1. The Owners or Possessors, Sonnes of men.

Adam was called the sonne of God, Luk. 3. Luk. 3. 38. Enos was the sonne of Seth, Seth the sonne of Adam, Adam the son of God: But all his posterity the sonnes of men: wee re­ceyuing from him both flesh, and the corruption of flesh, yea, and of soule too; though the substance there­of be inspired of God, not traduced from man: for the purest soule becomes stain'd and corrupt, when it once toucheth the body.

The sonnes of men. This is a deriuatiue and diminu­tiue speech; whereby mans conceit of himselfe is lesse­ned, and himselfe lessoned to humility. Man, as Gods creation left him, was a goodly creature, an abridge­ment of heauen and earth, an Epitome of God and the world: resembling God, who is a Spirit, in his Soule, and the World, which is a Body, in the composition of his. Deus maximus inuisibilium, mundus maximus visibilium: God the greatest of inuisible natures, the World the greatest of visible creatures: both brought into the lit­tle compasse of Man.

Now Man is growne lesse; and as his body in size, his soule in vigour, so himselfe in all vertue is abated: so that the sonne of man is a phrase of diminution, a barre in the Armes of his ancient glory, an exception of his derogate and degenerate worth.

Two instructions may the sonnes of men learne in be­ing called so. 1. Their spirituall corruption. 2. Their na­turall corruptiblenes.

1. That corruption and originall prauity, which wee haue deriued from our Parents. Psal. 51. Psal. 51. 5. Behold, sayth Dauid, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sinne did my mother conceiue me. The originall word is, warme me: as if the first heate deriued to him, were not without contami­nation. I was borne a sinner, sayth a Saint.

It is saide, Gen. 5. Gen. 5. 3. that Adam begate a sonne in his [Page 4] owne likenesse, after his image, and called his name Seth. This image and likenesse cannot bee vnderstood of the Soule: for this Adam begate not. Nor properly and meerely of the Bodies shape; so was Cain as like to A­dam, as Seth, of whom it is spoken. Nor did that image consist in the piety and purity of Seth: Adam could not propagate that to his sonne, which hee had not in him­selfe: vertues are not giuen by birth, nor doth grace follow generation, but regeneration. Neyther is Seth said to bee begotten in the Image of Adam, because man­kind was continued and preserued in him. But it in­tends that corruption, which descended to Adams po­sterity by naturall propagation. The Pelagian error was, Peccatum primae transgressionis in alios homines, non propagatione, sed imitatione transisse: that the guilt of the first sinne was deriued to other men, not by propa­gation, but by imitation: but then could not Adam be said, to begette a sonne in his owne image: neyther could Death haue seazed on Infants, who had not then sin­ned. But all haue sinned, Rom. 5. Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin en­tred into the world, and death by sinne: so death passed vpon all men, for that all haue sinned.

This title then, the sonnes of men, puts vs in mind of our originall contamination, whereby we stand guil­ty before God, & lyable to present and eternall iudge­ments. Dura, tremenda refers: You will say with the Disciples, Ioh. 6. Ioh. 6. 60. This is an hard saying, who can heare it, beare it? nay, be ready to conclude with a sadder infe­rence, as the same Disciples, after a particular instance, Math. 19. Math. 19. 23. Who then can be saued?

I answere, We deriue from the first Adam, sinne and death: but from the second Adam, Grace and Life. As we are the sonnes of men, our state is wretched, as made the sonnes of God, blessed. It is a peremptory speech, 1. Cor. 15. 50. 1. Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God, neyther doth corruption inherite incorruption. It is a [Page 5] reuiuing comfort in the 6. Chapter of the same Epistle: Such wee were, 1. Cor. 6. 11. but wee are washed, but we are sanctified, but we are iustified, in the name of the Lord Iesus, & by the spirit of our God. The conclusion or inference hereon is most happy. Rom. 8 1. Now therefore there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus, who walke not after the flesh, but af­ter the spirite. Wee may liue in the flesh, but Ver. 13. if after the flesh, wee shall die. Si voluntati & voluptati carnis satissa­cere conemur: If our endeuours bee wholy armed and aymed to content the Flesh: but if we bee led by the spi­rit, cum dilectione, cum delectatione, with loue, with de­light, wee are of the sonnes of men, made the Ver. 14. sonnes of God.

It is our happinesse, not to bee borne, but to bee Ioh 3. 3. new borne. The first birth kills, the second giues life. It is not the seed of man in the wombe of our mother; but the 1 Pet. 1. 23. seed of Grace in the wombe of the Church, that makes vs blessed. Generation lost vs; it must bee regeneration, that recouers vs. As the tree falls, so it lies: and lightly it falls to that side, which is most loden with fruites and branches. If wee abound most with the fruits of obedience, wee shall fall to the right hand, life: if with wicked actions, affections, to the left side, death.

It is not then, worth the ascription of glory to, what wee deriue naturally from man. Dauid accepts it as a great dignity, to be sonne in law to a King. To descend from Potentates, and to fetch our pedegree from prin­ces, is held mirabile, et memorabile decus, a dignity not to bee slighted or forgotten. But to bee a Monarch;

Oh, this is Celsissima gloria mundi, the supremest ho­nour of this world, yet Princes are but men, saith the Psalmist. Psal. 146. 3. Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the sonne of [Page 6] man, in whom there is no helpe. His breath goeth forth, hee returneth to his earth. They may bee high by their cal­ling, Princes; yet they are but low by their nature, sons of men. And meerely to bee the sonne of man, is to bee corrupt and polluted. They are sinfull, the sonnes of men: weake, there is no helpe in them: corruptible, their breath goeth forth: dying, they returne to their earth.

It is registred as an euident praise of Moses his faith, that for the rebuke of Christ, he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter. There is no ambitiō good in the sons of men, but to be adopted the sons of God: vnder which degree there is no happines, aboue which no cause of aspiring.

2. Our Corruptiblenesse is heere also demonstrated. A mortall Father cannot beget an immortall sonne. If they that brought vs into the world, haue gone out of the world themselues, we may infallibly conclude our owne following. He that may say, I haue a man to my Father, a woman to my mother in his life; may in death, with Iob say to Corruption, Thou art my Father: to the worm, Ioh. 17. 14. Thou art my mother, and my sister.

It hath beene excepted against the iustice of God, that the sinne of one man is deuolued to his posteritie; and that for the fathers eating sowre grapes, the childrens teeth are set on edge, according to the Iewish Prouerbe, Ier. 31. 29. Ezek. 18. 2. As if we might say to euery sonne of man, as Horace sung to his friend: Delicta maiorum immeritus lues: Thou being innocent, doest suffer for thy nocent supe­riours. This a Philosopher obiected against the gods; strangely conferring it, as if for the fathers disease, physicke should be ministred to the sonne.

I answere, Adam is considered as the roote of man­kind: that corrupt masse, whence can bee deduced no pure thing. Can we bee borne Morians without their blacke skins? It is possible to haue an Amorite to our father, and an Hittite to our mother, without partici­pation [Page 7] of their corrupted natures? If a man slippe a syense from a hawth orne, hee will not looke to gather from it grapes. There is not then a sonne of man in the cluster of mankind, but ( eodem modo & nodo, vinctus & victus) it is lyable to that common and equall law of death.

Morieris, non quia aegrot as, sed quia viuis: sayth the Philo­sopher: Thou shalt die, oh sonne of man, not because thou art sicke, Sen. Ep. 99. ad Lucil. but because the sonne of man. Cuinasci conti­git, mori restat: Who hapned to come into the world, must vpon necessity goe out of the world.

It is no new thing to die, since life it self is nothing els, but a iourney to death. Quicquid ad summum perue­nit, adexitum properat: He that hath climbed to his high­est, is descending to his lowest. All the sonnes of men die not one death, for time and manner: for the matter and end, one death is infallible to all the sonnes of men. The corne is somtimes bitten in the spring, often trode downe in the blade, neuer failes to bee cut vp in the eare, Sen ibid. when ripe: Quisquis queritur hominem mortuum esse, queritur hominem fuisse: Who laments, that a man is dead, laments that he was a man.

When Anaxagoras heard that his son was dead, hee answered without astonishment, Scio me genuisse mortalem: I know that I begate a mortall man. It was a good speech, that fell from that shame of Philosophie, Epictetus: Non sum aeternitas, sed homo: particula vniuer­si, vt hora diei: venire igitur oportet vt horam, praeterire vt horam: I am not eternity, but a man: a little part of the whole, as an houre is of the day: like an houre I came, and I must depart like an houre.

Some fruite is plucked violently from the tree, some droppes with ripenesse; all must fall, because the sonnes of men.

This should teach vs, to arme our selues with pati­ence and expectation, Sen. to encounter Death: Saepe debe­mus mori, nec volumus: morimur, nec volumus: Often we ought to prepare for death, wee will not: at last, wee die indeed, and wee would not. Adam knew all the beasts, and called them by their names: but his own name hee forgot, Adam, of earth. What bad memories haue wee, that forget our owne names and selues, that we are the sonnes of men, corruptible, mortall? Incertum est, quo loco te mors expectat: itaque tu illam omni loco expecta. Thou knowest, in what place Death looketh for thee: therefore do thou looke for him in euery place. Watch therefore; Math. 24. 42. for you know not what houre your Lord doth come. Thus for the Owners.

2. The vessell it selfe is the Heart.

The Heart is Mans principall vessell. Wee desire to haue all the implements in our house good: but the vessell of chiefest honour, principally good. Quanm male de te ipse meruisti, &c. sayth Saint August. How mad is that man that would haue all his vessels good, but his owne heart! Wee would haue a strong nerue, a cleare veyne, a moderate pulse, a good arme, a good face, a good stomacke, onely we care not how euill the heart is, the principall of all the rest.

For, howsoeuer the Head be called the Tower of the mind, the Throne of Reason, the house of wisdom, the Trea­sure of memory, the Capitol of iudgement, the shoppe of affe­ctions: yet is the Heart the receptacle of life, Cor recepta­culum vitae. [Page 9] And Spiritus, Spiritus in ie­core naturalis, animalis cere­bro, in vitalis in corde. which (they say) is Copula animae & corpo­ris, a vertue vniting the soule and the body: if it bee in the Liuer naturall, in the Head animal, yet is in the Heart vitall. It is the member, that hath first life in mā, and is the last that dies in man; and to all the other members giues viuification.

As man is Microcosmus, an abridgement of the world, hee hath heauen resembling his soule: earth his heart, placed in the middest as a center: the Liuer is like the sea, whence flow the liuely springs of bloud: the Braine, like the sunne, giues the light of vnderstanding: and the senses are set round about, like the starres. The Heart in man is like the roote in a tree: the organ or lung-pipe, that comes of the left cel of the heart, is like the stocke of the tree, which diuides it selfe into two parts, and thence spreades abroad (as it were) sprayes and boughes into all the body, euen to the arteries of the head.

The Egyptians haue a conceite, that mans growing or declining followes his Heart. The Heart of man, say they, increaseth still, till hee come to fifty yeares old, euery yeare two drachmes in weight, and then decreaseth euery yeare as much, till hee come to an hundred: and then for want of Heart, hee can liue no longer. By which consequence, none could liue a­bout an 100. yeres: which conceyted demonstration hath often proued false. But it is a vessell, a liuing ves­sell, a vessell of life.

It is a vessell properly, because hollow: hollow to keepe heat, and for the more facile closing & opening. It is a spirituall vessell, made to containe the holy dewes of grace, which Psal. 46 4. make glad the City of God. It is euer full, eyther with that precious iuyce, or with the pernicious liquor of sinne. As our Sauiour sayth, Math. 15. Out of the heart proceede euill thoughts, Math. 15. 19. murders, adulteries, forni­cations, thefts, false witnesse, blasphemies. 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know you not, [Page 10] sayth his Apostle, that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirite of God dwelleth in you? If our Corpus be Tem­plum Domini, sure our Cor is Sanctum sanctorum. It was the answere of the Oracle, to him that would bee in­structed, what was the best Sacrifice. ‘Damedium Lunae, solem simul, & canis iram.’ ‘Giue the halfe Moone, the whole Sunne, and the dogs anger.’

Which three Characters make Cor the heart. The good heart is a receptacle for the whole Trinity: and there­fore it hath three Angels, as if the three Persons of that one Deity would inhabit there. The Father made it, the Sonne bought, the Holy Ghost sanctifies it: therfore they all three claime a right in the Heart. It hath three cels for the three persons, and is but one Heart for one God. The world cannot satisfie it: a Globe cannot fill a Triangle. Onely God can sufficiently content the Heart.

God is, Ambros. sayth a Father, non corticis, sed cordis Deus: not regarding the rinde of the lippes, but the root of the Heart. Hence Sathan directs his malicious strength against the Heart. The foxe doth gripe the necke, the mastiffe flies at the throat, and the Ferret nippes the Liuer: but the Deuill aymes at the Heart, inficere, in­terficere. The Heart he desires, because he knows, God desires it: and his ambition still inclines, intends his purposes and plots, to robbe God of his delight. The Heart is the chiefe Tower of life to the body, and the spirituall Citadell to the whole man: alwayes besie­ged by a domesticall enemy, the Flesh: by a ciuill, the world: by a profest, the Deuill. Euery perpetrated sinne doth some hurt to the walls; but if the Heart be taken, the whole Corporation is lost.

How should Christ enter thy house, and suppe with thee, when the Chamber is taken vp, wherein he would rest, Reu. 3. 20 the Heart? All the faculties of Man follow the [Page 11] Heart, as seruants the Mistresse, wheeles the poyse, or linkes the first end of the chaine. When the Sunne ri­seth, all rise; beasts from their dennes, birds from their nests, men from their beds. So the Heart leads, directs, moues the parts of the body, and powers of the soule: that the mouth speaketh, hand worketh, eye looketh, eare listneth, foote walketh; all producing good or e­uill, from the good or euil treasure of the heart. Luke 6. 45. Therfore the penitent Publican beat his Heart, as if he would cal vp that, to call vp the rest.

It is conspicuous then, that the heart is the best vessel, whereof any sonne of man can boast himselfe possessour: and yet ( prohdolor!) euen this is corrupted. To declare this pollution, the next circumstance doth iustly cha­lenge: onely one caueat to our hearts, of our Hearts, ere we leaue them. Since the Heart is the most precious vessell, man hath in all his corporall housholde, let him haue good regard to it. Omni custodia custodi cor tuum: Keepe thy heart with all diligence, sayth Solomon. GOD hath done much for the Heart, naturally, spiritually.

For the former; He hath placed it in the middest of the body, as a Generall in the midst of his Army: bul­warck'd it about with brest, ribbes, backe. Lest it should bee too cold, the liuer lies not farre off, to giue it kindly heate: lest too hote, the lungs lye by it, to blow coole winde vpon it. It is the chiefe, and there­fore should wisely temper all other members: by the spleene we are moued to laugh; by the gall to be angry: by the braine wee feele, by the liuer we loue, but by the heart we be wise.

Spiritually, hee hath done more for the heart, giuing the bloud of his Sonne to clense it, soften it, sanctifie it, when it was full, both of hardnesse and turpitude. By his omnipotent grace hee vnroosted the Deuill from it, who had made it a stable of vncleannesse: and now requires it (being created new) for his own cham­ber, [Page 12] for his owne bed. The purified heart is Gods Sa­crary, his Sanctuary, his House, his Heauen. As Saint August. glosseth the first words of the Pater noster. Our Father which art in heauen, that is, in a heart of an heauenly disposition. Quàmpropitia dignatio ista, that the King of Heauen will vouchsafe to dwell in an earthly Taber­nacle!

The Heart then being so accepted a vessell, keepe it at home: hauing but one so precious supellectile or moueable, part not with it vpon any termes. There are foure busie requirers of the Heart, besides he that iustly oweth it. Beggars, Buyers, Borrowers, Theeues.

1 He that begges thy Hart, is the Pope: and this hee doth not by word of mouth, but byletters of commē ­dations, condemnations rather, his Seminary factors. He begs thy Heart, and offers thee nothing for it, but crucifixes, images, &c. meere images or shadowes of reward: or his blessing at Rome; which, because it is so farre distant, as if it lost all the vertue by the way, doth as much good, as a candle in Sunshine.

2▪ He that would buy this vessell of vs, is the Deuill; as one that distrusts to haue it for nothing: and there­fore set what price thou wilt vpon it, hee will eyther pay it, or promise it. Sathan would faine haue his Iew­ell-house full of these vessels, and thinkes them richer ornaments, 2 Reg. 20. 13. then the Babylonian Ambassadors thought the treasures of Hezechiah. Haman shall haue grace with the King, Absolon honour, Iezabel reuenge, Am­mon his lusts satisfied, Iudas money, Demas the world, if they will sell him their Hearts,. If any man, like A­hab, sell his heart to such a purchaser, let him know, that qui emit, interimit: he doth buy it, to butcher it.

3 The Flesh is the Borrower, and hee would haue this vessell to vse, with promise of restoring. Let him haue it a while, and thou shalt haue it againe; but as from an ill neighbour, so broken, lacerated, deformed, defa­ced; [Page 13] that though it went forth rich, like the Prodigall, it returnes home tattered and torne, and worne, no more like a heart, then Michols image on the pillow was like Dauid. This Sutour borrowes it of the Citizen, till vsu­ry hath made him an Alderman: of the Courtier, til am­bition hath made him noble: of the Officer, till bribe­ry hath made him master: of the Gallant, till riot hath made him a beggar: of the Luxurious, till lust hath filled him with diseases: of the Country Churle, till couetise hath swelled his barnes: of the Epicure, till he bee fatted for death: and then sends home the heart, like a Iade, tired with vnreasonable trauell. This is that wicked borrower, in the Psalme, which payeth not againe. Thou wouldest not lend thy beast, nor the worst ves­sell in thy house to such a neighbour: and wilt thou trust him with thy heart? Eyther not lend it, or looke not for it againe.

4. The World is the Theefe, 2. Sam. 5. 6. which (like Absolon) steales away the heart. This cunningly insinuates into thy brest, Quàm minimo custos munere possit emi? beguiling the Watch or Guard, which are thy senses, and corrupting the seruants, which are thy affe­ctions. The world hath two properties of a Theefe: first, It comes in the night time, when the lights of reason and vnderstanding are darkened, and security hath gotten the heart into a slumber. This dead sleepe, if it doth not find, it brings.

2 It makes no noyse in comming, lest the family of our reuiued thoughts wake, and our sober knowledge discerne his approch. This theefe takes vs, as it tooke Demas, napping: terrifies vs not with noyse of tumul­tuous [Page 14] troubles, and alarum of persecutions; but plea­singly giues vs the musicke of gaine, and lappes vs warme in the couch of lusts. This is the most peril­lous oppugner of our hearts: neyther begger, buyer, nor borrower could doe much without this theefe. It is some respect to the world, that makes men eyther giue or sell, or lend the vessell of their heart. Astus pollentior ar­mis: Fraud is more dangerous then force. Let vs be­ware this theefe.

First, turne the begger from thy dore, hee is too saw­cy, in asking thy best moueable, wheras beggers shuld not chuse their almes. That Pope was yet a little more reasonable, that shewed himselfe content with a King of Spaines remuneration; The present you sent mee was such, as became a King to giue, and S. Peter to receyue: But da pauperibus: the Pope is rich enough.

Then reiect the buyer: set him no price of thy heart, for he wil take it of any reckoning. He is neere driuen, that sels his heart. I haue heard of a Iew that would for security of his lent money, haue onely assur'd to him a pound of his Christian debters liuing flesh: a strange forfeit, for default of paying a little money. But the Deuill, in all his couenants, indents for the heart. In other bargaines, caueat emptor, sayth the Prouerbe: Let the buyer take heed: in this, let the seller looke to it. Make no marte nor market with Sathan.

Non benè pro multo libertas venditur auro.

The heart is ill solde, what euer the price be.

Thirdly, for the borrower: Lend not thy heart in hope of interest, lest thou lose the principall. Lend him not any implement in thy house, any affection in thy heart: but to spare the best vessell to such an abuser, is no lesse then mad charity.

Lastly, ware the theefe: and let his subtilty excite thy more prouident preuention. Many a man keepes his goods safe enough from beggers, buyers, borrowers, yet [Page 15] is met withall by theeues.

Therefore locke vp this vessell with the Key of faith, barre it with resolution against sinne, guard it with su­pervisiting diligence, and repose it in the bosom of thy Sauiour. There it is safe from all obsidious, or insidious oppugnations: from the reach of fraud or violence. Let it not stray from this home, lest like Dinah it be deflou­red. If wee keepe this vessell our selues, wee indanger the losse. Iacob bought Esau's birth-right, & Satha stole Adams Paradise, whiles the tenure was in their owne hands. An Apple beguiled the one, a messe of pottage the other. Trust not thy heart in thine owne custo­dy; but lay it vp in heauen with thy treasure. Commit it to Him, that is the maker and preseruer of men: who will lappe it vp with peace, and lay it in a bed of ioy, where no aduersary power cā inuade it, nor theefe break through to steale it.

3. The Liquor this vessel holds, is euill.

Euill is double, eyther of Sinne, or of Punishment: the deseruing and retribution: the one of mans owne affecting, the other of Gods iust inflicting. The former is simpliciter malum, simply euill of it owne nature: the latter but secundum quid, in respect of the sufferer, being good in regard of Gods glory, as an act of his Iustice. For the Euils of our sufferings, as not intended here, I pre­termit. Onely, when they come, we learne hence how to intertaine them; in our opinion, as our due rewards: in our patience, Rom. 3. 3. as men, as Saints: that tribulation may as well produce patience, as sinne hath procured tribula­tion. Non sentire mala sua non est hominis, & non ferre non est viri: Sen. He that feeles not his miseries sensibly, is not a man: and he that beares them not couragiously, is not a Christian.

The iuyce in the heart of the sonnes of men is euill, all haue corrupted their wayes. Solomon speakes not here in [Page 16] indiuiduo, this or that sonne of man: but generally, with an vniuersall extent, the sonnes of men. And leauing the plurall with the Possessors, by a significant salaecisme, he names the vessell in the singular; the heart, not hearts: as if all mankind had cor vnum in vnitate malitiae: one heart in the vnity of sinne: the matter of the vessell being of one polluted lumpe; that euery man, that hath an hart, hath naturally an euill heart. Adam had no sooner by his one sinne slaine his posterity, but hee begote a sonne, that slew his brother. Adam was planted by God a good Vine, but his Apostasie made all his children sowre grapes. Our nature was sowne good, behold, wee are come vp euill. Through whose default ariseth this badnesse?

God created this vessell good; man poyson'd it in the seasoning. And being thus distayned in the tender newnesse, seruat odorem testa diu: it smels of the olde infection, till a new iuyce bee put into it, or rather it selfe made new. As Dauid prayes: Create in me, oh Lord, a cleane heart, Psal 51. 10. and renew a right spirit within me. GOD made vs good, we haue mar'd ourseluesa,nd behold: wee call on him, to make vs good againe. Yea, euen the vessel thus recreated, is not without a tang of the former corruption. Paul confesseth in himselfe a bo­dy of Death, Rom. 7. as well as Dauid a natiue vncleannesse. Psal. 51. The best graine sends forth that chaffe, whereof before the sowing, it was purged by the fanne. Our contracted euill had been the lesse intolerable, if we had not been made so perfectly good. Hee that made heauen and earth, ayre and fire, Sunne and Moone, all elements, all creatures good, surely, would not make him euill, for whom these good things were made. How comes he thus bad? Deus hominem fecit, homo se interfecit. In the words of our Royall Preacher, Eccles. 7. Loe, this onelie I haue found, Eccles. 7. 29. that God hath made man vpright: but they haue sought out many inuentions. Man was created [Page 17] happy, but hee found out trickes, to make himselfe miserable. And his misery had been lesse, if he had ne­uer beene so blessed: the better wee were, we are the worse. Like the posterity of some profuse or tainted Progenitour, wee may tell of the Lands, Lordshippes, honours, titles, that were once ours; and then sigh out the song, fuimus Troes, we haue been blessed.

If the heart were thus good by creation, or is thus good by redemption, how can it bee the continent of such euill liquour? when by the word of His mouth that neuer erred, Math. 7. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruits. I answere, that saying must be construed in sensu compo­sito: a good tree continuing good, cannot produce euill fruites. 1. Ioh. 3. 9. The heart borne of God (in quanto renatum est, not peccat) doth not commit sinne, so farre as it is borne of GOD. Yet euen in this vessell, whiles it walkes on earth, are some droppes of the first poyson. And so, ‘Dat dulces fons vnus aquas, qui et praebet amaras.’ ‘The same fountaine sends forth sweet water and bitter;’ Iam. 3. 11. though not at the same place, as Saint Iames propounds it.

But Solomon speakes here of the heart, as it is gene­rate, or degenerate, not as regenerate: what it is by nature, not by grace: as it is from the first Adam, not from the second. It is thus a vessell of euill. Sinne was brewed in it, & hath brewed it into sinne. It is strange­ly, I know not how truely, reported of a vessell, that changeth some kind of liquour put into it, into it selfe: as fire transformes the fuell into fire. But heere the content doth change the continent; as some mine­rall veynes doe the earth, that holdes them. This euill iuyce turnes the whole heart into euill; as wa­ter powred vpon snow, turnes it to water. The wic­kednesse of man was so great in the earth, Gen. 6. 5. that it made euery imagination of the thoughts of his heart onely euill [Page 18] continually.

Here, if wee consider the dignity of the vessell, & the filthinesse of the euill it holds, or is rather holden of; (for non tam tenet, quam tenetur) the comparison is suf­ficient to astonish vs.

Quàm malè conueniunt vas aureum, atrum (que) venenum! Oh! ingrate, in considerate man! to whom God hath giuen so good a vessell, and hee filles it with so euill sappe. 2. Tim. 2. 20. In a great house there be vessels of honour, and ves­sels of dishonour; some for better, some for baser vses. The heart is a vessell of honour, sealed, consecrated for a receptacle, for an habitacle of the graces of GOD. Shall wee take the member of Christ, 1. Cor. 6. 15. and make it an har­lots; the vessell of God, & make it Satans? did God in­fuse into vs so noble a part, & shal we infuse into it such ignoble stuffe? was fraud, falshood, malice, mischiefe, adultery, idolatry, variance, variablenes ordayned for the heart, or the heart for them? when the seat of holi­nesse is become the seate of hollownesse: the house of in­nocence, the house of impudence: the place of loue, the place of lust: the vessell of piety, the vessell of prauity: the throne of God, the court of Satan; the heart is become rather a Ielly, then an heart. Wherein there is a tumul­tuous, promiscuous, turbulent throng, heap'd and a­maz'd together, like a wine-drawers stomacke; full of Dutch, French, Spanish, Greeke, and many country wines; enuy, lust, treason, ambition, auarice, fraud, hy­pocrisie obsessing it, and by long tenure pleading pre­scription: that custome, being a second nature, the heart hath lost the name of heart, and is become the na­ture of that it holds, a lumpe of euill.

It is detestable ingratitude in a Subiect, on whom his Soueraigne hath conferred a golden cuppe, to im­ploy it to base vses; to make that a wash-potte, which should receiue the best wine he drinketh. Behold, the King of heauen and earth hath giuen thee a rich vessell, [Page 19] thy heart; wherin, though it be a peece of flesh or clay of it selfe, hee hath placed the chiefe faculties of thy spirit and his: how aduerse to thankefulnesse and his intent is thy practise, when thou shalt powre into this Cuppe lees, dregges, muddy pollutions, tetricall poy­sons, the waters of hell, wines which the infernall spi­rits drinke to men: taking the heart from him that cre­ated it, from him that bought it, from him that keepes it; and bequeathing it in the death of thy soule, to him that infects, afflicts, tempts, and torments it: making him thy Executour, which shall bee thy executioner; that hath no more right to it, then Herode had to the bed of his sister? What iniury, what indignity is of­fered to God, when Sathan is gratified with his goods: when his best moueable on earth is taken from him, & giuen to his enemy?

The heart is flos solis, and should open & shut with the sunne of righteousnesse. Mal. 4. 2. To him, as the Landlord, du­plici iure, it should stand opē, not suffring him to knock for entrance, Cant. 5. 2. till his lockes bee wette with the dew of hea­uen. Alas! how comes it about, that hee which is the owner can haue no admission? That wee open not the dores of our hearts, that the King of glory might enter; who will then one day open the dores of heauen, that a man of earth may enter? Did God erect it as a lod­ging for his owne Maiesty; leauing no window in it, for the eye of man (so much as) to looke into it, as if he would keepe it vnder locke & key to himselfe, as a sa­cred Challice, whereout he would drinke the wine of faith, feare, grace and obedience, wine which himselfe had sent before for his owne supper: Reu. 3. 20. and must hee bee turn'd forth by his owne Steward, and haue his Cham­ber let out for an Ordinary, where sinnes and lusts may securely reuell? Will not He that made it, one day break it with a rod of yron, Psal. 2. 9. and dash it in peeces like a Potters vessell?

[Page 20] Shall the great Belshazzar, Dan. 5. 2. that Tyrant of Hel, sit drinking his wines of abomination and wicked­nesse, in the sacred boules of the Temple, the vessels of God, the hearts of men, without ruine to those that de­lightfully suffer him? was it a thing detestable in the eyes of God, to prophane the vessels of the Sanctuary; and will he brooke with impunity the hearts of men to be abused to his dishonour? Sure, his iustice wil pu­nish it, if our iniustice doe it. The very vessels vnder the Law, that had (but) touched an vncleane thing, must be rinced or broken. What shall become of the vessels vnder the Gospell, ordayned to hold the faith of Christ, if they be (more then touched) polluted with vnclean­nesse? They must eyther be rinced with repentance, or broken with vengeance.

I am willingly led to prolixity in this point. Yet in vaine the Preacher amplifies, except the hearer ap­plies. Shall none of vs, in this visitation of hearts, aske his owne heart, how it doth? Perhaps, Security will counterfeit the voyce of the heart, as Iacob did Esaus hands, to supplant it of this blessing; saying, I am well: and stoppe the mouth of diligent scrutinie with a pre­sentment of Omnia benè. Take heed; the heart of man is deceitfull aboue measure. Audebit dissimulare, qui audet malefacere: He will not sticke to dissemble, that dares to do euil. Thou needst not rip vp thy brest, to see what bloud thy heart holds, though thou hast beene vnkind inough to it in thine iniquities: behold, the beames of the Sun on earth witnes his shining in heauen; and the fruits of the Tree declare the goodnes or badnes. Non ex folijs, non ex floribus, sed ex fructibus dignoscitur arbor.

What is lust in thy heart, thou adulterer; malice in thine, thou enuious: vsurie in thine, thou couetous; hy­pocrisie in yours, yee sons of Gibeon; pride in yours, yee daughters of Iezabel; falshood in yours, yee brothers of Ioab; and treachery in yours, yee friends of Iudas? Is this [Page 21] wine fit for the Lords boule, or dregs for the Deuil to carouse of? Reu. 22. 11. Perhaps the sons of Belial will be filthy; let them be filthy still. Who can helpe them, that wil not be saued? let them perish.

Let me turne to you, that seeme Christians, (for you are in the Temple of Christ, and I hope, come hither to worshippe him,) with confidence of better successe. What should vncleannesse doe in the holy City, euill in a heart sanctified to grace, seal'd to glory? The vessell of euery heart is by nature temperde of the same mould; nor is there any, (let the proud not triumph) Quorum praecordia Titan de meliore luto sinxit. But though nature knew none grace hath made difference of hearts; and the sanctified heart is of a purer mettall, then the pollu­ted. A little liuing stone in Gods building is worth a whole quarrey in the world. One poore mans honest hart is better then many rich euil ones. These are dead; that's aliue: and a liuing dogge is better then a dead Lion. Solomons heart was better then Absolons, Cap. eod. [...]. 4. Iudes then Iu­das, Simon Peters then Simon Magus his: all of one mat­ter, clay from the earth, but in regard of qualities, and Gods acceptance, the richest mine and coursest mould haue not such differēce. There is with nature grace, with flesh faith; with humanity Christianity in these hearts.

How it becoms it such a hart, to haue hypocrisie, iniu­stice, fraud, couetousnes leen in it? Let these bitter wa­ters liue in heathen cesterns. To the master of maledi­ctiō, & his vngodly imps we leaue those vices: our harts are not vessels for such liquour. If wee should intertaine thē, we giue a kind of warrāt to others imitatiō. Whiles Polygamie was restrained within Gen. 4. 19. Lamechs dores, it did but moderate harm: but when it once insinuated into Gen. 26. 34. 35. Isaac's family, it got strength, & preuailed with great preiudice. The habites of vices, whiles they dwel in the harts of Belials children, are meerly sins: but when they haue room giuē thē in the harts of the sons of God, they [Page 22] are sins and examples: not simply euill deeds, but war­rants to euill deedes. Bis peccat, qui exemplo pec­cat. Especially with such despisers and despiters of goodnes; who, though they loue, embrace and resolue to practise euill, yet are glad, they may doe it by Patronage, and goe to hell by example.

But how can this euill iuyce in our hearts be percei­ued? what beames of the Sunne euer pearced into that abstruse and secret pauilion? The anatomizing of the heart remaines for the worke of that last and great day. Eccl. 12. 14. Rom, 2. 16. As no eye can looke into it, so let no reason iudge it. But our Sauiour answeres, Out of the heart proceede actuall sinnes: the water may bee close in the fountaine, but will bee discerned issuing out. The heart cannot so containe the vnruly affections, but like headstrong rebels they wil burst out into actions; and works are infallible notes of the hart. I say not, that works determine a man to damnation or blisse: the de­cree of God orders that: but works distinguish of a good or bad man. The Saints haue sinned, but the greatest part of their conuerted life hath beene holy.

Indeed wee are all subiect to passions, because men: but let vs order our passions wel, because Chri­stiā men. And as the skilful Apothecary makes whole­some potions of noysome poysons, by a wise melling and allaying them: so let vs meete with the intended hurt of our corruptions, and turne it to our good. It is not a sufficient commendation of a prince to go­uerne peaceable and loyall subiects: but to subdue or subuert rebels. It is the prayse of a Christian to or­der refractary and wilde affections, more then to ma­nage yeelding and plyable ones. As therefore it is a prouident policy in Princes, when they haue some in too likely suspition, for some plotted faction, to keepe them downe, and to holde them bare: that though they retaine the same minds, they shall not [Page 23] haue the same meanes to execute their mischiefes: so the rebellious spirites impotency giues most security to his Soueraigne: whiles Hee sees afarre off what he would doe, but knowes (neere at hand, that's certain­ly) hee cannot. So let thy heart keepe a straight & aw­full hand ouer thy passions and affections: Vt si moue­ant, non remoueant: that if they moue thee, they may not remoue thee from thy rest. A man then sleepes surely, securely; when hee knowes (not that hee will not, but) that his enemy cannot hurt him. Violent is the force and fury of passions, ouerbearing a man to those courses, which in his sober and collected sense he would abhorre. They haue this power, to make him a foole, that otherwise is not; and him, that is a foole, to appeare so. If in strength thou canst not keep out passion, yet in wisdom temper it: that if, notwith­standing the former, it comes to whisper in thine eares thine owne weakenes; yet it may be hindered by the latter from diuulging it to thy shame.

Thou seest how excellent and principall a worke it is to manage the heart, which indeed manageth all the rest: and is powerfull to the carrying away with it selfe, the attendance of all the senses: who bee as rea­dy at call, and as speedy to execution, as any seruant the Centurion had: wayting onely for a come, goe, doe, from their leader the Heart. The eare will not heare, where the heart minds not, nor the hand relieue, where the heart pitties not: nor the tongue prayse, where the heart loues not. All looke, listen, attend, stay vpon the heart, as a Captaine to giue the onset. The Phi­losopher sayth; It is not the eye that seeth, but the heart: so it is not the eares that heare, but the heart.

Indeed: it sometimes falleth out, that a man heares not a great sound or noyse, though it be nigh him. The reason is, his heart is fixed, and busily taken vp in some obiect, serious in his imagination, though perhaps in it [Page 24] selfe vain: & the eares like faithfull seruants attending their master the heart, lose the act of that auditiue Or­gan, by some suspension, till the heart hath done with them, and giuen them leaue. Curious and rare sights, able to rauish some with admiration, affect not others, whiles they stand as open to their view: because their eyes are following the heart, and doing him seruice a­bout an other matter. Hence our feet stumble in a plain path, because our eyes, which should bee their guides, are sent some other way on the hearts errand. Bee then all cleane, if thou canst: but if that happinesse bee deny­ed on earth, yet let thy heart be clean; there is then the more hope of the rest.

4. The measure of this vessels infection. Full.

It hath not aspersion, nor imbution, but impletion. It is not a moderate contamination, which admitted into comparison with other turpitudes, might be exceeded, but a transcendent, egregious, superlatiue matter, to which there can be no accession: the vessell is full; and more then full, what can be? One vessel may hold more then another, but when all are filled, the least is as full as the greatest. Now Solomon, that was no flatterer, because a King himselfe; without awe of any mor­tall Superiour, because Seruant to the King of Kings, & put in trust with the registring of his Oracles; tels man plainely, that 1. his heart, not some lesse principal part, 2. is euill, not good, or inclining to goodnesse. 3. nay, full of euill, to the vtmost dramme it containes.

This describes Man in a degree further, then nature left him, if I may so speake: for wee were borne euill, but haue made our selues full of euill. There is time re­quired to this perfecting of sinne, and making vp the reprobates damnation. Iudgement stayes for the Gen. 15. 16. A­morites, till their wickednesse becomes full: and the Iewes are forborne, till they haue Math 23. 32. fulfilled the measure of their [Page 25] fathers. Sinne loued, delighted, accustomed, habitua­ted, voluntarily, violently perpetrated, brings this im­pletion. Indeed, man quickly fils this vessell of his owne accord: let him alone, and he needs no helpe to bring himselfe to hell. Whiles Gods preuenting grace dooth not fore-stall, nor his calling grace conuert, man runs on to destruction, as the foole laughing to the stockes. He sees euill, hee likes it, he dares it, he does it, hee liues in it; and his heart, like an hydropicke stomacke, is not quiet till it bee full.

Whiles the heart like a Cesterne, stands perpetually open, and the deuill like a Tankerd-bearer, neuer rests fetching water from the conduit of hell to fill it; and there is no vent of repentance to empty it; how can it chuse, but be full of euill? The heart is but a little thing, one would therefore thinke it might be soone full: but the heart holds much, therefore one would thinke, it could not bee soone full. It is a little morsell, not a­ble to giue a Kite her breakefast; yet it containes as much in desires, as the world doth in her integrall parts. Neyther if the whole world were giuen to the Pellaean Monarch, would he yet say, My heart is full, my mind is satisfied.

There must then concurre some co-working acci­dents to this repletion. Satan suggests: concupiscence harkens, flatters the heart with some perswasion of profite, pleasure, content: the heart assents; and sends forth the eye, hand, foote, as instruments of practise: lastly, sinne comes; and that not alone: one is intertay­ned, many presse in. Mala sunt contigua & continua in­ter se. Then the more men act, the more they affect; & the exit of one sinne, is anothers hinte of entrance: that the stage of his heart is neuer empty, till the tragedy of his soule be done.

This fulnesse argues a great height of impiety. Paul amply deliuered the wickednesse of Elimas, Act. 13. Act. 13. 10. O [Page 26] full of all subtilty and all mischiefe, thou childe of the Deuil, thou enemy of all righteousnesse, &c. a wretched impletion. So is the reprobate estate of the Heathen described. Rom. 1. Rom. 1. 29. to be filled with all vnrighteousnes, fornication, couetousnesse, &c. The same Apostle in the same Epistle speaking of the wicked in the words of the Psalme, saith, Rom. 3. 14. Their mouth is ful of cursing and bitternes. Here, the heart is full of euill. The commander being so filled with iniquity, euery member as a Souldier in his place, fils it selfe with the desired corruption. 2. Pet. 2. 14. The eye is full of a­dultery and lust, sayth the Apostle. The Esa. 1. 15. hand ful of bloud, sayth the Prophet. The foot full of auersenes, the tongue full of curses, oathes, dissimulations. Euery vessell will be full, as well as the heart; full to the brimme, nay, run­ning ouer, Ioh. 2. as the vessels at the marriage in Cana, though with a contrary liquour. And when all are replenished, the heart is ready to call, 2. Reg. 4. 2. as the widow in the 2. of Kings, the 4. Bring me yet another vessell, that it may be filled.

This is the precipitation of sinne, if God doth not preuent, as Sathan doth prouoke: it rests not, till it bee full. Sinful man is euermore carrying a stick to his pyle, a talent to his burden, more foule water to his cestern, more torments to be layde vp in his hell: hee ceaseth not, without a supernaturall interruption, & gracious reuocation, till his measure be full.

Thus I haue runne through these 4. circumstances of the Comma, or first Point of man: obseruing, 1. from the Owners, their corruptible fragility. 2. from the vessel, the Hearts excellency. 3. from the liquour contained in it, the pollution of our natures. 4. and lastly, from the plenitude, the strength and height of Sinne. The summe is, 1. the heart. 2. of man. 3. is full. 4. of euill.

I should now conclude, leauing my discourse, and you to meditation of it; but that you would then say, I had fayled in one speciall part of a Physitian; that ha­uing described the malady, I prescribe no remedy. [Page 27] Since it is not onely expedient, to be made experient of our owne estate, but to be taught to helpe it: Giue me leaue therfore briefly to tel you, that some principal intentions, to the repaire of your Hearts ruines are these. 1. Seeing this vessell is full, to empty it. 2. Seeing it is foule, to wash it. 3. Since it hath caught an ill tang, to sweeten it. 4. And when it is well, so to preserue it. with these foure vses, goe in peace.

1. There is first a necessitie, that the hart which is full of euill by nature, must be emptied by conuersion, and replenished with grace, or not saued with glory. what scuppet haue we then to free the heart of this muddy pollution? Loe, how happily we fall vpon Repentance; God grant Repentance fall vpon vs. The proper engine ordained & blessed of God to this purpose, is Repentāce: a grace, without which man can neuer extricate him­selfe from the bondage of Satan: a grace whereat (whē it lights on a sinnefull soule) the deuils murmure and vexe themselues in hell, Luk 15. and the good Angels reioyce in heauen. Reu. 6. 16. This is that blessed engine, that lightens the hearts of such a burden, that Rockes and Mountains, and the vast body of the earth layed on a distressed & desperate sinner, are corkes and fethers to it.

This is that, which makes the eternal wisedome con­tent to admit a forgetfulnesse, and to remember our iniquities no more then if they had neuer beene. This speakes to Mercy, to separate our sinnes from the face of God, to binde them vp in heapes and bundels, and drowne them in the sea of obliuion. This makes Mary Magdalen of a sinner, a Saint: Zacheus of an extortio­ner, charitable, and of a persecuting Saul, a professing Paul. This is that mourning master, that is neuer with­out good attendants; teares of contrition, prayers for remission, purpose of amended life. Behold the office of Repentance: shee stands at the dore, and offers her lo­uing seruice: entertaine me and I will vnlode, vnlade [Page 28] thy heart of that euill poyson, and were it ful to the brim, returne it thee empty. If you welcome Repentance, knocking at your dore from God, it shall knocke at Gods dore of mercy for you. It askes of you amend­ment, of God, forgiuenesse. Receiue it.

2. The heart thus emptied of that inueterate cor­ruption, should fitly be washed, before it bee repleni­shed. The olde poyson stickes so fast in the grayne of it, that there is onely one thing of validity to make it cleane, the bloud of Iesus Christ. It is this, that hath ba­thed all hearts, that euer were, or shall be receyued in­to Gods house of glory. 1. Ioh. 1. 7. This bloud clenseth vs from all sin. Paul seemes to inferre so much, in ioyning to the spirits of iust men made perfect, Heb. 12. 23. 24. Iesus the Mediatour of the new Couenant, and the bloud of sprinckling, that speaks better things then the bloud of Abel. As if he would proue, that it was this bloud, which made them iust and perfect. In vaine were all repentance without this: no teares can wash the heart cleane, but those bloudy ones, which the side of Christ, & other parts wept, when the speare and nayles gaue them eyes: whiles the Sonne of eternall ioy became a Mourner for his brethren. Could we mourne like doues, bowle like Dragons, & lament beyond the waylings in the valley of Hadradimmon, quid prosunt la­crimae, what boots it to weepe, where there is no mer­cy, and how can there bee mercy without the bloud of Christ?

This is that euer-running fountain, that sacred Poole of Bethesda, which without the mediation of Angels, stands perpetually vnforbidden to al faithful visitants. Were our Leprosie worse then Naamans, here's the true water of Iordan, or Poole of Siloam, Wash and be cleane; Bring your hearts to this Bath, yee corrupted Sonnes of men; hath God giuen you so precious a Lauer, and will you be vncleane still? Pray, intreat, beseech, send vp to heauen the cryes of your tongues and hearts for this [Page 29] bloud: call vpon the preseruer of men, not onely to distill some drops, but to wash, bathe, soake your harts in this bloud. Behold, the Sonne of God himselfe, that shedde this bloud, doth intreat God for you: the whole Quire of all the Angels & Saints in heauen are not wanting. Let the meditation of Christs mediation for you, giue you encouragement and comfort. Happy Sonne of man, for whom the Sonne of God supplicates, and intercedes. What can He request without speed?

He doth not onely pray for you, but euen to you, yee sonnes of men. Beholde him with the eyes of a Christian, faith and hope; standing on the battlements of heauen, hauing that for his pauement, which is our seeling, offring his bloud to wash your hearts, which he willingly lost for your hearts: denying it to none, but Wolues, Beares, and Goates, and such reprobate, excommunicate, apostate spirites, that treade it vnder their prophane and luxurious feet, esteeming that an vnholy thing, Heb. 10. 29. wherewith they might haue beene sanctified. Come we then, come we, though sinners, if beleeuers, and haue our hearts washed.

3. All is not done with this vessell, when washed. Shall wee empty it, Math. 12. 44. clense it, and so leaue it? Did not Sa­tan reenter to the house swept and garnished, with seuen worse spirites, whiles it was empty? Behold then, when it is emptied, and washed, and sweetned, it must bee filled againe: a vacuity is not allowable. It must bee re­plenished with somewhat, eyther euill or good. If God bee not present, Satan will not be absent. When it is euacuated of the works of the flesh, Gal. 5. 24. it must bee supply­ed with the fruits of the Spirit. Humility must take vp the roome, which pride had in the heart. Charita­blenesse must steppe into the seate of auarice. Loue extrude malice, mildnesse anger, patience murmuring. Sobriety must drie vp the floudes of drunkenesse. Continence coole the inflammations of Lust. Peace [Page 30] must quite the head from dissentions. Honesty pull off Hypocrisies vizour; and Religion put prophanenesse to an irreuocable exile.

Faith is the hand, that must take these Iewels out of Gods treasury, to furnish the heart: the pipe to conuey the waters of life into these vessels. This infusi­on of goodnesse must follow the effusion of euill. God must be let in, when Satan is locked out. If our former courses and customes, like turn'd-away abiects, prof­fer vs their old seruice, let vs not know them, not own them, not giue them intertainement, not allow their acquaintance. But in a holy pride, as now made Cour­tiers to the King of heauen, let vs disdayne the compa­ny of our olde play-fellowes, opera tenebrarum, the works of darknesse. Let vs now onely frequent the dore of mercy, and the fountaine of grace; and let faith, & a good conscience be neuer out of our society. Here's the supply.

4. We haue now done, if when our hearts bee thus emptied, cleansed, supplyed, we so keepe them. Non minor est virtus, &c. Nay, let me say, non minor est gratia. For it was Gods preuenting grace, that clensed our hearts, and it is his subsequent grace that so preserues them: That we may truely sing;

Yet haue we not herein a Patent of security and neg­ligence sealed vs; as if God would saue vs, whiles wee onely stood and look'd on. But 1. Ioh. 3. 3. he that hath this hope, purgeth himselfe. And wee are charged to 1. Thes. 4. 4. keepe and possesse our vessell in sanctification and honour: and to Iam. 1. 27. liue vnspotted of the world.

Return not to your former abominations, lest your Luke 11. 26. latter end bee worse then your beginning. Hath God done [Page 31] so much to make your hearts good, and will you fru­strate his labours, annihilate his fauours, vilipend his mercies, and reele backe to your former turpitudes? God forbid it, and the serious deprecation of your owne soules forbid it.

Yea, oh Lord, since thou hast dealt so graciously with these frayle vessels of flesh, emptied them, wa­shed them, season'd them, supplyed them; seale them vp with thy Spirit to the day of redemption, and preserue them, that the euill one touch them not. Grant this, Oh Father almigh­ty, for thy Christ, and our Iesus his sake.

Amen.

1. The Tenant. Madnesse.

There is a double madnesse, corporall and spirituall, The obiect of the former is Reason: of the latter, Reli­gion. That obsesseth the braine, this the Heart. That ex­pects the helpe of the naturall Physitian, this of the Mysticall. The difference is; this spirituall madnesse may insanire cum ratione, cum Religione numquam. The morally- franticke may be mad with reason, neuer with Religion.

Physitians haue put a difference betwixt Phrenzy, and Madnesse: imagining madnesse to be onely an in­fection and perturbation of the formost Cell of the head; whereby Imagination is hurt: but the Phrenzy to extend further, euen to offend the reason and memo­ry; [Page 35] and is neuer without a feuer. Galen cals it an inflam­mation of the braines, or filmes thereof, mixed with a sharpe feuer. My purpose needes me not to be curious of this distinction.

To vnderstand the force of madnesse, we must con­ceiue in the brayne three ventricles; as houses assign'd by Physitians for three dwellers, Imagination, Rea­son, and Memorie. According to these three internal senses or faculties, there be three kinds of Phrensies or Madnesses.

1. There are some mad, that can rightly iudge of the things they see, as touching imagination & phanta­sie: but for cogitation and reason, they swarue from na­turall iudgement.

2. Some being madde, are not deceiu'd so much in common cogitation and reason; but they erre in Phantasie and Imagination.

3 There are some, that be hurt in both imagination and reason, and they necessarily therewithall doe lose their memories. That whereas in perfect, sober, and well composed men, Imagination first conceiues the formes of things, and presents them to the reason to iudge; and reason discerning them, commits them to Memorie to retaine: in mad-men nothing is con­ceiu'd aright, therefore nothing deriu'd, nothing re­tayn'd.

For spirituall relation, we may conceiue in the soule; vnderstanding, reason, will. 1. The vnderstanding appre­hendeth things according to their right natures. 2. The Reason discusseth them, arguing their fitnesse or inconuenience, validity or vanity: and examines their desert of probation or disallowance, their worthinesse eyther to be receyued or reiected. 3. The Will hath her particular working, and embraceth, or refuseth the obiects, which the vnderstanding hath propounded, & the reason discoursed.

[Page 36] Spirituall madnesse is a deprauation, or almost depri­uation of all these faculties, quoad coelestia; so farre as they extend to heauenly things. 1. For vnderstanding, the Apostle sayth. 1. Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man perceyues not spiri­tuall things, because they are spiritually discerned. And the very 2. Cor. 4. 4. minds of vnbeleeuers are blinded by the god of this world. 2. For Reason: it iudgeth vanities more worthy, of prosecution when they are absent, of embracing when they salute vs. Malac. 3. 14. It is in vaine to serue the Lord: and what profite is it, that wee haue kept his ordinance, or walked mournefully before him? This is the voyce of distracted cogitation, and of reason out of the wits. Vet. 15. Wee call the proud happy; and the workers of wickednesse are set vp: yea they that tempt God are deliuered. 3. For Will; it hath lost the propensenesse to good, and freedome of disposing it selfe to well doing: neyther hath it any power of it owne, to stoppe and retarde the precipitation to e­uill.

Now whereas they distinguish Soule. 1. in vegetabi­lem, that giueth life. 2. in sensibilem, that giueth feeling. 3. in rationalem, that giueth reason: the first desiring esse, to be; the second, benè, to bee well; the third opti­mè esse, to be best; so not resting till it be with God: be­hold, this spiritual madnesse eneruates this last action of the soule, as corporall endeuors to extinguish the two former.

They attribute to the Soule 5. powers. 1. Feeling, whereby the Soule is moued to desire conuenient things, and to eschue hurtfull. 2. Witte, whereby shee knoweth sensible and present things. 3. Imagination, whereby she beholdeth the likenesse of bodily things, though absent. And these three vertues, say Philoso­phers, be common to men with beasts. 4. is Ratio, wher­by shee iudgeth betweene good and euill, truth and falshood. 5. Intellectus, whereby shee comprehends things (not onely visible, but) intelligible, as God, An­gels, [Page 37] &c. And these two last are peculiar to man, abi­ding with the soule, liuing in the flesh, and after death. It beholdeth still the higher things per intellectum, and the lower per rationem.

As corporall madnesse drawes a thicke obfuscation ouer these lights, so spirituall corrupts and peruerts them: that as they are strangers to heauen, quoad intel­lectum, so at last, they become fooles in natural things, quoad rationem. Rom. 1. 28. As the Apostle plainely. Euen as they did not like to retaine God in their knowledge, so God gaue them ouer to a reprobate mind, to doe those things that are not conuenient. They that forget God, shall forget na­ture. Hence ensue both these frenzies, and with them a dissimilitude to men, to Christian men. It is recko­ned vp among the curses, that wayte on the heeles of disobedience. Deut. 28. Deut. 28. 28. The Lord shall smite thee with madnesse, blindnesse, and astonishment of heart. But it is a fearefull accumulation of Gods iudgements and our miseries, when spirituall Phrensie shall possesse the soule, and scatter the powers of the inner man: euacu­ating not onely imagination; but knowledge; not reason, but faith; not sense, but conscience. When the opinion of the world shall repute men sober and wise, and the scrutinie of God shall finde them mad-men.

To draw yet neerer to the point of our compasse, & to discouer this spirituall madnesse; let vs conceiue in mans heart, (for therein this frenzy consists) in answera­ble reference to those three faculties in the brayne, and powers of the soule before manifested, these three ver­tues, Knowledge, Faith, Affections. The defect of grace, and destitution of integrity, to the corrupting of these three, cause madnesse. We will not inquire further into the causes of corporall frenzy: the madnes which I would minister to, is thus caused: a defectiue knowledge, a faith not well informed, affections not well reformed. Ignorance, vnfaithfulnesse, and refractary desires make a man mad.

2. The Tenement, the heart.

The Heart is a mansion for God, not for madnesse. God made it, and meant to reserue it to himselfe: hee neuer placed such a Tenant in it, as the Frenzy of sinne. Christ is sayde to haue a fourefold house, Anagogicall, Allegoricall, Corporall, Morall.

1. The first is the Church triumphant, that glorious, and euerlasting habitation of his Deity.

2. The second, is the Church militant, wherein hee [Page 76] dwels sacramentally, by his holy Ministery.

3. The third is Corporall, that consecrated wombe of the Virgin, wherein he dwell't 9. moneths.

4. The last is Mans Heart, wherein he hath a my­sticall and spirituall abode. Eph. 3. 17. Christ doth dwell in our hearts by faith, 1. Ioh. 4. 16. and by loue. As he loues the gates of Sion, more then all the dwellings of Iacob: so hee delighteth in the heart of man, more then in all Palaces and Pauilions of Princes. When an aduersary Tyrant hath taken the chiefe Forte in a Country, and driuen out their iust and mercifull Gouernour; feare, sor­row, and expectation of ruine possesseth the inhabi­tants. It can goe no better with the like Nation of Man, when Iesus Christ is expelled his habitation, the heart; and so sauage a Tyrant is admitted to Te­nure, as madnesse: a strong man, that will fortifie the Castle, and scornes to lose it, except strength it selfe, the vnresistable grace of Christ layes battery to it. But this Theme is scarce cold, since I last handled it. I must bee forced to leaue the Tenement awhile, in the vnmercifull hands of madnesse; and inquire, (if per­haps with any comfort) how long this Tenure lasteth.

3. The Tenure whiles they liue.

Alas! what gaine wee by searching further into this euidence? the more we looke into it, the worse we like it. Whiles they liue. The 1. Tenure of Madnes. 2. in the Heart. 3. is for terme of life. Too long a time for so bad a Tenant. But you will say vnto mee, as the Disci­ples to Christ: Aug. Who then can bee saued? Nunquid daturus est Deus regnum coelorum stul [...]is? Will God giue the Kingdome of heauen to madmen? Feare not, all are not mad-men that haue madnesse a Tenant in their heartes; but they that haue it for their Landlord. It is not my distinction, Rom. 7. 16. but Saint Pauls, Rom. 7. Sinne may dwell, [Page 77] nay, Rom. 6. 12. Sinne will dwell in your hearts; let it not raigne there, sayth the Apostle. It must be a houshold seruant, it must not be a King. Aliud est habere insaniam, aliud ha­beri ab insania. It is one thing to haue madnes, another thing for madnesse to haue thee. Since it will dwell in thee, whiles thou dwelest in the flesh, make it a seruant, a slaue, a drudge. Set the Gibeonites to draw water; let it make thine eyes laue thy body with repentant teares: and to cleaue wood, let it rend thy heart with sorrow. Keepe that subtill deceiuer, with whom thou ignorantly struckst the hand of couenant, vnder bit and bridle: velle, reuelle, turne, restraine, command, controll it at thy pleasure. Let it neuer be thy Captain, thy Lād­lord, thy King.

Though Sinne, the Deuils madde dogge hath bitten thee, and thou at first beginnest to runne franticke: yet apply the plaister of the bloud of Christ to thy sores. This shall draw out the venome, and grace shall get the ma­stery of madnesse. Bee of good comfort, thou shalt not die franticke. Encourage thy selfe with a holy violence against thy fleshly lusts: intend, contend to infeeble, and at length to extinguish the force of thy depraued nature. Kill madnesse, lest madnesse kill thee. Bee sen­sible of the bane, that lies in this spirituall frenzy, and doe not laughing die. Madnesse is at first, inimicus blandus, a fleering enemy: in the middest, dulce vene­num, sweet poyson: at last, the Epithets of blandum and dulce being lost, it is Scorpio pungens, a stinging Serpent. Well, yet let it sting thee heere, that it may not sting thee hereafter. Happy is hee, that learnes to bee sober by his owne madnesse; and con­cludes from I haue sinned, I will not sinne. Mad­nesse may bee in his heart, like a Tenant; it shall neuer bee like a Tyrant. Innocent Adam was naked, and knew it not: sinnefull Adam was naked, and knew it. Then comes God, hearing his excuse of concealing [Page 78] himselfe deduced from his nakednesse: Who tolde thee that thou wast naked? Gen. 3. 11. Sure, his guilt tolde him. Wee haue beene mad, and are now come to our selues, to know our owne madnesse. If it be asked, who told vs, that wee were madde? I answere, Euen the same grace of Gods Spirite, that reclaymed vs from madnesse. For the wicked, since they loue madnesse, be it vnto them: and when they will neuer be recollected, let them bee mad still. But blessed be that God, that helped vs; pray­sed bee his holy Name, that hath recalled vs. Hee hath in this life freede vs from madnesse, as a Tyrant, and shal hereafter free vs from it as a Tenant.

Thus haue you the Mystery of this spirituall Bedlam detected, and a crue of Mad-men let out to your view: whose house is the world, whose bonds are iniquities, whose delight is darkenesse, whose master is the Deuil: for those whom he keepes in this metaphoricall Bedlam, without reclayming by the power of the Gospell; hee hath ready prouided another materiall, locall, infernall Bedlam, a dungeon, not shallower then Hell, wherein there is no light of Sunne or Starre, no food but speck­led Serpents, no liberty to straggle; but the Patients are bound with euerlasting chaynes; and himselfe (with his same-suffering spirites) doe eternally whip them with roddes of burning steele and yron. One houre in this Bedlam will tame the most sauage madde-men, that were euer nurst among wolues, or suck'd the brests of inhumanity.

I heare them talke of some irrefragable Rorers, creatures, (not men) whom no limits of reason can ted­dar vp: let them take heed, lest they become at that day, Rorers indeed, and rore for the very anguish of their hearts: howling like Dragons, that haue liued like Tygers. Thinke of this Bedlam, ye madde-men, Eccl. 11. Reioyce, [...] O young man, in thy youth, &c. Reioyce, nay (it [Page 79] were somewhat well, if no more then ioy) be mad; in thy youth, tempus insaniendi, a time of illimited desire; Let thy heart cheare thee, and do thou cheare thy hart; that, thee with lusts; thou, that with wine and iunkets: and walke frantikely, inordinately; in thy wayes, by-wayes, & wry­wayes, for the way of truth thou wilt not know; and in the sight of thine eyes, such tempting, and lust-prouo­king obiects, as those two Sentinels of the body can light vpon: or if thou canst not yet bee madder, extend thy desires to finde out experimentall madnesse: but know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into iudgement: remember, that there is an infernall Bedlam, whereunto they that liue and die spiritually-mad-men, must be eternally confined.

He that should now tell the Couetous, the Ambiti­ous, the Voluptuous, &c. they are mad-men, should ap­peare to them madde, in saying so. They rather thinke vs madde; as Festus, though madde himselfe, without learning, could tell Paul, that Much learning had made him mad. Act. 26. 24. But we may answere for our selues, as Augu­stine of Dauids madnesse: Insanire videbatur, sed regi A­chish insanire videbatur: Dauid seemed mad, but to King Achish: 1. Sam. 21, 13. Wee are iudged mad-men, of none but madde-men, because wee runne not with them to the same excesse of riot, 1. Pet. 4. 4. because wee cut short our affections of their vain delights, and drowne not our selues in the whirlepoole of their luxuries; but girde repentance to our loynes with resolution; they imagine vs franticke. They thinke vs mad-men, wee know them so. And they shall at last despairingly confesse in this lower Bedlam: Wisd. 54. 5. We fooles accounted the godly mans life madnesse, and his end to bee without honour: Now is hee numbred among the children of God, and his lotte is among the Saints. Bee wise then in time, yee sonnes of men; trust not spirituall madnesse, lest it bring you to eternall Bedlam. From whose iawes when you are once entred, bee you neuer so tame, [Page 80] you cannot be deliuered.

3. The Period.

Wee haue ended Mans Comma, and his Colon, but not his Sentence: the Period continues and concludes it. Wee 1. found his heart full of euill. 2. Wee left it full of madnesse. 3. Let vs obserue at the shutting vp, what will become of it. After that, they goe to the dead. Heres the end of mans progresse: now he betakes himselfe to his Standing-house, his Graue. The Period is deli­uer'd

• Consequently. After that
• Discessiuely. they goe
• Discensiuely. downe to the dead.

The Summe is, Rom. 6. Death is the wages of sinne. 1. After that, they haue nourished euill and madnesse in their hearts, this is the successiue (not successefull) euent and conse­quence. 2. They goe, they shall trauell a new iourney, take an vnwilling walke; not to their medowes, gar­dens, tauernes, banketting-houses; but, 3. To the dead: a dismall place, the habitation of darkenesse and dis­content: where finesse shall bee turned to filthinesse: lustre to obscurity, beauty and strength to putrefacti­on and rottennesse.

If a man lookes into what life it selfe is, hee cannot but finde, both by experience of the past, and proofe of the present age, Wisd 5. 13. that hee must die. As soon as we are born, wee beginne to draw to our end. Life it selfe is nothing, but a iourney to death. There is no day, but hath his night: no sentence, but hath his period: no life on earth, but hath the death. Examine the scope of thy desires, and thou shalt perceyue, how they hasten to the graue: as if death were the gaole, prize or principall end, which the vanity of humane endeuours runnes at. Bee a man in honour, in wealth, in gouernment: he still ambiti­ously blind, languisheth for the time to come; the one, [Page 81] in hope to enlarge his greatnesse; the other, his riches; the last, his dominions. Thus they couet the running on of time and age, and rest not till they haue conclu­ded their sentence, and attayned their Period, gone to the dead.

All men, yea all inferiour things must be freed by an end: and as the Philosopher answered to the newes of his sonnes death: Scio me gen [...]sse mortalem: so God the Father of all, may say of euery man liuing, Scio me creasse mortalem: I haue made a man that hath made himselfe mortal. Man is a little world, the world a great man: if the great man must die, how shall the little one scape? Hee is made of more brittle and fragile matter, then the Sunne and Stars: of a lesse substance then the earth, water, &c. Let him make what shew he can with his glorious adornations; let rich apparrell disguise him liuing; seare-cloths, spices, balmes en­wrappe him, lead and stone immure him dead: his ori­ginall mother will at last owne him againe for her na­turall childe; and triumph ouer him with this insulta­tion, hee is in my bowels, Psal. 146. Psal. 146. 4. Hee returneth to his earth. His body returneth not immediately to heauen, but to earth, nor to earth, as a stranger to him, or an vn­knowne place, but to his earth; as one of his most fa­miliar friends, and of oldest acquaintance. To con­clude:

If wee bee sinnefull, wee must die; if wee bee full of euill, and cherish madnesse in our hearts, we must to the dead. Wee haue sinnes enough, to bring vs all to the graue: God grant they bee not so violent, and full of ominous precipitation, that they portend our more sudden ru­ine. Yea, they doe portend it; but Oh nullum sit in om­ne pondus.

But I haue beene so prolixe in the former parts of the Sentence, that I must not dwell vpon the Peri­od. Hee needs not bee tedious, that reades a Lecture [Page 82] of mortality. How many in the world, since this Ser­mon begunne, haue vndergone experimentall demon­stration of this truth? This Sentence is but the morall of those spectacles, and those spectacles, the iustifying examples of this Sentence. They are come to their Period before my speech: my speech, my selfe, and all that heare me, all that breathe this ayre, must follow them. It hath beene sayd, We liue to die: let me a little inuert it: Let vs liue to liue: Liue the Life of grace, that wee may liue the life of glory. Then though we must goe to the dead, we shal rise from the dead; and liue with our God out of the reach of death for euer.

Amen.