The Devils Banket Described, Sermon 3 – Title page 4
THE Breaking vp of the Deuils Banket. The third Sermon.
PROVERB. 9.17.
Stollen waters are sweet, and Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
THE custome of sinne hath so benummed the sense of it; and the delighted affections brought the conscience so fast a sleepe in it; that a… King. 18.17he troubles Israel, who would waken Israel: and his speech is harsh Barbarisme, that speakes against the Deuils bAct. 19.34.Diana; the Idoll of Vice, which many worship. Our vnderstandings thinke well of Heauen, but our affections thinke better of Earth. Alexander after his great Conquests, wrote to the Graecian Senate, Vt se deum facerent, that they would accept him into the number of their Gods. With a resolute consent, they denied it. At last a (right) Politician stoode vp,Aelian. Va…. hist. lib. 2. cap. 19 and told them, that (videndum est, ne dum coelum nimis custod…rent, terram amitterent) they should looke well to it; least whiles they were so religious for heauen, they lost their part of earth. Hence they made (though but a perfunctory and fashionable) decree. Quoniam Alexander Deus esse vult, Deus esto. Since Alexander will be a God, let him be one. God commends to vsus his …eauenly graces; Satan his cIon. 2.8.lying vanities. Our Iudgements must needes giuegive assent to God. But because his precepts goe against the graine of our affections; and the Deu…ll tels vsus, that curiositie for the vncertaine ioye… of heauen, will lose vsus the certaine pleasures of earth: we settle vponupon the Graecian resolution, (though more seriously:) not to be so troubled for our soules, as to lose a moment of our carnall delights. This i… the D…ls a…sertion, in calling stollen waters Sweet ▪ t… truth whereof I am …old (though a little I disquiet y…u… lu…) to examine. You hauehave heard the prescription, Waters: the description, Stollen.
The Ascription of the quality (in it self…) or effect (to others) of these …aters, if we may beleeu… Temptation, is Sweet. Stollen waters are Sweet. It is the speech of the dIoh. 8.44.Father of …ies, and therefore to carrie little credit with vsus. Sweet? to none but those that are Lust-sicke; like them …hat are troubled with the greene-sicknesse; that thinke Chalke, and Salt, and Rubbish, sauourie. It is a strangely-affected soule, that can finde Sweetnesse in sinne. Sinne is the deprauation of goodnesse: the same that rottennesse in the Apple, sowrenesse in the Wine, putrefaction in the flesh, is sinne in the conscience. Can that be sweet which is the deprauing and depriuing of all sweetnesse? Let any subtilty of the Deuill declare this riddle. The prae-existent priuations were deformitie, confusion, darknesse. The position of their opposite perfections, was the expulsion of those foule contraries. Sinne comes like bleake and squalid Winter, and driues out these faire beauties: turnes the Sunne-shine to blacknesse; calmenesse to tempests; ripenesse to corruption; health to sicknesse; sweetnesse to bitternesse.
They desperately thrust themselues on the pikes of that threatned woe: Esa. 5. that dare say of eEsa. 5.20.bitter, it is sweet; and consent to the Deuill in the pleasantnesse of his cheare; when the impartiall conscience knowes it is fIer. 9.15.Gall and Wormewood. Yet such is the strong Inchantment, whereby Satan hath wrought on their affections, that bloudinesse, lust, periurie, oppression, malice, pride, carrie with these Guests an opinion of sweetnesse. If froathie and reeling Drunkennesse, leane and raking Couetousnesse, meager and bloud-wasted Enuie, keene and rankling Slander, nastie and ill-shapen Idlenesse, smooth and faire-spoken Flatterie, bee comely? what is deformed; If these be sweet, there is no bitternesse. But though the Deuill be not g2 Cor. 11.14an Angell of light, yet he would be like one. Though hee neuer speakes Truth, yet he would often speake the hMatth. 4.6.colour of Truth. Therefore let vsus obserue, what fallaces and deceitfull arguments hee can produce, to make good this attribute; and put the probabilitie of sweetnesse into his stollen waters. For the Deuill would not be thought a Dunce; too weake to hold a Position, though it be neuer so absurd. Stollen waters, Iniquities are sweet to the wicked in three respects. 1. Because they are stollen. 2. Because they are cheape. 3. Because they giuegive delight, and perswaded content to the flesh.
1. Stollen or foubidden. Euen in this consists the approbation of their sweetnesse, that they come by stealth, and are compassed by dangerous & forbidden paines. Furta placent, etiam quòd furta. Theft delights, euen in that it is theft. The fruites of a wicked mans owne Orchyard, are not so pleasant-tasted as his neighbours: neither doe they reserue their due sweetnesse, if they be freely granted. But as the Prouerbe hath it: Dulcia sunt poma, cùm abest custos. Apples are sweet, when they are plucked in the Gardiners absence.Gen. 3.6. Eue liked no Apple in the Garden so vvell as the forbidden. Antiochus scornes Venison as base meate, if it bee not lurched. It is an humour as genunie to our affections, as moisture is inseparable to our blouds, that, nitimur in vetitum semper; Wee runne madde after restrained Obiects. Wee tread those flowers vnderunder our disdainefull feete, which mured from vsus, we would breake through stone-walls to gather. The libertie of things brings them into contempt: neglect and Dust-heapes lye on the accessible stayres. Difficultie is a spurre to contention, and there is nothing so base, as that which is easie and cheape. Sol spectatorem, nisi cum desicit, non habet: nemo obseruat Lunam▪ nisi laborantem. The two great lights of heauen, that rule in their courses the day and night, are beholding to no eyes, for beholding them, but when they are ecclipsed. We admire things lesse wonderfull, because more rare. If the Sunne should rise but once in our age, wee would turne Persians, and worship it.
Wines would bee lesse set by, if our owne lands were full of Vineyards: Those things that Nature hath hedged from vsus, wee long and languish for; when Manna it selfe, because it lies at our dores, is loathed.H…ra. Virtutem praesentem ferè in nostris odimus; Sublatam ex oculis procul quaerimus inuidi. The more spreading good things are, the more thought vile: and (though against that olde and true *Bo…, quo communiùs, … …lius.rule) the communitie shall detract from the commoditie. It is the peruersenesse of our natures, till sanctification hath put a new nature into vsus,Matth. 11.30. that Gods yoke is too heauie for our shoulders: we cannot draw in the geeres of obedience. We can trauell a whole day after our dogges; but if authoritie should charge vsus to measure so many miles, how often would wee complaine of wearinesse? The Bird can sit out the day-measuring Sunne, see his rise and fall without irksomnesse, whiles shee is hatching her Egges; if her nest were a Cage, with what impatience would shee lament so long a bondage! So the Vsurer, though hee began his first bagge with the sirst houre, and pulls not off his hands or his eyes, till the eye of Heauen is ashamed of it, and denies further light, hee is not wearie: let him sit at Church two houres, the seate is vneasie, his bones ake, either a Cushion to fall a sleepe with, or he will bee gone. That Christ may iustly and fitly continue that his reproofe vponupon such: Can ye not watch with mee one houre?Matth. 26.40.
Thus the Commaund makes things burdensome, and Prohibition desirable. The wicked would not so eagerly catch at vanities, if God had not said, nolit… tangere, touch them not. Rapine, Lust, Ebrietie, Sacriledge would sitte idle for want of customers, if Gods interdiction had not sette a ne ingrediaris, on their doores. aProu. 4.14.Enter not. Rome, (I know not how truly) bragges, (and let her bPhilip. 3.19.boast her sinne) that shee hath the fewer Adulterers, because shee sets vp the Stewes. It is reported, that Italy did neuer more abound with *In the best learn…ng.Students, then when Iulian had shut vp the Schoole-doores, and turned Learning into exile. He had fellowes in that Empire of so contrarie dispositions; that some restrayned all things, some forbad nothing; and so made their times either tyrannous or licentious: insomuch that it was a busie question in those times; whether of those Emperours were worse; one, that would let eueryevery man doe as he list; and the other, that would suffer no man to doe as hee would. It is obserued of the Iewes, that whiles the Oracles of heauen were open, and Religion leaned on the shoulders of peace, they fell frequently to Idolatrie: but with the Babilonian bridle in their mouthes, they eagerly pursue it: their persecution for it, encreased their prosecution of it. So the bloud of Martyrs seedes the Church; as if from their dead ashes sprung (Phoenix-like) many professours.
If troden Vertue grow so fast, like Camomill? how then doth restrained Vice thriue? sure this Hydra rather multiplies his heads, by the blowes of reproofe. Sure it is, that ex malis moribus oriuntur plurimae leges. If men were not prone to infinite sinnes, a more sparing number of lawes would serue our turnes. And the more dangerous the law hath made the passage of Iniustice, the more frequently, feruently they louelove to saile after it. What they quake to suffer, they tickle to doe; as if their Itch could not bee cured till the Law scratch them: so peruerse is their disposition, that onelyonly coaction must force them to good, onelyonly correction binde them from euill. Now, as it is shame, that necessitie should draw vsus to that, whereunto our owne good should leade vsus: so it is past shame to warre for that, which God hath charged vsus to ware of. Malum est agere quod prohibetur, sed agere quià prohibetur, p…ssimum. Hee that doth that which is forbidden, is euill, hee that doth it because it is forbidden, Deuill. But as the honest man, that hath somewhat to take to, is in most care to come out of debt; so hee that hath neither honestie nor lands, takes care onelyonly to come into debt, and to be trusted.
Thus wee all long for restrained things, and doate on difficulties; but looke with an ouerly scorne; and winking neglect on granted faculties.Exod 8. Pharaoh is sicke of Gods plague: the peaceable dismission of Israell will cure him: hee sees his medicine: no, hee will be sicker yet; Israell shall not goe. Oh, that these, vvho wrastle with God; would thinke that the more fiercely and firily they assault him, they are sure of the sorer fall. The harder the earthen vessell rusheth vponupon the Brasen the more it is shiuered in pieces. But nothing doth giuegive the vngodly such content, as that they dangerously pull out of the iawes of difficultie. No Flowers hauehave so good a smell as the Stollen: no repast so sauoury as the cates of Theft. Quae venit ex tuto, minus est accepta voluptas.Ouid. de am. li. 3. Facilitie and libertie onelyonly takes off the edge of Lust; and what God doth restraine, man will not refraine. The Adulterer cares not for the chaste societie of a faire and louing wife; but the lusts of vncleannesse, which he steales with hazard, from anothers bed, are sweet in his opinion. Ahabs whole kingdome is despised in his thoughts, whiles …e is c1 King. 21.4.sicke of Nabaoths Vineyard. Heare Esau, dGen. 25.32.What is my Birth-right to mee, when I can not taste of those red pottage? Oh the crossenesse of our refractary dispositions, that are therefore the more earnestly set vponupon the pro, because God hath more clearely charged them with the contra: as if our naturall course was Crab-like to goe backward; and our delight was to be a second crosse to CHRIST, whereby though wee cannot crucifie his Flesh, yet wee oppose and oppugne his Spirit: as if Cynically we affected snarling, or like the Gyants, would trye our strengths with God.
Thus wee hauehave examined the Deuils reason, and finde the natures of the vvicked actually disputing for the truth of his assertion; and so, interdicta placent, the waters of sinne seeme sweet, and are more greedily swallowed, because they are stollen. The eEphes. 2.2.Prince of the ayre so rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience, that their appetites onelyonly couet prohibited meates; and their affections languish after discharged obiectes. But fEsa. 29.16.your turning of things vp-side downe, shall be esteemed as the Potters clay. And, gLuke 19.17.those mine enemies, which would not that I should raigne ouer them, bring hither, and slay them before mee. GOD hath a hooke for Senacherib, a curbe for Saul, a bridle for these hPsal. 32.9.Horses and Mules: the highest mouer ouerrules the swift motion of these inferiour Sphaeres, that they cannot fire the vvorld: but as they delight to make other mens possessions theirs by stealth; so they shall one day bee glad, if they could put off, that is theirs vponupon other men; and shift away the torments that shall for euer sticke on their flesh and spirits.
2 The second argument of their sweetnesse, is their cheapenesse. The sinnes of stealth please the vvicked, because they are cheape: vvhat a man gets by robberie, comes vvithout cost. The vngodly vvould spare their purse, though they lay out of their conscience. Parcatur sumptui. Fauour their temporall estates, though their eternall pay for it. Iudas had rather lose his soule, then his purse: and for thirtie siluerlings, hee sels his Master to the Pharises, himselfe to the Deuill. Yet when all is done, hee might put his gaines in his eye. It is but their conceit of the cheapnesse; they pay deare for it in the vpshot. The Deuill is no such franke Chapman to sell his Wares for nothing. Hee vvould not proffer Christ the kingdomes vvithout a price,Matth. 4. hee must be worshipped for them. The guests carry not a draught from his table, but they must make curtesie to him for it. His worship must be thanked at least: nay, thankes will not serue, affected, obayed, honoured. Hee is proude still, and stands vppon it, beyond measure, to bee worshipped. Hee vvill part vvith an ounce of vanitie, for a dramme of worship: but the worshipper had better part with a talent of gold.
The Deuill indeed keepes open house; noctes at que dies, &c. Hee makes the world beleeue that hee sels Robin-Hoods peny worths; that he hath manum expansam, a prodigall hand, and giues all gratis: but vijs & modis, hee is paid for it; and such a price, that the whole world comes short of the value. OnelyOnly hee is content to giuegive day, and to forbeare till death: but then hee claps vp his debtors into euerlasting prisonment, and layes an heauy execution on them; that eue… the Spanish Inquisition comes short of it. Thus as the King of Sodome said to Abraham, Da mihi animas, Gen. 14.21.GiueGive me the soules, take the rest to thy selfe. The Prince of darkenesse is content, that thou shouldest hauehave riches and pleasures cheape enough; onelyonly giuegive him thy soule, and hee is satisfied. The Deuill would hauehave changed his Arithmeticke vvith Iob, and rather hauehave giuen addition of vvealth, then substraction, if hee could hauehave so wrought him to blaspheme God.
Sathan seemes marueilous franke and kinde at first: Munera magna quidem praebet, sed praebet in hamo. They are beneficia viscata, ensnaring mercies. As the Tree is the Birds refuge when shee flies from the snare; and loe, there shee findes Bird-lime, that teares off her flesh and feathers. Conuiuia, quae putes, insidiae sunt. They are baites, which thou takest for bankets. The poore man is going to prison for a small debt: the Vsurer lends him money, and rescues him: two or thee winters after, his fit comes againe, and by how much an Vsurer is sharper then a meere Creditour, hee is shaken with the vvorse Ague: that kindnesse plungeth him into a deeper bondage: the first was but a thredden snare, which he might breake, but this is an infrangible chaine of yron. Men are in want, and necessitie is (durum telum) a heauy burden: the Deuill promiseth supply. Behold, the drunkard shall hauehave Wine, the theefe opportunitie; the malious reuenge; if they be hungry, he hath a Banket ready: but, as I hauehave seene Emperickes giuegive sudden ease to a desperate & inueterate griefe, yet eyther with danger of life, or more violent reuocation of the sickenesse; so their miserie ere long is doubled: and that vvhichwhich vvas but a stitch in the side, is now a shrewd paine in the heart. The Stagge and the Horse (sayth the Fiction) were at variance: the Horse, being too vveake desires Man to helpe him: Man gets on the Horses backe, and chaseth the Stagge, VsUs que ad fugam, vsus que ad mortem, to flight, to death. Thus the Horse gets the victorie; but is at once victor & victus, Captaine and captiue: for after that he could neuer free his mouth from the bit, his backe from the Saddle. Non equitem dorso, non fraenum depulit ore. Man is beset vvith exigents: hee vvailes his vveakenesse: the Deuill steps in with promises of succour. Iudas is made rich, Gehesi gets change of suites: Nero is crowned Emperour, but vvithall hee gets possession of their affections, whence all the power of man cannot vntenant him. Thus the iMatth. 1….45.last slauerie is worse then the first, and the cheare is not so cheap at sitting downe, as it is deare at rising vp.
This is the Deuils cheapenesse: no, kIam. 1.17.eueryevery good and perfect gift is from aboue. The Deuill giues nothing, but l1 Tim. 6.17.God giues to all, foreign, richly, or abundantly, so that when he giues, hee takes nothing backe: for mRom. 11.29.the gifts of the spirit are foreign, without repentance. nEsa. 55.1.Ho, eueryevery one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters of life, and he that hath no money, &c. God hath waters, no stollen water, but waters of freedome; and other blessings (if ye louelove liquid things) o… an answerable nature, greater vertue; and those, whereof hee is a true proprietarie. Wine and Milke: Milke to nourish,Lac nutriens, vinum exhilarans. Wine to cherish the heart of man: buy them without money, let not your pouerty keepe you backe: here is cheapnesse, if you hauehave a sauing desire: come freely and take your filles: oMatth. 11.5.The Gospell is preached to the poore. Thinke not to buy the pAct… 8.20.graces of God with money: lest you and your money perish. OnelyOnly take your time, and come whiles God is a giuing: for there is a time when the dore of bountie is shut. qRom. 10.21.Though hee stretch forth his hand of mercy all the day; yet the night comes when hee drawes it backe againe. They that answere him, proffering grace, as Daniel to Belshazzar, rDan. 5.17.Keepe thy rewards to thy selfe, and giuegive thy gifts to another; may knocke at his gates, and be turned away emptie. Now, spare to speake, and spare to speed. Then, though you cry vntounto mee, I will not heare: sHeb. 3.7.To day, then, harden not your hearts. Pray vntounto him, and tMatth. 7.11.he will giuegive good things to them that aske him. Hee doth not sell, but giuegive; not the shadowes, but the substances of goodnesse.Dat non vendit; & bonorum n…n vmbras, sed substantias. The conclusion then is cleere, blessings and graces are truly cheape, vPsal. 84.11.And no good thing will God withhold from them that walke vprightly: xRom. 8.28.All things shall worke to their good, that are good. The Deuill giues nothing, but sels all for price; neither are they good things he selleth;Ne que dat bona, n… que bona sunt quae vendit. but figuras boni, the meere formes & counterfeits of goodnes.
But if the cheapenesse of sinne so affect men, vvhat meane they to runne to Rome for it? where I doe not say onelyonly, that sinne and damnation hath a shrewd price set vponupon them, but euen blisse and comfort: and no Pilgrim can get the least salue-plaister to heale his wounded Conscience, but at an vnreasonnable reckoning. But soft! it is obiected, that Rome is still baited in our Sermons; and when we seeke vp and downe for matter, as Saul for his Asses, wee light vponupon the Pope still. I answere, that I can often passe by his dore and not call in: but if he meets me full in the face, and affronts mee, (for good manners sake) non praetereo insalutatum, I must change a word with him.
The Pope is a great Seller of these Stollen waters: (yet his Chapmen thinke them cheape.) He thrusts his Speare into the Mountaines, and sluceth out whole floods: as it is fabled of Aeolus. Hee vsurpes that of God, that he can spanne the waters in his fist: that he hath all the graces of God in his owne power; and no water can passe besides his Mill: as if hee could yAmos 5.8.call for the waters of the Sea, and powre them out vponupon the face of the Earth: or as Iob speaketh of Behemoth: zIob 40.23.Behold, he drinketh vp a Riuer and hasteth not: and trusteth that he can draw vp Iordan into his mouth. As if all the graces of God were packed vp in a bundle, or shut into a boxe, and the Pope onelyonly was put in trust to keepe the Key; and had authoritie to giuegive and denie them.Homer. So Aeolus the God of Windes (sayth the Poet) gaue Vlisses a Maile, wherein all the Windes were bound and wrapped vp together; except the Westerne winde, vvhichwhich hee must needs occupie to carry himselfe home. The Pope brags, that all waters are banked vp into his fountaine, and none can drinke but by his leaue; except the Supremacie & perfect Sanctitie: which is the Winde and the Water, he must vse himselfe, thereby to saile to Heauen: (a Hauen that fewe Popes arriue at:) but otherwise there is no grace to be had, but from the mother-Church of Rome, vvhose vncontrollable head is the Pope. A miserable Ingrosser, that would shut vp all goodnesse into his owne Ware-house. Yet when hee lists, he will vndertake to aEsa. 44.3.powre floods on the solid ground; and bPsal. 105.41.make Riuers runne in dry places.
Hee hath a huge Pond of Purgatory, whereout vvhole millions drinke, and are pleased. But as Darius pursued, drunke puddle-water, and said, it was the best drinke that euer he tasted. So it is the menaced terrour, and the false alarmes, that the Iesuites ring in Ignorances eare, that makes men drinke so greedily at the Popes Puddle-wharfe. He is a great Land-lord of these stollen waters. cReuel. 17.1.Hee sits vponupon many waters. Some he steales from the Iewes, some from the Turkes, some from the Pagans, much from Idolatrie, all from Heresie. That (as Iohn de Rupe scissa in a popular Sermon) if eueryevery Bird should fetch her owne feathers, you should hauehave a naked Pope. Let eueryevery Riuer challenge her owne waters, you will hauehave a drie Rome: But now Expatiata ruunt per apertos flumina campos.M…tam. his waters spread ouer the face of the Earth: neither are they cheape, beleeue but a Bird of their owne Cage.
Temples and Priests are Marchandiz'd for pelfe,Vaenalia nobis Templa, &c.
Altars, Pray'rs, Crownes; nay, Heauen and God himselfe.
Vendit Alexander Cruces, Altarià, Christum,
Vendere iure potest: emerat ille prius.
Romes Sea is sold, to quench the Popes mad thirst.
Well might he sell it: for he bought it first.
But is the Shop neuer opened, but to the mart of so good Commodities? yes, if their Penance-Parlour wa… opened, you might finde a rate for Stollen waters: Pardon for offences committed: nay, Indulgences for future sinnes, which but for an impregnable toleration might not bee done. And let the traffiquers speake from their owne feeling how cheape they are. They hauehave a pecuniary patronage, and are warranted from the Popes Exchequour, rather then his Chancerie. Euen that corrupt Iustice giues such sinnes no conniuence, but when the dusts of briberie hauehave shut his eyelids. It is their carefulnesse, Quod huiusmodi dispensationes non concedantur pauperibus. Taxa et Cellar.That such dispensations be not graunted to the poore.
If this doctrine were true, it was time to raze Christs speech out of the Scriptures: It is hard for a rich man to enter into Heauen: Matth. 19.23.for it is easie for the rich, that can open the gate with a golden Key, and the poore are onelyonly in danger of exclusion. And, that which would be most strange, Hell should be peopled with none but Beggars: Not an Vsurer, not an Epicure, not a Cormorant, not a vicious Potentate should grace the Court of Sathan. For the Pope will for Money seale them a Pasport for Heauen. Nay, how doth this disgrace Purgatory! when none but beggerly vvretches shall bee in danger of drowning in that whirlepoole. Whence all their friends (being equally poore) hauehave not money enough for their redemption. These are the rotten post… whereon the Fabricke of Rome stands. Thinke not their sto…len waters cheape. Your purses must pay for them. Yet happy were you, if no higher price was set on them. All is not discharged vvith your ready m…ny; there is another reckoning: your soules mus… pay for the…. The Deuill tyes his Customers in the bond of Debets; and vvoe to them, that are too farre in his bookes: for if Christ cancell not his hand-writing against them, Coloss. 2.hee will sue them to an eternall Outlawrie; and make them pay their soules, for that they boasted they had so good cheape.
3. The third argument of these waters sweetnesse, is deriued from our corrupt affections. Sinne pleaseth the Flesh? Omne simile nutrit simile. Corruption inherent is nourished by the accession of corrupt actions. Iudas Couetousnesse is sweetned with vniust gaine. d1 King. 2.5.Ioab is hartned, and hardned with bloud. Theft is fitted to, and fatted in the theeuish heart with obuious booties. Pri…e is fed vvith the officious complements of obseruant Groomes. Extortion battens in the Vsurers affections by the trolling in of his monies. Sacriledge thriues in the Church-robber, by the pleasing distinctions of those Sycophant-Priests; and helped with their (…ot laborious) profit. Nature is led, is fed with Sense. And when the Citadell of the heart is once wonne, the Turret of the vnderstanding will not long hold out. As the suffumigations of the oppressed stomach, surge vp and cause the head-ach: or as the thicke spumy mists, which vapour vp from the danke and foggy earth, doe often suffocate the brighter aire, and to vsus (more then ecclipse) the Sunne. The blacke and corrupt affections, which ascend out of the neather part of the soule, doe no lesse darken and choake the vnderstanding. Neither can the fire of grace bee kept aliue at Gods Altar, (mans heart,) when the cloudes of Lust shall raine downe such showres of Impietie on it. Perit omne Iudicium, cùm res transit ad affectum. Farewell the perspicuitie of Iudgement, when the matter is put to the partialitie of affection.
Let then the tast be Iudge at this Feast, and not the stomach, Lust and not Conscience; and the Cates hauehave vnquestionable sweetnesse. Hee is easily credited, that speakes what we would hauehave him. e1 King. 22.12Goe vp to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, was pleasing Musicke in Ahabs eare. fGen. 3.4.Ye shall not die, though you eate, delighted Eue. The Syrens Song is more esteemed, then the Oracle of Pallas; because it is sung to lustfull, not wise Auditours. The strange distinctions, which they giuegive in these dayes, that (claw the Deuill) flatter an Vsurer for gaine, are beleeued, before the Sermons, of the Sonnes of the Prophets, of the Sonne of God. Let a factious Nouelist maintaine the iustnesse of Impropriations at the Church-wrongers Table for a meale; his talke is held arguments, when the Scripture-arguments are held but talke.Mic. 2.11. As Micah speakes of the Prophets, that would preach for Drunkennesse. So these sell their conscience for countenance; and feed mens humours, whiles they hauehave an humour to feede them.S…n. Quod nimis miseri volunt, hoc facilè credunt. Though they bee Prophets for profites, yet they are readily beleeued. So easily the braine drinkes the poison, which the affection ministers. It is not then strange, if these Cates be sweet, when concupiscence tasts them. Pascitur libido conuiuijs, nutritur delicijs, vino accenditur, ebrietate slammatur. Ambr. de Poen…t.Lust is fed with Bankets, nourished with delights, kindled with Wine, set on fire and flame with Drunkennesse.
What could make the Religion of Rome so sweet and welcome to many, but the congruence and pleasingnesse to their nature? Whiles Nature findes ascribed to her selfe freedome of will, validitie of merites, the Latitude of an ignorant and cursorie faith, she runnes mad of conceit. That Indulgences for all sinnes may be deriued from that open Exchequour; that if a man wants not money, he needes not loose heauen; that the bare Act of the Sacrament conferres grace without faith; and the meere transient signe of the Crosse, who euer makes it, can keepe off the Deuill. Oh Religion sweet to Nature. Nay (to speake neerer to our district instance.) Lust not onelyonly affectuall, but actuall, is dispensed with. Priests are licensed their Concubines, though inhibited Wiues. Adulterie is reckoned among their pettie sinnes. I hauehave read it quoted out of Pope Innocentius the third, of their Priests. Mane filium virginis offerunt in choro: Nocte filium veneris agitant in thoro. The Priests doe not engrosse all the Market of venerie to themselues, (yet they doe prettily well, for their allowance. One Benefice with one Wife is vnlawfull, Corn. Agrip.but two Benefices and three Whores are tollerable.) But the Stewes, like the common Bath, is afforded to the Laitie; and if their States will maintaine it, a priuate supply besides. Vrbs est iam tota Lupanar. The vvhole Citie is become a meere Stewes. As the Prophet Esay said once of Ierusalem; so wee may say of Rome: The holy Citie is become an Harlot. Esa. 1.21.Full of Harlots they vvill not sticke to yeeld, and so gIer. 5.7.full of Adulterers. Nay, the Citie it selfe is an Harlot, and hReu. 2.4.hath left her first louelove. Shee committes Idolatrie, (vvhichwhich is the vilest Adulterie) vvith Stockes and Stones.
Thus Nature drinkes pleasant waters, but they are stollen. Lust encroacheth vponupon the Law: and Concupiscencies gaine is Gods losse. Some of them, saith Bishop Iewell, hauehave written in defence of filthinesse. VVhat blacke Vice shall vvant some Patronage? But causa patrocinio non bona, peior erit. Powerfull arguments, no doubt: yet powerfull enough to ouercome the yeelding spirit. Strong affection giues credite to weake reasons. A small temptation serues to his peruersion, that tempts himselfe; and vvould bee glad of a cloake to hide his leprosie, though he steale it. How can it then be denied, that sinnes are sweet, whiles Lust doth take, tast, censure them?
The Deuils Banket is not yet done; there is more cheare a comming. The Water-seruice is ended: now begin Cates of another nature; or, if you will, of another forme, but the nature is all one. Norma et forma manet. The same Methode of Seruice, the same manner of Iunkets. It may bee distinguished (as the former.)
Into a prescription, de quo. Bread,
Into a description, de quanto. Bread of Secrecies.
Into an ascription. de quali. Bread of ple…sure.
Bread hath a large extent in the Scriptures. Vult sufficientiam vitae et praesentis et futurae. Panis est doctrinalis, Sacramentalis, v…ctualis. Ludolph.VnderUnder it, is contained a sufficiencie of food and nourishment. 1. For the body. 2. For the soule. Therefore some would deriue the Latine word, Panem, from the Greeke word, foreign, and so make it a generall and comprehensiue word; to signifie, omne quod nobis necessarium ▪ all things needfull, whither to corporall or animall sustenance.
1. Corporall: the fourth petition in that absolute Prayer, lessoned to vsus by our Master, implies so much: GiueGive vsus this day our daily Bread. Where saith S. Augustine: Augus….Omnem necessariam corporis exhibitionem petimus: We begge all necessarie sustentation to our temporall life. So, iGen. 3.19.in sudore vultus vesceris pane tuo: All thy repast shall bee deriued from thy trauell. k2 King. 6.22.Set Bread before them, saith Elisha to the King of Israell: And lVer. 23.he made great prouision for them. Iobs kindred did mIob. 42.11.eate Bread, that is, feasted with him? Psal. 41.9.Hee that ate of my Bread ▪ saith Dauid, or did feed on the delicacies of my Pallace.
2. For the soule. oIoh. 6.51.I am the liuing Bread, that came downe from heauen: if any man eate of this Bread, hee shall liue for euer. It is not straitned of this sense. Matth. 15. pMatth. 15.26It is not meete to take the childrens Bread, and to throw it to dogges. Christ and all his benefites are shadowed forth by Bread. The losse of the Word, is called by the Prophet, qAmos. 8.11.a Famine, or losse of Bread.
Bread then implies multitudinem salutum, magnitudinem solaminum, plenitudinem omnium bonorum: Much health, great comforts, fulnesse of all requisite good things. And what? Will Satan bragge that hee can giuegive all these? and that his Bread, intensiue, is so virtuall in it owne nature: and extensiue, that it shall afford so much strength of comfort, validitie of nutriment; and neuer faile the collation of health to his guests? This is in him an hyperbolicall, and almost an hyperdiabolicall impudence; to make the bread of sinne, equall with the Bread of life: and to ascribe vntounto it potentiam virtutis, and virtutem dulcedinis; that it is Bread, and sweet bread, nourishing and well-tasted. As Ceres must bee taken and worshipped for the Goddesse of Corne, and Bacchus for the God of Wine; when they were (at the vtmost) but the first Inuenters of grinding the one, and pressing the other: for God is the God of both fields and Vineyards. So the Deuill would seeme owner of Bread and Water, when God onelyonly is Lord of Sea and Land; that made and blesseth the Corne and the Riuers. His Power containeth all, and his Prouidence continueth all that is good vntounto vsus.
Obserue, how the Deuill is Gods Ape,Obseru. 1. and striues to match and paralell him, both in his words and wonders. Hee followes him, but (not passibus aequis) with vnequall steps. If Christ hauehave his waters of life at the Lambes wedding Feast; the Deuill will hauehave his waters too at Lusts Banket. If rPsal. 18.13.the highest giuegive his thunder, hailestones, and coales of sire, (as to Elias sacrifice:) the red Dragon doth the like: sReu. 13.13.He maketh fire to come downe from heauen, in the sight of men. If Moses turne his rod to a Serpent, the Sorcerers doe the like: but yet they fall short, for tExod. 7.12.Moses rod deuoured all theirs. Must Abraham uGen. 22.2.sacrifice his Sonne to the God of Heauen? Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter to the Prince of Darknesse.Metam. 12. A Ramme redeeemes Ishaac, a Hinde Iphigenia. For Iehouah's Temple at Ierusalem, there is xAct. 9.27.great Diana's at Ephesus. It is said of the Sonne of God, that he shall yEsa 42.7.giuegive sight to the blinde; and heale the sicknesses of the people; The Sonne of Iupiter, Aesculapius shall hauehave the like report. Ouid and Hesiod hauehave their Chaos, in imitation of sacred Moses: Noahs deluge shall be quitted with Deucalions. For our Noah, they hauehave a Ianus; for our Sampson, a Hercules; for our Babel-builders, they that lay Pelion vponupon Ossa, Giants. If Lots Wife be turned to a Pillar; loe, Niohe is metamorphosed to a stone. Let God historifie his Ionas, Herodotus will say more of Arion. Of which S. Augustine well: We may suspect, the Greeke tale of the one, meanes the Hebrew truth of the other. De ciuit. Dei. lib. 1.Thus, if Christ at his Table offer to his Saints, his owne body for bread, bloud for wine, in a misticall sort: The Deuill will proffer some such thing to his guests, Bread and Waters; Waters of Stealth, Bread of Secrecie. He is loath to giuegive God the better: he would not doe it in heauen, and therefore turned out: and doe you thinke, hee will yet yeeld it? no,Reu. 22. in spight of Gods water of Christall, peace and glory; he will hauehave his waters of Acheron, guilt and vanitie. But by Satans leaue, there is a Bread, zEsa. 55.2.that nourisheth not. Wherefore doe ye spend money for that which is not Bread? and your labour for that, which satisfieth not? It (seemes but) is not bread: and (if it be, yet) it satisfies not. Say it could, yet aMatth. 4.4.man liues not by bread onelyonly; but by the word and blessing of God. foreign, all the delicates, that Sinne can afford vsus, are but foreign, the bane of the soule. Pabula peccati, pocula lethi. Erasmus sayes that foreign signifies that victuall, whereby Souldiers were allured to fight. The Captaine of the black… Guard giues his Souldiers this Diet.foreign properly signifies (foreign:) All meate prepared with fire. There is no cheare at this Banket drest without fire; either present of Lust, or future of torment.
Now since the Deuill will put the forme of Bread vponupon his tempting wickednesse; let vsus examine what kinde of bread it is.
1. The seede is corruption; bLeuit. 11.38.an vncleane seede. No other then the tares, which the cMatth. 13.28.Enemie sew: God sew good Corne, but whence are the tares? Obseru. 2.The seed whereof this bread is made, is not Wheate or good Corne; but Cockle, Darnell, Tares; Dissention, Rebellion, Lies, Vanities. The Deuill is herein a Seedes-man, but he sowes corrupt seede; that infects and poysons the heart, which receiues it.
2. The heate of the Sunne, influence of the Ayre, sap and moisture of the Ground, that ripens this seede, are Temptations: The seede once sowne in the apt ground of our carnall affections, is by the heate of Satans motion soone wrought to ripenesse. So that it is matured suggerendo, imprimendo, tentando: suggestion, impression, tentation hasten the seed (to grasse, to a blade, to spindling, to a perfect eare:) to growth in the heart: and all suddenly, for an ill weede growes apace. Rather then it shall dwindle and be stunted, he will crush the cloudes of hell, and raine the showres of his malediction vponupon it. Before he sowes, here he waters.
3. The seede thus ripend is soone cut downe, by the Sickle of his subtilty; whose policie to preserue his state Florentine, is beyond Machiauels. His speede is no lesse; else he could not so soone put a Girdle about the loynes of the earth.Iob. 2.2. But what policie can there be in shortning the growth of sinne? this trick rather eneruates his power, weakens his Kingdome. The Deuill doth not euer practise this cunning; but then alone, when he is put to his shifts.Saepe facit opus, quod non est suum, vt ita fa…iat opus quod est suum. Cyprian. For, some are so vile, that the Deuill himselfe, would scarce wish them worse. Such are Atheists, Rob-altars, Vsurers, Traytours, &c. But some liuing in the circun ference of the Gospell, are by mans awe and law restrained from professed abominations! what would you hauehave him now doe? Sure Satan is full of the Politiques. Lactant. Instit. Lib. 2. cap. 15.Daemonas grammatici dictos volunt, quasi foreign, id est, peritos ac rerum scios. He is a Deuill for his craft. I call therefore the reaping, his Subtiltie: for he might seeme therein to dissolue his Kingdome, and spoile the height of sinne, by cutting it downe. But the sequell and successe proues, he doth it rather to corroborate the power thereof, by making it fitter for application. Thus he d2 Cor 11.14.transformes himselfe to an Angell of light; and is content to top the proud risings of palpable and outward Impieties, that hee may more strongly possesse the soule by hypocrisie. Thus there may be an expulsion of Satan from the house of the heart, quoad veter…m eruptionem, when his repossession is made stronger, quoad nouam corruptionem. Common grace throwes him out, but he findes the house empty, swept, and garnished, that is, trimmed by hypocrisie, and therefore enters and fortifies with eMatth. 12.43.seauen other spirits more wicked then the first. What he cannot doe by notorious rebellion, hee …erformes by dissimulation. So that as Sorcerers and Witches conuerse with euill spirits in plausible and familiar formes, which in vgly shapes they would abhorre. So many would not endure him, vt rude cacodaemon, as a rough and grosse Deuill, in manifest outragious enormities; who yet as a smooth, sleeke, fine, and transformed Deuill, giuegive him entertainment. This then is his Haruest.
4. Being thus reaped and hous'd, he soone thresheth it out, with the Flaile of his strength. Hee is called fLuk. 11.22.the strong man; where he takes possession, he pleads prescription; hee will not out. His power in the captiued conscience scornes limitation: Hee is not content to hauehave the seed lye idle in the heart, hee must thresh it out, cause thee to produce some cursed effects. Hee doth not (to speake for your capacitie in the Countrey) hoord vp his Graine; but with all his might, and the helpe of all his infernall flailes, hee thresheth it out, and makes it ready for the Market. If any Cain, or Iudas be so hastie, that he will not stay till it be made Bread, tarry for tentation, but tempt himselfe; the Deuill is glad that they saue him a labour: howsoeuer, he will hauehave his Graine ready; his suggestion shall not be to seeke when he should vse it. Hee would be loath that the lustfull eye should want a Harlot, the corrupt Officer a bribe, the Papist an Image, the Vsurer a Morgage, the theefe a bootie. Hee knowes not vvhat guests will come, he will thrash it ready.
5. Being thrashed out, it must (you know) bee ground. Satan hath a Water-mill of his owne: though founded on mare mortuum, a dead Sea, (for all sinnes gHebr. 9.14.are dead workes) yet the current and streame that driues it, runnes with swifter violence, then the straites of Giberaltare. The flood of concupiscence driues it. The Mill consistes of two stones, Deliciae & diuitiae: Pleasure and Profit. There is no seede of sinne, which these two can not grinde to powder, and make fit for Bread, when Concupiscence turnes the Mill. Rapine, Sacriledge, Murder, Treason, hauehave bin prepared to a wicked mans vse, by these Instruments. Quid non mortaliae pectora cogunt? Couetousnesse and carnall delight bid any sinne welcome. OnelyOnly pleasure is the nether stone; Idlenesse would lye still, but Couetousnesse is content to trudge about, and glad when any sackes come to the Mill. These two grinde all the Deuils grist, and supply him with tentations for all the World. All the vgly births of sinnes, that hauehave euer shewed their monstrous and stigmaticke formes to the light, hauehave bene deriued from these Parents; Carnall pleasure and Couetousnesse. You see how the Deuill grindes.
6. It is ground, you heare: It wants leauening. The Leauen is the colourable and fallacious arguments, that perswade the sweetnesse of this Bread. This is, 1. eyther the Leauen of the Pharises. 2. Or, the leauen of the Sadduces. 3. Or, the Leauen of the Herodians. The Leauen Pharisaicall, is described by CHRIST himselfe to be hLuke 12.1.Hypocrisie: a tradition to iMatth. 23.25.make cleane the out side of the Cup, but no deuotion to keepe the inside pure, from extortion and excesse. The Leauen of the Sadduces is the kMatth. 16.12.doctrine of the Sadduces: as the mistaken Apostles (about Bread) corrected their owne errours. This Doctrine was a deniall of lAct. 23.….Resurrection, of Angel, of Spirit. The mMark. 8.15.Herodian Leauen, was dissolute profanenesse; deriued from the obseruation of Foxe-like Herod. These pleadings for Sinne, by the Deuils mercenarie Aduocates, put (like Leauen) a better taste into his Bread. Thus it is leauened.
7. It lackes now nothing but baking. Sure, the Ouen, that bakes this corrupt Bread, is our owne euill affections; which the Deuill heates by his temptations; and with supply of Fewell, to their humours. Thus by sinne he makes way for sinne, and prepares one iniquitie out of another. Hee strikes fire at the couetous heart of Iudas, and so bakes both Treason and Murder. He hath made Absolons affections so hot by Ambition, that Incest and Parricide is easily baked in them. The Prophet Hosea speakes the sinnes of Israel in this Allegory, nHos. 7.4.They are all Adulterers, as an Ouen heated by the Baker: who ceaseth from raising, after he hath kneaded the Dough, vntill it be leauened. oVers. 6.They hauehave made ready their heart, like an Ouen, whiles they lye in waite: their Baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. They are all hote as an Ouen, &c. Yea, pVers. 8.Ephraim it selfe is a Cake halfe baked. Thus, when our affections are made a fiery Ouen, through the greedinesse of sinne, there is soone drawne out a batch of wickednesse.
Thus the Deuill runnes through many occupations, before his Bread be baked, his Banket prepared for his guests. He is a Seedesman, a Waterer, a Reaper, a Thrasher, a Miller, a Moulder, a Baker. A Baker here for his Bread, as before a Brewer for his Waters. And to conclude, an Host, that makes the wake, inuites the guests, and Bankets them with their owne damnation.
You hauehave heard how this Seruice may be called Bread; and therein the subtiltie of the Deuils prescription. Let vsus as iustly poise his description in the ballance, and see how it holds weight. Secret bread, or, the bread of secrecie; nay, of Secrecies: for sinne is not like the Raile, that sits alone; but like the Partridges, which flye by Coueys. Secret. This will be found a fraudulent dimension: for qMark. 4.22.there is nothing so secret, that shall not be made manifest. The speeches of whispering, the actes of the Closet shall rLuke 12.2.not scape publishing. The Allegorie of Adulterie is prosecuted. Forbidden lusts, stollen by snatches, and inioyed in secret, are sweet and pleasant. It is instanced in this particular, what hath a generall extent to all the paralells; eueryevery sister of that cursed stocke. I will hold with it thus far; that sin loues secrecie; and I will testifie against it a degree further, that no sin is so secret, as the Tempter here affirmes it; or the committers imagine it. And from these two rootes, I will produce you a double fruit of Instruction.
1. Vniust things louelove priuacie: the Adulterer saith Iob, loues the darke. Thais drawes Paphnutius into the secret, and more remoued chambers. The two wicked Elders thus tempt that Embleme of chastitie; Ostia pomerij clausa sunt: the gates of the Orchyard are shut; and no body sees vsus. Hence the generation of sinnes are called sRom 13.12.the workes of darkenesse. And reformation of life is compared to our tVers. 13.decent walking in the day. Though vIoh. 3.19.the light of grace shines, saith the Sunne of brightnesse, yet men louelove darkenesse better, because their deeds are euill. Ignorance and the Night hauehave a fit similitude.
1. Both seasons are still and hush't: no noyse to waken the Sybarites; vnlesse the Cockes, the Ministers: Nuncij Dei et diei: and their noise is not held worth the hearing. Few will beleeue Christs Cocke, though hee crowes to them that the day is broken.
2. Both seasons procure stumbling. The wayes of our pilgrimage is not so euen but that wee need both light to shew the rubbes, and eyes to disce…ne them. The Gospell is the day, Christ is the light, Faith is the eye that apprehends it. Light without eyes, eyes without light, are defectiue to our good. If either be wanting, the stumbling feet indanger the body. In the spirituall priuation of either Gospell or Faith, the affections are not able to keepe vpright the Conscience.
3. Both are vncomfortable seasons. Nox & erroris & terroris plenissima. The night is full of wondring, of wandring. Imagine the Egyptians case in that grosse and palpable darkenesse:Exod. 10.23. the longest naturall night, that the Booke of God specifies. A silent, solitary, melancholy, inextricable season. In which, foreign; no murmure disquiets the Ayre; no man heares his name; no Birds sing; except the Owle and the Night-rauen, which croake onelyonly dismall things.
4. Both are fit seasons for fowle spirits to range in. It hath beene fabled of night-walking sprights. Let it be false, yet this is true: the Deuill is the xEphe. 6.12.Prince of darkenesse; his kingdome is a kingdome of darkenesse; and his walkes are the walkes of d…rkenesse. In the calignious night of Superstition and Ignorance, hee playes Rex, and captiuates many a soule to his obedience. His children (as it is fit) hauehave the same disposition with their father. They are Tenebrio's, and louelove nocturnos conuentus, meetings in the darke: as the …owder-Tra…tours met in the Vault. But the eyes of Iehouah see not onelyonly things …one in the tops of the Mountaines, but could sp…e the Trea…on of the Vaul….
2. And this is the consequent I…struction, which I would the Diuels blinded guests should know! God sees. There is nothing secret to his eye. 1. Hee sees our sinnes in the Booke of eternitie,foreign. Orph. before our owne hearts conceiued them. 2. He sees them in our hearts, when our inuentions hauehave giuen them forme, and our intentions birth. 3. Hee sees their action on the Theater of this Earth, quite through the scene of our liues. 4. Hee sees them, when his wrathfull eye takes notice of them, and his hand is lift vp to punish them. There is nothing so secret, and abstracted from the senses of men; Vt creatoris aut lateat cogitationem, August Ciuitat. 22. cap. 20.aut effugiat potestatem; that it may either lurke from the eye, or escape from the hand of God. No Master of a familie is so well acquainted with eueryevery corner of his house; or can so readily fetch any Casket or Boxe he pleaseth: as the Master yEphes. 3.15.of the whole familie in Heauen and Earth, knowes all the Angles and Vaults of the World.
Iupiter est, quodcun que vides, quocun que moueris.
zAct. 17.28.In him we liue, moue, and hauehave our being.
The villan…es of the Cloistures were not vnseene to his reuenging eye. Perhaps they tooke a recluse life, that they might practise experimentall wickednes, without suspition: pro…sing to the world contemplation, premising their owne thoughts to contamination. They thought themselues secure, shadowed from the eye of notice, and fenced from the hand of Iustice. So they were in doctrine, out of the world; but in proofe the world was in them: they were not more (politi) strict in profession, then (polluti) loose in conuersation. But as darke as their Vaults were, the all-seeing GOD descried their whoredomes, and destroyed their habitations; or at least emptied them of so filthy Tenants. The obscuritie of their Cels and Dorters, thickenesse of Wals, closenesse of Windores, with the cloake of a strict profession throwne ouer all the rest, could not make their sinnes darke to the eye of Heauen.
Bern. de c…nuers. ad Cler. cap. 16.Our impieties are not without witnesse. To videt Angelus malus, videt te bonus, videt et bonis et malis maior Angelis Deus. The good Angell, and the bad, and hee that is aHeb. 1.4.better then the Angels, farre aboue all principalities and powers, sees thee. The iust man sets foorth his actions to be iustified. Lucem & aethera petit, & teste so…e viuit: S…n.Hee loues the light, and walkes with the witnesse of the Sunne. It is recorded of Iacob, bGen. 25.27.Hee was a plaine man, dwe…ling in Tents. cIohn 1.47.Nathaniel (by the testimonie of the best witnesse) was an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. It was the Rabbins councell to his Scholler: Remember, there is 1. a seeing Eye: 2. a hearing Eare. 3. a Booke written. Sic viue cum hominibus, Sen. Epist. 11.quasi Deus videat: sic loqu…re Deo, quas… homines a… diant. So conuerse with men, as if GOD saw thee: so speake to God, as if men heard thee. For, non discessit Deus: quando recessit. God is not absent, though thou dost not feele him present. Corporeall substances are in one place locally and circumscriptiuely: incorporeall created substances, neither locally nor circumscriptiuely, but definitiuely. GOD the creating substance is eueryevery whit in eueryevery place: not circumscriptiuely as bodies; nor definitiuely as Angels; but repletiuely, (Io…is omnia plena) filling eueryevery place by his essence. Hee is hypostatically in CHRIST: graciously in his Saints: gloriously in Heauen: powerfully in Hell. You see then the falsehood of the Deuils assertion: Sinnes would be secret, but they are not.
The Bread of secrecie being described, I should come in the third and last place, to the Ascription: It is pleasant. But because the former adiunct of sweetnesse, doth but little diuersifie from this of Pleasure; and I shall hauehave iust occasion to conuince the Deuils fained delicacie, from Solomons proued miserie: I will therefore silence it. And for conclusiue application, giuegive mee the leaue of your patience, to examine the truth of the (former) secrecie.
It is the Deuils pollicie, though he can not blinde his eyes that made the light in Heauen,Application. and the sight in man; yet hee would darken our sinnes with the vaile of secrecies from the view of the vvorld. And are they so? no, (the suffering eye sees them, and can point them out, nay) sensible demonstration speakes them to the ea…es, and obiects them to the sight of man. The iniquities of these dayes are not ashamed to shew their faces; but vvalke the streets without feare of a Ser…eant. The sinnes of the Citie are as pert and apert as the sonnes of the Citie. I would Iniquitie was not bolder then Honestie; or that Innocence might speed no worse then Nocence. Absit vt sic, August.sed vtinam vt vel sic, saith Saint Augustine, in the like case: God forbid it should be so bad; yet I vvould it were no worse. For the times are so wheeled about to their olde byas, that vix licet esse bonum, it is scarce safe to be an honest man. Suspition makes the good euill, and flatterie makes the euill good, the first in the opinion of others; the last in the opinion of themselues. Our faith is small, and led …th reason; our life euill, and led without reason. Corruptio morum to…lit scientiam ethicam. Our euill maners shut vp Philosophy and Diuinitie too into the caue of Ignorance.Arist.
This Forrest of Man and Beast, the world, growes from euill to worse; like Nabuch…dnezzars dreamed Image, whose dDan. 2.32.Head was Golden, Siluer armes, Brasen thighes, but his feet were of Iron and Clay. What Ouid did but Poet…ze, experience doth moralize, our manners actually performe. This last is (as it must bee) the worst. Our Couetise saith, It is terrae aetas, an Earthen Age. Our Oppression, ferrea aetas, an Iron Age. Our Impudence, ah…nea aetas ▪ a Brasen Age. Neither aurea, nor argentea, saith Necessitie. For the poore may say as the Priest, eAct. 3.6.Siluer and Gold hauehave I none. Let me say; our sinnes hauehave made it worthy to be called, inferna aetas, a hellish Age.
Sinne is called by Paul, fEph…s. 4.The olde man; but hee is stronger now▪ then hee was in his I…fancie; diebus Adam…, in the dayes of Adam. Most mens repentance is in the knee or tongue, but their wickednesse in the heart and hand. Money marres all: for this, and the pleasures this may procure, gHeb. 12.16.Esau sels his Birth-right, hMat…h. 26.15Iudas sels his Master, i1 King. 21.…5Ahab sels himselfe to worke vvickednesse. Sinne was wont to louelove priuacie, as if shee walked in feare. The Tippler kept his priuate Ale-bench, not the Market place: the Adulterer his Chamber, not (with k2 Sam. 16.22Absolon) the house-top: the Theefe was for the night or sequestrate wayes: the corrupt Lawyer tooke bribes in his Studie, not in the open Hall; but now (peccata nullas petitura te…bras) our sinnes scorne the darke. Men are so farre from being lRom. 6.21.ashamed of their fruitlesse liues, that mala comittunt, commissa iactant, iactata defendunt: they commit euill, …oast that they committed, and defend that they boasted. mPsal. 73.6.Pride is worne as a chaine, and crueltie as a garment; conspectu omnium, as proud of the fashion. They talke of a Conscience, that seekes couers, like Adams Figge leaues: but these nPhil. 3.19.glory in their shame; whose end is damnation, saith Saint Paul. The very Harlot comes short of them: shee wipes her lippes, and saith, shee h…th not sinned. B…tter fare those, that yet would be accounted honest.
Wee may iustly paralell these times and our complaints to the Prophet Esay's, oEsa. 3.9.The shew of their countenance doth witnesse against them: they declare their sinne at Sodome, they hide it not: But woe bee to their soules, for they hauehave rewarded euill to themselues. So the Iewes answered GOD, pleading hard to them, pIer. 3.25.There is no hope: no, for I hauehave loued strangers, and after them I will goe. Nay, resolutely they discharged GOD of further paines: qVerse 31.Wee are Lords, wee will no more come vntounto thee. Therefore Ezekiel denounceth their destruction: For this cause rEzek. 21.24.yee shall bee taken with the hand of Iudgement, because your sinnes are discouered: and in all your doings your transgressions doe appeare. So the same people to the Sonne, as they had erst to the Seruants: Wee will not come vntounto thee. How often would I hauehave gathered you, but you would not? sIoh 5.40.Yee will not come at mee, that you might hauehave life. 1. The way is easie. 2. You shall hauehave life for comming: it is worth your labour. 3. You can hauehave it no where else; then Come to mee. No, you will not come at mee: as Daniel answered tDan. 5.17.Bels…azzar, Keepe thy rewards to thy selfe, and giuegive thy gifts to another.
These are sinnes with lifting vp the hand and he…le against God: the hand in opposition, the heele in contempt. There are two Ladders, whereby men climbe into HEAVEN; the godly by their Prayers, the wicked by their sinnes. By this latter Ladder did Sodome and Niniueh climbe. GOD graunt our sinnes be not such climbers; that presse into the presence Chamber of HEAVEN, and will bee acquainted vvith GOD, though to our confusion. Are our wickednesses done in this R…on and Sphaere of sinne, the Earth; and must they come to Heauen first? Must the newes be at the Court, of what is done in the Co…ntrie, before the Countrie it selfe know of it? Our consciences take no notice of our owne iniquities; but they complaine in the audience-Court of HEAVEN, and few out an Outlawry against vsus. So impudent and vn-blushing is our wickednesse, that with the Prophet wee may complaine: vIer. 6.15. & 8.12. both places in the same words.Were they ashamed, when they had committed abhomination? nay, they were not at all ash…med, neither could they blush. Our sinnes keepe not low water, the tide of them is euer swelling: they are obiects to the generall eye; and proud that they may be obserued. And let mee tell you; many of the sinnes I hauehave taxed, as secret and silent as you take them and as hoarcely as they are pleaded to speake; are no lesse then Thunder to Heauen, and Lightning to men. They doe votally and vocally ascend, that vvould actually, if they could.
xIam. 5.4.The labourers hyre cries in the gripulous Landlords hand. yIob 31.38.The furrowes of the Incloser cry, complaine, nay, weepe against him: for so is the Hebrew word. The vaine-glorious builder hath zHaba. 2.11.the stone crying out of the Wall against him, and the beame out of the Timber answering it. The a2 King. 19.28.Blasphemers tumult cryes, and is come vp into the eares of God. The bIer. 6.7.Oppressors rage and violence reacheth vp to Heauen, and is continually before mee, saith the Lord. These are crying sinnes, and hauehave shrill voices in Heauen, neither are they submisse and whispering on the Earth.
To bee short; most men are eyther Publicanes or Pharises: eyther they will doe no good, or loose that they doe by ostentation. Many act the part of a religious man, and play Deuotion on the worlds Theater, that are nothing beside the Stage; all for sight. Angels in the High-way, Deuils in the by-way: so monstrous out of the CHVRCH, that they shame Religion. It was prouerb'd on Nero, It must needes be good that Nero persecutes: Blasphemandi ansam.their vvicked liues giuegive occasion to the world, to inuert it on them. It must needs be euill, that such wretches professe. Others are like Publicanes: OnelyOnly they were Christened when they were Babes, and could not helpe it; but as angry at that indignitie, they oppose Christ all their liues.
Take heed, Beloued; Hell was not made for nothing. The Deuill scornes to hauehave his Court emptie…: you will not bend, you shall breake: you will not serue God, God will serue himselfe of you. Put not these vices from you, by your impudent cloakings! How many sta…d here guiltie of some of thes… sinnes? How many may say with Aeneas, Et quorum pars magna sui, whereof I hauehave a great share. Many cry out, the dayes are euill, whiles they helpe to make them worse. All censure, none amend. If eueryevery one would plucke a brand from this fire, the flame would goe out of it selfe. But whiles wee cast in our iniquities as Fewell, and blow it with the Bellowes of disobedience; wee make it strong enough to consume vsus; yea, and all we hauehave. For God will not spare euer; he is iust, and must strike.
Shall wee loosen our hands to impietie, and tye God from vengeance? I hauehave often read and seene that cPsal. 85.10.Mercy and … meet together; that Righteousnesse and Peace kisse one …nother. But MercieMercy and sinnefulnesse keepe not the sa…e ho…s…, dEsa. 57.21.Peace and wickednesse are meere stra…ers. To reconcile these, is harder then to make the W…lfe and L…mbe liue together in quiet. Thinke not that God can not strike. Mars vl…or galeam quo que perdidit, Inuen. Sa…. 4.& res non potuit seruare suas. The H…then Gods could not auenge their owne quarrels: But our God ca… punish a thousand wayes: Fire, Plague, Warre, Famine, &c. Milla nocendi artes. Our sinnes may thriue a while, and batten, beca…se they liue in a friendl… Ayre, and apt Soile; but in the end they will ouerthrow both themselues and vsus. August.Ciuitatis euersio est, morum non murorum casus. A Cities ouerthrow is sooner wrought by lewd liues, then weake walles. Were the walles of our Cities as strong-Turreted and inexpugnable, as the wall that Phocas built about his Pallace; yet it may bee really performed on them, as the voyce in the night tolde him: Did they reach the Clouds, they may be scaled: the sinne within will marre all. Gra…iores sunt mimici mores praui, Ambr.quàm hostes infesti. Our worst enemies are our owne sinnes. And thoug… these punishments fall not suddenly, yet certainely, if repentance step not betweene. Adam did not dye presently on his sin; yet Gods Word was true vponupon him: for hee became instantly mortall, sure to die, and fell (as it vvere) into a Consumption, that neuer left him, till it brought him to the graue. GOD hath leaden Feet, but Iron hands; take heede ye feasting Robbers: when God strucke that secret theefe Iudas, hee strucke home: he tooke away the world from him, or rather him from the world, and sent him to his owne place. Feast, Reuell, Ryot, Couet, Ingrosse, Extort, Hoord, whiles you will;Acts 1.25. Earth is not your House, but your Bridge: you must passe ouer it, either to Canaan or Egipt, Heauen or Hell; eueryevery man to his owne place.
Graunt, oh deare Father, that wee may so runne our short Pilgrimage on Earth, that our dwel…ing-place may bee with thy Maiestie in Heauen, through the merits and mercies of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. AMEN.
In conviuium Diabolicum.
They, that to glut on sinnes such pleasure hauehave,
Descend with sickly Conscience to their graue;
Vnlesse Repentance and true Faith make sure
The physicke of Christs bloud, their wounds to cure.
Forbeare thou Christen'd soule the Deuils Feast,
And to Heauens Supper be a welcome Guest.
FINIS.
THE SHOT: OR The vvofull price vvhichwhich the wicked pay for the feast of Vanitie.
BY THOMAS ADAMS, Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire.
LVKE 16.25.
But Abraham said; Sonne, remember that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus euill things, but now hee is comforted, and thou art tormented.
AVGVST. de Ciuitate Dei. Lib. 22. Cap. 3.
Prima mors animam dolentem pellit de corpore:
Secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore.
The soule by the first death is vnwillingly driuen from the body: the soule by the second death is vnwillingly held in the body.
LONDON: Printed by Thomas Snodham for Ralph Mab, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Grey-hound. 1614.