with heauen not because we haue wrought them our selues as the aduersaries of the grace of God doe teach but because they are sanctified in the couenaunt of Gods grace and washed in the bloud of the vnspotted Lamb Iesus Christ therfore we hold and hold truely that all those spots and blots which remain in our imperfect obedience must be couered with the vnspotted holinesse and perfect obedience of Iesus Christ as with a garment that no part of our filthy nakednes may appeare in the pure presence of him whose eyes can abide no vncleannesse or els we can neuer be saued Therefore we hold againe and that according to truth that all our righteousnesse is vncleane and polluted in the puddle of Originall corruption in the loines of the first Adam but it is clensed in the pure fountaine of Iesus christ his obedience the second Adam It is onely begunne here and in part perfourmed but it shal be finished and made perfect in the life to come and that in Christ Iesus in whom all our poore endeuours and small beginnings shal be accepted that little good which is in vs is matched with much euill yea euery good motion when it commeth from the father of lightes is of a brighte and liuely colour but so soone as they come into our vessels they chaunge their colour and looke of another hue There is neuer a praier that we make but hath his wants of feeling or want of humbling or faith or reuerence or something is wanting and it is stained with the contrarie There is neuer a sermon that we make or heare but hath some stain and pollution in vs There is neuer a grace that we say but is likewise blemished for want of some grace our whole seruice is idle and vnprofitable for when did we talke without vanitie when do we giue without some sauour or other of Hipocrisie when do we heare without wearines or when do we pray without tediousnesse and when we doe pray for pardon what toies and fancies do stain our prayers that when we haue praied we had need to pray againe that God would forgiue our prayers for do we not thinke least of God when we pray vnto him and doth not our deuotion commonly end with our prayers If we suffer any thing is it without some impatience and distrust will not a little murmuring and grudging against God haue a hand in the matter will we not appoint our heauenly father either where to strike or when or with what or how long or how much or how litle or one thing or other as though he knew not what to doe without vs And when I pray you doe we rest hartely well contented with his good pleasure and will If we obtaine any thing which we desired doe we not still desire more like Achab If we doe any euill alas how cherefully how speedely and how easily doe we commit it but if we doe any good wo be vnto vs how faintly how rudely and how slackly do we goe about it in our owne causes how hoate are we in Gods causes how cold are we in excercises of prophanenesse how bold but in the excercises of holinesse how bashfull is the best of vs and that which God doth most abhorre do we not waxe proud of those good things which God doth worke in vs and by vs as children are proud of their new clothes which their parents do put vpō them or of saying a grace which with much ado their parents haue taught them In one word that litle good that is in vs is it not matched as I said and manie times ouermatched with muche euill And that litle that is in vs or done by vs it is of the Lord also that worketh both the will and the deed And whē he doth reward that what doth he but crowne his owne gifts in vs and that according to that promise and couenant which hee sware to our forefather Abraham and his seede for euer So that wee may now safely conclude as Paule doth It is neither in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercie All this and much more being considered how should we doe if wee were not first the sonnes of God in Christ our Lord would our workes abide the triall of Gods iustice Alas poore wretches that we are the least staine of thought though it were neuer cōsented vnto would send vs packing to hell for euer But now being first the sons of God by Iesus Christ being assured of Gods loue in christ and pleading nothing but his mercy onely in the merites of Christ wee may be bold to go vnto our heauēly father for if any man sin wee haue an aduocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous whose righteousnesse pleadeth for our vnrighteousnesse through whose stripes we are healed through whose bloud wee may be bold to enter into the holy place with him the Lord is well pleased in him the Sonnes of GOD are well accepted and without him wee are wholly reiected Therefore saith Saint Iohn Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that is in the faith of the Lord Iesus for they shall rest from their labours and their workes shall followe them that is God accepteth of them and their workes which are in the Lord but none els By this place our Papistes woulde prooue that our workes doe merite heauen But from hence wee may gather more truely that none haue a right faith in Christ but those which haue good workes to accompanie them when they dye in the Lord. But to gather heereupon that they merite wee cannot for then they shoulde goe before our being in the Lord and be a cause thereof but nowe we see that they followe our being in the Lord. Againe the workes doe not beautifie the man in the Lord but the man in the Lorde doth beautifie the workes as the Temple sanctified the golde that was vpon it but was not sanctified by the golde and as the Altar sanctified the offering that was vpon it but was not sanctified by the offering And this is not because hee hath done them but because they are done in the Lord by faith without which whatsoeuer is done is sinne and the Lord in him by his spirit doth sanctifie them vnto himselfe Last of all the Argument doth not hold our workes are rewarded therfore they merite for then none should be rewarded but he that did merite first then the seruant should be before the heire because hee taketh more paines than the other doth and yet the heire hath the land because he was the sonne before So we are first borne the sons of God by faith in Christ and so we are made fellow heires with him of Heauen and then followe good works not as a cause why we should haue th' inheritance but as fruits following from a thankefull minde But they of the popish Church being
of reâ—eshing is come from the Lord it shal be saide vnto vs Come ye blessed children of my Father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world But in the meane time wee must looke for trouble in the worlde for so hath our Lord Iesus foretolde vs. In the world you shall haue trouble saith he but be of good cheare I haue ouercome the world that victorie is not for himselfe but for the faithfull And as for trouble affliction the Lord doth see it good for vs that we may learne the statutes of our God as the rod is necessarie for the childe without which he would waxe brutish and barbarous The gold is put in the fire and is made the finer the spices are braied in the morter and do smell the sweeter the vine is pruned to the stocke and is made the more fruitfull the grape is trodden and pressed eyeldeth the more wine the ground is rent with the plough and then receiueth the seede the corne is first beaten out with the flaile then it is tossed with the fanne after that it is ground in the mill and then it is fit to make bread the cloth is rent and cut in peeces before it can make a garment the finest linnen is washed and wrung and then is made white All these are familiar examples to teach vs howe necessarie affliction is for the children of God and howe hardly they are made fit for the kingdome of heauen without the crosse Ioseph was promised that he shuld be ruler ouer all his brethren but he was not so by and by hee must first be cast into a pit then hee must be bought and solde then hee must be tempted and falsly accused then he must be wrongfullie imprisoned and after all this hee shall be aduanced The Israelites were promised the land of Chanaan which flowed with milke and honny but it is not giuen them so soone as it is promised they must first serue in Aegypt then they must passe the red Sea then they must trauaile through the wildernesse of manifolde wantes then they must fight manie sore battailes and afterward come to Chanaan It was tolde Dauid that hee should be king but hee did not presently weare the crowne No Dauid no thou must first be a shepheard then thou must encounter with Goliah the vncircumcised then thou must looke for Saules hatred then thou must be banished Saules courts and thy owne countrey and after all this and a great deale more with much adoe thou shalt be king So the Lord hath promised vs the kingdome of heauen whereof Chanaan was a figure and a resemblance but wee must not looke presently to enioy it wee must first be handled as Ioseph was then wee must be euill treated and oppressed as Israel was then wee must be hated and persecuted as Dauid was and then wee shall haue it The worlde will hate vs our foes will hate vs and our friendes will hate vs if wee feare God but God will loue vs and that is our comfort Father and mother will forsake vs but God will take vs vp and that is our comfort Craftie heades will lay snares to take vs in our goinges but God will breake the snare and our soules shall escape the proude and malicious will dishonour and disgrace vs but GOD will honour those that honour him for fathers are the glorie of their children saith Salomon howe much more shall the God of all glorie be a glorie to his Children we must not looke to be free from the buffettinges of Sathan if wee were as holie as Paule but feare nothing the grace of God doth and shall vpholde vs. And Sathan will sift vs as wheat is sifted if we weare as good as Peter if he may haue his desire but be not afraid for I haue prayed for thee saith the Lord Iesus that thy faith may not faile yea the Lord doth fight for vs and with his louing fauour he will defend his children as with a sheild This is more I coÌ„fesse than man can found with the plummet of human reason neither is it alwais seen with the eies of our body Therefore Gods children must learne to walke by faith and not by sight And therfore is our waiting on god made an article of our faith I beeloue in God the father almightie c. That which must vpholde our faith is Gods promise and his power So was Abraham vpholden and was persuaded that God would be as good as his word though he saw no worldly reason for it and if we could giue a naturall reason for that as wee may doe for thinges of the world then were our trusting in God an article of reason but not an article of faith And these two can not stand together for faith doth beginne where reason doth end that when all meanes doe faile vs yet faith may vphold vs in the promises of God And thus we see how these two words My sonne do not onely persuade vs to here God and bind vs entirely to serue him without halting in our calling but they serue also to comfort vs and to cheare vs vp when the crosse doth meete vs in doing or rather in neglecting the dueties of our calling How these words My sonne do serue for instruction LAst of all for our instruction the Lord saith My son to teach vs that if we doe willingly heare him when he teacheth vs if we diligently obay him when he commaundeth vs and if we patiently suffer him when he correcteth vs he will no doubt haue a fatherly care ouer vs he will accept of our sacrifices and heare our praiers he will also be mercifull to our sinnes and forgiue vs our offences he will deliuer vs from hell and bring vs into heauen But all this is neither for our hearing nor for our obaying nor for our suffering nor for our praying nor for our working but because we are first his adopted children in Iesus christ It is not for any worthinesse that is in vs but for the worthinesse of the Lord Iesus by whose meanes we are become his sonnes his daughters we are not therfore made the sons of God because we heare his word because we obay his commaundements because we beare the crosse or for any other thing that we haue done or possibly can doe as Papists hold but therfore we heare him and therfore we obay him and therefore we suffer him and therefore we loue him because we are first made his children in the Lord Iesus Our good workes are not the cause of our election but Gods election is the cause of our good works for he hath chosen vs saith the Apostle in him that is in Christ before the foundation of the world that wee should be holy and blameles before him in loue Therefore we hold againe that all our poore endeuours are accepted of God and rewarded
kings paie without his fauour and what good shall the goodes of his subiectes doe him without their heartes and good will This knew the old counsellers of Salomon well inough and therefore when Rehoboam who succeeded Salomon asked them what course he should take to winne the heartes of the people they gaue him counsell to speak kindly vnto them at the first and they would be his seruantes for euer meaning that some token of loue or shewe of a kind affection towardes them would more preuaile with them than any thing els Shall the hope of Rehoboams loue make his subiects serue him for euer and shall not the assurance of Gods loue make vs serue him for euer Shall the kind words of Rehoboam the king of Ifrael win the heartes of his people for euer and shal not the kind wordes of Iehouah the king of heauen and earth win the hearts of his people for euer and for euer vnto himselfe besides that Rehoboam had neede to speake kindly to his subiects or els it is the worse for himselfe Iehouah needeth not to speake so for if we neuer loue him it is not the worse for him but for our selues yea if we be righteous we are righteous for our selues and if we all perish God wil not loose a whit of his glory shall we not then listen vnto the Lord when he speaketh so kindly vnto vs and hath displayed the flagge of Truce with My sonne the badge of loue vpon it When God commaunded Abraham to sacrifice his sonne Isaac he was ready to do it So deare was the loue of God vnto him but if all the world besides had persuaded him therevnto he would neuer haue yeelded God doth not commaund vs to sacrifice our sonnes but our sinnes least they sacrifice vs now if we thinke our selues as much beholding to God as Abraham was we wil not spare them though they be as necessarie for vs as our right hand or as profitable vnto vs as our right eye If Iudas had been the child of God as he was the child of perdition would he haue sold the loue of Christ for 30 pieces of siluer no nor yet for 30 thousande worldes but so it is with all Hipocrites and reprobate persons which are best knowne to the searcher of hearts They cannot be persuaded that God is their father in Christ their spirites are not assured by Gods spirit that God doth loue them They conceiue of the Lord as of their enemie and therefore as they could neuer feele the sweetenesse of Gods loue in their soules so they can neuer afford him their loue in their liues Whervpon it commeth to passe that the least temptation in the world the least feare of mans displeasure and the least shew of pleasure and profit doe easily persuade them to doe any thing against god against his glory against his word and against his feruantes as Baalam did who serued for the wages of iniquitie But the faithfull indeed hearing God calling them his sonnes and his daughters hauing the spirit of sanctification to assure them of their adoption they I say do fall into the reckoning of Gods vnspeakable loue in Christ vnto them howbeit not all at one time nor alwaies alike he that is not now may be hereafter but when they consider of it indeed they do therewithall resolue with themselues in token of thankfullnesse to serue the Lord in righteousnesse and true holines all the daies of their life yet still depēding vpon God by prayer and herein through Gods grace they are resolute whatsoeuer dislike of men or hinderance in the world or daunger to their owne liues they might purchase for their labor And thus wee see what an Orator the loue of God is Therfore when the Lord saith My son let vs looke for no more eloquēce to entice vs nor reasons to persuade vs for heare is eloquence inough reasons inow and learning inough and fathers inow to persuade any man that hath the spirit of God in him and whosoeuer doth not find the cords of Gods loue and authoritie strong inough to knit his hearte vnto the statutes of the Lord he hath good cause to suspect himselfe as yet that he is not the child of God Why My sonne in the singular number and not my sonnes NOw we will see why the Lord saith not My sonnes in the plurall number seeing as he speaketh to all his childrē but My sonne as if it concerned but onely one body This is partly for the particular encouragement and confirmation of euery one in his duety and partly for the particular comfort of euery one of Gods children when he shall be troubled for doing of his duety for when the Lord in particular shall giue euery one his charge then if any man be offended at him he may shew his warrant and say thus Sir the Lord did not speake generally to all least one should post it off to another but he speaketh particularly to me aswell as to another and therefore I am discharged for when the Lord speaketh indefinitly meaning none he excepteth none But in this particular kind of speaking the Lord doth binde euery one of his children in particular wholy to serue him and none els so therewithall he giueth vs to vnderstand that he hath a speciall eye and fatherly care ouer euery one in particular that is his childe and will surely protect and defend him as his childe against all annoiances watsoeuer than the which there can be no greater comfort whensoeuer the crosse shall come But we will first see how they doe binde vs wholy to God and afterwarde we will see how God hath bound himselfe to vs and euery one of vs if we be all his children as I hope we be Some thinke it lawfull to serue God and the worlde too to be of this Reiiglon and of that Religion too to goe to Bethell the house of God and to Bethauen the house of Idolitrie To goe with Barnabas and Barrabas and to ioyne with Simon Magus as with Simon Peter thinking themselues sufficiently discharged if they serue God a little now and then or if they keepe their consciences to themselues and giue God their heartes like Protestantes at large which thinke they need not heare a sermon because they heard seruice or they need not come in the after noone because they came in the forenoone or like the most which think when they haue heard a sermon they are then at libertie to do what they will or like those men which will heare a Masse and worshippe the crosse at the least in other countries that they may get commodities thereby but they will keep their consciences to themselues as our church Papists doe here amongst vs but all these men are deceiued for no man can serue ij maisters Therefore my good brother when any such temptations do beginne to fawne vpon thee Remember that God doth here call euerie particular member of the church
no children and doing nothing but of seruile feare can doe nothing that is good for first they faile in the matter of their good workes putting in practise the traditions of men in stead of Gods preceptes Secondly they faile in the maner of doing for that which they doe is done to a wrong end and with a wrong affection for it is too iustifie themselues thereby before God as the Pharisie did and therefore this white flagge of truce My sonne is not put out to them because they haue broken the conditions of peace Our Popish merit-mongers are like the elders of the Iewes which went to Christ in the behalfe of the Centurion for his sicke seruaunt They besought him instantly as though they might not be denied and they tell him forsooth that the Centurion is worthie of so much fauour as that the Lord Iesus should come to him and heale his seruant for proofe whereof they alleage two strong reasons like our Papistes One is He loueth our nation Another is He hath built vs a synagogue so plead our Papistes we are worthy O Lord of thy fauour we haue deserued so much at thy handes or such a one that is nowe gone hath deserued so much as that thou shouldest receiue his soule for he loued vs well while he liued hee was an honest man hee made vs good cheere hee kept a good house hee filled our bellies and our purses too Besides that he hath built vs a stately synagogue goodly Churches and Chappels of ease he mended our hie-waies he erected such a Colledge such a friery and such a Nunrie Againe such a man is a good Catholique Lord for he helped the Priest to say Masse he gaue his consent to the poisoning of such a king and the murthering of such another hee did what hee could to dispatch all christian Princes because they are not of the Popes Religion so zealous a catholique was he But Lord he made a conscience of euery thing he would not eate a bit of flesh nor so much as an egge in Lent or vpon a friday he woulde neuer go out before hee had crossed himselfe before and behind his house was neuer without a Crucifix nor his windowes without a picture of the Trinitie a number of good workes more hee did which the tally will not holde and those are for his honest neighbors which will giue any thing for them Therefore Lord thou must of necessitie receiue his soule when hee is dead or els thou doest him great wrong And thus wee heare howe Papistes plead like the elders of the Iews for the Centurion and his seruantes But what saide the Centurion himselfe O Lord saith he trouble not thou thy selfe for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe neyther did I thinke my selfe worthie to come vnto thee but onely speake the worde and my seruaunt shall bee whole And this message saith the Euangelist hee sent to Christ by his friendes as if they which pleaded his worthinesse and workes were his ennemies and not hys friendes But howe did the Lord Iesus like of this message Surely he maruelled at such humilitie commended the faith of the Centurion euen by the name of greatfaith to shew that merit-mongers haue no faith at all except the Deuils faith Now to end this pointe If any man be the child of God in Christ let him also become a new creature and liue as becommeth the sonnes of God let no man say If I bee the child of God I need not care what to doe or as the manner of many is GOD is mercifull and Christ died for our sinnes what need we feare for as there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ so they which are in Christ liue not after the flesh but after the spirite On the other side If thou feele thy self a new creatur in Christ and transfourmed into the likenesse of the sonnes of God then faint not vnder the crosse for thy heauenly father will beare thee vp in his arms plead not for thy selfe by any thing that is in thy selfe but appeale to the mercy of thy heauenly father and say Lord he whom thou louest is in want as the sisters of Lazarus said to christ for their brother Lord he whom thou louest is sicke And claime the promise of God thy heauenly father in his sonne Christ and then feare not thy sinnes My sonne saith God for I euen I will do them all away euen for my names sake and for my sonnes sake in whom thou art my sonne and in whom I am well pleased And thus we see al our feare turned into ioy because we are made the sonnes of God in Christ. When a lion roared vpon Sampson the spirite of strength came vpon Sampson and he rent him in pieces Not long after in the same Lion he found a swarme of Bees with their stings but therewithall he found a Hony-combe to feede vpon So our sinnes and the Deuill roared vpon vs and thought to haue deuoured vs. but our true Sampson Iesus Christ hath torne him in pieces which went about like a roaring Lion seeking to deuoure vs. Now if we looke into our owne heartes which are as a Lions den we shall find after this victory not a swarme of Bees as Sampson did in the Bellie of the Lion but a swarme of corruptions and sinnes with their stings like prickes in our flesh to humble vs but there withall we shall find Honny to comfort vs euen a rich Hony-combe of Gods mercies to feede vpon if the spirite of faith and courage be in vs as the spirite of strength and boldnesse was in Sampson and then we may say plainly as Sampson said in a riddle Out of the eater came meate and out of the strong came sweetnesse for what is stronger than a Lion and what is sweeter than Hony But we may say What is stronger than sinne and what is sweeter than mercy What sight more terrible than the blacke flagge of defiance with My Rebell the colours of vengeance vpon it What more comfortable than to see that pulled in and the white flagge of truce put forth with My sonne the words of mercy and peace vpon it My Rebell is gone My sonne is come in the steede The Lord take away the Rebellions of our heartes and graunt vs so to keepe his conditions of peace that we may be his sonnes indeed and find peace to our consciences for euermore Thus we see that as the Lord did once bring light out of darkenesse so our heauenly father hath wrought comfort out of sinne to all his children in Christ Iesus blessed be his name for euer And thus much for these wordes My sonne as proceeding from God to man My sonne as being the wordes of Salomon considered NOw if we consider them as they be the wordes of Salomon somthing more may be gathered from them for as God was the Authour so Salomon was