all from sin He is the Physician which healeth all our Diseases He is that Saviour which saveth People from all their sins To be short Matth. 1. he is that flowing and most plentious Fountain of whose fulness all we have received For in him alone are all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God hidden And in him and by him have we from God the Father all good things pertaining either to the Body or to the Soul O how much are we bound to this our Heavenly Father for his great Mercies which he hath so plenteously declared unto us in Christ Jesu our Lord and Saviour What Thanks worthy and sufficient can we give to him Let us all with one accord burst out with joyful voice ever Praising and Magnifying this Lord of Mercy for his tender Kindness shewed unto us in his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Hitherto we have heard what we are of ourselves very sinful wretched and damnable Again we have heard how that of ourselves and by ourselves we are not able either to think a good Thought or work a good Deed so that we can find in ourselves no hope of Salvation but rather whatsoever maketh unto our Destruction Again we have heard the tender Kindness and great Mercy of God the Father towards us and how beneficial he is to us for Christ's sake without our Merits or Deserts even of his own mere Mercy and tender Goodness Now how these exceeding great Mercies of God set abroad in Christ Jesu for us be obtained and how we be delivered from the captivity of Sin Death and Hell shall more at large with God's help be declared in the next Sermon In the mean season yea and at all times let us learn to know ourselves our frailty and weakness without any boasting or cracking of our own good Deeds and Merits Let us also acknowledge the exceeding Mercy of God towards us and confess that as of ourselves cometh all Evil and Damnation so likewise of him cometh all Goodness and Salvation Osee 13. as God himself saith by the Prophet Osee O Israel thy destruction cometh of thyself but in me only is thy help and comfort If we thus Humbly submit ourselves in the sight of God we may be sure that in the time of his Visitation he will lift us up unto the Kingdom of his dearly beloved Son Christ Jesu our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen A SERMON OF THE Salvation of Mankind by only Christ our Saviour from Sin and Death everlasting BEcause all Men be Sinners and Offenders against God and Breakers of his Law and Commandments therefore can no Man by his own Acts Works and Deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God But every Man of necessity is constrained to seek for another Righteousness of Justification to be received at God's own hands that is to say the forgiveness of his Sins and Trespasses in such things as he hath offended And this Justification or Righteousness which we so receive of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification For the more full understanding hereof it is our Parts and Duties ever to remember the great Mercy of God how that all the World being wrapped in Sin by breaking of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Christ into this World to fulfil the Law for us and by shedding of his most precious Blood to make a sacrifice and satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same The efficacy of Christ's Passion and Oblation Insomuch that Infants being Baptized and dying in their Infancy are by this Sacrifice washed from their Sins brought to God's Favour and made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven And they which in Act or Deed do sin after their Baptism when they turn again to God unfeignedly they are likewise washed by this Sacrifice from their sins in such sort that there remaineth not any spot of Sin that shall be imputed to their Damnation This is that justification of Righteousness which St. Paul speaketh of when he saith No man is Justified by the works of the Law Gal. 2. but freely by faith in Jesus Christ And again he saith We believe in Jesus Christ that we be justified freely by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law because that no Man shall be justified by the works of the Law And although this justification be free unto us yet it cometh not so freely unto us that there is no ransom paid therefore at all But here may Man's Reason be astonished reasoning after this fashion Objection If a Ransom be paid for our Redemption then is it not given us freely For a Prisoner that payd his Ransom is not let go freely For if he go freely then he goeth without Ransom For what is it else to go freely than to be set at liberty without paying of Ransom Answer This Reason is satisfied by the great Wisdom of God in this mystery of our Redemption who hath so tempered his Justice and Mercy together that he would neither by his Justice condemn us unto the everlasting Captivity of the Devil and his Prison of Hell remediless for ever without Mercy nor by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or Payment of a just Ransom but with his endless Mercy he joyned his most upright and equal Justice His great Mercy he shewed unto us in delivering us from our former Captivity without requiring of any Ransom to be paid or amends to be made upon our parts which thing by us had been impossible to be done And whereas it lay not in us to do that he provided a Ransom for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesu Christ who besides this Ransom fulfilled the Law for us perfectly And so the Justice of God and his Mercy did embrace together and fulfilled the Mystery of our Redemption And of this Justice and Mercy of God knit together speaketh St. Paul in the third Chap. to the Romans Rom. 3. All have offended and have need of the Glory of God but are justified freely by Grace by Redemption which is in Jesu Christ whom God hath sent forth to us for a Reconciler and Peace-maker through Faith in his Blood to shew his righteousness And in the 10th Chapter Rom. 10. Rom. 8. Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness to every man that believeth And in the 8th Chapter That which was impossible by the Law inasmuch as it was weak by the flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh by sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us
Three things must go together in our justification which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit In these foresaid places the Apostle toucheth specially three things which must go together in our justification Upon God's part his great Mercy and Grace upon Christ's part Justice that is the satisfaction of God's Justice or the price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly and upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by God's working in us So that in our Justification there is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our Ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our Justification but only shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of Man concerning his Justification but only a true and lively Faith which nevertheless is the Gift of God and not Man's only Work without God And yet that Faith doth not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joyned with Faith in every Man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the office of Justifying How it is to be understood that Faith justifieth without Works So that although they be all present together in him that is Justified yet they justifie not altogether Neither doth Faith shut out the Justice of our good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good Deeds commanded by him in his Holy Scripture all the days of our Life But it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made Just by doing of them For all the good Works that we can do be imperfect and therefore not able to deserve our Justification but our Justification doth come freely by the mere Mercy of God and of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their Ransom it pleased our Heavenly Father of his infinite Mercy without any our desert or deserving to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood whereby our Ransom might be fully paid the Law fulfilled and his Justice fully satisfied So that Christ is now the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them paid their Ransom by his Death He for them fulfilled the Law in his Life So that now in him and by him every true Christian Man may be called A fulfiller of the Law Forasmuch as that which their Infirmity lacked Christ's Justice hath supplied The Second Part of the Sermon of Salvation YE have heard of whom all Men ought to seek their Justification and Righteousness and how also this Righteousness cometh unto Men by Christ's Death and Merits Ye heard also how that three things are required to the obtaining of our Righteousness that is God's Mercy Christ's Justice and a true and lively Faith out of the which Faith spring good Works Also before was declared at large That no Man can be justified by his own good Works that no Man fulfilleth the Law according to the strict rigor of the Law And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians proveth the same saying thus Gal. 2. If there had been any Law given which could have justified verily Righteousness should have been by the Law And again he saith If righteousness be by the Law then Christ died in vain And again he saith Ephes 2. You that are justified by the Law are fallen away from Grace And furthermore he writeth to the Ephesians on this wise By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of yourselves for it is the gift of God and not of Works lest any Man should Glory And to be short the sum of all Paul's Disputation is this That if Justice come of Works then it cometh not of Grace and if it come of Grace then it cometh not of Works And to this end tend all the Prophets as St. Peter saith in the 10th of the Acts. Of Christ all the Prophets saith St. Peter Acts 10. do witness that through his Name all they that believe in him shall receive the remission of sins Faith only justifieth is the Doctrine of old Doctors And after this wise to be justified only by this true and lively Faith in Christ speak all the old and antient Authors both Greeks and Latins Of whom I will specially rehearse three Hilary Basil and Ambrose St. Hilary saith these Words plainly in the ninth Canon upon Matthew Faith only justifieth And St. Basil a Greek Author writeth thus This is a perfect and whole reioycing in God when a Man advanceth not himself for his own Righteousness but acknowledgeth himself to lack true Justice and Righteousness and to be justified by the only Faith in Christ And Paul saith he Philip. 3. doth glory in the contempt of his own Righteousness and that he looketh for the Righteousness of God by Faith These be the very words of St. Basil and St. Ambrose a Latin Author saith these words This is the Ordinance of God that they which believe in Christ should be saved without Works by Faith only freely receiving remission of their sins Consider diligently these words Without works by Faith only freely we receive remission of our sins What can be spoken more plainly than to say That freely without Works by Faith only we obtain remission of our sins These and other like Sentences that we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works we do read oft-times in the best and most antient Writers As beside Hilary Basil and St. Ambrose before rehearsed we read the same in Origen St. Chrysostom St. Cyprian St. Augustin Prosper Oecumenius Proclus Bernardus Anselm and many other Authors Greek and Latin Nevertheless this Sentence that we be justified by Faith only is not so meant of them that the said justifying Faith is alone in Man without true Repentance Hope Charity Dread and the Fear of God at any time and season Faith alone how it is to be understood Nor when they say that we should be justified freely do they mean that we should or might afterward be idle and that nothing should be required on our parts afterward Neither do they mean so to be justified without good Works that we should do no good Works at all like as shall be more expressed at large hereafter But this saying That we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works is spoken for to take away clearly all Merit of our Works as being unable to deserve our Justification at God's hands
and thereby most plainly to express the Weakness of Man and the Goodness of God the great infirmity of ourselves and the Might and Power of God the imperfection of our own Works and the most abundant Grace of our Saviour Christ and therefore wholly to ascribe the merit and deserving of our Justification unto Christ only and his most precious Blood shedding This Faith the Holy Scripture teacheth us The profit of the Doctrine of Faith only justifieth is the strong Rock and Foundation of Christian Religion this Doctrine all old and antient Authors of Christ's Church do approve this Doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true Glory of Christ and beateth down the Vain-glory of Man this whosoever denieth is not to be accounted for a Christian Man nor for a setter forth of Christ's Glory but for an adversary to Christ and his Gospel and for a setter forth of Mens Vain-glory. What they be that impugn the Doctrine of Faith only justifieth And although this Doctrine be never so true as it is most true indeed that we be justified freely without all merit of our own good Works as St. Paul doth express it and freely by this lively and perfect Faith in Christ only as the ancient Authors use to speak it yet this true Doctrine must be also truly understood and most plainly declared lest carnal Men should take unjustly occasion thereby to live carnally after the Appetite and Will of the World the Flesh and the Devil A declaration of this Doctrine of Faith without Works justifieth And because no Man should err by mistaking of this Doctrine I shall plainly and shortly so declare the right understanding of the same that no Man shall justly think that he may thereby take any occasion of carnal liberty to follow the desires of the flesh or that thereby any kind of sin shall be committed or any ungodly living the more used First you shall understand that in our Justification by Christ it is not all one thing the Office of God unto Man and the Office of Man unto God Justification is not the Office of Man but of God for Man cannot make himself Righteous by his own Works neither in part nor in the whole for that were the greatest arrogancy and presumption of Man that Antichrist could set up against God to affirm that a Man might by his own Works take away and purge his own sins and so justifie himself But Justification is the Office of God only Justification is the Office of God only and is not a thing which we render unto him but which we receive of him Not which we give to him but which we take of him by his free Mercy and by the only Merits of his most dearly beloved Son our only Redeemer Saviour and Justifier Jesus Christ So that the true understanding of this Doctrine We be justified freely by Faith without Works or that we be justified by Faith in Christ only is not that this our own act to Believe in Christ or this our Faith in Christ which is within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification unto us for that were to count our selves to be justified by some Act or Virtue that is within ourselves but the true understanding and meaning thereof is that although we hear God's Word and believe it although we have Faith Hope Charity Repentance Dread and Fear of God within us and do never so many Works thereunto Yet we must renounce the merit of all our said Virtues of Faith Hope Charity and all other Virtues and good Deeds which we either have done shall do or can do as things that be far too weak and insufficient and imperfect to deserve remission of our Sins and our Justification and therefore we must trust only in God's Mercy and that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus the Son of God once offered for us upon the Cross to obtain thereby God's Grace and Remission as well of our original Sin in Baptism as of all actual Sin committed by us after our Baptism if we truly repent and turn unfeignedly to him again So that as St. John Baptist although he were never so Virtuous and Godly a Man yet in this matter of forgiving of Sin he did put the People from him and appointed them unto Christ saying thus unto them Behold yonder is the Lamb of God John 1. which taketh away the sins of the World Even so as Great and as Godly a Virtue as the lively Faith is yet it putteth us from itself and remitteth or appointeth us unto Christ for to have only by him remission of our Sins or Justification So that our Faith in Christ as it were saith unto us thus It is not I that taketh away your Sins but it is Christ only and to him only I send you for that purpose forsaking therein all your good Virtues Words Thoughts and Works and only putting your Trust in Christ The Third Part of the Sermon of Salvation IT hath been manifestly declared unto you that no Man can fulfil the Law of God and therefore by the Law all Men are condemned Whereupon it followeth necessarily that some other thing should be required for our Salvation than the Law And that is a true and a lively Faith in Christ bringing forth good Works and a Life according to God's Commandments And also you heard the ancient Authors Minds of this Saying Faith in Christ only justifieth Man so plainly declared that you see that the very true meaning of this Proposition or Saying We be justified by Faith in Christ only according to the meaning of the old ancient Authors is this VVe put our Faith in Christ that we be Justified by him only that we be Justified by God's free Mercy and the Merits of our Saviour Christ only and by no Virtue or good Works of our own that is in us or that we can be able to have or to do for to deserve the same Christ himself only being the cause meritorious thereof Here you perceive many words to be used to avoid contention in Words with them that delight to brawl about Words and also to shew the true meaning to avoid evil taking and misunderstanding and yet peradventure all will not serve with them that be contentious But Contenders will ever forge matters of Contention even when they have none occasion thereto Notwithstanding such be the less to be passed upon so that the rest may profit which will be more desirous to know the Truth than when it is plain enough to contend about it and with contentious and captious Cavillation to obscure and darken it Truth it is that our Works do not justifie us to speak properly of our Justification that is to say our Works do not merit or deserve remission of our Sins and make us of Unjust Just before God But God of his own Mercy through the only Merits and Deservings of his Son Jesus Christ doth justifie us Nevertheless because
Faith doth directly send us to Christ for remission of our Sins and that by Faith given us of God we embrace the Promise of God's Mercy and of the remission of our Sins which thing none other of our Virtues of Works properly doth therefore the Scripture useth to say That Faith without Works doth justifie And forasmuch as it is all one Sentence in effect to say Faith without Works and only Faith doth justifie us therefore the old ancient Fathers of the Church from time to time have uttered our Justification with this Speech Only Faith justifieth us meaning no other thing than St. Paul meant when he said Faith without Works justifieth us And because all this is brought to pass through the only Merits and Deservings of our Saviour Christ and not through our Merits or through the Merit of any Virtue that we have within us or of any Work that cometh from us Therefore in that respect of merit and deserving we forsake as it were altogether again Faith Works and all other Virtues For our own Imperfection is so great through the corruption of Original Sin that all is imperfect that is within us Faith Charity Hope Dread Thoughts Words and VVorks and therefore not apt to Merit and Deserve any part of our Justification for us And this form of Speaking use we in the humbling of ourselves to God and to give all the Glory to our Saviour Christ who is best worthy to have it Here you have heard the Office of God in our Justification and how we receive it of him freely by his Mercy without our deserts through true and lively Faith Now you shall hear the Office and Duty of a Christian Man unto God what we ought on our part to render unto God again for his great Mercy and Goodness They that preach Faith only justifieth do not teach carnal liberty or that we should do no good Works Our Office is not to pass the time of this present Life unfruitfully and idly after that we are Baptized or Justified not caring how few good VVorks we do to the Glory of God and Profit of our Neighbors Much less is it our Office after that we be once made Christ's Members to live contrary to the same making ourselves Members of the Devil walking after his enticements and after the suggestions of the VVorld and the Flesh whereby we know that we do serve the VVorld and the Devil and not God The Devils have Faith but not the true Faith For that Faith which bringeth forth without Repentance either evil VVorks or no good VVorks is not a right pure and lively Faith but a dead devilish counterfeit and feigned Faith as St. Paul and St. James call it For even the Devils know and Believe that Christ was Born of a Virgin that he Fasted forty Days and forty Nights without Meat and Drink that he wrought all kind of Miracles declaring Himself very God They Believe also that Christ for our sakes suffered a most painful Death to redeem us from everlasting Death and that he rose again from Death the Third Day They Believe that he ascended into Heaven and that he Sitteth on the Right Hand of the Father and at she last end of this VVorld shall come again and judge both the Quick and the Dead These Articles of our Faith the Devils Believe and so they Believe all things that be written in the New and Old Testament to be true And yet for all this Faith they be but Devils remaining still in their damnable estate lacking the very true Christian Faith What is the true and justifying Faith For the right and true Christian Faith is not only to believe that Holy Scripture and all the foresaid Articles of our Faith are true but also to have a sure Trust and Confidence in God's merciful Promises to be saved from everlasting Damnation by Christ Whereof doth follow a loving Heart to obey his Commandments And this true Christian Faith neither any Devil hath nor yet any Man which in the outward profession of his Mouth and in his outward receiving of the Sacraments in coming to the Church and in all other outward appearances seemeth to be a Christian Man and yet in his Living and Deeds sheweth the contrary They that continue in evil living have not true Faith For how can a Man have this true Faith sure Trust and Confidence in God that by the Merits of Christ his Sins be forgiven and he reconciled to the Favour of God and to be partaker of the Kingdom of Heaven by Christ when he liveth ungodlily and denieth Christ in his Deeds Surely no such ungodly Man can have this Faith and Trust in God For as they know Christ to be the only Saviour of the World so they know also that Wicked Men shall not enjoy the Kingdom of God They know that God hateth Unrighteousness Psal 25. that he will destroy all those that speak untruly that those which have done good Works which cannot be done without a lively Faith in Christ shall come forth into the Resurrection of Life and those that have done Evil shall come unto the Resurrection of Judgment Very well they know also that to them that be Contentious and to them that will not be Obedient unto the Truth but will obey Unrighteousness shall come Indignation Wrath and Affliction c. Therefore to conclude considering the infinite Benefits of God shewed and given unto us mercifully without our Deserts who hath not only Created us of Nothing and from a piece of vile Clay of his infinite Goodness hath exalted us as touching our Soul unto his own Similitude and Likeness But also whereas we were condemned to Hell and Death everlasting hath given his own natural Son being God Eternal Immortal and Equal unto Himself in Power and Glory to be incarnated and to take our mortal Nature upon him with the infirmities of the same and in the same nature to suffer most shameful and painful Death for our Offences to the intent to justifie us and to restore us to Life everlasting So making us also his dear Children Brethren unto his only Son our Saviour Christ and Inheritors for ever with him of his Eternal Kingdom of Heaven These great and merciful Benefits of God if they be well considered do neither minister unto us occasion to be idle and to live without doing any good Works neither yet stir us up by any means to do evil things But contrariwise if we be not desperate Persons and our Hearts harder than Stones they move us to render ourselves unto God wholly with all our VVills Hearts Might and Power to serve him in all good Deeds obeying his Commandments during our Lives to seek in all things his Glory and Honour not our sensual Pleasures and Vain-glory evermore dreading willingly to offend such a Merciful God and Loving Redeemer in VVord Thought or Deed. And the said Benefits of God deeply considered move us for his sake also
to be ever ready to give ourselves to our Neighbours and as much as lieth in us to study with all our endeavour to do good to every Man These be the fruits of true Faith to do good asmuch as lieth in us to every Man and above all things and in all things to advance the Glory of God of whom only we have our Sanctification Justification Salvation and Redemption To whom be ever Glory Praise and Honour VVorld without end Amen A Short DECLARATION OF THE True Lively and Christian Faith Faith THE First coming unto God good Christian People is through Faith whereby as it is declared in the last Sermon we be Justified before God And lest any Man should be deceived for lack of right Understanding thereof it is diligently to be noted that Faith is taken in the Scripture two manner of ways A dead Faith There is one Faith which in Scripture is called a Dead Faith which bringeth forth no good Works but is idle barren and unfruitful And this Faith by the Holy Apostle St. James is compared to the Faith of Devils James 2. which believe God to be True and Just and tremble for fear yet they do nothing well but all evil And such a manner of Faith have the wicked and naughty Christian People which confess God as St. Paul saith in their mouths Titus 6. but deny him in their deeds being abominable and without the right Faith and to all good works reproveable And this Faith is a Persuasion and Belief in Man's Heart whereby he knoweth that there is a God and agreeth unto all Truths of God's most Holy Word contained in the Holy Scripture So that it consisteth only in Believing in the Word of God that it is true And this is not properly called Faith But as he that readeth Caesar's Commentary believing the same to be true hath thereby a knowledge of Caesar's Life and notable Acts because he believeth the History of Caesar Yet it is not properly said that he believeth in Caesar of whom he looketh for no help nor benefit Even so he that Believeth that all that is spoken of God in the Bible is true and yet liveth so ungodly that he cannot look to enjoy the Promises and Benefits of God Although it may be said that such a Man hath a Faith and Belief to the Words of God yet it is not properly said that he believeth in God or hath such a Faith and Trust in God whereby he may surely look for Grace Mercy and everlasting Life at God's hand but rather for Indignation and Punishment according to the Merits of his wicked Life For as it is written in a Book Entituled to be of Didymus Alexandrinus Forasmuch as Faith without Works is dead it is not now Faith as a dead Man is not a Man This dead Faith therefore is not that sure and substantial Faith which saveth Sinners Another Faith there is in Scripture which is not as the aforesaid Faith idle unfruitful and dead A lively Faith but worketh by charity as St. Paul declareth Gal. 5. Which as the other vain Faith is called a dead Faith so may this be called a quick or lively Faith And this is not only the common belief of the Articles of our Faith but it is also a true Trust and Confidence of the Mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and a stedfast hope of all good things to be received at God's hand And that although we through Infirmity or Temptation of our Ghostly enemy do fall from him by Sin yet if we return again unto him by true Repentance that he will forgive and forget our Offences for his Sons sake our Saviour Jesus Christ and will make us Inheritors with him of his everlasting Kingdom and that in the mean time untill that Kingdom come he will be our Protector and Defender in all perils and dangers whatsoever do chance And that though somtime he doth send us sharp adversity yet that evermore he will be a loving Father unto us correcting us for our Sin but not withdrawing his Mercy finally from us if we trust in him and commit our selves wholly unto him hang only upon him and call upon him ready to obey and serve him This is the true lively and unfeigned Christian Faith and is not in the Mouth and outward Profession only but it liveth and stirreth inwardly in the Heart And this Faith is not without Hope and Trust in God nor without the Love of God and of our Neighbors nor without the Fear of God nor without the Desire to hear God's Word and to follow the same in eschewing Evil and doing gladly all good Works Heb. 12. Thus Faith as St. Paul describeth it is the sure ground and foundation of the benefits which we ought to look for and trust to receive of God a Certificate and sure looking for them although they yet sensibly appear not unto us And after he saith He that cometh to God must believe both that he is and that he is a merciful rewarder of Well-doers And nothing commendeth good Men unto God so much as this assured Faith and Trust in him Of this Faith three things are specially to be noted Three things are to be noted of Faith First that this Faith doth not lye dead in the Heart but is lively and fruitful in bringing forth good Works Secondly that without it can no good Works be done that shall be acceptable and pleasant to God Thirdly what manner of good Works they be that this Faith doth bring forth Faith is full of good Works For the First That as the Light cannot be hid but will shew forth itself at one place or other So a true Faith cannot be kept secret but when occasion is offered it will break out and shew itself by good Works And as the living Body of a Man ever exerciseth such things as belong to a natural and living Body for nourishment and preservation of the same as it hath need opportunity and occasion Even so the Soul that hath a lively Faith in it will be doing alway some good Work which shall declare that it is living and will not be unoccupied Therefore when Men hear in the Scripture so high commendations of Faith that it maketh us to please God to live with God and to be the Children of God If then they fancy that they be set at liberty from doing all good Works and may live as they list they trifle with God and deceive themselves And it is a manifest token that they be far from having the true and lively Faith and also far from Knowledge what true Faith meaneth For the very sure and lively Christian Faith is not only to believe all things of God which are contained in Holy Scripture but also is an earnest Trust and Confidence in God that he doth regard us and that he is careful over us as the Father is over the Child whom he doth love and that
in the Scripture Another would have a Medicine to all Diseases and Maladies of the Mind Can this be found or gotten otherwhere than out of Gods own Book his sacred Scriptures Christ taught so much when he said to the obstinate Jews Search the Scriptures John 5. for in them ye think to have eternal life If the Scriptures contain in them Everlasting Life it must needs follow that they have also present remedy against all that is an hindrance and let unto eternal life If we desire the knowledge of Heavenly Wisdom why had we rather learn the same of man than of God himself James 1. Mat. 28. who as St. James saith is the giver of wisdom Yea why will we not learn it at Christs own mouth who promising to be present with his Church till the Worlds end doth perform his promise in that he is not only with us by his grace and tender pity but also in this that he speaketh presently unto us in the Holy Scriptures to the great and endless comfort of all them that have any feeling of God at all in them Yea he speaketh now in the Scriptures more profitably to us than he did by word of mouth to the carnal Jews when he lived with them here upon Earth For they I mean the Jews could neither hear nor see those things which we may now both hear and see if we will bring with us those Ears and Eyes that Christ is heard and seen with that is diligence to hear and read his Holy Scriptures and true Faith to believe his most comfortable Promises If one could shew but the print of Christs Foot a great number I think would fall down and worship it But to the Holy Scriptures where we may see daily if we will I will not say the print of his Feet only but the whole shape and lively Image of him alas we give little reverence or none at all If any could let us see Christs Coat a sort of us would make hard shift except we might come nigh to gaze upon it yea and kiss it too And yet all the Clothes that ever he did wear can nothing so truly nor so lively express him unto us as do the Scriptures Christs Images made in Wood Stone or Metal some men for the love they bear to Christ do garnish and beautifie the same with Pearl Gold and Precious Stones And should we not good Brethren much rather embrace and reverence Gods Holy Books the sacred Bible which do represent Christ unto us more truly than can any Image The Image can but express the form or shape of his Body if it can do so much But the Scriptures do in such sort set forth Christ that we may see both God and man we may see him I say speaking unto us healing our Infirmities dying for our sins rising from death for our Justification And to be short we may in the Scriptures so perfectly see whole Christ with the Eye of Faith as we lacking Faith could not with these bodily Eyes see him though he stood now present here before us Let every Man Woman and Child therefore with all their Hearts thirst and desire Gods Holy Scriptures love them embrace them have their delight and pleasure in hearing and reading them so as at length we may be transformed and changed into them For the Holy Scriptures are Gods Treasure-House wherein are found all things needful for us to see to hear to learn and to believe necessary for the attaining of Eternal Life Thus much is spoken only to give you a taste of some of the Commodities which ye may take by hearing and reading the Holy Scriptures For as I said in the beginning no Tongue is able to declare and utter all And although it is more clear than the noon day that to be ignorant of the Scriptures is the cause of Error as Christ saith to the Sadduces Ye err not knowing the Scriptures Mat. 22. and that Error doth hold back and pluck men away from the knowledge of God And as St. Jerome saith Not to know the Scriptures is to be ignorant of Christ Yet this notwithstanding some there be that think it not meet for all sorts of men to read the Scriptures because they are as they think in sundry places stumbling-blocks to the unlearned First for that the phrase of the Scripture is sometime so simple gross and plain that it offendeth the fine and delicate Wits of some Courtiers Furthermore for that the Scripture also reporteth even of them that have their commendation to be the Children of God that they did divers acts whereof some are contrary to the Law of Nature some repugnant to the Law written and other some seem to fight manifestly against publick Honesty All which things say they are unto the simple an occasion of great offence and cause many to think evil of the Scriptures and to discredit their Authority Some are offended at the hearing and reading of the diversity of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Sacrifices and Oblations of the Law And some worldly witted men think it great decay to the quiet and prudent governing of their Common-weals to give ear to the simple and plain Rules and Precepts of our Saviour Christ in his Gospel as being offended that a man should be ready to turn his right Ear to him that struck him on the left and to him which would take away his Coat to offer him also his Cloak with such other sayings of perfection in Christs meaning For Carnal Reason being alway an Enemy to God and not perceiving the things of Gods Spirit doth abhor such Precepts which yet rightly understood infringeth no Judicial Policies nor Christian mens Governments And some there be which hearing the Scriptures to bid us to live without carefulness without study or fore-casting to deride the simplicities of them Therefore to remove and put away occasions of offence so much as may be I will answer orderly to these Objections First I shall rehearse some of those places that men are offended at for the simplicity and grosness of speech and will shew the meaning of them In the Book of Deuteronomy it is written That Almighty God made a Law if a man died without issue his brother or next kinsman should marry his Widow and the child that was first born between them should be called his child that was dead that the dead mans name might not be put out in Israel And if the Brother or next Kinsman would not marry the Widow then she before the Magistrates of the City should pull off his shoe and spit in his face saying So be it done to that man that will not build his brothers house Here Dearly beloved the pulling off his shoe and spitting in his face were Ceremonies to signifie unto all the People of that City that the Woman was not now in fault that Gods Law in that point was broken but the whole shame and blame thereof did now redound to
sent down from Heaven unto us the Holy Ghost nor that he sitteth on the right hand of his Heavenly Father having the Rule of Heaven and Earth Psal 17. reigning as the Prophet saith from Sea to Sea nor that he should after this World be the Judge as well of the living as of the dead to give reward to the good and judgment to the evil That these Links therefore of our Faith should all hang together in stedfast establishment and confirmation it pleased our Saviour not straitway to withdraw himself from the bodily presence and sight of his Disciples but he chose out forty days wherein he would declare unto them by manifold and most strong arguments and tokens that he had conquered Death and that he was also truly risen again to life He began saith Luke at Moses and all the Prophets Luke 24. and expounded unto them the Prophesies that were written in all the Scriptures of him to the intent to confirm the truth of his Resurrection long before spoken of which he verified indeed as it is declared very apparently and manifestly by his oft appearance to sundry Persons at sundry times First Mat 28. he sent his Angels to the Sepulcher who did shew unto certain Women the empty Grave saying that the burial-linen remained therein And by these signs were these Women fully instructed that he was risen again and so did they testifie it openly After this Jesus himself appeared to Mary Magdalen John 20. and after that to certain other Women and strait afterward he appeared to Peter then to the two Disciples which were going to Emmaus 1 Cor. 15. He appeared to the Disciples also as they were gathered together for fear of the Jews the door shut Luke 24. John 21. At another time he was seen at the Sea of Tiberias of Peter and Thomas and of other Disciples when they were fishing He was seen of more than five hundred brethren in the Mount of Galilee where Jesus appointed them to be by his Angel when he said Behold he shall go before you into Galilee there shall ye see him as he hath said unto you After this he appeared unto James and last of all he was visibly seen of all the Apostles Acts 1. at such time as he was taken up into Heaven Thus at sundry times he shewed himself after he was risen again to confirm and stablish this Article And in these revelations sometime he shewed them his Hands his Feet and his Side and bad them touch him that they should not take him for a Ghost or a Spirit Sometime he also did eat with them but ever he was talking with them of the everlasting Kingdom of God to assure the truth of his Resurrection Luke 24. For then be opened their understanding that they might perceive the Scriptures and said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to risâ— from death the third day and that there should be preached openly in his name pardon and remission of sins to all the Nations of the World Ye see good Christian People how necessary this Article of our Faith is seeing it was proved of Christ himself by such evident reasons and tokens by so long time and space Now therefore as our Saviour was diligent for our comfort and instruction to declare it so let us be as ready in our belief to receive it to our comfort and instruction As he died not for himself no more did he rise again for himself â— Cor. 15. He was dead saith St. Paul for our sins and rose again for our justification O most comfortable word evermore to be born in remembrance He died saith he to put away sin he rose again to endow us with righteousness His death took away sin and malediction his death was the Ransom of them both his death destroyed death and overcame the Devil which had the power of death in his subjection his death destroyed Hell with all the damnation thereof Thus is Death swallowed up by Christs Victory thus is Hell spoiled for ever If any man doubt of this Victory let Christs glorious Resurrection declare him the thing If Death could not keep Christ under his dominion and power but that he rose again it is manifest that his power was overcome If Death be conquered then must it follow that sin wherefore death was appointed as the wages must be also destroyed If Death and Sin be vanished away then is the Devil's Tyranny vanished which had the power of Death and was the author and brewer of sin and the ruler of Hell If Christ had the victory of them all by the power of his death and openly proved it by his most victorious and valiant Resurrection as it was not possible for his great might to be subdued of them and it is true that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification Why may not we that be his Members by true Faith rejoyce and boldly say with the Prophet Hosea and the Apostle Paul Where is thy Dart O Death Where is thy Victory O Hell Thanks be unto God say they which hath given us the Victory by our Lord Jesus Christ This mighty Conquest of his Resurrection was not only signified before by divers figures of the Old Testament as by Samson when he slew the Lion out of whose mouth came sweetness and honey and as David bare his figure when he delivered the Lamb out of the Lions mouth 1 Reg. 17. and when he overcame and slew the great Giant Goliath and as when Jonas was swallowed up in the Whales mouth Jonas 1. and cast up again on land alive but was also most clearly prophesied by the Prophets of the Old Testament and in the New also confirmed by the Apostles He hath spoiled saith St. Paul Rule and Power Col. 2. and all the Dominion of our spiritual enemies He hath made a shew of them openly and hath triumphed over them in his own person This is the mighty power of the Lord whom we believe on By his Death hath he wrought for us this Victory and by his Resurrection hath he purchased Everlasting Life and Righteousness for us It had not been enough to be delivered by his Death from sin except by his Resurrection we had been endowed with righteousness And it should not avail us to be delivered from death except he had risen again to open for us the Gates of Heaven to enter into life everlasting And therefore St. Peter thanketh God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for his abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1. because he hath begotten us saith he unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from death to enjoy an inheritance immortal that never shall perish which is laid up in Heaven for them that be kept by the power of God through Faith Thus hath his Resurrection wrought for us life and righteousness He passed through Death and
nothing is impossible as may further also appear by the inward Regeneration and Sanctification of Mankind When Christ said to Nicodemus Unless a Man be born a-new of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God he was greatly amazed in his mind and began to reason with Christ demanding how a Man might be born which was old John 3. Can he enter saith he into his Mothers Womb again and so be born anew Behold a lively pattern of a fleshly and carnal Man He had little or no intelligence of the Holy Ghost and therefore he goeth bluntly to work and asketh how this thing were possible to be true whereas otherwise if he had known the great power of the Holy Ghost in this behalf that it is he which inwardly worketh the Regeneration and New Birth of Mankind he would never have marvelled at Christs words but would rather take occasion thereby to praise and glorifie God For as there are three several and sundry Persons in the Deity so have they three several and sundry Offices proper unto each of them The Father to Create the Son to Redeem the Holy Ghost to Sanctifie and Regenerate Whereof the last the more it is hid from our understanding the more it ought to move all Men to wonder at the secret and mighty working of Gods Holy Spirit which is within us For it is the Holy Ghost and no other thing that doth quicken the Minds of Men stirring up good and godly Motions in their Hearts which are agreeable to the Will and Commandment of God such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse Nature they should never have John 5. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit As who should say Man of his own Nature is fleshly and carnal corrupt and naught sinful and disobedient to God without any spark of goodness in him without any vertuous or godly Motion only given to evil Thoughts and wicked Deeds As for the Works of the Spirit the Fruits of Faith charitable and godly Motions if he have any at all in him they proceed only of the Holy Ghost who is the only worker of our Sanctification and maketh us new Men in Christ Jesus Did not Gods holy Spirit miraculously work in the Child David when of a poor Shepherd he became a Princely Prophet 1 Sam. 17. Mat. 9. Did not Gods Holy Spirit miraculously work in Matthew sitting at the receit of Custom when of a proud Publican he became an humble and lowly Evangelist And who can choose but marvel to consider that Peter should become of a simple Fisher a chief and mighty Apostle Paul of a cruel and bloody Persecutor a faithful Disciple of Christ to teach the Gentiles Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to Regenerate Men and as it were to bring them forth anew so that they shall be nothing like the Men that they were before Neither doth he think it sufficient inwardly to work the Spiritual and New Birth of Man unless he do also dwell and abide in him 1 Cor. 3. Know ye not saith St. Paul that ye are the Temple of God and that his Spirit dwelleth in you Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is within you Again he saith You are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit For why Rom. 8. 1 John 2 the Spirit of God dwelleth in you To this agreeth the Doctrin of St. John writing on this wise The Anointing which ye have received he meaneth the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you And the Doctrin of Peter saith the same 1 Pet. 4. who hath these words The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you O what comfort is this to the heart of a true Christian to think that the Holy Ghost dwelleth within him Rom. 5. If God be with us as the Apostle saith who can be against us O but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost is within me Some Man perchance will say forsooth As the Tree is known by his Fruit so is also the Holy Ghost The Fruits of the Holy Ghost according to the mind of St. Paul are these Love Joy Peace long Suffering Gentleness Goodness Gal. 5. Faithfulness Meekness Temperance c. Contrariwise the Deeds of the Flesh are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Wantonness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Debate Emulation Wrath Contention Sedition Heresie Envy Murder Drunkenness Gluttony and such like Here is now that Glass wherein thou must behold thy self and discern whether thou have the Holy Ghost within thee or the Spirit of the Flesh If thou see that thy Works be vertuous and good consonant to the prescript Rule of Gods Word favouring and tasting not of the Flesh but of the Spirit then assure thy self that thou art endued with the Holy Ghost otherwise in thinking well of thy self thou dost nothing else but deceive thy self The Holy Ghost doth always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts namely by the word of Wisdom by the word of Knowledge which is the understanding of the Scriptures by Faith 1 Cor. 12. in doing of Miracles by healing them that are Diseased by Prophesie which is the Declaration of Gods Mysteries by discerning of Spirits diversities of Tongues interpretation of Tongues and so forth All which gifts as they proceed from one Spirit and are severally given to Man according to the measurable distribution of the Holy Ghost even so do they bring Men and not without good cause into a wonderful admiration of Gods divine Power Who will not marvel at that which is written in the Acts of the Apostles Acts 5. to hear their bold confession before the Council at Jerusalem And to consider that they went away with joy and gladness rejoycing that they were worthy to suffer Rebukes and Checks for the Name and Faith of Christ Jesus This was the mighty work of the Holy Ghost who because he giveth patience and joyfulness of heart in Temptation and Affliction hath therefore worthily obtained this name in Holy Scripture to be called a Comforter Who will not also marvel to read the learned and heavenly Sermons of Peter and the Disciples considering that they were never brought up in School of Learning but called even from their Nets to supply the Rooms of Apostles This was likewise the mighty work of the Holy Ghost John 14. who because he doth instruct the hearts of the simple in the true knowledge of God and his Word is most justly termed by this name and title to be the Spirit of Truth Lib. 11. cap. 3. Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History cap. 3. telleth a strange Story of a certain learned and subtil Philosopher who being an extream adversary to Christ and his Doctrin could by no kind of Learning be converted to the Faith but was able to withstand all the Arguments that could be brought against him with little or no labor At length there started up a poor