sation, but an inquiry; yet such an inquiry as would infer an accusation. God loves to have a sinner accuse himself, and therefore hath he set his deputy in the breast of man; neither doth God love this more than nature abhors it: Cain answers stubbornly: the very name of Abel wounds him no less, than his hand had wounded Abel. Consciences that are without remorse, are not without horror: wickedness makes men desperate; the murderer is angry with God, as of late for accepting his brother's oblation, so now for listening to his blood. And now he dares answer God with a question, Am I my brother's keeper? where he should have said, Am not I my brother's murderer? Behold, he scorneth to keep whom he feared not to kill: good duties are base and troublesome to wicked minds, whilst even violences of evil are pleasant. Yet this miscreant, which neither had grace to avoid his sin, nor to confess it, now that he is convinced of sin, and cursed for it, how he howleth, how he exclaimeth! He, that cares not for the act of his sin, shall care for the smart of his punishment. The damned are weary of their torments, but in vain. How great a madness is it to complain too late! He, that would not keep his brother, is cast out from the protection of God; he, that feared not to kill his brother, fears now, that whosoever meets him will kill him. The troubled conscience projecteth fearful things, and sin makes even cruel men cowardly. God saw it was too much favour for him to die: he therefore wills that which Cain wills. Cain would live; it is yielded him, but for a curse: how often doth God hear sinners in anger! He shall live banished from God, carrying his hell in his bosom, and the brand of God's vengeance in his forehead: God rejects him, the earth repines at him, men abhor him; himself now wishes that death which he feared, and no man dare pleasure him with a murder; how bitter is the end of sin, yea, without end! still Cain finds that he killed himself more than his brother. We should never sin, if our foresight were but as good as our sense: the issue of sin would appear a thousand times more horrible than the act is pleasant. Gen. iv. OF THE DELUGE. THE world was grown so foul with sin, that God saw it was time to wash it with a flood. And so close did wickedness cleave to the authors of it, that when they were washed to nothing, yet it would not off: yea, so deep did it stick in the very grain of the earth, that God saw it meet to let it soak long under the waters. So, under the Law, the very vessels that had touched unclean water, must either be rinsed or broken. Mankind began but with one: and yet he, that saw the first man, lived to see the earth peopled with a world of men: yet men grew not so fast as wickedness. One man could soon and easily multiply a thousand sins, never man had so many children: so that, when there were men enough to store the earth, there were as many sins as would reach up to heaven; whereupon the waters came down from heaven, and swelled up to heaven again. If there had not been so deep a deluge of sin, there had been none of the waters. From whence then was this superfluity of iniquity? Whence, but from the unequal yoke with infidels? These marriages did not beget men, so much as wickedness; from hence religious husbands both lost their piety, and gained a rebellious and godless generation. That, which was the first occasion of sin, was the occasion of the increase of sin: a woman seduced Adam, women betray these sons of God: the beauty of the apple betrayed the woman, the beauty of these women betrayed this holy seed: Eve saw, and lusted, so did they; this also was a forbidden fruit, they lusted, tasted, sinned, died; the most sins begin at the eyes, by them commonly Satan creeps into the heart: that soul can never be in safety, that hath not covenanted with his eyes. God needed not have given these men any warning of his judgment; they gave him no warning of their sins, no respite: yet, that God might approve his mercies to the very wicked, he gives them a hundred and twenty years respite of repenting how loth is God to strike, that threats so long! He, that delights in revenge, surprises his adversary; whereas he, that gives long warnings, desires to be prevented: if we were not wilful, we should never smart. Neither doth he give them time only, but a faithful teacher. It is a happy thing when he that teacheth others is righteous; Noah's hand taught them as much as his tongue. His business in building the ark, was a real sermon to the world; wherein at once were taught mercy and life to the believer, and to the rebellious destruction. Methinks I see those monstrous sons of Lamech coming to Noah, and asking him, what he means by that strange work; whether he means to sail upon the dry land. To whom when he reports God's purpose and his, they go away laughing at his idleness, and tell one another, in sport, that too much holiness hath made him mad: yet cannot they all flout Noah out of his faith; he preaches, and builds, and finishes. Doubtless more hands went to this work than his many a one wrought upon the ark, which yet was not saved in the ark. Our outward works cannot save us, without our faith; we may help to save others, and perish ourselves: what a wonder of mercy is this that I here see! One poor family called out of a world, and as it were eight grains of corn fanned from a whole barnful of chaff: one hypocrite was saved with the rest for Noah's sake; not one righteous man was swept away for company. For these few was the earth preserved still under the waters, and all kinds of creatures upon the waters, which else had been all destroyed. Still the world stands, for their sakes, for whom it was preserved; else fire should consume that, which could not be cleansed by water. This difference is strange: I see the savagest of all creatures, lions, tigers, bears, by an instinct from God, come to seek the ark (as we see swine foreseeing a storm run home crying for shelter), men I see not; reason once debauched is worse than brutishness: God hath use even of these fierce and cruel beasts, and glory by them even they being created for man, must live by him, though to his punishment: how gently do they offer and submit themselves to their preserver; renewing that obeisance to this repairer of the world, which they, before sin, yielded to him that first stored the world: he, that shut them into the ark when they were entered, shut their mouths also while they did enter, The lions fawn upon Noah and Daniel; what heart cannot the Maker of them mollify! The unclean beasts God would have to live, the clean to multiply; and therefore he sends to Noah seven of the clean, of the unclean two: he knew the one would annoy man with their multitude, the other would enrich him; those things are worthy of most respect, which are of most use. But why seven? Surely that God, that created seven days in the week, and made one for himself, did here preserve of seven clean beasts, one for himself, for sacrifice: he gives us six for one in earthly things, that in spiritual we should be all for him. Now the day is come, all the guests are entered, the ark is shut, and the windows of heaven open: I doubt not but many of those scoffers, when they saw the violence of the waves descending, and ascending, according to Noah's prediction, came wading middledeep unto the ark, and importunately craved that admittance which they once denied: but now, as they formerly rejected God, so are they justly rejected of God. For ere vengeance begin, repentance is seasonable; but if judgment be once gone out, we cry too late. While the Gospel solicits us, the doors of the ark are open; if we neglect the time of grace, in vain shall we seek it with tears: God holds it no mercy to pity the obstinate. Others, more bold than they, hope to over-run the judgment, and, climbing up to the high mountains, look down upon the waters with more hope than fear and now, when they see their hills become islands, they climb up into the tallest trees; there with paleness and horror at once look for death, and study to avoid it, whom the waves overtake at last half dead with famine, and half with fear. Lo! now from the tops of the mountains they descry the ark floating upon the waters, and behold with envy that which before they beheld with scorn. In vain doth he fly whom God pursues. There is no way to fly from his judgments, but to fly to his mercy by repenting. The faith of the righteous cannot be so much derided, as their success is magnified: how securely doth Noah ride out this uproar of heaven, earth, and waters! He hears the pouring down of the rain above his head; the shrieking of men, and roaring and bellowing of beasts, ou both sides of him; the raging and threats of the waves under him; he saw the miserable shifts of the distressed unbelievers; and in the mean time sits quietly in his dry cabin, neither feeling nor fearing evil: he knew that he, which owned the waters, would steer him; that he, who shut him in, would preserve him. How happy a thing is faith! What a quiet safety, what a heavenly peace, doth it work in the soul, in the midst of all the inundations of evil! Now, when God hath fetched again all the life which he had given to his unworthy creatures, and reduced the world unto his first form wherein waters were over the face of the earth, it was time for a renovation of all things to succeed this destruction. To have continued the deluge long, had been to punish Noah, that was righteous. After forty days, therefore, the heavens clear up; after a hundred and fifty the waters sink down. How soon is God weary of punishing, which is never weary of blessing! yet may not the ark rest suddenly. If we did not stay somewhile under God's hand, we should not know how sweet his mercy is, and how great our thankfulness should be. The ark, though it was Noah's fort against the waters, yet it was his prison; he was safe in it, but put up; he, that gave him life by it, now thinks time to give him liberty out of it. God doth not reveal all things to his best servants: behold, he, that told Noah a hundred and twenty years before what day he should go into the ark, yet foretels him not now in the ark what day the ark should rest upon the hills, and he should go forth. Noah therefore sends out his intelligencers, the raven and the dove; whose wings in that vaporous air might easily descry further than his sight. The raven, of quick scent, of gross feed, of tough constitution; no fowl was so fit for discovery: the likeliest things always succeed not. He neither will venture far into that solitary world for fear of want, nor yet come into the ark for love of liberty; but hovers about in uncertainties. How many carnal minds fly out of the ark of God's Church, and embrace the present world; rather choosing to feed upon the unsavoury carcasses of sinful pleasures, than to be restrained within the straight lists of Christian obedience! The dove is sent forth, a fowl both swift and simple. She, like a true citizen of the ark, returns; and brings faithful notice of the continuance of the waters, by her restless and empty return; by her olive-leaf, of the abatement: how worthy are those messengers to be welcome, which, with innocence in their lives, bring glad tidings of peace and salvation, in their mouths! Noah rejoices and believes; yet still he waits seven days more: it is not good to devour the favours of God too greedily; but to take them in, that we may digest them. O strong faith of Noah, that was not weary with this delay! Some man would have so longed for the open air after so long closeness, that upon the first notice of safety he would have uncovered, and voided the ark; Noah stays seven days ere he will open, and well near two months ere he will forsake the ark; and not then, unless God, that commanded to enter, had bidden him depart. There is no action good without our faith; no faith, without a word. Happy is that man, which, in all things, neglecting the counsels of flesh and blood, depends upon the commission of his Maker. Gen. vi, vii, viii. BOOK II. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD STANHOPE, ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL, ALL GRACE AND HAPPINESS. RIGHT HONOURABLE: I DURST appeal to the judgment of a carnal reader (let him not be prejudicate) that there is no History so pleasant as the Sacred. Set aside the majesty of the inditer; none can compare with it for magnificence and antiquity of the matter, the sweetness of compiling, the strange variety of memorable occurrences: and if the delight be such, what shall the profit be esteemed of that which was written by GOD for the salvation of Men! I confess, no thoughts did ever more sweetly steal me and time away, than those which I have employed in this subject, and I hope, none can equally benefit others: for, if the mere relation of these holy things be profitable, how much more when it is reduced to use! This second part of the World repaired, I dedicate to your Lordship; wherein you shall see Noah as weak in his tent, as strong in the ark; an ungracious son reserved from the deluge to his father's curse; modest piety rewarded with blessings; the building of Babel, begun in pride, ended in confusion; Abraham's faith, fear, obedience; Isaac bound upon the altar under the hand of a father, that hath forgotten both nature and all his hopes; Sodom burning with a double fire, from hell, and from heaven; Lot rescued from that impure city, yet after finding Sodom in his cave: Every one of these passages is not more full of wonder than of edification. That Spirit, which hath penned all these things for our learning, teach us their right use; and sanctify these my unworthy meditations to the good of his church! To whose abundant grace I humbly commend your Lordship. Your Lordship's unfeignedly devoted JOSEPH HALL. NOAH. No sooner is Noah come out of the ark, but he builds an altar: not a house for himself, but an altar to the Lord: our faith wil ever teach us to prefer God to ourselves. Delayed thankfulness |