liued in the time of ignorance but that as many among vs liuing in the light of the Gospell descend notwithstanding into the darknesse of hell so there were many liuing in the darknes of Poperie who ascended vp to the place of light to the kingdome of heauen and were partakers of eternall blessednesse To conclude this point Let vs not rashly enter into the iudgements of God for he saith I will haue mercy on whom I will haue mercy Sometimes God refuseth the father and chooseth the sonne as in Salomon to build the Temple and not Dauid Sometimes hee sheweth his iudgements on the sonnes and mercy on the father as in the children of Iob Sometimes he cutteth off both the father and the sonnes as he did Elie his children Sometimes hee saueth both the father and his children as Noah and his children in the Arke and this hee doth to the end that be we fathers or be we children be wee many or be we few we should learne to submit our selues to him and rather be carefull to obtaine our owne saluation than to bee curious in the disputing of the saluation of others I will close and shut vp this point with a saying of Ciprian in his 3. Epi. If any that went before vs either of ignorance or of simplicity hath not obserued that which the Lord commanded his simplicity through the Lords indulgence may bee pardoned but we whom the Lord hath taught and instructed cannot be pardoned 3 In the third place of my first generall diuision I thought it fit that we should cōsider how this noble Eunuch was busied imployed in his return homewarde and that is set downe in the 28. verse And as he returned sitting in his chariot he read Esaias the Prophet The Lord hauing touched the heart of this noble Eunuch and finding that hee desired to taste of the bread of life resolued in great mercy to feede him plentifully therwith and finding him to haue a holy thirst after the water of life was pleased to set open vnto him the very fountaine or conduits thereof and prouided that hee should bee fed with the very marow and fatness of his holy truth and that hee should drinke de torrente voluptatis at the very well-head the water of life and the sweet wine of the sauing knowledge of his Son Christ He prouided in his gratious prouidence that the booke of the Prophesie of Esay should come to his hands which he ioyfully receiued reuerently accounted of making it as Alexander did Homer his companion in his iourney and diligently read the same He read Esaias the Prophet And what followed thereof The Lord who as the blessed Virgin speaketh filleth the hungry with good things did fill his hungry soule with the best things and verefied in him that saying of Salomon Non perdet Dominus animam iusti fame The Lord will not famish the soule of a righteous man with hunger but will feed it for he fed him with the richest and most precious cates and iunkets of his most holy and heauenly truth Neither did it only please God that the Booke and Prophesie of Esay should onely and alone come to the hands and sight of this noble Personage but heerein also did Gods gratious goodnesse and rich mercy plainly appeare vnto him in that not by chance or at aduenture but by the prouidence of God his hand was turned and his eye directed to the reading of such a part and portion of that Prophesie as contained in it the summe and substance of the Gospell and from whence Philip might haue a good ground and take iust occasion beginning as hee did at that Scripture to open and expound vnto him the whole mystery of Gods mercy in Christ and mans saluation by Christ The words of the place he read are these ver 32. and 33. Hee was led as a sheep to the slaughter c. In which words the Prophet sheweth the manner and order which it pleased God to vse in the redeeming of his Church namely by the death of Christ as of a Lambe slaine as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sinnes of mankinde That as a sheepe he was led to the slaughter and like a lambe dumbe before his shearer hee opened not his mouth c. Whereby is signified that he willingly offered vp himselfe as a voluntary sacrifice or free-will offering for mans redemption vnto God More briefly in a word for I purpose not at this time to make any stay in the interpretation of these wordes in my Text howsoeuer they be most worthy to bee largely entreated of more briefly I say and in a word In these words of Esay which the Ennuch was now in reading when Philip came and spake vnto him two things especially are mystically and prophetically deliuered concerning the person of Christ the first his Humiliation and Passion the second his Exaltation or Glorification and that not for himselfe onely but for vs also Which words beeing a prophesie or prediction of a thing then to come when they were written by Esay are in effect repeated by Saint Paul who speaketh thereof as of a thing done past and now performed Hee was deliuered to death for our sinnes and is risen againe for our iustification Romans 4.25 And both of these appeare most plainely in the 53. of Esay through that whole chapter Of this argument or of this matter Esay speaketh as a Prophet Saint Paul as an Euangelist the one speaketh de futuro the other de praeterito the one of that which should come to passe the other of that which is come to passe and yet which is worthy your marking Esay though he speak thereof as of a thing long to come yet hee speaketh of it in the Preterperfect-tense or in the time past to shew the certainty thereof You see how this noble Eunuch was busied and you see also what end the Lord made and what course hee tooke with him He went vp to Ierusalem to worship and in his returne hee read the Prophet Esay and it pleased God that being so busied and imployed the foundation and ground-work of the sauing truth and knowledge of God in Christ should be laid and built in his soule to his eternall comfort and saluation Iesus Christ beeing the chiefe corner-stone of that holie and blessed building Tu vade fac similiter Goe thou and doe the like goe thou whosoeuer thou art that hearest me this day and doe the like goe vp to Ierusalem that is worship God in his holy Temple reade the Prophesie of Esay or some other part of the booke of God reade it when thou art at home reade it when thou art abroad reade it earely reade it late reade it with reuerence reade it with diligence reade it with an humble minde reade it with an hungry appetite reade it with a deuout desire to vnderstand it to conclude reade it with the like mind with which this noble Eunuch read it and thou shalt be partaker
righteousnes and the iustice of God darest to meet God in the face and to confront his very iustice and art so indifferent that thou doost not much reckon or greatly regard whether God that is the Lord of glory do come vnto thee in maiestie or in mercie in the Law or in the Gospel in equitie and iustice or in pitie and compassion to iudge thy good works in some of you works of Supererogation and to giue sentence of thy righteousnesse which in many of you so aboundeth that as you beleeue and teach others they may reserue enough for themselues and yet spare some for others to make them also righteous And what maruaile is it if beeing but dust and ashes sinfull flesh yea stubble and straw fuell quickly kindled his maiestie amaze thee and the fire of his iustice and iudgement doe fearfully consume thee Beloued in the Lord it is dangerous building on the sand They build on the sand that make flesh their arme that put any confidence in their owne works It is safe building on a Rock they build on a rock which build on Christ The Rock is Christ. And as Extra Arcam without the Arke the Doue found no rest for the soale of her foote so likewise Extra Christum without Christ the soule of a sinner can finde no comfort And bee it spoken to the glory of God and to the honour of that truth and that religion which wee professe This is that powerful motiue and the very true cause why so many that are professed Papists in their life doe notwithstanding at the approaching of death and the very point of their dissolution die Protestants renouncing themselues wholly laying fast hold onely vpon Christ I will trouble you but vvith tvvo instances or examples for the clearing of this point the one ancient the other moderne and of later time When Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester lay sicke Doctor Day Bishop of Chichester comming to visite him began to comfort him repeating to him some such places of Scripture as did expresse and import the free iustification of repentant sinners in the bloud of Christ VVhereunto Winchester replyed What my Lord quoth hee vvill you open that gap now then farewel all together To mee and such other in my case you may speake it but open this window vnto the people and then farewell all together When those two vnholy and trayterous Priests Watson and Clark suffered condigne punishment for the treasonable practices whereof they were conuicted at Winchester some few yeeres since the one of them immediatly before hee was ready to ascend the ladder disposing himselfe to priuate prayer was by two verie reuerend and eminent men of our Church as one of them hath diuerse times related it in my hearing ouer-heard to haue vsed these or the like words O Lord said he I haue not any thing to offer vp vnto thee that is woorthy thy acceptance I haue nothing but a corruptible carcasse and a sinfull soule to present vnto thee At his vttering of vvhich vvords one of those reuerend Diuines calling to the other Harken I pray you harken said hee how hee disableth himselfe and renounceth his owne merits Which words when the Priest heard hee breaking off the course of his prayer made this reply to those graue Diuines Though said hee I haue no merits to offer vp vnto God yet it may be that many other of our religion haue merits which both they may offer vnto God and for vvhich his Maiestie may be graciously pleased to be mercifull vnto them See I pray you how the truth of God preuailed with both these men when their end drew neere and when death approached obserue I pray you farther how they did in some sort disclaiming all confidence in themselues and their owne merites beare witnesse to the truth of God for the free iustification of sinners onely by Christ But whether or not by their farther answeres and replies they laboured to hide that truth and to put out that candle after it vvas lighted in them I take not vpon mee to iudge but doe leaue that to God 3. Proposition My third proposition which I deliuered by occasion of our Aduersaries demands was this All our Ancestors perished not neither were all our Forefathers that liued in the time of Popery damned For first some of them which both liued and died Papists in many points yet holding the principall and fundamentall parts of Gods blessed and holy truth might be and were also as in the iudgement of charity we may well thinke partakers of saluation Secondly it is one thing to hold an error obstinately and wilfully ioyning the holding and professing therof with the hatred and persecution of the truth and another thing to erre ignorantly being seduced by such as are Pastors and Teachers with a minde notwithstanding alway ready to embrace the trueth whensoeuer men shall bee further enlightened And in this later kinde many of our Ancestors and Forefathers erred carrying a minde alwaies ready and willing to be taught though the streame of the Times carried them away Now as of the former sort of these our Ancestours and Forefathers which not onely erred in the capitall fundamentall parts of Gods truth but erred wilfully and obstinately hating presecuting the truth vnto their death we say as Saint Paul saith They perished because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued 2. Thes 2.10 So in respect of the later sort of them we are farre from pronouncing the Sentence of damnation against them we are not the Authors of any such vncharitable and peremptorie assertions we vtterly disclaime all such black and bloody conclusions Genesis 37.33 Iacob seeing the coat of Ioseph rent torne and bloody cryed out and said that Fera pessima deuorauit eum Some euill beast hath deuoured him yet God prouided for Ioseph and he was safe So although the religion of our Forefathers like the garment of Ioseph seemeth rent torne and bloody vnto vs and we in probability may cry and say that Fera pessima deuorauit eos yet wee must not rashly condemne them because God hath as wel extraordinary means to saue as ordinary True it is that many of our Forefathers relied vpon the opinion of merrit and therefore were like to the brethren of Ioseph who tooke money in their sacks when they went to Egypt for corne But as Ioseph returned them their money againe and gaue them corne for nothing so who can tell but that God giuing them grace at the last to change their opinions refusing their merits yet gaue them corn for nothing accepting them in his beloued and Christ as Ioseph receiuing them as his brethren into eternall life As in charity wee are forbidden to thinke that none of the Israelites entred into heauen who entred not into the holy Land or into the Land of Canaan but died in the Wildernesse so wee are not to thinke that all those our Forefathers perished which
ioyfull Message or gladsome tidings So spake the Angell to the Shepheards Be not afraid for behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shall be to all the people that is that vnto you is borne this day in the Citie of Dauid a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2.10.11 Which most heauenly most sweet comfortable doctrine when Philip had once taught and preached to this noble Eunuch it was no maruell though as a man full of gladnesse he went on his way reioycing For if libertie be gratefull to him that hath long been captiue if to be made a free-man be a cause of ioy and reioycing to him that hath long been a bondslaue if to be eased of a heauie burden if to be cured of a dangerous disease if to be brought foorth of a darke dungeon into the cleere light to conclude if to be raised from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to haue our part and portion in the communion of Saints if all and euery of these be blessings much to be esteemed of and true causes of reioycing Thē to be brought into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God to be made the Lords Free-men to be eased of the heauy burden of sinne to be cured of the infectious diseases which arise from humane corruption to be enlightened by the Spirit of God to liue vnto the Lord the life of righteousnes and to haue our names written in the booke of life all which were offered and exhibited by Philip to this noble Eunuch in his preaching of Iesus vnto him these things I say could not chuse but much affect him and be great causes of great ioy and reioycing vnto him And as Philips preaching of Iesus was to this honorable Eunuch a cause of much reioycing so also should the preaching of the same Iesus be a cause of ioy and reioycing to as many of vs as are by the mercy of God and the labour of his faithfull Ministers made the happy hearers partakers therof For looke what plenty is to men that haue long liued in penury what health is to men that haue been long visited wearied with sicknes what meat is to them that haue been long pinched and almost starued with hunger the same and more is the publishing and preaching of the comfortable assurance of Gods loue and fauour towards vs in Christ Iesus In whom though the traytor Iudas found no excellency aboue the value of thirty peeces of siluer yet his godly and faithfull children can and doe finde in him all the treasures of wisedome of iustification of redemption and saluation When Samson in the time of his extreame thirsting faintnes euen then when he cried out and said Giue me vvater or I die for thirst had tasted of that water which God miraculously sent vnto him his spirit came againe he was reuiued Iudg. 15.19 When Ionathan had tasted a little hony his eyes were opened his spirits comforted and his body strengthened 1. Sa. 14. Yet neither was the water which Samson dranke of nor the hony which Ionathan tasted of halfe so sweet comfortable to them as the preaching of Christ Iesus is to the fainting dying soules of true Beleeuers Great is the ioy vnspeakable are the comforts which the preaching of Iesus affordeth to the children of men the sauour of which comforts is sweeter in the Church of GOD than the sauour of Libanon and the ioy therof like vnto the dropping of milke and hony vpon their soules Samson found a swarme of Bees and hony in a dead Lion Hic est favus qui ex ore Leonis mortui exiuit Out of the mouth out of the word out of the preaching of Iesus Christ which is the Lion of the tribe of Iudah which was dead but is aliue and liueth for euer commeth such sweetnes as cannot be vttered or cōceiued Nemo nouit nisi qui accipit This is such a ioy as is not like worldly ioy which may be taken away Your ioy shall no man take from you Iohn 16.22 Christ like a royall King neuer entreth any citie any towne any village any priuat house or into the soule or minde of any priuate man but hee giueth gifts And it also pleaseth him of his fulness to giue to his Apostles his Disciples his Ministres power and grace also to make them able whersoeuer they come and wheresoeuer they preach him and publish his truth as heere Philip did to this Eunuch to giue great gifts to the sonnes of men to instruct them in the knowledge of God and so to fill their hearts vvith sweet ioyes heauenly comforts The publishing of the word of God the preaching of Iesus Christ is as Chrysostome speaketh in his 5. Homily vpon Gene. a casting of spirituall treasures into the laps or bosomes of men The L. God grant that my preaching of Iesus at this time may be a casting or sowing of such spirituall treasures and heauenly seed as may bring forth in you all much fruite of good liuing to eternall life Amen FINIS