Mystical Bedlam, Sermon · Sermon 1
The first Sermon.
ECCLESIASTES, CAP. 9. VER. 3.
The heart of the Sonnes of men is full of euill, and madnesse is in their heart while they liue: and after that, they goe to the dead.
THe Subiect of the discourse is Man; and the speech of him hath three Poynts, defined and confined in the Text. 1. His Comma, 2. his Colon, 3. his Period. 1. Mens harts are full of euill, there's the Comma. 2. Madnesse is in their hearts whiles they liue: there's the Colon. 3. whereat not staying, after that they goe downe to the dead. And there's their Period. The first beginnes, the second continues, the third concludes their Sentence.
Here is Mans setting forth, his peregrination, and his iourneyes end. 1. At first putting out, His heart is full of euill. 2. Madnesse is in his heart, all his peregrination, whiles they liue. 3. His iourneyes end, is the Graue, He goes to the dead.
First, Man is borne from the wombe, as an arrow shotte from the Bow. 2. His flight through this ayre, is wilde, and full of madnesse; of indirect courses. 3. The Center, where he lights, is the Graue.
First, his Comma beginnes so harshly, that it promiseth no good consequence in the Colon. 2. The Colon is so madde and inordinate, that there is smal hope of the Period. 3. When both the premises are so faulty, the Conclusion can neuer be handsome. Wickednes in the first proposition, Madnes in the second: the Ergo is feareful, the conclusion of all is Death.
So then, 1. the beginning of Mans race is full of euill; as if hee stumbled at the thresshold. 2. The further hee goes, the worse: Madnes is ioyn'd- Tenant in his heart with life. 3. At last, in his franticke flight, not looking to his feet, hee drops into the pitte goes downe to the dead.
To beginne at the vppermost stayre of this graduall descent; the Comma of this tripartite sentence giues mans heart, for a vessell. Wherein obserue
1. The Owners of this vessell, men, and deriuatiuely, the sonnes of men.
2. The vessell it selfe is earthen, a Potte of Gods making, and mans marring, the Heart.
3. The Liquor it holds is Euill, a defectiue, priuatiue, abortiue thing, not instituted, but destituted, by the absence of originall Goodnes.
4 The measure of this vessels pollution with euill liquour. It is not said sprinckled, not seasoned, with a moderate and sparing quantity. It hath not an aspersion, nor imbution, but impletion; it is filled to the brimme: full of euill. Thus, at first putting forth, we hauehave Man in his best member corrupted.
1. The Owners or Possessors, Sonnes of men.
Adam was called the sonne of God, Luk. 3.Luk. 3. 38. Enos was the sonne of Seth, Seth the sonne of Adam, Adam the son of God: But all his posterity the sonnes of men: wee receyuing from him both flesh, and the corruption of flesh, yea, and of soule too; though the substance thereof be inspired of God, not traduced from man: for the purest soule becomes stain'd and corrupt, when it once toucheth the body.
The sonnes of men. This is a deriuatiue and diminutiue speech; whereby mans conceit of himselfe is lessened, and himselfe lessoned to humility. Man, as Gods creation left him, was a goodly creature, an abridgement of heauen and earth, an Epitome of God and the world: resembling God, who is a Spirit, in his Soule, and the World, which is a Body, in the composition of his. Deus maximus inuisibilium, mundus maximus visibilium: God the greatest of inuisible natures, the World the greatest of visible creatures: both brought into the little compasse of Man.
Now Man is growne lesse; and as his body in size, his soule in vigour, so himselfe in all vertue is abated: so that the sonne of man is a phrase of diminution, a barre in the Armes of his ancient glory, an exception of his derogate and degenerate worth.
Two instructions may the sonnes of men learne in being called so. 1. Their spirituall corruption. 2. Their naturall corruptiblenes.
1. That corruption and originall prauity, which wee hauehave deriued from our Parents. Psal. 51.Psal. 51. 5. Behold, sayth Dauid, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sinne did my mother conceiue me. The originall word is, warme me: as if the first heate deriued to him, were not without contamination. I was borne a sinner, sayth a Saint.
It is saide, Gen. 5.Gen. 5. 3. that Adam begate a sonne in his owne likenesse, after his image, and called his name Seth. This image and likenesse cannot bee vnderstood of the Soule: for this Adam begate not. Nor properly and meerely of the Bodies shape; so was Cain as like to Adam, as Seth, of whom it is spoken. Nor did that image consist in the piety and purity of Seth: Adam could not propagate that to his sonne, which hee had not in himselfe: vertues are not giuen by birth, nor doth grace follow generation, but regeneration. Neyther is Seth said to bee begotten in the Image of Adam, because mankind was continued and preserued in him. But it intends that corruption, which descended to Adams posterity by naturall propagation. The Pelagian error was, Peccatum primae transgressionis in alios homines, non propagatione, sed imitatione transisse: that the guilt of the first sinne was deriued to other men, not by propagation, but by imitation: but then could not Adam be said, to begette a sonne in his owne image: neyther could Death hauehave seazed on Infants, who had not then sinned. But all hauehave sinned, Rom. 5.Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin entred into the world, and death by sinne: so death passed vponupon all men, for that all hauehave sinned.
This title then, the sonnes of men, puts vsus in mind of our originall contamination, whereby we stand guilty before God, & lyable to present and eternall iudgements. Dura, tremenda refers: You will say with the Disciples, Ioh. 6.Ioh. 6. 60. This is an hard saying, who can heare it, beare it? nay, be ready to conclude with a sadder inference, as the same Disciples, after a particular instance, Math. 19.Math. 19. 23. Who then can be saued?
I answere, We deriue from the first Adam, sinne and death: but from the second Adam, Grace and Life. As we are the sonnes of men, our state is wretched, as made the sonnes of God, blessed. It is a peremptory speech, 1. Cor. 15. 50.1. Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God, neyther doth corruption inherite incorruption. It is a reuiuing comfort in the 6. Chapter of the same Epistle: Such wee were, 1. Cor. 6. 11.but wee are washed, but we are sanctified, but we are iustified, in the name of the Lord Iesus, & by the spirit of our God. The conclusion or inference hereon is most happy.aRom. 8 1. Now therefore there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus, who walke not after the flesh, but after the spirite. Wee may liue in the flesh, butbVer. 13. if after the flesh, wee shall die. Si voluntati & voluptati carnis satissacere conemur: If our endeuours bee wholy armed and aymed to content the Flesh: but if we bee led by the spirit, cum dilectione, cum delectatione, with louelove, with delight, wee are of the sonnes of men, made thecVer. 14. sonnes of God.
It is our happinesse, not to bee borne, but to bee dIoh 3. 3.new borne. The first birth kills, the second giues life. It is not the seed of man in the wombe of our mother; but thee1 Pet. 1. 23. seed of Grace in the wombe of the Church, that makes vsus blessed. Generation lost vsus; it must bee regeneration, that recouers vsus. As the tree falls, so it lies: and lightly it falls to that side, which is most loden with fruites and branches. If wee abound most with the fruits of obedience, wee shall fall to the right hand, life: if with wicked actions, affections, to the left side, death.
It is not then, worth the ascription of glory to, what wee deriue naturally from man. Dauid accepts it as a great dignity, to be sonne in law to a King. To descend from Potentates, and to fetch our pedegree from princes, is held mirabile, et memorabile decus, a dignity not to bee slighted or forgotten. But to bee a Monarch;
Imperium Oceano, famam quiterminat astris.
Whose fame and Empire no lesse bound controules,Virg. 2. Aenea.
Then the remotest sea, and both the Poles.
Oh, this is Celsissima gloria mundi, the supremest honour of this world, yet Princes are but men, saith the Psalmist. Psal. 146. 3.Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the sonne of man, in whom there is no helpe. His breath goeth forth, hee returneth to his earth. They may bee high by their calling, Princes; yet they are but low by their nature, sons of men. And meerely to bee the sonne of man, is to bee corrupt and polluted. They are sinfull, the sonnes of men: weake, there is no helpe in them: corruptible, their breath goeth forth: dying, they returne to their earth.
It is registred as an euident praise of Moses his faith, that for the rebuke of Christ, he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter. There is no ambitiō good in the sons of men, but to be adopted the sons of God: vnderunder which degree there is no happines, aboue which no cause of aspiring.
2. Our Corruptiblenesse is heere also demonstrated. A mortall Father cannot beget an immortall sonne. If they that brought vsus into the world, hauehave gone out of the world themselues, we may infallibly conclude our owne following. He that may say, I hauehave a man to my Father, a woman to my mother in his life; may in death, with Iob say to Corruption, Thou art my Father: to the worm, Ioh. 17. 14.Thou art my mother, and my sister.
It hath beene excepted against the iustice of God, that the sinne of one man is deuolued to his posteritie; and that for the fathers eating sowre grapes, the childrens teeth are set on edge, according to the Iewish Prouerbe, Ier. 31. 29.Ezek. 18. 2. As if we might say to eueryevery sonne of man, as Horace sung to his friend: Delicta maiorum immeritus lues: Thou being innocent, doest suffer for thy nocent superiours. This a Philosopher obiected against the gods; strangely conferring it, as if for the fathers disease, physicke should be ministred to the sonne.
I answere, Adam is considered as the roote of mankind: that corrupt masse, whence can bee deduced no pure thing. Can we bee borne Morians without their blacke skins? It is possible to hauehave an Amorite to our father, and an Hittite to our mother, without participation of their corrupted natures? If a man slippe a syense from a hawth orne, hee will not looke to gather from it grapes. There is not then a sonne of man in the cluster of mankind, but (eodem modo & nodo, vinctus & victus) it is lyable to that common and equall law of death.
Vnde superbis homo, natus, satus, ortus ab hum…?
Proud man forgets, Earth was his natiue wombe;
Whence he was borne: and dead; the Earth's his Tombe.
Morieris, non quia aegrot as, sed quia viuis: sayth the Philosopher: Thou shalt die, oh sonne of man, not because thou art sicke,Sen. Ep. 99. ad Lucil. but because the sonne of man. Cuinasci contigit, mori restat: Who hapned to come into the world, must vponupon necessity goe out of the world.
It is no new thing to die, since life it self is nothing els, but a iourney to death. Quicquid ad summum peruenit, adexitum properat: He that hath climbed to his highest, is descending to his lowest. All the sonnes of men die not one death, for time and manner: for the matter and end, one death is infallible to all the sonnes of men. The corne is somtimes bitten in the spring, often trode downe in the blade, neuer failes to bee cut vp in the eare,Sen ibid. when ripe: Quisquis queritur hominem mortuum esse, queritur hominem fuisse: Who laments, that a man is dead, laments that he was a man.
When Anaxagoras heard that his son was dead, hee answered without astonishment, Scio me genuisse mortalem: I know that I begate a mortall man. It was a good speech, that fell from that shame of Philosophie, Epictetus: Non sum aeternitas, sed homo: particula vniuersi, vt hora diei: venire igitur oportet vt horam, praeterire vt horam: I am not eternity, but a man: a little part of the whole, as an houre is of the day: like an houre I came, and I must depart like an houre.
Mors dominos seruis, & sceptra ligonibus aequat:
Dissimiles simili conditione ligat.
Deathes cold imparciall hands are vs'd to strike
Princes and Peasants, and make both alike.
Some fruite is plucked violently from the tree, some droppes with ripenesse; all must fall, because the sonnes of men.
This should teach vsus, to arme our selues with patience and expectation,Sen. to encounter Death: Saepe debemus mori, nec volumus: morimur, nec volumus: Often we ought to prepare for death, wee will not: at last, wee die indeed, and wee would not. Adam knew all the beasts, and called them by their names: but his own name hee forgot, Adam, of earth. What bad memories hauehave wee, that forget our owne names and selues, that we are the sonnes of men, corruptible, mortall? Incertum est, quo loco te mors expectat: itaque tu illam omni loco expecta. Thou knowest, in what place Death looketh for thee: therefore do thou looke for him in eueryevery place. Watch therefore; Math. 24. 42.for you know not what houre your Lord doth come. Thus for the Owners.
2. The vessell it selfe is the Heart.
The Heart is Mans principall vessell. Wee desire to hauehave all the implements in our house good: but the vessell of chiefest honour, principally good. Quanm male de te ipse meruisti, &c. sayth Saint August. How mad is that man that would hauehave all his vessels good, but his owne heart! Wee would hauehave a strong nerue, a cleare veyne, a moderate pulse, a good arme, a good face, a good stomacke, onelyonly we care not how euill the heart is, the principall of all the rest.
For, howsoeuer the Head be called the Tower of the mind, the Throne of Reason, the house of wisdom, the Treasure of memory, the Capitol of iudgement, the shoppe of affections: yet is the Heart the receptacle of life,Cor receptaculum vitae. And Spiritus, Spiritus in iecore naturalis, animalis cerebro, in vitalis in corde.which (they say) is Copula animae & corporis, a vertue vniting the soule and the body: if it bee in the Liuer naturall, in the Head animal, yet is in the Heart vitall. It is the member, that hath first life in mā, and is the last that dies in man; and to all the other members giues viuification.
As man is Microcosmus, an abridgement of the world, hee hath heauen resembling his soule: earth his heart, placed in the middest as a center: the Liuer is like the sea, whence flow the liuely springs of bloud: the Braine, like the sunne, giues the light of vnderstanding: and the senses are set round about, like the starres. The Heart in man is like the roote in a tree: the organ or lung-pipe, that comes of the left cel of the heart, is like the stocke of the tree, which diuides it selfe into two parts, and thence spreades abroad (as it were) sprayes and boughes into all the body, euen to the arteries of the head.
The Egyptians hauehave a conceite, that mans growing or declining followes his Heart. The Heart of man, say they, increaseth still, till hee come to fifty yeares old, eueryevery yeare two drachmes in weight, and then decreaseth eueryevery yeare as much, till hee come to an hundred: and then for want of Heart, hee can liue no longer. By which consequence, none could liue about an 100. yeres: which conceyted demonstration hath often proued false. But it is a vessell, a liuing vessell, a vessell of life.
It is a vessell properly, because hollow: hollow to keepe heat, and for the more facile closing & opening. It is a spirituall vessell, made to containe the holy dewes of grace, whichaPsal. 46 4. make glad the City of God. It is euer full, eyther with that precious iuyce, or with the pernicious liquor of sinne. As our Sauiour sayth, Math. 15. Out of the heart proceede euill thoughts, Math. 15. 19.murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesse, blasphemies. b1 Cor. 3. 16.Know you not, sayth his Apostle, that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirite of God dwelleth in you? If our Corpus be Templum Domini, sure our Cor is Sanctum sanctorum. It was the answere of the Oracle, to him that would bee instructed, what was the best Sacrifice. Damedium Lunae, solem simul, & canis iram. GiueGive the halfe Moone, the whole Sunne, and the dogs anger.
Which three Characters make Cor the heart. The good heart is a receptacle for the whole Trinity: and therefore it hath three Angels, as if the three Persons of that one Deity would inhabit there. The Father made it, the Sonne bought, the Holy Ghost sanctifies it: therfore they all three claime a right in the Heart. It hath three cels for the three persons, and is but one Heart for one God. The world cannot satisfie it: a Globe cannot fill a Triangle. OnelyOnly God can sufficiently content the Heart.
God is,Ambros. sayth a Father, non corticis, sed cordis Deus: not regarding the rinde of the lippes, but the root of the Heart. Hence Sathan directs his malicious strength against the Heart. The foxe doth gripe the necke, the mastiffe flies at the throat, and the Ferret nippes the Liuer: but the Deuill aymes at the Heart, inficere, interficere. The Heart he desires, because he knows, God desires it: and his ambition still inclines, intends his purposes and plots, to robbe God of his delight. The Heart is the chiefe Tower of life to the body, and the spirituall Citadell to the whole man: alwayes besieged by a domesticall enemy, the Flesh: by a ciuill, the world: by a profest, the Deuill. EueryEvery perpetrated sinne doth some hurt to the walls; but if the Heart be taken, the whole Corporation is lost.
How should Christ enter thy house, and suppe with thee, when the Chamber is taken vp, wherein he would rest,Reu. 3. 20 the Heart? All the faculties of Man follow the Heart, as seruants the Mistresse, wheeles the poyse, or linkes the first end of the chaine. When the Sunne riseth, all rise; beasts from their dennes, birds from their nests, men from their beds. So the Heart leads, directs, moues the parts of the body, and powers of the soule: that the mouth speaketh, hand worketh, eye looketh, eare listneth, foote walketh; all producing good or euill, from the good or euil treasure of the heart. Luke 6. 45.Therfore the penitent Publican beat his Heart, as if he would cal vp that, to call vp the rest.
It is conspicuous then, that the heart is the best vessel, whereof any sonne of man can boast himselfe possessour: and yet (prohdolor!) euen this is corrupted. To declare this pollution, the next circumstance doth iustly chalenge: onelyonly one caueat to our hearts, of our Hearts, ere we leaue them. Since the Heart is the most precious vessell, man hath in all his corporall housholde, let him hauehave good regard to it. Omni custodia custodi cor tuum: Keepe thy heart with all diligence, sayth Solomon. GOD hath done much for the Heart, naturally, spiritually.
For the former; He hath placed it in the middest of the body, as a Generall in the midst of his Army: bulwarck'd it about with brest, ribbes, backe. Lest it should bee too cold, the liuer lies not farre off, to giuegive it kindly heate: lest too hote, the lungs lye by it, to blow coole winde vponupon it. It is the chiefe, and therefore should wisely temper all other members: by the spleene we are moued to laugh; by the gall to be angry: by the braine wee feele, by the liuer we louelove, but by the heart we be wise.
Spiritually, hee hath done more for the heart, giuing the bloud of his Sonne to clense it, soften it, sanctifie it, when it was full, both of hardnesse and turpitude. By his omnipotent grace hee vnroosted the Deuill from it, who had made it a stable of vncleannesse: and now requires it (being created new) for his own chamber, for his owne bed. The purified heart is Gods Sacrary, his Sanctuary, his House, his Heauen. As Saint August. glosseth the first words of the Pater noster. Our Father which art in heauen, that is, in a heart of an heauenly disposition. Quàmpropitia dignatio ista, that the King of Heauen will vouchsafe to dwell in an earthly Tabernacle!
The Heart then being so accepted a vessell, keepe it at home: hauing but one so precious supellectile or moueable, part not with it vponupon any termes. There are foure busie requirers of the Heart, besides he that iustly oweth it. Beggars, Buyers, Borrowers, Theeues.
1 He that begges thy Hart, is the Pope: and this hee doth not by word of mouth, but byletters of commē dations, condemnations rather, his Seminary factors. He begs thy Heart, and offers thee nothing for it, but crucifixes, images, &c. meere images or shadowes of reward: or his blessing at Rome; which, because it is so farre distant, as if it lost all the vertue by the way, doth as much good, as a candle in Sunshine.
2▪ He that would buy this vessell of vsus, is the Deuill; as one that distrusts to hauehave it for nothing: and therefore set what price thou wilt vponupon it, hee will eyther pay it, or promise it. Sathan would faine hauehave his Iewell-house full of these vessels, and thinkes them richer ornaments,2 Reg. 20. 13. then the Babylonian Ambassadors thought the treasures of Hezechiah. Haman shall hauehave grace with the King, Absolon honour, Iezabel reuenge, Ammon his lusts satisfied, Iudas money, Demas the world, if they will sell him their Hearts,. If any man, like Ahab, sell his heart to such a purchaser, let him know, that qui emit, interimit: he doth buy it, to butcher it.
3 The Flesh is the Borrower, and hee would hauehave this vessell to vse, with promise of restoring. Let him hauehave it a while, and thou shalt hauehave it againe; but as from an ill neighbour, so broken, lacerated, deformed, defaced; that though it went forth rich, like the Prodigall, it returnes home tattered and torne, and worne, no more like a heart, then Michols image on the pillow was like Dauid. This Sutour borrowes it of the Citizen, till vsury hath made him an Alderman: of the Courtier, til ambition hath made him noble: of the Officer, till bribery hath made him master: of the Gallant, till riot hath made him a beggar: of the Luxurious, till lust hath filled him with diseases: of the Country Churle, till couetise hath swelled his barnes: of the Epicure, till he bee fatted for death: and then sends home the heart, like a Iade, tired with vnreasonable trauell. This is that wicked borrower, in the Psalme, which payeth not againe. Thou wouldest not lend thy beast, nor the worst vessell in thy house to such a neighbour: and wilt thou trust him with thy heart? Eyther not lend it, or looke not for it againe.
4. The World is the Theefe, 2. Sam. 5. 6.which (like Absolon) steales away the heart. This cunningly insinuates into thy brest,Quàm minimo custos munere possit emi? beguiling the Watch or Guard, which are thy senses, and corrupting the seruants, which are thy affections. The world hath two properties of a Theefe: first, It comes in the night time, when the lights of reason and vnderstanding are darkened, and security hath gotten the heart into a slumber. This dead sleepe, if it doth not find, it brings.
Sunt quo que quae faciunt altos medicamina somnos,Ouid. Amor.
Vitaque Lethaealumina nocte premunt.
The world's a potion; who thereof drinkes deepe,
Shall yeeld his soule to a Lethargicke sleepe.
2 It makes no noyse in comming, lest the family of our reuiued thoughts wake, and our sober knowledge discerne his approch. This theefe takes vsus, as it tooke Demas, napping: terrifies vsus not with noyse of tumultuous troubles, and alarum of persecutions; but pleasingly giues vsus the musicke of gaine, and lappes vsus warme in the couch of lusts. This is the most perillous oppugner of our hearts: neyther begger, buyer, nor borrower could doe much without this theefe. It is some respect to the world, that makes men eyther giuegive or sell, or lend the vessell of their heart. Astus pollentior armis: Fraud is more dangerous then force. Let vsus beware this theefe.
First, turne the begger from thy dore, hee is too sawcy, in asking thy best moueable, wheras beggers shuld not chuse their almes. That Pope was yet a little more reasonable, that shewed himselfe content with a King of Spaines remuneration; The present you sent mee was such, as became a King to giuegive, and S. Peter to receyue: But da pauperibus: the Pope is rich enough.
Then reiect the buyer: set him no price of thy heart, for he wil take it of any reckoning. He is neere driuen, that sels his heart. I hauehave heard of a Iew that would for security of his lent money, hauehave onelyonly assur'd to him a pound of his Christian debters liuing flesh: a strange forfeit, for default of paying a little money. But the Deuill, in all his couenants, indents for the heart. In other bargaines, caueat emptor, sayth the Prouerbe: Let the buyer take heed: in this, let the seller looke to it. Make no marte nor market with Sathan.
Non benè pro multo libertas venditur auro.
The heart is ill solde, what euer the price be.
Thirdly, for the borrower: Lend not thy heart in hope of interest, lest thou lose the principall. Lend him not any implement in thy house, any affection in thy heart: but to spare the best vessell to such an abuser, is no lesse then mad charity.
Lastly, ware the theefe: and let his subtilty excite thy more prouident preuention. Many a man keepes his goods safe enough from beggers, buyers, borrowers, yet is met withall by theeues.
Therefore locke vp this vessell with the Key of faith, barre it with resolution against sinne, guard it with supervisiting diligence, and repose it in the bosom of thy Sauiour. There it is safe from all obsidious, or insidious oppugnations: from the reach of fraud or violence. Let it not stray from this home, lest like Dinah it be defloured. If wee keepe this vessell our selues, wee indanger the losse. Iacob bought Esau's birth-right, & Satha stole Adams Paradise, whiles the tenure was in their owne hands. An Apple beguiled the one, a messe of pottage the other. Trust not thy heart in thine owne custody; but lay it vp in heauen with thy treasure. Commit it to Him, that is the maker and preseruer of men: who will lappe it vp with peace, and lay it in a bed of ioy, where no aduersary power cā inuade it, nor theefe break through to steale it.
3. The Liquor this vessel holds, is euill.
Euill is double, eyther of Sinne, or of Punishment: the deseruing and retribution: the one of mans owne affecting, the other of Gods iust inflicting. The former is simpliciter malum, simply euill of it owne nature: the latter but secundum quid, in respect of the sufferer, being good in regard of Gods glory, as an act of his Iustice. For the Euils of our sufferings, as not intended here, I pretermit. OnelyOnly, when they come, we learne hence how to intertaine them; in our opinion, as our due rewards: in our patience,Rom. 3. 3. as men, as Saints: that tribulation may as well produce patience, as sinne hath procured tribulation. Non sentire mala sua non est hominis, & non ferre non est viri: Sen.He that feeles not his miseries sensibly, is not a man: and he that beares them not couragiously, is not a Christian.
The iuyce in the heart of the sonnes of men is euill, all hauehave corrupted their wayes. Solomon speakes not here in indiuiduo, this or that sonne of man: but generally, with an vniuersall extent, the sonnes of men. And leauing the plurall with the Possessors, by a significant salaecisme, he names the vessell in the singular; the heart, not hearts: as if all mankind had cor vnum in vnitate malitiae: one heart in the vnity of sinne: the matter of the vessell being of one polluted lumpe; that eueryevery man, that hath an hart, hath naturally an euill heart. Adam had no sooner by his one sinne slaine his posterity, but hee begote a sonne, that slew his brother. Adam was planted by God a good Vine, but his Apostasie made all his children sowre grapes. Our nature was sowne good, behold, wee are come vp euill. Through whose default ariseth this badnesse?
God created this vessell good; man poyson'd it in the seasoning. And being thus distayned in the tender newnesse, seruat odorem testa diu: it smels of the olde infection, till a new iuyce bee put into it, or rather it selfe made new. As Dauid prayes: Create in me, oh Lord, a cleane heart, Psal 51. 10.and renew a right spirit within me. GOD made vsus good, we hauehave mar'd ourseluesa,nd behold: wee call on him, to make vsus good againe. Yea, euen the vessel thus recreated, is not without a tang of the former corruption. Paul confesseth in himselfe a body of Death, Rom. 7.as well as Dauid a natiue vncleannesse. Psal. 51.The best graine sends forth that chaffe, whereof before the sowing, it was purged by the fanne. Our contracted euill had been the lesse intolerable, if we had not been made so perfectly good. Hee that made heauen and earth, ayre and fire, Sunne and Moone, all elements, all creatures good, surely, would not make him euill, for whom these good things were made. How comes he thus bad? Deus hominem fecit, homo se interfecit. In the words of our Royall Preacher, Eccles. 7. Loe, this onelie I hauehave found, Eccles. 7. 29.that God hath made man vpright: but they hauehave sought out many inuentions. Man was created happy, but hee found out trickes, to make himselfe miserable. And his misery had been lesse, if he had neuer beene so blessed: the better wee were, we are the worse. Like the posterity of some profuse or tainted Progenitour, wee may tell of the Lands, Lordshippes, honours, titles, that were once ours; and then sigh out the song, fuimus Troes, we hauehave been blessed.
If the heart were thus good by creation, or is thus good by redemption, how can it bee the continent of such euill liquour? when by the word of His mouth that neuer erred,Math. 7. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruits. I answere, that saying must be construed in sensu composito: a good tree continuing good, cannot produce euill fruites. 1. Ioh. 3. 9.The heart borne of God (in quanto renatum est, not peccat) doth not commit sinne, so farre as it is borne of GOD. Yet euen in this vessell, whiles it walkes on earth, are some droppes of the first poyson. And so, Dat dulces fons vnus aquas, qui et praebet amaras. The same fountaine sends forth sweet water and bitter; Iam. 3. 11.though not at the same place, as Saint Iames propounds it.
But Solomon speakes here of the heart, as it is generate, or degenerate, not as regenerate: what it is by nature, not by grace: as it is from the first Adam, not from the second. It is thus a vessell of euill. Sinne was brewed in it, & hath brewed it into sinne. It is strangely, I know not how truely, reported of a vessell, that changeth some kind of liquour put into it, into it selfe: as fire transformes the fuell into fire. But heere the content doth change the continent; as some minerall veynes doe the earth, that holdes them. This euill iuyce turnes the whole heart into euill; as water powred vponupon snow, turnes it to water. The wickednesse of man was so great in the earth, Gen. 6. 5.that it made eueryevery imagination of the thoughts of his heart onelyonly euill continually.
Here, if wee consider the dignity of the vessell, & the filthinesse of the euill it holds, or is rather holden of; (for non tam tenet, quam tenetur) the comparison is sufficient to astonish vsus.
Quàm malè conueniunt vas aureum, atrum que venenum! Oh! ingrate, in considerate man! to whom God hath giuen so good a vessell, and hee filles it with so euill sappe.2. Tim. 2. 20. In a great house there be vessels of honour, and vessels of dishonour; some for better, some for baser vses. The heart is a vessell of honour, sealed, consecrated for a receptacle, for an habitacle of the graces of GOD. Shall wee take the member of Christ, 1. Cor. 6. 15.and make it an harlots; the vessell of God, & make it Satans? did God infuse into vsus so noble a part, & shal we infuse into it such ignoble stuffe? was fraud, falshood, malice, mischiefe, adultery, idolatry, variance, variablenes ordayned for the heart, or the heart for them? when the seat of holinesse is become the seate of hollownesse: the house of innocence, the house of impudence: the place of louelove, the place of lust: the vessell of piety, the vessell of prauity: the throne of God, the court of Satan; the heart is become rather a Ielly, then an heart. Wherein there is a tumultuous, promiscuous, turbulent throng, heap'd and amaz'd together, like a wine-drawers stomacke; full of Dutch, French, Spanish, Greeke, and many country wines; enuy, lust, treason, ambition, auarice, fraud, hypocrisie obsessing it, and by long tenure pleading prescription: that custome, being a second nature, the heart hath lost the name of heart, and is become the nature of that it holds, a lumpe of euill.
It is detestable ingratitude in a Subiect, on whom his Soueraigne hath conferred a golden cuppe, to imploy it to base vses; to make that a wash-potte, which should receiue the best wine he drinketh. Behold, the King of heauen and earth hath giuen thee a rich vessell, thy heart; wherin, though it be a peece of flesh or clay of it selfe, hee hath placed the chiefe faculties of thy spirit and his: how aduerse to thankefulnesse and his intent is thy practise, when thou shalt powre into this Cuppe lees, dregges, muddy pollutions, tetricall poysons, the waters of hell, wines which the infernall spirits drinke to men: taking the heart from him that created it, from him that bought it, from him that keepes it; and bequeathing it in the death of thy soule, to him that infects, afflicts, tempts, and torments it: making him thy Executour, which shall bee thy executioner; that hath no more right to it, then Herode had to the bed of his sister? What iniury, what indignity is offered to God, when Sathan is gratified with his goods: when his best moueable on earth is taken from him, & giuen to his enemy?
The heart is flos solis, and should open & shut with the sunne of righteousnesse. Mal. 4. 2.To him, as the Landlord, duplici iure, it should stand opē, not suffring him to knock for entrance,Cant. 5. 2. till his lockes bee wette with the dew of heauen. Alas! how comes it about, that hee which is the owner can hauehave no admission? That wee open not the dores of our hearts, that the King of glory might enter; who will then one day open the dores of heauen, that a man of earth may enter? Did God erect it as a lodging for his owne Maiesty; leauing no window in it, for the eye of man (so much as) to looke into it, as if he would keepe it vnderunder locke & key to himselfe, as a sacred Challice, whereout he would drinke the wine of faith, feare, grace and obedience, wine which himselfe had sent before for his owne supper: Reu. 3. 20.and must hee bee turn'd forth by his owne Steward, and hauehave his Chamber let out for an Ordinary, where sinnes and lusts may securely reuell? Will not He that made it, one day break it with a rod of yron, Psal. 2. 9.and dash it in peeces like a Potters vessell?
Shall the great Belshazzar, Dan. 5. 2.that Tyrant of Hel, sit drinking his wines of abomination and wickednesse, in the sacred boules of the Temple, the vessels of God, the hearts of men, without ruine to those that delightfully suffer him? was it a thing detestable in the eyes of God, to prophane the vessels of the Sanctuary; and will he brooke with impunity the hearts of men to be abused to his dishonour? Sure, his iustice wil punish it, if our iniustice doe it. The very vessels vnderunder the Law, that had (but) touched an vncleane thing, must be rinced or broken. What shall become of the vessels vnderunder the Gospell, ordayned to hold the faith of Christ, if they be (more then touched) polluted with vncleannesse? They must eyther be rinced with repentance, or broken with vengeance.
I am willingly led to prolixity in this point. Yet in vaine the Preacher amplifies, except the hearer applies. Shall none of vsus, in this visitation of hearts, aske his owne heart, how it doth? Perhaps, Security will counterfeit the voyce of the heart, as Iacob did Esaus hands, to supplant it of this blessing; saying, I am well: and stoppe the mouth of diligent scrutinie with a presentment of Omnia benè. Take heed; the heart of man is deceitfull aboue measure. Audebit dissimulare, qui audet malefacere: He will not sticke to dissemble, that dares to do euil. Thou needst not rip vp thy brest, to see what bloud thy heart holds, though thou hast beene vnkind inough to it in thine iniquities: behold, the beames of the Sun on earth witnes his shining in heauen; and the fruits of the Tree declare the goodnes or badnes. Non ex folijs, non ex floribus, sed ex fructibus dignoscitur arbor.
What is lust in thy heart, thou adulterer; malice in thine, thou enuious: vsurie in thine, thou couetous; hypocrisie in yours, yee sons of Gibeon; pride in yours, yee daughters of Iezabel; falshood in yours, yee brothers of Ioab; and treachery in yours, yee friends of Iudas? Is this wine fit for the Lords boule, or dregs for the Deuil to carouse of?Reu. 22. 11. Perhaps the sons of Belial will be filthy; let them be filthy still. Who can helpe them, that wil not be saued? let them perish.
Let me turne to you, that seeme Christians, (for you are in the Temple of Christ, and I hope, come hither to worshippe him,) with confidence of better successe. What should vncleannesse doe in the holy City, euill in a heart sanctified to grace, seal'd to glory? The vessell of eueryevery heart is by nature temperde of the same mould; nor is there any, (let the proud not triumph) Quorum praecordia Titan de meliore luto sinxit. But though nature knew none grace hath made difference of hearts; and the sanctified heart is of a purer mettall, then the polluted. A little liuing stone in Gods building is worth a whole quarrey in the world. One poore mans honest hart is better then many rich euil ones. These are dead; that's aliue: and a liuing dogge is better then a dead Lion. Solomons heart was better then Absolons, Cap. eod. …. 4.Iudes then Iudas, Simon Peters then Simon Magus his: all of one matter, clay from the earth, but in regard of qualities, and Gods acceptance, the richest mine and coursest mould hauehave not such differēce. There is with nature grace, with flesh faith; with humanity Christianity in these hearts.
How it becoms it such a hart, to hauehave hypocrisie, iniustice, fraud, couetousnes leen in it? Let these bitter waters liue in heathen cesterns. To the master of maledictiō, & his vngodly imps we leaue those vices: our harts are not vessels for such liquour. If wee should intertaine thē, we giuegive a kind of warrāt to others imitatiō. Whiles Polygamie was restrained withinaGen. 4. 19. Lamechs dores, it did but moderate harm: but when it once insinuated into bGen. 26. 34. 35.Isaac's family, it got strength, & preuailed with great preiudice. The habites of vices, whiles they dwel in the harts of Belials children, are meerly sins: but when they hauehave room giuē thē in the harts of the sons of God, they are sins and examples: not simply euill deeds, but warrants to euill deedes.Bis peccat, qui exemplo peccat. Especially with such despisers and despiters of goodnes; who, though they louelove, embrace and resolue to practise euill, yet are glad, they may doe it by Patronage, and goe to hell by example.
But how can this euill iuyce in our hearts be perceiued? what beames of the Sunne euer pearced into that abstruse and secret pauilion? The anatomizing of the heart remaines for the worke of that last and great day.Eccl. 12. 14. Rom, 2. 16. As no eye can looke into it, so let no reason iudge it. But our Sauiour answeres, Out of the heart proceede actuall sinnes: the water may bee close in the fountaine, but will bee discerned issuing out. The heart cannot so containe the vnruly affections, but like headstrong rebels they wil burst out into actions; and works are infallible notes of the hart. I say not, that works determine a man to damnation or blisse: the decree of God orders that: but works distinguish of a good or bad man. The Saints hauehave sinned, but the greatest part of their conuerted life hath beene holy.
Indeed wee are all subiect to passions, because men: but let vsus order our passions wel, because Christiā men. And as the skilful Apothecary makes wholesome potions of noysome poysons, by a wise melling and allaying them: so let vsus meete with the intended hurt of our corruptions, and turne it to our good. It is not a sufficient commendation of a prince to gouerne peaceable and loyall subiects: but to subdue or subuert rebels. It is the prayse of a Christian to order refractary and wilde affections, more then to manage yeelding and plyable ones. As therefore it is a prouident policy in Princes, when they hauehave some in too likely suspition, for some plotted faction, to keepe them downe, and to holde them bare: that though they retaine the same minds, they shall not hauehave the same meanes to execute their mischiefes: so the rebellious spirites impotency giues most security to his Soueraigne: whiles Hee sees afarre off what he would doe, but knowes (neere at hand, that's certainly) hee cannot. So let thy heart keepe a straight & awfull hand ouer thy passions and affections: Vt si moueant, non remoueant: that if they moue thee, they may not remoue thee from thy rest. A man then sleepes surely, securely; when hee knowes (not that hee will not, but) that his enemy cannot hurt him. Violent is the force and fury of passions, ouerbearing a man to those courses, which in his sober and collected sense he would abhorre. They hauehave this power, to make him a foole, that otherwise is not; and him, that is a foole, to appeare so. If in strength thou canst not keep out passion, yet in wisdom temper it: that if, notwithstanding the former, it comes to whisper in thine eares thine owne weakenes; yet it may be hindered by the latter from diuulging it to thy shame.
Thou seest how excellent and principall a worke it is to manage the heart, which indeed manageth all the rest: and is powerfull to the carrying away with it selfe, the attendance of all the senses: who bee as ready at call, and as speedy to execution, as any seruant the Centurion had: wayting onelyonly for a come, goe, doe, from their leader the Heart. The eare will not heare, where the heart minds not, nor the hand relieue, where the heart pitties not: nor the tongue prayse, where the heart loues not. All looke, listen, attend, stay vponupon the heart, as a Captaine to giuegive the onset. The Philosopher sayth; It is not the eye that seeth, but the heart: so it is not the eares that heare, but the heart.
Indeed: it sometimes falleth out, that a man heares not a great sound or noyse, though it be nigh him. The reason is, his heart is fixed, and busily taken vp in some obiect, serious in his imagination, though perhaps in it selfe vain: & the eares like faithfull seruants attending their master the heart, lose the act of that auditiue Organ, by some suspension, till the heart hath done with them, and giuen them leaue. Curious and rare sights, able to rauish some with admiration, affect not others, whiles they stand as open to their view: because their eyes are following the heart, and doing him seruice about an other matter. Hence our feet stumble in a plain path, because our eyes, which should bee their guides, are sent some other way on the hearts errand. Bee then all cleane, if thou canst: but if that happinesse bee denyed on earth, yet let thy heart be clean; there is then the more hope of the rest.
4. The measure of this vessels infection. Full.
It hath not aspersion, nor imbution, but impletion. It is not a moderate contamination, which admitted into comparison with other turpitudes, might be exceeded, but a transcendent, egregious, superlatiue matter, to which there can be no accession: the vessell is full; and more then full, what can be? One vessel may hold more then another, but when all are filled, the least is as full as the greatest. Now Solomon, that was no flatterer, because a King himselfe; without awe of any mortall Superiour, because Seruant to the King of Kings, & put in trust with the registring of his Oracles; tels man plainely, that 1. his heart, not some lesse principal part, 2. is euill, not good, or inclining to goodnesse. 3. nay, full of euill, to the vtmost dramme it containes.
This describes Man in a degree further, then nature left him, if I may so speake: for wee were borne euill, but hauehave made our selues full of euill. There is time required to this perfecting of sinne, and making vp the reprobates damnation. Iudgement stayes for theaGen. 15. 16. Amorites, till their wickednesse becomes full: and the Iewes are forborne, till they hauehavebMath 23. 32. fulfilled the measure of their fathers. Sinne loued, delighted, accustomed, habituated, voluntarily, violently perpetrated, brings this impletion. Indeed, man quickly fils this vessell of his owne accord: let him alone, and he needs no helpe to bring himselfe to hell. Whiles Gods preuenting grace dooth not fore-stall, nor his calling grace conuert, man runs on to destruction, as the foole laughing to the stockes. He sees euill, hee likes it, he dares it, he does it, hee liues in it; and his heart, like an hydropicke stomacke, is not quiet till it bee full.
Whiles the heart like a Cesterne, stands perpetually open, and the deuill like a Tankerd-bearer, neuer rests fetching water from the conduit of hell to fill it; and there is no vent of repentance to empty it; how can it chuse, but be full of euill? The heart is but a little thing, one would therefore thinke it might be soone full: but the heart holds much, therefore one would thinke, it could not bee soone full. It is a little morsell, not able to giuegive a Kite her breakefast; yet it containes as much in desires, as the world doth in her integrall parts. Neyther if the whole world were giuen to the Pellaean Monarch, would he yet say, My heart is full, my mind is satisfied.
There must then concurre some co-working accidents to this repletion. Satan suggests: concupiscence harkens, flatters the heart with some perswasion of profite, pleasure, content: the heart assents; and sends forth the eye, hand, foote, as instruments of practise: lastly, sinne comes; and that not alone: one is intertayned, many presse in. Mala sunt contigua & continua inter se. Then the more men act, the more they affect; & the exit of one sinne, is anothers hinte of entrance: that the stage of his heart is neuer empty, till the tragedy of his soule be done.
This fulnesse argues a great height of impiety. Paul amply deliuered the wickednesse of Elimas, Act. 13.Act. 13. 10. O full of all subtilty and all mischiefe, thou childe of the Deuil, thou enemy of all righteousnesse, &c. a wretched impletion. So is the reprobate estate of the Heathen described. Rom. 1.Rom. 1. 29. to be filled with all vnrighteousnes, fornication, couetousnesse, &c. The same Apostle in the same Epistle speaking of the wicked in the words of the Psalme, saith,aRom. 3. 14. Their mouth is ful of cursing and bitternes. Here, the heart is full of euill. The commander being so filled with iniquity, eueryevery member as a Souldier in his place, fils it selfe with the desired corruption.b2. Pet. 2. 14. The eye is full of adultery and lust, sayth the Apostle. ThecEsa. 1. 15. hand ful of bloud, sayth the Prophet. The foot full of auersenes, the tongue full of curses, oathes, dissimulations. EueryEvery vessell will be full, as well as the heart; full to the brimme, nay, running ouer,Ioh. 2. as the vessels at the marriage in Cana, though with a contrary liquour. And when all are replenished, the heart is ready to call,2. Reg. 4. 2. as the widow in the 2. of Kings, the 4. Bring me yet another vessell, that it may be filled.
This is the precipitation of sinne, if God doth not preuent, as Sathan doth prouoke: it rests not, till it bee full. Sinful man is euermore carrying a stick to his pyle, a talent to his burden, more foule water to his cestern, more torments to be layde vp in his hell: hee ceaseth not, without a supernaturall interruption, & gracious reuocation, till his measure be full.
Thus I hauehave runne through these 4. circumstances of the Comma, or first Point of man: obseruing, 1. from the Owners, their corruptible fragility. 2. from the vessel, the Hearts excellency. 3. from the liquour contained in it, the pollution of our natures. 4. and lastly, from the plenitude, the strength and height of Sinne. The summe is, 1. the heart. 2. of man. 3. is full. 4. of euill.
I should now conclude, leauing my discourse, and you to meditation of it; but that you would then say, I had fayled in one speciall part of a Physitian; that hauing described the malady, I prescribe no remedy. Since it is not onelyonly expedient, to be made experient of our owne estate, but to be taught to helpe it: GiueGive me leaue therfore briefly to tel you, that some principal intentions, to the repaire of your Hearts ruines are these. 1. Seeing this vessell is full, to empty it. 2. Seeing it is foule, to wash it. 3. Since it hath caught an ill tang, to sweeten it. 4. And when it is well, so to preserue it. with these foure vses, goe in peace.
1. There is first a necessitie, that the hart which is full of euill by nature, must be emptied by conuersion, and replenished with grace, or not saued with glory. what scuppet hauehave we then to free the heart of this muddy pollution? Loe, how happily we fall vponupon Repentance; God grant Repentance fall vponupon vsus. The proper engine ordained & blessed of God to this purpose, is Repentāce: a grace, without which man can neuer extricate himselfe from the bondage of Satan: a grace whereat (whē it lights on a sinnefull soule) the deuils murmure and vexe themselues in hell,Luk 15. and the good Angels reioyce in heauen. Reu. 6. 16.This is that blessed engine, that lightens the hearts of such a burden, that Rockes and Mountains, and the vast body of the earth layed on a distressed & desperate sinner, are corkes and fethers to it.
This is that, which makes the eternal wisedome content to admit a forgetfulnesse, and to remember our iniquities no more then if they had neuer beene. This speakes to Mercy, to separate our sinnes from the face of God, to binde them vp in heapes and bundels, and drowne them in the sea of obliuion. This makes Mary Magdalen of a sinner, a Saint: Zacheus of an extortioner, charitable, and of a persecuting Saul, a professing Paul. This is that mourning master, that is neuer without good attendants; teares of contrition, prayers for remission, purpose of amended life. Behold the office of Repentance: shee stands at the dore, and offers her louing seruice: entertaine me and I will vnlode, vnlade thy heart of that euill poyson, and were it ful to the brim, returne it thee empty. If you welcome Repentance, knocking at your dore from God, it shall knocke at Gods dore of mercy for you. It askes of you amendment, of God, forgiuenesse. Receiue it.
2. The heart thus emptied of that inueterate corruption, should fitly be washed, before it bee replenished. The olde poyson stickes so fast in the grayne of it, that there is onelyonly one thing of validity to make it cleane, the bloud of Iesus Christ. It is this, that hath bathed all hearts, that euer were, or shall be receyued into Gods house of glory. 1. Ioh. 1. 7.This bloud clenseth vsus from all sin. Paul seemes to inferre so much, in ioyning to the spirits of iust men made perfect, Heb. 12. 23. 24.Iesus the Mediatour of the new Couenant, and the bloud of sprinckling, that speaks better things then the bloud of Abel. As if he would proue, that it was this bloud, which made them iust and perfect. In vaine were all repentance without this: no teares can wash the heart cleane, but those bloudy ones, which the side of Christ, & other parts wept, when the speare and nayles gaue them eyes: whiles the Sonne of eternall ioy became a Mourner for his brethren. Could we mourne like doues, bowle like Dragons, & lament beyond the waylings in the valley of Hadradimmon, quid prosunt lacrimae, what boots it to weepe, where there is no mercy, and how can there bee mercy without the bloud of Christ?
This is that euer-running fountain, that sacred Poole of Bethesda, which without the mediation of Angels, stands perpetually vnforbidden to al faithful visitants. Were our Leprosie worse then Naamans, here's the true water of Iordan, or Poole of Siloam, Wash and be cleane; Bring your hearts to this Bath, yee corrupted Sonnes of men; hath God giuen you so precious a Lauer, and will you be vncleane still? Pray, intreat, beseech, send vp to heauen the cryes of your tongues and hearts for this bloud: call vponupon the preseruer of men, not onelyonly to distill some drops, but to wash, bathe, soake your harts in this bloud. Behold, the Sonne of God himselfe, that shedde this bloud, doth intreat God for you: the whole Quire of all the Angels & Saints in heauen are not wanting. Let the meditation of Christs mediation for you, giuegive you encouragement and comfort. Happy Sonne of man, for whom the Sonne of God supplicates, and intercedes. What can He request without speed?
He doth not onelyonly pray for you, but euen to you, yee sonnes of men. Beholde him with the eyes of a Christian, faith and hope; standing on the battlements of heauen, hauing that for his pauement, which is our seeling, offring his bloud to wash your hearts, which he willingly lost for your hearts: denying it to none, but Wolues, Beares, and Goates, and such reprobate, excommunicate, apostate spirites, that treade it vnderunder their prophane and luxurious feet, esteeming that an vnholy thing, Heb. 10. 29.wherewith they might hauehave beene sanctified. Come we then, come we, though sinners, if beleeuers, and hauehave our hearts washed.
3. All is not done with this vessell, when washed. Shall wee empty it,Math. 12. 44. clense it, and so leaue it? Did not Satan reenter to the house swept and garnished, with seuen worse spirites, whiles it was empty? Behold then, when it is emptied, and washed, and sweetned, it must bee filled againe: a vacuity is not allowable. It must bee replenished with somewhat, eyther euill or good. If God bee not present, Satan will not be absent. When it is euacuated of the works of the flesh, Gal. 5. 24.it must bee supplyed with the fruits of the Spirit. Humility must take vp the roome, which pride had in the heart. Charitablenesse must steppe into the seate of auarice. LoueLove extrude malice, mildnesse anger, patience murmuring. Sobriety must drie vp the floudes of drunkenesse. Continence coole the inflammations of Lust. Peace must quite the head from dissentions. Honesty pull off Hypocrisies vizour; and Religion put prophanenesse to an irreuocable exile.
Faith is the hand, that must take these Iewels out of Gods treasury, to furnish the heart: the pipe to conuey the waters of life into these vessels. This infusion of goodnesse must follow the effusion of euill. God must be let in, when Satan is locked out. If our former courses and customes, like turn'd-away abiects, proffer vsus their old seruice, let vsus not know them, not own them, not giuegive them intertainement, not allow their acquaintance. But in a holy pride, as now made Courtiers to the King of heauen, let vsus disdayne the company of our olde play-fellowes, opera tenebrarum, the works of darknesse. Let vsus now onelyonly frequent the dore of mercy, and the fountaine of grace; and let faith, & a good conscience be neuer out of our society. Here's the supply.
4. We hauehave now done, if when our hearts bee thus emptied, cleansed, supplyed, we so keepe them. Non minor est virtus, &c. Nay, let me say, non minor est gratia. For it was Gods preuenting grace, that clensed our hearts, and it is his subsequent grace that so preserues them: That we may truely sing;
By grace, and grace alone,
All these good works are done.
Yet hauehave we not herein a Patent of security and negligence sealed vsus; as if God would saue vsus, whiles wee onelyonly stood and look'd on. Buta1. Ioh. 3. 3. he that hath this hope, purgeth himselfe. And wee are charged tob1. Thes. 4. 4. keepe and possesse our vessell in sanctification and honour: and to cIam. 1. 27.liue vnspotted of the world.
Return not to your former abominations, lest your dLuke 11. 26.latter end bee worse then your beginning. Hath God done so much to make your hearts good, and will you frustrate his labours, annihilate his fauours, vilipend his mercies, and reele backe to your former turpitudes? God forbid it, and the serious deprecation of your owne soules forbid it.
Yea, oh Lord, since thou hast dealt so graciously with these frayle vessels of flesh, emptied them, washed them, season'd them, supplyed them; seale them vp with thy Spirit to the day of redemption, and preserue them, that the euill one touch them not. Grant this, Oh Father almighty, for thy Christ, and our Iesus his sake.
Amen.