stande still in his proper force and that it appertaineth to vs Christians now most euidently appeaâ—eth by that authoritie and credite which it receiueth â—rom the Gospell and newe Testament also in which it is so highly commended vnto vs that I might not in this place speake of the manifold other testimonies that it hath in the old And by name we may see how our Sauiour Christ all his Apostles establisheth it by their â—ractise for they vpon the Sabbath ordinarily enter into â—he Synagogues of the Iewes and preach vnto the peoâ—le doing such things vpon those dayes as appertaine â—o sanctifying of them according to the commandement Obiect Against which lest we might except that our Redeemer Christ Iesus being made vnder the law as the Apostle sayth came to fulfill the whole law for vs Galath 4.4 and therefore he indeede submitted himselfe vnto the obseruation of the least ceremonie therof al his life long till at his death he cryed out It is finished Ioh. 19.30 Math. 27.51 when the vayle of the Temple rent in twaine from the top to the bottome to shew that all types and figures were abrogated and taken away and therefore that his obseruation of the Sabbath maketh no more for the certaintie of it then his obseruing of Circumcision keeping the Passeouer and offering vp of â—â—crifices doe make for their continuance now vnder the Gospell Answer Wee must further consider that the Apostles themselues long after Christs death and after they had receiued the holy Ghost Iohn 16.13 euen the spirite of truth that should leade them into all trueth doe by their practise and writings shewe that the Sabbath stoode vpon a surer ground then the whole ceremoniall lawe and therefore could not with it bee taken away Acts 13.14 Paul and Barnabas as it is in the Acts comming into Antiochia went into the Synagogue vpon the Sabbath day and sate downe and after the reading of the Lawe and the Prophets the rulers of the Synagogue sent vnto them saying Yee men and brethren if ye haue any worde of exhortation to the people say on then Paul stoode vp and beckened with the hand and sayd Men of Israell c. going on forward with that notable sermon that is set downe there and when hee had ended verse 42. as it is in the same chapter The Gentiles besought them that they would preach those words vnto them the next Sabbath day which also they did And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole citie together to heare the word of God verse 44. Moreouer the same Apostle at Thessalonica Acts 17 2. went into the Synagogue of the Iewes and three Sabbath daies disputed with them by the scriptures And thus hee did not once or twise but continually and ordinarily shewing the ordinary continuance of the Sabbath and the sanctifying of it as the Euangelist precisely noteth saying Paul as his manner was went in vnto them Now though we are to presume that Paul neither taught nor practised any thing contrarie to the rest of the Apostles but that they agreed in one vniforme order of doctrine and gouernement of the Church as who had receiued of one and the selfe same spirite and therefore this might bee sufficient to shew their consent herein Yet notwithstanding wee may reade how in the last booke of the Bible and by the last Apostle I meane who liued longest the same thing is confirmed where he is so farre from teaching that the Sabbath for the space of 97. yeares after Christ was taken away about what time it is thought that hee wrote that booke that â—â—e plainly auoucheth the coÌ„tinuance of it in the Church â—y this new and honourable name Reuel 1.10 The Lords day where â—â—ne of purpose noting the time that he receiued those Reuelations in calleth it by that name that was best known to the Church at that time otherwise he should not so fitly haue expressed his mind to those to whoÌ„ he wrote which day thus called all writers doe agree vpon it new and old yea the Papists themselues to bee this very Sabbath which wee obserue Thus it is sufficiently proued that the Sabbath was none of those Ceremonies which were iustly abrogated at the comming of Christ as being appoynted of God for no further time but that it coÌ„tinued in the practise of the Church when all other ceased yea was kept faithfully in the Church by al them who had with one consent shut out all the rest And that it is so commanded in the first booke of holy scriptures Genesis where is shewed what was from the beginning that it wanteth not his due praise in the last booke of the same Reuelation where is a prophesie of things to bee fulfilled vnto the ende and therefore wee must hearken vnto the trueth of this doctrine so much the rather least that fearefull iudgement doe fall vpon vs which the Lord Iesus himselfe threatned to bring vpon them that shall diminish any thing contained in this booke and therefore which shall in whole or in part take away this day which is so honored there when he sayth Reuel 22.19 If any man shall diminish of the words of the booke of this prophesie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy citie and from those things which are written in this booke But that I might not seeme tedious vnto you we shall further heare in one word that the Sabbath still bindeth vs and that it ought to stand in his greatest force That two ends of ordayning the Sabbath sheweth the continuance of it that euer it had and that we haue as great neede of it as euer any people had in the world and that our posteritie shall haue so likewise and therefore cannot be without it if we consider the principall ends of the first instituting and ordaining of it by God vnto Adam in Paradise A day of rest is necessarie Commanding him to rest vpon that day and to keepe holie the day of rest And first of all to rest because he was not of an infinite nature though perfect and therefore could not be occupied wholly about many I doe not say contrarie but sundrie and diuers things at once as about the busines of this world and the worship of God wherefore being bound by his calling to dresse and keepe the garden Gen. 2.15 verse 3. and yet charged to keepe holie the seuenth day meditating vpon the wisedome and mercie of God appearing as in all the creatures so especially in himselfe and thus beholding the inuisible things of God in them Rom. 1.20 giuing thankes to God for them praying for the continuance of them teaching them to his posteritie c. it was needfull that the seuenth day should bee vnto him as it was indeed a Sabbath day that is a day of rest resting from all his other necessarie businesse that so he might
day wherein the redemption and the second and the newe world was ended Euen as not only Iustine Martyr doth ioyne both these together when hee sheweth that in his time the Church did publikely meet vpon this day Iustin. Mart. Apolog. 2. doth because it was the first day wherin God beganne to make the world and also because vpon that day Iesus Christ our Sauiour did rise froÌ„ the dead but also Saint Augustine speaking many excellent things in the commendation of this day August de teÌ„p serm 251. ioyneth these together It is apparant that this day is famous in the scriptures seeing it was the first day of the world and the day of Christs resurrection And so the memory of the one doth not put out the glory of the other but being added vnto it as a further honour doth increase the dignitie of it so much the more euen as Iacob was more renowmed of God when he was also called Israell Gen. 32.28 Thus we doe conclude this matter in one word that this very day which the Church obserueth in all places is that which must endure to the end of the world as hauing his authoritie not from man but from God himselfe and is that very day which is now commended vnto vs in the commandement And now all these things being thus premised which of necessitie must first haue beene spoken of the order and time and my purpose requireth that I should according to your expectation proceede in the wordes of the coÌ„mandement it selfe as it was first pronounced by the Lord froÌ„ heaueÌ„ after written by Moses in the 20. chap. of Exodus ver 8. Diuision of the text into the commandement and the reasons of it Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy c. to the ende of the 11. verse In all which words we haue two principall things to consider of the first is the commandement it selfe in the 8. verse the other is the reasons which are vsed to persuade men vnto the obedience of it in the other three verses Concerning the commandement it selfe as it consisteth of two wordes as it were so in the true vnderstanding of them two consisteth the whole meaning of the commandment The first is the Sabbath day or day of rest which wee are willed to remember the second is the sanctification of the Sabbaâ—h or keeping holy the day of rest which we are willed to be carefull of The Sabbath day As by it is noted out one speciall day namely the seuenth as it is afterwards declared The seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God yet because it hath the name of the nature of it for it is so called because of the rest that is proper vnto it it doth shew vnto vs The first thing in the commaÌ„dement is to rest vpon the seuenth day what is the first thing required in this commandement namely that vpon the seuenth day we should rest for the Sabbath day in the first tongue wherein it was pronounced and written signifieth as much as the day of rest yet so as that in the beginning it was the proper name of the seuenth day because there were no other dayes of rest appointed by God but onely that But afterwardes when the Lorde gaue vnto the Iewes the ceremoniall law hee appointed also vnto them certaine other daies in the yeare as appeareth in the bookes of Moses and is well knowne vnto men in which he commanded them to rest and to keepe them holy therefore they hauing the nature of the first and onely Sabbath are called in the scriptures Sabbath daies as the yearely day of purifiyng and clensing the people as it is set downe in Leuiticus Leuit. 13.31 is called a Sabbath because that in it they were commanded to doe as vpon the Sabbath according as it is written The tenth day of the seuenth month you shall humble your soules and doe no worke at all this shall bee a Sabbath of Rest vnto you And so the first and last day of euery other feast had the same name because it was of the same nature whereunto the Apostle hath respect Colos 2.16 Let no man therefore condenme you in meate and drink or in respect of an holyday or of the newe Moone of the Sabbaths speaking of many in the plural number where hee proueth that Christ hath set vs free from all the ceremonies of the Iewes and that they are in no wise to be a dioyned vnto the Gospell in so much that we are not bound to that distinction of meates and daies that they were no not of the Sabbath daies neither to keepe that one which we do in that manner and to that end that they did in euery point neither to keepe the other Sabbath dayes at all which they had Thus generally the name of Sabbath was giuen vnto euery day of rest but principall and in it owne nature it noted out that Sabbath day which was the seuenth and more improperly by a tropicall speech that was made common to all the other But yet so as that alwaies the name did declare the nature of it and doth shewe vnto as that the Lords requireth of vs that vpon that day wee should rest indeede For though it bee not alwaies true among men who may be deceiued that the things which they name haue those properties in them which their names doe import as when Dauid named his sonne Absalom he was nothing lesse then his fathers peace yet when the lord giueth names vnto things who fully knoweth what is the nature of euery thing and maketh it to bee that which hee calleth it it is alwaies true that the name is not frustrate and idle making a shewe of more then the thing can affoord and therefore as when he named the child that should be borne of the Virgin Mary Iesus he made him a Sauiour indeede according to his name so when he called the seuenth day a Sabbath day he willed and commanded that men shoul rest vpon it and that men can no more take away rest from it then they may alter and change the name of it And that there ought to be a most notable and singular rest vpon this day A very exact and precise rest must then be kept and that it should be nothing els but a day of rest and though men may rest vpon the other sixe daies for their benefite and good yet that the rest vpon this must be a most carefull exact and precise rest after an other manner then men for the most part doe performe it appeareth very plainly in the scripture where besides the manifold Commandements of keeping the Sabbath which is a day of rest this very thing is so particularly and so often and in such expresse words vrged and repeated that men should then rest As Exod. 16. Exod. 16.23 when he would perswade the people to rest vpon the seuenth day from gathering and preparing Manna he telleth them
as it were take our markes amisse of it Master Caluin vpon these words sayth Hinc colligimus Wee gather from hence that God speakes not of a small matter Caluin in Exod. 20.8 when he commends the sanctification of the Sabbath not in a word but doth exhort them vnto the diligent marking of it and so doth pronounce that their want of care to marke is a breach of the commandement And Master Musculus vpon the same words saith Notādum quod It is to be noted that he doth not simply say Sanctifie the Sabbath day but remember to do it This kind of commanding is not light but waightie hereby is signified Muscul in eundem locum that a matter of great importance is commaunded and that which by no meanes is to bee neglected but with great care to be kept For so do parents and masters vse to commend the doing of those things vnto their seruants children which aboue all other things they would haue least of all neglected So then if it be necessary to rest vpon this day as it hath been strongly prooued vnto vs then is it much more necessary to sanctifie the day as we haue seene in part and it shall more fully appeare vnto vs hereafter Which wee had need so much the more carefully to take heede vnto because the common practise of men is so cleane contrarie vnto it and the sinne as it is more common so it is greater and more dangerous And now we may more plainely vnderstand the great necessitie of that precise rest which hath beene so often spoken of and is so hardly receiued euen for because that otherwise we cannot so keepe it holy vnto the Lord as we ought to doe For this is the law of things consecrated vnto the Lord that they may not otherwise be imployed thē to his vse they must not be partly his partly ours but altogether his if they be holy to him therfore seeing the day must bee hallowed it must not be vsed in other affaires sauing in the lords busines it must not be partly ours by dooing our owne worke and partly the Lords by dooing his but his alone as it is called a Sabbath vnto the Lorde and therefore we are willed to doe no manner of worke in it And that the truth of this doctrine might appeare vnto vs so clearely as the noone daye The sanctification of this day is very precisely vrged in the Scriptures euen that the Sabbath ought most vndoubtedlie to be sanctified of all sortes let vs vnto all this which hath been alreadie spoken adde the consideration of so many scriptures wherein the spirit of God speaking of the Sabbath doth in most significant words commende according to our capacitie this truth againe and againe to vs. And first of all in the sixteene chapter of Exodus Exod. 16.23 vers 25. To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath vnto the Lord and afterwards To day is the sabbath vnto the Lord in both which places he calleth it a Sabbath vnto the Lord and in the former place an holy rest not onely shewing that they should rest vpon it but especially to what ende namely that they might keepe the day holy vnto the Lord by seruing of him and therefore he standeth vpon it calling it an holie rest and further adding a Sabbath vnto the Lord as purposing to let them see into the most especiall end of their resting euen the sanctification of the daye in the holy seruice of God Moreouer in the thirtie one chapter of the same booke Exod. 31.14.15 Ye shall keepe the Sabbath for it is holie vnto you Sixe dayes shall men worke but in the seuenth day is the Sabbath of the holy rest vnto the Lord where he calleth it both holie and holy vnto the Lord shewing what manner of rest it must bee not an idlenes or sleepie taking of our rest and ease but a carefull spending of that time in Gods seruice in which we must rest from all other things especially for that purpose Likewise in the 35. chapter of the same booke Sixe dayes shalt thou worke Exod. 35.2 but the seuenth day shall be vnto you the holy day of rest vnto the Lord where Moses declaring that message vnto the people which he had receiued before from the Lord for them telleth it to them fully and in the same number of wordes almost straightly requiring at their hands the keeping holy of the Sabbath day as a thing of great importance as appeareth by his speech so earnest and doubled calling it an holy Sabbath and then a day of rest vnto the Lord. But what should I here stand vpon all the places of Gods word in the olde and new testament which are infinite giuing most certaine testimonie and authenticall credite to this doctrine the time would not serue and the treatise would grow into a greater volume then I am willing it should these may suffice to shew vnto vs that the keeping holy of the Sabbath day must be the principall matter in this commaundement and as it were stand in the first ranke when it is in so many places and in such ample wordes commended and recommended vnto vs. For if it be the wisdome of a seruant there to be very attentiue where his master vseth many words and to be assured that that is a matter of great waight then much more ought wee to iudge the hallowing of the Sabbath daye to bee a thing then the which nothing ought more to be regarded of vs when vnto the words of Remembring and Marking that are set in the beginning of the commandement this thing also is in so many words spoken vnto vs and as it were beaten into our eares That I might not speake any thing of such other places wherein the seruing of God in the place appoynted by himselfe is adioyned vnto such exhortations as are made for the keeping of the Sabbath thereby declaring by what meanes especially the Sabbath is kept holie Leuit. 19.30 as ye shall keep my Sabbath and reuerence my sanctuarie where the Prophet Moses exhorting the Israelites to the diligent keeping of the Sabbath daye speaketh vnto them of that worship of God which was practised in the sanctuarie as the onely way to keepe it Vnto which agreeth that which is set downe in the 23. chapter of the same booke Sixe dayes shall worke be done Leuit. 23.3 but in the seuenth day shall be the sabbath of rest an holy conuocation Ye shall do no worke therein it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings For in this place hee doth not onely call it a sabbath vnto the Lorde so many times before but also saith Holy assemblies were cōmanded to be kept vpō these dayes that vpon it must be an holie assemblie which assemblie then should be holie because they must meete for an holy purpose not to deale about any worldly affayres which notwithstanding they did at
it selfe but the Lord as he is the searcher of the harts and reines so his law reacheth thither and findeth out sinne in the very beginning of it when it first lifteth vp the head and tarrieth not to giue sentence against it till it bring forth the vnsauoury and vnfruitful fruits of it but proceedeth in iudgement against it when it is but in the blossome and bud nay in the very first rooting of it which if it bee true in all other commandements why shuld we imagine that the bounds of this are so straight that it will not reach so farre Obiection If the commādement be thus straite who is able to abide it And whereas men are afraid to say what they thinke and to confesse this trueth which they are conuicted of because they doe not see how then they shall be able to keepe this law we know that this is the thing in controuersie betweene vs and the Papists whether the lawe of God may be perfectly kept or no and therefore though they abhor all poperie yet if they stand vpon this point they shall fall into a popish opinion agree with them who when they haue set it downe Concil Trident. sext sess Canon 18. as a lawe of the Medes and Persians that may not be changed that the law of God may be fulfilled of vs then they must needes giue such an interpretation of this lawe as might carry with it some shew of possibilitie that it may bee fully kept indeede Answer For if we conceiue of the law of God to bee so loose as that it should onely restraine the parts of the bodie then wee may perceiue that the heathen Philosophers by the light of nature haue seene further into the truth of it then we haue done by the bright beames of the worde who sayd that a good man must haue not onely his hands and eies continent and free from sinne but also his minde And wee must endeuour our selues so much the more carefully to dispossesse our minds of all earthly matters because it is so hard a thing to attaine vnto For wee cannot so easily cast all worldly imaginations out of our heads as we can cast the things themselues out of our hands neither can we so farre remoue our affections from them as wee can separate our bodies from them which notwithstanding vnlesse we doe all the other is but popish and ceremoniall and whereby we cannot attaine vnto the sanctification of the Sabbath in any tolerable measure But let vs consider sayth Master Caluin whether they which call themselues Christians Caluin vpon Deut. 5. sermon 34. acquite themselues in this point as were requisite a great part of men thinke they haue the sunday that the better to attēd on their worldly affaires they reserue to themselues this day as if they had no other to deliberate for the whole weeke to come nowe though the bell should to a sermon they thinke they haue no other thing to doe but to thinke on their busines and to make the account of this and of that Therefore whatsoeuer hath beene spoken before of resting from the vsuall workes of our calling the same is true of the ordinary speaking common thinking of them all which because they be of the same nature must needes come vnder one and the same law and therfore looke what libertie the Lord hath giuen vs We may speak and thinke of thinges that be necessary for the workes of our calling in the time of necessitie as it hath declared vnto vs before the same haue we for our recreations our speeches our thoughts and desires that so farre we may be occupied about them all manner of waie in soule and in body as they shall not hinder vs but rather bee meanes to further vs in the true manner of sanctifying the day And we haue here so much the more libertie because we cannot do our necessarie busines but we must speake and thinke of them not onely in the doing of them but also before and after them But because I haue alreadie made a seuerall treatise before of the workes which necessitie maketh lawfull I will not here enter into it again left I should be confused and tedious but referre you vnto that place for guiding of your speeches and studies as well as your labours and works only desiring you to remember that which is there set down also that we iudge those things onely necessary for the time present which could not haue been thought vpon spoken of and done before neither might be put off to bee studied for conferred about or put in practise till afterward A conclusion of al that went before with an application of it to our selues And so we conclude the former part of this commandement in which we haue beene something the longer because it was needfull seeing it is so large and as it were the ground of all the rest wherein wee haue seene what kind of rest the Lord requireth euen such a one not as we might grossely dreame of because of our blindes but as is plainly and truely published in his word in the which he hath declared what is the height the bredth the depth and the length and the full measure of it And this the Lord requireth of all and euery one of vs continually from the beginning to the end of our liues without any interruption vnder the paine of euerlasting condemnation as it is alledged by the Apostle to the Galathians out of the law Galat. 3.10 Cursed is euery man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the lawe to doe them in which curse is contained all the punishments of soule and bodie which can bee deuised in the greatest measure as it is most largely opened in many places of the scripture Deut. 29.20 namely in Deut. 29. where he threatneth to bring vpō thē euery curse written in that book and euery plague that is not written in the booke of the law 28.61 According to which rule if wee will examine our whole life past wee shall see howe great is our deserued miserie because of the infinite breaches of this commandement For first of all we are by nature altogether ignorant of the truth of it and when it is taught vs wee haue no conceiuing of it and lesse liking vnto it but all our reason and affections are cleane contrarie vnto it so that we haue many waies broken it in thought word and deede not onely in the dayes of our ignorance but since our knowledge and therefore there must needes bee a great handwriting of accusation against vs and wee may here truelie say Psalm 19.12 O Lord who doth vnderstand the errors of this life for setting all other sinnes apart the Lord hath many waies to pleade against vs in this one thing so that we must needes confesse that if he winke at all other our sinnes and yet marke narrowlie what wee
vnacquainted with feare thē with this or that iudgement executed vpon such a people comfort them with such a mercie shewed vnto such a man it moues thē not they know no such thing they are altogether strāgers in those matters nay some cānot tell in what part of the Bible any such book as is alleaged stands Therfore wheras we may obserue it in the new Testamēt that our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles in alleaging the places of the olde Testament doe generally say thus it is written Matth. 21.13 Luke 20. 42. Act. 1.23 cap. 2 16. Matth. 15.7 or as it is written in the book of the Psalmes or this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel or well prophesied Esaias of you c. Now men are driuen to name the book the chapter the verse and all too little to helpe men to finde it out so vnacquainted are they with searching the Scriptures by priuat reading no not vpon the Lords daie which is one of the peculiar workes of it Moreouer though wee bee something skilfull in the Scripture we cannot well presently in the Church stand reading euery place that shall bee alleaged least in the meane season some other most necessarie doctrine ouerslip vs and we not marking what went before followed after cannot tel to what ende the place was alleaged and so we lose the profit of it therefore dooing our endeauours to marke the Scriptures alleaged it shall bee profitable for vs afterwards at home to reade them ouer when wee shall bee more free from distraction and haue more leasure to doe it conueniently which is that that is commended vnto vs by the practise of the church in Berea that when Paul had preached vnto them Christ Iesus and had proued him to be that Sauiour of the world that was promised Act. 17.11 they reade ouer those Scriptures to see whether it were so or no according to the commaundement of our Sauiour Christ Iohn 5.39 searche the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me Therfore so many as can read let them doe it vpon the Lordes daye and they that cannot let them see the want of it to be so great in themselues that they bring vp their children vnto it and in the meane season repayre to those places where they may haue the Scriptures read vnto thē let them get the bible into their houses that when any come that can read they may haue it in a readines lose not the oportunitie that is offered euen as they are contented to haue many other things in their houses which though they knowe not how to occupie themselues yet some of their friends may when they come especially when the benefite of it shall redound not onely to him that occupieth it but to himselfe and all his household Vnto the forenamed exercises wee must ioyne meditation as a most notable part of Gods seruice We must vse priuate meditation vpon that which we haue heard and read which is the very life and strength of the former and without the which they are made weake and vnprofitable vnto vs. For meditation is that exercise of the minde whereby we calling into our remembrance that which we know doe further debate of it as it were with our selues reasoning about it so and applying it to our selues that we might haue some vse of it in our practise and therefore it frameth the affections of our harts accordingly so that it is an occupying of the whole minde both of the reasonable part whereby we doe remember some thing and furthermore we being reasonable creatures do gather some other things vpon it by finding out the causes of it espying the fruite of it or considering the properties of it and so doe make some profitable vse of it to our selues whereby also our affections must needs be framed some one way or other to loue ioy desire hatred feare c. according to the diuersitie of our meditations and all those affections in their seuerall kindes shall be so much the more vehement by howe much the meditation is more serious and earnest As for example What meditation is how vntoward naturally we are thereunto to meditate vpon the word is diligently to call into our remembrance that which wee haue learned by hearing or reading before and to muse vpon it so that we be able to goe from point to point then to apply the generall thing to our selues and be persuaded that we must make our vse of it and therefore wisely to examine howe the case standes betweene the Lord and ourselues in that very thing and then what is like to follow vpon it whereby our hearts being stirred they might driue vs to put some thing in practise And here I would gladly speake as plainely as possibly I might euen to the capacity of the most rude and ignorāt because I know that it is so little practised of men that they are not so much as acquainted with it to know what it meanes I confesse it is an hard thing indeed but most profitable and therefore we are almost vnfit vnto it and the diuell laboureth most of all to hinder vs in it in so much that if he cannot keepe vs from hearing and reading the word and receiuing the sacraments at the time appointed yet hee will endeuour as much as may be to hinder vs from meditating vpon these that wee might lose the profit of them And if we marke our selues narrowly we shall finde our vntowardnes this way most of al for when we haue gone cheerfully vnto the church and there with the rest of Gods people behaued our selues orderly because these are outwarde things and in them it might seeme vnto vs that we haue had to deale but with men it is that which is not so yrksome vnto vs and wherunto the wickedest man may very easily come but afterwards to take some fit time to our selues wherin wee will seuer our selues from men and call ourselues to an account before Gods iudgement seate for that which we haue heard and to deale with our owne harts in good earnest for the doing or not doing of that which we haue learned and casting off al the cloakes of hypocrisie to lay our hearts naked before God accusing our selues where we come short of any thing praying vnto him for his grace therein confessing our sinnes that we haue beene rebuked of crauing the forgiuenes of them acknowledging his mercy where we haue receiued any thing intreating him for the continuance of it and so to depart away either more humbled in our selues to auoide sinne more carefully or comforted in the Lord to goe on forward in well doing more couragiously this I say as it doth especially builde vs vp in godlines so by due proofe we shall find that without the especiall assisstance of Gods holy spirit there is nothing more lothsome in the world and more tedious vnto vs. And I am assured that it is a thing so