Three sermons preached by the Reverend and learned Dr. Richard Stuart ... to which is added, a fourth sermon, preached by the Right Reverend Father in God, Samuel Harsnett ...

A SERMON Preached at S. PAULS Cross in London, the 27. day of October, Anno Reginae Elizabethae 26.

by Samuel Harsnet then Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridg, but afterwards Lord Arch-Bishop of Yorke.

The Text. EZEKIEL 33.11.

As I live (saith the Lord) I delight not in the death of the wicked.

THere was a conceit among the Iews (as appeareth by the verse going before my Text) that when they sinned, they sinned▪ of ne∣cessity,

so that they could not but sinne: and so when Almighty God did send unto them his Prophets early and late, calling and inciting them to Repentance; they thought he did but dally and mock with them, for it was his pleasure, they should sinn•• and die therein▪ Almighty God was much offended with this their conceit, it being against his Iustice and fidelity both▪ and therefore bids his Prophet here protest unto them, and bind it with an Oath, (no less then his Life) that they did him wrong: As I live (saith the Lord) I do not delight in the death of the wicked.

The Text then I have in hand (Right Honorable, Worshipfull, and Beloved) is a solemn Protestation made by Almigh∣ty God in his owne cause to cleare him∣selfe of Infidelity and Injustice; that the Iudg of this world doth not delight to see men sinne, and then punish them with Death because of their si••ne. As I live, saith the Lord, &c.

The forme of the Protestation is in the nature of an Oath: As I liv•• saith the Lord &c. and in it I consider these three things:

1. The Oath it selfe; that it pleased God to swear.

2. The manner of the Oath he swears, y his life; As I live, saith the Lord.

3. The Matter of the Protestation is an absolute Negative made unto the Iews▪ avowing, that it was all false they charged God withall, I do not delight in the death of the wicked. And in this Negative, God doth avow five simple Negatives, every one upon the credit of his Oath: as,

• 1. I do not delight in death.
• 2. I delight not in the death of man.
• 3. I delight not in the death of a sinfull man.
• 4. I delight not in the death of wic∣ked sinfull man.
• 5. I delight not in the death of any sinfull man.

Of these (by your patience) as God shall assist me▪

For the first, that the Phrase of speech (As I live) is an oath, I shew it plainly out of 1. Sam. 28.10. where it is said▪ that Saul did swear, and he used no other words then these, As the Lord liveth. This form then of speech, As I live saith the Lord, is an Oath, By the life of the Lord. S. Austin (upon the 94. Psalm) saith, Magnum est loqui Dominum,

quanto majus jurar•• Deum? It is a great thing that the Lord should speak; and so it i•• indeed; for, at the first word he spake, he made a world, Dixit et factum est, he spake the word, and it was done: but he that could make the world with a word, could not find c••edit in the world for his word, but he must needs bind it with an Oath▪ so that it cost him more to be belie∣ved in the World then it cost him to make the World it selfe. Durum est (saith Vin∣centius) cum non tantum tribuamus Deo, ••uantum viro honesto: It's hard when we will not give so much credit to God, as we do to an honest man; for we will give credit to him upon his Word; but we will not believe God though he swear. Sed du∣rum est cum non tantum tribuamus Deo, quantum Diabolo: It is very hard, when we will not trust God so far forth as we trust ••he Devill; for we took his word in Para∣dice, At non moriemini, Ye shall not die: (being the Father of lies) and we will no•• trust God on his word, At cupio ne moria∣••ini, I desire you should not die (I the God of truth;) but we must have this Oath, As I live &c.

There are two bonds (H••b. 6.18.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Gods Word and his Oath:

and the slighter of these two doth hold all things in the world (Man only excepted.) The Sea rageth and roareth terribly (saith the Psalmist, 95.11.) yet Gods word is his band, and in his greatest rage he never passed it (Prov. 8.29.) The Sun riseth like a Giant, and like a mighty man to run his race; yet D••us dedit legem, God's word is his list, and in his greatest swiftness he never passed it. God himselfe being infinite, and having no bond hath made himselfe finite, and put on his list: Cinxit se cingulo veritatis. Isa, 11.5. He hath bound himselfe in the girdle of Truth, and in his greatest might he never broke it. On∣ly man (o••t of wantonness) broke his bond in Paradise; the Garden would not hold him, and so he put God to his second bond, his Oath: and if that will not hold him, there is but a third in the Epistle of Iude, Vincula tenebrarum, Bonds of darkness, and they shall surely hold him; for they have held stronger then he, the Angls of disobe∣dience, and do hold them sure against the day of wrath. I will then shut up this poin-with the Counsel of S. Ierom, Si non obedii mus promittenti Deo, at credamus Iurant Deo: If we will not believe God when he promiseth us life, yet let us believe

him when he sweareth by his Life, that he wisheth us Life: least wee provoking him to anger, he sweare in his Wrath, wee shall not enter into the Kingdom of Life.

The second thing in the form of the Protestation was the manner of the Oath, that it pleased Almighty God to swear, By his Life: and this doth teach us the certainty of the truth of the Protestation. If he had sworn by his H••linesse, as he did to David, Psal. 89.34. it was taken ex∣ception against, Ezek. 18.29▪ If by his Truth as Psal. 89.48. it was doubted of Numb. 14.11. How long will it be ere ye be∣lieve me? If by his Omnipotency, as he did to Abraham Gen. 17. it was called in que∣stion, Psal. 78.20. Can God prepare a Table in the Wilderness? But his Life was never doubted of▪ as a thing above all challenge and exception: and therefore it pleased the Almighty God to choose his Life to confirm his Truth, As I live (saith the Lord) I do not delight in the death of the Wicked.

When we swear, we swear by an higher (Heb. 6.16.) and man's wit cannot devise a higher or more pretious thing; then Life. Satan knew it well (in the 2. of Iob)

Skin for skin (saith he) and all that a man hath, will he give for his life, health, wealth, Lands, Liberties, Honour, Possesions, Dig∣nities, Learning, Wit, Memory. A man will strip himselfe of all, to save his Life. This was the Egyptian Oath, By the life of Pharoah. The Heathen's title to their Great God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉▪ The Liver, The first Begetter, The first Mover: and there they made their stop. And so it pleased the Almighty God to stop here; and making it his rest▪ as a thing most clear to all Nations of the World; that as verily as they did see▪ know, and confesse, that there was a God in whom they lived, moved and had their being: so verily should they say and pro∣fess, that he was a God of the Living, and not of the Dead; and that he delighted not in Dead but in the Living, As I live, saith the Lord, &c. And so much of the form of the Protestation.

The matter of the Protestation, I told you was absolutly Negative, and it issu∣eth into five branches to be severally tou∣ched:

The first. I delight not in death.

I will not idle away the time in an em∣pty discourse about the severall Transla∣tions

of the original word. Vatablus tran∣slated it, Non cupio, I wish not: the Sep∣••uagint, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I will not: the common Translation, Non desidero, I desire not: Tremelius, Non delector▪ I delight not: whose conceit I follow. So of Death; it is taken so many way••, a man cannot miss it what way soever he take; but there is but one way to the Truth, and that is plain▪ Mor••, ad Gehennam; not Gods, but the Divel's high way leading to destruction, and so God neither likes the Journey, no•• the Journey's end.

I touch my first branch; I delight not in Death. If God had spoken no more words but these [As I live, I delight not] and a∣ny man of mean wit had been bidden to put to the rest; that man by his mean wit would easily have guessed at Death: for there are no two things so opposite, as Life and Death: and it is plain, God (in his wisdom) made choice to swear by his life, to let us see how far at ods he is with death. Fire and Water, Light and Darkness, Hea∣ven and Hell, God and Satan can stand nearer together then Life and Death: and therefore we read in the first of Iob, that God would abide Satan standing at his right hand in Heaven: but of Death,

we shall never read of him in Heaven, but upon a Horse posting from the presence of God, and (to shew how little God liketh him) his mounting is with the meanest too (or like himselfe) I saw a pale horse in Heaven (saith Saint Iohn) and he that sate upon him his nam•• was Death (Apocal. 6.8.) Now, as God is all light, and in him is no dark∣nesse at all; so he is all Life, and in him is no shaddow of Death at all. And therefore if King David could truly say of the wicked, that he hateth the wicked with a perfect hatred, because there was nothing like unto him in them▪ God may trulier say and swear of Deat••▪ that he hateth him with a perfect hatred, because there is nothing in Death like unto him. And indeed, how can he but hate him? the Father of Lights, the Childe of Darkness▪ the Prince of Hea∣ven, the Sergeant of Hell? the Maker of the world, the Marrer of the VVorld? Glory, Ignominy? Beauty, Deformity? Honor, Shame? Majesty, the Urchin of Hel▪ and companion for worms and rottenness? There is a true saying of our Learning: Facilius est destruere quam astruere: It is ••asier to pull down then to build up againe.

Yet (as easie as it is) S. Bernard hath wisely observed, That God is quick in making, slow in marring: Cito struit (saith he) Tar••e destruit: He was but six dayes in making the whole world, and he was seven dayes in destroying one City, Iericho. And this marring quality that this age so much glories in (as it loves to be called after that name) is it that made God so far out with Death, as (it seems) he hates him worse then Hell, Hos. 13.14. O Mors, ero mors tua; O Inferne, ero mor∣sus tuus: O Death, I will be thy death; O Hell, I will be thy sting, The Author of Life cannot become Death if he would; but yet he threatens, that he will become that he cannot, rather then Death should be what he would not: And it is clear, that God is far enough from delighting in Death.

The second branch of Gods protesta∣tion is, I delight not in the death of man. God had an Image before all Worlds: for he had his Son, the ingraven Image of his Father: and he was so delighted in his Image that he would needs have an Image of his Image; and so he made Man after his own Image. If any other then God had ••ade Man, or if he had not been made

after the Image he eternally loved, it may be he would not have cared so much for him: but being the workemanship of his owne hand••, and made after the Image he so tenderly loved; if he had not loved him for his VVorkmanship sake, yet he must needs love him for his sake whose Image he bare, and loving him, could not delight to spoile him. Nature (God's Nurse) had bred in us such a fond desire of our Image, that it brought Idolatry into the world; and when we cannot have a lively image, we will have an Image though it be but of colours and clouts: and if we be Kings, then none must paint th••t Image but Apelles, and when it is drawn it must have a Curtaine; and if it be the Ingraven Image, it must go for cur∣rant; then who so dishapes or defaces that Image, the Prince takes it as done un∣to himselfe, and it is Capitale a matter of Life and Death. Tu Domine fecisti (saith S. Ierome) O Lord, we have this love (though not this fond love) from thee; for thou tookest the blotting of ••hine I∣mage in Paradise, as a blemish to thy selfe; and thou saidst to the blotter▪ Quia fecisti, because thou hast don it, on thy belly shalt thou creep, and dust shalt thou eat all the daies of thy life▪ Gen. 3.14.

The H. Fathers are wonderfull in the ••ontempla••ion of mans excellency at the first: Cedrus Paradisi, Imago Coeli, Gloria terrae, Dominus mundi, Delici•• Domini. The Cedar of Paradise was too good wood to be cut into Chips for Hell fire. The Image of Heaven was not made to b•• the Vizard of Hell; the Glory of the World, the Dungeon of Darknesse, the Lord of the World, the bond-slave of Satan; the Darling of the Lord of Heaven, the scorne to all the Fiends of Hell. When the Holy Ghost had accounted the Genealogy from Christ to A••am (Luk. 3.) at the last vers••, he brings up Adam to hi•• Father, and calls him by the name of the Son of God. Can a man live to delight in the death of his Son? David (a man after Gods own ••eart) denies it, 2 Sam. 19. O Absolon my Son, would to God I had died for thee▪ ••y Son Absolon, my Son, my Son: And ••f David could have forgotten Absolon his Son, yet God could not forget Adam▪ his Son; for he saies not to him▪ Would I ••ad died for thee my Son; but, I die for ••••ee my Son: nay▪ (that's too little) I have died▪ for thee before thou wer't, that when thou wert, thou mightest not

die: and so I may safely swear by my Life▪ that I do not delight in the Death of man.

When Vlysses playd the Mad-man (be∣cause he would not go with the Grecians to the siege of Troy) and getting a plough, he ploughed and marred all that came in his way; It was Palimedes wise counsel that they should lay his young Son in his way: which when ••hey had don, and that the plough came to it, he tooke it up, & would not let it hurt his Son; and so ••hey discove∣red that he was but counterfeitly mad; but▪ if he had ploughed up his Son, they would have accounted him perfectly mad indeed. If God had made the world (like the man of Crete) and put Death in (as the Mino∣taure was put into the Labyrinth there) and reserved all creature•• as meat for his jaws; yet, when it had come to the lot of man to be cast in with the rest, if he had not spared Man (being his Son) the Gre∣cians wise account of our Gracious God would have been much like after the ac∣count of their Vlysses.

There is a conceit in the world (be∣loved) speakes little better of our gra∣cious God, then this: and that is, That God should designe many thousands of soules to H••ll b••fore they were, not in eye to

t••eir faults, but to his own absolute will and power, and to get him glory in their dam∣nation. This opinion is growne huge and monstrous (like a Goliah) and men doe shake and tremble at it; yet never a man reacheth to Davids sling to cast it downe. In the name of the Lord of Hosts: we will encounter it; for it hath reviled, not ••he Host of the living God, but the Lord of Hosts.

First, it is directly opposite to this Text of holy Scripture, and so turns the Truth of God into a Lye. For whereas God in this Text doth say and swear, that he doth not delight in the death of man: this opinion saith, that not one or two, but millions of men should fry in Hell; and that he made them for no other pur∣pose, then to be the children of death and Hell, and that, for no other cause, but his meer pleasure's sake; and so saies, that God did not only say, but swear to a Lye; for the Oath should have run thus: As I live (saith the Lord) I do delight in the death of man.

Secondly it doth (not by consequence, but) directly make God the Author of sin. For, if God, without eye to sin, did designe men to Hell, then did he say

and set downe, that he should sin: for without sin he cannot come to Hell: And indeed doth not his opinion say, that the Almighty God in the eye of his Counsell, did not only see, but say, that Adam should fall, and so order and decree, and set downe his fall, that it was no more possible for him not to fall, then it was possible for him not to eat? and of that which God doth order, set down, and decree (I trust) he is the Author: unless they will say, that when the Right Hono∣rable Lord Keeper doth say in open Court, We order, he means not to be the Authour of that his order.

Thirdly, It takes a way from Adam (in his state of innocency) all freedome of will, and liberty not to sin. For, had he had freedome to have altered Gods de∣sigment, Adams Liberty had bene above the designment of God. And here I re∣member a little witty Solution is made: that is, if we respect Adam's will, he had power to sin, or not to sin; but if God's Decree, he could not but sin. This is a silly solution: And indeed it is as much, as if you should take a sound strong man (that hath power to walke and to lie still) and bind him hand and foot (as they do in

Bedlam) and lay him downe; and then bid him Rise up and Walke▪ or else you will stir him up with a Whip; and he tell you that there be chains upon him, so that he is not able to stir: and you tell him a∣gaine, that that is no excuse, for if he look upon his heal••h, his strength, his legs, he hath power to walk or to lie still; but if upon his chains, indeed in that respect he is not able to walk: I trust, he that should whip that man for not walking, were well worthy to be whipt himselfe. Or (if you will give Adams will a little more scope) this pritty solution makes it as a bird in a Cage, and the dore fast shut: if you look ••p on the wings of the Bird, she hath power to flie and flap away; but if you turne your eye and looke to the Wicke•• of the Cage, you may well see, that she may flutter thither but she can get no further. Almighty Gods Decree is stronger then the Wicket and Chains too; for he that made the bonds of Ori••n so sure, that no man can loose them, hath made the bonds of his Decree so sure, that no man can break them: and therefore if God set i•• downe for a Decree, that Adam should fall, Adam had no more liberty not to fall, then the man in the chains had liber∣ty

to walk, or the Bird in the Cage liberty to fly away.

Fourthly, as God doth abhor a heart and a heart, and his soule detesteth a double-minded man: So himselfe cannot have a mind and a mind, a face (like Ianus) to look two waies. Yet, this opinion maketh in God two Wills, the one flat opposite to the other: An Hid∣den will, by which he appointed, and willed that Adam should sin; and an Open will, by which he forbad him to sin. His open will said to Adam in Paradise: Adam thou shalt not ••at of the Tree of Good and Evill: his hidden will said, Thou shalt eat; nay more, I my selfe cannot keep thee from eating, for my Decree from eternity is passed, Thou shalt eat, that thou mayest drowne all thy posterity in sin, and that I may drench them (as I have designed) in the bottomless pit of Hell.

Fiftly▪ among all the abominations of Queen Iezabel, that was the greate••t, (1 Kings 21.) when as hunting after the life of innocent Naboth, she set him up among the Princes of the Land, that so he might have the greater fall. God planted man in Paradise (as in a pleasant Vineyard)

and mounted him to the World, as on a stage, and honoured him with all the So∣veraignity over all the Creatures, he put all things in subjection under his feet; so that he could not pass a Decree from all eternity against him to throw him down headlong into Hell: for God is not a Ie∣zable, Tollere in altum, to lift a man up, ut lapsu graviore ruat, that he may make the greater noise with his fall.

Sixtly, Almighty God at the Creation▪ when he called a Counsel to adde a glo∣rious con••lusion to all his works; it was well he himselfe propounded the case: Let us make man: for this conceit would faine alter the cas••, and put it thus: Let us mar man▪ For what is it else to mar man▪ but to make him and mar him? And it had been hard, if in all that glo∣rious Assembly, there had not been any one that had loved man so well, as to plead one word for him: O Lord, if thou delightest in Death and Hell, behold the Fowls of the aire, the Beasts of the field, the Fishes in the Sea; their hugeness, their voice▪ their roring is greater then man's; let them be there: and if thou wilt not spare man for thy Work••anship-sake, yet spare him for thy Image-sake: who did

••ver make his Image to mar it? Let us not make man after thine owne I∣mage.

Seventhly, if King Ahassuerus had put Mordicai in his owne Chariot, clad him in so Royall Robes, and put a Ring on his finger, and caused him to be proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be don to the man whome the King delighteth to honour; and then had caused him to be carried away ••o Haman's Gibbet, to be hanged up; and ha•• there proclaimed, This shall be done to the man whom the King delighteth to ho∣nour; would it not have made all the People at their wits ends? God mounted Man on the Chariot of Majesty, and clad him with the Royall robe of Righteousnesse (that shone more bright then the Sun in his highest luster) and put upon his fingers health, wealth, and immortality; and caused to be proclaimed before him, that he was his delight: and yet all this had been with an eternall purpose and Decree, to spoyle, disrobe, and hang him in Hell. Hic durus Sermo, this h••d been an hard Decree▪ mans weake capacity could hardly digest it.

Eightly, the Poets had a device of their old God Saturn, that he eat up his

children ••ssoon as they were borne, for fear lest some of them should disposess him of heaven: Pharaoh King of Egypt had (al∣most) the same Plea, for he made away all the young Hebr••w males, lest they should multiply too fast: Herod, for fear our Savior Christ should supplant him in his Kingdom▪ caused all the young children in Galilee to be slaine: those had all some colour for their barbarous cruelty. But, if any of those had made a Law, designing young children to torments before they had been born; and for no other cause and purpose, but his own absolute will; th•• Heavens in course would have called for revenge. It is the Law of Nations, No man innocent shall b•• cond••mned; of Rea∣son, not to hate where we are not hurt; of nature, to like and love our own brood. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (saith the H. Ghost) we are God's kindred, he cannot hate us when we are inocent, when we are nothing, when we are not. Now, touching God's Glory (which is to us all as de••re as our life) this opinion hath told us a very in∣glorious and shamefull Tale: for it saith, The Almighty God would have many soules goe to Hell; and that they may come thither, they must sinne, that

so he may have just cause to condemne them: who doth not smile at the Gre∣cians conceit, that gave their God a glorious Title for killing of Flies? Gods Glory in Punishing ariseth from his Iustice in revenging of sinne: and for that it tells (as I said) a very sad and unpleasant tale; for who could digest it, to heare a Princ•• say after this manner? I will beget me a Sonne that I may kill him, that I may so get mee a name: and, that I may have some colour to kill him, I will beget him without both his feet▪ and when he is growne up, having no feet; I'le command him to walk•• upon paine of Death: and when he braketh my Commandement, I'le put him to Death. Oh Beloved, these glorious phansies, Imaginations, and shewes, are farre from the nature of our Gracious, Mer∣cifull, and Glorious God: who hath proclaimed himselfe in his Titles Roy∣all: Iehovah, The Lord; The Lord strong and mighty, and terrible, flow to Anger, and of great Goodnesse. And therefore let this conceit bee farre from Iacob, and let it not come neare the Tents of Ioseph.

How much holier and heavenlier conceit had the holy Fathers of the justice of God! Non est ante punitor Deus, quam peccator homo: God put not on the per∣son of a Reveng••r, before man put on the person of an Offendor saith S. Ambrose. Neminem coronat antequam vincit; nemi∣nem punit, antequam peccat: he crowns non•• b••fore he overcoms, and he punisheth no man before his offence. Et qui facit miseros ut misereatur, crudelem habet misericor∣diam: He that puts man into misery, that he may pitty him, hath no kinde but a cruell pity. And so I come to the third branch: I delight not in the death of a sinfull man.

God could not delight in the Death of a sinner, who parted with his Delight to save a sinner. Old Iacob, when he should part from his yongest son Benjamine, G••n. 42. ult. he told Sim••on, that he had as lieve part with his life: Ye will bring my gray head with sorrow to th•• grave: yet Iacob had many Sons more alive. But to part with a Son, an only Son, a beloved Son; this is more bitter then death it selfe; ye shall see it plaine in Gods temptation of Abraham: Take thy Son, thine only Son, thy Son Isaac whom thou lovest, and offer him up to me upon the Mount: And when

as Abraham did but offer to offer him, God cried from heaven, Sufficit▪ It is e∣nough: as if he should have said, Thou being Man canst do no more for God. But he, being God, did more for Man, and sinfull Man too: For he tooke his Son; his only Son, his beloved Son. Math. 3. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; and he did not offer to pa•••• with him, but did part with him, not in the Mount, but in Golgotha, the Valley of skuls: and that which all the world doth wonder at, God himselfe was Pater & Sacrificulus, The Father & the Sacrificer too. For, he slew him in heaven, ere the Iews slew him on Earth: Hic ••st Agnus Dei immolatus ab origine mundi. This is the Lamb of God slaine from the be beginning of the World. And so God brought up Death from Earth into Hea∣ve••, that i•• might bring down Life from Heaven into Earth▪ Nolo mortem pecca∣toris, qui mōr•• volui pro peccatorib••s (saith S. Bernard) Well maist thou say, thou willest not the death of a sinner, who diest thy selfe to save a sinner. O mors! vulne∣ratus est pr•• me, qui morte sua fecit, ut vinoami••e, saith S. Austin: O Death! he hath been wounded for me, that made me by

his death to overcome thee. Pastor i'lle mag∣nus vicinis Angelis, &c. (saith S. Gregory) That great Shepheard of heaven was so full of joy that he could not keep it in, but out it must among his Angels. Et quae causa. (saith he) And what was the cause of such a shout in Heaven? Drach∣••a inventa est: Th•• lost Groat is found. Tantum gaudii de re tantilla (saith he?) so great joy for so small a thing? How then could he joy to have it lost, that so much rejoyced to have it found? O Lord, the holy Angls in Heaven are thy Witnesses. that Thou delightest not in the death of a sinner.

The fourth branch of Gods protestation is▪ I delight not in th•• death of a wicked sinner. In the 7. of Matth. there are sins that are motes, and sin•• that are beams: In the Epistle of Iude there are spots in Feasts: in the 64. of Esay, there are men∣struous cloaths: In the Canticles there are Matulae, stains: And Esay 1. there be sinners of skarlet dye: If our sinnes be as moats in our eyes, and cause them to water, God hath his handkerchiefe wherewith he wipes away all tears from our eyes, Apoc. 7. If they be Menstruous, he hath his hysop, Psal. 51. If they be of skarlet Dye, he hath

his Fullers Sope, Esay 1.18. Shall we then sin, (saith the Holy Ghost) that Grace may abound? God forbid. Yet if sin chance to abound, Grace hath o∣ver-abounded, it hath the Superlative of sinne: and doth superabound. Abundat delictum, superabundat gratia: Sinne doth abound, but Grace hath a¦bound above it, it doth superabound. There is a Sinne so strong, that it doth pierce the Heaven••: and that is the sinne of the men of Sodome, that would not stay till God came downe unto it, but it came up, and rang in the eares of God, it peirced the Heavens. At Misericordia supra omnia opera manu∣um ipsius▪ (Psal. 145.) The Mercy of God is above all his workes: And Sinne is mans proper handy-worke; it wa•• the reaching of an Apple that first brought sinne into the world. When our Saviour Christ sweat bloud in the Garden, it was but a preparative to his pot••on on the Cr••sse; for there he sweat (not like unto bloud, but) Bloud and Water: Water▪ to wash away the staines of our dayly infirmities; Bloud to wash away our sins in graine; and a deeper colour then bloud▪ our sinns cannot beare.

If God could have delighted in the death of a sinfull wicked man, he must needs have delighted in the death of Ahab; for he sold himselfe to worke Wickedness, and that before the Lord: but God was so farre from such delight, that he tooke great delight in his feigned humiliation, and withdrew his hand from the plague he had devised against him. Venit salvare, non Baptistam, Magdalenam, Matrem suam; sed peccatores, quorum ego sum pri∣mus (saith S. Basil:) Our Saviour Christ came into the world to save, not Iohn Baptist, Mary Magdalen, or Mary his Mother; but sinners that wore Pauls colours, and fought under his banner; and he bare in his banner, fire, sword, and persecutions, menaces, revilings, railings, blasphmies, sins of the upper house, borne as high as Lucifer himselfe. Perpendo Pe∣trum, considero Latronem, intueor Za∣chaeum, aspitio Mariam, Apostatum, Fu∣rem, Vsurarium, Meretricem. I think upon Peter, I consider the Thiefe, I be∣hold Zachaeus, I looke upon Mary (saith St. Gregory) and I see that an Apostate, a Theife, an Vsurer, an Harlot, these are Christs favorites, and such darlings unto him, that some of them must needs sup

with him in Paradise at his instalme••t: Hac nocte, this very night shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

Fiftly, the last branch of Gods pro∣testation is, I delight not in the death of any sinfull wicked man. Si non impii, nul∣lius (saith S. Ierome) if not in the death of a wicked sinner, not in the death of any sinner. And therefore, lest we should deem God like King Saul (that spared the fai∣rest, and the fattest of the Amalekites, and put the least and worst to the Sword) S. Peter makes it plain, (2 Epist. 3.9.) non vult aliquem perire, God would not have any one to perish, but to come to the knowledg of the Truth. Unnaturall Cain when he had slain his brother Abel, and that his conscience so stung him, as that he feared every one that met him would have done as much to him; God set a marke upon him that he should not die▪ Treacherous Iudas, when he had sinned in betraying the Innoce••t bloud, and had laid his hands (his bloudy hands) upon himselfe; when he had so done, the Holy Ghost saith (Acts. 2.25.) Abiit in locum suum: he went to a home, not of Gods, but of his owne providing. The fearfull doome at the last day, is Ite, non

Auferte; Goe your waies; not, Carry them away; goe the way your selves have chosen: And it is to the sheep, Venite benedicti Patris mei: Come ye blessed of my Father: and to the Goats, Ite maledi∣cti in ignem paratum: Goe into the fire, ye ••ursed: but it is not, Ite maledicti Pa∣tris, Goe ye cursed of my Father. God in∣titles himselfe to the blessing only▪ And the fire is prepared, but for whom? Non nobis, sed Diabolo & Angelis ejus: Not for you, but for the Devil and his Angels. So that God delighteth to prepare neither Death nor Hell for dam∣ned men.

This last branch of Gods protestation, (I delight not in the death of any sinner) I resolve into six Consequences, as Links depending on this Chain.

• 1. God's absolute will is not the cause of Reprobation; but sin.
• 2. No man is of an absolute necessity the childe of Hell, so as by God's Grace, he may not avoid it.
• 3. God simply willeth and wisheth eve∣ry living Soul to be saved, and to come to the Kingdom of Hea∣ven.
• ...

• 4. God sent his Sonne to save every Soule, and to bring it to the King∣dom of Heaven.
• 5. God's Son offereth Grace effectu∣ally to save every one, and to direct him to the Kingdom of Heaven.
• 6. The neglect and contempt of his Grace, is the cause why every one doth not come to Heaven; and not any privative Decree, Counsel, or determination of God.

These six I will breifly discuss, and so commend you to the Grace of God.

For the first, Almigty God at the Creation, when he tooke a view of all his Creatures (as men use to do▪ that have newly drawne an Image, they view and pry to see what is amisse in it) it seemes, when he looked upon them he found they were Good; and when Man was made, behold, They were very Good, Gen. 1.31. Now if God had cast a way man before he had sinned; (not in eye to sin, but in absolute judgment) the malicious would have cried; the King∣dome of God is worse then the kingdome of Satan; For Satan is not divided against Sa∣tan, & Belzebub the Prince of Devils doth not cast out Devils Matt. 12.26. But by

this Device. Ipsa bonitas, Goodnesse it selfe is divided against goodnesse; the Goodnesse of the Creator against the Goodnesse of the Creature; God is at defiance with his owne Creature and Image; the Fountaine of Goodnesse that God did see in Man, what was it, but Radius divinae bonita••is, a beam of that Goodnesse, which issueth from the Foun∣taine God himselfe?

Secondly, God's Hate does not arise as his Love doth: for his Love ariseth of and from himselfe. For being all beautifull and glorious (which cannot be but all lovely and amiable within) and seeing himselfe, cannot but love and like himselfe; ••o that, he hath in him to move him to Love, but he hath not in him to move him to Hate; but that commeth from without, and there is nothing from with∣out which God hateth, but sin. The man of sin had so much goodnesse, as to say; Odi quia Inimicus: I have hated him, be∣cause he is my enemy. Now, sin only is ••he sworne enemy to God: Enemy to his Goodnesse, being badnesse it selfe; Enemy to his Majesty, being baseness it self; Ene∣••y to his Glory, being Ignominy; to his

lightnesse being Darkness; to his Beauty, being Deformity; to his Justice, being Iniquity; to his Pity, being Cruelty; to his Life being Death; to his very Being it selfe having no Being: Sin was an in∣truder into the World, and had not where to lay his head. So that God cannot hate any thing, but sin; and what he hates he hates for the sake of sin.

The second consequence is: No man is of absolute necessity the child of Hell, so as by God's grace he may not avoid it. And this is a sprig of the former Branch: For, if God cannot hate any man, but for sin, and himselfe cannot delight in sin; then can he not delight that any man should go to Hell, but he that delighteth him∣selfe to die in sin. Let us look back to the Garden from whence wee came: God planted in the Gardan of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a Tree of Life, and it was 〈…〉〈…〉 to be found as the Tree of Death; A••am with the same ease, might have reached out his hand to the Tree of Life, and saved all; as to the Tree of Death, and marred all: So that, it was not absolutly necessary, that any should goe to hell. When Adam had erred in making choice of the wrong Tree, and had barred himself from the Tree of Life,

God put him out into the open field of the World and in it planted a Tree of Lif•• (better then the Tree in the Garden of Ed••n) a Tree that came downe from hea∣ven, Apocal. 2.7. and cansed his Herald to proclaim before it: This is the Tree of life that came downe from Heaven; whosoever tasteth of this Tree shall not die, but have ••verlasting life. The Tree which was in the Garden of Eden did never seek men, and reach forth fruit unto them; but man was to seek, and to reach forth his hand unto it and so taste it: But this Tree see∣keth us, and reacheth forth fruit unto us. Nay, God himselfe plucketh off the fruit, and followeth us with it, as a Nurse doth follow her child with meat (Psal. 81.11.) Aperi os tuum late: Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. And if w•• will not be at the 〈…〉〈…〉 our mouth▪ that we may be 〈…〉〈…〉 Heaven, Death will be at the paines to o••en her jawes, that we may feed him in hell: They lie in hell and Death knaweth upon them, Psal, 49.14.

The third consequence is: God sim∣ply willeth and wisheth every living soule to be saved, and to praise God for his goodness among the Angels in heaven. And this Truth, the Holy Ghost hath

taught us by the mouth of holy Paul, 1. Tim. 2▪ 4. Deus vult omnes salvos esse▪ God would have every man living to be saved, and none to die eternall Death. And here the Genevian conceit hath delt with this gracious bounty of God, and this blessed saying [God will have all to be saved] as Hanan did with the Ambassa∣dors of David, he cut off their Garments to the hips, and this hath curtailed the grace of God at the stumps: for it saith: It must not be meant, that God would have every living soule to come to Hea∣ven; but one or two out of every Order and Occupation to come unto heaven. As if our gracious God were fallen out of liking with Christian souls, and suddenly fallen in love with Orders and Occupations. And yet I feare me, beloved, it were as easie to bring up all Christian souls unto heaven, as it is to bring all Orders and Occupations thither. But the spirit of Peter (a great deale wiser then that of Geneva) saith plainly, 2. Ep. 3.9. Deus non vult•• Ali∣quem perire, God would not have any one to perish, but to come to the know∣ledg of the Truth. And, since it hath Plea∣sed Almighty God there to say it, & here in my text to swear it, that he doth not delight

••n the death of a sinner: I trust, we shall ••••ve grace to believe him; since himselfe can better tell what himselfe would have, then the man of Geneva can▪

Now, if any mans mind doth put this doubt: How it comes to pass, that so ma∣ny souls are dam••ed, if it be Gods will that every one should be saved? (for who hath resisted the will of the Lord?) I will easily resolve and cleare him that case. Gods will is plainly revealed in his holy Booke▪ to be of two sorts: 1. his abso∣lute Wi••l: and 2. his will with condition. His absolute Will said, Let there be light, and there was light; L••t there be a Firma∣ment▪ and there was a Firmament; Sun, st••nd thou still in Gibeon, and it stood still. This Will, indeed, cannot be resisted, for it speakes but the word, and the thing is done. But God hath not this Will in the matter of our salvation, for then so should we be saved, as the Heavens were made; but in the matter of our salvation God useth his will with condition. And he hath set us three conditions (according to our three states) which if wee break, wee ••ustly forfeit our estate. The first condi∣••••on was in paradise: Ne ede, & vives: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not, and thou shalt live: and that we

would no•• keep. The second was under the Law, Fac hoc, & vives: Do this, and thou shalt live: and that we could not keep. The third is under the Gospel? Crede, & vives: Believe, and thou shalt live: and that we may all keep: and if we keep it not, we forfeit our estates in Christ, and are wilfully guilty of our own damnation. The Reason is sweet out of S. Austin: Qui creat te sine te, non salvat te sine te: He that created thee with∣out thee, doth not save thee without thee: but thou must seeke, and thou shalt find▪ aske and thou shalt have: knock and it shall be opened unto thee. For, not one of every Order or Occupation, but every Christian Soule, that seeketh, findeth: that asketh, receiveth: and that knocketh, it is opened unto him.

Fourthly, our next consequence is: That Almighty God (in his infinite love and mercy towards man) sent his Son to dye and suffer hellish Torments, not for Peter, Iames and Iohn, and a few of the Elect only: but for the sins of every sin∣full Soul in the world, and this Doctrine is so clear in the Book of God, as that the Sun at mid-day shines not more bright. The Sun of man is come to seeke and to save

that which was lost 19.10. Behold the Lambe of ••od ••hat taketh away the sins of the world (Ioh 1.29) who is a propitia∣tion for our sins, and not for our sins only▪ but for the sins of the whole world. (1. Ioh. 2.2.) and here the new Synech∣doche chops off at a blow from the death of Christ all the sensible parts in the world, and leaves him only the center to carry his wares in. For it would teach us thus to say: God would have all to be saved, that is, God would have a few to be saved: God would not have any to perish, that is, God would that almost all should perish: so God loved the world ••hat is, so God loved a smal number in the world: this is the Saviour of the world▪ that is, a Saviour of an handfull of the world. Satans Synechdoche useth to be of the long size, and the shortest last. Luc. 4.5.6. having there taken our Saviour Christ up into a high mountaine, and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world, then he begins to proclaime, all ••his is mine▪ and the glory of it all▪ and to whomsoever I will, I give it all. Nothing ••ut all in the Devils mouth; yet if he had beene put to it, he would have perfor∣m••d nothing at all, or not pa••t a foot or

two in the kingdom of darknesse. When they are ashamed of th••s silly shift, they take up another as bad as ••his, and that is, sufficiienter & effi••••enter: Christ died (say they) sufficently for all, but not ef∣fectually; that is, he meant not the good of his death to all: this device (beloved) shaddowes the wisdome of our Saviour Christ▪ and therefore they had as good have kept it to themselves▪ For▪ I am sure, ye are perswaded in soule that our Savi∣our Christ by his death and passion made a full satis••action, for ••he sins of all the sin∣full souls in the whole world. Which since he did, it sto••d as much with his ease and more with his goodnesse, to commu∣nicate his goodnesse, and ••he benefits of his precious death unto us all, as to ap∣propriate them to a few. But what an odd delusion were this, that a Christian Prince should proclaime himselfe Re∣deemer of all ••he poore Christians under the Turk, and should send over sufficient ransom for all the••r freedomes; and all the poore captives (hearing the procla∣mation) should verily think they should be redeemed; and then the Princ•• should thus interpret himselfe; I pro∣••laimed indeed sufficiently to All,

but I meant effectually but to a few? this gay interpretation, what doth it else, but shut up the gates of the Kingdome, and will neither suffer the Interpreters them∣selves, nor others (that would) to enter in.

The fith consequence is: Our Saviour Christ offers saving Grace effectually to all, to direct them to the Kingdome of Heaven; and all and every one may be sa∣ved, that doth not despise nor abuse the Grace of God. It's a ••trang doctrine, we should see, and say, that our Saviour Christ calls and invites all to repentance and amendment of life; and yet we should also say, and teach, that he meaneth not as he saith; for he would not have every one to repent and amend. Is God as a man, that he should dissemble? The Crip∣ple that lay at the beautifull Gate of the Temple, and fastned his eyes upon Peter and Iohn; if Peter and Iohn had said unto him; up, arise, and follow us, and we will do thee good; and yet had neither given him strength to rise, nor power to walke; would not the Scribes and Pharisees have scoffed at them? We are by nature (be∣loved) poor and miserable Cripples; we have neither hand to lif•• up to Heaven

nor feet to walke in the way of Gods Commandements, nor joynts to move towards God: Alas! poore miserable creatures that we are! What meant our Saviour so to say unto us?

A Noble man invites to his Table the Honourable Lord Mayor, and the Al∣dermen his brethren, and (for the more grace unto them) send•• his Son and Heire to meet them; and he tels them in his Fathers Name, that they should be right welcome to his Fathers house, and that he hath provided roome and diet for them all: and yet the Noble man (his Fa∣ther) hath a purpose to welcome but one or two, and hath provided roome and di∣et but for one or two, and shuts up the Gate against the rest. Having so solemn∣ly invited them all, would they now then think this Noble man had dealt nobly with them? Its our case (beloved): The joyes of Heaven are a feast of joy; and the King of Heaven hath sent no less a personage, then his onely Son and Heire to invite us thither; and he tels us in his Fathers name, that the King (his Father) had provided roome and meat enough for us, and that the Angels of Heaven will be glad to see us at their Masters house, and

that there will be a great Iubile in Hea∣ven at our comming thither; and yet the King his F••ther (saith this new device) hath a purpose to entertaine but one or two, and hath provided cheere and roome but for one or two; and shuts up the e∣verlasting doores against the rest (though solemnly invited) eternally. Is this the royall word of a King? and here they come in with Bellarmines dreaming; that is, Christ offers Grace to all sufficiently; but it is not effectuall or saving Grace. This is verily as drowsy a dreame, as ever dropped from that Phlegmatique head. First, there is nothing sufficient for any thing, which is not efficient to that use too, Then whereas we teach and say, that our Saviour Christ offers saving Grace effectually to all; we plainly meane that Grace, which hath power, strength, and virtue to save all: though all in effect are not saved by that Grace, and the want is not in the ••race, but in them who despise and abuse the Grace; it's a beame of the same brightnesse that falls upon a cleare, and upon a bleere-ey'd man, yet both do not see, a Talent of the same we••ght wrap't up in a Napkin, and put to use, yet both doth not yield in∣crease:

Seed of the same goodnesse sowne among Thornes, and in good ground, yet both do not bring ••orth fruit, the cause is not in the Beame, the Talent, the Seed; but in the Eye the Napkin the Ground. For, the very same kernell of seed choa∣ked of Thornes, sowne in good Ground would have brought forth fruit: the ve∣ry same Talent wrapt up in a Napkin, put to use would yield increase: the very same Beame, that dazeled the bleere-eye, would have made the clean eye see: and the very same▪ saving Grace, that is a sa∣vour of Life unto one, is the savour of Death unto another: no oddes in the Grace, but in the Man, We all ten have Lamps and Light alike to light us to the Kingdome of Heaven: yet but five of us with wise usage, shall keep our Lamps, and Light, and enter in; and five of us, by foolshnesse shall let our Lamps out, and stand without.

The Kingdome of Heaven (saith our Saviour in the same place) is like a man that went into a farre Countrey; and he committed to his servants, to one five Talents, to another two, to another one; some ods in the number, but none in the nature of the thing. For he that had least,

had a Talent and (by all rules of proporti∣on) had as much ability to produce a Ta∣lent, as two to gaine two, or five to beget five; and he that had it, had as much li∣berty to use it, as he that had two, or five: and if he had used it, and gained a Talent, he had been as sure of a City in the Kingdome of God, as either of the o∣ther: and if he had had a City, he had been well. For, a disciples reward is but a bare place, without either cap, or covert upon it (Ioh. 14.2.) I goe to prepare a place for you.

If thou blowest the sparke (saith the wise man Eccles. 28.12.) thou shalt have fire, and if thou spit upon it, it will go out: and both these came out of the same mouth. I am come (saith our Saviour Christ) to send Fire o•• the earth: and what is my desire, but that it may bee kindled? so, he that hath least of this Fier hath a sparke at least. And there was never man so desperately wicked, but at some time or other, he felt this sparke of Gods Spirit glowing in his heart. He that blowes that sparke may have a flame to light him to the Kingdome of Heaven: and he that spits upon it, makes himselfe a brand fit to increase the fire of Hell. The

Apostle Paul therefore had a speciall care of this very thing. 1. Thes. 5.19. Quench not the Spirit.

Sixtly, our last consequence is, that contempt and neglect of Grace is the cause why any man doth not come into Hea∣ven: and not any privative decree, coun∣cell, or determination of God. God quits himselfe of our destruction by an universall assertion; against which (up∣on the Genevian supposition) the house of Israel might have said, and answered with ease: O God of our Fathers, what meanest thou to say unto us, why will ye die, when thou hast from all eternity de∣creed, that we cannot but die? Oh Ieru∣salem, Ierusalem (saith our Saviour) thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thee ••ogether, as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! there is Ego volui, I would, salus ex me, thy salvation is wrought by me: tu noluisti thou wouldest not: per∣ditio ex te, destruction is willed by thy selfe. Now, whereas it is devised by some, that our Saviour should weep over these Iews, as man, and laugh at them, as God, (himselfe having decreed their destructi∣on

from all eternity,) this is a very bad and prophane device. For, it would make our Saviour Christ to shed Crocodiles teares, to laugh and lament both at once. And if this fancied decree, of eternall de∣signement to Hell without sin, had any sooth in it; then must it needs be, that our Saviour Christ was at that holy counsel in Heav••n, when as this decree was pronounced and made, for God the Father (in wisdom) could not make a decree, but by him who is the Wisedom of the Father) and if he was in the bo∣som of his Father at this decree, and him∣selfe gave his voyce and consent unto it, that these I••ws should never come to heaven; neither by the death, nor medi∣••tion of our Saviour Christ; then would he not of his goodnesse thus come downe on the earth, and weep, and lament, that they would not be saved. And the te∣nour of our Saviours deploration must then needs have beene this: Oh Ierusalem, Ierusalem▪ thou that killest the Prophets▪ and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gath••red thee to∣gether, as an ••en gathere••h her chickens un∣der her wing••! but ye could not. For I and my Father have sate in councell in Hea∣ven,

and from all eternity have made a decree, that ye should never come to hea∣ven, though I my selfe a thousand times should be crucified for you. And now, beloved (as the H. Ghost saith) say not ye, when ye have sinned, that God inci∣ted you to sin, for God cannot tempt you to sin, and then condemne you for sin∣ning: every man is his owne tem••ter, and his owne tormentor.

To conclude: let us take heed and be∣ware, that we nei••her, (with the Papists) rely upon our free will: nor (with the Pe∣lagian) upon our Nature: nor (with the Puritan) Curse God, and die, laying the burthen of our sins on ••is shoulders, and the guilt of ••hem at his everlasting doore••: but let u•• all fall downe upon our faces, give glory to God, and say, Vnto thee, O Lord, belo••geth mercy and forgive∣nesse; unto us shame and confusion; for we have gon astray, we have offended, and delt wick••dly as all our fathers have done. But thou art the God of mercy, that hast swo••ne by the life▪ that thou d••st not de∣light in the death of a sinner. And this grace God grant unto us, &c. Amen.

FINIS