Abel, but the caule why he flew him, was, for that he had a defire to please God, and to facrifice to him in the best manner he could; his defire was to offer plurimam hoftiam, Hebrews the eleventh chap ter and the fourth verle, that is a Sacrifice that should be in quantity more, and in quality de primitiu, of the best of his fheep; fo they would not only have one religious as Abel, but one that fhould be oppofite to Cain, and as it were the Heir of Abels enmity, one that might accomplish that which was lacking on Abels part, in the first to the Theffalonians, the third chapter, and the tenth verse That as then, he that was born after the flesh perfecuted him that was born after the pirit, Galatians the fourth chapter, fo they might have one to maintain his quarrel, and might uphold that holy feed. Concerning which, as God hath a purpose, that the patience of his Saints should appear, Romans the ninteenth chapter, hæc eft patientia Sanctorum, for which cause he suffers Abel to be flain; fo The will have his providence appear too, and therefore he fets up Seth, fo as Tubal-Cain with all his armor fhall not remove him: So we fee in every of thefe words there is a power. They would have this other feed like Abel in all things, faving in this, that Abel was but fhewed only to the world, but they would have Seth a permanent feed. So doth God make the distinction between his Saints; to some he faith, as to Peter, Fohn the twenty first chapter, Follow me, that by thy death thou maift glorifie me: Of others he faith, as of Fohn the Evangelift, I will have thee tarry ftill, that is, he will have 1ome Saints to be Martyrs, as Peter, and others he would have to live out all the dayes of their life, as Fohn the Evangelift ; and Fohn that dieth in Domino, is no lefs bleffed than Peter, that dieth pro Domino: So albeit he would have Abel quickly takena way, and Seth to live out the course of nature, yet the one is no leffe acceptable to him than the other. Laftly, These words contain a plain recantation of Eve, not only in regard of her ftile; for of Cain the said, I have obtained a man of the Lord, but of Seth, Deus pofuit: The one is poffeßio Eve, the other pofitio Dei. But in regard of that account which now the makes of Cain, Why should not Cain be still her Jewell as before, for he lives ftill, and hath a great and mighty feed? She faith, the cares not for him, for that he is cut off from Gods Church, a ftranger from the promifes of God. "And as for Abel whom before she defired not, now the defires one like him,though he fhould be killed as Abel was? So the condemnes her felf for having fo great a conceit of Cain fo Wifedome at last is juftfied of her Children: For a time Cain may be accounted of, but at last Abel fhall be found to be in moft happy cafe. Out of which we see that which the Prophet teacheth, That men must not make too much hafte in their belief, fay the twenty eighth chapter, if the Lord tarryeth, and come not fo foon as we with, we must wait, and he that tarrieth will come, Hebrews the second chapter: Give not over if Abel be loft, God will provide another feed. Socondly, Secondly, We fee here the propriety of the Church; it is a thing fet, as the Prophet fpeakes, in the twenty eighth chapter of Isaiah, I will lay a Stone in Sion, a chief corner Stone, upon which Stone the Church is buils, fo as the gates of hell jhall not prevail against it, Matthew the fixteenth chapter: Therefore the Apoftle faith, Coleßians the first chapter, the faithfull are radicati & fundati in fide; whereupon it followeth, that as God himself is from everlasting, and world without end, Pfalm the nintieth, fo he will be with his Church to the end of the world, Matthew the eighteenth chapter, fo we fee there is a reward for the righteous: though he were killed touching the body, yet he lives ftill in heaven. And now in as much as there is one like Abel, he revives in earth, and fo he hath his reward in heaven and earth: Howfoever, before Cain was preferred before Abel, yet now by the teftimony of Adam and Eve, is counted one not worthy the ground that he treads upon, but Abel is acknowledged to be a great bleffing, and therefore hath his defire, one like him. Gen. 4. 26. Februar. 17. 1599. Sed & ipfi Schetho genitus eft filius, cujus nomen vocavit Eno- Ou fee here, that albeit Mofes might have deferred thefe two verses to the next chapter, wherein he drawes down the genealogie of the godly feed, yet he could not contain himself, but before he concludes this chapter, he will make fome mention of fome that regard the wor fhip of God; as well to fhew that God did not clean forget his promile, and his people; as alfo that he might counterpoife the cvill of the wicked that went before; as laft of all, that he might make a good conclufion, that as he had a good beginning in Abels oblation, fo he might end it well in the invocation of Enofh; and he doth end with Enofhes invocation with refpect partly to Seth his Father, and partly to Enoch Cains Sonne : As Cain and Seth matches, lo doc Enoch and Enofh. On the behalf of Seth, we fay that Mofes having laid a foundation which was pofuit deus, in this verfe he adds roof for invocation is not made till the Temple be finished: and fo in thefe two verfes he comprehends the ftate ofthe Church. In the first, is the promife of God; in the fecond, the name of God. In which two is contained the duty of the whole worship of God. On the other fide, that there might be a counterpoife and oppofition between the contrary parties as Seth is opposed to Cain, lo Enosh ftands against Enoch. For as we fee there was a Ciry built on the one fide, fo on the other fide there must be fomething built for the defence of the feed of the Godly: There must be fome fence for Seth and his feed, as Cain and Enoch had theirs: Therefore Therefore here is that which is called turris fortifsima, Proverbs the eighteenth chapter, that is nomen domini, and it ftands in oppofition not only against him, but against all the reft, to counterpoile Fabal, Fubal, and Tubal-Cain. First, against the wealth that Fabal brought in here, is the fear of the Lord, as Abraham, Genefis the twentieth chapter, whereof the Prophet faith, Ifaiah the thirty third chapter and the fixt verfe, Timor Domini thefaurus. Secondly, Against the pleasures and delights of Fubals invention of mufick, we have another pleafure in the Pfalmes, Palm the fixty third, My foul shall be fatisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praife thee with joyfull lips. Thirdly, Against the ftrength and power of Tubal Cain that devileth weapons for warr, we have another kinde of armor, Pfalm the twentieth, Illi in curribus & in equis, nos autem in nomine domini dei noftri invocabimus: So we fee that which is afèribed to Enosh, doth anfwer not only Enoch, but all the reft. As on the one fide in respect of Seth, when we read that God gave him a feed, we fhewed that it was a holy feed, that he was the first that called on the name of the Lord: fo on the other fide in refpect of Enesh and Enoch, as we see a City, foa Church; as in Enoch a state civill, fo in Enosh a ftate ecclefiafticall, as there we had a company of. men that placed their vocation in things of this life, fo here we have another company, whofe vocation is an invocation, that is, to adore and call upon the name of the Lord. As if Mofes fhould fay by way of apologie, that they were not a feed alone;but there is another feed, and as Cains pofterity boafted themselves in earthly matters, fo Seths feed was imployed in the service of God, which Mofes oppofeth against Enoch and the reft: For when, as the Prophet speaks, there is more spent in the making of Mattocks and Swords, that is a ftate civill; but when more time and pains is beftowed in the fafegard and protection of the Church, than upon Lawyers and that fhewes a ftate ecclefiafticall. This fhall fuffice for the dependance of this verfe. I come to the verfe it felf confifting of two parts: First, the birth and name of Enofh, Secondly, the invocation of the name of the Lord. First, the name Enosh fignifies, a man,according to the four words in the holy tongue, and it gives us to understand thus much, that the conceipt of the Holy Ghoft is, that that party that hath fenfe of God and his worship, and of fpirituall things, as the invocation of the name of God, is to be called a man, otherwise he is like a beast, Pfalm the fourty ninth, and no man; for that the God of heaven fhould receive no more honour and service from men than from bruit beafts, it is too unreasonable, feeing God hath endued man with reason, and therefore that which offereth it felf here is, that Enofh from his invocation ofthe name of the Lord, took his manhood, that thereby it appeared that he was a man, and not a bruit beaft: But as he fignifies a man, fo not every man; but as Adam is a person taken out of the molde of the earth, so Eno is a Rrr. name name pertaining to humility, and fignifies a perfon that is lowly: The one was manipulus terra, the other cumulus miferia, fo that there is a name from the molde, whereof man is made, and into which he is caft, the confideration whereof is able to take down our pride; or if not that of Adam: The other name Enofh, whereby we fee that this man, that is made of the molde of the earth, is fubject to fo many miferies, fickneffes, forrowes, and calamities. For the occafion of this name giving, there was a 'kinde of emulation between the one fide and the other; as on the one fide, the one called his Sonne Enoch, fo the other Enofh; the one Irad, the other Ferad; the one Mehujael, the other Methafhael, which was done in this refped, to shew that another manner of contemplation occupies the heads of the Children of God, then the terreftriall dedication of the feed of the wicked: But efpecially this was done in refpect of the Prophefie, to fhew how 'Seth did fee that the Serpent lept not, but was hewing out a croffe and calamities for the Godly. and that Enoch had built a City and walls against the Church, and Tubal-Cain had invented weapons of warr, and prepared armor against Seth. Therefore as Genefis the tenth chapter and the twenty fift verfe, Eber calls his Sonnes name Peleg, because the divifion of the earth was in his dayes; fo here Seths Son is called Enofh, in refpe&t of the croffes and tribulations that the Sonnes of men are fubject unto, and that is one mysterie that the Fathers make of this place, that none fhould imagine Serb to be without his Enosh, that upon the godly the furges of the Sea fhall arife, but not overwhelm them; and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against them, Matthew the fixteenth chapter, but that he that grounds himself upon the worship of God by true invocation, fhall be immoveable, and yet not without perfecutions. And that is the first point, that to Seth is born Enosh. The reafon why God fends croffes and afflictions to men, is to try them, whether they be rooted and grounded in faith, Coloẞians the fecond chapter and the twenty seventh verfe, and as in the first to the Corinthians, the eleventh chapter and the ninteenth verse, He suffers herefies, that they which are approved may be known, as also, because if men were not fometime perplexed, and preft down with afflictions, so as neither reafon can releive them, nor the hand of flesh able to deliver them, when they cannot help themselves, but as past hope of remedy, they may afcribe their deliverance to God, and not to their own counfels or force. Secondly, That it hangs well together, that this exercise of inVocation and prayer fhould arife from Enofh, for, Fames the fift chapter and the thirteenth verfe, If any be afflicted let him pray ; and there-" ·fore fuch prayer is called oratio afflicti, Pfalm the hundred and fecond and the seventeenth verfe. As Abel's oblation belongs to the dayes of peace and profperity; fo Enofh's invocation belongs to the dayes of affliction and mifery. whena.man is ftrong to refift, and full of Vitall heat and fpirit, then he cannot skill of invocation; but let God make him Enofb, and then he will begin to call upon the name of the Lord, Thirdly, In refpect that it fhewes what manner of Preacher it fhould be, that is, he must be one of the fons of Seth, that is, one of the Church; for the prayer of a faithfull man availeth much. Alloimust be Enofh's prayer, that is, of one that is humble, as the Publicans prayer, Luke che eighteenth chapter; fo that the name of Enofh, in refpe&t of Seth, thewes, that Chrift shall not be without his Croffe, nor Chrifts Church without theirs. And in refpect of himfelt it fhewes, what shall be the afflictions of thofe that fhall be thus called. Touching bis Invocation, It is the title that it pleaseth the Holy Ghost to let our Enofh by, and it is an excellent title, faith Chryfoftome, that Enofh fhould be the first that called upon the Name of the Lord: It was more honorable to him, than to wear any gorgeous apparrell, or Jewels whatsoever. In this part are two things: The nature of Invocation,and the be ginning of it, fet down in thefe words Tunc cœptum est. First for the nature of Invocation; Invocare is vocare Deum, in fe, or ex fe; and it is a fpeciall point: Many would have God about them, or near them, but not in them; for then they must look to govern their actions well. When men lay feige to a Town, they doe not think it fufficient to have them without, but they defire to get them within: Such an affection is required of them, fay the ancient Writers, that will truly call upon God. For the manner, we must fay with the Apoftle, in the firft epistle of John, the fourth chapter and the fourth verse, Major eft qui intus quàm qui extrà. Now for the Name of God; It is no unreasonable thing that we should call upon the name of those which we never faw; for as we know, thofe that dwell in the weft & northward parts, they believe & obey the word and cómandement that comes in the Princeffes name, and by that commandes ment they arme and difarme themselves, and are ready to fuffer death, howbeit they never faw her, nor look to see her, but only because it comes in her name: It is therefore currant they beleeve fuch a Princesse there is, therefore they receive the word as comming out of the mouth of the Princeffe her felf, and obey ir, So wwe see what Invocation is, and that the name of God is to be invocated. Now to put a difference between these three, Firft, to call upont God; Secondly, upon the name of God; Thirdly, in the name of God. We fay to call upon God is an expreffing or extending of the defire that we have of his prefence, as all the creatures have; For the young Ravens call upon him, in the one hundred fourty leventh Pfalm and the ninth verfe, and in the eighth chapter of the Romans and the twentieth verfe, omnis creatura ingemifcit, and that may be done when a man faith nothing, but only in his foul defireth, as Hannah; |
