not these texts But they are not delivered out of the pulpit If the pulpit make a sermon then where dost thou reade that Christ and his Apostles at any time made sermons Didst thou ever reade of a pulpit in the scripture But tell me thou man all for sermons what is a sermon is it not a speech of God and heavenly things and then is not the divine service this But thou wilt shift out further and say This is not after the manner of our preachers who make divisions answer objections lay open the scope of the text and amplifie it by divers theses and uses to the purpose Then what sayest thou to the Churchsermons which for the more honour from the Greek tongue are called Homilies are not these framed just after the manner of your preachers I but thou wilt say These are dead sermons because they are onely read in which reading there is little or no life Then why hath the Church made them why hath the Church commanded them to be read would the Church have mens souls to be fed with dead things But tell me what difference is there between a sermon read the same sermon spoken by memorie and by heart there is the same pronunciation the same sense the same invention But I will prove to thee out of Gods word if thou wilt beleeve Gods word that the very reading of it is preaching and not onely preaching but lively and working preaching working upon mens souls to grace and goodnesse And that Gods word read unto us is preaching you shall finde it expressed in Acts 15. 21. where it is thus written For Moses of old time hath in every citie them that preach him seeing he is read in the synagogues every sabbath-day Where the reason why Moses that is to say the Law of Moses was preached every sabbath to the Jews is rendred to be this Because it was every sabbath-day read unto them Next that this reading is no dead preaching but lively and working see 2. Kings 22. 10 11 and 19 verses There you shall finde that the bare reading of the Law by Shaphan the Chancellour did so work upon good king Josiah that he rent his clothes and wept and his heart melted before the Lord. Secondly the bare reading of the roll from Jeremies mouth caused the people to fast and pray and fear and to return from their evil way as you may reade in Jeremie 36. Thirdly the bare reading of Baruchs book made the governour the kings sonne and all the people to weep fast and pray and fear and to return from their evil way as you may reade in the first chapter of that book Whose preaching can work better effects Fourthly by Gods word written and read faith is procured as you may reade in John 20. 31. These things are written that ye may beleeve that Jesus is that Christ the Sonne of God and that in beleeving ye might have life through his name If men may have life eternall by reading holy writingâ— then what wretches are they which seek to discredit this Again this is proved from Christs command in John 5. 39. Search the scriptures that is to say Study them by your reading for they are they which testifie of me From all which I conclude that they which deny reading of the scriptures to be a lively and effectuall kinde of preaching and disable it from begetting faith and other spirituall vertues make Jeremiah a false prophet Baruch a false historian the second book of Kings false scripture John a false apostle and our Saviour a false Christ for all these affirm it Further if there be no life in reading then what is in the Psalmes which are sung in the church to Gods praise for they are not preached is there no edifying in them neither then why doth the Apostle say Coloss. 3. 16. Teaching and admonishing your own selves in psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord But to come nearer to thee when our commissioners of justice under the King send their warrants to our cities and villages and they are read to thee by our under-officers dost thou not understand them dost thou not prepare thy self to perform them Now canst thou understand beleeve the warrants of men when they are read to thee and canst thou not understand and beleeve the warrants of Almighty God when they are read by his Ministers Cannot God as significantly expresse himself unto thee as a Lieutenant a Justice or a chief Constable If thou takest exception at Gods greatnesse and his high style know thou that he spake to men And though he once wrote his law with his own finger and spake it with his own mouth yet ever since he hath spoken all his divine precepts and written all his divine warrants by such men as we our selves are and used too our own words and dialects If thou objectest the deep revelations of S. John or the hard things of S. Paul then I will tell thee of our Church-tenet against Papist and Puritane that all things necessarie to salvation are so plainly written and so easie of digestion that as Fulgentius writeth there is abundantly both for men to eat and for children to suck Then whosoever thou art if thou canst not here be satisfied the fault is thy own For as the children of Israel loathed the heavenly bread of manna so thou loathâ—st the divine food of the soul because it is as common to thee as manna was to them As our horse and kine in the Spring having tasted of the fresh grasse will eat no more hay so our Puritanes after the taste of fresh sermons will touch no more the common service but blow upon it though there be the root and substance of all their sermons Such dainty and queasie stomacks were in S. Chrysostomes time who was the most famous preacher of the Greek Church His words are these in his third homilie upon the 2. Thess. where he brings in the Puritane thus speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore do I enter the church except I may heare one preaching then he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This hath marred and corrupted all And afterward answereth the Puritane in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What need is there of a preacher by our negligence this necessitie is made Then he sheweth the reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For what need is there of preaching all things are cleare and plain in the scriptures all things necessary are manifest but because you are delicate hearers hunting after pleasure in your hearing therefore ye seek these things Where you understand from this famous and judicious preacher that the besotted negligence of our delicate Puritanes is that which makes them to runne so after sermons God speaks unto thee every holy day by his own word wilt not thou understand him or canst thou not understand him If thou saist thou canst not then thou makest God but a
is thy preacher And to prove this see 1 John 2. 27. where it is written But that anointing which ye have received of him dwelleth in you and ye need not that any teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things c. This anointing is nothing els but Gods Spirit and grace bestowed upon Christians in their Baptisme And of this Spirit and grace speaketh S. Paul 1. Cor. 2. 10. God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Then if Gods word be true the Spirit of grace which he hath given to his children is another of thy preachers Sixthly thy conscience is thy preacher For assoon as thou hast done any thing amisse or left any thing undone that ought to be done that will by and by tell thee of it Thus Adam and Eves conscience when they had eaten of the forbidden fruit preached unto them that they had offended God and therefore they hid themselves and made them breeches of fig-leaves Who told thee said God that thou wast naked oh his conscience the first preacher had made a sermon unto him So again when David had cut off but a lap of Sauls garment privily his heart smote him for it and told him that he had wronged the Lords anointed And again when he had numbred the people his heart touched him for it Thus every mans conscience is his tutour to teach and govern him not onely after but before he hath done amisse Wouldest thou be thus dealt withall will it say Thou mayst bribe thy preacher with a gift and thou mayst stop the mouth of the parish-priest with a good tithe but nothing will stop the mouth of thy conscience that is a continuall preacher within thee And of this preacher the prophet Isaiah saith further in his 30 chapter vers 21. And thine eares shall heare a word behinde thee saying This is the way walk ye in it when thou turnest to the right hand and when thou turnest to the left This word behinde thee is the word of thy conscience thou canst turn thy self no way but that will speak unto thee If thou goest on thy left hand when thou shouldest go on thy right it will call to thee and tell thee Thou art out of thy way and when thou art in the way if thou goest too much to the right hand or too much to the left it will say to thee with the Preacher in the book of the Preacher Be not thou just overmuch neither make thy self over-wise play not the hypocrite nor the proud fellow for vertue is ever in the midst But how comes thy conscience to preach thus to thee from the law that is written in thine heart by the finger of Gods own hand as S. Paul teacheth Rom. 2. 15. Which shew the effect of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing If thou dost ill thy conscience will preach nothing to thee but the Law judgement but if thou dost well then nothing but the Gospel and mercie then thy conscience will be to thee a continuall feast as Solomon saith Besides thy conscience hath another law to inform thee and this is the new covenant of the Gospel spoken of Jer. 31. 33 34. This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord. Is this word of God true then how canst thou complain for want of teaching except thou wilt make Gods word a liar And here you shall further understand that there be two kindes of teaching the one outward the other inward The outward is that which comes from the mouth of man the inward is that which comes from the mouth of the conscience And this inward teaching because it is next to the heart worketh farre more strongly upon it then the outward doth When men had more of this inward teaching and lesse of the outward then was there farre better living for then they lived alwayes in fear of offending and assoon as they had done any thing amisse their conscience by and by gave them a nip and a memento for it Then they confessed their sinnes to God and their Minister for spirituall comfort and counsell then they endeavoured to make the best temporall satisfaction they could by almes prayer and fasting and other good works of humiliation but now outward teaching being not rightly understood hath beaten away this Faith onely justifieth saith the vulgar preacher Then saith the Solifidian and loose liver what need I care how I live no sinne can hurt me so long as I beleeve Thy preacher and thou are both in an errour because Gods word no where teacheth this but the contrary Ye see saith S. James how a man is justified by works and not by faith onely Thou wilt say The Fathers taught this doctrine and our own Church too But how and in what sense to shut out works before faith be come and to acknowledge faith to be the onely beginning in the preparations of our justification but our young preachers and hearers shut up all in faith onely and stay at the beginning and thus verbo tenus they prove but half-Christians Thine own conscience will preach better to thee for that will exclude no vertue and admit no vice And as for thee which art an hearer though thy principles be good yet thy apprehension cannot well digest them because they be somewhat above thy reach Therefore the Church in all ages hath provided that the common people should be content with the common faith as S. Paul calleth it Titus 1. 4. and that deep mysteries should be reserved for the learned who have their wits exercised to discern both good and evil Seventhly good life and conversation of Christians is thy preacher by which very heathens may be wonne and converted to God But you will say How prove you that Turn to 1. Pet. 3. 1. where you shall finde it thus written Let wives be subject to their husbands that even they which obey not the word may without the word be wonne by the conversation of the wives while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Here see the force of this preaching when the preaching of the word cannot prevail then men may be wonne by good conversation without the word preached while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Good life my brethren is better then a good sermon for that with many goes in at one eare and out at the other but a good life is a sermon in print it
pert was the Emperours cook in S. Basils time whom he thus reprehended Tuum est jusculorum curare condimenta nam cùm aures habeas oppletas sordibus sacrosancta dogmata audire non potes It is thy dutie to season the pottage for having thy eares stopt with filth thou canst not heare divine precepts Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle They would be doctours of the law and yet understand not what they speak 1. Tim. 1. 7. S. Augustine disputing of knowledge in his 102 epistle to Euodius saith Si propter eos solos Christus natus est qui certâ intelligentiâ possunt ista discernere penè frustra in ecclesia laboramus If saith he Christ be born onely for them which can discern these things by their understanding we should almost labour in vain in the church But what will our Puritanes say If they cannot understand away with them draw the bridge let them not follow us The same S. Augustine in his book against the epistle of the foundation saith Turbam non intelligendi vivacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit Not the quicknes of understanding but the simplenesse of beleeving makes the common people safest Canst thou by thy knowledge tell me how God should be but one substance and yet three persons thou mayst beleeve this but thou canst not readily understand it Therefore S. Augustine saith further in Enchirid ad Laurent Fides dicta est cognitio rerum quae non videntur Quamvìs quando se quisque non verbis non testibus non denique ullis argumentis sed praesentium rerum evidentiae dicit credidisse hoc est fidem accommodâsse non ità videtur absurdum ut rectè reprehendatur in verbo eique dicatur Vidisti ergò non credidisti Faith is said to be the knowledge of things not seen Although when every one saith he hath not beleeved that is not applied his faith to words nor witnesses nor lastly any arguments but to the evidence of things present it seemeth not absurd that he should in a word be reprehended and that it should be said to him Thou hast seen therefore thou hast not beleeved Doth not Christ say often in the Gospel Thy faith hath saved thee but he saith no where Thy knowledge or thy understanding saveth thee And our Apostle saith We are saved by faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes. 2. 8. but of knowledge he saith Knowledge puffeth up This proud knowledge maketh some of you to say that your Minister is not worthy of his living because he preacheth not Had they as much knowledge as they would seem to have they would not say so because S. Paul saith to the contrarie If we have sown unto you spirituall things is it a great matter if we reap your carnall things Yes it is a great matter with some who prize their corn and their calves and their pigs above Gods service and his grace But will they say What is the service you so much stand upon the read service I have a boy at home will reade that as well as you I but can thy boy reade as a Minister and administer the Sacraments like a Minister Who called him to this when did God commit unto him the word of reconciliation when did God give him power to blesse in his name who laid his hands upon him Away with thy boy thou talkest like a profane fellow Thou mayst assoon make a new God as make unto him new ordinances The stranger in this place God threatned to be slain as we reade Numb 18. And Uzza being a lay-man was presently smitten of God by death for but touching the Ark with his hand to stay it up when it was like to fall But to return to thy Minister who is Gods officer When he by his holy Sacrament hath been the true mean to conferre new life to thy childe to make him a member of Christ and an heir to the kingdome of heaven in this one part of his office he hath performed a better work then all thy lands and goods are worth and this no king no noble-man no monarch can do for thee but onely Gods Minister But concerning the maintenance of Gods Ministers which is so much murmured at of many let us compare it with the Ministers livings of the old law and the worthinesse of their service with the worth of ours They had all the tithes in kinde given them by Gods law with divers other fees of sacrifices but our neighbours have so gelt them to us by customes and prescriptions that many of our brethren are not able to live of them and which is unworthy to be heard amongst us our greatest professours for the most part are the worst tithers And for the worthinesse of our service above theirs of the old law when neither prescription nor custome had any place 't is known that they ministred but about the bloud of beasts and types and figures which were but meer shadows of our service and which as S. Paul saith could never sanctifie the comers thereto but the Ministers of the Gospel serve about the bloud of Jesus Christ the benefit of which is bestowed in the Sacraments by our service and that so abundantly that S. John saith Of his fulnesse we have all received and grace for grace If this be thus then all they that envie the maintenance of Gods Ministers under the Gospell are very unthankfull and unworthy of Christs Gospell But now besides the ten kindes of preaching of which I have alreadie entreated and which are able to stop the mouthes of all discontented and itching-ear'd professours there is yet another kinde of preaching which is not fit for every Minister but for extraordinarie and excellent men called by God and the Church to reform errours and abuses or to promulge to the world new laws and canons And as this kinde is to be performed by extraordinary men so it is not alwaies so needfull but onely when necessitie requireth for when things are setled there needs no more setling but onely preserving We ought not to have many Moseses nor many Evangelists nor many Apostles According to this when idolatrie was spread over the land of Judah the good King Jehoshaphat sent his princes Ben-hail Obadiah Zechariah Nethaneel and Michaiah with the choise of the priests and Levites and with the book of the Law to recall the people from the worship of false Gods to the worship of the true God as you may reade in 2. Chron. 17. Thus again when the Scribes and Pharisees had corrupted the Law by their traditions then came the great Doctour of the Church Jesus Christ and purged it by his preaching upon the mount as you may reade in Matth. 5 6 and 7 chapters Again after our Saviour had finisht the great work of our redemption by his rising from the dead then he sent his twelve Apostles to preach the new law all the world over
limmed to the life First he is called by an emphasis that man that is that singular man singled from all other men as having no equall He is that man of sinne quia totus ex peccato He is made of sinne sinnes are his materials Other sinners have some good parts in them though but few but as there is no goodnesse in the father of sinne so there is no more in the sonne of sinne for he is a great masse or mountain of sinne Him doth Irenaeus thus anatomize in his 5. book and 23 chapter Diaboli virtutem suscipiet Antichristus qui veniet ut impius injustus sine lege quasi apostata iniquus homicida quasi latro diabolicam apostasiam in se recapitulans idola seponens ad suadendum quòd ipse sit Deus se autem extollens unum idolum Again in his 24 chapter he hath Omnis nequitia dolus vis apostatica confluit in Antichristum Antichrist shall take up the Devils vertue who shall come as unjust and impious without law like an apostate wrongfull and killing like a thief ingrossing in himself Diabolicall apostasie putting away idols to perswade that he is God and extolling himself the onely Idol All wickednesse deceit and force apostaticall flow together into Antichrist Vers. 3. That sonne of perdition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sonne of destruction In that he is called that sonne of destruction this argueth his relate father for he is sonne and heir to the Devil He was a murderer from the beginning as S. John saith and the same Apostle in Apocalyps the ninth calleth him in Hebrew Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon that is the destroyer Now of this destroyer comes this sonne of perdition And he is so called as Anselm saith because he destroyeth others both with temporall death and with false faith Them that will not yeeld unto him he will destroy with death and them that yeeld to him he will destroy with false faith This of the twain is the greatest destruction because the first is of the bodie which may be repaired but the second is of the soul which cannot be restored Therefore the Psalmist saith It ceaseth for ever And because Antichrist cannot kill the second way but by yeelding therefore our Master Christ bids us not to fear him Fear ye not them which kill the bodie but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Vers. 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped Hitherto of Antichrists materials now followeth his form whereby he is distinguished from others And this consisteth in these two points that is in his opposition and exaltation From his opposition he takes his name from his exaltation he hath his actus or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for pride is the spirit of sinne In this he outgoeth others and in this he shews himself to be indeed the Antichrist that is the man that is most opposite to Christ. For Christ was the most humble man that ever lived because when he was in the form of God he took upon him the form of man but Antichrist being a base man shall take upon him the form of God in which arrogancie and insolencie he shall outrunne the most insolent that ever were Pharaoh said Who is the Lord but he shall say I am the Lord. Sennacherib said Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Ashur but he shall promise to his followers the joyes of Paradise like a God Alexander he sought the kindred of the gods but Antichrist he shall not respect any God but magnifie himself above all Antiochus the figure of Antichrist he set up the statue of Jupiter in the Temple but Antichrist he shall set himself up in the Temple he shall exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped Here is a full opposition and a full exaltation It is full in the parts and it is full in the main It is full in the parts because he shall exalt himself above all that is called God that is above all titular gods or inferiour gods as Monarchs Kings Judges and Idols In the main he shall exalt himself above the onely true God where it is said or that is worshipped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aut numen Against all these he shall proceed not onely like a Thraso by way of bragging and boasting but by way of opposition that is so seeking to set up himself as thereby to throw all other gods down Here is the Dragons throne and power to do two and fourtie moneths And this is further demonstrated by these testimonies of S. Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is Antichrist shall not leade any into idolatrie but he shall be an opposite to God and shall destroy all gods and shall command himself to be worshipped for God and shall be set in the temple of God And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Professing himself to be God above all Antichrists seat Vers. 4. So that he as God doth sit in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God In these words Antichrists seat and end is set down the mark that he shoots at that is to shew himself to be God Because he cannot be God in deed he will be God in shew Therefore he shall be the arch-hypocrite We reade that Satan transformeth himself into an angel of light but Antichrist being more impudent shall transform himself into God And to do this he shall take the most gainsome way for he shall usurp Gods house and there place himself as the proper owner If my counter fail me not he shall erect his throne in the Sanctum Sanctorum the most holy place where the ark of the covenant in the old law stood where were the cherubims and the mercie-seat From hence he shall give oracles and receive the vows and prayers of his seduced crew with the greatest devotion and prostration they can devise Some of the Fathers say that this seat shall be the temple at Jerusalem which Antichrist shall labour to reedifie that there he might keep his court and some that he shall sit in the Churches of Christians and some that he shall usurp both which I deem to be the likeliest Irenaeus saith When Antichrist shall sit in the Temple at Jerusalem then shall the Lord come Hippolytus martyr He shall build the temple at Jerusalem S. Cyril of Jerusalem thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antichrist shall hate idols that he may seat himself over the temple of God he meaneth he shall attempt to make up the dissolved temple of the Jews God forbid that it should be this wherein we are Hilarius A Judaeis susceptus loco sanctificationis insistet Antichrist being received of the Jews shall make the holy place his
neither warrant for it nor president The like difference is at this day among our professours One sort will not sociate with the rest of their neighbours in the house of God because they have not every day a sermon to teach them more knowledge Both these the Apostle here reproveth in saying Knowledge puffeth up that is to say makes men proud but Charitie edifieth What the Apostle hath here put down in the generall I will proceed to prove in the particulars And to begin with the pride of knowledge In the creation God made his angels exceeding bright and glorious in understanding and then propounded to them his Sonne to be their governour to direct them in his service according to that Heb. 1. 6. Let all the angels of God worship him as if it were said Let them follow his direction But they seeing themselves made in such perfection of knowledge were so lifted up in pride that they refused a directour and would serve him after their own understanding for which their pride they were thrown down from heaven to hell After this the angels perceiving that the pride of their knowledge had thrown them down they set upon Adam and Eve perswading them also to break their order in eating of the tree of knowledge The serpent-angel told them that if they would eat of this tree they should be as Gods knowing good and evil This conceit of knowledge did so puffe them up too that they broke Gods commandment and were ipso facto thrown out of Paradise After this when man was ejected out of Paradise so politick and proud grew they that they would make a tower to clamber up to heaven and to defend themselves against Gods providence God seeing their pride confounded their devices by changing their language and then they were dispersed all the earth over like straying herds The like pride hath now adayes puft up our Puritanes that being but very ignorant people yet they will not be content to be accounted men of any mean knowledge or be satisfied with any setled estate but they will run from church to church from preacher to preacher and from one opinion to another untill they have lost and confounded themselves in the tower and Babel of their own fancies Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle and when a man is at the highest then he falls lowest Knowledge threw the angels out of heaven to hell knowledge threw Adam and Eve out of an earthly Paradise into a wildernesse of miseries and wittie policie cast mighty Nimrod with all mankinde out of the citie to seek straw and stubble with the children of Israel all the world over But saith the Puritane We have no sermons we are without a preacher we shall perish for want of knowledge I answer It is not knowledge that shall save because then all they that know the will of God and the mysteries of life must needs be saved But so they shall not because our Saviour saith He that knows his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes and S. Paul saith The hearers of the law are not righteous before God but the doers of the law shall be justified Then knowledge without charitie saveth not but increaseth punishment and puffeth up Besides if knowledge were able to save then the devils might be saved because they know more then the best minister in the land And whereas thou standest upon much knowledge for we will yeeld thee that which is sufficient I say more unto thee that one may be saved without any knowledge at all Know you what you say yes the childe of three moneths old when by Gods providence it departeth what knowledge hath that of salvation yet the Church in all ages hath taught that such shall go to the kingdome of heaven and what should let it is without originall sinne because that is washt away in Baptisme and actuall sinne it never committed any by reason it wanted the use of free-will Besides the infant after Baptisme is within the covenant and united to God by his grace and God cannot denie either his grace or his covenant Now if the poore infant shall be saved without any knowledge at all why then shouldest thou think that thou canst not be saved with mean knowledge fit for thy estate But thou wilt say The infant is not suffered to live to the means of knowledge and therefore he is excused for the want of it Then what sayest thou to the men and women which want the gifts of understanding whom some call fools some innocents who know not the right hand from the left or whether there be a heaven or a hell what shall these be damned which want the knowledge that thou hast where dwells thy charitie I will not beleeve thy knowledge because that makes thee proud and the proud will condemne all save themselves The School Tenet is Amentes furiosi infantes non peccant that is Fools mad-men and children sinne not Therefore mad-men though they kill a man are not put to death for it Again the Church hath ever taught that all they that are within the covenant are in the state of grace untill they fall away but these Christian innocents cannot fall away because they cannot sinne and they cannot sinne because they want knowledge and free-will And my charitie teacheth me to hope that as the Saviour of the world at his first coming had mercie on the Gentiles who before lived without faith and without God in the world so at his second coming he likewise will shew favour to these want-wits and weak-wits and then open the windows of their understanding to see God face to face because they are within the covenant and are baptized Christians But to return to thy former challenge We have no sermons we want a preacher we shall die in our sinnes we know not what to do The Lord open thy eyes as he opened the eyes of Elisha his servant in the 6 chapter of the 2 book of Kings and then thou shalt see a multitude of preachers First all Gods creatures are thy preachers and daily teach thee And to prove this turn to the 19 Psalm 1 2 3. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handie work One day telleth another and one night certifieth another There is neither speech nor language but their voices are heard among them Again turn to the 12 of Job 7 8. and there he will bid thee ask the beasts and they shall teach thee and the fowls of heaven and they shall tell thee Or speak to the earth and it shall shew thee or the fishes of the sea and they shall declare unto thee When thou travellest abroad and seest a good piece of ground a good cow or a good horse thou wilt say I would my neighbour would sell me these for reasonable money Canst thou see the goodnesse of the creature in these and not see the goodnesse of the Creatour Canst thou
learn in these books what is good for thy bodie and not learn what is good for thy soul Open thy eyes wider and then thou shalt see that there could be no goodnesse in the creature except God had made it and that if the effect be good then the cause of this good must needs be infinitely more good and therefore he above all things is to be sought of us And this is so cleare a lesson that except a man will shut his eyes he must see it and understand it because the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works that they should be without excuse And these preachers are of S. Paul acknowledged for preachers in the 10 chapter following and the 18 vers having relation to the 14 verse Have they not heard no doubt their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Secondly Gods Word is thy preacher And this is proved by the book of Solomon called Ecclesiastes for that book as the learned know signifieth a preacher Again turn to Acts 15. 21. and there the holy Ghost will tell thee that Moses was preached every day in the Synagogues while his words were read unto them If thou saist that Gods scriptures are too high for thy capacitie then what sayest thou to the 19 Psalm vers 7. which teacheth that the testimony of the Lord giveth wisdome to the simple And art thou so simple to think that when God gave his scriptures to the Church he gave them so darkly that men might not understand them then he might as well not have given them Thou wilt object that of the Eunuch in Acts 8. 30 31. where when Philip asked the Eunuch whether he understood what he read he answered How can I except I had a guide And I answer thee again that there is a great difference between the Eunuch and thee and this place of scripture which he read and the places of scripture which to thee are propounded for he was out of the Church which is the house of light and thou art in it Again that scripture was to him a mysterie but to thee it is no mysterie For in Isaiah no name is exprest but it is read He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but what he this was the articles of our faith expresse to the simplest that it was Jesus Christ the Messias of the world who was delivered by the Jews to Pontius Pilate to be slain for our redemption and therefore this excuse of darknesse is utterly taken from thee because the Gospel is the blazing of the Law and there is nothing so dark in one place but in some other it is so bright that the very blear-eied may see it Therefore Fulgentius saith In verbo Dei abundat quod perfectus comedat abundat etiam quod parvulus sugat Ibi est enim simul lacteus potus quo tenera fidelium nutriatur infantia solidus cibus quo robusta perfectorum juventus spiritalia sanctae virtutis accipiat incrementa In the word of God aboundeth that which the perfect man may eat and that which the little one may suck For there is both drink of milk whereby the tender infancy of the faithfull may be nourished and solid meat whereby the strong youth of the perfect may receive the spirituall increase of holy vertue Thirdly Gods holy Sacraments are our preachers while by visible and sensible signes they teach us what we are to beleeve for which they are of the learned called visibilia verba words visible Therefore when we see the water in Baptisme this bringeth to our remembrance the water and bloud which came out of our Saviours side and when we see the bread and wine this preacheth to us that his bodie was broken and his bloud shed for our sinnes as the water signifieth the washing away of our transgressions And these Sacraments do that for us that all the preachers of the land cannot do For they by their words can but onely teach us and enlighten our understanding but these preachers the Sacraments besides the light which they give to our understanding infuse through Christs power and effectuall ordinance grace into our souls and make us acceptable before God Yea so effectually do they this that they can never want grace after who rightly receive them and preserve the vertue of them Therefore our Lord said to the woman in John 4. 14. Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never be more athirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternall life This water is that grace which is bestowed upon us in Baptisme which after the Eunuch had received as we reade in Acts 8. 39. he went away rejoycing and we reade not that he heard any more sermons or received any other Sacraments for his well of water which he carried away with him into a farre heathen countrey was sufficient for him But oh the lamentation of our times Who shall make our people to beleeve that Christs Sacraments bestow grace they say they signifie onely and that faith cometh by hearing onely yet when they have heard what they can and beleeve what they will they shall never be saved without the grace of the Sacraments at least in desire I can shew you of some that are saved without the hearing of the word preached our baptized infants but I can shew you of none saved ordinarily without the Sacraments in regard of our Saviours exception in John 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Therefore the men which shut up all in the preaching of the word evacuate Christs Sacraments and do they know not what for preaching is but a preparation for the Sacraments and there the principall grace lies hid For this cause our Saviour said to his Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost For people must first be taught that God bestoweth grace in the Sacraments or els they will not receive them And the principall Sacrament is Baptisme because that onely bestoweth new life and the rest strengthen and preserve it Fourthly printed sermons are thy preachers For assoon as there is any rare sermon preached by and by it is put to print and from the presse it is disperst all the land over There is scarce a house in any town but one or other in it by reading can repeat it to thee Then how shouldest thou starve for want of preaching when the best preachers in the land such as thou never sawest nor they thee yet by this means continually preach unto thee Fifthly Gods Spirit
is alwaies before thee to behold and it makes deep penetration when it speaks in almes-deeds or benefits This I confirm to you by examples of instance In the second book of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall Historie and the 9 chapter we reade that when he which drew S. James before the tribunall saw that he would suffer martyrdome willingly he was therewith so moved that he confessed himself to be a Christian so was beheaded together with him after S. James had forgiven him at his request and kissed him His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likewise this sermon of good life and conversation had so wonne Ruth to the true religion that when her mother in law Naomi was to return from the heathen countrey of Moab her two daughters in law Ruth and Orpah bearing her companie in the way at last Naomi spake thus unto them Turn again my daughters for there is no more hope of husbands for you by me Then Ruth thus replied Intreat me not to leave thee for whither thou goest I will go and where thou dwellest I will dwell thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me Now if the life and conversation of simple women and illiterate be of such vertue to winne and turn people to God then shall the good life of thy Minister be nothing worth against whom thou canst prove nothing Some parishes as men say have good preachers but bad livers and some have mean preachers or readers but good livers which of these are best I say The good liver is the best preacher For the bad liver as fast as he buildeth with one hand pulls down again with the other but the good-living Minister what he buildeth by his reading of Gods word prayer and administring of the Sacraments pulls not down again but upholds all with his good life and therefore he is farre the best preacher The one builds in shew the other in substance This S. Hierome upon the 22 Psalme confirmeth Ille plus didicit qui plus facit c. He hath learned most that doth most If saith he that which thou hast learned I do my works do more hold the scriptures then thy sermon which makes a vain sound Eighthly parents are preachers to their children and servants The first world for more then two thousand yeares together untill the giving of the Law had no other preachers Then every private mans house was a church as it is in the epistle to Philemon vers 2. And to the church in thy house And according to this God said of Abraham Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do For I know that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousnesse and judgement And this kinde of preaching was commanded by God in the Law Deut. 6. 7. And thou shalt rehearse them continually to thy children And Solomon Prov. 1. 8. thus beginneth his sermon to his sonne Roboam My sonne heare thy fathers instruction and forsake not thy mothers teaching For as the mothers milk is more nourishing to the infant then the milk of strangers so the instruction of parents is more acceptable to youth then the teaching of the learned My father and mother were the first that converted me to God by their example and teaching And this kinde of preaching was not onely before the Law and after the Law but it is continued also in the Gospel as we reade Ephes. 6. 4. Ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And this kinde of preaching is so needfull that the Church hath derived it from the naturall parents to the spirituall parents who are Gods Ministers in catechizing of youth And this kinde of preaching as the most ancient and effectuall is so highly commended of King James before all other that in his second direction to the Archbishop of Canterburie he giveth this charge That those preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend the afternoon exercises in examining children in their Catechisme and in expounding the severall heads thereof which saith he is the most ancient and laudable custome of teaching in the Church of England But how is this regarded Preaching hath preacht away catechizing and the new preaching hath beat out the old Now adayes every mans own wit is best though it be the greenest and youngest A ninth kinde of preachers are thy Christian neighbours for they have not gone so long to church to sermons but they have learned something to speak of the knowledge of God and his laws in the way of good living And this duty S. Paul requireth of all in Coloss. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you plentifully in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another And thus sometime one neighbour admonisheth another of his faults sometime ancient kindred instruct their younger in the fear of the Lord and sometime servants give good advice to their masters and dames as the servants of Naaman the Syrian did The maid-servant perswaded her mistris that her lord should go to the prophet in Samaria and when that her lord was at a stand his men-servants gave him this good counsell as we reade in 2. Kings 5. 13. Father if the prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee Wash and be clean Tenthly Gods Minister is thy preacher and the divine Service in the Church-book is his sermon In this service and in this sermon is contained whatsoever is necessary to salvation But you will say How prove you that I say thus Whatsoever is necessary to salvation is contained in these foure points in true faith in good life in prayer and grace True faith is contained in the three Creeds of the Apostles of Nice and of Athanasius the two latter being the exposition of the former Good life is expressed in the ten commandments Prayer in the Lords prayer the Letanie and the rest and grace in the Sacraments You will say We plain people cannot understand these without some to explain them I answer Canst thou tell me of one man that can make them more plain to thee by his words then God himself and his blessed Apostles have done by their words But thou wilt say further that thou hast need of some bodie to stirre them up unto thee Hast thou not thy Minister to do this for thee every Sunday and holiday in catechizing But thou likest not of this because it is not a sermon How provest thou that Because it is not spoken out of the pulpit nor delivered out of a text I reply Are not the articles of the faith the Lords prayer and the Sacraments exprest in scripture are