many peculiar things done in the scripture out of which if any man shal go about to draw general things coÌ„moÌ„ laws he shal bring in absurdities innumerable What if Moses in the same place doeth only describe the déed of his wife moued there vnto by anger and displeasure not for religions sake to performe the ministerie vnto God For she grudging against her husbaÌ„d yea against God tooke the foreskin of her sonne which was cut away caste it at his Father her husbandes féete not without reproche saying A bloudy husband art thou vnto me As if you should say Ich habb woll ein bluotigmann an dirr And though the Angel was appeased with Moses because he séemed to allow the déed of the woman as wel pleasing God yet that is more to bee imputed to the mercie of god rather thaÌ„ to the righteousnes of the womans déede It did grieuously displease God that Dauid had staine Vrias moreouer had taken Béersabe to him selfe to wife yet of his goodnesse and singular mercie hee vouchsafed to call Solomon who was born of Beersabe by this name Iedidia because the Lord loued him so the gratious Lord is also reconciled with Moses who either by his owne negligence or through the fault of his Madianitish wife lingered circumcisioÌ„ in the bodie â—f their sonne against the law longer than was méet is coÌ„tent with taketh in good part the circumcision which the womaÌ„ performed rather of indignatioÌ„ thaÌ„ for religion yet he wil not that after her as a perfect example other women shuld circuÌ„cise But you say by baptisme ministred by a woman the perill of death or eternal daÌ„nation was to be preuented into which the infant falleth if he depart this world without babtisme My answer is When thâ— infant being newly deliuered out of his mothers wombe departeth with too too spéedie deathe so that the Parentes can not thoughe they would neuer so feigne bring him to bee baptised of the minister of the Churche this pinche of necessitie truely is not to the damnation or death of the Infante because hee being receiued into the couenant by the grace of God is deliuered from death through the bloud of the sonne of god We are not destitute of testimonies of scripture duly seruing in this behalfe In the lawe it was not lawfull to circumcise an Infante before the eighth day but it is certeine that verie many departed out of this worlde before the eighth day yet in the meane while if any manchilde had departed the thirde or fourth day after his birthe no condemnation was imputed vnto him For otherwise Dauid a verie sound man in religion and one that loued his children déerely and one verie desirous of the saluation of his housholde when his childe was dead whiche was begotten and borne vnto him of Beersabe coulde not haue shewed himselfe so cherefull to his courtiers to whome among other thinges he said that he shoulde goe vnto the dead childe to witte into the land of the liuing If it were no danger vnto women children to die vncircumcised for they without circumcision were saued neither verily shall it be damnable for men children being not baptised to die at the point of necessitie For we haue otentimes saide the holy baptisme entred tooke the place of circumcision Hitherto perteine the testimonies out of the law the prophetes In the law the Lord protesteth more than once that he hath a moste certeine care regarde of infants In Ionas he expressely professeth that he hath a consideration and a respect of those that are not yet come to the yeares of discretion For the Lorde spared the most famous citie of Niniue partely for their sakes Thou saist These testimonies of the olde testament perteine nothing to vs which liue vnder the new testament I aunswer That God after the comming of Christe in the fleash is not more rigorous vnto vs than he was before Christes comming For if it were so what should we say else but that Christe came not to fulfill but to weaken and abolishe the promises of GOD since that in times past amonge them of olde the grace and the promise were effectuall in necessitie withoute the signe but now among vs béeing without the signe they begin to be voide of no force Wherefore I trusting to Gods mercie and his true and vndoubted promise beléeue that infants departing out of this world by too tâ—â— timely death before they can be baâ—â—â—sed are saued by the méere mercie of God in the power of his trueth and promise through Christe who saieth in the Gospel Suffer little ones to come vnto me for of suche is the kingdome of God. Againe It is not the will of my father whiche is in Heauen that one of these little ones should perish For verily GOD who cannot lye hath said I am thy God and the God of thy seede after thee Wherevpon Sainte Paule also affirmeth that they are borne holy which are begotten of holie parents not that of flesh and bloud any holie thing is borne For that which is borne of the fleash is fleashe but because that holinesse and separation from the coÌ„mon seed of men is of promise and by the right of the couenaunt For we are all by nature and naturall birth borne the sonnes of wrathe death and damnation But Paul attributeth a speciall priuiledge to the children of the faithfull wherewith by the grace of God they which by nature were vncleane are purified So the same Apostle in an other place doeth gather holy braunches of an holy roote And againe elsewhere sayeth If by the sinne of one many be deade much more the grace of God and the gyft of Grace whiche is by one man Iesus Christ hath abounded vnto many And therefore Augustine doubted not to say As all which die die no otherwise but in Adam euen so all that are made aliue are not made aliue but in Christe And vpon this whosoeuer shal say vnto vs that any in the resurrection of the dead can be made aliue otherwise than in christ he is to be abhorred detested as a coÌ„mon plague of Christian faith Ad Hiero. epi. 28. They obiecte By this meanes the vse of baptisme is made void quite taken away Yea Pelagianisme is sprung vp againe which with so greate trauell S. Aug. with many other learned and holie men beate downe kept vnder He falsely spake that said The soule whose fore-skin is not circumcised shal be cut off froÌ„ his people because he hath brokeÌ„ my couenant He falsely spake that said Verily verily I say vnto you Except a man be borne of water and of the spirite he cannot enter into the kingdome of God. For if these sayinges be true children not baptised truly the sequele is that they dying without baptisme are not saued I aunswere that I weaken holy baptisme by no meanes muche lesse take it quite away when I
ignorant in no pointe of those thinges which Adam had taught Noe dyeth which is maruell to be tolde and yet very true in the. 59. yere of Abrahams age Sem the sonne of Noah liued many yeares with his father For he liued in all 600. yeres He was borne to Noah about 96. yeres before the deluge He sawe and heard therfore not onely his father Noe and his grandfather Lamâ—ch but also his great grand siar Methusalem with whome he liued those 96. yeres before the deluge Of him he might be informed of all those thinges whiche Methusalem had hearde and learned of Adam and the other Patriarches Sem dieth after the death of Abraham in the. 52. yeare of Iacob which was 37. yeares after the death of Abraham in the. 112. yeare of Isaac his age So that Iacob the Patriarch might very well learne all the true diuinitie of Sem him self euen as he had heard it of Methusalem who was the thirde witnesse and teacher from Adam Furthermore Iaacob the Patriarch deliuered to his childreÌ„ that which he receiued of God to teach to his posteritie In Mesopotamia there is borne to Iaacob his sonne Leui and to him againe is born Kahad whiche both sawe and hearde Iaacob For Kahad liued no small number of yeares with his grandfather Iaacob For he is rehearsed in the roll of them which went with Iaacob downe into Egypt but Iaacob liued 17. yeares with his children in Egypt This Kahad is the grandfather of Moses the father of Amram from whom Moses did perfectly draw that ful and certain tradition by hand as concerning the will commaundements and iudgements of God euen as Amram his father had learned theÌ„ of his father Kahad Kahad of Iaacob Iaacob of Sem Sem of Methusalem and of Adam the first father of vs all so nowe that Moses is from Adam the seuenth witnesse in the worlde And from the beginning of the worlde to the byrth of Moses are fully complete 2368. yeares of the worlde And who so euer shall diligently reckon the yeres not in vaine set downe by Moses in Genesis and Erodus he shall find this account to be true and right Now also it behoueth vs to know those chiefe principles of that liuely tradition deliuered by the holy fathers at the appointment of God as it were from hande to hande to all the posteritie The fathers taught their children that God of his naturall goodnesse wishing well to mankind woulde haue all men to come to the knowledge of the trueth and to be like in nature to God him selfe holy happie and absolutely blessed And therefore that God in the beginning did create man to his owne similitude and likenesse to the intent that he should be good holy immortal blessed and partaker of all the good gifts of God but that man continued not in that dignitie and happie estate but by the meanes of the deuill and his owne proper faulte fell into sinne miserie and death changing his likenesse to God into the similitude of the deuill Moreouer that God here againe as it were of freshe began the worke of saluation wherby mankind being restored and set free from all euill might once againe be made like vnto God and that he meant to bring this mightie and diuine worke to passe by a certain middle meane that is by the worde incarnate For as by this taking of flesh he ioyned man to God so by dying in the fleshe with sacrifice he cleansed sanctified and deliuered mankinde and by giuing him his holy spirit he made him like againe in nature to God that is immortall and absolutely blessed And last of all he worketh in vs a willing indeuour aptly to resemble the propertie and coÌ„ditions of him to whose likenesse we are created so that we maye be holy bothe body and soule They added moreouer that the word should be incarnate in his due time and appointed age And also that there did remaine a greate daye for iudgement wherein though all men were gathered together yet the rightuous onely shoulde receiue that reward of heauenly immortalitie So theÌ„ this is the brief summe of the holy fathers tradition whiche it is best to vntwist more largely and to speake of it more diligently as it were by parts First therefore the fathers taught that the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are one God in the moste reuerend Trinitie the maker and gouernour of heauen and earth and all things whiche are therein by whome man was made and who for man did make all things and put all things vnder mankind to minister vnto him things necessarie as a louing father and most bountiful Lorde Then they taught that man consisted of soule and body and that he in déede was made good according to the image and likenesse of God but that by his owne faulte and egging forwarde of the deuill falling into sinne he brought into the worlde death and damnation together with a webbe of miseries out of whiche it can not ridde it selfe So that nowe all the children of Adam euen from Adam are borne the sonnes of wrath and wretchednesse But that God whose mercy aboundeth according to his incomprehensible goodnesse taking pitie on the miserie of mankinde did euen of his méere grace graunt pardon for the offence and did laye the weight of the punishment vpon his only sonne to the intent that he when his heele was crushed by the Serpent might him self breake the Serpents heade That is to say God doth make a promise of seed that is of a sonne who taking fleshe of a péerelesse woman I meane that Virgine most worthy of commendations should by his death vanquishe death and Sathan the authour of death and shoulde bring the faythfull sonnes of Adam out of bondage yea and that more is shuld by adoption make them the sonnes of God and heires of life euerlasting The holy fathers therefore taught to beléeue in God and in his son the redéemer of the whole world when in their very sacrifices they did represent his death as it were an vnspotted sacrifice wherwith he ment to wipe away and cleanse the sinnes of all the worlde And therefore had they a most diligent eye to the stocke and lineall descent of the Meschias For it is brought down as it were by a line from Adam to Noe and from Noe by Sem euen to Abraham him selfe and to him againe it was sayde In thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed in which wordes the promise once made to Adam as touching Christe the redeemer and chaunger of Gods curse into blessing is renewed and repeated againe The same line is brought downe from Abraham by Isaac vnto Iacob and Iacob being ful of the spirit of God pointed out his sonne Iuda to be the roote of the blessed séede as it is to be séene in 49. of Genesis Lastly in the tribe of Iuda the house of Dauid was noted out of which
which Image as the Apostle expoundeth it was a conformitie and participation of Gods wisedome iustice holinesse trueth integritie innocencie immortalitie and eternall felicitie Therefore what else can the blotting or wiping out of this Image bée but originall sinne that is the hatred of God the ignoraunce of God foolishnesse distrustfulnesse desperation selfeloue vnrighteousnesse vncleannesse lying hypocrisie vanitie corruption violent iniurie wickednesse mortalitie and eternall infelicitie This corrupte Image and likenesse is by propagation deriued into vs all according to that saying in â—he fifte of Genesis Adam begatt a sonne in his owne similitude and likenesse Therefore as our father Adam was him selfe corrupted depraued and full of calamities so hath hee begotten vs his sonnes corrupte depraued and full of miseries so that all we which do descend of his vnpure séede are borne infected with the contagious poyson of sinne For of a rotten roote doe springe as rotten braunches which in like manner put ouer their rottennesse into the little twiggs that shoote out and growe vppon them And this euill verilie this corruption and this sinne althoughe it lye hidd in infants and by reason of their tender age doeth not breake foorthe into any déede dooing yet notwithstanding it is a sinne and such a sinne verilie as maketh them indaungered vnto Gods wrath separateth them from the fellowship of God. For with the most holy God who is a consuming fire no man can abide but hee that is vnspotted and cleane from the filthinesse of sinnes And Paule sayeth All haue sinned and are destitute or haue neede of the glorie of God. This glorie of God is the very image of God whereof because they are destitute they being corrupted with originall sinne are worthilie excluded from the fellowship of god To this place doth belong the whole treatise of concupiscence in the fourth Sermon of this third Decade where I taught you that bare concupiscence which is not yet burst forth to the déed doing is a sinne that to such a sinne as maketh all men subiecte to the curse of god For it is written Cursed be euerie one whiche abideth not in all thinges that are written in the booke of this lawe Therefore the first effecte of originall sinne is this that it bringeth wrath death and damnation vppon verie infants and so consequently vppon all mankinde whereof that it maye the more firmely be settled in euerie mans minde without all scruple of doubting I wil by some store of testimonies out of the scripture make manifest proofe vnto you not by repeating those places againe which I haue alreadie cited in this Sermon in the fourth Sermon of this thirde Decade The Lord in the Gospell sayeth to Nicodemus Verilie I say vnto thee vnlesse a maÌ„ be borne from aboue he caÌ„not see the kingdome of God. And againe Vnlesse a man bee borne of water and of the holie Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdome of god That whiche is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirite is spirite In these words are comprehended two things worthie to be remembred and very consonant to our present argument First none enter into the kingdome of heauen but those that bee regenerate from abcue by the holy Ghost therefore ourâ— fâ—â—st birthe tendeth to death and not to life For in oure first natiuitie wee are borne to death The latter is That which is borne of flesh is flesh therefore in oure first natiuitie wee are all borne flesh But touching the disposition of the flesh and the force thereof the Apostle sayeth The fleshly minde is enimitie against God for it is not obedient to the lawe of God neither can bee Therefore that fleshly birthe ingeÌ„dreth vs not the friends sonnes but the enimies of God and so consequently doth make vs indaungered to the wrath of God. Paul in his second Chapiter to the Ephesians sayeth Wee were by nature the sonnes of wrathe euen as other In which words he pronounceth that all men are damned For al those that are damned or are worthie of eternall death and all such with whom God hath good cause to be offended hée calleth the sonnes of wrath after the proper phrase of the Hebrue speache For the wrath of God doth signifie the punishment which is by the iust iudgment of God layd vppon vs men And he is called the child of death which is adiudged or appointed to be killed So is also the sonne of perdition c. Now marke that he calleth vs all the sonnes of wrath that is the subiectes of paine damnation euen by nature in birth from our mothers wombe But whatsoeuer is naturallie in all men that is originall therefore originall sinne maketh vs the sonnes of wrath that is we are all for our originall corruption made subiecte to death and vtter damnation This place of Paule for the proofe of this argument is worthie to be remembred The same Apostle in the first to the Colossians sayeth God hath deliuered vs from the power of darcknesse and hath translated vs into the kingdome of his deere sonne Nowe if we be translated into the kingdome of the sonne of God then were we once in the kingdome of the diuel And to this place belong very many testimonies of the same Apostle in the fifte Chapter of his Epistle to the Romanes By one mans sinne many are dead Againe By one that sinned came death For iudgement came by one vnto coÌ„demnation Againe For the sinne of one death reigned by the meanes of one And againe By the sinne of one sinne came vppon all men vnto condemnation Finally original sinne is by Dauid and Paule expressely called sinne therefore death is due to originall sinne For the reward of sinne is death Wée do therefore conclude that infants doe bring damnation with them into this world euen from their mothers wombes because they bring with them a corrupt nature and therefore they perish not by any others but by their owne fault naughtinesse For althoughe S. Augustine doeth in one place séeme to cal this sinne peccatum alienum that is an others sinne that thereby he may shew how it is by propagation deriued from other into vs yet doeth he confesse that it is in very déed and truely proper to all and euery seuerall one of vs And although it bee so that for lacke of age in a newe borne babe this disease hath not alreadie brought foorth the fruite of his iniquitie yet notwithstanding the very whole nature of the babe is nothing but filchie corruption and a certeine séede of sinne and wickednesse whiche cannot choose but bée abhominable vnto the lord For God doth hate al maner of vncleannesse With this agréeth that sentence of Paule where he sayth Where no law is there is no transgression For the Apostle doth not absolutely saye that the sinne or transgression whiche is sinne in very déed in the sight of God is no sinne but hee respecteth the
c. 949 1 Let euery man be swift to heare slowe to speake c. 238 1 Pure religion and vndefiled before God the father c. 475. 668. 2 Abraham was not iustified by faith onely c. 465 2 Séest thou how faith was made perfect by workes c. 461 2 Let him aske in faith nothing wauering c. 922 2 Abraham and we are iustified by workes c. 28 2 If a brother or sister be naked destitute of daily foode c. 97 3 Touching the properties of the tongue c. 238 3 For the tongue is a little meÌ„ber and boasteth great things c. 319 4 Ye aske and receiue not because ye aske amisse c. 918 4 There is one law giuer which is able to saue and to destroy c. 905 5 Behold the hyre of labourers whiche haue reaped downe your fields c. 272 5 How the faithful should behaue themselues towards c. 1080 5 Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed c. 574. 580 5 Ye haue liued in pleasure vppon earth and beene wanton c. 299. 300. 509. 5 If any be sicke amonge you let him send for the elders c. 1139 ¶ Out of the first Epistle of S. Peter 1 YE are redéemed not with gold and siluer c. 60. 770 1 We are borne a newe not of corruptible seed c 21 827 1 The prophets did search at what moment or minute of time the spirite c. 363 1 Hope perfectly in the grace which is brought vnto you c. 305 2 Feare God honour the king 151. 2 Christ his owne selfe bare oure sinnes in his body vpon the c. 568 2 Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthood c. 1106 2 ChristiaÌ„s are called priests 879 2 As frée and not as hauing the libertie for a cloake of maliciousnesse c. 448 2 The foundation of the church is Châ—isâ— c. 861 2 Submit your selues to all manner ordinance of man c. 107 3 The eyes of the Lord are vppon the iust c. 521 3 Touching the manner and ordering of womens apparel c. 239 3 That the Lord went in the spirit and preached vnto the spirits c. 66 3 Baptisme saueth vs not the putting away of the filth of the flesh c. 983. 989 4 Dearely beloued thincke it not straunge that ye are tryed with fire c. 294 4 Sée that none of you be punished as a murtherer c 296 4 As euery man hath receiued the gift euen so minister y same c. 905 4 The Gospâ—ll was preached also to the dead c. 765 4 Charitie couereth the multitude of sinnes c 584 4 The time is that iudgment must begin at the house of God c. 298 5 Be sober and watch for your aduersarie the diuel c. 749. 751 5 The elders that are among you I beséech c. 867 ¶ Out of the second Epistle of S. Peter 1 THe prophecie came not in old time by the will c. 10. 26. 717. 1 No prophecie in the scripture is of any priuate interpretation 907 2 God spared not the angels whiche sinned c. 745 2 The Lord knoweth how to deliuer his from temptation c. 174 2 There were false Prophetes among the people euen as c. 587 2 These are wells without water c. 449 3 In the Epistles of Paule many things are hard to be vnderstood c. 23. 24 ¶ Out of the Epistle of S. Iude. THe Angels which kept not their first estate c. 745 Iude saith that the Angel fought with Sathan the diuel c. 747 ¶ Out of the fâ—â—st Epistle of S. Iohn 1 That which we haue séene and heard we declare vnto you 81 1 The bloud of Iesus Christ clenseth vs from euery sinne c. 82. 552 2 If we say we haue no sinne wée deceiue c. 401. 496. 917 2 They went out from vs but they were none of vs c. 604. 819. 820. 2 Annoynting annoynted c. 180 2 And the annoynting whiche ye haue receiued of him c. 707. 726 2 By this we know that he dwelleth in vs by the spirit that he gaue c. 825 2 My babes these thinges write I vnto you c. 664 2 If any man loue the world the loue of the father is not in him c. 482. 483 2 Who is a lyar but hee that denieth that Iesus is Christ c. 629 3 Now are we the sonnes of god and yet it doth not appeare c. 727 3 We knowe that when he appeareth we shal be like vnto him 608 3 If we receiue y witnesse of men c. 550 3 Who so hath this worlds good séeth his brother haue c. 289. 1124 3 He that committeth sinne is of the diuel c. 485 3 My babes let vs not loue in word nor in tongue but in déede 96. 4 Beléeue not euery spirite but try the spirites c. 715. 839 4 Whosoeuer coÌ„fesseth that Iesus is the sonne of God c. 463. 825 4 Euery one that loueth him that begat c. 55. 826 4 By this we know his loue because he gaue his life c. 150. 825 4 Euery spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God c. 688 4 Little children ye are of God and haue ouercome in you c. 727 4 God is loue he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God c. 825 5 If any man sée his brother sinne a sinne which is vnto death c. 519 5 He that beléeueth not God maketh him a lyar c. 48 5 For all that is borne of God ouercommeth the world c. 54. 709 5 This is the loue of God that we kéepe his commaundements 409 5 And this is the confidence that we haue in him that if we aske c. 54 ¶ Out of the Apocalypse of S. Iohn 1 FEare not I am the first and the last c. 836 1 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. 608 1 Iesus Christ prince of the kings of the earth loued vs c. 708 1 Iohn was banished into the Isle of 〈◊〉 c. 873 2 Remember from whence thou art fallen c. 593 2 To him that ouercometh I will giue to eate c. 863 3 These things saith he that is holy and true c. 836 4 And I saw another angel flying through the middst of heauen c. 653 6 Howe long 〈◊〉 thou Lord which art holy true c. 757. 766 7 After this I â—awe and behold a great companie c. 813 14 And I heard a voyce from heauen saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead c. 780 17 Great Babylon the mother of whoredomes c. 869 18 Go out of her my people c 859 19 And I fell downe before the féeâ—e of the angel to worship him c 653 21 The fearefull and vnbeléeuing
writings alledge out of the prophets The same Paul also saith The life which now I liue in fleshe I liue by faith in the son of god who loued me and gaue him self for me Faith ioyneth vs to the eternal chief goodnesse so maketh vs to inioy the chief goodnes that god may dwell in vs we in god For the Lorde Iesus him self in the Gospel saith He which eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me I in him As the louing father sēt me so also I liue by the father he that eteth me shal liue by me But to eate drink the Lord is to be léeue in the Lord the he hath giuē him self to death for vs Whervpon Iohn the Apostle saith We haue seene do witnesse that the father hath sent the son the sauiour of the world Whosoeuer shal confesse that Iesus is the sonne of God God dwelleth in him and he in God. Wherfore also Paul saide I liue now not I but Christ liueth in me Moreouer faythe dothe iustifie But for bycause the treatise thereof can not be fitlye and fullye made an ende of this houre I meane to deferre it till the next Sermon that shall be At this present dearely beloued ye must remember that there is but one true fayth that is the Christian fayth For although there be said to be many fayths that is religions yet notwithstanding there is onely but one true and vndoubted fayth And that dothe increase and againe decrease in some men As for those in whom it is rightly and godly obserued in them it sheweth foorthe sundry vertues For it bringeth with it true wisedome finally it quickneth and maketh vs blessed and happy in déede To God the father the authour of all goodnesse and of our felicitie be all prayse and glory throughe Iesus Christ our Lorde for euer and euer Amen That the faithfull are iustified by fayth with out the lawe and workes ¶ The sixte Sermon BEing readye here dearely beloued to speake vnto you of fayth whiche without workes dothe iustifie them that beléeue I call vpon the Father whiche is in heauen through his onely begotten sonne Iesus Christe our Lorde beséeching him to open my mouth and lippes to the setting foorthe of his prayse and to illuminate your hearts that ye acknowledging the great benefite of God may become thankfull for it and holy in déede And first of all I will speake certaine things chiefly necessarie to this argument or treatise touching this terme of iustification The terme of iustifying very vsuall and common among the Hebrues and of a large signification is not at this day so wel vnderstoode of all men as it ought to be To iustifie is as muche to say as to quite from iudgement and from the denounced and vttered sentence of condemnation It signifieth to remit offences to cleanse to sanctifie ▪ and to giue vtterance of life euerlasting For it is a lawe terme belonging to courts where iudgement is exercised Imagine therefore that man is set before the iudgement seate of God and that there he is pleaded guiltie to wit that he is accused and conuinced of hainous offences and therefore sued to punishment or to the sentence of condēnation Imagine also that the sonne of God maketh intercession and commeth in as a meane desiring that vpon him may be layde the whole fault and punishment due vnto vs men that he by his death may cleanse them and take them away setting vs frée from death and giuing vs life euerlasting Imagine too that God the most highe and iust iudge receiueth the offer and trāslatet◠〈◊〉 punishment together with the fault from vs vnto the necke of his sonne making therwithall a statute that whosoeuer beléeueth that the son of God suffered for the sinnes of the world brake the power of death and deliuered vs from damnation shoulde be cleansed from his sinnes and made heire of life euerlasting Who therefore can be so dull of vnderstanding but maye perceiu◠that mankinde is iustified by fayth But that there may be no cause of doubt or darkenesse left in the mynde of any man that which I haue already spokē generally by the parable and similitude fetched from oure common lawe I will here particularly bring into certaine partes confirming and manifestly prouing euery one of them seuerally out of the holy Scriptures so that euen to the stoutest wittes the power of fayth and worke of iustification may be most euident And first I will shew vnto you that this terme of iustification is taken in this present treatise for the absolution and remission of sinnes for sanctification and adoption into the number of the sonnes of god In the .xiij. of the Actes the Apostle Paule sayth Be it knowne vnto you men and brethren that through this Lord Iesus Christ is preached vnto you the forgiunesse of sinnes and by him all that beleeue are iustified frō al things from which they could not be iustified by the law of Moses Sée in Christe is preached vnto vs the forgiuenesse of sinnes and he that beleueth that Christ preched forgiueth sinnes is also iustified It followeth therefore that iustification is the remission of sinnes In the fifth Chapter to the Romanes saythe the same Apostle Being iustified by the bloud of Christ we shall be saued from wrath through him But the bloud of Christ washeth away sinnes Iustification therefore is the washing away or forgiunesse of sinnes And againe in the same Chapter saythe he more plainly Iudgement entred by one offence vnto condemnation but the gifte of many sinnes vnto iustification He maketh iustification the contrarie to condemnation therfore iustification is the absolution and deliuerie from condemnation What say ye to this moreouer that he dothe plainely call iustification a gifte that is the forgiuenes of sinnes Herevnto also belong those words of his Euen as by the sinne of one condemnation came on all men so by the righteousnesse of one good came vpon all men to the iustification of life Here again is the iustification of life made the contrarie of condemnation vnto death set as a peine vpon our heads bycause of the transgression iustification of life therefore is an absolution from sinnes a deliuerie from death a quickning or translating from death to life For in the fourth to the Romanes the same Apostle expoundeth iustification by sanctification and sanctification by the remission of sinnes For intreating of fayth whereby we are iustified or whiche God imputeth to vs for righteousnesse without workes he sayth Euen as Dauid also dothe expounde the blessednesse of that man to whome the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuē and whose sinnes are couered What coulde be more plainely spoken then this For he doth euidently expounde iustification by sanctification and sanctification by the remission of sinnes Furthermore what else is sanctification but the adoption whereby we are receiued into the grace and number of the
sonnes of God What is he therefore that séeth not that in this treatise of Saint Paule iustification is taken for adoption especially since in the very same fourth Chapter to the Romanes he goeth about to proue that an inheritance is due to fayth wherevnto also he doth attribute iustification By all this it is made manifest that the question of iustification containeth nothing else out the manner and reason of sanctification that is to say wherby and how men haue their sinnes forgiuen and are receiued into the grace and number of the sonnes of God and being iustified are made heires of the kingdome of God. And now let vs trye whether that which we haue sayde be taught in the Scriptures the Christ before the iudgement seate of God when sentence of condemnation was to be pronounced against vs for our offences tooke oure sinnes vpon his owne necke and purged them by the sacrifice of his death vpon the crosse and that God also layd vpon Christ our fault and punishmeÌ„t so that Christe alone is the only satisfaction purging of the faithful This doth the Apostle Paule teach most expressely where he sayth Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth Who shal condemne It is Christ that dyed yea rather it is he which is raised vp is at the right hand of the father making intercession for vs. And againe he sayth Christ redeemed vs from the curse of the lawe while he was made the curse for vs For it is written cursed be euery one that hangeth on the tree that vpon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham through Iesus Christ c. This did the Apostle teach out of the writings of Moses And Moses in his bookes doth often times make mention the the sinnes are laid vpoÌ„ the heads of the beastes which were sacrificed But those sacrifices bare the tipe or figure of the death and sacrifice of Christ Esaias also in his 53. chapter saith expresly He verily hath takeÌ„ on him our infirmities and born our peines He was wounded for our iniquities and smitten for our sinnes For the peine of our punishment was laid vpoÌ„ him and with his stripes arâ— we healed We all went astraye like shepe euery one turned his own way but the Lord hath thrown vpon him all our sinnes And immediatly after He hath taken away the sinnes of the multitude and made intercession for the transgressors Then these wordes I think nothing can be brought more to the matter or more fit for our present purpose To this alludeth Saint Peter when he sayth The Lorde him selfe bare our sinnes in his body vpon the crosse that we being dead to sinne may liue to righteousnes by the signe of whose stripes we are made whole Herevnto aliuded S. Iohn the forerunner of the Lorde when he sayde Beholde the Lambe of God that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde Moreouer the Apostle Paule beareth witnesse hereto saying Him that knewe not sinne he made sinne for vs that we throughe him might be made the righteousnesse of God Also in his Epistle to the Colossians he saythe It pleased the father that in Christ all fulnesse should dwell and by him to reconcile all thinges vnto him selfe hauing set at peace through the bloude of his crosse by him both things in earth and things in heauen These I suppose are testimonies sufficiently euident to proue that vpon Christ are layde our sinnes with the curse or condemnation due vnto oure offences and that Christe by his bloud hath cleâ—sed oure sinnes and by his death hath vanquished death and the deuill the authour of death and taken away the punishment due vnto vs. Yet bycause there be some and those not a fewe whiche denie that Christe by his death hath taken from vs sinners both faulte and punishment and that he became the onely satisfaction of the whole worlde I will therefore nowe alledge certaine other testimonies and repeate somewhat of that that I haue before recited thereby to make it manifest that Christe the only satisfaction of the world hath made satisfaction both for our sault and punishment Esayas verily witnessed that bothe the faulte of our offence and the punishment were taken away when he sayth He bare oure infirmities and was wounded for oure iniquities finallye the discipline of peace that is the discipline or chastising or punishment bringing peace or the penaltie of our correction that is the punishment due to vs for our offences was layde on his necke Marke also what followeth And with the blewnesse of his stripes are we healed This doth euidently teach that by the peine of Christe oure punishment is taken a waye For looke what peine penaltie punishment or correction was due to vs and the same was layde on the Lorde him selfe and for that cause was the Lorde wounded and receiued stripes And with them he healed vs But he had not yet healed vs at all if we should yet looke for woundes stripes stroakes that is to say punishment for our sinnes The death of Christe therfore is a full satisfaction for our sinnes But what I praye you shoulde Christe auayle vs if yet we shoulde be punished for oure offences Therefore when we say that he did beare all our sinnes in his bodye vpon the Crosse what else doe we meane I praye you but that the Lorde by death that was not due vnto him tooke from vs Gods vengeaunce that it might not lighte on vs to our punishment Paule as often as he maketh mention of our redemption made by Christe is wont to name it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which worde he vnderstandeth not as the common sort do redemption barely and simply but the very price and satisfaction of redemption Wherefore also he writeth that Christ him selfe did giue him selfe to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for vs that is to say the price wherewith captiues are redéemed from their enimies in the warre For that which we do commonly call raunsomes the Gréekes do name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So then that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when man for man and life for life is redeemed But vpon them that are thus raunsomed and set at libertie there is no punishment afterwarde layd by reason of the translation therof from one to another Furthermore this is the newe Couenaunt that God in his Christ hath made with vs that he will not remember our iniquities But howe could he chose but remember oure iniquities if he ceased not to punishe them So then this remayneth not to be doubted of that Christe our Lord is the full propitiation satisfaction oblation and sacrifice for the sinnes I saye for the punishment and the faulte of all the world yea and by him selfe alone for in none other is any saluation neyther is there any other name giuen vnto men whereby they must be saued I denie not but that bycause of discipline chastisement and exercise diuers sortes
of punishments are layd vpon mens neckes and that they are diuersly afflicted and vexed bycause of their offences But those afflictions how so euer they be patiently suffered of the faythfull do not yet wash sinnes away nor make satisfaction for misdéedes S. Peter sayth Marueile not that ye are tryed by fire which thing is done for your tryall as if any newe thing shoulde happen vnto you yea rather reioyce heerein that ye are partakers of the afflictions of Christ that in the reuelation also of his glory ye may reioyce and be glad This I say is the ende and vse of afflictions And by this means the glory of Christ indureth pure and vncorrupted It remayneth now for me to proue out of the holy Scriptures that God the father hath ordained that he whosoeuer doth beléeue in the onely begotten sonne of God shall be made partaker of Christe his righteousnesse that is shal be instified by him be absolued from his sinnes and be made heire of life euerlasting Esaias therfore saith In the acknowleging of him or in his knowledge shall my righteous seruaunt iustifie the multitude whose sinnes he him selfe shall beare But what else is the acknowledging or knowledge of Christ but true fayth Moreouer the Lorde Iesus him selfe in the gospel after Saint Iohn sayth And as Moses lifte vp the Serpente in the wildernesse euen so muste the sonne of man be lift vp that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perishe but haue life euerlasting There was none other remedy in the desart against the enuenomed bytings of the Serpentes but the contemplation or beholding of the Serpent lift vp and hanged aloft No plaster did cure them that were poisoned no oblation made to God not prayer it selfe offered to God not any worke nor any way else the onely beholding of the Serpent made the poyson harmelesse that then had crept into all their limmes In like manner nothing at all dothe saue vs from death but only faith in Christ For by fayth we behold and sée Christ lifted vp vpon the stake of the Crosse as it is to be seene in the sixte Chapter of Iohn It followeth in the words of our sauiour God so loued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth should not perish but haue life euerlasting For god sent not his sonne into the world to condemne the worlde but that the worlde through him might be saued He that beleeueth on him is not condemned but he that beleeueth not is condemned already bycause he beleeueth not in the name of the onely begotten sonne of God. By these words nowe the thirde time is fayth beaten into our heads by which we are made partakers of the Sonne of God of his life saluation redemption and all good things beside In the sixte Chapter of the Gospell after Iohn our Lorde againe sayth This is the will of the father whiche sent me that euery one that seeth the sonne and beleeueth in him should haue life euerlasting and I will raise him vp at the laste daye Nothing can be alleged to make more for oure present argument then these wordes of his For he sayth plainely that the will of God the father is that we should beleeue in the sonne and by this beliefe haue our saluation Whervpon Iohn the Euangelist and Apostle in his Canonicall Epistle dareth burst foorth into these words He that beleeueth not God maketh him a lyar bycause he beleeued not the record that God gaue of his sonne And this is the recorde that God hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in his sonne He that hath the sonne hath life and he that hath not the sonne of God hath not life Dearly beloued note this The eternal and vnchangeable wil of god is that he wil giue eternall life vnto the world But he will giue the life through Christe who is naturally life it selfe and can giue life The very same God also wil that we obtaine and haue life in vs and that we haue it no other wayes then by fayth For the Apostle Paule taught that Christ dothe dwell in our hearts by fayth Moreouer the Lord himself also witnesseth saith He that eateth me shall liue by me But ye knowe dearely beloued that to eate Christ is to beléeue in him And therfore we knit vp this place with these wordes of Sainte Peter To this Christe doe all the Prophetes beare witnesse that whosoeuer beleeueth in him shal receiue forgiunesse of sinnes through his name We haue in these a most ample testimonie of the whole sacred Scriptures By these I haue euidently inoughe delared that God hath appointed that whosoeuer dothe beléeue in Christ being clensed frō his sins shal be made heire of life euerlasting This will I make more euident yet by declaring how that fayth alone that is that fayth for it selfe and not for any workes of oures dothe iustifie the faythfull For it selfe I say not in respect that it is in vs a qualitie of the mynde or our owne worke in our selues but in respecte that faythe is the gifte of Gods grace hauing in it a promise of righteousnesse and life and in respect that naturally of it selfe it is a certaine and vndoubted persuasion resting vpon God and beléeuing that God being pacified by Christe hath throughe Christe bestowed lyfe and all good things on vs Therefore fayth for Christe and by the grace and promise of God dothe iustifie and so fayth that is that whiche we beléeue and wherein our confidence is setled God I say him self by the grace of god doth iustifie vs through our redemption in Christe so that now our owne workes or merites haue no place lefte to them at all I meane in iustificatiō For otherwise good workes haue their place in the faithfull as we in place conuenient doe meane to shewe For Paul the teacher of the gentiles doth in the waye of opposition compare Christe with Adam and sheweth that of Adam and so of oure owne nature and strength we haue nothing but sinne the wrath of God and death And this dothe he shewe vnder the name of Adam to the intent that no man shuld séeke for righteousnesse and life in the fleshe And againe on the other side he declareth that we by Christe haue righteousnesse the grace of God life and the forgiunesse of all our sinnes In this opposition he doth earnestly vrge and often repeate this worde Of one to no other end verily but that we shoulde vnderstande that faith alone doth iustifie To the Galathians he dothe very euidently vse this kinde of argument To the laste will and testament of a man if it once be proued no body doth adde or take any thing away Reason therefore doth rightly require that no man put to or take away any thing from the testament of god But this is the testament which god confirmed that his will is to bestowe the blessing vpon Abrahams séede not in many or by many
hath felte calamities Hee beareth our infirmities and hath carryed our sorrowes For the Lorde himselfe also in the Gospell said My soule is heauie euen vnto the death But verily hée suffred all this for vs For in him was neyther sinne nor any cause else whye hée shoulde suffer Secondarily in this article is noted the time Pontius Pilate the iudge vnder whom the Lorde dyed and redéemed the world from sinne death the deuil and hell Hée suffred therefore in the Monarchie of the Romanes vnder the Emperour Tiberius when as now according to the Prophecie of Iacob father of Israell the Iewishe people obeyed forreine kings because there were no more kinges or captaynes of the stocke of Iuda to haue the rule ouer them For hée foretold that then the Messias should come What may be thought of that moreouer that the Lord himselfe oftener then once in the Gospell did foreshew that hée should be deliuered into the handes of the Gentiles and by them be put to death In the thirde point of this article wée do expreslye declare the maner of his death For wée adde Hée was crucifyed and dyed on the Crosse But the death of the Crosse as it was most reprochfull so also was it most bitter or sharpe to be suffred yet tooke hée that kinde of death vppon him that hée might make satisfaction for the worlde and fulfill that which from the beginning was prefigured that he should be hāged on the tree Isaac was layde on the pile of woode to be offered vp in sacrifice Moses also stuck the Serpent on the stake of woode and lift it vp to be behelde And the Lord himself said I when I shal be lift vp from the earth will draw all men vnto mee Finally hée dyed on the Crosse géeuinge vp his Ghoste to god For hée dyed verily and in déede as you shall streightway perceiue Where I haue briefly to declare vnto you what the fruite of Christe his death is First wée were accursed because of sinne hée therfore tooke our curse vppon himselfe beinge lyft vp vppon the Crosse to the end he might take our curse away and that wée might be blessed in him Then also the heritage bequeathed to vs by Will could not come vnto vs vnlesse hee which bequeathed it did dye But God bequeathed it who that hée might die became mā and dyed according to his humane nature to the ende that wée might receiue the heritage of life In an other place againe Paule sayth Him that knewe not sinne did God make sinne for vs that wee by him mighte bee made the righteousnes of God. Our Lorde therefore became man by the sacrifice of himself to make satisfaction for vs On whō as it were vppon a Goate for sinne offring when all the sinnes of the whoale worlde were gathered together and layd hée by his death tooke awaye and purged them all so that nowe the onely sacrifice of Christ hath satisfied for the sinnes of the whole world And this verily is the greatest comoditie of Christ his death taught euery where by the Apostles of Christe Next after that also the death of Christe doth teach vs patience and the mortification of our fleshe yea Christe by the participation of himselfe doth by his Spirite worke in vs that sinne may not reigne in vs Touching which thing the Apostle Paule teacheth many thinges in the sixt Chapter to the Romanes The Lord in the Gospell sayth If any man will follow mee let him denie himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow mee These and a few more are the fruites of the Lord his passion or the death of Christe Fourthly in this Article is added Hee was buried For our Lorde dyed verilie and in deede vppon the Crosse The very truth of his death was proued by the Souldiour which thruste him through the syde After that hée was taken downe from the Crosse and layde in a Sepulcher In the Gospell are expressed the names of them that buryed him Ioseph and Nicodemus There is also shewed the manner how they buried him The fruite of this his buriall the Sauiour himselfe hath taught in these woords Verilie verily I say vnto you vnlesse the seede of corne cast into the earthe doe dye it remayneth alone But if it dye it bringeth forth much fruit Whervppon the Apostle exhorteth vs to be buried with Christe in his death that wée may rise againe in the newnesse of life yea that wée maye liue reigne with him for euermore If therefore our bodies also be buried at any time let vs not therefore be troubled in minde For the faithfull are buried that they maye ryse with Christe againe The fift part of this fourth article some do put seuerallie by it self for the fift article of our fayth I for my part do see no cause whie it should be plucked from that that goeth before nor whie it should make by it selfe a peculiar article of our fayth The woords are these Hee descended into hell Touchinge this there are sondrie opinions among the expositors of the holie Scriptures Augustine in his booke De fide symbolo doth neyther place these woordes in the rule of beliefe nor yet expound them Cyprian sayth thus It is to be knowne verilie that in the Creede of the latin Church this is not added Hee descended into hell nor yet is this clause receiued in the Churches of the Easte but yet the sense of that clause seemeth to be all one with that where it is sayd He was buried This sayth hée So then Cyprians opinion seemeth to be that To descende into hell is nothing else but to be layd in the graue accordinge to that sayinge of Iacob Yee will bring my gray heares with sorrow to hell or the graue But there are some that thincke this assertion to be without lawful proofe For it is not lykelie that they would wrappe a thinge once alreadie plainly spoken immediatlie after in a darker kinde of speach Nay rather so often as two sentences are ioyned together that signifie both one thing the latter is alwayes an exposition of the firste But in these two speaches Hee was buried and hee descended into hell the first is the plainer and the latter the more intricate Augustine in his 99. Epistle to Euodius turmoyleth himselfe pitifullie in this matter To Dardanus de Dei praesentia he writeth that the Lord went into hell but that hee felt no torment Wée shall more agreably to the truth seeme to vnderstande this article if wee shal thincke that the vertue of Christe his death did flow euen to them that were dead and profited them too that is to saye that all the Patriarches and holie mē that died before the coming of Christ were for the death of Christe preserued from death euerlastinge As S. Peter also maketh mention That the Lord went in the spirite preached vnto the Spirits that were in prison For verilie they by the death of Christ were made to knowe the sentence of
condemnation iustlie pronounced against them because when they liued they belieued not with Noe and them that were with him in the Sauiour that was to come Or else otherwyse by the lower partes or by hell wée vnderstād not the place of punishment appointed for the wicked but the faythful that are departed euen as al so by the higher parts we vnderstand them that yet are remayninge aliue Wherefore the soule of Christe descended into hell that is to say it was caried into Abrahams bosome wherein all the faythfull already departed were gathered together Therefore when hee sayd to the thiefe that was crucified wyth him This day shalt thou be wyth mee in Paradise he promised him the fellowship of life and of the blessed soules Touching Abrahams bosome our Lorde spake at large in the sixtenth Chapiter of the Gospell after S. Luk. For whereas the Lord is said to haue descended that commeth to passe by the manner of speakinge For otherwise it is euident by Luk that Abrahams bosome is a place seuered a great way from hell and placed vp aloft But to inquire or reason ouer curiouslye of these thinges is rather the point of a curious foole then of a godlye minded man Wée confesse in this article that the Soules are immortall and that they immediatelie after the bodilie death do passe to life and that all the sainctes from the beginninge of the worlde beinge sanctified by fayth throughe Christe do in Christe and by Christe receiue the inheritaunce of lyfe euerlasting I woulde adde to these the fifte article but that the houre is now alreadie spent Wée will therfore differre it vnto the next Sermon And nowe let vs altogether praye to God our father which is in heauen that hee will vouchsafe by his spirite to inspire vs wyth the true and quickening Fayth which is in the father and the sonne in the father as the maker of all thinges in the sonne as the sauiour of the whoale worlde who therefore came downe from heauen and was incarnate in the wombe of the moste holie Virgine Marie to the ende hee might bee the mediatour betwixte God and men and reconcile or make them at one againe betwixte themselues and that hee mighte haue wherewithal to make an oblation to appease Gods iustice and to purge oure sinnes which he bare on his body yea which he tooke awaye and made all the faithful heyres of lyfe euerlastinge Let vs nowe giue prayse to the grace of God and thanks to the sonne of god To whome alone all honour and glorie is due for euer and euer Amen Of the latter articles of Christian fayth conteined in the Apostles Creede ¶ The eight Sermon LEt vs firste of all pray to our God that he wyll vouchsafe to graunt vs an happie speedie and verye fruitefull proceeding in the declaration of the other Articles of Christian beliefe The fifte Article of oure beliefe is The thirde daye he rose againe from the deade And this article verilie of our beliefe is in a maner the chiefe of all the reste Neyther are the Apostles so busily occupied in declaring and confirminge the other as they are in this one For it had not beene enoughe if our Lorde had dyed onely vnlesse he had also rysen from the deade agayne For if hee had not risen from the deade but had remayned still in death who shoulde haue persuaded vs men that sinne was purged by the death of Christe that death was vanquished Sathan ouercome and Hell broken vppe for the faythfull by the death of Christe Yea verilye wee haue foolish fellowes that would neuer ceasse to blaspheme the verye God to make a mocke of oure hope and to saye Tushe who did euer returne from the deade to tell vs whether there be a lyfe in an other worlde after this or no and what kinde of lyfe it is Because therfore wée cannot finde finde that any man did euer returne from the deade that is to be doubted of which these babblers do tattle touchinge the lyfe of the world to come That the Lorde therefore mighte declare to the whole worlde that after this life there is an other and that the Soule dyeth not wyth the bodye but remayneth aliue hee returned the thirde daye aliue agayne to hys Disciples and at that instant shewed them that sinne was purged death disarmed the deuill vanquished and hell destroyed For the stinge of death is sinne Or the reward of sinne is death The deuill hath the power of Death and shutteth in Hell for sinnes Nowe therefore in that Christe ryseth aliue againe from the deade Death coulde haue no Dominion ouer him and because Death by sufferinge the Lorde to passe is broken It muste needes followe that the Deuill and Hell are vanquished by Christe And lastelie that Sinne the strēgth and power of them all is purelie purged It is euident therefore that the resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ doth as it were certifie and by seale assure vs of oure Saluation and Redemption so that nowe wee cannot anye longer doubte of it Wee confesse therefore in this Article that oure Lorde Iesus Christe is rysen againe and that hee is rysen agayne for oure behoofe that is to saye that hee hath wipte awaye oure sinnes and that for vs hee hath Conquered death the deuill and hell accordinge to the saying of the Apostle God hath saued vs and hath called vs with an holie callinge not according to our woorkes but according to his owne purpose and fauour which was giuen vnto vs through Iesus Christe before all beginninge but is declared openlie now by the appearing of our Sauiour Iesus Christe who hath verilie put out death brought forth lyfe lighte and immortalitie by the Gospell There are many more like this in the 4. of his Epistle to the Romans and in the 15. of his first to the Corinthians For the Lord also in the Gospell after S. Iohn sayth I am the resurrection and the life hee that belieueth in mee althoughe hee be dead shall liue and euerie one that liueth and belieueth in mee shall not die for euer Nowe also let vs throughlie consider euery woorde of this article seuerallie by it selfe Wée confesse the Lord his resurrection But a resurrection is to rise againe That riseth which falleth The bodie of Christ fell therfore the bodie of Christ riseth yea it riseth againe that is to saye the verie same bodie of Christe which before it fell did both liue and stirre doth nowe rise againe it doth I say both liue and stirre againe For trulie sayde Tertullian of the resurrectiō of the flesh that this word Resurrectiō is not properly spoken of any thing saue of y which first fell For nothing can rise againe but y that fell For by rising againe because it fel we say the resurrection is made Because this sillable Re is neuer added but when a thing is done againe Wherefore the women in the Gospell when they wente to annointe the bodie of the Lord
men that wittingly and willingly without all shame commit adulterie To Abimelech king of the Philiftines the Lord doth saye Loe thou shalt die because of the woman which thou hast taken away from hir husband And yet this king also had taken away Sara not knowing that shée was Abrahams wife Ioseph being prouoked to adulterie by his maisters wife doth simplie saye How should I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against God Euery word here doth beare some weight For adulterie is an heynous sinne Wherevpon in the booke of Iob we find these woords of Iob himselfe If mine heart haue bene deceiued by a woman or if I haue layde waite at my neighbours doore then let my wife bee an other mans harlot and let other men haue to doe with her For this is a wickednesse and sinne that is worthie to bee iudged to death Yea it is a fire that vtterlie should consume and roote oute all mine increase Iob sayth that hée hath not onely not committed adulterie but that hée hath not so much at any time as once giuen the attempt to defile an other mans wife Hée confesseth that adulterie is a sinne and so greeuous an offence that it doth deserue to haue the adulterers wife to be defiled with adulterie He addeth that adulterie is a fire that vtterly consumeth and deuoureth all thinges and lastly that it is a sinne to bée iudged and punished by death Moreouer Solomon the wisest of all men saith May a man take fire in his bosome and his cloathes not be brent Or can one go vppon hoat coales and his feete not be brent Euen so he that goeth in to his neighbours wife and toucheth hir cannot be vnguiltie Men doe not vtterly despise a theefe that stealeth to satisfie his soule when hee is hungrie But if he may be gotten hee restoreth againe seuen times as much or else he maketh recompence with all the substaunce of his house But whoso committeth adulterie with a woman hee lacketh vnderstanding and hee that doth it destroyeth his owne soule He getteth himselfe a plague and dishonour and his reproch shall neuer bee put out For the iealosie and wrath of the man will not be intreated neither accepteth he the person of any mediatour nor receiueth any giftes howe great soeuer they bee In these words of Solomon many thinges are to bée noted First as it cannot otherwyse bée but that fire must burne the garment wherein it is carried so no man can cōmit adulterie without damage and daunger of further punishmente Secondarilie comparison is made betwirte a théefe and an adulterer not that theft is thereby defended but because théeues although they be infamous doe seeme yet to sinne a greate deale lesse than adulterers doe For a théefe may make satisfaction by restoring the worth of the thing that hée stoale to him from whole hée stoale it away but for adulterie no amendes can bee made And what is hée that would not rather wish to haue théeues ransacke his chest and take away his substaunce than to haue his wife his dearling defiled with adulterie Moreouer Solomon calleth the adulterer madde and without vnderstanding Adulterie is iudged to be a sinne worthie of death endlesse infamie For the Lord in the lawe doth not say onely Thou shalt not commit adulterie But in an other place also goeth on addeth And he that cōmitteth adulterie with an other mans wife euē hee that cōmitteth adulterie with his neighbours wife let both the adulterer and the adultresse bee slaine Leuit 20. And this punishment of adulterie by death was not abrogated or chaunged by the very Gentiles For the Romane lawe called Lex Iulia is very well knowne how it commaunded adulterers to bee put to death Which lawe was of force in the time of S. Hierome as wée may gather by the Historie which hée wrate of an adultresse at the chopping off of whose head seuen stroakes were giuē Neither is it meruaile vndoubtedly that adulterie was amonge them of olde and is yet at this day according to the lawes to be punished by death For vppon that one many sinnes do depēd First of al the adulterer is a periured man For hée hath broaken and violated the faith which he gaue openly before God and the face of the congregation by calling to witnesse the most holie and reuerend Trinitie when the minister of Christe did solemnise the marriage and couple him to his wife by geuing hand in hand Secondarily the adulterer hath committed thefte and robberie For whē the adultresse doth make her body common to an other man then doth shée set to sale defile and marre not her owne but her husbandes body Thirdly bastardes borne in adulterie doe often times enioy an equall parte of inheritaunce with that right begottē children Which cannot be without great wrong done to the lawfull heyres and legitimate ofspring For they are against al right robbed of their due inheritance wher of an equall portion is giuen to him to whom by lawe no parcel is due Lastly beside all these innumerable mischiefes doe spring of adulterie Since therefore that it is a serpente with so many heades both the lawes of God and men do rightly punish adulterers with losse of life But some iollie fellowes there are forsooth that of adulterie do make but a sport They are persuaded that Dauids adulterie doeth make on their side and that place of scripture where wée read that the Lord was fauourable to the adultresse that was taken euen as the déede was in doing Whie doe not these merrie conceipted men cōsider how seuerely the Lord did punish Dauid for that offēce The bloudie house of Dauid was immediately after defiled with filthie inceste For Amnon doth perforce defloure his sister Thamar And streightway vppon the necke of that againe his house is defamed by most cruell parricide while Absalom in a banquet murdered his brother Amnon The verie same Absalom also Dauids sonne defileth or deflowreth his fathers wyues and that openly too laying al feare of God and shame aside Hée driueth his father out of his kingdome and hasteneth on to shorten his dayes Al which calamities Dauid confesseth that hee doth worthily susteine for the adulterie and murther by him committed Lastly many thousands of his people are slaine in the batteile Dauid himself is hardly and with much adoe restoared to his kingdome and afterward being restored hée repented his sinne all dayes of his life Nowe it is meruaile if adulterers consideringe these punishments will goe on yet to alledge the example of Dauid in defence of their naughtinesse Our sauiour did not come into the world to be a iudge but a Sauiour neither did he in any place vsurpe take to himself the right of the sword Who therfore will make any meruayle at it to sée the adultresse not to be condemned by him to be stoned to death Yet hée said Hath no man condemned thee as if he minded not to haue resisted the lawe
being vtterly forsaken of the Lord he heareth Samuel say to his face Thou hast refused and cast off the word of the Lord therefore hath God also cast thee away that thou shalt not be king of Israell I will not here stand ouer largely to declare the miseries and calamities wherein he was wrapped from that time forward For as he himselfe was horriblie haunted and vexed with the euill spirite so did he not ceasse to vexe and torment his people and kingdome vntill hee had brought them all into extreeme daunger where hee and some of his were slaine put to the worste by the heathen their enimyes leauing nothing behind him but a perpetuall shame and endlesse ignominie Next after Saule doth Dauid succeede in the seate and kingdome who without all controuersie was the most happiest of all other kinges and Princes But what stoare he did set by the word of the Lord it is euident to bee seene by many notable actes of his and especially in that Alphabeticall Psalme which in order and number is the hundreth and nintenth For therin he setteth forth the praise of Gods word the whoalsom vertue wherof he doth at large wonderfully expound in teaching what great desire zeale we ought to haue thereto For he was scholed had learned before by priuate mishaps and shameful deeds lastly by the vnhappie seditioÌ„ of his graceles sonne Absalom what an euill it is to decline froÌ„ the word of the lord SolomoÌ„ the sonne of Dauid the wisest most coÌ„mended king of all the world did so long enioy prosperitie praise at the mouth of the Lord as he did not neglect with reuerence to obey his word But when once he had transgressed the Lords commaundement streight way the Lord did say vnto him For as much as this is done of thee and that thou hast not kept mine ordinaunces and my statutes which I commaunded thee I will rent thy kingdome from thee and will giue it to thy seruaunt And nowe marke that according to that saying immediately after Solomons death the kingdome was rent into two partes and that 10. Tribes followed Ieroboam the seruaunt of Solomon Two tribes claue still to Roboam Solomons sonne Hee for neglecting the word of the Lord following after straunge Gods is ouerwhelmed with an infinite number of wofull miseries For the Scripture testifieth that the Aegyptians came vpp against Hierusalem and did destroy the Citie Palace and temple of the lord Abia the sonne of Roboam ouercame the host of Israell and bare away a triumphant victorie when hee had wounded and slaine fiue hundred thousand men of the 10. Tribes of Israell And of this so great a victorie no other cause is mencioned but because hee beleeued the word of the lord Next after Abia did his sonne Asa a renowmed and most puissaunt king reigne in his steede of whom the holy Scripture testifieth that hee abolished all superstition and did restoare sincere religion according to the word of God whereby hee obteyned a most flourishing kingdome in peace and quietnesse by the space of fourtie yeares Againe of Iosaphat Asa his sonne wee read The Lord was with Iosaphat because he walked in the former wayes of his father Dauid sought not Baalim but sought the God of his father and walked in his commaundement And therefore for his princelike wealth and famous victories he was renowmed through all the world But to his sonne Ioram who forsooke the word of God Helias the Prophete said Because thou hast not walked in the wayes of Iosaphat thy father and in the wayes of king Asa but hast walked the wayes of the kings of Israell behold with a great plague wil the Lord smite thy folke thy children thy wiues and all thy goods And thou shalt suffer great paine euen a disease of the bowells vntill thy guttes fall out And whatsoeuer the Lord threatened to bring vppon him by the mouth of the Prophet that did the vnhappie king feele with vnspeakeable tormentes to his great reproche being made an example of wretchâ—dnesse miserie which doth light on all the pates of them that do forsake the word of god Neither was the happ of Ochosias sonne to king Ioram and Athalia in any point better For at the commaundement of Iehu hee was stabbed in and slaine wretchedly bâ—câ—usâ— hee chose rather to followe the lawes and rites of the kinges of Israell than the verie true lawes of the Lord his god Moreouer Ioas a child yet but seuen yeares old being by the labour fayth and diligence of the faithfull priest Ioiada restoared to and settled in the place of his father who was slaine before him reigned after the wicked Athalia was put to death most happilie and in a prosperous state so longe as Ioiada the priest did line But when the high priest was once departed out of this world vnto the Lord the king being immediately seduced by the malice and wilinesse of his wicked counsellours left off to follow the word of the lord And as hee ceassed to followe the lord so did felicitie and glorie forsake to followe him For the Syrians comming on with a verie small power of armed men doe destroy and put to flight an insinite hoast of Iewish people they put to the sword all Ioas his counsellours and make a spoile of all his kingdome And Ioas for reiecting the Lord deserued with excessiue griefe first to behold this miserie than to 〈◊〉 away with a long consuming sicknesse and lastly vppon his bedd to haue his throate cruellte cutt of his owne houshold scruaunts Amasias the sonne of Ioas is renoâ—med for a â—amous victorie which he obteyned vppon the Idumitâ—s for no other cause but for obeying the word of the lord But afterward when hee began to rebell against God and his Prophets he is in battaile vanquished by Ioas king of Israell by whom when be was spoyled and compelled to see the ouerthrowe of a great part of the walles of Hierusalem he was himselfe at the last by conspiratours entrâ—pped and miserablie murdered Next after him succeeded his sonne Osias who also as well as his father enioyed a singular felicitie and most happie life so longe as he gainsayed not the mouth of God but when hee would vsurpe and take vppon him that office which God had properly appointed to the Leuits alone directly opposing himselfe against the word of the Lord he was striken with a leprosie and for his vncleannesse was compelled seuerallie to dwell â—loofe in banishmeÌ„t from the companie of men euen vntil his last and dying day Iothan also the sonne of Osias is reported to haue beene wealthie and victorious in his warres the cause of this felicitie the Scripture dâ—th briefly add and say Iothan became mightie because he directed his wayes before the Lord his God. But contrarily Achaz the some of Iothan as hee was of all the Iewishe kinges almost the wickeddest so was hee in his life
Ghostes meaning is not to haue such an order of life obserued as these people do deuise but that euery man should gouerne well his owne house and familie relieue the brethrens necessitie according as his abilitie will suffer and beare To this end also do other places belong 1. Timothe 5. Titus 2. 1. Thessal 4. 2. Thessal 3. And when in all his Epistles almost he prescribeth to parents and children to housbands and wiues to maisters and seruauntes their office and dueties what doth he else but teach how to order our houses families thus much thus farre What may be saide of that more ouer that many wealthie men in the Gospell are reported to haue béene worshippers of God Ioseph of Arimathea which buried the Lord after hée was crucified is said to haue bene a wealthie man a disciple of Christ also The women were welthie which folowed the Lord from Galile and ministred to him and his disciples of their goods substance The gelded treasorer of Quéene Candace was a welthie man Tabitha of Ioppa whoÌ„ Peter raysed from death to life was rich and spent her substance fréely vppon poore and néedie people Lydia the seller of purple was wealthie too and innumerable more who were both godly and faithful people Wheras the Lord therefore did say to the younge man If thou wilt be perfect goe and sell that which thou hast and giue to the poore and thou shalt haue treasure in heauen and come and folowe mee that is no generall lawe or simple doctrine belonging to all men but is a demonstration onely to shew that the yonge man to whom he spake had not yet so perfectly fulfilled the lawe as he thought verily that he had dâ—n for hee thought hée had done all and that nothing was wanting For the younge man sett more by his goods then hée did by God and the voyce of Gods commaundement For he departed sadly and did not as the Lord had bidden him and thereby declared that hée had not yet fulfilled the lawe Moreouer wée may out of other places gather that the Lord did not casâ—e downe his disciples to miserie and beggarie Neither was Paul the Apostle ashamed to make lawes for riche men and to prescribe an order howe they ought to behaue themselues To them that be riche sayth he â–ª in this world giue charge that they bee not highe minded nor trust in vncertaine riches but in the lyuing God which giueth vs abundantly al thinges to enioy that they do good that they bee riche in good woorkes that they be ready to giue glad to distribute laying vp in stoare for them selues a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold vppon eternall life Hereunto belong the admonitions of our Sauiour who sayth Yee cannot serue God mammon at once Againe Riches are thornes that choake the seede of the word of God. And againe Verilie I say vnto you a riche man shal hardly enter into the kingdome of heauen It is easier for a Camel to goe throughe the eye of a needle than for a rich maÌ„ to enter into the kingdome of God. And as the mindes of wealthie men are not vtterly to be discouraged and driuen to desperation as thoughe it were impossible for them to be saued so are they to be admonished of the imminente perills least peraduenture they sléepe securely ouer their riches beeing seduced by Satan to abuse their wealthe when as in déede they ought rather to vse it after the rule of the Apostle which I did euen nowe recite The Gangresian Synode a verie auncient Counsell verily condemned them which taughte That faithfull riche men could haue no hope to bee saued by the Lord vnlesse they did renounce and forsake all the good that they did possesse S. Augustine enrolleth and reckoneth the Apostoliques in his Catologue or beadrowe of heretiques They taking arrogantly this name to themselues did not admitte into their companie any of them which vsed the fellowshipp of their owne wiues or had in 〈◊〉 any proper substaunce â–ª 〈…〉 they therfâ—â—e 〈…〉 because seperating themselues from the Church they thincke that they haue no hope to be saued which vse and enioy the things that they themselues lacke They are like vnto the Encratites and are called also by the name of Apotactites Touching riches they of themselues verily are not euill but the good giftes of God It is the abuse that makes them euil But for the vse of them I wil speake hereafter Here followeth nowe the treatise of the getting of wealth and riches which bée necessarie for the maintenance of our liues and families Touching the getting whereof there is a large discourse among our Lawyers For they say that goods are gotten by the lawe of Nations and by the peculiar lawe of euery particular countrie By the lawe of Nations as by Preuention in possession by captiuitie by finding by byrth by casting vp of water by chaunging the kinde by increase in bondage by mixture by building planting sowing tilling in a ground frée from possession and by deliuerie By the peculiar lawe of euery particular countrie as by continuaunce of possession by prescription by giuing by will by legacie by feoffment by succession by challenge by purchase of all which particularly to speake it would bée a labour too tedious and for you to heare dearely beloued litle profitable That therefore which wée are to saye wée will frame to the manners and customes of oure age and wée will vtter that which shall tend to our auaile Principally and before all thinges wee must close and shutt vpp an euill eye least wee bee carried away with too much concupiscence and desire The light of the body saith oure Sauiour Christe in the Gospell is the eye If therefore thine eye be single thine whoale body shal be lightened but if thine eye bee euill thy body shal bee all darcke The minde of man béeing indued with faith and not infected with concupiscences and naughtie lustes doth giue light to all thinges that hée shall take in hand goe about and doe but if his mind bée corrupt and vncleane then shall his déedes sauour also of corruption and vncleannesse Wherfore faith and an vpright conscience must subdue and beate downe too muche concupiscence and couetousnesse which take their originall and roote from distruste making vnholie and vncleane al the counsells of man all his thoughtes all his woordes and déedes And that wée may be able and of force sufficieÌ„t to captiuate bring them into subiection necessarie it is that the Grace of Christe assiste vs which euery godly minded man and woman doeth aske of God with godly and faithfull prayers Béehoofull it is that wée alwayes set before our eyes and haue déepely grauen in our heartes the doctrine of our Sauiour Christ touching these and the instruction also of his holie Apostles which is not so much but it may bée well borne away Wée will therefore rehearse vnto
significaÌ„tly in the Psalme where he sayth My feete were almost gone my treadings had wel nigh slipped for I was greeued at the wicked when I did see the vngodly in such prosperitie for they are in no peril of deth they are I say troubled with no diseases whereby they are drawne as it were to death but are lustie and strong They come into no misfortune like other meÌ„ but are free froÌ„ the euils wherwith other folk are plagued and this is the cause that they are so holden with pride wrapped in violence as in a garment Their eyes swel with fatnes and they do euen what they lust They stretch forth their mouth vnto heauen and their tongue goeth thoroughe the world Yea they dare to say Tush how shuld God perceiue it Lo these are the vngodly these prosper in the world these haue riches in possession TheÌ„ said I haue I cleÌ„sed my hart in vaine â—ashed mine hands in innocencie â–ª and I beare punisheÌ„t euery day And while I thought thus to my self I had almost departed from the generation of Gods children Now since this is so it followeth consequently to beate out the causes of these calamities For in so doinge wée shal be the better able to iudge rightly of the miseries both of that godly and wicked sort of people The causes of calamities are many of many sortes but the generall and especiall cause is knowen to be sinne For by disobedieÌ„ce sinne entred into that world and death by sinne and so coÌ„sequently diseases and al euills in the world They are very lightheaded and vaine fellowes that referre these causes to I cannot tell what blind constellations and mouinges of Planets For wee by our euill lustes and corrupte affections do heape vp day by day one euill on an others necke And at our elbowes standeth the deuill who roundeth vs in the eares eggeth vs forwards and as helps to spurre vs on there are a crewe of naughtie packes that neuer ceasse to traine vs in and daily there doe rise vp diuers instruments of tribulation wherewith the most wise and iust God doth suffer vs men to be excercised and tormented But the same causes of affliction are not alwayes founde to bee in the holy worshippers of God as are in the wicked despisers of his name The Saintes are often afflicted that by their trouble the glorie of GOD may be knowen to the world For when the disciples of Christ did sée y blind man in the Gospell which was blind from his mothers wombe they said to that Lord Maister who sinned this man or his parents that he was borne blinde Iesus aunswered Neither did this man sinne nor his parentes but that the woorkes of God might be made manifest in him Likewise when the Lord heard say that Lazarus was sicke This disease said hee is not to death but to the glorie of God that by it the sonne of God may be glorified And yet if wee touch this matter to the quicke there can none in the woorld be found without sinne so that if the Lorde will marke oure iniquities hee shall alwayes finde somewhat to be punished in vs As it is at large declared in the booke of Iob. Furthermore the Lord doth suffer his spouse the Church which hée loueth full dearely to bee troubled and afflicted to this end and purpose that hee may openly declare that the electe are defended preserued and deliuered by the power ayde of God and not by the policie or help of man For Paule saith We haue this treasure in earthen vessells that the excellencie of the power may be Gods and not of vs while we are troubled on euerie side but not made sorrowfull Wee are in pouertie but not in extreeme pouertie wee suffer persecution but are not forsaken therein wee are cast downe but wee perish not wee alwayes beare about in the bodie the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life of Iesus might also be made manifest in our body For wee which liue are alwayes deliuered vnto death for Iesus sake that the life also of Iesus might bee made manifest in our mortall fleshe Also the same Apostle saith Vertue is made perfect in infirmitie Againe as the afflictions of the holy martyrs and faithfull Saintes of Christ are testimonies of the doctrine of faith as our Sauiour in the Gospell saith They shall deliuer you vp to counsells in their Synagogues they shall scourge you yea ye shal bee brought before kinges and rulers for my sake that this might bee for a wittnesse to them and the people Euen so in like manner are the Saintes ouerladen wyth miseries made examples for vs to learne by how to ouercome and despise the world and to aspire to heauenly thinges Finally the Lord doeth trie these that bée his by laying the crosse vppon their neckes and purgeth them like gold in the fire hée cutteth from vs many occasions of euill that hee may bring vs to the bearing of greater and more plentifull fruite The wisedome of the Lord doeth therein followe the manner of Goldsmythes who put their gold into the fire to purge and not to marre it And hée imitateth also good husbandmen who when their corne is somewhat too ranke do mowe it downe and prune their trées not to destroy but make them beare more abundant fruite And this flesh of ours verilie in peace and quietnesse is luskish lazie drowsie and slowe to good and honest exercises it is content and séeketh no further than earthly thinges it is whoalie giuen to pleasures it doth vtterly forget God and godly thinges nowe therefore it is not expedient onely but also very necessarie to haue this dull and sluggishe lumpe stirred vpp and excercised with troubles afflicions and sharpe persecutions The Saints herein are like toyron which by vse is somewhat woarne and diminished but by lying stil vnoccupied is eaten more with ruste and canker Most truely therefore said S. Peter Dearely beloued thincke it not straunge that yee are tried wyth fire which thing is to trie you as though some straunge thing happened vnto you But reioyce rather in that yee are partakers of the afflictions of Christ that when his glorie is reucaled yee may be merie and glad For Paule to Timothie saith Remember that Iesus Christe of the seede of Dauid was raised from the dead according to my gospel for which I am afflicted as an euill doer euen vnto bondes and yet I suffer al things for the electes sakes that they might also obteine the saluation which is in Christ Iesus with eternall glorie It is a faithfull saying For if wee bee dead with him we shal also liue with him if we be patient we shal reigne with him if we denie him hee shall also denie vs. For in his epistle to the Romans he saith Those which hee knew before he did also predestinate that they should be like facioned vnto the shape of his sonne that
that thing that pleaseth God the loue I meane of true religion and the vtter detesting of idolatrie that they are madde vpon and persecute it with swoorde fire and vnspeakable torments To this therefore doeth that saying of Sainct Peter belong See that none of you be punished as a murtherer or as a theefe or as an euill doer or as a busie bodie in other mennes matters but if any man suffer as a Christian man let him not be ashamed but rather glorifie God on this behalfe Yet for all this I would not that heynous offendours should any whit despaire They haue the example of the théefe that was crucified with Christ that let them follow let them I saye confesse their faultes beléeue in Christ commit themselues wholie to his grace mercie and lastly suffer patiently the paine of their punishment and in so doing there is no doubt but they shal be receyued of Christe into Paradise and liue there for euer as the théefe doth with Christ And although the godly be slame amonge transgressours yet is â—ée no more defiled by suffeâ—ing with them than Christ ouâ— Lord was being hanged amonge theeues For though the godly and vngodly be wrapped and coupled together in one kinde of punishment yet are they seuered by their vnlike ending while the wicked after this bodily death is carried to hell there to burne without intermission and the godly taken immediately into heauen to liue with Christe his Lord to whom he committed and commended himselfe Touching this matter and the causes of the afflictions of the holy men of God I wil not be agreeued to recite vnto you dearely beloued a notable place of S. Augustine out of his first booke de ciuitate Dei. Wheresoeuer sayth hée good men doe suffer the same and like punishment that the euil sort do it is to be marked that there is not therefore no difference betwixt them because there is no diuersitie in the thing that they suffer For as in one and that same fire gold doth shine and chaffe doeth smoke and vnder one flayle the huske is broken and the corne purged and as the scummy froath is not mixed with the oyle althoughe one weight of the same presse doth crush both out at once euen so one and the selfe same miserie falling vppon the good and the badd doth trie fine and melt the good and on that otherside condemne wast consume the euill sort Whereupon it commeth to passe that in one and the same affliction the euill doe detest and blaspheme the Lord when contrarily the good doe praye vnto and praise his name for all that he layeth vpon them So much matter maketh it in afflictions to mark not what but with what minde euery man doeth suffer For stirre vp durt and sweete oyntments alike you shall haue the one stincke filthily and the other cast forth a swéete smelling sauour Therfore in that hurlie burlie and irruption made by the barbarous people what did the Christians suffer which was not rather to their profite while they did faithfully coÌ„sider those troubles especially because they humbly considering the sinnes for which God being wroth did fil the world with so many and great calamities although they be farre from committing heynous gréeuous and outragious offences doe yet neuerthelesse not repute themselues so cleare of all faultes as that they iudge not themselues worthie to suffer temporal calamities for the crimes they commit euery houre and moment For ouer and besides that euery man which liueth peraduenture laudably enoughe doeth in some pointes yéeld a little to carnall concupiscence although not to y outragiousnes of horrible sinnes to the goulfe of heynous offences and abhominable iniquities yet notwithstanding he yéeldeth to some sinnes which eyther he haunteth verie séeldomely or else committeth so much the oftener as they are the lesser Ouer and besides this therefore I say what man is there which when hée séeth and knoweth very well the men for whose pride lasciuious liues couetousnes and damnable iniquitie God as he hath threatened doeth plague the earth doeth so estéeme them as they are to be thought of and liue so with them as he ought to liue wyth such kinde of people For often times many thinges are wickedly dissembled while wicked doers are not taught corrected chidden and admonished of their euil behauiours either because we thinke the paine to much to tell them their faults or while we are afrayd to haue the heauie lookes of them with whom we liue or else auoyde their displeasure least peraduenture they should hinder or hurte vs in temporall matters when as either our gréedinesse desireth to haue somewhat more or oure infirmitie feareth to lose y things which it hath alreadie in hold and possession so that althoughe the life of the wicked displease the good for which cause they fall not into the same damnation which is after this life prepared for the euill yet since they doe therefore beare with and forbeare their damnable sinnes because they feare them in lighter and smaller trisâ—es they are iustly scourged wyth them in this temporall life albeit they be not punished with them eternallie While they bee punished by God with the wicked they doe iustly féele the bitternesse of this life for the loue of whose swéetenesse they would not be bitter in telling the wicked of their offences This therfore séemeth to me to be no smal cause why the good are whipped wyth the euill when it pleaseth God to punish the naughtie manners of men with the affliction of temporal paynes For they are scourged together not forbecause they lead an euil life together but because they loue this temporall life together I doe not say alike but together when the better sort ought to despise it that the euill being rebuked and corrected might obteyne the eternall life to the getting wherof if they would not be oure fellowes and parteners they should be caried louingly drawne euen while they be oure enimies because so longe as they liue it is alwayes vncertaine whether their minds shal be changed to bee better or no. Wherfore they haue not the like but a farre greater cause to admonishe men of their faultes to whome the Lord sayth by the mouth of the Prophete He verilie shall die in his sinne but his bloud will I require at the hand of the watchman For to this ende are the watchmen that is the guides of the people ordeyned in the Churches that they should not forbeare to rebuke sinne and wickednesse And yet for all this that man is not altogether excusable of this fault which although hée be no guide or ouerseeâ— of the people deeth notwithstanding knowe many thinges worthie controllment yet winck at them in those with whome he lyueth and is coÌ„uersant because he will giue them none offence for feare least hée loose those thinges which in this world hée vseth as hée ought not or is delighted in so as hee should not And so forth For
séemed to belong to the seruice of God as oyle franckincense and such like things Now before the temple was erected and that the Israelits had obteyned a place where to settle themselues in the land of promise the priests office was to sée the tabernacle pitched downe taken vp againe and caried to and froo For in the third of Numbers thus wée read The Leuites shal keepe all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation and haue the charge of the children of Israel to doe the seruice of the tabernacle For the tabernacle was so appointed that when they iourneyed it might bée taken into many péeces Therefore when the Israelites were readie to remoue their campe Aaron and his sonnes came with the coueringes appointed for the purpose to wrapp vp and carrie the holy vessells in The Cahatites bare the Arke the table the altar and instrumentes belonging thereunto The Gersonites had charge ouer the cordes the couerings the hangings the curtaynes the vayles and roapes belonging to y tabernacle The Merarites did beare the harder stuffe that was made of wood brasse as the pillers barres stakes and planks Al which whosoeuer desireth to vnderstand more néerly let him read the third and fourth Cap. of the booke of Numbers When the temple was builded there were porters and warders of the temple appointed amonge the Leuites The trumpetts also wherewith the congregation was called together were in the Leuites hands as wée read in the 10. of Numbers The priestes also were appointed to be readie serue in the warres as is to be séene in the 20. of Deut. For the Lord would not haue the lawes to be huisht where armour did clatter for victories do auaile greatly to godlines and the studie of religion Beside this also the priests had yet an other office that was to iudge betwixt cause cause betwéene cleane and vncleane Both which are more largly declared in the 17. of Deut. and in the 13. and 14. cha of Leuiticus For as often as any difficult matter happened to rise amonge them the hearing of it was brought to the mother citie Hierusalem if any man were suspected to be a Leper the Leuiticall priestes did iudge of his disease according to the lawes that were prescribed them So hitherto I haue summarily layed downe the offices of priest hood among the old people reckoning vp only the especiall parts belonging to their seruice Now as those priests did serue the Israelitish church so â—id they liue of the reuenues of the church For the Lord appointed them certain stipends and dwelling places in the land of promise For hée assigned 48. cities for them to inhabite in the land of Israel sire whereof were cities of refuge for men to slye vnto as vnto Sanctuaries Moreouer he comaunded to lay out and appoint for the sustenance of the priestes cattel and families the suburbs and fermes without the walls of the cities within a thousand cubites compasse on euery side In those cities were scholes so conueniently placed throughout all y land that all men mighte easilie goe with very smal paine from y places there about vnto the synagogues to heare the word of god In those cities there was no sacrifices made for they were commaunded to sacrifice in one place alone and thrice a yeare they went vp to the temple to sacrifice vnto the Lord but euery sabboth day the law was taught in euery town wher the synagogues were Moreouer the rents belonging to the priestes were great ample as is to be seen in the 18. of the booke of Numb in the last of Leuit. The wealth of the priests was enough sufficient to maintein their families and to liue themselues honestly And they with that stipend did not giue themselues to riot and idlenes but liuing moderately did apply themselues to learning teaching of the people Thus much hetherto touching the persons belonging to the ministerie of holy religion And for because by lawe they could not sacrifice but in one place alone there was a certaine place appointed to the people wherin as in an holy shop the priestes should exercise their holy ministerie in sacrificing to the Lord and therfore now the very order and course of this argument doth require that I say somewhat touching that holy place That place in the beginning was the tabernacle builte by Moses afterward the temple which Solomon did make The law which forbadd them to sacrifice any where but in that one place alone vnlesse it were by dispensation is extant in the 12. of Deut. and in the 17. Cap. of Leuit and deeth conteyne the mysterie of Christe who was offered vpp but once and in one place to cicanse the sinnes of all the world Of whome I wil speake somwhat more hereafter Now that tabernacle or tent being called the tabernacle of appointment because the Lord appointed it both to giue aunsweares in and to haue his lawfull worship duelie accomplished in was to the people in stéed of a temple so long as they wandered dwelt in the wildernesse For in so much as they strayed 40. yeres in the desart it was not conuenient for them to haue a settled temple but such an one as in their iourneys they might carrie to and fro so oft as they remoued That tabernacle was erected in this order and was in a maner of this forme and facion First of all there were â—â—uck into the earth close by the ground siluer sockets to fasten in and set boords vpon to make a wal withall vnder euerie planke or boord were two sockets For euerie boord had two tâ—nons like pikes whereby they were stucke into the socketts The boordes on either side of the tabernacle North and Southe were twentie in number at the vpper end which was toward the Weste were tenne boordes or planckes all layed ouer with gold and ten cubites high a péece These wheÌ„ they were set vp were stucke or fastened into the sockets vpon the backe sites those bordes had golden ringes throughe whiche were barres of 〈◊〉 wood whiche iâ— thought to be white Thoarne thruste partly to ioyne the boordes cloase together that they might bee like a wall without chincke or creauise and partly to make them stand stedfast without wagging to and fro The Sanctum on the East side was shut vp with a vaile Moreouer there were made tenne curtaynes or hauginges of brodered woorke which were coupled together with loupes or taches These curtaynes were layed vppon the toppes of the boords that were set vpright as it had béene the rafter or rouffe of an house ouer which curtaynes were thrée coueringes more the vppermost whereof was of Taxus leather well able in rayne to kéepe water out Nowe the tabernacle was in length 30. cubites and in breadth 10. cubites as may be gathered by the measure of the boords It was diuided also into three parts The first was called Sanctum sanctorum
and gouernour of al thinges and Abraham with al his séede that is with all the faithfull of what nation or countrie soeuer they bée For so doth the Apostle expounde the séede of Abraham especially in his Epistle to the Galathians where hee saith If ye be Christes then are ye the seede of Abraham and heires by promise The time howe long this league should indure is eternall and without ende or terme of time For although in the renuinges or declarations of the league many things were added which afterwarde did vanish away especially when Christ was come in the fleshe yet notwithstanding in the substantiall and chiefest poyntes ye can finde nothing altered or chaunged For God is alwayes the God of his people he doth alwayes demaunde and require of them faithfull obedience as may moste euidently bee perceiued in the newe testament For there are two poyntes or especiall conditions conteined in this league The first whereof declareth what God doth promise and what hee will doe for his confederates I meane what wee maye looke for at his handes The seconde comprehendeth the duetie of man which he doth owe to God his confederate and souereigne Prince Therefore God for his parte sayeth I will bee thy God and Saddai that is thy fulnesse and sufficiencie I will I say be thy God and the God of thy séede after thée God of him selfe is wholly sufficient to moste absolute perfectnesse and blessednesse neither néedeth hee the helpe of any other since whatsoeuer is in any place wheresoeuer it is both of him hath abyding by him God alone sufficeth man and bee alone is the giuer of all that men desire or doth belong to perfect felicitie And therefore Saturnus peraduenture by occasion of the worde Saddai tooke his name among the heathen and signifieth to suffice or satisfie For he alone is able to satisfie or suffice all who is him selfe verye fulnesse and sufficiencie it selfe But nowe God sheweth by two argumēts that he will bee the sufficiencie or all in all to the séede of Abraham For first he saith To thy seede wil I giue the lande of Chanaan In which promise he comprehendeth all earthly bodily benefites to wite greate wealth felicitie tranquillitie abundaunce of all thinges health glorie notable victories and whatsoeuer else perteineth to the preseruation temporall happinesse of mankinde Nowe howe he did perfourme this promise to the séede of Abraham the holie scripture doth declare by that meanes teaching that the verie true God was the God of Abrahams seed as he had promised to their father Abraham Secondarily he promiseth the séede wherein all the nations of the earth were to bee blessed to witt Christ the Sauiour whome he had promised to Adam many yeares before To blesse is to enriche with al spirituall benediction wherein hee comprehendeth all the spirituall giftes of God the forgiuenesse of sinnes the reuiuing of life and glorie euerlasting To blesse also is to take away a cursse so that this promise of Gods to Abraham is all one with that which he made to Adam saying The seede of the woman shal treade downe the Serpents head For the head of the olde Dragon is nothing else but the power and kingdome of Satan His power is the cursse sinne and death Therefore when his head is crushed or troaden downe the cursse is takē away and in sted of the cursse succéedeth a blessing By this I saye hee doth declare that he will bee the God of Abraham and of his séede The second condition of the league betwixt God and man prescribeth to man what he must do and howe hee must behaue him selfe towarde God his confederate souereigne Prince Walke before mee saith God to man and be vpright Now they walke before God which do direct all their life woordes and woorkes according to the wil of god His will is that we should bee vpright That vprightnesse is gotten by faith hope and charitie in which thrée are conteined all the offices of the Sainctes which are the friendes and confederates of the Lorde Therefore this latter condition of the league doth teach the confederates what to doe and howe to behaue themselues before the Lord to wite to take him for their God to sticke to him alone who is their onely all in all to call vppon him alone to worshippe him alone and through his Messiah to looke for sanctification life euerlasting These were the cōditions of the couenant to whiche the number of ceremonies were not added in Abrahams time which afterwarde were giuen to the Israelites vnder the leading of their Capteine Moses To this confederacie the Lord did adde circumcision as a signe or seale to confirme it withall Seales are put to writings for an effectual force and confirmations sake The tables or writinges do conteine and giue euidence of all the points of the whole league Circumcision therefore is added to the league in stéede of the writing and also of the seale and for that cause circumcision is called the league it selfe euen as the writinges or letters of couenants among vs are commonly called the verie couenant whē as in déede they are nothing else but the euidences of the league which conteine in writing al the order of the confederacie and confirme it with a seale It is verie vsuall that the signes do take the names of the thinges which they do signifie so that it is no meruayle though circumcision be called the league when as in déede the league is not the cutting of the skin but the communion of fellowshippe which wee haue with God. In the seuentéenth of Genesis thus saith the Lorde touching this signe of outwarde circumcision This is my couenaunt which ye shall keepe betwixt mee and you and thy seede after thee Euery male shal be circūcised among you Ye shal circumcise the fleshe of your foreskinne and it shal be for a signe of the couenant betwixt mee and you c. Lo here circumcision in these woordes of the Lordes is first named the couenaunt and afterwarde for expositions sake it is called the signe of the couenaunt In the same sense doth Sainct Stephan call it a testament in the seuēth Chapter of the Acts when he meant that it was the signe or seale of the Testament Moreouer the manner of circumcision is declared Ye shal saith God circumcise the flesh of your foreskin For there is a skinne which doth incompasse couer and hang somewhat ouer the nut or forepart of a mannes yarde and that skinne is called the fleshe of the foreskinne because it doth appeare or hang before the rest This skinne did they cutt away with a knife made of stone and did make bare the topp or nutt of the manchildes priuie member The cutting or taking away of the fleshe was called circumcision But nowe whose office it was to cut that skinne away we finde not expressed It appeareth that the moste honourable in euery house or familie I meane the
Wherevppon wée doe fréely confesse that the lawe doeth properly make manifeste our infirmitie but that the Gospel giueth a medicine a remedie to that which was almost past hope And now here we must thinke that our holy ancestors had not the lawe alone to conuince them of sinne nor Moses to doe nothing else but kill and slay nor that Moses was giuen to wound them but to heale them that not by his owne power or vertue but by the guiding of them to him that chéerisheth the contrite in heart and healeth all their sorrowes that is Christ Iesus who also wrought by the ministerie of Moses For we must not thincke from the beginning of the world nor from Moses his time till the comming of Christe that the bare letter was preached onely and that the grace and spirite of God was idle wrought not in the mindes of the faithfull For in that the law doth shewe vs and inuincibly proue to vs that in vs I meane in our flesh y perfection is not which the most holy and perfecte God doth in his lawe require of vs it doeth therein reuoke and pull backe mankinde not by the vertue of it selfe but by the power of the quickening spirite of Christ from confidence of the fleshe as that wherin there is no health nor iote of perfection and so coÌ„sequently doeth giue vs occasion to turne our selues to Christ our mediatour who is alone our sanctification perfection And so for this occasion the law is a path and readie way and as it were a scholemaster giuen by God to vs men to drawe vs from all confidence in our owne strengths from all hope of our owne merites and from y trust in any kinde of creatures and to lead vs directly by faith to Christ who was made by God as I said eueÌ„ now our righteousnesse sanctification and redemptioÌ„ without whom there is no saluation vnder the sunne Therefore Moses did not onely vrge the lawe but did also preach Christ life in Christ For the Lord in the Gospel saith to the Iewes Thinke not that I will accuse you to my father There is one that accuseth you euen Moses in whome ye trust For if ye had beleued Moses ye would vndoubtedly haue beleued mee For he wrote of mee And Paule to the Galathians saith If there had beene a law giuen which could haue giuen life then no doubt righteousnesse should haue beene by the lawe but the Scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should bee giuen vnto them that beleeue But before faith came wee were kept vnder the lawe and were shut vp into the faith which should afterward be reuealed Wherefore the lawe was our scholemaster vnto Christ that we should be iustified by faith Loe what could bée said more plainly then that the lawe hath concluded all vnder sinne But to what end That the promise by the faith of Christ Iesus should bée giuen vnto them that do beléeue And againe Before faith came that is before he came to whom our faith is directed and vppon whoÌ„ it is grounded we were kept vnder the lawe How forsooth being shut vp vnto the faith that was to bee reuealed Therefore our fathers were shut vpin the law that they should not breake out at any time séeke for life and saluation any where else but in Christ alone Wherefore the lawe did lead vs by faith directly vnto Christe And yet more plainly hée saith The lawe was oure scholemaister vnto Christ Loe here againe the law doth bring vs to Christ And againe he addeth That we should bee iustified by faith Therefore the lawe setteth forward the true doctrine of iustification teaching plainly that we are iustified by faith in Christ and not by the merits of our owne workes In whiche point it is opeÌ„ly like vnto the Gospel and taketh to it selfe the office of the Gospell and no meruaile since to many men through their owne fault the Gospell doth become and is made the letter Furthermore the same Apostle doth in an other place say that in sacrifices they called their sinnes to remeÌ„brance we knowe that in them was prefigured the purging of sinns Therfore eueÌ„ the ceremonial lawes also led them to Christ testifying teaching them that he alone doth clense vs from all our sinnes Whervpon I conclude that the office of Moses and of the lawe both was is to opeÌ„ to vs our sinne iudgment yet not to condemne vs only but also by occasion to lead vs to Christ By which we learne also that the law doth not only teach vs the first principles and rudimentes of righteousnesse but the very true absolute righteousnesse For Moses doth expresly say that he taught a most perfecte absolute kind of doctrine as that wher in both life and death doth wholie consist And the Apostle saith that the law leadeth vs by the hand to Christ that we should be iustified by faith Now the righteousnesse of faith is the most perfect righteousnesse Therfore wher as the precepts of the law are in some places called the rudimeÌ„ts of the world that is for two especiall causes The first wherof is because the lawe is as it were the first instructioÌ„s or elemeÌ„ts which when the doctrine of the Gospel commeth is finished and giueth place to it as to more absolute principles The latter cause is because ceremonies are taught vnder outward thinges or signes when as in those outward things they do prefigure and set forth to be séen y inward things euen Christ himselfe his holy mysteries And out of that which I haue hetherto said we may also learne that the ancient saints which liued vnder the old testament did not séeke for righteousnesse saluation in the workes of the lawe but in him which is the perfectnesse end of the law euen Christ Iesus therfore that they vsed the law the ceremonies as a guide and scholemistresse to lead them by the hande to Christe their sauiour For so often as they heard that the lawe required perfect righteousnesse at their hands they did by faith through grace vnderstand y in the lawe Christ was set forth to be the most absolute righteousnesse to whom all men ought to flie for â—he obtâ—ining of righteousnesse So often as they mette together in the holy congregation to behold the holy Ceremonies which God had ordeined they did not looke vppon the bare figures only nor thincke that they did please God and were purged from their sinnes by that externall kinde of worshipp but they did cast the eyes of their minds of faith vppon the Messiah to come who was prefigured in al the Ceremonies and ordinaunces of the lawe They therefore did abuse the lawe who thoughte that they were acceptable to God and that they serued him as they should because they were busie in those Ceremoniall workes For those thoughtes and persuasions the Prophets
he did saye vnto the chiefe This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise It may also by many places of Scripture bee proued that the auncient holie fathers from Adams time vntill the death of Christ at their departure out of this life did presently for Christe his sake enter not into prison but into eternall life For our Lorde in the Gospell after Sainct Marke doth say God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing But he is the god of Abraham of Isaac and of Iacob therefore consequently Abraham Isaac and Iacob do liue or are now aliue and yet not in bodie corporally For their bodies beeing buried were rotten longe since therefore their soules do liue in ioye and their verie bodies shall rise to iudgement againe In the Gospell after S. Luke the Lord maketh mention of Abrahams bosome into which are gathered all the blessed spirites of it he testifieth that it is placed aloft that it is not a place of paine punishement but of ioy and refreshing And therefore we do often read in the Scriptures of the holie fathers that they were gathered vnto their people that is to say that they were receiued into the fellowship of those fathers with whome they had in this world remained in the same faith and same kinde of religion For the sequences circuÌ„stances of those places doe manifestly declore y those wordes cannot be expounded corporally of the buriall of the bodie Againe in the Gospel after S. Matthewe the Lord saith I say vnto you that many shal come out of the East out of the West and shall rest them selues with Abraham Isaac Iacob in the kingdome of heauen but the children of the kingdome shal bee cast out into vtter darknesse there shal bee weeping and gnashing of teeth Nowe if the Gentiles must be gathered into the kingdome of heauen and that they must be placed in the fellowship of the fathers than must it néeds bée that the fathers were alreadie in heauen and felte the ioyes thereof at that very time when the Lord spake these words Who also in the Gospell after S. Iohn doth plainly say Abraham was glad to see my day and hee sawe it and reioyced Which saying although wée vnderstand to be spoken of the iustification and ioye of the conscience yet do we not separate from it the ioy of eternall life because the one doth of necessitie depend vpon and followe the other Moreouer wée must héere consider the occasion vppon which these words of the Lord do séeme to haue béen spoken The Lord had said Verilie verilie I say vnto you If a man keepe my saying hee shall neuer taste of death which words the Iewes toke hold on and said Abraham is dead and the Prophets are dead yet sayest thou if a man will keepe my sayinges hee shall neuer see death What art thou greater than oure father Abraham which is dead and the Prophets are dead also Whome makest thou thy selfe To this the Lord made answere and shewed that Abraham is quickened or else preserued in life and heauenly ioy through faith in the sayings of Christe Iesus and that howsoeuer hée is dead in body yet notwithstanding his soule doth liue in ioy for euer with God in whome hee did put his trust To this may be added that Dauid in the 16. Psalme calling God his hope his expectation and his inheritance doth amonge other thinges say The Lord is alwayes at my right haÌ„d Therefore my hart is glad my glorie reioyceth and my fleshe shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holie one to see corruption Thou wilt make mee to knowe the path of life in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy at thyright hand there be pleasures for euermore And although S. Peter and Saint Paul doe in the Actes of the Apostles applie this testimonie of Dauid as a thing spoken Prophetically vnto Christ Iesus yet notwithstanding no man can denie but that the same may after a certeine manner be referred vnto Dauid who in that Psalme maketh a profession of his faith declareth his hope and expresseth his Michtam that is his delight or the armes or cognizaunce whereby he would be knowen Those words therefore doe first apperteine to Christ and then to Dauid and all the faithfull For the life and resurrection of Christ is the life resurrection of the faithfull Againe in an other place the same prophet saith I beleeue verilie to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing Now in the land of the liuing there is neither death nor dolour but fulnesse of ioy and euerlasting pleasures these ioyes and delights Dauid by faith did looke to obteine at the hand of GOD through Christ his sauiour and did in déede according to his hope possessâ— the same immediately after he did depart out of this life although it were many yeares after his death or euer Christe did come in the fleshe euen as we also at this day are saued by him although it be now one thousand fiue hundreâ—h and od yeares agoe since he in his flesâ— did depart from the earth But whereas Paul in the 12. to the Hâ—brues saiâ—h And all these holie fathers hauing through faith obteined good repoâ—t receiued not the promise because 〈◊〉 had prouided a better thinge for vs that they without vs should not bee made pâ—rfecte I thinke simplie that it must be vnderstood of the perfect or ful felicitie in which y holy fathers without vs are not consummated or made perfecte Because there is yet behinde the generall resurrection of all fleshe which must first come and when that is once finished then is the felicitie of all the Sainctes consummated or made perfect which felicitie shall then not bee giuen to the soule alone but to the body also Saincte Peter also doeth constantly affirme that saluation is first of all by Christ purchased for the soules of the holy Saincts then that they by the same Christe are immediatly vppon their bodily death receiued to be partakers of the same saluation and lasty that in the end of the world the bodies of the Saincts being raised from death as the bodies of all men be shall appeare before Christ to be iudged of him The Lord saith hée shall iudge both the quicke and the dead For to this end was the Gospell preached to the dead that in the flesh they should be iudged like men but in the spirite they should liue with God. That is to say the death of Christ is effectuall to the fathers that died in the faith so that nowe in soule they lâ—ue with God and that they againe are to be iudged in their fleshe like to all other men at what time the Lord shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead Therefore our saluation is not as yet perfecte nor consummated but shal be made perfecte in the end of the world Moreouer
consequently to euerie signe his seuerall limins S. Augustine In opusculo S 2. quaestionuÌ„ Quist 45. confuting soundly the destinies of Planets amonge other his reasons sayeth The conceyuing of twinns in the mothers woÌ„be because it is made in one and the same acte as the Physicians testifie whose discipline is farre more certeine and manifest than that of the Astrologers doeth happen in so small a moment of time thaâ— there is not so much time as two minuts of a minute betwixt the conceyuing of the one and the other How therfore commeth it that in twinnes of one burden there is so great a diuersitie of deâ—des wills and chaunces considering that they of necessitie must neds haue one and the same planet in their conception and that the Mathematicals do giue the constellation of them both as if it were but of one man To these woordes of S. Augustine great light maye bee added if you annexe to them and examine narrowely the example of Esau and Iacobs birth and sundrie dispositions The same Augustine writing to Boniface against two epistles of the Pelagians Lib. 2. cap. 6. sayeth They which affirme that destinie doeth rule will haue not onely our deeds and euents but also our very wils to depend vpon the placeing of the starres at the time wherin euerie man is either conceyued or borne whiche placeings they are wonte to call Constellations But the grace of God doth not onely goe aboue all starres and heauens but also aboue the verie Angels them selues Moreouer these disputers for destinie do attribute to destinie both the good and euil that happen to men But God in the euils that fall vppon men doth duely and worthily recompence them for their ill desertes but the good which they haue he doth bestowe vppon them not for their merites but of his owne fauour mercifull goodnesse through grace that cannot be looked for of duetie laying both good and euil vppon vs men not through the temporall course of planets but by the déepe and eternall counsell of his seueritie and goodnes So then wée sée that neither the fallinge out of good or euill hath any relation vnto y planets Therefore this place may be concluded with the wordes of the Lorde in the Prophet Ieremie saying Thus saith the Lorde ye shal not learne after the manner of the heathen and ye shall not be atraide for the tokens of heauen for the heathen are afraide of such yea all the obseruations of the Gentiles are vanitie For the planets haue no force to doe either good or euill And therefore the blame of sinnes is not to bee imputed therevnto I haue now to proue vnto you that God is not the cause of sinne or the author of euill God saye they would haue it so For if he would not haue had it so I had not sinned For who may resist his power Againe since he could haue letted it and would not he is the author of my sinne and wickednesse As though wee knewe not the craftie quarels and subtile shiftes of mortal men Whâ— I pray you knoweth not that God doth not deale with vs by his absolute power but by an appointed lawe and ordinance I meane by commodious meanes a probable order God could I know by his absolute power kéepe off all euil but yet he neither can nor wil either corrupt or marre his creature excellent order Hee dealeth with vs men therefore after the manner of men he appointeth vs lawes and layeth before vs rewardes punishements he commaundeth to imbrace the good and eschue the euill to the perfourming whereof he doth neither denye vs his grace without which we can do nothing neither doeth he despise our diligent good wil and earnest trauaile Herein if man bee slacke the negligence and fault is imputed to man him selfe and not to God although he could haue kept off the sinne and did not for it was not his duetie to kéepe it off least peraduenture hee should disturbe the order and destroy the work which he him self had made and ordeined Therefore God is not the author of sinne or naughtinesse Touching which matter I will firste adde some testimonies of the holie Scripture then aunswere to sundry obiections of the aduersaries of this doctrine and lastly declare the originall cause or headspring of sinne and wickednesse The testimonies which teach that God is not the author of sinne or naughtinesse are many in number but among the rest this is an argument of greatest force and probabilitie because God is saide to be good naturally and that all which he created were made good in their creation Whervppon it is that Solomon saith God hath not made death neither hath he delight in the destruction of the liuing for he created all thinges that they might haue their being and the beginnings of the world were health full there is no poyson of destruction in them nor the kingdome of hell vppon the earth for righteousenesse is immortall but vnrighteousnesse bringeth death and the vngodly call it to them both with wordes and woorkes and thereby come to nought And so forth as is to be séen in the firste Chapter of the booke of wisedome which wordes do passingly agrée with y firste Chapters of that most excellent prophet Moses In the fifth Psalme Dauid saith Thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickednesse neither shal any euil dwell with thee the vniust shall not stande in thy sight for thou hatest all them that woorke iniquitie thou shalt destroy them that speake leasing the Lord doth abhorre both the bloudthirstie deceiptful man. Lo thou canst deuise nothing more contrarie to the nature of God than sinne nauâ—htinesse as thou mayest more at large perceiue in the 34 Chapter of the booke of Iob. The wiseman saith God created man good but they sought out many inuentions of their owne And therefore the Apostle Paule deriueth sinne damnation and death not from God but from Adam and from God he fetcheth grace forgiuenesse life through the mediatour Iesus Christe That place of Paule is farre more manifest than that it néedeth any large exposition let it onely bee considered and diligently weighed of the Readers and hearers whome I woulde wishe alwayes to beare in mouth and mynde the verie wordes meaning of this notable sentence Euen as by one man sinne entred into the worlde and death by sinne And so foorth as followeth The same Apostle in the seuenth to the Romanes doeth euidently declare that the lawe is holie the commaundement good and iust and therby he doth insinuate that in God or in his will there is not and in his lawe which is the will of God there springeth not any spott or blurre of sinne or naughtinesse In our fleash saith he the euil lurketh and out of vs iniquitie ariseth I knowe saith hee that in mee that is in my fleshe there is no good In that Chapter there are many sentences to be founde which doe
but Extraduce and by propagation For Iob in his fourtéenth Chapter saith manifestly Who can make or bring foorth a pure or cleane thing of that which is vnclean no bodie vndoubtedly is able to do it Of that sorte also there are many other sayinges in the fiftéenth 25 Chap. of the same booke And Paule the holye Apostle of Christe in the fifte to the Romanes doth moste euidently saye As by one man sinne entred into the worlde and death by sinne euen so death entred into all men in so muche as all haue sinned for vnto the lawe was sinne in the worlde but sinne is not imputed when there is no lawe Neuerthelesse death reigned from Adam vnto Moses ouer them also that had not sinned with like transgression as did Adam c. Doeth not the Apostle in these woordes manifestly shewe the propagation of sinne saying Sinne entred by one man into the worlde death entred into all men in so muche as they haue all sinned to wite in so muche as they are all subiect to corruption And that no men either beefore or after Moses might be excepted he addeth Death reigned from Adam vnto Moses ouer them also which had not sinned with the like transgression as did Adam that is to saye ouer them which had not sinned of their owne wil as Adam had but drew froÌ„ him originall sinne by propagation Sainct Augustine doth more fully excusse and handle this argument in his first booke De peccatorum meritis et remissione in the ninth tenth and eleuenth Chapter and the reste as they followe in order Againe Paule in the seuenth to the Romanes calleth this euil the sinne y dwelleth in vs that is to saye the sinne y is begotten borne with vs For he addeth I am carnall solde vnder sinne And I knowe that in me that is my fleashe there dwelleth no good And therfore the blessed Apostle Euangelist Iohn telleth vs that if we saye we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and trueth is not in vs. He saith verie significantly wee haue and not we haue had or we shall haue For by our corrupt nature we haue that proper vnto vs Therefore it is manifest that the fiction of the Pelagians is false whereby they affirme that wee are borne without vice it is false that the voluntarie action onely and not y corruption or deprauation which is not yet burst forth to the déede is sinne And Augustine doth in one place call euen that voluntarie sinne originall sinne and that two sundrie wayes firste not simply of it selfe but in respect of Adam because it beeing committed by the naughtie will of Adam is drawen and made hereditarie in vs Secondly because a naughtie lust may be named a will. For Lib. Retract 1. Cap. 15. he saith If any man doth sâ—ye that euen tâ—e verie lust is nothing else but will suche a will yet as is vicious and subiect to sinne he needeth not to be gaâ—â—said for where the thing is manifest wee must not striue about termes and wordes For so it is proued that without will there is no sinne either in deede or in propagation that is either actuall or originall Thus much Augustine who doth also alledge other sayings like to this in his thirde booke Contra Iulianum Pelagianum Chap. 5. It shal be sufficient to vs euen without them to learne by the testimonies of the holie Scriptures that sinne is not onely a voluntarie action but also an hereditarie corruption or deprauation that commeth by inheritance Not vnlike to all this is that sentence in Ezechiâ—l where the Lorde saith The sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the father but euery man shal dye in his owne sinne For Adams fall should do vs no harme if it were not â—o that eueÌ„ from him there is sprung vpp in vs such a peruersenesse as is worthie of Gods iust iudgement But nowe since all the inclination disposition and desire of our nature euen in a childe but one day olde is repugnaunt to the purnesse and will of God which is onely good no man therefore is punished for his father but euery one for his owne iniquitie and calamities fall euen on the yongest babes whome wee see to be touched with many afflictions by the holie and iuste iudgement of the moste iust God. Neither is their obiection anye whitt stronger which saye that the children of holie parents cannot draw or take any spott of their parents For they haue their line all descent of the fleshely generation and not of the spirituall regeneration And wheâ—eas the Apostle saide The vnbeleeuing husbande is sanctified by the wife and the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the husbande else were your children vncleane but nowe are they cleane it is not repugnant to our former allegations For they are called holie not by the prerogatiue of their birth or generation as though children were borne holie without any spott or vice at aâ—l but for because they beeinge borne by nature corrupt are by the vertue of the couenaunt grace made pure vncleannesse is not imputed to them for Christ his sake or the remission oâ— sinnes which is pronounced in these woordes I will bee thy God and the God of thy seede after thee For of olde euen those children which of the seede of Abraham were holie blessed receiued notwithstanding the signe of circumcision Now what neede I pray you had they had of Circumcision or purging if by their birthe they had had no vncleannesse in them That therfore is vtterly false whiche ye heard euen now that Caelestius the Pelagian did vtter in these words We did not therefore say that infants are to bee baptised into the remission of sinnes to the end that wee should thereby seeme to affirme that sinne is extraduce or hereditarie which is vtterly coÌ„trarie to the catholique sense For it is catholique and true doctrine that the children of the Iewes were circumcised not so much onely beecause they were partakers of the diuine couenaunt as for because that all the antiquitie of holy fathers did so coÌ„fesse that in infants there was somewhat which had néede of cutting that is which had néede to be remitted by the grace of God and not bee imputed to them vnto death It is catholique true doctrine that the infantes of ChristiaÌ„s are baptised not so much because they are the children of God and fréely receiued into the couenant as for because there is in them euen from their birth somewhat which the Lord by his grace doeth wash awaye least it should bring vpon them death and damnation Yea that cannot bée catholique whiche doeth so manifestly repugne so many euident places of Scripture which proue that in infaÌ„ts there is sinne by propagation To coÌ„firme this wee may add that S. Augustine in his first booke Contra Iulianum Pelagianum Cap. 2. gathereth together the testimonies of the most excellent bishops and doctours in the primatiue Church by whiche hee proueth
that all the ministers of the Churches euen from the Apostles time did both acknowledge and openly teach original sinne In that place he citeth the testimonies of IrenÄ™us Cyprian Retilius Olympius Hilarie and Ambrose his father and maister in Christian doctrine Innocent Gregorie Basil and Iohn Chrysostome And at length hée inferreth Wilt thou now call so great a consent of Catholique priestes a coÌ„spiracie of naughtie men Neither thincke thou that S. Hierome is to be coÌ„temned because he was but a priest onely and no bishop who being skilful in the Greeke Latine and Hebrue tongues and passinge from the West vnto the East Church liued in holy places and the studie of the sacred Scriptures euen to his croane crooked age He read all or in a maner al the woorkes of them whiche in both partes of the world did write of Ecclesiasticall doctrine and yet he neither held nor taught any otherwise of this point of doctrine And againe the same Augustine in his third booke De peccatoruÌ„ meritis remissione Cap. 7. sayeth Hierome expounding the propheâ—ie of Ionas when he came to that place where meÌ„tion is made that euen the little children were chastened with fasting sayth It began with the eldest and came euen to the yongest For there is none without sinne no not hee which is but one day old nor hee whose gray head hath seene many yeares For if the starres are not cleane in the sight of God how much more vncleane are duste and putrifying earth and those which are in subiection to the sinne of Adams transgression To these words of Hierome doeth Augustine himselfe annexe this that followeth If it were so that wee might easilie aske it of this most learned man how many teachers of the holie Scriptures in both the tongues and howe many writers of Christian treatises would hee reckon vp which since the time that Christ his Church was first planted haue themselues nether thought of their predecessours learned nor taught their successours any other thaÌ„ this doctrine touching originall sinne I verilie thoughe I haue read nothing so much as hee do not remember that I haue heard any other doctrine of Christians whiche admit or receiue both the testaments whether they were in the vnitie of the Catholique Church or otherwise in Schismes and heresies I doe not remember that I haue read any other thing in them whose writinges touching this matter I could come by to read them if either they did followe or thought that they did follow or would haue men beleeue that they did followe the Canonicall Scriptures Thus farre hath Augustine teaching in the very beginning that all the Sainctes did by a full consent and agréement in doctrine most expressely graunt and confesse that originall sinne is euen in newe borne infants Mée thincketh that Sainct Hierome did not onely in Ionas but also much more euidently in Ezechiel confesse and affirme originall sinne His wordes are to bée séene Comment lib. 14. in cap. 47. ad Ezechielem and are verbatun as followeth What man can make his boaste that hee hath a chaste heart or to whose minde by the windows of the eyes the death of concupiscence or to vse a mylder terme the tickling of the minde doth not enter in For the world is set in wickednesse euen from his childhood the hart of man is set to naughtinesse so that not the very first day of a mans natiuitie his nature is free from sinne and naughtinesse Wherevppon Dauid in the Psalme sayeth For behold I was coÌ„ceiued in iniquitie and in sinne my mother conceiued mee Not in the iniquities of my mother or in mine owne sinnes but in the iniquities of our mortall state And therfore the Apostle saith death reigned from Adam vnto Moses ouer them also whiche had not sinned with the like transgression as did Adam Thus much hath Hierome and we haue hetherto alledged al these sayings to the end wee might proue that originall sinne is the naturall or hereditarie corruption of mans nature Let vs nowe sée what and howe great the hereditarie naughtinesse or corruption of our nature is and what power it hath to woorke in man Our nature verilie as I shewed you aboue was before the fall most excellent and pure in oure father Adam but after the fall it did by Gods iuste iudgement become corrupte and vtterly naught which is in that naughtinesse by propagation or Extraduce deriued into all vs whiche are the posteritie and ofspring of Adam as both experience and the thing it selfe doe euidently declare as well in sucklings or infantes as those of riper yeares For euen very babes giue manifest tokens of euident deprauation so soone as they once beginne to bée able to doe any thing yea before they can perfectlye sounde any one syllable of a whole word All oure vnderstandinge is dull blunt grosse and altogether blinde in heauenlie things Our iudgement in diuine matters is peruerse and friuolous For there arise in vs most horrible and absurd thoughtes and opinions touching God his iudgementes â— wonderfull woorkes yea our whole minde is apt and readie to errours to fables and our owne destruction and when as our iudgements are nothing but méere follie yet doe wée preferre them farre aboue Gods wisedome whiche wee esteeme but foolishnesse in comparison of oure owne conceiptes and corrupte imaginations For hee lyed not whiche saide The naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirite of God for they are foolishnesse vnto him neither can he know them because they are spirituallie discerned Nowe Paule calleth him the naturall man which liueth naturally by the vitall spirite and is not regenerate by the holy Ghoste And since we all are such wée are therefore wholie ouercome and gouerned of Philautie that is too great a selfeloue and delight in our selues whereby all things that wee oure selues doe woorke doe highly please vs loking still verie busilie to oure owne selues and our commoditie when in the meane time wée neglecte all others yea rather doe afflicte them Neither did Plato vnaduisedly estéeme that vice of selfeloue to bee the very roote of euery euill Furthermore our whole will is ledd captiue by concupiscence which as a roote enuenomed with poyson infecteth all that is in man and doeth incline drawe on driue man to things carnall forbidden and contrarie to God to the end that hée maye gréedilie pursue them put all his delight in them and content him selfe wyth them Moreouer there is in vs no power or abilitie to doe any good For wée are sâ—owe sluggish and heauie to goodnesse but liuely quicke and readie enoughe to anye euill or naughtinesse And that I may at last conclude and briefely expresse the whole force and signification of our hereditarie deprauation and corruption I say that this deprauation of our nature is nothing else but the blotting of Gods Image in vs There was in oure father Adam before his fall the very Image and likenesse of God
all the world to wite Christe once offered vpp for vs which are by faith made partakers of him But nowe as we do not acknowledge or admitt the satisfactions that are obtruded vnto vs in the doctrine of the priestes and Monckes so do we by all meanes detest the indulgences of the Byshops of Rome They called these Indulgences a beneficiall pardoning of crimes or remission of the punishment or of the guilt or of both to wite by the power of the keyes bestowed by the Lorde and for the merite of the Martyrs bloud for so they saye graunted or giuen to them that are rightly contrite in heart and do confesse their sinnes For these fathers of Indulgences are wont with their Indulgences to remitt againe the rigour and seueritie of the satisfaction whiche lyeth in them to order at their discretion Truely as one saide The fathers gentle Indulgence doeth make the children naught So haue their Indulgences vtterly corrupted true repentance But thou canst read in no place that such power was giuē to the Popes as they did feigne We read that to the Apostles the keyes were giuen by the Lorde but those keyes were nothing else but the ministerie of preaching the Gospell as I in place conuenient will shewe vnto you Nowe the Gospell promiseth to vs remission both of the guilt and penaltie for Christe his sake and faith in Christ and doth admonishe vs that in the latter times there shall come men that shal saye we are Christes that is which shall attribute to them selues the things that do properly belong to Christe alone such as is especially the forgiuenesse of sinnes But it commaundeth vs to flie from them and by all meanes to take héede of them as of wicked seducers The same Euangelicall trueth doth teache that the faithfull are cleansed by the onely bloud of the sonne of God. Their indulgences do promise mē the cleansing of their sinnes through the bloud of S. Peter S. Paul and other holie Martyrs And for that cause are they the prophanation of the bloud of the sonne of god The Saincts do washe their garments in the bloud of the Lamb not in the pardoning bull or boxe of indulgences nor in the Martyrs bloud Yea Paule him selfe denyeth that either he or Peter or any other of the Sainctes was crucified for the Church of god And yet their indulgences were so sett foorth as though God were pleased with vs for the bloud of the Martyrs Therefore their indulgences are flatly contrarie to the Apostles doctrine And I admonished you in my Sermon of good woorkes in these woordes of Paule I fulfill that which is behinde of the afflictions of Christ in my fleshe for his bodies sake which is the Church that that fulfilling is not referred to the worke of the purging or propitiation of Christ which is consummate vnlesse Christe at his death did testifie falsly saying It is consummate but to those afflictions where with the members of Christ that is the faithful are exercised by the crosse so long as they liue in this fraile fleashe Verily the Lorde maketh accompt of the afflictions layde vppon the faithful as of his owne For to Paule he saide Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee Moreouer when he saith For the churche he meaneth not for the expiation of the churche but for the edification and profite of the same And Paule susteined gréeuons afflictions at the handes of the Iewes because he preached the Gospell to the Gentiles And it was expediēt that in him there should be shewed to the Church an example of Patience so rare as coulde not lightly be founde againe Yea other haue often times obiected against these indulgence defenders this godly saying of the holie man Pope Leo in his 81. Epistle Although the death of many Saincts is precious in the sight of the Lord yet the slaughter of no man subiect to sin is the propitiation for the sinnes of the worlde Again The righteous haue receiued not giuen Crownes of glorye and of the manful constancie of the Martyrs are sprong examples of patience not the gifts of righteousnes for their deaths were singular neither did any one by his ending pay the debt of another since there is one Lord Iesus Christe in whome they are all crucified dead buried and raysed vp againe Thus much out of pope Leo. We haue therfore by diuine and humane testimonies euidently proued that the indulgences giuen to sinners by the merite or treasure of the Martyrs bloud are méere blasphemies against God and open iniuries against his holye Martyrs I haue hetherto spoken of those indulgēces which were of olde fréely bestowed by the Popes of Rome although at this day they be few in number and curtayled too now therfore I will say somewhat of their indulgences which they for the moste parte doe sell and make traffique of To sell indulgences is in the Church of God a sinne so detestable as that it is harde to name any one more horrible And yet it is and hath bene a common practise and merchandize these many yéeres with the Bishops of Rome their factors whom they cal Apostoliques not hauing any one word in the scripture wherewith to cloak y wicked inuention And now though I slip ouer and doo not shew you how Indulgences are nothing but a bare name with out any stuffe or matter and that vnder that vaine name miserable men and silly soules are foulely deceiued yet note that Christ the chiefe and only high Prieste of his Catholique and holy Church in the dayes of his fleshe did with a whip driue the buyers and sellers as impudent dogges out of the Church of God whiche thing hee did twice Once at the beginning of his preaching and an other time a little before his Passion At the first time he added Away with these thinges from hence and make not my fathers house an house of merchādize At the latter time he saide It is written my house shall be called the house of prayer but ye haue made it a den of theeues And Simon Magus also in the Actes of the Apostles seeinge that by the laying on of the Apostles hands the holye Ghoste was giuen did offer them money saying Giue me this power also that on whome soeuer I lay my handes hee may receiue the holy Ghoste But hearken howe Peter accepteth his petition Thy money said he perishe with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of GOD may be obteined with money Thou haste neither parte nor fellowship in this businesse For thy harte is not right in the sight of God. Loe the giftes of God are not gotten with money Loe their harte is not righte that make merchandize of Religion Loe they haue no parte or fellowship in the inheritaunce of the kingdome of Heauen or in the preaching of the glad tidings therfore what shall we say now of the Indulgences whiche the Popes Apostoliques doe set to sale for money What shall we say of the very
immediately vppon Christe his death and ascension For after the same manner that I haue hetherto declared vnto you euen from the beginning of the world did all the holy Patriarchs Prophets and electe people of GOD beléeue and ground their faith Although I denie not but that the mysterie of the Trinitie was more cléerely expounded to the world by Christe yet is it euident by some vndoubted testimonies whiche I will adde anon that the mysterie of the Trinitie was very well knowen vnto the Patriarchs the Prophets but first by the way I will admonishe you that the holy Patriarchs and prophets of GOD did hold themselues content with the bare reuelation and woord of GOD not raysinge curious questions about the Vnitie and Trinitie of God. They did clearely vnderstand that there is one God the father of all the onely sauiour and authour of all goodnesse and that without or beside him there is none other God at all And they againe did euidently sée that the Sonne of GOD that promised séed hath all thinges common with the father for they did most plainely heare that hée is called the Sauiour and is the redéemer from whome all good thinges do procéede and are bestowed vppon the faithfull whereby nowe it was easte for them to gather that the father and the sonne are one God althoughe they differ in properties For in so much as they were assuredly certeine that the damnable doctrine of the pluralitie of Gods did spring from the diuel they did not worship many but one God whome notwithstanding they did beléeue to consist of a Trinitie of persons For Moses the vndoubted seruant of God in the very first verse of his first booke sayeth In the beginning Creauit dij God created heauen and earth Hee ioyneth héere a Verbe of the singular number to a Noune of the plurall number not to make incongruitie of speach but to note the mysterie of the Trinitie For the sense is as if hée should haue said That GOD which doeth consiste of thrée persons created heauen and earth For a litle after God consulting with him selfe about the making of man doeth say Let vs make man in our Image Loe héere he sayth Let vs make and not Let me make or I wil make And againe hee sayeth In our Image and not In my Image But least any man should thinke that this consultation was had with the Angels let him heare what God him selfe doeth say in Esaye I the Lord sayeth he make all thinges and stretch out the heauens alone of my selfe that is of mine owne power without any help or fellowe with mée and set the earth fast Therefore the Father consulted with the Sonne by whome also hee created the world And againe least any man should thincke as the Iewes obiecte that these things were after the order and custome of men spoken of God in the plurall number for honours sake and worshipp thou mayest heare what followeth in the end of the third Chapter Behold this man is become as one of vs in knowing good and euill Now heere by Enallage hee putteth these wordes Is become for Shall become or Shall happen so that his meaning is as if he should haue said Behold the same shall happen to Adam that shall come to one of vs that is to the Sonne to witt that hee should haue triall of good and euill that is that hee should féele sundrie fortunes namely sickenesse calamities and death and as the prouerb is should féele both swéete and sowre For that is the lot or condition of man But the Sonne being incarnate for vs not the Father nor the holy Ghost was found in shape as a man and had triall of sundrie fortunes of death whiche was foretold to Adam as it is manifest for consolations sake and not in the way of mockage For as the good Lord did with a garment strengthen the body of oure first parent against the vnseasonablenesse of the ayre when for his sinne he purposed to banishe him out of Paradise so did he comfort and chéere vpp his sorrowfull minde with a full example of the sonnes incarnation and suffering And when he had so armed him in body and soule he casteth him out of the Garden of felicitie into a carefull and miserable exile There are in euery place many examples of this matter like vnto this For Abraham sawe thrée but with them thrée he talked as with one and worshipped one And The Lord rayned vppon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone fire from the Lord out of heauen and ouerthrew those cities But least any man should interprete it and say The Lord rayned from the Lord that is from heauen he himselfe doth presently ad From heauen For as the father created all thinges by the Sonne so doth he by him preserue al things and doth euē still by him worke all things Nexte after Moses the notablest Prophete Dauid in his Psalmes doeth say By the word of the Lord were the heauens made and all the hostes of them by the breath of his mouth So heere thou hearest that there is one Lord in whome is the woord and the spirite both distinguished but not separated For the Lord made the heauens but by the Word the whole furniture of heauen doth stand by the Breath of the mouth of the lord The same Dauid sayeth The Lord sayd to my Lord sitt thou on my right hand vntill I make thine enimies thy footestoole Note that in an other place the same Dauid doth flatly saye that beside the Lord there is none other And yet héere againe he doeth as plainely saye The Lord said to my Lord meaning the father who had placed the sonne whiche was Dauids Lord at his right hand in heauē Out of Esaie may be gathered very many testimonies But the notablest of all the rest is that whiche Matthewe the Apostle citeth in these words Behold my sonne whome I haue chosen my beloued in whome my soule is pleased I will put my spirite vpon him c. With this agréeth that whiche Luke citeth saying The spirite of the Lord vppon me because hee hath annoynted mee to preache the Gospell to the poore hath hee sent mee c. In these testimonies heere thou hast the father the sonne and the holy Ghost A fewe out of many For I do not couet to turne ouer the whole scriptures of the old testament So then this faith wherewith wée doe beléeue in God the father y sonne and the holy Ghoste we haue receiued of God himselfe being deliuered vnto vs by the Prophetes Patriarchs but most euidently of all declared by the sonne of God him selfe oure Lord Iesus Christe and his holy Apostles wherevppon nowe we doe easilie gather wherfore it is that all the sincere bishops or ministers of the Churches together with the whole Church of Christe haue euer since the Apostles time with so firme a cōsent mainteyned and had this faith in honour It were
the admonition of the most wise man Iesus Syrache saying Seeke not out the things that are too hard for thee neither search after things which are too mightie for thee But what God hath commaunded thee thinke thou alwayes therevpon and bee not too curious in many of his workes for it is not needfull for thee to see with thine eyes the things that be secrete In the meane time truly they do not contemne neither yet neglect those things which it hath pleased God by the open scriptures to reueale to his seruants touching this matter Of Gods foreknowledge there are many testimonies especially in the prophecie of Isaie chapter 41. and in the chapters following whereby also the Lorde doth declare that he is the true god Furthermore God by his eternall and vnchaungeable counsel hath foreappointed who are to be saued and who are to be condēmned Now the end or the decrée of life and death is short and manifest to al the godly The end of predestination or foreappointment is Christe the sonne of God the father For God hath ordeydeined and decréed to saue all howe many so euer haue communion and felowship with Christ his only begotten sonn and to destroy or condemne all howe many so euer haue no part in the communion or fellowship of Christe his onely sonne Nowe the faithfull verily haue fellowship with Christ and the vnfaithful are straungers from Christ For Paule in his Epistle to the Ephesians sayth God hath chosen vs in Christe before the foundations of the world were layd that we should be holy and without blame before him through loue who hath predestinate vs into his sonnes through Iesus Christ into him selfe according to the good pleasure of his will that the glorie of his grace may be praysed wherewith he is pleased with vs in his beloued Loe God hath chosen vs and he hath chosen vs before the foūdations of the world were layde yea he hath chosen vs that we shoulde be without blame that is to be heires of eternall life howbeit in Christe by and through Christe hath he chosen vs And yet againe more plainer hee hath predestinate vs saith he to adopt vs into his sonnes but by Christe and that too hath he done fréely to the intent that to his diuine grace glory might be giuen Therefore who so euer are in Christ are chosen and elected For Iohn the Apostle saieth Who so hath the sonne hathe life who so hathe not the sonne of god hath not life With the doctrine of the Apostles agréeth that also of the Gospell For in the Gospell the Lorde sayth This is the will of him that sent me the father that euerie one whiche seeth the sonne and beleeueth in him shoulde haue euerlasting life and I will raise him vp in the last day Loe this is the will or eternall decrée of GOD saith he that in the sonne by faith we should be saued Againe on the contrarie part touching those that are predestinate to death the Lorde saith He that beleeueth not is condemned alreadie bycause hee hath not beleeued in the name of the onely begotten sonne of god And this is the condemnatiō that light is come into the world and men haue loued darknesse more than light Therefore if thou aske me whether thou art elected to lyfe or predestinate to death that is whether thou arte of the number of them that are to be damned or that are to be saued I answere simply out of the scripture bothe of the Euangelistes and the Apostles If thou haste communion or fellowship with Christe thou art predestinate to life and thou arte of the number of the elect and chosen but if thou be a straunger from Christe howe so euer otherwise thou seeme to flourish in vertues thou arte predestinate to death and foreknowledged as they say to damnation Higher and déeper I wil not créepe into the seate of Gods counsell And here I rehearse againe the former testimonies of Scripture God hath predestinate vs to adopt vs into his sonnes through Iesus Christe This is the will of God that who so beleeueth in the sonne should liue and who so beleeueth not shoulde dye Faithe therefore is a moste assured signe that thou art elected and whiles thou art called to the Communion of Christe and art taught faith the most louing GOD declareth towardes thée his election and good will. The simpler sort verily are greatly tempted and excéedingly troubled with the question of election For the diuell goeth about to throwe into their myndes the hate of GOD as though he enuyed vs oure saluation and had appointed and ordeyned vs to death That he may the more easily persuade this vnto vs he laboureth tooth and nayle wickedly to inféeble and ouerthrowe our fayth as though our saluation were doubtfull whiche leaneth and is stayed vppon the vncerteine election of god Against these fierie weapons the sernauntes of GOD doe arme their heartes with cogitations and comfortes of this sorte fetched out of the Scripture Gods Predestination is not stayed or stirred with any worthinesse or vnworthinesse of oures but of the méere grace and mercie of GOD the father it respecteth Christe alone And bycause our saluation doth stay onely vppon him it can not but be most certeine For they are wrong that thinke those that are to be saued to life are predestinate of GOD for the merites sake or good workes whiche GOD did foresée in them For notably sayeth the Apostle Paule Hee hath chosen vs in Christe into him self according to the good pleasure of his will that the glory of his grace might bee praysed And againe It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Againe GOD hathe saued vs and called vs with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his owne purpose and grace whiche was giuen vnto vs throughe Christe Iesus before the worlde was but is nowe made manifest by the appearing of oure Lorde Iesus Christe Fréely therefore of his meere mercy not for our desarts but for Christes sake not but in Christe hath he chosen vs and for Christes sake doth embrace vs bycause he is our father and a louer of men Of whome also speaketh the Prophete Dauid The Lorde is full of compassion and mercy slowe to anger and of great kindenesse And as a father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lorde compassion on them that feare him for he knoweth wherof wee bee made and remembereth that we are but dust Moreouer in the Prophete Isaie we reade Can a woman forget her childe and not haue compassion on the sonne of her wombe Though she should forget yet will not I forget thee Truely in Christe the onely begotten sonne of God exhibited vnto vs GOD the Father hath declared what greate store he setteth by vs Therevpon doth the Apostle gather Who spared not his sonne but gaue him for vs al howe can
histories declare more largelie Of this King Christ the Prophets prophecying said And in mercie shal the seate be prepared and he shall sitt vpon it in trueth in the tabernacle of Dauid iudging and seeking iudgement and making haste vnto righteousnes And againe Beholde the time commeth saith the Lorde that I will raise vp the righteous brauÌ„che of Dauid which King shall beare rule he shall prosper with wisdome and shall set vp equitie and righteousnes againe in the earth In his time shall Iuda be saued and Israel shall dwell without feare and this is the name that they shall call him The Lorde our righteousnesse And because our Lord is a king therefore be must néeds haue a kingdome As well the realme dominion subiecte to a kinge is called a kingdoÌ„e as principalitie empire power maÌ„ner of gouernment it selfe Therefore the church the communion or fellowship of saints béeing obedient subiect to their king Christe is called the kingdoÌ„e of god For Micheas saith And the Lord shall reigne ouer them in mount Sion therfore Sion which signifieth the church is the kingdome of god And god is said to reigne when in the church he ruleth gouerneth kéepeth defendeth those that be his and indueth and maketh theÌ„ fruitful with diuerse graces For Paule saith The kingdome of God is not meate and drink but righteousnes peace ioy in the holy ghost Moreouer the kingdome of god is that eternall glorie felicitie which God dâ—eth communicate to his elect For the Lord saith in the gospel Comeye blessed of my father inherit the kingdome which is prepared for you froÌ„ the beginning of the world And the théefe euen at point of death making his praâ—er to the Lord who was redy to dye on the crosse desiring to bee â—artaker of this kingdoÌ„e saith Lord remember me when thou coÌ„mest into thy kingdome â–ª Againe since y gospel teacheth vs how God reigneth in vs in this world in time to translate vs vnto him self into that other that is since the gospell is that thing by which the Lord reareth vp his dominion it is not vnaduisedly called of Matthew in his 13. cap. the kingdome of god In another place for the same cause it is called the word of the kingdome To be short we at this preseÌ„t by the kingdome of God vnderstand the coÌ„gregation of saints it self the catholique church I meane and the power or administratioÌ„ of God reigning therein that is preseruing gouerning glorifying the same And this kingdome of god is verily but only one for ther is but one God only one king Christ only one church â— life â—uerlasting But his one kingdome of god according to he dispensation 〈…〉 two wayes First acording to y omâ—ipotencie of god For he 〈◊〉 he iâ— the highest omnipotent hath executeth ouer all creatures visible inuisible â—oste iust rule and equall powerâ— nill they or will they be obedient Secondly according to his spirits whereby he reigneth in his elect And so y kingdoÌ„e of God is againe two waies coÌ„sidered For either it is earthly is called the kingdome of grace or else it is heauenlye and is called the kingdome of glorie The earthly kingdome of grace is not therefore called earthly as though it were carnall earthly like the kingdome of Babylon Persia Alexander or Rome but because it is on earth For a good parte of the holie churche of God is conuersant on this earth beeing partaker of flesh bloud while it â—â—eth on the earth though it liue not an earthly life according to the â—â—esh For acording to the spirit whereby it is ruled it liueth a heauenly life Not that the partakers of the kingdome of God sinne not For the iust man falleth riseth seuen times in a day Whervpon it is also called the kingdome of grace For as long as we liue in this world our King Lord neuer denyeth his grace mercie to vs that craue pardon And the faithfull doe wholie hange vppon the grace of their king they embrace continuall repentance and endeuor theÌ„ selues to things of more perfectnesse For they frame all that they do according to the lawes of their king prince For he reigneth in his elect by the worde of truth and by the holie ghost By the word of truethe hee teacheth what the Saintes should doe and what they should auoide By his holie spirit he moueth their hartes and giueth strength to 〈◊〉 euill and followe that is good For truely our king reigneth not so much for him self as for vs For he maketh vs also kinges that we béeing deliuered from the diuell damnation sinne and the curse may be Lords ouer the diuel damnation sinne and the cursse yea ouer all thinges and ioynâ—t-heires with the sonne of God him self For these causes the kingdoÌ„e of God is called a spirituall kingdoÌ„e For the partakers of the kingdome of God indued with the spirite of God doe bring foorth the fruites of the spirit not the works of the flesh and to be short are gouerned with the spirit of god Neither truelie doeth our Lorde reigne after the manner of the kinges of this worlde sayinge to Pilate My kingdome is not of this worlde Which sentence some abuse gathering y there is no ouâ—ward gouernemeÌ„t in the church of God vnder whiche name they also take away the office of a Magistrate and speake so subtilely of the kingdome of God that a man cannot tell where the kingdome of God is or who be partakers of this kingdome They vnderstand nâ—t that the meaning must bee gathered vppon the occasion of that saying The Iewes accusing the Lorde before Pilate laide to his charge that he ambition flye sought after a kingdome The lord clering him self of this crime sheweth Pilate that his kingdome shal not be such a one whiche after hee had cast out Tiberius Caesar should be gotten and kepte with armes and be gouerned after the manner of this worlde declaring that he addeth If my kingdome were of this world then would my seruaunts surely fighte that I should not bee deliuered to the Iewes Therefore he inferreth But now is my kingdome not from hence therefore they fight not for me to place main the throne of the kingdome Tiberius béeing cast out And anon he saith For this cause was I borne and for this cause came I into the worlde that I should beare witnesse vnto the truethe and all that are of the truethe heare mye voice As therefore Christ by trueth not by lyinge deceipts and craftie practises like the Princes of this worlde prepareth him selfe a kingdome so by trueth he doeth bothe reteine gouerne his kingdome and whosoeuer imbrace trueth are partakers of Christes kingdome whether they be princes or of the coÌ„monaltie all these obey the voice of their king and serue their highest prince Héere neuerthelesse we expresly add y Kings can no
Heauen Daniel also in his Prophecie describeth the rysing and fallinge of all kingdomes of Antichrist also but attributeth no end to the kingdome of the Saincts or holie people but witnesseth that it shall be euerlasting The same doeth the Prophet Zacharie also in his 12. chapter For the Sainctes reigne on the Earthe by Christe and béeing translated from the Earth into Heauen they shall reigne together with theire kinge Christe for euer And the Scripture is woont oftentimes to speake of one of these kingdomes onely Of bothe these kingdomes wee vnderstande many places of Scripture first of all that which is spoken by our sautour WheÌ„ ye pray say O our father which art in heauen hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come For we pray y he would reign in vs while we liue on earth that we also may reigne ouer the world and the Prince of the worlde and that we be not ruled by Sathan neither that sinne reigne in vs but rather that we here béeing gouerned by him self may in time to come reigne with Christ in Heauen Contrariwise what manner of kingdome the kingdome of the world is it appeareth by considering the head or the king and prince therof which is the diuel the Authour of sinne of vncleannesse and of death He reigneth in the worlde the Prince doubtlesse of the kingdome of darcknesse Not that God and his Christe is not king of all things but because vnfaithful apostataes thrugh their owne proper malice reuolting from God to the diuell doe appoint him for their prince to whome euen of their owne accorde they submitt and yéelde them selues to be gouerned liueing in all vngodlynesse wickednesse and vncleannesse framing them selues like to their head the diuell with whome they shall be punished euerlastingly in the worlde to come as in this worlde they haue suffered them selues to be gouerned of him doeing his will. This prince of this worlde else where also called The GOD of this worlde hath Christe the true Kinge and Monarche of the worlde ouercome and hath destroyed his kingdome not that hee should not be as long as this worlde indureth but that he should not hurt the elect Sathan doeth liue and shall liue for euer how be it in miserie which life in very â—eâ—e is death but he hath no power against them y be redéemed by Christ the prince He hath and shal haue a kingdome euen vnto th' end of the world but in the children of vnbelief this kingdoÌ„e also in this world is in decaying as it were momeÌ„tany for a short time For the world passeth away all worldly things perish but all the elect of God are very strauÌ„gers froÌ„ this kingdoÌ„e yea they are as it were sworn enimies of this kingdome Neither can the prince of darcknes by his power pul away the partakers of the kingdome of Christ into his kingdome of iniquitie Truly he goeth about this diligently and with diuerse tentations vexeth the elect but those ouercoÌ„e through him which in time past vanquished the false King prince of théeues and taught vs that despising this filthy prince the world and the lustes of the world giuing our mindes to innocencie we shuld yéeld our selues to the good spirit to be gouerned These things haue I thus far declared as briefly as I culd touching the king Christ his onely and euerlasting kingdome And now Christ our Lord is a Prieste yea that chiefest only and euerlasting priest whom the high priestes of the olde people did prefigure shadowe out For Dauid in his song altogether diuine saith The Lord sware will not repent him thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchizedek Which words the blessed Apostle alledging and expounding in his Epistle to the Hebrues hath left these words written The forerunner saith he is for vs entred into heauen after the order of Melchizedek made a Prieste foreuer For this Melchizedek Kinge of SaleÌ„ priest of the most high god who met Abraham coÌ„ming froÌ„ the slaughter or kings blessed him to whome also Abraham gaue the tenthes of all things who first indeed is caled by interpretation the king of righteousnes theÌ„ also king of Salem whiche is king of peace of an vnknowen father of an vnknowen mother of vnknoweÌ„ kin neither hauing beginning of dayes nor end of life but likened to the soÌ„ne of God remaineth a prieste for euer Surely our Lord Iesus Christ is both a righteous and peaceable king and the righteousnesse and peace of the faithfull and he is that euerlasting Prieste who according to his humanitie is beléeued to be borne of the virgin without séede of man therefore of an vnknowen father and according to his diuinitie begotten of the father therefore of an vnknowen mother and vnspeakably begotten from euerlasting and therefore of vnknowen kin hauing neither beginning nor end of life For albeit according to his humanity he was dead and buried yet according to his diuinitie he remaineth God immortall euerlasting The selfe same which is a king is also acknowledged a priest not according to the order of AaroÌ„ but according to the order of Melchizedek For as the scripture remeÌ„breth this one a priest so one Christ remaineth priest for euer hauing an euerlasting priesthood But high priestes in time past were caled annointed they did not thrust theÌ„ selues into such an office by force or deceipt Wherevpon the Apostle said No man taketh the honor to him self but he that is called of god as was Aaron so also Christ took not glorie to himself to be made high Priest but is made coÌ„firmed of him who said vnto him thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee As he saith also in another place Thou art a priest foreuer after the order of Melchizedech But thou doest no where read that that our Priest was annointed with visible oile for hée was annointed with inuisible oile namely with the fulnesse of the holie Ghost as the prophet witnesseth Thy god hath annointed thee with the oile of gladnes aboue thy fellowes And againe The spirite of the Lord vppon me for the Lord hath annointed me sent me to preach good tidings vnto the poore Furthermore wheÌ„ we read that the office of Priests in times past was to serue in the tabernacle to teach the people to make intercession betwene God men to pray for the people and to blesse them to sacrifice also and to coÌ„secrate or sanctifie that now it is manifest that Iesus Christ is the lawful priest it is certeine y he is tied to the self same offices but indede to so much more excelleÌ„t thaÌ„ these by how much he hath obteined a more excellent priesthood Those priestes after the order of Aaron serued in the corruptible figuratiue tabernacle but our Lord béeing takeÌ„ vp into the true tabernacle heauen it selfe ministreth to all the saincts of god For
right hand of the father in heauen doeth not so oftentimes humbly fal downe on his knées and make intercession for vs as we doe sinne In the dayes of his flesh when he did offer vp praiers supplications with strong crying and teares hee was once heard in that which he feared For nowe he alwayes appeareth for vs in the presence of god Al our matters are manifest in his sight the father beeholdeth the face of his Christe for whose sake he is pleased with all his members hearing them and giuing them whatsoeuer healthful things they require according to that saying of our sauiour Verily verily I say vnto you Whatsoeuer ye shall aske the Father in my name he shal giue it you Therfore here wee must imagine no turmoyles no molestation no labour wherwith he shuld be wearied which is the intercessour aduocate priest of al before God the father in heaueÌ„ Whereof also I put you in minde in my last sermoÌ„ where I entreated of inuocation and intercession Wherfore our priest executing his office before God in heauen hathe néede of no altar of inceÌ„se no censer no holy vesselles or garments muche lesse hath he néede of the altar of burnt offerings For on the crosse which was his altar he offered vp him selfe but once for al. Neither was there any mortal man worthie to offer to the liuing god the liuing sonne of god And that only sacrifice is alwayes effectuall to make satisfaction for all the sinnes of all men in the whole world And though in the discourse of the ceremoniall lawes I haue alleadged many testimonies touching these things yet I caÌ„ not stay my self here but must cite vnto you some that be notable For this matter wherin the fruite of Christes diuinitie humanitie to be short al our saluation consisteth cannot worthily and diligently ynough be printed in mens harts Paule vnto the Hebrues speaking of the priestes of the olde Testamente and comparing Christ our high priest with them yea by all meanes preferring him sayth And among them many were made priests because they were not suffered to indure by reason of death But Christ because he indureth for euer hathe an euerlasting or vnchangeable priesthod for that it doth not palle ouer to another by succession Wherfore he is able also perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing hee euer liueth to make intercession for them For such an high prieste it became vs to haue which is holy harmelesse vndefiled separate from sinnes made higher than the Heauens which needed not daily as those high priests to offer vp sacrifice first for his owne sinnes then for the peoples for that did hee once when he offred vp himself And againe he sayth Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands whiche are the similitudes of the true sanctuarie but into heauen it selfe to appeare nowe in the sight of God for vs Not that he should offer himselfe often as the highe priestes entred into the holie places euerie yere in strange or with other bloud For theÌ„ muâ—t he haue often suffered since the foundation of the world But now in the end of the worlde hath he appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed vnto men that they shall once die and after that coÌ„meth the iudgement Euen so Christ once offered to take away the sins of many the second time shal be seene without sinne of them whiche waite for him vnto saluation And againe the same Paule saith Euerie priest appeareth daily ministring and oftentimes offereth one manner of offering which can neuer take away sinnes but this ma after he had offered one sacrifice foâ— sinns sitteth for euer at the right hand of God and from hencefoorth tarrieth til his enimies be made his footstoole For with one offering hath he made perfect or consecrated for euer theÌ„ that are sanctified All these sayinges hitherto are the Apostle Paules And I think that these testimonies are not to be made manifest and agréeable to our purpose by a larger interpretation For they are all euen without any exposition of ours most euident and verie aptly agrée to the matter which we haue in hand For they doe plainely set forth and lay before our eyes to beholde the whole priesthood of Christ specially that which belongeth to the intercession and the onely and euerlasting sacrifice or satisfaction for sinnes It belongeth also to the same priesthoode to consecrate priestes vnto God all the faithfull not that we should offer for the satisfaction of sinnes but that we shoulde offer our prayers thankesgiuinges and our selues and the dueties of Godlinesse as it were euerie momente For Saint Iohn the Apostle and Euangeliste sayeth Iesus Christe prince of the Kinges of the earth loued vs and washed vs from our sinnes in his owne bloud made vs kinges and priestes vnto God and his father We may finde the same sentence also in the Epistle of Saint Peter So that in these we may sée what fruite riseth and floweth vnto vs from the diuinitie and humanitie of Christe oure king and highe priest For he coulde not be prince of kings highe priest vnlesse he were God and man. Here this place requireth to speak somewhat of the name of a Christian and of the dueties of a Christian man We haue the name of Christians of Christ to whome being vnseparably knitte we are the members of that bodye whereof he is head And Christe is not his proper name for he is called Iesus but a name of office deriued from the Gréeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche signifieth annoynting so Christ signifieth asmuch as annointed Therfore Tertullian saith it is not a proper name but a name attributed And hee addeth Annointed is no more a name than cloathed or apparelled a thing accident to the name But the kinges high priestes were annointed with oyle therefore Christ signifieth vnto vs him that is king high priest or Bishop And because we are named Christians of Christe who hath annointed vs with the holy ghost truely we also are kings priestes Where you may sée how great a benefite we haue receiued of Christe God man for he hath made vs kings priestes We sée what the dutie of christians is namely to mainteine this dignitie euen to the last gaspe lest it be taken from vs againe by sathan Furthermore if we be kings we are Lordes ouer thinges and are frée ruling not ruled or in subiection Frée I say froÌ„ sinne and euerlasting death and from all vncleannesse Lords ouer sathan prince of this worlde and ouer the world it selfe For we rule the world and the fleshe wee are not ruled by them Herevnto belong those wordes of the Apostle Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodie that ye shoulde therunto obey by the lustes of it Neither giue ye your members as instruments or weapons of
Iohn 52. asketh the question Whether sathan were not cast out of the mindes of the prophetes and patriarchs since it is reported in the gospel that he is cast out by Christ And he maketh answere Verily he is cast out quite How therefore is it saide He shall now be cast out How think wee but because that whiche came to passe in verie fewe menne is euen now foretolde that it shall come to passe shortly in manie and mighty people As that saying but the holie ghoste was not yet giueÌ„ Because Iesus was not yet glorified may haue the like question the like answere For that abundance of spirituall grace was not giuen as yet whiche afterwarde was giuen Thus farre he Furthermore when the Apostle saith That we sight against spiritual wickednesses in heauenly places by heauenly he meaneth not heauenly ioyes placeing the diuels in heauen againe but the aire that is the lower parte of the world yea and the worlde it selfe For he saith elsewhere According to the spirite that ruleth in the aire And truelie the Princes of this worlde are in the aire aboue beneath and aboute vs assaulting vs on euery side Otherwise neither heauen nor the lower region of the aire is subiecte to the rule of diuels that therein they may doe what they wil or abuse it as they list but so farre foorth as God of his iust iudgement shall permit For in this disputation we muste alwayes holde for a confessed and vndoubted trueth that our Lord God is Kinge and gouernour of all creatures and that he kéepeth still his dominion ouer all creatures and exerciseth the same after a moste iuste and equall maÌ„ner And although out of all these thinges might bee gathered howe great and what manner of operation the diuels is yet therevnto wil I ad somewhat more least any thinge should séeme to bee wanting in this matter In the description of the diuell I drewe into two heads all his effects worke or operations For diuels are aduersaries to God enimies to men whose whole endeuours driftes tend to the despising of God and to the deceiuing and destruction of men The suÌ„me therefore is this They bend all their force to the contempt of God and destruction of men And that their power to hurte is not small and their vnderstanding also quick to bring all their purposes to effect we haue heard once or twise alreadie That they haue a wil to doe hurt there is no cause why any man shuld dout For that Lord said to his disciples in the gospel Beholde sathaÌ„ hath earnestly desired to sift you as it were wheat And again Watch pray lest ye enter into tentation And S. Peter saith Your aduersarie as a roring lion rangeth vp downe seeking whom he may deuoure And that he withstandeth God and with continuall labour gaine-sayeth God and stirreth vp all creatures to the hating and despising of God that scripture doth euery where testifie He did wickedly instill into the mindes of our first parentes an opinion altogether vnworthye of God as though maliciously hee did enuie at their blessed state For hee said by the serpent Hath God said ye shall not eate of that tree And anon Ye shall not dye the death For God doth knowe that the same day that ye eate thereof your eyes shal be opened and ye shal be as gods knowing good and euill Vnto whiche deceiptfull wordes when they gaue credit they them selues perished drew with them the whole worlde into ruine and destruction Neither at this day verily ceasseth he so slauÌ„der and speak euil aswel of God him selfe as also of his works to th' intent that he might draw vs together with him into y hating of God into distrust desperation and to euerlasting destructioÌ„ For he enuyeth vs our saluation where vnto we are ordeined by Christ But it is better to speake somewhat more distinctly of this thing SathaÌ„ hurtes men in their mindes in their bodies in their goods For he enticeth and prouoketh our minds to sinne Furthermore he also troubleth y mindes of men driueth them into an outrage and béeing out of quiet in this their outrage he miserably vexeth tormenâ—eth 〈…〉 them â—â—â—â—vpon thou maist read that some physicians call this madnes or outrage an euil spirit or wicked diuel But he diuersly plagueth their bodies chiefly with diseases We haue that most holie man Iob for an example In the gospel after S. Luke it is said that that woman which was bowed together was bound by Sathan xviij yéeres Againe in the gospel according to S. Mark we read of a childe which had a dumb spirit And when soeuer he taketh him he teareth him and hee someth and gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away and casting him selfe on the ground lieth groueling This self same euil spirit taketh away froÌ„ men their goods wasteth and diminisheth their substance and wordly wealth Which thinge againe is manifest in the historie of Iob of the gospel For Iob is spoiled of all his substance sathaÌ„ so ordering y matter by souldiers robbers The herd of swine also béeing drowned strangled in the sea wrought greate losse to the Gergesites béeing violeÌ„tly caried away of that diuels were tumbled headlong into the sea Furthermore this mischefous miscreaÌ„t in accoÌ„plishing these things doth soÌ„ewhat by him self by wicked angels his fellowes somewhat by other creatures By him self he worketh outwardly inwardly by teÌ„pting prouoking meÌ„ For he casteth before our eies counterfait deceiptfull shapes chaunging him selfe into an angel of light he windeth him self into the mindes of men He speaketh vnto vs setting before vs gay promises most greuous threatnings howbeit all of them coloured with deceiptes and lies For oftentimes he bringeth reasons probable indéede apparant yea places of Scripture at a blushe very agréeable but yet maliciously wreâ—â—ed to his owne purpose And by this meanes he either hindereth and maimeth true faith in the mindes of men or else he taketh it away vterlie ouerthroweth it and by and by he possesseth theÌ„ wholy driueth them into most certeine perdition So it is said that wheÌ„ he had entred into Iudas hart he cast him wholy headlong into euerlasting destructioÌ„ The hart of man is open vnto God only for he only is the searcher of the harte and reines But the diuell by circumuenting men with his guileful practises and by putting wicked persuasions into their hartes is said to enter into mens harts And he worketh against maÌ„ by other creatures also as by elements when he raiseth fire windes waters haile suche like calamities against vs Furthermore he stirreth vp meÌ„ against vs our frends to vexe and betray vs our enimies to consume bring vs to our end w persecutions battels bloudsheds The history of Iob yet again bereth witnes of these things Wherevnto thou maist reckon persecutions laid vpon the worshipers of
Chrysostome Against these thinges they oppose the appering of Samuel fetched 〈◊〉 the holie Scriptures 〈…〉 goe about to proue that 〈…〉 againe after death and instruâ—t men touching thinges which they shall demaund We answere in few woods that that disguised masker which séemed to be Samuel was called Samuel by a trope or figure but in very déede he was not Samuel For of a certeintie it was a spirite a iugling and delusion of sathan For sorcerie is streightly forbidden in the law of the Lorde therefore blessed spirites obey not forbidden ways and vnlawfull practises which when they were as yet ioyned with their fleshy bodies by all meanes abhorred and resisted them in their assaultes as for damned spirites they exercise them selues therein But who would beléeue their oracles Samuel say they foretolde what happened the morrowe after And what of that That was no hard matter for the diuell since that the true and liuing Samuel foretolde many things a litle while before but this craftie foxe might foreknowe the iudgement of GOD whiche was to come euen by things present and by the 〈◊〉 and quaking of the hoastes 〈◊〉 in his booke De Anima saith God forbid we should beleue that the soule of any Saint much lesse the soule of a Prophete can be fetcht vp by the diuell since wee haue learned that sathan is transfourmed into an Angel of light much more into a man of light yea that hee will pretend that he is God and will shewe wonderfull signes to ouerthrowe if it 〈…〉 euen the elect c. S. Augustine is of the same iudgemeâ—â—â—oncerning that appearing 〈…〉 Simplicianum 2. quaest 3. And 〈…〉 quaest c. 〈◊〉 testimonies it is aboundantle 〈…〉 trust that soules of 〈…〉 from bodies doe not wander or appeare after death in these regions For they remaine vntill iudgement in the places appointed for them by the determination and prouidenâ—e of god Wherefore they are neither sent by God neyther can they enter in vnto men to instructe and warne them eyther of things present or of things to come Wherevpon it foloweth that appearings of soules that reuelations and oracles are méere delusions of Sathan ordeyned contrarie to the sinceritie and purenesse of true religion And bicause they which do what they can to proue vnto vs that there is purgatorie vse the defence and safegard of these vanities it is vndoubtedly true that they proue a falshood by deceite and an vncerteine thing by a thing of muche more vncerteintie Furthermore it remaineth vndoubtedly true that purgatorie wherein soules hauing put off their bodies shuld be purged vnto life euerlasting can not be shewed out of the Scriptures And bycause we haue remoued and put by the lets whiche were cast in the way to hinder the most spéedie iournie we returne to oure purpose wherein we intended to declare that the soules of the faithfull separated by death from the body doe immediately after the death of the body passe the right and ready way into heauen so most certeinly and vpon the souden be saued Likewise we vnderstand that the soules of the vnfaithful are thrust downe the right and ready way into hell and that by and by after the death of the body they perishe with most certeine and souden damnation For the Lorde expresly sayth in the Gospell Hee that beleeueth in the sonne of God is not condemned or iudged but he that beleueth not is condemned or iudged already bicause hee hath not beleeued in the name of the onely begotten sonne of God. Againe He that beleeueth in the sonne of God hath eternall life but he that beleeueth not the sonne shal not see life but the wrath of god abideth in him And yet againe This is the will of him that sent mee that euery one which seeth the sonne and beleeueth on him hath euerlasting life and I will raise him vp at the last day Nowe the last day of man is the point of death in it Christe saueth vs by his power leaste our soule shoulde eyther perishe or féele any torments but that it might liue and inioy euerlasting blessednesse Moreouer the last days is that last daye of iudgement wherein Christ shal raise againe and iudge al flesh glorifying the bodies of his faithful people vnto life euerlasting Againe the Lord sayth in the Gospell Verily verily I say vnto you he that heareth my worde and beleueth on him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shal not come into iudgmeÌ„t or damnation but is escaped from death vnto life These only wordes of our Lorde are able enough without any gainesaying to set foorth declare proue and confirme sufficiently our opinion concerning the moste certeine and souden saluation of soules For first of all lest any man shuld doubt of the most assured trueth touching the matter whiche he was setting foorth immediately vpon the beginning most holily he sweareth that is to say he confirmeth the trueth by giuing witnesse therevnto with an othe Afterwardes he annexeth the whole maner of our saluation which consisteth in hearing the word of god and in true faith which receiueth the truth of Gods worde For it is not enough to haue hearde the word of the gospel vnlesse we â—leaâ—e vnto y same by true faith But nowe marke with what assurance Christ promiseth life and saluation to them that beléeue in him Hee hath life euerlasting saithe he he said He hath not He shal haue Therefore he lefte no space either to doubting or to space of time Yea yet more plainely by interpretation expounding when and how the faithful haue or obteine life he saith He shall not come into iudgement or damnation but is escaped from death vnto life They come into iudgemeÌ„t which haue their cause to be examined and discussed before the iudg They come also into iudgemeÌ„t which by the sentence of the iudge are punished for their euil cause But the faithful haue no cause to be tryed and disenssed before the iudge For their sinnes are fully forgiuen them It is God which iustifieth and forgiueth Who is he that condemneth Therefore they are not subiecte to any punishments for Christ bare the punishmeÌ„t of the crosse the his faithful people might be deliuered saued harmeles from all torments But rather least anye man should thincke there were a stay or space of time betwéene the death of the bodie the life of the world to come hee sayeth But is escaped from death vnto life Loe he sayth Hee is escaped not Hee shal escape that by the Verbe of the Pretertence he might signifie the certeintie of the time past and might shewe that the soules of them that beléeue are by and by after the death of the bodie caught vpp into life euerlasting And I know well enough that the aduersaries héere haue no soâ—nd argument to sett against so manifest and inuincible a truth In déede with their wrangling words and their Sophistâ—ie they maye wrestle with the trueth but to
and all his members And in this sort now a dayes haue wee forsaken that sea of Rome flowing with false doctrine idolatrie and the bloud of innocent martyrs haue embraced the doctrine of the Gospel and of the Apostles and therefore Christ himselfe the head of the church which is the fellowshipp of all sainctes beléeuing in Christ And this hetherto haue I spoken by digression I nowe returne to the treatise of the catholique church that I may make an end of those thinges whiche remaine to be spoken And to that end that greater light and force maye be added to those thinges which I haue hetherto spoken of the churche I will nowe bring out certeine parables out of the holy scriptures whereby those thinges are as it were painted out before our eyes And so shal it be easie for euerie man to put a difference betwéene the inward and the outward churche and to knowe what either apperteyneth properly to euery one or else what is not proper First of all the church is set forth vnto vs vnder the shape and fashion of a house A house is builded to this ende that men maye dwell in it and it is builded by workemen of matter of all sorts of wood of stones and morter the foundation beeing first layde vppon which are set walls which are ioyned together with a corner stone last of all is added or placed alofte the roofe without whiche the whole building by little and little rotting woulde fall downe decay I said that the churche is the house of God the chiefe maister builder whereof is God himselfe who in the figure therof that is to say in the tabernacle made by Moses and temple builded by Solomon did deliuer both vnto Moses and Dauid the fashion of the temple according to whiche patterne they should build it For god from the beginning kept the Angels that they should not fall but repaired man being fallen into sinne death euen streighte wayes after the beginning of the world sanctifying a church vnto himselfe whiche hee also seuered out cōpassing it about with his word And this fashion of the church it is altogether néedful that we kéepe that we receiue not any other fashiō either of Emperor or Pope or deliuered by any other mā The true master builder of this house of God saith in the Gospel Vpō this rock I wil build my church For the same sonne of God is he that maketh vs worthie of his kingdome he giueth vs faith by whiche wee are made true members of the churche of god But albeit the Lord himselfe bée the onely and principall builder of his church yet he refuseth not the labours of men in the building yea rather hee ioyneth men with him in building of the church whome also he vouchsafeth to call maister builders For Paule sayeth As a skilfull maister builder I haue laid the foūdation And againe Who is Paule and who is Apollos but the ministers by whom ye beleeued as the Lord gaue to euery mā I haue planted Apollos watered but God gaue the increase So then neither is hee that planteth any thinge neither hee that watereth but God that giueth the increase Againe We together are Gods labourers ye are Gods husbandrie Gods building Wée will make the matter plaine by an example What time God would raise vp a house vnto himselfe amonge the Gentiles first of all hee endued with his grace Cornelius the gouernour of the Italian bande placed by Cęsar or the capiteine and Centurion by by after sending the Apostle Peter he prepared and made readie that house for himselfe For Peter teacheth and baptiseth Cornelius with his household hearkeneth beleeueth is baptised and becommeth the house of god the true church which church the Lord dwelles in by his spirite For euen as a house is dwelt in by men so GOD dwelleth in the church As Paul witnesseth saying The temple of God is holy whiche yee are Againe Knowe you not that your body is the temple of the holie Ghoste which is in you c. The foundation of this house is Christ For God sayeth by Esaie Behold I put or lay in Sion that is to saye in the Churche a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation Hee that beleeueth shal not make hast Which prophecie the Lord expoūding in S. Matthewes Gospel and applying it to himselfe as the foundation of the church saith vnto Peter confessing Iesus to bee the true sonne of the liuing God the Messias that was looked-for And vppon this rocke I will build my church the gates of hell shall not ouercome it There is moreouer to be added herevnto the exposition of S. Peter the Apostle who reciting the verye same words of the prophete Esaie and alluding to that saying of Dauid The stone whiche the builders refused is the head of the corner sayth exprefly that Christe is that liuing stone refused of men but chosen of God a sure foundation vppon whome whosoeuer stayeth shall not be confounded And also Paul the Apostle agreeth with Peter for hee sayeth And the rocke was Christ And againe An other foundation can no man lay than that which is layd which is Iesus Christ Therfore wheras he in another place nameth the selfe same foundation the foundation of the prophets and Apostles it is not so to be taken as if the Apostles and prophets were the foūdation of the church but that they layed Iesus Christ for the foundation of the Church builded the whole building vppon this foundation yea euen thēselues also For mortal men cannot be the obiect of faith and foundation of the church wherevppon the faithfull may stay Dauid crieth The way of God is vncorrupt the word of the Lord is tried in the fier he is ashield to al that trust in him For who is God besides the Lord And who is mightie or a rocke saue our God And Ieremie saith Thus saith the Lord cursed bee the man that trusteth in man maketh flesh his arme and withdraweth his heart from the lord Blessed bee the man that trusteth in the Lord whose hope the Lord is So the writings of the prophets and Apostles with one consent shewe vs the rocke that is to say the foundation of the church to be Christ that it is he onely and alone Greatly do they erre therfore whosoeuer they be that do attribute to the bishop of Rome this diuine praise power and prerogatiue which is due only to the sonne of god And if so be it that they obiecte that many interpretours both Gréeke Latine haue vnderstoode by the rocke Peter himselfe we refuse mans authoritie and do affirme bring forth heauenly authoritie Christ said not I will build my church vpon thee but vppon a rocke that selfe same rocke that thou hast cōfessed Yea Peter taketh his name of Petra which signifieth a rocke euen
bee able to doe all Therefore to his goodwill to vs ward which in these woords Our father wée haue expressed wee do now ioyne knowledge of all thinges and power to do althings adding Which art in heauen By these wordes the faith of them that pray is stirred vpp and confirmed Nowe there doe followe in order sixe petitions The first is Hallowed be thy name Wée haue called God our father and our selues his sonnes But it is the part of sonnes to honour or glorifie their father and therefore immediatly vppon the beginning we desire that the name of the Lord God and our father might be sanctified or hallowed That truely is holy and vndefiled alwayes in it selfe neither is it made any whitt the better or the worse by vs Wherevppon we pray that that which is and remaineth holy in it selfe should be acknowledged of vs to bee such and alwayes sanctified of vs. A name is the definition of any thing whatsoeuer and names are inuented to make a difference of one thinge from another whereby they mighte bée knowen amonge themselues But GOD is infinite and vnmeasurable moreouer hee is one therefore hée hath not a name whereby to bee defined hee néedeth not a name whereby to be discerned from other Gods. Therefore those names that are attributed vnto him in the Scriptures are attributed for our infirmitie to the end that by some reason and comparison wee mighte vnderstand somethinges that are spoken of him that is vnmeasurable and infinite Therefore the name of GOD in verye deede is GOD him selfe with all his Maiestie and glorie To Sanctifie or Hallowe otherwhiles signifieth to separate thinges from a prophane vnto an holy vse In this place it signifieth to magnifie to praise and to glorifie Wée desire therefore that GOD himselfe who of his owne nature is a good holie and for euer blessed gentle bountifull and a mercifull father might as hée is in himselfe bee acknowledged and magnified of all vs that all nations leauing their errour and heresies mighte consecrate them selues in trueth to this one onely father and God that all thinges which defile the name of the Lord of whiche sort are wicked deceiptes or practises vngodlinesse Epicurisme an vncleane life and especially corrupte and antichristian doctrine may bee taken awaye that béeing inlightened wee mighte sanctifie or hallowe the name of the Lord. Wherefore in this petition we desire the holy ghost the verie onely authour it selfe of all true sanctification Wée pray for true faith in GOD by Christ thoroughout the whole world Wée pray for holy thoughtes and a pure life wherewith wée might glorifie the name of the Lord whiche is done while euerie one doeth his owne duetie while Sathan the authour of al vncleannesse is cast out while corrupt doctrine is taken awaye and deceipt ceasseth while the filthinesse of the world is banished This petition the most excellent king and Prophete Dauid setteth forth in these wordes GOD be mercifull vnto vs blesse vs shewe vs the light of his countenaunce and bee mercifull vnto vs that thy way may be knowen vppon earth thy sauing health amonge all nations Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee And as followeth in the thréescore and seuenth Psal. To this belongeth the whole prayer of oure Sauiour described by S. Iohn in the 17. Chapiter of his Gospel The second petition is Thy kingdome come For the name of God and our father cannot bee sanctified or hallowed vnlesse hee reigne in vs There is one kingdome of GOD another of the diuel Furthermore one kingdome of God is said to bee of glorie and another rightly of grace The kingdome of glorie is not of this world but of another world The kingdome of Grace is the kingdome of Christe in this world wherein Christ reigneth by the holy spirite in his faithfull ones whiche of their owne accord submit themselues vnto him to bee gouerned saying and doeing those thinges which beautifie and beséeme christians The diuell also reigneth in the children of vnbeléefe which yeeld themselues vnto him to be gouerned according to his vngodlinesse and wickednesse doeinge those thinges which are not onely delightfull to the flesh but whiche turne to the reproch of Gods maiestie whom after this life by the iust iudgement of God the diuel the king of the vngodly catcheth vnto hell into the kingdome of death and iudgement there continually to burne Moreouer the earthly kingdome which princes of this world gouerne is called either the kingdome of God or the kingdome of the diuell euen as it shall fashion frame it selfe to one of the twaine All these things wée do knit vpp in fewe words because wée haue more plentifully entreated of them in another place Wherefore we pray in this second petition that Christe might reigne and liue in vs and wée in him that the kingdome of Christ might be spread abroad and inlarged and preuaile thoroughe the whole world that Doctours or teachers and ecclesiasticall magistrates finally that princes also yea and scholes too and whosoeuer may further the kingdome of Christe béeing annoynted and watered with his graces may flourish ouercome and triumphe furthermore we pray that the kingdome of the diuel and antichriste maye bée broken and vanquished least it hurte and annoye the Sainctes that with with the kingdome of the diuell all vngodlinesse may be dasht and troden vnder foote to be short that all the weapons and armour of Antichristianisme may be broken into shiuers and come to naught Lastly we pray in this second petition that after we haue sayled out of the tempestuous gulfe of this worlde we might be receiued and gathered vnto Christ and all the Saintes into the euerlasting kingdome of glory For as we desire the kingdome of God to come vnto vs and God to reigne in vs so we praye to come or to be receiued into his kingdome and to liue for euer with him most holily The thirde petition is Thy will be done as wel in earth as it is in heauen God reigneth not in vs vnlesse we be obedient vnto him therefore after his kingdome we desire the grace of perfect obedience For we desire not that God do what he will. For continually Gods will is done albeit we neuer pray for it and though we wrestle and striue against it with all our might For the Prophet sayth Our God is in heauen he hath done whatsoeuer pleased him in heauen and in earth We aske therefore that what he will the same he maye make vs both to will and to do For his wil is alwayes good but our wil through the corruption of sinne is euill Therefore we pray him to be present with vs with his grace that our will may be regenerated and framed to the good wil of God that of it own accorde it yealde it selfe to the holie Ghoste to be framed that his grace will that which he inspireth that he finish in vs that which
faith that is to say God instituted circumcision that it should be a seale to ratifie and confirme yea and also visibly to testifie that faith is righteousnesse and that men are iustified through faith I say in such sorte as faith is also imputed vnto them for righteousnesse as it was imputed vnto Abraham For it followeth That hee might be the Father of all that beleeue though they be not circumcised that righteousnesse might be imputed vnto them also And so foorth And although these things be more cleare than the day-light yet I wil endeuour further to open the same by a parable For suppose that a Kinge of his fauour and méere liberalitie would entertaine some seruant into his courte yea and make him partaker of all his goodes and moreouer would extende this benefite vnto the Children and posteritie also of him whome hee had adopted and woulde immediatlie cōmaund that that couenaunte priueledge and fauoure graunted by liuely words should also be put in writing which he might confirme by setting to his seale to the end that might be to his posteritie a sure testimonie against all gainsayers that the same fauour and adoption doeth perteine to them also and that the Prince would continue his good and fauourable kindenes vnto the posteritie of him whome hee had adopted if they also continue faithfull vnto their Prince For euen after the same manner almightie God the king of Kings and most bountifull of all Princes fréely and not by any merite of ours going before chooseth Abraham vpon whome he bestoweth innumerable benefits and vnto whome he offereth a couenaunte and participation of all goodnesse and not vnto him onlie but to all his posteritie also saying I the almightie God wil be thy God and the GOD of thy seede after thee I will blesse thee and thy seede and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed He sanctified also this priuiledge confirming it with an oath and by and by commaundeth to deliuer the same vnto their children as it were from hand to hand in stede of writing and afterward willeth his seruants the prophets to set it downe in writing and last of all he him selfe by instituting Circumcision now as it were setting to his seale to the letters patents or Charter woulde haue it confirmed ratified to them that should come after to the ende they might certainly know that that also perteined vnto them Where notwithstandinge it séemeth this must not be dissembled of vs that Sacraments haue a greater and more effectuall force than any sealed Charters can haue For priuiledges which princes giue are written in parchmente and their seales are set to parchement written but God imprinteth his seale into the very bodies of those that are his For he caused Circumcision to be on the priuie member of man wherebye issue is raised increased and continued that as a marke printed in the very bodyes it might more than seale and witnesse that the blessing and partaking of all good things perteyneth to the circumcised if they abide faithful to the Lord God entred into league with men And therfore very significantly is Circumcision called of Paule not The seale of righteousnes but The seale of righteousnes of faith that is a ratifying and assurance that faith is righteousnes that it is faith whereby wee are iustified that righteousnesse is due to them that beléeue that God assuredly will blesse the faithfull and impute faithe vnto them for righteousnesse as hee also imputed vnto Abraham Now since Sacraments haue the like reason we may apply these thinges to our Sacramentes Christe therefore the annoynted of the Lord after he had by his guiltlesse and vndeserued death redéemed the worlde from the power of Sathan and béeing now ready to ascend into heauen to the father hee called his Disciples aboute him and saide Goe into the whole worlde and preach the Gospel to all creatures hee that shall beleue and be baptised c. The preaching of the Gospel doeth lay open and abrode the greate the precious the healthful the liuely the bountiful the royall and diuine priuiledge that of the children of the diuel we are made the childrē of God the heyres I saye of GOD and ioynte-heires with Christe who by the sheding of his blond hath purchased for vs this inestimable saluation From this grace of God none is excluded but he which through disobedience by his owne corruption and fault doth exclude himselfe For touching the children and infants of the beléeuers the Lord in the gospel pronounceth saying Suffer the yonge children to come vnto mee and forbid them not for of such is the kingdome of God. And againe Verilie I say vnto you except yee turne and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdome of Heauen Who so shall receiue such a litle child in my name receiueth me Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say vnto you that in Heauen their angels doe alwayes beholde the face of my Father whiche is in Heauen c. Neither is it likely now Christ is come that God is more vnmercifull then he was before hee came into the worlde But then he said I will bee thy God and the GOD of thy seede after thee That therefore is nowe of more force since the Lorde is come to séeke and saue that whiche was lost and to be short to powre fóorthe moste liberallye his grace and good giftes vppon all fleshe Wherefore that royall ample and diuine priuiledge is first by the very preaching of our Lorde Christe and then by the doctrine of his Apostles reuealed vnto the worlde and afterwarde the Lorde so commaundinge the same priuiledge was setdowne of the Apostles and Euangelists in writing Now the Lorde him selfe added this sacrament as a signe and seale vnto his preaching and to the Scripture ordayning Baptisme in the place of Circumcision the whiche because it was a bloudie thing and to conclude a signe of the blessed séede which was to come which then was reuealed ought to be abrogated And Baptisme it selfe also succéeding circumcision is also a seale of the righteousnesse of faith an euidence and sealed charter that God doeth assuredlie cleanse vs and make vs heyres of eternall life and that the whole grace of Baptisme perteyneth to them that are baptised if they stand stedfast in true faith But thou wilte say the Infantes of Christians whiche are to be baptised beléeue not I graunte No more did the Infants of the Iewes beléeue whiche neuerthelesse were circumcised and were in league with God and made partakers of all good giftes so that true godlinesse biddeth vs attribute the same to our Infantes When the ofspringe of the Iewes waxed in age and did wickedlie transgresse they fell from the couenaunt of god So likewise the infantes of the Christians when they come to age and commit wickednesse doe fall from the grace of the Gospell yet are they
the Apostles frame their exhortations Where againe the Analogie beeinge considered it hath very much light and force in it Trées are pruned and all that which is drie barren and superfluous in them is cutt away And so by circumcision they that were circuÌ„cised were put in minde to cutt away with the knife of the spirite whatsoeuer grewe vpp in the flesh against the lawe of god Herevnto had Moses respecte when he said in Dent Circumcise therfore the foreskin of your heart and bee no more stiffenecked Whome Ieremie following in the 4. Cap. sayeth Be ye circumcised in the Lord and cut away the foreskinne of your hearts c. Those thinges which the Apostle hath taught touching the celebration of y Passeouer are more plaine than that they néede héere to be rehearsed And I haue alreadie intreated of them at large in the sixte Sermon of my third Decade The verie same Apostle in his Epistle to the Romanes saith Knowe ye not that all wee which haue beene baptised into Iesus Christ haue beene baptised into his death Weare buried then with him by baptisme into his death that likewise as Christ was raised vp from the dead by the glorie of the father euen so wee should walke in newnesse of life c. So wee are put in minde by that mysterie of baptisme to renounce forsake Sathan and the world to mortifie and subdue the fleshe and to burie the old Adam that the new man may rise vp againe in vs thorough Christ Furthermore the supper of the Lord doth admonishe vs of brotherly loue charitie of the vnitie that wee haue with all the members of Christe it warneth vs also of puritie and sinceritie in faith that because wee haue openly professed that wée are vnited to Christe and to all his members wée should haue a special care and regard that we be not found faithles and vntrue to our lord Christ and his church that wee should not defile oure selues with forreigne and strange sacrifices Wée are also admonished of thanckefulnesse to magnifie the grace of God who hath redéemed vs according to that saying As often as ye shal cate of this bread and drinke of this cupp ye shal shewe forth the Lords death vntill he come Thus farre haue I intreated of the force the ende and the effecte of sacramentes vnto the which I haue as I thincke attributed no more nor no lesse than I ought that is as much as may be proued out of the scripture to be due vnto them They are the institutions of Christ therefore they care not for counterfeite and strange praises They haue praise sufficient if they haue those praises whiche hee that instituted them namely GOD and Christ Iesus the high priest of the Catholique Church vouchsafed to attribute vnto them Nowe because there is mention made verie ofte of faythe in this whole booke I will further shewe also that without faith sacraments profite nothing and againe that to those which receiue them by fayth they are not superfluous or vaine For this séemeth as yet to belong to the â—ull exposition and coÌ„sideration of Sacraments That Sacramentes without fayth profite not it is easily proued For it is sayde that SacrameÌ„ts are seales of the preaching of the Gospell and things apperteyning to the same For if the preaching of the Gospell be hearde without fayth it doth not onely profite nothing vnto life but it turneth rather vnto iudgement to him that heareth the lord him selfe bearing witnesse and saying If any man heare my wordes beleeue not I iudge him not for I came not to iudge the worlde but to saue the world the worde that I haue spoken the same shall iudge him in the last day To that saying of the Lorde agréeth this of the Apostle For vnto vs was the Gospell preached as well as vnto the fathers but the worde which they hearde did not profit theÌ„ bicause it was not coupled with fayth to them that heard Who now is such a dorhead which can not gather that sacrameÌ„ts without faith are vnprofitable especially since the same Apostle sayth Whosoeuer shal eate this breade drinke this cup of the Lord vnworthily shall be guiltie of the body and bloude of the Lord But all our worthinesse before God doth consist in fayth the same Apostle yet againe witnessing out of the prophete The iust shall liue by fayth And By faith the elders or fathers obteined a good report Wherevnto also belongeth that whiche is read in the Gospell They which were biddeÌ„ were not worthy Whervpon it followeth that worthinesse consisteth in faithfull obedience Herevnto also may be referred I thinke thoâ—e examples whereof mention hath béene made more than once already before Al our fathers were baptised and did all eate of one spirituall meate but in many of them God had no delight And Paule againe saythe Without faith it is impossible to please God therefore without faith Sacraments profite nothing The examples of Simon Magus and Iudas the traytor are verie well knowne of which one was baptised the other admitted to the Supper and yet had no fruite of the Sacramentes bicause they wanted true faith To these pithy and diuine testimonies of God we will nowe adde some places of S. Augustine out of his ninetenth booke against Faustus and twelfth chap. Peter sayth Baptisme saueth vs and least they shuld thinke the visible Sacrament were sufficieÌ„t by which they had the forme of godlinesse and through their euill manners by liuing lewdly and desperately shuld denie the power therof by by he addeth Not the putting away of the silth of the flesh but in that a good coÌ„science maketh request to god Againe Lib. 2. contra literas Petiliani cap. 7. he saith They are not therfore to be thought to be in the bodie of Christ which is the Church or congreagation bicause they are corporally partakers of his Sacraments For they in such are also holy but to them that vse and receiue them vnworthily they shal be forceable to their greater iudgement For they are not in that societie of Christes Church whiche in the members of Christe by being knit together and touching one an other doe growe into the fulnesse of god For that Church is builded on a rocke as sayth the Lorde Vpon this rocke will I builde my Church but they builde on the sande as the Lord also sayth Hee that heareth my wordes and doth them not I will liken him to a foolish man. And again in his treatise vpon Iohn 13. The syllables of Christes name and his Sacraments profite nothing where the faith of Christe is resisted For fayth in Christe and his Sacraments is to beléeue in him which iustifieth the vngodly to beléeue in the mediatour without whose intercession we are not reconciled vnto god Thus farre Augustine An obiection is made If Sacramentes doe nothing profite without our fayth then they depend on oure
treatise of the sacramēts therefore at this presēt we will do no more but touche them briefly for memories sake meaning to handle those things somewhat more largly which shall by occasion arise as they are intreated vppon But this word Cōmunion I meane the societie cōiunction or partaking of the lord Christ by the which through his spirit he doth wholy knitt and ioyne himselfe to vs and wee are made partakers of him by faith are coupled vnto him so that being by him deliuered from sinn and death we may liue in him being made heires of euerlasting life and that hée maye liue in vs and bee wholie ours as we be wholie his Neither doe wée say that the communion of the Lords body bloud is any thing else For by his body which was deliuered ouer to death for vs and by his bloud whiche was shed for the remission of our sinns it is come to passe that we being purged from oure sinnes are made his members and he now quickeneth vs and susteineth vs as food which giueth life wherevppon wee are also said to eate and drinke him as the meate and drinke of life The promise therefore wherof we made mention euen now is none other than the woord of God which declareth vnto vs that life is in Christ only For Christ deliuered his body to the death and shedd his bloud for the remission of our sinnes that we beléeuing in him maye haue life euerlasting But this promise communion of Christ is not nowe first of all giuen in the supper or by the supper For the Lord our God immediatly after the creatiō of the world promised life and remission of sinnes vnto Adam his séed through Christ afterward renued the same promise w Noe Abraham Moses Dauid and the other fathers And that the fathers did communicate with Christ were partakers of his goodnes Paul the Apostle w the whole scripture is a witnes But this so great goodnes happened not to the fathers onely For the promise was made vnto vs also and the communion of Christ was conueyed vnto vs is conueyed particularly vnto euery one of vs in holy baptisme also in the manifest preaching of the Gospel moreouer we receiue the same by faith by which we are ioyned to Christ and are made his members Therfore as we are not void without Christ before the supper but are quickened by him made his members or partners so in the verye action or celebration of the supper the promise is renued vnto vs and we renue continue that fellowship which we haue with Christ by the body and bloud of Christe spiritually truly participating his life and all his good giftes through faith And by this meanes we eate the Lords body and drinke his bloud Moreouer the Lord doth visibly declare scale vnto vs the spirituall cōmunion promise of life made through Christ by visible signes to wit the banquet of bread and wine ioyned to his word or promise namely that he is the quickening bread and drinke that we hauing receiued the signes by faith and obedience beeing therto sealed do take vppon vs the promise communion of Christe by imprinting or transferring into our bodies the seale or sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ Of which thing the Apostle hath also intreated in the first Corinth cap. 10. And also to the Rom. cap. 4. we also haue said more thereof in the generall treatise of the sacraments But before I intreate further of other ends of the supper consisting in the description thereof I wil recite what othersome allege of the promise and communion of Christ They condemne our doctrine as hereticall For they contend that the lord promised the hee would giue vnto the faithfull his very body bloud to be eaten dronken vnder the forme of bread wine therfore it must by al meanes and without al contradiction be beléeued that the bread is the Lords naturall body and the wine his bloud that these ought to be eaten and dronken not only spiritually but also corporally vnto life euerlasting And that Christ is bodily present in the supper and the the bread is his body the wine his bloud thus they proue That which the lord speaketh cānot be false for he is the trueth it selfe But he saith that the bread is his body the wine his bloud Therefore the bread and wine of the sacrament are verily really and essentially the body bloud of Christ Whiche trueth they say must simply he beléeued although reason it selfe the whole world all senses and nature it selfe be against it We answere the in déede all things are very true which the Lord hath spoken who is truth it selfe but in that sense which he himself said and vnderstood not in that meaning which we wil inforce vpō his words Wherfore before all things we must search out the true sense of the Lords words in the supper This is my body This is my bloud c. These men crye out saying that the Lords words ought to be expounded simply according to the letter For they are wordes of the testament and the same would not haue his words to be taken by a trope of figure But wee say that all the Euangelical and apostolical bookes are numbered vnder the name of the testament therefore throughout all and euery place of the Scripture nothing must be corrupted nothing added nothing taken away vnlesse we will be subiect to the curse Wée are also constreined to confesse that there be infinite sentences in the holy scripturs which if we will procéede to expound simply according to the letter we shall ouerthrow the whole scripture the true faith or we shall séeme to goe about to reproue the scriptures of lyes or contradictiō I wil bring forth one of two examples of this sort The Euāgelist S. John writeth The word became flesh Now if we wil cleaue to the very words then must we say that God was chaunged into man But forasmuch as this sense is contrary to the faith and the scriptures For God is immutable and Christ is perfect God and man without all mingling or conuerting of naturs but remayning stil in their ownepropertics and so do we admit this exposition which declareth that the word toke flesh and that God was made man And this sense is not against scripture For Paul saith that the sonne of God neuer toke vpon him the nature of angels but the séede of Abraham And therefore the eatholique fathers together with the apostle doe expoūd this word Est is by this word Assumpsit toke vppon him Whereof Theodoret hath intreated at large in his Polymorphus Dialog 1. Againe the Lord saith in the same John The father is greater than I we should make an inequalitie in adoring the Trinitie if wee should contend that the Lordes words are simply to be vnderstood without interpretation But by cōference of other
vnto euerlasting life They gather Therefore he hath giuen his verie body and bloude to the saythfull vnder the forme of breade and wine for meate and drinke to euerlasting life Whervpon it must be eaten corporally as it is corporall To the confirmation whereof they alledge the Lordes words as they are written in the 6. chapter of Iohns Gospell We answere God most perfectly and fully perfourmeth that which hee hath promised but wee adde that he perfourmeth not according to that meaning that we deuise but as his worde truely importeth We must therfore sée first of all in what sense the Lord promised to giue his flesh for breade and his bloud for drinke to the faithfull and next how we ought to eate his flesh and how to drink his bloud These thinges truly which the Lord promiseth heere are wel-nigh all allegories Parables The Lorde promiseth that he wil giue vs his sleshfor bread or meat his bloud for drink But because meate and drincke are ordeined and giuen vnto men to preserue their bodily life and the Lorde in the 6. chapter of Iohn speaketh not of the life of the bodie but of the soule there is a passage made from bodily thinges to spirituall thinges When therefore the lorde promised that hée woulde giue vs his fleash for breade or meate and his bloude for drink what other thing did he promise vs than that hée woulde giue his bodie to the death and shed his bloude for the remission of sinnes For by the death of Christe wee are as it were by meate preserued and deliuered from death By Christes bloude wee are washed from sinne our soules are as it were with drincke spiritually drunken Therefore the Lorde speaketh nothing héere of the bread of the lords supper neither doth he promise that at the supper hee will make of bread his fleash or that he would giue his bodie in fourme of bread Then let this mine exposition of Christes wordes concerning the giueing of Christes bodie or fleash in the fourme of bread c be false and â—eigned vnlesse I confirme the same by the wordes of Christe The Lorde said in the Gospell Seeke for the meate that perisheth not but remayneth to life euerlasting whiche the sonne of man shall giue vnto you A little after by interpretation hee addeth And the bread which I will giue vnto you is my fleash which I will giue for the life of the worlde I said that I would giue you breade or meate For this worde bread is after the Hebrue manner vsed by the Lorde for meate and all manner of sustenaunce but saith he this bread or this meate is my flesh and therefore I promise to giue you my fleashe when I promise to giue you The Breade of Life Héere haste thou expressely to vnderstande that the Lorde by breade did not meane bodily bread or the breade of the supper But how doeth hée promise to giue his fleash for bread that is to say to be meate for vs or to quicken vs The Lorde repeateth this worde I will giue and saith Whiche I will giue for the life of the worlde I will giue it that is to say euen to the death that through my death I may quicken you By dying therefore my fleash shall féede that is to say shall quicken Thus muche concerning the promise of his fleash for breade héereafter followeth of the eatinge thereof Like as the holy Scripture setteth downe in euery place without trope or allegorie that wee are made partakers of Christes death or of his body which was giuen for the worlde vnto life through faith so also in this presente place by a trope or allegorie hee biddeth vs to eate and drink the fleash and bloud of Christe vnto euerlasting life Therefore to eate Christes fleash and drinke his bloud is nothing else but to beléeue that Christs body was giuen for vs and his bloud shâ—d for vs to the remission of sinnes and consequently that were maine in Christ and haue Christ remaining in vs For the faith whereof wee spake is not onely an imagination or thoughte concerning things past excéeding our capacitie but a most certeine assurance a féeling of heaue â–ª ly things receiued within vs to our great commoditie For therefore not only faith but also the vertue force of faith is by the Lord signified in Iohn by the allegorie both of eating and drinking Meat passeth not into the substaunce of our body without delight so also by faith thorough a greate desire of the spirite wee are ioyned with Christe that he may liue in vs and wee may liue in Christ be partakers of all his good giftes This is the spiritual eating of Christ who neuer thought no not somuch as once dreamed in this place of the grosse and bodily eating which is indéede vnprofitable But for asmuche as the whole point of the controuersie consisteth in these wordes of eating and drinking the flesh and bloud of the lord they interpreting the same words bodily and we spiritually it séemeth good to be shewed that by the words of eating drinking the Lord ment no other thing than to beléeue and consequently to abide in Christe and to haue Christ abiding in vs we will therefore by conference of places of the scripture bring foorth sire euident testimonies in confirmation of our assertion I am sayth the Lord that Bread of life Who so commeth to me shall not hunger and who so beleeueth in me shall not thirst for euer But who wil deny that there is relation betwéene to eate and not to hunger to drink not to thirst Because therfore y Lord said â–ª He shal not hunger he should first haue saide Whoso eateth me But he rather vsed y word of comming and sayed Whoso commeth to me shall not hunger To eate therfore is to come and to come is to eate And what it is to come to him he expoundeth immediatly saying Whosoeuer hath heard from the father hath learned he it is that commeth to me y is to say receiueth me beléeueth in me For Paul also sayeth Whosoeuer will come to GOD must beeleue These testimonies without contradiction doe proue that to eate is nothing else but to beléeue Yet that followeth whiche is more manifeste And whoso beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst And Whoso drinketh shall not thirst therefore to drink he hath put for to beleeue Therfore to drink is to beléeue For faith satisfieth pacifieth our mindes Héere they haue an answer y make this obiection Whether the Lord himselfe had not words whereby he might declare his minde if so be by eating drinking hee had ment beléeuing They haue I say an open testimonie wherby he vseth the one for the other Againe in the same treatise y Lord saith Whoso eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting life and I will raise him at the latter day And again in y same tretise he saith This is the wil
with christian charitie for the Lords sake to beware that we defile not our bodies with the filthe of the world since we be cleansed with the bloude of Christe Paule the Apostle sayth So often as ye shall eate of this breade and drinke of the Lords cup declare the Lordes death vntill he come But to declare the Lords death is to praise the goodnes of God to giue thanks for our redemption obteined through his death For the Apostle Peter saith Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthod an holy nation a people set at liberty that ye shuld shew forth vertues of him that hath called you out of darknes into his meruelous light But hereof we haue spokeÌ„ also in another place Thus much I thought good in fewe words to repeate touching the ends of the supper which euery godly man being instructed by the holy ghost doth diligeÌ„tly coÌ„sider I wold now let you go déerely beloued brethren but that I sée it wil be a coÌ„moÌ„ coÌ„moditie to teach in few words flow euerie one should prepare himselfe to the lordes supper that he come not to it vnworthily But it were not loste labour first of all to search 〈◊〉 who do worthily or vnworthily eate and drinks of the Lords bread and cup. There is no man that can denie that there are degrées in our worthinesse and vnworthines if he rightly examine the iudgements of God and looking narrowly into the nature of our religioÌ„ is able to giue iudgement thereof The chiefest degrée of vnworthines is to come to the holy mysteries of faith without faith He coÌ„meth worthily that commeth with faith vnworthily he that commeth without faith Such are said to be workes worthie of repentaÌ„ce in that gospel as are penitent works or séemly for such as professe repeÌ„taunce But what is more beséeming more méete and iust than that he who is to celebrate the Lords Supper doe beléeue that he is redéemed by Christes death who was offered vp as a price for the whole world and that for that cause is desirous to giue thanks to Christ his redéemer Contrariwise what is more vnséemly vniust thaÌ„ to receiue that pledge of Christes bodie and in the meane while to haue no communion or felowship with Christ To come to thankesgiuing yet not to giue thanks from the bottome of his hart For what vniteth vs to Christe or what maketh vs partakers of all his benefites therwith also to be thankfull but faith What doth separate vs froÌ„ Christe and spoyleth vs of all his gyftes and maketh vs moste loathesome but vnbeliefe Therfore faith or vnbeléefe maketh vs partakers of the Lords table woorthily or vnworthily Paule the Apostle in the Actes sayth to the Iewes who through vnbeléefe did reiect or set at nought the preaching of the Gospell The word of God ought first to bee preached vnto you But bicause you reiect it and iudge your selues vnworthie of euerlasting life beholde we turne vnto the Gentiles How did the Iewes pronounce against theÌ„selues that they were vnworthie of euerlasting life and like Iudges gaue sentence against themselues In setting them selues againste Gods worde through vnbeléefe neither apprehendinge Christ by faith who is the life and righteousnesse of the world Wherefore the chiefe and greatest portion of our worthinesse vnworthinesse is and consisteth in â—aith or vnbeléefe S. Peter witnesseth that our hartes are purified by faith true faith therfore is the cleannes of christians Wherevpon S. Augustine sayth The vnbeleeuer eateth not the flesh of Christ spiritually but rather eateth and drinketh the sacrament of so great a thing to his owne condemnation Because beeing vncleane he hathe presumed to come to Christes sacraments which no man receiueth worthily but he that is cleane Of whom it is said Blessed be the cleane in hart for they shal see God c. Moreouer they eate and drink of the Lords supper vnworthily who although they be not destitute of faith yet by their abusing of it do peruert the right institution of the Lord such séemeth to haue béene the errour of the Churche of Corinth which mingled the priuate and prophane with the Ecclestastical and mystical banquet did put no difference betwéene the Lords bread which is called Christs bodie common meate For Paule saith Who so eateth drinketh vnwoorthily he eateth and drinketh his owne damnation making no difference of the Lordes bodie Therefore to make no difference of the lords bodie is vnworthily to eate the lords bread and to drinke of his cup. For this woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to iudge or to make a difference is to weigh and consider of a mater exactly with iudgment to the vttermost of a mans power to iudge of it make a difference betwéene that and al other things Furthermore the Lords bodie is not only that spiritual body of the Lord to wit the church of the faithfull but that verie bodie which the Lord tooke of the virgin offred vp for our redemptioÌ„ that now sitteth at the right hand of the father To be short the bread of the sacrament in the supper is the Lords bodie it is I say the sacrament of the true bodie which was giuen for vs Whosoeuer therfore putteth no difference betwéene this the Lords mystical bread prophane meate but commeth to Christes table as he would to a table of common and grosse meate and acknowledgeth not that this heauenly meats differeth farre from other humane meate neither commeth after that sort as the Lord hath instituted but foloweth his owne reason surely he maketh no difference of the Lords bodie but eateth and drinketh his own damnation Paul againe expoundeth himselfe saying Therefore my brethren when you come together to eate tarrie one for another that yee meete not to condemnation Who so therfore preuenteth the publique supper by eating his own priuate supper that is to say who so suppeth not as the Lord hath appointed the same eateth drinketh vnworthily For before vn worthie eaters drinkers are said to eate and drinke their own damnatioÌ„ here they are said to méete togither to their condemnation the make hast to the supper not tarying for their brethren and they make no difference of the Lords bodie S. Augustine in his 26. treatise vpon Iohn sayth The Apostle speketh of those which receiued the Lords bodie without difference carelesly as if it had bin any other kind of meate whatsoeuer Heretherefore if he be reproued which maketh no difference of the lords bodie that is to say doth not discerne the lords body froÌ„ other meates how then shuld not Iudas be daÌ„ned who came to the lords table feigning that he was a friend but was an enimie c. How much more grieuously doe they séeme to sinne at this day who peruerting the lawfull and first vse the was instituted by the Lord do stablish their own abuse with great contentioÌ„ yea grieuously persecute them that cry out against it
comforting the sicke person prepareth him to die by makeing firste his confession of sinnes to God which he pronoūceth out of the word of God to be forgiuen if he doe stedfastly beléeue He requireth of him also that he forgiue and bée in loue and charitie with all men and that hée kéepe no olde grudge or malice in his hart After this sōe publique prayer is made to God by the sicke person by those that are about the partie that is at the point of death Hée is also admonished of sundrie thinges hée is confirmed in the fayth hée is called to patience hée is instructed according as his goodes and euerie thing else requireth and he is taught that at his departing out of this worlde he commend his soule into the hands of God the father according to the doctrine and example of our redéemer who at the very pointe of death cried aloud saying Father into thy hands I commend my spirite This discipline haue wee learned of the Apostles of our LORDE Christe For the Apostle Saint Iames saieth If any bee sicke among you lette him sende for the elders of the Church and let them pray ouer him anoynting him with oyle in the name of the Lorde And the prayer whiche is made in fayth shall deliuer the sicke And the Lorde shall rayse him vp againe And if he bee in sinne they shal be forgiuen him Confesse your sinns one of you to another pray one for another that you may bee safe for the heartie prayer of the iust is of greate force c. This is the Apostolique discipline But if you say vnto mée Where is the oyle I answere that in Saint Iames the Apostles time and certeine ages after there remained yet in the Churche the miraculous gifte of healing the sicke Of this wée reade in Saint Markes Gospell And the disciples going foorth preached the gospell that they mighte repent and they cast out many diuels they annoynted many with oyle that were sick and healed them And again in the same place saieth Moreouer These signes shal follow them that beleeue In my name they shall cast out diuels c. And anon he sayth They shall lay their handes vppon the sicke and they shall be healed And because this benefite remayned yet in the Church Saint Iames biddeth vs vse oyle and to vse it in the name of the Lorde as the Lorde had commaunded But seing that gift is now ceassed in the Churche and wée finde by experience that oyle doth no good to the sicke according to the time and as our duetie bindeth vs we do the best we can to assuage and cure the diseases of the sicke by medicines most conuenient for the sicknes being applied in the name of Christ I knowe howe by this testimonie of the Apostle the Papistes go about to set out and cōmend their extreame vnction or last annoyling but they labour in vaine But to let passe that Saint Iames speaketh nothing of the hallowed oyle and that they do not admit this medicine but in verie extremitie where S. Iames commaundeth to annoynt euery on that is sick how I pray you can they defend out of Saint Iames wordes that which the priest demaundeth of the sick person Doest thou beleeue that the Lord will heare our prayers for the merites sake and prayers of the Saintes The sick man answering I do beléeue He then saith Let vs therefore pray to God and his Sainctes Or where I beséech you hath Saint Iames or any other Apostle of Christe taught that which they bring in their annointing In the name of the Father and of the sonne and of the holy ghost I annoynt thee with holy oile that by this anointing thou mayest receiue full remission of thy sinnes What scripture I pray you teacheth vs that full remission of sinnes is obteined by that anointing These thinges are done manifestly against the principall article of our religion whiche teacheth that we are purged from all our sinnes onely by the bloud of Christ and that most fully To him onely is the glory due not to the oyle nor to any creature in the whole worlde Moreouer the Church of Christe doth not reiect the bodies of the dead as if it were a deade dogge For it acknowledgeth that their bodies haue béene the Temples of the holy ghoste which hath dwelt in them It acknowledgeth that they are buried in hope of resurrection and glorie of life euerlasting wherefore the Churche doeth in moste reuerent manner take the bodies windeth them in a shéete and couereth them verie decently and béeinge put into the coffine carefully carrieth them vnto the place of buriall or churchyard y neere friends neighbours and brethren following after and accompanying the corse While the bodie is set downe and laid in the earth there are publique prayers made by them that brought the corse For they giue thankes vnto God for that he hath called the partie deceased out of this world in the true faithe and they pray also that it may please the Lorde to take them likewise vnto him spéedily beeing lightened with the true faith Moreouer the name of the dead brother or sister is recited in the publique assemblie of the Churche with honour and all the people are put in minde of their own destinie and spéedily to prepare them selues to die And after this manner we read in the scriptures that the ancient fathers buried their dead yea the moste holie of them We reade nothing of canonizating of woorshipping of reliques of monethes and yeares mindes for the dead which are offered to the ende the soules of the departed shoulde be deliuered from the paynes of purgatorie There be certeine burialles described vnto vs in the olde Testament as the buriall of Abraham Sara Isaac Iacob and Ioseph Aaron Marie Iosua Samuel and Dauid c. And in the new Testament of Iohn Baptiste and Stephan but they were all sparing and without all manner of superstition In that Iosephes bones were carried forth they were carried in a mysterie that the Israelites might gather thereof that they shoulde bee brought into the Lande of promise Wherevnto also that belongeth that the Patriarches chose a buriall in Hebron Otherwise the place auayleth nothing to purchase the better or worse spéed to the bodie that is buried in it We must thinke that the place by reason of the bodies of the saintes and holy men which are there buried is after a maner sanctified or at the least wise called holie not that the bodies do gett any holinesse or safetie by the grounde Therefore vnlesse it séeme good otherwise to the diuine prouidence of God the saints would gladly lye with their auncestours in the selfe same place of buriall But if it please God otherwise they acknowledge that they are notwithstanding receiued into the same earth without any exception and that they are not separated from their auncestours by distance of place Wherefore there is no superstition in the Churche