peculiar exāples of Gods deliueraunce of his people in Dauid Iosaphat Ezechias Manasses and many other There are to be séene in the Gospell innumerable places where Christe deliuered his professours from sinne from diseases from euils from perils and from the diuel In the Acts of the Apostles there are found most excellent patterns of present deliuerie by the mightie hand of god The Apostles are imprisoned and faste bound in fetters but they are loosed and brought foorth by the Angell of God and placed in the temple to preach the Gospel openly Peter likewise is deliuered out of prison when Agrippa had determined the next day following to make an end of and dispatch him The Apostle Paul being oppressed with an infinite sorte of calamities did alwayes feele the present hand of God at all times readie to rid him out of miserie And setting this tribulation and deliuerie of his for an example to all the faithful he saith to Timothie Thou knowest my persecution afflictions which came to me at Antioche at Iconium at Lystra which persecutions I suffered patiently But from them all the Lord deliuered mee yea and all that will liue godly in Christe Iesus shall suffer persecution Many more examples doth the same Apostle recken vp together in the 11. Chapiter to the Hebrues All this I say do the saincts consider and in time of temptation and affliction do comfort and strengthen themselues therewith For so doth Paule teach vs where he saith Whatsoeuer is written for our learning is it written that through patience and comforte of the Scriptures wee might haue hope Beside this also the faithfull sorte call to their mindes the commaundements of Christ our Lord wherwith he commēding patience vnto vs hath layd the crosse vpon vs all For in the Gospel he sayth If any man wil goe after me let him forsake himselfē and take vpp his crosse and followe mee For whosoeuer will saue his life shal loose it and whosoeuer shall loose his life for my sake shall saue it For what doeth it aduauntage a man to winne the whoale world and loose his owne soule Or what shall a man giue for a raunsome of his soule For the sonne of man shall come in the glorie of his father with his Angels and then shall hee reward euery man according to his workes And againe in an other place he sayth If any man come to mee and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his owne life also he cannot be my disciple And whosoeuer doth not beare his crosse and come after me he cannot bee my disciple After which words the Lord bringeth in certaine parables by which hée teacheth vs to make triall of our abilitie before we receiue the profession of the Gospell To the preceptes of their maister Christ the faithfull Apostles Peter and Paul had an especial eye exhorting vs to the patient bearing of the crosse of Christ For Christ saith Peter was afflicted for vs leauing to vs an example that wee should followe his steppes And Paul said Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdome of God. An other comforte that the faithfull haue in their afflictions is this that the time of affliction is shorte that the ioy and reward in the world to come is vnspeakeablie farre more large and excellent than the tribulation of this life is troublesome so that there can be no comparison betwixt the ioy of the one and griefe of the other and lastly that our good God doth not lay such burthēs on vs as we are not able possiblie to beare Touching all which points I thinke it conuenient here to rehearse proofes out of that scrip tures to proue them true S. Peter calleth the time of affliction short or momentanie And the Prophet Esate or the Lord rather in Esates prophecie long before Peters time did say Goe my people enter into thy chambers and shutt the doores after thee hide thee selfe a little while vntill mine indignation be ouerpast Paul also sayth The fathers of your fleshe did for a fewe dayes chasten you after their owne pleasure but the father of spirits doth for a short time correct you to your profite that ye might bee partakers of his holinesse But no chastising for the present seemeth to be ioyous but greeuous Neuerthelesse afterward it bringeth the quiet fruite of righteousnes to them that are exercised thereby Againe he saith Wee suffer with Christe that with him we may be glorified For I am certainly persuaded that the afflictions of this time are not comparable to the glorie that shal be shewed vppon vs For the momentanie lightnesse of our affliction doth wōderfully aboue all measure bring forth to vs an euerlasting weight of glorie while wee looke not for the thinges that are seene but the things that are not seene For the thinges that are seene are temporall but the thinges that are not seene are eternal Againe in his first epistle to the Corinth the same Apostle sayth God is faithfull which shal not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you are able but shall with the temptation make a way to escape that ye may be able to beare it But if it so happen that the Lord doth séeme to vs to extend our tribulation longer than iustice would séeme to require then must wee by and by remember that we may not prescribe to God any end of his wil but must permit him fréely to afflicte vs without all controllment so much so longe and by such meanes as shal séeme to be best to his godly wisedome He who is himselfe the eternall wisedome and loueth vs men entyrely well doth know well enough his time and season when to make an end of our miseries and rid vs from afflictions There are in the Scriptures sundry examples to comfort the men whose afflictions endure for any long time The woman in the Gospell was troubled with an issue of bloud by the space of twelue yeres which had almost driuen her to vtter desperation of her healthes recouerie An other lay beddred whole eightene yeares By the poole Bethesda lay the sillie creature who had béene diseased eight thirtie yeares This space surely was very troublesome But yet at last they were restoared to health againe by God who knoweth best at what time and season his help is most expedient and profitable for mankind Let vs therfore wholie submit our selues to his good iust most wise will to be deliuered when and how he shal thincke best But the chiefest comfort and greatest hope in tribulation is that not any force or miserie can possiblie seperate the faithful and elect seruaunts of God from God himselfe For the Lord in the Gospell crieth out and sayth My sheepe heare my voyce I know them and they followe mee I giue to them eternal life they shall neuer perish neither shall any man plucke them out of my hand My father which
of punishments are layd vpon mens neckes and that they are diuersly afflicted and vexed bycause of their offences But those afflictions how so euer they be patiently suffered of the faythfull do not yet wash sinnes away nor make satisfaction for misdéedes S. Peter sayth Marueile not that ye are tryed by fire which thing is done for your tryall as if any newe thing shoulde happen vnto you yea rather reioyce heerein that ye are partakers of the afflictions of Christ that in the reuelation also of his glory ye may reioyce and be glad This I say is the ende and vse of afflictions And by this means the glory of Christ indureth pure and vncorrupted It remayneth now for me to proue out of the holy Scriptures that God the father hath ordained that he whosoeuer doth beléeue in the onely begotten sonne of God shall be made partaker of Christe his righteousnesse that is shal be instified by him be absolued from his sinnes and be made heire of life euerlasting Esaias therfore saith In the acknowleging of him or in his knowledge shall my righteous seruaunt iustifie the multitude whose sinnes he him selfe shall beare But what else is the acknowledging or knowledge of Christ but true fayth Moreouer the Lorde Iesus him selfe in the gospel after Saint Iohn sayth And as Moses lifte vp the Serpente in the wildernesse euen so muste the sonne of man be lift vp that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perishe but haue life euerlasting There was none other remedy in the desart against the enuenomed bytings of the Serpentes but the contemplation or beholding of the Serpent lift vp and hanged aloft No plaster did cure them that were poisoned no oblation made to God not prayer it selfe offered to God not any worke nor any way else the onely beholding of the Serpent made the poyson harmelesse that then had crept into all their limmes In like manner nothing at all dothe saue vs from death but only faith in Christ For by fayth we behold and sée Christ lifted vp vpon the stake of the Crosse as it is to be seene in the sixte Chapter of Iohn It followeth in the words of our sauiour God so loued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth should not perish but haue life euerlasting For god sent not his sonne into the world to condemne the worlde but that the worlde through him might be saued He that beleeueth on him is not condemned but he that beleeueth not is condemned already bycause he beleeueth not in the name of the onely begotten sonne of God. By these words nowe the thirde time is fayth beaten into our heads by which we are made partakers of the Sonne of God of his life saluation redemption and all good things beside In the sixte Chapter of the Gospell after Iohn our Lorde againe sayth This is the will of the father whiche sent me that euery one that seeth the sonne and beleeueth in him should haue life euerlasting and I will raise him vp at the laste daye Nothing can be alleged to make more for oure present argument then these wordes of his For he sayth plainely that the will of God the father is that we should beleeue in the sonne and by this beliefe haue our saluation Whervpon Iohn the Euangelist and Apostle in his Canonicall Epistle dareth burst foorth into these words He that beleeueth not God maketh him a lyar bycause he beleeued not the record that God gaue of his sonne And this is the recorde that God hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in his sonne He that hath the sonne hath life and he that hath not the sonne of God hath not life Dearly beloued note this The eternal and vnchangeable wil of god is that he wil giue eternall life vnto the world But he will giue the life through Christe who is naturally life it selfe and can giue life The very same God also wil that we obtaine and haue life in vs and that we haue it no other wayes then by fayth For the Apostle Paule taught that Christ dothe dwell in our hearts by fayth Moreouer the Lord himself also witnesseth saith He that eateth me shall liue by me But ye knowe dearely beloued that to eate Christ is to beléeue in him And therfore we knit vp this place with these wordes of Sainte Peter To this Christe doe all the Prophetes beare witnesse that whosoeuer beleeueth in him shal receiue forgiunesse of sinnes through his name We haue in these a most ample testimonie of the whole sacred Scriptures By these I haue euidently inoughe delared that God hath appointed that whosoeuer dothe beléeue in Christ being clensed frō his sins shal be made heire of life euerlasting This will I make more euident yet by declaring how that fayth alone that is that fayth for it selfe and not for any workes of oures dothe iustifie the faythfull For it selfe I say not in respect that it is in vs a qualitie of the mynde or our owne worke in our selues but in respecte that faythe is the gifte of Gods grace hauing in it a promise of righteousnesse and life and in respect that naturally of it selfe it is a certaine and vndoubted persuasion resting vpon God and beléeuing that God being pacified by Christe hath throughe Christe bestowed lyfe and all good things on vs Therefore fayth for Christe and by the grace and promise of God dothe iustifie and so fayth that is that whiche we beléeue and wherein our confidence is setled God I say him self by the grace of god doth iustifie vs through our redemption in Christe so that now our owne workes or merites haue no place lefte to them at all I meane in iustificatiō For otherwise good workes haue their place in the faithfull as we in place conuenient doe meane to shewe For Paul the teacher of the gentiles doth in the waye of opposition compare Christe with Adam and sheweth that of Adam and so of oure owne nature and strength we haue nothing but sinne the wrath of God and death And this dothe he shewe vnder the name of Adam to the intent that no man shuld séeke for righteousnesse and life in the fleshe And againe on the other side he declareth that we by Christe haue righteousnesse the grace of God life and the forgiunesse of all our sinnes In this opposition he doth earnestly vrge and often repeate this worde Of one to no other end verily but that we shoulde vnderstande that faith alone doth iustifie To the Galathians he dothe very euidently vse this kinde of argument To the laste will and testament of a man if it once be proued no body doth adde or take any thing away Reason therefore doth rightly require that no man put to or take away any thing from the testament of god But this is the testament which god confirmed that his will is to bestowe the blessing vpon Abrahams séede not in many or by many
significaÌ„tly in the Psalme where he sayth My feete were almost gone my treadings had wel nigh slipped for I was greeued at the wicked when I did see the vngodly in such prosperitie for they are in no peril of deth they are I say troubled with no diseases whereby they are drawne as it were to death but are lustie and strong They come into no misfortune like other meÌ„ but are free froÌ„ the euils wherwith other folk are plagued and this is the cause that they are so holden with pride wrapped in violence as in a garment Their eyes swel with fatnes and they do euen what they lust They stretch forth their mouth vnto heauen and their tongue goeth thoroughe the world Yea they dare to say Tush how shuld God perceiue it Lo these are the vngodly these prosper in the world these haue riches in possession TheÌ„ said I haue I cleÌ„sed my hart in vaine â—ashed mine hands in innocencie â–ª and I beare punisheÌ„t euery day And while I thought thus to my self I had almost departed from the generation of Gods children Now since this is so it followeth consequently to beate out the causes of these calamities For in so doinge wée shal be the better able to iudge rightly of the miseries both of that godly and wicked sort of people The causes of calamities are many of many sortes but the generall and especiall cause is knowen to be sinne For by disobedieÌ„ce sinne entred into that world and death by sinne and so coÌ„sequently diseases and al euills in the world They are very lightheaded and vaine fellowes that referre these causes to I cannot tell what blind constellations and mouinges of Planets For wee by our euill lustes and corrupte affections do heape vp day by day one euill on an others necke And at our elbowes standeth the deuill who roundeth vs in the eares eggeth vs forwards and as helps to spurre vs on there are a crewe of naughtie packes that neuer ceasse to traine vs in and daily there doe rise vp diuers instruments of tribulation wherewith the most wise and iust God doth suffer vs men to be excercised and tormented But the same causes of affliction are not alwayes founde to bee in the holy worshippers of God as are in the wicked despisers of his name The Saintes are often afflicted that by their trouble the glorie of GOD may be knowen to the world For when the disciples of Christ did sée y blind man in the Gospell which was blind from his mothers wombe they said to that Lord Maister who sinned this man or his parents that he was borne blinde Iesus aunswered Neither did this man sinne nor his parentes but that the woorkes of God might be made manifest in him Likewise when the Lord heard say that Lazarus was sicke This disease said hee is not to death but to the glorie of God that by it the sonne of God may be glorified And yet if wee touch this matter to the quicke there can none in the woorld be found without sinne so that if the Lorde will marke oure iniquities hee shall alwayes finde somewhat to be punished in vs As it is at large declared in the booke of Iob. Furthermore the Lord doth suffer his spouse the Church which hée loueth full dearely to bee troubled and afflicted to this end and purpose that hee may openly declare that the electe are defended preserued and deliuered by the power ayde of God and not by the policie or help of man For Paule saith We haue this treasure in earthen vessells that the excellencie of the power may be Gods and not of vs while we are troubled on euerie side but not made sorrowfull Wee are in pouertie but not in extreeme pouertie wee suffer persecution but are not forsaken therein wee are cast downe but wee perish not wee alwayes beare about in the bodie the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life of Iesus might also be made manifest in our body For wee which liue are alwayes deliuered vnto death for Iesus sake that the life also of Iesus might bee made manifest in our mortall fleshe Also the same Apostle saith Vertue is made perfect in infirmitie Againe as the afflictions of the holy martyrs and faithfull Saintes of Christ are testimonies of the doctrine of faith as our Sauiour in the Gospell saith They shall deliuer you vp to counsells in their Synagogues they shall scourge you yea ye shal bee brought before kinges and rulers for my sake that this might bee for a wittnesse to them and the people Euen so in like manner are the Saintes ouerladen wyth miseries made examples for vs to learne by how to ouercome and despise the world and to aspire to heauenly thinges Finally the Lord doeth trie these that bée his by laying the crosse vppon their neckes and purgeth them like gold in the fire hée cutteth from vs many occasions of euill that hee may bring vs to the bearing of greater and more plentifull fruite The wisedome of the Lord doeth therein followe the manner of Goldsmythes who put their gold into the fire to purge and not to marre it And hée imitateth also good husbandmen who when their corne is somewhat too ranke do mowe it downe and prune their trées not to destroy but make them beare more abundant fruite And this flesh of ours verilie in peace and quietnesse is luskish lazie drowsie and slowe to good and honest exercises it is content and séeketh no further than earthly thinges it is whoalie giuen to pleasures it doth vtterly forget God and godly thinges nowe therefore it is not expedient onely but also very necessarie to haue this dull and sluggishe lumpe stirred vpp and excercised with troubles afflicions and sharpe persecutions The Saints herein are like toyron which by vse is somewhat woarne and diminished but by lying stil vnoccupied is eaten more with ruste and canker Most truely therefore said S. Peter Dearely beloued thincke it not straunge that yee are tried wyth fire which thing is to trie you as though some straunge thing happened vnto you But reioyce rather in that yee are partakers of the afflictions of Christ that when his glorie is reucaled yee may be merie and glad For Paule to Timothie saith Remember that Iesus Christe of the seede of Dauid was raised from the dead according to my gospel for which I am afflicted as an euill doer euen vnto bondes and yet I suffer al things for the electes sakes that they might also obteine the saluation which is in Christ Iesus with eternall glorie It is a faithfull saying For if wee bee dead with him we shal also liue with him if we be patient we shal reigne with him if we denie him hee shall also denie vs. For in his epistle to the Romans he saith Those which hee knew before he did also predestinate that they should be like facioned vnto the shape of his sonne that
hee might be the first begotten amonge many brethren Moreouer whom he did predestinate them also he called and whom he called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them also shal he glorifie Againe in the same epistle he saith We reioyce also in tribulations knowing that tribulation worketh patience patience proofe proofe hope and hope maketh not ashamed c. This do that priuate examples of the saints and publique examples of the whole Church very plainly declare Abraham Isaac Iacob had neuer knowne that Gods helping hand had bene so faithful and alwayes present with them they had neuer bene grounded in so sure hope nor shewed such especial fruit of their excellent patience if they had not bin exercised with many perils and as it were oppressed with infinite calamities Wherupon it cōmeth that Dauid cried It is good for me Lord that thou hast troubled mee The Church of Israel was oppressed in Aegypt but to the end that it might with the more glorie be deliuered and passe into the land of promise The Iewishe Church was afflicted by them of Babylon and the Assyrians so that their temple was ouerthrowne and the Saintes caried captiue with the worst of the people But the godly sort in their verie captiuitie doe feele y wonderful helpe of God and by that meanes are made the better by their afflictions so that the name of the Lord was knowne amonge the Assyrians the Chaldées the Medes and Persians to his great glorie and renowne as it is at large declared in the histories of Daniel Hester and Esoras Here also is to bee noted that certaine punishmentes are appointed of y Lord as plagues for certeine sinnes so that most commonly a man is plagued by the verie same things wherin he sinned against the lord Dauid offended God with murder and adulterie therefore is he punished with the shame of his owne house with whoredome incest detestable murder of his owne children lastly driuen out and banished his kingdome It was pride and arrogancie wherin Nabuchodonosor sinned and therfore being distract of his witts and turned into a beastly madnesse he led his life for a certaine time with beasts of the field But as Nabuchodonosor was when God thought good restoared to his kingdome So Dauid did in time conuenient féele the merrie of the Lord in settling him in his seat againe For this saying of the Lord is firmely ratified for euer not only to Dauid but to euerie one that beléeueth which is in these words set downe in that Scriptures If his children forsake my law and kepe not my commaundements I wil visit their sinnes with rodds their iniquities with scourges yet will I not vtterly take my goodnes from him I wil not breake my couenaunt neither wil I change the thing that is once gone out of my mouth Therfore it is to our profite that the Lord afflicteth vs as he himselfe testifieth in the Reuelation of Christ vttered by Iohn the Apostle and Euangelist saying Them which I loue I rebuke and chasten And Solomon long before that did say My sonne refuse not the chastening of the Lord neither faint whē thou art corrected of him For whome the Lord loueth him he chasteneth yet delighteth in him as a father in his sonne Now touching the persecutions terrible plagues layd vpon that neck of the whole Church of God or seuerall martyrs of that same as they were for the most part breathed out of worldly tyrants against the S. for their open cōfession and testimonies of their faith truth of the Gospell so most cōmonly the causes of those broyles were the sinns offēces of the S. which the iustice of God did visit in his holy ones no doubt to the good saluation of the faithful For of that bloudie persecution vnder the Emperors Diocletian and Maximiniā which caused many thou sands yea many millians of Martyrs to com to their endings we read this following in that historie of Eusebius of Cesaria who learned it not by heare-say but was himself an eyewitnes of the same When as by to much libertie and wantones the maners of the Church were vtterly marred and the discipline therof corrupted while among our selues wee enuie one an other diminish one anothers estimatiō while amōg our selues we snatch at accuse our selues mouing dedly warre among our selues while dissimulation sitteth in the face deceipt lurketh in the harte and falshod is vttered in woordes so that one euill is heaped still on anothers necke the Lorde beginneth by little and little and with the bridle to checke the mouth of his tripping church and reseruing the congregations vntouched he begineth first to suffer them to feele persecution which serued as souldiours in the camps of the Gentiles But when as by that meanes the people could not be made to remember them selues in so muche that they ceassed not to persist in their wickednesse that the verie guides of the people and chief of the church vnmindful of Gods commaundemēt were sett on fire among them selues with strife enuie hatred and pride so that they might think they rather exercised tyrannie than the office of ministers because they had forgottē Christian sinceritie and purenesse of liuing then at length the houses of prayer and churches of the liuing God were throwen to the grounde and the holie scriptures set on fire in the broade and open streetes Thus muche worde for worde out of the 8. booke of his Ecclesiastical historie And yet here I make difference betwixt sinne and sinne For the Sainctes sinne but yet they abstaine commonly from heynous crimes although nowe and then too they fall into them as it is euident by the example of Dauid But yet for the most parte they flye from theft murder whooredome and other grieuous sinnes like vnto these And while the Sainctes are afflicted by tyraunts it is not for their neglecting of iustice true religion but for that contemninge of superstition and stedfast sticking to Christ and his Gospell The Lorde therefore doeth forgiue and in the bloud of Christ washe away that sinnes of the holye Martyrs reputing them to suffer deathe not for the sinnes whiche they haue committed but for the zeale and loue of true religion He also punisheth the tyrants for the death of his Martyrs because in putting them to death they follow their owne tyrannous affection and not the iust iudgement of the liuing god The Lordes mynd verily was by tyrauntes to chasten his people Israel But the tyraunts as Esaie in his 10. Chapter witnesseth did not take it to bee so but rather following their owne affections they passed all measure in afflicting them and neuer sought after iustice and equitie they therefore are punished of the Lorde for killing his innocent and guiltlesse seruauntes For the thing which the Lorde did persecute in his people their sinnes I meane and offences that do the tyraunts neyther punishe nor persecute but
bands wherewith they are tyed that wishe loke to be set at libertie But throughout all ages there is none such to bée found in all the world nor yet in heauen but Iesus Christ alone the sonne of God who for that cause did in the Gospell say If the Sonne set you at libertie then are ye free in deede Nowe they whome the Lord deliuereth are bondslanes wherefore hée doeth deliuer them from bondage and doth incorporate them in the libertie of the sonnes of god Hée doth set all bondseruauntes at libertie excluding none but such as do by their owne default their owne vnbeléefe and disobedience exclude themselues For the comming of the sonne of God was to set all such at libertie as were entangled in bondage Therefore he doth so farre forth deliuer vs as we are bondseruaunts For bondage and libertie are one opposed and contrarie to the other so that without the consideration of the one wée cannot conceiue the meaning of the other Wherefore I thincke it best héere to speake so much of bondage as this present argument shall séeme to require First bondage is nothing else but the state or condition wherein bondseruauntes bée Nowe those that are in boÌ„dage are either bondmen borne or else made bondseruauntes The children that issue of bondseruaunts are bondslaues borne The other that are made bondseruantes are so made either by captiuitie wherevppon they take their names and are called captiues For Pomponius saith Slaues were therevppon so called because the Capitaines commaunded to sell them for monie when they were in warres taken captiues by their souldiours and so by that means to spare their liues and saue them these bondmen are in latine also called Mancipia eo quod ab hostibus manu caperentur because they were taken prisoners by the hande of their enimies Or else they are made bondslaues by the ciuil law as when a frée man aboue twentie yeares of age doeth for lucre sake suffer himselfe to bée sould for monie Bondmen therefore haue loste all libertie and doe whoalie hange vppon their maisters gouernment in whose power it lyeth to kill them if they list Nowe of bondage there are two sortes the Politique and the Spirituall The politique bondage is not by grace the preaching of the Gospell taken out of the Churche of the faithfull so that there should bee no bondmen at all or that they should not doe their duetie or not doe the seruice that of right they doe owe. For the Apostle Paule saith Let euery man walke according as he is called And so ordeine I in al Churches Art thou called being a seruaunt Care not for it But yet if thou mayest be free vse it rather And againe Seruauntes obey them that are your bodilie maisters with feare and trembling and singlenesse of hearte as vnto Christ not with eye seruice as men pleasers but as the seruauntes of Christe doinge the will of God from the heart with good will seruing the Lord and not men knowing that what soeuer good thinge any man doeth that shall hee receiue againe of the Lord whether hee be bond or free And in his Epistle to Timothie hée saith Let as many seruauntes as are vnder the yoke counte their maisters worthie of all honour that the name of God and his doctrine bee not blasphemed And they which haue beleeuing masters despise them not because they are brethren but rather doe seruice for as much as they are beleeuing beloued and such as are partakers of the benefite And yet in this bondage the faithfull haue this comfort by the preaching of the Gospel that howsoeuer they bée bond in body yet they are frée in mind and soule For the Apostle againe doth say Hee that is called a bondman in the Lord is the Lords freeman Likewise hee that is called free is bond to Christ This is a comfort to the faithful in all their afflictions which knowe that their spirite is safe and frée howsoeuer their bodie is streightly imprisoned or sharpely tormented Therefore the Saincts are at their libertie although they be neuer so narrowely looked to and shutt vpp in custodie they are victorers and vanquishers howsoeuer they are bound and oppressed Finally they enioy most exquisite pleasures euen then when they are vexed with most infinite euils I knowe that the children of this world doe mocke and scoffe at these pleasures and libertie of the faithfull beléeuers as though they were méere dreames and fantasiâ—s of very fooles and asses But God doth soundly pay them home for their scoffes and mockerie not in the world to come onely but also in this preseÌ„t life while they themselues like miserable caytifes beeing in extreme captiuitie doe notwithstanding euen in that slauerie thincke themselues at libertie and in most absolute felicitie For they serue a filthie seruice in detestable slauerie making themselues bondmeÌ„ to abhominable whoredome to beastly madd drunkennesse to the wicked Mammon and to other most vile pleasures wherein they die and rott with endlesse shame and infamie But of the seruice afflictions of the Sainctes who doe euen in their afflictions enioye their libertie and reioyce in the Lord the Apostle Paule speaketh where he saith We are troubled on euery side yet are wee not made pensiue wee are in pouertie but not in extreme pouertie wee suffer persecution but are not vtterly forsaken therein wee are caste downe but wee perish not bearing about alwayes in the body the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life of Iesus might also appeare in our bodie And againe In all things wee doe our endeuour to shewe oure selues as doth become the ministers of Christ in much suffering in afflictions in necessities in sorrowes in stripes in imprisonmentes in seditions in labours in watchinges in fastinges in glorie and ignominie in reproches and prayses as deceiuers yet speakers of trueth as vnknowen and yet knowen as dying and loe wee liue as chastened and not killed as sorrowfull and yet alwayes reioycing as poore and yet making many riche as hauing nothing and yet possessing all thinges Loe héere ye sée howe the Saincces in extreme seruitude haue a chéerefull consolation and are alwayes at their libertie as is to be séene by infinite examples in the Actes of the Apostles other Ecclesiasticall histories Nowe wee come to the second part of bondage The spirituall bondage hath a certaine likenesse to the bodily seruitude For Adam by his owne fault became a bondman and wée of him are all borne bondmen Hée was once at libertie and had the Lord to bee his friend and fauourer but hée did disâ—oyallie reuolte from GOD and gost himselfe an other maister the diuell a tyraunt as cruell as maye bée who for his sinne hauing gotten power ouer him did like a mercilesse Lord miserablie handle him like a bond seruaunte Nowe wée of oure corrupte graundsire are borne corrupt and sinners and for our sinne are also vnder the diuels dominion wée are