straunger that is within thy gates For in sixe daies the Lord made the heauen and the earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seauenth day therefore the Lord blessed the seauenth day and hallowed it The Resolution Remember This clause doth insinuate that in times past there was great neglect in the obseruation of the Sabboth and would that all degrees and conditions of men should prepare themselues to sanctifie the same especially those that be gouernours of families in corporations and cities to whome this commandement is directed To keepe it holy or to sanctifie it To sanctifie it is to seuer a thing from common vse and to consecrate the same to the seruice of God Here are described the two parts of this commandement the first where of is rest from labour the second sanctification of that rest Sixe daies These wordes containe a close answer to this obiection It is much to cease from our callings one whole day The answer together with a first reason to inforce the sanctification of the Sabbath is in these wordes which is taken from the greater to the lesse If I permit thee to follow thy calling sixe whole daies thou maist well and must leaue one onely to serue me But the first is true Therefore the second The first propositioÌ„ is wanting the second or assumption are these words Sixe daies c. The conclusion is the commandement it selfe Here may we see that God hath giuen vs free libertie to worke all the sixe daies The which freedome no man can annihilate Neuerthelesse vpon extraordinarie occasions the Church of God is permitted to separate one daie or more of the seuen as neede is either to fasting or for a solemne day of reioycing for some benefit receiued Ioel 2.15 The seuenth day The second reason of this commaundement taken from the ende thereof If the Sabbath were consecrated to God and his seruice we must that day abstain from our labours But it was consecrated to God and his seruice Therefore we must then abstaine from our labours The assumption is in these words the seuenth day c. where we must note that God alone hath this priuiledge to haue a Sabbath consecrated vnto him and therefore all holy daies dedicated to what soeuer either Angel or Saint are vnlawfull howsoeuer the Church of Rome haue imposed the obseruation of them vpon many people In it thou shalt doe This is the conclusion of the second reason illustrated by a distribution from the causes Thou thy sonne thy daughter thy seruant thy cattell thy stranger shall cease that day from your labours Any worke That is any ordinarie worke of your callings and such as may be done the day before or left well vndone till the day after Yet for all this we are not forbidden to performe such workes euen on this day as are both holy and of present necessitie Such are those works which doe vpon that day preserue and maintaine the seruice and glorie of God as I. a Sabbath daies iourney Act. 1.12 Which is now Hierusalem containing a Sabbath daies iourney II. The killing and dressing of sacrificed beasts in the time of the law Matth. 12.5 Haue ye not read in the law how that on the Sabbath daies the Priests in the Temple breake the Sabbath and are blamelesse III. Iourneys vnto the Prophets and places appointed vnto the worship of God 2. King 4.23 He said Why wilt thou goe to him this day it is neither new moone nor Sabbath day Psal. 84.7 They go from strength to strength till euery one appeare before God in Zion Such also are the works of mercie whereby the safetie of life or goods is procured as that which Paul did Act. 20. 9. As Paul was long preaching Eutychus ouercome with sleepe fell downe from the third loft and was taken vp dead but Paul went downe and laid himselfe vpon him and embraced him saying Trouble not your selues for his life is in him vers 12. And they brought the boy aliue and they were not a little comforted II. To helpe a beast out of a pit Luk. 14.5 Which of you shall haue an oxe or an asse fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day III. Prouision of meate and drinke Matth. 12.1 Iesus went through the corne on a Sabbath day and his Disciples were an hungred and began to plucke the eares of corne and to eate In prouision we must take heede that our cookes and houshold â—eruants breake not the Sabbath The reason of this is framed from the lesser to the greater out of that place 2. Sam. 25.15 Dauid longed and said Oh that one would giue me to drinke of the water of the well of Beth-lehem which is by the gate vers 16. Then the three mightie brake into the host of the Philistims and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem that was by the gate and tooke and brought it to Dauid who would not drinke thereof but powred it for an offering vnto the Lord. vers 17. And said O Lord be it farre from me that I should doe â—his is not this the blood of the men that went in ieopardie of their liues therefore would he not drinke The reason standeth thus If Dauid would not haue his seruants aduenture their corporall liues for his prouision nor drinke the water when they had prouided it much lesse ought we for our meates to aduenture the liues of our seruants IV. Watering of cattell Math. 12.11 The Lord answered and said Thou hypocrite will not any of you on the Sabbath daies loose his oxe or asse out of the stable and bring him to the water Vpon the like present and holy necessitie Phisitians vpon the Sabbath day may take a iourney to visit the diseased Mariners their voyage Shepheards may tend their flocke and Midwiues may helpe women with childe Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Within thy gates This word gate signifieth by a figure iurisdiction and authoritie Math. 16.18 The gates of hell shall not ouercome it Let this be a looking glasse wherein all Inholders and intertainers of strangers may looke into themselues and behold what is their dutie For in sixe daies The third reason of this commaundement from the likâ— example That which I did thou also must doe But I rested the seauenth day and hallowed it Therefore thou must doe the like God sanctified the Sabbath when he did consecrate it to his seruice men sanctifie it when they worship God in it In this place we are to confider the Sabbath how farre forth it is ceremoniall and how farre forth morall The Sabbath is ceremoniall in respect of the strict obseruation thereof which was a type of the internall sanctification of the people of God and that is as it were a continuall resting from the worke of sinne Exod. 31.1.3 Speake thou also vnto the children of Israel and say Notwithstanding keepe ye my sabbath for it is
Honour thy father and thy mother that they may prolong thy daies Now they prolong the childrens daies by praying to God for blessings on them and by such like duties It is an vse in all places when a man neeseth to salute him by saying Christ helpe you But there is no cause why the words should then be vsed more then at another time The reasons are I. it is an olde custome fetched from the Gentiles before Christ and hath no ground at all for they vsed with the like wordes to wish men health because they thought neesing to be a sacred and holy thing and because some take it to be a signe of vnhappie and euill successe which indeed is otherwise II. If there be any daunger in the braine before neesing when a man hath neesed the danger is past as learned physitians teach therefore there is no cause of the vsing such words then more then at coughing Against the practise of saluting each other some things may be obiected 1. Ioh. epist. 2. vers 10. If there come any vnto you and bring not this doctrine receiue him not to house neither bidde him God speede Answer This place doth not forbid common ciuilitie and curtesie of man to man but onely familiaritie and acquaintance with heretickes yea such acquaintance and familiaritie as may seeme to giue approbation and applause to their badde proceedings II. Elisha sending Gehazi his seruant to lay his staffe on the dead childe of the Sunamite bad him if he met any not to salute them and if they spake to him not to answer them 2. King 4.29 And whē our Sauiour Christ sent his Disciples to preach in Iudea he had them to salute no man by the way Luk. 10.4 Answ. The intent of these two places is not to forbid men to salute others but rather to inioyne Gehazi and the Disciples of Christ onely to omit for that time the practise of the duties of common curtesie so farre forth as they might hinder or delay the performance of weightier affaires Our answers must be soft that anger be neither kindled nor increased A soft answer putteth away wrath but grieuous words stirre vp anger Nabal by churlish language prouoked Dauid to wrath but Abigail by the contrarie appeased him Gedeon spake gently to the men of Ephraim when they were angrie against him and appeased them For the text saith When he had thus spoken then their spirits abated towardes him Therefore Salomon saith well A ioy commeth to a man by the answer of his mouth but how good is a word in due season Now if any shall raile on vs our dutie is not to raile againe Blesse them that persecute you blesse I say and curse not Be courteous not rendring euill for euill neither rebuke for rebuke but contrariwise blesse knowing that ye be thereunto called that you should be heyres of blessing This thing was notably practised by Dauid Psal. 109.4 For my friendship they were mine aduersaries but I gaue my selfe to prayer And therefore in this case either silence is to be vsed or at the most onely a iust and manifest defence of our innocencie to be made Ezechias commaunded the people to be silent and not to say any thing to the speech of Rabsachai now flattering now threatning When Eli spake hardly of Anna and bad her put away her drunkennes shee answered Nay my lord I am a woman troubled in spirit I haue neither drunke wine nor strong drinke but haue powred out my soule before the Lord. Thus Ioseph cleares himselfe saying I haue done nothing wherefore they should put me in the dungeon And Daniel to Nabuchodonosor Vnto thee O King haue I done no hurt And our Sauiour Christ when the Iewes said vnto him Say we not true that thou art a Samaritane and hast a deuill answered I haue not a deuill but I honour my father and ye haue dishonoured me And Paul beeing to make an Apologie for himselfe beginnes thus Men and brethren I haue in all good conscience serued God vnto this day Now when a man hath thus cleared himselfe though his owne word in his owne behalfe take no effect yet let him patiently commit his cause to God who in time will manifest the truth and bring it to light as Dauid did Iudge me O God saith he for I haue walked in min◠innocencie And againe The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him but the Lord will not leaue him in his hand nor condemne him when he is iudged Meekenes in reproofe is when any shall admonish his brother of any fault for his amendment with the like moderation that Chirurgeons vse who beeing to set the arme or legge that is forth of ioynt handle it so tenderly that the patient shall skant feele when the bone falls in againe This counsell Paul giueth Brethren if any man be fallen by occasion into any fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one or set him in ioynt againe with the spirit of meeknes This was practised by Abraham towards Lot when their heardmen were at variance saying Let there be I pray thee no strife between thee me neither between mine heardmen and thine for we are brethren And this is done foure waies First when we reproue a man generally as Nathan did Dauid by a parable Secondly when in the roome of a reproofe we put an exhortation in the exhortation insinuating an oblique reproofe as when a man shall sweare in his talke I shall not neede alwaies to say Ye do very il to sweare and so to dishonour God but I wil lap it vp in the forme of an exhortation as pills are lapt in sugar by saying Yea and nay yea and nay shall serue among vs. Rebuke not an elder but exhort him as a father and young men as brethrē saith Paul to Timothie Thirdly when the reproofe is propounded in a mans own person as though he were faultie which reprooueth Paul practised this Now these things brethren saith he I haue figuratiuely applied to mine owne selfe and Apollos for your sakes that yee might learne by vs that no man presume aboue that which is written Fourthly when the fault is directly reprooued but yet partly with prefaces that we doe it of loue that we wish well to the partie that we speake as considering our selues that wee also are in danger of the same fault and partly by framing the reproofe out of the worde of God that the partie may see himselfe rather to be reprooued by God then by vs after this maner the inferiour may admonish his superiour especially when there is no other way of redresse and he is to listen yeelding himselfe tractable Naaman is aduised by his seruant who said Father if the Prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not haue done it howe much rather then when he saith to thee Wash be cleane Then went he downe
disarme him make him altogither vnable to preuaile against vs. Now to finde out this matter we neede not to vse the counsell of any Delilah for wee haue the worde of God which teacheth vs plainly where the strength of death consists namely in our sinnes as Paul saith The sting of death is sinne Well then we knowing certainly that the power and force of euery mans particular death lies in his owne sinnes must spend our time and studie in vsing good meanes that our sinnes may be remooued and pardoned And therefore wee must daily inure our selues in the practise of two duties One is to humble our selues for all our sins past partly confessing them against our selues partly in prayer crying to heauen for the pardon of them The other is for time to come to turne vnto god and to carrie a purpose resolution and indeauour in al things to reforme both heart and life according to Gods worde These are the verie principall and proper duties whereby the strength of death is much rebated and he is made of a mightie and bloodie enemie so farre forth friendly and tractable that we may with comfort incounter with him and preuaile too Therefore I commend these duties to your Christian considerations and carefull practise desiring that ye would spend your daies euer hereafter in doing of them If a maÌ„ were to deale with a mightie dragon or serpent hand to hand in such wise as he must either kill or bee killed the best thing were to bereaue him of his sting or of that part of his bodie where his poyson lies nowe death it selfe is a serpent dragon or scorpion and sinne is the sting or poison whereby hee woundes and kills vs. Wherefore without any more delay see that yee pull out his sting the practise of the foresaid duties is as it were a fitte and worthie instrument to doe the deede Hast thou beene a person ignorant of Gods wil a contemner of his word and worship a blasphemer of his name a breaker of his sabbaths disobedient to parents and magistrates a murderer a fornicator a railer a slanderer a couetous person c. reforme these thy sinnes and all other like vnto them pull them out by the rootes from thy heart and cast them off So many sinnes as bee in thee so many stings of death bee also in thee to wound thy soule to eternall death Therefore let no one sinne remaine for which thou hast not humbled thy selfe and repented seriously When death hurts any man it takes the weapons whereby he is hurt from his owne hand It cannot doe vs the least hurt but by the force of our owne sinnes Wherefore I say again againe lay this point to your hearts spend our strength life and health that ye may before ye die abolish the strength of death A man may put a serpent in his bosome when the sting is out and wee may let death creepe into our bosoms and gripe vs with his legs and stab vs at the heart so long as he brings not his venime and poison with him And because the former duties are so necessarie as none can be more I wil vse some reasons yet further to enforce them Whatsoeuer a man would doe when he is dying the â—ame he ought to doe euerie daie while he is liuing now the most notorious and wicked person that euer was when hee is dying will praie and desire others to praie for him and promise amendement of life protesting that if he might liue he would becom a practitioner in al the good duties of faith repentance and reformation of life Oh therefore bee carefull to doe this euerie daie Againe the saying is true hee that would liue when hee is dead must die while he is aliue namely to his sinnes Wouldest thou then liue eternally sue to heauen for thy pardon and see that now in thy life time thou die to thine owne sinnes Lastly wicked Balaam would faine die the death of the righteous but alas it was to smal purpose for he would by no meanes liue the life of the righteous For his continuall purpose and meaning was to followe his old waies in sorceries and couetousnesse Nowe the life of a righteous man standes in the humbling of himselfe for his sinnes past and in a careful reformation of life to come Wouldest thou then die the death of the righteous then look vnto it that thy life be the life of the righteous if ye will needs liue the life of the vnrighteous yee must looke to die the death of the vnrighteous Remember this and content not your selues to heare the word but bee doers of it for ye learne no more indeede what measure of knowledge soeuer ye haue then ye practise The third dutie in our generall preparation is in this life to enter into the first degree of life eternall For as I haue said there bee three degrees of life euerlasting and the first of them is in this present life For he that would liue in eternall happinesse for euer must begin in this world to rise out of the graue of his owne sinnes in which by nature hee lies buried and liue in newnesse of life as it is said in the Reuelation Hee that will escape the second death must bee made partaker of the first resurrectioÌ„ And Paul saith to the Colossians that they were in this life deliuered from the power of darkenesse and translated into the kingdome of Christ. And Christ saith to the Church of the Iewes the kingdome of heauen is amongst you Nowe this first degree of life is when a man can say with Paul I liue not but Christ liues in me that is I finde partly by the testimonie of my sanctified conscience and partly by experience that Christ my redeemer by his spirit guideth and gouerneth my thoughts will affectionsâ— all the powers of body and soule according to the blessed direction of his holy will Now that we might be able to say this we must haue three gifts graces of God wherein especially this first degree of life consists The first is sauing knowledge wherebâ— we doe truely resolue our selues that God the father of Christ is our fatherâ— Christ his sonne our redeemer and the holy ghost our comforter That this knowledge is one part of life eternall it appeares by the saying of Christ in Iohn This is life eternall that is the beginning and entrance into life eternall to know thee the onely God and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ. The second grace is peace of conscience which passeth al vnderstanding and therefore Paul saith that the kingdome of heauen is righteousnes peace of conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost The horror of a guiltie conscience is the beginning of death destruction therefore peace of conscience deriued from the death of Christ is life and happinesse The third is the regiment of the spirit whereby the heart and life of man is ordered according to the
beare them and when you shall stretch forth your handes I will hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I will not heare for your handes are full of blood 2. Tim. 3.5 Which haue a shew of godlines but denie the force thereof such therefore auoyd VII The manifest prophanation of the Sabboth in pampering the belly surfeting adulterie and other like prophanenesse which is nothing els but to celebrate a Sabboth to the diuell and not to God CHAP. 24. Of the fifth commandement HItherto we haue spoken of the commandements of the first table nowe followeth the secōd table which concerneth the loue of our neighbour Rom. 13.9 Thou shalt not commit adulterie thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steale thou shalt not beare false witnes thou shalt not couet and if there be any other commandement it is briefly comprehēded in this saying namely thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe Our neighbour is euery one which is of our owne flesh Esa. 58.7 When thou seest the naked couer him and hide not thy selfe from thine owne flesh The manner of louing is so to loue our neighbour as our selues to witte truly and sincerely when as contrarily the true manner of louiug God is to loue God without measure The second table containeth sixe Commandements whereof the first in the order of the ten commandements the fift concerneth the preseruation of dignity and excellencie of our neighbour The words are these Honour thy Father and thy mother that they may prolong thy daies in the lande which the Lord thy God giueth thee The Resolution Honour This Word by the figure signifieth all that dutie whereby our neighbours dignitie is preserued but especially our Superious This dignitie proceedeth of this that euery man beareth in him some part of the image of God if we respect the outward order and decency which is obserued in the Church and common wealth In the Magistrate there is a certaine image of the power and glory of God Dan. 2.37 O King thou art a King of Kings for the God of heauen hath giuen thee a kingdome power and strength glorie Hence is it that Magistrates are called Gods Psal. 82. 1. In an olde man is the similitude of the eternity of God in a father the likenesse of his fatherhood Math. 2◠9 And call no man your father vpon the earth for there is but one your Father which is in heauen In a man is the image of Gods prouidence and authoritie 1 Cor. 11.7 For a man ought not to couer his head because he is the image of the glory of God but the woman is the glory of her husband Finally in a learned man is the likenesse of the knowledge and wisdome of God Nowe therefore that person in whome euen the least title of the image of God appeareth is to be be honoured and reuerenced Thy father By a figure we must here vnderstand all those that are our superiours as Parents and such like of our kindred or aliance which are to vs in stead of Parents Magistrates Ministers our Elders and those that doe excell vs in any gifts whatsoeuer The kings of Gerar were called Abimelech my father the king Gen. 20.2 Gen. 45.8 God hath made me a father vnto Pharaoh and Lord ouer all his house 1. Cor. 4.15 For though ye haue ten thousand instructers in Christ yet haue ye not many Fathers for in Christ Iesus I haue begotten you 2. King 5.13 But his seruants came and spake vnto him and said Father if the Prophet had commanded thee a great thing◠wouldest thou not haue done it 2. King ◠12 And Elisha sawe it and he cried My Father my Father my Father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof And thy mother This is added least we should despise our mothers because of their infirmities Prou. 23.22 Obey thy father which hath begotten thee and despise not thy mother when shee is olde Here we are put in mind to performe due honour to our stepmothers and fathers in law as if they were our proper and naturall parents Ruth 3. 1. and 5. Afterward Naomi her mother in lawe said vnto her My daughter shall not I seeke rest for thee that thou maiest prosper And shee answered her All that thou biddest me I will do Exod. 18.17 But Moses father in law said vnto him The thing which thou doest is not well 19. Heare nowe my voice I will giue thee counsell and God shall be with thee 24. So Moses obeied the voice of his father in law and did all that he had said Mich. 7.6 For the sonne reuileth the Father the daughter riseth vp against her mother the daughter in law against her mother in lawe That they may prolong Parents are said to prolong the liues of their children because they are Gods instruments whereby their childrens liues are prolonged for oftentimes the name of the action is attributed to the instrument wherewith the action is wrought Luk. 16.9 Make you friendes with the riches of iniquitie that when ye shall want they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations 1. Tim. 4.16 For in doing so tho◠shalt both saue thy selfe and them that heare thee But Parents doe prolong the liues of their children in commanding them to walke in the waies of the Lord by exercising iustice and iudgement Gen. 18.19 For beeing become godly they haue the promise both of this life and the life to come 1. Tim. 4.8 Further they effect the same thing by their praiers made in the behalfe of their children Hereby it plainely appeareth that the vsuall custome of children saluting their parents to aske them their blessing is no light or vaine thing Moreouer in these words the reason to mooue vs to the obedience of this commandement is drawne from the ende which reason is also a promise yet a speciall promise Eph. 6. 2. Honour thy father and thy mother which is the first commandement with promise I say speciall because the promise of the second commandement is generall and belongeth to all the rest of the commandements And God promiseth long life not absolutely but so farre as it is a blessing Eph. 6.3 That it may be well with thee and that thou maiest liue long on earth For wee must thinke that long life is not alwaie a blessing but that sometime it is better to die then to liue Esay 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man considereth it in heart and mercifull men are taken away and no man vnderstandeth that the righteous is taken away from the euill to come But if at any time the Lord giueth a short life to obedient children hee rewardeth them againe with eternall life in heauen and so the promise faileth not but changeth for the better The affirmative part Preserue the dignitie of thy neighbour Vnder this part is commaunded First reuerence towards all our superiours the actions whereof are reuerently to rise vp before any man which passeth by vs. Leu. 19.32 Rise vp
Gods eyes We are vnder the wrath of God by nature and can not attaine to euerlasting life of our selues Wherefore it doth stand euery one of vs in hand to abase our selues vnder the mightie hand of God in that we are become by our sinnes the very basest of all the creatures vpon earth yea vtterly to dispaire in respect of our selues and with bleeding hearts to bewaile our owne cases There is no daunger in this it is the very way to grace none can be a liuely member of Christ till his conscience condemne him and make him quite out of heart in respect of himselfe And the want of this is the cause why so fewe perceiue any sweetnesse or comfort in the Gospell and why it is so little loued and embraced now a daies Lastly if all mankind be shut vp vnder vnbeleefe the dutie of euery man is to labour in vsing all good meanes whereby we may be deliuered from this bondage and to pray to God with Dauid Create in me a â—lâ—an heart O God and renew a right spirit within me And crie out with Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death And we must neuer be at rest till we haue some assurance in conscience that in Christ we haue freedome from this bondage and can with the Colossians giue thanks that we are deliuered from the power of darknesse and translated into the kingdome of Christ. This should be the affection of euery man because the spirituall thraldom vnder sinne is of all miseries most loathsome and burdensome And in this respect the day of death should be vnto vs most welcome because it doth vnloose vs from this miserable estate in which we doe almost nothing but displease God For this is the greatest griefe that can be to such as are indeed the children of God by their sinnes to offende their mercifull father As for those which feele not the weight of their natural guiltinesse and corruption but lie slumbring in the securitie of their owne hearts they are therefore the more miserable in that beeing plunged in the gulfe of all miserie yet they feele no miserie Thus much of the permission of the fal of man Now we come to the Couenant of grace Which is nothing els but a compact made betweene God man touching reconciliation and life euerlasting by Christ. This couenant was first of all reuealed and deliuered to our first parents in the garden of Eden immediately after their fall by God himselfe in these wordes The seede of the woman shall bruise the serpents head and afterward it was continued and renued with a part of Adams posteritie as with Abraham Isaac Iacob Dauid c. but it was most fully reuealed accomplished at the comming of Christ. In the Couenant I will consider two things the parties reconciled between whome the Couenant is made and the foundation thereof The parties are God and man God is the principal and he promiseth righteousnesse and life eternall in Christ Man againe bindes himselfe by Gods grace to beleeue and to rest vpon the promise Here it may be demanded why man is more in the couenant then angels Ans. The will of God in this point is not reuealed vnlesse it be because angels fell of themselues not mooued by any other but man did fall by them Againe it may be asked whether all mankind were euer in the couenant or no Ans. We can not say that all and euery man hath bin and nowe is in the couenant but onely that little part of mankinde which in all ages hath bin the Church of God and hath by faith embraced the couenant as Paul plainly auoucheth The scripture saith he hath concluded all vnder sin that the promise of the saith of Iesus Christ should be giueÌ„ not vnto all men but to theÌ„ that beleeue Without faith no man can please God and therefore God makes no couenant of reconciliation without faith Againe since the beginning of the world there hath bin alwaies a distinction betweene man and man This appeares in the very tenour of the words of the couenant made with our first parents where God saith he will put difference betweene the seede of the woman and the seede of the serpent meaning by the seede of the woman Christ with all the elect whome the father hath giuen vnto him who shall bruise the serpents head and tread Satan vnder their feete And by the seede of the serpent he meaneth wicked men that liue die in their sinnes as S. Iohn saith he that committeth sinne is of the deuil And according to this distinction in times following was Abel receiued into the couenant and Cain reiected some were the sonnes of God in the daies of Noe some the sonnes of men In Abrahams family Ismael is cast out and the couenant established in Isaac Iacob is loued Esau is hated And this distinction in the families of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Paul approoueth when he maketh some to be the children of the flesh and some other the children of the promise And againe the Iewes a people of God in the couenant the Gentiles no people For Paul makes it a priuiledge of the Iewes to haue the adoption and couenants and the seruice of God and the promises belonging vnto them whereas he saith of the Ephesians that they were alients from the common wealth of Israel and were straungers from the couenants of promise and had no hope and were without Christ and without God in the world And the same may be said of the whole bodie of the Gentiles excepting here and there a man who were conuerted and became Proselytes And this is manifest in that they wanted the word and the Sacraments teachers And this saying of the prophet Ose I will call them my people which were not my people and her belooued which was not beloued is alleadged by Paul to prooue the calling of the Gentiles Some doe alleadge to the contrarie that when the couenant was made with our first parents it was also in them made with al mankind not one man excepted that the distinction and difference betweene man and man ariseth of their vnbeleefe and contempt of the couenant afterward Ans. Indeed in the estate of Innocency Adam by creation receiued grace for himselfe and his posteritie and in his fall he transgressed not onely for himselfe but for all his posteritie but in receiuing of the couenant of grace it cannot be prooued that he receiued it for himselfe and for all mankind nay the distinction betweene the seede of the woman and the seede of the serpent mentioned in the very first giuing of the couenant shewes the contrarie for if after the fall all and euery part of mankinde were receiued into the couenant then all men without restraint should be the seed of the woman bruising the serpents head and the serpent should haue no seede at all And againe
his word and receiuing his sacraments and as the Prophet saith they honour God with their lipps but their hearts are farre froÌ„ him We may see daily experieÌ„ce of this euery man will say Lord Lord but in their liues and conuersations fewe there bee that denie him not both in the duties which they owe vnto God as also in duties towards their brethren Many come to heare Gods worde because they are compelled by the magistrates lawes but when they are come they worship not God in their hearts which is plainely seene by the breach of Gods holy sabboth in euery place and that they make more account of a messe of pottage with Esau then of their birth-right and of thirtie peeces of siluer then of Christ himselfe The third point to bee handled in Christs apprehension is that they lay hold on him wherein we must consider two things I. the resistance made by Christs disciples II. their flight For the first Christs disciples resisted and specially Peter drawing his sword stroke one of the high priests seruants and cut off his eare This fact our Sauiour Christ reprooues and that for these causes I. because his disciples were priuate men and they that came to apprehend him were magistrates Secondly he was to worke the worke of mans redemption nowe Peter by this fact did what he could to hinder him And from this practise of Peter we may learne that nothing in the world is so hard to a man as to take vp his crosse and followe Christ. One would thinke it should bee a hard matter for him to encounter with enemies especially they being stronger then he but Peter stoutly resisting makes nothing of it whereas a little before when Christ tolde him and the rest concerning his passion they were so heauie with griefe that they could not hold vp their heads so hard a thing it is to beare the crosse and for this very cause afterward when Christ reprooued him for striking both he and all the rest of the disciples fled away Secondly Peter in all mans reason was to be commended because he strake in the defence of his master but Christ reprooues him for it Whence we learne that if a man be zealous for Christ hee must be zealous within the compasse of his calling and not be zealous first and then looke for a calling but first looke for a calling and then be zealous Which thing if Peter had marked hee had not dealt so rashly for being without the compasse of his calling he could not but doe amisse Here it may be demaunded whether Christ and his religion may not be maintained by the sword I answer that the magistrate which is the vicegerent of the Lord is the keeper of both tables and therefore is to maintaine religion with the sword and so may put to death Atheists which holde there is no God of which sort there are many in these daies and heretiques which malitiously maintaine and holde any thing that ouerthrowes the foundation of religion in the Churches wherof they were members But some obiect that in the parable of the fielde the seruants are commanded not to pluck vp the tares from the wheat but to suffer both to growe till haruest and that therefore there must bee no separation of heretickes and true Christians before the last day of iudgement Ans. The scope of that place is not to forbidde the execution of heretiques but it speakes only of the finall separation which must be in the ende of the world For there the master of the familie doth signifie God himselfe aud the fielde the Church militant spread ouer the face of the whole earth and by tares is meant not onely heretiques but also all those that are forth of the church the seruants are Gods holy angels and the haruest is the last iudgement Here further it may bee demaunded who may vse the sword Ans. All mâ—n may vse the sword to strike and to kil into whose hands God putteth the sword Nowe God putteth it into the hand first and principally of the publike magistrate who when iust occasion serues may drawe it out And againe it is put into a priuate mans hand sometime A priuate man when he is assailed of his enemie may take the sworde in way of his owne defence and may kill his enemie therewith if there be no other helpe not doing it vpon malice but because he can no otherwise escape and saue his own life and so for want of a magistrate he is a magistrate vnto himselfe In the â—light of the disciples we may consider two things the time and the qualitie of the persons The time was at the apprehension of our Lord Sauiour And this came to passe not without the speciall prouidence of God that it might be known that Christ had no helper or fellow in the accoÌ„plishment of the work of our redeÌ„ption that wheras we for our sinnes deserued to be forsaken of all creatures he being our pledge and surety might be forsaken for vs. As for the qualitie of the persons that flie they were the chosen disciples of Christ such as had beleeued in him confessed him and preached in his name And this serueth to teach vs that God will otherwhiles forsake his owne children and seruants and leaue them to themselues in some part that they may feele their wants and miseries their weakenesse in themselues and by that meanes be humbled throughly and be touched with an hungring desire after Christ. As a mother sets down her child and hides her selfe suffering it to crie fall and breake the face not becanse shee hates it but that shee may teach it to depend vpon her and loue her so god giueth grace to his children yet againe sometime he doth in part withdrawe it from them then they faile in their duties sundrie waies and this he doth to make them ashamed of themselues and to cause them to put all their confidence out of themselues in the merits of Christ. The fourth thing to be considered in Christs apprehension is their binding of him In which action of theirs we are to obserue first of al the circumstance of time when this binding was When our Sauiour Christ had said vnto them I am he they being astonished fell to the ground and with all when Peter had smitten off Malchus eare with his sworde Christ healed the same miraculously Yet after all this though they had seene his wonderfull power both in word and deede they proceede in malice against him and lay handes on him and bind him as a malefactour In this wee note what a fearefull sinne hardnesse of heart is the danger whereof appeareth in this that if a man be ouertaken with it there is nothing that can stay or daunt him in his wicked proceedings no not the powerfull words and deedes of Christ himselfe And indeede among Gods iudgements there is none more feareful then this and yet how feareful soeuer it be it is a
suffered V. the excellencie of his passion For the first the person that suffered was Christ the iust as Peter saith Christ also hath once suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust and againe Christ Iesus the iust saith S. Iohn is the reconciliation for our sinnes And in his execution we shall haue manifest declarations of his righteousnes and iustice consisting in two most worthie points First when he was vpon the crosse and the souldiours were nailing his handes and feete thereunto and racking his bodie most cruelly he praied Father forgiue them they know not what they do These souldiers were by al likelihood the very same that apprehended him and brought him before Caiphas and from thence to Pontius Pilate and there platted a crowne of thornes and set it on his head buffeted him and spitefully intreated him as we haue heard and yet Christ speakes no worde of reuenge vnto them but with all patience in the very extremitie of their malice and iniurie he praieth vnto his father to forgiue them Hence wee are taught that when iniuries are done vnto vs we ought to abstaine from all affection of reuenge and not so much as manifest the same either in word or deede It is indeede a hard lesson to learne and practise but it is our parts to indeauour to do it and not onely so but to be readie for euil to doe good yea euen at that instant when other men are doing vs wrong euen then I say wee must be readie if it be possible to doe them good When as Christs enemies were practising against him all the treacherie they could euen then he performeth the worke of a Mediatour and praieth for them vnto his father and seeketh their saluation Againe whereas Christ praieth thus Father forgiue them we gather that the most principall thing of all that man ought to seeke after in this life is the forgiuenesse of sinnes Some thinke that happines consisteth in honour some in wealth some in pleasure some in this some in that but indeed the thing which we should most labour for is reconciliation with God in Christ that wee may haue the free remission of all our sinnes Yea this is blessednes it selfe as Dauid saith Blessed is he whose iniquitie is forgiuen and whose sinne is couered Here then beholde the madnesse of the men of this worlde that either seeke for this blessing in the last place or not at all The second testimonie of Christs righteousnesse giuen in the middest of his passion was that he behelde his mother standing by and commended her to the custodie of Iohn his disciple whereby he gaue an example of most holy obedience vnto the fifth commandement which prescribeth honour vnto father and mother And this his fact sheweth that the obseruing of this commandement standeth not in outward shew and reuerence onely but in a godly recompence in procuring vnto parents all the good we can both concerning this and a better life It often falls out that children be as it were Cains to father and mother some raile on them some fight with them others see them pine away and sterue and not releeue them But all dutiful children must here learne that as their parents haue done many duties vnto them and brought them vp so they againe must in all reuerence performe obedience vnto them both in word and deede and when occasion is offered releeue them yea in all they can doe good vnto them Againe in this we may see what a wretched state is that which the Church of Rome calleth the state of perfection namely to liue apart from the companie of men in fasting and praying all the daies of a mans life for hereby the bond of nature is broken and a man can not do the dutie vnto his parents which Gods lawe requireth and Christ here himselfe practiseth nor the duties of a member of Christ which are to be done to the whole Church and to the rest of the members thereof The place where Christ suffered is called Caluarie or Golgotha that is the place of dead mens skulles without the walles of Ierusalem Concerning the reason of this name men bee of diuers opinions Some say it was so called because Adam was buried there and that his skull beeing there found gaue the name to the place And this is the verie opinion of some ancient diuines that Christ was there crucified where Adam was buried but because it hath no certaine grounde I leaue it as vncertaine Others thinke it was called Caluarie because the Iewes were wont to carrie out the bones of the dead men and there to heape them togither as in times past the manner was in the vauts of sundrie Churches in this land And some others thinke it was called Golgotha or Caluarie because theeues and murtherers and malefactours were there executed stoned burned whereby it came to passe that many skulls and bones of dead men were found there The time when Christ was executed was at the Iewes passeouer when not onely the Iewes but also many Proselytes of many countries and nations were assembled and therefore this execution was not in a priuate corner but openly in the viewe of the world For as he was a Sauiour not to the Iewes onely but also the Gentiles so it was very requisite that his death should bee publike before all men both Iewes and Gentiles As for the houre of the day in which he suffered there is some difficultie in the Euangelists for S. Iohn saith that he was condemned about the sixt houre of the day and Saint Marke saith he was crucified the third houre Hence it may be demaunded howe both these can stand togither Ans. Howesoeuer the Iewes naturall daie beganne at euening yet the artiâ—ificiall daie beganne at sunne-rising and ended at sunne-setting and it was diuided two waies First into twelue partes called twelue houres whether the daies were longer or shorter Secondly into foure partes or quarters and euery part contained three houres as from the first houre to the third was one part called morning from the third houre to the sixt another part called the sixt houre from the sixt houre to the ninth the third part called the ninth houre and from the ninth houre to the twelfth the fourth part called euening Nowe when Saint Iohn saith Christ was condemned about the sixt houre it must be vnderstood of the second quarter of the daie called the sixt houre and whereas Saint Marke saith he was crucified the third houre of the day hee speakes of the lesser houres twelue whereof made the whole day and thus they both agree for the third houre of the day and the beginning of the second quarter followe each other immediately Againe it may be answered that Christ was condemned at sixe of the clocke after the Romane account which begins the day at midnight and crucified at three which is nine of the clocke in the morning with vs after the Iewes account
namely his ministers to shew all the passengers a straight and readie course into the kingdome of heauen And though Christ haue done all this for vs yet the blindnes and securitie of men is such that none almost walketh in this way nor careth to come into this mansion place but in stead of this they walke in by waies according to the lusts of their owne flesh When they are commanded to goe eastward to Ierusalem they turne westward an other way when they are commanded to goe on forward to heauen they turne againe backeward and goe straight to hell Men runne on all the daies of their liues in the broad way that leadeth to destruction and neuer so much as once make inquirie for a resting place in heauen but when the houre of death commeth then they call for the guide whereas all their liues before they haue runne out of the way many thousand miles but then alas it is too late vnlesse it be the vnspeakable mercie of God For they haue wandered so farre astray that in so short a space they cannot be able to come into the right way againe Yet generally this is the state of most among vs whose securitie is so much the more grieuous and fearefull because Christ hath done all that heart can wish There is nothing else required but onely that by his grace we should walke in the way There was neuer any that knew the state of the people in these daies but he will graunt that this is most true which I say Besides as by this we are brought to a sight of the desperate securitie of this age so we may further learne our owne duties Is Christ gone to heauen before hand to prepare a place for thee then practise that which Paul teacheth Haue thy conuersation in heauen The words which he vseth are verie significant and the meaning of them is Ye are free-denizens of the citie of God and therefore as freemen in Gods house let all your cares and studies all your affaires and doings bee in heauen In the world if a man make purchase of an house his heart is alwaies there there he pulls down and builds againe there he makes him orchards gardens there he meanes to liue and die Christ Iesus hath bought the kingdome of heauen for vs the most blessed purchasse that euer was and hath paid the dearest price for it that euer was paide euen his own pretious blood and in this citie he hath prepared for vs a dwelling place and made vs free-denizens of it therefore all our ioy and all our affaires ought to be there It will be said howe shall a man vpon earth haue his conuersation in heauen Ans. We must conuerse in heauen not in bodie but in heart and therfore though our bodies be on earth yet our hearts ioy and comfort and all our meditation must be in heauen Thus must wee behaue our selues like good freemen in Gods house It must be far from vs to haue our ioy and our hearts set on the things of this world Thirdly the consideration of this that Christ Iesus hath prepared a place for vs in heauen also hath trained the way with his owne blood must make euerie one of vs to striue to enter in at the straight gate as our Sauiour Christ counselleth vs and that as wrastlers doe which striue for life and death Within this gate is a dwelling place of happines readie for vs. If a man were assured that there were made for him a great purchasse in Spaine or Turkie so as if he would but come thither hee might inioy it would he not aduenture the daungers of the sea and of his enemies also if neede were that he might come to his owne Wel behold Christ Iesus hath made a purchase for vs in heauen there is nothing required of vs but that we wil come enioy it Why then should men refuse any paines or feare in the way nay we must striue to get in It may be we shall be pinched in the entrance for the gate is both strait and lowe and we must be faine to leaue our wealth behind vs and the pleasures of this life enter we must though we should be constrained to leaue our flesh behinde vs. For the purchase that is made is worth tenne thousand worldes And besides if we loose it by fainting in the way our purchase shall be the blacknesse of darkenes for euer with the deuill and all his angels who therefore would not striue though he lost his life in the gate The vrging of this point is needefull in these daies There is striuing enough for worldly preferment but a man almost may go alone in the straight way that leadeth to heauen he shall haue none to beare him company And where are they that striue to enter in where is the violence offered to the kingdome of heauen where bee the violent which should take it to themselues as in the daies of Iohn Baptist. Fourthly if Christ haue prepared a place for vs in heauen then we are in this world as pilgrimes and straungers and therefore must learne the counsell of Saint Peter As straungers and pilstrimes abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule He that doth esteeme himselfe as pilgrime is not to intangle himselfe with the affaires of this worlde nor put in practise the behauiour thereof but to behaue himselfe as a freeman of heauen as straungers vse to liue in forraine countries according to the fashion of their owne And therefore in thought word and deede in life and conuersation hee must so carrie himselfe as thereby he may appeare to al the world of what countrie he is An ancient diuine speaking of such as had curled and embrodered haire biddeth them consider whether they must goe to heauen with such haire or no and wheras they adorned themselues with winckles made of other womens haire he askes them whether it may not be the haire of a damned person or no. If it may be he further demandeth howe it may beseeme them to weare it which professe themselues to be the sonnes and daughters of God The like may be said of all other sinnes they that be of Gods house must behaue themselues as freemen there And when God hath made vs free it doth not beseeme vs to make our selues bondmen of sinne and Satan and of this world Fifthly seeing Christ went to heauen to prepare a place for all that beleeue in him here is a good dutie for parents Many of them are very carefull to preferre their children to great places and noble mens houses and they are not to be blamed therefore but if they would indeede be good parents to their children they should first endeauour themselues to get roomes for them in heauen they that doe this are good parents indeede Some will say howe shall we get this preferment for them Ans. God hath two houses his Church and the kingdome of heauen The church
heauens the extraordinarie change of the whole world The second opinion is that the ende of the world shall be three yeares and an halfe after the reuealing of Antichrist And it is gathered out of places in Daniel and the Reuelation abused Where a time and halfe a time signifie not three yeares and a halfe but a short time And therefore to take the wordes properly is farre from the meaning of the holy Ghost For marke if the ende shall be three yeares and a halfe after the reuealing of Antichrist then may any man knowe before hand the particular moneth wherein the ende of the world should be which is not possible Nowe the trueth which may be auouched against all is this that no man can know or set down or coniecture the day the weeke the moneth the yere or the age wherin the second comming of Christ and the last day of iudgement shall be For Christ himselfe saith of that daie and houre knoweth no man no not the angels in heauen but God onely may Christ himselfe as he is man knew it not And when the disciples asked Christ at his ascension whether he would restore the kingdome vnto Israel he answered It is not for you to knowe the times and seasons which the father hath put in his owne power And Paul saith Of the times and seasons brethren you haue no neede that I write vnto you For you your selues knowe perfectly that the daie of the Lord shall come euen as a thiefe in the night Nowe wee knowe that a man that keepeth his house can not coniecture or imagine when a thiefe will come and therefore no man can set downe the particular time or age when Christ shall come to iudgement This must we hold steadfastly and if we read the contrarie in the writings of men we are not to beleeue their sayings but account of them as the deuices of men which haue no ground in Gods word To come to the third point namely the signes of the last iudgement they are of two sorts some goe before the comming of Christ and some are ioyned with it The signes that goe before are in number seuen recorded distinctly by the holy Ghost The first is the preaching of the Gospel through the whole world So our Sauiour Christ saith this Gospell of the kingdome must bee preached through the whole world for a witnesse vnto all nations and then shall the ende come Which place must thus be vnderstood not that the Gospell must be preached to the whole world at any one time for that as I take it was neuer yet seene neither shall be but that it shall bee published distinctly and successiuely at seuerall times and thus vnderstanding the words of Christ if wee consider the time since the Apostles daies wee shall finde this to be true that the Gospel hath beene preached to all the world and therefore this first signe of Christs comming is alreadie past and accomplished The second signe of his comming is the reuealing of Antichrist as Paul saith The daie of Christ shall not come before there be a departure first and that mā of sinne he disclosed euen the sonne of perdition which is Antichrist Concerning this signe in the yeare of our Lord 602. Gregory the eight pope of Rome auouched this solemnly as a manifest trueth that whosoeuer did take to himselfe the name of Vniuersall Bishop the same was Antichrist Now fiue yeres after Boniface succeeding him was by Phocas and Emperour entituled Vniuersall Bishop pastour of the Catholike Church in the yeare of our Lord 607. and of all Popes he was the first knowne Antichrist and since him all his successours haue taken vnto thē the same title of Vniuersal and Catholike Bishop whereby it doeth plainely appeare that at Rome hath bin and is the Antichrist And this signe is also past The third is a generall departing of most men from the faith For it is saide in the place before named let no man deceiue you for the day of Christ shall not come except there be a departing first Generall departure hath bin in former ages When Arius spread his heresie it tooke such place that the whole worlde almost became an Arian And during the space of 900. yeares from the time of Boniface the popish heresie spread it selfe ouer the whole earth and the faithfull seruants of God were but as an handfull of wheat in a mountaine of chaffe which can scarse be discerned This signe is in part already past neuertheles it shall continue to the ende because men shall continually depart from the faith And the nearer the end of the world is the more Satā rageth seeks to bring mē into his kingdō Therefore it standeth vs in hād to labour for the knowledge of true religiō hauing learned it most hartily to loue the same The fourth signe is a generall corruption in manners This point the Apostle sets downe at large saying Toward the latter daies shall come perilous times wherein men shall be louers of themselues couetous boasters proud cursed speakers disobedient to parents vnthankefull vnholy and without naturall affection truce-breakers false accusers intemperate fierce despisers of them which are good◠traytours headie high minded louers of pleasures more then louers of god c. This generall corruption in the manners of men is noted by our Sauiour Christ when he saith When he commeth he shall scarse sinde faith vpon the earth This signe hath bin in former ages and is no doubt at this day in the world For it is hard to finde a man that walketh iustly soberly and faithfully doing the duties of his calling to God and man The fifth signe of Christs comming stands in terrible and grieuous calamities For Christs disciples asking him a signe of his comming and of the ende of the world he saith There shall be warres and rumours of warres nation shall rise against nation and realme against realme and there shall be pestilence and famine and earthquakes in diuers places and men shall be at their wittes endes These haue bin in former ages In the first three hundred yeares after Christ were tenne most fearefull persecutions and since in Europe the Church of God hath bin wonderfully persecuted by the Antichrist of Rome in the hundred yeares last past The sixth signe is an exceeding deadnes of heart so as neither iudgements from heauen nor the preaching of the word shall mooue the hearts of men So Christ saith It shall be in the comming of the sonne of man as it was in the daies of Noe and in the daies of Sodom they knew nothing till the flood came and fire from heauen destroied them all This signe vndoubtedly is manifest in these our daies howsoeuer it hath beene also in former times For where are any almost that are mooued with Gods iudgements or touched at the preaching of the word nay rather men harden their hearts and become secure and careles The small
of Christ in feeding clothing lodging and visiting of them For we must thinke that many of those against whome this reason shall be brought did know religion and professe the same yea they prophesied in the name of Christ and called on him saying Lord Lord and yet the sentence of condemnation goeth against them because they shew no compassion toward the members of Christ and therefore it is a principal vertue and a speciall note of a Christian to shew the bowels of compassion towards his needie brethren Here againe we note that it is not sufficient for vs to abstaine from euill but we must also doe good For it is not saide I was an hungred and ye tooke from me but When I was hungrie ye gaue me no mâ—ate They are not charged with doing euill but for not doing good S. Iohn saith The axe is laid to the roote of the tree and the reason followes not because the tree bare euill fruit but because it bare not good fruite therefore it must be cast into the fire This condemnes a bad opinion of all worldly men who thinke that all is well and that God will be mercifull vnto them because they doe no man harme Thus we see how the deuill blinds the eyes of men for it will not stand for paiment at the day of iudgement to say I haue hurt no man vnlesse we further doe all the good we can The third point is the defence which impenitent sinners make for themselues in these words Lord when saw we thee an hungred or thirstie or naked or in prison or sicke and did not minister vnto thee Thus in their owne defence that which Christ saith they gainsay iustifie themselues Here marke the nature of all impenitent sinners which is to sooth and flatter themselues in sinne and to maintaine their owne righteousnes like to the proud Pharisie in his prayer who bragged of his goodnes and said Lord I thanke thee that I am not as other men are extortioners c. and in the very same manner ignorant persons of all sorts among vs iustifie themselues in their strong faith and bragge of their zeale of Gods glorie and of their loue to their brethren and yet indeede shew no signes thereof And truly we are not to maruell when we see such persons to iustifie themselues before men whereas they shall not be ashamed to doe it at the day of iudgement before the Lord Iesus himselfe The last point is Christs answer to them againe in these words Verily I say vnto you in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me This sentence being repeated againe doth teach vs the lesson which we learned before that when we are to shew compassion to any man especially if he be a meÌ„ber of Gods Church we must not consider his outward estate or his basenes in that he waÌ„ts food or raiment but behold Christ in him not respecting him as a man but as a member of Christ. This it is that must mooue vs to coÌ„passion and cause vs to make a supplie of his wants more then any respect in the world beside And surely when Christ in his members comes to our dores and complaines that he is hungrie and sicke and naked if our bowels yearne not towards him there is not so much as a sparke of the loue of God in vs. The seuenth point in the proceeding of the last iudgement is the retribution or reward in these words and they shall go into euerlasting paine and the righteous into life eternall How doe the wicked enter into hell and the godly into heauen Answ. By the powerfull and commaunding voice of Christ which is of that force that neither the greatest rebell that euer was among men nor all the deuills in hell shall be able to withstand it And seeing that after the day of iudgement we must remaine for euer either in heauen or in hell we are to looke about vs and to take heed vnto our hearts Indeede if the time were but a thousand or two thousand yeares then with more reason men might take libertie to themselues but seeing it is without ende we must be most carefull through the whole course of our liues so to liue and behaue our selues that when the day of iudgement shall come we may auoid that fearefull sentence of euerlasting woe and condemnation which shall be pronounced against the wicked And whereas all wicked men shall goe to hell at Christs commaundement it teacheth vs willingly to obey the voice of Christ in the ministerie of the word For if we rebell against his voice in this world when in the day of iudgement sentence shall be pronounced against vs we shall heare an other voice at the giuing whereof we must obey whether we will or no and thereupon goe to euerlasting paine whither we would not Let vs therfore in time denie our selues for our sinnes past and onely relie vpon Christ Iesus for the free remission of them all and for the time to come lead a new reformed life Thus much of the order of Christ his proceeding at the day of iudgement Now follow the vses thereof which are either comforts to Gods Church or duties for all men The first comfort or benefit is this that the same person which died for vs vpon the crosse to worke our redemption must also be our iudge And hence we reape two speciall comforts I. The people of God shall hereby inioy ful redemption from all miseries and calamities which they had in this life So Christ himselfe speaking of the signes of the ende of the world saith to his disciples When you see these things lift vp your heads for your redemption draweth neere Then he shal wipe all teares from their eyes Secondly we shall hereby haue a finall deliuerance from all sinne Now what a ioyful thing it is to be freed from sinne may plainly appeare by the crie of S. Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death And certen it is that he which knowes what sinne is seriously repents him of the same would wish with all his heart to be out of this world that he might leaue off to sinne and thereby cease to displease God The second comfort is this the godly in this world haue many enemies they are reuiled slandered and oftentimes put to death well Christ Iesus at the day of iudgement will take euery mans case into his owne hand he will then heare the complaint of the godly howsoeuer in this world they found no remedie and then he will reuenge their blood that is shed vpon the earth according to their prayer This comfort is to be coÌ„sidered especially of all those that are any way persecuted or molested by the wicked of this world Now follow the duties to be learned of euery one of vs and they are diuers First the consideration of the last iudgement serueth
to teach all ignorāt persons and impenitent sinners repentance and humiliation for their sinnes and to mooue them with all speede to seeke vnto Christ for the pardon of the same When Paul preached to the Athenians he willed them to repent vpon this ground and reason because the Lord hath appointed a day wherein he will iudge the world in righteousnes To speake plainly we can be content to heare the word and to honour him with our lipps yet for the most part all is done but for fashions sake for still we liue in our old sinnes our hearts are not turned but in the feare of God let vs bethinke our selues of the time when wee shall come before the iudge of heauen and earth and haue all our sinnes laide open and wee must answer for them all This is the point which the holy Ghost vseth as a reason to mooue men vnto repentance and assuredly if this will not mooue vs there is nothing in the world will Secondly to this purpose Paul saith If wee would iudge our selues wee should not be iudged Wouldest thou then escape the iudgement of Christ at the last day then in this life iudge thy selfe Nowe a man in iudging of himselfe must performe foure things I. he must examine himselfe of his owne sinnes II. he must confesse thē before the Lord. III. he must condemne himselfe as a iudge vpon the bench giue sentence against himselfe Lastly he must plead pardon and crie vnto God as for life and death for the remission of all his sinnes and he that doth this vnfainedly shal neuer be iudged of the Lord at the last day but if we slacke and neglect this dutie in this life then vndoubtedly there remaines nothing but eternall woe in the world to come Thirdly by this we may learne one not to iudge or condemne another as Paul sayeth Iudge nothing before the time vntill the Lord come who lighten all things that are in darknes make the counsels of the hearts manifest And Christ saith Iudgement is mine and iudge not and ye shall not be iudged And againe Paul saith to the Romans Why doest thou iudge thy brother for we must all appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ but some will aske howe doth one iudge another Ans. Thus I. when a man doth well to saie of him that he doth euill II. when a man doth euill then to make it worse III. when a thing is doubtfull to take it in the worst part And by any of these three waies we are not to iudge either of mens persons or of their actions Fourthly wee must endeauour our selues to keepe a good conscience before God and before all men This is the practise of S. Paul who in consideration and hope of a resurrection vnto iudgement as well of the iust as of the vniust endeauoured himselfe to haue alwaies a cleare conscience both towards God and towards men His example is worthie our marking and imitation for fewe there be that vpon this occasion make any conscience either of duty to God or to their brethren Fifthly the last iudgement must stirre vs vp to a reuerend feare of God cause vs to glorifie him as the Angel saith in the Reuelation Feare God and giue glorie to him for the houre of his iudgement is come And doubtlesse if any thing in the world will mooue a man to feare the Lord it is this to remember the fearefull and terrible daie of iudgement Nowe hauing spoken hitherto of the first person the father and also of the sonne it followeth in the next place to speake of the third person in these wordes I beleeue in the holy Ghost In which wee may consider two things the title of the person and the action of faith repeated from the beginning The title is Holy Ghost or spirit It may here be demanded howe this title can be fit to expresse the third person which seemes to bee common to the rest for the father is holy and the sonne is holy againe the father is a spirit and the sonne is a spirit Ans. Indeed the father and the sonne are as wel to be tearmed holy in respect of their natures the third person for all three subsisting in one and the same godhead are consequently holy by one and the fame holinesse but the third person is called holy because beside the holinesse of nature his office is to sanctifie the Church of God Nowe if it be said that sanctification is a work of the whole Trinitie the answer is that although it be so yet the worke of sanctification agrees to the Holy Ghost in speciall manner The father sanctifieth by the sonne and by the holy Ghost the sonne sanctifieth from the father and by the Holy Ghost the holy Ghost sanctifieth from the father and from the sonne by himselfe immediatly and in this respect is the third person tearmed holy Againe the third person is tearmed a Spirit not onely because his nature is spirituall for in that respect the father is a spirit and the sonne is a spirit but because hee is spired or breathed from the father and from the sonne in that he procedes from them both Thus wee see there is a speciall cause why the third person is called the Holy Ghost Nowe the action of faith which concernes the third person is to beleeue in him Which is I. to acknowledge the Holy Ghost as he hath reuealed himselfe in the word II. In special to beleeue that he is my sanctifier and comforter III. To put all the confidence of my heart in him for that cause In these wordes are comprised foure points of doctrine which are to be beleeued cōcerning the holy Ghost The first that he is very God For we are not to put our affiance or confidence in any but in God alone And no doubt the penners of the Creede in that they prefixed these wordes I beleeue in before the article of the third person meant thereby to signifie that he is true God equall with the father and the sonne according to the tenour of the Scriptures themselues Peter saith to Ananias Why hath Satan filled thine heart that thou shouldest lie vnto the Holy Ghost and continuing the same speech he changeth the tearme onely and saith Thou hast not lied vnto men but vnto God Whereby hei nsinuateth that the Holy Ghost is very God In the vision of the Prophet Isai the wordes by him set downe are thus I heard the voice of Iehoua saying Whome shall I send c. and he said God and say to this people Ye shall heare indeed but ye shall not vnderstand But Paul quoting the same place spake on this manner Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esay the Prophet saying Goe vnto this people and say vnto them Now these places being compared togither make it plaine that the title of Iehova agreeth to the holy Ghost But yet the enemies of this truth which thinke that the Holy
loue In these daies it is hard to finde these duties performed in any place For both practise and prouerb is commonly this Euery man for himselfe and God for vs all but it is a graceles saying and the contrarie must be practised of all that desire to be guided by the spirit The seuenth fruit is faith Faith or fidelitie standeth in these two duties One to make conscience of a lie and to speake euery thing whereof we speake as we thinke it is and not to speake one thing and thinke an other A rare thing it is to finde this vertue in the world now adaies who is he that maketh conscience of a lie and is not truth banished out of our coasts considering that for gaines and outward commodities men make no bones of glosing and dissembling but alas the practise is damnable and the contrarie is the fruit of the holy Ghost namely to speake the truth from the heart he that can doe this by the testimonie of God himselfe shall rest in the mountaine of his holines euen in the kingdome of heauen The second point wherein fidelitie consisteth is when a man hath made a promise that is lawfull and good to keepe and performe the same Some thinke it is a small matter to breake promise but indeede it is a fruit of the flesh and contrariwise a fruit of the spirit to performe a lawfull promise and a mans word should be as sure as an obligation and in conscience a man is bound to keepe promise so farre forth as he will to whome the promise is made Indeede if a man be released of his promise he is then free otherwise if we promise and doe not performe we doe not onely cracke our credit before men but also sinne before God The eight fruit of the spirit is meekenesse which is a notable grace of God when a man prouoked by iniuries doth neither intend nor enterprise the requitall of the same And it stands in three duties The first is to interpret the sayings and doings of other men in better part as much as possibly may be The second when men mistake and misconsture our sayings and doings if the matter be of smaller moment to be silent patient as Christ was when he was accused before the high priests Pharises this being withal remembred that if the matter be of weight and moment we may defend our selues by soft and mild answers The third is not to contend in word or deed with any man but when we are to deale with others to speake our minde and so an ende The last fruit of the spirit is temperance whereby a man bridleth his appetite or lust in meate drinke and apparell In bridling the lust these rules must be obserued I. Eating and drinking must be ioyned with continuall fasting after this manner We must not glut our selues but rather abstaine from that which nature desireth and as some vse to speake leaue our stomackes crauing II. A man must so eate and drinke as afterward he may the better be inabled for Gods worship Creatures are abused when they make vs vnfit to serue God The common fault is on the Sabbath day men so pamper themselues as that they are made vnfit both to heare and learne Gods word and fitte for nothing but to slumber and sleepe but following this rule of temperance these faults shall be amended III. This must be a caueat in our apparell that we be attired according to our callings in holy comelinesse The Lord hath threatned to visit all those that are cloathed in strange apparrell And holy comelinesse is this when the apparell is both for fashion and matter so made and worne that it may expresse shew forth the graces of God in the heart as sobrietie temperance grauitie c. and the beholder may take occasion by the apparell to acknowledge and commend these vertues But lamentable is the time looke on men and women in these daies and you may see and read their sinnes written in great letters on their apparell as intemperance pride and wantonnesse Euery day new fashions please the world but indeede that holy comelines which the holy Ghost doth commend to vs is the right fashion when all is done And these are the nine fruits of the spirit which we must put in practise in our liues and conuersations Fourthly if we beleeue in the holy Ghost and thereupon doe perswade our selues that he will dwell in vs we must daily labour as we are commaunded to keepe our vessells in holinesse and honour vnto the Lord and the reason is good If a man be to entertaine but an earthly prince or some man of state he would be sure to haue his house in a readines and all matters in order against his comming so as euery thing might be pleasing vnto so worthy a guest well now behold we put our confidence and affiance in the holy Ghost and doe beleeue that he wil come vnto vs and â—anctifie vs and lodge in our hearts He is higher then all states in the world whatsoeuer and therefore we must looke that our bodies and soules be kept in an honourable and holy manner so as they may be fit temples for him to dwell in S. Paul biddeth vsâ— not to grieue the holy spirit where the holy Ghost is compared to a guest and ouâ— bodies and soules vnto Innes and as men vse their guests friendly and courteously shewing vnto them all seruice and dutie so must we doe to Gods spirit which is come to dwell and abide in vs doing nothing in any case which may disquiet or molest him Now there is nothing so grieuous vnto him as our sinnes and therefore we must make conscience of all manner of sinne least by abusing of our selues we doe cause the holy Ghost as it were with greefe to depart from vs. When the arke of the couenant which was a signe of the presence of God was in the house of Obed Edom the text saith that the Lord blessed him and all his house but when the holy Ghost dwels in a mans heart there is more then the arke of the Lord present euen God himselfe and therfore may we looke for a greater blessing Now then shall we grieue the holy Ghost by sinning seeing we reape such benefit by his aboad It is said that our Sauiour Christ was angrie when he came into the temple at Ierusalem and saw the abuses therein Now shall he be angrie for the abuses that are done in a temple of stone and seeing the temples of our bodies which are not made of stone but are spirituall figured by that earthly temple seeing them I say abused by sinne will he not be much more angrie Yea we may assure our selues he can not abide that And therefore if we beleeue in the holy Ghost we must hereupon be mooued to keepe our bodies and soules pure and cleane And further to perswade vs hereunto we must remember this that when
miserie to the vngodly as S. Iohn saith they that haue done euill shall come forth to the resurrection of condemnation If they might cease to liue after this life and die as the beast doth O theÌ„ it would be well with them for then they might haue an ende of their miserie but the wicked must after this life rise againe to condemnation which is the accomplishment of their eternall woe and wretchednes a rufull and dolefull case to consider and yet is it the state of all vnbeleeuing and vnrepentant sinners If a man were bidden to goe to bed that after hee had slept and was risen again he might go to execution it would make his heart to ake within him yet this yea a thousand fold worse is the state of all impenitent sinners they must sleep in the graue for a while theÌ„ rise againe that a secoÌ„d death may be inflicted vpon theÌ„ in bodie soule which is the suffering of the full wrath of God both in bodie soule eternally This being so let vs imbrace the good counsel of S. Peter who saith AmeÌ„d your liues turne that your sinnes may be done away when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. If a man die repeÌ„tant for his sinnes it is a day of refreshing but if he die in his sinnes impetent and hard hearted it is a day of eternal horrour desperation confusion Againe if we beleeue that our bodies shall rise againe after this life stand before God at the last daie of iudgement wee must daily enter into a serious consideration of this time and haue in minde that one daiâ— we must meet the Lord face to face A traueller comes into an Inne hauing but a penny in his purse he sits downe and cals for all store of prouision and dainties now what is to be thought of him surely in the iudgement of all men his behauiour betokens folly or rather madnes But why because he spendes freely and hath no regard to the reckening which must follow howe foolish then mad is the practise of euery man that liueth in his sinns bathing himselfe in his pleasures in this world neuer bethinking how he shal meet god at the last day of iudgement and thâ—re make reckening for all his doings An ancient diuine wâ—ites of himselfe that this saying ran in his minde and sounded alwaies in his eares Arise ye dead and come vnto iudgement And this ought alwaies to be sounding in our eares that while we haue time wee should prepare our selues to meete God at the last day Thirdly if we beleeue the resurrection of the bodie we are not to weepe mourne immoderatly for our friends deceased Our Sauiour Christ did weep for Lazarus and when Steuen was stoned to death certaine men that feared God buried him and made great lamentation for him and therefore mourning is not condemned and wee must not be as stockes that are bereft of all compassion yet remember we must what Saint Paul saith to thâ— Thessalonians I would not brethren haue you ignorant concerning those which are asleepe that ye sorrowe not as others which haue no hope For the godlie man properly dieth not but laies himselfe downe to take a sleepe after his manifolde labours in this life which beeing ended hee must rise againe to ioyes euerlasting and therefore we must needes moderate and mingle our mourning for the deceased with this and such like comforts Fourthly we are taught hence to labour and striue against the natural feare of death for if there be a resurrection of our bodies after this life then death is but a passage or middle way from this life to eternall life If a begger should be commanded to put off his old rags that he might be cloathed with rich costly garments would he be sorrie because he should stand naked a while til he were wholly bestripped of his rags No surely well thus doeth God when he calls a man to death he bids him put off his old rags of sinne and corruption and be cloathed with the glorious robe of Christs righteousnes and our abode in the graue is but for a space while corruption be put off This is Pauls argument saying Wee knowe that when our earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolued we haue a building giuen of God which is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens Fifthly whereas the godly are subiect to manifold afflictions and miseries both in bodie and minde in this life here they shall finde a sufficient staie to quiet and calme their mindes if they consider that after this short life is ended there will ensue a ioyfull resurrection Iob in the extremitie of all his temptations made this the comfort to his soule that one daie he should rise again in which he should enioy the glorious presence of his Creatour And the Holy Ghost saith that the seruants of God in the daies of Antiochus were racked and tormented and would not bee deliuered why so because they looked for a better resurrection Lastly the consideration of this point serueth to be a bridle to restraine a man from sinne and a spurre to make him goe forward in all godlines of life and conuersation Saint Paul had hope toward God that the resurrection of the dead should be both of the iust and vniust Nowe what did this mooue him vnto Marke Herein saith he that is in this respect I endeauour my selfe alwaies to haue a cleare conscience towards God and towards man And let vs for our partes likewise remember the last iudgement that it may bee a meanes to mooue vs so to behaue our selues in all our actions that wee may keepe a good conscience before God and before men and let it also be a bridle vnto vs to keepe vs backe from all manner of sinne For what is the cause why men daily defile their bodies soules with so many damnable practises without any remorse of conscience Surely they neuer seriously remember the daie of the resurrection after this life wherein they must stand before Christ to giue an account of that which they haue done in this life whether it be good or bad Thus much of the duties nowe marke it is further said The resurrection of the bodie If the bodie rise it must first fall Here then this point is wrapped vp as a confessed trueth that all men must die the first death And yet considering that the members of the Church haue the pardon of their sinns which are the cause of death it may bee demaunded why they must die Ans. Wee are to know that when they die death doth not seaze vpon them as it is in his own nature a curse for in that respect it was borne of Christ vpon the crosse and that for vs but for two other causes which we must thinke vpon as being speciall meanes to make a man willing to die I. They must
For the life of a Christian is nothing else but a meditation of death A notable practise hereof we haue in the example of Ioseph of Arimathea who made his tombe in his life time in the midst of his garden no doubt for this ende to put himselfe in minde of death and that in the midst of his delight and pleasures Heathen Philosophers that neuer knew Christ had many excellent meditations of death though not comfortable in regard of life euerlasting Now we that haue knowne and beleeued in Christ must goe beyond them in this point considering with our selues such things as they neuer thought of namely the cause of death our sinne the remedie thereof the cursed death of Christ cursed I say in regard of the kind of death and punishment laid vpon him but blessed in regard of vs. Thirdly we must often meditate on the presence of death which we do when by Gods grace we make an account of euery present day as if it were the present day of our death and recken with our selues when we goe to bedde as though we should neuer rise againe and when we rise as though we should neuer lie downe againe This meditation of death is of speciall vse and brings forth many fruits in the life of man And first of all it serues to humble vs vnder the hand of God Example we haue of Abraham who said Behold I haue begunne now to speake to my Lord and I am but dust and ashes Marke here how the consideration of his mortalitie made him to abase and cast downe himselfe in the sight of God and thus if we could recken of euery day as of the last day it would straightway pull downe our peacocks feathers and make vs with Iob to abhorre our selues in dust and ashes Secondly this meditation is a meanes to further repentance When Ionas came to Ninive and cried Yet fourtie daies and Ninive shall be destroyed the whole citie repented in sackâ—loath and ashes When Elias came to Ahab and told him that the dogges should eate Iesabel by the wall of Iesreel and him also of Ahabs stocke that died in the citie c. it made him to humble himselfe so as the Lord saith to Elias Seest thou how Ahab is humbled before me Now if the remembrance of death was of such force in him that was but an hypocrite how excellent a meanes of grace will it be in them that truly repent Thirdly this meditation seemes to stirre vp contentation in euery estate and condition of life that shall befall vs. Righteous Iob in the very midst of his afflictions comforts himselfe with this consideration Naked saith he came I forth of my mothers wombe and naked shal I returne againe c. blessed be the name of the Lord. And surely the often meditation of this that a man of all his abundance can carrie nothing with him but either a coffin or a winding sheete or both should be a forcible means to represse the vnsatiable desire of riches and the loue of this world Thus we see what an effectuall meanes this meditation is to encrease and further the grace of God in the hearts of men Now I commend this first dutie to your Christian considerations desiring the practise of it in your liues which practise that it may take place two things must be performed First labour to plucke out of your hearts a wicked and erronious imagination wherby euery man naturally blesseth himselfe and thinkes highly of himselfe and though he had one foote in the graue yet he perswades himselfe that hee shall not die yet There is no man almost so olde but by the corruption of his heart he thinks that he shall liue one yeare longer Cruell and vnmercifull death makes league with no man yet the Prophet Esay saith that the wicked maÌ„ makes a league with death How can this be there is no league made indeed but onely in the wicked imagination of man who falsly thinkes that death will not come neare him though al the world should be destroyed See an example in the parable of the rich man that hauing stored vp aboundance of wealth for many yeres said vnto his own soule Soule thou hast much goods laid vp for many yeres liue at ease eat drink take thy pastime wheras his soule was fetched away presently And seeing this naturall corruption is in euerie mans heart we must daily fight against it and labour by all might and maine that it take no place in vs for so long as it shall preuaile we shall bee vtterly vnfit to make any preparation to death Wee ought rather to endeauour to attaine to the minde and meditation of S. Hierome who testifieth of himselfe on this manner Whether I wake or sleepe or whatsoeuer I doe me thinks I heare the sound of the trumpet Rise ye dead and come to iudgement The second thing which we are to practise that we may come to a serious meditation of our owne endes is to make praier vnto God that we might bee inabled to resolue our selues of death continually Thus Dauid praied Lord make me to know mine ende and the measure of my daies let me knowe howe long I haue to liue And Moses Lord teach me to number my daies that I may apply mine heart vnto wisdome I may bee said What neede men pray to God that they might be able to number their daies cannot they of themselues recken a fewe yeares and daies that are able by art to measure the globe of the earth and the spheres of heauen and the quantities of the starres with their longitudes latitudes altitudes motions and distances from the earth No verely For howsoeuer by a generall speculation we thinke something of our endes yet vnles the spirit of God be our schoolemaster to teach vs our dutie we shall neuer be able soundly to resolue our selues of the presence and speedines of death And therefore let vs pray with Dauid and Moses that God would inlighten our minds with knowledge and fil our hearts with his grace that we might rightly consider of death and esteeme of it euerie daie and houre as if it were the day and houre of death The second dutie in this generall preparation is that euery man must daily indeauour to take away from his owne death the power and strength therof And I pray you marke this point The Philistims sawe by experience that Sampson was of great strength and therefore they vsed meanes to knowe in what part of his bodie it laie and when they found it to bee in the haire of his head they ceased not vntill it was cutte off In like manner the time will come when we must encounter hand to hand with tyranous and cruell death the best therefore is before hand nowe while wee haue time to search where the strength of death lies which beeing once knowne we must with speede cutte off his Sampsons lockes and bereaue him of his power
suffereth for his sinne It is true indeede there bee other causes of the wantes of the bodie and of sickenesse beside sinne and though they be not knowne to vs yet they are knowne to the Lord. Hereupon Christ when he sawe a certaine blind man and was demaunded what was the cause of the blindnesse answered neither hath this man sinned nor his pareÌ„ts but that the work of God should be shewed on him Yet wee for our parts who are to goe not by the secret but by the reuealed will of God must make this vse of our sickenes that it is sent vnto vs for our sinnes When Christ healed the man sicke of the palsie he saieth bee of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiuen thee and when he had healed the man by the poole of Bethesda that had bin sicke thirtie eight yeares he bids him sinne no more least a worst thing happen vnto him giuing them both to vnderstand that their sickenesse came by reason of their sinnes And thus should euery sicke man resolue himselfe Nowe when wee haue proceeded thus farre and haue as it were laid our finger vpon the right and proper cause of our sicknes three things concerning our sinnes must bee performed of vs in sickenesse First we must make a new examination of our heartes and liues and say as the Israelites said in affliction Let vs search and â—ry our waies and turne againe to the Lord. Secondly we must make a newe confession to God of our new and particular sinnes as God sends new corrections and chastisements When Dauid had the hand of God verie heauie vpon him for his sinnes so as his verie bones and moisture consumed within him he made confession of them vnto God and thereupon obtained his pardon and was healed The third thing is to make newe praier and more earnest the euer before with sighes and grones of the spirit and that for pardon of the same sins and for reconciliation with God in Christ. In the exercise of these three duties standes the renouation of our faith and repentance whereby they are increased quickened and reuiued And the more sickenesse preuailes and takes place in the bodie the more should we bee carefull to put them in vre that spirituall life might increase as temporall life is decaied When King Ezechias lay sicke as he thought vpon his death-bed hee wept as for some other causes so also for his sinnes and withall he praied God to cast them behind his backe Dauid made certaine Psalmes when he was sicke or at the least vpon the occasion of his sickenes as namely the 6. the 32. the 38. the 39 c. they all are psalmes of repentance in which we may see howe in distresse of bodie and minde he renewed his faith and repentance heartely bewailing his sinnes and intreating the Lord for the pardon of them Manasses one that fell from God and gaue himselfe to many horrible sinnes when hee was taken captiue and imprisoned in Babylon he praied to the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers and praied vnto him and God was intreated of him and heard his praier and brought him againe into Ierusalem into his kingdome and then Manasses knewe that the Lord was God Nowe looke what Manasses did in this tribulation the same thing must wee doe in the time of our bodily sickenesse Here I haue occasion to mention a notorious fault that is very common in this age euen among such as haue long liued in the bosome of the Church that is this Men nowe a daies are so farre from renuing their faith and repentance that when they lie sicke and are drawing toward death they must bee Catechised in the doctrine of faith and repentance as if they had beene but of late receiued into the Church Whosoeuer will but as occasion is offered visit the sicke shall finde this to bee true which I say What a shame is this that when a man hath spent his life and daies in the Church for the space of twentie or thirtie or fourtie yeares he should at the verie ende of all and not before begin to inquire what faith and what repentance is and howe his soule might bee saued This one sinne argues the great securitie of this age and the great contempt of God and his worde Well let all men hereafter in time to come be warned to take heede of this exceeding negligence in matters of saluation and to vse all good meanes before hand that they may be able in sicknesse and in the time of death to put in practise the spirituall exercises of inuocation and repentance Nowe if so be it fall out that the sicke partie cannot of himselfe renewe his owne faith and repentance he must seeke the helpe of others When the man that was sicke of the dead palsie could not goe to Christ himselfe hee got others to beare him in his bed and when they could not come nere for the multitude they vncouered the roofe of the house and let the bed downe before Christ euen so when sicke men can not alone by themselues do the good duties to which they are bound they must borrowe helpe from their fellowe members who are partly by their counsel to put to their helping hand and partly by their praiers to present them vnto God and to bring them into the presence of God And touching helpe in this case sundrie duties are to bee performed Saint Iames sets down foure two wherof concerne the sicke patient and other two such as be helpers The first dutie of the sicke man is to send for helpe where two circumstances must be considered who must be sent for and when For the first Saint Iames saith Is any sicke among you let him call for the elders of the Church Whereby are meant not onely Apostles and all ministers of the gospell but others also as I take it which were men ancient for yeares indued with the spirit of vnderstanding and praier and had withall the gift of working miracles and of healing the sicke For in the primitiue Church this gift was for a time so plentifully bestowed on them that beleeued in Christ that souldiers cast out deuills and parents wrought miracles on their children Hence we may learne that howesoeuer it be the dutie of the ministers of the word principally to visit and comfort the sicke yet is it not their dutie alone for it belongs to them also which haue knowledge of Gods worde the gift of praier Exhort one another saith the holy Ghost while it is called to daie And againe Admonish them that are disordered and comfort those that are weake And indeede in equitie it should be the duty of euerie Christian man to comfort his brother in sickenesse Here wee must needes take knowledge of the common fault of men and women when they come to visit their neighbours and friends they can not speake a work of instruction and
comfort but spend the time in silence gazing and looking on or in vttering wordes to little or no purpose saying to the sicke partie that they are verie sorrie to see him in that case that they would haue him to be of good comfort but wherein by what meanes they cannot tell that they doubt not but that he shall recouer his health and liue with them still and be merrie as in former time that they will pray for him whereas all their praiers are nothing els but the Apostles creed or the ten commandements and the Lords praier vttered without vnderstanding And this is the common comfort that sicke men get at the hands of their neighbours when they come vnto them and all his comes either because meÌ„ liue in ignorance of Gods word or because they falsly thinke that the whole burthen of this dutie lies vpon the shoulders of the minister The second circumstance is when the sicke partie must send for the elders to iâ—struct him and pray for him And that is in the verie first place of all before any other helpe be sought for Where the Diuine endes there the phisition must begin and it is a verie preposterous course that the Diuine should there begin where the physitian makes an ende For till helpe be had for the soule and sinne which is the roote of sicknesse be cured physicke for the bodie is nothing Therefore it is a thing much to be disliked that in all places almost the physitian is first sent for and comes in the beginning of the sicknes and the Minister comes when a man is halfe dead and is then sent for oftententimes when the sicke partie lies drawing on and gasping for breath as though Ministers of the Gospel in these daies were able to worke miracles The second dutie of the sick party is to confesse his sinnes as Iames saith Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray one for another It will be said that this is to bring in againe Popish shrift Ans. Confession of our sinnes and that vnto men was neuer denied of any the question onely is of the manner and order of making confession And for this cause we must put a great difference betweene Popish shrift and the confession of which S. Iames speaketh For he requires onely a confession of that or those sinnes which lie vpon a mans conscience when he is sicke but the Popish doctrine requireth a particular enumeration of all mans sinnes Againe S. Iames enioynes confession onely as a thing necessarie meete and conuenient but the Papists as a thing necessarie to the remission of sinnes Thirdly S. Iames permits that confession be made to any man and by one man to an other mutually whereas Popish shrift is made onely to the priest The second dutie then is that the sicke partie troubled in mind with the memorie and consideration of any of his sinnes past or any manner of way tempted by the deuill shall freely of his owne accord open his case to such as are both able and willing to helpe him that he may receiue comfort and die in peace of conscience Thus much of the sicke mans dutie now follow the duties of helpers The first is to pray ouer him that is in his presence to pray with him and for him and by praier to present his very person and his whole estate vnto God The Prophet Elizeus the Apostle Paul and our Sauiour Christ vsed this manner of praying when they would miraculously restore temporal life and therfore it is very meete that the same should be vsed also of vs that we might the better stirre vp our affections in prayer and our compassion to the sicke when we are about to intreat the Lord for the remission of their sinnes and for the saluation of their soules The second dutie of him that comes as an helper is to annoint the sicke partie with oyle Now this annointing was an outward ceremonie which was vsed with the gift of healing which is now ceased and therefore I omit to speake further of it Thus much of the dutie which the sick man owes to God now follow the duties which he is to performe vnto himselfe and they are twofold one concernes his soule the other his bodie The dutie concerning his soule is that he must arme furnish himselfe against the immoderate feare of present death And the reason hereof is plaine because howsoeuer naturally men feare thorough the course of their liues more or lesse yet in the time of sicknes when death approcheth this naturall feare bred in the bone will most of all shew it selfe euen in such sort as it will astonish the senses of the sicke partie sometime cause desperation Therefore it is necessary that we vse meanes to strengthen our selues against the feare of death The meanes are of two sorts practises and meditations Practises are two especially The first is that the sick man must not so much regard death it selfe as the benefits of God which are obtained after death He must fixe his mind vpon the consideration of the pangs torments of death but all his thoughts and affections must be set vpon that blessed estate that is enioyed after death He that is to passe ouer some great deepe riuer must not looke downward to the streame of the water but if he would preuent feare he must set his foote sure and cast his eie to the banke on the further side and so must he that drawes neare death as it were looke ouer the waues of death and directly fixe the eye of his faith vpon eternall life The second practise is to looke vpon death in the glasse of the Gospel and not in the glasse of the law that is we must consider death not as it is propounded in the law and looke vpon that terrible face which the law giueth vnto it but as it is set forth in the Gospel Death in the law is a curse and the downfall to the pit of destruction in the Gospel it is the entrance to heauen the law sets forth death as death the Gospel sets death as no death but as a sleepe onely because it speaketh of death as it is altered and changed by the death of Christ by the vertue whereof death is properly no death to the seruants of God When men shall haue care on this manner to consider of death it will be a notable means to strengthen and stablish them against all immoderate feares and terrours that vsually rise in sicknes The meditations which serue for this purpose are innumerable but I will touch onely those which are the most principal the grounds of the rest and they are foure in number The first is borrowed from the speciall prouidence of God namely that the death of euery maÌ„ much more of euery child of god is not onely foreseene but also foreappointed of God yea the death of euery man deserued and procured by his sinnes is laide vpon him by God who
death in our selues because we should not trust in our selues but in God which raiseth the dead Hauing thus seene what bee the duties of the sicke man to himselfe let vs nowe see what bee the duties which hee oweth to his neighbour and they are two The first is the dutie of reconciliation whereby he is freely to forgiue all men and to desire to be forgiuen of all In the olde testament when a man was to offer a bullocke or lambe in sacrifice to God he must leaue his offering at the altar first go be reconciled to his brethren if they had ought against him much more then must this be done when we are in death to offer vp our selues our bodies and soules as an acceptable sacrifice vnto god Quest. What if a man cannot come to the speech of them with whome he would be reconciled or if he doe what if they will not be reconciled Ansvv. When any shall in their sicknesse seeke and desire reconciliation and can not obtaine it either because the parties are absent or because they will not relent they haue discharged their conscience and God will accept their will for their deed As put case a man lying sicke on his death bedde is at enmitie with one that is then beyond the sea so as hee can not possibly haue any speech with him if he would neuer so faine howe shall he stay his minde why he must remember that in this case a will and desire to bee reconciled is reconciliation it selfe The second dutie is that those which are rulers and gouernours of others must haue care and take order that their charges committed to them by God be left in good estate after their death and here come three duties to be handled the first of the Magistrate the second of the Minister the third of the master of the familie The Magistrates dutie is before he die to prouide as much as he can for the godly and peaceable estate of the towne citie or common-wealth and that is done partly by procuring the maintenance of sound religion vertue partly by establishing of the execution of ciuil iustice outward peace Examples of this practise in Gods word are these When Moses was an hundred and twentie yeare olde and was no more able to goe in and out before the people of Israel he called them before him and signified that the time of his departure was at hand and thereupon tooke order for their wel-fare after his death And first of all he placed Iosua ouer them in his stead to be their guide to the promised land secondly he giues speciall charge to all the people to bee valiant and couragious against their enemies and to obey the commandements of God And Iosua followes the same course For hee calls the people togither and shews thē that the time of his death is at hand and giues them a charge to be couragious to worship the true God which done he endes his daies as a worthie captaine When king Dauid was to goe the way of al flesh and lay sicke on his death bedde he placed his owne sonne Salomon vpon his throne and giues him charge both for maintenance of region and exequution of iustice The dutie of ministers whē they are dying is as much as they can to cast prouide for the continuance of the good estate of the Church ouer which they are placed Consider the example of Peter I will saith hee indeauour alwaies that ye also may be able to haue remembrance of these things after my departure If this had beene well obserued there could not haue bin such aboundance of schismes errors and heresies as hath beene and the Church of God could not haue suffered so great hauocke But because men haue had more care to maintaine personall succession then the right succession which stands in the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles therfore wolues haue come into the roomes of faithfull teachers and the Apostasie of which Paul speakes hath ouerspread the face of the Church Thirdly housholders must set their families in order before they die as the Prophet Esai saith to Ezechiah Set thine house in order for thou must die For the procuring of good order in the family after death two things are to bee done The first concernes this life and that is to dispose of lands and goods And that this may bee well and wisely done if the Will bee vnmade it is with godly aduise and counsell to be made in the time of sicknes according to the practise of auncient and worthie men Abraham before his death makes his Will and giues legacies so did Isaac and Iacob in whose last will and testamēt are contained many worthie blessings and prophesies of the estate of his children And Christ our Sauiour when he was vpon the crosse prouided for his mother specially commending her to his disciple Iohn whom he loued And indeede this dutie of making a will is a matter of great weight and importāce for it cuts off much hatred and contention in families staies many suites in law It is not therefore alwaies a matter of indifferencie which may bee done or not done as many falsly think who vpon blind sinister respects abstaine from making wills either because their wealth should not bee knowne or because they would haue their decaied estate to bee concealed or because they feare they shall die the sooner if the will be once made Now though the making of wills belong to another place and profession yet so much may be spoken here as the holy ghost hath vttered in the worde and that I will reduce to certaine rules The first is that the will must be made according to the lawe of nature and the written worde of God and the good and holesome positiue lawes of that kingdome or countrie whereof a man is a member The will of God must be the rule of mans will And therefore the will that is made against any of these is faultie The second is that if goods euill gotten be not restored before they must euen then be restored by will or by some other way It is the practise of couetous men to bequeath their soules when they die to God their goods euill gotten to their children friends which in al equitie should be restored to them to whome they belong Quest. Howe if a mans conscience tell him that his goods bee euill gotten and hee knowes not where or to whom to make restitution Ansvv. The case is common the answer is this When the partie is known whom thou hast wronged restore to him particularly if the partie bee vnknowne or dead restore to his executors or assignes or to his next kinne if there be none yet keepe not goods euill gotten to thy selfe but restore to God that is in way of recompence and ciuill satisfaction bestowe them on the Church or common-wealth The third rule is that heads of
them daily in faith and obedience and from time to time commending our soules into the hand of God casting all our works vpon his prouidence They which haue done this haue made most happie blessed ends Enoch by faith walked walked with God as one that was alwaies in his presence leading an vpright and godly life and the Lord tookeâ— him away that hee should not see death And this which befell Enoch shall after a sort befall them also that liue in faith and obedience because death shall bee no death but a sleepe vnto them and no enemie but a friende to bodie and soule On the contrarie let vs consider the wretched and miserable endes of them that haue spent their daies in their sinnes without keeping faith and good conscience The people of the olde worlde were drowned in the floode the filthie Sodomites and Gomorrheans were destroyed with fire from heauen Dathan and Abiram with the companie of Core swallowed vp of the earth Core himself as it seemes by the text beeing burnt with fire wicked Saul and Achitophel and Iudas destroy themselues Herod is eaten vp of wormes and gaue vp the ghost Iulian the Apostata smitten with a dart in the fielde died casting vp his blood into the aire and blaspheming the name of Christ. Arius the hereticke died vpon the stoole scouring foorth his verie entralls And this veriâ— age affoards store of like examples Hofâ—meister a great Papist as he was going to the councill of Ralisbone to dispute against the defenders of the gospell was suddenly in his iourney preuented by the hand of God and miserably died with horrible roaring and crying out in the vniuersity of Louaine Guarlacus a learned Papist falling sicke when he perceiued no way with him but death he sel into a miserable agony and perturbation of spirit crying out of his sinsâ— howe miserably he had liued and that he was not able to abide the iudgement of God and so casting out wordes of miserable desperation said his sinnes were greater then they could be pardoned and in that desperation ended his daies Iacobus Latromus of the same Vniuersitie of Louaine after that hee had beene at Bruxels and there thinking to doe a great act against Luther and his fellowes made an oration before the Emperour so foolishly and ridiculously that he was laughed to scorne almost of the whole court then returning from thence to Louaine againe in his publike lecture hee fell into open madnesse vttering such words of desperation and blasphemous impietie that other diuines which were present were faine to carrie him away as he was rauing to shut him into a close chamber From that time to his verie last breath hee had neuer any thing else in his mouth but that he was damned reiected of god and that there was no hope of saluation for him because that wittingly and against his knowledge he withstood the maniest truth of Gods word Crescentius the Popes Legate and vicegerent in the Council of Trent was â—itting all the daie long vntill darke night in writing of letters to the Pope after his labour when night was come thinking to refresh himselfe he began to rise and at his rising behold there appeared to him a mightie blacke dogge of an huge bignesse his eies flaming with fire and his eares hanging low down wel neere to the ground which began to enter in and straight to come towards him so to couch vnder the boord The Cardinall not a little amased at the sight thereof somewhat recouering himselfe called to his seruants which were in the outward chamber next by to bring in a candle and to seek for the dogge But when the dogge could not bee found there nor in any other chamber about the Cardinall thereupon stricken with a sudden conceit of minde immediately fell into such a sickenes whereof his Phisitians which he had about him could not with all their industrie and cunning cure him and thereupon he died Steuen Gardiner when a certaine bishop came vnto him and put him in minde of Peter denying his master answered again that he had denied with Peter but neuer repented with Peter so to vse M. Foxes words stinkingly vnrepentantly died More examples might be added but these shall suffice Againe that wee may bee further induced to the practise of these duties let vs call to minde the vncertaintie of our daies though we now liue yet who can say that hee shall bee aliue the next daieâ— or the next houre No man hath a lease of his life Nowe marke as death leaues a man so shall the last iudgement find him and therfore if death take him away vnprepared eternal damnation followes without recouerie If a theife bee brought from prison either to the barre to be arraigned before the iudge or to the place of exequâ—tion he will bewaile his misdeameanour past and promise all reformation of life so be it he might be deliuered though he be the most arrant theefe that euer was In this case we are as fellons or theeues for we are euery day going to the barre of Gods iudgement there is no stay nor standing in the way euen as the shippe in the sea continues on his course day and night whether the marriners be sleeping or waking therefore let vs all prepare our selues and amend our liues betime that in death we may make a blessed ende Ministers of the Gospel doe daily call for the performance of this dutie but where almost shall we finde the practise and obedience of it in mens liues and conuersations Alas alas to lend our eares for the space of an houre to heare the will of God is common but to giue heart and hand to doe the same is rare And the reason hereof is at hand we are all most grieuous sinners and euery sinner in the tearmes of Scripture is a foole and a principall part of this follie is to care for the things of this world and to neglect the kingdome of heauen to prouide for the bodie and not for the soule to cast and forecast how we may liue in wealth and honour and ease and not to vse the last forecast to die well This folly our Sauiour Christ noted in the rich man that was carefull to inlarge his barnes but had no care at all for his ende or for the saluation of his soule Such an one was Achitophel who as the Scripture tearmes him was as the very oracle of God for counsell beeing a man of great wisdome and forecast in the matters of the common-wealth and in his owne priuate worldly affaires and yet for all this he had not so much as common sense and reason to consider how he might die the death of the righteous and come to life euerlasting And this follie the holy Ghost hath noted in him For the text saith when he saw that his counsell was despised he sadled his asse and arose and went home into his citie
thou and the rest deserued rather to be swallowed of the earth and to goe downe into the pit aliue then to haue any part in the merit of Christ crucified When thou readest of his buriall thinke that it was to ratifie his death and to vanquish death euen in his owne denne Applie this buriall to thy selfe and beleeue that it serues to make thy graue a bedde of doune and to free thy bodie from corruption Lastly pray to God that thou maist feele the power of the spirit of Christ weakning and consuming the bodie of sinne euen as a dead corps rottes in the graue till it be resolued to dust When thou hast thus perused and applied to thy selfe the historie of the Passion of Christ goe yet further and labour by faith to see Christ crucified in all the workes of God either in thee or vpon thee Behold him at thy table in meate and drinke which is as it were a liuely sermon and a daily pledge of the mercie of God in Christ. Behold him in all thine afflictions as thy partner that pitieth thy case and hath compassion on thee Behold him in thy most dangerous temptations in which the deuil thundreth damnation behold him I say as a mightie Sampson bearing away the gates of his enemies vpon his owne shoulders and killing more by death then by life crucifying the deuill euen then when he is crucified by death killing death by entrance into the graue opening the graue and giuing life to the dead and in the house of death spoiling him of all his strength and power Behold him in all the afflictions of thy brethren as though he himselfe were naked hungrie sicke harbourles and do vnto them all the good thou canst as to Christ himselfe If thou wouldest behold God himselfe looke vpon him in Christ crucified who is the ingrauen image of the fathers person and know it to be a terrible thing in the time of the trouble of thy conscience to thinke of God without Christ in whose face the glorie of God in his endlesse mercie is to be seene 2. Cor. 4.6 If thou wouldest come to God for grace for comfort for saluation for any blessing come first to Christ hanging bleeding dying vpon the crosse without whome there is no hearing God no helping God no sauing God no God to thee at all In a word let Christ be all things without exception vnto thee Coloss. 3. 11. for when thou praiest for any blessing either temporall or spirituall be it whatsoeuer it will be or can be thou must aske it at the hands of God the father by the merit and mediation of Christ crucified now looke as we aske blessings at Gods hand so must we receiue them of him and as they are receiued so must we possesse and vse them daily namely as gifts of God procured to vs by the merit of Christ which gifts for this very cause must be wholly imploied to the honour of Christ. FINIS A DISCOVRSE OF Conscience Wherein is set downe the nature properties and differences thereof as also the way to Get and keepe good Conscience The second Edition PRINTED BY IOHN LEGAT PRINTER to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1600. The Contents Chap. 1. What Conscience is 2. The actions or duties of conscience Where this point is handled How any thing is said to bind conscience 3. The kindes and differences of conscience Where is handled Libertie of conscience and the question disputed whether a man may in conscience be vnfallibly certen of his saluation 4. Mans dutie touching conscience which is to get and to keepe it TO THE RIGHT HONOVABLE SIR WILLIam Piryam Knight Lord chiefe Baron of her Maiesties Exchequer Grace and peace RIght Honourable it can not be vnknowne to your selfe or to any man of a daies experience that it is thought a smal matter to commit a sinne or to lie in sinnes against a mansâ— owne conscience For many when they are told of their dutie in this point replie and say What tell you me of Conscience Conscience was hanged long agoe But vnlesse they take better heede and preuent the danger by repentance Hanged conscience will reuiue and become both gibbet hangman to them either in this life or the life to come For Conscience is appointed of God to declare and put in execution his iust iudgement against sinners and as God cannot possibly be ouercome of man so neither can the iudgement of Conscience beeing the iudgement of God be wholly extinguished Indeede Satan for his part goes about by all meanes he can to benumme the conscience but all is nothing For as the sicke man when he seemes to sleepe and take his rest is inwardly full of troubles so the benummed and arousie conscience wants not his secret pangs and terrours and when it shall be roused by the iudgement of God it waxeth cruell and fierce like a wild beast Againe when a man sinnes against his conscience as much as in him lieth he plungeth himselfe into the gulfe of desperation for euery wound of the conscience though the smart of it be little felt is a deadly wound and he that goes on to sinne against his conscience stabbes and woundes it often in the same place and all renewed woundes as we know are hardly or neuer cured Thirdly he that lieth in sinnes against his conscience can not call vpon the name of God for guiltie conscience makes a man flie from God And Christ saith God heareth not sinners vnderstanding by sinners such as goe on in their owne waies against conscience and what can be more dolefull then to be barred of the inuocation of Gods name Lastly such persons after the last iudgement shall haue not onely their bodies in torment but the worme in the soule and conscience shal neuer die and what will it profit a man to gaine the whole world by doing things against his owne conscience and loose his owne soule Now that â—â—en on this manner carelesse touching conscience may see their foâ—lie and the great danger thereof and come to amendment I haue penned this small treatise and according to the auncient and laudable custome as also according to my long intended purpose I now dedicate and present the same to your Lordship The reasons which haue imboldened me to this enterprise all by-respects excluded are these Generall doctrine in points of religion is darke and obscure and very hardly practised without the light of particular examples and therefore the doctrine of conscience by due right pertaines to a man of conscience such an one as your Lordship is who others of like place not excepted haue obtained this mercie at Gods hand to keepe faith and good conscience Againe considering that iustice and conscience haue alwaies bin friends I am induced to thinke that your Lordship beeing publikely set apart for the execution and maintenance of ciuill iustice will approoue and accept a Treatise propounding rules and prâ—cepts of conscience Thus therefore crauing pardon for my boldnes and
thinke it not and that their consciences can tell what they think Neither must this seeme strāge For there be two actions of the vnderstanding the one is simple which barely conceiueth or thinketh this or that the other is a reflecting or doubling of the former whereby a man conceiues or thinks with himselfe what he thinks And this action properly pertaines to the conscience The minde thinkes a thought now conscience goes beyond the minde and knowes what the mind thinkes so as if a man would goe about to hide his sinfull thoughts frō God his conscience as it were another person within him shall discouer all By meanes of this second action conscience may beare witnes euen of thoughts and from hence also it seemes to borrow his name because conscience is a science or knowledge ioyned with an other knowledge for by it I conceiue and knowe what I knowe Againe conscience beares witnesse what the wills an affections of men bee in euery matter Rom. 9.1 I say the trueth in Christ I lie not my conscience bearing me witnes by the holy Ghost that I haue great heauinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart for I could wish my selfe to be seperate from Christ for my brethren Lastly it witnesseth what be mens actions Eccl. 7.24 Oftentimes also thine heart knoweth that is conscience witnesseth that thou likewise hast cursed others The maner that conscience vseth in giuing testimony stands in two things First it obserues and takes notice of all things that wee doe secondly it doeth inwardly and secretly within the heart tell vs of them al. In this respect it may fitly be compared to a Notarie or a Register that hath alwaies the penne in his hand to note and record whatsoeuer is said or done who also because hee keepes the rolles and recordes of the court can tell what hath beene said or done many hundred yeares past Touching the third point Howelong conscience beares witnes it doeth it continually not for a minut or a day or a moneth or a yeare but for euer when a man dies conscience dieth not when the bodie is rotting in the graue conscience liueth and is safe and sound and when we shall rise againe conscience shall come with vs to the barre of Gods iudgement either to accuse or excuse vs before God Rom. 2.15,16 Their conscience bearing witnes at the day when God shall iudge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ. By this first dutie of conscience we are to learne three things The first that there is a god and we may be led to the sight of this euen by common reason For conscience beares witnes Of what Of thy particular doings But against whome or with whome doth it giue testimonie thou maiest feele in thy heart that it doth it either with thee or against thee And to whome is it a witnesse to men or angels that cannot be for they cānot heare the voice of conscience they cannot receiue consciences testimonie nay they cannot see what is in the heart of man It remaines therefore that there is a spirituall substance most wise most holy most mightie that sees all things to whome conscience beares record and that is God himselfe Let Atheists barke against this as long as they will they haue that in them that will conuince them of the trueth of the godhead will they nill they either in life or death Secondly we learne that God doth watch ouer all men by a speciall prouidence The master of a prison is knowne by this to haue care ouer his prisoners if he send keepers with them to watch them and to bring them home againe in time conuenient and so Gods care to man is manifest in this that whē he created man and placed him in the worlde he gaue him conscience to bee his keeper to follow him alwaies at his heeles and to dogge him as we say to prie into his actions and to beare witnesse of them all Thirdly hence we may obserue Gods goodnesse and loue to man If hee doe any thing amisse he sets his conscience first of all to tell him of it secretly if then he amend God forgiues it if not then afterward conscience must openly accuse him for it at the barre of Gods iudgement before all the Saints and angels in heauen The second worke of conscience is to giue iudgement of things done To giue iudgement is to determine that a thing is well done or ill done Herein conscience is like to a Iudge that holdeth an assise and takes notice of inditements and causeth the most notorious malefactour that is to hold vp his hand at the barre of his iudgement Nay it is as it were a little God sitting in the middle of mens hearts arraigning them in this life as they shall be arraigned for their offences at the tribunal seat of the euerliuing God in the day of iudgement Wherefore the temporarie iudgement that is giuen by the conscience is nothing els but a beginning or a fore-runner of the last iudgement Hence we are admonished to take speciall heede that nothing past lie heauie vpon vs and that we charge not our conscience in time to come with any matter For if our conscience accuse vs God will much more condemne vs saith S. Iohn 1. Ioh. 3. 18. because he seeth all our actions more clearely and iudgeth them more seuerely then conscience can It shall bee good therefore for all men to labour that they may say with Paul 2. Cor. 4. I knowe nothing by my selfe that they may stand before God without blame for euer Here we must consider two things first the cause that makes conscience giue iudgement secondly the manner howe The cause is the Binder of the conscience The binder is that thing whatsoeuer which hath power and authoritie ouer conscience to order it To bind is to vrge cause and constraine it in euery action either to accuse for sinne or to excuse for well doing or to say this may be done or it may not be done That we may knowe what this phrase meaneth to be bound in conscience we must in minde consider conscience a part by it selfe from the binding power power of Gods commandement For then it hath libertie and is not bound either to accuse or excuse but is apt to doe either of them indifferently but whē the binding power is set once ouer the conscience then in euery action it must needes either accuse or excuse euen as a man in a citie or towne hauing his libertie may goe vp and downe or not goe where and when he will but if his bodie be attached by the magistrate and imprisoned then his former libertie is restrained he is bound and can goe vp and downe but within the prison or some other allowed place The binder of conscience is either proper or improper Proper is that thing which hath absolute and soueraigne power in it selfe to binde the conscience And that is the word of God written in the book
this absurd conceit that they are not in danger of the wrath of God though they offend And the opinion of our common people is hereunto answerable who thinke that if they haue a good meaning and doe no man hurt God will haue them excused both in this life and in the day of iudgement The third is a iust and serious examination of the conscience by the law that we may see what is our estáte before God And this is a dutie vpon which the Prophets stand very much Lam. 3.40 Man suffereth for his sinne let vs search and trie our hearts and turne againe to the Lord. Zeph. 2. 1. Fanne your selues fanne you O nation not worthie to be beloued In making examination we must specially take notice of that which doth now lie or may hereafter lie vpon the conscience And after due examination hath beene made a man comes to a knowledge of his sinnes in particular and of his wretched and miserable estate When one enters into his house at midnight he findes or sees nothing out of order but let him come in the day time when the sunne shineth and he shall then espie many faults in the house and the very motes that flie vp and downe so let a man search his heart in the ignorance and blindnesse of his minde he will straightway thinke all is well but let him once begin to search himselfe with the light and lanterne of the law and he shall finde many foule corners in his heart and heapes of sinnes in his life The fourth is a sorrow in respect of the punishment of sinne arising of the three former actions And though this sorrow be no grace for it befals as well the wicked as the godly yet may it be an occasion of grace because by the apprehension of Gods anger we come to the apprehensioÌ„ of his mercie And it is better that conscience should grieue wound vs do his worst against vs in this life while remedie may be had then after this life when remedy is past Thus much of preparation now follows the remedie and the application of it The remedie is nothing else but the blood or the merits of Christ who specially in conscience felt the wrath of God as when he said My soule is heauie vnto death and his agonie was not so much a paine and torment in bodie as the apprehension of the feare and anger of God in conscience and when the holy Ghost saith That he offered vnto God praiers with strong cries and was heard from feare he directly notes the distresse and anguish of his most holy conscience for our sinnes And as the blood of Christ is an all-sufficient remedie so is it also the alone remedie of all the sores and wounds of conscience For nothing can stanch or stay the terrrours of conscience but the blood of the immaculate lambe of God nothing can satisfie the iudgement of the conscience much lesse the most seuere iudgement of God but the onely satisfaction of Christ. In the application of the remedie two things are required the Gospell preached and faith the Gospell is the hand of God that offereth grace to vs and faith is our hand whereby we receiue it That we indeede by faith receiue Christ with all his benefits we must put in practise two lessons The first is vnfainedly to humble our selues before God for all our wants breaches and wounds in conscience which beeing vnto vs a paradise of God by our default we haue made as it were a little hell within vs. This humiliation is the beginning of all grace and religion pride and good conscience can neuer goe togither And such as haue knowledge in religion and many other good gifts without humiliation are but vnbridled vnmortified and vnreformed peâ—sons This humiliation containes in it two duties the first is confession of our sinnes especially of those that he vpon our consciences wherewith must be ioyned the accusing and condemning of our selues for then we put conscience out of office and dispatch that labour before our God in this life which conscience would performe to our eternall damnation after this life The second dutie is Deprecation which is a kind of praier made with groanes and desires of heart in which we intreat for nothing but for pardon of our sinnes and that for Christs sake til such time as the conscience be pacified To this humiliation standing on these two parts excellent promises of grace and life euerlasting are made Prou. 28. 13. He that hideth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercie 1. Ioh. 1.6 If we acknowledge our sinnes he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to clense vs from all vnrighteousnes Luk. 1.35 He hath fiâ—led the hungrie with good things and sent the rich emptie away Which are also verified by experience in sundrie examples â— Sam. 12.13 Dauid said to Nathan I haue sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to Dauid The Lord also hath put away thy sinne 2. Chr. 33.43 When Manasses was in tribulation he praied to the Lord his God and huÌ„bled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers and praied vnto him and God heard his praier Luk. 23.43 And the thiefe said to Iesus Lord remember me when thou commest to thy kingdome Then Iesus said vnto him Verely I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise By these and many other places it appeares that when a man doth truly humble himselfe before God he is at that instant reconciled to God and hath the pardon of his sinnes in heauen and shall afterward haue the assurance thereof in his owne conscience The second lesson is when we are touched in conscience for our sinnes not to yeeld to naturall doubtings and distrust but to resist the same and to indeauour by Gods grace to resolue our selues that the promises of saluation by Christ belong to vs particularly because to doe thus much is the very commandement of God The third thing is the reformation of conscience which is when it doth cease to accuse and terrifie and begins to excuse and testifie vnto vs by the holy Ghost that we are the children of God and haue the pardon of our sinnes And this it will doe after that men haue seriously humbled themselues and praied earnestly and constantly with sighes and grones of spirit for reconciliation with God in Christ. For then the Lord will send downe his spirit into the conscience by a sweete and heauenly testimonie to assure vs that we are at peace with God Thus we see how good conscience is gotten and because it is so pretious a iewell I wish all persons that as yet neuer laboured to get good conscience now to begin Reasons to induce men thereto may be these I. you seeke daie and night from yere to yere for honours riches and pleasures which ye must leaue behind you much more therefore ought you to seeke for renewed
Augustine againe saith That the vertue which is now in a iust man is thus far forth perfect that vnto the perfection thereof there belongs a true acknowledgemeÌ„t and an humble confession of the imperfection thereof A broken and a contrite heart after an offence is as much with God as if there had beene no offence at all and therefore so soone as Dauid after his grieuous fall in heauinesse of heart confessed his sinne saying in effect but thâ—s much I haue sinned the prophet in the name of the Lord pronounceth tâ—â— pardon of his sinne in heaueÌ„ and that presently V. Conclusion He that hath begun to subiect himselfe to Christ and his word though as yet he be ignorant in most points of religion yet if he haue a care to increase in knowledge to practise that which he knoweth he is accepted of God as a true beleeuer The Exposition SVndrie persons by the Euangelists are said to beleeue which had onely seene the miracles of Christ and as yet had made no further proceedings but to acknowledge Christ to be the Messias to submit themselues to him and his doctrine which afterward should be taught On this maner the woman of Samaria beleeued and many of the Samaritans vpon her report a certaine ruler by reason of a miracle wrought vpon his son is said to beleeue all his houshould Ioh. 4.42.52 when our Sauiour Christ commendeth the faith of the Apostles tearming it a rock against which the gates of hel should not preuaile it was not for the pleÌ„tiful knowledge of the doctrine of saluatioÌ„ for they were ignorant of many articles of faith as namely of the death resurrection ascension and kingdome of Christ but because they beleeued him to be the sonne of God and the Sauiour of mankind and they had withall resolued themselues to cleaue vnto him and the blessed doctrine of saluation which he taught though as yet they were ignorant in many points The holy Ghost commendeth the faith of Rahab when shee receiued the spies Now this her faith was indeede but a seede and beginning of liuely faith for then shee had onely heard of the miracles done in Egypt and of the deliuerance of the Israelites and was thereupon smitten with a feare and had conceiued a resolution with her selfe to ioyne her selfe to the Israelites and to worship the true God Now these and the like are tearmed beleeuers vpon iust cause for though they be ignorant as yet yet their ignorance shall be no continuing or lasting ignorance and they haue excellent seedes of grace namely a purpose of heart to cleaue to Christ and a care to profit in the doctrine of saluation VI. Conclusion The foresaid beginnings of grace are counterfait vnlesse they encrease The Exposition THe wickednesse of mans nature and the depth of hypocrisie is such that a man may and can easily transforme himselfe into the counterfeit and resemblance of any grace of God Therefore I put downe here a certen note whereby the gifts of God may be discerned namely that they grow vp and increase as the graine of Musterd-seede to a great tree and beare fruit answerably The grace in the heart is like the grain of Musterd-seed in two things First it is small to see to at the beginning secondly after it is cast into the ground of the heart it increaseth speedily and spreads it selfe Therefore if a man at the first haue but some little feeling of his wants some weake and faint desire some small obedience he must not let this sparke of grace goe out but these motions of the spirit must be encreased by the vse of the word sacrameÌ„ts and prayer and they must daily be stirred vp by meditating indeuouring striuing asking seeking knocking The master deliuering his talents to his seruants saith vnto them occupie till I come and not hide them in the earth Math. 25.26 Paul vseth an excellent speech to Timothie I exhort thee to stirre vp the gift of God which is in thee namely as fire is stirred vp by often blowing and by putting to of wood 2. Tim. 1.6 As for such motions of the heart that last for a weeke or moneth and after vanish away they are not to be regarded and the Lord by the Prophet Osea complaineth of them saying O Ephraim thy righteousnes is like the morning dewe Therefore considering grace vnlesse it be confirmed and exercised is indeede no grace I will here adde certaine rules of direction that we may the more easily put in practise the spirituall exercises of inuocation faith and repentance and thereby also quicken and reuiue the seedes and beginnings of grace 1 In what place soeuer thou art whether alone or abroad by day or by night and whatsoeuer thou art doing set thy selfe in the presence of God let this perswasion alwaies take place in thy heart that thou art before the liuing God and doe thy indeauour that this perswasion may smite thy heart with awe and reuerence and make thee afraid to sinne This counsell the Lord gaue Abraham Gen. 17.1 Walke before me and be vpright This thing also was practised by Enoch who for this cause is saide to walke before God 2 Esteeme of euery present day as of the day of thy death and therefore liue as though thou were dying and doe those good duties euery day that thou wouldest doe if thou wert dying This is Christian watchfulnes and remember it 3 Make catalogues and bills of thine own sinnes specially of those sinnes that haue most dishonoured God and wounded thine owne conscience set them before thee often specially then when thou hast any particular occasion of renuing thy repentance that thy heart by this doleful sight may be further humbled This was Dauids practise when he considered his waies and turned his feete to Gods commandements Psal. 119.57 and when he confessed the sinnes of his youth Psal. 25. This was Iobs practise when he saide he was not able to answer one of a thousand of his sinnes vnto God Iob 9.1 4 When thou first openest thine eies in a morning pray to God and giue thanks heartily God then shall haue his honour and thy heart shall be the better for it the whole day following For we see in experience that vessells keepe long that tast of that liquour wherewith they are first seasoned And when thou liest downe let that be the last also for thou knowest not whether falne asleepe thou shall euer rise againe aliue Good therefore it is that thou shouldest giue vp thy selfe into the hands of God whilst thou art waking 5 Labour to see and feele thy spirituall pouertie that is to see the want of grace in thy selfe specially those inward corruptions of vnbeleefe pride selfe-loue c. Labour to be displeased with thy selfe and labour to feele that by reason of them thou standest in neede of euery droppe of the bloode of Christ to heale and clense thee from these wants and let this practise take such place with