of the Law to driue a man to repentance Now that not only the children of disobedience haue a burthen but also the elect children of God it may appeare by the testimonie of Paul himselfe in the 17. and 18. verses For I knowe that in me that is in my fleshe dwelleth no good thing for will is present with me but I finde no meanes to performe that which is good for I do not that good which I would do but the euil which I would not do that do I. And so he concludes that euen the contagion of sinne dwelleth in him which is a grieuous and most hainous burthen And he that saith he hath no burthen dcceineth himselfe and the trueh of God is not in him as it is in the first Epistle of Iohn 1. Chap. 8. ver If we say that we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and trueth is not in vs. And in the 2 Chap. He declares the meanes how to be eased of our burthen If any man sinne wee haue an Aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the iust and he is the reconciliation for our sinnes yet there is a difference between the sinning of the godly and the vngodly Sinning of the godly said I there be many partes of the scripture that seeme repugnaunt to this As first a good tree cannot bring foorth euill fruite Hee that committeth sinne is of the deuill for euery one that is borne of God sinneth not as the Apostle witnesseth that which is borne of the spirit is spirite Then how can the former stand for a trueth that the children of God shoulde both sinne and not sinne haue a burthen and haue none when as we know euen by naturall reason that two contraries cannot stand at one time in one subiect Now in that the righteous do sinne it is plaine There is none that doth good no not one the righteous sinneth seuen times a day and many such places The answeare is very easie the righteous in deed do sinne but not vnto death because he is partely borne of God and partly of a man the first way he sinneth not the second way hee sinueth Nohah GOD his faithfull and obedient seruant although the Lord blessed him saying to his seede bring ye foorth fruite and multiplie growe plentifully in the earth and encrease therin 9. Gen. 7. 9. verses Behold I euen I establish my couenant with you and your seede after you Yet this waye hee sinned not but afterwardes it came to passe that he drunk of the wine and was druncken and vncouered himselfe in the middest of his Tent see that no soner he was come into the world but he was infected by it and fell from God most ruenously by which wee may gather how slippery places we men of this worlde stand in so that it is impossible for vs to walke in it without danger of our liues No maruaile therefore though we be as blind as beetles that wee cannot see the sunne-shine of righteousnesse though it shine neuer so bright in England O great and heauie burthen in one houre able to crush downe our shoulders and to cast both body and soul into the lake of destruction wee see therefore that Noah sinned not the first way but as he was man the second way Abraham althogh he did forsake his owne countrey and all his kindred to goe to the land whereunto the Lord appointed him in which he sinned not because it was Gods commaundement but hee lyed Gen. 12.13 in saying that his wife was his sister for feare of the Aegyptians Say I pray thee that thou art my sister that I may fare well for thy sake and that my life may be preserued by thee And this second way hee sinned because his wife by this means was rauished by Pharao Iacob the faithfull seruant of God yet he deceiued his master in diuiding the flock Gen. 30. the second way hee sinned Dauid the annointed of God yet notwithstanding hee committed incest with Vrias wife and therefore it was a heauie burthen vnto him Sod quid onus But what is the greatest burthen Euen the loue of Idols And first men make this world an Idoll especially wee of England when wee like vnto Achabs wife are neuer content though wee had neuer so much yet still we desire more and althogh as M. Caluin saith amongst men there bee such varietie of minds and desires that as it is a world to see them yet do all agree in this point most plainly that with whole hart and mind they are occupied in the world the things therof and surely his opinion is true and to be liked of all for men nowadaies had rather eate the bread that perisheth than drinke the water whereof whosoeuer shall drinke out of his belly shall spring riuers of waters of life not of such waters as our Fathers drunke of in the rockes and died but of the water of life which neuer shall decay frō all eternities and yet man most senseles had rather bee in bondage than in freedome hee had rather drinke of the filthie puddles of Aegypt to be fed with butter beefe vnions or garlicke than for to drinke of the water whose streames flow from Iacob his well or from the riuer of Eden or to be fedde with Manna from heauen Thus men become without vnderstanding degenerating frō reasonable creatures to sense lesse Idiots and this is not the least burthen we haue to beare in England The Ministers themselues haue their burthen Malumest nobis esse hîc It is euill for vs to dwell here for their portion is labour a heauy yoke laid vpon the sons of Adam to humble them thereby If labour then be necessarie for the Minister to feed the flocke then also he must haue his tools to finish the work as well for the body as for the mind Now if the first sort which concerneth his body be wanting which is sufficient maintenance then what hope is there of the giftes of the mind For as Aristotle affirmeth the minde doth followe the temperature of the body and the body it selfe cannot last without nourishment then what shal we thinke of those men that would destroy the foundation of our Colleges to increase their own possessions which be the well springes of life to the whole land confounding learning bringing in barbarisme by making the wisedome of God inferiour to the wisedome of man The word of God say they is simple and may be vnderstood without the Artes which if it were true doubtlesse the Lorde would neuer haue giuen commandement that his Priests lips should containe knowledge or that the worde of God should bee preached or that there should be any Ministerie at all but these and such like be the illusions of sathan to deceiue the people in these last times Now they which would haue done vs this harme were not our open enemies for then we could better haue espied them and so eschewed their malice but it was our owne freends and familiars
THE BVRTHEN OF THE MINISTERIE Gathered out of the sixt chapiter of the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians the first verse VERIE PROFITABLE TO BE read of euery faithfull subiect and of all that desire to be taught in the waie of truth By IOHN HOLME Math. 11.29.30 Take my yoke vpon you for my burthen is light LONDON Printed by I. Danter for Iohn Winnington 1592. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE George Earle of Cumberland Baron Clifford Lord Bromflet Aton and Vescie c. Knight of the most noble order of the Garter IOHN HOLME wisheth increase of all honour GReat no doubt Right honorable are the blowes which our aduersaries the Papists haue giuen vs and yet our Church not once moueth or giueth place to the traditions of men But yet in this notable victory and tryumph ouer them we may well be compared to a company of souldiors who hauing gotten a pray and falling foorth amongst themselues for the diuision of it in the meane time the enemie comes and spoiles them all and takes it quite from them Wee of England haue in peace possessed the word of truth a long time but about vnnecessary trifles we are readie to go together by the eares a strange matter that out of light should spring such palpable darknesse and that our Ministerie should trauell as it were of sects Well let vs take heed that while we thus consume one another hee take not this iewell for which the Merchant sold all that he had to buy it and giue it to a Nation that will bring forth the fruites thereof Though the watchmen sitte on the tower and tell vs daily they espie immineat daungers yea though his preachers tell vs destruction will bee to Iuda and desolation to Ierusalem yet we care not for the safetie of our country nor for the pretious Gospell which we would seeme to professe our consciences are seared vp and the spirite of pride hath got the dominion ouer vs which a learned Father maketh the cause of schisme and dissention In this little Booke Right Honourable I haue prescribed a potion to cure such a greeuous disease the qualitie thereof you shall better perceiue if you reade it through and the rather I presume of your honor for that of a child you haue beene ready to benefite the Church beeing a father to the fatherlesse and widowe a restorer of the Leuites portion a defier of the world and a chiefe defender of our Nation that night and day haue beene in the perill of sea in perill of robbers yea sometime with Paule in peril of death and that for our safety who liue at rest eating the fruits of our labours in peace therefore since pouertie cannot giue to honour the thinges of this worlde yet such as we haue with Peter that will we giue beseeching your Honour the rather to accept of it because it proceeded from a willing minde and from a faithfull Northren heart and thus I leaue it to your godly consideration to whome our Vniuersitie is bounde in weightier matters Your Honours to command IOHN HOLME TO THE READER CHristian people straite is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to eternall life few there be that enter into it but broad is the waye that leadeth to destruction and many there be that finde it out and walke in it the one way full of pleasure and ease the other crabbed croked and full of sorrow And this is the waye of the Church and chosen people of God Israel must be vnder Egypt the three Children in the fyrie fornace Dauid must be persecuted in his owne kingdome by his owne sonne and Christ himselfe must be crucified No maruaile therefore though the Deuill sow contentions in our mindes now wee being at rest for that euen in peace we should begin to warre for the reforming of which mischiefe many and sundrie Pamphelets haue been written but either wee are to deafe that we can not heare or els to negligent in practising those thinges that we heare neuer so much preaching God be praised neuer so little profitting the Lord amend it Some of vs haue itching eares to heape to our selues a number of teachers and with some of vs it is midnight we care for no teachers the one sorte be the Brownists the other be the Papists and Gesuits of our time And though our most gratious Queen whose life the Lord long continue as the faithfull witnes in heauen do labour and striue to set peace betwene Ephraim and Manasses betwene Minister and Ministery yet we disloiall seruaunts to so good a gouernour flee farre from this peace Was euer any land guided so well and wisely yet behold the enuious soweth tares in the mindes of her loyall subiects to driue them from obedience These such like are the trials which persuade my hart of the trueth of the religion of England For this cause thou haste here gentle Reader the burthē of the ministerie wherin is set downe the causes of contentious and scismes lately sprung vp amongest vs desiring when thou knowest them to eschew thē and now to become true to her Maiestie if heretofore thou hast not beene sound so God will blesse thee for thy true Israëlites heart and guide thee in all thy waies that thy foot dash not against a stone and at the last bring thee to euerlasting life through the merits of Christ Yours Io. Holme THE BVRTHEN OF THE MINISTERIE GAL. 6. VERSE 5. For euerie man shall beare his owne burthen THE Apostle in the beginning of this Chapter exhorting the Galathians to the spirite of lenitie that rather they shoulde admonish a brother by infirmitie falling then rashly to condemne him for an Atheist or a reprobate which hee prooueth by foure arguments First because they should consider themselues how weake they were of themselues least the Lorde also giue them ouer to bee tempted Secondly because in so doing they did fulfill the lawe euen the lawe of loue which charitably commandeth them to thinke of their brethren Thirdly because it would make them haue a fond conceit of themselues to thinke better of themselues than indeed they were The fourth and the principall reason is laide downe in these short words For euerie man shal beare his owne burthen and therefore be courteous mild and gentle A doctrine so necessary that without it the man of God can neuer bee made perfect nor euer come to the wished hauen but perish in the midst of the sea by bloisterous and most troublesome tempests And as it is impossible to walke without a legge or to bee valiant in war without armour or weapons so he that is not furnished with this doctrine let him neuer flatter himselfe for he will but proue a dastard in the field and fall downe before his enemies to his own vtter ouerthrow in helfire for euer But I thinke it better for you and me and more profitable to set downe the principles whereof I intend now to speake which are two
Kinred Hammon sinned and all his house was punished Dauid sinned as I said before and all his Realme was punished with a sore pestilence If this then be so as it is most sure because the Lord hath spoken it then how can this stand The former is taken for eternall punishment of God after this life the better for temporal and momentary punishmēt and those the Lord layeth often on one man for the sinne of another and the schoolmen giues very good reason for it but especiallie Thomas Aquinus quia vnus res est alterius 2. propter periculum imitationis And althogh the schoole men in very many pointes erre yet in these they haue said moste truely for both man is prone vnto sinne by nature and also verye easilye bent vnto it by the example of others nam exemplum est alteranatura as one saith verie wisely But there is a punishment eternal and in this euery one shal beare his owne burthen for he that sinneth shall die The wicked in deed may floorishe for a time but it can be no long space the chaffe may growe with the wheat but it is but til Haruest Dauid at the first sight of the wicked thought that they had been the onely men but when he went into the house of God there did consider the end of these men thē he concluded and said that his foote had almost slipped For they shall soone bee cut downe like grasse and shall wither as the greene herbe 37. Psal 2. The worme shal feele his sweetenes he shall bee no more remembred and the wicked shall bee broken down like a tree 24. Iob. 20. But wherfore do the wicked liue and wax olde and growe in wealth There seede is established in their fight with them and their generations before their eies Their houses are peacable without feare and the rodde of God is not vpon them Their Bullockes gendereth and failleth not their Cowe calues and casteth not her Calfe 21. Ioh. 7 8 9 10. ve He will deuide their leaues in his wreath they shal be as stubble Before the winde as chaffe that the storme carieth away 17 18. ve Thus you see what an euill bargaine the wicked make in this life for temporall pleasure they haue eternall paine and for the things of this world they loose the euerlasting ioyes of heauen and this is not onelye a great burthen but euery man shall beare his owne burthen for this cause And thus I haue in some measure fulfilled my promise nowe it remaineth that after the ground worke laid I should goe on and finish the building and surely where doctrine goes not before their exhortation cā take no place for as the building cannot stand without the foundation no more can exhortation without doctrine but lyke to the house builded vppon the sandes which when the raine came fell and the fall therof was great the winde blewe it downe and why because it was not builded vppon a rock and had no sure foundation The vse of this doctrine serueth to al estates and degrees of this life and seing that euery man hath a burthen som greater som lesse according to their sinnes and in al some it behoueth vs therfore with speed to come neere to the proclamation made by our Sauiour Christ Come all you that be heauye loden and I will ease you for so hee loued the world that he gaue himselfe for it Thou therfore that art a Minister do thy office truly eat not vp thy flocke by making vsurie vpon them and consider the last words in our Sauiours will Peter louest thou me feede my flock or if thou louest me feed my flock The same he repeted three times most vehemently which surely doeth argue the great necessitie of it And though men haue arrowes in their tongues and shoot at thee by euill reportes yet if thou be diligent thou shalt haue comforte for the day will come and it is not far off wherein euery man must beare his owne burthen It serueth also for a singuler vse to the vniuersitie that care be had of sufficient men for the dischargeing of the duty of the Ministerye such men who resemble the trees of Persia that are alwayes budding and haue alwaies ripe fruite on them as Theophrastus witnesseth Such as woulde instruct the people of God giuing them ripe wholsome doctrine fir for the eating But alas there is a great want of this which is a heauie burthen to vs heere in England The wisemen of our time are become yong children and the olde grayheaded ancient men are become yong Schollers and what is my meaning but as I said before that such are alwaies learning and neuer come to anye perfection I meane not the Reuerend fathers of our Church who take great paines in pruning of vs but of such as will neuer be pruned But what a fearefull and dangerous thing this is in that day will appeare wherin euery man shall beare his owne burthen Let vs therefore dearely beloued bee true harted one to another and pluck the visardes of hipocrisie from our faces wherewith we haue bene couered a long time and so speaking the trueth from our hartes wee may in that day be iustified wherein euerie man must beare his owne burthen And let vs not suffer the people to statue for want of teaching as wofull experience doeth showe the like in this Church of England but especially in the North partes who for want of preaching liue in darknes in the shadowe of death such scarscitie there is of those that shoulde guide their feete into the waye of peace The Lord graunt that we of our Colledges who liue by the sweate of their browes be not plagued for it in that day wherein euerie man must beare his owne burthen But you that be rich withdraw not your minds from Christ by reason of aduersitie which is incident to the Gospell bee not content to do onely those things which you may with case or with the commoditie of this life for so did the yong man but when Christ came at this Sell all that thou hast and giue to the poore then hee went away from Christ sorrowfull for why he had great possessions And I feare if a triall should come we that now are the greatest possessors would then be the least and turne away from Christ for why wee haue great possessions and so it would go euill on our partes euen in the day wherin euery man must beare his own burthen And you also for whom I haue caused this litle exhortation to be put in print that burthen your selues with the curse of the Church and with Ananias defraud his Ministers of their right now at the last awake out of your dreame suffer not your eye lids to sleepe nor the temples of your heade to take any rest vntill you haue restored that which you haue wilfully and wrongfully detracted And now euen now kisse the sonne least he bee angrie and so yee perish euerlastingly If his wrath be kindled yea but a litle woe be vnto you it had beene better for you that you had neuer beene borne or that a milne stone had beene tyed about your necke and beene cast into the sea for in that day of the wrath of the Lord the hils wil not couer you the fire will not consume you the water will not deuoure you but euerie one shall receiue iudgement and no meanes to escape euen in that day wherein euery man must beare his owne burthen This exhortation might be inlarged further for the beating downe of euery particular sinne in the whole life of man but that would require whole volumes and not the shortnes of this Pamphlet Heere therefore I will make an ende desiring God that hee will forgiue vs our sinnes that he would burie them in the death of his Sonne and mortifie our euill affections that so wee beeing dead vnto sinne may liue vnto righteousnes and be found blamelesse before God euen in that day wherein euery man must beare his owne burthen A praier OPen our eyes O Lord that we may bee turned from darknesse to light from the power of Satan to thee our God Open the harts and eares of vs thy people here in England that we may imbrace this comfortable doctrine for Paul may plant and Apollo water but it is the Lord of life that giueth the increase We therefore flie to thy throne of mercie most mighty most mercifull Father beseeching thee to heare vs for Christ his sake pardoning and forgiuing vs all our sinnes which bee the causes why thou wilt not heare our praiers and graunt our requests except they be wiped away in his bloud Build thou Ierusalem in euerie one of our harts and gather our wicked affections into the houshold of Israel And forasmuch as this our land hath lately beene troubled with great contentions and all proceeding from the pride of our hearts now therefore good Lorde after this great tempest send a gratious calme and after this long warre send vs euerlasting peace towards the kingdome of heauen through the merits of Christ Iesus our onely Lord and Sauiour Amen FINIS