last hower the spirite of God lightened the harte of the théefe vpon the Crosse Luck 23.40 Ezech. 18. Eph. 1.4.5 Ioh. 1.9 1. Tim. 2.4 Eph. 1.18 Heb. 1.3 so that in yéelding to death he sawe Christ onely to be his lyfe So the same most louing father who wylleth not the death of a synner hath euen in the hower of death and in all the dayes of Popery tourned the hartes of as many as were predestinate before all tymes in Christ to lyue eternally And that our Christ which lighteneth all men that come into the worlde and would haue all men that is to say of euerye country nation people and families some to be saued and come to the knowledge of the truth Hath also illuminated the hartes of all those whome the father hath by his spirite drawne out of the Dungeon of Papistrie to thys brightnesse of his glory wherby they haue with the eyes of their fayth séene this Iesus Christ to be the onely saluation of Iewe Turke Pagan Papist and Gentyle and consequently haue in harte felt him for theirs to their greate and synguler consolation After which sight they haue in the integritie of their soules 1. Cor. 3.12 Phil. 3.8 accounted al the hey tymber stubble and Popishe stuffe as fylthie doung and paciently abode the paine of death for their former ignorance and rest in hope of eternall peace and in the assurance of hys spirite that their synnes in his bloude are washed awaye They are perswaded that death is to them lyfe in cause whereof they haue in Christ banished that feare which bringeth paynefulnesse 1. Io. 4.18 and with Symeon haue sayde Now Lorde let vs thy seruants depart in peace for the eyes of our minde nowe in the agony of our soule hath through the day spring which from an high hath visited vs perfitly seene the Lorde thy Christ to be our sauing health â—uc 1.78 in whome wee departe to thee who neuer before this hower in these dayes of ignoraunce could attayne to this grace But now Lord receiue vs in peace through Christ our lord our God of peace and the same to all his chosen children The prouydence of God in tyme of Popery féedeth this our sentence of the forefathers thus blessed in the dayes of ignorance In that he conserued and during those tymes continued among men the Symbole of our fayth which very manye at their death haue constantly repeated and by open declaration haue affirmed in that fayth to ende their lyfe But thys Symbole preacheth onely the gloryous fayth in God the Father God the sonne and God the holy Ghost In Popery no saluation wherfore I conclude that manye of our forefathers were in the daies of Popery saued by fayth alone in Christ and that by Popery no man may or can be saued For the whole course of the Romishe Religion is to disperce Mat. 12.30 and not to gather together the saintes of God to the vnitie of fayth and knowledge in the sonne of GOD but to hayle to the fayth of Rome which maketh as many Sauiours as the sunne shyning giueth shadowes which can in no case permit a man eyther to rest alone in the death of Christ or to assure himselfe of saluation in hym But to attayne lyfe Popishe Treasures the Papists must fetch the treasures of the Church of Rome parte whereof is the blood of Martyrs though some of them be notable Traytors It is to playne that they make such not Mediators onely but Sauiours also from synne Who can forget this solemne Anthemne to that Traytor Thomas Becket sometimes Byshop of Caunterbury which the Popes Portuse and all laten Primers haue farsed in them for men in prayer to vse In the Popishe Primers Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas ascendit That is graunt vs Christ by the vertue of saint Thomas his bloud which he shedde for thée to ascende whether Thomas is gone where note that Christ hath but that office which else they giue to Peter Namely to be the dore kéeper and to admit those soules into heauen which clayme it by the bloud of Barrabas I should say Thomas and they do refuse bicause they doe distrust the raunsome of Christ our onely way to lyfe Oh horrible and most abhominable blasphemy Ioh. 14.6 But deare Reader No man can come to the father sayth our sufficient Sauyour but by mee And therefore praying for the Papists conuersioÌ„ if it be Gods good will let vs as Paule doth exhort vs Heb. 12.19 seeing by the bloud of Iesus we may be bold to enter into the holy place into heauen by the newe and lyuing way which he hath prepared for vs thorow the vayle that is to say his fleshe and seeing we haue an high Priest ouer the house of God let vs drawe neare with a true hart in assurance of fayth sprinckled made pure in our hearts from an euil conscience and washed in our bodies with pure water Let vs keepe the profession of our hope without wauering for he is faythfull that promised And let vs consider one another to prouoke vnto loue and to good workes not forsaking the felowship that we haue among our selues as the maner of some is but let vs exhorte one another that so much the more bicause ye see the day draweth neere Let vs expect his comming and loue the Lorde so shall we not feare any perrill of death And God graunt our Englishe Papistes once to sée and be ashamed of their wylfulnesse to damnation sléeping in the bedde of the whore of Babilon Reuel 18. which is prepared to desolation and perpetuall fyre And to imbrace his Gospell which is the onely ioy of soule and solace in death â—â—t 3.17 the path to lyfe in that Sauiour in whome God the father is onely pacifyed The second note is that the godly are so farre from fearing naturall death that on the contrary part they humbly many tymes at the hande of God can earnestly pray for it and wyshe it yea and eaten vp of griefe for the dayes of synne they lament that they are not disburdened of the bodye thereof Finally in desyre of the full accomplishment of the bodye of Christ that the same his Church might be thorowly glorifyed in heauen as she is in parte and in earth perfitly sanctifyed The saints in this lyfe praye for the dissolution of the world and Christ to come with speede to iudgement For the fyrst Paule prayeth thus I desyre to be dissolued and to be with Christ and our Symeon here Lorde now let thy seruaunt depart in peace Secondly in the seuenth to the Romaynes Paule cryeth out of synne lamenting and saying O wretched man that I am who shall delyuer me from the body of this death that is from this lumpe of fleshly sinne and death Where note gentle Christian that the saintes of God are subiect to the
gloryously arose from death and ascended aboue al heauens as that he shall appeare most gloryouslye to haue gouerned all things when he shal call before him to iudgement all the Nations of the worlde and giue to them their portion in his right iustice due vnto them This Lorde Christ and Sauiour is also the high Byshop of our soules the one and onely priest that hath fully taken awaye oure sinnes in the sacrifice of himselfe vpon the aulter of the crosse once for all and all ages there and then offered Of whose priesthood Dauid long before prophecied in these wordes Psal 110. The Lorde hath sworne and wyll not repent thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech By which words the Apostle Paule purposing to proue Christ the sayde priest thus speaketh Thys Melchisedech was king of Salem Heb. 7.17 king of the most high God c. Hee is the king of righteousnesse after that he is called the king of Salem 1. king of peace without father without mother wythout kyndred and hath neyther beginning of his dayes nor ende of his lyfe but is lyke vnto the sonne of God and contynueth a priest for euer And that rightly for Christ the sonne of God is our righteousnesse and peace and the king of Salem euen of the peaceable church and tryumphante kingdome euerlasting He is without father in his humanitie onely being conceyued by the holye ghost of the womans séede wythout mother in his deuyne nature begotten of the fathers owne nature without beginning of dayes or ende of lyfe For he is God for euer And though in his humanitie he suffred for vs yet his Godhead coulde not dye but remayneth immortall for euer This Iesus is both king and priest not after Aaron but according to Melchisedeches order for all tymes to come And as the holye scriptures hath mention of no mo such So is he the onely priest of God for the saluation of his church and there can besides hym be none other who gaue hymselfe to dye for vs and by whose onely death we be all saued that beléeue in hym The meane whereby this eternall Priest saueth hys people is by tryple operation Howe our Christ saueth vs. all which haue their force from the action of his death First in gyuing hymselfe a raunsome for theyr sinnes to God his father and by hys bloudy sacryfice once for all offered he fully acquyteth all his people of all their damnable debt Secondly by the preaching of hys Ghospell vnto the sonnes of men as whereby he is depaynted thus crucifyed for them therby they brought by his spirite to beléeue the forgiuenesse of synnes in his bloud Thirdly by that he remayneth the onlye Mediator for his people to his father so reconciling the worlde to God and guydeth his people by his spirite in the pathes of righteousnesse for his holy names sake 1. Pet. 2.5 Mat. 20.28 Thus is thy soueraigne Lorde and Christ thy highe Priest and Byshop of thy soule thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to saye the price of thy redemption by whose sacrifice alone vpon the crosse God the father is iustly payde the pryce due to hym for all our iniquities For the which cause also that he is the pryce of thy Redemption in hys death he is of God constitute for thy only Mediator as Paule sayth to the Hebrewes and saint Iohn If any man sinne Heb. 9.15 1. Ioh. 2.2 we haue an Aduocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the reconciliation for our sinnes and not for our sinnes only but for the synnes of the whole worlde Where note that the Apostle sayth and for this cause is he the Mediator of the new Testament Hebr. 9.15 Namely for thys cause that through his death men might receyue the promise of inheritance He that dyeth for mans transgressions is onely the Mediator for their sinnes But Christ only dyeth for mans transgressions therfore Christ is the onely Mediator for mans iniquitie This is the Apostles reason And further this priesthood so dwelleth still in Christ that no inferiour creature maye be enstalled into that function For he lyueth for euer and therfore contynueth a priest for euer after the order of Melchesedech Whersoeuer then any man or Angell would take vppon hym this office to be a priest to offer sacrifice in the Church of God For thy synnes know thou that he is not thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy redemption and therefore cannot be thy sacrificer Besydes thys that sacrifice of Christ is thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the absolute price of thy raunsome and therefore no neede of further payment to God by sacrifice Christ hath fully payde the ransome for our syns therefore can there be no more offring to God for synne Thirdly neyther néede nor can that sacrifice of Christes death and bodye to be iterate or offred of freshe for that were to kyll Christ agayne and to make lesse the valour of thy redemption by which thou art redéemed fully and for which cause Christ is called in the holye scripture thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to saye an absolute price of thy redemption by whome and whose price thou hast by fayth in hym the whole forgiuenesse of thy sinnes Heb. 10.18 And where thys Remission is sayth the scripture there remayneth no more offerings for synne but we maye with boldnesse enter into heauen not by an other sacrifice but by a new and lyuing way namely sayth he by fayth in Christs fleshe bloud once thus offred who remayneth our high priest with God Lastly were there a sacrifice remayning to be offred for sinne we had no priestes or anye one man or Angell in heauen or earth that could be a fitte Sacrificer for the same For besyds that a true Sacrificer for synne by whose Sacrifice iniquitie shall be awaye taken There can be found as a meete man no Priest in earth to offer sacrifice must be the sacrifice hymselfe There are also certayne Noble qualities must inhabite that man which can be a sacrifycing priest for sinne and the house of GOD which are by the Apostle to the Hebrewes set downe on thys maner Such an high priest it became vs to haue sayth he which is holy harmlesse vndefiled seperate from sinners and made higher then the Heauens which needed not daylie to offer vp sacrifice first for his owne sinnes and then for the synnes of his people for that did he once when he offred vp himselfe for the lawe maketh men highe priests which haue infyrmitie but the worde of the othe which was synce the lawe maketh the sonne who is consecrated namely the onely priest of God for euermore Now deare Reader if it be of necessitie that we should haue such a Priest to offer sacrifice for our sinnes and that no other can take that office to pacifie the father whose iustice changeth not or is by affection altred how can it be that eyther the
Iewishe or much lesse the Popishe priests can be to vs men of good warrante to pacifie hys wrath for our synnes with and by their dayly counterfeyte sacrifices when they haue neyther warrante from thy holy written worde or be The Pope very vnfytte to offer vp sacrifice for synne hys Cardinals lesse hys priests least but his irreligious all to bad or can be such men as it becommeth our priests to be Can the Pope or any his broode be found in truth and search of his owne friends holy harmelesse and vndefyled Is he in all sortes seperate from synners or are his priests Is hys dwellings aboue the Heauens or haue not his Fryers Monkes Byshops Cardinals and Popishe prelates the fertyll soyle of euery Nation to plante their dwelling places in Doe they not néede to offer sacrifice fyrst for their owne sinnes which of all other are most acquainted therewith And doe they not in the daylie sacrifice of their blasphemous Masse fyrst offer for the Pope then for the king Byshop and themselues then for him her or them for whome they are for that tyme hyred These therefore can be no lawfull priests to offer for sinne were there any such sacrifyce to be offered The lawe of Moses made such men priests as were subiect to death The Popishe lawe anoyleth such as are wrapped in infyrmities but the law of the othe of God which is the gospell maketh the sonne of God Christ Iesus onely the sacryfycing priest of hys Churche who is without synne deuoyde of infyrmitie holy harmelesse vndefyled higher then the heauens seperate from synners once for all offred a full price in sacrifyce to his father vpon the crosse for the syns of the whole worlde which can no more be offered or any other in place therof is not subiect any more to death but lyueth to make intercession for his church to God hys father for euer Nowe we haue to consyder also from what it is that thys Sauyour Christ delyuereth vs. Truely from the Fathers wrath from the chaynes of synne and her rewarde which is eternall death Of which deliuerance Zacharius speaketh in his Song Rom. 6.23 Luc. 1.74 that wee being delyuered from the feare of our enimies might serue him without feare c. But when it is sayde he delyuereth vs it is imported we are fyrst in thraldome Mans state wythout Christ thraldome and most misery and bounde from libertie Euen so are the sonnes of men by nature thralled vnto the wrath of God bound in chaynes of synne and subiect to the cursse of euerlasting death Therin borne in it lyuing and lusting death by the contynuall desyres therof Eph. 2.3 But Synne synne is the cause that Gods iustice cannot but giue vs wrath and his wrath cannot procéeding from his iustice but cast the synner into the prison of eternal payne where is darknesse sorrowe wéeping torments and gnashing of téeth the worme that dyeth not and the anger of God And this synne is and maye be sayde to be of two kyndes the one procéeding from the other Originall and Actuall Originall commeth wyth the lumpe of massy poysoned fleshe Originall synne and actuall which our parentage hath brought to vs from the loynes of oure fyrst father Adam And he becommeth synful by the breach of Gods holye lawe in Paradise hath begotten by synfull séede his children in synne who by succession haue encreased the worlde to thys daye from his synfull loynes to beget vs synfull creatures of our synfull mothers And thus are we guyltie of Adams synne called Originall the beginning synne For lyke as out of a poysoned Vessell can be drawne no other lycour but poysoned So from the poysoned séede of Adam can procéede no other then lyke corrupted matter for mans propagation and ofspring And againe thys worde synne signifyeth generally the disobedience to God the offending of God by the breaking of hys most holy commaundements This difference is betwéene Originall and Actuall synne the one we bring with vs in flesh as guyltie by byrth of our fathers transgressiō as the Apostle sayth By Adam all men do dye The other is that our selues in mynde and bodye doe commit daylie agaynst our God and his holy lawe which we do eyther in mynde 1. Cor. 15.22 in will in harte and affection in tong or hande in soule or bodye in one or both The fyrst doth infecte all other that come from his fyrst roote For lyke as leporous parents of their bodyes cannot but beget and the chyldren which are borne of them are defyled as wel with the parents leprosie as contaminate with their owne naturall corruption Euen so are the posteritie of Adam infected with the fyrst fathers leprosie in synne and steyned with their owne actuall offences and iniquitie which one lamenting sayeth And great is that Original synne Barnardus which doth not alone infect the person but corrupteth the whole nature of man also The second which is actuall synne dwelleth in the body of the synner alone and hurteth others no otherwise then when they be pertakers therof eyther by ioyning in facte or consente by suffring or not regarding the poyson thereof the ende of both is death euerlasting Rom. 6.23 How horrible that synne is the Scriptures doe tell Synne breaketh our couenant with God prouoketh anger of God The fruits of synne in man seperateth his loue from vs hasteneth his iustice procureth our perpetuall destruction caused Christ to come from heauen and he the sonne of God to suffer death for vs moste wretched creatures which else should haue perished in synne Is of that nature that if we wyllingly fall into it agayne we crucifye Christ anewe and there is no more looking for redemption but a fearefull wayting for the wrath of Gods furye fyre and vengeance Finally it is the worke of the Deuill and he the author therof who is the vtter aduersarye of God and we his sworne enemies and Gods famylye How intollerable a matter it is for the Quéenes seruante of her priuie chamber from beggery exalted farre aboue all brauery to become Traytor to her grace and in her secret chamber to violate his fayth who séeth not with darkned eyes How much more vgly is he and most intollerable is his case that casteth dyrte by synne euery daye into the face of God by carnall concupiscence courtly carnall lustes and fylthy actions Well from all thys yet he the Lord Christ saueth his people 1. Ioh. 1.7 euen his bloud doth wash their soules and bodyes from euerye synne and his death doth purge our consciences from dead workes Heb. 9.14 Esay 1. to serue the lyuing God Of this delyuerance Esay sayth Washe you make you cleane if your synnes were as redde as Scarlet I wyll make them as whyte as Wooll Iere. 31. sayth the Lorde Ieremy Your synnes and iniquities will I remember no more Ezechiel Ezech. 18. At what tyme soeuer a synner doth repent of hys synne
flaunte 1. Cor. 10.31 and vaine gloryous shewes giue none offence neyther to the Iewe nor to the Grecians nor to the Church of God Marke this you cannot replye and say Who hath to do with vs who shall comptroll vs we are the maysters of our selues For euen in those things which be lawfull and indifferent the more Noble the greater care you ought by the rule of Gods holy word In indifferent things the help or hurte of our brethren is chiefely to be respected to haue to your actions for the cause of your brethren which be eyther Gods enimies as the Iewes who maye not receyue offence at you or Grecians popish worldlings or wanton Atheists which séeke to be of the fashion though it be against god or that the people of God by your insolency be gréeued the daunger whereof is not smale Whosoeuer sayth our mayster Christ shall offende one of these little ones which beleeueth in mee Mat. 18.6 it were better for him that a Mylstone were hanged about his necke and he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Yea greater care the noble the mightie the ritch the prowde one and other ought to haue of their godly brethren then of their owne members Woe to the worlde sayth our Christ in the place afore coted bicause of offences for it must needs be that offences shal come but woe be to the man by whom they doe come Wherefore if thine hande or thy foote cause thee to offende cut them of from thee it is better for thee to enter into lyfe halt or maymed then hauing two handes or two feete to be cast into euerlasting fyre And if thine eye cause thee to offende pluck it out c. Loe christian thy bodyes desyre muste to her great losse giue place to thy brothers good estate Dauid therefore prayeth the Lord to shut vp his eyes from beholding of vanitie For hence it is Psal 119. that the concupiscence of the heart being produced by the conducte of the eye doth lust after the pryde of thys worlde without regarde of God his people his or oure enimies or our owne deare brethren whom eyther we strayne with their sorrowe to sore after our Courtly guyse Two euils in outragious apparel or else we grieue their consciences to beholde our too to much vanities And thys is monstruous that that which is to vs a signification of our fyrst fathers synne in whom we all are damned to death should be to vs a delighting pleasure and the same which was giuen to couer our shame Gen. 3.21 1. Cor. 15.22 we shoulde abuse to our great confusion For most true it is that apparell whereof we now pride so much was and is the accuser of synne for our fyrst parents were naked before they sinned and were not ashamed bycause nothing gaue cause to blushe they frée from synne and being made to the ymage of God But hauing transgressed his commaundement they sawe their nakednesse and synfull bodies by eating of the apple The cause of apparell is synne and did blushe for shame blushing and confusion are the fruites of synne to whome nowe some couerture was necessary as well to keepe the lesse honorable partes secrete as to defende them from the parching sunne and Winters colde Gen. 3.21 Wherefore our good God gaue to eyther of them a coate of peltes or skyns This symple sufficient attyre cōdemneth two sortes of persons the Adamits which runne naked to counterfeyte Adam and Heuah which thing if God would to haue had in vse he had not giuen these naked creatures these néedy coates The other are our lusty Gallants of eyther sexe that to to much doe glory in their apparell which is and ought to be to them a preacher of their fathers shame In our attyre we ought to kéepe modestie and comlynesse eche man in his degrée as their is great difference the which to excéede is thus to walke in darknesse First they inuerte the vse of aparell that is eyther a bounde beyonde their calling or take pride therein which onely ought to defend their bodyes as is sayde and to put vs in minde of our frayle condition These blynde men are lyke to those fellowes chayned with heauy yrons for some horrible murther and yet doe bragge of them as of matter worthy much glory and therfore set them forth to shew in all brauery Secondly the delight of braue and costly araye doth marueylously encrease the pride of the lurking heart which once enflamed is neuer content but causeth vs to forget our state and condition it enuyeth others more gaye and despiseth all such as to vs be attyred in inferior sorte Euill branches of a naughtie tree Thirdly prowde aparell as it satisficeth fleshly appetite so is it verye offensiue to the moste beholders Adde to this it bewrayeth a lewde harte a light person a vayne mutable man delighting change in vanities and such a one is euer inconstante in all his wayes Neyther did godly Iudith decke her in prowde array Iudi. 10.1 tyll shée purposed to spoyle curssed Holophernes And cruel Iezabel sought to allure Iehu his hart by her sumptuous shewe in brauery Fourthly you breake contemptuouslye this commaundement of Christ Be not carefull what to put on c. If not for necessaries Math. 6. how much lesse for these superfluous vanities which shall bring woes and Gods euerlasting cursse to them which be faulty herein Lastly the iudgement of God aprooueth his hate herevnto which beateth downe iustly so manye to beggerie from former great patrimony by their synfull excesse in costly aparell and doth also often throwe vs into those Country plagues whose fashions we haue most fauoured in the strange guyse of monstruous attyre But perhaps these Courtly Ladyes and Gentils will doe as our Lord Christ sayeth the Pharyseis did They did hate the present teachers and yet they made much of the Monumentes of the Prophetes Mat. 23.29 whome their forefathers murthered And it maye be that these our riche and myghty Gallaunts will say what haue these pratling preachers to doe with vs why should they correct vs let them kéepe them to the Text of Scripture Well then we will in this point pleasure you Marke ye lusty Gallants and to ende withall onely giue you the Scripture Text which would GOD ye would take heede vnto Luc. 1.78 till the day starre Iesus Christ apeared fully in your hearts Thus sayth this scripture then against this darke corruption of pride in the rich practised for want will not permit the hawtie harts of the least able to atchyue hereto Now hearken to you Nobles of eyther sexe ye Gentils riche in lands and possessions for now the Lorde himselfe speaketh vnto you Esa 3.11 Woe be to the wicked sayth the Lorde it shall be euill with him for the rewarde of his hands shall be giuen hym Children are Extortioners of my people women haue rule ouer them as
whylst the euill dayes come not nor the yeres approche wherein thou shalt say I haue no pleasure in them A little after when the keepers of the house vz the hands of the body shal tremble and the strong men that is the legges shal bowe themselues and the grynders the téeth shal cease bicause they are fewe they waxe darke vz the eyes that looke out by the Wyndowes And the dores lyppes or mouth shal be shut without by the base sounde of the grynding that is when the the chawes shall scarce be able to open and he shal ryse vp at the voyee of the byrde namely he cannot sléepe halfe the night and al the daughters of synging that is the wynde pypes or deafnesse of eares shal be abased Also they shal be afrayde of the high thing euery thresholde shall be hard to stryde ouer and feare shal be in the way the Palsye shal cause the bones to tremble and the Almonde tree that is the gray heade shal floorishe and the Grashopper that is the least weyght shal be a burden and concupiscence shall be driuen away for man goeth to the house of his age euen to his graue and the Mourners goe aboute in the streete whyles the syluer corde is not lengthened meaning the Marow of the back bone of the synewes nor the golden Ewer broken the little skyn that couereth the brayne which is in coulour lyke Golde nor the Pitcher broken at the Well that is the veyns at the lyuer not dissolued nor the wheele broken at the Cesterne that is nor the head with the hart from whence he draweth his powers of life make an ende of their office and duste returne to the earth as it was the spirite note that the soule incontinentely goeth to ioye or tormente to him that gaue it Vanitie of vanities sayth the preacher all is vanitie This moste excellent counsell ye Noble Lords and louing Countrymen whose yong daies are now or already wel neare spent shall you haue in the house and worde of God contynually to your Christian consolation in Christ by repentance and fayth in him not onely to ioye with Symeon but with the whole Church of God to say most assuredly Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace c. Further consider gentle Reader that Symeon speaketh here of naturall death when he sayth he departeth in peace and yet he calleth his death not a destruction but a departure And a departure for thrée causes He departeth from this life and hath no more fellowship with those that lyue on the earth or they with him as men with men to be benifited And also his soule departeth from his bodye for a season and hath no more participation therewith tyll the day of Resurrection but this is also a departure for the soule dyeth not with the bodye but lyueth bicause she is immortall Thirdly he departeth from the vally of misery into the Mountayne of all ioy and felicitie into the Heauens there to raigne with God for euer In assurance whereof he concludeth his lyfe to depart in peace saying Now Lord thou lettest me depart in peace but al this warrant hath he from the spirite of God wherefore he addeth according to thy worde Eccle. 9.5.6 But as concerning the fyrst departure Ecclesiastes sayth The deade departed know nothing at all neyther haue they any more a reward For their remembrance is forgotten Also their loue and their hatred and their enuye is nowe perished they cannot by their loue profite those left behinde them No profite after death from the lyuing in earth or yet by their hatred had they any doe them hurte And they haue no porcion of all that is done vnder the sunne This doctrine considered the forged frame of popishe Purgatory must néeds fall out of our hartes For if of those prayers which daylie in popery be made for the deade the departed haue no portion howe vayne a thing is it to imagine a purgatory from whence our friends Soules are fetched by our sundry déedes for them As by Trentals Diriges Requiem and restles Masses Almes deedes Popes pardons and prayers for all christian soules with Aue Maria Amen Whose pelfe yong babes can scoffe and saye in these dayes Come tye the Mare Tomboy A cake a cake for all christian soules De profundis Salue Regina Godfather But if of these dead workes vnder the sunne done the departed haue not their portion as the spirite of God in this Canonicall Scripture sayth they haue not how wicked an opinion is popery Euen a damnable synke of most blasphemous false doctrine At the hower of death he had his iudgement Luc. 16.26.27.28.29.30.31 Diues is presently condemned to Hell and Lazarus from sentence sent to Abrahams bosome and thence cannot remoue though the cryes of the dead be many or the necessitie of teaching the lyuing neuer so great They haue Moyses and the Prophets Eccle. 11.3 sayth Father Abraham let them heare them And as the Tree falleth East or South and so lyeth Euen so as a man is founde by the spirite of God at the houre of his death so shall he be placed in the daye of his Resurrection when the soule shall be revnited to his body Thence forth in body and soule for till that daye onely the soule hath the iudgements censure to receyue the rewarde of their state in this mortall lyfe And this is most fyrmely proued by the words of our Sauyour in Iohn thus Ioh. 5.28.29 The hower shall come in the which al that are in their graues shal heare his voyce and they shal come forth that haue done good vnto the Resurrection of lyfe but they that haue done euil vnto the resurrection of condemnation Marke well he sayth not they whose friends haue done well for them they beyng dead but he sayth they which themselues haue done good shall go to lyfe Againe he affirmeth the state of the dead to remayne alwaies one and the selfe same that it was at the hower of death For he sayth not vnlesse their friends by their prayers their deuotions their déedes and their other Pelfe hath changed their condition synce death But thus the Lorde of truth which cannot lye Christ Iesus sayth They they which haue done euil and dye without his speciall gifte of repentance they shal go to Hel. And thus shall the matter stand in the day of Iudgement sayth Christ in the Gospell after saint Mathewe Mat. 25.41 Departe from me yee curssed into euerlasting fyre which is prepared for the Deuil and his Angels for I was an hungry you gaue me no meate c. But percase they might aunswere our friends gaue penny dole for vs during the dayes of the worlde But still this answere they shall haue Departe from me ye curssed into Hell you I say you gaue me no breade O poore Papists forget not Math. 25.1.2.3 c. how that the Virgins which had no Oyle
their whole actions nowe and to the worldes ende in his present eye and skyll They are to him as present as though they were nowe done before our eyes All things are open naked before his Maiestie 1. Cor. 12.2 This knowledge of the Deuill therfore is of an other inferiour sorte and yet not all after one manner To men in earth is giuen by skyll some foreknowledge of things to come As fyrst they consyder the causes and so certainly iudge of the effects to followe Some causes necessarily drawe their effects some by interception of occurrent matter are cut of so that the effect can in no wise followe The causes drawing their effects giue men their warrant to foretell of that to come whose cause cannot but bring the same So the experte Astronomian by his skyll in arte Mathematicall and séeing the coniunctions and oppositions of the celestial partes can and doe many yeares before for mo then many after to come truely and euydently foretell of the Sunne and seuerall Eclypse is of the Moone al which in truth and déede shall follow and come to passe The other are not of lyke certainety and yet doe men not doubt to iudge by them for that the causes contynuing the effect must needes follow but the cause cut off the effect is taken away As for example that man is a contynuall prodigall person a common dronkarde and a great whoremonger If these causes contynue in him it is of necessity that beggery shal be his best end So do the Sea men by the mayden heyres also so they call the little disperpled cloudes whose endes retourne vpwardes much lyke vnto our Gentles frysled heades in these monstruous dayes a token no doubt of sodaine stormes to come presently déeme of a tempest to aryse The Phisition by the prognostication of the pulse doth foresée the euente of his pacient in his weaknesse and such like But if this knowledge be graunted to be in wise and cunning learned men much more is it to be graunted to infernall Spirites which are not dulled by the grosse humors of mens nature Adde to this their ancient experience in matters their causes and effects done and come to passe in the world synce the begynning of the same all which they haue in perfite memorye And if experience of passed things doe cause olde fathers warely to wayte the successe of lyke matters to come are preferred before the gréene heade for wisedome howe shall we not be forced to yéelde as much and more to the Deuill whose dayes are before accountes and yet not without tyme and memory passing rype Moreouer they haue a substance swift as the wynde and before the Swallow Deuilles swift as the wynde can flée the circuite of the earth and what is done this daye in the extremitie of the East can hereby declare it spéedily after in the Weast Further they are placed in the heauenly ayre Ephe. 6.12 as in a most high Turret of watch whence they may beholde the actions of men a farre of and declare the same instantly as it were by prophecy And once to make an end hereof I say they sée the propheticall scriptures by their skyll in them admeasure the actes of the Church thorowe which knowledge they become verye rype runners in things to come Yet notwithstanding The Deuil deceyued they are often deceyued and moste of all deceyue those which rest vpon their answers For the Lorde doth in his change the harts and so the actes of men from that they were by which Satans foreiudgement is preuented of sorowful euent to follow yea oft times in the twinckling of an eye he stoppeth the causes their effectes As who woulde not haue sayd when the thrée children were cast into the burning ouen Dan. 13. that they should haue perished by fyer but euen there and then began firste the best argument of there long lyfe where and when the Angell euen the sonne of God was sent to stop the cause and coole the flames and in the mydst of them to preserue his seruants and their clothes from hurte by flame or smell of smoke But this could not the Deuill foresée Againe God in his deuine wisdome doth suffer and appoynt the bodies of his saintes to be consumed to ashes in the fyre and to death in other extreme persecutions so as Satan by thys meanes is most often blynded and knoweth not what to say They are deceyued also many tymes partly for that they knowe not the wyll of God further then it is made knowne to them partly for that they cannot déepely enter into the harts of men For that is onely proper to God to be the sercher of the hart and raynes Ier. 17. And many times they doe deceyue by ambition their worshyppers in cause they would seeme ignoraunt in nothing But to relye vpon our aunswere to this obiection that the Deuill cannot foreknow Thou séest gentle Reader what hath bene layde before thine eyes herein and thereby mayst perceyue that he is not altogether bereaued of foreknowledge but many wayes enabled too in some sortes and by degrées therein And touching Sauls case Satan knew very well by that was in proofe practised how the matter stood betwéene the Iewes and the Palistins he sawe the Israelits armye weake and halfe discomfited he sawe that Samuell had prophecied Sauls depriuation and that Samuell had anointed Dauid in his succéeding place and therfore he concluded Saule to be with him the morrowe after But Saule he killed himselfe Ioh. 8. and so became the sonne of his father Satan which is a lyer and a murtherer from the beginning and expresseth himselfe herein to be both at once A lyer in that he sayth he is Samuell and is not but the false deceyuer Satanas a murtherer in that kylleth the soule of Saule by feeding his fantasie in that abhomination which is forbidden by the Lorde Deut. 18. namely that anye should aske counsell at the deade And so haue we I truste sufficiently answered that scruple whether the Deuil can predicere foretell of things to come No necessitie therfore that this Spectrum should be Samuel when as so playne proofe is that Satan doth know much and can also in sundry wayes foretell which to the ignorante séemeth prophecie of matters hereafter to be performed This knowne the second prop to say that of necessitie this was Gods Prophet Samuel falleth of himselfe downe to the dust Neyther did the Prophetes of God at anye tyme prophecy tyll they had receyued from the Lorde his good pleasure wherfore they alwayes say Haec dicit Dominus Thus sayth the Lord. Or is the Lorde so scanted of Prophets or prone to consent to the wickeds desyre that from the dead he will and must call vp his departed seruants Nay both of these is denyed in that story of Diues and Lazarus Luc. 16. Esa 8.19.20 They that lyue are denyed of the appearing of the deade and
vnder foote his death most auayleable and glorious Thou shalt dye a death immortall and ignominious But the heartes of the regenerate sonnes of God feare not death bycause they are assured by his spirite to lyue with Christ This is the cause why so manye Martyrs wyllingly giue their bodyes to the fyre and other deaths terrible to the fleshe Phil. 1.29 bicause his spirite which maketh them on this wise to confesse his holye name goeth with them through the midst of the flames and corroborateth their hartes moste constantly to wade through the valley of this shadowe of death by fayth in him Secondly the children of God Hebr. 12. for the moste parte are so farre from fearing naturall death that they desyre and couet the same as the last remedy against the enimy Satan 1. Cor. 15.26 Rom. 7. Ephe. 1.14 Luk. 21.28 Rom. 8.23 as the day of delyuerie from the body of synne lastly as the dore of entrance into their eternall redemption by Christ The wicked we graunt to hunger for death many tymes but it is not to shut vp the shop of synne but by that meane to ende the daies of their deserued shame And hereof come so manye murtherers Iudas children which ashamed to liue being charged with a most guyltie conscience doe hang drowne or cut their owne throates which is the force of Satan in them as thereby beginning their endlesse sorrowes but in the godly there is this mature moderation for as they most hartilye with Paule desyre to be dissolued So they submit themselues moste humbly to his worde of decrée Phi. 1.21.22.23 c. in their appointed course regarding the place they haue and the office they beare wherein their lyfe God will vse longer then their desyre to the profite of those to whome he hath giuen them for his honorable instruments to the benefite of his beloued Church Wherfore they restrayne theyr peticions in Symeons lyne thus O Lorde when it pleaseth thée according to thy worde for my dayes are thereby numbred which I shall not passe Note here that no Papist in the perswation of Popery can say vnto his soule Now shall I depart in peace according to thy worde No Papist in Popery can dye in peace For neyther hath Popery or any part therof warrant thence or doth that profession worke peace in the conscience of his pacient at the hower of death but farre the contrary For if when Satan féedeth their ignorant humors and with pleasure draweth them to the profession they neuer therein can finde sure foote of stay to quyet their minds for sinne How shall they thereby feele that necessary bulwarke and Ancor of health at the instant of natures farewell when that subtill Serpent doth now no longer dally but draw them into despaire shewing them the multitude of their sinnes their securitie in euil their ignorance in God their doubt of his fauour which is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Popery his seuere iustice and their forlorne estate Then aske they by what meanes shall I passe his iudgemente By Masses sayth one by the Popes pardon sayth an other by the merits of the saints sayth the thirde But then doth Satan sharply fight against the wounded conscience and openeth the truth as thereby further to pierce his conscience to death and enforcing to his harte these things cannot helpe thée thy trust is vaine in them Against which temptation what helpe in Popery They are fayne to cry this is thy helpe euen Iesus Christ but then his comfort is cut short in that they pull his meditation from the Lorde crucifyed and lay on bed before him a brasen Crucifixe They tell him that his friends shall praye for him and the Church shal be plyed with Trentals to delyuer him from Purgatory which doctrine is most troublesome and so the poore Papist for all that Popery can doe dyeth thereby moste doubtfull of rest if not most fearefull of eternall payne Consyder this well there is not the best treasure in Popery that doth warrante thée peace in death If the death of Christ be not sufficient hereto so say they most blasphemously where then shall we haue it in the Masse No for then would that sacrifice sometime cease But so long as the worlde endureth euen so long will they if God ouerthrowe not their seate contynue that deade sacrifice for the dead soule in whose cause it is daylie song or saide Doth not this argue a doubt of valor in the Masse And also of the peace of the soule for whome it is called Requiem Is not this true Can this worke peace in the hart Popery yeeldeth no quyet to mans conscience when the best account made at the foote therof he fyndeth an arrearege which his soule is to aunswere in burning fyre and flaming brimstone in a Purgatorie of payne whence he cannot by all the cunning of Popish arte know when or how to be delyuered Smale quyet in conscience to a poore Papist which séeth no remedy but that he muste from lyfe to death from earthly troubles to hellish paines without intermission to be boyled in lead and imprisoned by Deuils in paynes incurable O poore harte be wise in God imbrace his word beléeue in his Christ walke in his statutes by the grace of his spirite so shalt thou be assured that the popish Purgatory is Hell from whence no man can be delyuered So shall all terror of death be drawne from thée Luc. 16.16 Ephe. 1.13.14 1. Ioh. 5.10 Rom. 8.1 for his holye spirite shall seale thée vp to redemption and the witnesse shal be within thée agaynst Synne Satan Pope and Hell that no condemnation can come to thée which by fayth art ingraffed into Christ whose lyfe is not to walke after the wicked fleshe but after Gods holye spirite guyding thy soule and body into true righteousnesse and sanctification during thy naturall lyfe By this rule onely shalt thou obtayne peace but to the wicked sayth the Prophete vz to the Papist lyuing and dying in Popery there shall be no peace Esa 48.22 Obiection And here I preuent this obiection What say you then of all our forefathers in the long time of Popery are they all without peace What is become of our forefathers in Popry Are they all condemned No God forbid When Achab and Iesabell had ouerrunne all Israell with Idolatry so that Helias supposed hymselfe onely to stande for the cause of God 3. Reg. 19. the Lord answered that he had reserued seauen thousand that is to saye a great multitude in euery part of Israell which did not bowe the knée to Baal Nero was a most cruell persecutor of Christes Church and yet saint Paule wytnesseth Iesus the Lorde Phil. 4.22 to haue his Churche euen in his persecuting Courte But ye will saye these were drawne by preaching of the worde but in Popery the worde is kept hydden from the people It is so Yet we doubt not but as at the
miseries of sinne but so as with griefe and anguishe of heart they carry that lumpe of death Yet they in pacient mortification by his holy spirite wayte his tyme set for their delyuerie and earnestly desyre the same Note also the right ende of this peticion which by the wicked and desperate is abused A due respect in the desyre of naturall death The godlesse cumbred with piercing sting of conscience ashamed of their state and looking for his heauye iudgement doe also desyre and cry for death So doe the poore ignorante persons which in pryson in Gallyes or Iayles and pyning in payne The poore oppressed the néedie which cannot haue to satisfie the hungry crye of their children and selues the sick pacient which long hath lyen of an incurable disease These and such lyke desyre death but it is not to the right ende for which it should be desyred They only haue respect to the present paine or shame and to fynish that they do not onely desyre but the wicked desperate persons in despite of God his holy lawe and instinct of Nature doe with the pernicious knyfe of perpetuall paine bereaue for a tyme the sorrowes of thys synfull corps But such desperate death is the purchase of Hel with Iudas Achitophel king Saule and such others Now the true and lyuely ende of this peticion in the elect of God is That least they should by to much acquaintance wyth finne and death become resty in the bed of hir delight and so be slayne Sap. 4.11.12 sléeping with Holophernes in dronken pleasures of the fleshe the same daylie more and more assaulting them they doe pray for death as for the last remedye and perfite victory against sinne and Sathan Yet so as I saye still they doe by fayth in hope suppresse the dolorous griefe of sinne in lyfe with the continual meditation of the inwarde ioyes receyued by grace in Christ and therein solace themselues as with the earnest penny of their Fathers possession which they are assured of when the Lord in mercy shall call them to himselfe by death Till when they punishe this bodie of sinne least it shoulde proue to lustie 1. Tim. 5.23 but they nurrish nature weakned that she may the sooner and the better yéelde the office which their seuerall callings doe require And this is the heauenly ende of our desyre to die that so we may receiue to our selues that life which now is treasured vp for vs with GOD in Christ which is our onely lyfe Col. 3.1.2 And thirdly the loue and longing desyre which in the saintes is apparant for the whole and perfite ioye of the Church the Apostle S. Iohn manifesteth in these wordes O Lorde come quickly Apo. 22.17 which there is approoued by the Lorde who to the comforte of his Church sealeth vp thys prayer with Amen Saying So be it Beholde I come quickly Amen Lorde perfite vs in thée and shortly ende these dayes of sinne for thy holye names sake Lorde Iesu and giue vs that truely call vpon thée thy eternall glorye Amen Last of all when Symeon sayth Lord now let thy seruaunt departe in peace he doth teach vs to abhorre all troublesome and murtherous kinde of death And doth cōuince all those guyltie of this precept Thou shalt not kill which in any maner haue slaine themselues for any cause Symeon abhorreth al troublesome and murdering deaths And doth forewarne the Church of God to flye such damnable enterprises which are no other but the perswasions of Satan and the acte herein is the obsequie of his deadly will Though Symeon desyre to dye and that death is to him comfortable in that he hath séene in bodye and soule the Sauyour of the worlde come now in fleshe to saue his Church by the ransome of his bloud which fayth only maketh death desyred in hart yet will he not shorten his life by sodaine crueltie to be a Felondese But he will dye as hath ordayned the wyll of God And therefore he addeth according to thy worde What shall we then say to them which else haue their great commendation in that to auoyde some the dayes of tyranny some other the sight of Gods church persecuted or to auoyde the purpose of synful persons or the infamy of synne or therby thinking to glorifye God haue from the consistory of the harte giuen commission and commaundement to the violent hande to cut in sunder soule and bodye by murthering stroake of merciles arme Truely I say that neyther Cato Razias Lucretia Curtius or his lyke are sure warrants to thée or yet the Donatists which to bring the Christian Byshops into contempt would offer to kill themselues rather then to prouoke the Emperours sworde against them which they spake to winne more ease when the godly Bishops craued his ayde against their pernitious pollution and yet would they be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cato in kylling himself thought to be ridde of Caesars tyranny by which meanes he offred himselfe to Sathans bondage yea he conuinceth himselfe of folly when he exhorteth hys sonne to obey and séeke the peace of Caesar from whome he ran by murthering death If it were good and a wise parte for his sonne to obteyne the Princes fauour why not for the father also His impacience which could not suffer himself to liue a bearing subiect was a thousande partes worse then the Tyrants crueltie But thou which fearest God hast another rule if the Prince be neuer so cruel thou art commaunded to pray for him that thou mayest liue a quyet godly honest lyfe 1. Tim. 2.12 which thing sayth Paule in that place is good and acceptable What to kyll himselfe from Nero his tyranny being a persecuted christian No but that God will vnder his Regiment giue thée at length a quyet lyfe For the same cause Ieremy sendeth by Baruck Baruk 1.11.12 exhortations to the afflicted Iewes in captiuitie vnder Nabuchadnezar that they should pray for his lyfe Persecuting Princes muste bee prayed for How much more ought wee to call vpon God for such as professe hys Gospell that they might also lyue quyetly vnder him And the Apostles doe arme vs to pacience and vnto forbearing of tyranny with long suffering as well by their owne example as doctrine But in no waies haue they eyther slayne themselues to be ridde of prisons Irons cruell murther or tyranny but haue sought by all meanes rather to maintayne their lyfe to doe more good therein to the Church of God then to hasten their ende by violent stroke For thys cause did Paule exhorte Timothie to pacience willing him to suffer aduersity to do the worke of an Euangelist 2. Tim. 4.5 and to make his ministery knowne He telleth him that he is now ready to be offred to dye for Christ but he feareth it not or will preuente Nero his cruelty by his owne hande but will lyue till the daye of his dissolution which the Lorde hath set
thys golden aunswere she gaue him It were a most wicked thing sayth she to take this temple of God my body once dedicated to his honor to cast it nowe eyther to Idolatry or fleshly lusts Secondly I am condemned to death for my Lorde Christ and louing husbande by your maysters sentence and am preparing my selfe thereto What should I now yeelde to wickednesse and luste But this is farre vnsytting your Lords estate to alure me a poore condemned prisoner to so lasciuious lyfe and by fugred words from tyrannous harte to counterfeyte suche fayre promises And if I could be thus bewitched to damnation yet howe coulde I be perswaded of the softnesse of Maxentius harte that cannot be mollified in the flowing Ryuers of our christian blood which euery daye he so cruelly sheddeth But now this Tyran was more set on fyre by these godly denials and would haue forced her had not she wisely for the tyme perswaded him from whose face as by intermission for a tyme escaped she priuily fledde forsaking her house her riches and all she had and that in the night tyme with her chast body from the face of so fylthie a Prince and corrupted Courte This Matrone had both regarde to her religion and therefore would not offend against it which sayth Thou shalt not kyll and to her chast conuersation also which caused her to flie from that satanicall synke of Venus Court And for the Romish Matrone I say her harte God might enclyne to him by repentance in the twinckling of her death so in her Christ vouchsafe her pardon But I cannot sée her acte to bée soundly warranted when as we may not doe an euill that good may come thereof Rom. 3.8 Deut. 23.25 But surely the violent force to adulterous acte is both by the lawe of God and man layde vpon the oppressor onely and the oppressed is set frée If a man fynde a betrothed mayde in the Féelde and force her In forced extremitie the compelled in thys syn guyltlesse and lye with her then the man that lay with her shall dye alone and vnto the mayde thou shalt doe nothing bicause there is no cause of death in her For as when a man aryseth against his neighbour sayth the Lord and woundeth him to death so is this matter Againe she cryed and there was none to succour her Loe the violator of virginity shal dye and the deflowred being hereto forced shewing her whole and contynuall power to the contrary she is by the lawe of God adiudged innocent Here is then the lawfull remedy against rape and pollucion Not with Lucrece to yéelde and then to kyll or with christian Sophronia to fall into an extreme miserie to auoyde a pestilente mischiefe but with best aduised Dorothe to flée and if you cannot with chaste Susanna to fall into the hands of Gods direction to vse all power ye may to kéepe your bodyes impolluted But in no wise kyll your selues for that is repugnant to the law and will of God which kynde of death whatsoeuer your good intentes bee God hath promised to reuenge vpon the impenitent And to conclude this matter wherein for the dangerous subtyltie of flattering temptation I haue sayde somewhat the more I say as Father Augustine sayde If we shal to auoyde sinne in vs déeme it lawfull to kyll our selues we shoulde not suffer our bodyes to lyue one little whyle after baptisme For what is he that lyueth and synneth not Not lawful to kyll our selues therby to shun synne But he that kylleth himselfe or others with bloudy hande that is without lawful authority from his God and Magistrate let him heare what the almightye sayth thereto Surely I will require your bloude wherein your lyues are at the hande of euery beast will I require it and at the hand of man euen at the hande of a mans brother will I require the lyfe of man that is to say whatsoeuer it be that taketh the lyfe from man whether it bée your selues that kyll your owne lyfe whether it be a beast that flayeth you or if it be thy owne brother that murthereth thee thy selfe that beast this thy brother shal answere his bloud for thine Looke for this ye tyrannous opressors ye Popish murtherers beastly butchers of Gods saints ye blinde guydes and dombe Dogs ye ydle shepeards ye obstinate heretikes ye théeues and murtherers for mens purses ye brawlers and fyghters and you that kyll your selues tremble and feare So then we maye not for anye cause by how much soeuer we should seeme to praise God or to auoyde daunger of the heathen or yet to kéepe oure bodies chaste from sinfull bedde by anye meanes laye violente hands vpon our selues thereby to bereaue our lyfe for that act is damnable We are to hate flee from syn as from a Serpent and to desyre the Lorde to ende the dayes therof Eccle. 21.2 and to delyuer vs from that euil Satan and his bodye of iniquitie yea and that by death but yet so that the same may be to vs in peace estranged from al violence in our selues and alwayes according to his worde To thys our holy Symeon giueth vs instruction to whose succéeding words we will giue eare which giue to vs the cause of his peticion thus For mine eyes haue seene thy Saluation During the dayes of Israels miserie Symeon euer hoped after release whereby he teacheth vs how plunged in Popery we should expect the returne of Gods holy gospel whereof we haue in our childrens daies had eftsoones the experience God make bs thankfull therefore And this is natural that after Winter commeth Sommer after stormy tempest serenious season and after the darknesse of the night the bright shyning day So is it also the spirituall course of God in his Christ from time to time as the testimony therof in the scriptures is most apparante We now are with ioye of heart to imbrace the Halcion dayes our Sommers warmth this quyet raigne the shyning countenance of Gods good fauour to vs mauger the malice of all Romanists at home and abroad and with effect but not in vayne to receyue the light of the gospell yet plentifully casting his blessed beames least we haue greater cause to saye when we see darknesse againe to shadow the sunne beames of righteousnesse Lord that we were with Symeon dead in peace from the miserable deaths we are lyke to féele in the sworde of thy wrath And nowe sayth Symeon that as well my bodily eyes as the inward of my soule haue séene thy sauing health Nowe Lorde for thys cause shall I dye most wyllingly But if so the naturall sight of Christ as yet an infante and subiect to infyrmities whose glorie yet was holden in the bodye of the little Babe wrought such and so great ioy in heart assurance in death to this good Symeon how muche more ought the same Christ to worke in vs quietnesse of conscience nowe that he is glorifyed and the
teache hymselfe that he is to the hartes of men When he was at Iacobs Well with the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4.10 he tooke occasion by the Metaphor of water to teache her the lycour of lyfe By the desyre the Iewes had to earthy bread therfore followed him Ioh. 6.15 Luc. 5.3 he began to teach himself to be the bread of lyfe And teaching in the shyp by that myracle of Fishes he taught the Apostles the waye to catch men The same thing he vseth in these wordes I am the lyght c. For teaching in the morning in the Temple the Sunne nowe shyning moste brightly bewtifying the place to the great delight of the beholders he calleth them from the terrestriall to the sonne of righteousnesse affirming in him to finde the true properties of the glorious sonne in déede First as the Sunne is a most pure Planet most bryght and cléere defyled with nothing wheresoeuer it shyneth but maketh the darke and fylthy places more open to the eyes of men So Iesus Christ the brightnesse of his fathers glory Col. 1.15 is of nature most pure and holye and albeit he hath taken oure nature vpon him lyued amongst vs did accompany wyth synners to their good and abhorred not to eate with Publicans yet was he nothing defyled therby but by him these fylthy persons made wholy to know themselues through him were illuminated and fully sanctifyed The Sunne that is to say the light doth so shyne that himselfe may be séene of vs and doth make all other lyuing creatures to sée by him So Iesus Christ our light doth so manifestly in his nature appeare that the insensible heauens and earth do know him he doth so powre by his spirite the beames of his brightnesse into the hartes of hys beloued that they by his spirite and resplendishing Scriptures both perfitly as fleshe may know God the Father and his Christ and all things else which be eyther necessary or expedient to their saluation in him besydes whom there is none other Act. 4.12 Psal 36.9 Thys compelled Dauid to say With thee O Lord is the Well of lyfe and in thy lyght shal we see lyght Through christs light we see God to be our father hym the lord to be our Sauior And as the lyght discouereth darkenesse and refresheth the toyled bodyes in former obscuritie Euen so Christ remouing the former ignorance of God in vs banyshing the terror of cōscience doth most magnificently recreate our sences and refreshe our spirites renouate our conscience quyet oure soule and replenishe vs with ioye And lyke as the lyghte doth not onely in darknesse of night guyde our footesteps but helpeth vs aright to our whole businesse So Christe that eternall worde of God is the Lanterne to our feete and the light to our labours Psal 119. in that the doctrine and preceptes thence shyning to vs doe direct our darke soules into the paths of righteousnesse and that for his owne names sake And as light banyshing darknesse openeth to mans eye many things which in mircke midnight were not onely shadowed The commodities of light but also sheltered and so vnknowne that many adulters théeues murtherers and wicked persons by her were couered Iohn 3.19 and nowe by light disclosed for which cause naturally they loue darknesse hate the lyght So Christ hauing by his worde of most cléerenesse and heauenly power banyshed from Realmes Familyes and persons the darknes of ignorance maketh knowne to them their syns and reproueth their errors accuseth the corruptiō of mans nature and playnely maketh vs sée that all those things which without him we most imbraced are most fylthye and horrible And this is the cause why all such as wallow in wicked lyfe and false Religion doe hate Christ in hys Gospell to this present daye Ioh. 3.19 but to their vtter ruine and selfe condemnation Lastly as one shyning Sunne serueth the vniuersall worlde and is the onely Fountayne of light to all lightes in the same So the bright sonne of God our righteousnesse Christ is the onely author of spirituall light whome the Father of lights hath onely giuen to the whole worlde And he doth lighten euerye man that commeth into the worlde Ioh. 1.9 neyther will he admit any copemate to be ioyned with him What church is not guyded by our lyght Christ onely is eclypsed and bloudy to Christ and his members but kéepeth the whole Regimente in and to himselfe For as the Moone the figure of Gods Church receyueth at the handes of the Sunne her lighte and is so much darkned as she wanteth of his brightnesse So the Churche of God not kept with the countenance of Christs shyning face and Gospell is wrapped in the wayne of darknesse but lightned by his truth she is most gloryous and her naturall spottes shall not deface her yet both Moone and Church remayne to be light by hym else as opposite to him they are eyther darke or bloody or one or bothe Let no man obiect to me Lightened by Christe her spots do not hurt her that the Apostles are called also lightes of the worlde for that hath the true light imported in mercye to them by borrowed spéeche as we may call the Lanterne a light Eph. 5.25.26.27 bicause the light shyneth by and through it vnto the whole housholde And so are the Apostles called lights not bicause they are the light Christ How the Apostles and preachers of the worde are called lighte but bicause they bring vnto vs the true light that dwelleth in them which doth also by them and their labours preaching and wryting shine into the vtmost partes of the earth to the great comforte of all those that loue the same To conclude great is the mercye of our good God séeing the darknesse of the world so greate that no otherwise it could be discouered remoued gaue vnto vs this his owne son whome he hath made to vs the onely light of God to Iew and Gentyle that we should not for wante of safe conduction perishe in our wandring passage Now the vse of thys light and wherto he is giuen vs of God Symeon doth tell vs and sayth it is that he should be reuealed vnto the Gentyls and to be the glory of the people Israel Two things also the good father telleth vs in these words Fyrst that the ages from tyme to tyme should knowe that this one Christ is to all them and people in them the one and onely saluation light guyde and delyuerer Christ is to all ages the the one and onely lyght to lyfe sygnified by the two Nations by him named Iewe Gentyle The lyke doth Esay before naming the Gentyls and addeth and health to the vtmost partes of the world So Christ himselfe concludeth saying as before is saide I am the lighte of the worlde that is to saye of euerye place in the worlde of all sortes of men women and chyldren