The Godly Mans Journey to Heaven, Treatise 1 · Meditation 6 – Meditation 7
6 Behold the fearefulnesse of the dog of sinne, and if thou wouldest not be destroyed by him, sleepe not till thou throw him out, if he be in; and keepe him out if he be not entered within thy house.
WHen I reade holy Scripture, ô my soule, I meet with two sentences touching sinne registred by his golden pen, who can neither lie nor faine, who no wayes can sinne, and against whom sinne is onelyonly committed. The sound of the which two sentences coming to my eares, the sense of the which two sentences happily brought to my heart, makes sinne to be vile in mine eyes, loathsome to my taste and smelling, and altogether deadly vntounto my touching. And no wonder, for by these two sentences my blessed God trauelleth to acquaint foolish sinfull man with the nature of sinne, and with that to make the bold and presumptuous sinner abstaine from medling with sinne. Cain did cast downe his countenance vponupon his brother Abel, our God who from the heauens beholdeth all men, and all the doings of men, reproouing him for this, sayeth to him:Genes. 4. 7. If thou do well thou shalt be accepted, but if thou do not well sinne lyeth at the doore. Where thy wise God, ô my soule, compareth sinne to an house dog, lying before a mans doore, attending it, lest his house be broken, to the hurt of the owner, either in his goods, or in his person. But here thou must know, ô my soule, that this dog of sinne is a strange fearefull dog, of a wonderfull, yea of a monstrous vnnaturall kind. Ordinarie dogs, which be the handie worke of God, attending mens houses and persons, do neither barke against nor bite the maister, the mistresse, the children, or seruants of that house they attend and keepe, but do delight to see them, to faine vponupon them, and most kindly do play with them: onelyonly they barke against and bite strangers, who be vnknowne to them, and do not ordinarily haunt their maisters house and companie. But that dog of sinne, ô my soule, which is from the diuell, will not barke against, nor bite any stranger liuing without that house where it lodgeth and is entertained, but barkes at, but bites, yea and furiously eats vp and deuoures the maister, the mistresse, the children, the seruants infected with it, with all that belongeth to that house in the which it is bred, brought vp and fostered.Numb. 16. If Corah, Dathan, and Abiram were liuing, would they not confesse this? Were Achan liuing, would he denie this?Iosu. 7. But what speake I of Corah, Dathan, Abiram, and Achan? had not our God, ô my soule, a pleasant dwelling house in Shiloh for some yeares, and yet was it not turned to a filthie iakes, by the dog of sinne fostered in it? Had not our God a house at Ierusalem, which was the ioy of the whole earth; yea a matter of admiration and astonishment to the Princes of it, and yet is it not first turned into heapes of stones for seuentie yeares, and afterwards made a spectacle of Gods fearefull, yet iust vengeance, without any expectation euer to be set vp againe, and that by that fearefull dog of sinne, too long and too louingly, alas, fostered in it, and maintained by it? Moses being carefull to hauehave the Reubenites, Gadites, and the halfe tribe of Manasses, mindfull of that promise which they solemnly made before the Lord vntounto him, touching their going armed before their brethren towards the land of Canaan on the other side of Iordan, till they should be peaceably possessed with that land, sounding a sharpe watchword in their eares, sayes vntounto them:Numb. 32. 23. But if ye will not do so, behold ye hauehave sinned against the Lord, and be sure that your sinne shall find you out. Here comparing sinne to a bloud-hound, which is entertained and kept by men, for finding out of things which are stolen, and of persons which do flie and cannot be found, till their footsteps being sented and traced by the dog, the seeker of them be brought vntounto the place whereunto they betooke themselues. Now hereby Moses would teach thee, ô my soule, that howbeit there be no eyes of man vponupon the sinner seeing him while he sinneth, no eare hearing him, no hand able to take him or punish him, no foote able to ouertake him: yet the sinner cleauing to his sinne, and his sinne to him, shall assuredly at length be found out, be brought in publicke, and be punished for his sinnes, in respect that euen his sinnes shall sent and trace his leud steps where euer he goeth, and at length ouertaking him, shall send him backe to him from whom be fled, euen vntounto God, to be censured for his sin, and afterward vntounto him from whom his sinne came, and so to the diuell, vnlesse in time he quit himselfe of sin by vnfained repentance. This is that Salomon would cleare,Prou. 5. 22. when he saith: His owne iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe, and he shall be holden with the cords of his owne sinne. Iosephs brethren, committing a grosse sinne against the Lord their God, by selling most secretly their young brother, and stealing away (as it had bene) with this their sinne from the sight of Iacob their father, & all the world, saw this at length to be true, when coming to Egypt, & being knowne of Ioseph, albeit they knew not him, they were made to say one to another (being roughly entertained of Ioseph) We hauehave verily sinned against our brother, Gen. 42. 21. 22.in that we saw the anguish of his soule when he besought vsus, and we would not heare him, therefore is this trouble come vponupon vsus. Reuben answering them, and saying: Warned I not you, saying: sinne not against the child, and ye would not heare, and loe his bloud is now required. Oh, oh, that men would hearken to that:Hab. 2. 11. 12, 13. The stone shall crie out of the wall, the beame out of the timber shall answer it: Woe vntounto him that buildeth a towne by bloud, and erecteth a Citie by iniquitie. Woe vntounto him that giueth his neighbour drinke. Thou ioynest thy heart, & makest him drunken also, that thou mayst see his priuities. O would to God that that remembred by Zachariah could be beleeued by vsus:Zach. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. Then I turned me, and lifted vp mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying booke, and he said vntounto me: What seest thou? and I answered, I see a flying booke, the length thereof twentie cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits, then said he vntounto me: This is the curse that goeth ouer the face of the whole earth, eueryevery one that stealeth shall be cut off, as well on this side as on that. I will bring it foorth, saith the Lord of hostes, and it shall enter into the house of the thiefe, and into the house of him that falsly sweareth by my Name, and it shall remaine in his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and stones thereof. Oh, oh, ô my soule, when shall the grosse auowed fosterers of abominable villanous wickednesse amongst vsus, find eyes to see, and hearts to perceiue the truth of this! O how many Noble mens houses, gentlemens houses, and citizens houses, hauehave lodged this strange dogge of sinne, hauehave warmed this dog of sin by their fire, hauehave entertained him daintily at their table, & delicately layd him in their softest beds, which now be so ouerthrowne and deuoured by this dog of sinne, that their houses and their lands neither know them nor theirs, so that they cannot find so much as an entrie at those gates which their predecessors and themselues did build: for strangers now do lodge within them. It were good therefore, … my soule, that those by whom such houses be now possessed, would change those houses from those old sins fostered within them, and so put that dog out of doores, which slue their former indwellers, lest they (by communicating with their sinnes, and cherishing that dog which first found out their predecessors, and then slue them) be found out at last, and slaine by that same dog, which dare spare no sinner, being so directed by that great iust Iudge, who is neither a respecter of persons,2. Chr. 19. 7 nor receiuer of rewards.
7. Let the sense of that death which is the wages of sinne, and of that shame which is the reward of sinne, make thee to shunne sinne.
ABhorre, abhorre, ô my soule, sinne as thou louest thy God and thy selfe: for hath not thy God, who loued thee with a great louelove, with a wise louelove, told thee, that whosoeuer sinneth against him, must not onelyonly receiue wages for his sins, but besides & with his wages, that reward which is due vntounto sin also? The wages of sinne,Rom. 6. 23. ô my soule, as thou knowest, is death, euen that first death, with all those diseases which leade a man vntounto it, separating the soule from the bodie and the bodie from the soule; and that second death, banishing soule and body from the comfortable sight of Gods onelyonly amiable face, onelyonly gracious presence, and onelyonly sweetest companie, for euer and for euer. And wherefore wouldest thou die thus, ô my soule? The reward of sinne againe is shame, procuring such confusion to man, that he dare not lift vp his head before God,Rom. 6. 21. before Angels, before men, vnlesse in soule he be sensl…sse, both of his God, and of his sinne. This shame was that reward, ô my soule, wherewith our iust God propined our first parents, the first sinners, so soone as they medled with sinne. For howbeit Adam and Eua being free of sinne, were altogether naked, in respect of materiall corporall seene clothes, yet they were not ashamed, but could stand before their God, and looke one vponupon another with a very good heart, and most chearefull countenance: so glorious were they through the rare shining beautie of that Image of God, which then couered them as a most royall robe. But no sooner, ô my soule, were they infected with sinne, by disobeying the voyce of their God, but immediatly they were couered with shame, that they durst not looke vponupon their God, and were confounded while they looked one vponupon another.