in God as in a good Father and might wholly seeke to him and cleaue to him as to the chiefe and souereigne good able to supply and satisfie all his desires aboundantly This being thus layd downe for a rule let vs by this comparatiuely proceed to try some points of Religion controuerted which are fundamentall or lye next to the foundation and iudge them right or wrong from the nature and quality of their doctrine that is whether they ayme at the right end The glory of God or at an oblique end the gaine of this world and the glory of Man that propounds them according to that direction which our Sauiour giues Iohn 7. 18. He that speakes of himselfe seeketh his owne glory but he that seeketh his glory that sent him the same is true and no vnrighteousnes is in him 1. First for Faith the foundation Our Aduersaries teach a faith which only beleeues the power of God to saue man wee teach a faith which beleeues both his power and will Theirs teacheth feare ours both feare and loue Theirs cloudes his mercy ours giues true glory both to his power and mercy 2. Secondly for hope Spes boni incerti our Aduersaries teach a hope which vncertainely expects a good to come whether they shal be saued or no they know not but they hope well whether there be a heauen prepared for them yea or no they know not but they hope well Wee teach a hope which the Scripture teacheth that is an earnest out-looking expectation and longing for the accomplishment of those gratious promises which God hath made to vs in his Word So our faith beleeues that there is a heauen and a heauen prepared for vs our hope longs for the time when this shal be perfected and taught by patience and experience stayes the Lords leysure and yet cries out Apoc. 6. 10. How long Lord how long They call this hope Presumption but wee know they are presumptuous for calling it so 3. Thirdly Solent Haeretici semper prospera polliceri caelorum regna peccatoribus pandere vt dicunt parata sunt tibi regna caelorum potes imiâ—ari maiestatem Dei vt absâ— peccato sis Accep stâ— enim liberi arbitâ—iâ— potestatem Hieron Com in Hier cap. 23. for Charity They teach what Charity is truly but in this they erre that they make it that is the charity of man to be the cause which moues God to saue vs nay which deserues and merits saluation of God And this Charity they teach so to depend vpon Free-will as thereby they exalt the nature of man conceale his fall and make the decree of God to be grounded vpon the mutable and vnconstant will of man We on the other side teach that our saluation wholly proceedes from the charity and loue of God and that all meanes conducing to that end rise from the same fountaine of loue and so our charity as an effect of that charity of God to vs serues not as a cause moouing God to saue but followes as a cause declaring whom God will saue And that our Charity as it is a fruite and effect of Gods Charity is true charity and the works proceeding from that charity of ours good but imperfect good as done by a person accepted imperfect as done by a sinner as done by a babe which growes and labors towards perfection which perfection is not wholly to bee attayned till this imperfection be wholly put away and corruption hath put on incorruption And therefore for merit wee are farre from it as a doctrine opposite both to our charity and to the charity of God To our charity because charity is a free worker not respecting the wages if she thinkes to merit she is not Charity To the Charity of God because if God gaue for the merit of our workes heauen were not properly a gift nor grace were not grace nor charity charity for charity is free Thus euen Adam himselfe in his integrity could not merit because bee had nothing but what he receiued he was indebted for his daily bread and for the grace he had to see and acknowledge this loue of God so whilst we are giuing thankes for benefites receiued wee are not paying our debts but running farther in for euery grace that wee haue is a new obligation To him that hath shal be giuen and wee are receiuing whilst we thinke our selues giuing Againe they teach Though Christ dyed for vs and though Gods grace guide and direct our actions and affections yet there are some sinnes left to be satisfied and discharged by our selues either in this life by workes of merit or pennance heere or heereafter by punishment in Purgatory Now this they doe teach not euer perhaps because they so beleeue but because it is a profitable error and they know they may easily vndertake to pardon all that come into Purgatory Besides it is a great glory for their Hierarchy to be sticklers in so large and spatious a roome as they fancy or faine it to bee not only to haue all earth but all Purgatory also within the verge of their Inquisition Now vvee teach the contrary because we see this doctrine derogatory to Gods infinite mercy and glory and to the infinite merits of our Sauiour As if God had forgot to be gratious or as if our Sauiours merits and actions were imperfect as our workes are or rather indeed as if our workes were perfect to merit supererrogate and his imperfect not able to do inough for all vvhen our Sauiours death did satisfie for all the faithfull and vvas sufficient for many vvorlds more and his merits vvere superaboundant for vs and for all that beleeue and repent Fiftly they say that after the vvords of consecration the bread is changed into the body of Christ as he was borne as he suffered This they doe to exalt the dignity of their Preisthood vvee teach the contrary that it is his body and truly eaten but both by faith after a spirituall manner as the Angels eate Christ in heauen by contemplation And this vvee teach both because vvee haue good testimony of Scripture vvith the whole choherence thereof and the Analagie of faith so to expound it as also because it makes more for the glory of God and the humiliation of man when our Aduersaries doctrine doth the contrary For doth it not call in question the truth of Gods word the truth of Christs body when we are led to imagine such a body as might be borne of the Virgin or not born might be crucified or not crucified being neither to be felt nor seene nor tasted yet to be taken vvith the hand eaten with the teeth receiued into the stomach And doth it not exalt man vvhen it makes him able to make his Maker And with his word to make him so as it should be in his power according to his intention will to haue him present or not present What is this else but to sit in the seate
gift and so resolutely to rest vpon the grace of the giuer as to assure himselfe and others of this crowne Presumption is faith with them and true sauing faith is Presumption When they heate him say Rom. 8. 38. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shal be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord they would gladly make this only a probable perswasion no certaine faith but others seeing this too grosse a dallying with the manifest scope of the Text say Saint Paule vvas assured of the certainty of his saluation of the happy end of his right way by extraordinary reuelation only But let it be so was it reuealed to him for others that beleeue too he saith so for he saith nothing shal be able to seperate vs Now then if it be reuealed to him for others let vs beleeue the reuelation and apply it with vnfained faith to our owne hearts in particular as he did to his And by the way obserue what it is that Saint Paule builds his faith vpon so that nothing can preuaile against it Is it vpon Peter that rocke Is it vpon Indulgences or Pardons of man Is it vpon personall righteousnes inherent iustice or his owne or other mens merits No It is vpon that rocke Christ Iesus it is vpon the loue and Charity of God in and through the merits of Christ Iesus our Lord which loue not death nor life nor Angell nor power nor heauen not hell can alter for Gods loue is immutable he is not as man that he should repent whom he loues he loues to the end his wayes seeme hard but the Yssues of them are the wayes of life Whereas therefore our Aduersaries accuse vs of nouel presumption for teaching a faith that may assure vs of our saluation and to elude this cleere place of Saint Paul and diuerse other the like say This was reuealed to him by extraordinary fauour Wee know and confesse that hee as a worthy instrument of Gods glory as a Master builder had many things reuealed vnto him for the edification of the Church but for this particular it was no otherwise reuealed to him then it is to euery faithfull Christian in vvhom the Spirit of God dwels as in a temple and there teacheth them to offer Sacrifice and to cry Abba Father with teares and grones that cannot be expressed Well may there bee a difference in the measure of the reuelation not in the matter reuealed Wee know saith Saint Iohn 1. Ep. 3. 14. that wee are translated from death to life c. and after verse 23. He that keepeth his commandement dwelleth in him and he in him and heereby wee know that he abideth in vs euen by that Spirit which he hath giuen vs. So the persons are wee not I not Saint Iohn alone but wee all that beleeue and loue for this faith and loue are inseperable Againe wee are translated not it is probable wee shal be but wee are vvhich makes it certaine by faith as if it were done and accomplished Lastly we know this and wee know it by the Spirit which God hath giuen vs the same Spirit that taught Saint Paule and Saint Iohn is our tutor too For other reuelations Christ himselfe hath silenced all pretences and shadowes and giuen absolute authority to the Scripture opened and interpreted by the Spirit of God to resolue all scruples in case of conscience Luk 16. 19 And this wee may see cleerely in the Parable of Diues and Lazarus where Diues after he had failed of his personall suite and could not obtaine a drop of mercy for himselfe yet requested Abraham to send one to his friends to forewarne them of the state he was in not that they might pray for him for that vvas to no purpose the tree was falne but that they might by repentance and amendment auoyde the danger themselues To whom Abraham giues this answere They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them so he turnes them to the Scriptures wherein the will of God is reuealed to euery man what they should shun what they should doe what they should beleeue and how they should liue And when Diues persisting in his suite saith Nay father Abraham but if one went vnto them from the dead they will repent Abraham replies definitiuely and resolutely If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead So wee see he that doubts the Scripture or beleeues any thing against it vnder pretence of reuelations from heauen or hell or Purgatory or the like fictions of Ghosts and Spirits appearing is in a wise case and may be drawne into a fooles Paradise but neuer into the true Paradise and so wander in this way which seemes right but the end thereof are the Yssues of Death To shut vp this point obserue the certainty of this iudgement as the Apostle Saint Iohn before in the 1. Ep. 3. Chap 14. verse speakes in the present Tence we know that wee are translated to note the certainty of their translation to glory so heere Salomon saith It is the way of Death and the end thereof is so to note the certainty of the thing And this is a plaine proofe of the Spirits assistance to discerne the end and determination of a thing before the end be come when otherwise it were too late to doe it For it is too late for Diues to repent in hell when the end is come he should haue attended better to Moses and to the Prophets before and beleeued the word of God not the foolish traditions of his forefathers against the Word or the idle old-wiues tales of his foremothers besides the Word he should haue attended the admonition of the faithfull Pastor and Prophet and not to the fained Legend of his flattering Patasites trencher-fed Chaplaines The perfection of all humane judgement is to iudge by the end and issue and euen heere wee often erre too but if man goes farther of himselfe by nature it is but coniecture and presumption arising from long experience in obseruation of like circumstances as the effect leades vs to the cause but yet euen then wee cannot say it is or certainely it shall bee but it may be so it may so fall out it may be the end of Death But the Spirit of God sees the end before it comes he sees the thoughts afarre off and iudgeth and warneth men aforehand inwardly by good and holy motions outwardly by the Scriptures and he that will not beleeue the holy Spirit of God in the Scriptures it is but iustice if God giue him ouer to a reprobate minde that he should be seduced and beleeue lies who would not receiue the truth of God but was transported with respect of times persons places and other humane Motiues And heere before wee
world went all wayes were alike to vs Looke vpon man and wife the Epitome of the Common-wealth was there euer such iarres so little loue such chopping and chaunging of wiues and husbands such Nullities such playing fast loose with the sacred coniugall knot such houses ouerthrowne by busie pragmaticall and disobedient Euahs and effeminate slauish and passiue Adams Looke in the streete if you can distinguish men and women asunder by their apparell or behauiour if euery Succuba seemes not an Incubus so that you had need of a Iury to inquire of their Sexes Consider well if there be such a thing as modesty and chastity or shamefastnesse left amongst women or courage manhood and honour left amongst men Looke vpon the highest if they make any other account of the poore then of their tame cattell I except their dogs and horses and perhaps their sheepe deere hogges for these must all be fed before them Looke vpon the Commons if their teeth grinde not with indignation as if they had stomach enough both to eate the beasts and their more beastly masters Looke vpon all men if sinnes of all kinds doe not abound See if you can distinguish the man from the Master but that perhaps the man goes brauer sweates lowder and wil be drunke sooner And if his Master keepe from Church for conscience sake he will keepe from thence because he hath no conscience Looke euery way if it be not a shame to seeme good much more to bee so If it be not a glory to regard neither God nor King Religion nor Lawe If they be not the only braue fellowes who dare doe the basest acts most boldly and in a drunken desperate moode iustle sober and silent Iustice from the wall into the Channell Behold if want hath not made a violent ceizure of vs all want of wealth want of strength want of courage want of wit want of conscience want of grace so that wee resemble the people of Laish spoken of in the 18. Chap. of the Iudges 7. 10. verses and so are a carelesse secure irregular Nation a fit prey for any Conqueror This is all true all men see it and confesse it but where is the cause of this Our sinnes they are both the cause the effect for sinne is punished with sinne And we that are euill Customers to defraud God of his due must looke to haue strict seuere Searchers and Controllers and watchers set ouer vs. But vvhere is that causa proxima of sinne Sinne is a cause indeed of sinne but it is causa remota so that euery eye cannot discerne that cause Why the next cause of sinne which euery eye may see is the lacke of Execution of good Lawes wee haue them but thy lie as Henry the fifts Bowes and Arrowes at Pomfret Castle with which he wan the battaile of Agincourt or Edward the thirds sword in Westminster which he vsed in the Conquest of Fraunce and tels vs now what braue fellowes our forefathers haue beene Heere only is the difference that sword is euer drawne but the sword of Iustice is euer in the Sheath Now my honorable Lords you haue the sword in your hands though not the scepter draw it foorth and strike with it the enemies of Truth and Iustice who wander out of the Kings high-way in their wayes of neighborhood and wayes of priuacy You heare Nehemiah say Cap. 6. 11. Should such a man as I feare It were a shame Should such as you either feare or fauour or respect causes or persons I cannot suspect such a cloud where there appeares such a shining Sun of graces and gifts of knowledge and profession I dare not admonish you of any thing I am so confident of your integrity Yet because I know as you are the eyes of the State the eyes of his Maiestie so you must see by othermens eyes and heare by other mens eares I turne me therefore to them Honorable Gentlemen the King hath made you Iustices to assist these Iudges in presence to supply by your authority their absence Shew your selues as your Predecessors haue done vvorthy of your places reforme what you can inform where you cānot that the higher power may I know you know you were not made Iustices of peace to the end to be silent but to speake He is vnworthy of his place vvho attaines it onely for his owne grace to hurt his enemies profit his followers to vphold his faction and partie and therefore attends his profit or pleasure rather then his calling vvhere withall he thinkes his conscience is not charged but that it is enough for him to sit on the Bench to tell the Clocke and keepe his Cushion warme You know and therefore doe the contrarie the Church the Common-wealth expects more from you and I excite you to this in their names And you Gentlemen of the Grand-Enquest and of other Iuries with chiefe Constables and pety Constables I turne me to you Consider you are the eyes and eares wherewithall Iustice sees and heares without you shee is blind and deafe let not preiudice or partialitie take vp your affections therefore aforehand Be not like Band-dogs muzled for feare of biting remember the dignitie authority and vse of your places and disgrace them not by your vnworthy cariage The poorest Constable is an eye to the richest and wisest Magistrate but few of them I feare haue eyes to see it and that their Certificates would witnesse if they were strictly examined which commonly are nothing but matter of forme and yet without either matter or forme Consider I beseech you how Policie hath set one eye ouer another and how many eyes there are ouer-looking all your voluntarie your wilfull your negligent and partiall escapes the petty Constables chiefe Constables Grand-Enquest the Iustices the Iudges and the whole County And you that are next the lowest consider the like and so successiuely as you are superordinate I ascend to you honorable Iudges who know you haue a King aboue you too vvho can distinguish of wayes discerne colours though all scarlet sinnes crying crimes be kept from his eyes and eares artificially Eccl. 5. 8. there is one aboue him too who rules the hearts of Kings as the riuers of waters and being aboue him he must needs ouersee vs all Psal 97. 9. Pro. 21. 1. Act. 15. 8. for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the searcher and seer of the heart There is a double worke at the Assises the triall of Nisi prius and Censure of manners This this last my Lords is the needfull the acceptable worke for we haue more neede of a Cato to reforme our corrupt manners then of a Cicero or Antony or Salust to purifie and polish our Language Wee all speake like good Angels but we liue like euill The Country Contention makes the Lawyer rich but the neglect of Iustice makes vs all poore Heere nothing profits but due execution which is then done when your honors do not only giue