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heart_n conscience_n faith_n unfeigned_a 2,594 5 11.1136 5 false
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A00753 Comfortable notes vpon the bookes of Exodus and Leuiticus, as before vpon Genesis Gathered and laid downe still in this plaine manner, for the good of them that cannot vse better helpes, and yet are carefull to read the Scriptures, and verie desirous to finde the comfort in them. By the Reuerend Father in God Geruase Babington ... With a table of the principall matters contained in this booke. Babington, Gervase, 1550-1610. 1604 (1604) STC 1088; ESTC S100580 531,878 712

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the same bringeth foorth much fruite for without me can ye doo nothing Euen so say you of light No man is an instrument of any light to others but as he himselfe is in the stemme Christ from whom commeth all light In him men giue much light and shine vnto many both farre and néere by Word and writing c. 4 There are many branches of the Candlestick The branches are chieflie the Ministers of the Church and the varietie noteth their diuers degrees and orders These all grafted in the stemme and growing out from the stemme do also giue light in the Sanctuary A great honor to themselues when they do giue light and a great comfort to the beholders that sée their light Thus to shine is rightly and truly to shine in Gods house and all glorie els pompe and port and state is vtter vanity if this be away The light was euer in the Church and so diligent should Ministers be that their sound should be heard still still as the Lord willeth In season and out of season holy day and worke day if the place require it and tenne thousand times happy that seruant whom when his maister commeth he shall finde so doing I lay no burdens on any mans backe but the Lord that called hath inioined the worke accounted vs faithfull and put vs in his seruice He he it is that hath deliuered out his money and will looke for a reckoning that lent vs his light and will one day aske what wee did with it He gaue it not to be put vnder a bushell but to be shewed out to all that are in the house O that Hee may giue the feeling remembrance of it Then will not loyterers condemne labourers and thinke it vnfit to preach too often curiositie shalnot put out the candle a quarter of a yéere together or censure diligence and plainenesse in others for want of it Euery mans labour shal be accepted for the end whereunto they are directed and godly ioy in euery mans well doing That snake of enuie will flye away where discouragement hath growen cōfort will spring that God may be pleased and his Church profited by all mens measures and abilities He that walketh in the midst of the Candlesticks séeth the light or darknesse of them and wil remooue any one that amendeth not being faultie 5 This Candlesticke had bowles knops and flowers to adorne it and beautifie it withall The bowles figuring againe the spirituall gifts wherewith God Almighty doth beautifie his Pastors and Teachers which are as lights in his Church as Wisedome Learning Eloquēce Tongues and such like teaching also these Ministers that as Bowles do containe and kéep water or wine so should they conteine and euer kéepe doctrine and exhortation to coole and comfort the consciences of men bringing as the good Scribe out of their store things new and old The knops and flowers seruing for delight well represented what pleasure and contētment Godly people should take in a godly Teacher placed by Gods gratious prouidence ouer them They will not treade vpon them but smell to them not cast them at their heeles but set them in their bosomes as trulie pleasing flowers vnto them Still gold is the matter and pure gold to shew out by way of shadow the excellencie of Christ and of his faithfulll Ministers in him and for him 6 There were againe seauen Lampes and oile in them for this light The number of Seuen noting sufficiencie as indeede the Lord neuer faileth his Church of what hée knoweth néedefull Oyle commonly signifieth the Gospell and Faith kindled in the hearts of men by the efficacie of the Ministerie and the lampe shadoweth out a good conscience Because as oyle cannot be kept in a broken lampe but in a whole so is true Faith euer preserued in a good conscience hurt the conscience loose faith loose the Holy Ghost and loose eternall life This is prooued by the blessed Apostle when he saith Fight a good fight hauing faith a good conscience And againe The end of the commandement is loue out of a pure heart and of a good conscience of faith vnfeigned Furthermore as the only lampe emptie and drie could not light those foolish Virgins to the Bridegroomes chamber so neither can a good conscience as Philosophers spake of it that is honest externall action saue a man without there be also the oyle of the knowledge of the Gospell of Christ Lastly as a Lampe of glasse is brittle and soon broken so the conscience is a very tender thing and quickly may becrakt if not cleane broken A iust cause to make men chary what they doo 7 Snuffers and snuffe-dishes are appointed for these lightes wherein we may also profit and bee instructed For first in that GOD leaueth not the least and basest thing to their willes but himselfe appointeth and preand prescribeth all we very truly learn how odious in his seruice mens meere inuentions be and how he euer tyed men to his owne commandement not suffering them to doo what séemed good in their own eyes and to salue vp the matter with their good intents Amongst then many other things in the Word euen this also should haue his force in our hearts to beat vs from will-worships and to make vs carefull to learne how God will be serued and so onely and euer to serue him Secondly this is a great comfort to Ministers and to all the faithfull of God who are also here shadowed namely that although my gifts be not such as to set me high in the Tabernacle yet am I not therefore vtterly vnprofitable or vnfit or reiected of God But if I may be among the meanest vessels of the Sanctuarie and of the Church If I may be but as the Snuffers or Snuffe-dishes as a doore keeper as a besome or an ash-pan wherof mentiō wil be made hereafter euen this shall well please me herein will I reioyce thanking my God right humbly that hath looked vpon me in that measure Euery faithfull man or woman cannot be great and haue great places in the Church the body hath diuers members and all good and made by God the Church hath diuers degrees of Beléeuers and yet all Beléeuers and loued of God so if you be one in any place blessed be God for it Your ioy shall be eternall also and incomprehensible Thirdly for the vse of these Snuffers you know they serued to make the lampe light shine more bright So shadowing out that the doctrine of the Church must be pure bright and light not mixed with darknesse and snuffes in it and to this end the Lord hath discipline in his Church and disputations so to cleere when obscuritie groweth and to set things well that went awrie Discipline is profitable when it is rightly exercised by men authorised but if men not authorised by means not allowed will be snuffing of lights indéede rather aiming to put them out than
diffidere Remēber to distrust or be not too credulous which Cicero so commendeth and liketh that he doubteth not to call it the synews and ioints of all humane Wisedome It hath place in all our priuate life and actions but especiallie in iudgment This cannot hée doo vnlesse he haue an other vertue included in this namely diligence to heare both sides patientlie fullie indifferently which euer good Iudges doo for want whereof how fowlie some haue bene caried awrie many Stories testifie That one let me remember of Apelles the Ephesian who was accused to Ptolemie by his enemie Antiphilus that he had imparted to one Theodorus treasonable conspiracies plots against the King which Theodorus in truth Apelles had nener seene in his life The King lightlie and hastelie gaue credit to this tale and clapt Apelles vp with full purpose to execute him for it And indeede had so done if a prisoner in the same prison mooued in conscience had not opened the whole truth acquainted Apelles which when the King saw he perceiued also his great fault in crediting too lightly and gaue that accuser to Apelles to doo with him what he would or as some write to be his Bondman for euer Iudges therefore must beware of this great fault and heare euer the defence of the accused Now because we be not al Iudges doth not this law concerne vs yes yes your owne heart can tell you if they must not receiue them we must not tell them raise them and coyne them If we do the Lord séeth it and marketh it and although they wisely auoid the snare of them and set frée the accused and slaundered yet God remaineth a swift Iudge and verie sure to consume such wretches who so against his lawe haue wrought euill against their neighbour and brother If we may not rashly smite and kill with the hand although he be a thiefe no more with the tongue although it be true for charitie hideth a multitude of faults The phrase moueth me and therefore I note it that if God so please it may moue you also Thou shalt not put thy hand with the wicked to be a false or cruell witnesse If to giue the hearing be in some measure to put to the hand surely to haue an itching eare to heare euil reportes of our Christian brethren with delight contentment to beléeue them wholy or half to report thē againe is to put to the hand much more and to be grieuously guiltie before God Yet what so common in our mouthes as I am not the author I am not the first rayser I heard it I haue my author and so forth God that made this law against receiuing knoweth hearing goeth before receiuing if not receiue then not heare not beleeue not report to others For he shal bée thy Iudge who will not be mocked with shifts How many men satisfie their owne consciences herein I know not when they heare with gréedines and haue their instruments laid abroad for that purpose neuer imparting to the partie what they heare that he may answere it but kéeping all close from him and thinking what they please I know there may be some reason to conceale the accuser but to conceale the accusasion I know none For if they will heare with one eare let them heare with the other in the name of God the wrong side being as broad as the right and after two or three accusations cléered they will better know both the accuser and accused to their owne good Would God this fault were not where it least should be and where the sinne of it is as well knowen as others féele the iniurie Till it be amended let the childe of God say with Dauid O God of my righteousnesse and againe God thou knowest mine innocencie and my faults are not hid from thee To thee therefore I flie as knowing all both my good and my bad and in thy knowledge I rest be it vnto me as thou wilt I know thou hast meanes to humble Dauid and what thou doest shall be euer good in the end After a cloude the sunne breaketh foorth and the weather cleareth and is more comfortable 2 After Truth and diligence to attaine to it by hearing both sides the Lord also requireth in a good Iudge Skilfulnesse in the law Constancie saying in the next verse Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do euill neither agree in a controuersie to decline after many ouerthrow the truth Skilfulnesse in law to giue a right sentence not fitting the line to the stone but the stone to the line The line is fitted in the stone when the multitude is followed to doe euill than the which multitude nothing is more mutable and vncertaine The stone is fitted to the line when sentence is giuen according to law and truth that the Iudge hauing his name of Iustice his name and his actions must agrée Constancie stayeth the Iudge skilfull to discerne right and to doo what hee discerneth notwithstanding any company gainsaying it and therefore is Constancie also required in him Now if this may not be done in ciuil matters whose heart will not tell him much lesse may it be done in religion and matters of faith The wordes are playne Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill therefore a multitude may erre and doe euill Neyther decline after many to ouer-throw truth therefore a multitude may ouerthrowe truth And how then can it bee a rule to guide my conscience by either in ciuill or ecclesiasticall matters O weigh it well and with a religious heart and let neither poperie tell you of multitude nor Anabaptists of fewnes and paucitie but euer looke you for truth be they many or few and let that be the issue For proofe there is too much to be recited now that many may erre and many holde truth therefore neither the one number nor the other any rule to a Christian conscience 3 The next vertue in a Iudge is equalitie which is opposed to respect of persons Equalitie giues like vnto like according to one rule certaine from which there must be no departing a haires breadth for any qualities in men as wealth or pouertie and such like On the contrarie part respect of persons giues to like vnlike to like causes vnlike and differing iudgements for qualities in the partie corruptly carying the Iudge his affections As Alexander the Great more respected Ephestio nothing so well deseruing than Craterus a valiant Gentleman and right well deseruing of the common-wealth This equalitie and indifferencie God requireth that it may expresse his nature vpright and indifferent to all men eyther in accusing them by his lawe or sauing them vpon repentance by his Gospell in neither of which he respecteth any mans person Which as it is a iust terror if we do euill how great soeuer we bée so is it as iust a comfort if we turne from it be we neuer