For teaching them as they are now taught This is warranted us before the flood Genes 4.3.4 Cain and Abel sacrificing must needs have learned of their Father this duty and a good argument that the Scripture was yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though some thinke that there can but probable conjectures be made before the flood ergo they reason probably that say that the worship of God could not have continued 2. After the flood to Abrahams time there was no other way of propagating Religion then by the delivery of the parents to their children though some thinke that Sybils verses were nothing else but the sum of those doctrines which the parents delivered to their children Vsque adeo placuit Deo catechesis Abrahae ut ei revelata sit legis Evangelii summa So was God pleased with Abrahams catechising that the sum both of Law and Gospel was revealed to him 3. In Abraham that the Scripture beareth him witnesse that hee taught his family in the waies of the Lord Gen. 18.17.19 Shall I hide from my servant Abraham that thing which I doe 19. For I know that he will command his family and his houshold after him that they keep the waies of the Lord to do righteousnesse and judgement that the Lord might bring uâ—on Abraham that which he hath spoken unto him What he taught it is evident by the summe of the Law delivered unto him by God Gen. 17.1 Ambula coram me esto integer walke before me and be thou perfect As by the summe also of the Gospell Gen. 18.18 as also Gen. 22.18 And in thy seed shall all the Nations c. be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voyce The effect of Abrahams catechising The fruit and effect of his catechising 1. In his sonne Isaac Gen. 24.63 And Isaac went out to pray in the fields towards the Evening 2. In his servant 1. He beginneth with prayer before his businesse Gen. 24.12 2. He endeth in prayer and thanksgiving for having good successe in his businesse Gen. 24.27 3. His care and faithfulnesse in performing his Masters businesse Vers 33. in that hee would not eate before he had shewed his message And thus it was before the Law was written 4. In the Law Deut. 6.7 So soone as the Law was given God commanded that they should teach it their children In the same place foure duties mentioned writing speaking sharpening binding of which this often rehearseing or sharpning is the chiefest The speciall lecture of the Law According to the Rabbins And among the Rabbins this is the speciall lecture of all the five Bookes of the Law Num. 15. Deut. 11.19 The practise of this commandement in David Psal 34.11 And as Salomon testifieth Prov. 4.4 that he was his fathers sonne tenderly beloved of his mother and absolutely catechised of David his father 1. Chron. 28.9 and 19. David before all the people directeth his sonne Salomon Salomon in his nine first Chapters of his Proverbes instructeth his sonne Rehoboam 2. King 12.2 Joash the yong King instructed by Iehoiadah After the captivity because there are no monuments in the Scriptures we must relie to Iosephus and his writings Yet in the third verse of the story of Susanna she is said to have beene taught of her parents in the Law of Moses Iosephus testifieth that between Christ and Antiochus time and the restoring of the captivity there was never under foure hundred houses of catechisings of expounding the Law called in the Talmud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 places for the Law 5. In the Booke of antiquities of the Jewes is recorded that there was an act made at Ierusalem that when their children were thirteene yeeres old they should be sent to catechising to which Paul seemeth to have some relation Rom. 2.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being instructed out of the Law 6. In the Christian Church it is commanded Eph. 6.4 that parents should not onely enter their children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 1 Cor. 14.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I might teach others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The party to be catechized For the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or persons to be catechised we have warrant in three notable persons 1. Theophilus Luke 1.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein thou hast beene instructed 2. In Apollos Acts 18.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this man was instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the spirit 3. Timothy 2. Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and that from a child thou hast knowne the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation Galat. 6.6 mention made both of the Catechiste and Catechumenos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things After the Apostles time the first of any fame was the Evangelist Marke Catechist at Alexandria after him Palemus after him Clemens Alexandrinus after him Origen after him Cyrill of Ierusalem then Gregory Nicen his Catechisme Athanasii synopsis sanctae scripturae his inventory of the sacred Scriptures Fulgentius Augustines booke de rudibus catechisandis of catechising the ignorant De gratia Dei of the grace of God foure bookes de symbolo the Creed De fide ad Petrum diaconum of faith to Peter the Deacon In the Fathers time it may appeare by the sixth Canon of the Councel of Neocesarea by the sixth seventh Canon of the Councel holden at Toledo in Spaine 2. The Councell of Braccharie i. of the fourth of Toledo 24. Canon As it appeareth in the councell of Cullen Synod of Osburge 8. ch 24. sect of the councell of Trent 6. ch No more mention of this till the time of Luther which because it did greatly further religion the papists renewed and commended the effect and fruit Egesippus testifieth that by the diligent instructing of the Church there was no knowne common wealth in any part of the world inhabited but within 40. yeeres after Christs passion received a great shaking off heathenish religion The same may be seene in the most wicked Julian the Apostat the subtillest enemy that ever the Church had who the easier to roote out religion suppressed all Christian schooles places of catechising c. and if he had not beene as a cloud that soone passeth away it had beene to be feared lest within a short time hee had over-shadowed all religion Now when catechising was taken from the Church it was all overspread with ignorance The papists acknowledge all the advantage the protestants have gotten of them to come for that they began sooner to catechise And it is to be feared that if ever they get advantage of us it will be by reason of their exacter catechising then ours The Reasons of the continuing of catechising 1. The reasons why it hath beene thus continued illud Christi
the Apostles were not able to behold him much lesse can then his glory as he is now be expressed And in the first Ephes councell Anathema sit qui Christum ullo modo dividit Let him be anathematized who divide Christ one nature from the other which an Image of him doth And as Augustine saith 34. de moribus Ecclesiae Omnino errare meruerunt qui Christum non in divinis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus quaeri voluerunt They deserve to erre who will seek Christ not in inspired bookes but on painted walls And againe In stoliditate crucifixi they easily bring Christ into contempt In the Crucifixe they shew that Christ suffered no more then the Crucifixe sheweth but he suffered in soule the paines of Hell which no painter in the World is able to paint neither doe they shew and therefore they derogate from his passion and the losse of that Eighthly Ambrose in his Booke de fuga seculi chap. 5. Nostra inquit Ecclesia non novit has c. Our Church knowes no such thing Ninthly Hierome in Ezek. 4. 16. Nos vero unam tantum veneramur imaginem Jesum nempe Christum qui est imago Dei patris We worship onely one Image Christ who is the expresse Image and character of his Father Erasmus in his preface to Hierome saith That till Hierome was dead there was no Image received Epiphanius is one that they cannot abide Haeres 79. and in Epist to John Bishop of Jerusalem that comming into a Temple that had an Image of Christ he rent downe the vaile wherein the Picture was and pulled it downe and told them it was against all Scripture and reason Aug. 34. de moribus Ecclesiae catholicae in that chap. he seemeth to say that some among the Christians began then in corners to worship Images Novi saith hee to the Manichees esse in Ecclesia nostra adoratores imaginum sepulchrorum sed isti viri prosessionis haec nec sciunt c. So branding Image-worshippers with ignorance c. So Lib. 1. cap. 10. De consensu Evang. against some that held Christ writ certaine Bookes of Magick and that he wrote them in Aegypt I thinke because Torrensis bringeth this to prove that Augustine allowed Images But for Augustines mind it is straightway added Sic omnino errare meruerunt qui Christum non in divinis codicibus sed in picturis parietibus quaeri voluerunt as was now alleadged out of him After when the five hundred yeares were expired there was better hold for them yet they had gaine-sayers Cyrenus the Bishop upheld the matter that he would not have them so also in the yeare sixe hundred and seven hundred there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idoll Champions and combatants both for and against them and about Ann. eight hundred they were much used But Claudius Bishop of Tarentum stood against them saying Amplexi sunt idololatriam permutatam that the Christians embraced the same Idolatry which the Gentiles did but onely that it was changed somewhat in name At the same time Constantius 4. Leo 3. Philippicus 2. set themselves against them It had entrance then but it never got sound sooting till the second Nicene Councell We have foure Councels for us First The second Ephesine Councell wholly Secondly The second Councell of Constantinople wholly Thirdly Eleboris where was Honorius the Bishop Canon 36. Placuit ut ne pingant in parietibus It pleaseth us that there be no painting on walls c. Fourthly for the taking of them downe out of the way 5. Concil Carthage Can. 14. Whereat Aurelius and Augustine were present And so much for the controversie of Images Now for our Rules The third Rule That not onely that that is set downe here is forbidden but all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is like to make to a mans selfe is here forbidden as our owne inventions Hierom on Amos 5. God said well quae fecerunt sibi deus enim non fecit They received them not of God but themselves were forgers of them So this is the rule of the Fathers Idola ethnicorum exceperunt haereses Christianorum meaning of the externall worship of the Hereticks 2. That it be not against the spirituall worship so that here is forbidden petitio cordis a restraint of the first fancy that riseth in the braine of man concerning the substance of God unreverently imagining a bodily shape of it as Serapion a Monke Reliq uorum Praeceptorum concupiscentiae sistendae in corde hujus vero secundi Precepti in cerebro The breaches of the other Precepts have their first risings in the heart but of this in the braine The fourth rule Here is forbidden the meanes that bring in wil-worship and they are foure handled in the former exercise The fifth rule the signes For if it be true that is Jude 23. that we must hate even the very garment that the flesh hath defiled surely because the Idoll is an uncleane and abominable thing no lesse abominable must the garment be unto us that it hath spotted and the pillars whereon they stand Deut. 16.22 God commandeth that there be not so much as Macsevah the pillar or basis or statue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be raysed for them Thou shalt set up no pillar nothing that the Lord thy God hateth And Deut. 7.25 he doth there protest that the very gold and silver the matter whereof they are made are abomination unto him and therefore he commandeth them to burne it lest they be ensnared therewith Deut. 16.21 they must plant no groves the place of their worship He will have no such place neare his Aâ—tar to have Temples among the heathen and not that onely but 1 King 15.14 even the very high places on which the groves were planted in which the Temples were built And he runneth along through the books of the Kings with this as a notable blemish against the Kings that would not dig down the high places though they took away the Idols c. These things shew how God abhorred Idols In the other part it is not expressed if it come contrary to the act if a conceit come to helpe the act 2 Sam. 6.6 If there be a good meaning to save the best and fattest of the sheep 1 Sam. 15.21 But the people took of the spoyle sheep c. Because it is facis tibi and because we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-taught to Idolatry therefore the Lord abhorreth it The sixth rule we are commanded as Gen. 31.19 not onely not to deale nor to have them our selves but even seeke to deprive not steale them for the meanes is not so convenient and commendable but by all lawfull meanes to deprive Laban our Father of his Idols Joshua 22.27 we see if it had been an Altar of sacrifice as it proved to be an Altar of remembrance there had been store of blood shed for it Thus much for the negative now of the affirmative part of
workes of darknesse but we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the light and therefore our desires must be of the workes of light that we may walke accordingly 2. For the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 4.11 A desire to set our selves to doe our owne workes and to doe it c. Irrigatio concupiscentiae After this the next is called irrigatio concupiscentiae the medling with noysome meates which are provocations to this sinne As in bodily Physicke there be many bodies changed by the diet coveting some one dish that much breedeth one disease though they be not naturally given to it yet at the length they come to it So it is in the soule As we must keepe the state of it from being a meete mould or a fat ground for the Devill to cast in his seed so we must take heede of these meates and outward objects and allurements that may dispose the soule to this sinne We consider these as they are in our selves and as they are in others and as they are in the body and about it As namely First if any man doe adhibere fucum use painting it was one of Iezebels vices 2 King 9.30 It is said she paimed her face tyred her haire and looked out at a window And not onely a thing in one person but in many persons for setting a wrong colour on their eyebrowes Ier. 4.30 And then Prov. 9.14 Solomon testifieth of the Harlot she setteth her down to be an allurement to men These be things condemned by the word of God yet this is not so usuall as the second that is the strange disguising of our selves in apparell 1 Tim. 2.9 1 Pet. 3.3 It is reprehended even in women which are rather to be allowed in it because it is mundus muliebris the ornament of women Greg. Thinke with your selves what a deformity it is in you seeing it is found fault withall in women First they finde fault with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wreathing of the haire and the second is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the adding of gold or pearles to apparell And the third they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rare apparell strange and costly Luke 16.19 It is called fine linnen and silke The reason in Paul because these become not the professors of the feare of God Peter hath two reasons 1. v. 4. not the utter but the inner man to be garnished Caro where is magna corporis cura there plerunque is magna mentis incuria where the body is too much decked there it is to be feared the minde for the most part is neglected for this is care with modesty 2. vers 5. ab exemplo sanctorum from the example of the Saints Did the Saints use apparell thus did Sarah did Abraham A third thing Gesture Mich. 2.3 God saith 3. Gesiuâ— he will be a swift revenger against such as goe proudly in gate Esa 3.16 telleth what he meaneth by it 1. they goe on tiptoe 2. they have exerium gutiur stretched forth necks 2. nutantes oculos the rolling of the eyes casting them scornfully on the one side first and then on the other and 4. they have minutos passus a mincing gate they goe as if they were compedui shackled And he thundereth as pathetically as he can even in the daughters of Sion much more would he in the sonnes of Sion Ambr. Gesta naturam dedit sed gratia emendat Aug. Prov. 30.13 some have proud gates of nature sed gratiam emendat grace must amend all Then after these there are other incentives and provocations from without us Psal 50.18 consortium cum adulieris Provocation ab exira and Prov. 7.22 meeting and conferences with Harlots carrying a man as an Oxe to the slaughter and as a foole to the stockes or a bird to the pitfall c. 1 Cor. 5.6 fermentum modicum totam massam Company c. a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump It is common to all vices but he applieth it there to this sinne This vice hath an especiall vertue to leaven the company Company not only notorious but also suspitious is to be avoyded Prov. 7.8.9 he saith one of his observations was that looking out of his window he saw a young man would needs goe by a suspitious place and he did it in the twilight in the evening at a suspitious time and so among the rest you shall see these two plainely that prepare them to this 1. Thes 5.20.22 It is not onely malum evill but species also mali apparence of evill that must be avoyded And not onely coram Deo before God 2 Cor. 8.21 but all evill suspitions before men This for company Now another thing is which the Heathen man calleth his comites his companions that he was solus alone and yet had his comites nunquam minus solus quam cum solus companions never lesse alone then when alone he had a booke or two about him so that under company come evill bookes that speake broadly and grossely of this sinne and bring a man to have both knowledge and affection 1 Cor. 15.33 Paul speaking of the sayings of Epicurisme alledgeth out of Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Evill words or evill deeds spoken or written corrupt good manners Evill words be as Prov. 9.17 stollen waters c. or as Prov. 7.18 let us take our pleasure in dalliance c. by colouring of a filthy act with good words So for company There are annexed hereto such two things as by the eye and eare worke the same impression in the soule 1. Pictures imagines obscoenae as of Baal-Peor Numb 25.18 Hose 9.10 they longed to looke on it and Psal 106.28 they joyned themselves to Baal Peor and eate the offerings of the dead It was Balaams counsell Numb 31.16 1 Cor. 10.8 Ne scortemur c. To bring them to see the Image in the Temple We know what he saith in Eunuchus The parlers were hanged with the pictures of Danae and Iupiters comming to her you see his conclusion So Prov. 7.16 the Harlots chamber hanged with tapestry very like to be these So whatsoever stirreth up the minde by the eye or eare by analogy as Marke 6.22 choreae lascivae or ludi theatrici i. concil * Agathense Châ—â—â—ae lasâ—iâ—ae Ludi thâ—aâ—â—iâ—i 〈◊〉 Câ—ncil Agaâ—â—ens in Cauâ—anz can 28. In Câ—â—iâ— Edition can nâ—â— 39. nâ—n Câ—nâ—â—l let 30. â—an 23. in Editiâ—n Câ—ais can 5. that pertaine to this point of foolish places The reasons as the Councels alleadge them are very good and to be liked And one is Psal 119.37 Averte oculos nevideani vanitatem turne away thine eyes lest they behold vanity And besides these there is losse of time Prov. 6.27 28. he hath Rubens fault Gen. 49.4 as light as water Prov. 6.27 Where this affection is he shall take fire in his bosome and he shall goe upon coales and therefore the danger can hardly be fled Item whatsoever may
the goodnesse of God towards us appeares to be the greater in this behalfe because there is no Angell nor spirit to whom he vouchsafeth this favour to have their sinnes remitted save onely to man Of them it is said he found no truth in his Angels in his servants and in his Angels there were folly Iob 4.18 that is they had trespasses but yet God will not forgive them nor receive any supplication for pride but contrarywise he keepeth the Angels that sinned in everlasting chaines to the judgement of the great day 2 Pet. 2. he that is the God of the spirits of all flesh Numb 27.16 16.22 will not heare the spirits that sinned against him but thou that hearest prayers to thee shall all flesh come Psal 65. There is a way for man to escape the danger of sinne if he aske pardon but the sinnes of the wicked Angels shall not be forgiven The elect Angels doe make the three first Petitions as well as we and the Petition for the supply of natural defects is common to all living creatures but this which prayeth for pardon of sinnes is proper onely to man so we see how God exerciseth his goodnesse and sheweth it not onely in exercising of liberality to them that have need but his long suffering in pardoning them that have sinned against him To come to the Petition it selfe by Debis our Saviour meaneth sinnes expressely so called Luke 11.4 and sinners are called debters Luke 13.4 for the Scripture speakes of them Matth. 18.24 one was brought that owed ten thousand Talents that is which had committed a great number of sinnes and Luke 7.31 a lender had two debters by which are meant sinners the reason hereof is because there is a resemblance betwixt sinnes and debts In the affaires of men the case is thus that if the condition be not performed they are bound to indure the penalty and so become double indebted so it is betweene God and us the sinnes that we commit by the breach of Gods Law is Chirographum contra nos an hand-writing against us Col. 2. So they are called in the old Testament Thou writest heavie or hard things against us Iob 13.26 and Ezech. 2. Our sins are compared to a book written in both sides for we are bound to keep Gods Commandements because he made us and not onely so but he still doth nourish and preserve us therefore we ought to doe his will hee gives us Talents Matth. 25. which wee ought to imploy to his glory hee gives us dwelling places in the world as to the Israelites he gave the land of the Heathen that they might keepe his Statutes and observe his Lawes Psal 105. If we fulfill them we discharge our duty to God and are free from all penalty but if we doe it not there is an obligation Deut. 27. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written to doe them If he place us in the Vineyard he will looke to receive fruit of it Matth. 21. If he give us Talents he will have us so to imploy them as that he may reape gaine thereby Luke 19. The gifts and graces that God bestowes upon us must bee imployed in hallowing his name in enlarging his Kingdome in accomplishment of his will if we fulfill this the penalty of the Law takes no hold on us but if we doe not onely not use them to his glory but abuse them and turne them to the breach of the Law by serving sinne then are we in a double sort indebted to God and make our selves guilty of his wrath Et quis intelligit c. Who understandeth the power of his wrath Psal 90. If we consider how grievous plagues God threatned for the breach of the Law we would be more carefull and heedfull that we doe not offend him which because we consider not we become indebted to God We are debters to the flesh to provide for it onely so much as is meete for the releeving of it Rem 8.12 And the rest of our care must be for the spirit but because all our care is for the flesh to satisfie it in fulfilling the lusts thereof and are carelesse of our spirits therefore we become indebted to God in a third sort by breaking his Commandements in that which concernes our selfe but this the Apostle saith I am debter to the wise and the unwise Rom. 1.14 That is we must be carefull of others as God said to Caine Where is thy brother Gen. 4. But because omnes quae sua sunt quaerunt all seeke their owne Phil. 2. and seeke not the good of others therefore they grow further indebted to God These debts or sinnes are properly said to be ours because they proceed from us for there is no member of our body that is not guilty of some sinne and not in that sense that bread is said to be ours which commeth to us and is made ours by Gods gift and when wee pray forgive us our debts we learne that it is our duty to crave forgivenesse for others as for our selves for as the Apostle by these words The rebukes of them that rebuked thee fell upon me Rom. 15.5 sheweth that Christ was carried with the same zeale against sinne committed against God as if it had beene against himselfe so he teacheth that we must be moved with the like compassion towards others when we consider their sinnes that we find in our selves for our owne and that we ought no lesse to pray for them then for our selves and to suffer others to passe over the bridge of Gods mercie as well as we In the words debts three things are to be noted first where Christ teacheth his Apostles that were baptized and the most perfect Christians that ever were to pray for remission of sinnes it should work in our nature an humiliation for they in making this prayer acknowledge themselves sinners much more ought we The Apostle Peter confesseth of himselfe Luke 5.3 I am a sinfull man Saint Paul saith of himselfe peccatorum primus sum ego I am the chiefe of sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Saint Iames including himselfe and the rest of the Apostles saith in multis offendimus omnes In many things we sinne all Iames 3.2 Saint Iohn saith If we say we have no sinne we deceive our selves 1 Iohn 1.9 He saith not exaltamus nos as the Apostle spake of modesty or non humiliamus nos wee doe not humble our selves but decipimus nos and if we deny it the truth is not in us Seeing it is so we must not say with the Pharisee I am not as this man but with the Publican God be mercifull to me a sinner Luke 18.13 Secondly we are not onely sinners but daily sinners as appeareth by this that vve are taught no lesse to pray daily for forgivenesse of our sinnes then for bread To confirme this Solomon saith Septies in die cadit justus the just man fals seven times a day Prov. 24. and
storehouse and Armory of the people It is the policy Christ tels us of in the 11. of Lukes Gospell ver 22. A strong man puts the strong armed man out of his house and takes away his armour from him then he needs not feare him The like policy we read of 1 Sam. 13.19 when the Philistims had taken away all Smiths and Armour then they thought they were safe So in the time of darkenesse the devill might let them doe their good workes and what they list and yet have them still under his lure that he might offend them at his pleasure that had no armour to resist him All the Children of God had a right and property in the Law of God as appeareth by Christs words John 10.34 he answered them that is the common people Is it not written in your Law As though hee should say the Scripture is yours To the young man in the tenth Chapter of Saint Lukes Gospell and 26. verse that asked Christ what he should doe to be saved Christ answereth What is written in the Law how readest thou Whereunto to answer that we cannot read or that the booke is sealed up Esay 29.11 is as the devill would have it Then hath he a fit time to offer us stones to make bread of But this answer with our Saviour Christ will not be allowed of Now come we to the speciall point of Christs answer It is written Man lives not by bread onely c. Deut. 8.3 There is no better kinde of reasoning than that when one grants all that hath beene said by his adversary and proveth it to make on his part and upon a new conceit avoyds all that his adversary said Here our Saviour might confesse all that the devill objected as that he is the Son of God and admit the stones were made bread and that bread were of absolute necessity and that it were so to be come by which is untrue were we then in good case This indeed is the devils position wherewith he would perswade all those that have animam triticeam as the Fathers call it that those externall things are necessary to be had and that if they have enough thereof they are well enough as we see it to be the minde of the rich man Luke 12.19 This man having a wheaten soule having corne enough bade his soule take rest and live merrily for many yeares But Christ goeth further and saith Though the stones be made bread it will not availe except it please God by the blessing of his word to give vertue and as it were life unto the bread there is no difference between it and a stone It is not the plenty or quality of victuals howsoever some dote upon such externall meanes as they did which sacrificed to their net and burnt incense to their yerne Habak 1.16 because by them their portion was fat and their meates plenteous For what saith Job 31.27 If I had rejoyced because my substance was great this had beene an iniquity So that our life is not mainetained by bread onely descended out of the mould of the earth The nature of bread and stones are not much unlike they come both out of one belly that is to say the earth Job 28.5 6. and of themselves the one of them hath no more power than the other unto life for we know that the Israelites dyed even while the flesh of Quailes was in their mouthes Numb 11.33 and Manna heavenly fare being farre better than our bread It is the devils crafty policy to bury a mans life under a loafe of bread and as it were to fetter the grace of God to the outward meanes wheras they of themselves are of no more efficacy without the operation and grace of the word than a hammer and a saw without a hand able to employ them David saith Psal 104.28 The eyes of all things waite on God for their meate in due season and thou fillest them With what with bread No but with thy blessing and goodnesse Our hearts must be stablished with grace not with meats Heb. 13.9 It is Gods prerogative that as all things had their beginning from him Colos 1.17 so he supporteth and sustaineth them Heb. 1.3 This is a further point than all Philosophy teacheth us For they having laid downe the foure elements bare and simple essences tanquam materiam by compounding and tempering of them they bring forth a certaine quintessence or balme full of vertue But Divinity leadeth so to a quintessence without which all the quintessences and balmes in the world can doe us no good To the question that Jeremie propoundeth Jer. 8.22 Is there no balme at Gilead Is there no Physitian there The answer may bee Mans health is not recovered by balme or physicke onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God if we weigh Christs argument aright For we may see 2 Chron. 16.12 Asa dyed for all his Physitians that were about him So if it be asked Are there no horses nor chariots in Gilead We may answer warlike victory consisteth not in warlike furniture onely but in remembring the name of the Lord God Psal 20.7 A horse is a vaine thing to save without the power of this word And so when a man thrives not or prospers not in his actions it is not often for want of labour or care Psal 127.1 tels him Except the Lord build the house c. Augustine adviseth his Auditory to beleeve it in time lest by wofull experience they finde it to be true when as they shall have such a consumption that no meate shall doe them any good or such a dropsie that no drinke shall availe them The power and vertue of this word is called The staffe of bread Levit. 26.26 and it is meant of a chiefe staffe such a one as is set in the middest to beare up all the Tent. The plainest similitude I can use to make you understand the force thereof is this When we goe to Physicke for any disease we are bidden feeth such herbes in running water and then to drinke the water we know it is not the water which helpeth but the decoction of infusion So it is not the bread considered barely in it selfe that nourisheth us but the vertue and grace of the word infused into it We are not therefore to sticke to the meanes like the Glutton Luk. 12.19 but to pray for this blessing And to this end God in the establishing of nature hath thereout reserved foure speciall prerogatives to his Word As first with a very little of the meanes to goe farre in operation 1 Reg. 17.14 with a little oyle and a little wheate he fed Elias the poore widdow and her sonne a great while And Matth. 17.14 Christ made five loaves and two fishes serve five thousand persons The heathen man thought no certaine proportion was to be set downe for a family because when a heavenly hunger commeth on men they eate more at one time than