in another place Audite coeli auribus percipe terra Harken ye heavens and thou earth bend hither thine eares Filios enutrivi exaltavi ipsi autem spreuerunt me I have norished up children and have exalted them and now they contemn me What a pitiful complaint is this of God against most vile and base worms of the earth But yet God amplifieth this iniquitie more by certain examples and comparisons The oxe saith he knoweth his owner and the asse knoweth the manger of his Lord and maister but yet my people know not me wo be to the sinful nation to the people loden with iniquitie to this naughtie seed to wicked children What complaint can be more vehement than this What threatning can be more dreadful than this wo comming from the mouth of him which may punish us at his pleasure 19 Wherfore deer brother if thou have grace cease to be ungrateful to God any longer cease to offend him which hath by so manie wais prevented thee with benefits cease to render evil for good hatred for love contempt for his fatherly affection towards thee He hath done for thee al that he can he hath given thee al that thou art yea and in a certain maner al that he is woorth himselfe and meaneth besides to make thee partaker of al his glorie in the world to come and requireth no more for al this at thy hands but love and gratitude O deer brother why wilt thou not yeeld him this Why wilt thou not do as much to him as thou wouldest haue another man to do to thee for lesse than the ten thousand part of these benefits which thou hast receaved For I dare wel say that if thou hadst given a man but an almes at thy dore thou wouldest think him bound to love thee for it albeit thou hadst nothing in thee woorth love besides But now thy Lord besides these his gifts hath infinite causes to make thee love him that is al the causes which any thing in the world hath to purchase love and infinite more besides for if al the perfections of al things created in heaven and in earth which do procure love were put togither in one as al their beautie al their vertu al their nobilitie al their goodnes and the like yet thy Lord and Savior whom thou contemnest doth passe al this and that by many and infinite degrees for that he is not only al these things togither but also he is very beautie it selfe vertu it selfe wisdom it selfe sweetnes it selfe nobilitie it selfe goodnes it selfe and the very fountain and welspring where hence al these things are derived by litle peeces and parcels unto his creatures 20 Be ashamed then good Christian of this thy ingratitude to so great so good bountiful a Lord and resolve thy selfe for the time to come to amend thy course of life and behavior towards him Say with the prophet which had lesse cause to say so than thou Domine propitiare peccatomeo multum est enim O Lord pardon me mine offences for it is great in thy sight I know there is nothing O Lord which doth so much displease thee or dry up the fountain of thy mercy and so bindeth thy hands from dooing good as ingratitude in the receavers of thy benefits wherin hitherto I have exceeded al other but I have done it O Lord in mine ignorance not considering thy gifts unto me nor what account thou wouldest demaund again of the same But now seeing thou hast vouchsafed to make me woorthy of this grace also wherby to see and know mine own state and default I hope hereafter by direction of the same grace of thine to shew my selfe a better child towards thee O Lord I am overcome at the lenth with consideration of thy love and how can I have the hart to offend thee hereafter seeing thou hast prevented me so many wais with benefits even when I demanded not the same Can I have hands ever more to sin against thee which hast given up thine own most tender hands to be nailed on the crosse for my sins heretofore No no it is too great an injurie against thee O Lord and wo woorth me that have done it so often heretofore But by thy holy assistance I trust not to return to such iniquitie for the time to come to which O Lord I beseech thee for thy mercy sake from thy holie throne of heaven to say Amen CHAP. VIII Of what opinion and feeling we shal be touching these matters at the time of our death THe holie scriptures do teach us and experience maketh it plain that during the time of this life the commodities preferments and pleasures of the world do possesse so strongly the harts of manie men and do hold them chained with so forcible inchauntments being forsaken also upon their just deserts of the grace of God say and threaten what a man can bring against them al the whole scripture even from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Apocalips as indeed it is al against sin and sinners yet wil it prevail nothing with them being in that lamentable case as either they beleeve not or esteem not whatsoever is said to that purpose against their setled life and resolution to the contrary Of this we have infinite examples in scripture as of Sodom and Gomorra with the cities about which could not heare the warnings that good Lot gave unto them Also of Pharao whom al that ever Moises could do either by signes or saiengs mooved nothing Also of Iudas who by no faire means or threatnings used to him by his maister would change his wicked resolution But especially the prophets sent from God from time to time to dissuade the people from their naughtie life and consequently from the plaegs hanging over them do give abundant testimonie of this complaining everie where of the hardnes of sinners harts that would not be mooved with al the exhortations preachings promises and thunderings that they could use The prophet Zacharie shal testifie for al in this matter who saith of the people of Israel a litle before their destruction Hoc ait Dominus exercituum c. This saith the Lord of hosts iudge iustly And so foorth And presentlie he addeth And they would not attend but turning their baks went away stopped their ears to the end they might not heare and they did put their harts as an adamant stone to the end they might not heare the law and the words which God did send in his spirit by the hands of the former prophets wherby Gods great indignation was stirred up 2 This then is and alwais hath been the fashion of worldlings reprobate persons to harden their harts as an adamant stone against any thing that shal be told them for the amendement of their lives and for the saving of their souls Whiles they are in helth prosperitie they wil not know God As in
prophet And why so Bicause we draw therin with a sweet companion we draw with Christ that is his grace at one end and our endevor at the other And bicause when a great ox and a little do draw togither the waight lieth al upon the greater ox his nek for that he beareth up quite the yoke from the other therof it commeth that we drawing in this yoke with Christ which is greater than we are he lighteneth us of the whole burden and only requireth that we should go on with him comfortably and not refuse to enter under the yoke with him for that the pain shal be his and the pleasure ours This he signifieth expreslie when he saith Come you to me al that labor and are heavie loden and I wil refresh you Heer you see that he mooveth us to this yoke only therby to refresh and disburden us to disburden us I say and to refresh us and not any way to load or agreeve us to disburden us of the heavy lodings and yokes of this world as from the burden of care the burden of melancholy the burden of envie hatred and malice the burden of pride the burden of ambition the burden of covetousnes the burden of wickednes and hel fire it selfe From al these burdens and miserable yokes Christ would deliver us by covering our neks only with his yoke and burden so lightened and sweetned by his holy grace as the bearing therof is not travelsome but most easie pleasant and comfortable as hath been shewed 10 Another cause why this yoke is so sweet this burden so light and this way of Gods commandements so pleasant to good men is love love I mean towards God whose commandements they are For every man can tel and hath experienced in himselfe what a strong passion the passion of love is and how it maketh easie the verie greatest pains that are in this world What maketh the mother to take such pains in the bringing up of hir child but only love What causeth the wife to sit so attentive at the bedside of hir sik husband but only love What mooveth the beasts and birds of the air to spare from their own food and to indanger their own lives for the feeding and defending of their little ones but only the force of love Saint Austen doth prosecute this point at large by many other examples as of merchants that refuse no adventure of sea for love of gain of hunters that refuse no season of evil weather for love of game of soldiers that refuse no danger of death for love of the spoil And he addeth in the end that if the love of man can be so great towards creatures heer as to make labor easie and indeed to seem no labor but rather pleasure how much more shal the love of good men towards God make al their labor comfortable which they take in his service 11 This extreme love was the cause why al the pains and afflictions which Christ suffered for us seemed nothing unto him And this love also was the cause why al the travels and torments which many Christians have suffered for Christ seemed nothing unto them Imprisonments torments losse of honor goods life seemed trifles to divers servants of God in respect of this burning love This love drove many virgins and tender children to offer themselves in time of persecution for the love of him which in the cause was persecuted This love caused holie Apollonia of Alexandria being brought to the fire to be burned for Christ to slip out of the hands of such as led hir and joifully to run into the fire of hir selfe This love mooved Ignatius the ancient martyr to say being condemned to beasts and fearing least they would refuse his bodie as they had done of divers martyrs before that he would not permit them so to do but would provoke and stir them to come upon him and to take his life from him by tearing his body in peeces 12 These are the effects then of fervent love which maketh even the things that are most difficult and dreadful of themselves to appeer sweet and pleasant and much more the laws and commandements of God which in themselves are most just reasonable holie and easie Da amantem saith Saint Austen speaking of this matter et sentit quod dico Si autem frigido loquor nescit quid loquar Give me a man that is in love with God he feeleth this to be tru which I say but if I talk to a cold Christian he understandeth not what I say And this is the cause why Christ talking of the keeping of his commandements repeateth so often this word love as the surest cause of keeping the same for want wherof in the world the world keepeth them not as there he sheweth If you love me keep my commandements saith he And again He that hath my commandements and keepeth them he is he that loveth me Again He which loveth me wil keep my commandements In which last words is to be noted that to the lover he saith His commandement in the singular number for that to such an one al his commandements are but one commandement according to the saieng of Saint Paul That love is the fulnes of the law for that it comprehendeth al. But to him that loveth not Christ saith his commandements in the plural number signifieng therby that they are both many and heavie to him for that he wanteth love which should make them easie Which Saint Iohn also expresseth when he saith This is the love of God when we keep his commandements and his commandements are not heavie That is they are not heavy to him which hath the love of God otherwise no marvel though they be most heavie For that every thing seemeth heavie which we do against our liking And so by this also gentle reader thou maist gesse whether the love of God be in thee or no. 13 And these are two means now wherby the vertuous life of good men is made easie in this world There follow divers others to the end that these negligent excusers may see how unjust and untru this excuse of theirs is concerning the pretended hardnes of vertuous living which in very deed is indued with infinite privileges of comfort above the life of wicked men even in this world And the next after the former is a certain special and peculiar light of understanding pertaining to the just and called in scripture Prudentia sanctorum the wisdome of saints which is nothing els but a certain sparkle of heavenly wisdome bestowed by singular privilege upon the vertuous in this life wherby they receive most comfortable light and understanding in spiritual matters especially touching their own salvation and things necessarie therunto Of which the prophet David ment when he said Notas mihi fecisti vias vitae Thou hast made the wais of
the discipline of the Lord and be not wearie when thou art chastened of him For whom God loveth he chasteneth he whippeth every son whom he receiveth Persevere therfore in the correction laid upon you God offereth himselfe to you as to his children For what child is there whom the father correcteth not If you be out of correction wherof al his children are made partakers then are you bastards and not children Al correction for the present time when it is suffered seemeth unpleasant and sorrowful but yet after it bringeth foorth most quiet fruit of justice unto them that are exercised by it Wherfore strengthen up your wearie hands and loosed knees make way to your feet c. That is take courage unto you and go forward valiantly under the crosse laid upon you This was the exhortation of this holie captain unto his countrie men soldiers of Iesus Christ the Iewes 47 Saint Iames the brother of our Lord useth another exhortation to al tru Catholiks not much different from this in that his epistle which he writeth generally to al. Be you therfore patient my brethren saith he until the comming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman expecteth for a time the fruit of the earth so pretious unto him bearing patiently until he may receive the same in his season be you therfore patient and comfort your harts for that the comming of the Lord wil shortly draw neere Be not sad and complain not one of another Behold the judge is even at the gate Take the prophets for an example of labor and patience which spake unto us in the name of God Behold we account them blessed which have suffered You have heard of the sufferance of Iob and you have seen the end of the Lord with him you have seen I say that the Lord is merciful and ful of compassion 48 I might heer alledge many things more out of the scripture to this purpose for that the scripture is most copious heerin and in verie deed if it should al be melted and powred out it would yeeld us nothing else almost but touching the crosse and patient bearing of tribulation in this life But I must end for that this chapter riseth to be long as the other before did and therfore I wil only for my conclusion set down the confession and most excellent exhortation of old Mathathias unto his children in the time of the cruel persecution of Antiochus against the Iews Now saith he is the time that pride is in hir strength now is the time of chastisement towards us of eversion and indignation come Now therfore O children be you zealous in the law of God yeeld up your lives for the testament of your fathers remember the works of your ancestors what they have done in their generations and so shal you receive great glorie and eternal name Was not Abraham found faithful in time of temptation and it was reputed unto him for justice Ioseph in time of his distresse kept Gods commandements and was made Lord over al Egypt Phinees our father for his zeal towards the law of God received the testament of an everlasting preesthood Iosue for that he fulfilled Gods word was made a captain over al Israel Caleb for that he testified in the church received an inheritance David for his mercie obtained the seat of an eternal kingdom Elias for that he was zealous in zeal of the law was taken up to heaven Ananias Azarias and Misael through their beleef were delivered from the flame of the fire Daniel for his simplicitie was delivered from the mouth of lions And so do you run over by cogitation al generations and you shal see that al those that hope in God shal not be vanquished And do you not fear the words of a sinful man for his glorie is nothing els but dung and worms to day he is great and exalted and to morrow he shal not be found for he shal return unto his earth again and al his fond cogitations shal perish Wherfore take courage unto you my children and play the men in the law of God For therin shal be your honor and glorie Hitherto are the words of Mathathias which shal suffice for the end of this chapter CHAP. III. Of the third impediment that letteth men from resolution which is the love of the world AS the two impediments remooved before be indeed great staies to many men from the resolution we talk of so this that now I take in hand is not only of it selfe a strong impediment but also a great cause and common ground as it were to al the other impediments that be For if a man could touch the very pulse of al those who refuse or neglect or defer this resolution he should find the foundation therof to be the love of this world whatsoever other excuse they pretend besides The noble men of Iewrie pretended fear to be the cause why they could not resolve to confesse Christ openly but Saint Iohn that felt their pulse uttereth the tru cause to have been For that they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God Demas that forsook Saint Paul in his bands even a little before his death pretended another cause of his departure to Thessalonica but Saint Paul saith it was Quia diligebat hoc seculum For that he loved this world So that this is a general and universal impediment and more indeed dispersed than outwardly appeereth for that it bringeth foorth divers other excuses therby to cover hir selfe in many men 2 This may be confirmed by that most excellent parable of Christ recorded by three Evangelists of the three sorts of men which are to be damned the three causes of their damnation wherof the third and last and most general including as it were both the rest is the love of this world For the first sort of men are compared to a high way where al seed of life that is sown either withereth presently or else is eaten up by the birds of the aire that is as Christ expoundeth it by the devil in carelesse men that contemn whatsoever is said unto them as infidels and al other obstinate and contemptuous people The second sort are compared to rocky grounds in which for lak of deep roote the seed continueth not wherby are signified light and unconstant men that now chop in and now run out now are fervent and by and by key-cold again and so in time of temptation they are gon The third sort are compared to a field where the seed groweth up but yet there are so many thorns on the same which Christ expoundeth to be the cares troubles miseries deceveable vanities of this life as the good corn is choked up and bringeth foorth no fruit By which last words our savior signifieth that whersoever the doctrine of Christ groweth up yet bringeth not foorth du fruit that is whersoever it is
our happinesse Which Christ also affirmeth when he saith to his father This is life everlasting that men know the tru God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Saint Paul also putteth our felicitie In seeing God face to face And S. Iohn In seeing God as he is And the reason of this is for that al the pleasures and contentations in the world being only sparkles parcels sent out from God they are al contained much more perfectly and excellently in God himselfe than they are in their own natures created as also al the perfections of his creatures are more fully in him than in themselves Wherof it followeth that whosoever is admitted to the vision and presence of God he hath al the goodnes and perfection of creatures in the world united togither and presented unto him at once So that whatsoever deliteth either bodie or soul there he enjoieth it wholy knit up togither as it were in one bundle and with the presence therof is ravished in al parts both of mind and bodie as he cannot imagin think or wish for any joy whatsoever but there he findeth it in his perfection there he findeth al knowledge al wisdom al beautie al riches al nobilitie al goodnes al delite and whatsoever beside either deserveth love and admiration or worketh pleasure or contentation Al the powers of the mind shal be filled with this sight presence fruition of God al the senses of our bodie shal be satisfied God shal be the universal felicitie of al his saints containing in himselfe al particular felicities without end number or measure He shal be a glasse to our eies musik to our ears honie to our mouths most sweet and pleasant balm to our smel he shal be light to our understanding contentation to our wil continuation of eternitie to our memorie In him shal we enjoy al the varietie of times that delite us heer al the beautie of creatures that allure us heer al the plesures and joies that content us heer In this vision of God saith one Doctor we shal know we shal love we shal rejoice we shal praise We shal know the very secrets and judgements of God which are a depth without bottom Also the causes natures beginnings ofsprings and ends of al creatures We shal love incomparablie both God for the infinite causes of love that we see in him and our companions as much as our selves for that we see them as much loved of God as our selves and that also for the same for which we are loved Wherof insueth that our joy shal be without measure both for that we shal have a particular joy for every thing we love in God which are infinite and also for that we shal rejoice at the felicitie of everie one of our companions as much as at our own by that means we shal have so many distinct felicities as we shal have distinct companions in our felicitie which being without number it is no marvel though Christ said Go into the ioy of the Lord. And not let the Lords joy enter into thee for that no one hart created can receive the fulnes and greatnes of this joy Heerof it followeth lastly that we shal praise God without end or wearines with al our hart with al our strength with al our powers with al our parts according as the scripture saith Happie are they that live in thy house O Lord for they shal praise thee eternally without end 13 Of this most blessed vision of God the holie father Saint Austen writeth thus Happie are the clean of hart for they shal see God saith our Savior then is there a vision of God deer brethren which maketh us happie a vision I say which neither eie hath seen in this world nor eare hath heard nor hart conceived A vision that passeth al the beautie of earthly things of gold of silver of woods of fields of sea of air of sun of moon of stars of Angels for that al these things have their beauty from thence We shal see him face to face saith the Apostle And we shal know him as we are known We shal know the power of the Father we shal know the wisdom of the Son we shal know the goodnes of the holie Ghost we shal know the indivisible nature of the most blessed Trinitie And this seeing of the face of God is the joy of angels al saints in heaven This is the reward of life everlasting this is the glorie of blessed spirits their everlasting pleasure their crown of honor their game of felicitie their rich rest their beautiful place their inward and outward joy their divine paradice their heavenly Ierusalem their felicitie of life their fulnes of blisse their eternal joy their peace of God that passeth al understanding This sight of God is the ful beatitude the total glorification of man to see him I say that made both heaven and earth to see him that made thee that redeemed thee that glorified thee For in seeing him thou shal possesse him in possessing him thou shalt love him in loving him thou shalt praise him For he is the inheritance of his people he is the possession of their felicitie he is the reward of their expectation I wil be thy great reward saith he to Abraham O Lord thou art great and therfore no marvel if thou be a great reward The sight and fruition of thee therfore is al our hire al our reward al our joy and felicitie that we expect seeing thou hast said that This is life everlasting to see and know thee our tru God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent 14 Having now declared the two general parts of heavenly felicitie the one appertaining to our soul the other to our bodie it is not hard to esteem what excesse of joy both of them joined togither shal work at that happie day of our glorification O joy above al joies passing al joy and without which there is no joy when shal I enter into thee saith Saint Austen when shal I enjoy thee to see my GOD that dwelleth in thee O everlasting kingdome O kingdome of al eternities O light without end O peace of God that passeth al understanding in which the souls of saints do rest with thee And everlasting ioy is upon their heads they possesse ioy and exultation and al pain and sorrow is fled from them O how glorious a kingdome is thine O Lord wherin al saints do raign with thee Adorned with light as with apparel and having crowns of pretious stones on their heads O kingdome of everlasting blisse where thou O Lord the hope of al saints art and the diadem of their perpetual glorie rejoising them on everie side with thy blessed sight In this kingdome of thine there is infinite joy and mirth without sadnes health without sorrow life without labor light without darknes felicity
of God which said in his psalm Doth the seat of iniquitie cleave to thee O Lord which feignest a labor in thy commandements Is not this a feigned labor deer brethren in a commandement I mean a light burden an easie yoke an annointed crosse So in old time he said to Abraham Take thy son Isaac whom thou lovest and offer him unto me a sacrifice This was a feigned labor in a commandement for Isaac being offered he was not killed but sanctified therby Thou therfore if thou hear the voice of God within thy hart willing thee to offer up Isaac which signifieth joy or laughter fear not to obey it faithfullie and constantly whatsoever thy corrupt affection judgeth of the matter be thou secure Not Isaac but the ram shal die for it thy joy shal not perish but thy stubburnes only whose horns are intangled with thorns and cannot be in thee without the prickings of anxietie Thy Lord doth but tempt thee as he did Abraham to see what thou wilt do Isaac that is thy joy in this life shal not die as thou imaginest but shal live only he must be lifted up upon the wood to the end thy joy may be on high and that thou maist glorie not in thine own flesh but only in the crosse of thy Lord by whom thy selfe also art crucified crucified I say but crucified to the world for unto God thou livest stil and that much more than thou didst before CHAP. II. Of the second impediment which is persecution affliction and tribulation wherby many men are kept from the service of God MAnie there are in the world abroad who either upon these consideratiōs before laid down or for that they see some good men to live as merilie as themselves are content to yeeld thus much that in verie deed they esteem vertuous life to be pleasant inough to such as are once entered in therunto and that in good sooth for their own parts they could be content to follow the same if they might do it with quiet and peace of al hands But to request them unto it in such time or place or with such order and circumstances as tribulation affliction or persecution may fal upon them for the same they think it a matter unreasonable to be demanded and themselves verie excusable both before God and man for refusing it But this excuse is no better than the other going before of the pretended difficultie for that it standeth upon a false ground as also upon an unjust illation made upon that ground The ground is this that a man may live vertuously and serve God truly with al worldly ease and without any affliction tribulation or persecution which is false For that albeit external contradictions and persecutions be more in one time than in another more in this place than in that yet can there not be any time or place without some both external and internal Which although as I have shewed before in respect of the manifold helps and consolations sent from God in counterpoize of the same they seem not heavie nor unpleasant unto the godlie yet are they in themselves both great and waightie as would appeer if they fel upon the wicked and impatient Secondly the illation made upon this ground is unjust for that it alledgeth tribulation as a sufficient reason to abandon Gods service which God himselfe hath ordained for a mean to the contrarie effect that is to draw men therby unto his service For better declaration wherof the matter being of very great importance I wil handle in this chapter these four points First whither it be ordinarie for al that must be saved to suffer some kind of persecution tribulation or affliction Secondlie what are the causes why God so loving us as he doth would chose and appoint so to deale with us heer in this life Thirdlie what principal reasons of comfort a man may have in tribulation Fourthlie what is required at his hands in that state Which four points being declared I dowt not but great light shal appeer in this whole matter which seemeth to flesh and blood to be so ful of darknes and improbabilities 2 And touching the first there needeth little poofe for that Christ himselfe saith to his disciples and by them to al other his servants In mundo pressuram sustinebitis In the world you shal sustain affliction And in another place In your patience shal you possesse your souls That is by suffering patientlie in adversities which Saint Paul yet uttereth more plainly when he saith Al those that wil live godlie in Iesus Christ shal suffer persecution If al then none can be excepted And to signifie yet further the necessitie of this matter both Paul and Barnabas also did teach as Saint Luke reporteth That we of necessitie must enter into the kingdome of God by many tribulations Vsing the word Oportet which signifieth a certein necessitie And Christ himselfe yet more revealeth this secret when he saith to Saint Iohn the Evangelist That he chastiseth al those whom he loveth Which words the apostle as it were expounding to the Hebrews saith Flagellat omnem filium quem recipit He whippeth every child whom he receaveth And the apostle urgeth this matter so far in that place as he affirmeth plainly al those to be bastards no children of God which are not afflicted by him in this life The same position Saint Paul holdeth to Timothy Si sustinemus conregnabimus If we suffer with Christ we shal reign with Christ and no otherwise Wherin also concurreth holie David when he saith Multae tribulationes iustorum The iust are appointed to many tribulations 3 The same might be prooved by many other means as by that Christ saith He came not to bring peace but the sword into the world Also by that Saint Paul saith That no man can be crowned except he fight lawfullie But how can we fight if we have no enimie to oppugn us The same signifieth Christ in the Apocalips when he repeateth so often that heaven is only for him that conquereth The verie same is signified by the ship wherinto Christ entered with his disciples which was tossed tumbled as if it would have been drowned this I say by the ancient fathers exposition was a figure of the trobles and afflictions that al those should suffer which do rowe in the same with Christ our savior The same also is prooved by that the life of man is called a warfare upon earth and by that he is appointed to labor and travel while he is here also by that his life is replenished with many miseries even by the appointment of God after mans fal The same also is shewed by that that God hath appointed every man to passe through the pains of death before he come to joy also by the infinit contradictions and tribulations both within and without left unto man in this life
caused him to yeeld and put off not only his cloke but also his cote Wherby is ment saith this father that the allurements of pleasure are more strong harder to be resisted than the violence of persecution The like is shewed by the example of David who resisted easilie many assaults of adversitie but yet fel dangerouslie in time of prosperitie Wherby appeereth that vertuous men have no lesse war in time of peace than in time of persecution and that never there wanteth occasion of bearing the crosse and suffering affliction to him that wil accept of the same And this may suffice for this first point to proove that every man must enter into heaven by tribulation as Saint Paul saith 7 Touching the second why God would have this matter so it were sufficient to answer that it pleased him best so without seeking any further reason of his meaning heerin even as it pleased him without al reason in our sight to abase his Son so much as to send him hither into this world to suffer and die for us Or if we wil needs have a reason heerof this one might be sufficient for al that seeing we look for so great a glory as we do we should labor a little first for the same and so be made somwhat woorthy of Gods favor exaltation But yet for that it hath pleased his divine majestie not only to open unto us his wil and determination for our suffering in this life but also divers reasons of his most holie purpose and pleasure therin for our further encouragement and consolation which do suffer I wil in this place repeat some of the same for declaration of his exceeding great love and fatherly care towards us 8 The first cause then and the most principal is to increase therby our glorie in the life to come For having appointed by his eternal wisdome and justice that none shal be crowned there but such as endure in some good measure a fight in this world the more and greater combats that he giveth togither with sufficient grace to overcome therin the greater crown of glorie prepareth he for us at our resurrection This cause toucheth the apostle in the words alledged of the saints of the old testament to wit that they received no deliverance from their miseries in this world to the end they might find a better resurrection in the world to come This also ment Christ expresly when he said Happie are they which suffer persecution for theirs is the kingdome of heaven happie are you when men speak evil and persecute you c. Reioice and be glad I say for that your reward is great in heaven Hither also do appertain al those promises Of gaining life by leesing life of receiving a hundred for one and the like Heerhence do proceed al those large promises to mortification and newnes of life In both which are great conflicts against the flesh world and our own sensualitie and cannot be performed but by sufferings and affliction Finally Saint Paul declareth this matter fully when he saith That a little and short tribulation in this life worketh a weight of glorie above al measure in the hight of heaven 9 The second cause why God appointed this is to draw us therby from the love of the world his professed enimie as in the next chapter shal be shewed at large This cause Saint Paul uttereth in these words We are punished of God to the end we should not be damned with this world Even then as a nurse that to wean hir child from the liking of hir milk doth annoint hir teat with alloes or some other such bitter thing so our merciful father that would retire us from the love of worldly delites wherby infinite men do perish daily useth to send tribulation which of al other things hath most force to work that effect as we see in the example of the prodigal son who could by no means be staied from his pleasures but only by affliction 10 Thirdly God useth tribulation as a most present and sovereign medicin to heal us of many diseases otherwise almost incurable As first of a certain blindnes and carelesse negligence in our estate contracted by wealth and prosperitie In which sense the scripture saith that Affliction giveth understanding And the wise man affirmeth that The rod bringeth wisdom as also the sight of Toby was restored by the bitter gall of a fish And we have cleer examples in Nabuchodonosor Saul Antiochus and Manasses al which came to see their own faults by tribulation which they would never have done in time of prosperitie The like we read of the brethren of Ioseph who falling into som affliction in Egypt presently entered into their own conscience and said We suffer those things woorthily for that we sinned against our brother And as tribulation bringeth this light wherby we see our own defects so helpeth it greatly to remoove and cure the same wherin it may be wel likened unto the rod of Moises For as that rod striking the hard rocks brought foorth water as the scripture saith so this rod of affliction falling upon stonie harted sinners mollifieth them to contrition and oftentimes bringeth foorth the fluds of tears to repentance In respect wherof holie Toby saith to God In time of tribulation thou forgivest sin And for like effect it is compared also to a file of iron which taketh away the rust of the soul also to a purgation that driveth out corrupt humors and finally to a goldsmiths fire which consumeth away the reffuse metals and fineth the gold to his perfection I wil try thee by fire to the quik saith God to a sinner by Esay the prophet and I wil take away al thy tin and reffuse metal And again by Ieremie I wil melt them and try them by fire This he ment of the fire of tribulation whose propertie is according as the scripture saith to purge and fine the soul as fire purgeth and fineth gold in the fornace For besides the purging and remooving of greater sins by consideration and contrition which tribulation worketh as hath ben shewed it purgeth also the rust of infinit evil passions appetites and humors in man as the humor of pride of vain glorie of sloth of choler of delicate nisenes and a thousand mo which prosperitie ingendereth in us This God declareth by the prophet Ezechiel saieng of a rustie soul Put hir naked upon the hot coles and let hir heat there until hir brasse be melted from hir and until hir corruption be burned out and hir rust consumed There hath been much labor and sweat taken about hir and yet hir over-much rust is not gone out of hir This also signifieth holy Iob when having said that God instructeth a man by discipline or correction to the end he may turn him from the things that he hath done and deliver him from pride which
afflicted by God And Christ himselfe yet more expresly Happie are they which suffer persecution If they are happie and blessed therby then are the worldly greatly awry which so much abhor the sufferance therof then is GOD but unthankfully dealt withal by many of his children who repine at this happines bestowed upon them wheras indeed they should accept it with joy and thanksgiving For proofe and better declaration wherof I wil enter now into the third point of this chapter to examin what reasons causes there be to induce us to this joifulnes and contentation of tribulation 21 And first the reasons laid down alreadie of Gods merciful and fatherly meaning in sending us affliction might be sufficient for this matter that is to comfort and content any Christian man or woman who taketh delite in Gods holie providence towards them For if God do send affliction unto us for the increase of our glorie in the life to come for drawing us from infection of the world for opening our eies and curing our diseases and for preserving our souls from sin heerafter as hath been shewed who can be justly displeased therwith but such as are enimies unto their own good We see that for the obtaining of bodilie health we are content not only to admit many bitter and unpleasant medicins but also if need require to yeeld willingly some part of our blood ro be taken from us And how much more should we do this to the end that we hazard not the eternal health and salvation of our soul But now further if this medicin have so many mo commodities besides as have been declared if it serve heer for the punishment of our sin du otherwise at another place in far greater quantitie and rigor of justice if it make a trial of our estate and do draw us to God if it procure Gods love towards us yeeld matter of joy by our deliverance provoke us to thankfulnes embolden and strengthen us and finally if it furnish us with al vertues and do make us like to Christ himselfe then is there singular great cause why we should take comfort and consolation therin for that to come neer and to be like unto Christ is the greatest dignitie and preeminence in the world Lastlie if Gods eternal wisdome hath so ordained and appointed that this shal be the badge and liverie of his Son the high way to heaven under the standard of his crosse then ought we not to refuse this liverie nor to flie this way but rather with good Peter and Iohn to esteem it a great dignitie to be made woorthy of the most blessed participation therof We see that to wear the colors of the prince is thought a prerogative among courtiers in this world but to wear the robe or crown it selfe were to great a dignitie for any inferior subject to receive Yet Christ our Lord and king is content to impart both of his with us And how then ought we I pray you to accept therof 22 And now as I have said these reasons might be sufficient to comfort and make joiful al those that are called to suffer affliction and tribulation But yet there want not some more particular considerations besides Wherof the first and most principal is that this matter of persecution commeth not by chance or casualitie or by any general direction from higher powers but by the special providence and peculiar disposition of God as Christ sheweth at large in Saint Mathews Gospel that is this heavenly medicin or potion is made unto us by Gods own hand in particular Which Christ signifieth when he saith Shal I not drink the cup which my father hath given me That is seeing my father hath tempered a potion for me shal I not drink it As who would say it were too much ingratitude Secondly is to be noted that the very same hand of God which tempered the cup for Christ his own Son hath done the same also for us according to Christ his saieng You shal drink of my cup. That is of the same cup which my father hath tempered for me Heerof it followeth that with what hart and love God tempered this cup unto his own Son with the same he hath tempered it also to us that is altogither for our good and his glorie Thirdlie is to be noted that this cup is tempered with such special care as Christ saith that what trouble or danger soever it seem to work yet shal not one hair of our head perish by the same Nay further is to be noted that which the prophet saith O Lord thou shalt give us to drink in tears in measure That is the cup of tears and tribulation shal be so tempered in measure by our heavenly physition as no man shal have above his strength The dose of aloes and other bitter ingredients shal be qualified with manna and sufficient sweetnes of heavenlie consolation God is faithful saith Saint Paul and wil not suffer you to be tempted above your abilitie This is a singular point of comfort and ought alwais to be in our remembrance 23 Beside this we must consider that the appointing and tempering of this cup being now in the hands of Christ our Savior by the ful commission granted him from his father and he having learned by his own sufferings as the apostle notifieth what it is to suffer in flesh and blood we may be sure that he wil not lay upon us more than we can bear For as if a man had a father or brother a most skilful physition and should receive a purgation from them tempered with their own hands he might be sure it would never hurt him what rumbling soever it made in his bellie for the time so and much more may we be assured of the potion of tribulation ministred us by the hand of Christ though as the apostle saith it seem unto us unpleasant for a time but above al other comfortable cogitations this is the greatest and most comfortable to consider that he divideth this cup only of love as himselfe protesteth and the apostle prooveth that is he giveth out portions of his crosse the richest jewel that he maketh account of as worldly princes do their treasure unto none but unto chosen and picked frinds and among them also not equally to ech man but to everie one a measure according to the measure of good wil wherwith he loveth him This is evident by the examples before set down of his deerest frinds most of al afflicted in this life that is they received greater portions of this treasure for that his good wil was greater towards them This also may be seen manifestly in the example of Saint Paul of whom after Christ had said to Ananias Vas electionis est mihi He is a chosen vessel unto me He giveth immediatly the reason therof For I wil shew unto him what great things he must suffer for my
by to watch the same The prophet David to signifie the very same thing that is the infinite multitude of snares in this world saith God shal raign snares upon sinners That is God shal permit wicked men to fal into snares which are as plentiful in the world as are the drops of rain which fal down from heaven Every thing almost is a deadly snare unto a carnal and loose harted man Every sight that he seeth every word that he heareth every thought that he conceiveth his youth his age his frinds his enimies his honor his disgrace his riches his povertie his companie keeping his prosperitie his adversitie his meat that he eateth his apparel that he weareth al are snares to draw him to destruction that is not watchful 49 Of this then and of the blindnes declared before doth follow the last and greatest miserie of al which can be in this life and that is the facilitie wherby worldly men do run into sin For truly saith the scripture Miseros facit populos peccatum Sin is the thing that maketh people miserable And yet how easily men of the world do commit sin and how little scruple they make of the matter Iob signifieth when talking of such a man he saith Bibit quasi aquam iniquitatem He suppeth up sin as it were water That is with as great facilitie custome and ease passeth he down any kind of sin that is offered him as a mā drinketh water when he is a thirst He that wil not beleeve the saieng of Iob let him prove a little by his own experience whether the matter be so or no let him walk out in to the streets behold the doings of men view their behavior consider what is done in shops in hals in consistories in judgement seats in pallaces and in common meeting places abroad what lieng what slandering what deceiving there is He shal find that of al things wherof men take any account nothing is so little accounted of as to sin He shal see justice sold veritie wrested shame lost and equitie despised He shal see the innocent condemned the giltie delivered the wicked advanced the vertuous opressed He shal see many theves florish many usurers bear great sway many murderers extortioners reverenced honored many fools put in authoritie and divers which have nothing in them but the form of men by reason of money to be placed in great dignities for the government of others He shal hear at every mans mouth almost vanitie pride detraction envie deceit dissimulation wantonnes dissolution lieng swearing perjurie and blaspheming Finally he shal see the most part of men to govern themselves absolutely even as beasts do by the motion of their passions not by law of justice reason religion or vertu 50 Of this doth insu the fift point that Christ toucheth in his parable and which I promised heer to handle to wit that the love of this world choketh up and strangleth every man whom it possesseth from al celestial and spiritual life for that it filleth him with a plain contrarie spirit to the spirit of God The apostle saith Si quis spiritum Christi non habet hic non est eius If any man hath not the spirit of Christ this fellow belongeth not unto him Now how contrarie the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world is may appeer by the fruits of Christs spirit rekoned up by Saint Paul unto the Galathians to wit Charitie which is the root and mother of al good works Ioy in serving God Peace or tranquillitie of mind in the storms of this world Patience in adversitie Longanimitie in expecting our reward Bonitie in hurting no man Benignitie in sweet behavior Gentlenes in occasion given of anger Faithfulnes in performing our promises Modestie without arrogancie Continencie from al kind of wickednes Chastitie in conserving a pure mind in a clean and unspotted bodie Against these men saith Saint Paul there is no law And in the very same chapter he expresseth the spirit of the world by the contrarie effects saieng The works of flesh are manifest which are fornication uncleannes wantonnes lecherie idolatrie poisonings enmities contentions emulations wrath strife dissention sects envie murder droonkennes gluttonie and the like of which I foretel you as I have told you before that those men which do such things shal never obtain the kingdome of heaven 51 Heer now may every man judge of the spirit of the world and the spirit of Christ and applieng it to himselfe may conjecture whether he holdeth of the one or of the other Saint Paul giveth two pretie short rules in the very same place to trie the same The first is They which are of Christ have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences therof That is they have so mortified their own bodies as they strive against al the vices sins repeated before and yeeld not to serve the concupiscences or temptations therof The second rule is If we live in spirit then let us walk in spirit That is our walking and behavior is a sign whether we be alive or dead For if our walking be spiritual such as I have declared before by those fruits therof then do we live have life in spirit but if our works be carnal such as S. Paul now hath described then are we carnal and dead in spirit neither have we any thing to do with Christ or portion in the kingdome of heaven And for that al the world is ful of those carnal works and bringeth foorth no fruits indeed of Christs spirit nor permitteth them to grow up or prosper within hir thence is it that the scripture alwais putteth Christ and the world for opposite and open enimies 52 Christ himselfe saith that The world cannot receive the spirit of truth And again in the same Evangelist he saith that Neither he nor any of his are of the world though they live in the world And yet further in his most vehement praier unto his father Pater iuste mundus te non cognovit Iust father the world hath not known thee For which cause S. Iohn writeth If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him And yet further Saint Iames that Whosoever but desireth to be frind of this world is therby made an enimie to God What wil worldly men say to this Saint Paul affirmeth plainly that this world is to be damned And Christ insinuateth the same in Saint Iohns Gospel but most of al in that wonderful fact of his when praieng to his father for other matters he excepteth the world by name Non pro mundo rogo saith he I do not aske mercie and pardon for the world but for those which thou hast given me out of the world Oh what a dreadful exception is this made by the savior of the world by the lamb that taketh away al sins
do specially commend this unto thee the rather for that it proceedeth from those that otherwise are for divers points the greatest adversaries that we have in the cause of religion And wheras inordinate contention is not only unseemly for the church of God but also hurtful to the cause of religion a special point of wisdome it is when God hath bestowed any good gift on any of us al that others should so aesteem therof as that they make the same a mean to moderate the bitternes of their affections towards al those that gladly would live peaceably with al so much as they might as also on the other side it is very cleer that those that wil not so far as the cause of religion it selfe doth permit them may have just occasion to be ashamed and therby to finde out what kind of spirit it is that doth lead them So the substance of the booke is such as that a minde that is wel disposed may with one and the selfesame labor gather out of it both lessons of godlines unto it selfe and that which may somwhat occasion some better agreement among certain of us with such of them I mean as stand more indifferent and are content to dissent no further from us than of conscience they think that they ought The former of which wil yeeld us this fruit that we shal addresse our selves to do in som good measure our service to God the other that we shal do it with a quieter conscience our selves desirous to be at peace withal so far as conveniently may be obteined On the other side likewise bicause I found the maner and form so far foorth out of order as I have declared therfore did I indevor my selfe to help it a little as need required But as touching the transsation that they use I have altogither let them alone therwith partly to condescend so far unto them as to suffer themselves in such case to use what translation they wil and with good wil to hear them therin and partly for that divers points of the matter were so grounded therupon that the translation might not be amended unlesse the matter were altered likewise So far foorth therfore as there was no manifest error taken in withal I have left it wholy unto them though otherwise it might oft times be amended For which cause also I did the rather omit to meddle with the quotations to alledge the verse of the chapter withal bicause that in distinguishing of the verses we disagree somtimes and forbearing to obtrude ours to them unlesse I thought they would take it in good part have forborn likewise to use theirs for that we finde it not so agreeable to the truth it selfe As for those special words of theirs that the Author so praecisely useth I have used my libertie therin somtimes letting them stand as they are and somtimes altering them when they were abused or otherwise the case did so require Those other points of their proper opinions wherin we dissent from them and they no dowt from the truth it selfe I have clean left out and some of those venturous points besides togither with certain of those places likewise which he hath alledged out of others that did not so much appertain to the matter that he had in hand or not so effectually touched the same as himselfe otherwise hath done The former of which I therfore left out for that neither my selfe could allow to leave any such as to my knowledge might be any hurt or else but occasion of stumbling to others neither could I so have gotten it foorth to the use of al carrieng stil such corruption with it And this have I done so much the rather for that most of those things seem rather to be added by some that had the perusing of the booke before it might be allowed among them to come to the print than by the proper Author therof they do so little oft times agree with the argument that there he hath in hand nor with the maner of handling of it As for example in the first part of the booke and third chapter setting down the end of mans life which he saith is the service of God eight or nine times in that chapter is joined withal the gaining of heaven which notwithstanding is not agreeable to the maner of the Authors handling of that point as it may appeer in the whole discourse there and namely by his place of Zacharie in the beginning of the third and by his division in the beginning of the fourth chapter where notwithstanding the gaining of heaven is very odly put in again The other sort likewise I thought good to leave foorth for that being impertinent they might discredit some part of the rest or else but weaker than the rest might so let down the affections again which were stirred up before by the other And truly the spirit in these dais doth proceed a great deal more effectually both in doctrine and exhortation than it did in the dais of divers of those that were heer alledged Wherin if there shal be any that shal think either on the one side that I have put out too much or on the other that I have put out too little neither am I desirous to overrule their judgements nor very careful to maintain mine own if any shal come with better matter contenting my selfe only with this that I have done what seemed to me to be most expedient to the glorie of God and to the benefit of his people heer And so without any further defence of my doings therin now gentle Reader I send thee over to the booke it selfe where if thou shalt bestow a little pains though it be no more but once with advisement to read it over I dowt not but that thou wilt confesse thy labor to be wel bestowed Which when thou shalt finde then descending to the Author of it seeing himselfe desireth to be holpen by thy praiers thou shalt do wel both to thank God for him for this which is done and to solicite him with thy praiers on behalfe of him and the rest that it would please him to give them a further knowledge of the truth in Christ so far as his wisdome hath thought expedient to the setting foorth of his own glorie and to the salvation of those that are his And God give us al so many as do appertain to his kingdome his grace in that measure that both we may agree togither in the truth of religion and altogither imploy our selves in his service heer in peace and quietnes one with another And so I bid thee hartily farewel At Bolton-Percy in the ancientie or liberties of York the 9. of Iulie 1584. Thy hartie wel-willer in Christ EDMVND BVNNY The booke of Christian exercise appertaining to Resolution The contents of the first part of this booke touching the helps of resolution to serve God The first Chapter Of the end and parts of this booke with a necessarie
advertisement to the Reader How necessarie a thing it is for a man to resolve to leave vanities and to serve God What argument the devil useth to draw men from this resolution How wilful ignorance doth-increase and not excuse sin What mind a man should have that would read this Treatise The second Chapter How necessarie it is to enter into earnest consideration and meditation of our estate wherin is declared That inconsideration heerin is a great enimie to resolution What inconveniences grow therby The nature and commoditie of consideration Of the exact maner of meditating the particulars of religion in the fathers of old and the fashion of beleeving in grosse at this day The third Chapter Of the end in general why man was created and placed in this world wherin is handled How du consideration of this end helpeth a man to iudge of himselfe What mind a man should have to creatures The lamentable condition of the world by want of this du consideration And the mischeefe therof at the last day The fourth Chapter Of the end of man more in particular and of two special parts of the same required at his hands in this life wherin is discussed How exactly both these parts are to be exercised The description of a Christian life The lamentable condition of our negligence heerin The care and diligence of many of the fathers touching the same The remedies that they used for the one part what monuments of pietie they left behind touching the other The indifferent estates of good and evil men as wel praesently and at the day of death as in the life to come The fift Chapter Of the severe account that we must yeeld to God wherin is declared A principal point of wisdome in an accountant for viewing of the state of his account before hand The maiestie of ceremonies and circumstances used by God at the first publication of his law in writing and his severe punishment of offenders The sharp speeches of our savior against sinners Why two iudgements are appointed after death The sudden comming of them both The demands in our account at the general iudgement The circumstances of horror and dread before at and after the same What a treasure a good conscience wil then be The pittiful case of the damned How easily the dangers of those matters may be praevented in du time The sixt Chapter A consideration of the nature of sin and of a sinner to shew the cause why God justly useth the rigor before mentioned wherin is described Gods infinite hatred to sinners The reasons why God hateth them That they are enimies to God to themselves How God punisheth sinners as wel the penitent as the obstinate and of the bitter speeches in scripture against sinners Of the seven miseries and losses which come by sin The obstinacie of sinners in this age Two principal causes of sin Of the danger to live in sin How necessarie it is to fear The seventh Chapter Another consideration for the further justifieng of Gods judgements and declaration of our demerit taken from the majestie of God and his benefits towards us wherin is shewed A contemplation of the maiestie of God and of his benefits Of the several uses of sacraments Divers complaints against sinners in the person of God Our intollerable contempt and ingratitude against so great a maiestie and benefactor Of great causes we have to love God beside his benefits How he requireth nothing of us but gratitude That it resteth in du resolution to serve him An exhortation to this gratitude with a short praier for a penitent sinner in this case The eight Chapter Of what opinion and feeling we shal be touching these matters at the time of our death wherin is expressed The induration of some harts kept from resolution by worldly respects Of the matters of terror pain and miserie that principally molest a man at his death A contemplation of the terrors speech or cogitation of a sinner at the hour of death Of divers apparitions and visions to the iust and to the wicked lieng a dieng How al these miseries may be praevented The ninth Chapter Of the pains appointed for him after this life and of two sorts of them wherin is declared How God useth the motive of threats to induce men to resolution Of the everlasting pain in hel reserved for the damned and common to al that are there Of the two parts therof that is pain sensible and pain of losse Vehement coniectures touching the severitie of those pains Of the several names of hel in divers toongs Of the particular pains for particular offenders peculiar in qualitie quantitie to the sins of ech offender Of the woorm of conscience The tenth Chapter Of the rewards benefits and commodities provided for Gods servants wherin is declared How God is the best pay-master Of his infinite magnificence The nature greatnes and valu of his rewards A description of paradise Of two parts of felicitie in heaven A contemplation of the commodities of the said two felicities ioined togither The honor wherunto a Christian man is born by baptism An admonition against securitie in this life The contents of the second part of this booke touching impediments of resolution The first Chapter Of the first impediment which is the difficultie that manie think to be in vertuous life wherin is declared Nine special privileges and helps wherwith the vertuous are aided above the wicked 1 The force of Gods grace for easing of vertuous life against al temptations 2 Of what force love is heerin And how a man may know whether he have love towards God or no. 3 Of a peculiar light of understanding pertaining to the iust 4 Of internal consolation of mind 5 Of the quiet of a good conscience in the iust 6 Of hope in God which the vertuous have And that the hope of the wicked is indeed no hope but meer presumption 7 Of freedom of soul and bodie which the vertuous have 8 Of the peace of mind in the vertuous towards God their neighbor and themselves 9 Of the expectation of the reward that the vertuous have Of the comfort that holie men have after their conversion And how the best men have had greatest conflicts therin Of Saint Austens conversion and four annotations therupon The second Chapter Of the second impediment which is tribulation wherin are handled four special points 1 First that it is an ordinarie means of salvation to suffer some tribulation 2 Secondly that there be thirteen special considerations of Gods purpose in sending afflictions to his servants which are laid down and declared in particular 3 Thirdly what special considerations of comfort a man may have in tribulation The third Chapter Of the third impediment which is love of the world which is drawn to six points 1 First how and in what sense the world and commodities therof are vanities and of three general points of worldly vanities 2 Secondly how worldly commodities
wil not come out of the danger wherin they be but wil headlong cast themselves into everlasting perdition rather than by consideration of their estate recover to themselves eternal life and glorie from which deadlie obstinacie the Lord of his mercie deliver us all that belong unto him CHAP. III. Of the end for which man was created and placed in this world NOw then in the name of almightie God and with the assistance of his holie spirit let the Christian man or woman desirous of salvation first of al consider attentivelie as a good marchant-factour is wont to do when he is arrived in a strange countrie or as a captain sent by his prince to some great exploit is accustomed when he commeth to the place appointed that is to think for what cause he came thither why he was sent to what end what to attempt what to prosecute what to perform what shal be expected and required at his hands vpon his return by him that sent him thither For these cogitations no doubt shal stir him vp to attend to that which he came for and not to emploie himself in impertinent affaires The like I saie would I have a Christian to consider and to aske of himself why and to what end was he created of God and sent hither into this world what to do wherein to bestow his daies he shal finde for no other cause or end but onlie to serve God in this life This was the condition of our creation and this was the onlie consideration of our redemption prophesied by Zacharie before That we being delivered from the hands of our enimies might serve him in holines and righteousnes al the daies of our life 2 Of this it followeth first that seing the end and final cause of our being in this world is to serve God in this life that whatsoever we do or endevour or bestow our time in either contrarie or impertinent to this end which is only to the service of God though it were to gain al the kingdoms of the earth yet is it meere vanitie follie and lost labour and wil turn vs one day to greefe repentance and confusion for that it is not the matter for which we came into this life or of which we shal be asked account at the last day except it be to receave judgement for the same 3 Secondlie it foloweth of the premisses that seing our only end and busines in this world is to serve God and that al other earthly creatures are put here to serve vs to that end we should for our parts be indifferent to al these creatures as to riches or povertie to health or sicknes to honour or contempt and we should desire only so much or litle of the same as were best for vs to our said end that we intend that is to the service of God for whosoever desireth or seeketh the creatures more than this runneth from his end for the which he came hither 4 By this now may a careful Christian take some scantling of his own estate with God make a conjecture whether he be in the right way or no. For if he attend only or principally to this end for which he was sent hither that is so serve God if his cares cogitations studies endevours labours talk and other his actions run upon this matter and that he careth no more for other creatures as honor riches learning and the like then they are necessarie vnto him for this end which he pretendeth if his daies and life I say be spent in this studie of the service of God then is he dowtles a most happy and blessed man and shal at length attain to the kingdom of God 5 But if he find himself in a contrarie case that is not to attend to this matter for which only he was sent hither nor to haue in his hart and studie this service of God but rather some other vanitie of the world as promotion wealth pleasure sumptuous apparel gorgious buildings bewtie or any other thing els that pertaineth not to this end if he spend his time I say about these trifles having his cares and cogitations his talk and delight more in them than about the other great busines for which he was sent then is he in a perilous course â—eading directly to perdition except he alter â—nd change the same For most certain it is that whosoever shal not attend vnto the service he came for shal never attain to thereward promised to that service 6 And bicause the most part of the world not only of infidels but also of Christians do amisse in this point and do not attend to this thing for which they were only created and sent hither thence it is that Christ and his holy saints have alwais spoken so hardly of the smal number that are in state of salvation even among Christians and have uttered some speeches which seeme very rigorous to flesh and blood and scarce trew albeit they must be fulfilled as that It is easier for a camel to go thorough a nedels eie than for a rich man to enter into heaven The reason of which saieng and many mo standeth in this that a rich man or worldling attending to heap riches can not attend to do that which he came for into this world and consequently never attain heaven except God work a miracle and so cause him to contemn his riches and to vse them only to the service of God as som times he doth and we haue a rare example in the Gospel of Zacheus who being a very rich man presently vpon the entering of Christ into his house and much more into his hart by faith gave half his goods vnto the poore and offered withal that whom soever he had injuried to him he would make four-times so much restitution 7 But hereby now may be seene the lamentable state of manie thousand Christians in the world which are so far of from bestowing their whole time and travel in the service of God as they never almost think of the same or if they do it is with very little care or attention Good Lord how many men and women be there in the world which bearing the name of Christians scarce spend one hour of fower and twentie in the service of God! How many do beat their brains about worldlie matters and how few are troubled with this care How manie find time to eate drink sleepe disport deck and paint themselues out to the world and yet have no time to bestow in this greatest busines of all other How many spend over whole daies weeks months and yeers in hauking hunting other pastimes without making account of this matter What shall be come of these people What wil they say at the day of judgement What excuse wil they have 8 If the marchant factor which I spake of before after many yeers spent beyond the seas returning home to geeve accounts to his maister
godlines no more than a bird can fly lacking one of hir wings I say that neither innocencie is sufficient without good works nor good works any thing available where innocencie from sin is not The later is evident by the people of Israel whose sacrifices oblations praiers and other good works commended and commanded by God himself were oftentimes abhominable to God for that the dooers thereof lived in sin and wickednes as at large the prophet Esay declareth The former also is made apparant by the parable of the foolish virgins who albeit they were innocent from sin yet bicause they gave not attendance they were shut out of the doores And at the last day of judgment Christ shal say to the damned bicause you clothed me not fed me not and did not other deedes of charitie appointed to your vocation therfore go you to everlasting fire c. Both these points then are necessarie to a Christian to the service of God and so necessarie as one without the other availeth not as I have said And touching the first which is resisting of sin we are willed to do it even unto death and with the last of our blood if it were need and in divers places of scripture the holy ghost willeth vs most diligently to prepare our selves to resist the divel manfully which tempteth vs to sin and this resistance ought to be made in such perfect maner as we yeeld not wittingly and willingly to any sin whatsoever either in work word or consent of hart insomuch that whosoever should give secret consent of mind to the performance of a sin if he had time place and abilitie therunto is condemned by the holy scripture in that sin even as if he had cōmitted the same now in act And touching the second which is good works we are willed to do them abundantly diligently joifully and incessantly for so saith the scripture Whatsoever thy hand can do do it instantly And again Walk worthy of God fructifieng in every good work And again Saint Paul saith Let us do good works unto al men And again in the very same place Let us never leave of to do good for the time wil come when we shal reap without end And in another place he willeth vs To be stable immoveable and abundant in good works knowing that our labor shal not be unprofitable 6 By this it may be seen deer brother what a perfect creature is a good Christian that is as Saint Paul describeth him The hand work of GOD and creature of Christ to good works wherin he hath prepared that he should walk It appeareth I say what an exact life the tru life of a Christian is which is a continual resistance of al sin both in thought word and deed and a performance or exercise of al good works that possibly he can devise to do What an Angelical life is this Nay more than Angelical for that angels being now placed in their glory have neither temptation of sin to resist nor can do any work as we may for to encrease their further glorie 7 If Christians did live according to this their duty that is in doing al good that they might never consenting to evil what needed there almost any temporal laws What a goodly common wealth were Christianitie Who wil not marvel at the rare examples of many good forefathers of ours wherin such simplicitie such truth such conscience such almsdeeds such sinceritie such vertu such religion and devotion is reported to have been The cause was for that they studied upon these two points of a Christian mans duty and labored for the performance therof every man as God gaue him grace And we bicause we look not into these matters are become as loose and wicked in life as ever the Gentils or infidels were And yet is God the same God stil and wil accept at our hands no other account than he did of those forefathers of ours for the performance of these two parts of our duty towards him What then shal become of us which do not live in any part as they did And to enter yet somwhat more into the particular consideration of these things who is there now a daies amongst common Christians for no doubt there be in secret many servants of God which do it but of those which beare the name of Christians and most stur abroad in the world who is there I say that taketh any pain about the first point that is touching the resisting of the concupiscence of sin Which concupiscence or natural motion of sin remaining in us as a remnant of our natural maladie in punishment of the sin of our first father Adam is left in us now after baptisme ad agonem that is to strive withal to resist But alas how many be there which do resist as they should these evil motions of concupiscence Who doth ever examine his conscience of the same Who doth not yeeld cōmonly consent of hart to every motion that commeth with pleasure of covetousnes of anger of revenge of pride of ambition and above al of lecherie and other filthie sins of the flesh knowing notwithstanding by the protestation of our Saviour Christ himselfe that every such consent of hart is as much in substance of sin as the act and maketh the soul guiltie of eternal damnation 8 It is a woonderful matter to consider and able to make a man astonied to think what great care fear diligence and labor good men in old times did take about this matter of resisting sin and how litle we take now Iob the just having lesse cause to fear than we saith of himselfe I did fear al my doings ô Lord considering that thou doost not pardon such as offend thee But the good king David which had now tasted Gods heavy hand for consenting to sin before sheweth himselfe yet more careful and fearful in the matter when he saith I did meditate in the night time together with my hart and it was my whole exercise and I did brush or sweep mine own spirit within me What a diligent examination of his conscience thoughts and cogitations was this in a king And al this was for the avoiding and resisting of sin as also it was in Saint Paul who examined his conscience so narrowly resisted al temptations with such diligence attention as he could pronounce of himselfe that to his knowledge he was in his ministerie guiltie of nothing albeit he doth confesse in another place that he had most vile and strong temptations of the flesh laied upon him of the devil by Gods appointment Yet by the grace of Christ he resisted and overcame al. For the better performance wherof it is likely that he used also these external helps and remedies of tru fasting earnest praieng diligent watching and severe chastising of his body by continual and most painful labour in his vocation
wherof he maketh mention in his writings As also al godly men by his example have used the like helps since for the better resisting of sinful temptations when need required and the like Wherof I could here recite great store of examples out of the holy fathers which would make a man to woonder and afeard also if he were not past fear to see what extream pain and diligence those first Christians tooke in watching every little sleight of the devil and in resisting every little temptation or cogitation of sin wheras we never think of the matter nor make account either of cogitation consent of hart word or work but do yeeld to al whatsoever our concupiscence moveth us unto do swalow down every hook laid vs by the devil and most greedily do devour every poisoned pleasant bait which is offered by the enimy for the destruction of our souls and thus much about resisting of sin 9 But now touching the second point which is continual exercising our selves in good works it is evident in itselfe that we utterly fail for the most part of us in the same I have shewed before how we are in scripture cōmanded to do them without ceasing and most diligently whiles we have time of day to do them in for as Christ saith The night wil come when no man can work any more I might also shew how certein of our forefathers the saints of God were most diligent and careful in doing good works in their dais even as the husbandman is careful to cast seed into the ground whiles fair weather lasteth and the merchant to lay out his mony whiles the good market endureth They knew the time would not last long which they had to work in and therfore they bestirred themselves whiles opportunitie served they never ceased but came from one good work to another wel knowing what they did and how good and acceptable service it was unto God 10 If there were nothing els to proove their wonderful care and diligence herein yet the infinite monuments of their almes-deeds yet extant to the world are sufficient testimonies of the same to wit the infinite churches builded and indued with great abundant maintenance for the ministers of the same so manie schooles colledges vniversities so many bridges highwais and publik commodities Which charitable deeds and a thousand mo both private and publik secret and open which I cannot report came out of the purses of our good ancesters who oftentimes not only gave of their abundance but also saved from their own mouths and bestowed it upon deeds of charitie to the glorie of God and benefit of others Wheras we are so far of from giving awaie our necessaries as we wil not bestow our very superfluities but wil imploy them rather upon hawks and dogs and other brute beasts and somtimes also upon much viler uses than to the releefe of our poore brethren 11 Alas deer brother to what a carelesse and senseles estate are we come touching our own salvation and damnation S. Paul crieth out unto us Work your own salvation with fear and trembling and yet no man for that maketh account therof S. Peter warneth us gravely and earnestly Brethren take you great care to make your vocation and election sure by good works and yet who almost wil think upon them Christ himselfe thundereth in these words I tel you make your selves frinds in this world of uniust mammon that when you faint they may receive you into eternal tabernacles And yet for al that we are not moved herewithal so dead we are and lumpish to al goodnes 12 If God did exhort us to good deeds for his own commoditie or for any gain that he is to take therby yet in reason we ought to pleasure him therin seing we have receaved al from his only liberalitie before But seing he asketh it at our hands for no need of his own but only for our gain to pay us home again with advantage it is more reason we should harken unto him If a common honest man upon earth should invite us to do a thing promising us of his honestie a sufficient reward we would beleve him but God making infinit promises unto us in scripture of eternal reward to our wel doing as that we shal eat with him drink with him raigne with him possesse heaven with him and the like can not move us notwithstanding to works of charitie But bicause those forefathers of ours were moved herewithal as having harts of softer metal than ours are of therfore they brought foorth such abundant fruit as I have shewed 13 Of al this then that I have said the godly Christian may gather first the lamentable estate of the world at this day when amongst the smal number of those which bear the name of Christians so many are like to perish for not performing of these two principal points of their uocation Secondly he may gather the cause of the infinit difference of reward for good and evil in the life to come which some men wil seeme to marvel at but in deed is most just and reasonable considering the great diversitie of life in good and evil men whiles they are in this world For the good man doth not only endevor to avoid sin but also by resisting the same daily and hourly encreaseth in the fauor of God The loose man by yeelding consent to his concupiscence doth not only lose the favor of God but also doubleth sin upon sin without number The good man besides avoiding sin doth infinit good works at the least wise in desire and hart wher greter abilitie serveth not But the wicked man neither in hart nor deed doth any good at al but rather seeketh in place therof to do hurt The good man imploieth al his mind hart words and hands to the service of God and of his servants for his sake But the wicked man bendeth al his force and powers both of body and mind to the service of vanities the world his flesh Insomuch that as the good man increaseth hourly in the favor of God to which is du increase of grace and glory in heaven so the evil from time to time in thought word or deed or in al at once heapeth up sin and damnation upon himself to which is du vengeance and increase of torments in hel and in this contrarie course they passe over their lives for twentie thirtie or fortie yeeres and so come to die And is it not reason now that seeing there is so great diversitie in their estates there should be as great or more diversitie also in their reward Especially seeing God is a great God and rewardeth smal things with great wages either of everlasting glorie or everlasting pain Thirdly and lastly the diligent and careful Christian may gather of this what great cause he hath to put in practise the godly counsel of Saint Paul which is That every man should prove
and examine his own works And so be able to judge of himselfe in what case he standeth and if upon this examination he find himselfe awry to thank God of so great a benefit as is the revealing of his danger whiles yet there is time and place to amend No dowt many perish daily by Gods justice in their own grosse ignorance who if they had receaved this special favor as to see the pit before they fel in it may be they would have escaped the same Vse Gods mercie to thy gain then gentle brother and not to thy further damnation If thou see by this examination that hitherto thou hast not led a tru Christian life resolve thy self to begin now and cast not away wilfully that pretious soul of thine which Christ hath bought so deerly and which he is most readie to save and to indu with grace and eternal glorie if thou wouldest yeeld the same into his hands and be content to direct thy life according to his most holy easie and sweet commandements CHAP. V. Of the severe account that we must yeeld to God of the matters aforesaid AMongst other points of a prudent servant this is to be esteemed on principal to consider in everie thing committed to his charge what account shal be demanded touching the same also what maner of man his maister is whether gentle or rigorous milde or stern carelesse or exquisite in his accounts also whether he be of abilitie to punish him at his pleasure finding him faultie and finally how he hath dealt with others before in like matters for according to these circumstances if he be wise he wil govern himselfe and use more or lesse diligence in the charge committed 2 The like wisdome would I counsel a Christian to use in the matters before recited to wit touching our end for which God sent us hither the two principal points therof enjoined for our exercise in this life to consider I say what account we shal be demanded for the same in what maner by whom with what severitie with what danger of punishment if we be found negligent and rechlesse therin 3 For better understanding wherof it is to be noted first with what order and with what ceremonies and circumstances God gave us this charge or rather made and proclaimed this law of our behaviour and service towards him For albeit he gave the same commandement to Adam in his first creation and imprinted it afterwards by nature into the harts of ech man before it was written as Saint Paul testifieth yet for more plain declarations sake and to convince us the more of our wickednes as the same Apostle noteth he published the same law in writing tables upon the mount Synay but with such terror and other circumstances of majestie as also the Apostle noteth to the Hebrues as may greatly astonish the breakers therof Let any man read the nineteene chapter of Exodus there he shal see what a preparation there was for the publishing of this law First God calleth Moises up to the hil and there reckoneth up many of the benefits which he had bestowed upon the people of Israel and promiseth them many mo if they would keepe the law which he was then to give them Moises went to the people and returned answer again that they would keepe it Then caused God the people to be sanctified against the third day to wash al their garments and that no man should companie with his wife also to be charged that none upon pain of death should presume to mount up to the hil but Moises alone and that whosoever should dare but to touch the hil should presently be stoned to death When the third day was come the Angels as Saint Steeven interpreteth it were readie to promulgate the law The trumpets sounded mightilie in the aire great thunder brake out from the sky with fearce lightenings horrible clouds thick mists and terrible smoke rising from the mountain And in the midst of al this majestie and dreadful terror God spake in the hearing of al I am thy Lord God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt me only shalt thou serve and the rest which foloweth conteining a perfect description of our dutie in this life cōmonly called the ten commandements of God 4 Al which terror and majestie the apostle himselfe as I have said applieth to this meaning that we should greatly tremble to break this law delivered us with such circumstances of dread and fear signifieng also hereby that the exaction of this law must needs be with greater terror at the day of iudgment seeing that the publication therof was with such astonishment and dread For so we see alwais great princes laws to be executed upon the offenders with much more terror than they were proclaimed And this may be a forcible reason to move a Christian to looke unto his dutie 5 Secondly if we consider the sharp execution used by God upon offenders of this law both before it was written and since we shal find great cause of fear also as the wonderful punishment upon Adam so many millions of people besides for his one fault the drowning of al the world togither the burning of Sodom and Gomorra with brimstone the reprobation of Saul the extreame chastisement of David and the like Which al being done by God with such rigor for lesse and fewer sins than ours are and also upon them whom he had more cause to spare than he hath to tollerate us may be admonishments what we must looke for at Gods hands for breach of this law of serving him in this life 6 Thirdly if we consider the speeches and behaviour of our Lord and maister Christ in this matter we shal have yet more occasion to dowt our owne case who albeit he came now to redeeme us and to pardon al in al mildnes humilitie clemencie and mercie yet in this point of taking accounts he is not woont to shew but austeritie and great rigor not onlie in words and familiar speeches with his Apostles but also in examples and parables to this purpose For so in one parable he damneth that poore servant to hel where should be weping and gnashing of teeth only for that he had not augmented his talent delivered him And Christ confesseth there of himselfe that he is a hard man reaping where he sowed not and gathering where he cast not abroad expecting also advantage at our hands for the talents lent us and not accepting onlie his own again And consequently threatning much more rigor to them which shal mispend his talents as the most of us do Again he damneth the servant whom he found asleepe he damned the poore man which was compelled to come into the wedding onlie for that he came without a wedding garment he damned the five foolish virgins for that they had not their oile with them
at Gods hands Hereof foloweth the reason of divers things both said and done by God in the scriptures and taught by Divines touching the punishment of sin which seeme strange unto the wisdome of the world and in deede scarce credible As first of al that dreadful punishment of eternal and irrevocable damnation of so manie thousands yea millions of Angels created to glorie with almost infinite perfection and that for one onely sin once committed and that only in thought as Divines do hold Secondly the rigorous punishment of our first parents Adam and Eve and al their posteritie for eating of the tree forbidden for which fault besides the chastising of the offenders themselves al the creatures of the earth for the same and al their children ofspring after them both before the incarnation of Christ since for albeit we are delivered from the guilt of that sin yet temporal chastisements remain upon us for the same as hunger thirst cold sicknes death and a thousand miseries mo besides also the infinite men damned for the same besides this I say which in mans reason may seeme severe inough Gods wrath and justice could not be satisfied except his own son had come downe into the world and taken our flesh upon him and by his pains satisfied for the same And when he was come down and had in our flesh subjected himselfe unto his fathers justice albeit the love his father bare him were infinite yet that God might shew the greatnes of his hatred and justice against sin he never left to lay on upon his own blessed deere son no not then when he saw him sorrowful unto death and bathed in a sweat of blood and water and crieng O Father mine if it be possible let this cup passe from me And yet more pitifully after upon the crosse O my God why hast thou forsaken me Notwithstanding al this I say his father delivered him not but laid on stripe upon stripe pain upon pain torment after torment until he had rendred up his life and soul into his said fathers hands which is a wonderful and dreadful document of Gods hatred against sin 7 I might here mention the sin of Esau in selling his inheritance for a little meat of which the Apostle saith He found no place of repentance after though he sought the same with teares Also the sin of Saul who his sin being but one sin and that only of omission in not killing Agag the king of Amalek and his cattel as he was willed was utterly cast off by GOD for the same though he were his annointed and chosen servant before and could not get remission of the same though both he and Samuel the prophet did greatly lament and bewail the same sin or at least that he was rejected 8 Also I might alledge the example of king David whose two sins albeit upon his hartie repentance God forgave yet notwithstanding al the sorrow that David conceaved for the same God chastised him with marvelous severitie as with the death of his son and other continual affliction on himselfe as long as he lived And al this to shew his hatred against sin and therby to terrifie us from committing the same 9 Of this also do proceed al those hard and bitter speeches in scripture touching sinners which comming from the mouth of the holie Ghost and therfore being most tru and certein may justly geeve al them great cause of fear which live in sin as where it is said Death bloud contention edge of sword oppression hunger contrition and whips al these things are created for wicked sinners And again God shal rain snares of fire upon sinners brimstone with tempestuous winds shal be the portion of their cup. Again God wil be knowen at the day of judgment upon the sinner who shal be taken in the works of his own hands many whips belong unto a sinner let sinners be turned into hel God shal scatter al sinners God shal dash the teeth of sinners in their mouths God shal scoff at a sinner when he seeth his day of destruction commeth on the sword of sinners shal turn into their own harts thou shalt see when sinners shal perish the arms of sinners shal be crushed and broken sinners shal wither from the earrh desire not the glorie and riches of a sinner for thou dost not know the subversion which shal come upon him God hath given him riches to deceave him therwith behold the day of the Lord shal come a cruel day and ful of indignation wrath and furie to make desolate the earth and to crush in peeces hir sinners within hir The just man shal rejoice seeing this revenge and then shal he wash his hands in the blood of sinners These and a thousand such sentences more of scripture which I omit uttered by the holy Ghost against sinners may instruct us of their pittiful estate and of the unspeakable hatred of God against them as long as they persist in sin 10 Of al these considerations the holy scriptures do gather one conclusion greatly to be noted and considered by us which is Miseros facit populos peccatum Sin bringeth men to miserie And again Qui diligit iniquitatem odit animam suam He which loveth iniquitie hateth his own soul. Or as the Angel Raphael uttereth it in other words They which commit sin are open enimies to their own soules Wherfore they lay down to al men this general severe and most necessarie commandement upon al the pains before recited Quasi á facie colubrifuge peccata And again Cave ne aliquando peccato consentias Beware thou never consent to sin for howsoever the world doth make litle account of this matter of whom as the scripture noteth The sinner is praised in his lusts and the wicked man is blessed Yet most certain it is for that the spirit of God avoucheth it Qui facit peccatum ex diabolo est He which committeth sin is of the divel And therfore is to receave his portion among devils at the latter day 11 And is not al this sufficient deer brother to make us detest sin and to conceave som fear in committing therof Nay is not al this strong inough to batter their harts which live in state of sin and do commit the same daily without consideration or scruple What obstinacie and hardnes of hart is this Surely we see the holy Ghost prophesied truly of them when he said Sinners alienated from God are possessed with a fury like a serpent and like a deafe cocatrice which stoppeth hir eares to the inchanter This fury I say is the fury or madnes of wilful sinners which stop their eares like serpents to al the holy inchantments that God can use unto them for their conversion that is to al his internal motions and good inspirations to al remorse of their own consciences to al
prevent it now by amendment of life which only can yeeld thee comfort in that sorrowful day For of good men the judge him selfe saith His autem fieri incipientibus respicite levate capita vestra quoniam appropinquat redemptio vestra When these things begin to come upon other men do you lift up your heads for that your redemption commeth on from the labors and toils of this world And the holie prophet saith of the vertuous man which hath done good works in this life that he shal be at this time Beatus vir An happie man And he giveth the cause Quia in die mala liberabit eum dominus opem feret illi super lectum doloris eius For that God wil deliver him in this evil day and wil assist him upon the bed of his sorrow Which is ment no dowt of the bed of his last departure especially for that of al other beds this is the most sorrowful as I have shewed being nothing else but an heap of al sorrows togither especially to them which are drawn unto it before they are readie for the same as commonly al they are which defer their amendement from day to day and do not attend to live in such sort now as they shal wish they had done when they come to that last passage CHAP. IX Of the pains appointed for sin after this life AMongst al the means which GOD useth towards the children of men to moove them to this resolution wherof I intreat the strongest and most forcible to the common sort of men is the consideration of punishments prepared by him for rebellious sinners and transgressors of his commandements Wherfore he useth this consideration often as may appeer by al the prophets who do almost nothing else but threaten plaegs and destruction to offenders And this mean hath oft times prevailed more than any other that could be used by reason of the natural love which he bare towards our selves consequently the natural fear which we have of our own danger So we read that nothing could moove the Ninivites so much as the foretelling them of their imminent destruction And Saint Iohn Baptist although he came in a simple and contemptible maner yet preaching unto the people The terror of vengeance to come and that the ax was now put to the tres to cut down for the fire al those which repented not He mooved the verie publicans and soldiers to fear which otherwise are people of verie hard metal who came unto him upon this terrible embassage and asked what they should doo to avoid these punishments 2 After then that we have considered of death and of Gods severe judgement which insueth after death and wherin everie man hath to receave according to his works in this life as the scripture saith it followeth that we consider also of the punishments which are appointed for them that shal be found faultie in that account hereby at lestwise if no other consideration wil serve to induce christians to this resolution of serving God For as I have noted before if every man have naturally a love of himselfe desire to conserve his own ease then should he also have fear of peril wherby he is to fal into extreme calamitie This expresseth saint Bernard excellently according to his woont O man saith he if thou have left al shame which apperteineth to so noble a creature as thou art if thou feele no sorrow as carnal men do not yet lose not fear also which is found in verie beasts We use to load an asse and to wearie him out with labor he careth not bicause he is an asse but if thou wouldest thrust him into fire or fling him into a ditch he would avoid it as much as he could for that he loveth life and feareth death Fear thou then and be not more insensible than a beast fear death fear judgement fear hel This fear is called the beginning of wisdom and not shame or sorrow for that the spirit of fear is more mightie to resist sin than the spirit of shame or sorrow wherfore it is said Remember the end and thou shalt never sin That is remember the final punishments appointed for sin after this life Thus far Saint Bernard 3 First therfore to speak in general of the punishments reserved for the life to come if the scriptures did not declare in particular their greatnes unto us yet are there manie reasons to persuade us that they are most severe dolorous and intollerable For first as God is a God in al his works that is to say great woonderful and terrible so especiallie he sheweth the same in his punishments being called for that cause in scripture Deus iustitiae God of iustice As also Deus vltionum God of revenge Wherfore seeing al his other works are ful of majestie and exceeding our capacities we may likewise gather that his hand in punishment must be woonderful also God himselfe teacheth us to reason in this maner when he saith And wil ye not then fear me And wil ye not tremble before my face which have put the sand as a stop unto the sea and have given the water a commandement never to passe it no not when it is most trobled and the floods most outragious As who would say If I am woonderful and do passe your imagination in these works of the sea others which you see daily you have cause to fear me considering that my punishments are like to be correspondent to the same 4 Another conjecture of the great and severe justice of God may be the consideration of his infinite and unspeakable mercie the which as it is the very nature of God and without end or measure as his Godhead is so is also his justice And these two are the two arms as it were of God imbracing and kissing one the other as the scripture saith therfore as in a man of this world if we had the mesure of one arm we might easily conjecture of the other so seeing the woonderful examples daily of Gods infinite mercie towards them that repent we may imagin by the same his severe justice towards them whom he reserveth to punishment in the next life and whom for that cause he calleth in the scriptures Vasa furoris vessels of his furie or vessels to shew his furie upon 5 A third reason to persuade us of the greatnes of these punishments may be the marvelous patience and long suffering of God in this life as for example in that he suffereth divers men from one sin to another from one day to another from one yeere to another from one age to another to spend al I say in dishonor and dispite of his majestie adding offence to offence and refusing al persuasions allurements good inspirations or other means of frindship that his mercie can devise to offer for their amendement And what man in the world
could suffer this Or what mortal hart can shew such patience But now if al this should not be requited with severitie of punishment in the world to come upon the obstinate it might seeme against the law of justice and equitie and one arm in God might seeme longer than the other Saint Paul toucheth this reason in his epistle to the Romans where he saith Dost thou not know that the benignitie of God is used to bring thee to repentance And thou by thy hard and impenitent hart dost hoord up vengeance unto thy selfe in the day of wrath and appeerance of Gods iust iudgements which shal restore to everie man according to his works He useth here the words of Hoording up of vengeance to signifie that even as the covetous man doth hoord up monie to monie dailie to make his heap great so the unrepentant sinner doth hoord up sin to sin and God on the contrarie side hoordeth up vengeance to vengeance until his mesure be ful to restore in the end Measure against measure As the prophet saith and to pay us home According to the multitude of our own abhominations This God meant when he said to Abraham That the iniquities of the Amorrheans were not yet ful up Also in the revelations unto Saint Iohn the Evangelist when he used this conclusion of that book He that doth evil let him do yet more evil and he that lieth in filth let him yet become more filthy for behold I come quikly and my reward is with me to render to everie man according to his deeds By which words God signifieth that his bearing tollerating with sinners in this life is an argument of his greater severitie in the life to come which the prophet David also declareth when talking of a carelesse sinner he saith Dominus irridebit eum quoniam prospicit quòd veniet dies eius The Lord shal scof at him foreseeing that his day shal come This day no dowt is to be understood the day of account and punishment after this life for so doth God more at large declare himselfe in another place in these words And thou son of man this saith thy Lord God the end is come now I say the end is come upon thee And I wil shew in thee my furie and wil iudge thee according to thy wais I wil lay against thee al thy abhominations and my eie shal not spare thee neither wil I take any mercie upon thee but I wil put thine own wais upon thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold affliction commeth on the end is come the end I say is come it hath watched against thee and behold it is come crushing is now come upon thee the time is come the daie of slaughter is at hand Shortlie wil I poure out my wrath upon thee and I wil fil my furie in thee and I wil iudge thee according to thy wais and I wil laie al thy wickednes upon thee my eie shal not pittie thee neither wil I take any compassion upon thee but I wil laie thy wais upon thee and thy abhominations in the midst of thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that striketh Hitherto is the speech of God himselfe 6 Seeing then now we understand in general that the punishments of God in the life to come are most certain to be great and severe to al such as fal into them for which cause the Apostle saith Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis It is an horrible thing to fal into the hands of the living God let us consider somwhat in particular what maner of pains and punishments they shal be 7 And first of al touching the place of punishment appointed for the damned commonly called hel the scripture in divers languages useth divers names but al tending to expresse the greevousnes of punishment there suffered As in Latin it is called Infernus a place beneath or under ground as most of the old fathers do interpret But whether it be under ground or no most certain it is that it is a place most opposite to heaven which is said to be above And this name is used to signifie the miserable suppressing and hurling down of the damned to be troden under the feet not only of God but also of good men for ever For so saith the scripture Behold the day of the Lord commeth burning like a fornace and al proud and wicked men shal be straw to that fornace and you that fear my name shal tread them down and they shal be as burnt ashes under the soles of your feet in that day And this shal be one of the greatest miseries that can happen to the prowd and stout potentates of the world to be thrown down with such contempt and to be troden under feet of them whom they so much despised in this world 8 The Hebrew word which the scripture useth for hel is Seol which signifieth a great ditch or dungeon In which sense it is also called in the Apocalyps Lacus irae Dei The lake of the wrath of God And again Stagnum ardens igne sulphure A poole burning with fire and brimstone In Greek the scripture useth three words for the same place The first is Elades used in the Gospel which as Plutarch noteth signifieth a place where no light is The second is Zophos in Saint Peter which signifieth darknes it selfe In which sense it is called also of Iob Terra tenebrosa operta mortis caligine A dark land and overwhelmed with deadly obscuritie Also in the Gospel Tenebrae exteriores Vtter darknes The third greek word is Tartaros used also by Saint Peter which word being derived of the verb Tarasso which signifieth to terrifie troble and vex importeth an horrible confusion of tormentors in that place even as Iob saith of it Ibi nullus ordo sed sompiternus horror inhabitat There dwelleth no order but everlasting horror 9 The Chaldie word which is also used in Hebrew and translated to the Greek is Gehenna first of al used by Christ for the place of them which are damned as Saint Ierom noteth upon the tenth chapter of Saint Mathews gospel And this word being compounded of Gee Hinnom signifieth a vally nigh to Ierusalem called the vally of Hinnom in which the old idolatrous Iews were woont to burn alive their own children in the honor of the devil and to sound with trumpets timbrels and other loud instruments whiles they were doing therof that the childrens voices and cries might not be heard which place was afterward used also for the receit of al filthines as of doong dead carions and the like And it is most probable that our Savior used this word above al other for hel therby to signifie the miserable burning of souls in that place the pitiful clamors and cries of the tormented the confuse and barbarous noise of
smal cause to envie their felicitie If they talk basely of the glorie and riches of saints in heaven not esteeming them indeed in respect of their own or contemning them for that carnal plesures are not rekoned therin make little account of their words for that The sensual man understandeth not the things which are of God If horses were promised by their maisters a good banket they could imagin nothing else but provender and water to be their best cheer for that they have no knowledge of daintier dishes so these men accustomed to the puddle of their fleshly pleasures can mount with their mind no higher than the same But I have shewed thee before gentle reader some wais and considerations to conceive greater matters albeit as I have advertised thee often we must confesse stil with Saint Paul that no humane hart can conceive the least part therof for which cause also it is not unlike that Saint Paul himselfe was forbidden to utter the things which he had seen and heard in his miraculous assumption unto the third heaven 22 To conclude then this game gole is set up for them that wil run as Saint Paul noteth and no man is crowned in this glorie but such onlie as wil fight as the same Apostle teacheth It is not every one that saith to Christ Lord Lord that shal enter into the kingdome of heaven but they onlie which do the wil of Christ his father in heaven Though this kingdome of Christ be set out to al yet every man shal not come to raign with Christ but such onlie as shal be content to suffer with Christ. Thou art therfore to sit down and consider according to thy Saviors counsel what thou wilt do whether thou have so much spiritual money as is sufficient to build this tower and make this war or no that is whether thou have so much good wil and holie manhood in thee as to bestow the pains of suffering with Christ if it be rather to be called pains than pleasure that so thou maist raign with him in his kingdome This is the question this is the verie whole issue of the matter hitherto hath appertained whatsoever hath been spoken in this book before either of thy particular end or of the majestie bountie and justice of God and of the account he wil demand of thee also of the punishment or reward laid up for thee Al this I say was meant by me to this only end that thou measuring the one part and the other shouldest finaly resolve what thou wouldest do and not to passe over thy time in careles negligence as many do never spieng their own error until it be too late to amend it 23 For the love of God then deer brother and for the love thou bearest to thine own soul shake off this dangerous securitie which flesh and blood is woont to lul men in and make som earnest resolution for looking to thy soul for the life to come Remember often that woorthy sentence Hoc momentum unde pendet aeternitas This life is a moment of time wherof al eternitie of life or death to come dependeth If it be a moment and a moment of so great importance how is it passed over by wordly men with so little care as it is 24 I might have alledged heer infinite other reasons and considerations to move men unto this resolution wherof I have talked and surely no measure of volume were sufficient to contein so much as might be said in this matter For that al the creatures under heaven yea and in heaven it selfe as also in hel al I say from the first to the last are arguments and persuasions unto this point al are books and sermons al do preach and crie som by their punishment som by their glorie som by their beutie and al by their creation that we ought without delay to make this resolution and that al is vanitie al is folly al is iniquitie al is miserie beside the only service of our maker and redeemer But yet notwithstanding as I have said I thought good only to choose out these few considerations before laid down as cheefe and principal among the rest to work in any tru Christian hart And if these cannot enter with thee good reader little hope is there that any other would doo thee good Wherfore heer I end this first part reserving a few things to be said in the second for remooving of som impediments which our spiritual adversarie is woont to cast against this good work as against the first step to our salvation Our Lord God and Savior Iesus Christ which was content to pay his own bloud for the purchasing of this notable inheritance unto us give us his holy grace to esteeme of it as the great weight of the matter requireth and not by negligence to leese our portions therin The end of the first part THE SECOND PART OF THIS BOOKE CHAP. I. Of impediments that let men from this resolution and first of the difficultie or hardnes which seemeth to manie to be in vertuous life NOtwithstanding al the reasons and considerations before set down for inducing men to this necessarie resolution of serving God there want not manie Christians abroad in the world whose harts either intangled with the pleasures of this life or given over by God to a reprobate sense do yeeld no whit at al to this batterie that hath been made but shewing themselves more hard than adamant do not only resist contemn but also do seeke excuses for their sloth and wickednes and do alledge reasons to their own perdition Reasons I cal them according to the common phrase though indeed there be no one thing more against reason than that a man should becom enimie to his own soul as the scripture affirmeth obstinate sinners to be But yet as I say they have their excuses and the first and principal of al is that vertuous life is painful and hard and therfore they cannot indure to follow the same especially such as have been brought up delicately never were acquainted with such asperitie as they say we require at their hands And this is a great large and universal impediment which staieth infinite men from imbrasing the means of their conversion for which cause it is fully to be answered in this place 2 First then supposing that the way of vertu were so hard indeed as the enimie maketh it seem yet might I wel say with Saint Iohn Chrysostom that seeing the reward is so great and infinite as now we have declared no labor should seem great for obteining of the same Again I might say with holie S. Austen That seeing we take daily so great pain in this world for avoiding of smal inconveniences as of siknes imprisonments losse of goods and the like what pains should we refuse for avoiding the eternitie of hel fire set down before The first of these
vanitatis Wo be unto you which do draw wickednes in the ropes of vanitie These ropes are those vanities of vain glorie promotion dignitie nobilitie beautie riches delites and other before touched which alwaies draw with them some iniquitie and sin For which cause David saith unto God Thou hatest O Lord observers of superfluous vanities And lastly for this cause the holie Ghost pronounceth generally of al men Beatus vir qui non respexit in vanitates insanias falsas Blessed is that man which hath not respected vanities and the false madnesse of this world 34 Now come I then to the second part proposed in this chapter to shew how this world with the cōmodities therof are not only vanities but also deceits as Christ termeth them for that indeed they perform not unto their followers those idle vanities which they do promise Wherin the world may be compared to that wretched and ungrateful deceiver Laban who made poor Iacob to serve him seaven yeers for fair Rachel and in the end deceived him with foul Lia. What false promises doth the world make daily To one it promiseth long life and health and cutteth him off in the midst of his daies To another it promiseth great wealth and promotion and after long service performeth no part therof To another it promiseth great honor by large expences but under-hand it casteth him into contempt by beggerie To another it assureth great advancement by marriage but yet never giveth him abilitie to come to his desire Go you over the whole world behold countries view provinces look into cities harken at the doores windows of private houses of princes pallaces of secret chambers and you shal see and hear nothing but lamentable complaints one for that he hath lost another for that he hath not woon a third for that he is not satisfied ten thousand for that they are deceived 35 Can there be a greater deceit for examples sake than to promise renowm and memorie as the world doth to hir followers and yet to forget them assoon as they are dead Who doth remember now one of fortie thousand jollie fellows in this world captains soldiers counsellers dukes earls princes prelats and emperors kings and queenes lords and ladies Who remembreth them I say Who once thinketh or speaketh of them now Hath not their memorie perished with their sound as the prophet saith Did not Iob promise truly that Their remembrance should be as ashes troden under foot And David that They should be as dust blown with the wind Divers men there have been ere this that have been very mean in common account and yet bicause they have labored to be unknow to the world therfore the rather the world both remembreth honoreth now the memorie of them But many a king and emperor have strived and labored al their life to be known in the world and yet are now forgotten So that the world is like in this point as one saith unto a covetous and forgetful host who if he see his old ghest come by in beggerly estate al his money being spent he maketh semblance not to know him And if the ghest marvel therat and say that he hath come often that way and spent much money in the house the other answereth it may be so for there passe this way so many as we use not to keep account therof But what is the way to make this host to remember you saith this Author The way is to use him ill as you passe by beat him wel or do some other notable injurie unto him and he wil remember you as long as he liveth and many times wil talk of you when you are far off from him 36 Infinite are the deceits and dissimulations of the world It seemeth goodly fair and gorgeous in outward shew but when it commeth to handling it is nothing but a fether when it commeth to sight it is nothing but a shadow when it commeth to waight it is nothing but smoke when it commeth to opening it is nothing but an image of plaister work ful of old rags and patches within To know the miseries of the world you must go a little out from it For as they which walk in a mist do no see it so wel as they which stand upon an hil from it so fareth it in discerning the world whose propertie is to blind them that come to it to the end they may not see their own estate even as a raven first of al striketh out the poore sheeps eie and so bringeth to passe that she may not see the way to escape from his tyrannie 37 After the world hath once bereft the worldling of his spiritual sight that he can judge no longer between good and evil vanitie and veritie then it rocketh him asleep at ease and pleasure it bindeth him sweetly it deceiveth him pleasantly it tormenteth him in great peace and rest it hath a prowd spirit straightwais to place him in the pinacle of greedy ambition and therhence to shew him al the dignities and preferments of the world it hath twentie false merchants to shew him in the dark the first and former ends of fair and pretious cloths But he may not look into the whole peeces nor carrie them to the light It hath four hundred false prophets to flatter him as Achab had which must keep him from the hearing of Micheas his counsel that is from the remorse of his own conscience which telleth him truth it hath a thousand cunning fishers to lay before him pleasant baits but al furnished with dangerous hooks within it hath infinite strumpets of Babylon to offer him drink in golden cups but al mingled with most deadly poison it hath in every door an alluring Iahel to intise him into the milk of pleasures and delites but al have their hammers and nails in their hands to murder him in the brain when he falleth asleep It hath in everie corner a flattering Ioab to imbrace with one arm and kil with the other A false Iudas to give a kisse and therwith to betray Finally it hath al the deceits al the dissimulations al the flatteries al the treasons that possibly may be devised It hateth them that love it deceiveth them that trust it afflicteth them that serve it reprocheth them that honor it damneth them that follow it and most of al forgetteth them that labor and travel most of al for it And to be breefe in this matter do you what you can for this world and love it and adore it as much as you wil yet in the end you shal find it a right Nabal who after many benefits received from David yet when David came to have need of him he answered Who is David Or who is the son of Isai that I should know him Vpon great cause then said the prophet David O you children of men how long wil you be so
asked it thrise upon his knees with the sweat of blood what reason hast thou to think that he wil let passe so many sins of thine unpunished What cause hast thou to induce thy imagination that he wil deal extraordinarily with thee and break the course of his justice for thy sake Art thou better than those whom I have named Hast thou any privilege from God above them 15 If thou wouldest consider the great and strange effects of Gods justice which we see daily executed in the world thou shouldest have little cause to persuade thy selfe so favorably or rather to flatter thy selfe so dangerously as thou doest We see that notwithstanding Gods mercie yea notwithstanding the death and passion of Christ our savior for saving of the whole world yet so many infinite millions to be damned daily by the justice of God so many infidels heathens Iews and Turks that remain in the darknes of their own ignorance among Christians so many that hold not their profession truly or otherwise are il livers therin as that Christ truly said that few were they that should be saved albeit his death was paid for al if they made not themselves unwoorthy therof And before the comming of our savior much more we see that al the world went a-wry to damnation for many thousand yeers togither excepting a few Iews which were the people of God And yet among them also the greater part it seemeth were not saved as may be conjectured by the speeches of the prophets from time to time and specially by the saiengs of Christ to the Pharisies and other rulers therof Now then if God for the satisfieng of his justice could let so many millions perish through their own sins as he doth also now daily permit without any prejudice or impechment to his mercie why may not he also damn thee for thy sins notwithstanding his mercie seeing thou dost not only commit them without fear but also dost confidently persist in the same 16 But heer som man may say If this be so that God is so severe in punishment of everie sin and that he damneth so manie thousands for one that he saveth how is it tru that The mercies of God are above al his other works as the scripture saith and that it passeth and exalteth it selfe above his iudgements For if the number of the damned do exceed so much the number of those which are saved it seemeth that the work of justice doth passe the work of mercie To which I answer that touching the smal number of those that are saved and infinite quantitie of such as are damned we may in no wise dowt for that beside al other prophets Christ our Savior hath made the matter certain and out of question We have to see therfore how notwithstanding al this the mercie of God doth exceed his other works 17 And first his mercie may be said to exceed for that al our salvation is of his mercie and our damnation from our selves as from the first and principal causes therof according to the saieng of God by the prophet Perditio tua Israel tantum modo in me auxilium tuum Thy only perdition is from thy selfe O Israel and thy assistance to do good is only from me So that as we must acknowlege Gods grace mercy for the author of every good thought and act that we do and consequently ascribe al our salvation unto him so none of our evil acts for which we are damned do proceed from him but only from our selves and so he is no cause at al of our damnation and in this doth his mercie exceed his justice 18 Secondly his mercie doth exceed in that he desireth al men to be saved as Saint Paul teacheth and himselfe protesteth when he saith I wil not the death of a sinner but rather that he turn from his wickednes and live And again by the prophet Ieremie he complaineth greevously that men wil not accept of his mercie offered Turn from your wicked wais saith he why wil ye die you house of Israel By which appeereth that he offereth his mercie most willingly freely to al but useth his justice only upon necessitie as it were constrained therunto by our obstinate behavior This Christ signifieth more plainly when he saith to Ierusalem O Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the prophets and stonest them to death that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children togither as the hen clocketh hir chickins underneath hir wings but thou wouldest not Behold thy house for this cause shal be made desart and left without children Heer you see the mercie of God often offered unto the Iews but for that they refused it he was inforced in a certain maner to pronounce this heavy sentence of destruction and desolation upon them which he fulfilled within fortie or fiftie yeers after by the hands of Vespasian emperor of Rome and Titus his son who utterly discomfited the citie of Ierusalem and whole nation of Iews whom we see dispersed over the world at this day in bondage both of bodie and soul. Which work of Gods justice though it be most terrible yet was his mercie greater to them as appeereth by Christ words if they had not rejected the Son 19 Thirdly his mercie exceedeth his justice even towards the damned themselves in that he used many means to save them in this life by calling upon them and assisting them with his grace to do good by mooving them inwardly with infinite good inspirations by alluring them outwardly with exhortations promisses examples of other as also by siknes adversities and other gentle corrections by giving them space to repent with occasions opportunities and excitations unto the same by threatening them eternal death if they repent not Al which things being effects of mercie and goodnes towards them they must needs confesse amidst their greatest furie and torments that his judgements are tru and justified in themselves and no wais to be compared with the greatnes of his mercies 20 By this then we see that to be tru which the prophet saith Misericordiam veritatem diligit Dominus God loveth mercie and truth And again Mercie and truth have met togither iustice and peace have kissed themselves We see the reason why the same prophet protesteth of himselfe I wil sing unto thee mercie and iudgement O Lord not mercie alone nor judgement alone but mercie and judgement togither that is I wil not so presume of thy mercie as I wil not fear thy judgement nor wil I so fear thy judgement as I wil ever dispair of thy mercie The fear of Gods judgement is alwais to be joined with our confidence in Gods mercie yea in verie saints themselves as David saith But what fear That fear truly which the scripture describeth when it saith The fear of the Lord expelleth sin the fear of God hateth al evil he that
feareth God neglecteth nothing he that feareth God wil turn and looke into his own hart he that feareth God wil do good works They which fear God wil not be incredulous to that which he saith but wil keep his wais and seek out the things that are pleasant unto him they wil prepare their harts and sanctifie their souls in his sight 21 This is the description of tru fear of God set down by the scripture This is the description of that fear which is so much commended and commanded in every part and parcel of Gods word of that fear I say which is called Fons vitae radix prudentiae corona plenitudo sapientiae gloria gloriatio beatum donum that is The fountain of life the roote of prudence the crown and fulnes of wisdome the glorie and gloriation of a Christian man a happie gift Of him that hath this fear the scripture saith Happy is the man which feareth the Lord for he wil place his mind upon his commandements And again The man that feareth God shal be happy at the last end and shal be blessed at the day of his death Finally of such as have this fear the scripture saith that God is their foundation God hath prepared great multitude of sweetnes for them God hath purchased them an inheritance God is as merciful to them as the father is merciful unto his children And to conclude Voluntatem timentium se faciet God wil do the wil of those that fear him with this fear 22 This holy fear had good Iob when he said to God I feared al my works And he yeeldeth the reason therof For I know that thou sparest not him that offendeth thee This fear lacked the other of whom the prophet saith The sinner hath exaspered God by saieng that God wil not take account of his dooings in the multitude of wrath Thy judgements O Lord are remooved from his sight And again Wherfore hath the man stirred up God against himself by saieng God wil not take account of my dooings It is a great wickednes no dowt a great exasperation of God against us to take the one halfe of Gods nature from him which is to make him merciful without justice to live so as though God would not take account of our life wheras he hath protested most earnestly the contrarie saieng that he is an hard and a sore man which wil not be content to receive his own again but also wil have usurie that he wil have a rekoning of al his goods lent us that he wil have fruit for al his labors bestowed upon us and finally that he wil have account for every word that we have spoken 23 Christ in the three score and eight psalm which in sundry places of the Gospel he interpreteth to be written of himselfe among other dreadful curses which he setteth down against the reprobate he hath these Let their eies be dazeled in such sort as they may not see powre out thy wrath my father upon them let the furie of thy vengeance take hand fast on them ad iniquitie upon their iniquitie and let him not enter into thy righteousnes let them be blotted out of the book of life and let them not be inrolled togither with the iust Heer lo we see that the greatest curse which God can lay upon us next before our blotting out of the booke of life it is to suffer us to be so blinded as to ad iniquitie upon iniquitie and not to enter into consideration of his justice For which cause also this cōfident kind of sinning upon hope of Gods mercie is accounted by divines for the first of the six greevous sins against the holie Ghost which our Savior in the gospel signifieth to be so hardly pardoned unto men by his father and the reason why they cal this a sin against the holie Ghost is for that it rejecteth wilfully one of the principal means left by the holie Ghost to retire us from sin which is the fear and respect of Gods justice upon sinners 24 Wherfore to conclude this matter of presumption me think we may use the same kind of argument touching the fear of Gods justice as Saint Paul useth to the Romans of the fear of Gods ministers which are temporal princes wouldest thou nor fear the power of a temporal prince saith he Do wel then and thou shalt not only not fear but also receive laud and praise therfore But if thou do evil then fear For he beareth not the sword without a cause In like sort may we say to those good felows which make God so merciful as no man ought to fear his justice Would ye not fear my brethren the justice of God in punishment Live vertuously then and you shal be as void of fear as lions are saith the wise man For that perfect charitie expelleth fear But if you live wickedly then have you cause to fear For God called not himselfe a just judge for nothing 25 If the matter had been so secure as many men by flatterie do persuade themselves it is Saint Peter would never have said unto Christians now baptised Walk you in fear during the time of this your earthly habitation Nor S. Paul to the same men Woork your own salvation in fear and trembling But heer some men wil ask how then doth the same apostle in another place say That God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of vertu love and sobrietie To which I answer That our spirit is not a spirit of servile fear that is to live in fear only for dread of punishment without love but a spirit of love joined with fear of children wherby they fear to offend their father not only in respect of his punishment but principally for his goodnes towards them benefits bestowed upon them This Saint Paul declareth plainly to the Romans putting the difference between servile fear and the fear of children You have not received again the spirit of servitude saith he in fear but the spirit of adoption of children wherby we cry to God Abba father He saith heer to the Romans you have not received again the spirit of servitude in fear for that their former spirit being gentils was only in servile fear for that they honored and adored their idols not for any love they bare unto them being so infinite as they were and such notable lewdnes reported of them I mean of Iupiter Mars Venus and the like but only for fear of hurt from them if they did not serve and adore the same 26 Saint Peter also in one sentence expoundeth al this matter For having said Timorem eorum ne timueritis Fear not their fear Meaning of the servile fear of wicked men he addeth presently Dominum autem Christum sanctificate in cordibus vestris cum modestia timore conscientiam
wil promise it I say upon a condition that he might have life again upon condition that the day might be prolonged unto him though if God should grant him his request as many times he doth he would perform no one point therof but be as careles as he were before When such shal crie with sighs and grones as pearsing as a sword and yet shal not be heard what comfort then wil they hope for to find For whither wil they turn themselves in this distresse Vnto their worldly wealth power or riches Alas they are gone and the scripture saith Riches shal not profit in the day of revenge Wil they turn unto their carnal frinds But what comfort can they give besides onlie weeping and comfortles moorning Wil they ask help of the saints to praie for them in this instant Then must they remember what is written The saints shal reioice in glorie and exultation shal be in their mouthes and two edged swords in their hands to take revenge upon nations and increpations upon people to bind kings in fetters and noble men in manacles of iron to execute upon them the prescript iudgement of God and this is the glorie of al his saints Their onlie refuge then must be unto God who indeed is the only refuge of al but yet in this case the prophet saith heer that He shal not hear them but rather contemn and laugh at their miserie Not that he is contrarie to his promise of receiving a sinner At what time soever he repenteth and turneth from his sin But for that this turning at the last day is not commonly tru repentance and conversion for the causes before rehearsed 28 To conclude then this matter of delay what wise men is there in the world who reading this wil not fear the deferring of his conversion though it were but for one day Who doth know whether this shal be the last day or no that ever God wil cal him in God saith I called and you refused to come I held out my hand and you would not looke towards me and therfore wil I forsake you in your extremitie He doth not say how manie times or how long he did cal and hold out his hand God saith I stand at the doore and knok but he saith not how often he doth that or how manie knoks he giveth Again he said of wicked Iezabel the feined prophetesse in the Apocalyps I have given hir time to repent and she would not and therfore shal she perish but he saith not how long this time of repentance endureth We read of woonderful examples heerin Herod the father had a cal given him and that a lowd one when Iohn Baptist was sent unto him and when his hart was so far touched as he willingly heard him and so followed his counsel in manie things as one Evangelist noteth but yet bicause he deferred the matter and tooke not time when it was offered he was cast off again and his last dooings made woorse than his former Herod Tetrak the son had a cal also when he felt that desire to see Christ and some miracle done by him but for that he answered not unto the cal it did him no good but rather much hurt What a great knok had Pilate given him at his hart if he had been so gratious as to have opened the doore presently when he was made to understand the innocencie of Christ as appeereth by washing his hands in testimonie therof and his wife also sent him an admonition about the same No lesse knok had king Agrippa at his doore when he cried out at the hearing of Saint Paul O Paul thou persuadest me a little to be a Christian. But bicause he deferred the matter this motion passed away again 29 Twise happie had Pharao been if he had resolved himselfe presently upon that motion that he felt when he cried to Moises I have sinned and God is iust But by delay he became woorse than ever he was before Saint Luke reporteth how Felix the governor of Iewrie for the Romanes conferred secretly oftentimes with Saint Paul that was prisoner and heard of him the faith in Christ wherwith hee was greatly mooved especially at on time when Paul disputed of Gods justice and the day of judgement wherat Felix trembled but yet he deferred this resolution willing Paul to depart and to come again another time and so the matter by delation came to no effect How many men do perish daily some cut off by death some left by God and given over to a reprobate sense which might have found grace if they had not deferred their conversion from day to day but had made their resolution presently when they felt God to cal within their harts 30 God is most bountiful to knok and cal but yet he bindeth himselfe to no time or space but commeth and goeth at his pleasure and they which take not their times when they are offered are excuselesse before his justice and do not know whether ever it shal be offered them again or no for that this thing is only in the wil and knowlege of God alone who taketh mercie where it pleaseth him best and is bound to none And when the prefixed time of calling is once past wo be unto that partie for a thousand worlds wil not purchase it again Christ sheweth woonderfully the importance of this matter when entering into Ierusalem amidst al his mirth and glorie of receiving he could not chuse but weep upon that citie crieng out with tears O Ierusalem if thou knewest also these things which appertain to thy peace even in this thy day but now these things are hidden from thee As if he had said if thou knewest Ierusalem as wel as I do what mercie is offered thee even this day thou wouldest not do as thou doest but wouldest presently accept therof but now this secret judgement of my father is hidden from thee and therfore thou makest little account therof until thy destruction shal come suddenly upon thee as soone after it did 31 By this now may be considered the great reason of the wise mans exhortation For-slow not to turn to God nor do not defer it from day to day for his wrath wil come upon thee at the sudden and in time of revenge it wil destroy thee It may be seene also upon what great cause the Apostle exhorteth the Hebrews so vehementlie Dum cognominantur bodie To accept of grace even whiles that very day endured and not to let passe the occasion offered Which every man applieng to himselfe should follow in obeing the motions of Gods spirit within him and accepting of Gods vocation without delay considering what a greevous sin it is to resist the holie Ghost Every man ought I say when he feeleth a good motion in his hart to think with himselfe now God knocketh at my
and yet resolved with themselves not to obey or change the custom of their proceedings therfore fel they in fine to persecute sharply their reprehendors wherof the only cause was hardnes of hart Induraverunt facies suas supra petram noluerunt reverti saith God by the mouth of Ieremie They have hardened their faces above the hardnes of a rok and they wil not turn to me And in another place of the same prophet he complaineth greevously of this perversenes Quare ergo aversus est populus iste in Ierusalem aversione contentiosa And why then is this people in Ierusalem revolted from me by so contentious and perverse an alienation as they wil not hear me any more c And yet again in another place Quare moriemini domus Israel Why wil you die you house of Israel Why wil you damn your selves Why are you so obstinate as not to hear so perverse as not to learn so cruel to your selves as you wil not know the dangers wherin you live nor understand the miserie that hangeth over you 22 Dost thou not imagin deer brother that God useth this kind of speech not only to the Iews but also to many thousand Christians and perhaps also unto thy selfe many times everie day for that thou refusest his good motions and other means sent from him to draw thee to his service thou being resolved not to yeeld therunto but to follow thy pursuit whatsoever persuasions shal come to the contrarie Alas how many Christians be there who say to God daily as they did whom I named before Depart from us we wil not have the knowledge of thy wais How many be there which abhor to hear good counsel Fear and tremble to read good bookes Flie and detest the frequentation of godly companie least by such occasions they might be touched in conscience converted and saved How many be there which say with those most miserable hard harted men wherof the prophet speaketh Percussimus foedus cum morte cum inferno fecimus pactum We have striken a league with death and have made a bargain with hel it selfe Which is as much to say as if they had said Trouble us not molest us not with thy persuasions spend not thy words and labor in vain talk unto others who are not yet setled let them take heaven that it wil we for our parts are resolved we are at a point we have made a bargain that must be performed yea though it be with hel and death everlasting 23 It is a woonderful furie the obduration of an hard hart and not without cause compared by the prophet as I shewed before to the wilful furie and rage of serpents And another place of scripture describeth it thus Durus es nervus ferreus cervix tua frons tua aerea Thou art hard harted and thy nek is a sinow of iron thy forhead is of brasse What can be more vehemently spoken to expresse the hardnes of this mettal But yet Saint Barnard expresseth it more at large in these words Quid ergo cor durum And what is then a hard hart And he answereth immediately A hard hart is that which is neither cut by compunction nor softened by godlines nor mooved with praiers nor yeeldeth to threatening nor is any thing holpen but rather hardened by chastening An hard hart is that which is ingrateful to Gods benefits disobedient to his counsels made cruel by his judgements dissolute by his allurements unshamefast to filthines fearles to perils uncourteous in humane affairs rechles in matters pertaining to God forgetful of things past negligent in things present improvident for things to come 24 By this description of Saint Barnard it appeereth that an hard hart is almost a desperate and remediles disease where it falleth For what wil you do saith this good father to amend it If you lay the greevousnes of sin before him he is not touched with compunction If you alledge him al the reasons in the world why we ought to serve God and why we ought not to offend and dishonor him he is not mollified by this consideration of piety If you would request him and beseech him with tears even on your knees he is not mooved If you threaten Gods wrath against him he yeeldeth nothing therunto If God scourge him in deed he waxeth furious and becommeth much more hard than before If God bestow benefits on him he is ungrateful If he counsel him for his salvation he obeieth not If you tel him of Gods secret and severe judgements it driveth him to desperation and to more crueltie If you allure him with Gods mercie it maketh him dissolute If you tel him of his own filthines he blusheth not If you admonish him of his perils he feareth not If he deal in matters towards men he is proud and uncurteous If he deal in matters towards God he is rash light and contemptuous Finally he forgetteth whatsoever hath passed before him towards other men either in reward of godlines or in punishment of sinners For the time present he neglecteth it nor maketh any account of using it to his benefit And of things to come either of blisse or miserie he is utterly unprovident nor wil esteem therof lay you them never so often or vehemently before his face And what way is there then to do this man good 25 Not without great cause surely did the wise man pray so hartily to God Animae irreverenti infrenatae ne tradas me Deliver me not over O Lord unto a shameles and unruly soul. That is unto a hard and obstinate hart Wherof he giveth the reason in another place of the same booke Cor enim durum habebit male in novissimo For that an hard hart shal be in an evil case at the last day Oh that al hard harted people would note this reason of scripture But S. Barnard goeth on and openeth the terror heerof more fully when he saith Nemo duri cordis salutem unquam adeptus est nisi quem forte miserans Deus abstulit ab eo iuxta prophetam cor lapideum dedit cor carneum There was never yet hard harted man saved except God by his mercie did take away his stonie hart and give him a hart of flesh according to the prophet By which words Saint Barnard signifieth and prooveth out of the prophet that there are two kinds of harts in men the one a fleshlie hart which bleedeth if you but prik it that is it falleth to contrition repentance and tears upon never so smal a chek for sin The other is a stonie hart which if you beat and buffet never so much with hammers you may assoon break it in peeces as either bend it or make it to bleed And of these two harts in this life dependeth al our miserie or felicitie for the life to come For as God when he would take vengeance of
works but to the free mercie of God So on the other side if Saint Paul had purposed to exhort to newnes of life he would there have told us as else-where he did that though we had al faith and had not love yet al were nothing So for the doctrine of justification likewise I trust there is no such absurditie held by us that any may have any just cause to fear to join with us therin 9 Those things that hinder are some of them of lesse importance and lightly hinder not but those that are of the weaker sort and one other there is of more special force with them that I take to be the greatest stay that hindereth those that take it to be a matter of conscience indeed Those lesser hinderances likewise are divers For some respect their persons especially and one other there is that somwhat respecteth the cause likewise Those that do most properly respect their persons are especially two one that proceedeth from regard of their credit which was somwhat touched before as one of the inconveniences that heerby they should have the other that concerneth certain hardnes that by bodily punishment they suppose themselves to be put unto untouched as yet And the discredit that they dowt would fal upon them is partly with al generally but especially with those with whom they have so long held togither For with al generally it is like to be some disgrace unto them for that they have al so professed and some of them besides have accordingly taught but yet no such as of right may hold them stil in the course that now they are in For as touching their profession it is very incident to the nature of man to be deceived especially in the truth of religion Howsoever we have a reasonable good sight in other things yet in this the best of us al are far to seeke for any thing that we have in our selves to help us withal Neither are we only to seeke heerin but also prone to conceive best liking of that which is wrong But besides their own natural weaknes and inclination they may wel remember that the former dais were such and their own proper education withal that whosoever is of any reasonable consideration wil easily pardon for the former time such wanderings unto them For both those things are verie forcible to lead us away with them whersoever there is not the special grace of Gods holie spirit both for to teach us a better course and to lead us therin So with men who are al of the selfe-same mould and have al had our parts of that other infection besides it is a very pardonable matter in religion to have held that course that they did pardonable I say in respect of our own natural impotencie and inclination and of those dais of ignorance that were before togither with our education then framed according to that praesent time But if we come to these dais of ours then is the case altered much For now it hath pleased the goodnes of God both to give them a more plentiful knowledge of his wil and pleasure and to offer unto them a readier direction by his holie spirit that so they may both see and walk the way to his kingdome so much the better Which diversitie of times and graces considered they may easily resolve themselves that it is no discredit unto them to alter the course of their former ignorance when as now their eies being opened they have found a better In the night it is no shame at al to go awry in the day time it is a fowl and stark shame indeed to hold on that course and not to break it off with speed Concerning those that besides their own profession have also taught the same unto others it cannot be denied but that they have done so much the more hurt and that their auditorie and disciples before may charge them with great alteration now if so they should alter their former course Nevertheles neither were their former doings to be denied their reasonable excuse with al those that are indifferent neither can they now continu on their course but that needs they must therwithal impeach their credit much more than if they had altered with al that have attained unto the knowledge of the truth For their former labors are the rather to be born withal for that being then persuaded that they were right it was their parts indeed to commend unto others that which themselves did think to be needful But that now it is rather for their credit to alter their course besides that other before recited which they have common with the rest hence also may they gather for that finding now that they have done much hurt before it standeth them upon for to amend the same so soone as they can The wound they have made it were meet that themselves should heal again Which if they should forsake to do howsoever it would stand with their credit or not it were verie like for to procure them an heavie judgement in the end For the errors that they should so leave uncorrected could not but infect manie others and likely inough so to grow on to the end of the world by which time it is not to say what heaps of iniquitie might come therby For al which they must needs stand chargeable before the judgement seat of God unlesse while they live heer among us they seek to amend al their errors delivered before In which respect Augustine hath left them in his own example a point of great wisdome diligently retracting or calling bak again whatsoever points of doctrine he found that he had unadvisedly delivered before and yet notwithstanding as it seemeth and himselfe in the praeface confesseth thought no shame with it at al as indeed it was a very good testimonie of his inward sinceritie and so consequently as much to his tru and just commendation as any thing else that ever he did If it be said that in him there was some further cause for to retract much of that which he wrote before both bicause he wrote very yoong and before he was baptised in the faith of Christ tru it is indeed that so he wrote but not so with al as leaveth to them any such advantage For the quaestion is not whether Saint Augustine or they had more need to retract some of their opinions but whether it be meete that those should do it that have taught unto others that which now they finde to be wrong And thogh it were yet I dowt much whether upon sufficient advisement any of them would so far urge the ods betwixt them either his youth to their yeers or his imperfection before his baptism to their ripenes now but that they would with good wil acknowledge rather that it were their parts if they have taught any erronious points of doctrine with him to retract them than to make any such allegation that they need not do it
so much as he Those with whom they have held hands so long togither are either the bishop of Rome or his frinds abroad for their advantage or else of their own countrimen at home that are grown to so great misliking of the praesent state If it be the bishop and his adhaerents it is but for their own advantage that they conceive that opinion of them so to make up their losses again by the help of them when opportunitie should serve them unto it And the more that their aestimation savoreth of it the more quietly may they be able to beare the losse therof If they be of our discontented countrimen at home the losse also is so much the lesse for that none such wil not mislike of them but so far as themselves are infected with the inchanted cup of forrain power and then the more they are infected therwith the lesse woorth is the best aestimation they are able to give Again whatsoever aestimation is lost either with forrain power abroad or with hollow harts at home the same wil be much more requited with the gratious favor of their natural princes and with the tru hart of faithful subjects and that so much the more in abundance of recompense as it is of greater price or valu to be wel thought on by natural princes and faithful subjects than of forren usurpers and close aides whersoever 10 The hardnes that they account themselves to be put unto to the utter aliening of their minds from us and our profession resteth especially in these two points first that divers of them are streightly handled then that certain points of their religion as they term it are now made treason They accoūt themselves to be streightly handled both in the fining of recusants and that certain of that profession are put to death Concerning both which they would not denie but that the punishment were moderate inough both in the one in the other if either they could finde that they were so heinous offenders as we do conceive and charge them to be or else but remember what dealings themselves have used to us and yet do upon lesse occasion As touching the former they wil not denie but that princes have authoritie by the word of God both to fine and to put to death as need requireth They know that such as worship any strange God or but intise others therto or stubbornly despise the word of God are by the sentence of Gods own mouth accounted woorthie to die the death and though it may be themselves do not see that by aequitie therof they are in the danger of his justice for those yet we are out of dowt that they are and but that we do alreadie know that the blindnes of man is very great we could not but woonder that they do not see it Nevertheles such is the mildnes of hir majestie and such is the peaceablenes of these dais of the Gospel so cold are we the most of us al on behalfe of the glorie God that none are executed for any of those though the selfe-same laws that they used against us be forcible against them and if need were might soone be inlarged So notwithstanding that which is done of that kinde we think there might be done much more than there is and yet that no bodie had any just cause to finde fault therwith That certain points of their religion are now made treason that so they cannot suffer as in cause of religion but of high treason it ought not to be so greevous unto them if they consider wel either the very nature of those points that are made treason or but the maner of our proceeding therin For some points of their profession are of the nature as that they are rank treason indeed to al the states that are in the world that have they proper unto themselves of al the religions that are professed on the face of the earth And this treason of theirs that we speak of resteth especially in these two points that the bishop of Rome hath power to depose the princes and potentates of the earth and to place in their roomes whomsoever he wil and that subjects ought not to remain in alleageance to any whom he deposeth but to put on armor against them Which we take to be as rank a treason as wicked an haeresie and as open a way to al confusion as any that ever was heard of before Neither doth it help them any thing if he were indeed as they would have it the vicar general of Christ on the earth for that therby he might do no more keeping within the bounds of his master but only lay their sin to their charge utterly exclude them from hope of salvation princes if they governed il and subjects likewise if they went with their princes against their obedience and dutie to God But as for deposing the one or loosing the other from their alleageance in those points we are sure that they are not only misliked of us but of many others besides that other wais are wel willers of theirs In the maner of proceeding that in this point is used against them there are two points likewise to be noted For first as touching the law it selfe it is in effect but certain ancient statutes that were made long since revived again and not sought unto til that by many naughtie practises and some rebellions open forces and slaughters contrived we were of necessitie rather constrained than easilie induced to take that order and that for the praeservation of the whole both in religion and civile tranquillitie Then also it is very wel known that although they have been never so faultie therin and so have justly deserved to die yet if they can be sorrie for their practising and utterly renounce and abandon the same they stand not in such danger of death by their former demerits as in the hope and way of life by their new repentance if it appeer to be unfeined as wel as their guiltines sufficiently prooved The dealings that they use towards us is first the rigor that they put us unto when time did serve them and yet do where they are able in that they raised up persecution against us in the cause of religion then also their disloial and unnatural practises now to recover their former usurpation again In that persecution of theirs against us we think they then delt and yet do over-hardly with us for that the cause being no greater than it was yet notwithstanding their punishment was exceeding greevous The cause we think was not so great for that cōmonly they persecuted us for nothing else but either for some tradition of their own or else for some thing that went against the earthly estate of the church of Rome either in the commoditie that they supposed to be du unto it or in the superioritie that they had obtained Howbeit neither of these being better cōsidered wil be as we
consider withal that holding so much as themselves do know and wil grant that we do it wil be verie hard to devise how the same might be brought to passe unles both we had the word among us and highly did aesteem of the same Them selves I trust think no otherwise of us but that we are persuaded that we fully hold togither with them whatsoever is catholik if it be so the matter is not so verie great if we varie somwhat in these Though a man want an arm or a leg yet notwithstanding he may be a man Let everie one take heed to his head if it be wanting the rest is nothing though there want not a joint besides And could but some of them be yet at the last as indifferent as manie of them have long been greevous against us could they now be so readie to take in good part what we have done wel as long as they have been to take to the woorst whatsoever left them any such advantage I cannot see how it should come to passe but that laieng that greater part which themselves acknowledge we have translated wel unto that lesse wherin they suppose we have done il they might see our wel doing so far to exceed that which is il that they need not think it so great a matter the truth of the text sufficiently saved more quietly to put up at our hands the one for the other especially when they themselves come in to translate so late as they do and have the benefit of our former labors For such of al others it doth not become to come in so late with such controlling that should have been with the formost at the work themselves to have seen to the orderly proceeding of it The stronger cause we think should have following the greater effect And so notwithstanstanding al the corruptions that divers of them lay to our charge not after a niggish but in liberal maner yet nevertheles so manie as shal more advisedly consider the force of that charge shal not we think finde any great cause to stand in dowt the rather for it whether we have the truth of Gods word among us or not 13 As for any more special treatise of these matters as it belongeth not to the course that I have taken so is it likewise both a needles thing in it selfe being so often and so thoroughly done alreadie by many others and such as is rather to be left to those that are to deal in the work it selfe than to be by a scanter handling incumbred by me Nevertheles if it please them with any indifferencie to consider of them what great cause have they either to mislike so much as they do of that which we do hold therin or so inexorably to urge their opinions to us A man would think that there were some passing ods else that they would never be so earnest in it That which they hold of Lymbus patrum is it so consonant to the word of God or else but so constant in it selfe that they may look to draw al men with them to be of the same opinion therin Was it ever yet taken to be so perilous a point of doctrine for a Christian man so to build upon the satisfaction that Christ made on the crosse to the justice of God that he might in no wise account it to be in force for those that died in the faith before as wel as for those that after succeeded especially when as we are plainly taught that he was yesterday and today and the same for ever that he is the lamb slain from the beginning of the world that there is no condemnation to any of those that are in Christ that God is not a God of the dead but of the living that by the sufferings of Iesus Christ the fathers also of old were releeved and by his stripes made whole and many others such like as these The sun being gotten to the height of the heavens or shrunk downward towards the midst of the afternoone or gotten almost to the very setting doth it not yet notwithstanding give a cleer light unto the east and to al other coasts of the world besides And shal not the death and suffering of Christ though it were long after the world began be available likewise to those that are gone before that lived and died in the faith of Christ An attonement we know there was before for that God dealt oft times so favorably with man and the same was grounded only in Christ. And what reason can there be given why they make it to stand with the justice of God that before the time of that satisfaction actually made he should have any favor towards them heer in this life as wel as to us and yet deprive them of that fruition of it after this life which they grant unto us And if their Lymbus be so uncertain what need they then to that end urge any such descending of Christ That in such sort he descended into hel as is fully sufficient in the justice of God both to acquit the fathers before that otherwise should have come thither and to be a discharge unto us that afterward live it is a thing that is fully beleeved of us al if they wil go further and set down with themselves in what maner also he did it further than the scripture doth warrant can they not determin therin for themselves unlesse they carrie al others likewise into the same adventure with them As touching their doctrine of the real praesence knowing that alreadie we do beleeve that the faithful receiver receiveth not any bare sign but togither with the outward sign whole Christ God and man his sufferings and merits may not this be accounted sufficient unlesse we go further to have his praesence in the very maner that they have imagined which notwithstanding was not agreed on among themselves but very lately The fathers before the incarnation of Christ could not otherwise receive him as also themselves grant that they did not and yet notwithstanding was that sufficient for their salvation And so long as they shew no further reason than they do why such a kinde of receiving of Christ might wel be available to their salvation and not unto ours especially when as otherwise we finde but one communion of saints as wel in profession as in state of salvation why may they not be content to admit that this kinde of receiving which we professe is so much as they need to require of us or else that it failed in the fathers also that were before the incarnation of Christ As for their other sacraments as they term them admit they might be vouchsafed that honor in some account among them for unities sake if needles they would have them so to be called yet what reason is it that they should so over-rule the judgements of others likewise as to account so basely of them unlesse in such needles and by-matters
stand Although therfore that in their own opinion their church hath had a special foundation and although it hath had indeed such successe since as themselves do stil imagin yet notwithstanding when they point us unto the church and undertake to shew us undowted tokens therof then we allow not that they should think to put us over onlie to this and shew us no better tokens than these We do not denie them to be of the church but we allow not the bounds of the church to be so taken in nor these things to stand for sufficient proofe that any such praeeminence belongeth to them 15 The other point that seemeth to yeeld some part of the groundwork of that persuasion is for bicause that they do conceive that to be a departure from the church which is none indeed after that once the truth is tried Concerning which matter it shal be good to consider these two things how this kind of persuasion doth grow and what inconvenience this one point of mistaking doth breed in the end This persuasion groweth most of al by the means of our adversaries then also by some of our selves too Those adversaries of ours by whom it commeth are lightly the most cunning and most learned of them who seeing themselves to have some advantage if they can win us to acknowledge or others to beleeve that we are simplie or in al things departed from them and make another peculiar church of our selves earnestly labor even at the first to obtain that advantage Hence commeth it that both they do so busily urge that point and would have neither us nor others to make at al any quaestion of it and so readily apply to that sense whatsoever they finde in our writings that doth import a division betwixt us Those on our part by whom it commeth are most of al those that are most zealous who being much mooved with the manifest corruption that the adversarie part maintaineth and with their unreasonable thirst of innocent blood in the quarrel of religion are by that occasion carried so far somtime that they do not ever speak and write in so sensed maner but that when they acknowledge that division that indeed is and ought to be betwixt them and us so long as they stand in such sort as they do they may seem to acknowledge that we are altogither divided that we are a distinct visible church from them and they but a synagog in no sense appertaining to the visible church Wheras notwithstanding by the whole course of al our writings it is cleer again that we do not sunder our selves from them nor them from us but only in those points that are in controversie betwixt us and for the rest agree togither and acknowledge likewise that in those we are one But bicause that whensoever we speak of the division that is betwixt us we do not therwithal shew how far we agree therupon it seemeth to them that we can easily be content to be altogither abandoned from them and to have no societie at al with such a people So commeth it to passe that as they upon the advantage disclame in us and bear us in hand that both they and we cannot be the members of any one and the selfesame church as indeed in some sense we cannot and in that sense is by us acknowledged so we likewise seem unto divers to be in that point of the selfesame mind with them and as fully to disclame in them as they do in us and as absolutely to hold that both sorts of us cannot in any sense or construction be members of one and the selfesame bodie especially of that which is ancient and tru and the catholik or apostolik church as notwithstanding we are generally The inconvenience that this mistaking dooth breed in the end is very great and hurtful to the cause of religion but some branches therof there be which are common to both parties and some that are proper to either Common to both are these two the inward hart burning and greefe of mind that is betwixt us one towards another and bitter contentions insuing theron whensoever occasion is offered And touching the former we need go no further than to appeal every one to his own conscience For there shal we finde both that we have an inward greefe one towards another and that we think we may and ought maintain the same in the cause of religion that we have in hand Our contentions are so apparant and known unto al that al Christendome is witnes of them Which also are for the most part so bitterly handled as if in religion we were utterly sundered one from another and had no point of faith at al that were common betwixt us to the increase of variance among our selves and to the great hinderance of many of those that are without and otherwise might be woon to the Christian faith Proper unto our adversaries it is that if it do fal out in the end as I trust it wil anon appeer that there was no such cause in us as deserved so to be abandoned from the church of God then abideth an heavie judgement for them that have been so bold as to set down that we are not of the church of Christ and therwithal for to power forth whatsoever curses they had against us And no marvel if they stand in such danger in the judgements of God when as being so they sin very greevously both against God and against their neighbor Against God for that they fight against his truth and abuse the place of justice that he hath given them against their neighbor for that so they discourage and terrifie many of the weak ones that are among us and among themselves are the only cause that many of the simpler sort that belong unto them are persuaded that we are none of the church and behave themselves accordingly towards us Then also if it should be so as we hope it wil appeer that we have a better title to be of the church than they thēselves have then would their subtiltie and fearcenes return to them again and conclude upon themselves that if we do not belong to the church much lesse do they Proper unto us are two others likewise if we at any time suffer them to make such an absolute division betwixt us For so commeth it to passe first that by consenting so far with them in this error we also must stand chargeable before God for whatsoever il fruits do spring of the same ratably at the least so far as the proportion of our fault requireth Then also we bring our selves to needles trouble for that it is great probabilitie with them that so we make our selves answerable for to finde out a distinct a several church from them from which we descend which hath continued frō the Apostles age to this praesent else that needs we must acknowledge that our church is sprong up of late or at least since theirs
in Christ alone for the whole work of our redemption seeking none other to be mediators or to help forth with the attonement betwixt God and us coveting none other doctrines than those that himselfe hath delivered unto us neither yet giving over our obedience to other observations than such as the written word doth teach us But the cheefe thing they charge us withal is for that we receive not more than Christ his Apostles in the written word hath delivered unto us as the supremacie of the church of Rome worshipping of images their miraculous praesence of Christ in the sacrament ordeining our service to the common people in a toong that they do not understand praier to saints and for the dead and many others such like as these Concerning which the truth is that we do not receive them and the reason is bicause they are not catholik but devised or crept in of latter time and not professed in al ages nor of al Christian churches generally In which one point they do unto us a very great and a double injurie both for that they denie us the name of catholiks that nevertheles receive the catholik faith both in the whole and in every point and for that they take that name to themselves who mingle with the catholik faith many inventions of their own devise and sufficiently hold not much of the truth that they do professe But when we do constantly hold al the holy scriptures without exception and al such sums of the Christian faith as have been gathered by the fathers of old and now are authentik in the church among us as that which is called the Apostles creed the Nicene likewise and that other of Athanasius and whatsoever the churches agreed on togither among themselves in the four first general councels and last of al whatsoever at any time since hath been ordeined by the church of Rome or whomsoever else that is not contrarie to the holy scriptures and they on the other side have mingled togither with the catholik faith with the truth and substance of religion which in al ages and in al churches hath been professed many other novelties besides utterly unknown not only to the scriptures but also to the fathers of old yet notwithstanding hold many of these as fast as they do any thing else let any indifferent man be judge whether they or we be better catholiks and then if it please him whether they are meet so resolutely to judge of others that are so far overshot themselves So for this matter we resolve our selves that we are no several church from them nor they from us and therfore that there is no departing at al out of the church for any to depart from them unto us nor from us unto them Al the difference that is betwixt us is concerning the truer members whether they or we may be found more woorthy of that account In which point of controversie we dowt not for to praevail against them and as for the other we allow no such quaestion to stand betwixt us 19 Wheras therfore the case so standeth betwixt us that it were no benefit or advantage to us in any respect to join with them in their profession but mo wais than one great inconvenience and they on the other side by joining with us should reap great benefits have no incōvenience withal wheras also such things as have hitherto hindered many by better advisement may soone be found to be of no such force to stay thē what could there be on behalfe of the common cause more seemly in respect of their own benefit more circūspectly done than so to tender the unitie peace of the church and their own salvation withal as that they would no longer stand out against the truth but lay down their affections now and willingly submit themselves to the kingdome of Christ The magicians of Aegypt being set on by the king willingly did for a certain time what they were able against Moses and Aaron to the discredit both of their persons and of the just cause that they had in hand but afterward being touched somwhat neerer they persisted not then but yeelded themselves and gave glorie to God If any of these have been set on to do as they do it wil not acquit the cost in the end if they have done it of their owne accord it is not like to scape unpunished if they see not unto it betime The Ephramites were of the people of God and yet revolted away from the law though stil they held after a sort the profession therof and having so done they so continued a long time after as a wanton untamed and unrulie heifer notwithstanding al the most earnest warnings that GOD by his prophets did give unto them But yet is it recorded of them that at the length they turned again smiting upon the thigh and acknowledging that they had committed very shameful things If with Ephraim they have so erred and stept aside pittie it were but they should be as readie with him to repent and turn again especially seeing that they have greater provocation now than ever had Ephraim before The Iewes that put their savior to death and utterly renounced whatsoever salvation was offered by him did notwithstanding yeeld from among them very shortly after three thousand persons at once that diligently inquired of the Apostles what they should do and immediately therupon were baptised likewise And it is not to be denied but that many thousands of these also are alreadie come in but yet is it pittie if it might be amended that any one of them al should so far have crucified the Lord again and yet be so long before that he do repent him of it S. Thomas an Apostle himselfe nevertheles dowted very much for a time of the resurrection of Iesus Christ and would in no wise beleeve the others affirming the same but upon very hard conditions and such as agreed not with the nature of his resurrection For needs would he find the badges of mortalitie in his glorified and immortal bodie or else he would in no wise beleeve But when Christ condescended therto and for the time by special dispensation allowed those badges of his mortal nature in his immortal bodie now reteining for the time his wounds he quikly forsooke his unbeleefe and foorthwith acknowledged him to be as he was his Lord God These also beleeve not that the Gospel of Christ is risen again they suppose it is either manifest haeresie or at least but some newfangled doctrine the ancient Christian and catholik faith they can in no wise think that it is The conditions also that they require are as hard as the others for manie of them such as are verie seldom found in the most glorious truth of Christ but commonly haunt the corruption of faith and those beggerly rudiments of the world the doctrines of men But wheras God hath so disposed and ordered this matter
dul harted Why do you love vanitie and seek after a lie He calleth the world not a lier but a lie it selfe for the exceeding great fraud and deceit which it useth 38 The third name or propertie that Christ ascribeth unto the pleasures and riches of the world is that they are thorns of which Saint Gregorie writeth thus Who ever would have beleeved me if I had called riches thorns as Christ heer doth seeing thorns do prik and riches are so pleasant And yet surely they are thorns for that with the priks of their careful cogitations they tear and make bloody the minds of worldly men By which words this holie father signifieth that even as a mans naked bodie tossed and tombled among manie thorns cannot be but much rent and torn and made bloodie with the pricks therof so a worldly mans soul beaten with the cares and cogitations of this life cannot but be vexed with restles pricking of the same and wounded also with manie temptations of sin which do occur This doth Salomon in the places before alledged signifie when he doth not only cal the riches and pleasures of this world Vanitie of vanities that is the greatest vanitie of al other vanities but also Affliction of spirit giving us to understand that where these vanities are and the love of them once entered there is no more the peace of God which passeth al understanding there is no longer rest or quiet of mind but war of desires vexation of thoughts tribulation of fears pricking of cares unquietnes of soul which is indeed a most miserable and pittiful affliction of spirit 39 And the reason heerof is that as a clok can never stand stil from running so long as the peazes do hang therat so a worldly man having infinite cares cogitations and anxieties hanging upon his mind as peazes upon the clok can never have rest or repose day or night but is inforced to beat his brains when other men sleep for the compassing of those trifles wherwith he is incombred Oh how manie rich men in the world do feel to be tru that I now say How many ambitious men do proove it daily and yet wil not deliver themselves out of the same 40 Of al the plaegs sent unto Egypt that of the flies was one of the most troublesome and fastidious For they never suffered men to rest but the more they were beaten off the more they came upon them So of al the miseries and vexations that God laieth upon worldlings this is not the lest to be tormented with the cares of that which they esteem their greatest felicitie and cannot beat them off by any means they can devise They rush upon them in the morning as soone as they awake they accompanie them in the day they forsake them not at night they follow them to bed they let them from their sleep they afflict them in their dreams and finally they are like to those importune and unmerciful tyrans which God threateneth to wicked men by Ieremie the prophet Qui nocte ac die non dabunt requiem Which shal give them no rest either by day or night and the cause heerof which God alledgeth in the same chapter is Quia abstuli pacem meam à populo isto dicit Dominus misericordiam miserationes for that I have taken away my peace from this kind of people saith God I have taken away my mercie and commiserations a very heavy sentence to al them that lie under the yoke and bondage of these miserable vanities 41 But yet the prophet Esay hath a much more terrible description of these mens estate They put their trust in things of nothing and do talk vanities they conceive labor and bring foorth iniquitie they break the egs of serpents and weave the webs of spiders he that shal eat their egs shal die and that which is hatched thence shal be a cocatrice their webs shal not make cloth to cover them for that their works are unprofitable and the work of iniquitie is in their hands These are the words of Esay declaring unto us by most significant similitudes how dangerous thorns the riches and pleasures of this world are And first he saith They put their hope in things of nothing and do talk vanities to signifie that he meaneth of the vanities and vain men of this world who commonly do talk of the things which they love best wherin they place their gretest affiance Secondly he saith They conceive labor and bring foorth iniquitie Alluding heerin to the child-birth of women who first do conceive in their womb and after a great deal of travel do bring foorth their infant so worldly men after a great time of travel and labor in vanities do bring foorth no other fruit than sin and iniquitie For that is the effect of those vanities as he speaketh in the same chapter crieng out to such kind of men Wo be unto you which do draw iniquitie in the ropes of vanitie 42 But yet to expresse this matter more forcibly he useth two other similitudes saieng They break the egs of serpents and do weave the webs of spiders Signifieng by the one the vanitie of these worldly cares and by the other the danger therof The spider we see taketh great pains and labor many dais togither to weave hir selfe a web and in the end when al is done commeth a puff of wind or some other little matter and breaketh al in peeces Even as he in the Gospel which had taken great travel and care in heaping riches togither in plucking down his old barns building up of new and when he was come to say to his soul Now be merry That night his soul was taken from him and al his labor lost Therfore Esay saith in this place that The webs of these weavers shal not make them cloth to cover them withal for that their works are unprofitable 43 The other comparison containeth matter of great danger and fear For as the bird that sitteth upon the egs of serpents by breaking and hatching them bringeth foorth a perilous broode to hir own destruction so those that sit abroode upon these vanities of the world saith Esay do hatch at last their own destruction The reason wherof is as he saith For that the work of iniquitie is in their hand Stil harping upon this string that a man cannot love and follow these vanities or intangle himselfe with their ropes as his phrase is but that he must indeed draw on much iniquitie therwith that is he most mingle much sin and offence of God with the same which effect of sin bicause it killeth the soul that consenteth unto it therfore Esay compareth it unto the broode of serpents that killeth the bird which bringeth them foorth to the world And finally Moises useth the like similitudes when he saith of vain and wicked men Their vineyard is the vineyard of Sodomites their grape is the grape of