HE that promised to make his Apostles Fi­shers of men, Matth. 4.19. Vsed A two­fold nette wherewith to catch and drawe men vnto him sayes S. Chrysostome. Chrysost. in 22, Luc. [...]

• [...]
• [...]

the net of wōders, and of words. By the first Hee caught those many who beleeued in his name, when they saw the miracles [Page 2] which He did. Ioh. 2.23. (b) By the second He enclosed his very enemies, those Officers who were sent to ap­prehend and bring him before the High Priests and Pharisees. They were so entangled in the net of his heauen­ly doctrine, that they had no power to lay violent hands vpon him, but re­turned with this answer, neuer man spake as that man did. Ioh. 7 46. Our blessed Sauiour vseth both these nets in the recouering of a certaine poore, lame, and diseased man, the subiect of this Text. First He heales him with the the bare word of his mouth, Surge & tolle grabatum, verse 8. Him who by ordinarie meanes could not be healed in 38. yeares before, verse 5. Second­ly He leaues him not here, but that He might be wholly taken as well in soule as body He casts vpon him the net of his words and doctrine. Behold thou that wert thus many years scour­ged for thy sinnes, art now through [Page 3] mercy restored to thy perfect health, take heede least falling into the same sinnes againe thou pull downe Gods iudgements after a more fearefull manner: where our blessed Sauiour puts him in minde of his long desi­red recouerie, shewes him the cause of his miserie, and giues him an item, to preuent a worser calamity. Behold thou art made whole, &c. Out of which words, without vexing them either with curiositie or multiplicitie of diuisiō, arise naturally these 3. parts

• 1. Com­memoratio be­neficij. Beholde thou arte made whole
• 2. Com­monitio, officij. Sinne no more
• 3. Com­minatio sup­plicij. Least a worse thing come vnto thee.

The commemorati­on of the benefite containes the Manner and Matter: Behold, The manner: Thou art made whole: The matter. To begin with the first.

This demonstratiue Ecce, Is not a [Page 4] note of approbation in the Receiuer of the benefit, as if through his long patience He had merited this fauour at Christs hand, being set out vnto vs as a grieuous sinner: Iam. 1.5. Nor a signe of exprobation in the Giuer, For God giueth freely and vpbraideth no man with his gifts: Nor a vaine repetiti­on of ostentation in our Sauiour, for thē it would haue run in the first per­son, Theophrast. in charact. superbi. Ecce sanum te feci, as it is noted in the character of the proud man. But it is a note of Remembrance & con­sideration vttered to this end, that the benefit of God so plentifully bestow­ed vpon him should not now be written in the dust to be blown away with the slight blast of forgetfulnesse, but remaine fixed, and setled in his heart written as the Prophet speakes with a pen of yron, and the point of a Dia­mond to continue for euer: And with good reason, for the very Hea­then could taxe the whole kinde for want of this vertue, comparing man [Page 5] in this regard [...], Epigra. Anthol. to a bottom­lesse vessel that transmits what euer is put into the same. A sinne begotten in our first parents and propagated in their posterity. Take a tast of it in the Israelites, Gods most obliged people, who had such sensible feelings of his fauor as they might be iustly tearmed by the Philosophers word [...] bur­thened with his benefits: Aristotle Ethic. Seneca de benef. yet with thē it fared, as with those of whom Senec. Apud quos non diutius in animo donata quam in vsu. Witnesse that God rebu­ked the red sea, and it was dried, led them in the deepe as in the wilder­nes, causing the waters to couer their oppressors, &c. Then beleeued they his words & laud praises to his name, Psal. 106.12. But incontinently they forgat his workes and would not a­waite his counsell. vers. 13. There­fore least we should deglutire benefi­cia Dei swallow down the benefits of God without ruminating on them [Page 6] by due meditation: or least we might impute them to our owne deserts, sa­crificing to our own nets and kissing our owne hands as the Prophet hath it for catching and procuring the same, our blessed Sauiour stirres vp this restored man, and in him all that enioy the like benefit to tast and con­sider how good the Lord hath beene vnto vs. Behold. The matter fol­lowes. Thou art made whole.

The benefite of health may chal­lenge all possible thankes at any mans hand— Vt corpus redimas, Ovid. &c. skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will He giue for his life, was the last and the best argument the Diuell could vse to infringe Iobs faith and confi­dence: Iob. 2.5. Stretch out now thine hand vpon him and see if He will not blas­pheme thee to thy face. But health is the life of life, Senee. Since non viuere sed valere vita est, life without health is but a lingring death: and therefore [Page 7] the Prophet makes it a great part of his happie man [...] to bee sound of winde and limbe, Thales ap. Diog Laect. for — Si capiti bene, &c. If it be well with vs in the whole structure of our body can princely riches adde more, yea they cannot yeeld so much happinesse of themselues, [...], Plutarch [...]. &c. Neither can the glorious Dia­deme of a King asswage one whit the ach of his head, nor the pretious sig­net command the least disease from the finger. Yet howsoeuer the bene­fit of health be great in it selfe, it was here greater if we review the former condition of him one whom it was conferred. Wheras Seneca makes but three things grieuous in euery disease which are either

• Dolor Corporis. Affliction of body.
• Intermissio vo­luptatis. Intermission of all ioy and pleasure.
• Timor mortis. Feare of death.

Beside these this diseased patient was ouercome.

[Page 8]1. Of pouertie, as great a disease as the former, Menander. — [...], no burden more burdensome then pouertie, insomuch as Hecuba beeing brought to that extremitie calles her misfortunes; Euryp. in Hecubae. — [...]. such as surpassed the sufferance of nature: being numbred among the curses of the Law, Deut. 28.22. yea accounted so great a curse with the Heathen that Plutarch reportes many to auoyde the same, haue beene content to throw them­selues headlong from high rockes in­to the sea preuenting that miserie of life by a sudden and certaine death. Now of this disease laboured this poore creeple who wanted meanes to procure a man to put him into the poole when the water was troubled.

2. He was accompanied no doubt with pouerties necessarie attendant Contempt, Iuvenal. — Nil habet infaelix pau­pestas, &c. The poore man is despised of his neighbour, sayes the wisest of [Page 9] men. The Iewes according to their receiued opinion, Ethniorum opinio mise­ros esse. Diis invisos heni­sius in Theo­crit. accounting him Gods enemy because of his great mi­sery, as they did those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their own sacrifice (for refusing to offer for the the health of Caesar, Theophylact in 13. Luc. as Theophylact notes it.) They cared not to reach vn­to him their helping hand of pity.

3. The long continuance in his in­firmity, made it the more incurable in it selfe, and the more insufferable to the patient beeing of no lesse then thirty eight yeares regiment, where­by it had gathered together such a multitude of ill-affected humours, as they not onely surprised the whole body, out were able to oppose the strongest art of the most expert Phy­sitian, since Sero madicina, &c. Inve­terate Diseases which haue placed their garrisons in our mortall taber­nacles cannot be displaced by ordina­ry meanes.

[Page 10]4. Such a grieuous disease of the body could not but cause as grieuous diseases in the minde by reason of that Sympathie or compassion betweene these two yoake-fellowes: the first whereof is a longing expectation of the bodies ease and her quiet from the troubled water, Tertul. de bapt [...] [...] Seall. [...] dorp. for Quatannis id fa­ctum, and it cured all manner diseases whatsoeuer, vers. 4. Now Carnifices a­ [...]mi mora & expectatio. Expectation is as the hangman of the minde tortu­ring the same betweene the two gives of hope and despaire, Hee well ho­ped that after the many nights of sor­row, the mourning of ioy now appro­ched wherein he should be restored to his perfect strength, but his expectati­on was wholy frustrated, his hope was with so many deceiuings quite ti­red that it became hopelesse, which brought one his soule the last of all her diseases, a finall despaire of enioy­ing that miraculous benefite of hea­ling, [Page 11] for he concludes with our Saui­our, that he was alwaies preuented by others who stepped in before him, as it is in the seauenth verse of this chap. Recollect wee then the greatnesse of this benefit bestowed on him. Besides that his body is no more afflicted, his ioy & pleasure no longer intermitted, and the feare of death ouerpassed, his pouertie is hereby releeued, his con­tempt salued, the long continuance in his disease ended, his racking expecta­tion fully satisfied, and his finall de­spayre finally preuented. Beholde thou art made whole. Wherein the bounty of our blessed Sauiour is yet further extended to him, who in this our ex­ample shewes sufficiently that hee is the only true Physitian of mans soule, in that hee makes this mans bodily cure but a preparatiue to the cure of his sicke soule, Ang. in lec. Fecit quod videri pote­rat, vt savatetur quod videri non poee­rat. He makes a cure vpon that which [Page 12] was obvious to the eye of man, the body that so hee might make way for the inuisible cure of the minde, Dat viuendi morem, dat innocentiae legem post­quam con­tulit sanita­tem. Cypri­an. and therefore in the next place he shewes him the cause of his miserie which was sinne, for his humiliation, and ad­monishes him to sinne no more for preuention of a worse euill, and that is the second part vnder our conside­ration. Viz.

2. part,The commonition, Sinne no more.

He had sinned or else he had neuer beene afflicted, for Paena non praecedit culpa. Punishment neuer goes before, but dogges sinne at the heeles: wherin he had sinned is onely knowne to him that knowes only the diuers windings of mans heart. To thinke with some in Saint Chrysostome that his sin was the manifesting of Christ his Physitian to the Iewes, as a transgressor of the Sab­bath, besides that the lettar is opposite to that conceit, it incurs the soloecisme of [...], For this sinne (if there had [Page 13] beene any such) must needs bee com­mitted after, it could not be before his healing: Et fi accusandi gratia dixssit, Chrysostome in locum. sayes Chrysostome hauing relation to the 15. verse, Timuisset vtique peiora, cum minantis potestatem esset expertus. We rather ioyne with the Apostle, In multis impingimus omnes, Iam. 32. All of vs of­fend in many things; These many things then at the obiect of this admo­nition: Looke therefore how diuers sinne is, but sinne is [...], Peccare est tanquam linias tran­sire, Cic. Pa­rad. like the continued quantity admittes infinite sections and diuisions, euen so extensiue is this admonition applied to vs, prohibiting all manner of sinne incident to the nature of man. I will confine the infinitenes therof to these termes.

Either

• Quod­cunque
• Quantulumcunque
• Quale­cunque

For the first, whether it bee a sinne [Page 14] against the first or second table, Obser­uatio legis est copulatiua; Holines and righteousnesse are ioyned together in the Benedict, holinesse towards God, and righteousnes towards our neigh­bour, according to the commaunde­ment in Saint Iohn, 1. Ioh. 4. Vlt. that he which lo­ueth God should loue his brother al­so: so that an Indulgence cannot salue vp the breach of any part of the morall law which is perpetuall, nor a dispensation from any mortall man giue liberty to the least sinne which is against the same. And the reason is for that the dispensation against the lawe must be graunted by as great authori­ty as the lawe was first made, but the morall lawe grounded on the lawe of nature, was founded by the author, & creatour of nature God himselfe, and therfore by him only may it be dispē ­sed withall, which the schoolemen acknowledge in that theologicall axiome, Altified. Praescripta legis naturalis non [Page 15] sunt dispensabilia: But the morall law of God what is it but the law of na­ture written in tables of stone.

2. Quantulumcunque, Not onely those monstrous sinnes of the olde world, or those crying sinnes of So­dom, Gomorrha, Niniuie, which were so bold and impudent as to ad­uance themselues before the face of Almighty God, Nescio non possumus le­ue aliquod precatum dicere quod in Dei con­templum admittitur. Hieronym. Ep. 14. August. Ep. 108. but euen small sinnes as wee esteeme them, for the small egge of the Cockatrice will in time prooue a deuouring serpent, and if the little theeues get once in at the windowes, they will soone set open the doores for the great ones to en­ter and despoyle vs, Quid interest (sayes S. Augustine) vtrum vuo gran­di fluctu nauis obruatur, &c. what skils it whether the shipsuffer wracke from one huge billow that ouer­whelmes her, or by some few small leakes which in time sinke her, seeing the wages of this little as that great [Page 16] sinne in its owne nature is eternall death. Rom. 6.23

2. Qualecunque, of what nature, quality, or condition soeuer the sin be. As first, whether they be sinnes of age or sinnes of youth, Detur aliquid aetati was but a heathen mans diuini­ty, Christ shed his warmest blood for them, and requires that they a­boue al others should not spare their best yeares in his quarrell, and there­fore Saint Iohn writes to the young man especially because they are strong and able to beare the burden of the day, 1. Ioh. 1. yea Contra assiduum An­tiochum generose pugnet emnis aetas, As it is rendred out of Nazian. For such is Gods husbandry as no season prooues vnseasonable for sowing the seedes of piety, sow thy seeds in the morning and in the euening let not thy hand rest.

2. Whether sinnes issuing from the temperature of mans body. If [Page 17] the cholerick were priuiledged from the praedominancie of that humour to cast forth his sudden flashes of wrath and reuenge, Gen. 4.23. Lamec might iu­stifie the killing a man in his wound and a yong man in his hurt. If the sanguine might beguile the time in dalliance, in chambering and wan­tonnesse: S. Ambrose had spent his oyle vainely in Dauids Apologie. Dictum de Vacia igna­vo civc. Vacia hic si­tus est. Sen. Ep. Prou. 10. If the flegmatique might bury himselfe quicke in the graue of idlenesse, He neede not put it of, By a Lyon in the way, a Lyon in the streete. If the me­lancholicke might harbour darke and dismall thoughts and bring forth desperate effects, discontented Achi­tophel might make a long letter of himselfe without praeiudice to the letter of Gods Law. But nature must bee subdued by grace, It beeing the first step into Christianitie to denie our selues, and yeeld all subiection to the will of God.

[Page 18]3. Whether they bee sinnes of conformitie, Rom. 12.2. [...]. As to pride it with the Spaniard, to drinke drunke with the Dutch, to be light of promise with the Carthaginian, to play the lyer with the Cretensian, or the lying Aequiuocator with the Iesuited Ro­mane; Punica fi­des. Prouerb. For the time was when Regu­lus would rather returne to Carthage vpon his faith giuen though to the most exquisite torments then to haue slipped away by a mentall elusion. Wee are taught in Gods Schoole though Israel play the harlot, yet Iudah should not sinne; Thus wee reade of the riuer Alphaeus that it conuaies it selfe through the Sea breaking forth to his beloued Are­thusa, Lucian dia­log. and yet participates no whit with the seaes brackish humor; Thus Lot was found chaste in the midst of Sodom, Iob truly religious in the ido­latrous land of Vz, and many Saints in Caesar Neroes houshold.

Lastly, whether they be sins pro­ceeding from a good intension, euen that makes not simply a good action; for Bonum est de integra causa sayes Aquinas: both beginning, meanes, and end must bee right, or else the whole action will prooue wrong, be­cause the least leauen of euill sowres the whole lumpe of goodnesse; Take it in Vzzahs staying the Arke ready to fall, it was well meant as Hee thought and intended to a good end: yet forasmuch as He did it neither authoritatiue, being no Priest, 2. Sam. 6. nor ex mandato speciali, by any speciall com­mand or secret insinuation of Gods Spirit moouing him thereto, but his owne appetiue will, God slew him in the same place. Here then, Fines & que sunt ad finem debent esse eiusdem generis. In ordine ad bonum spirituale for the Popes power in temporals ouer the Lords Annointed to vpholde the Arke of Gods seruice will prooue but ordo inordinatus, being neither primatiue in himselfe, nor deriuatiue from the [Page 20] true fountaine of all power. The first is wisedomes peculiar, Per me Reges regnant, Prou. 8.15. and it is the Lord that put­teth downe the mightie from their seate: and therefore Super aspidem & basitiscum was as violently rent from Christ by Pope Alexander, as iniuri­ously put vpon the sacred neck of the Emperour by the foote of more then Luciferian pride. For the second Christ himselfe had it not qua homo, Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo, Delegatus nihil facit authoritate propaeia Pe­normitan. my kingdome is not of this world, how then can the Pope Vicar that which was neuer committed or trans­mitted vnto him: It remaines, that this indirect intension proues a direct vsurpation. And here likewise falles their opinion who are so far from vp­holding as they bend all their intensi­ons to the pulling down of the Arke of Gods seruice in regard of decent orders, comely rites, beutiful ceremo­nies, &c. Let vs begin with the foun­taine from whence these vnhallowed [Page 21] intensions haue their origination, we shall finde that to bee an Erroneous conscience spurred on by vnaduised zeale, I cal it erroneous quia cōscientia nunquam obligat in virtute propria, Aquinas. sed in virtute praecepti diuini, it binds not by vertue of its own direction, but in the vertue & strength of Gods com­mandement, but Gods commande­ment is, that all things be done de­cently and in order, and that euery soule bee subiect to the higher pow­ers in things not opposite to the high est power, Rom. 13.5. The very Geneua note in 5. Act. 36. Is, that in matters which con­cerne reli­gion wee must not attempt any thing vn­der colour of zeale be­side our vo­cation. not so much for feare as for conscience sake, For in such things plus obligat praeceptum prin­cipis & praelati quam propria conscien­tia, (saies Hales) Our conscience in such cases must bee captiuated to lawfull authoritie. And therefore the streame of such intensions must beginne at this true fountaine, and not issue out of the broken pits of e­uery mechanicall phansie and in­uention.

Secondly, for the meane furthering this intentiō, Thats no lesse (say they) then the Scripture, but the Scripture is the Canon by which all our acti­ons should bee squared: Arist. Rhet. lib. 1. Yet as the Philosoper said of a law politicall though it bee in it selfe most perfect & streight, the Iudge by his wresting interpretation might make it [...] peruerse and crooked: so may we say of Gods law, especially if vnlettered folke haue the interpretatiō therof in their hand, to the which is required the greatest art and science. If any say the text is plaine, the letter apparent, S. Nazian. answers that Studium lit­terae est pallium iniquitatis, the sticking too much to the letter in generall is the cloake of much impietie, Sic. Chili­astae ex Apoc. 20.2 Did not Arrius fall into his haeresie by hol­ding himselfe to the letter, Pater ma­ior me. Ioh. 4. Did not the Donatists goe about to prooue theirs to be the only true Church by the letter of the text. Cant. 1.6. Tell mee where thou [Page 23] feedest and where thou lyest at noone, Vti cubas in meridie, Alphonsus de Castro in verbo Ec­clesia. They would prooue from hence Ecclesiam ad so­lam meridionalem plagam quam ipsi incolebant redactam, that the True Church was only to bee found in those Southerne parts which they in­habited, but it fared with them as it did with those of whom Salomon, Prou. 30. vlt. They that wring their nose fetch out blood, which S. Gregorie interprets, That they who wring, wrest, or mis­interpret Scripture (a thing incident to vnlearned people as appeares in the 2. Pet. 3.16.) they bring forth aut haeresim aut phrenesim, either an haere­sie or a phrensie. And therefore the H. Ghost giues an item to such daring Prophets. The time shal come that they shall be ashamed of their visions, Zach. 13.5 & shall say I am no Prophet, I am an husband­man, man taught me to be an heard man from my youth vp. So that this medi­um cannot bee a rule to them who haue not true and vniuersall know­ledge [Page 24] to vse the same.

Thirdly, for the End terminating, what is their scope but Innouation A monster in a well established Church breeding more euils then euer did the lake Lerna. Vincent con­rra haeres. In matters of doctrine noue non noua, wee may handle the point after a new manner so that wee inferre no new and exorbitant mat­ter; but in matter of Church order nec noue nec noua, neither noueltie of manner nor of matter ought to be en­forced, August. since ipsa mutatio consuetu­dinis, &c. the change of an ancient custome in the Church, if it should somewhat helpe by the vtility, it would hurt as much, or more by the noueltie, and therefore primo diuinae legis authoritate, &c. sayes Vincent. First the Word of God written must guide, but where that is silent, Tunc ecclesiea Catholicae traditio, Then the institution & tradition of the Church must take place, Hence is it that the holy Ghost bids vs not to remooue [Page 25] the auncient bounds which our fore­fathers haue set, Pro. 22.28. teaching by this al­legory not to bring innouations into the Church contrary to what wee haue receiued from godly antiquity, and theres a curse annexed to such In­nouators. He that breaks downe the hedge, him shall a serpent bite, Eccl. 10.8. the hedge of godly order as well in Church as common-wealth, as Liri­nensis expounds it, him shall Satan the subtile serpent bite. This was the case of Donatus, first hee breakes downe the hedge by innouation, then the serpent bites and stings him on forward to fall into open scisme with Caecilianus the godly Bishop of Carthage & his orthodoxal Church, Alphonsus de Laistio. Postea scisma in haeresim commutauit. In the Swincksel­dians, the Anabap­tists, Brow­nists, Fami­lists. He turned scisme into plaine haere­sie, and then this gangrene spreads it selfe so farre, as the contagion ther­of hath reached euen to our times. This may be the cause why S. Paul does earnestly wish, Gal. 5.12. that they were cut off who did disturb the Galatians [Page 26] foreseeing that by the Schismes and dissentions the seamelesse coate of Christ the Embleme of his Church (as S. Cyprian hath it) might by these meanes bee rent and torne asunder. Cyprian de Vast. Eccle­siae. These intensions therefore cannot attaine their wished end, but accor­ding to the saying of Gamaliel be­cause they haue proceeded from man and not from God they haue neuer taken place but receiued Vzzahs doome Perez-Vzzah to bee diuided and scattered euen from our late Queenes regiment vnto this present time and therfore let such Innouators apprehend this admonition: 2. Sam. 6.8. Act. 5.38. Sinne no more.

But if no more, then our spirituall resurrection from the graue of sinne must be speedie and constant, speedy euen from the present period of time constant, to the last point of life; [...] non amplius, No more imploies both. For the first, that it ought to be without delation the bodily, Physiti­an [Page 27] teaches that [...], Hypocrat. aphoris. 9. lib. 2. the infected parts of the body, the more they are cheri­shed, the more they are endamaged: so fares it with a soule habituated in sinne by a frequent custome in sin­ning, the conscience becomes so sea­red and the heart so hardned as they will not receiue the soft impression of Gods spirit, Consuetudo altera natu­ra. it proouing as easie to recouer a dead man in body as a sicke man in soule who is growne in­to yeares of sinne, and so goes on from darknes to darknes vntill hee come to the vtter darkenesse where he findes no other comfort, but wee­ping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. And as it must bee speedy, so must it be constant, for Non initia Christia­norum sed fines coronantur, Bern. because one may begin in the spirit but end in the flesh, Arist. eth. and therfore as in the O­lympicke games not the fairest nor the strongest [...], &c, but of those which striued, they that [Page 28] continued to the end won and wore the garland: so in the Christian war­fare against our ghostly enemies, sin, hell, Satan, if wee continue faithfull vnto the death, God will giue vs the crowne of life. Sinne no more.

Reu. 2.10.The admonition is both iust, and necessarie. Iust for wee are for the most part no sooner confirmed in health and strength but we are ready to summon vp our forces, [...]. Nazian [...]. and giue vp our members as weapons of vnrigh­teousnesse to sinne, as souldiers doe yeeld themselues to their captaines to warre vnder their banner: Thus the Israelites when they waxed fat, and in good liking spurned with their heele, Deut. 32.i5 therefore they forsooke God that made them and regarded not the strong God of their saluati­on: To such the saying of Seneca might fitly be applyed Tutius aegro­tassent when they turne this gift of God into wantonnesse and abuse [Page 29] their strength to the powring in of much wine and bearing strong drink. And necessary, i Tim. 5.6, for [...], the life of sinne is the death of the soule, and therefore the wi­dow that gaue her selfe ouer to lust­full pleasures [...], her liuing bo­dy was but the sepulcher of her dead soule, Bern. med. But how shall wretch­ed man— Cuius conceptio culpa est. Who euen in his conception is war­med in vncleane blood through o­riginall contagion, Augustine. and stayes not there but in a short progresse of time does ponere Adam super A­dam by his actuall transgressions be­ing more lame in his soule, then this lame man was erewhile in his body bee capable of Christs admo­nition? Can a badde tree bring forth good fruite? Doe men gather grapes from thornes, or figges from thi­stles? I answer.

1. If a mā haue a feruēt desire not to [Page 30] sinne, as the prophet Dauid said, Oh that I were so vpright that I might keepe thy commaundements and as the Hart brayeth after the water brooks, Psal. 42.1. so panteth my soule after thee oh Lord, Magna pars bonitatis velle fieri bonum, it is a great step vnto goodnes to de­sire to be good.

Act. 24.16. sc. pro Statu viatorum.2. If he haue a constant endeauor not to sinne, as Saint Paul had who endeauoured alwayes to keepe a cleare conscience both before God and man, and as Zachary & Elizabeth are saide to walke in all the ordinan­ces and commaundements of the Lord without reproofe. Luc. 1.6.

3. If when he sinnes he does it not with a full force but with a relucta­tion— [...], Homer. Il. Rom. 7.19. doing euill, but the euill hee would not doe— Cum trahit invitum nova vis. Then God accepts the will for the deede, then is he pronounced blessed, because his wickednes is forgiuen and his sinne is couered in which sence Saint Au­gustine, [Page 31] Tum tota lex impletur, quando quicquid non fit, ignoscitur. So from sinne I am led to the punishment of it, to terrifie vs from medling with the pleasing baytes thereof, which is the third generall part. Viz.

The commination, 3. Part. Herodot, Least a worse thing happen vnto thee. [...]. Great sinnes deserue great punishments. The sinne of re­cidiuation was thought so great that the Nouatians would yeeld no place for repentance to such delinquents grounding their assertion vpon the 6. of the Hebr. and the fourth verse. It is impossible that they which were once enlightned if they fall away should bee renewed by repentance, whose eyes (say they) were twice o­pened, whom did our Sauiour rayse the second time from death to life, not Lazarus whom hee loued, nor the widowes sonne whom hee pity­ed. Howsoeuer their position be he­reticall, that place being ment not of [Page 32] falling simply into sinne, but of fal­ling away from God by a generall and finall apostacie as some of the Iewes had done, who after they had giuen vp their names to Christ, to fight vnder his banner revolted to Iudaisme, renoūcing that part which they might haue had in Christ the sonne of Dauid: Yet surely this of­ten relapse into sin is exceeding dan­gerous, Vulnus ite­ratum sanae­tus tarduis. August. if we argue by way of com­parison with those diseases of the bo­dy, they do for the most part in short time depriue it of life it selfe, because by the often assaults of the same di­seases nature is tyred, and exhau­sted, his strength wholy spent, and therefore shee is forced to yeeld vp her hold as not able to hold out any longer againe their violent invasion vpon her: Gutta cauat lapidem non vised sepe cadendo. So fares it with the soule through the manifolde batteries of the same sinnes, the life of grace may be quite extinquished, what was the end of that man whose vncleane spi­rit [Page 33] beeing gone out returned againe, [...], the last of that man was worse then the beginning: Such was the case of Iulian the Apostate after he had reuolted to paganisme then the Deuill made him his owne, Nazian. calles him [...]. Orat. contra Iul. 1. then hee plunged him in all those diabolicall arts which those instruments of Satan Porphyrie & his associates taught him, then he playes the part of a sauage beast against the poore Christians, be­ing ioyned with the deuil against God and his Christ, dying with that blas­phemous scoffe in his mouth Vicisti Galilaee. So we reade in the life of Lu­cian the Atheist after his Apostacie from the Christian profession, he falls blasphemously vpon Christ, cals him [...], Luciau in Peregrino. floutes and scoffes at all religion, & is angry with himselfe for being so vnaduised as to take that pro­fession vpon him which got him no­thing but an elongation of his name from Lucius to Lucianus. This sinne therefore of backsliding, of returning [Page 34] with the dogge to the vomit, and the swine to her wallowing in the mire of sin, by how much it exceeds in great­nesse by so much it deserues a greater punishmēt, almighty God as that hea­then Plato could note, Plato in Timaeus. it does [...] alwayes play the Geomitrician, not di­uiding by lot or by chance, but pro­portioning his punishment to the mea­sure of sinnes. He that is angry with his brother vnaduisedly is culpable of iudgement, Math. 5.22 Hee that calles him Raca, (which Theophylact translates [...]) shall be punished by the councell, Quiea impu­us est in rel­lig. Th. Mo­rus. but he that cals him foole shal be punished with hell fyer. So in the prophet Amos for three transgressions and for foure, thats for seuen, Amos 2.4. a finite for an infinite, God will shew no fauour, He will not turn vnto Iudah, but will send out such a fyer as shall deuoure the pallaces of Ierusalem. Vid. Leuit. 16.18.21.24. verses. And in Hosea 5. from the 10. ver. almighty God follows the pursuit of sinning, by a gradation of punishing Iudah was like them that remoued the [Page 35] bounds, that is, subuerted all order of true religion, Ephraim walked after the commandement, to wit, of Ierobo­am which made Israel to sinne, there­fore will I be to Ephraim as a moath, and to the house of Iudah as rottennes verse 12. the moath frets by degrees insensibly, but rottennes ruins at once suddenly, further Ephraim saw his sick­nesse, and Iudah his wound, then went Ephraim vnto Ashur and sent vnto king Iareb, forsaking God and making flesh their arme, resting themselues vpon the brittle reede of mans strength, therfore will I be to Ephraim as a Ly­on, and to the house of Iudah as a Ly­ons whelpe, the Lyon is fierce and cruell but the Lyons whelpe is more bold (saies Plinie) for want of experi­ence, and more rauenous as being but newly blouded in the naturall course of deuouring. This for temporall pu­nishment. As for eternall, S. Aug. tels vs, Si impius peccat in suo aeterno, Impij amhu­lant in cir­cuitu. Deus puniet in suo aeterno, if wretched man [Page 36] make no end in sinning (walking in a circle of sinne as Dauid speakes of the wicked (with his amplius, Psal. 11.9. yet a little more sleepe, at least a little slumber in sinne, God for iustice sake must make no end of punishing with his deterius, worser and worser, making those tem­porall plagues but as a praeludium to those aeternall ones, where the worme of conscience neuer dyeth and the fire of Gods vengeance is vnquenchable, Therefore if thou beest made whole sin no more, least a worse thing happen vnto thee. Out of all which praemises let vs deduce these briefe conclusions.

1. From the commemoration of the benefit receiued, It teaches that Bene­ficium excitat officium, Gods bounti­fulnesse ought to stirre vp our thank­fulnesse. For as in euery donation there is a Giuer & a Receiuer, so there ought to be a thanksgiuer, otherwise the knot of the three Graces is vnloosed and vertue is dishonoured. What if wee compare our condition to the case of [Page 37] this diseased man, we were bruised and wounded by that subtle Serpent, who supplanted the first Adam, and behold wee are made whole by the pretious balme of the second Adam his righ­teousnesse, He was broken for our sinnes and by his stripes wee are healed: Esay 53. What remaines but that we should apply this note of remembrance to our selues, and so be stirred vp to offer alwaies to God the sacrifice of praise and thanks­giuing for our happie deliuerance, and so much the more, because it is more thanks-worthy that Christ hath healed our diseased soules, quam quod sanarit languores corporum moriturorum, Aug. in Lo­cum. then if He had restored our mortall bodies to perfect health. Ingratitude being so odious a vice, as the Heathen Orator, Cicero. said all other vices were cōprehended in that one, as Irreligion towards the Gods, disobedience towards our pa­rents, neglect of the welfare of our coū trey, Ethic. 4. which caused the ancient Graeci­ans saies Arist. to place the temple of [Page 36] Thankes in the middest of the streete [...] that being obvious to theeie it might alwaies put men in minde of remuneration: This temple was pla­ced euen in the midst of Dauids heart, who pondering with himselfe the in­finite mercies and benefits He had re­ceiued at Gods hands, breakes forth with A Quid retribuam? What shall I render vnto God for all the benefits, &c? and resolues the question with this Accipiam calicem, I will take the cup of saluation and giue thanks: And with good reason, for euen the sence­lesse creatures may teach man his les­son, Eccles. 1.2. All the riuers goe into the Sea (sayes Ecclesiast.) shewing themselues tributaries to that place from whence they haue their originall: So euery good gift temporall; spirituall, eternall, flowing vnto man from the Ocean of Gods goodnesse, man is bound by the law of retaliation to returne vnto him with all possible thankes for the same.

2. From the Commonition, Sinne [Page 39] no more: the conclusion is, That sinne is the cause of all affliction and disea­ses of the body. The ancient Heathen dreamed that many maladies were of a diuine nature, and from thence had power to subdue the strength and courage of the strongest body, where­upon Plinie notes it that the Romans dedicated a Temple to the Goddesse Feuer to the end, Plin. Nati-Christ. lib. 2. Such were called [...]. Dij averun. cantes. that whereas her Deitie could doe them small good, yet that shee would bee so good as to doe them no hurt. Others ascribed them to constellation of Planets, and to the apparition of Comets— Nocte comaetae.

Blasphemous Porphyrie referred the contagion of the citie to the professi­on of Christian religion, because after that had once gotten head Aesculapius the God of health was neglected. Ex Moru. de Rellig. Hesiod. [...]. The Greeke Poet— [...]. they walke broad of their owne accord vn­controlled, [Page 40] but the Philosopher more truly yet after his naturall manner that diseases are not [...], Ex Caelio Rhodig. after the deter­minate councel of nature: because Na­ture is not a step-mother seeking to de­stroy her children, Sed [...], by a certaine consequence which the Physitian teaches to arise from the dis­proportion of the foure Primarie qua­lities Hotte, Aristotle de morte & vitae. Colde, Moist, Dry, espe­cially heate and moysture, when any of these vsurpe a tyranny ouer the rest, the whole fabricke of this little world our body is put out of frame by the rebellious humours, striuing to o­uer-master one another. But the sacred word of God conducts vs to the head and fountaine from whence all our dis­eases haue their issue, and that's from the sinne of our soule; 1. Cor. 11. for this cause many are sicke and weake amongst vs. Sinne, a thing so contagious vt vi, & exuperantia sua corpus quoque inficiat; Chrys. in Cor. 11. it flowes with such a sourse as it ouer­flowes the whole vessell, who if He [Page 41] had not sinned, he had neuer been sub­iect to the arrest of any disease what­soeuer: Biel in sent. Lumbard. For whereas the Schoolemen obserue but three ordinarie waies open to his destructiō, either the violence of man, crueltie of beasts; defect in nature, against the 1. vniuersal iustice should so haue preuayled with men, that neither offence should haue beene giuen, nor defence required. Againe, the second the fiercest of beasts should haue been in such subiection to man that the litle child might haue plaied on the hole of the Basilik without hurt: Esa. 11.8. Bonad. Arnob. lib. 6. cals mans body domi­cilium mor­borum. Horat. and against the third he should haue had optimum qua­litatum temperamentum perfectae sanita­tis, Such an equal temperature of these prime qualities as one should neuer haue bin praedominate ouer the other, the humour radicall being maintained by the tree of life: But by his disobe­dience forfeiting this large charter of his immunities to his soueraign Lord, Tunc noua febrìum, Terris incubuit co­hors, a whole army of maladies seazed [Page 42] one mans body tugging & hailing him to his long home, the Palsie shakes him the crampe pinches him, the megrime possesses the head, the squinācy seazes the throate, the feuer hectique appre­hends the whole body, Eccl. 12. vntill the kee­pers of his house begin to tremble, and the strong men bow themselues, the grinders cease, and they that looke out at the windowes wax dimme, and the golden ewer and pitcher is broken, and then dust returns to dust, and the spirit to God that gaue it; The best elixor that we can extract out of this misera­ble condition, Rom. 5.12. is, that whereas sinne is the mother of all sorrow, yea of death it selfe: we should for Christs sake set the daughter against the mother, by sorrowing a goodly sorrow vnto true repentance, so may we haply preuent that tribulation and anguish that hangs ouer euery soule that sinneth, at least­wise make death become no death vn­to vs, but a happy passage to a more happy life.

[Page 43]3. From the Commination, Least a worse thing happen vnto thee. The con­clusion is, That multiplication of sinne does necessarily inferre multiplication of misery, and that in regard of punish­ment both Temporall and Eternall. For the first the Heathen said it, Arist. Eth. Qui alium ebrius percusserit, and that who­soeuer beeing in his cups did strike his fellow should receiue double punish­ment, because his sin was doubled: Gen. 18.25. shal man be thus iust, and shal not the iudge of all the world doe right? yea surely, the sentence is already gone out of Gods owne mouth, Reward her dou­ble according to her works, Reu. 18.6. and as much as she hath glorified her selfe & liued in pleasure, so much giue yea to her sorrow and torment. And S. Chry­sostome renders a reason on Gods be­halfe why he should thus prosecute re­uenge vpon refractary sinners, Chrysostom in locum. [...]. Aristotle. Si gra­uem priorum scelerū paenam dederimus, &c. If we haue beene formerly chasti­ced for our faults and no whit bette­red, [Page 44] wee prepare for our selues the se­uerer punishment because wee seeme either Stupidi sencelesse stocks more dull then the Asse who wil hearken to the admonition of the whippe though he be the dullest creature: Or else Con­temptores, contemners of the chastise­ment of the Lord, spurning at Gods punishments as obdurate Pharao did, who though admonished by many plagues, as so many summons to call him to repentance, yet would not re­lent and let Israel goe, and therefore as he multiplied his sinne of obstinacy, so God measured out his punishment with greater seuerity. Secondly, for e­ternall, Math. 16.17 2. Cor. 3.10 when Christ the righteous iudge shal come in the glory of his fa­ther, then shall hee giue to euery man according to his deedes, not onely in quali, euill for euill, malū paenae for ma­lum culpae, sed in quanto, the greater euil of punishmēt for the greater euil of sin. As it was a paradox with the Stoicks to hold [...], that all sinnes are [Page 45] equall, so is it as great a paradox with vs to hold that the hellish punishment admits no difference, or degrees, Vnus ignis (saies S. Gregory) omnes concludet, sed non aequaliter omnes comburet, One fire shal encompasse the damned crue, but shall not worke vpon all alike, It shall bee easier for Tyre and Sydon then for Corazin and Bethsaida, yet all fowre shall meete in one place, Hell. The seruant that knowes not his ma­sters will, &c. shall be beaten with few stripes, but he that knowes it and does it not shall suffer many: if those barba­rous nations shall one day wring their hands and weep & waile because they haue knowne so little, and practised lesse: much more shall we Christians for knowing much, to little practise. All which may giue aduertisement to two sorts of sinners, Desperat ille vt peccet: Sperat iste vt peccit. Aug. in Psal. 144. The first would seeme to despaire of saluation and makes that an encitement to him to take a full draught of the pleasures of this life, because they continue but [Page 46] for a season. The second rushes vpon all manner of sinne, presumption of pardon though he drinke vp iniquity like waters, and deuoures sinne with greedines. S. Augustine concludes, V­trumque metuendum, Es. 5.8. the case of both of them is most fearefull, because as they draw on iniquity with the cords of vanity and sinne as with cartropes: so are they drawne sayes Clemm. Alexan. [...], like staled oxen to the slaughter, with cords of their own making; treasuring vp vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath: which is all one as if a man should bee euery day gathering of sticks and fewell to make the fire greater wherewith him­selfe should be burned.

Seeing thererefore we are by nature forgetful of Gods benefits, Seeing that all kinds of sinne are to be auoided by vs, whether against the 1. or 2. table, whether small or great, whether sinnes of youth, age, complexion, conformi­tie, intension, either by a feruent desire, [Page 47] setled reluctation, or constant endea­uor, as the onely cause of all woe and misery incident to the nature of man. Let vs alwaies be mindfull of God the giuer, to render due thanks for all his blessings, let vs so demeane our selues in all godly conuersation, that though sinne must dwell in our mortall bodies so long as we dwell in this earthly ta­bernacle, yet that it may not raigne in thē to the obeying it in the lusts ther­of: So may we preuent sins attendants affliction of body, griefe, and anguish of soule, yea that last of al punishments eternall death. Which that wee may doe, Christ Iesus our heauenly Physi­tian who hath left vnto vs this whole­some prescript, of sinning no more, grant vnto euery one of vs: To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost three Persons in Vnity and one God in Tri­nity be all prayse, and power ascribed now and for euer. Amen.