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defired Naboths Vineyard, because he law it did adjoyn to his pallace. He that beholdeth the clouds and obferveth the windes, fhall nor fow, nor reap, Preach. 11. 4. The eye is a mean to make the man idle; feeing provoketh to covetoufneffe, Joshua 7. 21. Achan by his feeing among the fpoil a goodly Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold, he coveted them and took them. Sathan, when he faw that Eves concupifcence was loose, he knew fhe would cafily yeeld to the temptation; if she might but fee the fruit, the jaundife of concupifcence might be perceived in her eyes. In 1 Sam. 18.9. When Saul faw how David was efleemed, it is there faid, that he had one eye on David, as if he looked afquint,in that he looked on David with a learing eye, for that he envyed and hated David: So a learing eye is the jaundife of a dogged nature; He that winketh with the eye worketh forrow, Prev. 10.10. for often a fair countenance covereth a mifchievous heart: So in fuch an eye is the jaundife of deceit. Salomon Prov. 30. 13. there are those whofe eyes are haughtie, and whose eye lids are lifted up: There is the jaundile of pride. Efay 30. 16. the daughters of Sion are faid to walk with wandring eyes; wherein is the jaundife of luft. Prov. 17.24. The eyes of a fool are in the corners of the world, faith Salomon: By fuch a foolish eye you may know the jaundife of foolishneffe: An unchafte eye is the figne of an unchafte heart. The Devil (faith a Fa her well) by the eye conveyeth the nose of his bellows to fet her even in a fire, to eat of the fruit: Vifus folet excitare fomnientem; & quod incantus afpicit invitus defpicit, he that unwarily beholdeth the fruit, perforce fhall look into it. They ferved the Lord at first in fear, and rejoyced in trembling, Pfal. 2.11. But the feeing the fruit did not only stirre up but alfo increafed finne: Amos his continuall feeing of his fifter did increase his love to Thamar; and when finne is banished away, yet feeing recalleth finne : And therefore, that all may be well, not only finne, but the cccafion of finne must be removed, the infide and the outfide must be taken away; and therefore David, Pfal. 119. 20. faith not only iniquitatem but viam iniquitatis move à me Domine; take from me O Lord, the way of iniquity.

The Seer is active, the Seeing is paffive, fay the Fathers, which was her yeelding to Sathan to behold the tree; who telleth Eve, as it were, you have libertie to fee, and to have your eyes to wander about the world. God himself, Numb. 15. 39. would have them have fringes upon the border of their garments, that even by looking of them they might remember all the commandements of the Lord: This is Jobs proteftation in Job 31.7. that he hath not walked after his eye, he hath not accomplished the luft of his eye. The eye enticeth the heart to finne. By arparel the eye is inticed to pride, which, as the Fathers call it, is vexillum fuperbia, the ftandard of pride, & nidus luxuria, the nest of lafcivioufneffe: And by the standard of pride thinking to be as Gods; and by the nest of lasciviousnesse, we are drawn to beleeve the words of Sathan, and to facrifice unto the Serpent. If Abraham, in chap. 19: 28. looking toward Sodom and Gomorrha, did behold and fee the fioak of the Land, as of a furnace ; it was because he was not commanded to the

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Verse 6.

Novemb. 25 1591.

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contrarie. But in 17. verfe of the fame chapter, Lot might not look
back upon
Sodom which was full of vain pleafures, for he was forbid-
den to look behind; we must rather fufpe&t our infirmitie with Lot,
than think to look, and to be conftant as Abraham: Better it is not to
behold the pleasure of the tree, because it was forbidden, than by be-
holding it to fall from her obedience. Let not us look upon vain plea-
fures leaft we fall with Eve. It is the counfell of our Saviour in Mat.
3.29. If thy eye cause thee to offend pull it out and cast it from thee, he
meaneth that we should pull away vanitie and wantonne fe from our
eyes, and that we fhould refrain our eyes from beholding vain plea
fures For faith a Father very well, nifi tu caveas, unleffe thou be
care full of thy eye, hereafter thou

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meant the pulling out of the eye, Ouldeft have wished that he had

felf; that fo by not feeing vanitie and by lofing thy eye, thy whole body might be delivered from Hell torments. The ancient Fathers doe obferve our of Acts 5.3. that by the eye Sathan filled the heart of Annanias and Saphira, to conceale the monie he had for his poff ffion: It is the eye that maketh a meet foyl in the heart to entertain finne; but we must not entertain finne nor retain the occafion of tranfgreffion.

Quum ergo videretur mulieri bonum esse fructum arboris illius in cibum,& gratißimam effe illam oculis, ac defiderabilem effe arboris fructum ad habendum intelligentiam, accepit de fructu ejus comedit, &c.

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His lat temptation, as I told you, was of the fenfe, which by the eye allured Eve to eate that God had faid, you fhall not eat at all, for feeing the tree made her take the fruit and tafte thereof; by the fenfe fuppofing to have been as Gods, and to attain knowledge. Our Saviour Christ, in Luke 17. 32. biddeth us to remember Lots wife, who looked back to Sodom, Gen. 19.26. But he that fecketh by the fenfe to fave the foul,fhall lofe it: So we must from hence remember not to look upon the tree leaft we eat of the fruit.

Now we will confider the object which she saw, which is faid to be the Tree, the properties of which Tree are faid to be three fo'd, good for meat, pleasant to behold, and to be defired to get knowledge. In this triplicitie firft is the meat:Secondly,is the delight ofthe eyes: Thirdly, it is to be defired to get knowledge. Which triplicitie, first for the meat, we doc reduce to the good that is profitable; The delight ofche eyes to the good whieh is pleafant: And that it is to be defired for knowledge, we doe reduce to morall good, as it is in Prov. 19.8. Here are all the Bonums, utile, jucundum, and honeftum.

Every man ftandeth upon three faculties, the one is Vegitative, the other Senfitive, and the third is Reasonable. Now by the three kindes of good, of bonum utile, jucundum, and honeftum, he temptech feverally each of thefe faculties. The faculty Vegitative, whereby man liveth, is allured in that it is faid to be good for meat: The facultie

Senfitive,

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Sensitive, of the fenfe, is tempted, for that by the fecond the which is the very chief of all the fenfes, by the pleasure of the fruit, is allured. And for the third facultie, which is reasonable, he had this inticement, That the reafon fhould be advanced, and should have greater knowledge. In 1 John 2. 16. thefe are the three inticements of the world, The firft is concupifcence of the flesh or carnall pleafure: The fecond is luft of the eyes, which is the wantonneffe of the looks: The third is the pride of life, or ambition; and with thefe was Eve inticed, as eye fervicepleafeth men, Coloff.3.22. fo pleafure delighteth the eye here, the litting up the eye to be as Gods, and the curiofitie of knowledge; the one is the pride of fenfe, the other is the pride of reafon. She fuppofed that in the tree there was not only utile and delectabile, but even omne defiderabile, what ever good. might be defired: She took this tree to be as the Pandora of the Hea then, wherein were all the gifts and graces to be defired, to be found: And by the eating of this tree, fo adorned with all things, she accounted to be Mitriffe of all pleasure, of all knowledge.

Firft, It was good for meat. True it is, that man muft have meat to Good for meat preferve life, cibus enim habet umbram naturæ noftra, meat hath the shadow of our nature; we are bound in a ftatute and strong band,by meat to fave and preferve nature, this is the band of neceffitic which he hath bestowed, not only to eate of one tree, but he had the varietie of all: And though God had allowed him many more trees than ever he could cate of; yet he will be looking upon the only tree God hath referved to himself, yet muft she needs defire to taste of fractus vetitus, the forbidden fruit; She is fo dainty mouthed that the muft needs eat thereof, though even with a curfe fhe were forbidden it; thinking because it was forbidden, it would be more pleasant; for, as Salomon faith, ftolne waters are fweet, and hid bread is pleasant, Proverbs 9. 17. It is a general fault of all Mankinide to defire to eat, or to have that is forbidden, or that we ought not. In 1 Chron. 11. 17. David longed to drink of the waters of the well of Bethlehem, which were the waters of blood and bitterneffe gotten with peril.

To be defired

But happily the bellie might be fatisfied with the fruit of some one of the trees that were permitted, yet all the pleasure of the other trees to get knowin Paradife were not fo pleasant in Eves eyes, as was this. The eye ledge. is not fatisfied with feeing, nor the eare with hearing, Preacher 1.8. That every tree in the Garden of Eden was pleasant to the fight and good for meat, chap. 2.9. In Eves fight this tree was more pleasant, and ber ter for meat than all the other trees in Paradise. In 1 Sam.6.19. the men of Beth-fhemafb would needs be looking into the Ark of the Lord, which none might touch, into which none might look but the Priests; this was the reward, God flew fifty thousand and seventy men. Eve will eat that he might not eat: But when we will fee that we ought not to fee, this defire of vanitie will admit the fruit of the forbidden tree to be both good for meat, and full of pleasure.

The chiefeft of the three goods is, that it is atres to be defired to get knowledge, whereupon chic fly fhe relieth, that she shall attain the know

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ledge of good and evill; every one defireth knowledge. Triplex eft tentatio, this latter temptation is treble: Eve, fecing the tree, is tempted by neceffitie, by vanitie of the eye, and curiofitie of reafon : The fhould have followed the advife of Paul in Heb. 12. 1. feeing the was compaffed with fuch a multitude of affaults, fhe should have calt away every thing that would have withdrawn her from obedience: she should have taken away the occafion whereby finne would have hanged on; the should not have beheld the tree.

This amplifying of the goodneffe of this tree for meat, for pleasure, and for knowledge, and for what fo might be defired, argueth a notable fetch in the Devill; that the, bufying her eyes in beholding the fame, and being imployed in thinking of the great good that should come to her by eating thereof, might at length take and eate, and never think of Gods words, in quocung, die comederitis mortem moriemini ; but rather regarding the Serpents words, in quocunque die comederitis ex eo, eritis ficut Dei, fcientes bonum & malum. He cloyeth her with pleasure; he maketh no mention of punishment. The Children of Ifrael, in Exodus 16. 3. being a little pinched with famin, they could murmur and remember their flesh pots in Egypt, and that then their bellies were full of bread; but they bring not in remembrance the firie furnace wherein they were inforced to make brick. Sarhan, in Matthew 4.8. in the temptation of our Saviour oftendit fibi regnum mundi, & gloriam regni, he fhewed him the Kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them, but he fhewed him not the cares and dangers that are in Kingdomes For Kings themfelves have termed their Governments of their Kingdomes splendidam fervitutem,a glorious service or fervitude.

Here the Serpent caufes Eve to fee three things in this tree, The fruit was wholfome for meat, the pleafire to the eye, and that it was good to be defired to get knowledge; So he might have told her of three things written for the cating ofthis fruit, which he omitteth, The first whereof, is Gods wrath; the fecond, is death; and the third, death again, moriendo morieris, dying thou shalt dye; the one is the death of the body, which he incurred willingly; the other the death of the foul, which he must confequently ran into; for the reward of finne is death, and for the goodneffe of the tree, it shall have the bitternesse of finne; for the beautifull fruit which his eyes beheld, tenebra exte riores, outward darkneffe; forthe defire to know all things, man fhall have Gods nefcio vos, I know you not: In every finne there is an allurement and a punishment, as it is in 1 Tim. 6.9. there is an allurement and a fnare, as in covetoufnelle. Luft hath a bait and an hook covered and not feen, as may appear by James 1. 14. When a man is tempted he is drawn away by his own concupifcence and is inticed, Tenebantur eorum oculi, their eyes were holden that they could not know Christ, Luke 24. 16. And here the eyes of Adam and Eve were holden that they fhould not fee the truth; for it is Gods punishment because they will hearken to the words of the Devill,because they have finned against the Lord, therefore they shall walk like blinde men,Zephaniah 1.17. God

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he faw that if they did eate of the tree forbidden, they should affuredly die,; the Serpent he faw they should not die at all, but if they did cate, their eyes fhould be opened, and they should be as Gods: what God faw they would not fee, but what the Serpent faw,that would they fee. Here Eve faw that the fruit was good for meat; for meat for the body, and for meat for the foul, that is knowledge, wherewith Paul Philip. 4. 18. faith, be was filled. In 2 Kings 4.39.they put Coliquintida inthe pot and knew it not, and were not poy foned. The fruit of this tree was to Eve fuch meat as was the wine of the Vine of Sodom; for as it is in Deut. 32.32.The Vines of Sodom & Gomorrah were pleasant to behold, but what followeth,the wine of thofe Vines is the poyson of Dragons,& the cruel gall of Alpes: So here the tree is pleafint to the eyes and beautifull in outward fhew, butthe fruit to them is most pernicious in the taste.

The former part of this verfe is Eves finne, the latter Adams finne, which we will not now handles for the occafion of finne was in her, feeing the goodneffe whereof, res ipfa loquitur. Her difpofition to fin is in her taking the fruit, and ftretching her hand to the fame : The finne it felf is in the eating of that which God hath (aid you shall not eat 3 Eve by feeing took the fruit; A Father faith well, Dedit Deus oculos propter bonum, dedit palpebras propter malum: God gave us eyes only to behold good, and eye lids that we should not fee evil. But feeing they have abused Gods commandement, God hath put this tree as a ftumbling block of their iniquitie before their face, as it is in Ezech. 14.3.

As before we did juftly reprehend Eve for her hearkning to the Serpents first speech, which was a question; So now much more Eve is to be reprehended for her hearkning to the Serpents fecond speech, which is meerly repugnant to the word of God; you shall furely dye, faith God; you fhall not dye at all, Sathan faith: Where the heareth fiot a fpeech of his diffimuled fubtiltie, but even the fpeech of Sathans malicioufneffe and open blafphemy apparant to the fimpleft; for now the fhould have ftopped her eares, the fhould have ftepped upon, the Serpents head, and the fhould even have ftamped the Serpent (which was fo malicious) under her foot. Every one cannot fpy Sathan when he appeareth as a friend: When Chrift would have gone to fuffer at Jerufalem, Peter as a friend in words of compaffion faith to him, Pit19 thy felfe, this shall not be unto thee. Chrift he perceived friendly Sathan in Peter, Matt. 16.23. But in the groffe finne of Idolatry, fall downe and worship mee; and in this notorious finne of blafphemy, you fhall not die at all, any man may cafily discover Sathan. But Eve hee was not moved at the report of an Angell of light; but at the words of abase Serpent or buggish worme thee was not only content to hear his needleffe questions, his reproaches to Gods word, and his blafphe mous termes against God himselfe, but which is more, he heard him willingly, thee beleeved him, and fhee was very forward to doe as the Serpent perfwaded her: Afpiceret arborem timentibus oculis, thee fhould have beheld the Tree with twinckling eyes, as it is faid 1 Sam. 3.11. with tingling eares fhe fhould not have ftriven about words

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