LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

PART VI.

MICAH VI. 8.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

WE have already gathered fruit from two of the Bran∣ches of this Tree of Life, this Good which God by his Prophet hath shewed us in the Text. We have seen Justice run down as waters,* 1.1 and Righteousness as a mighty stream, as the Prophet speaketh. And we have seen Mercy dropping as the dew on the tender herbs,* 1.2 and as rain upon the grass. We have beheld Justice filling the hand, and Mercy opening it; Ju∣stice fitting and preparing the hand to give, and Mercy stretching it forth to clothe the naked, and fill the hungry with good things; Justice gather∣ing, and Mercy scattering; Justice bringing in the seed, and Mercy sowing it; in a word, Justice making it ours, and Mercy alienating it, and making it his whosoever he be that wanteth it.

We must now lay hold on the third Branch; which shadoweth both the rest from those blasts which may wither them, those storms and tem∣ptations which may shake and bruise them, from Covetousness, Ambiti∣on,* 1.3 Pride, Self-love, Self-deceit, Hypocrisie, which turn Justice into gall and wormwood, and eat out the very bowels of Mercy. For our Reverent and humble deportment with God is the mother of all good coun∣sel, the guard and defense of all holy duties, and the mistress of Inno∣cency. By this the Just and Merciful man liveth and moveth and hath his being. His whole life is an humble deportment with God, every motion of his is Humility; I may say, his very essence is Humility; for he gathereth not, he scattereth not, but as in Gods eye and sight. When he filleth his garners, and when he emptieth them, he doth it as under that all-seeing Eye which seeth not onely what he doth but what he thinketh. The Christian still moveth and walketh with,* 1.4 or before, his God; not opening his eyes, but to see the wonders of his Laws; not opening his mouth, but in Hallelujahs; not opening his ears, but to Gods voice; not opening his hand, but in his name, not giving his Almes, but as in the presence of his Father which seeth in secret,* 1.5 and so doing what he requireth with fear and trembling. Humility spreadeth and diffuseth it self through every vein and branch, through every part and duty of his life. When he sit∣teth in judgment, Humility giveth the sentence; when he trafficketh,

Humility maketh the bargain; when he casteth his bread upon the waters,* 1.6 his hand is guided by Humility; when he boweth and falleth down before his God, Humility conceiveth the prayer; when he fasteth, Humility is in capite jejunii, and beginneth the fast; when he exhorteth, Humility breatheth it forth; when he instructeth, Humility dictateth; when he correcteth, Humility maketh the rod: whatsoever he doth, he doth as before, or under, or with the Lord. Humility is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all in all. In a word, Singularum virtutum proprii actus, say the Schools, Virtues both Moral and Theological, like the celestial Orbs, have their peculiar mo∣tion proceeding from their distinct Habits and Forms; but Humility is the Intelligence which keepeth and perpetuateth that motion, as those Orbs are said to have their motion held up and regulated by some assi∣stent Form without.

And now, being here required to walk humbly with our God, it will not be impertinent to give you the picture of Humility in little, to shew you 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, summarily and in brief, what it is; and so we may better see in what this our walking humbly consisteth. And indeed we look upon Hu∣mility as we do upon a picture: Mirantur omnes divinam formam, sed ut simulacrum fabrè politum mirantur omnes, as Apuleius speaketh of his Psyche; Every man doth much admire it as a beautiful piece: but it is as men admire a well-wrought statue or picture; every man liketh it, but (which was the lot of Psyche) no man loveth it, no man wooeth it, no man desireth to take her to his wife. Yet it will not be a miss to give you a short view of her.

And the Oratour will tell us, Virtutis laus omnis in actione consistit, E∣very virtue is commended by its proper act and operation, and is then a∣ctually when it worketh. Temperance doth bind the appetite, Libera∣lity open the hand, Modesty compose the countenance, Valour guard the heart, and work out its contrary out of the mind. And Humility worketh out every thing that riseth up,* 1.7 every swelling and tumour of the soul, which are called by the Apostle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, puffings up, for riches, or learning, or beauty, or strength, or eloquence, or virtue, or any thing which we admire our selves for; elations and liftings up of the Mind a∣bove it self, stretching of it beyond its measure,* 1.8 making us to complain of the Law as unjust, to start at the shadow of an injury, to do evil, and not to see it, to commit sin, and excuse it; making our tongues our own,* 1.9 our hands our own, our understandings our own, our wills our own; leaving us Independents, under no law but our own. The Prophet David cal∣leth it highness, or haughtiness of the heart; Solomon,* 1.10 haughtiness of the spirit, which is visible in our sin, and visible in our apologies for sin; lift∣ing up the eyes,* 1.11 and lifting up the nose (for so the phrase signifieth) and lifting up the head, and making our necks brass, as if we had devoured a spit, as Epictetus expresseth it. I am, and I alone,* 1.12 is soon writ in any mans heart: and it is the office and work of Humility to wipe it out, to wipe out all imaginations which rise and swell against the Law, our Neigh∣bour, and so against God himself. For the mind of man is very subject to these fits of swelling. Humility? Our very nature riseth at the men∣tion of it. Habet mens nostra sublime quiddam, & impatiens superioris, saith the Oratour; Mens minds naturally are lifted up, and cannot en∣dure to be overlookt. Humility? It is well we can hear her named with patience: It is something more that we can commend her. But, quale monstrum? quale sacrilegium? saith the Father; O monstruous sacrilege! we commend Humility, and that we do so swelleth us. We shut her out of doors when we entertein her: When we deck her with praises, we sacrilegiously spoil her, and even lose her in our panegyricks and commen∣dations.

We see (for it is but too visible) what light materials we are made of, what tinder we are, that the least spark will set us on fire, to blaze and be offensive to every eye. We censure Pride in others, and are proud we do so; we humble our brethren, and exalt our selves. It is the art and malice of the world, when men excel either in virtue or learning, to say they are proud; and they think with that breath to le∣vel every hill that riseth so high, and calleth so many eyes to look upon it. But suppose they were; alass, a very fool will be so, and he that hath not one good part to gain the opinion of men will do that office for him∣self, and wonder the world should so mistake him. Doth Learning or Virtue, do our good parts puff us up and set us in our altitudes? No great matter; the wagging of a feather, the gingling of a spur, a little ceruss and paint, any thing, nothing, will do it; nay, to descend yet lower, that which is worse then nothing will do it; Wickedness will do it.* 1.13 He boasteth of his hearts desire, saith David, he blesseth himself in e∣vil.* 1.14 He rejoyceth in evil, saith Solomon, he pleaseth and flattereth him∣self in mischief. And what are these benedictions, these boastings, these triumphs in evil, but as the breathings, the sparkles, the proclamations of Pride?* 1.15 The wicked is so proud, he careth not for God, God is not in all his thoughts. When Adam by pride was risen so high as to fall from his o∣bedience, God looketh upon him in this his exaltation, or rather in this ruine, and beholdeth him not as his creature but as a prodigie, and seem∣eth to put on admiration,* 1.16 ECCE! ADAM FACTƲS TANQƲAM Ʋ∣NƲS E NOBIS; See, the man is become as one of us: God speaketh it by an Irony. A God he is, but of his own making. Whilest he was what I made him, he was a Man, but innocent, just, immortal, of singular en∣dowments, and he was so truly and really: but now having swelled and reached beyond his bounds, a God he is, but per mycterismum, a God that may be pitied, that may be derided, a mortal, dying God, a God that will run into a thicket to hide himself. His Greatness is but figura∣tive, but his misery is real. Being turned out of paradise he hath nothing left but his phansie to deifie him. This is our case; our teeth are on edge with the same sowr grapes. We are proud, and sin, and are proud in our sins. We lift up our selves against the Law, and when we have broke it, we lift up our selves against Repentance. When we are weak, then we are strong; when we are poor and miserable, then we are rich; when we are naked, then we clothe our selves with pride as with a garment. And as in Adam, so in us, our Greatness is but a tale and a pleasing lye, our sins and imperfections true and real; our heaven but a thought, and our hell burning. A strange soloecisme! a look as high as heaven, and the soul as low as the lowest pit. It was an usual speach with Martine Lu∣ther, that every man was born with a Pope in his belly: And we know what the Pope hath long challenged and appropriated to himself, Infallibility and Supremacy, which like the two sides of an Arch mutually uphold each other. For do we question his Immunity from errour? It is a bold errour in us: for he is supreme Judge of controversies; and the conje∣cture is easie which way the question will be stated. Can we not be per∣swaded and yield to his Supremacy? Then his Parasites will tell you that he is Infallible. By this we may well ghess what Luther meant. For so it is in us: Pride maketh us incorrigible; and the thought that we are so increaseth our Pride. We are too high to stand, and too wise to be wary; too learned to be taught, and too good to be reproved. We now stand upon our Supremacy. See how the Worm swelleth into an Angel. The Heart forgetteth it is flesh, and becometh a stone; and you cannot set Christs Impress, HƲMILITY, upon a stone.

Learn of me, for I am humble. The Ear is deaf, the Heart stubborn,* 1.17 the Mind 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith S. Paul, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Theodoret, a reprobate,* 1.18 re∣verberating mind, a heart of marble, which violently beateth back the blow that should soften it. Now the office of Humility is to abate this swelling, its proper work is to hammer this rock, and break it to pieces,* 1.19 to drive it into it self, to pull it down at the sight of this Lord, to place it under it self, under the Law, under God; to bind it as it were with cords, to let out this corrupt blood and this noxious humour, and so sacrifice it to that God that framed it; to depress it in it self, that it be not too wise or too full, that it may behold it self of more value then the whole world, and then shut it self up, that it wander not abroad after those va∣nities which will soon fill it with air, and swell it. This is the method, and this the work of Humility: It pulleth out our eyes, that we may see; spoileth us of our wealth, that we may be rich; taketh us out of the raies, that we may have light; taketh us from our selves, that we may possess our selves; biddeth us depart from God, that we may enjoy him. This is Janitrix scholae Christi, saith Bernard: for when we bow and lye prostrate we are let in. This is, as S. John Baptist, to prepare the way, to make every mountain low and the rough places plain, to depress a lofty head sink a haughty eye, beat down a swelling heart. In a word, this is the best Leveller in the world; and there need none but this.

Wee see then in what Humility consisteth, in placing us where we should be, at the footstool of God, admiring his Majesty, and abhorring themselves; distrusting our selves, and relying on his Wisdome; bowing to him when he helpeth us, and bowing to him when he striketh us; de∣nying our selves, surrendring our selves, being nothing in our selves, and all things in him. This will more plainly appear in the extent of this du∣ty, which reacheth the whole man, both body and soul. It was the speech of S. Augustine, Domine, duo creasti, alterum prope té, alterum pro∣pe nihil; Lord, thou hast made two things in the world, one near unto thy self, divine and celestial, the Soul; the other vile and sordid, next to nothing, the Body. These are the parts which constitute and make us men the subject of Sin, and therefore of Humility.* 1.20 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, but let Humility depose and pluck it from its throne. Inde delinquit homo, unde constat, saith Tertullian; From thence sin is, from whence we are. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nazianzene; With our selves we fight against our selves. We carry about with us those forces which beset us, we are that army which is in battel aray against us:

—videas concurrere bellum Atque virum—

Our enemies are domestick and at home within us. And a tumult must be laid where first it was raised. Between them both, saith the same Father,* 1.21 there is a kind of warlike opposition, and they do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as it were pitch their tents one against the other. When the Body prevaileth the Soul is lost; and when the Body is at the lowest, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, then is the Soul as high as heaven; and when the Soul is sick and even bedrid with sin, then the Body is most active, as a wild Ass or wanton Heifer.* 1.22 In both there is matter for Humility to work on: In both there are excrescences and extuberations to be lopt off and abated. The Body must be used as an enemy; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith S. Paul, I buffet it, I beat it black and blew, I handle it as a rebel or profest enemy; and it must be used as a servant. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I hold it in subjection, like a captive, like a slave, after conquest. And the Soul must be checked, contracted, depressed in it self, nè in multa difflu∣at, that it spread not not diffuse it self on variety of objects. It must not be dimidiata humilitas, an Humility by halves, but holocaustum, a whole-burnt-offering,

both Body and Soul, wasting and consuming all their dros•• in this holy conflagration. I know not how, good duties are either shrunk up in the conveyance,* 1.23 not driven home by the Masters of assemblies, or else taken into pieces in the performance. Doth God Proclaim a Fast? See, the head hangeth down, the looks is changed; you may read a famine in the countenance, and yet the Fast not kept. Walk humbly with him? So we will: He shall have our knee, our look, he shall see us prostrate on the ground, say some who are as proud on the ground as when they stood up. He shall have the heart, no knee of ours, say o∣thers as proud as they. If we can conceive an Humiliation, and draw forth its picture but in our phansie, nay, if we can but say, It is good to be humbled, it is enough, though it be a lye, and we speak not what we think. We are most humble when we least express it. So full of con∣tradictions is Hypocrisie, (and what a huge 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and gulf is there be∣tween Hypocrifie and Humility?) so reaching at impossibilities, which may draw Pride and Humlity together to be one and same, which yet are at greater distance one from the other then the earth is from the Hea∣ven. And thus we divide Humility; nay, thus we divide our selves, from our selves, our Souls from our Bodies. Either our Humility is so spiritual that we cannot see it, neither dropping at the eyes, nor changing the counte∣nance, nor bowing the knees; nor hear it in complaints and grones and rorings, which were wont to be the language of Humility: or it is so coporeal that we see it all. God hath his part, and but a part, and so hath none; and then the conjecture is easie who hath it all. But Our selves include both. Neither is my Body my self, nor my Soul my self, but I am one made up of both, the knot that tyeth them both together; and my Humility lasteth no longer then whilst I am one of both. Whilst then we are so, let us give God both, and first the Soul. For there is no vice more dangerous, or to which we are more subject, then spiritual Pride. Other vices proceed from some defect in us or some sinful im∣becillity of nature, but this many times ariseth out of our good parts. Others fly from the presence of God, this dareth him to his face, and ma∣keth even Ruine it self the foundation of its tabernacle. Intestinum ma∣lum periculosius; The more near the evil cleaveth to the soul, the more dangerous it is; the more inward, the more fatal. I may wean my self from the World, fling off Vanity, and take off my soul from sensible ob∣jects, I may deny my Appetite, shut up my Eye, bind my Hands; I may study Pleasure so long till I truly understand it, and know it is but mad∣ness; and the World, till I contemn it: But Pride ultima exuitur, is the last garment we put off: When we are naked, we can keep her on; and when we can be nothing, we can be proud. And therefore some have conceived humility to be placed in the Soul as a Canopy, covering and shadowing both the faculties, binding and moderating the Understand∣ing, and subduing the Will. And whilest they sit under Humility, they sit in state; the Understanding is crowned with raies and light, and the Will commandeth just things as from its throne, never employing the Eye or Hand in any office for which the one should be pluckt out or the other cut off; both the one and the other are in their highest exaltation, being both now under the will of God. Our Understanding many times walk∣eth in things too high for it, yet thinketh she is above them, and our Will inclineth, and that too oft, to things forbidden, because they are so, cannot endure the check and restraint of a command, but breaketh it under that name; the two greatest evils under the Sun, We are too wise, and we are too willful. Now the pride of our Will is quickly seen, and therefore the more curable. It sheweth it self in the wild irregular

motions of the outward man; It lifteth up the Hand, it moveth the Tongue, it rowleth the Eye, it painteth it self upon the very Countenance either in smiles or frowns, either in chearfulness or terrour. It is visible in each motion, and there be laws to check and curb it, that it may not be so troublesome and destructive as otherwise it would be. But quae la∣tent nocent. The Serpent at the heel, an overweening conceit of our own knowledge, of our own perfections, how invisible doth it enter us? how deceitfully doth it flatter us? how subtilly ensnare us? Bene sapi∣mus in causa nostra; We are wise in our own cause; We have digged deep, and found the Truth, which others do but talk of; We cannot be deceived; and the thought That we cannot be deceived doth deceive us most. Now we are rich, now we are learned; now we are wise,* 1.24 now we reign as Kings, and carry all before us: We controll the weak with our power, the ignorant with our knowledge, the poor with our wealth, the simple with our wisdome; and confute our selves with our own argu∣ments, and are poor, because we are so rich; can do little, because we can do so much; are deceived, and manifest our folly unto all men, because we are so wise. For whither will this high conceit of our selves lift us? Even above our selves, besides our selves, against our selves. For where∣soever we stand, we stand a contradiction to our selves and others, and are as far from what we would set up as they are who would set up some∣thing else which is nothing like it. We conceive the world is shaken and out of order, and we put forth our hand to bear up the pillars of it. We form Common-wealths, we square out one by another, and know the dimensions of neither. We model Churches, draw out their Govern∣ment, that is, make a coat for the Moon. We make a Church, and clothe it with our phansie; fit it with a Government as with a garment, which will never be put on, or, if it be, the next Power may pluck it off, and leave it naked, leave it nothing, or put on some other which may be worn with more honour and safety to that Power which put it on. This is visible and open to the eye, and that eye is but weak and dull which doth not see and observe it. Why should then our Pride and Self-conceit thus walk as in shadow, as in a dream? Why should we thus disquiet our selves in vain, and busie our selves and trouble others to build up that to which we can contribute no more then a poor feeble wish, which hath not power enough to raise it to that desired height in which we would have it seen, but will leave it where it was first set up, an useless unregar∣ded thing, in our brain and imagination? Christ and his Apostles did not leave the Church naked, but fitted her with a garment which she wore for many ages, in which there were scarce any that did stand up and say it did not become her. And if we do not now like the fashion, but sit down and invent another, we do but teach and prompt others to do the like: & so we shall have many more; and none at all, be ever chusing, ever chang∣ing, even to the end of the world. This is it which hath divided Christians which have but one name, and giveth them so many that it will cost us la∣bour and study but to number them. This rendeth the Church with schism. For men that will not be confined are ever asking how they should be governed; and they are busiest to question the present form of discipline who would have none. And if you observe the behaviour of the Schis∣matick, you may behold him walk as if he had the Urim and Thummim on his breast, the breast plate of judgement ever with him. For by a thought (which is but a look of the mind) he discovereth and determi∣neth all things. So dangerous is this spiritual Pride both to our selves and others. Nor is the high conceit of our own perfections and holiness less dangerous, but most fatal to our selves. For that heaven which we draw

out in our phansie hath no more light and joy in it then the region of dark∣ness. Onely what is wanting in reality we supply with thought, but to no more purpose then that Souldier who having no other pillow to lay his head on but his head-piece; that he might make it more easie, filled it with chaff.* 1.25 We think our selves to be something, as the Apostle speaketh, and we are nothing, and are deceived. Pride is but a thought, and Pride is folly.* 1.26 Nor we are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, more regular then the rule, more exact then the Law, more bright then light, above the command. Not believe us is infidelity, not to obey us is a kind of rebellion, not to admire us is pro∣faneness, not to joyn with us is schism, not to subscribe to what we say is heresie. We are, and we alone. We are as he that lyeth on the top of the mast, and we sleep and dream out the tempest. We may be Adul∣terers, Murderers, Traytours, and the Favourites of God. We may be men after Gods own heart, and yet do what his soul hateth. All our sins, are venial, though never so great. Our sins do not hurt but rather advantage us: The greatest evil that is in us will turn to our good; for our faith is stedfast, our hope lively, and our election sure. And to this height our imagination hath raised us, and from this we fall, and are lost for ever. And therefore it will concern us to captivate both our Under∣standing and our Will;* 1.27 First, not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to be overwise, not to be wise in our own conceits, not to be such Gnosticks as to seem to know what we do not, nay sometimes not to seem to know what we do know. This will defend us from errour, and our Brethren from offense. Then it concerneth us to subdue our Will to our Reason and the Rule, and to subject our Will against our natural desire and inclination to the Will of God, ad nutum ejus nutu citiùs obedire, to obey every beck of his as soon as the beck is given, in the twinkling of an eye, without deliberation or demur; in a word, not to do what thou wouldst, but to obey in what thou wouldst not, in that which the Flesh shrinketh from. This is the crown and perfection of Obedience, put on by the hand of Humility. And this is the Humility of the Soul.

* 1.28But is this enough? No. A body hast thou prepared me. God seeth thy Body as well as thy Soul, and will have the Knee, the Tongue, the Eye,* 1.29 the Countenance. Auditur Philosophus, dum videtur; The Philo∣sopher, and so the Christian, is heard when he is seen. Thou art to walk with him,* 1.30 or before him, Come, saith David, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. Then you may best take Humilitie's picture when the Body is on the ground: You may mark her how she boweth it down, watch her in a tear, take hold of her in a look, follow her in all her postures, till she faint and droop and lye down in dust and ashes. Oh beloved, the time was when men did so walk as if God had been visible and before them. The time was when Humility was thought a virtue, when Humility came forth in this dress, multo deformata pulvere, with ashes sprinkled on her head, with her garments rent, like a Peniten∣tiary. You might have beheld her kissing the chains of imprisoned Martyrs, washing the feet of Lazars, wallowing at the Temple-doors, begging the prayers of the Saints. You might have seen her rent and torn, stript and naked, the hair neglected, the eye hollow, the body withered, the feet bare,* 1.31 and the knees of horn, as Nazianzene describeth it. Then was Hu∣mility not sunk into the Soul, but written and engraven in the Body in ca∣pital letters, that you might have run and read it. But I know not how the face of Christendome is much altered, and humility grown stately; She hath bracelets on her arms, and rich diamonds on her head. We have fed her daintily, and set her upon her feet. Walk humbly: That we can with∣out hat or knee, with a merry and lofty countenance, with a face set by our

Ambition, and even speaking our Pride and Scorn; and we appear in the service of God as in a thing below us and which we honour with our pre∣sence. Humility with an humble look, a bowed knee, a bare head, a composed countenance? Away with it; It is Idolatry and Superstition. But let us not deceive our selves, God hateth the visour of Humility, but not her face. If she borrow from art and the pencil, she is deformed; but appearing in her own likeness, in that dress which God himself hath put her in, she is lovely, and shineth upon those duties in which we are imploy∣ed, and maketh them most delightful to behold. It is true, the Thought may knock at heaven when the Body is on the ground, and, when that is shut up between two walls, may measure out a Kingdome; and the whole world may be too narrow for an Anchorete. But it is as true that Humility never seized on the Mind but it drew the Body after it. If I lose my friend, my look will tell you he is gone: If a rober spoil all that I have, there is a kind of devastation of the countenance:* 1.32 But a wounded spirit who can bear? If thy Soul be truly humble, thy bones will consume, and thy marrow wast, as David speaketh, thy eye wax old, and thou will forget to eat thy bread, thou wilt go heavily all the day long. Think what we will, pretend what we can, flatter our selves as we please, I shall assoon believe him chast whose eyes are full of adulteries,* 1.33 or who will sell a copyhold to buy Aretines pictures; I shall as soon think him modest whose mouth is an open sepulchre,* 1.34 him charitable who will sooner eat up twenty poor men then feed one, as that man devote and humble in his heart who is so bold and irreverent in his outward gesture. I cannot but look upon it as upon an impossibility, to draw these two together, a Neglectful deportment and Humility. For I cannot imagin, nor can a∣ny man give me a reason, why every passion, nay, why every vice, should shew it self in the outward man totâ corpulentiâ, as the Father speaketh in its full proportion and dimensions, that Anger should shake the lips, and set the teeth, and dye the face sometimes with white sometimes with red, that Sorrow should make men put on sackcloth, rend their gar∣ments, beat their heads against the walls, as Augustus did for the defeat and loss of Varus; that even dissimulation it self should betray it self by the winking of the eye;* 1.35 that every vice and virtue should one way or o∣ther open it self and even speak to the eye; onely Devotion and Humili∣ty should sinck in and withdraw it self, lurk and lye hid in the inward man, as if it were ashamed to shew its head; that we should be afraid to kneel, afraid to be reverent; that it should be a sin to kneel, a sin to be humble; that to come and fall down, or bow, though it be in the house of God, is to worship Dagon. Reason and Religion help us, and de∣stroy every Altar, and break down every Image, and burn it with fire, and chase and banish all Superstition from the face of the earth.* 1.36 And let all the people say, Amen But God forbid that Reverence, and those mo∣tions and expressions of Humility which are the works and language of the heart, should, be swept out together with the rubbish; that the wind which driveth out Superstition should leave an open way for Profaneness and Atheism to enter in. And let all the people say, Amen, to that too. For if we do not present our bodies as well as our souls a living sacrifice,* 1.37 glo∣rifying God in every motion of our Body as we do in every conception of our Mind, our service cannot be a reasonable service of him, and the same tempest may drive down before it Religion and Reason both. S. Paul hath joyned them both together as in the purchase so also in the ob∣ligation, Yea are bought with a price? This is the Antecedent;* 1.38 and then it followeth necessarily, Therefore glorifie God in your bodies and your spirits, which are Gods.

But this may seem too general. Yet if we know what Humility is, we shall the better see how to walk humbly with our God. But we will draw it nearer,* 1.39 and be more particular. And indeed to walk humbly with our God, and to walk before him, and to walk in his statutes, and to walk in the light of the Lord, to walk in his sight, differ not in signification, nor present unto our understandings diverse things. For all speak but this, To walk as in his presence, To walk as if he were a near spectatour, as if he were visible before us; Not to shroud and mantle our selves, Not to run into the thicket, as if there he could not see us; but so to behave our selves as if he were a stander by, and eye-witness of all our actions; to curb our phansie, keep our tongue, be afraid of every action, upon this certain perswasion, That God is at hand. For as God is EMANƲEL, God with us, when he blesseth us and doth us good, so do we walk with God when we bless him and do our duties.* 1.40 As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee, saith God to Joshua. Then God is with us when he strength∣neth our hands, when he shadoweth us under his wing, when he pou∣reth forth his graces upon us: and when we walk with him when we bowe before him, use all the faculties of our souls and move every m••mber of our bodies as his, and as in his sight; when we devote our selves to him alone,* 1.41 when our eye looketh upon him as the eye of the handmaid on the eye of her mistress, and by a strict and sincere obedience we follow him in all those waies which he hath appointed for us. This I take to be the mean∣ing of the words.

We shall draw all within the compass of these considerations; 1. That God hath an all-seeing eye, that he seeth all ad nudum, as the Schools speak, naked as they are, surveyeth our actions, heareth our words, and searcheth the very inwards of the heart. 2. That truly to believe this is the best preservative of the other two, the best means to establish Ju∣stice and uphold Mercy in us, to keep us in an even and unerring course of obedience. For will any man offend his God in his very eye? And 3. we shall discover and point out those who do not thus walk with God, but walk in the haughtiness and deceitfulness of their hearts, as if God had neither eye to see nor ear to hear nor hand to punish them, that we may mark and avoid them. And this shall serve for use and appli∣cation.

First, that we may walk humbly with our God, this must be laid as a foundation to build upon, as the primum movens, as that which first set∣teth us a walking, and putteth us into this careful and humble posture, That God is present every where, and seeth and knoweth all things. And here we must not make too curious and bold a disquisition concerning the manner how God is present every where, and how he seeth all things. It is enough for us to believe he doth so, and not to seek to know that which he never told us, and which indeed he cannot tell us, because we cannot apprehend it. For how can we receive knowledge of which we are not capable?* 1.42 We read that he filleth the earth and the heaven, that heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, that he is higher then hea∣ven, and deeper then hell, and longer then the earth, and broader then the sea, that he is not far from every one of us,* 1.43 that in him we live, and move, and have our being,* 1.44 that his understanding is infinite, that there is no creature which is not manifest in his sight, that all things are naked to him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, open as the entrails of a beast cut down in the back for sacrifice, that he looketh down from heaven on the children of men,* 1.45 that his eyes are upon all their waies, that neither they, nor their iniquity are hid from his face:

& hoc satìs est dixisse Deo—

And this is enough for God to tell us, and this is enough for us to know.

I dare be bold to say, saith S. Augustine, Forsitan nec ipse Johannes dicit de Deo ut est: S. John was an Eagle, and flew aloft to a higher pitch then the rest, but could not soar so high as to bring us down a full relation, and tell us what God is. This is a message which no man can bring, nor no man can hear. He was a man inspired from God himself. If he had not been inspired he could have said but little, and being a man he could say no more. They that walk in valleys and in low places see not much more ground then they tread; they that are in deep wells see onely that part of the world which is over their heads; but he that is on the top of some exceeding high mountain seeth all the level, even the whole country which is about him: So it standeth betwixt us mortals and our incom∣prehensible God; We that live in this world are confined as it were in∣to a valley or pit, we see no more then the bounds which are set us will give us leave; and that which our scant and narrow wisdome and provi∣dence foreseeth, when the eye thereof is clearest, is full of uncertainty, as depending upon causes which may not work, or, if they do, by the intervening of some cross accident may fail. But God, who is that su∣preme and sublime Light, and by reason of his wonderful nature so high exalted, as from some exceeding high mountain seeth all men at once, all actions, all casualties present and to come, and with one cast of his eye measureth them all. This we are told; and it is enough for us that God hath told us so much; that he is in heaven, and yet not confined to that place; that he is every where, though we do not know how; that he seeth all things, knoweth all things; that he is Just and Wise and Om∣nipotent. And here we may walk with safety; for the ground is firm under us. Upon this we may build up our selves on our most holy faith: Upon this we may build up our Love, which alwaies eyeth him; our Honour to him, which ever boweth before him; our Patience, which beareth every burden as if we saw him laying it on; our Fear, to which every place is as mount Sinai, where it trembleth before him; our Hope, which layeth hold on him as if he were present in all the hardship we undergo; our Obedience, which alwaies worketh as in his eye. To venture further is to venture as Peter did upon the sea,* 1.46 where we are sure to sink. Nor will Christ reach out his hand to help us, but we shall be swallowed up in that depth which hath no bottom,* 1.47 and be lost in that which is past finding out. For this is the just punishment of our bold and too forward Curiosity, It worketh on busily and presseth forward with great earnestness to see it self defeated; it loseth that which it might grasp, and findeth nothing.

It is enough for us to see the back-parts of God, that is,* 1.48 as much as he is pleased to shew us. And the want of this moderation hath occasioned many gross errours in the Church of Christ. For what can Curiosity bring forth but monsters? The Anomoei thought God as comprehensible as themselves (and indeed upon a slender stock of knowledge we grow wanton, and talk of God as we do of one another) and no marvel that they who know not themselves should be so ignorant of God as to think to comprehend him. Against these S. Chrysostom wrote. The Mani∣chees confined God to a place: And these S. Augustine confuteth. O∣thers took upon them to qualifie and reform this speech, God is in every place, by changing the preposition IN into CƲM, God is with every place. Others conclude that the Essence of God is most properly in hea∣ven. Others have shut him up there, and excluded his presence from this lower world. The heaven, they will tell you, is his throne: But then is not the earth also his footstool? why may he not then be in earth as well as in heaven? for the argument is the very same: Nor must we conceive

of God as we do of great Potentates, whom we do not entertein in a cot∣tage but in a palace: Nor can his Majesty gather soyl by intermingling it self with the things of the earth (a most carnal conceit) for the very Poet will tell us,

Tangere & tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res,

that nothing but a body can be touched, much less defiled. We cannot think the Angel impaired his beauty by being in prison with Peter,* 1.49 or in the Den with Daniel, unless we will say he was scorched in the furnace, when the three men did not so much as smell of the fire. The heavens themselves are unclean in his sight, saith Eliphaz; yet he remaineth, saith the Father, pure 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in a most wonderful exuberance be∣yond all Hyperbole. No pitch can defile him, no sin pollute him, no de∣formity on earth can sully his beauty. Our cursed oathes do even blast his Name,* 1.50 yet his Name is the same, The Holy of Holies. His Eyes beheld us weltring in our blood,* 1.51 yet they are ten thousand times brighter then the Sun. And therefore God is truly called Actus primus, an Act or Essence as free from contagion as composition. We take perfection from him; he receiveth no imperfection from us.* 1.52 He sitteth in heaven, yet his Ma∣jesty is not increased; He walketh on the earth, yet his Majesty is not diminished;* 1.53 He rideth on the wings of the wind, yet his Majesty and Glo∣ry is still the same;* 1.54 He is in darkness, maketh darkness a pavilion round a∣bout him, yet is Light it self; He is in our corrupt hearts, yet is Purity it self. Nusquam est, & ubique est: He is no where, because no place can contein him; He is every where, because no body, no place, no substance whatsoever can exclude him.* 1.55 And as he is present with us and about our paths, so he seeth and knoweth every motion and action of ours, our in∣clinations, our thoughts, when they are risen, whilest they were arising, before there was either object or opportunity to raise them, or any tem∣ptation to draw them up. He seeth our habits, our vices and virtues, be∣fore we ventured on that action which did lead the way and begin them. I know him,* 1.56 said God of Abraham, and that he will do justice and judge∣ment.* 1.57 He knoweth our dispositions: He found some good thing in Jero∣boams child. He seeth all our actions long before they are done, our thoughts before they are conceived, our deliberations before we ask counsel, and our counsels before they are fixt. Of what large extent were many of the Prophesies? How many years, how many cross actions, how many contingencies, what numberless swarms of thoughts inconsi∣stent and not understood, and yet concurrent and introductory to that which was foretold, came between the Prophesie and the fulfilling of it? yet God saw through all these, and saw all these, and how they were working to that end of which he was pleased to give the Prophets a sight. The Prophet Daniel foretelleth the succession of the Monarchies, the division of Alexanders Kingdoms, the ruine of the Jews, and that so plainly that Porphyry, a great enemy to the Christians, to disgrace and put it off, said that it was a discourse much like Lycophrons Cassandra, written after the things were done, and so publisht to cajole and deceive the people, who are soon pleased, and so soon taken with a cheat. Malè nôrunt Deum,* 1.58 qui non putant illum posse quod non putant, saith Tertullian; They have but little knowledge of God who do not think that he can do, yea and doth know and see, what they cannot think. For he that made the eye, shall not he see?* 1.59 He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? He that fashioneth the heart, shall not he consider all our works? He seeth us when we fall down before him, he seeth us when we harden our faces, he seeth us in our tears, and he seeth us in our blood; and yet he remaineth ye∣sterday,* 1.60 and to day, and the same for ever. For as it is an argument of his

infinite Perfection to understand all things, so is it of his judiciary and in∣finite Power to see and know and observe those motions, those offers those inclinations, which are against his Law, and by which we are said to fight against him. I may know Adultery, and yet be chast; I may see Malice and debate in the city, and yet be peaceable; I may hear Blasphemy, and yet tremble at Gods name. For Sin doth not pollute as it is in the under∣standing, but as it is in the will; not as it is known, but as it is embraced; not by any physical, but a moral contagion, which first infecteth the Will alone. If the bare Knowledge of evil could pollute, then he that ma∣keth himself an eunuch for the kingdome of heaven may be an adulterer,* 1.61 and the Judge that sitteth to condemn the sin may be a Parricide. God then may be present every where, and this is the poorest exception that can be made against it, I have waved, you see, the more subtile and in∣tricate disputes; And there be too many; for men are never weary of doing nothing. That which hath been spoken is as plain as ne∣cessary, and no man can take it as a thing out of his sphere and reach.

Let us pass to that which we proposed in the second place, and for which we proposed this of the Omniprescence and Omniscience of God. For the consideration of this is the best preservative of Mercy, and pillar to uphold Justice, septum Legis, a fense, a hedge set about the Law, that no unclean beast be so bold as to break in and come so near as to touch it. The Prophet David maketh this use of it;* 1.62 Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I fly from thy presence? If I go into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shalt thou find me out. Now nothing can be more forcible to make us walk reverently and humbly with our God then a firm perswasion that God walketh with us, that he seeth and observeth us, that whatever we do or think lyeth open to the view and survey of that all-seeing Eye. For Se∣crefie is the nurse of Sin. That is done often which is done without wit∣ness, and done with more delight, in a kind of pride and triumph, where there is the least fear of discovery.* 1.63 They that are drunk are drunk in the night, and the twilight is the Adulterers season.* 1.64 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Pindarus. Drunkenness, Uncleanness, Revelling,* 1.65 are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nazianzene, thefts of the night,* 1.66 by which we would steal and convey our sin from the Sun and the people.* 1.67 And Clemens observeth it of the Gnosticks, That they professed themselves to be the Sons of God, but as the Sons of God did not love the light, but polluted themselves, and took their pleasure, not as Kings, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as slaves, in secret, for fear of the whip. Look upon the Politicians of the world, and see how they work under ground, as it were in vaults and caves; how they look one way, and work another; what a stream of light ushereth in a work of darkness,* 1.68 what a goodly preface we have to a flying book of curses, what a fair frontispiece to a Beth-aven, a house of vanity: And then when their Lust, which conceived with so much art and conceal∣ment, hath brought forth that sin with which they were so long in labour, they will not own it under that name, but father it upon something else which was scarce thought on till then, and is more different from it in kind then a Man is from a Lion. So they hide it that it may be done, and when it is done they hide it. A child of darkness it was in the concepti∣on, and it is brought forth it is a child of darkness. For the most part we bid defiance to Sin in publick, and meet and joyn with it in the dark. Though we venture not in the day, but stand out, yet if it will give us a visit in the twilight, we are willing to yield.* 1.69 Quod nemo novit penè non

fit, What no man knoweth is as if it were not done at all. Such is our folly and madness, we think to make our selves as invisible as God, and that he seeth not us because we see not him; as Tully spake of some Phi∣losophers, Quia animo videre non poterant, omnia ad oculos referebant, When they saw so little with their intellectual eye, they referred all to their Sense,* 1.70 and would believe nothing but what they had an ocular de∣monstration for. And we, because the eye of our Faith is dull and hea∣vy and near put out,* 1.71 do not discern that Eye which is ten thousand times brighter then the Sun, think there is no other eye but that of Flesh, and if we can lye hid from that, we are securi adversùs Deos hominésque, se∣cure and safe not onely from Men but from God himself. So different and contrary is our behaviour when we break to that which we put on when we keep the Law. When we have given an Almes, we take a trum∣pet; When we fast, our countenance must proclaim it; and though we lye on the ground, yet we are on the house-top: When we have fought it out,* 1.72 and withstood and conquered a temptation, difficile est Deo tantùm judice contentum esse, we can hardly be brought to make God our Judge, and leave it between him and our selves, but use some art that multitudes may behold us. But when we are willing a temptation should prevail, nay, when we tempt the Temptation it self and call it to us, we play least in sight, all is husht in silence, and we are well content that God alone should be our Judge. What then will make us walk humbly but this per∣swasion That we walk with God, and that he seeth us? For if any thing else will do it, it must either be the Laws of men, or that Law within our selves: but we shall see that either these will not reach home, or that this two-fold cord will be easily broken.

For first, the Laws of men, though framed with the greatest wisdome and diligence and providence which can possess the largest hearts, yet have not strength enough to level our waies or make our paths straight: Nor do they comprehend all those sins which must needs offend that Eye which can behold no evil: They condemn nothing but that which is seen and evident, nor do they censure our wills, but our deeds: They punish offenses, and take away deceit, injustice and cruelty, quatenus tenere manu res possunt, so far forth as they are within their hand and reach, saith Tully.* 1.73 But the Law of God reacheth the inward man, curbeth and boundeth the extravagancies of our thoughts, which are as opposit to that order and policy which God hath set up amongst men to bring them to happiness, as the foulest Disorders, Murders, Adulteries, Rebellion, can be to the peace of a temporal Kingdome. Again, though the Laws of men carry some terrour with them, yet, as Aeneas Sylvius speaketh of the low esteem they of Vienna had of Excommunications, Tantum ter∣rent quantum infamant, aut damno temporali sunt, Their terrour is no more then the smart and loss and infamy they bring. And though they be surda res, deaf and inexorable, yet a bribe will not onely blind the eyes but change the countenance and voice of him that should keep them; and this leaveth them weak and invalid to prevent or remove those irre∣gularities which they threaten, but in vain, being in those hands which are open for a bribe,* 1.74 and then bind them up. Tertullian hath well ob∣served that the Providence and Authority of men in this do pariate and are alike. Such as their Wisdome is to demonstrate that which is good, such is their Power to exact it. Tam illa falli facilis quàm ista contemni, their Wisdome is subject to errour as their Power to a baffle; the one may be deluded, and the other restrained; and both Omri and his sta∣tutes may be trod under foot. When we walk under the Laws of Men, we walk as under a cloud, which every wind may carry about, and at last

scatter and disperse: But when we walk under the Laws of God, we walk as under heaven, the Throne of God, which shall stand fast for ever. When we walk with men, we walk as with them whom we can sometimes delude, sometimes muzzle and bind: But when we walk with God, we walk with him who is every where, and seeth every event; whose eye is ever open, whose hand is ever stretched out,* 1.75 and whose voice breaketh the cedars of Libanus.

But now, secondly, as the Laws of men do not so aw and regulate us but that we break out too oft beyond those bounds which Reason and Religion hath set up, no more doth the Law within us, the Law of our Ʋnderstanding, as Damascene calleth the Conscience, command or con∣fine us in our walk. Sometimes we gloss it, sometimes we slight it, some∣times we silence it; and some there be that seal it up, and sear it, as S. Paul speaketh, as with a hot iron. If it speak to us, we are deaf;* 1.76 if it renew its clamours, we are more averse; and if it check us, we do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith S. Paul, beat and wound it more and more. Multi famam,* 1.77 pauci conscientiam verentur, saith Pliny. The loudest noise our Conscience can make is not heard, but the Censure of men, which is not most times worth our thought, is a thunder-clap; we hear it, and we tremble. We are led, like fools, with melody to the stocks. What others say is our motion, and turneth us about to any point; but when we speak to our selves, we hear it, but believe it not, fling it by and forget it. The voice of Conscience is, Defraud not your brother; nay,* 1.78 but we will over∣reach him. The voice of Conscience is, Love thy neighbour as thy self;* 1.79 nay, but we will oppress him. The voice of Conscience is, Love Mercy; nay,* 1.80 but we will love our selves. What we speak to our selves, our selves soon make he∣retical. How ambitious are we to be accounted just, and how unwilling to be so? How loud are we against Sin in the presence of others, and then make our selves as invisible as we can that we may commit it? What a sin is Uncleanness in the Temple, and what a blessing is it in the closet? With what gravity and severity will a corrupt Judge threaten iniquity? What? a pilferer? Let him be whipt. What? a murderer? He shall dye the death. He whippeth the Thief, and hangeth the Murderer, and in∣deed whippeth and hangeth himself by a proxie. So that we see neither the power of the Laws nor the respect and obedience we ow to our selves are of any great force to prevail with us to order our steps aright. Walk with men, or as before men? That may have some force, but it reacheth no further then the outward man. Walk with our selves? give ear to our selves? This might do much more; but we see the practice of it is very rare and unusual, that there is little hope that it will complete and perfect our walk, and make us Just and Merciful men, which is here re∣quired. It will be easie then to infer that our safest conduct will be to walk with God. And to secure both the Laws of men and that Law within us, that they may have their full power and effect in us, we must first raise and build up in our selves this firm perswasion. That whatso∣ever we do or think is open to the eye of that God who is above us, and yet with us; That that discovery which he maketh is infinitely and in∣comparably more clear and certain then that which we make by our sen∣ses; That we do not see our friend so plain as he seeth our hearts; That thou seest not the birds fly in the ayr so distinctly as he seeth thy thoughts fly about the world to those several objects which we have set up for our delight; That he seeth and observeth that irregularity and defor∣mity in our actions which is hid from our eyes when our intention is se∣rious and our search most accurate. Though we are in the flesh, and so led by Sense, were this belief rooted and confirmed in us, That

God doth but see us as Man seeth us, or were this as evident to our Faith as that is to our Sense, we should be more watchful over our selves and more wary of the Devils snares and baits then we comm••••ly are. Magna necessitas indicta pietatis, &c. saith Hilary; There is a necessity laid upon us of fear and reverence and circumspection, when we know and believe that he now standeth by as a Witness who will come again and be our Judge. What a Paradise would the world be, and what a heaven would there be upon earth, if this were generally and stedfastly believed? Glo∣rious things are spoken of Faith. We call it a full assent, we call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.81 a full and certain perswasion; It is the evidence of things not seen. I ask, Is ours so? Would to God it were. Nay, would for many of us, we did but believe that God is present with us, and seeth what we do or think, as firmly as we do a story out of our own Chronicles; nay, as many times we do believe a lye.* 1.82 Would our faith were but as a grain of mu∣stard seed. Even such a faith, if it did not remove mountains, yet would chide down many a swelling thought, would silence many a proud word, would restrain us from those actions which now we glory in, but should run from as from Serpents, as from the Devil himself, if we could ful∣ly perswade our selves that a God of wisdome and power were so near.

Now, in the last place, let us cast a look upon those who for want of this perswasion do walk on in the haughtiness of their hearts, bow neither to the Laws of God nor men, nor hearken to the Law within them; which notwithstanding could not be in them, were not this bright Eye and powerful Hand over them. And this may serve for Use and Application.* 1.83 Many walk, saith S. Paul to the Philippians, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies to God.

And first the Presumptuous sinner walketh not with God, who hath first hardned his heart,* 1.84 and then his face, as an adamant, whose very counte∣nance doth witness against him, who declareth his sins as Sodome, and hi∣deth them not. These first contemn themselves, and then scornfully re∣ject what common Reason and Nature suggest to them; and then at last, trusting either to their wit or wealth, conceive a proud disdain of all that are about them, and not a negative but a positive contempt of God him∣self. First they lose their Reason in their lusts, and then their Modesty, which is the onely good thing that can find a place in evil. They do that upon the open stage which they did at first but behind the curtain. They first make shipwrack of a good conscience,* 1.85 and then with the swelling sails of Impudence hasten to that point and haven which their boundless lusts have made choice of, as we should do to eternal happiness, per calcatum patrem, as S. Hierome speaketh over father and mother, over all rela∣tions, and Religion it self; forsake all these, not for Christs sake and the Gospel, but for Mammon and the world. What foul pollutions, what grinding and cruel oppressions and what open profaneness have there been in the world? And we may ask with the Prophet Jeremiah, Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?* 1.86 Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they have any shame, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, for the hardness and blindness of their heart. For in sin and by sin they at last grow familiar in sin, clothe themselves with it as with a robe of honour, bring it forth into open view, like Agrippa and Bernice in the Acts,* 1.87 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, with great state and pomp. They set it up, as Nebuchadnezzar did his image of gold, threescore cu∣bits high, to be seen of all. They boast of their Atheism, and look down upon them with a contemptuous pity, as shallow and weak men,

who go about to perswade such men as they, of quick and searching wits, ••hat there is a God who both seeth and heareth them; and they take it very ill if we do but wish them well. Thus it is in every bold presum∣ptuous sinner, even as it was with the Devil; Depuduit. No sooner do they cast themselves down from Heaven, but they cast away all shame, and their Modesty flyeth from them in the very fall, and their Motto is, Tush, God doth not see. And this sure is not to walk with God,* 1.88 but to walk and strut as Nebuchadnezzar did in his palace,* 1.89 This is the palace which I have built; Thus, thus have I done, and who dareth fling a stone at it? to walk as Goliath did, in a coat of brass, and defie the host of Israel,* 1.90 and God himself. Golias in fronte, &c. saith Augustine; Goliath was smitten in the forehead, and so are they. The disease indeed is in the heart, but it hath made an impression and left a mark in the forehead. He that hath forgot to blush, doth not well remember that there is a God who looketh upon him.

Secondly, the Dissembling sinner, the Hypocrite, walketh not with God. For he is but a Player of Religion, and being but a Slave cometh forth a King, and then treadeth his measures, putteth it to the trial whether God hath an eye, whether he will take dross for silver, the superficies for the substance, a Fast for Repentance, a Picture for the New creature. Ar∣chidamus said well of an old man that had died and discoloured his hair, It is not likely he should speak truth, qui mendacium in capite circumfert, who carrieth about with him a lye on his head. Nor can he walk as with his God whose very speach and gesture, whose very look, is a lye. Where there are false lights, there the ware is not warrantable, where there are privy doors, there the Priests will practise collusion,* 1.91 and eat up the Idoles meat. If you see a Labyrinth, it is either to conceal a Strumpet or a Mi∣notaur. That is true of the Hypocrite which the Rabbies conceived of their Priests. He is like an Angel, visible or invisible, as he please. Now this is not to walk with God, but to walk with our Lusts, with our Malice and Covetousness, to look upon them as we should do upon our God, to be careful that they be pleased and satisfied, to reverence them, to follow their behests and commands, to provide that these Horse-leaches be fed, our Lust with Pleasure, and our Covetousness with Gold; for these are the Hypocrites Gods. As for the true God, they leave him behind them, and walk with nothing but his Name.

Thirdly, the Apologizing sinner walketh not with God, but runneth himself into the thicket of excuses, Covereth his transgressions as Adam,* 1.92 and hideth his iniquity in his bosome, covereth himself over with those leaves which have no heat nor solidity in them, but will wither and dye when the Sun sheweth it self, and be scattered before the wind, and leave him naked and miserable. He hath learnt an art (and he may quickly learn that of his Sin, which needeth and teacheth it) pavimentare peccata, (it is S. Augustine's phrase) to smooth and plaster and parget over his de∣formities. He excuseth the breach of one commandment with his zeal to another, his breach of Charity by his love to Faith. He ex∣excuseth his Sacrilege by his hatred of Idolatry, his Malice by his Zeal. He pleadeth Ignorance where there is light enough; Weakness, when he might be strong; Infirmity, where he presumeth; and Willingness, when he had no will: and will not consider that the Devil speaketh by all these as he did to our first Parents by the Serpent: For,* 1.93 This is no sin at all, and, You shall not dye at all, are all one. He speaketh, saith S. Au∣gustine, by the Mathematician, That he sinneth not, but his Star. He speak∣eth by the Manachee, That he sinneth not, but the Prince of darkness. I may add, he speaketh by the Anabaptist, It is not he sinneth, but the Ass his Body;

By the Libertine, That God sinneth in him; and by the Many, That the Devil onely is in fault. If we look upon it well, and send our eye a∣broad into the world, we may peradventure be tempted to think that the World and all that therein is were onely made to yield matter out of which to forge and fashion an excuse. For what is there almost in the world which we do not lay hold on for that end? Adam, the first man, is the first excuse, and we drew it out of his loins; Original sin, and after that the Law, the Flesh, the Will, the Understanding, Sin, Obedience, the Devils, and God himself are forced in to speak for us. What was made the matter of Virtue and Obedience is by us made the matter of excuse. We may be bold to say, This is not to walk with God as if he had an all-seeing eye,* 1.94 but to flutter up and down as the Ra∣ven did upon the waters, from excuse to excuse, but far from God and the Ark; so to walk as if we were quite out of Gods reach and fight.

Last of all, the speculative sinner doth not walk with God. I mean the man that breaketh not out into action, but yet perfecteth his work in his mind. Here the sinner doth that which he never doth, joyneth with that object which he shall never touch, committeth adultery, and yet may be an eunuch, plotteth revenge, and yet never striketh a stroke, graspeth the wealth which he will not labour for, marryeth that Beauty which he saw but once, and shall never see again, acteth over those sins which he shall never bring into act, delighteth in that which he shall never enjoy, robbeth, and slayeth, and rideth in triumph on a thought, and so leaveth his God, who gave him this power and facul∣ty to a better end then to wallow in this mire, and to be enslaved to the drudgery of so vile an imployment. Yet too many are willing to perswade themselves that God neither seeth this nor regardeth it; that a Thought is such Gozamour, of so thin an appearance, that it escapeth the eye, and so they set up a whole family of thoughts in their mind, and dally and delight themselves with them as with their children. And yet this is the ground of all evil, and evil it self, wrought in the Soul, which worketh by its faculties, as the Body doth by its members, the Eye and the Hand. And thus it may beat down Temples, murder men, lay Kingdoms level with the ground. And it groweth and multiplieth, re∣flecteth upon it self with joy and content, & omnia habet peccatoris prae∣ter manus, and hath all that maketh a sinner but Hands. But though Men see not our thoughts (for this is a Royal prerogative) yet they are visible to his eye who is a Spirit. And they that look upon them as bare and naked thoughts, and not as complete works finisht in the soul, know not themselves nor the nature of God, and therefore cannot be said to walk with him.

* 1.95To conclude then; These walk not with God; let us therefore mark and avoid them. The Presumptuous daring sinner walketh not with him, but hideth himself in his Atheistical conceit, That, because Man cannot punish, God doth not see. The Hypocrite cometh forth in a disguise, and acteth his part, and because Men applaud him, thinketh God is of their mind; as the Pantomine in Seneca, who observing the people well pleased with his dancing, did every day go up into the Capitol, and dance before Jupiter, and was perswaded that he was also delighted in him. The Apologizer runneth into the holes and burrows of excuses, and there he is safe; for who shall see him? The Speculative sinner hideth himself and all his thoughts in a thought, in this thought, That Thoughts are so near to nothing that they are invisible, That Sin is not sinful till it speak with the tongue or act with the hand. But the eye of God is brighter

then the Sun, and his eye lids will try the children of men,* 1.96 as the Gold∣smith trieth his gold in the fire, and will find out the dross, which we do not see. And if we will not walk with him, but walk contrary unto him,* 1.97 he will also walk contrary unto us. He will see us, and not see us; know us, and not know us. Habemus nescientem Deum quod tamen non nescit,* 1.98 saith Hilary; God will seem not to know that which he doth know; and his ignorance is not ignorance, but a mystery. For to them who walk not with him humbly now, the Word will be at the last day,* 1.99 I know you not; then God will keep state, and not know and acknowledge them. This pure God will not know the Unclean; this God of truth will not know the Dissembler; this strong and mighty God will bring down the Imperious offender; this Light will examine thoughts, and excuses will fly before it as the mist before the Sun. But then,* 1.100 The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous, saith the Psalmist; and those that do justly, and love Mercy, and walk, as under his all seeing eye, with humility and reverence, he will lead by the hand, go along with them, up∣hold and strengthen them in their walk, shadow them under his wing, and, when their walk is ended, know them, as he did Moses,* 1.101 above all men: And seeing his own marks upon them, beholding (though a weak, yet) the image of his Justice and his Mercy upon them, he will spare them as a father spareth his son that serveth him. He will know them and love them, know them and receive them with an EƲGE, Well done good and faithful servants:* 1.102 You have embraced the Good which I shewed you, done the thing which I required of you; you have dealt justly with your brethren, and I will be just in my promi∣ses; you have shewed Mercy, and Mercy shall crown you; you have walked humbly with me, I will now lift up your heads, and you shall inherit the Kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.* 1.103

Notes

• * 1.1

  Amos 5.24.
• * 1.2

  Deut. 32.2.
• * 1.3

  Amos 5.7.
• * 1.4

  Psal. 116.18.
• * 1.5

  Matth. 6.4.
• * 1.6

  Eccl. 11.1.
• * 1.7

  2 Cor. 10.5. & 12.20.
• * 1.8

  2 Cor. 10.14.
• * 1.9

  Psal. 12.4.
• * 1.10

  Psal. 131 1. Prov. 16.18.
• * 1.11

  Psal. 10.4.
• * 1.12

  Graeci 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ap∣pellant, Arri∣an. in Epict.
• * 1.13

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 10.3.
• * 1.14

  Prov. 2.14.
• * 1.15

  Psal. 10.4.
• * 1.16

  〈…〉〈…〉 22.
• * 1.17

  Matth. 11.29.
• * 1.18

  Rom. 1.28.
• * 1.19

  Jer. 23.29.
• * 1.20

  Rom. 6.12.
• * 1.21

  Naz. orat. 8.
• * 1.22

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Hesych.
• * 1.23

  Eccl. 12.11.
• * 1.24

  1 Cor. 4.8.
• * 1.25

  Gal. 6.3.
• * 1.26

  Nazianz.
• * 1.27

  Rom. 12.3, 16.
• * 1.28

  Hebr. 10.5.
• * 1.29

  Tertull. de Fallio.
• * 1.30

  Ps. 95.6.
• * 1.31

  Orat. 12.
• * 1.32

  Prov. 8.14. Ps. 31.9, 10. & 6.7 & 102.3.4. & 38.6.
• * 1.33

  2 Pet. 2.14.
• * 1.34

  Ps. ••.9. Rom. 3.13.
• * 1.35

  Prov. 10.10.
• * 1.36

  Deut. 27.
• * 1.37

  Rom. 12.1.
• * 1.38

  1 Cor. 6.20;
• * 1.39

  Gen. 17.1. Psal. 119.1, 3. Isa. 2.5.
• * 1.40

  Josh. 1.5.
• * 1.41

  Psal. 123.2.
• * 1.42

  Jer, 23.24. Isa. 66.1. Job 11.8, 9.
• * 1.43

  Acts 17.27, 28
• * 1.44

  Psal. 147.5. Hebr. 4.13.
• * 1.45

  Psal. 14.2. Job 34.21. Jer 16.17.
• * 1.46

  Matth. 14.
• * 1.47

  Rom. 11.33.
• * 1.48

  Exod. 33.23.
• * 1.49

  Acts 12. Dan. 6. Dan. 3. Job 15.15.
• * 1.50

  Ezek. 16.6.
• * 1.51

  Eccl. 23.19.
• * 1.52

  Psal. 2.4.
• * 1.53

  Psal. 104.3.
• * 1.54

  Psal. 18.11.
• * 1.55

  Psal. 139.3.
• * 1.56

  Gen. 18.19.
• * 1.57

  1 Kings 14.13.
• * 1.58

  De Resurr. Carn. c. 38.
• * 1.59

  Psal. 94.9, 10. Psal. 33.15.
• * 1.60

  Hebr. 13.8.
• * 1.61

  Matth. 19.12.
• * 1.62

  Ps. 139.7, &c.
• * 1.63

  1 Thes. 5.7.
• * 1.64

  Job 24.15.
• * 1.65

  Clem. Paedag. 3.
• * 1.66

  Naz. or. 40.
• * 1.67

  Strom. 3.
• * 1.68

  Zech. 5.1.
• * 1.69

  Apuleius.
• * 1.70

  See S••r. 14.
• * 1.71

  Eccl. 23.19.
• * 1.72

  Hieron.
• * 1.73

  Off. 3.
• * 1.74

  Apol. c. 45.
• * 1.75

  Psal. 29.5.
• * 1.76

  1 Tim. 4.2.
• * 1.77

  1 Cor. 8.12.
• * 1.78

  1 Thes. 4.6.
• * 1.79

  Lev. 19.18.
• * 1.80

  Matth. 19.19.
• * 1.81

  Hebr. 11.1.
• * 1.82

  Matth. 17.20.
• * 1.83

  Phil. 3.18.
• * 1.84

  Zech. 7.12, Isa. 3.9.
• * 1.85

  1 Tim. 1.19.
• * 1.86

  Jer. 8.12. Eph. 4.18.
• * 1.87

  Acts 25.23. Dan. 3.1.
• * 1.88

  Psal. 94.7.
• * 1.89

  Dan. 4.30.
• * 1.90

  1 Sam. 17.
• * 1.91

  Bell & Dr. v. 21.
• * 1.92

  Job 31.33.
• * 1.93

  Gen. 3.4.
• * 1.94

  Gen. 8.7.
• * 1.95

  Rom. 16.17.
• * 1.96

  Psal. 11 4,
• * 1.97

  Lev 26 21, 23 &c.
• * 1.98

  l. 9. de Trin.
• * 1.99

  Matth. 25.12.
• * 1.100

  Psal. 1.6.
• * 1.101

  Exod 33. Numb 12. Mal. 3, 17,
• * 1.102

  Matth. 25.21, 23.
• * 1.103

  Matth. 29.34.