SIX SERMONS DELIVERED IN THE LECTURE AT KETTERING In the county of Northampton, and in certain other places. BY JOHN FOSBROKE bachelor in divinity; late of Sidney college in Cambridge, and now Rector of the Parish-Church of S. Andrew in Craneford, in the county aforesaid. Gregor. Moral. Lib. 28. Nisi Spiritus Sanctus auditorum corda repleat, ad aures corporum vox Doctorum incassum sonat. Formare enim vocem magistri exteriùs possunt, said hanc interiùs imprimere non valent. 1. COR. 3.6. I have planted, Apollo watered: but God gave the increase. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge. 1633. ❧ TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, JOHN, By the Divine providence, Lord Bishop of LINCOLN, one of his Majesties most Honourable privy council, increase of Grace in this life, and the full fruition of Glory in the life to come. Right Honourable, Right Reverend, and my singular good Lord, THe persuasion and importunity of some of my friends, and such as may challenge no small interest in me, hath( after many distracted thoughts and unsettled resolutions) induced me to adventure to exhibit some certain Sermons to the public view and use of others. Of myself I have ever been averse from such a bold attempt, as being too much conscious to mine own wants and imperfections, to entertain a thought of committing any of my poor labours unto the press. But as those that had not gold, silver, precious stones, &c. to bestow towards the structure and ornament of the material tabernacle of God, brought Exod. 35 6, 7. fine linen, goats hair, rams skins, badgers skins, &c. and they were not onely accepted; but also did in some proportion promote the work in hand, and help to bring the same unto perfection: So likewise I thought that in the building of that spiritual 1. Cor. 3.16. temple of God, whose walls consist of 1. Pet. 2.5 living stones; whose Ephes. 2.20. foundation is built upon the Apostles and Prophets; and whose chief corner-stone is Christ Jesus; though I could not show myself {αβγδ}( as the 1. Cor. 3. 1●. Apostle speaketh) yet it might be in some measure acceptable to God, and conduce towards the perfection of that sacred building, if my poor labours were employed therein, but as Deut. 29.11. an hewer of wood, or drawer of water. They were Princes of the congregation, which gave Numb. 7.13, 14. silver chargers, silver bowls, cups of gold, &c. But neither Moses, nor David, no nor God himself despised the meanest gifts and offerings of inferior persons. Our Saviour Christ would not have rejected him that had but one talent, if he had negotiated with it, and not Luk. 19.20. and Matth. 25.25. tied it up in a napkin, and hide it in the ground. And the Widows Luk. 21.1, 2, 3, 4. two mites, though they very little increased the stock; yet were accepted as well as the great abundance, which the rich men cast into the treasury. To which mites I may fitly resemble these my poor labours, as being of no value in themselves: which therefore I had wholly suppressed, if I had not been confident that God doth more respect the heart and affection of the giver, then the worth and value of the gift. Resolving then upon these motives to give way to the importunity of my friends, I conceived that the more I was conscious to mine own infirmity, the more it concerned me to make choice of some noble and worthy Patron, under whose protection I might presume to shrowd these first-fruits of my labours. And therefore, after some serious thoughts passed in that kind, I was for special reasons induced humbly to crave your Lordships favour; both to accept of these my rude and indigested Observations, as a testimony of the obsequious love and service, which I have for many yeares born towards your Honour: and also to vouchsafe to suffer them to pass under your noble protection. First, because some of these Sermons were delivered in the Lecture at Kettering, when your Lordship vouchsafed to be a principal member of that society: which gave me no small hope, that you would the rather cast a favourable aspect both upon me, and these my poor labours. Secondly, because the principal end, and scope of these Sermons is to preach piety and charity, the sum and substance of the practic part of Christian Religion: whereof your Lordship hath given many rare examples. To which no small lustre is added, in that your Lordship hath not left these works of piety and charity to be performed by your Executors: but you have seen the compliment and perfection of them while you are yet living. Which both the Universities, and divers other places( to your immortal famed and renown) do daily, and will perpetually testify. Thirdly, I was the rather encouraged to presume upon your Lordships favourable acceptance, because that you have not onely ever been a noble Patron of all good learning: but also you have shewed singular respect to such as you have found industrious and painful in the Church of God. And therefore I shall think myself happy, if in the small remainder of my dayes, I may bestow my strength and labours, or be myself bestowed to benefit the Church of God, and do your Lordship any kind of service, though in the least and smallest degree. Thus was I animated to present this small volume, together with my humble service unto your Lordship, hoping that you will vouchsafe to cast the wing of your protection over it, and favourably accept of my poor endeavours. To which my humble request if your Lordship shall vouchsafe to condescend; I shall not fear the detracting calumnies of cynical censurers, but think myself to be safe under the favour of so worthy a person: whom God hath exalted to such eminent place both in the Church, and Common-wealth. Yea your Lordships favourable acceptation is sufficient to beget Hieromes resolution in me: E●ist. lib. 1. ●pist. 2. ad P●●linum. Legant qui volunt, qui nolunt abjiciant. Eventilent apices, literas calumnientur. Magis vestrâ charitate provocabor ad studium, quàm illorum detractione& odio deterrebor. And I shall receive no small encouragement to proceed forward in a work of another kind, which I purpose shortly( God willing) to present unto your Lordship. I can pled no worth; and therefore do humbly sue for favour. I hunt not after a shadow of famed for eloquence: I prefer naked truth before all painted flourishes; and affect such a style as may profit the meanest auditor. For I remember what S. Augustine hath spoken to that point: Epist. ad D●m●tr. De scriptures disputantem non decet Aristotelis argumenta conquirere: nec ex flumine Tullianae eloquentiae ducendus est rivulus: nec aures Quintiliani flosculis& scholari declamatione mulcendae: said pedestris& quotidianae similitudinis,& nullâ lucubratione redolens oratio necessaria est, quae rem explicet, sensum edifferat, obscura manifestet. Onely in handling the sacred Scriptures, it hath ever been my desire( by the help of expositors and the small insight which God hath given me in the original tongues) to endeavour thoroughly to indigate and search out the drift and scope of the Spirit of God, and the true sense and interpretation of the words, before I presume to build any thing upon them. Wherein I aclowledge that I do run a contrary course to that novel conceit of many amongst us at this day; which blushy not( in private discourse) to vent their too nice and fantastical opinion, that the time which is spent in the pulpit in interpretation( if it exceed a short paraphrase consisting of a few words) is but lost; and that it is not preaching, until we say this is the doctrine, &c. Which superficial handling of the word of God( now too much practised in public) I can resemble to nothing more aptly, then to erecting a large and goodly structure upon the superficies of the earth, without digging or searching for firm ground whereon to place the foundation thereof: which therefore is by every storm or violent blast shaken and endangered, if not overthrown and ruined. The ancient Fathers and doctors in the Church conceived not that John 4.10 the water of life could with such facility be drawn out of the sacred Fountain of the holy Scriptures. Which moved S. Augustine to say, Epist. 2. ad V●lusian. Tanta est Christianorum profunditas literarum, ut in eis quotidie proficerem, si eas solace ab ineunte pueritia usque ad decrepitam senectutem maximo otio, summo study, meliore ingenio conarer addiscere: in quibus latet altitudo sapientiae, ut animosissimis, acutissimis, flagrantissimísque cupiditate discendi hoc contingat, quod eadem Scriptura quodam loco habeat. Quum consummaverit homo, tunc incipit. Yea though he had the yeares of Methuselah, and the wisdom of Solomon. And gregory was of the same opinion, as appears by those words; Homil. Tanta ac talis est divinae Scripturae sublimitas, ut non solùm verba, quae à sanctis vel ab ipso Domino dicta referuntur, said etiam circumstantiae rerum, quae simpliciter positae videntur, spiritualibus sunt plenae mysteriis. And Augustine again; De vera religione Si in Scriptura Sacra tantùm essent quae facillimè intelligerentur, nec studiosè quaereretur, nec suaviter inveniretur veritas. And for my own part, I have ever conceived, that if I delivered any thing to my auditors, not having first laid a sound ground for it, from the word of God; I should seem rather to preach myself, then Christ Jesus; and leave the hearers in suspense whether they should embrace it, or reject it. For( as Chrysostome saith) In Psal. 97. Si quid dicitur absque Scriptura, auditorum cogitatio claudicat. And now my prayer is, that the Lord Hebr. 13.20. Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, may prosper all your Lordships proceedings, and your pastoral endeavour in the stewardspip and flock committed unto you: and after you have finished your course here on earth, entertain you into his kingdom with that joyful saying, mat. 25.21. {αβγδ}. To the saving grace of which blessed Jesus, I in all humbleness commend your Lordship, and rest Your Lordships in all humble service, JOHN FOSBROKE. ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΔΑΙΜΩΝΟΜΑΧΙΑ OR The war or conflict between Man and the Devil; Delivered in the Lecture at KETTERING in the County of Northampton. Isidor. de Summo bono lib. 3. Diabolus serpens est lubricus, cujus si capiti, id est, primae tentationi non resistetur; totus in intima cordis, dum non sentitur, illabitur. James 4.7. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge. 1633. 1. Epist. of Peter, chap. 5. vers. 8. Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. IF the children of Israel in the dayes of the Prophet Isaiah were fallen into such an heavy sleep of sin and security, that the Prophet was commanded to Isai. 58.1. cry aloud, yea to lift up his voice like a trumpet, that he might awake them from their drowsy security; then what trumpet can sound loud enough to rouse men from the sleep of sin in these last dayes, wherein our Saviour foretold, that mat. 24.12. iniquity should abound, and the love of many wax could; and wherein experience telleth us, that almost an universal security hath overspread the face of the whole earth? That man sleepeth soundly indeed, whom the sound of a trumpet cannot awake: how soundly therefore do they sleep, or rather lye dead in sin, whom the rattling of thunder, even the terrible thunder-claps of mount Sinai cannot cause to startle, awake, and look about them? Surely this age wherein we live, hath not so much need of Acts 4.36. Barnabas the son of consolation, as of Mark 3.17. Boanerges the son of thunder. This our Apostle knew, and foretold of these times, saying, 2. Pet. 3 3. There shall come in the last dayes scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming, &c. And he knew no better means to rouse men out of this carnal security or spiritual lethargy, then by causing them to understand the great peril and danger wherein they lye, who sleep secure in sin, being environed with mighty, cruel, and raging enemies, which seek to devour both their souls and bodies. And therefore to the same end and purpose, I thought I could not do better then to tread in his steps, and give warning in his words; assuring myself, that he whom neither the love of his own salvation, nor the fear of hell, nor this roaring lion will move, is already dead in sin, and past hope of recovery. But he that is touched either with the love of the one, or fear of the other, will no longer snort in sinful security; but Wake, and Watch, and meet his enemy in the face, and fight valiantly and courageously for his soul and his salvation. And to move every one of us so to do, let us now open and consider the words of the Apostle, which I have made choice of to that end and purpose. Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. These words( as may appear to the meanest capacity) do naturally divide themselves into two parts. 1 An Exhortation in the former words, Be sober, be vigilant. 2. A Reason or Motive drawn from the danger wherein we stand, being continually assaulted by a fierce and cruel enemy, seeking to destroy us; Because your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. But though this be the natural order of the words, yet because I am persuaded that I shall better and more fully enforce and apply the Exhortation, if I raise it from the Reason or Motive; I desire( with your patience) to speak first in order, of that which is last in place, in the words of my text; viz. of the Reason or Motive, which I desire to lay down as a general ground or Point of doctrine; and then from thence to enforce the Exhortation. First, The Reason, or Motive, Because your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion &c. The scope of the Apostle in these words, is to set before our eyes, as it were in perfect and lively colours, the exceeding great danger whereunto we are liable by reason of our spiritual Arch-enemy: who doth daily besiege, assault, and fight against our souls. And to bring us to a full sight and knowledge of this danger, he hath here described this our spiritual Arch-enemy unto us to the full in a fourfold manner. 1. From his name, The Devil: 2. From his nature, or disposition towards us; Your adversary. 3. From his continual practise against us; As a roaring lion walketh about. 4. From the end which he aimeth at in all this; Seeking whom he may devour. 1. First from his name, The Devil. It is not requisite in this place curiously to dispute, or define what the Devil is: it is sufficiently known that he was at the first created by God a glorious angel of light, perfectly good and happy, and placed in heaven. Onely he was not Immutabilis in bono, that is, Immutably good; which is a property peculiar to God alone: and therefore by sin he lost his first estate, was thrown down from heaven, and of an angel of light became an impure spirit, the most accursed of all creatures: and, as S. Peter speaketh, 2. Pet. 2.4. God cast him down, and delivered him into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgement: or as the former translation did red, to be kept unto damnation. That which is more to my present purpose, is to consider him( according to the scope and intent of the Apostle in this place) as he is an enemy unto mankind. Indeed his hatred and malice was at the first, and principally bent against God himself; because in his just judgement he despoiled him, or deprived him of his state of glory& felicity, and condemned him to eternal and unavoidable torments. And therefore immediately thereupon he did, and always doth by all means to the uttermost of his power, seek to obscure and hinder the glory of God, and to oppose himself against God. But( as one saith well) Quia in Deum nihil potest, insidiatur homini, qui ad imaginem ejus factus est: Because he cannot prevail against God the omnipotent Creator, he turneth his malice against the creatures; and amongst them principally against man the most excellent of all creatures, whom God hath made after his own Image. And amongst men, his rage is chiefly bent against those which are regenerate, and Eph●s. 4.23, 24. renewed in the spirit of their mindes, and have put on that new man, which after God is created in righteousness& true holinesse: because they are nearest,& dearest unto God. For so it is said directly, that Revel. 12.17. The dragon was wrath with the woman( that is, the Church of God) and went to make war with the remnant of the womans seed, which kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ. Which made Augustine( speaking to God) to say, S●lileq. cap. 17. Et nunc vita mea, Domine Deus meus, ex quo cecidit, non cessat persequi filios tuos:& in odium tuum, o Rex magne, cupit perdere hanc creaturam tuam, quam creavit oimpotens bonitas tua ad imaginem tuam, ut possideat gloriam tuam, quam ipse perdidit per superbiam suam: that is, And now o Lord my God, which art my life, ever since his fall, he ceaseth not to persecute thy children; and out of hatred against thee, o thou most mighty King, he desireth to destroy this thy creature, which thine omnipotent goodness hath created according to thine image, that he might possess that thy glory, which he lost through his pride. But as for the wicked and ungodly reprobates, the seed of the serpent, gregory saith truly of them, that Moral. lib. 24. Eos pulsare negligit, quos quieto jure possidere se sentit: that is, He desireth not to assault or trouble them, whom he knoweth to be his own, and discerneth to be already in his peaceable possession. Now this deadly few'd, mortal hatred, and bloody cruelty which he practiseth against all the children of God, our Apostle hath most excellently, and to the full described in the words of my text, beginning first( as I observed before) with his name, The Devil. Some do rightly style him {αβγδ}, One full of names; as Argos was of eyes. Ad Heli●●●rum ep. lib. 2. ●p. 6. Persequitur me hostis, cvi nomina mill, mill nocendi artes( saith jerome) An enemy pursueth me, which hath a thousand names, a thousand subtle devices to annoy or hurt us. And indeed in the Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testament, we find great variety of names ascribed unto him: as when he is called, a Serpent, a Lion, a Dragon, a Fox, a Cockatrice, the Leviathan, the evil one, the Tempter, the Envious man, the Accuser of the brethren, Satan, the Devil, &c. All which together with some others, do serve to express his rage and fury, either against God, or Man, or both of them. But because the Apostle in this place hath laid down so full a description thereof, I will pass by that variety of his names or titles, and confine myself onely to that which is in the words of my text, The Devil. The original word {αβγδ} is familiarly known to the learned to be derived of {αβγδ}, which( as some, Aretius in Pro●●. and Aretius by name, affirm) signifieth treacherously to take, or deceive by false and lying words. And so it should seem to point out his subtlety, falsehood, manifold frauds and lies, which he sometime practised against our first Parents: Gen. 3.4, 5 whereby he enticed them to disobey the commandment of God, by eating of the forbidden fruit, and thereby ruined both them and their posterity. In which respect our Saviour Christ calleth him, John 8.44. A murderer from the beginning, and also A liar and the father of lies. But I must confess that I find that signification of the word onely in the aforesaid author alone. With all others, whom I have seen and observed, it signifieth in the second or Metaphoricall acception, to accuse falsely, or maliciously, to deprave, slander, or back-bite; to cause envy against any person, or to make him become odious and hateful. And so this name which he had given him by the Spirit of God, doth( Serm. 2. sup. 2. Cer. cap. 1. as Chrysostome hath well observed) excellently express his nature and his art, or practise; that so he may be tam re quàm nomine Diabolus, A Devil both in word and dead. For he is( according to the etymology of his name) a false, and malicious accuser, slanderer, and backbiter: for he falsely accuseth or slandereth 1. God to man: 2. Man to God: 3. One man to another. First he audaciously slandereth God to man: for so he accused him to our great Grand-mother Eve in a double manner: 1. Of a lye; which he expressly fastened upon God, viz. That whereas God had said, Gen. 2.17. In the day that thou eatest of the three of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt surely die: he told her in direct terms, Ye shall not surely die; Gen. 3.4. which is no less then to give God the lye. 2. He accused God of Envy, pretending that the cause why he did forbid them to eat of the fruit of the three of knowledge of good and evil, was not( as God had said) because they should die in the day wherein they did eat thereof; but because he knew that when they did eat thereof, Gen. 3.5. Their eyes should be opened, and they should be as Gods, knowing good and evil: and therefore that the true cause why God did forbid them to eat thereof, was, because he envied them so happy and glorious an estate. And he runneth still the same course in wicked and ungodly persons, teaching them to cast the aspersion of their horrible sins and nefarious lives upon God: for what is more common then to hear an ungodly person, being reproved for his hellish and stigmaticall villainies, belch out some execrable, or blasphemous speech or other against God, or his providence? saying, It is my destiny; I cannot help it: If God had made me otherwise, I would have done otherwise; or some other such like cursed words. Secondly, he is no less malicious in slandering and accusing of man also unto God; for he it is that is always ready( when we have sinned) to cry out against us, and accuse us, requiring of God( according to the strict rule of his justice) not to spare us being offenders, but to poure down vengeance upon our heads, having justly deserved punishment. And of this we have sufficient proof, from the testimony, or confession of his own mouth in the first chapter of Job; where he acknowledged unto the Lord, that he had been Job 1.7. compassing the earth, going to and fro, and walking up and down in it, like a Promoter, or Informer, to spy out faults and offences, whereof he might accuse them unto God. But if his own confession be not sufficient, we have also the express testimony of the Spirit of God, to confirm it. For so in the Revelation of S. John, we find that he being overcome by Michael and his Angels, and cast out of heaven, there was a loud voice heard, saying in heaven, Revel. 12.7, 5. Now is come salvation,& strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the Accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day& night. Nay, he is not onely an Accuser of us, but also( according to his name) a false slanderer, and malicious back-biter: for he doth not onely accuse us for the sins which we have indeed committed, but also wresteth our good actions, and exclaimeth against us for them, pretending that they are done either in hypocrisy, or for some by; and sinister respect, &c. Yea, if he can espy but an appearance of evil in us, he will not stick to accuse us, that we have already committed that evil, whereof he doth but suspect us: so wresting and misconstruing all our actions to the worst sense, and making of every molehill an huge mountain. Thus wrongfully did he slander Job, that he served God for that same end, for which Demetrius Acts 19.24 served his Goddesse Diana: viz. for advantage, for gain, or profit, saying, Job 1.9, 10, 11. Doth Job fear God for nought? hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on everyside? Thou hast blessed the works of his hand, and his substance is increased in the land: But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Thus doth he accuse and slander Man to God. Thirdly, he practiseth the same course likewise between Man and Man, by his calumnies, slanders, and false lies, sowing the seeds of all manner of discord, strife, contention, sedition and war between them: and by that means many times he causeth those that before were entire friends, to become mortal enemies. And that is indeed {αβγδ}, to play the Devil: for so the Aristot. Top. lib. 4. 5. 5. Philosopher maketh those two to imply the same thing, {αβγδ}. falsely or maliciously to slander, and to make friends become foes. Princes, and Potentates many times break forth into mutual discord, and unjust warres: Private persons rage one against another with envy, hatred, and malice, &c. but in them all the Devil blows the coal, and increaseth the flamme of their fury by his secret practices of malice, slander, &c. whereby he bringeth to pass, that small sparks of discord in the beginning, do end in blood and murder. Thus doth he maliciously deprave and slander God to Man, Man to God, and one Man unto another: and therefore he is rightly called {αβγδ}, the Devil. Secondly, The second part of the Apostles description is taken from his Nature or disposition; not simply as he is in himself, but with relation to us, or in respect of mankind. The original word is {αβγδ}, here translated an Adversary; but it properly signifieth Eschines. adversarium in causa vel light; it is a Law term, and signifieth one that is an Adversary to another in his cause, svit, or action in the law. And such an enemy or Adversary the Devil indeed is to all the children of God in the cause or action concerning their salvation: opposing himself against it, and bending all his force with might and main to hinder it. As Christ is our Advocate making intercession for us, and pleading our cause unto God, according to that of the Apostle, 1. John 2.1 If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: So Satan on the other part is a Sergeant, counsellor, or proctor, with all earnestness and virulency pleading against us, and our salvation. And because he is not as a counsellor retained by another against us, or pleading for his fee; but is his own proctor in his own cause: he is rightly here called our Adversary, viz. which in his own cause pleadeth in his own person against us, seeking by all means to hinder our salvation, and to procure the sentence of condemnation from the mouth of the Judge against us. And Beza In Annot. majoribus. well observeth, that the force of the Greek article here is not to be omitted, {αβγδ} Ille Adversarius, that your Adversary: Because though we have many adversaries, yet he is( as one saith) {αβγδ}, the most warlike and malicious; as it were the Coripheus or arch-enemie of our souls and salvations. Or else, because that though there be many Devils, yea Mark 5.9 Legions of Devils, and all of them our adversaries: yet the Apostle here aimeth at mat. 9.12.34. Beelzebub the Prince of Devils, under whose banner all the rest of those infernal Spirits do fight against us. And indeed he may well he called our Adversary pleading against us; because he is still ready to hinder and cross us in all our suits and prayers which we sand up unto God, and in all other our godly purposes and proceedings. So, when Jehoshuah the High Priest stood before the Angel of the Lord ready to make intercession on the behalf of the people, Satan Zach. 3.1. stood at his right hand, to resist him, or as it is in the original, to be his Adversary: which agreeth directly to the term or title here given unto the Devil by the Spirit of God. And again, we read that 1. Chron. 21.1. Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number the people: whereby he procured Gods heavy displeasure against them, by the devouring pestilence, whereby there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And so likewise when a good Angel was sent from God unto Daniel, Daniel 10.13. He was withstood by an evil angel, one and twenty dayes, till Michael came and helped him. And Saint Paul writing to the Thessalonians, saith, 1. Thess. 2.18. We would have come unto you( even I Paul) once and again, but Satan hindered us. Thus doth Satan appear to be truly called our Adversary: viz. as opposing himself always against us, both in the cause of our salvation, and also in all other holy actions, and godly endeavours. Which was the reason why Saint Paul used those words to Elymas the sorcerer when he withstood Paul and Barnabas preaching the word of God at Paphos, and sought to turn away the Deputy from the faith, saying, Acts 13.6, 7, 8, 9, ● O full of all subtlety, and all mischief, thou child of the Devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, &c. The proverb is, Such a father, such a son: and as the Grecians say, {αβγδ}. From an evil bide springs an evil egg: which was truly verified in him; for being the child of the Devil, he shewed himself like his father, an enemy of all righteousness. For such a one doth the Devil in all things show himself. If we pray, he laboureth to distracted us by wandering imaginations; if we hear the word, mat. 13.19. He cometh and catcheth away that which was sown in the heart, that it may not bring forth fruit in the life and conversation. And the like course he practiseth in all other holy actions, showing himself to be truly( as the Apostle calleth him) our Adversary. Again, he is in the next place described unto us by his continual practise against us, in those words, As a roaring lion walketh about. Wherein observe with me two things. 1. The Matter or Action; He walketh about 2. The Manner how he doth it; As a roaring lion. 1. If you desire to know what he doth; the Apostle tells you that He walketh about. And this phrase sheweth his indefatigable pains in tempting and assaulting us: for he never ceaseth or taketh rest, but still night and day walketh about, seeking to destroy us. And some Expositors conceive this phrase of walking about, to be a Metaphor taken à rebus bellicis, from warlike affairs, thus: Like as a wise and politic Captain or general, besieging some city or castle, fetcheth his compass about, and diligently vieweth each part thereof, to the end that discovering the weakest part, he might take his advantage, planting his ordinance for battery; and after a breach made give an assault there: So also the Devil, the grand captain of all those hellish troops and forces which fight against our souls, laying continual siege against the Church of God, and every faithful soul therein, in a subtle and politic manner walketh about to and fro with uncessant pains and vigilancy, to spy and discover when and where we are weakest: that so taking the opportunity and advantage, he may suddenly with all violence and fury charge upon us, and so discomfit us, to our utter ruin and destruction. And this is his practise night and day. As Psal. 121.4. he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep: so neither doth the Adversary of Gal. 6.16. the Israel of God wax weary, or grant sleep to his eyes, or slumber to his eye-liddes; but with perpetual vigilancy watcheth for his opportunity to vanquish and destroy them. This is evident by his own confession formerly mentioned: wherein he acknowledged to God, demanding whence he came, that he returned Job 1.7. from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it: whereby it appeareth that he omitteth no pains nor labour in seeking our destruction. He will up before God to accuse, and down again with men to tempt; and there no corner shall escape him: for he every where spreads his snares to catch our souls, as Augustine hath excellently well observed; Soliloq. cap. 16. Ecce! tetendit ante pedes nostros laqueos infinitos,& omnes vias nostras variis replevit decipulis ad capiendas animas nostras:& quis effugiet? Laqueos posuit in divitiis, laqueos posuit in paupertate, laqueos tetendit in cibo, in potu, in voluptate, in somno& vigilia: laqueos posuit in verbo, in opere,& in omni vita nostra. That is, lo! he spreadeth infinite snares before our feet, and hath filled our ways with divers traps to catch our souls: and who shall escape? he placeth snares in our riches, he spreadeth snares in our poverty, he layeth snares in our meat, in our drink, in our pleasure, in our sleeping, in our waking: he useth his snares in our words, in our deeds, and in our whole life. He spareth no time from tempting us, but that which he employeth either in accusiing us unto God, or else in inflicting those punishments which it pleaseth God to permit him to lay upon us. He is full of agility in changing his place, and of subtlety in framing his gins: Cap. 1●. Versutus est enim, Domine, iste hostis,& tortuosus( saith Augustine) nec facilè dephendi possunt circuitus viae ejus, nec cognosci species vultûs ejus, nisi tu illumines; that is, Lord, this is a subtle enemy indeed, winding and turning himself many ways, neither can the circuits and compasses of his way be easily found out, nor the form of his countenance be discerned, except we be enlightened by thee. There is no place in the whole earth without the compass of his walk; for he compasseth the earth, and searcheth out all the corners thereof. He is here and there and every where in various shap●s and forms, that he might show himself the more subtle in deceiving. U●i su●rà p●●● p●si. Nunc hic, nunc illic, nunc agnum, nunc lupum, nunc tenebras, nunc lucem in se ostendit,& singulis quibuslibet qualitatibus, locis& temporibus, secundum varias rerum mutationes, varias exhibet tentationes( saith the same Father) He is now here and then there, he now sheweth himself a lamb, and by and by a wolf, he sometime exhibiteth himself in the shape of darkness, and sometime clad with light, and according to the various mutations of things, he sitteth his several temptations, to all several qualities, places, and times. I●●●●. Nam ut tristes decipiat, tristatur& ipse( saith he) ut gaudentes illudat, singit se& ipse gaudere: ut spirituales defraudet, in angelum lucis se transfigurat: ut forts comprimat, apparet agnus: ut mites devoret, apparet lupus: that is, For that he may deceive the sorrowful, he himself will express sorrow: that he may delude those that rejoice, he will feign himself also to rejoice: that he may defraud them that are spiritual, he transformeth himself into an Angel of light: that he may stay or restrain the valiant, he appears as a lamb: and that he may devour the meek, he appears as a wolf. He is not onely in the public market places, among the shambles, and in the shops, but also he followeth us into our private houses, yea, into our secretest bedchambers and closerts; watching there for his best advantage against us. And in a word, in the very churches of God, and at these sacred assemblies, you shall have him as busy in distracting mens hearts and mindes, as the Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in informing their souls; as busy to hinder the fruit of the word, as he is in sowing the seed thereof in their hearts; as busy to work their destruction, as he is to build them up unto salvation: Yea heaven, earth, and paradise seem all to be within the compass of his walk and circuit. Which moved Augustine to say; In ser. ●●m. s●r. 4. Posuit in coelo bellum, in Paradiso fraudem, odium inter primos fratres,& in omni nostro opere zizania seminavit: that is, He made war in heaven, used fraud in paradise, he sowed discord between the two first brethren, and sowed tares in all our works and labours. And though he cannot overcome us at the first, but be beaten, foiled, and forced to retire; yet will not like a base coward, desist, and fight no more, but like a true soldier, and valiant captain, he will gather up his forces, fetch his compass, walk about, and upon the first advantage incessantly give a new charge, and set upon us again. Thus much appeareth plainly from the words of our Saviour Christ; mat. 12.43, 44. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked then himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse then the first. And thus you have now seen the Practise set forth according to the Matter, or Action performed by him; He walketh about. 2. We are next to consider the Manner of it, As a roaring Lion. As the lion is an emblem of divers things in Hieroglyphiques: so also is it used divers ways Metaphorically by the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures. 1. In respect of his singular strength, courage, and generosity, as being the king of beasts. Christ himself is represented by a Lion, and called Revel. 5.5. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. And such a description doth Jacob make of the tribe of Judah. Gen. 49.9. Judah is a Lions whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a Lion, and as an old Lion: who shall rouse him up? Which he spake to foreshow, that that tribe should be more warlike and powerful then the other tribes; and should for a long time possess the sceptre and kingdom over them all. And when the Prophet would describe God as a mighty warrior vindicating his people from the power of their enemies, he useth this similitude of a Lion, saying, Isaiah 31.4 Like as the Lion, and the young Lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: So shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Sion, and for the hill thereof. And so also by the comparison of a Lion doth Homer set forth Diomedes; and Virgil doth the like in the story of Aeneas. 2. In respect of his mighty roaring voice, being heard far and near, and terrifying both men and beasts: the Spirit of God doth thereby signify and represent the powerful preaching of the Word of God, which is the roaring and terrible voice of the King of kings to men; Amos 3.8. The Lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? 3. By reason of his cruelty and rapacity: being ravenous, and living upon the prey, he doth represent both wicked and bloody Tyrants, and also the Devil himself. Now then our Apostle in this place applieth it to the Devil, thereby to set forth the manner of Satans practise, or walking about. And indeed it doth fitly agree unto him, in the first and third acception: and so this comparison doth excellently express unto us two things in our adversary the Devil: 1. Strength and might, as he is the king of beasts excelling in power. 2. bloody cruelty, as he is a beast of prey, living upon the spoil. 1. The Apostle by comparing him to a Lion would imply unto us that he is a mighty, strong, and powerful Adversary: so that( if the Lord should permit him so to do) he is able to raise the wind, and stir up tempests( as he did against Jobs Job. 1.19. sons, thereby beating down the house upon their heads) or to bring down fire from above( as he did upon Jobs verse 16. sheep and shepherds, consuming them) and to work a strange confusion suddenly amongst the creatures placed here below the heavens. And therefore is he by the Holy Ghost compared to those creatures that are most strong both in the sea,& on the land. So in this place he is compared to a Lion, the king& mightiest of the beasts; yea to a roaring Lion, which hunting after his prey, hath his strength redoubled by his hunger. And likewise he is called a Dragon, yea, a Revel. 12.3 Great read Dragon, having seven heads and ten horns: whose strength was so great, that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. And elsewhere he is called Is●i 27.1. Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent: Job 41. whose force is described by God himself to be invincible by the power of man. And lest you should think, that( being compared to such beasts) he should be indeed strong, sturdy, and boisterous; but withall should want wisdom and policy, which are the chief sinews of war: and so might, notwithstanding his mighty strength, easily be vanquished by man, who though he be not the strongest, yet by his wisdom is the Lord, and ruler of all these inferior creatures, Lions, Dragons, Serpents, &c. He is also compared to man, and to the mightiest amongst men; in which respect our Saviour Christ calleth him, Luke 11.21, 22. Fortem firmatum, A strong man armed, keeping his palace, and his goods in peace, and that in despite of all the power of man; until one stronger then he( which is Christ) cometh upon him, and overcometh him, and taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. Yea, and( whereas Princes amongst men are most eminent for anthoritie, celsitude, and power) our Saviour also calleth him, ●oh 14.18. The Prince of this world. And Sain● Paul goeth further, and calleth the Devils those evil Spirits, Eph●s 6. 1● {αβγδ}, The Rulers of this world. And if all these comparisons be not sufficient to express his might and power; yet that setteth it forth to the full or highest degree that can be intimated, when by the same Apostle he is styled 2. Cor. 4.4. {αβγδ}, the God of this world. And all this might and power he useth with all manner of fraud and subtlety against the Church, and children of God. August. S●liloq. cap. 17. Nunc ut lo, nunc ut Draco; manifestè& occuliè, intus& extra; d●e& nocte insidiatur, ut rapiat animas nostras. that is, One while as a Lion, another while as a Dragon; openly and secretly; within and without; day and ●●ght he treacherously lieth in wait, that he may destroy our souls. And therefore he is no common adversary, that we should contemn him, or slightly regard him when he roareth against us as a Lion: we fight not, as the proverb is, Cum umbra asini, with some fantastical shadow, that is, some base, impotent, and contemptible adversary: Ephes 6.12. We wrestle not against flesh and blood; but against principalities, and powers; against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, or wicked Spirits, in high places. 2. And secondly, the Spirit of God compareth him to beasts, to teach us to expect nothing from him, but beastly and brutish cruelty. And therefore is he here compared to a lion roaring after his prey; which is so hungry,& ravenous, that he desireth nothing so much, as to seize upon& devour that which he pursueth. He hunteth as fiercely and greedily after the souls of men, as the hungry roaring lion doth after the bodies of those creatures which he useth to prey upon: yea herein he far exceedeth the Lion, whereunto he is compared: for the Lion rageth but against the body; whereas his malice is chiefly bent against the soul: and whereas the Lion devoureth the bodies of men and beasts onely to satisfy his hunger, the Devil practiseth the same cruelty against mens souls for sport and pastime, onely because he delighteth in blood and cruelty. And therefore is he fitly compared to the great read Dragon: Revel. 12.3. of which kind of beasts Plinie and others which writ the natural history of the creatures, report the same thing, viz. that he devoureth the bodies of men, not onely for hunger, but also for pleasure and delight. It is manifest by the history of the Gospel written by the four Evangelists, that the Devil, this roaring Lion, exerciseth great cruelty upon the bodies of them whom he possesseth; horribly vexing, and miserable excruciating& abusing his members. He draweth their mouths awry, stoppeth their breath, causeth their tongues to hang out of their mouths, writhes their necks about, sinks their eyes into their heads, rolleth their bodies together like a ball, and Mark 9.18, 22. teareth them that they foam and gnash their teeth, and pine away, and oft-times casteth them into the fire and into the water to destroy them. This is evident by the examples of those whom our Saviour Christ dispossessed, and by divers others, which have been in lamentable manner possessed and abused by him. But if I could as fully express the rage and cruelty exercised by him upon the souls of the damned, which come into his possession: you would confess all the former torments inflicted upon the bodies of such as are possessed by him, to be but as a flea-biting, as a sport or pastime, or as a nothing in comparison thereof. Whether we speak of the woeful horrors and tormenting pains of a guilty& despairing conscience in this life( the horror whereof no tongue is able to express, nor can it be fully discerned but by lamentable experience) or of the cruelty which he inflicteth upon the souls of the damned in the infernal pit. Whereof Bernard giveth us a shadow or glimpse, in these words, Serm. 10. Ibi clamabit pilosus ad pilosum, unus ad alium, Daemon ad Daemonem; Percute, dilacera, interfice, velociter spolia, inter prunas,& ebullientibus impone lebetibus. &c. There the hairy friends will mutually call one to another, and the Devils each to other; Smite, rend in pieces, kill, destroy speedily, bring hot burning coals, throw them into the boiling cauldrons. Thus you see how our Adversary the Devil walketh about as a roaring lion: 1. With might and power. 2. with bloody and brutish cruelty. 4. The last part of our Apostles description, of this our mortal enemy, is taken à fine, from the end which he aimeth at in all this whereof we have spoken, Seeking whom he may devour. And here again observe with me these two things. 1. His diligence, expressed in the phrase of Seeking. 2. His aim or scope therein; To devour. 1. His diligence is intimated in that one word {αβγδ}, Seeking, which seemeth to have relation to the persons, as the former phrase of walking had unto the places. And therefore like as before I observed, that no place in the whole earth is out of his walk or circuit: so here also his seeking or diligent searching implieth, that he leaveth no man free, but sifts and tries the sons of men ad unum, to every individual person. He leaveth none unassaulted, he assaileth and tempteth, not onely the wicked, as he did Saul 1. Sam. 19.9 to kill David with a spear: Judas John 13.2. to betray Jesus his Lord and Master, and afterward mat. 27.5. to go forth and desperately hang himself: Ananias and Sappni●a Acts 5.3. to lye unto the holy Ghost, &c. But also the godly, as he did David through pride 1. Chron. 21.1. to cause the people to be numbered: Solomon his son, through the instigation of his strange wives, to the gross sin of 1. Kings 11.1. idolatry. The Apostles of our Saviour Christ, Luke 22.24. to strive among themselves which of them should be accounted the greatest: S. Augustine to procrastinate his repentance, &c. Not Paul, nor Peter, nor Job, nor Moses, nor Lot, nor Noah, nor Adam himself( though in paradise) went scot free; but they were all to the uttermost sought out, sifted, and strongly assaulted by him. Yea so impudent and audacious was he, that he presumed to fight a battle in heaven Revel. 12.7 against Michael and his Angels: and to set upon our Saviour Jesus Christ himself Matth. 4. in the wilderness by a threefold furious assault, and temptation: and that also after he was proclaimed from heaven to be the son of God by that voice from his Father, saying, Matth. 3.17. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. So careful is he that none may escape his wily nets, and subtle snares: and so diligently doth he seek to find some on whom he may fasten his Harpy-like claws, and exercise his might and power, and his bloody and hellish cruelty. 2. And therefore in the second place we are to consider the end which he aimeth at in all this his walking, and seeking, in all this his pains& diligence. And the Apostle telleth us directly, that it is to devour; Seeking whom he may devour. In the original it is {αβγδ}, of {αβγδ}& {αβγδ}: and it signifieth Absorbere, Epotare, to swallow down, or drink up, as it were at one draft: Eurip. in C●●●●e. {αβγδ}. or more usually deglutire, devorare, to swallow or devour. And it is here used to express the ravenous and greedy manner of the Devils devouring, and seeking to devour those whom he doth with such pains and diligence hunt after and pursue: as if he would swallow them down at once, or drink them up at a draft; which is indeed the true and onely end which the Devil aimeth at. Like as the Lion hath no other aim in pursuing his prey, but to devour it being taken by him; so this infernal Lion of hell, the Devil, aimeth at no other end in tempting and assaulting men, but to devour and destroy both their souls and bodies. Hoc catut est continuum studium ejus, hoc unicum desiderium ejus, ut animas quas creasti, devoret( saith S. Augustine speaking to God, S●lil●q. c●p. 1●. and of the D●vil) For this is his continual study, this is his onely d●●ire, that he may devour those souls whom thou hast created. Our Saviour Christ saith, John 4.34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work; thereby intimating, that he took as much pleasure and delight in finishing that work, for which God the Father sent him into the world, the redemption or salvation of mankind; as carnal men did in feeding and refreshing their hungry bodies with meat and drink. But the Devils disposition is directly contrary thereunto: for his meat and drink, that is, his chief pleasure and delight, is to increase his insatiable cruelty, by hurting and destroying the bodies and souls of men. In which regard he is truly styled, {αβγδ}, one that rejoiceth onely in that which is evil continually. And whether he vanquish us by main force, as enemies, or 'allure us by subtle enticements to submit ourselves unto him, the case is all one: for he in the end rewardeth those that serve him, and obey him obsequiously all the dayes of their lives, with the same measure wherewith he repayeth those that oppose themselves as enemies against him; but are vanquished and overcome by him. Greg. in homil. Nullo placatur obsequio; No manner of dutifullnesse, or humble service can incline him to pity and compassion. As he is a bloody and cruel Adversary, so he is a merciless Master: for nothing will suffice him howsoever the case be, but devouring of their souls and bodies for ever. Indeed it is written of the Lion, that he is of that royal and generous disposition, that he spareth those that submit themselves before him, and lye prostrate at his feet: but if they once offer to depart from him, then in his rage he fasteneth his paws upon them, and teareth them in pieces. And in like manner, the roaring Lion of hell doth sometimes spare the wicked and ungodly for the present, when they yield, and submit themselves unto him, to be lead by him: but if they once offer to depart from him, or but to turn their faces towards heaven; he presently sheweth himself in his colours, and like a devilish fiend seeketh to devour their bodies and souls. Whereof Pharaoh the Egyptian king was a true type; under whom the children of Israel had rest and lived quietly in the land of Goshen, so long as they submitted themselves to him, and yielded to be his servants: but when he was compelled to let them go, then he played the Devil, and pursued them in Exod. 14.5 hostile manner, seeking utterly to destroy them. And thus have you now the full description of the mortal enemy of our souls and our salvation set before you. Whereby it may appear, how dangerous our case is in this present world, considering that we are daily and hourly pursued and assaulted by such a false and malicious, watchful and diligent, powerful and strong, bloody and cruel Adversary: And that the rather, because this danger is perpetual, so long as we live in this world: which made Augustine to call him Soliloq. ●unt suprá. Adversarium nostrum quotidianum; qui, sieve dormiamus, sieve vigilemus, sieve comedamus, sieve bibamus, sieve quodcunque opus operemur, omnibus modis instat, die ac nocte, fraudibus& artibus, nunc palàm, nunc occultè, sagitias venenatas contra nos dirigens, ut interficiat animas nostras. That is, Our daily Adversary, which, whether we sleep or wake, eat or drink, or whatsoever we do else, is by all means instant day and night, by fraud and subtlety, openly and secretly, directing his poisonous darts against us, that he may destroy our souls. Secondly, the Exhortation, Be sober, be vigilant. The extreme danger wherein we stand by reason of this roaring Lion hath to the full appeared unto us; the consideration whereof may well move us to be affencted like unto Saint Peters auditors, that is to say, ( being pricked in our hearts) to inquire with them, saying, Acts 2.37. Men and brethren, what shall we do? And surely upon serious deliberation herein, I call to mind that question of our Saviour Christ, Luke 14.31. What king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first,& consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand, to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? According to which rule of spiritual policy, it is a true point of godly wisdom, for us, who are so weak in ourselves, to consider how we may be prepared and enabled, to meet and encounter him that is so mighty and strong. For alas, if we proceed against him armed onely with our own strength and force, it will prove Impar congressus, a very unequal match, and we were sure to be vanquished and foiled in the fight. And therefore Saint Paul exhorts us to be strong in the Lord, and in the p●wer of his might: E●hes. 6.10, ●1. and to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wil●ss of the Devil: and to that purpose also hath described, or pointed out unto us all the several parts of that armor of God ( à capite ad calcem, from the head to the foot) wherewith we must be prepared both for defence and offence: verse 14. The girdle of verity, the breast-plate of righteousness, the shoes of the preparation of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith( as the principal part) wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked: the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. But seeing that Solomon observeth, that Prov. 24.6. by wise counsel we are to make war, because counsel and policy do usually more prevail in warlike affairs, then either numbers or weapons: a principal point therefore here to be considered, is, how the Christian( being thus armed with the whole armor of God) is to manage his weapons, and demean himself in withstanding, and resisting this malicious, mighty, and bloody enemy, this roaring Lion of hell, which daily seeketh to devour him. And herein it is, that the Apostle in this place doth desire to instruct us, and this is the end and scope which he aimeth at in this exhortation, Be sober, be vigilant. Wherein the Apostle commendeth unto us two singular Christian virtues, or graces, no less requisite for the spiritual soldier, then all the former armor and weapons prescribed unto him. For what are weapons without wisdom, and skill to manage and use them? Did not little David 1. Sam. 17 40.49.51. with a scrip and a sling overcome great goliath, notwithstanding the corpulency of his body, and his huge and boisterous armor, and cut off his head with his own sword? And if we desire in like manner to prevail against this infernal goliath, our Adversary the Devil; the Apostle exhorts us to march against him, not onely armed with the whole armor of God, but also furnished with two Christian graces, which he here commendeth unto us, 1. Sobriety. 2. vigilancy, or watchfulness. 1. Sobriety; Be sober. Wherein he implieth, that b●ing beset with so many dangers, it behoveth us not to carry ourselves loosely, and securely as if we neither regarded life nor death, heaven nor hell, but to pass our time in fear and trembling, and in Christian moderation and sobriety. Sobriety is commonly opposed to Ebriety, and therefore the Schoolmen affirm, that it is in general nothing else, but Abstinentia ab omni inebriativo, abstinency from every thing that doth inebriate, or cause drunkenness. And we are hereto consider farther, that there is both a double Sobriety and a twofold Ebriety. The one carnal of the body: And the other spiritual, of the soul, or inward man. Ebrietie of the body, is when it is distempered by the immoderate use of wine, or some such other things, which do trouble the senses, and intoxicate the brain. Ebriety of the soul, is when it is spiritually drunk with the sweetness of pleasures, lusts, and concupiscence or with idolatry, and the Apoc. 17.4. spiritual cup of abominations. And on the contrary, sobriety both of soul and body doth appear to be nothing else, but a continual abstinence from all such things as cause any distemper, surfet, or drunkenness, either in soul or body. For so Augustine saith, August. Sobrietas est mentis& sensus, membrorum omnium corporísque tutela; criminúmque& vitiorum omnium fuga; that is, sobriety is the due keeping, or ordering of the mind and the senses,& all the members, and the whole body; and the fleeing or avoiding of all sins and vices: which description hath relation both to soul and body. Now the● Satan our Adversary, this roaring hellish Lion, usually prevaileth not against such as having put on the armor of God, do pass their time in sincerity of life, in fear and trembling, in moderation and sobriety; but against them, which by riot and excess, and by their wicked and sinful lives do give Satan advantage against them. For what power hath a man corporally drunk, to resist his enemies, though weaker then himself. He that cannot well stand on his legs, or govern himself, how shall he manage his weapons, or resist his Adversary? And surely that soul which is spiritually overtaken with surfeiting and drunkenness through the bewitching power of superstition, or the sweetness of pleasures and sin, is altogether as unfit to use his spiritual weapons, or to resist this roaring lion, which seeketh to devour both his body and soul. And therefore doth the Apostle so earnestly exhort us, Be sober. 2. vigilancy, or watchfulness; Be vigilant. This is the other grace or virtue required of us: and it is a Metaphor taken a rebus bellicis, from warlike affairs. For like as when any city, fort, or castle is besieged; or when an army lieth in the open field; they never dare give themselves over wholly to security; but always night and day have their Scouts, sentinels, or Corps-du-guard, to keep watch and ward, lest the enemy suddenly approaching, and taking his advantage, should surprise them and destroy them. So likewise Satan with all his troops and hellish forces, lying in wait, and continually besieging our souls, seeking to destroy, or devour them, the Apostle requireth that we never give ourselves over to sinful security, but that we be vigilant, and keep a continual watch and ward against the enemies of our souls, and our salvation. And this vigilancy and watchfulness is partly of the body,& partly of the soul. The bodily watching is a moderate abstinence from natural sleep, to the end that we may give ourselves to prayer, and be the more fit to perform other godly and Christian duties. The vigilancy of the soul is when we do not rest secure in our sins being rocked asleep in the cradle of carnal security; but do shake off our spiritual drowsiness by unfeigned repentance,& rising to newness of life. To which also the words of the Apostle to the Corinthians do very fitly agree; Awake to live righteously, 1. Cor. 5.34. and sin not. Whereby it appears, that to live righteously, and not to sin, is to keep the spiritual watch. Now both these kindes of vigilancy are here required of us, but especially that of the soul: though the body of necessity must sometimes sleep, yet the soul should never sleep in sin and security: but it is our parts herein to be like unto the Spouse, which saith, I sleep, Cant. 5.2. but my heart waketh. The Devil watcheth continually for an opportunity to set upon us when we are most secure: and then( finding us unarmed) he soundeth the alarm, and chargeth us with so sudden an onset, that many times we are vanquished before we perceive the danger, or can prepare and arm ourselves. And therefore doth the Apostle here so instantly urge the necessity of this vigilancy. And so doth our Saviour Christ also, M●th 26 41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. And again, Luke 21.34, 36. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life. Watch ye therefore, and pray continually. And in the writings of S. Paul nothing is more frequent, then such like Exhortations: and he prefixeth sobriety before vigilancy; because those that are to keep watch and ward, had need to be sober; or else how shall they be fit both to fight themselves, and also to give warning to others when the danger approacheth. The scope then of the Apostle in this exhortation, is, by the consideration of our mighty& strong, bloody and cruel, diligent and watchful Adversary the Devil, to stir up all Christians to shake off all sleepy drouzinesse and carnal security, and to keep a continual spiritual watch, against this roaring Lion, that seeketh to devour their bodies and souls. But alas, how justly may I here complain in Augustines words, and say; Solilo●. cap. 16. Et tamen, Domine, pessima insania nostra, quia cum continuè videamus contra nos Draconem ore aperto paratum ad devorandum, nihilominus dormimus,& lascivimus in pigritiis nostris, tanquam securi ante cum, qui nihil aliud desiderat, quam ut nos perdat. That is, And yet, o Lord, such is our most wicked folly, that although we continually see the Dragon with open mouth bent against us, and ready to devour us, yet notwithstanding we sleep secure, and luxuriate in our lazy wantonness, as being secure before him, who who desires nothing else but to destroy us. Secure worldlings, in stead of fighting the Lords battels, spend their time in sin and wantonness, in lusts and uncleanness, in surfeiting and all voluptuousness, in covetousness and idleness, as if there were no warres intended against them, nor enemies to assault them; as if Satan was some meek lamb, and not a roaring Lion ready to devour our souls. They revel and run riot with all excess in the midst of all these deadly dangers: Exod 32.6 Sitting down( with the children of Israel) to eat and drink and rising up to play. They make this world of vanity, and wilderness of sin, the place of their joy and delight, without thought or fear either of enemy or danger. What are these but the Devils jewellers? he need not to play the roaring Lion with these, for they are his friends, and have Isai. 28.15. made a covenant with death, and are at agreement with hell. These make themselves drunk with the cup of voluptuous pleasures, surfet in the sweetness of sin, and lye snorting in the dead sleep of carnal security: not so much as once dreaming of their danger, and approaching ruin, until it suddenly fall upon them, verifying that of Solomon, Eccles. 9.12 As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare: So are the sons of men snared in the evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Now then, as it is true which our Saviour observed, that Luke 16.8. the children of this world are in their generation wiser then the children of light: so let us labour in respect of the world to come, to be wiser then they. Let it be our spiritual wisdom to be warned by the examples of those whom this roaring Lion hath seized upon, and devoured in the midst of their reveling, and carnal security. Remember, I beseech you, that when Belshazzar the king was quaffing, and carousing in the consecrated Dan. 5.2. golden and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchad-nezzar had taken out of the Temple, which was in jerusalem: in the same hour came forth fingers of a mans hand, and wrote upon the plaster of the wall over against him that heavy sentence, mean mean, TEKEL UPHARSIN, foretelling the utter ruin and destruction both of him, and his kingdom. When judge. 4.21. Sisera lay sleeping and snorting upon the ground, then was the nail of the tent driven into his temples by Jael the wife of Heber, and he died. When Ish-bosheth the son of Saul 2. Sam. 4.5, 6. lay sleeping on a bed at noon, then was he smitten Under the fift rib by Rechab and Baanah, and slain. When the rich churl had built him bigger barns, and therein bestowed all his fruits and goods, and gave himself over to sinful security, saying to his soul; Luke 12.19 Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many yeares, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry: then came that stinging sentence against him from the mouth of God, saying, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Even so our hellish enemy, this roaring Lion, waiteth but for such a time of drowsy security, wherein he may suddenly seize upon us, and rend us in pieces with his ravenous paws. And therefore if we desire to withstand him, and to free ourselves from his Harpy-like devouring talons, we must put on the whole armor of God, lead our lives in holy sobriety, use vigilancy, and shake off all drowsy, and carnal security. And because he is so indefatigable, that after one, two, or many repulses, yet he walketh about, and setteth upon us again: we must beware, that we never grow secure, but always be prepared, and stand upon our guard. Epist. lib. 3. adversus Vigilantium. Nulla securitas est, vicino serpent, dormire: potest fieri ut me non mordeat; tamen potest fieri, ut aliquando me mordeat. There is no security( saith jerome) to sleep the serpent being at hand: it may be that he cannot bite me, so it may be another time that he may bite me. As in calm weather the careful master provideth all things against the time of tempest; and the wise& valiant captain in the time of peace, provideth all things ready against the time of war. So when there seemeth to be most security& cessation of spiritual arms, let us conceive the most danger to be at hand, and therefore then prepare and arm ourselves strongly against the day of battle. For jerome saith truly. Ad Hesiod. lib. 2. Ep. 6. Tunc maximè oppugnaris, cum te oppugnari nescis; Thou art most assaulted, when thou feelest no assault. When this roaring Lion seemeth to sleep, he doth but watch for an opportunity to run upon us, and devour us with his cruel paws. Oh my beloved, if the soldier sleeps not on feathers, but makes the ground his bed, and the clod of earth his pillow: if the fisherman doth patiently pass away the night in watching his nets: if the shepherd cannot rest for his masters flocks; if Jacob was Gen. 31.40. Consumed in the day by the drought, and by the frost in the night, and his sleep departed from his eyes; lest Labans lambs should miscarry, and his sheep be stolen: how much more ought we to be vigilant and watchful over our souls, lest this bloody and cruel roaring Lion devour them? If we were assured that some fearful enemy was upon his march, and approaching towards us with sword and fire, the trumpets sounding, the drums thundering, the horses neighing, and the Canons roaring: what watch and ward would we keep? how would every one bestir him? and who would not thrust himself into the danger, and be ready to stand in the gap, to save his country, his life, his friends, his liberty, his lands, his goods? &c. But Satan our Arch-enemie, who seeketh to destroy that which is far more precious unto us, then all those things, yea, then all the world( Mark 8 36. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,& lose his own soul) is not onely approaching near unto, but also encamped against us with all his forces. And shall we now then sleep in sin, and be senseless in gross security? It was Saint Augustines complaint long since; Soliloq. cap. 16. Inimicus ut occidat, semper vigilat sine somno:& nos ut custodiamus nos nolumus evigilare à somno. That is, Our enemy, that he may slay us, is always vigilant and never sleepeth: but we for our own preservation will not awake from sleep. Doth he watch continually to devour us, and shall not we be vigilant to withstand his assaults, and prevent his force and malice? Is he always in arms to overthrow us? and shall not we watch night and day in our Christian armor, with all sobriety to defeat his policies? And because he is a subtle Adversary, full of fraud, and his wily snares are not always transparent to mortal eyes, and carnal sense( for, as jerome saith, In vita Hilarion. Diabolus nunquam apertâ front se prodit; That is, The Devil never appears in his own likeness. It behoveth us to seek to be enlightened by God with true heavenly understanding, whereby we may discover and discern them. For as Augustine saith, Soliloq. cap. 17. Domine, quis evadet laqueos istos multos, nisi videat cos,& quis videbit eos, nisi quem illuminaveris lumine tuo? That is, Lord who can escape those manifold snares, unless he see them; and who can discern them but he onely whom thou dost enlighten with thy light? for he being the Father of darkness, hideth his snares in obscurity, that he might take therein all those that are the children of darkness, and see not the light of God, wherein whosoever walketh, needeth not to fear any danger. Now Christ Jesus is the John 8.12. light of the world; and by his Gospel he enlighteneth our souls, that we may discern, and avoid all the snares of the Devil: and therefore to that end we ought to labour continually to be enlightened thereby. And especially we must beware, that we be not so ridiculous as to think to please him, or pacify his rage against us by yielding or submitting ourselves unto him: for Diabolus cedendo non placatur, said resistendo fugatur; The Devil is never pacified by yielding, but is chased away by resisting: according to that of Saint James, James 4.7. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. To which also the counsel of this our Apostle in the verse next after my text, doth directly agree, 1. Pet. 5.9. Whom resist steadfast in the faith. To conclude, let us embrace his advice here, let us be sober and vigilant. And because we are not able of ourselves to withstand him, much less to overcome him: let us to our sobriety and vigilancy join hearty prayer unto the Lord Col. 1.11. To strengthen us with all might according to his glorious power: and cause Psal. 34.7. His Angels to encamp round about us, and deliver us: that so; he being Rom. 16.20 The God of peace may bruise, or tread down, Satan under our feet; and give us full victory over him, through the victorious Apoc. 5.5. Lion of the tribe of Judah, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To which let all those that love their own souls and salvation, say, Amen. FINIS. SOLOMONS charity, OR AN EXHORTATION TO stir UP THE RICH TO charity AND liberality towards the poor, groaning under the heavy burden of the famine: Delivered in the Lecture at KETTERING in the County of Northampton, in the beginning of the year of our Lord God 1631. Pet. Raven. in Ser. quodam. Da pauperi terram, ut accipias regnum; da micam, ut accipias totum; da pauperi, ut detur tibi: quia quicquid pauperi dederis, tu habebis; quod pauperi non dederis, habebit alter. LUKE 16.9. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge. 1633. Ecclesiastes 11.1. Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many dayes. OMitting all circumstantial preambles, concerning Solomon himself, or this book in general, commonly conceived to be penned by him in testimony of his repentance; observe with me, that this present chapter consisteth of two chief branches. 1. In the first he exhorteth to the duty of munificence and bounty, in relieving the poor, in the six first verses. 2. In the other he laboureth to withdraw men from sin and impiety by inculcating the memorial and infallible necessity of death, and the judgement to come, from the sixth verse to the end of the chapter. My purpose is, not to speak any thing at this time concerning the latter branch; which pertaineth not to the matter which is now to be treated of: But in the first part observe with me, that the Wise man doth with variety of reasons, motives, allegories, and allusions, urge and enforce the duty of Charity, or almes-deed. Take a short view of them. In the first verse he propounds the duty in an Allegory, and presseth it with a strong reason; Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many dayes. In the next verse he expoundeth the former Metaphor or allegory, and strengtheneth it with another forcible motive; Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest n●t what evil shall be upon the earth. In the third he allureth us to the practise of this duty, by a double allusion from the clouds and the trees: If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if the three fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the three falleth there it shall be. In the fourth he laboureth to remove the ordinary obstacles which hinder the practise of this duty; as stumbling at the ingratitude of the poor, curiosity about their persons, whether they be worthy to be received or not, posting off the duty till a more fit time, &c. He that observeth the wind, shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds, shall not reap. In the fifth verse he answereth this objection; How shall I know that after many dayes I shall find it? which way, or wherein may that appear? Which doubt or scruple he satisfieth by a reason, or demonstration, drawn from the secret manner of Gods works in the wind, or spirit, and in an Embryo: As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all. In the last verse of this part he concludeth with an Exhortation to the diligent practise of this duty, not conditioning before-hand with God, but leaving the success to him, trusting him in the point of remuneration: In the morning sow thy seed, in the evening withhold not thy hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. Out of all these I have made choice of the first, to be the subject of my discourse at this time; Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many dayes. Solomon by his great wisdom had formerly discovered a disease, which doth much haunt riches, or rather rich men: Eccles. 5.10. He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this is also vanity. covetousness is a spiritual dropsy. Ovid. 1. F●stor. Quò plus sunt potae, plùs sitiuntur aquae; The more men drink of such waters, the more their thirst after increaseth. Now the Preacher being a spiritual physician, before the conclusion of his sermons, prescribeth a receipt, medicine, or remedy, for this malady. And herein he proceedeth according to the true method of healing: for having discovered the cause of the disease to be a kind of Plethorie, or fullness, or an infallible desire of riches, which we commonly call avarice; he proceedeth in the cure thereof, according to the general physical rule, Contraria curantur per contraria; Contraries are best cured by contraries: and therefore he requireth that the cure, or remedy be by evacuation; Cast thy bread upon the waters. For like as when evil humours grow predominant in the body, if there be not some evacuation by incision, phlebotomy, purgation, &c. they do in time suffocate the body, and hasten the ruin thereof: So do evil affections, being predominant in the heart or mind,( without some spiritual means for evacuation) endanger the destruction of the soul. And therefore the Wise man hath here accordingly prescribed a medicine, and such a one, as( being rightly applied) will not a little conduce to the cure of the former disease, viz. by evacuation, Cast thy bread upon the waters. For( as one saith truly) this 'vice cannot be washed away, nisi per fontem liberalitatis, but by the fountain of liberality: for so Zaccheus professed that he would Luk. 19.8. give the half of his goods to the poor, and make restitution fourfold of whatsoever he had taken from any man by false accusation, or forgery, before our Saviour Christ said unto him, vers. 9. This day is salvation come unto thine house. But that I may speak briefly and methodically, observe with me in these words two parts. 1. The Precept or Commandment; or if you will so call it, an Exhortation; Cast thy bread upon the waters. 2. A Promise, which is to the other( according to the rhetorical term) tanquam ratio movens, suadens,& inducens; as a moving or persuading inducement; For thou shalt find it after many dayes. I. The Precept or Exhortation. The Precept is in these former words, Cast thy bread upon the waters: wherein the scope of the Spirit of God is, to excite men to bounty, liberality, or munificence, in relieving of the poor: a doctrine if needful in those daies and that golden age of plenty, wherein silver was nothing accounted of;( for 1. Kings 10.27. the king gave silver in Jerusalem as stones, or( as some red) made it as plentiful as stones) then how much more now? For this is the age, and these seem to be the times wherein the Apostle fore-prophesied, that men should be 2. Tim. 3.2 lovers of themselves, covetous, &c. and wherein our Saviour foretold, Mat. 24.12 that iniquity should abound, and the love of many wax could. And therefore if Solomon, much more hath the Preacher cause now to say, Cast thy bread upon the waters: especially at this season, when the hand of God doth press so strongly by Ann. Dom. 1630. 1631. famine upon these wretched and miserable waters. I may well say of his precept, as jerome did of the seven catholic Epistles, that it is In proem. sup. 7. Epist. Catholicas. breve verbis, longum sensu; short in words, long in sense: comprehending more in substance, then it makes show of in words. That I may the better open the whole scope of it, observe therein these three circumstances. 1. Of the action, Quomodo. or rather the manner how this duty is to be performed, Cast. 2. Of the matter to be given, thy bread. Quid. 3. Of the object of our liberality, cvi. upon the waters. The consideration of these will open the Precept unto you. 1. We are to consider the action or manner of the duty, in that one word, Cast. The whole verse is a continued Metaphor, that is, an allegory taken a re rustica, from the manner, and use in husbandry, requiring a seeding in the beginning, and promising an harvest in the latter end. And so have we in this first part of my text, the Precept, 1. The sowing, Cast. 2. The seed, thy bread. 3. The field wherein it is to be sown, upon the waters. Neither let any one think it a strange or farre-fetched allegory; for the Spirit of God in the writings of S. Paul, hath both familiarly used it, and also at large prosecuted it: for exhorting the Corinthians to charity and almesdeeds, he saith, 2. Cor. 9.6, 9, 10. He which soweth sparing, shall reap sparing; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap bountifully: and further presseth that allusion in certain verses following, as Solomon hath also done in the beginning of this chapter; which( by the way) admirably sheweth the harmony and consent of holy Scriptures, being dictated by the same Spirit. So is charity in giving to the poor, compared to sowing of seed; and the Metaphor of Casting implieth with what mind& affection it ought to be performed; viz. as the husbandman soweth his seed, cheerfully, freely, and liberally. To which end it is, that( as the Aristot. Philosopher observeth) Deus fecit manum aptam ad spargendum; God hath framed the composition of the hand in a fit manner for scattering or sowing, with incisions, or divisions of the fingers, for vents in the action of sowing: as if every one of them( in the spiritual seeding) should be a several vent or passage for our bounty. The whole hand being like Joh. 5.2. Bethesda, the house of mercy, with his five porches, pipes, or conduits. And David speaking of the same duty of charity, useth another word agreeing to this, Psal. 112.9 {αβγδ} dispersit: He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness endureth for ever. And indeed, that is the best kind of charity which is so dispersed or scattered abroad. Many littles given unto many being in distress, is better then much conferred upon one; more being refreshed by our bounty,& more thanksgiving redounding unto God thereby. But let me observe with you, that the Metaphor of Casting, doth chiefly imply two things in the manner of our professing the duty of charity. 1. That it be performed freely: for who compelleth the husbandman to cast or sow his seed upon his land? it is his own free and voluntary act, Liberè, freely cheerfully and willingly performed in expectation of a future harvest. So ought this our spiritual casting or sowing, to be free and uncompelled; as( to use S. Pauls own words) 2. Cor. 9.7 not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. It is called Eleemosyna, a work of mercy; which it cannot be properly called, except it be libera, non coacta, free and without compulsion. If it be by compulsion, it is obedience to a commandment indeed, but not a work of mercy, wherein mercy and compassion should be the primum movens, the first mover. 2. That it be done liberally, or bountifully: Liberaliter, liberally. for what wise husbandman will( as we say) pinch his land of seed? what hope shall he then have of a rich and plentiful harvest? And what saith S. Paul of our spiritual sowing these almsdeeds or works of charity? This yet remember, that 2. Cor. 9.6 he which soweth sparing, shall reap sparing; and he which soweth liberally, shall reap liberally. And therefore also doth Solomon here after the words of my text, so earnestly press this circumstance of liberality and bounty; Give a portion to seven, and also to eight. And again, In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand. The express quantum or proportion can hardly be assigned, because it is to be measured both according to the ability of him that giveth, and also the necessity of him that receiveth. But if we desire to have God to accept it, and repay us bountifully with a rich harvest, we must do it cheerfully and freely( not as of necessity or compulsion) but liberally, or( as the Apostle saith) 2. Cor. 9.5. as a matter of bounty, and not of covetousness. But, me thinks, I hear carnal covetous men, and churlish Nabals answering me, as the Apostles once answered our Saviour Christ, disputing of the eating of his flesh and drinking his blood, or else they had no life in them; ●●h. 6.60. Hic durus est sermo; This is an hard saying, &c. carnal men cannot away with casting so freely: they are hardly brought to believe this, and with much more difficulty to perform it. And the reason is, because they are deluded with two false grounds. First, Epicure-like placing their summum bonum, chiefest felicity in these earthly things, they hold that common error concerning them, that The more a man hath the safer and better he is; whereas the truth is, that he which hath a moderate and competent estate( not wanting necessaries) is Domi tutior,& in via expeditior; Safer at home, and more expedite and nimble in the way to heaven. It is not without cause that the Apostle saith, 1. Tim. 6.9, 10. They that will be rich fall into temptations, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition: for the love of money is the root of all evil. Nor may we think it was without ground, that our Saviour Christ speaking of a rich mans going to heaven, first calls it Mark. 10.23, 27. {αβγδ}, an hard thing; and after, {αβγδ}, impossible with men. God must( as it were) work a miracle, for else it cannot be. And that this casting mitigateth the difficulty, and helps them forward in the way to heaven, seems clear by the example of Zacheus: for no sooner had he professed that he would make Luk. 19.8. restitution of all his goods unjustly gotten, with advantage, and give half that he had to the poor; but Christ answered, This day is salvation come unto thine house: so doth this seem to be a deluding and false ground. Secondly, many stumble at the ingratitude or unworthiness of the poor, as a just bar to their bounty in casting; whereas S. Austines rule is, De Civit. Dei. lib. 21. cap. 27. Eleemosyna non cvi detur, said quo animo intendit Christus; that is, Christ regardeth not to whom, but with what affection we bestow our almsdeeds. And it is well known what the Philosopher answered, being reproved for giving of alms to a nefarious fellow being in great distress, Non mores, said hominem commiseratus sum; I had compassion upon him, not because he was evil, but because he was a man. Or( as others have it) Non homini dedi, said humanae sorti; I regarded rather humanity, then the person of the man. Yet many strain hard at this point, as if it was indeed a full and absolute reason to restrain and keep them back from the practise of this duty of charity. But Oecolampadius wrote a peculiar Tract or Sermon, De non habendo delectu pauperum, Against respecting or putting a difference between the persons of the poor: And jerome saith peremptorily, In epist. Quisquis in quacunque necessitate morituro succurrere potest, si non fecerit, occidit: that is, Whosoever in any necessity is able to help him that is ready to die, and does it not, he is guilty to his death. I know very well the rule of S. Paul, 2. Thess. 3.10. He that will not labour let him not eat. And I willingly join with S. Paul, to have discipline used against idle, lazy persons; but withall I say, let them neither want discipline nor relief. compel them to their duty, but withall, shut not up your Col. 3.12. bowels of compassion towards them, suffering them to starve for want of relief. But alas! we need not to be too curious of this point in these dayes: for when so many thousands in this hard time seek and desire work, and yet have not to eat; how can we want fit objects of our bounty and liberality? But enough concerning this point, the Manner how we are to exercise our charity. 2. The matter. The Matter thus to be cast, or the seed thus freely and bountifully to be sown and dispersed, is bread: no strange thing, or hard to be obtained; but thy bread, such as thou hast, and which none of the richer sort, to whom Solomon chiefly directeth this precept, do want; that so he might prevent all objections arising from the difficulty of obtaining that which is so freely and liberally cast, sown, or bestowed. But for the better and more full understanding of this circumstance, consider two things; 1. The scope and signification of the word bread. 2. The propriety of it, it must be thy bread. 1. Doth he intend onely bare bread? Must nothing else be given? Varro. Varro, so much extolled for the latin tongue, deriveth panem, à pascendo; bread, of feeding; in which sense it imports food or feeding in general. And Divines go further, and say, Per panem intelliguntur omnia necessaria; By bread we are to understand all necessary things. Which they distinguish into two kindes; In panem necessitatis,& panem dimensi; Into the bread of necessity, and the bread of our portion. Under the first they comprehend meat, drink, apparel, and all such necessaries without which life cannot be maintained: and under the other, those things which we call solatia vitae; such things as help to make this life comfortable unto us, although life be no way hazarded or endangered by the defect or want of them, &c. In a word, it is usual with Interpreters to refer us to the fourth Petition in the Lords prayer, for the right understanding of the extent of the word bread; viz. in these words, Mat. ●. 11. Give us this day our daily bread: for eadem est regula dandi& accipiendi; The same rule is to be observed both in giving and receiving. And in that Petition( by the consent of the most Expositors) we crave all necessaries both for soul and body, this life and the life to come: for( as Christ saith) Matth. 4.4. Man liveth not onely by bread, &c. Will you then briefly hear the scope of this word bread? This is it, To pray for the sinners, to teach the ignorant, counsel the weak, comfort the afflicted, reprove the vicious, correct the stubborn, forgive offences, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, cloth the naked, lodge the needy passenger, visit the sick, comfort the captives, and bury the dead. And( as Nazianzen saith) Si nihil habes, collacryma; If thou hast nothing to give, yet show thy compassion by thy tears. That is( as the Apostle saith) Rom. 12.15. Weep with them that weep. Thus far extends the word bread, implying that we should( according to our ability) be helpful to such as are in any kind of distress, whether in respect of body or soul, this life or that to come. And this is the matter, or that which we are to cast, or the seed which we are to sow so cheerfully and so liberally. 2 We are next to consider the propriety of the word bread. It must be thy bread: which implieth two things. First, that it must be given, Si tuus, if it be thine. Secondly, it must be bestowed, dum tuus, while it is thine: or else thou dost not cast thy bread. First, Si tuus, if it be thine: that is, the bread wherein thou hast a true and just propriety. Let the Wiseman be his own Interpreter; Prov. 5.16, 17. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad,& rivers of waters in the streets: but let them be onely thine own, and not anothers with thee. Cast thy bread, Purè tuum, that is, that which thou hast lawfully obtained by right of inheritance, free-gift, or Gods blessing upon the labour of thine hands in some honest vocation: according to S. Pauls advice, Eph●s. 4. 2● Let him that stolen steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth: not that which thou hast gotten unlawfully, by oppression, fraud, &c. not to be bountiful of another mans purse, or( as the Proverb is) to cut large thongs of another mans hid: or( as one saith) parum dando,& multa recipiendo; getting much by rapine or violence, and giving a trifle out of it unto the poor▪ which is just the case which the Prophet speaketh of, like stealing a sheep, and offering the fat in sacrifice to God. Chrysostome saith, H●●●. 87. in M●tth. If thou shouldst see two persons, the one naked, the other clothed; shouldst thou not do wrong to take the garment of the clothed, and give to the naked? Ità qui Deo ex rapina eleemosynam parrot,( saith he) Such if his case which out of wrong, rapine, or oppression, prepareth a sacrifice or an almesdeed to offer unto God. God would none of 1. Sam. 15.21. Sauls sacrifices, of the sheep and oxen reserved from the prey taken from the Amalekites, though they were of the best and fattest; because they were unlawfully gotten, by open disobedience to the express commandment of God. But if that thou givest be purè tuum, lawfully and truly thine; then God accepteth it according to thy ability, were it but one of the widows Luk. 21.2. two mites: yea( as S. Austine saith) In Nat. 1●3. Deus intus coronat bonitatem, ubi non invenit fa●ultatem; that is, God doth crown, or reward, the good affection of the heart within, where he findeth not power and ability without. And therefore let the bread which thou givest, the seed which thou dost cast or sow, be purely, truly, and rightfully thine. Secondly, Dum tuus; It must be cast, given, or sown also while it is thine. The manner of too many, is wholly to defer the preferment of this duty until the hour of death, when they can neither any longer enjoy that they have, nor spend any more of it in lascivious, riotous, or wanton manner: and if then( having been unmerciful and uncharitable all their life-time) they bequeath a little legacy to the poor, or to some other godly use; they think they have so abundantly satisfied and pleased God, that their swelling hearts can hardly be kept down from thinking that they have done a work either of Merit or Supererogation; whereas it is scarce a work of charity in them: for in that case S. Austine saith truly, that the danger is, Nè mortua sit morientis eleemosyna; Lest the charity of the dying prove to be dead. Neither indeed were it charity properly, but rather( as I said before) a thong cut from another mans hid: for he is but a steward under God over that which he hath, and that at the furthest but for term of life: and therefore then onely to give, when he is summoned with a Luk. 6.2. red rationem villicationis tuae, Give an account of thy stewardship, is not properly to part with any thing of his own, but rather to take so much from the next succeeding steward. It is a rule in husbandry, to till and sow betimes for a good crop: and so is it in this spiritual husbandry, wherein 2. Cor. 9.7 God loveth a cheerful giver, but he likes not of delays. Stobans. Morâ ingratum redditur,& parùm amabile quicquid dederis; that is, Whatsoever thou bestowest delay makes it the less acceptable, and the less regarded. He that gives quickly doubles the value of the gift; which moved the Philosopher to say, Sen●ca. Optimum beneficit condimentum celeritas; Nothing seasoneth a benefit so well as celerity in the performance of it. And therefore, though I must needs grant these deeds of charity to be better on the death-bed, then not at all; Better late( as we say) then never, and would not otherwise be understood; yet the Wisemans counsel is to give or cast thy bread whilst it is thine: and he exhorteth us to do it both early and late; Eccles. 11.6. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand. 3. The object of our bounty, or the field wherein we are to cast or sow this seed so freely and liberally, is now last of all to be considered: and that is upon the waters: for, according to the conceit of the vulgar sort, that is reputed lost which is so bestowed: and the Greek Proverb, {αβγδ}, Thou sowest upon the waters, is usually understood of such as bestow benefits upon the ungrateful, or where they are utterly lost: and therefore this phrase seemeth very dark and obscure. But I shall presently open the Allegory, and make it plain unto you. Waters in the Scriptures have a twofold allegorical signification. First, they sometimes signify miseries; in which sense they are frequently used by David in the book of the psalms: Psal. 69.1, 2 Save me, O God, for the waters have come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. And elsewhere, Psal. 18.16. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. In which places, and divers other such like speeches, the Spirit of God expresseth the miseries and troubles of the children of God, by this Metaphor of Waters. Secondly, Waters do also signify people; for so the Angel expoundeth the vision of the great Whore of Babylon unto S. John: Rev. 17.15. The waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth, are peoples, multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Now then in few words, if you put these two significations together, the Allegory will be opened plainly; for miseries and people, spell in plain English miserable people. And indeed those are the waters upon which we must cast our bread: viz. the poor, the needy, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the prisoner, the captive, &c. Upon the face of the waters: supper facies aquas scilicet emittentes,( In locum. saith Munster) that is, Upon the waterish faces, or upon the faces which sand forth waters: qui propter casus adversos lacrymantur( saith he) which through adversity are forced to water their faces with tears. This is the Lords field, and though at the first it seemed ridiculous to sow any seed in, or upon it; yet you shall find it a very rich and fertile soil, and blessed are all they which freely and liberally sow their seed upon it. But we are fallen into a strange age, wherein I may well complain and say with Ravenna, Nescio quam iniqua natura comparatum est, ut hi, qui minus habent, semper aliquid addunt ditioribus: that is, I know not how it cometh to pass, that nature seemeth to have induced such a custom, that these which have less are always giving to such as are more rich. Elisaeus vasa vacua implebat,& deficientibus olim dedit: hody vero contemnuntur vasa vacua,& plena superimplentur: ligna in sylvas,& aquae in maria deferuntur; arenti terrae aqua subtrahitur,& flumina, quae non indigent, irrigantur( saith Peter In quodam sermone. Ravenna) Elisaeus filled the empty vessels, and gave oil to them that wanted it: But in our dayes the empty vessels are despised, and the full are more replenished; timber is carried into the woods, and water into the seas: from the dry ground water is drawn, and the streams which want not are more abundantly watered. How many wait at the gate of the rich and mighty with gifts and presents? but how few such messengers tread upon the threshold of the poor and needy? How many feast the rich? but how few call the poor to their tables? But our Saviour Christ teacheth us a better lesson; Luk. 14.12, 13, 14. When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsfolk, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And thus have I finished the first general part of my text, the Precept or Exhortation. II. The Promise, Reason, or Motive; For thou shalt find it after many dayes. The malice of our arch-adversary, Satan, is well known to God; viz. that like as he hath been always busied with the best men, so doth he most strongly oppose himself against the best things, and consequently against the prime duty of charity or almsdeeds. For( as one saith truly) Chrysost. in locum. Dilectionis flammas Satan far non potest: The Devil can by no means endure the burning flames of love and charity. As in all goodness, so especially in this he opposeth himself against God: for whereas 2. Cor. 9.7. God loveth a cheerful giver, he loves a churlish Nabal, and miserable Dives: whereas God saith, Luk. 6.35, 38. Lend, hoping for nothing again: and, Give, and it shall be given to you: he saith, Yea, but a bide in the hand is worth two in the bush. And therefore the Lord knowing his malice in this kind, doth not here content himself with a bare commandment; but also allureth us with a gracious promise. He that might peremptorily require, doth in a sort entreat; and he that might absolutely command, is willing tanquam conducere praemia; as it were to hire us for a reward; Thou shalt find it after many dayes. In locum. Lavator observeth, that it is in the original, In the multitude of dayes: Which( saith he) implieth, that God will prolong the dayes of his life, that soweth upon these waters: for if he live not long, how can he find it in or after a multitude of dayes? But that doth not so necessary follow always; for as God doth remunerate the bounty and liberality of some in one kind, and of others in another; so he doth it to some sooner, and to others later; some finding it in themselves, and some in their posterity; some in this life, and some in the life to come. Abundantly sufficient it is, that God interposeth himself as the poor mans surety, and bindeth himself by promise to repay the debt: Thou shalt find it again after many dayes. It had been no injustice in him, to have required absolute giving; but he is content that we shall but lend, and he himself will become both the pledge and the pay-master; After many dayes thou shalt find it again: for that is the true sense of this place. Though that which is cast upon these waters seemeth utterly to be lost;( as I have before observed) yet it is not so, it is but lent, and the Lord will repay it. Let Solomon be his own Interpreter: Pro. 19.17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord,& that which he hath given will he pay him again. Not a widows mite, not Mat. 10.42 a cup of could water given to one of Christs little ones, shall in any wise be unrewarded. Serm. de Divite. Foecundus est ager pauperum, citò reddit donantibus fructum( saith S. Austine) The field of the poor is very fruitful, and returneth a speedy increase to them that are charitable; yea and the harvest which it yields is rich and plentiful, it returns fruit cum foenore, with great increase: for our Saviour Christ saith, Mat. 19.29 Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my names sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life, so rich is this soil, and so manifold is the increase which it yeeldeth: Thou shalt find it after many dayes; in thyself, or thine; in this life, or that to come. And so David saith, Psal. 41.1, 2, 3. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth; and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. And again, Psal. 11●. ●, ●, ●. A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: surely he shall not be moved for ever. He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness endureth for ever, his horn shall be exalted with honour. Infinite are the places which show how highly God regards and rewards charity. Isa. 58.7, If thou deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out, to thy house; and when thou seest him naked, if thou cover him: Then shal thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters sail not. It opens Gods-eares to our prayers, according to that of S. Austine, ubi suprá Ideo rogans Dives non exauditur in torments, quia rogantem pauperem non exaudivit in terris: Therefore was not Dives heard when he prayed in torments, because he harkened not to the poor that begged of him when he was upon the earth. And it is no small praise and commendation of charity, which supper Mat. S●rm 9. Chrysost. expresseth in those words; It is a friend to God, always near to him, obtaining favour, dissolving the bonds of sin, allaying wrath, and opening the gates of heaven: to whom none of the keepers dare say, Quae tues, vel unde? Who art thou, or whence comest thou? When Daniel had interpnted Nebuchadnezzars dream, and declared the calamities which God would bring upon him, he gave him this advice; Dan. 4.27. Wherefore, O King, let my counsel be acceptable to thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillitie: or( as some red it) an healing of thine error. So true it is, that he which casteth his bread upon the waters, he which soweth seed cheerfully and liberally in this field, shall find it again after many dayes in a rich and plentiful harvest, both in this life and the life to come. See now then how far the counsel of the Wise man, or rather of the Spirit of God in this place, and the course of the worldling or carnal man do differ: for such an one doth think to keep and increase his estate, and to make himself and his posterity happy, by gathering greedily, and hording up miserable, the Luk. 16.9, 11. unrighteous mammon, the wealth and pelf of this world, stoping in the mean time his ears at the cry of the poor, and turning away scornfully his eyes from their watery faces. But Solomon by the direction of the Spirit of God, teacheth here a clean contrary way, viz. that the true way both to keep and increase Gods blessings upon us in these earthly things, is by casting them, or some competent portion of them at the least, upon these waters: for herein is that of the Poet found to be most true, Quas dederis, solace semper habebis opes: Onely that part of thy goods which thou bestowest to charitable and pious uses, shal continue thine, and benefit thee for ever. Which moved our Saviour Christ to teach us that excellent rule of spiritual and heavenly policy; Luk. 16 9. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. And again, Luk. 12.33 Sell that ye have and give alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. To conclude then, as I lately spake unto the poor, exhorting them patiently to submit themselves under the mighty hand of God, and to seek by good and lawful means to pacify his anger, and seek his favour, that the light of his countenance may again shine upon them: So now you see that the scope of this my Exhortation is directed to the rich, to stir them up in these hard times to show their compassion to the distressed members of Jesus Christ, by casting their bread upon the waters, upon those faces which by reason of the sharpness of this present famine, are so often covered with water, that is, bedewed with tears: for God is come now to try both the poor and the rich, that he may know what is in your hearts. He is come to try the patience of the poor, and the charity of the rich. Now therefore is the time for such as God hath blessed with the riches of this world, to show upon the members, the poor distressed members of Jesus Christ, what love they bear to Christ himself: for whatsoever ye do to them, he takes it, and accepts it as done unto himself: for so in his description of the last judgement, when he pronounced that happy and sweet sentence upon the go●ly, M●t. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, he alleged the reason to be, because he was hungry, and they gave him meat; he was thirsty, and they gave him drink; he was a stranger, and they took him in; he was naked, and they clothed him; he was sick, and they visited him; he was in prison, and they came unto him. And when they answered him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? He replied and said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, in as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. If therefore ye will be godly and wise merchants, let me persuade you to venture some part of your goods upon these waters; you need no ships, the gain is very great, and there is no hazard in this traffic: for the Lord himself hath undertaken that ye shall not miscarry, nor lose by it; For thou shalt find it again after many dayes. Indeed the Poet saith truly, that Ovid. Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest: Men may be forward in promises, but slow in performance: but with Titus 1.2. God that cannot lye, dictum& factum, saying and doing are both alike. Like as in the creation, Dixit,& facta sunt; He spake the word, and all things were created: so also in his providence in governing the whole world, his saying is an absolute doing; and all his promises are 2. Cor. 1.20 Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. Trust him therefore, take his word, believe his promise, venture some part of your goods in this kind; my life for yours, you shall find him both a true pay-master, and a bountiful rewarder. If you will not trust him with a little parcel of your goods, how hardly would you part with your lives for his sake, if the case did so require? We never saw these waters so plentiful as they are now amongst us, never more watery faces. Let therefore( I beseech you) these ruthful spectacles, which in every place present themselves as objects of your sight, move you in the tender bowels of compassion, to cast your bread upon these waters freely and liberally, that you may find it again after many dayes. But if with Dives you refuse to cast your very Luk. 16.21, 24. crumbs upon these waters; take heed lest with him hereafter being in torments, you cry and beg for Luk. 16.21. drops of water to cool your tongues, and be denied them also as he was. Whose heart will not rend asunder within him at the terror of that sentence of the Apostle, Jam. 2.13. He shall have judgement without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy. How much more at that of our Saviour Christ? Matth. 25.41, 42. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire: and why? for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. The Lord therefore so incline our hearts to mercy, that we also may find mercy in the day of the Lord Jesus. AMEN. FINIS. ΔΑΙΜΩΝΟΠΑΝΩΛΕΘΡΙΑ: OR THE DEVILS DOWN-FALL; Delivered in the Lecture at KETTERING in the County of Northampton. Gregor. in Cantic. Cantic. cap. 5. Sancti viri in Scriptura sancta fraudes daemonum prospiciunt,& ex descriptione quam vident, quasi ex umbra hostem cognoscunt. LUKE 11.21, 22. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger then he shall come upon him, and overcome him; he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1633. Luke 10.18. I saw Satan like lightning fall down from Heaven. THis whole Chapter consisteth of three distinct parts. 1. The history of the seventy disciples elected by our Saviour; vers. 1. unto the 25. 2. The Lawyers question to the point of obtaining eternal life, with Christ his resolution of it; vers. 25. unto the 38. 3. The manner of Christs entertainment by the two sisters Martha and Mary; vers. 38. unto the end of the chapter. In the first of these( which onely pertaineth to my present purpose) we have these three points. 1. The ordination and ambassage of the seventy, with the commission or charge given unto them by Christ; vers. 2. to the 17. 2. Their return, with a relation of their success; vers. 17. 3. A most excellent and divine speech of our Saviour Christ, upon that occasion; vers. 18. to the 25. Which speech he directeth in a threefold manner. 1. To the disciples, confirming the truth of their success in their office; vers. 18. in the words of my text; I saw Satan, &c. 2. The next part is also directed unto them, enlarging their commission, and( for their better encouragement) adding thereunto a promise of divine protection, vers. 19. Behold, I give you power to tread upon serpents, and scorp●ons, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall hurt you. 3. He rectifieth their judgement in the point of their joy; teaching them the true ground of sound and solid joy, vers. 20. nevertheless, in this rejoice not, &c. Now then the words of my text appear to be a confirmation and illustration of the former relation of the seventy: for they told our Saviour, vers. 27. Lord, even the Devils are subdued unto us through thy name. To which Christ Jesus replieth confirming, and by a similitude taken from lightning, illustrating the truth thereof, I beholded Satan as lightning fall from heaven. For the more orderly and profitable handling of these words, observe three things: 1. The Matter which Christ confirmeth to be true, viz. Satans falling from heaven. 2. The Manner of it; like lightning. 3. The testimony whereby he confirms it, viz. of himself; I saw, or beholded. 1. The matter confirmed. 1. The matter confirmed. The matter confirmed is, Satans falling from heaven; wherein we have two things. 1. The person, Satan. 2. The matter testified of him; his falling from heaven. 1. The Person. 1. The Person For the Person, I will onely show( as it were in three words) who, or what he is. It is clear from the 17 verse that he speaketh of the devil, who is rightly styled {αβγδ}, one full of names, as Argos of eyes; being called a lion, a dragon, a serpent, a fox, a wolf, a cockatrice, leviathan, a tempter, an accuser, &c. In this place he is called by an Hebrew name Satan. Satan, which signifieth an adversary, or enemy: for so is he from the beginning to God and his whole Church. And this name is above others here fitly given unto him, because our Saviour in this place speaketh of a battle fought against him, and a victory obtained over him to his mine and destruction. So that it is in effect as if he had said, I saw the common, professed, and sworn enemy of God and his Church( being vanquished and overcome) fall from heaven. 2. The matter 2. The matter. confirmed. This appears to be his falling from heaven: which all Interpreters do not understand alike. A double exposition I find: many leaning to the one part, and many to the other. The first is of the ancient Fathers and Interpreters: the other of the modern Divines and expositors. 1. The first interpretation. Some suppose that Christ here speaketh of that fall of Satan, otherwise called Lucifer; whereby in the beginning, presently after the creation( as the most do suppose) for his pride and presumption against God, he was by the Almighty, together with all the Angels which adhered to him, cast down from heaven; and whereby they were all transformed from glorious Angels of light, into the most accursed of all creatures, Devils; and 2. Pet. 2.4. delivered into chains of darkness to be kept unto damnation. Of which fall some understand that of the Prophet; Isa. 14.12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? though the prophesy in the letter be directly against the king of Babel. And hereunto some also refer that Apoc. 12.7, 8, 9. battle fought in heaven, between Michael and his Angels, and the Dragon and his Angels: wherein the Dragon and his Angels were vanquished and cast out of heaven, and the Saints rejoiced that the accuser of their brethren was cast down, Vers. 10. which accused them before God day and night, &c. And of this opinion( as I said before) are many ancient, and some few modern writers, viz. Ambros. l. de fuga seculi cap. 7. Cyprian. lib. de tentat.& jejun. Christ. Hieron. in Isa. 14.12. Gregor. Moral. lib. 23. cap. 4. Chrysost. Hom. 10. de poenit. Beda in locum: Aquin. in catena aurcâ, Dionysius Carthusian. Hugo Cardin. Toletus Cardin. &c. I forbear to city their words: I onely show this to be their opinion, &c. And hereupon it was that Dionysius Carthusianus moved that nice doubt, how he should be said to fall from heaven; seeing he gathereth from these words, Isa. 14.13. Thou saidst, I will ascend into heaven, that he was not in heaven before. And he satisfieth it with no less curious a conceit or fiction( as I esteem it) viz. that he was at the first creation placed in the imperial heaven, and from thence aspired into the heaven of heavens; and therefore was cast down, &c. dissenting therein from other Divines, which call the imperial heaven Aquir. in 1. q. c 6. 3. c. 3. Locum beatorum hominum, The place or residence of blessed men. Now those that thus understand the words, apply it to this end; viz. That Christ( perceiving that there was in the joy of the seventy some mixture of vain glory, by reason of the extraordinary gifts and graces given unto them, to cast out Devils, heal the sick, &c.) propounded to them the example and ruin of the Prince of pride: that thereby he might expel all arrogancy from their mindes, and teach them true humility. For so Cyprian affirmeth, Ubi suprà. Dominum eorum pr●sumptionem increpare, ac reprimere voluisse hisce verbis; That the Lord would check& suppress their presumption by these words. And Ubi suprá. Hierom saith to them in the person of Christ; Unde ille cecidit per superbiam, vos ascendatis per humilitatem; Whence he fell by pride, ascend you thither by humility. And being thus understood, there ariseth from it an excellent admonition, to beware of that hateful sin of pride, either by reason of spiritual graces, or temporal gifts and blessings: seeing that it hath ruinated and destroyed so many both men and Angels. For God ●uc. ●. 5●. casteth down the mighty from their seats, and exalteth the humble and meek: Vers. 51. Scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts. And our Saviour Christ saith, ●uc. 1 ●●. He that exalteth himself shall be brought low; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 2. The second Interpretation. 2. Some others do not understand this fall of Satan from heaven literally, but figuratively and spiritually, or mystically, of his ruin by the power and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, blessed forever. And so also I find it to be taken or applied in a double manner; viz. either Generally or Particularly. 1. Generally. 1. Generally. Some take it generally thus: That Satan after he was cast out of heaven for pride, and thrust down into this world of darkness( until he shall also be wholly banished from hence, and confined to the bottomless pit of hell) got him a kingdom in this world, and as it were built him a new heaven here upon earth. And thereupon is he styled by the Apostle, Eph. 6.12. {αβγδ}, The ruler of the darkness of this world: and by the same Apostle elsewhere, 2. Cor. ●. 4. {αβγδ}, The God of this world. For in this world he got him a seat with all nations, whom he so bewitched with idolatry, superstition, and an unbridled licentiousness of sinning; that he seemed to possess almost the whole world. And therefore Christ here calleth this power, glory, and celsitude which Satan had amongst the Gentiles and nations( before the coming of the son of God into the world) by the name of heaven, that is, Coelum Met●ph●ricum. a Metaphoricall heaven: as if he had said; Surely before this time Satan was every where worshipped in idols: he did every where set up his kingdom by monstrous sins, and horrible wickedness, and every where both places and persons were possessed by devils. But after I put on human flesh, the nature of man, and the Gospel began to be preached; presently Satan began to be disturbed, and detruded from his kingdom, wherein( as in a kind of heaven) he before did reign and rule, &c. Thus doth Homil. Quod Deus non sit author malo●um. Basil understand it in his homily, in which he proves that God is not the author of evils. And cyril affirmeth, that before the coming of Christ the devil was worshipped by almost all people and nations. Ubique extabant delubra in illius honorem erecta( saith he) ubique arae, ubique sacrificia: postquam autem Unigenitum Dei Verbum de coelo descendit, ruit ille ut fulgur: In every place temples were erected for his service, in every place altars, and every where sacrifices: but after the only-begotten Word of God descended from heaven, he fell down like lightning. And to this interpretation agree Euthymius, Cajetan, Maldonate, Calvin, Beza, and other later Divines with one consent. And indeed most true it is, that the devil had so large a kingdom, or heaven upon earth before Christ, that all people worshipped him, and offered sacrifices unto him: yea, scarce was there any country in the whole world, where he had not men or children offered in sacrifice unto him. For so it appeareth by the very Diodo●. Sic. l. 20. heathen writers, that they offered in sacrifice to Saturn children in candy, in Rhodomene, in Phoenice, and divers other places. The Tertul. in Apolog. latins sacrificed the tenth or tithe of their children to Jupiter: and the Carthaginians did the like service to Hercules. And in Affrica they continued to sacrifice men, until the time that Tiberius was Proconsul there, in whose time our Saviour Christ suffered death upon the cross, &c. These things Lib. de abst●nentia. Porphyrius, the professed enemy both of Christ and all the Christians, doth report unto us. What need is there that I should trouble you with any other such like testimonies? In Rome itself, though the Senate had condemned such sacrifices fourscore yeares before the birth of Christ Jesus( as Lib. 30. cap. 1. Plinie reporteth) yet for a long time after, the people so doted upon their old devilish superstition in this kind, that every year upon the same day that men were wont to be sacrificed, the altars in stead thereof were washed with mans blood. These things made a noble Seneca. Philosopher, which lived about S. Pauls time, say of these gods, that they required such a service, as neither Busiris nor Phalaris durst ever have demanded. This moved Lib. ●o rebus sanati is. Quintilian to say of them, that they could be no other then witless and stark mad. And he that is acquainted with the history of the Old Testament, cannot but know that many also amongst the very peculiar people of God, the Jews themselves, were strongly bewitched with these devilish superstitions. For so David saith directly; Psal. 1● 6.37, 38. They offered their sons and daughters unto devils, and to the idols of Canaan, and the land was defiled with blood. And the same thing is also related of them, Deut. 32.17. and 2. Kings 17.17. &c. And it is said directly of Manasses king of Juda, 2. Chr. 33.6 He caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom, a place famous, or rather infamous in that kind. Neither is it to any purpose, to pretend that the most of these sacrifices were offered to idols,& not to devils: for the Apostle S. Paul saith in express words, That the 1. Cor. 10.19, 20. idol is nothing, but those things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. So far and with such strange superstitious cruelty was the devils kingdom then extended: which might the more fitly be called an heaven, because in it he was worshipped as a God. But when the son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, was come into the world, and his Gospel preached to the world; all his miracles, and oracles, and sacrifices, and whole kingdom so vanished, that scarcely some few prints or footsteps thereof remain in any corner of the earth. Which made Ep ad pop. Medan. Austine in his time to cry out unto them; Ubi sunt dii vestri, ubi prophetae, ubi oracula, aruspices, sacrificia? Where are now your gods become, where be your prophets, where your oracles, soothsayers, sacrifices? &c. Yea and Porphyrius, that wrote in defence of this kingdom of the devil, confesseth that it was overthrown by Christ: Since the time( saith he) that Jesus hath been worshipped, we have taken no benefit by any of our gods. Such a great and sudden change and innovation was wrought in the whole world by the coming of Christ, and preaching of the Gospel. For before, Isa. 60.2. darkness covered the whole earth, and gross darkness the people; and then it pleased God( as the Apostle saith) Act. 14.16. to suffer all the Gentiles to walk in their own ways: and then the devil reigned in the world as in heaven. But by the coming of the son of God, a new light arose unto the world; luke. 1.78, 79. The day-spring from an high did visit us, To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace, as Zacharias sang in his Benedictus: A light to be revealed to the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel; as old Simeon sang with our Saviour in his arms in his Nunc dimittis. the word of salvation also was preached to all nations of the world. And then idols fell down, oracles were silent, the worship of heathenish gods vanished, superstitions breathed their last, and the unbridled licentiousness of sinning which was amongst the Gentiles, was taken away. And so did Satan fall from his heaven, &c. 1. Particularly 2. Particularly. Some others to the same sense do particularly apply it to the present embassage of the seventy: as if our Saviour Christ should have answered them thus; V●rs. 17. You bring me word with joy that the devils are subdued unto you through my name; wherein you show me no new thing: for when at the first I sent you forth to preach, I knew before that the power and kingdom of Satan would be ruined by the power of the Gospel: and when and where you preached it, I saw him fall from heaven, and all his strength and force to vanish. And so in this sense the Lord Jesus would bring his disciples( sticking with amazement in the admiration of that miracle, that the devils were subdued unto them through his name) to the consideration of the true cause thereof, viz. the power and efficacy of the ministry of the Gospel, whereby it is that the devil is cast out of his whole kingdom or heaven upon earth. And so harmony in locum. Calvin saith, that Christ commendeth the efficacy of his Gospel, when he saith that by it Satan is cast down in a moment; intimating that he commanded the Gospel to be preached by them to that very end, Ut regnum Satane everteret; That he might overthrow Satans kingdom thereby. And this sense doth( as I conceive) very fitly agree to the place, and may best be received. But whether you take it Generally, or Particularly, it tends( for the main) to the same end; viz. To show that the prime means whereby the kingdom of Satan is ruined, and he cast down from his heaven on earth, is by the power and efficacy of the Gospel preached. Collocatur Satan in aere cum suis angels:( saith In annotat. mayor. Beza) ind vero dicitur detrudi,& quidem cum impetu, quando voice Evangelit ejus potestas aboletur. Evangelium enim potentius est, quam ut posset coram eo consistere. Satan is placed in the Ephes. 6.12 air together with his Angels; But he is said to be detruded from thence, and that with violence, when by the voice of the Gospel his power is abolished. For the Gospel is of more mighty power, then that he should be able to stand before it. For as it is Rom. 1.16. the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; so is it also the power of God to the destruction of Satan and all that fight under his banner against it. And therefore is it compared to Heb. 4.12 a two edged sword, and said to be mighty in operation. And 1. Joh. 2.14 S. John imputeth the victory over the wicked, or evil one, that is, the devil, to it. And therefore doth S. Paul say; 2. Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. And elsewhere, Eph. 6. 1●. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, or( as the new translators in their marginal note) against wicked spirits in high places. So that this is the chief weapon which we must use against Satan in all the course of our Christian warfare, and spiritual encounters with him. And herein our Saviour Christ himself is our President: for in that great combat which he had with him in the wilderness, in all those three most furious assaults, he still repelled him by this onely weapon, Eph. 6.17. the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Against Satans first assault wherein he( knowing Christ to have fasted forty dayes and forty nights) said, Matth. 4.3. If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread; he opposed that which is written in the book of deuteronomy; Deut. 8.3. Man liveth not by bread onely, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And when in the second place the devil cunningly alleged Scripture to move him to Matth. 4 6. cast himself down from a pinnacle of the Temple; Psal. 91.11, 12. For God hath given his Angels charge over thee, and with their hands they shall lift thee up, l●st at any time thou shouldst dash thy foot against a ston: he answered him with another Scriptum est; It is written again, Deut. 6.16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And last of all, when he alured him with that powerful bait, wherewith he had ensnared many thousands to their destruction; mat. 4.8, 9 showing him all the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them, and saying, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me: he used no other weapon but the same word of God, Avoid Satan; for it is written, Deut. 6.13. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onely shalt thou serve. And therefore though Saint Paul in pointing out our spiritual armor saith, Eph. ●. 1●. Above all take the shield of faith, wherewith we may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one; yet these two may and must stand together; for this faith is of the Gospel, and comes by the Gospel. The Apostle tells us, that Rom. 12. ●7 Faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. De verb. Dom. Serm. 5. Austine could say of the wonderful prevailing power of the Gospel, The words of fishermen are red( for such were the Apostles) but the necks of orators( or Kings) are subdued. We may say more; The very devils are cast down from heaven, and their kingdom destroyed. Thus much of the first point, the matter confirmed by our Saviour Christ. 2. The manner 2. The manner. of it. Our Saviour Christ hath described the manner of Satans falling from this his heaven, by a similitude taken from lightning; {αβγδ}, as lightning, or, like lightning. This also by Interpreters is referred in a double manner. By some, to the person of Satan: By others, to his kingdom on earth. 1. Some take it with Chrysostome, 1. Of his perso●. de naturae Angelicae splendore& acumine; of the excellency and glorious splendour of the Angelical nature: and then they refer it to the first fall thus; Like as lightning at the first hath a great splendour, but lasteth but a small time, being soon extinct again, and with the fall or flash is suddenly turned into darkness: so also Satan was at the first created by God in a superlative degree of light and glory, wherein notwithstanding he abode but a small time; and it being extinct, he fell from heaven, and was cast into utter darkness. To this interpretation agree Ambrose, Origen, jerome, Theophilact, Titus Bostr●nus; and in general, so many as do understand it of the first fall of Satan from heaven. 2. Of his fall. 2. But others in my judgement far more properly and truly, refer it to the fall of Satans kingdom on earth; viz. to express the manner of it. Hugo cardinals saith, Sicut fulgur, id est, velociter, terribiliter, irrevocabiliter; Like lightning, that is, 1. Speedi y. speedily, terribly, and irrevocably. 1. The flash of lightning is violent, sudden, quick and speedy; so was the fall of Satan, and the ruin of his kingdom. 2. Terribly. 2. The flash of lightning is terrible and dreadful: so was the falling of Satan from heaven. 3. Irrevocably. 3. The flash of lightning is irrevocable, being once extinct it can never be recalled again: so was the fall of Satan, and the destruction of his kingdom. And to this agree divers others. Ubi supra. Calvin speaketh well to this point, affirming Satanam ad Evangelii tonitru instar fulguris cadere: That Satan at the thunder of the Gospel fell down like lightning. As the crack of thunder doth violently and terribly cast down or dash the lightning against the ground; so the voice of God like thunder in the Gospel preached, doth with no less terror and force dash or beat down Satan and his kingdom. And such was the manner of his fall, and the ruin of his heaven upon earth in the Primitive Church, as I shewed before. And so is the voice of God in the Gospel preached still like thunder, to beat down and demolish Satan and his whole kingdom. For so saith In ●osh. Hom. Origen; As the walls of Jericho could not be overthrown but by the trumpets of the priests( which then prevailed more then all the weapons of the Israelites) so the fortresses of Satan, iniquity and sin cannot be laid along, but by the voice of the priest, the teaching of the Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And thus much of the second point, the manner of Satans falling from heaven, like lightning. 3. The confirming testimony. I saw, or( as the new translators) I beholded. We have for the truth of this a testimony which is omni exceptione majus; above or without all exception, viz. the witness not of any mortal man whose breath is in his nostrils, whose heart might be deceitful, or whose lips and tongue( not being unfeigned) might dissemble, or speak guile; but of him that is very God, and therefore it is Heb. 6. 1●. impossible that he should lye; the son of God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which to us Christians should be of more force then {αβγδ}, ipse dixit, the master hath said it, in the school of the Philosopher. And whereas the saying is, Plus valet unus oculatus testis, quàm mill auriti; One eye-witnesse is of more credit, then a thousand which go by hear say: he speaketh not by report, but as an eye-witnesse; I saw, or I beholded. The seventy had seen a little of the effect of their preaching; but Christ tells them that he saw and knew much more. So In locum. Theophilact, Licèt hoc homines non viderint, ego tamen invisibilium spectator vidi; Though men saw it not, yet I which behold invisible things, did clearly discern it. And In scholiis in locum. Piscator speaking in the person of Christ to the seventy; I doubt not but you relate the truth unto me, for though I was absent in body, yet by the power of my Deity representing things absent to my mind, I beholded and saw the Prince of devils è sublimi deturbari, thrown violently down from above. I need say no more herein: for no sober Christian will once call into question, that which he heareth confirmed from the mouth of the son of God, and Saviour of the world. And thus much also of the third point, the witness or confirming testimony, I saw, or beholded. The use or application. This point may be diversely applied in the use of it: wherein I will endeavour to use such brevity as I formerly did in the interpretation. 1. It prescribes to our special comfort, the onely remedy and sure refuge against all Satans temptations, wherewith he doth at any time assault us, seeking thereby to vanquish us and to rob us of our souls and salvation; viz. Eph 6.17. This sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, whereby( as ye have heard from Christ his own mouth) Satan and his whole kingdom may be utterly ruined and destroyed. Great Princes use in time of peace to have their armouries furnished with all manner of munition, artillery, and whatsoever else is requisite against the day of battle, when any foreign enemy shall assail them. But in this spiritual warfare the comfort is, that the poorest Christian may easily have as rich an armorie, and be as fully furnished to stand against the assaults of the devil, and Eph. 6. 1●, 13. resist in the evil day, as the greatest Potentate of the world. For this sword of the Spirit, the word of God, is rightly styled a {αβγδ}, because it doth furnish us with all manner of weapons, defensive and offensive; against which mat. ●6. 1● the gates of hell can never prevail. Yea, against which the devil, the world, and the flesh, with all their favourites drawn into one main battalion, are too weak to make resistance. There is no malady( saith In Gen. Hom. 2. ● Chrysostome) either of body or soul, but may receive a medicine out of Gods word. It is( saith In Psal. 2. Basil) a common mart of soul-medicines; out of which {αβγδ}. everyone of us may choose a medicine proper and fit for his own malady. Yea, by this onely weapon the least 2. Sam. 17.50. David may be enabled to march against the greatest goliath, even Apoc. 12.3 the great read dragon of hell, and victoriously to overcome him. Our Saviour Christ hath been our mat. 4.1, 2 President herein as you have heard; it is our parts( being souldiers under his banner) to tread in his steps, and follow the example of him our general, the victorious Lion of the tribe of Juda. 2. We may here observe how fearful a judgement it is, to be without this sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Where no vision is( saith Pro. 29.18. Solomon) the people perish. Where there is not a watchman to stand upon the watch-tower, and give warning, the sudden approach of the enemy may en●●nger a total ruin. Abbot. in son. Ser. 1. There is no misery to be ●ompared with this; to be blind, and to have no guide, and yet walk where treading awry is tumbling into hell. When God would threaten the extremest of evils, he menaced his people with this, viz. that he would bring a Amos 8.11, 1●. famine, not of bread; nor a thirst for water: but of hearing the word of God, so that they should wander from sea to sea, from the North to the East to seek it, and not find it. Z●ch. 13. ●. Where no shepherd is, the sheep must needs be scattered. Take away the Captains and the Generals, and the rude body of the Army, consisting of common souldiers, will soon be disordered and perish. And what is it to be without this weapon, but to sleep unarmed in the midst of all our spiritual enemies encamped round about us? and so to lye open to Satan, to be wounded and destroyed by him at his pleasure? Look upon those places where it is wanting, and see if experience doth not show that there Satan doth rage most of all, and iniquity most abound. Let then such as groan under the defect, bewail their misery, and( according to our Saviours advice) Lu●. 10.2. pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to sand forth labourers into his harvest. 3. It serves for the terror of the careless, or tongue-tied non-praedicants( for are there not such amongst us? I would there were not) I can call them no less then traitors against the Lord Jesus, which( being sent out armed with this weapon to be Generals and Captains over the armies of the Lord of hosts) let it ●ust in the scabbard, and so betray the cause of Jesus Christ, and suffer, for their parts, his souldiers and kingdom to be endangered by Satan at his pleasure. These can expect no other guerdon from their Master, but the woeful reward of traitors. I am sure S. Paul saith, 1. Cor. 9.16 Wo to me if I preach not the Gospel: and such as Heb. 13.17 watch no better over mens souls, how shall they give up their accounts with joy? Especially what murderers of souls are they in the Church of Rome, which wholly deprive the people of the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, suffering none of them to hear it or red it, without special licence obtained in that case? 4. It discovers unto us, what an inestimable benefit those places do enjoy, where God doth graciously bestow this benefit, together with a faithful and understanding Minister, like a spiritual Captain to led the way, and teach the right use of it. David said confidently, Psal. 3.6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that should beset me round about: and why? Vers. 5. For the Lord sustained me. So though legions of devils, the whole power of hell encamp about us; yet may we be as confident as he, if we have this spiritual sword to defend our souls. Then let such as enjoy this high favour, whereby they escape the Harpy-like paws of the 1. Pet. 5.8. roaring lion, seeking to devour them, make their hearts perpetual instruments of praise, and glory, and thanksgiving unto the God of their salvation. 5. Let all this teach us to esteem it as a jewel of price, love it, embrace it, treasure it up against the evil day: and above all things beware of the contempt of it, the usual forerunner of destruction; as appears in the Jews once Gods Israel, now vagabonds over the face of the earth: the seven Churches of Asia, once famous for the Gospel, now Apoc. 18.2. cages of impure birds: Matth. 11.21, 23. Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum. Let their example be our warning, lest by our contempt we become in effect murderers. And now my prayer is, that God will by this weapon give us a full victory over sin and Satan, and fulfil the promise of our Saviour unto us, Apoc. 3.21. To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit with me in my throne: which He grant for his mercies sake. AMEN. FINIS. ENGLANDS WARNING BY ISRAEL AND JUDAH. Delivered in a Sermon at Pauls-Crosse in London, the 29 day of November, Ann. Dom. 1617. Ambros. supper Psal. 118. Deus intervallo locorum non relinquitur, said pravitate morum gestorum unusquisque suis studiis, aut se Deo jungit, aut separat. ISA. 1.19, 20. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat of the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1633. HOSEA 5.15. I will go and return unto my place, until they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. THe Apostles rule prescribeth a Minister of the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, to study to deliver not onely {αβγδ}, good things; but also {αβγδ}, matters seasonable. Taking which for my ground, I thought I could not make choice of a more seasonable subject, then the forsaking of sin, and preventing of the further and future judgements of God upon us, and our posterity: and that for two reasons. 1. Because the general end and scope of all our preaching, and all your hearing the word preached, is thereby to raze and beat down the kingdom of sin and Satan; and to erect, build up, and establish the kingdom of Christ Jesus. The Priests of the Lord of Hosts must sound the silver trumpets of the word of God very loud, and that Josh. 6.19. seven times, that is, oftentimes, that the walls of Jericho may fall down flat before them. For so is the Lords express charge unto the Prophet, Isa. 58.1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2. Because I am to speak in these last dayes of sin and apostasy, wherein our iniquities do sand up a louder cry then the blood of Gen. 4.10. Abel, into the ears of the Lord of Hosts for vengeance against us. And therefore this is no time to Ezek. 13.18 sow pillows under mens elbows. The sweet songs of Sion serve now but to lull men more soundly asleep in sin: the terrible thunder-claps of Mount Sinai are more fit to rouse them up, and make them startle and awake from the dead sleep of carnal security. And therefore to that end and purpose have I made choice of these words, which in the shallow reach of my judgement are pregnant and powerful to that purpose. I will go and return unto my place, until they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. In handling of these words( remembering to avoid that imputation or complaint of Bernard, that Multi student magìs alta, quàm apta proffer; Many study to produce such things as may rather express deepness, then tend to edification; and knowing that a mournful habit, suiteth best for an heavy and tragical discourse) I will strive rather to touch the conscience to the quick by the piercing power of the word of God, then to please itching ears with curious deepness, or with a count style, and filled phrase of speech. For I had rather wring the tears of unfeigned repentance from the eyes, and the sighs and groans of true contrition from the heart of one poor penitent sinner, then by sweet and delicate words to move the affectation of all that hear me. But the matter which I have singled out being so copious, and the limits of time being prescribed; I may not be so unthrifty as to spend any more thereof in such like preambles, lest in the conclusion I press too far upon your patience. And therefore omitting to speak of the author, the time, and the general Analysis or resolution of this whole prophesy, I come now abruptly to open the words themselves. I will go and return unto my place, till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. The sum of these words is a Commination, A Commination, and the circumstances of it. or a denunciation of an intended judgement. For the more absolute unfolding and applying whereof unto ourselves, I desire you to consider with me four circumstances. 1. Of the Author who threateneth. 2. Of the Persons who are threatened. 3. Of the Reason or moving cause why they are thus threatened. 4. Of the Manner how they are threatened: I will go and return unto my place, till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. Of the first I shall speak somewhat sparing, and in few words, not onely because they are not inserted in the very body of my text, though they be very requisite to the interpretation of it; but also because I do especially aim at the fourth and last, which is the text itself; I will go and return, &c. Though the words were spoken by the mouth of the Prophet Hosea, The Author of the Commination. yet was he but the instrument; and the author indeed of the Commination, is the great God of heav●n and earth, Jehovah-tzebao●h, the Lord of hostes, whose armies roy●ll ●onsist of all the creatures in heaven and ●arth; which all are ready in their order to ex●cute his will and pleasure; who hath Angels, Cherubims and Seraphims, water, fire, sta●res, and stones to fight in their order from heaven against his enemies: El-Shaddai, God Almighty, whose power no creature, no nor all the creatures in the world are able to resist, who made all things by his Ps●●. ●4●. 5. word, and by the same word is able to destroy all things, or bring them into the first Chaos of nothing, whereof they were created; 〈…〉 Who measureth the waters in his fist, and counteth the heaven with a span, comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure, and weigheth the mountains in s●ales, and the hills in a balance: who hath not onely a store-house of mercy, but also Job. ●. ●2, 2●. treasures of wrath, and Psal 2. his rod, or mace of iron, to b●uise the ungodly, and break them in pieces like a potters vessel: whose voice renteth the cedars of L●banon, at whose anger the earth trembleth and quaketh, and Psal. 18.7. the foundations of the mountains move and shake, whose throne is heaven, and whose footstool is the earth: who hath said, Heb. 10.30 Vengeance is mine, I will repay: who, if he but breath upon us, all our daies are gone, and we return to dust. And therefore this is no idle matter, lightly to be regarded, but with fear and trembling to be received and respected by us. For he hath spoken it by his Prophet, and will perform it, that his Psal. 34.16. face shall be against them that do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth; yea and that Psal. 11. ●. upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup. And therefore who will not fear when God threateneth? who will not startle when he shall enter in to judgement, armed with vengeance and threatening, to make D●ut. ●● 4 his arrows drunk with blood? For his Is●. 3●. 3●. breath is as a river of brimstone, and his wrath as the fire of hell: and if once our sins cause it to burn in jealousy, all the water in the sea is too little to quench it, and whatsoever else can be name in the whole world: except onely the streams of the immaculate blood of his Matth. 3.1. Onely beloved son, in whom onely he is well pleased. Let this circumstance therefore of the author prepare our hearts with awful reverence and due attention, to receive that which out of these words, as out of his mouth, shall be delivered unto us. 2. 2. The pers ns th●●a●ned. For the circumstance of the Persons threatened, I shall not need long to insist upon it: for if you do but cast your eyes back a little to the first verse of this chapter, there you shall find the Lords citation; wherein he doth exp●●sly mention whom he calleth to this intended in ●●●●ment. For it is a general summon, not of ●●e particular person, family, or tri●e; but of and whole kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and ●ll estates and degrees therein. For he citeth 1. 〈…〉 The clergy( as we call them) 〈…〉 this, O ye Priests. 2. The Commons: 2. C●●●●● And harken, O ye hous● 〈◇〉 Israel. 3. Nobles. 3. The Nobles: And give ye ear, O house of the king. And who knoweth not that Zanch. in locum. the body of a commonwealth consisteth of these three estates? So that he summoneth the whole kingdom, and telleth them in the next words, that judgement is towards them, that is, that he hath a controversy with them. There was a general apostasy or defection in all estates and degrees; they were all corrupt and did abominably before the Lord: and therefore now he sitteth down upon his royal throne of judgement, calls them all unto the bar, arraigneth them for their sins, and denounceth the sentence against them. And no marvel; for if it be many times seen that a multitude are punished for one private mans offence, as the Josh. 7. children of Israel were for the sin of Achan: what could be expected in this case, but a swift and sharp sentence? For it seemeth they were come to that pass, that God might have said of them as he did once of Jerusalem; Jer. 5.1. run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, or if there be any that executeth judgement, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. 3 The reason of the Commination. 3. We are next to inquire what it might be which moved the Lord so peremptorily to enter into judgement with the whole kingdom, and all estates therein; what nefarious offence had they perpetrated, which might so far provoke him, that is 2. Cor. 1.3. the Father of mercy, and the God of all consolation. Surely it was for their horrible and abominable sins, which were now grown so great, come to such an height, and sent up such a loud cry into the ears of the Lord of hosts, that though he be indeed( according to his own description of himself) Exod. 34.6, 7. merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin: yet now his patience abused too much, is turned into fury; and therefore he will bear no longer with them, but denounceth sentence against them. If you desire more particularly to know the provocations wherewith they had provoked the Holy one of Israel; The sins of Israel, which were the Lord by the Prophet here in this Chapter( as it were in a large inditement) chargeth them with many, and those no small offences. 1. That they were not onely evil themselves, 1. Seducers. but also that they did entrap and seduce others; Vers. 1, 2. Ye have been a snare in Mispeh, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2. He chargeth them with the sin of murder, 2. Murderers. a great crying sin; Vers. 2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter. Of which kind of malefactors David saith, Psal. 55.25. The bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes. 3. He imputeth whoredom unto them; 3. Whoremongers. Vers. 3. O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. And after again, Vers. 4. The spirit of whoredom is in the midst of them; which if we understand of bodily whoredom, it is a fearful sin, and most odious in the sight of God: but if we take it for spiritual whoredom, then it is far worse; Crimen laesae Majestatis; High treason against the God of heaven▪ viz. by robbing him of his glory, and as it were thrusting him out of his throne, or at the least placing another wit● him in his throne. And take it how you will, I am sure S. John saith, that both Apo●. 22.15 ●ap. 2●. 10, 14 whoremongers and idolaters shall be shut out of the new Jerusalem; yea, and shall have their part in the lake which burn●th with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. 4. Ignorant of God. 4. They were sottishly ignorant, and affectedly wilfully forgetful of that God, which had brought t●●ir fathers out of Egypt, given them the land of Canaan, and done so many and so great things for them; V●rs. ●. They have not known the Lord. So that their fathers sinned expressly against the D●ut. 6.7. law, in not teaching their children; ●nd so brought themselves and their children in danger of perishing for want of knowledge. 5. Proud. 5. They were also deep in th● hateful sin of Pri●e: as vers. 5. V●rs. 5. The pride of Israel doth testify to his face. A sin which turned Angels into Devils, D●●. 30.33. nabuchadnezzar into a beast, and in all ages hath been hateful in the sight of God and man. 6. Fraudulent. Vers. 1●. 6. They were overtaken with the sin of deceit, fraud, or cozenage: as ver. 10. The princes of Judah are like them that remove their bounds. A sin which now although it be grown so common,( I mean deceit and cozenage) that few men think it a sin, many account it a good trade to live by, and not a few conceive that there is no living here of any trade without it; yet doth the Lord so far abhor it, that he threateneth here to V●r●●●●. poure out his wrath like water upon them, for this very sinn●. 7. They yet provoked th● Lord with another most grievous sin: 7. Seekers of ●elp, bu● not of G●d. viz. in their necessity they sought for help elsewhere, and not of God: as ver. 13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound; then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jar●b. A sin which is seldom mentioned without a wo or curse annexed unto it; Isa. 3●. 1, ●. Wo to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of me, which go down into Egypt to strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh, and trust in the shadow of Egypt and, J●r. ●●. 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. Lo then, these were the abominations wherewith they had so highly provoked the Lord. And no marvel( when he found such a s●venfold cord of iniquity) if he proceeded in judgement, and denounced the sentence against them. For the sins of Sodom, which p●rished fearfully by Gen. 19.24, 25. fire and brimstone out of heaven, are reckoned by Ez●k 1●. 4●, 50. Ezekiel to be these five; 1. Pride. 2. fullness of bread. 3. Abundance of idleness. 4. Not strengthening the hand of the poor and needy. 5. Abomination, or strange lust. But here Sodom is out-stripped two degrees: for here is a sevenfold knot of sins no ways inferior to the most of the sins of Sodom. And so much therefore the Lord in that place told them to their faces; Vers 47. 4● Thou hast not walked after their ways( speaking before of Samaria and Sodom) nor done after their abominations; but as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more then they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done and thy daughters. To which that of the Prophet Jeremiah agreeth, Lam. ●. 6. The iniquity of the daughter of my people is become greater then the sins of Sodom, that was destroyed in a moment, and no hands laid on her. And therefore if Sodom perished by a sulphurous storm of fire and brimstone, what might Israel now in due proportion expect at the hands of the Lord, having outstripped them in sin? Thus have I now( according to my promise) briefly passed over the three first circumstances: 1. Of the Person threatening. 2. The Persons threatened. 3. The causes or reasons of the Commination. Now I proceed to the fourth and last circumstance, the Commination itself in the very words of my text. 4. The Commination itself. 4. Let us then take a view of the judgement or sentence itself denounced against them: I will go and return unto my place, till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. For the better understanding, and more orderly unfolding whereof, I beseech you to consider with me in this Comminatory sentence three circumstances. 1. The manner. 1. The manner of the Lords proceeding in his judgement or sentence against them, pedetentim, by degrees. 2. The matter 2. The matter of the commination; I will go and return unto my place. 3. The measure, 3. The measure proportion, or extent of it; Till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. 1. The manner. 1. The manner. 1. The manner of Gods proceeding in judgement with them, is to be collected by comparing the words of my text with the former part of this chapter: which whoso advisedly considereth, he shall find that Almighty God in this place( as his manner is) in the midst of judgement remembreth mercy; and in punishing sheweth a more evident point of clemency, then of severity. For though he had to do with Isaiah 1.4. a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, whose sins deserved that Tophet, like Nebuchadnezzars furnace, Dan. 3.19. should be made at once seven times more inflamed for them, then it was wont to be; yet he doth not suddenly( as David saith) Psal. 78.38. suffer his whole displeasure to arise, nor at once consume them in his fiery wrath. But as a father full of compassion and pity, he beginneth with a mild and gentle check, and so proceedeth lentè& pedetentim, slowly and by degrees, until he cometh to the very height of his judgements in this life; that so he might leave nihil intentatum, nothing unassaid, if so be they would by any means be reclaimed. Lend me your attention whilst I once again go back to the beginning of this chapter, and point out the manner of it unto you: for it is remarkable and worthy of your consideration. 1. He beginneth with a mild reproof, vers. 2. I have been a rebuker of them all. But it appeareth by the third, fourth, and the beginning of the fift verse, that a mild rebuk was too gentle, and prev●iled not with th●m: and therefore 2. He g●oweth a little sharp●r, vers. 5. Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity: Judah also ●hall fall with them. But that moved them not, and therefore he proceeded further. 3. He threateneth desolation, vers. 9. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuk. A very sufficient commination to move them, if they had either the fear of God, or any love of themselves. But this also proved too light for such obstinate and rebellious spirits; and therefore he proceedeth yet to a further degree of s●verity in the next place. 4. For vers. 10. he sai●h. I will therefore poure out my wrath upon them like water; Sicut unda undam, as if calamities should, like the waves of the sea, follow one in the neck of another: or as if he should threaten to rain down whole showers of his wrath upon them, as thick as the drops of rain which fall from the clouds. But yet their stiff necks and stubborn hearts would not yield and rele●t for this, and therefore he is forced to proceed. 5. And in the fift place, vers. 12. he saith, I will and unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as a rottenness; or( as our new translators) a worm. That is, I will destroy them by secret insensible judgements; so that as a cloth or gar●●nt th●t seemeth at the first view to be very sound and good, yet is sound to be so eaten and consumed with moths, that it is utterly unfit for any use: Or as a three or piece of timber at the first sight appeareth sound, full of heart, and sit for use; but being better tried, is found so eaten and consumed with the worm, and rottenness within, that it is sit for nothing but for the fire. So when they promised unto themselves most safety, and their state seemed most secure, then secret plots and conspiracies, with sudden and unexpected judgements from the Lord should break forth, and consume them, and bring them to nothing. A most fearful kind of judgement, but by them not much regarded; and therefore 6. He seemeth to speak in fury, vers. 14. saying, I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I will tear, and go aw●y; I will take away and none shall rescue him. The lion is an emblem of cruelty among other things; and the rage of the devil of hell against mankind is expressed by 1. Pet. 5.8. ● a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And therefore this phrase of speech must needs imply some kind of woeful and cruel destruction, like tearing in pieces with the lions paws. And yet even this also proved insufficient, to cause them to repent and turn unto the Lord their God, that he might also turn unto them and heal them. And therefore he cometh to the last step, and highest degree; 7. And that is in the words of my text; V●rs 15. I will go and return unto my place, till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. which( as you shall after understand) is one of the highest, heaviest, and most fearful judgements of God, which can befall a nation or people in this life. And thus have we God here as it were acting the part of a spiritual Chirurgeon, and that with admirable art and dexterity. For when the wound is green, he useth suppling salves, and closing balsames: but when it festreth and ranckleth, he applieth that which is piercing,& will eat to the quick, and take away the proud flesh. If it be overgrown with a thick skin or brawn, he hath his caustic medicines; and if it once grow desperate, then he will try a desperate cure upon a desperate sore. So that if ever it was true which David saith, that Gods Psal. 145.9. Mercy reacheth to the clouds,& is over all his works; here we find it most true,& have it portrayed to us in most perfect and lively colours. For what a wonderful height of love& bottomless depth of mercy was this in our God towards them, that he which in his justice might have turned them to ashes like sodom and Gomorrah; in his mercy would not forsake them, until he had first tried& proved all means for their conversion& salvation? Thus you see the manner of the Lords proceeding in judgement with them; and this is his usual guise with sinners, as it is excellently shadowed out unto us by the Prophet in the similitude of a vineyard, which after fencing, digging, planting,& pruning &c. yielded nothing but Isaiah 2.5. sour grapes: and yet the Lord or Master of the vineyard did not forsake it and leave it to be destroyed, until after he had tried all means: he said, V●rs. 4. What could I have done more for my vineyard that I have not done for it? This sheweth the truth of that in Ezekiel, Ezech. 33.11. As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of a sinner, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn you, turn you from your evil ways, for why will you die, O ye house of Israel? Citò struit Deus, tarde destruit:( saith Bernard) God is quick in making, but slow in destroying. He is more ready to spare then to spill, preserve then to destroy. And if it come to that pass that he be forced to it, see with what grief he goeth about it, and how loth he is to do it; r I sought for a man amongst them( saith he, Ezek. 22.30, speaking of Judah and Jerusalem) that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. One Noah, one Job, one Daniel, or a Lot had been enough to have stayed his hand: yea and many times when he cometh to the very doing of it, he remembreth his mercy, and will not do it; as this our Prophet sheweth in these words uttered by the Lord, when he was about to destroy Israel: Hos. 11.8, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within m, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath, I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God, and not man. Oh how sweet is this meditation, and how effectual should it be, to move us to turn unto the Lord our God by true repentance, and not despise the riches of his mercy and compassion toward us miserable sinners! 2. Now let us come to consider the matter, or judgement itself which the Lord here threateneth: I will go and return unto my place, &c. The Lord perceiving that neither suppling s●lves, nor yet strong corrosives, and violent cau●●rizing would prevail with the cankered ulcers of his patients( for he had already played the lion among them, and passed through all means, from Ver●. ●. 1●. rebuking to renting and tearing) at the last, as the f●rciblest means of all other, he betaketh himself to this, I will go and return unto my place: which if it prevail not, he may well give them up, and pronounce them incurable. But let us sift the sense of these words, and see what the Lord threateneth therein. And to that purpose observe in them two things. 1. The phrase of speech here used by the Spirit of God, I will go and return unto my place. 2. The sum of the matter signified thereby. 1. For the phrase, ( I will go and return unto my place) it seemeth to presuppose a place wherein God was before; and from whence he here threateneth to depart. And therefore I may well object and say as Solomon did concerning the Temple, 1. King. 8.37. But will God indeed dwell in the earth? Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee? And my answer is, that though it be a true position in divinity, that Deus est ubique, God is every where, or in every place; yet because in heaven, and from heaven the power and help of God is better declared, and his presence is more apparently manifested there then elsewhere; therefore heaven is called the proper place of God. For that is his. I●●i. ●6. 1. Throne, and the earth but his Footstool: and when the king sitteth upon his throne, though his feet be also upon h●● footstool; yet if speech be of the place where the king is; we answer, in his throne, without mention of his footstool. And though our Saviour will●d us to pray unto him that is every where; yet he taught us to say, Our Father which art in heaven. And likewise though it be true in propriety of speech, that Deus non loco movetur, viz. quoad essentiam; God is not moved from place to place in respect of his essence: yet because he doth in a sort seem unto us to be moved, in regard of his effects and works in the world; therefore when he doth any special work either of mercy or judgement, because thereby he sheweth his presence there in special man●●●; he is said to come down from heaven, the chief seat of his residence, unto that place. And when he ceaseth in any place here below, to do any such special work of punishing sin, or showing signs of favour, &c. he is said to depart from that place; viz. per {αβγδ}, a figure, whereby the Ec●● Spirit of God speakeh according to the capacity of man: as Theodoret saith, I● G●●es. q●●●. 5●. Scriptura divina loquitur prout hominibus expedit,& pro captu auditorum varias habet loquendi formas: The holy Scripture speaketh as it is most expedient for men; and hath divers variations of speech, according to the capacity of the hearers, &c. And Polanus saith, that Gods going and returning is, S●●●ag. Th●●●. ●●b. 2. chap. ●2. Non mutatione loci, neque essentia; said declaratione vel m●sericordiae vel justitiae: Not by changing the place, or by his essence; but by declaration e●ther of his mercy, or his justice. 2. As for the sense and meaning, or the matter signified 2. The matter signified. by this phrase of speech; some take it onely to imply, that when the sins of Israel and Judah were come to an height, and cried loud in the ears of the Lord; he did by them as he did by Sodom in the like case, viz. Gen. 18.22 Come down to see. And finding it so indeed, threatened captivity to both kingdoms; which the words Rapiam& tollam; I will tear or spoil, and take away, ver. 14. seem to import; which when he had brought upon them, he would return unto his place from whence he came. To which In locum. Theodoret and Theophilact seem to incline in these words; Revertar post praedam ad locum meum, ut solent leones satiati sanguine; I will after I have spoiled them, return unto my place, as lions satiated with blood use to do. But for my part, I conceive that there is a further matter implyed by this going away, viz. that God would withdraw himself, and deprive them of his presence. And so the Chalde paraphrase understandeth it; Chalde paraph. Auferam majestatem meam,& revertar in habitaculum meum, quod est in coelis; id est, Puniam vos,& recedam, aberóque à vobis, nec sentietis auxilium meum: I will withdraw my majesty from you, and return into my dwelling place which is in heaven; that is, I will punish you, and then depart and absent myself from you; neither shall you any more discern my help or aid amongst you. I speak not of the presence of God, {αβγδ}, his essential presence: for his essence is infinite, incomprehensible, and not circumscribed within any limits, but filleth all places, being contained in no place; neither doth it loco movere, change the place, or move from one place to another. But besides this, Divines do distinguish the presence of God into some other kindes. The best approved& most followed, is the distinction of the Greek Fathers, now generally received by Divines; and they make it fourfold. 1. {αβγδ}, According to his power: which extendeth to all places, according to that of David, Psal. 135.5, 6. The Lord is great, and our God is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth, that doth he in heaven, and in earth, and in the seas, and in all deep places: yea, in hell itself he is powerfully present to punish. And this is called by Melancthon, Praesentia universalis; the universal presence. And of this kind of presence is that usual saying to be understood, Enter, praesenter Deus hîc,& ubique potenter. 2. {αβγδ}, According to his glory: which is properly in heaven; for that which is seen here is but a glimpse of his glory. Moses himself could see but his Exod. 33.23. back parts; which differ as far from that fullness of glory, wherein we shall behold him( as he is) face to face, as one drop of water from the vast ocean. 3. {αβγδ}, According to his grace: whereby he is present with his Church, the elect and regenerate in this life, showing unto them his love, mercy, grace, and favour; not onely in preserving their lives, &c. but also by stirring up in them motions pleasing unto himself, and yet he is not visibly discerned by them, as he shall be seen in the life to come. 4. {αβγδ}, By subsistence: which is a special or singular kind of presence, and far differing from all the other kindes or degrees, whereby onely the second person of the deity, namely, that eternal Joh. 1.1. Word, assumed human nature of the Virgin Mary, and united it unto himself, not onely inseparably, but also in such a manner, that the Word assuming, and the Nature assumed, are one Person. And this is called by other Divines, Praesentia unionis personalis; The presence of the personal union. Now then the presence which he threateneth to withdraw, cannot be the second of glory, which they had not; nor yet the fourth of subsistence, which continueth to all eternity: but the first, of his power to protect, defend, deliver, and preserve them; or the third, of his grace to bless them with heavenly things, and guide their feet into the way of peace. The sum of all is, as if God had said; Seeing that ye are so hardened in your sins, that neither a rod, nor a staff, nor a sword will move; I will try what the depth of misery, and a full measure of calamity( until the cup of my wrath overflow again) will work with you. For I will forsake you, I will no longer be graciously present among you to defend you, deliver you, bless and preserve you, &c. But laying aside all care and further respect of you, I will go and return unto my place, leaving you unto yourselves, and to your own ways, and exposing you as a spoil to your enemies, and a prey to them that hate you. I will deliver you into the cruel and unmerciful hands of the chaldeans, and Assyrians; and there without any respect of you or your miseries, I will withdraw myself, and leave you hopeless to be a hissing stock unto all the nations of the earth. And so Cyprian saith, Cy●●●an. Perinde est acsi diceret, Non feram opem donec ab hostibus vestris in captivitate intereatis; It is as if he had said, I will not help you until you perish by your enemies in captivity. And Moses Egyptiacus: Dire●tor. dubior. lib. 1. Deseram vos,& dimittam omnibus adversitatibus expositos; I will forsake you, and leave you exposed to all manner of afflictions. The Lord had put his 1. King. 9.3 Name in the Temple which Solomon built, and he had promised that it should be his house, and that his eyes and his heart should be there perpetually; But withall he told them in the same place, that if they did turn from following him &c. then he also would forsake both them& their Temple; and the house which he had hallowed for his name would he cast out of his sight, and make Israel become a proverb and a by-word among all people. What is this but the same which the Lord did long before foretell unto Moses, and by him unto the children of Israel? Deu. 31.16 This people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land whither they go, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then mine anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hid my face from them,& they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; So that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not amongst us? Lo then, see here the end and reward of obstinate and rebellious sinners, which make Zech. ●. 12 their hearts like an adamant, and will not be moved by the rod of correction: in the end, they bring this woeful and most fearful plague upon themselves, that the Lord doth forsake them utterly, and withdraw his gracious presence from them. Indeed( as I formerly observed) he beginneth like a Father with a check or a rod, but if he find them obstinate, he proceedeth to a whip, a staff, a sword; and if all these prevail not, then as the highest step, he goeth and returneth to his place, leaving them to their enemies; and which is worse, to themselves;& which is worst of all, to sin and Satan. And this I esteem the greatest measure of calamity and misery that can possibly befall any nation, people, or person, in this life. When God being highly provoked to anger against the children of Israel for their Exod. 32.4 golden calves, told them by Moses, Cap. 33.2, 3, 4. That he would sand an Angel before them, to cast out the Canaanites &c. but he would not go up with them; the people ●●mented, and would not put on their best raiments. And Moses so highly esteemed the Lords gracious and powerful presence with them in that journey, that he said unto God, Vers. 15. If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For like as in his presence in heaven is the fullness of glory; so in his gracious presence on earth is the fullness of all consolation, joy, confidence, and Rom. 14.17. peace of conscience, which passeth all understanding. And consequently the withdrawing thereof must needs be the forerunner of all misery, Example in the Jew●. and calamity. See a pregnant example hereof, and a full compliment of this prophesy in Jerusalem, and the Jews; for though the Lord for their obstinacy, and manifold sins, brought very many heavy judgements and calamities upon them, and gave them many fearful and prodigious signs of his wrath and indignation, viz.( as Josephus witnesseth) De bello Juda●c. l. 7. c. 12. A blazing star like a sword, and a comet for a whole year together: A light in the night about the Altar and the Temple, as clear as the day: A lamb brought forth in the Temple by an ox, which was brought forth to be sacrificed: The eastgate of the inner Temple, of brass, so heavy that twenty men could hardly shut it, opening of its own accord: Strange sights of iron chariots, and armed troops in the air compassing the city about. Yet their misery of miseries did not overtake them, Untill upon the day of Pentecost in the night, the Priests celebrating their holy rites after their manner, they heard motum quendámque strepitum; and after that a sudden voice which said, {αβγδ}, Let us depart hence. And after that, they had not a day of comfort, nor a gracious look from their God; but a fatal and unparalleled desolation, by those four great plagues sent from God at once upon them to destroy them: the sword of the Romans, under Vespatian& Titus without; and civill war, famine, and the pestilence within the walls of Jerusalem. This is the fruit of obstinacy against God, and obdurate hardness in sin. 3. The measure or extent of this judgement, 3. The measure or extent of the judgement. is in the last words of my text; Till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face. In which words the Lord manifestly sheweth what he aimed at in all, viz. not their destruction, but their conversion; not their perdition, but their salvation. And therefore he sheweth plainly that he purposed not to absent himself for ever( except their obstinacy forced him thereunto) but he hath his Donec until he had brought to pass that, for which end and purpose he did first afflict, and then forsake them: Till they aclowledge their faults, and seek my face. He useth all these sharp proceedings but as good physic,( though they seem so terrible) but as wholesome pills( though so bitter) and if the fault be not in the patients, he will seek no more therein, but the health of the parties. He punisheth, that he might not destroy; and forsaketh for a time, that he might not forsake for ever. Affliction is a forcible means or instrument, whereby the Lord doth whet our devotion, and drive us unto repentance; and therefore is it compared to a Matth. 3.12 fan in Christs hand, wherewith he doth winnow and purge us from the chaff of our sins: to a furnace or fining pot, whereby he doth try and purify us from the dross of our iniquities: to a pruning instrument, wherewith he doth scrape off, weed out, and prune away the moss, weeds, and other superfluities of our sinful souls: It is the Lords hammer, wherewith he doth hue and square us, to be fit living and spiritual stones, to be laid in that holy building of God, whereof Eph. 2.20. the Prophets and Apostles are the foundation, and Christ Jesus the head or chief corner ston. Dolavi eos per Prophetas( saith the Lord) Amos 6.5. I have hewed, cut down, and squared them by the Prophets. For like as one that had not knowledge and experience, would wonder to see how a Mason will beat and hammer a ston, as if he made no account of it, but would break it to powder:( but he knoweth well that thereby he shall in the end bring it to an excellent pass, and make it fit to be laid in the most beautiful part of the building So doth the Lord by cutting, hewing, and squaring us, make us sit living stones to be laid in that most beautiful and glorious spiritual building of God. The Lord knoweth that to be true which Origen hath observed, that Hom. 27. in Num. Our flesh is like to flesh in the shambles, which if it be not powdered with salt, will in a short space putrifie, corrupt, and stink: and so would ours without the salt sharpness of affliction, to purge out vicious and sinful humours. There is no moving of Num 22.31 Balaam, till he see the Angel with his sword ready to strike; and then he boweth himself, and falls flat on his face, and cries, I have sinned: but no sooner is it sheathed again, but all is forgotten: we are no longer quick in Gods business, then the sharp spur of affliction doth prick us forward: we wax dull when we are not remembered with the rod: doth not experience in ourselves, and in this very city tell us, that sickness, or plague, or famine, or war, or any special judgement from the Lord, causeth more prayers, and more seeking to God in one day, then otherwise are ordinary in a week? It is too true in us which Memoral. lib. 3. Xenophon observed in mariners and sea-fairing men; that when the danger is upon them, they are very observant; but when the storm is blown over, they return to their old bias again. And therefore the Lord in wisdom, knowing that without these we would grow wanton, and be ready with the untamed heifer, to kick against our Maker, and run headlong without repentance to our own ruin: to prevent all this, he doth winnow us, purge and fine us, prune us, hue and square us, and salt and season us, to make us the fitter for himself. But we must look to it how we carry ourselves under the Lords hand: for if we yield unto him, and suffer him to obtain the end which he aimed at therein; then he will not forsake us forever, but withdraw his rod, and be still graciously present with us, and then all these things shall be unto us( as Augustine saith) Medicina, non poena; castigatio, non damnatio: A medicine, not a punishment; correction, not damnation. But if he finds us obstinate, he will still absent himself, and leave us to perish in our sins for ever. See here then how long he threateneth to be absent from these his sick patients; Till they aclowledge their fault, and seek my face: Two things required of them. wherein he requireth two things of them, 1. That they aclowledge their fault. 2. That they seek his face. If they be stubborn and will not do these, the Lord will still pursue them, until they utterly be consumed; but if he may once reap this fruit of their misery and calamity, then he will presently be appeased towards them, and return unto them in love and favour again. 1. Till they aclowledge their fault. In the original there i● but one {αβγδ} word to express this acknowledging of their fault, which cometh of a {αβγδ} radix diversely taken. 1. The primary& proper signification of it is, peccare ignomimosè, seu sceleratè delinquere; to sin, to offend shamefully or horribly. But the sense of the place will not bear that reading, till they have sinned; for they had already sinned, and that to the purpose, as I have shewed. 2. It hath also both in the Scriptures and in Authors, divers secondary or Metaphoricall significations. Sometimes it signifieth to be guilty, as in Levit. 4.22. And so the new translators have in their margin here, until they be guilty. But so also they were already, and that of horrible sins and iniquities. Rabbi Abraham hath, till they be desolate: but that is the same which was threatened before, vers. 9. jerome saith, Donec perierint, Till they perish: rather to the sense, then the signification of the word. Pagnines translation hath, Donec deficiant, Untill they fail: but elsewhere he saith, Upon the radix {αβγδ} that some do more curiously expound the word to signify, Ob culpam aut poenam afflari, ac cum flatu quodam abominationi esse,& horrori: By reason of sin or punishment to be as it were blasted, and with a kind of blast to become an abomination, &c. And so indeed it came to pass with the Jews in the end. But( under correction) my opinion is, that the interpretation of Rabbi David Kimchi doth best agree with the place: And it is twofold; First, upon Lev. 4.13. he interpreteth the word to signify, agnoscere delictum, to confess or aclowledge a sin or fault: and elsewhere he taketh it to signify, In lib. rad. to bring an offering for sin. And so it is used very often in the book of Leviticus, and elsewhere; and the noun Asham or Ashmah, {αβγδ} which cometh of it, is translated Levit. 6.6. a sin-offering, or offering for sin. Now these two significations may well be joined together into one: for he that confessed his sin under the Law, brought an offering also to make an atonement for it: and he that Chap. 7.1. brought an offering for his sin, was bound to aclowledge and confess it; or else it was in vain for him to bring an oblation for it. And so it is plain from hence, that the first thing which God aimed at, and expected from them, was that they should turn unto him in an humble acknowledgement and unfeigned confession of their sins, which was not then to be performed without oblations or offerings, which were the legal means to obtain remission of sins. And indeed this doth wonderfully please the Lord, and appease his wrath, when he shall see thy knees bent to the earth, thine eyes lifted up towards heaven, thy cheeks bedewed with tears, thy heart rent and broken with sorrow and contrition, and thy tongue confessing and saying, Luk. 15.21 Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Augustine saith, supper Psalm. 3●. Quando homo detegit, Deus tegit: cum homo caelat, Deus nudat: cum homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit: When man discovereth his sins, God covereth them: when man hideth, God discloseth: when man acknowledgeth, God pardoneth. And Ambrose saith confidently, De Paradiso. Non potest quisquam à peccatis justificari, nisi peccatum antè fuerit confessus; No man can be justified from his sins, except he first confess his sins. And Boetius giveth a reason for it; De Philos. consol. Si enim operam medicantis expectas, oportet ut vulnus tuum detegas: For if thou wilt use the benefit of a chirurgeon, there is a necessity that thou discover thy wound. David professeth the truth hereof from his own experience, Psal. 32.3, 4, When I kept close my sin, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hide; I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. And the wise Solomon his son treading in his fathers steps, affirmeth as much; Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy. For( as Cassiodorus saith) In Psal. 32. Illis non Judex said Advocatus est Christus, qui se propriâ confessione damnârunt: Christ is not a Judge but an Advocate to them, that by their confession do condemn themselves. And thus have we the first thing required of them by God, An humble acknowledgement and confession of their fault. 2. And seek my face: This is the other point expected and required, the seeking of Gods face. Which we are not here to understand literally, conceiving with the gross Anthropomorphites, God to have the parts& lineaments of an human body, like the Papists, which paint him in their Churches like an old man: But we must know that it is spoken {αβγδ}. figuratively, the Spirit of God stooping to our infirmity, and expressing the ways of God which are above our capacity by the parts and actions of men wherewith we are best acquainted. The face then signifieth his favour, being understood of the God of heaven, as Solomon useth it of the gods upon earth: Prov. 9. ●● Many seek the face of the prince, that is, his love and favour. To open this phrase more fully, we are to know that the Lord is said to show his face, or, Psal. ●. 6. the light of his countenance( as David calleth it) when he manifesteth his grace and goodness towards us by conferring his benefits upon us, which are to us in a sort like radiant beams wherewith we are enlightened: And he is said to hid his face, when he declareth his severity and wrath by the punishments which he layeth upon us; for so David saith, Psal. 30.7. Thou didst hid thy face, and I was troubled: Or else he hideth his face, when he seemeth to forget us, and not to be affencted with our miseries: for so the Psalmist again; Psal. 13.1. How long wilt thou forget me( O Lord) for ever? how long wilt thou hid thy face from me? In a word, then do we seek the face of God, when by true faith we seek the favour of God in Christ Jesus. And this duty the Lord elsewhere expressly requireth of us by the Prophet, Isa. 55.6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: and annexeth his gracious promise unto it; Amos 5.6. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live. And the original {αβγδ} word implieth an earnest and extraordinary kind of seeking: for so David useth it; Psal. 3●. 25. I never saw the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. That is the seeking which pleaseth God, appeaseth his wrath, and winneth his favour, when we seek him and his face as earnestly as the poor beggar, driven by pinching hunger and thirst, craveth for a morsel of bread, or a few drops of drink to preserve him from perishing. And this is the second thing expected by God. To conclude, it is In totum. Zanchius his observation, that by these two he implieth true repentance, and also that by them he expresseth both the parts, and also the order thereof. 1. The parts, viz. a true knowledge and acknowledging of sin; which if it be indeed true, and serious, and solid, is not without a detestation and forsaking thereof, which is expressed in the first; and true faith whereby in Christ Jesus, who is the true face of God, we seek for, and apprehended the face, that is, the favour and grace of God declared in the second. 2. And from the order of these two he sheweth that no man can seek the face of God aright until he first know and confess his sins: well may he seek, but find him he cannot, till then. From whence it appeareth, that the first step to true repentance is the knowledge, and acknowledging of our sins. And thus you see what the Lord requireth; which if he find, then will he absent himself no longer, but graciously return again unto them; but till then he will not. And if they prove obdurate in sin, and will never be moved to perform these; then will he never return again to be graciously present any more with them, and to show them the light of his countenance, but will absent himself for ever, and leave them to perish. Thus have I now delivered unto you the whole sum of these words; but yet have I not done with them. For hitherto you have heard of them but in the general, or as they concerned the Israelites then Gods people: Now give me leave with your patience( I beseech you) to bring them a little nearer to ourselves now Gods people, and make it our own case; for therein is the life of preaching. And to that end I entreat you to consider with me these three things. 1. Whether our sins be not like the sins of Israel and Judah, and come to the same height or degree with theirs. 2. Whether the Lord hath not gone as far with his comminations and judgements, and by the same steps with us, as he did with them. 3. What we do, and what we ought to do in this case to turn away his wrath, and move him to be still graciously present amongst us. Of these in order. 1. First then, may we not compare with Israel and Judah for our sins? The Lord called their whole kingdom, or kingdoms unto judgement in the first verse; because all people, all estates and degrees had corrupted their ways, and done abominably before him. And is it not so with us? is it not our case? may not the Lord justly have a controversy with our land? have not 1. All ages; 2. All sexes; 3. And all degrees amongst us done the like? So that if the Lord now again Gen. 6.12. behold the earth, as he did before the flood, he shall find, as he did then, that all flesh have corrupted their way upon the earth. 1. For ages. 1. All ages. I purpose not to follow the philosophical distinction of the life of man into seven ages. It may suffice to show it, 1. In children. 2. In young men. 3. In old men. 1. To begin with children: 1. Children. who doth not see and know that they abound with stubbornness, disobedience to parents, and infinite other vanities and vices? Prov. 21.15 F●olishnesse is bound( saith Solomon) in the heart of a child. Now as Solomons fool is the wicked and ungodly man; so is the foolishness which he saith lodgeth in the heart of a child, wickedness, vanity, sin, and ungodliness. For children, if they want instruction and the discipline of that Ibid. rod, which Solomon saith, driveth folly far away from them; their hearts will be as much overgrown with vanity, 'vice, and ungodliness, as the fallow grounds untilled, with thistles, briars and brambles. But especially I desire that general notice be taken of that one most odious sin in them; viz. that so soon as they can but speak perfectly, and use their feet, their Psalm. 10 mouths are full of cursing, yea, and swearing, lying and blasphemy. And these things increase in them together with their strength& yeares: for in many places of this Land, a man cannot walk the streets where they are frequently assembled, but for every place or step he taketh, an oath or a curse flieth through his ears; I grieve to speak it, and I tremble to think of it: For if the zech. 5.3, 4. Curse of God go forth over the whole earth, to cut off every one that sweareth, and to enter into the house of him that falsely sweareth by Gods name, to remain in the midst of it, and to consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof, as the Lord told the Prophet Zechariah; then how many houses amongst us can hope to be without the curse of God to cut them off, if not to consume them, with the timber and stones? 2. Young men 2. And for young men, what shall I say? It is reported of John Baptist, that Luk. 1.80. he grew and waxed strong in spirit: and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that Luk. 2.52. he increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. But now alas! they grow not so fast in yeares as in vices, but their sins increase faster then their daies;& still the longer they live, the more they degenerate. Their heads, which should be musing and meditating upon the word of God, are full of drunkenness; their eyes, which should be busied in contemplation of the ministers of their salvation, are 2. Pet. 2.14 full of adultery: their tongues, which should speak out the words of truth and soberness, are full of filthy communication, vain oaths, and horrible blasphemies: and their hearts, which should be receptacles of Gods holy Spirit, and holy mansions wherein Eph. 3.17. Christ should dwell by faith, are like cages of impure birds, highways, and common passages for all manner of sin and iniquity; Gen. 6.5. all the imaginations of their hearts being onely evil continually. I conclude concerning the far greater part of them in the Apostles words, Rom. 3.16, 17, 18. Destruction and misery are in their ways: But the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. 3. Old men. 3. And as for old men, too many of them think it as much too late for them to repent and become godly, as young men think it too soon. They have been so long accustomend to the ways of wickedness, that they cannot turn from them to walk in the way of peace. So that I may well apply those words of the Prophet unto them; Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomend to do evil. And if at any time they be drawn to go a step or two forward in the Matth. 7.14 narrow way which leadeth to life; yet are they soon alured by the remembrance of the sweetness of their old sins, to turn to their old bias again: like the children of Israel, which being forward in their journey towards Canaan, Num. 14.3, 4. turned their backs, and wished themselves by the flesh-pots of Egypt again. And though being old they decline apace; yet may it well be questioned whether they decay faster in body or in soul, carnally or spiritually. Nay, it is without question in too many of them, that their souls are dead spiritually within them many yeares before their bodies go unto the house of rottenness; so that their living bodies are nothing else, but filthy graves wherein their dead souls lye butted until the day of their dissolution. 2. Let us come to take a view of both sexes, Both sexes. men and women; of which I cannot speak severally, because I must hasten: and therefore a word or two of them jointly. I might instance in many horrible sins, wherein Sub judice lis est, it is hard to determine, whether sex doth carry the bell; and I would enter into them, did I not fear on the one part want of time, and on the other, lest I should offend your chased ears. But one I cannot pass by, and that in this short speech shall suffice, viz. that endless contention between them, which shall excel each other in strange new-fangled& disguised fashions of attire, together with painting, powdering, frizling, curling, and I know not how many other such like toys and fopperies. This strife I fear will never be ended but by the approach of the last day, which shall put an end to all things here on earth; at which time the great Gen. 18.25 Judge of all the world will determine it to neither of their likings: But especially me thinks it is strange to see how the women do usurp upon the mens attire, contrary to the express Deut. 22.5. law of God; and come so near therein, that by some part thereof you can hardly discern them from men; yea( give me leave to speak it) hardly from beasts. For, if according to the proverb, Ex ungue Leonem, the whole may be judged of by some small part; then if accordingly we should judge them by their hair, that is, their tires, and periwigges; either famed and report do strongly delude me, or else we should amongst the greatest Gallants of the Court and this city find as many goats as women. If Bernards rule be true, Exterior superfluitas vestium interioris hoins indicium est, The outward superfluity of the garments doth discover what the man is within; then I know not what it should more truly be taken for, then an outward mark, who are goatishly affencted within. 3. A●l estates and degrees. 3 Nor shall we find ourselves much short of Israel and Judah, if we cast our eyes upon all estates and degrees amongst us. The Magistrates and great men should be gods; Psal. 82.6. I have said, Ye are gods, that is, they ought to be not onely powerful, but also just, holy, wise, and merciful like unto God. And certainly herein we have great cause to bless the name of our God; for he hath blessed us with many Nobles, Judges, and Magistrates, which strive to be such indeed: whose zeal is for the glory of God, whose care is for the good of the kingdom, and whose desire is to execute justice and judgement. But yet would to God I might not say of too many amongst them, that they turn justice into oppression, and Amos 5.7. judgement into wormwood and Cap. 6.12. gull, delighting in cruelty, Pro. 24. ●3. knowing faces in judgement, setting their hearts upon covetousness, receiving bribes, Isa. 5.8. joining house to house, and land to land, and Psal. 13.4. eating up the poor like bread, so metamorphosing themselves from gods to men, yea to beasts, if not devils, &c. And for my brethren of the clergy, oh that I had nothing to accuse them of! But alas! is it not too manifest, that in many places of this kingdom those that should be Joh. 5.35. burning and shining lights like John Baptist, are like darkness itself? those that should be mat. 5.13. the salt of the earth to season others, have not a grain of the salt of grace in their hearts? those that should be Ezek. 33.7. watchmen over the Israel of God, over other mens souls, have more then need of others to watch over their souls? those whose voices should be Isa. 58.1. lifted up like trumpets to show the people their transgressions, are as mute as fishes; and they which should say with the Apostle, 2. Cor. 12.14. I seek not yours but you, turn it a clean contrary way, and say, I seek not you, but yours; regarding the flock onely for love of the fleece. And last of all, as for the multitude, I know neither where to begin, nor when to end with them; as they consist of the concourse of all sorts of people, so shall you find among them, colluviem omnium peccatorum, a very sink of all sins. The Poet truly styled them, Horat. Epist. 1 Bellua multorum capitum; A many-headed monster; whose form is deformity itself, and whose heady and violent rage carrieth them into all unbridled licentiousness of sinning, &c. Thus you see we have sinned as generally as they did; children, young men, old men, men, women, Magistrates, Ministers, and the common people or multitude: so that if the Lord should now again( as in Davids time) Psal. 13.3, look down from heaven upon the children of men; he might again utter that complaint, All are gone out of the way, they are all corrupt, there is none that doth good, no not one. But now let us come to the particular sins laid to their charge, and see if we can pled otherwise then guilty unto them all. 1. First, among them were found such as were snares in Mizpeh, and nets spread upon Tabor; that is, seducers of others, enticing them to sin and ungodliness. And have not we also such as are not onely evil themselves, but also seducers of others, saying, Prov. 1.11, 12, 13, 14. Come with us, let us lay wait for blood: Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up as the grave, and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance, and shall fill our houses with spoils. Cast in thy lot among us, let us have all one purse. But especially we have enticers of souls, viz. the jesuits and Seminaries, which 1. Tim. 3.6. creep into houses, and led captive simplo women laden with sins, and lead with divers lusts; yea, and ensnare the souls both of men and women, making them drunk with the Apo●. 17.4. cup of abominations, to their eternal perdition. I know not how to give you a more lively pourtrature of them, them in Cyprian his description of Novatus; Who( saith he) was Epist. 49. curiosus ut prodat, adulator ut fallat, fax& ignis ad constanda seditionis incendia, &c. They are curious to betray, flatterers to deceive, firebrands and fire itself to cause flames of sedition, whirlwindes and tempests to work shipwreck of faith, haters of quietness, adversaries to tranquillitie, and enemies to peace. Happy was it for the Church of Christ amongst us, if she had stronger nets, and better means to Can. ●. 15 take these foxes, which destroy her vines. So have we snares as well as they had in Mizpeh. 2. Their second sin was slaughter and murder. And are we free from this sin? is not our land defiled with blood? For besides those secret plots of poisoning, &c. which many times no eye seeth, but those piercing Prov. 15.3. eyes of God, which in every place behold the evil and the good; do we not hear of it almost in every public Assize? 3. As for the third sin of fornication or adultery; have not we also such harlots as Solomon speaketh of, which say, Prov. ●. 18, ●9, 20. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For mine husband is not at home, he is gone a journey far off. He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed? Are there not amongst us too many such as Jeremy speaketh of, which Jer. 5.7. rise up in the morning like fed horses, neighing after their neighbours wives? In a word, is not fornication amongst our Gallants accounted but as a trick of youth, and whoredom made but a jest? 4. Though in many parts of this Land, the word of God be plentifully preached; yet are there not too many places, where the people perish for want of knowledge and the means of salvation, being like sheep without a shepherd? Yea, and where the word is preached, are there not too many found as ignorant and sottish( I had almost said as very Pagans) in the knowledge of God, and mysteries of salvation? 5. And as for their sin of Pride, I will not say that it is crept in amongst us; for it reigneth like a King, from the Princes palace to the poorest penthouse against the wall; and that in such a superlative degree, as if we did conspire therein to put down Lucifer himself, the Prince of pride; neither do I believe that either Jerusalem or Sodom( one of whose Ezek. 16.49 sins it was) did overmatch us in this sin. 6. As for deceit and cozenage, I am persuaded that to eat and drink is not more common. It is crept into all trades, yea taken by too many for the chiefest of all trades; onely they have( to colour the matter) clad it in the habit of a virtue, specie virtutis& umbrâ; calling such as are best skilled in fraud and cozenage, Good and fair chapmen, &c. 7. We also as well as they have them amongst us, which in their afflictions never look or seek to God for either counsel or help, but to secondary means, seeking to remove them by strength, by friends, by money, by riding& running to the Physician, without looking up to God; yea, to Sorcerers and Witches, and are ready to say with him in the tragical Poet, Fleó●ere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo: If it will not come from heaven, it shall be fetched from hell. Thus you see, and I think will confess with me, that if we have not offended to the same degree; yet we have walked in the same ways,& trode in the same steps with Israel and Judah: Yea, the day would fail me, if I should go about to particularise all the other sins which we have added moreover unto these. For we are full of usury, whereof the Wiseman saith, He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor, Prov. 18.8. We are drowned in the horrible sin of drunkenness, whereof the Father said, August. in Serm. quodam Ebrietas est blandus daemon, dulce venenum, suave peccatum; quam qui facit, non facit peccatum, said totus est peccatum: Wine is a flattering fiend, a pleasant poison, a sweet sin; with the delight whereof whosoever is taken, doth not commit sin barely, but is wholly become sin. To these I might add atheism, idolatry, lukewarmness, blasphemy, swearing, lying, cursing, sacrilege, theft, treason, contempt of Gods word, profanation of the Lords day, Sodomy, with such a catalogue of other sins, as my memory faileth me to recite. Thus then we see in this first point Israel and Judah very near parallelled by ourselves, and in some sort far out-stripped. 2. In the next place, see if the Lord hath not dealt with us, and proceeded against us for these things in like manner as he did against them; wherein I must be brief, because the time compels me. 1. Hath not the Lord been now for a long time, above fifty yeares together, an admonisher of us all, by his holy word so graciously vouchsafed unto us under the late reign of Queen Elisabeth of blessed memory, and our dread sovereign, now happily swaying the sceptre of this kingdom? what multitudes of Matth. 9.38 painful labourers hath the Lord sent forth into this his harvest, under their several reigns? All which diligently judas 15. rebuked all the ungodly among us, of all their wicked deeds, and sought by the terrors of Gods wrath and vengeance, to come to affright them from their ungodly ways. 2. Did not God threaten a fall to this kingdom, especially to the Church and state of religion, in the bloody Marian daies? whose heart did not then faint and quail within him, for the little hope that was left? 3. Was it any less then a desolation, which he did threaten, when the invincible Armado( as they styled it) was sent forth to invade this our iceland in the year 1588. 4. Did he not seem to poure out his wrath like water upon us, when he seconded blessed Queen Elisabeths death with such a continuing and devouring pestilence and famine, 1603. 5. Have we not often been menaced to have the heart of our kingdom and state eaten out with moths, and worms, that is, with secret treacheries, and close and cunning plots of treason, before we were ware thereof? especially by the most matchless, barbarous, hellish, and inhuman late attempted Powder-plot, wherein we were so near unto destruction; and from which the Lord delivered us so, that we were as a zech. 3.2. fire-brand snatched out of the fire? 6. Did he not lately play the Lion among us, as it were with one of his paws rending away the second hope of our happiness, that peerless Paragon of piety, and all princely virtues, Prince Henry of happy memory? of all which, I may well speak as Chrysostom once did of a famine and a pestilence together in his time; Contra Demetrium. These things come by sin provoking; and God is the more offended, since such and so great things do no good at all. 7. If all this move us not, what can we expect in the next place, but that he proceed to the next, which is the last and highest degree, viz, that he go, and return unto his place; that is, withdraw his gracious presence from us, and leave us unto ourselves, until we aclowledge our fault, and seek his face. Thus have you the second point cleared, That God hath proceeded in the same, or the like steps or degrees in his comminatorie judgements with us, as he did against Israel and Judah. Come we now to the third and last point, What we have done, and what we ought to do in this case. 3. I make no question but we all desire to be freed from these and other future judgements, and to continue the Lords gracious presence amongst us still. But alas! what do we in this case to have it so? Doth the Lord reap the end and fruit which he aimed at in all these things? Do we in true repentance turn unto the Lord our God, humbly confessing our sins, and acknowledging our faults? Do we seek his face and favour with all our hearts, and with all our souls? Oh that it was so with us indeed! But alas! who is he amongst us that layeth these things to his heart, and is moved thereby to alter his ways? who goeth not on still? Are we not( as Bernard saith) Contra Demetri. Humiliati, said non humiles &c. Humbled, but not humble; strike, but not grieved; dressed by the Lord, but not cured? May I not justly take up the Prophet Jeremies complaint and say, Jer. 5.3 O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast strike them, but they have not grieved, thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder then a rock, they have refused to return. For who leaveth that sin of pride, covetousness, swearing, lying, drunkenness, &c. which he before frequented? Is it not still true amongst us, which this our Prophet said of them, that Hosea 4.2. by swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and whoring, they break forth, and blood toucheth blood? Do the Pastours more diligently teach, and the people more devoutly attend? do the one Joh. 5.25. shine as lights, and the other walk after those lights? Oh no: but rather( as the Prophet saith) Isai. 1.5. We fall away more and more. The most that we do when we feel these heavy judgements upon us, is but( as the same Prophet saith) to Chap. 58.5. afflict our souls for a day, hanging down our heads like a bulrush. But( as Bernard saith) De duobus discipulis euntibus ad Emmaus. Horâ compunctionis transactâ, superbi sumus sicut anté; The hour of compunction being once past, we are as proud and wicked as we were before. Oh beloved, deceive not yourselves, vainly hoping that God will be pacified although ye go on in your sins. Remember that stinging sentence, Amos. 9.8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth. And therefore if he be provoked by our sins to stand up in judgement against us, Nah. 1.6. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. If such judgement and fearful desolation overtook the Sodomites which had but the law of Nature; what then may we look for, if we commit the sins of Sodom under the light of the Gospel? And therefore I say again, Be not deceived; for Gal. 6.7. God will not be mocked. If we will not be reclaimed, but continue obstinate in our sins; he will go and return unto his place, depriving us both of his gracious presence here, and also of his glorious presence in the world to come; and then woeful will our estate be: for in this life we can expect nothing but misery and fearful calamities,& in the life to come after, that doleful and heavy sentence passed upon us, Matth. 25.41. item maledicti, &c. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his Angels, to be carried with sighs and tears from God and his Angels, by the fiends of hell into the palace of eternal darkness; Ubi clamabit pilosus ad pilosum,( saith Serm. 10, Bernard) unus ad alium, daemon ad daemonem; Percute, interfice, dilacera, velociter spolia, infer prunas,& ebullientibus impone lebetibus, &c. Where one hairy satire will cry to another, each to other, one devil to another; Strike, slay, tear in pieces, speedily destroy, bring coals, and put these into boiling cauldrons, &c. And just it is, that he that in this life made no more account of Gods gracious presence, should in the life to come be excluded from his glorious presence for evermore. For if we will not let him reap honour by our lives and salvation; he will have it by our death and destruction, as he had of Exod. 14.17, Pharaoh at the read sea. And certainly for my part here I cannot but admire, that men can talk of heaven, and hope for heaven; and yet live in all manner of licentiousness and sin, as if God did even delight and take pleasure therein. But the truth is, that sin is contrary to the nature of God, and therefore he cannot harbour sinners in his own bosom. God in the golden chain of our salvation, hath linked together grace and glory, holinesse and happiness; and therefore whereas many would fain be happy in heaven, which regard not to be holy on earth; many desire to be glorified Saints in heaven, which will not be crucified and mortified Saints on earth: Alas! they do but delude themselves with a vain hope; for God will never suffer the links of that golden chain to be violated or dissolved; but for ever grace shall be the way to glory, and onely holinesse shall led to happiness; for Heb. 12.14. without holinesse no man shall see God. Though the serpent might come into the earthly Paradise; yet Apoc. 21.27. no unclean thing shall enter into the new Jerusalem. The Spouse of Christ Jesus is described to be like Cant 6.10. the morning; yea, fair as the moon, and clear as the sun. And certainly if heaven spewed out the Angels which became wicked, it will never receive the refuse and vomit of the earth into it. Horrible presumption it is therefore, when blasphemers, idolaters, traitors, and filthy and profane persons shall think themselves fit companions for the God of heaven, and the thrice-blessed and sacred trinity. He that will have God hereafter say to him, Come and reign with me; must now say to God, Come and reign in me, and over me. For he that biddeth God depart now, God will bid him depart for ever hereafter. To come to the point then, How may Gods gracious presence be still continued amongst us, and his hand be kept back from us? Mic. 6.6, 7. Shall we come before him with burnt-offerings, and with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? No no: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what he requireth of thee; to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble thyself, to walk with thy God. That which he expecteth, is to be just, merciful, humble, and walk with him; that we yield and bend under his hand like young twigs, lest he break us in pieces for our stubbornness. It is he whom we have offended, and to him must we go: for he onely that hath smitten us, can heal us; he onely that hath wounded us, can cure us. August. supper Psal. 74. Non est quò fugias Deo irato, nisi ad Deum placatum; There is no place whither to flee from God being offended, but to God being pacified and appeased: Idem lib. de poenit. Ab ejus severitate, ad ejus bonitatem; From his severity, unto his bounty and goodness. What shall we do then? shall the sight of many and great sins strike us into despair, and make us cry out with Cain, Gen. 4.13. Our sins are greater then can be forgiven? Not so: for S. Austine saith expressly, August. in Gen. 4.13. Mentiris Cain; mayor enim Dei misericordia, quàm omnium peccatorum miseria; Thou liest Cain; for the mercy of God is greater then the depth or misery of all sins. There is mercy with him, Psal. 103.9. he will not always chide, nor keep his anger for ever, nor will he absent himself for ever. And the means to obtain his mercy, turn away his wrath, and retain his presence graciously amongst us, may from that which hath been spoken appear to be twofold. The first concerneth some of us in particular: and the other respecteth all and every of us in general. 1. The first hath relation to the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Judges of this land, together with the rest of the Magistrates, and such as are in place of office and authority, viz. That at the sight of these great and manifold sins, raging, if not reigning in this land; their just and holy zeal and indignation inflame their hearts to proceed against them with courage and resolution, seeking by the sword of justice put into their hands, to suppress, and( so far as lieth in their power) utterly extirpate and root them out. For the due execution of justice and judgement upon delinquents, and the due punishing and restraining of sin by Magistrates, is a special means to appease the wrath of God. So when the children of Israel had very grievously sinned by committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab, the Lords wrath was fiercely kindled against them: but when Num. 25.7. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest( moved with zeal at the sight of the horrible villainy between Zimri, and Cozbi) took a javelin in his hand, and following them into the tent, thrust them both through, even through their bellies; it was so acceptable to the Lord, and pleasing in his sight, that he said to Moses, Vers. 11. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest, hath turned mine anger away from the children of Israel( while he was zealous for my sake among them) that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. And in the time of Joshua, when Achan had offended in taking the execrable thing, the Lord would not be pacified towards Israel, until Josh. 7.1, 24, 25. Achan with his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had were stoned with stones, and burnt with fire. Likewise in the dayes of David the land was vexed with a grievous famine for three yeares together; and when 2. Sam. 21.1, 6. David asked counsel of the Lord, he found that it was because judgement was not executed upon the bloody house of Saul, for the cruel and unjust daughter of the Gibeonites. And therefore when seven men of the posterity of Saul were taken and hanged up before the Lord in Gibeah, then the Lord was appeased with the land. That was it which the Prophet Jeremy said to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah; Jer. 22.15, Did not thy father eat and drink, and prosper when he executed judgement and justice? And because he did not the like, treading in his fathers steps, the Prophet denounced a fearful curse against him, viz. that he should be butted as an ass is butted, even drawn and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem. The Philosopher could say, Aristotle Nec Hesperus, nec Lucifer formosior justitiâ; Neither the evening nor the morning star is more glorious and beautiful in the heavens, then justice is upon the earth. And certainly exceeding pleasing it is to the Almighty, when the Psal. 82.6. gods on earth are like the God of heaven, just and impartial to all whether great or small, refusing to know faces, that is, Prov. 24.13. respect persons in judgement; when the laws are not like spiders webs, to take the small or little ones, and let the strong and mighty break through; but Potentes potenter tormenta patientur; the mighty offending, shall mightily suffer punishments: when they regard no mans person, or who he is; but his cause, and what he hath done against the Lord, remembering that it is his cause and quarrel, and that( as Jehoshaphat said in his charge to the Judges) 2. Chr. 19.6 the judgement is not theirs, but the Lords. To which agreeth that of Bernard, Qui recto& composito Dei zelo ad poenam exigendam agitur, non suiipsius causam, said Dei agendam suscipit: He that with a right and settled zeal of God is moved to inflict punishment, doth not undertake to manage his own, but Gods cause. May I then presume( Right Honourable) to put you in mind to be zealous for the Lord of hosts; remembering that idolatry, blasphemy, swearing, profanation of the Lords day, murder, adultery, oppression, and all other such like sins, are the Lords quarrels, and therefore with zeal and resolution to be undertaken. For( as jerome saith) In Ezek. lib. 4. Homicidas, sacrilegos,& venereos punire, non est effusio sanguinis, said legum ministerium; To punish murderers, sacrilegious, and lascivious persons, is not shedding of blood, but the due administration of the laws. So shall you be not the least part of the means to turn away the wrath of God from us, and continue his gracious presence amongst us. 2. The other concerneth us all in general, without which the Lord will not be pacified, and return unto us with love and favour; and that is expressed in the words of my text, viz. that we turn unto the Lord our God by true and unfeigned repentance, acknowledging our faults, and seeking his face. And this must be performed by all without exception: for as Chrysostomes comparison is, In cythera non satìs est, in uno tantùm nervo concentum efficer; universos oportet percuti,& numerosè& decenter: Ità, &c. Like as upon an harp it is not sufficient to the expression of a full harmony, to strike one string; but they must all be touched, and that in due measure and proportion: So that the melody of our repentance may sound sweetly in the ears of the Lord, it is to be performed not by one, or by some few, but with an universal harmony of all estates and degrees, and according to the rule and direction of the Word and Spirit of God. Let us therefore all and some, great and small, sorrow with Hezekiah, weep bitterly with Peter; let our hearts melt with Josiah, and let us with David Psal. ●. 6. cause our beds to swim, and water our couch with our tears. Let us fall down at his footstool, and cry, Peccavimus; We have sinned, Lord, we have sinned; wo unto us that we have so done; but have mercy upon us dear God, have mercy upon us; yea again have mercy upon us; and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away our offences. And let us all amend our lives, forsake our sins, Isa 1.17, 18 cease to do evil, and learn to do well: and then though our sins were as crimson, they shall be made white as snow: though they were read like scarlet, they shall be as wool. Oh beloved, let us beware and be warned in time, let us be wiser then Israel and Judah; for they would not return, aclowledge their fault, and seek Gods face; and therefore you know what a woeful and unparalleled desolation did overtake them. Optimum est alienâ insaniá frui: Happy are we if their folly be our warning. God is indeed a God of mercy, and( as David saith) Psal. 145.9. his mercy is over all his works: yet is he also just, and if he be provoked too far, Patientia laesa vertitur in furorem: His patience too far abused, turneth at the last into fury. Take heed therefore, for if the fly play too long with the candle, at the last she scorcheth her wings, and loseth her life; so if the sinner dally too long with God, he is in danger of scorching his soul with the fire of hell, and perishing eternally. Object. But we have peace and tranquillity( may some say) and therefore what relation hath all this to us? Sol. We have the more cause to fear and look about us; for all this while the Lord doth but show his forbearance, and expect our repentance: and if in stead thereof we continue wicked and ungodly, we shall in the end find the truth of that of the Apostle, 1. Thes. 5.3 That when we shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon us as travail upon a woman with child, and we shall not escape. Beware then, for the arrows of the Lord are very swift,& strike very suddenly. Little thought Sodom and Gomorrha, Gen. 18.19 when they pressed about the doors of Lots house, to satisfy their filthy lust upon the strangers which he had entertained, that they should the very next day be burnt to ashes with fire and brimstone from heaven. Little thought Absalom, marching in battle array in the morning, that he should the same day be ●. Sam. 18.19 hanged on an oak by the hair of his head, thrust through with darts, and ignominiously cast into a pit, and covered with stones. Little thought Jezabel, when with her painted face she 2. King. 9.30, 31, 33, 36 stood in a window of her palace in Samaria, perking and braving over Jehu with that opprobrious taunt, Had Zimri peace which slay his master? that she should that very day be trodden under foot of horses, and eaten of dogs. Little did nabuchadnezzar think, when Dan. 4.29, 30, he walked in the royal palace of Babel, and said, Is not this great Babel that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? that the same hour he should be driven from men, and eat grass as an ox, till his hairs were grown as eagles feathers, and his nails like birds claws. Little thought the rich carl in the Gospel( when he was so busy in Luk. 12.18, 20. pulling down his barns, and building greater wherein to lay up his fruits) of that sentence from God, Stulte, hac nocte, &c. Thou fool, this night will they fetch away thy soul from thee. Little thought Lots wife when the Gen. 19.16, 26 Angel lead her by the hand out of Sodom, and charged her not to look behind her, that she should the same hour be turned into a pillar of salt. And surely the Lord is the same for ever; and therefore if we despise his chastisement, and will not aclowledge our faults, and seek his face; he will Psal. 7.12. whet his sword, and bend his bow, and go to his quiver, and take forth a strong and swift arrow, a sweeting sickness, or a sweeping plague, &c. and suddenly smite us therewith: or( which is more dreadful) go and return unto his place, departing from us, withdrawing his gracious presence, and leaving us unto ourselves, and delivering us into the cruel hands of them that hate us. To conclude; let us therefore return unto our God in confession, contrition, and true repentance; let our tears show our sorrow, our sorrow work repentance not to be repented of, and our repentance be the beginning of a new life Luk. 1.75. in holinesse and righteousness before God. So will he be graciously present with us, and Mal. 4.10. open the windows of heaven, and poure down blessings upon us in this life, and crown us with everlasting glory in the life to come. To which blessed estate he bring us, who hath so dearly bought us with the price of his most precious blood: to Whom with the Father, and the holy Spirit, we render and ascribe all possible praise, glory, and thanksgiving, now at this present, and for evermore. AMEN. FINIS. THE CHRISTIAN RACE. A Sermon preached in the Lecture at KETTERING in the county of Northampton. {αβγδ}. 1. COR. 9.24. Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prise? So run that ye may obtain. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1633. HEB. 12. verse 1. Wherefore let us also, seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, cast away every thing that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth so fast on: let us run with patience the race that is set before us. I Am loathe to spend time in speaking by way of preamble, of the author, or style, and phrase of this epistle: Onely in brief, you may please to take notice, that the whole epistle is a kind of Syllogism, though expansà manu, in a rhetorical manner. The Proposition and Assumption whereof are in the former part, unto the words of my text: And the Conclusion from thence unto the end. This whole verse that I have made choice to treat of at this time, is Oratio translatitia, a borrowed or figurative speech, or continued Metaphor throughout. The general scope, and argument whereof, is matter of exhortation. And for orders sake, I divide it into two parts. 1. The exhortation itself, or the matter whereunto we are exhorted, in these words, Let us run the race that is set before us. 2. The circumstances whereby the Apostle enforceth his exhortation; which are these three: 1. An inducement or motive; Seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses. 2. A direction how to prepare,& fit ourselves to the performance of the duty to which we are exhorted; Casting away every thing that presseth down, and the sin which hangeth so fast on us. 3. The manner how we are to run this race; With patience. This shall suffice for the Analyticall resolution of the words; for these points thus enfolded in order, will( as I suppose) make the whole matter plain and evident. 1. We are to consider the exhortation itself, in these words; Let us run the race that is set before us. It is a Metaphoricall speech familiarly used in the writings of this Apostle, as appeareth not onely here, but also in sundry other places of his epistles: for so he speaketh to the Corinthians; 1. Cor. 9.24 Know ye not, that they which run in a race, run all; yet one receiveth the prise? So run that ye may obtain. And to the Philippians; Philip. 3.14 And follow hard towards the mark, for the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And by this Metaphor the Apostle admonisheth us of the condition of our life, which is like a race, wherein runners do exercise themselves, and strive for the prise. Chrysostom setteth out this Metaphor more plainly and fully, affirming our life, to be a race, the law and the gospel, to be the two rails or lists; God and the Saints, to be spectators: that we are the runners, and that Jesus is at the goal or mark, as a rewarder, to give the prise, which is eternal life. The life therefore of a Christian is not( as the carnal professor accounteth it) a stool and a cushion, matter of ease. We must not think to be carried to heaven in a feather-bed; our faith is not sedentaria fides, a sitting, but a running faith; not an idle, but a working faith; if the Poet said truly, Horat. de ait. poëtic. Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit, fecitque puer, sudavit,& alsit, Abstinuit Venere,& vino, &c. If such as run for an earthly prise,( which commonly is nothing but a whiffe of vain glory, which perisheth in the enjoying) endure so much both in preparing themselves, and also performing the race; then what pains, what labour should seem too great to us, which run for a heavenly and everlasting prise? we must not conceive that we are brought into this life, ad otium& delicias; to be idle and voluptuous; but to sustain labour, and endure pains and sweat; not to see others run, but to run ourselves. And therefore we are not to dream of ease and pleasure, in the possession of christianity, but let us run. This life is Bern. via regni, non regnum; but the way to the kingdom, not the kingdom itself. There is no expecting the prise, until the race be ended. We must not look for 2. Tim. 4.7, 8. the crown of righteousness, with S. Paul, until with him, we have sought the good sight, finished our course, and kept the faith. Let us run the race.] A race is a swift motion, with all earnestness and striving: and such must our progress be in the way to heaven: not creeping like snails, but swift as an eagle, Philip. 3.1 following or pressing hard towards the mark, for the prise of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus. The original word {αβγδ}, is observed to signify Pareus in locum. both the place to run in, which the latins call stadium, a race-plot,& also the action itself of running therein. And in the propriety of the signification thereof, it pointeth out the manner of the race which we are to run, viz. that it must be performed with labour and striving, more athletarum, after the manner of champions, or wrestlers: for so I find the word used by our Apostle in the 4. verse of this chapter, Heb. 12.4. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, {αβγδ}, striving against sin. And therefore Job 7.1. Job compareth the life of man to a warfare upon earth. And the Apostle affirmeth the way to heaven, to be Act. 14.21. through many afflictions. Which moved him to encourage timothy, and stir him up in these words, 2. Tim. 2.3. Thou therefore suffer affliction, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In the race we shall meet, and must encounter with enemies: though it be a race, yet it is Certamen cursorium; a running fight, or a fighting race, whether you please. And therefore the Apostle directs us to Eph. 6.11. &c. put on armor, even the whole armor of God, instructing us in every part thereof, from the head to the foot: and that being so armed, we play the souldiers, and 2. Tim. 4.7. fight a good fight. And indeed, if the race and way were plain, and without impediments, there needed no such earnest exhortation, to enforce us to enter into it; for who would refuse? But we must run with resolution to outrun, and to overthrow whatsoever doth oppose us in the way. We must be like those Jews which repaired the Temple in the time of Nehemiah, which being beset with many enemies seeking to oppose and hinder them, Neh. 4.17. wrought upon the wall with one hand, and with the other held the sword, ready to defend themselves, and beat back others that would attempt to hinder them: so must we be expedite and nimble in gathering up our feet to run the race toward heaven; and yet withall carry our weapons in our hands, ready to beat back and overthrow all such enemies as shall oppose us, stop our course, or turn us out of the way. If this was not so, every one would be ready to enter into the race: but Hinc illae lacrymae; this is that which discourageth the carnal man: he would gladly go to heaven, but he cannot endure to hear of this labour and pains, this running, and sweeting, and fighting. He could hearty wish, with the sons of Zebedeus, to Mat. 20.21, 22. sit at the right hand or left hand of Christ in his kingdom: but he cannot endure to hear of drinking of his cup, nor being baptized with his baptism of the cross: seeing heaven must cost so dear, he had rather bid it farewell, and with Demas, 2. Tim. 4.10. embrace this present world. But what race is it, that with so much labour and pains, courage and fortitude must be performed of us? Let the Apostle answer in his own words, The race that is set before us. The wicked run in their race, and that very swiftly, and with great resolution: Jer. 8.6. Every one turneth to his race, as the horse rusheth into the battle, through thick and thin, no dromedary swifter: but alas! it is not in the race set before us, but in a race of their own choosing; not in the Mat. 7. 1●, 14. straight way that leadeth unto life, but in the by-paths of sin which led unto destruction, and the broad way which tendeth unto hell and damnation. We must not run thus; for then the swifter we are, the more we hasten to our destruction, and the sooner we arrive at hell gates. But our race must be the race set before us, our course is limited; we must be sure to keep within the two lists or rails of the Law and the Gospel, wherein God hath set and pointed out this race before us. For therein every Christian may find out a double race appointed by God for him to run; 1. The general race of christianity, which all without exception are bound to run: and it is that which David promiseth to perform; Psal. 119.32 I will run the way of thy commandments. 2. The particular race of every man his vocation or calling, concerning which the Apostle hath an express rule; 1. Cor. 7.17 As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And again, Vers. 20. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. For both these callings we have full and absolute direction in the word of God, in the Law and the Gospel; and whatsoever we find therein commended unto us, that is the race set before us. This therefore doth directly cross a double point of popery. First, their voluntary afflicting themselves by whippings, pilgrimages, and such other like inventions of their own brain, for which they have no ground from the word of God, neither Law nor Gospel. This is not to Mar. 8.34. take up the cross of Christ and bear it, but to device and frame a cross unto themselves of their own devising. This is not to run the race set before us; but a race of their own inventing, as if they were wiser then Christ, and could find out a better way to heaven, then he hath set before us in his Gospel. Secondly, the like may be said of all manner of will-worship, whereof the greatest part of the religion of the Church of Rome consisteth; viz. their holy water, their holy ashes, pilgrimages, adoration of relics, &c. whereof our Saviour Christ saith, Mark 7.7. In vain ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men: all which when they shall pled by way of merit at the last day, Christ will answer them as God did sometime the Jews in the like case, Isa. 1.12. Who required these things at your hands? For these are not the race set before us, but idle inventions and traditions of men. To conclude, by this phrase of speech, the Apostle implieth, that God is {αβγδ}, a race-master, who bringeth us into this world, as into a race, to run, and outrun; to strive and fight, before he give us the prise, which is the crown of glory: and therefore our race must be directed according to his will, or else we run in vain, and lose the prise. This consideration of the author, or Master of the race, doth yield unto us a double use. 1. To stir us up with cheerfulness and alacrity in running this spiritual race; because we have Deum praesidem cum coelesti brabio, God the president of the race with the heavenly prise. Which cannot but notably encourage us in the way of piety, and an holy conversation; according to that which is said of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that, Heb. 12 2. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shane, and is set at the right hand of the throne of God. 2. The will and presence of God ought to arm us with patience and constancy against all manner of weariness, trouble, and difficulty in this race; especially remembering that of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 10.13. God is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted above that we be able, but will with the temptation also make away to escape, that we may be able to bear it: for it is as if our Saviour Christ should reach out the heavenly crown towards us, and say, Here it is; win it, and wear it: or( as Austine saith) as if God should cry from heaven, In Psal. 39. Specto vos, luctamini adjuvabo, vincite ego vos coronabo; I behold, strive and I will help you, overcome and I will crown you. For so he promised unto the Church of Smyrna; Apoc. 1.10. Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life. And thus much shall suffice concerning the exhortation. 2. We are to treat of the circumstances enforcing the exhortation, which before appeared to be three. I shall not need to repeat them, but to handle them in order. 1. The first, which offereth itself to our consideration, is the motive, or inducement to excite us to the practise of this duty, in these words, Wherefore seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses. In this inference wherefore, he sheweth to what end it was that he recited so long a He●r. 11. catalogue of Saints, whose faith was famous, and excelled under the law, viz. that by their example he might excite and encourage us to tread in their steps, and follow their example. And there is an emphasis in these words, {αβγδ}, let us also: If they did so happily run the race,& finish their course, much more ought we to do the like, because of our happy estate above theirs, Heb. 11.40. God providing a better thing for us, that they without us should not be perfect; they but expecting and desiring that which we have seen in the full compliment. The Apostle draweth his argument ab exemplo, because examples are matter of sense, and for the most part move more then precepts: and also to show that he doth not persuade us to an impossibility; because he sheweth apparently that it hath been done by others before us. It is in effect the same with that of Saint James, Jam. 5.10. Take( my brethren) the Prophets for an ensample of suffering adversity, and of long patience: as if he had said, Look upon the examples of the Prophets, patriarches,& Saints of God, which have run the race with faith and patience before you. But let us consider the words themselves: Seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses. Wherein we may observe three things. 1. Why it is called a cloud. 2. Why it is termed great. 3. Whereof it is said to consist; viz. of witnesses. 1. The word cloud is here used Metaphorically, Paraus in locum. pro condensata& copiosa Patrum multitudine; for the copious and condensate multitude of the Fathers. And they are so called( according to the ancient Fathers) for two reasons: the one whereof is taken from the Cause, and the other from the Effect. 1. From the cause; viz. As clouds are by the heat of the sun extracted or exhaled out of the gross substance of the elements of the earth and water; but being elevated and sublimed towards the upper region of the air, are rarefied and made of a more subtle and celestial nature: So the Saints of God are by the Mal. 4.2. sun of righteousness, as it were, exhaled out of the gross and sinful mass of mankind lost in Adam; but are by him sublimed and transformed into a more excellent, spiritual, and heavenly nature, and at the last translated into heaven itself. So Jam. 5.17. Elias was a man subject to the like infirmities as we are; and yet 2. King. 3.11. went up by a whirlwind into heaven. But especially hereunto alludeth that of our Saviour Christ himself, Joh. 1●. 32. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 2. From the effect; because they produce a parallel effect with the clouds; not Prov. 15.15 clouds without rain, but Is●. 45.8. clouds that drop down righteousness; like unto a Chap. 18.4. cloud of due in the heat of harvest. For so are In locum. Lyra his words; Propter vitae fastigium,& doctrinae stillicidium, congregatio Sanctorum dicitur nubes; For the excellency of their lives, and the sweet distilling showers of their doctrine, the society of the Saints is called a cloud. For like as sweet showers of rain falling from the clouds, refresh the dry and thirsty ground; so do the examples of the faith and holinesse of the Saints, and the patience of the Martyrs of Christ Jesus, together with the sweet distilling drops of their heavenly doctrine, refresh those that are in the 1. Pet. 4. 1●. fiery trial. August. Sanguis martyrum est seemen Ecclesiae; The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church. To these two reasons of the ancient Fathers, Mr. In locum. Perkins hath added a third, viz. that as the children of Israel had their cloud to guide and direct them through the vast wilderness unto the land of Canaan; so now also, that the Church or Gal. 6.16. Israel of God might not be destitute of a cloud for their direction through the wilderness of this world to the spiritual Canaan, the land of everlasting life, this cloud of witnesses is propounded as their pattern. To which purpose their eyes should be always fixed upon this cloud of witnesses. 2. It is called a great cloud, because it consists of so many thousands& myriad of patriarches, Prophets, Saints, and Martyrs. And so much also the other epithet doth express, {αβγδ}, compassing us about, or placed round about us: so that which way soever we turn ourselves or cast our eyes( as if the whole air was filled with this cloud) we may behold famous examples for us to imitate and follow. And this cloud may fitly be compared to Eliah his cloud, which at the first was but a little one, 1. King. 18.44, 45. arising out of the sea like a mans hand; but after a short time it overspread the heaven which was black therewith: so this cloud at the first appeared very small, consisting but of one single person, viz. of righteous Gen. 4. Abel under the Law, and of Act. 7. Stephen the Protomartyr under the Gospel. But it is now increased to an exceeding greatness, consisting of thousand thousands. 3. This cloud is said to consist of witnesses; for so the Apostle styleth the patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Saints, and Martyrs of Jesus Christ. And they are so called, Activè,& Passivé; Actively, and Passively. 1. Actively, because they did both in their life and doctrine admirably testify Gods goodness, truth, mercy, power, providence, &c. and also by their example gave a singular testimony of the excellency of their faith and piety, whereby onely we may please God. And hereof the Apostle speaketh at large Heb. 11.4. in the former chapter, from the fourth to the 34 verse. 2. Passively, because they suffered with faith, patience, and constancy, manifold afflictions; and some of them martyrdom itself, for the testimony of the truth of God, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this also our Apostle hath excellently set forth in the former chapter; Ibid. ver. 35, 36, 37.38 Others also were racked, and others were tried by mockings, and scourgings: yea moreover, by bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered up and down in sheeps skins and goats-skinnes, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in wildernesses, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth. And that is it which maketh a perfect witness, when the truth is sealed unto by afflictions, and( if the case so required) by laying down their lives, and shedding of their bloud● to which the original word {αβγδ} agreeth; which may be translated either witnesses or martyrs; a Martyr being nothing else but a witness suffering death in the cause of Christ Jesus and his Gospel. And well may these be called witnesses: for as they have already witnessed in this kind while they lived upon earth, so also when the Mal, 3.5. Lord shall come to be a swift witness in judgement, this cloud of witnesses shall again compass us about, and witness( if we hold the same course which they have done) with us; and if not, against us. This then is the inducing reason& moving cause wherewith the Apostle doth excite and encourage us to the duty of running the race set before us; viz. that seeing so many famous Saints and Martyrs have with faith and patience run the race before us; and now( having finished their course) enjoy the prise, and sit crwoned with glory in heaven; we also( moved with their example) do with the like zeal and piety, faith and patience, run the race set before us; that we also in our due time may receive the prise, even the crown of glory and immortality. 2. The Apostle doth not content himself to have exhorted and moved us to undertake the duty of running the race set before us, and also to have encouraged us thereunto by the examples of the Saints and Martyrs of Christ; but also knowing it to be a matter not onely of high consequence, but also of great difficulty) he proceedeth to teach us in the second circumstance, how to prepare ourselves that we may be the more fit and able to perform this great task required of us, viz. in these words( as they run in the original) Casting away every thing that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth so fast on. And the manner of his direction for preparation consisteth in removing such impediments as might prove heavy and troublesone, and so hinder us in the race. And these impediments are here expressed, 1. in general; 2. in particular. 1. In general, he exhorteth us to cast away every thing that presseth down. The original word {αβγδ}, Beza translateth in Latin, pondus, a weight; Erasmus, onus, a burden; and others crassam& tardam molem; whatsoever is gross, heavy, and burdensome, or troublesone in the way. Wherein he alludeth to the Metaphor of running in a race: for like as nothing doth sooner cause the champions to come short, and lose the prise, then grossness of body, or any heavy burden which they sustain and carry with them: So neither is there any greater impediment to the agility and nimbleness of the soul in the race and way to heaven, then those things which are burdensome to the spirit, and do depress and keep it down from mounting aloft, and soaring towards heaven. Of which kind are the delights of the world, the cares of this life, the lusts of the flesh, security, riot, and whatsoever else being heavy and troublesone doth hinder us in the spiritual race. All must be laid aside and cast away that we may run inoffenso pede, without tripping or stumbling, without let or impediment, to the end of the race, that we may obtain the prise. Under this {αβγδ}, the ancient Fathers do reduce all manner of impediments; not onely the having or using of things unlawful, but also the abuse, or inexpedient use of things indifferent or commanded. For prayer may be Psal. 11●. 7. turned into sin; and our table may be made Psal. 69 22. a snare to catch us withall, and our prosperity, our ruin. The guests which were invited to the Luk. 14.16, 18, 19, 20. great supper, entangled themselves with farms, and oxen, and wives; things indifferent, and very lawful to be used: but yet were they so used, or rather abused by them, that they proved sufficient impediments to exclude them for ever from that heavenly supper; as appeareth by that peremptory and diffinitive sentence of the Master of the feast, I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden, Vers. 24. shall taste of my supper. lawfulness without expediency, is not to be followed:& therefore the Apostle doth well exhort us to 1. Cor. 7.31 use this world, as if we used it not: for all these worldly things must be laid aside; and with the same Apostle, be Phil. 3.8. accounted as dung and cast away, so far, or when we find them impediments in the race and way towards heaven; that so we may not be ensnared, or shackled with the gives and fetters of these earthly things. It is dangerous to Habac. ●. 6. lad ourselves with thick day; which made our Saviour Christ say of a rich mans entering into heaven; Mat. 19.24. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Yea, and S. Mark speaking of the same point, he affirmeth it to be Mark 10.27 {αβγδ}, impossible with men, though all things be possible with God. To conclude: it is the same in effect with that of our Saviour Christ, Mat 5.29.30 If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Whatsoever thou possessest in this present world, though it be as dear unto thee as thy right eye, or thy right hand; yet if it prove to be an impediment unto thee in thy way or race towards heaven, cast it away and abhor it for ever: yea, though it be more precious then farms, and oxen, and worldly pelf; even as thy father that begot thee, thy mother that bare thee, or thy wife in thy bosom. Remember that heavenly counsel which jerome gave to Heliodorus, exhorting him to renounce this present world, and follow Christ: Epist. lib. 2. epist. 6. Licèt parvulus ex collo pendeat nepos, licèt sparso crine& scissis vestibus ubera quibus te nutrierat matter ostendat, licèt in limine pater jaceat; per calcatum perge patrem, siccis oculis ad vexillum crucis evola: Though thy pretty smiling son hang about thy neck, though thy mother with her hair cast about her shoulders, and garments rent, should hold forth and beseech thee by those breasts that once gave thee suck; yea, though thy father should lay himself cross the threshold to stop the passage; yet trample upon him, pass over him, and with dry eyes hast thee to the banner of the cross, the standard of Christ crucified. And a little after, Solum pictatis genus est, in hac re esse crudelem: It is a singular kind of piety( saith he) to be cruel, untractable, or such a one as will not be entreated in this case. With such resolution therefore should we reject lusts, pleasures, riches, honours, and whatsoever else doth press down, and hinder us in the way to heaven. For our Saviour Christ saith, Luk. 14.26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And again, Mat. 10. 3● He that loveth father or mother more then me, is not worthy of me. And these are the general impediments which must be cast away, because they press down, and hinder us in running the race set before us. 2. The Apostle in particular points out the chief impediments which we must especially above all other, as the most troublesone and dangerous, beware of, and cast away, viz. sin. Which he doth therefore describe by a fit epithet to express the nature of it. {αβγδ}, the sin that hangeth so fast on. Which I● locum. Chrysostom saith may be taken either Actively, v●z. which doth easily circumvent us; or Passively, viz. which may be easily circumvented by us. But I conceive the Active more properly to agree to this place; for I suppose that the Apostles intent& scope here, was not by this epithet to extenuate, but rather to aggravate the trouble of sin; and to set it forth as a chief and principal impediment in running the race set before us. And according to this sense Beza doth translate it, In Annot. Et peccato ad nos circumcingendos proclivi; And the sin which is so prove and ready to enclose close us, or compass us about. Erasmus readeth it, Et tenaciter inhaerente peccato; And the sin which doth adhere and cleave unto us: which agreeth in the sense, though it answer not expressly to the words; {αβγδ}( as Beza observeth) being never found in that signification, though there want not some which think, that the Apostle did allude to that place of the Prophet Ezek. 24.6. Ezekiel, where the wicked are compared to a pot, whose rust, or scum cleaveth so fast to it, that it cannot without great difficulty be scraped or rubbed off. And indeed sin is very fitly so called from the effect, as then which nothing is more apt to compass and enclose us, and as it were with strong bonds to detain us,& so hinder us in the race: so that when we should be nimbly running, or Phil. 3.14. pressing forward toward the mark; our feet, the feet of our souls, which are our affections( according to S. Austine) seem to be tied, or settered together with the bonds of sin and natural corruption. I: locum. Semper est in promptu, ut cursum nostrum ad vitam beatam impediat,( saith Tremellius) It is ever at hand to hinder our progress to everlasting life. And so Ubi suprà. Beza also; Nos undique peccatum obsidet, ità ut excurrere non possimus: sin so besiegeth us on all parts, that we cannot run directly on to the end of the race: yea, the nature of sin is like a scorpion, to embrace and clasp a man, and winding the tail about to sting and destroy. And this may be understood either Generally of all manner of sin, as hath already appeared; or else in Particular of some one peculiar kind of sin. And so there are too kindes to which the word {αβγδ}, hanging so fast on, doth most fitly agree. 1. If we understand in particular by it, peccatum illud inhabitants in carne etiam sanctorum; that sin dwelling in the flesh even of the regenerate: which by no study, labour, nor industry can be utterly suppressed; but it will still trouble and hinder the godly, and assay to turn them out of the right way, which leadeth to life everlasting. This is that original concupiscence dwelling in the flesh, whereof the Apostle complains so bitterly: Rom. 7.23, 24. But I see( saith he) another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And elsewhere he calls it( according to divers interpreters) ●. C●r. 1●. 7, ●. A prick in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him; and saith, that thrice he besought the Lord that it might depart from him, but received no other answer, but My grace is sufficient for thee: and therefore it may very fitly be called {αβγδ}, the sin that hangeth so fast on. And it seemeth that the Apostle having this experience in himself formerly, and being yet mindful thereof, exhorteth the Hebrews especially to labour to cast it off; not that in this life it can be wholly cast away and utterly rooted out; but yet by that grace from above, power is granted to the godly so to suppress it, that it may not carry them away Rom. 7. 2●. captive unto sin, or Chap. 6.12. reign in their mortal bodies; or ensnare them suis insidiis, with his subtle stratagems. 2. If we understand it of some one particular beloved darling-sinne, wherewith a man is most delighted: as every man living hath first or last a peccatum in deliciis, a darling sin, which seems unto him but peccatillum, some small petty sin, though it be never so great. And commonly this kind of sin is so sweet unto the sinner, and so entirely affencted, that a man will forsake all that ever he possesseth, yea and adventure life itself rather then forsake it: yea many a one hath lost heaven to enjoy it. And therefore this kind of sin also may fitly be called {αβγδ}, the sin that hangeth so fast on. And the sinner will be contented to part with all other sins, that he may still enjoy this sin. Hereof Naaman is usually alleged as an example, who acknowledged to Elisha that there was 2. Kin●. ●. 15, 1●, no God in all the world but in Israel; and promised to offer neither burnt-sacrifice, nor offering unto any other God, save unto the Lord: but with condition that he might still enjoy his darling sin of covetousness and ambitious desire of honour; to which purpose he must be dispensed with, to be an idolater still, as his own words seem to import; Herein the Lord be merciful unto thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and leaneth on mine hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon; the Lord be merciful unto thy servant in this point. And therefore is not this the sin that hangeth so fast on? So Herod M●rk. 6.20. feared John Baptist. knowing that he was a just man& an holy) and reverenced him:& when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly, until he touched upon his darling sin, saying, Verse 18. It is not lawful for thee to have thy brothers wife. But when that came into question, he resolved that John Baptist should lose his head, and he himself hazard his life and kingdom, rather then part with his darling& beloved sin. And so likewise S. Austine confesseth, that after his conversion his peccatum in deliciis, his darling sin would not leave him of a long time; but still did as it were whisper into his ears enticing words, O wilt thou forsake me now? &c. And therefore it is clear, that he also found it to be a sin that hangeth fast on, and is not( without great difficulty) forsaken, or cast away. And therefore well might the Apostle point out sin, and especially such sins as these, as the chief impediments in running the heavenly race; which if we desire, with the cloud of witnesses, to finish with joy, that we may obtain the prise of eternal glory, we must cast away every thing that presseth down, all impediments in general, especially that sin which hangeth so fast on: And above all other sins these bewitching, beloved, and darling sins, which do so strongly depress, ensnare, and hinder us in the way; that we may be the better fitted and enabled to run the race set before us. And this may suffice concerning the second circumstance of Preparation. 3. In the last place the Apostle directeth us for the manner, how this race must be run; viz. being directed by the word of God, encouraged by the cloud of witnesses, and prepared by removing or casting away all impediments, the race must be run with patience. For all that went before is not sufficient; the prise will not be obtained except this also be added, that we hold out to the end of the race with patience. Every man is ready to set forward busily at the beginning, but their wind faileth before they come near to the end of the race; and so they faint, come short, and lose the prise. The way to heaven is fitly compared to Gen. 28.12. Jacobs ladder, which stood upon the earth, but the top of it reached up to heaven: and therefore it is to little purpose to ascend one or two of the rounds or steps of that ladder, and no more: there is no stepping into heaven until we have passed them all; we cannot go to heaven per saltum, by a leap or jump; it is not had in a trice, but by going forward by steps and degrees, and holding out with patience unto the end. We must strive, and sweat, and labour, and yet persevere without fainting: for our Saviour Christ saith, Mar. ●●. 13. Whosoever shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. For if in the way we wax weary, and with the Mat 25.4, 5 foolish virgins fall asleep; we shall be sure with them to be excluded when the Bridegroom cometh. It is not enough to begin well, nor to continue for a time onely; but we must run {αβγδ}, with patience: of {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, of enduring under any thing: like a man that standeth under some weighty burden, ready to press him down, and yet he resolveth with patience to sustain and endure it. So must we in this race be letted by no impediments, nor faint and be short-winded, but run it throughout unto the end. Now therefore it appears, that to the running of this race aright, the Apostle requireth three special virtues of us. 1. Diligence: for we must run, not walk, or creep like snails; according to that prophesy of the Gentiles flocking to Christ; Isa 60. ●. Qui sunt isti, qui volant ut nubes, &c. Who are these that fly like a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? The way to heaven is not easy, or a short journey, which every dreaming drone or creeping snail may perform with ease, going and staying at his pleasure; but( as Christ saith) mat. 11.12 Regnum coelorum vim patitur,& violenti rapiunt illud; The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. A man must be earnest and zealous in his religion: for if he be but Apoc. 3.16. luke-warm, God threateneth to spew him out of his mouth. God loveth zeal and fervency, but he cannot away with half-service, nor such as are Act. 26.28. almost Christians, like Agrippa. Under the Law he would not take lame, or halting sacrifice; and under the Gospel he abhorreth slow, lame, and imperfect service. Saint James saith, Jam. 1.19. Be swift to hear: and what he requireth in that one, is requisite in all other Christian duties. Jer. 48.10. Cursed( saith the Prophet) be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. Peter and John Joh. 20. ●. ran both together, striving who should come first to the sepulchre of Christ. How much more ought we to run, and strive to outrun others, that we may come first to be with him in glory? 2. Abstinence: Whatsoever letteth and hindereth us in the race, must be cast away: we are Job. 7. ●0. burdens to ourselves, and therefore had need to be free from all other impediments which might molest and trouble us in the way, when we should be nimbly footing it towards heaven. 3. Patience: For if we be short-winded, and faint in the way, we lose the prise, and run in vain. And this last virtue of Patience, is required for two reasons: 1. For suffering, and enduring afflictions and other impediments: for patience will teach us to pass through all the pricks, even with joy. When we consider, or cast our eyes upon the manifold troubles, afflictions, crosses, and enemies, which we must encounter with in the way; our spirits may peradventure begin to faint and droop within us: but if we lift up our eyes from the earth, and look to Christ calling, the Spirit assisting, the Father blessing, the Angels comforting, the Word directing, and the Crown inviting; it will make us like the Psal. 19.15. sun, which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a mighty giant to run his race. And therefore the Apostle insinuateth this motive to stir us up to patience in the race; Heb. 12.2, 3. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shane, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider therefore him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied, and faint in your mindes. Look to the prise with the cloud of witnesses; and that will give us patience in the midst of all troubles and afflictions. The hope of that made Jeremiah his prison patiently to endure, Isaiah his saw, Andrew his cruel cross, and Laurence his burning gridiron: this moved Peter and Andrew to embrace, and kiss the cross, whereon they were presently to be crucfied: for they rejoiced to suffer here, because they expected a kingdom elsewhere, knowing that if they suffered with Christ, they should also be glorified with him. This filled the heart of Paul with courage to answer the brethren,( which besought him with tears, not to go up to Jerusalem, because the daughters of Philip the Evangelist being prophetesses, foretold what grievous afflictions should befall him there) in these words, Act. 21.13. What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound onely, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. This example is worthy of our imitation, that so nothing may terrify, daunt, discourage, or stay us in the race. Remember that Hierom saith to Heliodorus, Hierom. epist. ad Heliodorum. Paupertatem times? said beatos Christus pauperes appellat. labour terreris? At nemo athleta sine sudore coronatur. De cibo cogitas? said fides famem non timet. supper nudam metuis humum exesa jejuniis membra collidere? said Dominus tecum jacet. dost thou fear poverty? but Christ saith, Blessed are the poor. Doth danger affright thee? but no champion is crwoned without labour. Art thou careful for thy food? but faith feareth not famine. Art thou afraid to commit thy body, consumed with fasting, to the naked ground? but the Lord will lye there by thee. Can the soldier be in the battle, and not fight? the ship among the waves, and not be tossed? or the Christian in the Church militant, and not be buffeted? No, no; these and other such like troubles will meet us, and oppose us in the race. Delicatus es, Hierom. ubi suprà. si& hîc vis gaudere cum seculo,& postea regnare cum Christo, Thou art too delicate and tender, if thou desirest both to take thy pleasure with this world here, and also to reign with Christ hereafter. Remember that of our Saviour, spoken to his disciples, Luk. 21.16, 17. Ye shall be betrayed also of your parents, and of your brethren, and kinsmen, and friends: and some of you shall they put to death: And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake: and the counsel which he gave them in that case, Vers. 1●. In your patience possess your souls. 2. The Apostle saith truly, that Heb. 10.36. we have all need of patience, that we might continue, and hold out to the end of the race; or else the happy prise is lost for ever. We must not in this race be like those carnal Israelites, which after they were come to the very skirts of Canaan, then looked back to the Num. 11.5. flesh-pots of Egypt, remembering the fish which they did eat in Egypt for nought, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but as we have begun, so must we 2. Tim. ●. 7. finish our course, and Phil. ●. ●2. work out our salvation with fear and trembling. You shall find a man which begins well, but faints and quails before he come to the end of the race. How many sh●ll we see for a fit very devout, Bern. de duobus di●●●●. eu●●. ad Emma●●. Quorum oculi sunt sicut piscinae Heshbon prae multitudine lacrymarum; said( horâ compunctionis transactà) ità superbi sunt sicut anté? Whose eyes are like the pools of Heshbon, for the multitude of their tears: But( the hour of compunction being past) they are as proud as they were before, and return to their old bias again? Many make goodly glorious shows for a time; but miscarry before the end. This is not to run the race which is set before us, with patience and perseverance: Ger. 32.24, 28, 19. Jacob wrestled( all the night) unto the breaking of the day, before he prevailed, and obtained the blessing. And our service to God should be like his mercies to us, which Psal. 136. endure for ever. Jacob served Gen. 29.18, ●0. sev●n yeares for Rachel; and the Scripture testifieth, that they seemed to him but a few dayes, because he loved her. Then why should we think much to serve all the dayes of our lives for this prise? For what was Rachel to heaven? The sailor oftentimes passeth the main sea in quiet, and yet suffereth shipwreck in the haven: the corn sometimes promiseth a rich harvest in the blade, and yet is blasted in the ear: the three pretendeth plenty in the blossom, and yet affords but withered fruit. Lu●. 1●. 32. Remember Lots wife; Conversa est in columnan salis, ut te condiat( saith Austine) She was turned into a pillar of salt, to season thee with the salt of grace, to beware of the like sin. Judas lived with Jesus, and for a time ran well; and yet playing the Apostate, and betraying his Lord and Master, became his own executioner, and is now gone to his place. So unless thou, having laid a strong foundation, dost build upon Christ Mat. 7.24. the rock, and endure in love, continue in faith, and run with patience to the end of the race; thou art but like a patient that was almost recovered from a dangerous disease; but falling into a relapse, is more deadly, or incurably sick: Or like unto a man that had almost ascended to the top of some tower, or steep rock; but slipping falls headlong to the bottom, without hope of ever attaining to his desire. Luk. 9.62. He that putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back, is not fit for the kingdom of God. And therefore labour still at thy plough, that thy task may be finished: walk still on thy way, that thy journey may be ended: run out thy race with patience, that the prise may be obtained. If the husbandman doth fallow his ground diligently, and stir it as carefully; but goeth not on to sow his seed, harrow it,& gather out the weeds: what crop shall he reap at the time of harvest? The three that hath goodly stems and branches, with fair leaves, but no fruit, is provided but for the fire:& that Mat. 25.30 servant which increaseth not his talent, shal be cast into utter darkness: there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. Some have seemed to nestle in the clouds, yea have been Revel. 1●. 4 stars of heaven; and yet cast down to the earth, with the dragons tail. Vidimus lucem obtenebrâsse,& de tenebris lucem processisse( saith Soliloq. cap. 2●. S. Austine) We have seen the light turned into darkness, and light proceed out of darkness, or( as our Saviour saith) Publicans and sinners enter into heaven,& the children of the kingdom cast out into utter darkness. We must not therefore content ourselves to begin well, nor to have made a commendable progress for a time in the spiritual race; but as the child increaseth& goeth forward in strength& stature, until he come to the perfect pitch of a man: so must we go forward, and grow in grace, from M●t. 12.20. smoking flax, to a burning flamme: from a grain of mustard-seed, to a branched three: from grafting, to growing: from growing, to increasing: from increasing, to strengthening: from faith, to hope: from hope, to love: from love, to good living: so marching on Psal. 84 7. from strength to strength, never staying until we all appear before God in Sion. Let us therefore, both in the general race of Christianity,& also in the particular race of our private callings, begin in faith, continue in patience, and Phil. 2.12. work out our salvation with fear and trembling: that so having, with the Apostle, 2. Tim. ●. 7 fought the good fight, finished our course,& kept the faith, we may at last, with the cloud of witnesses, obtain the prise, even the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shal give to all them that love his appearing. FINIS. ΑΓΙΟΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΟΝ: OR A DIRECTION FOR THE RIGHT MANNER OF FEASTING, Delivered in the Lecture at KETTERING, in the County of Northampton, immediately after Christmas, Ann. Dom. 1620. GENES. 18.19. I know Abraham, that he will command his children, and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement. 1. COR. 10.31. Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Printed by the Printers to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1633. JOB 1. verse 5. And it was so, when the daies of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be, that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. IF I should enter into disputation, who this Job was, whether of the posterity of Abraham, by Esau, and the same which Moses called Gen. 36.33 Jobab, the son of Zerah, of Bozrah, whom he mentioneth as the second Vers. 39. of the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel; of which opinion Austine seemeth to be, affirming that De civit. Dei. lib. 18. cap. 47. he was neither a native Israelite, nor a Proselyte adopted by their law; but born and butted an Idumean: Or of the posterity of Abraham by Keturah his second wife, whom Gen. ●5. he took after the death of Sarah; whereof there seemeth to be no small probability, because Abraham sent the sons which he had by her Vers. 5. away from Isaac his son( while he yet lived) Eastward, unto the east-country: And here it is said of Job, that Job ●. 3. he was the greatest of all the men of the East; which also best agreeth with the genealogies ordinarily prefixed before our late impressions of the holy Bible, or sacred Scriptures: Or of the posterity of Nahor, brother of Abraham, Intradic. 〈◇〉. i● Ger. Rab. S lomon as jerome and Isidore, with Rupertus, Hugo and some others contend: Or a Canaanite, as some of the Hebrew rabbis would have him: And also, whether he was a king or not: together with some other such questions handled by expositors by way of preface to this book: I should but weary you that hear me, spend the time, and lose myself. And therefore, knowing the words which I have singled out for the subject of my present discourse, to be very copious, I resolve to pass them over in silence, and briefly to proceed unto the text itself. And it was so when the dayes of their feasting were gone about, &c. This holy man Job, is generally reputed and acknowledged as a mirror of Patience: insomuch that not onely In Job. Lyra, but also many others do repute him therein as a type of Christ Jesus, Phil. 2.6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: And that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For, who ever in the world, of eminent estate, was lower depressed and cast down then Job? and from the depth of misery, and Job 2.8. sitting among the ashes, who was higher exalted then Job? For though before his misery he was a man of great estate; yea, Chap. 1.3. the greatest of all the men of the East; yet doth the Spirit of God testify, that after he was restored again, the Chap. 42.10. Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. But we may further remember that he was famous, not onely for that single and singular virtue of Patience, but also for all other virtues and graces; so that by the testimony of Gods own mouth Chap. 1.8. there was none like him in the earth. Amongst all which his heavenly virtues, we have him here set forth in the words of my text as a pattern of the piety, zeal, and care of parents over their children: watching over their souls, for their good, and everlasting salvation. And when the dayes of their feasting were gone about, Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts: Thus did Job continually. In which words we have the description of a most religious and heavenly duty, carefully performed by a most holy father, for the spiritual good of his dear and beloved children. Of which duty we may, for orders sake, observe four circumstances. 1. Of the time when it was performed by him, which is expressed in the first, and last words: And it was so when the dayes of their feasting were gone about. Thus did Job every day, or continually. 2. Of the manner of his performing of it: Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning. 3. Of the matter performed by him: And offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them. 4. Of the reason, or the moving cause: For Job thought, or said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Of these in order. 1. The time. The time of Jobs performing of this duty, is laid down partly in the beginning of the verse, and partly in the latter end thereof. 1. In the beginning we have these words, And it was so when the dayes of their feasting were gone about: which words give us occasion to look back unto the second and the fourth verses, where we may see that Jobs Chap. 1.4. seven sons feasted together in their several houses; the eldest first inviting his six brethren and their sisters to his house, and then the second brother likewise; and so the rest of them in order, every one his day. Now( saith my text) so it was that when the dayes of feasting were gone about, that is, in fine hebdomadae, La l●cum. ( saith Lyra) at the end of the week. For they were seven brethren, and therefore if each took his day successively, their feasting continued a whole week. Chronol. in Contin. relic.& doctrine. Anno mun. 2269. Genebrard is singular in his opinion, viz. that he offered every seventh day, as it were celebrating a Sabbath: affirming that afterwards some rites afterwards legal, were observed by the ancient fathers under the law of Nature; as Sacrifices, which were offered unto God by Gen. 4.34. Cain and Abel, &c. And the truth is, that many of the Aben-ezra. Rah. Solom. Lyran. &c. Jewish rabbis, and some others also affirm, that the ancient patriarches and Fathers before the law given did keep the Sabbath. 2. But others more truly affirm, that he offered every day, according to that in the end of the verse; Thus did Job continually. Of this opinion was Epist. ad Eu●gr. jerome,& with him also agreeth In Catena. Olimpiodorus And Tremel. upon the former words in the beginning of the verse saith, Quotiescunque eorum unus fratres convivio acceperat, Whensoever any one of them entertained his brethren at a feast. And upon the words in the latter end of the verse, he saith, In locum. Singulis diebus illis quibus fiebant ista convivia; Upon every one of those dayes wherein these feasts were celebrated: every day offering in the morning for the expiation of their sins of the former day. Hebraicè {αβγδ} And indeed the Hebrew hath in the end of the verse, all the daies; which the new translators have in the margin, but in the text express it by the word continually. But howsoever, seeing that in the end, or after the full close& consummation of their feasting, either in general, or each particular day, he offered sacrifice for the expiation of their sins, wherewith they were overtaken in their feasting; it prescribeth a most excellent rule, how we should shut up and conclude our feasts and banquets: viz. not having filled ourselves, and pampered our flesh, then to break out into vanity, scurrility, profuse and lascivious gesture, or unchaste behaviour; but to conclude our feasting with the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; with searching out the slips and errors which have overtaken us in those our meetings; and seeking by all means possible, to be reconciled again unto God, through the merit of the propitiatory, and All-sufficient sacrifice, Christ Jesus: as I shall after more fully observe. This rule duly observed, would make our feasts tend to the glory of God and our own true good: whereas now, many times they prove nothing else, but incentiva libidinis; provocations unto sin. And howsoever we take it, every ways it setteth forth Jobs alacrity, diligence, constancy, and perseverance in his settled course of piety towards God; he still was the same, he still had the same care. Familiaritas sacrorum nullum efficiebat contemptum, nullam acediam; The custom of sacrifices, or holy mysteries, caused no contempt, nor weariness. He was not like many amongst us, which are very fervent and zealous for a fit, and then as suddenly wax could again, and being weary, desist from their former course of piety. And so it teacheth us, whatsoever we offer, give, or perform unto the Lord, to do it, as Job did, with all diligence; sedulo& semper, diligently and always, without fainting. For Jer. 48.10. Cursed( saith the Prophet) is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. And the Apostle S. Paul saith, 2 Cor. 9.7. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. And our Saviour Christ saith, Mark 13.13. He that continueth unto the end shall be saved. So have we the circumstance of the time. 2. The manner. The manner of Jobs performing of this duty, is expressed in these words, Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning: And it consisteth in these two things; 1. In the preparing of his children: Job sent and sanctified them. 2. In his own forwardness, and diligence: And rose up early in the morning. 1. First his care is, that his children may be in solemn manner prepared; not so much in regard of their feasting, as of the sacrifice to be offered unto God. Job sent and sanctified them] Origen saith, Quid mittebat? What did he sand? and answereth, His prayers to God, with confession, and thanksgiving for his sons. Which may indeed be true, but yet seemeth not so proper to the scope of the place. Eugubinus hath a conceit, that Job sent sacrifices to the temple, to sanctify them: which cannot be true, because that Job lived so long before the building of the temple; yea it is conceived, that he was born Vid. specim. Digest. pag. 6. 9. 26. above two hundred yeares before the law was given in mount Sinai; which was above seven hundred yeares before Solomon did build the Temple at Jerusalem. It is more probable, that the sense here is, that he sent a messenger unto them, to will them to sanctify themselves, and so to be present at the sacrifices which he purposed to offer unto God on their behalf. Of that opinion is In locum. Tremellius, saying, Mittens, sanctificationem imperavit, ut mundati sacrificio sequenti interessent; Sending, he charged them to sanctify themselves, that being made clean they might be present at the ensuing sacrifice. His sending sheweth that he was absent from them: for they dwelled in their several houses, wherein they feasted each other: and yet his fatherly care for them ceased not, which made one to say, Lyra. Quid praesens ageret, ubi absence cura non dost? What would he have done had he been present with them, seeing his care for them is not wanting, when they are absent from him? And sanctified them] The original word signifies properly to be holy, or separated from profane and common use, and consecrated to God, or his service. But, by a Metaphor, it often signifies to prepare; because such as are without holiness are unprepared. And so it is commonly used in the old testament, for preparation before approaching into Gods presence to offer sacrifice, or hear his word, &c. For so Samuel spake unto the elders of Bethlehem; 1. Sam. 16.5. I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves( that is, prepare yourselves) and come with me to the sacrifice. And the Lord commanded Moses to Exod. 19.10. sanctify the people, before they approached near unto the Mount Sinai, to hear the law from the mouth of God. To which I might add divers other places, all tending to the same purpose. And the manner of this legal preparation, was by Verse 14, 15. washing of their clothes, and abstaining from all things which were legally unclean, and not companying with their wives. And the reason why it was required of them, was, that they might not onely be the fitter to join with their brethren in prayer, and other godly duties; but also that they might worthily eat of the sacrifices which was to be offered unto God. For none but those that were Levit. 22.7. clean, might eat of the holy things, yea, those that did but enter into the Chap. 15.3 Tabernacle being unclean, were menaced with death by God himself. And this then was the reason why Job sent, and gave a charge unto his sons to sanctify, that is, prepare themselves to be present with him at the sacrifice, which he was presently to offer to God. According to which the {αβγδ} Septuagints have, he sent and purified them. So was it in Job a godly care, that his sons might come so prepared, that the sacrifice might be effectual for the expiation of their sins. And what should this solemn preparation under the type, put us in mind of, U sus. but the true& inward preparation, required still of us in the antitype? That is, to teach us that we ought carefully to sanctify, prepare,& purify, not our clothes and external parts, but our hearts, from all sin and impurity, before we presume to approach into the presence of God, either to eat of 1. Cor. 5.7. Christ our spiritual passeover;( according to that rule of the Apostle, Chap. 11.27, 28. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup: or to hear and receive his most holy words as Jam. 1.21. Saint James requireth: Wherefore lay apart all filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. And certainly the neglect hereof is the very cause why that Sacrament which is to some Joh 6.48. the bread of life, is to some others, 1. Cor. 11.29. the bread of damnation: and that word of God which is to some .2 Cor. 2.16 the savour of life unto life, is to others the savour of death unto death. Blessed Job thus carefully prepared his sons before they came to the sacrifice:& happy we, if we carefully learn by his example solemnly to prepare ourselves before we come to hear the word of God, or to receive his holy Sacraments, &c. 2. Jobs diligence is expressed in the other words, And rose up early in the morning. Having sent overnight( as it is conceived) unto his sons to do their part, by way of sanctification, or preparation, he is careful also to perform his own part with all readiness; he rose up early in the morning. This sheweth his great care, celerity, and diligence not onely to serve God, and perform the duties of piety towards God; but also to prevent the wrath of God against his children, procure his favour,& make an atonement for them: Pineda in locum. Sicut aurora est prima dici pars, ità primam curam significat; As the morning is the first part of the day, so doth it also here import Jobs first, chief, or principal care, &c. I find also in our dayes many early-risers; but alas! it is either to follow after the sweetness of pleasure and sin, like those of whom the Prophet speaketh, Isa. ●. 11. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning, to follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them; or such as the Poet pointeth at, saying, Horat. Ep. Ut jugulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones: thieves break their sleep, themselves annoy, To rob, to steal, and to destroy. Again, I find another sort amongst us, which will rise as early as Job, and that also for their childrens sakes; yea and more also, which will macerate themselves,( as David saith) Psal. 127.2. rising up early, sitting up late,& eating the bread of sorrows: but alas! it is not with holy Job to procure spiritual and heavenly things, and the love and favour of God for them: but to heap together the Luke 16.9. Mammon of unrighteousness, or( as the Prophet saith) to Isa. 5 8. join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be no place for the poor, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. But where be those that with Job, break their sleep, and rise up early to serve the Lord, and offer to him the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving? Where be those that with David will say, Psal. 119.62. At midnight I will rise to give thanks to thee, because of thy righteous judgements: and again, Psal. 88.13. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee? Alas! they are almost as rare as black tens, which rise thus early to serve the Lord,& Psal. 119.60. make hast& delay not to keep his commandments He that desireth to lay a good, sure, and firm foundation for the building of his house, and enlarging of his family; let him learn of Job, to place it in piety towards God, and the honest and religious education of his children; and so dedicate it unto God through Jesus Christ, Eph. 2.21 {αβγδ} &c. In whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple of the Lord: that so Ruth 4.11. the wife that cometh into his house may be like Rachel and Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; that is, did increase the number of the members of the true Church of God. Oh then, let me exhort all such as God hath blessed with children, to cast their eyes upon this president, and become early risers; not to hunt after vanity, pleasure, sin, or unrighteous Mammon; but to procure the favour of God, and purchase heavenly and spiritual blessings for them, with holy Job: For it is Prov. 10. 2●. the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich. And our Saviour Christ saith, M●tt. ●. 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. This point might worthily be enlarged, but I hasten to that which followeth. 3. The matter. That which Job did, followeth in the next words; And offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all. Here I find a question much disputed amongst interpreters, viz. Whether Job was a Priest or not. Some affirm, that he was a great Prince, but not a Priest: Others Origen. Chrys. Hier. Beda. are of opinion, yea confidently affirm, that he was a Priest. And indeed almost all the ancient Fathers consent, that the first-born, especially of great and honourable families, were Priests. And jerome instanceth in Melchisedech, whom he conceived to be Sem, the first-born of the Patriarch Noah: and affirmeth that it was generally so until the time of Aaron the High-priest, ordained by God himself. And therefore he saith, that was the Gen. 25.33. birth-right which Esau sold unto Jacob; and that therefore S. Paul calleth him He●. 1●. 1●. a profane person; that is, deprived of his Priesthood, and not consecrated unto God. And it might easily be shewed, that anciently amongst the Heathen, or Gentiles, Kings and Princes were also Priests; which Heliodorus affirmeth concerning Lib. 1.&. 7. Memphis. To which peradventure that seemeth to allude, where God commanded Moses to say unto the children of Israel, Exod. 19.6. Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of Priests: And S. Peter useth the like phrase, saying, 1. Pet. ●. 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood: And Saint John affirmeth, that Revel. 5.10. Christ hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God, and his Father. And therefore his being a Prince, is no argument against his being a Priest. But I shall not need to contend about it now, for the sense of the place is good every way. If he was a Priest, he might freely in his own person offer burnt-offerings: if not, yet he may be said to offer burnt-offerings, because( as Austine saith) Lib. ●uaesi. yet. ●●stam. 4. 46. Ille dicitur offer, cujus sunt oblationes, quas supper altar ponit sacerdos; ipsíque imputatur sacrificium, cujus munere offertur: He is said to offer, whose oblations the Priest layeth upon the altar; and the sacrifice is imputed unto him, by whose gift, or at whose charge it is offered. But let us now consider the matter; that is to say, What Job did: He offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all. And here again observe two things; 1. The action: He offered burnt-offerings. 2. In what proportion he did it: According to the number of them all. 1. The action: He offered burnt-offerings. We need not be so curious here about the distinction of the several kindes of sacrifices, which were afterwards prescribed under the law: For though some do observe Jobs liberality, in that he is said to offer burnt-offerings, which were wholly consumed with fire, in honorem Dei, to the honour of God: yet the original may be indifferently applied to any kind of sacrifices. For it cometh of a word which signifieth {αβγδ} to elevate, to be lifted up, or to ascend: He made ascensions to ascend. And the Hebrews take {αβγδ} elevation for any thing offered, and lifted up upon the Altar, or elevated by the hand of the Priest; the smell whereof was said to ascend to heaven, and to yield a Gen. 8.21. sweet savour in the nostrils of God: though since the law given, it be for the most part used of burnt-offerings. Certain it is, that out of his great care for the good of his children, and his fear of Gods wrath breaking forth against them, he religiously offered sacrifice to God for the expiation of such sins as he feared his sons had committed: as we shall more fully see in the fourth and last point. 2. The proportion is expressed to be according to the number of them all. gregory is of opinion, that he offered seven sacrifices according to the number of his seven sons. De ope& e●ëemosyna. Cyprian conceiveth that they were ten, adding three also for his three daughters. And I find some Author catena. others which think that there was but one sacrifice or burnt-offering each day, for the master of the feast, and all the guests: and then these words, According to the number of them all, must have reference not to the persons of his sons, but to the dayes of their feasting mentioned in the beginning of the verse. But it is more generally understood of the persons: and so the number of seven, seemeth more probable then the number of ten; because in the latter end of the verse, where Job expresseth the reason why he offered these sacrifices, we find mention onely of his sons, and not of his daughters. It is sufficient that by sacrifices then, the ordinary means and principal part of Gods service be sought, to make an atonement for the sins of his sons, and to reconcile them unto God, whom he supposed they had provoked by their sins. And I doubt not, but his sacrifices were accompanied with prayers unto God for remission of sins, and thanksgiving for the manifold benefits conferred upon himself, and his sons and daughters, &c. And what doth this example in Job teach us? That whensoever any of us do find, or fear that we have with Jobs sons sinned against God, and provoked him to wrath and indignation against us, we seek to be reconciled unto God, and restored into his favour again, by that one perfect, absolute, and all-sufficient oblation, or sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the sum and substance, the perfection and compliment of all sacrifices; and mat. 17.5. In whom onely God the Father is well pleased. His blood onely is able to purge us from sin, and purchase us our peace with God his Father; that is Zech. 13.1. the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. When Naaman was infected with the leprosy, 2. King. 5.10 Elisha prescribed him to wash in Jordan seven times, and he should be clean: But when our souls are stained with the leprosy of sin, we have a better remedy set forth unto us, even the fountain of the blood of Christ, wherein if we bathe ourselves by faith, we are sure to be cleansed, and reconciled unto the favour of God again. And likewise we must not forget also to offer unto God our spi●ituall sacrifices of prayer, and of praise and thanksgiving, &c. 4. The reason, or moving cause. Last of all, Job expresseth the reason or cause which moved him to sand so diligently and carefully to sanctify his sons, and to offer burnt-offerings according to the number of them all: viz. Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. It seemeth that the holy man had not any certain knowledge that his sons had sinned, and cursed God in their hearts: and therefore, according to the rule of charity, he doth not rashly censure and condemn them to have so done: but yet in his fatherly love and care, he hath a godly jealousy and suspicion over them,( knowing the weakness and frailty of mankind in general) lest they had passed the limits of sobriety, and provoked the anger of God against them. For so Job useth here a particle of doubting, fortè fortassis; peradventure it may be, &c. And this argued a good and holy mind in Job: for( as Gregor. one saith) Scrupulus& suspicio peccati, quae hominem st●mulat& solicitat, bonae mentis indicium esse solet; That scruple and suspicion of sin which doth disquiet and trouble a man, is a sign of an honest heart within. It is a blessed and happy thing when a man carrieth a godly jealousy over himself,& all his ways, works, words, and thoughts of his heart: and not onely over himself, but also with holy Job over his children, and all that are under him. We cannot easily be too wary in this kind; for carelessness and contempt have carried many thousands headlong into hell: but this godly suspicion and jealousy is that which will move us with David to Psal. 141. ●. desire the Lord to set a watch before our mouths, and keep the door of our lips. And with Job, to Job 31.1. make a covenant with our eyes, and with our hearts also, that they sin not against God: yea it will make us to enlarge our care, and move us to resolve and say with Joshua; Joshua 24.15. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Surely the man that is rightly endowed with this holy jealousy, shall never fall dangerously or desperately into any great or grievous sin: but the want hereof causeth many to be carried away, as it were, headlong into all excess of sin& riot: because thereby they do too openly expose themselves to the danger of the strong, sudden, and violent temptations and assaults of Satan. For he that goeth rashly forward, without fear in a dangerous way, doth soon stumble and fall: when he that is fearful and wary, passeth on safe and secure from dangers. And such a journey is our life through the dark wilderness of this world; wherein are innumerable snares and engines placed by the Devil, to catch and overthrow us in the way towards our heavenly Canaan. Which occasioned that counsel of the Apostle, agreeing with the practise and example of Job, 1. Pet. 5. ●. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. But what was it, that holy Job was so jealous of his sons? viz. lest they had sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. The first word here used by Job, is of an usual and known signification, received by all, viz. {αβγδ} aberrare, deviare à recto tramite, peccare; to err, to wander out of the right way, to sin: for sin is nothing else but a deviation, or wandring out of the way prescribed by the Law, or word of God; or( as our Saviour Christ speaketh) mat. 7.13, 14. From the narrow way which leadeth to salvation, to the broad way which leadeth to destruction: and it may well be understood in general, of whatsoever is {αβγδ}, a transgression of the law of God. According to that of the Apostle, Joh. 1.4. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. We are spiritual travellers towards the heavenly Canaan, and so often as we sin, we wander out of the way into by-paths, which led unto Prov. ●. 27. the chambers of death. The other is a more obscure word, And cursed, as the kings bible hath it; or, and blasphemed, as the former translation did red. The {αβγδ} original is of a root, which primarily and properly signifieth to bless; but by an Antiphrasis, it is also found in divers places of the Scriptures, in the contrary signification, to curse or blaspheme. And so it is used not onely here, but also again in this chapter, in the eleventh verse; and in the second chapter, and the ninth verse; though The douai Divines, and Sixtin. Amama in Antiq. barb. some late writers in the last of these places, contend to have it red, bless God and die. And the same word is also used in the same sense, by the two false witnesses, which did witness against Naboth, saying, 1. Kings ●1. 13. Naboth did blaspheme God and the King: where the kings bible doth translate the same word blaspheme, which here it readeth curse. And it is a conceit, not altogether to be despised, Pineda. of him that imagineth the reason to be, because the Hebrews so much abhorred the sin of blasphemy, that they would not so much as name it by a word in their language, which did properly, or directly express it. Certain it is, that we find it used in both senses; in good, and also in evil part. For so here in this very chapter it is used, of {αβγδ} God his blessing of the works of Jobs hands: and in the very next verse, of Jobs {αβγδ} cursing or blaspheming God to his face. Which hath caused no small difference of opinions: some contending to have it taken in good part, Cajetan. as abhorring the very suspicion of such a sin as blasphemy or cursing of God, in the sons of so holy a man as Job was. And therefore they would have it red, And blessed God, viz. Aquinas. for their sinful and vain pleasures, as if the thief should give God thanks for his rich prey; or a vicious person, for enjoying his pleasure, and satisfying his lust: which I think a man would as little fear, or suspect in Jobs sons: Others as earnest by contending to have it taken in the contrary sense, for cursing or blaspheming, as the kings bible readeth it, and it is almost generally taken. But the time would fail me, if I should city and examine their several reasons, or arguments. For mine own part, I join in opinion with Origen. Basil. Hierom. Beda. those that( taking it in the evil part) do conceive, that in this place it signifieth levem aliquam cogitationem, errabundam,& ab honesto rectóque alienam; some light thought, or wandring imagination dissenting from honesty and virtue; and that it is not to be taken in a strict sense, for the high and horrible sin of blasphemy against God. For blasphemy is a Greek word, and with the learned in that tongue, a blasphemer {αβγδ}. Demost. is he that hurteth the famed, c●edit, or good name of another; which must be by some outward word, or action; and cursing, usually is ascribed unto the Jam. 3 9. tongue: whereas that which Job feared lest his sons had committed, is here said to be in their hearts. And indeed the least motions or thoughts of the heart, tending to the contempt, oblivion, or dishonour of God, are contrary to the divine praise, and benediction, or blessing of God; and therefore may well be expressed by the contrary thereof: as here by the word blessed, used by an Antiphrasis, in the contrary signification. And to this also agreeth the translation of the Septuagints, which as it were by way of exposition have {αβγδ}. Lest peradventure my sons have in their mindes and thoughts evil things against God. So is Job careful and jealous, not onely over the words and actions of his sons, but also of their very thoughts, and the motions of their hearts. In their hearts.] Herein it appeareth, that Job did aclowledge with the Prophet, that the Jer. 20.12. Lord of hosts trieth the righteous,& seeth the reins& the heart. Which also David did excellently put his son Solomon in mind of, in the charge which he gave unto him before his death: 1. Chron. 28.9. And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. For otherwise, Job would never have been so careful for that which his sons had but thought or conceived secretly in their hearts. And this was that which moved Homil. in Job& Abraham. Chrysostom to call him hominem Evangelicum, An Evangelicall person; because though he lived before the Gospel, yea and the law also,( as I shewed before) yet had he such a care of the inward thoughts and motions of the heart, as the evangelicall law doth require: which appears not onely in this pl●ce, but also when he said, Job 31.1. I made a covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon a maid? &c. But what was the cause, or whence arose Jobs holy jealousy over his sons, lest they had thus offended God in their hearts? From the late frequency of their feasting: for such meetings are for the most part seasoned, or mixed with immoderate pleasures, vain joy of the heart, loquacity, scurrility, and other intemperate words and gestures. When the flesh is pampered, and the blood inflamed with variety of the choicest& most delicate fare, who knoweth not, that concupiscence and evil affections are provoked and stirred up in us? which( without the special power of the Spirit of God to suppress them) break out into evil words, and intemperate actions. And that moved gregory to say, Vix celebrari convivia sine culpa posse, That Feasts can hardly be celebrated without sin. And afterwards again he saith especially, Gregor. in 5. Cap. Job. Nulla fiunt convivia, ubi non mortalia committuntur peccata; No feasts are made, wherein there are not mortal sins committed. Which( as it is probable) moved L●ert. li●. 6. Diogenes to say to a young man going to a feast, Deterior redibis; Thou shalt return worse then thou goest. What a world of sin and mischief to his own soul did partly accompany, and partly follow Dives his gluttony; as may appear by that Luke 16.10. parable which our Saviour Christ spake concerning him and Lazarus. And doth not that complaint of the Prophet imply that it causeth contempt of holy things? Isa. 5.11, 12 Wo to them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them. And the harp and the viol, and the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. And Amos observed that it accompanied both careless contempt, and uncharitableness, when he told the proud and wanton Israelites, that they did Amos 6.4, lye upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock,& the calves out of the midst of the stall: that they chanted to the sound of the viol,& invented to themselves instruments of music, like David: that they did drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they were not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph. And that moved the Wise man to say, Eccles. 7.2. It is better to go to the house of mourning, then to the house of feasting. And to that end also we have a prayer, which agreeth directly to this point; Prov. 3●. 8, 9 Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? This was the ground of Jobs jealousy over his sons. Thus have you now the sum and substance of these words; The conclusion and application. and now may you easily from thence perceive the ground of my choice of this Text, at this time: for we have, with Jobs sons, had our time of feasting; and therefore I thought that this holy example of Job would be very seasonable, to put us in mind of our duty. Now the daies of our feasting are gone about. Let no man think, that it is my purpose to inveigh against feasting in general: I know that it hath been used by some of the Gen. 21.8. judge. 14.10. patriarches, and by divers other Saints and holy men of God. And our Saviour Christ vouchsafed both his presence, and his first Joh. 2.1, 2. &c. miracle, at a feast celebrated at a marriage in Cana of Galilee. And certainly our Christian liberty in this kind is not taken away. I onely desire that Job may be our president therein, that so our feasts may be the more pleasing unto God, and comfortable to ourselves: for his example here doth teach us how to behave ourselves in, and after our feastings. At, and in our feasts, we must carry ourselves soberly with Christian moderation and temperance, expressing a godly care, not to sin against God in our hearts, by vain or ungodly thoughts; and much more, that we do not provoke his wrath and indignation against us, by vain words and sinful actions. Now, and at all times after our feasting, let us learn, with holy Job, to have a godly jealousy and suspicion( parents over their children, masters over their servants, and every one of us over our own selves) lest we have sinned against God in our thoughts, words, or actions. We should enter into a serious scrutiny of our hearts and souls, whether we have not in these assemblies by our evil thoughts, vile words, and wicked actions provoked and kindled the Lords wrath and anger against us. And if we find( as the most, I fear, may) that too much vanity hath overtaken us in our thoughts, and too much intemperance in our words and actions; let us with Job rise up early, and make hast to come before the Lord with the sacrifices of Psal. 51.16. a broken spirit, and a broken and contrite heart, which God will not despise, and of prayer, and praise and thanksgiving; and seek to pacify his anger, and to be reconciled unto him by the perfect and absolute sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Mat. 3.17. in whom alone he is well pleased. Last of all, I beseech you that are, or shall be parents of children, to learn of Job, to remit some part of your immoderate care and anxiety, to heap up worldly mammon for them, and rise up early, that is, bestow your first and chief care, for the purchase of the favour of God, and heavenly blessings, and treasures for them. believe it, you shall find it the best way to make your children happy, and to increase and continue your houses: for the love and favour of God is infinitely more worth then all the treasures of the world. What are the riches and jewels, yea and all the pomp and glory of the kingdoms of the earth, to the heavenly graces of the holy Spirit of God, which decks and adorns the soul? These rules if we duly observe in our feastings, and thus if we always carry this godly care and jealousy over our children, we shall be blessed in ourselves, we shall be blessed in our seed and posterity, blessed in our feasting, blessed in our fasting, blessed in our souls, and blessed in our bodies, blessed in this life, and eternally blessed and happy in the life to come. Unto which thrice blessed and glorious estate he bring us, who hath so dearly bought us, with the price of his most precious blood. To whom, with the Father and the holy Spirit, be all honour and glory now and for evermore. Amen. FINIS.