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4.

A time to
return.

5.

We must re-
turn to God.

Abrabam

duft.

furrection after death a changing, it is like a fhadow, it is still turning and returning; Paul faith in the thirteenth to the Hebrews the fourteenth verfe, Wee have here no continuing City, but wee looke hereafter for one, our life is unconftant, our death uncertain, alwaies changing : this the inconftancie of mans life is the motive to good, as the other is the retentive from evill. Paul faith, hee dieth daily, from fie; here on the earth wee muft not fecke for the hill of certain repofe, but look in heaven for a perpetuall City. The Tents and Tabernacle are taken away, therefore (with Abraham) Wee must looke for a City having a foundation, whofe builder and maker u God, the cleventh of the Hebrews, and the tenth verfe.

The fourth ufe is out of donec revertêris,untill thou returne, a time of returning, where wee must learne to returne by repentance unto God, before wee returne to duft, that fo wee may returne againe from duft nnto God, let men bee alwaies ready, pend not thy daies with the wicked that goe fuddenly down to the grave, the twenty first of Fob and the thirteenth; the fourty fifth of Ifaiah and the eighth, And as they live fo they die like beafts, the third of the Preacher and the

ninteenth,

The fifth and laft is,that we must return to God; For fhall the dust give thanks unto thee, the thirtieth falme and the ninth verfe: The godly fhall be delivered out of temptation, though the unjust be reserved to judgement, the fecond of Peter the fecond and the ninth. We must return to God per pænitentiam. Let it not be thought incredible that God Should raife again the dead, the twenty fixth of the Acts and the eighth, the first of Fea. and the eighth. So a man fhall return to God very well, by due confideration of these things; from the first, pulvis es thou art duft, to return to God by humility; by the fe cond, not to joy in this world but in God; by the third, to reft our turning and returning in God; and the fourth, to comfort our selves, that out of the grave we fhall rife to live with God. But what made Abraham to add afhes to duft, the eighteenth of this addeth afhes to Book and the twenty feventh, he faith I am a Lord but duft and ashes. The Fathers upon this place fay that duft is our beginning, and if we doe not obey God, by fire we shall be turned into afres, ahes will be our ending: We are all naturally duft, and we are all by defert alfo but afhes and although (by no means) you cannot avoid to be duft, yet by an upright life you may avoid to be afhes: though we cannot but incurre the firft death, let not the fecond death take hold of us: Though the grave inclofe us, let not hell fwallow us. All we,cat, all that we care for in this world is but for duft, and for that will turn to duft. If we be nothing but duft, if we hope for nothing but duft, if we care for nothing but duft, we shall be swallowed up in duft. Let us remember we are clay, but Above all re- God is the Potter, Ifaiah 64.8. Above all regard thy foul, then shall gard thy foul, thy body of duft return to duft, and from duft fhall return again to O God that made it, and thee, thou, and thy body fhall return to glory, fol

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Vocavit autem Adam nomen uxoris fud Chavvam: eò quòd ipfa Gen 3. 20. mater fit omnium hominum viventium.

Dam here calleth his Wife by a new name, not by December 102 the former name in the 23. of the former, which 1598. was Woman, The myfterie of this name com pared with the former Sentence is great, the is called here Hevah, he hath no name of dejeЯtion and defpair, but of life and of comfort: Hereby is to be gathered, that notwistanding the finne committed and fentence pronounced, yet there was in Adam fome matter of hope, for he beleeved the promise made in the 15. verfe before, that the feed of the Woman should break the Serpents head: This was as it is in the a to the Corinthians 2.16. The favour of life unto life. Abraham beleeved in Gods promife, the 15. of this book the 6. by this Scripture Adam left a Monument of his beliefe, as in the other, Abraham left a Monument of his faith. The feed of Abram in his age was promised to be, in the 5. verfe of that chapter, as the ftarres of heaven. Abraham defired to fee the day of Chrift; and he saw it by faith.

Herein we will confider these two things, firft the impofition of a name, and then of this name. For the firft, the impofing of names is an argument of fuperiority and power in the 19. of the former chapter it is fhewed, in the naming of all the Creatures by man, which names were properly given by him. In the thirty fifth chapter and the eighteenth verfe, Jacobs Wife before her death called her fonnes name Ben-oni, but his Father changed that name and called him Benjamin, from the fonne of forrow to the fonne of strength. Facob was after called Ifrael, the tenth of the fame chapter: the name of Sarai was turned to Sarah, the feventeenth of Genefis and the fifteenth verse, as of Facob by the Angell into Ifrael, the two and thirtith chapter and the twenty eighth verfe and out of these new names is taken matter of great mystery; And Adam before called herIshah, woman, as another from man, but here hec changeth that to Hevah, which is a name of life to others. Now then touch ing the impofition of this name, wherein wee will confider the fignification of this name, and then the qualitie thereof. In the fes venth of the former chapter, God breathed into man the breath of life, and man was a living foule, and here her name is a name of life, dow life is two fold, either for a time, or for ever; shee is a mother of life, in regard of this life, for that her birth is not of an abortive it is a bleffedneffe, production and education are in regard of this life, that of the twenty ninth chapter and one and twentich verfe is that of this life my terme is ended. Zathaca, this name belongeth to all-females, in respect of this life, for all bring forth life, though to die.

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It only this life were here regarded, the ancient Fathers that came from her, though they lived long, yet they died and have long layn dead, and in regard of the length of their death, fhee might have becne called the mother of the dead, therefore this name is understood of the other life which is eternall, for after death they had hope of another life. David in the twenry feventh Pfalme and the thirteenth verfe, should have fainted but that bee beleeved to fee the goodneffe of God in the land of the living. And in the hundred forty fecond Pfalme and the fifth verfe, hee had his portion and hope in the land of the living. God is the God not of the dead but of the living, the two and twenith of Mathew and the thirty fecond verfe.

Now where there is a Commandement or Promife of life, there is meant eternall life: Hee that doeth the Commandements fhall live, not a mortall but an immortall life, the Covenant of life to the Priefts and People in the Leviticall law is that life: That was it that made fob in his ninteenth chapter and twenty fifth verse, to alfure himfelfe that his Redeemer lived, and fo fhould bee; but most plainly fpeaketh Chrift himselfe, the eleventh of John and the twenty fifth verfe, of himselfe, that bee is life, and hee that beleeveth in him though bee were dead yet fhall hee live, and in the very nature of the word it felfe is a double being, the one temporall, the other perma nent, which is expreffed in the originall by difference of one letter, Hagab and Havah, all have the common life, but there are those that are strangers from the life of God, the fourth of the Ephesians and the eighteenth verfe, and there are those to whom God is life and length of dayes, the thirtith of Deuteronomie and the twentith verfe, fo that not by confequence, but by the very effence of this name is meant life sternall; God hath his booke where hee writeth the living, the thirty fecond chapter of Exodus and the thirty fecond verse, there is, a booke of life, the fixty ninth Pfalme and the twenty ninth verfe. God promifeth to give to him that overcommeth, to eate of the Tree of Life, the fecond of the Revelations and the seventh verse, and the ancient Fathers upon that place, non dedit corollam, fed coronam vite, he gave a crown of life, which is life for ever.

There is a mysterie alfo in the qualitie of the name, which is comprehended in the word it felfe, which is a bringing of good news and glad tidings; as are cold waters to comfort the thirstic, fo is good news from a farre Country, the twenty fifth chapter of the Proverbs and the twenty fifth verse; When Jacob heard that Jofeph his fonne was yet alive, in a farre and strange Countrey, and that they had brought him Chariots, thefe tydings revived Jacob that was in age, the fourty fifth chapter and the twenty feventh verfe, this name of life is even as a name of joyfull tydings; If in matters of this life it bee fo, then much more in things fpirituall, after wee have finned and deserved punishment, then abfolution and remiffion is a joying of a mans heart, and there is joy in this name, that word is life, & vita eft ex verbo, man at the first was made a living foule, the feventh of the former chapter. In the fixth of Saint Johns Gofpell

the

the fixty third verle, The words Christ pake are spirit and life, and. gaine in the fixty eighth verfe of the fame chapter, Peter faith to him, thou haft the words of eternall life; It is obferved by the Grecke Fathers that the feventy Interpreters did put downe Hevah under the fame letter Evangelium, which is good tydings, this word is the abftract of the eternall word. In the firit to the Corinthians, the fif teenth chapter and the forty fifth verse, the first man Adam waaliwing foule, the laft Adam was a quickning Spirit, a living Soule is in it felte, a quickning Spirit is unto others, in the word was life, the first of Saint John's Golpell and the fourth verfe, and in the first Epiftle of Saint John the first chapter and the first verse, Christ was the word of life, and life it felfe, verbum te,& vita, hence wee receive Grace here and hereafter: And herein is the manifestation of the Trinitie given in this very name of Evab. The mysterie of falvation was known to Adam before hee gave the name, God hath given to his fonne power over all flesh, that hee should give eternall life to all them that beleeve in him, the feventeenth of Saint Fobn and the first verfe. The Promile of Chrift was in this, that the feede of the woman fhould breake the Serpent's head, not the feede of man, but of woman, therefore hee ftill keepeth his owne name, but changeth her name from Ibah to Evah, faying with himselte ram Adam fill, from mee is nothing but earth, but from the Promife made by God to the woman hee giveth her the name of Hevah, and from Hevah hee giveth life to the end of the world, for the Fathers gather out of the first of the Corinthians, the fifteenth chapter and the one and twentith verse, That by Adam came death, hee is pater moriensium, but by the Promife of Chrift in this name, thee is mater viventium, the mother of the living; for by Chrift weelive, and hee is therefurrection of the dead, the ancient writers obferve that Adam was pulus, & in pulverem reverfurus, hee was duft and to duft hee thould returne, that is, of his owne nature, but by Hevabis promife of Grace, and though wee; as by nature, die with Adam, yet God will raise us up by Jefus Chrift, the fecond to the Corinthians, the fourth chapter and the thirteenth verfe, It is bee that rayseth the needy out of the daft; according to the hundred and thirteenth Pfalme and the leventh verfe, this is it that made Paule, the fecond to the Galathians and the twentith verse, to fay, That I live, yet not I but Chrift that liveth in met ; and in that I now live in the flesh, vivo in fide filii viri, the just liveth by faith, and fhall live the life of Grace; thee is here then called the mother of that life; fet this verfe afide wee have no memorie that the pro mife before made was of eternall life, hence then is a fountaine of life, which was by tranfgreffion the originall of death, for thes tranfgreffed and thereby came death, but God brings light out of darkneffe, and life out of death: But what is faith without chatitv, even nothing, for faith worketh by charitie, the fift to the Galathians and the fixth verfe, then as from hence there is faith to bee taken, foout of this name is a worke of charitie to comfort us and Eve her felte that was dejected and miferably plunged in forrow

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by seeing thee had caft downe her felte and all mankinde by her fin, making her, by her new name, partaker of Gods love and charity, this Charitie is not conteined in Eve alone, but continued in her pofteri ic unto the end of the world: Abraham had great comfort, the twelfth chapter and the third verfe, that omnes gentes, all the Nati ons of the earth in him should bee bleffed, the eighteenth of the fame chapter and the eighteenth verfe, and the two and twentieh chap er and the eighteenth verfe, but this promife of all bleffedneffe was that in her, omnes viventes, all living should bee bleffed; for all that have beene, all that are, and all that thall bee, are partak ers of this promife, for it reacheth from Eve to the end of the world, Inthe first name Ifha, fhee is the mother of nature of them that live and then die, but by this name fhee is the mother of Grace of them, that though they are dead yet fhalb live for every by the one the mother of mankinde; by the other of the Church. Fob in his tenth chapter and twelfth verfe faith, vitam & gratiam tribuifti mihl, which life is the life of God eternally: Therefore Adam by this name did comfort himselfe, his wife, and all others in their miferies, in that wee muft bee not only the fet deof nature by her first name, but the feede of Eve, of Grace, of the Promise, and of Hope, and fo children of the Churchy of the holy feede, to obtain the life of God eternalls And lastly, according to that of the second of Malachy, Wee shall bee partakers of the Covenant of Peace and Life.i

Gen. 3. 21. Fecitque Fehova Deus Adamo

Dec. 7. 1598.

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HIS verfe is, as it were, the opening of Gods ware Lhoufe, and giving thence his liveric and aparrell, wherein is mercy and favoreven in judgement, for after the Sentence God promifeth life, and here gi veth aparrell, to that as bacuck speaketh, this commendeth Gods mercy in his anger, as there was a mercy precedent in the Promiley fohere is a mercy fubfe quent in this provision, and God mingleth hercy with judgement, and joyneth Provifion with punishment according to that of the feventy eighth Pfalme and the twenty ninth verfe, this favour God vouchfafch, before hee ends his Sentence fee giveth hope of life everlasting, and here addeth aparrell as the figne of his favor, for all the care of this world is for foode and the back, but fecke the kingdom of God, and these things shall bee miniftred unto you, the fixtof Matthew and the three and thirtich verfe. : dushłodno sul bas, sind eb Five parts of This verse doth offer in it felf five parts, as they lie in or der: The firft is the perfons of Adam and his Wife The fecond is that God made: The third is aparrel The fourth is of Skins The fift is, that therewith they were arayèds »

this verse.

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