Guides of the people fitter to lead them into the ditch then to resolve them of any doubt or to convince any learned Heretick The righteousness of God taken four wayes And further you must observe that although the righteousness of God is specially taken four wayes in Scripture and signifieth 1. That distributive righteousness which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Way 1 or jus Dei whereby he punisheth the wicked and delivereth the innocent and whereof the Prophet saith Psal 9.4 Psal 119.137 Thou art set in the throne that judgest right And again Thou art just O Lord and righteous is thy judgement 2. That uprightness which is in God and is opposed to Way 2 iniquity as where the Prophet saith The Lord is righteous and loveth righteousness his face beholdeth the thing that is right 3. The truth of God as where himself saith I the Way 3 Lord speak righteousness that is nothing but the truth Esay 45.19 4. The mercy of God in Christ and through Christ towards Way 4 us as where the Prophet saith Psal 31.1 Deliver me in thy righteousness And again Psal 71.1 Judge me according to thy righteousness that is according to thy mercy and goodness shewed to us in Christ Jesus who is as the Prophet saith Jer. 23.6 Jehova justitiae nostra the Lord our righteousness and so the righteousness of God to us because as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we might be freely justified before God through faith in his righteousness Yet by the righteousness of God here in this place we are to understand it saith St. Chrysostom in none of the foresaid significations but for Quid odit et quid amat What God loveth as just and righteous and what he hateth as wicked and unrighteous that so we might do what he loveth and shun what he hateth because as Aretius saith Aret. in loc there is a righteousness besides our justifying righteousness that is plainly necessary for the obtaining of the Kingdom of God for though as our Divines say Fides sola justificat Faith only justifieth us and we are freely justified by our faith in Christ that layeth hold on his righteousness which is imputed unto us yet Fides justificans nunquam est sola aut solitaria The iustifying faith is never alone separated from the works of that righteousness which is the inseparable adjunct and concomitant of the justifying faith And therefore if you desire to be Citizens of Heaven and Inheritors of the Kingdom of God you must be just and righteous men and your righteousness must not be like the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees in ostentation to deceive the world but in deed and verity in the sight of God for so Christ tells you plainly Except your righteousness that is not only the righteousness of Christ which is yours by imputation and which all men know doth by many thousand degrees exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees but except your own inherent righteousness which is wrought in you by the Spirit of Christ exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God James 3.18 And truly the want of this righteousness and just dealing among men is the cause of all mischief and of all the greatest miseries of this world and of eternal damnation in the world to come and the performance of this righteousness would make all men happy both in this life and in the life to come For What is the cause of all mischief 1. What brings Wars the greatest of all the Plagues that are here on earth but unrighteous dealing For righteousness and peace have kissed each other saith the Prophet and thou saith St. Augustine dost love and desire peace which is the Crown of all worldly happiness though now the crown is fallen from our head woe unto us that we have sinned Sed justitiam non amabis Lam. 5.16 but thou wilt not follow after righteousness therefore peace shall be far from thee because there is no peace to the wicked Esay 48.22 saith my God no peace to them that shed innocent blood no peace for unrighteous dealing to them that take away a mans right and hold it still perforce But their unrighteousness will destroy them as indeed injustice and unrighteous dealing will undo any people when a Kingdom shall be translated from Nation to Nation because of unrighteousness and when the same shall be as it was said of Carthage fuller of sins then of men as we see the Monarchy of the Assyrians was translated to the Medes and Persians and the most famous Republick of the Romans spoiled when forgetting their pristine equity and just dealing whereby they became so great they began to be unjust and as the Poet saith Mensuraque juris Vis erat And they measured the Law and equity by their strength and he had the best right that was most powerful as the wicked proclaim it in the Book of Wisdom Let our strength be the Law of justice which hath been the ruine and subversion of many a Nation And so it will be with us of this Nation if we cast away all Justice and hold the truth in unrighteousness because God is no respecter of persons and we have no reason to think that he will deal any otherwise with us then he hath done with his own chosen people the Jews or with any other unrighteous Generation And as unrighteousness is the mother of wars and the bringer of destruction to Nations and Kingdoms so it is the nurse that breedeth strife and increaseth contentions and Suits of Law among neighbours and so becometh the greatest enemy to brotherly love which is the greatest vertue and the chiefest grace of all Christianity 1 Cor. 13. ult as Saint Paul sheweth And as unjust dealing thus pulleth down upon us all the plagues of Heaven so you may see Therefore let men take heed of maintaining wrongs and oppressions in the fifth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom and in Saint Paul and many other places of the holy Scripture how it excludeth all unrighteous men out of Heaven But 2. On the other side if you look upon righteousness and just dealing Plato The praise of just dealing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the divine Plato All men cry out with one mouth How beautiful a thing is temperance and righteousness Cicero calleth this righteousness the Lady and Mistress of all vertues Pindarus saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden eye and a golden countenance are alwayes to be seen in the face of Justice And Theoguis saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even as the Latine Poet saith Justitia in sese virtutes continet omnes Justice is that vertue which comprehends all vertues in
it self For he that is a just man wrongeth no man And Solomon saith Prov. 16.12 The Kings throne is established by righteousness And again he saith Prov. 14 34. That Righteousness exalteth a Nation so that both King and Kingdom shall prosper through righteousness And he saith further That although evil pursueth sinners yet to the righteous good shall be repaid Prov. 13.21 And when the house of the wicked shall be overthrown Prov. 14.11 Chap. 3.33 the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish because God blesseth the habitation of the just And therefore the very Heathens erected a Temple unto Justice and ascribed divine worship unto Astraea which they termed the Goddess of Justice How just and righteous the Heathens were to the shame of our Fanatick and Cromwellian Christians in Ireland and many of them were very just most singular observers of justice for Homer saith That Sarpedon preserved the Kingdom of Licia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through justice and fortitude And Herodian saith of Pertinax That he was both loved and feared of the Barbarians as well for the remembrance of his vertues in former battels as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because wittingly or willingly he never did wrong or injustice to any man Plutarch ascribeth the like vertues to Lucullus Cicero to Pompey Ovid to Erictthaeus Virgil to Aeneas Suetonius to Octavius Augustus his Father and many others of the Heathens are recorded to have been like Aristides exceeding just And I would to God all those that say they are Christians were as just aâ— these Heathens were or as righteous as the Scribes and Pharisees for they were so strict in their lives especially in shew and made so great account of justice that they would tythe Mynt and Rue and the rest of the very smallest things and therefore S. Paul saith that they were the strictest Sect of all the Jewish Religion and yet our Saviour saith Except your righteousness doth exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So you see the way that leads you to the Kingdom of God is to be just and righteous and so honest men without which it is in vain to pray to God it is in vain to believe in Christ and in vain to rely on him because as the Prophet David saith you must offer to God the sacrifice of Righteousnes Psal 4.5 and then you may trust in the Lord. But wherein doth the sacrifice of Righteousness consist Q. or how shall we become just or righteous men Rsep and so acceptable in the sight of God I answer that to be just and righteous and to offer the sacrifice of righteousness is reddere unicunque quod suum est That is to render 1. To God 2. To our King 3. To our Neighbours 4. To our selves what belongs to each of these 1 Branch of Righteousness and these are like the four Rivers of Paradise watering the whole Garden of God that being well observed will make it a Paradise indeed 1. What belongs to God Our Fanatique Enthusiasts and Sectaries think that as God is a Spirit so he requires no more but to be served in Spirit and truth for as the Prophet saith If he be hungry he will not tell thee because all the Beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the cattel upon a thousand hills And therefore the Lord saith my Son give me thy heart and so worship me with Faith Hope Love and the like spiritual affections which are most correspondent to me that am a Spirit That God will be worshipped with all that we have But you must know that they are very much deceived for as God hath made both Body and Soul and hath given us all that we have Houses Lands Riches and whatsoever else we do possess so he will be served and worshipped by all that we have with our Hearts to love him with our Tongues to praise him with our Eys lifted up to behold his wonders with our Knees bowed down to submit unto him with our Hands to do the work that he requireth and with our Wealth and Riches to honour him as the Wise man commandeth Honour God with thy riches And so our Saviour when he biddeth us to render unto Caesar what was Caesars and to God what is Gods meaneth it of our Wealth and Riches that we ought to render unto God and not of these internal services and spiritual worship that we do likewise owe to God for here the question was of the Tribute and Mony that the Jews were to pay to Caesar and therefore the true sense of our Saviours answer was secundum materiam subjectam according to their question give that part of your Wealth and Riches to Caesar which belongs to Caesar and that part of it to God which is due to God that Caesar himself may not have that which belongs to God Q But then you will demand what is that part and portion which belongs to God out of that All which God gives unto us Resp Levit. 27.30 I answer that they are first the Tythes which God requireth to be payd unto him and secondly the Donations which his people do freely offer unto him and God doth most graciously accept them which is an unspeakable favour that the great God and creator of all things the giver of all things that owns all things and wants nothing should so graciously accept the small gifts of us his poor creatures far beyond the Clemency of Xerxes that did so curteously accept a little cold water that was presented unto him by a poor subject that had nothing else to offer him But when any Lands Houses or Monies or any other part of our Goods is offered unto God let us not be so unjust as to rob God thereof for you may see what the Prophet saith will a man rob his God yet you have robbed me Mal. 3.8 in Tythes and Offerings that is in converting the Tythes to your own uses which I commanded to be paid to uphold my services and taking those Lands and Houses into your own possessions which most pious men had offeâ—ed to maintain my Religion Or if we do this as I see it commonly don in Ireland and in too many places in England then let us take heed lest that quorum flagitium imitamur eorum exitum inveniamus we find not the like success as they found that had don this before us And what is that I will shew you some examples of good note And I will not insist upon the punishment inflicted upon Achan Gehezi Shisake King of Egypt Johas King of Israel Sennacherib King of Assyria and Belshazzar King of Babylon and others for their Sacriledg and Injustice against God because you may read the same at your leasure in the holy Scripture But I shall desire you to remember what Seneca Sen. de Benefic l. 5. c. 12. a man that
able to make any man blind to make a blind man to see and with Fire that burns every thing else to preserve the three Children in the Fiery Furnace and to make the raging Sea that swallows down and drowneth man and beast to be a Wall of defence unto the children of Israel 3. Respect 3. God is said to be Omnipotent and Almighty because he is able to do what he will not do that is more then ever he did or ever will do for he is able of these stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Math. 3.9 And he saith to St. Peter Think you that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve legions of Angels Math. 26.52 and so he can do many thousand things that he doth not and will not do Titus 1.2 2 Tim. 2.13 Aug. de Trinitat l. 15. c. 15. But it is objected that the Apostle saith He cannot lie and again He cannot denie himself to which St. Augustine answereth that Magna est Dei potentia non posse mentiri it is an argument of Gods great power that he cannot lie or deny himself because that to lie is the sign of weakness and imbecillity when the lyer is not able to do what he saith or to perform what he promiseth And he that desireth further satisfaction in this Point let him look into my Best Religion See the Best Religion where I have handled the same more at large So you have seen how and in what respect God is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almighty and that should teach us a twofold Lesson 1. The one of Fear Two Lessons to be learnt 2. The other of Comfort For 1. God threatneth to â—unish and plague wicked sinners 1. Of fear and he that blesseth himself when he heareth the curse the Lord saith he will not spare him Deut. 29.19 but will blowout his name from under heaven and again he saith Levit. 26.23 if you wa k stubbornly and contrary unto me I will also walk contrary unto you and plague you seven times more for your offences and do not you think that God is able to make good his threatnings Therefore we ought all of us to humble our selves and to fear the Almighty God and as our Saviour saith Math. 10.28 to fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul 2. This Doctrine of the almighty power of God 2. Lesson may afford us a great deal of comfort against the Devil our afflâ—ctions and all Tyrants For when we see Satans army and consider his stratagems against us we may well cry out with Elizaeus servant Alas what shall we do 2. Reg. 6.15 But when we remember what our Saviour saith I give to my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand John 10.28 because my Father which gave them me is greater then all and none is able to take them out of my fathers hands 1 Pet. 1.5 we may comfort our selves and be assured that as St. Peter saith the godly that do serve the Lord shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation because he that is in us is greater and more powerful then he that is in the world 1 John 4.4 5. The last Attribute here set down is which was and is and is to come and this crowneth all the other Attributes of God for without this to be Lord to be a God and to be Almighty would avail little or nothing but to be so and to be so for ever Esai 43.10 Psal 90.2 is all in all and only the honour and prerogative of the Almighty God And so God saith Before me there was no God formed neither shall be after me and the Prophet David speaking to him 1 Tim. 1.17 saith Before the mountains were made and before thou hast formed the earth or the world thou art God from everlasting Exod. 3.14 and world without end and St. Paul calls him the king of ages or the everlasting King and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Esai 57.15 saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as he saith unto Moses I am is his name that is an Eternal being and which inhabiteth eternity and as here these Beasts do say which was that is Lord God almighty and therefore the Maker and Creatour of all the things that are What the former point should teach us and which is that is Lord God Almighty and therefore the ruler and governor of all the things that are and which is to come that is to be as he is Lord God Almighty therefore the rewarder of all men as their works shall be And this Eternal being of God should teach us all to labour for eternity for that which is vain and vanisheth is of nothing worth but the truth is that we shall all be Eternal and for ever either in felicity or misery in joy or in torments and therefore our study and care should be so to live and to serve this Eternal God that we may live with him in Eternal happiness and avoid those Eternal torments wherein the wicked shall be chained for ever For you shall find that as the same Father saith Praeterit jucunditas non reditura manet anxietas non peritura And therefore I advise you all and my hearts desire is that you would be all like these four Beasts as I have explained them in their description and their practice that so with these Beasts you may for ever live with him which was and is and is to come To whom be all Honour and Glory and Praise and Thanks for ever and ever Amen Jehovae Liberatori THE ONLY VVAY TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN A SERMON Preached before the Duke of Ormond's Grace and the two Houses of Parliament in Dublin By Griffith Lord Bishop of Ossory LONDON Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1664. THE FIFTH SERMON MATH 6.33 and LUKE 12.31 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you I Have not long since began to treat of this Text before the most Religious and most Honourable Person here And what then the time prevented me I shall now endeavour by Gods help to conclude unto you yet with an abstract and an abreviation of the particular Points and Heads I then handled that so you may the better understand the whole And as St. Paul saith Though to us it is troublesome yet for you it is profitable to hear the same things again Quia labilis memoria hominis and good things will soon slip out of our minds And I said then that the Angel Vriel tells Esdras 2 Esdr 8.2 3. the man of God That as the earth hath more dust and clay for earthen vessels then Ore and Mines for gold so this present world hath more men
that is himself upon Earth and Camerarius saith that this is a perpetual custom in the race of the Ottomans and Turkish Souldans to put all that pretend to succession unto death Neither is it only a Turkish custom to do so but it is the practice of most of them that are bewitched with this inordinate desire to rule as Kings to do the like for Plutarch writeth that Deiotarus having many Sons and being desirous that only one of them should reign slew all the rest with his own hands and Justin saith that Phrahartes the Son of Horodes King of the Parthians killed his own Father and after that massacred all his Bretheren that he might reign and rule alone And the Sacred Storie sheweth that the very people of God the Sons of Israel were not free from this fault Judges 9. but were pestered with this disease for Abimelech the Son of Gedeon slew seventy of his Bretheren in one day and played many other Tragical parts that he might make himself a King and the furious ambition of Absolon did let him on to play the Parricide 2 Sam. 15 16. and to end his Fathers days that he might reign in his place And not to go from our own home did not Henry the Fourth put by Richard the Second his own King and Cozen German that himself might be the King And did not Richard the Third cause the true King and his own Nephews the Sons of his own Brother Edward the Fourth to be done to death that he himself might be King And did not that arch-Rebel and Traytor now of late amongst our selves play the like Tragical parts that he might gain the rule of these Kingdoms And so did many others in many other Kingdoms for there is not any thing so Sacred which the great men of this world that desire to be made greater will not violate and spare neither King Father Brother or Friend to bring themselves unto advancement and to be the rulers of the People and to have the command and power over their Goods and Lives as the proof hereof is seen in Antoninus Caracalla who when he had murthered his own Brother Geta in his Mothers lap and betwixt her arms and being advised by some of his friends to Canonize him among the Heroes and to place him among the Gods to mitigate the thought of so execrable a fact answered like a wretch sit divus modo non sit vivus let him be a God among the dead so he be not alive among Men Camerar quo supra so great an enemy is the inordinate desire of bearing rule to all Piety and right saith mine Author Therefore our Saviour doth not stop when he had said seek a Kingdom which he knew most men would be ready enough and some too ready to do without bidding but he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God and not the Kingdom of this world nor the Kingdom of the Antichrist nor of sin but the Kingdom of God And the Kingdom of God is taken many waies but especially The Kingdom of God three fold 1. For the Kingdom of Nature 2. For the Kingdom of Grace 3. For the Kingdom of Glory 1. The Kingdom of nature The first is all the world Heaven Hell Sea and Earth and all men good and bad are the subjects of this his Kingdom for he is Rex universae terrae super omnes nationes mundi whom he ruleth with his mighty power and by his wisedom disposeth all things sweetly even when he permitteth the wicked to flourish and chasteneth his own children every morning our King doing herein as the Husband-man doth with his Oxen mactandus liber ibit ad pascua servandus jugo premitur that which is appointed for the slaughter shall freely run to the best Pasture but that which is to be preserved shall be pressed under the Yoak 2. The Kingdom of Grace 2. The Kingdom of Grace comprehendeth not all creatures nor all men but the elect only that is the good and godly men in whose hearts this King writeth his holy Laws and ruleth them by his Spirit that guideth and directeth them to observe his Laws 3. The Kingdom of Glory 3. The Kingdom of Glory is that which the Apostle describeth whose joyes passeth all understanding whose subjects are the Saints and Angels and whose King is Jesus Christ the King of kings The first of these was established by power when the Almighty God created all things by his powerful Word or the Word of his power which is Jesus Christ but it shall be finished through its weakness when languishing Nature that still groweth weaker and weaker can hold out no longer The second was begun in weakness when Christ the Son of God began the same in the the infirmity of our flesh and to gather his Church by the preaching of a few Fisher-men but it shall end in power when after he hath put all his enemies under his feet he shall by the power of his Deity absolve the same and deliver it as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 15. unto God his Father but The third shall begin in power and continue in power without ending when as the Poet saith Gloriosum Imperium siue fine dabit Cui nec metas rerum nec tempora ponit God shall give us a glorious Kingdom without ending and eternal happiness unto his Saints where there shall be no fight because they have no enemie no tears because they can recieve no hurt no fear because there is no danger and no grief because there is no evil but all peace all joy all felicity because God will be all in all And of these three Kingdoms we ought to submit our selves with all contentedness unto the first and with all care and diligence to seek the second that so to our everlasting comfort we may attain unto the third Which kingdom we shall never come unto unless we seek the second which is the kingdome of grace as we ought to do for as among the Romans none came to the Temple of Honour but by the Temple of Virtue so none shall come to the Kingom of glory but the Subjects of the Kingdom of grace and therefore we must seek for that as we ought to do and that is 1. Generally that the Church of Christ may be enlarged by the preaching of the Gospel and by all other ways that we can to convert men to the faith of Christ and not to pervert them by wicked errours or the evil examples of an ungodly conversation 2. Particularly that the Spirit of God and not the Spirit of Satan the grace of Christ and not our fleshly lusts or any other sin might reign in us and rule our hearts to do all things according to Gods Laws that so we our selves might be members of his Church and subjects of this kingdom And as I told you before our seeking for this kingdom must not be as children seek for their
learning coldly and carelesly as indifferent whether they get little or much but as the woman that lost her groat lighted a Candle and swept the house and sought diligently for it till she found it so must we seek for this kingdom with all diligence and never leave seeking till we find it for Non mollis est via ad astra the way to heaven is not easie nor strewed over with sweet flowers but we must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of Heaven How easie a matter it is to slide into hell Indeed the Poet can tell you that facilis descensus averni the way to hell is very easie and you may soone slide thither by any sin Sed revocare gradus superasque evadere ad auras Hic labor hoc opus est but to climb up to heaven requires labour and pains and they that think otherwise do but deceive themselves because there are many hindrances and rubs and obstacles in our way to keep us back from this kingdom as this present world that made Demas careless of the world to come How difficult to climb to heaven and our own flesh that like Dalilah lyeth in our bosome and is more dangerous than the world and the old Serpent the Devil that goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And therefore seeing it is so hard a matter to pass through the Pikes of these enemies Abjicienda est omnis desidia ignavia Chrysost hom 3. in Johan We must cast away all sloth and idleness saith Saint Chrysostom quia angusta via robustâ animâ opus est and because our enemies are so mighty we must be strong and of good courage that we may overcome the world subdue the flesh and resist the Devil who is Leo inter formicas a Lion among those that fear him but formica inter Leones a coward among Lions running away like Thyrsites before Achilles James 4.7 for if you resist the Devil he will flie from you saith the Apostle 2 Chron. 9.18 Six especial steps to the kingdom of heaven And if you strive to pass through these dangers and desire to know the way to Gods Kingdom you shall understand that as the ascent to Solomons Throne was Per sex gradus by six stairs so we have six special steps to ascend to the Throne of grace 1. Regeneration The first is by Regeneration Quia nascimur ad laborem renascimur ad salutem because we are born the children of wrath to labour and to miseries and therefore we must be born again that is by the washing of water and the working of Gods Spirit if you would walk towards this kingdom for Except you be born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven saith our Saviour The second is by Outward profession that is 2. Outward profession Cant. 1.8 as Solomon saith by following the steps of the fleck unto the tents of the Shepherds and as they do to profess the Faith and never to be ashamed of the Cross of Christ The third is by Hearing Gods Word 3. Hearing Gods Word i. e. the truth of the holy Scripture and not the dreams and traditions of men for my Sheep hear my voyce saith Christ and if you hear his voyce your souls shall live saith the Prophet Isaiah Jer. 23.16 and c. 12.6 Deut. 13.3 John 10.5 Matt. 7.15 but the hearing of old newly revived Heresies is not the way to this kingdom but the way from it and therefore we are flatly forbidden to hear the doctrine of all such deceitfull teachers The fourth is by Believing Gods Word 4. Believing Gods word and giving credit unto his sayings even as Abraham credidit Deo believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness for otherwise if we believe not what we hear our hearing of it will avail us nothing but rather be a witness against us and yet as the Prophet Isaiah demands Isai 53.1 Who hath believed our report So I fear that of many which come to hear Gods word there be but few that believe what we say when as we have too many men like those whereof Tertullian speaketh Qui credebant Scripturis ut crederent adversus Scripturas i. e. to believe what they pleased out of the Scripture and many more that do lead their lives so lewdly and so dissolutely and follow after the vanities of the world so eagerly as if they believed there were neither heaven nor hell The fifth is By continual Prayers 5. By continual prayer and constant invocation upon God that he would open our ears that we might hear and so work in our hearts that we might believe the truth of God for so our Saviour biddeth us Ask and you shall have seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you and S. Augustine saith If any man would find out the truth agant orando et quaerendo et bene vivendo ut inveniant Let them pray to God and study hard and live holily and God will help them to understand the truth The sixth and last step of this Ladder that reacheth up to the Kingdom of Heaven is by doing the will of God and leading our lives according to Gods Laws for so the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law but the doers of the Law shall be justified And Christ saith Not every one that saith Lord Matth. 7.21 Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven So that to hear Sermons to understand Gods Word and to pray to God is all in vain unless we do study and strive withall to do our best endeavours to live according to Gods will And therefore 2. Our Saviour desirous to shew unto us the readiest way to come to this Kingdom of God Matth. 6.33 saith Seek ye the Kingdom of God and his righteousness that is the righteousness which is acceptable in his sight and that is as St. Paul saith To follow peace with all men Heb. 12.14 and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord And you must observe that righteousness here is to be referred to God and not to the Kingdom because as Cajetan well observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the feminine Gender and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the masculine Cajetan in loc and therefore must be referred ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto God and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God The which thing together with infinite such other doubtful and obscure places of Scripture doth sufficiently shew unto you that ignorant unlearned men that have neither Arts nor Language neither Greek nor Latine but do run to teach others before they have learnt any things themselves like those in the Canticles who watched over others but kept not their own flock are but blind