vnto Rome If you would see these things more at large look Act. 19. 28. 20. 4. 27. 2. Mention also is made of him in Pauls Epistle to Philemon where among others named in that place hee is said to be Pauls helper as in this text hee is counted and called his prison fellow All tending to this end not onely to shew the manifold graces that God had vouchsafed to shew to Aristarchus which were manifested by sound fruits euen from the time of his conuersion to that present houre and particularly his zeale and constancie in the truth that by no tumults or trials did shrinke from it and his care and loue towards the Apostle with whom he stood foorth and abode euen in bonds but the better to moue the Colossians with godly ioy and loue to receiue a man of such worthie parts and to credit him in what he should say or in any thing they should send by him And this teacheth vs whom wee should best esteeme like of or credit euen those that haue bin most faithfull and fast to God his trueth and ministers For as we most mislike or should mislike them that are most wicked as the Prophet saith Psal 139. Doe not I hate them O Lord that hate thee yea I hate them right sore as though they were mine enemies so should we most dearely esteeme and carefully commend the most godly and faithfull that so we might say of our selues as the Prophet Dauid doth Psal 16. My goodnes reacheth not vnto thee O God but to the Saints that are on the earth all my delight is in them The second mentioned here is named Marke whom some interpreters make the second amongst them that were circumcised and are mentioned in this place I will not greatly contend about this though I haue before expressed my minde touching the same To me it seemeth that because Aristarchus was a Gentile and we reade nothing of his circumcision that it is manifest to thinke Marke to be the first of them who as it should seeme was a Iew or at leastwise descended of some Iewish parents and kinred and therefore likely yea certaine that he was circumcised Who this man was and what he was the holie historie will sufficiently declare and particularly wee may reade of him Act. 12. 12. and 13. 5. 13. and 15. 27. and in other places It should seeme he had two names Iohn Mark but this latter being his surname as appeareth Acts 12. 12. where also it appeareth that he was the sonne of one Mary a godly woman which likewise is manifested by this that the Church met in her house and that Peter after hee was deliuered out of prison came to the same place This man when Paul and Barnabas returned from Ierusalem was taken into their companie and ministred vnto them all their iourney euen vntill they came to Perga a citie of Pamphilia where departing from them he returned to Ierusalem by meanes whereof there arose that great controuersie betweene Paul and Barnabas mentioned in the Acts and that after they came from the Synod or Councell held at Ieruselem Act. 15. through which contention Paul and Barnabas were seuered and Barnabas tooke Marke who went with him into Cyprus But these iars and diuisions notwithstanding Mark was reconciled to Paul and was with him when he was prisoner at Rome and ministred vnto him in his bands as appeareth both in this place and also in the epistle to Philemon vers 24. and 2. Timot. 4. 11. where hee saith Take Marke and bring him with thee for he is profitable vnto me to minister And hee is described here by two adiuncts as I may say the first is his affinitie with Barnabas whose cousin he is said to be From whence we learne that affinitie amongst great men in the Church specially if they be godly and faithfull indeed should make them more esteemed among the Saints and should worke a greater estimation of them in our hearts euen for their kinreds sake by whom the Lord hath inlarged the glorie of his name amongst vs. Otherwise wee should shew our selues to be such as would not be moued neither by the graces of God in their callings nor by the gift of nature in their kinred flesh God hauing ioyned both together as it were in one person that by all meanes wee might learne to draw nigh vnto him and to say indeede amongst our selues O how beautifull are the feete of them that bring glad tidings euen the glad tidings of the Gospell Secondly he is set foorth as a man furnished with commandements from Paul and others in these words concerning whom ye haue receiued commaundements These commandements touching him were directed vnto diuers Churches and amongst the rest to that of Colosse The tenour or effect of the commaund was that if he came vnto them they should receiue him reuerently intertaine him kindly and pursue him with due honour as we would say as the true and faithfull seruant of Christ Iesus There might be many causes of this commaund but two especially worthie to be considered Men are backward to good workes generally and particularly to religious intertainment of the Saints This iniquitie Paul laboureth to preuent in the Colossians by this good caueat Againe because Paul had before refused to take him with him and that for this reason because he departed from Paul and Barnabas in Pamphilia and refused to be their companion in that worke and labour of the Lord and thereupon men might suppose that Paul caried that hard conceit of him still and particularly the Colossians might happily deeme that if hee should come vnto them hee was not meete to be admitted But the Apostle hauing proued his repentance and seene his syncere care to promote the Gospell did againe commend him to the Church And from hence we should learne that no former offences should be remembred or thought vpon after the heart is truly touched for them and men are mutually reconciled but that as God forgetteth and forgiueth whatsoeuer is past when men haue No vpbraiding with past transgressions after repentance vnfainedly repented so should his Saints and seruants doe vpon earth neuer remembring other mens past iniquities much lesse vpbrayding them with them specially when they haue shewed sure signes of amendment And therefore wee may see how much they are out of the way and mislead by Satans malice and their owne corrupt heart that will vpon euery light occasion hit men in the teeth with their former falles plainly manifesting by this that they neuer felt sin in themselues nor vnfainedly remitted the same in others for had they done so these and such like corruptions could not haue caried sway in them as we see it doth It followeth in the text And Iesus which is called Iustus Of this man being the second I take it of the circumcised mentioned here as we haue said before I finde no mention in any other place of the New Testament but in
as was betwixt God and vs before the reconciler came there was neuer Before the calling of the Gentiles by the Gospell so much bloud shed as was from the time of the fall of Adam to the cōming of Iesus Christ So there is a higher degree of miserie not onely strangers but enemies fighting against heauen with an vplifted hand This degree must follow the former It is not betwixt God and man as it is betwixt man and man One man may be a stranger to another and yet not his enemie but if thou be a stranger to God thou art his enemie A stranger to God is an enemy to him For Christ saith He that is not with me is against me Beware then of the first Turne not so much as thy foote from him but striue to be at home with him and to creepe to his house and to creepe vnder his boord otherwise thou shalt take vp a banner against him Now to goe to the words where begunne this strangenes and enmitie where is the first seate of it which is the fountaine whereof it springs It is not the bodie first it is not in the eye howbeit it be an enemie to God if thou stand in nature thou wilt lift vp a proud eye testifying that thou art an enemie to God it is not in the mouth howbeit thou blaspheme God therewith it is not in thy hand suppose thou fight therewith against the heauens but it begins within thee and the chaire wherein it sits is thy soule If thy soule were not an enemie thy eye and the rest of thy members of thy bodie could not be enemies It comes out of the heart that defiles the man saith Christ Matth. 15. 18. Then againe it begins not at the inferiour powers of thy soule at the sensuall appetite it goes further it begins at the minde of man so saith the Apostle that is to say at the chiefest power of the soule the Ephes 2. 3 minde the eye and the light of thy soule The Mistrisse the Queene that should haue kept all cleane she hath set vp a vile whore and troubles the whole soule This reason which should haue made the soule to see and know God she is the first enemie Very reason in the naturall man an enemie to God of God The very reason whereby thou not onely excels the beast but euen thy selfe is become a whore and greatest foe that God hath in man and abuseth the whole soule of man with her foule cogitation and it defiles the whole parts of the bodie the eye the hand and all the rest with her motion What is the cause of this that the first seate of this enmitie is in the minde and reason of man because all her musing is vpon euill workes she is set vpon them Nay muse what thou wilt if thou bee but in nature all thy musing and thinking shall be but enmitie against God For thou shalt muse nothing but of euill workes Ye know brethren the first deuiser of any mischiefe is the first enemie and not the executor he that abuseth others is the first enemie and lowne and should first dye But so it is the first deuiser of all euill workes is this corrupt minde of man If it come not first in thy mind would thy hand cōmit the euill No no it is first in thy minde and then she puts it out into the inferiour parts of the bodie And therfore if thou gets not grace the first thing that the Lord shall torment shall be thy mind and he shall so torment it y t thou shalt crie would to God when I had had a reasonable minde that I had been a beast Let the Philosophers speake of it as they please as Plato that sets vp the minde as a Queene and the Pope with his philosophicall reason disputing so finely as he troweth extolling nature and free will to good Note That mind of his and his rabble shall one day be wrung and rent in peeces with such torments as the tongue of man and Angell can not expresse And therefore it is that Paul commaunds so earnestly the Ephesians to bee first renued in their minds Eph. 4. 23. The greater reason not sanctified an argument of greater damnatiō It is the mother of all mischiefe and Idolatrie thou hast not to glorie in thy reason if so be it be not sanctified yea the greater conceit thou hast in reasoning the greater damnatiō except it be sanctified in that spirit of Iesus Christ This is the estate they were in before they were reconciled which the Apostle remembers them of that it should neuer go out of their minde Let neuer the stinke of nature goe out of thy mind but Let neuer the soule sent of thy naturall corruption goe out of thy minde weigh it diligently that thou maist giue thankes and praises to God for his grace and deliuerie Next he sheweth the manner how he reconciled them to himselfe and his father for all is alike marke the manner It is two-fold First in that bodie with an emphasis of his flesh The meaning is this he reconciled you by assuming and taking to him a true fleshy bodie hee calles it The bodie of the flesh to let vs see that the bodie which Iesus Christ bare in the world and that hee beares now in glorie at the right hand of the father is not a phantasticall bodie or an appearance of a bodie without soliditie as the Heretikes called it a mathematicall bodie a maiestaticke bodie All is but vanitie but it is a reall bodie as reall as euer the bodie of man was or is of flesh bloud and bones otherwise The bodie of Christ a reall bodie hee could neuer haue been a Mediatour to vs and wee could neuer haue been the better for him either in his death or life Then the first manner of our reconciliation is the assuming of this flesh of this bodie of man hee is first the sonne of God Bodie and soule then he takes to him the bodie the flesh and the soule of man The next word is by death that is by becomming a sacrifice in that bodie which he tooke to him For otherwise if hee had not offred vp his bodie he could haue done vs no good for it is the pearced bodie the shed bloud the vexed soule the tormenting of the man that redeemes and saues thee And therefore Christ suffered in soule when thou hast recourse to Christ goe not to him as hee is in heauen or as he was going vp and downe in Iewrie but goe to him hanging on the Crosse that is to his bloud to sprinkle thy soule otherwise he shall neuer profit thee The Father was not appeased in his wrath vntill hee got his bloud nothing will pacifie the conscience but onely this bloud of Iesus Now marke the Father reconciles vs to himselfe the Sonne againe he reconciles vs to himselfe This is common but in this worke there is a great
principalities and powers and hath made a shew of them openly and hath triumphed ouer them in the same crosse WE insist yet brethren on the description of God and of the effectualnes of his power Ye haue heard that he is described from his effects the workes that hee hath wrought The first effect and worke in which chiefly the effectualnes of his strong power vttred it selfe was the raising Coherence of Iesus Christ from the dead not by remitting him any sinne that he had done because he neuer sinned but simply he raised him by his power The second effect is the raising of the Colossians and generally of the Gentiles when they were dead in sinne and in that vncircumcision of the flesh But how by forgiuing them their sinnes for there is no life nor quickening of thee but by the remission of thy sinnes First that guiltines must be taken away before euer that spirit of life enter into thee The third effect that wee entred into the last day and now this day wee shall finish it by Gods grace and it is the quickening of the Iewes who had also as great neede to be quickened as the Gentiles had And Paul confesseth his owne miserie and wants naming himselfe among the rest But how by putting away the handwriting that was against them for besides the guiltines of sinne they had subscribed to their own guiltines for so oft as they vsed the ceremonies of the Law so often did they subscribe to their owne condemnation So that before they could be quickened it behooued that this handwriting should be scraped out It standing there was no forgiuenes to them so their life is by taking away of this handwriting But to proceede the last day we opened these words Hauing put away the handwriting of the ordinances that was against vs That is to say hauing put away the rites and ceremonies of the Law for Christ by his death abolished them all the which rites were as an obligation or handwriting subscribed by the Iewes against themselues sealing the guiltines of death and damnation for sinne Now to goe forward in the text as it followeth as God will giue grace Immediatly after these words marke euery word for they haue weight hee subioyneth which was contrary to vs he repeateth it againe but hee tooke it out of the way that is the handwriting of rites that was contrarie to vs and made not for vs the Lord Iesus took it out of the way It lay in our way and it was a sure stumbling blocke to vs and we were not able to remoue it nor to take it out of the way but yet the Lord Iesus hee taketh it out of the middest of the way So ye see there is nothing but a repeating of that that was spoken before howbeit in other tearmes he said before which was against vs now hee saith which was contrarie to vs al is one in effect Repetition of a thing is not without cause for the holy spirit neuer speaketh any word in vaine Thou and I may often spend words idly but the holy spirit cannot waste one iot or sillable The cause of this repetition is Paul cannot forget the thing that he and the rest had done against themselues and that that Christ did for them O if thou remembredst the benefits of God once telling thē ouer would Repetition not idle in Scripture not serue thy turne and it learneth thee neuer to forget that that thou hast done against thy selfe and that which Christ hath done for thee By that that thou hast done thou had dest beene vndone if this that Christ hath done had not beene done Besides this it serueth for the greater certaintie of that that was done He will force an assurance into thee both that thou hast subscribed to thy owne death and also that Christ hath taken away thy subscription that thou shouldest not doubt Woe to that vaine doctrine of doubting and woe to Doubting the doubting Doctors The dolts will bid thee doubt whether Christ hath taken away that subscription woe to such Doctors If wee will marke the words ye shall see an opposition that that thou hast done Iew or Gentile it is against thy selfe that that Christ hath done is for thee This lets thee see not only the Iew but the Gentile that thou art more beholding to Christ then to thy selfe thou subscribedst against thy selfe and if the Lord proceede vpon thy handwriting thou shalt certainly dye But Iesus Christ hath put that subscription of thine out of the way so that if thou be thankfull thou shouldest loue him better then thy selfe for the greatest enemie that man hath is his owne selfe And therefore shouldest thou not loue him better then thy selfe If thou doe it not thou shalt dye But not to leaue the force of the word for this word importeth a greater meaning then the other the word of blotting The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putting out The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take out of the way out was great indeede ducere transuersas lineas is a great word but to destroy the very tables paper and all and to rent it asunder is more then both Marke it for it lets vs see that his mercie is not halfed he shewes not a peece of mercie vpon vs. Men will halfen their mercie towards others but Iesus Christ halfens not his mercie towards vs but he perfecteth it If he once meant to shew mercie he wil not leaue that work till he end it and if he once meane to remit he will not leaue off till he haue freely forgiuen for that that he doth he doth it perfectly to his glorie and thy saluation The Pope will make him to halfen his mercie O vaine doctrine doest thou halfen the mercie of the Lord thou art a lyer the mercie of The guilt of sinne the punishment both remitted in Christ the Lord is perfect so that when hee remitteth hee remitteth both the sinne and the punishment thereof Now to come to the words that follow In the last words he sheweth how the handwriting is taken out of the way It was not after so light a manner as a man would take an obligation and rent it but before it could be rent it behooued the Lord to be crucified Well who would be hanged for another mans obligation and he being crucified he taketh that obligation and naileth it to the crosse and rents it asunder Now to make this plaine when Iesus Christ was crucified he was not crucified alone but many things were crucified with him and many things that same very houre were nailed to the crosse with him This handwriting of thine thy inditement that would haue condemned thee thy sinne originall thy actuall sinnes the death that followeth thereon and hell euen all these were nailed to the crosse with him finally that curse was crucified with him all died together hee died not alone all depended vpon his death he died first they