Pleasure and Consolation But the unmerciful rich Man descended down into Hell and being in Torments he cried for Comfort complaining of the intolerable pain that he suffered in that flame of Fire but it was too late So unto this place bodily death sendeth all them that in this World have their Joy and Felicity all them that in this World be unfaithful unto God and uncharitable unto their Neighbours so dying without Repentance and hope of God's Mercy Wherefore it is no marvel that the worldly Man feareth death for he hath much more cause so to do than he himself doth consider Thus we see three Causes why worldly Men fear death One The First because they shall lose thereby their worldly Honors Riches Possessions and all their Hearts desires Another Second because of the painful diseases and bitter pangs which commonly Men suffer either before or at the time of death Third But the chief cause above all other is the dread of the miserable state of eternal damnation both of Body and Soul which they fear shall follow after their departing from the worldly Pleasures of this present Life For these Causes be all mortal Men which be given to the love of this World both in fear and state of death through Sin as the Holy Apostle saith so long as they live here in this World But Heb. 10. everlasting thanks be to Almighty God for ever there is never a one of all these Causes no nor yet them all together that can make a true Christian man afraid to die who is the very Member of Christ 1 Cor. 3. the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Son of God and the very Inheritor of the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven but plainly contrary he conceiveth great and many Causes undoubtedly grounded upon the infallible and everlasting truth of the Word of God which moveth him not only to put away the fear of bodily death but also for the manifold Benefits and singular Commodities which ensue unto every faithful Person by reason of the same to wish desire and long heartily for it For death shall be to him no death at all but a very deliverance from death from all Pains Cares and Sorrows Miseries and Wretchedness of this World and the very entry into Rest and a beginning of everlasting Joy a tasting of heavenly Pleasures so great that neither Tongue is able to express neither Eye to see nor Ear to hear them no nor any earthly Man's heart to conceive them So exceeding great Benefits they be which God our heavenly Father by his mere Mercy and for the Love of his Son Jesus Christ hath laid up in store and prepared for them that humbly submit themselves to God's Will and evermore unfeignedly love him from the bottom of their Hearts And we ought to believe that death being slain by Christ cannot keep any Man that stedfastly trusteth in Christ under his perpetual Tyranny and Subjection But that he shall rise from death again unto Glory at the last day appointed by Almighty God like as Christ our Head did rise again according to God's appointment the third day For St. Augustine saith The Head going before the Members trust to follow and come after And St. Paul saith If Christ be risen from the dead we shall rise also from the same And to comfort all Christian Persons herein Holy Scripture calleth this bodily death a sleep wherein Man's Senses be as it were taken from him for a season and yet when he awaketh he is more fresh than he was when he went to Bed So although we have our Souls separated from our Bodies for a season yet at the general Resurrection we shall be more fresh beautiful and perfect than we be now For now we be mortal then shall we be immortal Now infected with divers Infirmities then clearly void of all mortal Infirmities Now we be subject to all carnal desires then we shall be all Spiritual desiring nothing but God's Glory and things eternal Thus is this bodily death a door or entring unto Life and therefore not so much dreadful if it be rightly considered as it is comfortable not a mischief but a Remedy for all mischief no Enemy but a Friend not a cruel Tyrant but a gentle Guide leading us not to mortality but to immortality not to Sorrow and Pain but to Joy and Pleasure and that to endure for ever if it be thankfully taken and accepted as God's Messenger and patiently born of us for Christ's Love that suffered most painful death for our Love to redeem us from death eternal Accordingly hereunto St. Paul saith Col. 3. Our Life is hid with Christ in God But when our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Why then shall we fear to die considering the manifold and comfortable Promises of the Gospel and of Holy Scriptures 1 John 5. God the Father hath given us everlasting Life saith St. John 1 John 5. and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life And this I write saith St. John to you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have everlasting Life and that you do believe upon the Name of the Son of God And our Saviour Christ saith John 5. He that believeth in me hath Life everlasting and I will raise him from Death to Life at the last day St. Paul also saith 1 Cor. 1. That Christ is ordained and made of God our Righteousness or Holiness and Redemption to the intent that he which will glory should glory in the Lord. St. Paul did contemn and set little by all other things Phil. 3. esteeming them as Dung which before he had in very great price that he might be found in Christ to have everlasting Life true Holiness Righteousness and Redemption Finally St. Paul maketh a plain Argument on this wise Rom. 8. If our heavenly Father would not spare his own natural Son but did give him to death for us how can it it be but that with him he should give us all things Therefore if we have Christ then have we with him and by him all good things whatsoever we can in our Hearts wish or desire as Victory over Death Sin and Hell We have the Favour of God Peace with him Holiness Wisdom Justice Power Life and Redemption we have by him perpetual Health Wealth Joy and Bliss everlasting The Second Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IT hath been heretofore shewed you That there be three Causes wherefore Men do commonly fear Death First the sorrowful departing from Worldly Goods and Pleasures The Second the fear of the pangs and pains that come with Death The last and principal Cause is The horrible fear of extreme Misery and perpetual Damnation in time to come And yet none of these three Causes troubleth good Men because they stay
but walketh continually seeking to devour us Let us resist him with our diligent Watching in Labor and in Well-doing For he that diligently exerciseth himself in honest Business is not easily catched in the Devils snare When Man through Idleness or for defalt of some honest Occupation or Trade to live upon is brought to Poverty and want of things necessary we see how easily such a Man is induced for his gain to Lie to Practice how he may deceive his Neighbor to forswear himself to bear false Witness and oftentimes to Steal and Murder or to use some other ungodly mean to live withal whereby not only his good Name honest Reputation and a good Conscience yea his Lise is utterly lost but also the great displeasure and wrath of God with divers and sundry grievous Plagues are procured Lo here the end of the Idle and Sluggish Bodies whose hands cannot away with honest Labor loss of Name Fame Reputation and Life here in this World and without the great Mercy of God the purchasing of Everlasting Destruction in the World to come Have not all Men then good cause to beware and take heed of Idleness seeing they that embrace and follow it have commonly of their pleasant Idleness sharp and soure displeasures Doubtless good and godly Men weighing the great and manifold harms that come by Idleness to a Common-weal have from time to time provided with all deligence that sharp and severe Laws might be made for the Correction and Amendment of this Evil. The Egyptians had a Law Herodotus that every Man should Weekly bring his Name to the chief Rulers of the Province and therewithal declare what trade of Life he used to the intent that Idleness might be worthily punished and diligent Labor duly rewarded The Athenians did chastise Sluggish and Sloathful People no less than they did Hainous and Grievous Offenders considering as the truth is that Idleness causeth much mischief The Areopagites called every Man to a strait accompt how he lived and if they found any Loyterers that did not profit the Common-weal by one means or other they were driven out and banished as unprofitable Members that did only hurt and corrupt the Body And in this Realm of England good and godly Laws have been divers times made that no Idle Vagabonds and Loytering Runnagates should be suffered to go from Town to Town from Place to Place without Punishment which neither serve God nor their Prince but devour the sweet Fruits of other Mens Labor being common Liars Drunkards Swearers Thieves Whoremasters and Murderers refusing all honest Labor and give themselves to nothing else but to invent and do mischief whereof they are more desirous and greedy than is any Lion of his prey To remember this inconvenience let all Parents and others which have the care and governance of Youth so bring them up either in good Learning Labor or some honest Occupation or Trade whereby they may be able in time to come not only to sustain themselves competently but also to relâ—eve and supply the necessity and want of others And St. Paul saith Let him that hath stolen Ephes 4. steal no more and he that hath deceived others or used unlawful ways to get his living leave off the same and Labor rather working with his Hands that thing which is good that he may have that which is necessary for himself and also be able to give unto others that stand in need of his help The Prophet David thinketh him happy that liveth upon his Labor saying Psal 128. When thou eatest the Labors of thine Hands hapyy art thou and well is thee This happyness or blessing consisteth in these and such like Points First Eccles 3. It is the gift of God as Solomon saith when one eateth and drinketh and receiveth good of his Labor Secondly When one liveth of his own Labor so it be honest and good he liveth of it with a good Conscience and an upright Conscience is a treasure inestimable Thirdly he Eateth his Bread not with brawling and chiding but with peace and quietness when he quietly Laboreth for the same according to St. Pauls admonition Fourthly He is no Mans Bondman for his meat sake nor needeth not for that to hang upon the good Will of other Men but so liveth of his own that he is able to give part to others And to conclude the Laboring Man and his Family whiles they are busily Occupied in their Labor be free from many Temptations and occasions of Sin which they that live in Idleness are subject unto And here ought Artificers and Laboring Men who be at Wages for their Work and Labor to consider their Conscience to God and their Duty to their Neighbor lest they abuse their time in Idleness so defrauding them which be at Charge both with great Wages and dear Commons They be worse than Idle Men indeed for that they seek to have Wages for their Loytering It is less danger to God to be Idle for no gain than by Idleness to win out of their Neighbors Purse Wages for that which is not deserved It is true that Almighty God is angry with such as do defraud the Hired Man of his Wages the cry of that injury ascendeth up to Gods ear for vengeance And as true it is that the hired Man who useth deceit in his Labor is a thief before God 1 Thess 4. Let no Man saith St. Paul to the Thessalonians subtilly beguile his Brother let him not defraud him of his business For the Lord is the revenger of such deceits Whereupon he that will have a good Conscience to God that Laboring Man I say which dependeth wholly upon Gods benediction ministring all things sufficient for his living let him use his time in a faithful Labor and when his Labor by Sickness or other misfortune doth cease yet let him think for that in his health he served God and his Neighbor truly he shall not want in time of necessity God upon respect of his fidelity in health will recompence his indigence to move the Hearts of good Men to relieve such decayed Men in Sickness Where otherwise whatsoever is gotten by idleness shall have no means to help in time of need Let the Laboring Man therefore eschew for his part this vice of Idleness and Deceit Eph. 4. remembring that St Paul exhorteth every Man to lay away all Deceit Dissimulation and Lying and to use truth and plainness to his Neighbour because saith he we be Members together in one Body under one head Christ our Saviour And here might be charged the Serving-men of this Realm who spend their time in much Idleness of life nothing regarding the opportunity of their time forgetting how Service is no Heritage how Age will creep upon them where Wisdom were they should expend their Idle time in some good Business whereby they might increase in knowledge and so the more worthy to be ready for every Mans service It is a great rebuke
a more perfect Service and Honouring of God and more pleasing to God than the keeping of God's Commandments Such hath been the corrupt inclination of Man ever Superstitiously given to make new Honouring of God on his own Head and then to have more Affection and Devotion to keep that than to search out God's Holy Commandments and to keep them And furthermore to take God's Commandments for Men's Commandments and Men's Commandments for God's Commandments yea and for the highest and most Perfect and Holiest of all God's Commandments And so was all confused that scant well learned Men and but a small number of them knew or at the least would know and durst affirm the Truth to separate or sever God's Commandments from the Commandments of Men. Whereupon did grow much Error Superstition Idolatry Vain-religion Overthwart-iudgment great Contention with all ungodly living An exhortation to the keeping of God's Commandments Wherefore as you have any Zeal to the right and pure Honouring of God as you have any regard to your own Souls and to the Life that is to come which is both without pain and without end apply yourselves chiefly above all things to read and hear God's Word mark diligently therein what his Will is you shall do and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same A brief rehearsal of God's Commandments First you must have an assured Faith in God and give yourselves wholly unto him love him in prosperity and adversity and dread to offend him evermore Then for his sake love all Men Friends and Foes because they be his Creation and Image and redeemed by Christ as ye are Cast in your Minds how you may do good unto all Men unto your Powers and hurt no Man Obey all your Superiors and Governors serve your Masters faithfully and diligently as well in their absence as in their presence not for dread of punishment only but for Conscience sake knowing that you are bound so to do by God's Commandments Disobey not your Fathers and Mothers but Honour them Help them and Please them to your power Oppress not kill not beat not neither slander nor hate any Man But love all Men speak well of all Men help and succor every Man as you may yea even your Enemies that hate you that speak evil of you and that do hurt you Take no Man's Goods nor covet your neighbor's Goods wrongfully but content yourselves with that which ye get truly and also bestow your own Goods charitably as Need and Case requireth Flee all Idolatry Witchcraft and Perjury commit no manner of Adultery Fornication or other Unchastness in Will nor in Deed with any other Mans Wife Widow or Maid or otherwise And travelling continually during this life thus in keeping the Commandments of God wherein standeth the pure principal and right Honour of God and which wrought in Faith God hath ordained to be the right trade and pathway unto Heaven you shall not fail as Christ hath promised to come to that blessed and everlasting life where you shall live in Glory and Joy with God for ever To whom be Praise Honour and Empery for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Of Christian Love and Charity OF all things that be good to be taught unto Christian People there is nothing more necessary to be spoken of and daily called upon than Charity As well for that all manner of works of Righteousness be contained in it as also that the decay thereof is the ruin or fall of the World the banishment of Virtue and the cause of all Vice And forsomuch as almost every Man maketh and frameth to himself Charity after his own appetite and how detestable soever his life be both unto God and Man yet he persuadeth himself still that he hath Charity Therefore you shall hear now a true and plain description or setting forth of Charity not of Men's Imagination but of the very words and example of our Saviour Jesus Christ In which description or setting forth every Man as it were in a Glass may consider himself and see plainly without error whether he be in the true Charity or not Charity is to love God with all our Heart What Charity is The love of God all our Soul and all our Powers and strength With all our Heart that is to say That our Heart Mind and Study be set to believe his Word to trust in him and to Love him above all other things that we love best in Heaven or in Earth With all our Life That is to say that our chief joy and delight be set upon Him and His Honor and our whole Life given unto the Service of him above all things with him to live and dye and to forsake all other things rather than him For he that loveth his father or mother Matth. 10. son or daughter house or land more than me saith Christ is not worthy to have me With all our Power That is to say that with our Hands and Feet with our Eyes and Ears our Mouths and Tongues and with all our Parts and Powers both of Body and Soul we should be given to the keeping and fulfilling of his Commandments The love of thy neighbor This is the First and Principal Part of Charity but it is not the whole For Charity is also to love every Man Good and Evil Friend and Foe and whatsoever cause be given to the contrary yet nevertheless to bear good Will and Heart unto every Man to use ourselves well unto them as well in Words and Countenances as in all our outward Acts and Deeds For so Christ himself taught and so also he performed indeed Of the love of God he taught on this wife unto a Doctor of the Law that asked him which was the great and chief Commandment in the Law Love thy Lord God Matth. 22. said Christ with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind And of the love that we ought to have among ourselves each to other he teacheth us thus You have heard it taught in times past Matth. 5. Matth. 5. Thou shalt love thy friend and have thy foe But I tell you love your enemies speak well of them that defame and speak evil of you do well to them that hate you pray for them that vex and persecute you that you may be the children of your father that is in Heaven For he maketh his Sun to rise both upon the evil and good and sendeth rain to the just and unjust For if you love them that love you What reward shall you have Do not the Publicans likewise And if you speak well only of them that be your brethren and dearly beloved friends what great matter is that Do not the Heathen the same also These be the very words of our Saviour Christ himself touching the love of our neighbor And forasmuch as the Pharises with their most pestilent Traditions and false interpretations and glosses had corrupted and almost
Wilt thou be without fear of the Power Do well then and so shalt thou be praised of the same for he is the Minister of God for thy wealth But and if thou do that which is evil then fear for he beareth not the Sword for nought for he is the Minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth evil Wherefore ye must needs obey not only for fear of vengeance but also because of conscience and even for this cause pay ye tribute for they are God's Ministers serving for the same purpose Here let us learn of St. Paul the chosen Vessel of God that all Persons having Souls he excepteth none nor exempteth none neither Priest Apostle nor Prophet saith St. Chrysostom do owe of bounden Duty and even in Conscience Obedience Submission and Subjection to the higher Powers which be set in autho ty by God forasmuch as they be God's Lieutenants God's Presidents God's Officers God's Commissioners God's Judges ordained of God himself of whom only they have all their Power and all their Authority And the same St. Paul threatneth no less pain than everlasting damnation to all disobedient persons to all resisters against this general and common Authority forasmuch as they resist not Man but God not Man's device and invention but God's Wisdom God's Order Power and Authority The Second Part of the Sermon of Obedience FOrasmuch as God hath created and disposed all things in a comly order we have been taught in the First Part of the Sermon concerning good Order and Obedience that we ought also in all Commonweals to observe and keep a due order and to be obedient to the Powers their Ordinances and Laws and that all Rulers are appointed of God for a goodly Order to be kept in the World And also how the Magistrates ought to learn how to Rule and Govern according to God's Laws And that all Subjects are bound to obey them as God's Ministers yea although they be evil not only for fear but also for Conscience sake And here good People let us all mark diligently that it is not lawful for Inferiors and Subjects in any case to resist and stand against the Superior Powers For S. Paul's words be plain that whosoever withstandeth shall get to themselves damnation for whosoever withstandeth withstandeth the Ordinance of God Our Saviour Christ himself and his Apostles received many and divers injuries of the unfaithful and wicked Men in Authority yet we never read that they or any of them caused any Sedition or Rebellion against Authority We read oft that they patiently suffered all troubles vexations slanders pangs and pains and death itself obediently without tumult or resistance They committed their Cause to him that judgeth righteously and prayed for their Enemies heartily and earnestly They knew that the Authority of the Powers was God's Ordinance and therefore both in their Words and Deeds they taught ever Obedience to it and never taught nor did the contrary The wicked Judge Pilate said to Christ Knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and have power also to loose thee Jesus answered Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above Whereby Christ taught us plainly that even the wicked Rulers have their Power and Authority from God and therefore it is not lawful for their Subjects to withstand them although they abuse their Power Much less then is it lawful for Subjects to withstand their Godly and Christian Princes which do not abuse their Authority but use the same to God's Glory and to the Profit and Commodity of God's People 1. Pet. 2. The Holy Apostle Peter commandeth Servants to be obedient to their Masters not only if they be good and gentle but also if they be evil and froward Affirming that the Vocation and Calling of God's People is to be Patient and of the suffering side And there he bringeth in the Patience of our Saviour Christ to persuade Obedience to Governors yea although they be wicked and wrong-doers But let us now hear St. Peter himself speak for his words certifie best our Conscience thus he uttereth them in his first Epistle Servants 1 Pet. 2. obey your Masters with fear not only if they be good and gentle but also if they be froward For it is thank-worthy if a man for Conscience toward God endureth grief and suffer wrong undeserved For what praise is it when ye be beaten for your faults if ye take it patiently But when ye do well if you then suffer wrong and take it patiently then is there cause to have thank of God for hereunto verily were ye called For so did Christ suffer for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps All these be the very words of St. Peter 1 Kings 1â— 19 20. Holy David also teacheth us a good Lesson in this behalf who was many times most cruelly and wrongfully persecuted of King Saul and many times also put in jeopardy and danger of his Life by King Saul and his People yet he neither withstood neither used any force or violence against King Saul his mortal and deadly enemy but did ever to his Liege Lord and Master King Saul most true most diligent and most faithful Service Insomuch that when the Lord God had given King Saul into David's hands in his own Cave he would not hurt him when he might without all Bodily peril easily have slain him no he would not suffer one of his Servants once to lay their hand upon King Saul but prayed to God on this wise Lord keep me from doing that thing upon my Master the Lord 's Anointed keep me that I lay not my hand upon him seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord For as truly as the Lord liveth except the Lord smite him or except his day come or that he go down to War and perish in Battel the Lord be merciful unto me that I lay not my hands upon the Lords Anointed And that David might have killed his Enemy King Saul it is evidently proved in the first Book of the Kings both by the cutting off the lap of Saul's Garment and also by plain Confession of King Saul Also another time as is mentioned in the same Book when the most unmerciful and most unkind King Saul did persecute poor David God did again give Saul into David's hands by casting of King Saul and his whole Army into a dead sleep so that David and one Abisai with him came in the night into Saul's Host where Saul lay sleeping and his Spear stuck in the ground at his Head Then said Abisai unto David God hath delivered thine Enemy into thine hands at this time now therefore let me smite him once with my spear to the earth and I will not smite him again the second time meaning thereby to have killed him with one stroke and to have made him sure for ever And David answered and said to Abisai Destroy him not for who
set forth and the Churches restored to their ancient and godly use render your hearty thanks to the goodness of Almighty God who hath in our days stirred up the hearts not only of his godly Preachers and Ministers but also of his faithful and most Christian Magistrates and Governors to bring such godly things to pass And forasmuch as your Churches are scoured and swept from the sinful and superstitious filthiness wherewith they were defiled and disfigured Do ye your parts good People to keep your Churches comely and clean suffer them not to be defiled with Rain and Weather with dung of Doves and Owls Stares and Choughs and other filthiness as it is foul and lamentable to behold in many places of this Country It is the House of Prayer not the House of talking of walking of brawling of minstrelsie of Hawks and Dogs Provoke not the displeasure and plagues of God for despising and abusing his Holy House as the wicked Jews did But have God in your heart be obedient to his blessed Will bind your selves every Man and Woman to your power toward the reparations and clean keeping of the Church to the intent that ye may be partakers of Gods manifold Blessings and that ye may be the better encouraged to resort to your Parish Church there to learn your Duty towards God and your Neighbour there to be present and partakers of Christs Holy Sacraments there to render thanks to your Heavenly Father for the manifold benefits which he daily poureth upon you there to pray together and to call upon Gods Holy Name which be blessed World without end Amen AN HOMILY OF Good Works And first of Fasting THE life which we live in this World good Christian People is of the free benefit of God lent us yet not to use it at our pleasure after our own fleshly will but to trade over the same in those Works which are beseeming them that are become new Creatures in Christ These works the Apostle calleth good works saying We are Gods workmanship Ephes 2. created in Christ Jesus to good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them And yet his meaning is not by these words to induce us to have any affiance or to put any confidence in our works as by the merit and deserving of them to purchase to our selves and others remission of sin and so consequently everlasting life for that were meer Blasphemy against Gods mercy and great derogation to the blood-shedding of our Saviour Jesus Christ For it is of the free grace and mercy of God by the mediation of the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ without merit or deserving on our part that our sins are forgiven us that we are reconciled and brought again into his favour and are made Heirs of his Heavenly Kingdom Grace saith * Aug. de dâ—ver quaest ad Sâ—mpl lib. 1. Quaest 28. St. Augustine belonging to God who doth call us and then hath he good works whosoever receiveth grace Good works then bring not forth grace but are brought forth by grace The Wheel saith he turneth round not to the end that it may be made round but because it is first made round therefore it turneth round So no man doth good works to receive grace by his good works but because he hath first received grace therefore consequently he doth good works Aug. de fide operibus cap. 4. And in another place he saith Good works go not before in him which shall afterward be justified but good works do follow after when a man is first justified St. Paul therefore teacheth that we must do good works for divers respects First to shew our selves obedient Children unto our Heavenly Father who hath ordained them that we should walk in them Secondly for that they are good declarations and testimonies of our justification Thirdly that others seeing our good works may the rather by them be stirred up and excited to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Let us not therefore be slack to do good works seeing it is the will of God that we should walk in them assuring our selves that at the last day every man shall receive of God for his labour done in true Faith a greater reward than his works have deserved And because somewhat shall now be spoken of one particular good work whose commendation is both in the Law and in the Gospel Thus much is said in the beginning generally of all good works First to remove out of the way of the simple and unlearned this dangerous stumbling-block that any man should go about to purchase or buy Heaven with his works Secondly to take away so much as may be from envious minds and slanderous tongues all just occasion of slanderous speaking as though good works were rejected This good work which now shall be treated of is Fasting which is found in the Scriptures to be of two sorts The one outward pertaining to the Body the other inward in the Heart and Mind This outward Fast is an abstinence from meat drink and all natural food yea from all delicious pleasures and delectations worldly When this outward Fast pertaineth to one particular man or to a few and not the whole number of the People for causes which hereafter shall be declared then it is called a private Fast But when the whole multitude of Men Women and Children in a Township or City yea through a whole Country do fast it is called a publick Fast Such was that Fast which the whole multitude of the Children of Israel were commanded to keep the tenth day of the seventh month because Almighty God appointed that day to be a cleansing day a day of atonement a time of reconciliation a day wherein the People were cleansed from their sins The order and manner how it was done is written in the xvi and xxiii Lev. 16. and 23. Chapters of Leviticus That day the People did lament mourn weep and bewail their former sins And whosoever upon that day did not humble his Soul bewailing his sins as is said abstaining from all bodily food until the Evening that soul saith Almighty God should be destroyed from among his people We do not read that Moses ordained by order of Law any days of publick Fast throughout the whole year more than that one day The Jews notwithstanding had more times of common Fasting which the Prophet Zachary reciteth to be the fast of the fourth the fast of the fifth Zach. 8. the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth Month. But for that it appeareth not in the Law when they were instituted it is to be judged that those other times of Fasting more than the Fast of the seventh month were ordained among the Jews by the appointment of their Governors rather of Devotion than by an express Commandment given from God Upon the Ordinance of this general Fast good men took occasion to appoint to themselves private Fasts at such times as they did
shall forthwith pass from death to life If this kind of purgation will not serve them let them never hope to be released by other mens Prayers though they should continue therein unto the Worlds end He that cannot be saved by Faith in Christs Blood how shall he look to be delivered by mans Intercessions Hath God more respect to man on Earth than he hath to Christ in Heaven 1 John 2. If any man sin saith St. John we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins But we must take heed that we call upon this Advocate while we have space given us in this life lest when we are once dead there be no hope of Salvation left unto us For as every man sleepeth with his own cause so every man shall rise again with his own cause And look in what state he dieth in the same state he shall be also judged whether it be to Salvation or Damnation Let us not therefore dream either of Purgatory or of Prayer for the Souls of them that be dead but let us earnestly and diligently pray for them which are expresly commanded in Holy Scripture namely for Kings and Rulers for Ministers of Gods Holy Word and Sacraments for the Saints of this World otherwise called the Faithful to be short for all men living be they never so great Enemies to God and his People as Jews Turks Pagans Infidels Hereticks c. Then shall we truly fulfil the Commandment of God in that behalf and plainly declare our selves to be the true Children of our Heavenly Father who suffereth the Sun to shine upon the good and the bad and the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust For which and all other benefits most abundantly bestowed upon mankind from the beginning let us give him hearty thanks as we are most bound and praise his Name for ever and ever Amen AN HOMILY OF THE Place and Time OF PRAYER GOD through his Almighty Power Wisdom and Goodness created in the beginning Heaven and Earth the Sun the Moon the Stars the Fowls of the Air the Beasts of the Earth the Fishes in the Sea and all other Creatures for the use and commodity of Man whom also he had created to his own image and likeness and given him the use and government over them all to the end he should use them in such sort as he had given him in charge and commandment and also that he should declare himself thankful and kind for all those benefits so liberally and so graciously bestowed upon him utterly without any deserving on his behalf And although we ought at all times and in all places to have in remembrance and to be thankful to our gracious Lord according as it is written Psal 103. I will magnifie the Lord at all times And again Wheresoever the Lord beareth rule O my Soul praise the Lord Yet it appeareth to be Gods good will and pleasure that we should at special times and in special places gather our selves together to the intent his Name might be renowned and his glory set forth in the Congregation and Assembly of his Saints As concerning the time which Almighty God hath appointed his People to assemble together solemnly it doth appear by the fourth Commandment of God Remember saith God that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day Upon the which day as is plain in the Acts of the Apostles Acts 13. the People accustomably resorted together and heard diligently the Law and the Prophets read among them And albeit this Commandment of God doth not bind Christian People so straitly to observe and keep the utter Ceremonies of the Sabbath day as it was given unto the Jews as touching the forbearing of work and labour in time of great necessity and as touching the precise keeping of the Seventh day after the manner of the Jews For we keep now the First day which is our Sunday and make that our Sabbath that is our day of Rest in the honour of our Saviour Christ who as upon that day rose from death conquering the same most triumphantly Yet notwithstanding whatsoever is found in the Commandment appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needful for the setting forth of Gods glory it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian People And therefore by this Commandment we ought to have a time as one day in the Week wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawful and needful works For like as it appeareth by this Commandment that no man in the six days ought to be slothful or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him Even so God hath given express charge to all men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekly and work-day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six days and rested the seventh and blessed and sanctified it and consecrated it to quietness and rest from labour even so Gods obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily business and also give themselves wholly to Heavenly Exercises of Gods true Religion and Service So that God doth not only command the observation of this Holy Day but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same Good natural Children will not only become obedient to the Commandment of their Parents but also have a diligent Eye to their doings and gladly follow the same So if we will be the Children of our Heavenly Father we must be careful to keep the Christian Sabbath day which is the Sunday not only for that it is Gods express Commandment but also to declare our selves to be loving Children in following the example of our gracious Lord and Father Thus it may plainly appear that Gods Will and Commandment was to have a solemn time and standing day in the Week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderful benefits and to render him thanks for them as appertaineth to loving kind and obedient People This Example and Commandment of God the godly Christian People began to follow immediately after the Ascension of our Lord Christ and began to chuse them a standing day of the Week to come together in Yet not the seventh day which the Jews kept but the Lords day the day of the Lords Resurrection the day after the seventh day which is the first day of the Week Of the which day mention is made by St. Paul on this wise 1 Cor. 16. In the first day of the Sabbath let every man lay up what he thinketh good meaning for the Poor By the first day of the Sabbath is meant our Sunday which is the first day after the Jews seventh day And in the Apocalyps it is more plain whereas St. John saith I was in the Spirit upon the Lords
for chattering Jays but for Eagles who flie thither where the dead body lieth And if this advertisement of man cannot perswade us to resort to the Lords Table with understanding see the counsel of God in the like matter who charged his People to teach their Posterity not only the Rites and Ceremonies of the Passover but the cause and end thereof Whence we may learn that both more perfect knowledge is required at this time at our hands and that the ignorant cannot with fruit and profit exercise himself in the Lords Sacraments But to come nigher to the matter St. Paul blaming the Corinthians for the profaning of the Lords Supper concludeth that ignorance both of the thing it self and the signification thereof was the cause of their abuse for they came thither unreverently not discerning the Lords Body Ought not we then by the motion of the Wise man by the wisdom of God by the fearful example of the Corinthians to take advised heed that we thrust not our selves to this Table with rude and unreverent ignorance the smart whereof Christs Church hath rued and lamented these many days and years For what hath been the cause of the ruin of Gods Religion but the ignorance hereof What hath been the cause of this gross Idolatry but the ignorance hereof What hath been the cause of this mummish Massing but the ignorance hereof Yea what hath been and what is at this day the cause of this want of love and charity but the ignorance hereof Let us therefore so travel to understand the Lords Supper that we be no cause of the decay of Gods Worship of no Idolatry of no dumb Massing of no hate and malice so may we the boldier have access thither to our comfort Acts 1. Neither need we to think that such exact knowledge is required of every man Matth. 26. that he be able to discuss all high points in the Doctrine thereof But thus much we must be sure to hold that in the Supper of the Lord there is no vain Ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent 1 Cor. 11. But as the Scripture saith the Table of the Lord the Bread and Cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the Annunciation of his death yea the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in a marvellous incorporation which by the operation of the Holy Ghost the very bond of our conjunction with Christ is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithful whereby not only their souls live to eternal life but they surely trust to win their bodies a resurrection to immortality The true understanding of this fruition and union which is betwixt the Body and the Head betwixt the true Believers and Christ Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. Igna. Epist ad Ephes Dionysius Origen Optat. Cyp. de caena Domini Atha de pec inspir sanct the ancient Catholick Fathers both perceiving themselves and commending to their People were not afraid to call this Supper some of them the Salve of Immortality and Sovereign Preservative against Death other a Deifical Communion other the sweet dainties of our Saviour the pledge of eternal health the defence of Faith the hope of the Resurrection other the food of Immortality the healthful Grace and the Conservatory to everlasting life All which sayings both of the Holy Scripture and godly men truly attributed to this celestial Banquet and Feast if we would often call to mind O how would they inflame our hearts to desire the participation of these Mysteries and oftentimes to covet after this bread continually to thirst for this food Not as especially regarding the terrene and earthly Creatures which remain but always holding fast and cleaving by Faith to the Rock whence we may suck the sweetness of everlasting Salvation And to be brief thus much more the Faithful see hear and know the favourable mercies of God sealed the satisfaction by Christ towards us confirmed and the remission of sin established Here they may feel wrought the tranquillity of Conscience the increase of Faith the strengthening of Hope the large spreading abroad of brotherly kindness with many other sundry graces of God The taste whereof they cannot attain unto who be drowned in the deep dirty lake of blindness and ignorance From the which O beloved wash your selves with the living Waters of Gods Word whence you may perceive and know both the spiritual food of this costly Supper and the happy trustings and effects that the same doth bring with it Now it followeth to have with this knowledge a sure and constant Faith not only that the death of Christ is available for the redemption of all the World for the remission of sins and reconciliation with God the Father but also that he hath made upon his Cross a full and sufficient Sacrifice for thee a perfect cleansing of thy sins so that thou acknowledgest no other Saviour Redeemer Mediator Advocate Intercessor but Christ only and that thou mayest say with the Apostle that he loved thee and gave himself for thee For this is to stick fast to Christs promise made in his Institution to make Christ thine own and to apply his merits unto thy self Herein thou needest no other mans help no other Sacrifice or Oblation no sacrificing Priest no Mass no means established by mans invention That Faith is a necessary instrument in all these holy Ceremonies we may thus assure our selves for that as St. Paul saith without Faith it is unpossible to please God Heb. 11. In Johan Hom. 6. When a great number of the Israelites were overthrown in the Wilderness Moses Aaron and Phineas did eat Manna and pleased God for that they understood saith St. Augustine the visible meat spiritually Spiritually they hungred it spiritually they tasted it that they might be spiritually satisfied And truly as the bodily meat cannot feed the outward man unless it be let into the stomach to be digested which is healthful and sound no more can the inward man be fed except his meat be received into his soul and heart De Caena Domini sound and whole in Faith Therefore saith Cyprian when we do these things we need not to whet our teeth but with sincere Faith we break and divide that whole bread It is well known that the meat we seek for in this Supper is spiritual food the nourishment of our soul a heavenly refection and not earthly and invisible meat and not bodily a ghostly substance and not carnal so that to think that without Faith we may enjoy the eating and drinking thereof or that that is the fruition of it is but to dream a gross carnal feeding basely objecting and binding our selves to the Elements and Creatures Whereas by the advice of the Council of Nicene Concilium Nicen. we ought to lift up our minds by Faith and leaving these inferiour and earthly things there seek it where the Sun of Righteousness ever shineth Take then this Lesson
this matter that in the mouth of two or three may the truth be known Verily that holy Prophet Esay beareth record and saith Esay 26. O Lord it is thou of thy goodness that hast wrought all our works in us not we our selves And to uphold the truth of this matter against all Justiciaries and Hypocrites which rob Almighty God of his Honor and ascribe it to themselves St. Paul bringeth in his Belief 1 Cor. 3. Acts 17. We be not saith he sufficient of our selves as of our selves once to think any thing but all our ableness is of Gods goodness For he it is in whom we have all our Being our Living and Moving If ye will know furthermore where they had their Gifts and Sacrifices which they offered continually in their Lives to Almighty God they cannot but agree with David where he saith Of thy liberal hand O Lord we have received that we gave unto thee If this holy Company therefore confess so constantly that all the Goods and Graces wherewith they were indued in Soul came of the goodness of God only What more can be said to prove that all that is good cometh from Almighty God Is it meet to think that all spiritual goodness cometh from God above only and that other good things either of Nature or of Fortune as we call them cometh of any other cause Doth God of his goodness adorn the Soul with all the Powers thereof as it is and come the gifts of the Body wherewith it is endued from any other If he doth the more cannot he do the less To justifie a sinner to new create him from a wicked Person to a righteous Man is a greater Act saith St. Augustin than to make such a new Heaven and Earth as is already made We must needs agree that whatsoever good thing is in us of Grace of Nature or of Fortune is of God only as the only Author and Worker And yet it is not to be thought that God hath created all this whole Universal World as it is and thus once made hath given it up to be ruled and used after our own wits and device and so taketh no more charge thereof As we see the Shipwright after he hath brought his Ship to a perfect end then delivereth it to the Mariners and taketh no more care thereof nay God hath not so created the World that he is careless of it but he still preserveth it by his goodness he still stayeth it in his Creation for else without his special goodness it could not stand long in this condition And therefore St. Paul saith That he preserveth all things Heb. 2. Heb. 3. and beareth them up still in his Word lest they should fall without him to their nothing again whereof they were made If his especial goodness were not every where present every Creature should be out of order and no Creature should have his property wherein he was first created He is therefore invisible every where and in every Creature and filleth both Heaven and Earth with his Presence In the Fire to give Heat in the Water to give Moisture in the Earth to give Fruit in the Heart to give his Strength yea in our Bread and Drink is he to give us nourishment where without him the Bread and Drink cannot give sustenance nor the Herb health as the Wise Man plainly confesseth it saying Wisd 16. It is not the increase of Fruits that feedeth Men but it is thy word O Lord which preserveth them that trust in thee And Moses agreeth to the same when he saith Deut. 8. Mans life resteth not in Bread only but in every Word which proceedeth out of Gods mouth Wisd 17. It is neither the Herb nor the Plaister that giveth Health of themselves but thy Word O Lord saith the Wise Man which healeth all things It is not therefore the power of the Croatures which worketh their effects but the goodness of God which worketh in them In his Word truly do all things consist By that same Word that Heaven and Earth were made by the same are they upholden maintained 2 Pet. 3. and kept in order saith St. Peter and shall be till Almighty God shall withdraw his Power from them and speak their dissolution If it were not thus that the goodness of God were effectually in his Creatures to rule them how could it be that the Main Sea so raging and laboring to over-flow the Earth could be kept within its bounds and banks as it is That Holy Man Job evidently spied the goodness of God in this Point and confessed that if he had not a special goodness to the preservation of the Earth it could not but shortly be over-flowed of the Sea How could it be that the Elements so divers and contrary as they be among themselves should yet agree and abide together in a concord without destruction one of another to serve our use if it came not only of Gods goodness so to temper them How could the Fire not burn and consume all things if it were let loose to go whither it would and not staid in its sphere by the goodness of God measurably to heat these inferior Creaturs to their riping Consider the huge Substance of the Earth so heavy and great as it is How could it so stand stably in the space as it doth if Gods goodness reserved it not so for us to travel on It is thou Psal 10.3 O Lord saith David which hast founded the Earth in its stability and during thy Word it shall never reel or fall down Consider the great strong Beasts and Fishes far passing the strength of Man how fierce soever they be and strong yet by the goodness of God they prevail not against us but are under our subjection and serve our use Of whom came the invention thus to subdue them and make them fit for our Commodities Was it by Mans Brain nay rather this invention came by the goodness of God which inspired Mans understanding to have his purpose of every Creature Job 38. Who was it saith Job that put Will and Wisdom in Mans head but God only his goodness And as the same saith again I perceive that every Man hath a mind but it is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding It could not be verily good Christian People that Man of his own wit upholden should invent so many and divers devices in all Crafts and Sciences except the goodness of Almighty God had been present with Men and had stirred their wits and studies of purpose to know the natures and dispositions of all his Creatures to serve us sufficiently in our needs and necessities Yea not only to serve our necessities but to serve our pleasures and delight more than necessity requireth So liberal is Gods goodness to us to provoke us to thank him if any hearts we have The Wise Man in his Contemplation by himself could not but grant this thing to be true
for that is not his part or duty But as I have said let either Party be ready and willing to perform that which belongeth especially to themselves For if we be bound to hold out our left cheek to strangers which will smite us on the right cheek how much more ought we to suffer an extream and unkind Husband but yet I mean not that a Man should beat his Wife God forbid that for that is the greatest shame that can be not so much to her that is beaten as to him that doth the deed But if by such Fortune thou chancest upon such an Husband take it not too heavily but suppose thou that thereby is laid up no small Reward hereafter and in this life time no small Commendation to thee if thou canst be quiet But yet to you that be Men thus I speak Let there be none so grievous Fault to compel you to beat your Wives But what say I your Wives No it is not to be born with that an honest Man should lay hands on his Maid-Servant to beat her Wherefore if it be a great shame for a Man to beat his Bond-Servant much more rebuke it is to lay violent hands upon his Free-Woman And this thing may be well understood by the Laws which the Paynims have made which do discharge her any longer to dwell with such an Husband as unworthy to have any further company with her that doth smite her For it is an extreme Point thus so vilely to entreat her like a Slave that is fellow to thee of thy Life and so joyned unto thee before-time in the necessary matters of thy living And therefore a Man may well liken such a Man if he may be called a Man rather than a wild Beast to a killer of his Father or Mother And whereas we be commanded to forsake our Father and Mother for our Wives sake and yet thereby do work them none injury but do fulfil the Law of God how can it not appear then to be a Point of extreme madness to entreat her despitefully for whose sake God hath commanded thee to leave Parents Yea who can suffer such despite Who can worthily express the inconveniency that is to see what weepings and wailings be made in the open Streets when Neighbors run together to the House of so unruly an Husband as to a Bedlam-man who goeth about to overturn all that he hath at home Who would not think that it were better for such a Man to wish the Ground to open and swallow him in than once ever after to be seen in the Market But peradventure thou wilt Object that the Woman provoketh thee to this Point But consider thou again that the Woman is a frail Vessel and thou art therefore made the Ruler and Head oâ—er her to bear the weakness of her in this her subjection And therefore study thou to declare the honest commendation of thy Authority which thou canst no way better do than to forbear to urge her in her weakness and subjection For even as the King appeareth so much the more Noble the more Excellent and Noble he maketh his Officers and Lieutenants whom if he should dishonor and despise the Authority of their Dignity he should deprive himself of a great part of his own Honor Even so if thou dost despise her that is set in the next room beside thee thou dost much derogate and decay the Excellency and Vertue of thine own Authority Recount all these things in thy mind and be gentle and quiet Understand that God hath given thee Children with her and art made a Father and by such reason appease thy self Dost thou not see the Husbandmen what diligence they use to Till that Ground which once they have taken to Farm though it be never so full of faults As for an Example though it be Dry though it bringeth forth Weeds though the Soil cannot bear too much Wet yet he Tilleth it and so winneth Fruit thereof Even in like manner if thou wouldst use like diligence to instruct and order the mind of thy Spouse if thou wouldst diligently apply thy self to weed out by little and little the noysom Weeds of uncomely Manners out of her mind with wholsome precepts it could not be but in time thou shouldst feel the pleasant Fruit thereof to both your comforts Therefore that this thing chance not so perform this thing that I do here Counsel thee Whensoever any displeasant matter riseth at home if thy Wife hath done ought amiss comfort her and encrease not the Heaviness For though thou shouldst be grieved with never so many things yet shalt thou find nothing more grievous than to want the benevolence of thy Wife at home What offence soever thou canst name yet shalt thou find none more intolerable than to be at debate with thy Wife And for this cause most of all oughtest thou to have this love in Reverence And if reason moveth thee to bear any burden at any other Mans hands much more at thy Wives For if she be poor upbraid her not if she be simple taunt her not but be the more courteous for she is thy Body and made one Flesh with thee But thou peradventure wilt say that she is a wrathful Woman a Drunkard and Beastly without Wit or Reason For this cause bewail her the more Chafe not in Anger but Pray unto Almighty God Let her be admonished and helped with good Counsel and do thou thy best endeavor that she may be delivered of all these affections But if thou shouldst beat her thou shalt increase her evil affections for frowardness and sharpness is not amended with frowardness but with softness and gentleness Furthermore consider what reward thou shalt have at Gods hand for where thou mightest beat her and yet for the respect of the fear of God thou wilt abstain and bear patiently her great offences the rather in respect of that Law which forbiddeth that a Man should cast out his Wife what fault soever she be cumbred with thou shalt have a very great reward and before the receit of that reward thou shalt feel many commodities For by this means she shall be made the more Obedient and thou for her sake shalt be made the more meek It is written in a Story of a certain strange Philosopher which had a cursed Wife a froward and a Drunkard When he was asked for what consideration he did so bear her evil manners He made Answer By this means said he I have at home a School-Master and an Example how I should behave my self abroad For I shall saith he be the more quiet with others being thus daily exercised and taught in the forbearing her Surely it is a shame that Paynims should be wiser than we we I say that be commanded to resemble Angels or rather God himself through meekness And for the love of Vertue this said Philosopher Socrates would not expel his Wife out of his House Yea some say that he did therefore marry his