themselues but hoped after Oyle of the wyser Virgins were denyed and had the gates of the Bridegrome shut vp against them Séeke therefore by the Gospell of God to nourishe thy fayth in Christ by whom thou shalt be at peace with God and in a most quyet conscience thou shalt ende a godly lyfe and make a ioyful departure Otherwise albeit thou haue the Popishe Oyle of all the Virgin Priests and saintes in the worlde it cannot helpe thée thy departure shall be the beginning of sorrowe and an absolute departure from God his Aungels Saints and saued creatures and shalt haue thy portion in the Hels for euer Be not deceyued beléeue the truth God graunt thée with vs so to doe and to lyue in truth all the dayes of thy lyfe and in perfite departing from spirituall death which is sinne and iniquitie For after thy departure here hence thou shalt be as frée from the state of the lyuing and the actes and déeds of them for thée as the wicked dead in sinne are frée from righteousnesse estranged from the lyfe of God Secondly we haue sayde that the soule is immortall and therfore cannot dye For the holy Scriptures do euerie where recorde it Thou shalt not leaue my soule in Hell vz in graue sayth Dauid neyther shall thy holye one see corruption Psal 16.8 As this Scripture serueth chiefely to Christ so doth it to all other his members Againe the Preacher sayth deuyding the soule and body a sunder The bodye sayth he shal returne to dust from whence it came but the soule to him that gaue it Eccle. 12. And Christ Iesus sayth in Iohn Verily Ioh. 5.24 verily I say vnto you he that heareth my worde and beleeueth in him that sent me The soule sleepeth not with the bodye hath eternall lyfe and he shall not come into iudgement but hath passed from death to life This place as it most plainely prooueth the immortalitie of the soule saying He hath euerlasting life he hath passed from death to lyfe which cannot be once dreamed to bée spoken of the bodye for that passeth from lyfe to naturall death and to the sléeping graue So doth it refell those Heretiques which eyther denie the immortalitie of the soule or imagine the same to sleepe tyll the day of iudgement with the body And to this ende serue the words of Paule I desyre to be dissolued and to be with Christ But the Storie or Parable of Diues Lazarus Phil. 1.23 most lyuely expresseth the one the other Diues in body is sumptuously buried Luc. 16. but his soule is presently in Hell in torments and beholde he sléepeth not for he féeling his terrible payne is exercised in beholding the ioy of his late despised Lazarus and calleth for succour and maketh peticion for his Brethren which yet remayne a lyue all which approoue the soule immortall and not to sléepe a sencelesse death wyth the bodye So the bodye of Lazarus cast in some Dytche or open Fielde his soule by the ministrie of Angels Math. 8.11 is taken vp into Abrahams bosome where he sléepeth not but enioyeth the pleasant comforte of the Heauens But possible thou wouldst aske me then howe these places can stande with those which affirme the soule to dye and also say that the godly after death doe sléepe As that soule that synneth shall dye We confesse for answere that the soule is not altogether immortall as our God is and not all subiect to death we confesse that there is a death wherewith the wicked soule shall be ouerwhelmed and so is the soule but after a spirituall sorte both mortall and immortall The death of the soule is when his lyfe is not in him Mans soule mortall and immortall the lyfe of the soule is Christ Iesus by whose spirite the godly doe lyue in soule a lyfe to eternall lyfe Of this lyfe speaketh Paule thus I lyue yet not I Gal. 2.20 Colo. 3.3 1. Iohn 5.11.12 but it is Christ that lyueth in mee And to the Colloss Our lyfe is layde vp with God in Christ when Christ which is our lyfe shall appeare we shal appeare with him glorious That soule that hath not Christ hath not lyfe but is already dead though in bodye he lyueth For the wrath of God abydeth vppon him Vnderstande then that this worde Death is mente not of the substance of the soule which cannot dye but of her condition which shall lye in the Lake of fyre and shall burne and lyue for euer which is called the Second death Reuel 20.14 Eph. 3.17 Ephe. 2.1 1. Tym. 5.6 Tess 4.13 By fayth Paule prayeth that Christ may dwell in our harts and affirmeth Christ by fayth to lyue in him Ergo wythout fayth the soule is dead lyuing in dead workes and dead sinnes as the vnprofitable Wydowes are deade in soule though aliue in body To the place of Paule where he sayth He would not haue vs ignorant touching them which sleepe and such other places of scripture We must interprete him to speake of the body and not of the soule for as when the soule is ioyned with the bodye he alwayes waketh when the body taketh rest So disioyned much lesse he is said to sléepe And the body is sayde to sléepe not in respect that the soule lyeth deade or sléeping within him for we haue prooued the soule to be with God but in regarde of his rysing againe when the soule shal returne to his former bodye at the day of iudgement And by the sléepe of Death he awayteth the retyre of his mortall lyfe by the reconiunction of his selfe soule and bodye sanctified in Christ the lyfe of the bodye with whome tyll then the soules of the saints raigne vnder the Aulter in heauen not sléeping but waking and crying vpon God How long Lorde holy and true doest not thou iudge and auenge the blood of them that dwel on the earth These were the soules of them sayth Iohn Reue. 6. which lay vnder the Aulter which is Christ that were kylled for the worde of God and for the testimonie they maintayned Beholde ye cruell Papistes you haue killed the bodies but the soules of our English saints are with their Protector Christ Gen. 4.10 and their blood doth begge you vengeance if ye repent not Abrahams Bosome Thirdly Symeon calleth Death but a departure bicause for a tyme onely the soule taking leaue of the massy fleshe as we haue sayde doth depart to the rest in peace prepared for him in his consolation Christ Namely the Bosome of his Father Abraham which by Salomon is called the hand of God Sapi. 3. Apo. 69. The soules of the righteous sayth he are in the hands of God the torments of Hel doe not touch them And by Iohn the Heauens and the Aulter which is Christ and by Christ Paradise as to the Théefe saying on the Crosse This day shalte thou be with me in Paradise And in
vnder foote his death most auayleable and glorious Thou shalt dye a death immortall and ignominious But the heartes of the regenerate sonnes of God feare not death bycause they are assured by his spirite to lyue with Christ This is the cause why so manye Martyrs wyllingly giue their bodyes to the fyre and other deaths terrible to the fleshe Phil. 1.29 bicause his spirite which maketh them on this wise to confesse his holye name goeth with them through the midst of the flames and corroborateth their hartes moste constantly to wade through the valley of this shadowe of death by fayth in him Secondly the children of God Hebr. 12. for the moste parte are so farre from fearing naturall death that they desyre and couet the same as the last remedy against the enimy Satan 1. Cor. 15.26 Rom. 7. Ephe. 1.14 Luk. 21.28 Rom. 8.23 as the day of delyuerie from the body of synne lastly as the dore of entrance into their eternall redemption by Christ The wicked we graunt to hunger for death many tymes but it is not to shut vp the shop of synne but by that meane to ende the daies of their deserued shame And hereof come so manye murtherers Iudas children which ashamed to liue being charged with a most guyltie conscience doe hang drowne or cut their owne throates which is the force of Satan in them as thereby beginning their endlesse sorrowes but in the godly there is this mature moderation for as they most hartilye with Paule desyre to be dissolued So they submit themselues moste humbly to his worde of decrée Phi. 1.21.22.23 c. in their appointed course regarding the place they haue and the office they beare wherein their lyfe God will vse longer then their desyre to the profite of those to whome he hath giuen them for his honorable instruments to the benefite of his beloued Church Wherfore they restrayne theyr peticions in Symeons lyne thus O Lorde when it pleaseth thée according to thy worde for my dayes are thereby numbred which I shall not passe Note here that no Papist in the perswation of Popery can say vnto his soule Now shall I depart in peace according to thy worde No Papist in Popery can dye in peace For neyther hath Popery or any part therof warrant thence or doth that profession worke peace in the conscience of his pacient at the hower of death but farre the contrary For if when Satan féedeth their ignorant humors and with pleasure draweth them to the profession they neuer therein can finde sure foote of stay to quyet their minds for sinne How shall they thereby feele that necessary bulwarke and Ancor of health at the instant of natures farewell when that subtill Serpent doth now no longer dally but draw them into despaire shewing them the multitude of their sinnes their securitie in euil their ignorance in God their doubt of his fauour which is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Popery his seuere iustice and their forlorne estate Then aske they by what meanes shall I passe his iudgemente By Masses sayth one by the Popes pardon sayth an other by the merits of the saints sayth the thirde But then doth Satan sharply fight against the wounded conscience and openeth the truth as thereby further to pierce his conscience to death and enforcing to his harte these things cannot helpe thée thy trust is vaine in them Against which temptation what helpe in Popery They are fayne to cry this is thy helpe euen Iesus Christ but then his comfort is cut short in that they pull his meditation from the Lorde crucifyed and lay on bed before him a brasen Crucifixe They tell him that his friends shall praye for him and the Church shal be plyed with Trentals to delyuer him from Purgatory which doctrine is most troublesome and so the poore Papist for all that Popery can doe dyeth thereby moste doubtfull of rest if not most fearefull of eternall payne Consyder this well there is not the best treasure in Popery that doth warrante thée peace in death If the death of Christ be not sufficient hereto so say they most blasphemously where then shall we haue it in the Masse No for then would that sacrifice sometime cease But so long as the worlde endureth euen so long will they if God ouerthrowe not their seate contynue that deade sacrifice for the dead soule in whose cause it is daylie song or saide Doth not this argue a doubt of valor in the Masse And also of the peace of the soule for whome it is called Requiem Is not this true Can this worke peace in the hart Popery yeeldeth no quyet to mans conscience when the best account made at the foote therof he fyndeth an arrearege which his soule is to aunswere in burning fyre and flaming brimstone in a Purgatorie of payne whence he cannot by all the cunning of Popish arte know when or how to be delyuered Smale quyet in conscience to a poore Papist which séeth no remedy but that he muste from lyfe to death from earthly troubles to hellish paines without intermission to be boyled in lead and imprisoned by Deuils in paynes incurable O poore harte be wise in God imbrace his word beléeue in his Christ walke in his statutes by the grace of his spirite so shalt thou be assured that the popish Purgatory is Hell from whence no man can be delyuered So shall all terror of death be drawne from thée Luc. 16.16 Ephe. 1.13.14 1. Ioh. 5.10 Rom. 8.1 for his holye spirite shall seale thée vp to redemption and the witnesse shal be within thée agaynst Synne Satan Pope and Hell that no condemnation can come to thée which by fayth art ingraffed into Christ whose lyfe is not to walke after the wicked fleshe but after Gods holye spirite guyding thy soule and body into true righteousnesse and sanctification during thy naturall lyfe By this rule onely shalt thou obtayne peace but to the wicked sayth the Prophete vz to the Papist lyuing and dying in Popery there shall be no peace Esa 48.22 Obiection And here I preuent this obiection What say you then of all our forefathers in the long time of Popery are they all without peace What is become of our forefathers in Popry Are they all condemned No God forbid When Achab and Iesabell had ouerrunne all Israell with Idolatry so that Helias supposed hymselfe onely to stande for the cause of God 3. Reg. 19. the Lord answered that he had reserued seauen thousand that is to saye a great multitude in euery part of Israell which did not bowe the knée to Baal Nero was a most cruell persecutor of Christes Church and yet saint Paule wytnesseth Iesus the Lorde Phil. 4.22 to haue his Churche euen in his persecuting Courte But ye will saye these were drawne by preaching of the worde but in Popery the worde is kept hydden from the people It is so Yet we doubt not but as at the
miseries of sinne but so as with griefe and anguishe of heart they carry that lumpe of death Yet they in pacient mortification by his holy spirite wayte his tyme set for their delyuerie and earnestly desyre the same Note also the right ende of this peticion which by the wicked and desperate is abused A due respect in the desyre of naturall death The godlesse cumbred with piercing sting of conscience ashamed of their state and looking for his heauye iudgement doe also desyre and cry for death So doe the poore ignorante persons which in pryson in Gallyes or Iayles and pyning in payne The poore oppressed the néedie which cannot haue to satisfie the hungry crye of their children and selues the sick pacient which long hath lyen of an incurable disease These and such lyke desyre death but it is not to the right ende for which it should be desyred They only haue respect to the present paine or shame and to fynish that they do not onely desyre but the wicked desperate persons in despite of God his holy lawe and instinct of Nature doe with the pernicious knyfe of perpetuall paine bereaue for a tyme the sorrowes of thys synfull corps But such desperate death is the purchase of Hel with Iudas Achitophel king Saule and such others Now the true and lyuely ende of this peticion in the elect of God is That least they should by to much acquaintance wyth finne and death become resty in the bed of hir delight and so be slayne Sap. 4.11.12 sléeping with Holophernes in dronken pleasures of the fleshe the same daylie more and more assaulting them they doe pray for death as for the last remedye and perfite victory against sinne and Sathan Yet so as I saye still they doe by fayth in hope suppresse the dolorous griefe of sinne in lyfe with the continual meditation of the inwarde ioyes receyued by grace in Christ and therein solace themselues as with the earnest penny of their Fathers possession which they are assured of when the Lord in mercy shall call them to himselfe by death Till when they punishe this bodie of sinne least it shoulde proue to lustie 1. Tim. 5.23 but they nurrish nature weakned that she may the sooner and the better yéelde the office which their seuerall callings doe require And this is the heauenly ende of our desyre to die that so we may receiue to our selues that life which now is treasured vp for vs with GOD in Christ which is our onely lyfe Col. 3.1.2 And thirdly the loue and longing desyre which in the saintes is apparant for the whole and perfite ioye of the Church the Apostle S. Iohn manifesteth in these wordes O Lorde come quickly Apo. 22.17 which there is approoued by the Lorde who to the comforte of his Church sealeth vp thys prayer with Amen Saying So be it Beholde I come quickly Amen Lorde perfite vs in thée and shortly ende these dayes of sinne for thy holye names sake Lorde Iesu and giue vs that truely call vpon thée thy eternall glorye Amen Last of all when Symeon sayth Lord now let thy seruaunt departe in peace he doth teach vs to abhorre all troublesome and murtherous kinde of death And doth cōuince all those guyltie of this precept Thou shalt not kill which in any maner haue slaine themselues for any cause Symeon abhorreth al troublesome and murdering deaths And doth forewarne the Church of God to flye such damnable enterprises which are no other but the perswasions of Satan and the acte herein is the obsequie of his deadly will Though Symeon desyre to dye and that death is to him comfortable in that he hath séene in bodye and soule the Sauyour of the worlde come now in fleshe to saue his Church by the ransome of his bloud which fayth only maketh death desyred in hart yet will he not shorten his life by sodaine crueltie to be a Felondese But he will dye as hath ordayned the wyll of God And therefore he addeth according to thy worde What shall we then say to them which else haue their great commendation in that to auoyde some the dayes of tyranny some other the sight of Gods church persecuted or to auoyde the purpose of synful persons or the infamy of synne or therby thinking to glorifye God haue from the consistory of the harte giuen commission and commaundement to the violent hande to cut in sunder soule and bodye by murthering stroake of merciles arme Truely I say that neyther Cato Razias Lucretia Curtius or his lyke are sure warrants to thée or yet the Donatists which to bring the Christian Byshops into contempt would offer to kill themselues rather then to prouoke the Emperours sworde against them which they spake to winne more ease when the godly Bishops craued his ayde against their pernitious pollution and yet would they be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cato in kylling himself thought to be ridde of Caesars tyranny by which meanes he offred himselfe to Sathans bondage yea he conuinceth himselfe of folly when he exhorteth hys sonne to obey and séeke the peace of Caesar from whome he ran by murthering death If it were good and a wise parte for his sonne to obteyne the Princes fauour why not for the father also His impacience which could not suffer himself to liue a bearing subiect was a thousande partes worse then the Tyrants crueltie But thou which fearest God hast another rule if the Prince be neuer so cruel thou art commaunded to pray for him that thou mayest liue a quyet godly honest lyfe 1. Tim. 2.12 which thing sayth Paule in that place is good and acceptable What to kyll himselfe from Nero his tyranny being a persecuted christian No but that God will vnder his Regiment giue thée at length a quyet lyfe For the same cause Ieremy sendeth by Baruck Baruk 1.11.12 exhortations to the afflicted Iewes in captiuitie vnder Nabuchadnezar that they should pray for his lyfe Persecuting Princes muste bee prayed for How much more ought wee to call vpon God for such as professe hys Gospell that they might also lyue quyetly vnder him And the Apostles doe arme vs to pacience and vnto forbearing of tyranny with long suffering as well by their owne example as doctrine But in no waies haue they eyther slayne themselues to be ridde of prisons Irons cruell murther or tyranny but haue sought by all meanes rather to maintayne their lyfe to doe more good therein to the Church of God then to hasten their ende by violent stroke For thys cause did Paule exhorte Timothie to pacience willing him to suffer aduersity to do the worke of an Euangelist 2. Tim. 4.5 and to make his ministery knowne He telleth him that he is now ready to be offred to dye for Christ but he feareth it not or will preuente Nero his cruelty by his owne hande but will lyue till the daye of his dissolution which the Lorde hath set
Mathewe he descrybeth Abrahams seate to be in the kingdome of heauen Luc. 23.43 Mat 8.11 Ioh. 14.23 And in Iohn our seates with him in the heauens as in our Mansion house But neuer in the scriptures is the place of our deade godly fathers called eyther Lymbus or Purgatory but contrary they affirme there is no payne to them And Purgatory hath the same paynes the Papists which fayne that place say that Hell hath onely this is the difference that they which be in Purgatory shall come thence by the merits of the Church and purging in fyre in Hell there is no redemption Wherefore the godly fathers were not in Purgatory paynes but in the handes of God which is a Paradise of most pleasure And whereas by the Apostle Peter they go about to proue their Fathers Lymbo as whence the soule of Iesus Christ brought them that place doth neyther affirme the naturall Soule of Christ to go to Hell after his death on the crosse or else that he did bring thence the soules of the fathers For his spirite discending left all those there which he found not in a fayned Lymbo but in the paynefull Helles For thus sayth the Apostle He suffred in the fleshe but was quickned in the spirite 1. Pet. 3.18.19.20 by the which he also wente and preached vnto the spirites that are in prison which were in tymes paste disobedient in the dayes of Noah c. The Apostle sayth not that Christ in his naturall Soule went downe into Hell but he sayth that by that spirite which raysed him to life he preached to them that are in prison Nowe againe he sayth not he fetched out the soules of the fathers which were before hys comming in this prison but he sayth his spirite preached vnto them that still are in prison So farre from delyuerie are they that they as obstinate Rebelles remayne in their former tormentes Nowe then the reason standeth thus By what spirite Christ was raysed from the deade by that same spirite he wente or came to the spirites that are in prison but Christe was raysed not by his owne soule but by the deuine spirite of God euen by the operation of the father Therefore by his deuine power Eph. 1.17.18 not in his humaine soule he came vnto the spirites that are in prison Again note it is one to say he delyuered the Gaole and an other to saye he made an exhortation to the prisoners This their alledged place were it the soule of Christ yet prooueth not a delyuerye but a preaching to them that now was that Sauiour borne dead and crucified for the redemption of the worlde which by his spirite in the mouth of Noah for one hundred and twenty yeares space preached to the disobedient in his dayes had they beléeued That it was not the soule of Christ which quickned Christ from death but the Deuine power these places approue 2. Cor. 13.4 Rom. 8.11 Althoughe he was crucifyed by infyrmitie yet he was raysed and lyueth by the power of God Againe But if the spirite of him that raysed vp Iesus to lyfe dwell in you he that raysed Iesus from the deade wil also quicken your mortal bodies bicause his spirite dwelleth in you And againe Act. 4.10 Be it knowne to you al and to the whole people of Israel that by the name of Iesus of Nazareth whom ye slue and hanged on high whome God raysed vp from death by this man standeth this person sound before you To the Romaynes also we are commaunded to beleue in him Rom. 4.14 which raysed Iesus Christ from death And in the vj. chapter thus As Christ is raysed vp by the glory of the father where note that not by the soule of Christ but by God the father Christ was raysed vp so let vs walke in a newe lyfe And to the Ephesians Ephe. 1.17 Alwayes in my prayers I praye for you that the God of our Lorde Iesus Christ the father of glorye might giue vnto you the spirite of wisedome c. And a little after that ye may know what the hope is of his calling and what the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saintes is and what is the exceeding greatnes of his power towardes them that beleeue according to the working of his mightye power which he wrought in Christ when he raysed hym from the deade set him on his right hande on heauenlye places These places sufficiently expounde our Apostle or rather assist his affirmation which sayth that he suffred in the Fleshe but was raysed in the spirite that is by the Godhead of the father by which spirite in his deuyne nature long before he had our humayne nature vpon him he by his Prophetes taught the inobedient then as by vs his Apostles sayth Peter he preacheth to you in that spirite at this present Yea and also to the verye damned in the Hels no doubt at the death of Christ by the deuyne power of his holye spirite was the glory of his crosse opened to their greater condemnation which contemned their saluation in him as the godlye fathers and their sacred bodyes in great comforte by his power were raysed sundry from their brethren to testifye the glory of this our crucifyed Christ raysed vp by his father and set vp wyth him in glory Adde to this this place of Peter is so farre from warrante to that Popishe opinion that the soule of Christ fetched forth the soules of the godly fathers Adam c. That of the flatte contrary he sayth they to whome thys spirite came were disobedient And that thou shouldest not dreame of Christs soule after his death herein he setteth thée the time when this office was fulfylled saying In the daies of Noah whyle the Arke was a preparing Last of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the godly learned Beza doth interprete qui sunt which are not which were in pryson according to the efficacie of the gréeke worde And the Apostles purpose is not to tell vs that they were in prison what tyme Christe by his spirite in the dayes of Noah preached vnto them for then they were men in naturall lyfe as Noah was but he will giue the Iewes to vnderstande that all were drowned except eyght persons bicause they were disobedient vnto his worde All whose soules that then were damned nowe at the wryting of this Epistle and at this present and euer shall be thoughe their bodyes be rotten and dust are in prison So now most iustly they receyue damnation which refused their saluation in Christ preaching vnto them in spirite in the mouth of Noah not hauing as yet our nature vpon him We conclude therefore that Abrahams Bosome is a place of celestiall comforte a Paradise of pleasure vnspeakable the hande of God deuoyde of Hellish or any torments the Aulter of ioy the kingdome of God Iohn 14.2 Ephe. 1.18.19 Christes fathers house where he sayth are many Mansions euen the inheritance of the iust
their whole actions nowe and to the worldes ende in his present eye and skyll They are to him as present as though they were nowe done before our eyes All things are open naked before his Maiestie 1. Cor. 12.2 This knowledge of the Deuill therfore is of an other inferiour sorte and yet not all after one manner To men in earth is giuen by skyll some foreknowledge of things to come As fyrst they consyder the causes and so certainly iudge of the effects to followe Some causes necessarily drawe their effects some by interception of occurrent matter are cut of so that the effect can in no wise followe The causes drawing their effects giue men their warrant to foretell of that to come whose cause cannot but bring the same So the experte Astronomian by his skyll in arte Mathematicall and séeing the coniunctions and oppositions of the celestial partes can and doe many yeares before for mo then many after to come truely and euydently foretell of the Sunne and seuerall Eclypse is of the Moone al which in truth and déede shall follow and come to passe The other are not of lyke certainety and yet doe men not doubt to iudge by them for that the causes contynuing the effect must needes follow but the cause cut off the effect is taken away As for example that man is a contynuall prodigall person a common dronkarde and a great whoremonger If these causes contynue in him it is of necessity that beggery shal be his best end So do the Sea men by the mayden heyres also so they call the little disperpled cloudes whose endes retourne vpwardes much lyke vnto our Gentles frysled heades in these monstruous dayes a token no doubt of sodaine stormes to come presently déeme of a tempest to aryse The Phisition by the prognostication of the pulse doth foresée the euente of his pacient in his weaknesse and such like But if this knowledge be graunted to be in wise and cunning learned men much more is it to be graunted to infernall Spirites which are not dulled by the grosse humors of mens nature Adde to this their ancient experience in matters their causes and effects done and come to passe in the world synce the begynning of the same all which they haue in perfite memorye And if experience of passed things doe cause olde fathers warely to wayte the successe of lyke matters to come are preferred before the gréene heade for wisedome howe shall we not be forced to yéelde as much and more to the Deuill whose dayes are before accountes and yet not without tyme and memory passing rype Moreouer they haue a substance swift as the wynde and before the Swallow Deuilles swift as the wynde can flée the circuite of the earth and what is done this daye in the extremitie of the East can hereby declare it spéedily after in the Weast Further they are placed in the heauenly ayre Ephe. 6.12 as in a most high Turret of watch whence they may beholde the actions of men a farre of and declare the same instantly as it were by prophecy And once to make an end hereof I say they sée the propheticall scriptures by their skyll in them admeasure the actes of the Church thorowe which knowledge they become verye rype runners in things to come Yet notwithstanding The Deuil deceyued they are often deceyued and moste of all deceyue those which rest vpon their answers For the Lorde doth in his change the harts and so the actes of men from that they were by which Satans foreiudgement is preuented of sorowful euent to follow yea oft times in the twinckling of an eye he stoppeth the causes their effectes As who woulde not haue sayd when the thrée children were cast into the burning ouen Dan. 13. that they should haue perished by fyer but euen there and then began firste the best argument of there long lyfe where and when the Angell euen the sonne of God was sent to stop the cause and coole the flames and in the mydst of them to preserue his seruants and their clothes from hurte by flame or smell of smoke But this could not the Deuill foresée Againe God in his deuine wisdome doth suffer and appoynt the bodies of his saintes to be consumed to ashes in the fyre and to death in other extreme persecutions so as Satan by thys meanes is most often blynded and knoweth not what to say They are deceyued also many tymes partly for that they knowe not the wyll of God further then it is made knowne to them partly for that they cannot déepely enter into the harts of men For that is onely proper to God to be the sercher of the hart and raynes Ier. 17. And many times they doe deceyue by ambition their worshyppers in cause they would seeme ignoraunt in nothing But to relye vpon our aunswere to this obiection that the Deuill cannot foreknow Thou séest gentle Reader what hath bene layde before thine eyes herein and thereby mayst perceyue that he is not altogether bereaued of foreknowledge but many wayes enabled too in some sortes and by degrées therein And touching Sauls case Satan knew very well by that was in proofe practised how the matter stood betwéene the Iewes and the Palistins he sawe the Israelits armye weake and halfe discomfited he sawe that Samuell had prophecied Sauls depriuation and that Samuell had anointed Dauid in his succéeding place and therfore he concluded Saule to be with him the morrowe after But Saule he killed himselfe Ioh. 8. and so became the sonne of his father Satan which is a lyer and a murtherer from the beginning and expresseth himselfe herein to be both at once A lyer in that he sayth he is Samuell and is not but the false deceyuer Satanas a murtherer in that kylleth the soule of Saule by feeding his fantasie in that abhomination which is forbidden by the Lorde Deut. 18. namely that anye should aske counsell at the deade And so haue we I truste sufficiently answered that scruple whether the Deuil can predicere foretell of things to come No necessitie therfore that this Spectrum should be Samuel when as so playne proofe is that Satan doth know much and can also in sundry wayes foretell which to the ignorante séemeth prophecie of matters hereafter to be performed This knowne the second prop to say that of necessitie this was Gods Prophet Samuel falleth of himselfe downe to the dust Neyther did the Prophetes of God at anye tyme prophecy tyll they had receyued from the Lorde his good pleasure wherfore they alwayes say Haec dicit Dominus Thus sayth the Lord. Or is the Lorde so scanted of Prophets or prone to consent to the wickeds desyre that from the dead he will and must call vp his departed seruants Nay both of these is denyed in that story of Diues and Lazarus Luc. 16. Esa 8.19.20 They that lyue are denyed of the appearing of the deade and
for enstructions they are sent to the law and propheticall bookes of Gods holy scriptures To determine this disputation the Prophets saints and seruants of God refuse to take deuine worship giuen vnto them Apoc. 19.10 Act. 10.16 14.4 But this Spectrum dyd take it and reprooueth not the same an absolute conclusion that it was the spirite of Satan and not the Prophete of the Lorde Samuell who rightly sayde that Saule in soule should be with him on the morrow which is the place of all abiect Murtherers which from true religion fall to his opposite Hebr. 6.4 Idolatry as sayth the Apostle It is impossible that they which were once lightened and haue tasted of the heauenly gifte and were made partakers of the holye ghost and haue tasted of the good worde of God and of the powers of the worlde to come if they fall awaye should bee renewed by repentance seeing they crucifie agayne to themselues the sonne of God and make a mock of him And an other place Hebr. 10.26 If we synne wyllingly after that we haue receyued the knowledge of the truth there remayneth no more sacrifice for syns but a fearefull looking for of iudgement and violent fyre which shall deuoure the aduersaryes Apo. 14.3 To returne to our holy Symeon he sayth he shall now depart in peace for why as saint Iohn sayth Blessed are the deade which dye in the Lorde or for the Lordes cause euen so sayth the spirite for they rest from their labors and their workes that is Gods mercifull reward follow them In this sentence all feare of death to Symeon and trembling at the Popish Purgatory Three perfite consolations agaynst the pretensed Purgatory is taken awaye from the children of God and that by thrée most assured affirmations First he sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which importeth by and by presently no delay or interception but euen from the very instant of death and the last gaspe as Christ also hath promised the godly though in themselues synners shall passe from death to lyfe Secondly to assure vs hereof he sayth the Spirite of God sayth so which cannot lye or be deceyued Thirdly he sayth we thenceforth rest from our labors Now the labors of the godly are afflictions of mynde and body sorrows paynes torments and terror of conscience and such lyke But from all these at the hower of death the sonnes of God in Christ ending their lyfe doe take their quiet rest Therefore Purgatory which is sayde to consist most of these labors cannot touch those or anye of them which are else purged in the onely Purgatory to a christian soule or body Heb. 9.14 1. Ioh. 1.7 1. Pet. 1.19 Reuel 1.5 Namely the bloud of Iesus Christ once shed vpon the crosse by the which he hath in his owne person purged our soules from all sinnes and not in a popish Purgatory of an imagined fyre which is no other but the Hels whose nature is euer to burne and to tormente but neuer to purge those that be thether condemned Thys Christ was Symeons purgation and consolation peace and glory in whom to whom all that beléeue in him aright shall to him with Symeon at the hower of death departe in most comfortable and quyet resting peace Some reade this place thus The godly feare not but rather desyre at Gods will to ende thys lyfe Lorde now let thy seruante departe in peace c. As if hereby he had made peticion to the Lorde to ende these dayes of sinne in his bodye and to take his lyfe from him which reading is not wythout profitable doctrine For it teacheth vs that after Christ the Lorde is once faythfully embraced of vs in harte that be godly Ephe. 1.18 there remayneth no ioy to that earnest meditation of the heauenly lyfe which enflameth loue to hunger the day of dissolution and with Paule to saye I couet to bee dissolued and to be with Christ And for our enstruction there be in this reading thrée things to vs not improfitable First that the elect of God feare not death as doe the wicked whose consciences accuse them giuen to condemnation but they at the Lords leasure desyre it bicause they know 2. Cor. 5.1 if that they were delyuered from this earthly tabernacle they should be possessed of the heauenly with Christ And here let no man obiect vnto me the feare which was in Christ against death from which he prayed thrée tymes in the Garden to be delyuered For we denye it not Mat. 26.37 Mar. 14.35 c. Luc. 22.42 c. Hebr. 2.18 but to mans nature death is yrkesome and our Christ herein doth verily teach vs that he is of our nature a naturall man with vs tasting our infyrmities that he might haue the more compassion of vs his members And the which most is the Lorde Iesus had not to fyght against naturall death onely but he was to sustayne and fully beare in his body the syns of the whole worlde and for them he was to féele in his soule and body the whole wrath of God the father for the chasticement of our peace Esa 53. was by his father fullye layde vpon him Wherefore if that thou being one of the causes of this terror hauing earnest consideration of thy horrible sinnes and doest lyft vp thine eyes to God lookeing vpon him without Christ as thine angry iudge which who can abyde cannot but be eaten vp of all sorrowe into despayre Psa 130.3 How greatly our sauiour Christ then was caused which had the burden of the whole worlde of synne layde vpon him to praye for delyuerance to his fathers wyll thou mayest by thy selfe gyue sentence Yet was he not afrayde to dye as the wicked are which haue no hope but assured of his resurrection he sayth in ioye of harte and peace of conscience Math. 26.39.42 Iohn 17.2 Father thy will be done And againe he desyreth death Venit hora glorifica filium Father the hower is come glorifye thy sonne that is to say by death that thy sonne may glorifie thée in his resurrection Take not this for an obiect to thy duety in desyre to be cut from the dayes of synne or desyre to be with Christ which is a signe of infidelitie Christ hauing by his suffering slayne synne hell and death to and for thée but remember and learne hereby how horrible a thing it is to fal into the hands of the lyuing God by synne which synne wrought in Christ such terror and that bicause he tooke the paynes due to all sinne vpon his person on the Crosse therby to become our raunsome and mediator as being a very naturall man as he is truely God sweat in the agony of hys soule Luke 22.44 before his body was apprehended bloudy drops O synne most horrible And be assured that if by infydelitie popery and carnall trace thou crucifye a freshe the Lorde of lyfe this horror shall not profite thée but thus treading
last hower the spirite of God lightened the harte of the théefe vpon the Crosse Luck 23.40 Ezech. 18. Eph. 1.4.5 Ioh. 1.9 1. Tim. 2.4 Eph. 1.18 Heb. 1.3 so that in yéelding to death he sawe Christ onely to be his lyfe So the same most louing father who wylleth not the death of a synner hath euen in the hower of death and in all the dayes of Popery tourned the hartes of as many as were predestinate before all tymes in Christ to lyue eternally And that our Christ which lighteneth all men that come into the worlde and would haue all men that is to say of euerye country nation people and families some to be saued and come to the knowledge of the truth Hath also illuminated the hartes of all those whome the father hath by his spirite drawne out of the Dungeon of Papistrie to thys brightnesse of his glory wherby they haue with the eyes of their fayth séene this Iesus Christ to be the onely saluation of Iewe Turke Pagan Papist and Gentyle and consequently haue in harte felt him for theirs to their greate and synguler consolation After which sight they haue in the integritie of their soules 1. Cor. 3.12 Phil. 3.8 accounted al the hey tymber stubble and Popishe stuffe as fylthie doung and paciently abode the paine of death for their former ignorance and rest in hope of eternall peace and in the assurance of hys spirite that their synnes in his bloude are washed awaye They are perswaded that death is to them lyfe in cause whereof they haue in Christ banished that feare which bringeth paynefulnesse 1. Io. 4.18 and with Symeon haue sayde Now Lorde let vs thy seruants depart in peace for the eyes of our minde nowe in the agony of our soule hath through the day spring which from an high hath visited vs perfitly seene the Lorde thy Christ to be our sauing health â—uc 1.78 in whome wee departe to thee who neuer before this hower in these dayes of ignoraunce could attayne to this grace But now Lord receiue vs in peace through Christ our lord our God of peace and the same to all his chosen children The prouydence of God in tyme of Popery féedeth this our sentence of the forefathers thus blessed in the dayes of ignorance In that he conserued and during those tymes continued among men the Symbole of our fayth which very manye at their death haue constantly repeated and by open declaration haue affirmed in that fayth to ende their lyfe But thys Symbole preacheth onely the gloryous fayth in God the Father God the sonne and God the holy Ghost In Popery no saluation wherfore I conclude that manye of our forefathers were in the daies of Popery saued by fayth alone in Christ and that by Popery no man may or can be saued For the whole course of the Romishe Religion is to disperce Mat. 12.30 and not to gather together the saintes of God to the vnitie of fayth and knowledge in the sonne of GOD but to hayle to the fayth of Rome which maketh as many Sauiours as the sunne shyning giueth shadowes which can in no case permit a man eyther to rest alone in the death of Christ or to assure himselfe of saluation in hym But to attayne lyfe Popishe Treasures the Papists must fetch the treasures of the Church of Rome parte whereof is the blood of Martyrs though some of them be notable Traytors It is to playne that they make such not Mediators onely but Sauiours also from synne Who can forget this solemne Anthemne to that Traytor Thomas Becket sometimes Byshop of Caunterbury which the Popes Portuse and all laten Primers haue farsed in them for men in prayer to vse In the Popishe Primers Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas ascendit That is graunt vs Christ by the vertue of saint Thomas his bloud which he shedde for thée to ascende whether Thomas is gone where note that Christ hath but that office which else they giue to Peter Namely to be the dore kéeper and to admit those soules into heauen which clayme it by the bloud of Barrabas I should say Thomas and they do refuse bicause they doe distrust the raunsome of Christ our onely way to lyfe Oh horrible and most abhominable blasphemy Ioh. 14.6 But deare Reader No man can come to the father sayth our sufficient Sauyour but by mee And therefore praying for the Papists conuersioÌ„ if it be Gods good will let vs as Paule doth exhort vs Heb. 12.19 seeing by the bloud of Iesus we may be bold to enter into the holy place into heauen by the newe and lyuing way which he hath prepared for vs thorow the vayle that is to say his fleshe and seeing we haue an high Priest ouer the house of God let vs drawe neare with a true hart in assurance of fayth sprinckled made pure in our hearts from an euil conscience and washed in our bodies with pure water Let vs keepe the profession of our hope without wauering for he is faythfull that promised And let vs consider one another to prouoke vnto loue and to good workes not forsaking the felowship that we haue among our selues as the maner of some is but let vs exhorte one another that so much the more bicause ye see the day draweth neere Let vs expect his comming and loue the Lorde so shall we not feare any perrill of death And God graunt our Englishe Papistes once to sée and be ashamed of their wylfulnesse to damnation sléeping in the bedde of the whore of Babilon Reuel 18. which is prepared to desolation and perpetuall fyre And to imbrace his Gospell which is the onely ioy of soule and solace in death â—â—t 3.17 the path to lyfe in that Sauiour in whome God the father is onely pacifyed The second note is that the godly are so farre from fearing naturall death that on the contrary part they humbly many tymes at the hande of God can earnestly pray for it and wyshe it yea and eaten vp of griefe for the dayes of synne they lament that they are not disburdened of the bodye thereof Finally in desyre of the full accomplishment of the bodye of Christ that the same his Church might be thorowly glorifyed in heauen as she is in parte and in earth perfitly sanctifyed The saints in this lyfe praye for the dissolution of the world and Christ to come with speede to iudgement For the fyrst Paule prayeth thus I desyre to be dissolued and to be with Christ and our Symeon here Lorde now let thy seruaunt depart in peace Secondly in the seuenth to the Romaynes Paule cryeth out of synne lamenting and saying O wretched man that I am who shall delyuer me from the body of this death that is from this lumpe of fleshly sinne and death Where note gentle Christian that the saintes of God are subiect to the
thys golden aunswere she gaue him It were a most wicked thing sayth she to take this temple of God my body once dedicated to his honor to cast it nowe eyther to Idolatry or fleshly lusts Secondly I am condemned to death for my Lorde Christ and louing husbande by your maysters sentence and am preparing my selfe thereto What should I now yeelde to wickednesse and luste But this is farre vnsytting your Lords estate to alure me a poore condemned prisoner to so lasciuious lyfe and by fugred words from tyrannous harte to counterfeyte suche fayre promises And if I could be thus bewitched to damnation yet howe coulde I be perswaded of the softnesse of Maxentius harte that cannot be mollified in the flowing Ryuers of our christian blood which euery daye he so cruelly sheddeth But now this Tyran was more set on fyre by these godly denials and would haue forced her had not she wisely for the tyme perswaded him from whose face as by intermission for a tyme escaped she priuily fledde forsaking her house her riches and all she had and that in the night tyme with her chast body from the face of so fylthie a Prince and corrupted Courte This Matrone had both regarde to her religion and therefore would not offend against it which sayth Thou shalt not kyll and to her chast conuersation also which caused her to flie from that satanicall synke of Venus Court And for the Romish Matrone I say her harte God might enclyne to him by repentance in the twinckling of her death so in her Christ vouchsafe her pardon But I cannot sée her acte to bée soundly warranted when as we may not doe an euill that good may come thereof Rom. 3.8 Deut. 23.25 But surely the violent force to adulterous acte is both by the lawe of God and man layde vpon the oppressor onely and the oppressed is set frée If a man fynde a betrothed mayde in the Féelde and force her In forced extremitie the compelled in thys syn guyltlesse and lye with her then the man that lay with her shall dye alone and vnto the mayde thou shalt doe nothing bicause there is no cause of death in her For as when a man aryseth against his neighbour sayth the Lord and woundeth him to death so is this matter Againe she cryed and there was none to succour her Loe the violator of virginity shal dye and the deflowred being hereto forced shewing her whole and contynuall power to the contrary she is by the lawe of God adiudged innocent Here is then the lawfull remedy against rape and pollucion Not with Lucrece to yéelde and then to kyll or with christian Sophronia to fall into an extreme miserie to auoyde a pestilente mischiefe but with best aduised Dorothe to flée and if you cannot with chaste Susanna to fall into the hands of Gods direction to vse all power ye may to kéepe your bodyes impolluted But in no wise kyll your selues for that is repugnant to the law and will of God which kynde of death whatsoeuer your good intentes bee God hath promised to reuenge vpon the impenitent And to conclude this matter wherein for the dangerous subtyltie of flattering temptation I haue sayde somewhat the more I say as Father Augustine sayde If we shal to auoyde sinne in vs déeme it lawfull to kyll our selues we shoulde not suffer our bodyes to lyue one little whyle after baptisme For what is he that lyueth and synneth not Not lawful to kyll our selues therby to shun synne But he that kylleth himselfe or others with bloudy hande that is without lawful authority from his God and Magistrate let him heare what the almightye sayth thereto Surely I will require your bloude wherein your lyues are at the hande of euery beast will I require it and at the hand of man euen at the hande of a mans brother will I require the lyfe of man that is to say whatsoeuer it be that taketh the lyfe from man whether it bée your selues that kyll your owne lyfe whether it be a beast that flayeth you or if it be thy owne brother that murthereth thee thy selfe that beast this thy brother shal answere his bloud for thine Looke for this ye tyrannous opressors ye Popish murtherers beastly butchers of Gods saints ye blinde guydes and dombe Dogs ye ydle shepeards ye obstinate heretikes ye théeues and murtherers for mens purses ye brawlers and fyghters and you that kyll your selues tremble and feare So then we maye not for anye cause by how much soeuer we should seeme to praise God or to auoyde daunger of the heathen or yet to kéepe oure bodies chaste from sinfull bedde by anye meanes laye violente hands vpon our selues thereby to bereaue our lyfe for that act is damnable We are to hate flee from syn as from a Serpent and to desyre the Lorde to ende the dayes therof Eccle. 21.2 and to delyuer vs from that euil Satan and his bodye of iniquitie yea and that by death but yet so that the same may be to vs in peace estranged from al violence in our selues and alwayes according to his worde To thys our holy Symeon giueth vs instruction to whose succéeding words we will giue eare which giue to vs the cause of his peticion thus For mine eyes haue seene thy Saluation During the dayes of Israels miserie Symeon euer hoped after release whereby he teacheth vs how plunged in Popery we should expect the returne of Gods holy gospel whereof we haue in our childrens daies had eftsoones the experience God make bs thankfull therefore And this is natural that after Winter commeth Sommer after stormy tempest serenious season and after the darknesse of the night the bright shyning day So is it also the spirituall course of God in his Christ from time to time as the testimony therof in the scriptures is most apparante We now are with ioye of heart to imbrace the Halcion dayes our Sommers warmth this quyet raigne the shyning countenance of Gods good fauour to vs mauger the malice of all Romanists at home and abroad and with effect but not in vayne to receyue the light of the gospell yet plentifully casting his blessed beames least we haue greater cause to saye when we see darknesse againe to shadow the sunne beames of righteousnesse Lord that we were with Symeon dead in peace from the miserable deaths we are lyke to féele in the sworde of thy wrath And nowe sayth Symeon that as well my bodily eyes as the inward of my soule haue séene thy sauing health Nowe Lorde for thys cause shall I dye most wyllingly But if so the naturall sight of Christ as yet an infante and subiect to infyrmities whose glorie yet was holden in the bodye of the little Babe wrought such and so great ioy in heart assurance in death to this good Symeon how muche more ought the same Christ to worke in vs quietnesse of conscience nowe that he is glorifyed and the
he a little after he is euerye where but as he is man he is onely in heauen yet for the coniunction of the two natures in Christ sundry tymes in Scripture that is spoken of the one which is proper to the other As in example No man ascendeth into heauen Ioh. 3.1.9 but the same which came from heauen euen the sonne of man which is in heauen And yet was not Christ ascended but in earth not glorifyed but subiect to death But bicause of the coniunction with the deuyne nature that is communicated to the humayne nature in spéeche which in déede and truth was onely performed in his Deitie Agayne Act. 20.2 ye are bought with the bloud of God Who knoweth not that this actiō was performed in the humane nature of Christ But bicause he is very God and the nature of his humanitie so connexed that it is inseperable therfore this Conionian and participation of the two natures is often vsed And for thys cause we say God is borne deade and crucifyed for vs when the humane nature onely was so But perhaps it maye astonie thée when I say that the two natures in Christ be inseperable and yet the Godhead is in many places Where his humanity is not nay his deuine nature in all places and his humane nature onely in heauen But consyder in thy self a perfite mirror and ymage hereof Thy soule and body are of two natures the one a spirite the other a compact forme of fleshe the one mortal the other cannot dye Yet during lyfe they are inseperably knit both natures in one in such sorte as eyther nature notwithstanding do kéepe their sundry condition The bodye sléepeth but the soule is alwayes waking the body eateth and drinketh naturall meates the soule onely féedeth of the worde of God the body is sicke and dyeth the soule is for the most parte best healthy when the body is nearest death and most lyuely when she is discharged of the bodye of synne by death Agayne the soule resting with the body is also the selfe instant by her powers at the vtmoste partes of the worlde and aboue the clowds whether shée hath daylie accesse by fayth and inuocation yet for al this the body is but in one place So is it in Christ He is risen he is not here Mar. 16.6 sayth the Angell to the women which came to annoynte Christ in his graue This was spoken of hys humanitie now glorifyed But according to his deuyne nature himselfe hath sayde Wheresoeuer two or three be gathered together in my name Math. 18.20 there am I in the middest of them Thus thou séest who and what is the Lords saluation Namely Iesus Christ the Lorde perfite God the onely begotten sonne of God eternall equall and of selfe substance with his father God and man borne of the Virgin Mary ascended vp in glory reseruing thée eche propertie of eyther nature not confounding the persons nor deuyding the substance Now resteth it to sée also somewhat more of the valor of thy Sauyour in his deuyne nature his valor to thée which best thou shalt perceiue by those noble names according their effects which the sacred scriptures attribute vnto Christ The valour of Christ in hymself and to vs. our one and onely God with the Father and the holy ghost First he is called Tetragramaton or Iehouah which signifyeth that Christ our god with his father is of his owne essence and being hath power and lyfe in himselfe not néeding the helpe of any other but is that sufficiencie which plentifully satisfyeth all others of his fulnes To be shorte the eternall god without begynning and ending In whom we lyue moue and haue our being Act. 17.28 Apo. 1.11 He is Alpha and Omega the fyrst and the last which contayneth all in all in himselfe He is also called Adonay of the Hebrews which of a certaine conceyte would not pronounce hym Tetragramaton or Iehouah rarely but in place thereof set thys name Adonay that is ineffable which all the Interpretors expounde by Dominus Lord. And rightly is Christ with his Father called Lorde For he hath giuen the Regiment of heauen and earth vnto him Mat. 28.18 Col. 1.16 And besydes hym there is none to whome all things visyble and inuysible ought to yéelde their obedience And to this name is added Sabaoth which some interprete the Lord of powers some the Lorde of Hostes the god of battle He it is which ouerthroweth with his myght all power that sturteth vp agaynst god and wyth his armye doth he pull downe the pryde of mightie kings and huge Nations Thys is that Michael who with his army of Angels beate downe Satan from the heauenly habitation of God in his church militant Thys is that Emperour and Monarche Apo. 12.7.9 to whome all kings shall stoupe This is that most tryumphant conqueror who with most symple and small creatures hath can and wyll ouerthrow myghtie Gyants huge armies puyssant Princes and mightie Monarches of the worlde In his campe are infinite Angels Thousande thousands ministred to him sayth Daniell and ten thousand thousands stood before him Dan. 7.10 Beholde of what Maiestie thys christ our Lorde of Hostes is of what force and power when as one Angell of these infinite thousands could and did in one night destroy and kyll in the hoste of Sennacherib which cruelly beséeched the Lordes cytie Ierusalem one hundred forescore and fiue thousand of fyghting Souldiours With water darknesse Frogs Flyes and Grashoppers he wasted and destroyed the pride of the most fertyll lande Egypt With the noyce of Chariots he droue to flyght the kings of Ashur And who is able to withstande his myght For in his army all the Planets and Starres the wyndes fyrie lyghtes Ice Frost Snow rayne Fyre and water Al Deuils in Hell the ayre and Fyrmament all men and kings and all their powers and at one worde all creatures in heauen earth and Hell visyble and inuisible All these are his to vse at hys good pleasure where he wyll when he luste and during his set purpose executing hys vengeance vpon his enimies but the defence of hys Churche Sometyme also he is called Aelion 1. excelsus high As Dauid sayth Psal 113. The Lorde is high aboue all Nations and hys glory aboue the heauens Againe who is lyke the Lord our God that hath hys dwelling so highe and yet abaseth hymselfe to behold the things that are in heauen and earth Euen vnto thys high throne is our Lorde Christ ascended aboue all heauens and set at the right hand of his father on high to beholde the things that are done in earth From this height he sawe Damasco her myserie and Saules pryde and from thence stroake this cruell Tyran to the earth in the mydst of his force and seruantes whose brightnesse stroke Saule with blyndnes but in great mercy wrought his conuersion of persecuting Saule changed him and that bycause he had chosen
for the age to come Amen Thirdly he is sayde to wayght for the consolation of Israel The Euangelists purpose is Symeons ioye to shewe vs wherein the ioy of this olde father consisted Namely that whether he did eate or drinke or whatsoeuer he else did therin he neyther tooke more then was méete and sufficient or made his bâ—lly his pleasant God or any worldly thing else but that his ioye was fixed in his féeling fayth fastened in the Messias our annoynted Christ which he knewe by the studie of the Scriptures to be at hande by whome he sawe his synnes to bée forgiuen and hys whole Countrye and brethren with him to haue their full and only consolation And here agayne is noted Symeons iustification in that he beléeued in Iesus Christ promised in the worde of God to haue the forgiuenesse of hys synnes and in hym eternall lyfe His fyrme fastened fayth is here noted vnder thys worde He wayted which expresseth as well his constancie as his fortitude against those perillous tymes wherein he was The common welth of Israell so ruyned and the Church of God in Iewry so corrupted that it mighte seeme all her hope of recouerie from their woes or consolation in their hartes to be vtterly extinguished We may not forget here howe the Euangelist significantly noteth the corruption and degenerate condition of the Citie Ierusalem which sometymes being the holyest place vnder Heauen is nowe become so estranged from her God so plunged in securitie and synne Shadow of Englands securitie so hardened in hart against the truth and so ignorante of her estate that neyther shée féeleth her present miserie or wayteth for her consolation Christ the Messiah Onely this one man in a whole Citie is here named to féele the one and with long expectation and pacient abode for the Lords leasure hopeth after the other and that bicause he had the warrante of God by his holy worde for the same and was fylled with the spirite whereby he was in mercye preserued from that déepe and iuste iudgement of blyndnesse wherein the wicked Pharysies and the whole people and Princes of Iewrie a few with Symeon excepted were ouerwhelmed which is vehemently noted by the Euangelist in this worde Ecce beholde O beloued England thou mayest lawfully mourne fostering a great number of such people which be as wandring as carelesse as bolde in their synne and hardned in heart as euer were the inhabitants of Ierusalem They talke of Christ and they are myraculously preserued by this our Messiah but as in their déeds they doe denie him So they counte him to them eyther vnprofitable or think him not their consolation For truely they desire not hys presence they hate his Gospel Iere. 3.19 that bicause their deeds are euill Neyther desire they his comming But as the théefe imprisoned wysheth the Iudgement seate ouerturned the lawe with his Princes and power deade and the day of his execution neuer to come Euen so doe these Caterpillers of the earth whose consciences doe accuse them guyltie and fearing his iudgement they desyre rather that he were not at al then that he should come to giue them the rewarde of synne Eternall death the assured stypende to al wicked actions and thoughts Rom. 6.23 to Princes fyrst and to whomsoeuer men and women which in like wickednesse ioyne with these Princes and prophane Pharysies of Ierusalem Surely lyke desolation shall ouerthrowe them if they séeke not Christ in tyme by repentance and with Symeon wayte for their consolation in him Note with me gentle Reader in the commendation of this good man that the spirite of God ioyneth righteousnesse and Religion in one yoke together saying No godlynesse of lyfe no ryghte Religion Symeon was iust and religious Hereby he teacheth vs that these two are so lincked and connexed by the Fynger of God that they cannot be seperate in twayne but of lyke necessitie with the Sunne which hath his Globe his light and his heate so conioyned that wheresoeuer the one shyneth the other cannot but warme and as the soule body are so compact in one that the bodye cannot but performe the pleasures of the same Euen so in whomsoeuer true Righteousnesse in Christ is in him also there cannot but be the true feare of God and holynes of lyfe which is the singuler seruing of our God in the inwarde desyre of our hartes vnfaynedly and here called Religion or true godlynesse Psal 116. Act. 4.20 I beleeued and therfore I spake sayth Dauid We cannot but testifie the things which we haue heard and seene sayth the Apostle I determined to holde my tongue sayth Ieremy the preaching Prophet the peoples obstinacy was such and my daungers so great but the worde was as fyre within my hart as a burning fyre shut vp within my bones and I was weary with forbearing I could not stay Again I will be their GOD sayth the Lorde by his Prophet and they shall be my people Iere. 20.9 Ier. 31.33 They shall not but serue the Lorde to whome he is God Againe I will poure cleane water into you and you shall bee cleane yea from all your filthynes and from all your Idols will I clense you A newe harte will I giue you and a newe spirite will I put into you and I will take away the stony harte out of your bodye and will giue you an harte of fleshe And I will put my spirite within you and cause you to walke in my statutes and you shall keepe my iudgements and doe them To conclude it is the Lorde Christ which hath created his seruaunts after the Image of God in righteousnesse and true holynesse which is the perfect newe man in whom both these graces be ioyned Ephes 4.24 as Paule sayth to the Ephesians So that true righteousnesse wyll effectually shewe faythfull holynes in one and selfe same Christian But as for such as onely haue Christ in their lyppes and denye him in their déedes whose whole course of lyfe is set vpon sensuall appetite to worldly lustes and yet can crye Lorde Lorde Thou knowest deare Reader what the Lord hath denouÌ„ced against them Luc. 13.26 We haue eaten and dronke at thy Table saye these men yea wee haue preached and taught in thy name and therein cast out Deuils But they haue this sentence Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not That is I approoue not your acts for godly or you for mine therfore departe from me into the Lake of burning fyre that neuer shall be quenched These be those Atheists of our dayes which because the gracious Prince godly lawes laye hande to the Plowe of the Gospels profession the which the Lord in mercy continue and increase therfore to winne fauour in the Courte to maintayne their carnall countenance they wil be Temporarij for the time Gospellers they will heare the Preacher they will curteouslye salute hym they will giue him séemely entertaynment
godly Ioash to be daylie thankfull to God for her deliuery and to continue the godly counsell of Iehoidah I meane her Maiesties honorable Counsell learned Bishops and godly preachers and to stop her gracious eares against the wylie charmes of such as séeking to bring some sorte of these states to contempt would doe their best to drawe vs to their former Idolatrye the dore of our vtter desolation Finally the wicked wayteth but to wallow in all synne and Epicureous lyfe saying Let vs eate and drinke 1. Cor. 15.32 to morrowe we shall dye take our pleasures whylst we lyue for after this we knowe not what shall become of vs. But Symeons brethren are farre and sure set another waye they wayte and looke for the Heauenly knowledge of the Lorde wherein is eternall lyfe for Christ their consolation to dwell in their hartes by fayth Iohn 17.3 for his holye spirite to kéepe their bodyes Soules and Spirits blamelesse vnto the day of consolation when Christ with his Angels shall come to receyue them to glorie They vse the worlde as they whose mindes are else where set in the heauens from whence they wayte for their Sauiour Titu 2.13 They lyue in hope and wayte by al meanes to ouercome the worlde the fleshe and the Deuill they abyde paciently the euill degenerating dayes of our lyfe Hebr. 12. and méekely beare the crosse of Consolation heauy to the flesh hoping that the euent shal be to their God glorious to his Church commodious and to themselues in hym prosperous 1. Pet. 2.12 They finally wayte to liue so as the enimy which backbyteth them may by their example be trayned to reioyce in the daye of their visitation And last of all when God the Father with whome their lyfe is treasured vp in Christ will by his beloued sonne appeare for our full redemption Collos 3. that all we that longly wayte in Spirite and Truth for his comming to cutte of these dayes of synne and ende this wretched worlde maye lifte vp our heades with assured comforte Luc. 21.18 bicause we shall then be with thys our Symeon and the whole elect of God for euer after glorious brought to our Fathers kingdome the inheritance of our onely consolation Christ Iesus and lykewise oure inheritance in him Furthermore we are precisely to stande in this No health but in christ that besyds Iesus Christ there is no consolation and without syncere fayth in him nothing but desolation and eternall woes The way to rest in this our Redemption by Christ is with Symeon to fixe our fayth absolutely in him for our Saluation without which we shall neyther feele comfort in him or rightly serue him And before I passe this point as the meaner sort haue had in Symeon a playne patterne of holynesse So I thought to giue the Ritcher and more Noble personages A Noble patterne to the Nobles of England an example of Nobilitie to followe in this case And the same is noble Ioseph of Aramathaea the Disciple of Iesu and the same was ritche Luke sayth of him thus And beholde there was a man named Ioseph he was a Councellour a good man and a iust c. Luc. 23.50 Hee did not consent to the counsell and deede of them which was of Aramathaea a Citie of the Iewes who himselfe also wayted for the kingdome of God Mathew thus And when euen was come Math. 27.57 there came a ritch man of Aramathaea named Ioseph who had also himselfe bene Iesus Disciple Iohn sayth He was Iesus Disciple Ioh. 19.38 but priuilye for feare of the Iewes for he doubted that if he should confesse Christ they would cast him not onely out of Counsell but out of the Synagoge Marke the Euangelist sayth thus Mar. 15.24 Ioseph of Aramathea an honorable Counsellour which also looked for the kingdome of God came and went in boldly vnto Pilate and asked the body of Iesus This noble Counsellour by all the Euangelists is thus discribed First his dwelling place is to vs noted which was a famous Citie of the Iewes for Ioseph was of Aramathaea supposed to be the same which was also before called Ramath layde oute for the Citie of the Leuites by Samuel the Prophet sytuate about the Mounte Ephraim néere to Lydda which after was called Diospolis Secondly his condition and lyfe by condition Noble for he was an honorable Counsellour eyther of the Sanhedrin or called to Pilats Counsell Concerning godly cyuilitie he was honest a good man and a iuste Touching his Religion he was a disciple of Iesu and wayted with Symeon for the kingdome of God that is for his redemption in Christ his Lord and Mayster Concerning his faythfull seruice to his Mayster Christ our Lorde he withstoode the Counsell boldly as did also Nicodemus and when he coulde not preuayle he openly refused to gyue his consent to them in the death of Christ for the Euangelist speaketh of a thing that was knowne to all men His infirmitie was somewhat great in déede that hee durst not confesse Christ for feare of the Iewes But his modestie was more that being of such place and power he resisted not the Magistrate by sworde for the cause of Christ being a subiect to that tyrannous power or with haultie wordes or conuitious spéeche gaue counterchecke to their curssed blasphemies but manifestly refused to allowe of that murthering Sentence To giue you this man wholy in his vertues As he refused to kyll Christ by cruell sentence So Christ being slayne he sheweth himselfe more faythfull and bold in the cause of Christ then eyther the Virgin Mary or any other of the Apostles For as saint Marke sayth He went with great boldnesse to that dissembling Tyran Pilate in the heate of the Iewes rage and honorably obtayneth the body of Iesu to be buryed and the same layeth in his owne graue honorably prepared for himselfe This was to his state very dangerous For in that he maketh sute to honor him with buriall whome the Presidente Princes and people of the Iewes had condemned to death and subscribed therevnto what might they accompt of Ioseph other then that this his peticion gaue flat condemnation to their present action What was he and where dwelte he That did or durst begge with boldnesse the bones of the beloued Bucer which the Papists in their rage and great solemnitie burnte at Cambridge By this measure howe bolde and aduenturous attempte this was in this Noble Counsellour his honor ryches place and calling considered Besides this Ioseph myght haue founde some better and more easie waye to haue obteyned his purpose to haue done that honor to the slayne bodye of Christ whome he durst not confesse during his lyfe As he might haue obserued the Iewes where their crueltie ended they woulde haue caste the deade bodye of our Sauiour Iesus Christe and by night haue priuely conuayed the same to hys Sepulture or to haue procured fauour of the Centurion for
the preaching of his worde then at any tyme he hath bene since the Apostles tyme. This only remayneth that with hart and will by the motion of his holy spirite we ioyntly enter our Churches where Iesus Christ is graciously offred not into our armes but into our harts and soules not in a body subiect to myseries and death but in the Maiestie of his worde which is his eternall power Rom. 1.16 1. Cor. 1.18 to bring vs by his light to that saluation assured in him and to engraffe quyetnesse in Conscience perswaded in his truth by the testimony of his sayde spirite of the full forgyuenesse of our sinnes That we shall with newe raysed hartes as men risen from a most déepe Dungeon of death most ioyfully with Symeon syng and saye in heart and truth Lorde nowe whensoeuer thou callest vs from this naturall lyfe 1. Cor. 1.30 Ephe. 1.7 Mat. 20.28 at thy good pleasure thou lettest vs departe to quiet rest in christian peace For the eyes of our fayth haue and doe sée Christ Iesus and receyue hym as he is to vs in mercy giuen our onely raunsome and full matter of our spirituall health and celestiall ioy to whom with thée our best father and the holy spirite be praise and glory for euer and euer Amen Thus much receyued by the Gospels wordes touching Symeon nowe let vs lende eare attentiuely vnto the words deliuered vs in this his ioyful song Thus he sayth Lorde now lettest thou thy seruaunt departe in peace according to thy worde For mine eyes haue seene thy Saluation This olde holye fathers song conteyneth shorte wordes and long matter wherein he giueth the Lorde his due praise by publique spéeche in ioyed hart and after the example of the former church for the present benefite receyued according the faythfull promise of God that he hath not departed to his Fathers before he sawe the Lordes Christ he singeth the Lords truth and blaseth the honorable armes of our Captaine Christe manifesting his power efficacie and glory in this his pithy encomia That done he setteth downe the perfite platforme of a quyet cōscience and the ancor of her health in the middle of many miseries in his owne person saying Now Lorde all if by the Romaine Tyranny thy people of Israell haue béene sore oppressed our fayth sore assaulted so that twixt hope and sorrow we haue wayted for Consolation in thy promise Now that thou hast giuen vs thy Christ our glory I ioy so much in him my Sauiour that death shall be to me welcome and my departure shall be in peace bicause by this Christ my Consolation Gods wrath to me is pacified my syns in him pardoned my selfe for him of my heauenly father dearely beloued and my soule shall rest in ioy for I am thy seruant wherfore Now let me I praye thee departe in peace I am satisfyed that I haue séene thée and the dayes of my age are in thy hande But whereas Symeon sayth Lorde Nowe doth thy mercy let me departe in peace he plainely sheweth that vntill he perfitely had the fruition of his hope he was in auxietie and griefe and walked with a heauie harte for the affliction of Israell This argueth not an absolute weakenesse of fayth in Father Symeon but rather expresly an ardent expectation of the promise of God nothing pleasured with the forreine matters of this lyfe albeit they should abounde to hym But by trauaile in fyght against temptations in worldly pleasures he hungreth and spiritually thirsteth in approoued hope the Lords promise enduring the griefe of present oppression assuredly by fayth to reape the rewarde of his pacient hope bicause he had the worde of God a most faythfull Norice therto for his warrante 1. Pet. 2.2 For thus sayde the Lorde by Reuelation to Symeon Thou shalt not dye before thou hast seene the Messias Christ the Lorde Luc. 2.26 Note here good Reader the nature of Gods promises giuen to his chosen children They are not performed at the first houre but they are deferred longer then our selues would desyre and they are not performed till the fayth of the parties be perfitly prooued and by the opposite occurrents sore exercised God the Father promised the comming of his beloued sonne Christ here imbraced of Symeon at the fall of Adam and Heuah Gene. 3. Gen. 22.18 Gal. 3.8 Esa 64.1 Mat. 13.16 Luk. 10.24 and renewed it to Abraham and by hys Prophets continued the same but the time prolonged forced many of the best fathers to cry Oh that thou wouldest pierce the heauens and come downe and to say Oh Lorde sende thy glory vnto Syon and thy sauing health vnto Ierusalem And as our Christ doth testifie many kings and Prophets haue desyred to sée Christ and haue not séene him or could the times enioy the performance of this promise till the fulnesse of time by him set were come Heb. 1.1 and that by contrary presumptions the fayth of his chyldren were thorowly exercised But when the tyme by his deuine wisedome appointed was come then did he faythfully giue the same Messias into the worlde that Symeon and the godlye then might beare wytnesse to vs his children nowe of his euerlasting faythfulnesse In this worde Nowe lyeth an Emphasis as if he had sayd The worde of my promise hath fed my fayth stablished my hope to wayte for thys our consolation Christ and sythe in thy mercy thou hast performed the word of truth Now let me depart in peace Here is to be well marked the force of true and lyuely fayth it doth persist in one it resteth vpon the promise of the worde The force of true fayth albeit that heauen and earth should séeme to runne on heaps together This is that most excellent gift of God that excelleth al vertues in whatsoeuer man Ephe. 3.17 Pray the Lorde therefore to giue thée fayth in Christ christian Reader and Christ thereby to dwell in thée then shalt thou abyde stedfast in hope after the worde of Gods promise whatsoeuer obstact shal arise against thée The Lord by his seruant Moyses promised the Israelits delyuerance out of the bondage of Egypt Exod. 4.29.30.31 But straight wayes wyth this promise arose such presumptions to the contrary as the hardnesse of Pharaos hart and cruelty their oppression and more labor thereby their sharpe correction for wants in worke and in the hower of their deliuerance his huge army persecuting them on the one syde the high Mountaynes and swallowing Seas to hold them in on the other syde that it might haue séemed to Israel Moyses warrant from God to haue bene rather a dreame of their desolation then the day of their delyuerance But they by this spirite confirmed in fayth did suppresse the present calamities by the Ancor of hope which from the shyp of their beléeuing consciences in these terrible Seas tossed they cast fyrmely pitched vpon the worde of promise which thus they had vz I will in a
for him reioycing in that such tyranny shall spéede him to that crowne which is layde vp for him at the ende of his lawful fight 2. Tim. 4.8 and fynished course And the same reward he assureth al other with hym which loue the appearing of Iesus Christ He also is glad of that naturall lyfe wherein though vnder the most fierce Lyon so he called Nero for his cruell tyranny he may yet more profite the Church by the preaching of his worde And when the Iaylor at Philippos awaking oute of sléepe saw the prison dores open wherin Paule and Sylas were fast in the inner prison chayned and straightly committed to his charge drew his sworde Act. 16. â—7 and woulde haue kylled hymselfe adiudging it better to dye at once then by many torments of the cruel Romanes to be tormented to death for the scape of his prisoners which he supposed to be fled Paule cryed vnto him doe thy selfe no harme for we are all here Note well when as by this meanes the Iayler slayne Paule and Sylas might the better haue fled yet had they rather abyde in the Prison still and afreshe to enter into the Iron Gyues then they by silence would séeme to approoue this wicked acte that the Iayler for feare of the Princes power should murther himselfe By which suffering both the Iaylors lyfe was saued Satan banished the Iaylor and his houshold baptized the Apostles the nexte day deliuered This myracle that the earthquake came the prison dores opened their Irons loosed and the gate set frée séemeth rather for the lyfe and conuersion of the Iaylor then for the delyuerie of the Apostles Sée then by how great a miracle God doth commaund to subiect our selues to the yoke of great tyranny to conserue lyfe Wherein we shal be more profitable to the Church then we can by death auayle her And also to auoyde Cato his rigour The godlye for the preseruation of lyfe maye craue ayde of an Heathen Magistrate in paine to preserue our selues yea and at the handes of such power to aske ayde for the preseruation of our lyfe to hys glory and the Churches profite which euer ought to be the ende of such desyre if we sée that vnlawfull might would depryue vs thereof rather then by anye meanes to suffer the pryuate hande to spoyle the publique Church and christian common wealth of a faythfull and profitable member in and of the same Thus did Paule imprisoned at Ierusalem when the high Priestes and Counsell had consented to the conspiracie of those fortie men Act. 23.14 which had made a vowe not to eate or drinke till they had slayne Paule when the Captaine shoulde bring him forth on the morrowe to the Counsell Loe then Paule admonished hereof praieth aide at the Romane power which now had him in prison to coÌ„serue his lyfe from the murthering hand of these men bicause that was forbidden in this Thou shalt not kyll O deare brethren be well instructed in thys point No cruelty tyranny or Popish oppression is cause sufficient for vs to become with them most cruell to oure selues We are commaunded by Christ if they persecute vs to flee Mat. 10.23 Hebr. 12.1 if arrested by authoritie constantly to endure the crosse And it becommeth vs with pacience to run the race that is set before vs. We maye not cut it shorter by priuate and monstruous death looking sayth the Apostle vnto Iesus the author and fynisher of our fayth who for the ioye that was set before him endured the crosse despised the shame and is set at the right hand of God Consider sayth he therfore him that endured such speaking against of synners lest ye should be wearyed and faynte in your minds Ye haue not yet resisted vnto blood striuing against sinne Loe the holy ghost is not glorified by kylling of our selues least we should be compelled to Idolatry But in that we resist sinne vntill our blood be taken from vs by the tyrannous power of bloudy sentence And if saint Peter wil not haue vs to suffer as murtherers 1. Pet. 4.15 much lesse would the spirite of God in him Why in part no christian oughte to shorten hys tyme. that we shoulde by kylling our selues be murtherers in déede which is most horrible and absurde and flatte opposite to the lawe of God in the bodye of the Scripture to the instinct of Nature which hateth death to the church of GOD which is the wyfe of the preseruing Christ and not the slaue of the murtherer Sathan and finally against the Prince and common wealth where the partie dwelleth to all whom he is borne to obey in christian duety Answere to the obiections of Razias Curtius Cato Lucreace and not to himselfe Deare brother therfore in al extremitie foster thy lyfe and with pacience runne that race of time which God in his mercie to thy gloryous lyfe in Christ hath set thée and be assured that if after his example thou suffer with him likewise by his warrant in truth thou shalt raigne with him in eternall peace and felicitie The example of Razias the elder of Ierusalem 2. Mar. 14.4 who first wounded himselfe and when he sawe it was not to death cast himselfe from the height of his Castle and yet hauing lyfe ranne to the Rocke and pulled out his owne bowels and cast them vpon the blasphemous Tyran Nicanor hys Souldiour crying vpon God and died and as this bicause he would not fall into the handes of his tyranny this example as it is priuate so it maye not tye vs to followe it That friuolous prayer for the deade in the same Booke which was the priuate fact of a Captain bicause both their actes are to be condemned thoughe in this Apocripha ouertly commended which thing the storie doth eyther bycause the author would lessen the crime in the men or that the parties supposed their facts lawdable And the author of these bookes is afrayde to stande the iudgement of the Canonicall scripture in these points as apeareth when he maketh this peticion as it were for fauourable construction in the last chapter of the second booke of Machabees 2. Mac. 15.39 saying If I haue done well as the storie required it is the thing that I desyred But if I haue spoken slenderly and barely it is that I could And that he hath thrust in sundry Schema of his owne of which these two haue their part it appeareth to the ende he would bewtify the story For thus he sayth As it is hurtefull to drinke Wine alone and then againe water and as Wine and water mingled together is pleasant and delighteth the taste So the setting out of the matter delighteth the eares of them that read the storye But how farre shorte this is of Gods spirite in the Scriptures which is not doubtfull but Amen so be it Againe howe farre from the commaundement of those wordes Thou shall not kyll is the example of
dyd he sorrow for the losse of his eyes Bucer in Iudic. cap. 16.30 For in that he bare the person of the Lordes magistrate the iniury done to hym was to the great losse and domage of the Iewes common weale In this that he desyreth to dye sayth he he expresseth hys earnest and that godly and good deuotion zeale to the people of Israel and to the glorye of God For the Lorde would not that he should lyue any longer therefore he rightly desyreth death And bicause he was now so contemned of the Philistines and with him the whole people of God and God himself also so as these enimies began to insult against God in great pryde he did also right iustly aske that the Lord would take vengeance on them Wherfore the Lord Iehoua heard his prayer fauoured his endeuour and gaue him good successe By this we gather sayth Bucer his death to be acceptable and approoued with God Sampsons death acceptable to God otherwise his holynesse woulde not haue giuen Sampson such successe And by this we sée sayth he that not euerye one which caste themselues to extreme death for the good of the people are to be condemned but such onely as without warrant from God doe murther themselues It was Sampsons office to saue and delyuer his charge Israell from the tyrannous opression of the Philistines and sythe he could not by any possibilitie else do it this way he rightly fynished his function So did Christ sayth Bucer offer himselfe to hys enimies from whom he might haue béene delyuered Where againe Sampson is by the spirite of God with Ionas apoynted to be the figure of Christ Sampson a Figure of our sauiour Christ And in sundry poynts Bucer setteth downe this figure as hée represented Christ chiefly in that he was the delyuerer of Israel So in these things also he became a lyuely Image of the most noble Mossiah His conception was by the Aungell to his mother Manoah with a speciall declaration foretolde So was Christ to Mary by the Angell Gabriel The mother was barren and brought forth no children So was the Virgin not bearing tyll she brought forth the Lorde Iesus All hys lyfe he was a Nazarite that is seperate from the worlde and dedicate to God So was Christ Iesus The spirite of God wrought wonderfully in miraculous things with him And that he imbraced straunge persons which in déede was sinne in the figure Sampson yet therein doth he not most vnséemely figure and shadow Christs receyte of the Gentyls Also that he suppressed the enemies of God and by a secrete and vnknowne waye and by his owne hand and in his death ouerthrew his destroyers Herein he was a most lyuely shadowe of oure Christ who by hys death brought true Israelits lyfe and wherin the Iewes thought to haue the victorie as in murthering of the heyre Mat. 21 38 therein they lost the inheritance and were cast into vtter destruction c. Further he did rather begin then make perfite the delyuery of Gods people from their foes Euen so our sauiour Christ did dayly more and more after his death then before worke the redemption of hys chyldren by the knowledge of the Gospell from the hands of Satan and shal perfite the same in the day of our resurrection Agayne Sampson more vexed his aduersaries by his death then he did during his fight with them in lyfe Mat. 27.64.65.66 So were the Phariseys and Iewes more troubled Christ lying in his graue then they were when he in preaching euerye where wrought their confusion wherefore they spared no payne to seale and set watch about the Sepulcher Last of all Sampson did so enter into the delyuerie of Israell that by this begynning his successors myght with more encrease profyte the same So our sauiour Iesu begynning to preache the Gospell and hauing in hys death wholy destroyed the power of Satan gaue blessing vnto his Apostles and Disciples and so to his Church to enlarge the borders of his spirituall body more then in his owne person himselfe brought to passe Thus you sée how Sampsons lyfe and death is sanctifyed being the shadowe of Christ and deliuered from the ignomy of selfe slaughter Of that last example of Ionas who wyshed the Maryners to cast him into the Sea Ionas 1.2 the storye reporteth it Gods action First by casting of lottes then by staying the Tempest and thirdly in that the Lorde had prepared a great Fishe to swallowe vp Ionas but chiefely the tyme of hys buryall in the belly of the Fishe which the text sayth was thrée dayes and thrée nightes And this man this Prophet and this his burial doth Christ alowe for his ymage of buriall in the heart of the earth saying As Ionas was in the Whales belly three dayes and three nights Math. 12.40 so shall the sonne of man be three dayes and three nightes in the harte of the earth This acte as it is here alowed of Christ for a figure of his buriall and death So Ionas being the Lordes Prophet knew from his God that this way he should appease the sea and tempest and therfore submitted himselfe to the ordinance of his good God Now vpon this place in Ionas Hierome holdeth that we ought not to cast our selues into death but stowtely to withstande except sayth he it be to conserue chastitie Where it séemeth he would for chastities sake permit a man or woman to kyll themselues Euse lib. 8 cap. 17. fol. 197. Ancient Ambrose leaneth on that side also And Eusebius Cesariences telleth vs of a modest Matrone called Sophronia the Gouernours wyfe of Rome whose bewtie bereaued Maxentius the Tyran of his modesty whereas he should haue defended mariage he most wickedly sought to defyle the same and sent such letcherous Courtiers as he himself was to fetch to his lust this bewtifull Dame Sophronia told her husband who after heauy pause cryed And what shall we doe To thys Tyran eyther we must yéelde or else we must lose our lyues But when she perceyued her husband for feare of death woulde delyuer her to the adulterous bedde she subtilly saide to the Baudes which were sent stay in a little vntill I dresse me comely for so Noble a man as Maxentius the Emperour and I will go wyth you she entreth her chamber she prayeth to God wyth a sworde she kylleth her self so kéeping her chaste promise to her christian husband The godly father Augustine maketh stay at this but in the ende he sayth the Law of God is most worthy and sure which sayth Thou shalt not kill And we are rather to commende the godlye policie christian acte The storye of godlye Dorothea of the other christian Virgin Dorothea of Alexandria mentioned by Eusebius in the same chapter who being for Christs cause led to death in this Maxentius tyranny was by his fylthie messengers assaulted to breake her Virginitie with the letcherous Lorde and Prince Maxentius But
fulnesse of our lyfe perfited in him 2. Cor. 5.16 Heb. 1.2 We doe not in déede beholde Christ nowe anye more after the fleshe or that waye to imbrace him in our armes But he shyneth the beames of his fathers glorye into our ignorante harts and in the bosome of our faythfull brests he maketh his habitation By his holy gospell he sheweth himselfe face to face and not by the infyrmitie of his flesh but by the deuine power of his holy spirite he teacheth vs purgeth vs and pardoneth our sinnes and changeth vs to a lyfe most méete for his holy presence And to be short he is so absent from vs in body that we maye with boldnesse spiritually approch to his grace Heb. 12. Rom. 5.1 set on the right hand of his father in glory Loe this is that christian sight and heauenlye presence that we haue of our Christ And if this cannot worke in vs a wyllingnesse to dye with ioye bicause oure synnes by Christes death purged we shal raigne with him eternally then are we a thousand tymes more harde then the Adamant blinder then the Moules and more vnkinde then the vnnaturall Iewes it is verye significante that Symeon sayth No man saued but by hys owne fayth Because mine eyes hath seene c. In which wordes are layde vp this Emphasis that not other mens fayth could worke this comfort in this good father excepte together his owne eyes in fayth had séene this Babe to be hys sauiour Abac. 2.4 Gal. 3.11 Hebr. 10.37 according to the Prophet Abacuck his saying The iust man shall lyue by his fayth Note he sayth not by the fayth of the Church or by the fayth of another for him but he sayth he shal lyue by his owne fayth For the fayth of an other man cannot saue thée or yet the fayth of the whole church Or that which more is Christ will not saue thée or can his death be thy lyfe vnlesse thou in thine owne hart fyrmely beléeue in him Wherefore let not the Papist longer deceyue thee which teach it sufficient thoughe thou know not what to beléeue if thou yet beléeue as their Churche beléeueth which is the greatest daunger to thy soule that possibly can bée eyther to rest in the later Romishe fayth since the daies of Popery or not to beléeue vpon assured knowledge of Gods promise in the warrant of his word thy selfe For the holy scriptures do condemne al those which themselues effectually beléeue not in christ and promiseth saluation to him that beléeueth 1. Pet. 2.7 To you which beleeue sayth Peter he is precious but to them which beléeue not he is the stone which the buylders refused which stone shal crushe his enemies that beléeue not al to powder 1. Ioh. 3.36 Iohn sayth Hee that beleeueth in the sonne of God hath eternall lyfe But he that beleeueth not the wrath of God abydeth vpon him And Christ our Sauiour Hee that beleeueth in me hath eternall lyfe Againe Ioh. 3.18 He that beleeueth not is condemned already that is to saye it is impossible but he that dyeth not beléeuing shall be damned And to the Gallathians Paule sayth Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the sonnes of God bicause ye haue beleeued in Christ Iesu but as manye as rest in the workes of the lawe are subiect and vnder Gods cursse By this speciall gift in euerye mans owne soule from God is he made the sonne of God and by no other meane is God his father vpon whome he maye call with boldnesse in and by his spirite as the chylde vpon his Parentes and shall be heard For thus the Euangelist sayth As many as beleued in him he gaue them prerogatiue to be the sonnes of God The worde that was preached to Israell in the wildernesse profited them not sayth the author to the Hebrewes bicause it was not mixed with faith in those that heard it yet in the wildernesse God had hys Church Moses Aaron and the rest which beléeued notwithstanding the fayth of this Church could not saue the other Israelits which beléeued not No more can the fayth of the church of God nowe saue them which are not conglutinate by the same spirite in the fayth of Christ loue in him by which the whole body growing together by synewes and ioynts doth encrease to an holye temple in the Lorde But without this coniunction no fayth Ephe. 2.21 no saluation or can the workes of such please God in whose heartes Christ dwelleth not by fayth as sayth the scriptures without fayth it is impossible to please God I denie not Rom. 14.23 Gen. 18. but the fayth and godlynesse of some may temporally bring some benefite to the Infydels as the Cities of Sodome had bene saued if there had bene founde in them but ten iuste persons And for Helias sake the wicked king Achab Iesabel The faythfull may obtayne temporall blessings and bodily helth but saluation is the gift of God to him that beleeueth onely and that persecuting kingdome Samaria had raine to fertyl the soyle which thrée yeares had lyen barren Also the Euangelists report the fayth of them which bare the man taken with Palsye much to profyte his health to whose fayth the Lorde Christ gaue respect and not chiefely their worke and healed the man But to the man he sayde My sonne thy synnes are forgiuen thee This worde sonne approoueth the Palsye man to beléeue in Christ by which fayth his sinnes are forgiuen him as by his bearers fayth his body was healed Luc. 9.8 Mar. 2.3 Mat. 9.1 I also comfortably confesse that the fayth of our father Abraham doth so much profite his posteritie bicause of the couenant of God with him and hys seede after him so as they are imputed to be gods children and that so long as they continue in that couenant But when they degenerate from their fathers fayth Gen. 17. God cutteth of this imputation and that the chylde borne of contrarie parents as the father an Infidell the mother a christian 1. Cor. 7.14 Abac. 2. Ezec. 18.20 I say with Paule that the chylde is holye through the fayth of the beléeuing parent But to iustification it is established that euerye man should be saued by his owne fayth To this sayth Ezechiel The righteousnesse of the righteous shal be vpon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall be vpon himselfe To this end serueth that whole excellent Chapter to the reading whereof I referre thée The prayers of the faythfull doe much preuayle to those that yet are not fully brought to Christ Yea the ardent zeale of others fayth doth enflame the soules of their brethren to follow their steps in Christ and the prayer of one faythful man doth promise auayle to another for encrease in fayth Ephe. 6.18 19. Phil. 1.19 Wherefore Paule prayeth for all saints and desyreth them to pray for him For by the prayers of the Phillipians he perswadeth the trouble of
the false Prophets to turne to his saluation that is their prayer to God for his pacience shall profyte him to beare the crosse wyth silence Iam 5.16 which bringeth peace in Christ And so in such sort it is that Iames sayth The prayer of the iuste auayleth much wherfore pray one for another that ye may be saued But if God by his grace giue not this grace into man to beléeue and suffer for him that man cannot by other mens fayth be saued as we haue sufficiently prooued wherefore Symeon rightly reioyceth that his proper eyes to saye the eyes of his fayth and also of bodye haue had the experimented perswasion in his heart that this borne Babe Iesus the Virgins son is his sauiour But let no man dreame here that Symeons solace is of that that only he saw with his bodily eyes the body of Christ For notwithstanding that sight had he not with the eyes of his fayth beholden Christ for his onely Sauiour he had died most sorrowfull What did it profite the Phariseys Iewes Pilate Caiphas and the tormentors of Christ that they sawe hym whom they pierced No more then it doth the Traytor hauing sentence of death pronounced against him to loke vpon the face of the Iudge hasting the expectation of his final decrée Such is the comforte to all those Papistes which dreame and deceyue the worlde in this imagination that Christs body is to our sight offred really corporally fleshe bloud and bone as he was borne of the Virgin Mary in the sacryfice of their dead Masse A reproofe to the Popishe Masse For as the Iewes were condemned for this sight bicause then when they so sawe him they crucifyed him So are they Papistes when as with the Iewes the Popishe Priest if he coulde shewe thée in déede the bodye of his Christ in his abhominable Masse doth in sacryficing Christ euery daye so often crucifie him afreshe For sayth the Hebrewes where so euer Christ is offred there he is also deade that is to say againe crucified Their comforte is endlesse woe in the same Epistle descrybed thus He that despiseth Moses lawe Heb. 10.28 dyeth without mercy c. Of how much more punishment suppose you shall he be which treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God as doe the Papistes for where God hath exalted him on high no more subiect to death they kill him euery day at their Masse and eate him they say in that cake counteth the bloud of the Testament as an vnholy thing wherewith he was sanctifyed and doth despite that Spirite of grace Hebr. frō the 7. to the. 11. cap. Herein the Papistes are also touched for Paule sayth the holynesse of this bloud is once onely to be offered no more to be offred bicause in that one Oblation once for al offred he hath made perfect for euer those which be sanctifyed They doe despite also the Spirite of grace which sayth in the same Chapter Nowe where there is remission of these things there is no more offring for synne Yet the Popishe Priest wil euery day iterate this Sacrifice wyping thy eyes with thys miste it is an vnbloudy sacryfice For no more may Christ be offered bloudy But I aske the shauen Gentleman whether he offer truely the bodye of Christ or no If he say he doth then I aske hym whether the same body that rose from death and was crucyfied To this if he say yea then agayne I say wheresoeuer that body is offred he must of force in bloud be offred forsomuch as he hath revnited the same to his soule and Godhead and is not a spirite without fleshe and bloud as he sayth to Thomas Lu. 24.39 Secondly if you could and doe offer his body without bloud An vnbloudie sacryfice can neuer take awaye sinne you must of force new agayne kill him and tread a freshe that glorious Wyne presse which ye denie to doe Thirdly if your sacrifice be an vnbloudye Sacrifice then cannot it obtayne forgiuenesse of sinnes which is the colour ye haue to offer it but your owne lucring luste is the cause of it For the Apostle sayth that without blood Heb. 9.22 there is no forgiuenesse And without a testament there is no promise whersoeuer this Testamente and bodye is offred there of necessitie must be the death of the Testator But you chalenge the Testamente to haue forgiuenesse of synnes by your daylie sacryfice it followeth of necessitie then that in this your sacryficing Testament you must again kyll Christ the Testator For thus sayth the text For where a Testament is there must be the death of him that made the Testament And if you wil reply that Christ is aliue and you kill him not which cannot die and yet ye offer him I saye first that in the sacrifice of Christes Testament vnlesse he dye the Testament is of no force so long as he liueth that made it And then I saye it is most absurde to say that you can offer Christ and not make him to suffer death againe When as the text sayth Christ is not entred into the holy places Heb. 9.24 that are made wyth handes which are symilituds of the true sanctuary but is entred into very heauen Marke where our Christ offred is not in the priests hands to appeare in the sight of God for vs. Not that he should offer himselfe often as the high priest entred into the holy place euery yere with other blood now marke to this reason for then must he haue often suffered synce the foundation of the worlde Where and whensoeuer Christ is offred there and then he is also slayn and agayne crucifyed But he can no more dye therefore can he no more be offered but now he hath appeared once to put away synne by the sacryfice of himself Note how elegantly he sayth by the sacrifice of himselfe not of other after or for him hath he put awaye sinne And forget not that he sayth Christ is not gone to heauen to the ende he should be often offered where the daylie offering of the Popishe Masse is denied by Paule to be the offering of Christ and that that Oblation is against the will of God who hath ascended the heauens bicause he will no more be offered for he can no more be slaine and for that he hath obtained in that his owne sacryfice already for vs eternall redemption And laste of all he sayth that whensoeuer Christ is offred he is therewith slayne O Lorde Hebr. 9.12 if wyth pure eyes we coulde looke into the booke of lyfe the worde of God how could this doltish damnable doctrine of Rome deuoure vs and this is most certaine The corporall presence of Christes body not so profitable to be wyth vs. that this corporall sight of Christes body should rather hinder then help vs For Christ sayth vnlesse that he be taken from vs his holye spirite will not come to vs and if we haue not the spirite of
hym to preaching Paule And also of a most zealous Pharisey in blyndnesse made him most feruent in the Gospell of God to all our comfortes which be Gentyls For thys our Lord Christ Aelion most highe hath consecrated Paule aboue Peter to be our especiall Apostle both at Rome and else where in the rounde world Our Sauyour Christ our God Iere. 20. Esa 42. is also called of the Hebrewes El. to say of his great strength For whatsoeuer he wyll doe that can he doe For which cause he is called by the Prophets The God of strength and the mightye Lorde or Gygante Sometyme also Eloah and of the Trinitie in coniunction we may say Elohim which signifyeth God our Christ in his deuyne nature to be alwayes and euery where present in heauen and in earth and in peace and warre in persecution and preaching peace in workes and playes in actes and thoughtes in lyfe and death in all places at one and selfe instante Of whose presence the Psalmist sayth thus Whether shall I go from thy Spirite Psal 139. or where shall I flee from thy face If I ascend into heauen thou art there if I go down to hell thou art there also But if I shall take the wings of the morning and dwell in the farthest part of the Sea euen there shall thy hande gouerne me and thy right hande shall beholde me And Paule aptly pronounceth our Lordes presence to the Athenians Act. 17.28 testifying him not to be farre from them but they in him rather saying For in him we lyue moue haue our being And it séemeth probable for this cause the Grecians to haue called God Theos and the Latines to haue formed thence thys worde Deus As one learned affyrmeth Theos to come of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of redynesse and running to and fro so is God called by such a name as best can expresse his presence who is neuer absent from mortall men in earth but to euery man in all places gyueth all things that they possesse Of which his liberalitie some suppose him to be called Deus a dando for that he gyueth to all men that they haue God our Lorde and Christ is also called Schaddai .i. sufficient in himselfe and the sufficientcy to all creatures that whosoeuer hath him to their Lorde hath all sufficientcy to body and soule to this and the lyfe eternall And in oure tongue we call Christ in his deuyne nature God that is the most principall and best good Lastly he is called the God of Abraham the God of Isaack the God of Iacob insinuating vnto vs from whence the holynesse of these Fathers with their fayth came And also that as we are the posteritie of the Noble Abraham by fayth in Christ So is he to vs our best good and most excellent God so that with Paule we may conclude our selues in him most vertuous Rom. 8.31.32 sufficient and blessed saying If God be on our syde who can be against vs. It is God that iustifyeth who shall condemne Againe if he hath giuen vs Christ how shal he not giue vs all things with him And by him we shall bée more then Conquerors Loe this god is thy Iesus whose power is prest and ready to thy best good if thou faythfully put thy trust in him He is also called the Lordes Christ which word Christ Luc. 4.18 Esa 61.1 importeth his honorable Function by the excellent Oyntment aboue his fellowes euen the holy ghost by which he is annoynted of his father to be the king and Priest of his Church for euer according to this saying Heb. 7.17 Thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchesidech So then he is called Iesus of the worde Iesehak and so called as the Angell testifyeth bicause he saueth his people from theyr synne Mat. 1.21 The worde Christ is a greeke word which aunswereth the Hebrewe vocable Messhiah annoynted In olde tyme with the people these persons Prophets Priests and Princes were annoynted with Oyle Wherefore our Iesus is called Anoynted signifying the plentifull graces of Gods spirite giuen to those called of god to these Functions and also into what perillous daungers and harde battles they were to enter which truely exercised that seuerall calling By which Oyling they were as with a Symbole put in mynd what couragious Champions they ought to be in their offices This was the cause why the noble Champions before the pryse playde were annoynted But in as much as the Lord Christ had a greater enimy then all other Champions and therewyth a most deadly fyght towards whose body and soule was to stande in the battle of death vppon the crosse against his fathers iustice for the synnes of the whole worlde Satans malice and mans corruption Hell and Death it was most necessary that he shoulde before thys cruel combate haue a more precious Oyntment then had his shadowing fellowes preaching Prophets sacrifycing priests and ruling Princes Wherefore he was annoynted with the holy ghost The spirit of God is vpon me sayth Christ because he hath annoynted me that I should preache the Gospell to the poore c. Esa 61. Luc. 4.18 This sentence expresseth Christs priesthood kingdome and preaching office He is sente sayth he to preache His kingdome he is annoynted to delyuer the oppressed His priesthood he is giuen to heale the broken and wounded hartes wyth synne and iniquitie by the sacrifice of his death vpon the crosse During hys lyfe he preached the gospel Rom. 1.16 which is Gods power in Christ to saluation to euery one that beleeueth In his sacrifice of hymselfe vpon the crosse he performed both the other By his death he healed our infirmities Esa 53. Col. 1.20 for the chastisment of our peace was layde vpon him In hys death he obtayned the victory hauing fully aunswered the Fathers iustice against synne death and hell and spoyled principalities and powers and hath made a shew of them openly Col. 2.15 and hath tryumphed ouer them in the same crosse He hath forgyuen vs our synnes put out the hande wryting that was agaynst vs he hath taken it out of the waye and fastened it to his crosse hath translated vs from the power of darknes into the kingdome whereof he is king of kings and Lorde of Lordes vz the body of hys Church of which he is the onely heade Whose kingdome is thréefold of power of grace and of glory Of power for all Nations shall bow the knee to this Lorde of Lordes and king of kings Christ the annoynted king and priest And who so wyl not kysse the sonne Christ Iesus shal perish whether Prince Psal 2. 1. Rom. 14 17. Potentate Preacher Magistrate people or pestilente Pope Of grace which he sayth by Luke is within vs and consisteth as Paule sayth in righteousnesse Christ the high Byshop of our soules in peace and ioy in the holy Ghost His kingdome of glory as well in that he
Iewishe or much lesse the Popishe priests can be to vs men of good warrante to pacifie hys wrath for our synnes with and by their dayly counterfeyte sacrifices when they haue neyther warrante from thy holy written worde or be The Pope very vnfytte to offer vp sacrifice for synne hys Cardinals lesse hys priests least but his irreligious all to bad or can be such men as it becommeth our priests to be Can the Pope or any his broode be found in truth and search of his owne friends holy harmelesse and vndefyled Is he in all sortes seperate from synners or are his priests Is hys dwellings aboue the Heauens or haue not his Fryers Monkes Byshops Cardinals and Popishe prelates the fertyll soyle of euery Nation to plante their dwelling places in Doe they not néede to offer sacrifice fyrst for their owne sinnes which of all other are most acquainted therewith And doe they not in the daylie sacrifice of their blasphemous Masse fyrst offer for the Pope then for the king Byshop and themselues then for him her or them for whome they are for that tyme hyred These therefore can be no lawfull priests to offer for sinne were there any such sacrifyce to be offered The lawe of Moses made such men priests as were subiect to death The Popishe lawe anoyleth such as are wrapped in infyrmities but the law of the othe of God which is the gospell maketh the sonne of God Christ Iesus onely the sacryfycing priest of hys Churche who is without synne deuoyde of infyrmitie holy harmelesse vndefyled higher then the heauens seperate from synners once for all offred a full price in sacrifyce to his father vpon the crosse for the syns of the whole worlde which can no more be offered or any other in place therof is not subiect any more to death but lyueth to make intercession for his church to God hys father for euer Nowe we haue to consyder also from what it is that thys Sauyour Christ delyuereth vs. Truely from the Fathers wrath from the chaynes of synne and her rewarde which is eternall death Of which deliuerance Zacharius speaketh in his Song Rom. 6.23 Luc. 1.74 that wee being delyuered from the feare of our enimies might serue him without feare c. But when it is sayde he delyuereth vs it is imported we are fyrst in thraldome Mans state wythout Christ thraldome and most misery and bounde from libertie Euen so are the sonnes of men by nature thralled vnto the wrath of God bound in chaynes of synne and subiect to the cursse of euerlasting death Therin borne in it lyuing and lusting death by the contynuall desyres therof Eph. 2.3 But Synne synne is the cause that Gods iustice cannot but giue vs wrath and his wrath cannot procéeding from his iustice but cast the synner into the prison of eternal payne where is darknesse sorrowe wéeping torments and gnashing of téeth the worme that dyeth not and the anger of God And this synne is and maye be sayde to be of two kyndes the one procéeding from the other Originall and Actuall Originall commeth wyth the lumpe of massy poysoned fleshe Originall synne and actuall which our parentage hath brought to vs from the loynes of oure fyrst father Adam And he becommeth synful by the breach of Gods holye lawe in Paradise hath begotten by synfull séede his children in synne who by succession haue encreased the worlde to thys daye from his synfull loynes to beget vs synfull creatures of our synfull mothers And thus are we guyltie of Adams synne called Originall the beginning synne For lyke as out of a poysoned Vessell can be drawne no other lycour but poysoned So from the poysoned séede of Adam can procéede no other then lyke corrupted matter for mans propagation and ofspring And againe thys worde synne signifyeth generally the disobedience to God the offending of God by the breaking of hys most holy commaundements This difference is betwéene Originall and Actuall synne the one we bring with vs in flesh as guyltie by byrth of our fathers transgressiō as the Apostle sayth By Adam all men do dye The other is that our selues in mynde and bodye doe commit daylie agaynst our God and his holy lawe which we do eyther in mynde 1. Cor. 15.22 in will in harte and affection in tong or hande in soule or bodye in one or both The fyrst doth infecte all other that come from his fyrst roote For lyke as leporous parents of their bodyes cannot but beget and the chyldren which are borne of them are defyled as wel with the parents leprosie as contaminate with their owne naturall corruption Euen so are the posteritie of Adam infected with the fyrst fathers leprosie in synne and steyned with their owne actuall offences and iniquitie which one lamenting sayeth And great is that Original synne Barnardus which doth not alone infect the person but corrupteth the whole nature of man also The second which is actuall synne dwelleth in the body of the synner alone and hurteth others no otherwise then when they be pertakers therof eyther by ioyning in facte or consente by suffring or not regarding the poyson thereof the ende of both is death euerlasting Rom. 6.23 How horrible that synne is the Scriptures doe tell Synne breaketh our couenant with God prouoketh anger of God The fruits of synne in man seperateth his loue from vs hasteneth his iustice procureth our perpetuall destruction caused Christ to come from heauen and he the sonne of God to suffer death for vs moste wretched creatures which else should haue perished in synne Is of that nature that if we wyllingly fall into it agayne we crucifye Christ anewe and there is no more looking for redemption but a fearefull wayting for the wrath of Gods furye fyre and vengeance Finally it is the worke of the Deuill and he the author therof who is the vtter aduersarye of God and we his sworne enemies and Gods famylye How intollerable a matter it is for the Quéenes seruante of her priuie chamber from beggery exalted farre aboue all brauery to become Traytor to her grace and in her secret chamber to violate his fayth who séeth not with darkned eyes How much more vgly is he and most intollerable is his case that casteth dyrte by synne euery daye into the face of God by carnall concupiscence courtly carnall lustes and fylthy actions Well from all thys yet he the Lord Christ saueth his people 1. Ioh. 1.7 euen his bloud doth wash their soules and bodyes from euerye synne and his death doth purge our consciences from dead workes Heb. 9.14 Esay 1. to serue the lyuing God Of this delyuerance Esay sayth Washe you make you cleane if your synnes were as redde as Scarlet I wyll make them as whyte as Wooll Iere. 31. sayth the Lorde Ieremy Your synnes and iniquities will I remember no more Ezechiel Ezech. 18. At what tyme soeuer a synner doth repent of hys synne