Remains of John Boyse, Sermon 1
ESAY 5. 18.
Woe vntounto them that drawe iniquitie with cordes of vanitie, and sinne as it were with a Cart rope.
IN this Text two poynts are to beediscussed especially.
First, the goodnes of God who soundes a woe, before he sendes a woe.
Secondly, the wickednesse of man, in drawing iniquity.
Touching the first, in holy writ we finde two kinds of woes: a woe of Condoling, and a woe of Condemning. Condoling, as Psalm. 1…0. Woe is mee that I am constrayned to dwell with Misery. Mica. 7. 1. Woe is mee for I am as the Grape gleaning of the Vintage. And in this Prophesie Chap. 6. vers. 5. Woe is me for I am vndone. This kind of woe nothing at al, or very litle concernes our present Text: that other is two fold, to witt, a woe of instruction, and a woe of destruction: or in plainer termes a woe denounced, and a woe executed.
The woe whereof I am now to treate, and many moe both after and before these words. As woe to them that ioyne house to house, and field to field: Till there be no place for others in the Land. Woe to them who rise vp early to follow drunkennesse: Woe to them who speake good of euill, and euill of good: are but warnings, and so, by consequent, armings against that heauy woe of destruction, which in the end of the Chapter is threatened by a nation that shall come from farre with arrowes that are sharpe, and all their bowes bent, with horses hauing hoofes like flint, & with Chariots hauing wheeles like whirlwinds, roaring as the Lyon, or as the roaring Seas; Executing the iudgements of God vponupon the men of Iudah, and inhabitants of Ierusalem, in such sort that none shall deliuer them.
In the dayes of security, to sound out the woes of seuerity is not welcome, though it be wholsome: it is harsh vntounto flesh and bloud, vntounto such as are at aA…. 6. 1.ease in Sion: vntounto such as hauehave made a bE…. …8. 15.league with death, and with hell agreement, vntounto such as dreame of cEzech. 13. 10peace when there is no peace; Saying to the seers see not, and to the Prophets prophesie not vntounto vsus right things, but speake flattering things, Esay▪ 30. 10. But the Thundering of woe is wholsome to such as hauehave hearts and eares to dHeb. 13. 22.suffer the words of exhortation. It is so farre from either bringing or hastening of woe, as that (if it worke true repentance) it doth often deferre, and sometime deliuer vsus from a woe hanging ouer our heads: Howsoeuer the wicked had rather once feele, then euer feare destruction and woe: yet it is an argument of Gods infinite rich mercy (who eEzech. 18. 32desires not the death of a sinner) first, to become a Preacher, and then a punisher; First to sound a woe, before hee send a woe: First to speake to vsus in his wrath, before hee vexe vsus in his sore displeasure. Psal. 2. 5.
So we read that he did inioyne his Prophets to fEsay. 58 1.cry aloud, & to lift vp their voyce like a Trumpet in shewing his people their trangressions, and to the house of Iacob their sinnes: And Christ albeit he were the Prince of peace Esay. 9. 6. did chuse some for his Apostles who were the gMark. 3. 17.Sonnes of Thunder, so well as others who were the Sonnes of Consolation, and after ascending vp on high and giuing gifts vntounto men, Ephes. 4. 8. He bestowed vponupon his Apostles not onelyonly clouen, but all so fiery tongues, Acts. 2. 3. That they might not onelyonly direct, but also correct: as h2 Tim. 4 2.St. Paul speakes improue rebuke, &c. As Nazianzen wrote of Basil, that they might lighten in their doings, and thunder in their doctrines. In this Chapter at the 6. verse the preachers are compared vntounto cloudes, I will command the cloudes that they raine no more raine vponupon my Vineyard, That is, the pastours & teachers that they preach no more. When the Lord (saith i…in Ps 35. at Chrysost. homil. 20. in MathAugustine) by the mouths of his ministers denounceth a woe, then he thunders in the cloudes: But when they bring the glad tidings of saluation, he distilleth as it were drops of his mercy, sending a ioyfull raine tha… refresheth his inheritance; God as an exquisite musician twines the strings of our hearts eueryevery way, that he may put vsus in tune, he hath a longing desire that the teares of our repentance may quench vtterly the Coales of his displeasure, for albeit the kMath. 3. 10.Axe bee layd vntounto the roote of the tree: yet shall it not be hewen downe so long as there remaines any hope for fruites of amendment. It is true that God (if men will not turne) lPsal. …. 13.hath his Bow bent and ready, but as hee that shootes to hit another, hath the string of his Bow vponupon his owne breast: Euen so God in drawing the Bow to shoote the bitter arrowes of his wrath against vsus, hath his hand on his heart and in the middest of his anger hee remembers mercy, Abacuc. 3. 2. Denouncing a great many woes, before hee will execute as much as one woe.
This exceeding kindnesse and long suffering in God, commendat et emendat, as Augustine speakes, it recommends God as a patterne teaching vsus to be m…. 3….mercifull as our Father in heauen is mercifull. Is the nPsal. 145. 8.Lord gratious, full of pitty, long suffering and of great goodnesse: Then I beseech you, be followers of God as deere children, Ephes. 5. 1. As God sayd vntounto Moses, Exod. 25. 40. So I say to thee, fac secundum exemplar, performe that which is good according to the patterne. Doe not rashly iudge, much lesse condemne any man o… Cor. 4. 5.before the time, but expect amendment in thy greatest enemie, hope the best euen of the worst, although he draw iniquity with cordes of vanity, and sinne as it were with cart-ropes.
Secondly, the bountifulnes and long suffering of God lead vsus to repentance, Rom. 2. 4. For that which is counted of man slackenesse, is in God patience, desiring that no man should perish, but all should amend and be saued, 2. Pet. 3. 9. If we shall harden our hearts and neglect the woes of instruction, vndoubtedly the woes of destruction will one day come vponupon vsus. If we continue not onelyonly to sinne, but to delight in sinne: and not only to delight in sinne, but to boast of sinne: and not only to boast of sinne, but also to iustifie sinne; As to make good euill, and euill good, drawing iniquity with cordes of vanity, and sinne as it were with a carte rope: What do we but pRom. 2. 5.heape vponupon our selues wrath, against the day of wrath: and of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God.
The diseases of our age through a long peace, grow for the most part by riot and excesse, and consequently hauehave not so much vse of restoratiues, as need of launcing and corrasiues: when the woundes of the people, saith qSer de …Cyprian, are tumentia, then the preachers as good Chirurgions must open the swelling veynes of pride, & launce the puffed-vp impostumes of greedy desires, then it is their duty to cry, woe be to those that are mighty to drink wine; woe be to those that are wise in their own sight: woe bee to those who iustifie the wicked for reward. In a word, the best musicke for our times is that of the Angell, Apocalyps. 8. 13. Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth.
And because men hauehave despised the Prophets and rMath▪ 23. 37.stoned, (if not with hard flint, sAug. contra aduers. leg… lib. 2. cap. 4.yet with hard speeches and vsage) such as hauehave beene sent vntounto them early & late: Therefore God makes the very dumbe creatures to Preach and sound out his woes in the middest of a peruerse generation. The foundations of the earth quaking and shaking vnderunder our feet, hauehave denounced a woe: the roaring waues, and raging floods ouerwhelming some parts of the drie land, hauehave denounced a woe. The great frosts, and great snowes, and great stormes hauehave denounced a woe: vnseasonable weathers turning our Winters into Summers, and Summers into Winters hauehave denounced a woe. Many strange signes and wonders in Heauen hauehave denounced a woe. The blazing starre the last yeare was (as tSer. 3. in Epiph.Augustine sayd of the starre directing the wise men to the place where the blessed Babe lay) magnifica lingua coeli the stately tongue of heauen. And as we hauehave heard, so hauehave wee seene what great wonders it hath prognosticated in the City of God. … 206. i… lib Sapient.Holcott makes mention of certaine strange flyes in Norfolke, deuouring about the beginning of haruest almost all the blades of corne, the which had imprinted on their paynted wings these two words IRA DEI, vpō the one wing IRA, vpō the other DEI. Beloued he that runnes may read in al the woes denounced against our Land IRA DEI: the wrath of God, inuiting vsus to breake off our sinnes: and by true repentance to cease from drawing iniquity with cordes of vanity, and wickednesse as it were with a carte rope.
That draw sin: To hale sin xCaluin in loc.is to vse all allurements, occasions and excuses to harden the conscience in sinne: for the wicked hunt after sinneyEphe. 4. 19. enē with such a greedines that zTremel▪ in …oc.iniquity draw… not them so much as they draw iniquity, mak… sin strong by their wickednesse. To draw wickednesse with cordes, is nothing else but to aAug in Psa. 130 et Hier on. in loc.heape sin vponupon sinne, binding sinnes together, as the wiseman speakes, adding to bad thoughts bad words, and to bad wordes bad deedes: vntill the threeds of iniquity by wrething grow to bee Cordes, and the cordes in fine become so great as Cart-ropes. It is reported in the Gospels historie that Christ raysed from the dead bMath. 9. 25.Iayrus daughter newly dead, the cLuk. 7 15.Widowes sonne dead and wound vp, and lying on the hearse, and dIoh. 11. …4.Lazarus dead and buried and stinking in the Graue. Now these three sorts of Coarses (as eSer 44 de verbis Domini.Augustine notes) are three sorts of sinners▪ sayrus daughter lying dead in her Fathers house resembleth all those that sinne by inward consent; the widdowes sonne being caried out of the gates of the City those that sinne by outward act: Lazarus dead and buried foure dayes, those that sinne by continuall habite; being dead saith Augustine, the first day by conceiuing sinne, the second by consenting to sinne; the third by committing sinne: the fourth by continuing in sinne. The bandes that tyed his hands and feet were his sinnes, according to that of Salomon, Eccles. 5. 22 The wicked is taken in his owne iniquity, & holden with Cordes of his owne sinne. Consenting to sin is one corde, acting of sin another, continuing in sin a third, and a threefold cord is not easily broken, Eccles. …. 12. If we writhe these cordes of vanity big…er and bigger, adding to custome in sin, boasting in sin, to boasting defence, to defence presumption: At the last they will grow so great as cables & cart-ropes, & so become fetters in this world, and eternall chaynes in the next: Whips on earth and boults in hell, and therefore woe to them that draw, &c.
Christ in the 2. Chapter of St Iohn at the 15. verse, made a scourge of cordes and whipped out of the Temple such as bought and sold therein, the strings of this whip, as fProoem in Psal. 130.Augustine & gin loc.Hierom note, were made of the cords of their vanity. For all euill which we suffer in goods or good name, either outwardly in our bodies, or inwardly in our soules, proceedeth altogether from that euill which wee doe, hSenec Ep 97.sceleris in scelere supplicium, sin like a penitent frier scourgeth it selfe; As the worme deuouring the nutt is bred in the nutt: so the punishment of sin is bred in sin, iLipsius de consolat. lib. 3. cap. 13.Cognatum, imò innatum omni sceleri sceleris supplicium.
Sicknesse is a scourge, but it is made of the Cords of our owne vanity. So St Paul. 1. Cor. 11. 30. Hence many are weake & sicke. &c. So Christ in the 5. Saint Iohn at the 14. verse, behold thou art made whole, sinne no more. Insinuating that the sores of the body come from the sinnes of the soule, all weaknesse from wickednesse, all infirmity from iniquity▪ woe therefore.
Dearth and Barrennes of ground is a mayne string of Gods whip against sin, but it is made of the Cordes of our owne vanity. kEzek. 14. 13.When the Land (saith the Lord) sinneth against me by committing a trespasse, then will I stretch out mine …nd vponupon it, and will breake the staffe of the bread thereof, and will send famine vponupon it. lLeu. 26. 18. & Deut. 18. 23If ye will not obey mee and hearken to my commandements: I will make your Heauen as Iron: And your Earth as Brasse: Your strength shall be spent in vaine, neither shall your Land giuegive her encrease, neither shall the trees of the Land giuegive their fruit, woe therefore.
Extreme pouerty is a scourge too, but the wicked draw his heauie burthen vponupon them especially with the Cart-ropes of their owne iniquity. For while they waste their estates in riot, and spend their dayes in idlenesse, no wonder if mPro. 6. 11.pouerty come vponupon them as a trauailour, and necessity like an armed man. A trauailour knocks at our dores before wee looke for him, and an armed man is so strong that wee cannot easily resist him, and therefore woe to them, &c.
Dishonour and ignominie is a scourge likewise, but it is made of the cordes of our owne vanity. For good deedes are the very Matrix of a good name, honest and honourable report is the shadow that followes the body of vertue, so that the nPsal. 12. 6.righteous are had in an euerlasting remembrance, their memoriall is blessed oEccles. 49. 1.sweet as hony in all mouthes, and pleasant in all eares, as musicke at a banquet of wine; But the name of the wicked shall rott, Pro. 10. 7. Their memorie shall perish with them, Psal. 9. 6. And therefore woe to them, &c.
Beside these and infinite other outward scourges, there is an inward whip of the soule made of the cordes of vanity; To witt, horrour and hell of conscience: for albeit the wicked be pPsal. 73.fatt and lusty, though he come to no misfortune like other men: though hee florish like a greene baytree: though his sheepe bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in his ground, though his oxen be strong to labour and no decay in his cattle: Yet intra est quod contra est, howsoeuer it be without him, he hath that within him, which is against him; so that he can neither delight in company, nor solace himselfe alone, neither sport in the fields, nor rest in his bed, ut eueryevery where his manyfold foule sinnes are so many foule fiends vntounto him. As when Gain had slaine his brother Abel, albeit there were no Iustices or Constables to make hue and crie after him, as Luther and Caluin expound the place; Yet he said qCa…. 4. 14.whosoeuer findeth me shall slay me, alas who could see! and yet hee was affrayd of eueryevery bush, of eueryevery bird in the bush, of eueryevery feather in the bird; For his guilty conscience was as a thousand witnesses to accuse him, as a thousand Iudges to condemne him, and as a thousand hang-men to torture him, therefore woe to them, &c.
Behold yet a greater woe, for the cordes of vanity doe not onelyonly make scourges to whip the wicked in this world: but they be Bolts and fetters of hell also. For as wee read Math. 13. 30 When almighty God shall come to iudgment he will command his angels to bind the tares and burne them, and in the 22. Chap. of Saint Math. 13. To bind him hand and foot which had not on the wedding garment, and to cast him into vtter darknesse. Now these bands and fetters are nothing else but the sinnes of the reprobate, the cordes of their vanity, the cart-ropes of their iniquity. Wherewith they shall bee so fast bound, as that they shall neuer be loosed againe. For as the darknesse of hell is an euerlasting night, and the fire of hell rEsay. 33. 14.euerlasting burnings, the sMark. 9. 44.worme neuer dying, the woe neuer ending; So the bands of hell, as Saint Iude ter…es them, are euerlasting chaynes, and therefore woe to them.
The word Vanity, hath a great many significations, it is vsed for inutile, that is a thing without any profit or vse. So sinne is a vanity, t1 Tim 6. 6.godlinesse is great gaine, not onelyonly gaine, but great gaine in comparison whereof the winning of the whole world is losse. But sinnes are vnfruitfull workes of darkenesse, Ephes. 5. 11. uRom. 6. 21.What profit had ye, quoth Saint Paul vntounto the Romans, in those things whereof ye are now ashamed. and the xWis. 5 8.wise-man bringeth in the reprobate complayning at the last day. What hath pride now profited vsus, and the pompe of riches brought vsus.
Secondly, vanum is vsed for falsum, a lying and a false thing opposed to verum. And so sin is a vanity, Pro. 11. 18. The wicked worketh a deceitfull and false worke. In sinning he deceiueth as much as he can, almighty God: Honouring him with his lips, but his heart is farre from him, Esay. 29. 13. He deceiueth his neighbour also yPsal. 12. 2.talking of vanity with his neighbour and z…sal 4. 2.seeking after lyes, vsing aProu. 11. 1.false ballances and light weights, but in conclusion he deceiueth him elfe most. Hee that soweth righteousnesse shall receiue a sure reward; but the wicked worketh a deceitfull worke, for whatsoeuer hee propoundeth for his end, bRom 6. 23.the wages of sinne is death, and hee that followeth euill seeketh his owne death, Pro. 11. 19.
Thirdly, Vanitas is vsed for imperitia, that is, vnskilfullnesse & ignorance. So the Grammarian who contended in cLib. 18. cap. 4Aulus Gellius with Apollinarius the Philosopher about the sign fication of words, maintained confidently that vanus and stolidus are all one; The vaine man is the foolish man, dSte…h in dict. ….Vanus est mente vacuus. And according to this acception also, sin is vanity: for goodnes in the Scripture is termed wisedome, & vice follie: Sinners and fooles in the language of Canaan are Synonima, Pro. 1. 7. The feare of God is the beginning of knowledge, but fooles despise wisedome and instruction. And Solomon in the same Chapter afterward speaking of sinners and sinfull courses, sayeth, O yee foolish? how long will yee louelove foolishnesse. In the dialect of the wiseman it is plaine, that the greatest sinner is the greatest foole; To looke no further then that which is before our eyes in this present Chap. The proud man & couetous who … field to field, and house to house: that he may be placed in the midst of the earth alone, shewes himselfe a vaine foole. eCaluin in loc.For nothing could befall him worse then to hauehave his owne wish: How could hee till his ground alone? How could hee reape the fruits thereof alone? How could he Domineere in his houses alone? How could he vaine man enioy his glory, were there none to magnifie him and to humour him in his grea…nes?
So he that is mighty to poure in strong drinke, shewes himselfe a vaine man in ouerthrowing his owne body: being onelyonly strong to make himselfe weake; hee should eate and drinke to be strong: but not strong to eate and drinke. Is not he reputed a very foole that will strike none but him that is next him, and who so neere thy selfe, as thine owne selfe?
So hee that is wise in his owne eyes, and prudent in his owne sight, is a vaine foole: For there can be no greater argument of fSee Chrysost. ser. 2… in Epist ad Rom.follie then to be so conceited of our owne witt, that wee scorne to learne of others. Hereticks are therefore the masters of errour, quoth gIdem Fu…bertus Ep. 1.Augustine, because they neuer were the Schollers of truth; And that which hLib. 1.Opt…tus reporteth of Victor, may be well affirmed of all Hereticks, namely that they bee Sonnes without Fathers, Souldiers without Captaines, and Schollers without Masters.
So hee that doth iustifie the wicked for a reward, is a very foole, for that one bribe may proue i2. Kings 4. 40mors in oll…, like Colloquintida that marrs the whole pott of pottage: a Canker that will fret the rest of his esta…e good it may seeme for the present purchase (as it is said of Chauking of Land in the Country prouerbe) but ill in fine for his heires, Ex male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres.
So he that speakes good of euill, and euill of good is a very foole: For by telling so many lyes, hee gaines onelyonly this credit that none will beleeue him when hee speakes a truth.
It is obiected out of Saint Luke. Chap. 16. verse. 8. That the children of this world, are wiser then the children of light. Answere is made by the kOrigen. …. Mald… nat.Doctors vponupon the place, that Christ accounts them wiser, not absolutly, but onelyonly, secundum quid, in some case more crafty; They bee not wis…r in genere, but in genere suo: for as lApud Fox Martyr…l.one sayd of Sr. Thomas More, that he was either a foolish wiseman, or a wise foolish-man: Euen so the wicked are wisemen in foolish things, and foolish men in wise things: wise to doe euill (as the mIer. 4. 2.Prophet speakes) but to doe well they hauehave no knowledge. All their slye trickes like the needlesse curiosities of Schoolemen, are but Cobwebs of learning, all the fine threeds of their subtilty nothing else but cordes of vanity.
Thus I hauehave plainely deliuered how sin is a Vanity, and how sinfull acts are cordes of vanity: Whipping the wicked on earth, and binding thē hand and foot in hell; and so consequently that a woe hangs ouer their head, who draw iniquity with cordes of vanity, and sinne as it were with Cart…opes.
This should teach vsus to fly from sin as a Serpent, and to fly to Christ as our sole Sauiour, who dyed for our sinnes, and is risen againe for our iustification; If we be truely grafted vntounto him, all our sin is his, and all his righteousnesse ours. And so though happily wee may bee full of Condoling woe, and shall be free from Condemning: though our spirituall enemies are stronger, and our greiuous sinnes are greater then wee; yet as God said to Rebecca, the greater shall serue the lesser. In Christ all thi…gs are ours, and all things quoth Paul, euen Sin it selfe quoth Augustine, euen the Deuill himselfe quoth Luther, worke together for our good, yea for the best, if we louelove God in his Christ. Heale vsus thenô Lord and wee shall be healed: saue vsus and we shall be saued: Deliuer vsus from eternall woe that we may bee blessed with euerlasting happinesse in thy kingdome of glory: where wee shall euer be sure to be free from sorrow, because free from sin; Ceasing to draw iniquity with cordes of vanity, and sin as it were with cart-ropes.