ALL Lent is Easter Eue; And though the Eue be a Fasting day, yet the Eue is halfe-holiday too. God, by our Ministery, would so exercise you in a spirituall Fast, in a sober consideration of sinne, and the sad Consequences thereof, as that in the Eue you might see the holy day; in the Lent, your Easter; in the sight of your sinnes, the cheerefulnesse of his good will towards you. Nay, in this Text, hee giues you your Easter before Lent, your Holyday before the Eue; For first he rayses you to the sense of his goodnesse, Thus sayth the Lord, where is the bill of your mothers Diuorcement, whom I haue put away, Or which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you? And then, and not till then, he sinkes you, to the sence of your sinnes, and the dangers of them, Behold, for your iniquities you are sold, and for your transgressions, your Mother is put away. And this Raising, and this Sinking, are his Corks, and his Leads, by which God enables vs, whom hee hath made Fishers of Men, to cast out his nets, and draw in your soules.

Haec dicit Dominus, Thus saith the Lord, sayes our Prophet here; And, Semel locutus Deus, duo haec audini, Psalm. 62.12 sayes the Prophet Dauid, Once spake the Lord, and twice haue I heard him; In one speach of the Lords, two instructions, in one peece of his Word, two directions. Thus saith the Lord, where is the Bill, &c. And in these words, some heare him once, some heare him say, That how desperate soeuer our case be, how irremediable soeuer our state, we our selfes, and not God, are the cause of that desperate irremediablenesse; some heare him twice, some heare him say, There is no such matter, there is no such peremptory Diuorce, there is no such absolute sale, there is no such desperate irremediablenes declard to any particular conscience, as is imagind, but you, any, may returne to me, when you will, and I will receiue you. Some Expositors thinke they haue gone farre inough, when they haue raysed that sense, God is no cause of our perishing, though wee must perish, Others, (and fairely) carry it thus much farther, There is no necessitie that any Man, any this or that Man should perish. Some determine it in this, It is true, your Damnation is vnauoydable, but you must blame your selfes, Some extend it to this, There is no such avoidablenes in your damnation, and therefore you may comfort your selues, Once hath the Lord spoken, and twice doe we heare him; we heare him once speaking for his owne honour, Hee does not damne vs, if wee bee damned, And wee heare him againe speaking for our comfort, we need not be damnd at all. And therefore, as God hath opened himselfe to vs, both wayes, let vs open both eares to him, and from one Text receiue both Doctrines.

Diuisio. You may apprehend the parts easily, and as easily comprehend them; They are few, and plaine, & of things agreed by all; But two; Those, these; Gods dischardge, and Mans Dischardge; Gods dischardge from all imputation of tyranny, Behold, for your sinnes you are sold, and for your transgressions your Mother is put away. And then Mans dischardge from the necessitie of perishing, Vbi iste libellus, Where is the Bill of your mothers diuorcement, whom I haue put away, Or which of my Creditors is it, to whom I haue sold you? I might iustly haue done both, and left you without iust cause of complaint, but yet I haue not done it; looke to your Bill of Diuorce, and looke to your bill of sale, and you will find the case to be otherwise. In each of these two parts, there will be some particular branches; In the first, which is Gods discharge, first the Ecce, Behold, Behold this and this will fall vpon you; first there is a light showd, there is a warning afforded, of those calamities, that will follow, God begins not at Iudgement, but at Mercie. That Mercy being despisd, It will come to a selling away, venditi estis, you are sold, And it will come to a putting away, Dimissa est, your Mother is put away; For God may sell vs to punishments for sinne, that when the measure of our sinne is full, he shall emptie the measure of this Iudgements vpon vs, And God may sell vs to sinnes for punishments, God may make future sinnes, the punishments of former. And here may be a Diuorce, a putting away, out of Gods sight and seruice, in any particular soule, and there may be a putting away of your Mother, a withdrawing of Gods spirit from that Church, to whose breasts hee hath applied you. But if all this be done, it is not done out of any tyrannicall wantonnesse in God, for, For your iniquities you are sold, and for your transgressions is your Mother put away: So God is fully dischargd in the first part; But, least in the second it should lye heauy vpon Man, (for, howsoeuer God be dischargd, He does not kill me, though I dy, it is but poore comfort to me, if I must dye, to be told that I haue killd my selfe) God tells me here, there is no such necessitie, I need not dye; show the bill of Diuorce, sayes he, which makes your case so desperate, and see if I haue not left you wayes of returning to me, show the bill of Sale, which makes your state so irrecouerable, and see if I haue not left my selfe wayes of redeeming you. And in these few branches, of these two parts, I shall exercise your Deuotion, and holy patience, at this time.

Part. 1.First then, for the first branch of the first part, the Ecce, Ecce. Behold this will fall vpon you, Vpon those words of Dauid, Ecce intenderunt, Ecce parauerunt, Behold the wicked haue bent ther bow, Psal. 11.2. and Behold they haue made ready their arrow, Origen saies, Origen. Ecce antequam vulneremur, monemur, Before our Enemies hit vs, God giues vs warning, that they meane to doe so. When God himselfe is so far incensd against vs, That he is turned to be our enemy, and to fight against vs, (It was come to that,Esay 63, 10 in this Prophet) when he hath bent his how against vs, as an Enemy, (It was come to that in the Prophet Ieremy)Lam. 2.4. yet still he giues vs warning before hand, and still there comes a lightning before his thunder: God comes seldome to that dispatch, a word and a blow, but to a blow without a word, to an execution without a warning, neuer. Cain tooke offence at his brother Abel; The quarrell was Gods, because he had accepted Abels Sacrifice; Therefore God ioynes himselfe to Abels partie; and so the party being too strong for Cain to subsist, GOD would not surprise Cain, but he tells him his danger, Why is thy Countenance cast downe; Gen 4.10. If thou doest not well, sinne lyes at thy dore: you may proceed if you will, but if you will needs, you will loose by it at last. Saul persecutes Christ in the Christians; Christ meets him vpon the way, speakes to him, strikes him to the ground, telles him vocally, and tels him actually, That he hath vndertaken too hard a worke, in opposing him: This which GOD did to Saul reduces him; that which God did to Cain, wrought not vpon him; but still GOD went his owne way in both, to speake before hee strikes, to lighten before he thunders, to warne before he wounds. In Dathan and Abirams case,Numb. 16. God may seeme to proceede apace towards Execution, but yet it had all these pauses in arrest of iudgement, & these reprieues before Execution. First, when Moses had information & evidence of their factious Proceeding,vers. 4. hee falls not vpon them, but he falls vpon his face before GOD, and laments, and deprecates in their behalfe. Hee calls them to a faire tryall, verse 5. and examination, the next day, To morrow the Lord will show, who are his, and are holy; And they sayd,verse 12. we will not come; And againe,verse 14. (which implies that Moses cited them againe) we will not come. Then GOD, vpon their contumacy, when they would stand mute, and not plead, takes a resolution,verse 21 to consume them, in a Moment; And then, Moses & Aaron returne to petition for thē, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, verse 25 shall one Man sinne, and wilt thou bee wroth with the whole Congregation; And Moses went vp to them againe, And the Elders of Israel followed, and all preuaild not: And then Moses comes to pronounce Iudgement, verse 29. These men shall not dye a common death, and after, and yet not presently after that he gaue iudgement, Execution followd, The earth opened and swallowd them:verse 31 but God begun not there; God opened his Mouth, and Moses his, and Aaron his, and the Elders theirs, before the Earth opened hers. It is our case in the Text; For, whether this Iudgement wrapt vp in the text, This selling away, and this putting away, haue relation to the Captiuitie of the Iewes in Babylon, before Christ, or to the Dispertion of the Iewes since Christ, (some Expositors take it one, some the other way) still it is of a future thing: The Prophecie came before the Calamitie, whersoeuer you pitch it; wheresoeuer you pitch it, stil there was a lightning before the thunder, a word before the blow, a warning before the wound. In which, as we see, that God alwaies leaues a latitude, between his Sentence, and the Execution, (for that Interim, is Sphaera actiuitatis, the Spheare, in which our Repentance and his Mercy moue, and direct themselues in a benigne aspect, towards one another, so where this repentance is deferd, and this Mercie neglected, the execution is so certaine, so infallible, as that, though this in the Text, be intended for a future Iudgement, a future Captiuitie, a future Dispersion, yet in the Text it is presented as present, nay, more then so, as past, and executed alreadie; it is venditi estis, you are sold, sold alreadie, and Dimissa Mater, your Mother is put away, put away already. All gathers and con-centers it selfe in this, Gods Iudgements and executions are not sodaine, there is alwayes roome for Repentance, and Mercie, but his iudgements and Executions are certaine, there is no roome for Presumption nor Collusion.

Venditi ab Adam. To pursue then the Holy Ghosts two Metaphors, of selling away, and putting away, First, venditi estis, sayes our Prophet to the Iewes, and to all, Behold, you are sold; And so they were; sold thrice ouer; sold by Adam first; sold by themselues euery day; and at last, sold by God. For the first generall sale by Adam, wee complaine now, that Land will not sell; that 20. is come to 15. yeares purchase; but doe wee not take too late a Medium, too low a time to reckon by? How cheape was Land at first, how cheape were we? what was Paradise sold for? What was Heauen, what was Mankinde sold for? Immortalitie was sold and what yeares Purchase was that worth? Immortalitie is our Eternitie; God hath another manner of eternitie in him; He hath a whole eternall day; an eternall afternoone, and an eternall forenoone too; for as he shall haue no end, so hee neuer had beginning; we haue an eternall afternoone in our immortalitie; we shall no more see an end, then God hath seene a beginning; and Millions of yeares, multiplied by Millions, make not vp a Minute to this Eternitie, this Immortalitie. When Diues values a droppe of water at so high a price, what would he giue for a Riuer? How poore a Clod of of Earth is a Mannor? how poore an inch, a Shire? how poore a spanne, a Kingdome? how poore a pace, the whole World? and yet how prodigally we sell Paradise, Heauen, Soules, Consciences, Immortalitie, Eternitie, for a few Graines of this Dust? What had Eue for Heauen; so little, as that the Holy Ghost wil not let vs know, what she had, not what kinde of Fruite; yet something Eue had. What had Adam for Heauen? but a satisfaction that hee had pleasd an Ill wife, as St. Hierome states his fault, that he eate that Fruite, Ne contristaretur Delicias suas, least he should cast her, whom he lou'd so much, into an inordinate deiection; but if he satisfied her, and his owne Vxoriousnesse, any satisfaction is not nothing. But what had I for Heauen? Adam sinnd, and I suffer; I forfeited before I had any Possession, or could claime any Interest; I had a Punishment, before I had a being, And God was displeased with me before I was I; I was built vp scarse 50. years ago, in my Mothers womb, & I was cast down, almost 6000. years agoe, in Adams loynes; I was borne in the last Age of the world, and dyed in the first. How & how iustly do we cry out against a Man, that hath sold a Towne, or sold an Army. And Adam sold the World. He sold Abraham, and Isaac and Iacob, and all the Patriarchs, and all the Prophets. He sold Peter, and Paul, and both their Regiments, both the glorious Hemispheres of the World, The Iewes, and the Gentiles. He sold Euangelists, and Apostles, and Disciples, and the Disciple whom the Lord loued, & the beloued Mother of the Lord, her selfe, say what they will to the contrary. And if Christ had not prouided for himfelfe, by a miraculous Generation, Adam had sold him: If Christ had bene conceiud in Originall sinne, hee must haue dyed for himselfe, nay, he could not haue dyed for himselfe, but must haue needed another Sauiour. It is in that Contemplation, as hee was descended from Adam, Rom. 7.14. that St. Paul sayes of himselfe, Venundatus, I am caruall, sold vnder sinne. For though St. Augustine, and some others of the Fathers, doe sometimes take the Apostle, in that place, to speake of himselfe, as in the person of a naturall Man, (that euery Man considerd in nature, is sold vnder sinne, but the Supernaturall, the Sanctified Man is not so) yet St. Augustine himselfe, in his latest, and grauest Bookes, and particularly in his Retractions, returnes to this sense of these words, That no man, in what measure soeuer Sanctified, can so emancipate himselfe from that Captiuitie, to which Adam hath enthralld him, but that, as hee is enwrapped in Originall sinne, hee is solde vnder sinne. And both S. Hierome, and S. Ambrose, (both which, seeme in other places, to goe an other way, That onely they are sold vnder sinne, which haue abandond, and prostituted themselues to particular sinnes,) doe yet returne to this sense, That because the Embers, the Spaune, the leauen of Origiginall sinne, remaines, by Adams sale, in the best, the best are sold vnder sinne.

A Nobis. So the Iewes were, and so were we sold by Adam, to Originall sinne, very cheape; but in the second sale, as wee are sold to actuall, and habituall sinnes, by our selues, cheaper;42.19. for so, sayes this Prophet, You haue sold your selues for nothing: Our selues, that is all our selues; or bodies to intemperance, and ryot, and licenciousnes, and our soules to a greedines of sinne; and all this for nothing, for sinne it selfe, for which wee sell our selues, is but a priuation, and priuations are nothing. Rom. 6 21. What fruit had you of those things, whereof you are now ashamed, sayes the Apostle; here is Barrennesse and shame; Barrennesse is a priuation of fruit, shame is a priuation of that confidence, which a good Conscience administers, and when the Apostle tells them, they sold themselues for barrennesse and shame, it was for priuations, for nothing. Iob. 24.15. The Adulterer waits for the twy-light, sayes Iob. The Twy-light comes, & serues his turne; and sin, to night looks like a Purchase, like a Treasure; but aske this sinner to morrow, and he hath sold himselfe for nothing; for debility in his limnes, for darkenesse in his vnderstanding, for emptinesse in his purse, for absence of grace in his Soule; and Debilitie, and Darkenes, and emptinesse, and Absence, are priuations, and priuations are nothing. All the name of Substance or Treasure that sinne takes, is that in the Apostle, The saurizastis Iram Dei, You haue treasurd vp the wrath of God, against the day of wrath: And this is a fearefull priuation, of the grace of God here, and of the Face of God hereafter; a priuation so much worse then nothing, as that they vpon whom it falls, would faine be nothing, and cannot.

A Deo. So then we were sold, so cheape by Adam, to Originall, and cheaper by our selues, to Actuall Sinne, but cheapest of all, when we come to be sold by God; For he giues vs away, casts vs away, deliuers vs ouer, to punishments for sinne, and to sin for punishment; God makes Sinne it selfe his executioner in vs, and future sinnes, are the punishments of former. Vendit paenis. As some Schoolemasters haue vsd that Discipline, to correct the Children of great Persons, whose personall correction they finde reason to forbeare, by correcting other Children in their names, and in their sight, and haue wrought vpon good Natures, that way, So did Almightie God correct the Iewes in the Aegyptians; for the ten plagues of Aegypt, were as Moses Decem Verba, as the ten Commandements to Israel, that they should not prouoke GOD. Euery Iudgement that falls vpon another, should be a Catechisme to me. But when this Discipline preuaild not vpon them, God sold them away, gaue them away, cast them away, in the tempest, in the whirlewinde, in the inundation of his indignation, and scatterd them as so much dust in a windy day, as so many broken strawes vpon a wrought Sea. With one word, One Fiat, (Let there bee a world,) nay with one thought of God cast toward it, (for Gods speaking in the Creation, was but a thinking,) God made all of Nothing. And is any one rationall Ant, (The wisest Phylosopher is no more) Is any roaring Lyon, (the most ambitious and deuouring Prince is no more) Is any hiue of Bees, (The wisest Councels, and Parliaments are no more) Is any of these so estabishd, as that, that God who by a word, by a thought, made them of nothing, cannot by recalling that word, and withdrawing that thought, in sequestring his Prouidence, reduce them to nothing againe? That Man, that Prince, that State thinks Past-board Canon-proofe, that thinkes Power, or Policy a Rampart, when the Ordinance of God is planted against it. Nauyes will not keepe off Nauies, if God be not the Pilot, Nor Walles keepe out Men, if God be not the Sentinell. If they could, if wee were walld with a Sea of fire and brimstone without, and walld with Brasse within, yet we cannot ciel the Heauens with a roofe of Brasse, but that God can come downe in Thunder that way, Nor paue the Earth with a floare of Brasse, but that God can come vp in Earthquakes that way. God can call vp Damps, & Vapors from below, and powre down putride defluxions from aboue, and bid them meet and condense into a plague, a plague that shall not be onely vncureable, vncontrollable, vnexorable, but vndisputable, vnexaminable, vnquestionable; A plague that shall not onely not admit a remedy, when it is come, but not giue a reason how it did come. If God had not set a marke vpon Cain, euery Man, any Man, any thing might haue killd him. Hee apprehended that of himselfe, and was afraid, when we know of none, by name, in the world, but his Father, and Mother: But, as Saint Heirome exalts this consideration, Cains owne Consciēnce tells him, Catharma sum, Anathema sum, I am the plague of the world, and I must dye, to deliuer it Catharma sum. I am a separated Vagabond, not an Anachorit shut vp betweene two walls, but shut out from all, Anathema sum. As long as the Cherubim, and the fiery Sword is at the Gate, Adam cannot returne to Paradise; as long as the Testimonies of GODS anger lye at the dore of the Conscience, no man can returne to peace there. If God sell away a Man, giue him away, giue way to him, by withdrawing his Prouidence, he shall but neede (as the Prophet sayes) Sibilare Muscam, to hisse, to whisper for the Fly, for the Bee, for the Hornet, for Forraigne Incumbrances; nay, hee shall not neede to hisse, to whisper for them; for at home, Locusts shall swarme in his Gardens, and Frogs in his bed-chamber, & hailstones, as big as talents, (as they are measured in the Reuelation) shall breake, as well the couerd, and the armd, as the bare, & naked head; as well the Mytred, and the Turband, & the crownd head, that lifts it selfe vp against GOD, lyes open to him, as his that must not put on his Hat, as his that hath no Hat to put on; when as that head, which being exalted here, submits itselfe to that GOD, that exalted it, GOD shall crowne, with multiplied crownes here, and hauing so crownd that head with Crownes here, hee shall crowne those crownes, with the Head of all, Christ Iesus, and all that is his, hereafter.

Vendit peccato. If God sell vs away to punishments for sinne, it is thus, but if God sell vs to sinne for punishment, it is worse. For, when God, by the Prophet, offered Dauid, his choise of three Executioners, warre, famine, and pestilence, if all these three had taken hold of him, it had not beene so heauy, as when God, had sold him ouer, giuen him away, into the hands of an Executioner in his owne bosome, The studying and the plotting of the prosecution of his sinne. When God made Murther, in the death of Vriah, his Bayliffe, to attach Dauid for his Adultery, And made Blasphemy, in the triumphant Armie of the Gentils, his Bayliffe, to attache Dauid for his Murther, And then made impenitence, and a long sencelesnes in his sinne, his Bayliffe to attach Dauid, for that blasphemy, then was Dauid sold, vnder a dangerous sub-hastation, then lay Dauid vnder a heauie Execution. Let me fall into the hands of God, and not of Man, sayes Dauid; Betweene God and Man, in this case, there may be some kinde of comparison, But would any sinner say, Let me fall into the hands of the Deuill, and not of Man, rather into more sins, then some punishments. Dauid himselfe could not conceiue a more vehement prayer and imprecation, vpon his, and his Gods Enemies,Psa. 69.27. then that, Add Iniquity to their Iniquity; Nor hath the Holy Ghost any where exprest a more vehement commination, then that vpon Ierusalem, (as the vulgat reades that place) Iniquitatem, Ezech 21.26. Iniquitatem, Iniquitatem ponam eam; Which is not Gods multiplying of punishments for sin, but his multiplying of sin it selfe vpon them, till he had made them all Iniquity, all sin. For this is, (in a great part) that which the Apostle calls, Gods giuing ouer to a reprobate sence; to mistake false, and miserable comforts for true comforts; to mollifie and asswage the anguish of one sinne, by doing another; to maintaine prodigality, by Vsury, or Extortion; to ouercome the inordinate deiections of spirit, with a false cheerefulnesse and encantation from strong drinke: In one word,Sap. 14.2 • . (as the wise man expresses it) to call great plagues peace; To smother sinne from the eye of the world, or to slumber the eye of our owne conscience from the sight of sinne, by interposing more sinnes. And farther, we carrie not this first Metaphor of the Holy Ghost, Venditi estis, You are sold, for, for the deeper impression, he presses it with another, Dimissa est, for your transgressions, your Mother is put away.

And here in the way, we consider first Dimissam animam, Dimissa anima. Gods putting away of the Daughter, of any particular soule. And his putting away of such a soule, is his leauing of that soule to it selfe; when God will not come so neere louing it, as to hate it, nor giue it so much peace, as to trouble it. For, as long as God punishes me, hee giues me Phisick; if he draw his knife, it is but to prune his Vine, and if hee draw blood, it is but to rectifie a distemper: If God breake my bones, it is but to set them strayter, And if hee bruse me in a Morter, it is but that I might exhale, and breath vp a sweet sauor, in his nosethrils: I am his handy-worke, and if one hand be vnder me, let the other lye as heauie, as he shall be pleased to lay it, vpon me; let God handle me how he will, so hee cast mee not out of his hands: I had rather God frownd vpon mee, then not looke vpon me; and I had rather God pursued mee, then left mee to my selfe. It is the heighth of his indignation,Esa. 1.5. O people laden with iniquity, why should ye be smitten any more? Why should I study your recouery any longer? Basil. Vox est animi non habentis in promptu, quid statuat, et desperantis salutem; When God sayes so, sayes S. Basil, he is as a Father who had tried all wayes to reduce his sonne, and fayld in all, and then leaues him to his owne desperate wayes; This is the worst that God doth say, (we may say, that God can say) which he sayes in Ezech. Auferam zelum, 16.42. My iealousie shall depart from thee, and I will he quiet, and be no more angry: God is most angry, when hee lets not vs know, that hee is so. And then, Refuse siluer shall men call thee, Ier. 6. • 0. because the Lord 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 hath reiected thee, sayes the Prophet; Though thou mayest haue some tincture of a precious mettall, fortune, power, valour, wisedome, yet Refuse siluer shalt thou be, and more, Refuse mettall shall men call thee, (for Men are often worse, then men dare call them) because the Lord hath reiected thee. Cain cryes our, that his punishment is greater then hee can beare; and whats the waight? This; From thy Face shall I be hid; It is not that GOD would not looke graciously vpon him, but that GOD would not looke at all vpon him. Infinite, and infinitely desperate are the effects of Gods putting away a soule; but we wait vpon the Holy Ghosts farther enlargement of this consideration, Dimissa Mater, for the Childrens transgressions, the Mother is put away.

Dimissa Mater. This Mother, is the Church; that Church, to whose breasts GOD hath applyed that Soule; and Gods putting away of this Mother, is (as it was in the Daughter) his leauing her to her selfe. So these imaginary Churches, that will receiue no light from Antiquitie, nor Primitiue formes, GOD leaues to themselues, and they crumble into Conuenticles: And that Church, which will needes be the Forme to all Churches, God leaues to her selfe, to her owne Traditions, and Shee swells into tumors, and vlcers, and blisters. And when any Church is thus left to her selfe, deuested of the Spirit of GOD, then follow heauie Symptomes, and Accidents; That which is forbidden in the Law, Leuit. 21. 16. That Men that haue blemishes, offer the Bread of our God; Men blemished in their Opinions, in their Doctrine, blemishd in their Lifes, in their Conuersation, are admitted to Sacrifice at Gods Altar. Then followes that which is complaind of in Ieroboams time,1 King. 22. • 3. The lowest of the People, and whosoeuer will, shall bee made Priests; Contemptible men shall bee made Priests; and so the Priesthood shall bee made Contemptible. Then followes that which the Prophet Ose sayes,9.7. The Prophet shall be a Foole, and the Spirituall Man madde; Madde, as Saint Hierome translates that word, Arreptitius, possest; possest with an aery spirit of ambition, 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 and an Earthly Spirit of Seruilitie, And a watrie Spirit of Irresolution, and dispossest of the true Spirit of Holy fire, the Zeale of the exaltation of Gods glory. There is a Curse in remoouing but the Can • lesticke;Apoc. 2.5. That the Light shall not bee in that eminency, and euidence, that becomes it, but that some faint shadowes, some Corner Disguises, some Temporizings, some Modifications must be admitted. There is a heauier Curse, in weakning the Eye of the beholder, when (as this Prophet sayes) God shall make hearts fatt, and eares deafe, and eyes blinde; There shall bee Light, but you shall not see by it, there shall be good Preaching, but you shall not profit by it. But the greatest Curse of all, is in putting out the Light, when GOD blinds the Teachers themselues:Math. 6.23. For, If the light that is in thee bee darkenesse, how great is that darkenesse? Luke 22 • 3. This is that Potestas tenebrarum, when power is put into their hands, who are possest with this darkenesse. And this is that Procella tenebrarum, Iude 13. The storme of darkenesse, The blackenesse of Darkenesse, (as we Translate it) when darkenes, & power, and passion meete in one Man. And to these fearefull heights may the sinnes of the Children bring the Mother, That that Church, which now enioyes so aboundantly Truth and Vnitie, may bee poysoned with Heresie, and wounded with Schisme, and yet GOD bee free from all imputation of Tyranny. And so wee haue done with all those peeces which constitute our First Part, Gods Dischardge; His Mercy in his Ecce, that hee warnes vs of his Iudgements before they fall; And his Iustice, in his Proceeding, though after wee bee solde cheape by Adam, to Originall sinne, (So Saint Paul sayes, He was sold vnder sinne,) And Cheaper by our selues, to actuall sinnes, for Nothing, for Priuations, (So the Prophet told Ahab that hee was sold to sinne,) God also Sell vs away, Cast vs away, To Punishments for sinnes, (So hee did the Israelites,) and then to sinnes for punishments, (So hee did Dauid, and so hee did Ierusalem,) and though hee come to a Diuorce, of Daughter and Mother, of our Soules in particular, and the Church it selfe in generall.

Part. 2.Wee are descended to our second part, Mans discharge; That, not disputing what God, of his absolute power might doe, nor what by his vnreueald Decree hee hath done, God hath not allowd me, nor thee, nor any to conclude against our selues, a necessity of perishing. May this seeme an impertinent part in a Court? To suspect that any here, are too much afraid of God; or too much deiected with the sense of their sinnes, or his iudgements? Are sinnes of presumption rather to be feared here, then sinnes of desperation? It hath a faire probability. But, all the Lent, wee prepare Men for the Sacrament. And, as Casuists, we say, Sacramentum, & articulus Mortis aequiparantur, We consider a Man, at the Sacrament, as at his death-bed: and, vpon our Death-beds, wee are likelyer to be attempted with sinnes of Deiection, then of presumption. And so, (though in a Court,) if you will be content to thinke of a death-bed in a Court, (and God hath taken wayes, to awaken those thoughts in you) it may be pertinent, and seasonable, to establish you now, against those deiections, and diffidences, which may offer at you then. Tis true then, there may be a selling, there may be a putting away, but hath not God reserued to himselfe a power of reuocation in both, in all cases? Audisti repudium, Crede coniugium, Is sweetly, and safely said by St. Ambrose: As often as thy thoughts fall vpon a fearefulnesse of a Diuorce from thy God, establish thy selfe with that comfort, of a Mariage to thy God; for the words of his Contracts, are, Sponsabo te mihi in aeternum. There can be no Diuorce imagined, if there were not a mariage; and if there be a mariage With God, there can be no Diuorce, for sponsat in aeternum, hee marries for euer. Can God doe so, forsake for euer? The Crowe went out of the Arke, and came no more; The Doue went, and came againe, and came with an Oliue branch. God may absent himselfe, that he may be sought; but hee comes againe, and with the Oliue of peace. Zion said,Esay 49.14. The Lord hath forsaken mee, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Why will Zion say so? sayes God. Can Zion say, My Lord, my Lord, hath forgotten mee? Can shee remember that GOD is hers, and not thinke that shee is his? Can shee remember him, and thinke that hee hath forgotten her? Can Zion retaine her bowels of piety, and thinke that GOD is disembowelled of his? GOD calls her not to Nationall examples; to how low conditions hee came, in the behalfe of Sodome; what he did for Nineue; what he did for Zion her selfe in Aegipt, but hee carries her home to her owne breast, and her owne Cradle, and onely askes her that question, Can a Mother forget her sucking Childe? And hee stayes not her answere, nor assures himselfe of a good answere from her, but adds himselfe, Yes, a Mother may forget her sucking Childe, yet I will not forget thee. Can GOD doe it? Did GOD euer doe it? Did he euer put away without possibility of reassuming? when? where? whom? Israel? the ten Tribes? Yet euen to them, sayes Ieremy, After they had done all this, GOD said, turne vnto me, and they would not turne: And then, God put her away, and sent her a bill of Diuorce, and neuer re-assumd her, neuer brought backe the ten Tribes from their dispersion. Tis true, in a whole and entire body, GOD neuer brought them backe, but in many faire and Noble Peeces, they came when Iudah came; for, from that place of Ezra, where there is an entire number in grosse exhibited of all that returnd from Babylon, and then the particular Numbers also exhibited, of the Tribes and families that returnd, because those particular Numbers doe not make vp the generall Number, by many thousands, the Hebrew Rabbins argue fairely; and conclude probably, that those Supernumerary thousands, which are inuolued in the generall Number, and are not compris'd in the particulars, were such, as from the other ten Tribes, in the returne of Iudah, adher'd to Iudah; who are so often said neuer to haue return'd, because in a body, & Magistracy of their own, otherwise then as they incorporated them selues in Iudah, they neuer returnd: but God neuer put them away so, but that he offred them returne, and in a great part effected it. I knowe how friuolous a tale that is, That Saint Gregorie drew Tratans soule out of Hell, after it was there; and I know, how groundlesse an opinion it is, that is ascrib'd to Origen, that at last, the Deuill shall be sau'd; but if they could perswade mee one halfe, that Traian, or that the Deuill came to Repentance in hell, I should not be hard, in beleeuing the other halfe, that they might be deliuered out of hell. What meane you, sayes God Almighty, that yee, vse this Prouerbe, The Fathers haue eate soure herbes, Ezeck. 18.2. and the childrens teeth are set on edge? Doe ye meane, that because your Fathers haue sinn'd, you must perish? Why neither his parents haue sinn'd, nor hee, sayes Christ, of the Man borne blinde,Iohn 9.2. but all is, that the worke of God might he made manifest; Neither haue thy parents sinn'd, nor thou thy selfe sinn'd so, as that there should be a necessity in thy perishing, but that thereby there might be the greater manifestation of Gods mercie, that where sinne hath abounded, grace might abound much more. If therefore thy tender Conscience, and thy startling Soule, mis-imagine the hearing of that voice, Depart thou sinner, a voyce of Diuorce, a voyce that bidds thee, goe, Say thou with Peter, to his and thy Sauiour, Domine quo Ibimus? Lord whither shall I goe? thou hast the Word of Eternall life, and wee beleeue and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Sonne of the liuing God; And that Christ, the Sonne of the liuing GOD, will call thee backe, and call backe his owne VVord, and finde Error, holy Error, occasion of repenting his owne proceeding, in his Bill of Diuorce; to which purpose hee calls vpon thee here to produce that Bill, Vbi iste libellus, Where is the Bill, &c.

First then, Vbi libellus, Libellus. where is this Bill, vpon what doe yee ground this ielousie and suspition in God, that hee should Diuorce you? First, it is in the Originall, Sepher; that which is called a Bill, is a Booke; It must bee GODS whole Booke, and not a fewe mis-vnderstood Sentences out of that Booke, that must try thee. Thou must not presse heauily to thine owne damnation euery such Sentence, Stipendium peccati Mors est That the reward of sinne is death; Nor the Impossibile est, That it is impossible for him that falls after Grace to bee renewd; That which must try thee is the whole Booke, the tenor and purpose, the Scope and intention of GOD in his Scriptures. His Booke is a Testament; and in the Testament, the Testator is dead, and dead for thee; And would that GOD that would dye for thee, Diuorce thee? His Booke is Euangelium, Gospell; and Gospell is good tydings, a gracious Messadge; And would God pretend to send thee a gracious Messadge, and send thee a Diuorce? GOD is Loue, and the Holy Ghost is amorous in his Metaphors; euerie where his Scriptures abound with the notions of Loue, of Spouse, and Husband, and Marriadge Songs, and Marriadge Supper, and Marriadge-Bedde. But for words of Separation, and Diuorce, of Spirituall Diuorce for euer, of any soule formerly taken in Marriadge, this very word Diuorce, is but twice read in the Scriptures; once in this Text; and heere God dis-auowes it; For when hee sayes, Where is the Bill, hee meanes there is no such Bill; And the other place is that which wee mentioned before, when after they had done all,Ier. 3.8. GOD calld Israel all together backe, and effectually, in a faire part, and his principall purpose in that Diuorce of Israel, was to intimidate, and warne her Sister Iudah from the like prouocations. Surely a good Spirit mooued our last Translators of the Bible, to depart from all Translations which were before them, in reading that place of Malachi thus,2.16. The Lord the God of Israel saith, that hee hates putting away. Whereas all other Translations, both Vulgat, and Vulgar, And in Vulgar, and in Holy Tongues, The Septuagint, the Chalde, all, read that place thus, If a man hate her, let him put her away, (which induced a facility of diuorces) our Translators thought it more conformable to the Originall, and to the wayes of God, to read it thus, The Lord the God of Israel saith, that hee hates putting away. Euery where in the Scriptures, we meet with Gods venites, in euery Prophets mouth, inuitations to come vnto God; There is a venite de circuitu, Come, though you come from compassing the Earth,Iob 3. 11. which is Satans perambulation; though you haue walkd in his wayes, yet come vnto God. Esay There is a Venite non habentes, Come and buy, though you haue no money; though you haue no Merits of your own, come, and dilate your measures, and fill them according to that dilatation, with the merits of Christ Iesus. There is a venite et reuertimini, Ose. 6.1. Come, though your comming be but a returning; be not ashamed of comming, though your returning be a confessing of a former running away; come in a repentance, though you cannot come in an innocencie; There is a Venite & consolamini, Esay. How heauie so euer the fetters of your owne sinnes, or the chaines of Gods iudgements lye vpon you, come and receiue ease here, change your yoke, for an easier, if you cannot deuest it. There is a venite & consulite, Esay, If you finde it hard to come, or if you finde an easinesse to fall backe, though you doe come, come to consult with God, how you may come, so, as you may stay, when you are come. Nay, there is a venite & arguite, Esay 1.18. Come and reason with God, argne, plead, dispute, expostulate with God, come vpon any conditions: The venite is multiplied, infinite inuitations to come; but the Ite maledicti, Depart ye accursed, is but once heard from Gods mouth, and that not in this world neither; as long as wee are in this world, God hates putting away. And therefore God calls for the bill, and God calls the bill a booke, that thou mightst not vexe thy soule, with mistaken sentences, but relie vpon the establishment of Gods purpose in the whole booke, which is that he hates putting away.

If the euidence pressed by thine owne pressures, heighthned by thine owne deiections, exalted by thine owne sinking, grow strong against thee, that thou canst not quench the iealousie, nor deuest the scruple of such a Diuorce, doe but consider, who should occasion, who should enduce it; It must be God, or thy selfe: Though the Iewes put away their wiues, not onely for the wiues fault, but for the husbands frowardnesse, thou hast had too good experience of Gods patience, to charge him with that: If it be done, it is thy fault; and if thou acknowledge that, it is not done; for it is neuer done so irreuocably, but the confessing of the fault, cancels and auoydes it. Releeue thy selfe by reflecting vpon some of those circumstances, Essentiall circumstances, which were required in their bills of Diuorce, and without which, those bills were voyde, and see if those be in thine; for though wee haue not these circumstances, in that place of Scripture, Deut. 24. where Diuorce is permitted, yet in the ordinarie practise of the Iewes abroad, and in the bookes of formes and precedents, which their Rabbins haue collected, wee haue them expressed. They are many, and many impertinent; wee will but name, and but a few, such as best admit application, and most conduce to the triall of thy case. First, a man might not produce a bill written in priuate, in the husbands bed-chamber, but he must goe to a Scribe, to a publique Notary, to an authorizd Officer. Vbi iste libellus? Where is this bill of thy Diuorce? Thou must not looke for it, in Gods bed-chamber, in his vnreueal'd Decrees in heauen, but in his publique Records, his Scriptures: If from thence thou pretend to produce any thing that conuinces thy sad soule, goe to them, to whom God hath committed the dispensation thereof, and there thou mayest receiue consolation, when thine owne priuate misinterpretation might misleade thee. Againe, the wife, how guilty so euer in her owne conscience, might not take her selfe to be put away, except the husband had expresly giuen her a Bill of Diuorce; Hath thy Husband; thy God done so; Vbi est libellus? Consider the bill, that is, the booke of God, and see if it be not full of such protestations, Viuo ego, As I liue, saith the Lord, I would not the death of any sinner, nor the departing of any soule. So also these bills must be well testified, with vnreproachable witnesses; Vbi iste libellus? Hath thy bill such witnesses? who be they? Inordinate deiection of spirit, irreligious sadnesse; Iealousie of the anger, distrustfulnesse of the mercy, diffidence in the promises of the Gospell; Are these witnesses to be heard against God? God calls heauen and earth to witnesse, that hee hath offered thee thy choise of life or death; but that he hath thrust death vpon thee, there is no witnesse. Thy conscience is a thousand witnesses? It is, that thou hast committed a thousand sinnes; and it is, that thou hast receiued a thousand blessings; but of an eternall decree of thy diuorce, thy conscience, (thus misinformd can be no witnesse, for thou wast not call'd to the making of those decrees. Those Bills were also to be authentically seald: Vbi iste Libellus? Hath thy imaginary Bill of Diuorce, and euerlasting seperation from GOD, any Seale from him? GOD hath giuen thee Seales of his Mercie, in both his Sacraments; Seales in White, and Seales in Redde Waxe; Seales in the participation of the candor and innocencie of his Sonne, in thy Baptisme, and Seales in the participation of his Body and Bloud, in the other; But Seales of Reprobation at first, or of irreuocable Separation now, there are none from GOD: No Calamitie, not Temporall, no not Spirituall; No Darkenesse in the Vnderstanding, no Scruple in the Conscience, no Perplexitie in the resolution; Not a Sodaine Death, not a Shamefull Death, not a stupide, not a raging Death, must bee to thy selfe by the way, or may bee to vs, who may see thine Ende, an Euidence, a Seale, of Eternall Reprobation, or of finall Seperation. Almightie God blesse vs all, from all these in our selues; but his blessed Spirit blesse vs to, from making any of these, when hee, in his vnsearchable wayes, to his vnsearchable endes, shall suffer them to fall vpon any other, seales of such Seperation in them. Though wee may not enlardge our selues to far, in these Circumstances, another was, That the Names of the Parties must bee set downe, and of both the Parties Parents, and those to the third Generation; The Sonne and Daughter of such, and such, and such. Vbi iste Libellus? Findst thou in thy Bill, the three Descents, the three Generations, (if we may so say) of thy God? A Holy Ghost proceeding from a Sonne, And a Sonne begott • en by a Father? Findest thou the God of thy Consolation, the God of thy Redemption, the God of thy Creation, and canst thou produce a God of Diuorce, of Separation, out of these? Findest thou thine own three Descents, as thou wast the Son of Dust, of Nothing, And the Sonne of Adam, reduced to nothing, And then the Sonne of God in Christ, in whom thou art all things; and canst thou thinke that that GOD who married thee in the honse of dust, and marryed thee in the house of infirmitie, and Diuorcd thee not then, (hee made thee not no Creature, nor hee made thee not no Man,) hauing now marryed thee in the House of Power, and of Peace, in the body of his Sonne, the Church, will now Diuorce thee? Lastly, to ende this consideration of Diuorces, If the Bill were interlinde, or blotted, or dropt, the Bill was voyd. Vbi Libellus? What place of Scripture soeuer thou pretend, that place is enterlinde; enterlinde by the Spirit of God himselfe, with Conditions, and Limitations, and Prouisions, If thou repent, If thou returne; and that enterlining destroies the Bill. Looke also if this Bill be not dropt vpon, and blotted; The venim of the Serpent is dropt vpon it, The Wormwood of thy Desperation, is dropt vpon it, The Gall of thy Melancholly is dropt vpon it, and that voydes the Bill. If thou canst not discerne these drops before, drop vpon it nowe; Drop the teares of true compunction, drop the bloud of thy Sauiour, and that voyds the Bill: And through that Spectacle, the bloud of thy Sauiour, looke vpon that Bill, and thou shalt see, that that Bill was nayld to the Crosse when he was naylde, and torne when his body was torne, and that hath cancelld the bill. Oppresse not thy selfe with what GOD may doe, of his absolute power, God hath no where told thee, that hee hath done any such thing as an ouertender Conscience may mis-imagine, from this Metaphore of Diuorcing, nor from the other, (which beggs leaue for one word, by way of Conclusion) Selling away; Which of my Creditors is it, to whom I haue sold you?

Quis Creditor? As Christ in his Parable comprehends all excuses, and all backwardnesses in the following of him, in those two, Marriage and Purchasing, Luke 14.18. (for one had bought Land and stocke, and another had married a Wife) So God expresses his loue to Man, in these two too, Hee hath married vs, he hath bought vs; that so he might take in all dispositions, and worke vpon Vxorious Men, men soupled and entendred with Matrimoniall loue, and vpon worldly men, men kneaded and plaistred with earthly loue: Hee hath Married vs, hee will not Diuorse, He hath bought vs, he will not sell; For who can giue so much as he payd?Deut 32.30. Doe yee thus requite the Lord, O yee foolish people? Is not he your Father that hath bought you? And will you suspect your Father? Yes, sayes this Disconsolate Soule, Fathers might sell their Children; and my Father, my GOD hath sold me. Tis true, Fathers might sell their Children; Amongst the Gentiles they might; for matter of Law, for matter of Fact, their Bookes are full of Euidence. Amongst the Iewes they might, till a Iubile redeemd them. Amongst the Christians they might, and for euer. Saint Ambrose found the World in possession of that vnnaturall Custome, and lamented it: Vidi miserabile spectaculum, sayes he, liberos haeredes calamitatis, qui nec participes successionis: The Children, sayes hee, inherit the Calamity, but not the Lands of their Fathers, when they were solde to maintaine them, who had wastefully sold, that which was to maintaine them all: And Saint Ambrose induces the Creditor making his Claime, Mea nutriti pecunia, This Childe was nourced, and brought vp with my Money, and belongs to mee. Constantine found this, and amended it; enacted and constituted that it should be no more done; and canst thou imagine such a hard-heartednes in GOD, as Saint Ambrose should neede to lament, or Constantin neede to correct? Quis Creditor, sayes GOD, Which of my Creditors is it, to whom I haue sold you?

As in the Bill of Diuorce, so in this bill of sale, we aske who should occasion it? A Father might sell, for his Sonnes fault, or for his owne necessitie; but in no other case. If thou say it is done for thy fault, it is not done; that implies a Confession, and a Repentance, and that auoydes all; but if thou imagine a sale for thy Fathers necessitie, Quis Creditor, sayes hee, Which of my Creditors, &c. Adam brought GOD in Debt, to Death, to Satan, to Hell; in Iustice, GOD ought all mankinde to them; but then at one payment hee payd more, in the death of his Sonne Christ Iesus: And now, Quis Creditor? The word indeed, is originally Nashah, and Nashah is an Vsurer; and so Saint Ambrose reades this place, Quis Faenerator, To what Vsurer am I so indebted, as that I neede sell thee? Let it be so, That the principall debt was all Mankinde; pursue your Vsurious Computations, that euery seuen yeares doubles, and then redoubles your Debt, (and what a Debt might this bee in allmost 4000. yeare from Adam to Christ, and 1000 from Christ to vs?) yet when all this is multiplied infinitely, it was infinitly ouerpayd, if but one drop of the bloud of the Sonne of God had bene payd; and the Sonne of God bled out his Soule, and then, Quis Creditor, may God well say, Which of those Vsurers is it, to whom I need sell thee? God may lend thee out, euen to Satan; suffer thee to bee his Bayliffe, and his Instrument to the vexation of others: So hee lent out Saint Paul to the Scribes and Pharises, to serue them in their Persecutions; So God may lend thee out. God may Let thee out for a time, to them that shall plough and harrow thee, fell and cleaue thee, and reserue to himselfe but a little Rent, a little glory, in thy Patience; So hee Let out Iob euen to Satan himselfe; so God may Let thee out. GOD may Mortgage thee to a sixe Months Feuer, or to a longer debility; So he Mortgaged Hezekias. God may lay thee waste, and Pull vp thy Fences, extinguish their Power, or withdrawe their Loue, vpon whom thou hast establishd thy dependance; So he layd Dauid wast, when hee withdrewe his Childrens obedience from him; so God may lay thee waste. God may Let out all his time in thee in this World, and reserue to himselfe only a last yeare, a last day, a last minute; suffer thee in vnrepented sinnes, to the last gaspe, so God let out the good Thiefe. God is Lord of all that thou hast and art; and then, Dominium potestas est tum vtendi tum abutendi, He that is Lord, Owner, Proprietary, may doe with that which is his, what he will. But God will not, cannot deuest his Dominion, nor fell thee so, as not to reserue, a Power, and a Will to Redeeme thee, if thou wouldst be redeem'd. For, howsoeuer hee seeme to thee, to haue sold thee to Sinne, to Sadnesse, to Sickenesse, to Superstition, (for these be the Ismaelits, these be the Midianite Merchants Gen. 37.27. that buy vp our Iosephs, our soules) though he seeme to sell his present estate, hee will not sell Reuersions; his future title to thee, by a future Repentance, hee will not fell; But whensoeuer thou shalt grow due to him, by a new, and a true repentance, hee shall re-assume thee, into his bed, and his bosome, no bill of Diuorce, and re-enter thee into his Reuenue, and his Audit, No bill of sale, shall stand vp to thy preiudice, but thy deiected spirit shall be raised from thy consternation, to a holy cheerefulnesse, and a peacefull alacritie, and no tentation shall offer a reply, to this question, which GOD makes to establish thy Conscience, vbi libellus, Where is the Bill of thy Mothers Diuorcement, &c.