IT was the Royall state of Tyrus, to which God by his Prophet directeth this speech: a royall and flourishing estate it was which God thus honou­red, comparing it to his holy Cherub in the Holy of Holies, which coue red the Mercy-seate, and the Arke of God. Yet notwithstanding, those sinnes specified before, and after my Text did at length o­uerthrow that state: those hainous and grieuous sinnes, by which euen the Cherubs themselues were broken in peeces, and the most famous kingdomes of the world, long since [Page 62]layd in the dust: And were it not for these sinnes so gree­uous, so generall, so inueterate, Hee that sitteth Iudge a­among the Gods, and dwells betweene the Cherubs, would haue dwelt there still: for how loth hee was to depart, wit­nesse this our Prophet in the ninth chapter. The glory of the God of Israell was gone from the Cherub whereupon hee was, and stood vpon the doore of the house. Cap. 9.3. Great abhominations those were which then mooued God to remooue from his seate, his Mercy-seate, and when he remoued, he stood but vpon the dore of the house, offered as if he would be gone, but went backe againe, and staid there still. Being forced againe to remoue in the tenth Chapter,Cap. 10. he staid at the dore still, loth to depart: but at the last, when there was no re­medy, no hope of amendment, no remorse, he went away for all adoe.

The more cause haue those Kingdomes and States to magnifie the name of God, among whom he vouchsafeth to continue and dwell still, and for whom hee hath caused these examples to be written, that in them they might look themselues, consider their dignitie with thankefull hearts, and in their dignity their dutie, with obedient hearts to the highest maiesty: for these two, dignity and dutie are euer so twisted together, as they ought neuer to be seuered.

Both of them implied in each part of this text: In the name of Cherub.

In the annointing or hallowing of the same:

In the worke or office of couering:

And last of all, in the Author of all this excellence, the Lord: I haue set thee in honour.

In euery one of these, Nescio an plus honoris vel oneris: sure I am, too much honor cannot be giuen to them who bear so great a burthen. Wherfore that subtil serpent shewed Christ all the kingdomes of the world, and the glory of them, he shewes them all in a moment of time,Luk. 4.5. saith S. Luke, full well knowing if he should haue giuen Christ any longer time to haue looked into them, hee would haue perceiued some­what in them, that would not haue tempted him so much: [Page 63]Great is the glory of them without question, as appeares by this glorious comparison: Cherubs were pictures of An­gels like men, to teach that some men should be like Angels, and though all, euen the best of vs in regard of our personall infirmities shall be men, not Angels: yet in the place and execution of publique functions we ought to be Angels, not Men: Angels, so it pleaseth God to call publique persons in respect of his Diuine image which he hath put vpon them, for as Angels doe carry the name of the Sonnes of God aboue other creatures in the first chapter of Iob: so these men be filij Excelsiomnes, Iob. 1.6. Psal. 82.6. in the fourscore and second Psalme: not as ordinary persons like pictures drawen to the shoulders in respect of Reason and vnder­standing, but drawen throughout as Cherubs were, to take in heart and affections, and the whole man.

For the vnderstanding part: My Lord (saith Mephibo­sheth) is as an Angell of God, 2 Sam. 19 27. so able for his wisedome to iudge of all matters, for sincerity and readines to execute, as Angels are ready to doe the will of God: Ps. 103.20 So it is our daily Prayer that his will may be done in earth, as it is in Heauen, that is, with all integrity, as the holy Angels doe it, with all alucrity as the Seraphins do it,Esay. 6.2. described with sixe wings in the Prophecy of Esay, That they may doe his will both in Iustice like the Cherub at the gate of Paradise with the blade of a sword shaken, as also in mercy like this Cherub with wings euermore stretched out.

2 A Cherub is but an Angel, but this Cherub carrieth the name of Christ the annointed, who in that he was annointed was reputed farre more excellent then an Angell, as in the Epistle to the Hebrewes: Vnto the Sonne he saith, Heb. 1.8. thy throne is for euer, the Scepter of thy Kingdome is a Scepter of righteous­nesse, wherefore God euen thy God hath annointed thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes: All Christians receiue some droppes of spirituall vnction, for which they be col­led Christiani from Christ, but Christus Domini, the an­nointed of the Lord is amongst men, as Christ among the Angels annointed aboue his fellowes, hallowed and [Page 64]sanctified aboue the rest, and separated from the rest to take vpon him the person of God himselfe, to sit vpon his throne, and to execute his iudgement: Blessed bee the Lord thy God, saith the Queene of Saba, who hath lo­ued thee to set thee on his throne as King in stead of the Lord thy God. 2 Chro. 9.8.

As annointing doth imply a dignity, Ʋncti Domini è grege factisunt egregiae creaturae, so doth it with all a duty, for Oile is both a gentle, and a very Soueraigne thing. It cu­reth by way of suppling, to teach them to be gracious So­ueraignes, to establish their royall thrones by mercy, Pro­uerbs the 20.Prou. 20.28. Num. 11.12 Like Moses carrying his people in his armes as a Nurse doth her sucklings: So Dauid tendering his people as he Tendered his Ewes great with young ones: like Salomon, As a shower of Raine distilling into a fleece of Wooll: Psal. 72.2. like Christ himselfe, who though he bruised his enemies with the Rod of Iron, and brake them in peeces like a Potters Vessell, yet amongst his owne did hee not breake a Bruised Reede, nor quench a Smoaking flaxe.

Which tender care ouer the flocke of God insinuated in the word annointed, is most liuely expressed in the office of couering: for as Christ doth professe hee would often haue gathered his people euen as a Hen gathereth her Chickens vnder her wings: so these annointed Cherubs doe with their wings stretched out, couer the Mercy-seate, and Arke of God. This Cherub to whom Ezekiel heere speaketh was thus farre honoured, that being a Gentile, he was vouchsa­fed to be a Benefactor vnto the Church of God, for that which Dauid prophecied of him in the fiue and fortieth Psalme,Psal. 45.12 The daughter of Tire shall doe homage with presents; the same was accomplished by Hiram King of Tirus, and his Subiects in Salomons daies, who sent Cedar and Firre-trees, Gold, and what euer was desired to the building of the Temple,1 Kin. 9.11. whose Nauy brought much gold from Ophir, and precious stones, Chap. 10.11. whose cunning worke men made all these exquisite workes described in the sea­uenth Chapter of the same booke, by whose meanes the [Page 65]Temple was adorned and beautified, euen as the Cherubs did adorne the Mercy-seate: for which Honor done vnto him (for Hiram tooke it to be a great Honour) in the first of Kings, the fifth. The state of Tyrus was honoured,1 Kings 5 7. as we see in this place aboue 14. generations of Kings after him from Salomons daies to these of Ieconias. All which was but a prefiguration that Kings and Princes of the Gentile, should be protectors of the Church of Christ; the first fruits whereof we did commemorate yesterday in the wise men of the East, the full haruest whereof is reaped and enioyed by vs in the North all the daies of our life, and wee hope shall be by our posterity to the end.

Blessed be those daies wherein it may be saide in plenitu­dine sensus, euen in the fulnes of the holy Ghosts meaning, that not onely this Scripture, but many other ioyfull Pro­phecies to this purpose are fulfilled in our eares, that Chri­stian Princes twice annointed Cherubs (for this kingdome and that which is to come) be our Nursing Fathers, Esay 49.23 and nur­sing mothers, that the tender Church of Christ shall sucke the milke of Gentiles, and the breasts of Kings, as if Kings had breasts to feede, and wings to couer and protect the Church of Christ.

Tues Cherub Protegens, which couereth the Arke of God, and in it 3. things.

1 The Tables of the Couenant, the morall Law of God, for though the ceremoniall Law did passe as a shadow in the presence of the Body, though the curse of the morall Law be abolished in the name of Iesus, who hath saued vs from the same, and though the rigor of it be mollified, and suppled by Christ,Cant. 1.2. whose name is a precious ointment powred out, that our vnperfect keeping of it, is in him acceptable vnto God: yet the euerlasting and euer-binding Law it selfe was engrauen by the finger of God in Tables of stone, and reserued in the Arke to be kept for euer: so as hee that willingly breakes the least of these Commandements, shall bee of least accompt in the kingdome of God,Mat. 5.19. Matthew. 5.19.

2 The Goulden pot of Manna: not such as perished in a night with wormes, be melted in the day by the Sunne, but preserued Manna, representing that spirituall foode that perisheth not, but came downe from heauen to feede our soules to euerlasting life. Both these haue beene hitherto couered and preserued safe for vs, not in figure, but in truth.

3 But there is a third, which was also put into the Arke, and that by the speciall command of God himselfe; Of God to Moses in the 17.Numb. 17.10. of Numbers: Aarons rodde that budded, the rodde of Discipline, without which the Church of Christ is better fedde then taught. This Rodde is ey­ther wanting, or so withered, that it will not smart, men care not for it, their consciences are not kept in awe for want of it.

S^t. Paul could threaten the Church of Corinth with this Ʋultis vt in virga veniam ad vos? 1 Cor. 4.21. shall I come vnto you with the rodde, or in loue, and the spirit of meekenesse? Sure if any bee of such a good disposition that wee can winne them with meekenesse, it is well, but the Rodde is gone.

Our Sauiour Christ after his resurrection, when hee would teach his Apostles by fishing how to fish for men, Iohn the twenty one and the sixth, hee bids them Cast out on the right side of the shippe, Iohn. 21.6. and they shall finde: accordingly wee cast our nets, and wee hope on the right side, but see the successe.

1 Many there be, will neuer come within compas of the net; there be Recusants on both sides the ship, in prophanesse as well as superstition.

2 Many come within the compasse, and suffer vs to cast our nets ouer them, but they runne themselues so deepe into the mudde, that the nette cannot get vnder them. In the 33.Eze. 33.31 of this Prophecy, verse. 31. Sonne of Man, my people sit before thee, and heare thy words, but they will not doe them, for eyther they make themselues merry, or else their heart runnes after couetousnesse. They runne into the [Page 67]mudd of pleasure and pelfe of this world that wee cannot catch them.

3 Now the third and best sort are caught, and so long as the nette is dragged the same way that they swimme, they come currently forward: but when they perceiue how they be restrained of their former liberty, and how their consciences are intangled in this net, they giue a ierke and breake net and all.

Wee had neuer more neede to sit and mend our nets: for let vs twist them as soundly out of holy writ, and weaue them as strongly as possibly we can,Psal. 2.3. these sonnes of Belial who cannot abide a negatiue, will breake them. They will heare vs preach out of the two Tables while the bellowes hold, they will deuoure whole Gomers of Manna, and yet neuer the better liking: but Aarons rod they cannot en­dure to heare of it, though their soules haue surfeted neuer so much of sinne; though their Consciences be neuer so dangerously wounded: as much of the Samaritanes oyle as you will to heale it presently, and draw a skinne ouer it, but for that sharpe wine to scoure the wound, for that Co­rasiue Diuinity to eate out dead workes, for the Churches Physicke by Contrarie, they will perish before they can take it.

After they haue suffered their mindes to wander after their eyes in the corners of the world, and to feede vpon vnlawfull vanities: tell them of afflicting their soule, and crucifying their affections and lusts, of confining their thoughts vnto deuotions, and the Meditation of vnplea­sing obiects, Death, Hell, Anger to come, of Dauids daily Vowes, of striuing, of labouring, of watching vnto Prayers with all perseuerance.Ephes. 6.18.

After they haue corrupted themselues in the seruice of Mammon, tell them of Zaccheus his restitution and Almes-deedes for all their mis-deedes, that all may bee cured by the contrary, and made cleane vnto them, Luk. 11.41.Luk. 11.41.

After they haue pampered their flesh, and fulfilled the [Page 68]lust of it, tell them of the Corinthians reuenge vpon them­selues for so offending such a gracious God,2 Cor. 7.11. of Pauls not beating the Ayre,1 Cor. 9.26. Psa. 102.9. Luk. 7.38. but beating downe his body: of Dauids ashes for Bread and mingling his drinke with weeping: of the sinfull womans Poenitent Bath and her Towell: and of that destru­ction of their flesh that their spirits might bee saued in the day of the Lord: Corin 5.5. Doe but shew them this rod they are presently gone, and Aaron is not able to hold them, except Moses helpe him: To heare of Discipline either voluntarily in­flicted by themselues, or necessarily imposed by others, is detestable.

If there must needes bee a Rod, they will chuse Moses Rod, though it turne Serpent, and sting them like a Scor­pion, rather then Aarons, though it bud and blossome, and would become in the end neuer so fruitfull, and comforta­ble to their soules: It was Aarons rod and not Moses, which God commanded Moses, Num 17.10 and not Aaron to preserue in the Arke.

The first time that I finde this Rod missing in the Arke of God was in Salomons dayes,1 Kin. 8.9. in the happy and peaceable dayes of Salomon: and then was Plenty, Peace and Liberty, the abuse whereof brought an iron rod for want of Aarons Rod, Rehoboams Scorpions, the renting of the Tribes, lea­ding into captiuity, turned Salomons Canticles into Ieremies Lamentations, and all for want of Aarons rodde: for if wee would iudge our selues, wee should not bee iudged, 1 Cor. 11.31. O Cherub Protectour, vouchsafe to looke downe into this Arke of God, consider the want of this rod in these quiet, peaceable, Salomons dayes: Aarons rod is missing in the Arke of God: our Church in her book doth still complaine of the want of this Rod: Vntill (saith Shee) the discipline of the Primitiue Church may bee restored againe, which thing is much to bee wished, &c. In steede whereof is a Commination against sinners, as much regarded of the peo­ple, as Bell, Booke and Candle. But had we that discipline which the Fathers of the Primitiue Church had, who respe­cted not so much the multitude of professours, as the truth [Page 69]of their deuotion: had we (I say) that seuere discipline in these dissolute daies, which they had, and power to execute it, and grace to vse it aright, men would quickly bee wea­ry, either of those sinnes which they now commit with greedinesse, or of that counterfeit profession of Christi­anity.

This is the Fan that Iohn Baptist speaketh of,Mat. 3.12. which would purge the flower and seuer the chaffe from the good corne; for want of this there is no triall or manifestation either of faith by workes, or of Repentance by the exercise of mortification; but as by a vaine dead faith, so by a slight vnsound Repentance wee deceiue both our selues and o­thers, so consequently there is no feare, no awe, no re­morse of conscience. And were it not that the mercy seat is aboue the Arke, that the inuincible mercy and long suf­fering of God in Christ is aboue all his workes, wee should soone feele the want of this Rod.

But the seat of God amongst vs is a mercy seat, and his oracles is the comfortable voyce of the Gospell of Christ which defendeth vs and the whole Church: It was the voyce of him that dwelt in the Bush which preserued the Bush from burning, though it was all of a flaming fire: and it is the voyce of the Gospell of Christ which hath preser­ued this Church from fire and powder. The annoynted therefore as he hath already with his Cherubs quill, so let him euer after with both his wings defend, protect, and co­uer this Gospell, so long as the heauens couer the earth with his owne wings: they be his, let him then suffer none to plucke them, lest the Church of God bee left naked and vncouered: They be a paire of wings, let him keep them in their due proportion, Moses and Aaron bee brethren, it were vain to contend for seniority, who was the elder bro­ther, they are brethren: God leadeth his people by the hand of Moses and Aaron: If we see any one,Psal. 77.2. hee or shee beat their hands one against another, presently we imagine there is a distempered person: let the annoynted Cherub to bring vs in temper, prune and proportion his owne wings, that in [Page 70]their due places and bounds, they may bee both stretched out to protect the Church of Christ.

4 Thus far we haue presumed to ascend; yet one step higher to conclude with the voyce of the author of all: Ego posui te, saith the Lord, I haue set thee, that is, I haue made thee a Cherub, with my holy oyle haue I annoynted thee, I haue couered and protected thee in the middest of all dangers, to the end that thou might couer and protect my Church: neither is it vnfitly added by the Translater, I haue set thee in Honour, for there cannot be a greater honor then to pro­tect the Church of Christ, nor a more lasting honor for all posterity, euen 14. generations: I dare be bould to say this title of couering Cherub, is a more honourable and glori­ous title then Prince, King, Emperour, or Monarch of the world.

If all this honour was done to and for shadowes, what shall be done to the body it selfe? for Hiram and Salomon and his Temple, and the Cherub and the Arke were but all shadowes of these blessings we enioy: what honour is it to protect that Church for which the King of heauen hath ta­ken such paines, as hee could not doe more for his Vineyard: That Church for which the King of glory that fils heauen and earth with his glory, became a lumpe of flesh, Who bindes Kings with chaines, and Nobles with linkes of Iron, was himselfe swadled in clouts and laid in a manger? what ho­nour is it to be a nursing Father, and to giue milke to that which was bought, and is daily fedde with the flesh and bloud of the Sonne of God? what honour is it to couer that with his Cherubs wings which the Angels in Heauen desire to behold and look into,1 Pet. 1.12. [...] saith S. Peter, and hee alludes vnto the Cherubs that were made bowing and looking into the Arke, and Mercy seate: so the blessed Angels in Heauen, who continually behold the face of our Heauenly Father, they bow themselues and count it a part of their contemplatiue happinesse to looke into those holy mysteries of saluation, which wee on earth doe enioy. Which that this Church may enioy while the Sun & [Page 71]Moone endureth, beseech wee him who dwells amongst the Cherubs and blessed Angels, to blesse vs and our Che­rub to the honour and glory of his blessed name, and our euerlasting comfort in Christ Iesus: To whom with the Father and holy Spirit, three per­sons, one eternall, euerliuing, and onely wise God, be all honor, praise, and thankes, this day and for euer. Amen.

THis short sentence deliuered without curio­sity doth speake three things.

1 The land of Promise. 2. The pro­mise of the Land. 3. The persons to whom the Land is by promise assured. 1. The Land of Promise specified in the word whereupon. 2. The promise of the Land deliuered in the worde Dabo. 3. The parties first Iacob himselfe in person, then his posterity after him: The Land whereupon thou sleepest will I giue thee and thy seede: this is the effect of the Text.

But if I should rent it from the premises, I should offer iniury to the context, for it is not entire of it selfe, neyther can it stand alone.

1 While Iacob was sollicitous for a biding place vpon earth,Vers. 12. God points him the way to heauen in the former verse, Behold a ladder whose top reached vnto heauen, and the Angels of God went vp and downe by it.

2 To assure him that that way was open for him, he re­neweth the couenant made vnto his Fathers in this verse: I am the Lord God of Abraham thy Father, and the God of Isaac.

3 Then followes my text, The Land will I giue thee, &c. teaching Iacob euer to set heauen before earth, euen then when he most desired and stood in greatest need of a place vpon earth, to prouide for his mansion in Heauen: I wote not whether the holy Ghost had any such intent in trans­posing Isaacs words while he was blessing his two Sons in the former chapter; for in Esaus blessing the fatnesse of the Earth is put before the dew of heauen: Gen. 27.39 but in Iacobs blessing it is quite contrary: God giue thee of the dew of heauen and the fatnesse of the earth: Vers. 28. howsoeuer, this I am sure of, that our Sauiour plainely asseuers, that if wee first seeke the kingdome of God, and the righteousnesse thereof, all these shall bee mini­stred according to our seueral places: the whole land wher­upon he sleepeth to Iacob and his seede.

First, Tis not an vnknowne land, a farre off which I will giue thee, but euen this whereupon thou sleepest: and se­condly a fruitfull and plentifull land that floweth with milke and honey: and thirdly which is more, a blessed and holy land, whereupon thou sleepest, and sleeping dreamest, and dreaming beholdest the gate of heauen, and the way to e­ternall happinesse.

There bee prophane spirits in the world (farre be they from the pallaces of Iacob) who would perswade vs that Religion and this gate of heauen is but a dreame: but let them know that the foolishnesse of God is wiser then the wise­dome of men, and the weakenesse of God stronger then men, whose power and wisedome doe by silly meanes shine the most glorious: what is counted more idle then a Dreame? What is of greater importance then the way to life? Whats [Page 75]weaker then water? Whats stronger then the house of God? yet he that laid the beames of his chambers in the waters, hath reuealed that to Iacob in his sleepe which the greatest potentates of the earth, and the most quicke disputers of the world could neuer finde broad waking.

Iacob slept vpon the land which God gaue him, and might sleepe soundly for he was weary, but his sleepe was a trou­bled sleepe, and great matters did runne in his head; by which it seemes God would diuine vnto Iacob that posses­sors of great Dominions must be sometime: content with broken sleepe, when meaner persons sleepe more securely vnder the shadow of their wings: we that little know what belongs to these, can reade in our bookes, Tali nocte dor­mire non potuit Rex, as good King Dauids eye-lids slumbers, and Iacobs vpon his stony pillow: Our Sauiour did once sleepe in a shippe, and then suffer a tempest to rise, to inti­mate that while Gouernours sleep in security, there is some danger of a Tempest, yet see the mildnesse of him that was able to command all, that when his Disciples did presume to awaken him, he was not offended. This land whereupon thou sleepest, whereon thou takest though a troublesome, yet a most happy and heauenly sleepe: this land will I giue thee and thy seede, and so wee passe to the

THE circumstance of Time is a pow­erfull circumstance, eyther to ag­grauate a crime, or to make any a­ction more effectual: the very same time that God was prouiding a law for his people, and writing it in Tables of stone, they were conspiring idolatry against him: The same night that Christ was betraied, he tooke bread, 1 Cor. 11.25 instituting a Sacrament of life for them who were plotting the trea­son of death against him.

With this opposition did the Law and the Gospell both [Page 80]begin, by which it doth appeare, that that old arch enemy of mans happinesse was the chiefe agent in this businesse: It was not Iudas so much as hee that entred into Iudas, nor the Serpent so much as hee that spake by the Serpent: nor the people so much as hee that driues them like an heard of swine headlong to the accomplishing of Sathans pur­pose, and their owne destruction: for Sathan had a further purpose in this intent then the people thought of: Hee had beene 2000. yeares in blotting Gods Law out of mans heart, he sees that labour like to be lost, for that Law is at this present renewing by God in the mountaine, and a wri­ting by his owne finger in Tables of stone to continue: therefore a plot must be deuised eyther to breake the tables in peeces, or some way to deface the worke; and hee plots it vnhappily, for in the very instant when Moses came within sight, they were in the middest of their madnesse shouting after a Calfe, the sight whereof so wrought vpon the feruency of Moses zeale, that down fell the Tables and brake in peeces. As Dauids prayer was his onely defence against Achitophels policy,2 Sam. 15.31. so must we pray to bring Satans Councell to nought, for none but he can doe it.

Sathan is the principall agent, yet not mentioned no more then in his first temptation, Genesis the 3. Moses hi­storicum agit non interpretem, let vs therefore consider of this Scripture as it is an history, the Tract is plaine, and the passage easie by the steps.

• 1 The chiefe actors mentioned in the businesse are the people
• 2 The occasion they tooke for this attempt, Moses ab­sence in the mountaine, his long absence as they pre­tend.
• 3 The instrument wrought for their purpose must bee Aaron.
• 4 The meanes whereby they wrought him, by force in a tumultuous assembly.
• 5 The worke whereunto he was forced, Make vs Gods to goe before vs.

Where the people be principall actors, theres a daunge­rous peece of worke towards; it is via serpentis, where the taile guides the head, where the people command Aaron. The true visage of an Anarchy; for if euer wee should fall into the hands of a disordered multitude, we should see the sweetnesse of gouernment, Carendo magis. Heere's a multi­tude: It is like the waues of the Sea that dash against this Rocke, and that Sand, and breake one vpon another: here against Moses, there against Aaron, at the last against them­selues: And herein is the power of God, saith King Dauid in the Psalmes, In appeasing the noyse of the waues, Psal. 65.7. and the madnesse of the people: the one by his inuisible power, the other by that beautifull gouernment which is his owne blessed ordinance.

But what people be these that disorder themselues, or to whom doe they belong? The people, and my text hath it twice for failing, The people. In the third Chapter and the seuenth verse; I haue seene, I haue seene the affliction of my people, then were they Gods people, and all along the histo­ry they bee tearmed the children of Israel, the posterity of Ia­cob, but now they be neyther Gods nor Iacobs, but their owne, a rout of masterlesse men that none will owne: so in the 32. of Deuteronomy, They haue corrupted themselues, Deut. 32.5. not being his people, but a froward generation. Doubtlesse it greeued Moses at the very heart, vers. the 7. When God saide vnto him, Get thee downe, for thy people which thou brought out of the land of Aegypt haue corrupted their waies: Thy people saith God to Moses, Gouernours had neede to haue a tender care ouer Gods people, for when they trans­gresse, God turnes them ouer to them. And had not Moses a tender care? No imputation could lie vpon him, hee had prouided sufficiently for them in his absence, Aaron & Hur besides the Elders and Nobles of the Elders of Israell: ther­fore harke how Moses answers God againe in his owne de­fence, and in commiseration of a masterles people, vers. the 11. O Lord why does thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Aegypt, with great power [Page 82]and a mighty hand? See how they be put off from one to a­nother. God will not owne them, Moses cannot: they be their owne, they be themselues: I haue seene this people, and behold it is a stiffe-necked people, saith God to Moses in the 9. verse, and What did this people to thee, that thou brought such a sinne vpon them, saith Moses to Aaron, verse 21. Thou knows this people, that they are euen set on mischiefe, saith Aaron to Moses, vers. the 22.

Thus doe their sinnes fall vpon their owne heads: they lost the glory of being Gods people, they lost the honour of being the Children of Israell, euen the Nobles of the Chil­dren of Israell, cap. 24.11. Though men be neuer so well dis­cended, vice does taint the bloud, it staines Nobility, espe­cially this of resisting gouernment: they bee left to them­selues alone, a degenerate multitude, they be neither Gods Children, nor the Children of Israell: this and the like are the fittest appellations of such a sinfull people.

2. The occasion which mooued this people thus to doe, was taken and not giuen. Moses was absent; what then? was hee not about publique businesse? receiuing Lawes and Ordinances from God, for the gouerning of them, such Lawes as no nation vnder heauen had the like: did hee not acquaint them with all this before hee went? more then Gouernours are bound to doe: In the 24. chap. verse 14. Moses told them all the words of the Lord: How far was he gone? but into the mountaine leauing them at the foot. He left them not alone without Iudges, cap. 24.14. whosoeuer hath any matter let them come before them. Yea, but he tarried long before he came downe: How long? not six weekes in all. So impatient, so quickly haue they for­got the couenant made at their parting, cap 24.3. All things that the Lord hath sayd we will doe; repeated againe in the seuenth verse, and ratified with sacrifices. Is the impression of thunder and lightning so soone worne out? will not the twelue pillers erected at his going, at the foot of the hill bee sufficient remembrances for six weekes absence? Chil­dren of Israel, well might he call them children, and Moses [Page 83]their nurse to carry them, as sucklings in his bosome which he conceiued not, euer crying and complaining, neuer satis­fied; taking occasion where none is giuen. There was great difference for a quiet contented heart when Moses was a Shepheard, and when hee was the Gouernour of this people: Nec abnuendum si dat imperium Deus, nec appe­tendum.

3. Moses is gone, they wote not what is become of him,3 The In­strument. or they will not know, the power is in them, somewhat, some exployt must bee done, and who must countenance the matter but Aaron? One highest in authority, and that should be holiest in life, hee must bee the man, and so hee was. Omnis caro foenum; If Aaron, Moses Vicar amongst the people: If Peter, Christs Vicar in the Church? who should bee Summi Pontifices? If these fall so fowle, that one denies his Lord, the other preferres a Calfe before him: let the Church of God neuer be built vpon that Rocke, but vpon that which Aaron prefigured, and that which Peter disco­uered in the sixteenth of Matthew, Mat 6.16. Aug. vlt. D. tract. in Ioh. Super hanc quam confes­sus es petram, sayth S. Augustine, vpon this Rocke which thou hast confessed will I build my Church.

God in Aaron would teach Israel that hee who was thus captiuate to sinne himselfe could not deliuer captiues from sinne by his sacrifices, as the Apostle prooues at large in his Epistle to the Hebrewes: Moses died in the wildernesse, Aa­ron fell fowly in the wildernesse, the mortality of the one, and infirmity of the other were as Schoole masters of Christ the Lambe of God, and Lord of life, to deliuer vs from sinne and death.

4.4 The meanes. But let vs not (as the manner of the world is) lay more imputation vpon Aaron, then there is iust cause: his infirmity was great, yet was he no voluntary agent, but a forced Instrument, they assembled themselues against him tumultuously, and vrged him in threatning manner, vp make vs Gods: True, it did not excuse him more then Pi­late, who feared a tumult, Matthew the 27. Hee should ra­ther haue died a thousand deaths then haue yeelded: yet [Page 84]see what pretty policies he hath to stay the businesse.

1. Hee calles for golden eare-rings of their wiues, sons and daughters, in the second verse: thinking women would by importunity bring any thing to passe, rather then part with their iewels and ornaments: there was some hope, that either the couetousnesse of men, or the pride of wo­men might so farre preuaile, that some domesticall dissen­tion might hinder this great conspiracy against the God of heauen. But as Sathan will not cast out Sathan, so one sinne is hardly wrought against another, especially those diabo­licall sinnes of pride and idolatry: There was no cost spa­red, for all the people plucked off their iewels, not one from another, but from themselues in the third verse: their Idoll was their Iewell: they neuer yet bestowed such cost vpon the true God, that brought them from the bondage of Pharaoh, nor on Moses their Gonernour, as now vpon the image of a Calfe.

2. When there is no remedy, he takes the Iewels, casts them into the fire, fashions a Calfe, carueth it, made a gra­uing toole to goe ouer it, built an Altar, proclaimed an ho­ly-day, whil'd the time that Moses might come downe, or some accident befall to stay their fury: so vnwilling was Aaron, but they forced him.

5. What to doe? Make vs Gods to goe before vs: Gods seruice is a reasonable seruice in the 12. of Romanes:Rom. 12.1. but the seruice of sinne is most vnreasonable; especially this of Idolatry: that a God can be made: that Aaron a sinnefull man can make a God: that hee can giue it life and moti­on to goe before them; Is it possible the people should bee so senselesse?

This poynt then will beare two Queries.

• 1. What Gods they meant should bee made? Make vs Gods.
• 2. To what end? to goe before vs.

Some thinke they meant onely a sensible resemblance of the true God; or an image to which some Diuine power might vpon consecration bee annexed: but I doubt they [Page 85]troubled not their heads with such differences.

1 They called them gods in heathen tearmes, they were weary of one God, and now they must haue a plurality: though Elohim be vsually transla­ted in the singular number, yet in this place I take it plurally, because S^t. Stephen does so reade it in the seuenth of the Acts, [...],Acts 7.40. Make vs gods.

Idolatry implies plurality, a plurality a nullity, dicite plures, dicits nullum: two infinites there cannot be, eyther one must run into another, or they must bee finite on one side.

2 When I consider how Dauid speakes of an­cient Idolaters, Psal. 115.Psa. 115.8. They that make them are like vnto them: how Esay describes them, cap. 44. vers. 16. They bake bread with one peece, Esay 44.16 rost meate with another, warme themselues with the third, and of the residue make a god: How in Baruc the 6.Baruc. 6.19. Cats and Owles do redeeme their Gods from their enemies, Rats and Mice that would deuoure them: I conceiue the most sencelesse kinde of idolatry: and howso­euer Aaron might seeke to refine it in the 5 verse, in proclaiming an holy-day to Iehouah the true God, yet sure the people themselues conceiued it in grosse.

The like difference may bee taken in matters of inferi­our superstition betwixt the schoole distinctions and the practise of the vulgar: Non colitur imago sed Deus in imagine, colitur Imago sed alio cultu, cultu eodem, at nō vniuocè sed ana­logicè & reductiuè: distinctions well filed and refined in the braine: but alas, the people in whom is greatest daunger, who are not able to distinguish betwixt Aarons Beard, and the Beard of Aaron, must of necessity fall into extremity; howsoeuer Aaron in this place might helpe them with refe­rences and reductions to Iehouah, yet in the peoples inten­tion this idolatry was very grosse.

2 To what end? to goe a Procession, to goe before vs: [Page 86]did not the Cloud goe before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night? yea the Lord himselfe went before them in the pillar and the cloud in the 13. Chapter, vers. 21. yea and that at this present, verse the 22. he tooke not away the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. This will not content them: they must haue a Calfe, a costly Calfe, and when all cost and caruing is be­stowed vpon it, it cannot goe, it must bee carried before them; whereas the cloud and pillar of fire moued without their helpe. See how men please themselues in their owne deuices be they neuer so foolish, more then in Gods owne institutions, be they neuer so full of Diuine wisedome.

But whither should it goe before them? I thinke them­selues scarce know whether: whither they meant to roue vp and downe in the wildernesse, sit downe to eat and drinke, and rise vp to play: but if they intended a set iourney, it was eyther toward Canaan, or, as I thinke rather, backe a­gaine into Aegypt: else why should they thinke of a Calfe, but in alluding to the Aegyptian Apis, that pide Bull? they meant to goe into Aegypt, therefore they must haue an Ae­gyptian God to guide them: These be thy gods ô Israell that brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt as strangers when the Aegyptians desired vs to be gone, and these shall conduct vs backe againe. But that which perswades mee most, is in the Acts of the Apostles: they turned in their hearts backe a­gaine into Aegypt, Acts 7.39. [...], saying, make vs gods: Their harts were in Aegypt already, they wanted nothing but a God to guide them.

If all things in the wildernesse were in figure vnto vs, [...], 1 Cor. 10.11. This history most of all: all of vs were vnder the bondage of Aegypt, subiect to sin, death, and hell, taskemasters of that spirituall Pharaoh, who hath power ouer death.Heb. 2.14.

Our true Master Christ hath deliuered vs out of Aegypt, and brought vs vnder hope of enioying that celestiall Ca­naan. In the meane time he is gone vp to the mountaine to God the Father to mediate for vs, and to write the Gos­pell [Page 87]is the Law of Christians, & the new couenant: he hath left his deputies beneath Ciuill & Ecclesiasticall to gouerne vs in his absence: Hee hath left Sacramentall representati­ons, as the cloud did represent his humanity, the fier his di­uinity: but his absence is so long, not a few weeks, but many hundred years, that we carry vs in this life, as if we knew not what is become of him, where is the promise of his comming? 2 Pet. 2.4. in the 2. of Peter and the 3. Thus we sit downe to eate and drinke, & rise vp to play: Euery one hath his gods, his dear­ling affections, his desires, his deuices, though as wise as Calues, Deus est suacui (que) cupido: these foolish desires leade vs back againe into Aegypt, there to make bricke, or gather stubble; for thats the Dicotomy of this world: we are either making bricke to build or plant our selues on earth, or ga­thering stubble, picking the strawes of vanity and pleasure: in which return, if we hold on, we had better we had neuer been deliuered: for Christ will come as suddenly as Moses did from the mount, eyther himselfe in iudgement, or by his messenger Death, giue vs our portion, make vs drinke the powder of our Gods wrath. The dregs of sinne which will turne into the gall of Aspes: Hee that presumes Christ will be long a comming, and that death is a farre off, hee will surely come to him vnlooked for: The Master of that seruant will come in an houre when he is not aware. Luk. 12.46. There bee three Parables S^t. Luke ioynes in an excellent order. The Parable of the Prodigall Sonne, the vniust Steward, and the rich Glutton. The Prodigall by prodigality became misera­ble, by misery was drawne to repentance. But because men when they haue runn themselues out of breath in wicked­nesse, presently haue the parable of the prodigall childe in in their mouthes; He addes vnto that the vniust Steward, who had short warning to giue vp his stewardship; he wise­ly cast in his minde what to doe, Quid faciam, and neuer ceased casting till he resolued Scio quid faciam, and present­ly put it in execution, set downe quickly: and because euery man should not expect any speciall admonition before hand, he addes vnto that the Parable of the rich man, who [Page 88]thinking his Master would belong a comming, follows his pleasure: & in momento descendit in infernum, died, and was presently in hell before hee lift vp his eyes vnto heauen; So doth sudden destruction euer follow presumptuous sinnes.

Therefore these golden glistring calues that we propose vnto our selues to follow, bee it the Calfe of wealth or pleasure or ambition, let vs breake them in peeces, and stamp them to powder by true repentance before the Lord come and breake them for vs: let vs drinke the powder in the teares of sorrow and contrition, that iudging our selues we may preuent the iudgement of God, that wee may re­deeme the time we haue so vainely spent, in doubling the workes of a good life; and happy is that man, whom the Lord when he commeth, shall find so doing. Which hap­pines God grant vnto vs for his Sons sake Iesus Christ our Lord: To whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit, be al Honor and Glory both now and for euer. Amen.

ALL story and discourse whatsoeuer, endited by the spirit of Wisedome, the more concise it is, the more pithy is the sentence, and the matter of more speciall note: which Truth if it hold, as like it doth in Diuine writte: Lo heere the Acts and Monuments of a thousand six hundred and odde yeares comprized within the compasse of six small chap­ters, the onely true Records of that Age, containing story of more weight and worth, then all the bookes and Chro­nicles of the Kings of Iuda: which respect, beside others common to holy scripture, doth intimate vnto vs what ver­tue and pith the holy Ghost hath pressed and couched to­gether within euery sentence of this Chronicle, whereof my Text is one, and such an one amongst the rest, as is no­ted [Page 90]by the finger of the holy Ghost in the margent, Behold, the first word of wonder we finde, pointing at some specta­cle worth the beholding: A spectacle not for men to gaze vpon, but Man a spectacle to God and Angels, who beeing placed by God in Paradise, was by his folly put into a dreame of a deity, aspiring in knowledge to become a God, was in vnderstanding made like the beasts that perish, turn'd out of Paradise into the open field amongst the beasts to be clad in Leatherne hides, and skins of beasts: wandering in this miserable plight, Almighty God puts him in mind of his glorious Godhead, Behold the man is become like one of vs, a God, and no man, where indeede hee was a wretched worme, and no man.

These wordes deliuered by God in a figuratiue speech, and in the forme like nailes doe pierce deeper, and sticke faster then an ordinary speech. An ironie, but vttered by a man of God,1 Kings. 18.21. made Baals Priests lance themselues with kniues till the bloud followed. A figure that being spoken (as here it was) to a proud man in misery, is Death vnto him, and cuts deeper then any knife, vox tamen haec est non tam insultantis, quam caeteros ne superbiant deterrentis: God in this Ironie did not so much intend to wound a misera­ble man, as to warne his posterity.

Wherefore, (Right Honourable, Right Worshipfull, & welbeloued) when I gaue all diligence to speake vnto you of those swelling humours that raigne in the Sonnes of A­dam, I was directed to this Scripture, which for the Maie­sty of it was deliuered by God himselfe in the solemne as­sembly of the blessed Trinity, and holy Angels, for the vse of it to the terror of all vs which lay in the loynes of Adam, for the Ʋertue of it pointed with an Irony, to pierce our af­fections, and sticke fast in our memories, That wee breake not Gods bonds asunder, nor cast away his cords from vs, least he that sitteth in Heauen laugh vs to scorne, and the Lord should haue vs in derision.

The sentence it selfe like Christs garment, may not bee diuided, it is so wouen into one period, that to dismember [Page 91]the words, were to disgrace the figure: yet to auoid confu­sion of speech, and helpe our memories, I will distinguish these two points.

• 1 Mans purpose and aspiring minde to become a God.
• 2 The shamefull misse of his purpose, that indeede became nothing lesse.

Both which are insinuated in this figure, and may natu­rally be branched out of this sentence.

Verse 22. Peccasse Adamum tam specie quam indiuiduo, is a schoole­poynt very probable; That Adam did not sin onely perso­nally, as a particular man, but as bearing the person and nature of all mankind: for that diuellish infection of an a­spiring minde, hath made as deepe an impression in Adams posterity as euer is did in himselfe:Dan. 4.27. Acts 12.21 Nebuchadnezzar and King Herod, the one for Power, the other for Speech affe­cting a Diety, are two fit Emblemes of man in this place. Is not this great Babel that I haue built by the might of my pow­er, for the honour of my Maiesty? spoken like God himselfe: Is not this great Heauen and Earth, which I haue built by the might of my power, for the honour of my Maiesty? but while the word was in the Kings mouth, his Kingdom was rent from him, & himselfe turned out of his palace among the beasts of the field: Herod after hee had made a smooth oration in a great assembly, for assenting to the peoples applause: The voyce of God and not of man, became a prey to the wormes: these two beare the Image of the olde Adam, who being in honour like Nebuchadnezzar, was cast out of Paradise amongst the beasts that perish, and for listening to the Serpents voyce, Eritis sicut Dij, like Herod became mormes meat, Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt returne.

But what do I tel you of Kings and Monarches? that of the Poet, Est Deus in nobis, is common in euery mans con­ceipt, no affection so ridiculous, which vaine man hath not made a God: 'twere vaine to stand vpon particulars: shall I tell you of the God of Gods exalted aboue heauen and earth? It is the God of honour and reputation amongst [Page 92]more. A God mighty and terrible, a iealous God, and a consuming fire, a God more honoured of English Gal­lants, then euer was Iehouah in Iudaea, or Iupiter amongst the Grecians: Si quoties peccant homines: Iupiter is very spa­ring of his thunder-bolts, though often dishonoured of mortall men, and the God of Israel when hee was in his greatest fury, and most prouoked to execute iudgement, yet is sayd to seale vp his plagues amongst his treasures: Deu. 32.34. as though hee were loth to spend them: God is patient, and yet God is prouoked euery day: but if our honours bee touched neuer so little, agitante calescimus illo: out goes a challenge presently, hee shall die the death: Thus as ven­geance were ours, miserable men will bee Gods to die for it.

By your patience (Honourable and worshipfull) sauing your Honours and Reputations, giue me leaue to estimate them one degree below Gods honour, and your owne sal­uation: Happily you will obiect, It is our honour, and wee stand vpon it; more precious and deere to vs then life it selfe, for that is the life of our mortall liues, and preserues vs li­uing after our death, life without honour is no life, and honour after life makes death no death; wherefore in this respect no lesse honourable is our Resolution, then Razis the father of the Iewes commended in the Machabees,2 Machab. 14.42. in chusing rather to die manfully, then suffer reproach, vn­worthy his noble stocke: 'Tis true, God forbid we should deny, but that honour in a noble minde is to bee preferred before a thousand liues, if our liues were altogether in our nostrils, if our Essence did returne into the wombe of the first Chaos, as things of baser being; if our spirits did va­nish into the light aire like the spirits of beasts; then were this reason without exception: But wee must remember that besides this word Honour which is commended to the fauourable opinion of the world, to bee blowen to and fro with the breath of mens nostrils, there is an heauenly sub­stance to bee disposed of, to bee placed after death, accor­ding to thy death, either in euerlasting Tabernacles or perpe­tuall [Page 93]torments: Wherefore, endangering thy selfe in single combat, not onely to die, but to die the death, not onely to perish, but to perish and come to a fearefull end: not onely to be cut downe, but cut downe and cast into the fire. Then poize these two, the blemish of honour, with the hazard of euer lasting life in the ballance of thy iudgement, and accor­dingly make resolution.

I presume none will deny but in our vsuall and daily quarrels the danger is great, and rufull for any Christian to consider: but in a case of necessity, when otherwise ney­ther Court can cleare me, nor the deuise of man giue reme­die: there laying apart all personall respects, abandoning all affections of Honour, without any desire of reuenge, only for triall of right Ile commend my cause to the proofe of Armes, and sentence of weapon, to be directed by Di­uine iudgement. If your resolution be such, let mee com­mend vnto you a double consideration of cause and person.

1 Is thine iniury so hainous as may not be borne? and the triall so difficult as neyther can bee manifested by Re­cord of Writte,Ier. 32.44. nor decided by testimony of two or three witnesses established by our Sauiour, nor indeed by Oath,Ioh. 8.17. which the Apostle makes the vpshot of all controuersies a­mongst men. If thy quarrell be such,Heb. 6.16. thou appealest to the iudgement of Weapon.

2 Then in the second place examine thy selfe, if respe­cting the priuate iniury and blemish of honour, thou canst meet thine enemy in the field, and leaue all sinister affecti­ons at home, if thou canst carry Christian Charity in thine heart, and the weapons of Death in thy hands? If thou canst commend a prepared soule to thy Sauior, & intend to shed that bloud for which his bloud was shed on the crosse. If thou canst expect the reward of Gods saints in heauen & determine to cast out thy brothers soule in a wrong cause; then see you haue warrant, and keepe thy resolution, but vnderstand that this thy passage into heauen, if there be a­ny such, after all honest pretences mans witte can deuise, all [Page 94]the Differences the Law can afford, are bestowed vpon it, will prooue as hard and narrow a passage for thy soule, as a Nedles eye for the huge Cammell. What shall we say then? Is there no redresse for the blemish of honour and reputa­tion? Yes beloued, there will come a day when the most secret cause will be made manifest, when all the Courts in the world shall be iudged ouer againe, till which time God hath reserued many causes vntried for his owne Court. Therefore saies S^t. Paul, 1 Cor. 3.5. Iudge nothing before the time, till the Lord come, who will lighten things that are hidde in darke­nesse, and then shall euery man haue praise of God: haue patience then till the trumpe blow, and the walls of Iericho fall flatte to the ground, Till the Heauens passe with a noyse, and the ele­ments melt with feruent heate, then shalt thou meet the iudge of the world, and receiue sentence according vnto right, then shall thine honour bee restored seuen fold in the sight of Men & Angels: there meane while resolue thy selfe like a Christian, if thy supposed honour affect thee, in case of Gods honour or the safety of thy soule, cast it off, better it is for thee to enter heauen lame in honour, maimed in re­putation in the sight of the world, then hauing all sound to be cast into hell fire. I speake not after the manner of men, else would I perswade that it were not a world could ec­clipse true honour, Well: true or supposed honour, shall I suffer disgrace till the last trumpe? This is an hard interim, I would to God I could releeue you.

Shall I with S. Augustine adfratres in Eremo, commend vnto you the example of our Sauiour, who beeing disgra­ced, and shamefully dishonoured of his enemies: the first oblation he offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse, was pray­er for his enemies: that were not so fit, it was writ adfratres in eremo, but I know to whom I speake: Shall I commend the Prophet Dauids example, who dishonourably reuiled of Shimei, reuenged not againe, but dealt honourably with lame Mephibosheth, the remnant of his enemies house. Yea but Dauid was a Prophet altogether swallowed vp with di­uine contemplation, we are not of that precise coat: yea but [Page 95] Dauid was a Prince, and well wist what true honor meant; a valiant Prince, whose arme would encounter a bow of steele, and by the might of his God spring ouer a wall, yet herein was his glory to shew kindnes to his deadly foe.2 Sam 9.3 Re­maines there not one (saith Dauid) of the house of Saul on whom I may shew the saluation of God? Honourable Dauid that thought it the most honour to be likest God in shewing mercie to his enemies: All my Fathers house (saith Mephibo­sheth to Dauid) were but dead men before my Lord the King: Posse & nolle nobile, To reuenge a quarrell argues skill and courage, but to forgiue, or not regard an iniury, that is right Honourable. Wherefore, to conclude this point,Mar. 8.35. that which our Sauiour Christ pronounced in the Gospell of Marke is as truely to be meant of honour, as of life, Who­soeuer will saue his honour shall loose it, and whosoeuer shall lose his honour for my sake and the Gospels shall saue it. Be it then farre from dust and ashes to seate himselfe in Gods place, crying vengeance is mine, I will repay it: to extoll his owne honour before Gods, least he that sits in heauen laugh them to scorne, and the Lord should haue them in derision: This is one point in which vaine man the Sonne of Adam does affect to become a God Like one of vs.

If it would please Almighty God to looke downe from Heauen vpon the sonnes of men,Psal. 13.2. hee might behold more presumptuous and aspiring gods amongst men, or would hee come downe from heauen to make triall of these cries that are come vp to him,Gen. 18.21. as himselfe speaketh in the 18. of Genesis, would it please him to take a view of his own dwel­ling place, the holy house of his habitation, he should perceiue one of Adams vnhallowed sonnes seated in his roome, hou­zed within the holy stones of Sion: his chambers & chaires adorned with the Churches robes, himselfe and his fami­ly fed with Tithes and Offrings: would not this prouoke Almighty God to take my text for good sooth, and say be­hold the man is become a god like one of vs: harboured in our sanctuary, and serued with our Priests, like one of vs, hono­red and worshipped in consecrated Tithes, and holy offe­rings [Page 96] like one of vs, whiles we may take vp our lodgings with Baucis or Philemon, or content our selues with ten shekels of siluer, and a suit of apparell. Then sure blessed must that house be where God is so wel regarded saies that idolatrous miscreant Micah. Iud 17. ver. vlt. As for Tithes and Offerings, they be but Leuiticall customes, ceremonies, and shadowes vanished away at the Sunshine of the Gospell: thus are wee content to haue our mouthes musled, and our tongues tied.

The Romane Orator plaid his prizes neuer worse, then in his owne cause, and I know not how it comes to passe, ei­ther we are ouer-modest to pleade for our selues, least wee might seeme partiall, or too timerous: wee are content at Balacks becke, neyther to blesse nor curse, or (which is worst of all) if euer wee meane to enter Gods house, our selues must come like Gods, like Iupiter himselfe in a goulden shower, or stand without, ô aur eum orationis flumen; these be the golden streams of eloquence that make the Preachers voice the voice of a God.

But as I begun to say, we are vnfit Orators for this theam, will it please you to heare almighty God speake in his own person:Malac. 3.8. Will a man spoyle his gods? but you haue spoyled me, saith the Lord: A strange speech for the God of heauen to speake to mortall men, You haue spoyled me, and that made the peo­ple of Israell to wonder, Lord wherein haue we spoyled thee? God answers, in Tithes and Offerings: parturiunt montes, a ce­remony, a shadow, a toy: no (beloued) almighty God fights not with shadowes, nor is so zealous for a ceremony, there is more in it then all they account for: these are not Mint and Annise we talke of, but matters of greater moment.

All the wonders the Apostles wrought vpon the earth were sauing wonders, restoring men to their health and perfection; but when they mette with sinne of alienating Church goods in Ananias and Saphira, their wonder was an extraordinary iudgement, no lesse then present death: When the Lambe of God walked vpon the earth, hee is obserued neuer to haue wrought any thing by force or vio­lence, but all with gentle perswasions, and fatherly admo­nitions, [Page 97]so obserueth S. Augustine in one booke,Vera relig. c. 16. Cap. 13. yet the Father was deceiued, for himselfe doth retract that point in his booke of Retractions, and does confesse, that indeed when hee met with this sin of Marchandize in the Church of God, then his patience was mooued to vse some Disci­pline: then, and onely then in all his life did the Lambe of God play the Lion of the tribe of Iuda; for himselfe alone with a three-stringed whip draue the Marchants out of the Church.

Now if these Marchants shall quit him with his owne, and through their marchandize driue Christ out of the Church, they are no more to look for a whip of cords but a rod of iron, to break them in peeces like a Potters vessel; If they will needs meddle with forbidden fruit as Adam did, they must looke to turne Gods as Adam did, in whom I beseech you a little to looke your selues as in a glasse. Man hauing his choyce of all the pleasant fruits in Paradise, on­ly except the forbidden fruit, whereof if hee eat, the same day he must die the death, was visited by the Serpent; yea, hath God indeede sayd, ye shall not eat? indeede, sayes the woman, we eat of the trees of the Garden, but of the fruit of the tree in the middest of the garden, (there is a tree in the middest of the garden worth all the rest) of the fruit of that tree God hath sayd, Yee shall not eat, neither shall ye touch it lest yee die: Die? sayes the Serpent, yee shall not die: die the same day? yee shall not die at all: die the death? yee shall liue most happy liues, yee shall bee Gods: but what became of them, we all know by wofull experience.

So you, beloued, are by Gods goodnesse heere placed in a land like Eden for pleasure and plenty, blessed like If­rael with the deaw of heauen, and fat of the earth, enriched like Tyrus, whose Marchants were Princes, and Chap-men the Nobles of the land, sucking the abundance of the sea, and treasure hid in the sand: onely the forbidden fruits of the Church touch not least ye die the Death. Then comes the Serpent, hath God indeed said ye shall not eate of these fruits? Indeed (answers flesh and bloud) we eat of the fruits [Page 98]of the Land, and aboundance of the Sea, but there be cer­taine Holy fruites of the Land worth all the rest, Tithes and Offrings, the flower, and fat of the land, pleasant springs, Orchards, Gardens for recreation, goodly stones that wold build vs stately houses and towers, whose top might reach vnto heauen, were we but possessed of these, we should be gods vpon earth. Thus stollen waters are sweete, and the bread of deceit is pleasant to a man, but afterwards (saies Sa­lomon) it turnes to grauell in the mouth, and then you know what followes, a gnashing of teeth, when almighty God shall come to giue sentence. Adam where art thou? Hast thou eaten of the forbidden fruit whereof I saide thou shouldst not eat? Thou shalt be cast out of the Paradise of this world, not in Letherne skins among the beasts of the field, but starke na­ked among the fiends of Hell, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth: Then he that sits in Heauen shall laugh them to scorne, and the Lord shall deride them with a bit­ter Irony, Behold the man is become like one of vs: Sonne re­member thou in thy life time hadst a paradise of pleasure, no dwelling would please thee, but the sanctuary and ha­bitation of God: no lands and liuings content thee but those hallowed and dedicated to God: no bread sweet and pleasant vnto thee but Tithes & Offrings, and holy things of God This shall be the Lords derision: this is that feare­full sentence whereto my text is but a warning peece, and the fall of Adam but a figure; and so wee haue done with the second generall point, wherein the Sonne of Adam af­fecteth to become a God like one of vs.

Out of the last words, Vnus è nobis, it is agreed that al­mighty God directed his speech to the persons in Trinity, whence it may bee demanded, to which of the three per­sons man affected to bee like, like one of vs; though indefi­nitely it may be vnderstood of any, yet the Schoole deter­mines: Hee affected not so much to bee like the Father in power, or the spirit in loue, as in knowledge to resemble the second person, who is the wisedome of his Father, for it followes like one of vs, knowing good and euill.

The sum of which is, that man created in perfect reason, & endued with great measure of knowledge, according to his kind, yet in time was to attain to greater perfection, but vnwilling to stay his time, and expect the meanes appoin­ted by God, thought to take a shorter out, but tast an apple, and presently haue his eyes opened, and become a God in knowledge: A fault (beloued) that died not in Paradise, but liues still, & neuer more then in these daies, where kno­ledge & Diuinity do budd and blossome, and ripen all in a trise, like Aarons rod, as if we were suddenly inspired from heauen, or we our selues had a clouen tongue at command.

The treasures of wisdome and knowledge are not all ga­thered in one day; haddest thou a more excellent wit and gifts more famous then young Timothy, of whom Prophe­sies went what a notable instrument he was like to prooue,1 Tim. 1.18 yet Timothy must so belabour it, that his stomacke shall bee the worse for it, and his body subiect to many and often infirmities.1 Tim 5.23 Dost thou relie vpon Gods speciall grace and assistance neuer so much? as S. Paul did, not I, but the grace of God with me, yet Pauls bookes and parchments must not be forgotten, for all the spirit. A man would thinke that vi­sions and reuelations were neuer more rife then in these daies: to see a young Diuine plunge himselfe out of one Church into another, Determine Religions and challenge Moses and Aaron, as if himselfe in a trice had throughly digested the volume of Gods booke, and drunk vp the whole current of the ancient Fathers: but if Paul will be a planter of Religion, he must take spade and mattocke, digge deepe, and labour more aboundantly then they all, yea and spend a more precious humour then the sweate of his browes: Librorum helluo makes the best Diuine,Ezek 2.8. by Eating of the booke, and not of an apple doe wee attaine to Diuine knowledge, howsoeuer Adam will touch and tast, & haue his eyes opened: And by this time it remaines to enquire what is become of him, Behold, saies God, he is become like one of vs. And thus far shal suffice for the 1. point, of Adams purpose and aspiring minde to become a God: Now fol­lowes [Page 100]the shamefull mille of his purpose, that in trueth hee became nothing lesse then like one of vs, which is truely expressed in the manner of speech being Ironicall, Behold the man is become like one of vs.

2 Ecce Adam, behold the man, Quid superbis puluis & cinis? Diabolus superbit sed non puluis & cinis, saith S^t. Angu­stine: It had beene a wonder if Lucifer the brightest of An­gels had become a God, being but a creature, but for man, Dust and ashes, a peece of clay, taken from vnder the feet of beasts, to be extolled amongst the gods, this was excee­ding wonderfull: This man is become such a god, that at­tired in skinnes, turned out of the Garden, the bruit beasts, had they the tongue of Balaams Asse, might haue saluted him in good sooth without a figure: Behold the man is be­come like one of vs; shrowded in a Leatherne hide from the parching heate of the Sunne, and the pinching frost of the night, like one of vs: nay, respecting his condition farre worse then one of vs, Quanto peius est fieri, quam nasci bel­luam, farre better it is to be a beast by natures priuiledge, then by degenerating to be compared to beasts; worse then that, sent to the schoole to learne of beasts, by Salomon to the Conies and Pismiers for wisedome and prouidence, by a greater then Salomon to the Rauens and Fowles of the ayre for trust and confidence in God, by Ieremy to the Oxe and Asse for knowledge and religion:Ierem. 3.2. The Oxe hath known his Owner, and the Asse his Masters Cribbe, but my people haue not knowne, nor Israell vnderstood: This is that goodly God­head almighty God meanes in this figure, vpon which phrase of speech, it is worth the while a little to pauze: Be­hold, saith God, he is become, but how came hee? factus est, sed quis fecit?

Vers. 44. In the two and thirty chapter of the booke of Exodus, when the Israelites went a madding after a Calfe which Aaron had fashioned for a God, Moses put Aaron to his A­pologie, who made this narration for himselfe, They gaue me their golde, I cast it into the fire, and thereout came this calfe: what Aaron? became that a calfe by hap hazard without [Page 101]hands, or did it make it selfe a calfe? theront came this calfe: Aaron was ashamed to say, hee had made a God, that the God of Israel should bee the worke-man-ship of his hands, wherefore he passeth that ouer in silence, and sayes, I cast the gold into the fire, and thereout came this calfe: in like man­ner God in this place to make the wonder greater, neither expressing the Authour nor manner of this Metamorpho­sis, onely, Behold the man is become like one of vs: notwith­standing, that may bee easily gathered by the allusion and reference of this sentence to that of the serpents in the fifth verse (Eritis sicut Dij) his meaning is, that man was a God of the Diuels making, who finding our parents of a Thra­sonicall and swelling disposition, aspiring towards a Deity, comes vpon them like Gnatho, with Eritis sicut Dij, yea, you shall be Gods: a practise so performed of all hands, as it is be­come a maine piller of Sathans Kingdome, Parasitatio quam facilis quam pestifera, an easie part, the Coblers Crow will conne that: yet neuer playd without a Diuell: Peter no sooner saluted our Sauiour in this smoothing dialect, but presently he discouered a Diuell, Get the behinde me Sathan: Sathan neuer mooued the tongue of Beasts, but to sooth and flatter: Almighty God neuer opened the mouth of dumbe beasts but to reprehend, and the simplest Asse in seruice shall stand his master in better stead in this kinde, then the nimblest tongued Serpent that walkes in this gar­den: art thou then placed in a Paradise of pleasure, aboun­ding with all delights mans heart can desire beware the ser­pents poyson, that will make thee to swell bigger then the skinne will holde, to stretch thy selfe beyond thy selfe, till thou consume as smoke that vanisheth by encreasing.

Art thou a Caesar vpon eath, parting thine Empire with Iupiter himselfe, Caue àsalutatoribus, these are the Crowes that pecke out thine eyes being aliue, and make thee stone­blinde, that thou shalt not bee able to know or discerne thy selfe.

Art thou set vpon the Candle sticke of the Church, to giue light to all that are in the house of God? art thou de­termined [Page 102]in shining to others to consume and spend thy selfe for Sions sake? Looke to thy followers, there was a Parasite amongst the Disciples pul'd Christ by the sleeue, tooke him aside, & bade him fauour himselfe,: Tis a world to see what preheminence this profession hath gotten in the world: no state so holy or absolute, no person so base or of small worth, whom this Court holy-water hath not besprinkled: If all thy earings, gold, or siluer, or what euer pluck'd from men, women, and children by violence and extortion will but raize a Goulden Calfe. The whole host of Israell will play the Parasites, or that Calfe shall be­come a God: That great Oxe Nabuchadnezzar lifted vp­on a Monarchy had his saluters at hand, O King liue for e­uer, as if it were not impossible but a Monarke might bee immortall like God: Hi homines prorsus exstultis insanos fa­ciunt: Our Parents Adam and Eue went a fooling after a Godhead, and heere comes the Deuill with an Eritis sicut Dij, ye shall be Gods, and carries them headlong like an heard of Swine into vtter perdition: Atque sic homo factus est Deus, thus did the man become like one of vs.

The Serpent hauing his prizes is fled away, and Man heares no more of him: his Oracle prooues true, but in a wrong sence: their eyes were open, but to their own shame: They had the knowledge of good and euill, but by wofull experience. And for the third, he said they should be Gods, and children to the most high God, but they died like men, and fell like one of the Princes, like the Prince of Babell from the worlds dominion to the beasts of the field: like the Prince of Angels, from glory and ioyfull blisse, to ex­treame misery and torment of conscience: like Prince He­rod from a conceipt of a god, to a pray for wormes. Here ends the tragedy of wofull man wallowing in the pitte of endlesse perdition, vexed by God from heauen with a tan­ting Ironie, Behold the man is become like one of vs.

It were great pittty to leaue man in this miserable case, will our text leade vs no further but iumpe to the pit of per­dition? No sweetnesse to bee sucked out of Gods Ironia, [Page 103]but all bitternesse and wormewood? Yes (beloued) The Father of all creatures delights not in tanting, vexing, or tormenting of any. The God of all consolation, who in the middest of Iudgement thinkes vpon Mercy, was neuer more ready and quicke to show mercy then at this present. For before euer hee did pronounce iudgement vpon man at the 16. verse of this Chapter, he promised the seed of the woman should breake the serpents head: in the 15. verse giues promise of redemption, before the sentence of con­demnation, the reason of which redemption may bee ga­thered out of the last words of my text, vnus è nobis, accor­ding to the premised doctrine.

In Matthew the 12:Mat. 12 32 He that sinneth against the Sonne shall be forgiuen, but he that sinneth against the holy Ghost shall neuer be forgiuen in this world, nor in the world to come: Sathan in this act sinned directly against the holy Ghost, of meere enuy maligning the state of man, and therefore his fall was without redemption: but man offending more directly a­gainst the second person, affecting in knowledge to be like the Sonne of God, the wisedome of his Father: wherefore almighty God, saies S. Barnard, in the fury of his wrath, seeing his sonne so dishonoured, and as it were thrust out of his throne by the aspiring minde of man, cries vengeance is mine, and I will repay it: Ile reuenge my sonnes iniuries vp­on Adam and his posteritie for euer: nay (father) replies the Sonne in tender zeale to his Fathers glory: Let it neuer be said thou madest man for nought, and the sons of men for endlesse perdition: thou that madest the Heauen for thy perpetuall seate, and established the earth neuer to bee remoued: Thou that in wisedome hast created all things for some happy end, willt thou bring man the image of heauen, and glory of the earth, the collection of creatures, and mappe of nature, the impression of diuine essence, to shame and confusion? Let that malitious Serpent neuer boast himselfe that he hath disgraced the workemanship of thy hands, and defaced thy diuine Image, that he made the Prince of Paradise a vassall of hell, and the Lord of Crea­tures [Page 104]a bondslaue to Sathan: And for mine owne iniury, Si propter me haec tempestas orta sit, If I bee the occasion of all these troubles and tumults, take mee (father) and cast mee out of thy presence into the Sea of that troublesom world, that thereupon may ensue a calme: let the deepe swallow me vp, and the water of affliction goe ouer my soule, that many soules may peaceably arriue at the Hauen of eternall happinesse: If for tasting the forbidden fruite of Paradise, the whole earth must be barren, and cursed with vnfruitful­nesse, let the plowers plow vpon my backe, and make long fur­rowes, whereout man may reape most ioyfull fruites of my bitter passion: If in the sweate of his browes he shall eat his bread, let mee by mine agony and bloudy sweat become that bread of life, whereof if he feede he shall liue for euer: Let mee be crown'd with those thornes which the cursed earth for his sake brought forth: since it hath pleased thee for my sake to take his figge leaues from him, put him into Leatherne skins to salute him with this Irony, behold the man is become like one of vs: let mine enemies for his sake, take mine owne garments from mee, and put vpon mee Scarlet Robes to mock & deride me with Haile King of the Iewes: If man for affecting mine image in knowledge bee for my sake cast amongst the fiends of Hell, let me for his sake take vpon me the image of man, that man by me may be exalted among the Angels in heauen: If for eating of the tree in the garden hee shall die the death, let mee be made that fruit, hanging vpon that cursed tree in Golgotha, wher­of if he eat he shall liue the life, that euerlasting life wherby in glory and true happinesse hee shall indeed become like one of vs: If for affecting that faire seeming fruit of Paradise man shall become an exile from the place of plasure, let me be made a pleasant fruit of a new promised land; Grapes of Canaan growing out of a withered and deformed stocke, without forme or fashion, that goodly cluster of grapes carried vpon the barre of the crosse, pressed out into most precious liquor, a pleasant wine that makes glad the heart of man, and does him good at the soule. Father, since it is [Page 105]thy good pleasure in tender zeale to mine honour, thus to bring forth miserable man, for a wonderment and gazing stocke to the whole hoast of Heauen with an Ecce: Since nothing else will pacifie thy wrath and heauy displeasure for thy sonnes sake, I my selfe will bow the heauens, and goe downe, inuest my selfe with a vaile of flesh, and couer of skin, the shape of a seruant, that mortall men may in trueth salute me, not without a wonder, Behold the God of heauen is become a mortall man like one of vs, Aeternity it selfe is born, and immortality put into the graue, like one of vs.

Behold the eternall Sonne of God begotten of his Fa­ther before all worlds without a Mother, brought forth of his Mother into the world without a Father: He that built heauen and earth, a Carpenters Sonne, and the Prince of Heauen spoyld of his royalty, become a sucking babe like one of vs, laid in a womans lap like one of vs. Behold the incomprehensible light of glory, put into a lanterne of cor­ruptible flesh, the bread of life an hungred, and the foun­taine of liuing water a thirst like one of vs. Behold the e­ternall God in whom is no shadow of change, no mutability at all, hath put on a peece of clay, a bundle of grasse, a bub­ble of water, is become a vapor, a shadow, a Dreame, when he became man like one of vs: If this will not satisfie thine indignation, more then this: since man by his fall is compa­red to the beasts: let this Oxe and the Asse of Bethleem sa­lute me: Behold the incomprehensible deity that fills hea­uen and earth, is laid in a manger, and the Lord of Hea­uen installed in a stable like one of vs: If this will not suf­fice thy wrath, let Traitors, Robbers, and Malefactors of the world salute me: Behold, the immaculate Sonne of righteousnesse is condemned at the barre, the glory of hea­uen spit vpon: he that sits vpon the Cherubins, and rides vpon the wings of the winde, is mounted vpon a Crosse, and hanged vp betweene two theeues like one of vs. Thus was our cause pleaded, and our saluation enacted at the high Parliament of the blessed Trinity: This is the inter­cession of Christs bloud, that speakes better things then [Page 106]the bloud of Abell, which cried for vengeance: this is the comfortable speech of the Sonne that mittigates the bitter­nesse of his Fathers Irony: This is the pleasant voyce of God in a burning bush, that the hot wrath of God con­sume vs not: This is the hony in the Lions mouth, the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda, that hath broke the Serpents head, and trod Sathan vnder feete: Thus is Heauen and earth ioyned, and God and man reconciled: The gates of heauen are lift vp, and the euerlasting dores set open: now men and Angels may praise God in one quier, and sing one song, Glory to God on high, in earth peace, and good will to­wards men: Now the Cherub which before kept man from the tree of life with a fiery sword, does ouershadow the Mercy seate for man. This is the Lords doing, and it is maruellous in our eyes: what shall we doe then? but take the cup of saluation, and praise the name of the Lord: euery man commemorating his benefits with the Prophet Da­uid: Psal 103. Praise the Lord O my soule, and all that is within me praise his holy name, praise the Lord O my soule, and forget not all his benefits, which forgiueth all thy sins, and healeth all thine infir­mities, which redeemeth thy life from death, and crowneth thee with mercies and compassions; which filleth thy mouth with good things, making thee young and lusty like an Eagle. These are the benefits of the Lord of life, who became sinne, know­ing no sinne, that thy sinnes might be forgiuen thee: the satisfaction of him, who was whipt and scourged, that by his stripes thine infirmities might be healed: Of him that was humbled vnto death, the death of the Crosse, that thy life might be redeemed from death, from eternall death: Of him that was crowned with thornes, to crowne thee with mercies and compassions: Of him that dranke vineger and gall, dranke amaine the cup of Gods wrath, that thy mouth might be filled with good things: Of him that was pierced and mangled vpon the Crosse, became a bleeding carkasse, Eagles foode, that thy soule therein vpon feeding might become young and lusty like an Eagle, Iouis & Ʋir gines ales, that great Eagle that brake the net for vs, and [Page 107]we are escaped from death vnto life, from the bondage of Sathan to the freedome of the Sonnes of God, heyres and fellow heyres with Christ of his Fathers kingdome, crow­ned with glory and immortality like one of vs: This is the body of the Doctrine contained in this sentence: By your patience in a word, let me sink it a little deeper towards the hart, & then I will commend it & you to the grace of God. You see how the edge of this I conical speech, which other­wise might gall & wound miserable man, is abated by the indulgence of the sonne of God: what then? hath this sen­tence lost his edge? is it become blunt, and to no vse? yes (beloued) it is the word of God spoken by God himselfe, & therefore sharper then any two edged sword: but the edge is turned from wounding men, to the cutting downe of all those affections that grow in men: I cannot better resem­ble it then to Abrahams knife, which was stretched ouer his sonne Isaac, till the Angell of God from heauen turned the knife from Isaac to the Ramme caught by the hornes,Gen. 22.10 so was the Ramme killed and Isaac saued aliue: In like man­ner this sharpe sentence of Almighty God, sharper then knife or razor to a proud man in misery, had not the eternal Son of God, The euerlasting father, The Prince of Peace tur­ned the edge of this sentence from Isaac to the Ram, from wounding the sons of men, to the killing of the rammish­nesse of our affections, to cut downe those lofty and aspi­ring mindes that threaten the clowds, and rob God of his honour.

Wherefore (Right honourable and Worshipfull) let vs humble our soules vnder the sacrificing knife of Almighty God, which will mortifie our corrupt and boystrous affe­ctions: let vs open our bowels to embrace that two edged sword of the Spirit, which will cut downe both extreames of vice from the golden meane of our mortified affections. Let vs suffer our selues to be cropt and prun'd by our hea­uenly father, that wee may bring foorth fruits worthy of Repentance, lest in stead of a pruning knife to lop off the sprigs that shoote out beyond measure, there bee an Axe [Page 108]layd to the Root, we cut downe and cast into the fire: lest this fatherly and gentle Irony: be turned into a [...], a bit­ter derision, when he that sits in heauen shall spie vs a farre off in heauen, laugh vs to scorne, and the Lord haue vs in derision. Iudge you selues therefore that yee be not iud­ged of the Lord, giue sentence vpon your selues, that yee bee not condemned of the Lord, humble your selues, vnder the mighty hand of God, lest he execute himselfe iudgement, and humiliation vpon you. I am not ignorant how vnsauory these sack-cloth Sermons are to flesh and bloud, but I know no other way to heauen, since man lost heauen by lifting himselfe aloft, then must he get it againe by humbling himselfe in sacke-cloth and ashes: no passage in­to Paradise but vnder a fiery sword, the sword that cuts a­way the branches of our corrupt nature: no climbling into heauen but ouer a crosse, our Masters beaten way and his Disciples: Hee that will looke euer to attaine to that place of blisse, where all teares shall be wiped from our eyes must haue his eyes like the fish-ponds of Heshbon standing full of water, which makes them more beautifull in the sight of our beloued Spouse. Hee that with Dauid will haue God to put off his sacke-cloth, and gird him with gladnesse, must himselfe put it on and mourne with sorrow: Capernaum (sayes our Sauiour) which art lifted vp to heauen, shalt bee brought downe to hell, for if these things which are done in thee had beene done in Tire and Sidon they would haue repented in sacke-cloth and ashes, therefore the onely way to keepe Ca­pernaum out of hell is sacke-cloth and ashes; when the Iudge of the world shall giue sentence at the last day, see the goodnesse of God to mankinde euen in the sentence of condemnation, Goe yee cursed into hell fire, prepared, for whom? for you? no: for the Diuell and his Angels: when thou wilt become one of Lucifers Angels, mount thy selfe into the seat of God,Esay 14. Ero similis altissimo, become a God like one of vs, Then shalt thou fall from heauen like lightning, pierce the clouds as a thunderbolt, and come downe with such a vengeance.

Therefore let vs tread the steps of our Lord that hath broken the Ice, and trod out the way for vs, who desires vs to learne but one lesson of humility for the rest of our soules: It may seem a strange speech deliuered from Christ; When I am lift vp, I will draw all men vnto me, Iohn. 12.31 signifying what death he should die, is it like that himselfe hanging vpon the crosse could entise others to that cursed tree? It must be a great humiliation surely, and so it must be, Non decet sub spinoso capite membrum esse delicatum: If the head of Christ wore a crowne of Thornes: It is no dishonour for the foot to catch a thorne: let it not grieue vs to tread the steps of the eternall Sonne of God, and king of glory, but learne of him, euen of him that ridde vpon an Asse & was moun­ted vpon a Crosse to be humble, and so you shall finde rest vnto your soules; The peace of God which passeth all vnder­standing shall possesse your humble soules, and the Prince of Peace descend, like a shower into a fleece of wooll, into your meeke and gentle soules. Then shall the dew of hea­uen water your contrite and broken soules with all celesti­all graces. Then shall we reape euery graine we haue sowed in teares, and these soules that haue mourned and tur­moy led themselues in this cloddy and mirie earth of sinful flesh shall returne with ioy to the Father that gaue them, & carry their sheaues with them: from which sorrow, to which ioy hee deliuer vs, and bring vs, that hath redeemed vs, and bought it for vs, les us Christ the righte­ous, to whom with the Father and the bles­sed Spirit, be all honour and glory from this time forth and for euermore Amen.

THIS is one of the little Gospels of Christ reuealed now in plain words hidden before in Moses and the Prophets, euen from the Apostles and Disciples till it pleased our Sa­uiour Christ to open their vnderstan­ding, that they might vnderstand the Scriptures, and then to deliuer these words which now by Gods prouidence in the E­uangelicall writings be come vnto our hands: For God in his Diuine dispensation thought it meete that Moses face should shine through the vaile: that the Arke of the Coue­nant [Page 112]should be couered that the Tabernacle should bee o­uershadowed with a Cloud, that there should be a vaile of the Temple which should bee as a wall before the Holy of Holies, vntill the fulnesse of Time came that his owne Sonne should bee manifested in the flesh, to speake face to face to vs. Vntill the couer of the Arke, that [...], as it is cal­led, Romanes the 3. should be opened at the Passion that we might looke into it,Rom. 3.25. and see what it behooued Christ to suffer: vntill the Sonne of righteousnesse should rise againe the third day to dispell the cloud of the Tabernacle: vntill the vaile of the Temple should be rent that wee might be­hold the Mercy-seate of God in stead of iudgement, that we might see the Cherub with stretched wings ready to flie with the glad tidings of Remission of sinnes to all Nations, beginning at Ierusalem: So that the Remoouing of those vailes, was nothing but the reuealing of these mysteries which my Text declares. That Sonne of God our Sauiour who opened the vnderstandings of the Disciples to see so much, remooue the vaile from your hearts that you may discerne as much, and rightly apply the same: And that it may the better sticke by vs, and worke vpon vs, obserue the order of the Holy Ghost in the Text deliuered in foure distinct points,

• The Proofe of the Redemption.
• The Worke of the Redemption.
• The Fruites of the Redemption.
• The Ministration of the Redemption.

• 1 The Proofe a Testimony of Scripture, So it is written.
• 2 The worke consisting in two things, the Suffering.
• 2 The worke consisting in two things, the Resurrectiō.
• 3 Out of these two spring two fruites, Repentance out of the Pas­sion.
• 3 Out of these two spring two fruites, Remission out of the Resurre­ction.

For as the Passion of Christ workes in vs Repentance, which is the Passion of a Christian: so the Resurrection dissoluing the bands of Death doth absolue vs from the [Page 113]chaines of sinne which is the Resurrection of a Christian.

4 The ministration of it to the world by publique pro­clamation, The text calls Preaching.

2 This preaching with authority in his name.

3 This authority giues a large commission to all Na­tions.

4 Yet not confusedly but in orderly proceeding, be­ginning at Hierusalem.

This I conceiue to be the most easie and plaine tract of this Scripture, So it is written, and so it behooued &c.

So it is written. The proofe.] This sword of the Spirit Christ did take vnto him when hee first entred the lists with Sathan in the 4. of Matthew, and so now after his resurrection taking his leaue off the Church, armeth his Disciples with the same sword: So it is written: and as Sathan at the first laboured to wrest it out of the hands of Christ, so euer since hee hath endeauoured to driue vs from it, knowing it to bee safest for vs, and the most deadly weapon against him: So it is written.

1. Great Loue of God,Magnus amor. that hee vouchsafed to feede his Church in the infancy so famlliarly with Reuelations, but a greater Loue when the is Reuelations are vpon record, that posterities might haue recourse vnto them, to iudge of Re­uelation and decerne of Spirits, by So it is written.

No maruell therefore though writing the Law made the Diuell so madde, that he set the people a madding vpon a Calfe, hoping by that stratagem to put their Captaine Mo­ses into some zealous fury, that he would breake the tables or doe some mischeefe to the written Law: It stung the Serpent that Gods Law should be written in tables of stone to continue, that from time to time it might discouer all falfe Oracles, and keepe the verity of God entire from his vnwritten vanities.

2. A great Benefit to haue the Law written,2 Magnum beneficium: but greater fauour that Comments also of Moses and the Prophets to­gether with their Prophesies and the Mysteries of saluati­on giuen by diuine inspiration should bee committed to [Page 114]writing, that Christ in his person might confirme his A­postles, as heere with So it is written, and that the Apostles vpon the same testimony might preach the same Gospell to all nations, beginning at Ierusalem.

3.3. Magna misericor­dia. But of all mercies this the greatest, that to Moses and the Prophets are added Christ and the Apostles, that all things needefull to saluation bee now perfected, exactly written, admirably preserued, sealed vp with a curse in the end of the booke to any that shall adde or diminish: whe­ther of the sect of Montanus or Seruetus, or any fantasticke spirit of latter time that expects further Reuelation: or whether they that make the traditions of men or the voice of a Counsell equiualent, that is, of equall infallibili­tye with the Word written: this is so absolute it selfe and of it selfe, that Vincentius Lirinensis so approoued by our aduersaries doth auerre, Solus sufficit ad omnia satis superque: An absolute canon it is, but for what? for the mysteries of our saluation wrought by the death, and perfected by the resurrection of Christ: An absolute canon for prescript of all essentiall parts of Gods worship, and the directing of our soules to euerlasting life, for which It is written. Ioh: 20: 21.

But shall wee therefore from sufficiency of the written word require the proofe of all particulars without limita­tion? Doubtlesse vnder this pretence we may go too farre: Must yee haue a proofe out of Scripture, that the plague is not infectious or will yee not beleeue it? shall wee exact a prescription out of the word of God, How to build Churches for diuine seruice? or, How to shape decent garments for the Cleargie? shall the Scripture define in particular each cere­mony and circumstance any waies annexed or appertai­ning to externall Worship? shall the Preacher looke for spe­ciall direction out of Gods Book in what maner to branch his Text, to order his speech, to enforce the Argument for the best edifying of each particular auditory? shall the peo­ple waite till we can giue expresse charge out of this Booke when to sit, stand, or kneele at diuine Seruice? what euer is [Page 115]against the second Commandement, I feare this is against the third, for it takes Gods name in vaine, and stands not with the Maiesty of that word, written for matters of greater im­portance.

Vers. 13. The Apostle being to reforme abuses concerning Prai­er, and Prophesing in the Church of Corinth,1 Corin. 11. doth for some things referre himselfe to their owne discretion, iudge in your selues, is it comely? doth not nature it selfe teach? as if for decency in the Church common sence, or the light of reason could say somewhat: to which, if you adde the ge­neral direction of Scripture, may not the Church of Christ out of these grounds determine the particulars? Nature it selfe teacheth, that the most solemne act in euery kinde is most solemnely to bee performed, and religion teacheth what act of religion is most solemne, may not the Church then determine of particulars within the compasse of Ge­nerall rules of Scripture? Twas the sentence of that famous Oracle of Geneua in his comment vpon the same chapter, vers. the 2. where shewing the Apostle to speake de ijs quae pertinent ad ordinem & politiam, hee inferreth Scimus enim vnieuique ecclesiae liberum esse politiae formam inslituere sibi aptam & vtilem quia Dominus nihil certi prescripserit: wee know saith Caluin, he makes no Quere vpon it for matters of Order, we know that euery Church hath her liberty to institute a forme of gouernement fit and profitable for her selfe, because the Lord hath prescribed no certaine thing: Paul planteth, hee left Apollos to water: The Master buil­ders haue set vp Gods house, and haue left the fitting of the roomes by generall directions to the ouerseers of the building: The eye of the handmaid waites vpon the hand of her mistresse not so simple as to be pointed to euery par­ticular within compasse of discretion; no shee hath beene better brought vp then so, when shee was a childe, shee was taught as a child, but now she is stronger by the assistance of that spirit which leadeth her into all truth: pray we to God for that spirit of truth and sobriety vpon his Church, that shee may so carry her selfe in all her proceedings that still [Page 116]she haue an eye to God and his word, till hee haue mercy vpon her, and restore her to the Peace of Sion, and so wee come vnto the worke, So it is written.

THis is the generall application or vse which Christ makes of a Parable: a Parable standing betweene two other Parables: The prodigall Son immediately before The rich Glut­ton following after: This of the vn­iust Steward in the middest.

1. The Prodigall spent his porti­on, brought himselfe into misery, his misery brought him to humility, his humility found mercy, because he had a Father.

2. The Steward spent another mans goods: hauing warning to giue accompt, by wisdome preuented mise­rie, [Page 134]else had he beene turned out of all because hee was but his Master.

3. The Rich man had enough to spend, abused it, and himselfe, dropt of a sudden into hell, where the most louing father that euer was had no pitty on him: This is the very frame wherein these Parables thus placed by the Euange­lists were made for our instruction, that wee should not se­uer these three which the holy Ghost hath so ioyned to­gether. When men haue runne themselues out of breath in wickednesse, and wickednesse hath brought misery vp­on them, they get this Parable by the end: and while they are in the wine of their vanity, all religion and resolution is but to make vse of this one Parable: That when extremity and the feare of death is at hand, then they purpose to goe to their Father, and say; Father I haue sinned against heauen and against thee, and thinke the Father must needes heare them because of this Parable: Therefore Christ annexed this second Parable of the vniust Steward, who if hee had stayd till misery had seized vpon him, as the Prodigall did, he had been turned out of all, and should haue had neither house nor tabernacle wherein to put his head.

Verse 3. His wisdome is heere commended vnto vs: That wee would call our selues to accompt before hand, take vp his Quid faciam, what shall I doe? I shall bee turned out of my Stewardship. I wote not how soone, may bee to night be­fore to morrow: Christ, was borne (Beloued) in an Inne, that Christians might accompt houses Innes, heere to day, and gone to morrow: The holy Ghost hath euer taught to reckon our life by dayes and not by yeeres, as one did in the twelfth chapter,Cap. 12.19. for many yeeres: but not only accomp­ted a foole for so reckoning, but his many yeeres were con­tracted into a peece of a day, Stulte hac nocte: To day then if we heare his voyce, let vs not harden our hearts, but eue­ry one reckon with himselfe, Quid faciam? Thus and thus haue I spent my time, strength, wealth, powers and facul­ties of soule and body, not so much to the honour of my Lord and Master, as to satisfie my humour, and giue my [Page 135]selfe content, if mine accompt bee taker. I cannot answer one of a thousand. Thus to cast, and neuer leaue casting till we come to his Scio quid facians? his resolution,Verse 4. I know what, He take another course then bitherto, Ile forsake my darling sinnes and naile them to the Crosse, Ile crucifie my sweetest affections by true repentance, Ile doe my poore endeauour while I liue to doe good, Ile get mee friends by Gods blessing, and such friends as may stand mee in stead when I neede. This is Christs aduice. But wee are yet taking of the frame wherein my Text stands according to the olde rule, Vide quid supra, vide quid infra. This Steward for all his wisdom in one point of wisdome was defectiue, in that he deferred his resolution till his Master had giuen him warning, Giue an accompt of thy stewardship, Verse" 2. for thou must be no longer Steward: for if wee deferre our reckoning till sicknesse, or some other Messenger of death arrest vs, it may be we shall want either Time or Power to prouide for our soules: Therefore followes the third Parable of one that fared deliciousty euery day: had no admonition before,Verse 19. nei­ther misery to bring him home, nor warning to prepare himselfe, but died suddenly and went to the Diuell: feare­full examples wee haue euery yeere, of some that are snat­ched away by sudden death, Qui in momento descendunt in Infernum, take the easiest translation, which in a moment doe descend downe into the graue: Thus is the King of Heauen, a Father to one, a Master to another, but a iust Iudge to the third. To the penitent Conuerts a louing & mercifull father, as to the prodigall Sonne, more ready to receiue vs then we to offer our selues, Ile goe to my Father, sayes the Sonne, the Father ranne to meet him, the young man goes, the olde man runnes; runnes and fals vpon his necke and kisses him. But if this tenderly and fatherly affe­ction be abused, and ouermuch presumed on, then the se­cond Parable makes him a Master that will call vs roundly to accompt, and bid vs giue ouer our Stewardships: and if the seruant of that Master deferre, will not beleeue Moses and the Prophets, but say his Master will bee long a com­ming, [Page 136]then the Master of that seruant shall come in an houre, when he lookes not, and giue him his portion with the rich Glutton and Hypocrites. Therefore it is good to bee wise in time, and rather then faile, to learne wisdome from the children of this world, Vers. 8. who are wiser in their generati­ons then the children of light: if they will not learne righte­ousnesse from vs, yet we must learne wisdome from them, innocency from Doues, and wisdome from Serpents.

It was none of the honestest resolution this Steward made, though the wisest: when he had spent all, he was too idle to worke, fodere nescio, I cannot digge, I was neuer brought vp to take paines; hee was too proud to beg, men­dicare erubesco, I that haue liued so gallantly amongst my companions am ashamed to begge, so in the end hee re­solues to rob his Master: a wicked resolution, yet out of this wickednesse doth Christ teach vs to extract wisdome.

Wisdome in three poynts.

• 1. To prouide for our selues by making vs friends, one great poynt of wisdome in making good choyce.
• 2. To vse the best means to get them: Vnrighteous Māmon.
• 3. The End, sapient is est ordinare in finem, that when wee want, they may receiue vs into euerlasting habitations: of these three (by your honorable and gentle patience) as God shall assist me, and my strength with the time permit.

Make you friends] Friends enough no doubt so long as Mammon is our friend, multos numerabis amicos, but such friends as Iob in his sixt chapter complaines of, like the brookes by which the Marchants doe trauell vnto Teman, Iob 6.16. frozen in winter, and dryed vp in summer, in the time of raine they ouerflow,Iob 6.17. surely (sayes Iob) you are euen like vnto it: Iob 6.20. In my prosperity you were mine only friends, when I had no neede of you, when I had showers of blessings from aboue, you ouerflowed in kindnesse, but in miserie and drought, when I haue most neede of refreshing, you adde affliction to affliction. But we must make such friends as will bee sure to helpe when wee shall want, such as shall bee both willing and able to helpe: where shall wee [Page 137]finde them? where, but amongst the great and mighty ones of the world? surely the holy Ghost meanes not such friends: for, Put not your trust in Princes, nor in any sonne of man, for there is no helpe in him: his breath departeth, hee tur­neth to the earth, & then all his thoghts perish. He had thought to haue promoted his fauourites, and made his followers great: He thought vpon me amongst the rest, for I studied his humours, and applyed my selfe vnto him, but his breath departs, he turnes to the dust, and all these thoughts perish: Nay, these great ones are as the flowers of the field, which commonly fall before the common grasse: All flesh is grasse (sayth the Prophet Esay) but the Word of the Lord endures for euer: Esa. 40.8. let vs then come to that Oracle to know the best friends.

Vers. 14. Christ who is the Word it selfe makes it plain: The friends he would commend vnto vs are poore and needy, if wee can bribe those well, they will stand vs in better steede in the time of need, then all Iudges and Princes of the world: Poore and needy? alas these are but poore friends: This seemed such a Paradox to the Pharisies when Christ spake it, that they mocked: whose laughter, as I take it, was the occasion of the third Parable: Doe yee thinke it bootlesse to make the poore your friends? There was a rich man in scarlet, a begger at his gate, had not hee better haue made this begger his friend, a few crummes would haue done it in time, hee neglected this, therefore when hee wanted a drop of water, hee could not obtaine it: not because the poore are able of themselues to bee friends, but God doth vndertake for them, hee hath giuen his word for euery worke of charity, whether it be a worke of Piety or of Mer­cy, of Piety to his Church, or of Mercy to the miserable, we haue bountifull rewards promised for both.

1. He that giueth to the poore, lendeth to the Lord, Prou. 9.17. and the Lord will recompence him: Christ a greater then Salomon pawnd his word, Matth 19.Mat. 19.21 Thou shalt haue treasures in heauen: Theres for Mercy.

2. For Piety, Matth. the 10.Mat. 10.41 He that receiues a Prophet [Page 138]in the name of a Prophet, shall haue a Prophets reward, like the Shunamitish woman,2 Kin. 4.10. which perswaded her husband to prouide a chamber and some furniture for the Prophet.

Its a worke of piety well begun in this place: Was it not pitty that the poore schollers should be fetcht from the Vniuersities vpon bare exhibitions? That Ministers should be called out of the Countrey from such poore single Be­nefices to feed your soules, and haue no more refreshing for their paines, but a poore dinner? Its remembred that some haue come aboue forty miles on foot to furnish this place, yet could they not say, Quam speciosi, but quam lutosi sunt pedes Euangelizantium: Should themselues haue com­plained who were ashamed to be so knowen? then it would be sayd, we begge for our selues: Thankes be to God, the world is somewhat amended in this, I would it were so in the rest: Its no small encouragement that what good soe­uer wee doe, whether it bee by workes of Piety to the Church, or of mercy to the miserable, shall not goe vnre warded.

Get you friends] but what is the way to make them sure friends? the shauing of the head and paring of the nailes? I may say with the Poet.

Blessed is that man that considereth the poore and needy, Psal. 41.1. that doth study and consider how hee may doe the best good: wee may learne fiue precepts from this vniust Steward.

1.Verse 5. He called his Masters debtors, and stayd not till they called him: Abraham and Lot are sayd to sit in the doore of the Tent, to call in strangers, they needed not to knocke: commonly they that craue the least haue the most neede: Cast thy bread vpon the waters, saith Salomon, but especially vpon the standing waters, saith a Father, the running wa­ters will shift for themselues, they that abide in their places are like standing waters most subiect to putrefaction.

2. That he did, hee did it quickly, hee called them and bad them first set downe quickly: Bis dat qui citò dat, vt hi­larem ita celerem datorem diligit Deus, Verse 6. Expedition as well as cheerefulnes.

3. The extent is, he called euery one of his Masters deb­ters, wee must not heape all our liberality vpon one,Verse 5. but so contriue it, that it may extend to many, Aliud est dare pauperibus, aliud ditare pauperem: dispersit, dedit pauperibus, Psa. 112.9 in the Psalm, there must be a distribution, & then all is well.

4. As hee called euery one, so hee dealt bountifully, for which wee haue no certaine rule, because charity is not cut by a thred as Iustice, but onely in generall.

• 1. That it bee proportionable to our ability:
  1 Cor. 8.12.
  according to that which a man hath.
• 2. That it be a good proportion,
  2 Cor 9 2.
  for hee that soweth spa­ringly, shall reape sparingly.

5. Though he was bountifull to all,Verse 6.7. yet with discretion and difference, fifty to one, and twenty to another, the most to those who were most likely to helpe, Doe good to all, but especially to those of the houshold of faith: helpe the most. If then wee first haue a willing minde in casting with our selues how to doe good before we be called to it: If we di­spatch it quickly, and neither leaue it for our executors to do, not let it hang long betwixt our fingers: If we contriue it so as it extend to many: If to many generations, if boun­tifull to successions as our fore-fathers were, so much the better: If in wisdome wee giue most, where the best be­stowed; then shall wee deale wisely, and make our friends sure against the time of neede. I come to the Instrument, [...], of vnrighteous Mammon: And so much for the first.

2. Ile not straine at the word,Aug. serm. in ment. Ier. 151. Ep Augustine tels vs that in the Punique tongue it is taken for lucre: S. Ierom in the Syri­ack for riches, so the word is common for wealth. But how comes this Epithite vnrighteous in this place? may we pro­cure these friends by ill gotten goods? God is not pleased with such sacrifice, you know Zaccheus his diuision, Luc. 19. Halfe my goods I giue vnto the poore, Luc. 19.8. and if I haue wron­ged any man, I restore it fourefold. Restituit aliena, dedit sua, he restored other mens and gaue his owne. In the fourth to the Ephesians, Let him that steales, steale no more, but let [Page 140]him labour with his hands that he may haue an hand to giue, as if before he had nothing to giue, because nothing well got­ten: That's giuen to the poore is giuen to mee, saith Christ, shall we then make Christ a receiuer of stolne goods? God forbid: yet one case there is I confesse where ill-gotten goods must be bestowed vpon good vses of necessity, else they will bestow our soules in hell fire: Its but one case, and I feare that it is the case of many in these dayes, who possesse much wealth ill-gotten, who haue deceiued so many by bargaine and sale, oppressed so many by their place and office, receiued so many fees either for saying no­thing, or doing no hurt, as the Diuell takes gifts of the In­dians ne noceat, so much wealth haue they gotten wrongful­ly, that they know not the right owners, nor where to find them. In this case they must be their Executors to bestow them as themselues would, or rather should to godly vses. For thy conscience tels thee, the owners of these goods, would not willingly bequeath them to thee nor thine, thou knowest neither them nor theirs: then it followes as a Fa­ther sayes, Acquisisti malè, impende iam benè: whosoeuer oweth them, thou art not the right owner, therfore as long as thou keepest them, thou keepest the curse of God with thē, Esa. 3 14. Till thou disburden thy selfe of them, thou canst looke for no certaine remission in Christ: For his blood was not shed to pay mens debts: If they bee able, restitution must be made besides the Ramme for attonement in the 5. of Numbers.Numb. 5.7. It cannot be made to them nor their heires, because thou knowest them not, therefore they must goe to good vses; thou hast gotten them ill, bestow them well.

This doctrine is most true, but it is not the meaning of this Parable: Restitution is an act of Iustice, but my Text intends Charity: If the Steward had giuen the Debters no more corne and oyle then their due, they would neuer haue receiued him into their houses, but it was out of boun­ty and liberality more then hee ought them, therefore of free liberality is this vnderstood: for the more easie passage Beza reades it ex Mammona fallaci, of deceitfull or vncon­stant [Page 141]Mammon, which will fit riches well enough, but it cannot so well stand, neither with the receiued vse nor pro­perty of the word [...], nor with the current of Inter­preters, who tearme it vnrighteousnesse, because common­ly it is so, [...], will make an Epithite.

For 1. The holy Ghost in Scripture doth speake very suspiciously of riches and rich men, and the Latines call them diuitiae, quasi de vitijs, riches of vices.

Diues, aut iniquus, aut iniqui haeres: a rich man is a wic­ked man, or a wicked mans heire: true as prouerbs bee for the most part.

2. As they be often malè parta, so malè locata, ill gotten and ill bestowed: the world is a bad steward in dispensing worldly wealth, tam iniquè comparatum est, vt qui minùs ha­bent semper aliquid addant diuitioribus, so little equality, or desert is respected, as the heathen mades the goods of for­tune to haue a blinde Mistrisse.

3. Because wealth is an instrument of much iniquity, it peruerts Iustice wheresoeuer it comes: Diues est qui per­turbat omnia: Ezra 4.5. In Cyrus Court the Councellours shall bee feed that the building of the Temple shall not goe for­ward: In the seats of Iustice, if Paul would but haue sayd tantum dabo to Foelix, Act. 24.24 there would haue beene more vertue in these two words, then in all Tertullus eloquence: Simon Magus trusted more to his Māmon then all his Familiars,Act. 8.19. he thought there was more power in money, then all the Diuels in hell, to haue coniured the Apostles themselues.

4. It is called vnrighteous Mammon, ab effectu, it en­dangers the soule of the possessors, Vt mors pallida, sic iniquae diuitiae, quia diuites iniquos faciunt.

There is as great danger in the multitude of those tem­porall blessings, as there was in the multitude of fish,Ioh. 21.6. Ioh. 21. for if Christ had not seconded their great draught with di­uine helpe, they had broke the nets, sunke the ships, and and lost their liues. So when Christ tels his Disciples, how hard it is for rich men to get into heauen, and they reply, [Page 142] who then shall be saued? Iuc. 18.27. In the 18. of Luke Christs answer is: The things that be impossible to men, are possible vn­to God,Mat. 19.20 All things are possible to God, Matth. 19. as if God did vse his omnipotent power to bring a rich man into heauen:1 Tim. 6.9 The reason is giuen in the 1. of Timothy the 6. They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares: imagine an house full of cobwebs, euery cobweb with a spider in a corner, what danger think you are the poore flies in it, that flie so busily vp and downe that house? so when men busie themselues vp and down to get wealth in this world, which hangs so full of nets, totus mundus laqueus, euery net hath a Diuell like a spider in a corner which sucketh out all good­nesse and grace. In so great danger are we by getting wealth to poyson our soules, that it may well be called vnrighteous Mammon. Therfore doth Christ teach how to make friends of this dangerous enemy, to make treakle of vipers flesh, to make a box of precious oyntment to annoynt the feet of our blessed Sauiour: those surbated feet which tred vp­on the earth naked and miserable, that when we shall want they may receiue vs into euerlasting habitations: that third and last branch of my Text being the end and motiue to good workes.

3. This last end is a motiue to any good worke, answe­ring 3. Quaeres.

• 1. Cui bono? What good of well doing? Euerlasting habitations, a royall reward.
• 2. But when? When we shall stand in greatest need, want.
• 3. By whose meanes? They shall receiue you: They.

1.Prou. 23.5. First, Prouerbs 23. Riches take wings as Eagles, and flie into heauen. If they flie thither, let them flie. There neither rust nor moth doth corrupt: there theeues doe not breake thorow and steale. Quod non dederis, aut vivus amittis, aut mortuus dimittis. That which is not giuen, is either lost while wee liue, or left when we die: but that which is giuen, is as seed sowne; it increaseth an hundred-fold: Panis frangendo crescit. Its like the bread broken to the hungry multitude: [Page 143]It multiplieth not vnto bread that perisheth, but vnto euer­lasting life.

But shall good workes purchase heauen? Not by the vertue of the workes; they be but the fruits of charitie; nor by the vertue of charitie, thats but the fruit of faith; nor by the vertue of faith, thats but an instrument to apprehend Christ, who alone by his merits hath made this purchase, and prepared these mansions for vs.

By faith in Christ we are iustified before God, and made heires of these euerlasting habitations; our faith iustified to our selues to be a liuely faith by charitie in our hearts, which to vs is a more sensible qualitie then faith. Our cha­ritie is iustified before the world by workes, which to the world are visible, and more apparent then charitie. Our workes shall be iustified before men and Angels by our re­ward, if they proceed from true charitie and faith in Christ.

So then wee are adopted sonnes of God, and made In­habitants of heauen only by Iesus Christ: wee are iustified by faith in Christ, we are sanctified by charitie from faith, charitie shed in our hearts by the holy Ghost, wee shall bee glorified by the workes of charitie, and wee are enabled to these workes by the riches of iniquitie.

Thus worme-eaten Mammon may procure vs an incor­ruptible crowne, by being an instrument of those Good Workes, which are fruits of that tree of Charitie, which springeth from that root of Faith, which groweth in our hearts from that seed of the Word, which reuealeth vnto vs that Sauiour of the World, who is the onely author of all these blessings and graces.

But when shall wee enioy these blessings? When we shall stand in greatest need, when we shall be turned out of our Stewardship; for we are but Stewards, nothing that we haue is our owne.

1. Because wee must part with it. Si vestra sunt, tollite vobiscum. Wee brought nothing into this world, neither may wee carry any thing out of this world.

2. Because wee must giue account how we spend them. [Page 144] May not I doe with mine owne what I list? Mat. 20.15 Matt. 20. There­fore not ours. Saepiùs risi testamenta legum dieentia, Hic ha­bebit agrorum vsum, ille dominium. Chrysostome was wont to smile when he read mens Wils; Such shall haue the vse, such the Lordship, such for a time, and such the fee simple. Terra Domini est & plenitudo eius: We are but Tenants, or rather Stewards at will.

Pardon mee (honourable Lords) though I count you but Stewards: you are no more, and wee are no lesse. The Parable extends to all: Euery one hath a portion for which he must answer, and out of which he must be turned. Ei­ther the birth-right of Reuben, or the gouernment of Iuda, or the iudgement-seat of Dan, or the eloquence of Neph­thali, or the rich blessings of Ioseph, or the pleasures of As­ser, or the strong bones of Isachar: Either wealth, or wit, or strength of body, or authoritie, or portion, or other things; which if wee imploy to the honour of our Lord and Master, we may gaine a Kingdome by it when wee want: and that want shall be at the houre of death: Then shall wee want euery thing, when wee shall haue nothing. Our friends will leaue vs because they cannot helpe vs: per­haps they will shed a few funerall teares after our corpse; they will stand you in no stead if you would: theres no wa­ter sooner dried. Happily you haue a stately Tombe ouer your dead bones, Picta domus coeco: or some few words in your commendation, Philomela surdo. Then shall we want indeed, when wee shall haue neither wealth to releeue vs, nor friends to comfort vs, nor so much as these earthly Ta­bernacles to shelter our soules, but poore soules shall bee turned out of house and home. Then happy shall they bee who shall be receiued into those euerlasting habitations.

But who shall receiue vs? Shall the poore? Can they bestow mansions? Much adoe to get places themselues. Christ shall say at the last day,Mat. 25.35 Matt. 25. I was hungry, &c. In as much as yee did it to one of those, yee did it vnto mee. As Christ therefore is said to receiue these almes on earth which the poore receiue and not he, so the poore in heauen [Page 145]are said to receiue vs into euerlasting habitations, which Christ shall bestow, and not they. Doth not Christ tell his Apostles, They shall sit on twelue seats, Mat. 19.28 iudging the twelue Tribes of Israel? Doth not S. Paul tell the Saints, that they shall iudge the world, yea the Angels? Conceiue that,1 Cor. 6.3. and vnderstand this, that those poore soules to whom you haue done any good in the name of Good, either by your wealth, or counsell, or any comfort whatsoeuer, that all these shall testifie what you haue done, before the eternall Iudge, and approue that sentence which shall crowne you with glory.

Can you imagine how the Queene of Saba and the men of Niniue shall rise vp at the day of iudgement, and con­demne the Iewes, Matth. 12. So shall the men, women,Mat. 12.41 and children of your Hospitals rise vp and testifie, Sweet Iesus, had it not beene for these and these benefactors, wee had perished for want. Then shall a multitude of poore Schollers rise vp and testifie, Sweet Iesus, had it not beene for these and these, we had neuer beene enabled to preach thy Gospell, or enlarge thy kingdome. Then shall Iesus say, Come yee blessed of my Father, receiue the Kingdome pre­pared for you from the beginning of the world. As Paul, and Sil­uanus, and Timotheus, said to the Thessalonians, in the first Epistle, and the first chapter, You are our hope, our ioy, our crowne of reioycing in the presence of the Lord Iesus Christ at his comming, 1 Thess. 1.19 because the Thessalonians would then testifie how these had laboured in the Gospel for the good of their soules: so may euery one of you (right honourable and welbeloued) say of all those to whom you haue done good in the name of good, You are our crowne in the day of the Lord Iesus, because those shall testifie your good workes before men and Angels, and iustifie that sentence which shall re­ceiue you into euerlasting habitations.

Christs counsell then is good, That wee make friends of poore Saints with vnrighteous Mammon. But how shall wee know the poore Saints from others? As all rich goe not to hell, so neither shall all poore be Saints in heauen. Blessed [Page 146]are the poore in spirit, for theirs is the kingdome of heauen. If then thou be poore and proud, poore and enuious, poore and murmuring, poore and malicious, that Kingdome be­longs not to thee. But our rule in doing good must bee a rule both of wisdome and charitie; of wisdome, in making good choice of the parties; of charitie, in deeming and ho­ping the best of them. If wee be deceiued in our choice, that shall not preiudice our good deed: Charitatis error sa­lutaris est, Eccles. 29.12. wee seldome sinne in charitie. Claude eleemosy­nam in sinu pauperis, & ipsa orabit prote. Admit their praiers whom thou hast releeued be not acceptable to God, yet as Abels bloud did crie for vengeance against Cain, so the Almes deeds themselues shall goe vp into the presence of God for Cornelius, Act. 10.4. Act. 10.4.

To conclude: See the wisdome and goodnesse of our God, who hath opened the gates of heauen both for poore and rich, that the poore by pouertie, and the rich by wealth may attaine a kingdome. Art thou poore? Hee that wore a crowne of thornes for thee, hath taught thee, of thornes and tribulations to make a crowne of glory. Art thou rich? He that is Lord of heauen and earth hath taught thee in this Parable by wealth to attaine an eternall Tabernacle: So as poore and rich, one by suffering, the other by doing well, may meet at the last day with rich Abraham and poore Lazarus in the Kingdome of glory. To which Kingdome the God of all righteousnesse bring vs for his Sonnes sake: To whom with the blessed Spi­rit, three persons and one euerlasting and only wise God, be all honour and praise both now and for euer. Amen.