WHen first mine eye fell vpon this Text , no sooner began I to see , then to wonder , much like a Goldsmith , who being to touch some old Coine , first wonders at the stampe , and then tries it ; so was it with me ; I being to take vp this sheckell of the Sanctuary ; to satisfie the present occasion , I did long admire the confidence of the words ; before I durst once aduenture to touch the matter : But after second thoughts , which like good Merchandize euer rise better and better , finding out the workes of this Princely speaker , I ceased to wonder at his wordes , and beganne to wonder at his workes ; This Nehemiah the Authour of these wordes , was by birth a Iew , by present condition a Captiue , in a strange soile ; where yet hee grew high and flourisht in the estimation of the King of those Lands , and became his Cupbearer : Neh. 1.11 . vpon which preferment , his purpose was not , as many men doe , to build his owne fortunes , and by regarding his owne skinne , to neglect the bodie of the Church and Common-wealth ; But like an obedient Child to his owne Mother Country , bestowed all his thoughts how he might now refresh and repaire decayed Ierusalem . To this purpose , hee first acquaints Heauen with his intention , Neh. 1.5 . and prayes to God ; Next hee spreads his request humbly before the King : no string left hee vntouched to fetch about this resolution ; Hee vndertakes his iourney to Ierusalem , viewes , no doubt , with a watery eye , and lookes through his teares vpon the miserable breaches thereof , Neh. 2.14 . and as hee found a place , where his beast vnder him could not passe ; so hee might now well conceiue that hee himselfe might finde such a worke ; as he could not easily passe . Men thought that to build Ierusalem was to make burnt stones whole againe ; Neh. 4 2. 1. Cor. 13.7 . Will they reuiue the stones out of the heapes of the rubbish which are burnt ; yet Charitie thinks nothing impossible : it belieues all things ; hee teacheth his hand to worke , and begins it , yea not withstanding the derisions , Neh. 4.1.8 . & 6.6.12 . Cic. pro Sestio . conspiracies and calumniations of his enemie ; nay , the hiring of the tongue of a false Prophet , to forbid men as it were from Heauen ; he goes on acri animo , as the Orators Phrase is with a keene spirit to finish the worke ; Euen with such a tide and current of valour as that neither he , Neh. 4.23 . & 6.15 . nor his brethren , nor his seruants , nor the men of the guard put off there clothes saue only for washing , and that for two and fifty dayes together ; I omit and flye ouer the publicke administration of his office , as he was Gouernour of the Land , his care for the Ministers and the seruice of God : Tertull. de pallio . c. 4. in all which respects I might crowne him with the speech of the Father ; he was Rex sola gloria minor ; a Prince inferiour to nothing , but to glory it selfe ; No maruell therefore , if wee see such a fiery streame of confidence in his words , and so neere a line of familiaritie with God ; Nulli ita Deo familiares , Euseb. Emislen homil. 21. post Pentecost . sicut boni Reges ; None so familiar with God , as good Kings ; The cleerest bloud makes the best spirits , and a good life the greatest confidence ; The purest aire breeds the greatest agility , and the purest life the fairest hope , of which we haue here a full example ; Remember me ; O my God , concerning this , and wipe not out my good deeds , that I haue done for the house of my God , and for the offices thereof .

The Text is a Prayer in which there bee two things ; Diuis . the matter or the things desired , Remember mee , concerning this , and wipe not out my good deeds that I haue done for the house of God and for the offices thereof , Secondly , the manner , familiarly in these tearmes , O my God , twise expressed : the matter of his request for a reward , deliuered in two sorts , first , affirmatiuely , Remember me , Secondly , by way of negation , wipe not out my deeds ; concerning these deeds ; first , he mentions one in particular , namely , the prouision for the Leuits and Singers of the Temple ; Remember me concerning this , Secondly , Neh. 13.10 : hee mentions them indefinitely , Deeds in the plurall number ; these deeds are described ; first , by their adiunct : They are good deeds , Secondly , by their obiect , and that is double : first , For the house of my God , Secondly , for the offices thereof . These bee the seuerall beames of this diuine light shining in this Text , Let vs now through God , looke vpon the first .

God cannot properly be said to remember , Remember mee . as man remembers . There is a double memory in man , first , sensitiue , which is common with the beasts , when the representation or species of any obiect , seene , heard , smelt , tasted or felt , ( after the obiect is gone , and it selfe vanished out of the fancy , is reduced againe into the phantasie , either by the representation of the same indiuiduall obiect , which was before or of some like vnto it ; as for example , a beast , being well fed in an Inne , when hee comes to the same Inne againe , or one like it , he remembers it , and there turnes in . Secondly , there is an Intellectiue memory , when not only by a representation of the same , or the like obiect , we reduce a thing into memory , but by discourse , Ab hoc in hoc , as the Schooles say , from one thing to another , which the beasts cannot doe , therefore it is called in the beasts , memory , but in man , Reminiscentia , that is , remembrance . Now neither of these memories are properly in God : First , God hath no sensitiue memory , for hauing no sensible organs , he cannot haue any sensible representations . Secondly , he hath no Intellectiue memory by intelligible representations either created , or acquisite , by which Angels and men vnderstand , for he vnderstands by no other meane , but by his owne essence .

But he is said to remember improperly , and according to mans capacitie , when hee shewes mercy to his creature , either without promise , God remembred Noah and euery liuing thing , Gen. 8.1 . Psal. 105 8. Aug. in Psal . ●7 or with promise , He hath remembred his couenant for euer , Tunc dicitur Deus meminisse quando facit ; tunc obliuisci , quando non facit ; nam neque obliuio cadit in Deum , quia nullo modo mutatur : neque recordatio , quia non obliuiscitur . God is then said to remember , when he doth , and then to forget , when he doth not ; for neither forgetfulnesse is incident to God , because hee is no wayes changed ; neither yet remembrance , because he doth not forget .

So then , Nehemiahs , Remember me , is no more , then doe for me , O Lord , and let mee find a reward with thee through thy mercie , euen as I haue beene an Instrument of thy glory , and haue wrought for thee ; from this exposition shoot forth two conclusions , first , on Gods part in the word remember ; to remember with God , is to doe ; when God speaks , he does , He spake and it was done , Psal. 33.9 . 1. Iohn 5.15 . when he heares , he grants , If we know that he heare vs , whatsoeuer we aske , we know , that wee haue the petitions , that wee desired of him ; when he knowes , he helps ; Take no thought , Matth. 6.31.32 . saying what shall we eat , or what shall we drinke , for your heauenly Father knoweth ; that yee haue need of all things : now what comfort could once draw neere vnto the soule of man , out of this that God knew our wants , if Gods knowledge were not a helpe withall ? yea , when hee remembers , he doth : Luke 1.72 . To performe the mercy promised to our forefathers , & to remember his holy couenant ; Gods performance and his remembrance goe together as the light and the Sunne ; which notes the propension that is in God to mercy , to whom , in giuing helpe to man , it is enough to remember him ; whose memory , and mercy are but as it were one act ; and againe to vs it is an example ; that our memories may guide our hands to mercy , and that we should in a manner ; as suddenly , relieue our brethrens wants , as we doe remember them ; The second Conclusion , Is , on Nehemiah's part , expressed in this particle me ; by which he desires a reward from God for his good deeds . A request , I confesse , full of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or liberty , wherein , as the word imports , Remember mee . Heb. 11.26 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Phauorin . v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Budaeus v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. Tim. 4.8 . a man may say any thing to God , in a holy manner ; yet for all this , lawfull enough .

It is lawfull to thinke on a reward , yea to thinke vpon it as a recompence . He had respect vnto the recompence of the reward . The word signifies to looke vp in admiration curiously , which wee call in Latine Suspicere . Secondly , It is not onely lawfull to thinke on it , but to ioy in it . Henceforth there is laid vp for mee a crowne of righteousnesse . Thirdly , It is lawfull to aske it , yea to aske it daily , Matth. 6.10 . Thy Kingdome come , for whatsoeuer some braine-perisht Anabaptisticall spirits think to the contrarie ; the Lords prayer is to bee said euery day , it is Quotidiana oratio , Enchirid. c. 71. as Saint Augustine calls it , a daily prayer : thus Ezekiah when he stood in extrema tegula , Sen. epist. 12. as Seneca's phrase is , vpon the last tile , ready to leape downe into his graue , Es. 38.3 . had his Remember mee , Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I haue walked before thee in truth , and with a perfect heart , and haue done that which is good in thy sight , If any mans fancie worke him another way to thinke that Ezekiah desired not a reward confidently , because hee seemed by his teares to feare death ; I recommend this answer to him , hee wept not for feare of death absolutely , but because hee had no child to succeed him in the throne of his Kingdome . Hieron . in Es. 38. For Manasses his sonne , vpon whose shoulders the staffe of gouernment lay next ; was borne out of the new lease of fifteene yeeres ; which God added euen three yeares after ; not hauing climbed aboue the age of twelue yeares , 2. Reg. 21.1 when he began to reigne ; Ieremie had his Remember mee , and that with such a pitch of confidence , that for my part , I thinke few or none dare pray his words after him O Lord thou knowest , Ier. 15.15.18 remember mee , know , that for thy sake I haue suffered rebuke , wilt thou be altogether vnto me as a liar . If hee durst thus far draw out his zeale , in asking a temporall blessing , which is not to bee asked but as it were lamely , and with condition , what a rise and aduantage will faith take for a spirituall reward ? Shee will beg of God as freely , as euer Bathshebah did of Salomon , 1 Reg. 2.20 . I desire a petition of thee , I pray thee say mee not nay . Euen Christ himselfe , as a man , desired a reward of Glorie . Ioh. 17.4 5. I haue glorified thee on the earth , and now , O Father , glorifie thou mee with thine owne selfe , whose example I haue reserued like the best wine , to the last , that no man , that hath his braines in his owne keeping , or hath his head about him , can now doubt that it is lawfull to aske a reward with Nehemiah , Prouided alwaies that in some measure or other hee bee a Nehemiah , that asks it , for this strong meate is not for euery nouice , neither can a small streame carrie so great a wheele ; there are that dare not say , remember me for a Kingdome , Luke 23.42 . but Remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome , Iud. 9.49 . As amongst Abimelechs souldiers , some cut downe greater branches , some lesse , according to the proportion of their strength , so among Christs souldiers , some carrie a greater , some a lesser confidence . Act. 27.44 . Saint Pauls mariners some saued on boards , some on broken pieces of the Ship : so among Christians , some arriue heauen , with one measure of trust , some with another : All the members of the body , are knit vnto the head ; but some nearer , some farther off ; so in Christs body , all draw grace from him , yet in difference of grace , there is difference of hope . Secondly , That the iust themselues that haue this transcendent confidence , in asking a reward , doe not assume this out of arrogance of merit ; for this strong Harnesse of merit , is onely fit for the Sonne of God ; hee that said here , Remember me , said no more but Remember me , he said not , reward me , according to my deseruing ; nay , after hee saith , Neh. 13.12 . Remember mee O my God , and spare mee according to the greatnesse of thy mercy See how modestie and confidence at one time kisse each other . The Saints that are ascended high in obedience , are like men gone vp high vpon a ladder ; the higher they are gone vp , the faster they hold ; and they are not without some passages of feare , to slip againe . Grace and merit fight like fire and water ; the one puts out the other : T is a truth I confesse , beyond the line of all exception ; that , as the Rainebowe in the cloud , so peace in the conscience , vpon a good ground is a faire signe of reconciliation ; but yet withall , with Nehemiahs remember mee , Ps. 25.7 Dauids remember me accords well ; According to thy mercie remember thou mee for thy goodnesse sake O Lord . And thus much for the depth of Nehemiahs confidence in asking a reward ;

Wipe not out my deeds . The second terme which conueighs his request for a reward , is in these words , and wipe not out my deeds ; this being in a negatiue forme , as the other in an affirmatiue : This word wipe not , hath a direct eye , or reference to that which the Sacred finger of the Scripture points at elsewhere , that a mans good deeds are written by God ; Apoc. 20.12 The dead were iudged out of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes whether good or euill : Now there are three things of a good man written by God : first , his feare of God , A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feare the Lord . Mal. 3.16 Concerning whom , lend mee but your eyes a little further , and see what God saith in the next verse , And they shall bee mine , Verse 17. saith the Lord of Hosts , in that day when I make vp my Iewels , These bee Gods prime seruants , his Iewels , the signets of his right hand , whom hee did not write in a booke , with the rest of his Saints , but made a booke as it were , a part for them ; and such a booke , wherein they should bee diligently remembred as the word imports . Secondly , hee writes our teares , Put thou my teares into thy bottle , Sepher Siccaron . are they not in thy booke ; God hath both a bottle and a booke for our teares ; A bottle to put our teares themselues in , Ps. 56.8 . and a booke to write downe the Number , and the bitternesse of these teares . Thirdly , hee writes downe our good deeds , as in this place , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 70. nay the word in the Greeke signifies as much as if they were not onely written but painted , yea , and that in oyle , for perpetuitie , O the infinite mercie of God , what tongue so rich , that is able to embellish it ? Hee doth not onely write our names in the booke of life , Luke 10.20 . nay , write and engraue our remembrance in manibus suis , Esay 49.16 . in the palmes of his hands , with great Characters , euen the nayles of his Crosse , his bloud being his inke , his paper his owne flesh , yea , our very members are written by him , Psal. 139.16 . but writes our workes and that so tenderly and fauourably , Iob 13.26 . that though our deserts might sway his hand to write bitter things against vs , yet he writes for vs .

Mens Chronicles , the truer they are , the freer they are in taxing errors : 2. Reg. 21.17 . as an ingenuous Painter takes out the moles , as well as the fairer lineaments , The rest of the acts of Manasseh , and his sinne that hee sinned , are they not written in the Booke of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah , but the vaines of Gods mercy are so large and full , that as he suffers his mercy to triumph ouer his iustice in rewarding , Iac. 2.13 . so he suffers the same mercy to triumph ouer his truth in writing ; and writes not our sinnes , but only our good deeds ; Gods Booke is not like a Merchants Booke of Creditor and Debitor , wherein a man writes , both , what is owing him and what hee owes himselfe ; for God in his mercy , wips out that wee owe him , and writes that only which he owes vs , by promise , much like the cloudes that receiue ill vapours from vs , yet returne them to vs againe in sweet raines : that mans braine is yet darke , that doth not duly consider this , for a great mercy ; Againe , if God write vp our good deeds , this is as a full winde in our sailes , to put vs on , euen to load Gods Chronicle with them ; writing vpon our selues , by a reall profession of his seruice , as Aaron did , Exod. 28.36 . Esay 49.4 . Holinesse to the Lord . For , Surely our Iudgement is with the Lord , and our worke with our God : What mans heart so dry , that is not moued when he heares that our prayers and our almes goes vp for a memoriall before God ? Acts 10.4 . not to be remembred , as it were with one sole act of his memory , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but as the word carries it , to bee a standing monument and remembrance of vs for euer in his presence : Shall our good workes bee like Esai's trees , Esay 10.19 . so few , that a child may write them , when we haue such a God , for whom we worke , will not only thinke vpon our workes , but write them vp in such royall paper as his owne Booke . Let no feare inuade vs , as if that paper could sinke , and so wee should lose our workes , for if men lose not small deeds sometime , 2. Sam. 1.18 . and Sauls teaching but of the vse of a bow , deserued a roome in a Chronicle ; certainly better deeds shall neuer be blasted , but God will write them and seale them vp for all eternitie . Secondly , as this word wipe not out implyes , that our good deeds are written by God , so againe it tels vs , that though they be written , yet they they may be wipt out againe , else had it beene in vaine for Nehemiah , and a dead request , to haue commended such a petition to the eares of God , that his workes might not bee wiped out actually , had hee not first presumed a possibility of wiping them out ; For not to touch the skirts of the fierie hill , I meane the question , of falling or not falling away from iustifying faith , or imputed righteousnesse ; A man may fall away from some part of sanctification , by a sinne of prophanenesse , for he that so sinnes , cannot be holy and vnholy in the same respect . As it is granted by all , Enormibus peccatis pij reatum mortis incurrunt Synod . Dordracena , c. 5. artic. 5. that good men may fall into grieuous and ennormous sinnes , so this instance following shewes that a contrarie act of prophanenesse must needs wipe out some part of sanctification . Dauid chast before , falls into adultery , wee must needs say hee lost that part of his holinesse , except we say his adulterie was holy , which no man of the leanest vnderstanding will affirme .

Now how farre , not one mortall sinne , perchance originally proceeding from infirmitie , or precipitancie may quite eate out sanctification , and so faith , as some say , ( considering probably , that an habit of faith is not easily lost , but may seeme to stand with some true acts of inward Sanctification , some being lost , as in another case , the foundation may stand , when the roofe or a piller of the house is falne ) but many seuerall acts of foule and wilfull sinning , without repentance , Iude , verse 20. not onely efficienter . by acts directly contrary to the habit of faith , but demeritoriè , by acts contrary to the habits of other vertues ; when a man doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sends away or casts farre from him a good conscience , as the word imports ; how farre , I say , these sinnes may make , or not make na●fragium fidei , the shipwracke of faith , 1. Tim. 1.19 . I will leane vpon the bosome of the Church , till it be determined ; only I desire leaue to adde my poore iudgement , which is , that if this question and some others were not so rigidly stated , the diuision had not grown like Ahabs cloud from the bignesse of a mans hand to a storme . But no more of this , because my text is properly of wiping out deeds of sanctification . Secondly , because I can no more contract the whole discourse of this argument within an houre , than all the beames of the Sunne within a ring .

Thirdly , because in gathering herbes , I am loath to touch the wild Vine , or if I touch it , 2. Reg. 4.39 . I will not gather my lap full , or if I gather it , I will not shread it into the pot of the Sonnes of the Prophets ; I wish from the center of my heart , that the Church of England may not haue a wrinkle in her garment , not the least contention ; for , there is a feare beates vpon my heart ; that when we haue stretched all the sinewes we haue in these difficulties ; we shall make but a Flemmish reckoning of them . L. 8. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Sozomen saith , that alwayes in the dissention of the Church , the Common-wealth was also troubled ; Therefore for my part , in my poore way , I shall bee readie to offer still to Gods people the staffe of bread , I meane the weightier things of the Law , and to keepe their braines from burning , with such subtill lightning , as this is .