XXX sermons lately preached at the parish church of Saint Mary Magdalen Milkstreet, London to which is annexed, A sermon preached at the funerall of George Whitmore, Knight, sometime Lord Mayor of the City / by Anthony Farindon.

[illustration] blazon or royal coat of arms of England and Wales

HONI •…•…T QVI MAL Y PENSE

The Six and Twentieth SERMON.

PART VI.

MICAH 6.8.

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

WE have already gathered fruit from two of the Branches 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, and righteousnesse as a mighty streame as the Prophet speaks: we have seen Mercy dropping as the dew on the tender herbs, and rain upon the grasse. We have beheld Justice filling the hand, and Mercy open∣ing it; Justice fitting and preparing the hand to give, and Mercy stretching it forth to clothe the naked, and fill the hungry with good things; Justice gathering, 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 wants it.

We must now lay hold on the third, which shadows both the rest from those blasts which may wither them; Those stormes and temptations which may shake and bruise them: from Covetousnesse, Ambition, Pride, Self-love, Self-deceit, Hypocrisy, which turne Justice into gall and worme-wood, and eat out the very bowells of Mercy. For our reverent and humble deportment with God is the mother of all good counsel, the guard and defence of all holy du∣ties and the mistris of innocency: By this the Just and Mercifull man lives, and moves, and hath his being; his whole life is an hum∣ble deportment with God; every motion of his is humility; I may say, his very essence is humility; for he gathers not, he scatters not, but as in his eye and sight. When he fills his garners, and when he empties them, he doth it as under that all-seeing eye, which sees not onely what he doth, but what he thinks. In this the Christian moves, & walks with 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 eares, but to his voice; not opening his hand, but in his name; not giving his Almes, but as in the pre∣sence of his Father, which seeth in secret, and so doing what he re∣quires, with feare and trembling. This spreads and diffuseth it self through every veine and branch, through every part and duty of his life. When he sits in judgement, humility gives the sentence; when he trafficks, humility makes the bargain; when he casts his bread upon the waters, his hand is guided by humility; when he bowes and falls down before his God, humility conceives the prayer; when he fasts, humility is in Capite Iejunii, and begins the fast; when he exhorts, humility breaths it forth; when he instructs, hu∣mility dictates; when he corrects, humility makes the rod: what∣soever he doth, he does as before, or under, or with the Lord: hu∣mility is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all in all. In a word; Singularum virtutum pro∣prii actus, say the Schooles; virtues both morall and Theologicall, like the celestiall Orbs, have their peculiar motion proceeding from their distinct Habits and Formes; but humility is the intelligence which keeps and perpetuates that motion, as those orbs are said to have their motion held up and regulated by some assistent forme 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 consists. And indeed we look upon humility as we do upon a picture, mirantur omnes divinam formam, sed ut simulachrum fabre politum mirantur omnes, as Apuleius speaks of his Psyche. Every man doth much admire it as a beautifull piece, but it is as men admire a well-wrought statue, or picture; every man likes it, but (which was the

lot of his Psyche) no man loves it, no man wooes it, no man desires to take her to his wife.

Yet it will not be amisse to give you a short view of her. And the Orator will tell us, Virtutis laus omnis in actione consistit, Every vertue is commended by its proper act and operation, and is then actually, when it works; Temperance doth bind the appetite; liberality open the hand; modesty compose the countenance; valour guard the heart, and work out its contrary out of the mind; and Humility eve∣ry thing that riseth up; every swelling and tumour of the soule, which are called by the Apostle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 2 Cor. 12.20. 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 lifting up of the mind above it self, the stretching of it beyond its measure, 2 Cor. 10.14. setting it up against the Law, against our brethren, against God himself; 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 sinne, and excuse it; making our tongues our own, our hands our own, our understandings our own, our wills our own; leaving us independents, under no Law but our own: The Prophet David calls it the highnesse or haughtinesse of the heart, Ps. 131. Solomon, the haughtinesse of the spirit, Prov. 16.18. which is visible in our sinne, and visible in our Aplogies for sinne; lifting up the eyes, and lifting up the nose (for so the phrase signifies) Ps. 10.4. lifting up the head, making our necks brasse, as if we had devoured a spit, as Epictetus expresses it; I am and I alone, * 1.1 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 neighbour, 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 mention of it. Habet mens nostra sub∣lime quiddam, & impatiens superioris, saith the Orator; mens minds naturally are lifted up, and cannot endure to be overlookt. Humi∣lity? 'Tis well we can heare her named with patience; it is some∣thing more, that we can commend her: but, quale monstrum? quale sacrilegium? saith the Father; O monstrous sacriledg! we com∣mend humility, and that we do so, swells us; we shut her out of doores, when we entertain her; when we deck her with praises, we sacrilegiously spoile her, and even lose her in our Panegyricks and commendations. We see (for it is but too visible) what light materialls 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 excell either in virtue or learning, to say, they are proud, and they think weith that breath to levell every hill that

riseth so high, and calls so many eyes to look upon it: But suppose they were; alas, 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 himself, 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 ceruse and paint, any thing, nothing will do it. Nay, to descend yet lower, That which is worse then nothing will do it; wickednesse will do it: He boasteth of his hearts desire, saith David, Ps. 10.3. he blesseth himself in evil; he rejoyceth in evil, saith Solomon, Prov. 2.14. he pleaseth and flattereth himself in mischif: And what are these benedictions, these boastings, these triumphs in evil, but as the breathings, the sparkles, the proclamations of pride? The wicked is so proud, he careth not for God, he is not in all his waies. When Adam by pride was risen so high as to fall from his obedi∣ence, God looks upon him in this his exaltation, or rather in this ruine, and beholds him not as his creature, but as a prodigie, and seemes to put on admiration; Ecce! Adam factus tanquam unus è nobis; See, the man is become like unto us, and he speaks 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, immortall, of singu∣lar endowments, and he was so truly and really; but now having swelled, and reach'd beyond his bounds, a God he is, but per my∣cterismum, a God that may be pitied, that may be derided, a mor∣tall, dying God, a God that will run into a thicket to hide himself: His greatnesse is but figurative, but his misery is reall; being turn∣ed out of Paradise, hath nothing left but his fancy to Deifie him. This is our case, and our Teeth are on edge with the same sowre grapes: we are proud, and sinne, and are proud in our sinnes: 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 greatnesse is but a tale, a plea∣sing lye, our sins and imperfections true and reall; our Heaven but a thought, and our hell, burning: a strange soloecisme; a look as high as heaven, and the soule as low as the lowest pit. It was an usuall speech with Martin Luther, That every man was born with a Pope in his belly; & we know what the Pope hath long challeng'd and appropriated to himself, Infallibility & Supremacy, which like the two sides of an Arch mutually uphold each other: for doe we question his Immunity from Errour? it is a bold errour in us; for he is supreme Judge of Con∣troversies. And the Conjecture is easie which way the question will be stated. Can we not be perswaded and yield to his supremacy? then his Parasites will tell you that he is Infallible; by this we may well guesse what Luther meant; for so it is in us, Pride makes 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 worme swells into an Angel: The heart forgets it is flesh, and becomes a stone; and you cannot set Christs Impresse, Humility, upon a stone. Learne of me, for I am humble; The eare is deafe, and the heart stubborne; the mind 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Saint Paul; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Theodoret, a reprobate, re∣verberating mind, a heart of marble, which violently beats back the blow that should soften it.

Now the office of humility is to abate this swelling; Its pro∣per work is to hammer this rock, and break it to pieces, Jer. 23.29. 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, and let out this corrupt blood, and this noxious humour, and so sacrifice it to that God that framed it. In a word, depressing it in it self, that it be not too wise, 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 vanities which will soon fill it with aire, and swell it. This is the method, and this is the work of humi∣lity; It pulls out our eyes, that we may see; spoiles us of our wealth, that we may be rich; takes us out the raies, that we may have light; takes us from our selves, that we may possesse our selves; bids us depart from God, that we may enjoy him. This is Janitrix scholae Christi, faith Bernard; for when we bow, and lye prostrate, we are let in. This is as Saint John Baptist to prepare the way, to make every mountain low, and the rough places plaine; to depresse a lofty head, and sink a haughty eye, and beat down a swel∣ling heart. In a word, this is the best Leveller in the world, and there need none but this.

Wee see then in what humility consists; 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 wis∣dome, bowing to him when he helps us, and bowing to him when he strikes us; denying ourselves, surrendring our selves, being no∣thing in our selves, and all things in him. Which will more plain∣ly appeare in the extent of this duty, which reacheth the whole man, both body and soul. It was the speech of Saint Austin, Domi∣ne duo creasti, alterum propete, alterum prope nihil, Lord thou hast made two things in the world, one neere unto thy self, divine and celestiall, 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 sinne, and therefore of humility. Let not sinne reign in your mortall bodies, Rom. 6.12. but let humility depose, and pluck it

from its throne: Ind delinquit homo unde constat, saith Tertullian, from thence sinne is, from whence we are; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Na∣zianzen, with our selves we fight against our selves; we carry a∣bout with us those forces which beset us; we are that Army which is in battell aray against us;

—videas concurrere Bellum Atque virum—

Our enemies are domestick, at home within us; and a tumult must be laid where first 'twas raised. Between them both, saith the same Father, * 1.2 there is a kind of warlike opposition, and they doe 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as it were pitch their Tents one against the other; when the body prevailes, the soul is lost; and when the body is at the lowest, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, then is the soul is high as heaven; and when the soul is sick, even bedrid with sinne, then the body is most active, as a wild Asse, or wanton Heifer. In both there is matter for humility to work on; * 1.3 In both there are excrescences and extuberations to be lopt off and abated; the body must he used as an enemy, (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Saint Paul, I buffet it, I beat it black and blew, I handle it as a Rebell, 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 cap∣tive, like a slave after conquest.) And the soul to be checked, con∣tracted, and depressed in it self, ne in multa diffluat, that it spread not, nor diffuse it self on variety of objects: It must not be dimi∣diata humilitas, an humility by halves, but Holocaustum, a whole burnt-offering, both body and soul wasting and consuming all their drosse in this Holy Conflagration. I know not how, good duties are either shrunk up in the conveyance, not drove home by the Masters of the Assembly, or else taken into pieces in the perfor∣mance. Doth God proclaime a Fast? See, the head hangs down, the look 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 others, as proud as they. If we can conceive an Humiliation, and draw forth its picture but in our fancy; 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 expresse it, so full of contradictions is Hypo∣crisie, (and what a huge 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and gulph is there between Hypocri∣sie and Humility?) so reaching at Impossibilities, which may draw Pride and Humility together to be one and the same, which yet are at greater distance one from the other, then the Earth is from the Heaven. And thus we divide Humility, nay thus we divide our selves from our selves, our soules from our bodies; either our Hu∣mility is so spirituall that we cannot see it, neither dropping at the eyes, nor changing the countenance, nor bowing the knees; nor

heare it in complaints, and grones, and roarings, which were wont to be the language of humility; or so corporeall, 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 tyes them both together; and my Humility lasts no longer then whilst I am one of both. Whilst then we are so, let us give him both, and first the Soule. For there is no vice so dangerous, or to which we are more subject, then spirituall pride. Other vices proceed from some defect in us, or some sinfull imbecillity of nature, but this many times ariseth out of our good parts; Others fly from the presence of God, this dares him to his face, and makes even Ruine it self the Foundation of its Tabernacle. Intestinum malum periculosius, The more neere the evil cleaves to the soule, the more dangerous it is; the more inward, the more fatall. I may wean my self from the world, and fling off vanity; I may take off my soul from sensible ob∣jects; I may deny my appetite, I may shut up my eye, I may bind my hands; I may study pleasure so long, till I truly understand it, and know it is but madnesse; and the world, till I contemn it; but Pride ultima exuitur, is the last garment which 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 pla∣ced in the soul as a Canopy covering and shadowing both the facul∣ties, binding and moderating the understanding, and subduing the will; and whilest they sit under humility, they sit in state; the under∣standing is crowned with raies and light, and the will commands just things, as from its Throne; never imploys the eye or hand in any office for which the one should be pluckt out, and the other cut off, but are both in their highest exaltation, being both now under the will of God. Our understanding many times walks in things too high for it, yet thinks she is above them; and our will inclines (and that too oft) to things forbidden, because they are so; cannot endure the check and restraint of a command, which it breaks under that name; the two greatest evils under the Sunne, we are too wise, and we are too willfull. Now the pride of our will is quickly seen, and therefore the more curable; It shewes it self in the wild irregular motions of the outward man; If lifts up the hand, it moves the tongue, it rowles the eye, it paints it self upon the very countenance, either in smiles or frownes, either in cheerfulnesse or terror; It is visible in each motion, and there be Lawes to check and curb it, that it may not be so troublesome and destructive as otherwise it would be; but quae latent nocent, The serpent at the heele, an over-weening 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? Benè sapimus in causa nostra, we are wise in our own cause; we have dig'd 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, now we reigne as kings, and carry all before us; we controll the weak with our power; the ignorant with our knowledge; the poore with our wealth; the simple with our wisdome; and confute our selves with our own arguments, and are poore, because we are so rich; are decei∣ved, because we are so wise; can do little, because we can do so much; 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 wheresoever 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 something else which is nothing like it. We conceive the world is shaken and out of order, and we put forth our hand to beare up the pillars of it. We form Common-wealths, we square out one by another, and know the dimensions of neither. We modell Churches, draw out their Government, that is, make a coat for the moon: we make a Church, and clothe it with our fancy; 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 worne 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 dreame? why should we thus disquiet our selves in vaine, and busie our selves, and trouble others, to build up that to which we can contribute no more, then a poore, 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 uselesse unregarded 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; and so we shall have many more, and none at all, be ever chusing, ever changing, even to the end of the world. This is it which hath divided Christi∣ans, which have but one name, and given them so many, that it will cost us labour and study but to number them: This rends the Church with Schisme; for men that will not be confined, are ever asking how they should be governed; and they are busiest to que∣stion the present form of discipline, who would have none: and if you observe the behaviour of the Schismatick, 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 discovers, and determines all things; so dan∣gerous is this spirituall pride both to our selves and others. Nor is the high conceit of our own perfections and holinesse lesse dange∣rous, but most fatall to our selves; For that he aven which we draw out in our fancy, hath no more light and joy in it, then the region of darknesse; 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 chaffe. We think our selves to be some∣thing, as the Apostle speaks, Gal. 6. and we are nothing, and are de∣ceived; pride is but a thought, and pride is folly; now we are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, more regular then the rule, more exact then the Law, * 1.4 more bright then light, above the command; not to believe us is infidelity; not to obey us is a kind of rebellion; not to admire us is profanenesse; not to joyne with us is schisme; 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 dreame out the tem∣pest; we may be Adulterers, Murderers, Traytors, and the Favou∣rites of God; we may be men after Gods own heart, and yet do what his soul hateth: All our sinnes are veniall, though never so great; our sinnes 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 imagina∣tion hath raised us, and from this we fall, and are lost for ever.

And therefore it will concern us to captivate both, both our un∣derstanding and our will; not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, not to be over-wise, not to be wise in our own conceits, Rom. 12.16. not to be such Gnosticks, not to seem to know what we do not; nay sometimes not to seem to know what we do know; and this will defend us from Errour, and our Brethren from offence: and then to subdue our will to our reason and the rule, to subject our will against our naturall de∣sire and inclination to the will of God; ad nutum ejus nutu citiùs obe∣dire, 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 doe what thou wouldst, but to obey in what thou wouldst not, and which the flesh shrinks from, which is the crown and perfection of Obedience, put on by the hand of Humility.

And this is the Humility of the Soule: But is this enough? No, * 1.5 Corpus aptâ sti mihi, A body hast thou prepared me. God sees thy Bo∣dy as well as thy Soul, and will have the knee, the tongue, the eye, the countenance, Auditur Philosophus dum videtur; the Philosopher, and so the Christian, is heard when he is seen. Thou art to walk with

him, or before him. Come, saith David, Let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. Then you may best take Humi∣litie's picture, when the Body is on the ground; you may mark her how she bowes it down, watch her in a teare, 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 vertue; when Humility came forth in this dresse, multo deformata pulvere, with ashes sprinkled on her head, her garments rent, like a Penitentiary: You might have beheld her kissing the chains of imprison'd Martyrs, washing the feet of Lazars, wallowing at the Temple doores, begging the prayers of the Saints; you might have seen her rent, and torn, stript and naked, the haire neglected, the eye hollow, the body withered, the feet bare, and the knees of horn, as Nazianzen describes it in his 12. Oration. Then we humility not sunk into the soul, but written and engra∣ven in the body in Capitall 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, hath bracelets on her Armes, and rich Diamonds on her Head: we have fed her daintily, and set her upon her feet. Walk humbly; that we can without hat or knee, with a merry and lofty countenance, with a face set by our Ambi∣tion, and even speaking our Pride and Scorn; and we appeare in the service of God, as in a thing below us and which we Honour with our Presence: Humility with an Humble look, a bowed knee, a Bare Head, a Composed Countenance? away with it, It is Idola∣try and Superstition. But let us not deceive our selves; God hates the visor of humility, but not her face; If she borrow from art and the pencill, she is deformed, but appearing in her own likenesse, in that dresse; which God himself hath put her in, she is lovely, and shines upon those duties in which we are imployed, and makes them so delightfull to behold. 'Tis true, the thought may knock at heaven, when the body is on the ground; and when that's shut up between two walls, may measure out a Kingdome; and the whole world may be too narrow for an Anchoret: but it is as true, That humility never seized on the mind, but it draws the body after it; If I lose my friend, my look will tell you he is gone. If a robber spoil all that I have, there is a kind of devastation of the counte∣nance, but a wounded spirit who can beare? If thy soul be truly humble, thy bones will consume, and thy marrow waste, as David speaks, Thy eye wax old, and thou wilt forget to eat thy bread; thou wilt goe heavily all the day long. Think what we will, pretend what we can, flatter our selves as we please, I shall assoone believe him chast, whose eyes are full of Adulteries, or who will sell a copyhold to buy Aretines pictures; I shall as soon think him modest, whose mouth is an open sepulchre; him charitable, who will sooner eat up

twenty poore 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 neglectfull deportment, and humility; for I cannot imagine, nor can any man give me a reason, why every. Pas∣sion, nay, why every vice should shew it self in the outward man, totâ corpulentiâ, as the Father speaks, in its full proportion and di∣mensions; That Anger should shake the lips, and set the teeth, and dye the face sometimes with white sometimes with red; that sor∣row should make men put on sackcloth, rend their garments, beat their heads against the walls, as Augustus did for the defeat and losse of Varus; that even dissimulation it self should betray it self by the winking of the eye, Prov. 10.10. That every vice and virtue should one way or other open it self, and even speak to the eye, onely De∣votion and Humility should sink in, and withdraw it self, lurke 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 sinne 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 Da∣gon. Reason and Religion help us, and destroy every Altar, and break down every image, and burn it with fire, and chase and banish all superstition from the face of the earth. And let all the people say Amen. But, God forbid, that reverence, and those motions and ex∣pressions of humility which are the works and language of the heart, should be swept out together with the rubbish; that the wind which drives out superstition, should leave an open way for Profanenesse and Atheisme 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 soules a living sacrifice, glorifying God in every motion of it, as as we do in every conception of our mind, Rom. 12.1. 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 obligation, 1 Cor. 6.20. Ye are bought with a price, This is the Antecedent; and then it follows necessarily, therefore glorifie God in your bodies and your spi∣rits, which are Gods.

But this may seem too generall; yet if we know what humility is, we shall the better see how to walk humbly with our God; but we will draw it neerer, and be more particular. And indeed, to walk humbly with our God, and to walk before him, Gen. 17.1. to walk in his statutes, Psal. 119.1. to walk in the light of the Lord, Is. 2.5. to walk as in his sight, differ not in signification, nor present unto our un∣derstandings diverse things. For all speake but this, to walk as in his presence, to walk as if he were a neer spectator, as if he were vi∣sible

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, an eye-witnesse of all our Actions; to curb our fancy, keep our tongue, be afraid of every Action, up∣on this certain perswasion, That God is at hand. For as God is Ema∣nuel, God with us, when he blesseth us and doth us good, so do we walk with God when we blesse him, and do our duties. As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee, saith God to Joshuah, Joshuah. 5. Then God is with us when he strengthneth our hands, when he shadows us under his wing, when he poureth forth his graces upon us; and then we walk with him when we bowe before him, use all the faculties of our soules, and move every member of our bodies as his, and as in his sight; when we devote our selves to him alone; when our eye looks 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 meaning of the words; we shall draw all within the compasse of these considerations; first, That God hath an all-seeing eye, That he sees all ad Nudum, as the Schooles speak, naked as they are, surveys our Actions, heares our words, and searcheth the very inwards of the heart: secondly, That truly to believe this is the best preservative of the other two; the best meanes to establish Justice, and uphold Mercy in us; to keep us in an even and unerring course of obedience: for will any man of∣fend his God in his very eye? And in the third place, we shall dis∣cover and point out those who do not thus walk with God, but walk in the haughtinesse, and deceitfulnesse of their hearts, as if God had neither eye to see, nor eare to heare, nor hand to punish them, that we may mark and avoid them; and this shall serve for use and application. What doth God require?

—to walk humbly with thy God.

And first, That we may walk humbly with our God, this must be laid as a foundation to build upon, as the primum movens, as the which first sets us a walking, and puts us into this carefull and hum∣ble 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 eve∣ry 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 that knowledge, of which we are not capa∣ble? we read, That he filleth the earth and the heaven, Jer. 23.24. That heaven is his Throne, and the earth his footstoole, Is. 66.1. That he is higher then heaven, and deeper then hell, and longer then the earth, and broader then the sea, Job 11.7,8,9. That he is not far from every

one of us, That in him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17.27,28. That his understanding is infinite, Psal. 147.5. 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 entrailes of a beast cut down in the back, for sacrifice, Heb. 4.13. That he looks down from heaven on the children of men. Psal. 142. That his eyes are open upon all their waies; That neither they, nor their Imquity are hid from his face; & hoc satis 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 Saint Augustine, Forsitan nec ipse Johannes dicit de Deo, ut est, Saint John was as an eagle, and flew aloft, to a higher pitch then the rest, but could not soare 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 heare. 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, sees all the levell, even the whole country which is about him: So it stands betwixt us mortalls and our incomprehensible God; we that live in this world, are confined as it were into 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 providence foresees, when the eye thereof is cleerest, is ful of uncertainty, as depending upon causes which may not work, or if they do, by the intervening of some crosse accident, may faile. But God, who is that supreme and sublime light, and by reason of his wonderfull nature so high exalted, as from some exceeding high mountain sees all men at once, all Actions, all Casualties present and to come, and with one cast of his eye measures them all. This we are told, and 'tis e∣nough 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 sees all things, knows all things; that he is Just, and wise, and Omnipotent: and here we may walk with safety, for the ground is firm under us; upon this we may build up our selves in our Holy Faith; upon this we may build up our Love, which alwaies eyes him; our honour to him, which e∣ver bowes before him; our patience, which beares every burden, as if we saw him laying it on; our feare, to which every place is as mount Sinai, where it trembles before him; our hope, which layes hold on him, as if he were present in all the hardship we undergoe; our obedience, which alwaies works as in his eye; to venture fur∣ther, is to venture as Peter did upon the Sea, 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 bottome, and be lost in

that which is past finding out; for this is the just punishment of our bold, and too forward curiosity; It works on busily, and presseth forward with great earnestnesse to see it self defeated; loseth that which it might grasp, and findeth nothing.

It is enough for us to see the back parts of God, that is, as much as he is pleased to shew us; and the want of this moderation hath oc∣casioned many grosse errours in the Church of Christ (for what can curiosity bring forth but monsters?) The Anomaei 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. A∣gainst these Saint Chrysostom wrote. The Manichees confined him to a place, and these Saint Austin confutes. Others took upon them to qualifie and reforme this speech, God is in every place, by changing the preposition In into Cum, God is with every place. O∣thers conclude that the essence of God is most properly in heaven; 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 footstoole; 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 entertain in a Cottage, but in a Palace; nor can his Majesty gather soyl by intermingling it self with the things of the earth (a most carnall conceit) for the very Poet will tell us, Tangere & tangi nisi cor∣pus nulla potest res. That nothing but a body can be touch'd, much lesse defiled. We cannot think the Angel impaired his beauty by being in prison with Peter, or in the den with Daniel, unlesse we will say he was scorch't 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 Job, c. 15. yet he remains, saith the Father, pure 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in a most wonderfull exuberance, beyond all Hyperbole; No pitch can defile him, no sinne pollute him; No deformity on earth can sully his beauty. Our cursed oathes do even blast his name, yet his name is the same, the Holy of Holyes; his eyes beheld us weltring in our blood, yet they are ten thousand times brighter then the sunne; and therefore he is truly called Actus primus, an act or essence, as free from contagion, as compositi∣on. We take perfection from, him he receives no imperfection from us; he sits in heaven, yet his Majesty is not increased; he walks on the earth, yet his Majesty is not diminished; he rides on the wings of the wind, yet his Majesty and glory is still the same. He is in dark∣nesse, makes darknesse a Pavillion round about 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 contain him; he

is every where, because no body, no place, no substance whatso∣ever can exclude him. And as he is present with us, and about our paths, so he sees and knows every motion and action of ours. Our inclinations, our thoughts, when they are risen, whilest they were arising, before there was either object or opportunity to raise them, or any temptation to draw them up. He sees our habits, our vices and virtues, before we ventured on that action which did lead the way and begin them; I know him, saith God of Abraham, Gen. 18.19. and that he will do Justice and Judgement. He knows our dispositions. And found some good thing in Jeroboams child, 1 Kings 14.13. He sees 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 yeares? how many crosse actions? how many contingencies? what numberlesse swarms of thoughts inconsistent, and not understood, and yet con∣current and introductory to that which was foretold, came between the prophesie and the fullfilling 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 foretells the succession of the Monarchies, the division of Alexanders kingdomes, the ruine of the Jews, and that so plainly, that Prophyry, a great enemy to the Christians, to disgrace and put it off, said, That it was a discourse much like Lycophrons Cas∣sandra, written after the things were done, and so publisht to caiol and deceive the people, who are soon pleased, & so, soon taken with a cheat. Malè nôrunt Deum, qui non putant illum posse quod non putant, * 1.6 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 can∣not think. For he that made the eye, shall not he see? He that teach∣eth man knowledge, shall not he know? Psal. 94.9,10. He that fashio∣neth the heart, shall not he consider all our works? Psal. 33.15. He sees us when we fall down before him, he sees us when we harden our faces; and he sees us in our teares, and he sees us in our blood, and yet he remaines yesterday, 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 infinite 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 de∣bate in the City, and yet be peaceable; I may heare blasphemy, and yet tremble at Gods name: For sinne doth not pollute as it is in the understanding, but in the will; not as it is known, but as it is embraced; and not by any physicall, but a morall contagion, which first infects the will alone. If the bare knowledge of evil could pollute, then he that makes himself an Eunuch for the kingdome

of heaven, may be an Adulterer, and the Judge that sits to condemn the sinne, 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, that more subtile and intricate disputes, (and there be too many, for men are never weary of doing nothing) that which hath been spo∣ken is as plain as necessary, and no man can take it as a thing out of his sphere and reach. Let us passe to that which we propo∣sed in the second place, and for which we proposed this of the Omnipresence and Omniscience of God. For the consideration of this is the best preservative of Mercy, and Pillar to uphold Justice; Septum Legis, a fence, a hedge set about the Law, that no unclean beast be so bold to break in, and come so neer as to touch it. The Prophet David makes this use of it, Psal. 139.7. Quò ibo à spiritu? 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 walks with us that he sees and observes us, that whatever we do or think lyes open to the view and survey of that all-seeing eye. For secresie is the nurse of sinne; that is done often which is done without witnesse, and done with more delight, in a kind of pride and triumph, where there is the least feare of discovery. They that are drunk are drunk in the night, and the twilight is the Adulterers season: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Pindarus. * 1.7 Drunkennesse, Uncleannesse, Re∣velling, are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nazianzen, are the thefts of the night, by which we would steale and convey our sinne from the Sun and the people. * 1.8 And Clemens observes it of the Gnosticks, That they professe themselves to be the Sonnes of God, * 1.9 but as the Sonnes 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 feare 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 streame of light ushers in a work of darknesse; what a goodly preface we have to a flying book of curses; what a faire frontispiece to a Beth-aven, a house of vanity; and then when their lust, which conceived with so much art and concealment, hath brought forth that sinne 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 'tis done they hide it; a child of darknesse it was in the conception, and now 'tis

brought forth, it is a child of darknesse. For the most part, we bid defiance to sinne in publick, and meet and joyne 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: * 1.10 Quod nemo novit penè non fit, what no man knows is as if it were not done at all; and such is our folly and madnesse, to think to make our selves as invisible as God, and that he sees not us because we see not him, as Tully spake of some Philosophers, quia animo videre non poterant, omnia ad oculos referebant, when they saw so little with their intellectuall eye, they referred all to their sence, and would believe nothing but what they had an ocular demonstration for. * 1.11 And we because the eye of our faith is dull and heavy, and neere put out, and do not discerne that eye which is ten thousand times brighter then the Sun, think there is no other eye but that of flesh, which if we can lye hid from, we are Securi adversus Deos ho∣minesque, we are secure 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 trumpet; when we fast, our countenance must proclaim it, and though we lye on the ground, yet are we on the house-top; when we have fought it out, and with∣stood and conquered a temptation, * 1.12 Difficile est Deo tantum 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 prevaile, 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 perswasion that we walk with God, and that he sees us? For if any thing 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 wis∣dome, and diligence, and providence which can possesse the largest hearts, yet have not strength enough to levell our wayes, or make our paths straight: nor doe 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 doe they censure our wills, but our deeds; they punish offences, and take away de∣ceit, injustice, and cruelty, quatenus tenere manu res possunt, so far forth as they are within their hand and reach, saith Tully: * 1.13 But the Law of God reacheth the inward man, curbs and bounds the extravagancies of our thoughts, which are as opposite to that order and policy

which God hath set up amongst men, to bring them to happinesse, as the foulest Disorders, Murders, Adulteries, Rebellion, can be to the peace of a Temporall Kingdome.

Again, though the Laws of men carry some terrour with them, yet as Aeneas Sylvius speaks of the low esteem they of Vienna had of Excommunications, Tantum terrent quantum infamant, aut damno temporali sunt, Their terror is no more, then the smart, and losse, and infamy they bring; and though they be surda res, deaf and inex∣orable, yet a Bribe will not onely blind the eyes, but change the countenance and voice of him that should keep them; and this leaves them weak and invalid to prevent or remove those irregularities which they threaten, but in vain, being in those hands which are open for a bribe, and then bind them up. Tertullian hath well obser∣ved, That the providence and authority of men in this doe 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, * 1.14 their wisdome as subject to errour, as their power to a baffle; the one may be deluded, and the other restrained; and both Omri and his statutes may be trod under foot. When we walk under the Lawes 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 Lawes 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 sees every event; whose eye is ever open, whose hand is ever stretched out, and whose voice breaketh the Cedars of Libanus.

But now, secondly: as the Lawes of men do not so awe and re∣gulate 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 understanding, as Damascen calls the con∣science, command or confine us in our walk; sometimes we glosse it, sometimes we slight it, sometimes we silence it, and some there be that seale it up, and seare it, as Saint Paul speaks, as with a hot Iron. If it speake to us we are deafe; 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 Saint Paul, beat and wound it more and more: multi famam, 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 heare it, and we tremble; we are led like fooles with melody to the stocks; what others say is our motion, and turnes us about to any point, but when we speak to our selves we heare it, but believe it not, fling it by and forget it.

The voice of conscience is, defraud not your brother; nay, but we will over-reach him: the voice of conscience is, Love thy neighbour as thy self; nay, but we will oppresse him; the voice of conscience is, Love Mercy; nay, but we will love our selves: what we speak to our selves, our selves soon make hereticall. 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 in∣visible as we can that we may commit it? what a sin is unclean∣nesse 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 whips the theef, and hangs the murderer, and indeed whips and hangs himself by a Proxie. So that we see, nei∣ther the power of the Laws, nor the respect and obedience we owe to our selves, are of any great force to prevaile 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 eare to our selves? This might do much more; but we see the practice of it is very rare and unusuall; That there is little hope that it will compleat and perfect our walk, and make us Just and Mercifull men, which is here required. 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 makes is infi∣nitely and incomparably more cleare and certain then that which we make by our sences; that we do not see our friend so plain as he seeth our hearts; that thou seest not the birds fly in the ayre so distinctly as he sees thy thoughts fly about the world, to those seve∣rall objects which we have set up for our delight; that he sees, and observes that irregularity and deformity in our actions, which is hid from our eyes when our intention is serious, and our search most accurate. Yet neverthelesse, though being as we are in the flesh, and so led by sence, were this belief rooted and confirmed in us, That he did but see us, as man sees us or were this as evident to our faith, as that is to our sence, we should be more watchfull over our selves, more wary of the divels snares and baits then we commonly are; magna necessitas indicta pietatis, &c. saith Hilary, * 1.15 for there is a necessity laid upon us of feare and reverence, and circumspection, when we know and believe, That he now stands by as a witnesse who will come again and be our Judge. What a Paradise would the world be? what a heaven would there be upon earth, if this were gene∣rally and stedfastly beleived? Glorious things are spoken of faith, we call it a full assent; we call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 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 he is present with us, and sees what we do or think, as firmly as we do a story out of our own Chronicles; nay, as many times we do be∣lieve a lye; would our faith were but as a grain of mustard-seed; e∣ven 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 would run from as from serpents, as from the divel himself, if we could fully perswade our selves that a God of wisdome and Po∣wer were so neer.

And now in the last place; Let us cast a look upon those who for want of this perswasion, doe walk on in the haughtinesse of their hearts, and neither bowe to the Laws of God or men, nor hearken to the Law within them; which notwithstanding could not be in them, were not this bright Eye and powerfull Hand over them. And this may serve for Use and Application.

Many walk, saith Saint 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 walks not with God, who hath first hardened his heart, and then his face as Adamant; whose very coun∣tenance doth witnesse against him; who declares his sins as Sodome and hides them not; and they who first contemn themselves, and then scornfully reject 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 himself; first lose their reason in their lusts, and then their modesty, which is the onely good thing that can find a place in evil: who doe that upon the open stage, which they did at first but behind the curtain; who first make shipwrack of a good conscience, and then with the swelling salies of Impudence, hasten to that point and haven which their boundlesse lusts have made choice of, as we should doe to eternall happinesse, per calca∣tum patrem, as Saint Jerome speaks, over Father and Mother, over all Relations, and Religion it self; forsake all these, not for Christs sake and the Gospel, but for Mammon and the world. What foule pollutions, that grinding and cruell oppressions, what open profane∣nesse have there been in the world? and we may ask wit the Pro∣phet Ieremiah, cap. 8.12. Confusi sunt? Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? Nay, they were not ashamed, neither could they have any shame, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Ephes. 4.18. for the hardnesse and blindnesse 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, 〈 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 Cubits high, to be seen of all; boast of their Atheisme, and look down upon them with a contemptuous pity, as shallow, weak men, who goe about to perswade such men as they, of quick and search∣ing wits, that there is a God who both sees and heares them; and take it very ill, if we doe but wish them well. Thus it is in every bold presumptuous sinner even as it was with the Devil, Depuduit, no sooner doe they cast themselves down from Heaven, but they cast away all shame, and their modesty flyes from them in the very fall, and their Motto is, Tush, God doth not see; And this sure is not to walk with God, but to walk and strut as Nebuchadnezzar did in his Palace, This is the Palace which I have built: Thus, thus have I done, and who dares fling a stone at it? To walk as Goliah did, in a coat of Brasse, and defie the Host of Israel, and God himself. Golias in fronte, &c. saith Austin; Golias was smote 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 looks up∣on him.

Secondy, the dissembling sinner, the Hypocrite walks not with God: for he is but a Player of Religion, and being but a Slave, comes forth a King, and then treads his measures, puts it to the triall whe∣ther God hath an eye, whether he will take drosse for silver, a super∣ficies for a substance, a Fast for Repentance, a picture for the new creature. Archidamus said well of an old man, that had died and dis∣coloured his haire, 'Tis not likely he should speak truth, qui menda∣cium in capite circumfert, who carries about with him a lye on his head; nor can he walk as with his God, whose very speech and ge∣sture, 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, and eat up the Idols meat. If you see a labyrinth, it is either to conceale a strumpet or a Minotaure. 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 Covetousnesse; to look upon them as we should do upon our God, to be carefull that they are pleased and satisfied; to reverence them, to follow their behests and commands; to provide that these horse-leaches be fed, our lust fed with pleasure, and our covetousnesse 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 walks not with God, but

runnes himself into the thicket of excuses, Covers his transgressions as Adam, and hides his iniquity in his bosome, Job 31.33. Covers him∣self over with these leaves, which have no heat, no solidity in them, but will wither and dye when the Sun shews it self, and be scattered before the wind, and leave him naked and miserable. He hath learnt an art, (and he may quickly learne that of his sinne, which needs and teacheth it) pavimentare peccata, (it is Saint Austins phrase) to smooth or plaster and parget over his deformities; he excuses the breach of one commandment with his zeal to another; the breach of his charity, by his love to his faith: He excuses sacri∣ledge, by his hatred to Idolatry; his malice, by his zeal; he pleads ignorance where there is light enough, and weaknesse when he might be strong; and infirmity, where he presumes; and willing∣nesse, when he had no will; and will not consider that the devil speaks by all these, as he did to our first parents by the serpent; For this is no sinne at all, and you shall not dye at all, are all one. He speaks, saith Saint Austin by the mathematician, That he sinnes not, but his starre. He speaks by the Manichee, That he sinnes not, but the Prince of Darknesse. I may add, he speaks by the Anabaptist, 'Tis not he sinnes, but the Asse his body; By the Libertine, That God sins in him; and by the many, that the devil onely is in fault. If we look upon it well, and send our eye abroad into the world, we may peradven∣ture 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 loines: Originall sinne, and after that the Law, the flesh, the will, the understanding, sinne, obedience, the devils, and God himself are forced in to speak for us; and 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, but to flutter up and down, as the Raven did upon the waters, from excuse to excuse, but far from God and the Arke; so to walk as if we were quite out of his reach and sight.

Last of all; The speculative sinner doth not walk with God, I meane, the man that breaks not out into action, but yet perfects his work in his mind; where the sinner doth that which he never doth, joynes with that object which he shall never touch; commits adul∣tery, and yet may be an Eunuch; plots revenge, and yet never strikes a stroke; grasps the wealth which he will not labour for; marryes that beauty which he saw but once, and shall never see a∣gain; and there acts over those sinnes which he shall never bring in∣to act; delights in that which he shall never enjoy, and robs and slayes, and rides in triumph on a thought; and so leaves his God,

who gave him this power and faculty to another end, and not to wallow in this mire, nor to be enslaved to the drudgery of so vile an imployment; and yet too many are willing to perswade themselves, that God neither sees it nor regards it; that a thought is such Goza∣mour, of so thin an appearance, that it escapeth the eye, and so they set up a whole family of them in the 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 works 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 King∣domes levell with the ground, and it growes and multiplies, re∣flects upon it self with joy and content, & omnia habet peccatoris prae∣ter manus, and hath all that makes a sinner but hands; and though men see not our thoughts, (for this is a royall 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 fi∣nisht in the soul, know not themselves, nor the Nature of God, and therefore canot be said to walk with him.

To conclude then: These walk not with God, and let us mark and avoid them. The presumptuous daring sinner walks not with him, but hides himself in this Atheisticall conceit, that because man cannot punish, God doth not see. The hypocrite comes forth in a disguise, and acts his part, and because men applaud him, thinks God is of their mind; as the Pantomime 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 runnes into the holes and burrowes of excuses, and there he is safe; for who shall see him? The speculative sinner hides himself and all his thoughts in a thought, is this thought, that thoughts are so neer to nothing that they are invisible; that sin is not sinfull, 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, Psal. 11. as the gold-smith tri∣eth his gold in the fire, and will find out the drosse, which we do not see. And if we will not walk with him, but walk contrary unto him, Levit. 26.22. He will also walk contrary unto us; He will see us, and not see us; know us, and not know us. * 1.16 Habemus nescientem Deum quod tamen non nescit, saith Hilary; God will seem not to know that which he doth know, and his ignorance is not ignorance but a my∣stery. For to them who walk not with him humbly, the word will be at the last day, I know you not, and 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, The Lord knows the wayes 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, and go along with them, and uphold and strengthen them in their walk, and shadow them under his wing; and when their walk is ended, know them as he did Moses, above all men, and seeing his own marks upon them, beholding in them though a weake, yet the image of his Justice and his Mercy upon them, he will spare them as a Father spareth his Son that serveh him; he will know them, and love them, know them and receive them with an Euge, well done good and faithfull servants, 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 promises; 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 foundati∣on of the world.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Graeci 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ap∣pellant. Arri∣an. Epict.
• * 1.2

  Naz. orat. 8.
• * 1.3

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Hesyc.
• * 1.4

  Nazian.
• * 1.5

  Psal. 40. Tertull. de Pallio.
• * 1.6

  Tert. de Resurr. Carn. c. 38.
• * 1.7

  Clem. Paedag. 3.
• * 1.8

  Naz. or. 40.
• * 1.9

  Clem. Strom. 3.
• * 1.10

  Apuleius.
• * 1.11

  See Ser. 14.
• * 1.12

  Hieron.
• * 1.13

  Off. 3.
• * 1.14

  Tertull. Apol. c. 45.
• * 1.15

  Hil. in. Psal. 178.
• * 1.16

  Hilar. l. 9. de Trin.