hearts shall not preserue them from that sodaine destruction which as trauaile vpon a woman with childe shall come vpon them their securitie is like the securitie of Ionas who slept most soundly when he had most cause to watch and pray for the Lord was pursuing him as a fugitiue seruant the officers of God gathered about him to lay hands on him the windes commoned against him the raging waues of the Sea refusing all other satisfaction offered by the Mariners rolled with violence about the Barke wherein hee was determining not to rest till they apprehend him all his companions were afraid and compelled to cry euery man vnto his God onely Ionas was sleeping what think yee was this true peace no indeed but false securitie It fareth euen so with the wicked the Lord stands offended with them the heauens aboue closed vpon them hell beneath opened to receiue them Sathan the deuouring Lyon hungring for them waiting when they shall be giuen him for a pray but they are eating drinking making merry in the depth of a dead Conscience but certainely their securitie will end in a fearefull wakening they shall bee taken out of their bed of ease wherein they lye and shall be cast into that bottomles deepe of the wrath of God wherein their worme shall neuer dye and their fire shall neuer be quenched But to leaue them and returne to the Christian it may be demaunded how is he pertaker of peace whose crosses are so continuall as his who more exercised with inward terrours then hee Is not his battell without intermission where then is his peace To this I answere wee haue indeed peace with God with our selues and our Christian brethren but our peace is not perfect Pax nostra ex disiderio creatoris inchoatur ex manifesta autem visione perficitur a begun peace wee haue arising of that feruent desire wee haue towards our God but it is the manifest vision and cleare sight of God that must perfect it we attaine to the beginnings of this peace cum mentem Deo menti carnem subiugamus vvhen vve subdue the minde to God and the flesh to the minde but it cannot be perfect quamdiu mens ignoratione caecatur carnis suae impugnatione concutitur so long as the minde is darkned with ignorance and disquieted with the assaults of the flesh And to the same purpose saith Augustine Est nobis pax aliqua quia condelectamur Legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem sed non plena quia videmus aliam legem in membris nostris repugnantem legi mentis nostrae wee haue some peace vvithin our selues when vve finde that our inward man delights in the Law of God but it is no perfect peace because vve see an other Law in our members rebelling against the law of our mind neâ—ther can our peace with our brethren here be perfect cogitationes cordis nostri inuicem non videmus quaedam de nobis quae non sunt in nobis vel in melius inuicem vol in deterius opinamur thus haue vve a peace but not perfect not without interruption Yet our comfort stands that how euer our peace be interrupted by outward troubles and inward terrours of conscience yet it cannot bee taken from vs albeit no trouble for the present be sweet yet it vvorketh in vs good effects by it vvee are made more humble more feruent in prayer more abundant in teares the hard heart by this holy hammer of God being made soft so that sanctified trouble by the Lords wonderfull working becomes a meane to establish our peace Corda electorum aliquando concussa melius solidantur the harts of the elect are best setled after they haue beene shaken with crosses All the children of God findes this by experience that their inward troubles are preparatiues to inward consolations as hee who goes to build a house the higher he intends to raise it the deeper he layes the foundations thereof so the Lord humbles them lowest vvith his terrours to vvhom he purposes to communicate the highest measure of his consolations As his sufferings abounds in vs so shall our consolation abound through him vve vvill therefore that peace which vve haue in Christ and vvhich he hath left vs none shall be able to take from vs. Verse 7. Because the wisedome of the flesh is inimitie against God for it is not subiect to the Law of God neither indeede can it bee THe Apostle proceeds and giues the reason why hee called the wisedome of the flesh death because it is inimitie with God Hee proues it is inimitie with God because neither is it nor can it be subiect vnto the law of God Of this manner of reasoning vsed by the Apostle wee first learne that our life consists in our peace with God and that our death is procured by our inimitie with him Compare sinnefull Adam with innocent Adam and this shâ—ll be made manifest so long as hee stood at peace with God hee liued a ioyfull life familiar vvith his maker but from the time hee began the inimitie by transgression of the commandement not onely was the presence of God ioyfull to him before terrible now but hee became such a â—eâ—rour to himselfe that it vvas a death to him to liue in that state of life Oh that alway we could remember this that vvee cannot offend the Lord vnlesse wee slay our selues all our rebelling against the Lord is but a kicking of our heele against the pricke the losse is our owne vve depriue our selues of life but cannot spoyle the Lord of his glorie It is written of the Sidonians that when Herode intended warre against them they made friendship with Blastus Herods chamberlaine and besought him to make peace for them the reason is because their lands were nouâ—ished by the king therefore they were not able to beare his inimitie Alas that wee cannot bee as wise in a greater matter both our lands and our selues are nourished by the king of heauen vve are not able to endure his anger if hee please he can make the heauen aboue vs as brasse and the earth beneath vs as iron if he take his breath out of our nosthrils we fall like clay to the ground and are turned into dust hovv then is miserable man so bewitched that hee dares liue in that state of life which is inimitie with God Doe yee prouoke the Lord vnto anger are yee stronger than hee No no assuredly if thou walke on in thy sinnes the Lord shall crush thee with a scepter of iron and breake thee in peeces like a potters vessell so vnequall shalt thou finde the match if thou contend with thy maker Oh consider this yee that forget God least hee teare you in peeces and there bee none to deliuer Shall the Sidonians intreate for peace when Herodâ— proclaymes warre and shall man continue in inimitie when God from heauen proclaymes his peace farre be it
men in the vvorld ye shall see some in stead of following Christ flying from him Qui enim male facit odit lucem for hee vvho doth euill hateth the light Others vvhere they should follow him runne before him not waiting vpon his light direction in matters of his vvorship followes their owne spirit doing that vvhich is good in their owne eyes they run vvith zeale but not in the right vvay And vve haue so much the more to take heede vnto the vvay because euery mans course declareth vvhat kinde of man he is vvhether carnall or spirituall and vvhat vvill be his end he that soweth to the flesh of the flesh will reape corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life euerlasting I am perswaded there is no man among vs vvho vvill not say hee vvould be at the best end vvhich is eternall life but here is the vvonderfull folly of men the proposed end of their pilgrimage vvhereat they vvould be is heauen but the vvay vvherein they vvalk is the vvay that leadeth close into hell Who vvill not esteeme him a foole vvho in word saith his iourney is toward the South and yet for no mans vvarning vvill refraine his feete from vvalking toward the North but more foolish is hee vvho professing himselfe a pilgrime trauailing towards heauenly Ierusalem keepes notwithstanding a contrarie course hauing his backe vpon heauen and his face towards hell vvalking not after the Spirit but after the Flesh. O pittifull blindnesse and folly how many witnesses of God haue forewarned thee in thy life all crying to thee vvith a loud voice this vvay wherein thou walkest O sinfull man is the way of death hee vvho liues after the Flesh shall dye assuredly yet wilt thou not returne nor change the course of thy life to walke after the liuing God that thy mayest be saued And hauing once found the right way which may lead vs vnto God let vs strengthen our selues to walke in it by those three most notable helpes of a godly life deliuered to vs by Dauid in three verses of 119 Psal. vers 57. O Lord I haue determined to keepe thy word 58. I haue made my supplication in thy presence with my whole hart 59. I haue considered my wayes and turned my feete vnto thy testimonies Determination is the first it is a good thing by setled resolution to conclude with thy selfe that thou wilt liue godly Supplication is the second except by continuall prayer our determination bee confiâ—med and strengthned by grâ—ce from God our conclusions vvhich vve take to day shall vanish to morrow Consideration is the third and it is profitable to reduce vs againe into the way of God so often as of weaknes we wander from it contrary to our first determination These are the three helpes to keepe our hart in the way of God so necessary that if without them we doe any worke it is not possible but wee shall bee snared And therefore as in a ship which is ready to sayle so soone as the sayles are hoysed vp presently some skilfull Marriner starteth to the rudder so euery morning wherein vve rise from our rest and make our selues ready to go forward in our pilgrimage let vs first of all take heed vnto the hart for it is the rudder of the whole bodie let vs knit it vnto God by this threefold cord whereof I haue spoken so shall our wayes be ordered aright and vve shall make a happie progresse euery day in that way which leades to eternall life By determination we begin to keepe a good course By supplication vve continue in it By consideration we see vvhether we be right or wrong if vve be out of the way consideration warnes vs to returne againe into it Happie is that man in whose life one of these three is alwayes an actour And fourthly by this metaphor of walking that in our Christian conuersation there should bee a continuall progresse in godlinesse For as in walking saith Basil the steps other thing but the life of Christ like that Reuel 11. 11. Againe the law of the spirit of life in Christ is no other thing but that forcible working liuely power vvhich is in Christ for it is customable to the holy Apostle to vse the vvord law to expresse any thing wherein there is a commanding or working power so hee hath ascribed a law to sinne a law to his members a law to death and now very properly hee oppones vnto them a law of the spirit of life in Christ vvhich is more liuely and powerfull to saue to free and to quicken then any law that hath contrary power can be able to destroy captiue or slay them who are in Christ. Thus the words being expounded the first lesson will arise out of the Apostles manner of speach who ascribing to sinne and death a law vvhich may condemne and destroy ascribes to Christ a more powerfull law to iustifie and preserue Most sure then is our estate vvho are in Iesus Christ for there is a power in our Lord vvhich shall bring euery contrary power of man and Angell in subiecton to him that tyrant sinne hath indeede oppressed and ouer-ruled many a one but our Lord Iesus the valiant conquerour hath a mightie power able to disanull the lavv of sinne and Sathan is that strong one vvho by nature possesses the hart of man as his owne house but Iesus is that stronger one vvho vvill dispossesse him and cast him out of the hearts of all such as are his The God of peace shall shortly tread Sathan vnder our feet and therefore suppose vve bee vveake in our selues yet vve vvill reioyce in the strength of the Lord Iesus Secondly vve learne here that without Christ vve liued in a vile seruitude and bondage of all seruants those are in vvorst case who are sould and of those vvho are sould they are vvorst vvho must doe seruice in prison and of them vvho are in prison most lamentable is their estate vvho are chayned and bound in prison yet such seruants were vve by nature before Christ made vs free vve were not onely the seruants of sinne and sould vnder sinne as witnesseth the Apostle but more also vve vvere as sayth Esay captiued and bound with chaines in prison the Iaylour vvhereof is infidelitie for wee were all shut vp vnder vnbeliefe a Iaylour so straite and tyrannous as permitted vs not so long as wee were in his keeping so much as â—o lift vp our head or looke vp to heauen for deliuerance from him from whom onely comes our helpe Our oppressers in this bondage are Sathan and Sinne and sinnes of so many sorts as doe miserably distract the soule Pride one while vsurping dominion ouer vs Auarice another while vendicating a seat to her selfe with power to commaund vs Concupiscence most commonly challenging vs to doe her seruice as our soueraigne Sic certant in me de me
man doth persecute him and seekes by all meanes to oppresse him but at the last hee shall be cast out This metaphor of dwelling doth also yeelde vnto vs exceeding great comfort in all other habitations the lodging is larger than the inhabiter but this is maruailous that the lodging here is so little and the inhabiter so great that infinite maiestie vvhom the heauen of heauens cannot contain vvho hath the heauen for his throne and the earth for his footestoole hath chosen for his dwelling and place of rest the soule of him that is poore contrite and trembles at his word A wonderfull mercy that the highest maiestie should so farre dimâ—t the selfe as that passing by all his other creatures hee should make choyse of man to be his pleasant sanctuary From this it is euident that this dwelling doth designe some speciall presence of God with his own children which he shewes not vnto others it is true hee is present in euerie place bounded within no place he containes all things vncontayned of any where hee dwelleth not as a Father there hee sits as a Iudge and is a terrour which manner of way the damned are continually vexed with his presence but in the Christian hee dwels as a maister in his owne familie as a Father with his children quickning ruling and preseruing them Worldlings may match the Christian in externall gifts but cannot compare with him in this internall glory though without hee be but an earthen vessell yet hath hee within an heauenly treasure for hee is the habitation of God in whom the Lord dwels by his spirit It was Beniamin his glory that the Lord should dwell betweene his shoulders and the glory of Ierusalem that there the Lord dwelt between the Cherubins but most of all the glory of a Christian that the Lord dwelleth betweene the secrets of his soule let worldling reioyce in their outward priuiledges and in their presumptuous minds leap like the mightie mountaines esteeming themselues high as mount Basan yet this is the glory of a Christian that God delights to dwell in him Let vs therfore make much of them who feare the Lord though in regard of their outward estate they were neuer so base we should not be ashamâ—d to doe them honour for his sake who dwelleth in them Dariâ—s preferred Daniell because the spirit was excellent in him and Pharaoh honoured Ioseph because the Spirit of God was in him yea the Angels are content to be Seruants and Ministers to them who feare the Lord they honoured Shepheards for Christs sake with their presence which they did not vnto King Herod for all his glory and shall not wee delight in Gods excellent ones vpon earth surely hee shall dwell in the Tabernacle of God in whose eyes a vile person is contemned but hee honoureth them who feare the Lord. Hereby wee know that wee are translated from death to life because wee loue the brethrâ—n Not onely doth this Metaphor of dwelling import a familiar presence but also a continuance thereof for he soiourns not in vs as a stranger that lodges for some dayes or Moneths in a place but hath setled his residence to dwell in vs for euer howeuer by temporall desertions he humble vs yet shall he neuer depart from that soule which once hee hath sanctified to be his owne habitation and this comfort is confirmed to vs by most sure arguments The first is taken from the nature of God Hee is faithfull saith the Apostle by whom wee are called to the fellowship of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hee will confirme vs to the end that we may bee blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus And againe saith hee I am perswaded that hee who hath begunne this good work in you will performe it vntill the day of Christ. That word which the Lord spake to Iacob stands sure to all his posteritie I will not forsake thee till I haue performed that which I promised thee The couenant of God is perfect and euerlasting and therefore with Dauid will wee giue this glory vnto God that he will performe his promise toward vs and bring forward his owne worke in vs to perfection The second argument is taken from the nature of that life which Christ communicateth to his members it is no more subiect vnto death We know that Christ being raised from the dead dyes no more this life I say is communicated to vs for it is not we that liues but Christ that liues in vs. And the third is taken from the nature of that seede whereof we are begotten for as the seede is so is the life that comes by it now the seed saith the Apostle is immortall wee are borne of new not of mortall seed but immortall our life therefore is immortall But against this is obiected that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and that which Dauid prayes take not thine holy Spirit from me To this I answere that the spirit is taken sometime for the common and externall gifts of the spirit such as are bestowed as well vpon the wicked as vpon the godly as the gift of Prophecie gouernement working miracles and such like and these once giuen may bee taken againe in this sense it is said that God tooke the spirit that was vpon Moses and gaue it vnto the seauentie Elders and so also it is said that the spirit of God departed from Saul there it is put for the gift of gouernement sometime againe it is taken for the speciall and internall gift of sanctification this spirit once giuen is neuer taken away for this gift and calling of God is without repentance that is they neuer fall vnder reuocation To the second when Dauid saith take not thine holy spirit from me and restore me againe to the ioy of thy saluation this impoâ—â—s not a full departure of Gods spirit from him otherwise he could not haue prayed but that his sinne had diminished the sense and feeling of that operation of the spirit in him which he was wont to feele before and so is it with others of Gods Children that eyther the neglect of the spirituall worship or the commission of some new sins doth so impayre the sense of mercy in them that to their iudgement the spirit of God hath iustly forsaken them This I confesse is a very heauie estate and more bitter to them that haue felt before the sweetenesse of Gods mercy than death it selfe yet euen in this same estate wherein no comfort is felt let patience sustaine men let them learne to put a difference betweene that which they feele and that which is and remember that this is a false conclusion to say the spirit of grace is not in thee because thou canst not feele him for as there is a substance in the Oake or Elme euen when it hath cast the leaues so is there Grace in the heart
bastard Christians which stands onely in a fayre Sepulcher prouided before hand for themselues in an honourable buriall commanded expected of them before death and in abundance of worldly things which they leaue to theirs behinde them all which as saith the same Father viuorum sunt solatia non mortuorum are comforts to them that liue behinde but no help to them who are dead I note this that considering the magnanimitie of these Ethnicks in suffering of death notwithstanding the weake and small comforts which they had to sustaine them we may be ashamed of our pâ—sillanimitie who hauing from Christ most excellent comforts against death are afraide at the smallest remembrance thereof An euident argument that albeit many professe him yet few are pertakers of his power life and grace and that many hath him dwelling in their mouths in whose harts he dwelleth not by his spirit The body is dead Hee sayes not the body is subiect to death but by a more significant manner of speach he sayth the body is dead There is a difference betweene a mortall body and a dead body Adams body before the fall was mortall that is subiect to a possibilitie of dying but now after the fall our bodies are so mortall that they are subiect to a necessitie of dying yea if wee will here with the Apostle esteeme of death by the beginning thereof our bodies are dead already The officers and sergeants of death which are dolours infirmities and heauieâ— diseases hath seased already vpon our bodies and marked them as lodgings which shortly must be the habitation of death so that there is no man who is not presently dead in some part or other of his body Not onely is the sentence giuen out against vs thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne but is begun to bee executed our carkasses are bound with cords by the officers of death and our life is but like that short time which is graunted to a condemned man betweene his doome and his execution all which the Apostle liuely expresses when he sayes the body is dead Whereof there arises vnto vs many profitable instructions and first what great neede wee haue as wee are commaunded to passe the time of our dwelling here in feare working out our owne saluation in feare and trembling seeing our sinnes haue cast vs into the hands of the first death shall we not cry without ceasing that we may be deliuered from the power of the second Alas it is pittifull that man should so farre forget himselfe as to reioyce in the time of his misery to passe ouer the dayes of his mortall life in vanitie and wantonnesse not considering how the first death is already entred into his carkasse nor foreseeing how hee may bee deliuered from the second but liues carelesse like to the Apostates of the old world who in the middest of their sinfull pleasures were sodainly washed away with the waters of the wrath of God and their spirits for disobedience sent vnto the prison where now they are and like those Philistims who banquetting in the platforme of the house of Dagon their God hauing minde of nothing but eating drinking and sporting not knowing that their enimie was within were sodainely otherthrowne and their banquetting house made their buriall place so shall it be with all the wicked who liuing in a dead body cares for nothing but how to please themselues in their sinne the piller of their house shall be pulled downe destruction shall come vpon him like a whirlewinde and in a moment shall sodaine desolation ouertake them And let this same meditation represse in vs that poyson of pride the first sinne that euer sprung forth of our nature next to infidelitie and last in rooting out Wilt thou consider O man that thou art but dead and that thy body be it neuer so strong or beautifull is but a lodging of death and what cause shalt thou haue to waxe proud for any thing that is in the flesh quid â—u superbis terra cinis si superbientibus Angelis non pepercit deus quanto minus tibi putredo vermis what hast thou to doe to be proud O dust and ashes if God spared not the Angels when they waxed proud vvill he spare thee who art but a rotten creature yea Vermis crastino moriturus a worme that must dye to morrow If so was done to an Angell saith Bernard what shall become of me ille intumuit in coelo ego in sterquilinio he vvas puft vp in heauen and therefore was cast downe from the place of his habitation if I waxe proude lying in a douâ—g-hill shall I not bee punished and cast downe into hell So oft therefore as corrupâ— nature stirreth vp the heart of man to pride because of the flowers of beautie strength that grow out of it let this humble thee thy flowres O man cannot but wither for the roote from which they spring is dead already And lastly is the body dead then learne temperance and sobrietie what auaileth it to pamper that carkasse of thine with excessiue feeding which is possessed by death already if men tooke the tenth part of that care to present their spirits holy and without blame vnto the Lord which they take to make their bodyes fat and beautifull in the eyes of men they might in short time make greater progresse in godlinesse then they haue done but herein is their folly Carnem pretiosis rebus impinguant c. they make fat their flesh with delicate things which within few daies the woâ—ms shall deuoure Animam vero non adornant bonis operibiu but beautifies not the Soule with good works which shortly is to bee presented vnto God Let vs refraine from the immoderate pampering of this flesh Meates are ordained for the belly and the belly for meates but God will destroy them both We haue here moreouer discouered vnto vs the shamelesse impudencie of Sathan who daily tempting man to sin promiseth vnto him some good by committing of it as boldly as if hee had neuer falsified his promise before He promised to our Parents in Paradise that if they did eate of the fruite of the forbidden tree they should become like vnto God but what performed he in stead of making man like vnto God hee made him like vnto himselfe yet as I sayde so shamelesse is that lying Spirit that hee dâ—re as boldly promise vantage by committing of sinne this day as he did the first day to Adam in Paradise notwithstanding that wee see through miserable experience that death because of sinne is enâ—â—ed into our bodyes Is hee not a deceiuer indeed that did first steale from vs our birth-right and now would also take from vs the blessing all those benefites wee got by our first creation he hath stollen them from vs with his lying words and now hee goes about by lyes also to steale from vs that
as for the fourth it shall be the estate of the Saints of God in heauen Let not therefore the children of God be discouraged by looking either vpon the remanents of sin in their soule or the beginning of death in their body for why this estate wherein now we are is neither our last nor our best estate out of this we shall be transchanged into the blessed estate of glorious immortalitie our soules without all spot or wrinckle shall dwell in the body freed from mortalitie and corruption made like vnto Christs owne glorious body which the Lord our God who hath translated vs out of our second miserable estate into this third shall not faile to accomplish in his time Againe it comes to bee considered here seeing by Iesus Christ life is restored to the soule presently why is it not Last of all there is here a notable comfort for all the children of God that there is begun in vs a life which no death shall euer bee able to extinguish albeit death inuade the naturall vitall powers of our bodies and suppresse them one after one yea though at the length he breake in vpon this lodging of clay and demolish it to the ground yet the man of God who dwels in the body shall escape with his lifâ— the Tabernacle is cast downe that is the most our enimie can doe but he who dwelt in it remoues vnto a better as the Bâ—â—d escapes out of the snare of the Fowler so the soule in death flighteâ—s out and flies away with ioy to her maker yea the dissoluing of the bodie to the man of God it is but the vnfolding of the net and breaking open the prison wherein hee hath beene detayned that hee himselfe may be deliuered The Apostle knew this well and therfore desired to be dissolued that he might be with Christ As in the battell betweene our Sauiour and Sathan Sathans head was bruised and hee did no more but tread on the heele of our Sauiour so shall it be in the conflict of all his members with Sathan by the power of our Lord Iesus we shall be more then conquerours The God of peace shall shortly tread downe Sathan vnder our feete the most that Sathan can doe vnto vs Manducet terram meam dentem carni infigat conterat corpus let him lick the dust let him eate that part of mee which is earth let him bruise my body this is but to tread vpon the heele my comfort is that there is a seede of immortall life in my soule which no power of the enimie is able to ouercome It is true that so long as wee inioy this naturall life with health of body the losse that comes by the want of the spirituall life is not perceiued no more then the defects of a ruinous house is knowne in time of fayre weather but when thy naturall life is wearing from thee if thou want the other how comfortlesse shall thy condition bee when thou shalt finde in thine owne experience thou haddest neuer more but a silly naturall life which now is to depart from thee In this estate the wicked eyther dye being vncertaine of comfort or then most certaine of condemaation Those who are strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them hauing no more but the light of nature the best estate wherein they can dye is comfortlesse if for want of light they know not that wrath which is prepared for the wicked and so are not greatly terrified yet farre lesse know they those comforts which after death sustaines the Christian that they should bee comforted The Emperour Hadrian when hee dyed made this faithlesse lamentation Animula vagula blandula quae nunc abibis in loca O silly wandring Soule where away now wilt thou goe and that other Seuerus proclaiming the vanitie of all his former glorie cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue beene all thingâ— and it profits me nothing the one saith he found no comfort of things that were before him the other saith hee found no comfort of things that were behinde thus the wicked dye comfortlesse good things to come they neither know nor hope for good things past profit them not Or if they haue beene such wicked men as by the light of the word haue knowne the will of their master and yet rebelled against their light they go out of the body not onely comfortles but certain of condemnation hauing receiued sentence within themselues that they shall neuer see the face of God and such was the death of Iudas let vs not therefore rest contented with the shadow of this vanishing life let vs prouide for that immortall seede of a better life within vs which receiues increase but cannot decay it waxeth stronger the weaker that the bodily life is but cannot be weakned far lesse extinguished by bodily death He that finds it with in himselfe shall reioyce in death hee shall dye in faith in obedience and in spirituall ioy Committing his Soule vnto God as vnto a faithfull Creator hee rests in him whom hee hath beleeued being assured that the Lord will keepe that which he hath committed vnto him The Lord worke it in vs for Christs sake is that which the Lord promised to Iacob when hee bad him goe downe to Egypt Feare not to go for I will go downe with thee and I will bring thee vp againe He forewarned him that hee should dye in Egypt and that Ioseph should close his eyes but he promiseth to bring vp againe his dead body vnto Canaan O what a kindnes is it that the Lord will honour the dead bodyes of his Children The prayse of the canuoy of Iacobs corps the Lord will neither giue it to Ioseph nor to Pharaohs Seruants with their Chariots who in great number accompanied him the Lord takes it vnto himselfe I will bring thee vp againe saith the Lord the like kindnesse and truth doth the Lord keepe for all the remanent of his seruants Is thy body consecrated is it a vessell of honour a house and temple wherein God is dayly serued he shall honour it againe hee shall not leaue it in the graue neither cast off the care thereof but shall watch ouer the dust thereof though it tast of corruption it shall not perish in corruption The holy Spirit who dwelt in the body shall be vnto it as a balme to preserue thee to immortalitie this same flesh and no other for it though it shall bee dissolued into innumerable pickles of dust shall be raised againe and quicned by the omnipotent power of this Spirit It is a pittie to see by what silly meanes naturall men seeke the immortall conseruation of their bodyes and cannot obtaine it there is no helpe nature may yeeld to prolong the death of the body but they vse it and because they see that death cannot bee eschewed their next care is how to keep
it in the graue longest from rottennesse and corruption and how when themselues are gone to preserue their names in immortall remembrance with the posteritie thus by the very instinct of nature are men carried away with a desire of eternitie but herein are they foolish that they seek it the wrong way they lay out their siluer but not for bread they spend their labour and are not satisfied immortalitie and life is to bee sought there where the word of the Lord directs vs let the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee and thou shalt liue otherwise though thou wert the greatest Monarch in the world though all thy meate were soueraigne medicines though thy body were laid in graue with as great externall pompe as worldly glory can afford to any creature and thy flesh were embalmed with the costliest oyntments these are but miserable comforts perishing preseruatiues thou shalt lye downe in dishonour and shalt be raised in greater dishonor to euerlasting shame and endlesse confusion Now as wee haue these three degrees of eternall life by the Spirit dwelling in vs so are wee to marke the order by vvhich hee proceedes in communicating them vnto vs first hee restores life to the soule and secondly he shall restore life vnto the body saith the Apostle where the one is done bee assured the other shall bee done the one is the proper end of his first comming therefore his Heraulds cryed before him Behold the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world In his second comming shall bee the redemption of our bodyes when hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious bodie Let this reforme the preposterous care of men art thou desirous that thy body should liue be first carefull that life be communicated to the soule for surely the redemption of thy body shall not follow vnlesse the restitution of thy soule goe before Oportet cor nostrum conformari humilitati cordis Christi priusquam corpus conformetur glorioso corpori eius our heart must first bee conformed to the humilitie of Christs heart before that our body be configurated to his glorious body this is the first resurrection blessed are they that are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power But it is out of doubt qui non resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad poenam hee that riseth not now in his soule from his sinnes shall rise hereafter in his body to iudgement But now leauing the condition to come to the comfort he that raysed vp Christ from the dead saith the Apostle shall also quicken your mortall bodies What necessitie is there here that he who raysed Christ shall raise vs yes indeed the necessitie is great the head and the members of the misticall body cannot be sundred seeing the head is raysed from the dead no member can be left vnder death the Lord workes in euery member according to that same mightie power by which hee wrought in the head his resurrection necessarily imports ours seeing hee arose not as a priuate man but as the head of all his members full of power to draw the body after him and to communicate that same life to euery member which he hath declared in himselfe Christ in risen from the dead and is made the first fruits of them that sleepe the first fruit is â—isen the after fruit shall in like manner follow Vexit in coelum carnem nostram tanquam arhabonem pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae the Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pledge of the whole summe which afterward is to be brought thether hee hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt hee hath carryed vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then we see that our Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid when God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shal the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or will the patient refuse to drink that potion which the phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if wee looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion who hauing his fathers name written in their foreheads follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goeth singing that new song which none can sing but they whom hee hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection Why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramen transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingressum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that he might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too and fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man nor the power of nature but by the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith wee must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull that when God promised him a sonne in his old age he was not weake in the faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that he who
Christians shall wee iudge by the place vvhich ye delight most to frequent are there not many among you oftner in the Tauerne then in the Temple filling your belly intemperately at that same time vvherein the Sonnes and Daughters of the liuing God are gathered together into their fathers house to be refreshed with his heuenly Manna shall we iudge you by your garments doe they not in many of you declare the vanitie of your minds if we estimate you according to your companions what shall wee thinke but that ye are such as those are with whom ye delight to resort ye sit in the seat of scorners if thou seest a theefe thou must with him and art pertaker with the adulterers If wee try you by your language yee shall be found vncircumcised Philistims and not holy Israelites for yee haue learned to speake the language of Ashdod ye speake as Micah complayned of the wicked in his time out of the corruption of your soule making your throat an open sepulchre yee send out the stinking breath of your inward abhominations by your euill and vncleane speaches ye corrupt the minds of the hearers And thus seeing euery part of your life giues sentence against you as a cloud of many vvitnesses testifieng that yee are vncleane what haue yee to speake for you to proue that yee are Christians shall your naked word be sufficient to doe it no certainely for against it the Lord Iesus hath made exception before hand Not euery one that sayth Lord Lord shall enter into my kingdome your workes must be your witnesses and your deedes must declare who it is to whom ye acknowledge your selues seruants and debters Not to the flesh Sometime the flesh signifies the body and in that sense wee are debters vnto it for the couenant sayth Bernard which the Lord hath bound vp betweene the soule and the body is not to be broke at our will but at the Lords will and in the meane time wee are bound to nourish it but the flesh here is put for the sinfull lusts of the flesh and so we are not debters vnto it Take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the sinfull lusts thereof But alas the corruption of our nature is so great that without great circumspection we cannot nourish the body vnlesse we also nourish sinne in the body many vnder pretence of doing dutie to the one failes in the other so they pamper the body that they quench the spirit ouercome with gluttony they are not able to pray Wee are with the godly to keepe a meane of a shaking sword to keepe Adam from the way of the tree of life so the Apostle stands here betweene vs and death with a sentence like a two edged sword in his mouth to keepe the sonnes of Adam as farre as hee can from the way of death the one stood as a minister of Gods iustice the other stands as a messenger of mercy The Lord hath sworne by himselfe as I liue I desire not the death of a sinner but that he should returns liue he iustifies his word by his deed in that in all ages of the world hee hath sent out messengers to warne them to goe by the way of death so that novv if any man perish it is because hee stoppes his eares at the warning of the watchman of God for thou canst not say but Moses and the Prophets Iesus Christ and his Apostles and Preachers haue met thee in the way of thy sin and warned thee many a time by the vvord of the Lord that if thou vvalke on that vvay thou shalt assuredly dye vvhere thou passing by them all rushest headlong after the lusts of thy flesh and so thou perishest and thy blood shall be vpon thine owne head As the Apostle to the preceding exhortation annexed an argument a debito from that which we are bound to doe so now hee subioynes another argument partly a damno from the losse wee incurre if we doe it not in these words if yee liue after the flesh yee shall dye and partly a commodo from the vantage we shall reape if we do it in these words if yee mortifie the deedes of the bodie by the spirit yee shall liue If wee vvere such men as wee should be the former exhortation taken from honestie and dutie were sufficient to moue vs but in that the spiâ—it of God doth also threaten vs with death is an euident argument of the froward rebellion of our nature The word of God is compared not onely to milke but also to salt we haue neede of the one because of our infancy that being nourished therewith wee may grow and because of our corruption wee haue neede to be seasoned with the other to both these ends should Preachers vse the word of GOD to some as milke for their nourishment to others as salt for their amendment But these are the times foretold by the Apostle wherein the itching eares of men cannot abide wholesome doctrine they hate him that rebukes in the gate as Achab hated Micaiah to the death because hee prophecyed no good vnto him that is hee spake not according to his phantasie but warned him faithfully of the iudgement which afterward came vpon him so the hearers of our time can abide no teachers but such as are after their owne lusts but alas they are foolish for are not my words good to him that walkes vprightly sayth the Lord. Aduersarius est nobis quamdiu sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei the word of God is an aduersarie to none but such as are aduersaries to themselues neither doth it condemne any but such as assuredly shall be condemned of the Lord vnlesse they repent Stop thine eare as thou wilt from hearing of the threatnings of the word yet shalt thou not stop that iudgement which the word hath threatned against thee There is a cry that will come at midnight and will waken the dead but blessed are they who in time are wakened out of the sleepe of their sins by the cryes of the watch-men of God for vndoubtedly a fearefull and painefull consumption shall torment them for euer who now cannot suffer that the salt of the Word should bite their sores to cure them The opposition made here by the Apostle vvarnes vs that a necessitie lyeth vpon vs to mortifie our sinfull lusts it stands vpon our liues vnlesse wee slay sinne sinne shall not faile to slay vs. It is like a Serpent in our bosome which cannot liue but by sucking out that bloud vvherby we liue here is a vvholesome preseruatiue against sinne if at euery occasion vvee vvould carry it in our minde vve would make no doubt to put sinne to the death that our selues might liue For alas what pittifull folly is this vvee hate them that pursues our bodily life vvee eschew them by all bodily
meanes vvee hate the oppressours that spoile vs of worldly goods onely vvee cannot hate Sathan to the death who seekes by sinne to spoyle vs of eternall life That same Commaundement which vvas giuen to Adam and Euah if yee eate of the forbidden tree yee shall dye is in effect here giuen to vs all if ye liue after the flesh ye shall die let vs not make an exception where God hath made none euery sinne to vs is as that forbidden tree to Adam if vvee meddle with it vvee shall finde no better fruite then that which Adam found on it before vs there is a fruit which man seekes vpon the tree of sinne and hee shall not finde it to wit profit or pleasure and there is another fruit which God hath threatned and Sathan saith it growes not on the tree of sinne but man assuredly shall finde it Bitter death growes vpon the pleasant tree of sinne for the vvages of sinne is death albeit there came no vvord from the Lord to teach this former experience may confirme it for what fruit haue vve this day of all our former sinnes but a guiltie conscience which breeds vs much terror accusing thoughts and anguish of Spirit It is therefore a point of great wisedome to discerne betweene the deceit of sinne and fruit of sin before the action Sinne is Inimicus blandiens a flattering and laughing enimie in the action it is dulce venenum sweet poyson but after the action it is Scorpio pungens a pricking and biting Serpent Hee that vvould rightly discerne the face of sinne when it stands before him to tempt him let him looke backe to the taile of a sinne which hee hath committed alreadie and of the sting which that sinne hath left behind it let him learne to beware of the smiling countenance of the other which wil no lesse vvound him the second time vnto death if so be he embrace it Most properly may the pleasures of sin bee compared to the streames of the riuer Iordan vvhich carryeth away the fish swimming and playing in it delighted vvith such pleasures as are agreeable to their kind euen til it deuolue them into the salt sea where incontinent they die euen so in the wicked inordinate concupiscence is as a forcible streame which carryeth away with it impenitent men playing and delighting themselues in their lusts till at length they fall into that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone out of the which there is no redemption for them The perishing pleasures of sinne are payd home with euerlasting perdition it is done in a moment but when it is finished it bringeth out death and breedes the worme that will neuer dye paruum ad horam peccatum longaeua autem est ex eo aeterna verecundia it is the deuoring Locust of the bottomlesse pit which hath haire like a woman teeth like a Lyon and a tayle like a Scorpion miserable are they who are blinded with it they may sleepe in their sinne but their damnation sleepes not though their heads bee laid downe like the Kine of Bashan to drinke in iniquitie like water yet their iudgement is not farre off and they are but like vnto Oxen fed for the slaughter Wee perceiue here further that euery mans state and condition in this life is a prediction of that state and condition which abides him when this life is gone He that soweth to the flesh of the flesh shall reape corruption but hee that soweth to the Spirit shall reape immortalitie and life As no man commeth eyther to a Pallace or a Prison but by the entry thereof so no man goeth eyther to heauen or hell but by the way thereof A wicked life is as a thorow-way to that prison and place of darkesse hee who goes on in it without returning shall out of all doubt when hee hath passed the path-way enter into the prison and a godly life is the very way to heauen hee that walkes in it perseuering to the ende shall enter at last into that Pallace of Glory which is the paradise of God Salomon saith that where the tree fals there it lyes and experience teacheth vs that it fals to that side on which the branches thereof grow thickest if the greatest growth of our affections and actions spring out after the Spirit out of doubt vvee shall fall to the right hand and shall be blessed but if otherwise thy affections grow downeward and thou vvalke after the flesh then assuredly thou shalt fall to the left hand and die in sin vnder the cuâ—se of God But seeing they vvho vvalke after the flesh are dead already how sayth the Apostle they shall dye To this I answere both are true presently they are dead and yet a more fearefull death abides them That they vvho liue in their sinnes are dead already vvee shewde before for sinne is that vnto the soule of man vvhich fire and water are to the body that is to say an vnkindely Element in the which it cannot liue but certainely a more fearefull death abides them which the spirit of God calleth the second death wherin they shal not onely liue depriuâ—d of life wanting all sense yea all hope of the mercy of God but shal also feele the full measure of his wrath due to their sinnes powred out vpon them Now albeit they bee dead in sinne and depriued of the fauour of the Creator yet the vaine comforts of the creatures doth so bewitch and blinde them that they know not how vvretched and miserable they are but vvhen the last sentence of damnation shall bee pronounced vpon them they shall not onely bee banished from the presence of God into euerlasting perdition where the fiâ—e of the Lords indignation shall perpetually torment them but also the comfort of all Gods creatures vvhich now they haue shall forsake them The least degree of their punishment shall bee a fearefull famine of vvorldly comforts The Pomegranat Tree the Palme Tree the Apple Tree shall wither The Apples after which now their soule lusteth shall depart from them they shall finde none of them yea if a cup full of colde vvater might comfort them it shall not be giuen vnto them thus you see how they are dead and yet a more fearefull death abideth them Therefore the spirit of God to expresse the fearefulnes of that second death he calleth it a vvrath and giues it these two â—ules first hee calleth it a vvrath prepared by God Salomon saith the vvrath of a king is the messenger of death vvhat then shall we say of the wrath of God Secondly hee calles it a wrath to come to teach vs that it farre exceedes all that wrath that we haue heard of seene The drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome a great wrath but nothing comparable to the wrath which is to come Beside this both the place the vniuersalitie the eternitie of their
vnto vs for an example for so are wee exhorted Let vs runne with patience the race that is set before vs looking vnto Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith these and such like are the workes wherein vve are commaunded to conforme our selues vnto him The other poynt wherein stands our conformitie with him is in patient suffering with him for righteousnes which wee shall not be able to doe except wee liue first after the similitude of his life what liker suffering to the suffering of Christ than the suffering of that reprobate theefe who dyed with Iesus at the same time the same kinde of death yet because his life was neuer like the life of Christ his sufferings shall neuer be accounted the sufferings of Christ. Similis in poena dissimilis in causa But as for the other whom the Lord Iesus conuerted vpon the Crosse to declare to all the world that euen in death hee retayned the power of a Sauiour able to giue life to them who are dead hee brought out in the last houre of his life the first fruites of amendement of life hee liued long a wicked malefactor but short while a conuerted Christian yet in that same space hee abounded in the fruits of Godlinesse confessing his sinnes giuing glory to the iustice of God rebuking the blasphemies of the other and pleading the cause of his innocent Sauiour thus being turned from his sinne hee began euen on the Crosse to liue with Iesus and therefore heard that ioyfull sentence This night thou shalt be with me in Paradise Now that wee may be moued to embrace this conformitie with Iesus let vs remember that the image of God by which wee were created conforme vnto him is the most auncient glory to which we can make claime and therefore if there be in vs any peece of manhood and spirituall wisedome wee ought to endeauour to recouer it which our enimie craftily and maliciously hath stollen from vs. O what a pittie is it to see that man cannot doe that in the matter of saluation which he can do in the smallest things pertaining to this life There is no man among vs vvho knoweth that any tenement of land or portion of earth possessed now vniustly of another did of old pertaine to his Fathers but if hee can hee vvill seeke to recouer it seeking by iustice to bring that home to himselfe which oppressors vniustly had taken from him Is it not then most lamentable that where the Lord Iesus the King of righteousnesse and Prince of peace offers to restore vs to our most auncient glory which is his owne image that vvee vvill not call the oppressours of our soule before him nor seeke to be restored to that glory which most deceitfully our aduersâ—ry hath stollen from vs but this commeth also vpon man by the subtiltie of Sathan that hauing once spoyled vs of the image of God hee doth what he can so to blinde vs that vve should neuer seeke it againe nor doe so much as receiue it when it is offered vnto vs. Iacob complained of Laban that hee had deceiued him and changed his wages ten times and Esau complained of Iacob as of a supplanter who first had stollen from him his birth-right and then the blessing also but more cause haue vvee to turne these complaints vpon Sathan who hath not onely stollen from vs the Image of God but daily stealeth away the blessing vvhereby it is restored vnto vs. Oh that vve had vvise and vnderstanding hearts that we might be stirred vp to an holy anger against the enimie of our saluation seeking in despite of him to be restored to that right vvhich by creation belonged to our fore father But alas what a beastly stupiditie is this that man will not doe so much for recouerie and maintenance of the image of God as hee will doe for preseruation of his owne portraiture drawne on a peece of timber if any man pollute it incontinent hee is offended and stomacks it as an iniuâ—ie done to himselfe but as for man who is the image of God he lyes downe like a beast content that Sathan should tread vpon him pollute defile him with all kind of abhomination all which proceeds from a pittifull ignorance of his own glory The second reason vvhich should moue vs to conforme our selues to Iesus is that hee hath first of all conformed himselfe vnto vs hee vvas not ashamed to take vpon him the shape of a seruant and to become man like vnto vs in all things sinne excepted and shall wee refuse to conforme our selues vnto him let it be farre from vs but rather putting from vs that foolish emulation by vvhich vvee striue to conforme our selues vnto this world let vs consider vvhereunto vvee are called euen to be pertakers of the diuine nature and may thinke it our greatest glory to be like vnto our head and husband the Lord Iesus Thirdly necessitie so craueth seeing vvee cannot be saued vvithout conformitie vvith him It is not Caesars money which hath not vpon it Caesars image and superscription he is not the Sonne of God vvho carryeth not the image of his Father for vvhom the Lord begets in the regeneration he communicateth to them his owne spirit which transformes them into the similitude of his owne Image No vncleane thing shall enter into heauenly Ierusalem neither shall any man see him in his glory who by grace is not made like vnto him That hee may be the first borne among many brethren The Apostle insists here in the explication of his former purpose adding that it is necessary wee should conforme our selues vnto him for ratifying that superioritie and priuiledge of the first borne vvhich God the Father hath estabished vnto his Sonne the Lord Iesus Christ and he maketh it very properly to serue his purpose for seeing it is so that Iesus our elder brother and Prince of our saluation hath beene consecrated by affliction and by suffering hath entred into his kingdome shall wee refuse to follow him in his tentations if so be vvee desire to sit vvith him in his glory The name of the first borne is ascribed vnto Iesus Christ three manner of wayes first as hee is God secondly as he is man thirdly as hee is both God and man our mediator and the head of his misticall body vvhich is his Church As hee is God hee is called by the Apostle Primogenitus omnis creaturae the first begotten of euery creature and that by such a generation as none saith Esay are able to expresse Now before the creature was what could there be surely nothing but the Creator Secondly as hee is man S. Luke calleth him the first borne that opened the wombe of the Virgin Thirdly as Mediator and head of his mysticall body as Prince of that kingdome vvhich is the communion of Saints hee is here called the first borne among many brethren and in an other place
transformation into the glorious image of God The second is in the houre of death and that is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus The third will be in the last day wherin both soule and body shall be glorified this is the highest step of Salomons throne vnto the which we must ascend by the former degrees As for the beginning of this glory which now wee haue it consists in these three Righteousnesse Peace and Ioy there is a ioy which is no presumption flowing from a peace which is not securitie bred of righteousnesse which is not hypocrisie in these three stands the beginning of eternall life here vpon earth and in the perfection of them shall consist the perfection of eternall life afterward in heauen perseuerance in righteousnesse peace ioy and glory being adioyned vnto them This Ioy which is the highest degree of eternall life wee can attaine to here vpon earth hath also these three degrees first there is a Ioy which ariseth of beleeuing wee haue not as yet seenâ— the Lord Iesus yet doe wee beleeue in him and reioyce in him with Ioy vnspeakeable and glorious Secondly there is a Ioy which ariseth of feeling and tasting taste and consider how gratious the Lord is and this feeling is much more than beleeuing Thirdly there is a ioy which ariseth of sight and of spirituall embracing such vvas the ioy of Simeon when hee saw that promised saluation and embraced the Lord Iesus in his armes Hereof ariseth to vs first a lesson of comfort if the beginnings of this glory be so great that as S. Peter saith they bring to vs ioy vnspeakable and glorious what shall the fulnesse thereof be let this waken in vs a loathing of these vaine perishing pleasures and a longing for that better and more enduring substance Certe non sunt tibi not a futura gaudia si non renuit consolari anima tua donec veniant thou knowest not those ioyes which are to come if thy soule do not refuse all comfort till they come vnto thee Certe si sempiterna essent haec terrena tamen prae coelestibus essent commutanda Certainely albeit these earthly things were eternall yet were they to be exchanged with those that are heauenly And therefore let the little tast of that ioy which wee haue now worke in vs a greater hunger and thirst after the fulnes thereof And againe we are here to be remembred that as pearles are found in the bottome of the water and gold is not gotten in the superfice but bosome of the earth so this ioy is not to be found but in the inward parts of a broken and contrite spirit many speake of this ioy who neuer felt it Righteousnesse is the mother of Peace and Peace the mother of Ioy they who haue not learned to do well and cannot morne for the euil which they haue done how shall they taste of the ioyes of God wee must pearce by the hammer of contrition into the very inward of our harts or euer we we can finde the refreshing springs of Gods sweet consolations arising vnto vs. It deceiues many that they thinke eternall life is not begunne but after death but assuredly except now thou get the beginnings thou shalt neuer hereafter attaine to the perfections thereof and therefore looke to it in time As for the second degree of this glory which is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus Christ after our dissolution by death it is not my purpose now to insist in it As for the third degree which consists in the glorification both of our soules and bodyes we haue spoken of it before specially in the 18. verse Now the Tabernacle of God is with men but then shall our securitie be without feare and our glory consummated when we shall dwell in the Tabernacle of God vnto the which the Lord bring vs all for Iesus Christs sake Amen THE GLORIFICATION of a Christian. VVhere you may see the counsaile of GOD concerning mans Saluation more cleerely manifested THEY THAT HAVE EYES MAY COME and see the Christian possessed and crowned in his heauenly Kingdome Which is the greatest and last benefit wee haue by Christ Iesus our Lord. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. TO THE MOST EXcellent Vertuous and Gratious Prince Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Wales and Heyre Apparent vnto the most famous Kingdomes of England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland All happinesse in this life and eternall Glory in the life to come THat which the Apostle hath seuerally deliuered in the two former Discourses dedicated to your most Royall Parents hee now in this last Treatise collects and conioynes in one which therfore of right can appertaine to none more then to you Sir who being by them both the happy fruite of heauenly prouidence and decrest pledge of their mutuall loue and ioy may iustly challenge interest in the smallest good ouer which their names are named Sir here is the way to that Crowne of Triumph which the more you know the more I hope shall you place your glory in it Crownes of earthly Kingdomes are indeede the gâ—fts of God but such as bring not so much Honour as they breed vnquietnesse O nobilem magis quam foelicem pannum said Antigonus If the cares which dwell in the Diadem wâ—re knowne no man would stoope to the ground to take it vp said Seleucus And albeit it be not giuen to all to know this in their entrie to Honour yet are they all compelled to acknowledge it in the end Seuerus Monâ—rch of the world found his Crownes but comfortlesse to him in death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue said hee beene all things and it profiteth mee nothing Not onely the teares of Xerxes but the laments of Salomon may witnesse to all the world that the end of the worme-eaten pleasures of this life is heauie displeasure yea the golden head of Babell had at length worms spread vnder him worms to couer him Esa. 14 For all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof as the flowre of the field Onely The word of the Lord endures for euer By which that same God who hath called you to be an apparant Heyre of the most famous Kingdomes on earth doth also call your Grace to a more certaine inheritance of a better Kingdome in heauen which cannot be shaken whereby aboue other Princes and Rulers of the earth yee are blessed if so be yee answere your Calling endeauouring to be no lesse than you are named Principem te agnosce neseruias affectibus It is vnseemely in any but most of all in a Prince to become asâ—ruant eyther to the corrupt humours of men without him who creeping in into the Courts of Kings like wormes into the bosome of excellent trees doe nothing but consume
manifesta salutis vt indubitabile sit â—um esse de numero Electorum in quo ea signa permanserint This is the truth of God agreeable to Scripture and auncieâ—t Fathers which wee doe affirme howeuer they doe accurse it That neyther life By life vve are to vnderstand the pleasures of this life strong tentations indeed for in the hearts of many they preuaile against the loue of God that we may learne to despise them and to count with the Apostle all things to be doung in regard of Iesus let vs looke vnto those two things which discouers vnto vs the vaniâ—e of worldly pleasures first they are most loathsome to them who haue them in greatest abundance and aâ—e most admired of those who haue them not A proofe of this we haue in Salomon who wanted nothing delectable vnder the Sunne yet by the very vse of them he found the vanitie of them and was moued to abhorre them It is far otherwise with heauenly pleasures the more we tast of them the more wee esteeme of them hungring still for more we cannot be satisfied with that which wee haue gotten already Secondly worldly pleasures are of this nature that if they be continued without intermission they turn into pains therefore is it that those same things which now we choose for recreation incontinently they become wearisome vnto vs and wee cast them away so that it is not so much by themselues as by the change of them that we are delighted Sola vicessitudine recreamur being weary of walking we refresh our selues with sitting againe being vveary of fitting we rise to refresh our selues with walking and so fareth it with all the recreations of this life being continuall they become wearisome So oft therefore as Sathan by worldly pleasures would steale away our hearts from the loue of God let vs consider how vaine and small a pleasure it is vvhich he would giue vs in respect of that vnspeakeable ioy which he would take from vs. Nor death By death vvee vnderstand not onely death it selfe but all those paines that goe before it and terrouâ—s which accompanie it There vvas neuer life so long but it hath beene concluded by death no life so pleasant but the paines of death shall swallow vp all the pleasures therof As the seauen leane Kine deuoured the seauen fat the seauen yeares of famine consumed the fruit of seauen yeares of plenty so shall the dolours and terrours of death eate vp all the pleasures and delectations of this vvretched life If vve suffer the pleasures of this life to bewitch vs be sure the terrours of death shall confound vs. It were therefore good that as Ioseph of Aramathia had his sepulcher in his Garden so vvee season all the pleasures of our life with remembrance of our death this is summa Philosophia Yet our comfort is that if wee liue in Christ no terror of death can seperate vs from him yea death conioynes vs neerer to the Lord Iesus then wee were before wee see oft-times by experience that the children of God haue so triumphed in the very dolours of death and reioyced in the sense of Gods loue that they haue forgot all their bodily paines As the top of mount Pisgah was to Moses the place of his death and the first place wherein euer hee got a sight of Canaan so shall death be to the children of God where we lay downe the sight of this world there shall wee take vp the sight of eternall life which shall neuer be taken from vs. Nor Angels By Angels here I vnderstand not elect Angels for they are not enimies to vs but ministring spirits for our saluation but reprobate Angels for these names of Angels principalities and powers are common both to good and euill Angels And they are so called partly from the power which God hath lent them and partly from the message vvherein hee imployes them for sometime they are sent out as messengers of his wrath to punish the wicked and so an euill spirit was sent from the Lord to punish Saul and sometime to exercise the godly and so an Angell of Sathan was sent to buffet the Apostle Paul for his humiliation we are not exempted from their tempting but praysed be God we are exempted from their tyrannie dominion Their working in regard of the wicked is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the efficacie of errour for the Lord hath giuen them vp into the hands of Sathan but their working in regard of the godly is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tentation Alwayes seeing so long as we liue wee must wrestle against so strong enimies let vs watch and be sober let vs stand with the compleat armour of God vpon vs. Againe we mark here how that our estate in Christ is better than the estate of Adam by his first creation for then an apostate Angell drew Adam to an apostasie also from God but now no Angell is able to seperate vs from the loue of God the reason is the couenant which God made with Adam was without a mediatour hee had the keeping of his owne saluation in his owne hand but the couenant of grace with vs is bound vp in the mediator Christ Iesus to whom the Father hath committed vs that hee might redeeme and saue vs hee hath taken vs into his hand and none are able to take vs from him our saluation depends not on our selues it is not in our keeping but in his and therefore is it most certaine Principalities nor powers These names are not to terrifie or astray vs seeing as I said these reprobate Angels haue no power but that which is lent and limited of God Therefore Saint Iude saith that they are reserued in chaines vnder darknesse and here for our comfort we are to consider how that there are two chaines wherewith they are bound and other two wherewith they are tormented the first chaine that bindes them is their owne nature the second is Gods prouidence the first restraines them that they cannot doe the euill which they would the second restraineth them that they doe not the euill which they can Sathan being a naturall creature is bounded within the compasse of nature his insatiable malice would doe much more euill than by nature he is able to performe for aboue or contrary to nature can hee worke nothing and againe many euils is hee able to doe by naturall meanes which the prâ—uidence of God permits him not to doe The tormenting chaines which are vpon him are an euill conscience and the wrath of God for as he growes in euill doing so groweth his conscience worse and worse and the wrath of God accordingly encreaseth vpon him with which two he is continually tormented Nor things present nor things to come This is a great amplification of our suretie that neyther present euils inflicted vpon vs nor any euill to come can seperate vs
from the loue of God And hereof wee are warned that all our battailes are neyther present nor past some of them are to come let vs not waxe secure because of our fore-past victories When Israell came out of Egipt one nation followed them to pursue them but when theyâ—passed Iordan seauen nations came against them sure it is our hindmost battaile will be the heauiest and our last tentation greatest the horrour of hell the rottennesse of the graue the conscience of sinnes past the dolours of present death all standing vp at one time to impugne our faith but shall not be able to seperate vs from that loue of God wherein stands our life Againe wee are taught here that Christians are sure of perseuerance nothing to come can seperate vs from the loue of God this is proued first from the nature of GOD who is faithfull and will confirme vs vnto the end perfecting that which hee hath begunne in vs secondly from the nature of the seede whereof wee are begotten againe for it is immortall thirdly from the nature of that life which by that seed is communicated to vs it is the life of Christ which is not now any more subiect vnto death Neyther height nor depth By these I vnderstand Sathan hath two manner of wayes by which he wrestles against men some he mounts on the chariot of presumption others hee castâ— downe into the deepe of desperation by prosperitie hee puffes vp many to make their fall the more shamefull those tentations which he vsed against our blessed Sauiour doe wee think that hee will spare them against other men hee set him vp vpon the pinnacle of the temple of purpose if he could to haue throwne him downe and againe tooke him vp to the top of an high mountaine where making a shew to him of worldly kingdomes hee promised to giue them if hee would fall downe and worship him and albeit with these tentations hee did not preuaile against our blessed Sauiour yet how many in this world are daily bewitched with them that without any refusall they fall down and worship him But as Simon Magus while he assayed to flye from the top of the capitall vp into heauen was throwne downe to his destruction so shall the prosperitiâ— of those men bee their ruine and their high estate as a pinnacle whereupon they shall not continue Happy is the man whose heart is not exalted against God by any preferment that can come to him vpon the face of the earth for hee who rising in dignitie riseth also in pride against the Lord is raised vp as Pharaoh was that God may declare his power in casting him downe Nor depth The other sort of Sathans tentations tend vnto desperation whom hee seeth hee cannot puffe vp hee doth what hee can to cast downe by feares perturbations vvrong conceptions but our comfort is both by the Apostles testimonie and our owne experience wee may be cast downe but wee cannot perish Nor any other creature Now in the ende the Apostle doth draw his speach to the height his confidence is so great that not being content with the enumeration of aduersaries which hee hath made hee defieth yet all other whatsoeuer if any other be for hee speaketh this by way of supposition if there be yet any other creature than those whom I haue named I am sure be what they will they cannot seperate vs from the loue of Christ. Heâ—e in the last roome wee doe obserue the surety of a Christian aboue all other men in the world onely the Christian is sure his estate shall neuer be changed Worldlings may thinke with Babell in her prosperitie I shall neuer be moued and with the rich Glutton promise to themselues many yeeres to come but they shall be deceiued none of them shall continue in that slate wherein presently they stand the Lord shall driue them from their station as it were with wheeles and shall roll them like a ball as hee threatned to Shebna Pharaoh his pompe shall perish in the redde sea Nebuchadnezzar shall be changed from a Monarch of men vnto a companion of Beasts Manasses from the Pallace shall goe to the Prison and all the men of the world shall goe from the house to the graue their beautie and royall pompe shall consume as a Moth onely the Christian shall stand for euer in that happy vnion and fellowship with GOD this is the state of the Christian this is his life this is his glory and from it nothing present nor to come shall euer be able to transchange him Euerlasting praise therefore be to the Lord our God through Iesus Christ. Amen FINIS Act. 9. 15. Gen. 9. 27. Rom. 15. 19 2. Cor. 12. Philip. 3. 8. 1. Cor. 2. 9. Psal. 20. 1. Psal. 21. 1. Psal. 56 4. Psal. 18. 43 Gen. 49. 23. Gen. 49. 25. Psal. 21. 3. Psal. 18. 50 Gen. 12. 1 Psal. 68. 20 Reuel 9. 11. Numb 23. 8 Iob. 1. 10. 2. Kin. 18. Esa 37. 29. 2. Chr. 16. 9 Esa. 8. 12. Psal. 69. 9. Psal. 21. 7. Some books of holy Scripture meeter for vs then others are August de temp ser. 49. Why among the Epistles this to the Romanes is first Ierom. epist. ad Paulin. Two parts of this Chapter the first containes comfort against sinne The second comfortagainst the crosse This order of the Apostle is manifest out of his owne conclusion Rom. 8. 31. vers 33. 34. ver 35. Cant. 2. 4. Cant. 5. 1. Subdiuision of the first part Proposition Coherence of this Chapter with the former The Apostles former lamentation turned into a triumph Math. 17. 2. Psal. 50. 21. The life of a Christian is a mixed webbe wrought of trouble and comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. 1 Pet. 1. 3. Bernard Psal. 125. 3. Hose 6. 2 Chrisost. in Mat. hom Papist wrongfully collect here that there is sin on or damnable act in them who are in Christ. Aquinas Caietane on this place Cypriain orat dom Reasons why the Lord suffers sin to remaine in the iustified man For the exercise of our Faith Aug. in Ioan. tract 41. 2. Tim. 2. 5. For our instruction that we may know what benefite we haue by Christ. Bernard For the greater glory of God and Sathans greater confusion Iosh. 10. 23. Rom. 16. 20 Ciril catech 8. 1 Cor. 15. 25 How Sathan is daily confounded in the godly Christians are not exempted from the condemnatory sentence of men But from the condemnatory sentence of God Iohn 5. 24. Three sundry dyats the Lord keepes against the wicked in the processe of their condemnation The first is kept against them in the iustice court of their owne Conscience Psal. 50. 5. â— Ioh. 3. 20 Aug. hom 50 The second is kept against them in the houre of death Aug. epist. ad Hesych The third dyat shall bee kept against them in the day of generall iudgement Dan. 12. 6. Reuel 10. 8. This iudgment shall proceede by
the bookes of Law and Conscience Psal. 19. 9. How the wicked shall bee conuicted by the booke of the Law How they shal be conuicted by the booke of conscience Iob. 15. 6. Luk. 19. 22. This iudgment shall also bee most terrible Exod. 19. 16. Moses trembled for feare at the giuing of the Law what will the wicdoe at the execution thereof Reuel 6. 14. Reu. 6. 15. Mat. 25. 41. Remembrance of this last iudgment is a preserâ—atiue against sinne Math. 10. Iud. 10. 14. Mat. 25. 41. Augustine The day before the last iudgement Mercy shall be offered but none after it By Christ wee haue deliuerâ—ce from this three fold condemnation Mat. 25. 21. How miserable are they who are not in Christ Deliuerance by Christ pertains not vnto al men onely to them who are of the houshold of Faith Mat. 9. 2. As none were saued without the arke the familie of Lot house of Rahab Gen. 7. 33. Gen. 19. 16. Iosh. 2. Mat. 11. 12. Heb. 12. 2. A threefold distinction of mankinde Made in God his eternall counsaile Made in this life by effectual calling of those who are chosen Reuel 3. 12. The Apostle excludes not himselfe from that naturall miserie whervnto others are subiect Neither excludes hee others from that mercy which hee himselfe hath receiued 1 Tim. 2. 15. 2. Tim. 4. 8. Naturalists blinded with presumptioÌ„ do far otherwise Aug. confes lib. 10. Basil. hexam hom 9. Our vnion with Christ expressed by fiue similitudes in holy scripture As Eue was to Adam his wife his sister and his Daughter so are we vnto Christ. Yet this expresseth not our allyance with Christ therfore other similitudes are vsed Ioh. 10. 28. In the similitude of ingrafting foure things considered The stock or roote Iohn 15. 1. Rom. 11. 17 Isaiah 11. 1. The branches whereof some are onely externally ingrafted these may be cut off Rom. 11. 22 2 Tim. 3. 5. Aug. de bap cont Donatist lib. 10. ca. 10 Others internally ingrafted and to these belongs this comfort Gal. 2. 20. The manner of the ingrafting it is made by the word and spirit Distance of place staies not our vnion with him Comforts arising of this our vnion with Christ. Communion of Natures 2 Pet. 1. 4. A notable comfort the Lord who sanctified our nature that he might assume it will also sanctifie vs seeing hee hath vnited vs to himselfe Phil. 1. 6. Ber. serm de mutatione aquae in vinuÌ„ By our vnion with Christ we are made sure of perseuerance Psal. 146. Esa. 40. 24. Psal. 49. 14. The who are planted in Christ should be humble the root beares theÌ„ not they the roote Consil. â— ArausicanuÌ„ ex Carranza Ibidem Rom. 11. 16 They who are planted in Christ beares fruit so soone as they are planted Conc. trident Their errour disprooued By Scripture By Reason Costers similitude makes against himselfe By ancient Fathers Aug. ser. 5. Aug. ser. de Temp. 45. Bernard Aug. contra Pelag. lib. 3. cap. 21. Onely apostate Angels men beare false witnesse against God An euill life of aprofessor saies in effect there is no vertue in Christ. A godly life is the first martirdome without suffering for Christ which is the second martirdome is not acceptable to him Cyp. de duplici martirio Col 3. 5. Rom. 12. 1. Ioh. 5. 36. Sinnes of men professing Christ are not committed without sacriledge Dan. 5. 1. More fearefull thaÌ„ Belshazars Seeing there are in vs two parties let vs helpe that which we would haue to preuaile Baâ—il serm 2. de ieiunio Our best estate in this life is fighting August de temp ser. 45. 2 Cor. 2. 14. Bernard Christs members militant triumphant are not to bee tryed by one rule There is fleshly corruption in the Christian militant but he follows it not Any seruice the Christian giues to sinne is throwne out by oppression like that which Israel gaue to Pharaoh Ber. in paruis Sermonibus Serm. 23. For he that walketh after the flesh shall at length encounter with death Three profitable helpes of a godly Life Psal. 119. DeterminatioÌ„ Supplication Consideration Our life should be a daily progresse in godlinesse Our aduersaries Sathan sinne death are strong but our Sauiour is stronger Rom. 16. 20 In what a vile bondage wee liued by nature Ber. hom 4. Three things to be coÌ„sidered in this bondage How a Law is ascribed vnto sinne Basil hexam hom 10. What we hope to be after this life Ber. de persecutione sustinenda cap. 11 1 Iohn 3. 2. What presently we may bee Our deliuerance from this bondage is to be ascribed vnto Christ only Heb. 13. 9. Reâ— 7. 10. Isai. 42. 8. Mercies of god shewed vpon others should confirme vs if we repent to looke for the like to ourselus 2 Tim. 1. 16. Bernard Preachers not pertakers of that mercy which they pronounce to others are most miserable Acts. 8. 21. Psal. 18. 51. Sinne death God hath conioyned who shall seperate them Gen. 20. 3. Chris. hom 5 ad popu Ant. What a deceiuer Sathan is in tempting to sinne Gen. 34. Cypr. lib. 1. epist. 8. Sin seems sweet but the fruite therof is bitter Aug. hom 42 Rom. 6. 21. Comfort for the godly who are troubled with the tentations of sinne Ioshua 9. Our begun deliuerance from sinne the Lord shall perfect 1 Cor. 1. 8. Phil. 1. 6. How we are deliuered from death both first and second Aug. de ciuit dei li. 21. ca. 3 Second death hath three degrees Aug. de verb. Apost ser. 33 How Christians are exercised with terrors of conscience which in the owne nature are forerunners of the second death The nature of the first death changed to the Christian. Amb. de bono mort cap. 4. Explication of the confirmation Here followes an explication of the confirmation of his generall proposition He snews how we are freed from the condemning power of sinne The law could not saue vs. Impotencie of the law to saue vs appeares in two things It craues that which now our nature can not giue It giues not that which our estâ—te now craueth Miserablle blinde are they who seeke life in perfect obseruance of the Law Yet such are all the children of Adam by nature The impotencie of the law comes not of the law which is good but of our owne corrupted nature Our nature becomes worse by the law August lib. 2 confess cap. 4. How Christ hath done that which the law could not Why God is called father of mercie not of iudgements How Christ is Gods owne son Christs diuine generation a great mysterie 1 Tim. 3. 16. Mans curiosity restrained from searching it August Rom. 11. 20 Christ came like a sinfull man but without sinne Dan. 2. 45. 1 Cor. 15. How deerely the Lord loued vs perceiue by the price he hath giuen for our ransome Psal. 8. Our thankfulnes again shold be testified by this threefold duetie Continuall thanksgiuing Seruice Luke 1. 74. 2 Sam. 19. 9 Ezra 9.
the praise of the bright shining glory of Gods mercie His owne Sonne Iesus Christ is called Gods owne Sonne to distinguish him from all others who are his sonnes by adoption onely Christ is the Sonne of God by nature by that diuine inutterable generation whereof Esay saith Who can expresse it Thus is hee Gods owne sonne that is coeternall and coessentiall begotten of the Father before all time by the full communication of his whole essence vnto him in a manner that cannot bee expressed And in the fulnesse of time hee became man God being manifested in the flesh and in regard of his humane nature which was conceiued of the holy Ghost and vnited in a personall vnion with his diuine hee stands in the title of Gods owne sonne after so singular a manner that hee admits no companion The last of these two the Apostle makes the first point of the misterie of Godlinesse God manifested in the flesh wherein he bridles our curiositie for if his manifestation in the flesh that is his incarnation be a mysterie that goes beyond our vnderstanding what shall we say of his diuine generation a mystery indeed to bee adored not to be enquired an article proposed to be belieued not to bee disputed The Arrians seeking to search out this vnsearchable mysterie with naturall reason by infinite degrees more foolish then if they had presumed to number the starres of heauen or measure with their fist all the vvaters in the Sea they stumbled and fell being neuer able to comprehend how the son that was begotten should bee coeternall and coessentiall to the Father who begot him therefore the worthy Fathers of the primitiue Church to expresse the presumption of these arrogant spirits drew them down from the dangerous speculation of these high mysteries far aboue their capacitie to consideration of things which are in nature Si in Creatura genitum inueniri potest coaeuum genitori an non aequum est conced as posse ista in creatore coaeterna inueniri if in things created that which is begotten may be found equall in time to that which begat it why should it be denyed that in the Creator the begetter and begotten are equall in eternitie When a candle saith Augustine is first lighted at once there are two things the fire and the splendor or light if it be enquired whether the fire come from the light or the light from the fire all men will agree that the splendor or light comes from the fire but if againe it be demanded which of them is first or last in time it cannot be determined But vvherefore shall vve vse these similitudes as the Creator is aboue the creature so is that mysterie aboue all the secrets of nature no similitude can bee found in nature so much as shadow that most high and supernaturall mysterie yet is the endeuor of these godly fathers commendable vvho haue laboured to bring downe men to the exercising of their wits in things vvhich are below like vnto themselues leauing curious inquisition of higher secrets vvhich as I haue said are to be receiued with faith reuerenced vvith silence not searched out by curiositie O man bee not high minded but feare In the similitude of sinnefull flesh Wee must not so vnderstand these words as if Iesus had onely the similitude of a naturall bodie no hee was very man made of the seed of Dauid he hath taken on our flesh indeed yet was he not a sinfull man but separated from sinners A holy One from the first moment of his conception conceiued of the holy Ghost A Stone cut out of the mountaine without hands The Flower of the field that groweth without mans labour or industry The second Adam very man as was the first but not begotten of man So then the word similitude is not to be ioyned vvith the word Flesh but with the word sinfull He tooke on mans nature without sin yet subiect to those infirmities mortalitie and death which sin brought vpon vs he appeared like a sinfull man being indeed without sinne in the shape of a Seruant content to be made inferiour not onely to Angels but to men of the vilest sort sold for thirtie pieces of siluer not so worthy to liue as Barrabas ranked vvith Theeues on the Crosse and reputed as a Worme of the earth thus being voyde of all sinne yet was hee handled as a sinner and most wicked malefactor Wherein wee are to consider so farre as vve may though vve cannot comprehend it that vvonderfull loue vvhich the Lord hath shevved vs in this vvorke of our saluation how deere and precious our life hath beene in his eyes perceiue by the greatnesse of that prise which hee hath giuen for vs for vvho vvill giue much for that vvhereof he esteemes but little it was not vvith gold nor siluer nor any corruptible thing that the Lord hath redeemed vs but vvith the precious bloud of his owne Son Iesus as of a Lambe vnblemished and vnspotted If Dauid considering the goodnesse of God towards man in the vvork of creation fell out into this admiration O Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him or the Son of man that thou doest visite him how much more haue vve cause so to crye out considering the riches of God his vvonderfull mercies shewed vs in the vvork of redemption It vvas a great kindnesse vvhich Abraham shewed to Lot vvhen he hazarded his owne life and the liues of his familie to recouer Lot out of the hands of Chedarlaomer but not comparable to that kindenesse which our kinsman the Lord Iesus hath shewed vnto vs who hath giuen his life to deliuer vs out of the hand of our enimies The Lord shed abroad in our hearts more and more abundantly the sence of that loue that wee may endeauour to be thankfull for it by this threefold dutie first of thanksgiuing secondly of seruice thirdly of loue toward those who are beloued of him As for the first our life should bee a continuall thanksgiuing and worshipping before him who hath loued vs and washed vs from our sinnes in his bloud When the children of Israell had passed the red sea suppose they had a wast wildernesse between them and Canaan yet they praised God with a song of thanksgiuing and the Lord appointed an yearely remembrance of that benefit If smaller mercies are to be remembred with thanksgiuing what shall wee think of the greater As for the second which is seruice Zacharie teacheth vs that for this end God hath deliuered vs from all our enimies that all our dayes wee should serue him in righteousnesse and holinesse the reason why the Israelites bound themselues to giue subiection and obedience to Dauid was that he had deliuered them from the hand of the Philistins the same reason Ezra vsed to the Iewes returned from captiuitie to make them obedient to the Lord Seeing thou O Lord hath
Iesus onely therefore blessed are they who are in Christ Hee that heares my wordes and belieues in him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life And lastly we may obserue here what a powerfull Sauiour wee haue when to the iudgement of man he was weakest then did hee the greatest worke that euer was done in the world he was powerfull in working of miracles in his life but more powerfull in his death for then hee darkened the Sunne hee shooke the earth hee made the rockes to cleaue he rent the vaile of the temple a sunder and caused the dead to rise Mortuum Caesarem quis metuat sed morte Christi quid efficacius if Caesar bee once dead who will feare Christ euen when hee is dead is terrible to his enimies nothing can be more effectuall then his death By it he did a greater worke than was the creation of the world by it he brought in new heauens and a new earth by suffering death he destroyed him who had the power of death when hee was condemned of man hee condemned sinne that it should not condemne man passus est vt infirmus operatus vt fortis â—e suffered as a weake man but wrought as a strong one Sicut serpens mortuus c. As that Serpent without life erected by Moses in the wildernesse ouercame the liuing Serpents that stung Israell so the Lord Iesus by suffering death hath slaine that serpent that liuing in vs had slung vs vnto death Hic vides mortem morte peremptam maledictum maledicto extinctum per quae Diabolus iam antea valebat per ea ipsa tyrannidem ipsius esse destructam here thou seest saith Chrisostome death slaine by death and the tyrannie of Sathan destroyed by these same meanes by which before most of all he preuailed O wonderfull worke surely the weaknesse of God is stronger then man hee is that stronge One indeed stronger then Samson When the Philistines thought they had him sure within the portes of Azzah hee arose at midnight and tooke the doores of the gates of the Cittie and the two posts and carried them away with the bars thereof on his shoulders vp to the top of the mountaine which is before Hebron but our mightie Conquerour and deliuerer the Lord Iesus hath in a more excellent manner magnified his power for being closed in the graue clasped in the bands of death and a stone rolled to the mouth of the graue the Sepulcher sealed and guarded with souldiers he rose againe the third day before the rising of the Sunne he carried like a victor the bars and posts of death away as vpon his shoulders and vpon the mount of Oliues hee ascended on high leading captiuitie captiue Like as therefore wee receiued before great comfort through the consideration of Christs incomprehensible loue toward vs so is it now confirmed by the meditation of his power Let Sathan boast like Rabsache that the Lord is not able to deliuer Ierusalem out of his hands hee is but a blasphemous Lyar the Lord will rebuke him and will shortly tread Sathan vnder our feet it is the curse of the wicked hee shall be oppressed and there shall bee none to deliuer him but blessed bee the Lord who hath prouided a strong deliuerer for vs who certainly shall set vs free from our enimies and destroy all the oppressours of our soules Glory therefore be vnto him for euer Verse 4. That the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in vs who walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit THe Apostle hauing taught vs in the former verse how the Lord Iesus hath freed vs from the condemning power of sinne doth now let vs see how we are freed also from the commanding power of sinne for hee sets downe this to bee the first and neerest end of Christs death in respect of vs the renouation of our nature and conformitie thereof with God his holy law which hee expresses more cleerely in another place when he saith that Christ gaue himselfe to the death for his Church that hee might sanctifie it and make it to himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should bee holy and without blame This is the end which Christ hath proposed vnto himselfe and whereof hee cannot bee frustrate as hee hath begunne it so he shall finish it he shall conforme vs to the law the righteousnesse thereof shall be fulfilled in vs there shall not bee left in our nature so much as a sinfull motion or desire but hee shall at the last present vs pure and without blame to his Father This righteousnesse of the law I vnderstand to be that perfect obedience to the Commaundements thereof which the law requires flowing from the perfect loue of God and our neighbour and it is fulfilled in vs two manner of wayes first by application or imputation of Christs righteousnesse vnto vs he is our head and we his members and are so vnited with him that now we are not to be taken as sundry but as one bodie with him By vertue of the which communion it comes to passe that that which is ours is his and that which is his is ours so that in our head we haue fulfilled the law satisfied Gods iustice for our sinnes Secondly it will be fulfilled in vs by our perfect sanctification though now wee haue but begunne obedience and in part the Lord Iesus at the last shall bring it in vs to perfection The Iesuites of Rhemes in their marginall notes on this Verse collects a note which the word here rendreth not vnto them Wee see say they that the Law which is Gods commandements may be kept that the keeping therof is iustice and that in Christian men that is fulfilled by Christs grace which by the force of the Law could neuer be fulfilled that the law may be fulfilled and also shall be fulfilled by the grace of Christ who hath deliuered vs from the Law of sinne is euident out of the Apostles words we confesse it and are comforted in it this is an end which Christ hath proposed vnto himselfe that he may make vs perfectly answerable to that holinesse which the Law requireth and in his owne good time he shall bring it to passe but that the Law is fulfilled of men in this life cannot be proued neyther out of this place nor any other place of holy Scripture Damnatum est pecatum non extinctum Sinne is condemned sayeth Caietane one of their owne but not extinguished And hereunto beside infinite testimonies of holy Scripture agreeth also the suffrages of pure antiquitie Non dicit familia tua sana sum medicum non requiro sed sana me Domine sanabor It is not saith Ambrose the voyce of thy familie I am whole and needes not a Phisition but
punishment serues to let vs see if we looke to them how horrible this death is which here is threatned against them vvho liue after the flesh As for the place it is called the winepresse of the wrath of God the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Tophet prepared of old deepe and large the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it It is that great deepe which the damned spirits themselues abhorre they know it to be the place appointed for their torment all that they craue was onely that the Lord vvould not send them thether to be tormented before the time It it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place wherein is no light to see therefore Iude called it blacknesse of darknesse and our Sauiour called it vtter darknesse there is in it a burning fire but without light a gnawing worme without rest Saint Peter calles it a prison and our Sauiour calles it Gehenna for the horrible scrieches of them who are brunt in it and the vile and stinking filthinesse vvherewith it is replenished And as for the vniuersalitie of their paine It is certaine that as euery thing in them sinned so euery thing in them shall be punished No power of their soule no member of their body shall bee free from that wrath Surely it should astonish man to consider this for if now any one of Gods ordinary plagues inflicted vpon any one member of the body be so insufferable hovv intollerable vvill that paine be he vvho novv is payned vvith the tooth ach takes some comfort when he sees another tormented vvith the collicke and hee also if hee see another burnt vp with Anthonies fire beares his owne crosse the more patiently because he sees a greater laid vpon another No man in this life suffereth all things one cryeth with the Shunamites sonne for excessiue dolour alas my head my head another with Antiochus my belly the third with Asa my feete my feete but what are all these comparable to that paine vvherein head and belly and feete yea the whole man shall be racked vpon the torments of Gods wrath and that not vvith one plague onely but with manifold for as all the waters of the earth runne into the great Ocean so all the plagues of God shall concurre and meete together in hell for punishment of the damned But yet the eternitie of that paine doth still increase the horrour thereof their shall be no end of their punishment their fire shall neuer bee quenched their worme shall neuer dye they shall seeke death as a benefite and shall not finde it The fire of Sodome vvas ended in a day the deluge of water that drowned the originall world lasted but a yeere the famine that plagued Aegipt lasted but seauen yeeres the captiuitie of Israell was ended in seauenty yeeres but this wrath of God vpon the damned shall endure for euer and euer Thus wee see what a horrible death the Apostle threatneth here vvhile hee sayth if yee liue after the flesh yee shall dye The Lord giue vs wise and vnderstanding hearts that we may ponder it according to the waight therof and it may be to vs a liuely voyce of God to prouoke vs to flee from that fearefull wrath vvhich is to come But if yee mortifie c. Here followes the other member of the argument taken from the great vantage wee receiue by mortifying the lusts of the body if wee doe so wee shall liue Here also we haue first to consider that albeit the Apostle affirmed before verse 9. that these godly Romanes were not in the flesh yet now he exhorts them to a further mortification of the lusts of the flesh which were superfluous if there vvere nothing in them that needed to be mortified then we see clearely vvhich we may also feele in our selues that so long as we liue in the bodie there is euer some remanent life of sinne vvhich vvee haue neede to mortifie and put out In this battell we must fight without intermission till we haue gotten the victory for vvho can say that he hath in such sort cut away his superfluities that there remaynes nothing in him which hath need of reforming beleeue me when they are cut off they spring when they are chased away they returne when they are once quenched they kindle againe except thou dissemble thou shalt alway finde within thy selfe something that hath need to be subdued There is nothing harder sayth Cyrill than the Rocke yet in the seames and clifts thereof the noysome weede fasteneth her roote and springes out and albeit there be no man in the vvorld stronger than a Christian yet is hee oftentimes buffeted by Sathan and sinne which hath fastened their roote in him sends out her inordinate motions and affections against vvhich hee hath neede to fight continually But here it is inquired how doth the Apostle require this of them that they should mortifie their lusts lyeth it in the power of man to doe it To this I answere first that as man gaue life to sinne so is hee bound to put out the life thereof vpon no lesse paine than condemnation and therefore iustly is it required of him Secondly these same good workes vvhich the Lord vvorkes in vs hee is content to asscribe them to vs and calles them ours Of our selues vve must say with the Apostle we are not sufficient of our selues to thinke so much as a good thought our sufficiencie is of God and it is hee who worketh in vs both the vvill and the deed so hee workes in vs that he makes vs through his grace vvilling vvorkers vvith him through him that strengthens vs vve are able to doe all things and therefore the praise of all the good wee can doe should be ascribed vnto God When Dauid had offered to God aboundance of siluer and gold and other mettels vvhich hee had prepared for the house of God hee concludes in the humilitie of his heart What am I O Lord and what is my people that wee should be able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine owne hand haue wee giuen thee But much more vvhen vve doe any worke of sanctification for the building of our selues vp into a spirituall Temple to the Lord our God we may say O Lord all the good wee can doe is of thee and of thine owne hand wee haue giuen backe vnto thee for except thou Lord hadst giuen vnto vs grace vve should neuer haue giuen to thee obedience Let therefore the presumptuous conceit of Merit yet againe be farre from vs seeing the good which vve doe is debt and is done also by the spirit of the Lord in vs let vs reserue the glory thereof vnto him Quare dona mea non merita tua quia si ego quarerem merita tua non venires ad dona mea seeke my gifts saith Augustine
shall perish but hee doth remaine they shall waxe old as doth a garment but hee is the same and his yeeres shall not faile Hee is the father of eternitie in whom there cannot fall so much as a shadow of change farre lesse is hee subiect to death but as for vs by suffering death we must enter into our kingdome wee cannot see him so long as wee liue nor be satisfied with his image till wee awake therefore should the day of death be a ioyfull day vnto vs because it is the day of our entrance to our inheritance Vnnaturall worldlings reioyce at the death of their Parents because by it they come to the heritage they carry merriest harts within them when they put on their blackest garments but as for vs wee should reioyce at the day of our owne death it is not the day of our sorrow as naturall men accounts it but the day of our delight in the which we enter into the fruition of our heauenly inheritance Hee cals vs not onely the Heyres of God but annexed Heyres with Iesus Christ that so he may shew Nos grandes futuros haeredes that wee are to be great heyres The Lord Iesus hath a twofold right to his fathers inheritance one by his eternall generation and so hee is the heyre of God in a manner proper and peculiar to himselfe onely the other hee hath by conquest for by the merit of his death he hath conquered eternall life for all his brethren and this right he communicates vnto vs whereby we also become heyres annexed with him in the first hee admits no companion in the second hee cals vs to be pertakers with him And this serues vnto vs not onely for a speciall comfort in the houre of tentation and day of death as wee marked before but should also prouoke vs to answere the heauenly vocation by a holy disposition seeing wee are the sonnes of God shall wee not resemble his image seeing wee are called to be heyres of an heauenly inheritance shall we any more minde earthly things Farre be it from vs that wee should be prophane like Esau who sould his birth-right for a mease of pottage or like Demas wee should forsake the fellowship of our brethren and imbrace this present world but let vs rather with the holy Apostle account all things to be but doung in respect of the excellent knowledge and fellowship of our Lord Iesus Seeing Christ must be our comfort in death when all other comforts will foâ—sake vs let vs make him our ioy and pleasure in life that so both in life and death he may be an aduantage vnto vs for these things for which miserable worldlings forsake their God shall in the end forsake them Let a couetous man see in the houre of his death those treasures of Gold and siluer which hee fought in his life more than God and they shall be no more pleasure to him than was those thirty peeces of siluer to Iudas which hee tooke in exchange of Iesus Christ. Present a spoonefull of Wine to the drunkard whose bellie was his God in his life time and hee shall not be able to receiue it Let the harlot stand at that time in the sight of the whoremonger shee may encrease his sorrow and terrifie his conscience but shall not render him comfort Yet these are the strange Gods after which most part of the world goes a whooring but let vs not cast in our portion among them we are pertakers of the heauenly vocation called to bee the sonnes and daughters of the liuing God blessed shall we be if we walke worthie of our calling For we see here whervnto we are called by adoption we are made the sons of God and brethren of Christ of rebels we are made the seruants of God yea more than that the friends of God hence forth call I not you seruants but friends yea more than friends he hath made vs brethren hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren O wonderfull comfort the Father cryes from heauen this is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him the Sonne againe speaking to vs on earth saith I goe vp to your Father and my Father hee that is my Father is also your Father therefore goe yee vnto him and call vpon him as your Father O qualis ille dominus qui omnes seruos suos facit amicos suos quod multo maius est fratres suos O what a sweet Lord is hee who makes all his seruants his friends and which is much more his brethren Surely the yoake of Christ is easie and his burthen is light we are called to be annexed pertakers with him of all the good that is in him The Lord therefore more and more confirme vs that despysing all the subtill offers of Sathan whereby he would steale vs away from the loue of Christ and delighting in that high dignitie whereunto we are called our harts may cleaue to the Lord for euer without seperation THE RIGHT WAY TO Eternall Glory VVherein the counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that the Christian effectually called may heare himselfe after the Crosse ordayned to the Crowne and read his owne Name written in the booke of Life Being the second benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. â—â—… the welfare of your Highnesse royall children the terrour of your enimies and common benefite of all your Maiesties well affected subiects A good so much the more carefully to bee keept because Sathan out of all doubt spitefully doth enuie it as being the very fountaine out of which doth flow that great and common good both of your royall posteritie and loyall people the aspect of your Highnesse fauourable countenances looking in loue one of you to another and both of your maiesties in coniunct compassion to your people sweeter than the influence of the vndiuided Pleiades bringing to Church and common wealth vnder your happy raigne a flourishing spring of innumerable blessings We doe therefore blesse the Lord who hath confirmed your royall hearts and set it in the foremost of your godly cares how to keep and increase this holy and happy band of loue which keepeth you both For the continuance whereof as after my weake measure I stand vp a dayly supplicant vnto the Lord among others your Highnesse loyall subiects so doe I humbly craue that your Highnesse impute it not to me for presumption that I haue conioyned your maiesties in the participation of this small propine of the first fruits of my labors whom I doe wish for euer to be conioyned in the communion of al good present and to come but that rather
already by himselfe and in his owne person but for our sanctification Secondly the good workes of men regenerate are so wrought by Christ in vs that they are also wrought by vs and we haue our working in them and therefore by reason of our imperfection cannot be perfect for as the fountaines of the actions are so must the actions be themselues the fountaines are mixed being partly good and partly euill for our mind is not so illuminated that there is no darknesse in it neither is our hart so sanctified that there is no vncleannesse in it and therefore the actions flowing from thence cannot be perfect workes of light and sanctification They insist yet further and obiects if the Apostle say they in his conclusion we are iustified by Faith without the workes of the Law did vnderstand the workes of Grace then it would follow that he oppones things which are not to be opponed for workes and Grace workes and Faith workes and Christ are not opposite but agrees very well together as the cause and effect as the tree and the branch To this we answere that Faith and workes agrees well together but there is no thing in the world which agree so well the one with the other but in some things they may be opponed as for example the tree and the branch agrees very well together but if the question be moued whether the tree beares the branch or the branch the tree in this they are opponed that which is affirmed of the one must be denyed of the other Againe there is a very sweet harmony betweene a naturall Father and the sonne the one of them cannot be without the other for hee is not a Father who neuer had a sonne neither is he a sonne who neuer had a father but if this be the question which of them gaue beginning to another here we must oppone them affirming that of the one which wee deny of the other In like manner there is a very sweet harmonie and agreement betweene Faith and good workes but if this be the question for which of them it is that God doth iustifie vs there wee must oppone them affirming with the Apostle that we are iustified by Faith and not by workes alway the opposition is not simple but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their second euasion is a distinction of the workes of the Law Morall and Ceremoniall It is true say they that the workes of the law ceremoniall iustifies not but the workes of the Law Morall iustifies But the Apostle in his conclusion excludes from iustification the workes of the Law Morall for these reasons he excludes those workes of which he hath proued both Iewes and Gentiles to be guiltie but so it is he hath proued them to be guiltie of the transgression of the Law Morall as is euident out of the sins wherewith he charges them therefore c. Secondly he excludes from iustification the workes of that law by which comes the knowledge of sinne but so it is the knowledge of sinne comes by the law Morall therefore c. I had not knâ—wne saith the Apostle that concupâ—â—cence is a sinne except the law had said thou shalt not couet Now it is euident that this is a pâ—ecept of the law Morall Their third euasion is by a distinction of the first and second iustification the first whereof say they is by Faith but the second is by workes But this twofold iustification is also forged for iustificatio est actus indiuidius simul totus there is no first and last in the act of iustification hee that is once condemned iudicially stands so and hee that is absolued stands so Againe this distinction confounds two benefits iustification sanctification which to them is the second iustification That they are distinct benefits the Apostle doth teach vs Christ is made to vs righteousnesse and sanctification but they inconsiderately confound them for if these new qualities infused by Grace into the soule of man and good workes flowing there from be the matter as they say of mans second Iustification then let them tell vs what is the matter of his sanctification To conclude this these are two inseperable benefits to whomsoeuer the Lord imputes the righteousnes of Christ and giues them Faith to accept it as their owne like as for it hee absolues them from sinne and death and adiudges them vnto life so also incontinent workes he in them by his holy spirit an inherent righteousnesse by which they become new creatures so that our iustification hath inseperably annexed with it sanctification But this sanctification of ourâ— is so imperfect that howsoeuer it be accepted of the Father for the righteousnesse of Christ yet is it not so perfect nor sufficient that for the merit thereof wee dare seeke to be absolued from our sinnes and receiued into fauour Them he also glorefied Glorification the last lincke of the chaine is the last and highest benefit that we haue by Christ by which both our soule and body shall be restored to a greater glory and more happy than euer wee enioyed in Adam Hee had his owne most excellent priuiledges hee had this inward glory that he was created to the image of God hee had also for outward glory a dominion and Lordship ouer all the creaâ—ures of God the heauens were made beautifull for his sake the earth made fruitfull Paradise assigned to him as a speciall garden of pleasure and all the creatures ordained to serue him but by our second creation we are beautified with more excellent priuiledges that same image is restored to vs new heauens and new earth created for our sake and with all these we shall haue the Crowne of perseuerance which Adam had noâ— for glorification is our last and highest happie estate out of which wee shall neuer be transchanged and therefore the Apostle goes not beyond it And herein appeares the Lords wonderfull power and goodnesse who of the fall of man takes occasion to make man better than hee was before the fall Our bodyes shall not be raised like to Adams body for euen in the state of innocencie hee was mortall but they shall be raised vp like to the glorious body of Christ. Salomon built a Temple the Chaldeans destroyed it and it was neuer againe restored to the former glory which moued the auncient men to mourne when they saw how the glory of the second Temple was not like the glory of the first but it shall be the great ioy of our auncient Father Adam when hee shall see how farre the glory of the second creation shall exceed the glory of the first Of this Glorification the Apostle speakes in the time past partly to declare the certainetie thereof and partly because it is already begunne for there are three degrees of that Glory The first in this life and that is our sanctification called by S. Iohn the first resurrection and by S. Paul our
a persecuter is in great worldly honour commissioner of the high Priest and Elders of Ierulalâ—m but when he becomes a Preacher his former friends becomes his enimies The same is also true in inward tentations when our Sauiour beganne to discharge the publicke office of the Messiah sathan began to tempt him of his two most excellent Apostles the one was winnowed by Sathan the other buffeted by the Angell of Sathan and all to tell vs that notwithstanding the Lord be present with vs yet we may be tempted as our Sauiour was winnowed as Peter was buffeted as Paul was and therefore let vs dispise the iudgement of worldlings and lying conclusions of Sathan who would make vs to esteeme our inward and outward tentations to be tokens and arguments of Gods departure from vs. Againe perceiue here hovv in the vvorld are two contrary factions the one alway militant against the other This inimitie was proclaimed by God in Paradise and hath continued since like as it shall for euer without reconciliation onely let vs take heede vpon what side we standâ— if we stand vpon that wherein God is Captaine and all the Saints of Christ are souldiers we are happy for here the victory is certaine otherwise they who are among the children of disobedience militant vnder the Prince of the aire are most miserable their end is darkenesse shame and confusion It is a comfortable Oration which Abijah King of Iudâ— hauing in his armie foure hundreth thousand made to Ieroboam King of Israell his army of eight hundred thousand with you said he is the multitude but with them yee haue the golden calues but with vs God is a captaine and his Priests to sound with the trumpet an Alarum against you therfore O Israel fight not against the Lord God of your fathers for yee shall not prosper but this comfort much more appertaines to the true Israell of God howsoeuer there be many which are against vs the golden calues are with theÌ„ that is strange gods which shall be their destruction As Moses when he was to plead the cause of God stood in the gate of the Campe cryed whosoeuer pertains to the Lord let him come to me so daily by the word of God doe we exhort you which are on Gods â—ide to gather you together into one not that it is possible ye can be seperate from them in this life in regard of personall conuersation for so saith the Apostle ye behoued to goe out of the world but that by difference of your words and deedes from them yee declare that ye are not of their communion They who are one the side of Iesus are knowne chiefely these two manner of wayes First Sathan fights against them Secondly they are also warriours against him the first without the second is nothing for man euen as hee is a naturall man is an obiect of Sathans malice but where the grace of God hath made the man a new creature there Sathan doubles his hatred for hee enuies most the glory of Gods mercy whereof hee knowes he shall neuer be pertaker As Nabuchadnezers countenance changed and his rage encreased when the three Children refused in his face to worship his image and thereupon commaunded to make his Ouen seauen times hotter than it was before so is Sathans malice most intended against those who plainly refuse to fall downe and worship him But that the godly be not discouraged with his malice let vs remember that first hee was an enimie vnto God or euer he was an enimie vnto vs and that wee haue cause to reioyce in that we finde that Apostate spirit an enimie vnto vs whom God from the beginning hath proclaymed to be an enimie vnto himselfe Secondly we are to collect of his inuasion and our resistance that there is in vs some measure of the grace of Iesus Christ for against those doth he multiply his malitious assaults on whom hee sees that the Lord hath multiplyed his graces like to a crafitie Pirate who passing by the emptie vessell sets vpon that which is loadned Thirdly howeuer he being compared with vs hath many vantages as that he is more subtile in nature being of greater experience and more auncient being now almost sixe thousand yeeres old and hath also vantage of place for he is the Prince of the Aire assisted with armies of spirituall wickednesse who for their number are legions for their strength principalities powers for their subtiltie serpents for their fiercenesse dragons yet stronger is he who is on our side than they who are against vs the serpents head is bruised some life remaines in him but hee hath no power to inflict death on them which are in Christ. But what euer inimitie Sathan exercise against vs it is not sufficient to comfort vs vnlesse wee also liue as enimies vnto him It was a notable speach of Azariah to Prophet to Asa the Lord is with you while yee be with him if thou stand with the compleat armour of God pleading the cause of God fighting against the enimie of God than mayst thou say in a good conscience God is with thee and thou art with him But alas we see in this generation many wearing Christs liuerie and bearing Sathans armour professing friendship to Christ yet fighting against him these two factions are entred already into the battaile pelmell so that in the smallest fellowships some ye shall finde aduancing the kingdome of the one though very few to fight for the glory of the other What a shame is this for vs who say we are on the Lords side that a wicked man seruing Sathan shall in our audience open his mouth to blaspheme God and we will not open our mouthes to rebuke him we see carnall men so shamelesse that they stand vpon no circumstances to dishonour God and we who professe we loue him for feare wee faile against curtesie and I cannot tell what circumstances dare not open our mouthes to praise him Our coldnesse in this point hath neede to be admonished that we may be stirred vp not by profession onely but by conuersation also to make it knowen to the world that wee belong wholy to the Lord Iesus Who can be against vs It may seeme strange that the Apostle should vse any such interrogaâ—orie what Christian wants enimies inough against him yea saith not the Apostle of himselfe that hee had beasts at Ephesus with whom he behoued to fight was there not an Angell of Sathan sent to buffet him did not Nero at length behead him how is it then that he askes who can be against him But wee are to know that the Apostles meaning is not that godly men haue no enimies but that no enimie can take from vs that for which wee striue it is not for the maintenance of our bodily life that wee fight when our enimies haue taken that from vs they haue done no more than Poâ—iphars wife did
21. What vgly guests dwelt in vs before hee came to possesse vs. He prouides all necessaries where hee dwels Iren. cont val lib. 4. cap. 28. Not like kings of the earth who oft times are burdenable to them with whom they lodge Ang. de verb Apost ser. 15 Psal. 84. 11. What duties of thankfulnes we owe to our Lord who 〈◊〉 in vs. Eph. 4. 30. 1 Thes. 5. 19 That we discerne the voyce of our Master and obay it Math. 8. 9. Macar hom 12 That euery day we sweepe and water his chaÌ„ber with the besome and teares of repentance Zach. 13. 1. Cyprian That in his Temple there want not morning and euening sacrifice Macar hom 28 Bastard professors lodges this holy spirit in a wrong roome Eph. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 6. 20. Humble gestures of the bodie in publike exercises of diuine worship prophanly scorned by some Superstitiously abused by others Seeing we are the temples of God we should be more beautifull within then without Exod. 28. 36 But the wicked are compared sometime to open and sometime to paâ—nted Sepulchers Mat. 23. 27. Psal. 32. 2. Ioh. 1. 47. Rom. 2. 29. The secondary great question in religion is this who are Christians Mat. 11. 3. A soueraigne rule whereby Christians of all estates must be tryed Acts. 25. 23. Christ and his Spirit are not sundred 1 Iohn 4. 13 Gal. 5. 22. 23 24 Operations of the spirit are two-fold Externall common to al men Iohn 1. 1 Cor. 12. 3. Internall and proper to the godly Three effects wrought by the speciall operation of the spirit in the godly Sanctification Intercession Consolation Math. 26. That a Christian who hath Gods spirit knowes that he hath him Gal. 2. 20. 2 Cor. 13. 5. And therefore may be sure of saluation is proued by three names giuen to the holy spirit 1 He is Gods Seale Eph. 4. 30. Gods earnest 1 Ioh. 5. 10. Rom. 8. 16. Gods witnesse Sinne causes the Lord deny his owne creature Luk. 13. 27. Consolation against the fruite of sin specially against death whereunto we are subiect The death whereunto we are subiect is neither totâ—ll nor perpetuall The Comforts of God are not common to all men indifferently Mat. 10. 12. 13. Mat. 7. 6. 2. Kin. 9. 18. Christ dwelling in vs is by his spirit no carnal presence required to make our vnion with him Act. 3. 21. Aug. epist. 57 adâ— Darâ—â—n Act. 1. 11. The comfort of Ethnikes against death not comparable to ours and our courage inferior to theirs Tit. 1. 16. Our bodies are not onely mortall but dead The officers of death hath bouÌ„d vs alredy Gen. 3. 19. Therefore should we liue in the body vnder feare 1 Pet. 1. 12. Phil. 2. 12. The pittifull securitie of carnall professors Psal. 58. 9. Psal. 73. 19. Death entred into the body should represse our naturall pride Bernard Aug ser. 21. Should learne vs temperance and sobrietie Bernard 1 Cor. 6. 13. Sathans shamelesse impudencie discouered Gen. 31. 7. A good answer to be giuen Sathan in all his tentations to sinne Rom. 6. 21. Seeing he hath deceiued vs so oft let vs beleeue him no more Iudg. 16. 1 King 22. How they who liue in sin are murtherers of themselues Psal. 34. 21. Strange death and diseases commeth vpon men through the groth of their sinnes against God Leuit. 26. 25 Cypri ad Demet. Delay of iudgement confirms the wicked in euill and it is the first impediment which stayes them froÌ„ repenting at Gods threatnings Deu. 29. 18. Eccles. 8. 11. Rom. 2. 4. But they who are spared should learne wisedome by iudgements exâ—cuted vpon others 2 Pet. 2. 3. Cyp. de lapsis serm 5. Luke 13. Aug. de ciuit Dei cap. 8 Why some wicked men are punished in this life and not others Psal. 58. 11. It is a great iudgement not to be corrected by God Hos. 4. 14. Ber. in Cant. hom 42. Philo. lib. de confus linguarum Psa. 119. 71 Psal. 73. 4. Prou. 1. 32. Aug. Marcellino epist. 5 Impediment Wicked men repent not because they see the Godly subiect to the same outward euils which come vpon them The actions pasâ—â—ons of the 〈◊〉 and wicked different in one and the self same thing Cyprian ad Dâ—met Basil. hexam hom 10. Tertull. de resur carnis As also of their meruailous coniunction Bern. in die natal dom serm 2. This doctrine knowne but not considered How that harmony which was betweene the soule and body by creation is now turned into disagreement Foure estates of mans soule body vnited Comfort our estate in this life is neither our last nor best estate Comfort wee 〈…〉 which no deâ—th can extinguiâ—h The prison of the body being broken the soule that was prisoner escapes Phil. 1. 21. Gâ—n 3. Rom. 16. 20. Amb. de poem lib. 1. cap. 13. Wicked men dye eyther vncertaine of comfort Eph. 4. 18. Or most certaine of condemnation 1 Pet. 4. 19. Gen. 46. 4. O what a kindnes He is a holy balme wherby the body shall be preserued immortall Worldlings seeke immortalitie the wrong way Esay â—5 2. Life is first restored to the soule and then to the body Iohn 1. 29. Phil. 2. 21. Ber. de adueÌ„ dom ser. 4. What necessity is here that hee who raysed Christ shall also raise vs Ephe. 1. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 20 Tertul. de resur carnis Seeing our Lord was among the dead let vs not feare when God cals vs to lye down among them also Reâ— 7. What comfort Christs reâ—urrection giues vs against death Mat. 28. 5. 6 Resurrection is a work of God and not of man Rom. 4. 19. Examples of the ResurrectioÌ„ Gen. 5. 2 Kings 2. Acts. 9. 40. Acts. 3. Gods working both in our selues and the creature coâ—firmes the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. Aug. de verb. Apost ser. 34 A two-fold meditation to coÌ„firme the resurrection How of a litle drop God madâ— vs that which now wee are Iust. Mart. â—pol 2. ad Senat. Rom. How God hath made vs of nothing to be that which now wee are Ciril catech 4 It is easier to restore one that hath been then to make one that neuer was Ouâ— bodâ—es shall be raised with new qualities They shall bee honourable Members lame shal be restored Tertul. de resur carnis They shall be glorious Phil. 3. 2â— Mat. 17. They shall be spirituall Acts. 1. 11. Resurrection is a benefit when remission of sin goes before it and eternal life follows after it Exhortation What fruit wee should gather of the Apostles former doctrin Consolation exhortation both necessary for vs. Ber ser. 46. in Cant. Euery benefite of god is a new obligation bâ—â—ding vs to serue him Christ hath freed vs from all other seruice that we might be bound to his owne He is a seruant of seruants who is not the seruant of Christ Iesus We are bound to do God seruice by two great bands especially Creation 1 Cor. 9. 7. It is a shame that man craues that of his inferiours
The deplorable hardnes of hart in this age that cannot mourne Gen. 4. 22. Num. 20. 11 Seing wee haue so many causes of mourning without vs the troublesome estate of Gods Church Nehem. 1. 4 1. King 29. 4 1. Sam. 4. 19. Amos. 6. 6. Causes of mourning within vs our manifold sinnes Rom. 7. 24. 2 Kin. 20. 23 And our manifold tentations Act. 20. 19. Ioshua 10. 6. The other effect the spirit works in vs is a waiting for deliuerance 2. Cor. 1. 3. 4 Prou. 24. 13 The day of death and day of resurrection earnestly waited for by the godly Iob. 14. 14. Mat. 6. 10. Luke 11. 3. Death comes on the wicked as Iâ—hu came on Iehoram 2 King 9. 23. 24. We should not soiourne in the body like Ionas in the sides of the ship but like Abraham in the doore of the tabernacle Exod. 12. 11. Gen. 18. 1. 1. King 19. 9 Ionas 1. 5. The day of Christs second comming longed for 1 Cor. 1. 7. Philip. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Heb. 9. 28. As the Iewes waited for the yeere of Iubilie so should we for the day of Christ but alas few doe so Reu. 22. 20. Leuit. 25. 10. The wounded coÌ„science euen of the godly deâ—ires not death Psal. 51. 9. Psal. 86. 3. Luke 2. 29. Adoption is eyther begun as now or accompished as wee looke for it There is also a two-fold redemption first of the soule froÌ„ sin secondly of the body from death Iohn 1. 29. Reu. 20. 5. 6 CoÌ„fort against the present base estate of our bodyes 2 King 19. Bernard He who hath the first redemption shall be sure of the second Bernard An obiection answered This verse abused to impugne Iustification by Faith Faith and hope compaired in their relation to Christ. Iohn 3. 36. 1 Cor. 13. 9. 10. Faith and hope compared in their mutuall relation betweene themselues Psal. 50. 15. Habak 2. 3. The right place assigned to euery one of these three Faith Hope Loue in the worke of saluation The doctrine of Iustification by Faith onely takes not away Hope Loue. Calumnie of the aduersary concerning this confuted Hope of a Christian is a strong thing depending on sure warrants The first wararant of our Hope is the word of God 1 Pet. 7. 4. A short description of the Nature of Hope August The conclusion of his first principall argument of comfort against the crosse Sixe seuerall reasons of comfort lurking vnder this one The worldlings comfort is in things that are seene the Christians not so Augustines Allegory on the words of Christ. Luke 11. 11. Worldlings haue no present pleasures such as are gone are lost such as are to come or vncertaine Impatience in trouble proceeds from the want of Hope Licentiousnes in prosperitie proceeds from the want of hope Without patience no grace can be preserued Ethnicke philosophers excluded from the praise of true Patience Worldlings sustyning great distresse for gaine are also excluded from the praise of true Patience Atheists who pine themselues to commit euill excluded from the praise of true Patience The Christian is freed from wickednes not from weaknes Why infirmities are left in vs after our regeneration Our infirmities are manifold Wee should strengthen our selues most where we are weakest Yet so that we remember that the enimie repulsed at one place will assault another Acts. 8. 31. Praier is a communing of the soule with God Our natural inabilitie to pray is eyther in our corrupt vnderstanding by which we seek things vnlawfull Numb 16. Or in our corrupt affection by which wee seeke things lawfull for the wrong end Iames. 4. 3. Mat. 6. 33. What good can we doe by Nature seeing we cannot doe so much as pray for our selues Gen. 4. 22. How the Spirit requests for vs. Chrisâ—an Mat hom 10. If the Lord refuse that which we wil it is because it is not for our weale And the refusal of anything to his owne is not without the graunt of a better Acts. 1. 6. Prayer which obtaines all other gifts is also a gift of God therefore the praise of all is due to the Lord 1 Cor. 4. 7. Comfort for the godly wheÌ„ no man will speake for them they want not Intercessours Miserable are those who bend their tongues against them for whom the holy Spirit maketh request 2. Chron. 18. Let not man therefore sinne vnder hope of secrecie Esay 29. 15. Psal. 94. 89 10. 11 But let the eye of the Lord be an awband euenin secret to keepe vs from sinne 2 Sam. 2. 22. Gen. 42. 18. The sonnes of Adam seeke to hide themselues from the Lord But in vaine The heart only makes the difference between the true christian counterfaite It is in great wisedome that God hath locked vp the hart of one man from another The soueraignty of God ouer man appears in this that hee is vpon the secrets of their hearts Man hath but his hart to hold him vp God can take it fâ—oÌ„ him when hee will Dan. 4. 6. We haue neede of great reuerence in praier seeing we speak to him who searcheth the heart Psal. 139. 23 Three things to be obserued in Prayer That preparation go before it Motiues to preparation That there be attention in prayer That after prayer therebe thanksgiuing to God The curse of Moab is vpon prophane men they pray and preuailes not Esay 1. 15. Ierem. 7. 9. Seeing the spirit requests for Saints onely how shall we know that he requests for vs who are sinners 1 Ioh. 1. 8. 1 Ioh. 5. 18. Rom. 7. 15. 17 In the christian man are two men the new and the old God iudges of the Christian by the new man and not by the old Num. 23. 21 Rom. 7. 24. How it is to be vnderstood that he who is borne of God sinneth not The new man liues in the body like Lot in Sodome Psal. 120. 5. Reioycing when he doth good grieued when he doth euill Rom. 7. 15. 〈◊〉 â—hould not pâ—â—sent petitioÌ„s to God which are not according to his wil. A Christian hath accesse to the priuie chaÌ„ber of the great king euer when he pleaseth The third principall argument of comfort is from the prouidence of God working all things to the good of his owne Manifold blessings of God are vpon the Godly Psal. 34. 19. 1 Cor. 10. 13 Zach. 1. 2â— If the first fruits of our comfort be so sweete what shall the full masse be None but a Christian can know the mysteries of the Gospell 1 Cor. 9. 11. 1 Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 2. 5. 6. Pearles which none know but they who haue them Worldlings speake of them like birds counterfaiting the voyce of man Worldlings cursed with the curse of the Serpent Sure knowledge of Christian comfort is the mother of patience Ioh. 21. 15. Other men hazards vnder hope but the Christian runs as sure to obtaine Rom. 16. 20 2 Chron. 20. 17 One of Sathans slights is to cause vs to iudge of the works of
stretch out his affections toward the heauens Abraham sat in the doore of his Tabeâ—nacle when the Angell appeared vnto him Elias came out to the mouth of his Caue when the Lord appeared to him and we must also reioyce to come out of the caue and tabernacle of this wretched body if we would meet with the Lord yea euen while as we dwell in the body if in our affection we come not out and stand as it were in the doore of our tabernacle but like Ionas sleeping in the sides of the ship we lye downe in the hollow of our heart sleeping in carelesse securitie it is not possible that the Lord can be familiar with vs. The other day for which the godly are said to wait is the day of Christs second comming The Apostle giues this as a token of the rich grace of God bestowed on the Corinthians that they waited for the appearance of Christ and to the Philippians hee saith our conuersation is in heauen from whence we looke for our sauiour the Lord Iesus yea hee giues it out as a marke of all those who are to be glorified when he sayth there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse and not for me onely but for all them who loue Christs second appearing And againe Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many and vnto them that looke for him shall he appeare the second time without sinne vnto saluation These and many moe places proues that there is great scarcitie of Faith and spirituall grace in this generation there being so few that vnfainedly longs for the day of his appearance suppose euery man in word mumble vp that petition let thy kingdome come yet are they few who when Iesus testifieth surely I come quicklie can in truth answer with the godly Amen euen so come Lord Iesus and all because we are neither weary of our present miserie nor certaine of that glorious deliuerance to come otherwise vve would long for it and reioyce at the smallest appearance thereof The woman with childe reckons her time as neere as shee can and albeit others haue no minde of it yet is it alway in her remembraunce because that then she hopes for deliuerance Among the Iewes as the day of their Iubilied awes neere so the ioy of them that were in prison encreased being assured that then they were to be releeued and should not wee much more reioyce the neere that the day of our eternall Iubilie draweth vnto vs wherein all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes and sorrow and mourning shall flye away for euer Where for the comfort of the weake Christian wee are to consider whether the Godly be alway in this estate that they dare lift vp their heads with ioy and pray for Christs second appearance or not To this I answere that their disposition herein is according to the estate of their conscience as the eye being hurt is content to be couered with a vaile and desireth not to behold the light wherein otherwise it reioyceth so the conscience of the Godly being any way wounded is afraid to stand before the light of the countenance of God till the time that it be cured againe And this made Dauid to craue that the Lord would spare him a little and giue him space to recouer his strength but after mourning and earnest calling for mercie the conscience being pacified then doe the Godly say with Simeon Now Lord let thy Seruant depart for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation For the Adoption He said before that we haue receiued the spirit of Adoption and now he saith that wee waite for Adoption but wee must vnderstand that there is a begun Adoption whereby wee are made the sonnes of God and that wee haue receiued alreadie there is in like manner a consummate Adoption whereby wee are manifested to be the sonnes of God and entred into the full possession of our fathers inheritance and that we waite for The redemption of our bodies As there is a two-fold adoption so also a two-fold redemption the first is defined by the Apostle to be the remission of our sinnes and that we haue receiued already the second is called in that same Chapter the redemption of the possession and here the redemption of our bodyes and this we looke for to come As the soule was first wounded by sinne and then the body with mortalitie and corruption so the Lord Iesus the restorer who came to repair the wound which sathan inflicted on man doth first of all restore life to the soule by the remission of sins which he hath obtayned by his suffering in the flesh and therefore the Herald of his first comming cryed before him behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world This is the first Resurrection blessed are they who are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power but in his second comming we shall also bee pertakers of the second redemption hee shall redeeme our bodyes from the power of the graue wherein now they lye captiued and deliuer them from the shame of mortalitie and corruption Let this comfort vs against the present base and contemptible state of our bodyes now they are but filthy sinckes of corruption and vessels so full of vncleannesse that the Lord hath appointed in the body fiue conduits to purge the naturall filth thereof and after this they are to be laid downe in the bed of corruption the wormes spread vnder them and aboue them as it is said of the King of Ashur shall deuoure and consume their flesh the earth shall eate vp their bones and turne them into dust the braine which was the seat of many proud and vaine imaginations becomes after death oftentimes the seat of the vgly â—oads the reynes that were the seat of concupiscence engendreth serpents and the bowels which could neuer be gotten satisfied with meate and drinke shall be replenished with armies of crawling wormes but against all these we haue this comfort that as presently we haue obtained remission of our sinnes so are we assured of a glorious redemption of our bodies qui enim resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad vitam for hee that riseth now in his soule shall hereafter rise in his body to eternall life And of this euery man is admonished that if he loue his body he should in time take heed to the estate of his soule see that it be pertaker of the first redemption which is the remission of sinnes and be sure thy body shall be pertaker of the second redemption It is a pittifull thing to see what preposterous care is taken by men for conseruation of their bodily life there is nothing they leaue vndone vt differant mortem quam auferre non possunt that they may at the least prolong and delay death
which they cannot cut away but if men take so much paines and suffer so strait a dyet of body and bestow so great expenses that they may liue a short vvhile longer vpon earth vvhat should men doe that they may liue for euer in heauen Verse 24. For we are saued by hope but hope that is seene is not hope for how can a man hope for that which he seeth IN this verse and the subsequent the Apostle answeres an obiection seeing hee said before that vve haue receiued the Spirit of adoption how hath he said now that we are still waiting for adoption He doth therefore teach vs that both these are true we are saued now and we looke for a more full saluation hereafter we are adopted now and vve looke for the perfection of our adoption hereafter and that it is so hee proues here by this reason the saluation that novv vve haue is by hope therefore it is not yet come nor perfected The necessitie of this consequence depends vpon the nature of hope vvhich is of things that are not seene nor as yet come to passe This place is abused by the aduersaries to impugne the doctrine of iustification by Faith we are saued say they by hope and therefore not by faith onely That wee may see the weaknesse of their reason we vvill first compare Faith and Hope in that relation which they haue to Christ secondly in that relation vvhich they haue mutually among themselues For we deny not that Faith Hope and Loue each one of them hath a place in the worke of our saluation but the question betweene vs and them is concerning the right placing of them First then it is certaine that both faith and hope looke vnto Christ Iesus Christ and that which he hath conquered vnto vs is the obiect of them both but diuersly for faith enters vs into a present possession of Christ and his benefits he that beleeueth in me saith our Sauiour hath eternall life hee saith not onely hee shall haue it but also that presently hee hath it Hope againe lookes for a future possession of Christ which shall bee much more excellent than that which presently we inioy for the possession of Christ which now I haue by Faith is imperfect and mediate by Faith I know Christ but in part by Faith I apprehend him but in part also and this possession I haue it mediately to wit by the meanes of the Word and Sacraments but my hope directs mee to looke for a mroe excellent possession of Christ within a short while in whom I shall enioy much more than now by the knowledge of my Faith I can see in him or yet by apprehension of my Faith I can comprehend of him And this is that perfect and immediate possession of Christ which by Hope we looke for Now as for their mutuall relation among themselues Faith is of things past present and to come Hope is onely of things to come Faith is more largely extended than Hope wee hope for nothing which wee beleeue not but something wee beleeue for which wee hope not wee beleeue that the paines of hell abide the wicked but we hope them not for hope is an expectation of good to come they may fall vnder feare but come not vnder hope Againe Faith is the mother of Hope for of that imperfect knowledge and apprehension of Christ which I haue by Faith there ariseth in mee an hope and expectation of a better Hope againe is not onely the daughter of Faith but the conseruer and nourisher of Faith the piller that vnderprops it when it faints for in this life we are beset with so manifold tentations the worke of God seeming oftentimes contrary to his word and things appearing to fall out otherwise than the Lord hath promised that our Faith thereby is wonderfully daunted and therefore hath neede to be supported by Hope which teacheth alwayes with patience to depend vpon Gods truth and to looke for a better As for example the Lord saith Call vpon me in the day of thy trouble I will heare thee and deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me according to this promise the Christian calling vpon God and yet not finding deliuerance his Faith begins to faint but then Hope comes in and succoureth Faith and her counsell is the vision is for an appointed time at last it shall speake and not lye though it tarry waite for it shall surely come and not stay and this Faith being strengthened by Hope continues her prayers to God vntill she obtaine her promised and desired deliuerance And of this it is euident in what sense it is that the Apostle saith wee are saued by Hope to wit because by it wee are vpholden in trouble for he is not here disputing of the manner of our Iustification which he hath done before but discoursing of those comforts which wee haue to sustaine vs in affliction If ye aske by which of these three Faith Hope and Loue we are iustified that is by which of them we apprehend Christs righteousnes offered to vs in the Gospell the Apostle hath answered already wee are iustified by Faith If yee demand which of these three chiefely sustaines vs in affliction the Apostle here telleth you that when Faith is weake Hope saues vs that wee dispaire not and if yee demaund which of these three declares vs to bee men iustified by Faith in Christ the Apostle telleth you wee must declare our Faith by good workes for Faith worketh by Loue these are the right places which these three excellent graces of the Spirit hath in the worke of our saluation and they goe so ioyntly together that they cannot bee sundred When we say that a man is iustified by Faith onely we doe not therefore make the iustified man to be without Hope and Loue. For albeit in the action of the apprehending and applying of Christs righteousnesse Faith onely workes for which wee say truely wee are iustified by Faith onely yet Hope and Loue haue other actions pertayning to saluation necessarily requisite in the iustified man And this doth cleare vs of that false calumnie wherewith the aduersaries doe charge vs as if we did teach that Faith might be without Hope or Loue because wee affirme that wee are iustified by Faith onely I say most truely when I say that among all the members of the body the eye onely sees but if any man collect of my speach that the eye is onely in the body without eare or hand he concludes wrong For albeit in the facultie of seeing I say the eye onely sees yet doe I not for that seperate it from the communion of the rest of the members of the body In the Sunne heat and light goe inseperably together of these two it is the heat onely that warmes vs doe I therefore say that the heat is without the light Among all the graces of the Spirit when I say that Faith