instituted by Christ to be receiued of Christians By the one which is Baptisme we are receiued and incorporated into the Church of Christ by the other which is the Eucharist or Lords supper wee are nourished and fed vnto life euerlasting These are pledges and assurances of remission of sinnes and saluation purchased by the death of Christ. These are Gods seales added vnto his most certaine promises for the confirmation of our weake faith weake by reason of the infirmitie of our fleshe For if we were spirituall saith Chrysostome wee should not neede these corporall signes We being now prepared and purposed to be partakers of this holie mysterie the sacrament of the bodie and bloud of Christ it standeth vs vpon to haue that due consideration which the waight of a matter so neerely concerning our saluation doeth require to the end that we may to our comfort and profite receiue the same Deepely to enter into this matter the shortnesse of this time wil not permit yet somewhat I will say and giue you a tast of things needefull 21 In this sacrament there are two things a visible signe and an inuisible grace there is a visible sacramentall signe of breade and wine and there is the thing and matter signified namely the bodie and bloud of Christ there is an earthly matter and an heauenly matter The outward sacramentall signe is common to all as well the bad as the good Iudas receiued the Lords bread but not that bread which is the Lord to the faithfull receiuer The spirituall part that which feedeth the soule onely the faithful doe receiue For he cannot be partaker of the bodie of Christ which is no member of Christs bodie This foode offred vs at the Lords table is to feede our soules withall it is meate for the minde and not for the bellie Our soules being spiritual can neither receiue nor digest that which is corporall they feede only vpon spirituall foode It is the spirituall eating that giueth life The flesh saith Christ doeth nothing profite We must lift vp our selues from these externall and earthly signes and like Eagles flie vp and sore aloft there to feede on Christ which sitteth on the right hande of his father whom the heauens shall keepe vntill the latter day From thence and from no other Altar shall he come in his natural bodie to iudge both quicke and dead His naturall bodie is locall for else it were not a naturall bodie his bodie is there therefore not here for a naturall bodie doth not occupie sundrie places at once Here we haue a sacrament a signe a memoriall a commemoration a representation a figure effectuall of the bodie and bloud of Christ. These termes the auncient Fathers Ireneus Tertullian S. Augustine S. Ierome S. Chrysostome doe vse Seeing then that Christ in his naturall bodie is absent from hence seeing he is risen and is not here seeing hee hath left the worlde and is gone to his father howe shall I saith S. Augustine laie holde on him which is absent how shall I put my hand into heauen Send vp thy faith and thou hast taken hold Why preparest thou thy teeth Beleeue and thou hast eaten Thy teeth shall not doe him violence neither thy stomacke conteine his glorious bodie Thy faith must reache vp into heauen By faith he is seene by faith he is touched by faith he is digested Spiritually by faith wee feede vpon Christ when wee stedfastly beleeue that his bodie was broken and his bloud shed for vs vpon the crosse by which sacrifice offered once for all as sufficient for all our sinnes were freely remitted blotted out and washed away This is our heauenly bread our spirituall foode This doth strengthen our soules and cheere our hearts Sweeter it is vnto vs than honie when we are certified by this outward sacrament of the inward grace giuen vnto vs thorough his death when in him we are assured of remission of sins and eternall life Better foode than this thy soule can neuer feede vpon This is the bread of euerlasting life They which truely eate it shall liue by it 32 Thus I haue briefly simply and plainely vnfolded vnto you the meaning of this most holy mysterie Time wil not suffer me to let you see the absurdities of the popish vnsauourie opinions in this matter neither to confute their vaine allegations and false collections abusing the scriptures dreaming euermore with the grosse Capernaites of a carnall and a fleshly eating Beholde the one part of this sacrament consecrated is termed bread the other a cup by the Apostle himselfe Because what they were according to the substance of their natures before consecration the same they remaine after saith Bertram The like hath Theodoret Those mysticall tokens after they be sanctified doe not leaue their proper nature for they abide in their former substance figure and shape This sacrament was deliuered to the Corinthians in both kindes As Christ saith so saith Paul Bibite ex hoc omnes Drinke ye all of this That the whole sacrament should be receiued of the people and no mutilation permitted the auncient writers are most cleare as Ambrose Ierom Chrysostom Gelasius Cyprian c. This sacrament is to be receiued in remembrance of Christ crucified As oft as yee shall eate this bread and drinke of this cup ye shewe the Lords death vntill his comming 23 In what maner we ought to prepare our selues thereunto Paul teacheth saying Let a man prooue himselfe and so eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe This condemneth Anabaptists which thinking themselues to be without sin communicate with none but such as they thinke like to themselues Euerie man shal beare his owne burthen It behooueth therefore euerie man to trie him selfe and not other men Trie whether ye be in the faith or no. Faith hath his fruites It worketh repentaunce it causeth sorowe for sinnes committed feare of sinning againe and hope of pardon It breedeth loue towards God and loue towardes our brethren If incredulitie if impenitencie if hatred and malice haue possessed thine heart then abstaine from the Lords table least with Iudas thou receiue the Lords bread against the Lord the foode of saluation to thy condemnation But if thou beleeue repent thee of thy sinne purpose to liue a charitable and godlie life if thou be cloathed with the sweete garment of the sonne of God then sit thee downe at the table of the Lorde and at the feast of the lambe For this is his feast this is doone onely in remembraunce of him this is the blessed Eucharist a sacrament of praise and thankesgiuing as for al other godly benefites so particularly and principally for the death and passion of Iesus Christ Gods onelie sonne and our onelie Sauiour 24 These dueties being thus performed vnto God wee must also endeuour to liue and leade an honest life Peace is a great meane to procure pietie and pietie should breede honestie in vs. The one
that worketh all in all Wherfore as not onely Paul Apollos Cephas but all are ours and we are Christs and Christ is Gods so let vs comfort and strengthen one another in our holy faith holding nothing more deere vnto vs then the saluatiō ech of others and in Gods holy feare commend we one another to that faithful creator who is father of all aboue vs all and through vs all and in vs all To him be rendred all thanks and all honour geuen for euer and for euer The order and matter of the Sermons 1 The first Ho euerie one that thirsteth come to the waters c. Esa. 55. 1. 2 Be this sinne against the Lorde far from me that I shoulde cease to pray c. 1. Sam. 12. 23. 3 Take vs the little foxes which destroie the vines for our vine hath florished Cant. 2. 15. 4 I exhorte therefore before all thinges that requestes supplications c. 1. Tim. 2. 1. 5 Be like minded hauing the same loue being of one accorde c. Phil. 2. 2. 6 Teach mee thy way O Lorde and I will walke in thy truth Psal. 86. 11. 7 Drawe neere to God and he will draw neere to you Iac. 4. 8. 8 Seeke the Lorde while he may bee founde call vpon him while hee is neere c. Esay 55. 6. 9 All the daies of this my warfare do I waite till my changing come Iob. 14. 14. 10 That being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies we may serue him c. Luc. 1. 74. 11 Owe nothing to any man but this to loue one another for hee that loueth c. Rom. 13. 8. 12 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lorde requireth of thee c. Mich. 6. 8. 13 And Iesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that soulde and bought c. Matth. 21. 12. 14 Then Peter opened his mouth and saide Of a truth I perceiue that God c. Act. 10. 34. 15 We therfore as helpers beseech you that ye receiue not the grace of God in vaine c. 2. Cor. 6. 2. 16 Mariage is honorable in all Heb. 13. 1. 17 After these thinges Iesus went his waie ouer the sea of Galile c. Ioh. 6. 1. 18 Then there shalbe signes in the sunne and in the moone c. Luc. 21. 25 19 And when he was entred into the ship his disciples followed him c. Mat. 8. 23. 20 The end of all thinges is at hand Be ye therefore sober c. 1. Pet. 4. 7. 21 Offer the sacrifices of righteousnesse Psal. 4. 5. 22 For the rest brethren fare yee well be perfect be of good comforte c. 2. Cor. 13. 11. A Sermon made in Paules on the day of Christes Natiuitie ESAY 55. 1 Ho euerie one that thirsteth come to the waters and ye that haue no siluer come buy and eate come I say buy wine and milke without siluer and without money 2 Wherefore doe ye lay out siluer and not for bread and your labour without being satisfied Hearken diligently vnto me and eate that which is good and let your soule delight in fatnesse 3 Encline your eares and come vnto me heare and your soule shall liue I wil make an euerlasting couenant with you euen the sure mercies of Dauid OVR Euangelical Prophet Esaias through the spirit of reuelation hath in the former part of this his prophecie 800. yeres before the birth of Christ euen as if the thing had alreadie beene performed such is the certainetie of his prophecie most liuely described and set foorth the natiuitie the preaching the persecution the apprehension the death the resurrection the ascension yea and the latter comming of our Sauiour Christ to iudge the quicke and the dead in such wise that for the substance thereof no Euangelist hath more perfectly or plainly set foorth this great mysterie of our saluation He foretelleth that Christ shall be borne of a virgin that his name shalbe Immanuel that his office shalbe to preache the glad tidings of saluation to the poore in spirit that he shalbe led as a sheepe to the shambles to be slaine that he shall be stricken for our sakes and beare the burthen of al our sinnes vpon his backe 2 His birth foreshewed so long agoe by this heauenly Prophet was in fulnesse of time accomplished as this day in Bethlem a citie of Dauid according to the testimonie of that Angel sent from heauen to proclaime the birth of the sonne of God at the same time saying Behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shalbe vnto all the people because this day is borne vnto you a Sauiour which is Christ our Lorde in the Citie of Dauid This is that seede of the woman which breaketh the serpents head that meeke Abel murthered by his brethren for our sinne that true Isaack whom his father hath offered vp to be a sacrifice of pacification and attonement betweene him and vs. This is that Melchisedeck both a king and a priest that liueth for euer without father or mother beginning or ending This is Ioseph that was solde for thirtie pieces of monie This is that Sampson full of strength and courage who to saue his people and destroy his enemies hath willingly brought death vpon his owne head This is that Lorde and sonne of Dauid to whom the Lord sayde Sit thou on my right hand This is that bridegroome in the Canticle whose heart is so inflamed with heauenly loue towards his deare spouse which is his Church This is he whom holy Simeon imbrasing prophesied that he should be a light to the Gentiles and a glorie to his people Israel he vpon whom the holy Ghost descended and of whom the father testified from heauen This is my welbeloued Sonne This is that lambe of God pointed at by Iohn and sent to take away the sinnes of the world to redeeme vs from thraldome not with golde nor siluer but with the inestimable price of his pretious bloud to be made our wisedome iustification sanctification and redemption This is the childe that is borne for vs the sonne that is giuen for our cause the king whose rule is vpon his shoulders whose name is maruellous the giuer of counsell the mightie GOD the euerlasting father the prince of peace the same Messias which was shadowed in the ceremonies and sacrifices of olde which was prefigured in the Lawe and is presented in the Gospel and hath beene approoued to the worlde by signes and wonders by so cleare euidence as cannot bee either dissembled or denyed Let vs therefore embrace this babe with ioie let vs kisse the sonne let vs with the Angels of heauen praise the Lord let vs sing their Psalme to the honour of his name Glorie be to God on high and on earth peace 3 The Prophet Esaias hauing in spirite espied Christ and seene the day though farre off wherein the Sauiour of the world should be borne
common wealth What stirs diuersities of religion hath raised in nations kingdoms the histories are so many so plaine and our times in such sort haue told you that with further proofe I need not trouble your eares One God one king one faith one profession is fit for one monarchie common wealth Diuision weakneth Concord strēgtheneth The storie of Scilurus the Scythian is knowen who vpon his death bed taught his lxxx sons the force of vnitie by the strength of sticks weake by themselues when they are tyed in a bundle Let conformitie and vnitie in religion be prouided for and it shal be as a wall of defence vnto this Realme 26 And as these things are especially to be regarded as our principal care must be for the highest matters synceritie and vnitie in religion so we may not neglect or passe ouer smaller things which neede redresse For as diseases and sores in the basest and vilest parts of the body doe grieue and may endaunger the chiefest vnlesse they bee cured betimes so the least abuses by sufferance may worke the greatest harme Gorgeous apparel and sumptuous dyet with such like matters may seeme small things but they are the causes of no small euils They eate vp England and are therefore to bee repressed by straite Lawes It is a part of true seruice done vnto God to see euen vnto these things 27 Wee may seeme to cast our eyes very lowe when wee looke into the dealings of euerie officer vnder the Prince Yet euerie one must be seene vnto They waxe sodainely rich by the spoile of the Prince Reforme it by Lawe that all may walke in trueth If merchaunts with other artificers and meaner trades doe inriche themselues by impouerishing others through deceitfull shifts the common wealth suffereth dammage by their vneuen dealings If we wil haue God serued in trueth wee must by Lawe reforme them 28 That biting worme of vsurie that deuouring wolfe hath consumed many many it hath pulled vpon their knees and brought to beggerie many such as might haue liued in great wealth and in honour not a fewe This canker hath corrupted all England It is become the chiefe chaffer and merchaundise of England We shall doe God and our countrie true seruice by taking away this euill Represse it by Lawe else the heauie hand of God hangeth ouer vs and wil strike vs. 29 That vile sinne of adulterie in Gods common wealth punished with death so ouerfloweth the bankes of all chastitie that if by sharpe Lawes it be not speedily cut off God from heauen with fire will consume it Preuent Gods wrath bridle this outrage so shal you serue the Lord in truth 30 There is nothing more hurtfull to the common wealth than these corner contracts without consent of parents contrary to the woorde of God the Lawe of nature the Lawe ciuil and all right and reason The inconueniences that followe are not sufferable Euaristus a Bishop of Rome saith It is not wedlocke but whoredome when the consent of parents is wanting God cannot bee better serued than if by Lawe yee restraine this vnlawfull contracting The children of this inconuenient mariage may scarsely bee termed lawfull The deuill that hath euer hated wedlocke and loueth whoredome was the first author of this great disorder God graunt you vnderstanding heartes and willing mindes faithfully and in trueth to trauell to represse and take away these euils 31 And as euill is to be controlled by Lawe so that which is good is also by Lawe to be procured God hath made vs many wayes riche For what wee haue freely at his hands we haue it But he himselfe is become very poore in so much that for want of reliefe he is forced to begge and for want of lodging and meate hee lieth and dieth in our streetes This great ingratitude God cannot but reuenge Oh what shame is this to a Christian common wealth in a reformed countrie Obstinate Iewes would neuer shew themselues so vnthankful Their auncient Lawe forbidding beggars is euen to this day most straitly kept amongest them Lawes in this behalfe haue beene prouided but as they wanted perfection so haue they in manner in no point or any where had execution Serue God in trueth prouide that Christ craue not Such as wil not feede him here he wil neuer feede in his kingdome Thus haue I point by point let you see disorders and wants in the common wealth Ye haue authoritie by Lawe to reforme them Consider duetifully of it and serue God truely as ye ought alwayes remembring the saying of the Prophet Esay Woe be to them that make wicked Lawes 32 When good Lawes are made they must be put in execution Lawe is the life of the common wealth and execution the life of the Lawe And better not to make Lawes than not to execute Lawes when they are once made This is the dutie of the publike ministers of the common wealth They must first keepe Lawes themselues then see that others in like sort may obserue them If the officers and ministers of the common wealth contemne lawes doubtlesse the people wil neuer reuerence them if they breake them the people wil neuer keep them Which Solon wisely considering wisely aunswered being demaunded what was chiefe safetie for a common wealth If the Citizens obey the Magistrate and the Magistrate the Lawes You that are appointed to this purpose and put in trust therewith lay aside dread and meede fauour and friendship gift and gaine and with simplicitie of heart punish the transgressor of the Lawe according to the Law Make not Anacharsis webbe of the Lawe Let not the hornet escape and the litle flie bee caught Fewe Lawes well made and well kept would serue the turne This is Gods seruice the execution thereof he hath set ouer to your hands Serue him in trueth and singlenesse of heart Cursed is he that negligently doeth the worke of the Lorde 33 Thus much hath beene spoken concerning higher powers and of their duetie in the seruice of God Samuel speaketh not to them alone to the people it is spoken as well as to the prince Feare and serue ye the Lorde in trueth Feare God embrace the Gospel leade your liues in holinesse and righteousnesse according to the word of trueth The Lorde is a strong defence to them that feare him They that feare him want nothing 34 Giue vnto the Lordes annointed due reuerence and honour Let euerie soule be subiect not by constraint but for conscience sake Imitate those worthie Israelites who were so willingly obedient to Iosua that they cryed with one voice Whosoeuer shall rebell against thy commaundement and will not obey thy woordes in all that thou commaundest him let him die Grudge not repine not at higher powers say not in your hearts Let vs breake their bands and cast away their chaines from vs. 35 Seeke the peace of the common wealth and
to the idle and Idol pastor to the dumme dogge to the vnpreaching minister For the bloud of all these that perish for lacke of taking through his negligence shall be required at his hands 31 The second net is godlie conuersation good example of life This net holdeth hard Examples are a great deale stronger than words and the voice doeth not so fully instruct as the life Therefore Peter saith Be a platforme for the flocke to followe He that liueth otherwise than he speaketh teacheth God to punish him saith S. Chrysostome Paul termeth such teachers as are fertile in speeche and barren in life tinckling cimbals They send foorth a sound and inwardly are hollowe Christ did what hee taught His innocencie and patience chaunged the hearts of the verie souldiers that put him to death And as the godlie example of a good life draweth many to Christ so an euill life giueth great offence The bad demeanor of Helies sonnes caused men to loath the offering of the Lorde And you saith Iacob to his two sonnes Simeon and Leui haue made me to bee abhorred among the inhabitants of the Land Let vs therefore haue our conuersation honest among these men that as now they speake euil of vs as euil doers so hereafter they may by our good workes which they shall see glorifie God in the day of visitation 32 The third net to take these foxes in is discipline Where the former nets faile this will take hold it helde that incestuous Corinthian whom no other way could haue taken Hereby Ambrose brought the Emperor Theodosius himselfe to vnfained humilitie and heartie repentance Doeth it not appertaine vnto pastorall diligence saith S. Augustine with feare yea if they resist with feeling of stripes to recall to the fold of the Lord those sheepe when wee finde them which haue not beene violently caried away but by faire and soft vsage being seduced haue gone astray and began to be held in possession of straungers Those wilfull cubbes which neither by teaching nor by example will be reformed must feele the smart of the rod. We haue saith Paul in a readinesse punishment against all disobedience Such as will not come to feede with Christ willingly must bee compelled against their wils Constraine them to come in Thus the minister should take these litle foxes and winne them vnto the Lord with the net of Gods word of good example and of discipline Now if they cannot be so recalled that themselues perish not they are to be cut off or tyed vp that they destroie not others 33 The magistrate therefore must also set traps to catch these foxes withall The chiefe trap the magistrate hath is the Lawe Artaxerxes writeth his letter vnto Esdras whom hee sent to Ierusalem to see the people gouerned and requireth him hoth to place Magistrates and Iudges ouer the people and to see that they might liue according to the Lawes of God and the king adding thereunto a sharpe commination against transgressors Whosoeuer will not doe the Lawe of thy God and the kings Lawe let him haue iudgement without delay whether it be vnto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment The kindes of punishment here set downe are foure Death Exile Confiscation Incarceration These lawfull meanes are wisely to be vsed of Christian Magistrates as traps to take these litle foxes 34 The first is death It is the Lords commaundement Let the false Prophet die Let the adulterer and the adulteresse be put to death Let the blasphemer be stoned Moses obserued this in destroying Idolaters and hanging vp them that committed whoredome The Magistrate beareth not the sword in vaine Asa the good king of Iuda gaue commaundement that if any would not seeke the Lord God of Israel he should die from the least to the greatest from the man to the woman Thus zealous Magistrates haue indeuoured to take rebellious foxes 35 Exile is also a punishment fit for foxes Zerubabel and Ieshua together with the rest of the fathers of Israel agreed not to suffer the enemies of their religion those wilie foxes to ioyne with them but banished them out of their companie It is not for vs and you to builde a house to our God The Emperor Theodosius likewise being mooued thereunto by that zealous Bishop Amphilochius draue all the Arrians out of his dominion These foxes must be remooued the further the better And it were wel with Christs Church if they were all as farre as Rome hence from whence many of them came who now wander and raunge amongst vs. God spared not to expel Angels out of heauen men out of paradise And when Absolon had put off the duetifull minde of a naturall sonne then Dauid laying aside the tender affection of a louing father banished him his countrie 36 The third trappe to take withall is confiscation of goods which way is the easiest and not the woorst For the most men loue Mammon better than God their riches more than their religion When the riche man heard that hee and his wealth must part he went away very sorowfull If he from Christ it is to bee hoped these wil from Antichrist There can bee no sharper punishment to a worldlie minded man than to be taken in this trap God therefore commaunded the Egyptians to be spoiled than which there could be no plague more grieuous vnto them being so greedily set vpon their gaine When the Philistims would keepe the Iewes in good order and disable them to rebell they tooke their weapons and instruments of warre from them It is no euill or vnlawfull policie to weaken these enemies which are readie to vse the strength of their wealth to the ouerthrow of the Church if occasion did serue Touche them by the purse It is the most easie and readie way whereby to take and tame these foxes 37 The last way set downe by wise Artaxerxes is Incarceration When Ioseph had cast his brethren in prison then they remembred their fault and repented then they thought Wee suffer these things deseruedly for the hardnesse of our heartes against our brother Manasses was neuer reclaimed vntil he was inclosed in prison He was miserable in his kingdome and blessed in his captiuitie Thus it is the duetie aswel of the Magistrate as the Minister to obey the commaundement of the almightie and by all meanes to preuent wicked enterprises to roote out euill and to seeke the safetie of Gods vineyard his beloued Church Which God graunt them once effectually to doe for their owne discharge and benefite of the people so deerely redeemed by the bloud of Christ. To whom c. A Sermon preached in the same place and vpon the same occasion with the former 1. TIM 2. 1 I exhort therefore before all things that requests supplications intercessions and giuings of thankes be made for all men 2 For Kings and for all that
of heauen to burne vp cities it destroied the Tribe of Beniamin Let it not be once named amongst you They that are such shall not inherite the kingdome of God These fowle offenders are here termed Sinners 5 The Iewes were grieuous sinners which slewe their Prophets and stoned such as were sent vnto them But they escaped not his heauie hand whose seruaunts they did so cruelly entreate God plagued this their sinne with strange desolation Hee made their house like Shilo and their citie a curse to all the nations of the earth The Lord hath also sent wise men Scribes and Embassadors vnto vs of them in these our daies we haue killed and crucified none we haue scourged none of them in our Synagogues we haue persecuted none from citie to citie we haue not beaten one and stoned another wee haue not dealt thus cruelly with any one of them but wee haue dealt hardly and vnkindely with moe than one No mans life hath beene touched many mens liuings are They haue not beene murthered and slaine they are defaced reuiled and made contemptible to the whole worlde These messengers ought to be better esteemed for their masters and for their message sake But the sonne of God whose seruants they are wil in his good time reuenge it he will not beare this iniurious ignominie doone to himselfe He that despiseth you despiseth me Such contemners of Christ and of his ministers may most iustly be called Sinners 6 Achab gaue great and open offence in robbing Naboth of his vineyard And God did reuenge this open sinne with an open plague punishing the deuourer with deuourers bloud with bloud The vineyard of the Lorde is set ouer to the spoile it is the onely pray that is left for greedie cormorants to rauen vpon The hedge is broken wilde boares are entred in for to destroie it If God had not set his elect ouer it no doubt ere this day it had beene vtterly laide wast You could haue looked for no grapes of pietie of learning or of religion of it but beeing rooted vp by these violent boares it would haue brought out nothing but sowthistles ignorance superstition and grosse Idolatrie But Woe be to thee that spoilest shalt not thou be spoiled How both the Church and common wealth are spoiled all men see it but fewe wil tell it and no man goeth about to redresse it These greedie gleaners are also in the number of them whom our Apostle here nameth Sinners 7 The sinne of king Saul was heinous in consulting with a witch that had a familiar spirite inquiring of her what chaunce should befall him This grieuous sinne God grieuously and without delay plagued On the next morowe he and his sonnes were slaine all Israel discomfited murthered and put to flight If euerie good gift come from God shall wee seeke helpe at diuels hands If onely God knoweth the heart of man and things to come shall we inquire of secrets at the mouth of Satan The diuell is a lyer and shall we beleeue him Hee is our aduersarie and shall we seeke aide of him Hee is a deceiuer and shall wee trust in him There is no fellowship betweene Christ and Beliall neither ought the seruaunts of Christ to communicate with such seruaunts of Satan Let witches sorcerers and sowthsaiers die the death saith the Lorde Such as communicate with them communicate with diuels and such also are Sinners 8 Doeg sinned greatly in accusing faithfull Dauid and the good high Priest Aâ—imelech to king Saul who being light of beleefe persecuted the one and murthered the other Haman dealing so with godlie Mardocheus brought him almost to the gallowes and his people to great confusion The Arrians accused the right Christian Bishop Athanasius of incontinencie before the Emperor Constantinus but his innocencie through the prouidence of God cleared him Christ was charged to bee a drunkard a companion of sinners a destroier of the Lawe and of the Temple an enemie to Caesar. Such false accusations are more current in these our euill times and latter daies than euer If the Heathen accounted it a discredite to be termed an accuser may we not iustly call false accusers sinners By whose meanes if false accusations may get credite innocencie shall be condemned Christ shall be crucified as a malefactor and Barrabas as an innocent shall be let loose Wherefore the Ciuill Lawe hath wel prouided that the false accuser receiue as much dammage as hee seeketh to bring vpon an other And this Law hath beene sometimes executed He that falsely accused Appollonius was so serued For failing in his proofe sentence was giuen that both his thighes should be broken This is another kinde of Sinners 9 Now as our Apostle remembreth vnto vs open sinners so doth he also couert sinners whom he calleth double minded The Sichemites were double minded in matters of religion who in respect of gaine and profite were content outwardly to yeeld to Iacob and his sonnes to receiue the Iewes religion and to bee circumcised Men for commoditie can transforme themselues into all colours and conditions and in open shewe professe any religion inwardly keeping their false hearts to themselues 10 Which practise the Familie of loue hath lately drawne to a precept and hath newlie broached it as saleable doctrine that men neede not openly be of any religion whereby they may endanger themselues that it is good Christiandome to lie sweare forsweare to say and vnsay to any sauing such as be of the same Familie with whom they must only vse al plainnes keep their mysteries secret from all others to themselues These men may doe any thing to auoide affliction and they haue scripture for that purpose Your bodies are the temples of the holie Ghost you may not suffer Gods temples to be touched As fitly alleaged as Scriptum est by the diuell 11 In a paper which of late came from the Pope as a token to his deare children there were printed the fiue woundes of Christ with this poesie Fili da mihi cor tuum sufficit Sonne giue me thy heart and it sufficeth Whether his Holinesse did meane thereby to allowe dissimulation or no I will not define His practises are mysticall and his broode is so throughly framed in this way that they seeme to take the Popes embleme in no other meaning They halt on both sides they serue all times and turne with all windes By professing all religions they shew themselues plainly to be of none They haue double hearts one heart for the Prince another for the Pope one for Christ and an other for Baal one for a Communion and an other for a Masse These dissembling wolues put vpon themselues sheepes skins to deceiue withall Now are they milde and gentle flattering and promising all loyaltie to the prince conformitie to gouernement and consent to religion But if the times should turne they would turne off the
sheepes coate and play the wolfe in his right kinde They would shewe their rauenous nature by their cruell deedes then would they fil their bellies with that after which they now thirst they would finde swift feete to shed the bloud of innocents From the mouth of the Lyon O Lord deliuer vs. This sort of people our Apostle calleth double hearted 12 Herode was a double hearted man who calling the wise men to him bad them goe and searche out Christ returne and bring him word that he also might goe and worship him He intended to kill whom he pretended to worship Iudas was like affected he kissed and betraied Cains minde was as double when he spake faire vnto his brother entised him into the fielde and there villanously murthered him Ioab dealt euen so with Amasa and Abner whom vnder pretense of friendship traiterously hee slewe Absolon inuited his brother Ammon to a feast and in the midst thereof sodainely bereaued him of his life 13 These double hearts died not with these men they liue stil in their posteritie With Herode all men pretend to woorship Christ but most part also with Herode in trueth in heart in life kill him and trample vnder their feete the pretious bloud of his Testament Whom wee professe in woord wee denie in deede whō in doctrine we follow him in life we forsake Thus in doublenesse with Iudas we flatter we dissemble we courtesie we kisse but the inward heart is full of malice and treason Faithful friendship hath taken his flight away There is no trueth in the earth We speake them full faire whom we hate full deadly Whom we kisse we can sell to death for a peece of monie Iudges can talke of iustice and for monie peruert iudgement For monie the vineyard of the Lorde is laide wast by them who professe themselues the keeepers of it By them for monie the flocke of Christ is scattered and left to the wolfe to bee deuoured For monie an Idoll is made a pastor Iudas selleth Magus buyeth a thiefe by a thiefe is placed Beware of these double harted men Cain is a murtherer speake he neuer so faire If Absolon feast thee yet feare least thou finde sowre sawce to thy sweete meate The bond of brotherhoode is not of strength sufficient to retaine these double hearts Take heede of Ioab howsoeuer hee fawne for hee carieth inwardly a bigge and hawtie minde It is death to him that any should be in credite or direct Dauid besides himselfe Hee must doe all alone His outward speech is faire but his inward thought is ful of hatred enuie and wrath 14 Such as the fountaine is such is the riuer that runneth from it A double heart maketh a double tongue They which thinke deceitfully speake deceitfully and flatter with their lippes The Disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians as they had double hearts so had they double tongues Before Christs face they could say Master we knowe that thou art true and teachest the waie of God truely neither carest for any man nor respectest the person of men But behinde his backe they termed him a seducer a companion of Publicanes and sinners a wine bibber and most spitefully railed against the righteous Lord of glorie All flatterers are double tongued Whom they praise excessiuely being present of him their maner is being out of sight to speake most slanderously and vilely So vnlike they are to our Sauiour Christ who would not praise Iohn to Iohns Disciples but after their departure commended him to the people It is Saint Augustines iudgement that the hand of no persecuter is more grieuous than is the tongue of a flatterer 15 These sinners and double hearts our Apostle doeth here reprooue vsing withal and earnest exhortation vnto them to draw neere vnto God from whom they haue so farre straied All sinners are straiers for sinne maketh a diuision betweene God and man Your iniquities haue made a separation betweene me and you To sinne is to depart and fall away from God The more wee sinne the faster and farther we flie from him Iudas sinned deepely and deadly hauing sinned he could not abide the presence of that innocent whom he had betraied but went out and vnrecouerably fell away The prodigall childe being loosely giuen waxed wearie of his fathers vertuous house raunged abroade fell to follie fed on filthinesse and bathed himselfe in all loathsome sinne yet being touched with Gods hand he repented and drew neere What should I name this or that man which hath gone astray It is most true that the Prophet saith We haue all erred gone astray like sheepe Not one hath remained within the sheepefold Euerie one hath either skipt ouer the hurdles or crept through the hedge All haue sinned there is not one innocent He that saith hee is no sinner is a sinner because he is a lyer Our sinne therefore hath separated vs from God who hateth and abhorreth sinne Our doubtfull double hearts haue caried vs into many crooked dangerous waies Our Apostle doth call vs home againe as sheepe that haue strayed saying Drawe neere vnto God 16 But what is it in our owne wil and power to returne or doeth God commaund that which is impossible for vs to performe Trueth it is All our sufficiencie is of God Of our selues wee are not able to thinke a good thought It is God that giueth both to will and to performe Without me saith Christ you are able to doe nothing No doubt we haue power and free will to runne from God but to drawe neere vnto him is his grace and gift Ad malum sufficit sibi liberum arbitrium ad bonum non Freewill hath in it selfe abilitie ynough to euill but not to good Hee commaundeth vs therefore to doe that which of our selues we are not able to doe that seeing our want we may craue his grace and helpe which will inable vs to drawe neere vnto him This grace is not in vaine by it we are that we are when we be as we should be neere vnto him If he that commandeth vs do not reach vs his hand when we are bidden to drawe neere we goe farther off But let God giue that which he commaundeth and then commaund whatsoeuer hee will Conuert vs O Lord and we shall be conuerted If he conuert vs not we shal remaine as we are or rather proceede to woorse No man commeth vnto me saith Christ except the father drawe him The spirit grace of God of vntoward and vnwilling maketh forward and readie and so by the efficacie of the spirit being changed we which were farre off are drawne neere 17 The way to drawe neere vnto God our Apostle setteth downe at large Cleanse your handes purge your hearts bee afflicted mourne weepe let your laughter bee turned into sorowe and your tote into griefe Humble your selues in the sight of the Lorde Esay the
Lord while he may be founde call vpon him while he is neere 7 Let the wicked forsake his waies and the vnrighteous his owne imaginations and returne vnto the Lord and he wil haue mercie vpon him and to our God for he is verie readie to forgiue HERE we learne by the Prophet that saluation is not sold but freely giuen of God to as many as hunger and thirst after it that they which seeke the Lorde shall finde him so that they seeke him in due and seasonable time and that the time of seeking the Lord is nowe Seeke the Lord c. In this exhortation of the Prophet let vs first consider why secondly how God is to be sought and thirdly what gaine doth growe to the seeker If I should particularly prosecute this distribution and followe it at large as euerie part shall minister occasion of speeche I should bee too long for this place But I minde breuitie because I knowe before whom I speake Fewe woords will be sufficient for the wise and to a minde well instructed alreadie a short putting in minde will serue If I chaunce to say what other men haue saide before me for what can bee saide which hath not beene saide before I must beseeche you to remember the words of the blessed Apostle S. Paul which was not ashamed to tell euen his owne tale twise To write vnto you the same things to me it is not tedious and to you it is necessarie 2 God preferreth obedience before sacrifice He accounteth it better to obey than to offer For as all vice is contaiued in the name of disobedience because that onely is naught which God misliketh and that which he misliketh hee hath forbidden So I may be bold to say with S. Augustine that There is no vertue but obedience onely If therefore the Centurions souldiers obediently went came and did what he commaunded if the Israelites were so duetiful vnto Iosua that they saide All things which thou hast commaunded vs we will doe he that shall not obey let him die the death if mortall men for conscience sake must be obeyed shall we despise the voice of him that saith from heauen Seeke ye the Lord When God doth bid vs goe we may not stand still And that which his Prophets in his name commaund vs hee commaundeth himselfe 3 But least that the maiestie of him which commaundeth should rather astonish men than set them forwarde to seeke the Lord with rough commandements he ioineth oftentimes sweete allurements Come vnto me Come and ye shall finde rest for your soules Not entising men with faire and sweete words only but powring his benefites also plentifully vpon them So he dealt with his old and auncient people whom by his Prophet Micheas hee putteth in remembraunce of three especiall blessings whereby they were prouoked to serue the Lord Surely I haue brought thee vp out of the Land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage and I haue sent before thee Moses Aaron and Myriam O my people remember nowe what Balak king of Moab had deuised and what Balam the sonne of Peor aunswered him from Shittim vnto Gilgal that ye may knowe the righteousnesse of the Lord. 4 The chiefest benefite which the Lorde powred vpon his people and the first whereby hee allured them to seeke him was this With an outstretched arme hee brought them foorth from the Land of Egypt the house of bondage where their dwelling place was a prison and a long life long miserie No doubt a mightie and a mercifull worke of God to deliuer his people out of such thraldome and to set them at such libertie as they afterwards enioyed Bondage is an heauie yoke an exceeding plague freedome and libertie a great benefite a sweete blessing The like benefite in as great a measure of loue fauour and power we haue receiued at the hands of our mercifull God Hee hath doone that for vs a reiected nation which hee did for his owne inheritaunce Hee hath deliuered vs from the tyrannie and thraldome of that great Pharao from Satan sinne hell death and condemnation by the mightie hand of our Moses our graund captaine Christ Iesus who on the crosse gate the victorie spoiled our enemie cancelled the writing of our bondage and seruitude brought vs through the red sea and by his bloudshed wrought our perfect and full deliuerance Againe when we groaned vnder the heauy burthens of a second the childe of the former Pharao when the tyrannie of Antichrist lay grieuous vpon our soules constraining vs by force vnto those things in comparison whereof the gathering of stubble or making of bricke the sustaining of burthens farre heauier than the Egyptian laid any vpon Israel would haue seemed tollerable light and easie in the midst of these insufferable griefes euen then when these Egyptians were most fiercely and eagerly bent when they thought their kingdome most strongly established and vs past looking for any deliuerance and what else could the reason of man suppose euen then our mightie and mercifull God to whose workes mans thoughts aspire not by the hand of his milde and faithfull seruaunt deliuered his people out of that thraldome of bond made vs free discharged vs from the intollerable tyrannie of Antichrist deliuered vs from the vsurped power of poperie from the Romish yoke of seruile superstition that we might serue no longer that man of sinne but our God not with a slauish minde but in perfect freedome of conscience according to his most holie woorde and not mans blasphemous doctrine If wee did not passe ouer this blessing of God with blinde or closed eyes surely the consideration thereof would mooue vs it would force vs to breake into woordes of wonderment and to crie out with the Prophet How great is thy goodnesse It would stirre vp in vs an earnest desire to seeke our gratious Lord and when hee is found for euer to cleaue fast vnto him 5 God further prouoking his people Israel to seeke him putteth them in mind of a second benefite of sending Moses Aaron and Marie before them Moses to be their Magistrate and Aaron to be their Priest the one to iudge and the other to teache the one to punish sinners the other to praie and to offer for them These two were brethren that the bond of nature might vnite their mindes in gouernement and that their vnitie might more aduaunce Gods glorie and procure the tranquillitie and safetie of their countrie So Ioas the king and Iehoiada the Bishop ioining hands and drawing in one line mans policie giuing place to the word of God the onely fountaine of true honourable policie Israel had a prosperous and happie state 6 Moses was a woorthie magistrate And his greatest commendation is that he was no lesse sharp and seuere in Gods cause than milde and gentle in his owne His mildenesse caused him many times to put vp other priuate iniuries it neuer caused him
taketh away because the world is not worthie of them and some because they are not worthie of it He cut off Iofias for his souâ—e pleased God therefore he made hast to take him away from the midst of iniquities He cut off Achab Agag and Herode because they were bloudie and wilie men therefore they did not liue out halfe their daies 18 So true it is Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue it is euen as true that followeth in the same sentence that his fewe daies are full of miserie He commeth vp and is cut downe like a flower he fleeth as it were a shadowe and continueth not Mans life is as vnlasting as a flower Hee commeth vp and is cut downe as a flower He vanisheth away like a shadowe of a flower And while he liueth he is full of miserie He commeth into the world with sorowe and weeping whilest hee liueth in the worlde hee is hated of the worlde or else which is woorse of God assaulted of Satan in continuall warre subiect to the manifold diseases both of the bodie of the soule the one truely miserable but the other most intolerable He neuer continueth in one state To day in his princely throne to morowe in his dustie graue to day placed in great authoritie to morow cast out of countenance to day in high fauour to morow in high displeasure now rich now poore now in wealth now in woe now sound now sicke now ioiefull now ful of sorowe to day a man to morowe nothing O how short how changeable and howe miserable is the state of mortall man which we neglect but Iacob well considered when he aunswered Pharao of his age The daies of my peregrination are pauci mali fewe and euill Walke therefore circumspectly saith S. Paul for the daies are euill Wee are fallen into those euill daies and perillous times of the which both Paul and Peter forewarned vs. These may bee rightly called dismall daies The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of men Let him therefore that standeth I say it againe take heede that hee fall not Let vs expect our change and pray the Lord to increase our faith that wee may bee able to stand before him in that day that dreadfull day of his iust iudgement 19 As our daies here are short and euill so is the time of our change either to better or woorse vncertaine What is most certaine Death What most vncertaine the time of death saieth Bernard We are all tenants at will vncertaine how long to remaine in this our earthly tabernacle Of this we are put in minde in the Lords praier Giue vs this day our daily bread We say this day as vncertaine of to morowe It is written of one that beeing inuited to a dinner on the morowe by his friend hee aunswered These many daies I neuer had to morowe Therefore saith S. Iames let vs not appoint for to morowe but with conditions If the Lorde will and if we liue The Egyptians considering the vncertaintie of mans daies were accustomed at their great feasts in the midst of their iollitie to haue one sodainely come foorth with an image of death and shewing it to the gests to pronounce this speeche Eate drinke be merie within a while thou shalt be such as this And the Israelites dwelt in tents vncertaine of their abode euer readie to shift whereby they represent vnto vs our peregrination in this mortalitie wherein because we are vncertaine to stay long wee ought at all times to be readie to depart so that we may enter into that celestiall Canaan This time of mans life and death God hath made vncertaine for two causes the one that his minde might not be troubled the other this present text giueth and it is the last member of our diuision 20 This ende or chaunge is daily to bee looked for Seeing that death is certaine our daies short and the time of our dissolution vnknowen wisedome would haue vs to put our selues in readinesse looking for our change the end of this bad life that it may be to vs the beginning of a better It is good counsell which S. Augustine giueth Death looketh for thee eueriewhere if thou bee wise looke thou eueriewhere for him The remembraunce of this our end would bridle sinne well in vs. Remember thy ende and thou shalt neuer doe amisse Christ saith Watch for you knowe not at what houre he will come He commeth sodainely as a theefe in the night The Lorde will come when thou lookest not for him and in an houre that thou knowest not Let vs watche therefore with the wise virgins hauing our lampes continually burning waiting for the comming of the bridegroome that wee may enter with him into his ioie 21 And as mans life is short so is the comming of Christ at hand Waite for it will surely come and will not stay The time is short This we knowe though it be not in vs to knowe the definite point of time which to the Angels of heauen is vnreuealed But Christ hath set downe certaine tokens of the ende which all are fulfilled and amongst others he saith Iniquitte shall abound charitie shall waxe colde the Gospell shall be preached in all the world and then shall come the end Neuer more iniquitie neuer lesse charitie the Gospel neuer so liberally taught behold the ende Peter saieth The end of all things is at hand If then at hande howe much neerer now If those were the latter times surely these are the last times the verie ende of the ende Heare the counsell of a wise man Make no tarying to turne vnto the Lord and put not off from day to day for sodainely shall the wrath of the Lord breake foorth and in thy securitie thou shalt be destroied and thou shalt perish in the time of vengeaunce 22 By procrastination driuing off forslowing our turning to the Lord and looking for our change three great dangers doe ensue First if we slumber and sleepe in securitie if we accustome our selues with sinning not looking for our chaunge neither remembring the fearefull comming of our Lord our custome will waxe to be our nature and hard will it be for vs to rise from sinne in which we haue beene so long and so deepely buried After that Lazarus had laine foure daies in the graue Christ vsed many circumstances for the raising of him againe who raised others with a woord 23 Secondly it is daungerous in respect of the sodaine taking away which happeneth to many in so much that they haue not time sufficiently to think vpon God or once to crie Lord help The first age in all their iollitie not thinking on death were sodainely drowned The Sodomites sodainely by fire consumed Pharao with his armie swallowed vp in the sea The Israelites gnawne of deadly serpents Dathan
with his complices eatē vp of the earth Herode sodainely deuoured with lice The riche man after all his prouision sodainely smitten with death Lying Ananias sodainely fel downe dead Eglon the Moabite Abner the captaine sodainely murthered by the swoord of Aod and Ioab All histories all ages are full of like examples 24 The third danger is that in driuing off to the lest day we shall finde hard time then to turne vnto our God Sickenesse wil sore disquiet vs Satan wil extremely tempt vs Our friends with talking and crauing will molest vs the terror of our ouglie conscience will astonish vs so that hard it will be for vs then to bee rightly mindful of our end so in this extremitie to turn to God that hee in our extreme case may turne his mercie towardes vs. And as S. Augustine saith The remedies come too late when perill of death is neere Remember that which hee also saith elsewhere Hee that hath liued well cannot die ill and hee can hardlie die well that hath liued ill Hee saith hardly not vnpossibly but questionlesseverie hardly 25 Put thine houshold in an order for thou shalt die and not liue saith Esay to Ezechias Giue thy goods whilest they be thine for after death thou hast no interest in them Stand with your loines girded and your shoes on your feete and your staffe in your hande that you may bee readie Wee haue slept too long in sinne to our great danger Let vs now awake to our speedie deliueraunce It is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time that is past of our life after the will of the Gentiles Let vs now imitate that woorthie souldier who after long warring vnder Adrian the Emperor returned home and liued as Christs souldier a most godlie life and after 7◠yeeres died and caused to be written on his tombe Here lyeth Similis a man that was many yeres and liued but seuen Let vs these fewe yeres that we haue liue them to God For that onely is woorthie to be called a life which bringeth vs from a transitorie life to an eternall from a miserable to a most blessed and glorious Let the trumpe euer sound in our eares Rise you dead come vnto iudgement Let vs daily remember that we must die and so shall we contemne these things present and make hast to things to come Truly if we shal rightly consider the vanitie of the worlde the miserable estate of man that we are here but pilgrims and haue no permanent citie that whilest we liue in this rotten tabernacle wee are meere straungers and men from home that wee daily slide yea and fall into sinne that our righteous God hateth it and that the stipend therof is eternall death and withall propose before our eyes the celestiall kingdome the crowne of glorie the eternall felicites which the Lord hath prepared in heauen for such as loue his comming we wil not onely watchefully looke for but most greedily desire the same In our heart wee wil daily crie with S. Iohn Come quickely Lord Iesu wee wil bee like affected to S. Paul desiring to depart hence and to be with Christ we wil sigh and mourne as hee did O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me frō the bodie of this death We wil with Iob euen be wearie of our liues and crie with Elias It is ynough O Lord take my soule it wil be with vs as it was with al the blessed Patriarches and Prophets and Apostles and holie men now glorious Saints in heauen who continually beeing heere thirsted after God and now most blessedly haue enioied him we will vtterly contemne this earthly trash worldely vanities and transitorie things and desire and seeke those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God we will whilest wee haue our beeing heere which is but a while humble our selues to walke with our God and although wee tread this earth yet our conuersation wil be in heauen from whence also we looke for the Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ who will change our vile bodie that it may bee fashioned like to his glorious bodie according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe 26 Thus wee see that funerals are Christian auncient and commendable that the causes are sundry good godly yet neither our preaching nor praier neither any other ceremonie nor circumstance can profite the dead but are helping comforts to such as liue that onely in this life mercie remaineth for man and after this life onely iudgement As we now sowe so we shall then reape Here we are Christs souldiers to fight a good fight so wee may hope for the crowne of glorie Which thing Iob doeth wel declare vnto vs First telling vs that wee are in continuall warre wherein both the generals the captaines the trumpetors and common souldiers that is the prince the nobilitie the ministers and the people must take to them a good courage be faithful dutiful and manfull in fighting the battle of the Lorde euerie man keepe his standing and answere his office But we must all striue for Gods truth and not struggle against it not ambitiously contending for superioritie or malitiously howe to vndermine and wrong one another This is no lawfull combat no Christian warre this is not to fight a good fight But wee must wage warre against our common and our deadly enemies the diuell the world and the flesh The diuel is a roaring lyon a subtile serpent who hath ouercome the perfectest the strongest the wisest The world is all wrapped in wickednesse The flesh wrestleth against the spirite We must put on the armour of God resist the diuell and he will flie from vs crucifie the world chasten our flesh and bring it into subiection vnto the more noble part our spirit At length this our warrefare will come to an ende wee may looke for a change All the world is mutable and of all thinges in the world man most mutable We would change our condition our magistrates our ministers our religion all things But the change that Iob speaketh of we least remember wee litle thinke vpon the change of this mortall life Wee may assure our selues that we all shall die It is an act of Parliament that shall neuer be repealed it is the way of all flesh The daies of man are short and wretched short a spanne long wretched full of miseries All flesh is as grasse and as a flowre both do fade but the flowre sooner Cares wantonnesse ambition yea God in sundrie respects cutteth off both the good and the bad good flowers bad flowers but all as flowers The time of our change is vncertaine and often sodaine that our minde be not troubled that we alwaies be in readinesse Iobs example admonisheth vs of this I looke still when my changing shall come Let vs after his example
our sinne but no remedie against the sting therof so that it maketh vs feare and with trembling looke for the reward of sinne which is euerlasting death But the spirite of adoption by the preaching of the Gospel telleth vs that in Christ we haue remission of sinnes we are reconciled vnto God and adopted by him we are his chosen children and may boldly and ioyfully call him father And this certainetie of our saluation the spirit of God testifieth to our spirit whereby we put away all seruile feare of punishment beeing assured of Gods constant fauour and eternall loue towardes vs who neuer leaueth vnfinished that which he hath begun nor forsaketh him whom he hath chosen 15 Therefore daungerous and desperate is that doctrine of the Papists which doth teache vs euer to be doubtfull and in suspence of our saluation A lamentable discomfortable and miserable estate Here it is in one woord confounded For Zacharie saith we are redeemed to serue him without feare or doubtfulnesse For where doubt is there is feare and what greater feare than of a thing so fearefull Hee that will serue God must serue him in a quiet and ioiefull conscience with a sure and vndoubted confidence of mercie and saluation in Christ the Lord of mercy With thee is mercie saith the Prophet that thou maist be feared As if hee should say Thou art full of clemencie and compassion and therfore we serue thee with a reuerent and without a seruile feare being perswaded of thy great mercie 16 Feare is euer of the inferior to the superior It is not required in the prince to feare the subiect the master the seruaunt the father the childe or the husband the wife but contrarie in all God feareth not man his creature man ought to feare God who hath created him to feare him as a louing father and not as men doe feare a fierce tyrant 17 The true feare which is required of vs is euer ioined with loue The good childe feareth to offende his father for that loue and reuerence he beareth to him and not in respect or for feare of punishment The honest and well natured wife that truely loueth her husband for the same cause feareth and taketh great heede least in any thing she should offend him Euen with such feare ought we to serue our God who is our father our Christ who is our spouse Of this godlie feare the Prophet Dauid saith Serue the Lord in feare And againe Feare the Lorde all yee his Saints Of this Christ speaketh Feare him which can destroie both bodie and soule This feare great goodnesse and happinesse doe accompany It is the beginning of true wisedome For all wisedome without the feare of God is but earthly fleshly and diuelish They that haue it shall be satisfied with all good things There is no want to them that feare him It causeth men to decline from euill it banisheth sinne woorketh repentance in mans heart and happie are all they that feare the Lorde as they cursed which feare him not If the Angell had feared the Lord he had still kept his place and glorious estate and not beene made of an Angell a diuel cast out of heauen into hell If Adam had loued and feared God hee had not beene banished out of paradise and throwne vpon the face of this cursed earth If the feare of God had not of old wanted the whole world had not beene drowned If the citie of Sodoma had feared God they might haue remained in prosperitie vntill this day If Cain had feared God he had not so trecherously murthered his brother If Cham he had not so shamefully discouered his father If Laban he had not so deceitfully dealt with Iacob If Pharao he would haue let Israel depart when GOD commaunded If Israell had loued and truely feared God they would not haue loathed Manna despised magistrates followed fleshly lusts murthered the Prophets crucified Christ and persecuted his Apostles If the Corinthians had feared God they would not haue beene so contentious so proude so adulterous neither would they so vncharitably haue iudged their brethren in things indifferent they would not haue condemned mariage the institutiō of God neither in such sort prophaned the holy Sacramēts of Christ. The feare of God wold haue brought forth better fruit in all these and the want therof brought forth this bad fruit 18 If the feare of God dwelt in our hearts the Gospel so truly and plentifully preached among vs would no doubt bring forth far more fruite after so many monitions perswasions and entreaties we would leade a better life When there are amongst vs many that breede contention and make diuision that lend out their monie vpon vsurie that pollute their neighbours bed with adulterie that shut vp the bowels of mercie and compassion and suffer Christ to begge crie and starue in the streetes that neither regard the heauenly message of their saluation nor esteeme the messenger by whom it is brought that shewe no reuerence to the woord of God but manifestly hate loath and despise it is it not too cleare and manifest that we feare not the Lord 19 If the feare of God were in vs would wee deale with the seruaunts of God as wee nowe doe The dealing of Hanun the sonne of Nahash towards Dauids seruaunts was not more villanous than the dealings of the world are with the honorable Embassadors of the most high God at this day Dauid sent his seruauntes to the king of the children of Ammon to comfort him straight vpon the death of his father The malitious Ammonites misconstruing their intent whispered in the eare of their Lord Thinkest thou that Dauid doth honour thy father or that he hath sent comforters vnto thee Are they not rather sent as spies to searche the citie and so to ouerthrowe it He had no sooner heard the name of a spie but hands were laide vpon Dauids seruants they were sent away with their beards halfe shauen and their coates cut off in the vnseemeliest place to his owne euerlasting ignominie and shame which so despitefully vsed men sent vnto him of meere loue and heartie meaning For the good king had no other drift or purpose in his heart but this I will shewe kindenesse to Hanun as his father shewed kindnesse vnto me The true Dauid the most mightie Prince the king of all kings hath in fauour mercie and reconciled loue sent his embassadors his ministers vnto you to comfort you in your griefes and to bring you ioiefull tidings of a kingdome which it hath pleased his father to bestowe vpon you These messengers ought of right to be honourably receiued Entreate such with honour saith the Apostle Nay such messengers are woorthie of double honour But behold they are taken as if they were spies they are accounted as the offscourings refuse baggage of the world not as the embassadors of the great
not into the temple as did Aaron wil hardly behaue themselues in the house of the Lord as Aaron did Iason obteined a superioritie in the Church by monie But howe behaued he himselfe in this his purchased function Began he not immediatly to drawe his brethren to the customes of the Gentiles Did hee not by and by change their Lawes and policies and bring vp newe statutes contrarie to their Lawe As the good sheepeheard entring in at the doore when he is entred guideth his sheepe as Dauid in the discretion of his hands feedeth them carefully with wholesome doctrine walketh in all vprightnesse of holie and vndefiled conuersation before them so he that climeth vp an other way after hee hath gotten himselfe in seeketh nothing but to steale kil and destroie The theefe commeth not but to steale to kill and to destroie Hee hath no other ende or purpose 13 The onely thing that should be desired by the pastor is the weale and benefite of his flocke For if the marke whereat wee shoote be but to make our commoditie by the Gospell of Iesus Christ wherein doe we differ from theeues and robbers Is not our intent and purpose the very selfesame with theirs Wherefore S. Peters exhortation is Feede the flocke of God caring for it not for filthie lucre but of a readie minde If a man haue al knowledge in so much that he be able to speake with tongues yea and to prophecie yet if the thing for which he laboureth be his owne gaine if he vse this vocation than which nothing is more pretious and holie onely as a way or trade to liue by whatsoeuer hee receiueth with such a minde he stealeth rather than receiueth it This is that whereof the Lorde complaineth so grieuously by his Prophets The priests teache for hire the prophets prophecie for monie yet will they leane vpon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among vs And againe These sheepeheards cannot vnderstand they all looke to their owne way euerie one for his aduantage and for his owne purpose Moses blessing Leuie before his death saith first They shall teache Iacob thy iudgements and Israel thy Lawe they shall put incense before thy face and then addeth Blesse O Lord his substance accept the worke of his hands As if he should haue saide So long as Leuie and his sonnes doe not seeke their owne commoditie but thy glorie thou art righteous and canst not forget to prouide in large maner both for them and theirs As indeede till the men of that sacred order tooke fleshhookes in their hands and sought to better their estate by force til they became like to greedie mastiues rauening curres who euer sawe the Leuite of the Lord forsaken or the sonne of the Leuite begging his bread So likewise the Church of GOD was neuer spoiled till her pastors were ouercarefull to be inriched In the prime and first appearing of Christian religion as long as that heroicall contempt of earthly things continued in the guides and leaders of the people what heapes of worldly treasure were brought and laide downe euen at their feete Men thought themselues to performe nothing worthie of that profession into which they were entred vnlesse they sold away their lands goods and possessions and gaue al to make thē rich by whose meanes thēselues were become righteous The contrarie to which affection as in other parts of the Christian world so in this also hath taken such roote and is growen nowe so strong that God may iustly charge vs as sometime he did his owne people saying Ye haue spoiled me euen this whole Nation If therefore we be grieued as who is not grieued to see the hauocke that is made of the Church of GOD let vs change our earthly and worldly affection that he may change the condition of his Church God is no puruey or for theeues and robbers Let vs in synceritie and in truth heartily and in deede despise our own gaine for his glorie and prooue him if hee will not rebuke these deuourers for our sakes 14 The next thing which Christ obserueth in theeues is this they destroie the flocke and make as litle conscience to kill as to steale They kill not the bodies but the soules of men The life of the soule is the word of truth wherein whosoeuer hath taken vpon him to instruct the flocke of Christ and either cannot or wil not doe it what doth he else but kil and destroie Moses speaking of the obedience of Israel to the Lawes and statutes of their God This is saith he your wisedome But howe came Israel by that wisedome Did they naturally knowe the Lord as beasts doe naturally knowe their dammes No The Lord said vnto me saith Moses Gather the people together and I wil cause them to heare my woordes that they may learne to feare me all the daies that they shall liue vpon the earth and that they may teache their children So they came neere and stoode vnder the mountaine and were taught of God which spake vnto them out of the midst of the fire Thus God taught Israel then Afterward he raised vp prophets among them of their owne brethren and they were taught by men like vnto themselues Neither hath God at any time ceased and left off but from the beginning of the world to this verie houre he hath giuen men knowledge by instruction and saued his elect by teaching Can not God then giue wisedome from aboue without a teacher Yes God is able to mainteine the life of man without bread But why doe we talke of his absolute power when his wil is that Cornelius be taught by Peter Lydia by Paul Paul by Ananias the Eunuch by Philip euerie soule that is wise in the doctrine of saluation by Apostles Prophets Euangelists teachers appointed for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the edification of the bodie of Christ. As therefore he that wil liue must eate so he that will bee saued must haue a teacher Wherefore when the Lorde meant a blessing to his people hee made them this promise I will giue you pastors according to my heart which shall feede you with knowledge and vnderstanding When their pastors were voide of knowledge and vnderstanding this was euer a token that their ruine and destruction was at hande Come nowe saith the prophet all ye beasts of the field come to deuoure euen all the beasts of the forrest this people cannot continue nowe they must needes perish for their watchemen are all blinde they haue no knowledge they are all dumme dogges and cannot barke they lie asleepe and delight in sleeping We are vnworthie of our liues if we doe not acknowledge the woonderfull blessing of God in our ministerie at this day For howsoeuer it bee debased by some yet is it so farre off God be thanked from the state of the Iewish Clergie in those daies that I am perswaded
without they citizens and we strangers But nowe the bounds of the Church are inlarged her elders as it is in the booke of reuelation do now sing a new song Thou hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud out of euerie kindred tongue people and nation Wherfore remember saith the Apostle that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh called vncircumcision of them which are called circumcision in the flesh made with hands were at that time without Christ and were aliants from the common wealth of Israel and were strangers from the couenaunts of promise and had no hope and were without God in the worlde But nowe in Christ Iesus ye which once were farre off are made neere by the bloud of Christ. For he is our peace which hath made of both one and hath broken the stoppe of the partition wall This wee are willed to remember For is it not a thing verie memorable that in vs GOD should nowe accomplish the promise which hee made to his sonne so long before Aske of me and I will giue thee the heathen for thine inheritaunce and the vttermost coasts of the earth for thy possessions Is it not memorable that the furious rage of the whole world mightily opposing it selfe against the kingdome of Iesus Christ it should notwithstanding growe so soone to this so exceeding greatnesse and that by so weake meanes from so small beginnings Nowe sith God hath brought this so strangely to passe for our sakes sith the Lord hath doone it for no other cause but onely to open the doore of saluation vnto vs with how great ioie of heart ought wee to heare his voice when hee saith of the Gentiles Let them ascend to mount Sion when hee saith of his house It shall be called the house of praier for all Nations Hee that will not shrowde himselfe vnder this vine hee that entreth not into this arke hee that will not be partaker of these celestiall treasures these heauenly mysteries this true bread of life so largely offered vnto all nations if his soule die the death who wil haue pitie or compassion of him Wherefore to conclude let vs bee followers of Christ as becommeth his deare children let vs learne by his example to be carefull and zealous for the house of God to purge and cleanse it as much as in vs lyeth from al defilements that as oft as we doe reuerently religiously frequent it to heare the word of saluation to receiue the blessed Sacraments of the Lord to powre out our praiers and supplications before him his spirite groaning with our spirits and our requests ascending thorough the forcible intercession of that only mediator which is to bee heard for his reuerence sake wee may reioice in our saluation and he be glorified by our reioysing Which GOD the Father graunt for his Sonnes sake To whom c. The fourteenth Sermon A Sermon made at the Spittle in London ACTES 10. 34 Then Peter opened his mouth and saide Of a truth I perceiue that God is no accepter of persons c. THE doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles doth wholly tend to this ende to declare vnto vs that Iesus Christ crucified is the promised Messias the redeemer and Sauiour of all that doe beleeue in him Neither is this matter cleared more perfectly by any Prophet or Apostle than by the Apostle S. Peter in this Sermon which nowe we haue in hand For therein is comprised briefly but most effectually the fulnesse of the gospell the perfect doctrine of saluation Nowe because the occasion of hauing it preached was Cornelius the captaine and the preacher of it was Peter the Apostle I will note somewhat in either of them seuerally for the better vnderstanding of that which the Sermon it selfe shall laie before vs. In Cornelius therefore first what maner of man he was on what occasion he sent for Peter in what sort he receiued him at his comming 2 The curious description which S. Luke maketh of Cornelius here declareth him to haue beene a notable and rare man both by other circumstances of his person and by his manners The other circumstances which I meane are his countrie his calling and the place of his abode Touching his countrie he was an Italian an Ethnike bred of Ethnike parents trained vp amongst a people drowned in idolatrie and superstition worshipping false gods being ignorant of the true God By calling hee was a souldier a captaine of the Italian band a captaine ouer one hundred souldiers The Romans had soldiers out of al prouinces but their chiefe force was of the Italians whom they trusted best as naturall subiects This Italian captaine made his abode in Cesarea a famous citie inhabited by the Iewes The whole lande of Iurie was brought in subiection to the Romane Empire and least the inhabitants thereof should reuolt certaine garrisons of souldiers were placed in sundrie of the greater cities to see them kept in obedience and to represse tumults Cornelius the captaine with the souldiers of his retinue were bestowed in Cesarea If we looke on this mans countrie if we consider his calling and vocation if we call to remembrance in what place he liued and with whom he was conuersant we shall finde nothing but idolatrie superstition wee shall behold nothing but rape robberie murther mischiefe spoile bloud-spilling we shall see nothing but lewdenesse prophanenesse wicked maners and cursed companie 3 All the which occasions of corruption notwithstanding he was deuoute he feared God with his whole familie hee gaue much almes to the people and praied God continually The mightie and merciful God did gather pearles out of this dunghil God can raise vp children vnto Abraham out of stones Faith pietie holinesse and religion come not by nature but of grace of Gods free gift not of our deseruing of mercie not of merite Faith is the gift of God He worketh all in all He giueth to will and to doe Not by the workes of righteousnesse which we had wrought but according to his mercie hath hee saued vs that we may acknowledge our wretchednesse and vnworthinesse and giue all glorie vnto him 4 Here we learne that neither parentage nor vocation nor corruption of place doeth shut vs out of the kingdome of God Ethnikes euen wilde oliues by nature are graffed by grace in the true oliue Souldiers that liue in order are allowed of by Iohn Baptist. Neither filthie Sodome nor superstitious Egypt nor idolatrous Babylon nor corrupt Cesarea was able to infect Lot or Ioseph or Daniel or Cornelius whom the Lorde had chosen according to his good pleasure and of his mercie had preserued The foundation of God remaineth sure and hath this seale The Lord knoweth who are his I will haue mercie on whom I wil haue mercie It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercie
yet he followed the example of Daniel of the three young men of the blessed Apostles who did boldly preach and professe Christ when they were charged not to doe it We may not be ashamed of our religion we may not halt on both sides With the heart man beleeueth vnto righteousnesse and with the mouth man confesseth vnto saluation Whosoeuer shalbe ashamed of me and my woords of him shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he shal come in his glorie and in the glorie of the father and of the Angels Moreouer Cornelius instructed his familie and brought them vp in the feare of God A rare example in an Ethnike captaine nay a rare example in such as be christians and professe most pietie and by calling should be most religious yea and are placed as examples not onely to families but to cities to countries to nations He remembred well that he that hath a charge must aunswere for his charge He could not forget Redde rationem giue an account of thy stewardship Hee was afraide of the saying of the wise man An hard iudgement shall they haue that beare rule The sinnes of the subiects of the people of the familie will bee punished in the magistrates in the masters in the housholders For to euery one of these saith the Lord I will require the bloud of them that perish if through thy negligence euill example or want of correction any of them shall fall from God Not onely they saith Paul who commit such things are worthie of death but also they who consent to such as doe them And he consenteth doubtlesse which by office should correct sinne and by negligence or corrupt affection suffereth sinne The scripture chargeth Elie the priest with the sinnes of his vnruly sonnes at the which he winked and he was punished for it The sinne that the people of Israel committed in woorshipping idols is laide to the charge of the kings of Israel which either instituted them defended them or did not pull them downe The Queene of Saba commendeth Salomon greatly for the good ordering of his house Happie are thy men happie are these thy seruaunts which stand euer before thee and heare thy wisedome King Dauid was so careful that he would not suffer as much as a lyer to remaine within his court Abraham is commended of God for the good nurturing and godly bringing vp of his sonnes and his houshold That magistrate that feareth God will not suffer sinne in the citie vnpunished the swoord is giuen him to cut it off and beate it downe That pastor that feareth GOD will vse all meanes to bring his sheepe to the sheepefold if they goe astray That housholder that feareth God will by good order and due correction keepe it in the feare of God And so shall both the magistrate the pastor and the housholder deliuer their owne soules 11 Againe as Cornelius declared the fruites of his faith towards his familie so was he louing friendly towards his neighbours He gaue much almes to the people This is that sacrifice which God doth require chiefly of a christian I will haue mercie mercie and not sacrifice This is a sacrifice of a sweete smelling sauour a sacrifice acceptable to God and well pleasing him He that releeueth not his needie brother beeing of abilitie to releeue him doeth neither feare nor loue God Giue almes of thy substance and turne not away thy face from any poore man least the Lord turne away his face from thee Giue and it shall be giuen vnto you saith the sonne of God Hee that sheweth mercie shall finde mercie and iudgement without mercie to the mercilesse No treasure so wel bestowed as that which is giuen to the poore That is laide vp in heauen God doth binde himselfe to recompense that which is giuen to the poore for it is giuen to himselfe The mercifull shall receiue euerlasting life the mercilesse euerlasting death God gaue a Lawe to Israel Let there bee no begger among you This Lawe the Iewes keepe inuiolate to this day A great reproche and slander it is to vs christians that the Lord of Iewes and Gentiles the sonne of God our sauiour Christ who became poore to make vs riche at whose mercifull hands of his free gift we haue receiued whatsoeuer we haue to vs a great shame and confusion it is that we should fall so farre from all hūmanitie so vtterly forget our christianitie to shewe our selues so hard and stonie hearted so vnthankefull and without all naturall affection to suffer our God our Sauiour our Christ whom wee professe not onely to goe on begging but to lie hungrie colde naked sicke diseased pining and perishing in the streetes and at our doores This mercilesse minde this great ingratitude wil no doubt be requited with Ite Goe your waies ye cursed into euerlasting fier If it bee not reformed in time God no doubt will come downe and reuenge it Cornelius gaue liberal almes vnto them which were strangers to him God is careful for strangers He putteth the Israelites in minde not to afflict but to comfort the strangers that dwell among them Foryee your selues were strangers too By the prophet Zacharias he biddeth vs beware least we grieue them Oppresse not the widowe nor the fatherlesse the stranger nor the poore God ioineth the widowes the fatherlesse and strangers most commonly euer together as persons most destitute and such as haue most neede of helpe Egypt was blessed for the straungers that dwelt there but when the king of Egypt Pharao oppressed them they groned and called vpon God hee deliuered them and powred his manifolde plagues vpon Egypt The sinnefull citie of Sodome was of long time spared for Lot and his familie strangers there Such as are strangers for the gospels sake for the cause which we professe and maintaine are ioyfully to be receiued cheerefully and liberally to be releeued For in receiuing them wee doe not onely receiue Angels as Abraham and Lot did but we receiue releeue Christ Iesus whom they professe and whose members they are And whatsoeuer we giue to them we giue it him and he will reward it But whosoeuer shall vexe wrong or offend any of them better it were that a milstone were tied about his necke and hee hurled into the bottome of the sea I speake of godlie strangers that are strangers for the truths sake not of such as are of no religion of no church godlesse and faithlesse people some Papists some Anabaptists some Arrians some Libertines these are to bee expelled and cast out of the countrie least for their wickednes God plague the whole Realme God is woont euer to blesse the countrie for reteining and releeuing godlie religious strangers so is he woont to powre his plagues on them that nourish Cananites among them And thus much touching Cornelius the Italian by parentage by vocation a souldier placed in Cesarea who was deuoute
lawfull when maidens are asked to wiues of their parents and are giuen by them openly to their husbandes otherwise they are not mariages but whoredomes The best writers both olde and newe subscribe hereunto Tertullian Ambrose Chrysostome Augustine with all the learnedst of latter times whose particular sentences I omit to recite for breuities sake But if youthfull children haue so litle reuerence both of God and men that such admonition wil not make them leaue such disordered mariages it behooueth magistrates who are the common parentes of the weale publike to bridle their lusts with seuere Lawes for the redresse of this euill and the mischiefes ensuing of it And thus much of S. Peters entraunce into his sermon the sermon doeth followe 33 Ye knowe the word which God hath sent to the children of Israel preaching peace by Iesus Christ and so foorth The summe of the sermon is this Iesus Christ which is Lord of all the preacher and author of peace did faithfully performe the office for the which he was sent preaching to the people the glad tidings of the Gospell and healing all their diseases for God was with him and hee was slaine and hanged on tree the thirde day he arose again from death he ascended into heauen from thence shall he come to iudge the quicke and the dead to whom all the prophets beare witnesse that through his name all that beleeue in him shall haue remission of their sinnes Such as this is were the sermons of the Apostles Here is all things necessarie to saluation expressed This is that which God commanded his great Apostle S. Peter to preache In this doctrine would hee haue his people trained vp The people receiued it as a sufficient doctrine Peter and Paul were directed by one spirite they neither esteemed to knowe any thing but Iesus Christ and him crucified neither could they testifie or preache ought but him This sermon is diuided into three parts the first that Iesus Christ the Lord of all was sent vnto the people of Israel to preache peace the next that he died rose againe from death to procure vs this peace the last that we are made partakers of this peace by faith in his name Iesus Christ the Lord of all was sent vnto the people of Israel to preache peace Let vs weie the words seuerally they are most effectuous fully setting foorth the mysterie of our saluation 34 Iesus by the interpretation of the Angel is a sauiour Thou shalt call his name Iesus for he shall saue his people from their sinnes The Angel appearing to the sheepeheards saide Behold I bring you tidings of great ioie that shall be to al the people that is that vnto you is born this day a Sauiour The Ethnikes doe seeke their safetie in their idols the Iewes in the obseruances of the Lawe and traditions the Papistes in their pardons purgatorie masses merites the true Christians seeke it in Iesus Christ the Sauiour and in none but him He will not be matched therein with any other but he is a full perfect and onely Sauiour He is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sin of the world There is neither water nor fier buls nor bels masses nor merites pope nor pardon that can saue vs. There is neither diuel or flesh nor world if he saue vs that can condemne vs. For who can condemn whom he doth iustifie And whom he iustifieth not who can saue Christ is annointed And Iesus is called so because hee was annointed of God aboue his fellowes Whereupon Esay the prophet writeth of him The spirit of the Lord is vpon me for he hath annointed me Annointed he was to be a king and priest for they among the Iewes were woont to be annointed Hee is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords The wise men of the East did acknowledge him a king Where is he that is borne king of the Iewes Zacharie sheweth further what maner of king Behold thy king commeth to thee meeke and riding vpon an asse and vpon a colt the foale of an asse This our king doth gouerne vs with a right scepter The scepter of thy kingdome is a scepter of righteousnesse He doth defend vs with a mightie and stretched out arme against whose power no power can stand He is that triumphant prince which hath most victoriously vanquished and throwen vnder foote our enemies They labour in vaine that kicke against the prickes that striue against his Gospel For he is a prince of might that doeth defend it and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it The sunne wil runne his course the passage of the Gospel cannot bee stopped The Gospel is not bound While it is persecuted it is inlarged The bloud that is spilt for it is the very seede of it Nowe as he is our king so our priest and prophet too at whose mouth wee should require the Lawe of God That prophet like vnto Moses the searcher of truth That very sonne of God of whom the father hath saide Ipsum audite Heare ye him He is the priest which once for all hath sufficiently sacrificed for our sins by himselfe and by none other once and not often vpon the crosse and not vpon the altar sufficient for all such as shall be saued He is the priest the high bishop that maketh intercession for vs the onely mediator betweene God and man to teach man the wil of God to reconcile God to man to make intercession betweene God and man These are the peculiar duties of Christ as wee are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrues 35 Which is Lord of all Least the Gentiles should conceiue that Iesus Christ was promised and sent to be a Sauiour onely to the Iewes hee answereth that obiection by a preuention so to terme it calling him Lord of all the Lord of the Gentile as wel as of the Iewe. Christ wil that all men shall be saued that is men of all sorts He was sent to preache peace to all both Iewes and Gentiles He is the Lord ouer all euen the Lord of glorie to whō all power is giuen both in heauen and in earth He hath bought vs al with a great price that we should serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse Let vs remember therefore that of the prophet If I be a Lord where is my feare saith the Lord of Hosts Feare not them which kil the bodie but be not able to kill the soule but rather feare ye him which is able to destroie both bodie and soule in hell 36 Which God hath sent When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his sonne made of a woman and made vnder the Lawe that he might redeeme them which were vnder the Lawe He was made man for vs that in our nature he might suffer for vs. He was sent of his father being equall
not trauell to tel you howe diuersly the name of grace is taken in the sacred scriptures but rather note vnto you in what sense the holie Ghost doth chiefly vse it in this place Grace is the fauour and mercie of God towards sinnefull men It is called grace because it is giuen gratis freely and vndeseruedly on our parts to whom it is giuen For vs it is purchased by the onely meane and meere merite of our Sauiour Christ and to vs it is both offered and exhibited by the voluntarie and vnprouoked operation of the spirite This grace in it selfe being large more than sufficient for all men the holy Ghost diuideth and bestoweth vpon eache breathing where and as he listeth according to the secrete pleasure of his will Thorough it we haue saluation whereas through sinne wee deserue death For out iniquitie was heinous in the sight of God first committed by Adam and since continued in vs but farre more exceeding was the mercie of our Lord who when we were his enemies sent foorth his sonne made of a woman and made vnder the Lawe that he might redeeme them which were vnder the Lawe and that we might receiue the adoption of sonnes No tongue can expresse neither any minde conceiue this gratiousnesse Yet let vs ponder it with such consideration as we are able Great therefore I say was the mercie of our creator who gaue his sonne and great the loue of our Sauiour who gaue euen himselfe for vs. Our thraldome was great that required a ransome of such value our guiltinesse much that could no otherwise be washed away but with the verie heart bloud of the innocent lambe of God Christ Iesus our Lord Yea inestimable and vneffable was the loue of our gratious Lord who to spare vs spared not himselfe He was content to become ignominious before men that we might be glorious with his father to be condemned that wee might be absolued to bee crowned with thornes to purchase vs a crowne of immortalitie to loose his life that we might gaine life to suffer death that we might escape it and to become as hated and accursed of God that we might find fauour and eternall grace with him In his death our sinne is pardoned by his bloud our filthinesse is washed away by his resurrection we are reconciled to his father and made at one with God Let vs not breake this so happie truce betwixt the Lord and vs let vs not through sinne condemne our selues againe nowe that we are iustified let vs not walke toward hell hee hauing made plaine and easie the path to heauen The image of God in vs defaced through Adam is repaired by Christ Let vs appeare therefore in this pure image before God that wee may be acceptable in his pure sight Through Christ we are called to be citizens with the Saints and Gods houshold-seruaunts let vs then put on the garments of trueth and innocencie that so it may appeare whose seruaunts we are by our Lords liuerie We are made the happie heires of his glorious kingdome and fellow heires with Iesus Christ wherefore let vs not seeke so possessions here that we loose a better inheritance aboue in heauen If wee doe it is in vaine that the grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ hath beene so largely offered vnto vs and plentifully powred on vs. Yea his grace will encrease the wofulnesse of our destruction 7 Grace is offered and receiued by two especiall outwarde meanes the preaching of the Gospel and the holie administration of the blessed Sacraments These two are the instruments or rather the hands by the which the holie Ghost doth offer exhibite seale and deliuer the grace of God vnto vs. 8 And there bee two sorts of men to whom grace is offered by the word in vaine The one are they which wil not giue it so much as the hearing but doe vtterly contemne and vnkindely refuse that which the Lord doth so kindly and so gratiously offer to them The other they that heare it indeede reade it but consider it not receiue it but altogether without fruite and for fashions sake Of the former sort are all such as Pharao was who enioined Moses to come no more in his sight for hee would not heare him Such also were the Iewes to whom when Stephen preached they stopped their eares Such they of whom the Lorde complaineth by the Prophet saying I spake and they would not heare 9 Of the latter sort there be three kindes shadowed in the parable of the sower which went foorth to sowe his seede whereof some fell in the high way side some in stonie grauelly ground some also amongst thornes That which fell by the high waie side either the birds of the aire picked vp or men trod vpon with their feete Which our sauiour applieth vnto him that heareth the word of the kingdome and vnderstandeth it not and by and by the diuell taketh it away least he should beleeue and so be saued For it fareth with the woord preached as with the seede sowen Some are so dissolute and rechelesse that they let it in at the one eare and out at the other The hearts of some be so be so hardened and parched because they want the watering of Gods spirit which doth only mollifie that his word can take no roote in them The diuell and his deceitful Angels doe so bewitch them and fil their harts with vain cogitations so abalienate their mindes and trouble their memorie that they cannot tell what is saide it is forgotten by that it is spoken Yea the diuell doth so throughly occupie the hearts of many other with superstitious opinions and fond perswasions or with such worldly desires such fleshly lusts such froward affections that the hearing of the blessed word is a wearisome worke vnto them euery houre spent that way is as tedious as a yere and thought to bee wholly lost Many likewise both heare the woord preached and reade the Scriptures as the Pharisees did heare them that they may seeme to fauour the Gospel and so vnder pretence of holinesse blinde the eyes of others and purloine commoditie to themselues Such come in amongst the children of God as did Satan of old yet God knowes them to be children of darknesse not of light yea and oftentimes he so shaketh them out of their painted rags that the whole world may espie their ouglie and deformed nakednesse Whilest by their hypocrisie they labour to deceiue others they deceiue yea and damne themselues To this sort of men therefore the word is offered but all in vaine Either they receiue it not or they receiue it to their owne destruction 10 The second sort are resembled to the stonie soile which receiueth the seede and it taketh roote for a time but when the heate of the sunne commeth it withereth away Many such there be which haue gladly heard the Gospel haue frequented sermons with appearance of great deuotion and could freshly
a lewde desire towards her hath defiled his heart and is in soule vnchast If euerie man trie himselfe according to this rule exactly peraduenture hee shall see a disease in himselfe that needeth remedie Which if he neglect and so perish whom may he blame The medicine is commended with a title of honour that thereby we might be allured to vse it The daunger of not vsing of it if neede require is death For harlots and adulterers the Lord shall iudge 7 Thus much beeing spoken of the causes for which honour is giuen vnto mariage I wil briefly speake of the duties of honour required betweene parties maried Howe honourably a man should vse his wife S. Paul teacheth plainly in many places but especially in his epistle to the Ephesians Men loue your wiues as Christ hath loued his Church In which place he instructeth not onely by precept but also by setting a paterne before our eyes to followe and that is Christ the true spouse to his Church the congregation of the faithfull The husband ought to loue his wife euen as Christ did his Church But Christ suffered death to redeeme his Church Euen so the truely the husband if necessitie so required to saue his wife should ieopard his owne life His life is wel spent in sauing of her and by loosing of her ill spared Christ purged and made his Church beautiful voide of spot or wrincle that it might resemble himself as neere as might be in puritie Euen so the husband shold labour to reforme his wife to instruct frame her to discretion sobrietie al matron-like vertues all godlinesse A wise wife maketh a happy husband and in her goodnes he shal find gladnes The husband is called y e head of his wife as Christ is of the congregation When as the head espieth faults in the members of the bodie it doth not studie how to cut them off make separation but doth muse vpon a remedie labour to procure a medicine to applie vnto the hurt parts to recouer the bodie to couer the fault if he cannot cure it A good husband is a good head his indeuour will be to cure his diseased wife and not to cut her off from him especially to winne her vnto Christ if she wander out of the right waie Her faults will make him sorowfull not furious and to pitie her infirmities without hating of her person Wisedome is required in the head to rule and gouerne well the bodie which is placed vnder it He that braggeth and boasteth that hee is the head and yet wanteth the prudencie which the head should haue is vnwoorthy to be named that which indeede he is not A wise husband must winke at many faults and beare with many of his wiues infirmities He that foolishly champeth vpon those griefes which wisedome would haue be swallowed if hee liue in continuall miserie may say that hee onely liueth happily which liueth wisely no greater wisedome than to deuoure follies Yet the husbands lenitie ought not to be such as to nourish foolishnesse Vertue is alwaies discreete and in all things the mediocritie S. Paul giueth the reason why men should giue this honour to their wiues for he that loueth his wife loueth himselfe they two beeing one flesh No man euer hated his owne flesh Our owne bodies wee loue as Christ hath loued his Church If a mans natural bodie were neuer so mangled so sicke so corrupted so crooked and euill fauoured he would yet loue and feede it and cherishe it so much the more by howe much more it needed comfort Euen so ought a man to nourish comfort and helpe his wife bee shee neuer so deformed or out of fashion whether it bee by nature or by casualtie in bodie or in minde Wee haue Christ for our example When the Church ran a whoring and committed lothsome idolatrie he did not forsake it neither yet doth our gratious Lord forsake his beloued spouse wonderfully spotted with sinne but couereth and forgetteth faults and vseth all meanes possible to reforme and make vs fit for him The like should appeare in the husband to his wife seeing Paul setteth foorth Christ to be a paterne to followe This is that which S. Peter meaneth when he exhorteth men to dwell with their wiues according to knowledge He would haue husbands to rule according to wisedome and not to play the tyrants not to be sowre cruell rash rageful but to gouerne them according to y e order of Gods word in al sobrietie grauitie gentlenesse loue and discretion prouiding for them by honest meanes as for thēselues For if he that prouideth not for his familie bee woorse than an infidell there is none so bad as he that is carelesse for his wife No infidell neglecteth his owne bodie And as S. Paul in the place aboue mentioned so S. Peter in this which was last alleaged sheweth reasons why the husband should giue this honour to the wife 8 Giue honour vnto her velut infirmiori as to the weaker This may seeme rather to bee a cause to contemne than to honour For such is the vse The rich despise the poore the learned the ignorant the strong the weake But this vse is wicked Hath not God chosen the weake of this worlde to ouercome the strong the foolish to confound the wise Are not the ignoraunt as well as the learned Gods Haue the riche one foote more of possessions in heauen than haue the poore Despise not therfore the weaker creatures least thou dishonour the creator of them But seeing that man and wife are members of one bodie they especially ought to beare one with anothers infirmities to couer to dissemble and to forgiue eche of them others weakenesse Yea the viler the members of our bodies seeme to bee the more carefull we are to couer and to honour them for so S. Paul speaketh In like maner the more weake the woman is the more diligent should her husband be to giue her this honour to couer her infirmitie and not to broache it abroade For in dishonouring her he dishonesteth his owne bodie Wee easily forgiue children when they offend by reason of their age The want of discretion is for them excuse sufficient So a man ought to consider the infirmitie of his wife and to beare with her for it The second cause of honouring her is for that God doth giue her honour God maketh her partaker with thee of his spirituall graces and fellow heire of euerlasting life Dishonour thou not therefore her on earth whom God hath honoured with a place in heauen The third cause why the wife should bee well esteemed of is for vnities sake For contempt doth breede contention and contention is an hinderance to deuotion Honour your wiues therefore Ne preces vestrae interrumpantur that your praiers through strife bee not interrupted and broken off Thus much for the duetie of the husband 9 Touching the duties of honour which the wife doeth owe to the husband
the moone shall be abashed the sunne ashamed when the Lorde of hostes shal raigne in mount Sion The like we read in Ezechiel threatning destruction and desolation to Egypt I will couer the heauen and make the starres thereof darke I will couer the sunne with a cloude and the moone shall not giue hir light all the lightes of heauen will I make darke for thee and bring darkenes vpon thy lande sayth the Lorde I might alledge the like out of Ioel Ieremie Amos and Micheas but the matter is cleare inough needeth rather to be considered thaÌ„ prooued 19 The wordes being literally thus vnderstoode may be morally applied not without great fruite vnto the vnderstanding and wise hearer which can discerne betweene interpretation of scripture application thereof In the one we giue you the bare sense of the scripture in the other we teach you the profitable vse of it For the vse of scripture may be very well shewed not only by such collectioÌ„s as do probably gather or necessarily coÌ„clude one thing out of another but also by those allegoricall comparisons which shewe how in one thing another is shadowed a spirituall thing resembled in a corporall As for example if heere we refer the sun to Christ that sunne of righteousnes the moone to the Church and the starres to the pastors and doctors of the Church 20 The sunne in this sence is most euidently in this our age darkned Christ is obscured by that great enimie Antichrist the man of sinne who hath set himselfe in Christs peculiar place and will be exalted aboue all that is called God To make any other mediator betwene God and man sauing only Christ Iesus which is not onely man but also God To seeke else where remission of sinnes iustification redemption sanctification or saluation than only in this Iesus in him crucified doth darken make dimme both him and his merites And of this treason the Romish Antichristian Church which they terme Catholike is founde guiltie For the children of this harlot labour by al meanes to obscure the sonne of God to robbe him of the glorie of his desertes in our saluation I would neuer haue beleeued that any professing learning or hauing had but a glimse of the course of the woorde of God could haue beene so grosse in such sort to haue eclipsed the brightnesse of Christ Iesus by giuing his glorie vnto earthly creatures if of late I had not to my great greefe and their great shame heard their owne blasphemous conâ—essions therof Surely the Romish strumpet hath rubbed hir forehead hir children are become altogether shamelesse whatsoeuer shee determineth they make it equiualent with the written word of God There is no absurditie in poperie in which there are ful many and full grosse which they doe not defende to be right good and Catholike The Popes pardons purgatorie masses merites praiers both for to y e dead pilgrimages images reliques yea holy water and holy bread All these they will haue some one way and some another to bee forcible remedies against sinne and death This is their religion and seruing of God thus they honour the Lambe that was slaine for the sinnes of all the worlde If this doe not derogate from him and stoppe the brightnesse of his glorie who is the only once offered propitiation for all our sinnes by whose bloud we are only purged whose death only hath made vs free from death if this doe not obscure the glorious beautie of Christ Iesus if this doe not deface the woorthinesse of his merites what doeth or what can do Hath the glorious sonne of God sacrificed his precious life for our sakes vpon the crosse that Thomas of Caunterburies bloud powred out in an earthly quarrell should make passage to heauen for vs Is there any man in whose heart the light of the glorie of God hath shined which seeth not how this fogge doth darken this blessed sunne 21 Againe this sonne is obscured when as we professe that in our woordes which in our liues and deedes we doe denie After that king Dauid had committed adulterie Nathan the phophet charged him therewith in these words Thou hast caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme When men professe wel liue ill their life is not tolerated for their profession but their profession is slandered by their conuersation When the Iewes which professed the Law did not practise it the Law which they professed heard euill thereby For a bad professor of a good thing is a staine to that thing which he doth professe This is the speciall fault of our wicked dayes these our times are clowdie and full of this darkenesse our light doth not shine to glorifie God but our darkenes doth abounde to the obscuring of his Christ. The mercilesse rich men which wring and oppresse by deceitfull and iniurious dealing which neglect and despise their afflicted brethren the needie members of Christ doe not they blaspheme the woorthie name wherewith both they and we are named It were a great deale better neuer to haue professed then not to practise neuer to haue receaued then not to obserue neuer to haue knowne then not to obey the word of truth Vnto them which heare the word and keepe it being heard a blessing is promised but vnto theÌ„ of whom it is written Dicunt non faciunt They say do not woes againe and againe are denounced This knowe sayth the Apostle that in the last dayes shall come perillous times For men shall be louers of themselues couetous boasters proude cursed speakers disobedient to parentes vnthankefull vnholy without naturall affection truce breakers false accusers intemperate fierce despisers of them which are good traitours headie high minded louers of pleasure more than louers of God hauing a shewe of godlinesse but hauing denied the power thereof Let all the worlde iudge whether these be not the cloudes which haue darkned the sunne of our dayes 22 Now as the sun reseÌ„bleth Christ so the moone his Church For as the moone hath hir light from the sun so the Church hirs from Christ. And as the sunne being vnchangeable is at all times exceeding bright and glorious but the moone doth change and some times is at the full sometimes at the wane hir light to the eye of the worlde now encreasing and nowe diminishing nowe filling the whole globe and now in no part thereof appearing so Christ and his Church Christs glorie is alwaies great and alwaies one His Church vpon earth doth varie nowe she flowrisheth and nowe is blacke sometimes shee ouer spreadeth the face of the whole earth at other times she is brought to so narrowe streightes that mortall eye is vnable to espie hir When the Church of Christ is persecuted as it was in the dayes of those cruell Emperours which were of olde and as it is at this daie vnder Antichrist and Antichristian Princes this is as it were the chaunging
it will one day appeare Our conuersion will be called vnto an hard account In that day wee must stande before the tribunall seate of God and render a reckoning yea and receiue as we haue wrought in our bodies good or badde The iudge is euen at hande Veniens veniet He will come surely without fayle and without staie He standeth before the doore This is the last houre the trumpe is in a readinesse to bee blowne to iudgement 2 For sayeth Peter the ende of all thinges hangeth ouer vs. In which wordes the Apostle doth both comfort vs and exhort vs. Such as are afflicted oppressed with wrong burdened with pouertie vexed with sickenesse slaundered persecuted or hated of the worlde heere they may receiue comfort Your miserie shall be but momentanie and short your ioy shall be great and endlesse Lift vp your heades for your redemption draweth neare The ende of your affliction together with the end of all thinges is at hande Againe vpon these wordes a most necessarie exhortation is inferred Christ is comming in the cloudes all fleshe shall rise and recken he onely that hath his lampe burning shall enter in with the bridegrome as wee are founde so shall wee be taken and iudged The ende is at hande bee sober therefore and watch vnto prayer 3 Whereas the holy scriptures doe make often mention of a double ende the one wherein wee are to yeelde vp our mortall liues the other wherein Christ at his seconde comming shall finish the course of all this sinnefull worlde the Apostle treating in this place of the later I shall at this present followe his foote-steppes and speake of Christ his seconde comming to put an ende to all thinges For they which say Where is the promise of his comming deceaue themselues Hee hath set a day wherein he will iudge the worlde in iustice hee is appointed iudge of quicke and dead The Angell of God beareth witnesse of his comming This Iesus which is taken vp into heauen shall so come as ye haue seene him goe And S. Iohn as if he beheld and sawe him comming sayth Beholde he comâ—eth with cloudes and euerie eye shall see him 4 But as his comming is most certaine so the houre day moneth yeare or time is most vncertaine It is not for you to knowe the seasons and precise pointes of times which the father hath appointed in his owne power Of that day and houre no man knoweth No not the verie Angels of heauen but my father onely The day of the Lorde will come stealing vpon vs as a theefe in the night 5 Nowe as we knowe not the day and time so let vs be assured that this comming of the Lorde is neere He is not slacke as we doe count slackenesse That it is at hande it may be probably gathered out of the Scriptures in diuerse places The signes mentioned by Christ in the Gospel which should be the foreshewers of this terrible day are almost alreadie all fulfilled The prophecies of Daniell of the foure Monarchies of the little horne and of the times weekes and dayes are manifestlie come to passe The defections or fallinges away which are spoken of in holie scriptures are also in great part accomplished The prouinces the tenne kingdomes are fallen from the Romaine Empire and that wicked one hath wrought the misterie of iniquitie Againe there hath beene in a manner a generall falling from the Catholike faith as the Apostle long before foretolde vs some vnto Mahomet some vnto Antichrist his brother Euen about one time Mahomet appeared and the Pope swarued from the true faith of Christ the one renouncing him in name the other in deede the one quite blotting out the mention of Christ and denying at all to professe him in woorde The other keeping his name but robbing him of his office and shutting him out of his right place both falling from the faith That defection also is come vpon vs which Saint Paul did prophecie of In the latter times men shall fall from the faith giuing eare to deceiuing spirites and doctrines of diuelles And Saint Peter There shall come in the last dayes mockers that walke after their owne lustes and say where is the promise of his comming Thus heretiques and Atheistes haue fallen from Christ and Christian faith We that professe Christ and his Gospell are also charged with a defection a schisme and a falling away But in euerie Apostasie two thinges must be considered from whom and to whome this sliding is We gladly graunt that we are fallen away from the Bishoppe of Rome who long agoe fell from Christ wee doe vtterly abandon his vsurped and proude authoritie we haue happely forsaken that Synagogue of Satan that den of theeues that polluted Church that simoniacall temple and we ioyfully confesse that we haue no societie or fellowship with his darknes In our sermons we preach Christ and none els but him we knowe nothing we teach nothing we beleeue nothing but Christ and him crucified In our Sacraments we shewe foorth the Lordes death in no other sort then he himselfe hath done and commaunded vs to doe In our liues we woorship the Lord alone and in yeelding vp our soules we flie for mercie onely to the merites of Christ Iesus our mercifull sauiour This is our Apostasie We haue forsaken him that hath forsaken God and whom God hath forsaken we haue left that man of sinne that rosecolored harlot with whom the kinges of the earth haue committed fornication that triple crowned beast that doublesworded Tyrant that theefe and murderer who hath robbed so many soules of saluation and sucked so much innocent bloud of Christian martyrs that aduersarie vnto Christ that pretensed vicar who hath displaced the person not onely taking vpon him Christes roome and office but also boasting himselfe as if he were a God being content of his parasites so to be called This wicked man of sinne is at length reuealed by the sincere preaching of the Gospell Daniell in his prophesies Paule in his Epistles and Iohn in his Reuelations haue most liuely described pointed him foorth euen as it were with the finger Yea through his pride and ambition his vsurping authoritie and worldly rule his tyrannie and persecuting of Christ in his members hee hath sufficiently reuealed and detected him selfe if none had doone it for him 6 This wicked man the Lorde shall destroye with the breath of his mouth and then shall be the ende The blast of Gods trumpe hath made him alreadie stagger he hath caught such a crampe that hee beginneth nowe to halt his long and farre reaching arme is marueilously shortned his cofers are waxen leaner his falshoode is espied many princes refuse to tast any more of his poysoned cuppe he is fallen from beeing the head and come almost to be the taile he was too cruell and too violent to continue There is no counsell nor power
thou doest 7 As God is perfit in himselfe in his worde and in all his workes so we are exhorted to fashion our selues according to that similitude and likenesse which is in him and to become perfit as our father in heauen is perfit There is a perfection which all beleeuers haue by imputation whereof although S. Paule doe not speake directly in this place yet because it is the roote of that perfection whereof he speaketh it is not besides the purpose for me to put you in minde of it Vnto euerie sonne of Adam it may iustlie be saide Thou wast perfit in thy waies from the day that thou wast created till iniquitie was founde in thee But our sanctification being once defiled and polluted with sinne he which liketh no vncleane or vnperfect thing if hee looke vppon vs as wee are in our selues cannot but loath vs. Wherefore except the perfection of righteousnes which is in Christ be imputed vnto vs and accounted as ours except in him we be made the righteousnes of God howe should we euer hope to appeare without spot and wrincle in the sight of God He therefore is perfect whose imperfections Christ with his perfection hath couered This is a secret which because the Iewes were not able to comprehende therefore they stumbled Israel sought perfection and found it not Wherefore Because they sought it by the workes of the law and not by faith they thought perfection by imputation to be a meere fancie Contrariwise the Gentils not following that perfection which is by the lawe attained vnto that which is by faith which S. Paule did so esteeme that although he were concerning the righteousnesse which is in the lawe vnreproueable yet he thought all the labour and trauell lost which hee had spent about attaining perfection that way and desired nothing more than to be found not hauing his owne perfection which was of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ. 8 But the perfection wherof S. Paul heere speaketh is nothing else but the finishing of that which the grace of Christ hath alreadie begun to worke in our hearts our growing and increasing in true godlinesse our proceeding and going forwarde from vertue to vertue from strength to strength till we come vnto that whereunto we striue Brethren sayeth the Apostle I count not my selfe as if I had attained it or were alreadie perfect But one thing I forget that which is behinde and endeuour my selfe vnto that which is before and followe harde towardes the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Let vs therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded let as many as haue attained the former perfection striue vnto this which is the latter 9 For this cause Apostles Prophetes Euangelistes pastors and teachers at the first were giuen vnto this all doctrine and exhortation doth tende that being builded together to be the habitation of God by the spirite wee might rise to a perfect man vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ and in all things growe vp into him which is the head in all thinges whether they be inwarde vertues or outwarde duties which God requireth at the handes of men Touching inwarde vertues although we haue knowledge and be established in the present trueth although our faith bee such that it be knowen and spoken of through out the worlde although we abound in godlinesse in brotherlie kindenesse and in all loue it is neuerthelesse a thing needefull as long as we are in this tabernacle that we be alwayes put in minde stirred vp and prouoked to endeuour that in these thinges we may abounde more and more and go forward in them to perfection 10 The worde of truth which is the Gospell was fruitfull among the Colossians from the very first day that they hearde and truely knewe the grace of God Yet S. Paule ceased not still to pray for them and to desire that they might be fulfilled with the knowledge of his will in all wisedome spirituall vnderstanding that they might encrease in the knowledge of God and so be perfect The Hebrues no dout were not vtterly ignorant in the highest mysteries of their saluation yet are they sharply reproued for their rawnesse and exhorted to proceede from the doctrine of the beginning of Christ and from the first principles of the word of God that at the length they might come to some perfection We must all confesse euen the best learned amongst vs all that as yet we are but beginning to learne we knowe but little our skill is of small and tender growth It behooueth vs therefore to pray continually with the prophet Lord teach vs thy statutes make vs to vnderstande the way of thy preceptes that we may profit in meditating of thy lawe leade vs on in our way by the gracious conduction of thy holy spirite so direct our course that we may run out the race into which we are entred not ceasing till thou hast brought vs into all truth fully instructed vs in thy righteousnesse made vs absolute and perfect vnto all good workes 11 Where there is backwardnesse in knowledge there must needes be also weakenes of faith if we growe in the one we are the nearer to perfection in the other Howe great care the blessed Apostle had that the faith of as many as did beleeue through his preaching might be perfited let that one speach of his to them of Thessalonica serue to shewe in steede of manie Bretheren wee had consolation in you in all our affliction and necessitie through your faith For nowe are we aliue if we stande stedfast in the Lorde What thankes can we recompence to God againe for you for all the ioy for which we reioyce for your sakes before God night and day praying exceedinglie that we might see your face and might accomplish that which is lacking in your faith If he were thus carefull for the faith of others shall we neglect to make perfect our owne When we heare that this is the victorie which ouercometh the world euen our faith that by faith all the firie dartes of Satan are expelled and driuen back that vnto beleeuers all thinges are possible that he which beleeueth commeth not into iudgment but hath passed from death to life are we not glad to say in our hartes Lord we beleeue If we be then considering that by how much our faith is more stedfast by so much we are the more certainlie assured of all these thinges let vs ioyne in request with the disciples of Christ and beg of him to increase faith in vs let vs crie euen with teares Lorde helpe our incredulitie 12 But how can you beleeue saith our sauiour that receaue glorie one of another and the glorie which is of God onelie ye seeke not How should we growe vnto fulnesse of faith which are so emptie and void of godlinesse The complaint