ver●, Inuocatie. that he may be excused in the presence of the just & merciful judge, to whom he is to become accountable As sin doth assault his soul when it is weakest: so doth he oppose himself against the same where it is strongest, that he may by that means root it out. This hath been the practice, as it may appear by their writings of the famous ancient Fathers, and Saints of the Church, Athenagoras, Clemens, justinus Martyr, Arnobius, Minutius, Lactantius,, and divers other, who made it the first thing they did after their conversion, from gentilism to the truth, to denounce war most chief against that sin unto which they have found themselves most inclined. These were, pecatores, sinners, but because they speedily shaked off their sin as Paul did the ●●per, they wear Hilar. Enarre, in Psal. ●. not impii, Godless ones, as Samt Hillary maketh a distinction. ●hese are not the sinners here spoken of which shall not rise nor stand in the assembly of the righteous. The second kind of sinners be such as so sin, that they may add sin unto sin, as the these addeth lying to theft, and perjury to lying. These by their custom of sinning have made s●nne habitual, yea, rather perpetual unto them. It is impossible for them not to sin, as it is impossible for the fire not to warm. In them hath sin gotten the colour of a Blacke-Moore, which cannot be ●●tered: and the spots of a Leopard which cannot be washed away. At the door of whose heart the g●ace of GOD knocketh 〈…〉 all, or if it knocketh, it is but in vain: for there is 〈◊〉 opening. As they are flesh, john, 3. 6. so this flesh is 〈◊〉 dead flesh altogether uncurable, neither is it to be● 〈…〉 led with sharp Corrosives of the law, neither 〈◊〉 be salved by the more gentle Lenitives of the 〈…〉 pell. These are not contrite for their sin, that so ●●ey may confess and amend it, but they palliate their sin●e that they may still keep it, and commit it. Oaths (say they) are but sparks of courage; Blasphemies, but as ordinary speeches: Covetousness frugality: Prodigality bounty; Tyranny fortitude: Curiosity honesty: Adultery a youthful sport: Simony a common trade of merchandise: And as in these, so in every sin have they a fair vizard to put over a foul face, that they may vail and cover it. To whom their sin is like jesabel which made Ahab to sin, whose face was painted: and themselves like Ahab do sell themselves to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. These be the sinners meant in this place; where it 1 Reg. 2●. 25. is said that the sinners shall not rise nor stand in the Assembly of the righteous. The sinners of this desperate kind shall not rise nor stand in this assembly of the Righteous. First, in that part thereof Militant, upon earth, which consisteth of that meeting, which standeth in hearing the word read, or Preached: in receiving the sacraments and in prayers. Because howsoever they are (it may be) among the righteous in their Assemblies, yet are they not of their Assemblies: they be (it may be) as one of the assembly: but for as much as they are unrighteous, they cannot be of the assembly of the righteous. For how can it otherwise be? considering that they hear the word as Sinners, not as the Righteous; receive the Sacraments as sinners, not as the Righteous: tender up their prayers unto God as Sinners, not as the Righteous: as Lucifer was among the Angels, Cain in the house of Adam, Ishmael in the house of Abraham, Esau in the house of Isaas, I'm in the Ark, Saul among the Prophets, the tars with the wheat, the Goats with the sheep, judas among the Apostles: so are these in th● Assembly of the righteous as Ciphers, which signify nothing, not as figures which have both a number and power with them. They bear a show (haply) of religion, but are furthest from it, as Athaliah being herself the only usurping traitress, cried out Treason, treason, 2. Reg. 11. 14. They are in comparison of the righteous, but as Wasps compared with Bees, which as Tertullian writeth Tertul. make Combs as the Bees do, but neither are Bees, nor work so profitably as the Bees. They are within this Assembly of the righteous, by hypocrisy, but not of it in Sincerity, considered in that part of it, Militant here upon earth. Secondly, they can much less rise or s●and, in that part of the assembly of the righteous, which is triumphant in heaven, because they shall never come thither, much less stand there. If Moses neither could nor mought stand in the presence of God in that holy land, which is but a Type of this triumphant assembly▪ until he had taken his shoes from Exod. 3. 5. his feet. Oh how much less shall these sinful and reprobate ones, stand in the most glorious presence of the Lord in the true holy land the true Canaan itself! being not only holy, but the holy of holies, of God the holiest, having the feet of their affections, shod with nothing else but defilednesse and pollution? Hell must be their prison: for, the wicked shall be turned Psal. 9 17. to hell, and the people that forget God. Heaven cannot possibly become their palace: for such must stand without the heavenly jerusalem, the city of the great King. Apoc. 22. 25. Art thou then a Sinner of this nature? unto whom, sin sitteth as near as the graft to the stock, which concorporateth and becometh one with it? Behold then the fruit of this thy sin; which is not only shame and reproach, but also everlasting ruin and con●usion. He which Riseth in the great thoughts of his own heart, and Standeth as high in his own conceit as ever Nabucchadnezzar did, Dan. 4. 27, yet if from the crown of the head to the soul of the foot, there is nothing to be found but wounds and swellings and sores full of corruption. Esa●. 1. 6. then shall he neither rise nor stand in the assembly of the righteous, not only, that part thereof which appertaineth to the Church militant here on earth, but also that part thereof which belongeth to the Church Triumphant in heaven. For what reason may be alleged why he should be admitted into heaven, whose m●●d hath been wholly fixed upon earth? why he should triumph as a conqueror in heaven, which ●euer warred as a soldier upon earth, fight against the Soldiers of the Devil, the lusts of our flesh, the enemi●s of our souls? Our loss is greater hereby than there could have come advantage by Herodes gift to her to whom it was promised: Herodes gift was but Hal●e a Kingdom, for a vain pleasure Mark. 6. 22. 23. But we do lose a Whole Kingdom for a sinful pleasure. We lose a kingdom but not an ordinary kingdom: but most rich, most honourable, most ●oyfull most constant, most durable. First it is a most Rich Kingdom, The riches whereof may appear unto us by that description of the principal and royal city thereof. Apocal. 21 Whose shining is as jasper and as clear as Crystal, and the City itself of pure gold and like unto clear glass: the twelve foundations a●e twelve precious stones, and the twelve gates, twelve pearls. Silver is there reputed but as base metal, for it is not so much as mentioned: but Precious Stones, and Pearls, and Gold only spoken of. Secondly it is a most Honourable Kingdom. It was a right honourable report which Cyneas the Ambassador of Pyrrhus King of the Epirottes, gave concerning the Senators of Rome; being demanded at his return from thence of his Lord, what he thought of them: to whom he made this answer, that they seemed unto him a Senate of Kings. But far more honourable is that which may be reported concerning this kingdom ● that all the members thereof, not seem, but are Kings, even an innumerable multitude of most honourable Kings, Aug d●ver● in●oc●n●● cap. 19●. and yet as Saint Augustine witnesseth, The Kingdom shall not be straightened by the multitude of Kings. Thirdly, it is a most joyful kingdom, where our joy shall be perfect joy, unto the which nothing can be added: even full joy. 1. john. 1 4. Fourthly, It is a most constant Kingdom; because it hath no mu●inye within▪ no conspiracy without to shake it. Fifthly, and lastly, it is a most durable kingdom, being indeed the end for which we were created, but having no end itself, as writeth Saint Augustine. Quis alius noster est finis nisi pervenire ad regnum, ●uius nullus est finis? Aug. de ●iu●●, de●. lib. 2●. What other end have we, but to come to the kingdom, whereof there is no end. For as much as then Sin, by bereaving us, of this triumphant part of the Assembly of the righteous, despoileth us also therewithal of a kingdom, not of an ordinary sort, but of a supereminent condition, as that which is most rich, honourable joyful, constant, durable. Oh! how ought it to stir up our secure, and to set an edge to out duil spirits? that we may banish sin, and obtain this kingdom▪ not retain sin that we may be banished this kingdom? There is no man so sinful, but God will be merciful, if man can be truly sorrowful. The justice of GOD (saith Saint Augustine) hath looked Aug●● Psal, 84. down from heaven, saying. Let us spare this man, because he hath not spa●ed himself: Let us acknowledge him, because he hath acknowledged himself: He is turned to punish his sin, and let us turn to deliver him from sin. By this means shall we not sink and fall, but rise and stand in the assembly of the righteous. This Psalm at the first entrance thereupon, suffered a threefold division. The first concerned the state of the godly in the three first verses. The second, the state of the ungodly in the fourth and fift verses. The third and last, the condition of them both● in the sixth and last verse of this Psalm. Which sixth verse as an Epiphomenia or acclamation, answereth to the precedent matter of this Psalm, [For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked shall perish. In which words, there offer themselves, unto my further amplification and handling, a double branch. The former is the branch of God's favour toward the righteous, [The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. The other, the branch of God's rigour toward the wicked, [The way of the wicked skall perish. The branch of God's favour to the godly, first cometh to my hand and handling. This containeth in it two points. First, what the way of the righteous here spoken of meaneth. Secondly: that, the Lord knoweth it. That we may the better understand, what the way of the righteous meaneth, Let us be advertised, that the righteous have a threefold way. The first natural, and of Generation. The second, civil and of Profession. The third Spiritual and of Regeneration. The first of the three is of necessity for their being: the other two, de bene esse, for their well being. The one, for the well being in the Commonwealth against Idleness and want, The other for their well being in the Church, against Sin and Punishment. The way natural or of generation of the righteous, necessary to their being, is that which is both of their birth into this world, and life in this world. A thing is this common to them with all men, not only with them, who live under the happy and blessed awe of Magistracy and government: but even with Barbarians and Savages themselves, never yet swayed or ruled by the Sceptre or Sword of any Magistrate. In this acceptation way may be taken, Gen. 6. 12. where it is said, All flesh have corrupt their way upon earth: their way, etc. that is, the way of their life and being. That though GOD at the first had created them in holiness and integrity: yet have they turned away to froward ways, Eccles. 2. 15. that they mought weary themselves in the way of Wickedness, Wisdom. 5. 7. The second way of the Righteous, is that which is civil, or of some profession, of necessity to their well-being in the commonwealth. Or this the prophet David speaketh: Psal. 36. 4. They Imagine mischief in their bed for they have set themselves in no● good way. Where the prophet maketh it the original and fountayne-head of sin and mischief in the ungodly, because they want the good way of the godly: that is a good calling of civil profession, or conversation among men. This thing affirm I to be necessary among the righteous, to their welbeeing in the commonweal: first in regard of Idleness thereby to be avoided: secondly in respect of want to be shunned. First Idleness by the Righteous is hereby to be avoided, Idleness is a fault which becometh a grave of a living man, and must needs belong unto him which is not in the way of some calling or profession. The Idle then becometh toward himself as raguel to Tobiah, who made a grave for him before he was dead: Tob. 8. ●. A sin of Sodom, not of jerusalem; to be found in the reprobates, not the righteous: a badge of Satan's sluggards, not of God's servants. nunquam otiosus ●ei servus (saith Saint Bernard:) the servant of God is never idle in the way of his wellbeinge in the commonwealth, lest Bernard. he should be in Cities, as Drones in hives, rather to be banished then cherished. Secondly, Want by the Righteous is hereby to be shunned: where such a Way is Wanting, a Calling is Wanting ● where there is no Calling, there is Sluggishness: where Sluggishness and idleness beareth sway, there Poverty and Want cometh on. First, suddenly, because it cometh as one travailing by the way. Secondly, strongly, as an armed man, which by the suddenness cannot be prevented, and by the strength cannot be Prou. 6. 11. resisted. It is ordained for man, to eat his bread in the sweat of Gen. 3. 19 his brows, as if it were Gods will, that where there is no sweeting of the browe● There should be no eating of bread. Where eating of bread is prohibited, there want must needs be inferred. Would we then shun this necessity? then must we provide, that we may have bread, not only in a literal sense; but also as it is taken for all the necessaries of this life. Would we have this bread lawfully ministered unto us? then must our hands minister unto our necessities: that is to say, our feet must walk: our fingers must work: our brow, in every vocation and calling, Ecclesiastical or Civil, Liberal or Mechanical, must sweat for it▪ Every man must say, and the godly will say, as sometime that famous Alphonsus' King of Arragon did, who being reproved of one Matthaeus Siculus, for that he would now and then, set those hands of his to the Spade, which were ordained to sway the Sceptre, made this answer. Cogitas deum & naturam nequicquam mihi has manus dedisse? Thinkest thou that God and Nature hath given unto me these hands in vain? whereupon the Godly man, that he may shun want, doth not shun work: but he setteth himself in some good way, in regard of this Civil profession, in the Commonwealth, necessary to his Wellbeing therein, that Want may be shunned. The third way of the righteous, is, that which is spiritual of his Regeneration necessary to him, for his Wellbeing in the Church. This is the way chiefly aimed at in this place. This as it is the Way of God, so is it also the Way of the Godly, A perfect way appertaining only to just and Psal. 101. 2. Hebr. 12. 23. perfect men. The necessity of which Way concerneth the Righteous, both against Sin, and also the punishment of sin.. First, this necessity concerneth the Righteous in regard of Sin; which by continuance in this Way is mortified. While they continue in this way, they neither have acquaintance with sin, nor sin with them: the● are strange the one to the other. Sin may be in them, but cannot reign in them. Rom. 6. 12. Secondly, this necessity concerneth the Righteous in rearguard of the punishment of sin. For until we be travailers in this Way, are we Children of God's wrath: Upon Ephess, 2. 3. Apocal, 15. 7● whom, the Vials of his wrath were to be powered out: but this way of our newbirth or Regeneration, is become a better security to us then the blood of the Lamb sprinkled Exod. 12. 22. on the door posts of the houses of the Israelites. For that was the material blood of the Typical Lamb, to be as a token to God, at that time to preserve them from Temporal destruction of the Egyptians. But in this way is found the omni-sufficient blood of the True lamb of God john. 1. 29. Christ jesus, who taketh away the sins of the world: which being sprinkled on the tables of our hearts protecteth and sheildeth us from the spiritual destruction of Satan. This way is called, A new and living way. Heb. 10. 20. New, because therein we are Renewed and changed in our mind, Rom. 12. 2. not putting off leisurely, but casting off speedily, the old man which is corrupt through the deceivable lusts, and putting on the new man CHRIST ●phes, 4. 22. 24. JESUS, which after GOD is created in righteousness toward man; and true holiness toward God himself. A living way because we which were Dead in trespasses and sins, before we entered into this way, quickened again in this way. Eph. 21. quickened unto a twofold life of grace in present possession in this world: of glory, in undoubted expectation in the world to come. It is a worthy speech of Saint Hilary, who compareth the man unregenerate to an Egg: the man regenerate Hilar●● Mat▪ can. 24. unto a Chicken. Christ saith concerning jerusalem. How often would I have gathered thy children even as a h●n gathereth her Chickens under her wings? Mat. 23. 37. whereupon writeth that Father. Alia pullis nascendi alia vivendi, ratio. To Chickens there is one reason of birth, another▪ of life. First they are contained in certain shells of Eggs, as it were in a prison, after that being cherished by the diligence of there dame under the coverture of her wings they come forth and in time fly abroad. Christ (saith he) after the manner of this familiar foul, would have gathered them together, that they which wear yet as the Egg brought forth by the condition of nature, being borne again by a new spring of regeneration cherished by heat, mought (as it wear) by there winged bodies fly up into Heaven. Thus to become Chickens brooded and fostered under the wing of our Blessed Saviour, is to hold this way of regeneration and quickening being dead and cherishing being made alive by the warmeth of the spirit of Christ, according to the warrant of the word of Christ, wherein we must not suffer the warmth of our zeal to go before the warrant of our knowledge, but as speaketh. Saint Basil, Quemadmodum coera sculpturae typo tradita. etc. As S. Basil▪ de 〈◊〉. wax set upon the shape of any ●eale or graving doth exactly represent the figure which is in that seal or graving so we delivering ourselves wholly to evangelical doctrine are both informed only, and conformed according to the form thereof. This is the way of the righteous principally here to be understood vid. there way▪ spiritual & of regelation, necessary to there well-being in the Church, both against sin and the punishment of sin. The second point of the former branch, the Lords favour toward the godly is, that [The Lord knoweth this way, etc. The LORD knoweth it, both by the knowledge of his Apprehension, and also by the knowledge of his Approbation. The knowledge of the lords apprehension▪ it is the knowledge of wisdom whereby every thing lay open unto him; nothing is hid from him. For which▪ cause as the number of Seven is the number of perfection; there be ascribed unto the Lord seven eyes. Zacha. 3. 9 under the name of the stone there spoken off▪ to intimate that he seethe all things. He that hath given thee an eye to see any thing, shall not his eyes see all things? He which hath furnished thee with knowledge to understand any thing, shall not he understand all things. The Poet Pindaru●, could say to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindaru●. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The storehouses of all our actions are in heaven. These actions of our have been everlastingly laid up in the everliving treasure-house of God's omni-science or power to know all things. These be those Idea, which Plato speaketh off being certain Essential impressions in the mind of God, of all Plato. things which according to that form should be, & without such a form precedent could not be in the world. A Sparrow is but a vile thing, two of them are sold for a farthing: Math. 10 29. yet God so knoweth them, as he hath a special care of them, that not one of them fall to the ground without him. The grass or flower of the field seemeth to be a viler thing, as Math, 6. 30. that which is to day and to morrow it is cast into the oven: yet God not only knoweth it, but regardeth & beauty fi it so, As Solomon in all his royalty was not arrayed like one of Verse, 29. these. The ha●e of a man's head is without compare the vilest thing of all, yet God so knoweth it, as he hath numbered it. Math. 10. 30. God who hath made all things in weight, measure and number, knoweth the weight, measure & number of all things. This moved Plotinus though he were but a Platonist and no Christian, as witnesseth Saint Augustine, to say that Gods apprehensive providence doth Aug. de civi, de●. ●●. 10. c. 14 extend itself ad ipsos floscul●s & foliorum pulchritudinem, to the very flowers and beauty of leaves. On which flowers and leaves, if we would somewhat seriously contemplate and meditate with ourselves, the wondrous variety and colour of the one, and the natural art or artificial nature (as I may so say) of the interfolding and embroidering of the strings, iunctures and twistes the one of them with the other: In the other we may well break out into that Pathetical exclamation with the Prophet David. Psalm. 104 ●4. O Lord how manifold are thy works? in wisdom hast thou made them all. If God made them, then must it be also granted, that he knew them: and as witnesseth Holy Augustine. If God made all things with Aug de civi. dei. li. 11. c. 10 understanding, he made those things also which he knew. Ex quo occurrit animo quiddam mirum tamen verum. etc. Whereupon cometh to mind a certain wondrous but a true matter; that this world could not be known unto us unless it were, but unless it were known unto God, could have no being at all. Which as it is true concerning the whole world, so is it as true concerning every singular member of it. This is the knowledge of God's Apprehension or Wisdom. The second knowledge of God it is that which is of his Approbation and Favour. The knowledge of God's Apprehension as it did extend itself to all things: so also did it comprehend, whatsoever doth or may appertain to the way natural, and of generation, civil and of profession of the righteous, which as it is a way merely natural and of generation civil and of profession, the Lord apprehendeth it only, approveth it not. Because it may be found among the Turks and Heathens, which have both natural being and civil trading: and yet because they are not become members of Christ and to be found in the way spiritual and of regeneration or known therein unto God, not in the knowledge of his Approbation but Apprehension only. Would we then be certified what knowledge is here meant? It is no doubt the knowledge of God's Approbation. Would we also be informed what way of the righteous it concerneth? verily there way Spiritual or of Regeneration: the way of there new birth, the way of there ingrafture into the vine Christ: of becoming the mystical members of there head Christ, of there in●ouling into the assembly of the heavenly Denizens, and of their entitling to the inheritance of God's Kingdom. This, oh! this is the way of the righteous, which God so knoweth as he acknowledgeth, so acknowledgeth as he approveth. The other ways in his children, God respectively (it may be) approveth, for the cause of this way: but never alloweth he therein any place, at any time, among any people without this way. This me thinks that God thus knoweth the Way of his righteous ones, Servants, Saints and Children, not only so as he apprehendeth it in his wisdom, but approveth it in his mercy, should move and egg on the righteous ones, the Servants, Saints, and Children of God, in God's School to take forth a twofold lesson. Whereof the one is of Patience in afflictions: the other of Practice of good actions. The former is the lesson of Patience in afflictions, for GOD seethe, knoweth, and approveth there way herein. Some great Prince or mighty Statesman upon earth apprehendeth the more in his thought and loveth more in his heart that champion of his, which so with Fortitude fighteth his battle, as he also with Patience beareth the wounds of his Adversary, whereby as the love of his LORD is enkindled toward him: so likewise he knowing that the eyes of his Lord looketh upon him, increaseth his courage, and enlargeth the manliness of his hardy combat. This world, indeed, it is the appointed Acheldama or Field of blood, wherein God is our King and we be his champions, to fight the battles of his truth against the Princes of the darkness of this World, & spiritual wickedness in high places. God our King so beholdeth us as he knoweth us, so knoweth us as he approveth us. Oh how ought then this to animate us with courage, and arm us with patience against all the troops of of afflictions, against all the assaults of our enemies! That we may stand against all the waves of troubles, as a Rock against the billowing surges of the raging sea, cleansed it may be, but not moved, much less removed That we may become like Athanasius of whom Gregor: Nazia●z Greg. Nazian. oratio. ●un●b. in Athanas. reporteth that he was Dissidentibus magnes, percutientibus adamas: A Loadstone whose nature is to draw iron the hardest matter unto it, to them which were at variance: An adamant which is very hardly broken with strokes to them which smote him: winning the affections of men by the one; bearing afflictions from men by the other. The conquering captain doth triumph (saith S. August) because he conquered, but he had not conquered but that he fought, that by how much his danger hath been the greater in the battle, by so much his joy may be the more in the triumph. We expect a greater triumph than this, not in earth among Men, but in Heaven among Angels. And shall we think that we shall triumph without a conquest? or conquer without a battle, or remain in the battle without patience? A tempest tossing the Maryner threateneth wrack of his vessel, all wax pale for fear of death: on the sudden the Heaven is calmed, the Sea assuaged: whereupon their joy is the larger because their fear was the greater. We are as Mariners, sailing in the Ship of the Church, on the Sea of this world, it (hapyly) is the will of God, that a tempest for a time should toss us; that the fear of a wrack should affright us. But when we least expect it, this tempest shall be dispelled; this sea calmed, this ship secured, this wrack escaped: Shall we not then undergo that trouble with patience? the consideration of the fierceness whereof, bringeth our rejoicing, by our escape from it, to a greater fullness? Is a man sick? and is there by the advise of the Physician, no other way for his recovery, but the opening of his vein, and the letting forth of his blood? Surely he will patiently suffer his flesh to be ●ut, and his vein to be opened, and his blood also to be drawn forth, that he may recover his bodily health. O● we are those sick patients, sick indeed by the occasion of sin, in our bodies, but, O! far more sick by the contagion of sin in our souls. God himself becometh our Physician, whose counsel is for our recovery, that we should let out the corrupt blood of our sinne-sicke souls, with the Launcer of afflictions: and shall we not then possess our souls with patience? that so we may possess our souls in peace, in purity, in health, by the benefit of it? GOD, which in the Rose hath joined the flower and thorn together, hath coupled in the Church, sorrow and joy, affliction and consolation together. Sorrow and affliction goeth before, joy and consolation followeth after, as in the gathering of Roses, the thorn first pricketh the hand, before the flower contenteth the nostrils. And as the light is more comfortable after the darkness, then if there had been no darkness at all: so joy, and consolation is more acceptable after sorrow and affliction, then if there had been no sorrow or affliction at all; even as (saith Saint Augustine) Edendi et bibendi volup●●s nulla, Aug. lib. confess 8. cap. 13. nisi praecedat esuriendi, & sitiendi moles●ia: there is no pleasure at all of eating or drinking unless the trouble of hunger and thirst go before. Seeing then triumph praesupposeth a conquest, a conquest a battle, a bat tail patience. We must be patiented that we may ●ight, fight that we may conquer, conquer that we may triumph. Seeing then that our greater joy dependeth upon our deliverance from our spiritual shipwreck, the deliverance from this wrack, a former being in danger in this wrack, and our danger in this wrack, patience to bear it, we must be patiented, that we may bear the danger, be in danger, before we can be delivered; and be delivered before our joy can be enlarged. Seeing then comfort for the recovery of our health fore-argueth sickness, and sickness patience. We must be patiented to undergo this sickness, that this sickness patiently borne may expect the renuall of our health, that our health renewed may store our hearts with comfort. Seeing then to conclude, that GOD hath so mixed the sweet and sour together, that the one cannot be without the other: yet the one is the more enlarged by the con-comitancy and propinquity of the other, as the Stars shine more clearly in the black night, then in the bright day Oh! how ought we to be the more patiented in the one, that we may be the more pleasured, profitted, and perfected by the other? Especially advising that beside and above all this, our patience is done in the sight and knowledge of GOD, who seethe and knoweth it, as a path of the way of the Righteous, which he loveth and alloweth. The second lesson which the children of GOD are to take forth in GOD'S school is of practice in good actions, because whatsoever good they do, it is done in the sight and knowledge of GOD who loveth and approveth it: piety towards God; charity in instructing the souls, and relieving the bodies of the ignorant and poor brethren, and purity in themselves, God looketh on it, God liketh it. The godly is ever to be doing. As the Idle doth nothing at all: The evil nothing but that which is bad: so the godly is ever to be practising that which is good. He that the spirit of God vouchsafeth to call the man of God, he must flee these things. If you would know 1 Tim 6. 11. Vers. 4. 5. 10. what things: envy▪ strife, railings, evils, surmisings, vain disputations of men of corrupt mind. Covetousness also: and not only so: but he must follow after, Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness: godliness and Vers. 12. faith towards God; love and righteousness among men: patience and meekness in himself. All which Timothy was to do as charged in the sight of God. Of necessity Vers. 13. must this be done in the sight of God, because to lead an upright life as this is, is to walk with God. Genes. 5. 22. There is much strife who should be a True Catholic. But he indeed is the true Catholic christian, which as the Catholic Church consisteth in the vn●uersality of all sexes and persons, so hath in him (as near as may be) an universal perfection of all goodness and virtues. Let us therefore in walking before God, labour to be perfect Children of Abraham, like Abraham himself, whom God willeth to walk before him, and to be upright or perfect. Genes. 17. 1. The second branch that cometh to my handling is of GOD'S rigour toward the wicked. And the way of the wicked shall perish. Wherein, as in the former, my proceeding must be in two points: First, the interpretation of the meaning of, the way of the wicked: Secondly, the confusion of it. Shall perish. Concerning the Interpretation or sense of the way of the wicked. Be it known unto us that the wicked have a double way. The one, the way of their being: the other, the way of their doing. Touching the Confusion, or end of the way of the wicked, let us be advertised of two members. 1. how it shall be confounded or end by Perishing. 2. when [Shall perish. The Way of the being of the Wicked cometh first to handling. This is the Way of their living and breathing. Genes. 6. 12. but my mind is not to stand on it. The other way of the wicked it is the way of their doing: which compriseth in it, both their Civil doing, and their Evil doing. The Civil doing of the wicked, is that which concerneth their special calling and vocation in the Commonwealth as being several members of the body Political, whereof the chief Magistrate is the head. The evil doing of the wicked is that which is called, The way of wickedness. Psalm. 1●9. ●4. The way of darkness. Prou. 2 13. The way of Hell. Prou. 7. 27. because ●t leadeth from wicked ●esse, by darkness, into hell. The second point of my proceeding, it is th● Confusion, or end of this way. ●●●●ll perish, Wherein we were first to be advertised how this way should be confounded or brought to an end, by perishing: 2. When [Shall perish. Touching the confusion of the way of the wicked by perishing: as it may be understood of all the ways of the wicked; so principally concerneth it the Way of their evil doing, and the way of their being, which ch●●●ly by this cen●u●e are appointed by GOD, to perish. First the way of there evildoing shall perish, that is the way of there sin: the way of transgressing the law and violating the will of God. By which they neglect, yea cast a ●ay there duty towards God in the first, and there love towards Man in the Second tables of the Law. They admit more Gods than one; they worship images, they blaspheme Gods holy name, they profane his Sabaothes, against the form●rtable of the Law; therein piercing (as it were) directly and immediately the sides of God himself by the fiery darts of there sinful actions. They disobey there parents, whether they be by Nature, Office, or age; they shed blood, commit adultery, practise theft, bear false witness, covet that which belongeth not to them, therein bending the bow of there mischievous misdoings, against the very faces of there brethren and neighbours, A way which howsoever it seemeth for a time to flourish, yet shall undoubtedly in due time Perish. Thus perished the tyranny of Saul, the oppression of Ahab, the pride of Nabucchadnezzar, the theft of Achan, the rebellion of Corah, the couetu●●snes of G●hezi, being as the grass on the house top which withereth, before it cometh up. Psalm. 129. 6. Be it that sin bears the head so high, as it is advanced even to the Tops of the houses yet is it then and there, first, but as Grass which of itself is but a fleeting and brittle thing, secondly as Grass that is Withered: thirdly not as Grass Withered in the 〈◊〉 thereof when it sprouteth forth and 〈◊〉 but, before it cometh forth, that is in the very root or rather seed of it, which being gone, all hope is therewithal removed of being prospered, and a certain unavoidable principle already concluded of the Perishing of it. Though then the sins of the Wicked, be as cords, whereby they are willing, if they were able to pull down God from Heaven, against the first table of the Law, whereby they labour to bind their neighbours in the misery of an everlasting thraldom upon earth, against the second table of the law. Yet to show that these are no lasting but perishing cords, they are said to be cut asunder Psal. 1●9. 4. by the Lord. When our sins are grown up and become ripe for the vintage than hath the Lord a sharp sickle to put into them, to cut them down, and to cast them into the great Winepress of the wrath of GOD, Apocal. 14. 19 Oh woeful condition of us sinful men! We betake ourselves unto the Way of sin, not as they which will walk therein for a time, but as such as purpose to travail therein for ever. We make it our Lord, and we become slaves and vassals unto it. We drink it down as a delicate Wine: as the bread of our nourishment do we feed of it. We stay ourselves on it, as the staff of our strength, and as our garments, do we gird it about us, and truss it close unto us, as the girdle of our loins; that as Christ was said to be written in the heart of Ignatius; so sin, and nothing but sin, is not written, but graven in the rebellious hearts of the godless persons of these vicious times. But if it would please God to open the eyes of our souls, by the working of his spirit, as he opened the eyes of Paul, by the means of Ananiah, Acts. 9 18. then should we see and perceive, that sin is not a thing to be valued at so high a price of us, as it is: for it is not of a lasting, but a perishingnature. If we be about to purchase an house to harbour us, or to buy a garment to us: we will be sure as near as we may, to purchase such an house, whose foundation may be firm, walls , beams and rafters, strong, etc. We will have a care also (to our utmost endeavour) to buy such a garment, as shall not be gone in a day or a week, but which shall last and continue (if it may be) for many years together. Are we then so careful not to lay out the price of gold and silver, which is but a corruptible matter for a rotten building, or a sleightye garment? and shall we then (alas) be careless in laying out the price of our souls for the purchasing and practising of sin, whose nature is flitting, because the Way thereof is Perishing? Meat, without all comparison, is better than sin, because when meat nourisheth the body; Sin becometh rather a death, than a diet both to Body and Soul: Doth Christ counsel us not to labour for the meat which perisheth. joh. 6, 27. And shall we labour for sin which perisheth? Manna was the food of Angels, which the children of Israel loathed, because it was but a●●ght meat, which lasted not. Number. 11. 6. Sin is not the food of Angels, but the brood of Satan, as light yea far more than Manna was, which (as in this Scripture) by Gods own appointment Perisheth; and shall we not despise it? loath it? abhor it? abandon it? Let me then beseech you, that as you will be heedful to avoid that way which will fail you before you come at your journeys end, so you would be as careful, to decline and shun this way, even the way of sin, which will prove defective in the midst of your journey therein; even as the way of Pharaoh both deceived and destroyed him in the sea, when on the sudden it stopped his passage, assailed him, overthrew him. Secondly the Way of the being of the wicked Shall perish, both Temporally in this life, and also everlastingly in the life to come. First the way of the wicked shall perish, Temporally in this life: even by some sharp stroke of God's particular judgement in this world taking away their lives from them. As God reserveth most men to the General judgement which shallbe of all flesh: so doth he cut off many men by the dint of his particular judgement in this there uncertain pilgrimage. Sometime he futurely deferreth the vial of his wrath, lest he should seem to be without Mercy. Sometime he presently poureth it forth, lest he mought be challenged to want justice. As Godliness hath the promises both of this life, and the life to come. 1. Tim. 4. 8. even the promises of mercy, both here to be enjoyed, and hereafter to be expected: so ungodliness hath the menacings both of this life, and also of the life to come: both here in some measure to be tasted, and hereafter in a fuller cup of God's wrath to be drenke down. To this end, those heavy curses are charged upon the heads of the ungodly; and those deadly cups are made the portion of the wicked to drink. Deut. 28. even in this world temporally. That if they ●●ey not the voice of the Lord their God, to keep and do all his commandments and ordinances, that then they must look for it, as for the lot of their inheritance: to be ●ursed in the town, in the field, in their basket and dough, in the fruit of their body▪ the fruit of their land, the increase of their Kine and flocks of their Sheep, in their coming in, and their going out. The Lord shall smite them, not only with a consumption, & fevor, & burning ague, and a fer●ent heat, with blasting, with mildews, with the botches of Egypt, with the Emeroddes, and with the scab, and with the itch incurable, shall not only cause the heaven that is over their head to be brass, and the earth which is under them Iron, giving them for rain, dust and ashes: but also shall make the pestilence cleave unto them, until he hath consumed them from the land, shall smite them with the sword▪ so that they shall fall before their enemies, and their ●arkasses shall be meat unto all the souls of the air, and unto the beast's of the earth, & none shall fray them away, etc. A mortal whip in that chapter described, which consisteth of many other strings to be inflicted, to the fatal perishing, or final confusion of the wicked, even in this life corporally. And shall we prise a drop of t●e Sea at an higher rate, than the whole body of the m●ine Ocean? shall we think that one man can be more dear unto God than the whole world of men hath been? If the whole world of men have sinned: the whole world of men have perished. And shall but one man ●latter himself to Genes. 7, 21. bear● an impudent forehead in his sin, and to harden his face against heaven as an Adamant, and yet to be privileged? Behold there have been in the world four principal Monarchies; and sin hath loosened the sinews of them all, and caused their lofty pride to lie in the dust. Lust and disolutenesse overthrew the first Monarchy of the world among the Assyrians. Prodigality supplanted the second of the Persians. Ambition and Discord dismembered the third of the Grecians. Impiety, hidden hatred, and private profit, wracked the fourth of the R●maines. Hath sin then overturned Kingdoms, yea Monarchies, which are (as it were) kingdom of kingdoms, even in this world? and shall we think that the wisdom of GOD is eclipsed, that he may not find out, his justice diminshed, that he will not punish: his arm shortened that he cannot smite, and curb the sins of private men, even in this life? Oh! let us not suffer ourselves to miscarry, by the misleading windings of our own errors. For as God will be a witness against the Soothsayer, the adulterer, the false swearer in the world to come. So becometh he also many times a swift witness against them, even in this present world: as jehu was appointed to root out the house of Ahab, in this life Malach. 3, 5 temporally. Secondly, the way of the wicked shall perish, in the world to come everlastingly. A thing which is begun, in all the race of the wicked in this life, increased after this life; consummate and fully accomplished at the day of general audite and judgement, both upon the subject of their bodies and of their souls. First, it is begun even in this life by the hellish dread of a galled conscience, which forerunneth the fire of hell, even as a smoke goeth before the flame. A worm is this bred in the bosom of the ungodly, which eue● gnaweth, an harbinger of the worm that never dieth. Mark. 9 46. A fire is this kindled in the bones of the ungodly tha● ever burneth, a necessary introduction to that fire that never goeth out. A worm, I say, it is which ever gnaweth, Ibid. because though it seemeth sometime to cease, yet is it as a Gangraena or a Canker, which fretteth the soul, as that secretly eateth the flesh, and sometime also like the gnawing of a ravenous beast, breaketh forth into open tortures. As a fire likewise which ever burneth, for though it may for a time lie smothered, as under a pile of green wood, yet when it hath mastered the moistness thereof, it sendeth forth by so much the greater flame, by how much it hath had the greater resistance. Sin is as a fired thorn, which causeth the conscience to boil and broil by the hellish heat of restless discontentment's. Hence cometh it to pass, that as a patiented, which hath Mercury, or some such eating corrosive, applied to his raw flesh, can never continue in one place, but turneth and tosseth himself up and down, wearying every place, and himself also, and yet findeth no more comfort than job did among his friends, when he phrased them by the name of miserable comforters. So the job. 16. 2. tooth of a torturing passion, being fixed on the wound of a galled conscience, affecteth it with that hell upon earth, as it causeth the person so affected, to seek for refreshing in variety, and after many tossed and turned sides, to complain of redreslesse and unstinted sorrow, like the evil spirit, which going out of the man, whom it formerly possessed, walked through dry places, seeking rest and finding none. Matth. 12. 43 The unsufferable pangs of this private hell have moved some with the foolish fish, to leap out of the pan into the fire, (as saith the Proverb) and to lay violent hand upon themselves for the riddance of one representative hell within them, thereby ever-lastingly to be swallowed up of the true hell without them: not unlike unto them, who being in danger of drowning in a shallow creak, think to find security by casting themselves into a deep whirlpool. Men of this mind, see●e to be more willing to go to the fiends to be tormented, then to have the fiends to come to torment them. Seeing then in a word, sin maketh an evil conscience, and a● evil conscience bringeth an hell with it, we must repress sin, that this evil conscience may be shunned, that the shunning of an evil conscience, may be a remoovall of this private hell, the beginning of our everlasting perishing. Secondly, this everlasting perishing of the wicked, is increased after this life, which shall then be, when the soul shallbe separate, from the body. This separation unto the Godly bringeth life, unto the ungodly death, and perishing, in that place and manner which God hath allotted to it. A dreadful (no doubt) share and portion of the wrath of God upon the wicked, to have their souls so separate from their bodies, as they are also separated from God; so deprived of light, as they shall remain in darkness, so bere●t of joy, as they shall taste of nothing but torments: so sundered from peace, as they shall always be distracted with discontentments: so devoid of hope as they shall continually be environed by, and swallowed up with desperation. Yet is this but the beginning of their sorrows, to be fully accomplished at the resurrection of their flesh, and the reunion of their bodies and souls together, the full complement and perfection of this their perishing. This shall be the utmost bounds of God's wrath & indignation, to be imposed on the wicked: when God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shall fully repay it, sharing out to all these children of reprobacie, their due and full reward, even their portion with hypocrites, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, This portion, as it is monstrously compacted of many hideous and affrightful limbs and members, so, to let pass the rest, we may insist upon these three. First, that there is a patternlesse extremity of it. An extremity in the utmost extent of sorrowings and torturings, which because it goeth beyond all extremities, is the extremity of extremities. Wherefore the spirit of God in the holy Scripture, doth set about it a fearful guard (as I may so say.) of so many terrifying titles and attributes, In which it is called Anger to come, Matth. 3. 7. A prison. 1. Pet. 3. 19 a dungeon of that depth and profundity, as it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a pit that is bottomless, Apocal. 9 2. A pit not only bottomless, for the depth of it; but also comfortless for the darkness of it, therefore is it styled by black darkness, 2. Pet, 2. 17, A fire, jam. 3. 6. A furnace of that fire. Matth. 13. 4●. Which of itself is everlasting, and will not go out. Matth. 18. 8; from others, is unquenchable, and cannot be put out, Matth. 3. 12. And no marvel, for it is a Lake of fire which burneth with Brimstone. Apocal. 19 20. If the fire which hath been given by God unto Man, for his use and comfort, be so hot and unsufferable in nature, as it deserveth the highest place of torments: what then shall we think that that fire is? which not Man, who is able to devise much, nor Angels, which are able to find out more, but God himself, who is infinitely able to invent most of all, hath in the largest compass of his wisdom sought out, to be not for use, but for a curse: not for the comfort of man, but for his torment; I say, what shall we think that fire to be? dolorous no doubt without limitation, and unsufferable above all conceit. Phalaris Bull, in comparison of this may be said to be but as the burning coals, which that holy confessor Tiburtius walked upon with his naked feet, which he deemed and affirmed to be but as so many roses. 4. It is a bitter and uncomfortable thing for a man to lie si●ke upon the hard ribs and iron sides of a grediron, more bitter and uncomfortable if it be upon a burning grediron. But far, oh! far more bitter and uncomfortable to burn in the flames of hell, the entraylls and bowels of whose ●urious burning, is far more tormenting and torturing, then can the sides and ribs of any grediron be. If the disionting of one only member doth affect us with more pain than we can with patience undergo. O! how shall we be able to undergo and suffer it when the whole body shall be tormented, and the whole soul discomfitted? If a man hath a pain in one only member how he bemoneth himself and complaineth? But these gnawing grievances shallbe in every part and parcel, joint, sinew, vain, muscle, artery, universally, and singularly, possessing at once, head, eyes, tongue teeth, throat, stomach, back, belly, heart, sides, in that misery that all the Logicians of the world cannot argue it: in that manner that all the rhetoricians of the world cannot utter it: in that number, that all the Arithmeticians in the world cannot sum it; in that content that all the Geometritians of the world cannot measure it. This caused rich Dives to be clothed with Purple flames, as he sometime was clothed in Purple: to be compassed in with Black Darkness, as he sometime was appareled with Fine White: to sue for a drop of Cold Water, with more torrentes of tears, than ever Esau sought for his blessing, Luke. 16. A drop of cold water, why? even to cool his tongue. He which showed not so much mercy toward Lazarus necessities, as some of the Dogs had done to his Sores, in that they licked them with their tongues, hath his tongue burning in hell. He which denied Lazarus a crumb of bread to ●lacke his hunger, when he begged it obtained not so much as a drop of cold water to cool his tongue, though he sueth for it. But be it (miserable Dives) that thou hadst obtained thy drop, and with thy drop, not only the rivers of the South, but all the waters of the South and North seas, yet shouldest thou have found less ease in the burning fit of an hellish torment by all these waters; then the sick patient doth in the burning fit of an hot ague after a draft of cold water, whereby his malady is rather increased then assuaged. Or be it, that thy tongue should find ease: yet thy heart, thy liver, thy lungs, thy bowels, thy arms, thy legs, should burn and broil, fry and flame still. The extremity therefore of this perishing everlasting is patternlesse. Secondly there is an endless perpetuity of it. A fire that never goeth out. Mar. 9 46. When, as many millions (not of years but of Ages) be expired, as there be stars in the firmament, yet will there still by an infinite computation be as many more to come. Be it that a man should once only in an hundred thousand years, take a drop of water out of the main Sea. How many millions of ages would be spent before he should empty it? yet sooner should this vast deep be exhausted and dried up, by thus taking a drop out of it, than this time ended. Be it that a man should live not the age of Mathewsalem (the eldest liver) but from the creation to the resurrection that is the Age of the world, and should spend all that time in setting together the greatest numbers he possibly can, and in the end▪ should sum them altogether: yet is it less to this number then a grain of ●●nd to the whole shore of the sea. Suppose that the whole circumference of the Heaven; from the East to the W●●t, and from the West to the East, again were filled wi●h figures, set according to the art of Arithmetic, yet cannot it (I will not say) match but touch the account of the infinite times, wherein these torments shall be suffered. The reason of all which may be this, because if a man should subtract a hundred thousand thousands of millions from a number that is infinite, it remaineth infinite still. But may some man say, how may this stand with the equity of God's justice? to punish the finite sin of man, with an infinite punishment, the boundless perishing, in hand. The answer here-unto shall not be mine but S. Gregory's, Gregoy. Picus Mirandula: Apolog. quest. 2. alleged for this purpose by Picus Mirandulanus, who saith: Peccator punitur paena aeterna, quia peccavit in suo aeterno, id est sine fine. A sinner is punished with an everlasting punishment, because he hath sinned in his everlastingness, that is without end. In his everlastingness, that is, either because when he lived he never ceased to add sin unto sin, as one link is in a chain coupled together with another, without any intermission, for as much as he never broke off his sin by repentance: or else in his everlastingness (which cometh more home to the matter) because if he had lived longer he had sinned longer; if he had lived ever, he had sinned ever: unto which consenteth Tho. Aquinas cited in the same place Tho. Aqui● Sentent. 4. saying, ideo durare paenam damnatorum in aeternum, quia culpa durat in aeternum: that therefore the punishment of the damned do last for ever, because their fault remaineth for ever. It standeth therefore with the justice of God that he which hath a will ever to sin should ever be punished for his sin. neither tormented, nor consumed. But me thinks, I hear some man say, how can this stand with the infirmity of the body of man? Ever to be perishing and burning in these flames, never to be perished and burnt up with them? Because I do, and still wish I may ascribe more to the judgement of other orthodoxal writers of the Church, then to mine own shallowness; Let holy August. lose this knot, and satisfy this August. de Civitat. d●i. lib. 21. cap. 4. objection; who in his book of the City of GOD bringeth many examples for the illustrating of the truth of this point unto us. The Salamander (saith he) liveth in the fire: the Mountains of Civilie for a great long continuance of time are burnt with flames and yet remain whole. The sodden flesh of a peacock (as that father speaketh by his own experience at Carthage) corrupteth not for some years together, chaff is of a cold nature to keep snow from melting, and yet of a wh●t operation in ripening the fruits which are therein laid up: ●oales which 〈◊〉 broken with the least pressure of the foot; yet in moist places a●● conserved for a very long season: Lime which is cold to them that touch it, Miraculum apud nos si quod apud Indos. A miracle with us if any be among the Indians, waxeth hot, not with the infusion of oil which is of a whotter nature upon it, but of water which is of a colder temper; The Loadstone draweth iron to it, but in the presence of the Adamant looseth that virtue; Adamas nullis malleis comminutus hir●ino sanguine emollitur, The Adamant Which is broken which no hammers, yet is softened with goats blood. If the wisdom God doth thus dispose of these matters in nature, how much more shall the power of GOD produce more miraculous effects in causes supernatural, to cause the bodies of the wicked to be in the fire of hell, tormented and not consumed? As it made the bodies of the three Children to be in Nabuchad●ezzars oven neither tormented nor consumed. Thirdly there is a Remediless misery of it. If all the Angels in heaven; if all the Saints which have been upon ●a●th: Abraham, Isaac, jacob, all the Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors▪ etc. should become perpetual Solicitors and Intercessors to God, for a release of this perpetual punishment, yet should they not be able to do any thing therein; but should be like those whom God sendeth empty away. Luke, 1. 53. If the Father should make request for the Son, the Mother for the Daughter; they must have the repulse, for the sentence of Christ cannot be reversed; his decree not repealed. Oh! how ought we then to labour to avoid this patternelesse, endless, easeless, perishing? In the torture whereof the tormented miscreant would (if it wear in his power,) give the whole world for one minutes releasement, to leave off to be wicked, to endeavour to be godly: that we being not found in the way of the wicked, with the way of the wicked we may not perish. The second thing which we are to be advertised of concerning the confusion of the way of the wicked, is the time when: In that it is not said that it presently doth, but that it futurely [Shall perish. The act of perishing doth testify God's judgement: The time that it is not yet, but shall be, doth proclaim his mercy, God's Mercy goeth coupled with his judgement; even as our sweet Saviour and his bitter cross were joined together. judgement and mercy in God be, as two hands in man: judgement as the left hand, Mercy as the right hand: and as man is wont to use his right hand more than his left; so is God delighted rather with the use of Mercy, then of judgement. A course of God which shall be the Close of this Psalm, that as it beginneth in Blessedness, so it may end in mercy; intimated unto us in this; that as it is a part of his judgement, that the way of the wicked perisheth: so it is an argument of his Mercy that it doth not presently perish, but that it futurely Shall perish. God give us grace that we may not with the wicked ones feel of his judgements, but with the godly feed of his mercies; and that for his son Christ jesus sake, to whom together with the Holy spirit, three persons and one God, be ascribed all Honour, Glory, Praise, Power, and Dominion, both now and for ever. Amen.