The Autumn Part from the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, Letter 5
The Epistle,
MATTH. 6. 24.
No man can serue two masters.
THis Gospell is gEuthym. & R…rt. in loc. Idem Iansen. con. cap. 42.parted into a
Generall rule: No man can serue two masters.
Particular instance: Yee cannot serue God and mammon. Wherevpon is inferred that wee may not bee carefull what wee shall eate or drinke, but that wee should rather seeke first the kingdome of God, and the righteousnesse thereof, and then all these things shall be ministred vntounto vsus.
No man can serue two masters] There is no rule so generall but hath exceptions, and so this common prouerbe is confined within his lists and limits, as Interpreters obserue. For one man may serue two well agreeing masters inioyning the same thing, as the men of Tyrus h1 Kings 5. & 2. Chron. 2.hewing Cedar trees out of Lebanon for the Temple, serued both Hiram and Salomon. Againe, this axiome must bee construed iPontan. in loc.in sens… composito, not diuiso: for otherwise wee may serue diuers masters at diuers times, as kLuke 19.Zaccheus at the first serued the world, yet afterward hee followed Christ. The meaning of this adage then is, that no man at one time, can serue two masters inioyning lTheophylact. Euthym. Anselm.contrarie duties. As for example, God and the flesh are two such masters, I see (saith mRom. 7. 23.Paul) another law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde: for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary one to the other: Galat. 5. 17. Wee cannot serue these two, but we must louelove the one and hate the other, or else leane to the one and despise the other: wee must bee seruants vntounto God, and not vassals vntounto lust.
Concupiscence is like to a fire, and our bodie like to a seething pot. Now the pot is cooled foure waies especially: first, by taking away some of the fuell vnderunder the pot: euen so the lesse wee drinke or eat, the lesser is the heate of our lust. It is fasting spettle that kils this serpent, nCassianus. Collat. 5.incrementum gastrimargiae initium luxuriae: howsoeuer oSee Th…m. 22 quaest. 153. art. 4 & C…tan. ibid.delectatio venereorum bee the end, yet gulling is the matter and beginning of incontinence. The Poets faigned venerem natam ex exectis Saturni virilibus, to …signifie that saturitie is the father of wantonnesse, and vncleannesseP Fulgent. Mytholog. lib. 2. …ab. de venere. the qGreg. Moral. lib. 31. cap. 31.daughter of surfetting. rTerent. in Eunucho.Sine Cerere & Baccho friget Uenus: Lady Uenus dwels at the signe of the Iuie bush; where there is cleannesse of teeth, vsually there is no filthinesse of bodie: but if wee stuffe our corps like cloake-bags, making our mouthes as tunnels, our throates as wine-pipes, our bellies as barrels; if we fill them full of strong drinke and new wine, there must follow some vent, according to that of sEpist. Amando, tom. 3. fol. 135.Hierome: Uentrem distentum cibo & vini potionibus irrigatum voluptas genitalium sequitur, nam pro ordine membrorum ordo vitiorum.
Secondly, the pot is cooled by stirring of it; so the furious heate of lust is much abated by the stirring of our bodies, and exercising of our mindes. Vnchast follie for the most part is begot of an idle braine, hatched in a lasie bodie.
tOuid.Quaeritur Aegistus qua re sit factus adulter? In promptu causa est, desidiosus erat.
The Crab-fish when as the Oyster doth open, flings into her a little stone, so that she cannot shut her selfe againe, and so the Crab deuoureth the Oyster: uHierome.Our aduersarie the Diuell is like the Crab, and wee like the Oyster, if hee finde vsus idle and gaping, he takes his opportunitie to confound vsus. Otia puluinar Satanae, Cupid shootes in a slugge, and hits none but the sluggish. Albeit Rome was so well occupied as to make Idlenesse a diuine soueraigntie: yet there was neuer a Temple within the Citie dedicated quieti & otio, sed extra collinam portam illi ignauo numini templum dedicârunt. To signifie this much (as our reuerend xDr. Humfred. in vita. Iu…lli. pag. 47.Iewel obserues) that no man borne in Rome, or Gentleman well brought vp, should vouchsafe Idlenesse any honour. yBez… in vita. Caluini.Caluin was wont to say, that a lasie life was of all other most tedious vntounto him. And eueryevery generous spirit resolues as zReusner. in symbolis.Maximinus: Quo maior sum, eo magis laboro, & quo magis laboro, eo maior sum. In holy aGen. 27.Bible we reade that Iacob vnderunder the name of Esau, which signifieth bAmbros de Ca… & Abel, lib. 1. cap. 4.working, obtained his fathers blessing, and that none shall receiue reward at the last day, but such as hauehave beene labourers in the Lords Vineyard: Matth. 20. 8.
Thirdly, we may coole the Pot by casting cold water into it: in like manner abundance of teares is a good meanes to quench outragious flames of this vnruly fire. The Amalekites, as we finde in c1. Sam. 30.sacred History, burned Ziklag, and tooke their wiues and children prisoners: then Dauid and the people lift vp their voices, and wept vntill they could weepe no more. After that Dauid asked counsell of God, and followed after them, and smote them (as it is in the Text) euen from the twilight vntounto the euening of the next morrow, so there escaped not a man of them saue foure hundred yoong men which rode vponupon camels and fled. Lust is an Amalekite, it burnes our Ziklag, and sets on fire this little City, captiuating our senses, and making them prisoners vntounto it: but if we with Dauid shall weepe, so that we can weepe no more; if wee cast cold water into the Pot, if our eyes be a fountaine of teares, if we lament day and night the slaine of the daughter: assuredly wee shall persue the brutish Amalekits, and ouercome our vntamed affections, wee shall smite them from the twilight of our youth, vntill the euening of our old age. Some yoong men may escape, that is, some vaine words and vncleane thoughts as yet may remaine in vsus: but as for the old Amelekits, I meane grosse faults and foule transgressions, God will grant vsus power and grace to kill all them, and so we shall recouer all that the Amelekits had taken, we shall rescue our wiues and daughters, our affections most deare to vsus heretofore captiuated vntounto lust, shall now doe good seruice to God, acknowledging this infallible rule that no man can serue two masters. God and the lust of the flesh.
Fourthly, the Pot is cooled by taking it altogether from the fire; so we may the sooner coole this hot lust which so boyleth in vsus, if we shunne opportunities and occasions of sinne. Saint Paul willeth vsus to resist and fight against other vices, dIo sares. policrat. l. 8. c. 6. Idem Aqain. A…selm. Caietan. in 1. Cor. 6.but as for fornication he saith, flee fornication, 1. Corinth. 6. 18. Cupid is a boy, therefore his shoot cannot be good; and blinde, therefore his aime must needes be bad: he can hit none but such as stand right afore him, and make themselues a Butt for his arrowes. It is a strange, yet a true rule:
Tu fugiendo fuga, nam fuga sola fuga est.
And as good Councell,
Ne sedeas, sedeas: ne pereas, pereas.
eLuther. tom. 4. in Gen.It was as great a myracle that Ioseph in his Mistrisse armes should not burne with lust, as it was for the three children to walke in the Firie-fornace without any scorching. Yong men of a little flame make a great fire; whereas the fault is not so much in our yeares as in our selues. For Daniel a yoong man reproued the lasciuious Elders; Ioseph a yoong man resisted the temptations of his owne Mistrisse; Iohn the blessed Euangelist a yoong man, fHieron. aduers. Iouin. l. 1.admodum adolescens & poene puer, and yet as the gIohn 19. 26. 20. 2.Scripture witnesseth, hee was the best beloued Disciciple. But yoong men in our time runne and ride to the Wood for fuell to make the fire greater, vsing strange cates and delicates, meates and medicines, rather poysons to encrease the flames of concupiscence, bragging of much villany done, yea boasting of more then was done. Such a Gallant hSee coufes. lib. 2. cap. 3.Augustine was in his vnruly youth, vntill almighty God effectually called him home by a voice from heauen, crying iConfess. lib. 8. cap. 12.Tolle & lege, tolle & lege: Take the booke and read: and taking vp the Bible, the first Text he lighted on was that of Paul, Rom. 13. 13. Walke honestly as in the day, not in gluttony and drunkennesse, neither in chambering and wantonnesse: but put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ, and take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the lust of it. After this Augustine was no more seruile to sinne, but a true seruant vntounto Christ; he now well vnderstood my text that he could not serue two masters, God, and the lust of his flesh.
I know S. Augustine had afterward his infirmities, as himselfe confesseth ingenuously: but he was not kEphe. 4. 19.giuen ouer vntounto wantonnesse, to worke all vncleannesse euen with greedinesse. It is true, that concupiscence so long as wee are clothed and clogged with flesh, is not extinguished throughly. lIosua 15. 63The children of Iuda could not cast out the Iebusites, but they dwelled at Hierusalem vntill this day: lust is a very Iebusite, it will dwell with vsus so long as we dwell in houses of Clay. The best man liuing may confesse with mRom 7. 19.Paul, I do not the good things, which I would, but the euill which I would not, that doe I. Which I would not I doe, because, n1. Ioh. 3. 9.whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not, absolutely with plenary consent: his will in sinning is not voluntas, but velleitas, as the oThom. part. 3. quaest. 21. ar…. 4.Schoole distinguisheth. A mariner in a tempest doth cast his goods into the water; a true man assaulted on the high-way giues his purse to the theefe, yet not with full consent: euen so the children of God in the sinne of incontinence transgresse wittingly, yet with reluctation afore and repentance after: whereas other men in a reprobate sense, both approue their filthinesse afore, and boast of it after. Lucrecia the faire Lady of Rome was assaulted violently by Tarquinius: pDe ciuit. Dei, lib. cap. 19. 1.Augustine writing of this rape saith excellently, Duo fuerunt, & vnus adulterium admisit. There were two actors, but one adulterer, there was a coniunction of bodies, but a distraction of mindes. A regenerate mans cause is like to that of Lucrece, sinne is rather done de illo quàm ab illo.
I speake not this to encourage any in their vncleannesse, God forbid. Let eueryevery man in the feare of God vse the meanes afore prescribed for the cooling of intemperate lust boyling in his flesh, and then if hee cannot expell, this Iebusite, if hee cannot cast out this diuellby fasting and prayer, if hee cannot extinguish this outragious fire with watry teares; let this be his comfort, that God requires onelyonly that lust be not our Master, that it reigne not in our mortall bodies, Rom. 6. 12. The qTheodoret apud Oecumen. Theophy…act. & alij.Greeke Fathers obserue well vponupon that place, that Paul said not, let not sinne tyrannize, but let not sinne raigne. Be not sins voluntarie soldiers, in rRom. 6. 13.giuing your members as weapons of vnrighteousnesse vntounto sinne: but if ye be sinnes prest souldiers against your will, it is not you that offend, sRom. 7. 20but the sinne that dwelleth in you. Lust may command as a tyrant, and yet we may performe good seruice to God: but if wee submit our selues vntounto it as our king, if wee suffer it to reigne, making our members seruants to vncleannesse and iniquity, then assuredly lust is our Lord and louelove: for my Text must be true, No man can serue two masters.
As God and the flesh, tAugust. l. 2. de ser. Dom. in m…nt. Idem Anse…m. Vega. Culman. in loc.so God and the diuell are two contrary masters: for the one is truth it selfe, I am the way, and the truth, Ioh. 14. 6. the other is a liar, and the father thereof, Ioh. 8. 44. so that all such as speake the truth from their heart dwell in Gods tabernacle, Psal. 15. but such as delight in lying, are fit for the diuels seruice. Now there is uThom. 22. quaest. 110. art. 1.materiale mendacium and formale: the which distinction is more plainly deliuered by the grammarians, who make a difference betweene the reporting of an vntruth, and the forging of a lie. For, as Nigidius in xNoct At. l. 11. cap. 11.A. Gellius, hee that doth lie deceiueth other; hee that reports an vntruth is deceiued himselfe: and as ySent. lib. 3. dist. 38.Lombard, a man may be true that relates a thing vntrue: for as Philosophers and Diuines hauehave determined mentiri est contra mentemire, zAugust. encherid. ca. 22.to speake that with our mouth which wee thinke not in our minde. Enunciatio falsa cum aAugust. contra mendat. ad Consen. cap. 12.intentione fallendi. The seruant of God often vtters that which is false, and yet he is verax, for that hee thought it had beene true; and the diuels seruant sometime speakes the truth, and yet hee is mendax, for that hee thought it to bee false, as Augustine and Lombard hauehave well obserued.
Thou maist easily discerne by this cognizance, to what master the seruant of seruants and his retinue belong, namely to Don Beel-zebub, the mint-master of equiuocation and forgerie. Not to meddle with their old Legend, and new Kalender of Saints, in which are more lies than leaues. To passe by their Pasquils and inuectiue libels, as their bPer. Ric Verstegan. AntuerpTheatrum erudelitatum, the relations of Caietan annexed to Genebrards Chronologie, Stapletons tres Thomae, Mer. gallo bel. mundus furiosus, Gifforas Caluino-turcismus, together with the seditious pamphlets of Allen, Sanders, Campian, Bristo, Rob. Parsons; all which are not onelyonly hyperbolici, but as cDr. Sutlif.one wittily, hyperdiabolici. Not to mention here their vnsufferable correcting, yea corrupting of all authors, onelyonly giuegive mee leaue to remember how the Iesuits impudently deliuered in pulpit and dViuarius epist.print that old Beza was dead, and that forsooth hee died a Romane Catholike. Marianus Scotus, lib. 3. Chron. adan. 854. eChron. ad anno 854.Sigesbertus gemblacensis, fSupp…tat ad anno 855.Martianus polonus, the penner of the Chronicle called Fasciculus temporum in fol. 66. Uolateran, Com. gCol. 657. Lugdun.lib. 22. Iacobus Bergomensis de Claris mulieribus, cap. 143, hEn. 9. lib. 1.Sabellicus, Ioannes lucidus de emendatione temporum, lib. 8. iPolychron. lib. 5. cap. 32.Ranulphus, kLib. de Claris. foens.Boccace, lIn vita Ioan. 8Platina, Nauclerus, and mSee Dr. Morton. apolog. cat. lib. 1. cap. 19. & Alex. Cooke: Po…e Ioane, p. 3other arrant Romanists affirme directly, that there was a Pope Ioane: who being an nNam papa pa ter patri… peperit paruulum puerulum.harlot, well became the seate of the Babylonian whore. Yet Auentius annal. Boior. lib. 4. Onuphrius annot. in Platin. Genebrard. in Chron. adan. 854. Bellarm. de Rom pont. lib. 3. cap. 24. and all our moderne Iesuited Papists obstinately contradict this historie, seeking against their owne knowledge, to perswade the world, that it is a meere fable. By which it is apparant that they gaine more by this one illiterall arte of lying, then they do by the seuen liberall Sciences.
As God and the flesh, and God and the Diuell, so to giuegive Christs instance, God and the world are two oIam. 4. 4.contrarie masters. And therefore whereas pArdens in …oc.some desire to serue God onelyonly, some the world onelyonly, some both: in their deuotion as it were qPsal. 207. 26.carried vp to the heauen, in their auarice downe againe to the deepe: our blessed Sauiour saith peremptorily, Ye cannot serue God and mammon. rChrysost. H…ron. Aret. in loc.He doth not say, yee cannot hauehave God and mammon; for Mary and Martha may dwell together, righteousnesse and riches may stand together: but yee cannot serue God and mammon; for he that is the seruant of God must bee the master of his money.
The children of Israel, as it is recorded Exod. 14. walked vponupon dry ground through the red sea, because, saith the text, the waters were diuided: but the cruell Aegyptians pursuing after Gods people were drowned because the sea returned againe to his course. sAnton. de Rampen. in fig. Eiblieu.Mystically, such as diuide their worldly substance, distributing to the poore, lending to the needie, passe through the maine streame of the worlds current safely, their riches and honour being vntounto them as the waters vntounto the children of Israel, a wall on the right hand, and a wall on the left: but hold-fast Aegyptians, auarous oppressors being more cunning in substraction then in diuision, are drowned in the puddle. When S. Peter casteth his net ouer them, alas they runne themselues so deepe into the mud, as that it cannot get vnderunder them to dragge them out.
Mammon is a Lord in opinion onelyonly, tIuuenal.Nos facimus • Lib. 2. cap. 7.te fortunadeam, &c. and as Plinie speakes, Omnibus locis, omnibus horis, omnium vocibus fortuna solainvocatur, &c. xAret. in loc.But almightie God is by right and indeed a Lord of all things, of all men especially. For (as yTertul. cont. Hermogen. Idem Vega. in loc.Diuines obserue) God is not called Lord in the Scripture till he created man. In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth, and God said, Let there bee light, &c. Againe God said, Let there be a firmament, &c. but after man once was made, the zGen. 2.text often calleth him Lord: The Lord God made the man of the dust of the ground, and the Lord God planted a garden east-ward, and the Lord tooke the man and put him in the garden of Eden, commanding him, and saying, Thou shalt eat freely, &c. We must therefore serue none but this aEphes. 4. 5.one Lord, first seeking his kingdome, making him our master, & Mammon our seruant: for if we serue God most, and seek his kingdome first, bAugust. de ser D…m in monte lib. 2. Idem Euthym. Anselm. Marlorat. in loc.respecting his glory and honor afore all other things, aboue all other things: then all other things, as Christ promiseth here, which are necessarie for vsus, shall bee ministred vntounto vsus. See Epist. 3. Sund▪ after Trinitie.
Thus I hauehave shewed how no man can serue two masters, as two, but cCaietan. in loc▪as one. For dGloss. & Iansen. con. cap. 42.eueryevery man is either a willing or vnwilling seruant: if willing, hee shall hate the one, and louelove the other: if vnwilling, hee will ePati…tur, … August. sustine. bit: vti vulgar.endure the one, and despise the other▪ And yet, as I said in the beginning, one man may serue diuers masters at diuers times, albeit they require diuers, yea contrarie seruice. Matthew sometimes an instrument of Satan, afterward Christs Apostle. Salomon sometime seruing God, sometime seruing his lusts. The blessed theefe seruant to the world in his life, was the child of God at his death. All sinne is fAugustine.either a thought, a word, or a deed against the diuine law. Who did euer offend in thought more then Paul? gActs 9. 1.breathing out threatnings against the Disciples of the Lord. Who did euer offend in word more than Peter? hMat. 26 72. 74.forswearing his owne master. Who did euer offend more in deed than Dauid? who bound two great sinnes together, adulterie and murther: And yet the God ofi 2. Sam. 11. compassion and father of merciemercy retained all these sinners againe in his seruice. The which examples are recorded in holy Bible, partly for instruction of such as stand, and partly for the consolation of such as hauehave fallen. kAmbrose de Abraham, lib. 1 cap. 6.Instruunt patriarchae non solum docentes sed etiam errantes. If N…e was drowned himselfe with wine, who foretold the drowning of the world with water; if Sampson the strongest was ouercome by the weaker vessell; if Salomon the most wise committed folly, l1. Cor. 10. 12.let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Againe, these things are registred in Scripture for the comfort of such as hauehave fallen already. Did God forgiue Lots incest, Pauls butchering of the Saints, Aarons idolatrie? then a weake conscience from these premises, & vponupon Gods gratious promises may conclude, my sinnes are no greater, and Gods mercy can be no lesse.
When Theodosius excused a foule fact, because Dauid hath done the like: Saint Ambrose made this answere: Qui secutus es errantem, sequere poenitentem. Hath thy mouth blasphemed with Peter? let thine eyes then weepe with Peter. mAug. de Ciuit. lib. 21. cap. 24.Either thou must be a Sodomite, or a Nineuite; a Sodomite suffering for sinne, or a Nineuite repenting for sinne. Yet fortie daies and Nineue shall bee destroyed, Ionas 3. 4. Nineue was ouerthrowen, and yet not ouerthrowen, as Saint nEpist▪ ad Damasum. tom. 2. fol. 132.Hierome sweetly, Quae peccatis perit, fletibus stetit. It was ouerthrowen by sinne, but builded vp againe by repentance. Euersa est Niniue quae mala erat, & aedificata bo…a quae non erat, saith oVbi sup.Augustine. Let vsus not looke to Sodome, but set our eyes on Niniue; for if wee will resist our spirituall enemie, wee must arme our selues with sackcloth, and put on headpeeces of ashes: if wee meane to serue but one master onelyonly, let vsus, renouncing all other seruices, instantly with all haste and with all our heart turne to the Lord our God. p1. Pet. 4. 3.It is sufficient that we hauehave spent the time past after the lust of the Gentiles, in wantonnesse, gluttonie, drunkennesse, &c. let vsus now spend as much time as remaineth in the flesh, after the will of God. It is a monstrous absurditie, that seruing but two masters all our life, wee should sacrifice the best of our daies vntounto the worst, and then offer vp the worst of our daies vntounto the best. Againe, let vsus, I beseech you, repent with all our heart throughly, qLament. 2. 19.powre out thy soule like water before the face of the Lord▪ If thou powre out milke, the colour remaineth in the panne: if Wine, the sent remaineth in the vessell: if Honey, some taste remaineth in the Pot. He therefore that will not rSaluian. lib. 5. de gubernat. De….ipsius poenitentiae poenitere, sRonauent. Diaet. cap. 11.must not powre out his heart like milke, lest he be knowne still by his colour: nor like wine, lest he smell of wicked imaginations: nor like honey, lest he keepe a smacke of his old trickes: but like cleane water, that no taste, or smell, or colour may remaine. If Mammon be thy master, obserue him; if God be thy Lord, follow him: t1. Kin. 18. 21halt not betweene two opinions, sit not vponupon two stooles, lie not downe betweene uGen. …9. 14.two burthens, serue not two masters, either you must hate the one, and louelove the other, or else leane to the one, and despise the other.
Preached at Pauls Crosse, Febr. 8. ann. 1600. the very same houre that Robert Earle of Essex entring the City with his vnfortunate troupe, found by wofull experience the words of my Text to be true, that no man can serue two masters.