the giving than with the gift and that he as much esteemeth the doing of the thing as the fruit and commodity that cometh of it Whoso therefore hath hitherto neglected to give Alms let him know that God now requireth it of him and he that hath been liberal to the Poor let him know that his godly doings are accepted and thankfully taken at Gods hands which he will requite with double and treble For so saith the Wise man He which sheweth mercy to the poor doth lay his money in bank to the Lord for a large interest and gain the gain being chiefly the possession of the life everlasting through the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen The Second Part of the Sermon of Alms-deeds YE have heard before Dearly Beloved that to give Alms unto the Poor and to help them in time of necessity is so acceptable unto our Saviour Christ that he counteth that to be done to himself that we do for his sake unto them Ye have heard also how earnestly both the Apostles Prophets Holy Fathers and Doctors do exhort us unto the same And ye see how wel-beloved and dear unto God they were whom the Scriptures report unto us to have been good Alms-men Wherefore if either their good examples or the wholsom counsel of godly Fathers or the love of Christ whose especial favour we may be assured by this means to obtain may move us or do any thing at all with us let us provide us that from henceforth we shew unto God-ward this thankful service to be mindful and ready to help them that be poor and in misery Now will I this second time that I entreat of Alms-deeds shew unto you how profitable it is for us to exercise them and what fruit thereby shall arise unto us if we do them faithfully Our Saviour Christ in the Gospel teacheth us that it profiteth a man nothing to have in possession all the riches of the whole World and the wealth or glory thereof if in the mean season he lose his Soul or do that thing whereby it should become captive unto death sin and hell-fire By the which saying he not only instructeth us how much the souls health is to be preferred before worldly commodities but it also serveth to stir up our minds and to prick us forwards to seek diligently and learn by what means we may preserve and keep our souls ever in safety that is how we may recover our health if it be lost or impaired and how it may be defended and maintained if once we have it Yea he teacheth us also thereby to esteem that as a precious Medicine and an inestimable Jewel that hath such strength and vertue in it that can either procure or preserve so incomparable a treasure For if we greatly regard that Medicine or Salve that is able to heal sundry and grievous Diseases of the Body much more will we esteem that which hath like power over the Soul And because we might be better assured both to know and to have in readiness that so profitable a Remedy he as a most faithful and loving Teacher sheweth himself both what it is and where we may find it and how we may use and apply it For when both he and his Disciples were grievously accused of the Pharisees to have defiled their souls in breaking the constitutions of the Elders because they went to meat and washed not their hands before according to the custom of the Jews Christ answering their superstitious complaint teacheth them an especial remedy how to keep clean their souls notwithstanding the breach of such superstitious Orders Luke 11. Give Alms saith he and behold all things are clean unto you He teacheth them that to be merciful and charitable in helping the Poor is the means to keep the Soul pure and clean in the sight of God We are taught therefore by this that merciful Alms-dealing is profitable to purge the Soul from the infection and filthy spots of sin The same Lesson doth the Holy Ghost also teach in sundry places of the Scripture Tobit 4. saying Mercifulness and Alms-giving purgeth from all sins and delivereth from death and suffereth not the soul to come into darkness A great confidence may they have before the high God that shew mercy and compassion to them that are afflicted The wise Preacher the Son of Syrach confimeth the same Ecclus 5. when he saith That as water quencheth burning fire even so mercy and alms resisteth and reconcileth sins And sure it is that mercifulness quaileth the heat of sin so much that they shall not take hold upon man to hurt him or if ye have by any infirmity or weakness been touched and annoyed with them straightways shall mercifulness wipe and wash away as salves and remedies to heal their sores and grievous diseases And thereupon that Holy Father Cyprian taketh good occasion to exhort earnestly to the merciful works of giving Alms and helping the Poor and there he admonisheth to consider how wholsom and profitable it is to relieve the needy and help the afflicted by the which we may purge our sins and heal our wounded souls But yet some will say unto me If Alms-giving and our charitable works towards the Poor be able to wash away sins to reconcile us to God to deliver us from the peril of damnation and makes us the Sons and Heirs of Gods Kingdom then are Christs merits defaced and his blood shed in vain then are we justified by Works and by our Deeds may we merit Heaven then do we in vain believe that Christ died for to put away our sins and that he rose for our justification as St. Paul teacheth But ye shall understand Dearly Beloved that neither those places of the Scripture before alledged neither the Doctrine of the blessed Martyr Cyprian neither any other godly and learned man when they in extolling the dignity profit fruit and effect of vertuous and liberal Alms do say that it washeth away sins and bringeth us to the favour of God do mean that our work and charitable deed is the original cause of our acception before God or that for the digninity or worthiness thereof our sins may be washed away and we purged and cleansed of all the spots of our iniquity for that were indeed to deface Christ and to defraud him of his glory But they mean this and this is the understanding of those and such like sayings that God of his mercy and special favour towards them whom he hath appointed to everlasting salvation hath so offered his grace especially and they have so received it fruitfully that although by reason of their sinful living outwardly they seemed before to have been the Children of Wrath and Perdition yet now the Spirit of God mightily working in them unto obedience to Gods Will and Commandments they declare by their outward deeds and life in the shewing of
condemned unto death to take upon him the reward of our sins and to give his Body to be broken on the Cross for our offences He saith the Prophet Esay Esay 55. meaning Christ hath born our infirmities and hath carried our sorrows the chastisements of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were made whole 2 Cor. 5. St. Paul likewise saith God made him a sacrifice for our sins which knew not sin that we should be made the righteousness of God by him And St. Peter most agreeably writing in this behalf saith Christ hath once died and suffered for our sins the just for the unjust c. To these might be added an infinite number of other places to the same effect but these few shall be sufficient for this time Now then as it was said in the beginning let us ponder and weigh the cause of his death that thereby we may be the more moved to glorifie him in our whole life Which if you will have comprehended briefly in one word it was nothing else on our part but only the transgression and sin of mankind When the Angel came to warn Joseph that he should not fear to take Mary to his Wife Did he not therefore will the Childs Name to be called Jesus because he should save his People from their sins When John the Baptist preached Christ and shewed him to the People with his finger Did he not plainly say unto them John 1. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World When the Woman of Canaan besought Christ to help her Daughter which was possest with a Devil Mat. 15. Did he not openly confess that he was sent to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel by giving his life for their sins It was sin then O man even thy sin that caused Christ the only Son of God to be crucified in the flesh and to suffer the most vile and slanderous death of the Cross If thou hadst kept thy self upright if thou hadst observed the Commandments if thou hadst not presumed to transgress the will of God in thy first Father Adam then Christ Rom. 5. being in form of God needed not to have taken upon him the shape of a Servant being immortal in Heaven he needed not to become mortal on Earth being the true Bread of the Soul he needed not to hunger being the healthful Water of Life he needed not to thirst being life it self he needed not to have suffered death But to these and many other such extremities was he driven by thy sin which was so manifold and great that God could be only pleased in him and none other Canst thou think of this O sinful man and not tremble within thy self Canst thou hear it quietly without remorse of Conscience and sorrow of Heart Did Christ suffer his Passion for thee and wilt thou shew no compassion towards him While Christ was yeâ— hanging on the Cross and yielding up the Ghost the Scripture witnesseth that the veil of the Temple did rent in twain Mat. 27. and the Earth did quake that the stones clave asunder that the Graves did open and the dead bodies rise and shall the Heart of man be nothing moved to remember how grievously and cruelly he was handled of the Jews for our sins Shall man shew himself to be more hard hearted than stones to have less compassion than dead Bodies Call to mind O sinful Creature and set before thine eyes Christ crucified Think thou seest his Body stretched out in length upon the Cross his Head crowned with sharp Thorns and his Hands and his Feet pierced with Nails his Heart opened with a long Spear his Flesh rent and torn with Whips his Brows sweating Water and Blood Think thou hearest him now crying in an intolerable agony to his Father and saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Couldst thou behold this woful sight or hear this mournful voice without Tears considering that he suffered all this not for any desert of his own but only for the grievousness of thy sins O that mankind should put the everlasting Son of God to such pains O that we should be the occasion of his death and the only cause of his condemnation May we not justly cry wo worth the time that ever we sinned O my Brethren let this Image of Christ crucified be always printed in our hearts let it stir us up to the hatred of sin and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Almighty God For why is not sin think you a grievous thing in his sight seeing for the transgressing of Gods Precept in eating of one Apple he condemned all the Wâ—â—ld to perpetual death and would not be pacified but only with the blood of his own Son True yea most true is that saying of David Psal 5. Thou O Lord hatest all them that work iniquity neither shall the wicked and evil man dwell with thee By the mouth of his holy Prophet Esay Esay 5. he cried mainly out against sinners and saith Wo be unto you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with cart-ropes Did he not give a plain token how greatly he hated and abhorred sin Gen. 7. when he drowned all the World save only eight Persons when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire and Brimstone Gen. 19. 1 Kings 26. when in three days space he killed with Pestilence threescore and ten thousand for David's offence when he drowned Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red-Sea Exod. 14. Daniel 4. when he turned Nabuchodonosor the King into the form of a brute Beast creeping upon all four 2 Kings 27. Acts 1. when he suffered Achitophel and Judas to hang themselves upon the remorse of sin which was so terrible to their eyes A thousand such examples are to be found in Scripture if a man would stand to seek them out But what need we This one example which we have now in hand is of more force and ought more to move us than all the rest Christ being the Son of God and perfect God himself who never committed sin was compelled to come down from Heaven to give his Body to be bruised and broken on the Cross for our sins Was not this a manifest token of Gods great wrath and displeasure towards sin that he could be pacified by no other means but only by the sweet and precious Blood of his dear Son O sin sin that ever thou shouldest drive Christ to such extremity Wo worth the time that ever thou camest into the World But what booteth it now to bewail Sin is come and so come that it cannot be avoided There is no man living Prov. 24. no not the justest man on the Earth but he falleth seven times a day as Solomon saith And our Saviour Christ although he hath delivered us from sin yet not so that we shall be free from committing sin but so that it
Pleasure and Consolation But the unmerciful rich Man descended down into Hell and being in Torments he cried for Comfort complaining of the intolerable pain that he suffered in that flame of Fire but it was too late So unto this place bodily death sendeth all them that in this World have their Joy and Felicity all them that in this World be unfaithful unto God and uncharitable unto their Neighbours so dying without Repentance and hope of God's Mercy Wherefore it is no marvel that the worldly Man feareth death for he hath much more cause so to do than he himself doth consider Thus we see three Causes why worldly Men fear death One The First because they shall lose thereby their worldly Honors Riches Possessions and all their Hearts desires Another Second because of the painful diseases and bitter pangs which commonly Men suffer either before or at the time of death Third But the chief cause above all other is the dread of the miserable state of eternal damnation both of Body and Soul which they fear shall follow after their departing from the worldly Pleasures of this present Life For these Causes be all mortal Men which be given to the love of this World both in fear and state of death through Sin as the Holy Apostle saith so long as they live here in this World But Heb. 10. everlasting thanks be to Almighty God for ever there is never a one of all these Causes no nor yet them all together that can make a true Christian man afraid to die who is the very Member of Christ 1 Cor. 3. the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Son of God and the very Inheritor of the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven but plainly contrary he conceiveth great and many Causes undoubtedly grounded upon the infallible and everlasting truth of the Word of God which moveth him not only to put away the fear of bodily death but also for the manifold Benefits and singular Commodities which ensue unto every faithful Person by reason of the same to wish desire and long heartily for it For death shall be to him no death at all but a very deliverance from death from all Pains Cares and Sorrows Miseries and Wretchedness of this World and the very entry into Rest and a beginning of everlasting Joy a tasting of heavenly Pleasures so great that neither Tongue is able to express neither Eye to see nor Ear to hear them no nor any earthly Man's heart to conceive them So exceeding great Benefits they be which God our heavenly Father by his mere Mercy and for the Love of his Son Jesus Christ hath laid up in store and prepared for them that humbly submit themselves to God's Will and evermore unfeignedly love him from the bottom of their Hearts And we ought to believe that death being slain by Christ cannot keep any Man that stedfastly trusteth in Christ under his perpetual Tyranny and Subjection But that he shall rise from death again unto Glory at the last day appointed by Almighty God like as Christ our Head did rise again according to God's appointment the third day For St. Augustine saith The Head going before the Members trust to follow and come after And St. Paul saith If Christ be risen from the dead we shall rise also from the same And to comfort all Christian Persons herein Holy Scripture calleth this bodily death a sleep wherein Man's Senses be as it were taken from him for a season and yet when he awaketh he is more fresh than he was when he went to Bed So although we have our Souls separated from our Bodies for a season yet at the general Resurrection we shall be more fresh beautiful and perfect than we be now For now we be mortal then shall we be immortal Now infected with divers Infirmities then clearly void of all mortal Infirmities Now we be subject to all carnal desires then we shall be all Spiritual desiring nothing but God's Glory and things eternal Thus is this bodily death a door or entring unto Life and therefore not so much dreadful if it be rightly considered as it is comfortable not a mischief but a Remedy for all mischief no Enemy but a Friend not a cruel Tyrant but a gentle Guide leading us not to mortality but to immortality not to Sorrow and Pain but to Joy and Pleasure and that to endure for ever if it be thankfully taken and accepted as God's Messenger and patiently born of us for Christ's Love that suffered most painful death for our Love to redeem us from death eternal Accordingly hereunto St. Paul saith Col. 3. Our Life is hid with Christ in God But when our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Why then shall we fear to die considering the manifold and comfortable Promises of the Gospel and of Holy Scriptures 1 John 5. God the Father hath given us everlasting Life saith St. John 1 John 5. and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life And this I write saith St. John to you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have everlasting Life and that you do believe upon the Name of the Son of God And our Saviour Christ saith John 5. He that believeth in me hath Life everlasting and I will raise him from Death to Life at the last day St. Paul also saith 1 Cor. 1. That Christ is ordained and made of God our Righteousness or Holiness and Redemption to the intent that he which will glory should glory in the Lord. St. Paul did contemn and set little by all other things Phil. 3. esteeming them as Dung which before he had in very great price that he might be found in Christ to have everlasting Life true Holiness Righteousness and Redemption Finally St. Paul maketh a plain Argument on this wise Rom. 8. If our heavenly Father would not spare his own natural Son but did give him to death for us how can it it be but that with him he should give us all things Therefore if we have Christ then have we with him and by him all good things whatsoever we can in our Hearts wish or desire as Victory over Death Sin and Hell We have the Favour of God Peace with him Holiness Wisdom Justice Power Life and Redemption we have by him perpetual Health Wealth Joy and Bliss everlasting The Second Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IT hath been heretofore shewed you That there be three Causes wherefore Men do commonly fear Death First the sorrowful departing from Worldly Goods and Pleasures The Second the fear of the pangs and pains that come with Death The last and principal Cause is The horrible fear of extreme Misery and perpetual Damnation in time to come And yet none of these three Causes troubleth good Men because they stay
themselves by true Faith perfect Charity and sure Hope of the endless Joy and Bliss everlasting All those therefore have great cause to be full of Joy that be joyned to Christ with true Faith stedfast Hope and perfect Charity and not to fear death nor everlasting Damnation For Death cannot deprive them of Jesus Christ nor can any Sin condemn them that are grafted surely in him which is their only Joy Treasure and Life Let us repent of our Sins amend our Lives trust in his Mercy and Satisfaction and Death can neither take him from us nor us from him For then as St. Paul saith Whether we live or die we be the Lords own And again he saith Christ did die and rose again because he should be Lord both of the dead and quick Then if we be the Lords own when we be dead it must needs follow that such temporal death not only cannot harm us but also that it shall be much to our profit and joyn us unto God more perfectly And thereof the Christian Heart may surely be certified by the infallible or undeceivable Truth of Holy Scripture It is God saith St. Paul which hath prepared us unto immortality and the same is he which hath given us aâ— earnest of the Spirit Therefore let us he always of good Comfort for we know that so long as we be in tho Body 2 Gal. 5. we be as it were far from God in a strange Country subject to many perils walking without perfect Sight and Knowledge of Almighty God only seeing him by Faith in Holy Scriptures But we have a courage and desire rather to be at home with God and our Saviour Christ far from the Body where we may behold his Godhead as he is Face to Face to our everlasting Comfort These be St. Paul's words in effect whereby we may perceive that the Life in this World is resembled and likened to a Pilgrimage in a strange Country far from God and that Death delivering us from our Bodies doth send us strait home into our own Country and maketh us to dwell presently with God for ever in everlasting Rest and Quietness So that to die is no loss but profit and winning to all true Christian People What lost the Thief that died on the Cross with Christ by his Bodily death Yea how much did he gain by it Did not our Saviour say unto him Luke 16. This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise And Lazarus that pitiful Person that lay before the Rich Man's Gate pained with Sores and pined with Hunger did not death highly profit and promote him which by the ministry of Angels sent him unto Abraham's Bosom a place of Rest Joy and Heavenly Consolation Let us think none other good Christian People but Christ hath prepared and made ready before the same Joy and Felicity for us that he prepared for Lazarus and the Thief Wherefore let us stick unto his Salvation and Gracious Redemption and believe his Word Serve him from our Hearts Love and Obey him and whatsoever we have done heretofore contrary to his most Holy Will now let us Repent in time and hereafter study to Correct our Life and doubt not but we shall find him as merciful unto us as he was either to Lazarus or to the Thief whose examples are written in Holy Scripture for the comfoâ—t of them that be sinners and subject to sorrows miseries and calamities in this World that they should not despair in God's Mercy but ever trust thereby to have forgiveness of their Sins and Life everlasting as Lazarus and the Thief had Thus I trust every Christian Man perceiveth by the infallible or undeceivable Word of God that Bodily death cannot harm nor hinder them that truly believe in Christ but contrarily shall profit and promote the Christian Souls which being truly penitent for their offences depart hence in perfect Charity and in sure Trust that God is merciful to them forgiving their Sins for the Merits of Jesus Christ his only natural Son The Second Cause why some do fear death The Second Cause why some do fear death is sore sickness and grievous pains which partly come before death and partly accompany or come with death whensoever it cometh This fear is the fear of the frail flesh and a natural passion belonging unto the nature of a mortal Man But true Faith in God's promises and regard of the pains and pangs which Christ upon the Cross suffered for us miserable sinners with consideration of the Joy and everlasting Life to come in Heaven will mitigate those pains and moderate this fear that it shall never be able to overthrow the hearty desire and gladness that the Christian Soul hath to be separated from this corrupt Body that it may come to the Gracious Presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ If we believe stedfastly the Word of God we shall perceive that such bodily sickness pangs of death or whatsoever dolorous pangs we suffer either before or with death be nothing else in Christian Men but the rod of our Heavenly and Loving Father wherewith he mercifully correcteth us either to try and declare the Faith of his patient Children that they may be sound Laudable Glorious and Honourable in his Sight when Jesus Christ shall be openly shewed to be the Judge of all the World or else to chastise and amend in them whatsoever offendeth his Fatherly and Gracious Goodness lest they should perish everlastingly And this his correcting rod is common to all Men that be truly his Therefore let us cast away the burden of Sin that lieth too heavy on our necks and return unto God by true penance and amendment of our lives Let us with patience run this course that is appointed suffering for his sake that dyed for our Salvation all sorrows and pangs of death and death itself joyfully when God sendeth it to us having our Eyes fixed and set fast ever upon the Head and Captain of our Faith Jesus Christ Phil. 2. Who considering the Joy that he should come unto cared neither for the shame nor pain of death but willingly conforming and framing his Will to his Fathers Will most patiently suffered the most shameful and painful death of the Cross being innocent and harmless And now therefore he is exalted in Heaven and everlastingly sitteth on the right hand of the Throne of God the Father Let us call to our remembrance therefore the Life and Joyes of Heaven that are kept for all them that patiently do suffer here with Christ and consider that Christ suffered all his painful passion by sinners and for sinners And then we shall with Patience and the more easily suffer such sorrows and pains when they come Let us not set at light the chastising of the Lord nor grudge at him nor fall from him when of him we be corrected For the Lord loveth them whom he doth correct and beateth every one whom he taketh to be his Child What Child is
that Heb. 12. saith St. Paul whom the Father loveth and doth not chastise If ye be without God's correction which all his welbeloved and true Children have then be you but Bastards smally regarded of God and not his true Children Therefore seeing that when we have on Earth our carnal Fathers to be our correctors we do fear them and reverently take their correction shall we not much more be in Subjection to God our Spiritual Father by whom we shall have everlasting Life and our Carnal Fathers somtimes correct us even as it pleaseth them without cause But this Father justly correcteth us either for our Sin to the intent we should amend or for our Commodity and Wealth to make us thereby partakers of his Holiness Furthermore all Correction which God sendeth us in this present time seemeth to have no Joy and Comfort but Sorrow and Pain yet it bringeth with it a tast of God's Mercy and Goodness towards them that be so corrected and a sure hope of God's everlasting Consolation in Heaven If then these Sorrows Diseases and Sicknesses and also Death itself be nothing else but our Heavenly Father's Rod whereby he certifieth us of his Love and gracious Favour whereby he tryeth and purifieth us whereby he giveth unto us Holiness and certifieth us that we be his Children and he our merciful Father Shall not we then with all humility as obedient and loving Children joyfully kiss our Heavenly Father's Rod and ever say in our Heart with our Saviour Jesus Christ Father if this Anguish and Sorrow which I feel and Death which I see approach may not pass but that thy will is that I must suffer them Thy Will be done The Third Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IN this Sermon against the fear of Death Two Causes were declared which commonly move worldly Men to be in much fear to die and yet the same do nothing trouble the faithful and good Livers when Death cometh but rather give them occasion greatly to rejoice considering that they shall be delivered from the sorrow and misery of this World and be brought to the great Joy and Felicity of the Life to come The Third Cause why Death is to be feared Now the Third and special Cause why Death indeed is to be feared is the miserable State of the worldly and ungodly People after their Death But this is no Cause at all why the godly and faithful People should fear Death but rather contrariwise their godly Conversation in this Life and Belief in Christ cleaving continually to his Mercies should make them to long sore after that Life that remaineth for them undoubtedly after this bodily Death Of this immortal State after this transitory Life where we shall live evermore in the Presence of God in Joy and Rest after Victory over all Sickness Sorrows Sin and Death There be many plain places of Holy Scripture which confirm the weak Conscience against the fear of all such Dolours Sicknesses Sin and bodily Death to asswage such trembling and ungodly fear and to encourage us with Comfort and hope of a blessed State after this Life Saint Paul wisheth unto the Ephesians Ephes 1. That God the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that the Eyes of their Hearts might give Light to know him and to perceive how great things he had called them unto and how rich an Inheritance he hath prepared after this Life for them that pertain unto him Phil. 1. And St. Paul himself declareth the desire of his Heart which was to be dissolved and loosed from his Body and to be with Christ which as he said was much better for him although to them it was more necessary that he should live which he refused not for their sakes Even like as St. Martin said Good Lord if I be necessary for thy People to do good unto them I will refuse no Labour But else for mine own self I beseech thee to take my Soul Now the Holy Fathers of the Old Law and all faithful and righteous Men which departed before our Saviour Christ's Ascension into Heaven did by Death depart from Troubles unto Rest from the hands of their Enemies into the hands of God from Sorrows and Sicknesses unto joyful refreshing in Abraham's bosom a place of all Comfort and Consolation as the Scriptures do plainly by manifest words testifie Wisdom 3. The Book of Wisdom saith That the Righteous Mens Souls be in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them They seemed to the eyes of foolish Men to die and their death was counted miserable and their departing out of this World wretched but they be in Rest And another place saith Wisd 4. That the Righteous shall live for ever and their Reward is with the Lord and their Minds be with God who is above all Therefore they shall receive a Glorious Kingdom and a Beautiful Crown at the Lord's hand And in another place the same Book saith The Righteous though he be prevented with suddain Death nevertheless he shall be there where he shall be refreshed Of Abraham's Bosom Christ's words be so plain that a Christian Man needeth no more proof of it Now then if this were the state of the Holy Fathers and Righteous Men before the coming of our Saviour and before he was Glorified How much more then ought all we to have a stedfast Faith and a sure Hope of this blessed state and condition after our death Seeing that our Saviour now hath performed the whole Work of our Redemption and is Gloriously ascended into Heaven to prepare our dwelling places with him and said unto his Father Father John 17. I will that where I am my servants shall be with me And we know that whatsoever Christ Will his Father Wills the same wherefore it cannot be but if we be his Faithful Servants our Souls shall be with him after our departure out of this present life St. Stephen when he was stoned to death even in the midst of his torments what was his Mind most upon Acts 7. When he was full of the Holy Ghost saith Holy Scripture having his eyes lifted up into Heaven he saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God The which Truth after he had confessed boldly before the enemies of Christ they drew him out of the City and there they stoned him who cryed unto God saying Lord Jesu Christ take my Spirit And doth not our Saviour say plainly in St. John's Gospel Verily John 5. verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and cometh not into judgment but shall pass from death to life Shall we not then think that death to be precious by the which we pass unto life Therefore it is a true saying of the Prophet Psal 116. The death of the Holy and Righteous Men is precious in the
doth chide with himself so it comprehendeth two most detestable Vices the one is picking of Quarrels with sharp and contentious words the other standeth in froward answering and multiplying evil Words again The first is so abominable that Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 5. If any that is called a Brother be a Worshipper of Idols a Brawler a picker of Quarrels a Thief or an Extortioner with him that is such a Man see that you eat not Now here consider that St. Paul numbreth a Scolder a Brawler Against Quarrel-picking or a picker of Quarrels among Thieves and Idolaters and many times there cometh less hurt of a Thief than of a Railing Tongue For the one taketh away a Man 's good Name the other taketh but his Riches which is of much less Value and Estimation than is his good Name And a Thief hurteth but him from whom he stealeth But he that hath an evil Tongue troubleth all the Town where he dwelleth and somtime the whole Country And a Railing Tongue is a Pestilence so full of Contagiousness that Saint Paul willeth Christian Men to forbear the Company of such 1 Cor. 1. and neither to eat nor drink with them And whereas he will not that a Christian Woman should forsake her Husband although he be an Infidel or that a Christian Servant should depart from his Master which is an Infidel and Heathen and so suffereth a Christian Man to keep Company with an Infidel Yet he forbiddeth us to eat or drink with a Scolder or Quarrel-picker And also in the Sixth Chapter to the Corinthians he saith thus Be not deceived for neither Fornicators 1 Cor. 6. neither Worshippers of Idols neither Thieves nor Drunkards nor cursed Speakers shall dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven It must needs be a great fault that doth move and cause the Father to disinherit his Natural Son And how can it otherwise be Against froward answering Matth. 5. but that this cursed Speaking must needs be a most damnable Sin the which doth cause God our most Merciful and Loving Father to deprive us of his most blessed Kingdom of Heaven Against the other Sin that standeth in requiting Taunt for Taunt speaketh Christ himself saying I say unto you resist not evil but love your Enemies and say well by them that say evil by you do well unto them that do evil unto you and pray for them that do hurt and persecute you that you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven who suffereth his Sun to rise both upon good and evil and sendeth his rain both upon the just and unjust To this Doctrine of Christ agreeth very well the teaching of St. Paul that chosen vessel of God who ceaseth not to exhort and call upon us Rom. 12. saying Bless them that curse you bless I say and curse not recompense to no man evil for evil if it be possible as much as lyeth in you live peaceably with all men The Second Part of the Sermon against Contention IT hath been declared unto you in this Sermon against Strife and Brawling what great inconvenience cometh thereby specially of such Contention as groweth in matters of Religion And how when as no Man will give place to another there is no end of contention and discord and that unity which God requireth of Christians is utterly thereby neglected and broken And that this contention standeth chiefly in two points as in picking of quarrels and making of froward Answers Now ye shall hear St. Paul's words Rom. 12. saying Dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine and I will revenge saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with goodness All these be the words of St. Paul but they that be full of Stomach and set so much by themselves that they may not abide so much as one evil word to be spoken of them peradventure will say If I be reviled An Objection shall I stand still like a Goose or a Fool with my Finger in my Mouth Shall I be such an Idiot and Dizard to suffer every Man to speak upon me what they list to rail what they list to spew out all their venom against me at their pleasures Is it not convenient that he that speaketh evil should be answered accordingly If I shall use this lenity and softness I shall both increase mine enemies frowardness and provoke others to do the like Such reasons make they that can suffer nothing for the defence of their impatience And yet An Answer if by froward answering to a froward person there were hope to remedy his frowardness he should less offend that so should answer doing the same not of ire or malice but only of that intent that he that is so froward or malicious may be reformed But he that cannot amend another man's fault or cannot amend it without his own fault better it were that one should perish than two Then if he cannot quiet him with gentle words at the least let him not follow him in wicked and uncharitable words If he can pacifie him with suffering let him suffer and if not it is better to suffer evil than to do evil to say well than to say evil For to speak well against evil cometh of the Spirit of God But to render evil for evil cometh of the contrary Spirit And he that cannot temper nor rule his own anger is but weak and feeble and rather more like a Woman or a Child than a strong Man For the true strength and manliness is to overcome wrath and to despise injuries and other mens foolishness And besides this he that shall despise the wrong done unto him by his enemy every man shall perceive that it was spoken or done without cause Whereas contrarily he that doth fume and chafe at it shall help the cause of his adversary giving suspicion that the thing is true And in so going about to revenge evil we shew our selves to be evil and while we punish and revenge another Man's folly we double and augment our own folly But many pretences find they that be wilful to colour their impatience Mine Enemy say they is not worthy to have gentle words or deeds being so full of malice or frowardness Theless he is worthy the more art thou therefore allowed of God and the more art thou commended of Christ for whose sake thou shouldest render good for evil because he hath commanded thee and also deserved that thou shouldest so do Thy neighbor hath peradventure with a word offended thee call thou to thy remembrance with how many words and deeds how grievously thou hast offended thy Lord God What was Man when Christ died for him Was he not his enemy and unworthy to have his Favour and Mercy Even so with what gentleness and patience doth he forbear and tolerate and
love thy Neighbour as thy self to honour thy Father and Mother to honour the higher Powers to give to every man that which is his due and such like Other works there be which considered in themselves without further respect are of their own nature meerly indifferent that is neither good nor evil but take their denomination of the use or end whereunto they serve Which works having a good end are called good works and are so indeed but yet that cometh not of themselves but of the good end whereunto they are referred On the other side if the end that they serve unto be evil it cannot then otherwise be but that they must needs be evil also Of this sort of works is Fasting which of it self is a thing meerly indifferent but it is made better or worse by the end that it serveth unto For when it repecteth a good end it is a good work but the end being evil the work it self is also evil To Fast then with this perswasion of mind that our Fasting and our Good Works can make us perfect and just men and finally bring us to Heaven is a devilish perswasion and that Fast is so far off from pleasing of God that it refuseth his mercy and is altogether derogatory to the merits of Christs death and his precious blood-shedding This doth the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican teach Luke 18. Two men saith Christ went up together into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a Publican the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself I thank thee O God that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers and as this Publican is I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess The Publican stood afar off and would not lift up his eyes to Heaven but smote his breast and said God be merciful to me a sinner In the Person of this Pharisee our Saviour Christ setteth out to the eye and to the judgment of the World a perfect just and righteous man such a one as iâ— not spotted with those vices that men commonly are infected with Extortion Bribery polling and pilling their Neighbour robbers and spoilers of Common-weals crafty and subtil in chopping and changing using false Weights and detestable Perjury in their buying and selling Fornicators Adulterers and vicious Livers The Pharisee was no such man neither faulty in any such like notorious Crime But where other transgressed by leaving things undone which yet the Law required this man did more than was requisite by the Law For he fasted twice in the week and gave Tithes of all that he had What could the World then justly blame in this man yea what outward thing more could be desired to be in him to make him a more perfect and a more just man Truly nothing by mans judgment And yet our Saviour Christ preferreth the poor Publican without Fasting before him with his Fast The cause why he doth so is manifest For the Publican having no good works at all to trust unto yielded up himself unto God confessing his sins and hoped certainly to be saved by Gods free mercy only The Pharisee gloried and trusted so much to his works that he thought himself sure enough without mercy and that he should come to Heaven by his Fasting and other deeds To this end serveth that Parable For it is spoken to them that trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Now because the Pharisee directeth his works to an evil end seeking by them justification which indeed is the proper work of God without our merits his Fasting twice in the week and all his other works though they were never so many and seemed to the World never so good and Holy yet in very deed before God they are altogether evil and abominable The mark also that the Hypocrites shoot at with their Fast is to appear Holy in the eye of the World and so to win commendation and praise of men But our Saviour Christ saith of them Mat. 6. they have their reward that is they have praise and commendation of Men but of God they have none at all For whatsoever tendeth to an evil end is it self by that evil end made evil also Again so long as we keep ungodliness in our hearts and suffer wicked thoughts to tarry there though we Fast as oft as did either St. Paul or John Baptist and keep it as strictly as did the Ninevites yet shall it be not only unprofitable to us but also a thing that greatly displeaseth Almighty God For he saith that his soul abhorreth and hateth such Fastings Isai 1. yea they are a burthen unto him and he is weary of bearing them And therefore he inveigheth most sharply against them saying by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah Behold when you fast Isai 58. your lust remaineth still for ye do no less violence to your debtors Lo ye fast to strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness Now ye shall not fast thus that you may make your voice to be heard above Think ye this fast pleaseth me that a man should chasten himself for a day Should that be called a fasting or a day that pleaseth the Lord Now dearly beloved seeing that Almighty God alloweth not our Fast for the works sake but chiefly respecteth our heart how it is affected and then esteemeth our Fast either good or evil by the end that it serveth for it is our part to rent our Hearts and not our Garments Joel 2. as we are advertised by the Prophet Joel that is our sorrow and mourning must be inward in heart and not in outward shew only yea it is requisite that first before all things we cleanse our hearts from sin and then direct our Fast to such an end as God will allow to be good There be three ends whereunto if our Fast be directed it is then a work profitable to us and accepted of God The first is to chastise the Flesh that it be not too wanton 1 Cor. 9. but tamed and brought in subjection to the Spirit This respect had St. Paul in his Fast when he said I chastise my body and bring it into subjection lest by any means it cometh to pass that when I have preached to others I my self be found a castaway Acts 13. The second that the Spirit may be more earnest and fervent to Prayer To this end fasted the Prophets and Teachers that were at Antioch before they sent forth Paul and Barnabas to preach the Gospel The same two Apostles fasted for the like purpose when they commended to God by their earnest Prayers the Congregations that were at Antioch Acts 14. Pisidia Iconium and Lystra as we read in the Acts of the Apostles The third that our Fast be a Testimony and Witness with us before God of our humble submission to his high Majesty when we confess and acknowledge our sins
poor Pilgrim and meek soul riding upon an Ass but like a valiant and mighty King in great Royalty and Honour Not as Christ did with a few Fishermen and men of small estimation in the World but with a great Army of strong men with a great train of Wise and Noble men as Knights Lords Earls Dukes Princes and so forth Neither do they think that their Messias shall slanderously suffer death as Christ did but that he shall stoutly conquer and manfully subdue all his Enemies and finally obtain such a Kingdom on Earth as never was seen from the beginning While they feign unto themselves after this sort a Messias of their own brain they deceive themselves and account Christ as an abject and scorn of the World Therefore Christ crucified as St. Paul saith is unto the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishness because they think it an absurd thing and contrary to all reason that a Redeemer and Saviour of the whole World should be handled after such a sort as he was namely scorned reviled scourged condemned and last of all cruelly hanged This I say seemed in their eyes strange and most absurd and therefore neither they would at that time neither will they as yet acknowledge Christ to be their Messiâ—s and Saviour But we dearly beloved that hope and look to be saved must both stedfastly believe and also boldly confess that the same Jesus which was born of the Virgin Mary was the true Messias and Mediator between God and Man promised and prophesied of so long before For as the Apostle writeth With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10. and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Again in the same place Whosoever believeth in him shall never be ashamed nor confounded Whereto also agreeth the testimony of St. John written in the fourth Chapter of his first general Epistle on this wise Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God he dwelleth in God and God in him There is no doubt but in this point all Christian men are fully and perfectly perswaded Yet shall it not be a lost labour to instruct and furnish you with a few places concerning this matter that ye may be able to stop the blasphemous mouths of all them that most Jewishly or rather devilishly shall at any time go about to teach or maintain the contrary First ye have the witness and testimony of the Angel Gabriel declared as well to Zachary the High-Priest as also to the blessed Virgin Secondly ye have the witness and testimony of John the Baptist pointing unto Christ and saying Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Thirdly ye have the witness and testimony of God the Father who thundred from Heaven and said This is my dearly beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him Fourthly ye have the witness and testimony of the Holy Ghost which came down from Heaven in manner of a Dove and lighted upon him in time of his Baptism To these might be added a great number more namely the witness and testimony of the Wise Men that came to Herod the witness and testimony of Simeon and Anna the witness and testimony of Andrew and Philip Nathaniel and Peter Nicodemus and Martha with divers other But it were too long to repeat all and a few places are sufficient in so plain a matter specially among them that are already perswaded Therefore if the privy Imps of Antichrist and crafty Instruments of the Devil shall attempt or go about to withdraw you from this true Messias and perswade you to look for another that is not yet come let them not in any case seduce you but confirm your selves with these and such other testimonies of Holy Scripture which are so sure and certain that all the Devils in Hell shall never be able to withstand them For as truly as God liveth so truly was Jesus Christ the true Messias and Saviour of the World even the same Jesus which as this day was born of the Virgin Mary without all help of man only by the power and operation of the Holy Ghost Concerning whose nature and substance because divers and sundry Heresies are risen in these our days through the motion and suggestion of Satan therefore it shall be needful and profitable for your instruction to speak a word or two also of this part We are evidently taught in the Scripture that our Lord and Saviour Christ consisteth of two several natures of his manhood being thereby perfect man and of his Godhead being thereby perfect God John 1. Rom. 8. It is written The Word that is to say the second Person in Trinity became flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh fulfilled those things which the Law could not Phil. 2. Christ being in form of God took on him the form of a servant and was made like unto man being found in shape as a man 1 Tim. 3. God was shewed in Flesh justified in Spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up in glory Also in another place There is one God and one Mediator between God and man even the Man Jesus Christ These be plain places for the proof and declaration of both Natures united and knit together in one Christ Let us diligently consider and weigh the works that he did whiles he lived on Earth and we shall thereby also perceive the self-same thing to be most true In that he did hunger and thirst eat and drink sleep and wake in that he preached his Gospel to the People in that he wept and sorrowed for Jerusalem in that he paid Tribute for himself and Peter in that he died and suffered death what other things did he else declare but only this that he was perfect man as we are For which cause he is called in Holy Scripture sometime the Son of David sometime the Son of Man sometime the Son of Mary sometime the Son of Joseph and so forth Now in that he forgave Sins in that he wrought Miracles in that he did cast out Devils in that he healed men with his only Word in that he knew the thoughts of mens Hearts in that he had the Seas at his Commandment in that he walked on the Water in that he rose from Death to Life in that he ascended into Heaven and so forth What other thing did he shew therein but only that he was perfect God coequal with the Father as touching his Deity Therefore he saith The Father and I are all one which is to be understood of his Godhead For as touching his Manhood he saith The Father is greater than I am Where are now those Marcionites that deny Christ to have been born in the flesh or to have been perfect man Where are now those Arians which deny Christ to have been perfect God of equal substance with the Father If there be any such we may easily
reprove them with these testimonies of Gods Word and such other Whereunto I am most sure they shall never be able to answer For the necessity of our Salvation did require such a Mediator and Saviour as under one Person should be a partaker of both Natures It was requisite he should be Man it was also requisite he should be God For as the transgression came by man so was it meet the satisfaction should be made by man And because death according to St. Paul is the just stipend and reward of sin therefore to appease the wrath of God and to satisfie his Justice it was expedient that our Mediator should be such a one as might take upon him the sins of mankind and sustain the due punishment thereof namely Death Moreover he came in flesh and in the self-same flesh ascended into Heaven to declare and testifie unto us that all faithful People which stedfastly believe in him shall likewise come unto the same Mansion-place whereunto he being our chief Captain is gone before Last of all he became man that we thereby might receive the greater comfort as well in our Prayers as also in our Adversity considering with our selves that we have a Mediator that is true man as we are who also is touched with our Infirmities and was tempted even in like sort as we are For these and sundry other causes it was most needful he should come as he did in the flesh But because no creature in that he is only a creature hath or may have power to destroy death and give life to overcome Hell and purchase Heaven to remit Sins and give Righteousness therefore it was needful that our Messias whose proper Duty and Office that was should be not only full and perfect Man but also full and perfect God to the intent he might more fully and perfectly make satisfaction for mankind Mat. 3. God saith This is my wel-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased By which place we learn that Christ appeased and quenched the wrath of his Father not in that he was only the Son of Man But much more in that he was the Son of God Thus ye have heard declared out of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and Saviour of the World that he was by Nature and Substance perfect God and perfect Man and for what cause it was expedient it should be so Now that we may be the more mindful and thankful unto God in this behalf let us briefly consider and call to mind the manifold and great benefits that we have received by the Nativity and Birth of this our Messias and Saviour Before Christ coming into the World all men universally in Adam were nothing else but a wicked and crooked Generation rotten and corrupt Trees stony Ground full of Brambles and Briers lost Sheep Prodigal Sons naughty unprofitable Servants unrighteous Stewards workers of Iniquity the brood of Adders blind Guides sitting in Darkness and in the shadow of Death to be short nothing else but Children of Perdition and inheritors of Hell-fire To this doth St. Paul bear witness in divers places of his Epistles and Christ also himself in sundry places of his Gospel But after he was once come down from Heaven and had taken our frail Nature upon him he made all them that would receive him truly and believe his word good Trees and good Ground fruitful and pleasant Branches Children of Light Citizens of Heaven Sheep of his Fold Members of his Body Heirs of his Kingdom his true Friends and Brethren sweet and lively Bread the elect and chosen People of God For as St. Peter saith in his first Epistle and second Chapter He bare our sins in his body upon the Cross he healed us and made us whole by his stripes and whereas before we were sheep going astray he by his coming brought us home again to the true Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls making us a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a particular People of God in that he died for our Offences and rose for our Justification St. Paul to Timothy the third Chapter We were saith he in times past unwise disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in hatred envy maliciousness and so forth But after the loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared towards mankind not according to the Righteousness that we had done but according to his great Mercy he saved us by the Fountain of the new Birth and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he poured upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that we being once Justified by his grace should be Heirs of Eternal Life through hope and faith in his blood In these and such other places is set out before our Eyes as it were in a Glass Mat. 2. Mat. 5. John 18. Luke 4. John 8. Mat. 9. Mat. 11. John 12. Coloss 1. the abundant grace of God received in Christ Jesu which is so much the more wonderful because it came not of any desert of ours but of his meer and tender mercy even then when we were his extream Enemies But for the better understanding and consideration of this thing let us behold the end of his coming so shall we perceive what great commodity and profit his Nativity hath brought unto us miserable and sinful creatures Heb. 10. Rom. 3. The end of his coming was to save and deliver his People to fulfil the Law for us to bear witness unto the Truth to teach and preach the words of his Father to give light unto the World to call sinners to Repentance to refresh them that labour and be heavy laden to cast out the Prince of this World to reconcile us in the body of his flesh to dissolve the works of the Devil last of all to become a Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World These were the chief ends wherefore Christ became man not for any profit that should come to himself thereby but only for our sakes that we might understand the Will of God be partakers of his Heavenly Light be delivered out of the Devils claws released from the burden of sin justified through faith in his blood and finally received up into everlasting glory there to reign with him for ever Was not this a great and singular love of Christ towards mankind that being the express and lively Image of God he would notwithstanding humble himself and take upon him the form of a Servant and that only to save and redeem us O how much are we bound to the goodness of God in this behalf how many thanks and praises do we owe unto him for this our Salvation wrought by his dear and only Son Christ who became a Pilgrim in Earth to make us Citizens in Heaven who became the Son of man to make us the Sons of God who became obedient to the Law to deliver us from the curse of the Law
shall not be imputed to our condemnation He hath taken upon him the just reward of sin Rom. 6. which was death and by death hath overthrown death that we believing in him might live for ever and not die Ought not this to engender extream hatred of sin in us to consider that it did violently as it were pluck God out of Heaven to make him feel the horrors and pains of Death O that we would sometimes consider this in the midst of our pomps and pleasures it would bridle the outragiousness of the flesh it would abate and asswage our carnal affections it would restrain our fleshly appetites that we should not run at random as we commonly do To commit sin wilfully and desperately without fear of God is nothing else but to crucifie Christ anew as we are expresly taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 6. Which thing if it were deeply printed in all mens hearts then should not sin reign every where so much as it doth to the great grief and torment of Christ now sitting in Heaven Let us therefore remember and always bear in mind Christ crucified that thereby we may be inwardly moved both to abhor sin throughly and also with an earnest and zealous heart to love God For this is another fruit which the memorial of Christs death ought to work in us an earnest and unfeigned love towards God So God loved the World saith St. John that he gave his only begotten Son John 3. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting If God declared so great love towards us his silly Creatures how can we of right but love him again Was not this a sure Pledge of his Love to give us his own Son from Heaven He might have given us an Angel if he would or some other Creature and yet should his love have been far above our deserts Now he gave us not an Angel but his Son And what Son His only Son his natural Son his well-beloved Son even that Son whom he had made Lord and Ruler of all things Was not this a singular token of great love But to whom did he give him He gave him to the whole World that it to say to Adam and all that should come after him O Lord what had Adam or any other man deserved at Gods hands that he should give us his own Son We are all miserable Persons sinful Persons damnable Persons justly driven out of Paradise justly excluded from Heaven justly condemned to Hell-fire And yet see a wonderful token of Gods love he gave us his only begotten Son us I say that were his extream and deadly Enemies that we by vertue of his Blood shed upon the Cross might be clean purged from our sins and made righteous again in his sight Who can chuse but marvel to hear that God should shew such unspeakable love towards us that were his deadly Enemies Indeed O mortal man thou oughtest of right to marvel at it and to acknowledge therein Gods great goodness and mercy towards mankind which is so wonderful that no flesh be it never so worldly wise may well conceive it or express it For as St. Paul testifieth Rom. 5. God greatly commendeth and setteth out his love towards us in that he sent his Son Christ to die for us when we were yet sinners and open enemies of his Name If we had in any manner of wise deserved it at his hands then had it been no marvel at all but there was no desert on our part wherfore he should do it Therefore thou sinful Creature when thou hearest that God gave his Son to die for the sins of the World think not he did it for any desert or goodness that was in thee for thou wast then the Bond-slave of the Devil But fall down upon thy knees and cry with the Prophet David Psal 8. O Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him And seeing he hath so greatly loved thee endeavour thy self to love him again with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength that therein thou maist appear not to be unworthy of his love I report me to thine own Conscience whether thou wouldest not think thy love ill bestowed upon him that could not find in his heart to love thee again If this be true as it is most true then think how greatly it behoveth thee in Duty to love God which hath so greatly loved thee that he hath not spared his own only Son from so cruel and shameful a death for thy sake And hitherto concerning the cause of Christs Death and Passion which as it was on our part most horrible and grievous sin so on the other side it was the free gift of God proceeding of his meer and tender love towards mankind without any merit or desert of our part The Lord for his mercies sake grant that we never forget this great benefit of our Salvation in Christ Jesu but that we always shew our selves thankful for it abhorring all kind of wickedness and sin and applying our minds wholly to the service of God and the diligent keeping of his Commandments Now it remaineth that I shew unto you how to apply Christs death and Passion to our comfort as a Medicine to our Wounds so that it may work the same effect in us wherefore it was given namely the health and salvation of our souls For as it profiteth a man nothing to have salve unless it be well applied to the part infected So the death of Christ shall stand us in no force unless we apply it to our selves in such sort as God hath appointed Almighty God commonly worketh by means and in this thing he hath also ordained a certain mean whereby we may take fruit and profit to our souls health What mean is that forsooth it is Faith Not an unconstant and wavering Faith but a sure stedfast grounded and unfeigned Faith God sent his Son into the World saith St. John John 3. To what end That whosoever believeth in him should not perish bâ—t have life everlasting Mark these words That whosoever believeth in him Here is the mean whereby we must apply the fruits of Christs death unto our deadly Wound Here is the mean whereby we must obtain eternal life namely Faith For as St. Paul teacheth in his Epistle to the Romans with the heart man believeth unto righteo sness Rom. 10. and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Paul being demanded of the Keeper of the Prison what he should do to be saved Acts 16. made this Answer Believe in the Lord Jesus so shalt thou and thine house both be saved After the Evangelist hâ—d described and set forth unto us at large the life and the death of the Lord Jesus in the end he concludeth with these words John 20. These things are written that we may believe Jesus
otherwhiles obey God but by and by do think that laying him aside it is lawful for them to serve the World and the Flesh And because that we are letted by the natural corruption of our own Flesh and the wicked affections of the same he doth bid us also to return with Fasting not thereby understanding a superstitious Abstinence and choosing of Meats but a true Discipline or taming of the Flesh whereby the nourishments of filthy Lusts and of stubborn Contumacy and Pride may be withdrawn and pluckt away from it Whereunto he doth add weeping and mourning which do contain an outward profession of Repentance which is very needful and necessary that so we may partly set forth the righteousness of God when by such means we do testifie that we deserved punishments at his hands and partly stop the offence that was openly given unto the weak Psal 25. Thus did David see who being not content to have bewept and bewailed his sins privately would publickly in his Psalms declare and set forth the rigteousness of God in punishing sin and also stay them that might have abused his Example to sin the more boldly Therefore they are farthest from true Repentance that will not confess and acknowledge their sins nor yet bewail them but rather do most ungodlily glory and rejoyce in them Now lest any Man should think that Repentance doth consist in outward weeping and mourning only he doth rehearse that wherein the chief of the whole matter doth lie when he saith Rent your Hearts and not your Garments and turn unto the Lord your God For the People of the East part of the World were wont to rent their Garments Psal 52. if any thing hapned unto them that seemed intolerable Hypocrites do counterfeit all manner of things This thing did Hypocrites sometimes counterfeit and follow as though the whole Repentance did stand in such outward gesture He teacheth then that another manner of thing is required that is That they must be contrite in their Hearts that they must utterly detest and abhor Sins and being at defiance with them return unto the Lord their God from whom they went away before For God hath no pleasure in the outward Ceremony but requireth a contrite and humble Heart Psal 52. which he will never despise as David doth testifie There is therefore none other use of these outward Ceremonies but as far forth as we are stirred up by them and do serve to the glory of God and to the edifying of others Now doth he add unto this Doctrin or Exhortation How Repentance is not unprofitable certain godly Reasons which he doth ground upon the nature and property of God and whereby he doth teach that true Repentance can never be unprofitable or unfruitful For as in all other things Mens hearts do quail and faint if they once perceive that they travel in vain Even so most especially in this matter must we take heed and beware that we suffer not our selves to be persuaded that all that we do is but labor lost for thereof either sudden desperation doth arise or a licentious boldness to sin which at length bringeth unto desperation Lest any such thing then should happen unto them he doth certifie them of the grace and goodness of God who is always most ready to receive them into favor again that turn speedily unto him Which thing he doth prove with the same Titles wherewith God doth describe and set forth himself unto Moses speaking on this manner Exod. 34. For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil that is such a one as is sorry for your Afflictions First He calleth him gentle and gracious as he who of his own nature is more prompt and ready to do good than to punish Whereunto this saying of Esaias the Prophet seemeth to pertain where he saith Esay 55. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous his own imaginations and return unto the Lord and he will have pity on him and to our God for he is very ready to forgive Secondly Doth attribute unto him mercy or rather according to the Hebrew word the Bowels of mercies whereby he signified the natural affections of Parents towards their Children Which thing David doth set forth goodly Psal 103. saying As a Father hath compassion on his Children so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him for he knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth that we are but dust Thirdly He saith that he is slow to anger that is to say long-suffering and which is not lightly provoked to wrath Fourthly That he is of much kindness for he is that bottomless Well of all goodness who rejoyceth to do good unto us therefore did he create and make Men that he might have whom he should do good unto and make partakers of his Heavenly Riches Fifthly He repenteth of the evil that is to say he doth call back again and revoke the punishment which he had threatned when he seeth Men repent turn and amend Against the Novatians Whereupon we do not without a just cause detest and abhor the damnable Opinion of them which do most wickedly go about to persuade the simple and ignorant People That if we chance after we be once come to God and grafted in his Son Jesus Christ to fall into some horrible sin shall be unprofitable unto us there is no more hope of reconciliation or to be received again into the favor and mercy of God And that they may give the better colour unto their pestilent and pernicious Error they do commonly bring in the sixth and tenth Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the second Chapter of the second Epistle of Peter not considering that in those places the holy Apostles do not speak of the daily falls that we as long as we carry about this body of sin are subject unto Mat. 12. Mark 3. but of the final falling away from Christ and his Gospel The sin against the Holy Ghost which is a sin against the Holy Ghost that shall never be forgiven because that they do utterly forsake the known Truth do hate Christ and his Word they do crucifie and mock him but to their utter destruction and therefore fall into desparation and cannot repent And that this is the true meaning of the holy Spirit of God it appeareth by many other places of the Scriptures which promise unto all true repentant sinners and to them that with their whole heart do turn unto the Lord their God free pardon and remission of their sins For the probation hereof we read this O Israel saith the holy Prophet Jeremy if thou return Jer. 4. return unto me saith the Lord and if thou put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not be removed Again these are Esaias words Esay 55. Let the wicked forsake his own ways and the unrighteous his own