But see how wee are falne from heauen to earth ! Returne we to our great Lord againe , and let vs heare him speaking and pleading vnto vs , Malac. 1.6 . Si Dominus ego sum , vbi timor ? If I be a Lord , where is my feare ? Certainely a Lord beares relation to a seruant , & a seruants badge is feare . He hath bin to vs a Father and a Lord too : if we will not loue him as Sonnes , yet at least let vs feare him as seruants ; Especially considering , his seruice procures both dignity and commodity . Honour and profit , the two great baytes of humane affections attend vpon it . Honour it brings , Deo seruire , regnare est : to serue God , is to raigne as a King : and Philo q q Phil. lib. de regno . , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To serue God , is better not onely then liberty or freedome , but a Kingdome or Soueraignty . And so commodity it brings too : for by seruing this Lord , wee are saued from all enemies . Augustine r r Aug. de eiuit . Dei , lib. 19. cap. 15. well notes , Seruus comes à seruando , a seruant , from being preserued ; because , Quiiure belli possent occidi , a victoribus seruabantur . Such as by right of warre might haue beene slaine , by the mercy of their Conquerors were kept aliue . So it was a mutuall pact Serua & seruiam , Preserue thou me , & I will be thy seruant . And is not this our case ? or is it our case , & shal it not be our duty ? Let vs heare Zachary , & he wiltel vs , That we being deliuered from our enemies , Luk. 1.74 . might serue him in righteousnesse and holines all the dayes of our life .

O then , why doe we not humbly serue this great LORD , but proudly striue against him ? what intolerable impudence is it for men to vse him as they doe ? Some giue him the lie , by vnbeliefe ; others the stab , by swearing & blaspheming ; many giue him the Brauado , by an audacious contradicting his settled truth ; and some the flout , by laughing at the miseries of his Church . Is this to make our selues his seruants , to accompt him as a Lord ? . who dares vse his Master so ? Who will say to th● King , Thou art wicked ? & to Princes , Ye are vngodly ? Iob 34.18 . Oh how much lesse should they say it to him , who accepteth not the person of Princes , nor regardeth the rich more then the poore ! S. Peter 1. Pet. 2.18 bids seruants obey their Masters , though they be froward , much more if they be milde . How then should we be pliant to this great Lord , considering he is euer mercifull and kinde , or as it is in my text , Nobiscum ; euer with vs to helpe and succour vs ? And this is the second thing in this Promise , the manner how he defends vs , viz. by being with vs .

Is with you .

It is true , that God is with all men , and that in all places , and at all times : but he is especially with his Children and seruants , and euer for some good , for some singular comfort . For as in beauen our happinesse is to be with him ; so on earth our welfare is , that he is with vs .

And God is with vs in two respects . 1. For our spirituall , 2. for our temporall estates . For our spiritual estates , St. August . s s Aug. de verb. Apost. serm. 16. obserues , God is with 〈◊〉 4. waies ; 1 ▪ he is with vs , vt praedestineret nos , for our predestination to life . 2 He is with vs , vt vocaret nos , at and in our vocation on to grace . 3. He is with vs , vt iustificaret nos , at and for our iustification from sinne 4. He is with vs , vt glorificaret nos , for our glorification in heauen ▪ He predestinated vs before we were our selues ; he called vs , when we were departed from our selues ; he iustified vs when wee were sinfull , & he glorified vs , when we were mortall . More he could not adde , to raise vs to royall happines ; lesse he could not doe , to preserue vs from reall misery . Vpon this Paul shouts in a triumph ; Rom. 8.31 . If God be with vs , who can ●e against vs ? or if against vs , how can he ouercome vs ? Man ( he is an inferiour enemy ) cannot bring vs to death , for God hath predestinated vs to life . The world ( that is an exteriour enemy ) cannot allure vs from God , for God hath called vs to himselfe . The flesh ( that is an interiour enemy ) cannot driue vs to sinne , for God hath iustified vs by Christ . The Diuell ( he is a superior enemy ) cannot damne vs in hell , for God hath glorified vs in heauen . Nemo nos laedit , nisi qui Deum vincit , saith Ansel . t t Ans. in Rom. 8.31 . we are in good case , our soules are safe , no man can hurt vs , but he which can ouercome euen God himselfe .

Secondly , for our temporall estates , God is with vs there too ; and that either to defend vs in time of aduersity , as God was with Ioseph in the prison , Gen. 39.21 . or to aduance vs in time of prosperity , as God was with Dauid in Sauls Court ; 1. Sam. 16.18 . or generally to prosper with happy successe all our actions , and to incline vnto vs all mens affections , as God was with Iohn Baptist , Luk. 1.66 . Take it how you will , euery one of these waies God was with King Asa , as Azariah heretels him . First , ●●d was with him to prosper his handy worke , for hee built fenced Cities in Iuda , and the land had rest and peace , 2 Chron. 14.6 Secondly , he not onely defended him against an inuincible army , such as I thinke was neuer heard of in the world before , an hoast of a thousand thousand men ; but aduanced him & inriched him with their spoyles , whilest he sacked , and ransacked their glorious tents , and carried away innumerable spoiles into his owne Country . Thus the Lord was with him , and be prospered accordingly .

Would any man be happy in his labour ? Let him goe to worke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Peter laboured all night and caught nothing , because Christ was not with him , Luk. 5.5 . so many sweat and toyle , and striue in the sea of this world , and catch nothing , because God is not with them . If God be with thee , euery thing shall goe well with thee ; yea , if God be with thee , it matters not what , nor where thou be : wert thou with Samson enuironed with an army of Philistines , if the Lord be with thee , thou shalt destroy them all . Wert thou with the three children in an hot fierie furnace , if the Lord bee with thee , thou shalt come out vnsinged . Wert thou with Ionas in the Whales belly , if the Lord bee with thee , thou shalt be cast safe on the land againe . Wert thou with Daniel in the Lyons den , if the Lord be with thee , thou shalt not be touched . Wert thou with Paul and Barnabas in chaines in the darke dungeon , if the Lord be with thee , thou shalt be set at liberty . Wert thou with Iohn in the Caldron of scalding oyle , if God be with thee , thou shalt come out vnhurt . What will not Gods presence doe for vs ? To what will it not aduance vs ? Esther was raysed from a captiue to a Queene , for God was with her , Est. 5.2 . Dauid promoted a pedo ad sceptrum , from the sheephooke to the Scepter , for God was with him , Psal. 78.71 . Ioseph set vp from a prisoner at the bar , to a Magistrate on the bench , for God was with him , Gen. 41.43 . Elizeus changed , ab ar atore , in orator om , from a Plowman , to a Preacher , for God was with him , 1. King . 19.20 . The Apostles were made , ex piscatoribus , Episcopi , of fishermen , fishers of men , for God was with them ; Mat. 4.19 . Finally , as Philosophy told Seneca u u Senec. Epist. 41. , Bonus vir fine Deo nemo est . No man can be good without God . So Christianity tels vs , Beatus vir sine Deo nemo est . No man can be prosperous without God .

And therefore let this Dominus nobiscum , be our Panchrestum , a medicine for all maladies ; when wee come to preach , let Dominus nobiscum take vp the text ; when you come to heare , let Dominus vobiscum prepare your attention ; when you go forth , let Dominus vobiscum be your vadè meoum , and inseparable associate ; when you part with your friends and seruants to sea , say Dominus vobiscum , for a Pilot to waft them . To conclude , as St. Augustine x x Aug. ad Valer. Epist. 77. said of his Deo gratius , Thankes be to God ; so I of my Dominus vobiscum , The Lord be with you . Hoc nec dici breuius , nec audiri laetius , nec intelligi grandius , nec agi fructuosius potest . This thing is such , that nothing can bee said more briefly , nothing heard more gladly , nothing vnderstood more largely , nothing done more fruitfully .

O but , say some , how shall I gaine him ? how shall I bee made partaker of this rich treasure ? My text tells you in the next words , Dominus vobiscum , si fueritis cum eo : The Lord is with you , if you be with him ; and that is the second member of this first part .

If you be with him .

If we be with him . Why how can that bee ? God is in heauen , we on the earth , Eceles. 5.2 . How can earth flie vp into heauen to be with God ? True , therefore God comes down from heauen to dwel with earth , Psal. 113.6 . though his dwelling be in heauen , yet hee humbleth himselfe to behold the things in heauen and in earth . What is meant by beholding , but dwelling ? by heauen & earth , but a righteous man ? saith Augustine y y August in Psal. 112. , who is Heauen propter spiritus libertatem , for the libertie of the spirit ; and earth , propter corporis seruitutem , for the seruitude of the body . Now hee with whom God dwels , is certainely with God ; and so wee are with him , because he is with vs .

More plainely , two waies a man is said to be with God , in intellectu & affectu , in the vnderstanding and iudgement ; and with the will & affections . In our vnderstanding , when we know him ; in our affectinos , when wee loue him . But both these must goe together , to be perfectly with God , Non enim potes saith S. Bernard z z Bernard . aut amare quem non nouerit , aut habere quem non amaueris , Thou canst : not either loue him whom thou doest not know , or inioy him whom thou doest not loue .

First therefor , we are with him , if we know him ; and from him , if we know him not . Not that wee can perfectly know him , and therefore cannot perfectly be with him . That we cannot perfectly know him , the sharpest wits haue confessed . Trismegistus among other titles called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is , as Lactantius a a Lo●● de ira Dei , lib. 8. cap. 11. expounds it , Tantus , vt ab bomine not possit aut verbis enarrari , aut sensibus astimari , So great that he can neither be expressed in words , nor conceiued in thought . And as August . b b Aug. lib. de cog . ver. vit. & de verb. Dom. serm. 38. sweetly , The best part of our knowledge is , rather to know what hee is not , then what hee is . For as a curious Statue or forme is composed & brought into perfection by hewing and cutting something still from it , not by adding any thing vnto it : so this great Lord is knowne of vs , by denying him such and such like things as are common to the creatures , and by ●●●ing away humane conceits from him , wher●●e goe about to conceiue what he is .

But though we know him not wholy as he is in himselfe , yet we may & must know him holily as he is in his Word . For as the King is knowne what hee is by his Lawes , so God is perceiued who he is by his Will ; neither is any man so farre from God , as he which knowes not his Word and Commandement .

And thus two sorts of men are seuered from God ; the ignorant , and the erroneous . The ignorant ; for such are not with God , they are they know not where ; God dwels in light , but the ignorant man is in darkenesse , and therefore he is said to grope , Act. 17.27 . In this case were all wee before Christ came , and all Heathens thens now vnto whom Christ is not yet come . They are not in this world with God , but they are with the god of this world . And the god of this world is the Diuell in the world to come , who shall punish them for not knowing the true God that made them . Ignorance , whether ther it be a sin , as in such as might know , or a punishment of sinne , as in such as could not know , it is in both , not iusta excusatio , but c c 〈◊〉 . ad Sixt. Epist. 105. iusta damnatio ; no iust excusall at the barre of Gods iudgement , but a iust refusal from the ioyes of Heauen .

And as bad or worse is the erroneous man : For he wilfully goes out of the way , when the hand poynts him to the true path . Hee is not with God , for God is truth , and he is run madding with the many-headed monster , Errour . How many by a peruersenesse of iudgement , think they are with Christ , when they be with Antichrist ? that suppose they bee with the Church of God , when they are with the Synagogue of Satan ? that imagine they bee with Iesus , when they are with the Iesuits ? that hope they are in the gates of heauen , when they bee in the mouth of hell ? Sulpitius Seuerus d d in vit. S. Martin . lib. 1. tels a story , That neer the Citie where S. Martin sate , there was a religious place much frequented , on it an Altar built , at it much deuotion vsed , because as was thought , certain Martyrs there had suffered for the name of Christ . S. Martin being troubled that he knew not what Martyrs they were , after hee had abstained for a while from the place , at time conuenient hee repaired thither , and fell a praying to God , that he would declare who and what Martyrs these were , whose renowne had so famoused that frequent place . At last , there starts out a ghost of a gastly and grisly aspect , and tels him his name and his condition , Latronem se fuisse ob scelera percussum , That he was no Saint , but a sinner , not of the company of Martyrs , but murderers ; cùm illos gloria , se poena retineret , seeing they were in glory and happinesse , he in paine and torment . Thus this credulous people thought they were with God , or some Saint , when they were with the Diuell and a Theefe .

May wee not iustly thinke our Romanish Samaritanes in the same danger , who worship they know not what ? That thinke by their deuotion they do seruice to heauen , when . it may be , their Saint to whom they be deuoted , is in hell . And then as their Canus e e Lib. 5. cap. 5. quae. 5. con. 3. tels them , Nihil refert Diabolum colas , an hominem condemnatum , It is all one , to worship the diuell & a damned soule . I wil not lay this to their charge , though some of their owne mistrust it , nor will I say they worship some theef , though Antichrist be the greatest theefe in the world , robbing God of his honour , Christ of his office , the Church of the Scripture , Christs Saints of their liues : but thus much I say , they are not where they say they are , for they are in error & blindnesse , when they boast they be in light and verity .

And this is so much more in excusable , by how much they shut their eyes against the light , and like the Iewes put from them the words of eternall life , Act. 13.46 . For the learned ; though they cannot but see many of their errours , yet as Pliny f f Plin. lib. 5. cap. 1. said of some such like , Ignor antiae pudore mentiri non piget ; being ashamed to be found ignorant , they are not afraid to lie . And for the vnlearned , the Iesuiticall blinde obedience hath made them bold to refuse all light of most holy truth ; insomuch as they will neither be with God that made them , nor their Countrey that bred them , nor the Church that begat them , nor their friends that are neere them , nor their Soueraigne that protects them .

But for our selues : seeing God is with vs by preaching , let vs be with him by practice ; no place of the world , where God shines so bright as in England ; no place of England , like London ; no place of London , like this ; this is Bethel , the House of God ; here haue you the choysest wits , the grauest heads , the sharpest iudgements , continually emptying themselues vnto you , that whosoeuer comes in among you , may truely fal downe in admiration , and say , Now verily God is in you indeed . 1. Corinth. 14.25 .

Secondly , men are with God in affection , and by no affection so much as by loue ; the soule is rather where it loueth , then where it liueth . And so that soule which loueth God , is wholy with him in heauen , whilest the body is on earth . It is true that Augustine g g Aug. de ciu. Dei , lib. 14. cap. 7. notes , that Recta voluntas , is bonus amor , an vpright will is a good loue , and loue is the Master of the affections , yea the summe of them , for they are all reduced to that ; for loue , when it longs for the thing loued , cupiditas est , is then desire ; and when it hath the thing it loues , laetitia est , it is then ioy ; On the contrary , when it flies from the thing it affects not , timor est , then it is feare ; & when it feeles the thing it desires not , tristitia est , it is sadnesse . Thus all the affections desire , ioy , feare , & griefe , are included in loue . So then , if we loue God , we wil desire to enioy him , saying , Cupio dissolui et esse cum Christo , Phil. 1.23 . I desire to bee dissolued , and to bee with Christ . And hauing enioyed him , wee will reioyce to keepe him , saying , Psal. 4.6 . Lord , lift vp the light of thy countenance vpon me . This is more ioy to men , then wicked men haue , when their corne and Wine and oyle is increased . And hauing so kept him wee will feare to lose him , crying , Psal. 27.9 . Hide not thy face from mee : put not thy seruant away in displeasure . And feeling him leaue vs , we will grieue at his absence , with this lamentation , Psal. 22.9 . My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken me ?

Thus then by loue we are with God : charitie is a bond , yea the bond of perfection , which linketh vs to God , and God to vs ; we are with him , if we loue him ; from him , if we loue him not ; and loue him we cannot , if wee loue any thing before him , any thing beside him , any thing beyond him . We loue somthing before him , when we preferre any thing to him ; we loue something beside him , when wee ioyne any thing with him ; we loue somthing beyond him , when wee ioy more in it , then in him . Therefore Augustine h h Aug. de doct. Christ . lib. 1. cap. 22. expounds the precept , Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God , with all thy heart , with all thy soule , with all thy strength , of supereminent and ouerflowing loue ; Vt si quid aliud diligendum venerit in animum , illuc rapiatur , quo totius dilectionis impetuss currit : That if any other thing offers it selfe to be loued of vs , it should be carried along , and made to runne together with vs to the loue of God . This is spiritually to bee with him in soule in this world , that soule and body may be eternally with him in the World to come .

O then , the misery of vncharitable sinners ! who are so hard-hearted that they care not for God , neither is God in all their thoughts , Psal. 13. That say vnto God , Depart from vs , for we regard not the knowledge of thy Lawes , Iob 22.17 . Among which is the ambitious man that dotes vpon Courtlike preferment ; the proud man , that pursues glorious titles & vain applause ; the luxurious man , that sets the flesh before the Spirit ; the inconstant man , that changes his religion with the time ; But principally the couetous man , who is onely with his money , & makes that his God , and whose heauie bags , and cram'd chest presseth downe his soule , euen as low as hell it selfe . I reade in the life of Saint Anthony of Padua i i Alfonso Villegas in vita . , a late Saint of the Popes coyning , That he preaching at a rich mans funerall on this text , Where your treasure is , there will your heart bee , added in the end , This text is fulfilled in this couetous man , who making his money his treasure , had his heart stolne away from Almighty God . Certaine persons presently going to his Chest to open it , found there his heart , as fresh as if it had been newly taken out of a mans brest . I presse no man in this company to beleeue this , but I presume , many men in this company wil moralize this , hauing hearts not mounting to God by the loue of heauen ; but glued to the earth by loue of money , who when they haue done all , can get but Simon Magus his portion ; they and their money must perish together . Take heede then , Be with God in your desires and affection , and hee will be with you in his benediction and blessing . Thus hauing finished the handling of this first part : Come we to the second , yet not forgetting to pray Dominus nobiscum in this also ; It must not leaue vs euen to the end .

And if ye seeke him , he will be found of you , &c.

And this comes by way of answere to a secret question , which some might make . You say , God is with vs , if we be with him ; & with him we be , if we know him and loue him : But how shal we come to know him , that we may come to loue him , and so be with him ? The answere is , By seeking him : If ye seeke him , he will be found of you .

In this please you to consider 2. things . First , The worke . 2. The wages . The worke , To seek God . The wages , The finding of him . The first intending to the last , and the last inuiting to the first . For our promise of finding him , inuiteth vs to the worke of seeking him .

For the first , to seeke God : It is true , that in this world wee are all at a losse : for hauing all sinned , wee are depriued of the glorie of God , Rom. 3.23 . It came to passe with Adam , as with a griping Vsurer , who extorting more then is due , loseth principall and interest both : for Adam , by struing to know more then was allowed him , lost that knowledge which before was granted him ; and so became ignorant of God , and ignorant of himselfe . For as a man that is in the darke , cannat see any thing , no not himselfe : So Adams heires being borne in sinne , which is the thickest darknes , are ignorant , and see not either God their Creator , or themselues his creatures .