within them anie feare of God anie loue anie remorse of conscience any regard of the saluation of theyr bodies and soules in the life to come nowe at the last to rouse vp themselues out of the cradle of securitie and drousie lethargie of sin wherin they haue long slept and by the examples of bruit beasts to do the workes and offices of their vocation and calling Let vs cast off the workes of darknesse as the Apostle exhorteth vs that is the workes of sinne and put vpon vs the armor of light that is the workes of righteousnesse holynes and truth redeeming the time because the dayes are euill as the same Apostle in an other place willeth vs. Let vs consisider weigh that we are they vpō whom the endes of the worlde are come and that the bridegroome Christe Iesus standeth before the doores Let vs think that the iudge is at hand to sūmon vs to the dome who though he defer his cōming yet be sure he will come at the last and reward euery one according to his doings in this life whether they be good or bad Let vs thinke that he who hath committed his talents to vs wil one day demaund accompts of them Remember these things whilest thou hast time deare Christian do the workes of mercy Follow the councell of the holy Ghost by the mouth of Dauid Eschew euill and do good Seeke after peace and ensue it Oh let not bruite beasts and vnreasonable creatures goe before thee in the doing of their duties Think thus that hee to whome much is committed shall be accomptable for much then reason thus with thy selfe As the Lord hath bestowed many great blessings and graces vpon me far aboue many other of his creatures so will he require of me that I should loue honor obey magnify prayse and in all my actions glorify him more than any other creatures And knowe this whatsoeuer thou art high or lowe ritch or poore yong or olde that thy yeares nay that thy very dayes houres and minuts of hours which thou hast to liue are numbred with God and that thou canst not by any means possible passe the same no not the twinckling of an eye or the least period of time that may be therfore good Dauid prayed the Lord to teach him to number his dayes that he might know how long he had to liue But admit that thou liuest to 60.80 or 100. yeres alas yet are thy dayes full of miserie affliction calamitie vexacion trouble as good Iacob sayd vnto Pharao being demanded how old he was few and euill are the dayes of thy seruant But say that thou shouldst liue to hundreths of yeres as many of our forefathers did yet must thou needs die at the last Adā liued nine hundred yeres od he died saith the text Abraham so many yeres he died Isaac so many yeres and he died Iacob so many yeres and he died Dauid so many he died Salomon so many hee died Methusalē so many yeres yea the most of any that euer liued vpō the earth and yet saith the text he died so that the foot of the song is still and he died Irreuocable therfore is the sentence of God against al flesh Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt returne again The same thing witnesseth the Apostle Paul where he saith Destinatum est omni homini semel mori It is appointed to euery man to die once and then to come to iudgement Then seeing the case standeth thus that we must all die that we shal cary nothing with vs but our good works our bad as Iohn witnesseth in the 22. of the Reuelation saying Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their labour theyr workes follow them let vs I saie in the name of God resolue our selues to glorify our God by good works in this life that we may be glorified of him for euer in the life to come The second Section Wherein is shewed how necessarie good workes are Of the great Zeale of our forefathers in doing of good workes Of their simplicitie and plaine dealing and of our want of both NOtwithstanding al that hath or can be sayde to this purpose there are some Atheistes that hold and also teach that Christ being come hauing shed his bloud for vs hath heereby so satisfied his fathers iustice and paide the raunsome for sinne that now whatsoeuer we doe is no sinne Nay further they will not sticke to affirme that Christ hath taken awaie all sin out of the world and therefore we cannot sinne Another sort of Locustes they affirme that as a man cānot be saued by his good works so he cannot be condemned by his euill workes and therefore it maketh no matter saith these Libertines whether a man doth the one or the other But these bee all most execrable and damnable opinions inuented by the deuill and broched by his members to the vtter destruction and confusion of as many as follow them Let vs that be christians and hope to be saued by the merits of Christes bloud rather obey the counsell of the holy ghost who warneth vs to worke out our saluation in feare and trembling in another place make your saluation sure by good workes Let vs with the Apostle Iames shew forth our faith by our good workes beeing assured that that faith which bringeth not forth good workes in some measure is no true iustifieng faith but a dead faith such as the deuils haue who are sayde to beleeue tremble The tree is knowen saith our sauiour Christ by the fruit and a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit nor a bad tree good fruit To the same effect Christ telleth vs in another place that not euery one that saith vnto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heauen but he that doth the wil of my father which is in heauen he shall enter into the kingdome of heauen And the Apostle Iames telleth vs that not the hearers of the law but the doers shall be iustified And therefore let vs brag of a naked bare faith as long as we will I am fully perswaded by the spirite of God that if wee haue no other faith than such as bringeth foorth no good workes we can neuer bee saued by it For a true liuely and iustifying faith can no more bee without good works than the Sun without light or fire without heat And yet doe I not attribute iustification to good workes neither for that were to attribute that to the effect which is proper incident to the cause or efficient but to such a faith as bringeth foorth good workes to the praise and honor of God But of this heereafter in his due place now to returne to the matter in hand It was tolde Saint Paul how that some preached CHRIST vppon enuie some of mallice some of pride some of one affection and some of an other who
good works and the like it is vnpossible for thee to see the face of God to thy saluacion otherwise than the deuils and the reprobate who shall see the face of God I graunt but to their euerlasting condemnation So thou without good workes mayest see the face of God with thē but to thy vtter cōfusion destruction both of body soule for euer Be zealous therefore good Christian of good workes do good whilest thou hast time for the night of death will come when thou canst not work redeme the time with wel doing as the Apostle speaketh yea withdraw from thy sleepe from thy meate drink and frō thy necessary affaires to do good Remember thy yeres are few vpō earth thou hast but a short time to liue to work in Admit thou attainest to fortie fiftie sixtie or it may be eighty yeres wherto fewe doe come in comparison of those that die before alas that time is nothing neither in regard of the perpetuity eternity of the life to come Haue euer in thy minde that golden sentence of the Apostle He that soweth little shall reape little and he that soweth plentifully shall reape plentifully Let the words of our sauior neuer slip out of thy remembrance Beatius est dare potius quam accipere It is a thing more blessed to giue meaning to the poore than to receiue Giue therefore lend freely to them that haue need loking for nothing again and thy reward shall be great in heauen sayth our sauiour Christ. Consider it is sayde What is giuen to the poore is lent to the Lorde and looke what thou laiest out it shall bee paide thee again Distrust not Gods promises for he is yea and amen in all his sayings and faithfull and true in all his dooings Hee both can for that he is almightie and also will for that hee is mercifull most bountifully remunerate and most liberally rewarde them for whatsoeuer good thou dost in this life yea so precise is he herein that he hath bound himselfe with a promise that he wil not leaue so much as a cup of colde water giuen to anie in his name vnrewarded at that day The fifth Section Wherein is shewed the ends of good works and of our iustification by faith onely with a conclusion exhortatorie to good workes NOw as thou art to do good workes so thou must take heed that thou dost them not neither for desire of reward nor yet for feare of punishment but for the loue and obedience which thou bearest to thy God And so farre off oughtest thou to bee from thinking to be iustified or to merit any thing by thy workes as the blasphemous papistes doo contend that thou must both think saie as Christ teacheth thee to say When thou hast done all that is commaunded thee to doe thou art yet an vnprofitable seruant and hast done but thy dutie nay nor thy duetie neither no not in anie small measure No although thou were stable to do all the good workes in the world and all the good workes which the worde of God doth command thee yea and in that perfection which GOD doeth require of thee which thing neuer anie was nor euer shall be found able to performe Christ Iesus only excepted yet couldest thou neither bee iustified before God nor yet merite anie thing by them ex opere operato as the Papistes doo dreame But yet they are in deed notable seales and testimonies to thy conscience that thou art the childe of God and coheire with Christ Iesus of the kingdome of heauen And heereof is it that the Apostle biddeth vs make our saluation sure by good works not that good workes are any efficient cause of our saluation but doe assure confirme and seale vp vnto vs our saluation purchased by Christ. They are therefore most excellent fruites of our faith and infallible pledges of our election in Christe but no causes of our iustification before GOD. For euen as no fruit can make the tree good which by nature is naught so no good workes can make a man good before God who before was wicked euill for as the tree must of necessitie bee good before it canne bring foorth anie good fruite at all so a man must bee sanctified and regenerate by the spirit of God before he can doo anie good workes acceptable vnto God which once being accomplished thē follow good works as the effect from the cause And therefore I cannot but wonder at the more than palpable blindnes of these iusticiaries and merit-mongers the papists who beleeue that good workes can iustifie vs before God Our sauiour Christ sayth Without mee yee can doo nothing Whereto the Apostle seemeth to agree when he sayth It is God which geueth both the wil the deed euen of his good will and then alas what place of merit is there left for vs And whereas they obiect that God hath promised to reward our good works True it is hee giueth vs grace first to will then power to performe and put in practise euerie good worke that we doo and hath bound himselfe with a promise to reward these his own gifts in vs. But this reward standeth in the mercie of God not in the merit of the worke Let vs therefore abandoning our owne merits as filthie dong hold the mercies of God in Christ to bee our righteousnes beeing assured that if the Lord shoulde enter into iudgement with vs waying our verie righteousnes in the ballance of his iustice and rewarding vs according to our deserts we should be vtterly condemned and cast awaie for euer This the Prophet Esay confirmeth where hee saith That all our righteousnes is like a menstruous clout than the which there is nothing more filthy stinking or fulsome To which sentence Saint Barnard seemeth to allude saying Ve vniuersae iusticiae nostrae si remota miserecordia iudicetur Woe be to our righteousnesse if we should be iudged with out mercie And yet the papistes are perswaded that they are not onely iustified that is pronounced iust before God freed from sinne and all punishment due for sinne but also that they merite the kingdome of heauen and euerlasting life by their good workes Yea they haue not onely good works inough to saue themselues withall but others also and these they call works of supererogation that is whē they doe moe good workes and in greater perfection than God eyther can or will require of them as I haue noted before and therefore with the ouerplus of these forsooth they will helpe their fellowes if they will paie well for them else get they none for No pennie no Pater noster And is not this a pretie matter that they can not onely saue themselues but also others to by their workes of supererogation What should a man care for doing of good workes himself when for a little monie hee may buy inough of others The fiue foolish virgines would haue bought oile of the wise but it was answered
them they could haue none lest there were not inogh for them both Wherby wee see that as no man can buy the good workes of another so no man hath inough to saue himselfe The Apostle Peter saith There is no other name giuen vnder heauen whereby man can bee saued but onely Iesus Christ. And if good workes coulde saue vs as the same Apostle reasoneth then had Christ died in vaine For how vaine a thing had it ben for the maiesty of God to haue sent his owne sonne into this miserable worlde to take our nature vpon him to shed his most precious bloud for vs if wee coulde haue iustified our selues or purchased our saluation either through our inherent righteousnes as the papists most blasphemously affirme by our merits or by anie other means whatsoeuer And therefore Paul was bold to conclude that wee are iustified by faith only without the works of the law Being iustified sayth he by faith we haue peace with God thorough Iesus Christ. And to the Galath he sayth further that as many as do relye vpon the works of the lawe are vnder the curse and banished frō grace To which the Prophet Abacuc seemeth to agree saying the iust shall liue by faith But what shall we say then to the Apostle Iames who sayth we are iustified by works and not by faith only I answere There are two maner of iustifications one absolute before GOD the other demonstratiue before the world Paule writing that wee are iustifyed by fayth onely meaneth absolutely before God Iames saying wee are iustifyed by workes meaneth demonstratiuely before the worlde Agayne Paule wrighteth of the efficient cause of our iustification Iames of the effecte Paule had to do with them that contemned faith as the Heathen Iewes and Turks do now and therefore he attributed and that worthely iustification to faith only Iames he had to do with them that contemned good works as things of no value affirming that bare faith alone was sufficiēt to saluation therefore he attributeth the more to works therby to draw them to the practising of them Againe Paule speaketh of such works as goe before iustification Iames of such as followe after Paule meaneth not of a bare and naked faith without good works but of such a faith as can no more be without good workes than the sunne without light or the fire without heate Iames he meaneth of a bare naked and dead faith such as the very deuils haue as the very heathen infidels haue So that in substance matter they both meane and speake one and the same thing For truly as faith is the efficient cause of our iustification before God so our workes are the effects or fruits issuing thereout whereby wee are knowen to bee iustified before the world And therefore let vs brag of our faith as much as we will if it bee but such a faith as bringeth forth no good workes we can neuer be saued by it This is not that iustifieng faith which Paule speaketh of nor which the children of God haue but a dead faith a barren faith an historical faith which the deuills and all reprobates haue But here perchāce some captious sophister wil aske me if we cānot be iustified by good workes to ' what end then shoulde wee doo them To whom I answere We are to do good workes for sixe causes especially first for the loue obedience which wee owe vnto God secondly for the mutuall loue brotherly charity which wee beare one towardes an other thirdly to make our saluation sure certaine vnto vs as the Apostle saith Make your saluation sure by good workes fourthly for the zeale wee haue of the glorie of God fiftly to drawe others from sinne to the practife of godlinesse by our good example and sixtly for the increase of our owne rewarde in the life to come where no good worke such is the bountifull liberalitie and mercifull beneficence of our good GOD towards vs miserable sinners shall bee lefte vnrewarded And albeit that good workes are no causes of our iustification nor that thou canst not be iustified by them yet canst thou neuer be saued without thē And therefore woulde I wish euerie one that hath a care of his saluation to labor studie endeuor night day to do good workes Remember how notably our forefathers haue behaued thē selues heerein what monuments of charity and almes deedes haue they left behinde them to the posterities to come and yet liued in feare and trembling And doe wee thinke to come to heauen and leaue no good works behinde vs at all but rather infinite millions of wicked deedes and vngodly examples which cry for vengeance before the throne of God night and day incessantly Oh let vs remember and neuer forget if it be true which some do hould as I fully perswade my selfe it is that as our wicked deedes and euill examples which wee haue left behinde vs in this life do hurt vnto other and dishonor the Maiestie of God so shall our paine be increased augmented in hell for euermore world without end And againe as our good deeds and good examples which we haue left behind vs in this life do good to the Saints of God vppon earth and increase his glory so shall our glory and our ioy be increased from day to day to the end of the world in the kingdome of heauen Let either the feare of the one therfore deare christian or the loue of the other moue thee now at the last to this resolution of good works Let not the vayne-glory and deceiptfull honor of this world beguile thee let not couetousnes blinde thee nor any priuate affection else moue thee to do euill or to deceiue any more in bargaining selling or otherwise howsoeuer for the Lord as the Apostle witnesseth is the reuenger of all such wickednes and though thou escapest for a time the lawes of men yet canst thou not escape the iudgements of God but in his good time he wyll finde thee out and recompence thee according to thy deserts Remember that Salomon was rich and had as plenty of gould siluer as of stones iewells and ornaments great store with fish-pondes orchards gardens forrests parkes men-singers women singers musicke and all pleasures else vnder the Sunne and of them all he pronounced this sentence Vanitas vanitatis omnia vanitas Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanitie Consider with thy selfe and often reuolue in thy minde the wordes of our sauiour Heauen and earth shal passe but the word of God indureth for euer And againe in another place No mans life standeth in the abundance of those thinges which he possesseth And againe What will it preuaile a man to win the whole world loose his owne soule Remember the rich glutton though he fared dilitiouslie and ruffeled in his silkes and veluets euerie daie yet in one moment his soule was taken from him he lodged in hell Take example by the rich man in the gospell who flowed with such abundance of all things that he was forced to pull downe his olde barnes and to build new ones was it not saide to him Thou foole this night shall they fetch awaie thy soul and then whose shall those things be which thou hast gathered Oh what a vaine thing is it therfore for a man to rake into his handes fiue hundred or one thousand mens liuinges to leaue it to his children who for the the most parte spend it either in hauking hunting dicing carding or else in whooring gourmandizing and infinite the lyke vices for Malè parta malè dilabuntur Ill got ill spent whereas in the meane time thou must goe to the barre to aunswere for the getting of them peraduenture to euerlasting damnation both of bodie and soule Therefore haue a care whatsoeuer thou be that thou get thy goods in the feare of God with a good conscience so shall they prosper with thy children after thee and thou blessed eternally And when thou hast thus got them be carefull how thou bestowest them and to whome thou geuest them For it is not inough for thee to say I gaue so much and so much to my carnall kindred friends and aliance but if thou hast geuen so much and so much to the poore so much and so much to this good end and to that good end to this good worke and that good worke to remayne to the posterities after thee to the end of the world oh then well is thee and happy shalt thou be yea then shalt thou be sure to attayne to the end of thy hope that is euerlasting life To the which hee bring vs all that apperteyne to his kingdome that dyed for vs to whom with the Father the holy Ghost be all glory and prayse for euer Amen FINIS Heb. 1.14 Gen. 19.22 1. Reg. 19. Gen. 21. Gen. 16. Gen. 21. Dan. 3. 2. Reg. 5 Tobit 5 Dan. 6 Exo. 1◠2. Sam. 24 2. Chr. 12.21 Luke 1.26 27 28 Iude vers 6 Gen. 6. Psal. 51.5 Math. 5.28 Math. 15.18 19.20 Gen. 1 ◠Gen. 1 ◠Gen. 6. Esa. 1 Gen. 47 9◠Gen. 3. Reuel 22 Iudic. 20.35.46 Nu. 25.8 Gen. 18.1.2 Gen. 19.1.2 3. 1. Timot. 3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Cor. 14. Psal. 1.1.2 Deut. 6. Matth. 4. Rom. 13.8 3. 4. 6. 7. Tit. 3 Timoth. 2. Rom. 14◠1. Cor 13 Esay ◠Tim. 4◠Math. 5.33 34. 35. Iacob v. 12. 1. Cor. 13. 1. Pet. 4.8 1. Ioh. 4.16 Iob. 14. Luke 1.74.75 Matth. 25. Galath 5.